BANGOR, Maine — Sen. Olympia Snowe urged fellow Republicans to “pull out all the stops” to ensure President Barack Obama is held to one term Saturday night.
“We’re mired in one of the worst post-recession recoveries in the history of our country, and that’s why there is so much at stake in this election,” Snowe said. “That’s why it’s important to elect Republicans.”
Snowe was the keynote speaker at the Bangor Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Wellman Commons, and she painted a dire picture of the U.S. governed by the Obama administration for another four years.
“The president said, when he assumed office, that he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his term, and now we have three of our nation’s highest deficits in the history of our country, which have produced a 43 percent increase in the overall national debt, which has catapulted us into what economists describe as the economic danger zone because our debt is 100 percent of the gross domestic product,” Snowe said.
Just a few minutes after announcing Maine’s Republican Caucus results to a roomful of about 60 people, Snowe detailed the reasons she feels America is “at a tipping point”:
• “By 2016, the United States will be overtaken by China in terms of size of economy.”
• “There are a million more Americans unemployed today than there were when President Obama assumed office in January of 2001.”
• “We also lost our triple-A credit rating for the first time in the history of our country. America is losing rather than attracting growth capital. Americans are investing $115 billion more abroad than foreign investment is occurring here in the United States.”
• “The [Congressional Budget Office’s] forecast is grim. According to their own predictions, the unemployment rate will be 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 and economic growth will only be 1.1 percent. That is as good as it gets.”
• “This administration has embarked on a regulatory rampage. In 2010 alone, President Obama issued more than 82,000 pages of regulations, which was an historic act. That’s why I believe we have to do everything to reform the process and inject common sense and practicality.”
• “And then you compound that further by the overlay of the gargantuan health care law that represented more than 2,700 pages, a $500 billion tax increase, has already produced more than 10,000 regulations, and to borrow a line from the legendary John Paul Jones, they have not yet begun to regulate.”
Snowe told the gathering, which included office-holders in Maine, that she has three basic pillars in her Senate agenda to create change.
“One is to balance the federal budget … Second is regulatory reform, and third is overhauling the tax code,” she said. “We have not had a federal budget in three years, so it’s no coincidence that we would have three of the highest deficits in the history of this country during the same three years in which we’ve had no federal budget.
“Now we’re headed toward a fourth year because the Senate majority leader announced a week ago, rather dismissively, that we don’t need to do a budget this year. I mean, that’s a rather remarkable statement since we’re required by law to pass a budget by April 15.”
Snowe encouraged those at the dinner to continue the momentum from last year’s elections — which gave Republicans control of Maine’s executive and legislative branches at the same time for the first time in 47 years — and elect a Republican president and recapture a Republican majority in the Senate.
“We have to thwart the assault by the president and the Democrats on the private sector,” Snowe said, adding that’s why she proposed regulatory reform blocked on two different occasions by the majority leader.
She also recalled an attempt to pass a balanced budget amendment in 1997 that fell one vote short.
“Back then the federal debt was $5.3 trillion and today it’s going to more than triple … to $16.4 trillion by the end of this year,” she said.
Snowe recalled that Obama was asked recently whether he thought Congress needed a balanced budget amendment and that he answered no because Congress can do its job.
“Well, obviously, the Congress can’t do its job and we can give 16 trillion reasons why it can’t,” she said. “So work hard and work united, not divided, to help Republicans win this fall.”
It is not just a matter of electing Republicans; it is a matter of electing the right R’s–that is why I will not give to any general event that contributes the funds to all R’s. With all due respect, Senator Snowe has been part of the problem, not of the solution. She has been in lockstep with Obama since he was sworn into office, so she might as well sign on as a Democrat to really keep from being a RINO.
“Tipping point.”
Whatever.
Same as it ever was.
For Republicans, the “tipping point” is every two years.
From Sen. Snowe’s comments, one would never think that, when her beloved George W. Bush became President, the US had a big budget surplus that, of course, was ruined by Bush’s relentless tax cuts and huge expenditures for the Iraq and later Afghan Wars. It’s only Obama’s fault, of course, to her and her fellow Republicans in history fantasy land. She deserves defeat, and NOT because she’s allegedly too liberal
Completely correct. She’s been in office for about 30 years and we are now at a tipping point? She couldn’t do anything in the first 30 years. We agave full republican power to the Maine government and look where we are, chaos. I’ll never vote for Snowe again, and I hope her reign is over. She’s all talk about protecting us while raking in big money from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and conveniently fails to mention that the reason Obama can’t get anything accomplished is because he keeps getting blocked by the republicans.
The GOP has no memory, only delusions of grandeur. Meanwhile, in a tip to Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, they continue to be the most obstructionist Congress and Senate in living memory. Despite revisionist versions of Reagan’s term there was a major recession in in 84. Bush 1 couldn’t do anything and didn’t. Clinton kept the country out of war, out of recession, and actually left office with a the budget operating in the green. Then came Bush 2 and his buddy Cheney and we have tax cuts and deregulation of Wall St., along 2 wars (rather than just bombing the crap out of them and coming home!), and we are back in the red. Thank heaven he didn’t get his way with privatizing social security. So Obama with a democratic minority in the House is blamed! Jerks!
Excuse me , the deregulation of Wall street started with Reagan and Bill ( I didn’t inhale , that was not sex ) Clinton played along. As a matter of fact he became a very rich man because of his participation. The democrats are just as much to blame as the republicans. Trouble is this country has run out of leaders with any guts or moral fibre ! It won’t be fixed until we the people shut down “business as usual” in Washington.
It’s true what everyone forgets the current problems came from a culmination of factors over a greater period of time than just the last couple presidents. There is no easy fix, and all of us low on the totem pole are just carried along for the ride, until someone up top can get the controversial changes made that will turn it all around.
Democrats don’t like it if you bomb the crap out of people.
Exactly…why do they worry so much about a little collateral damage?
Weak bleeding hearts.
I could wear my finger out pushing the “nuke” button, and create jobs building more, and shipping our new oil reserves over here.
spoken like a true dem. theres only one side and its yours….
Spoken like a true republican. When we screw up, we want to blame everyone….
Spoken like two partisan fools…so distracted by the dog and pony show put on by Washington that you can’t admit that you have similar goals. This is not good for an exchange of facts and ideas, it only leads to stupid bickering and a drain of the intellect that should be involved in making these decisions.
People who have pride and integrity, and prefer to take care of themselves, will never get along with people who prefer to be taken care of from other’s labor. You don’t have to be a rich man, to just want to earn your own way and take care of your own.
Speaking of bickering…can you imagine if there was ever an all out civil war in this country between Republicans and Democrats? The nasty, evil, cut throat, war loving Republicans would annihilate the weepy, weak, yuppie Democrats. Problem solved.
Just a thought.
Snowe must go !!
I got a shovel and a bag of salt.
Actually we was in a recession when Bush took office,( remember the dot com bubble had burst ). After the tax cuts we had the highest tax receipts and the lowest unemployment in history . If congress had fixed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac like the Bush administration had asked in 2002 we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.
Bush wanted to give Full control of Fannie and Freddie to the Treasury, while private banks where selling junk on the market anyway.
Just another Republican Privatization Scheme!
The Majority of Loans that defaulted where in the hands of private banks!
Sen. Snowe is so right about replacing Obama. He is the primary reason the country is so fractured socially and economically. Before presidency he demonstrated no leadership abilities and so far has not learned any, some people just do not have leadership in them. He is steering our country kind of like an Italian cruise ship captain.
Osama Bin Laden and Colonel Ghaddaffi do not agree with you.
As a veteran I know in my heart that anyone could have ordered those hits. I also believe this was done when it was to boost falling ratings of Obama.
As far as Gaddaffi (spelling?) goes, Obama supported the Europeans and succeeded without the loss of American lives.
Bush, by his own words, did not know where Bin Laden was and did not care. Could anyone have killed Bin Laden? Sure, but had Obama not done it the question would be when. Had the mission failed, I seriously doubt you would have said that could happen to anyone.
Every one should also acknowledge that it took a lot of intelligence (military) to find out where he was. The Pakistanis obviously were not going to capture him. It also took a lot of planning to be sure there were no screw ups. That being said, I am amused but not surprised that certain people attempt to downplay the accomplishment of getting the #1 target.
The fact is that Obama gave the order and it succeeded, and that his authorization of military aid to the Libyan rebels and our European allies also succeeded. Let’s not forget Egypt and the other middle eastern countries where oppressive regimes were overthrown without the loss of American lives.
The fact is also that in spite of the best obstructionist policies of the republican party, this country is slowly moving out of the hole George Bush and the neocons put us in, and they most likely will soon find out how much the American people are aware of their destructive tendencies.
Help me understand , now that the number 1 target is dead why is the war still going on ? By the way the Pakastani’s were hiding this man from our Pakistani friendly president.
Yes, they hid Bin Laden from our Pakistani friendly president, George Bush, and they hid him from Obama, too. He was in Pakistan for 5 years at least.
Keep in mind that Pakistan is a nuclear power, small one, but still nuclear. The US policy is to keep on as friendly terms as possible in order to defuse any tension between Pakistan and India, which also has nuclear weapons. This will hopefully allow us to prevent the Taliban or Al Quaeda from gaining control of Pakistan’s weapons as well. War and politics make for sometimes strange and strained alliances.
Well better get used to it…the GOP has sealed their own doom….
In case you have been in a coma for the last couple of years, This administration has to its credit: Increased GDP from -9% to +2-3%; ended war in Iraq; brought ultimate justice to Bin Laden, Al Awlaki, and other high profile terrorists; saved the US auto industry and millions of jobs as a result, passed the first health care reform that will reduce this stress on our deficits and improve access to care for millions and the unemployment trends have turned positive for the first time in years.
I guess you must have missed the Bush years somehow, in suggesting that we are now, all of a sudden, a fractured electorate.
As for leadership, this president has met with the most hostile congress since FDR, and possibly since the civil war. Still, he has managed to keep us on track to honor and meet our obligations. This even after the Tea Party sought to block the debt ceiling and not honor our debts.
When a president during a time of war has to deal with this type of obstruction and usurpation and still shows the ability to compromise and negotiate, that is leadership. To stand tall and prosecute terror threats effectively and to have truly made a statement to terrorists around the world that America means business when combating terrorism, that is leadership. To place the off-balance sheet wars and domestic programs back in the budget so the people can see the costs of government and wars after they had been hidden, that is leadership.
The GOP has failed to admit their mistakes from the Bush years. You are with them it seems in ignoring the pain that these failures caused. You will be doomed to ineptitude from your candidates until you learn this humbling lesson, admit when you get it wrong and try to get it right the next time by doing things differently. The GOP has no new tricks to offer. If you want another economic collapse, more poverty, more joblessness, more inequality, less transparency in spending, more uninsured driving costs higher, more staggering deficits and more elective wars, then the GOP is definitely for you.
Very well said.
Maybe I’d vote for Snow, but I sure wouldn’t vote for the monkeys currently trying to win the Republican presidential nomination!
post recession? , more like recession going into depression.
She’s had her chance to make a positive difference for the past generation. Now, she needs to let someone else, anyone else, take a shot at it. She makes it sound like she had nothing to do with the completely dysfunctional Congress. She was part of it and “real player” in it’s inability to get anything done, one way or another. It is time to clear out the whole lot but the means that are available to us.
She blew it with me when she refused to impeach Bill for immorality and lying to congress under oath….
Senator Snowe has just lost my support based on this list of anti-Obama utterances.
George Cheney-Bush et al is most responsible for not only this ongoing economic mess, but the current imbalance of power among the three branches of government with unprecedented grabs at expanded executive powers.
This country has changed in some very fundamentally startling ways since the ‘200o Selection’,
particularly after ‘9/11’.
Obama is the best shot our democracy has at resetting the Constitutional pendulum to swing, once again, the way the framers intended.
Currently, there is not one GOP candidate who should ever be trusted to do that.
It would be funny, if not so sad, to pretend otherwise.
Obama 2012
I believe that Snowe and Collins have done some good things for Maine however the stability of the country is at stake here. When the chips are down they vote GOP and that has cost Mainer’s plenty. They’ve both got to go and be replaced by democrats.
You’re right they probably did a good job in the past, but now they all follow Mitch McDonnell . As you know he is only there to make sure Obahma is a one term president. He has this so may times that we know that is what his plans are. They voted against every darn thing the president tried to pass.
HA,HA,HA, WHAT A JOKE! ODUMMER THE BEST SHOT! HA,HA,HA!
If you use all caps does it make you more right? The repubs. have nobody that stands a chance. They should concede now and save a crapload of money.
Actually. let em keep going…let them do everything they can to hand Obama the election. They’ve got a great start. Obama’s campaign can save the money by just rerunning the negative ads the GOP candidates have run against each other.
My personal favorite is Mitt Romney calling himself a “severe” conservative. Like that’s even remotely true or would play well in the general election.
the only thing severe about Mitt is his delusions.
As I say we never had an exact count of how many MORONS there were in this country; until Obam got elected…. just one thought, Bush stimulus 150 B which 125 B directly into American pockets! Obam 890B which 0 went into Americas pockets. I am a Dem turned Rep… Obam is the worst President this country ever had his election victory has proven our young do not have the knowledge or inteligence to vote! xoting age should be 25 and you have to pass a test to vote.
C’mon folks.. lets cut all the political tribal chatter.. we all know who, what, when, where, and how. It’s both D’s and R’s and us. The first two we can fix easily in November (vote them all out of office) .. the latter is more problematic unless we examine our own motivated behaviors and respond accordingly. You need to raise the bar .. 8 notches and then 22 more.
Addendum: As for Gothgirl.. When your ripe .. it’s time to go.
The people who gave us W and Sarah Palin need to accept the fact that they’re not going to have their hands on the wheel for a while.
20 Jan 2013 Obama bin Lyin’s last day…
As long as the opposition is supported by people with your thought process, I think that Obama is in fine shape.
I’m not a democrat, but I honestly doubt any of the republican candidates beat Obama, although I’m no great fan of his either.
Lepage ,
Out the Door in Twenty One Four!
Typical dem comment that makes absolutely no sense !
dem comment ?
I am an Independant that is just fed up with Republicans !
Next Nov., is it going to Snowe again or will it be a Snowe free month…lets hope Snowe free!!
Snowe must go !! & Collins too !!
We have already seen the obstructionism from the republicans when they gained control of one house in congress. We have seen the intrusion into people’s personal lives where the republicans gained control of state governments. And we have seen to what lengths the republicans will go, even when it results in nearly defaulting on the national debt and the subsequent loss of the triple A rating. We have seen the failure of the republicans to follow through on their election campaign promises to create jobs. They have blocked more presidential appointments, used the filibuster more often, than any Congress in history. The republicans had their chance, and with the lack of integrity and character of the republican contenders now, they will not be given another anytime soon.
I have a better idea….we need to pull out all the stops and get rid of the Corporate Triad of greedy Republicans in Maine…..Snowe, Collins, and LePage……
Meanwhile we’ll let Michaud become a rich man. It’s time to get control of ALL of them ! Shut down PAC influence !
She’s the one who spent us into oblivion.
Shhheeesh.
I’d like to think the “Tipping Point” was to slide the “Tea Party” off to their own planet!
Ms. Snow should follow her own words and STOP voting with the Democrats on major issues that effect our country! When she is up for election, she will elected again, but no with my vote!
It is better to vote her back than to get somebody worse.
You think so, huh? The old Devil you know is better than one you don’t? I disagree.
Who you going to replace her with Andrew Ian Dodge, Cynthia Dill, John Hinck, Lawrence “Scott” D’Amboise LOL. Matt Dunlap is ok but he has no chance. The rest aren’t qualified to be elected Dog Catcher. The only reason Hinck and Dill are in the Legislature. Dill comes from Wealthy Elitist Cape Elizabeth and Hinck the People’s Republic of Portland with Hinck’s wife a Lobbyist in Augusta who lives off of Taxpayer subsidies enough said. Hinck is only running to get his Wife a job as a lobbyist in Washington. With Dill so she can push a National Park for Maine which won’t happen either.
The Republican’s “Politics of Paranoia” campaign continues…
It will take more than just three years or even three terms to get us out of the hole that the eight years of Bush’s economic policy have done to this country. And of course the wars he waged for the benefit of the oil industry. How many spins were put on that before the truth came to light? Those haven’t come cheaply. And that is also an ongoing cost that the current president has to deal with. He inherited a country that was reeling from unprecedented financial and economic disasters. Things may not be all rosy at this point, but imagine how much worse they could be with a Tea party agenda being shoved down our throats as it is here in Maine or Wisconsin.
For sure Snowe, time for you to be voted out. You already made your millions from corruption.
Snowes “snow” job. No one is buying it. Her only advice is to vote the Repubs. back into the White House, along with her, so she can go and hide in her fancy office again. Yikes, look whose running on the Repub. side…..how scary is that?
How the hell does she say this stuff with a straight face? She’s pandering to the fringe. It’s ridiculous. If Obama is guilty of all she says he is, she and the Republican party are as well.
At least she is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Her comments sound like damage control at a fund raiser. The Tea Party wants her out. Those of us who are RINOs (I prefer “Normal Republicans”) prefer to see her remain to counteract the Tea Party and Tea Party Express and to not lose her seniority position.
The quoted talking points are right out of the 2012 re-election handbook. I cannot imagine she actually believes this stuff. Us losing our AAA credit rating? Well, whose fault was that?
Did anyone check to see if she had her fingers crossed while making these statements?
Oly has a remarkably short memory. 9-11 eliminated, it was George the 2nd that added to the deficit thru the unfunded drug plan, his repeal of the Glass-Stegall Act (that removed the prevention’s that kept both the investment and commercial banking sectors, and the financial service’s sector, from creating the current economic mess we are ALL IN), the expansion of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae thru the loosening of money into the sub-prime mortgage market (and we all see how well that turned out, don’t we ? ) and their being used in the bond and securities market’s as real collateral, and the expansion of NAFTA criteria to countries that were never supposed to be covered. Add George’s fanatical expansion of the banking and financial market’s into China and it’s not such a huge leap to see where it was all going to wind up. That the GOP, and Oly of all people considering her lock-step agreement with George, is blamng Obama for not being able in 36 months to clean up a mess that took 8 years to create, and that doesn’t include the 9-11 cost’s, is only 1 very short step from either a tragedy or a hystericly driven comedy. Both Oly and Susie are more than accountable for this mess. Their voting record is proof of that beyond question. The call for a complete overhaul, of both Party’s, is now more than a possibility. The big question is when and who’s going to lead it. And given the current group of GOP Candidate’s, I don’t see it happening anytime soon from the GOP. What’s really sad is that the Moderate’s, of both Party’s, have been shut out of any reform process. Sooner or later, and it’s inevitable, the Moderate’s of both Party’s are going to be heard. The question right now is simple. Are the Democrat’s and Republican’s going to be a part of the change or are they going to be seen as ‘roadkill’ ? It’s time for the political process, on both side’s, to start showing some vision and smart’s.
The GOP not only has a Memory Hole – they use it.
yessah
Memory Hole, no. The Grand Canyon, YES ! And the Tea Party is largely responsible for it’s increase in size over the last 2 years.
The President should have focused on the economy first. Not all his other pet projects. The then controlled deocratic senate and congress should have steered him in that direction. So now that they did nothing the first two plus years of his admistration they are pointing fingers toward the republicans. The senate majority leader says we don’t need a budget? There is a law that says we do and they need to get on with it. What really needs to happen here is that all 535 of them need to go to the employment office and let some new blood with the will to govern for the people not themselves.
Reading the Senator’s speech about the President, reminds me a lot about when my two children are in the other room and I hear a large crash or bang. I go to see the cause of the noise and both point their finger at the other one and say, “They did it!” This is the basic landscape of politics today in America.
Tea calling the kettle black. The good Senator could have choked this thing to death in its crib, yet she voted for it in appropriations. As the old saying goes,” she was for it before she was against it.”
• “And then you compound that further by the overlay of the gargantuan health care law that represented more than 2,700 pages, a $500 billion tax increase, has already produced more than 10,000 regulations, and to borrow a line from the legendary John Paul Jones, they have not yet begun to regulate.”
None of these people will have my vote come November.
Tipping point, right, that New World Order is coming to fruitation only took 12-15 years.
We’re screwed, because too many people love big government and un-sustainable debt to see the bigger picture as to where we as a country have been heading for years…and it’s not all the fault of one party or the other, either.
The country was at a tipping point in the fall of 2008 after nearly eight years of Republican economic mismanagement under Republican George Bush, the man-whose-name-Republicans-must-not utter.
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George W. Bush.
Why aren’t singing the praises of the last 2 term republican president?
Let me count the ways.
yessah
Because Obuma finished tipping it over…
It hasn’t tipped over. Ask Mitt Romney. He “earned” $40,000,000 in the last two years. Actually I think Romney is very cagey. After he gets the Republican nomination, I think he will campaign for President Obama’s re-election. Why would Romney want to rock the boat?
Obama & Romney are cut from the same dirty political material, paid for by the American workers and have no regard for anything but their own special interests
I’m not one for much politicking (sp). What has impressed me is the non – farm payroll chart. Has anyone seen that chart? I’ll try to find the link and post it.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/non-farm-payrolls
I guess you can take what you want from the chart, but it appears to me we lost thousands of jobs before and during the first part of President Obama’s first term. It looks like it is going the right way now. That’s how I see it anyway.
Her own party was responsible for a law that took away more personal freedom than any law in the history of the US, Bush pushed and pushed for the economically destructive tax cuts during wartime, he fiddled while the banks robbed our treasury to cover their insane risk taking, and turned a surplus into a huge deficit. Methinks she needs a mirror to focus blame, and needs to be escorted out the door.
She is playing up to the Tea Party!
And,
That Boat Wont Float!
Tipping Point indeed.
There will be a Maine Democrat in the Senate in 2013.
yessah
Put the case of Budwiser down. If you think Snowe is losing to the buffoons running against her in the primary and eventually in the general your delusional. They have about as much chance of beating her as me hitting the Powerball or Mega Millions. Snowe will win by 60%+ in the primary and no less than 40 % in the General it will be laughable. Snowe and Collins both will have to retire before any Liberal has a chance of taking those seats back. That is why the experts (Hot Line) who follows congressional elections is rating her a 19 out of 20 of staying (1 being the best chance of losing with 20 no chance of losing).
One of the problems is that Ms. Snow has followed our President down a crocked path with the so called health care and into this massive debt. He needs to be voted out and we should have a second thought about her. We need someone in there that will have the courage to look out for us.
What did she do when George W Bush was president?????
its bush’s fault! no, its obama’s fault! no, its bush’s fault, no its obama’s fault.
when are you fools going to see that its the politricians of both parties. they are playing us and you keep paying. the over paid idols who claim to serve us could care less who wins and controls the white house, as long as they continue to sit and dictate how we will support them.
Your comment is right on the money Bud , it’s time we remind them who they work for. I say let’s pay them minimum wage , limit them to one term , give them the same medical benefits they want for us , take away their retirements…..need I go on. They are living high off of our blood ,sweat and tears and it has to stop. The only real problem with this country is Washington politicians.
I will vote them all out this November. This acrimony has got to stop and is on both sides. Olympia no longer wants to be known as a moderate because she could never win. Sorry, folks, am lookimg for those who sincerely look at what is best for the country and not their party. If that means keep replacing people until we get to that so be it.
Problem is you can’t vote them all out- there are 434 representatives you have no authority over. There is only one thing WE can do- that is INSIST on term limits for ALL OF THEM, and severe conflict of interest and hiring restrictions (so they won’t sell out to lobbyists) on them AND ALL STAFF MEMBERS. Folks that don’t know the DC scam like I do, don’t know the incest that goes on between the lobbyists and the staffers. If you have term limits, you have to control these staffers who do all of Congress’ dirty work. Voting out Oly would be a blessing yes, but would treat a real small symptom.
When the boat does finally tip, Ms Snow may be underneath it.
The senator was always the first to reach across the isle and compromise to get things done. The fact of the matter is we are beyond that point..Our country is broke, we have lost our work ethic, politicians on both sides have spent us to a point we cannot recover with entitlements are underfunded. In the meantime, our state has more people that are dependent on goverment. There is plenety of blame to go around and the Dems certainly don’t have any solutions..On the R side Rep Ryan had the guts to show us how to get out of it…Simpson Boles committee put together by Obama also had solutions but all is ignored to get elected and keep the dependency voters on your side. Politicians cannot fix this problem..we do…thank everyone you see working today no matter what they do for their efforts…that might be a start and then find a role you can play to change things….help a neighbor, create a job, or something you feel will help someone to improve their life…the Folks in DC will not solve our problems…
How can they be so out of touch with reality. Do they really believe what they are saying is real? We need change. The extreme conservative movement has taken the Republican party off the deep end. The only way to bring them back is to place them on the side lines and to give them the opportunity to get sane people back as leaders.
“so it’s no coincidence that we would have three of the highest
deficits in the history of this country during the same three years in
which we’ve had no federal budget.
“Now we’re headed toward a fourth year because the Senate majority
leader announced a week ago, rather dismissively, that we don’t need to
do a budget this year. I mean, that’s a rather remarkable statement
since we’re required by law to pass a budget by April 15.”
Senator Snowe: If we’ve had no federal budget for 3 years and you are required by law to pass a budget by April 15th shouldn’t you all be in jail for breaking the law? And to think her apprentice Kevin Raye is trying to join her in DC. Let the investigative reporting begin! Let’s find out who these people really are.
If Senator Snowe really belives we should elect a Republican to the senate she should step down because most republican voters are done with her 30 year run. I for one will vote for whomever runs against her !
Olympia, we tipped into the pit during those Bush-Cheney years.
Too bad you’re on the one-term wagon with McConnell and Boehner. You’s lost your moderate approach to the issues. Just like them, your term is dedicated to the teapublican radicalism of making sure President Obama serves one term – nothing else matters.
It’s the disgusting Mitch McConnell quote, said on the floor of the Senate: “I won’t vote for anything that will help THAT MAN get re-elected!” How incredibly pathetic and un-American!
Isn’t it only natural that China, which has 5 times as many people as the US, would have a larger economy?
“Assault on the private sector”..? sounds like maybe Oly’s been talking on the phone with John Boner.
WE ARE AT A TIPPING POINT & SNOWE IS PUSHING US OVER THE EDGE
SNOWE +National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) = FREEDUMB
STOP BEING COMPLACENT SLAVES AND GET THIS WOMAN OUT OF OFFICE !
Hey, Popeye!
Please Restrain your Girl friend!
I used to like her because I thought she voted the issues not the party but when I’m wrong I say I’m wrong… and I’m very wrong about Snowe. I probably would have voted for her but she’s now lost any chance at getting my vote ever or my respect.
We’re not stupid… we know that Congress played a major role in bringing us to the point of recession and just as big a role in our lack of recovery. Snowe has been part of Congress for 30 years or so and now she wants us to believe that it’s all someone else’s fault? She wants us to believe she had no say in matters? She can’t even admit that she’s at least partly responsible for the poor decisions that Congress made on our behalf that led us to this mess? And now all she can say is vote the party, not the person. It’s time for her to be DONE…
The article says “Snowe encouraged those at the dinner to continue the momentum from last year’s elections — ” and to vote Republican. This turns my stomach because last year’s election resulted in panic votes for tea party candidates who won seats but have no idea what to do now that they’re a part of government and who have accomplished none of what they promised. Last election gave us LePage who spent the first part of his term calling people names, alienating just about everyone in the state, stealing murals, cussing, getting national media coverage for his idiotic antics. LePage was a product of last election and my guess is that he’ll go down in history as the most embarrassing excuse for a Governor in all of the USA. And now Snowe says she wants more of that… more blind party voting, more ridiculous antics instead of governing. How can anyone respect someone who says that? Well Ms. Snowe, I vote the person, not the party and may the best candidates win.
She has my vote, but not anybody that isn’t willing to oppose Quimby….!
*Obama
*RINO Romney
*Ron Paul
Tell me your kidding….because Obama, Romney or Paul don’t have anything to do with Roxanne Quimby wanting to use her land that she pays Maine taxes on to be given for a National Park…Nothing….
We the people of Maine make that decision….not Washington. So get away from the scare, doom and gloom tactics that Senator Snowe and you use and stick with the facts….
This has nothing to do with the US. economy and it’s jobs….if the shoe was on the other foot and you were being told that even though you own a 1,000 acres and paying taxes on it, that I can come along and tell you….by the way….you can’t use your land…look at Senator Snowes, smile…..trust me people….we have for 30 years and where has it got us….isn’t she wonderful.
Life according to you…. yeah right
And No, I don’t trust you….!
…
Yes!! It is all President Obama’s fault that the US is in this mess, since I have only been part of the problem for 30 years to his 3 years. And of course Congress is not to blame…with a 10% approval rating among Americans….with the President’s almost 50%, and what party runs Congress…my party, the party of No…and Congress is the ones that caused the triple A credit rating to drop….not the President. See Olympia and my party wants to tell you that we are all headed to doom and gloom, that the US is in the worst mess it ever has been in unemployment etc.
Well Pres. Ronald Regan had the same unemployment ratings when he got re-elected…but than again, she doesn’t want you to look at that…she wants to tell you just how awful we are, and just how awful we are going to get if we don’t elect any of the cronnies that my party is offering to replace him.
She’s using the old back door politics…. instead of telling you how she and my party and others can help pull us out of this long recovery…she wants to tell you that he is the reason that you and I are miserable, useless, our lives are worthless…..and not both parties in Congress and the Senate with their stalling in Congress. I am a life long Republican, my wife ran Olympia Snowe’s Congressional Office in Maine for 26 years before retiring…
I know Olympia, she is a good person, she just is not being straight with you and I. She has made some mistakes in the past, but she has never said so or apologized told you and me and stated that she would do better.
The President has admitted he made mistakes, and he has apologized to you and I for them and has learned and is moving forward. I am a Republican and can see what she and my party are doing…they are sacrificing you and my families future by playing politics in trying to defeat him, instead of putting their efforts in sloving this nations problems….
And there is a lot more Republicans out there that feel the same way I do………Just look at the low turn out and concerns voiced about our nominees by life long Republicans….We can do better, why aren’t we doing so…because we as a party cannot stand up and take part of the blame instead of chosing to still live in fantasy land….
What has Senator Snowe done for Maine? After 30 years in office we have the misfortune of being the most economically deprived state in the country. Yet she’s one of the wealthiest senators in Congress. She doesn’t give a whit for the problems Maine is facing and hasn’t got one good idea for how Maine can turn itself around economically.
Perhaps if Snowe and fellow republicans were honest in their approach, they might not be a party in disarray. IF the GOP started with the premise that the Bush fiscal policy disaster was their own creation, that it failed and that they have learned any lesson at all from it, we could get behind them. Instead, none of them take any ownership in approving tax cuts during multiple expense wars. This result was not only predictable, it was inescapable. IT was never done before because it is unsound policy.
Trying to blame the state of the economy on Obama while avoiding taking ownership of any part of it is absolutely dishonest.
I could take apart the arguments she poses for how our recovery is not a recovery at all, but I trust enough of you are smart enough to do that by yourselves. Senator Snowe does not think you are. Nor Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or even Ron Paul. They are going to pay the price for failing to admit their own culpability. The people will make sure of it.
Bush did it!!!!!!!!!!!!! he must have been a powerful man to convince pelosi to spend all that money!
Pelosi was not speaker until 2006. The Bush cuts were in 2001 and 2003, so your facts do not add up. Also, the cuts were passed by a slim mostly partisan margin in the house and a slightly larger majority in the Senate.
It is also worth adding that the Heritage Foundation stated at the time that the Bush tax cuts would “eliminate the deficit by fiscal 2010”. Hows that working for ya? Still, even though the entire conservative narrative can be dispelled by seeing what actually happened, this remains a dominant economic philosophy. Too bad for all of us that it doesn’t work and actually does precisely the opposite.
Facts and historical context are not friendly to your cause.
This self serving cr@p from a RINO whose actions and votes have helped to create the very situation she is condemning.
Snow is a moderate and that is important to the country right now as we can no longer be governed from the far right or far left. She has had vast experience and knows her stuff. She has high seniority and knows how to negotiate. She is great at reaching a compromise. While I would prefer her to be more conservative, I think there are more positives than negatives.
I cannot disagree more strongly! Ahh the myth of the GREAT COMPROMISE. “Reaching across the aisle”to get things done. Totally bogus. We conservatives have been compromising with the left for 40+ years. Incrementally we have given in to compromising with their agenda. and have abandoned our own principles of fiscal restraint, limited government and personal responsibility. The left took each compromise and constantly came back for another, and another, and another until we actually believed that a “moderate” like Snowe was preferable to a liberal who at least had guts to declare themselves and go after what they wanted. It is compromise that has allowed us to be where we are today. Out of work, out of money,out of ideas and out of luck!
So true! well said!
Mainer’s are hoping for no more Snow(e) enough is enough
This, coming from little Miss Compromise. You have become just another RINO that
recites talking points generated by the RNC.
We are way past the tipping point and well into a slide to third world status. Snowe’s unwillingness to resist arm twisting from right wing nuts during Bush was part of the problem, so that’s her role in this. The final death knell for this country, imo, was of the Citizens United decision saying corporations are people(can we execute the bad ones, I wonder?) which allowed unlimited spending by corporations in elections. If Snowe would fight to reverse this legislatively then it might be possible to undo some of the damage caused by Republicans. There are still the issues of military/industrial spending being out of control and climate change of which shale is a huge, if unacknowledged, concern.
We are going to hell in a handbasket because of the Republicans. Obama is introducing his budget in the near future. If he proposes the Republicans’ proposal from last year, the Republicans would still reject it this year. That just about sums up the problem. Senator Snowe, would you not agree and is THIS not the problem?
Let’s all you liberal democrats stop blaming the Bush’s for the country’s problems. We need to get off our buts and become a lot more pro active on our own behalves. China will over run this great land, if allowed and 2016 is a skant 4 years away. As Ross said , “It’s time to clean out the barn!” Obama needs to go! Take your heads out of your butts and take a look around to see what’s really happening.
While you’re at it, the next time you have a few minutes and are in a department store, take a moment to see if you can find something that says “MADE IN USA”.
Well, since all your big money financial business Republicans sent the jobs to china, it is hard to find stuff made here. But do you think lying business as usual Newt, frothy Santorum, or Swiss banker Romney will help?
leftys and unions drove the jobs out! this class warfare that the great divider has caused to get himself back into a job way over his idiotic brain dead head is going to finish us off.The greedy unions and everyone owes them mentallity is strangling this country.How about a days pay for a days work that would be a new idea.Still can not figure how the destroyacrats tied big business with repubs with their leader having a war chest of a billion dollars financed by big business.
Big business has control of at least all the long term politicians. Big business says jump and the politician only asks how high and in what direction, not asking why. It is both republicans and democrats. Big business left because they could. There are plenty of union jobs still here and the companies are doing just fine. Remember also, the only reason unions ever formed is because workers were getting treated badly in the workplace; some unions certainly go too far and aren’t willing to compromise, but they don’t make the choice to move overseas.
Greetings,
No, I agree that the republicans don’t have a viable candidate. The trade agreements with China are so one sided that it would appear that they were set in motion in an effort, to set the stage for the USA’s fall from being the world leader. I am afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg, the fallout from which will be devastating to our way of life. By the way, I spent some time in North Korea years ago, and I can tell you that those people can only dream of America’s way of life.
REGARDS-I’m really worried!!!
We look over our shoulders at China and we see them gaining on us. There is a conflict here. Republicans want smaller government, urging Americans to get the government out of the way. And yet our chief rival is basically China, Inc. Google the largest companies in China and you will find that the overwhelming majority of China’s largest companies are state-owned and in every major area of the economy. We’re losing ground and they are gaining. Have we got it wrong?
Looks to me like Mainer’s are finally smarting up. It’s time for multi-millionaire Snowe to hit the road. She has been dragging her state and the country down for long enough.
You’re right in a way, Olympia, but you’re looking in the wrong direction. Since the destruction of meaningful banking regulations via the death of Glass-Steagall and the corporate victory in the Citizens United ruling, the tipping point has been passed. They win, so It’s cheap bread, high personal debt, celebrity gossip and the NFL for the masses from here on. Brave New Dystopia.
Either Andrew Neff,the writer of this article,doesn’t check his facts:or Snowe, hasn’t a clue when Obama took office (Jan. of 2001 ?) Also she is credited with saying,”The CBO forecast for 4th quarter of 2013, is for unemployment to be at 9.2%.’ The CBO forecast clearly states: the 4th quarter of 2013,the unemployment rate will be at 7.4%. Does this woman think Mainers are uninformed, or is she just lying ?
That would be “lying”.
Nice plug for her buddy K Raye! that’s all that was, you will see alot more plugs for him. She is silent for all these years, and she is not in any danger of ever losing, the only reason she is advocating voting R’s is she is trying to have people go straight down the ticket and vote R’s to get her friend in the House.
It looks as if Mainer’s may be smarting up! It’s time for multi-millionaire Snowe to “Hit the Road”. She has hurt the state and the country long enough looking out for her rich buddies. This is your chance in November to get rid of her once and for all and elect someone who will look out for YOUR financial interests, rather than HERS and her rich husband’s. They have accumulated a lot of wealth in her 30 years in Washington. Enough IS enough! If you’re not a millionaire, vote her OUT! Collins should be NEXT on your agenda. Doesn’t her winey voice just send CHILLS up your spine?
Line right up and salute, Senator Snowe — you are like all the other Congressional Republicans who have been there way too long. Your main purpose in life is to defeat President Obama. How about representing us mainers in a responsible manner? Plus, the Congressional Republicans are why we lost our good credit rating, not President Obama. You need to retire, one way or the other, Senator Snowe.
It appears we have the same problem right here in Maine. How do we, the people, stem the tide of the regulatory communists in government?
Yes, I know…requiring companies not to use chemicals that hurt people are soooo bad…please, cry me a river….
O come on…talk about a tangent. Not all are bad but the level of regulation today is nuts. Cry your own river.
When companies don’t take the time to think about how their actions affect everybody else, health, financial and environment come to mind quickly, then they bring it upon themselves to get regulated by government at all levels.
Don’t act like children and you won’t get treated as such….or don’t act like idiots and you won’t get treated as such….
It amazes me that the Republican Party can be as hypocritical as it is. To advocate for a balanced budget, and yet be responsible for some of the worst overspending, good old boy networking, and pet projects ever to roll through Washington DC, is just lying to the American people. I don’t approve of unbalanced budgets, but the opposite of spend (cut) is no better. The country needs balance, not bluster.
After reading all the reply’s and further reply’s, I have come to the conclusion that party hacks have to be writing most of the posts I have read. Where is all the hatred towards the Tea Party
coming from? Granted, it has disunited the Rep.Prty. in its attempts to return to the Constitution. If it is causing a blockage of Obummas agenda,it is to stop the decent into Socialism, and class warfare. So far, it has not named support for any candidate. It is composed of people not just Repubs., but Democrats and moderates who have seen the Democratic Party
hijacked by the left and George Soros’s agenda. Compared to the Occupy crowd, they are
patriots, not destroy America and burn the flag spoiled brats. The only hatred they have is toward the government that would steal their children’s and grand children’s future.And
they represent Joe Sixspack, not the United Nations.
Smell the tar, Olympia. See the feathers.
If all of the litany of problems that you state are true, and you were there for EVERY one of them, you Ma’am are a big part of the problem! Please go away! Re-elect no one!
funny these guys are corrupt no matter what side of the fense their on.
Even though I’m not a Republican, I used to have a great deal of respect for Ms. Snowe for staying about the partisan fray. It seems that like everyone else in her party, she has fallen into line for re-election, and that is sad to me. I voted for her last time, I will not be repeating that act.
Flipping point is right !!!
As a long time supporter of Snowe, I am done pulling her wagon.
She has finally revealed her true position – middle of the road is a scam – she is clearly a dues paying member of the elite mega rich Republicant club !
Time for her to retire with her sore loser husband to Bimini or where ever these “offshore” leaches reside in luxurious splendor after robbing our country both financially and morally.
Good riddance, Snowe job !!!
‘We’re mired in one of the worst post-recession recoveries in the history of our country”
She can thank herself as Senator, her rich cronies and, oh yes, that dim bulb we previously had as president for leading us into that recession.
This rich huckster would have us think the people now cleaning up their mess is to blame for making it. She has one and only one goal in mind, that is to keep the party of millionaire welfare queens doling out benefits to their ilk.
I am so tired of these republicans handing out misinformation and outright lies about what is really going on. What’s really going on is this country is going down the tubes and the Republicans would rather work to insure that Obama will be a one-term president. Therefore, there is no need for Congress to deal with the real issues and solve the real problems, since that would look good for Obama. They all ought to be fired.
Olympia sounds much like the town tramp who claims to have renounced her sinful ways and now demands to lead the choir at Sunday services.
The conservatives must be busy working today, with all the lefty posts!!!!
I was done with Snowe when she voted Obamacare out of committee…
nothing but a torrey red coat…