I am an independent Republican supporting Obama. The Republican party is no longer what it use to be. I cannot support most of their agenda because it only works for a small few.

Go do something productive, Chuckster.

Oh, yes, you hit the nail right on the head. Why in the world would anyone support the Republican Party in its current form? It has totally fallen off the cliff into crazyland. I urge all Republicans to just do a little research. Read all the Bills that have passed the House of Representatives (but thank god have not become law). go ahead, read all the Bills they passed and see if you agree or like even one of them. They are so extreme and filled with austerity. Please review and I guarantee you will change party affiliation!!

Chuckie can't be productive, he is too busy sucking on the gov.teat, with that being said, Democrat starter kit...Undying infatuation with the ONE,must think Biden is one of the smartest people in DC, not have paid taxes in the last five years, must firmly believe that the Liberal way is the only way, Oh yea, and if you have a different political opinion.....You must be a racist,...

...and, oh yeah, you also have to do those things Dems find inconvenient like, you know, study the constitution, value freedom and liberty over government oppression, and get news sources other than those controlled by the Obamaphiles like ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and "Hot Air America"!

JMH, you're right. It sure is crazy to follow anyone who believes in a balanced budget, not leaving our children with crushing debt that provided little value. Why would anyone want to follow the approach to getting out of a recession that has worked every time (changing tax law to encourage domestic and overseas investment in the US, creating a fair yet streamlined regulatory system, etc.) instead of one that has failed every time (high government spending without spending reform that creates debt without creating commensurate wealth and value)?

Yep, I guess the mentality of any Dem supporter is "Thank you sir, may I have another?" after getting slapped in the face time and again, and smiling stupidly as the Obama ship of state slowly sinks.

Exactly what legislation has the GOP passed that "only works for a few" like Obama's bailout of the GM unions, the Solyndra fraud and the other "bad bets" that served the Dem crony capitalism? What GOP spending was as tilted to the few as those?

spot on Chuckster, must be racist and hate women....

Bob, Show me proof that the tax cuts for the big corporations and the rich helped the economy. Everything out there proves different. Even Bush said they need to be temporary because the could cause huge deficits in the budget and may need to be reinstated. Obama inherited the cost of 2 wars that were never funded. If you knew anything about how America has funded wars in the past they have been funded by everyone doing their part. It called being patriotic. After and during WW11 many of the wealthy paid up to a 91% tax rate. The price for freedom. Now the Republicans don't think the coporations and wealthy should pay for the wars. They pholosphy is we will start wars and the poor and middle class can fight , die and pay for the wars as we the wealthy and big corporations profit from them. All your other points have no or very little merit, Do your research , the Republican party is been taken over by the Teaparty which is a creation of the John Birch Society. Thats why Romney had such a problem , the John Birchers consider Mormans communists and a lot of others also.

Retired, in every year after the "Bush" tax cuts, Federal revenues increased. There was NO increase in the deficit due to them. The way investment tax cuts work is that they increase the number of taxable events because the penalty is less to perform these taxable events. More transactions, more profits for investors, including state and union penion funds, and more prosperity for the nation.

Regarding the 15% Capital gain and dividend tax rate, I find it ironic that a retiree doesn't know that the primary beneficiary was...retirees! When you sell stock and real estate outside your 401K, the tax burden became less for you.

As far as the wars "not being paid for", you're dead wrong. Look at the increase in the national debt over the war period. That's the true measure of whether the war was being financed. The deficits prior to Pelosi and Reid taking over the Congress were ooly a fraction of what they are today with a far lesser military cost obligation. It's not the wars that are creating the mult-trillion dollar deficits, it's Obama's mismanagement and growth for giveaways to campaign contributors and the Federal government. As far as your statement, " the Republican party is been taken over by the Teaparty which is a creation of the John Birch Society" I think that puts you into the "tin foil hat" club.

Bob , again do your research. In 2010 Ian Walters, a spokesman for CPAC said , that the the John Birch Society has sponsored the conference. That’s not surprising, considering that the Birch Society has long been considered wacky and extreme by conservative leaders. William F. Buckley famously denounced the John Birch Society and its founder Robert Welch in the early 1960s as “idiotic” and “paranoid. “ Buckley’s condemnation effectively banishing the group from the mainstream conservative movement. Welch had called President Dwight D. Eisenhower a “conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy” and that the U.S. government was “under operational control of the Communist party.” Buckley argued that such paranoid rantings had no place in the conservative movement or the Republican party. Two years after Buckley’s death, the John Birch Society is no longer banished; it is listed as one of about 100 co-sponsors of the 2010 CPAC. Notable listed members of the John Birch Society include Fred C. Koch , father of the Koch brothers who are behind the creation of the Tea Party and putting 100's of millions of dollars towards thier personal agenda

So what if the Koch brothers give money to the GOP... did you forget who is giving money to the Dem's let me remind you, it's no trouble at all... really no trouble...,did you ever hear of the left and the unions, Media matters, NPR, George Soros,Tides Foundation, Democracy Alliance, Moveon.org and the Center for American Progress. Money from wall street, Goldman Sachs $1,013,091,JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799,Citigroup Inc $736,771,UBS AG $532,674,Morgan Stanley $512,232.

again so what if the Koch Bro's have dealings with the JB society, the left sponsers the communist party, so it works out...

You certainly got that right Chuckster. I didn't know there was anyone in the entire town of Frankfort who is a Democrat except me.

That is the agenda of both parties....COMPLETE COMMUNISM. The Dems are just sneakier. The Repubs are going to just outright take it all from US.

What is the worst thing that will happen if NO ONE votes? They will know the charades are over. Unless there is a referendum on the ballot to restore the rule of law....the U.S.C.....ISSUE OUR OWN CURRENCY U.S. BANK NOTES ISSUED VIA STATE BANKS...which will abolish the FED, why bother? It is an Unconstitutional and Illegal dictatorship so why participate? There are 2 choices....sneaky and deceptive like the Nazis did by the DEMS OR....outright taking everything like commie Russia by the Repubs.

Chuckster Agreed. the scary thing is that people don't understand that beck, limbaugh are entertainers as their networks refer to them when called out on facts...really hate is entertainment?? Hope that people work with the Real facts and not treat what they hear on these entertainment as Truth...

It has been longer than 4 years for me Stephen.

Actually, we haven't had job growth that even matches working population growth. currently our "worker participation" rate is about 63%, the lowest in 30 years. Those dropping out of the work force aren't counted in the unemployment figures. Obama has the WORST rate of GDP recovery after a recession than any President in the last 70 years, and it's largely due to the job killing effects of his tax and overspend policies. Transportation bill? Road and rail construction is the least effective way of creating jobs since its so capital intensive. BTW, your ignorance regarding "the rich" not being favored in a transportation bill is astounding. Who do you think profits from the corrupt bidding processes on public infrastructure, the "poor" excluded from good construction jobs by the unions?LOL All the Dems care about is enriching their union and crony capitalist campaign contributors, not creating more private sector jobs where the Dems don't get their "cut"!

Bob -- your statements about GDP growth are only true if you include the first year of the Obama presidency. Did you expect him to wave a magic wand and make everything miraculously better?

Also, when did Obama raise taxes?

Jeff, buddy...you seem a bit confused and short on facts. May I help a bit?
PATCH is a nationally organized, hyper-local, left-leaning interweb newspaper. Sorta like the NY Times with a local flavor.
Sun Tsu (The Art of War) tells us to study your opponent, determine their weakness and then exploit the weakness to your advantage.
The Democrats and other left-wing organizations (read - Alinskyites) have done their homework and have an A- so far.
They get an A+ if Obamessiah get's re-elected and the USA disappears into a socialist swirly.
God bless the warriors who protect us, whatever their party affiliation. They have my full support.
In closing...yes we do have a lot in common my brother.
We are in fact all sinners and will someday stand before our Creator to give an account or our time here.
God Bless America.
Vote conservative every chance you get!

I see the "Apprentice" has no name. Come out to the light and get some courage. Anyone can hide behind a nameless blog.

Aprrentice.......ALL media is left biased, except FOX news channel. The only fair and balance media outlet.

These days just about every effective Dem president would be considered a Conservative like JFK and Bill Clinton. Both cut taxes, kept budgets relatively in balance and showed bipartisan leadership in moving the nation forward. Obama can't even get a SINGLE VOTE for his budgets, and the Senate Dems haven't met their conostitutional duty to pass a budget ion over 1,000 days. If the "current crop" of Republicans are clowns and a disgrace, the current crop of Dems have been as damaging to the US as any oppressive invader could have been. I agree that the Dems are not "clowns". There's nothing they've done to damage this coountry that in any way could be considered "funny".

moment of Zen...agreed!

I would not want him to be a Democrat please, but I do agree he would be a very progressive republican.

Retired, tell that to the 20,000 Boeing employees in South Carolina, No you can't work for Boeing, your not Union.....

Retired, I think it's a pretty good bet you're not black or hispanic and had an "in" to get into the union. In your day, the only way to get in the union was to have a relative or "sponsor" there already, or be ready to hand over reams of cash to some corrupt union rep. If you weren't aware of this, you either had your head in the sand or are something less than honest. I was living through times like that. I had family members hurt by this union corruption personally. don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!

Let me see now ... 3 years ago we were heading for a depression as a result of the previous 8 years under Bush and the same policies that caused all these problems and are what is being promoted as the answer by the John Birch, Teaparty Republican party. I still don't get it. Give to the Rich and take from the poor and middle class. Who does that work for ???

Retired, you really should learn something about economics. The cause of this recession was the "sub prime loan" scam and Fannie and Freddie giving out loans to unqualifed buyers. This was manageable until about 2007, but Barney Frank and Pelosi and let the system run wild until the whole house of cards collapsed. It was all about Frank and Pelosi drinving up housing prices and demand for the unions and making a fortune for their wall street bank campaign contributors.

Bush didn't control Fannie and Freddie or have the responsibility for stopping this abuse, that was Baney Frank's job.

Get history straight, Retired, and you may find the enemy...and he is YOU and the other Dems!

Bob -- Bush had nothing to do with the housing crisis? Don't you remember campaign in 2004 for the "Ownership Society". Maybe you should remember your history a bit better.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/10/10/end-of-the-ownership-society.html

Bob -- How about Republicans leading the repeal of Glass-Stiegal so banks could make risky investments in credit default swaps? Did that have anything to do with the housing crisis?

Sorry Bob. You start out with a true fact.> ( The cause of this recession was the "sub prime loan" ) then twist everything. Your telling me to get history straight when you are getting misled by FOX news. Facts > It was the wealthiest of Americans. Instead of the old system where mortgage banks used their own capital to back mortgages, financial deregulation allowed mortgage banks to sell mortgages to investment banks, who packaged them as stock options for investors. This created incentive for mortgage banks to be reckless with regard to who they lent to since they were still getting paid by investment banks and weren't facing the loss of mortgages not getting paid back. Wall Street had turned the American mortgage industry into an international Ponzi scheme.

Like all Ponzi schemes, though, eventually things fell apart, and everyone, from homeowners to financial institutions, discovered they had more debt and less actual wealth than they thought. The Wall Street firms who set the scam up, though, got bailed out with our tax dollars by claiming they were "too big to fail."
Source(s):"Inside Job" 2011 Oscar winner for best feature-length docutmentary

Also Bob --- Perhaps the most critical finding of the House commission, was that Greenspan and his fellow panelists Chris Cox (SEC Chairman), and former Treasury Secretary Jonathan Snow all agreed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not the root cause of the financial crisis, but only a factor in how events played out. Furthermore, facts weighed heavily against republican-spread ( FOX NEWS and other Republican Outlets) misinformation claiming Fannie and Freddie caused the meltdown. Included among these facts are that the majority of sub-prime loans were originated by institutions other than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that by the time the crisis was realized only 13 percent of all sub-prime loans were owned by Fannie and Freddie.
According to Center for American Progress Senior Fellows Michael S. Barr and Gene Sperling, Freddie and Fannie didn't become involved in securitizing subprime mortgages in substantial numbers until 2005 --"The sub-prime boom was led by investment banks and mortgage brokers, not by government-sponsored enterprises. Fannie and Freddie became unhinged in the middle of this decade when they tried to play catch-up." In addition, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remained compelled by law not to participate in the kind of predatory lending that severely impacted the housing market. This kind of lending occurred through private firms that, essentially, took advantage of lower income borrowers.

wags69, I'm not a Bush defender. He was a big government fiscal liberal, and his "everyone should own a home" remark while the housing market was overheating was just, well, stupid. BTW, Glass Stiegel was ovn overturned during the Cliniton admisntration with bipartisan support. It was a bad idea, and I wish we could find a way to separate retail and investment banking. What's Obama's plan to do this?

Retired, you're aonly telling a half truth here. Of course the Wall Street banks that were Obama's biggest supporters "bindled" mortgages, but the "flipping" of mortgages to Fannie and Freddie was a necessary step in this mess. Brokers could give bad loans and Fannie would not only buy them, they'd give a fee to the Wall Streeters for selling the toxic assets to them. BTW, the banks have been put into the psotion of just borrowing money from the Fed fro virtually no interest, then loaning it back to Treasury for a much higher return due to the Obama debt and deficit. Getting a commercial or small business loan is practically impossible under the Dodd Frank rules. Do me a favor. Look up what additional restrictions were put onto Fannie and Freddie under Obama. You'll find little oversight on these two corrupt patronage giants. That's not by accident.

Bob,

Just as you are no Bush defender, I am no Clinton defender.

The point is that deregulation is the dogma of the right and the cause of the economic collapse.

Clinton also supported NAFTA, a bill driven by Republicans and passed with bi-partisan support. It was clearly a mistake and bad for our country. When Democrats have introduced bill to get rid of tax breaks for outsourcing and introducing Buy American provisions for government spending they have been fillabustered by the Republicans.

Typical liberal, you just cut and pasted exactly what someone else put on here at nhe start of the thread, Please to all you liberals, don't even consider changing your vote, just remember what Odumbo said in 2008, "You Lost, Get Over It". Again to retired, liberals and that short attention span thing, Who had congress and the senate, ...

Typical of conservatives to name call and ignore the facts. Republicans have ennacted trickle down economics for 30 years and look where it got us (why haven't those job creators done more with the Bush tax cuts?). Republicans fillabustered measures that could have made a real difference because they are more concerned with political gain than what is in the best interest of the country.

Wags69, the idiots will never get it....

Whoa, wags.....the ONLY thing that I see is true..well, two things...Bin Ladin is dead and young adults get to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.
The lowest rate of income tax? Ok, that's true. That's cuz there's millions of people not paying a dime while everyone else has to support them.
Major reforms in the financial industry? Ok, that's true, too. And now there's so much red tape just to refinance or anything else, it's near impossible.
I could go on and on, too.....but it won't change your mind either. Let's just say we're going to agree to disagree.

"Before Obama took office Osama Bin Ladin was alive, now he is dead"-So is the SEAL team that killed him because Obama indentified who did it and actually had 31 of them killed by foolishly transportiing them together.

"Since Obama took office the value of the Dow has increased by nearly 50%." So is your point that Obama policy is all about making the rich richer?

"Under Obama, Americans have had the lowest rate of income tax in over 50 years." Only because Congress extended the Bush tax cuts against Obama's objections.

"Before Obama took office we had a President who sanctioned torture of prisoners, now we do not" Correct. Obama believes in leaving "no prisoners". He just kills men, women and children in drone attacks.

"Since Obama took office about 6.6 million young adults got to be covered under their parents health care plans" They need to because they couldn't find jobs since Obama killed the economy.

"Through Obama leadership, major reforms on the financial industry, that in large part caused the recession, were enacted." Right. Now it's practically impossible to get a loand for a small business. BTW, Fannie and Freddie, the politically corrupt source of most of the problems, went untouched and is STILL makinf bad loans and getting taxpayer subsidies.
C'mon. Come up with some that aren't so easy to expose as deception on your part!

Bob,

SEAL team - so Obama made the operational decision to tranport them together? No. He did make the call to go after Bin Ladin and Bush didn't when he had the chance at Tora Bora.

Dow up 50%. Despite your silly rhetoric, democrats are not communists -- we are also capitalists but believe in sensible regulation.

Drone attacks -- Obama went into Pakistan where real enemy resides. Bush didn't have the guts. Do you think that there wasn't collateral damage in the illegitmate war in Iraq that Bush pursued?

Health care for young adults: It was Republican supply side policies that caused the economic collapse and the loss of jobs. Also, the jobs that young adults typically have don't provide health insurance. Clearly, the Affordable Care Act is benefiting them.

In the time between when the economy collapsed and the financial reforms were enacted the banks weren't lending money to small business either. Thus, it is an issue with the banks and not with the reforms.

I guess it is easy to refute arguements when you don't care about the quality of your counterarguements.

Bush actively supported water-boarding, Obama does not.
Were you criticizing Bush for his rendition policy? I'm sure you were not so why so worked up by it now. I'm sure if Obama weren't doing this you would criticize him for that.
You think that Obama is getting more from bankers than Romney? What are you smoking Jim? Ever heard of Citizens United?

Obama supports rendition, the countries they are sent to are ok with waterboarding, Obama knows this, so he is just as guilty.Waterboarding to me is not torture, only to liberals...Citizens united,did you ever hear of the left and the unions, Media matters, NPR, George Soros,Tides Foundation, Democracy Alliance, Moveon.org and the Center for American Progress. Money from wall street, Goldman Sachs $1,013,091,JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799,Citigroup Inc $736,771,UBS AG $532,674,Morgan Stanley $512,232. He badmouths them out of one side, and digs into their pockets with the otherside.

Correct, wags69. Obama refuses to engage in non-damaging waterboarding. He only believes in blowing people to bits, including innocent women and children, with greatly stepped up drone attacks. There's a true Nobel "Peace Prize" winner if I ever saw one!

Here is a great example of what is wrong with the rhetoric of you teabaggers. Your arguements are just meant to be clubs to beat the other side and you don't care about the logic of the conclusions you reach. Is torture of prisoners bad? Yes! -- so we should support a party that support the US having a explicit policy for torturing -- i.e., the Republicans. Is unfettered money in politics bad for our democracy? Yes -- so we should support the party promotes Citizens United -- i.e., the Republicans.

Of course you may be successful by making this a referendum on Obama but the country will be worse because Romney will be president and he will take us return to the Bush policies that got us into this mess.

Wasn't Obama supposed to be the Billion dollar man, money in politics,,,, come on wags69, and you keep bringing up citizens united,yet you fail to mention, the unions, Media matters, NPR, George Soros,Tides Foundation, Democracy Alliance, Moveon.org and the Center for American Progress. Money from wall street, Goldman Sachs $1,013,091,JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799,Citigroup Inc $736,771,UBS AG $532,674,Morgan Stanley $512,232. He badmouths them out of one side, and digs into their pockets with the

Jim,

Obama is a pragmatist. But he also believes that Citizens United was a bad decision and he said so in his State of the Union address. Should he unilaterally decide to forgo campaign contributions from special interests? We all know that he wouldn't have a chance in the election if he did.

If you think that Wall Street isn't trying to buy Romney the presidency that you are delusional. The super-Pac money is extremely lopsided in the favor of Romney.

Ummm...dufus, the Democrats took over both house of Congress in 2007, and the recession began in 2008/9 and worsened due to full Dem control of two branches of the Fed. UP until the Dems took over, growth was very good and unemployment was low. For gosh sakes, try actually KNOWING SOMETHING before you post!

The recession began 11 months after Republicans had full control of our government for 5 straight years. Democrats could not completely undo the terrible policies the Republicans had enacted in that time (and many of the Dems were just as wrong-headed as the Republicans). The point is that supply-side economics and deregulation lead to the recession and it is the Republicans that enact these policies.

No Doug, they lost to the LA Dodgers in '59.

Doug,

Did you know that no cause is contiguous with its effect? This is especially true when considering the economic effects of public policy.

Doug apparnetly you memory is also inaccurate!

Ruby , you are right. Just for the record you are referring to the primaries. Independents like me and you want to vote for who we think are the best overall person to elect regardless of party but we are limited to do so. There was a report just out that said that this that this current house has been one of the most unproductive ever. With all of the serious issue we face 20% of the bills passed were about naming Post Offices. That is shamful. That should tell you a lot