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Memo Pad

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Showing Resolve, Obama Pushes Republicans Toward Surrender

January 19th, 2013 12:00 am Joe Conason

Watching his Republican adversaries in the House of Representatives tiptoe gingerly away from another destructive confrontation over the debt ceiling just before his second inaugural celebration, President Obama must feel a measure of satisfaction. Yet this is a beginning, not a conclusion.  The hopes of the nation that re-elected him depend on whether he understands why he is winning – and how he can continue to prevail.

The formula for success was simple enough:  He wouldn’t relinquish fundamental positions on taxes and spending. He stopped pretending that the old bipartisanship is currently possible on Capitol Hill. He refused to negotiate under threat from the Republicans. And he called their bluff on the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling.

Adopting those firm positions, he persevered despite the usual deluge of complaint from commentators, politicians, editorial boards, and other Beltway sages, who predictably roasted him for behaving as if he meant what he said during last year’s campaign. Not surprisingly, however, the popular majority admires him and ignores his critics.

Of course, there is nothing new here: Americans prefer a political leader who displays a touch of grit, even if they don’t fully agree with that leader’s views or actions.  Establishing a determined and principled persona is vital; compromise can come later. 

Certainly Obama’s power has been enhanced by his election victory — a victory achieved by stiff resistance to the Republican agenda and willingness to fight back. Except for the second debate, when he reverted to old habits of vacillation and diffidence, the president showed steel during the campaign. And since Election Day, he has remained consistently decisive.

The rewards of steadfastness can be seen in the polls. Gallup shows a 7-point climb in his approval rating since last August, from 46 percent then to more than 53 percent last week. Rasmussen shows a climb of roughly 10 points during the same period, with a corresponding decline in disapproval. In the CNN/Time surveys, the president’s margin of approval has risen from 3 points last August to 12 points today. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that 61 percent regard him as a “strong leader,” 58 percent agreed with his view of the debt ceiling – and 67 percent say that congressional Republicans haven’t done enough to compromise with him on important issues. In all these polls and others, the public voices an exceptionally low opinion of Congress — and especially of congressional Republicans.

The Republicans still mutter threats about the budget, but their slow-motion surrender resulted directly from a growing perception of Obama’s resolve. He should continue to stare them down, unblinking, unless and until they abandon the Tea Party tactics of obstruction and blackmail. 

Photo credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster



  • nobsartist

    Is he pushing them on a jobs bill?

    Is he pushing them to fix the mortgage crisis?

    Is he pushing them to restore Glass-Steagal?

    Is he pushing them to force the oil companies to lower gas prices raised by Bush?

    Is he pushing them to break up the banks?

    Is he pushing them to fix the broken health care system?

    Is he writing executive orders to eliminate electronic voting machines?

    Is he writing executive orders that eliminate gerry mandering?

    Is he writing executive orders that secure our right to vote?

    A lot of us dont give a shit about the deficit. Especially since it is the result of dumb jackass’s in washington.

    When is Obama going to do something for those that elected him instead of pacifying the traitors that call themselves republiCONs?

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

      You’re not being very much of a realist here. And I doubt seriously that the President has the power to ‘fix’ the last three things on your list And, whether you know it or not, no president can influence gas prices and several other of the items on your list are very subjective and questionable as having a need to be addressed at this time.

      • nobsartist

        Really?

        How did FDR do hat he did?

        How did bush get away with what he did?

        I know bullshit when I see it.

        By the way, bush figured out a way to raise them by $3.00 per gallon. bush just must be smarter than Obama.

        I guess we elected another idiot.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

          Bush got away with what he did because he had six years of a Republican congress which had a super majority in both houses, and whenever he sent them a piece of legislation, it was always: Yes Sir, how high did you want us to jump. The first six Bush years were a true dictatorship.

          FDR faced some obstructionism from the GOP, but nothing like the absolutely determination of the GOP to see him fail. Back then, even the GOP had some sense of country; the GOP today has absolutely none of that.

          The way Bush raised the price of gas was by trashing the economy.

          • nobsartist

            Funny, it seems that a lot of those Dems that were in bed with bush are still in office.
            I remember those Dems supporting the war because it would “stabilize oil prices”.

    • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

      I Wouldn’t Worry About You List Of Things You Think He Should Do!! I Believe He Just Like Most Of The President That Serve Will Sign All That Stuff You Got On Your List As He Leave Office That Way There’s No Fighting Just Signing Into Law Things He Couldn’t Get Did With The Do Nothing Congress With The Approval Rating Of 18% Who The People Of America Choose To Like Cockroaches Over Them!! I Think Out POTUS Will Get All The Things He Promise Done It’s Just That We May Have To Wait Till The Last Day Of His Second Term!!

  • docb

    Another gimmick, trick, scam and kick the can down the road BS ploy from the idiots of the rabid right repub bagger do nothings..3 months puts the USA in another HOSTAGE situation!

    The answer is not no but HELL NO!

  • http://www.facebook.com/gerry.francis.39 Gerry Francis

    Considering everything this man has had to deal with during his tenure, I think history is going to remember President Obama as one of the great leaders of this country.

    • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

      I Think So Too!! This Debt Ceiling Deal Is Only For 3 Months, It’s What We Call Piece Milling!! The Koch Brothers Told Them Not To Screw With The Debt Ceiling, I Guess The Koches Will Lose To Much Money If They Do, but Guess What I Believe We Will See Them Screw With It Again In 3 Month!! Next Year Can’t Get Here Fast Enough!! Where We The Smart People Of American Can Start Getting These Assholes Out Of Office!!!

      • rockin_the_bay_in_Tampa

        Maybe people are finally starting to wake from their GOP induced comas that the pied pipers of the GOP had cast upon them years ago…stay tuned for further updates…

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        Yea for 2014. Send the Tea Party dumb skulls home.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

          Many of us sure hope so!!!

      • Mulligatonney

        Hmm… you don’t know how to spell “piece-mealing”, but you have no trouble spelling “asshole”… and yet you refer to yourself as “We The Smart People Of American”… did you mean “America”?

        Let me guess – you must be another member of the “progressive intelligentsia”, yes?

        Progressive intelligentsia – an oxymoron, to be sure.

        Or, in your case – just a moron.

        Or, possibly I should simply have called you an “asshole” as you did with whomever you were speaking about…it isn’t clear who you were speaking to. Were you talking about getting the Koch brothers out of office? But – they are not in office…

        But, at least you would have understood if I had said “asshole” to you…

        I guess you must be right, after all. After such a mesmerizing display of literary competence, those “assholes” you refer to will have no alternative but to concede that indeed you are one of the “Smart People Of American”….

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/UHE4MJP5FHMFIEAOGEQHETUGDQ Rvn_sgt6768

          Maybe it does not take raw intelligence to understand Republican tactics and their end game. In that case then maybe she is one of the “we the smart people of America”. Maybe too her calling out these same Republicans as assholes is merely giving them their due. As the old saying goes….”if the shoe fits….wear it”. I believe she is spot on in her assessment of the Republicans and especially the so called T-baggers.

          • Mulligatonney

            What you (insert your “nom du jour” here”) smarter-than-thou Pharisees have going here on this site and in this country as a whole is a cult religion, whether you realize it or not. You don’t look at reality – you have already made up your mind that what you are being told by your cult leader is the truth, and will go to any absurd length to defend it.

            The same way the Russians supported Stalin and his party as they kept their country in poverty for generations.

            I have heard better arguments made for scientology. Or sharia, for that matter…

            Of course you believe that the illiterate, profane creature who commented earlier is “spot on” as you say….

            Debt is being sold to you as “progress”… The liberties and Constitutional rights being taken from you are marketed as “security” and “safety” and “for the good of all” and “government knows best” and you line up for more of it even though you can see the evidence to the contrary all around you.

            Read 1984 by George Orwell, if you have not.

            It doesn’t take “raw intelligence” to understand Republican tactics? What type of intelligence does it take? What kind of tactics do you refer to? Republicans hate the American people but love the rich? Democrats love the American people, but despise the rich and want them to pay their “fair share” There are more democrats among the top 20 richest people in America that Republicans by far!

            Does that sound familiar to you? “Four legs good, two legs bad” The sheep said the same thing about the humans in 1984, never stopping to think that they were being used simply to keep the pigs in power.

            Your money is being stolen from you by deception – what kind of intelligence does it take to understand that? Your rights are being taken from you, one by one. What kind of intelligence are you using to argue with that kind of basic logic?

            And yet – you have the temerity to demean the Republicans and use the predictable “tea-bagger” insults for another group of Americans, thereby demonstrating that you are at least as intolerant as you say they are toward you.

            Does that mean that you think the Democrat party is on your side? Even as they steal money right out from under your nose you still think that? Johnson declared war on poverty 50 years ago! There are more poor people now than ever before. Does that mean that America lost that war? Or simply that they sold liberals a bill of goods to get themselves elected? Use your head – your “other-than-raw-intelligence!

            You are exactly what they are looking for! Another blind member of a contrived sect, listening and believing their sales pitch, contributing to their campaigns and giving them your sacred vote year in and year out as they lead you further and further down the road to economic and social instability…and worse, eventually.

            Like you said, “If the shoe fits…”

          • lana ward

            GREAT POST!!!!

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            You And Mullerhead Both Need To Shut The Fuck Up You Ain’t Talking About Shit Dumb Ass BITCH!! Your Mother Is A Skank Just Like Your Nasty Dick Sucking Ass!!

          • lana ward

            Fern calls you the same things she calls me. She is some berzerk crazy. She never answers, she just swears at you!!!

          • thebunt

            She probably wouldn’t answer a whining 2 year old either.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            Shut Your Stupid Ass Sucking Ass Up Bitch!!

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Katherine-Southard-Reece/839666123 Katherine Southard Reece

          Republicans have very little room to talk about name calling. Or have you forgot that a woman who wants birth control through her insurance is a slut who should post sex movies of herself online for your enjoyment.

        • http://www.facebook.com/bob.brindell.7 Bob Brindell

          Shame on you! If all you are capable of is berating Fern on spelling and gramma, and unable to challing her thought you have shown yourself to be an eletist ass.

          • lana ward

            LOL!! LOL!! All she does is swear!! Love your post!!!

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            All You Do Is Talk Like You Retard!! Go Get Some Help Air Head Bitch!! Stop Talking To Me!! And By The Way If You Had A Gun In The House No Doubt He Would Have Shot You Just To Stop Hear Your Dumb Ass!! STOP EATING CAT SHIT IT’S MAKING YOU CRAZY!!

        • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

          What Ever You Are Just Another Koch Brothers Ass Sucker Why You Go And Do What You Do Best GO SUCK SOME ASS AND EARN YOUR KEEP!! Cock Sucking Nose Picking Bitch Fuck Off!!! After 145 Comment Your Dumb Ass Only Got 47 Likes LOL You My Thug Is Just Another Cave Dwelling Tea Bagging Asswipe Go Fuck Yourself!!! Little Punk Ass Bitch!!

          • Mulligatonney

            You and your intellectual liberal friends must be very proud of this latest display of literary prowess.

            You should invest some of your welfare money into English classes…

            Then the people who are keeping you supplied with drugs, potato chips and beer would be proud of you as well.

            The taxpayer, I mean…

            And you liberals call Tea Party people and conservatives “haters”?

            Please…

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            You Retard Ass Need To Get A Life!! Koch Brothers Waiting For Their Blow Job You Better Hurry And Earn You Keep!! Tea Bagging PUNK Ass BITCH!!

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            I’m A Nurse BITCH I Got A Great Job And Money In The Bank And Great Investment!! I Got Me Confused With Your Mother She The Bitch On Welfare!! Go Toss Some Salad Fag Ass Bitch!!

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

            Ouch!

        • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

          Go Fuck Yourself ASSHOLE You And lana ward Both Should Go Back To Sucking Out Of The Koch Brothers Asses So She Can Feed All The 33 Cats She Hoarding!! Rush Called He Want You To Come Get Him An Ass Licking Then A Blow Job, Better Get To Sucking And Take The Cat Lady With You!!

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AOZVISW3XL7243YWES5SXAXXZA Kent

            Fern, I have often enjoyed your “off the wall” style. However, when you get into the profanity and insult mode, it does not do the progressive causes that President Obama espouses any good.

            Decorum, darling. When you use language like that, you put yourself in the same league as Rush Limbaugh and co.

            Remembere this site is read by “Progressives” around the world. I am an old “ex-Pat”- Nam vet over in Germany- aged 66. And all I can ask myself is “what is Fern trying to prove with all the profanity and obscene referrences to other people´s sexuality.

            Really, I do disagree with Koch brothers behaviour and policies but it is not up to me to make any sort of comment about what they do or do not do with their sex life. (I don´t do much with mine at age 66 either.) Every man in the world has a penis. And every woman has a vagina. So what? it is not for me, or you for that matter, to make baseless conjectures about what they do or don´t do with them.
            Don´t get me wrong. I am not a prude. I have nothing against “nudit”. (As a young man I helped work my way through college by posing in the nude at an art academy. Tough work.)

            I hav nothing against “natural eros”. However, I also believe in respective peoples border with my eyes, my words, and my deeds.
            (That is part of my “progressiveness” attitude. )

            Marx stated that Capitalism alienates us from our menas of production.. And a student of Sigmund Freud, came up with the bold thesis that our capitalist- consumer culture also alienates us form our means of reproduction.

            I tend to agree with that thesis. I also feel that the use of obscene foul language- could be an indicator of one´s own alienation from one´s own eros.

            I`ll be blunt, Fern. When I see splurges of barroom obscentiy and profanity like this, i think to myself- “What has that young lady been drinking or smoking? Perhaps she would be well advised to try going to an A.A. or N.A. meeting?” I sincerely wish you well.
            But, please knock off the obscenity on this site.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            Kent I Do What Ever I Have To To Get These People To Stop Talking To Me If You Can’t Take The Heat Don’t Read It!! I All Ready Say That I Sorry For My Foul Mouth, But I Going To Do What Ever It Takes!!! All You Have To Do Is Not To Read It!!! Problem Solved!!!!

          • sigrid28

            When I read your posts–any of them–I get a visceral sense of the outrage people feel who are the targets of the “intolerance” Colin Powell recently called out the Republican party for harboring. Within their ranks and through their surrogates on the airwaves, Republicans have called women, minorities, and the president every racist name in the book, and now have the gall to threaten to destroy the world economy through obstructionism and blame it on him. Meanwhile, you–and many people like you–are doing all you can to keep the American economy and your community afloat as well as being well informed and working to support opposition to this dangerous and radical ploy to harm all Americans and wreak havoc on our way of life. When I read your posts, which attack these policies (if they even deserve that term) and those on this comment thread who take up talking points to support them, Fern speaks for so many who cannot articulate how they feel, or may be afraid to, even a country where we cherish the first amendment right of free speech.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            George Bush Grandfather Supported Hitler It’s Part Of History!! Racism Is Hot Wired In Their Heads!! Same Way It Seems To Be Hot Wired In These Trolls Heads That Come Here Starting Crap!! That’s Why I Will Never Show Them No Respect Cause They Don’t Show Me None Nor Our President!!!

          • sigrid28

            I know, and for this I respect you. As I’ve said before, your voice is authentic. When you express outrage, there is always justification.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

            What Ever It Takes To Get Them To STOP Talking To Me Or Pushing My Reply Button I Will RIP THEM A NEW ONE!!! PERIOD!!!!

      • lana ward

        Get omuslim and all the other terrorist assholes out of office?? I AGREE!!!

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

          Aren’t you the clever one conflating Obama and muslim into one word. One is a lonely number as you’ve clearly shown. Get a grip on reality and let go of your fear, hate and distrust…it clouds judgement.

        • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

          Hey Cat Lady Kiss My ASS You Dumb Cave Dwelling Bitch

        • bjbstarr11

          Lana you are crazy. Get a grip on reality. President Barack Obama has been inaugurated for a second term. GET OVER IT.

          • lana ward

            And he LIED, swearing on the Bible. He swore to uphold, protect and defend the constitution, while at the same time stomping on the 1st and 2nd ammendments!!!

      • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

        OUR PRESIDENT JUST TOOK THE OATH FOR THE SECOND TIME!!!!!! YES WE DID IT!!!!!

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

          :-) ) !!!!!!!!!

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/KV2YCNDU755CHTULDVEIFTW7GE steven c

      Thats a scary thought. He is a mini dictator that sees the U.S as his kingdom. History will show BO as one of the worst presidents ever to hold office. In another four years this country will be another 15 trillion dollars in debt because he and his cronies in the Senate and House refuse to cut spending. If he has his way, and Harry Reids, they will over run this country will low wage workers that collect welfare from the government, tax the working people to death, and plummet the economt into a full scale depression.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

        What nonsense: Obama has done more for this country than any president since FDR, and he may well have already done more in 4 years than FDR did in 12. You have to have your head so far in the sand that when you walk around you look like an ostrich. What planet are you living on anyway? It certainly isn’t this one.

        Just a couple comments: he’s ALREADY reduced spending faster than any president since FDR; and he’s cut spending for 3 straight years for the first time since Truman did it after WWII; And he’s actually cut spending by more than 250 billion the past 2 years. And during his 1st term, government was downsized by more than 560,000; helped by him getting us out of Iraq (as he promised) and by working to get us out of Afganistan (as he promised), and by implementing numerous fixes to government agencies (as he promised). And he also managed to keep America out of the GOP’s second created world-wide depression – partly by following through with TARP and the auto bailout (both which Bush negotiated) which not only revived the auto industry but also saved 1.5 million Americans their jobs (which Romney would have trashed) which has helped bring in more than 120 billion in taxes over the past 3 years that would have been lost and on and on and on.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          That is why I became an independent. Both parties have their share of screw-ups and I don’t want any part of it. Remember 1928? My grandfather said to vote for a Republican would be like jumping off the Empire State Building straight through the gates of hell. He died in 1936 from a pulled gut working on the WPA that got infected with no antibiotics available. Remember 2008? Romney was shipping jobs overseas, and Bush signed t he relief act for the big banks that were just too big to fail. GIVE OBAMA A BREAK he is working on cleaning up this Republican mess.

          that

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/UHE4MJP5FHMFIEAOGEQHETUGDQ Rvn_sgt6768

            And Tom is it one hellava big mess.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Tom, problem is that amajority of Americans appear to have no appreciation for just how big a devestation of our economy Bush allowed to happen in 2008 – it was far worse than what Hoover faced back in 1929. The country didn’t really have the industrialization yet anywhere compared to today to be devestated. Hoover just basically followed the majority of the GOP playbook of cut the budget assuming the private sector would pick up the jobs creation, but instead of cutting taxes he jacked them up to over 50% for awhile until the economy started really falling apart. And what he did spooked the economy so bad in those first months of 29 that the stock market (which was really just a shadow of what it is today) crashed, sending shock waves that Hoover wasn’t able to dampen which eventually brought America and the world into a depression; which by the way, took FDR (who faced similar GOP obstructionism as Obama) 13 years to bring back to a real sense of normalcy. That was 13 years of recovery needed to fix a depression which was really also only a shadow of the devestation that took place in 2008. But unfortunately many Americans just expect economic disasters like Bush created to be fixed far too quickly.

      • http://twitter.com/jmprint Mary Martinez

        Steve c, wow you can predict the future. You must be rich, and win a lot of lottery games. It’s the Republicans that are, and have been keeping the wages down. In the last 2 decades only the upper 10% of most United States Companies have kept the wealth at the top, paying their employees minimum wage and no insurance benefits. While they get bonuses and compensation to keep up with the Jones. Stop blaming President Obama. Low wage workers don’t have much choice do they.

        • lana ward

          Omuslim promised the middle class wouldn’t be hit with new taxes, just the “greedy rich” would. He LIED!! And just wait until Obamacare is in full effect!!! It’s already hurting Drs. and hospitals!!!

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Sorry Lana but you’re wrong as usual. Obama hasn’t raised any taxes on the middle class unless they’re earning over 400,000; the increase in taxes that the middle class has been hit with is the fault of the GOP; Obama wanted to keep the social security tax cuts for another year but the GOP said they had to go if taxes were going to be raised on any of the rich. And part of the tax ageement was to recind the cuts in the medicare payments for doctors and hospitals that were suppose to take effect as part of the sequester deal. So doctors and hospitals will not be seeing cuts in their payments. Also, just for your info; a recent news article made a point of saying that the increase in healthcare costs which have most often been significantly more than the increase in the CPI, have actually slowed (the increase) over the past two years to the lowest level of increases in 14 years; my sense is that’s because healthcare providers and insurance companies are looking forward to next year, when as Obamacare takes full effect, healthcare providers will have far fewer deadbeats that don’t pay for the care they get from doctor, hospitals and labs; And insurance companies will have millions more insureds to cover when EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE INSURANCE IN 2014 (or pay a penalty if their income is such that it’s deemed they could afford insurance but have just chosen to foist their insurance costs on you and me).

          • lana ward

            I’m not wrong, obamacare is hurting Drs. and hospitals already

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/RRIQEM6A4QNIXQGEUM4U3EWIYM Forrest

        are you related to OBOZOMUSTGO? because you are both stupid as a bag of hammers

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Forrest: I will try to explain to you the difference between stupid, dumb, and ignorant. Ignorant is when you don’t have all the facts. Dumb is when you don’t realize it. Stupid is when you have all the facts, realize it, and make the mistake anyway. Wow! Hammers really don’t have the intelligence to know they’ve been left out in the rain.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/HJIWONQOW4EAYMCA4QH2DDJMBU MARK

          Or a box of rocks.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TT6POTCLZCE74T76WAJIIIUAHU frida

        steven c,
        Can you stop your cheap shots please!!!!! If Pres. Obama is a dictator as you claim he is, you could not even dare to touch a keyboard and write what you are writing now. If he is the dictator, all guns regardless their sizes, could be confiscated by now and be piled up somewhere. Can I remind you something Steven, we all think first before we write or say something.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          frida: No, you’re wrong, we don’t all think first. Please try to understand their are some that are just duped idiots.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/UHE4MJP5FHMFIEAOGEQHETUGDQ Rvn_sgt6768

          Not a troll like Steven c.

        • lana ward

          Omuslim IS a dictator and communist, traitor, America hater–you’ll soon find out!!

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            More unsubstantiated jibberish that proves that you have absolutely nothing worth saying that anyone with commons sense would remotely believe.

      • http://www.facebook.com/bucksnortjim.boyer Bucksnortjim Boyer

        Your not very intellegent apparently your one of those people that only watch fox news your living in a bubble Steve wake up and start paying attention to what your republicans really want. right to work laws that lower wages not raise them and catering to the rich watch all of the news shows because fox is not fair and balanced if they were they wouldn,t have to advritise it

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Boyer: I agree. Murdoch and his overpaid clowns O’Rielly, Huckabie, and Hanity are a bunch of airway garbage pushers. Must be nice to be rich enough to dupe a large number of American citizens into believing their propaganda.

          • sigrid28

            Rich Republicans cannot win without duping low-information voters, as the number of the super wealthy–2% of the population at most, minus wealthy Democrats–could not keep Republicans in office. They can only win by cheating.

          • lana ward

            That’s exactly what omuslim is doing, only you’re to far up his ass to see it!!

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            How about clarlifying “that’s exactly what omuslim is doing”. Lana, you’re just like all the other clueless GOP loving posters here, you spout lies and distortions with absolutely no bonafide facts to back up anything you say. And then when you do come up with some plaltitude, it’s virtually always misguided and/or just plaine wrong.

          • lana ward

            Apparently you didn’t read the comment that answer was directed to

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Now you’re trying to say Obama is cheating?? You never give up do you trying to find some nonsense thing to think about. Obama’s not cheating at anything – he accomplished more positive for America in his 1st 3 months in office than Bush did in 8 years -which was nothing positive – not a single thing. (The only thing that can remotely be considered positive is the Medicare drug benefit, but he screwed that up by making it more of a giveaway to the drug industry than a benefit to the elderly.)

      • http://www.facebook.com/gerry.francis.39 Gerry Francis

        A BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH spent on a war that was started on a lie. AND another two billion dollars a month to fix the stuff we’ve bombed. George Bush and his puppeteer Dick Cheney. And don’t you dare to tell me about 9/11 – I was there as a first responder (FDNY) and lost my younger brother when the first tower came down.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Gerry Francis: They ought to make Halliburton and Cheney pay for the 1 0 plus years of hell our nation has been through. Bush’s biggest mistake was acting before he used his brain to think things through. We do not have an impulsive president at the present time thank God.

          • http://www.facebook.com/sandy.hawkslange.3 Sandy Hawks Lange

            Ok Tom but W. Bush and brain should not be used in the same sentence unless it is brainless or braindead. My favorite bumper sticker was and still is on my poor old car is Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing Its Idiot.I would hate to be the POTUS following Obama. What a relief from the idiot before him and Obama is doing a great job. I am so proud and my European friends don’t call and laugh at our POTUS any more or me for living in the USA under the idiot’s rule.

          • dtgraham

            As U.S. Presidents go, Barack is very popular in Canada too Sandy. A lot more than his predecessor.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            I’m not aware that any country on the planet had a good impression of GWB. Even though Tony Blair worked with him in attacking Iraq, even the British people for the most part intensely disliked him and were not in favor of the military support that Blair gave him.

          • dtgraham

            I don’t think any other country on planet Earth had a good impression of George W either Independent. I get Russian TV, Aljazeera, the BBC, and Deutsche Welle as part of my cable package, and I can tell you that President Obama seems a heck of a lot more palatable to the rest of the world than his predecessor. That certainly includes Canada too. Tony Blair destroyed his political career and legacy in England with his “Bush’s poodle” approach to Iraq.

            I will always have a certain respect for former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien for keeping the Canadian military out of Iraq. Afghanistan was joined in on as part of the U.N. coalition, but Iraq was considered American Neo Con nonsense, at the time, with nothing substantial to back it up. He and his Liberal Party Government proved to be right.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/XPL7LVHHKZXB3BKEJZNTKRMBYY Susan

            What brain? W. was just a robot controlled by Cheney.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Tom, the sad thing is that Bush and Cheney intentionally allowed 9/11 to happen and they intentionally started the Iraq war for two reasons: to fullfil W’s vendetta against Sadaam for trying to kill his dad near the end of the Gulf War; and for kickbacks from Haliburton and other defense industry buddies for the business they sent their way. Bush was warned 7 times by the CIA within six months of the 9/11 attack that it was comming; all the CIA wanted was additional funding so they could better proceed with leads they had on al Qaeda (Bin Laden) that an attack was immenent. And what did Bush and Cheney do? Nothing! Some of the CIA personnel involved in warning Bush were so frustrated they wanted to seek transfers out of the units they were in, because they felt it was their fault Bush and Cheney did nothing.

            To me, president and vice-president doing nothing in the face of 7 warnings that an imminent attack was coming, is not only dereliction of their responsibility to keep Americans safe, it places the blame on the 9/11 attack squarely on their shoulders and they should be in jail for at least 3,000 cases of manslaughter.

        • latebloomingrandma

          I agree with what you said, except it should have been Dick Cheney and his puppeteer, George Bush–at least for the first term. W. wised up a little too late.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Either way the duo was a disaster for America.

      • Flipit1986

        So ignorant..

      • http://www.facebook.com/blake.faulkner.7 Blake Faulkner

        Steven c…By your comment, I am not convinced you have ever read a single good, well documented, non-partisan history book in your entire life. If you have, you should be able to name it and the author…and give a short decent summary of what it was about. Without having to google anything. I can do that with dozens of history books myself. You really shouldn’t speak about what will or will not be depicted in history…until and unless you know something about what has been depicted…accurately…in history already.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/VMMSUH74Z46AIUN3UPZUUHKLY4 Gilbert

        Do you really believe that garbage??? You must be smoking crack!!! or perhaps that other stuff, crystal meth, that burns out the brain. Only an out-of-touch, ignorant, fool would advance such a stupid argument. For one thing… the debt did not begin with President Obama. Much of the debt is interest payment maintenance on the Bush-Credit-Card debt run up! We did not pay for 12 years of WAR!!! We have to issue Treasury Bonds every year just to meet the interest due on debt already incurred. The only way to reverse this debilitating trend is to increase the number of people working. The 8.5 million jobs lost as a result of the Bush-Banking-Melt-down and the ensuing financial collapse, removed 8.5 million tax payers from the revenue stream. Why is it that you cannot understand something that is so simple??? How many times do you need to have this re-explained??? You don’t know the first damn thing about economy… yet you continue to parrot the same stupid arguments and vitriol you hear from others. The real reason is that you cannot stand the fact that there is a “non-white” President of the United States! Well, you had better get used to it… because the old paradigm is dead… or haven’t you noticed??? And by the way… as for something being scary… It is only the spineless, gutless, and most cowardly who walk around scared. Real men are explorers and conquerors of their fears… not scared little sissies afraid of their own shadows!

        • sigrid28

          To your point about 8.5 million jobs lost due to Bush era policies, I would add that an even greater number of jobs were degraded by tactics such as hiring part time, at minimum (not living) wage, without benefits. The lack of revenue from all of this income lost to the 98% also contributed to the growing deficit under Bush.

      • http://www.facebook.com/john.heinmiller.9 John Heinmiller

        Ahh, I see. You see that BO is going to ensure that everyone is working for Walmart, one of the bigger Republican contributors. Get real. Obama has done more in 4 years than any presidence since FDR, shoot he used FDR’s policies to get us out of trouble. He is also the first to reduce spending since Clinton — no surprise there, Bush was so in love with fighting Saddam Hussein that he mortgaged the country for his war. He is also doing what he can to ensure that we have a supply of renewable energy and cleaner air for our children. Cleaner air used to be a position the Republicans championed.

        There is not much he can do for salaries, economic pressures loved by the very ones who love the Teapublican policies will ensure that salaries remain low for a number of years, but he is doing what he can to ensure that people can and do get work, which is more than the Teapublicans are doing.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Heinmiller: I love your term Teapublican. I that a synonym for ignorant? We’ve always had the Teasippers in Texas, but the Teapublicans are in for a surprise in 2014 as the Latinos take over the state.

          • SueTX

            From your pixels to God’s ear Tom – Please God we can turn Texas at least purple come 2014.

      • elw

        You will be about as right on those predictions as the Republican prediction that Romney would win by a landslide. Come into the real world, it is a nice place.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          elw: Anyone with common sense would know predictions are for fools and that rabbits multiply quickly.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/UUTJKDJNSAEHUL5MTEO3IDRLLE DavidW

        If he was a dictator, you would probably not be around for calling him that…. that’s what real dictators do. I remember when people called GWB one.

      • amarquez647

        This man is a “Troll.” He has gotten thirteen responses so far. This is what he feeds on. He gets his kicks by making us angry. Is he really worth our energy?

      • OBforObama

        Show me one Republican who has advocated raising wages for workers, and proposed a bill to encourage it. One.

        If somebody has a job and still needs welfare, is the problem with the worker, or the wages?

        Walmart trains all its workers how to collect welfare and apply for government benefits of every kind. They have done that for years, long before Obama won his first election in Illinois. have you ever complained to, or about, Walmart?

        Start there. Want higher wages? Demand that your Representative raise the minimum wage to a level so that workers don’t need welfare to feed their families. Shop at stores that pay their employees better, and be willing to pay a buck or two more for some items.

        While you’re at it, learn what the word “dictator” means.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        Steven C::Ignorance must be bliss!

      • rockin_the_bay_in_Tampa

        Hey dumb ass! YOU have to have INCOME (the key word here is INCOME) to pay YOUR bills, right? Well, for the past 30+ years that has not been happening with the USA, it has let the “rich” skate for little or free payment of taxes (there’s that key word here again, INCOME in the form of taxes). You have had GOP presidents of the past that have run up huge debts starting with Ronnie boy in the 1980′s with Star Wars that blew the national debt into the stratosphere (which we are still paying for that today) then the Cold War ended and we were armed to the teeth and no one to fight, then there was Daddy Bush with his Desert Storm in 1991, which turned into Desert Dust, and more war debt (for what? Hell, who knows). Meanwhile, back home the GOP was pledging “…NEVER, NEVER to raise taxes…” (INCOME for the USA to pay its bills and stay out of debt). Then there was “W” with his war in Iraq which turned out to be another dust cloud and billions of dollars that were “borrowed” (and for the most part, unaccounted for) from China, not to mention lives wasted.

        You’re another one that needs to wake up from the GOP Pied Piper induced coma and see the REAL world and not what Rush Dimballs says.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/UHE4MJP5FHMFIEAOGEQHETUGDQ Rvn_sgt6768

        Only problem with your screed is that everything you mention happened long before there was a BO as you put it. Starting with Nixon and continuing to the present Republican love of big business has bankrupt America. Reagan almost tripled the debt and Bush II doubled it and failed tax policies by Bush II with his unpaid for wars and Medicare Part D also unpaid for will equal 50% of the Public Debt by 2020. Spending is a problem but only if revenues are not large enough to cover them. The problem is the systematic shift of income to the ultra rich over the past 40 years. A feat not even medieval kings were able to accomplish when the common man had no power whatsoever. Seems like since the Magna Carta days Americans have forgotten what was earned with that piece of legislation. You are a prime example sir of that fact.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Charlie-Watkins/100001075495857 Charlie Watkins

        You crybabies regarding Government spending need to quit, you don’t need the President or Congress to accomplish that goal.
        We all know that a couple of the BIG MONEY items are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, then there is Welfare.
        ALL of these programs have to be applied for, if you are so concerned with spending, QUIT applying for them. You will then see a bigger drop in spending than any group of politicians could give you

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Charlie: I paid into Social Security and am still paying premiums for Medicare. These are not gifts from heaven or welfare. Congress has repeatedly reached over and lifted funds from these accounts. Social Security a type of insurance. Would an insurance company allow the government to confiscate their programs. Welfare and Medicade are not entitlements. If the taxpayers don’t want to pay for these programs stop them. Social Security and Medicare are because you paid a premium to have them available in retirement. The taxpayers don’ t pay a damn dime for Social Security. If the Medicare program is going broke raise the premiums not the taxes.

        • Muriel Schlecht

          WHAT? ?? You are WAY OUT in left field….You are even out of the ball park. Please don’t go through the rest of your life believing that crap. If you have a job, then you’re paying into Social Security and Medicare no matter how small or how large your paycheck is. It’s YOUR money, not the governments. It’s a FUND..and has nothing to do with debt or the deficit. It shouldn’t even be a line item in the budget! The Republicans just want to spend it on their pet projects or take it away from you and give it to Wall Street to gamble with. They call it “privatization”. What a crock!!! You remember Wall Street don’t you? They’re the ones with Republican help, that gambled away MY retirement money. Now all that’s left is my Social Security. THANK GOD!!!!!
          I’m 72. My earning years are over, and my savings are gone ILLEGALLY, and I can’t do anything about it, and not a one of those crooks is in jail or even indicted. I worked steadily since age 16, went to College, raised a son with NO help from his father, went without a lot of things money could buy and instead, stashed money away for my old age. Then POOF at the whim of those NO GOOD GREEDY bastards, they STOLE my investments and lined their own pockets with it.

    • rockin_the_bay_in_Tampa

      Let’s hope so.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Gerry: You’ve got it right.

      • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

        I’m Pray Ms Hillary Clinton Will Be Next In Line!!! Anybody But Another Low Life Money Grubbing, Country Destroying GOP/Tea Party American Taliban Member!!

    • irishtap

      I agree, he’ll be a tough act to follow.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Katherine-Southard-Reece/839666123 Katherine Southard Reece

      I agree completely!

    • lana ward

      Your dreaming, he will go down in history as the worst-along side J Carter!!!

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

        Lana, just more unsubstantiated nonsense. In another posting, I listed for you about 10 unquestionable reasons why GWB has the award of worst president ever already sewn up; from being responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 Americans, to running up 10 trillion in deficit spending with not ONE POSITIVE ACCOMPLISHMENT TO JUSTIFY THE 10 TRILLION; to almost bankrupting half the states in the country with his constantly reducing subsidies to support the federally mandated requirements the states have to provide American citizens to totally wrecking the economy and on and on and on.

        Let’s here your substantiation for your nonsense comment!!!

        • lana ward

          Omuslim has already destroyed our economy and he’s not done yet. He has 4 more years to finish us off

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Really? Destroyed the economy?? Is that why before the GOP put the damper on things in December with their nonsense about the sequester issue, consumer was the highest in November it has been in 5 years?? Or is that why the stock market is still up more than 100% since Bush trashed it in 08?? Or is that why there have been 36 month of positive job growth with the November jobs 151,000 being 5 times the jobs Bush created in any month he was in office during his disasterous 8 years? Gee!! Some destroyed economy?? And it would be tons better if the GOP hadn’t spent the last 4 years being obstructionists to everything Obama has tried to do – like sitting for 2 years on his jobs plans.

          • lana ward

            This country is in a terrible mess. Omuslim promised to turn it around and instead he’s made things worse. Unemployment is through the roof, millions on food stamps, earnings are falling, inflation is creeping up, coal plants are forced to close,(353 of them), small banks are disappearing. He is destroying American capitalism!!! Those making $30,ooo a year will pay MORE in taxes than those making $500,000 because of the deal omuslim pushed for after the fiscal cliff debacle!!! And dems want to find $I trillion more in taxes this year!!! Omuslim said 2% would see a tax hike, instead 77.1 % of all tax payers will see higher taxes!!! He’s a TRAITOR!!!

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

            Lana, it’s too late, I’m making silly mistakes – that should be”consumer confidence was the highest in November that it’s been in the past 4 years”.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/HJIWONQOW4EAYMCA4QH2DDJMBU MARK

          Never argue with fools or idiots,they will wear you down and beat you with experience. M.Twain

  • blyvl

    I’m an “unenrolled” voter who generally votes Democrat, but I’m rather “put off” by all the talk about “surrender” by Republicans, “victory” over them, etc. Rather than crowing, Democrat politicians should recognize the compromise, however small, by Republicans and use it as a stepping-off point for more compromise, by all politicians. Rubbing it in isn’t going to encourage anyone to work toward more agreements.

    • 1scorpion2

      when you use terms such as “Democrat Politicians” you give yourself away–you are a pure RepubliCon, so stop thinking that you can fool us

    • http://www.facebook.com/blake.faulkner.7 Blake Faulkner

      Didn’t Obama bend over backwards for four long years to try to accomodate Republicans…to try to find compromise solutions…to try to create some bi-partisan feelings and leadership during the worst Recession this country has ever had…besides the Great Depression?…They just saw it as a sign of weakness…and used every tool of obstruction and deception they could to try to make Obama a one-term president?…Guess what. They failed, And now they are totally discredited. Even some of the slower-on-the-uptake Americans are finally starting to see that. I see a lot of stealth Tea Party supporters these days try to put out diminishing comments like ‘both sides are the same’. But calling for compromise NOW…and complaining about ‘crowing’ NOW…really does make one wonder about your alleged neutrality…and ‘put off’ iness. Have you been asleep the last four years or something?

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/HJIWONQOW4EAYMCA4QH2DDJMBU MARK

      Niether will the maintenance of obstructionist attitudes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila

    The resolve shown by President Obama since his re-election in November has been remarkable, and it is likely to bear fruit. The only thing Republicans understand and respect is strength, bipartisanship is almost a dirty word for them. Obviously, it is going to be a long time before we solve the many problems that still afflict our society, but things are finally moving in the right direction.
    Hopefully, the focus will shift to the economy, unemployment and the need to curtail deficit spending after the debt ceiling issue is solved. The economy is showing signs of improvement, but it is not yet on solid ground and much remains to be done to achieve sustainable economic growth and fiscal solvency. Don’t fret, major shifts in direction take time and can only be achieved incrementally.

    • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

      Bipartisanship is Only A Dirty Word When A Black Man Is President!!! And I Believe They Will Act The Same Way If A Woman Or Anyone Other Than White Was President!! Sad Real Sad!! That’s Why We Need To Stay United And Get Rid Of These Racist Thugs!!!!

      • old_blu

        I am very proud of President Obama, he has held his ground (for the most part) and sticking to what he campained on, and what he was voted back in for, especially for the opposition he has had to deal with.

        I say BRAVO.

        When all is said and done I think he is going to go down in history as one of the greatest ever.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Vila: Positive thinking is like a breath of fresh air.

  • AlfredSonny

    I am registered as an Independent and have not appreciated Republicans tactics since they tried to impeach the world leader and weaken our constitution. Rather than to say who won or lost the debate, let’s say that Republicans are finally listening to the Americans and we look forward to more realistic and productive compromises to strengthen our nation.

  • labrown69

    It is laughable to speak about these battles as if this is a football game we are talking about. Defeating the Republicans is more of a distraction than anything else and they are so severely radical that one would hope merely brushing them out of the way was not so noteworthy BUT at the end of the day, Barak Obama is still what Professor Cornell West said he was, “The Black Mascot of Wall Street”. The dumbed down of this nation have been preoccupied with a virtual ping pong match while both parties pick our pockets. Have a swell celebration … neener neener, our side won! LMAO

  • alumahead

    I think the turning point for Obama was the debt ceiling debacle of 2011. He finally realized Republicans weren’t interested in bipartisanship of any kind and they were only willing to compromise after receiving a bloody nose. More often than not that bloody nose comes at their own hand, but if that’s the only thing they understand, who am I to argue with the President?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

    I agree with docb, I’m not convinced the Republicans are surrendering to anything – they’re trying to set a trap. They’re trying to push the debt ceiling debate down the road so they have two chances to gut entitlements – during the sequester negotiations and then again in a debt ceiling fight 3 months down the road. So if they don’t get what they want before the end of February, they’ll refuse to pass a budget Obama submits and instead pass another draconian budget with giveaways to the oil and Agri-business sectors and demand severe cuts to entitlements. If the Senate rebuffs this, they’ll claim it’s the Dems that are holding the debt ceiling hostage. This is offer on the debt ceiling is nothing more than a Trojan Horse.

    • sigrid28

      Another contest in cynicism among Democrats is not what we need. We need to step out of their game altogether, especially worrying about who will be blamed. The more they push this blackmail/hostage strategy, the more it characterizes them for the electorate.

      If Harry Reid will just let Democrats eliminate the silent filibuster on January 22nd, and if votes can be up-and-down in the House, the country will know which party is behind the stalemate in Congress. Even if NOTHING gets done, I don’t think Democrats at this point are about to let Republicans gut the social safety net, either by garnering enough votes (the president still has the veto) or by slivering away at it piece by piece. Democrats in the Senate will have to stand firm on changing the silent filibuster.

      I think voters are just fed up enough to endure some hardship in order for obstructionists in the Republican party to comprehend our refusal to let them destroy our economy. Republican voters in favor of these stubborn Republicans may change their minds once their Medicare benefits are affected or their Social Security checks are delayed.

  • london717

    Is common sense finally prevailing?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/HJIWONQOW4EAYMCA4QH2DDJMBU MARK

    Since the late 1920′s republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of major concern to the average working American.They seem unable and unwilling to grasp or support the concept of government of,by,and for the people.Thier attempts at fascism are well documented and as long as they maintain thier perversions and money addiction,then Americans should seek the complete and total destruction of the party.Admittedly that is harsh but realists understand there are times when one must fight fire with fire. Should they implode due to internal rifts with the t-party,those fissures should be promoted.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Mark: I became an Independent when I moved to west Texas. The Republicans have the citizenry so duped in this area that even people that don’t have a pot to piss in endorse them. The Democratic partisans have become almost as extinct as the Prairie Dogs and if there’s not legislation to protect them from the rich contractors they will destroy them all. MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

  • charleo1

    It seems to me, the Republican Party continues to be in a state of crisis over it’s identity.
    As many of it’s loyal members, who remember Reagan so fondly will tell you, he prevented from
    happening to the Party, after Nixon’s resignation over Watergate, what did happened in the
    aftermath of 9/11 and the disastrous failure of the Presidency of G.W. Bush. Who’s policies on
    war, and taxes sailed through a Republican dominated Congress without so much as a dent from
    Democrats, who were loth to appear they were anything but squarely behind our Commander In
    Chief, and of course the troops, as they battled the world wide war on terror. No, there was no
    denying it. The Administration of the dual Presidencies of Bush, and Cheney, owned the dual
    calamities of two poorly prosecuted wars, and the near collapse of the world economies due to
    American banks, and a Party, who’s childlike faith in deregulation had proven just as
    wrongheaded as Bush’s belief that Sunni, and Shiite in Iraq, would join hands in accepting the
    freedom from a tyrant, courtesy of the U.S. military, and American the taxpayers. It felt like
    Vietnam, and the 1929 crash, were happening at the same time. And the Country wanted to
    be done with all three. The wars, the stinking economy, and the Republicans that had lead the
    Country to the place we found ourselves in the fall of 2008. How the leaders of the Republican
    Party decided to respond to the political realities of their own making, that very night in Washington, as the inauguration parties for the new President Barack Obama, went into the
    early hours. They were plotting the demise of the Party of Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan.
    And creating the extreme Party the hard core Conservatives had been calling for, for years.
    The Birchers, and Neo Cons would join arms with the anti Federal Government Libertarians, the I.R.S. haters, from the Sovereign Citizens, to end of days, Evangelicals, armed militias, getting
    ready for the coming UN takeover, or the race wars, And if you happened to believe America was being stolen from it’s rightful owners, White Anglo-Saxon men, by Mexican illegals, or
    the Black Panthers, or the Black President, well, Party leaders needed the enrollees, so what’s a
    little tinge of fascism? We can always cover that over with a lot of flag waving, and media
    messaging.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Allenandcompanycontracting Dan Allen

    I must say that even such mild name calling and putting each other down as is happening here deteriorates respectful useful disagreement. If you do not treat me respectfully and with acceptance of me I cannot hear you for the walls I put up to defend myself from the attack. That is so much of what is wrong with our country just now. It saddens be very much.

  • peteserb

    Obama is winning just like all tyrants do. Through lies and intimidation. All backed up by his phoney Czars.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/VMMSUH74Z46AIUN3UPZUUHKLY4 Gilbert

    Surrender??? That is a curious characterization of a Congres that decides to do the job for which they were elected! This whole debate is childish and only serves to demonstrate how bereft of character our electors are. Why can’t they just fix what is broken and be done with it??? Everything has to be positioned as a political contest like some childish fraternity pranksters with nothing better to do. When will these people grow up?

  • usworker3

    That’s what I’m talking about … it’s PAST time to kick some bu++ and take names … Now at the mid term elections lets take control back from the republicons and then finish the last two years doing amazing things for this country.

  • elw

    This story will make Conservative unhappy, they choose to believe the opposite. Obama is an excellent President who has had to deal with out and out racism, lies meant to humiliate him and a crazy, radical House of Representatives at level not seen in recent history. He has dealt with the assault on him with dignity and humor. It is amazing how much he has accomplished against the odds he has had to face. I do believe that history will put him at a level with current front runners for best President.

  • Diane_Thompson

    I would counsel left leaning organizations such as this one to soften the tone of its rhetoric to gain a truly functional government. Progressives need to promote the idea that we are reasonable, thoughtful people rather than people who celebrate winning the point or the day. When we talk about conservatives ‘caving’ or ‘surrendering’ we reduce the chances of promoting a truly functional environment. If someone points out to me the error of my ways and then I admit the truth of their argument, it should be an opportunity for us to work together to solve the issue at hand. However, if that same person does a victory dance and sticks their tongue out at me, I am liable to not want to work with such pettiness. Please don’t be petty. Listen to all sides, respect all sides, then move forward.

  • bpai99

    After obstructing Obama at every opportunity during his 1st term, the GOP is learning the truth of the old cowboy saying:

    “When you give a personal lesson in meanness to a critter or to a person, don’t be surprised if they learn their lesson.”

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

    The President should continue to stare down the extreme positions of the Tea Party extremists. There is no room in America for extremism. America needs intelligent resolve to get back on track. Use diplomacy rather than fists and guns. Take strong actions when other countries threaten the United States. Stop the racist crap, quit trying to make Obama a foreigner, and make the Trumps of the world pay their fair share of taxes . Obama has it right, and by the way he’s not a pansy as the died in the wool Republicans seem to think.

  • latebloomingrandma

    It usually takes around 40-50 years to really determine a President’s success or failure in the long term scheme of things. Eishenhower is finally coming in to his own, and being looked upon as a highly effective President. My reading of history tends toward believing that George W. Bush will still end up in the bottom fifth of Presidents. I think Obama will come out pretty good. Once health care takes off and new green energy technologies become more mainstream, these are big tranformative changes. These things are occurring in his administration, despite all manner of obstruction by backward looking Republicans.

  • Mulligatonney

    What? No one on this site has mentioned the 2% tax increase on the “middle class” that your savior just slipped into your eager bottoms? Oh, sorry – he didn’t actually increase your taxes…he simply allowed a previously reduced tax cut to expire. The same thing he promised you he would NOT do to the middle class with the Bush tax cuts.

    Hard to believe – as “open-minded” and “fair share” kinds of thinkers you are… Congratulations on your incredible tolerance of OBama when he increases your taxes in the middle of promising you that he will not, but being so intolerant of Bush when he actually cuts your taxes. True liberal objectivity and a sense of fair play…

    So to sum up – during a time where OBama prattles on about not allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire on the poor and middle class because they are so economically beset, he simultaneously allows another previous tax cut to expire on the middle class, which results in another chunk of money out of the their pockets that they can ill afford… And you are perfectly happy with that bit of “sleight of hand”? What excuses can you offer for him on the heels of this theft? I am quite certain you have many in your arsenal…

    But this most recent display of hypocrisy is called, by even the most liberal definition – a lie.

    But, no doubt you “big thinkers” on this site will find another way to provide cover for the perpetrator of that lie. The Liberal Messiah deserves nothing less than a storm of excuses to the world from his cult following…. After all, they mustn’t let the truth about him get out. Even though it already has – at least to the half of the voting population with their eyes half open.

    Have at it, then…

    Tell me why your hero is not an every day, run-of-the-mill dirty Chicago politician… And that is leaving the marxist/communist theory completely out of the equation.

    Yawn…

    • charleo1

      Has it ever occurred to you how much better off we all would be, if we had two parties
      working together? Both earnestly seeking solutions, and doing the hard work of
      balancing the Nation’s books, keeping a strong military, and finding ways to
      reduce the escalating costs of healthcare, even as great numbers of baby boomers
      become eligible for Medicare, and Social Security. That is the challenge that’s not going
      away. And will not be addressed by clinging to the notion that we can do this without
      a tax increase, and without making some difficult decisions about cutting spending.
      This would be a very heavy lift for a functioning legislative body. But unfortunately,
      the fact is, America doesn’t have one. Another sad fact is, there has been people
      sent to Washington for the sole purpose of blocking everything until one of their own
      resides in the White House, and Congress is again solidly Conservative. That is also
      a fact. You are a great mocker! Ridiculing the Left is what the Right has taken up as
      a hobby, to pass the time, while waiting for the next circumstance where Congress
      must act, then creating a crisis, and demanding a bribe, or some concession that
      must be made, to entice them to do their job. Now, you may couch your argument
      in any terms you choose. Angrily cast your aspersions at the Left, for blindly
      supporting their candidate, and so on. But, Left, Right, or Center, the public will not
      tolerate those so entrenched in their ideology, they purposely hurt the people in order to
      make their point, or push their agenda. I consider that very despicable, and so should you.

      • Mulligatonney

        Damnation!…and you were doing so well, until you started going progressive/liberal on me somewhere in the 2nd half of your missive…

        You point your finger at the Right for ridiculing the Left in the same paragraph that you call for “two parties working together”… You point at the Republicans for “creating a crisis” and then “demanding a bribe”…

        Really? Democrats don’t behave like that? They must be really an exceptional lot, with elevated thinking and superior abilities to adhere to universal moral principles…

        And then the last part, “the public will not tolerate those so entrenched in their ideology…etc.

        Do you not realize that you fall into the same trap as your “better than thou” contemporaries?

        You are a human, therefore you are like most of the other humans. You think no better than the rest of the masses, and your fear and ignorance is no greater or less than the Republican humans you show so much disdain for ..

        Thank God that there were a few exceptional thinkers in America during the late 1700′s who founded this government upon the notion that humans were very corruptible and if government was allowed to become too powerful, it could have a terrible result on our freedoms.

        That moment has arrived, and you still cannot resist blaming it on Republicans.

        That, in a nutshell – is the problem.

        You are the problem. You don’t have to be, but when you speak like that, you remove all doubt. The problem is that people like you look to the government as the solution to all of your problems.

        The solution is the Constitution and smaller government. Much smaller than the government that we have now.

        • charleo1

          You are using an awful lot of false equivalencies. Which tends to be what happens
          when the atrocious behavior of what passes for the Republican Party is called out.
          I’ll admit, I have this feeble little brain. But I don’t recall a single Democrat, much
          less the 50 or more in the House Republican Caucus, that have no problem, so they
          say, of causing severe damage to the economy, or worse damaging the credibility,
          and reputation of their Country in the wider global markets, because they reason
          that is better than them having to compromise their agenda. And want to do it every
          three months, until they get everything they are demanding. Well, I wonder what
          our clear thinking Founders would think about that? I know what the American
          public have decided about these Ultra Right Puritans. My question for the traditional
          Republicans, who as a rule, opposed extremism, as antithetic to the Conservative
          platform, and values. Why now are you parroting the radical ultimatums? Is it
          your screwed up primaries, where you fear your right flank is exposed? And just
          how again is this problem of your own making, become Democrat’s obligation
          to abandon their principals, so Republicans won’t need to deal with the political
          corner they’ve painted themselves into? No Sir! The Right put themselves outside
          of the mainstream. And they will find their way back like any political organization
          does in a democracy. By building consensus, gaining support on the power of the
          idea, and not some belligerent, treacherous threat. I think the Founding Fathers
          might have had them hung.

  • Eleanore Whitaker

    Actually, all things considered? The GOP is at this very moment in US History extremely concerned about who they are encouraging to be anti-government, anti-president, anti-citizen…Don’t kid yourselves. The GOP knows it’s anti anti behavior of the last 4 years manifested in the most impressionable, least educated among us into a hair’s breath from anarchy.

    Any American who has ever had to make tough choices when faces with massive obstruction, obstacles to forward movement or intense animosity tugs harder on their bootstraps and follows their conscience in decision making and push onward, upward and forward. When none of the choices look good, that’s what Americans do best.

  • Mulligatonney

    Another one…

    This must be Nirvana for illiterates…

    Assuming that you are spelling your words incorrectly with deliberate intent in order to underscore some sort of point, if you had read the posting armed with average intelligence, you would have seen that a point was being made using the writer’s own lack of communicative skills and hypocrisy as they demonstrated the very same intolerance and “contempt prior to investigation” as they accuse the objects of their venom.

    Sadly, it appears that you are unarmed, along with many on this site.

  • http://www.facebook.com/johnny.thomas.52035 Johnny Thomas

    I am for paying our way out of debt as long as everyone pay;s their fair share except why did the elder get `stuck with paying as they did get a very small raise and then added the extra cost back in for medicare .on the same plate congress gave it;s self a hefty raise that was enough so that the new taxes and medicare
    will not affect them at all while our elders starve .My message for Obama is quit laughing at the elder they didn’t spend that money and they paid in with expectations of you seeing that they get taken care of as the Bush crunch left them with hefty bank payments leaving them holding on for dear life .Open your eye’s dang it .

  • ayayaboy

    God sent President Obama to Americans at the right juncture. Praise God!!!

  • Pamby50

    I think he should tell them to extend it for longer. This 3 month extension is crap. It is just kicking the can down the road. Our country deserves better.

  • Mulligatonney

    I think possibly she should stop putting ferns on her wood fork.

    It is turning her into a “hater”, and we all know liberals are loving, all-inclusive, tolerant, “pay-your-fair-share” types…

    The dark force is strong on this site, yes?

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

      Mulligatonney, you ol’ high fulootin’ sumbitch! Jes ’cause you got a flushin’ toilet in your fancy double wide up to the woods and we have to poop in the cre’k, you think you better than us? You think ’cause you got a goat you think you’re hoity-toity! Well, I’ll show you, you ol’ toothless sumbitch, I’ll save up and buy me my own goat! Now, how you like them apples?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

    Mulligatonney, you think you’re better tham us? You think you’re better than us? Just because you live in a purty double wide trailer near the woods and own a goat, you think you’re better than us? Well, let me tell you something, buddy, I get a gubermunt check jes like you, and I can buy my own goat. You uppity sumbitch!

  • onedonewong

    Barak has always been a divider, just look at his record in the senate not 1 bill he back was ever approve, not 1 piece of legislation was ever sponsored by him. Barak’s problem is typical of people that lack any common sense or intelligence. They can only grasp 1 point of view since it over taxes their ability to reason.
    There is nothing o his agenda that is good for america, raising taxes has been show by over 40 studies to hurt the economy. Anyone can spend some one elses $$ foolishly. With adding $10 trillion to the debt not 1 job has been added not 1 job. That on its face is an indictment on his understanding of the economy…he plans are wrecking what’s left of the economy just like every other socialist/communist has done thru history

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

      onedonewong singin’ the same ol’ song and always wong. How wong do you wear the same panties? Do you change up or let them crack up between your legs like potato chips?

      • onedonewong

        I notice that you don’t attempt to refute anything I said

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

          How can I refute delusion? What you said has no basis is reality. America is moving forward, not backwards. Our president must be doing something right to get that done. Gloom and doom is not getting it.

          • onedonewong

            Moving forward?? like the Great Leap Forward by Mao or Kristallnacht of Hitler?? name 1 single success in 4 years. Unemployment is at 16% 23 million are unemployed. Our borders are still porous the debt load has increased by $10Trillion, every new born in this country now faces an IOU of over $160,000. Record casualties every year in Afghanistan, more than 25% of all social aid going to illegals.
            If that is moving forward I would hate to see what a plane crash looks like

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

    Our president has indeed learned a lesson from his obstructionist adversaries, and he’s smart enough to understand that he can’t let down his guards before a bunch of back-biting, treacherous traitors. he will forge ahead in doing the work of the people, and in three months when the debt ceiling surfaces again, he will be ready. The Republicans/Tea Bag/Yellow Dog disrespect of the highest office in the nation has cheapened it, and President Obama is doing a yeoman’s job to display the strength and dognity that the office of the presidency commands.

  • lana ward

    How is omuslim going to swear to uphold, protect and defend the constitution when he is right now trampling on it??? He will have to lie just as he did 4 years ago!!!

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/HGC4BGWVYXV76PHZBPSPOOU5GA Independent1

      You haven’t a clue about what the Constitution says – let’s here one of those lies and one of the things in the Constitution he’s trampled on.

      • lana ward

        He is infringing on our 2nd amendment rights. He lied again today, I watched his swearing in

  • charleo1

    He didn’t refute anything you said, for the same reason the Doctor
    simply stitches up the terminal patient, and orders morphine.
    You’re hopeless.

  • birch869

    i cannot wait just to vote these republicans jackasses out of office believe me

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KYK6RLLARKU3CZT5VBTTAXTG3I Felix

    The Republicans are in the hole and they are not going to be able to stop Obama agenda. Most Americans know the Republican position is a position from the past, President Obama is playing the right card let American to decide and the Republican are wonded.

    General Power went out and spoke out and it was painful for him this is a man with love for his party and he had to recognize his party is pushing minorities around and he himself is a minority a man that reached the American dream and his parents came to the United States as immigrants.

    I had the feeling the Republican Party has to dump, all those in the party that believe they own this country and that they are the only one that have right to live in this country and be in power, it is very hard for them to leave the past the time when people based on race could abuse other people those time are gone for ever and liked or not America is becoming brown and it looks beautiful!

    Take a good look at MSNBC how many beautiful brown people are working in that station!
    Ideassoul

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

    ?????????????????????????????????????

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert

    1. Saved America from a Great Depression left to him by Bush/Cheney. 2. ACA. 3. Kept America stable through Republican/Tea Bag/Yellow Dog obstructionism. 4. Gave the go-ahead that took out Osama binLaden. 5. Refused to allow Republicans/Tea Bags/Yellow Dogs use Americans as collateral damage. 6. Creating fair opportunities for “all” Americans, including the likes of you. 7. SWORN IN TO HIS SECOND TERM THIS MORNING!!!!! . . . Want more or is this too much for a good sock puppet like you?

  • bchrista

    Mulligatonney even though I don’t agree with you I felt that you had more intelligence than Lana Ward who just rants on and on never saying anything meanful I’ve heard drunks make more sense than her but your recent attack on Fern is something else, I know you wanted Romney for President so he could send more jobs to China. His destruction of Bain I guess was done with your approval, and then he Took Delphi and outsourced all 26,000 jobs from them and sent them to China, he was hoping that would completely finish bankrupting GMC so he and his friends could play their game with it, I mean this guy is one of a kind, you know that reminds me of a James Bond movie,I believe it was “Die Another Day ‘ where I believe the guy was a Korean and was using a machine to make himself to look like an American or someone from the white Race I am referring to ole Mitt as much business as he does with the Chinese but that’s the kind of people the likes of you and Lana Ward approve of, it’s amazing people all over the world are praising Obama and the anti-Obama are constantly calling him names you blame Obama for Bush’s fuck up, a president who inherited an economy with several billion dollars to the good and in three years or less had us 1.6 Trillions in the hole by his losing policies and tax breaks to the rich, even Reagon realized that to keep an economy productive you had to tax the rich at the right rates in spite of all that is going on you don’t hear Bush and his cronys speaking out, in their shoes if people were blaming me for things I didn’t do I would be screaming from the roof tops, amazing not a peep in fact he has not been seen since Obama took over. You claim that we don’t look at reality that we believe everything we are being told well let me tell you a thing or two China since the out sourcing began has improved in all areas of the economy, business, technology ready to compete with us in the world markets, India let me see for instance if I Dialed Dell Computers for information about my desk top I get someone in India that I can’t understand explaining the question I asked and I find myself asking over and over what did you say makes one wonder you dial an American number and you speak to someone several thousands of miles without paying long distance and there are several other countries that these good rich people sold out to the only thing that means anything that to them is the almighty dollars . I remember when I was younger being told that if our country wasn’t careful we could be talking Russian, well if the Rich and Corporations have their way we may be speaking Chinese and that’s a good possibility if these bastards keep selling out our country you know you can answer this post any way you want I don’t give a shit when you start praising the Republicans and the TeaParty and calling them true Americans you have shown me one thing that you are as evil and ruthless towards your fellow Americans as they are you are no better than they are what they have done to ruin this country sold their votes, theirsouls for the almighty dollar and they answer to a man like GroverNorquist because they made a pledge to him above their obligations to their constitutions I know they need to send the wagon with the men dressed in white because you need help badly.

  • bjbstarr11

    Lana, who lied any more than George W. Bush about the weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. He is the biggest liar of them all. This is why our Country was in such a mess when Obama became President.

    Any you wonder why Mitt Romney loss. He was out of touch with everyday people and out of time. Thank GOD he did lose.

    GOD bless our President and GOD bless American. I wil say it again, GET OVER IT.

  • Charvi3

    I am so proud to have, President, Barack Obama, in the Office of The President, once again.
    That man has and is a Constitutional Lawyer & he taught the Constitution…I talked to the ex-Congressman, Bill McKenna, of MO just last week and he informed me of that…also, he will use the Powers of the Constitution and the Admendments to it…to stop those republicans from doing what they want to do…and remember..the rich after so many years will begin paying taxes…just like the middle class have done during the years they have not…so, as soon as they do pay as the 16 Amendment says they should do… and it is an Amendment that they have wanted to repeal for years..we will see a difference in our economy…believe me…it will be awesome…Obama isn’t any dumb man they can just push around..and that is why they keep all the drama up…so, one thing they better think of doing is to get some nerve pills…because he is going to push them over the edge..and I want to be first in line to see how he does it…and now we saw Bush, donating a Truck that he auctioned off at $300,000 and giving it to the families that fought in the war…how breath-taking…it was charity and he can use it to get a tax write off…it didn’t directly come from his own checking account with no strings attached…what a mess…again…just sit back and watch the show…and I will be using my recipe of psalms as I did on election night…when my doctor from Pakistan called me at 9 at night and said he was worried…and I told him not to worry…I will go into meditation and prayer with that recipe and the election was over within an hour and a half…so, I will be behind the man in the White House…with asking Jesus Christ, to help him out in everyway…so, here goes the positive reinforcement…God is still in control…in helping the hard working people out there and the poor…and I enjoy what I do…to help others that are wanting to help the middle class and the poor…so, I am proud to call myself an American…just look around the rest of the world..there isn’t any other place I would rather be..than the good old USA.