What a joke. He'd rather cut Medicare than defense spending when our wars are hopefully ending. I knew it.

By the way, ROMNEY you IMBECILE...

Your running mate, Dinkhead Ryan, VOTED FOR THESE CUTS

jesus h nipple - Romney is such an idiot.

Then I guess Romney ought to be talking to the GOP leadership about the deal, and especially his buddy Congressman Ryan! They didn't get the job done, period.

Romney also needs to talk with his buddy Grover Norquist about why these congressmen/women can't do their jobs and govern anymore because they've sold their political souls to Norquist, and sold out us - our representation in doing so!

Exactly he is cutting off his nose to spite his face saying that.Does it not make sense to cut spending on defense that is no longer neccessary? Yes.We are not the world's cop though we are seen in the eyes of the world as such.This is wrong and I for one am sick of spending my money on wars that have no purpose.If we maintain spending on defense at the level of GDP we'll be broke in a year.As I say again where's Romney's plan??

While you all are pizzing and moaning about JAN being a good time to cut defense, remember that several hundred THOUSAND of our troops are IN HARM's WAY, and will be for several more years. In addition, many more vets of the two conflicts, which agree with them or not, we DID enter into, and those vets deserve all the support we can give them, and for many that is going to be ENORMOUSLY expensive. And a life long commitment for many.

So where would YOU cut defense spending? I'm sure that as soldiers rotate home, we could discharge a bunch of them, but hey, since there ARE not jobs, that would just shift the cost to unemployment and welfare. Do you think there is ANY difference?

Like it or not, we DO need a strong defense. ARE there places we can cut? You bet, and I'd start with Halliburton, et al.

But to just mandate cuts with no plan for them is not right.

look at with this President has done... All of you ...just about all of your posts call the other names... This President is a Great Divider not a President that Unites.

Bottom line--it's perfectly reasonable to expect that Congress, whose members we pay loads of money, would come up with a deal that would avoid hurting the American people any more than they've been hurt. What a big effin waste of time. Defense gets voted bundles of money for what? Endless Wars? Gimme a break.

Romney is totally insane.

We spend more than the ENTIRE rest of the planet on defense.

The defense budget is nothing more than the GOP slop trough that they and their cronies have been feeding at for the past 30 years.

Enough is enough.

We need to slash the defense budget by 90% !!!

We already have enough armaments to blow up the world 23 times over.

Time to redirect our money to domestic uses. We have over 60,000 bridges in this country that are literally falling down and in need of repair. Same for 150 year old sewer systems. Same for a lot of roads.

Time to rebuild America.

.

Why should we listen to one word this guy has to say?

Romney has absolutely NO credibility; this man has lied so many times over the years and has become such an accomplished liar that it’s impossible to tell when he’s telling the truth. Electing a serial liar like Romney to the Presidency would be the worst mistake the American people could ever make.

Derek,

Speech is also fake. The alphabet is fake, and the words you wrote are fake.

In fact, you are fake. You are just living in someone else's dream.

Seriously, please seek help.

Mike PA,
The only reason this president has been divisive is because a bunch of rich old white men couldn't stand the fact that a man who didn't fit their stereotype of president won the position fair and square.

Okay, you ain't a nutjob, but you are a bit of a WHACKO!

The links have info that are a bit of a stretch.

Derek... "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein

So Romney's answer to the situation is to "compromise less" with Democrats.

The gridlock isn't bad enough Romney?

Romney knows the price of 24K gold toilet seats from personal experience... he doesn't blink an eye when our military is being gouged the same price for plastic.

We should not allow such low line guys for presidential candidate to waste the Nations time, seriously who has the time to listen to his complete bull@!$%#! Romney is embarrassing.

All of a sudden this stupid SOB wants to attempt to make the people think he knows what he is doing. If he wants to show the people he he's got a set, show us your tax returns. And No, we are not forgetting those tax forms, so don't try to get our minds off of them.

We have troops in places that we do not need them like Germany. We are revamping tanks that the Army doesn't need or want. Even the military said that they can reduce spending. And even thought I'm not a Democrat I know they are NOT anti God or religion, They just are for freedom of religion unlike you.

Romney said that although Congress was supposed to sit down and negotiate a compromise they themselves brought on, they instead chose to shirk their responsibility and put it on the back of the President to do what Panetta already did when he proposed military cuts in excess of the 55billion required in cutbacks if the republicans failed to negotiate a compromise before the cutbacks go into effect next year. Every compromise the republicans put forward included not only to keep the current top tier taxes the same but to make the deductions and incentives permanent with the middle and lower classes loosing all of their deductions to make up for it. They wonder why the democrats would not agree with them... idiots!

Panetta already said he was able to more than meet the goal of the cutbacks and it would not impede national security so simply go with Panetta's recommendations.

Yea Mitt, where are those TAX RETURNS? 10 years please !

This country doesn't need a corporate raider for president so prove to the US citizens that you are not a raider. If you don't release them we will have to assume that you are a despicable corporate raider deserving of our disgust and hatred, prove it an't so Mitt, come on, you can do it can't you?

remember that several hundred THOUSAND of our troops are IN HARM's WAY

And it will always be that way. What is your point?

You think we can't cut out 55 billion in bloat, waste, corruption and fraud?

As a troop for 23 years, we have always been under equipped even though we have a bloated defense budget.

I was one of those troops that was put in harms way in five different combat tours and I can tell you from real life experiences, all that money rarely gets used properly. We're under equipped on the battlefield, while the defense contractors are raking in hundreds of millions off of our poorly equipped bloody bodies.

So, like I said in the beginning, there is plenty of waste we can cut out and properly distributed. We can cut out 200 billion and still not affect our effectiveness.

We can start by putting our Corps of Engineers in charge of on post construction again and take it away from the over paid private contractors.

Ryan in his earlier budget not only left all military spending in he ADDED $128 billion to it!! Now to get ANY deficit reduction at all you KNOW where he's going to want to trim it!! The old and poor will be the low people on the totem pole but hey Romney and Ryan don't care, they've got plenty of money!!

Like it or not, we DO need a strong defense. ARE there places we can cut? You bet, and I'd start with Halliburton, et al.

MOmaid, we do need a strong defense, but our country could cut our military spending in half and still be the worlds most powerful military by far.

What our federal government officials and their corporate bosses are doing is terrorism and creating a military empire bent on world domination.

I don't blame the soldier, they are just doing the job they are told to do. They shouldn't be there in the first place, bring them home.

Romney is just pandering for what he hopes will get him the military vote. He knows full well that both sides in Congress are responsible for this, and not Obama. They appointed a bi-partisan commission to study the matter of reducing the debt and come up with a solution, and when the commission came up with a solution, Congress rejected it, triggering automatic, across the board cuts. They have no one to blame but their own stupid selves if the cuts include military spending, too. And, by the way, isn't one of those failed Congressmen now Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan?

The sky is falling routine is all Romney and Ryan have.

With all of Romney's flip-flopping on issues, tap dancing around others, I have come to think of it as the Romney Shuffle.

Go public with something and polls show it doesn't work well? Do the Romney Shuffle! That crazy new dance the GOP has worked up to cover all their bases, no matter which side of the issue you take, the Romney Shuffle will give you an obtuse answer every time! The like to follow it with the Republican line dance Ask Me After The Election!

Obama 2012

Those that are making claims that the sequester will harm service members have no idea of what they speak. There is plenty of waste that the Pentagon has been trying to cut for years, but the GOP congress keeps granting the DOD MORE money than it requests, and refuses to kill obsolete weaponry.

The Pentagon wants to start building a new tank to replace the Abrams, but now are being forced to repair and upgrade tens of thousands of tanks that they no longer want. Not to mention that new Abrams continue to roll off the assembly floor.

Every modern weapon ends up costing triple the original bids, example, the F-22. where is oversight to prevent waste and contractor fraud? Blaming Obama for Congress failing to do it's job and pass balanced budgets is ignorance in pure form.

Romney wants to increase defense spending, while giving large tax breaks to the wealthy. How will he pay for it? He'll come after the 95% of tax payers, the middle class, so he can continue the failed policies of trickle down economics.

Derek, I don't doubt there's SOME bullcrap in the world and on the news... but I also don't think EVERYTHING is faked or staged. What you're suggesting is a live version of the Truman Show. According to you, all news is fake, all people fake, and by extension, you're probably fake too. Oh, and this website logs IPs, so the big bad government you believe has absolute power can probably track you down and hush you up. So yeah, have fun with that one.

Or you could just loosen the tinfoil hat, go outside, and maybe mow your lawn. Or go to a bar and get drunk. Or Give a hobo a hamburger. Do something awesome man, you'll feel better. No one's coming to get you. Santa Claus might not be real, but that doesn't mean bombs don't go off, buses don't crash, and people don't get hurt. That's the news.

That and Lindsay Lohan constantly walking in and out of rehab. Seriously, even I don't understand why that's news, but it is. Man the news sucks nowadays...

I still say, Mitt show us 5 years of FED tax returns and Obama will show us his birth certificate and school records.

I like defense spending but to a limit. We just can not piss away money on every war around the world; specially places like Iraq and Afghanistan where everything we build is blown up again. Our children are not expandable for weapons manufacturers to make big profit. Besides; weapon manufacturing does not contribute to any local economy that significantly. Compare CAT vs. Tank. I can use CAT products to build houses, do farms, build roads, re-route water systems, clean rivers and lakes, build dams, manage soil, etc. CAT's or John Deer manufacturing supports no less number of people than Tank manufacturing. What can I do with Tank, Amos, Rockets etc? Nothing.

I have a better idea. Let us re-focus our military to combat every desert in the USA. Rather than spilling trillions of fresh water in to the oceans, let us use a fraction of that water to recover dry lands of the us by diverting the water. Let that be the US army core of Engineers task. We have billions of acres of land waiting to be recovered. Just imagine greening death valley? Israel has done and we can too.

Btw not all things are fake (or unnatural) nor was it implied as that. Try thinking about in a different light.

IT WAS WRONG TO INCREASE THE DEBT CEILING **PERIOD**

Cuts in defense or anything else are a sideshow to the real issue.

MOMaid,

"So where would YOU cut defense spending?"

We have 11 Carrier groups. The rest of the world (including several of our friends) have a total of 11 Carrier groups COMBINED.

We could easily cut two without losing one bit of effectiveness. That's takes care of at least $5-6 billion a year in upkeep.

Apparently you and Mitt the Twitt would have relished shutting the Government dow. Actually, that is REALLY what the Republicans wanted to do. All to continue FOUR tax cuts for people most able to pay more. The new Romney plan? Increases taxes by $2000 on the poor and middle class while reducing the taxes by $350,000 a year on people like Paul Ryan, John McCain, Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, et al. PLUS reducing Mitt Twitt's Capital Gains tax to 0.86% That is something we can live without.

It just shows how ill prepared Romney is when it comes to taking on the role of commander in chief. He wants war with Iran, send his own sons over there to fight, I am sick of being the worlds police and honestly the rest of the world doesn't want us to be. We spend four times what any other nation does on defense. Mr. Romney, you are an idiot. The republicans had a candidate in Huntsman that could have done the job, instead they stuck with this imbecile. I have zero faith in the republicans abilities to choose leadership.

It sounds like Romney is throwing his congressional Brothren under the bus in the name of getting elected. This is what happens when to nominate the equivalent of a weasel to the highest office in the land. If my memory server me well his T-publicans were quite willing for the United States to NOT PAY IT"S BILLS in the name of party ideology. In the end we got down graded for their childish antics but I sure did here Mitt telling them to compromise at the damn time this was going on.

- Press Release -

A Sarah Palin brain twister:

Myth Robbeme statement includes calling his own running mate a big mistake, due to the twitchy voting finger of Nitwit Ryan.

Due to nitwit ryan vote which included a necessary raise of the debt ceiling and the RWNJ's requiring debt cuts. By the way not raising it earlier affected the United States Credit Rating that was down turned. All because of the RWNJ's.

Myth would have you to believe it was all President Obama's fault.

Unfortunately we have a ubiquitous instant information machine they call the internet.

Ray in Jax,

"There is plenty of waste that the Pentagon has been trying to cut for years, but the GOP congress keeps granting the DOD MORE money than it requests, and refuses to kill obsolete weaponry."

Yes, there is plenty of wasteful spending in the military, and everyone who has served knows that. In fact, wasteful spending is built into the budgeting process itself because at the beginning of each fiscal year, every unit submits an estimate of how much money it is going to need for the coming year. If, at the end of that year, the unit still has excess money that it did not need, it is supposed to give that money back. But that rarely happens because everyone knows that if you give money back, the next time you request money, they are going to say, "Oh! You asked for more than you really needed last time. So you probably don't need as much as you are asking for now!" So what the units do instead of giving the money back is they squander it on things they don't really need just so they don't have to give any back. I've seen it happen many times during my 20 years in the military and could give you examples of it.

The pentagon has said we can safely start cutting defense spending and lyin' Ryan called them the liars. Of course Ryan and Romney MUST have a better idea on defense than the pentagon and our military generals....right....

Admittedly Obama came in lacking experience but he has shown the wisdom to listen to his military, Bush didn't and Romney won't either, that is obvious.

The guy is a draft dodger AND a tax dodger. Not a single male member of his family has ever served in the American military and not one of his five sons will ever serve in the American military. He has NO credibility when it comes to the defense of this nation!! He's just blowing this out his ass.

It is easy to sign a bill into law. Why is his report of what is to be cut not on time? If I was late on my homework.... well the dog ate it! Maybe this is what happened?

So Willard the draft dodger is all of a sudden an expert on national defense? He is a cowardly little prick who will send your sons and daughters to fight for his @!$%#-bomb investment partners.

K Harson: what a large dose of RWing Kool-aid - did you leave any 'false' talking points out?

"Obama's not insane, or stupid, he just has no idea how a government should be run, what to keep his paws out of, and what his paws should be into. The man is completely irresponsible fiscally, and has failed miserably on issues like education, illegal immigration, foreign policy, and energy. "

WHERE do you get your "facts"? Because these are FALSE - sounds like they came from your FALSE PROFIT Romney (pun intended). "He's a nice guy - he just has no idea ..." And although Romney/Ryan have NO running the country from the White House perspective, and absolutely NO experience whatsoever of foreign policy, you think think that they DO have an idea? This where your logic = EPIC FAIL.

--- Press Release ----

Mitt Romney,

Needs to release 10 years of his tax returns in order to be a credible candidate for President of the United States of America. America is waiting.

--- End ---

AZZHOLW

Q. Why does Romney want to spend 2 trillion more on defense than the Pentagon has asked for?

A. To pay back contractors contributing to his campaign.

We might not need cuts if Romney & friends would stop cutting taxes for the upper class.

The House GOP are so beholden to the wealthy elite that they would rather take these defense cuts than raise a single dollar of taxes on the top 1%.

Tighten your belts America. When Mitt, the chicken hawk, greenlights the Israel attack on Iran you can expect the price of oil to go through the roof. There won't be jobs or a recovery when you start paying $10 for a gallon of gas!

Another Taxpayer-502026

Once his investors has oil at 10$ a gallon is when Romney will commit our troops and trillions more dollars into Iran and then start teh propaganda with Russia and China. That should drive it up to 15$ so we will be happy when it goes back to 10$ until it becomes everyday for us.

I find it humorous that the Liberals like to 'Blame Bush' for the financial collapse, even though the Democratic Congress fought against all sub-prime mortgage lending reforms proposed by Bush for all of his 8 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

If that's the basis for criticizing a President, then we should also 'Blame Obama' for the dismal results over the last 4 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

@ Roy.. The GOPs answer is slash EVERY other agency in America. Do away with the Education department, National Endowment for the Arts, and Medicare. The GOP want war with Iran and Israel will lie to us, just like they did to get us into Iraq while Bush and Cheney lost sight of Osama and dropped the ball. Saddam was NOT a direct or indirect threat to America. Only the homeland of the jews, and WHY in the world do we continue to prop that terrorist regime in Israel. They take our $3 Billion/year and weapons gleefully then use dame to attack, harass and eliminate an entire nation and its people in Palestine. The next war Roy will cripple America. If we F with Iran, China and Russia will come calling.. We owe China over a Trillion, thanks to Bush and his "tax cuts, war and rebates (cough stimulus x 3)" We can't even think of cutting the deficit if we start a war with Iran.. That will bring this fledgling economy to grinding halt and cost Trillions, plus the lives of tens of thousands of innocent Americans who don't understand why Iran can't as a sovereign nation gain a nuclear device. If Israel can have 4, why can't Iran have 1? I mean Israel is the biggest threat with 4 nukes vs 1 no? The next war Roy will have 300-500 million Chinese on our western shores. Hawaii will become a pawn in the game of political chess. We can't defeat the enemy in Afghanistan Roy, how can we defeat China? Nuke em?

The tax cuts you GOPers love, I'm assuming you're all millionaires on the GOP side, must be nice. Over here in Independent land, Liberal land, we've seen nothing in the way of jobs created for us. The money that was allegedly meant to create jobs only emboldened those fat cats to ask for more. Our nation is broke because of the GOP and their tax cuts.. If the GOP stops hating a black man in the white house, maybe like PRESIDENT Obama said, there could be 1+ million jobs created, but the GOP are clear and utter obstructionists. Tax cuts for jobs is the GOPs stance.

The GOP have done nothing to elevate this nation. They have passed laws based solely on religion and hatred for others. They want to make just being a gay person in America illegal. They want to control who you can date. What a woman can do with her body.

I find it humorous that the Liberals like to 'Blame Bush' for the financial collapse, even though the Democratic Congress fought against all sub-prime mortgage lending reforms proposed by Bush for all of his 8 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

I guess you forgot that he had a majority vote in both houses for 6 of his 8 years and about the only thing they did not close door vote on was the Iraq war simply because he knew his lies and threats to anyone that did not go along with his party would give him a bipartisan support? "If you are not with me then you support terrorism"... that line.

Romney is now pandering to the military vote AFTER he didn't even mention the military or our soldiers at the Republican convention. He does NOT care for the military... he wants to increase the military budget so he can send more of our young men and women into another senseless war that is NOT our war! The Republicans are not happy unless they are making their oil buddies rich at the expense of our soldiers and their families!!! Military families prefer to be "together" more than they want the money and more than they want their loved ones at war!!! We need to spend money in THIS country... we need some nation-building for a change!!!

@ MOmaid

First of all brainiac, the wars we have been involved with ( Afghanistan, Iraq) and the associated
costs are paid for through debt creation, meaning borrowed money. Not one penny
comes from the Defense Budget.

By the waytrimming the defense budget will not weaken us as a Nation one bit. This is all Political rhetoric and has no real meaning or consequence in the real world.

And all the soldiers you mentioned the pentagon cut loose, They're mostly
reservist who go back to there jobs and families upon there return anyway. We
haven't maintained that kind of active force for many ,many years.

Know what your talking about before you take up space on here.

Reading through this the best thing I get laughs at is the fact people think cutting $55 bill from the defense budget will make soldiers pay less and have them in more harm.

We are getting out of 2 wars that were unfunded as it is. Cutting that money will not effect any soldiers pay or safety. We still have by far the worlds biggest military. Spend the next 30 countries budget combined. And in future wars we dont need a ton more multi billion dollar stealth bombers that are already being ready to go on limited service. Todays wars are fought with Drones and technology. And its much cheaper. And much more effective. We still have all the top end toys from air to sea in the world. $55 bill from a budget as high as it is will do nothing except maybe have us buy a couple less top end fighter jets that we already have the best of in the world or spending a $100 billion on some new system to develop that we wont even have for 20 years.

I love they think its the soldiers that will feel the effect. More like the contractors not giving us an extra few hundred tanks and planes then we even have men in the military qualified to run. And if a WW3 conventional war breaks out, and in that case once again we have a military 20 times more expensive just in what we have then anyone else, no one is attacking America and invading us. I think we can spend more then if needed

We all need to give obummer a break. Its his first real job and another 4 years at it he may just get it. D-rats forget there used to be this mystical thing callled a "budget" they don't have one because it would involve not spending more money than we take in and if they done that it would mean they would have to stop giving money to their flock of sheeple. Silly demoncrats!

BTW, all the Obama bum kisser on here arguing that Obama did the right thing with the sequestration, now have to admit that the legislation was bipartisan and that the Repubs did support the President. He got what he wanted and now we are facing the fiscal cliff because of it.Thanks Obama.

He outsmarted them and you can't take it.

They wanted to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, he wanted to lower the deficit.

They wouldn't agree to 3 dollars in cuts to one dollar in revenue, so he suggested the sequestration.

The president's budget does not become law. Congress has to pass a budget, begun in the House. Not the president. They voted on sequestration and the republicans agreed overwhelmingy.

Now they either agree to what he wants, or defense takes a big hit. They can't let that happen, so I guess he gets what he wants.

He outsmarted them and yoou can't take it.

Worst than that , he is cannabalizing his own party. The man is like a big old empty douche bag. For crying out loud I am afraid of him

Obamas plan is more of the same, high unemployment, increased taxes, etc. After he raises taxes and the debt still increases, whose pockets do you think the dens will be going after?? Look up VAT tax and you can see whats coming

Don't forget this jewel out of his own mouth

• #t=28

Obama's tax plan saves about 3 trillion over 10 years.

Obama is not proposing a VAT tax.

12 years of tax cut for the rich is over 1 TRILLION and Ryan plans to have another 700 billions more for 10 more years.

Really? How long and how much they plan to fund this?

There is no surprise here. Romney is giving a perfunctory nod to the Military-Industrialists who have been laundering their off-shore assets through conservative "super-PAC's". More contracts for Lougheed- Martin, Northrup, Halliburton et al for military hardware the Pentagon doesn't want. More money for Mitt to park off-shore. Hope it's a good interview.

And now Mitt is trashing Republicans???

Whoa...there are going to be certain segments of that particular population who won't like that tactic...like some evangelicals, conservatives, and Tea Party'ers.

But on the other hand, I bet his stance has McCain's firm endorsement...unless McCain voted for the sequester.

Oh...gee...he did just that...

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/budget-appropriations/243763-mccain-i-plead-guilty-to-vote-for-sequester

I wonder if Mitt actually understands the consequences that would have happened had this not taken place? After listening to him, doubtful...highly doubtful...

Save America vote Romney-Ryan 2012

I find it humorous that the Liberals like to 'Blame Bush' for the financial collapse, even though the Democratic Congress fought against all sub-prime mortgage lending reforms proposed by Bush for all of his 8 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

If that's the basis for criticizing a President, then we should also 'Blame Obama' for the dismal results over the last 4 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

Bush didn't inherit his mess - he created it.

And now we're dealing with the results.

Comprende?

"Indipendent comsertative in the Desert"

Your name is a joke...and makes no sense! That is all!

His "Fellow Republican" Vice president Ryan was one of those who voted for it.

Obama failed to get anything productive done. Comprende?

Republican candidates have no clue on foreign policy and defense spending. Hermain Cain led the repub field and had no clue where Afghanistan was nor could he pronounce the country,choosing to blurt out BeckyBeckyBeckystan........right....put up candidates like Cain, Ryan and Romney with zero knowledge of foreign policy knowledge and expect them to be in charge of the worlds largest military....Ya ...right!

GOP House failed to get anything done. Comprende?

Paul Ryan attended Miami University in Ohio.. He lacks arithmetic

Probably make the Country feel better about security if we had 3 or 4 more guns, and a few dozen backup sling shots. I personally would like to be able to access a stash of short fused dynamite, just for defense purposes of course.

Romney ia a gwaddamn fool! Comprende?

I had to REALLY laugh at the Democrats at their convention criticizing Romney for saying GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt, implying that Obama prevented that from happening.

Perhaps they should read some recent history - that's EXACTLY what Obama let happen - GM DID GO BANKRUPT.

So how does Obama get away with criticizing Romney for saying something, and then Obama gets a free pass from the media for doing exactly what he criticized Romney for?

Mutually Assured Destruction was a concept that kept us alive and at normal radiation levels throughout the Cold War. The key to it, of course, was that the USSR didn't actually know if leaders of the USA were in fact crazy enough to actually destroy the world.

The question at this point is whether Conservatives are in fact crazy enough to destroy the economy of the world. I suppose it's possible they are, they certainly profess radical beliefs that are antithetical to economic recovery...almost guaranteed, in fact, to create a devastating economic depression.

The Conservative Movement, however, is financed and fed talking points by extremely wealthy individuals...people who, while they don't much care if the middle class sinks into poverty, realize that a total economic collapse is not in their best interest.

For this reason I believe it's apparent that Republicans WILL blink as we approach the fiscal cliff.

People who negatively go after the president are just pure ignorant! PRESIDENT OBAMA has done all he could do to HELP THIS NATION and has done so WITH MUCH SUCCESS!! Open your eyes People and stop turning a def ear on What our president has to say. STOP HATING ON HIM because his skin isn't WHITE!!! I am talking to the ones that are RACISTand the ones that claim he hasn't done anything productive for this COUNTRY!! This nation will ALWAYS BE DIVIDED because of pure HATRED. It's a shame that people start dying off when they are in their 80's and 90's and above because it's obvious that it will take a lot more years for some to GROW UP and MATURE!!

I find it compelling how many people want fiscal responsibility for the military but in other entitlement programs and government porgrams they want more and more and more without really knowing where the money is going or coming from.

He's the proverbial rich Mormon who always seems to get "called" for duties in the Mormon church, while the less afluent ones don't. He nauseates me. His secret, Masonic-style handshakes are so cool. NOT.

@ real American. The problem is we are NOT dealing with it. Nothing but smoke and mirrors. 2 years on failed health care. This administration is now hobbled. The republicans will never let Obama do anything. He has lost all credibility now. The next 4 years would be even worse for this country. Either way it is not going to be good.

WOW! I've never seen the WACKO Kool-Aid flowing so profusely! Most of you bloviate that you've seen the Military Budget, that would be cut to benefit America, that the MEDICARE Program is going to be gutteda and ALL Americans will be put on VOUCHER PROGRAM, etc., etc., etc. CRAP! THE CBO, you know the guys at the Congressional Budget Office, have put in a recent report, that if Obama the Socialist, gets back into office, the Unemployement rate will just to 9.1 in Feb., or even sooner... The Military Contract Jobs that will be paid out in January in coverage under the DOD, won't happen with the current cuts in Military, because the jobs at those Companies, Plants, and Bases will be cut. The O Administration has failed to do due process, BY LAW, to inform the workers of the cuts and layoffs! SO many mistakes done by the Activist In Chief and SOCIALIST LEADER of the Free World, will be turning our nuclear forces and arms to practically nothing, while our enemies and potential enemies, will be raising their arms.... Medicare HAS been robbed. I work with 5 people now that are more senior than I am at the moment. One woman has had her treatments cut for CANCER, because they said that O Care has kicked in and that there's no money left till next month for her program... his the kick, it's been cut by 66% and it's being distributed to 100 people more... while that money that was taken away has gone to YOUNGER PEOPLE's PROGRAMS and Obama Care for ADMINISTRATION regulations and operations... Hmmm, I was surprised to see this in the PUGET SOUND Area... especially after the H&HS and Military Review boards came in this area to see the care level of returning Military and coverages for PTSD and other medical services and what this level of care must be with the civilian health care to help balance the medical coverage. Unfortuneately, they are overwhelmed too! Obrama's future in America will KILL AMERICA... Coverups of the plans for SOCIALISATION and backing of EUROPEAN SOCIALISM, will bring the nation down. Yes, I will agree that Mr. Romney has changed his mind on several issues that I may or not agree on... But so has Obama... CLUB GIT-MO is still open... The trials for the detainees have not been procecuted in New York, the Wars didn't stop the next day as planned... AND SO FORTH! SO, what! You ARM CHAIR LEADERS don't have any idea as to the REAL NEED of America... I tend to agree with Mitt on the cutting of the Military service budgets at this time... THE ONLY ONE IN THIS RACE that wants to cut REAL spending, is Romney/Ryan. THE ONLY ONE that wants to keep MEDICARE for SENIORS is Romney/Ryan. The ONLY ONES that have a plan to creat more PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS, not GOVERNMENT, is ROMNEY/RYAN! On taxes... If 47% of the possible tax payers in America DON'T PAY taxes, and the next group in the middle pays approx. 35%, then the 1% who does pay taxes, is paying for the majority of the costs that run this nation. Let's see... you all out there complaining about the RICH not paying their fair share... well, what is their fair share? What do you think they have to pay! Why is Buffett screaming he pays less than his secratary... Well, as an Ex-reatail salesman in Omaha at the Younkers Electronics section, Mr Buffett came out and bought two SONY 27inch console tv's from me in 1987. I didn't know who the hell he was, but he wanted the same set for the house and business office. This guy could afford anything, but he's CHEAP, He wanted the sets at a discount... I wasn't and he didn't get anything off on them... (Amazingly he bought NEBRASKA FURNITURE MART in the 1990's I believe, where they sell a lot of electronics now!) He pays taxes on investment money at about 13 to 15% on Several MILLION DOLLARS of income a month, but notice he said 13 to 15, not the 17 to 20% his secratary does... THE PROBLEM, he doesn't tell you the difference between earned income taxes and wages income taxes! BECAUSE AMERICA can't grasp the difference... and Ironically, no one questions this or the tax rates. A FLAT TAX would be fair to all, but not the 50% + 25% increase on levels of millions of dollars... So what is the level a person pays at TRUMP/BUFFETT levels... well 15% on 10M is about $1.5 million, and 20 percent of 95K is about $23,500. So, people... if you look at the income tax at INCOME WAGES for the rich, they would pay $5M + an additional $2 million on what's left of the $10Million... That leaves about $2 million on this est. I am not a tax expert but I looked at some tax tables to get some of this information... Without deductions and tax write offs, the $2M that they have left would amount to much to invest in a business... That business would hire people who go on the tax rolls and pay their taxes, as well as the owner/investor paying their business taxes, and you have income into the UNITED STATES treasury... Hmmm The highest amount of taxes recovered in a presidential year was George W. Bush's 2006 year, before the DEMS took over the HOUSE and SENATE then... Where Barney Frank, head of the House Ways and Means committe chair, said to George, "NO Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac don't need any regualtion on no collateral loans for homes... but unfortuneately, people didn't pay on their loans, they were now paying on the $5.00 a gal gas bump in lateral part of the 2007/2008 years, where the regulation on BIG OIL wasn't happening even under a DEM CONTROLLED CONGRESS! Now there's plenty of blame to go around in Money stealling,, the DEMS back in the 50's thru the 90's stealling the crap out of SOCIAL SECURITY and a FEW REPUBLICANS URGING THEM ON! I'm with you on getting the corrupped polly's out of congress... But, most of the SOCIAL SEC is now gone, robbed by the greed in the 60's... For forty years the DEMS told the country, the money will be paid back and that we are borrowing the dough for other "worthy causes"... well they never did and the GOP never really decided to put their feet to the fire, till Reagan came along and said so... I think you guys out there thinking mr Obama needs another 4 years are crazy...because the evidence that's needed to show you how he's using his FATHER's DREAMS to destruct this nation is being kept from us, but the curtains, when they flutter, give us a glimps and I'm not happy with what I see, just 6 years away from my SOC. I'm not happy with the $982 I'm going to have to pay under Obama care for that care to two people, and THAT"S before WAGES! So, NO I don't want him in... We gave him his chance, he was not VETTED to the AMERICAN PEOPLE, (Don't know his grades, his thesis topics, his law review papers, his private practice, and his afflications-they've all been LOCKED UP!) and don't think I'm going to say anything about the BIRTH CERT. I'm not... Because, I look at this way... With a SOC SECURITY no. from Connecticutt, and all the rest out there, I'm sure that if the country were played a fool, the DEMS would see it! For FOOLS always know when they are being FOOLED, right? Well, I think you better look at that and all the other promises. Reagan's economic plans turned around a double digit inflation and intersest rates. I got several different jobs out of college and great internships that paid good money too, but CARTER sent this world into utter Kaios and I was happy that he worked thinks out with the Speaker... But Obama KEPT the GOP out of discussions, only bringing them to the table to raises taxes every time... GOP have 35+ jobs bills on the table ready to be looked at and bargained with, but not at the cost of RAISING TAXES on the WEALTHY... YOU KNOW, the guys who have the CAPITAL to invest into new companys and creat jobs.... If you want to talk about BAIN outsourcing, how about Obama's JOB CZAR! Mr. Jeff Emelt, CEO of GE.... TOOK money from stimulus... created jobs over seas, not here, and ALL the profits are still OVERSEAS, not taxed! GE DIDN'T PAY ANY TAXES FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS! WHY is that? FISCKER AUTO... half a billion for a car company here? NO, that money went OVERSEAS to creat jobs in FINDLAND! SOLYANDRA... over $550 MILLION dollars washed down the drain, and they KNEW IT WAS COMING just two months after they got the money! Several other NEW ENERGY COMPANYS down the drain with our stimulus, the PEOPLE's MONEY! GM is not profitable... the STOCK was at $53 and it's now at $38... The AMERICAN PEOPLE are 29 BILLION in the hole with GM STIMULUS INVESTMENT. THE BANKRUPCY would have restructed the company and balanced the budgets and balanced the work force contracts... Yes Union, And I'm a former IAM memeber!, but we would have not been in the hole. Investment programs for OHIO/INDIDAN's got traded the shaft with an exchange for 10% on the dollar instead of 29%, which is what they had... Who got the 29%, well of course the UNIONS and the LEADERSHIP! IF you people would do you diligence out there and quit relying on MSNBC and CNN, ABC, & CBS, you might see the light... But I doubt it... You'll be in the dark, and when the company collapses under Obama's watch... welll you're going to blame it on BUSH! Him, the opposite would be that the economic up turn in the late 80;s and Bill Clinton's eventual reality of working with the 100 new people in congress and the REPUBLICAN SPEAKER, Newt Gingrich, was all the cause of greatness by JIMMY CARTER.... GIVE ME A BREAK! Clinton had to go along with the Republicans, and Dick Morris told him as well as others. HE cut WELLFARE and it brought us back. Obama has 45 MILLION people on HANDOUTS! and says they don't have to prove they are working! GIVE ME A BREAK! He's had to back track on that, but the evidence is there... denying it, is your problem. IF it were a REPUBLICAN doing this, you'd throw the bum out... AND it wasn't all BUSHES fault either... LEts' spread the blame around... Mr. Activist lead people to creat havoc in BANK PRESIDENT offices to give people housing loans, that they couldn't back with collateral... the COUNTRY DIED!.... THAT's WHAT ACTIVISM is... THE president and his people are causing us WAY TOO MUCH PROBLEMS and it's time to retire his Ideas and get different ones in there... If MItt doesn't work, then it's obvious that Mrs. Clinton is going to win and hopefully the "RACE CARD" won't be played again by the do nothing LYING DEMS! God Bless AMERICA... she really needs it now... BUSINESS leadership, not LYING-SHIP, or ACTIVIST-SHIP!

Some people's children.. OK, Civics 101. The VP can think, feel and act what ever way he wants... he has no vote, no say. He is nothing more than a mouth piece, which is why Biden only get's air time when it's absolutely necessary.

That being said, Ryan can think the moon is inhabited by Terrorists, means NOTHING, nada, zip, zero... Move along.

Next, Bush INHERITED Clinton's loans and tricky accounting. But then again, guess he is also to blame for 9/11.

Kind of funny how Bush's last 2 years in office was with a Democratic controlled Congress, which really explains the spending... but sheep only follow their shepherd...

As for the tax for the Wealthy. Newsflash, Obama has approved the renewal every year since... he has enough balls to violate Constitutional ethics, bring law suits against the States, whine to the UN about US Civil Rights to the Chinese Delegates.. but he doesn't have enough brass to stand up for the tax hike?

GET A CLUE!!

Newsvine, "Get Smarter Here".

Hmmmmmm, arrgggggghhhhhhh.

Ma get the toilet paper I just posted my masterpiece emotive non factual partisan political opininated no experienced idealistic academic post that smells like Superskunk on Newsvine.

You want me to explain, NOPE; go ask know it all (NOT) academic idealistic no real world experience Coral Taxi:

Coral Taxi - Please shorten your diatribes.

Like I posted before TOO LAZY. TOO LAZY to read all the Facts as not the cut and dried simplistic baloney of yours.

hey Roy Wilson, the difference is that President Obama let them go through a structured bankruptcy the type of which Romney opposed until after it worked and then took credit for it even though he proposed a complete shutdown of GM with all jobs gone forever ..... Romney has no knowledge about the military or foreign affairs, he gets his ideas from the same people who screwed up Bush's presidency, our national debt, destabilized the middle east and wrecked the military like it was after Vietnam .. the only thing he wants to do is start more wars and give tax cuts to not pay for it

In England Queen Elizabeth served. As did Prince Philip. Prince Charles and Prince Andrew served. Prince William has served. Prince Harry is currently serving. Many other royals served with distinction. Mitt on the other hand went to save France from wine and sex instead of serving in the military and to quote him about his sons "They have chosen different careers". Chickensh!t Chickenhawk.

I find it humorous that the Liberals like to 'Blame Bush' for the financial collapse, even though the Democratic Congress fought against all sub-prime mortgage lending reforms proposed by Bush for all of his 8 years

I find it humorous that Republicans keep trying to rewrite history...

Google it - it is out there. Try Mike Oxley "one-finger salute"

Sept 9, 2008

The dominant theme has been that Congress let the two government-sponsored enterprises morph into a creature that eventually threatened the US financial system. Mike Oxley will have none of it.

Instead, the Ohio Republican who headed the House financial services committee until his retirement after mid-term elections last year, blames the mess on ideologues within the White House...

He fumes about the criticism of his House colleagues. “All the handwringing and bedwetting is going on without remembering how the House stepped up on this,” he says. “What did we get from the White House? We got a one-finger salute.”

The House bill, the 2005 Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, would have created a stronger regulator with new powers to increase capital at Fannie and Freddie, to limit their portfolios and to deal with the possibility of receivership.

Mr Oxley reached out to Barney Frank, then the ranking Democrat on the committee and now its chairman, to secure support on the other side of the aisle. But after winning bipartisan support in the House, where the bill passed by 331 to 90 votes, the legislation lacked a champion in the Senate and faced hostility from the Bush administration.

Adamant that the only solution to the problems posed by Fannie and Freddie was their privatisation, the White House attacked the bill. Mr Greenspan also weighed in, saying that the House legislation was worse than no bill at all.

“We missed a golden opportunity that would have avoided a lot of the problems we’re facing now, if we hadn’t had such a firm ideological position at the White House and the Treasury and the Fed,” Mr Oxley says.

Far from trying to rein in excesses, Bush made sure he killed any attempts to do so. Mike Oxley is hardly a flaming liberal. Barney Frank, whom Republicans blame for the mortgage meltdown, joined with Mike Oxley to try and rein in Fannie and Freddie. Bush would have none of it!

If you are getting ready to attack someone as is Romney's plan, then you would want all the miitary money you could get.

But lets get real and have some perspective. There's loads of waste in the defence budget, or if it is to come out of new weapons systems, a 50 billion cut to the F-35 program would bring the total number of planes from the current 2443 down to 2362. Big deal.

I agree it will be good to get back to "God Bless America"once again.

The democrats had to VOTE to see if they would use the words God,Israel and Jerusalem at the DNC.They voted NO 3 times but decided to use it anyways.

Pathetic.

With Odin on our side, we will harvest a bright tomorrow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPRt6Tt6RyM

...and if that's a big deal to you, you were going to vote for Romney anyway. Yes it was clumsy but either way doesn't give anyone a job now does it?

I suggest that everyone go see 2016 Obama's America, and see where his roots and his beliefs come from. A real eye opening movie. he even has a brother looks almost exactly like him ...... check it out before you make a decision this November

vet '74, you laid it all out. I wrote to Romneys campaign and stated much the same on some issues. The problem I have with the coming budget crisis is this; many of the increases only effect active and retired military for healthcare, but does not increase for government workers in Washington. This tells me that the people sitting safe behind their desks in DC are more important stability wise to the President than the men and women who volunteered to serve this country, some paying the ultimate price, are to him. Putting more of a burden, healthcare and tax wise, on the very people that keep this nation safe is flat wrong. I served 24 years and am now facing a pennies above minimum wage job and the thought of my healthcare fees increasing in a few months. But no one in Washington, living under the safety I fought to protect, will be paying one cent more for their coverages. It is a plan that attacks the very military being sent in harms way. At least when I served in Iraq, I knew who the enemy was and how to protect myself and my troops. I have no control over what is coming at me now except to push for people to open their eyes and vote out the people who have accomplished nothing since the last election. The Republicans will not let the President get anything done, the Democrats would not let a Republican President get anything done. It is all a cop-out as far as i am concerned. They are elected to do a job. If i do not do my job, I get fired. Guess what, it takes a little longer, but that is what we need to do with our elected officials. They are elected to serve us, the people. If they fail, which they have, it is time to fire them. Do your job or go home. That is the message that needs to be sent.

The smiling snakeoil salesman will be gone soon and we can get things back on track. The past 4 yrs have been a waste of time, not to mention costly.

I had to REALLY laugh at the Democrats at their convention criticizing Romney for saying GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt, implying that Obama prevented that from happening.

Perhaps they should read some recent history - that's EXACTLY what Obama let happen - GM DID GO BANKRUPT. It's called Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - a restructuring - just what Romney suggested.

So how does Obama get away with criticizing Romney for saying something, and then Obama gets a free pass from the media for doing exactly what he criticized Romney for?

I find it humorous that the Liberals like to 'Blame Bush' for the financial collapse, even though the Democratic Congress fought against all sub-prime mortgage lending reforms proposed by Bush for all of his 8 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

If that's the basis for criticizing a President, then we should also 'Blame Obama' for the dismal results over the last 4 years - 'because it happened on his watch'.

'because it happened on his watch'.

GWB - asleep at the wheel - September 11th, 2001.

Kolob to Mitt. Kolob to Mitt. Come in, Mitt.

Hi this is Mitt, Kolob.

Mitt, prepare to fertilize the universe with the seed of your Godly loins. Joseph Smith be praised!

Mitt--Aye, Aye Captain!

hopefully the "RACE CARD" won't be played again by the do nothing LYING DEMS!

Ha ha...that's rich! Can't admit the truth, huh? That the old, white Republicans, especially in the South, don't like that one of their type isn't President. As for Hillary...she will be the next President, but then the GOP will be sexist instead of racist.

Oh, wait, the GOP is already sexist! Otherwise, why are they trying to regulate what women can do with their own bodies?

You watch, they won't cut the military, or maybe just some token, trivial things or tricks so they can claim they have. Even though we spend more on "defense" than all other countries combined they won't mess with the empire's killing machine.

Both parties will reach a "grand bargain" where all of the budget cutting will fall on the middle class and poor (including Social Security, Medicare, etc).

The military is too important to empire and considering that we are headed for banana republic status economically because of so called "Free-market" economics (which includes the budget cutting), our ability to kill and destroy and force our will upon other nations militarily, is the only "greatness" we will have left pretty soon.

And of course even that will collapse sooner or later.

SAC-HQ VET '74

Make sure we keep education money in. Because they teach English and paragraphs and I might have a chance of reading your comment, it may have valid points, without getting a migraine from a wall of text

Here's an example of right-wing patriotic stupidity:

"Sat Sep 8, 2012 6:25 PM EDT

Un4gvni Comment collapsed by the community

Obamas plan is more of the same, high unemployment, increased taxes, etc. After he raises taxes and the debt still increases, whose pockets do you think the dens will be going after?? Look up VAT tax and you can see whats coming

_____

1. Constitution: CONGRESS shall make the laws. And we're still waiting for Congress to enact a jobs bill, instead of blaming President Obama for not doing that he cannot do.

2. Constitution: money bills shall originate in the HOUSE. The House is controlled by the REPUBLICANS/TEANUTS. That means taxes can only be increased BY CONGRESS.

In sum: taxes have not been increased; they have decreased. And it is CONGRESS that is keeping unemployment high -- in order to get dupes such as you to blame President Obama for that he cannot do: MAKE LAWS CREATING JOBS.

ROY WILSON-336103- I will happy to explain the auto industry thingy to you. Mittens suggested that the industry just go through bankruptcy and restructure or fail. Now the only problem with that is that it takes money/capital at that level to negotiate with. The companies had neither really, and the banks which would have to have been involved with the restructuring were not about to lend a dime on a "risky" investment. (they weren't lending money to ANYBODY) In other words Romney's advice was about the same as "ask your parent's for the money" he gave to young people. But in this case the 'rents had cut the purse strings.

In steps the government and puts up the money; which the auto industry has paid back with interest. Now those same companies are doing great and millions of people who would have lost their jobs (going down the supply chain) are still working.

It is very sad really how many people in this country do not have the necessary drive to fact check the BS that they hear or take the time to research something as important as who/what caused our financial collapse and brought the world to its knees. Here's a clue; it wasn't poor people buying houses they allegedly couldn't afford. But that divisive little trickle of BS served its purpose by deflecting blame from the bandits that actually broke the market.

The Romneys of the world refuse to accept any blame or responsibility for the disasters they leave in their wake. Unless it makes money for them its not important. Unless a person makes money for them, that person is not important. Please take a little time away from the right wing spin/prevarication machine to look up some facts and think for yourself.

Isitreal

Maintaining the same percent of the GDP is like maintaining the size it is now. What the size is now is already set at minus the Afhganistan war. Having studied the Naval side of expenditures a bit, we are cutting back while others like China and India are increasing their spending and strength.

Right now we have enough in the navy to handle the entire world. Next year and beyond we will have cut our strength and will need to depend on our ties to say Great Britain and Australia to offset the gains of the others to maintian superiority.

If we do well, the GDP rises, and so we will increase our military strength to insure superiority. It's not a bad idea because that is how business works. Not only would this benefit our national defense, but when the GDP rises that will mean more funds covering all expenditures.

Un4gvni ...(?) "anti-religious, anti-god democrats?"

Did you forget to take your meds today? Oh, and about God... you do realize she's black, don't you?

I would start by cutting off Haliburton and put all contracts on competive bids, that would save millions.

Agreed Danno. How soon people forget.

More like Billions Danno! Haliburton has ripped the US off for billions already just during the Iraq war alone.

Tens of Billions Danna, not millions...

Everyone blames Obama for high unemployment but it was Regan and the GOP who raised legal immigration to over 1 million a year. While we have Americans out of work they still keep comming in to take availabe jobs because they work cheeper. USA reported 600 thousand new immigrant workers hired in the second of 2011 under 30. While we fight battle over sea's our country goes to immigrant's. The rich get richer and we lose job's to those walking in the back door legaly sounds fair right. And here we sit arguing who's fault it is. God bless America.

Sorry, tens of billions, hundreds of billions, the republicans say deficits don't matter unless a Democract is in office then it matters most of all.

Maybe Mitt the Twitt can present a plan that pays back all the money stolen from the Social Security Trust Fund, Highway Trust Funds, etc. during the Bush/Cheney administration with their head helper, Paul Ryan.

All i can say is If I vote for Romney and Romney cuts my financial legs out from under me as I am on SS and medicare. Then i have to ask myself what did i just do to myself?

I think you should do a little research to find the answer as to who is responsible for raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, and putting IOU's in its place.

Done... Here is the timeline for the raiding of Social Security fund...

1) President Reagan appointed Greenspan as chairman of the 1982 National Commission on Social Security Reform (aka The Greenspan Commission)

2) The Greenspan Commission recommended a major payroll tax hike to generate Social Security surpluses for the next 30 years, in order to build up a large reserve in the trust fund that could be drawn down during the years after Social Security began running deficits.

3) The 1983 Social Security amendments enacted hefty increases in the payroll tax in order to generate large future surpluses.

4) As soon as the first surpluses began to role in, in 1985, the money was put into the general revenue fund and spent on other government programs. None of the surplus was saved or invested in anything. The surplus Social Security revenue, that was paid by working Americans, was used to replace the lost revenue from Reagan’s big income tax cuts that went primarily to the rich.

5) In 1987, President Reagan nominated Greenspan as the successor to Paul Volker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Greenspan continued as Fed Chairman until January 31, 2006. (One can only speculate on whether the coveted Fed Chairmanship represented, at least in part, a payback for Greenspan’s role in initiating the Social Security surplus revenue.)

6) In 1990, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, a member of the Greenspan Commission, and one of the strongest advocates the the 1983 legislation, became outraged when he learned that first Reagan, and then President George H.W. Bush used the surplus Social Security revenue to pay for other government programs instead of saving and investing it for the baby boomers. Moynihan locked horns with President Bush and proposed repealing the 1983 payroll tax hike. Moynihan’s view was that if the government could not keep its hands out of the Social Security cookie jar, the cookie jar should be emptied, so there would be no surplus Social Security revenue for the government to loot. President Bush would have no part of repealing the payroll tax hike. The “read-my-lips-no-new-taxes” president was not about to give up his huge slush fund.

Republicans did this, my friend, Republicans!

As Bill Clinton said so well - arithmetic is fundamental to sound fiscal policy. However; it appears that Myth Romney audited out of that in prep school. Either that or somehow he's going to put the national debt on his Platinum MasterCard because I just don't see how he's going to pay for all this, reduce the debt, and balance the budget simultaneously --- there simply aren't enough poor and middle class American to screw over. You got us Myth - you're just too smart for the rest of us.

I believe hisstatement that the Republicans made a mistake is a slap in the face to The Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader in the Senate.

How about it Mitch & John are you still with Mitt the TWIT?

One of the biggest reason why their are very few jobs is because the repub/baggers refused to do anything in Congress, one filibuster after another.

It amazes me how soon all those who voted 2010 voted for a over whelming majority of repub/baggers in office because they "they promised jobs" so how many jobs did they produce "zero" Obama "over 4 million jobs in the last 30 months" and yes its not enough but at least its something, which is better than nothing compared to the repub/baggers have done. Remember their #1 priority was to make sure Obama was a one term president, and to hell with jobs and the economy.

Mitt-Witt, Put on your magic-underwear, buy a bike, and go pedal around Europe for awhile. This is a big-boy job, making big-boy decisions with big-boy consequences if you get it wrong. Since you know nothing about what the military does or how it does them, just get on your bike and ride and come back in December. After all, you will not have the option to say, “I’m not familiar with precisely what I said, but I stand by what I said, whatever it was, I'll go back and take a look at what I said there and get back to you." The Presidency is a man's job and you are totally unqualified to do the job!!

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

from the Senate....they are now trying to "wiggle out of them", right now.:

http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/07/30/gop-architects-of-automatic-defense-cuts-are-now-trying-to-wiggle-out-of-them/

Ryan voted for these cuts.

MY ANSWER: If he thinks that violating the law gives him a political advantage. he will.

Any of you Libs out there have a different answer?

As long as there is no republican in office we don't have to worry about Iran or someone starting a war..

And Bush was any different?

Good God! are Mitt and the republicans planning on starting another war that they seem to be so good at starting and then not stopping. And losing?

Mitt stated last year that "Everything was on the Table" for the budget. Now with the right wing hypocrisy he says, but not defense???? We don't need to have more arms for more wars. It makes it too easy to start another one! And to waste 7200 American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan!

Yes, Gil! The answer is that when you have a deficit, 1/3 of which comes from bush's wars, you make cuts and increase revenue. Now the republicant's refuse to cut the military and their chance to wage more wars, plus make only cuts in programs to help people in need while rewarding the rich!

Romney was a mistake from day one, RobMe was rejected by the GOP in 2000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a Vet, draft dodgers don't shine up to me, RobMoney brought disgrace upon himself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Criminal probe is needed into Robme's tax returns !!!!!!!!!!!!

Just watched the interview on meet the press.

When did David Gregory start working for the Romney campaign? Softball questions, never calling him on misleading assertions, and not getting any specifics on anything.

Most of these comments are pathetic on multiple fronts.

First of all regardless of your politic the military is designed to WIN wars. Since Vietnam, and to a lesser extent Korea, our wars have become politically correct, politicized, disasters. This is what happens when you allow emotions to get in the way of military strategy. Our brave and honorable men and women in the service are simply puppets controlled by political and career manipulations by our criminal politicians. In the service you’re taught to obey orders, with minor caveats, period. Our troops have performed incredibly in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan despite these handicaps.

This constant chatter about Bush/Cheney's "wars" is ridiculous and without merit. Yes, in retrospect, just like Vietnam, the results of these efforts are less than stellar, but it's NOT because a lack of effort by American soldiers. The complaint that Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us nearly $1.3 Trillion by the Congressional Research Service along with over 6,300 deaths and 42,000 injuries is staggering. Of course it's a simple boogieman of the anti-MIC crowd, and with respect to proposed outcomes it’s probably justified.

Now, when you compare this to Vietnam it pales in comparison. So I'm sure all the Bush/Cheney haters must have the same disdain for JFK and LBJ, right? Just a few comparisons for the uninformed.

Vietnam cost us 58,209 lives and over 211,000 wounded. The wounded do not include post war additional injuries in both cases. The economic cost of Vietnam is even more staggering. In 1975 dollars it cost us $531 BILLION. Adjusted for inflation its cost increases to $3.53 Trillion in 2010 dollars. Once again post war injury costs are not calculated in these numbers for both wars.

Of course the current debates are completely dysfunctional as emotions rather than facts are discussed. Most weren't even born during the Vietnam War or dismiss it due to their politic.

Try to be factual rather than hypocritical.

Now, let’s look at how well our criminal government has done on all those “sacrosanct social issues” you Liberals/Progressives are so concerned about.

--The federal government made at least $125 billion in improper payments in 2011.

-- Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.

--Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them–costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually–fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.

--The Congressional Budget Office published a “Budget Options” series identifying more than $140 billion in potential spending cuts.

--Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $750 billion annually. (See link below for details)

I have over 400 more examples of our governments waste, fraud, abuse and corruption if you’re interested.

Granted, our military is bloated also, but it is one of the 18 Enumerated Powers that mandates our federal government be responsible for. Most of the above examples of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption are NOT government Constitutional responsibilities.

If all you Liberals/Progressives are such fiscal hawks why don’t you ever whine and scream about the massive waste OUTSIDE of the military? In less than 4 years Barrack Hussein has added $5.1 trillion and projections show in 6 years our National Debt will exceed $20 trillion. Then what?

The war is always the Liberals/Progressives simple bogeyman because they just think it can be cut and never consider the unintended consequences. Our real problems, entitlement and social program reform, unfair trade agreements, criminal tax and regulation reform, addressing foreign currency manipulations, union destruction of our industries, an embarrassing public education system, immigration reform and no functional energy policy are ignored because of their complexity.

It’s sad to see such ignorance disguised as concern by Liberal/Progressives.

But then again that’s what got us into most of the mess we find ourselves in today.

ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 for real Americans

I bet you $ 10,000.00 dollars David Gregory is a Reg., Republican !!!!

Tim Russert is spinning in his grave.

It seems to me that the only thing Mitt Romney is good at is criticizing others.

Whether it's critiquing President Obama's administration, or London's Security at the Olympics, or the voting record/decision making of his own Running Mate.

Romney's entire M.O. is to try and show how much smarter he is by pointing out other people's flaws after the fact, but offers no solutions or ideas prior.

The main reason that these allegedly disastrous cuts to both defense and separately to social programs will be the size that they are is that Tea Party Republicans in the House would not agree to much the smaller cuts that Speaker Boehner and the President had already agreed upon. So Mitt blaming the President, the Democrats in Congress, or even the House Speaker is obviously incorrect.

Taking $100 billion from social spending will definitely cost needy families dearly as it will greatly reduce opportunity as well as also reduce available humanitarian crisis funding, and it will also cost plenty of jobs too.

Cutting defense by 10% after the Iraq war has all but ended would seem to be a prudent cut, in fact we could still reduce defense spending even more and still maintain the highest state of readiness and capability in the world. Considering that the Iraq war was partially funded with stolen Social Security trust funds perhaps part of that $100 billion should go straight into repaying the trust fund too.

The main reason not to cut $100 Billion seems to be the affected dependent communities, some of which will undoubtedly lose some jobs, which at this point is the #1 reason not to cut our grossly bloated military budget even more. It seems that defense spending is a lot like welfare, in that spending cuts will have a ruinous human cost for the affected communities.

Look on the bright side! If we cut $100 billion from our bloated defense budget, at least some of that will become available to be loaned-out and spent within our civilian economy, which will then spin-off and provide much greater economic opportunity than it does now, since redundant and unnecessary military spending is essentially a government hand-out to people who could be much more productive and profitable instead of being another expensive drag on society!

CLAWYD: You failed to answer my question as to where the President gets his authority to violate his oath of office and his duty to uphold and defend the laws of the US as set forth in our Constitution. The best you said, as I get it, is that if you were in Congress and/or the Senate YOU would not have voted for the law, and YOUR opinion overrides that of the majority of Congressmen and Senators. This country is not a dictatorship and certainly not your dictatorship.

How is anything you said relevant to Obama's failure to comply with the law and "detail how those defense cuts would be implemented" as required. If he (the Commander in Chief) can't or won't detail the cuts, what makes you think that you know how to. I take it you believe in abiding by the law only when it is convenient for you.

The President and the House Speaker did do their "Constitutionally-mandated" duty to try to resolve their differing spending cut priorities and did in-fact come to an agreement on less-severe cuts, but the minority Tea Party in the House held all the rest of us hostage, and demanded even deeper cuts, so your whining about what the President did or did not do in the way of Constitutionality regarding these spending cuts is barking-up the wrong tree.

@Old Timer: good points. Any organization, including a government ... and especially one this big, is going to have things they could improve on. With so much money and bureaucracy involved, how could they not be? Nor organization of that size can modernize rapidly enough to keep pace with available advances in every part of itself. There are going to be lags and interdependence preventing immediate action that give it's detractors cable news talking points. A lot that is pointless prattle; the DoD has a big job to do just to manage the resources and missions it's responsible for. Radical cuts to any major portion of our federal budget are going to affect a lot of things (and people) adversely; best to move in a controlled, predictable fashion. I believe in what has been said in the past, and by Obama, everybody gets a haircut. That's different from selected programs get lobotomized ... which is apparently the GOP plan. Nobody really knows and according to M.T. Suit we're going to have to just trust him, elect him, and then all will be revealed.

node4

I believe in what has been said in the past, and by Obama, everybody gets a haircut.

OK, I'll play.

Tell me exactly who/what is everybody that's going to get a haircut by Barrack Hussein.

Then tell me how much will be saved by those haircuts.

Finally, what will be done with those savings.

ROMNEY/RYAN 2012 for real Americans

Oldtimner and node4: Obama signed the bill putting the law into effect. He could have vetoed it. Now being called to do the math he can't or won't. He's probably out campaigning and doesn't have the time, or desire, to attend to the duties of his office. Obama has no excuse for not abiding with a Law that he endorsed with his signature.

As to jobs, he says a bunch of crap about job creation but he has rejected all proposals from his "Jobs Council" and has not met with them for 9 months. He seems to believe that he knows more that anyone else and can ignore the experts (which he is entitle to do) as well as the law (which he is not entitled to do).

Do the two of you have any education in Constitutional law? Do you want to live in this country, a Democracy, rather than a dictatorship.

Obama is simply refusing to abide by the law because he has no idea as to how he can convince the electorate that he can reasonably cut the defense budget. He's campaigning again on a bunch of promises that he has not even thought out. Same as 2008. If he had thought out his defense cuts, before spouting out at the mouth, it would be easy for him to explain how he was going to do it. BTW: Where are all of these ex-servicemen going to find jobs?

If you listened to his "acceptance speech" he told us that HE would put an additional 100,000 teachers to work in the classroom. The problem with that is that the States control education, not the federal government. He cannot do it. It's beyond his jurisdiction.

If the man wants to promise something that's fine; but, don't promise "a chicken in every pot" when you have no chickens.

Gil, I specifically know of no laws being violated so if you would be specific I might be able to figure out how your mind is operating?

I know that fair taxation is one thing that is not being done according tot he constitution because my neighbor says he pays only 14% in taxes and the last time I did mine I fell in the 21% range. The neighbors house is three times the value of mine and I'm sure his income is too by the three cars and two boats. We do have two cars, one with 160,000 miles on it and not a new one every yer like they get. It is called Greedy Gil!

Yeah Gil, that is one of the problems with democracy, as there will always be a minority of voters on every issue. But like I keep telling my libertarian friend who hates always being in the minority so much, if you don't like it, then why not try to find some constitutional benevolent monarchy and move there, and he immediately found the Republic of San Marino over inside of Italy, so perhaps you would like life much better there instead?

I too am a lifelong American born during Ike's Presidency, and I too am not happy with what I see as an attempt by a small percentage of Americans to destroy most of the rest of us as a part of their out-of-control addiction to steal more money than anyone else has, no matter who they have to walk all over or throw under the bus to get what they so crave.

Say Gil, what's worse for America? A hard-core drug addict who might steal your car or your purse to get what he needs, or a hard-core wealth addict who might destroy the local economy of an entire town or city without any care for the human misery caused by his actions, just as long as he gets to have far more than his fair share of our limited money supply?

Since Ronald Reagan took office, the top 5% of Americans have seen their income rise by 400%, even figured for inflation, while the bottom 70% of Americans have seen theirs fall by 40% figured for inflation too. Yet it sounds to me like you would rather continue that policy direction rather than work hard to correct it?

Wouldn't it be a bummer if those same 70% of Americans could agree on a single direction for America that benefited themselves at the expense of the other 30%, just like the last 30+ years has so unfairly benefited so few of us, at the expense of the vast majority of us?

I'll bet that outcome would have you willing to trash the Constitution in a heartbeat too!

clwyd: As to your first sentence I suggest you re-read the Article and consider immigration as well. I will not attempt to explain to you the "questionable" legality of many of Obama's "Executive Orders" circumventing the Congress and the Senate (playing dictator). And, can you explain, or comprehend the import of Obama's statement quoted in Time Magazine that in his next term (of course at that time he will be accountable to no one) to the effect that if he can't get what he wants through congress, he will do it "administratively". The Constitution and the concept of three branches of government be damned.

You pretend to be poor off. But can't afford H & R Block. You said "we" so I assume you are filing a joint return. I assume you have no children and take the "Standard Deduction". You say you do your own returns. Can you read a 1040 Instruction Booklet?

If your Adjusted Gross Income was $119,000.00 (which you imply it isn't or else you are spending yourself into bankruptcy) you Federal Income Tax would be be less than 17.5%. An average middle class citizen, say about $40,000 to $50,000 Adjusted gross, pays about 10%.

Don't do your own taxes?

And ask your neighbor to show you his return. Maybe he has capital gains, a lot of deductions, or he is full of s**t or above his means. I've seen a lot of these "rich" people who don't have a dime but a lot of frivolity and debt

OldTimer: "Trash" the Constitution for what? A dictatorship? Look at where Cuba is. Is that what you want. Do you want a monarchy? Look at Saudi Arabia. Do you want communism, socialism, etc., etc.,. Sounds to me that you want anarchy.

The Constitution provides for checks and balances. Anarchy and the other forms of government do not.

You like Obama talk about what you would like but never say how you expect to get there. Suppose, I was the trustee of your money, and I said to you "I have a great investment, I'm going to put it all down on the fifth horse in the sixth race". It's a plan. I told you in advance what I planned on doing. I gave you an opportunity to object. Don't you think that is more appropriate than for me to wait until the race is over and say guess what, YOU lost.

I'll not get into "seen their income rise" or "seen their income fall" except to say that is probably misstated. No ones income suddenly rose 400% and no ones income suddenly fell 40%. It might be more appropriate to say that the average incomes rose and fell since Reagan, which could be the result of thousands of separate economic factors. The substantial increase in one parent families, children born out of wedlock, and entrepreneurship for example. How does Steve Jobs mesh into your averaging. Don't try to use statistics, you can prove anything with them, or create your own.

There are two constitions in the US right now One is the original and the other is the Tea baggers if Mitt is elected he will tear up the original one for it give rights to the people No more rights allowed for women, voters etc with Mitt.

I read the instructions and I fell into the 21% tax bracket. Plain and simple. We have some investments yes!

Gil, The Legislative Branch is suppose to create laws not add the Keystone Pipeline to some 40 odd Bills now in an attempt to kill them since it won't pass the Senate or the President (Veto) The residences of the Dakotas and Nebraska have challenged the route. Gil

If you are paying 21% you are clearly making more than $119,000 or you are self-employed and adding the tax computed on the SE (included in "other Taxes") to your Federal Income Tax.

So now you are describing how your dictatorship should operate. Everything for you and nothing for the rest of us. Typical Liberal greed. Gimme, gimme.

And how did the pipeline get into this?

My income was not over $100,000. Greed???/ I give away more than some people make. I do community volunteer work for schools, English as a Second Language- teaching Eng. to foreigners who want to English and I work at a County Food Bank. So no I don't give me, gimme, gimme! I give, give, give so others won't get short changed by millionaires that pay only 14% in taxes like Mitt..

If your gross income was $100,000, assuming no kids, you are under 65 and take the standard deduction your Federal Income Tax would be between $12,000 and $13,000. If you are over 65, have a kid or two, or your deductions exceed the standard deduction your tax would be lower. Once again, I believe you are adding in "Other Taxes", the killer being the Social Security Tax which a self-employed person reports on the SE. The discussion here is the amount you owe in Federal Income tax NOT the total taxes owed which is shown on the return after "Other Taxes" are added to the Federal Income tax owed.

Either there is something that you are not telling us or you should have someone else look at your return.

I'm off. Have a good evening.

JimSpence, I seem to recall a gov't (read my lips, no new taxes) that spent over 1,000 per toilet seat. You can look for gross mismanagement of spending in EVERY presidency. Health care fraud is committed by the HOSPITALS not the gov't. Absolutely NO one here said anything against the soldiers, and in case you don't recall YES people were angry with Kennedy during the Vietnam wars. It escalated to the point of mass protests and emigration until Nixon finally called it off.

Mitt wanting to INCREASE defense spending is a harbinger of his statements regarding Iran and Russia, where Mitt has intimated a desire to get into a war that can easily escalate into World War status. It would TRULY be lovely to be the country that started the end of it all.

Gil, you're so hip on E (note the E) Emigration you're the one who should leave. If disagreeing means you're anti-American, you're the one who is anti-american. The Constitution which you SO laud is a piece of paper, it is STILL humans (mostly men at that) who work hard to break the constitution, starting with the fact that NOwhere in the Constitution does it give Congress the right to tax the citizens of the U.S. And NO WHERE are lobbies allowed or excepted. If you think the Constitution is being rigorously followed by ANY congressperson, you're a fool. And PLEASE continue to defend those very rich who are stealing out of YOUR pocket. I find it amusing that so many would vote for a (well, can't call him a MAN as he's threatened by the very idea of a woman working) professional BANKRUPTOR or healthy companies. Vote for the man who has NO hesitation in putting THOUSANDS of people out of work, loss of pensions, loss of earned vacation pay, while HE makes millions off each bankruptcy. Vote for the man who is HIDING his taxes, and WHY is he hiding them? Everyone else showed theirs! Including the Bush's! Why is Mitt exempting himself? THIS is the man who's running mate voted FOR the defense cuts.

Your Tax figures are GROSSLY wrong, because the average lower middle income class person actually pays 21% in payroll taxes where the average top 1% pays 1.8% in payroll taxes. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3505

AS for Mitt's accusation that the president hasn't put forth the papers discussing the specifics of defense cuts. I'd hazard a guess that Congress would be yelling LOUD if it were true that the paper hadn't been put forth. Luckily for US, Mitt isn't exactly in the circle that gets to HAVE all that information. TRUST me, if the paper isnt' already in place (according teh fact that there must be a time waiver before it all hits the news in order to allow for corrections or changes) then the delay is also a NORMAL one (ask every past REPUBLICAN president about that) which allows him to set the strategies forth, it WILL come out. And Mr. HE'S-A-LAWBREAKER.. how many times have YOU broken your Mormon oaths? or your LEGAL ones? or MORAL ones? You've GOT your millions, but on WHOSE BACKS Romney? You cost familes their FOOD and their HOMES by shutting down an ENTIRE TOWN or COMMUNITY every single time you practiced your "borrow to the hilt, then BANKRUPT IT" practices. LOVE how the rich get to bankrupt but NOT those who can't afford an attorney to do it!

P.S. WAY TO GO attacking your OWN PARTY! No wonder both Bush's stayed away!

Echoe: I will only respond to those items which I have previously discussed, I will not respond to words which you insist upon putting in my mouth.

1) Under the Constitution you are entitled to agree with its principals or disagree with them. No one is going to force you the emigrate because you disagree with them and I am not going to call you unpatriotic for holding such a belief.

2) "NOwhere ( sic) in the Constitution does it give Congress the right to tax citizens...". Wrong, you don't know your Constitution. The "taxing Power" can be found in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1. While at one time the power of Congress to impose a Federal Income Tax was in dispute, it has long been decided that the tax is encompassed by the clause.

3) "NO WHERE (sic) are lobbies allowed or excepted". You misunderstand the nature of the Constitution. Everything is allowed except those matters which can be permissibly excepted by the government within the boundaries of the Constitution's limitations. The Constitution neither gives you the right, nor does it prohibit you from spitting on the side walk. It limits the power of Government it does not prohibit anything. If you do not understand the distinction, do some reading.

4) I believe that I was very clear that I was computing ONLY the Federal Income Tax rate. Clwyd said he did his own taxes and quoted 21%. I interpreted that to relate to his 1040 which I referenced several times and I stressed that he may be adding in "Other Taxes" in order to get to 21%. I doubt if I could have been much clearer.

Your are one of those people I frequently encounter who deliberately misconstrue what I have said and put words in my mouth. Thank you for the link. It says: "When ALL Federal, State and Local taxes are taken into account...." the bottom 5th of the people pay 16% and the second fifth pay 21%. In fact if you trickle down all the taxes we pay on a product we pay far, far more than your link computed. Take an egg. There is gasoline tax on the chicken feed and everything that goes in and out of the farm, for example. It all trickles down to us in the form of the price of the egg, as does the farmers real estate taxes, the FICA tax the farmer pays for his employees, all corporate taxes, transportation and employment taxes that the supplier of egg cartons has to pay, even the farmers own personal taxes etc., etc., etc. It has been said that if all of those trickle down taxes (I read that you could find 80 of them) were removed an egg would cost less that one cent. But that was not the issue discussed in your link any more than I discussed anything beyond the Federal Income Tax.

5) Nowhere in these Comments did I say that I stood by the rich, supported stealing, taking a woman's rights away, bankrupting corporations in order to rape them, condoned Congress, the refusal to produce whatever tax returns or college transcripts that some people might find an interest in, etc. No did I say that I support bestiality but if that is what you choose to support, it's OK, you have a right to do so.

@Jim Spence:

Tell me exactly who/what is everybody that's going to get a haircut by Barrack Hussein.

Ans: all programs in the federal budget - what part of "everybody" do you not understand?

Then tell me how much will be saved by those haircuts.

Ans: gee, I don't know - how much do you want to save? I'm fairly confident that one of many plans that would be put forward be to look at the revenue projections for the budget year and then back into reductions in program and department expenditures to present a balanced budget for that year.

Finally, what will be done with those savings.

Ans: See previous answer; balance the budget, reduce the deficit, and maybe save a few dollars for the inevitable rainy day.

Families, businesses, and governments (even ours until we elected a bunch of ideologues) all use this tried and true approach. Rather than completely eliminate things that have some good purposes, they try to cut where they can so they don't have to start from scratch when conditions improve. In the case of our federal budget, just like a large corporation - which often goes through the same thought process - you assign cost saving targets to each org which then looks at the missions they have and they present their plan to meet them. Each group has unique challenges and resources at any given time; which makes that a best practice for doing this. Have no doubt; programs would be eliminated and people would lose jobs / take early retirement, but in a much more controlled fashion. And in a way that posture the organizations for improved efficiency and future growth.

(why am I even replying to this troll?)

I got one, Romney the vacuum cleaner. If you leave extra money laying around, Romney will clean it up for you, especially your retirement funds that you saved.

People that make their money from tearing companies down do not deserve praise.

People that make their money only from the stock market do not deserve praise.

People that make money from riding on the backs of the poor and middle class do not deserve praise.

People like this are simply GREEDY LEECHES.

Invent something and build it yourself,...you deserve to be paid for your hard work and creativity. A movie star gets ridiculous money for ACTING and not doing anything substantial. Why do simple minded people glorify tv/movie stars so much? Have they done anything to make energy? Cure cancer? Build automobiles? No, so stop glamorizing the stupid people that act and do not even know science or math.

Such primitive humans and so simple minded. Movies and tv are JUST ENTERTAINMENT, not rocket science.

I do not respect Romney and how he made his wealth.

I disagree with the establishment and think that defense should be cut big.

We should be focusing on new energy sources other than fossil fuels. Think about it, put a trillion dollars into research and development of new energy sources and you will all be amazed at the technology that will come out of it. The money should be invested into small companies not big corporations because the money can be controlled better by the little guy rather than a board and CEO who need huge compensation for their easy cake jobs.

Yes; I would agree with that Tod P; consider if we would have just spent money after 9/11/01:

* Going after Bin Laden and his affiliated terrorist organizations - and not ventured into Iraq or gotten into nation-building in Afganistan.

* Invested in energy independence to the point that the US was not importing petroleum any longer; would have been difficult but would have been worth it in the long run.

Consider where we would be today; observe recent events in the last 48 hours in the mideast - by continuing to purchase oil from that region, we are supporting the very people that hate us the most and involving ourselves in situations that will turn into future wars. We're also baking in increased costs to many products and services make in the US. It was a huge mistake to blunder into that region and then compound it by not having a long term plan for staying out.

Vets weren't getting the care they need under Bush. Obama has been working to fix that, including added millions to the VA.

And when the ACA kicks in, a lot of veterans' families will qualify for Medicare.

Know your enemy!

There are many items that cost a lot of money because the specs of that item meet a certain standard. Take an aircraft for example. The bolts that hold significant parts like wings, or bolts that hold insignificant parts like a door handle, are made out of hardened steel. The .20 screw you can buy at Lowes will shear off and break, unlike the $22 bolt of hardened steel it looks like. The FAA forbids you from using a bolt or screw from the hardware store to replace a missing or stripped bolt on a plane. Even Lowes sells bolts made with different grades of metals. There are marks on the top of a bolt that indicates the grade of the screw. You will see a .20, an .80, and a $2 bolt on the shelf. They all look the same, but are totally different in strength. Take a look the next time you are in a hardware section or store. Not sure if there is actually a $300 toilet seat, but if there is, there is a reason why it cost $300.

Man of steel my a$$, the military have ZERO co-pay on medications prescribed and filled at their dispensaries, you are an uneducated lying fool on you best days and a POS the rest of the time.

BP the grape

That's what the industry would have you believe, but actually the mil-spec bureaucracy causes wasteful spending and profit. I was once at Fort Irwin in California. I noticed the M1 Abrahms mechanics used regular cans of WD-40 like you would find at any hardware store. The only differences was they had mil-spec stickers added on the side. They said that sticker added a tremendous amount to cost to the can because of all the paperwork involved in the purchasing process. When I was in Iraq, the cost of a bag of laundry was $100 and a meal on a paper plate was $63. If you got a second plate, the cost doubled. JP-8 fuel had to be trucked in from Kuwait at the cost of many times what the local rate was. The examples go on and on. There are many companies making tons of money off war. As long as war is that profitable, you will see more of it.

Those poooooor defence contractors, how will they live, how will they send their kids to Harvard? How will they pay for their yachts? You liberals are so heartless, how will haliburton deal with this sadness? OMG. lol

This just gets more ridiculous every day. complain about debt, then complain about cuts, complain about debt again, complain about cuts again, wtf, MAKE UP YOUR MIND REPUBLICANS, YOUR MAKING ME DIZZY, LOL

Harley Chic....gotta hand it to you to try and put numbers that are totally meaningless out there.

Facts are that Bush was the first president since the VietNam war to FORCE the members of the military to be extended in their enlistments AGAINST their wills because not enough people were enlisting in the military. Now the Military is the only jobs that will hire anybody able and willing to sign up and those cuts you pointed out are normal attrition from enlistments ending and the actual cuts means they will not need anybody or everybody to join in the future. The terms for retiring were changed by Congress under Jimmy Carter. A Republican Congress if you care to check so extending the retirement another 5 years would equal HALF of what was done then when they raised retirement from 20 years active duty to 30 years. I was in the Navy when it happened so I do KNOW what I speak of. And the "longer deployment-more deployment" line can be put back in storage because that again was started by your Bush, Jr. as well. Don't expect to change the rules and cry about it when the next guy just carries out your plans....Kind of like the "EXECUTIVE PRIVILEDGE ARGUMENT" that Cheney and Bush used over Plame and when Obama used it over Holden- you Republicans cried about it.

Facts are, Bush is not on the ballot. Until he is, i will ignore ALL of your useless comparision posts.

Romney / Ryan 2012 !

Harley Chic - It's people like you that make me think the Republicans have and had it right; only Men that own land can vote. That way stupid twits are left at home to take care of children and keep there mouths shut.

As a Native Brit, when they were the worlds policeman. Lots of people got rich, but not the majority of us.

Maybe these Republicans, should read Charles Dickens, and a few other books, about the British working class and middle class.

Wars and arms, broke the country. Some where necessary many not, just expanding an Empire.

Now without the Empire, the average Brit, is much better off today than they were, back then. They still have Armed Forces and fight necessary wars.

But it's for the Nations good, and not wars that serve no purpose, but to protect Interests of those who have money involved.

I hate to say it, but it seems we are heading down that same sad path.

Hell, we are even outsourcing our Military duties to rip off artists, like Haliburton and the likes of Cheney. and his puppet Bush.

Romeny is asking for more than our Defence Department, asked for and needs.

I think they know better than Mitt the twit.

They say, they Bush never paid for his wars, but somebody sure will, and guess who that will be and it won't come out of Romney's pocket.

Last time I checked, the only group to almost bring this nation down was Wallstreet (during the Bush years). Now, they have their poster boy Mitt begging to run the show.

So when Mitt starts yammering about Iran, you should recall when Oliver North thought it was a peachy keen idea to sell Iran weapons on behalf of Ronnie Reagan.

This is Republican policy and politics at it's finest

Ahhh the iran contra. They were trading weapons for American lives. I know thats wrong they should of said no and called it adult abortion and all you demoncrats would have been ok with it.

Harley Chic - I'm sorry but if you want to throw out facts to support your claim BUT not accept facts to counter your claim then you have what they call "tunnel vision". First off, have you ever been in the military service? Do you know ANYTHING about the military and how what goes on behind the scenes?

If I were you I would seriously reconsider commenting on things you know nothing about. Reading and commenting on what you have heard through the media is so disheartening......

In case you were wondering, I AM a 20 year military veteran.

I don't think you all heard of the NEW Math, stick a little here, stick a little there and hide the truth works all the time for the REPUBLICANS then when the truth comes to light blame the other party.

$50 billion could come out of the military by trimming the waste alone.

But let's put things in perspective. Taking the entire amount out of the troubled F-35 program would mean that instead of the 2443 planes the military wants, they would get 2362. Still more than the number of front line attack planes of all other countries combined.

If the government stopped sending billions of dollars overseas to countries who hate us and are not afraid to say so, think of all the good it could do back at home.

Key steps in taking back America is Voting the GOP Warmongers out for good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOP priorities bankrupt America with more wars for the 1% !!!!!!!!!!

GOP "RED" = Blood !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know but it seems that the Citizens of America are of no concern, We have an outrageous deficient already and because the Morons decided to hold the Ceiling increase as a hostage, which caused this Automatic cut, and now the Morons try to blame OBAMA for the mess they created, I hate to say this but their sheep might fall for their BS but the DEMOCRATS won't fall for some Morons Idea that this was OBAMA's doing. Just remember this ROMNEY's specialty is bankrupting the companies he has run, there is nothing impressive about his business abilities.

The main reason that these allegedly disastrous cuts to both defense and separately to social programs will be the size that they are is that Tea Party Republicans in the House would not agree to the much smaller cuts that Speaker Boehner and the President had already agreed upon. So Mitt blaming the President, the Democrats in Congress, or even the House Speaker for the size of these cuts is obviously incorrect.

Taking $100 billion from social spending will definitely cost needy families dearly as it will greatly reduce opportunity as well as also reduce available humanitarian crisis funding, and it will also cost plenty of jobs dependent on social spending too.

Cutting defense by 10% after the Iraq war has all but ended would seem to be a prudent cut, in fact we could still reduce defense spending even more and still maintain the highest state of readiness and capability in the world. Considering that the Iraq war was partially funded with stolen Social Security trust funds perhaps part of that $100 billion should go straight into repaying the trust fund too.

The main reason not to cut $100 Billion from our military budget seems to be the affected dependent communities, some of which will undoubtedly lose some jobs, which at this point is the #1 reason not to cut our grossly bloated military budget even more. It seems that defense spending is a lot like welfare, in that spending cuts will have a ruinous human cost for the affected communities.

Look on the bright side! If we cut $100 billion from our bloated defense budget, at least some of that will become available to be loaned-out and spent within our civilian economy, which will then spin-off and provide much greater economic opportunity than it does now, since redundant and unnecessary military spending is essentially a government hand-out to people who could be much more profitably-employed within our civilian economy instead of being another expensive drag on society!

I'm not sure why the current $900 billion dollars isn't enough to keep the military going. Sequestration does not cut the military budget below what it currently is, but it does dramatically cut future budget increases for the biggest most wasteful porky pig government agency that has ever existed on the face of the earth. China's military budget is $100. Russia's is $70 billion.

Yeah, but don't ask Ryan, he'll just lie about it like everything else he says. They don't call him Lyin Ryan for nothing.

As we heard recently; the GOP is not going let their statements be dictated by those pesky fact checkers.

Like anything that comes out of obummers mouth is true. He won't even release his education records.

Joe mama - What do you think you will get out of the President's education records? What is your fascination with them I wonder? What do you expect to learn from them other than he was able to go a school you "probably" weren't able to get into. I'm just saying this is a non issue just like the the "birth certificate". So what's the real reason behind you wanting to see just how smart he was in school?

Not to mention that Ryan voted against the supercommittee's majority recommendations, thereby triggering the automatic sequestrations

It is nice to see that others noticed. Ryan voted for the cuts, and voted No on the supercommitte's recommendations, and then stood up and pointed to Obama as the cause.

Plus, 12,000,000 is the predicted gain for jobs under both parties. The republicans have nothing, but they are touting future predictions as their plan, because they actually do not have one, and the election is less than 60 days away now.

Well We all know OBAMA's baby toe is smarter than most REPUBLICANS so maybe they just need to know if his toe is really that smart .......

Why can Limpballs, Mittens, Fake News, Lyin Ryan and Shuan Vanity tell the lies they tell? Because they know their regulars are either idiots, ignorant or already sold. The truth is the GOP's enemy, where has lies are their friend.

Has anyone noticed how slow the news streams at the bottom of the screen on Faux News? I think they know the intelligence of their regulars.

I think that the Democrats are allowing ALL of these mandated cuts and tax increases to be put in place, including allowing taxes on everyone to be raised after the first of the year. In doing so, they hope to be in control of Congress so these increases can be repealed on the middle class. This would give the net tax increase on the 1% that they have been attempting to get pushed thru - not as much as they wanted, but it is a start. As for our defense budget - having worke for the government (as a contractor) there is a LOT of wasted money spent on R&D of new toys so the government can discard perfectly good hardware / blow up their old bombs - so they can have new ones. Romney has made his administrations positions perfectly clear - he intends to be at war with Iran / Syria so the military can get these new toys from Northrup Gruman and Halliburton (Cheney) can get make millions once again. It is BIG business that keeps this war machine rolling - you think Romney's sons will be on the front line? Hardly!

It was the spend and cut GOP that insisted on the sequester, not the Democrats and the President.

Romney, Ryan, Boehner, and McConnell - the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Hope they don't fulfill the "prophesy".

Yes I believe Romney's plan is to declare war on Iran on his first day in office so as to not waste any time funding Haliburton with more contracts and kickbacks.

Never mind about the troops they are fine fighting two or even three wars, maybe we can even take out Russia while we are at it.Thats the Romney plan.

Look out WWIII on the way.

He can't declare war on Iran, or initiate it without congressional permission. Iran would have to present a clear and immediate threat to us or one of our allies for us to even use military force. While I am sure he and the defense contractors are busy manufacturing evidence to support a war, I don't think we are going to fall of it twice.

He also can't just give an executive order abolishing the ACA, that is not within the presidential powers. Teapublicans have zero concept of how much they are being lied to and manipulated. ACA passed the supreme court because that was what the republicans wanted, it was their legislation until the day Obama acted on it.

Romney and Ryan are both liars and losers.

Yea, right, tell that to GW Bush, he did it, although it took longer cause he had to get the press "on board".

I would expect a response like that from a dumb a$$ "Harley Chick". He didn't leak anything. Go ahead and vote Romney, and watch how quickly our jobs go overseas and how quickly we get into world war 3. You like paying and extra 10k just for the Harley name huh? Your another DUMB sheep!

HEY here's a crazy idea, maybe the republicans can stop sabotaging our government? nahhhhhh that would help America too much. If these republicans hate gov. so much, why dont they move to a republic, like republic of china, republic of cuba, republic of north Korea, republic of Iran. all great republics that you republicans can move to. just leave us the hell alone, god dam it.

HARLEY CHIC.. cannot trust a President who lies and leaks CIA and Military secrets...? Really...so then Cheney and Bush should have been jailed over Valerie Plame then right....You said it dear. Political gain seems to have been their motive since Joe Wilson had pointed out their false assesment of those "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" Bush so adamantly said he knew exactly where they were. And after 10 plus years have never been found.

WAAAH... They still remember that Bush destroyed our country. WAAAH...

Harley, stop being a whiny conservative. You need to learn a concept called Responsibility. Bush failed in his responsibility. It already happened and it can't be undone no matter how much you whine about it. Fifty years from now, they will still be blaming Bush and fifty years from now, it will still be his fault. Get over it. It's time for you to grow up and live in the real world. Bush isn't on the ballot, but Republicans are. Conservatives caused the Great Depression. Conservatives caused the Great Recession. You can't undo that. You have to accept it and start voting intelligently based on it.

Do you really the think that everyone has forgotten where we were 4 years ago. We were losing 700,000 jobs per month. Bush had given $700 billion to banks. That's BILLION. $700 Billion. You need to pay attention, because your "right" to be uneducated is harming real Americans. Obama reversed that. We gained 200,000 jobs last month and we've had about 40 months of job increases every month. We're vastly better than we were 4 years ago. And we need to get even better.

But the choice is clear: Republicans left us losing jobs every month and with Obama, we've been gaining jobs every month for the last 3 years. Just so we're clear, we want to be gaining jobs. Not losing them. That's why we're voting Democrat. We've seen the Republican offering. It led to the largest loss of jobs in the entire history of the world.

Chemphd

Im not sure where you got your phd but you need to learn to read. What have the demoncrats done for the economy in the last 4 years????........thats right nothing. All obummer has done is devalued the currency by quantitive easing multiple times and tripled the national debt in 3 years! Btw bush didnt do that in 8 years. Obummer doesn't count people that have been without work for extended amount of time as unemployed he says they are just not looking for work anymore. The unemployment number they report is artifically low to make him look good. With your big phd i'd be worried about your taxable amount going up substantially because you know you make so much money we are going to punish you for making smart decisions, hard work, and sacrifice to succeed so we can spread your wealth around to the people who don't want to work. Thanks odumb@!$%#!

Joe mama - I will pose the same question to you. What have the Republicans done for the economy the last 2 years? That's right NOTHING. That have been too busy obstructing and voting to repeal sensible laws. They promised to bring "JOBS JOBS JOBS" but so far haven't produced any legislation other than the Keystone pipeline that will allow a foreign company to utilize "eminent domain" to take land from the hard working Americans that worked hard to secure that land, land that may have been in their families for generations. What other "jobs initiative" ideas have they produced over the last 2 years? Oh that's right tax cuts for those at the very top who "create jobs" HOWEVER, most of them DON'T create jobs so why do they need a tax cut?

Me personally, let ALL the cuts expire, freeze current spending levels where they are and whatever surplus there is, 15% goes to shore up medicare and Social Security and the rest to pay down the debt.

joemama, I'm not talking percentages. I'm talking actual jobs. And I'm aware that there are two metrics used. So is everyone. You're not privy to some sort of secret information there. That data is open at BLS and you can go right this second and look it up.

You claim that Obama tripled the national debt in 3 years. I'm going to give you homework. Go find any source that backs your claim. Report back to me. I don't even think Fox news would lie that audaciously.

Yes, I worked hard to get where I am. It's true. Pat of that was taking personal responsibility and getting an education, rather than collecting welfare and bashing education and government and anyone different.

But I didn't single-handedly make myself. I put in work, and should be compensated, no doubt. But other people built the roads I use, other people fight to defend my freedoms, other people work to build the schools I learned in. I pay taxes (not too much, just my fair share) because I like those roads and the defense of my freedoms. I pay into Social security because if we can keep Republicans from constantly taking from the fund, I might need it someday. And when I hire people, I'm going to pay them fairly because they aren't my property, they're fellow human beings who are working and who deserve a living wage if they are willing to work.

It really is that simple.

Romney has absolutely no defense or foreign policy experience. He has no credentials or education in those areas. He made a complete fool of himself on his European trip, in a lame attempt to show he has the diplomatic ability to be president.

Well, he proved that he doesn't. We need a leader who can be respected and trusted by the rest of the world. We need to re-elect President Obama.

Romney is entitled to his opinions on defense and foreign policy, the same as any other citizen. But to put him in charge of our defense? To make him the architect of our foreign policy? Why on earth would we want to do that?

What have any of us done for our country besides bitch, moan and stick our hands out?

Jabba, That statement alone show you hate REPUBLICANS what did they do to you.. Just because they think they are the only ones that pay Taxes don't be hating. The reason I know you are talking about the REPUBLICANS is they constantly whine and bit_h, that is how all my REPUBLICAN friends are. Yes I have many REPUBLICAN friend I just ignore them when they talk politics.

Another Typical Republican - Karl Rove Trick and Abuse of the Blog -

IMPERSONATING The Editorial Staff!!!

That Comment should be reported for it's Fraudulent Abuse!!

What about all the other taxes, Chesty? I'm talking sales tax, payroll tax, "fees" for gov't services, etc. What percentage of their income do "many of them" pay compared to the rich? Look in a mirror for the real idiot.

nice shot chesty....right square between the eyes...their still reeling from that one.

lol coyote

Wordist45... Here's one from an attorney you may recognize:

"It's a game. We [tax lawyers] teach the rich how to play it so they can stay rich--and the IRS keeps changing the rules so we can keep getting rich teaching them." - John Grisham

"There are a lot of really, really stupid people who know nothing about anything...and Obama is counting on them this fall."

Yep, we're counting on each and every one of them to vote republican.

Chesty, you need to aim 2 or 3 clicks to the right, your aiming at the wrong target.

Chesty, the people at the bottom pay more than the folks at the top.

While I agree that the tax code isn't too bad for the lowest income taxpayer, my tax bracket and the one slightly above me get murdered the worst by our federal government and their un-Constitutional collection agency the IRS, and their un-Constitutional central bank The Federal Reserve.

And I'm struggling to make ends meet on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile the taxes the wealthy pay, they get back and then some with all their tax breaks and loopholes.

The constitution gives the government the right to assess and collect taxes. How is the IRS 'unconstitutional?

Just like the Federal Reserve Act got shuffled through.

They voted it through while everyone was absent.

And that was only done because the Supreme Court ruled income tax un-Constitutional in 1895.

Since the Supreme Court did that the only way to get it pushed through was to change the Constitution, which they did but it was never properly ratified.

Roy Wilson,

Citing CNS, give me a break why not use NewsMax or The National Enquire. Citing a rag whose banner is the Right News Right Now pretty much tells the story. Hey I heard Obama was illegally trying to get the Sasquatch vote.

jkh

WHERE ARE THOSE TAX RETURNS MR BUSINESS MAN??????

Obama/Biden 2012

The book Red Ink about our deficit states it takes the next 17 largest military budgets to equal ours!

Our defense budget is full of bloat. Look at our land mass and borders and then look at Russia, China, and India's. We outspend them 5:1 combined...

It's time to build cars of the future, not more tanks and stealth fighters...

I think Romney/Ryan, Boehner/McConnell already have war declarations ready for Iran and Syria.

We all know how most all little boys love playing with their plastic soldiers, airplanes and ships etc. Problem is, when the big boys do it, it's with real people, planes and ships, etc. Some presidents just can't resist using their power to play war with real planes, ships and people just like they did with the plastic ones when they were little boys. They care nothing about how many real people (American military and the natives of the country they want war with) are killed or injured; how it ruins real people's lives forever and how it bankrupts our country. They try to control all of us by trying to make us afraid just like they did after 9/11.

Has anyone else noticed the difference in the campaigning this time? I have not heard one Republican say that they will 'keep us safe' like we heard from them from 2001 till 2008. Wonder why that is???? LOL

5 generations of Romney's have not served. This guy is a chickenhawk draft dodger

King K.... I will agree that the FAIR system would be a REQUIRED Military service and by that I mean ACTUALLY serving an Enlistment not working on some governors election committee instead of doing your "RESERVE DUTY" like you are supposed to. But the drawback is that it would be very unpopular to have people FORCED to die for their country instead of volunteering to do so as is the current method. The fact you miss however is that even under the draft the rich have the system rigged where they are not the foot soldier who is first in line to be shot at, but rather the officers telling those brave men to do their duty.

Still doesn't change the fact that Obama has never served in the military. Military service is not required to be President. And , in Obama's case, experience and competence were not required either. If you didn't know their party affiliation, names, etc.., but simply reviewed their resumes, Romney would be the hands down winner.

Really? What is Mittens foreign policy experience?

Your President has been quite competent in issues regarding foreign policy, and has improved our standing in the world.

Mitty went to Great Britain, and managed to insult an ALLY, can you imagine the damage he would do with people in the world, particularly those of different ethnicity?

King do your know there was no war when Obama could seeved in the military. Rommey is a joke!!!! Ryan is evil!!!

Vlad Putin endorses Obama. Should tell you a lot about what he thinks is best for Russia and its friends (Syria, Iran, North Korea).

Charlie.don't confuse these NeoCons chicken hawks, about facts and costs in lives and treasure. Most people, know we can't afford to pay for unnecessary wars.

Not when our infrastructure, is so badly in need of re-building or repairs.

Where would that money go, into the workers pockets, and be spent in the nations economy. Even one construction worker, can keep so many others in jobs.

The working class and the middle class, are the ones that spend their money, and don't hoard it in off shore accounts, like Romney does.

And where the hell are his tax forms, sadly, this time, it's not like father, like son.

Yea Mitt where are those pesky TAX RETURNS ?

Ya know you won't win if you don't release !

10 YEARS PLEASE

Please show us that you are not a despicable low life tax dodging corporate raider hell bent on destroying the country just so you can go in at the bottom at bargain basement prices and buy up everything in sight.

Say it ain't so MITT, otherwise we will have to assume the worse and reject your butt!

And Republican consultant Ana Navarro told the Los Angeles Times: "Where his numbers are right now, we should be pressing the panic button."

There are two main reasons for this panic. The first is that the "system" Nixon referred to is now recognisable by most – particularly with a black president in the White House. As people have become more attuned to the frequency of the dog whistles, the tone has necessarily become more shrill. During the primaries, Rick Santorum told a crowd in New Hampshire: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money." Newt Gingrich branded Obama "the food stamp president". Just a few weeks ago, in a clear nod to the "birthers", who insist Obama was not born in the US, the party's nominee, Mitt Romney, went to Michigan and joked: "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." This is rhetorical peanut throwing. When everyone can hear it, you've transitioned from a dog whistle to a straight-up whistle.

Second, with white people destined to become a minority in a few decades, the strategy is no longer an anchor but a millstone. Tying Republican fortunes to the white vote made electoral sense in the early 1970s. Since 1980, the white share of the electorate has fallen in every consecutive election bar one – 1996, when Ross Perot ran. The more black and Latino voters the Republicans alienate, the more white voters they need to replace them. The trouble is they are fishing for a larger number in a smaller pool, which demands ever more juicy bait. "The demographics race we're losing badly," said Senator Lindsey Graham, acknowledging the problem. "We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."
********************************************

These guys are already in real trouble. Wait until Willard starts trying to talk real fast like he did with the Fox News interview. Mitt Romney told Bret Baier on Fox News today that he did not talk about the troops in his convention speech because, “You don’t go through a laundry list; you talk about the things you think are important.”

Case in point lilirocks, the M1 Abrams upgrades that have been going on. The Army doesn't even WANT them! They are looking for the next generation of Tank NOT rebuilt M1's!

Like hell O'bama will man of steel. There are other ways to trim costs in the military without cutting benefits to the troops. Stopping the hiring of outside contractors, and using soldiers for on base construction, is one way. Slashing wasteful spending on items used daily is another.

If we must have higher spending on the military fine. Let those who want a larger military pay higher taxes to finance it.

Yea, the military you know isn't grateful that Obama didn't leave them stuck in a war based on Republican lies. 4,000+ of our soldiers dead for halliburton. On top of that Mittens foriegn policy team is full of bush holdovers. Who can forget Bush at looking under the podium and joking "no wepons of mass destruction here!" HA HA real funny.

Put Tricare (military health care), Medicare, Work Comp, Medicaid - and everyone else in between, onto the Affordable Healthcare Act, and have a sort of "Medicare for all". Only Medicaid is for the poor, and given to the destitute. The rest of it is not "free" - and HMOs love not having to pay for the sick, injured, and old - just shove them only the taxpayer. The taxpayer gets to subsidize the HMOs profit line.

Wish voting for the end of hiring of outside contractors for the military could get rid of the mercenary companies. Train those young people in trades, don't hire Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves these days).

Wade, You want those of us who want to pay more for defense pay it through our own taxes. How about those who want more WELFARE pay for that through their taxes???? Dont forget a large percentage of them do not pay any taxes, some even get back UNearned income tax. I am all about helping out those that have fallen on bad luck, or for those with disabilites of any kind. But the problem is we have become a society that relies on governement support to survive. I work in the medical field and what I see on a daily basis is sickening. My husband and I both work and I have 3 children at home. I choose to get out and work to make things better for my family instead of staying home and struggling financially to pay our bills. I am all about being a stay at home mom if my husband makes enough money for us to live comfortably. My problem is just like people are are saying Bush or whoever needs to take responsibilty for their action. So does everyone else here. The problem is we all want to do whatever it is that we want and then expect someone else to bail us out if things go wrong.

Granted I understand things do happen and people need help to get back on your feet, but back on your feet and a lifetime are 2 totally differenct things. I believe the reason that we all seem to see things differently is because we feel so strongly about the things that we witness daily and where we are in our lives. I work in a pediatric office and see everyday people coming in with medicaid that drive nicer cars than I do and all talking on thier iphones. I dont have an iphone either. I do see patients that have been with us for a very long time come in after years and get medicaid due to loss of job or disability and they will only be on the system for the initial year. That is what it is suppose to be. But the majority of those that we see have had it for as long as we have seen them, and have had 2-5 more children since then. This is a lifetime for them, not a help up! And those are normally the patients that complain the most about waiting or things not going exactyly as they want.

I do understand that those that make alot need to pay a higher percentage in taxes. But it cant be the responsibilyt of those hard workers to support those that dont want to work. There should be a maximum amount of time you can receive welfare unless you have a disability and are not able to work. Problem is for alot of people it is more profitable to stay home and draw unemployment and other forms of welfare than it is to go to work for $8.00 an hour. If everyone made $25.00 hour then many businesses wouldnt be able to stay open.

If we dont stop handing out so much and taking from the middel class you will soon lose more of the middle class and gain more of the welfare class because the middle class like myself will not see the benefit in going to work everyday. And then we will all see a huge problem in this country.

I cant understand why so many people hate Romney because he is rich, or because of his tax records ect. To me the President is the CEO of this big company (country) and just like any business we need the person that can balance the spending to make more of a profit. A good business man is what our country is in need of.

I actually liked Obama in the beginning and thought maybe he could be good change, but nothing is better and honestly financially we are worse off now than 4 years ago. I get than he inherited some problems, but 4 years is a long time to see no change.

You want military capacity we don't need, YOU PAY FOR IT! I not only stand by my remark I'm doubling down on my position. Softball mom, If we really need a huge military, we need tax revenue to cover it. Otherwise the expenses will bankrupt the country.

I did not bring welfare into the discussion Softball Mom, you brought it in to make me stand down, there is a big difference between welfare and the institutions that make the middle class possible. You tactic did NOT work. If wars are started to force draconian changes on the poor and the middle class, those wars are started for the wrong reason.

Mitt Romney told Bret Baier on Fox News today that he did not talk about the troops in his convention speech because, “You don’t go through a laundry list; you talk about the things you think are important.”

The troops aren't important enough for anything but Willard's laundry list.

I would be pretty upset if I was in Afghanistan combat right now.

It's obvious they can't ask about his solutions....he has provided no details...

I wouldn't count on it, after all, it's verboden (forbidden in German)

You think the press is pro-Romney?? You are stupid or insane.

MSN likes Obama. Seems so.

Danno I really enjoy your rants against Halliburton and their No Bid contracts to rebuild the Kuwait oil fields. At the time those contracts were signed there were EXACTLY 2 oilfield service companies in the entire WORLD with the trained manpower and specialized equipment needed. The first was Schlumberger started in 1927 in France. The other was, of course, Halliburton started in 1919 here in the U.S.

Meanoldbastid

Sorry, I did not even know about those, I was referring to the contracts in IRAQ the provided substandard facilities for our troops.

Halliburton is a great company for oil field repairs and construction as long as someone other than the U.S.A is paying the BILL !

Put the US ARMY CORP of Engineers do BASE construction not contractors who ripoff the country with over billing and defective equipment.

The teleprompter BS is really old. Romney is lost with out his. Follow up questions that stray him off his prepared remarks kill him. You really need some new material. Call up Rove. I'm sure by now he has to have a new line or two for you.

It all depends how deeply Clear Channel has Romney's back. Bain Capital (Romney’s Baby) Owns Clear Channel which owns 866 radio stations and Premiere Radio Networks, a national radio network that serves nearly 5,800 radio station affiliates and has over 213 million weekly listeners. Programs include the Rush Limbaugh Show, Glenn Beck and the Sean Hannity Show.

Amen.

Look for a funny looking hump on Romney's back. You betcha!

They will have to inspect Mittens for a miniture receiver before the debate.

People, if Romney and Ryan win you will see the wealthy get their taxes cut. You will see increase in spending for the military. You will see social security become privatized. You will see Medicare vouchers until you run out and you pay. You will see all other programs eliminated or cut back including students going to college. You will see the middle class gutted like you have never seen before. I am scared to death that you people will vote with blinders on for Romney/Ryan. Take the time to read up on where the jobs came from that Mitt boasts about in his statee when he was Governor. He had manufacturing jobs leave this country and his job creation was medical jobs because of his health plan, the one he was happy that President Obama patterned his after. Mitt Romney has changed his positions on probably every major issue and I don't know what positons he really stands for except, increasing the military and cutting taxes on the wealthy. He has done more what they call flip flopping on issues than any candidate I have ever seen. And one thing that is funny is how sometimes movie stars will come out to support a candidate, well Chuck Norris (real name-Carlos Ray) first recomended Ron Paul until he saw he wasn't going anywhere, then went with Newt Gingrich until he wasn't going anywhere, all the time taking the position that Mitt Romney is a flip flopper. And now who do you think Carlos Ray (Chuck Norris) is backing, Yep you guessed it, Mitt the flip flopper. I watched some of the Democratic Convention and I was really impressed by the Catholic Nuns on the Bus. They don't want to see what will happen to the middle class if Romney and Ryan get elected. Myself as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon), as much as I believe Mitt Romney is a good family man, I don't want to see him and Ryan elected, anyway shape or form. What really needs to be done is to break up the Republican gridlock they have in the house and put the democrats in to move this country forward and people will go to work. Please support President Obama/Biden 2012

Eagle-Idiot.....Democrats voted for a man who has a brain on top of his shoulders instead of someone in search of a brain...cave men need not apply for jobs that require intelligence as the first qualification, and to be a leader of men you have to have their well being at the forefront, our leaders can not be allowed to use the populace as a disposable commodity for the wealthy, and that is exactly what Romney would do. After he uses you to wipe his a$$ he will flush you down the toilet without a second thought.

Eagle; that post is obvious from a frightened welfare dependent with nothing to add to our country. Ignore it. It is ridiculous, anyway.

Well.......For someone with (as you say) minimal experience......He (Obama) sure got a HELL OF A LOT done......More than either of the 2 Bush(wackers) ever did.

Mike - you lie.

Although I don't want either of these guys running things, for you to say Romney is not qualified is really nuts. What made Obama qualified? All you guys do is sit at your computers and type the same sh1t back and forth to each other. "Grown-ups" calling each other names and stuff so very mature. You guys are the reason our country is in the can, not Obama or *sigh* a whole term later, Bush. Maybe if you all did something to better this country instead of type sh1t back and forth to each other, our country would improve and be what it should be. strong and prosperous.

Hey Mike, just for your information, I am not a welfare dependent. This week marks my 39th year with the coal machinery company I work for. I worry about my kids, grandchildren, my neighbors and people I don't know but care about even you. President Obama hasn't been given a fair chance to fix up the mess the Republicans made when the Republicans won't even consider helping financially to help their own country. I will cancel your vote by voting for President Obama 2012 for the good of country.

I must be nuts Gulf Vet, cause Romney is not fit to be a dog catcher, let alone President. Having Romney and Ryan as president would be like electing Hitler and Goebbels into the oval office. Today's GOP scares this center left Lincoln Republican to the core. I thought GWB and Cheney were bad. Today's GOP is a thousand times worse.

Michael, Mike thinks that only brain dead idiots would vote for the Democrats, I say to hell with what Mike or any other RWNJ thinks. I think Romney may push Russia too far, and start WWIII. 145 years ago I would have voted for Lincoln. O'bama is today's Lincoln, the spirit of Lincoln's GOP now resides in the DNC. Today's GOP is now the party of Jefferson Davis. The radicals in the GOP have turned their collective back on every thing Lincoln died for, as today's DNC has embraced Lincoln's values.

well said Wade :) I'm a vet and I've been keeping up with the needless defense spending such as building more F-22 and more ships. That money needs to be going to the education and rebuilding this Nation.

Wade,Tampa Florida, I think we all know by now that whatever the old Grandfathers GOP was is gone. The Tea Baggers have taken them over, and vote out any sane and reasonable Politician, until they are left with the dregs.

I think they should rename the Party to RWNJ's, at least it would be a truth, but we all know, this Rmoney/Ryan's campaign, don't bother with fact checkers.

How do the vets feel about being on Romney's 'laundry list'?

Mitt Romney told Bret Baier on Fox News today that he did not talk about the troops in his convention speech because, “You don’t go through a laundry list; you talk about the things you think are important.”

"Congress earlier this summer passed a bill requiring the Obama administration to detail how these defense cuts would be implemented if they do go forth, and the president signed it into law. That deadline passed this week without the required report,... He has violated the law that he in fact signed,"

So once again Obama proves that he has no respect for the law and even less respect for our military, who he is allegedly supposed to command.

As for the ones here who claim that Romney is not qualified to be President, I have to wonder what is the "great qualifier"?

In 2008 we had four people Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin, on the ticket. Of these NONE had any experience as President. But lets look at their political qualifications...

Obama - State Senator who habitually avoided voting on anything, and U.S. Senator who failed to finish his term, no Executive Branch Experience whatsoever.

Biden - Countless years in Legislation, but no actual Executive Leadership positions, other than the head of a few legislative committees, no actual Executive experience.

McCain, Military Unit Commander, and Legislator, again no actual "Executive" Experience.

Sarah Palin - Small Town City council member (local legislator), Small Town Mayor (Local Executive), Chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (State/Federal Executive), Governor of Alaska (State Executive)

The fact is that Palin..., the one who the liberal Democrats called "stupid", "unqualified" and "inexperienced", was actually the MOST qualified of all those on the ticket.

Now the left claims that Romney is inexperienced and unqualified, but compared to Obama...Romney is a towering giant of political qualification.

After an additional five trillion in debt from the man who claimed that he would cut the debt in half by the end of his first term, do we really want to rely on the DNC pundit class to tell us who is and is not qualified for the oval office?

Palin qualified, bout of derisive lafter. She isn't qualified to be a crossing guard. It takes spending and revenue to make a deficit go away Jon. Today's GOP is responsible for the cliff we are on the verge of falling off of. Why didn't deficit spending matter until O'bama won the presidency? The GOP spent like drunken sailors for 8 years during Bush's term as President. The moment Obama won the GOP got religion and decided now was the time to cut spending and taxes after they maxed out the national credit card.

You want me to trust the GOP now. I might as well find the nearest mugger and let him cut my throat. O'bama Biden 2012.

Like I said, the Republicans are BIGGER spenders than the Democrats. They say that they want a balanced budget but their spending habits tell a different story. They are big fat liars.

Obsolete would be a better choice of words for our strategic needs today. It has been obsolete for 12 yrs. but it did keep many defense production plants working and keeping those skilled people employed. I believe those jobs have been transfer-ed to the JSF aircraft production. My problem is no one who wishes for this strong military presence is willing to pay. What we have is a party of flag waving in god we trust cheap skates, who really rather believe technology and bombs than god as history has time and time again proven reliable. But refuse to pay and play, they just want to play on your dime.