1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

AP
Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., is interviewed by the Associated Press in his Capitol Hill office in Washington

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer – Mon Oct 19, 6:19 am ET

WASHINGTON – For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, Sen. Roland Burris is like the house guest who couldn’t be refused, won’t soon be leaving and poses a plausible threat of ruining holiday dinner.

Suddenly, he can no longer be ignored.

The Illinois Democrat, appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, says he’ll only vote for a bill to provide health care to millions more Americans as long as it allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private insurers.

And he says he won’t compromise.

"I would not support a bill that does not have a public option," Burris, 72, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "That position will not change."

Those words caught the attention of the very Democratic leaders who tried to keep Burris out of the Senate, suggested he resign and have shunned him in unprecedented fashion. Burris is not the only Democrat to insist on creation of a government-run health plan. But he is the one who has the least to lose by defying President Barack Obama and the Democrats who once turned him out in the cold rain.

It was early January and Blagojevich had appointed Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, to Obama’s former Senate seat — defying Democrats in Washington who had wanted someone without a tainted patron and with a better chance of winning election in 2010.

What happened next was a procession of ugly images, from Burris’ rain-swept news conference after Democrats turned him away from a swearing-in to Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush daring Democrats to block an accomplished lawyer who would be the chamber’s only black.

Bitterly, the Democrats seated Burris. But when it came out that Burris had admitted what he had denied under oath — that he’d unsuccessfully tried to raise money for Blagojevich — Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., suggested that Burris resign. He refused.

A Senate ethics committee probe is pending into Burris’ statements. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, refused to support any effort by Burris to run for a full term, and he will leave the Senate in 2011.

Meanwhile, his relationship with the rest of his caucus has settled into one of mutual, if chilly, benefit.

It works this way: Burris stays mum about any bitterness he may feel about his reception, and he gets Obama’s Senate seat for two years. Democrats seat him, don’t speak of him, and get his loyal vote at a time when all 58 Democrats and two independents must vote together to prevent Republican filibusters.

They’ve never needed 60 votes like they do on the yet-to-be-finalized health care bill. A disciplined grin shows that Burris knows it. No, he says, he will not vote for any version of a government-run plan circulating in the Senate, other than the full-blown one from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

He won’t vote, for example, for Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe’s idea to use the threat of a public option to force insurers to lower premiums by certain deadlines. He hasn’t seen the details of another idea, proposed by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., that would allow each state to decide whether to offer public coverage to compete with private insurers. The health committee’s proposal, he says, must be in the final bill to earn his vote.

"Yeah, that’s the one," Burris said.

By definition, all 100 senators are relevant because any one can block Senate business unless there are 60 votes to override the objection. But Burris’ stated position on the public option means that Democrats can no longer take his vote for granted.

And yet, Democratic leaders aren’t talking about Burris.

Instead, they’re talking confidently about having the votes for the biggest policy overhaul in a generation, a signature issue for Obama and the Democratic Party.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Burris’ demand alone makes him no different than other senators seeking this or that in the bill.

"I will do what I can to address the thises and thats," Baucus said. "But my strong feeling is in the end, the need for health care reform is to get 60 votes (and) is going to trump the concerns that some might have."

For his part, Burris says he’s just representing the wishes of his state. And he’s relentlessly loyal to the arrangement. His only acknowledgment of being treated differently than others is a reference to the "distractions" that marked his first weeks in office.

Ask him whether he feels badly treated by the leaders, and he’ll answer with a question:

"By whose standard?"

Go a couple more rounds, and he’ll elaborate, generally.

"I feel that I’ve had great opportunities here," Burris said. "I feel l

He is a weasel only looking for power…did you know he has built himself a monument for when he dies?http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/Roland_Burriss_Monument_to_Me.html#

The top-line result is 65% in favor, 26% opposed. Among Democrats only, it’s 81%-12%, and independents are at 61%-30%. And among Republican respondents, 47% are in favor, to 42% opposed.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/poll-even-republican-voters-favor-the-public-option.php
correction – MORE republicans favor the option than oppose it. "Most" would in inaccurate.

I ignore it, like I ignore most polls. The only one I pay attention to was the one held last year. You know, the one that put Obama in office?

FACT – Insurance companies in the USA admit to pushing up prices, buying politicians and not paying out claims when they should
FACT – PER PERSON the USA spends more on healthcare than any other nation on the planet
FACT – Obama debated his plans before the election for healthcare
FACT – the chance of a child under five of dying in the USA is greater than industrialised nations with universal health coverage
FACT – Obama was elected by the American people to bring in change
FACT – Obama wants to stop insurance companies from screwing the American people
FACT – The reforms Obama wants work in the Netherlands and Switzerland

Let me know if my facts are wrong, but please provide proof.

Duration : 0:0:48

[youtube tYolhOKhB9I]

Duration : 0:0:48

[youtube tYolhOKhB9I]

Duration : 0:1:32

[youtube 0BGNFi1eVZY]

A rebellion over the cost of the legislation prompted Obama to summon some Democrats to the White House for talks as a congressional committee delayed drafting its bill and Republicans sought to capitalize on the friction.

Negotiations over the most sweeping changes in health care in more than four decades have proven so difficult that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer left open the possibility Congress may fail to meet Obamas August deadline for legislation.

The seven of us cant support the bill as it stands, said Representative Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats, speaking for a group of lawmakers who met with Obama yesterday to voice concern over a plan unveiled July 14 by House leaders.

Obama spent more than an hour talking with those lawmakers, who are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has yet to pass its part of the legislation.

To help win over the Blue Dogs, Committee Chairman Henry Waxman agreed to include a provision to create an independent commission to set reimbursement rates for Medicare providers each year. Ross said such a body would take politics out of decisions on the federal insurance program for the elderly.

Waxman, a California Democrat, postponed plans for his panel to debate the legislation today so talks can continue.

Turning Point

During the White House meeting, Obama asked lawmakers to take a favorable attitude toward his proposal to set up the five-member commission, Waxman said.

Acknowledging his own personal misgivings, Waxman said such a panel would have a lot of power to cut health-care costs. He said he couldnt speculate on how much authority Congress would ultimately surrender to a commission.

The Blue Dogs members thought that committee made a lot of sense, Waxman said. He called the agreement to include such a committee a major turning point of discussions.

Ross said the group arrived at the White House with 10 Blue Dog demands and spent most of the time on two priorities: producing a deficit-neutral measure and containing costs.

The current House plan would expand insurance coverage to 97 percent of Americans while adding $239 billion to the budget deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Blue Dogs say it doesnt do enough to control the spiraling costs of Medicare and Medicaid.

Duration : 0:10:27

[youtube 9PB_E5WtiEo]

Duration : 0:1:14

[youtube 5wlsYDfhVgY]

The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources…Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process. And that is all that anybody needs to know to understand the childish and wounded behavior of Senator Clinton yesterday, grandstanding hypocritically to senior citizens in Florida, telling them they should consider themselves under sniper fire in Bosnia, er, Zimbabwe, aggrandizing herself as some kind of civil rights leader (MLK? or LBJ? She didn’t say this time) and attempting to corner 30 members of the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee that will meet on May 31 to resolve the disputes over whether, and, if so, how, delegates from Michigan and Florida might be seated at the convention in August…Senator Clinton, whose spouse just can’t help himself and obviously is not helping her. Through being so indiscreet about his obsession with getting near the levers of state power again that the first major media confirmation of the Clinton vice presidential aspirations involved a report that he’s the one who wants it most, he has definitively reinforced that the “nightmare ticket” is deservedly off the table, and created a monstrous distraction that impedes Senator Clinton from consolidating all she has built for herself this year in the short term…For Bill, it is about wrestling back “the Clinton brand” from his spouse. How’s that for petty?…now that Bill has pushed himself so unnecessarily into the photo, confirming that he is the most compelling reason why an Obama-Clinton ticket will never happen, and you shall know them also even by those who oppose it but who worry, fret and gnash teeth aloud that somehow it could be forced to happen after this latest development.
http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=1248

Duration : 0:3:38

[youtube E-fEmu7BlRs]