Republican Presidential Race Shaping up or shipping out

Tim Pawlenty

Today, Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor, made the announcement that he will run as a candidate for the Republican nominee for President. This may be good and this may be bad, but in the case of the Republicans, it may be the only good announcement so far. Mitch Daniels, in my mind is the almost perfect candidate for the Republican nomination, and actually considered a better candidate by many than the well known Mitt Romney, but now Mr. Daniels also has decided not to run. Will President Obama have any competition? Prior to Tim Pawlenty's announcement that he will be running, Mitch Daniels claims that his family has been consistent in their desire for him not to run and he wants to respect their opinion. As Mitch Daniels is first a family man at heart, he has decided to pass the opportunity with the claim that his family is more important. Actually what he doesn't say is that he doesn't have the heart to run. In a 'Meet to Press' show on Sunday 5/22/2011, there is a would-be but not-to-be candidate in the likes of Paul Ryan, as it was discussed in his interview. The main talk of discussion was about what was said about him and his Medicare plan by Newt Gingrich. In the midst of the conversation, Paul Ryan was asked if he planned on running for President, but to the dismay of the interviewer, looking for another main Republican story two weeks in a row, was told by Paul Ryan that he had no intentions of running. Instead, another forget-me candidate by the name of Herman Cain, age 65 from Memphis Tennessee, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, and presently a newspaper columnist has made an announcement that he is running. He join the ranks of the likes of Ron Paul, who says he's running, but really still not sure which party he wants to run for. He claims that he wants to run as a Republican, but he may have a better chance running as an independent, and even then, still wouldn't have enough to actually get a chance to face Obama in the general election.As reported, now we have a handful of candidates, all wishfuls that want to be President. In the mean time, there is still another person running that hasn't a chance in hell to gain the nomination, Newt Gingrich, and he doesn't even have enough sense to know that he actually is finished before he started. He is still campaigning in Iowa. There is another probable candidate that hasn't made the formal announcement yet that he will be running. His name is none other than Mitt Romney. In recent days, he has highly criticized President Obama's comments and some of his decisions as President. Apparently, Mitt Romney wants to see what he's up against before he announces that he is a candidate. When he does, everyone so far to this point will not even have a chance, except for possibly Tim Pawlenty who has allot of work to do. And how about possible other candidates, the ones still left to announce. Jon Huntsman and Michelle Bachman and and another spoiler, Sarah Palin all have some baggage that will become known to the American people if they do decide to run, but out of the three, Jon Huntsman may be a good contender, especially if he must fight for the nomination against Mitt Romney. So the final four, Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachman, Tim Polenty and Jon Huntsman. Another dark horse, the old mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani, still hasn't said that he will not run, but it's expected that he will make the announcement. My guess is that he will not run. Who has the money-bags that could compete with Mitt Romney and hold his own. No-one yet.

  So what does the Republican party do now. Actually, the party is at the mercy of the candidates, or shall I say who may be left to run. Out of all of them, how do they stack against Obama. As I see it now, President Obama still doesn't have any real competition from the Republican party. With all of the money Mitt had during the 2008 election, he still couldn't compete against his former rival Mike Huckabee and John McCain, who both lasted longer than he did in the primary elections. John McCain, the Republican favorite will not run, and most likely Sarah Palin will not run either. If the Republicans cannot get their own house in order and decide who they really want as president, then it looks as if President Obama may end up being a 2 term President, thanks to the Republicans shooting themselves in the foot. Oh my, what will the conservative talk show hosts say now if President Obama gets re-elected. Rush Limbaugh and Mike Levin will probably disown their own party.

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Details of Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan - A TOTAL JOKE

By;  James - 'Editor' Obama in the White House blog

To reiterate a little more on what House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan is trying to accomplish in his Medicare Plan, as a Republican you can rest assured one of his main goals is to reduce the size of Federal government spending. But the question is, how does he plan to do it without affecting the people who earned their right to collect Medicare? The simple answer is 'YOU DON'T'. There is absolutely no way to reduce spending by some $6 trillion over the next 10 years which is much harsher than President Obama's budget proposal. So now we get to hear all about his proposal, all the way up to the 2012 elections no doubt as this will tend to be a major topic of discussion during the upcoming Presidential Campaign. If you ask me, it looks as if the Republicans are making it allot easier for President Obama to get re-elected. But still, already, we know what the major adjenda will be in the upcoming elections in 2012 for the Republicans. But maybe they just don't get it. How long has it been since there has been a change to health insurance laws before President Obama had his plan passed last year known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ? Many people don't even live that long. Regardless, the following items is what Paul Ryan claims as his "Path to Prosperity".

SO what are the basics to his plan?

1) His proposal would turn the program from a guaranteed benefit into a system in which private insurers would cover elderly Americans, and by the way their premiums would be subsidized by the federal government.

2) $6 Trillion in spending cuts for the next 10 years and would mean spending about $400 million less on Medicare in the same timeframe.

3) $700 billion - $800 billion would be cut from Medicaid.

4) Manditory health program spending will be reduced from 14% of GDP which is the current trajectory to only 5% by 2050.

5) Medicare would be voluntary.

6) Seniors would shop in a highly regulated exchange or marketplace and select plans already vetted by the Federal Government.

7) Medicare beneficiaries would spend far more out of pocket under this system than the current one.

8) Under the proposal, most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay under the current Medicare system.

9) Health care liabilty would jump to 61% of his or her total health care costs in 2022.

10 Health care liability would jump from 61% to 68% in 2030.

11) Subsidies would be available to seniors, depending on income and health status. The poorer you are, the more subsidy you can receive.

12) It sort of repeals Obamacare as it would save $1.4 trillion by 2012. No verbage in the plan calls for a total repeal of Obamacare, but the real details of the plan is still not known.. How could seniors affort that..  The simple answer is 'they can't'. His answer is to cut anything provision that would not contribute to cuts in Medicare funding. This would effectively cut health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans..  Is this guy on dope or what?

13) The Medicare Retirement eligibility age would jumpt from 65 to 67 in 2033.


The above 13 items are the 'meat and potatoes' of his budget proposal, but there are still so many details absent from this plan. What he doesn't tell you is something you really need to be scared of, let alone by what you already know. . The only interest he has is to cut the federal deficit. It definitely doesn't seem that he has health concerns of the elderly in mind. So how old is this know-it-all Congressman? How about 41. He was born in 1970, the year that I graduated from high school, yet he believes he knows what is better for me.

What are the chances of such a plan passing through the present Congress that can't agree on much of anything?   Not a chance in hell.  Instead, he and his fellow co-horts in Congress have decided to spend your money now on ideas that will not ever work. Where is the bi-partisanship here?  The answer is, none at all.
But with these idiotic ideas he is helping one thing... President Obama achieving his 2nd term in office.

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