I'm a retiree with a 34 year career in national security matters in the Defense and State Departments, and a Scoop Jackson Democrat (if you're old enough to recall the Washington state version of Sam Nunn, a US Senator for 30 years, spanning the 50's to the 80's). Strong on national defense, he also believed in social justice. In George Bush's claimed political formula, Scoop Jackson truly was a compassionate conservative. Today's GOP would have us believe that only Republicans are patriots, and that McCain is the model of patriotism who always puts country first. Think about it -- McCain picked a VP candidate because she excites the GOP base, not because she is the best qualified to be president. He was not putting the country first. It has been 35 years since McCain was a POW, and ambition has changed him. McCain had to do something to rouse the base that frankly wasn't that into him. Conscientious conservatives such as Colin Powell and National Review founder Bill Buckley's son, unlike the opportunistic McCain of today who caved to the far right wing of the GOP, have noted the hypocrisy and cannot bring themselves to vote for him, so have declared they will vote for

Jerry Flowers, I believe, founded Suntrust Mortgage...one of the first mortgage companies to shut off the spigot (August 2007 according to a pilot report http://hamptonroads.com/node/320081) over a year ago.

I also am a business owner. Business owners in Virginia Beach pay more taxes than the average citizen of Virginia Beach. We do this through licensing, taxes on tools and equipment, business property, office property, etc. We also pay our own personal property, real estate, and the plethora of other taxes just as you do.

A business owner is successful when he/she can grow their business and provide/sell their services to the local community. We're even more successful when we can provide jobs for others.

And because he makes more than $250,000 it's ok to increase his taxes? Why? By the way, in 1998/1999 the Clinton administration made a concerted effort to make it easier for people to qualify for mortgage loans....the idea was similar to FDR's "chicken in every pot" except this would be a "everyone in a house". So regulations were relaxed....leading to today's debacle. Gramm played a role in that and so did Rubin, one of Clinton's Cabinet secretaries. Guess who is now Obama's primary economic advisers? Rubin.

1)McCain has never run a business either. Last time I checked, McCain admitted to knowing nothing about this economy, and his top economic adviser, Phil Gramm, called the American people "whiners."

2)Jerry, I can only speculate on the nature of your business, because you did not provide any detail. But your taxes will only go up if you make more than $250,000 in Net Income. If you make more than that, first of all congratulations. Second, it must be nice to be able to make that money without using American infrastructure paid for by tax dollars. How would your business run if there were no paved roads in Virginia Beach, no public schools to educate the future workforce, or no structured market to sell your goods/services?

Because you don't agree with a post does not make it inaccurate.

I've lost all respect for McCain after the smear campaign he has run and the appointment of Palin for a running mate. Let's hope that when Obama redistributed the wealth he redistributes some intelligence as well so we won't have to read inaccurate posts.

A recent analysis of legislative records from 2005 to the start of the presidential election this year, shows that McCain is far more bipartisan than Obama. In other words, McCain was much more likely to work with Democrats on Senate legislative matters than Obama. The records show that Democrats were McCain's political partners 55% of the time during 2005 to 2008 while Republicans were Obama's political partners 13% of the time during the same period. Two of the bills McCain sponsored were campaign finance reform and global warming, directly opposing the administration and many members of his own party. The only bills considered during the analysis were the ones each man sponsored or were co-sponsored with other Senators, not amendments or resolutions.