John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

Did you read my entire comment?

When you start on the right, which is where Simpson-Bowles is, the only direction to go is farther to the right.  It sets up the premise that our fiscal policy shall be framed as a "debt crisis", and that the solution is "austerity" which must be shared by all.  That's the "mandate" that will come out of this election.  It's bs, and it's not anything that I'm going to consent to with my vote.

After the 2010 midterms, do you recall what Obama said that election's mandate was?  "More of the same", "more bipartisanship", more caving to Republicans, watering down legislation to satisfy conservatives.

Do you know what Obama said he'd do if re-elected to a second term?:

Explaining this spring how he would manage to enact his agenda in a second term, Obama was still looking forward to sitting down and cutting deals. This time, he said, Republicans would be nicer because he’s not running for re-election.

Obama's either corrupt or he's the very definition of 'insanity', "doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome".  Or his supporters are.  

Anybody who doesn't realize that hasn't been paying attention.
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Obama: Immigration Reform Inaction Was 'Biggest Failure'

Why would any Democratic voter support immigration reform in an economy like this?

Obama's *AFTA treaties offshore Americans' jobs.  Why are we inviting immigrants to take what jobs are left in the country?  How about raising minimum wages, making those jobs that immigrants take living wages?

How again is Obama a Democrat?
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

Those who believed Obama was a liberal were given much help by Obama and the media (as recently as yesterday, I heard him referred to as "liberal" and "progressive" by anchors on MSNBC and CNN).  

The shorthanding we do with these labels doesn't help.  You consider him to be "a moderate", which means different things to different people, depending on where they're standing themselves.  "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat."  Do you consider Blue Dogs to be moderates?  I don't.

About his own political appeal, Obama has said, “I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”

Obama got into office by misleading Democratic voters. He ran to the left of Hillary Clinton.  It's why even his 'most ardent admirers' still argue about whether he's a liberal or a centrist or a moderate Republican­.  He convinced centrists that he was a centrist.  He convinced liberals he was a liberal posing as a centrist.  

If you go back and watch CandidateO­bama's speeches, interviews and debates in 2008, and listen with your now 'experienc­ed ears' (experienc­ed in lawyer-spe­ak, aka Bush-speak­, although Bush needed a team of speechwrit­ers to do what Obama's able to do on his own, i.e., think on his feet), I think you'll see that Obama spoke carefully and precisely to give people the sense of what they wanted to hear in order to get their vote.

Back in early 2008, when Candidate Obama talked about admiring Reagan and what he wanted to emulate about him,  "I think RonaldReag­an changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, RichardNix­on did not and in a way that BillClinto­n did not", do you seriously believe that he was saying that he wanted to go even farther right of the BushCheney administra­tion he was coming in after?

Obama's  nothing but a politician­, and I mean that in the worst sense of the word. In the 'used car salesman' sense.  It turns out that doing what's right for transnatio­nal corporatio­ns is what Obama is about, and trying to sell it as good for Americans is what he does afterwards­. He's the epitome of the 1950s Republican­, "What's good for GM is good for America."  He did a snow job on everybody.
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

Obama had both Houses of Congress.  He had a filibuster-proof Senate twice (remember when Arlen Specter switched parties?).  

You've got to snap the flick out of it (or get better informed).
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

If you really believe that there are only two games in town, then why are you throwing your vote away by voting for either when neither works in your interests?

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

Romney: The Less Effective Evil (Making Obama The MORE Effective Evil):


“Austerity is killing the economy and causing terrible hardships, but [Democrats] didn’t make that case.”

“[Democrats] leapt upon the words which even Romney called “inelegantly stated” and in the process showed their own brand of evil. [Democrats] could have pointed out that Americans should expect decent housing and medical care. They could have noted that there are nations around the world who do provide for their citizens’ basic needs, and that they are more advanced as a result.”

“Instead of shooting fish in the barrel when even conservative pundits piled on the Romney condemnation, they could have advocated for a different conversation about the role of government in our lives. Austerity is killing the economy and causing terrible hardships, but [Democrats] didn’t make that case. Because there are enough Americans with some degree of need for government support, the Romney comments made for great political theater. But if [Democrats] were interested it could have been an opportunity for so much more.”


“Obama proved that he has no more regard for people living on the margins than Romney has when he put Social Security and Medicare on the budget cutting table. He convened a budget deficit commission and packed it with pro-austerity conservatives without anyone in either party having asked him to do so. If he is re-elected he will waste no time in making another grand bargain with the Republicans which will come at the expense of the 47%.”
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

Democrats Want Simpson-Bowles Debate Question Barred.
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

The most BS argument to date:  "The cuts and the pain must be shared by all".

It presumes that the poor and the middle classes haven't born the brunt of what Republican­s and Democrats of the past 30 years have done.  

It presumes that the pain of losing a few million dollars when you have hundreds of millions, even billions, is equivalent to the pain of not knowing where your next meal is coming from, or losing the roof over your head and sleeping in your car or on the street.  It presumes that the rich have sacrificed anything at all, when, in fact, they're making money hand-over-­fist!

What's happened to the American people was the greatest heist in the history of the world (2007, the economic meltdown) ON TOP OF a longer term and steady rip-off of Americans' self-inves­ted retirement and medical programs (Social Security and Medicare) the past 40 years which has been used to fund wars, corporate pork and corporate welfare that directly benefitted the rich class over everyone else.   

Where are the investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns and restitutio­n?

Nowhere - Democrats Want Simpson-Bowles Debate Question Barred.
 
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Senate Polls Show Democrats Gaining On Rising Voter Enthusiasm

"I’m so glad I voted for Obama and Democrats. Otherwise we might have ended up with Republican policies like endless war, bailouts for bankers, cuts to Social Security, and increased oil drilling. Thank goodness I didn’t waste my vote by going third party."

/sarcasm
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

Why aren't Obama, Reid, Pelosi and Democrats talking about the Progressiv­e Caucus's budget and plan to balance the budget (reduces the deficit by $5.1 trillion)?  It beats Obama's, Reid's and Republican­s' plans, yet Obama's calling for "austerity" and the Simpson-Bowles plan that cuts Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits.

As Krugman has said, the Progressiv­es' budget "balances the budget through higher taxes and defense cuts, plus some tougher bargaining by Medicare (and a PublicOpti­on to reduce the costs of the Affordable­CareAct). The proposed tax hikes would fall on higher incomes, raising the cap on payroll taxes (takes care of SocialSecu­rity's solvency forever)..­. and unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense."
 
But Obama takes solutions that work for the People, the vast majority of Americans, off the table.  Obama kneecaps and handicaps the voters who put him and Democrats into power.  

That's Obama's style, taking solutions that work for the People off the table and out of considerat­ion when we're discussing how we want to proceed.  He did it during the healthcare debate, taking SinglePaye­r off the table before negotiatio­ns ever began.  Because if affordable­, quality medical care for everyone is your goal, then everything else pales against SinglePaye­r.  If, however, keeping the insurance and pharmaceut­ical industry cartels in place and in control of Americans' healthcare and choices, if reaping massive profits for them is your goal, then taking SinglePaye­r off the table is the only way you're going to be able to accomplish it.

If Republican­s are going to turn down anything Obama and Democrats put forth, why then aren't Obama and Democrats fighting for the best plan out there?  Because they are hoping that voters are more frightened of Romney and Republicans.  If I'm going to get screwed no matter who I vote for, I'm going down fighting.
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

You need to get an education..You faiI to mention that 1% of the people are paying 40% OF THE TAXES AND 50% of the people pay nothing...who has the stranglehold?

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

If you don't pay federal income tax, do you think that that means that you don't pay any taxes?

The Top 3 Lies About Taxes:

Lie Number 1) Poor people don't pay taxes.

Example: From The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities­:

At a hearing last month, SenatorCharlesGrassley said, "According to the JointCommittee on Taxation, 49 percent of households are paying 100 percent of taxes coming in to the federal government­." At the same hearing, CatoInstitute Senior Fellow AlanReynolds asserted, "Poor people don't pay taxes in this country." Last April, referring to a TaxPolicyCenter estimate of households with no federal income tax liability in 2009, Fox Business host Stuart Varney said on Fox and Friends, "Yes, 47 percent of households pay not a single dime in taxes."

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities­' Chuck Marr and Brian Highsmith provide the definitive takedown of this myth.

In 2009, Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation found that 51 percent of households owed no federal income tax. According to Marr and Highsmith, that figure was inflated by special recession-­related factors -- In a more typical year, "35 to 40 percent of households pay no federal income tax."

But that doesn't mean that these households pay no federal taxes at all. Far from it: Nearly all working Americans pay payroll taxes to fund Medicare and SocialSecurity. In 2007, the poorest Americans -- taxpayers in the bottom fifth of income -- paid 8.8 percent of their income as payroll taxes. The next fifth paid almost ten percent. The top 20 percent of earners paid only 5.7 percent.

And of course, these numbers don't include state and local taxes or excise fees like gas taxes, which tend to have a regressive impact that hits poorer Americans harder. Bottom line: only 14 percent of Americans don't pay either federal income taxes or payroll taxes -- and that group is made up primarily of "low-incom­e people who are elderly, unable to work due to a serious disability­, or students."

The rich have gotten rich off of the sweat and labor of others and then have taken those profits to buy politician­s who've gamed the system so that they wouldn't have to pay taxes through all manner of tax schemes not available to the poor and middle classes.  The rich also 'closed the door' on the ways that initially enabled them to amass their 'seed money' for creating their businesses­.

KEEP READING
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

When the Big Debate Is Over Taxes, The 99% Have Lost

Ever since Romney’s comment about the 47% who don’t pay federal income tax became public, news stories and opinion pieces have been dominated by discussions of who does and doesn't pay taxes. This is great news for the 1%.

The obsession with taxes means that the 1% are playing a game that they can only win. The vast majority of the upward redistribution of income over the last three decades has been in before tax income. This has been brought about through a variety of changes in laws and institutions that had the effect of restructuring markets in ways that redistribute income upward.

For example, we have a trade policy that's designed to put downward pressure on the wages of manufacturing workers by putting them in direct competition with low-wage workers in the developing world. (Highly paid professionals like doctors and lawyers are still largely protected from such competition.) This downward pressure is amplified by the over-valued dollar, a policy that had its origins in the ClintonAdministration.

The implicit government insurance provided to too big to fail banks transfers around $60 billion a year to the shareholders and top executives at the big banks. Patent and copyright monopolies redistribute hundreds of billions a year from consumers to drug companies and the tech and entertainment industry.

Anti-union laws weaken the power of workers trying to organize for collective action, thereby reducing their ability to secure wage increases. (ChicagoMayorRahmEmanuel was going to court to have union leaders thrown in jail the teachers continued their strike.) And a FederalReserveBoard that throws workers out of work to meet inflation targets protects the wealth of creditors at the cost of undermining workers' bargaining power.

These and other areas of public policy are the key factors determining the relative well-being of the rich and the rest of us. As long as we're obsessed with a discussion of whether the Bush tax cuts will continue, the policies responsible for the bulk of the upward redistribution over the last three decades will never be discussed. The current debate may be good news for Obama’s reelection prospects, but it's not a positive development for those who don’t like to see the perpetuation of government policies that redistribute money upward. (Yes, this is all a plug for my free book, The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive.)

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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

Pure political posturing, but the substance is accurate:  Top Dems Urge The GOP To Cancel Recess, Address Sequestration
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

After having been scheduled to work through the first week of October, Congress heads home.

It was already fewer days than the previous session, and the fewest on record.  Under Boehner the 112th Congress not only didn't work hard -- It hardly worked!
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

If Obama wins, what do you think he will say he has a mandate to do?

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told Andrea Mitchell that Obama’s going to use Simpson-Bowles as the template for budget talks. 

Simpson-Bowles (Catfood Commission) plan cuts Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (Social Security wasn't even on their plate to be considered) and puts the burden on the poor and middle classes, and lets the rich keep their ill-gotten booty.

At the Democratic Convention three weeks ago, Bill Clinton and Obama embraced Simpson-Bowles and not long ago Nancy Pelosi said she will support it.

Today's Democrats are yesterday's Republicans.  

There should be tax HIKES on corporatio­ns and the rich. There should be massive cuts to the military. Banks should be threatened with nationaliz­ation unless they begin lending to small businesses­. There have been more than 3.5 million home foreclosur­es but there are 11 million more in the pipeline — There must be principal write-down­s.

Democratic politician­s should be beating this drum, loudly, constantly, and pushing the People’s Budget instead of working off of a set of corporate lobbyists’ plans.

Why aren’t Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Democrats talking about the Progressiv­e Caucus’s budget and plan to balance the budget (reduces the deficit by $5.1 trillion)? It beats Obama’s AND Republican­s’ plans.

As Krugman has said, the Progressiv­es’ budget:

“balances the budget through higher taxes and defense cuts, plus some tougher bargaining by Medicare (and a public option to reduce the costs of the Affordable Care Act). The proposed tax hikes would fall on higher incomes, raising the cap on payroll taxes (takes care of Social Security’s solvency forever)..­. and unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense.”

But Obama takes solutions that work for the People, the vast majority of Americans, off the table. Obama kneecaps and handicaps the Democratic voters who put him and Democrats into power. He’s the grifter leading off the second half of the con game, which is to squeeze the rest of the dimes from the poor and middle classes. It began with part 2 of Bush’s Medicare Reform Act of 2003 (high-pric­ed junk health insurance that has no cost controls), continues with more *AFTA treaties (outsourci­ng more Americans’ jobs) and “payroll tax ‘holidays’­” that lead to the end of Social Security.
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