Romney struggles to get square with Ryan's Medicare plan

 

MIAMI – Stumping here on Monday, Mitt Romney told reporters he couldn’t think of how he differs from running mate Paul Ryan when it comes to their views on Medicare.

“We haven’t gone through piece by piece and said, ‘Oh, here’s a place where there’s a difference,’” Romney said of his running mate’s plan. “But my plan for Medicare is very similar to his plan, which is ‘Do not change the program for current retirees or near-retirees but do not do what the president has done and that is to cut $700 billion out of the current program.”

Sustaining Medicare, the government’s health care program for seniors, will likely become a central issue in this election campaign – particularly because Ryan, the House budget committee chairman, crafted a controversial plan that analysts say would increase costs for low-income and unhealthy seniors down the road.

In the days since Paul Ryan joined the Republican ticket, the spotlight has been on Ryan's proposal for government to give seniors money to buy their own insurance – part of a sweeping Medicare reform plan. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.


Romney was less committal Monday than he was in January, when he said during a debate that Ryan’s Medicare reform plan was “absolutely right on.” Instead, he said that he and Ryan agreed on the main points – and that he planned to restore the $700 billion cut from Medicare under Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Ryan's Medicare plan and his budget: What's in them for you?

There’s a hitch, however: Ryan’s budget makes the same $700 billion in Medicare cuts as the Obama plan. CNBC's Scott Cohn explains:

“The Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – does cut the growth of Medicare by $700 billion over 10 years. But benefits to seniors actually increase under Obamacare, which reduces payments to providers in exchange for more people covered by insurance. What’s more, the Ryan plan – approved by the House – cuts Medicare spending every bit as much as Obamacare does. In fact, it incorporates the very same budget projections, even as it repeals Obamacare. That’s what you call having it both ways.”

Faced with questions about Ryan's support for these cuts, the Romney campaign clarified its position Monday evening and disagreed with those cuts.

"Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have always been fully committed to repealing Obamacare, ending President Obama’s $716 billion raid on Medicare, and tackling the serious fiscal challenges our country faces," Lanhee Chen, Romney’s policy director, said in a statement. "A Romney-Ryan Administration will restore the funding to Medicare, ensure that no changes are made to the program for those 55 or older, and implement the reforms that they have proposed to strengthen it for future generations."

At his last event of the day here in Miami, Romney did not mention Medicare or Obama’s health care reform, focusing instead on economic issues. But when Paul Ryan comes to Florida, where retirees make up a sizable part of the population, it would be safe to assume that Medicare reform will once again take center stage.

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IOWA Presidental Poll

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Iowa Voters finds Mitt Romney with 46% support to President Obama’s 44%. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Iowa was conducted on August 8, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

  • 1 vote
Reply#53 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:42 AM EDT

Daniel, give the Ryan pick a few days to sink in, the telegraph is slow in Iowa.

  • 2 votes
#53.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:47 AM EDT

Daniel, if you like polls then you may want to save this link which shows how the only poll that counts is doing - the Electoral College votes:

http://electoral-vote.com/

A minimum of 270 electoral votes are needed to elect a president.

    #53.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:13 AM EDT
    Reply

    Any working woman and ones that want any rights for women should now look at Romney as a vote for discrimination against themselves and all minority groups. These two are both from rich families and never had to work a hard day in their life, they had time to sit around and plan a white male dominance world. So I predict they lose vast majority of women and minority votes, and all independents see through their rich favoring agenda, then they lose by a bigger margin than any candidate in history. This will kill the Tea Party and return some rights to the middle class. It is looking very obvious the repubs are hoping to continue their long-term plan to shut down opportunities for minorities and women. Their policy of making the rich richer and then they will pull up the middle class and poorer is wrong, they will only pull up a few that are tools to their evil deeds, they do not care about the majority of the middle class and poor. They have wanted this class war on the poor and middle class since Nixon resigned and now it is time to shut them down forever.

    • 4 votes
    Reply#54 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:43 AM EDT

    I get a kick out of all you simple minded individuals who fall prey to that type of pathetic propaganda. There is a sucker born every minute. The people that believe in the war on women and voter discrimination prove that fact. Will those people ever think for themselves, or will they have to be spoon fed information? Just shows how ignorant voters are today.

    • 1 vote
    #54.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:57 AM EDT

    you sell more snake oil than a traveling bamboozler that kills little old folks in every town with thier toxic elixer, you and Ryan are Doctors of Death.

    • 3 votes
    #54.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:59 AM EDT

    Still no facts..... maybe you should run to the huffingtonpost and copy and paste, or better yet, just play the racist card. That always works.

      #54.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:17 AM EDT
      Reply

      Colorado Presidental Poll

      Mitt Romney and President Obama continue to run even in Colorado.

      The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds both men earning 47% support. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, while two percent (2%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/questions/pt_survey_questions/march_2012/questions_benchmarks_march_11_12_2012">click here.)

      The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Colorado was conducted on August 6, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Fieldwork for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

      • 2 votes
      Reply#55 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:43 AM EDT
      • What the Republicans really have here,
      • with the Romney/Ryan ticket,
      • is simply a bad case of
      • Electile Dysfunction.

      They just won't be able to get their POLL numbers UP by election day.

        #55.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:12 AM EDT
        Reply

        WE THE PEOPLE need to start thinking for ourselves, rather than repeating the distortions that political hacks are paid (by PACs) to write. I, for starters, would never vote for anyone, Democrat or Republican, who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars yet flatly refuses to let us in on his tax returns. Most of us are allowed to contribute up to $5,000 per year to an IRA. Yet somehow, Mitt Romney's IRA is worth over one hundred million dollars. That's funny - he doesn't look a day over two thousand years old! I wouldn't be too eager to release my tax returns either.

        • 5 votes
        Reply#56 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:43 AM EDT

        Since Romney has shown us his tax returns does that mean you will vote for him? There are conversions that allow you to convert things to IRA's so that is explainable. Do you have any other make believe complaints? When are you going to stop repeating the distortions by paid political hacks? Practice what you preach.

          #56.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:48 AM EDT

          Yeah that IRA... How is it that our contributions are limited every year yet Mitt Romney has $100 million in his. Hmmmm......

          It's funny that Paul Ryan is asked for more than 2 years of tax returns so that Mitt can determine if he's fit to do the job yet the American people aren't entitled to more than 2 (it's not even really 2) to determine if he's fit to do the top job.

          • 2 votes
          #56.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:48 AM EDT

          Jfix....It will be 2 once the current year is finalized. Romney's contributions were limited as well. There are several ways one could accumulate that in an IRA. The simplest reason is prior conversions of a retirement plan.

            #56.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:55 AM EDT

            The simplest reason is impossible. He has been with Bain Capital for a LONG time therefore making "conversions" of other retirement plans impossible. If you think he got to $100 million in an IRA the way you or I would get to $100,000 I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.

            The more likely scenarios are much more shady. Legal perhaps, but shady nonetheless. Since Mitt refuses to tell us how, I'll just go on assuming that he's got something to hide. The same goes for the rest of his financial information. I wonder if he could even qualify for a security clearance if he was a federal employee with all that he likes to hide.

            • 1 vote
            #56.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:00 AM EDT

            Jfix....First, there are provision for SEP IRA's that allow people to invest $45K or so each year. Just because he was at Bain does not mean that he couldn't have had another job. Lets say he had another company investment firm where he was CEO as well. That is quite possible. I find it hard to believe that he did something illegal because something that out of the ordinary would have made red flags go all over the place at the IRS.

              #56.5 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:15 AM EDT

              JFix, my accountant tells me the way this is done is pretty simple and its a widely used practice among the uber wealthy.

              The limits placed on contributions to your IRA pertain to money. But what if you contribute Bain Capital stock instead of cash and declare the value of that stock as $0.01 per share when in fact it is worth a zillion times more that the declared value? Because the Bain stock is not publicly traded, par value can be anything the Board of Directors says it is. The zillion dollar true value is not subject to taxation until it is removed from the IRA and then there may be a problem, if anyone at the IRS is paying attention, but the penalty is to simply pay the tax bill due on withdrawal. Pretty slick, huh?

                #56.6 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:21 AM EDT

                Bruce.....That could be the case. I don't think that they can arbitrarily make a claim of one cent. It takes more than just the board of directors to declare the value. Still, you have a good explanation.

                  #56.7 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:34 AM EDT

                  Guitarma- pray tell just where did you get a stupid piece of information like that? First, this isn't exactly the kind of information that can be found laying around on Google. Second, a persons total of contributions to an IRA are not equal to it's worth since that is dictated over time by the performance of the stocks held in the account over time.

                  It is highly unlikely that Mr. Romney's IRA accounts, even if they are joint, ( in which case the annual contribution limit is doubled), is worth anywhere near $100 million UNLESS he were able to invest AFTER TAX dollars in the same account. That would essentially defeat the usefulness of an IRA but I guess if he is as big an idiot as so many of you liberals on here tonight think he is he might do that.

                    #56.8 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:50 AM EDT
                    Reply

                    Romney/Ryan 2012 Campaign Slogan:

                    "We flip so you don't have to!"

                    • 2 votes
                    Reply#57 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:47 AM EDT

                    willard succeeded in unifying the press corp of an entire COUNTRY !!!!

                    Against him !!!!

                    First trip abroad as the de facto teapublican nominee, and he ends up looking like a clueless boor...

                    • 1 vote
                    #57.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:50 AM EDT

                    Enjoy!

                    • MITTigans Smile!

                    Sung to the tune of Gilligan's Isle

                    (written by Bruce-1628250, with help from peachesncream)

                    • Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
                    • A tale of a fateful trip
                    • That started from the U S A
                    • With a guy who's name is Mitt.
                    • Ol' Mitt was-a mighty silly man,
                    • Both pompous and cocksure.
                    • In England on his very-first-day
                    • He proved he was a boor.
                    • When he was asked a question,
                    • of the Brits Olympiad,
                    • He couldn't keep his mouth shut
                    • So he said that they'd done bad.
                    • Mitt ran aground on the shore of this greatest British isle
                    • With goofy gaffes
                    • and slip-ups too,
                    • The millionaire and his wife,
                    • were walking back
                    • his dumb remarks,
                    • All with his plastic fake smile!
                      #57.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:13 AM EDT
                      Reply

                      Indiana Presidental Poll

                      Four years ago, President Obama became the first Democrat since 1964 to win Indiana. He looks unlikely to repeat that feat.

                      A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds challenger Mitt Romney picking up 51% of the vote while the president earns just 35%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

                      The Indiana survey of 400 Likely Voters was conducted July 31-August 1, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

                      • 1 vote
                      Reply#58 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:47 AM EDT

                      It is not too hard to connect the dots. Ryan says yesterday that "the fundamental difference between him and President Obama is that President Obama wants government to be there to assist people. On the other side of the coin, paul ryan thinks people should be vested with all power to assist people, and the government with no power. Why do they want to weaken the US so badly? So how does the GOP define these "people" to whom they want to return all power? Well we all know how Rom;ney defines people: "corporations are people my friend." So in essence, the Rom;ney/Ryan ticket wants to return all power to the corporations. We all saw what happened the last time W. Bush tried that.

                      • 1 vote
                      Reply#59 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:47 AM EDT

                      Wow....You seriously need help with your logic. It means exactly what it says. People should help people and corporations should help people. Not that complicated.

                        #59.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:49 AM EDT

                        "Hey boys, before you cash in your checks, it says AmericaFirst but he means AmericaNext"--Woody Guthrie. So when the more common scenario of corporations hurting people occurs that's just free market 101? I hate to break this to you, corporations are not people. Lawyers create corporations and God creates people and really that is way more simple than your and Rom;ney "logic" thatsomehow corporations are people and good for society. East India Trading Company, INC. traded humans as slaves. Ford Motor INC knowingly put defective gas tanks in Pintos so real people could be burned alive. It was corporations who oversold loans causing the housing bubble in 2007 that led to the Great Crash or '07 and the Second Great Depression on the GOP watch. that nearly bankrupted our Nation and from which we are now recovering. Look at the numerous pill pushing pharmaceutical Corporations that have flooded our Nation with highly addictive drugs that are often over-prescribed by doctors who are in the pockets of these "people" as you and Rom;ney refer. don't tell me how great corporations are because, I got a news flash for you Walter Cronkite, they aren't. Hey GOP how many Bin Laden videos have you seen since President Obama gave the order to law that fvcker low?

                          #59.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:06 AM EDT

                          G-9....I used corporations as a mini-pun....guess you didn't get it. Do you agree that corporations have the right to a trial? Right to not have illegal searches and seizures? It was corporations that oversold loans and government helped them do it. Nearly every time you see a crash, you will see where government in some form or fashion manipulated the free market. There are far more governments that treated people as slaves than corporations. Why do you put so much faith in the government?

                          • 1 vote
                          #59.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:11 AM EDT
                          • The President's 2013 Budget is built around the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules.
                          • http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget
                            #59.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:14 AM EDT

                            Bruce.....That may be what the president says, but that isn't what happens. He allows his donors to play by a different set of rules (think waivers to ACA). Haven't you learned yet that what Obama says and what he does are two entirely different things. He is a great campaigner, but terrible leader.

                              #59.5 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:36 AM EDT
                              Reply

                              North Carolina Presidental Poll

                              Mitt Romney has a five-point edge over President Obama in the battleground state of North Carolina.

                              The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Tar Heel State finds Romney with 49% support, while the president earns 44% of the vote. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and another four percent (4%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

                              This moves the state from Toss-Up Status to Leans Romney in the Rasmussen Reports Electoral College Projections.

                              • 1 vote
                              Reply#60 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:48 AM EDT

                              Nissouri Presidential Poll

                              Mitt Romney has once again reached the 50% mark of support in Missouri.

                              The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Romney earning 50% of the vote, while Obama receives 44% support. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and another three percent (3%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

                              The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Missouri was conducted on July 30, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

                              • 1 vote
                              #60.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:51 AM EDT

                              Sreibig--

                              A note of caution: I strongly recommend against talking and responding to yourself on the vine. Makes you look desperate and, um, a tad looney. Especially when, like the Flip Flop man himself, the electoral college numbers will ultimately favor Mr. Obama. That temporary euphoria you now experience with these poll numbers will eventually fade like a fart in the wind. You can bet your TeaBagga decoder ring on that!

                              • 1 vote
                              #60.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:05 AM EDT
                              • That temporary euphoria you now experience with these poll numbers will eventually fade like a fart in the wind. You can bet your TeaBagga decoder ring on that!

                              Two of the BEST lines on the vines I have ever read!!! Terriffic Mad in CT!!!

                                #60.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:17 AM EDT

                                http://electoral-vote.com/

                                The only poll that matters.

                                  #60.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:26 AM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  Sheesh! The Right tonight is represented by the weakest set of representatives ever to appear on this forum. Come on guys, THINK!

                                  • 3 votes
                                  Reply#61 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:53 AM EDT

                                  Sorry, I haven't been paying too much attention. I got bored with the weak minded left who can do nothing but spout lies and hate on this site. I will try to hold up the side of the right. Can you actually debate for the left? They have been poor competition the last month or so.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #61.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:59 AM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  little danny is poll dancing !! LOL!!!!

                                  Funny... any time a poll, on anything... goes against teapublicans, they write it off as liberal biased fiction...

                                    Reply#62 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:54 AM EDT

                                    Mitt Romney went to Poland, to give a speech to the Polish people. Here are the first lines from that speech:

                                    • Hello. My name is Mitt Romney, and I am running for President of the United States of America.
                                    • Well, I guess you are all wondering why I have come here to Poland?
                                    • The reason is, I have come here to Poland to find out first hand,
                                    • ... why all the Polls seem to indicate I am going to lose!
                                      #62.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:18 AM EDT
                                      Reply

                                      Romneycare, Obamacare. Tomayto, Tomahto. Paul Ryan. Nuff said.

                                        Reply#63 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:55 AM EDT

                                        And Ryan will lie through his teeth, telling the people whatever he thinks they want to hear. Them once elected he and Romney will gut Medicare and Social Security, leaving our seniors to die on the street. Bush tried to push it through with his privatization right before the stock market crashed. That would have killed many if not most seniors in our country when they were put out of their homes and had their medical treatment taken away. At least he was smart enough to frame it as riding the stock market wave to riches, even though it would have cleaned them out and given all their money to the large corporations. These jokers are just arrogantly aiming to strip the programs, staling the money we've all paid in our entire lives. And why not since it worked in Wisconsin when they decimated the public employee unions.

                                        To be a Republican is to be a traitor to the American people and to be truly Un-American.

                                        • 1 vote
                                        Reply#64 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:55 AM EDT

                                        Well teapublicans,.. look at the upside here..

                                        At least willard and little pauly agree on one thing..

                                        The ONLY way to make 'Merka great again, is to give even BIGGER tax cuts, to millionaires, billionaires and corporations...

                                        I mean... that's gotta count for something.. right???

                                        • 3 votes
                                        Reply#65 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:57 AM EDT

                                        And Obama's plan is???????? Still waiting after 4 years. Why on earth would you vote for someone without a plan?

                                          #65.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:00 AM EDT

                                          Why on earth would you vote for a plan that's guaranteed to destroy the country? See hyperbole goes both ways.

                                          • 1 vote
                                          #65.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:02 AM EDT

                                          For starters, what make you think it would "destroy the country"? I suppose it is as silly as saying that Obama destroyed the country, but you should you expect yourself to be better than some right wing moron?

                                            #65.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:07 AM EDT
                                            Reply

                                            Hey Ass H*les. I want my kids to have the same advantages and safety nets that I and MY parents enjoyed and counted on.

                                            They don't deserve privatizing Medicare vouchers when they turn 67! They don't deserve privatized Social Security when they're ready!

                                            Talk about robbing our kids! Deficits come and go with the prosperity of a country.

                                            We had deficits in the 80's under Reagan and in the early 90's under Bush 1. We enjoyed a surplus in the mid to late 90's under Clinton. We've endured terrible deficits from the the 8 years of Bush 2. And now we're battling back.

                                            And in all that time, in bad and good, our Seniors have had the existing Medicare and Social Security to count on.

                                            When so many lost their life's savings in the recent meltdown of 2007-2009, they had Social Security to keep them at least above water.

                                            Killing and privatizing Medicare with "vouchers" and privatizing Social Security will kill both. They won't exist for my kids.

                                            They deserve better. Keep it managed by the government and out of greedy hands like romney's & ryan's. Not EVERYTHING in our lives has to be controlled and be at the mercy of the profit hungry "private sector".

                                              Reply#66 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:01 AM EDT

                                              Then why on earth are you voting for democrats if you want you kids to enjoy the same advantages and safety nets that you and your parents enjoyed? The democrats have them on an unsustainable path and are not offering any solutions. By the way, if we had privatized SS 40 years ago your SS check would be double what it is today. Why do you want you kids to have so little?

                                              We didn't have terrible deficits for the 8 years of Bush.....just the last 2 years when democrats wrote the budget. We are also not battling back. The deficit isn't shrinking like it should because of the massive increase in spending.

                                              Clinton did enjoy a surplus thanks to cuts to government spending. Why do democrats refuse to do what worked so well for Clinton?

                                              • 1 vote
                                              #66.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:06 AM EDT

                                              You're a TeaBagger!! You're clueless and you're greedy! It's always "me first and screw the other guy" with you TeaBaggers!

                                              The private sector and people like romney & ryan don't give a crap about you or me as individuals. You're just a notation on a balance sheet.

                                              Had Social Security been privatized and incorporated into the stock market as proposed under Bush 2 there would be NO social security at all today or it would be a shell of what it once was!

                                              Thank goodness you neo-cons failed to privatize THAT!!

                                              • 1 vote
                                              #66.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:12 AM EDT

                                              Zardoz....Are you accept facts, or are you going to call people names? You have your opinions, but I have facts and what you are saying isn't factual. If what Bush had proposed because law it would have left SS in better shape and people would be having about the same retirement. You may not have noticed, but the stock market isn't still at 6,000.

                                                #66.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:20 AM EDT

                                                PutAmericaFirst - "By the way, if we had privatized SS 40 years ago your SS check would be double what it is today".

                                                Like the investments in our homes? Those private sector mortgages with banks that have OUR best interests at heart!?.

                                                Ya like THAT worked really well.

                                                Double what they are today! HA! You're on drugs! Or should be!

                                                  #66.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:23 AM EDT

                                                  And what about those Seniors that had retired when it WAS at 6,000 if it had been privatized and attached to the stock market?!

                                                  Were would THEIR SS have been at that time if they were unfortunate to have retired then??

                                                  We don't need to play "double your money" with people's social security safety net thank you!

                                                    #66.5 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:30 AM EDT

                                                    Zardoz......Hmmmm......OK so I bought a home 40 years ago for $10K. At the peak if was worth $250K.....Now it is only worth $200K. I would say that turning 10K into $200K is a pretty good deal......And no, the bankers are not going to have your best interest at heart. You are to have your own best interest at heart so you make wise decisions. The government does not have your best interest at heart either. That is why your SS is worth so little and they continually raid it and it is on a unsustainable and will collapse.

                                                    • 2 votes
                                                    #66.6 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:30 AM EDT

                                                    Zardoz.......Do you collect your SS in one giant lump sum or do you collect it over a series of payments. The same seniors who retired when the stock market was at $6,000 would have nearly twice that much money now. It isn't that complicated. Besides that, Bush's plan was voluntary and you could only invest 1/2 your contributions.

                                                    • 1 vote
                                                    #66.7 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:38 AM EDT

                                                    We're talking the Stock Market here. Tack on private sector investment fees, penalties, rollover margins, and all the other ways of skimming profits away from an "investor".

                                                    And what true blue, honest member of "private sector" would have managed this SS bonanza? Drexel Burnham Lambert? AIG? Maybe Bear Sterns or better yet Lehman Brothers?

                                                    No thanks. Keep it public and keep it secured by the US Gov't and the taxpayers that will depend on it.

                                                      #66.8 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:40 AM EDT

                                                      Zardoz.....That includes all those fees. Why not let the individual choose the investment broker that they want? The beauty part about Bush's plan is that I could do what I wanted which would help me and other young people dramatically and you could keep the same measly amount that the government gives you. We would both be happy.

                                                        #66.9 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:44 AM EDT

                                                        Dream on.

                                                        They could also give you a pan and send you out to pan for gold too.

                                                        Good luck.

                                                          #66.10 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:48 AM EDT

                                                          I am sorry if you don't understand the stock market that well or how to dollar cost average. That is why we have to make any privitization optional. People need to know what they are doing before letting their money go. The fact still remains that someone that invested their SS in the stock market over the past 40 years would have about $2,500 a month right now instead of $1,200.

                                                          • 1 vote
                                                          #66.11 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:58 AM EDT
                                                          Reply
                                                          • Puss Limpballs said yesterday that Paul Ryan was "one of theirs". Does he mean one of theirs like Dumbya Bush, Dick Cheney, or Sarah Palin ?
                                                          • 1 vote
                                                          Reply#67 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:03 AM EDT
                                                          • Another TURD in the GOP punch bowl ! Eeeuuuu ! The Republicons claim it looks good, has character, intellect and definition...but whew...that's just too intense. But the Republicons are reallly drinking up that "Kool Aid" Eeeeuuuuu. I guess they are what they drink...
                                                          • 2 votes
                                                          Reply#68 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:09 AM EDT

                                                          About what I expect from the left these days. Mindless hate without any substance or intelligence.

                                                          • 1 vote
                                                          #68.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:12 AM EDT

                                                          PutAmericaFirst - Mindless hate without any substance or intelligence. ??

                                                          You're a TeaBagger! You have no room to talk!!

                                                          You're a neo-con stooge and your screen name should read PutAmerica'sEliteFirst

                                                            #68.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:16 AM EDT

                                                            Can't handle a debate facts I see. I guess you have to resort to second grade name calling on recess. More power to you.......GO ahead and stay ignorant.

                                                            • 1 vote
                                                            #68.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:22 AM EDT

                                                            Facts? HA!! Post some links to your "facts".

                                                            And Neo-con and TeaBagger isn't name calling. They're titles of extremist, right wingnut affiliations.

                                                              #68.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:47 AM EDT

                                                              Interesting link that demonstrates that the S&P tanked under G.W. Bush and has rebounded nicely under Obama.

                                                                #68.6 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:16 AM EDT
                                                                Reply

                                                                I do not like anyone to call someone name's, but............. Romney is goofy or something he flipped right after picking Ryan on the Dan Rather show in less then 48 hours! This guy has NO BUSINESS BEING PRESIDENT! Do not forget he has made a mess out of this. And we are still at war, and could be looking at Iran. Scary guy, then there's Medicare and the middle, and poor classes of the USA he is lost > period!

                                                                • 1 vote
                                                                Reply#69 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:15 AM EDT

                                                                Dr. Seus says:

                                                                • I do not like this Romney guy,
                                                                • I do not like his look so sly.
                                                                • I do not like Bain Capital crooks,
                                                                • or how they like to cook the books.
                                                                • I do not like when Romney steals,
                                                                • I do not like his Vulture deals.
                                                                • I do not like his secrecy
                                                                • His tax returns no one can see,
                                                                • I do not like his smug replies,
                                                                • when we point out his stupid lies.
                                                                • I do not like this big dumb dope.
                                                                • I don't like Romney — nope, nope, nope!

                                                                (p.s. Some people think that Dr. Seus passed away in 1991, but that's not really true. Like Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and herpes, Dr. Seus shall live on forever and keep writing great verse like the one above. Actually, this was written by Bruce-1628250 while channelling Dr. Seus.)

                                                                • 2 votes
                                                                #69.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:21 AM EDT

                                                                I missed the flip.....what was it? After 4 years of Obama and his policies (and lack thereof) I know that Obama has no business being president. Heck, Ryan will be 10 times the VP as Biden.

                                                                • 1 vote
                                                                #69.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:23 AM EDT

                                                                Nice !!!!!

                                                                Hard to argue with the Dr...

                                                                  #69.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:28 AM EDT
                                                                  Reply
                                                                  • Let's look at what 30 plus years of Reaganomics has given America:
                                                                  • Outsourcing millions of jobs
                                                                  • Trillions of dollars of revenue losses for safety net programs and the economy
                                                                  • Deregulation of Wall Street banksters
                                                                  • Corruption, corrosion and collapse of the financial system
                                                                  • Trillions of dollars of bailouts for the "too big to fail" Wall Street banksters
                                                                  • Trillions of dollars spent on wars and the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in his farwell address.
                                                                  • Exponential growth in wealth of the top 1-2%
                                                                  • Decrease in income for the middle class
                                                                  • Cuts in safety net programs
                                                                  • 30 plus years of Reaganomics has done more damage to America than any foreign power. The experiment is over.

                                                                  • 4 votes
                                                                  Reply#70 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:18 AM EDT

                                                                  What makes you think it is Reaganomics? Why isn't it big government that has all those problems? Why isn't it massive increases in social programs? Why isn't it a huge population of illegal aliens? Why do all of you think that Reaganomics is to blame? Do you have any evidence?

                                                                    #70.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:25 AM EDT

                                                                    As an independent I voted for Reagan----I liked him for his real life experience---he came up through the socialist ranks (unions)----even if he was a turn-coat he at least knew both sides of the coin by actual experience---and he could BS with the 'best of them.'

                                                                    • 2 votes
                                                                    #70.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:31 AM EDT

                                                                    John 1143008....that is the longest stream of absolute bull@!$%# I've ever seen a human being excrete in one sitting. I can't think of a single thing you wrote that can't be refuted by almost any college sophmore let alone anyone experienced in our own policies and programs over the past 30 years.

                                                                    Just quit embarassing yourself.

                                                                      #70.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:33 AM EDT

                                                                      I agree with John!!

                                                                      • 1 vote
                                                                      #70.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:46 AM EDT

                                                                      Me too.

                                                                      • 1 vote
                                                                      #70.5 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:52 AM EDT
                                                                      Reply

                                                                      Finding someone that can do a better job as President is always a good idea----as an independent voter, I would say that Romney is no substitute-----it amazes me that in this great country of ours we can't persuade someone with better credentials to "take the job!--------and Ryan, "what a joke!"

                                                                      • 2 votes
                                                                      Reply#71 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:23 AM EDT

                                                                      Romney and Ryan aren't on the same page regarding Medicare and they're both on the campaign trail? Unbelievable! Who is running this campaign, Howdy Doody?

                                                                      :))))))))))))))))))))

                                                                      • 2 votes
                                                                      Reply#72 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:23 AM EDT

                                                                      C'mon here...

                                                                      We knew it was just a matter of time before they'd come for medicare, and SS...

                                                                      George knew it...

                                                                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

                                                                        Reply#73 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:24 AM EDT

                                                                        Romney set the stage, this election is going to be about Romney's integrity, his wisdom, tax return statements, off shore bank accounts and post office box prop businesses abroad, nothing else................CHECKMATE !!!!!!!!!!

                                                                          Reply#74 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:24 AM EDT

                                                                          So how is that checkmate? He used the tax code legally. At least come up with something that is actually illegal. Obama's loans to the companies his donors invested in are far more suspicious that Romney's offshore accounts.

                                                                            #74.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:27 AM EDT

                                                                            Because it is legal does not make it right. These people do not live by the same rules most of us do. I have been around long enough not to put much faith in what a politician promises. I do want to know about the integrity of a person and where they came from. It tells me more about them.

                                                                              #74.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:56 AM EDT
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                                                                              Did Romney down in FL say he was going to put the $700 million taken out of Medicare by Obama back into Medicare? But Ryan plans to take that same $700 million out of Medicare. Sounds like Obama and Ryan found the same $700 million; however, Ryan is going to use the money for tax cuts while Obama is going to use it to cover addition currently uninsured. Romney seems to be the odd man out without any idea what to use the money for.

                                                                                Reply#75 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:27 AM EDT

                                                                                There is so much ignorance and down right stupidity being exhibited by the majority of those posting from the left that this particular stream isn't worth the waste of digital ink and bandwidth it's taking up. In addition much of this typical liberal harangue is based on character and personal attacks against both those running and those posting non-liberal opinions, which, as a tactic, is still of some value with the school yard crowd I guess.

                                                                                Medicare and Medicaid combined have, depending on source, unfunded future liabilities of between $50 and $75 TRILLION dollars and although I know that with Obama's trillion dollar plus deficits each year of his Presidency, a trillion doesn't seem like much but believe me it still is. I'm sure all you liberals posting tonight would like to see them go ahead and just use the already passed Dr's. cut of 30% in Mediacare reimbursements instead of extending it every year since you all think profit is a dirty word for any business but perhaps your own. I also know that you'd be the first to scream bloody murder when you or a family member couldn't find a provider that was willing to take you on as a patient because you simply are a money losing proposition from the moment you walk in the door.

                                                                                A great many of you posting from the left come off as relatively young, if not teenagers, with a real lack of experience or any great responsibilities, so your positions are to be expected because your personal time-line of history is so short as to be non-existent. Add to that your almost universal lack of understanding or even knowledge of our own countries history and you are lethal mix of the uninformed and the incompetent who shouldn't, and perhaps don't, have a right to vote.

                                                                                Others of you regurgitate the partisan Democrat Party line as if you had been weaned on it and men like Axlerod would be proud of your lockstep mentality.

                                                                                Obama has not accomplished one iota of the great things he said he would do and that got him elected. Sure he ended an already ending war in Iraq but after ten years and thousands of deaths and casualties attempting to not only topple a vicious dictator AND establish a vital long term military beachhead in the heart of the Middle East as a trip wire designed to stave off an even more violent Middle Eastern blood bath in the future we leave with nothing. No beachhead, no nothing. In Afghanistan I don't know what he thinks he's achieving since despite his ongoing claims of it being the good war he never truly supported it or its goals either in public or with his generals.

                                                                                Obama's record on the economy is even more disastrous as he has spent several trillion in stimulus dollars and Fed printed funny money in all the wrong places. Unless you accept that propping up unions both public and private at the expense of legally protected investors and pension plans as being a prescription for economic growth. Instead of being a cheer leader for business he has attacked business and business men at almost every opportunity and done everything possible to regulate or legislate many of them out of business despite our crying need for more and better paying jobs. More jobs means a real economic recovery and has the added benefit of driving the deficits down without having to raise taxes one single penny. Instead Obama would rather focus his highly inaccurate laser on raising taxes on the one class of Americans who still have enough money left to fuel public sector investment.

                                                                                I'll get plenty of snide and/or ignorant comments but damn few who would be willing to actually debate solely on the fundamental facts. Not heresay or make believe but verifiable facts based on historical evidence and legitimate research. There are certainly several ways that one can look at a particular situation and probably more then one solution. The key is to find the right solution that accomplishes the most for the least cost both social and economic and Obama doesn't see that through his ideological blindness.

                                                                                  Reply#76 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:27 AM EDT

                                                                                  Very true.....but hey at least you can look forward to having them call you names while they refuse to debate you claims.

                                                                                  • 1 vote
                                                                                  #76.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:31 AM EDT

                                                                                  You're subjective rhetorical screed here is a bit amusing...

                                                                                  Debate solely on "fundamental facts"?? LOL!!!

                                                                                  You presented none... your post reads like copy from your garden variety right wing squawk fest....

                                                                                  As for future entitlement unfunded liabilities??

                                                                                  Simple solution billy bob... make sure they're funded...

                                                                                  How you ask?? Easy... extend the payroll tax to investment income...

                                                                                  Then willard doesn't rake in $20 million in one year with nothing going towards SS or medicare...

                                                                                  Oh... here's another idea... Cut defense spending by 50%.....

                                                                                  No more trillion dollar adventures in the ME to look for fantasy based WMD's.

                                                                                  Hope I cleared things up for you....

                                                                                  • 5 votes
                                                                                  #76.2 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:37 AM EDT

                                                                                  I suppose medicare and SS being 50 to 75 trillion in debt isn't a fact? OK k1200...how do we fund them. Right now we are underfunding them. Are you going to triple FICA medicare tax to fund it?

                                                                                  What does it matter willard doesn't pay anything to SS? It isn't like he is going to collect SS. Why should we expect the rich to pay for something that we should be paying for ourselves? The entire premise was for FICA to be self funding.

                                                                                  • 2 votes
                                                                                  #76.3 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:40 AM EDT

                                                                                  There is so much ignorance and down right stupidity being exhibited by the majority of those posting from the left that this particular stream isn't worth the waste of digital ink and bandwidth it's taking up.

                                                                                  Sproing - So you decided to take up all that space telling us about it....

                                                                                  I'll get plenty of snide and/or ignorant comments but damn few who would be willing to actually debate solely on the fundamental facts.

                                                                                  Are you talking about the fundemental facts that you cut and paste from the playbook of Rush and Glen Beck? You're only making me LMAO reading your pompous and condescending bull@!$%#....

                                                                                  Obama/Biden 2012

                                                                                  • 6 votes
                                                                                  #76.4 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:42 AM EDT

                                                                                  Hasn't most of the stimulous dollars been repayed with interest?----he did the right thing!!

                                                                                  • 1 vote
                                                                                  #76.5 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:48 AM EDT

                                                                                  Heaveto......I think you mean TARP has been repaid. The stimulus funds were spent and now many of those jobs that were saved are lost now because the money ran out. The stimulus helped about as much as you putting the rent/mortgage on the credit card.

                                                                                    #76.6 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:52 AM EDT

                                                                                    GT.....Does it matter what playbook it comes from? Democrats refuse to debate policy with me. I ask them a question never get a thoughtful response. I usually get hate in return.

                                                                                      #76.7 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:54 AM EDT

                                                                                      Thurston Howell III/Eddie Munster 2012!

                                                                                        #76.8 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:01 AM EDT

                                                                                        PutAmericaFirst

                                                                                        I'd love to debate you (without hate in return), but it will have to be some other time. Its getting late..Goodnight all

                                                                                        Obama/Biden 2012

                                                                                        • 3 votes
                                                                                        #76.9 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:04 AM EDT

                                                                                        I wouldn't exactly call your solution to the underfunding of SS and Medicare a particularly brilliant breakthrough. "make sure they're funded"?? Find a way to further tax those who already care their own plus 50% of the rest of us. Even if you did that the number of millionaires, multimillionaires, and yes billionaires isn't anywhere near large enough to close a gap like that even if given 1000 years. It certainly doesn't help when Obama gives everyone a reduction by REDUCING the payroll tax deduction by 60%+

                                                                                        You think we can afford yet another cut if defense spending on top of the almost $900 Billion already pushed by the President? That doesn't include the almost $500 billion in additional cuts hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles in the sequestration of funds argument.

                                                                                        Your response, and that of GT2021701, shows exactly what point I was trying to make.Your solutions are empty platitudes and half-baked populist themes and don't address the fundamental question in any meaningful way, and that is how do we go about reversing the rate of decline that this country is going through as a result of 80+ years of mostly failed progressive thinking and governance.

                                                                                        The government of this country has been mostly led by progressive/liberal since the Woodrow Wilson administration with a few exceptions of combined Republican presidents and both houses of Congress. While it's true that there have been a more then a fair share of Republican presidents over that period if you look at the total number of years of primarily Democrat control of the Presidency and the houses of Congress either separately or together you can't miss the slant that has occurred.

                                                                                        After LBJ's disasterous decisions about the Vietnam war and his surrender or abdication in the face of the immature radicals that led the left in the 60's and 70's the country tilted so far to the left that most of the values and institutions that made this country the envy of the entire world's population was attacked, deminished, or destroyed. Time Magazine emblazoned on it's cover "God is Dead" and that was only the tip of the iceberg.

                                                                                        The various groups reactions to all this were for the most part uncoordinated and misguided at best since we had never really as a society been attacked from within with quite the same viciousness and disdain, especially from their own children for whom they had given and sacrificed so much. Were you there GT? I kind of doubt it, or you were knee deep in the protests.

                                                                                        What do you think happened to those people? The vast majority ended up living meaningless and unfulfilled lives since they threw away their chances for a sound education or a good job in their search for some Utopian ideal while defecating on the country that bore them. Some recovered and yet another group of unreconstructed rebels hid out in academia where they pretended that their radical pseudo intellect was something of value where they continue to propagate themselves and denigrate the very institutions where they work. The rest went into politics at the state and local level just as Obama did and today sit at the highest levels of policy making both inside and outside of the electoral system as policy makers, advisors and campaign directors. The likes of Pelosi, Reid, Waters, Rangle, Conyers, Franks, and Leahy.

                                                                                        No thanks not again. I'll vote for everyone with an R after their name down to and including the dog catcher before I'll ever vote for another Dem. I kept quite way too long like many other conservatives of my generation waiting for someone else to take up the cause for me.

                                                                                        So many of you that get on here day after day and spit out your vile and contempt for those who don't fall for your empty scribblings are totally unaware of what's being done to this country and you and your children's futures. It really is sad to see in this age of easy access to so much good information how uneducated so many people seem to want to remain.

                                                                                          #76.10 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:38 AM EDT

                                                                                          Yikes... now the rube throws in LBJ, and the war in Vietnam willard dodged??

                                                                                          billy bob... nobody, and I do mean nobody, takes YOU, as seriously, as YOU take you...

                                                                                          Bet on it...

                                                                                          Again... You presented no "facts",.. just laughable, rhetorical nonsense..

                                                                                          And amusingly so, I might add...

                                                                                            #76.11 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:23 AM EDT

                                                                                            I 'm glad I brought a little humor into your otherwisae dull evening. It's always heartening to hear someone who things all this countyries sprung up over night with the most recent administration and that they can be cured immediately if we all just vote for the next one whoever that may be.

                                                                                            If life were that simple then simpletons would be as rich as Romney, but it isn't and if you don't know how we got where we are then you sure as hell are going to have a tough time finding your way, or the countries, back home again.

                                                                                            I also find it enlightening that libs like you think that a response that's aimed at scoring scarcastic points or trying to embarass your opponent seem to make mup the majority of the left's ammunition. You all come across as sort of a mini-me of Obama and his campaign of personal destruction. While you wring your hands over X number of Romney's tax returns (which neither one of us could understand) you ask not a question as to just what your candidate is planning to do with his next four years. What are his ideas about SS, Medicare, Medicaid, foreign policy, putting America and Americans back to work. I don't mean the usual politicians platitudes like what he gave us all last time. I mean real policy positions that will call for him to explain and defend just like you'd like Romney to do. Oh, I forgot, you don't need Romney to explain his plans since you've already got all the inside scoop don't you.

                                                                                            Good night & PISS OFF as the English would say.

                                                                                              #76.12 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:41 AM EDT
                                                                                              Reply

                                                                                              http://www.billcook.net/puttin-up-the-flag.html

                                                                                              Too many of you have forgotten what our country is all about. This guy understands what it means to be an American and to put up his flag proudly. Not a political message

                                                                                              • 1 vote
                                                                                              Reply#77 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:31 AM EDT

                                                                                              We all love our country.

                                                                                                #77.1 - Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:44 AM EDT
                                                                                                Reply
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