Lisa,the “corporate cronies” would get their labor out of the american welfare pool if they didn’t have immigrants who will work without coercion.
And nobody is crying to you.

Lisa, How can you say we had a balanced budget (under Bill Clinton)when the national debt was billions? Mr. Clinton gets credit for having a national surplus, if indeed we did, so why didn’t he give it back to the taxpayers he took it from, or better, use it to begin paying off the national debt? No he just found other things to spend it on.

You conservatives just kill me.
The Republican dream of a totally free market with little or no regulation from the federal government was recommended by the king of all Republicans, Ronald Regan, and initiated in full force by the G.W. Bush administration. And it worked!! The corporate CEOs and bankers made huge profits, record profits with little or no tax burden and none of the pesky regulations that got in their way. Now the USA is rapidly headed for one of the greatest financial meltdowns in recent history! But the old boys club at the top will still get their obscene bonuses for a job well done, while thousand of people are out of work, out of their savings, and out of their houses. Does the government help the people of “we the people”? No, that would be socialism- we help the CEOs in a corporate welfare move that will further begger the federal budget, a move that can only be called fascism.
And yet, you say you are a “conservative”? Smaller government you say- the government grew in leaps and bounds with the Bush administration, using our tax money to help such private enterprises like Blackwater- money I certainly would not have offered for such an obnoxious slap in the face to my rights.
You want a balanced budget? The last time we had that was with President Bill Clinton.
You want a secure Social Security system? Thank God we did not privatise that as well.
You want immmigration reform? Then where would the corporate cronies get their cheap labor, if we did not have this form of slavery? I do not see where Bush did anything to change immigration law, nor do I see any changes from the McCain platform.
Strong national defense? We have angered the rest of the world, including our one time allies, by invading a country that did not do a thing to us. Do you think that makes us safer?
You support supreme court judges that uphold existing laws? Then why is one of the planks of the republican platform overturning Roe v Wade, which is (like it or not) an existing law. So that you can legislate my womb? Sounds like government controlling my personal life, which I believe you were against…
You want lower taxes? Under Obama’s plan, the TPC estimates that people (or couples) making between $37,595 and $66,354 a year would see an average savings of $1,118 on their taxes. 
Under McCain’s plan, on the other hand, those same individuals would save $325 on average — $793 less than the average savings under Obama’s plan
As far as Democrat judges legislating from the bench, the decisions coming from the Bush administration has stifled more than our second ammendment rights, we have lost our right to privacy, our right to free speech, and our right to peaceful protest because of the Patriot Act. More rights have been secreted away than any other administration since John Adams Sedition Act.
So don’t cry to me that your ideals are threatened by the Democratic Party. You had your chance for the last 8 years, the result has been dismal by anyones account. The Democrate have had a minimal majority for 2 years, not enough unfortunately to overcome the wicked veto pen, which has not stopped moving since the Democrats got their tiny majority. Electing McCain would be another disaster since his policies do not differ from Bush’s in any appreciable way, evident by a simple visit to his campaign website. Check the facts, and not (please) by Google! Go to FactCheck.org.
And by the way, Pepsi is better….

In your column on September 10 you mention the news media can be slanted and “What they present is not necessarily the whole truth, but the part that suits their goals.” I cannot agree with you more. As you mention in your column, one should always research the facts through sites like Snopes.

When checking on the email you quoted about the 60 soldiers that were asked about whom they planned to vote for, well, that was false. Snopes investigated the email and found it to be a hoax. http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/raddatz.asp
The reporter is quoted on the Snopes site as saying that she never went on a trip to Iraq with John McCain and certainly never interviewed soldiers about whom they would be voting.

When investigating the polling numbers you quoted, I could not find any as low as you mention in your piece. The current polling numbers I found at http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob1.htm are by Fox News and have Congress at a 23% approval rating. I agree the numbers are bad, but not quiet as bad as you portray.

The problem is that people will read your column and believe the facts as you present them. Few will follow your advice and investigate. Few will read the corrections on the back page of the paper. Few will read this piece and take the time to find out how often you have misrepresented the truth. Most will think that if its in print it must have been checked out and be the truth, right? They couldn’t be more wrong!

Indeed, doing your homework IS important…

1. Democrats do not equal socialists.
2. Pro-choice individuals still have children and even, ehem, dare I say?? LOVE their children.
3. Because we do not want government regulation of our ethics and morals, we do not want the GOP running our bedrooms and making decisions about our sex lives or reproductive lives.
3. We tend to believe that government shouldn’t be at the beck and call of large corporations.
4. We tend to believe that government should truly be for the people by the people and that government should be a tool of the people.
5. The GOP had INCREASED government. This is NOT your father’s fiscally conservative GOP. Fiscal conservativism is a GOOD thing, this is not the party of fiscal conservation as you can see by the record deficit.
6. We have sick care rather than health care in this country. Currently, our healthcare is managed by large corporations which see enormous profit and consider pay outs to you a “medical loss”. Is your health a “medical loss”??
7. Democrats don’t want to control your life. Really, I see an irony here. It’s the religious right which balks at “live and let live”. In general the right is trying to regulate morals through government control of people and their decisions.

You may like things the way they are, then by all means vote GOP. But when you REALLY do your homework and watch news organizations other than FOX, read independent news magazines, etc. you will “see” differently.

Rather than toeing the line, I wish all of us (Dems and Reps) would challenge ourselves.

PS Google is NOT a good way to get accurate information. You have to be discerning. There are rumors floating around out there about all sorts of ridiculous stuff: from Obama’s Muslim religion to Palin’s censorship of material (though I do think there may be a good argument for her wanting everyone to toe HER line—sounds too much like Bush for me!)

The media does seem to favor certain candidates.  Tonight, Charlie Gibson on the ABC Evening News interviewed Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in depth.  I look forward to his extending the same courtesy and screen time to Senator Joseph Biden and promoting it as heavily.

We should, of course, check our facts using independent sources.  Another good fact checking site is [url=http://www.factcheck.org]http://www.factcheck.org[/url].  For instance, it points out how the McCain/Palin campaign has four separate ads making false claims about Barack Obama this week alone. 

Be careful of the term “pro-life”.  Both John McCain and Sarah Palin support the death penalty.  More than 4000 brave Americans have lost their lives since President Bush (we CAN blame him for this) declared “Mission Accomplished”.  And, because they are human lives and are loved by God as well, no matter how much we may want to ignore it, nearly 100,000 Iraqi civilians have perished (http://www.iraqbodycount.org).  If someone opposes abortion but is not consistently pro-life, the correct term is anti-abortion or anti-choice.  George Bush, John McCain and Sarah Palin are anti-choice.

Be specific about lower taxes as well; both Presidential candidates want to lower taxes, but pay close attention to whose taxes they want to lower.

You make a great point that Congress would be more proactive in taking care of us if we had the same benefits package.  Barack Obama has proposed giving all Americans access to the same affordable, portable, comprehensive health care that Congress receives. 

I want leaders who vote their conscience instead of how the highest bidding lobbyist wants them to.  I want a leader that isn’t going to continue foreign policies that isolate us from the world (and the world market).  I want someone who has studied the Constitution and respects its authority, not someone who will undermine it to achieve short term goals. I want someone who understands that there is not just one way to be an American, to be a patriot, to be a human being.  I, too, want someone who will be completely honest, truthful and there for the people, not someone who celebrated his birthday with George Bush while 1800 people—many of them the sick, poor, and elderly—met their deaths during Hurricane Katrina. Is this too much to expect?  I don’t think so.

Though I would not call myself a bonafide anything—labeling yourself politically can lead to making decisions based on traditions and associations rather than logic and sense—I fix my own car too.  I vote for the best candidate, not the party designation that comes after their name.  I dry my clothes outside to save energy and money, and I shop thrift and recycle.  I clip coupons, eat leftovers, volunteer and support missions at church.  It is because of—not contradictory to—my faith that I support Barack Obama.  Like my own story, Obama’s Christian testimony is one of an authentic rebirth in Christ as a young adult.  Obama certainly is eloquent, because he has a true passion for improving the lives of the people he is speaking to.

I voted for George W. Bush twice.  My own extensive examination of the Presidential candidates’ issue pages on their web sites leads me to believe that voting for John McCain would be like voting for Bush a third time.  I refuse to do that to the American people.

Pro choice my dear as well as end of life decisions are the most personal of all decisions and I would never want someone like you making those decisions for me! There is such a thing as separation of church and state too. This election is not about G.I John and Superwoman. We are losing our houses and jobs and banks are failing. What fairy tale land are you living in to think that if I don’t think like you that I am wrong. I had someone tell me that I must be a good Christian today because I treated them with kindness and most of all “respect.” This election is about issues and Obama will win on that, not the fairy tale diversions and bigotry that the Republicans practice.

“Millions of illegal aliens will leave by self-deportation.” 

What a ridiculous statement.  Let’s see if I am in this country illegally and I have all the benefits of an American life why would I voluntarily go back to the third world country I was so desperate to leave in the first place. 

Remember everyone in this country, with the exception of Native Americans, is an immigrant or came from immigrant parents.  Without immigration (legal or illegal) there might not have been a Revolutionary War, an American industrial revolution, westward expansion, the end of World War II, etc…

This type of rhetoric has been played out before in this country.  In 1882, the US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which stemmed from animosity that whites had to the large Chinese population that immigrated to work in the California Gold Rush and the railroad.  Once the gold rush subsided, the Act was passed which prohibited skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers and miners from entering the country for ten years under penalty of imprisonment and deportation.  The law was not repealed until the Magnuson Act of 1943. Is that what we want in the 21st century?

This country was founded on the basis of mass immigration, most legal.  Instead of spending money building a wall that will not stop anyone, enforce the laws currently enacted against all the population, instead of racially targeting certain ethnic groups. 

(FYI, the 756,000 other patriots listed above only represent 0.0024% of the US population which is currently 305,115,716.  Talk about being in the minority)

Brittanicus, To Me You are the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HERE. WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING MY COUNTY? WITH YOUR NUMBERS USA?

Only elect hard-line anti-illegal immigrant politicians. Illegal Immigration is lowering wages and stealing jobs from legal Americans. This major issue is costing taxpayers too much. Higher property taxes, free health care, education and a multitude of government welfare programs Just take a look at ‘Sanctuary City’ California’s financial demise. $ 11. billion dollars is attributed to the illegal immigrant welfare, who have drained the states funds.

If we enact the Federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088) enforcement only law. Millions of illegal aliens will leave by self-deportation. ATTRITION! No job, they will leave of their own accord. Only anti-American groups and Liberal-Democrat-Socialists are stopping this law. ASK THEM WHY?

http://www.numbersusa.com have the uncensored truth? IT’S YOUR FAMILIES FUTURE. DEPORTATION OR OVERPOPULATION.
IF WE DON’T STOP IT NOW, THEY WILL KEEP COMING..

JOIN 756.000 other American patriots at http://www.numbersusa.com , to stop the travesty of our immigration laws. Learn about Immigration governmental corruption at http://www.judicialwatch.org