The "specifics" that John McCain claims to have stated when suggesting a "spending freeze", except for Military Spending and entitement programs means: KEEP THE BUSH BUDGET AND KEEP SPENDING 10 Billion Dollars a MONTH in Iraq.
CALL IT LIKE IT IS!!!
While that may sound like great campaign speak, a spending freeze means DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING!
DON'T change the 500 Billion dollar budget defecit.
DON'T change goverment deregulation of the financial sector.
DON'T change the lives of Americans facing bankrupcy because of out of control medical bills.
DON'T change our strategy in Iraq and get our troops OUT OF THERE!
It means DON'T CHANGE!!!
Read the code... John McCain is MORE OF THE SAME!
Well, first and foremost, Joe, Mr. Biden, Mr. Senator... I am SO eternally proud of you. I am honored to have you on the ticket I am voting for, the ticket I am supporting, the ticket I am fighting for day in and day out. Sarah, Mrs. Palin, Mdme Governor, you did very well tonight.
Was this a game changer? No. Certainly not. For all of the fear that this could have been a catastrophe, or gaffe feast for the press... fears disuaded. Didn't happen. Neither candidate hurt themselves in any way. Both, in my opinion helped themselves a good deal. And, only one bolstered their ticket and raised their candidate for President to a higher level, and that man was Joe Biden. Hands down.
A Game Smartener? I truly think so. And this lands mostly on the shoulders of Sarah Palin. Tonight, again, in my opinion, was not the bumbling idiot that we have seen with Katie Couric this week and that we might continue to see in farther Couric interviews through the week. I am pleased that Mrs. Palin raised her own level of debate so that the country can finally make a clear choice between two candidates... not just HAVE to vote Obama/Biden because Sarah Palin is such an idiot. I think this is good for the election. I think this is good for voters. I am glad that the electorate will not be dumbed down, at least it wasn't (on the whole) talked down to. Sure, she was folksy... we already know this about her... not a game changer. Sure, her views are simpler than reality... we already know this about her... not a game changer. She was not an idiot tonight... a surprise to some of us... still, not a game changer... it's a game smartener.
The smart decision, the only decision, the best decision is Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
For the honor of our country and the betterment of our future it is Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Boys... now... GO GET 'EM!
My proudest day will be November 4th when I cast my ballot. I could vote early, if I wanted to. I'm a sucker for live events and being part of movements.
BARACK OBAMA! I love even saying it.
This is in response to ALL of the pundits on BOTH sides that have been saying, lately, "Just let Palin be Palin." They say that she has been too wound up and out of her "comfort zone".
Well, out of Wasilla seems to be out of her comfort zone, for starters...
Okay, so... we see her first in Ohio when she was tapped. She delivered prepared remarks via telepromter. Okay, prepared speach... who is she?
Then... she delivers her speach at the RNC... a prepared speach that many have said was written for her before she was tapped and then " added to on her behalf. Here we saw her as pithy, sarcastic and prepared. She apparently had one impromtu moment with that "lipstick" comment. Okay, so we're starting to get to know her. Still prepared... no substance, just sarcastic remarks about "community organizers" and snarls to the camera when she says things like "I'll be an advocate for you."
Then... Charlie Gibson. Now, Charlie did not give her any of the questions in advance... so, this was Palin "off the cuff" and she bombed it big time. Clearly she was over prepared, saturated with information she couldn't decifer. She started to show the classic signs of someone trying to impress with her breadth of knowledge, hence her ability to dig herself in to the deepest of holes... and continue to fall in them and bury herself in total nonsense. So, was that Palin? Wasn't that Palin?
Then there was Tina Fey #1 - Glory Day. Tina is doing for Sarah what Dana Carvey did for Ross Perot and George HW Bush and Darrol Hammond did for Al Gore. Killed them.
Then there was Hannity. Ugh! Not even worth mentioning... few did.
All the while she continues to stump with McCain... giving the same speach, her RNC speach, over and over and over and over and over and over. Bridge to Nowhere, Reform, Maverick.... bla bla bla bla bla.
Then there was, and is Couric. She OBVISOULY was not prepared in advance with the questions she would be asked... and her trail fell off of the cliff... all the while blabbing and bumbling until she hit the bottom.
Then there was Tina Fey #2 - HAPPY DAY! Thanks to Tina, the country now knows Sarah as a bumbling idiot who will try to cute her way out of any sticky spot. This works for traffic tickets, some of the time, but not for this job. Not when you have 150 Million people who are going to hire you.
Then there was Couric #2 and #3... each one worse than the next. She's know digging herself to China.
So, in all of these (three) interviews, when has she NOT been herself? WHEN!!!!?!?!?!?
This must be people's (conservative pundits) problem with her. They can't admit, and haven't realized, that they do not like her. Period. They continue to pound the table and say, "Let Palin be Palin." "Free Sarah!"... please! She HAS been Palin... this WHOLE TIME!
She's not going to be Ronald Reagan and John McCain is no Teddy Roosevelt. COME ON!
I will compliment the Gov. from Alaska. She is genuine and has shown us EXACTLY who she is this whole time. She's not talented enough to be someone else. She IS genuine enough to be her own genuine self...AND THAT SCARES US ALL TO DEATH!!!
Palin's problem is Palin. Not her handlers, not her advisors, not even John McCain. She is her own worst enemy.
McCain wont let her go... and he shoudn't... for our sake, he shoudn't. The more "Palin" Palin is, the better for Barack and Joe and the better for America.
The polls aren't lying. The more we all see her, the less we like her. The more Barack speaks, the more everyone else believes what we beleive:
That Barack Obama will be the next and greatest President of the United States of America. And he'll only outdo himself in his second administration.
After these last two years of being on this road with Barack... all I can say is... 8 more years! 8 more years! 8 more years!!!!
Everyone should watch the SHOCKING interview McCain gave to the Des Moines Register (a publication that endorses him) have yesterday:
Several clips posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHcPXfgD4jM
MCCAIN: I just want to make a comment about the obvious issue and that is the failure of Congress to act yesterday. Its just not acceptable. […] This is just a not acceptable situation. I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently.
WHAT!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?
Sounds a little like a statement our idiot President once made:
"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator,"
Well... McSame is truly McBush.
Spread the word.
So, tonight with Katie Couric she further focused the spotlight of her own stupidity squarly on her $600 glasses.
She knows NO other Supreme Court ruling besides Roe V. Wade. When asked to name other court rulings that she disagreed with she had NOTHING to say.
Hell... just in the last 8 years there was a a MAJOR case that at the very least every Conservative should know about... it's a little case called Bush V. Gore. This was not just an election... it was also a Supreme Court Case. Well, she obviously never took a civis class, an American History class... nothing! Not even Brown V. The Board of Education? Not even Marbury V. Madison? Those are the ones off the top of my head... and I am CERTAINLY not qualified to be VP.
She then dug herself farther down her Alice in Wonderland Shit Hole by expressing that Separation of Church and State was designed to keep Goverment out of the Church. To stop the Government from mandating a religion.
Wow. WOW. WOOOOOOW.
In a period of 15 days, Sarah Palin has become our greatest National Security risk.
I declare war on Sarah Palin. Vote YES for Obama/Biden and be victorious.
I wrote letters to Speaker Pelosi and to Minority Leader Boehner demanding that they admonish Rep. Backman for her RACIST comments on the house floor the other day.
Here is my previous post so you can read for yourselves:
If you are from Minnesota, specifically the 6th District... you should be ashamed of your Representative Michelle Backman.
On the floor of the house she offered in to congressional record an article from Investor's Business Daily to support her "reasons" for why we are in this "financial predicament":
Here is a URL for that article: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=307149667289804
The CHOICE quote from that article is: "Clinton saw homeownership as a way to open the door for blacks and other minorities to enter the middle class." She preceded that quote by saying, "It drove Fannie and Freddie to agressively lend to minority communities." THEN SHE QUOTED AN ARTICLE SUPPORTING HER OPINION THAT THIS IS BECAUSE COMPANIES LENT MONEY TO BLACKS!!!
WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL PAPERS! WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS!!!
Congresswoman Backman is a disgrace. SHE SHOULD BE EXPELLED FROM THE HOUSE. NOW!
I am drafting letters to Congress now. Do the same.
To ALL VOTERS: Watch your elected Representatives LIKE A HAWK and FIRE THEM WHEN THEY STEP OUT OF LINE!
I am LIVID with her "comments", I am ENRAGED by her RACISM.
Like many of us, I watched and listened with baited breath. While you stood strong and made us proud... you didn't use many opportunities to sock him in the gut.
Please, please, Barack, PLEASE... STOP COMPLIMENTING HIM! Regardless of how you feel about him, DON'T GIVE THEM OVER 10 SOUNDBITES THAT HAVE YOU SAYING, "John McCain is absolutely right." Please! Please? PLEASE!
Barack, McCain will NEVER compliment you. NEVER! He will NEVER be the first to tell you, "Good Job." after a debate. Why did you?
He has defined you as his oponent. He will OPOSE YOU! Why is he your campaign compatriot? Why, in your view, IS HE RIGHT ON ANYTHING!?!?!?
You let him run with the Veterans issue while you know FULL WELL that his voting record for Veterans is ABISMAL... the Veterans even say so. Why did you let him get away with that?
When he goes off again about this Maverick, Miss Congeniality crap... PITY HIM! Tell him that you FEEL SORRY FOR HIM that he can't agree with the people of his own party. Tell him, AND ALL OF US, that we've had 8 years of "Mavericks", "Republican's", "Fiscal Conservatives" that have lead us blind down a path of a complete financial collapse.
Re: his war record... OY! Get off expressing how much we should all respect him for it... and what a debt is owed him. Here's what you say if he brings up that crap again: "John, I honor your war record. I honor more the soldiers who didn't get the opportunity to return to Ameican soil because they lost their lives. You are a veteran of the Vietnam War. I respect you for that. You have my respect. You do not have my vote."
"You have my respect. You do not have my vote." - that would be the headline in EVERY PAPER AROUND THE COUNTRY if you took a stand to his GRANDSTANDING as a Veteran.
Barack, I look forward to the next one! I am fighting for you every day. Nothing has been as clear in my life as you being the next Presient of the United States of America.
Barack, you are my President. Lead us to Victory. 100's of Millions of us will follow.
With Great Pride and Jubilant Hope,
Miguel
Okay, things REALLY have gotten worse... WaMu has now been purchased by JP Morgan Chase after it's stock fell 95% from over $36/share to about $1.65.
The German Finance Minister is saying this will remove the US from being a financial superpower.
The FDIC is saying they need another 150 Billion bucks to fill their coffers incase other banks tank.
Screw cancelling the debate... MOVE UP THE ELECTION!!!
GET BUSH AND HIS CRONIES OUT OF THERE BEFORE THEY ARE THE RUIN OF EVERYONE WITHIN A 10,000 MILE RADIUS!!!
Forget McCain... he'll be taking a nap, or spanking Sarah for yet another gaffe. WHO THE HELL CARES!?!?!?!?
Barack, WE NEED YOU NOW!!!
Just tell people what to do. Tell them now. Forget fighting... just clean house!!!
My ghast is flabbered... fully flabbered.
This is not what I dreamt of when I thought of myself saying "I've never seen anything like this in my life." Not rhetoric anymore.
WE'RE BEING BOMBED BY OUR OWN GOVERNMENT!!! BUSH IS A TERRORIST. A TERROR MONGER. IF THE US ISN'T SCARED TO DEATH HE CLEARLY CAN'T SLEEP. HIS WAR IS ABOUT TO END SO NOW WE NEED SOMETHING ELSE TO BE SCARED OF. And this time it's our very way of life... the very means we all use to get to work, if we have a job, the very milk we drink, the very paper we write on... IT'S ALL IN JEOPARDY!!!
BARACK, we need you. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now.
...for bad decisions.
What in the HELL DOES SHE MEAN!?!?!?!? Does she mean those innocent people that fell victim to the predatory lenders who horn swagled them into deals that couldn't afford?
This woman... I don't know...
I thought for a moment, weeks ago, that she must have been genetically engineered to run on the Republican ticket. But, I've come to think that would be a huge scientific failure as well.
Well, she's McCain's perfect running mate. She contradicts herself in her own statements and hasn't the foggiest idea what she is talking about.
She shouldn't be recused from being VP because she's a woman... she should be recused because she's stupid.
If you wanted to make the political choice of a woman on a Republican ticket wouldn't you have made a better one? ANY of the Women in Congress would have been FAR superior to this tripe. I guess though, that those Congresswomen would have been smart enough to see through McCain's idiocy and not fall ga-ga for this crap. That would NOT have been good for McCain.
John McCain - "To tell American citizens that... that... everything's fine... that's, that would be out right deception."
You mean like telling everyone "that the findamentals of the economy are strong."?
You mean like that Senator?
Well, you have taken raking you through the mud off of the hands of the media for today... you've done it yourself.
You decieve us, you continue to decieve us, and you intend to decieve us. If that's not more of the same, I don't know what is.
You are no President, Mr. McCain. You shouldn't even be a Senator.
Well, McCain (as usual) has decided to stop his campaign (i.e. stop talking to the American People... or should I say lying) so he can be an opportunist and strong arm in Washington... the only thing he does well. He wants to delay the debates so he can go and be a pitbull... maybe without lipstick.
Barack the Calm, Barack the Understanding, Barack the Multi-tasker, Barack to Leader has stated that "this is exactly the time that the American people need to be hearing from it's future leaders on what their plans are."
Barack continues to demonstrate his immense strength in both crisis and joy. He is as strong today as he was accepting his party's nomination... arguably, the most joyous day for his campaign thus far. This is the American voice that I am voting for. The calm, the intelligent, the clear voice of Barack Obama.
McCain continues to prove himself a shortsighted, impulsive and egotistical Senator. He's no President.
I vote to move the election up! Get Bush out of the office sooner. If there is any change to the current election schedule, it should be that.
Okay, this gets worse and worse. Read this short article from Paul Krugman of the NY Times with a snippet from McCain's Healthcare Plan.
Below is also a link to the article so you can also download the plan in PDF and read it for yourself.
Basically, he wants us to stay as healthy as we can while he nationalizes the Insurance Providers so they are open to more "healthy competition", and then... get this... MARKETIZE THEM!!! Just like he wants to do with Social Security.
The man should be DEPORTED!!!
********************************************************************************
NY Times
September 19, 2008, 7:24 pm
McCain on banking and health
OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American, in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries.
You might want to be seated before reading this. Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!
the original article:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/mccain-on-banking-and-health/
Sen. John McCain (Photo by Lauren Victoria Burke, wdcpix.com)
Part One: McCain’s Pro-Vet Image Clashes With Record
PHOENIX — Though polls show that Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, enjoys solid support from veterans, some vet organizations are sharply critical of the Arizona senator’s legislative voting record on issues important to them. They have lambasted him for voting against the 21st Century G.I. bill; against providing more money for veterans’ health care, and for a proposal that many regard as an effort to privatize their care.
The 21st Century G.I. bill overwhelmingly passed the Senate last May and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on June 30. The legislation, which Sen. Barack Obama supported, increases educational benefits for post 9/11 veterans who serve a minimum of three years. But McCain opposed the measure, citing as a problem its bestowal of full education benefits to members of the military after just one stint in the armed services.
Illustration by: Matt Mahurin
Under pressure from veterans’ groups because of his non-support, McCain sponsored competing legislation that provided benefits to soldiers who served longer terms. “Otherwise, we will encourage more people to leave the military after they have completed one enlistment,” McCain argued. McCain’s plan would also have allowed benefits to be transferred to a soldier’s family members.
McCain’s opposition to the G.I. bill was the reason that former Marine Sgt. Adam Kokesh cq, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, says he staged a protest on the convention floor during McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Kokesh, 26, demanded an examination of McCain’s voting record on vet issues as he was dragged out by security personnel.
Meanwhile, Paul Riekhoff, director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in a Sept. 8 interview on MSNBC that vet groups would continue to pounce on McCain for his opposition to the bill. “We told America that if Sen. McCain was on the wrong side of the G.I. bill, it would hang around his neck for the election,” Riekhoff told Rachel Maddow. “That’s exactly what’s happening now.”
This is not the first time that McCain’s voting record on veterans’ issues has been criticized — particularly on health care. According to an AFL-CIO TV ad, broadcast in six battleground states in late July and early August, McCain talks a lot about supporting veterans but repeatedly votes against their interests. McCain, claims the ad, “took Bush’s side against increasing health-care benefits for veterans.”
The ad campaign, however, was criticized as “unduly harsh” by FactCheck.org, a non-profit, non-partisan, consumer advocacy project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. In support of its claim that McCain was against increasing health-care benefits for veterans, the union cited four of his Senate votes. Three–in 2004, 2005 and 2006–were against Democratic amendments to the annual appropriation bills of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. All three votes failed along party lines in the then GOP-controlled Senate.
In each case, FactCheck.org found that McCain had supported different amendments to increase veterans’ health benefits, either that day or the next. “Specifically, in 2004, McCain voted against an increase of $1.8 billion, but an increase of $1.2 billion passed by unanimous consent,” FactCheck.org stated, “In 2005, he voted against an increase of $2.8 billion, but voted for a $410-million increase. And in 2006, he voted against a $1.5 billion increase, but later voted for an $823 million increase.”
The fourth McCain vote cited by the AFL-CIO was against a March 2007 supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war that t was vetoed by President George W. Bush. The bill included $1.77 billion in additional funding for veterans’ health-care benefits. Soon after Bush’s veto, McCain voted for an alternative version, signed into law, that included slightly more money, $1.79 billion, for veterans’ health benefits.
McCain says that many of his votes against veteran funding measures were because the bills were loaded with earmarks for unrelated projects. “If it’s me sitting in the Oval Office…those wasteful spending bills are going the way of all earmarks — straight back to Congress with a veto,” McCain told the American Legion convention last month. “When we make it clear to Congress that no earmark bill will be signed into law, that will save many billions of dollars that can be applied to essential priorities, and above all to the care of our veterans.”
It is McCain’s proposal for a “Veterans Care Access Card” that has draw some of the most intense fire from veterans groups. The card would allow low-income veterans and those in rural areas to use health-care providers outside the VA system.
Critics charge that the proposal is a first step toward privatizing the $100-billion-a-year VA system, because it is being circulated at the same time that McCain is making statements about focusing VA health care on vets with injuries that “are a direct result of combat.” Some vet groups say that the senator wants to direct VA services only to those who have suffered combat injuries in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones.
McCain insists that the “card is not intended to either replace the VA or privatize veterans’ health care.” The card would be made available, he says, to “veterans with illness or injury incurred during their military service, and by those with lower incomes.”
Among the groups opposing the access card is the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Dennis Cullinan, the organization’s national legislative director, told GovernmentExecutive.com that the card would take funding and patients away from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, “undermining the entire system over time.”
Dave Autry of the Disabled American Veterans, which is also skeptical of the card, said Veterans Affairs already pays for outside doctors for vets who live far away from VA medical facilities. “Is this veterans’ access card an expansion of current authority?,” Autry said, “Or is it something designed to supplement the VA system? Or would it open the door for greater privatization of the VA?” Autry said his group is “reserving judgment” until more details are known.
Veterans groups are leery of any efforts to privatize the VA, especially after the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal that was, in part, related to privatization of key services. The medical center came under fire after The Washington Post reported that wounded soldiers were living in vermin-infested quarters, in some cases lacking heat and water.
“Walter Reed was a warning sign to be very cautious when you push for privatization,” Autry said, “because things can go wrong without proper oversight.”
McCain voted to table an amendment to a 2006 defense appropriations bill that would have prevented the Dept. of Veteran Affairs from outsourcing support services at Walter Reed.
Paul Sullivan, executive director for Veterans for Common Sense, a 13,000-member advocacy group, said that McCain’s proposed access card’s focus on vets with battlefield injuries raises the possibility that benefits for veterans with non-combat wounds, but with medical conditions linked to military service, will be further restricted.
The Army Times reports that the Bush administration is already rationing benefits based on combat and non-combat injuries for a wide array of benefits — including disability payments, traumatic injury insurance and death gratuity payments.
“Sen. McCain repeatedly uses the phrase ‘wounds of war,’” Sullivan said, noting that 20 percent of the women deployed overseas report being sexually assaulted or harassed. “Would John McCain argue that a service member who was raped should not receive VA care?”
The VA is now treating 350,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. That number is expected to increase as fighting continues and post-battlefield health issues, like post-traumatic stress, raise demand for veterans’ health care, he said. Sullivan estimates there are nearly 900,000 veterans currently eligible for VA services.
While McCain’s voting record has cost him the support of some veterans’ groups, he still retains strong backing among rank-and-file veterans, 91 percent of whom are men and most of whom are 50 and older, according to polls.
This is one area where McCain has a healthy lead. More Americans trust McCain than Obama to ensure that wounded veterans get quality health care. A poll conducted in April during the congressional debate over the G.I. bill by the Harvard School of Public Health and Harris Interactive found that 53 percent of Americans believed that McCain was more suited to help wounded veterans, compared to 35 percent for Obama. Some 55 percent of independents said McCain would make sure veterans received quality care, versus 29 percent for Obama.
McCain’s voting record of generally supporting lower spending on veterans’ issues raises questions among some vets about his commitment to overhaul the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to improve health care and other services. Obama’s voting record, by contrast, suggests that he’s more willing to reform the department, though most of his efforts have been derailed by Senate Republicans or Bush.
“Everyone agrees that there should be a plan to take care of the veterans when they come home,” Sullivan said. “Our principal argument is there is still no plan right now.”
Sarah, your Freudian Slip is showing... looks like you dropped your lipstick.
Huffington Post | Katharine Zaleski | September 18, 2008 05:43 PM
This video from a Palin event today, catches the vice presidential candidate putting herself before John McCain on the ticket. Check out the video and read more here from ABC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKQDyL5gzc
Senator Obama, it has to be admitted that the Republicans have (for the last two generations) successfully cornered the market on the "taxes issue" when it comes to presidential elections.
Why not toss it aside?! Speak out STRONGLY about Raising Wages!!! Of course, you'd be talking about the minimum wage.
Even a 5th grader will know that "More means MORE!". What American wouldn't trade a 5.5% annual increase in their wages over a 1% decrease in their taxes in perpetuity for the next ten years.
COME ON!
Talk about keeping minimum wages on par with inflation and you'll get those voters who are DYING TO HAVE MORE MONEY FOR FOOD ON THEIR TABLE AND GAS IN THEIR CARS!!!
Is the argument THAT hard to craft for the campaign trail?
If I make a modest income of $42,000 as the sole income earner for my family of 4 (just an example), I currently fall in to the 25% tax bracket. Meaning, my adjusted gross income, after taxes, without deductions, (in a VERY SIMPLIFIED WAY) is:$31,500. Now, of course there are MANY deductions that I can take... for this example, it's simpler to leave those out.
If my income doesn't increase... $31,500 is all I have until a raise or promotion comes along. Jobs are hard enough to find and keep... raises and promotions are luxuries few can hope for right now.
If McCain is able (with a Democraticly lead Congress) lower my taxes... we're talking a 1-2% tax cut, at best. So, that would take me to a 23% tax bracket at best... adjusting my gross income to: $32,340. Okay, an extra $840 in my pocket that year. Currently, that's just 6 weeks of groceries... or about 4 months of gas. So... as long as those prices NEVER INCREASE... Me and my family could be okay. We could never take on any new expeditures and have a REALLY hard time saving for our kids education. Pretty much anything outside of our mortgage payment and our bills is extravegant.
But, if I got a secured 5.5% raise in wages for that year... my $42,000 income becomes $44,310. And when I go to pay my 25% in taxes, my adjusted gross income is: $33,232.50.
If you are able... it looks like my tax CUT would be about 2.5%. Which leaves me an extra $1,107.75.
Unless I am mistaken, more is more. Right? I'm sure there are Republicans out there that would call that a ball faced lie... but, I think the theory of "more is more" is a sound one.
Now, what family wouldn't want more money ALL THE TIME and cap it all with a tax cut at the end... to just a modest tax cut at the end without ANY protection that we can keep up with inflation.
I don't know... maybe I'm nuts... but, isn't RAISE YOUR WAGES and MUUUUUUUCH stronger platform than CUT YOUR TAXES? Also... RAISE MY WAGES AAAAAAND CUT MY TAXES sounds even better.
I'm CERTAIN that you would rake in undecided voters if you CONTINUED to POUND the pavement of the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work!!!
Those of us that are smart, get it. OF COURSE the Replublicans need to run on a "Cut Your Taxes" platform... since they have NO INTEREST in raising wages, there's nothing left to do... unless they want to unmask themselves as being TOTALLY corrupt. (We'll do that for them, thank you very much!).
Bolster the lower class, give them the opportunity to become Middle Class and THE ENTIRE US ECONOMY WINS... ON A GLOBAL SCALE!!!
With all this talk about Sarah Palin redefining feminism and people who don't support her candidacy being sexist, I think we could use a little clarification.
Women's progress at work and in government is critically important. We are not, after all, living in the Dark Ages. But, and this is a VERY IMPORTANT BUT, consider the following scenario.
You're about to board a plane and a flight attendant says, "Today as part of our responsiveness to customers program you may choose Mr. Jones here as co-pilot. He will fly the airplane should something go wrong with the pilot, who isn't at his best today. Mr. Jones has been a pilot for twenty years and has an impeccable record. He is, however, a man. Because you support the advancement of women in the workplace, we also have a woman here who is willing to fly your plane. She is not a pilot but she didn't blink when asked to do this and for the past week a team of experts has been talking to her a lot about how to fly."
Who would you choose? If you chose Pilot Jones, would that be sexist? Or would you simply not be a complete idiot?
Apply this to Sarah Palin. She has not spent time in Washington as a senator or a congresswoman. She has spent most of her life in Alaska. From her interview with Charlie Gibson, it is clear that she is proud of not blinking about making decisions that affect millions of lives. And she is uninformed about the workings of the U.S. government.
Personally I'd have nothing against Sarah running for a seat in the House or Senate. It's a reasonable next step. And were she blocked from this path because of her gender, disparaged and demeaned in the press, I'd be miffed for sure. That would be sexist.
But just because I'd like to go to NASA and tell them that by November I want to be an astronaut, doesn't mean they should hand over the space shuttle.
There is far too much at stake to put someone completely inexperienced in the ways of Washington and the world so close to the presidency. There's no excuse for it, really. John McCain should know that. That's not sexist; it's simply common sense.
Dr. Reardon also blogs at bardscove.
Well... it's Biden-gate all over the media today.
The republican's are now complimenting Hillary all over the place and salivating over Joe saying that she would have been a better choice.
This makes people think that Barack is not making the right choices...
NO ONE WANTS TO FEEL THAT THERE IS REGRET IN THE TICKET!!! The SPINsters are out there making that case.
This could be really damaging to us.
WHY WOULD JOE SAY THAT!!! Even if he felt it, WHY WOULD HE SAY THAT!!! WHY WOULD HE EXPRESS THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF DOUBT WITH HIS ROLE ON THE TICKET!!!
Joe has now placed ALL the pressure of the election on Barack... and Barack is up against the entire Republican machine by himself...
Oh no...
PLEASE CHANGE THE GAME!!! PLEASE!!! I AM LOOSING SLEEP AND LOOSING MONEY BY CONTINUING TO DONATE HERE!!! My money is supporting a Commander in Chief... not a Rubix Cube ad.
Barack, Campaigning has to stop. COMPLETELY STOP.
This is an IMPASSIONED SUGGESTION.
Barack, you now have to play the part. SO MUCH of elections is about making people believe that you are the President. It's said all the time of candidates, "They look presidential.", "They sound like a leader.", "They are the commander in chief."
You continue to speak in "Future Possible". For example, "We must...", "We can...", "You will..."
You HAVE to start speaking in "Present Possitive". For example, "We are cutting your taxes.", "We are protecting your homes and families.", "I am your commander in chief."... you can also twist that and put positive words in the mouths of voters. For example:
"I can provide for my family better.", "I can afford college, finally.", "I can trust my government.", "I am proud of my countries standing in the world". Whip crowds in to a frenzy while the salivate needing to say things like that... then you tell them that is what you will be able to say and that is how you will feel with "Me as your President."
Give the voters the PERSONAL NARRATIVE THEY NEED to believe you as their President. The PERSONAL NARRATIVE to get passionate about you as their President. Of course, I am not talking about the "diehards", whose vote you locked in long ago. Use this tactic to potential voters, new voters, undecided voters.
GIVE THEM A TASTE OF HOW THEY WILL FEEL HAVING YOU AS THEIR PRESIDENT!!!
You're voters will not be voting against John McCain... they will be PASSIONATE ABOUT VOTING FOR YOU!!!
Stop comparing yourself to the other candidates. If ANYONE out there actually thinks there is little difference between you and John McCain... they must be dead.
Speak in the now and everyone will believe!!!
When you are definitive, it leaves NO ROOM FOR REBUTTLE.
When asked questions that have clear answers... SAY YES OR NO! No explaination necessary. Undecided voters are not interested in hearing your "understanding"... they want to hear your DECISION! It's too late to start explaining yourself... YOU MUST START DECIDING!!!
BE THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF!!! If another head of state said you called their chancellor a pig, or accused you of advocating sex education for small children YOU WOULD BE FURIOUS!!! YOU WOULD HAVE TO DEFEND YOURSELF AND LAY A BLOW TO THAT HEAD OF STATE THAT CLEARLY COMMUNICATED THE CONSEQUENCES OF MAKING ALLEGATIONS LIKE THAT AGAIN.
YOU MUST NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!
Undecided voters can play out your lack of attacking your attackers like this: You'll take way too long to react to foreign threats and they wont feel safe. SIMPLE AS THAT!
You have already seen and heard this reaction amongst many of your supprters. We're worried, we're scared... we are staring to feel like we're going to loose because "the enemy" is blitzing us with weapons of mass destruction.
THE BIGGEST TRAGEDY THAT COULD HAPPEN ON NOVEMBER 4th is that these attacks and your percieved lack of strength here will keep dedicated democrats from the polls because they feel so low and feel that all is lost. That would be their third consecutive lost election... that is a base that wont come back for the fourth time. YOU WILL LOOSE THEM FOREVER!!!
The Republicans HAVE RALLED THIER BASE!!! RALLY YOUR BASE!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!
Call a press conference and tell America, "I can be quiet about this no longer! John McCain, your lies have offended the American People. We do not trust you. You are unfit to be Presdident of the United States. Americans will not stand for your smears and deceipt! You have lied to the American people by even suggesting that I am sexist and implying that I am a child sex advocate. ENOUGH! This is exactly what I meant when I spoke of your judgement and temperment. You are unfit to be President of the United States."
v/o "To Rise Above" gender discrimination, religious discrimination, racial discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, economic discrimination... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" partisan politics, washington gridlock, budget irresponsibility... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" A Healthcare Crisis, A Mortgage Crisis, A Job Exportation Crisis... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" A Misguided War, A Failed Foreign Policy, A Damaged International View... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" Bush's War on the Middle Class... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" Bush's Failed Economic Policies... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above" Bush's Destruction of America's Promise... "WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above"... and THRIVE IN THE FUTURE... " WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
"To Rise Above, WE NEED BARACK OBAMA."
