I’m part of the genus of people called the “middle class,” an endangered species if there ever was one. In the future, this group will be studied like the dinosaurs, with various theories offered as to why this group became extinct. Some will say an asteroid hit us…others will propose that Reagan economics did us in…or one of those east coast think tanks will suggest that we died out because there was no money in it. The middle class as a valid construct is no more. I propose a new socioeconomic typing system: The working poor, working hard, and hardly working.

So, what I saw was the same old script rehashed, which makes sense when you have nothing new.

Fearmongering - 9/11 “tribute” crap. What a disgrace to those who died. If the GOP couldn’t make us safe after almost 8 years of war and turning the US into a police state, when will they?

Fight? What has McCain actually fought for over the past 27 years? Keating and the S&L scandal - accepting over $100k from him (and pushing through the legislation that made it possible?) The “Enron” loophole? Lots of Pork Barrell spending? (look at our deficit…when did he complain about spending when it was the GOP enriching it’s friends?)

Honesty? Reform? McCain has been at the heart of the system for 27 years. Involved in at least one scandal (that I can reference offhand). Palin has ALREADY lied about her “fiscal responsibility”, her anti-establishment fight, and has abused her power since she was only mayor. She is a JUNIOR governor from one of the least populous states in the Union. She became mayor of a small town that had no debt and left it severely in debt with much HIGHER taxes (reduced property taxes for the wealthy and significantly increased sales taxes).

Obama, in his FIRST YEAR help draft and push through one of the most significant reform bills ever passed in the Senate.

Lastly, the GOP has a LONG history of fiscally unsound policies:

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that the Neo-Cons got control of both Houses of Congress in 1995, and singular control of our government from 2000 to 2006, and yet even with all that power in 12 years they never controlled spending.

When Mr. Reagan was in office he had a Democratic House and a Republican Senate to deal with. But the “Great Communicator” used the bully pulpit to force both Houses of Congress to go along with his tax cuts on the promise that spending cuts would follow. However, the spending was never reduced. The mixed-party Congress, with no presidential leadership, failed to follow through on reducing spending.

How did Mr. Clinton lead the nation into fiscal responsibility? When there was a Democratic run Congress he worked with them to put a policy in place that the Republicans dumped the minute Mr. Bush entered office. That reasonable and responsible policy was; if you cut taxes you must make a corresponding cut in spending. They called it “pay as you go.” We need that kind of responsible leadership again. Under President Clinton the Republican Congress lived within the ‘pay as you go’ rule and spending was extremely well controlled.

The Republicans rapidly abandoned this rule when Mr. Bush entered office in 2000 and deficit spending started skyrocketing immediately. Republicans have proven they do not have the guts or the political will to do what it takes to get spending under control. For the country’s sake let’s hope a new Democratic Congress will change the direction of this otherwise certain economic train wreck.

One thing the data makes clear, in stark contrast to their rhetoric, is that in the last 60 years whenever Republicans held all the power, they never used it to reduce the debt; in fact they always increased it. If you want deficit reduction you need Democrats in control, because the “borrow and spend” Republicans have never done it on their own.

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http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdeb t.htm

Why is no one investigating the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? Barak Obama was the Chairman of the Board of the CAC in the 90’s in charge of a 49 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation and matching funds of as much as 60 million dollars. This money was supposed to improve the Chicago School System. Some of the schools were selected to be recipients of grants and some were not. In it’s final report on the CAC, the Consortium on Chicago School Research rated the results of this over 100 million dollar investment. My reading of this report seems to indicate that the program was a dismal failure, typical of efforts to reform systems by throwing money at them.

To quote the report:

“Student Outcomes
As reported earlier in this section, there were no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and demographically similar non-Annenberg schools in student academic achievement or in student social and psychological outcomes.”

Why?

Mc Cain and the RNC will just continue to carry out the failed policies of the Bush administration.

Palin is a certified joke. Look at her history starting with the town of 5000 where she tried to ban books at their library and thinks God wants her to build a natural gas pipeline.

She and he husband are in the pocket of big oil.

If you want to live in a security state move to Russia.

Except for the war hero part, McCain gave one of Obama’s many speeches over the past few months. Good for him. He apparently now sees the light, but I’m voting for Obama. We’ve had a maverick-bring-em-on kinda guy in the White House during the past 8 years. We don’t need another one.

Lessons from the Republican Convention? For many Independents and moderate Republicans, the convention cleared the air on a few points. Most obvious: candidate McCain has become the willing captive of the Republican right-wing. The selection of Palin underscores that. No amount of rhetoric about McCain’s so-called “maverick” qualities can disguise the extremism displayed at the convention.

Convention speeches and the cheering crowd also highlighted another disturbing reality about this year’s Republican campaign. Those in control (young critics once tagged them “The Republican Establishment”) are the real elitists of modern industrial society. Nothing reminded us of this more than the standard manipulative attack on “community organizers,” always a crucial grass-roots element of our democracy.

And now John McCain’s own acceptance speech demonstrates those same qualities of gross deception and manipulation. Now McCain, whose campaign reeks with established Washington lobbyists and other Republican insiders, asks voters to believe he and his team will reform Washington. Now McCain, once known as a “straight talker,” uses that line to advance the interests of the political bases sustaining him: social-religious conservatives and a pervasive big-business complex.

One feature of this campaign is doubly deceptive. Republican planners and speechwriters would have voters believe the “old” John McCain is in charge and will show his “true colors” once implanted in the White House. This time, they say, Washington won’t change the man, the man will change Washington. Truth is, neither would happen. The man is already changed, and firmly under control. He was ambitious enough to pay that price to have a shot at the Presidency–the most prestigious office on earth, although not the real seat of power.

Credit the manipulators with one success, at least. The selection of Palin has helped muddy the political waters, throwing some Independents and Moderates into a state of confusion. But how many will come out of it deceived into switching to the illusion of Reform Republicanism? That stands as the most important question of this election.

I liked the speech. It was more objective and factual than Palin’s. McCain was respectful of his opponent. I trust McCain’s understanding of war. No doubt that McCain has a better resume. When it comes to the issues, Obama will simply not be straightforward about Iran. Obama endorses a state which is undeniably more socialist, and I spent six weeks in Europe this summer and do not want that. One of my friends, a foreign exchange student from France, returned to her country and had to wait six months for a doctor’s appointment because their healthcare system is crap.

John McCain was awesome. I hope we don’t miss out on tapping the great character, experience and bravery of this man. He doesn’t just talk about the stuff people want to hear at election time, like most other candidates - about all that they will do if the voters give them the keys to the fancy white house and nice paycheck. Instead John McCain talks about the stuff he has already been doing (with the physical, emotional and political “scars to show for it”) to make America a better stronger community.

Sure, democrats try to lump him in with W. Bush, but people who really follow and know John McCain’s record know that is nothing but trash talk. A term Obama may be familiar with from the basketball court.

McCain has my vote. I won’t abandon a man like that who has worked so hard from the inside to stand for justice, honor and truth toward all Americans over a meticulously manipulative man like Obama who has no real record of supporting equality and/or change.

Hi, I’m not from the US and A but I’m following the elections closely because whoever the leader is will impact the rest of the world one way or another. I also don’t care who wins, as long as the American economy peaks again and be less intrusive to other sovereign nations.

That being said, I find this interesting and enlightening…
“”What I don’t get about the contest is why the strongest voices among black Republicans are ignored by every media outlet, except for Fox news. The message is historical, revolutionary, and terrifying to most democrats. I guess members of the press really will do anything possible to get Obama elected. The absence of coverage on members of the National Black Republican Association validates this assumption with unheralded clarity - they are simply scared of the message. Return to the party of Lincoln and MLK, the party that rules the day in all civil rights reform. Leave the racist history of the liberal elite and godless Democratic Party behind - they think they “own” you. Obama is not MLK’s dream, he’s not even a true African American.”"

Seems like the media, especially CNN are conveniently sidestepping a news angle that could possibly portray the Republicans as less of a gang of old white men and more of a multiculturala group… hmm… fear that this angle could swing the votes against the democrats?

I hope that IF Obama becomes president, he can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. I hope that IF McCain becomes president, he will be less of a warmonger and cowboy than Dubya.

The only thing Senator McCain showed is why he would be 4 more years of the same. He blamed ALL our economic problems on the price of oil, if you can believe it!

Now, most people can understand that the price of oil is NOT what caused their houses to drop in value, or their jobs to evaporate. To solve the price of gasoline problem, all we had to do was slow down and pump up our tires. As a result, the price of gas has plummeted.

No, the reason the economy continues to free-fall towards a full-blown recession is because the REPUBLICANS DON’T GET IT!

YOU CAN’T GIVE A HUGE TAX BREAK TO THE WEALTHY AND NOTHING TO THE MIDDLE CLASS AND EXPECT ANY RESULT OTHER THAN DISASTER!

There’s only one way out of this, and that is to THROW THE BUMS OUT and put REAL CHANGE in place.

THANK GOD for Senator Barack Obama. The country needs him, and it needs him NOW!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

GO BAMA!