2012 Republican Prez Candidate Pawlenty Reveals Conservative Agenda: The TRUTH - CHANGE EXPECTATIONS! NO MORE MEDICARE! MORE TAX CUTS TO RICH!!

I saw Tim Pawlenty on Meet the Press this morning. Hearing his answers to questions brought back memories of George W. Bush and what would happen if we elected a Republican again. Tim convinced me the core Republican agenda has not changed. They want tax cuts for the rich and additional ease on regulation for big business. They want to reduce Social Security/Medicare.

Listening to him reminded me that most Americans today are forgetting about what happened during the 8 years of GW Bush's reign. Pawlenty wants to give tax cuts and deregulation to rich/big business.

Today, Pawlenty said, "the way that you create jobs in this country is get businesses who provide the jobs to have--make it more likely that they're going to start a business, grow a business, buy equipment, build buildings, conduct research, commercialize the results of that research and grow jobs."

Pawlenty's own hometown Minnesota newspaper reported, "Governor Pawlenty's budget is bad news for low-income Minnesotans who rely on state health care and for mayors already struggling to balance their own budgets, but good news for corporations paying high taxes."

Then, to top it off, when asked what he would CUT in the Federal Government to bring the deficit under control. Here is the question and response he provided today:

MR. GREGORY: So would you be prepared to cut entitlement benefits, cut Medicare, raise the, the, the age for Social Security or cut
benefits for Social Security?
GOV. PAWLENTY: Here's the math. The federal government takes in $2.2 trillion a year revenues, all sources for all purposes. Their total unfunded liabilities, including entitlements, including pensions, including the whole bill, is $65 trillion. There is no way you can make that math work. So the truth of the matter is, is we are going to have to reform entitlement programs. I've done this in Minnesota, for example, with our bus drivers in the Twin Cities. They had post-retiree health insurance benefits, and the premise was this, if we made a promise to you, we'll keep it. We're not going to cut people off in terms of their pensions if we've made a promise to you. But for people who are new to the system, who are coming on, where we can fairly give them notice and fairly change expectations, the system's going to change. And we did it.

Pawlenty's statement made my skin crawl. He may have plans to run for President in 2012. This is a Republican leader, the party of NO, saying NO to Healthcare Reform, and INSTEAD longing for the GW Bush days. The days when rich/big business received the most tax cuts, the most deregulation, which left us in the biggest Recession/Depression since the Great Depression of the 1930s. (We also lost civil liberties, but that is an entirely different blog.) Considering we entered into GW's reign with the biggest budget surplus in history, that is quite a feat.

We have a "new poor" in America. As the NY Times reports, the new poor are those of us over 50, who may have lost their jobs due to the downturn in the economy, have exhausted their unemployment compensation, do not have the "look" of desirable new prospects for Hot new jobs and are not old enough for Social Security. These folks have spent twenty, thirty, forty years working and contributing to the economy, people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

These fifty-somethings are the people Tim Pawlenty is talking about...the people who will be "new to the system", who have not gotten there yet. Tim Pawlenty/Republicans/Conservatives political agenda is to cut us all off before we enter into the Social Security/Medicare system, the system we have supported for forty plus years.

My husband and I both heard the words come out of Pawlenty's mouth this morning. My husband, a left leaning independent/centrist, who has been questioning President Obama of late for not getting enough done, was suddenly flashed back to the times of GWB. He shook his head. "We can't go back to THAT!"

My husband and I were both impacted by the recession, down-sizing and our dreadful economy. We were both layed off from our respective jobs over the last year or so. However, I do have a pension from my company and a small consulting business I own which contributes to our overall income. Additionally, he does have a small pension. However, we are saving and counting the years until we receive our duly paid for Social Security and Medicare. I have contributed over 40 years into social security. If you count my childhood years in the migrant camps, I have worked over 50 years of my life. My husband, over 30 years contributing into Social Security. Now, the Republicans want to take it away from us??? Plus they want Comprehensive Healthcare Reform to FAIL!

What the Republicans/Conservative agenda FAILS to REALIZE is, all of us fifty-somethings have contributed to Social Security ALL OF OUR LIVES. We do NOT want to believe it was some kind of Madoff style Ponzi scheme! DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TAKING SOCIAL SECURITY AWAY so you can privatize it to your Healthcare Provider friends/PAC contributors form of Social Security. DO NOT CHANGE PLANS unless you are going to pay us back for all we have contributed over the last 40 years, with interest!

For many of us, as illustrated in the NY Times article, finding jobs/new careers is difficult for us "fifty-somethings." Contrary to what the ANTI websites portray, we fifty-somethings are NOT competing with those they term "illeegals." We are not looking for AgJobs, Construction Jobs, or anything in the fast food industry. We are primarily business people who worked in business all of our lives. People like Jean Eisen (57), a proficient salesperson, now out of work, existing on her husband's disability check and food from food banks.

Some businesses do not want to hire domestically. They prefer to automate or outsource offshore. These are the same businesses Tim Pawlenty/Republicans/Conservatives want to provide more tax cuts, more deregulation. The truth for the fifty somethings is, we want Businesses to hire domestically, hire experience. Don't outsource off-shore. We will continue to contribute to the economy domestically. We are loyal. We are patriots. We are hard workers. AND PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE AWAY, just as we are approaching our time.

Listen to this good and hard: DO NOT OFF-SHORE. HIRE EXPERIENCE. HIRE DEDICATED AMERICANS TO THESE JOBS. The hard working "illeegals" are NOT IMPACTING US!!! They are NOT taking away OUR Jobs! We need people to perform the AgJobs, the Construction Jobs, the Meat Packing Jobs. However, ALLOW US to continue OUR JOBS!! DO NOT OUTSOURCE OUR JOBS OFF-SHORE!

Listen to this most of all: DO NOT ELIMINATE OUR SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER IT! WE HAVE PAID INTO IT ALL OF OUR LIVES!!! DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T YOU DARE!!! (This means YOU Tim Pawlenty and ALL YOU REPUBLICANS/CONSERVATIVES who WISH to get back in Power!!!)