Unless, of course, it's The Messiah telling you that you HAVE to buy health insurance... :D

Michale

I've wasted so much time lately trying to figure out why my comments at HP/Facebook appear to be posted alright but are unable to be seen by anyone.

So, I'm officially done with HP and Facebook, freeing up more time for what has always been and will always be my favourite place in the internet(s) and the best site for commenting and engaging in fun discussion.

Your travails actually do make me fell better! Since I abandoned commenting on HuffPo when they demanded I get a Facebook account!

I'm not big on people telling me I must do business with third parties and provide them personal info to publish. (Actually, I'm not big on people telling me I have to do anything!) Call me old-fashioned but I still think businesses must accommodate their customers, not demand customers accommodate them.

I can see why you stayed, but there was nothing unique about HuffPo that I didn't want to lose.

***EPIC FAIL***

Seems like I convoluted the statement above with your FTP Point #2....

Obviously, I was simply looking for an excuse to address the Impeachment issue and read the above statement w/o really READING the above statement.. :D

Can we just pretend you were talking about Impeachment instead of the House lawsuit?? :D

I would be ever so grateful... :D

Michale

OBAMA SUPPORT DROP
2 points among men (44% to 42%)

4 points among women (49% to 45%)

5 points among 30-49 year olds (51%-46%)

4 points among Democrats (81% to 77%)

7 points among Independents (39% to 32%)

7 points among Liberals (83% to 76%)

6 points among Hispanics (73% to 67%)

10 POINTS among African Americans (86% to 76%)

5 points among voters in union households (65% to 60%)

http://washingtonexaminer.com/john-zogby-is-it-all-over-for-obama/article/2550415

These numbers CAN'T be spin'ed away...

There can simply be NO OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION save that Americans across the board, are abandoning Obama...

If Bohner does sue, the American people will likely be on his side...

If the GOP does impeach??

The American people will likely be on their side...

Michale

Since it likely got lost in the normal FTP shuffle... :D I am going to repost my FTP response to this here..

You seem to be stuck in the mode that, because the Republicans got their wee-wees slapped when they impeached Clinton, that the same thing is possible to happen when they impeach Obama.. IF they impeach Obama...

There is a big difference between impeaching Bill Clinton then and impeaching Barack Obama now...

First and foremost, the country was doing pretty well under Clinton.. Clinton was popular BEFORE the impeachment, so he had the advantage of looking "picked on" by the mean old Republicans..

In there here and now, the economy is in the crapper.. Our prestige across the planet is at it's lowest point in this country's history..

And Obama's approval AND likability AND integrity AND trustworthy numbers are low and sinking fast.. There is not ONE SINGLE positive in ALL of Obama's poll numbers. Every factor that CAN be polled about Obama is underwater...

To put it in context, Clinton's approval numbers were in the low 60s at the beginning of the impeachment process..

Obama hasn't seen the plus side of 45 in quite a while.... The American People have, for all intents and purposes, issued a vote of NO CONFIDENCE for this POTUS..

Hell, the polls show that Obama is the WORST POTUS since WWII and further show that a plurality think that, in hindsight, ROMNEY would have been the better choice for POTUS...

Further, Clinton's impeachment was because of perjury and obstruction of justice.. Crimes that really didn't affect Joe and Jane SixPack..

Obama's crimes are affecting a wide swath of Joes and Janes across the country...

In other words, when the GOP impeached Clinton, the American people were, like, "Eh?? So he lied about boffin' some bimbo.. Who wouldn't???

But Obama's transgressions are really screwing over the American people.. They are affecting, in a very VERY bad way, millions and millions of Americans..

The facts (if you can call "polls" facts) clearly show that the it's entirely likely that Americans would support an Obama impeachment..

Now, how would this impeachment play out, you ask....

I am glad you asked...

The way I see it, two things will have to happen for a successful impeachment of the POTUS.

1. The GOP will have to take the Senate...

2. Obama's poll numbers will have to sink below 40% and stay there for a while...

As to #1, this is all but a forgone conclusion. The GOP will control Congress after the midterms..

#2 is also extremely likely as there are so many hits going against Obama right now and the possibility that there is more bad news coming is a very real and distinct threat..

Look at the IRS scandal.. Lerner's two years of emails were obviously disappeared for a reason. Does anyone here honestly believe that, if there was no smoking gun, that those emails would have been lost forever?? It's a forgone conclusion that those emails contain very incriminating information. And, since there is a very real possibility that these "lost" emails are going to be found and are going to start to trickle out from the IRS scandal will create a "death from a thousand cuts" syndrome for the Obama Administration.

Another area that is pounding at the Administration is the southern border situation. The Administration tried to float the BS story that it was violence in the countries that prompted the mass migration. But that lie was immediately shot down by reports from the border that overwhelmingly confirmed that it was Obama's DACA pronouncement that brought the refugees to the border.. So, the attempt by the Administration to shirk responsibility was DOA... As it continues to worsen, as US resources are stretched WAY past the breaking point, the Obama Administration will bear full ownership of the debacle...

And, of course, there are still the VA scandals (a Veteran got a letter saying that the VA approved his move to another VA facility.... TWO YEARS AFTER THE VET DIED!!!), Bengahzi is on simmer and the Obama Administration is STILL getting hits from the Fast/Furious scandal...

Now, you rub all these facts (and they ARE facts, regardless of what Obamabot fanatics will tell you) together and they all point to the VERY REAL threat that Obama will not only be impeached, but that it actually might pass the Senate and Obama will become the very first sitting POTUS to be removed from office...

All it will take is the GOP to take the Senate (all but assured) and Obama's poll numbers taking a dive, which is what is happening right now...

Of course, having said all of the afore, one thing might derail the impeachment process and could possibly dissuade Republicans from following this course of action.

President Joe Biden....

:D

Now, personally, *I* don't have a problem with this. Biden, despite his gaffs and chronic foot-in-mouth condition, has proven to be a (somewhat) honorable man. For a Democrat politician anyways... :D

And, it's forgone conclusion that Biden could not do worse than Obama, even if he tried... NO ONE could be THAT bad..

And, finally, even if a President Biden tried to be Obama's mini-me, there would be a limit to the damage he could do. POTUS Biden would be way too busy picking up the pieces of a demolished Democratic Party to do TOO much damage to the country...

So, it's a crap shoot as to whether or not President Biden would be enough of a deterrent for Republicans pursuing impeachment..

The prevailing thought governing the impeachment action would possibly (likely??) be that ANYONE is better than Obama...

I'de be very interested in your thoughts. :D

Michale

I thought, for a moment there, that the commenting gods were conspiring against me.

You and me both!!!

All sorts of scenarios were going thru my head. ALL of them bad... :D

Changing your footer is a great idea - you can word it so that HP wouldn't even know what you're up to much less get its collective shirt in a knot over the implication.

That would be awesome to get more diverse users here in Weigantia!! :D

Fresh meat!!! MOOOOWWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D

CW,

[Thanks LizM for pointing this out...]

Ahem.... :D

In any case, let us begin.. :D

First off... I was (AGAIN) wrong... Obama didn't dip below 40..

How, I DO take some perverse pleasure in knowing that ya'all were sweating bullets that I might actually be right this time!! :D

At least, that's how it played out in my mind. :D

Having said that, it is simply undeniable that Obama got slapped down and slapped down hard..

And the best (worst??) is yet to come. We're going to find out a LOT more about the IRS scandal, what with allegedly "lost" emails are going to start trickling out...

The debacle at the southern border has moved northward and a small California community is in the spotlight.. Ironically enough, it's where my parents live..

So, while I am going to forgo making predictions about actual numbers I CAN say, with complete conviction, that Obama's troubles are just getting started..

It's going to be a banner year for Republicans, election-wise...

Michale

I was wondering what you thought about the new comments system at HP; fortunately, you have your own wonderful home site.

Changing your footer is a great idea - you can word it so that HP wouldn't even know what you're up to much less get its collective shirt in a knot over the implication.

I'm sure you're going to be missed by all of your fans there and, optimistically assuming that a lot of them are still there, they will find their way over here, with or without a change to your footer ...

Don't know exactly what you're talking about, but this may help. I cannot comment on HuffPost any more. Shocking, but true.

I refuse to have a Facebook account (I have a freakin' BLOG, I don't need some fake blog... hmmph!). Therefore, I cannot log in and answer comments any more on HuffPost. Bummer.

I've been thinking about updating my "footer" (the little blurb that runs at the end of my HuffPost columns) to add something like "I cannot answer comments here at HuffPost, if you'd like a response, please leave a comment at my site" -- but I don't know if that's going to annoy the HuffPost folks or not.

Anyway, don't know if that answers any questions or not, but there it is...

:-(

-CW

OK, you piqued my memory. I did do one of these charts, a long time ago. What I was measuring was the first "crossover" point, where presidents slip "underwater" for the first time.

Here's the column (July, 2010)

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2010/08/04/opw1007/

And here's the chart itself:

http://www.chrisweigant.com/cw/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/xover1.jpg

You really want me to update that? It wouldn't be that hard, technically, but it might be such a mess, visually, that it wouldn't be very useful. Let me know.

-CW

There's really only 4 complete predecessors to even use. Not all presidents serve two terms, and we've had quite a number of incomplete (but multiple) terms recently as well (Nixon, LBJ, and Truman all didn't fully serve two terms). The only ones to fully compare are GWB, WJC, RWR, and DDE. (FDR data is sketchy, at best, and previous to FDR accurate polling didn't really exist in the modern, public sense).

Anyway, type this into your browser, and then take a look at the comparison charts which I do provide (see the icons in the left border):

http://www.obamapollwatch.com

Then let me know if further charts are necessary! All comparison charts are updated monthly...

:-)

-CW

You see, early last month, HP put their comments entirely under control of Facebook, replacing their comments sections with Facebook "conversations".

A few months before that, I reluctantly opened a Facebook account for the sole purpose of being able to continue commenting at HP. To be clear, I would have left HP a long time ago but there is one blogger there with whom I have enjoyed - for the most part ... heh - conversing with on a number of political and cultural issues.

Since the move to a Facebook comments platform, a variety of very weird things are happening with respect to my posted comments and whether they can be seen by others. Despite having received a couple of replies from other commenters, my comments cannot be seen by this blogger (though he sees and replies to comments made by others, all of which I cannot see) and, consequently, our fun discussions have been effectively and permanently moved to oblivion, thanks to this new and improved HP/Facebook hybrid comments system.

I've tried everything to remedy the situation but, I seem to be left in the position of no longer being able to discuss at HP and, as if to add insult to injury, of having a Facebook account I never wanted in the first place ... all a sure sign to me of some decidedly nefarious conspiratorial activity! :)

Anyway, you get the picture and I'm guessing you're sorry you asked. Though, I feel better for the venting!

So, what's your situation with the comments gods? I'd love to commiserate, as it were ...

When will you be creating the mega two term satisfaction mega graph where all previous two term presidential data is "smoothed" to show us a trend?

While I will be the first to go along with stating that from a pure statistical value it is not really something that would be useful, I do however think that it would be interesting to see a "smoothed" out comparison graph of all of the previous two term presidents combined compared to the current sitting president.

Is Obama unique, or is he just following in the averaged foot prints of those who came before him trend wise?

When will you be creating the mega two term satisfaction mega graph where all previous two term presidential data is "smoothed" to show us a trend?

While I will be the first to go along with stating that from a pure statistical value it is not really something that would be useful, I do however think that it would be interesting to see a "smoothed" out comparison graph of all of the previous two term presidents combined compared to the current sitting president.

Is Obama unique, or is he just following in the averaged foot prints of those who came before him trend wise?

Don't be shy! Now I'm curious...

Besides, it'd be comforting to know that I'm not the only one they take such perverse pleasure in torturing.

I thought, for a moment there, that the commenting gods were conspiring against me.

Don't even ask.

[Thanks LizM for pointing this out...]

I guess when I posted this, I inadvertently set it to "no comments" somehow. This was entirely unintentional, and it now should be working.

My apologies for the snafu. I had to deal with the final day of car problems (hopefully... knock wood) yesterday, so I pre-wrote this article and hastily posted it.

In any case, have at it -- didn't mean to shut the commenting down at all.

-CW