SHARED SACRIFICE ? REALLY ?

We are the ' HAVE TO DOS ' . . . not the 'HAVE NOTS '. . .

We are Middle America and we sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our children, family members and peers in wars . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our health and sometimes die due to no medical coverage . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our vacations when times get hard to take on more jobs . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our taxes to corporate subsidies and tax loopholes . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our taxes to so much fraud and graft that never ends . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our taxes to fill the coffers of wealthy Americans . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our pride shopping at the dollar store to feed our families . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our children's college educations . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our homes to bogus and criminal mortgage disasters . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our money to bogus, criminal banking and market disasters . . .

We are the ones who sacrifice our blood, sweat and tears to keep commerce going . . .

Where are the shared sacrifices at the so called Top of America ?

Do they have to sacrifice their children, family members and peers in wars ?

Do they have to sacrifice their health and sometimes die due to no medical coverage ?

Do they have to sacrifice their vacations when times get hard to take on more jobs ?

Do they have to sacrifice their taxes to corporate subsidies and tax loopholes ?

Do they have to sacrifice their taxes to fraud and graft that never ends ?

Do they have to sacrifice their taxes to fill the coffers of other wealthy Americans?

Do they have to sacrifice their pride shopping at the dollar store to feed our families ?

Do they have to sacrifice their children's college educations ?

Do they have to sacrifice their homes to bogus and criminal mortgage disasters ?

Do they have to sacrifice their money to bogus, criminal banking and market disasters ?

Do they have to sacrifice their blood, sweat and tears to keep commerce going ?

We HAVE TO DO these things . . .

This is what President Obama is trying to get through to Republicons who represent the Top and the Right-Wing of American Society . . . Republicons who just don't give the slightest bit of a damn about every day Americans who are the backbone of this country. We have sacrificed almost everything already. . . our jobs, our taxes, our schools, our health, our blood, sweat and tears, our higher education, our mortgage holdings, in some places our voting rights, our dignity, our hope, AND NOW Republicons are calling for more ' shared sacrifice ' of Middle America by killing our Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs that some of us cannot live without ?

We get what is really going on in America.

We are not stupid . . . we are just busy surviving.

We are the ' HAVE TO DOS ' . . . not the ' HAVE NOTS '. . .

We are Middle America . . .

We sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice . . . .

SHARED SACRIFICE ? REALLY REPUBLICONS ?

Cut Cap & Trade The republican way.

Cut-Cut Social Security Medicare & Medicaid.

Cap-Cap taxes on the wealthy &corporations.

Trade-Trade American jobs for cheap shoddy goods from China.

Back in the day.

One home only needed one income.

98% of the people had a better life.

Corps had to plow money back in or get in TAXED!

Yes they made money and some,plus a better USA.

John Boehner is an idiot and a liar. He has been in Congress for 20 years and he has signed many debt ceiling limits but this man is being held hostage by the tea baggers. He has no guts to face the truth. He is just BAD at his job. He really should sober up and see what he has become as Speaker and be ashamed. He has no idea what the people want, he has never listened to anyone except his corporate donors. They say Oh John don't do that, it will not be good for you politically and he falls to his knees and begs for his job. So he is willing to take this country down without a backward look. His speech was a lie start to finish. His party is holding a gun to his head.

Hey President Obama,  we the middle and lower class people of these United States get it. You are preaching to the choir. We all know that the ignorant, self-centered, greedy, for-the-rich Republicans are the reason for the stale-mate. I say let the shi— hit the fan. They will be the ones held responsible for the collapse of this country and they will be held accountable. They are not willing to compromise and they won't. Enough time, energy, and resources has been spent on this debt ceiling fiasco. Do what you have to do to pay our bills while leaving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone. The Republicans will be history next election. We all see that they are the problem, with no balanced solutions. Since they are willing to throw our country to the wolves, they should be the first not to get paid. Let us not forget that they are the ones who spent the surplus left by President Clinton and along with George Bush, ran up the debt by more trillions than President Obama has. Where are the jobs the Republicans promised? I will tell you they are in the foreign countries where the number of hires is almost at the same rate of job losses in the USA. The rich they continue to protect have no intentions of bringing those jobs back. Why would they? That action would reduce their profits. I say, LET IT RIP. Don't raise the debt ceiling and I promise you we will have shared pain!!!

This clip should be played before and after every appearance by John Boehner. It comes from NBC's 'Meet the Press':

"It's not my job to tell the American people what to think."

I watched the President's speech. He said to contact my people in Congress and give my opinion on a balanced approach.

I've tried for about 20 minutes, and their servers are not available. Could be their servers are too busy. Or have their servers been disabled so they don't have to listen to opinions?

Why is MSNBC giving so much airtime to creeps and liars and obnoxious bullies like Walsh. I am sick of seeing their lying faces.   Boehner just stood and LIED for however long he was out there.   The republicans tea party asshats  are BULLIES who answer to Rush and to a dweeb names Grover.

MSNBC stop giving these bullies airtime.

And to President Obama and David Pflouffe..WAKE UP.  Bullies are NOT reasonable and this republican party is filled with greedy frat boys who don't give a damn about anyone except themselves.   Take the bull by the horns and kick some ass.

President Obazma got someones attention. Can't get thyrough to the House or Senate. Servers are BUSY

I cannot understand why commentators, such as Mr. O'Donnell, never challenge members of the right wing, e.g., Rep. Joe Walsh, when they assert, e.g., "the rich pay more than 60 percent of income taxes."  Isn't that because in the U.S. the rich receive more than 80 percent of all income?  Am I mistaken, or is the media simply too slow to make that observation?

Here in Washington State we have tried to e-mail our Senators and Representatives. The circuits are so busy that we cannot get through. I know that it is "we the people" doing as our President asked.

No to Cut Cap and Balance

Yes to the Reid plan with more to come in the future.

How are these Republicans still in office, thay should be thrown out and tried as traitors to this contry for putting there owne well being above there brouthers and sisters.

Enough is enough! To hell with the Republicans and their demands. It is unbelievable that the president is caving to these clowns. The Republican arguments do not stand the test of time! Mr. Obama, stand your ground. A clear majority of the people are behind you. If you do in fact have the 14th Amendment to fall back on, use it!

Mr Boehner

The Tea Party will never ever say yes, get over it.

You are out if you make a deal(Tea Party)

You are out if you dont(The People)

Your call Sir

What with Obama equating the federal budget to a household budget, and Boehner equating same to a business, neither of them is being honest.

it's raining cats and dogs. The car and the garage have already floated away. The water in the basement is rising rapidly and approaching the first floor. This is when you realize you should have had a rainy day fund. But you don't. What do you do? Rush to pay off the credit cards? Squirrel money away "for a rainy day"? Or, do you drain the basement, mitigate for mold, repair the water damage?

When times are bad, survival is Job One, and right behind it comes rebuilding. If that requires borrowing, you do it. What's the alternative? Huddling in a cave? Teaching your children to accept that fate ordains they will scavenge for food, or that suffering by the many will allow survival of the few who MAY, some day, give them a job?

Now, imagine for a moment that you have the power to create money and to borrow easily and cheaply. Your neighbor on the other side of town doesn't have those powers and is in the process of losing everything. You don't have to. Do you walk away from everything you have spent a lifetime building? Or do you rebuild, invest in improving your skills or a new business, and commit to paying down debt when your income increases?

The issues at hand can be dealt with in separate parts:
1) Raise the debt ceiling.

2) Strengthen Medicare by controlling the health care industry's excessive profits and price increases, not by cutting basic benefits or delaying eligibility.

3) Stop exempting those who benefitted most from the short-sighted greed that led to the collapse of Main Street from paying to fix it. The rest of us have suffered too much for something we did not do.

4) Help really small business owners ("mom and pop" and/or less than 25 employees - NOT the Chamber of Commerce or Wall Street's definition) with tax incentives and with getting financing to stay in business or grow.

The only thing on that list that MUST be done by August 2 is the first item. Tying it to any other items on the list is opportunistic, cynical, and pure politics.

I liked Elizabeth Drew's idea. Obama should have said that time has run out, and what is now required is a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling that will extend to 2013, that he expects it on his desk by Thursday, and that a bill containing any other measures will be vetoed. The time for the other issues is AFTER the responsible increase has been done.

As a Canadian watching American politics closely, I am appalled by the disgraceful manner in which the speaker of the house spoke of the President of the U.S.A. Such disdain and total lack of respect is unprecidented. The President, on the other hand, never lost his cool, and was ever so gracious towards those greedy fatcat republicans. But then, Boehner is there to represent all of republicans, and he does it so well! He showed tonight what liars and twisters of the truth they all are. I just really hope that way more than the majority of Americans can see through the GOP and their thinly veiled intentions. And I hope it shows up in the next elections.

I think these new Republicans are wired differently from normal people.

Reasonableness was left out of their make-up. We used to call them "Fanatic's."

Obama's speech was DYNOMITE tonight. Boehner was a DISGRACE. Shame on the Republicans who want to destroy this economy, just so Obama Does not get re-elected. And shame on your commentators who thought Obama's speech was less than dynomite.

The very first question every television host should ask a Washington politician they interview; would you personally be willing to pay more in taxes to help with our country's deficit?

The second question; if the country goes into default do you intend to still collect your check before the stalemate that caused it is resolved?

John Boehner and the rest of his Republican Coharts are not real savvy on how business is run whether it is in Washington or any city in the USA. When you create or run a business (like I have, A Public company) you don't look for ways to elimnate debt, You look for ways to create REVENUES to offset any debts that are created so that you can make a PROFIT. Big Corporations figured this out a long time ago. Take big oil. When the price of crude goes up so does the price for gas. They don't look for ways to eliminate costs only they bance it with INCOME. Our Government is no different. I am not talking about wasteful spending but if you eliminate the INCOME(THE BUSH TAX CUTS) how do you generate additional revenues. The Government is not suppose to make profits, however, if we do those monies should filter back to the people who are less fotunate. Some of these ways is through medical aid, infrastructure to create more jobs ETC. When will these politicians get off their political BandWagon and get real.

Lawrence - I think President Obama did an excellent job tonight. I watch politics
constantly so I wanted to see Obama rip the Republicans to shreds for their
intentional destruction of our economy. HOWEVER, I know what President Obama was doing and it was what was needed. He was speaking to the average working American who does not pay attention, who does not know what the debt ceiling is and is just plain angry nothing is getting done in Washington. Obama explained it all
to them in simple terms, with understanding as to how these people are feeling,
that he knows how they feel and compromise is what we need. The best thing he
did was tell the PEOPLE to let their Congress member know how they feel - and so
many people did that it brought down the Congressional website. He put the
Republicans in a corner. Great job Mr President -Lawrence - he did exactly what he set out to do - sound reasonable and make the Republicans look uncompromising. He empathized with the People and I think it was effective. You and I both know Obama never does anything without knowing exactly what he is doing- and he always does it well.

Who is this looney blonde simpleton with the lip gloss? This is a representative? Wow, a fraud with fraudulent talking points. What is difficult to understand about a balanced approach? What is so difficult about Robert Reich's understanding of the economic impact of massive spending cuts at the current time? What cuts can be made that do not hurt people who are already hurting? The "class warfare" she refers to has been taking place with the redistribution of wealth upward over the last decade. What a moronic presentation she makes!

I just watched The Last Word mini-debate that included Rep. Marsha Blackburn. Wouldn't it be interesting to somehow interrupt Republican messaging for a day so that these wingnuts would have to actually speak for themselves instead of merely regurgitating approved speaking points? I'm taking bets on when was the last time this woman had an original thought.

LawrI think President Obama did an excellent job tonight. I watch politics
constantly so I wanted to see Obama rip the Republicans to shreds for their
intentional destruction of our economy. HOWEVER, I know what President Obama was
doing and it was what was needed. He was speaking to the average working America
who does not pay attention, who does not know what the debt ceiling is and is
just plain angry nothing is getting done in Washington. Obama explained it all
to them in simple terms, with understanding as to how these people are feeling,
that he knows how they feel and compromise is what we need. The best thing he
did was tell the PEOPLE to let their Congress member know how they feel - and so
many people did that it brought down the Congressional website. He put the
Republicans in a corner. Great job Mr President-

Lawrence - you and I know Presiden Obama always thinks very carefully about what he does. He's intelligent and a leader. He did this education session to empathize with the PEOPLE and tell them he shares their anger. He showed he is on their side and Republicans are not. They want it all their way or will bring down the economy. He told Americans what they needed to know, what he thinks, and put the Republicans out there as the ones who refuse to participate in our Democracy- which means compromise.

He did well - think about it.

Kool Aid Drinkers....Still cant believe you voted for this guy. The least qualified man for the job and it is definitely showing. Obama is clueless.....step away from the Kool Aid People..... think. I guess if you WOULD jump off a bridge if you saw somebody else do it....because your blindly following your "president" into a deep dark hole.