Arkansas Politics

Pryor, Snyder on ‘Tea Party’ Protests

Sen. Mark Pryor and Rep. Vic Snyder, both Arkansas Democrats, weighed in Thursday on the Tax Day Tea Party protests around the state, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Mike Wickline reports. They don’t have a whole lot to say, but I’ll give them credit for recognizing that it’s probably not a great idea to go on the attack against average people expressing their dissatisfaction with government policy.

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16 thoughts on “Pryor, Snyder on ‘Tea Party’ Protests

  • I agree Rob, vote ’em all out and start over.

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  • I was disgusted with Snyder’s comments in the paper. He doesn’t inderstand the meaning behind the Tea Party and he doesn’t care.

    Has he forgotten that AR was a red state and his comments that he “supports Barack Obama’s policies” are an insult to the people that he is supposed to represent!

    Has he forgotten that he is supposed to represent us – not do what he thinks is best for us in spite of how we may feel.

    I wish the paper could get it right. According to Capital Security and the AR State police there were over 2500 people that attended the Tea Party at the State Capital. Not the 2000 across the entire state as reported by the AR Dem Gaz.

    Snyder should spend less time worrying about what Rick Perry from TX has to say and more time listening to Arkansans.

    We need to make replacing Blanche Lincoln and Vic Snyder a priority that drives us with a passion that will not be denied. When they are sitting at home maybe their replacements will recognize what happens when you abandon the constituents that elected you.

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  • Yes! Yall should get on that, by golly!

    Where’s Andy Mayberry? He’s got one more run in him!

    Jim Holt? Anyone seen him lately? I bet he would run again….Jim Bob Duggar? What about him?

    How about Justice Jim Johnson? Think he would be up for a run?

    Man, our delegation is just flat terrible. They all need to be replced with republicans, because only republicans know what is best for me.Rebublicans are smarter, better looking, and are rich!

    I mean, look at Vic….he sure isn’t qualified to be in public office. A Marine, Dr, Attorney and married to a minister? I’m sure he’s a moron!

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  • Better yet, let’s impeach Snyder. We’re supposed to be able to do that, yeah? I mean… He did say that he supports Obama’s policies over the will of the people didn’t he? Is that not treason?

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  • Br549, educated is not the same as being capable. I know quite a few morons with all kinds of degrees and certifications; both of my grandpa’s were ministers but that didn’t qualify me to be called a saint. Snyder may have been qualified for office initially because of his experience/education, but has repeatedly proved he’s not capable of being our representative. Time to vote him out and start over. I don’t know who is going to run against him, but someone needs to.

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  • Home run BR549, you really knocked it out of the park. I mean that line Republicans are smarter, better looking, and are rich was a brilliant argument!!! That rich part comes right out the divide the classes playbook.

    Let’s see before the last election when the Senate was practically split 50 – 50 The Democratic Senaters took up 37 of the top wealthiest 50. And that wealthy Hollywood group – there’s a ton of Republicans there! And that dang billionaire crook Bernie Madoff that CNN likes to imply is a Republican because he’s “rich” (must be a Republican – right?)- well of the millions that he gave in campaign contributions – 80% went to the poor Democratic politicians. (Barney Frank and Chriss Dodd included) Sorry BR549 that tired old argument just doesn’t fly any more. Got anything else.

    How about the fact that AR has had a legislature that has been 75% Democratic for the last 100 years and ranks 48-50 in many catagories that you would like to not be 48-50th in. Thank God we have a constitutional requirement that requires us to have a balanced budget. But after this last session we’ll probably have to raise taxes to maintain it.

    How about the most historically Democratic States that are in the deepest financial trouble, CA, MA, MI, NY etc. etc. and some of the most conservative states are prospering during a recession – UT for example how about that state Snyder is upset with because they are talking about secession – check out their unemployeement rates.

    Your argument is tired and your facts were well you didn’t mention any. Other than that I don’t remember mentioning we need to replace Snyder with a Republican. I think I said that we need to replace him with someone that represents the people that elected him to begin with.

    The problem is that most people can’t tell you how he or any of their state or federal legislators voted on any legislation. Votes cast ignorantly keep putting politicians back in office because of name recognition. Politicians that have forgotten that they represent the people to the Govt. not the other way around.

    Our founding fathers should have listened to Ole Ben Franklin when he tried to get them to limit the amount of $ a politician could make as well as the amount of time they could serve. Ole Ben beleived that if we make politics profitable for the politician, coupled with longevity, we would create politicians seeking political careers. Once that happened we would have self serving politicans that would fight for big Govt. – to protect their careers. When that happens the people will no longer be represented. HELLO 2009! Ole Ben said politicians should have to come home to live under the laws that they have created.

    It’s time for Ole Vic to come home! But wait a minute with the pensions and health care programs that they have voted in for themsleves they really don’t have to live under our laws do they?

    And one more thing BR549 my name really is Todd. Todd Sharp if you want the facts.

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  • I fully expect to see this Todd Sharp guy on the ballot this election. He has it all figured out, so we need to elect him!

    Facts? Got ’em right here. Capital is actually Capitol and there’s really no such thing as “Democratic Senaters”

    Nope, they are Senators too.

    You do, however make quite the case for increasing the education budget.

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  • Fourche River Rex

    BR549, you failed to place a comma before “too” and after “however.”

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  • Thanks for the spell check BR549. I’m glad you took the time to find two mispelled words over 2 post that totalled about 1000 words.

    But in all due respect, I feel that your missing the point. You see I don’t come on these sights to check for grammatical, spelling or typographical errors. In fact I barely proof read my post as they are not being graded, I’m not trying to sell them to an editor, and they are not important business documents.

    When I read a post I really don’t pay much attention to one’s writing or spelling ability as I am looking for substance and content. I come here to challenge my ideas and those of other’s. To get different perspectives and to share my own. No, I don’t have it all figured out – if I did I wouldn’t bother reading anything that anyone else had to say.

    If you want to judge my intelligence by a couple of mispelled words that’s your prerogative. But you would be ignoring the fact that I was an honor student, scored high enough on the ACT to be rewarded a full engineering scholarship, finished my college experience with two degrees while somehow not being brain washed by liberal minded professors, have had more than 200 articles published in various state and national magazines (I write as a hobby it’s not my job), have owned my own successful business and am the GM for the North American division of an International company. Not bad for a guy that has been failed by the educational system.

    I come to these forums because I have a passion for this country and I am somewhat disturbed by the direction that it has been heading over the last three years; actually it’s been much longer than that. Things just seem to have excellerated lately. I come here to try and influence public opinion when I think I’m right and I find that my opinion is often influenced by what other people say and believe.

    So far your two post on this subject have been sarcastic and petty without making any real points that have any substance or facts to back them up. I feel that you have more to offer – your obviously just holding back.

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  • David Kinkade

    How on earth did this little two sentence throw-away post generate this many comments? I’ll never understand you guys.
    D.

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  • Ok. You asked for it. Im halfway thru my first cuppa joe, and about to pour in the Baileys.

    Lets put the argument of who got money from who to rest. It’s a non starter. Typically each side gets money from certain interest groups. Thats not going to change. Labor, trial attys, and Hollywood will primarily support the Dems, insurance companies, big pharma, and the Chamber will support mostly Repubs. Of course there are exceptions to all of these, on both sides. And depending who has control of the WH, Congress, Govs Mansion, whatever, the groups will both crossover.
    So lets just put that aside.

    Re: Snyder. Here is why I like the guy, and why a lot of folks like and respect him. He really votes and says his convictions. You can look back and some pretty interesting votes and see Snyder to be the lone vote in the state for or against something. If you disagree with his politics, fine. Go find a candidate, or run yourself. But the bottom line is that he was elected consistently by a majority of the people of his district by a pretty decent margin. It is really hard to argue that he has “forgotten AR is a red state” or that he is not voting or acting how people want him to, given that he will get a solid 56-58% every 2 years.

    Another thing you said really makes me wonder. “Has he forgotten that he is supposed to represent us – not do what he thinks is best for us in spite of how we may feel.” I dont have the time or the energy to go into the many political theories that would disagree with this logic in a representative form of government. THe bottom line is that if the people truly feel that he is not representing them they will vote him out. But they havent.

    If you don’t replace him with a republican who would you replace him with? Another Dem? Im just being practical. Ain’t gonna happen.

    re: Arkansas being at the bottom. It really doesnt matter who is in charge in Arkansas. It will likely still have the levers of government pulled by the same select few behind who run the big businesses of the state. see Clinton, Bill. Huckabee, Mike.

    Finally, congrats on your ACT score. Thats awesome. And you should thank the wackjob liberals for making sure that scholarship money was available for you to attend college. But really. How in the world did you misspell Senator? Thats not really a typo, you didnt know how to spell it. I trust your engineering skills are much better.

    Which brings me to my final point. You have an engineering degree and run a small business. As someone educated in government and politics, I always find it fascinating that politics and government are areas that EVERYONE has an opinion on as to how something should be done either this way or that. Yes, that is what makes this country great. But, I dont go around telling folks how to build bridges or give legal advice or telling housewives which lamp should go where. Its just an interesting point for those of us who dedicate our lives to public service–while we actually live it, everyone else has an opinion from the outside as to how to do it better. And im not talking about journalists, or really bloggers even in this day and age. They are contributing to the dialogue and people do read what they day, so I consider that a form of public service. Its the scorched earth type stuff that makes me shake my head.

    ok. gotta go to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

    FRR- thanks. Usually I use to many commas. But really, how do you misspell Senator?

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  • Now that’s more like it! We can actually agree on some points and you have at least given me something that I can think about.

    I agree whole heartedly on your first point. But I don’t agree that the Republican party is the party of the rich! That’s a class warfare stereotype and is one of the many forms of political division that both parties are guilty of. Most are lined with minimal truth but get the maximum out of emotional reactions. When anyone starts sounding off with those tired arguments on either side I go nuts because we should all be better.

    On your opinion of Rep. Snyder. I respect it completely. I don’t completely agree with it but that’s why we have elections and debate.

    On the next issue, surely you can’t deny or are not naive enough to know that politicians campaign on one thing and often vote another. With the pressures from the party, lobbyist, favors that have to be repaid, etc. etc. They often don’t vote the fundamental principals of their constituents, and the longer they are in office – the worse it gets. That is a truth among politicians regardless of party.

    On the next topic – I fundamentally agree with you and it’s a crying shame. Rep. Snyder will not be challenged from within the party because of money and the political machine that is involved. But there are a few Libertarians and Independants in office and if that is where the best candidate comes from – great. However, for that to happen it would have to be a two horse race. If Rep. Snyder has a Libertarian and a Republican on the ballot against him – he wins.

    On the next point it “is what it is” because people in general are uninformed and are to busy running their small business, going to work, raising their families and volunteering at the local church or school to educate themselves enough to really make a difference; which unfortunately is also part of the reason that it is so hard to vote out incumbents – they have the name recognition and the money.

    As far as my scholarship goes I don’t “thank” the whackjob liberals at all. Scholarship programs and many other programs are good and are needed. If it wasn’t for the whackjob liberals there wouldn’t be as many bad programs and we’d have more funding for the good ones.

    On that last topic – I just have to take a deep breath and relax before I make any effort to address it. When an average Joe becomes a politician he automatically starts being part of the decision making on everything! Our government not only tells us how to spend our money but have chosen to spend it for us. Government tells businesses how they should operate, it taxes industries and social habits differently because they somehow know best. Government set’s regulations for real estate, insurance, safety, building codes, they put tariffs and fees on things that influence the way business is done as well as who does it.

    No, Govt. doesn’t tell a housewife where to put a lamp but they darn sure have a say as to what type of bulb can be used in it.

    Our Govt. is too big and has it’s hand in many things that should not be the role of the Govt.

    Now, I hope you are just having fun with my mispelling of senator (it’s really not supposed to be capitalized by itself). You really don’t think that I can’t spell it do you? Just in case your serious – dont is really supposed to be don’t. 🙂

    I’ve enjoyed the dialogue. It’s been fun but I really think that these types of discussions are best suited over a beer. They are far too time consuming in this format and I have to continue to make a living. Heck, someone has to grow this economy so that our Govt. has the money to support it’s programs and pay the salaries of all those Govt. employees and elected officials.

    Hope you found what you were looking for at BB&B and if you are a public servant “thank you” for your service – if we agree on everything or not.

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  • LOL, Snyder’s “lone votes” on issues. Yes, he sure “votes his conscience” as long as it doesn’t matter: they can pass it without him.

    Doesn’t happen when his vote counts, though…. So don’t let him tell you differently.

    He has bragged (off the record) that these “lone votes” are simply his way of campaigning by telling folks that he doesn’t always drink the koolaid.

    He is a calculating liar.

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  • I have recently moved to Little Rock, and I have been appalled at the taxes in this place, especially the price of gas. The Democrats are destroying Arkansas. Why would a business want to come to a tax happy place like Arkansas? I have also figured out in short order that the good ole boy system is alive and well here. The only answer to this corruption is term limits. Nothing else will work. You need to find a Republican or Libertarian candidate who will support a constitutional ammendment for term limits. It’s the only way to save our democracy from blatant corruption of professional politicians who have no real job. The founding fathers never intended for congress to be a way of life.

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  • Vic voted for the Cap and Trade bill and now is the time to throw him out of office. He has to know that the people of Arkansas did not want a tax increase and he played partisan politics with Pelosi just to further his party’s power. He is more loyal to the democratic party than he is to the people of Arkansas. He has lived off the government for far too long and now is the time for him to go back to his old job and retire his service in the US government. We have to send a message and throw every politician out of office. We may take out some good ones in the process but that is part of living in a Republic. We need Independents not the same choice on both sides of the isle. Don’t Tread On Me!

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