The Average Joe

In looking back at the first debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama, it appeared that Mitt Romney came out much stronger, while the President looked very fuzzy in delivering his statements.  Historically speaking, debates do not always make or break an election for candidates.  If we look through the election history of the United States, not every candidate that has dominated the debates went on to win the election.  Regardless of which candidate “won” this first debate, it is more important to determine fact from fiction between what both candidates said. From The Washington Post : “Governor Romney’s central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut — on top of the extension of the Bush tax cuts — that’s another trillion dollars” — President Obama “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut” — Governor Romney How can both facts be true? The $5 trillion figure comes from the fact that Romney has proposed to cut tax rates by 20 percent and ...

On Tuesday, September 11, 2012, Libyan militants launched an assault on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya .  The result of this attack led to the death of the U.S. Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and 3 other Americans at the consulate.  This attack was horrendous and entirely uncalled for, but the comments made by Mitt Romney made it even worse. A nation comes together in a time of crisis and puts politics aside.  This was not the case for the Romney campaign .  Just after the attack took place, Mitt Romney issued a statement. “It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks”. This statement is both unfair and untrue.  The White House issued no such statement sympathizing with the militants that waged the attack.  It was the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that issued the following statement, “the continuing efforts by ...

One thing I will give Paul Ryan is the fact that he was able to get his name in the news a few months back when proposing his budget plan, which went nowhere, as it is the same nonsense that is spouted off by most Republicans of the party today. If we take a look at his plan for Medicare, which he is choosing to gut, he would prefer to hand out vouchers to those that would be collecting it and shop around for low cost healthcare.  Ryan’s hope would be that competition lowers the costs and makes it affordable for seniors.  Basically, this would be the same concept of senior citizens and sick people shopping around for the best bargain on a new car with service plan.  Overall, 40-50 million people will no longer be insured if his plan is enacted. It is also important to point out that Paul Ryan voted in favor of the Medicare expansion is 2003.  Since Paul Ryan has flip-flopped on Medicare; Mitt Romney, the original flip-flopper, must be proud. In my o...

As the Iraq War has just ended and the War in Afghanistan is now winding down, most Americans are under the false impression of this nation beginning its "war on terror", as President George W. Bush coined the phrase, since the dawn of the 21 st Century and this is just not true.  The United States has been fighting terrorism since shortly after its independence.  Compared to the rest of the world, the United States is still very young.  This nation was born into a very hostile world ruled by monarchies that did not wish this new democracy well.  At the time of its birth, there was an unexpected problem that the new American leaders were unsure as to how to confront, which was known as piracy.  This piracy was nothing more than state sponsored terrorism of its day.  In this case, it existed in the Mediterranean Sea along the North African Coast. As a result of this, the fledgling United States was considered an easy target due to the lack o...

If you have all been keeping up with the news, it is impossible to not see the headlines dealing with the healthcare battle in the Supreme Court of the United States.   The main argument in this case is whether or not the federal government can mandate all Americans to purchase healthcare insurance if they do not already have it.   The individual mandate, which originated as a Republican idea, would require that all Americans purchase minimum health care coverage starting in 2014, as stated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.            Donald Verrilli Jr., speaking at the Supreme Court in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare; argued that this law is a valid response to a crisis in the market of health care.   The individual mandate regulates how people are going to pay for healthcare services, which is and always will be a universal need.   It is also important to keep ...

Throughout the GOP debates, candidates have criticized President Obama for not doing enough on a variety of issues, which include the economy, jobs, gas prices and his stance on Iran’s nuclear program.  In reality, the GOP candidates are wrong and President Obama stands a very good chance for reelection because of what he has done in while in office. The recession that resulted from the market crash of 2008 put the United States in its biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.  Many have this perception that presidents can fully control the direction of the economy.  The truth is that they cannot and most of that power in government rests with Congress.  Nevertheless, voters still hold the president accountable when the economy tanks and praise him when it grows.  Since January, 2012, the economy has been growing and unemployment has been decreasing .   If this trend continues through the Presidential Debates in the fall, President Oba...

Over the last couple of weeks, contraception has become an issue that has dominated the media.  In fact, there was even a hearing held by Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican, yet it featured six male witnesses and not one woman.   Their stance on this issue is further damaging and tarnishing the GOP in the eyes of female voters.  Aside from the fact that this was a ridiculous spectacle, I find it wrong and sexist that not one woman was featured as a witness.  Many women have been voicing two main points over these hearings.  The first is that these politicians clearly are not on their side, and the second is they do not understand their life and what it is like to be a woman. After having this whole issue out in the open, many women feel that Republicans just do not get it. Mitt Romney’s position on birth control further demonstrates that he really has no core values.  He has flip-flopped on thi...