More Voters Say No Obama Second Term: Poll

Almost half of voters say President Barack Obama doesn’t deserve a second term, and he is in a statistical tie with two top possible Republican challengers, a Quinnipiac University poll shows.

By 49 percent to 43 percent, poll respondents say Obama shouldn’t be re-elected in 2012. If a contest were held today with Republican rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, Obama is supported by 44 percent of those surveyed and Romney by 45 percent.

In a race with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Obama garners 46 percent to Huckabee’s 44 percent. Obama does the best in a race against former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, winning 48 percent to 40 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Palin “is very unpopular among independents, and although she recently said she thought she could defeat Obama, the data does not now necessarily support that assertion,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

Palin responded “I believe so” when asked in an interview with Barbara Walters of ABC News whether she could defeat Obama in 2012. ABC has released portions of the interview, which is scheduled for broadcast Dec. 9.

Democrats, by 64 percent to 27 percent, say they don’t want another member of the party to challenge Obama in a primary race.

Men Less Supportive

Obama’s support lags among men, with 39 percent saying he should get a second term. Independents also disapprove, with only 35 percent saying the president should be re-elected.

“His weakness among independent voters at this point makes his 2012 election prospects uncertain,” Brown said.

Among the possible Republican contenders, Palin is viewed most negatively, with more than 50 percent of voters saying they have an unfavorable opinion of her. By comparison, 25 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Huckabee and 26 percent of Romney. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the former Republican speaker of the House, is viewed unfavorably by 43 percent.

Obama’s approval rating is split at 48 percent favorable and 48 percent unfavorable.

The telephone poll, conducted Nov. 8-15, surveyed 2,424 registered voters nationwide.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/voters-obama-second-term/2010/11/22/id/377734?s=al&promo_code=B290-1

Obama Says He Understands Ire Over Airport Screenings

"I understand people's frustrations," Obama said, while acknowledging that he's never had to undergo the stepped-up screening methods.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/20/obama-says-understands-ire-airport-screenings/


Bailey: I thought the best leader were the ones that lead by example? I think Obama and his family should go through these airport screenings like everyone else. What makes him think he's better then any other American?

one-term president

The crazy way the Democrats have been doing things in the last few years, and a lot of american voters that go right along with them make me wonder if Obama is a one-term president? Many Americans thought that we'd be seeing the last of Pelosi & Reid this last election, but they're still there and still in power! All of the Democrats that were not voted out are still pushing Obama's agenda and are still in Washington. So what is wrong with that picture?

We didn't lose the election because of me

We didn't lose the election because of me

Welcome back, Nancy

Despite 'shellacking,' Democrats re-elect Pelosi as House minority leader.


Bailey:  Remember my post yesterday morning saying if they re-elect Nancy then we could vote out the rest of the idiots in 2012?

Well guess what, SHE'S BACK!

Pelosi Expected to Remain Democratic Leader

WASHINGTON -- Despite suffering near-historic election losses this month, House Democrats appear ready to keep their leadership team intact, with Nancy Pelosi of California still on top.

Both parties will hold closed-door House leadership elections Wednesday. But the main focus will involve the soon-to-be minority party, the Democrats.

Pelosi, the nation's first female speaker, appeared to soothe enough angry colleagues Tuesday to ensure her election to the top post. Barring a surprise, she will become minority leader in January, when the new Congress convenes. The second- and third-ranking Democrats seem likely to hold their positions as well.

Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to keep Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their leader, putting him in place to become speaker in January.

By quarreling among themselves and sticking with Pelosi, House Democrats are departing from the example set by Republicans, who quickly closed ranks around a new leader, Boehner, four years ago when they lost the majority.

Pelosi let her supporters and critics vent their emotions Tuesday at a four-hour closed meeting in the Capitol. She got an earful at times from colleagues who said a party must change leaders when it suffers the type of losses Democrats absorbed Nov. 2.

Rep. Allen Boyd of Florida was particularly pointed in his remarks, according to people present, saying Pelosi is the wrong person to represent Democrats as they try to rebuild. But others defended the San Francisco liberal, and even her toughest critics said she is likely to defeat Rep. Heath Shuler, a moderate from North Carolina.

Shuler told reporters he's trying to make a point. After a whopping election defeat, he said, it's not wise "to go back and put the exact same leadership into place."

Bailey Comment: " I hope that the Demos put Nancy back in because she and Reid are one of the reasons we voted out so many Demos."  That way when 2012 comes around we can vote the rest of the dumbcrats out!

Muslims Reach Out To Christians?

CAIRO-- Muslims set fire overnight to at least 10 houses belonging to Coptic Christians in a village in southern Egypt over rumors that a Christian resident had an affair with a Muslim girl, security officials said Tuesday.

The officials said security forces have sealed off the village of al-Nawahid, in Qena province some 290 miles south of Cairo, to prevent the violence from spreading to neighboring towns. They said several people were arrested.

The attacks started after locals spotted a young Copt and a Muslim girl together at night inside the village cemetery, the officials said. They added that both were put under police custody as authorities investigate.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Clashes between Christians and Muslims occasionally occur in southern Egypt, mostly over land or disputes over church construction. But sectarian tensions have also been on the rise recently in the capital.

Rangel Storms Out of Ethics Trial

By Jim Meyers

Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel stunned a House ethics panel weighing charges against him by walking out of the hearing room as the proceedings were about to begin Monday morning.

Despite having had months to prepare for the hearing, the New York Democrat showed up without a lawyer and claimed he had not had enough time to set up a defense fund and did not have the money to hire an attorney.
“I respectfully remove myself from these hearings,” 80-year-old Rangel said before bolting from the eight-member subcommittee.

Rangel, who is charged with 13 ethics violations, told the panel that he had already spent $2 million on his defense and insisted that moving ahead with the hearing would be unfair, ABC News reported.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Rangel said, asserting that he needed time to raise $1 million to retain new counsel for the hearing.

After leaving the hearing room, Rangel — who was first elected in 1970 — was asked if he walked out of the hearing to delay the proceedings, the New York Daily News reported. Rangel responded: “I would say that’s a stupid question.”

After he departed, the ethics panel comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans met behind closed doors and decided to continue with the proceedings.

“We recognize that Mr. Rangel has indicated that he does not intend to participate, and that is his right,” said committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat.

“These matters have been underway for quite some time. We are prepared to proceed today . . .

“Mr. Rangel has repeatedly sought and received legal guidance as to how he can pay [for legal counsel]. Mr. Rangel was provided with all the material and evidence on June 17 of this year.”

Lofgren has said the proceedings need to be completed by the end of the current Congress, according to ABC News.

As a series of allegations of ethics violations, including tax questions, came to light, Rangel in March stepped aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax code. And three months ago, Rangel demanded a hearing before the ethics panel and dared his colleagues to kick him out on the ethics charges.

In February, the House Ethics Committee concluded that Rangel had violated House gift rules by accepting payment from corporations for reimbursement for travel to conferences in the Caribbean, and required him to repay those expenses.

The ethics panel is also looking into allegations that Rangel was improperly living in several rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan while claiming his Washington, D.C. home as his primary residence for tax purposes.

The New York Times reported in July 2008 that Rangel rents four apartments in Harlem at below-market rates and has used one apartment as a campaign office, which violates city and state regulations requiring that rent-stabilized apartments be used only as a primary residence.

Rangel was also accused of failing to report income from the rental of a villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, which he rented out for as much as $1,100 a night.

In September 2008, Rangel paid back taxes of $10,800 owed from rental income on his Punta Cana villa.

Also in September 2008, the New York Post reported that Rangel “has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz, a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker . . . The spaces are valued by the House at $290 per month.”

Rangel has also been charged with using his official congressional letterhead to solicit funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, and failing to reveal more than half a million dollars in income and assets on financial disclosure forms.

On July 22, a four-member investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee indicated it had “substantial reason to believe” that Rangel had violated ethics rules. And on July 29, Rangel was charged by the committee with 13 counts of violating House rules and federal laws.

The last ethics trial in the House was in 2002 for Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat later expelled from Congress.