“Considering what Obama has done to this nation maybe paying for contraceptives is a merciful answer to those future generations which will have to live in the country and world he created”
My God!!...Unbelievable!..We come from eight years of George Bush presidency during which the country experienced the most devastating attack on its soil since Pearl Harbour followed by a war (Iraq) started on false pretenses that cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. A balanced budget that Bush inherited was turned into an ocean of debt and - cherry on the cake – years of conservative policies and de-regulations led us straight into the worst recession since the crash of 1929 that we are still struggling to overcome. And this person has the face to talk about “what Obama has done to this nation”. There is no limit to conservative manufacturing of reality!!..
You are “not sure the (unfunded prescription drug benefit passed by Bush) caused 16 trillion in debt”? What do you think the National Debt is? It is the accumulated pluses and minuses of every budget balance starting from the time it was first measured and therefore it is the product of every single congress and every single administration so far. Not of Obama's only as you seem to imply.
When Bush was overspending and going in the red we didn't hear a peep from conservatives. But now it has become the number one concern and I think the reason is that they think Obama is throwing money around for god knows what reason. Do you even understand that you can create a budget shortfall not only by spending but also by choking off revenues? That is exactly what Bush has done INTENTIONALLY by cutting taxes in addition to reckless spending like starting unfunded wars.
The rise in deficits and debt under Obama, on the other end, is largely the UN-INTENTIONAL result of Bush's legacy PLUS the monumental drop in tax receipts (revenues) following the collapse of economic activity due to the recession ALSO started under Bush and from which we are just now starting to slowly recover.
Here is a graph that should help clarify the concept of who added more to the deficit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-and-bushs-effect-on-the-deficit-in-one-graph/2/07/2/gIQAELOrYI_blog.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

Continues Below:

“Both (the two wars) supported by Democrat votes for authorization”
Yes, it is very convenient to try dragging the Democrats into the tragic travesty of the war in Iraq. Unfortunately for you everyone (with the exception of most conservatives of course...) understand that those votes authorizing the war were extorted by feeding lies and misinformation to the country and to the world and, as a consequence, thousands of people died and billions of dollars were wasted.
As for the war in Afghanistan, it was a just and legitimate one, except for the fact that it should have been funded while instead it was started just as Mr. Bush gave his second round of tax cuts creating the huge crater in the Treasury that now all conservatives berate.

As for the “two years of Democratic control of Congress”, I invite you to learn the reality of actually happened here:

http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/07/myth-of-progressive-majority/

What you might learn is that the actual control of both chambers, only lasted five months: from July 2009, when Al Franken was finally sworn in after winning the recount against Norm Coleman, through November 2009, when Democrats lost Barack Obama’s old Senate seat in Illinois to Mark Kirk. Then in a special election the following January, Scott Brown won Teddy Kennedy’s old seat, and was sworn in on February 4th. And this because “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear from the start that he intended to have his caucus use the filibuster on every piece of legislation, and vote as a bloc, forcing Democrats to always need 60 votes to pass anything”.
Rather than talking about the “reluctance to accept numbers” you should focus on your inability to understand reality...

@listener -

You confuse things that come after for things that come because of. In rhetoric, it is called 'Sic Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc' and it is a common fallacy.

Your propensity to remember and tell only half the story or worse to misremember the story entirely is frightening.

If you take Coleman's hold up of Franken's inauguration into account, the "...first two years the Democrats ran the Congres..." reduces to 19 days. The GOP could and did use the ghost filibuster to block many actions of that Democratic majority Congress. They use it less now that they control the House but the filibuster is still used to block appointments and actions of the duly elected majority. Clearly, not how the framers of the Constitution intended our republic to operate.

Here's how I see it. The securitization of sub-prime mortgages created a highly volatile situation that inflated home prices and produced a bubble in housing and spread risk throughout the economy; six months of $4/g gasoline left many households opting to commute to work rather than pay their mortgages...and turned a manageable problem with mortgages into a crash that consumed much of our investment banking industry. Housing has been in a case of over-supply ever since. However, housing usually LEADS our economy out of recession. This is not occurring in this instance. Corporations are sitting on $3T+ of profits waiting for the return of higher aggregate demand. Some of that demand is returning due to the payroll tax cuts and the mild winter. In my view, too much of the national income is winding up in the pockets of people with a low propensity to spend...that is the "1%".

I conclude that is the GOP not the Democratic Party that is counting on stupid supporters. Their election chances hinge on the voter concentrating on the wound and NOT on how they got wounded and certainly not on which party is helping them to heal.

I can also conclude that you are either a deluded wingnut or a GOP paid stooge intentionally sent to middle and left wing sites to troll up controversy. In either case, unless I find it particularly egregious, I will ignore you in the future.

Prate on.

16 trillion in debt and the longest instance of high unemployment since the Great Depression.

This administration believes that the public and especially their supporters are stupid and easily distracted and divided by a manufactured crisis that they and their media friends can exploit and demagogue.

Are they right?

Soon 20 trillion in debt and second place to China which is famous for their progressive polices toward women.

War on religion? Don’t make me laugh. What’s REALLY driving this circus is the fact that Republicans and Tea-publicans desperately need a distraction from the sorry sorry set of presidential candidates that they have fielded. Likewise, the churches need a distraction from all those costly court settlements and empty pews. Both of them want to rally their dispirited troops, in a fake non-existent “war on religion”. One of the legitimate (and most important) functions of government is to promote equality and fairness for all, by having everyone play by the same rules, and enjoy the same rights. Absolutely NO ONE is coming into our Churches or places of worship and trying to tell parishioners what to believe...or forcing them to use contraception. BUT If the Bishops (and other denominations) want to continue running businesses that employ millions of people of varying faiths -or no "faith" at all- THEN they must play by the rules that other workers live by, and the rights they enjoy.....ESPECIALLY if the churches use our tax dollars (and skip paying taxes) in the process. Just because a religious group in America claims to believe something, we cannot excuse them from obeying the law in the PUBLIC arena, based on that belief. They can legally attempt to change the law, but not to deny it outright, whenever they feel like it. [Hey guys, we’re gonna stone the adulterers, and you can’t stop us :-) ] If they want to plunge overtly into politics from the pulpit, then they should give up their tax-exempt status. Are they churches, are they places of WORSHIP?....or... are they super-pacs? They need to decide- or have the IRS decide for them. TRUE religious freedom does NOT give anyone, including the bishops, the right to impose their beliefs on others, and to discriminate in the name of religious liberty when they employ people. The ONLY war that’s going on here is a war against women and families who want to control their own futures. Postscript: An interesting point to consider is this: Mitt Romney tried to score some points by telling us that his dad was born in Mexico. However , the REASON for that was that Mitt’s Mormon Grand-dad LEFT the United States in the 1880’s and went to Mexico because laws against polygamy were passed in the U.S. (and, being a Mormon, Mitt’s Grand-dad wanted to keep his multiple wives). SO... if we follow the “logic” of the people crying crocodile tears about a non-existent “war on religion”, then the U.S. should have allowed polygamy (and who knows what else) just because a particular religion claimed it as their belief. GIVE ME A BREAK! Or better yet, give me a TAX-break. ‘Cause I’m gonna start my own religion. Definitely. Hey Newt -wanna join? We’re gonna have open marriages and multiple wives and all SORTS of neat stuff that you’re just gonna love! And for Mitt and Ron, hey, just for you guys: no taxes AT ALL ...and human sacrifice of illegal aliens. Televised. Whoooppee! What a country! :-)

Jack

"..Beginning with taking a budget that was essentially in balance at the end of the Clinton Administration.."
Do we blame the Gingrich Republican Congress for that since they control government spending?

"Prescription drug plan changes without new revenue"
Not sure that caused 16 trillion in debt.

"Two wars without revenue increases to pay for them"
Both supported by Democrat votes for authorization.

"Since Obama's inauguration, the GOP *has done nothing* to actually improve the economy"

For the first two years the Democrats ran the Congress and in the last year the Republicans actually submitted a budget which the Democrats did not while spending trillions. The Republicans also offered Cut, Cap and Balance which was rejected by the US Senate without even a debate.

Your defensive flailing signal a reluctant acceptance that the numbers do not lie.
If the chart provided by the Obama Administration shows the economic decline and fall of the United States, is it patriotic to oppose the decline of one's nation?

@listener -

Who is REALLY playing 'dumb political games'? I submit that GOP members are FAR, FAR more guilty of that particular crime.

Beginning with taking a budget that was essentially in balance at the end of the Clinton Administration and wreaking havoc on it with :

Unbalanced tax cuts
Two wars without revenue increases to pay for them
Prescription drug plan changes without new revenue
Pushing the economy over a precipice in the sub-prime mortgage collapse

The President and Treasury secretary are outlining a plan for the 'decline and fall of the United States' by using standard counter-cyclical government spending to keep GDP level while the economy regains its footing. How detached from any sense of history are you? How polluted are you by rightwing propaganda?

Since Obama's inauguration, the GOP *has done nothing* to actually improve the economy. Since John Boehner became Speaker, the GOP *has done nothing* to rebuild our productive capacity after the fire started in the last days of the Bush Administration was put out.

For all of his speechifying about his years of business experience, I haven't heard one concrete proposal come out of Romney's mouth. If he (or any other member of the GOP) were *real* Americans, they would put up or shut up.

Bottom Line: No member of the GOP can be seen to do anything that *might* help the nation because it might help Obama's re-election. How patriotic is that?

My hope is that Obama and the Democrats win BIG in 2012. I want the GOP hands OFF the reins of government.

To paraphrase Mitt Romney, "Women are people, too". And so are
gays.

Our hapless Treasury Secretary just presented an economic chart before Congress which was an vibrant full color illustration of the"plans for tomorrow" which is the decline and fall of the United States in the 21st Century.
When that happens being a "cultural warrior" will take on a whole different meaning.

Considering what Obama has done to this nation maybe paying for contraceptives is a merciful answer to those future generations which will have to live in the country and world he created thanks to his vapid supporters who still don't get it as they play dumb political games.