Maggie's Farm

Oh for heavens sake, let's not be silly. The order of items in the list is no reflection of political leanings, unless Gallup was careful to poll a representative sample of flaming revolutionaries on the far right and far left of the Bell curve of political views, which I very much doubt. The list goes goes from the very general to the quite specific, from issues that have traditionally affected people to those that are of much more recent concern, from those that are of immediate interest and concern to the many to those that are of interest to the few (call them the vanguard if you wish, even the "progressive" vanguard). There's no right or left "tilt" to these poll results. Whether you are "left" or "right", unless you are 5 sigmas outside the American political mainstream, concern for your job and the jobs of your family members would of course rank much higher than your concern for the "environment." Move on, there's nothing to see here. There's an election coming; as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, we can expect to see more of such silly polls.

In criticizing Romney's wealth, all the Democrats seem to have a case of selective, collective amnesia about their presidential candidate in 2004. The last I heard, John Kerry was not just a paycheck away from the poor house. Of course, one big difference between Kerry in 2004 and Romney in 2012 is that Romney EARNED his money the hard way, while Kerry conveniently MARRIED into his. And of the two wealthy Massachusetts politicians, Romney may well have parked some of his earnings offshore to minimize his federal taxes, but it is Kerry who parks his fancy yacht in neighboring Rhode Island in order to avoid paying Massachusetts state taxes. I'd call that issue just about even when judging their willingness to pay the taxman his demands.