Yeah, Kari - the Stimulus worked so well, according Harry Reid we only lost 36,000 jobs yesterday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC211h9AY-4

Woooohoooo! The Dems are on a roll now.

I can't wait to see how much the next stimulus package costs and all the jobs it will create.

Kari - There you go again. Actually analyzing what a candidate or elected official says or does and pointing out the lies. Don't you know that the way to appeal to the right wing-nut base is just to repeat the party talking points?

"I don't know whether to call it irony, or hypocrisy, or just plain ol' political incompetence."

I call it wearing ideological blinders. Hidebound conservatives like Huffman simply can't admit the possibility that government spending can ever do any good.

Republicans are always in favor of creating jobs......... in China, India, Japan,Whereverrtheheckitistan or anywhere else with starvation level wages.......the good old USU...not so much.

Building and repairing roads are real jobs. Repairing our neglected, outdated and dangerous bridges are real jobs and something that badly needs doing.

Republicans are just so full of it sometimes I don't know how they can look at themselves in the mirror without screaming.

Hey, Phil, how about all of those jobs lost during the Bush administration? How about the Reagan administration, where seven months into it, the unemployment rate started going up, and was up over 9% for two years?

Oh, I know, it's all Jimmy Carter's fault. In fact, over eight years later, during the first Bush administration, the Republicans were still blaming economic problems on Carter.

Tax cuts for the rich don't create jobs.

While Hoffman may very well be a slouch, your comments don't address my biggest concern about Wyden. Does Oregon's senior senator ever take leadership? And when he does, does anyone ever follow him?

For all his rhetoric on reaching across the aisle, it's unclear whether anyone from the other side reaches back to him now that Smith is out (no regrets there). Wyden's record comes across as last minute grandstanding and politics conciliation. If Wyden is a guy who works magic behind the scenes, this would be a good time to trot out his accomplishments.

Kari, the inconvenient fact of the stimulus package of almost 11 months ago is that it has not worked at all in creating new private sector jobs. At best, so far it has saved several pblic sector jobs in Oregon and other states. It has not, however created private sector jobs.

And, while we are being forthcoming, the measly amount of ARRA funding doled out to ODOT pales as a percentage of the BILLIONS earmarked for this failed program.

Hmmmmm, I don't think the employee of a democrat legislator who was in office during the last year and a half should be talking about "incompetence" unless it is that of his boss. The libs had huge majorities in the House and Senate yet have failed to do anything of substance since February of 2009.

Professor Huffman is not against all government spending, nor is anyone really. He is against wasteful government spening. No one, save for skittles and unicorn-seeing true believers could argue that the "stimulus" bill was an effective use of government funds. However, in a bill of that size, there is bound to be the occasional success story.

"My firm built Ron Wyden's campaign website."

Wouldn't broadcast that too loudly, champ.

H. Bruce said:

"I call it wearing ideological blinders. Hidebound conservatives like Huffman simply can't admit the possibility that government spending can ever do any good."

The facts are that the freer the people to choose the higher standard of living for the poor.

Government wants to do good, but the facts are it is just bureaucratic loading society often with useless regulation, (all the parking ticket rules on this site).

Now Oregon Government is lacking transparency and honesty, two things almost everyone dem or rep agree makes things better, but politicians in power, both parties almost always are more concerned about their own power, their own party BS, than doing the right things for the right reason.

Until we could make the right decisions for the right reason, yes less government help the poor and disfranchisement more than more G. History has proven that endlessly.

Why are we always hurting the ones we "claim" to help.

rduring ... could you provide a couple of examples of how less government actually helped the poor more? it would help me understand your position.

as to john galt ... i guess your childish insults go hand in hand with the name you are hiding behind. sad, but i dont expect anything more from someone who finds ayn rand to be anything more then a romantic novel diva hiding behind the pretense of a pseudo intellectual.

Dan, your FoxNews link doesn't work. Can't debate what I can't open. However, the original post, and my response were related to the stimulus and OREGON's economy. So, unless the link speaks to private jobs created in the past 11 mnths as a direct result of ARRA, then no need to worry.

ang I guess we will have to disagree as to the stated, marketed purpose for the stimulus bill. It WAS sold as a purpose to create new private sector jobs. It WAS sold as a guarantee that unemployment would not go above 8%.

You asked a question, Kari. He is the answer --

Hypocrisy.

It means that Huffman is just like all the politicians he claims to be different from, throwing consistency and principles out the window to appease a major contributor.

Thanks for asking Bruce,

First lets keep this professional Steve.

Yes, the freer the nation, the higher standard of living.

In the real world, North and South Korea, East and West Germany, and Hong Kong and China. All brother counties started at the same time promising great things to their people. Thus good intentions. All brother counties had the same race, education, and started from the same, you might say ashes.

Hong Kong, achieved, prior to China taking over the highest social standard in the world, in other words the poor had the least racism, the higher levels of health care, the least amount of child deaths, judged by a uniform social scale.

The most government involvement, North Korea and China treated of the poor were often cases of just extreme abuses.

Their is a correlation to the freer the country, and each citizens to make decisions, thus the freer the society, the greater the standard of living of the poor.

PS The people in Somalia do not have personal freedoms, the war lords do. The have less than possibly anyone which I would like to thank you for your help.

Thus by taking away freedoms and replacing them with more bureaucracies and regulation, it just has not worked over time.

I know I will get attacked again, by this case and that case, most of them when annualized properly just prove statistically that it's very true, like Somalia but send end your shoots, but this time stay ethical. And lets do what right for our society and make America great, and keep it the home of the free.

it is an ongoing quandary when anyone from the gop speaks. do they really believe this stuff themselves, do they think those for whom they are attempting to reach will believe this stuff, are they really insulting their audience; or is it when the gop succeeded in lying a country into an unnecessary war costing over 4000 lives and billions of dollars, enabled by the msm, and told by their guru of magic words, frank lutz to just lie, they can actually get away with this stuff?

People who work sometimes multiple jobs to make ends meet don't have lots of spare time to debate political theory.

Could someone find a link to all of Huffman's writings for the Oregonian (or elsewhere)? I had a hard time last night finding more than one column he had written.

Huffman's speech, of course, announces that he is just another cheap-labor-conservative. They say only private investment creates jobs. Next comes the call for tax cuts for the wealthy so they will have more to invest, which doesn't happen. The only thing that happens is more irresponsible financial speculation that wrecks the economy. With tax cuts comes cuts in anything and everything that might benefit workers, such as health care or education that might give them some possibility of earning better wages and more job choices. It's all about keeping workers desperate and scared so they will work cheap and not complain. It's quite a racket.

/"It WAS sold as a guarantee that unemployment would not go above 8%."

Until it didn't. We also got told when Bush?Obama threw a trillon at the banks they'd start lending again.

I'd still love to hear how many jobs has it creted in Oregon. PLease spare us the tired rhetoric of "sving" jobs. If you use that logic then Obama might as well say he saved 1000M by raising the deficit spending 10x.

THe only jobs govt spending creates is more govt jobs.

DeanOR you quote

"Next comes the call for tax cuts for the wealthy so they will have more to invest, which doesn't happen. The only thing that happens is more irresponsible financial speculation that wrecks the economy."

I would like to quote an highly regarded Liberial and a graduate book author in economics.

"Our true choice is not between tax reduction on the one hand and avoidance of large deficits on the other; it is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power . . . an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget -- just as it will never produce enough jobs or profits." -- John F. Kennedy, December 14, 1962 and

"It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now ... Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus." – John F. Kennedy, Nov. 20, 1962, president's news conference

We need to do the right things for the right reason and stop both party BS. Freedom to choose is for liberal idea's, it creates wealth, it raises the standard of living standards for the poor, it's what made America great. Lets put the people before the parties!

rdurig,

When Kennedy took office the top marginal rate of individual income tax was 91%. If you want to return to that rate then I will agree with both you and JFK.

Please understand what's better for society.

please read the following article on taxes. The 1980s President Ronald Reagan presided over two major pieces of tax legislation that, together, reduced the top tax rate from 70 percent in 1980 to 28 percent by 1988.

The economic effects of the Reagan tax cuts were dramatic. When President Reagan took office in 1981, the economy was being choked by high inflation and was in the middle of the 1980-1982 double-dip recession. 20 The tax cuts helped to pull the economy out of its doldrums and ushered in a period of record peacetime economic growth. During the seven-year Reagan boom, economic growth averaged almost 4 percent.

Critics charge that the tax cuts caused higher deficits, but their argument is based on a misreading of the evidence. The Reagan tax cut, although approved in 1981, was phased in over several years. As a result, bracket creep (indexing was not implemented until 1985) and payroll tax increases completely swamped Reagan's 1.25 percent tax cut in 1981 21 and effectively canceled out the portion of the tax cut that went into effect in 1982. The economy received an unambiguous tax cut only as of January 1983. As Chart 5 shows, revenues then climbed dramatically. Personal income tax revenues led the way, increasing by more than 54 percent by 1989 (28 percent after adjusting for inflation).

Contrary to conventional wisdom, it was the "rich" who paid the additional taxes. The share of income taxes paid by the top 10 percent of earners jumped significantly, climbing from 48 percent in 1981 to 57.2 percent in 1988. The top 1 percent saw their share of the income tax bill climb even more dramatically, from 17.6 percent in 1981 to 27.5 percent in 1988 (see Chart 6). 22

With that said I think George Bush was extremely unethical to attach Iraq. Cheney should be charged for....for creating Weapons of Mass Destruction BS. ALL mis-information

This is the same BS that the dem are doing saying help the school in 66 and 67 and ALL the money went elsewhere and the school are getting cut, while the budget is exploding. The dem know we will vote for more schools so they are funding it last before all their BS wasteful bureaucracy building. Let's do what right for America and make our society freer.

Kari your the big boy on this board I would like you to expalin.

"there's an inverse correlation between the size of the state and the standard of living of it's citizens."

or more directly explain what you mean.

"size of the state".

Rdurig,

Anyone can ask questions. We can spend eternity debating on how the size or lack thereof of the Federal and State Government can either hinder or promote individual economic prosperity.

This is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Personally, I believe in government policy that is not enmeshed in promoting accreditation and licensing to the extent where it is damn near impossible to create a profitable small business.

However, I do believe that government economic policy should be as a strong regulator targeting monopolistic practices and corporate oligarchies like Legacy and Providence Health Systems who collude to keep their profits high and individual consumer costs high.

That being said, there is a stench of Republican hypocrisy.

Where was Senator Bunning when Bush and his team were requesting $80 billion Iraq War appropriations every 3 to 4 months from 2002 until Bush left office?

Why is it that Republicans turn the other cheek to billion dollar appropriations for the US Military, while they raise high hell over $15 billion going to help unemployed US citizens who have been desperately looking for a job for the past year?

Talk all you want about deficits, but I did not hear Republicans screaming to throw Bush and the Republicans out of office when Bush was spending like a drunken sailor to fund the Iraq War.

All of a sudden Democrats are backing measures to help non-military US citizens and Republicans have the nerve to call it shameless welfare?!

Hell, the biggest welfare state in the US is the US Military, but we have to "support the troops" right?!

OT: a HUGE boo to Rep Kurt Schrader for his shameful and shocking vote against this bill: I hope he treats animals better than this.

Yes I agree Bush was one of our worst President's he made me sick. To me we don't attack a nation like Iraq. because you "think" they "might" have something, like WMD, Bush also greatly introduced religion ideology in this war and our society. And trust me the world saw this as a religious war, in which I just thought we were just wrong.

But that does't make the dem any better. What they are doing is shorting are schools, fire and police funding. What you want I want most, because if they fund all their special interest first, then they could go to the voters and get more $. It works

Right now. The higher priority we the people of Oregon put on essential service, basically the more government is going to cut it, and then ask for us the voters to come up with more money.

Again while they have been cutting the school, fire, and police, the Oregon budget in 2010 will go up 9% in total money spent.

We voted on raising 700+ million to supposedly help the schools, THREE DAYS after it passed, PERS passed a 2 billion dollar increase in fees, (2 billion) to pay for state employee benefits.

If the current state government though schools were so import as the claim, then why arn't hey funded first!!!!!

We're in an tough ression and the state has had a 9% plus budget growth in real dollars for the last 5 years. and cut schools.

Yea I'm fighting for less government. And a Better America, on with more personnel freedoms one that opens it's minds.

You can have liberal open system with a smaller government.

So the game continues, we raise money for school, they play a shell game, and hide it with other cronies and their bureaucratic departments, and claim our poor schools are being cut. This is wrong TODAY!!!!!

They both (dem and rep) put their party politics and ethics before the people, they claim to serve. That's why less government works better, Kari just missed the point. Hong Kong had a double award the free-est society it also did the best to provide services to the poor, judge by a uniform standard.

The more government the more we hurt the poor.

rdurig,

You have to read between the lines. If you study the current situation in California where local governments are defaulting resulting in mass public sector layoffs and schools closing, while the State of California votes to protect CALPERS funding then you see it is not really about "saving the future for our children."

I am of the minority who states unapologetically and quite frequently, California would not be in the mess it is now if it did not have such high financial burdens imposed by CALPERS and other public pension funds.

Here you have a state (California) with a diverse economy, sales tax, property tax, state income tax, various business taxes, and various user fees, but it is deep in the red ink with no end in sight.

I bring up California because Oregon is following California's example in giving the most political power to public employees unions, passage of tax increases, and various failed attempts at passing a sales tax. However, Oregon unlike California does not have the diverse economy to hold the wannabe California scheme together.

When Jerry Brown wins Governor of California in November 2010, I have no doubt that tax raises will be proposed, approved, and a right-wing tax payer revolt will be in full order.

With Democrats in power and entrenched liberal interests running the state, I do not and would not want to see cuts in state services.

After all, I am a hard left Democrat myself who does not let my politics get in the way of my prognosticating and analysis to the point where I am comfortable hanging around with black-hearted conservatives.

rdurig,

During the first 8 months of Reagan's administration, the unemployment rate bounced around between 7.2% and 7.5%.

The tax cuts were passed in August, 1981. The unemployment rate that month was 7.4%. A year later they were 9.8%, two years later 9.5%, and three years later the unemployment rate was still 7.5%. From September, 1982 (over a year after the tax cuts were passed) until June, 1983, the unemployment rate was over 10%.

Here, you can see for yourself what happened with unemployment during the Reagan administration, and the Clinton administration, where the unemployment rate dropped steadily, even though there was a tax increase for the wealthy in his first year in office.

The 7.5% average unemployment rate during Reagan's eight years in office is significantly higher than the 6.5% during Carter's four years.

"Irony or Incompetence? You Decide!"

Irony - Huffman actually lived in Oregon for the past 15 years and probably has living relatives that live here also. Plus he probably even remembers what Oregon looks like unlike Wyden.

Love to hear when you actually talk issues.

Steve, Ron Wyden has visited every county in the state every year he's been a Senator. I'm sure he knows what Oregon looks like far more than Huffman, or most anyone in the state, for that matter.

Fbear.

I know if you slice and dice you could come out with a tidbit fact, and you really can.

But if you want to get in job ugly, Academical blames the great depression on Government.

"... regarding the Great Depression: You're right, we did it."-- what Federal Reserve Board Governor (now Chairman) Ben Bernanke finally said to Nobel Laureate Dr. Milton Friedman, at Milton's 90th birthday celebration, meaning that indeed, the Great Depression WAS caused by, AND prolonged by, THE GOVERNMENT, as Friedman had always said. [Financial Review, 12-9-2002]

People lets do the right ring for the right reason lets stop putting politics before the people.

Lets put America first and make it great.

But if you want to get in job ugly, Academical blames the great depression on Government.

It's difficult to respond when the language is indecipherable.

Hi Pat Ryan and thanks

1). your quote

"until they settled on the one that worked: Massive government spending and strict regulation,"

waste, ineffectiveness, and bureaucracy did what?

WOW, Really

2). 2 World War 2 brought out of the Depression, The National Social Party and the German evil government of Hitler became a scare to the world.

You all are fighting using the small details.

The facts are, their is a true correlation to the "The freer THE PEOPLE to CHOOSE. The higher standard of living for the poor.

Why are we saying we want to help the poor and working class, when your really working towards hurting them.

Lets Make America great, and the home of the FREE.

"I'm sure he knows what Oregon looks like far more than Huffman, or most anyone in the state, for that matter."

You're right, vote for Ron 'cause he knows Oregon better than you - even though he doesn't live her.

Yes, the freer the nation, the higher standard of living.

In the real world, North and South Korea, East and West Germany, and Hong Kong and China. All brother counties started at the same time promising great things to their people. Thus good intentions. All brother counties (except Hong Kong was a colony)had the same race, education, and started from the same, you might say ashes.

Hong Kong, achieved, prior to China taking over the highest social standard in the world, In other words the poor in Hong Kong had the least racism, the highest levels of health care, the least amount of child deaths, judged by a uniform social scale. They also by the same international scale had the highest freedoms in to choose in the world at the same time)

On the opposite side of the scale, The most government involvement, North Korea and China treatment of the poor were often cases of just extreme abuses.

Their is a correlation to the freer the country, and each citizens to make their own decisions, thus the freer the society, and the greater the standard of living of the poor.

It's just so simple and true, lets help our country, lets help the poor. Why do you think America became so great????

Steve Marx, Jack Bog, and other Wyden haters repeatedly say that Wyden doesn't live here, doesn't come here, and lives in NY, yet they offer no proof. Meanwhile, when presented with objective facts that Wyden is here frequently, maintains his residence in Portland, and holds town meetings in every county every year, they never have a response.

Once again, Mr. Marx, what evidence do you offer that Wyden "doesn't live here?"

Most of our congressmen, including Wyden, seem to own or maintain a residence in Washington, DC. DeFazio apparently has a residence in DC and owns one in New Zealand. But they all seem to meet your exacting Wyden residency requirements, Mr. Marx.

If what you are referring to is Wyden's marriage to a woman who lives in NY, that is different than never coming to Oregon. I am not going to hold it against Wyden that he married a woman not from here any more than I would hold it against one of them for marrying a Republican, being single, being gay, or anything else that is none of my business.

Either present hard evidence, or quit sliming the guy with innuendo.

Steve Marx, Jack Bog, and other Wyden haters repeatedly say that Wyden doesn't live here, doesn't come here, and lives in NY, yet they offer no proof. Meanwhile, when presented with objective facts that Wyden is here frequently, maintains his residence in Portland, and holds town meetings in every county every year, they never have a response.

Once again, Mr. Marx, what evidence do you offer that Wyden "doesn't live here?"

Most of our congressmen, including Wyden, seem to own or maintain a residence in Washington, DC. DeFazio apparently has a residence in DC and owns one in New Zealand. But they all seem to meet your exacting Wyden residency requirements, Mr. Marx.

If what you are referring to is Wyden's marriage to a woman who lives in NY, that is different than never coming to Oregon. I am not going to hold it against Wyden that he married a woman not from here any more than I would hold it against one of them for marrying a Republican, being single, being gay, or anything else that is none of my business.

Either present hard evidence, or quit sliming the guy with innuendo.

Huffman's campaign is already getting off to a pretty shaky start. In her paean to Huffman in today's "O", Elizabeth Hovde writes about his discarded bow tie, the revealing meetjimhuffman.com Web site, and she makes anticipatory excuses for his previous "decades" of statements and positions before she ever says a word about who this guy is or what he believes. (And even then she tells us very little. Hint: Huffman makes Bob Tiernan "giddy".) I'm sure Oregonians are going to be entranced by Huffman and the right wing spending the next numerous months trying to explain what her REALLY meant when he said thus-and-such. (Like "Get over it!" to those outraged by the taxpayer provided Wall Street bonuses.) One bonus to this weak campaign will be to expose to what degree the Oregon teabaggers are truly independent from the right wing of the GOP. If they fall in line behind this guy there will be little doubt.

"yet they offer no proof."

Married wife with book business in NY. Had 2 children with same wife who line in NY. WHere do you think he spends the majority of his non-DC time?

Hint- Its not Oregon.

BTW rdurig, for your notion that "freedom" equates to lower taxation and less government, and therefore a higher standard of living, this UN report shows Norway, with a much higher tax burden (3rd internationally as a percent of GDP), with the highest standard of living. The US is 13th. And nearly all the countries with higher living standards have greater government involvement in the actions of their businesses and higher taxes than does the US. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/norway-best-place-to-live_n_309698.html

"quit sliming the guy with innuendo"

This is BlueOregon - That NEVER happens right?

know that private investments, not expensive government programs will create the jobs they need

I'm sorry but I think he's right. Yes, his company (Halton) did benefit by selling a compactor to some construction company. Did that create a new job? No. I'm pretty sure Halton didn't hire someone brand new, off the street, to sell one compactor.

Did Baker Rock create a new job? No. From the article, it sounds as though Baker Rock simply acquired the new machine because it had work in queue to justify the new machine; but that it doesn't say whether the machine was an addition and required additional manpower, or whether the machine was a replacement for an older machine that baring new work would have simply been retired and not replaced.

So, it sounds as though no new jobs were created which is the spiel. It didn't say that the stimulus program offered no benefit - Halton made a sale and probably earned a little profit. But it didn't create new jobs.

Please listen your argument.

You want to promote government, instead of whats best for the people.

Yes your right Norway is quite rare, as it also gained tremendous wealth from exporting oil, if you look even further there is more. But if you know statistics then you must realize that when your 2 standard deviations or above 95 percentiles, that amazingly conclusive.

I quote

We did a regression analysis comparing our economic freedom scores with the Freedom House scores for political and civil liberties. We found that:

* Countries that are more economically free also tend to be more politically free; and
* There is an even stronger link between eco­nomic freedom and civil rights such as freedom of assembly, an independent media, and equal­ity of opportunity. That relationship was statis­tically significant at 99 percent... No one can objectively deny the strong relation­ships among economic, political, and civil free­doms and wealth."

Yes this board can

Marx, your claim was that Wyden "doesn't live here" and your "evidence" is you repeating the obvious, that he married a businesswoman from NY? Guess what that proves --- you can read.

Your response to being (fairly) accused of intention to slime? "This is BlueOregon - That NEVER happens right?" While some A-holes slime people on BlueOregon, the great majority of us do nothing of the sort. Guess what that proves --- you are among the tiny minority on BlueOregon who meet the criteria for being an A-hole.

Here is my "evidence" for Wyden living in Oregon. I see Wyden in our state way more than I ever saw Smith, Hatfield or Packwood. My friend just saw him in Eugene having coffee this weekend. He has town meetings in every county of the state every year he has served, maintains a residence somewhere in Portland, and seems to really get what is going on in most corners of the state every time I have heard him speak. Like most people, I could care less that he found a soulmate who had the poor fortune of being born in NY.

My final evidence - when it came time to choose between his state of Oregon and his wife's state of NY, he voted against Bush and Obama's Wall Street bailout and voted for the us victims right here in Oregon. I wish a lot more senators had joined him, but apparently they are just not from around here.

It is funny watching so many commenters wasting time and column inches rebutting rdurig's simple-minded diatribes, but really you should remember not to feed the trolls! They do not offer substantive debate, and distract from the subject post. RD does exactly and purposely that.

Ed, I think RDurig is honest.

Here's what I just don't get about some liberals. What percent of folks think Elvis is still alive? That FDR was a communist? That we're being visited by ET? That they can read auras? That the War in Iraq is about making us safer? The list of stupid things that sizable populations believe is never ending. Sure there's overlap, but how many people is that?

You, Karl Rove, and pick one of the above, have precisely the same voting power. One vote, one candidate. You have to engage people that don't meet your standards- hell, ANY standard- for reality testing and intellectual ability, given our system. This blog has a kind of schizophrenia about whether it's a little clique of local Dems or where they engage the greater population. IMHO, it has been best when it was the latter.

Thanks for your comments Ed.

But please keep it professional

I quote the Freedom report "People in economically free societies live longer and healthier lives. They enjoy greater political freedom and can better defend their human rights. Freedom reduces poverty, opening the gates of prosperity to ever more people around the world."

and this quote "Greater freedoms is also strongly correlated with overall human development as measured by the United Nations Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, literacy, education, and the standard of living in countries worldwide."

Please calling people trolls sound good to some and I guess will help some light thinkers. Personally I've been called much worse, it comes with duty of doing the the right things for the right reason.

Sorry, Pat, but I saw no 'relevant data' offered in regards to the subject of the post, only divergence from the thread to a obsessive and ill-defined agenda. I found nothing with which to agree or disagree in regards to Prof. Huffman's lack of finesse in public pronouncements.

Look, it is true that I've had an unpleasant exchange with that commenter before, but this is not a running feud over hurt feelings. I care about this blog remaining a serious discussion of local politics, and bloating it with unwarranted dissection of inane and non-cogent theories makes readers want to be elsewhere. It does me!

Your quotes Steve "Fundamentally, it comes down to whether someone puts forward a fact-based argument"

Please read what your say, I gave data point after data point, you guys attack. Then you how gave no facts.

I guess this is your fact-based argument Steve and I quote "He's a disingenuous ring wing asshole" or this Steve"issuing blanket statements unsupported by fact"

It very obvious since you have no data, notta, none, you hide that, and I could see this is main element that it's rather surprising how little real content you and ED honestly provided.

I would love a debate you gentleman on content, but please provide something more than personal attacking, attacking, attack.

Another quote from a Notional socialist- “Strength lies not in defense but in the attack”. Adolf Hitler

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