The search continues for the GOP candidate President Obama can defeat in 2012.

The list is shrinking, day by day.

Shh! You're going to wake the Congressman.

Isn't First Read due for a story on Jon Huntsman?

Liberal dimwit said:

Didn't we learn our lesson when we elected Reagan for a second term?

You mean Reagan, the most popular and effective president of the last 60+ years? That Reagan? Wow. Statements like that show just how far left and fringe people like you are. Which is cool because you people only make up a small fraction of the electorate. Not really enough to matter.

Damages123

In what way was Reagan effective? Raising taxes, blowing up the deficit more than any president in history, or giving the Iranian's arms? Please enlighten us in how this man, who sold actual weapons to an enemy, and by my definition makes he a traitor how he helped anyone except the rich?

You were obviously born after the Reagan years and are only going by the constant trumpets the right are always blowing about Ronnie. Those of us who lived through it know better. Statements like yours show just how far right fringe people like you are. Which is cool cause people like you are just so darn funny.

Good post Kinigofmyhill. It's amazing how the younger generation that didn't have to live through the Reagan administration think he was a great President. It just goes to show the tea people GOP republicans don't do any research on their own, they just believe what their told to believe by Fox (aka tea people GOP republican propaganda machine) and Limbaugh (racist).

Are you sick and tired of the media BLACKING OUT RON PAUL? If so, then pledge to donate to his campaign on Oct. 19th. Hey media, BLACK THIS OUT! www.blackthisout.com

I like Ron Paul, however, in his world, banks wouldn't sign up people who were poor credit risks for mortgages, because it would seem to be against the banks' best interests...but that is exactly what they did, amidst the crazy housing bubble. Libertarians always assume the system worlks best without government oversight....but reality indicates somebody needs to mind the store.

Who knows...maybe he's just ahead of his time.

More like behind them.

You do realize that the housing bubble and the recession we find ourselves in was not caused by a free market system such as the libertarian principles would provide...it was created by the opposite. Government intervention into the marketplace by the Fed and other government agencies like fanny mae and freddie mac allowed interest rates to remain artificially low and allowed banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers who, after stimulus printing b/c of flawed keynesian principles, inflation lowered the purchasing power of the lower and middle class families who then were unable to pay their debts and loans, defaulted, and then the housing bubble collapsed (which Ron Paul predicted would happen 3 years prior)...certainly you wouldn't talk about something as though you understood it without knowing these simple and proven facts, right? I mean...do some research and stop pegging libertarians as crazy because they actually use facts and logic to deduce their conclusions....

Hubert-4189796

Lets see blame it on Fannie & Freddie right? Like the banks weren't doing this long before Frannie & Freddie got involved. Try again Hubert, that line is as old as Reagan and covered in moss. W/o regulation, the banks went hog wild in getting as much profit as they could, period. And who pays, not the rich because their protected but the middle class and the working poor, thats who.

I notice you have no real argument rebutting mine, unless your ''covered in moss'' is supposed to actually mean something. You are essentially saying that it is bad for banks to want to make good loans to credible borrowers, and good for them to make bad loans to high-risk borrowers. The problem has been around before fannie and freddie...1913 to be more specific. The Federal reserve act created a bureaucratic agency that operated in secrecy and had the power to counterfeit money. It was created in a time of hysteria (much like the patriot act) and has since devalued our dollar by 90%...wake up...the problem is not banks in need of regulation...its ONE bank that needs to be audited and then eventually done away with. The creation of this fiat currency in 1913 allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to stay the same, only poorer once the influx of newly created dollars inflated the currency so that they have less and cant buy with it. This idea that government is the watchdog over the financial sector is absolutely absurd and its what allowed special interests and fraud to enter the banking system...politicians turning a blind eye to banks that paid the most to get through the loopholes of your highly endorsed ''regulations''...economics 101: government interference always hinders economic growth...

Hubert, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed the market, not the other way around.

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/10/who-caused-the-economic-crisis/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/13/john-mccain/fannie-and-freddie-contributed-to-wider-problem/

Hubert, it was government intervention alright, but intervention designed to allow the banks and insurance companies to dabble in markets historically off limits to them. And if you remember, loans weren't granted with fixed low rates, they were adjustable and the banks knew that it was only a matter time before they rose to the point that people would begin to default.

And please, all you got is the same ole Keynesian crap. And be honest now, those loans granted to people with low income accounted for only a small portion of all defaults...where did the all the other foreclosure come from?

OHHHHH, I'm sorry...i reread your post and realized that you hate banks because they make profit by allowing people who couldnt afford things to actually be able to afford them...those bastards!...banks are good...they are businesses...they take capital and provide service to people...in a free market society people would use banks that gave them the lowest interest rates on loans for things they wanted to buy...if you couldn't afford something, you got a loan, if you got a loan, you had to pay interest, if you have to pay interest, you pay interest according to your established line of credit. forcing banks to be "more fair and willing to loan" invites a moral hazard of poor credibility AND forces banks to make bad loans to people thinking it will help them but it actually only hurts them because they wont be able to pay with a rapidly declining currency. You seem like a relatively intelligent person theres no reason why you should think that banks that unfairly assess credit would survive, or that they wouldn't loan to poorer people if it was good business...THEY WANT TO MAKE LOANS THATS HOW THEY MAKE MONEY!!!

Amy,

From the article you posted...

"Actually, deregulated banks were not the major culprits in the current debacle. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase have weathered the financial crisis in reasonably good shape"

Hubert: all of the banks you mentioned received direct money from the TARP and indirect money from the bailout of AIG. That's how the majority of major banks stayed afloat.

TARP was an enormous joke and yet another example of government ruining the natural fluctuation of a marketplace. If you liquidate debt and allow the malinvestment to be weeded out thats the only way to ensure proficiency in the banking industry. It would've created a year or two of hard economic times, but it certainly hasn't solved anything and waiting to do so is not going to make it any better, its going to make it worse. You don't allow malinvestors to continue to stay afloat, you let the market weed out the bad businesses and determine the winners and losers. Government interference in this process will always lead to preferential treatment, fraud, and illusion-based market prices--none of which helps the american people, all of which helps the banks and government scratch each others' back.

Hubert, you are one big joke. You and your Republican friends like Phil Gramm have done more to create the mess we're in but you sure won't admit it.

Hubert: totally agree. Is it to late to reinstate Glass-Steagle ?

If you agree with me....I just created a petition entitled Restore Sound Money, Today! , because I care deeply about this very important issue.

I'm trying to collect 300000000 signatures, and I could really use your help.

To read more about what I'm trying to do and to sign my petition, click here:
petitions/restore-sound-money-today?share_id=XEXtGsoqVN&pe=d2e

It seems you don't understand how a free market economy operates. If we had no government interference in the marketplace it would regulate itself much better than bureaucrats in Washington could ever imagine. Competition keeps businesses honest and prevents corporations from screwing the little guy. The irony of this is that whenever there's a problem in the economy and things go wrong, we cry out for more regulations and we usually get them but for the most part these regulations make it more difficult for new companies to arise because the cost of complying with these regulations are tremendous. If we had faith in freedom and free markets consumers would have more choices and not be stuck doing business with people that don't have our best interests at heart. Ron Pauls message is so hard for many of us to grasp but if you really study what he says and read his books you begin to see how things ought to be done. In Washington they tend to do things they shouldn't do and they fail to do things that they should. It's all backwards and we wonder why we're in so much trouble. We need to elect a president who is honest, intelligent, and respects the U.S. Constitution. The role of the Federal government is not to police the world, destroy our currency, and invade our privacy. We have rights and Dr. Paul is the only candidate who respects them. He really is a man of the people. A legitimate statesman not a politician. For those of you who like to give superficial reasons as to why he should not be elected I suggest you study harder because your comment carry no weight and have zero significance. If you would like to fix this mess we're in we all need to understand each other viewpoints instead of bashing each other. It would go a long way.

Yeah okay if you say so. I've been working in the so called free market system for thirty years.

Ron Paul is not going to win the GOTP nomination let alone the general election. That much I do understand.

RonPaulitics - you didn't mention the unicorns and rainbows...

"Competition keeps businesses honest and prevents corporations from screwing the little guy."?!? "...more choices..."?? "...our best interest at heart."!!!

what fairyland world do you come from? maybe, maybe, maybe, you can make a case for those first two. It would be wrong, but you might be able to make one.

But, to claim that businesses have our best interest at heart is really pushing it. The interest they have is to make money - that's it! Their interest, in general, is not in us, it is in our wallets. And that is OK. But to claim that in a libertarian world corporations would not do everything in their power to take as much as possible, is pure fantasy.

And go bankrupt and destroy our dollar...no money no freedom for you me anyone. I don't really care I own hard assets. Let's go broke you can work for me!

Paul has said he wants to end FEMA. He said he was for going back to before FEMA when everybody pulled themselves up with their own bootstraps. He harkened back to the days of the great disaster in Texas where they had piles of bodies burning for weeks. They gave free whiskey to help the pain.

Texas made it through was Rons point, but it may be a little harder to watch people die on cable news. In the early 1900's you heard about the tragedy, but didn't have to watch. Let the people suffer sounds like love to me, yes Ron Paul kind of love.

Paul also want to end health care while he and the republicans think you deserve to die without it. I guess in your mind, that is how Paul shows his love for Americans.

If you expect charity from your neighbors, you had better hope your neighbor is not a republican.

We have to get over being the United States and working together. Why would Paul want to help those around the world, when he thinks Americans aren't worth any help(I think that shows love for Americans don't you). The rich need more tax cuts and Americans and everybody else can just go to he!!.

Who doesn't want to bring the troop home? Bush ran out of Afghanistan to rush to his war of choice built on lies. Republicans have voted to keep GITMO open. Unless things have changed we are moving our of Iraq as we speak. I even thought we had a timeline for leaving Afghanistan that the republicans are fighting.

Without the congress, Paul can't do anything either about the wars. Paul knows that and is running on promises he can't keep.

Actually, the only thing Congress can control is the purse. If they specifically prohibit funds from being used to bring troops home, the troops have to stay. Unlike prisoners at GITMO, its pretty hard to keep US troops in foreign lands when the host countries don't want you there.

Presidents can veto laws mandating spending they don't want. They can order the justice department to not defend laws they don't want to enforce. That's why President Obama is taking the ACA to the SCOTUS, he wants to make sure it is vigourously defended.

Ron Paul is just another let give tax cuts to the richest while we leave America to die. I think disgusted rather than fear is the better word. I find them all cut from the same cloth. Using bush tax cuts during war and then driving up a huge debt as an excuse to become heartless and cold to our fellow man.

Death to America by a thousand cuts but by all means don't ask the rich to pay a fair tax. This fantasy of smaller government will go just far enough to give the rich all they want and nothing you expected. When the rich are firmly in control and we can never raise taxes on them again, fees, your hero's the republicans will start charging you fees. Like the fee in Texas Perry started, if you want your kid to ride the school bus it will be $600 per child a year.

With the fees for this and the fees for that and you will be wishing you had been willing to pay a little more in taxes.