Barack Obama Elected President!

[Roman]

Thank you Ryan.

And now we await John McCain's plans.

[George008]

My question of HOW still remains. It just doesnt add up for me. I am hearing a reduction of taxes and an increase in spending. Logically, it doesnt make sense.

But it does ALL sound GREAT. Just not feasable. Bush failed with similar plans. He reduced taxes and not spending. McCain vows to keep tax cuts, but REDUCE spending. His plan makes more sense to me.

[Roman]

I have also heard the argument that Sarah Palin has more excutive experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Which then made me conclude that she ahs more executive experience than John McCain......seeing as he's never been a Governor either.

So, McCain DID choose someone with more executive experience than him.

[George008]

McCain's plan (as follows) logically makes more sense to me. With our current deficits a reduction in spending is KEY. I hear no plans of this from Obama!

Reforming Washington to Regain the Trust of Taxpayers

Bring The Budget

To Balance By 2013

John McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term. The near-term path to balance is built on three principles:

Reasonable economic growth. Growth is an imperative - historically the greatest success in reducing deficits (late 1980s; late 1990s) took place in the context of economic growth.

Comprehensive spending controls. Bringing the budget to balance will require across-the-board scrutiny of spending and making tough choices on new spending proposals.

Bi-partisanship in budget efforts. Much as the late 1990s witnessed bipartisan efforts to put the fiscal house in order, bi-partisan efforts will be the key to undoing the recent spending binge.

In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

McCain Policies Will Support Reasonable Economic Growth: Small business is the key to job growth. Small business will benefit from:

Low individual tax rates - sole-proprietorships, partnerships, landlords and others are taxed under the individual income tax.

Access to capital from low tax rates on dividends and capital gains.

Minimizing expensive mandates - such as those for health insurance and pro-union initiatives like card check.

Enhancing international competitiveness to keep jobs here; not abroad.

A lower corporate tax rate.

Improved investment and research incentives to ensure that workers have the most modern technology.

Bringing the budget to balance, reducing federal borrowing, and controlling spending to reduce the burden on the economy.

Comprehensive Spending Controls: John McCain will institute broad reforms to control spending:

The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction.

A one-year spending pause. Freeze non-defense, non-veterans discretionary spending for a year and use those savings for deficit reduction. A one-year pause in the growth of discretionary spending will be imposed to allow for a comprehensive review of all spending programs. After the completion of a comprehensive review of all programs, projects and activities of the federal government, we will propose a plan to modernize, streamline, consolidate, reprioritize and, where needed, terminate individual programs.

Take back earmark funds. The McCain Administration will reclaim billions of add-on spending from earmarks and add-ons in FY 2007 and 2008.

Bi-partisan Fiscal Discipline: A McCain Administration will provide the leadership to achieve bipartisan spending restraint equivalent to that in the 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement between a GOP Congress and a Democratic President. In 1997, President Clinton and the GOP Congress agreed to balance the budget by restraining the growth in spending and cutting taxes over a ten-year period.

With the same bipartisan effort today, with the federal budget that is now 70 percent larger, we could keep taxes low and still balance the budget by holding overall spending growth to 2.4 percent. Unlike Congress and the Executive branch in recent years, a McCain Administration will enforce the spending restraint to balance the budget and keep it balanced.

A McCain Administration would perform a comprehensive review of all programs, projects and activities of the federal government, and then propose a plan to modernize, streamline, consolidate, reprioritize and, where needed, terminate individual programs. McCain could use the bi-partisan commission structure used for the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). Such a commission could be required to report to the President who would then submit the recommendations to the Congress for a straight up or down vote.

A McCain Administration will review all special spending provisions to end subsidies to high-income individuals and corporations

Eliminating Wasteful Spending

Stop Earmarks, Pork-Barrel Spending, And Waste: John McCain will veto every pork-laden spending bill and make their authors famous. As President, he will seek the line-item veto to reduce waste and eliminate earmarks that have led to corruption. Earmarks restrict America's ability to address genuine national priorities and interfere with fair, competitive markets.

Leadership, Courage And Choices: Reducing spending means making choices. John McCain will provide the courageous leadership necessary to control spending, including:

Eliminate broken government programs. The federal government itself admits that one in five programs do not perform.

Reform our civil service system to promote accountability and good performance in our federal workforce.

Reform procurement programs and cut wasteful spending in defense and non-defense programs.

Reforming Entitlement Programs For The 21st Century

Reform Social Security: John McCain will fight to save the future of Social Security, and he believes that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts - but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. John McCain will reach across the aisle to address these challenges, but if the Democrats do not act, he will. No problem is in more need of honesty than the looming financial challenges of entitlement programs. Americans have the right to know the truth and John McCain will not leave office without fixing the problems that threatens our future prosperity and power.

Control Medicare Growth: The growth of spending on Medicare threatens our fiscal future. John McCain has proposed comprehensive health care reforms that will reduce the growth in Medicare spending, improve the quality of care, protect seniors against rising Medicare premium payments, and preserve the advancements in medical science central to providing quality care.

[George008]

oops I posted twice.

[Roman]

Reductions in spending.

From another Republican. After the one we have in office now promised the very same thing....befor driving our deficit through the roof.

Just doesn't sound........feasible to me.

[George008]

I replied to this earlier. Yes, now the republicans are the only ticket with executive experience. This along with her "non-washington" background strengthens the ticket.

I just said that (above). Bush's tax cuts and no reductions have failed. Remember John McCain is running this year. Not Bush.

[MichaelGL]

Oh yes privatizing everything from the treament of vets to social security (that if John won't do away with it). That's saving money.

I see it this way...

This Sarah woman is against some of the issues that are core to the woman's movement.

John McCain seems to be against the vets in Iraq, I mean why would he had opposed the GI bill?

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

But you also said earlier that the man(or woman) on the top of the ticket is what really matters. It's convenient now that she(the VP) has the Executive experience, huh? Dont try using that now.

[Roman]

Don't you love entitlement programs?

I love them......especially when I'm entitled to my tax dollars helping out those who can't help themselves.

Sounds like the "On Your Own" plan Obama talked about.

Protecting seniors from paying higher Medicaid costs....how? By dropping them from it, or keeping healthcare private so the healthcare companies can continue to drive up costs?

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Some have been saying that..

[Roman]

Yes. John Bush is running this year....sicne he has voted with this president 90-95% of the time.

[George008]

I still hold to that statement. John McCain has more experience that Obama. Palin has more experience than Obama. Palin executive experience doesnt take away from the TOP of the republican ticket it adds to it.

The TOP still is IMO the most important factor.

[Ryan]

Again, if you watch Obama's speech, he tells you that he will reduce spending.

You keep asking for specifics on Obama's plans, yet when people ask you for McCain's you don't give them. McCain vows to keep the tax cuts but reduce spending? My question is HOW?

[George008]

The Obama campaign is dedicated to the idea of chaining John McCain to George Bush. Once again last night we heard that bit about McCain voting with Bush 90% of the time. That line works because the uninformed public doesnt know any better. Has it occurred to you that George Bush doesn't have a vote in the Senate? So just how do you measure the percentage of times that McCain is voting "with" the president? Well, perhaps you could measure the number of times that a Senator votes with the Republican members. Ahhh ... but remember, as our Washington correspondent Jamie Dupree has told us many times, most Senate votes are unanimous. This would mean that the only way not to "vote with the president" would be not to vote at all. As Dick Morris wrote: "The fact that McCain backs commending a basketball team on its victory doesn't mean that he is in lockstep ideologically with the president."