I am just a woman who works every day, who was ill and unable to work for over a year and a half, and am now trying to pay off medical bills, and still keep current with all the utilities, car payment etc. I had to use my credit cards to the max to pay some doctors or get sued. I have very good insurance but it did not cover all expenses added to the normal living expenses. I had a good case against the doctor for mal-practice but it seems in a small place everyone is good friends with each other and would not take the case. Then another attorney stated I had a case against the first attorney as he kept my files for 5 months and did nothing, then sent them back stating no way, but during the time he had my files the time had lasped so I am out in the cold on that one. I am listing to what both sides say and to me who cares what they said years ago, this is 2008 and one should make their decision on the person and not bring up things that at this time means nothing and there is nothing anyone can do about the old stuff. Get real. Live on my salary for a year and then see how they do paying ALL their bills on one pay check. Past presidents need to live off social security, we do not need to pay for secret service men/women to still guard them. If they invested wisely they would be well off. Just thoughts of what the real, REAL, world is like for a majority of the citizens.
FactChecking Debate No. 1
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McCain: But the point is that – you see, I hear this all the time. "It's only $18
billion." Do you know that it's tripled in the last five years?
In fact, earmarks have actually gone down. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, there was $22.5 billion worth of earmark spending in 2003. By 2008, that figure had come down to $17.2 billion. That's a decrease of 24 percent.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, another watchdog group, said in 2008 that "Congress has cut earmarks by 23 percent from the record 2005 levels," according to its analysis.
$3 million to study the DNA of bears?
And while we're on the subject of earmarks, McCain repeated a misleading line we've heard before.
McCain: You know, we spent $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a criminal issue or a paternal issue, but the fact is that it was $3 million of our taxpayers' money. And it has got to be brought under control.
McCain's been playing this for laughs since 2003. The study in question was done by the U.S. Geological Survey, and it relied in part on federal appropriations. Readers (and politicians) may disagree on whether a noninvasive study of grizzly bear population and habitat is a waste of money. McCain clearly thinks it is – but on the other hand, he never moved to get rid of the earmark. In fact, he voted for the bill that made appropriations for the study. He did propose some changes to the bill, but none that nixed the bear funding.
Iraqi Surplus Exaggerated
Obama was out of date in saying the Iraqi government has "79 billion dollars," when he argued that the U.S. should stop spending money on the war in Iraq.
Obama: We are currently spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when they have a $79 billion surplus.
As we've said before, there was a time when the country could have had as much as $79 billion, but that time has passed. What the Iraqis actually "have" is $29.4 billion in the bank. The Government Accountability Office projected in August that Iraq's 2008 budget surplus could range anywhere from $38.2 billion to $50.3 billion, depending on oil revenue, price and volume. Then, in early August, the Iraqi legislature passed a $21 billion supplemental spending bill, which was omitted from the GAO's surplus tally since it was still under consideration. The supplemental will be completely funded by this year's surplus. So the range of what the Iraqi's could have at year's end is actually $47 billion to $59 billion. The $79 billion figure is outdated and incorrect.
$700 billion for oil?
McCain repeated an exaggerated claim that the U.S. is sending $700 billion per year to hostile countries.
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