mccain is a sad joke. I'm not saying he can't win cause the republiks are capable of anything....anything! But what a pathetic washed up politician.

He doesn't even know who he is anymore.

But he added that the most potent economic stimulus would be to assure Americans that taxes won't go up in the future and to "call for a meaningful -- and I mean meaningful -- approach to simplifying the tax code so that it's fairer and flatter."

What this really means is he won't reverse the the Bush tax cuts to the rich.

Mr. McCain's chief economic aide, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office, says economic circumstances forced changes concerning Social Security policy. Vast budget surpluses projected in 2000 evaporated with a recession, the Bush tax cuts and the cost of responding to Sept. 11.

He means the illegal invasion of Iraq based on lies and propaganda about Iraq/Al Qaeda connections and phony WMD info designed to scare the hell out of the American people. I do find it interesting that they admit the Bush tax cuts (to the rich!) helped devastate the surpluses and create a huge deficit.

McChange

My mother is the same age as McCain, and she can't remember whether she turned off the stove.

He plods through his speeches lugubriously, reminds me of that hound dog cartoon "Droopy".

The fact that McCain is once again flip-flipping on an issue is pretty much a given. What gets me about his supposed plan(s) is, even if what they say about Social Security is true (I.E. its filled with I.O.U.'s to use Bush's own words) these plans like the one McCain proposes will have little to no effect in the short term. Its simply to late for many baby boomers to start a private account because they have already beginning to retire. Even if they began today what could those private accounts for baby boomers produce? A thousand or if they push hard enough and the account is well managed maybe ten thousand dollars before they begin tapping into it?

These private accounts will work for younger generations but there to is pitfalls. For one, who is going to manage them and at what cost? If they are self managed then who is going to educate the participants? I mean, not everyone knows which bonds are best or how to trade in and out of a stock for example. They will probably need an entire Government agency just to field the questions, file the forms, get the accounts started on mass, etc. The costs overall will be staggering in my opinion.

Here's your T.V. Ad:

Hey, America.

Think about it.

12, maybe 16 years of Bush...

Is that what you really want?

background music: no no no no no no no no no no no no no more

Interesting strategy -- adopting the policies of highly unpopular president. The Dems should send McCain a thank-you note.

Alabama Blue Dot @ 7:

I, too, am in favor of private savings accounts. Which is why I have one. And a retirement account, and a college plan for the kids. None of which required privatizing Social Security. If St. McCain is so in favor of savings, then why is he a Republican, the shop till you drop party?

I am like you. I took my own initiative and started my own private savings accounts and or brokerage accounts years ago and all of which I personally direct. I select and buy my own bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and the like and I learned how to do it myself.

I can only imagine the nightmare that will be produced if this private accounts idea comes to pass. I mean, what are they going to do? Assign every tax payer that pays into Social Security a account and PIN number and then just say: Here ya go *plop*! You figure it out! That simply is not going to work. They make the private accounts idea sound so simple but it come become very complicated very fast.

Shhhhhh shhhhhhhhhhh shhhhhhhhhhhhh dammit!!!

What's the point of bringing this stuff up now? So Huckabee can take the nomination (we know that isn't happening and would likely be a worse result than McCain)?

Seriously, hold this stuff. Let the media treat McCain like the golden boy and bring this stuff up when it's too late - after the nomination. It's effect will be greater than now which is nominal at best.

I heard Anderson Cooper go to commercial last night with something like "are the media too easy on Obama, we'll answer that when we return?". I could never NEVER fathom that question coming in regards to a Republican - especially McCain.

So, let them have their way (as they are wont to do anyway) and smile away at the McCain nomination and then destroy his pathetic ass in the general election. There's no chance otherwise.

But I still predict he'll be the next President. Until Democrats grow a serious pair (metaphorically speaking, of course) and actually fight back (dirty if need be - there's no high road in endgame) maybe there'll be some actual progress in this farce of a joke called American politics.

Jay Severin Has a Small Pen1s @ 13:

Alabama Blue Dot @ 7:

I, too, am in favor of private savings accounts. Which is why I have one. And a retirement account, and a college plan for the kids. None of which required privatizing Social Security. If St. McCain is so in favor of savings, then why is he a Republican, the shop till you drop party?

Call them what they are: "Borrow and Spend Conservatives"

On of the big problems with repub governance is they never plan for failures so the consequences of their actions (which in their minds should be glorious) tend to have HUGE negative repercussions. For evidence I point to the last 7 years of American history.

This old crazy crater head fraud has obviously promised the Bush administration a third term. McCain has zero principles and will say or do anything to win....just like Hillary.

I don't think McCrazy can remember what he ate for dinner last night let alone what his "policies" were a year ago!

Bangkok Bob @ 21:

Joe O. @ 18:

Alabama Blue Dot @ 7:

I, too, am in favor of private savings accounts. Which is why I have one. And a retirement account, and a college plan for the kids. None of which required privatizing Social Security. If St. McCain is so in favor of savings, then why is he a Republican, the shop till you drop party?

I am like you. I took my own initiative and started my own private savings accounts and or brokerage accounts years ago and all of which I personally direct. I select and buy my own bonds, mutual funds, stocks, and the like and I learned how to do it myself.

I can only imagine the nightmare that will be produced if this private accounts idea comes to pass. I mean, what are they going to do? Assign every tax payer that pays into Social Security a account and PIN number and then just say: Here ya go *plop*! You figure it out! That simply is not going to work. They make the private accounts idea sound so simple but it come become very complicated very fast.

Especially looking at the Stock-Market today. My portfolio is down by so much I have changed it from my homepage. It was just too much of a depressing thing to start off each day this past year and seeing the huge losses I have suffered. I can't imagine my life now at 71 with just my investments, I'd be looking for tall building..

I agree. Everyday my portfolio at the end of the day looks like it went 15 rounds with a heavy weight fighter and lost. Nothing but red. On a positive note though, my commodities (I.E. gold and silver ETFs and funds) are breaking 52 week highs so that off sets some of my losses. To think that only a couple of years ago my uncles that are big shot stock brokers for some high up firms like Morgan Stanley were laughing at me when I told them I was buying into gold and silver ETFs and funds. They said: "You don't know what your doing! Those choices won't make you any money. We are the professionals and you should take our advice instead." Thus far, looks like I am having the last laugh. Har har. Needless to say, those uncles that are stock brokers are all die hard Bush supporters as well.

Repugs and the MSM give the senile old fart a pass cause we all have a senior citizen around. Mostly standing in the kitchen asking that important question,"What did I come in here for?"

One more time. The Clintons do not care about the party or the people. The Clintons care about the Clintons.

McCrepit's Thesaurus:
1. (adj.) Withered, wasted away, or worn out, as by age, illness, or hard use:
• wizened
• shriveled
• shriveled up
• atrophied
• gnarled
• shrunken
• washed-out
• wrinkled
• fresh
2. (adj.) In a state of disrepair or decay:
• dilapidated
• broken-down (colloquial)
• crumbly
• deteriorated
• disintegrated
• ramshackle
• rotten
• shabby
• shot (US)
• tumbledown
• decayed
• rundown
3. (adj.) Shabby; squalid:
• dingy
• crummy
• flea-bitten
• lousy
• miserable
• poor
• poverty-stricken
• ramshackle
• seamy
• seedy
• slummy
• wretched
• sleazy
4. (adj.) Fallen into a state of disrepair; broken-down:
• inoperative
• dilapidated
• run-down
• deteriorated
• in bad shape
• worn out

The latest Canadian federal budget is based on this same claptrap. Similar to RRSP's except it's a savings account that is a tax write off of up to 5000/year. You can withdraw the money at any time without penalty, etc, etc, etc,.......pure BS just like the RRSP scam. There will be a tax the living shit out of them loophole in there somewhere just like RRSP's.

I still see nothing about Hillary's extended campaign commercial on teh Daily Show last night? Why is that?

let's understand something people.....Social Security was never been meant to be a retirement fund....it was meant to be a social safety net to help the elderly keep out of poverty.......if you want retirement you have 401Ks and IRAs....now whether or nor you conttribute or can afford to contribute is another matter......Social Security can be easily "fixed" but no one wants to do as John Edwards, Hillary and Obama have proposed...raise the maximum taxable wage base on wage earners above $200,000 per annum.....this supposed to be a democracy.......we are supposed to be a "WE" nation, or so it says in our Declaration of Independence.....but for the last 25 years we have been a "ME" country.....

Bangkok Bob @ 10:

He plods through his speeches lugubriously, reminds me of that hound dog cartoon "Droopy".

Hey! That's an insult to Droopy. Droopy was pretty sharp... slow, but sharp. That and he always got the hot-looking babe at the end.

grumpyoldvet @ 40:

let's understand something people.....Social Security was never been meant to be a retirement fund....it was meant to be a social safety net to help the elderly keep out of poverty.......if you want retirement you have 401Ks and IRAs....now whether or nor you conttribute or can afford to contribute is another matter......Social Security can be easily "fixed" but no one wants to do as John Edwards, Hillary and Obama have proposed...raise the maximum taxable wage base on wage earners above $200,000 per annum.....this supposed to be a democracy.......we are supposed to be a "WE" nation, or so it says in our Declaration of Independence.....but for the last 25 years we have been a "ME" country.....

It's not the elderly that are draining the SS system, it's the freeloaders, those who use SS disability as their government paychecks.

I can site a dozen men who live off of SS disability and are fully capable of working, they just don't like working.

They find lawyers who specialize in Ss disability, learn what ailments are necessary to draw the benefits and get the claims, then find the doctors to declare the bums ill.

I bet there are 25 million of these freeloaders, most of whom never put a dime into Social Security, yet they leach off it like it is their right.

And with the laws written as they are, it is their right.

That's what is killing Social Security, FRAUD!

Well, the Dow is down 169 as I write this, down over 2000 pts in the last 6 months; I wouldn't be surpried if it breaks 12,000. Oil may go to 120 a barrel. The dollar is becoming worthless.

Yeah, Mc Insane. Great time to privaize Social Security.

Whew...you can't make tis stuff up..

McCain is clearly too old tired and stupid to be President. But he does have a fighting chance so long as his future VP Hillary keeps doing his bad cop work for him. Hillary yesterday equated her experience with McCain's to contrast Obama's lack of experience. Joe Lieberman would be proud Hil.

Treasury Secretary Bernard Ebbers @ 44:

grumpyoldvet @ 40:

let's understand something people.....Social Security was never been meant to be a retirement fund....it was meant to be a social safety net to help the elderly keep out of poverty.......if you want retirement you have 401Ks and IRAs....now whether or nor you conttribute or can afford to contribute is another matter......Social Security can be easily "fixed" but no one wants to do as John Edwards, Hillary and Obama have proposed...raise the maximum taxable wage base on wage earners above $200,000 per annum.....this supposed to be a democracy.......we are supposed to be a "WE" nation, or so it says in our Declaration of Independence.....but for the last 25 years we have been a "ME" country.....

It's not the elderly that are draining the SS system, it's the freeloaders, those who use SS disability as their government paychecks.

I can site a dozen men who live off of SS disability and are fully capable of working, they just don't like working.

They find lawyers who specialize in Ss disability, learn what ailments are necessary to draw the benefits and get the claims, then find the doctors to declare the bums ill.

I bet there are 25 million of these freeloaders, most of whom never put a dime into Social Security, yet they leach off it like it is their right.

And with the laws written as they are, it is their right.

That's what is killing Social Security, FRAUD!

Actually, what is killing Social Security is the fact that ever since Reagan... The GOP et al have been borrowing money from it to pay for things that had nothing to do with helping the people the money in the SS was supposed to help. The SS fund was always ran as a surplus, that was the genius of it. The truth is that for the most part, the average person would not be retired for more years that he or she contributed to the fund, i.e. most people won't get their contribution back. Which was fine... until the GOP saw the surplus and figured they could get a taste of it, since few people would notice.

Basically, the GOP were a bunch of crack whores who raided our apartment looking for money for their next hit. They sold the TeeVee, the couches, took all our cash... and when they were desperate they looked at that jar of "rainy day" money, and they started to take money from it. They have raided the SS fund and left IOUs instead. Which is what that fucktard Bush was referring to when saying that the SS fund is now a collection of IOUs, of course he was disingenuous enough to not point out that it was him and his peeps the ones who took all the money and let the IOUs in its place.

Typical Republican MO: Fuck up a sucessful program, then cry about how fucked up the program is as if you had nothing to do with screwing it up, and then propose a "fix" which is something directly controlled by your buddies that will keep on reaping the benefits now that the program is fucked up and you can't continue to suck it dry. Basically conservatives want to fuck us up the ass, and they expect us to pay for the screw.

But by all means, if it makes you feel better. Sure it is them "welfare queens"....

First a nibble, then the gobble..........

oh come on now, we all know that this next election will be all about the wide spread success of our foreign policies and especially our over whelming victory in iraq. and Mc Cain has been at the forefront of these successful policies. he does not need to be strong on domestic policy, why, because he wears a flag pin and he promises to hunt osama to "the gates of hell".
obviously his plan is to run on the fear mongering and distorting of the recent rove years. he don't need no stinkin' domestic policy.

we should promise Social Security to those 40 and up and then end it after that, save for your own retirement.

My big hope for this campaign is that someone will have the guts to have a "Come To Jesus" talk with the American people that tells them taxes have to be raised in order to fix the debt problem and pay for this miserable war that so many of them seemed to think was going to be free of charge.

McCain knows better. His is basically a fiscal conservative who needs to get some guts and tell his rich contributors that if they want are so in love with the idea of democracy in the middle East, they need to pay their fair share of the tax burden.

The last guy who had the nerve to tell the American people that their country needed money was Walter Mondale. He got killed in the general election, but at least he had the integrity to tell the truth.

Joe O. @ 12:

The fact that McCain is once again flip-flipping on an issue is pretty much a given. What gets me about his supposed plan(s) is, even if what they say about Social Security is true (I.E. its filled with I.O.U.'s to use Bush's own words) these plans like the one McCain proposes will have little to no effect in the short term. Its simply to late for many baby boomers to start a private account because they have already beginning to retire. Even if they began today what could those private accounts for baby boomers produce? A thousand or if they push hard enough and the account is well managed maybe ten thousand dollars before they begin tapping into it?

These private accounts will work for younger generations but there to is pitfalls. For one, who is going to manage them and at what cost? If they are self managed then who is going to educate the participants? I mean, not everyone knows which bonds are best or how to trade in and out of a stock for example. They will probably need an entire Government agency just to field the questions, file the forms, get the accounts started on mass, etc. The costs overall will be staggering in my opinion.

No problem. The repuke criminals on Wall Street will find a way to steal it all, so people won't have to worry about it. That's the entire reason why these Bush-type parasites want it privatized. Just imagine it from their perspective; all that money to steal, and they can't get their slimy hands on it. Must be killin' em.

The desire to privatize (whoops personalize) SS began long before Bush. There is a document from the Cato Institute dated 1983, it should be easy to find, which lays out their plans. Divide and conquer young and old, how wall street will benefit, etc. There also was a plan put together by Santorum (thank God he lost) that is an interesting read, it was removed from his web site after people started to read it. The name of the document is "gop.socsec.strategy.memo.pdf", if imagine it is still out there.