cold day indeed what will the "tea party" do now, i know down here in the villages they are NOT pleased.

Looks like the Tea Party better get used to iced tea :)

typical leftist responses. We have Black Tea Party Chapters and some of the brightest minds in Tea Party/libertarian thinking are African Americans; people like Dr Thomas Sowell, Dr Walter Williams, Larry Elder, JC Watts, and of course Clarence Thomas.

Herman Cain speaks for many of us with his refreshing views of Govt. I am not supporting him currently, but would gladly vote for him if he was the Republican nominee.

BTW, I'm not a Republican, I'm a libertarian

The future commander in chef.

More like the present - Baking the GOP body - Medium rare.

Herman, you grilled it.

Next, you should do fried butter.

Bring JC Watts over to hep you dip.

Like the Straw Man sang in the Wizard of Oz ..."If I only had a Brain"!

Just for your pea brained liberals, check out the facts more minorities were elected in 2010 by the tea party then the racist democratic party

Boy what a real Dumb Ass Comment, by the first poster!A black Republican.So now we're sorting them out by color?Just Really Ignorant and Stupid!

What the Fuch, is the Dam Difference!He is just a Republican, not black white yellow stripped blue or pink.He's a Politician Period!

I thought we had evolved somewhat.You TheTru Blue are still somewhere in a time warp.You're Tru Blue alright,Tru Blue to being a Racist!

Again a Stupid Comment!

"The True Blue"...................you must be true blue only to hypocrisy like most liberal democrats.

You people have blasted away at GOP supporters ever since Obama was elected. At almost every turn you people claim that anyone right of the extreme left is a racist if they say anything bad about Obama. Most of the anger is directed at the Tea Party. I suppose that's because the Tea Party was laughed at before the 2010 elections by democrats who scoffed at the idea that the democrats would lose more than a couple of seats in the House. Now every dem supporter wants to blame everything that ails the country on the Tea Party. The left loons continuously spout off that the Tea Party and republicans are racists. But I guess it's perfectly acceptable for a left loon to make racial comments? NO! I guess this is somehow derived because they don't support the President. Well guess what? Every party has always and probably will always do everything possible to unseat everyone from the other party. That, unfortunately is politics. Never the less, the comments that Tea Party activists are racists is unfounded and perpetuated by the democrats from the far left. They are still smarting about the 2010 elections and will resort to every underhanded imaginable thing against the Tea Party and Republicans.

Herman Cain is a man who refuses to give up on anything and has been successful at what he has attempted in life. He helped turn around one of the lowest selling region of a pizza chain into one of the most successful ones. And I don't care if the pizza chain made the best, worst or whatever pizza, he was successful in turning it around. Wouldn't that be exactly what America needs right now?

Congratulations on your victory in FL Mr. Cain. I hope this will get you more air time so more people will listen to you and know that you could and should be the next President of the U.S.

Herman Cain has some nerve to said that Obama Care would prevent him for seeing a doctor when he got cancer. What is he talking about? He is RICH. He has money, and he would not suffer even if the rest of us would have Obama care. This new policy would NOT prevent people from seeing the doctor, the policy allows MORE people to see the doctor when they are sick.

Way to go! Typical republican opportunistically using something that has absolutely NO VALUE to his favor, smearing many of his own people on the way.

Instead, the SOB should realize that hundreds of inner city black kids have been added to their parent's insurance policy because of the policies that were passed under Obama. Get a grip Mr. Cain...You are a liar.

I never even heard of Herman Cain before. But I sure do enjoy the spectacle of Tea Baggers ripping each other to shreds.

Great post Inthemiddle!!! One of the things that is so appealing to me about Herman Cain is that he is NOT a "career politician". Congratulations Mr. Cain!!!

Ask Morgan Freeman about this? So sick of these damn racism charges, Are their racists in the Tea Party and The Republican Party? Yes of coarse their are and throughout America a small minority are racist this will not change but by and large in 2011 most Americans really don't give a damn about the color of your skin it is only used as a wedge issue by the democrats and it works!

Look, what I want to see is competence. The claims these guys are making are outrageous. They're going to demolish this department, and abolish these taxes, and issue executive orders on this and that etc. You've got to be kidding. It was bad enough when Obama went nuts with his big healthcare initiative and stimulus bills - it was the overreach that caused all the infighting that essentially destroyed the efficacy of our government and put us in the position we are today!

So if a bunch of pseudo-libertarians come running in trying to dismantle half the federal government the whole system is going to implode. And it'll be us who suffer as bills don't get passed and the economy sinks. I want someone who realizes that if small government is a goal, we have to get there gradually. First by cleaning up the excess and getting the stripped-down programs running smoothly, and then by gradually downsizing and raising efficiency and productivity. The same as you would do with a business.In a business you DON'T run in and ransack a bunch of departments. You'd send stockholders and investors running for the hills.

If you want to steer America back to it's heyday you make a careful u-turn, you don't slam the car in reverse or you'll crash on your way back.

And get real. Running a pizza chain does make you good at running a nation.

you just removed all doubt about your intelectical level.

"intelectical"? WTF?

I don't know which is more rediculous.

Ugh...

Take your own advice, whitewolf. You certainly removed all doubt of your own stupidity.

Competence,

And get real. Running a pizza chain does make you good at running a nation.

But being a community organizer does? Please...

imwhitewolf - Larry, I do have a question for you. Why do you have "black" tea bagger chapters? Aren't the "blacks"good enough to be in the tea baggers chapters?

You apparently suffer from the bigotry that your ilk spews their hate-speech about constantly.

The better question is why is there a black caucus of liberals in Congress? Are your white politicians not good enough for them, or they for you?

Being dumb does nothing to add to the discussion.

Herman Cain has decades more experience than our current President. He's made a payroll, a big payroll. He understands actual success and struggle. He has a great story, and great ideas.

But go ahead and make this about color, hate, and whatever else the lunatic liberals need in order to deflect that FACT that Obama is the biggest failure in modern Presidential history, and will be unemployed come 2013.

Imwhitewolf why is there a black caucus in Congress? Why a Progressive Black Students? Why a Progressive Black Men? or

The Democratic Progressive Voters League, organized in 1936 as the Progressive Voters League, is one of the oldest black political organizations in the state of Texas.

Your question is inane and juvenile.

And you further demonstrate you are nothing but a low thinking lib lacking any true cognitive skills. Clarence Thomas puts your community organizer to shame when it comes to intellect. Thomas has written some of the most sound opinions of the Court over the past 20 years.

Supreme Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas 1991-2006: A Conservative's Perspective
by Henry Mark Holzer
published by McFarland & Company (January 24, 2007)
Hdbk., 232 pages
ISBN-10: 0786430036

Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is one of the most brilliant legal minds to ever sit on the federal bench.

That the far Left, particularly the modern-day civil rights establishment, has chosen to personally attack Clarence Thomas instead of trying to better understand what makes him tick only underscores an important fact of modern-day liberalism: Liberals, by and large, are intellectually incapable of debating the merits of, or defending their positions on, important legal and public policy issues with those with whom they disagree. Instead, they attack, slander and malign those who dare to challenge the foundations of liberal orthodoxy.

As Professor Holzer shows, Thomas is a scholar, gentleman and intellectual heavyweight who is faithful to the U.S. Constitution, and thus deserves to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. Naysayers attack him because, quite frankly, that is all they can do. They couldn’t hold a candle to Justice Thomas in an all-out, bare-knuckle debate on constitutional law. He would mop the floor with them. And they know it.

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/03/22/supreme-court-opinions-of-clarence-thomas-1991-2006-a-conservatives-perspective/

And this on Justice Thomas

For those interested in his professional endeavors, his opinions are printed in the United States Report. These opinions are, as even legal scholars who do not share the justice's jurisprudential views have acknowledged, thorough, well-written, and soundly researched. They reflect Thomas's willingness to debate legal issues with his colleagues on the Court, as well as his unfailing courtesy toward those colleagues when they disagree.

Finally, these opinions lay out one of the most robust theories of the First Amendment in modern American jurisprudence. Justice Thomas protects our rights to form our own opinions, to hold them as part of who we are, and to express them in the marketplace of ideas. His theory of the First Amendment is premised on the principles that, in the end, the people will choose the ideas they consider to be the best ones, and that in a democracy the truth will will out from the fulcrum of vigorous substantive discussion.

Those who criticize the justice personally in such uncivil tones benefit from this just like the rest of us. But they are apparently not interested in the law or the justice's work on the Court, only (and sadly, still) in ad hominem politics.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/11/why_are_the_media_so_angry_at_clarence_thomas/

Larry he ran like a scared rabbit!

WMG-21,

What is up with that response? What makes you possibly think my statement was comparative. I hear this all the time from the Right and Left. Someone calls them out on something and they just say "well, yeah, but look at him". What a dumb response.

NO being a community organizer does not make a good president. It has little to do with it. Obama was incredibly ill-prepared and inexperienced. He's intellectual, but has no ability to work with people and get things done. Which is one thing a lot of intellectuals have trouble with that both big-business executives and experienced politicians don't.

Which is why I would be happy to see Romney or Huntsman win the Primary. Christ, you right-wingers can't take criticism. One word and you try to discount an opinion by calling someone is a radical liberal. I vote for the better candidate. I'm independent and vote both liberal and conservative depending on the issue. And I want a strong, experienced, and moderate REPUBLICAN to win the election. I'm not seeing one. THAT is my point.

And 9-9-9 sounds like dominoes 5-5-5. He's marketing his economic plan like a fast-food menu. Don't pick numbers because they sound good. Pick numbers that work.

You are free to form your own opinions and beliefs on matters which are unproven or unprovable. It is not a freedom to choose to believe your own set of facts, this is instead a form of insanity along the lines of non-compus-mentus. Things like the age of the Earth or global atmospheric warming are provable facts..............to think otherwise when the science which backs this sort of thing up is too complicated for the non-believers to even explain, let alone explain away, is an endorsement of willful ignorance as the basis for a political ideology.

Paul-977599: Willful ignorance is now and always has been the core strength of most political structure. The only surprising thing about it today is, there is so much of it. Tea party people already know everything. How the hell can empirical evidence or scientific probability stand up to such?

Cain, Perry, Romney....it matters not. The voters mantra has become "Anyone but Obama", and that mantra will get louder and louder as November, 2012 approaches.

Wow, 2,657 total straw poll votes cast in a state with a total population of about 19,000,000 (19 million).

Is it my imagination or does that sound like a Republican electorate not very motivated by the present slate of candidates.

do pizzas come with fries? RETHUG idiocy abounds...

Cain is the smartest man in the GOP candidates. Unfortunately, his race is a problem on both the left and the right.

The racists on the left say they have the first black president but he is not black, nor white. Cain, is one of the smartest, business savy candidates in decades. He has actually had a job in the real world. Obama hasn't and that is why he has been the worst president ever. While I don't think Cain will win, he is the best candidate to unseat the former lawyer and his former lawyer wife.

The wrong have been preaching bigotry and racism for the last 3 years. What will they preach when a real black man, a smart black man, a business savy black man gets the nod from the republicans? Slim chance, but I can almost hear Feisty screaming that her anointed one might be upstaged by an actually bright man, a real American, one that doesn't use African as a prop.

Cain is one who knows that you are American or not. Hyphenated Americans really aren't Americans. They are something else.

canary-in-the-coal-mine

"do pizzas come with fries? RETHUG idiocy abounds..."

You could only wish that you were as smart as Cain. Does name calling make you feel smart? Or bigotry? I know how the wrong loves to play the race card. How well does the wrong play the smart card. Do you have a degree in mathematics? Were your ever a ballestics main guy for the navy? DId you ever bring a corporation out of bankruptsy? Didn't think so. How is that Godfathers Pizza job working for you?

Supreme Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas 1991-2006: A Conservative's Perspective
by Henry Mark Holzer

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/03/22/supreme-court-opinions-of-clarence-thomas-1991-2006-a-conservatives-perspective/

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/11/why_are_the_media_so_angry_at_clarence_thomas/ .......this is what scares me about the right wing. they take someones opinion as literal fact. these websites are pure propaganda. and before you start calling me a socialist communist, i've voted republican as far back as reagan. oops, by todays standards maybe i would be considered a socialist.

It really amazes me how the wrong are so full of hate for smart people, yet vote for those who gave up their law licenses to avoid lies on their application and pray for hope and change from false gods who won't even reveal their past. America is totally screwed if the ignorant lead in the vote again.

But of course, the ignorant think they are smart. They love that free money others pay to them to be ignorant at their own choosing. Maybe the taxpayers should all become ignorant so we can all suck the government teet. Unfortunately, when all are on welfare, no one is paying taxes.

Socialism is great until you run out of other peoples money.

I've liked Cain since day one. The media tries to pull him down which really surprises me since the media builds up Obama so much because he is black. I'm really surprised how bad the media pushes Cain to the side.

IMO Cain is the most sincere. The power of the people can be stronger than the media. Open your eyes. Cain has what it takes to turn this country around.

No, the media "puts him down" because he's a racist who wants to deprive people of some of their most basic constitutional rights.

Let us face reality. Herman Cain is the best qualified candidate for the presidency. He is far superior to the current president and is the best GOP candiate today. He knows how to get results, has experience at running several enterprises, served on the Fed, and is an excellent leader. He with VP Marco Rubio will be our leaders in 2013.

I never thought a black man could be president in my lifetime, could it be possible that another black man could run against a black president and win in the United States of America? What a scenario, only in a Hollywood or TV setting, there you could eliminate all the unknown or known variables and come out with an ending where everybody wins. . . ."the American People'' a well used Republican term.

I'm not a big Obama fan - voted for him but don't know what the hell I'm going to do this time around. Definitely not Perry or Bachmann.

Here's my question: The right continuously refers to Obama as a community organizer, as was done above. I guess I missed something. Why is that so bad? But, beyond that, why is he refereed to as such? He was also a law professor for many years. I've yet to hear a hard right person call him a law professor. He spent more time doing that than being an organizer.

I'm not making excuses for him. I'm disappointed. But regardless, this seems like a petty and not terribly bright move on the right's part. I guess if it works, who cares how misleading it is. Unfortunately it's an example of why I run like hell from the radical right candidates. Now, Ron Paul I kind of like. At least he's real and seems to have genuine principles and ethics.

the GOP candidates currently all suck wind, what a joke,, come on Sarah, raise the banner! umm yeah sarcasm about Sarah

I'm surprised no one's bitching about the media's disregard of Ron Paul. After all, he finished fifith. Why is the media conspiring against him by discussing the guy who actually won and those who he defeated?

Goddamn liberal media.

A black GOP presidential nominee is how you implode the teabag party. Just watch the racist half (the ones that cause such an uproar two years ago) and the other half devour each other. Pass the popcorn.

Perry got Cained for telling tales out of school. Battle of the oils (vegetable V crude)

Food for thought.

We don't need a businessman in the WH to speed up America's transformation into a fascist corporate state. If ya'll haven't noticed, the already obscenely rich corporatists don't need any more money. We need a president to be a fighter for the middle-classa against corporte interests (the ones who caused this economic mess we'e in and stole $6 trillion of middle-class wealth), but since all of you who vote Republican surely MUST be millionaires and billionaires, I guess I'm talking to the wall (which, sadly, is an insult to walls....lol).

Rick-1103809

If you care anything about this country, you don't vote for a Republican EVER. They have no ideology that works for this country, and they are only in the business of harnessing political power to make their theft of middle-class wealth legal.

Republicans are the party of the rich, who, since Civil Rights, have been engaging in ceaselees popaganda exploiting white Southerners hate and bigotry and bent to excessive religiousity to trick them into supporting them at the polls. They lie, distort, obfuscate, trick, scheme to keep them in the dark about what's really happening, while they're picking their pockets, threatening to do away with clean air and water, stop educating children (to keep them dumb and voting Republican), and to destroy all our country's social safety nets for the poor and the elderly.

You sound like you're actually looking for a candidate to support. If you're looking at a Republican, you aren't looking at a "candidate," your looking at a well-funded (corportions) criminal mob who will lie through their teeth to get what they want.

Don't fall for the lies.

Excellent posts Elle. The fact is that most of these RWNJs vote against their own interests, repeatedly, which results in the rest of us suffering.

Santorum came in fourth someone explain that .. just goes to show ya

It was not an upset for Perry. ONLY THE MEDIA thinks Perry is the frontrunner.

The media asks super dooper conservatives but I say that the conservatives need to start cooperating with everyone else because they are limited in their numbers.

The conservatives can not carry a national election.

I am still supporting Mitt Romney.

Elle -

I feel the same about Democrats. I'm an independent.

I suggest you look into moderates because the Republican you describe is a conservative and I agree that they are not always exactly into the public good.

Democrats want to take my money and give it to people who refuse to work. That is not a solution I will support either.

I support Mitt Romney who is a moderate, a businessman, a former governor so he knows about politics, a governor of a state where they have state run health care so he can fix Obamacare, he wants to keep social security for all Americans, does not agree that illegal aliens should be granted special benefits like Rick Perry.

Moderates are cool from any party.

I'm not a big Obama fan - voted for him but don't know what the hell I'm going to do this time around. Definitely not Perry or Bachmann.

I did not vote for Obama because I always knew he was a socialist. I will not vote for Perry or Bachmann either.

I strongly support Mitt Romney for the reasons I state in 1.49. If the Republicans want to win, they should nominate Mitt because Mitt is the only one who appeals to a NATIONAL AUDIENCE.

CBS Newsradio reported yesterday that Romney is the only Rep candidate that has national appeal.

Mitt Romney won the MI Straw poll:

Romney 50.9%

Perry 16.8%

Cain 8.5%

Ron Paul 7.7%

What was I just saying about national electability?

You claim that democrats want to give money to those who won't work, yet you are fine with the republicans giving the money to the rich who don't need it.

You can't claim won't work, when there are no jobs. No one is sitting in the lap of luxury living on half their old salary.

Republicans destroyed our economy with wars and tax cuts and think the way to fix it is by taking from the poor and middle class. But, never ever ask those who have the most to contribute.

Where are the jobs you were promising republicans? You were elected on jobs.

Romney hiring bush's old economic advisers is very telling. Bush did such a good job destroying our country let's elect someone who thinks that bush left our country in good condition so much so he wants bush's old economic advisers on his staff.

Run Sarah run....

We need you (at least I do, as I need a good laugh)

Paul-977599:

Things like the age of the Earth or global atmospheric warming are provable facts..............to think otherwise when the science which backs this sort of thing up is too complicated for the non-believers to even explain, let alone explain away, is an endorsement of willful ignorance as the basis for a political ideology.

The "scientists" cannot predict earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, drought, floods or tomorrow's weather accurately. I hardly think a few Al Gore followers with a few thousand data points and a less than adequate computer can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the planet cannot/will not evolve to compensate for the carbon. It was, after all, part of the Eco-system at a time in the history of the planet.

We're coming into another Ice Age... No, we're coming out of the last Ice Age! Well, which is it?

As far as "hard fact, provable science", it seems that the IMPOSSIBLE has just been discovered! Neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light! Perhaps the missing link in Quantum Physics? The Sun revolved around the Flat Earth, if you will recall...

In other words, not a very good analogy...

Elle-1709289:

Nice try, but no cigar! "Pass it so we can see what's in it!", GE, Solyndra, Fast and Furious and on and on... Maybe you should be looking for someone to run against the Anointed One, Pelosi and Reid if you want Democrats to be in power!

Nobody seems to pick up on the fact that right after the 2010 elections there was an "uptick" in the economy, both in consumer confidence and hiring! As soon as it became apparent that the Senate was going to block everything it all started going back downhill.

The majority of American voters firmly believe that Obama's "Stimulus 2" will have the same outcome as the original. No jobs and a couple more TRILLION in the hole! But, under the "cover" of selling his new plan the Anointed One is going around the country campaigning for his re-election!

What I don't get is: If he was doing such a GREAT job as POTUS, why in the world would he need to raise a BILLION dollars to get re-elected? If he was doing such a great job he wouldn't need to spend a MILLION because everyone would KNOW how great he is!

You morons DO realize, right?, that Herman Cain is a Republican - otherwise he wouldn't have even been at this event?

Bunch of dumba55es on here this morning!

its so simple...

The Reason dictator perry lost was because of his views on Social Security. He went into an area of Social Security people and proclaimed that he was going to dump them all into the street and kill Social Security. Worst of all his book all but says that Social Security is Unconstitutional.

So of course he lost Florida and he will loose the nation if he keeps that viewpoint of hatred toward our Elderly and Disabled citizens.

And thats my Opinion

Next

RE 1.52

You claim that democrats want to give money to those who won't work, yet you are fine with the republicans giving the money to the rich who don't need it.

Where in my comment do I say we give money to the rich who don't need it?

YOU ASSUMED THAT.

i will repeat the pertinent part of what I said -

I support Mitt Romney who is a moderate, a businessman, a former governor so he knows about politics, a governor of a state where they have state run health care so he can fix Obamacare, he wants to keep social security for all Americans, does not agree that illegal aliens should be granted special benefits like Rick Perry. (my post 1.49)

I don't see a thing about giving money to rich people in there. Romney IS a businessman and has experience in politics. That's a good thing. He knows what business needs to get rid of the fear instilled by Obama and that fear has stifled our economy and job growth.

MITT ROMNEY all the way!

The Reason dictator perry lost was because of his views on Social Security. He went into an area of Social Security people and proclaimed that he was going to dump them all into the street and kill Social Security. Worst of all his book all but says that Social Security is Unconstitutional.

I completely agree that Social Security is an issue for this election and the candidates who even hint at it going away are going to lose big time.

Perry, Paul, and Bachmann are keen to get rid of Social Security. Period. That is a fact. Perry called it a Ponzi scheme. Obama threatened not to issue the checks when he was frustrated in recent budget negotiations.

Mitt Romney wants to return Social Security to the days when it was solvent - as in being in a trust like it was before LYNDON JOHNSON and every President since raided it.

Listen up media clowns. Perry is not the front runner, never was. You told us he was. Bachmann won Iowa. Paul won in California. And now Herman Cain won in Florida. Reason? Nobody likes the choices given. Definitely NObama, Perry is a preaching idiot, Romney is trying to please anyone who will listen, Bachmann, too crazy, Hunstman, Yawn, Newt, old establishment, that leaves Herman and Ron. The 2 that actually listen and make sense when the speak. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Congratulations to Mr. Cain. An admirable man.

But Karen is right. Romney will be the nominee. The Republicans will select the candidate who has the greatest chance at defeating Obama. It is a chess game. They have already removed all of the Democratic pawns and the king has little protection.

WHOAAAAAAA PEOPLE don't get too excited about this candidate until you know ALL of the facts!!

Cain keeps on saying he want to follow the Chile example for Social Security. Do you know what this entails? The Chileans had a ruler (President) named Augusto Pinochet. He revised the peoples retirement and skim millions if not billions off of it. Pinochet had accounts set up in many different names and for many of his family including his wife. Much of that money was deposited in Riggs Bank in Washington D.C. Riggs Bank was eventually closed by the government after having to pay millions in fines...I bet the family who owned bank is not living off the streets now nor in prison. Pinochet was known for horrible war crimes but finally brought to justice for tax evasion. Pinochet is now used as a term for a horrible man finally brought to justice ie "Cheney should be Pinocheted". Now I'm just going to give you bits and pieces of what I've found. You'll want to google: Pinochet & Riggs Bank for all the details.

Despite such long-standing guidance, the anti-money laundering program at Riggs Bank

was almost completely dysfunctional. Identified deficiencies have included an inability to

compile information on all of the accounts related to a specific client, inadequate information on

client backgrounds and the source of wealth in client accounts, a failure to identify high risk

accounts, inadequate monitoring of client transactions, inadequate systems for reporting

suspicious activity to law enforcement, weak supervision of account managers, and weak

leadership within the bank concerning the importance of anti-money laundering efforts.

In May 2004, the OCC and FinCEN fined Riggs Bank $25 million for willfully violating its legal obligations to

implement an adequate anti-money laundering program and file currency transaction and suspicious

activity reports, and for failing to comply with the consent order. This fine is the largest ever assessed

under the Bank Secrecy Act.

Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, former president of Chile, is a controversial political figure

whose name is known world wide. After taking power in a 1973 coup, he served as President of

Chile until 1990, and as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean army until 1998. After stepping

down from the army, he became a “Senator for life.”

Since the first days of his regime, Mr. Pinochet has been accused of involvement with human rights

abuses,torture, assassinations, death squads, drug trafficking, arms sales, and corruption, but never

convicted in a court of law.

Since 1996, he has been the subject of repeated litigation in Spain, the United Kingdom, Chile, and other

countries by persons seeking to hold him accountable for crimes committed during his presidency. In each

case to date, he has been found by the presiding court to be unavailable, unfit, or immune to prosecution.

The Pinochet Relationship.

The evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee indicates that

Mr. Pinochet was a Riggs customer for at least eight years,

with multiple bank accounts, investments, and certificates of deposit (CDs) under his control. His total

deposits at Riggs varied over the years from about $4 to $8 million.

[PDF]

MONEY LAUNDERING AND FOREIGN CORRUPTION ... hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/ACF5F8.pdf

And then there is this:

This article appears in the December 24, 2004 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Drive To Stop Bush's 'Pinochet Plan'
To Loot Social Security

by Paul Gallagher

A monstrous delusion, in the service of saving a falling U.S. dollar and a bankrupt international monetary system, was presented by George W. Bush's so-called Economic Summit on Dec. 15-16. A lock-step parade of globalization ideologues, beginning with Vice President Dick Cheney, claimed a "great recovery" for the crisis-ridden U.S. economy—and then demanded to save the dollar by grabbing trillions of dollars from the Social Security benefit funds of tens of millions of Americans. Even the seldom-truthful President said, "Do it for Wall Street," in his Dec. 16 speech concluding the "summit" and calling for Social Security privatization. The summit capped a 10-day period in which Bush devoted four major public meetings and two additional Presidential addresses to a manic rush to force privatization plans on the Congress.

A mass leaflet by Lyndon LaRouche, triggering an explosion of national opposition to the Social Security grab, called it "Enron II," and featured a cartoon of a lunatic little Bush leaning on a hulking Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet is the former brutal dictator of Chile, just indicted on Dec. 14 for multiple murders of opposition leaders.

This "Enron II," the Cheney/Bush plan for looting of the Social Security system, is—by Bush's own repeated account—modelled on the Pinochet dictatorship's pension privatization in Chile in 1981.

It's an economic model of fascism, designed then by Friedmanite economists and bankers known as "the Chicago Boys," operating under direction of the synarchist fixer of Republican administrations, George Shultz. Shultz's pet economist, Milton Friedman, admitted then, in 1980, that such policies as this Social Security privatization could not be carried out by democratic governments, but only by dictatorships.

CAIN LOOKS LIKE BUSH ALLLLL OVER AGAIN!

The media needs to treat all the candidates fairly, equal time/coverage. It's up to the American people to vote and determine a winner. By playing favorites or spending more time mocking one candidate while ignoring the others, it seems the media is trying to influence the election. That is NOT their job.

Headline reads --

Cain upsets Perry at Florida straw poll

Why is this surprising? Republicans are easily upset by minor issues ...

Herman Cain wants to run the government like a business. No doubt he would do that according to cost/benefit. And it would be 'business' fair - Cain keeps the benefit and passes the cost to everyone else. That is how businesses operate, after all ...

Does anyone really want to elect a guy that throws dough around ...

All the republican candidates are nothing but a rerun of bush or to the right of bush. Koch brothers are making sure of that.

The tea party founders claims to want big corporations out of our government and be run by the people and yet the tea party in congress refuse to raise their taxes or end their subsidies, leaving the corporations firmly in control.

For the love of America Obama 2012

That a different candidate is wining different straw polls is just another indicator of Teapublican chaos. That Perry did poorly in Florida tells us there are seniors who do not agree that Social Security is an unconstitutional ponzi scheme. That a 9-9-9 tax code came out the winner tells us how friggin' stupid Republicans are. But to quote Peggy Noonan, who is finally correct, all these candidates are buffoons. And all the conservatives will vote for a buffoon because that's what they do!

Sadly this is all true. These candidates are really this extreme. These candidates are the absolute bottom of the barrel and people will actually give them the power over their children's futures. Reinstate DADT, Hand "the ponzi scheme" that is Social Security over to wall street?? Defund public schools that teach evolution? Turn gays straight? Push mistrust of all American Muslims and anyone with darker skin that doesnt carry ID? Push private prisons for profit??? Let em die if they get sick?

Like I said... Disgusting­...Absolut­ely Disgusting

That a different candidate is wining different straw polls is just another indicator of Teapublican chaos

That is one idiotic "analysis". What it demonstrates is you know nothing concerning the Republican field except what the left wing media tells you to think.

There is not one Republican running that will not do a better job than Obama.

There is not one Republican running that Obama has a chance of beating.

America is anticipating Nov 2012 with more enthusiasm than Nov 1980.

He would be Dems worst nightmare. Every issue that comes up someone from the left starts calling someone a racist. Could they still do that running against a black man??? Or, what would happen if the right started calling the left racists every time someone criticized Cain? Hmmmmm

There is not one Republican running that will not do a better job than Obama.

All of the Republicans running and my cat would do a better job than Obama.

All the republican candidates are nothing but a rerun of bush or to the right of bush. Koch brothers are making sure of that.

This comment is a broad generalization and is not useful. I am not even Republican and I see the difference between the candidates.

I have no idea who the Koch brothers are so remember THIS IS A NATIONAL ELECTION. They won't have any influence on me because I have no clue who they are.

The winning candidate has to appeal to a broad base of people, not just a few.

If a candidate only appeals to a few voters, only a few voters will vote for him.

Karen in LA is right...

...and I don't even like cats...

ROTFLMAO!!!!!

The Liberal Progressives squirm as a Conservative black man is making strides in the race for 2012.

Oh my, what will the Liberals have to say if this continues. How will they be able to control their overt racism that they project on everyone else. How will they be able to demonize his success in the private sector? How will they argue his simple yet effective plans to improve our economy? Especially without further driving Barrack Hussein's mythical car that he's been driving further into the ditch. How will they object to his strong illegal alien platform, other than pretending he's deporting more than anyone, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH as the corrupt Barrack Hussein administration is? Just in case you Liberal Progressives missed the little video clip here on PMSNBC there are more drugs entering our country now than ever. I won't even bother going into foreign policy. Tommy, the deaf dumb and blind kid from the "Who" has a better foreign policy than Barrack Hussein.

The Liberal Progressives will of course berate him as a "Tea bagger" yet they still haven't learned that using their little witty pejorative makes them the Tea Baggee's*. But that's OK the TEA Party understands their ignorance. Fortunately when the "Great Mistake of 2008" is finally corrected in 2012 the only thing they'll have left is their inarticulate babblings to each other.

ABO (Anybody But Obama) 2012

* (By the way, a “teabaggee” is the one who accepts the bag from the teabaggers. You can find a more descriptive definition here, urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teabaggee)

The liberals elected President Obama for president. The majority of our country elected Obama for president. Now you want to paint liberals as the racist. Sorry we weren't the ones carrying around the racist signs.

Any disagreements I have towards Cain are purely policy. I can't see how he is any different from the rest of the republican crowd. They all want to kill America with less taxes on the rich and less regulations.

You can color me surprised if the republican tea party actually gives Cain the nomination. It will be fun watching it play out.

For the love of America Obama 2012

I look for the Republicans to push Cain as an independent candidate for president for obvious reasons.

The ironic joke is Republicans calling liberals racist. Members of the TEA party held up racist signs at their rally and they are racist??? Give me a break. The only reason the Republicans on here are supporting Cain is to try to make the appearance of not being bigots but the fact the opposition from the TEA party started BEFORE Obama took office.

Good morning everybody. The usual talking points I see. Well, it's Monday, nobody is up to speed yet.

This is what I think it's my opinion. Take it for what it is. This is another indication of disunity in the GOP/TP/LDS party. It is so fractured with each faction backing it's favorite it may become impossible for the party to come together behind the nominee. Remember, this is the party of "my way or the highway" and that attitude will be it's doom.

As I predicted several weeks ago, Perry is faltering. He is a light weight and will not go the distance. Romney will be the nominee, you can take that to the bank. But he will fail to unite the party because of his religion. Trust me on this one. The so-called "value voters", the christian right, will stay home.

This is shaping up more and more to resemble the disastrous democrat party split of 1860. The Northern democrats and the Southern democrats split over the slavery issue. There were TWO democrat conventions that year and two democrat candidates. That split allowed an unknown westerner, Abraham Lincoln, to win the Presidency.

Since Lincoln was considered a "black" republican because of his perceived anti-slavery leanings, the South seceded (remind you of anybody, Perry perhaps?) and Civil War soon followed. That was 150 years ago this year.

Here we are today, with a Black President, the South has gone republican over the civil rights movement of the 60's and it looks like the GOP/TP/LDS party is coming apart at the seams. Ironic isn't it?

Well, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Let's try to avoid the repeat of the Civil War, 'kay?

America held hostage, day 269

Obama/Biden 2012

I like Herman Cain for the following reasons:

1. He's a self made man(not a gender thing, a success thing).

2. He understands the realities of business and consumerism.

3. He wants to reform the IRS to the Fair Tax.

4. He is a very good speaker with well thought out positions (others should take notes).

5. He is perfectly capable of having a dialog with someone with other opinions.

6. He is for a rational, smaller federal government.

7. He isn't a politician.

8. I feel like I can respect him and his opinions- he's not selling me an image, he's selling plans.

I find it hard to believe he'll be the last man standing, but I think Herman would be a fine leader for our country.

Met up with an old friend this weekend, whom I have not seen in at least 6 + years. He was a STAUNCH REPUBLICAN.

He said something I never thought i'd hear

"Hey, IM NOT A REPUBLICAN ANYMORE"...and the reason why?

He's sick of all the lying, cheating, and overall unwillingness of republicans to do their jobs - which is to WORK, not spend 4 years trying to get Obama defeated in 2012.

I'm not saying he represents a lot of republicans, but if this guy - whom I had heated debates with, and was very passionate about conservative politics, has essentially given up on the republican party...I cant imagine there arent others just like him.

I just hope that most of your FROTHY GOPers on these boards understands that people on your side, are just as sick as the crap YOU'RE OFFERING - as you pretend everyone is sick of Obama.

It looks like, we're all offering nothing but garbage...and shouting back and forth about who's the stinkier piece of trash, is getting us NOWHERE.

America might very well go over that cliff everyone seems to think each other is driving us over, but if we do - make no mistake about it, we're all responsible.

When both parties (and ourselves) cant even work together and get passed the things we agree on, we're simply doomed. It's illogical the way both parties and it's supporters have been behaving - like a bunch of spoiled kids who cant understand that compromise and working together is the only solution, and the longer and harder we all fight it - the worse it'll be for everyone.

MY WISH FOR 2012 - IS THAT WE ALL GROW UP.

Larry,

Call me simple minded, but how did the opposition from the teaparty start before Obama? Obama CREATED the teaparty.

Jessica- I'm partially on board with that. I've cut up my party card because I don't agree with the concept of voting the line. Neither party is doing a good job and I'd rather be counted as a (growing) independent voting base that you've got to sell your candidate to as the most responsible and whom might do a good job. I'll vote for a Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, etc. candidate if they represent the best interests of our country. Alas, neither party can remove their heads from their rectums and realize that they need to cut spending NOW, not in 10 years. Sorry, but we can't afford all of the neato programs that buy votes. It's time to put on our big kid undies and strip down spending to what we take in taxes. Time to pay our bills. It's time to be independent and knowledgeable. Time to forget "parties" and deal with the after-party mess.

Americans First,

Any disagreements I have towards Cain are purely policy.

Haven't people been saying the same thing regarding President Obama's policies, for the last 3 years, only to be told that it could only be racism? It must really suck to have the shoe on the other foot. Do you think that people should believe that you really have issues with his policies and are not just a racist? Or, should they act as the left has for the past three years?

The truth is, as someone earlier stated, that most people these days do not care one iota what the color of a person's skin is. The charges of racism by conservatives is purely motivated by politics and is no more valid than it is for liberals.

"Hey, IM NOT A REPUBLICAN ANYMORE"...and the reason why?

He's sick of all the lying, cheating, and overall unwillingness of republicans to do their jobs - which is to WORK, not spend 4 years trying to get Obama defeated in 2012.

I had a better reason than this.

I renounced my Republican affiliation the day after they impeached Clinton.

Your friend has a real thin skin --- he renounced just because they are trying to get the worst President in history out of office?

At least they did not impeach Obama but I digress. We only impeach Presidents who get blowjobs in the Oval Office.

I like Herman Cain for the following reasons:

I like Cain too. The situation is that I want someone with some political experience in the Oval Office.

We are talking about the President of the USA after all.

I like Romney because HE IS A BUSINESS MAN with political experience. Romney at least has been a governor of a fairly large state.

I think about how businessman Meg Whitman was trounced by the Democratic political machine in CA. That would happen to Cain too. Obama is from IL - they are the masters at it.

#1.32 - gee, BOB - I have an advanced science degree. I doubt that Herman is smarter than a 5th grader - so I don't NEED to think I'm smarter than Herman - I KNOW I am.

Cain is the personification of an IDIOT (but a true TEABAGGER...)

I say if we cant get them to nominate Bachmann then he's the next best choice for Democrats.

Yes, please do that. Bachmann or Cain for President. Laugh riot.

Either one of them will do much better than Obama. Take a look at these numbers... read em and weep! There are 5 states that are at or below the average unemployment when Obama took office. All the rest are above that average now.

Unemployment Rates for States
Monthly Rankings
Seasonally Adjusted
Aug. 2011p

... Rank State Rate
1 NORTH DAKOTA 3.5
2 NEBRASKA 4.2
3 SOUTH DAKOTA 4.7
4 NEW HAMPSHIRE 5.3
5 OKLAHOMA 5.6
6 WYOMING 5.8
7 VERMONT 5.9
8 IOWA 6.1
9 HAWAII 6.2
10 VIRGINIA 6.3
11 NEW MEXICO 6.6
12 KANSAS 6.7
13 LOUISIANA 7.2
13 MINNESOTA 7.2
15 MARYLAND 7.3
16 MASSACHUSETTS 7.4
17 MAINE 7.6
17 UTAH 7.6
19 ALASKA 7.7
20 MONTANA 7.8
21 WISCONSIN 7.9
22 NEW YORK 8.0
23 DELAWARE 8.1
23 WEST VIRGINIA 8.1
25 PENNSYLVANIA 8.2
26 ARKANSAS 8.3
27 COLORADO 8.5
27 TEXAS 8.5
29 INDIANA 8.7
30 MISSOURI 8.8
31 CONNECTICUT 9.0
32 OHIO 9.1
33 IDAHO 9.2
34 ARIZONA 9.3
34 WASHINGTON 9.3
36 NEW JERSEY 9.4
37 KENTUCKY 9.5
38 OREGON 9.6
39 TENNESSEE 9.7
40 ALABAMA 9.9
40 ILLINOIS 9.9
42 GEORGIA 10.2
43 MISSISSIPPI 10.3
44 NORTH CAROLINA 10.4
45 RHODE ISLAND 10.6
46 FLORIDA 10.7
47 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 11.1
47 SOUTH CAROLINA 11.1
49 MICHIGAN 11.2
50 CALIFORNIA 12.1
51 NEVADA 13.4

Here are your Right to Work States; there are 22 to date. I have combined your information with my findings, perhaps there are reasons for the unemployment rate increases that has nothing to do with President Obama. How can a policy fail if it has never been tried. We are now functioning under Republican policies.

State Governor’s alliance Unemployment Rate

Alabama Republican 9.9

Alaska Republican ` 7.7

Arizona Republican 9.3

Arkansas Republican 8.3

Florida Republican 10.7

Georgia Republican 10.2

Idaho Republican 9.2

Kansas Republican 6.7

Louisiana Republican 7.2

Mississippi Republican 10.3

Nebraska Republican 4.2

Nevada Republican 13.4

North Carolina Democrat 10.4

North Dakota Republican 3.5

Oklahoma Republican 5.6

South Carolina Republican 11.1

South Dakota Republican 4.7

Tennessee Republican 9.7

Texas Republican 8.5

Utah Republican 7.6

Virginia Republican 6.2

Wyoming Republican 5.8

Ctborn56-4020140

Great point. During the mid term election of 2010 the Republicans ran on the platform of job creation. They have done nothing but created more unemployment with their vendetta of attacking every jobs bill that has been presented by Democrats yet have not put forth a jobs bill of their own. Unless you want to talk about slashing government jobs which would at this time increase unemployment.

The Republicans' display of ignorance over the debt ceiling fiasco, which caused the downgrade of our national finances by S&P, only shows their inability to govern yet they are asking for control from the American people after they nearly destroyed the economy during their years of control. The economic disaster started with the veto proof Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 rammed through the Republican controlled congress by Phil Gramm and pushed on Clinton. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act destroyed the The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that had kept the banks under control for 76 years and allowed the banks to take risk that they couldn't before the bill was passed. Now Republicans know the bill was a disaster but they still fight any regulations on the banks. That's what scares my about candidates like Cain, Perry, Paul, and the rest of the TEA party. They want to deregulate even more knowing that businesses will not police themselves and put this country back to the "Love Canal" policy again.

Larry,

The Republicans didnt display ignorance over the debt ceiling. They passed the ONLY plan that would have avoided the debt downgrade of the US (cut cap and balance). The S&P said that if that plan had been implemented, the downgrade would have been avoided. And a balancced budget amendment is the ONLY way to ensure we dont continue down this black hole (no pun intended ) Obama is putting us in. But the DEMOCRAT controlled senate killed it. So the responsibility of the debt downgrade has to reside with the Dems.

ABO 2012 (anybody BUT Obama)

one idiot or another - they are all worthless

Gwad! Those pitiful republicans. All out and on the hunt and can't find anything but road kill to put into their dinner pokes.

Mac Forrester - Herman Cain intimidates you that much this is all you can come up with??? LMAO!!!!!

DevilGirl: Intimidates me? Not hardly. Tickles the hell out of me though. Fact, all these republican "dimwits" remind me of a pack of "boy dogs" fighting over a "knot Hole". Even Bachmann. He,hee, gwad!

Perhaps the rank and file GOP voters are starting to realize that Perry isn't their guy. Too liberal on some issues, like illegal immigration, and too crazy on others like Social Security. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, there's something for everyone to dislike about Perry. It's amazing he ever got to be front runner, even for a couple weeks.

And then there's the issue of his D minus intellectual credentials and his utter lack of honesty. My dog has more smarts than that imbecile. And the average loan shark or drug dealer has more integrity...

Mr Herman 999 Cain has turned everyone else upside down. I guess they see 666 coming from him now!

I also so glad Bachmann didn't win either, 1.5% of the votes, YEA!!!

straw polls mean nothing. really. let the GOP elect their nominee. everyone of them have major faults. the GOP base will be unenthusiastic in 2012 and obama will crush that person. better to know the devil you have then to get a new one. folks this is all hype right now. it's the general election that matters and with all the chaos the GOP is creating every month the public is sick and tired of them. once again the GOP duped the voters in 2010. this crap will come to an end in 2012 with the dems taking over the 3 branches agian. now all you right wing nuts can flame all you want. that's all your good for.

To dji.......LMAO!!!!! Getting a bit nervous there are ya? LOL!!

Reassuring to see that there are still some intelligent Republicans out there that do not want a loose cannon like Perry driving the bus.

And Michelle, I'm sorry. You've been entertaining at times, but we're not electing a midget to be President. Did you see her standing next to Romney? The poor girl's barely a stump.

Just wondering. The standard bone thru the nose photo, can the other side also use this prop? Or is it only reserved for the use of the used tea bags?

Rocco Bonaducci

Reassuring to see that there are still some intelligent Republicans out there that do not want a loose cannon like Perry driving the bus.

And Michelle, I'm sorry. You've been entertaining at times, but we're not electing a midget to be President. Did you see her standing next to Romney? The poor girl's barely a stump.

This is it???? This is all you have?? Okay, so Michelle is short and.............???????

Well, this is just evidence of how disorganized the Republican Party is and how fickle the Tea Party crazies are. I've enjoyed the debates so far for their entertainment value. Pretty interesting stuff. Booing a gay soldier, cheering executions and wanting non-insured people to die. Pretty good indication just how screwed up these people are who are looking for a candidate to represent them.

And then there's the mostly lame questions. And the good questions not asked. For example, Perry is supposed to have such a great record on creating jobs and he could fix the economy. Just how would he do it? Does anybody ever consider that Perry and Texas have this "great record", yet Texas is still subject to the Federal regulations and Federal corporate taxes just like every other State? So if that stuff is such big job killers, how did Texas avoid being effected by them? Answer: They didn't. In fact any other State could create the Texas policies right now if they wanted to. So would Perry then make his Texas policies Federal law? So States wouldn't have those options anymore? Doesn't seem like a Tea Party, States' rights type of plan does it?

In reality Texas is a good example of how the Republican claims that Federal Taxes and Regulations kills jobs, is just a myth. In fact when you look at Texas and the high amount of oil industry there, in reality, they are subject to more Federal Regulations than a lot of other States. Perry might have wanted Texas to secede from the Union, but the fact is they didn't and they're subject to the same Federal taxes and regulations as everybody else. So how did Texas create jobs? Well for one thing, with one of the lowest wage rates in the country and virtually no benefit requirements above Federal requirements. And of course you have the high influx of Mexican immigrants both legal and illegal that drag the wage rates down. And then Texas has no individual or corporate State tax, but then they have some of the worst benefits and services in the country. And as far as Perry is concerned, well over 100,000 of the jobs he "created" were government jobs! Imagine that. Texas actually lost private sector jobs in the last three years. Oh and don't forget the 46,000 Stimulus jobs they claimed. You know, from that damn Stimulus program money they said they would reject. Funny, they took more of it than 48 other States! And then there's the little matter of State debt that doubled under Perry to more than $30 billion. He did pay some down recently. Using Federal funds!

But nobody is going to ask about any of those things because it shoots down the entire Republican jobs plan premise. Texas didn't create jobs, they just stole them from other States pretty much the same way China stole jobs from the country. By luring employers with low labor costs and sweetheart business deals.

Perry is a joke! And there's plenty of reason why the Tea Party types should have some major problems with him. I think some are getting a wake-up call on Perry and his sudden rise to the top is already beginning to crumble. Huntsman is the smartest guy up there, but the Tea Party will never accept someone who worked for Obama and he's just not crazy enough for them. Plus he's got the Mormon thing going too, just like Romney. And Cain, of course is just another diversion. Real Republicans would have a hard time getting behind him. Romney is going to win by default as he has the money to outlast everybody else. The question is, will the Tea Party be able to stomach voting for him?

wowsa .. amen

Devil Girl, to finish Rocco's statement on Bachmann, Short & STUPID...

1NewDay, I agree with you on what you say on Perry but not so much on Texas. Perry has little to do with the success of Texas which is a success no matter what the media would like you to believe. The oil and gas industry does contribute greatly but nowhere like before. Texas had a (GSP) of $1.2 trillion, the 2nd in the U.S behind California last year. Texas ranks just ahead of California of Fortune500 headquartered companies. The recession hit Texas but nowhere to the extent it hit elsewhere. There are truly jobs to be had and not all oil and government and not all minimum wage. Technology, transportation, healthcare, entertainment, pharmacutical. They are all here and doing well. The thing is Perry benefited but did not change anything to create this atmosphere. Texans did this on their own, sometimes right, sometimes wrong. The prohibition on income taxes is in our Constitution so no politician can touch that without the people voting. Same for many of the reasons Texas is a business magnate and has low taxes and low cost of living. Mess with Perry all you want. They are only touching the tip of the ice burg on his record. Please Republicans don't fall for Perry. Look at Romney and Cain.

@1NewDay, the so-called Texas Miracle of job creation was based on government spending. Federal spending -- remember, there are lots of military bases and a big NASA presence in Texas -- and state government spending. Unlike most other states, Texas didn't have to cut back on state & local spending until recently, because their state coffers get a percentage of oil production revenues.

The increase in the number of government jobs in Texas during the recession was more than enough to offset the job losses in the private sector -- yes, private sector employment went down in Texas, just like it did in every other state -- so the net result was a positive gain in employment.

So that's Perry's Texas Miracle -- massive government hiring, partly fueled by federal spending and partly fueled by the flood of cash that rolled into the state coffers when gas went to $4/gallon and all Americans paid through the nose for this hidden tax.

Perry says if it worked in Texas, it can work for all of America. Yeah, brilliant plan. Perry's ideas of massive government spending and higher oil prices will make Obama look like a budget-cutting penny pincher.

indytx,

Not saying Texas is all bad. But the statistics speak for themselves. You're right, there are a lot of high tech companies there, but a fair number of those businesses relocated from other States primarily because of cost issues, labor and local taxes. Texas statistics look pretty bad when you look at things like "social programs" that are designed to help the poor and working poor. They do have more minimum wage jobs than anywhere else and the per capita numbers look pretty bad, even averaged out with the good jobs. Close to 20% lower than US averages, plus about 25% more people below poverty level. Not saying that good decent paying jobs don't exist, just that there's hardly enough of those to go around. There's 25 million people in Texas. That's a 20% increase in ten years. Just like everybody that moves to Hollywood doesn't become a movie star, everybody that moved to Texas hasn't found success. And you're correct, if it weren't for oil, Texas would be in very sad shape because they would have virtually no money for government.

Been there more than a few times and without a doubt, there's boom town areas, but there's also some pretty pitiful areas too. It's a huge State so I suppose it goes with the territory. It is easier to be poor in Texas. Don't have to worry about winters which many people forget are a pretty huge cost of living in the Northern and Midwest States. I like hot, but parts of Texas can get pretty oppressive. The gulf is pretty nice, but it has its downsides too. I'm not intending to criticize Texas or Texans in general but more so the politics of the State. Perry and others like to point to the bright spots in Texas, but tend to ignore all the down sides. When you look at the statistical averages, it isn't all that attractive.

As you say, Perry has little to do with Texas' economic success in recent times, it's more a matter of being in the right place at the right time. There's a lot of undesirable things you can associate with Perry too, and for the most part, the media has ignored those.

azdad48,

Thanks for pointing out a few things I didn't enumerate. The big thing, like you say, is that what works for Texas, doesn't work for the whole country. Texas' raw job stats look pretty good right now because people are focused on jobs, but when you get into the detail, those raw numbers are pretty deceptive.

I believe Perry held off announcing his candidacy for a good reason, thinking that there would be less time to dig into his real record. It did work initially, but know the truth is starting to come out. The Tea Party jumped on his band wagon, but I think many are starting to jump off as they discover he's not quite what they thought he was. Perry might like executing bad guys and talk good State's rights rhetoric, but there's also a bunch of stuff the Tea Party can't swallow. I really think the fact he was from Texas and the remarkably similar prescence to GW Bush, attracted a lot of people in the beginning. It won't last. I'm sort of sad about that, because I think he would have been a good opponent for Obama. Very easy to shoot down in the minds of sensible people. As bad as the economic millstone is dragging Obama down, the Republicans just aren't looking very good. I think the establishment republicans are behind Romney and I find it hard to imagine that he doesn't win the nomination. The real issue is whether or not the radical right can get behind him. They have fired themselves up to such an extreme that they just might find Romney a bridge too far. They're going to be pretty upset too when they find out that the establishment Republican party has simply been using them. I think whether or not they vote for Romney, depends on just how much they hate Obama.

It is also noteworthy that the Bush people are pulling out all the stops to defeat Perry. They hate him, for various reasons, and they are determined to see him not be the GOP nominee.

The Republican philosophy is to help businesses ...not common people or labor. Can't people see that the Republican plan is to have everyone working at minimum wage or lower? Hell, they even think $7 an hour is too high and a person cannot live on $7 an hour without help. Their attack on unions is just the first step to reducing everyone to "slave labor" because once the unions have been destroyed companies will not pay a good wage anymore. Won't need to with the fear of organized labor out of the picture.

DJI,

I am so glad you libbies continue to believe that Obama has a chance in 2012, and that you find the majority of the GOP condidates laughable. At this point, a soup can could beat him the states where it is important. This will be decided in the battleground states, where the soup can is leading Obama by a good margin. Please keep up the good work attempting to prop this guy up. We need him in the race, otherwise it may be close..

I only hope the GOP will put up the most conservative candidate they can find. It is a rare event when we can get just about any candidate we desire into office due to the ineptitude of the current administration. This is how we got Obama (thanks to GWB). And now Obama will give us whoever we want. I just hope the GOP sees this golden gift from the Dems and dont try to put another moderate or mediocre candidate in the race. Obama versus Chicken Noodle. I like the soup's chances. And I am sure I would like its policies better.

ABO 2012

dsdsherm,

I suggest we run a nice "New England Clam Chowder" so that we can get more of the northeast vote.....

@dsdsherm, on the contrary, as a moderate who usually leans Republican, I'm alarmed that the majority of the GOP candidates really are laughable. The only one who has a real shot at defeating Obama is Romney, for the simple reason that he offers few reasons for many voters to truly dislike him.

If the GOP nominates one of the lunatic fringe, then even I might have to vote for Obama.

there is a chance that none of the declared republican candidates will be on the ballot next november... to face Obama

and what do progressives live on? tofu and starbucks

Wait a minute...what's wrong with pizza and beer? Everything is good in moderation!

Why yes, on that note, wowsa, I'll take a medium pizza and a 20-ounce beer.

Anyone want to guess whether pizza and beer will win out over tofu and starbucks?

anyone would do a better job then the man child currently trying to fill GW shoes

You are truly ignorant of who we are... I think you have no idea about reality. We independents sometimes vote Republican and sometimes vote Democrat. WE are the center; we are the people; we are the swing vote that decides elections. We are the rational, not the radical. We have a simple ideology: the citizens know best, not big business, nor big government, nor big fat party or union leaders who get where they are by feeding lies to the gullible. I suggest you escape from their lies and come join the rest of us independents. (P.S. ...the Meth Trailers are full of welfare recipients, and you can guess how much rational though they give to where their votes go.)

Amen! I am so tired of those idiots and they rallies...Keep fighting!

Karl the only people allowed to vote in the straw poll were registered republicans so please chill with that WE crap!

Except for the fact that the citizens generally know jack @!$%# about @!$%#all. Seriously, some people might be smart, but everyone with a right to vote? Hell no. HELL no. That's the main reason why we have a representative instead of a direct democracy. and even then, enough people voted for Michelle bachmann to send her to Congress.

So no, "the people" do not know better.

I agree Capt., the people do not know better. They elected Obama!

Mr. Karl, FL
is a closed election state. Only registered Dems and Repubs can participate in
their respective party’s primaries. Independents just sit on the sidelines. So
do not try to fool us by claiming credit for an outcome with which you had no
input or influence.

So called
independents are simply disillusioned former Dems and Repubs. If you have ever registered for either
political party you are NOT a true Independent.

Most of you so
called independents are simply teabagger light.

The only shoe GW ever filled was the one thrown at him. Too bad it missed!

And you sir are the so called.......M I NO R I T Y! And since US independents are tired of you liberal elitist smug anal clowns, we think we will punish you with a center right boom boom in 2012. One thing I learned as the liaison officer in my unit. Dont piss off the people you need support from. You sir have done just that!

agreed jolly with the whole dont P O the voters you need thing . put up a real candidtae and i promise all indys will look at them . don't and we won't . its really that simple.

One might think that somebody that says they are "independent" yet use Republican/Tea Party terms such as "liberal elitist" (followed by additional juvenile words) might be considered a fraud in many circles. Yeah, sure you're "independent" - and I'm the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt.

Jolly...,

A quick review of your posting history sure has me convinced (if not your colorful friends) you are a likely candidate to potentially support anything remotely liberal ...

Your communication skills are astounding, I'm certain your diplomatic skills are legendary among your colleagues.

Your communication skills are astounding, I'm certain your diplomatic skills are legendary among your colleagues.

Jolly has limited skills, is definitely a GOTPer and claims to live in Detroit. Since "jolly" started posting on FR his claims of being a Detroit resident are suspect, at best. I would bet he lives above Eight Mile and quite possibly around Big Beaver Road, Troy, MI a very affluent suburb in the Detroit Metro area (for those of you not familiar with the Detroit Metro area).

I too am getting tired of both sides (Republican and Democrat) spouting their entrenched ideology and bashing the other side's patriotism or intelligence. You put up a credible candidate without the ideology baggage and I will give them a look and a listen. If not, independents well may decide to keep voting against all incumbents until the "sides" get out of their entrenched ruts.

honor...always -

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! The first time I saw and listened to Herman Cain I knew he would be the man I was going to vote for. He stands up there with the other candidates and does what he is up there to do and that is to answer the questions that are presented to him and that is that. He is not up there to degrade nor disrespect the other candidates, Mr. Cain does not need to stoop to that level.

I've noticed that all of the candidates are intelligent people and have some very interesting qualities about them. Many people have said that Obama is an intelligent person and I won't debate that, although, not only is Herman Cain intelligent, Herman Cain is smart, respectful, poised, confident -- Herman Cain has one thing that neither of the candidates have nor that Obama has and that is COMMON SENSE!! Herman Cain has my respect and vote!!

Don't get your hopes up DG. Straw polls mean nothing,

what about all the damage the community organizer has done in less than three years

" ... what about all the damage the community organizer has done in less than three years ... "

Would you care to list the things that this "community organizer" has done in less then three years? Please? Facts and truth would be good.

And I'm willing to bet that just about anything you could list really belongs to GW Bush or the Republicans in Congress. But please enlighten us poor stupid Liberals just what he has done "to" this country.

PLEASE!!

It amazes me how the current administration says "yes it's bad, but it would have been worse if we hadn't spent so much on stimulus". Yet what if Bush had sat back and said after 9-11 "it's Clinton's fault!" After all, the USS Cole, the first Trade Center bombing, the embassy bombings and "black hawk down" all took place under Clinton, AND WERE NOT ANSWERED.

It amazes me how Bush supposedly spent us into this financial crisis, yet the administration's answer has been to spend MUCH more, MUCH more quickly ... and now complains that they have not been allowed to spend enough.

It amazes me how slacking off on mortgage loan requirements was considered very important to Barney Franks AND George Bush ...one of the few things they agreed upon... because "home ownership" was suppose to be the keys to success in this country.

Yet when the UKW hits the fan, and the mortgages go sour, it is Bush's fault and Barney is the "expert" assigned to rewrite the rules !!!!

Rationality has NOT been in much display over the last 2 decades!

I was mad at Bush; I'm even madder (by far) at Obama. You can be assured I will vote to destroy politicians from EITHER party who fail my grandchildren, and I will fight doubly hard against those who deliberately lie and misrepresent themselves.

Independence is the answer; the independent voter decides!

Karl,

I have to say that you are good at rewriting history. Lets start out with the USS Cole, the Republicans at the time were trying to bring down Clinton over a personal mistake. They were trying to impeach him at the time, did you forget that.

Bush was handed a budget that was running a surplus. Bush decided to destroy the budget surplus by giving his rich friends and political donors huge tax breaks. Then in response to 9/11 he invaded Afghanistan which was probably a good idea but then with false intelligence he invaded Iraq. Then we spent a couple of trillion trying to find Weapons of Mass Destruction or in reality Weapons of Mass Deceptions. To make this war easier he gave the rich another tax cut and didn't institute the draft so his wealthy donors didn't lose any of their children. In fact the rich did well especially if you invested in Halliburton or Brown and Root. Wasn't his VP Dick Cheney who was the CEO of Halliburton, how convenient for him and his friends.

On top of that Bush started a prescription drug plan, another unpaid program that handed the drug manufactures and insurance companies more profits at a huge cost to taxpayers. I could go on and on about the failures of the Bush Presidency. We had the TARP Program that most Republicans with the help of Fox News blame on President Obama.

We found out that we were in a deeper rescission after Obama became President, that was cleverly disguised. Obama did what any new CEO would do when handed a company or country that was going under and set up a Stimulus Package to try and save a company or country that was totally mismanaged before he became President or CEO.

To make a really long story short, this isn't an Obama problem it is a problem with people believing the Far Right and Fox News!

As I said earlier we need to stop yelling at each other and start working on our problems without the political BS.

THERE WAS NO SURPLUS. Talk about rewriting history. It was a projected surplus developed by a Republican Congress. Congress is the key, not the president. Clinton was smart enough to know this.

Obama is far too stupid to know this.

If Obama were a CEO, he would have been fired long ago. He makes HP and Yahoo! look good. And it would not surprise me to learn at some point that he was instrumental in the Solyndra debacle. Imagine, half a billion in taxpayer funds, and they are taking the 5th!

His ideas are failures. He continues one Bush policy after another. We are still fighting and losing 2, no, now 3 wars. He is building secret bases for yet more bombing around the world. The Peace Prize winner is the biggest Warmonger of all time. No other President in history has had our military stretched this thin, while continuing to expand our military spending and borrowing.

There have been no educational gains during his Presidency.

Foodstamp use is at an all-time high. So is poverty. By any measure, this idiot has spent more money, and accomplished less than any human in history.

Cities crumble, the economy is dead in the water, we have record debt, record poverty, inflation is hurting us, and he has also decreased what we contribute to Social Security, quickening the point at which we will bankrupt the system. Healthcare is a huge mess, less are insured and those who are insured are paying record amounts for insurance.

He is in the pocket of big banking, Wall St (record levels of contributions), Big Pharma, big government and the unions. He panders while also dividing the nation like no on in modern history.

He is EVERYTHING that is wrong with DC and need to be unemployed, along with all of the current career-politicians in DC. We need smaller smarter government. Herman Cain would be a great start.

talk about revisionist, Joe Rademacher, your's is right at the top

1. There was NO Clinton surplus. the debt increased throughout Clinton's presidency and was nearly 6 trillion when Bush took office

2. Bush inherited a recession that began under Clinton

3. conservatives voted against the TARP and the Tea Party rose up against the spending of Bush and Republicans for being like the leftist Democrats. However, it was Pelosi and the Dems who created our current financial disaster and Obama ran with that and proceeded to add more debt and faster than all presidents before him.

4. Iraq was a RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES based mostly upon the intelligence carried over from Clinton who came close to doing the same

The intelligence was NO DIFFERENT in October of 2002 than it was in October of 1999 when the Clinton Administration said with certainty that Iraq had WMD

April 8, 1998: The report of the biological weapons TEM is transmitted to the Council (S/1998/308). As with the other TEMs, the experts unanimously conclude that Iraq’s declaration on its biological weapons programme is incomplete and inadequate. (BBC: A UN report claims Iraq is continuing to hold back information about its germ warfare programme)

<?xml version="1.0"?>

June 24, 1998 : Richard Butler confirms reports that traces of the nerve gas VX has been found in Iraqi missile fragments. Iraq had always insisted it had not weaponised VX. Iraq dismisses the charges, warning of "grave consequences" if sanctions are not lifted.

August 31, 1998: Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is interviewed for PBS Newshour

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Iraq still has prescribed weapons capability. There needs to be a careful distinction here. Iraq today is challenging the special commission to come up with a weapon and say where is the weapon in Iraq, and yet part of their efforts to conceal their capabilities, I believe, have been to disassemble weapons into various components and to hide these components throughout Iraq.

I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measure the months, reconstitute chemical biological weapons, long-range ballistic missiles to deliver these weapons, and even certain aspects of their nuclear weaponization program.

September 3, 1998: Ritter testifies in a similar manner before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations on U.S. policy regarding Iraq weapons inspection and Iraq's capacity to reconstitute weapons of mass destruction in a very short period of time.

William Scott Ritter Jr. -“Iraq today is not disarmed, and remains an ugly threat to its neighbors and to world peace.”

December 16, 1998: The United States and Great Britain begin a four-day air campaign against targets in Iraq, Operation Desert Fox. The stated mission:

"to strike military and security targets in Iraq that contribute to Iraq's ability to produce, store, maintain and deliver weapons of mass destruction." UNSCOM withdraws its staff from Iraq.

White House press briefing January 13, 1999

Q: There's now -- we have daily skirmishes now with Iraq. Is the United States effectively at war with Iraq?

LOCKHART: No, the United States is continuing to follow a policy they followed since the end of the Gulf War (inaudible) containing the threat of Saddam Hussein.

January 27, 1999: US Secretary of State Madeline Albright:

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, there are a number of different situations in the world that require a different approach. We have believed, for now seven years, that Saddam Hussein poses a threat to his neighbors and to us, ultimately our forces, and he has acquired and has used weapons of mass destruction against this own people.

Leaving Hussein no hope will trigger his worst weapons, U.S. envoy in historic '90 meeting

By Joseph C. Wilson

LA Times Op-Ed
February 6 2003

Saddam Hussein is a murderous sociopath whose departure from this Earth would be welcomed everywhere.

There is now no incentive for Hussein to comply with the inspectors or to refrain from using weapons of mass destruction to defend himself if the United States comes after him.

And he will use them; we should be under no illusion about that.

Hussein and Aziz both told me directly that Iraq reserved the right to use every weapon in its arsenal if invaded, just as it had against Iran and later the Kurds.

Now, however, if he feels his death is inevitable, he may well arm extremist groups in an attempt to have a last, posthumous laugh.

http://tinyurl.com/2oxmfk

You post is so full of lies Larry, I won't even try to address them all. Actually after the first two lies I quit reading.

1. It was a projected surplus and Clinton's last year in office was the first in many, many years that the debt ceiling did not need to be raised. Bush then took a projected surplus had the tax rates stayed the same we could have had our debt paid off in 10 years, but bush and the republicans decided that borrowing money to give tax breaks and increasing our debt was better for the country. Borrow and spend.

2. There was never a Clinton recession that Bush inherited. Research it, I did, and the whole recession was a lie that Cheney told so they would have an excuse for the tax cuts.

My policy is never to read a post once I spot a lie. After the first two whoppers I could go no further.

Americans First: Poor old Larry also believes the David Barton revisionist history about this country's founding. He is pretty sure we are a Christian nation. No use talking to people like that.

Ever had Christian Oats for breakfast, for a hundred years they have come in a container with a picture of a Pilgrim type early American who more importantly than being a founding father himself, he was the earliest American, the very first American citizen and VOTER from whom the founding fathers were selected from, then elected, and then supported by. That,s why I like good old fashioned Christian Oats brand oatmeal, unlike the mushy stuff some wish to feed off of that is found in the heads of the few people who insist we started out as Christian nation. We started as a God fearing nation from day one, but not a Christian nation, in fact the founding fathers quite purposefully left that up to the individual citizens. Lots of use of the word God in our most precious documents, no mention of Jesus whatsoever. Christianity did not become the most popular religion until much later, how in the heck can you just ignore our own historical documents that you also claim to revere.

He may not be a politician, but he is learning fast to lie, from the friends -tea baggeers- that he keeps.

He is LYING about the Obama Care. Many people have been helped with that program. Many children have been added to their parent's insurance poicies because of the policies that Obama passed.

Children with diabilities that did not qualify to medicaid, but could not qualify for private insurance have been added to their insurance because NOW they qualify under the new program.

What is he going to do about those people that have no insurance then? Another big old mouth that won't sh** up about Obama Care, but he does not have ANY other realistic solution. I do not care about this man. He is a plain LIAR,

you teach people how to fish, that is love not just give it away, conservatives tend to lean on a love that gives people a bigger promise and shows them how to do it on their own and at some point it will be an economic work that will fix the health system not by giving it free to people by taking more money form the people who are making more and distributing it. the govt. money will end up being a dead end and the people the govt will take it from will end up not spending as much in public and private sectors. For someone who seems not to trust anyone and especially politicians you really seem to want to give a lot of power to the govt to control ordinary citizens lives. it just pisses off the left that conservatives are open minded and a loosely knit group of people who actually know much about truth and how capitalism really feeds more people in the end and offer hope to more people. it pisses the left off that conservatives are not a fascist conspiracy of imperialism but rather the real foundations of the USA and the real root along with its judeo Christian principles that have freed so many slaves in so many ways and will continue to always be a beacon for the whole world whose infrastructures and civil wars and revolutions prove they are still barbaric and in decay never making their citizens as safe as USA majority has become regularly, America is the envy of it all as we fight it out in debates to learn truths and learn to make it work despite our differences. it pisses the liberals off that Conservatism cannot be stereo typed and convicts the people who generally choose to remain in the dark and fail to grow because they believe a half truth ideology which fails to mention you need to carry your own weight at times and contribute not just consume, and the right in this nation is often in fact right and drawing its moral compass from timeless historical truth and in the end it truly fights for the poor and the weak and the oppressed by giving them the luxury to even debate these issues at all and have options. that is democracy.

geesus.....I live in down town Detroit, Im pretty sure NONE of you liberal waaaa waaaa's live anywhere near the type of area I live in. Here is the hood the wording of your quaint saying as told to me by my neighbor just 2 weeks before he was shot to death in his front door. " Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a Detroit man how to fish and he will beat your ass with the fishing rod"

Irespond

Please explain how a child with disabilities DOES NOT qualify for Medicaid.

Geez Jolly a few weeks back you said you had a "mid six figure income", a home in Texas, and a home in Florida, but you always stay in the place you always describe as a hell hole, you even said you had to get the wife a twelve gauge for her protection, I would get the heck out of that place, why don't you stay in one of your other homes, seems like the weather would even be nicer.

...why don't you stay in one of your other homes, seems like the weather would even be nicer.

That's because he doesn't live in Detroit and quite possibly because his pants are on fire.

Maybe they are, maybe the pants set a big pile of money from the half million a year income on fire and burned down the other two homes as well, hell I don't know, but he also said his wife slipped and fell and broke both her legs, I asked how his wife was doing, I never got a reply. I'm just saying I can't see a veteran soldier having his wife with two injured legs sitting with a twelve gauge nearby in a place like he describes, when he has more than the means to get her out of there. If what you says is true Jolly, I am just really curious as to why you stay there. Heck while I am curious, you say you are the Chief Network Engineer for a multinational company, but you have stated more than once that you "print-screen" posts print them out and file them for future reference on how liberals think and respond on this blog. Really "print-screen" even for a guy like me that seems a little old school for a Chief Network engineer of such a large company, are you in charge of their telegraph network? If there is a perfect explanation you would like to share with us I will be the first to apologize for doubting you, if not print I guess you can print-screen this and file it under "liberals pay careful attention to what you say and don't always believe everything they hear after it starts to sound fishy".

Heck while I am curious, you say you are the Chief Network Engineer for a multinational company... are you in charge of their telegraph network?

LMAO!

If there is a perfect explanation you would like to share with us I will be the first to apologize for doubting you...

Why bother Forrest? It will be another unsubstantiated statement by "jolly". He thinks we buy that rubbish he spews. He is what he is.

High six figure salary and he lives in "Downtown" Detroit. Really? More like hardly.

I asked how his wife was doing, I never got a reply

Let's remember this would be 'jollies' 5th or 6th wife according to him!

Jolly should change his moniker to 'Moby Dick' cause he sure can spin one WHALE of a tale!;o)

PS: My all time favorite was when he mentioned his neighbors know better then to 'bite the hand that feeds them'... WTF?

I have never gotten a reply yet, anytime I have tried to engage him, so yeah, it is what it is. In my business they would nickname him Topper, because he can top anybody and everybody with his tales.

Forrest,

You dont believe Jolly, but continue to believe Obama. HE has probably lied to you more than Jolly ever could. Why not put your blind faith in Jolly?

ABO 2012

How do you know what me and Obama talk about, I can't tell you much about what we talk about a lot of it is top secret, if I told you a commando unit would have to find you and erase your memory, but I can tell you Obama is a fairly modest guy, unless we are shooting hoops then he likes to showboat on me a little bit. Ha now I'm getting my Jolly's too.

Herman Cain is not better than the others. He is another opportunitic looking as the "sane" of the caravan of clowns. Don't be fooled. He is just as bad.

His "big point" was to say that he survided Cancer..so did many others. That does not make him a hero..just a survivor. Using that to trash president Obama's Health program, -on the othr hand- makes him an sob.

I RESPOND---

Cain was saying , which is true, that it would have taken too long to get the care the way the govt. operates . The govt. was not meant to take on the things it does these days and fails at many of its agenda, you do not want medical coverage like car insurance policy, we all know the health coverage debate is tough and the medical insurance problem is in need of repair but Obamas plan will not help us out at all unless you never try or attempt to work and just mooch the system. The financial realm of the insurance coverage is what in in need of repair , affordable plans and this will happen soon without tax dollars paying for it . Citizens who are more successful and better at balancing budgets and are ending up in the middle and upper class, whether black white or orange should not get more taxes and pay for people coverage who do not work because they choose not to work. It is a personal responsibility of a citizen. People rights lead to revolution but teaching them responsibility leads to revival. Obama was criticized for socialist policy not for being "black" and the left uses the idea that because some people are racist and still bitter about life and the American diversity as a wedge to put all conservatives in that category. When in essence the greatest african americans are just like any american and work hard and dream big and are allowed to make something of their lives and they like anyone would willingly at some point help the weaker people by being charitable as they get wealth and consider others . charity and welfare should be a willing decision mixed with some govt. welfare and the desire to work and make something of our lives and have purpose and solid work ethic in the nation to be an example for our children of any race so we can feed more people and help more people.

It also seems that you are prejudice (pre judgemental) of wealthy people. That seems pretty ignorant and is the same thing as racism or prejudice whether it is judging color of skin or the way someones full character is by how much money they have earned ( time they worked and education, etc) .So why you got so much hate? let the wealthy make money and let them dream and hire people for services and invent things build things and try new businesses and create jobs. greed is not wealth , jumkies are greedy, as long as rich people do not hoard it , sometimes money simply made is distributed to help others and build dreams and infrastructures that create life and communities of people who work together and help one another and work for one another.

He survided Cancer. Really he didid survided Cancer? Ibbbbb am abmazed!

Jolly

Careful..your sheet is slipping

Careful..your sheet is slipping

LMAO! He had better watch out it looks like his pointy hat is slipping too!

Palin? Last word I heard she was running for president of Russia against Putin

She won't even have to leave her house.

The entertainment comes when 0bama loses.

100% correct TB the media already had a winner and in spite of them these results are very encouraging. At the same time can't forget Iowa, Poor Michele.

The last thing the media and the liberals want is for Herman Cain to be the GOP nominee. If that happens, it throws their race card out the window. Why do you think Cain got less than 10 min. of questions at the MSN debate. The MSM is trying to tell us that it's between Romney and Perry, so one of them becomes the nominee.

Would the so-called "mainstream media" include your beloved Fox News? Seems they hosted the last debate, did they not? What a bunch of clowns - get your stories straight, huh?

The last thing the media and the liberals want is for Herman Cain to be the GOP nominee.

More like it's the last thing the GOTP wants...

I watched the Fox debate and liked it and the format better than the others. Seemed to get more real people questions, even if some of them were soft balls. I liked that because it was more democratic and questions I wanted asked. Not just what the media outlets wanted to ask. Hopefully, Perry's performance will clinch it and his star will fall. As for Cain, he got more speaking time and was better able to articulate his reasoning. I am more favorable of him now. He is more than the former CEO of Godfather's pizza like the media keeps spouting. When he said he had experience in the Burger King franchises I looked it up. He took over the worse performing 400 restaurants and brought them up to the best performing in 3 years. He was deputy chairman, then chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve. He is a preacher and he obviously preaches what he believes. I think that it was the Atlantic (I may be wrong) that said he was the major responsible party that killed Hillarycare during the Clinton administration when he was chairman of the National Restaurant Association. He has experience these other pols lack. Congrats Mr. Cain.

We already have a "real American black person as president" President Obama. Are you a real American?

Obama /Biden 2012

Yea that's...just really ignorant. Congratulations.

I thought Obama was 50% white and Irish.

he is only half black

Jake, I think Cynthia is very shrewd. She is not incorrect if she is talking to the Tea Party segment of these posters because in their view Obama is, and always has been, a black Muslim Kenyan. They can't very well turn on her and say he isn't black beings they've already said he is and beings he's disclosed his full birth certificate they really look stupid if they say he isn't American. Like Cynthia, I too will be voting again for a real American black person as president.

Obama/Biden 2012

Well.....that makes 2!

Obama/Biden 2012

Obama/Biden 2012

For the love of America Obama/Biden 2012

Obama/Biden 2012 Keeping HOPE ALIVE!

Obama/Biden 2012

He's not a REAL black because his nose is too straight and his hair (use to be) too straight. Probably had some sort of Anglo or Native American genes added to the pool. But he does have those shifty looking eyes, and licks his lips when talking to white women. Not like President Obama, he ignores those distractions so far since Michelle would kick his assets and the other woman's. ;-)

Do you not know that Hawaii is a state in the United States of America? That's makes anyone born there a U.S. citizen, including President Obama.

Obama's policies...? Conservative demands of what? Man, where do you get your news, Fox?

" ... I'm so Confused?? ... "

Yep. That says it all right there. The Right is just so confused. LOL. Thank you for admitting it.

Pretty easy really. The Tea Party (that's the racist arm of the Republican Party) is losing it's grip in Florida - which ought to be good news for dems and repubs alike. The Tea Party crowd has so screwed up the process (that's the governing process - the political process has always been screwed up) that most rational folks (left and right) can see it's time for the tea party to be over.

Perhaps you should have a discussion with Haulin' Oats @ #19

Grover, my point is that its fine with me if the Republican candidate is Black, Asian, Latino, man, women,etc as long as they will advocate a libertarian conservative agenda. And I believe that's the way most libertarian conservatives feel. Whether that's Mr. Cain or not, it's too early to tell. Are there some in my camp that are a little racist? Probably, but the vast majority couldn't care less. There are plenty on the left that have, shall we say, some rather extreme views. So, let's just agree that there are a few kooks on both sides, and stop playing the race card, it neither furthers the discussion, nor does it help the nation get where it needs to go.

And the winner is charleyb. Congratulations on being the first from the loony left to call Cain a token, an Uncle Tom. If a black man or women doesn't tow the progressive line, they must be a token. As any enlightened person knows, all real black people think alike about everything political. Believe it if you want buddy, the race baiting from the left is losing its power. Seems to me whites on the left don't seem to like free thinking black men.

What do you have to say for yourself charley? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

That's a ridiculous statement, but most African Americans do still consider the Republican Party to be inherently racist. That image is by no means going away because of Herman Cain, it was built up over decades.

You are right again Capt., it won't go away overnight, but it will make it start to fade even more. That is what the democrats are afraid of. If Cain gets the nomination, the black vote would split and mean even more trouble for Obama, not that he doesn't have enough already.

Very few, if any, blacks are going to vote for a capitalist like Cain. Cain is just a corporate bigwig in disguise. Arnold ran for governor as a businessman. He sure fixed the financial troubles in California. America is in financial trouble because of starting two wars without providing a revenue stream to pay for the wars. You can blame social security, medicare, stimulus programs, health programs, etc. but you don't fight wars without additional funds.

Why would blacks not vote for a capitalist "like Cain"? Some, and hopefully a growing number, of us believe in capitalism, less taxes on corporations and national security. We have tried socialism/soft communism (Obama), sustained attacks on corporations (your pick of Democratic presidents) and surrendering our national security (Carter), and look where it has gotten us.

Ouch. As a black conservative republican who believe in freedom of speech, national security, low corporate and personal tax rate, pro-life issues and elimination of welfare among others, that makes me a "token". Guess that makes you a Democrat.

BlackRepub - we've also tried pro-business deregulation (Bush and the Congress from 94-2006), and trickle down economics (Reagen) and look where THAT got us...Some of us do remember all that, you know. There's something to be said for failing while trying to help people vs failing while trying to help business.

Capt,

One has to wonder exactly how it is that we reduce unemployment without helping business.....

Well you don't do it by busting up unions...

I imagine you find something that works for both, vs one or the other.

You could try to raise the bar for their competition. Enforce environmental standards and minimum wage requirements upon them or they have to pay more in tariffs and shipping costs to compete globally.

Capt,

Do you think that there is anything about unions that help to reduce unemployment? They may or may not detract, but I don't see any way that they do anything positive when it comes to unemployment.

" ... is *really* a moderate. ... "

No, what they are finding out is that they don't have a clue OR a candidate. Just flavors of the month.

George - This is what I think it really is. Well said.