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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (80450)	10/22/2006 6:16:10 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

In denial still............... Bush Plans to Revive Social Security Proposal With New Congress By Nadine Elsibai Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said Republicans can hold their congressional majority by focusing on national security and the economy, and that he will return to overhauling Social Security as a top domestic priority for his last two years in office. The president said he was confident that his party will keep control of the House and Senate, even if the margin is narrower. He dismissed ``conventional wisdom'' that his low job approval ratings, public concerns about the Iraq war and ethics scandals in Congress will lead to significant gains for Democrats. ``I've heard all the speculation and all the predictions,'' Bush said in a recorded interview broadcast today on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``I can't tell you what the margins are going to be, but I believe our candidates will go out and talk about the issues that matter and we'll win.'' Recent polls have indicated voters may be ready to overturn the Republican majority. A poll conducted Oct. 19-20 for Newsweek magazine found 55 percent of U.S. adults say they are likely to cast their ballots for the Democratic candidate in the Nov. 7 elections. The poll put Bush's approval rating at 35 percent. Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to gain majorities in both chambers. Iraq was cited at the most important issue in deciding how to vote by 31 percent in the Newsweek poll, followed by the economy at 18 percent and health care at 16 percent. Bush said Iraq won't be the deciding factor in most races. ``Most elections are very local elections,'' he said. No Change in Priorities Regardless of how many seats Democrats may win, Bush said he'll make the tactical changes necessary to accomplish his goals. At the start of each congressional session, he said, ``you test the mood of the Congress, find out what their appetite will be. But it doesn't change your priorities.'' The top items on the agenda, Bush said, are immigration and Social Security. The Republican-led Congress stymied Bush on both after the president won re-election in 2004 and made them his top priorities. Bush's plan to let workers divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes to private savings accounts -- along with other steps to address future shortfalls in the government retirement insurance program -- never made it to a legislative proposal in the face of broad public and congressional opposition. On immigration, Congress deadlocked over a proposal favored by Bush and most of the Senate to adopt a guest-worker program and citizenship for some undocumented immigrants already in the country coupled with tougher border controls. House Republicans demanded any changes focus on security and border control. Both chambers last month passed legislation to build 700 miles of barriers along the border with Mexico and expand use of cameras, sensors and other equipment to check illegal immigration. ``They're still alive,'' Bush said of the two proposals. The president listed reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, which expires next year, and homeland security as other priorities before he leaves office in 2009.

To: American Spirit who wrote (80450)	10/23/2006 1:01:53 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 173976

"Corruption is costing the people of the state of New Jersey too much money," he said, as if reading a cue card. "We can no longer afford a United States senator who is under federal criminal investigation. We can no longer afford a United States senator that steers hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer monies into his own pocket." Kean was referring to the $320,000 in rent that Menendez earned over nearly a decade, starting in the mid-'90s, by leasing a Union City property he once owned to a nonprofit that accepted federal grants. The allegation is that Menendez might have improperly benefited by steering money to the nonprofit, which was then able to pay its monthly rent.

To: American Spirit who wrote (80450)	10/23/2006 2:18:53 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 173976

Obama Says He'll Consider A 2008 Bid for The Presidency Democratic Senator to Decide After Elections By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 23, 2006; Page A01 Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign yesterday, saying he has begun to weigh a possible candidacy and will make a decision after the November elections. "Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility, but I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth that I think is required," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "After November 7th, I'll sit down and consider it, and if at some point, I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to go at me." Until yesterday, Obama, one of the brightest stars in the party since he electrified the 2004 Democratic National Convention with his keynote address, had said he planned to serve out the full six years of his Senate term, which would have ruled out a presidential or vice presidential campaign in 2008. But Democrats around the country have encouraged him to consider a campaign, and there has been fevered speculation inside the party about the possibility that he will do so. His own advisers have been forced to adjust timetables for a possible run in later elections and have begun to do the research that will help Obama make his decision. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, should she decide to run, but some Democratic strategists said yesterday that Obama immediately would become one of her principal challengers, if he decides to run. "If he runs and Mrs. Clinton runs, I don't think there's a lot of room for anyone else," said Steve Elmendorf, who was a top adviser to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.). "The two of them take up an enormous amount of political space."