Time to come clean Feisty. You are a paid political blogger for the Obama campaign. In fact, you work directly for Obama as a media liason.

“Grab your friends and grab everybody in your dorm, grab your fraternity or sorority” and go to a polling place...

Great idea, they certainly won't be voting for B.O. this time.

And what Lord is it you're thanking?

That would be the special TeaPeople Lord.......

It has also come out that the Republicans in the House
eliminated millions in funds intended for security funds in Libya.

Good call O.

Does make you wonder if the dude has any idea how bad the under/un-employment is for college aged folks.

Oh and Fiesty old gal - 'run and hide?"

Well of course for you its more of get suspended and go way. But, despite getting the continued heave Ho from First read, back you come.

Why it's almost like this is all you got.

You poor dear.

Typical keyboard warrior who runs & hide when the going gets tough!

hey Feisty do you type that with a straight face. Feisty, the Red leading the Horde of Vandals of FR

Liquid courage...eh.. old gal?

says the gal that pounds the thunderbird

Hey NoJoe, methinks Feisty has a crush on you. Too bad she doesnt realize she is the pot calling the kettle black. oh was that racist. Come on Feisty you want to call me a racist.

What do you know about Mormons?

probably not as much as you and the lefty Forlorn Hope LOL. But please set us all straight.

Uh, do you have a source, Dennis? Because that's a new one on me.

In fact, the State Department budget is a single entity- all funds are distributed by the Secretary's office- unless a special allocation is requested.

I haven't seen any such requests.

But do go on trying, desperately, to try to blame the republicans for Obama's failures.

You and your silly spin is a too late Dennis.

The State Dept. knew of the increased risk and told them to go pound sand.

The State Department. So who is in charge over there again?

Wait, I know - It's BBBUUUUSSSHHHHHH.

So Ron, why is it Carney hasn't had a presser in so long?

Gosh all he needs to do is trot out the ridiculous assertion you just made.

Ain't gonna fly Dennis. What else you got?

Say, how about them polls in Ohio, eh?

You like trends?

Dennis

Millions of dollars were eliminated...out of a budget of several billion dollars. The reason for the security failures was not the budget, it was the WH.

You and your silly spin is a too late Ron.

i thought his name was Dennis?

But Dennis hey thanks for showing up to post irrelevance er i mean facts.

No Joe,

“It’s also important to note that the Republican appropriation Congress gave the administration $300 million less than it asked for the State Department, including funding for security,” said Pelosi.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pelosi-accuses-gop-of-holding-up-funds-which-would-have-provided-security-for-libya-consulate/

Howdy Rereg, howya doing? Long time no troll. :D

What a pathetiuc piece of work you are.

B White,

Oh... the old broad is a real piece of work alright... NO ONE on First Read has ever been called out as many times as she has, even by the moderators for her blatent lies...

But, it never stops her from spreading her bull@!$%# and believing people are buying it! lol

Hey, I guess you have to be famous for something! lmao!

Reach for the stars... I guess...

NO ONE on First Read has ever been called out as many times as she has, even by the moderators for her blatent lies...

Except you

the moderators? what moderators? Domenico and Mark? Please the same guys you went had a meeting with...HAHAHA, yeah cause those two are objective.

Feisty goes and cries to the journalist because NoJoe irks Feisty and by all means is good times. Feisty is threatened. plain and simple

Hey Dennis - what'd Pelosi say about draining the swamp?

See Dennis, Pelosi doesn't even listen to herself, so why would anyone else?

But as to the point you try to make - just weak sauce my man, even for a libbie.

So other than a Pelosi-ism, what else you got? The person in charge of the State Dept. sure has not raised your concern.

Nope - it was all about a movie, don't ya know.

Sorry, Dennis- a statement from Pelosi is not worth the paper it's written on.

Try showing me a bill- with an HR number- that cut funds for security in Libya. Until you can, lay off the libel.

Oh no - Feisty know about the moderators.

They keep suspending her.

Again and again.

She's fantastic at getting the boot.

Dennis, I am sure if they needed more money for security, which I don't believe, all they had to do is ask for it. You can spin it anyway you want but this was caused by a lack of LEADERSHIP from the White House and an a President more interested in getting reelected than protecting our Embassy Personnel overseas.

I am in Ohio and the support for Obama is high, you just need to see all the signs in yards all over the city. But, people need to show up and run the Corporate Raider back to his golden palace to count his millions from raping America.

Wow....I think B White's got a mormon fetish...instead of BIG BIRD..she's obsessed with MORONI......

Fiesty Redhead, time to come clean. In reality, you are the Obama Campaign Press Secretary Jen Psaki. You are a paid political blogger. Deny it.

Feisty's on ignore, CA- but, if she's trotting out old lies. . .

On a couple of occasions, I've gotten under the skin of Monetenaro, who has responded to me. Back and forth, on the board- no secret meetings, no back door communications.

Unlike some I could name, I've never been suspended- not for a day, never mind a week, a month, or an outright banning.

The Code of Honor is not used even handedly on this site, but even with that, I've never been the recipient of a suspension for its violation.

I do, however, get under the skin of some of the regulars. Can't overstate how sweet that is.

Feisty aint a paid blogger. please... I wouldnt pay someone to spew such inane jibberish.

Can't overstate how sweet that is.

its fun watching the vile ones squirm. but according to Feisty, she says you took her off ignore. Its funny since the goof has me on ignore. I got suspended for a day for fighting with Mickey NY, thats ok, the guy has fear of abandonment issues.

Back and forth, on the board- no secret meetings, no back door communications.

her and her libby friends have the audacity to call people cowards. Like i said, top notch entertainment here

Thank the lord.

Are you of all people trying to convince us you are a Christian!

So says the broad, who has battery acid running through her veins... LMFAO!!!

No worries Snookie, Satan has a special seat in hell for you!

Feisty's on ignore, CA- but, if she's trotting out old lies. . .

What ever helps you sleep better, why do YOU answer people you lie about having on ignore...

The $64K question then is, then WHY do YOU respond... huh.... Donna?

Learn the system, otherwise it only reinforces what a certified LIAR you are!

Are you of all people trying to convince us you are a Christian!

So says the broad, who has battery acid running through her veins... LMFAO!!!

No worries Snookie, Satan has a special seat in hell for you!

What ever helps you sleep better, why do YOU answer people you lie about having on ignore...

The $64K question then is, then WHY do YOU respond... huh.... Donna?

Learn the system, otherwise it only reinforces what a certified LIAR you are!

hey NoJoe, here ya go. She can't stand it. TOO FUNNY. Tick Tock Feisty

Caesar, you wouldn't pay her, but Obama will. I guess I can understand the political rubbish, but why all the personal stuff against Christians? Maybe she is just following her employer.

Who won the debate the other night ?

The family lies together.....well did Dad teach his kids to lie.......

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/09/1142202/-Josh-Romney-We-d-say-the-same-lie-over-and-over

This is one undesirable trait to pass on.

This is so damn stupid it stupefies being stupid! POTUS is responsible for the personal security of those serving overseas in our embassies?

Okay, where the f**k was Bush when 9/11 hit then, Republicons? Hmmmm? Why were our plans grounded, or deverted?

What the hell did he do during Katrina as the American people were suffering and dying?

And, you idiots want to replace the current president with the same yahoo, only this time, a vulture capitalist, in lieu, of oil barron?

Sfcret, don't talk about leadership when we all know Bush=Romney when it comes to security.

This president has done more for anti-terrorism than 43 and Etch could ever hope to do.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

The real entertainment will come in a month- the day after the election. Two years ago, they had a pact to be "gracious losers". I don't think they'll be able to do it this time.

Their cult idol is going down to ignominious defeat- and they will lose what is left of their minds.

I will not miss that for the world.

no joe, no bo, nj

No No Jo

Why do you keep repeating that LIE about foreign campaign contributions? It has been debunked as I pointed out to you this morning.

I repeat

Fox Hacks Think President Obama has an Foreign Fundraising That This Imaginary Foreign Fundraising Will Rock The Obama Campaign

But it appears that their idea of “rocking” is something like the Eagles on Valium. Others in the anti-Obama press posted stories blaring that “Obama bundler tied to Chinese government? (Hot Air);” “Is the Obama Campaign Being Financed by Foreign Donations? (Examiner);” “How Much of Obama’s $181 Million September Haul Was Illegal? (Breitbart);” “Corruption: Exposing Barack Obama’s Illegal Foreign Campaign (Townhall);” “Obama Campaign Receiving Illegal Donations from Foreigners (Media Research Center).” And of course, the kiddies at Fox & Friends Fiends chimed in with an interview of the study’s authors that began with ignogrant Steve Doocy asserting that “the Obama campaign is breaking the law.” Then Hannity, Ann Coulter, and the FAKE Democrat. Pat Caddell picked it up.

There’s just one little problem with all of this frothing outrage. There isn’t any evidence that any of it is true.

Here's the video---> http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV?id={EC9E4E23-5FF8-44B5-A2B6-48A2A0D0C862}&title=Schwiezer-Bannon-Expose-Credit-Card-Vulnerabilities-in-Online-Campaign-Fundraising

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

Fact check: Obama for America only accepts contributions from eligible Americans

October 8, 2012

Amidst the unparalleled spending from super PAC billionaires and outside groups, nearly 4 million Americans have come together to change the face of this race and help President Obama in the fight to keep moving our country forward. Thanks to our supporters, we’ve made American political history with 10 million grassroots donations since January.

The allegations made by Government Accountability Institute (GAI) are more reflective of the group’s politics than any grain of truth. GAI’s Chairman, Stephen Bannon, took over as executive chairman of Breitbart News and directed an anti-Obama movie released at the RNC by Citizens United. GAI President Peter Schweizer is a right-wing activist who advised Sarah Palin on foreign policy and worked as an editor for Breitbart News. The attorney hired by GAI to write their report, Ken Sukhia, shares an address with GAI, has “strong Republican ties,” and touts his work with Republicans on his own website.

We’ve seen this pattern of peddling bogus news before too, when right-wing pundit and former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen previously cited a GAI “report” to promote a false attack on President Obama, without initially disclosing that he had commissioned the report from his own business partner, Schweizer. Their attacks are entirely false and come from another right-wing front group posing as an independent watchdog.

OFA does not accept donations from foreign nationals or any other ineligible individual—and the campaign voluntarily goes above and beyond Federal Election Commitments to ensure the integrity of fundraising efforts.

Here’s how we do that:

All credit card contributions are processed using AN Address Verification System (AVS) to ensure their legitimacy.

OFA invests significant resources into a manual process to review any transaction that’s been flagged by the campaign’s credit card processor’s fraud detection services.

Though not required by law, OFA requires a copy of a valid passport from any contributor who has been affirmed as eligible but donates with a mailing address outside the U.S. If they do not offer in one in a timely manner, the donation is returned.

OFA screens all online credit card contributions that originate from a foreign IP address and, if any questions arise regarding the contributor’s U.S. citizenship, the campaign requests proof of a current and valid U.S. passport in order to be in compliance with the FEC’s safe harbor guidelines.

OFA has strong and rigorous safeguards in place to ensure our donors are eligible and that our fundraising efforts comply with all U.S. laws and regulations. While no campaign can control who visits their websites, OFA is in no way directing solicitations to foreign nationals nor knowingly seeking foreign contributions—that is the legal standard.
=============================================

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/entry/fact-check-obama-for-america-only-accepts-contributions-from-eligible-ameri

I have given to the Obama campaign and they do check the AVS.

Wooooow, you are really flying off the handle of your witch broom

@ no go,your wrong bro;

on Oct 9, 2012 at 2:47 pm

Despite significant right-wing hype, a new report by the conservative Government Accountability Institute (GAI) on the potential for foreign nationals to illegally contribute to U.S. political campaigns does not actually find any evidence of foreign nationals successfully donating to the Obama campaign. Still, a wide array of conservative and mainstream publications have incorrectly reported that the report documents foreign donors giving to the President’s

hey no Joe,where you goin with that lie in your hand?

Better watch out Fesity is about to blow. I remember her comment to nojo a year or so ago

So says the broad, who has battery acid running through her veins... LMFAO!!!

After that it was down hill.

Coral Taxi- The GAI, who published the story?

Who won the debate the other night ?

I see where Harley Chic has reared his ugly head again.... lol

Do tell, exactly how many accounts do you currently have?

chris stevens just a bump in the road

How about talking about voting.

It is every citizen's duty to vote. The Australians have the right idea, voting is mandatory. Their government registers and maintains a list of every eligible voter. If you don't vote, you pay a fee at tax time. $100 from everyone who doesn't vote would raise about $9 billion every 2 years.

Watch out Ontor, the LIB Tards get "testy" when their guy looks so perfectly "mayoral"....

thetotas

Better watch out Fesity is about to blow. I remember her comment to nojo a year or so ago

So says the broad, who has battery acid running through her veins... LMFAO!!!

come on Feisty, go ahead and show us that barbarism LOL

Go blow your husband honey and stop with the threats!

good job thetotas. she thinks you're threating her HAHA.

Wow, two posters "refuting" ABC, Politico, WaPo, et als, with posts from the Obama campaign! Well, I guess, case closed, right?

Wrong.

See, the fact that fundraising emails were sent, wholesale, to non-eligible voters is a violation of the law. When a fundraising letter- or, in this case, email- is sent to foreign nationals, the SENDER must, per the law, be armed with positive proof that the recipient is eligible to donate.

Obama is in direct violation of the law, even if he got not one thin dime from these solicitations.

Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio Republicans:
These are one of the angriest groups of Republicans. They watch Fox News or listen to Conservative Talk Radio and they think it makes them an expert on politics. The only knowledge they have of politics is parroted talking points without any facts to back them up. When you defeat them in debate they will resort to calling you names like “Liberal,” “commie,” “socialist” or “baby-killer” etc. They think all liberals are socialists that want to take their money and give it to people who don’t deserve it.

The Educated Republicans:
These are the rarest of all Republicans. Occasionally you will run into one in public, or in a public-forum online. These Republicans are the smartest of the Republican idiots. They have learned everything there is to know about their position, from a Republican perspective. They’ve educated themselves on all the reasons why their position is correct.

Christian Republicans:
These Republicans are hypocrites. They do everything in the name of Christ, while simultaneously acting as un-Christlike as humanly possible. They support the right to carry assault weapons, are pro-war, and completely ignore the fact that the Bible depicts Christ as a Liberal who was opposed to capitalism and violence. They sincerely believe that this is God’s country and that God loves us more than anyone else in the world. They think that anyone that is not 100% pro-Israel is anti-semitic. They hate everyone that doesn’t agree with them and think the Bible tells them to, and they hate Gay people because they think they are sinners.

Tea Party Republicans:
These Republicans are a dumbed-down combination of the previous 2 groups of Republicans. They think Sarah Palin is intelligent and it’s the media filter’s fault that she looks so stupid. They think Reagan was fiscally Conservative even though he tripled the deficit. They watch Fox News religiously, and think Glenn Beck is credible. They don’t understand why people think they’re racist while they’re standing next to people holding racist signs. They protest higher taxes even though taxes have gone down for 95% of working families.

Birther Republicans:
The birthers think that Obama was born in Kenya. No matter how much evidence you present them with that is contradictory to that, they will continue to insist that he is not the legitimate President. They are sore-losers because McCain lost the election, and they will never support Obama, even if he paid off the entire National Debt.

Racist Republicans:
Racist Republicans hate Obama because he’s black. They think that all Muslims are terrorists. They think Obama is a terrorist Muslim. They think anyone with a name like Obama’s is a terrorist.They’re racist, but they think Obama is a racist. They can’t understand why people call them racists when they post racist pictures or racist comments and then claim not to be racist. Whenever they possibly can they will call you a racist, to hide the fact that they are actually racists.

Extremely Idiotic Republicans:
These Republicans are Republicans because they think it’s cool. They have a Republican in one of the other groups listed, so they think they know what they’re talking about. They have terrible spelling and grammar but they expect you to believe whatever they say because they are saying it to you.It’s hard to tell if they ever made it past the 4th grade. Most of their posts are illegible. They don’t know anything about their position other than what they have heard their friends say. They think that Republicans are fiscally conservative because they say that they are, and call anyone that doesn’t agree with them sheep. They ignore all historical information that is contradictory to what they say. They are 100% blind to facts.

Wow. The trolls have really been busy today. In this #1 section alone I count 6 different ones that I already have on ignore. It makes for a lot of blank spaces.

Let me say something on topic: VOTE!

Obama-Biden 2012!

COinFL

That sounds typical of an Obama supporter .

Do you ignore your bills when they come in the mail also ?

Holy crap, lay off the muppet references already. That sh!t was funny for a couple days; even I got one in. Honestly, though, that shtick is all played out. Pretty sure we get the point.

Honestly, maybe concentrate on stuff that will actually affect the kids when they graduate, like: address the crippling loan debt they'll have, or maybe the possibility they'll be moving back in with mom and dad for a bit, perhaps talk about what opportunities there may be had within the U.S. during an economically challenging time. If this is going to continue to be a main talking point with President Obama, then he's going to get ROFLstomped during the next two debates. Yeesh.

STOP MUPPET INFUSED POLITICS NOW

(dead horse kinda thing)

ONTOR -- I don't ignore important things, just the rantings of immature idiots.

I love the ignore feature. I keep those who attempt to make coherent arguments, even if I disagree with what they are saying, but I don't waste time on nonproductive people.

"Obama to Ohio Students; 'Grab your friends' and go vote"
Grab your friends and vote for Gary Johnson!

Well, CA, now you know why she's on ignore. Schoolyard rantings on a political site? Why bother?

During the debate Romney was the teacher and Obama was the kid whose dog ate his homework

Feisty,

Go blow your husband honey and stop with the threats!

What did I miss, please show me the threat?

I am pretty sure that talk goes against the COH rules.

@no jo;

See, the fact that fundraising emails were sent, wholesale, to non-eligible voters is a violation of the law. When a fundraising letter- or, in this case, email- is sent to foreign nationals, the SENDER must, per the law, be armed with positive proof that the recipient is eligible to donate.

Wholesale? You are kidding yourself, the e mails were not sent by Obama, they were sent by unofficial websites and third parties, Obama.com is owned by a guy named Roche in shanghai, which redirects traffic to official sites. Romneys contribution are also vulnerable to fraud, and are not perfect but hey just leave that factoid out right?

The same GAI that is accusing Obama of illegal activity is now clearing him of accepting foreign donations.

the SENDER must, per the law, be armed with positive proof that the recipient is eligible to donate.

Well your big problem there is that Obama nor his staff were the senders.

Obama is not going to allow these contributions to reach his campaign fund, nor will his staff directly solicit foreign donors, this is political suicide, and not necessary

The Obama campaign has claimed that it doesn't need the CVV because they are able to vet contributions on the back end using sophisticated techniques that it doesn't disclose

You see the methods need to be improved and changed not the ethics, they are watching where the money is coming from, why would you solicit someone then vet them and reject their donation? Makes no sense. In the words of Judge Judy, "if it does not make sense then it probably isnt true".

So take that to all your news outlets that say different. So once again..

Hey no Jo, where you goin with that lie in your hand.

I guess that Obama thinks that the young voters of Ohio have a Sesame Street mentality. The world is as dangerous a place as it has ever bin for us. The truth of the matter is that the President has failed to keep his promises on the economy. The President's administration promised that if the stimulus were passed that unemployment would not be higher than 8% and that by now it would be less than 6% not 7.8%. The President promised that the 2012 federal deficit would not exceed 229.27 billion dollars yet it did exceed 1.1 trillion dollars, With the debt now greater than 16 trillion dollars, I estimate that the money that the federal government is borrowing now will end up costing the tax payers 10 times the amount borrowed to repay over the next 180 years. The President has not come up with any new ideas so if you vote for him you will be voting for four more years of more of the same.

IXLR8

I range from Youngstown to Cleveland to Canton, and anywhere in between.

Support appears softer. I was at early voting to day, lots of minorities, with democratic cheat sheets. Yet, my wife overheard someone say "All I want to do is vote for Romney/Ryan."

Cuyahoga Falls was packed this evening with Romney supporters tonight.

I'm in one of the higher percentage of Democrat sections of towns. Obama/Biden signs are popping up, but that doesn't mean much. In this section of town, a lot of republican supporters don't put up signs up so they don't invite trouble.

One neighbor who is surrounded by a lot of Democrat neighbors puts up a 4x8 sheet of plywood with the spray-painted words "Greetings Comrades!"

If a white man had had O's credentials, they would have never made it past the primaries. We have done the apologetic, I am not racist, vote.

Let's now save the nation with someone that is presidential, and actually wants the job!

10,000 were at the Natatorium in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Cuyahoga Falls - 49,000 + Akron, at 199,000

Obama draws 15,000 at Ohio State, in Columbus Ohio (7870888).

In 2004 Obama drew much more.

The Obama Sucks theme song . . .

http://www.youtube.com/embed/p0rdry_gY_E?feature=player_embedded

NEXT ELECTION DETERMINED BY CANDIDATE FOLKS DON’T WANT

Written by Glenn Honeycutt, Huntsville, OHIO

I continue to be amazed by those mesmerized with the shallowness of Barack Obama. To suggest he is the answer to solve our woes on economic and foreign policy, energy practices, our public education system and an out-of-control national debt, based on his dismal performance, is mind-boggling. His divisiveness has pitted Americans against one another. He has time for Dave Letterman, but can’t find time to meet with the prime minister of Israel, who fears he is facing Armageddon. His negligence and ignorance could potentially light the powder keg causing the Middle East to explode. It took a week of denial (while campaigning in Vegas) to get a quasi response to the terrorist assault on our foreign embassy, that killed four Americans. He is no more presidential than a three dollar bill, as evidenced by his leak of classified intelligence (Bin Laden) for political gain. I’m sick of the whining and excuses about what he inherited. It’s time to stop the charades and Land of Oz rhetoric. Look at what he’ll inherit if reelected. Can you imagine the whining we’ll hear? He’s incompetent for goodness sake. We need more from our president than cheesy smiles, mediocre golf performances and bricks launched toward the rim.

It appears the only way those on the left can promote Obama is to attack and denigrate his opponents. This has been the mode of operation by liberals/progressives/socialists/Marxists for years. It’s a Saul Alinsky strategy from his book Rules for Radicals, (1971) internalized and practiced by Obama. Smear tactics are a major part of their mission statement. They certainly can’t boast about Obama’s accomplishments, because he has very few. He is not only “Sleepless in Seattle” (Washington), but “Clueless in DC” (Washington). Most loyal Democrats don’t realize their party has been shanghaied by a group promoting top-to-bottom, radical change. They are good hearted people who want the best for their country, have confused arrogance with likeability and, don’t realize they’ve been bamboozled.

The hidden agenda (it is becoming clear) includes spreading the wealth (redistribution), bigger government, promoting secularism (attacking Christianity, an Alinsky principle) and reducing U.S. world power and influence, making us comparable to third world countries. These ingrates want to diminish accomplishments and lower our world status (confirmed in the Movie: 2016). The oil discovery in the Midwest suggests we have more oil reserves than the entire Middle east. Thousands of jobs could be created and our dependency on foreign oil would evaporate. Yet Obama loans billions to foreign countries to drill offshore, places restrictions on our own oil companies and permits gas prices to double, causing further depression on our economy. Where does such a witless mindset come from? Should the U.S. become a Marxist state (beyond what Woodrow Wilson and Roosevelt initiated) or China eventually gains complete control of our economy, guess what natural resource will be confiscated first?

The naysayers in denial have a closed mind, don’t understand what makes our country great and will wake up one day to ask, “What happened? Did something happen?” The progressive movement began years ago. They are now very well organized and have infiltrated a large percentage of the lame street news media, education (especially colleges — most professors are liberals), health care, energy and have manipulated the general public into putting a George Soros puppet in the White House.

If you want to understand a man’s ideology and what he stands for, all you have to do is look at role models during his youth and the people he surrounds himself with today. “Birds of a feather do flock together.” When you hang out with communists, Marxists, terrorists, socialists and secularists, then sprinkle in the Chicago mentality, guess what you get? I understand those in denial could never acknowledge this or even admit the risk involved with hanging out next to a hornet’s nest. Sooner or later the folks get stung. To make an error in judgment is understandable. To make the same mistake a second time reinforces what progressives have said about U.S. citizens for years. “The American people are dumb!” Unenlightened adults would deserve the consequences, our children don’t.

Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney has his flaws and is by no means a perfect option. But when you look at the alternative and decide on the best person to address our sad state of affairs, the choice is clear. It’s not possible to lead from behind or alter ideals ingrained in a person since childhood. The paramount question “Would you buy a used car from Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, Eric Holder or Barack Obama?” I hope not. It takes more than two hands to count Obama’s broken promises, including C-span postings and that of being transparent. His hundreds of executive orders circumventing Congress are shady at best. He promised if he couldn’t turn the economy around in three years, he didn’t deserve a second term. Oops?! Forgot, another lie! We’ve been fed a steady diet of lies and deception and many have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker. It’s time to spit it out and “just let him go,” as suggested by Clint Eastwood’s classical presentation. Did you notice the typical liberal/progressive reaction and strategy of bashing Eastwood? It proves the point made above. It rolled off him like water on a duck.

Water on a duck brings to mind another point. I have suggested to friends if the choice for president came down to Obama or Mickey Mouse, I’d have to vote for Mickey. Then I realized during the last election that Acorn, the group Obama served as a community organizer (the only job on his resume), registered Mickey to vote (in Chicago), along with several dead people. So, I’ve adjusted the option. The choice is no longer Mickey but Donald Duck. Once again, the choice is clear. When Donald was asked by the lame street news media (in the tank for Obama) about his platform and what he thought of his opposition, he indicated he would keep American heads above water. As far as his opposition is concerned he simply replied with several ... “quack, quack, quacks.” Further, to counter the cry of “racist,” a typical Alinsky/Obama/Jackson/Sharpton/Progressive strategy to discredit those in disagreement, he would vote for Allen West, a black Florida congressman for president, in a heartbeat.

For those having difficulty grasping this piece of satire mocking the travesty of the past three and a half years, let me suggest the election will come down to the person the folks don’t want. If those on the receiving end of entitlements and government handouts think more (selfishly) about free stuff they’ll get, rather than the country’s welfare, we will all be in deep doo-doo. Those who can’t do the math and have their heads buried where the sun doesn’t shine will bring about financial ruin and our own Armageddon. If I’ve offended anyone with my candid and straightforward remarks, that’s too bad. Too many folks have been hoodwinked by the current White House narcissist, concerned more about reelection and world favorability than the future of our great country. He has made clear his priorities through apologies. His ideology goes against the wind, the grain and the American people. If you look up, that’s the bottom of the bus zipping by over your head, filled with an empty load of promises, hope and change. For those moved to rebuff the irony of this parody with the typical liberal/leftist reaction, I quote the words of our beloved 40th President, Ronald Reagan, “There you go again.”

Glenn Honeycutt

Huntsville, OHIO

People forget, I know I do, put aside Party Difference for a minute, kick back and watch a video on you-tube. I'm not being insulting.

US Government For Dummies

Nov 1, 2010 - 11 min - Uploaded by FastingOnClowns
Most don't get this now a days, because some don't want them

Barry should spend more time PACKING HIS BAGS...............

Once again hustling for the kiddie-vote..."Grab your friends" and drag them along with you...maybe buy a sandwich for a homeless soul on the street who cannot remember what year it is and take him to get registered to vote while you're at it. Especially if in a state that doesn't even require something as basic as an ID card.

Let's get the "high information" Democrat minions rolling to the polls !!! The President is depending on them !!!

tony-268769: I would hazard to guess that the people at a University are probably quite a bit more informed than the average voter. When voters do become informed, they discover the reality of what the candidates have said and what their positions are on various issues.

Therein is the problem for Mitt Romney, he has recently decided to either change his position, or simply lie about what position he is taking.

Educated voters do not like to be lied to and won't vote for liars, thus Mitt Romney will very much lose the votes of intelligent voters.

dirp...

Sorry, but the majority of children do not become 'informed" voters simply by the act of living on a college campus and attending classes taught since their grade school years by government union employees (teachers) who overwhelmingly tend to vote for the party (D) that overwhelmingly benefits their unions and pocketbooks so that party (D) can receive union cash donations and an endless stream of votes to keep them in office.

The young girl who was in the news the other day for being ridiculed and harassed by her teacher for the simple act of wearing a 'Romney' shirt to class...that about sums things up.

dirp...

And I see once again the inside joke about all the nation's "intelligent voters" voting for Democrats despite the reality of easily obtainable voting pattern information.

As I've referenced before...in my state (3.2 mil pop) the Democrat elected to be governor in 2010 won by about 6000 votes out of 1.13 million cast. In the state's six poorest cities, large or small, he won by more than 70,000 votes...effectively handing him the election. Out of the state's 169 municipalities, the new governor did not win in a single location that calls itself a "town"...you know, the places where people wake up, send their kids off to school, and go to work every day.

I'll bet Mr. Romney does fairly well with the places called "towns" while Mr. Obama will do extremely well in the same places that put our state's new governor into office...or as you'd say, the same pool of intelligent and educated voters...the folks that vote the way you vote.

@ no jo; Where did you go sir, no retort? lol I bet you looked for one, but it is hard when the accusers of Obama come back and say he is innocent. Who are we to argue with the GAI. The e mail issue is not completely closed, what is obvious though is that Obama did not have his hand in it, and since has been corrected.

'Grab your friends' and go vote'

For Romney if you want to find a job when you graduate.

In this tight job market, why does Obama want to give jobs to illegal immigrants?

Obama said, “Grab your friends and grab everybody in your dorm, grab your fraternity or sorority” and go to a polling place after his speech, adding that buses waited around the corner to shuttle voters there.

Can't believe Obama is saying this. Oh wait, yes I can believe it.

Obama knows the young college students are stupid and naive so he has to get them before they come to their senses.

I've noticed that Obama does all his campaigning at college campuses.

A family member is studying for his Master's degree and he is finally seeing the light about Obama. He will not be voting for him this election.

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio "It has also come out that the Republicans in the House eliminated millions in funds intended for security funds in Libya."

Silly statement. No funds can be cut without the approval of both the Senate (controlled by Democrats) and the President (Obama).

You must be getting desperate.

Jo Ann...

In 2008, Mr. Obama won the election by about 9 million votes...among the kiddie-voters, he won by about 7 million votes. That is why he almost always gives his speeches in high school auditoriums and on college campuses. That's part of the "high information" voters the President's supporters boast about...children whose lives are paid for by their parents.

Roy...

Yeah...it's those evil House Republicans who have free reign to do anything they want to do...once again.

Empty rhetoric and no substance worked for Obama in 2008 but there is a problem in 2012 - Obama's failed record the last 4 years. Empty rhetoric and no substance is not working this time around and the polls and lack of "excitement" for Obama confirm that.

Did you see the attempts of the Democrats to dismiss the more realistic poll numbers:

"An Obama campaign official pointed to a shift in the party identification percentages used in Pew's mid-September poll compared to the poll released Monday.

The earlier comprised 39% Democrats, 29% Republicans and 30% independents, while Monday's poll included 31% Democrats, 36% Republicans and 30% independents.

"This is far bigger than any one-month change in party ID ever reported by Pew in the past," the Obama campaign official said."

Democrats had a 10% advantage in the poll that showed Obama ahead (surprise), and now they are crying when the Republicans have a 5% advantage over them.... and to make it even more pathetic they do this AFTER proclaiming that the poll numbers were not skewed when the results favored them.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/09/politics/polling-hype/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

PJam,

the Pew poll (if that is the one you are going on) under sampled Latinos by 6 to 7%. Check the cross tabs.

Our lives and futures depend on the president winning reelection. Most students realize this. If Romney wins, thousands will leave colleges and universities and America will be the poorer for it. Republicans want to cut spending on education and on scientific research, the basic ingredients for our future economy. Republicans like uneducated people. They tend to vote republican.

Tony, at the beginning of this election year, there were 38 ways for Romney to win it all, 28 of those required Ohio. There were 12 Scenarios for Obama to win, which almost all of them included Ohio.

Believe it or not, I think O can only win if he does something besides campaign. Another $4 million in San Francisco yesterday. Think of all the homeless he could have fed. Now that is an ad worth running!

Wayne: Ask my nieces how it feels to be at the mercy of 8% educational loans to the tune of $140-$160 grand? 8%!!!!

That is under Obama's kindness plan.

That's OK Independent - the other guys answer to your nieces is, "Borrow from your Parents"!

Great answer! for maybe 5% of America.

I don't want a guy that only relates to his "Park Place" crowd representing me or my kids in our highest office. We deserve better.

Same goes for the down ticket politicians! Either start representing or get out.

I'm fed up with American politicians turning their backs on America and Americans prosperity solely for political & personal gain. Washington is still broken & I can guarantee you Romney has zero intention of fixing it. He's being funded by the folks who like things exactly the way they are and are drooling over Romney's promised tax break.

Romney/Ryan Plan:

Healthcare: Windfall for Insurance Industry thru Vouchers & bankrupting of Medicare.

Military: Windfall for "Waring Industries" in massive, "unrequested" budget increase for Pentagon.

Taxes: Windfall for the wealthiest in 20% reduction in tax rate shouldered by lost deductions for the middle class.

Deficit hawks my ass.

Take a stand against this corporate takeover!

Vote: Obama/Biden 2012

Well said Tim.

Wayne....

"Uneducated people tend to vote Republican". Really ???

Try taking your little nose out of the air and take a glance at your guy's 2008 voting numbers. 97% among black voters and 75% aong hispanic voters...sorry to appear insensitive, but REALITY does say that the high school dropout rate among both groups is approaching 50% in many urban areas. My little state has spent $3 billion dollars over a dozen years trying to narrow the educational "achievement gap" between urban and suburban students and despite all tha money. our state's "gap" is rated as the worst in the nation.

Are these folks on the Republican voter treadmill ??? Are they skipping school but attending conservative voter training sessions ???

And the President does great among 19 year old college freshmen and sophmores...but they are being "educated"...not already educated and the only real tax bills they've ever seen belongs to their parents.

These are the lofty, "high information" voters you claim for your party as the "educated" among us ???

When I see a comment like yours, I simply wonder where you bought those Coke-bottle thick rose-colored glasses.

tonybeeerm "Romney must win Ohio or he is certain to lose the election."

Right now it's 'too close to call', but Romney has a slight edge if the Undecided Voters break in their historical pattern (272 Electoral Votes for Romney vs 266 for Obama), but the States that are within 2% of shifting away are as follows;

For Obama - Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wisconsin and Iowa.

For Romney - Nevada, Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

That's 7 States that could shift away from Obama vs 4 States that could shift away from Romney.

If Romney loses Ohio but picks up Wisconsin and Colorado or Iowa, he still wins.

“He's decided we're going after Big Bird. Elmo's making a run for the border – and Oscar's hiding out in a trash can. And Governor Romney wants to let Wall Street run wild again, but he's going to bring down the hammer on Sesame Street,” he said.

To hammer home the point, rapper will.i.am, who performed before the president arrived

Ridiculous rhetoric about Sesame street characters and a rapper to set the stage.... the Democrat party reaches new lows of degrading American politics and insulting the voting public on a daily basis.

pjam, a new low was Romney saying he was going to go after Big Bird.

pjam09

Ridiculous rhetoric about Sesame street characters and a rapper to set the stage.... the Democrat party reaches new lows of degrading American politics and insulting the voting public on a daily basis.

Romney already lowered the bar as far as it goes by blatantly lying to the American public for 40 minutes at last Wednesday's debates.

http//:www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/best-lie-wins-article-1.1177301

And lo and behold now Romney is saying he isn't going to touch restrictions for abortions.

Care to go back and revisit his positions on this?

And there's this latest out and out lie from Romney:

DailyKos:

This is news to all the residents of farm states who watched their Republican members of Congress desperately lobbying Speaker Boehner and House leadership to please bring the farm bill to the floor before taking off for the campaign. That failure isn't Boehner's fault at all, says Mitt Romney, it's President Obama's.

..........

But the nihilists in Boehner's caucus said no, they wanted deeper cuts and more pain, and that was that. Boehner refused to take up a bill that he could pass, one that Democrats would join him on. Boehner political calculation is the reason there is no farm bill. For the first time in modern history. And Mitt Romney just lied about it. Of course.

Afterall, it was Willard who brought PBS and Big Bird into the debate, so now, it's not to be mentioned......'cause why?

pat - "a new low was Romney saying he was going to go after Big Bird."

Wow, you actually believe he said that? No wonder you are a Democrat.

And lo and behold now Romney is saying he isn't going to touch restrictions for abortions.

O_o Romney really is not taking his Gaffe-Away. I bet Christie is pissed.

Middle class has been buried the last 4 years.

You want a big Obama lie, try this one: Obama stated he kept his promise about removing all troops from Iraq by 31 Dec 2011. FACT: The date of 31 Dec 2011 was set by President Bush and agreed to by the Iraqi Government in Nov 2008 in the Status of Forces Agreement. Obama tried to renegotiate the SOFA so the U.S. could keep several thousand troops in Iraq after the 31 Dec 2011 date. He could not reach an agreement with the Iraqi Government, thereby having no alternative except to comply with the SOFA signed by President Bush.

pjam, he meant it. He said he was going after public television. Big Bird was on the chopping block.

After all, public television is killing us. Right? How are we to survive as a nation having to support public television?

Big Bird is a 1%er .

Caesar Augustus

Middle class has been buried the last 4 years.

That's GD right! And we blame the 1%, WS, and Republicons!

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

bahrrt

Having a bit of trouble seeing Obama's economic disasters I see .

Sfcret

Well, there is no doubt that troops were brought home, but not as "rosy" as you eloquently think. So, let Bush take the credit for drafting another piece of s**t:

The same day, Secretaries Gates and Rice held classified briefings for U.S. lawmakers behind closed doors, and neither official commented to reporters. Democratic Representative William Delahunt said: "There has been no meaningful consultation with Congress during the negotiations of this agreement and the American people for all intents and purposes have been completely left out." And Oona Hathaway, Professor Law at the University of California at Berkeley called the lack of consultation with United States Congress unprecedented, asserting that aspects of the accord exceed the independent constitutional powers of the President of the United States.^[30]

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned Iraq would not seek to extend the UN mandate of U.S. troops and they would pull out immediately if the Iraqi parliament failed to approve a pact.^[31] Tariq al Hashimi, the country's Sunni Muslim vice president, complained the U.S. would cease providing many "wide-scale services" if Iraq did not approve the pact. Hashimi said many Iraqis looked "to this attitude as a matter of blackmailing."^[32]

^{Wikipedia US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement}

The current POTUS just oversaw the withdrawl of troops, but the whole Iraq War was a complete fiasco oversaw by the previous Republicon Dictator in Charge.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

Ontor,

No, not at all, I don't see them because I don't acknowledge them from folks on the right.

Ummm, like yourself.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

Well that Obama / Biden 2012 thing is sinking quickly .

bahrrt - My point was Obama is LYING AND TAKING CREDIT for something he didn't do when he says "I kept my promise to remove all troops from Iraq by 31 Dec 11", when all he did was comply with the SOFA. I never said I agreed with the SOFA and I didn't support the invasion of Iraq while fighting in Afghanistan.

This is a bit off subject but I just can't help it. Anyone but me notice these odd facial expressions here and there of so many republicans? Look at the NBC photo of Ryan today. His mouth looks like the buttoned flap on a pair of long johns. Ever notice some of Romneys photos? Often, His eyes look like He's caught his finger in a live electrical outlet. Don't even get me started on Mitch's lower lip or Bachmann's eyes. Queer looking people! I say!, curious!, curious, I say!

Big Bird makes 2 million a year. I wonder if Big Bird is paying is taxes. We need 20 years of tax returns so we can find where in Big Bird's nest the nest eggs are hidden. . . . . . .

First of all, Ms Fiesty I enjoy reading your posts. you know what they say, nobody kicks a dead dog.

As for Mr Romney's hidden treasure I think they are in Big Bird's nest.

First of all, Ms Fiesty I enjoy reading your posts.

Thanks for the kind words, Jean!

As for Mr Romney's hidden treasure I think they are in Big Bird's nest.

LMAO!

Mac...

What a wonderful contribution to the discussion ! Will you be also providing comments on Mr. Obama's ears or his little girlie hands ??? Perhaps some tips for the fashionable Mrs. Obama on her visage ??? A good concealer for the scars on Stupid Joe's head from the hair plugs that failed ???

Yeah....all Republicans are, in your words, "Queer looking people".

Takes on to know one, I'd guess.

@tony-268765#3.22: First, thanks for the kind words. Are you claiming to be an example? Post a picture and I'll critique it. I'm real good at that.

Sorry..not in the habit of sending my photo to anonymous males...try 'Craigslist'...all types of interested parties can be found there !

Anyone ever notice the similarity between Michelle Obama and Sasquatch? Spooky isn't it? In fact, the entire group of democrat women is the most bizarre looking bunch of so called women ever assembled. No wonder democrats are so angry. Poor Barry! Can you imagine having to sleep with that every night?

Mr.Skippy#3.25: You've seen Sasquatch then? Male of female? Sh^ts in the woods? Wearing perfume or After shave? Skippy huh? Waaaa,ha,ha,ha,ha......

No form of government, especially a dictatorship or monarchy can exist permanently, it can only exist as long as the people are willing to accept the social contract that governance implies. A dictatorship or monarchy will always fail. What sophistry! In case you haven't figured it out no government is permanent. What a moron. You have any more gems for us?

What a moron. You have any more gems for us?

you missed the message didnt ya mormon gal?

In case you haven't figured it out no government is permanent.

wow no sh*t sherlock. never said it was. besides that quote is attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler. enjoy Plato

Big Bird should ask Obama why his former fans are coming home mutilated and dead from a war he has no idea how to handle.

Maybe Big Bird could also ask Obama why the death rate there has quadrupled under him as well.

4 more years of Obama, and Big Bird will have to live in the garbage can next to Groucho.

out of the woods...

In reality, it seems the only thing Big Bird has actually asked the President is to immediately stop using his image in the latest round of childish and desperate TV ads that Mr. Obama is running !

BWhite, you are really dense. I love it when Obamatrons try to come off as intelligent and end up making asses out of themselves!

15,000 - That is so awesome.

Wonderful president who has done so much to get us back on track.

Unemployment down, deficit down, taxes lower.

We need to stand by our president; he has stood by us through thick and thin.

Please democrats, vote. Otherwise, little by little, all the good we did will be for naught.

We can't let the Republicans once again put us in the ditch.

The far right is itching to turn our country back and Romney will let them.

All his moderate positions right now are fake and we know it.

America is supposed to stand by those who give it all.

That's exactly what our president has done.

Don't quit on him. He doesn't deserve it. He has never ever quit on us.

No Mo Fo Foty Fo

Your avatar is the funniest thing I have ever seen.

He's positively dreamy.

Practically walks on water.

What are you going to do when your god loses?

Yikes.

Dude quit on himself the other night.

your talking about part time jobs at min wage gas is at 4.79 a gal

Unemployment down? Officially, a slight drop, but nothing you would notice around here (Northern Illinois) Deficit down? Really, on what planet! Taxes down? Temporarily, but not after the first of the year!

I have to vote on who won the debate .

Obama has a new endorsement !!!!!

President Obama secured an endorsement from Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Sunday, in a move that may garner groans from the White House and the Obama campaign.

“I hope this doesn't harm Obama, but if I was from the United States, I’d vote for Obama,” Chavez said, according to Reuters.

“Obama is a good guy ... I think that if Obama was from Barlovento or some Caracas neighborhood, he’d vote for Chavez,” he told Venezuelan television, according to Reuters.

I have to vote for who has worked 'round the clock to set us back on track. Pundits look for only one thing in a debate - toughness. Nothing else. We the people look for competence. And once the job numbers came out, people realized the difference between a superficial acting performance on stage and actually doing something.

President Obama IS tough. Romney is just a liar. Romney could never in a million years have the backbone to put up with what the president has had to endure from 1/2 of our government. A party the president wanted to work with side by side in order to come up with answers to fix our economy.

They refused to to help.

In spite of that, President Obama has done a tremendous job.

Pat

Obama drew 35,000 at Ohio State in 2008.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/18/us-usa-elections-obama-idUSTRE69929420101018

15,000 is a downgrade

You rock Ms Fiesty.

Well, since Big Bird dumped Obama, I guess all he's got is Amy, and the dwindling number of cult members who post here.

Even the mother in law is voting for Romney.

Actually, Big Bird was the focus of Romney's campaign.

Actually Pat - Big Bird pulls in $50 million per year in toys sales alone, yet pays not taxes.

And yet you are oddly ok with that.

How consistent.

So Pat - you also appear to have lost touch with reality. You know, cause O put out an add touting Big Bird. Not Mitt, O.

So sad Pat.

That's because Big Bird used Willard for advice on how to shelter all that income!

Time to leave this blog and get back to the ground. These posts are getting ridiculous and the results Nov. 6th are far too important to waste any more time here.

Make some calls!

Obama/Biden 2012

Obamas constituents can relate to Big Bird. They are just rolling out of bed and firing up the first fatty of the day when Sesame Street comes on.

I wonder who Tim Heth is going to call? Parole officer, bookie, dealer, welfare office? Hmm, I wonder......

Rgray, it was Romney who decided he was going to bring Big Bird into the discussion. Tough if he doesn't want to be called on it.

Big Bird? He is something else.

It,s a sad day when we are talking about Big Bird when there is 23,000,000 people out of work and 45,000,000 people on foodstamps what dont you get.

Better watch out Pat....instead of an OBAMA fetish..you're at risk of a BIG BIRD obsession.......

Rgray no, what YOU DON'T GET is the Republican Party turning their backs on the American people at one of our lowest moments in recent memory. Literally turning their backs.

And what does Romney say? Le'ts.get.rid.of.public.television.

It is the Obama campaign that is running an ad with Big Bird; Sesame Workshop has just requested the campaign stop running the ad, as they are A-political.

Big Bird is going to be long remembered for what Romney said.

It's the only memorable thing he said in the debate.

Obama's new focus on Big Bird is only adding to his downfall .

That's nice of Pat the Dem wanting to support a rich bird then do it and let the rest of us keep our taxes

He,he, You folks expect Romney to produce jobs for you huh? You would all gain more from stealing the collection cups from "blind beggars". Romney ain't in the jobs business.

The Whig Party candidate, Zachary Taylor, won the presidential election of 1848. The Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, is forgotten. Martin Van Buren, a former president and the Free Soil Party candidate, placed third.

The Republican Party did not exist in 1848. There had been a different party called "Republican" or "Democratic-Republican" from about 1790 to about 1836, but that party's story will be covered separately.

The exact founding of the Republican Party is disputed, but aspects of the party were in existence around 1852 and its founding convention was on July 6, 1854 at Jackson, Michigan., In the fall of 1854 it elected 40 members to the U.S. House of Representatives (more if you count representatives co-nominated by the American and Republican parties). By the elections of 1856 it had gone from third party status to being the main rival of the Democrats.

What happened between 1848 and 1854 that could create a full-blown political party in so short a time? There were two main causes: the slavery issue and the rise and fall of the American Party, mistakenly called the Know-Nothing Party. Like the Republican Party, the American Party came into existence quickly and elected a large number of officials; it had the most members of any political party in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1854.

The Whigs, the number 2 party since the 1820's, had been formed in opposition to the Democrats as led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. The party was not formed around any particular principles. Led originally by Henry Clay, it was a loose coalition of men who sought office for any of a number of reason. In the north it included abolitionists and people opposed to the expansion of slave territories, and those favoring protective, high tariffs (customs duties); in the south it favored slavery and lower tariffs. This worked fine until about 1850, but the renewed struggle over extending slavery to new western states and territories demanded that men chose sides. The southern Whigs deserted the party to join the Democrats, who were clearly the party of slavery. The northern Whigs mostly hopped on the American Party on their way to becoming Republicans.

But the core of the Republican Party appears to have evolved from the Free Soil Party. It had grown out of the free soil movement, which stood against extensions of slavery. The failure of the Whigs to take a stand, as a national party, against extending slavery left a political opening which the Free Soil Party filled. They also attracted anti-slavery northern Democrats. An important part of their platform was free homesteads for settlers from federal lands. Their slogan was "Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men." Though they did not, as a party, advocate abolishing slavery in the southern states, their party was closest to an abolitionist view. In 1848 their presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, ran a distant third but received 291,623 votes. They sent two Senators and fourteen Representatives to Congress. In 1852 they ran John P. Hale for president, but received only 155,825 votes. Around 1852 they merged into the Republican Party.

The American Party was formed primarily as an anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic group. Its recruits came mostly from the Whig Party, though many Democrats joined as well. Founded as a secret organization, so secret they came to be called "Know Nothings," they did not come out as the American Party until after their great successes in local and congressional elections of 1854. In 1856 Millard Filmore was their presidential candidate, gaining 8974,534 votes, one of the best third-party showings in U.S. history. But they were divided by the slavery issue, and by 1858 most American Party adherents in the north merged into the Republican Party, while in the south they rejoined the Democrats.

Though not a separate party, the abolitionists were an important component in creating the Republican Party. The idea of abolishing slavery was old; it had been declared abolished in Great Britain by the Somerset Decision of 1771, which helped precipitate the American Revolution. The abolition of slavery in all British colonies in 1833 also put Americans on a low moral footing. The debates about extending slavery to the western territories and new states made everyone in America aware of the abolitionist stance.

Steps to Civil War

Five great events mark the U.S.'s progress towards the Civil War: the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott Decision, and the election of the first Republican President.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed Maine to be admitted to the union as a free state and Missouri to be admitted as a slave state. Most of the remaining Louisiana Territory - actually the land of sovereign native Indian nations - that the nation's leaders planned to annex was declared to be free. It seemed that this would stop the spread of slavery. But the annexation of Texas in 1845 and then northern Mexico (now the U.S.'s southwestern states) in 1848 changed the political equation.

California was the most populous of the conquered lands and applied in 1849 to become a free state. That would give free states a majority in the Senate as well as the House; slavers feared it was the first step to political defeat. A fierce debate ensued in Congress in 1850, with compromise as the result. California was admitted as a free state, but New Mexico and Utah were to decide for themselves if they wanted to allow slavery. In the District of Columbia the slave trade, but not slavery itself, was outlawed. And the most stringent Fugitive Slave Act ever was enacted.

The Fugitive Slave Act was very offensive to citizens in free states. Many people in the northern states who were not set on abolishing slavery in the south felt that if a slave escaped to a free state, they became free. It was a matter of states' rights and people's rights. Many of these citizens were driven into the abolitionist camp by the sight of escaped slaves being re-captured and by the prosecution of those who ran the Underground Railroad. They also lost interest in the Whig Party, which endorsed the Act along with the Democratic Party. This lead to the creation of the Free Soil Party, and eventually to the creation of the Republican Party

Kansas and Nebraska were the next Indian lands to be turned into states; they were to be free states under the Compromise of 1850. But in 1854 Stephen A. Douglas, a leading Democrat, proposed that instead the citizens in those territories be allowed to choose for themselves whether to be free or slave states. The pro-slavery Democrats had the votes to put the plan, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, through. The Whigs and the new American Party did nothing to stop it.

The abolitionists, free soilers, and those who wanted no extensions to slave territories (though they were willing, for the sake of keeping southern states in the Union, to allow slavery to continue where it already existed), needed a new party. They chose not to try to reform the Democrats, Whigs, or American Party. The Republican Party was born alive and kicking in 1854.

But, like the American Party and the Whigs, the Republican Party might have disappeared quickly if it had not been for the ongoing debate (and in Kansas, what amounted to a civil war) over slavery. The final straw that tipped the northern states against the long tradition of Democratic Party power was the Dred Scott Decision. It is important to recall that the American Constitution legalized slavery at the time the British Parliament was debating abolishing the slave trade. It was individual states that outlawed slavery. Since state-rights was an accepted political doctrine until the Civil War, for the most part this going-against the pro-slavery Constitution had been tolerated by the slavers who controlled southern state governments.

Dred Scott hoped that the result of his case would be like the Somerset decision had been in England. It would make clear that stepping onto free soil made you a free man. But the Supreme Court, dominated by Democratic Party appointees, declared that Dred Scott remained the private property of his owners. They went further, implying that no state had the right to deny a citizen the right to put his private property, including slaves, anywhere he saw fit. The Dred Scott decision was handed down in 1857. Republican Party candidates for local office and the House of Representatives dominated the elections in northern states in 1858.

Presidential Elections of 1856 and 1860

In 1856 the Republican Party overtook the Whig Party to become the great rival of the Democratic Party. But it was not simply a reformed and renamed Whig Party. The Whigs had been a national party; the Republicans were almost all in the non-slave states. The Whig Party had been political largely in the sense that it was a grouping of people who sought government offices; the Republican Party was a party of principles, a party that took positions on a variety of issues and promised to change the laws of the land in fundamental ways.

The Democrats nominated James Buchanan for president in 1856. The Republicans nominated John C. Fremont, who used the "free soil, free labor, free speech, free men" slogan for his campaign. The American Party and the Whigs both nominated ex-president Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won well less than half the popular vote, but took a large majority in the Electoral Collage (1,838,169 and 174). Fremont received the second largest number of citizen votes and votes in the Electoral College (1,341, 264 and 114). Fillmore placed third with a substantial number of popular votes but won only Maryland (874,534 and 8).

The congressional elections of 1858 were heavily influenced by popular reaction to the Dred Scott decision. The American Party and Whigs continued their declines. The Democrats, though still a national party, were increasingly identified with slavery. The Republicans continued to strengthen their role in free-state politics.

The presidential election of 1860 is one of the most interesting in American history. The Whig-American-Republican grouping had lost the presidency in 1856 because their vote was divided. Yet the Democrats divided their vote in 1860. The reason was simple: the voters had become passionate about the issue of slavery. In fact, with slavers fighting anti-slavery militias in Kansas, and John Brown having conducted his anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, they were doing more than just voting about the issue. The Republicans were all against slavery, though a large majority of the party were willing to allow it to continue to exist in the southern slave states if its expansion was stopped and slaves became free when they stepped on free state soil (reversing the Dred Scott decision). The Democrats divided into two factions, basically southern and northern factions. Stephen Douglas was the mainstream, northern Democrat; his position was to let each state decide whether to allow slavery or not. That was not good enough for the more radical slave masters, who nominated John Breckinridge on a platform of extending slavery. The remnants of the southern Whig and American parties merged into yet another party, the Constitutional Union Party. Nominating John Bell, they emphasized the need to preserve the union, going to great lengths to take no stand on slavery or its extension.

While the Constitutional Union Party candidate split off some votes that might otherwise have gone to Lincoln, the Democrat vote was much more closely divided. As a result, though he only received 40% of the popular vote (1,866,452), Abraham Lincoln received 180 Electoral College votes, compared to 123 total for the other 3 candidates. All of Lincoln's Electoral College votes came from free states, that is, from northern states plus California and Oregon.

Civil War

Passion often makes for bad judgment, and the slavers proceeded to make a series of mistakes that forced Lincoln and the Republicans to abolish slavery.

When 1861 dawned, with Lincoln soon to be inaugurated, the slavers actually still held the political upper hand. The majority of Supreme Court justices were pro-slavery. Republicans did not have a majority in either house of Congress. To abolish slavery would require a constitutional amendment, which could be blocked by one-quarter of the states; slavers controlled almost one half of the states.

Yet before Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated on March 4, 1861, 7 states announced they had seceded from the U.S. They joined together as the Confederate States of America, under the leadership of a leading member of the Democratic Party, Jefferson Davis.

Aside from the slavery issue, leading southern businessmen and politicians feared the Republicans for another reason. Some Republican politicians, including Lincoln, a former lawyer for the railroads, were backed by northern businessmen, in particular the owners of railroad and manufacturing corporations. Cotton growers feared higher protective tariffs on imported manufactured goods; the south was already deeply indebted to northern bankers and merchants.

Another mistake of the southerners was not taking the matter to the Supreme Court. It is very possible that the Supreme Court, with 5 southern members on it, would have ruled that states have a right to secede. But to admit that the Supreme Court had any jurisdiction over them was as galling to the southern secessionists as it was to the northern abolitionists who evaded the Fugitive Slave laws and Dred Scott ruling.

Not content to rule over a greatly diminished United States, the Republican Party and others who opposed secession (many northern Democrats were pro-slavery but anti-secession) forced a civil war upon the nation. There were two important effects of the Civil War upon the Republican Party (aside from the lasting effects of winning the war).

First, it became the party of Big Government and high taxes. It favored a centralized national government over state and local governance. The Republican war effort required high taxes to pay for men and their supplies, and that supported the industrialization process that went along with war. It became closely tied to northern manufacturing interests, which included a greatly enlarged class of millionaires created by war profiteering. Second, it took on the virtuous role of favoring the abolition of slavery and the improvement of the lives of economically deprived citizens, both Negro and those of European descent. This role is highlighted by the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided free land to western settlers.

These two roles corresponded to two ‘wings" of the party, the moderate wing and the Radical Republicans.

It was the Radical Republicans who supported the Confiscation Act (freeing the slaves of soldiers fighting the union), the Emancipation Proclamation, which was intended to abolish slavery in the confederate states, and the 13th Amendment, which did abolish slavery in the re-united states. They also pushed for the established the Freedmen's Bureau.

The Negro Wing of the Republican Party

In order to remain President in a war-weary nation, in the 1864 contest the Republicans had combined with pro-union, pro-war Democrats into the Union Party. Lincoln had taken Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, as his Vice-Presidential running mate. When Lincoln was assassinated the country suddenly had a Democrat for president and a Republican Congress led by the Radical Republicans. They denied the now-defeated southern former-slavers the right to sit in Congress; set up the Committee on Reconstruction to rule the southern states; and fought with President Johnson to the point of attempting to impeach him.

In 1866 and 1868 Negro voters helped elect Republican congresses and a new Republican President, Ulysses S. Grant. Radical Republican control of Congress resulted in all male Americans, regardless of their origins or skin color, receiving the right to vote upon passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870. The former slave states also remained under military occupation until new state constitutions, written to the liking of Radical Republicans, were in place.

White southerners, with few exceptions, became even more solidly identified with the Democratic Party. Many could not run for office or vote because of their records as traitors. Freed slaves, with few exceptions, joined the Republican Party, giving it a presence in the south for the first time. Many Negroes were elected to local and state offices. For the ex-slavers the situation was intolerable, and the solution was terrorism.

The Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist wing of the southern Democratic Party. In locality after locality, then state after state, former slaves were scared away from voting, and then from even being registered to vote. Until the Great Depression most black Americans would be Republicans; in the South they would constitute most of the Republican Party. However, after 1876 few black Americans were able to vote in the southern states. As a result black politicians could not be elected to office; in the South no Republicans could be elected to office at all; and the influence of blacks within the national party was minimal.

Wall Street Republicans

Starting with the civil war and accelerating into the 20th century the United States economy was rapidly industrialized. Even the agricultural economy was being mechanized, so that fewer people's labor sufficed to grow and harvest bountiful crops of wheat and corn. Displaced farmers migrated to the towns and cities. Even food came to be processed in great factories. Corporations were the main form of organization of the large-scale business that grew during this period. Much of politics of the era consisted of struggles between the wealthy, who owned stock in the corporations, and those who labored for wages, ran smaller businesses, or continued to farm on a small scale. Since the Republican Party both dominated the national government and dominated the northern state governments where manufacturing was concentrated, controlling the party was important to the men of great wealth. By using their wealth to support the campaigns of politicians, who in turn used all their power to help their donors, wealthy Americans came to dominate the Republican Party. Radical Republicans lost elections to business-sponsored candidates, and the business of the Republican Party came to be protecting corporate interests. After this point we may refer to the controlling elite of the Republican Party as Wall Street Republicans.

In 1872 a group of anti-corruption minded Republicans formed the Liberal Republican party and nominated newspaper editor Horace Greeley as their presidential candidate. The Democrats, eager to rebuild their party, decided to nominate Greeley as well. But with Grant still a war hero, the Democrats still the party of treason, and many black Americans still able to vote, it was any easy victory for Grant. Two demands of the Liberal Republicans were adopted by the mainstream Republicans. Except for 500 ex-confederate leaders, former rebels had their voting rights, and their right to run for office, restored. Civil service reform was also attempted.

The Presidential election of 1876 provides a good view of the changing social and political landscape. The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden, the Republicans Rutherford B. Hayes. The Klan had done its job: the Democrats swept the southern states excepting two remaining under military governance, South Carolina and Louisiana, plus Florida, then a sparsely populated state with only 4 electoral votes. The winner was disputed in those three states. After much bargaining Hayes was given the Presidency, but only after he promised to pull the remaining federal troops out of the South and, effectively, to do nothing about the disenfranchisement of black voters by the Democratic Party.

Despite more charges of corruption and economic hard times, the Republicans were able to hold onto majorities in Congress until the mid-term elections of 1882. The Democrat's combination of having a Protestant, white-racist wing in the south and a Catholic, immigrant-based, urban wing in the North, was proving to be too powerful for the Republicans. In 1884 the Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland in another close election. But for wealthy men and their corporations, this was not a problem; they controlled both parties quite effectively. The Supreme Court was filled with former corporate lawyers; it could be relied on to overrule state legislature or even a Congress that went against corporate wishes. With both parties dominated by business, a new movement arose. The Farmers Alliance, the Populist Party, labor unions, anarchism, and socialism all were important components of American politics in the late 1880's.

It is important to note that the average Republican voter of the era was not rich, corrupt, or mean-spirited. Most Republicans were farmers, tradesmen, or factory workers who had fought with the Union during the Civil War. They believed in hard work and honest business dealings; they were assets to their communities. Often they voted Republican because the only other choice was to vote Democrat. When offered an honest politician to vote for, or a Progressive Republican candidate, they usually availed themselves to the opportunity. Corporate domination of the Republican Party was carried out in backrooms and by creating a party machine that would see that corporate-friendly candidates were nominated.

Sugar, Hanna, McKinley and War

Many businessmen had great influence in politics at the end of the 19th century, but most were content with high tariffs (customs taxes on imported manufactured goods) and freedom from regulations. The Sugar Trust, however, took control of United States politics for profit to a new level: it required war, and it got war.

A prelude to the main show was provided by Hawaii, where a treaty had granted U.S. rights to a naval base in Pearl harbor in 1887. In 1893, aided by U.S. troops, American sugar cane growers overthrew the native government and asked for Hawaii to be annexed to the United States. But by the time a bill for that was ready in the U.S. Senate, Grover Cleveland had been elected President. He sent a commission to Hawaii that found most Hawaiians wanted to remain independent. No further action was taken until after a much bigger sugar fight.

Sugar magnate Henry Havemeyer had a few problems even after he became fabulously rich and the controlling person in the Sugar Trust. His factories turned raw cane sugar into the crystal white powder that had been a mainstay of world trade for centuries. Not only was very little sugar cane grown in the U.S. (mostly in Louisiana), but some U.S. farmers wanted to grow and refine sugar beets to compete with cane. What the Sugar Trust needed was cheap, untaxed imports of raw sugar, but very high tariffs on competing imported refined sugar. Congress was willing to go along (Havemeyer had perfected the stock-tip bribe: Senators could get rich quick by simply buying and selling sugar trust stock on Havemeyer's instructions) on the high tariffs for imported refined sugar, but Louisiana Senators vigorously opposed low tariffs on raw sugar.

Various interests in the U.S. had long coveted Cuba and other islands in Spain's American empire. Havemeyer determined to buy himself a President and a war. While it is well known that Mark Hanna raised vast sums of money to insure William McKinley triumphed over Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 Presidential election, the role of the Sugar Trust in that election has been overlooked. McKinley owed Havemeyer a war; many American expansionists like Theodore Roosevelt wanted a war anyway. Delay was necessary only because Havemeyer needed to have Citibank buy up sugar plantations in Cuba and Puerto Rico that would become vastly more valuable after the war. Forget the explosion of the Maine: America was going to war regardless. McKinley made demands of the Spanish, had them met fully, and then made even more aggressive demands that no nation would find acceptable.

On April 11, 1898 McKinley asked Congress to declare war, and Democrats and Republicans alike were happy to do it. Spain had already lost the Philippines, excepting Manila, to native rebels, and was barely holding its own against Cuban rebels. On August 12, 1998, the Spanish signed an armistice. 500 Americans had died in battle, while 5000 had died of tropical diseases.

In the Philippines the defeat of the Spanish started an even greater war: one against the Filipino people themselves. They fought guerrilla style; probably 1,000,000 died, many of them civilians; and 4,324 American soldiers were killed. In 1901 the Filipino leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, was captured. Most sugar plantations had new American owners. In 1942 the Japanese "liberated" the Philippines from the United States; in 1946, after driving out the Japanese, the U.S. finally allowed the Philippines to become an independent nation.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressives

The heritage of the Radical and Liberal Republicans was partly buried by the rise of the powerful, corporate and increasingly conservative business wing of the party. But the same economic, technical and cultural changes that affected the entire nation affected the ordinary Republican citizens who often had much input into local politics even when corrupt men occupied higher office.

As the 20th century dawned the reform movement became a tidal wave. A number of streams of citizens' demands came together and fed into each other. Even some demands of socialists gained an audience among Republicans who had felt the brunt of the predatory tactics of the gigantic business corporations. Writers, including the muckrakers, novelists writing books like Frank Norris's The Octopus about Republican farmers being crushed by Republican railroad barons, and non-fiction like Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class, had a notable influence on the Republican faithful. The financial panic of 1907 also undermined people's belief in the infallibility of the free market.

Anger at the patent drug industry, the alcohol industry, and the food industry was widespread. Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, had become President in 1901 when President McKinley was assassinated. Though he had been a promoter of the Spanish-American and then the Philippine-American wars, and was from a very wealthy family, Roosevelt had shown concern for the plight of the poor when serving as New York police commissioner. During Roosevelt's presidency the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed in 1906. The conservation on national forests had started under Republican President Harrison in 1891; but Roosevelt pushed hard on this issue. He placed some 125 million acres in federal reserves, about 3 times the total of all of his predecessors.

While the reformers, known as the Progressive Movement, could be found in both political parties (and in third parties), they had more influence, during this period, in the Republican Party. In addition to Roosevelt, well-known Progressive Republicans included governor Robert ("Fighting Bob") La Follette of Wisconsin, California's governor Hiram Johnson, and governor Charles Evans Hughs of New York State. Issues like getting the right of women to vote cut across party lines, with suffragettes in Republican states working within the Republican Party.

In 1911 the National Progressive Republican league was formed to oust President Taft and get a progressive in the White House. Roosevelt decided to head the progressives and won most of the Republican primaries in 1912. But Taft controlled a majority of delegates to the nominating convention and received the nomination.

The Progressives thought Teddy could beat both the Republicans and the Democrats, so they split and formed the Progressive Party. The Democrats nominated the racist, but otherwise posing as progressive, Woodrow Wilson. Of course Wilson won and the Republicans would not regain the Presidency until 1920.

Roaring Back in the 20's

The 1920's were a critical period for the Republican Party. While the party would contain a progressive or liberal wing until the 1970's, during the 1920's the Wall Street wing gained an ascendency which it never lost. Partly this was because of President Wilson's performance in office, which led to a landslide in 1920 for Republican presidential candidate Warren G. Harding over Democrat nominee James M. Cox. It was the first presidential election in which women could vote, and they voted Republican.

After a postwar recession the American economy continued the process of rapid industrialization. The European industrial powers had worn themselves out, but America had entered the war only after selling them vast amounts of arms and food. Because the U.S. had spent relatively little on the war, its taxes were relatively low, and manufacturers had a global competitive advantage. Harding appointed men who believed businesses needed no regulation to the agencies that were supposed to regulate business. An ardent anti-conservationist, Albert Fall, was appointed Secretary of Interior.

At the same time businessmen were terrified of the Communist revolution that had taken place in Russia (with failed attempts in several other countries). Conservative groups labeled anyone demanding any reform a communist. Of course there were actual communists, belonging to the American Communist Party, which took orders from Moscow, but most progressives wanted reforms through democratic change, not a dictatorship created by a bloody revolution.

While the economy grew, the stock market ran wild. Taxes on the rich were reduced by two-thirds by the sympathetic Republican Congress. Tariff's on imported goods were greatly increased, supporting prices American manufacturers could charge at the expense of farmers and consumers. Scandals were plentiful, notably the Teapot Dome scandal. Meanwhile organized businessmen made black-market profits selling alcohol to the thirsty, a business made possible by the passage of the Prohibition amendment in 1919.

Harding died in office of natural causes and was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge. Republicans had another fling with Progressive ideas in the 1924 election, when some split again from the main party and nominated Bob La Follette for President. Calvin Coolidge led the main party ticket. The Democrats nominated a conservative Wall Street lawyer, John W. Davis. This time the Republican split did not prevent a Republican landslide. But Cal only served one term. The Republican nominee in 1928 was Herbert Hoover.

It is difficult to imagine now how popular Herbert Hoover was in 1928. He and the Republicans were so popular it looked as if the Democratic Party might cease to exist. He had become famous during World War I for getting food to the starving in Belgium. He had a good record as Secretary of Commerce; a little too good for the crooked politicians and their businessmen friends. The Democrats nominated Al Smith, who was devoted to making alcohol legal again. That and his Catholicism made him unpopular even in the "solid South" where the Klan, the backbone of the Democratic Party, was almost as anti-Catholic as it was anti-Negro.

Hoover received 21,391,381 votes to Smith's 15,016,443. Smith carried only the 5 solidest states of the Solid South. Hoover was sworn in as President on March 4, 1929. No one knew it then, but the stock market had already peaked.

The Great Depression and a Half-century in the Minority

The exodus of farmers, especially tenant farmers and laborers, for factory jobs continued during the 1920s. Agriculture had not prospered with the rest of the economy during the 1920's. Hoover tried to help by signing the Agricultural Marketing Act in June of 1929. It established a Farm Board that hoped to raise prices of agricultural products. But farmer's unsold surpluses were so large that it never achieved its goals.

By October of 1929 the stock market was down noticeably, though the economy itself was still going strong. Savvy investors like Joseph Kennedy were selling their stocks for cash. Confidence in quick paper stock profits began to wain, and then everyone wanted the paper profits they had accumulated in the 1920's converted to cash on the same day, October 29, 1929. Many speculators had borrowed money to play the market; they were forced to sell their stocks to cover the debts in their margin accounts.

The beloved free-market religion of the most ardent business Republican's had failed (the truest believers blamed the failure on government meddling, the very Devil in their world view). Suddenly realizing they were much poorer, stock speculators cut back on spending. Banks, panicking, called in loans. Demand for goods and services fell, businesses laid off workers, and consumption fell even further.

Herbert Hoover was President when it happened, and Herbert Hoover continued as President until the beginning of 1933. Though Hoover tried various measures, often Congress failed to support him (Republicans because they did not believe in government meddling in business, Democrats because they were delighted to see the nation blame Republicans for the problems). Among the measures tried by Hoover were public projects like the Boulder Dam, creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Norris-La Guardia Act that essentially legalized organizing labor unions.

The Democrats won the Congressional (and state and local) elections of 1930, then the Presidency in 1932. In a few short years the Republicans had gone from being the majority party to the minority party.

It is important to note that progressive "liberal" Republicans gained many important positions, notably in Congress, during the Depression years. Many of the acts that are now associated with the Democratic Party, such as Social Security, were in fact passed with broad support from both parties.

Not only would the "business" wing of the Republican Party need decades to see their party have an equal footing with the Democrats, but they would have to work together with a liberal/Progressive wing that had far more influence inside the party.

Towards the end of World War II and during Truman's presidency in particular the Republican Party gained mainly through some voters' irritation at the party in power. In 1946, for instance, the Republicans briefly had a majority in Congress. This success was capped with the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President in 1952. But the former WWII commander was much more popular than the party he headed. Eisenhower won by a landslide, but the Republicans barely managed majorities in Congress. An important change took place in the South, however. Florida, Texas and Tennessee went for Eisenhower; the Republican Party began to acquire the southern constituency it would turn to for success after the 1960's.

Eisenhower's Republicans were content to undo what they saw as the most excessive New Deal legacies, such as wage and price controls, but left such programs as Social Security intact. They favored less government-held electricity creation and allowed corporations to begin building nuclear power plants. The economy was again expanding of its own accord, pumped up by a rising birth rate (the baby boom), exports (again, Europe lay prostrate), and pent-up demand from WWII and Korean War era rationing. America still liked Ike in 1956, but the Democrats still held their own in Congress.

Richard Nixon was Ike's Vice-Presidential running mate in 1956 and played an important role within the administration. He was fiercely patriotic and anti-communist, but also adamant that black Americans in the South should be treated as full citizens. In 1954 the Supreme Court, mainly appointed during the New Deal years, declared segregated (by race) schools to be illegal, even if the schools were truly "separate but equal." Southern Democrats and the Klan opposed, sometimes with violence, the integration of southern public schools. In one incident Eisenhower, at Nixon's urging, had to send federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, where Democratic governor Faubus tried to prevent the enrollment of "Negro" (the term used in that era) children. The Civil Rights bill of 1957, the first since Reconstruction, was passed with support from Republicans and northern Democrats.

In 1960, allegedly using massive fraud in Illinois, the Democrats won back the presidency by a hair. During the 1960's the Republicans struggled to remain relevant. Blacks enrolling to vote in the formerly segregated southern states forgot that the Republicans were the party of Lincoln and the Democrats were the party of Lynching. African-Americans would be the most reliable component of the Democratic party for the remaining decades of the 20th century, and they tipped the scales strongly against the Republicans.

Nixon and Revival

After Vice-President Richard Nixon lost his bid for the Presidency in 1960, what then passed as the ultra-conservative wing gained control of the party. They nominated Barry Goldwater for President in 1964; Lyndon Johnson, who had become President after Kennedy was assassinated, crushed Goldwater in the polls. But Johnson had fabricated the Gulf of Tonkin incident and involved the U.S. in a new land war in Asia, in Vietnam. He lost the support of anti-war Democrats, then decided not to run in 1968.

The Republicans next moved back to a centrist, Richard M. Nixon, for their Presidential nominee. The Democrats nominated another centrist, Hubert Humphrey, Johnson's Vice-President. The Democrats under Johnson had extended the New Deal to include what were called Great Society social welfare programs, also known as the War on Poverty. Nixon held to the traditional Republican belief that the only viable way out of poverty was hard work; programs appropriate in a Great Depression were not needed in the booming economy of 1960's America. Enough working class and middle class Americans agreed with him to elect him President. But the country was still Democratic; both houses of Congress had Democratic majorities, so Nixon had to gain some votes from Democratic congressmen to get his ideas enacted.

Richard Nixon had several remarkable achievements in office. In foreign policy Nixon recognized that Communism was not monolithic. By forging an alliance with Communist China he accelerated the breakup of the communist block countries and helped China regain its status as a great civilization. In domestic policy Nixon realized that the world had changed and that certain reforms had to be put into place to deal with those changes. Notably he signed into law the creation of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In politics Nixon was able to see how the Republican Party might become a majority party again. As the more conservative of the two parties, and in particular the party favoring more individual initiative and less taxes, it was natural that it should find a way to break up the Democratic Party's monopoly in the southern states. The 1972 presidential election would demonstrate that strategy could work.

The War in Vietnam was the biggest issue in the 1972 election. The Democrats nominated George McGovern, who wished to withdraw from Vietnam and was very much in favor of extending New Deal and Great Society programs. The more conservative Democratic Party bosses, though temporarily unable to boss the grassroots around, nevertheless undermined McGovern's campaign. The new black voters for McGovern were counter-weighted by white, conservative, working and middle-class voters, especially in the south, voting Republican for the first time. Nixon won every state but Massachusetts, but the Democrats still held control of Congress.

There may have been an element of racism in the South when white voters began voting for Republican candidates, and later even changed their party registration. After all, blacks were now Democrats. But the main reason white voters switched was because most had little desire, themselves, for social welfare programs. Religion played a role too; the Republican Party was traditionally Protestant, as were white southern voters. These southern voters were also very anti-communist; the Democrats, and McGovern in particular, appeared to be soft on Communism.

But Richard Nixon had made a serious error in judgment on two points. Despite his great achievements, Watergate and the Vietnam War would destroy his reputation. In Vietnam he underestimated how badly the Vietnamese wanted to be free from American domination. No matter how much he threatened, no matter what horrible weapons he unleashed on the people of Vietnam, they continued to fight. Expanding the war into Cambodia backfired, strengthening the Cambodian Communists. Finally Nixon had to negotiate a withdrawal of American troops; after a face-saving period of time, the Communists took control of all of Vietnam. As a result Nixon lost the support of the militarists, who blamed him for losing a war, and of the pacifists, who blamed him for prosecuting it before losing it.

His second great error was unleashing his "dirty tricks" team on the Democrats. In retrospect he would have won the 1972 election easily by simply running an honest campaign. But the dirty-tricks gang was caught burglering the offices of the Democrats in the Watergate Hotel. Nixon tried to cover up his role in the affair, but a committee of Congress kept investigating until Nixon was compelled to resign to avoid impeachment. Since Vice-President Agnew had resigned due to a scandal in 1973, the new Vice-President, Gerald Ford, became the new President of the United States.

The Watergate scandal and disillusionment after the loss of the war in Vietnam temporarily stopped the Republican party's growth. Gerald Ford gave Richard Nixon a pardon, but the voters would not pardon Gerald when he ran for President in 1976. The Democrats, worried about their eroding base in the South, nominated a moderate Georgia former governor, Jimmy Carter, and regained the White House.

Reagan and Resurgence

But in the 1976, 1978, and 1980 elections the tendency of the country to realign around the parties on a new basis continued, with the results most visible in the south, where many formerly Democratic voters and elected politicians switched to being Republicans. The conservative wing of the Democratic party was weakened by these defections to the Republicans.

Since the Great Depression the only way the Republicans had been able to get a President elected was by choosing a moderate candidate like Eisenhower or Nixon. That was about to change. The Goldwater Republicans had never given up. As memories of the Depression evaporated, and the results of the 60's drug culture became apparent, their appeal to conservative values and free-market ideology gained ground in the party and with voters. Republicans nominated ultra-conservative former movie actor (and former Governor of California) Ronald Reagan for President in 1980. Jimmy Carter ran for a second term. His defeat is usually attributed to an economic recession, post-Vietnam bad feelings, and the fall of an American puppet, the Shaw of Iran. During the election campaign the revolutionaries in Iran held U.S. consulate members hostage. Carter appeared to be weak and ineffective in dealing with the situation.

From 1932 until 1980 American politics were dominated by the Democratic Party and the idea that the main purpose of government is social welfare and economic expansion through increasing the incomes (and spending) of the working class. Since 1980 (up until this essay is being written in 2005) politics has been dominated by the Republican Party and the idea that the main purposes of government is providing order and economic expansion through increasing the profits of business enterprises. Generally, voters have been happy with economic expansion no matter what the cause (and unhappy with stagnation or decline).

It was called the Reagan Revolution but in fact the Reagan era kept most of the New Deal and Great Society programs, though some were scaled back. It was in foreign policy that Reagan made the most dramatic changes. He escalated the cold war, not by an actual attack, but by increasing military spending to a degree that the Communist block countries could not match. He also found methods, some of them of questionable legality, to undermine socialist and left wing governments, in particular that of Nicaragua. These strategies cumulated (after Reagan left office) in the breaking away of the Eastern European states from Soviet dominance starting with Poland. A regime change in Russia and the breakup of the Soviet union followed.

While domestic policies ended the Reagan era little changed, the positive experience of having an expanding economy and victory over communism greatly strengthened not only the credibility of the Republican Party with American voters, but also the dominance of the conservative wing within the Republican Party.

The Christian Right and Newt Gingrich

In 1988 in the Republican presidential primaries television evangelist Pat Robertson began as a strong contender but withdrew from the race after his claim to have been in combat as a marine in the Korean War was shown to be false. George Bush, Reagan's Vice-President, became the Republican nominee and then President of the United States. He one-term presidency was characterized by a war against Iraq following the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, an oil-rich kingdom on the Persian Gulf.

Despite its Presidential victories in 1980, 1984, and 1988, the Republican Party was still far behind the Democrats in registered voters. To the extent that the two parties were a reflection of economic classes (with a majority of welfare and working class families registered Democrat, a majority of upper-middle and upper class families registered Republican, and the lower-middle to middle-middle class up for grabs), the Republicans were in a corner. Pressing policies like deregulation, lower corporate taxes, and a lower inheritance tax, all highly desired by the dominant Wall Street clique within the party, might have eroded what support they did have among the less wealthy voters.

It was clear to party strategists, which is to say Wall Street Republicans, that they needed to find a way to get votes from people whose economic needs they did not serve. Their success in breaking up the Solid South, the bastion of the Democratic Party until the 1970s, pointed the way. They would take advantage of non-economic, cultural issues to bring into the Party a huge group of voters who were not motivated, or not very motivated, by Republican economic policies.

The target group was fundamentalist and evangelical Christians. Though found everywhere in the nation, these individuals were most prevalent in the former Confederate states. They included some, but not all, Southern Baptists. Politically they had often been apathetic, with low voter turn outs for elections. But that was changing. A set of issues was chosen that would appeal to them, and with the financial backing of Wall Street republicans, a new set of political and religious leaders emerged. Pat Robertson has already been mentioned; other leaders included Reverend Jerry Falwell, founder of Moral Majority, and Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition. The issues that mobilized this movement were demands to make abortions (and even birth control) illegal; to allow or enforce prayer in public schools; and to make the Bible a basis for law.

While this new Religious Right, as it was called, helped elect President Bush in 1988, the alliance was insufficient to give him a victory in 1992. For eight years Democrat Bill Clinton would sit in the White House, but he was under siege from the Republicans, who gained majorities in the House of Representatives starting in 1994. This was the heyday of radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, who managed to direct people's anger against Bill Clinton, his first lady, Hillary, and all things "Liberal." Rush's show, spiked with humor at Democrats' expense, was the most popular show on radio. The Republican representatives in Congress were led by Newt Gingrich, who in the 1994 campaigns introduced the Contract with America. This avoided some big, divisive issues like school prayer and gun control. Instead it focused on reforming how Congress operated, tax cuts, tort (lawsuit) reform, and welfare reform (decreasing payments and eligibility).

Moments of Triumph: George W. Bush and the 2000 and 2004 elections

Despite having, or perhaps because of having, Bill Clinton in the White House, the period between 1992 and 2000 saw solid gains for the Republicans in Congress and at the local level. Focusing on cultural issues and promises to cut taxes was paying off.

The Democrats nominated Bill Clinton's Vice-President, Al Gore, for the Presidency in 2000. After a fierce primary struggle George W. Bush, one of the sons of former President George Bush and recently governor of Texas, won the Republican nomination. The Bush family had ties to Wall Street and in particular the petrochemical industry, but so did the Gore family. With little to distinguish the two candidates, and with the Christian Right as campaign foot soldiers, George W. Bush squeaked to a victory. The election was so close that a dispute arose over who had won in the state of Florida, where Jeb Bush, George's brother, was governor. Whoever won in the state would receive its Electoral College votes and win the Presidency. After a lengthy legal dispute the Supreme Court of the United States, voting 5 to 4 on strictly partisan lines, decided in Bush's favor.

With many American's wondering if George W. Bush had fairly won the election, Bush set about his agenda. The Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court; it was the first time since 1928 that Republicans controlled all the branches of government. Before President Bush could do much to implement his agenda, however, the Al Quada attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took place on September 1, 2001. The stock market, overheated because the Federal Reserve had kept interest rates too low during the boom (sometimes called the Internet Bubble) of the late 1990's, plummeted, and the rest of the economy quickly followed.

The Republicans had come to be in charge just in time for another disaster that might make them look like Herbert Hoovers and lead to decades of Democratic Party rule. But George W. Bush was no Hoover. He responded vigorously to the Al Quada attack by invading Afghanistan. He secured a future supply of oil for the United States by invading Iraq after falsely claiming Iraq was attempting to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Rather than increasing social programs to help the country out of the recession, he pushed through tax cuts (that had been planned by Republicans for decades) that favored large businesses, heirs to fortunes, upper-middle class and upper class Americans. While this created a huge federal deficit, it did help revive the economy when combined with the Federal Reserve's lowering of interest rates.

The American voters rewarded George W. Bush and the Republicans by returning them to office in the 2004 elections (Bush's own victory was narrow; he received 62 million votes to Democrat John Kerry's 59 million). This is particularly remarkable given the both the poor performance of the American economy during his first term and the deterioration of employee and small business incomes. Many of the better paying jobs were moved overseas, and the destruction of small, independently owned retailers was particularly fast in this period.

At the time of the writing of this pamphlet, George W. Bush is President of the United States, the Republicans control a majority of the states, both Houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. Agree with them or not, that is a major accomplishment for a political party.

At the same time, the Wall Street Republicans appear to be losing control of the party to the religious Republicans. So far the religious Republicans have supported the Wall Street program of reducing taxes on the rich (the capital gains tax, dividend tax, estate tax, and upper-income bracket taxes). But the anger of lower-class Republican voters is fueled as much by economic failure as by cultural values. There is a great potential for backlash against Wall Street, which was given its wish-list. In contrast the promises to make the cultural changes that motivated lower-class citizens to vote with the Republicans have not been met.

The triumph of the religious Republicans within the party might jeopardize the allegiance of the moderate Republicans who are not homosexual bashers or believers in the rapture; who might actually believe that women have a right to contraceptives, abortion, and divorce; or who realize that the same science that makes NASCAR racers run and allows people to watch the races on TV also is absolutely certain that species evolved through mutations and natural selection. Just as American's demanded Prohibition and then revolted against it when they got it, actually banning abortion, contraception, and divorce; forcing every child in America to pray in school from the Evangelical prayer-book; and returning the TV to a 1950's-style sexual innocence, would almost certainly drive voters to elect less puritanical politicians. Which party might come out ahead in that backlash would depend on how the various parties position themselves.

Wow you may really be the president. It took all of that space for you to say, "I am an Obamatron." Nice job jackass.

Rgray1965

Jobs is what we need not bird food.

so you want to fire people in order to create jobs?

Typical Republican...your MATH doesn't ADD Up!

Please explain to me how cutting off funding and firing all of the people at the Public Broadcasting System in order to save money that you can then give to the wealthy will create jobs?

If anything, Mitt Romney will INCREASE the Unemployment Rate if given the chance... he does like firing people.

They can make it on there own like all the other networks.

Rgray1965

They can make it on there own like all the other networks.

Or, more realistically, areas that are densely populated or affluent will be able to afford PBS programming whereas rural areas will not receive this programming.

The result: smarter kids in blue states, less educated children in red states.

Why do you want to deprive children of easy and affordable education?

You dumbass, are you saying poor kids TV's don't get the same programs rich kids do? Please explain??

Deerhunterbow1

You dumbass, are you saying poor kids TV's don't get the same programs rich kids do? Please explain??

I didn't say "rich" or "poor", I said "red states" or 'blue states". You were the one that insinuated red states are full of poor people and blue states had rich people. Very interesting....

However to answer your general question, for the most part, yes. You see, not all kids in the country can afford cable programming, so they rely on network channels. If you don't have cable, then you won't get other stations that people with cable do.

What the rich and the poor both have in common, however, is access to Public Broadcasting.

Although frankly half of the cable channels that have children programming are not very educational; instead they are just colorful distractions in between commercials so advertisers can do their marketing directly.

Did you ever notice that Sesame Street was "Brought you by..." a letter and a number?

That's part of the genius of Sesame Street. In the 1960's it was determined that kids pay more attention to the commercials than they do the programs. So, Sesame Street (since it doesn't have advertisers) could use the programming to cover important messages like values and general lessons (sharing, being nice, etc...), and use the spots where commercials would normally be to fill with heavily focused educational sessions (counting, letters, etc...).

If Sesame Street was going to go onto any other station, cable or network, then it would have to go against it's own principles and core values (like Mitt Romney) and sell-out to advertisers, which would take away from the educational value.

As it is now, while PBS does receive federal funding, it's the local Public Broadcast Channels that also foot the bill for airing rights. Those local channels are supported in large part by local viewers through membership (I am a member of my local station, WHYY).

Areas that are densely populated can have more members to support these stations.

Areas that are more rural and have a smaller population simply do not have the ability keep these stations funded at the local level.

That's nice of Vinnie the Democrat wanting to support a rich bird

@Rgray1965 #10: Don't worry. If Romney is elected You'll have neither.

Pbs make enough to spread it around lets see if they do amd with all the other stuff when was the lasttime you had pbs on.

And if we are not allowed to cut funding to PBS then what are we allowed to cut funding to?

sghost-2435687

What? Are you even coherent?

Coherent people do not attempt to support Obama.

You don't see Romeny sons doing any military duty while Mitt want to keep our troops in Iraq

sghost.....It's the Mitt way.

He protested for the VietNam war, while evading serving himself, his father never served, and of course he stated in 2008 that his sons were serving America by working to get him elected President!

Lying coward describes Willard.

Wonder if Obama will volunteer his girls to fight his war in Afghanistan, oops keep forgetting we don't have the draft anymore

Rgray, what was his point?

@Deer,

Vote out the Brown Clown

Got racism?

Nope, Your racism crap is dead & gone. It doesn't work anymore. You have cryed wolf to many times.

Vote out the Brown Clown

It's sad that you have entered the racist comment.....but, you are what you are!

Obviously racism is alive and ill in your house, Deerhunter.

It still amazes me that people like that do not see themselves as racist when making such an obviously racist remark. Oh, well, deerhunterbow1 will eventually have to answer for his racist ways.

TAX RETURNS! TAX RETURNS! TAX RETURNS! Whatcha hidin' Mittsy?!

O&Joe 2012

You want to look up the war on women or racist remarks from the Dem's look up the hate remarks after star Stacey Dash recently tweeted her support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney

I ask all of you why "The Brown Clown " is racist? Is the man Black? Brown?White? The man is a CLOWN, The man is Brown. You people can say anything you want about Romney & include WHITE with it & it's OK ?

If you have a problem with what I said & IS NOT a racial slur. FU@K YOU I don't like your double standards & don't give a rats ass what you think. After January we won't have to worry about the Brown Clown anymore.

Good for her.

I actually heard a high-school girl about 3 weeks ago say that her political science teacher asked her class if they thought Obama would be re-elected and one girl said "yes" and the rest of the class immediately shouted "Hell No!". Apparently they are pissed about watching their futures being spent while not being old enough to even help vote him out. Oh, and the empty promises and con-man spiel isn't fooling them anymore.

And you are basing this off of what evidence? There was an article just the other day stating businesses were planning to hire up to 70,000 holiday workers. True they are temp jobs but money is money. You have to spend money to stimulate an economy through supply and demand, or as I call it consumption. Buying an item consumes it and requires it to be replaced.

After all the gears turn the producers make a profit, pay their employees and they go out and buy stuff and the wheels turn.

Temp job and are you for real.

well no need to pay to have your license when your not practicing, and i'm sure all the money he has made in white house why would he want to go to that hell hole chicago

And where was Obama's father born ?

@ONTOR,

Doesn't matter where Obama's father was born.

Obama was born in the U.S. of A.

Next question.

Barack Hussein Obama, his father, was born in Kenya. Obama's stepfather was born in Indonesia.

Obama's real father was already married with several children when he married Obama's mother. And he abandoned them shortly after Obama was born, to return to Kenya where he was part of a group trying to overthrow the government.

Obama's step father was a wealthy oil businessman.

So, if the Obama fans want to criticize the Morman Church, then they better understand Obama's roots.

In other words, stick to the issues and not character attacks.

That was kind of my point to B White-519014 .

@B,

With all respect and fairness, doesn't matter where Romney's father was born either.

@Billy,

Nice job of attacking character attacks with character attacks.

Did you learn that while attending the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Republican Studies?

Odumbass was born in Kenya. He is a Muslim. Just because he says otherwise doesn't mean anything. He is a proven lier. He is really good at it. He's a Lawyer & Community Organizer. Being lier is a pre-requisite.

Bali Bob

Everything that was stated regarding Obama's roots is fact. I make no judgments on a person's background.

Frankly, I could care less about Romney. It's Obama's record as president that is troubling.

BTW, those who throw the stones are often those who accuse others of the same.

Deer...., just too dumb a remark to make fun of.

@Billy,

You threw them stones first, dude.

Dude?

Obama wrote about these facts himself. These are not stones, unless, of course, you are stoned.

@Billy,

You say "stick to the issues and not character attacks..."

...and then go on to attack the character of the President.

?

The president's background is the president's background. It is separate from his character.

Many people rise above difficult backgrounds. Many don't.

Now, both the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign have supported ads that attack each other's character.

I personally don't know either man, so I can't vouch for their character.

I believe that both men are good, decent, human beings. The only thing I question is their sanity in wanting to run for president.

Polygamy goes to the heart of the history of the Mormon cult.

If you base your vote upon religion, the choice this time is between a Christian (the President) or a Mormon cultist.

Is Obama so rich that he can afford the money he has spent to hide his past ?

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Someday, Obama's past will come to light & some of you will really look like suckers. He suckered ME four years ago. He won't do it again.

COinFL

What is your point? Let me guess, you attack Romney for being a Mormon(Polygamist) But, you condone two men getting married & sodomizing each other?

Deerhunter -- Wow. Not only are you racist (#15.1), you're also a homophobe with an unnatural interest in gay sex. You know what that says about your sexuality, don't you? It must hurt to hate everybody and yourself also. Don't bother responding. I'm putting you on ignore.

Just wanted to see what I would attract by posting two true statements with no comment. Very interesting. COinFL nice to hear from you again. You have thoughtful and intelligent posts.

COinFL

Merely pointing out your bigotry. YOU are the one posting your bigoted problems with Romney's religion & Polygamy. Knowing your a LIBTARD & your views on Gays & same sex marriage. That is the point of my post. Your OK with two men sodomizing each other but have a problem with a man being married to two women??????????? Bigoted Hypocrite are you?

B White -- Thank you. I toss the compliment right back at you!

I thought it was from the video .

It is no longer the video that caused the terrorist attacks and murders.

According to the latest from the WH, it was Big Bird.

It's the civilized choice .

ONTOR, if you live in a colony of snakes.

Summer, your wish is my command. It will be a landslide on election night. Obama will receive no more than 220 electoral votes. ROMNEY/RYAN in a landslide. No MO Forty FO, No MO Uncle JOE.

Wow Milo9, Get your head of the sand. Obama has been a huge failure and can't run on his record. I really wish I could pull the vote I gave him in 2008 and just not have voted.

I guess though just responding with a slam is all you can do if your candidate is running neck and neck with GW Bush as worst post war president. Personally, that nasty way Obama has run his campaign, his laziness, spending $$$$ on himself and Michelle, while blaming everyone else has pushed him in my books to #1 worst president followed by GW Bush at #2.

Joe, I hope you are right. I see the nastiness of the Obama supporters even talking about keying any car they see with a Romney sticker and peeing/trashing Romney signs and wonder if the silence we hear (i.e. no huge BO rallies or stuff everywhere) is a sign the Romney will win.

If you think about it. No McCain voter is going to vote for Obama (not unless it is because of the same sex marriage issue). While myself and most of my friends are switching over to Romney in 2012. We just have to make sure everyone votes... there is no way the country can stand 4 more years of the i-dio-t in chief. He has been more of a first celebrity than a president.

Summ...., nothing wrong with Obama's record especially when you have a Congress holding the economy hostage and the GOP SuperPACs people control the price of fuel. I doubt you voted for Obama in 2008 and was a Bush/Cheney supporter before that, another Rove trick to make people think the Dems are defecting.

Truth for your crowd is whatever a sucker will buy into.

Actually Milo9, I am a true Independent who usually votes Democratic. I even voted for Dukakis. I vote for the person and the policy and if I don't know anything about the person/policy I leave that spot unchecked.

As to Bush, I could not stand Bush but the longer Obama is around the better Bush is looking all the time which is really scary.

Frankly, I have had it with Obama. I have had it with the lies, the laziness, the say anything to get elected, the constant campaigning, and the absolute total incompetence. Also, Obama never ever letting the buck stop with him except if he thinks it will give him an advantage and then he does not seem to care who did it he will claim it as his own (yes, Osama). Oh, and the total lack of moral character.. keeping the Nobel Peace Prize for nothing and using the Media to hide and do spin. If Obama had the guts to be president he would not be yucking it up with the View and Letterman he would be providing results. If Obama had been a decent president I would be more than happy to vote for him.

I wanted Hillary in 2008. I had hoped Obama would find some face saving reason and step down so Hillary could run in 2012. The more I see of Romney the better he looks especially when you can see him and not just the bias media clips. The first debate was an eye opener.

Knowing Obama voters, they will probably register their dogs and cats and vote for them as well as the good folks in the old folks homes and maybe even a few comatose patients.

Yeah, goin' to China where I can make more money.

Screw you, American workers.

A Luxury resort and Timeshare owner, and anyone should feel sorry for these poor bastards.

@dez,

After you do some research, it is my belief most will be voting for Big Bird.

We could use Big Bird to make enough teri chicken to serve at a luau.

Saw a break down of the Sesame Street workshop. They took in almost $200 million in royalties, licensing, etc. in 2011. This is without any advertisement. There expenses were under $50 million. I don't think they will have any problem if the government check doesnt arrive. In fact on network TV, they could probably bring in close to $500 million with advertising. Big Bird would be driving his Bentley to work.