So, if Hurricane Isaac hits Tampa, do you think Pat Robertson will claim it is God bringing his wrath down upon the Republican policies? Somehow, I don't think so . . .

Sure Obama could have done that. You pointed it out yourself, Steven, back in May: "Bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view."

So this "gentleman" zebo plans to attack women and Doctors?

Do you think that Gawker would have published 950 pages of Bain's documents if Mitt had released more tax returns?

Just look on a map to see all the fires in CA, OR, WA & ID

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

Also, I heard the RepudTea-can convention will be held in a building which was funded by 62% public funds!

hahahahaaaaaa! http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/22/728771/rnc-we-built-this-stadium-financed-taxpayer/

Funny? Not really. We the People built 62% of that building in Tampa.

Jonathan Cohen fails to mention that ins, companies are immune from the law preventing monopolies and with a voucher program competition would virtually disappear and about 2 or3 corporations would own the whole market.

Besides, why ignore the only saving grace health ins care there is that would solve all our current cost problems...Medicare for all...a national healthcare plan with only 3% overhead...Universal healthcare is the only way to go, yet wealthy corporate owners keep it off the table. We really don't need these greedy corporations profiteering off our healthcare. So why ignore the best answer any longer. Universal healthcare now.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) believes, "At any point in the past four years, President Obama could have called crawled over to the offices of Republicans John Boehner, now House speaker, and Rep. Ryan, now House Budget Committee chairman, over to the White House on his hands and knees and cut a budget deal by agreeing to accept each and every one of their demands. And then, when the House Teanut Caucus reneged and demanded more, agreeing to that. And then when the House Republicans reneged again and demanded still more, agreeing to that. And then when they demanded more, agreeing to that . . . Well, anyway its all his fault."

Fixed that.

The Gawker disclosure validates distrust of the financial markets, and Mitt, and shows the need for more financial regulation. It is too bad it came out so late that it will lose headlines to the convention.

A Sherriff willing to break the law and murder somebody in cold blood? What would Marshall dillon think?

These loons are getting testy now that they see just how insane everyone thinks they are.

If your gad doesn't like what I'm doing then let your gad stop me, not you.

As with some of the folks at MSNBC I like to end the day on a positive note, so here's mine:

Early on, people expressed some concern over the possibility that Romney may allow precepts of his chosen faith get in the way of decisions he would make, should he be elected President. I suggest that events over the past eight months demonstrate, conclusively, that would not be a problem -- as with most Christian-based belief, Mormons don't tolerate lies and liars.

I wouldn't call that 'enormous relief', but it is positive, nonetheless.

Paul Ryan has a "tell". When he's lying and know's he is, he has this move he does all the time. He bends his chin down towards his chest, wrinkles up his brow, and he opens his eyes wide and stares at whomever he is speaking to or at the camera. The look he gives is as if he's staring at the person he's speaking to in order to see if they are buying it and at the same time, to intimidate a response. Watch for it. Rachel you should "out" him on it on the show, and show clips of him doing it over and over again. It will spook him and blow his cover for millions of people and at the very least make him more stiff and awkward than he is when being interviewed or giving a speech.

This is the perfect tactic for the President to take about job creation, and the TV spot they should create in conjunction with this message.

"The fact that job creation is a lot slower than any of us wants it to be is all the more reason to vote out of office every single Republican Senator or member of the House of Representatives who has voted against any jobs program. Every member of Congress who voted no and blocked any jobs program should lose their own job on Election Day Nov 6th. Go to JobBlockers.Org (not live yet) and just type in your zip code to find out the name of your State Senators and your local members of the House of Representatives and you will see a simple list of whether they voted yes or no on the important jobs programs that have been blocked, since the Great Republican Recession began. That's JobBlockers.org NOT .com"

And then the campaign should run TV ads in every single congressional district showing the jobs programs that their specific Republican representative and Senators have voted against that resulted in any jobs plan being blocked, voted down, filibustered to death and therefore NOT going into effect.

Turn this into the perfect opportunity to attack the other side and to set up a new major theme in the campaign, which is "Sweep the Congress clean of all Republicans who have blocked jobs programs for working families in America." Democrats voted for every jobs program, practically unanimously. But Republicans blocked or greatly reduced almost every jobs program we presented to the Congress. We want you to know exactly who voted NO on your jobs. Vote out every Republican who put vindictive politics far ahead of voting for more jobs for American families."

This new message I have heard the campaign using lately that if the President wins it will shame the Republicans into voting for his jobs programs next term is as WEAK as weak can be. Who believes that the right wing fanatic Republicans will ever vote for anything Obama wants them to? Nobody will buy that one.

The only tack to take is to call for a clean sweep of every Republican from Congress, with the possible exception of the very few who may have voted for jobs programs, which we know is practically none. The President must use slow jobs growth as proof that the only thing standing between American families and tens of millions of new jobs for Americans in the next few years are the Republicans who vote against jobs, vote against the best interests of American families and workers, just to try to harm the President and the Democrats, or for some other fanatical right wing ideology.

The government can and has stimulated over 4 million jobs with jobs programs, which was a miracle in the face of the depth of this recession compared to any other in the past. Most people don't realize that this Great Republican Recession was twice as deep (or 4 times as deep or whatever the accurate multiple is). And to have come out of it this far in just 3 years even in the teeth of a hurricane of Republican no votes and jobs program blockage was an amazing feat of very heavy lifting. But the lifting did not have to be so heavy, if the Republicans had only assisted us in fixing the disaster they caused.

And make no mistake, the entire Republican Party caused it. Do NOT blame it on George W Bush! That let's the rest of the Republicans off the hook. The entire Republican Party and economic philosophy which they still cling to caused every bit of the suffering Americans have felt starting in 2008. And you know what, it's still the same failed economic philosophy that the Republicans followed under Herbert Hoover which caused the Great Depression in 1929. They have not changed their worship of the rich and hatred of fair taxes, reasonable regulation or government investment in American for almost 100 years not matter how many times it creates a disaster and destroys lives. You would think they would have enough shame and humility after destroying the lives of tens of millions of Americans in 2008 and since, to stand aside and let a new team do what we had to do to fix it, or they could have even lent us a hand and helped us and America. But from the start, even when they like to say now that we controlled both houses of Congress for 2 years, we didn't at all because the Republican 40% minority in the Senate was able to Filibuster and block any program that would have lit a rocket under the recovery and those they didn't block completely, they used the threat of filibuster to water down to make it far less effective than it could have been. They filibustered 5 times more bills than any Congress in history. Even so, we are back from a recession they caused that was many times deeper than any other recession ever, to a level of recovery that was almost impossible in the face of the recessions' almost bottomless depth and the massive scale of Republican's obstruction. Now we need to end their obstruction completely, sweep every single job blocking Republican clean out of Congress and when you do here are the bold jobs programs I will present and a Democratic Congress will pass in the first 100 days of my next term. By the summer of 2013 here is a short list of the jobs programs we will pass into law, just for starters.

I will send to Congress a much larger new jobs stimulus program, three to four times the size of "The American Jobs Act", to make 100% sure the economy starts generating tens of millions of jobs almost immediately. Now, when we can finance a new booming economy at virtually 0% interest, it's immoral not to do so. And the new booming economy it will create is the most powerful way we will pay down the debt with increased tax revenues from all the new workers, just as happened during the booming recovery Bill Clinton created during HIS 2nd term. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

I will send to Congress a small increase in taxes on the richest 1%, just back to the rates they were paying under Bill Clinton. Is it so cruel to ask them to pay a top rate of 39.6% as they were under Bill Clinton instead of 35% today? I don't think it's cruel at all especially in the face of the big task that needs to be done with contributions from ALL of us. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

I will send to Congress a comprehensive tax reform proposal to remove corporate loopholes and lower rates for all businesses and return fairness to the tax code. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

I will send to Congress a comprehensive national election reform bill to allow "election day" to take place over a 4 day weekend so that every citizen has time to vote, with Monday and Tuesday being national holidays with no work for all Americans and early voting starting 6 weeks before the election in every state. This bill will include provisions to outlaw voter suppression and to guarantee a bullet proof, fair and trustworthy count of every single vote. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

I will send to Congress a massive jobs training and career retraining program so that the tens of millions of Americans who worked in industries where the jobs are never coming back can get retrained or trained for the first time for the jobs that are needed now and that will be needed for America's present and future. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.'

I will send to Congress, the Dream Act as well as a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately..

I will send to Congress an even stronger financial industry reform act to put more teeth into the Dodd Frank reform act we passed but which the Republicans watered down. We will not rest until we guarantee that another economic collapse cannot happen again as it just did in 2008 which could again destroy the lives of tens of millions more Americans. We cannot take another hit like that again, it could devastate this country right now. You know it and I know it. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

I will send to Congress a long overdue industrial and technological Manhattan Project to make America #1 in the world again in the new industries and technologies of the future and #1 again in educating our children. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

Finally, but not least by any means, I will send to Congress:

The Main Street Bailout which will reduce the balances of every underwater mortgage in America to less than the current market value so that every home in America is worth MORE than the amount owed. And the mortgage lenders and banks will eat two thirds of the cost of the more buydowns, and still be much better off than going to foreclosure or short sale. The big banks and financial firms on Wall St got their bailout paid for by you with your taxpayer dollars, the auto industry got it's bailout and now it's finally time for Main St. to get it's bail out. That's you! This program will finally stop the free fall in housing prices and put an end to tens of millions of foreclosures and short sales that destroy cities all over American, decimate the property tax revenues which cities and towns rely on for survival and prosperity. This program will put the final piece in place that is needed to supercharge the recovery. The Democrats in Congress will pass it and I will sign it immediately.

... and that's just the beginning."

I truly believe this is the one and the ONLY winning message possible for the President and a Democratic Congress to have a big victory.

It accomplishes the 5 absolutely necessary effects to gain victory, and all in this one new message.

1- It give President Obama a valid and strong explanation for why things have not improved faster in his first term. It makes it clear the Republicans in Congress are the ones at fault for the voters suffering first by causing the financial system collapse and the recession and then immorally blocking almost everything that would have made the recovery much faster and more powerful. But it does so without that being the primary focus of the message, so it doesn't sound like an excuse, it sounds more like a strong and confrontational accusation.

2- It gives voters a strong new reason to vote FOR President Obama with enthusiasm again this time, not just as the lesser of two evils, and makes a believable case for why things can and will be different and much better in his 2nd term. It gives the President a powerful new message of hope for a much better second term with a guarantee of the passage of big, bold new programs for the economy and other issues, BUT with the essential required condition that to be able to get these programs passed the voters also MUST elect extremely strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

3- It will give voters the powerful motivation needed for them to vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic House and Senate which is absolutely essential to the President accomplishing anything in the next term. And it gives them a simple TV ad and a simple website to see who in their state and district voted against jobs and therefore who's job in Congress they should vote against on Nov 6th.

4- It presents an exciting, powerful, inspirational set of bold new positive programs to vote FOR, and a believable way that the American people can guarantee for sure these programs will be put into effect very soon after the election by simply just pulling every Democratic lever on Nov 6th.

5- It puts Romney and the Republicans in a no win position whereby they cannot in any way possible come forward with anything as big and bold as this, not close to a faint shadow of it. And this explanation, presentation, and big plan will make the Republicans only plan, the Ryan/Romney Plan, look 1,000 times inferior.

Gov. Romney does NOT give his church tithes to "charity" even if the church DOES use it for charitable purposes; those tithes are his dues for remaining in good standing with the church. In order to hold any kind of position in the LDS church, you have to tithe a MINIMUM of 10%. In order to have a "temple recommend" you must be current with your tithing. To receive ANY blessing (read as services performed for their members) from the church you must be current with your tithing. As tithing is REQUIRED by the church it can hardly be characterized as charity, even if the IRS regulations consider it so.

During the time I was a member (technically still am as I have not requested to be removed or been excommunicated) the church did NOT audit your finances to determine if you WERE in compliance with their tithing commandments. Then there are the possibilities of prevarication on the topic; does it mean total income? after tax income? income in your home branch locality? income in trust in other countries or tax sheltered accounts? Do you reduce your income by the amount you put in trust for your children or pay for their education or their upkeep? How about your IRA's, your annuities, other retirement vehicles?

Since some of the Governor's tax AVOIDANCE schemes have an appearance of possible impropriety, evasion even, can we trust that his tithing is actually up to date? Would the church even admonish one of their most public political figures, even privately, if he were NOT compliant? Or is tithing something that only the middle-class and poor should be paying?

"Now this was the sin...(they) were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me..." An apt description of the Republican Party if there ever was one and also the reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. While some believe the gathering storm threatening the Republican National Convention's nomination of Romney/Ryan is an act of God or for others, Mother Nature's just return for havoc wrought upon the earth. In the end, republicans will destroy themselves and that is what we are witnessing, as their web of lies and deceit become unmanageable.

In 2002, Romney lied about filing jointly as a resident of
Massachusetts and Utah, a charge that the Romney campaign denied and denied and
denied until the very last minute when they were forced to admit that yes, the
charge had merit and that Romney had filed retroactively.

In that instance, as now, Romney and his top aide Eric Fehrnstrom said over and
over, “You’re just going to have to take our word for it,” while refusing to
disclose any proof. Now, it turns out the
private equity firm
founded by Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney made use of arcane techniques
in several of its Cayman Islands-based funds to avoid U.S. taxes, according to
a trove of Bain Capital's
private audit and finance records made public on the website Gawker today. Lying about taxes is one thing, but lying to the
vulnerable elderly about medicare is another.
Republicans have sunk to the lowest depths imaginable.