CNN Poll: Americans place blame on Republicans and Dems for partisan divide

While Republicans continue to point fingers at the White House for not doing enough to involve them in the legislative process, a new opinion poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation shows two-thirds of Americans think that the Republicans in Congress are not doing enough to cooperate with President Barack Obama.

The poll, which had its results released Wednesday, showed 67 percent of people questioned in the survey think that the GOP is not doing enough to cooperate with the White House - a number that is up six points since last April. However, President Obama and Democrats are not completely left without blame in the poll, as 52 percent of people think the president is not doing enough to cooperate with the GOP, while 47 percent say he is doing enough to reach across the isle. The poll also shows that most Americans believe the Democrats should be the first ones to reach across the political isle to strike a deal.

"That's a big change from last spring, when Obama was still in the honeymoon phase of his first term," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland told CNN. "Congressional Republicans were familiar to Americans, but Obama was new to them, so his early attempts to reach out to the GOP continued to resonate even after it became clear that bipartisanship was not within easy reach."

To learn more about the poll, visit Full results (pdf)

Coakly blows it for Dems

The results in the Massachusetts Special Election for Sen. Ted Kennedy's Senate seat are in! And the news is devastating for all of us Democrats.

Martha Coakly, the Democratic nominee, had a 20 point lead as of two weeks ago over virtual unknown Scott Brown, but now the Associated Press reports, Brown, in one of the biggest upsets in politics in decades, has stolen the seat that was owned by Democrats since President John F. Kennedy first won the seat in 1953.

While there will be plenty of time to point fingers over why the seat was lost in one of the bluest states, the bigger issue is: A. What does this mean for Obama's agenda?, and, B. How can Democrats stop the bleeding before the 2010 elections and more importantly the 2012 elections.

I am too depressed to comment any further on tonight's election. I will publish a full commentary on what this means for Democrats and the future of our nation, tomorrow.

Grayson's attack on Republicans: Good, bad or just plain funny?

Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is taking a new approach at combating the Republican lies that are clouding the real debate over sensible health care reform. He is telling people if you get sick, Republicans want you to "die quickly."

Grayson's move is along the same lines as the Republicans continued accusations that Democrats are trying to "socialize" medicine in America, through a plan that included death panels to rid the country of the old and chronically ill.

Many Republicans are trying to compare Grayson's comments on the House floor along the same lines as Congressman Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" outburst to the president while he addressed congress. They have even called for him to be reprimanded as Wilson had been by House members.

Now some would say Democrats should be held to the same standards as Republicans, but Joe Wilson offended not only Congress, but the office of the presidency through his choice words during a joint session of Congress, while Grayson made a two minute speech to members of the House. And there is a huge difference. But if Republicans want to hold Democrats to standards then they should also take on the responsibility of living up to those standards themselves - for they are the ones who started this volatile health care debate in the first place.

But while I believe Grayson had every right to say what he said in the setting that he said it, as well as every right, when asked to apologize, to stick it right back in Republicans faces by apologizing to the more than 40,000 people who die each year because of a lack of health insurance, Democrats need not follow the lead of these bullies and instead lead by example. It has been shown that most Americans today are sick of the petty bickering and lies that are spread by most notably the Republican party. We see these nuts on TV, like the woman who called then candidate Obama an Arab during a McCain rally last year. This type of idiocy is exactly what the majority of Americans are sick of hearing. When Bush first left office, I liked to think as a nation we were going to leave behind the Karl Rove politics of fear, but I guess I was wrong.

So while deep down I commend Grayson for giving the Republicans a taste of their own medicine (Man was it funny to hear their reaction! I am laughing as I write), I also believe that for Democrats, and all elected public officials for that matter, to be effective leaders, they must live up to a certain standard that exceeds the politics of hate and fear that is currently being directed out of the Republican party. But it is still funny to see the angry right cry about Grayson's accusations, espeically while they continue to try to sell their fairy tale death panels to the American people.