Democrat strategy poll...see question

(a) aggressively lay out their agenda, which includes backing of security recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission, a pay-as-you-go budgeting plan to end deficit spending and for deeper restrictions on lobbying activities.

(b) Wait and allow the republicans party finish demonstrating their failures, i.e., rising gas prices, war policies, etc.

I was reading the article below and thought I'd ask the liberals for their point of view.

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Attack your opponents strong points. Read many posts below that ham-handedly attempt to use this tactic. Throw in a cup of "sour grapes" and NOW your cookin'. Go Ron Paul! Split the vote!

Can the super-rich former governor of Massachusetts - the son of a Fortune 500 C.E.O. who made a vast fortune in the leveraged-buyout business - really keep a straight face while denouncing "Eastern elites"?

Can the former mayor of New York City, a man who, as USA Today put it, "marched in gay pride parades, dressed up in drag and lived temporarily with a gay couple and their Shih Tzu" - that was between his second and third marriages - really get away with saying that Barack Obama doesn't think small towns are sufficiently "cosmopolitan"?

Can the vice-presidential candidate of a party that has controlled the White House, Congress or both for 26 of the past 28 years, a party that, Borg-like, assimilated much of the D.C. lobbying industry into itself - until Congress changed hands, high-paying lobbying jobs were reserved for loyal Republicans - really portray herself as running against the "Washington elite"?

On Tuesday, He Who Must Not Be Named - Mitt Romney mentioned him just once, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin not at all - gave a video address to the Republican National Convention. John McCain, promised President Bush, would stand up to the "angry left." That's no doubt true. But don't be fooled either by Mr. McCain's long-ago reputation as a maverick or by Ms. Palin's appealing persona: the Republican Party, now more than ever, is firmly in the hands of the angry right, which has always been much bigger, much more influential and much angrier than its counterpart on the other side.

I'm past convinced but time will tell just how politically motivated *Iraqi freedom* is to this administration. How much you want to bet nobody gets it?

I agree with Murtha, now that we have relieved Iraq of the Saddam regime the mission sould be getting our soldiers home safely. But its not that easy with the new wave of terrorism that replaced Saddam's regime as a result of the war.

I still say though we have our own battles to fight at home and need to accelerate training what Iraqi men are willing to fight for democracy and do what we can to restore their infrastructure and get out. With the right enthusiasm (or upcoming congress elections) it can be done. ~Democrat

CBS) Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., believes the vast majority of U.S. troops in Iraq will be out by the end of the year and maybe even sooner. In his boldest words yet on the subject, the outspoken critic of the war predicts the withdrawal and tells 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace why he thinks the Bush administration will do it

�I think the vast majority will be out by the end of the year and I�m hopeful it will be sooner than that,� Murtha tells Wallace, this Sunday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

�You�re going to see a plan for withdrawal,� says Murtha. He believes Congress will pass it because of mounting pressure from constituents tired of the war that could affect the upcoming midterm elections.

The political situation will force President Bush to accede to Congress, he says. �I think the political people who give [the president] advice will say to him, �You don�t want a democratic Congress. You want to keep a Republican majority, and the only way you�re going to keep it is by reducing substantially the troops in Iraq,�� Murtha says.

The president has said publicly that any decision regarding Iraq would be based on the situation there and not on Washington politics.

Murtha rejects the president�s argument that the war on terror is being fought in Iraq. �The insurgents are Iraqis � 93 percent of the insurgents are Iraqis. A very small percentage are foreign fighters�.Once we�re out of there, [Iraqis] will eliminate [foreign fighters],� says Murtha.

�[President Bush] is trying to fight this war with rhetoric. Iraq is not where the center of terrorism is,� he says. �We�re inciting terrorism there....We�re destabilizing the area by being over there because we�re the targets,� Murtha says.

When Wallace challenges him by saying, �General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, says your comments are damaging recruiting and hurting the troops,� Murtha responds by saying it�s the military�s own fault. �[Troops] are rotated [into Iraq] four and five times. They have no clear mission,� says Murtha. �One of the problems they have with recruitment is [that] they continually say how well things are going and the troops on the ground know better.�

President Bush has said there are only two choices in Iraq: victory and defeat. And he has implied that Murtha is a defeatist. Murtha, of course, disputes that.

There have been 13 servicemen from his Congressional district killed in Iraq. Could the families of those dead be offended? Wallace asks.

�Well, I hope [those families] understand,� says the Vietnam combat veteran. �It�s my job, my responsibility, to speak out when I disagree with the policy of the president of the United States,� says Murtha. �All of us want this president to succeed�I feel a mission here, with my experience, that I have to help the president find a way out of this thing.�

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' job approval rating of Congress is up an additional 8 points this month, after a 12-point increase last month, and now stands at 39% -- the most positive assessment of Congress since February 2005.

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Americans who identify themselves as Democrats are mostly responsible for the improved ratings of Congress measured in the March 5-8 Gallup Poll. After showing a 25-point increase in their approval of Congress from January to February and a further 14-point increase in March, a majority of Democrats (57%) now approve of the job the Democratically-controlled Congress is doing. Independents also show improved ratings of Congress, but not nearly to the extent that Democrats do. Republicans' evaluations of Congress have changed very little this year.

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Quick Turnaround

Even though Congress' job approval rating is still low on an absolute basis, the recent ratings represent a quick turnaround from the historically low ratings of 2008. Last year, on average, only 19% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing -- one of the three lowest yearly congressional approval averages in Gallup records dating back to 1974, along with 1979 (19%) and 1992 (18%).

In January of this year, Congress' job approval rating among remained low at 19%, before jumping to 31% in February after the change in presidential administrations from Republican George W. Bush to Democrat Barack Obama. But this month brings an even more positive evaluation of Congress, with 39% of Americans now approving.

The latest increase suggests the reason for the improved ratings of Congress in 2009 may go beyond simply the change from split control to one-party control of the federal government, to include an assessment of the work Congress has been doing with the new president on the economy and other issues.

Such an explanation seems plausible given that a majority of Democrats now approve of the job Congress is doing, and that the gap between Democratic and Republican approval of Congress is growing, as Congress passes and President Obama signs laws to deal with the economy and other issues that largely follow a Democratic philosophy of governing.

Even though the Democratic Party had majority control of both houses of Congress in 2007-2008, it was able to achieve little of its legislative agenda while Republican Bush remained in the White House. This lack of results may have soured Democrats' opinions of Congress. During this time, rank-and-file Democrats' approval ratings of Congress sank to as low as 11% in July 2008, after starting out near 40% shortly after the party took control of Congress in early 2007.

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Now that the strengthened Democratic-controlled Congress is able to pass most of what it wants with little or no help from Republicans, and can count on the president to sign it into law, rank-and-file Democrats hold Congress in much greater esteem. The 57% approval rating for Congress among Democrats is the best the party has given the institution since March 2002, when Congress' job approval scores were at historical highs in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,012 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 5-8, 2009. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is �3 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

This not only applies to the discussion below but also any wrong behavior such as stealing, murder, rape, or any one of the other blights on the face of mankind. Please explain your answer citing whatever source of information supports your argument.

Asked whether former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 52 percent said he was not, but 43 percent said they believe he was. The White House has denied Hussein's 9/11 involvement -- most recently in a news conference August 21, when President Bush said Hussein had nothing to do with the attacks.

Who will get the Democratic nomination, and who will that person pick for a running mate?

Who will get the Republican nomination, and who will that person pick as a running mate?

Winner gets a 22K gold-plated crystal ball, and the top position on Wall Street..!!!l

Sarah Palin has made a good first impression. Before being named as John McCain�s running mate, 67% of voters didn�t know enough about the Alaska governor to have an opinion. After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment.

Palin earns positive reviews from 78% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters. Obviously, these numbers will be subject to change as voters learn more about her in the coming weeks. Among all voters, 29% have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 9% hold a Very Unfavorable view.

In the new survey, 35% of voters say the selection of Palin makes them more likely to vote for McCain while 33% say they are less likely to do so. Most Republicans say they are more likely to vote for Palin and most Democrats say the opposite. As for voters not affiliated with either major party, 37% are more likely to vote for McCain and 28% less likely to do so. Those numbers are a bit more positive than initial reaction to Biden.

After McCain's announcement, Clinton issued a statement saying, "We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate." Palin is now viewed favorably by 48% of women. That figure includes 80% of Republican women, 23% of Democratic women, and 61% of women not affiliated with either major party.

Polls are what they are and change like people change socks. However, these are good preliminary numbers. Time will tell how it all plays out.

I am encouraged by the responses to this poll. I think that SOME Republicans and those who support McCain/Palin are sincere in their beliefs the same as supporters of Obama/Biden are sincere in their beliefs. Those who just said "McCain" don't appear to have any reason other than I would assume, that he is the Republican candidate. There were also those who had reasons but then referred back to the rumors and repeated the charges of Marxist, Socialist, etc. etc.

What has heartened me is I am convinced we are all AMERICANS first and we all love our country. I alwo believe that "we the people" will come together after this horrible election and raise our voices until ALL politicians listen to us. That is my HOPE.