New poll has Mass. Senate race in a dead heat

[Valmy]

Do I count as a Liberal?

Do you believe in the ideals of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly, and free markets?

If so then yes.

What?  That is what Liberalism is all about.  For some bizarre and hopefully temporary reason people use that term to mean 'Leftist'.  Since they have not invented another word to replace Liberalism I demand it keep its original definition.  When George Bush said Liberal Democracy was the best form of government he did not mean he wanted to Democrats in power.

Seriously why not just say 'Leftist'?  Some right wing commentators in the US do do that and I am very thankful.

[Valmy]

Of course, the moderation he's espoused hasn't gotten him anywhere, has it?

It has made him at least tolerable to me.  The main reason I was excited about him at first was that he said pretty moderate things.  I guess I have to say he has lived up to that.  He cannot handle Congress at all of course.

[Valmy]

Unless Obama magically becomes a conservative, I will continue to hope he fails

I would say he is pretty darn cautious and conservative in what he does.  He basically is staying the course in Iraq and Afghanistan that is hardly a radical thing to do.

[derspiess]

I would argue that Clinton as president was always a stronger leader than Obama as President ever has been, though.  Clinton had much less to learn than Obama about being President. 

Hell, as an ex-President, I would say Bill has been a better leader than Obama

[derspiess]

I would say he is pretty darn cautious and conservative in what he does.  He basically is staying the course in Iraq and Afghanistan that is hardly a radical thing to do.

I don't have any major issues with his Iraq & Afghanistan policies, since you mentioned them-- I'm not sure I'd chalk that up to Obama's supposed conservatism, but rather simple inertia.  Now what else has he been so darn conservative about?

[Admiral Yi]

I would say he is pretty darn cautious and conservative in what he does.  He basically is staying the course in Iraq and Afghanistan that is hardly a radical thing to do.

I wouldn't call his Afghan policy staying the course.

[jimmy olsen]

I would say he is pretty darn cautious and conservative in what he does.  He basically is staying the course in Iraq and Afghanistan that is hardly a radical thing to do.

I wouldn't call his Afghan policy staying the course.

We know, you mention it everytime it comes up. Face it though, almost no here agrees with you.

[derspiess]

Seriously why not just say 'Leftist'?  Some right wing commentators in the US do do that and I am very thankful.

You may someday convince us to replace "Liberal" with "Leftist", but good luck getting the rest of the country to change

"Liberal" in common parlance means leftist, at least in the US.  Hence the need to clarify adding "Lockean" or "Classical" if you are referring to the "old" type of Liberalism.

[dps]

Just...wow. What a disaster this year has been for liberals.

I wonder how soon the Languish Liberals will abandon Obama? It already seems to be happening elsewhere, but I suspect the Languish crowd is a bit more stubborn than most.

Why would a lost Senate race in Massachusetts induce anyone to "abandon" Obama?  The only reason I can think of is to not back a loser.

Not just the lost Senate race, of course.

There seems to be a growing percepetion that Obama is No True Liberal. A moderate in sheep's clothing, so to speak.

What has suprised me is the rapidity with which the Languish swing vote has abandoned Obama.

Why would that be surprising? It's not like it was all that strong of support to begin with.

The support that Obama had about this time last year reminds me of the support that Bush the First had in 1991.  It was broad, but incredebly shallow.  The support Obama had wasn't that broad, or probably that shallow, but I still see some similarity.

[dps]

Since they have not invented another word to replace Liberalism I demand it keep its original definition. 

This ain't France.  We don't have some hidebound Academy that pontificates on the correct meaning and usage of words.

And if we did, I'd suspect that they wouldn't make you a member, or care much about what you demand.

[Admiral Yi]

We know, you mention it everytime it comes up. Face it though, almost no here agrees with you.

Nice attitude Timmy.

We've never discussed whether Obama is staying the course.  We discussed whether the policy he outlined at West Point was an exit strategy or not.  Shelf said it was not, one or two other posters might have agreed with him.  Clearly he is not staying the course as Bush never mentioned a date for troop withdrawals to begin and Obama hadn't either until the West Point speech.

[Faeelin]

So, here's the question. How much of this was the economy, and how much of this was healthcare?

[dps]

So, here's the question. How much of this was the economy, and how much of this was healthcare?

I suspect that more of it was the economy, and less of it was health care, than the pundits would generally have you think.

[Fate]

Anyway glad to see a RINO take office. 

I wouldn't call him a RINO.  He's maybe slightly on the moderate side of the GOP, but as a conservative I don't find anything hugely objectionable about him.

Who is a RINO then?

There is no true RINO when you're out of power but you can find many of them while in power. 

[grumbler]

We know, you mention it everytime it comes up. Face it though, almost no here agrees with you.

The first time he makes an affirmative statement and does not engage in his passive-aggressive rhetorical questioning, you slam him. Thanks.