Convention Thoughts

So...after watching Obama speak on Thursday (read the speech here: http://www.demconvention.com/barack-obama/ or listen to the speech here: https://donate.barackobama.com/page/content/acceptancespeechnd?source=feature_nom) and watching Fred Thompson speak yesterday (watch the speech here: http://www.gopconvention2008.com/videos/ or read the speech here: http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/speech/details.aspx?id=32), I just want to quickly compare Obama and Thomspon on taxes...

Obama:

"Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class."

Thompson:

"We need a President who understands that you don't make citizens prosperous by making Washington richer, and you don't lift an economic downturn by imposing one of the largest tax increases in American history.

Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases.

They tell you they are not going to tax your family.

No, they're just going to tax 'businesses'! So unless you buy something from a 'business', like groceries or clothes or gasoline ... or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small "business", don't worry ... it's not going to affect you.

They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the 'other' side of the bucket! That's their idea of tax reform."

Obama says he is going to cut taxes in his speech. Read about the bill he voted for:

Excerpts from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23612342/.

"The votes were mostly symbolic, but they put senators in both parties on the record for when the tax cuts actually expire in three years. Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, voted for the full roster of Bush tax cuts. Rivals Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., both voted against them.

Obama and Clinton both promise to reverse Bush's tax cuts for wealthier taxpayers, but the Democratic budget they'll be voting for would allow income tax rates to go up on individuals making as little as $31,850 and couples earning $63,700 or more.

Under both Democratic plans, tax rates would increase by 3 percentage points for each of the 25 percent, 28 percent and 33 percent brackets. At present, the 25 percent bracket begins at $31,850 for individuals and $63,700 for married couples. The 35 percent bracket on incomes over $349,700 would jump to 39.6 percent.)"

I want to believe Obama, but I want to hear him answer to this article and these facts as presented to me by MSNBC (which leans longer and harder to the left with every new host...see Keith Olberman, Norah O'Donnal, Rachel Maddow, and David Gregory's recent promotions).

I just find it incredibly interesting to hear what each side has to say on taxes. No one really knows what is going to happen. It is incredibly hard to determine the truth of every single word spoken by the candidates on these issues.

I don't believe Obama when he says he will not raise my taxes until he answers specifically to the bill he voted for. If I just compared what Thompson said with what Obama said, I would be forced to believe one is lying...but after considering this MSNBC article, it is hard to believe Obama.

But...away from taxes, let's move to Laura Bush.

"On an issue that is close to my heart, President Bush initiated the most important education reforms in a generation - holding schools accountable and boosting funds for reading instruction. Today, student achievement is rising across the board, and test scores for minority students are at the highest they have ever been.

We all know how important is it for America to have judges who respect the constitution. Our whole nation can be proud of the two newest members of the Supreme Court...

Many in this arena, and many across our nation, are people of faith... The president has empowered faith based and community charities to partner with and help those in need. Engaging these groups is successful policy. One way we know this - across the country, 35 governors from both parties have started faith based and community initiatives of their own.

Here is another inspiring statistic. When my husband took office, fewer than 50,000 Africans suffering from AIDS were receiving the medicine they needed to survive. Thanks to the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief, that number is now nearly 2 million. You might call that "change you can really belief in".

George is using America's influence to lift up lives around the world. Millions of children are protected from malayria by mosquito nets the American people provide. In Afghanistan and Iraq, 50 million people are now living in freedom.

And lets not forget, President Bush has kept the American people safe."

I just wanted to present these relatively non-politicized points on Bush's presidency...he has his faults, but he did do some successful things. Like the war or hate the war, it is hard for anyone to say they would rather have 50 million in Afghanistan and Iraq living in the political conditions they were living in before (this is different than the debate of whether or not we should have did what we did), and it is even more difficult to say the President made this country less safe, even though the record of terrorist attacks on American soil since September 11, at this point, proves otherwise.