I agree Bryan.  And, we need to get rid of the constitution.  It is outdated.  We Americans no longer wish to abide by the foundations of this country.  American Dream???  The new American Dream is here.  The rich will pay for everything we want from now on.  That's right, if you work, you will pay for me.  I no longer have to work.  And, now that the government has gotten their foot in the door to owning the major banks we can finally control business through government deciding which businesses can and cannot get money.  And with no checks in government, we can push more social programs through quicker.  We may lose a few million jobs, but that is just the way it goes!

I encourage you to google New York Times Credit Crisis and see which party created this financial debacle.  You are blind to "Change we can believe in."  Your own party was warned in 1999 not to pursue issuing credit to borrowers that had poor credit ratings, yet they did it anyway.  Franklin Gaines was in charge at the time - a Clinton and Obama advisor.  Do you think maybe the Democrats have some responsibility in this?  I do because in my country there still are 3 branches of government.  Do the math!

I agree with you Bryan from OC California!

Hey, Hey, Brian and Jeremy!!!  New Mexico salutes you both!!!

I didn't care much for GW 8 years ago, but I'm not about to sit here and put all the blame on him.  Gordon is right - that's what checks and balances are for and apparently the reps and senators in office didn't know how they operated.  That's why I voted against all incumbents, regardless of party.

Jeremy - you hit the nail on the head.  I should quit taking out student loans of $20k a semester for law school.  Why do anything to make my life better and contribute to society?  Why work for anything?  I might as well join the hordes in the welfare line and get my pittance from Robin Hood (sorry, Freudian slip, I meant Obama).

JeremySwann:

Do everyone a favor and leave the country if you think that socialism is coming to America.  We will do fine without you.

In case you don't realize it - while GWB may not be everyone's favorite, he can't make decisions on his own - this is not a dictatorship - it is a democracy - and there are checks and balances - so it isnt just him who is to blame -  the blame also falls to all the other politicians as well who voted as to what Mr. Bush wanted to do.  As for Mr. Obama, while I think he is a good man, I clearly don't see how he can justify giving illegal aliens driver's licenses and social security - that is simply outrageous.  They aren't citizens and have not earned the right to receive social security!!!!!!  Mr. Obama wake up!!!!!!!!!   Just because he can speak eloquently and rev up the Democratic base to a frenzy, does not mean he is ready to be President of the United States.  He hasn't accomplished that much as a Senator for his own state - let alone the country.    His view on abortion is totally ridiculous as well.   I wonder what his wife thinks about that?   My mom was a staunch Republican her entire life until Bill Clinton came along - and from that point on she was a Democract.  I wish she was still alive to see what is going on now.  She was a smart and fair woman - who didn't have a racist bone in her body.  I wonder who she'd vote for today.  I just hope that if Mr. Obama wins that he rethinks very carefully some of his plans for the future of our country.  Good luck to us all!  Be careful what you wish for as it could come back to bite you big time.

SableGirl you are refering to the  "McCain-Kennedy Bill", S.1033) which was an immigration reform bill introduced in the US Senate on May 12th 2005 BY SENATORS JOHN MCCAIN and Ted Kennedy. Passed 62-36. Makes undocumented persons who
have been here 5+ years only allowed to stay and apply for citizenship, if pay back taxes, learn English and no criminal record. 2 million undocumented persons who have been in the United States for less than two years would be ordered home. Please TRY to get your facts straight the "MCCAIN-Kennedy bill"

be very careful, obama is not proven to be a US citizen, and could be deported once the Supreme Court hears the case.  I will NOT support obama for any reason until he proves citizenship.

Where is Obama's Birth Certificate from, if it's not from Hawaii??  Kyjunkyard, do you believe he's, *gasp* a Muslim too?!  Oh NO!  oh wait, remove head from rear.  just because you attended a church years ago, or lived in a certain country as a child, does not mean that you are always of that religious or moral thought process.  I myself attended a very conservative Lutheran church as a young child who went so far as to try to ban people who smoked from the congregation because they were a "bad influence".  the question was then brought up, how can you ban smokers, but welcome reformed alcoholics or those who still drink, isn't that just as dangerous as a habit? It was at that point, at Age 15, that i realized the hypocrisy of what they were trying to do to a group of very good people who had a common addiction, but accept others with just as damaging of an addiction, and severed my ties with that church. 

But, of course, I'm sure you would try to consider me a part of that group still to this day if ran for higher office and you didn't like me.  or felt threatened by what i represent.  However, a hyper conservative woman who no one besides those from Alaska had heard of at this time last year, that's really someone I'm sure you can get behind.

glad you asked.  first, thanks for the personal attack.  second, obama was born aug 3 in kenya, witnessed by his grandmother and other officials and where there are official supporting documents.  i guess it's time to retire the Constitution, and perhaps you would have a name change recommendation for the former United States of America?

Update Nov. 1: The as saying that both she and the  registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.Fukino said she has “personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures."

you're oh so right Obama will keep the working man working....for him and not for yourself.

What decade are you living in???  Look around you... this country is in a hole & Bush is the head ditch digger! From what it looks like McCain is even better at it.  I'll take my chances with Obama, thank you very much.

Please understand, President Bush told us up front this was going to be a long and difficult path.  He never spent a penny, Congress did.  Bush has handled himself well, and this country is better for his great service.  He did not attack us, the extremists did, and he took the fight to them.  He kept it off our soil.  Obama is a charismatic personality, but that can't run a country as complex as ours.  And if his record is any indication of where he wants to take us, I say not on my life.

Deborah, you got that right! Bush has surely gotten us in a deep ditch, with no rope to pull ourselves back up. I have strong faith in Obama, and people that don't....obviously want the same as the 8 years we've had previously!

kyjunkyard:  IRAQ DID NOT ATTACK US, NOR DID THEY HAVE WMD'S!  I support the war in Afghanistan, but invading Iraq was wrong of us.  IRAN is the read threat with the WMD's; Saddam was merely calling our bluff on a power trip.  We are a better country for his great service?  what president have you been watching?!  The world has no respect for us, and if our country is so "complex" that a C student who did drugs in college can "run" it so well, as you state, then a man who at least can form his own goddamn sentences without his VP pulling the puppet strings will do a HELL OF A JOB!!!!!!

 He never spent a penny???? Are you kidding me...    During Bush's first five years in office, the federal government increased spending by $616 billion, thats dollars.  That's a 33 percent jump in the size of the federal government in just his first five years & thats just the tip of a very giant iceburg.   

deborah, let's try to teach you basic politics.....Our congress writes the budget and after all the unnesacary spending they want is added it's given to the president to either sign or veto...he used to have a line item veto which worked, but no more, now it's veto buget or accept all good and bad to get what you can. 

Gracie.. Yes he has spent money in Iraq, but so did Clinton you remember the babyfood plant? Do you remember Clintons miltary actions in Iraq & Kosovo and the soldiers lost there for no reason? We hadn't been attacked! You are not in the military and never will understand why we went into Iraq. Let's make it simple for you. Afghanistan is not a normal area to fight in, we had major problems there, the enemy was to hard to find. So we simply attacked, an enemy we should have eliminated 8 years earlier, in an area we could fight on better. Where you draw out the muslim extremists who started everything but now fighting on our terms not theirs.

Would you have rather he ignored everything allowing them to bring the fight here? I didn't think so. I would have liked our military to simply be allowed to do what they are capable of and end things quick but we, unlike others, don't allow that! We care too much about the innocents that might die.

Just who is it you're trying to convince that bush has been any help what-so-ever to this country... Me or yourself???  Well justwantitover it is & Obama is our new president!!!

In 2000, Clinton’s last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion. The forecast ten year surplus stood at $5.6 trillion. It was the last black ink America would see for decades, perhaps forever.  George W. Bush immediately reversed Clinton’s policy in order to revive Reagan’s, once again showering an embarrassment of riches on the already most embarrassingly rich, his “base” as he calls them. He ladled out some $630 billion in tax cuts to the top 1% of income earners. In true Republican fashion, they returned the favor by investing over $200 million to ensure Bush’s re-election. But the cost to the public has been a return to the exploding deficits of the Reagan years. Bush blew through Clinton’s surplus in his first year. The 2004 deficit reached $415 billion, a record. Still, its real size is masked by the fact that Bush has shifted $150 billion from the Social Security trust fund in order to make the shortfall look smaller. It’s like pretending you’re richer when you move money from one pocket to another. Both sums have to be repaid, so the real amount borrowed is the $415 billion “nominal” deficit plus the $150 billion from Social Security or $565 billion. This shell game with federal trust funds taints all official forecasts about Bush’s deficits going forward. For example, the Congressional Budget Office estimates Bush’s cumulative ten year deficit at $2.3 trillion, to be sure, a breathtaking shortfall from the $5.6 trillion surplus he inherited from Clinton. But as with the yearly number, this one ignores the trust fund sleight of hand, an omission of some $2.4 trillion. When this is added back in, Bush’s ten year deficit leaps to $4.7 trillion, $10.3 trillion short of Clinton’s number.

Thank You  TR-421173....   

 now thats a basic politics lesson I am happy to learn.

You voted for Bob Barr ?? What kind of change is that ?? To begin with he is not even a libertarian !

Sounds like atook60 is a member of the zero tolerance club.  Is he part of the new obama domestic milita?

there was never an election stolen...there was simply a victory given by an old newsman, Dan Rather, before the actual count was reported. That and only that is what started all this election stealing B.S.!

Hey justwanitover.....Well, that's not really so.  LBJ did a bit of ballot stuffing.  He did some of the same tactics as ACORN.  Folks that were dead, babies...probably a few dogs & cows even voted.  So, if LBJ hadn't have made it as VP....he would have never passed Civil Rights when he took over for Kenndey.  But Nixon would have done it anyway.  That's the only reason LBJ passed it, because Nixon was going to.  Then would all the black population be voting Republican?  Would they be voting with the party that emancipated them?  Just a thought/question 

A rookie, perhaps, like Sarah Palin? Watching her (when she wasn't being sequestered, that is) was like watching a cheerleader cramming for a mid-term exam! Not the most reassuring backup for a 72-year old presidental candidate in questionable health.

"W" had experience and look what he did to this country!  "W" = Rookie!

I agree, .....Obama Biden is not the change we need.....they are out for the rich, not the middle class....watch and see.....same old story, tax and spend........why would the middle class think they are for them?  they are "beneath" Obama......you just fell into a trap.....

Hi JohnAH,  Who has the highest security clearance of all the running mates?  Who has the highest security clearance of both presidential canidates? 

JohnAH....you didn't know the answer.  It's Palin.  She has the highest security clearance.  She flies frequently to Homeland Security.  Remember she has a full national guards base & she is the COMANDER & CHIEF.  They guard the missle silo's.

I'm proud of Sarah Palin.  She has accomplished something that no other woman has done before.  We need someone on Capital Hill that can kick Buttttttt. 

I don't like Palin at all.  It all started with her "pit bull" comment and went down hill from there.

We all will decide on our own - but since knowledge is power, I am passing this along...
A question of perspective :
Obama/Biden v.s. McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?... think about it.  Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit? 
Ponder the following:
·What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three-month-old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
·What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
·What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
·What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
·What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
·What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
·What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
·What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
·What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
·What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
·What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
·What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashi ng seven planes?
·What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
·What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
·What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
·You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
·Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna *** Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
VS.
·John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

Thanks MD66

nana- you are one of the more educated folks on this site. no election should result in the destruction of the basic points that we have in place to balance our nation. good post

I like this thread too.  There should be no straight ticket on the ballot and the party information should also be stricken from the ballot!  People should get educated on who they are voting for  and not blindly putting faith in any party!

SO you make certain it is a do nothing or total compromise ineffective for two years at least....Nah...Give the President a mostly same party congress...(I suppose I say this because Obama won..To be honest I do not know I would say this if McCain had won..).

I am so nervous of what will become of this country if Obama IS elected

I am so nervous of what will become of this country if Obama IS elected

Nervous for what! You should be welcoming CHANGE!! CHANGE is good it's time to do the right thing not keep people in a RUT!

What is going to change?  I guess higher taxes is change, screwing up our health care system is change, destroying our military is change, kissing the rears of middle east Islamic terrorists is change.  I could go on.

I would say that political ideals aside, I'm nervous about two things:

1.  Obama may get assignated if he wins.

2.  McCain may keal over

Some of my peers think the vice-presedintial canidates are more important this time around.

The saddest thign i have seen happen in my lifetime is that suddenly everyone from the middle east has become an Islamic Terrorist.

Black people are now our equals (in some areas there are those who are so stubborn they will hold on dearly to their uneducated beliefs that they are not, but thank goodness they are getting less and less common), so i guess there were some people who had to aim their hatred and nastiness at others.

You are right we need a UNITED COUNTRY not a divided one OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!!!

Hey Romesladee,  Better get ready....all the police & national guard are.  They are preparing for a riot. 

So Jeff, what you're saying is.....you'd feel more comfortable with McCain dying, and that dumbfounded Sarah Palin becoming president? She's dumber than a box of rocks (when it comes to presidential issues). She couldn't even name a newspaper. *sigh*....anyway. I could go on and on.....

OBAMA 08.....A MAN WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

Glenda,

Amen to that!

at end, it is interesting to note that it was only a few months prior to the start of the primaries that the repub party was considering ousting McCain due to his "thorn in Bush's side" mentality and his continuous movement across the aisle. This fact is something no dem ever seemed to get. But hey- he ain't a polished speech reader!

atook60.  Obama is the Shim Sham Man.  Did the bate & switch routine on the campaign financing.  Won't disclose his personal records.  Wants to take away your personal freedoms.  Wants to allow the gay agenda in the schools.  He has gone on record: " The first thing I'll do as Pres. is cut the military in half, close half the bases, not fund military projects, not fund star wars, disarm civilians, stop our nuclear program, change the flag, change the national anthem....all so that we are a more friendly Islamic country.  That's the change the Shim Sham Man is bringing.  Then I'll ask Russia to disarm their nuclear facilities.   Ha Ha Ha Yeah right!!!   

I'm confused R.crockett.  the "Gay Agenda"?  is that the one where we teach our children to love each other instead of hating those who are different? I like how your quote of his has no closing quotations.  and he is not going to fund star wars?  how dare he not want to see Episode 7 on the big screen!  Changing the flag?  where did this come from? change the national anthem?  to what, remove the "Under God" part that was put there in the 60's by insecure frightened men who were afraid of Communists?  Last i checked, Palin wasn't releasing her records either.  I have known many people who have been sent to Iraq.  I have a friend who every time his phone rings is nervous it is the Marine Crops Ready line calling him back off of the reserve list that our soldiers go on after their 4 years active duty has been served.  oh, by the way, the word is spelled BAIT, there is no E in that word.  What personal freedoms are being taken away?  Haven't heard of those either.  I don't think McCain is a bad guy per se, i just don't think he is the right man for this job.  In a sense, i feel bad for Bushy:  probably a relatively decent person, but not qualified as president, and therefore has run this country into the ground.  McCain may have crossed the aisle, which is commendable and all parties should be willing to do (work together, not against each other), but he still voted with bush a great percentage of the time (wasn't the number somewhere around 95% or something like that), so i don't see much change coming from that end...

Mankind must put an end to war, before war puts an end to mankind - JFK