Democratic Convention in another universe (updated 6sep12)

George Rebane

Watching the show from Charlotte tonight and listening to speaker after speaker, one thing is clear.  The only future worth having for America is the one that is selected, directed, and “invested” in by government.  I am still looking for a shred of middle ground on which purchase could be had to start a dialogue.

We don’t agree where we have been, we don’t agree how we got here, and least of all, it turns out, we don’t agree where we are today.  Everything we understand is totally different.  We don’t even speak the same language, the words don’t have the same meanings.  It is truly unbelievable.  All we can hope for is that this is a temporary malady that will heal after, …, after what?

[6sep12 update]  After Bill Clinton's speech last night we are now waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Yes, it looks like Obama has become the other shoe at his own convention, but let's let the man speak before we seal that label on him.  In the meantime I notice that another election-relevant movie is coming out before 6 November.  'Atlas Shrugged Part 2' will open nationwide on 12 October.  From a promo, "The global economy is on the brink of collapse. Unemployment has risen to 24%. Gas is now $42 per gallon. Brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear at the hands of the unknown. ..."  Trailer here.

A couple of years ago I said that we would soon see $5 gas.  Two days ago on I-5 gas was selling for $4.80.  And known energy reserves continue to go up.  Exciting times for a fundamental transformation.

Comments

[billy T]

Come on Dr. Rebane. Conventions are pep rallies that preach to the choir. Michelle gave a great delivery. Her delivery was better than the speech. Sure, no policies, not mention of the words private sector, just great testimonials of the wonderful American success stories. They have the podium cause they love their man. This is now it should be and we should not rain on their parade. Mother Nature might rain on them Thursday, but nature plays by non partisan rules. Let them have their moment in the sun. Its been rough for them these last 4 years and now is as good of time as any to party down. Tomorrow night should be great with the NFL opener. Besides, who are we to question the Chosen One. This convention is really a big old time revival. http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/dnc-artwork-likens-obama-to-jesus.html

[Todd Juvinall]

Michelle has that tortured smile on again. I hope O'Reilly has the babe on that does "body language" analysis. I don't think she believes what the teleprompter was telling her to say.

[George Rebane]

billyT 1014pm - you are, of course, right and I should stifle myself. But I have to confess that Jo Ann and I were both in shock, and the echo of it endures. As people who can do arithmetic (most recently Mercatus) continue to point out, take everything that the rich earn, and I'm not talking only of the top 1%, and you still won't have enough money to pay for all the government goodies promised.

The message was that the middle class will be the big receivers. But that is a lie. The middle class will be the big payers because that's where the money is. And all those upturned smiling faces with glistening eyes were nodding as speaker after speaker railed against Romney/Ryan without ever mentioning one word about the private sector that has to create the Democrats' ice cream cone.

I think ToddJ (605am) is right, Michelle's excellent speech did contain that little wide-eyed reflex as she read the next line of bull. But never mind, it's their party, their time when in public they hear affirmed all of their puzzling but deeply held beliefs about how the world works. No need to look behind the private sector curtain.

[THEMIKEYMCD]

I will take a shot every time they mention The FED. #mrsober

[billy T]

Dr. Rebane, its ok to express your shock without awe. Its packaging, its all advertisement. The Dems are crying that Romney offered no specifics. We are crying the Dems are telling half the equation. Look, both conventions boil down to one hour a night to package their product in the most flattering light.

The Repubs had to show Romney is not a murderer snatching Tiny Tim's crutches with an evil laugh. They showed Romney as a human, not a heartless human.

The Dems have to portray their man as one of us, someone who cares. They also have to prove they ain't God haters. Did you notice all the interviewees mention God or faith? Thus my above link.

Neither party is going to lay out specifics in prime time. Nor should they. That comes later. The thing that stuck me is everyone faces trials in life. Every marriage, every parent, every young and old person faces challenges. Whippy-do. Welcome to the human race. Obama's mama abandoned him as well as his daddy. He wore shoes that did not fit! Oh yeah, I was born without feet, and so on and so on.

If you want a sneak preview to Thursday night, just watch an old Jimmy Carter speech as I did earlier this morning. Jimmy railing about "rebates to the rich" and "denigration of the poor". Same old, same old. What I have gotten so far has not disappointed. Big Government made it all possible. The American Dream hinges on government doing more.

Soon, it will be fun time. The gloves will come off and both parties have 2 months to have a real knock down drag out thumb in your eye below the belt melee. That is what I am waiting for: Post Convention bare knuckle heavyweight fight for the title.

[Paul Emery]

Romney got a pathetic bumplet from last weeks convention that won't hold up long. By next week Obama will have a solid 3% edge that will carry him through the campaign. Romneys tasks are formidable since Obama has a big edge in assured delegates so Romney has to win a vast majority of contested states. Romney could win easily but he has to carry a lot of baggage to please the thumpers especially since he's a Mormon and the Evangelicals are wary. Criminalizing abortion is the silver dagger for the Dems to use and it will be repeated over and over till November. Also, look for the tax cuts that Romney will receive under the Republican budget as a sleeping dragon.

Oh, by the way, don't expect details from either side. What are you gonna cut Mitt? How you gonna create jobs Obama?

Michele is the news but Massachusetts but Gov. Deval Patrick was the star of the day. He gave the best speech so far in either convention. Gov Patrick used his unique vantage point as Mitt Romney’s successor to cast Romney as a chief executive who left the state a mess. If Romney was so great a Governor then why is he losing by 20 pts in Mass?

[billy T]

Mr. Paul, Romney only 20 points down in Mass? Are you sure? I thought he would be down at least 25 points. You can't throw a brick in Mass without hitting a liberal. Won't be surprised if Romney is down by 35 in San Fransisco either or in West Palm Beach. Connecticut has moved from leaning Obama to solid Obama. Duh, no surprises there either. Why is that?, lol. Funny that Nevada and Colorado are moving from leaning Obama to toss up (toss up has to be within 3, plus or minus). I ain't calling it. Florida is too close and so is North Carolina. I bet Obama takes New York and California, duh. Wisconsin? That's Dem territory. Obama up in Ohio and Penn. New Mexico? Maybe, maybe not. Indiana, Iowa? Missouri? Not wise to pop the champagne until the second week in November or until all the recounts are tabulated. Exciting times, bro.

[THEMIKEYMCD]

Obama in a walk.

I can't get anyone to bet real money to the contrary which tells me that we all know we have another 4 years of the same (or worse) drudgery.

Who will offset my vote on Ron Paul :)?

[THEMIKEYMCD]

Frank J. Fleming ‏@IMAO_

A line from Obama's speech is "If I'm lying, may God strike me down" which is why they moved the speech inside.

[George Rebane]

PaulE 1025am - Paul, it looks like you're about to give better odds than you gave me. Never heard such confidence before. Mikey would probably leap at the chance, and I may also.

[THEMIKEYMCD]

Perhaps the most disturbing video clip of the year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gLa9Te8Blw

"The Government is the only thing we all belong to"

[Steven Frisch]

Paul although I agree with you that Obama will likely get a bump, depending upon the Friday jobs report, and it is likely to be in 3-4% range, the debates are going to be critical in this election. The race is down to 6-8 states--and several are looking like they may be off the table by October (like Colorado and Nevada for Obama and North Carolina and Iowa for Romney because of trending polls and a low number of undecideds) The race may be a 2-3 state race (Virginia, Ohio and Florida) so how the debates play in those states, and issues relevant to those states, may take on a disproportionally high importance.

[George Rebane]

MikeyMcD 144pm - Agreed; very disturbing and very revealing. I don't see myself or any American as "belonging to" our government, either as a member of it, or as chattel that is managed by it. Our governments at all levels are supposed to be the minimalist organizations that we carefully fund and empower to do a limited number of things that we need to accomplish collectively.

As our Founders warned us, we should always be leery of government. And as the Democrats are now feeding the most ignorant among us, we should reject their kindly invitation to look at government as the big social club in the sky that will provide for all of our wants; all we have to do is loyally follow its orders.

"If Congress can employ money indefinitely, for the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of the public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, the establishing in like manner schools throughout the union; they may assume the provision of the poor.... Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America." James Madison

[Ryan Mount]

I'm glad someone's still reading Madison who was very much concerned with people banding together into factions and taking over the government at the expense of individual liberty. Sounds familiar, eh?

The individual, it seems, is the ultimate minority these days.

Hamilton's response: Settle down Jim. We can manage everything from a central place once we have a monarch in place.

Madison won eventually. That is until our modern era when we started herding people into differing mobs. I dunno, pick any modern faction you'd like.

We should just to the chase and hire a King for life to rule us. Hamilton would be very pleased, I must say, on how we turned out. When the President and Congress are of the same party for example, they more closely resemble the King and parliament on which Hamilton hoped to base the American system than the competing branches Madison envisioned.

Every time I hear that the branches of government are cooperating, I puke. They should be at each others' throats, 24/7.

[George Rebane]

RyanM 228pm - lot to what you say. The solution is clearly to cycle a lot less money through the government, not let them mess with it (i.e. rein in and keep a tight leash on the Fed), and then schedule long intermissions between the times "they should be at each others' throats".

[Ryan Mount]

Sorry George for the ranting and rambling. Lots of late work nights tend to break the decorum filter.

I guess my point is I celebrate government gridlock as I think everyone should. The little I watched of the Democratic Convention last night was filled with apologies for how Obama has been essentially victimized[my word, but it fits] by the Republican-controlled house.

"Why didn't Obama accomplish his agenda?" some reporters asked of the Obama supporters.

"Because the Republicans torpedoed his initiatives," they complained.

Well good. At least that part of the system is working as planned. Americans used to be a generous, but crusty and disagreeable bunch. If you grew up in a [Democrat] working class household as I did, there was no time for complaining. Now? We're kinda of soft, whiny and victimized. Being a Liberal once meant you were one tough mofo.

http://rjmoeller.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/america-kill-you-in-your-sleep-500x375-1.jpg

[THEMIKEYMCD]

So its a steady decline then. At least we can't say we didn't see it coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1RxKW-P5V8&feature=channel

[billy T]

Think the Dems have gone schizophrenic. I hear all this Praise the Lord and pass the mash potatoes from various B list speakers' mouths on one hand and this one the other. Me be confused: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/dnc-rejects-church-gift-baskets.html

[billy T]

Them crazy polls are starting to move. Like Paul E says, no Convention bump for Republicans. Ok, maybe it is time to start making book on the horse race. I will place some bets now, and check back in a month. http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt-romney-s-likely-win-indicated-by-national-and-swing-state-polls

[billy T]

Game on! No score after the first, Manning just got sacked. I was wondering why Castro last night talked a lot about his grannie, but omited that his mommie started La Raz in San Antone...http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/showthread.php?t=238281

[Paul Emery]

The Dems at least the recognized they made a mistake with the God delete and Israel Capital stuff. The Pubbers should have done the same with a woman's right to chose. When Romney loses there will be a mighty split between the economic conservatives and the religious moral guardians. That will be fun.

[billy T]

September, 2012: http://www.gallup.com/poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx

[George Rebane]

Just finished watching Slick Willie. He is by far the most accomplished political speaker in the country. The look on Michelle's face was priceless as she realized that the convention would can Barack for Bill in a heartbeat if they could. Clinton could tell whoppers in a way unmatched, and it was easy to contrast that with Comrade Elizabeth Warren's crude and forceful delivery of bald-faced lies.

Bill Clinton's speech was the official and excellent launch of Hillary's 2016 campaign.

[Steven Frisch]

George, the half of that that is true is brilliant!

[billy T]

Agreed. Clinton made a better case for Obama that the entire Obama campaign has. Kept expecting Michelle to rise up and cheer with the rest of them, but I guess she was tired. Pretty backwards looking speech all in all, but Clinton was classic Clinton. You just knew he felt your pain. I did get a wee bit nervous when he started pointing that crooked index finger and saying "You listen to me". Deja vu. Liked what he said about preparing people for the new economy. Think he skipped over the debt and reaffirmed that government is the solution, never the problem.

Don't think Clinton's country boy speech will stick very long. The drop in household income and spending power is kinda hard to overlook. Jobs report comes out Friday and if you are without a job, tomorrow you will probably wake up without a job and deeper in debt.

Clinton did the best he could with the material he had to work with. Gosh, has it really been 16 years since Clinton announced the era of big government is over? Looking back is comfortable. Comfortable because it is familiar. Lot better than looking forward at the man waiting behind the curtain as Clinton spoke.

[Ryan Mount]

I nearly pooped my pants when Clinton said the Republican's actions were responsible for the financial collapse. And they said Paul Ryan was full of BS? It's unbelievable how some people honestly believe their sh&# doesn't stink, but they can sure smell it on someone else.

Mr. Clinton (Bill listens to me. I keep an empty chair here in my office), do you remember gleefully signing this in 1999: Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999? And before Partisan Democrats howl about this being a Republican gig, weep and note this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Vote_1999.png

Jerk-off Clinton giggling over his penmanship:

http://rasica.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clinton_signs_glass_steagall_repeal.jpeg?w=588&h=406

[Paul Emery]

Gosh Ryan, wasn't there a Republican House and Senate in 1999?

[Ryan Mount]

Hi Paul. Did you see the vote on the Gramm/Leach bill? Notwithstanding Clinton's gleeful participation?

Here's the link again:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Vote_1999.png

To be fair, the Democrats voted nay in greater numbers than the Republicans. And this was the era of the Pets.com hubris. But again, d*ckhead Clinton didn't veto it. Democrats: the party of "the people." Yeah right.

It's all tied together in an hideous web of deceit and disingenuousness.

1) Get (convince) everyone not to save. Get them to leverage their capital into speculative markets including real estate (which used to be a relatively conservative investment like bank savings accounts)

2) Balloon market with faux demand incented by the government.

3) Sell off ("bundle") crap loans (see #1, #2) into even more speculative markets, again permitted by the government.

4) Balloon market even more to absurd numbers.

5) Crash. Depression. Act surprised. Blame the faceless "banks," when you should be blaming specific people (the people we voted for) in the government.

6) Panic. Fear. Bail out the corporate failures, the brokers in this case who walked the public across the street. F*ck the citizen, twice. Both with new debt and default and with giving tax money to their handlers.

7) Then short then markets and make even more money. Mop up vacant houses with cash or even more leveraged loans.

Something like that.

[billy T]

Ryan, is this what yer talking about? http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/05/to-save-obama-clinton-ignores-his-own-deregulation-moves/

Best line of the morning: Clinton is a good lawyer defending a guilty client. Now, ain't that the truth.

[Ryan Mount]

Billy, people don't care about the facts, as in Clinton being the genesis of the 2007/08 meltdown. They just care about being victimized nowadays. It's become an entire industry. (I am not directing my comments at Paul, but at the general electorate, who I believe to be an outstanding citizen. So I beg your pardon Paul).

Now it seems to me this is one of those rare bi-polar policy moments:

1) We should have either enacted strict and conservative regulations on the financial industry, with funding for enforcement. Note, this makes Democrats "conservative." And this would have the effect of slowing growth.

2) Or as our Anarcho-Capitalist-ish brethren have suggested, completely liberalize the finance industry and let the "market work." Basically get the government out of the way, and let people do their thing. And then when someone or something fails, they fail: the shareholders, the workers, the execs. The government's role here is to promote legal contracts and transparency (as per the terms of a contract).

But what we ended up with post 1999 was byzantine set of weak regulations with tons of loopholes and no enforcement. In fact, I would be willing to say that we took the worst of both above suggestions and implemented them, presumably because that's what we wanted (voted for).

[David King]

Don't forget The Community Reinvestment Act and Mr. Car-ter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act

[Paul Emery]

Ryan

It's interesting to note that neither the Pubbers or the Dum Dems have not mentioned a word about going after the banksters who scammed the whole thing. With the statute of limitations coming up they will get away with the whole thing. I suggest following William Black author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry , one of the investigators in the S&L fiasco whose perspective I appreciate. This is a pretty good summary of his thoughts from a Bill Moyers interview

"Black asserted that the banking crisis in the United States that started in late 2008 is essentially a big Ponzi scheme; that the "liar loans" and other financial tricks were essentially illegal frauds; and that the triple-A ratings given to these loans was part of a criminal cover-up. He said that the "Prompt Corrective Action Law" passed after the Savings and loan crisis mandated that ailing banks should be put into receivership. Black also stated that trying to hide how bad the situation is will simply prolong the problem, as happened in Japan's lost decade. Black stated that Timothy Geithner is engaged in a cover-up, and that the administration does not want people to understand what went wrong or how bad the banking situation is today."

check these out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8CqaHTygSc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T389e9StiAc&feature=related

[Ryan Mount]

Thanks Paul, I'll have a look when I get a break from my duties. In the meantime, here's my favorite list of bail out recipients from 2007-2010:

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)

That's about 16 Trillion dollars right there, some of the money going to foreign banks. That's also the sum of the Federal Public Debt for comparison's sake. It's very hard not to evoke Lyndon LaRouche here, but I'll refrain.

It will be interesting to find out what Ron Paul's Fed Audit bill discovers if it ever makes it out of the Senate.

[billy T]

Re: Dr. Rebane 05 September 2012 at 08:45 PM. I am surprised more folks are not commenting on Lizzy Warren's speech. I could not sit through that screech in her voice without wishing for death. Mine or hers?, you decide. She laid out that if you work hard and play by the rules, you are screwed. Waste of time cause the "system is rigged." You will never get ahead. Doomed.

Suppose that is why she did not play by the rules and claimed to be a squaw to achieve a professional advantage at Harvard Law. Professional advantage must be lawyer speak for cheating or impersonating a minority. I dunno.

Not only are we working stiffs screwed and cannot get out of the rigged game, Ms.Warren told us why. You won't believe the cause of our pathetic lives. Its a novel approach. She said is all the fault of billionairs (Warren Buffet and the FB kid?), millionairs (Tom Cruise and Kobe Bryant?) and oil companies. Billionaires, millionairs, and oil companies. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Yawn.

Ms. Warren even named names. Oh goodie! She put the blame solely on the shoulders of one Mitt Ronmey. Phew, Bush is finally escaping blame. About time.

Suppose the most sucessful business people and job creaters are really the dogs that ate our homework. That bastard Romeny is the cause for all the woes of her people hanging on "by their fingernails."

[David King]

Thanks for the links Paul.

[Paul Emery]

Slim chance of that. This is a bi partisan coverup. The House upstarts will be put in their place by the establishment that Romney and Obamma represent.

The essence of William Blacks view is what good are new laws or regulations if we don't enforce the ones we have. Black was the investigator during the S&L debacle that Charles Keating wanted to put a hit on. Keating — after whom the senate's so-called "Keating Five" were named — sent a memo that read, in part, "get Black — kill him dead." Metaphorically, of course. Of course.

Remember, McCain was one of the Keating Five, conveniently forgotten in his Pubster bid for Pres.

[Gregory]

Paul E, the first two years of Obama had a Democratic President, House, and Senate. Republican's couldn't stop ObamaPelosiCare and they wouldn't have been able to stop a Wall Street witchhunt had they wanted to.

[George Rebane]

re PaulE's 1128pm - All conservative/libertarian commentators (even RR) have asked that question before and after Black. The simplest answer is that enforcing existing laws is costly, iffy, and invisible. Legislators get credit (in the common mind) for legislating, and that means new laws, no matter how duplicating, encumbering, confusing, and costly as long as the appropriate pandering can be done with their passage. After all, what did we hire them for?

I have a dream that in an enlightened future, legislators will get lauded for maintaining a parsimonious legal code for the nation - sometimes adding, always pruning the dead wood, and continually clarifying what is law. A measure of performance would include the legal code's size and the number of law suits launched in an appropriate period after the legislature sits.

[Ryan Mount]

William Black's victim rhetoric is unmistakable: The Democrats were "bullied" into caving by the Republicans. (see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDZeDYr2Lk). This is total crap. Obama and Clinton innocent victims, bullied (Black's term) into going along with the Republicans? You mean, Mr. Black, that they're incapable of standing up to them and seeing through the panic?

Think about that for a minute. Seriously? Are the Democrats to stupid and scared to govern? That's what he's saying. And if that's the case, which it is according to Black, why would anyone vote for them? It. Makes. No. Sense.

And if you forgive his Keynesian, demand-side musings, some of his observations are correct, but he's doing that fanning the fires of banker hate thing even as he squarely points the finger at the government for enabling (he implies allowing) bankers to behave this way. As mentioned above, this is a massive failure of government, not the banks. it's not a failure of the "banks" because we bailed them out. They're doing just fine now.

[Ryan Mount]

My apologies for the typos. It's sloppy. Sorry.

[Paul Emery]

The point I am making is that both parties had it in their interests to let this happen and it continues to this day. I firmly believe the primary role of any government is to protect and enhance the ruling class that put them there. That' what both Obama and Romney represent and why I'm shopping elsewhere.

Ryan
Black in the trenches with the S&L investigations and I respect his opinion and experience. He is hardly complementary or supportive of Obama or the Democrats. He wants Geitner fired for knowingly supporting the cover up of massive fraud.

[Ryan Mount]

Fair enough Paul, although I sense he's sympathetic to the Democrats as unknowing victims. Could just be me.

Also, he has a little more faith in the Fed than I do. It comes across as being paternalistic: well if we just did it like England's Central Bank we'd be better off. Again, Hamilton would be quite happy.

I tend to think, as from the payouts I listed above, that the Fed *is* the source of the problem enabled by a lack of monetary oversight by our government. Mr. Black seems to imply that, but then muddles his argument by attacking bankers and apologizing for both the Fed and and the Democrats.

[billy T]

Hey, with all this talk of Clinton and the Fed and meltdown, it sure was an exciting way to end the Democrat Convention. The debate will continue on elsewhere. Wait, isn't some other dude going to speak somewhere tonight?

[THEMIKEYMCD]

This is a must watch... hillarious and telling. Peter Schiff at the DNC asking for a law to ban corporate profits...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=07fTsF5BiSM

[Russ Steele]

Oh my!

Wayne Allyn Root, 2008 Libertarian Party’s Vice Presidential nominee and political commentator, resigned this morning from the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) to, according to his resignation letter, “elect good people and change the direction of this country outside of a third party.”

In the letter to the LNC, which is available at Independent Political Report, Root explains that his decision much is not unlike those of previous Libertarian Party presidential candidates, including Ron Paul and David Koch; both of whom left the LP to become prominent Republicans.

When I asked if he was now backing Mitt Romney, Root responded, “I am,” adding, “I don’t deny that Romney and Ryan aren’t libertarians, but Romney is a pro-business capitalist and Obama is a Marxist-socialist.”

“The economy has been trashed. This is about my kids’ future, it’s about my businesses,” said Root. “There is no hope for America if Obama is re-elected.”