Charlie Rose

efeinbe2  08/30/2012 02:04 PM Report

I couldn't agree more with Slim. The Republican party realized in 1980 that they can use marketing techniques to pass off terrible ideas as good ones, and our country's suffering will only be prolonged if that strategy continues to pay off for them. People need to come out and support President Obama, who for all his faults at least cares about the common man.

Slim  08/30/2012 07:34 AM Report

This election will instruct us all on whether any democracy can survive without an educated, observant, engaged electorate. Any observer of the political scene since the last presidential election, has witnessed a Republican strategy of intransigence to any initiatives of this president, with the publically stated objective of denying him any successes during his first term. No matter that such a policy damaged the country's attempt

at recovery, Republicans bet on the ignorance of the electorate and the twin influences of money and prejudice, to negate these truths. Looking at the midterms, it appears this strategy worked to their advantage. I can only hope that for this election the eyes of the voters are open and that winning an election by hook or crook, isn't the Republican legacy.

Gelles  08/30/2012 02:38 AM Report

Lobbyists and lawyers must be the problem. Else, since middle class voters outnumber the super-rich, the median wealth of Americans would not have been stolen from them by a crooked system of rewards. Yet, It may be more practical to enrich the poor than tax the rich. That will be easy if we maximize automated production of all we possibly can. Simplify. Automate. Enrich workers. Trust the rich to emulate Warren Buffet. His ideas to prevent outsourcing jobs we cannot afford to lose makes sense. No American market needs more than 20% of its volume to be imported. If we do make free trade our God, and we do not raise foreign wages to our own, are we not looking for failure down the road?

SharkswithfrikingLazers  08/30/2012 02:26 AM Report

So Charlie, we are told only 4% is undecided and of that 4% about 67% are women.

We are also told the race comes down to 500K voters, 350K of them women, distributed in 10 states.

Your work in Tampa is complete. Have a good trip back.

Gelles  08/30/2012 02:24 AM Report

Paul Ryan mentioned that government spending need not exceed one-fifth (20%) of gross domestic production. I wish his objective was expressed in jobs and income for working people and others who are below average in these measures.

If government financing were far greater that 20% of GDP, and its operations were very small -- consisting mostly of defense, that would be very desirable: especially if its operations were exemplary and it financing resulted in great wealth (from automated production) for one and all.

This is a new age. Peter Diamandis and his billions of dollars and brilliant mind have given us the idea of ABUNDANCE (see the book of that name). We are ready for abundance. Why settle for less?

SharkswithfrikingLazers  08/30/2012 02:15 AM Report

Yes Mike I concur.

Some will vote for a bag of cement if it has a R (for Republican) on it.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  08/30/2012 02:12 AM Report

Well the threshold of likeability is one thing but does being likeable include real, sincere endorsements?

Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-05-29/Mitt-Romney-nomination-Republican/55272690/1

Gelles  08/30/2012 02:02 AM Report

Our house has three votes -- from voters aged 50, 55 and 86. In 2008 all three voted for Obama. This time nothing is certain. A lot will depend on the VISION expressed by the debates -- will it be aggressive enough to make a big dent in poverty and unemployment here and abroad?

Speeches at the Republican Convention by the potential next first lady, former Secretary of State Rice, and Paul Ryan, were perfect for the occasion. All three said what the Nation (who bothered to listen) wanted hear.

Although market outcomes are far from perfect, government operations and outcomes can be tragic. In America, government was designed to be fair and just. But it is far less than that today. It seems to be following lawmakers who have been corrupted by the rewards of power and wealth they do not in fact earn.

Barack Obama promised change if the people produced it by magic. They could not. And he did not risk impeachment by solving the jobs, unfair-mortgage, and inadequate supply of necessities and money to buy them, that he should have.

He wants more time. His opponents want power. The voters must decide.

"Nothing to Envy", the Barbara Demick book about total tyranny, ignorance and human natures' worst attributes, makes one see that government run amuck is far worse than laissez faire. That is an important point to remember when we search for plans that will allow despotism to develop because at the top there is no fear of immediate death if they deserve it.

The market and laissez faire can lead to such plans, when economic rights and achievements are absent.

Such plans can also be adopted because we have no markets and no means to kill a tyrant who hates freedom for ordinary people.

So the human animal is threatened by ideology that leans left and right. If the center does not hold, we can head for hell on earth.

Obama seems to me to be more centrist than Romney. Biden seems more centrist than Ryan. I may have to vote for more time for the team we have. But I will not make up my mind until I hear all the conventions and debates. So far, no one is pointing out that austerity cannot solve problems where supply and demand of necessities is the issue. Austerity is not called for when money-spending is the way we create the investments and the work on which production depends.

Inflation is tolerable if it can be contained by price control and political protection of democracy and human rights. Deflation represents an invitation to tyranny, war and chaos. The the 20th century taught that lesson. Few people seem to have learned it.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  08/30/2012 01:58 AM Report

The Bottom Line On Job Creation

"Neither man has a great record on job creation, but both took office in tough economic times. The scope of the challenge facing Obama appears to have been bigger, but Romney can claim he moved into positive territory faster (36 months). Still, it is no secret why both prefer to talk about their opponent’s jobs record than their own."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/obama-versus-romney-on-job-creation/2012/05/31/ gJQAgDjE5U_blog.html

Slim  08/30/2012 01:07 AM Report

Really tired of watching the ceremonial lynching of Obama by Republicans and the white boys of the media during the Republican convention. White folks constructing a boogey man of our first black president along with the construction of Romney/Ryan/Boehner's alternate reality would be ridiculous if not actually unfolding before our eyes. Even Presidents, when black, are forced into constraints of white fear and prejudice in Amerika. What a rude awakening from a dream of a post racial nation.

KoolMama  08/29/2012 09:12 PM Report

I am an independant in Alabama and a with a swelling group of others like me, including the southern white male, working women, retired, disabled and seniors I have 2 sons in law enforcement trying to take care of their families and raise their children. We just want someone to tell us what they ARE going to do. Obama doesn't seem to have gotten support from Republicans and it has as much been said on " MEET THE PRESS" that Republicans will continue to kick the can for the next four years if Obama is relected, much as they have done the last four! So far during the convention, all I seem to have heard is Democrats are bad. Obama is bad. Helping the poor is bad. Medicare is bad. Taking the work requirement from welfare is bad even though that is not what was done and there are so many under and unemployed that there is not enough jobs to go around as it is. Republicans have the answer. What is the answer? Bashing without specific solutions just doesn't get it for us here. I did hear Romney talk about some specific cuts on CBS evening news tonight He wants to cut PBS funding. It's ironic that they, PBS, is carrying the convention and his wife's speech that the networks didn't. tsk tsk. Just my thoughts and our few opinions. Thanks

richard-lipscombe  08/29/2012 07:11 PM Report

This was a good set of discussions that touched on the real/underlying choices before the American people over the next few Presidential cycles....

Ahead the big issue for America is not demographics or race or the size of government per se... It is a more basic choice... A choice between those who promote 'fairness' and those who promote 'generosity'...

The so called 'progressives' advocate 'fairness'... They want an America where everyone who participates gets a prize...At school if you run in a race and come last in this world dominated by 'fairness' then you get a ribbon just like the winner - only difference is your ribbon is not the same colour as hers...This is a world where the 'outcomes' for all people must be as near to the same as possible...It is a world where 'you didn't build that' makes sense because you can not stand out of the crowd no matter how talented you are or no matter how good you are or no matter how hard you work at what you do...In this world of 'fairness' you can excel but you do so as an integral part of the whole not as an outstanding individual...There is a lot to recommend this type of world to Americans - it is a world that many people find more appealing and more supportive for them... It is a world where they can flourish rather than wilt...This type of world does not have to be a nanny state nor a socialist state but it does have to be run as a unified Tribe with shared values, a shared ideology, and a common dialogue... This world is based on shared culture not big or small government...

The so called 'moderates' advocate for 'generosity'...In their world the school race is run and won by the best who gets a ribbon and a cup...It is expected that everyone in the race will be generous towards the others who competed...Thus in this world there is a spirit of trust that ensures the best person does win - there are no loop holes, no cheating with drugs allowed, and there are no free lunches for the rich and famous, etc...In this world 'being fair' is confined to the rules, the laws, the regulations, etc that govern the events of life and the society that we all live in....In this world there are Clans of people who are constantly pushing the envelope with disruptive innovation and 'look at me' ideas that breakthrough all existing barriers in thinking...But to live in these Clans one has to be generous of spirit and adaptive in your thinking and in your ways of being in the world...Clans are far less stable social entities than Tribes because they do not have a fixed set of values, an overwhelming ideology, nor a need for certainty about outcomes....In the Clan led society there is an abundance of opportunities to do remarkable things that change the world around us in a fundamental way - a social breakthrough like universal schooling, a technological breakthrough like the transistor, etc... In a Clan based society there is diversity, difference, and degrees of inequality...This type of society is held together by a thread of 'generosity' of spirit, purpose, and human interaction...

Fairness is winning the race in America today... Generosity could win the race tomorrow... The choice will be made by Americans over the next few Presidential cycles....

cheers, richard.

PS Al Hunt should retire - he has passed his 'use by' date...

caucazhin  08/29/2012 02:12 PM Report

Sorry I also meant to say there is an tremoring underground swell against Obama that your guests dont even see not to mention all the people who are dissatisfied with Obama but refuse to vote for Mitt who will stay home this time.

caucazhin  08/29/2012 02:03 PM Report

No offense to your bean counting round table the last 2 nights but they are all missing one really big point.

There is a whole section of the electorate who voted for Obama who will not vote for him this time.

Remember he didnt exactly win by a landslide. They are the conservative democrats and liberal republicans who decided to give this green upstart a chance based on smooth speeches which the substance of never materialized. Also a lot of people liked the nostalgia of voting for an African American for the 1st time and theres a big percentage of white guilt that also played into the election.

All that good will has evaporated and the unemployment & defecit numbers dont lie.

Mark my words Obama is TOAST ! ! !

underground swell

tabs  08/29/2012 01:55 PM Report

Mr Rose you and your EXPERT commentators have missed the GENIUS of the Paul Ryan pick for VP by Romney. Much of the Republican Base has questioned Romney on his tenure as Governor of MA and the fact that he might be a RINO and not be serious about deficit and debt reduction. With the pick of Ryan he is laying those questions to rest and is showing that he is serious about taking on the hard problems.

C = copywrite

REMant  08/29/2012 12:53 PM Report

First of all, I think the US ought to suggest the Summer Olympics change places with the Winter Olympics in order to move the conventions up a little, or the parties consider meeting in places like Cleveland. But frankly I can stomach them no more than the Olympics, sounding, as they do, scripted by the Priestly source. I sincerely hope for all our sakes the speeches were written by someone else. Bob O'Donnell, for instance, appeared to be sorely in need of a lesson in logic. Perhaps I expect too much from lawyers.

The convention speakers, for whom, it must be remembered this is a plum, all seem to have been at pains to show they were born in a log cabin, but most of them look like WASPs, while the president doesn't, a fact it seems his party is keen to promote. The idea sounds racist to me. My guess would be Mr Dowd didn't bother to listen to Gov Christie. There's no "new" demographic reality, and even if there were, would it overrule principle? Can we have it both ways?

But Christie tried to broach the subject of our declining work ethic without blaming our parents for the problem, or, indeed, offending anyone, least of all any in his own party, so on the whole I thought it was a mediocre effort, intellectually, unfortunately, as well. Yet I see folks this morning already demonizing the guy. As I recall tho, Romney outpolled Santorum with labor.

This election has been portrayed as between rich and poor, oppressors and oppressed. More precisely it is between aristocracy and monarchy/democracy, or to put it differently enterprise and government, private and public goods. That is, if you count the production of money as part of the latter.

The "debate" over the middle-class is a case in point: middle-class being anyone neither in the top 1% nor on welfare. Obama ran on this issue four years ago. He wishes to blame the GOP for the problem to begin with, and for preventing him from "helping" them ever since he's been in office. His opponents speak, as they always have, about self-reliance, and burdensome government regulations and assessments. I don't suppose this division will ever go away, but it has to be acknowledged that the problem is largely due to the failure of an inflationary monetary policy, which now pits investors against workers, for instance over the issue of mortgage refinance, surfacing again yesterday. The very first thing this admin should have done was to take steps to insure investors paid their fair share of this mess, instead of providing the means for them to thumb their noses at home buyers at the public expense. Justice demands that windfall at least be taxed to lower assessments for everyone else. But this is as far from what it sounded like the Republican nominee believes as the president's notion. Work cannot be a one-way street.

Cancer or MS, notwithstanding, Ann Romney sounded to me too much like she was speaking to the Women's Auxiliary, tho that's probably unavoidable.

Personally, I don't care much for the marketing approach to elections, (which doesn't comport with Gov Christie's remarks either), but I would like to point out that the contender is always at a disadvantage.