"There You Go Again":

The year was 1980 and Ronald Reagan was running against incumbent Jimmy Carter. During the debates the "great communicator" used the line, "There you go again", which rather effectively disarmed his opponent. That phrase became the single most defining phrase in the 1980 presidential election and is still remembered today.

Sound bites, slogans, and phrases continue to be an effective way to communicate. An excellent example of a sound bite was "It's the economy, stupid." This gave James Carvel his claim to fame and subsequently Bill Clinton moved into the White House.

It is possible that a perfect phrase in this year's election could partially neutralize the 1.8 Billion dollars that the Republicans plan to spend on this election. After the two conventions, there will be debates and that will be a golden opportunity for President Obama to present his own memorable one liner. Recently I read that the Obama team has selected Senator John Kerry to play the role of Willard Romney in the debates between Obama and Romney.

There is no doubt in my mind that Willard will be disingenuous and make up facts as he goes along. Obama's campaign team in Chicago is much wiser than I and will come up with some great one liners. But I do have a few suggestions when it comes to dealing with Romney's falsehoods. How about, "Mitt, that simply is not true". Or "Here are the facts". Our President has way too much class to say "You Lie". That line is reserved for Joe Wilson, the Republican representative from South Carolina. "Shake your Etch-a-sketch" might work, but it is not original.

The Good Book says, "The truth will set you free." But in Romney's case, he continues to say whatever thought enters his head as he can't recognize the truth if it stood right in front of him. It's high time for Romney to be called out for his deception and a strong reoccurring one-liner should do the trick.

New Bloomberg Poll of likely voters (6/20/2012):

National – Obama 53%, Romney 40%
Presidential approval rating 53%/44%
Favorability – Obama 55%, Romney 39%
Out of touch with voters – Obama 36%, Romney 55%
Would be better for the economy – Obama 48%, Romney 43%
Congressional pick – Democrat 48%, Republican 41%
Party favorability – Democrat 50/43, Republican 41/50

Backhouse - there are more than two dozen jobs bills sitting on Harry Reid's desk. Why doesn't the President march over to the Senate and demand that Harry Reid do something more than legislate about boxing? Why don't you ask the President? Why don't you ask Harry Reid instead of just spewing talking points? We can't afford these stall tactics anymore. Ask the Senate majority leader to take an up or down vote and then negotiate through a committee. That's how Washington USED to work.

Flippity Flop with a Constitutional Twist

"I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the [immigration] laws on my own. That's not how our system works. That's not how our democracy functions. That's not how our Constitution is written.'' (July 25, 2011)

"Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people. Over the next few months, eligible individuals…will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization." (June 15, 2012)

Hmmm, those sure seem to be contradictory statements to me. Besides that, it looks like a blatant flip flop that would be hard to parse as an "evolution." But the worst part is it sure looks like the president is ignoring the constitutional prerogative of Congress in these matters and making immigration policy on his own. All of this created a bit of a stir inside the beltway so David Plouffe had to step in to save the day on the Sunday talk shows:

"This simply gives Homeland Security and our law enforcement officials the opportunity to enforce the law with some discretion and allows these young people…the ability to apply for a two-year period for work authorization."

Ah, now it's all clear to me. The president is definitely not doing an end run around Congress by creating immigration policy within the executive branch. Not at all, what the president is doing is exercising the prosecutorial discretion inherent in the responsibilities of the executive branch in enforcing the laws of the land. Silly me, now I understand. For a minute there I thought the Unilateral Decider was subverting the constitution and sticking it to Congress big time in his zeal to switch his position and pander to the immigrant community. But now I know he's just exercising good judgment by looking the other way, so thank goodness that's been cleared up.

And you know as I think about all this, I'm kind of liking the precedent this sets for future presidents. I mean, if one of the first things President Romney does is announce that he's giving appropriate agencies the opportunity to enforce Dodd-Frank with some discretion, then surely the left will be completely OK with that. Yes indeed, I daresay we'll hear nary a peep from our cuddly leftist friends as the new sheriff in town decides to use good judgment in such matters by ignoring the more onerous aspects of that law. And for any who might have the poor taste to ask about the new president's ability to do such a thing, the riposte is simple:

"That's a clown question bro, my predecessor gave me all the authority I need."

Here we live on a planet that is home to seven-billion-people. We live in a country of more than 300-million. There are more than 200 countries on the planet, some big, some small. All have different types of governments. Some countries are landlocked. Some seem to be perpetually at war. Some seem to have a constant starvation crisis.

To explain and simplify this world, we have a group of "professionals" who make a living telling us that if only the unemployment rate were under eight-per-cent, birds would sing, flowers would bloom, and all would be right. We have these people telling us that a piece of paper with some ink is a person and has rights to unabridged free speech. These same people tell us that money is speech. Does that work two ways. Is speech money? Let's all just start talking and get rich? Come on, didn't our elders tell us, "Talk is cheap."

Is there some point at which we stop, think for a moment, and say, "Don't tell me up is down."? Don't tell me you're pro-life, but you support the death penalty. Don't tell me we can spend more than we earn until the day we die. Don't tell me deficits don't matter and then the next day tell me they do. Don't tell me job one is to limit our CEO to a four-year term when we are already at the brink of financial disaster. Don't tell me jobs are the most important thing.........after everything else.

Dammit, stop lying to me. Tell me the hard truth. Quit with the damned waffling. I'm not asking for a perfect President. Ain't no such thing. I don't expect to agree with everything he says. Hell, I don't agree with everything my wife says, and I like her a hell of a lot more than the President.

Here's how this shakes out for me. There's two candidates running for President. Neither one of them is willing to say, "Here's how it is Dave. The education system is a miserable failure, and guess what? The biggest reason it's failing is because PARENTS aren't doing their jobs. We can't afford to be the cops of the world. I'm going to continue to kill terrorists. And speaking of terrorists, my Attorney General is going to figure out that these thieves who have looted our system can be prosecuted under RICO. Yeah Dave, Lloyd Blankfein and his buddies belong behind bars. I'll wipe that smirk off his face.

"Tell you what else. As it's currently structured, old Rick Perry actually did get something right. Social Security cannot work as it's currently structured. It really is a Ponzi Scheme. Forget this "let's be gentlemen BS" because I'm the only one doing it. I'm going to call out the McConnell's, Cantor's, Kyl's, Schumer's, and the rest as the panderers they are.

"We're going to have national health care. I'm not going to listen for one more minute to this crap about insurance execs needing millions in annual salary, while we're denying health care to our citizens. Psssst Dave, you know what? The taxpayers are still paying for Emergency Room service. The insurance industry is rotten to the core."

It's not as though Romney can't tell me this as easy as President Obama can. I'm listening. Come on, shake me up with the truth. I know it's not going to be easy. I'll take my lumps. Once upon a time, I didn't live the life of comfort I lead now, and I survived. I can do it again, only these days I'm smarter and I know how to do more with less. Just stop pissing on my leg.

New Bloomberg Poll of likely voters (6/20/2012):

Likely Democrat voters. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid Dennis.

Great post Backhouse, Ron, Feisty, & Dennis.

I see the FOOL has undies in a bind over the Bloomberg poll.

Hey, Fool's GOLD there are other polls out there that go thru you boy, Mittens, as if he's not even relevant; fool.

4ward for44

Obama/ Biden 2012

Fired Up

Great posts Feisty, Ron, Dennis and David.

Stalling transportation bills or letting them run out the clock, hurts everyone from families to businesses. Folks are forced onto unemployment insurance when they want to keep their jobs. And when they run out, GOP plays games with renewing benefits. Traditionally, Congress has come together over transportation spending as it is a win-win for the US economy and a given role of government.

When a business can't move their products around efficiently, and commuters can't get to work on time on our highways, everybody feels it. GOP House is sitting up their on the Hill on their $174,000 salary working 4 or 5 days a week - time for them to get up off their duffs and take care of folks out here.

David if you are going to bloviate, get your facts straight. Stopped reading at the "over 200 countries" line.

From World atlas.com:

depending on the source, there are 189, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 or 196 independent countries in the world today.

Nobody credible thinks there are over 200 countires in the world David.

Actually David, we were told that flowers would bloom and birds would sing just by putting The Chosen One in office. (Not that myself and millions of others ever believed that) What happened?

And when are you disengenuous liberals going to STOP that "a person can't be pro-life AND be pro death penalty" crap? Read carefully: a precious, unborn baby who has never harmed anyone is DESERVING OF LIFE. A 28 yr old man who rapes and murders an old lady IS NOT. It's fascinating that you people have such a hard time with that one. Typical though.

Feisty: Day four and the candidate with out a core still can't answer the question of where he stands on immigration!

The bigger question is where do Romney and Obama stand on following the Constitution, executing the defined role of the POTUS - enforcing the laws.

"There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President." - Obama

So Obama, apparently out of nowhere, decides to ignore all those laws he referenced, usurp those" congressional mandates" he stipulated and intentionally violate the very role of President he cited with the exact method he stated he could not legally use.

Pander Express work for everybody?

Obama Biden 2012 - We Don't Need No Stink'n Constitution

Republicans Have Mastered the Art of the Irrelevant Clown Questions.

AG Eric Holder has answered the questions.

Ed Morrissey of the Bush Adminstration's Operation Wide Receiver Said"They Accounted For Those Guns"

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206150011

Leave Eric Holder Alone!!

Let's get on with letting Eric Holder put Florida Governor Rick Scott in JAIL for voter suppression and violating the Voter's Right Act. How "bout that transportation bill, the Jobs Act, the Violence Against Womens Act, Student Loans, instead of wasting time and tax dollars witch hunts which will do absoltulety nothing for the question the RepubliCons have asked about this economy???

Voter fraud is extremely rare but that's no reason for Fox News not to keep hyping it. Fox Noise, instead of the specter of dead voters, we have the specter of dead dogs as voters. Or, as Fox Nation put it in its blaring headline: Dead Dog Receives Voter Registration Forms .

Florida Governor Rick Scott appears clearly to have broken voting-rights-related laws.

Here is why federal marshals must immediately arrest Governor Scott in public.

Governor Scott successfully set up and carried out a purge of legitimate voters; if he faces no personal criminal justice consequences, then the message sent to other elected officials, and election officials, will be that they too can gain illegal advantages for their candidates without facing any criminal justice consequences.

To reiterate the point; if there is no deterrent arrest of Governor Scott, there will be no deterrent, period, on other efforts around the country to steal the 2012 election.

The illegal scheme by which Governor Scott attempted to trim voter registration lists of his political opposition -- Democrats -- was predicated on telling actual U.S. citizens, registered to vote, that they were not citizens, and that if they believed they had received the letter in error, that they had to arrange for and to attend a special hearing to demonstrate their citizenship and their eligibility to vote. If they did not respond within a certain tight deadline, they would be removed from voter registration lists. With malice aforethought, and in violation of voting-rights-laws -- that is to say, with apparent criminal intent -- Governor Scott was counting on an election-throwing number of his victims being booted off of voter registration lists, for a number of reasons, for example 1) mis-delivered letters, and/or 2) letters intentionally sent to wrong addresses, resulting in automatic removal of a legitimate voter from the registration lists. Even if every last determined registered voter were to have attended the unnecessary and fraudulent hearings, and been certified as eligible to vote, there is no reason the victims should ever have suffered this burden.

Even after the Department of Justice sent Governor Scott a cease and desist letter, he announced an intention to continue breaking voting-rights-related laws. In criminal law, intent is crucial. Governor Scott's announced intent to continue violating laws, after receiving a DOJ cease and desist letter, suggests he was aware that his illegal activities were illegal, before he received the letter. In any event, ignorance of the law would be not be exculpatory in a criminal justice setting.

Independently of the governor, Florida election officials have announced that they will be obeying the DOJ letter, out of fear of personal criminal justice consequences, as well as out of concerns to preserve the integrity of election results -- concerns Governor Scott manifestly does not share.

Federal marshals must immediately arrest Florida’s Governor Rick Scott for breaking various voting-rights-related laws, as a deterrent to others breaking laws in similar ways, and in order to restore public trust in the integrity of the voting system.

http://nation.foxnews.com/dog-voting/2012/06/19/dead-dog-receives-voter-registration-forms

==================================================================

Of course, you know the usual question which comes from FOX NOISE. What do you think? Over the top? Yes!!

I have a question, Weren't the jobs already long gone BEFORE Obama came on the scene? What? It's called political spin? Where I come from it's called BULLSH!T.

The Maddow show clearly illustrated the priorities of the two candidates running for President in their activities yesterday - Romney was rolling in the dough while President Obama was participating in the G20 summit. What did Romney have to offer during this very important meeting .. not a word, not a peep, why not even an acknowledgement that the G20 summit was an important meeting.

So there you have it folks, Obama is on the world stage, supporting the Euro leaders in their crisis, working through the mid-east crisis, ensuring tensions with Russia are eased. Then we have Romney in a classic Republi-lala-land move, rolling in the dough. And Romney supporters have the nerve to call President Obama leaderless. I'll take a world leader over the man with a rolling pin any day.

Corrrrection at #1.11

HOUSE now works 3 or 4 days for three weeks, followed by one week off.

Romney criticizes Obama for not having enough experience saying he should have been a governor (you know, like Palin's experience as a governor was so helpful) and not just a lowly Senator. Then he goes out and picks Rubio? Ain't gonna happen. He will pick whoever the republican power structure tells him to pick. Hey, Cheney's got a new ticker, he should be good to go. Romney/Cheney 2012, "The Rape of America, Part 2"

The Maddow show RedDev?

Really?

What is the answer for the legislators in Michigan who can't say vagina; but want to legislate it?

Simple the word is powerful !!!!

We shouldn’t trade in the legacy of the New Deal and Fair Deal for a Raw Deal.

The RepubliCons would love to do that. They want to roll back everything rogressives have achieved over the past 70 years

No more tax breaks for the 1% off the backs of the middle class and the poor.

Pay your damn taxes.

Stop destryoing this nation.

4ward for 44

Obama/ Biden 2012

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – a huge fan of Nationals phenom (and Reid constituent) Bryce Harper – pulled out that now-viral line on Tuesday when Roll Call’s Steven Dennis asked him whether he would put the DREAM Act up for a vote, and what he thought of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell deferring to Mitt Romney on the immigration issue.

Reid stopped for an usually long pause. Then:

“I don’t want to answer that question. That’s a clown question, bro.”

And that moron Harry Reid, being the biggest clown in the Senate, should have added “… and here’s my clown answer.”

WCA:

One time! Just one time! Show us where Rachel Maddow was wrong. Show us where she has misrepresented facts. Just one time! No deflections. No diversions.

Not to be outdone by the Republican National Committee's outhouse stunt over the weekend, there's this from AZ no less;

Think Progress:

Barbara Espinosa, the host of an Arizona radio show called “Hair on Fire,” called the President a “monkey” on a recent radio segment. “I don’t believe in calling him the first black president,” she said, “I voted for the white guy myself. I call him a monkey.”

Nobody credible thinks there are over 200 countires in the world David.

Guess WCA lost his analyst that counts for him - or he detests Israel to such a degree that he doesn't count it as one of the sovereign states. Ah well, what can we expect from a white collar worker that needs an an analyst to count to ten, a secretary to manage his calendar (recall those days of I'll have my people call your people), a clerk to file his weekly memo, and a graphics artist to produce his monthly graph.

This is a list of sovereign states giving an overview of states around the world with information on the status and recognition of their sovereignty.

The list contains 207 entries. The states are divided using two distinct methods:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states

I, for one, will be glad when this election is over.

Either President Obama will be re-elected and the economy will continue the recessionary trends, or America will have a new President, who hopefully understands the difference between pandering to get votes and approval ratings and creating real and viable solutions.

Immigration is a serious topic, which need more than the stroke of a pen to solve. President Obama added somewhere between 800K and 1.4 million to the unemployment roles with one act trying to gain a few votes. The people affected, will have two years of temporary amnesty and then they will slip back under the radar because no real solution will be forthcoming.

To those who disagree, please explain how putting a bandage on a bleeding artery will solve the real issue of immigration. Why this deflection from the real issue of an economy that has been made even worse by the policies of President Obama and his czars?

ABO '12 because America needs someone that is not FUBAR

The Filibuster Party has blocked job creation from Day One, period. And their spinology that public sector jobs "do not grow the economy" is just a duhhh insult to every thinking person. Like - teachers, police and firefighters do not buy groceries and gas, or pay rent? But when it comes to the few U.S. Keystone Pipeline jobs, GOP is willing to make an exception?

Are you really this dense? The money to pay for teachers, police and firefighters has to come from borrowing or by raising taxes. Otherwise the jobs disappear when the money runs out (I refer you to the layoffs in public sector after the 2010 when the borrowed stimulus money ran out). In other words you cannot create a job for a teacher and by itself it is sustainable, no matter how much they spend in a grocery store.

On the other hand the Keystone pipeline will create jobs that add value to a natural resource, which has no value as long as it remains in the ground. In other words be removing the oil from the ground and transporting it to a port in Texas value is added and wealth is created, which pays for the jobs, AND through taxation pays for public sector jobs.

Also, the way it is presented here you would think that there are only three jobs categories in the public sector. How about you look at some productivity enhancements in other areas of government that would create saving to hire more of your three favorite jobs categories.

BTW I never found out if any your 600K public sector job losses occurred in Democratic controlled states. You have a breakdown?

Just one time! No deflections.

You're asking for the moon there David.

I have never in my life heard of an American President having as frank and direct talks with a Russian President as I've heard of President Obama and Putin having in Mexico. They met for two hours. And FR is actually reporting on Russia's position, ther thinking, and how it might change. This is huge. This is a step forward in the field of modern diplomacy.

Clueless Amy strikes again. You really need to get out more, dear:

"CBS reports that when Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met with the press after their long private discussion, 'The two men barely looked at each other. You could just feel, sort of, the tension between them. And the body language really represented how far apart the two leaders remain on the issue of Syria.'

It is clear that President Obama did not get an agreement from Russian president Putin [on Syria]. Apparently President Obama got a bit of a lecture from Putin about some other failed transitions that are going on around the world."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/two-men-barely-looked-each-other_647611.html

Sorry RED, the Keanu Maddow show is not a credible source for anything. He's mainly a left-wing hack. If I came on here quoting Sean Hannity, you people would get more riled up and excited than David Walker at a Liza Minelli concert. So, no go.

Beverly- Please contact your mayor for us and pass this great news along to him. Ted Nugent has offered to put a stop to the Black on Black War going on in your city. He says that, if the scumbag gang members and such will just pick a spot in the city to have it out once-and-for-all, HE'LL supply the firepower and the ammo! They just have to make sure it happens in area where no INNOCENT people get hit. Sounds like a great plan, doesn't it? I'm planning on contributing some ammo myself.

Best part is, if it's successful, they can adopt the program in OTHER cities! It will do a better job in ONE NIGHT of making the nation's ghettos safer, than 45 years of liberal BS social programs.

Dennis, didn't that same poll also say that 36% of respondents thought they were worse off vs 45% being better off since obama took office?

One would have thought that after 3 1/2 years obama would have done better in all areas as he promoted unity. Oh wait, he never did promote unity, only divisivness thru blame. To bad obama didn't leave the congressional attitude of rhetorical blame for the opposition behind when he became POTUS.

Time to get someone who wants to unify our country as POTUS tather than a divider.

One and done in 2012... OMG

Beverly, great post. Hey talk to GBM about Rick Scott!

Myself, I think he hasn't got all the chairs at the table. (No excuse for his abuses.)

GOP Tea governor Rick Scott wants to purge hundreds of thousands of eligible voters off the Florida rolls. The Justice Department warned Scott to desist because he's in clear violations of the law. All 67 Florida county elections officers told him No, they won't use his hokey voter purge list. And yet Rick Scott feels entitled to go on accusing, blaming and threatening to sue the Federal Government & Homeland security if they will not do his bidding.

Sense of entitlement, much? These guys act like they're above the Law.

Put the voters already purged by Rick Scott, back on the voting rolls!

Wikipedia RedDev?

Really?

You do know the difference between a state and country?

Don't you?

Put down the shovel old gal, that hole is getting deep.

I see the FOOL has undies in a bind over the Bloomberg poll.

Now, now Beverly. Does this sound like a comment befitting a member of the so-called "party of tolerence"? Or did you renounce tolerence when you accepted Barack Obama as your personal lord and savior?

I don't pay heed to polls that disagree so dramatically with all the other polls unless something dramatic has happened to change the dynamics. It's more likely that the poll is biased or that there was something wrong with it's methodology.

As I said yesterday, Rubios under the bus. Typical Romney, Rubios no longer valuable to him for the Latino vote, so Romney dumps him. What a nice guy.

How about the Congressional idiots who want to bring contempt charges against Holder? Have these fools got nothing better to do? I guess not.

OBAMA IN 2012.

Let's be clear -

Romney could choose Feisty DumbFux for Veep and STILL smoke Obummer come November!

Obummer botched his chance in a bad way and the only ones that disagree are the ones in denial (think DumbFux & Bev "Resist We Much" Sharpton)

Let's all use this as a "Teachable Moment" on what happens when you elect a "Community Organizer"??WTF...LOL?? who has/had ZERO experience but delivered a damn fine speech!

Obama - A True American Embarrassment

Backhouse it is true that spending is a big part of our economy. 70% i believe. However the public sector jobs themselves require on average 21 taxpayers from the private sector to pay for those public sector jobs. If you make 50,000 public sector jobs tomorrow across the country, it will take the revenue taken in from over 1 million taxpayers to fund that. Same as when Pelosi said "food stamps create jobs". While you can subsidise a program or a job, there is a debt side to that also that costs more than the job or program returns to the economy.

If the Republicans are the ones filibustering, how many Bills from the Senate are setting on Boehner's desk, as opposed to how many House Bills are on Reid's desk? Also speaking of doing nothing, why do you not rant against Reid for not submitting a Budget from the Senate the last 3 years as is required by law?

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you fricking idiots on here believe that Romney should interject himself into world politics as a smart move -- you are out of your minds!!! If he did, then you would chastise and disrespect him for interfering. You people are lamebrains.

Also, Romney is entirely correct to sit back and reflect on the illegal and unconstitutional (remember Hussein said he didn't have this authority just a few short months ago) and reason an answer/response without being caught up in a knee-jerk reaction from a jerk's action. So take your call-outs and stick them.

If you fricking idiots on here

Quite hilarious coming from Benny Birther.

Did anyone see the bit on Jon Stewart that showed FOX news cutting off the last 30 seconds of Obama talking about what he could do for immigrants. Obviously, some of our FOX news watchers missed that one, and don't realize they've been duped (again( by their own news channel. It's a common occurance over at FOX, where fair and balanced means clipped and spun

It's a fine day when my Liberal friends post so many terrific comments. I will give credit to Albany Joe and Fairfax Bill for at least taking the time to write their views even though I simply disagree. Instead of criticizing President Obama for doing what he can regarding the Dreamers, the criticism should be directed at Congress and those who disregard the Constitution which are the republicans who prevent the "majority rule" which our Founders put in place. So, spare us the righteous indignation about who is trampling on the Constitution--it is not President Obama, it is the GOPTP and they have been stomping on it for 3 1/2 years.

Dennis, we were on the same page only my post is #7.

Texas T, those so-called GOP House jobs plans have egregious components to them such as cutting funds for Planned Parenthood, taking the money from the Health Care Act specifically from the poor and women's health, banning abortion, cutting funds to education, etc. Suggest you go read them. They are a disgrace to the legislative process and a total snow job on the public.

WCA:

Kicking your ass is like taking candy from a baby. You wrote:

David if you are going to bloviate, get your facts straight. Stopped reading at the "over 200 countries" line.

From World atlas.com:

depending on the source, there are 189, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195 or 196 independent countries in the world today.

Here's a link for everyone: http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.htm

As the astute reader will note, the answer is for the moment - 196. However, South Sudan just became a nation after a protracted civil war. There are ongoing civil wars all over the planet, many of them certain to be resolved by creating two countries from one.

Yeah, WCA, I'll stick to the 200 figure, just as I'll stick to the 7,000,000,000 figure knowing full well that number increases by the second.

My only question: Is that the best you can do?

As a matter of integrity (look it up), when you use quotation marks, they are to reflect a quote. I did not write, "over 200". I wrote "more than 200". Come on dude, "over" is a preposition.

Just face it, this is exactly why most republicans knew this guy really was not the best choice. He want's immigration, go vote for him now. Ron Paul write-in campaign starts now

Why Rubio probably won’t be Romney’s VP pick - Simple he has asked Sarah "I can see Russia" Palin to run with him.

Here you go David.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/lies-damned-lies-rachel-maddow/

It's pretty easy actaully, just google Rachel Maddow lies.

I got over a million hits.

BTW - How does proving I was right about your "more than 200 countries" claim constitute kicking my ass?

Only in a Liberal mind I suppose.

Personally I'd like to see him choose Condi Rice as his running mate. She's smart, she knows Washington and she has the two qualities liberals find most important.

She's a woman and she's black.

NOBama/2012

Bill of fairfax...

Spot on about body language, even bloombergTV reported the same. Too bad body language isn't a required course in HS and at the university level.

The Maddow show RedDev?

Yeah WCA - Maddow - really. You see unlike you, she doesn't need a staff of 20 people to direct her to the toilet for a daily dump. She uses her staff to produce a quality show, full of silly things like facts and statistics. By the way, someone counting the number of kids you drop off in the pool doesn't qualify as a statistician.

Bev,

"What is the answer for the legislators in Michigan who can't say vagina; but want to legislate it?"

Offficially ruling out and controlling the words we use, is more than a serious bully tactic from the right wing. It is a Big Brother tactic.

Texas T, those so-called GOP House jobs plans have egregious components to them such as cutting funds for Planned Parenthood, taking the money from the Health Care Act specifically from the poor and women's health, banning abortion, cutting funds to education, etc. Suggest you go read them. They are a disgrace to the legislative process and a total snow job on the public.

So they should have no problem bringing this up for vote in a Senate, voting it down and then negotiating in a joint-chamber committee, right Jody?

It's pretty easy actaully, just google Rachel Maddow lies.

I got over a million hits.

Well, which analyst ran that google search for you? I ran a google search on while collar worker lies and got 4.9 million hits. That means I win.

WCA - Nice rebuttal to davids spin machine

Obama should be tried for treason. His agenda is destroying our inalienable rights. Biden should be indicted for stupid. What a bumbling ass. All of you that buy into the MSNBC lies need to do your homework. Romney may not be perfect but he is absolutely without question a better and more qualified candidate than Obama. "In all cases Obama is the least qualified man in the room".

Backhouse, actually the GOP House works 3 days per week for two weeks, then has a week off. They work roughly 9 days per month. They arrive on Tuesday but do little until Wednesday and they rarely work on Friday and if they do, they're gone by noon.

"That's a clown question bro, my predecessor gave me all the authority I need."

Odd that you would finish your post with this. Your entire post can be summed up in one sentence:

But the worst part is it sure looks like the president is ignoring the constitutional prerogative of Congress in these matters and making immigration policy on his own.

Hmmm, this all seems vaguely familiar...

From the book "Unchecked and Unbalanced":

... the Bush White House has repeatedly sought to expand its powers, often doing so in secret, while sidelining both Congress and the judiciary.

He has issued a steady stream of signing statements, signaling his intent not to comply with more than 750 provisions of laws...

... the Bush White House’s “broader efforts to seize unfettered control of national security policy and to eliminate the checks and balances imposed by Congress and the courts”

President Bush’s signing of a 2002 presidential order authorizing N.S.A. surveillance in the homeland without a court-approved warrant, an order that effectively circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed by Congress in 1978.

So you see, it already is a "clown question, bro"! Obama's predecessor Bush gave him all the authority he needs. Or is this another case of "It's OK if you are Republican" but only if you are Republican?

California Tom, one of our border agents died from a gun we intentionally let walk into Mexican drug dealer's hands. Our country allowed this. Looking into the death of one of our guys on the border as a direct result of the govt's guns they let go is "got nothing better to do". Really dude? I would think this would be above partisan bickering.

Grassley from the Senate has been trying to investigate this and getting hardly any cooperation since Jan 2011. The House had to go after him through the courts because he won't turn over the docs. And he still won't, even court ordered. There have been around 140,000 documents identified with this program and he has turned over just over 7,000. Around 5% of what they want. And one sent to the Senate has already found to be false. This doesn't bother you at all?

(remember Hussein said he didn't have this authority just a few short months ago)

Poor Ben, listening to ghosts from Christmases past - Hussein has been dead for several years. Remember, he was executed a few years ago, so I doubt he had anything to say just a few short months ago, unless of course, Ouija Boards and Tarot Cards are what Ben uses to judge current events.

Romney's aids are not going to determine who the VP Pick is. Romney will chose who he wants, when he wants, and announce the pick what he wants.

And Dennis, regarding your poll, remember the LIBERAL GOLDEN RULE: if the numbers look good for Obama, we're a kind, tolerant nation of sensible people. If the numbers look bad for Obama, we're a nation of racist morons.

Texas T,

None of them would ever pass cloture (60 votes required) to allow amendments and a vote so they are DOA and a waste of time – they would never get to a joint-chamber committee.

The Attorney General of the United States is about to receive a contempt citation from Congress and MSDNC wants to speculate on Rubio's chances for VP ? LOL !

Democrats will wet themselves with excitement of useless speculation over Rubio as a distraction to the total incompetence of Holder and his minions. Under Holder, subpoenaed documents are being held back as a deliberate obstruction of justice. Then we have the laughable appointment of one of Obama's supporters and another guy to investigate the serious national security leaks coming from the higher officials in the Obama administration. Stir in a few lawsuits against states for trying to protect the flow of illegal immigrants into our country, and top it off with the DOJ trying to suppress the State of Florida from verifying registered voters !

This is part of the sad legacy of Obama's appointed henchmen ! They consider themselves to be above the law.

Backhouse

Bev,

"What is the answer for the legislators in Michigan who can't say vagina; but want to legislate it?"

Offficially ruling out and controlling the words we use, is more than a serious bully tactic from the right. It is a Big Brother tactic that is being used in various ways in schools over language, books and plays that are permissible, etc.

These old gray, pale, dinosours since that crosss eyed Scott Walker won with all that money. Even Mittens has the nerve delusion to think he can win Michigan.

I'm astounded the Republican dinosours want to deny that slavery existed in the United States.

Actually, to some of them it never ended as evidenced by the policies they want to enforce. Let's not forget the racist images & messages they send daily like that fool Fiesty was talking about in her post on the dog house with bullet holes in it.

RedevPOS - Watched ms maddow on a few occasions, she does seem to prove the old adage of "figures don't lie, but liers do figure.

Her inabilty to connect the dots in an impartial way is a good reason to not listen to her or any other political pundit (L or R).

So if the Obama administration has 140,000 documents and turned over 7000, that makes them 5% transparent. Does anyone know if anyone else has been more transparent? Seems to me Bush turned everything over over the CIA scandal and charges against Gonzales. Seems to me Nixon eventually turned over every tape, . . . . except 20 minutes.

@American -- Have you noticed the same similarity as me??? Is Ms Maddow actually Chris Hayes in drag or is Chris Hayes actually Ms. Maddow???

"one senior administration official said the focus of the summit was to convince German Chancellor Angela Merkel to pull away from an austerity plan and focus more on spending and creating jobs."

Germany went through their 'austerity' program over the last decade, and it is paying off for them now with a much improved economy, so trying to convince the Germans that they should just keep throwing their hard-earned money at the Southern European countries that refuse to control their unsustainable 'entitlement spending' is going to fall on deaf ears.

The Germans have already put themselves on the hook for close to a $Trillion to provide loans to the 'weak sisters', so I don't think they are in a mood to continue that failed policy. Without German money, austerity will be FORCED on the free-spending Southern European PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain).

(The report was prepared by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center).

Daily Kos/The Washington Post

"The plan's a fraud," Paul Krugman said on Sunday. "The plan is a big bunch of tax cuts, some specified spending cuts, basically for poor people, and then a huge magic asterisk which is supposed to turn into a deficit reduction plan, but, in fact, if you look what's actually in it, it's a deficit-increasing plan."

The report, prepared by Senate Democrats and reviewed by nonpartisan tax experts, marks the first attempt to quantify the trade-offs inherent in the GOP tax package, which would replace the current tax structure with two brackets — 25 percent and 10 percent — and cut the top rate from 35 percent.

Those changes would benefit virtually every taxpayer, but they also would reduce federal tax collections by about $4.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. To avoid increasing the national debt by that amount, GOP leaders such as House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (Wis.) have pledged to get rid of all the special-interest loopholes and tax shelters that litter the code.

The net result of eliminating popular loopholes would hit earners between $100,000 and $200,000 annual income while providing a huge break to those making over a million dollars annually.

The net result: Married couples in that income range would pay an additional $2,700 annually to the Internal Revenue Service. Households earning more than $1 million a year, meanwhile, could see a net tax cut of about $300,000 annually.

Sens. Robert Casey and Chuck Schumer, who were both instrumental in having the report prepared weighed in ~

According to this report, while millionaires will receive a huge tax break, earners making under $200,000 will see their taxes rise significantly,” said Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who chairs the Joint Economic Committee.

“Ryan seems to want to have his cake and eat it, too, and this report shows that you can’t,” added Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who requested the analysis. “If you want to cut taxes on the rich and not raise the deficit, you’re going to have to basically clobber the middle class.”

Republicans of course, objected to the report being premature and unfair. (They were hoping to keep it as vague as possible but the report starts to shed some sunlight on it).

House Republicans called the report premature and unfair. For example, it assumes that Republicans would maintain lower rates for capital gains and dividends — which disproportionately benefit the very wealthy — a long-standing part of GOP tax orthodoxy.

Ryan spokesman Conor Sweeney has said they'd be open to such changes as higher rates on capital gains and dividends.

Uh. Sure, Repbulicans, that'll happen. And they have their knickers in a twist because the report writers are making assumptions that 'actual tax writers' would not. A fellow at the Tax Policy Center responded:

Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, reviewed the Joint Economic Committee report. Although the numbers are rough, he said, the conclusions are largely accurate.

“Even with eliminating fairly major tax preferences, the Ryan tax plan remains regressive. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “Unless you go after the tax preferences that benefit the wealthy” — capital gains, dividends, tax-free interest on municipal bonds — “it’s really hard to undo the regressivity of the rate changes. You’ll be shifting the burden of the tax code toward the middle class.”

Mitt Romney has praised Paul Ryan's plan.

__________

There you have it.

California Tom, one of our border agents died from a gun we intentionally let walk into Mexican drug dealer's hands.

Gee, an intelligence/spy/foreign opertion mission gone awry. Like that has never happened. Should we discuss that great intelligence gathering conducted by Bush .. something to do with yellow pancakes being the cause to wage war and cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. Oops, that was done by a Republican so we overlook that failed attempt. But one gun gone astray under a democratic President, let's spend a billion dollars to investigate and crucify the son of a bitch. We have seen this typical Repubi-lala-land mentality before when Starr spent tens of millions to find a spooge stain on a blue dress. Wow, that was worth the effort.

Rubio can't be VICE President because he's a Senator with only a year and a half on the job? ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA!

You kill me First Read with your humor and with you genuflecting worship of Obama...a PRESIDENT who was a Senator with a year and a half of experience before running for the HIGHEST office in the land.

BTW, you may be right considering how poorly THAT worked out.

Combat vet your post of sixteen minutes ago hasn't been collapsed yet? Amazing...

BTW, being stupid is not a crime, as for obama, just exercise your right to vote the bum out. And thanks for your service in support of our constitution..

She's a woman and she's black.

Janine, how about listing her successes as Bush's SoS instead of reducing her qualifications to gender/color? You know, like how she admitted to ignoring the specific warning about terrorist attacks "I believe it was called "Bin Laden determined to strike within the U.S." or maybe how she parroted the lie about Saddam in order to support the unnecessary war in Iraq?

Alan,

According to today's NYT article. Government workers layoffs at every layer of government will siphon off $15 billion in spending power in 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/business/public-workers-face-continued-layoffs-and-recovery-is-hurt.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120620

In previous recessions it was the public sector that would have added at least 1.4 million jobs.

When consumer spending makes up two thirds of the economy, the recovery will indeed limp along no matter who is president.

Rubio ISN'T Barack Obama. Rubio couldn't even put his version of a DREAM Act together.

@Jim -- Be prepared for another cowardly cover-up from this administration if the House votes inept Holder in contempt. President B. Hussein O. (of the U.S. for Red's benefit -- idiot) will invoke executive privilege like all "transparent" administrations do.

BTW, being stupid is not a crime

Otherwise that vet dude would definitely be charged.

Pedestrian...

Janine did her best to simplify her support for Ms Rice in a way that liberals would understand. Made me think outside the box as to Ms Rice's potential qualifications for VP.

Well to make it sweet, I've had all the Mitt Sh!T that i'm going to listen to as a (swingvoter) term I hate. I will be casting my vote for..........Pay heed all you Republicans who can just show disdane and not logical argument for Nitt Mitt..............OBAMA/BIDEN ......I'm going to take a dump and tell Mitt I'll be looking for some butt wipe when I'm done and his face will work just fine. Yeh I can get crude to!

Texas T, why waste taxpayer money voting for jobs bills that are NOT jobs bills but bills to eliminate funding and public sector jobs. Thought conservatives were so concerned about wasting tax payer money yet despite the GOP 2010 campaign slogan "jobs, jobs, jobs; we'll create jobs" the GOP House has spent two years writing anti-women, anti-contraception, anti-voter, anti-Planned Parenthood, etc while taking a week off after working 6-8 days and naming a few post offices to make it look good. Sorry, T, but your indignation should be directed at those GOPers running the House earning $174,000 per year plus benefits who spend most of their time on vacation.

Public sector jobs are jobs; they pay taxes, they buy food, gasoline, cars and trucks, go to ball games or the movies, take vacations, shop for clothing and appliances just as do private sector workers. Public sector jobs such as teachers, fire and police, city road crews and garbage collectors all support the "public good" and they are Americans who love their country as much as private sector people do. The GOP should be ashamed of themselves for showing and verbally expressing such contempt for their fellow Americans but they do it everyday and it isn't just Mitt Romney and GOP legislators and wannabees, it is people here who probably know teachers, fire and police or the guy/gal who collects their garbage or fills the potholes in front of their house. Republicans no longer believe in the "public good".

WCA:

Anyone can go to the link you provided and find that Ms. Maddow retracted her statement. She admitted to error. She was wrong when she made the statement. Then she corrected it. Are you seriously unable to grasp that. Once wrong! Now right! Get it?

Frequency of searches/hits is utterly irrelevant.

Still waiting for answers to my questions as to how a stellar White Collar Auto guy like yourself was so thoroughly snookered by the blue-collar union thugs (did I get the thug part right?).

I note you were unable to rebut RedDev's number of countries post.

As far as kicking your ass? You seem to have forgotten your plaintive snivel, which I paraphrase, "You have to leave me alone." However, I'll make a point of kicking your ass on a regular basis if you can deliver more than a fifth-grade taunt. Try me!

RedDev, i'm sure intelligence missions go bad all the time. When programs like this go bad it needs to be understood why and by whom and corrective action taken. It won't cost that much and would have probably been concluded last year if Holder would have responded to the simply request for docs from the house, senate and the courts. Makes me wonder why, outside of national security, when people we employ in govt don't want us to see things they have done.

The intelligence gathered under Bush has already been proved to be false as several Iraqis that wanted Sadaam gone admitted to lying about it.

Holy crap -- Our POS POTUS just granted Holder executive privlege. That cowardly SOB!!!!!

As far as kicking your ass? You seem to have forgotten your plaintive snivel, which I paraphrase, "You have to leave me alone." However, I'll make a point of kicking your ass on a regular basis if you can deliver more than a fifth-grade taunt. Try me!

BCA will just relegate himself to posting at 10:30PM. Not like he has a job to get up in the morning for.

Wikipedia RedDev? Really? You do know the difference between a state and country?

Yeah WCA - unlike your sloppy analyst, some of us out there think Taiwan is an independent country vs. a country claimed by China. So you see, we dig a little deeper vs. pulling out the 1917 world globe and counting the countries on the map. But hey, keep trying to convince us your white collar salary is worth your stupidity.

OFF TOPIC,

...for at least the first 8 posts. I think David Walker might, maybe, have barely touched on the First Read Article at hand, but I'd have to go re-read it to be sure.

Wow.

So, I too, will post something that has nothing to do with the topic, since First Read is ALL about NOT thinking, but having a lot of data:

You Are FAT

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/18/12278587-report-worlds-population-is-17-million-tons-overweight?lite

Please get someone who you hate on this thread to meet you in person and chase you with a bat. Both of you will be doing the same thing you do here online, but you'll get yourself in shape. I mean really, if you are going to get all psycho AND fat, are you really setting yourself up for a long term future of coming to First Read, staying off topic, and never changing your mind?

According to today's NYT article. Government workers layoffs at every layer of government will siphon off $15 billion in spending power in 2012.

And I'll ask again, where does the money come from to pay for the 15B in spending power? It has to come from somewhere. If it could simply be created then Europe would not be suffering the fiscal crisis they are currently in. You keep focusing on the spending lost. I am focusing on the where the funds are originating from. We are currently borrowing 1T a year at approximately 1% (unprecedented). We have liabilities at the Federal level of an additional 100B a year in SS and Medicare benefits. You are now arguing that we should be borrowing more to pay for a bigger public sector. Where do you find the money? If you say from higher taxes consider this. To implement austerity in Europe Spain, Greece and Great Britain have raised taxes and are now in recession. So what is your alternative?

And what happens when nobody wants to lend you money at 1% and you have to start paying interest on the debt at say 4% or 5%.

Government workers layoffs at every layer of government will siphon off $15 billion in spending power in 2012.

Let's see, if you do the math that $15 billion amounts to 0.1% of GDP -- hardly enough to make much of a dent on our anemic economic growth.

Then if you do some thinking you'll discover that the $15 billion those government workers would have spent will now remain in the pockets of the taxpayers who pay their salaries -- and thereby be available for spending anyway.

You people have no clue.

FYI - Issa’s uncovered no evidence showing Holder bears any blame for the botched operations begun under George W. Bush, even though the Justice Department turned over thousands of pages of documents concerning the operations. Instead of accepting this fact, Issa has requested many more documents containing confidential information regarding ongoing law enforcemen investigations, and is now threatening to hold Holder in contempt if these documents are not turned over. Holder is entirely correct to withhold these documents, however, because Justice Department documents are not subject to congressional subpoena if they would reveal “strategies and procedures that could be used by individuals seeking to evade [DOJ's] law enforcement efforts.”

Derek, you obviously aren't aware that David Walker is the smartest person here. How do we know? Because he says so. If only everyone in the country (mostly those dumb yokels in the RED states) would stop "voting against their own self interests", all would be right. Don't ask him how he knows what OTHER PEOPLE'S "self interests" are. He never seems to answer that question.

Joe HAHAHAHA

Gallup has an interesting new poll out that shows American’s confidence in things lefty liberals hold near and dear to their bleeding hearts are at record lows: public schools (29%), the federal government: Congress (13%), the presidency (37%), the Supreme Court (37%). More bad news for lefty liberals: institutions generally associated with conservatives had much higher confidence levels: the military (75%), small business (63%), and the police (56%).

What makes you think that lefty libs hold the Supreme Court in anything other than contempt? Since it's been taken over by radical right wingers legislating from the bench, it's held near and dear by kookie connies, not lefty libs. The same goes for the Congress, with the Democratic Senate being obstructed by GOP filibusters and the GOP-run House wasting its time on Issa's witch hunts and anti-abortion bills. As for the presidency, it may have a 37% approval rating, but the approval rating for the person in the Oval Office is quite a bit higher.

Holder got executive priviledge for a gun tracking program? Seriously? How in the heck would someone even relate that program with executive privledge? Sounds like they are trying to hide something that won't bode well for the election.

The report was prepared by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center).

Daily Kos/The Washington Post

LOL,LOL,LOL

From the Bloomberg poll: "The wide gap between Obama and Romney overall marks a change from other recent national polling that has shown the two nearly tied."

A "change" from other recent polls? A change?? Good grief, the Bloomberg results are a tectonic shift from other recent polls. So, what has happened out there in USA land recently that could account for such a significant purported shift in voter sentiment? Umm, nothing major that I can think of.

And that's why this poll should be viewed as the outlier it is. You don't need to be a Republican to come to that conclusion, all you need to do is think for yourself.

Holy crap -- Our POS POTUS just granted Holder executive privlege. That cowardly SOB!!!!!

POS Ben .. is cowardly what you called Bush when:

On July 9, 2007, Bush again invoked executive privilege to block a congressional subpoena requiring the testimonies of Taylor and Miers. Furthermore, White House Counsel Fred F. Fielding refused to comply with a deadline set by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain its privilege claim,

or when;

On July 13, less than a week after claiming executive privilege for Miers and Taylor, Counsel Fielding effectively claimed the privilege once again, this time in relation to documents related to the 2004 death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. I

or when;

On August 1, 2007, Bush invoked the privilege for the fourth time in little over a month, this time rejecting a subpoena forKarl Rove.

or when;

Bush invoked executive privilege "in substance" in refusing to disclose the details of Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings with energy executives

or when. when, when, when..........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege#George_W._Bush_administration

So this article is saying that despite the obstruction of the house GOP, the endless bills on women's rights and abortion, regulating one's bedroom, tax breaks for the rich, war mongering, and only working an avg of 2 -3 days a week on legislation.. the GOP could still keep control of the house and gain control of the senate. Only in America can you bombard the general public with advertisements and spinning of the truths to get the masses to vote against their better interest. Are you telling me that more people in this country believe this crap than not? It is just amazing to think that is true!

RedDev, i'm sure intelligence missions go bad all the time. When programs like this go bad it needs to be understood why and by whom and corrective action taken.

Well gosh ATC, what are you hoping to find? Ya see, that is the difference - I suspect all we will find is that a gun got in the wrong hands during an intelligence operation, and it resulted in the wrongful and sad death of a border agent. What are you expecting to find? While you enjoy spending millions to find spooge on a blue dress, might I suggest a quick visit to any red light district via a cab ride - a much more cost effective method to uncover the substance of your obsession.

Still waiting for answers to my questions as to how a stellar White Collar Auto guy like yourself was so thoroughly snookered by the blue-collar union thugs (did I get the thug part right?).

@D. Walker - you will never get an answer to this question. Like most other white collar crappy yes men, they never admit to their mistakes in driving business into bankruptcy. It is called the Ken Lay duck and cover syndrome. Poor Kenny boy claimed over and over again he had absolutely no idea his company Enron was about to go bust and collapse entire industries and ruin the lives of millions of people. Why, poor Kenny boy even had whistle blowers telling him it was about to happen, but yet, he still had no clue. That is the value of white collar workers - they are head in the sand workers, or better known as worthless collar workers.

What makes you think that lefty libs hold the Supreme Court in anything other than contempt? Since it's been taken over by radical right wingers legislating from the bench

This country is a center conservative leaning country, leftist pretend they are the majority , but is not. Obama attach the Congress and the Supreme Court because he don't believe in the equally branches of our Government. Obama's dictatorial manners are coming afloat when is getting closer to the election , due to his continues failure in in domestic and foreign policies, in domestic with his inability of bring the economy back on track and in foreign policies helping radical groups like Islamic Brotherhood to to get power , a radical religious group, proponent of Sharia Law.

Oskar, Oskar, Oskar -

Like Concerned Citizen, you sound like my credit card company, my mortgage company, my utility company whose call centers have been outsourced to - Pakistan, India, Korea, Jakarta, U-Becki-becki-stan-stan-stan. Quite telling that our politics, courtesy of the GOP/TP have also been outsourced, as evidenced by "its' proficiency of the English Language.

So tell us honey, r u a he/she/it (that would be sheit) on a Republican hired phone line from Udickitstickitinmeickysitan for $2.00 bucksandarchedbacks an hour?

Hint - if you are going to pose as a bonafide political poster for the right wing freaks vs. a paid outsourced troll, you should spell Oskar in American-ese (that would be English to you), Oscar, just like the bologna.

TexasT/Or Anyone,

What's missing from every, single one of those "jobs" bills???

ACTUAL JOBS.

Cutting taxes and de-regulation isn't a "jobs bill", it's a trickle down economics, "we're giving another shout out to the corporations that buy us, bill". The house GOP knows they'll never be enacted, but they have to look like they're doing something. I mean something besides invading women's vaginas, spying on Muslim citizens, and hating immigrants and/or gay people.

Here's a thought, why don't Boehner and Ryan come up with something that fixes our lack of revenues, reigns in our out of control defense spending, deals with entitlements, and doesn't enact austerity measures targeting solely discretionary spending (which by the way, is where we spend the least amount of money) in an already slow economy ergo dropping us into a double dip. And I'm not talking about ice cream cones.

It wasn't SNAP that got us into debt, you know. Maybe you can ask Romney how he plans on raising revenues, if all he and the GOP talk about are the same two things we've done for 10 years, cutting taxes and de-regulation.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an answer though.

What a load of bull puckey.

WCA - I'll take information from Maddow over the trash Hannity spews any day of the week. And guess what...

I'll be better informed.

I thought that the OP made a reasonable and well stated argument, but it appears that very few that responded to him even read what he said. Instead they simply inserted their own political agendas. Yet, you people wonder why we have no respect for you and your opinions.

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

Willard & T-Paw... has kind of a nice ring to it! lol

These two are about as thrilling as watching grass grow!

Dead Head - While you probably enjoy the leg-tingling that Hussein causes MSNBC commentators, excitement isn't a prerequisite for an administration to accomplish the needs of the US citizenry.

Alan and Bill,

Did you read the whole article in the NYT?

Both private and public sector jobs are needed to continue digging out of the recession. They both contribute to the the latest unemployment number. And both type of employees spend money and contribute their local and overall economy.

On a completly local level, cities raise revenue from property taxes and fees. With the housing values sinking each year, layoffs do affect services and the mico economy. I took a trip across rural MN recently. Even the county seats, the biggest town in the county had lots of closed store fronts, and on the outskirts, weeds were overtaking the parking lots of closed national food chain restaruants.

I think the funding of a long term transportation bill is needed. but Congress wants to kick that can down the road with a six month extention.

Bill, your dismissive" it really doestn't matter , it is such a small percentage" is true on a macro level but not on a micro level. BTW, I am not "you people" , I am a person with a moniker. Please use it if you are going to quote something I posted.

Alan,

My post is not about the economic crises in Europe but what is happeing here which our government does have some control over.

Yes, rates for loans are at a all time low. Business should be building, buyers should be in the housing market, states should be doing captial improvments with the cheap money that is out there. The fear of inflation is not knocking at our door. Even 5% would be fine. I remember when mortgages interest rates were at 11%

Why has Latin America been allowed to control who is to immigrate to the United States?

Why is Latino synonomous with immigrant?

Whose looking out for the welfare of the 92% of the world that isn't Latino?

Must be Wednesday. Lots of hot tempers and verbal jabs. Makes me feel like all is still well with the world.

@Sarah-3043284

Here's a thought, why don't Boehner and Ryan come up with something that fixes our lack of revenues, reigns in our out of control defense spending, deals with entitlements, and doesn't enact austerity measures targeting solely discretionary spending (which by the way, is where we spend the least amount of money) in an already slow economy ergo dropping us into a double dip.

I'm all for cutting defense spending by around 300B. That leaves around 1T in deficits. What entitlement reforms and revenue increases are you for to make up the difference?

Romney thought that Rubio was the name of one of his "Dressage" horses.......

Great post Pat. For a long time I have been saying that elimination of deductions, the tax reform many Republicans want, aaffect wealthier middle class citizens to a MUCH greater extent than the rich. I must admit the Republicans are good at their tricks. They have convinced us that reduction of the pay of the rich through raising taxes is wrong, but reduction of pay of public work through layoffs and elimination of benefits is good. Keep in mind reduction in government spending theoretically should lead to lower taxes... I wonder why they want that? Must be to support the middle class... right?

Alan the US is far from getting to the point where our debts would be called in. I personally think that is hyperbole as our economy really cannot be compared to the PIGS even if you combined them all together. I DO think we should borrow the money to pay for these public employees (the benefits are a separate argument for me).

You heavily discount the effect of these public sector employees working. If they were unemployed they are an even bigger drag on the economy. Even though the private sector employee does in theory subsidize the pay of the public worker, you are not taking in to effect that in theory it could be the spending of the public sector worker that keeps the private sector in his job.

It is a symbiotic relationship do not let anyone fool you.

One specific question for you Alan, given all the class warfare rhetoric, how is the attacking of public sector jobs and pay any different than the attacks against the rich?

A few jabs here but mostly the usual boring crowd sticking their heads up each others dress to have lunch.

RedDev

Hint - if you are going to pose as a bonafide political poster for the right wing freaks vs. a paid outsourced troll, you should spell Oskar in American-ese (that would be English to you), Oscar, just like the bologna.

If the Republicans are going to hire trolls, I think they should hire AMERICAN trolls! "Oskar" does write like someone from Ubeki-beki-stan-stan.

Alan the US is far from getting to the point where our debts would be called in. I personally think that is hyperbole as our economy really cannot be compared to the PIGS even if you combined them all together. I DO think we should borrow the money to pay for these public employees (the benefits are a separate argument for me).

I don't think our debt will get called in but interest rates will rise in the future. (But watch out if China suffers a recession because then all bets are off). As to borrowing more money to pay for public employees when does it stop? I have never seen government shrink during the good times. That is the argument. Spend during the bad times and save during the good. The problem is that the good times are never good enough and there are always new social programs that can now be afforded because of the good times. I am not attacking public employees. I feel they have been duped as much as the taxpayer by past politicians. Unfortunately for them the money is not there and will never be there. If taxpayers are on the hook to pay for these benefits they will move out of that jurisdiction. If you move to a new location I suggest you check what their pension liabilities are so that you can see how much you are paying for retired workers.

At the federal level I was never a big fan of "privatizing" Social Security. However, my position has now evolved because I see that politicians will spend any surplus to pay for their current needs, be it social programs of foreign wars. Politicians of both parties have spent this country to the brink and we are 20 years away of having more debt to GDP than Greece, so I don't see how borrowing more is going to help.

Now, if you argue we should borrow to build infrastructure that is different. That is a one time capital expenditure and not an on-going commitment. But even that has to be limited because of our current debt situation.

Now, if you argue we should borrow to build infrastructure that is different. That is a one time capital expenditure and not an on-going commitment.

No better time to do it. Low interest rates, and crumbling structures. WTF is the holdup? Republicans obstructing.

Alan,

Means test for all entitlements, including social security and medicare and raise the retirement age. I'm not a tax attorney, so I couldn't even begin to tell you with any authority about which tax loopholes/rates we should raise.

Maybe capital gains? Maybe a federal sales tax on undesirable/luxoury items? Maybe a repeal of the Bush cuts for the upper 5%?

I still disagree slightly with public sector workers, but the problems you seem to have are with politicians themselves not a party. For the most part I agree. Yes, if the government eased off in good times there would be more of an argument for public workers, and quite frankly they don't. Still, I do not think that is a problem that can be blamed strictly on Democrats or Republicans.

Social Security I agree. Even if it does work it can never be effective if surpluses are raided by whoever is currently in office.

I think borrowing does help, though I know we are strained due to ridiculous spending. The type of spending restraint I have come to believe you want differs very differently from the Republicans and it confuses me why you side on many of the things they claim. Their call for less spending is complete BS. It is more so a call for less spending on Democratic policies while leaving all spending on the Republican agenda intact.

I do not always agree with Democrats but this election I am leaning farther left than usual because the Democrats are coming to the table with the attitude, if we are going to do this everyone will have to hurt a little, where I think Republicans want to pick winner and losers. Only thing in their game the winners didn't need much help to start.

Democrats are coming to the table with the attitude, if we are going to do this everyone will have to hurt a little, where I think Republicans want to pick winner and losers. Only thing in their game the winners didn't need much help to start.

Well said Akeem. As usual your bring reason to the table. Carry on.

Alan

I'm all for cutting defense spending by around 300B. That leaves around 1T in deficits. What entitlement reforms and revenue increases are you for to make up the difference?

YOUR candidate wants to start a war with Iran, which will INCREASE defense spending.

So you are going to vote for someone who will INCREASE spending? How will that help us? Can we afford another war? How do you think China and Russia will respond?

If you are being honest about cutting defense spending, it seems you are at odds with your own candidate. If you agree with your candidate, then you obviously lied on here. I'm sure you will enlighten us.

One thing not mentioned in all this although everything except the kitchen sink has been mentioned. Rubi CANNOT be president or vice president because he is not a "Natural Born Citizen" His Parents were not citizens at the time of his birth! Same with Bobby Jindhal. There are only two positions, that have that requirement by the Constitution and that is the president and vice president. Being born in the USA does NOT make one a "natural born citizen" it also takes being born to citizens of the USA. This definition has been given in Vattel's Law of Nations and in the Minor vs Happerstet decision from the Supreme Court. Anyone taking the time to research the phrase and why it was changed from "native born" to "natural born", will see the importance of the difference.

Rubio is a rising star in politics; however he does not yet have enough mileage under his belt(let us not make that mistake again); Christe is the favorite of the party, even Ron Paul may get on board if Christe is the running mate; unless Ron Paul runs as a third party again, Romney has the white house with at least 52-54% of the electoral college.

If you are being honest about cutting defense spending, it seems you are at odds with your own candidate. If you agree with your candidate, then you obviously lied on here. I'm sure you will enlighten us.

I don't have a candidate. I support policies that are consistent over Administrations. We are spending too much on everything. If we have to attack Iran because we want to stop them from getting a nuclear bomb, a policy I do support, then I would hope the President, whoever he is, calls for some sacrifice to achieve this end, unlike Bush who told us to go out and shop. I believe that allowing the Iranian regime to get the bomb will be more expensive in the long run.

TexasT-2966501

Backhouse - there are more than two dozen jobs bills sitting on Harry Reid's desk. Why doesn't the President march over to the Senate and demand that Harry Reid do something more than legislate about boxing? Why don't you ask the President? Why don't you ask Harry Reid instead of just spewing talking points? We can't afford these stall tactics anymore. Ask the Senate majority leader to take an up or down vote and then negotiate through a committee. That's how Washington USED to work.

First of all, most of those bills are packages of red meat dressed up in legislative ink. They wouldn't create as many jobs as the bills set forth by the Democrats, who by the way have used BIPARTISAN ideas in them. Secondly, why the hell should Reid be the first to blink???? That bastard Mitch McConnell has presided over 360 filibusters over the past 5 years, nearly one every five days. He filibustered Obama's Jobs Act, not to mention the ACA and dozens of other bills. HE ought to offer some concessions first. The Democrats have taken too much crap from the right to be the first to put down the gun. You want to compromise???? Put your gun down first; after all, you started the damn showdown. And by the way, Washington used to work with COMPROMISE, giving us something for the greater good. You want to know why things aren't being passed??? Ask candidate Richard Mourdock, whose definition of bipartisanship is Democrats surrendering to the GOP. How the hell is that fair???

Alan, NJ

Alan the US is far from getting to the point where our debts would be called in. I personally think that is hyperbole as our economy really cannot be compared to the PIGS even if you combined them all together. I DO think we should borrow the money to pay for these public employees (the benefits are a separate argument for me).

I don't think our debt will get called in but interest rates will rise in the future. (But watch out if China suffers a recession because then all bets are off). As to borrowing more money to pay for public employees when does it stop? I have never seen government shrink during the good times. That is the argument. Spend during the bad times and save during the good. The problem is that the good times are never good enough and there are always new social programs that can now be afforded because of the good times. I am not attacking public employees. I feel they have been duped as much as the taxpayer by past politicians. Unfortunately for them the money is not there and will never be there. If taxpayers are on the hook to pay for these benefits they will move out of that jurisdiction. If you move to a new location I suggest you check what their pension liabilities are so that you can see how much you are paying for retired workers.

Unfortunately Alan, we have to borrow money to pay these workers. If we don't, we will simply be shooting ourselves in the foot. Government can save during the good times, but only if the leaders will do that (under Clinton, they did). But even if that doesn't happen, we still have to spend during the bad times. It is an economic imperative if we are to fix the economy. Unemployment would be a full percentage point lower had we not fired the hundreds of thousands of public sector employees, and the economy would be even stronger due to higher demand. We don't necessarily have to borrow to pay public workers; simply raising a small surtax to pay for it would do the job. But we simply need to spend money; borrowing would actually be quite easy due to low rates.

At the federal level I was never a big fan of "privatizing" Social Security. However, my position has now evolved because I see that politicians will spend any surplus to pay for their current needs, be it social programs of foreign wars. Politicians of both parties have spent this country to the brink and we are 20 years away of having more debt to GDP than Greece, so I don't see how borrowing more is going to help.

Social Security will never work as a privatized program. It was formed to provide a reliable source of support for beneficiaries. But Wall Street, as you know, is unpredictable. A single day can wipe out an entire life-time's worth of benefits. The best way to secure the SS surplus is to put the program in a lock box. And technically, our fiscal problems aren't because of recent spending; the recession was the main driver of our deficits, along with the Bush tax cuts. Simply rescind the tax cuts and let the sequester happen, and our deficits will shrink over the next decade. But our recession was caused by massive private-sector debt, forcing people to pay the debt down and drop consumption. The government has to create debt (or pay for it via spending cuts or tax hikes) in order to boost demand, helping consumers and businesses to both pay down the debt and boost demand to lead the recovery.

Now, if you argue we should borrow to build infrastructure that is different. That is a one time capital expenditure and not an on-going commitment. But even that has to be limited because of our current debt situation.

Not really. First of all, infrastructure is an on-going commitment, as we must fix roads and bridges and expand them when necessary. Secondly, with extremely low interest rates, we can easily embark on a massive long-term infrastructure project funded in part by borrowing and by tax hikes, creating millions of jobs and boosting the economy. Our debt is not as big a problem as most people think, and should be dealt over the long-term. But now is the time to spend, and the best source of revenue is by borrowing. It's either borrow now and fix the economy, or let the economy stay in the mud and borrow forever.

OBAMA BIDEN 2012

I have to agree with most posters here....the Republicans have NO idea how to restart our economy and the plans we've heard so far will do MORE to hurt the Middle Class than to help them. What people seem to misunderstand is that this whole economy is a big circle fluck......if people are laid off and don't have jobs, they don't buy products. If they don't buy products, companies don't make products. If companies don't make products, they lay off more workers!

In order to make jobs, we need to put people to work on the infrastructure....much like they did during the New Deal years....if it means borrowing money to get started, it'll all get paid back later when people have jobs and can start using their purchasing power again. Also, the less people losing their homes, the more property taxes will come in to the states. It only makes sense!!

We had an article this morning in the L.A. Times about the GOP wanting to cut back on Federal money for the food stamp program.....the people that would be most affected would be disabled, retirees on fixed incomes, and people without jobs. It would cut them back from about $700/month to about $300/month. Who can feed a family for that much a month? The GOP are going to drain us dry while their cronies sit in their "throne" rooms and watch it happen. I can understand spending money to find fraudulent claimants for food stamps and welfare, but the percentage of fraudulent claims is very low. So, we will make a good percentage of our population suffer because (1) the GOP thinks it's the way to save money; and (2) they don't want to hire people to go after the fraudulent claims and would rather just lay them off! It makes no sense to me, but then again, nothing going on with our Government lately makes much sense to me! I just know that if Romney is elected, we're going to be in a world of major hurt!!

Mitt Romney's singing career, on the other hand, is nearing the top of the charts. His latest single "If I Only Had a Bain" will be released on Nov. 7, 2012.

Alan, NJ

The Filibuster Party has blocked job creation from Day One, period.And their spinology that public sector jobs "do not grow the economy" is just a duhhh insult to every thinking person. Like - teachers, police and firefighters do not buy groceries and gas, or pay rent? But when it comes to the few U.S. Keystone Pipeline jobs, GOP is willing to make an exception?

Are you really this dense? The money to pay for teachers, police and firefighters has to come from borrowing or by raising taxes. Otherwise the jobs disappear when the money runs out (I refer you to the layoffs in public sector after the 2010 when the borrowed stimulus money ran out). In other words you cannot create a job for a teacher and by itself it is sustainable, no matter how much they spend in a grocery store.

Yet we have to borrow money (or raise taxes) to hire these teachers and government workers, not just to help the economy but to deal with population factors like growing class sizes and crime, etc. We must find ways to hire more teachers and public workers if we want to get out of this slow rut.

On the other hand the Keystone pipeline will create jobs that add value to a natural resource, which has no value as long as it remains in the ground. In other words be removing the oil from the ground and transporting it to a port in Texas value is added and wealth is created, which pays for the jobs, AND through taxation pays for public sector jobs.

Well, the Keystone pipeline does create jobs that add value to oil, yet that oil isn't even going to the U.S. consumer. Wealth and value is created, but it isn't harnessed by us; we merely are the workers who send the oil to other countries. If it was placed on a safer route and at least 50% of the oil went to U.S. consumers, I'd be all for it. But the Keystone Pipeline won't create as many jobs or have as much effect as hiring hundreds of thousands of people to fix our infrastructure or teach at schools or something like that.

Also, the way it is presented here you would think that there are only three jobs categories in the public sector. How about you look at some productivity enhancements in other areas of government that would create saving to hire more of your three favorite jobs categories.

BTW I never found out if any your 600K public sector job losses occurred in Democratic controlled states. You have a breakdown?

Here it is: http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/public-sector-layoffs-and-battle-between-obama-and-conservative-states

Ultimately, had the layoffs never happened and job growth occurred in the public sector along with population growth, over 1.4 millions jobs would have been created and unemployment would be between 7% or 7.3%. 12 Republican states, 11 of which the GOP won in 2010 and the 12th being Republican-held Texas, consisted of roughly 71.5% of all public sector layoffs.

OBAMA BIDEN 2012