KISSHANK's Blog

Ok all you conservative hacks that say all I do is cut and paste.. this one is for you !!! To shut you all up.

My thoughts on the presidential race: 

1.We cant afford to be under the rule of the republicans anymore. 8 years of constant bickering and war and a economy that is tanking is enough!!

2. We have never been so divided as a nation as we are right now. What ever happened to working together? I blame George W Bush for this.. He has called the Democrats every name in the book and then expects them to work with him.. How stupid does he think we are? 

3. A vote for Mccain/Palin is going to be a vote for 4 more years of a Bush administration. that means another 4 years of a economy that is stagnant at best. 4 more years of war in Iraq..and if Mccain has his way we will be fighting in Iran too.

4. Granted Obama and Biden might not be the next best thing to sliced bread..But at least they have a vision..a vision of a better world for EVERYONE!! republicans as well as democrats and independents.

5.Do you really want a VP in office that her only fame to glory is she looks good in heels? She doesnt even know what the job of VP does. heck she doesnt even know about the surge. Not to mention all the other numerous skeletons in her closet.

6. Do we want a man as president that has one foot in the grave? Thats is John Mccain he has had 4 bouts with cancer already..its just a matter of time before the next bout kills him..then we would be stuck with someone who looks good in heels but has NO substance at all.. THe leaders of the world who stomp all over Palin..

7. It would be nice if my salary would go up every once in awhile.. it would also be nice if I could go back to trading on the stock exchange again..

8 Obama and Biden have at least ideas!! Ideas that sound pretty good at this point and time.Ideas that make sense.., ideas that have merit...

9. So i say we as americans are so sick and tired of the same ol stuff..over and over.. lets give the democrats a  chance... if they screw things up you have 2012 to go back to the same ol stuff... but if they do good!!! Then you conservative hacks will have to shut up and bear it!!!

Just my point on this

FAIRBANKS — Gov. Sarah Palin has from the get-go pitched herself to Alaskans as a fiscal conservative, someone who can rein in government growth. Now, as the vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party, she continues to present fiscal restraint as a hallmark trait. Conservative commentators and organizations have chimed in with praise in the days following her selection by Sen. John McCain as his running mate.

But state general fund spending has risen sharply in the 21 months since Palin took office. The budget she signed earlier this year for fiscal 2009 spent $5 billion from the state’s general fund — a 34 percent increase over the budget she proposed for fiscal 2008 not long after taking office.

The increase rises to about 58 percent if the roughly $1 billion approved by Palin and the Legislature in last month’s special session for an energy rebate to Alaska residents and for other items is included.

Whether the state’s spending level contradicts the image coming out of the McCain-Palin campaign depends on who you ask. The campaign is promoting Palin as a governor who is a vigorous budget cutter and a philosophical companion of those who seek to restrain government spending.

“I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes,” Palin told the wildly enthusiastic gathering of delegates at the Republican National Convention during her Wednesday night acceptance speech. “Our state budget is under control.”

Whether Alaska’s spending is out of control also depends on who you ask. If anything, it is the revenue that would seem unrestrained — money from oil revenue and increased taxes on the oil industry has been pouring into the treasury at a rate that would astonish other governors. That windfall has allowed Palin and the Legislature to put billions into savings even as spending grows.

But spending increases nevertheless have been substantial under Palin, who has had a Republican-controlled Legislature to work with. The size of the budget made some of her fellow Republicans in the Legislature nervous, with two House Republicans saying they would have voted against this year’s spending plan had the GOP caucus not had rules in place to punish those who stray from the party on that one key issue.

“We can’t sustain it,” said Republican Rep. Ralph Samuels of Anchorage.

Palin’s philosophy

In July 2006, during a nearly two-hour interview with the Daily News-Miner in advance of the August GOP primary election, Palin laid out some of her fiscal agenda should she ultimately win the governor’s mansion — as she went on to do convincingly that November. Murkowski and the Legislature had approved a major increase in spending, including an approximately $2.5 billion capital budget — a record size — that was funded with state, federal and other funds. The state had eaten up its billion-dollar-plus surplus.

“My goal would not to be growing state government ... ” she said. “My budgets would not see this level of growth at all, no.”

“(B)eing a budget hawk and keeping a handle on state government growth will be absolutely a commitment of mine in state government,” Palin said in the July 2006 interview. “I did that with the city of Wasilla. Don’t come to me and just automatically assume you’re going to get an increase in your budget just because 12 months have happened to go by.”

Palin also had strong words, during her July 2006 interview with the News-Miner, for Republican colleagues in Juneau who spent a large surplus that accumulated with the sharp upturn in the price of oil. She said it “just kind of blew my mind, especially when we have Republicans in charge.”

“And I’m thinking, wow, whatever happened to the fiscal conservative planks in the Republican platform?”

The increases

Karen Rehfeld, director of Palin’s Office of Management and Budget, said several factors contributed to the increase under Palin.

The budget includes a $455 million allocation to pay down the multi-billion dollar unfunded liability in the state’s two public employee retirement systems. It also includes substantial increases in tax credits the state is providing to the oil industry to encourage exploration. Those credits — parts of the oil tax system that the state absorbs — totaled about $250 million in fiscal 2008 and about $400 million in fiscal 2009 and get charged to the state’s books. An increase in tax credits, though, is an indicator of increased activity by the industry, which Rehfeld noted is positive for the state.

“These are key pieces,” she said, noting also that Palin’s budget included three-years of revenue sharing for local governments.

Other big-ticket items have helped expand the budget. Rehfeld noted the approval of $300 million in a weatherization and energy-efficient program for Alaska homeowners, two years of “considerable” increases in the education foundation formula and increases in the state’s share of Medicaid payments. The state share rose when the federal government reduced the amount it pays.

The number of budgeted full-time state employees has risen slightly under Palin, to 21,400 for fiscal 2009 from 21,230 in fiscal 2008. Those figures include employees at the Alaska Court System, the University of Alaska and the Legislature.

A spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin did not respond Friday to e-mail and a telephone call from the News-Miner seeking comment about the specific level of spending increases incurred since Palin became governor.

Rehfeld, however, said Palin has held to a desire to control state spending.

“She’s been very consistent since she took office that she wants to control the growth of state government, which generally talks about agency operations, the bureaucracy,” Rehfeld said of Palin. “She wants to save for the future when oil prices are not so high and when production goes down.”

“That’s the mindset we use when developing the budget.”

Palin has, without question, had it easier than her immediate predecessors, who struggled with assembling budgets in times of low oil prices — even down to $9 per barrel back in the 1990s.

In December 2005, when Murkowski presented his final budget as governor, a barrel of Alaska North Slope crude had risen to about $55, a vast improvement from the first part of his term. A year later, for Palin’s first budget, a barrel was selling for roughly the same price. But by the middle of 2007, the oil price trajectory went steeply upward, hitting $96 in November.

Palin introduced her second budget in December 2007. The price of oil hit $100 for the first time in February 2008.

Rehfeld acknowledges Palin’s good fortune in not having to make the difficult budget decisions like those who came before her. “I think we are in unprecedented times.”

So this is the REAL Sarah Palin..a LIAR!! A CHEAT!!! It just took alittle research on  google to see this article...

The McCain campaign boasts of her pork-cutting, but up close it looks more like a trim. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. She boasts of rejecting plans to build the notorious "Bridge to Nowhere," a $389 million bridge to an island with 50 residents. But only after she said yes did she say no, rejecting the locally-popular project after it was ridiculed and Congress cut some of the funds. She hung onto $27 million to build the approach road to the bridge.

Yes she smoked pot. And yes she inhaled, she says. No, she does not support legalization.

After graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in journalism, she covered hockey matches and basketball games for two Anchorage television stations

When Palin was elected mayor in 1996, she received 616 votes — the loser, a nine-year incumbent, received 413. It was the biggest municipal election turnout ever, according to the local paper.

In her private life, Palin is a self described "hockey Mom"

Although her focus has been politics, the Palins have been involved in a series of small businesses, often with partners. These included a carwash in Anchorage — the Palins had a 20 percent stake — which last year was issued a certificate of involuntary dissolution by the state after the owners failed to pay state fees. They've also owned a snowmobile business and in 2005, Palin also registered the name for a marketing and consulting startup company: Rouge Cou, translated from French to "red neck." It never operated as a business. Her salary as governor is $125,000 a year, and her husband — who twice registered for the Alaskan Independence Party, a states' rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state

Last week when Palin was introduced to the nation she was described as a straight shooter.

But some of her positions, and her actions, are certainly more complex than they've been described, like getting rid of the governor's jet.

"That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay," she told cheering Republican delegates at their convention last week. True, but she left out that it never sold on eBay. And so state staffers had to broker a deal with a buyer.

Her role as head of state's National Guard has been touted as giving her national defense experience. But in fact when the national guard is called to defend the nation, the governor relinquishes all authority to federal officials.

As governor, Palin called for environmental protection in Alaska, but she's opposed the U.S. government's listing of a variety of animals as endangered, including the polar bear and the beluga whale, both of which inhabit areas also rich in oil and natural gas.

So we know she is a liar..the only difference between her and George W Bush..is she looks good in heels...How can we trust a woman that lies....so much....

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has less than two years of experience as governor, leading Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, to questions whether that's enough to qualify Palin to be the second highest official in the nation. I've worked real well with the governor, but she's not ready for this step," Kerttula said.

"She's not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency," said Kerttula, who serves as Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.

Those rough relations weren't helped in Palin's first legislative session as governor, when legislators said they didn't get guidance from her on spending priorities and were then surprised when Palin vetoed many of their priority projects.

Compounding what was seen as a high-handed attitude was her statement at the time that there needed to be an "adult in the house."

Among those irked by that was House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, an experienced legislator who had dealt with budgets for years.

When asked about her qualifications by the Anchorage Daily News, he said, "She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen."

Palin has spent little time in Juneau, rarely coming to the state capital except when the Legislature was in session, and sometimes not even then.

During a recent special session called by Palin herself, she faced criticism from several legislators for not showing up personally to push for her agenda.

Someone at the Capitol even printed up buttons asking "Where's Sarah?"

Rep. Andrea Doll, D-Juneau, called it a telling questionAt a time when her leadership was truly needed, we didn't know where she was," Doll said.

Palin's gubernatorial office has been plagued by turnover. She just appointed a new chief of staff this week, she's on her third legislative director in 21 months, and her press office has had numerous staff coming and going.

Sarah Palin’s chief qualification for being elected governor of Alaska was that she was not Frank Murkowski.

He was at a low point when he took out ads saying “Maybe I should consider a personality transplant,” but his presence in the 2006 GOP primary helped her capture the nomination and go on to beat Tony Knowles.

She did not win because of her conservative credentials, her grasp of policy details or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla, an office she won in 1996 by collecting 617 votes.

National GOP spokesmen—including the VP also-rans—went on and on Friday about how Palin is to “the right” of John McCain, that she is an “economic conservative” and that she will attract supporters of Hillary Clinton to the Republican party.

She is an engaging and charming politician and I have nothing negative to say about her character, her tenacity or her service to our state.

I don't even have major concerns about her performance as governor. She is smart and excels in dealing with people one-on-one.

I like what she did on oil taxes and think her gas line plan may work in the long run, though that won’t be clear for years.

This is one of the most stunning news events in the history of Alaska.

However, in no way does her year-and-a-half as governor of Alaska qualify her to be vice president or president of the United States.

One of the strange things Friday was that so many commentators and politicians did not know how to pronounce her name and had no clue about what she has actually done in Alaska.

Some claimed that she has gotten a gas pipeline going after three decades of inaction, which is far from the truth, while others said she is the most popular governor in the nation, so she must be doing something right.

What the national pundits didn’t say was that Palin has served as governor of Alaska during a time of unprecedented oil wealth, which has helped preserve her popularity.

She has not had to make difficult budget and tax decisions of the sort that cost Murkowski at the polls.

Perhaps the strangest claim repeated endlessly on the news channels is that she has proven she can cut taxes and reduce the size of government in Alaska. She may have cut taxes as mayor of Wasilla, but that's not the same as cutting taxes as governor of Alaska, where there is no state income tax or sales tax to cut.

When he was governor, faced with a growing gap between oil income and expenses, Murkowski proposed a series of budget cuts and tax increases that—along with the selection of his daughter Lisa to replace him in the Senate—made him the most unpopular governor in Alaska history.

By contrast, record oil prices since her election have helped Palin avoid anything as sensitive as cutting off the Longevity Bonus or proposing a tire tax or wildlife viewing tax.

The comments from GOP politicians about how she championed budget cuts, reduced spending and “stood up” to Sen. Ted Stevens on the “bridge to nowhere” are a distortion. The Alaska budget is growing, not shrinking. To claim that the $1,200 payouts due to Alaskans in September have anything to do with restraining government growth, as McCain supporters are doing, is false.

It's true that she deserves credit for collecting much of the excess cash rolling into the state treasury. She championed a multi-billion-dollar oil tax increase, against great opposition from the oil industry and leading power brokers in the GOP, at a time when oil prices were rising and the previous tax law had become suspect.

The old law was at the center of the political corruption scandal that continues to ensnare politicians other than Palin.

The tax increase proposed by the governor and approved by the Legislature has temporarily taken all pressure off the state government to reduce spending.

With her selection by McCain, Palin will be subjected to intense scrutiny by the national news media for the first time. It will be unlike anything she has seen in Alaska.

I may be proven wrong, but the decision announced by McCain strikes me as reckless. She is not prepared to be the next president should something happen to McCain.

The main charge against Democrat Barack Obama is that he dose not have the track record to be president. The choice of Palin effectively removes that from the GOP arsenal.

Palin said Friday, in an exchange carried on CNN, that her 13 years as a member of the Wasilla City Council from 1992-96, mayor of Wasilla from 1996-2002 and governor for a year-and-a-half add up to “good experience” for the vice presidency.

McCain and Palin will have to prove that to the American people before November.

HALCRO: Blogger Andrew Halcro, the former state representative and 2006 candidate for governor, said: "McCain has put one of the least qualified politicians in the country a heartbeat away from the presidency."

"With Republicans on the verge of spending the next 40 years wandering in the desert because of their inability to manage government, McCain's choice highlights that he just doesn't get it," Halcro said.

Republican presidential candidate McCain was aware of Bristol Palin's pregnancy before he chose her mother for his running mate, the aide said.

"Senator McCain knew this and felt in no way did it disqualify her from being vice president," said the aide. "Families have difficulties sometimes, and lucky for her she has a supportive family."

The 17-year-old, a senior in high school, is about five months along, in her second trimester, according to the aide.

The aide said it was decided the campaign would reveal this information now because of rampant Internet rumors that Sarah Palin's 4-month-old baby, who has Down syndrome, was actually Bristol's.

"In the course of correcting that, we needed to get the truth out," said the McCain aide.

Sarah and Todd Palin issued a statement saying they are "proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents."

They also asked the media to respect their daughter's privacy.

The McCain aide insisted a key point to keep in mind is that Bristol decided to keep the baby, a decision.

Ok I have done some research about this presumptive VP choice,And I have found some things

1. Her degree is in Sports Journalism.Not Political Science,Not Economics,Not Foreign relation. Not foreign languages..But Sports Jornalism

2. She is only about 18 months into her very first term as Gov.

3.She was a ex beauty queen and a ex cheerleader.

4. She has NO FOREIGN RELATIONS experience at all..NOTHING..NADA... ZILCH.

5.She has NO nada!!! ZILCH experience in Economy..except for her whole 18 months as Governor and the mayor of a town of about 7000. There are more polar bears and reindeer living in Alaska than people.

6.Even her own supporters have issues as far asher being ready to be a VP and what happens to her if McCain dies in office. ?

7. Her 17 yr old daughter is now pregnant!!! If you cant control your 17 yr old daughter... what makes you think that she can control a entire country??

Yep Republicans this is who you are supporting? All I can say ... Welcome Mr President Barack Obama...

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, declaring that Sen. John McCain of Arizona, his Republican opponent, was not up to the task of resolving America’s economic and foreign policy problems.

“Tonight, tonight, I say to the people of America, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land — enough!” Obama declared as thousands of flash bulbs popped in the Denver Broncos’ stadium.

Obama wove the personal with the political in his 50-minute address to 84,000 supporters — and millions more at home — explaining how he would make a difference in their lives as president.

Laying out what he characterized as the state of the union after eight years of Republican leadership, Obama painted an America “at one of those defining moments — a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil and the American promise has been threatened once more,” he said.

“Tonight, more Americans are out of work, and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes, and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay and tuition that’s beyond your reach.”

The blame, he said, lay squarely with “a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.”

“America, we are better than these last eight years,” he said. “We are a better country than this.”

Praise, criticism for McCain
Obama praised McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years, as a brave and distinguished American. But he said McCain was tied at the hip to Bush, who is scheduled to address the Republican National Convention on Monday.

“The record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time,” Obama said.

“Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.”

“I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans,” Obama said. “I just think he doesn’t know.”

Foreign policy response from Obama
Obama also answered Republican attacks on his readiness to be commander-in-chief, signaling that Democrats would hit back hard at attempts to tar the party as weak on defense. Similar attacks helped torpedo the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a highly decorated military veteran, in 2004.

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe,” Obama said.

Contending that “the Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — have built,” Obama promised: “As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.”

Well I for one had some reservations about Obama... I really didnt know who I was going to vote for..But after last night ..My mind is totally made up. Obama is right.. we cannot afford 4 more years of a failed Bush administration... With that said..Im giving Obama my total and undivided support.... I can hardly wait for November..when not only will we have a Democrat in the WHite House but we will also make further gains in Congress....

With one million home foreclosures this past year and millions more likely to come, along with seven straight months of rising unemployment, John McCain seemed out of touch when he stated this week that "the fundamentals of our economy our strong."

McCain owns seven homes valued at about $2 million each,McCain's inability to recall the number of homes he owns is a strong signal that his personal wealth and privilege is so great that not only is he unsure about how wealthy he is, there is also a serious disconnect between him and working Americans.

In another context, the McCain campaign is displaying further confusion about its views on the economy. Despite claiming that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound," McCain has admitted that he understands little about economic issues.

Further, in a recent McCain campaign ad televised during the broadcast of the Olympics, the voice over says that McCain believes Americans are not better off than they were four years ago. But in a Republican primary debate earlier this year, McCain insisted that we're better off now than we were eight years ago.

So one thing is clear: McCain is confused about the economy. Working families can't afford to let another four years go by where the president is confused about basic economic issues and compensates for that confusion by prioritizing the agenda of the privileged and wealthy

And this is the man you want as President..He flip flops worse than anyone I have seen.He knows little about the economy... He is a adulterer... And he has agreed with George W Bush on over 95% of the time. We cannot let this man get to the WhiteHouse!!! No way!!!!

John McCain had a well-documented affair on his first wife, with his current wife. He has admitted in the books he has written about his life that he ran around with several different women while still married to his first wife. And don't forget that he left her for a younger, richer woman - multi-millionaire Cindy Hensley who is now Cindy McCain - after she had been severely hurt in a car accident.

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’

So you all can see what kind of man you are trying to elect into office..A man that has NO conscience whatsoever!!!! A man that has shown in the past that when times are hard he will bail !!! Look at his first wife.. Not only that he is a major womanizer!!! He has had numerous affairs not only on his first wife but also his current wife..So if you want someone like Joh McCain .... then oh my god ..you will be putting a monster in the Whitehouse

Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025, Jun 16, 2005 regarding bill S.Amdt. 784 to H.R. 6

Voted NO on Bush Administration Energy Policy, Energy Policy Act of 2003; Bill HR 6It would support the use of alternative energy and call for utilities to increase their dependence on renewable fuels.

Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy, 1999 Bill S. 1186 

So this is the man that you republicans are lying your hopes and dreams? This man could care less about the price of gas or the price of electricity.

So think very hard before you elect a man that is for the BIG oil companies..Oh wait a minute ..Isnt George W Bush for the same big oil companies..Hmmmm same ol thing...different nut

Fellow Republicans,

When deciding which candidate is best to now lead our nation, we ask that you consider supporting Senator Barack Obama. The U.S. faces serious challenges that are not being addressed by our political leaders. Elected officials of both sides have found it easier to appease their parties’ fringes to win elections, and media companies choose to shock, amuse and divide us. In the meantime, the problems we face as a nation grow as they are passed on to future generations.

We need a leader who can lay the foundations of another American Century—someone who can get past our partisan and ideological divisions, as we strengthen our standing in the world and tackle the challenges we face at home. We need a leader who understands our differences, but who also knows the importance of finding common ground. While we continue to debate and address many issues on which we all have strong opinions—abortion, gay rights, the relationship between church and state, to name a few—we need a leader who can command the support needed to break our government’s paralysis and meet the growing challenges we face as a nation.

 Issues A Unified America Can and Must Address:

National Debt
The federal debt matters. We cannot saddle future taxpayers with having to service the debt we create with our irresponsible fiscal policies. Cutting the deficit will additionally decrease interest rates and increase private investment.

Trade Deficit
Every year, the difference between what the United States imports from other countries and what it exports grows, and is likely to reach $1 trillion a year by 2010. The U.S.’s trade imbalance with China alone grew from just $10 billion annually in 1990 to well over $200 billion a year by 2006. Despite this increasing and extreme deficit, recent American administrations have been unable or unwilling to force China to revalue its currency and take other measures to strengthen our exports overseas.

Energy Independence
As the world’s energy needs grow, it is critical that the United States be able to provide for its own energy requirements. By doing so we can deflate the power of dictators who are propped up by high oil prices, more effectively insulate ourselves from the world’s most volatile regions, and stimulate economic growth at home. Even without tapping into Alaska’s oil reserves or drilling offshore, we can dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil—we have not even begun to realize the possibilities of Iowa corn, South Dakota wind or Montana coal. Even a growing number of environmentalists support increased nuclear power production.

Global Warming
Even those who still believe that global warming is a natural occurrence should agree that rising sea levels and other geological changes will be expensive to adapt to and probably impossible to undo. If we are able to reverse this dangerous trend, we must. No other nation has the economic and political power to take the lead on this issue.

Social Security
If current trends continue, total Social Security income will begin to fall short of total outgo in 2019. In the words of Alan Greenspan, the U.S. will face "abrupt and painful" choices if our leaders do not move quickly to trim the Social Security and Medicare benefits the baby boom generation has been promised. The Social Security system needs to be reformed to bring it into the 21st century and beyond with the new financial knowledge and tools available to Americans. We need a reliable, sustainable retirement plan that combines mandatory retirement savings with flexibility, choice, and security

Healthcare Reform
Our healthcare system is reaching a crisis. Rising healthcare costs are crippling business and putting millions of Americans, especially children and the elderly, at great risk. American families risk having a lifetime of savings wiped out from a single hospitalization or illness. Drug companies are reaping record profits as they promote new uses of old drugs. Small hospitals and doctors are closing their doors as malpractice insurance costs increase. We must reform healthcare to make it accessible and affordable for all Americans, while maintaining the competitiveness and innovation that has made our system the envy of the world.

Included in a general reform of our healthcare system must come an overhaul of our Medicare/Medicaid system. With these programs facing insolvency within the next decade, we must re-engineer a system that is fiscally self-sustaining and does not pass today’s health problems onto future generations.

Tax Reform
Our tax code is inefficient and full of loopholes. A simplified code could aid economic growth and provide for a fairer tax system, especially for small businesses and the working poor.

Immigration Reform
Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants enter our country each year and will continue to enter unless much more is done. Thousands of employers hire these illegal workers, often times to the detriment of American workers, and often times exploit the illegal immigrants themselves. Despite extensive talk by both Republicans and Democrats to solve this and many other problems we face, nothing has been done.

Ok I found this on the web..They call themselves Republicans for Obama.. Go ahead google it... It tells about how republicans are tired of the same old Republican garbage and want change... I applaud these people finally some republicans that can think for themselves and arent lemmings.

Former Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa was among Republicans the Obama campaign said were crossing party lines to support Obama. The Illinois senator's campaign said he was also being backed by the Republican mayor of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, Jim Whitaker. The campaign did not release the names of other GOP supporters or the size of the group.

"I'm convinced that the national interest demands a new approach to our interaction with the world," Leach, a foreign service officer before being elected to Congress, said in a conference call with reporters.

Leach predicted that many Republicans and independents would be attracted by Obama's campaign but said his decision to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time wasn't easy.

"Part of it is political parties are a distant analog to families and you really hate to step outside a family environment," Leach told The Associated Press in an interview.

Wendy Riemann, a spokeswoman for Republican candidate John McCain, responded that it was ironic that Leach, who supported campaign finance reform, would back Obama, who has opted out of public financing.."

Leach, 65, was elected to Congress in 1976 and served 30 years before losing a re-election bid in 2006. As a moderate, he was often at odds with the conservative GOP leadership.

"For me, the national interest comes before party concerns, particularly internationally," said Leach, who has long been an opponent of the war in Iraq.

"We do need a new direction in American policy, and Obama has a sense of that," he said. "He recognizes that a long-term occupation of Iraq is not only expensive, it's extremely dangerous to the American interests."

Leach said he was attracted to Obama's call for a dialogue with nations such as Iran that have long been seen as U.S. adversaries.

"He also recognizes that it's preferable to speak with potential adversaries rather than simply shun them," Leach said.

Leach's decision could cause ripples with the group Common Cause, where he serves on the board and which has a policy against political endorsements. Leach said he wasn't aware of any concerns by the nonpartisan group, which supports accountability in government.

Many Republicans argue that McCain has an edge when the debate turns to foreign policy because of his long experience in dealing with such issues and his record as a career military officer and prisoner of war.

"There's a distinction between trumpeting issues and realistically looking at effectiveness," Leach said. "I have never known a time period where the American brand has been in less repair."

He said most voters instinctively want the U.S. to work with allies, rejecting the go-it-alone approach that has marked the Bush administration.

"If you ask Americans of any political persuasion — conservative, liberal or moderate — whether they'd rather see us lead the world with allies or alone, most people instinctively say we're better off with allies," Leach said. "The public does understand that something is not right about our policies today

Ok..Now the republicans are starting to bail on MCcain...oh boy this is going to be a bloodbath...Obama is going to win this handily..if many more republicans start to bail on MCcain..

What would you call a man who divorced his ailing wife with three kids to run off with a trophy wife worth 800 million dollars? A pig, a scumbag, something worse…? I know one thing, I would never call him President.

Whatever honor John McCain retained from his war experience was lost long ago when the so called “Maverick” of political expediency became the typical lying politician that he is today. Like Stevens in Alaska this old grey dog of Washington politics a so dirty that he can’t see the truth without a poll or a political advisor telling which way the political wind is blowing.

Say one thing, do another … seems to be the real John McCain is finally showing himself for the dirty lying politician that he is. We have just suffered through eight years of double talking, truth is fiction and fiction is truth propaganda under George Bush, who like his father has brought this country to its knees in the name of Republican ideals. We don’t need another phony flag wrapped salesman pushing his used car of political sleaze into the white house.

As John McCain again and again fumbles through his notes to answer simple questions and has a bullet point bs response for anything that doesn’t fit his talking points one has to wonder what the hell he thinks he is doing running for president. He is clearly lying to the American people with his poll tested issues and focus group derived language yet the media will publish this political marketing BLEEP as news without verifying or questioning its validity.  

Early in the campaign season it seemed like sport to be the first to compliment the other candidates qualification to hold the office of president. At this stage in the political season let me say for record “John McCain Is Not Qualified To Be President”.

Never has been and never will be.

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3
   
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10