He sounded cold, like seniors and the needy did not matter. Not even his own party matters to him.

That is what it sounds like to me. I am sick of hearing the word compromise, and I am sick of what we are becoming as a country.

He is going to do this all again in the fall? Really? Is he even aware of what his "compromise" and bowing to teaparty has done to seniors? Seniors are stressed out from worry over things that are not their fault.

He sounded so distant, so cold.

He forgot to add, "It won't do any good, but hold them there."

time and their hard-earned (if they have a JOB) dollars "holding his feet to the fire". How about he does his goddamn job first? Why does he believe none of us have anything better to do than spend countless time and dollars begging him, while he ignores or marginalizes those doing so publicly and at will?

WHY won't someone in the press grow a spine and ask him that question?

:mad:

care about anyone else. He is cold because he's sold his soul for fame and money. People are going to die and its blood on his hands. I would hate to have his karma. Someone needs to seriously primary his ass.

Feingold's Statement on the announced debt ceiling deal

August 01, 2011

By former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

"The debt ceiling deal should remove any doubt of the power corporate interests have over our government. That deal, hammered out by the president and Republican Congressional leaders, places the burden of reducing our long-term budget problems on average Americans, while the wealthiest individuals and corporations are given a free pass. Americans are willing to bear their share of the burden of addressing our nation’s long-term budget problems, but those sacrifices should be shared by all."

Russ Feingold is the founder of Progressives United. Previously, he served for 18 years as a U.S. senator from Wisconsin. Feingold served on the Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Budget committees.

close to taking him on. And I do not mean a poll here on DU. Before we primary him we first need to know if there is anyone even close nationally to raise a challenge. Primaries can do a lot of harm to the party both economically and in the tearing each other down.

I like Feingold. But can he win? We need to see. Anyone willing to primary Obama needs to put the feelers out to see where he/she stands nationally.

work to get the support for the candidate.

After all, who the heck thought the junior Senator from Illinois would be able to push Hillary Clinton out of the running way back in Summer 2007?

New awareness of what we are p against might make it easy for someone like Feingold to garner name recognition overnight.

He owes no debts. He is conservative on many issues and very liberal on others. I think he could appeal to independents because he is himself quite independent in his loyalties and views.

that pisses me off too. He got elected to do his job. No other President has said he couldn't do his job unless we kept his feet to the fire. How long would an employee last with that attitude.

This is theft. It is a farce. It is ginned-up, shock doctrine politics to push through things that would never be possible with the input of the people.

People talking about the grown-up necessity for "compromise" conveniently omit that the options offered for "compromise" bore no resemblance whatsoever to what the people have repeatedly said we want.

We are supposed to have representatives, not leaders. They are shoving things down our throats that the people do not want.

This is a cold and calculated theft, and it is not over yet.

that mythical "some others in my party" who Obama refers to as never satisfied, never working with him, so on and so forth...

He's just not that into you.

He's just not. He's more into war, tax cuts, and cutting deals with Republicans. After all, they're the ones that got this "grand bargain" done in the end.

:shrug:


;)

and how we worked in 2004 and 2008 and donated. We bought yard signs for the Democrats in the neighborhood, not many of them are around. We bought extras to replace them as they were stolen.

We had a man drive into our driveway and then drive out when he saw the Obama sign on our car. He was there to give an estimate. He never came back.

I am very tired of political games, and I am sick of bipartisanship. If the main goal of our party is compromise, then they don't need those of us who worked our butts off before because they don't listen to us. He said he read the emails and listened to the caller and was responding to them. I would love to know whose calls and letters he was acknowledging. Polls show high percentages of people do not want their social safety nets cut.

Yet he is going to put them on the table again in the fall.

it too. Compromise and bipartisanship ARE the only way forward. It's what governing is....

We're not going forward. We're going backward fast.

I think you're going to have rethink your 'politics'. The politics of compromise and bi-partisanship lost. The teapartiers held the country hostage, including the President of the US, the Senate and Congress. Because they refused to compromise.

I don't like their ideas, but I like their winning strategy. Our party needs to take a lesson from them.

The corporatists won.

Compromise is not achieved by starting out giving away your principles before the negotiations even begin and then giving even more away during negotiations winding up far away from middle ground. That is not compromising. That is kowtowing.

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and the options for "compromise" that were offered bore no resemblance whatsoever to what the people have repeatedly said they want.

They aren't representing us anymore, and, yes, that is a problem.

I mean, what are we talking about here with compromise, Joe? The kind of compromise from the Democratic Party helping us to move "forward" on THESE following issues?

Does either party want to reform elections?
Does either party want to stop taking SuperPAC money?
Did Democratic Senators give some fascist Supreme Court nominees a PASS, paving the way for major corporatocracy?
Did Speaker Pelosi say, "Impeachment is ON the table!"

NO, NO, NO, and NO!

word and just like the deficit to the fucking repugs people wipe his pluralities in the house and senate from the conscious mind like they didn't exist. then of course, there is the argument that he couldn't MAKE them do what he wanted. Tell that to FDR and Harry Truman. Tell that to LBJ. He's weak, indifferent and works for everyone but us, the 'professional left' == his words.

There's a difference between compromise and giving away the store before the compromise discussion even starts. And then you throw in your house, too.

If there's anything the last few years have shown, it's that compromise only works when the opposing party isn't a pack of loons. When they are, it should be our way or the highway.

And if what has been going on throughout most of Obama's presidency is "bipartisanship" to you, then you've got a damned odd notion of what that word means.

And I doubt I will be the only standing behind the line on my side.

I could accept this betrayal (one of many) if it was due to inexperience or something even remotely in the interest of the 80% of Americans who wanted to make the shrub cuts go away.

I hate to say it, but I think that the vast majority of Americans have just witnessed or will witness the proof that we have been sold down the river. Chicago way strikes again.

But by all means, go ahead and project to fit your view that he's fantasizing about shoving cat food down Grandma's throat before he goes off and eats a baby for dinner.

:eyes:

both parties were terrorized by a group of street thugs who bullied the republican party and scared the shit out of everyone else. civility used to be how things got done and is no longer practiced in the house and senate. tip o`neal and reagan were friends.nixon and democrats worked together to get osha,era,and the epa. hell there used to be liberal republicans.

i`ll wait for obama to explain why he sold out to a bunch of street thugs.

"street wise" when it came to running his 2008 Campaign, could not have thrown a wrench into their ability to define the terms of the discussion?

How did it happen that raising the debt ceiling had to be tied into the deficit discussion? How did it happen that President Obama, supposedly a Constitutional scholar, doesn't seem aware of the fact that Social Security is its own program and is not part of the General Fund that pays the bills of the nation. In fact, it has a surplus.

The above items were not things that the President called anybody out on.

And I can only assume that since he proved himself to be very savvy in his bid while running for the Highest Office in the Land, that he has decided to ally himself with the Behind the Scenes Handlers of all thing political.

When an action can be deemed either done out of stupidity or done out of complicity and corruption, and you know the actor is not stupid, what else can a person conclude?

or is saying cat food, per se. I'm sure he is fine with noodles, rice, and the occasional potato or if cat food is preferred, so be it.

I also think he has no interest in baby eating whatsoever and would generally find such a thing abhorrent.

L.O.L.

I need to spell that out. Some people take it literally.

:crazy:

He paid more attention to the demands of the right than of our party.

Frankly in some cases perception really matters. And that is my perception right now.

And I am furious.

...dead on arrival when they had a super majority in the Senate. Senate Dems are barely left of center and the biggest cowards in Washington.

keep kissing his right-wing ass, I find it amusing.....

when's he's meeting with Republicans without the Democrats being involved.

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Occam's Razor, pretty simple stuff. This ridiculous posturing by Congress was not necessary.

The President is pissed at the whole charade. He should never have been called into this mess.

And why do you always shout? Perpetually angry much?

Personally, I think people are projecting a lot of their personal hostilities onto him - safer and easier than dealing what's actually in front of them.

I say this as someone who was a huge supporter. I was born in the 50's and I have never seen such an about face from candidate to President in my lifetime. I can assure you I am not projecting anything.

oh, maybe I would just like a Democratic president who DOESN'T SPEND ALL HIS TIME ON HIS KNEES FOR REPUKES. WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!!!!

Thank you.

shit. No. but then they would probably be labeled the professional left too.

Yeah there's no tax increases, but entitlements like SS, Medicare, veteran benefits, are off the table.

Compromise is essential to the system of government BUT... this is not compromise... this is a very RW policy rammed down our throats when they do not have full control of the government. It is the tyranny of the minority.

at worst it's collaboration.

Sorry dude, you aren't even close.

repealed Glass-Steagall, Welfare reform, DADT, DOMA, etc.

We got screwed is what we got.

than what the deal includes .........

:puke: :puke:

Practically every one of those "accomplishments" required either zero political courage or fight or were caved on and compromised down to the bone and are now useless legislations.

especially the so called health care reform- a mandate to buy a product from a predatory industry with zero regulations on cost.

:rofl:


(I can't help it -- that's damn funny. :) )

being played with Social Security and Medicare.

Shame on them.

and scheming.

Hope you feel better soon...

I lost my job four fucking years ago. Been killing myself in temp jobs that are meant for people half my age. No permanent job in sight, and no way to pay my mortgage and bills in another month. I'm sick of the game-playing, and I'm tired of people ignoring the real problem here, and it's not the President. I remember who put me here, and I see who has been keeping me here. President Obama doesn't even make the top 10. At least you still have your Social Security and Medicare. I have nothing.

n/t

can't pay their mortgages or their medical bills or because Social Security really doesn't cover all their needs.

He does not show much concern for those people.

It might be making him short tempered...

Many of us are worn out and emotionally frayed now.

if we win or even break even then maybe we`ll have a chance.

the news from the teachers this weekend is going to be very interesting....

http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-our-way-to-sos-march.html

fuck does he expect me to do now? I have to sleep sometimes. I actually know someone who works three jobs to feed her family and she sleeps ... wait for it ... four hours a day. Two of them are hit and miss moments driving a paper delivery route. WAY TO GO, OBAMA! MORE SHIT TO BELIEVE IN! He either doesn't know about us and HE SHOULD or he does and doesn't care. After all, he got the nobel prize for ... what? I don't remember. Not being Dumya? They should have waited. I hope he enjoys his tax cut. Its coming out of the mouths of children.

Was he just off his game?


(*True Blood reference; to hypnotize into doing or believing anything).

A more perfectly absurd post on this matter I have not seen, and there have been a lot.

:rofl:

And your ability to read press conferences as if they were little soap opera plots.

Great job!

:thumbsup:

Sid

:rofl:

A laughing emoticon is not really fitting for a discussion of an issue of such importance, no matter what 'side' you are taking. The President did not seem all that amused by this, for example.
I assume those with something to say will say it, those who have nothing post emoticons. It is the internet version of dotting your 'I's with a heart or a smiley face.

have bought into this farce of a "crisis."

NO HEART, to be even more blunt.

His "We won't pull the plug on Grandma" crack sealed that deal for me.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/item_lijBPazKdOe8MDPANEer5N

i`m glad my parents are`t around to hear what he said and at my age i wish i would`t have heard it either.

I've been reading it for over 50 years, so I pre-date Murdoch. I was looking for Obama's words, not who printed Obama's words.

You see the operative term, do you not?

Can you explain why Obama did not get the deficit cap raised in December while he still had a majority in Congress?

Can you explain why he made such a bad deal on continuing the tax cuts for the rich?

If so, please do. I would like to hear a defense of what Obama has done.

And the current "compromise" is just the crowning glory of this grand scheme.

Obama should have revised the tax code when he did the stimulus.

And if he could not do it at that time, he should have revised the tax code to raise taxes on the rich, especially the hedge fund conmen, when he did his rather weak reform of the financial sector.

He will now lose the 2012 election, and the party of the Koch Brothers will pull the plug and laugh in glee.

After all, seniors don't spend as much or work as fast as kids do, so who needs them?

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--imm

Bachmann is nuts. Obama is cold and indifferent. That makes him worse of the two on this score. He knows better and doesn't care.

If he were sane, he would take the first opportunity to announce that he will not run again.

We need a president who cares about the poor, the elderly, the disabled and children, the middle class.

The rich will take care of themselves to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
thanks for the chucks!

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And I am sick of what has happened to seniors and to my friends who are teachers. It is not deserved.

There's one giant IOU in the SS lockbox. The Feds stole it and are now using it as a bargaining chip.

You got us.

country over the past few days? Wow, get a fucking grip.

"It is what it is" which means absolutely nothing, a perfect description of this administration's attitude about all of the Democratic ideals.

Obama is not progressive nor are any of his policies. Sorry you're getting tired of hearing the truth. :eyes:

:shrug:

:sarcasm:

rest was gotten by holding the US hostage...what they have learned...is that technique works...

this whole fiasco was previews of coming attractions.

Mostly cuts that were already in plan.

But my point is this ... on DU, the breathless predictions were that Social Security and Medicare would be killed, slashed, gutted, dismantled.

At least as we are hearing, no such thing has happened. Nothing close to it.

But the breathless panic is unlikely to diminish.

My bet is that it will shift.

He said there will be more cuts then.

Cuts that don't require a vote.

Wake up!

In addition, Medicare rules on quality of care haven't changed. Medicare providers are going to have to provide the same care while shaking down the gov't/taxpayes/us for less. Personally, I don't feel sorry for these goons.

Do you really think that providers will continue to give seniors good care for less money?

Don't you understand that this means that seniors will have to pay more. Most seniors don't have much income to begin with.

You have to have a really good pension to be able to live comfortably after you retire. And you had better have your house paid for and a sizable nestegg. And then you can barely make it on Social Security.

AllTooEasy, a cut in Medicare payments to providers will be a serious blow to seniors -- and cuts to Social Security will be devastating. The average Social Security recipient receives $1200 or less per month. Many, many people receive very little.

Meanwhile hedge fund thieves continue to pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.

This is shameful.

For you first question: They have to. The (unchanged) regulations on what constitutes quality care demand it. Plus, these Medicare provider range between rich to super rich. They aren't barely making it, and some of them are scammers. They can afford %2 EASILY. What could happen though, Medicare providers will reduce staff. The later should have some concerns.

Senior won't have to pay more because the benefit amounts are unchanged.

As for the hedge fund thieves, that is shameful.

That is probably because my provider is Kaiser. I really trust them. My daughter worked for them some years ago, and they gave her an excellent start on her career. They train their doctors really well. But she likes hospital work.

the first tranche and the trigger.

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peace~

And profoundly disappointed.

Can't say as I blame him.


-

He can blow the election in 2012 without even a look back, and still make millions a year, just for talking.

I am profoundly disappointed in HIM.

zalinda

too angry to vote! Next time: VOTE!!

We worked locally for him.

Where did you get the idea I did not vote? I have never missed an election.

Elections have consequences. Our side did not come out and vote. And a result, we have to deal with these nutbags. Your anger is misplaced. It should be at the Teabaggers and ReTHUGS! Not at the wrong people!

Hubby and I studied the amendments, voted our conscience on them, and voted for any Democrats on the ballot. Alex Sink was one of them, we voted for her. She lost, Rick Scott won.

I very much resent your saying I did not vote in 2010.

on every girl and boy. Or magical powers.

All that aside it takes a lot of nerve to make an assumption like that. Thank you for your post and your tireless effort in keeping us all informed.

:thumbsup:

:spray:

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You have a lot of nerve telling other people that they should vote. I also voted in 2008. I campaigned in 2008. I donated in 2008. And this republican serving administration is what I got.

Next time: Vote for real Democrats.

But the bad news is what voices are being heard or not heard. Voting turnout rates were down among young voters (18-29) and blacks made up a lower percentage of voters in 2010 than in 2008 when Obama’s candidacy excited African-Americans to vote. For example, blacks made up 12% of voters in 2008 and appeared to make up just 10% of voters in 2010 (based on exit polls). This drop, if it holds up in more authoritative numbers like the Current Population Survey would negate this encouraging finding reported in 2008 that the black-white voting gap had disappeared. It wasn’t a simple story of the richest folks’ accounting for more of the votes, since those earning $100,000 or more accounted for 26% of the votes in both 2008 and 2010, but due to the elimination of restrictions on corporate campaign contributions in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United case, the wealthy disproportionately had chances to influence election outcomes even before voters got to their polling places.

http://socialcapital.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/2010-voter-turnout-up-but-not-for-youth-and%C2%A0blacks/

n 2008, polls showed that young people were overwhelmingly supportive of Obama and the Democrats. And they turned out in droves. According to the research group CIRCLE—The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement—which tracks civic engagement among young voters, 51 percent of 18- to-19-year-olds voted that year.

In 2010, polls showed that young people were still supportive of Obama and the Democrats. But only 20.9 percent of them bothered to vote.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/156470/young-voter-turnout-fell-60-2008-2010-dems-wont-win-2012-if-trend-continues

My state, California, voted mostly Democratic.

to add to my previous rec -- once again I need to say a big THANK YOU for all your posts, especially on education.

That person I know is a RW Libertarian and an electrical engineer who always comes across as cold and purely logical in an "end justifies the means" way. Obama seems to have a similar personality type:

http://typelogic.com/entj.html

I don't even know what you're talking about. I don't think I want to know either.

:think:

And your characterization of (I'm assuming the president?) as "cold to seniors" makes absolutely no sense at all.

He's an evil trojan horse robot that want's to kill seniors and the needy.

"Not even his own party matters to him."

He's probably holding the real Pelosi and Reid hostage and has something on every Democrat in Congress why they're still following this cyborg's lead.

This President has done more for Seniors than the last five President's combined!

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"He" has the eyes of a shark.

Those of us who have been warning that the emperor has no clothes are finally being proven right again, and again.

'like seniors and the needy did not matter'.

He'll reform the living shit out of seniors and the needy - and their so-called entitlements. You won't even recognize 'em.

Do you prefer the "progressives" in the House who will cry buckets of tears before voting for this piece of shit?

Or does the cycle begin anew: "We need really really progressive candidates this time", or "No matter how bad they are, they aren't as bad as the tea party", or... what?

Republicans are not the only ones who consistently vote against their own interests.

"I welcome their hatred". - FDR

"Why are they so mean to me don't they know I'm trying to compromise, can't they see I do everything they ask. Why don't they liiiikee mee?" -Obama

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change parties....become a repugnant. That could at least give a few of the repugnants heart attacks.

I really hope this deal doesn't pass the House. To increase the debt ceiling on the backs of the elderly is simply cruel. So many elderly have had to dip into their savings to survive given that interest rates are so low....or they have had to assume more risk to find a decent yield on their savings.

He is cold. He is Herbert Hoover.

There are no cuts to SS, Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid, or veteran benefits.

f*cking planet are you living on? You're new and ignored.

liberals have the COURAGE to answer a question!!! Do you?! Now grow up and answer my quesion. If I don't know, then do a fellow liberal the favor of educating, not insulting. I expect that kind of response from teabaggers.

I know I don't bother to look up stuff for people who write bullying posts.

drama has been so a new Power Structure of 13 could be devised? A dictator with a 12 member Politburo? This simply can't be CONSTITUTIONAL.

But I guess those Constitutional questions are merely 'quaint' now.

We will no longer have 'representatives' who can discuss legislation.

They are just calling them other things. It's sneaky.

Let me know, so I can be aware and fight them. Please give specifics.

or what everyone knows he really means when he says something.

Now, it that he wasn't all warm and fuzzy, cuddling puppies and kissing babies, when he spoke after days of banging his head against a Republican wall.

:rofl:

Sid

So, I welcome their friendship and surrender leadership of the country to them and their kind allies, the teabaggers.

when they're playing 287-dimensional, extra-galactic chess!

and your other posts here.

I am scared to death.

I have no idea who that man behind that podium is anymore, nor the Democratic Party.

I guess enough so called 21st Century Democrats got theirs and want the rest of us struggling to survive day to day to sit down and shut up and eat the crap he is giving us with a knife and fork.

We worked and pounded the pavement and registered voters for years and years too when we could.

Thank you, you and several others posters here are a lifeline to many of us out here scared to death.

Speaking truth to power and standing up to the haves even those haves with a "D" by their name, telling us to wait some more...like we can.

have a socialized pension & socialized health-care.

None of them will be able to relate to the plight of average Americans.

and let biden take over.

And I'm pissed, depressed, scared, if a Democratic President does this who will help us?;(

to serve as their new spokesman as the "Caveman!"

I'm beginning to believe is not only cold and calculating but very unemotional. It's not hard for him to intellectualize because there is no emotions like anger or compassion interfering with his thinking. Maybe we won't have any sex scandals or emotional outbursts from him, but he's not going to be very warm and sympathetic either.

"guys like him"?

Who will primary the low life rethug called OBAMA? It was obvious what he was the moment he appointed the Chicago school bully, Rahm Emanuel. It was obvious that it was a CONservative agenda. Who will now step up and allow a real choice against the billions of corporate dollars that confront the very survival of the USA? Someone who is not the just another rethug called a Democrat. Where is the cavalry? ...the Knight in Shining Armor? Who will fight on the political front that for which our very ancestors died when fighting in many wars for a good life and freedom for ALL?

A strong Democratic challenger is needed. Obama does not represent the people who voted for him and his re-election is increasingly doubtful. The Democratic party needs a true leader, and one who will not cave to the rabid right.

and I feel betrayed and I'm not even a senior yet!!

Could Obama be angry that seniors were the demographic group most opposed to him in the '08 election, most opposed to health care reform and most pro-Republican in the 2010 election?

Maybe, in a perverse way, this is why they are not a terribly high priority for him.

People." Thanks for picking this up. Our "Elders...like you and me" often pick this up over our blessed younger ones." STILL...it's important that the "Elders" pick up on this... Just saying...and Thanks!

Whatever forward progress We-the-People want for OUR lives, whatever social contract we supports - we have to do it ourselves. Without reference to who is in office, what bills are passed, what draconian abuses are hurled in our direction. What the SCOTUS does, or billionaires fund.

The elected class is merely the cover facade for the real forces that are draining our life blood. I don't know how this translates to Organizing. Is there any value to 'calling your Representative'? It might work itself out in the streets, mass mobilizations, work stoppages and tax resistance. We may stumble for a while learning what works, what doesn't.

But at least we are free of illusion. I hope.

Classic, selling yourself while running as a liberal, once that's over going straight to presidential blue dog.

Some of us have been on to this for awhile but his apologists are just blind to this.

We need big projects like those that helped us in the 30's. The need is there; all our infrastructure is falling apart, we need to invest in new green energy. Oh, and next time someone wants a stimulus send it to the people who will spend it, the citizens.

Put people to work, cut our bloated defense budget, raise taxes on the super wealthy to 40% of where Ike had it, close corporate tax loopholes and voila, we're on the way to fiscal health. The formula isn't hard but the perverted "Citizens United" ruling means businesses can spend billions to both buy out politicians and continue manipulating middle class people to vote directly against their best interests.

But there is a huge side issue that is almost like blackmail, the looming Supreme Court vacancies. As bad as Obama has turned out we do not want the republicans packing the court more. Obama surely will not nominate a flaming liberal but he won't name any Scalia type troglodytes either.

It's a sticky wicket. What we really need is a 2012 version of Gene McCarthy to push Obama left as Gene did with LBJ. Spitzer would be ideal other than the hooker issue but hey, Bubba thrived in the long run post Monica, his biggest problem was Hillary and her iron skillet.

In the longer run our best hope is the un dumbing of the middle class....and in that regard the numbskulls who took over Wisconsin have been a big help getting that ball rolling. The hour is late but somehow someway we have to reclaim our nation.

I have ever heard from him have been on the campaign trail.

He can't handle it.

throwing his constituents under the bus and ridiculing them is so easy.

-p

former Democratic governor of Kansas. Or, Elizabeth Warren. Two strong and skilled women.

http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/

his mentor.

outcome of this is then well within prediction.