The facts had no importance to Joe, nor McCain. It was all about some kind of trumped up gotcha video moment to be used against Obama. As if this Joe Sixpack guy had proven Obama's tax plan was really just a trap to get working…Joe's money.

Of course there's no empirical facts in any of Joe's stuff….the GOP cares nothing about facts…it's all about creating their own reality. Plumber, non-Plumber Joe was McCain's fully "created reality".

All about deception through muddying, smearing and reality creation.

"To reach a level that would be affected by Sen. Obama’s proposed tax increase, Mr. Smither said, a mom-and-pop plumbing company like Newell would have to clear $5 million in annual sales. [Joe’s company actually reports only $100,000 in sales.]

Even if Mr. Wurzelbacher reaped taxable income from his business of $280,000 a
year, he'd pay only about $900 more a year in taxes under Sen. Obama's plan, which
would raise the tax rate on the income between $250,000 and $280,000 to 36%
from 33%.

[...]

If Mr. Wurzelbacher earns the wages of a typical Ohio plumber, $40,600, and holds a $90,000 mortgage, he would see a TAX CUT (emphasis added) under Sen. Obama's plan of more than $1,000, compared with no tax reduction under Sen. McCain's.

If he succeeds in buying the plumbing business where he works, he could see even more tax benefits, including Sen. Obama's proposed elimination of capital-gains taxes for small-business investment, a 50% tax credit to purchase health insurance for employees and a $3,000 tax credit for every new hire over the next two years."

Other issues and ‘things we wish were true’ aside, better to acknowledge facts and deal with them objectively.

Impressive.

And da truth is correct. The legislature was doing their GOP unlevel best to get a "gotcha" vote from Democrats. Same mindless gamesmanship.

What I would like to see is Republicans put as much effort into, you know, governing, as they do in gaming the system.

But then, the GOP believes governing IS the problem…..maybe that's why they can't do it.

I do have to wonder why the state legislature was considering enacting a law they already had on the books.

King, what agenda do the undecided voters who had Obama winning almost 2 to 1 have?

And more:

"Factcheck.org supports Obama's assertion that there was already a law protecting such babies and has criticized an ad by an antiabortion group featuring a woman who says she was born in a failed abortion. The woman says she would not be alive "if Barack Obama had his way."

Illinois law since 1975 requires that if a child is born alive during an abortion, the physician "shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would be required of a physician providing immediate medical care to a child born alive in the course of a pregnancy termination which was not an abortion."

Failure to do so is a felony in Illinois."
-LA Times

Why is it a lie on one side but not on the other? Your R is showing again. And do we really want to discuss McCain's position on abortion? Here it is: flip. flop.

But gee wiz, they have to lie to get elected and since getting power is their god, it's okay. Anyay, that's Dim philosophy. Oh, and did I mention that the Dims get livid when you point out their lying. You're suppose to be a good sport and ignore it.

But at least Obama didn't tell nearly the number of outright lies that his running mate Biden did during the VP debate. Biden is the all-time bs champ. If all Biden's lies were edited out of the debate transcript, I doubt there'd be many coherent sentences left.

Bush left the business income tax rate at 35%, the second highest in the world. Obama will leave the business income tax rate at 35%, just like Bush. McCain will cut the business tax rate to 25%, making our businesses more competitive.

Bush increased federal spending by about a trillion dollars over where it was when he took office. Obama will increase federal spending by a trillion over his first term, just like Bush. McCain wants to freeze federal spending, cut military spending, cut earmarks, try to eliminate unnecessary government departments, and balance the budget. Obama has no plans to balance the budget, just like Bush didn't.

Bush started a huge new medical entitlement program, Medicare Part D. Obama will start a huge new medical entitlement program with his health care plan. McCain has a free market health care plan.

Conclusion – Obama is more of the same. McCain is change. I only wonder why everybody doesn't see this. It's so obvious. It must be that ideological blindness thing you were talking about.

McCain looked curmudgeonly and erratic. Making points? His case seemed to be to throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks (columbian drug lords? pro-abortion? traveling outside the country? fat kids? are you freaking kidding me?????).

John McCain proved last night that what is today considered the Republican party is out of touch with the majority of Americans. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of so-called "conservatism." The Republican party needs to seriously re-asses its priorities.

Looking at the polls of undecided voters who watched last night's debate, they clearly agree with us King and not with you. 'Nuff said.

Why working class folks cheerlead for tax breaks for rich people is beyond my comprehension. Why average Americans are so concerned about the wealthiest 5% and their tax "burden" is, literally, beyond my ability to explain.

Kind of looks like blind ideology to me.

One more….

We have just experienced 8 years of historic tax cuts….mainly benefitting the top 5%, the group you are so concerned about. Our economy is collapsing from the top down, I think proving that tax cuts, per se, are not the magic elixir you say they are.

During Clinton's presidency, before the historic tax cuts for the rich, America's economy boomed. We had higher tax rates and America's economy boomed. Those facts belie your premise.