God Bless Joe Biden

The things I'm hearing this morning leads me to believe that if you are a Republican, you think Paul Ryan won and if you're a Democrat you and think Joe Biden crushed the young upstart. If you measured it by glasses of water consumed, Paul Ryan won. Most of the pundits I've heard have agreed that Joe Biden gave the liberals new life and Paul Ryan didn't embarrass himself or the party. It's funny how conservatives are annoyed because Biden interrupted Ryan but they called that taking charge of the debate when Romney did that to the president. It's hard for Democrats to please the conservatives because, when the president didn't challenge Romney last week, it was a sign of weakness, last night Biden's performance was deemed arrogant and condescending to them. It's one of those “do as I say not as I do."

I don't have a problem with people giving the vice president demerits for his style last night because it's the only way that you can have a conversation with a Republican legislator. I saw the congressman try to interrupt the vice president, and I also saw his facial reactions during the debate. I think Biden was a sitting fact checker who didn't allow Paul Ryan to use his slanted talking points effectively. Joe Biden called Ryan on his hypocrisy for railing against the stimulus plan, yet he wrote two letters to Joe Biden requesting funds for his district. Once again, neither Joe Biden nor the moderator could get Paul Ryan to say what the deductions he would cut in their tax plan. Joe Biden let the country know that Paul Ryan was and probably still is ,very instrumental in trying to privatize Social Security. If you've been around for while, you know that the Republican Party is not trying to strengthen Social Security and Medicare; they want to take small steps to eventually abolish it. You also know that Romney and Ryan are trying to sell the same old “supply side trickledown economics" that's never worked.

I do think that Paul Ryan effectively hit the administration for their response to Benghazi. The administration is vulnerable on this issue and they will continue to be until all the facts are out, blame is taken and remedies are put in place. The Republicans on the investigation committee took it a little too bit too far because they ousted a CIA operation in their quest to embarrass the administration.

I think Martha Raddatz did a suburb job in moderating the debate because she used her skills as an investigative reporter to follow up on some questions that weren't completely answered. She tried that with Joe Biden by saying that some generals want to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Joe Biden let her know that he's in the room when those decisions are made and he doesn't doubt that there are generals' who disagree with decision made by the pentagon.  Martha’s expertise in foreign policy might have influenced  her to allow that segment to go on longer than it should have.

I knew that Biden's many years of sitting on and eventually chairing the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and his position as vice president would give him an overwhelming advantage over Paul Ryan. I believe that's the reason for the lot of the “I can't believe he's that naive" laugh. Joe Biden made two critical statements, he said we would definitely be out of Afghanistan by the year 2014 but it takes a little bit of time to complete that transition. He also put Paul Ryan on the spot and by asking him if he wanted to go to war with Iran or Syria. At first Paul Ryan said he was against a timeline and then he was for it but in my opinion, he was out of his elements.

I did hear a Romney supporter in a focus group say that Biden actions were unbecoming of a sitting vice president. Vice President Joe Biden is a realist and this is the same way he has conducted himself, in the many debates he has participated in. I have learned from the books I've read that it's as the way military strategy is conducted. I remember the president dressing down General McChystal and reminding him and General Petraeus that he was the Commander in Chief and he would be treated that way. Politics and debates are the battlegrounds for the American vote to be president and vice president of the United States; not a church social.

Overall, the debate won't make much difference in the polls because most people have already made up their mind. This debate showed the contrast between the two parties especially at the end. I know in my heart of hearts that Paul Ryan does not believe that there should be exceptions such as, rape, incest and life of a mother but that's what he said as a company man. Governor Mitt Romney told Mike Huckabee that he favored a personhood bill but like everything else, he backed off of that lately in order to get elected. Joe Biden said that he believes in the teaching of his church on abortion but he doesn't want to impose his beliefs on non Catholics. You would have to be pretty naive to think that Romney would not try to repeal Roe v Wade. As Joe Biden said, "this election is about one and maybe two Supreme Court judges."

You noticed how the families of Joe Biden and Paul Ryan met and exchanged pleasantries; that was genuine. People who know Joe Biden are familiar with the northeastern back and forth and they don't take exception. Paul Ryan & Joe Biden joked about their passionate Irish heritage. It's different with Mitt Romney where  even his Republican opponents disliked him.

This is the last time that I will put up with a selfish intrusion of my blog. According to the IP address, this blogger will change his name in order to try piggyback his baseless propaganda rather than post it on his own blog. I was in a good mood yesterday ,so I let it slide but I'm not that naive. I don't try to push my ideology on any one and I respect the right of others to publish what they want on their own blogs. I would never even think of disrespecting other bloggers.

I think it was one of the best debates ever.

If you think Paul Ryan won,then by all means post it.

My liberal friends are freaking out

I expected my wife to start freaking out because this is her first rodeo, but some of my liberal friends are starting to get a little nervous as the race is tightening. They're not listening when I try to tell 'em that Romney can't win the election without winning Ohio and Obama still has a 4 point lead in that crucial state. I can't remember who said it but my friends remind me of what was said yesterday “when conservative Republicans hear bad news; they want to kill the pollsters but when liberals hear bad news; they want to kill themselves." It may not be quite that bad, but some people think that this election should be a blowout, one way or the other.

This is the fun part where I try to match wits with public perception. I was wrong last week when I thought the jobs numbers would outweigh Romney's good debate performance. Most of the polls are moving favorably toward Romney, but we still have 27 days to go.

I've heard so many strategies of what Obama and Biden has to do but very little of what Romney and Ryan's plans are. Yes, it's obvious that the Obama campaign will take an offensive approach, but I'm pretty sure the Romney camp is expecting that, and they will have an answer. It'll be whether that answer is enough.

Joe Biden won't have the same problem President Obama in his debate tomorrow night because it's easier to walk away from ideas like Romney did, than it is from current proposals. Joe Biden's opponent, Paul Ryan, has submitted two budgets with substantial numbers on them. Paul Ryan might say that he is now running on Romney's plan but what does that say to his colleagues who took a political risk voting for his controversial proposals? If Mitt Romney loses, Paul Ryan, will likely be the budget director again, but he might not get as much support if he waivers too much on his proposals tomorrow night. Paul Ryan will get his first challenge tomorrow night because, so far he's only been preaching to his choir. Paul Ryan is getting a little testy, as he showed yesterday in an interview with a local television host. Paul Ryan was asked about guns and their relation to crime, and his answer was a standard “we need to enforce what's on the books." He also disappointed those that think that the president is a threat to the Second Amendment ,when he said “even President Obama is not asking for new gun laws." Paul Ryan as he typically does, tried  turning the gun issue into an economic issue by saying that more financial opportunity will reduce crime. When the interviewer asked if “tax cuts" were the solution, the interview came to a sudden stop, and Paul Ryan told him not to put words in his mouth. He seemed to be visibly angered. This is the time in the campaign where one gaffe or misspoken word dominates a two or three days negative news cycle.

The next debate between the presidential candidates will be about foreign policy where the president will have a lot to work with. Mitt Romney just gave a foreign policy speech where he said he would ask for 15 ships to be built along with three submarines. He has already asked for 100,000 more troops, so the question that should be asked is pretty obvious. Why is Romney requesting more than the Navy current plan? "The current Navy plan is to build 34 ships over the next four years — 10 in 2013 — including seven submarines as part of its goal to reach at least 300 ships by 2019. " Mitt Romney claims the president is weak in his support for the rebels in Syria. Our intelligence sources tell as that al-Qaeda forces are helping the rebels, so I wonder if Romney has the system to make sure that the arms we're supplying aren't going to Al Qaeda. Many of the things that Mitt Romney said he would do in the Middle East are already being done through back channels under the Obama administration. The president will have to walk a fine line between revealing our current strategy and combating political rhetoric.

PBS had a pretty good Frontline special about President Obama and Governor Romney last night. I learned a few things. For example,I didn’t know Mitt was involved in a near fatal auto accident. The special showed a lot of the  president’s college friends  although the conspiracy theorist said none existed. I didn’t know that Obama’s maternal grandparents were alcoholics.

Dish Network is offering their long-time customers a free movie. I see Obama 2016 is an option. Since it's free, I'll probably see it this weekend and blog about all the discrepancies in it next week; or not.

It's always interesting to see another opinion on how the Biden v Ryan debate tomorrow night will turn out and their reasoning behind it; knowing that a gut feeling is acceptable. I've stated my opinion; tell me your opinion.

If you were born after 1958..Play close attention

The 2012 presidential election will be the most important one in our lifetime because voters will get to vote on the direction of the country. It’s possible that the presidential candidates will nominate at least one Supreme Court judge in the next four years but most importantly the eventual winner will decide the direction our country will  take in reforming Medicare, Medicaid, and defense spending.

Mitt Romney made an outstanding choice, but it was one he had to take since he was boxed in. The Romney campaign saw that the numbers were definitely in favor of the president. Mitt Romney has changed the topic from being about his tax returns, now  that he's picked a person who will share the criticism from  the Democrats. The choice pleases the conservative base and the opposition party. Congressman Ryan is a decent well -liked family man who knows his supply-side economics'. Paul Ryan is supposed to be a deficit hawk, but he voted for the two Bush tax cuts, the two wars, a prescription-drug plan that was not paid for and the Bush bailout of Wall Street, and the GM bailout, President Bush started. Saturday, Paul Ryan admitted that President Obama was left with a bad hand but said that he left the country in worse shape; which is impossible since the Obama's administration inherited losing 750,000 jobs a month? He went onto say that the president controlled both houses and he got everything he wanted, which was not true. He left out the part where the Senate used parliamentary tricks and the filibuster to deny the president. The president got what he could barely pass because the GOP fought him on every proposal. That's history; we will now have discussions on the serious matters.

It's important to know that Paul Ryan's first budget included a voucher(he called it premium support) to replace Medicare as we know it, but he got a lot of flak from his fellow Republicans, so he changed it and got one democratic senator to co-sponsor Ryan II, which included an option to opt out.The Ryan II bill passed the house but failed in the Senate. Last night, Mitt Romney slammed the president saying he stole $700 billion from Medicare to finance Obama Care. Right next to Romney sat Paul Ryan whose budget does the same thing but Ryan's cuts will go to the beneficiaries, and Obama's cuts are on the providers. The president's action saved Medicare an additional eight years, which is not enough, but it's a start. The Republicans know after many years of losing the Medicare fight that this popular program is considered a Holy Grail. The first thing that they will say, " if you are currently on Medicare your benefits will remain the same" that's not exactly true because prescriptions drugs will be higher if the Republicans repeal, the Affordable Care Act and the doughnut hole goes unfilled. Those people younger than 54 will have to consider that but probably won't. The younger folks will also have to entertain the idea of buying health insurance at age 65 with a voucher capped at a certain percentage of GDP. It's basically putting the extra cost on the beneficiary instead of the federal government. Paul Ryan's budget will issue block grants to the states for Medicaid. I can see rest homes being a thing of the past and about 17 million poor people without any form of health insurance. Those younger than 54 better take out a membership in a health club,stay active, cut back on your sugar intake and live a health lifestyle or you will have a rude awaking when you turn 65. A large savings account won't hurt because I don't think the private insurance companies will be cheap.

I'm reading an interesting book about how progressives are letting the conservatives identify the issues and the answers. Progressive should be arguing against the upward redistribution of wealth. We could solve the healthcare issue, but the ideas wouldn't pass Congress because it would hurt the health professionals, pharmaceuticals, and hospitals. I'll start with a free market cost analysis. For example, a heart valve replacement costs $160,000 in the U.S. and only $9000 in India and a knee replacement costs $40,000 in our country and only $9000 in India. Using those numbers ,the government could send their Medicare, Medicaid and VA patients to Canada, India, and Singapore and save some big bucks. The savings would offset future premium costs for those patients and dramatically bring down the cost of healthcare. Many would not want to go overseas but there is a way and the free market would force our health care providers to compete. The free market principals' conservatives’ use are always aimed at the people at the bottom. The lower wages and benefits cuts they seek ,consistently come from those who can least afford it. To emphasize a point, the Obama Administration made deals with the pharmaceutical companies, and the American Medical Association and other special-interest groups that defeated the Clinton initiative in 1992. The Obama Administration didn't figure that the healthcare lobbyist would play both sides of the fence, so the Affordable Health Care Act was demonized anyway. The main point is that we outsource jobs that eventually hurt the non-professional, but we would never think about outsourcing the professional workforce. The middle –class are never considered in our trade talks.

The Republicans are going to try to make this election about government vs. the free market, but they will use their interpretation of the free market. In all of Ryan speeches so far, he has ended it by saying, “you built that business" and Mitt Romney emphasizes that by saying, " yes the school bus driver took you to school, but he can't take credit for your good grades." I'm paraphrasing, but it's enough to give you a good picture on how they will run. It's a top-down strategy where government is a wedge issue.

I see where the Romney people are coming out of the woodwork since the announcement of Paul Ryan as the vice president pick. It wasn't lost on the locals because they too are starting to write letters praising Romney after months of silence and obvious disappointment in their GOP's nominee.

There is no doubt that Medicare,Social Security, and Medicaid need some serious reform but so does defense spending. We mustn’t make all the cuts on the social programs without touching defense and asking the wealthy to pay more. I think it’s stupid  and selfish of us to take a 20% tax cut rate (including the wealthy) on the backs of the poor,handicapped,students and the elderly.