Unemployment rates according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor:
1992: 7.5% (the end of 12 years of Republican leadership)
1993: 6.9% (Clinton’s first year)
1994: 6.1%
1995: 5.6%
1996: 5.4%
1997: 4.9%
1998: 4.5%
1999: 4.2%
2000: 4.0% (Clinton’s final year)
2001: 4.7% (Bush’s first year)
2002: 5.8%
2003: 6.0%
2004: 5.5%
2005: 5.1%

So, yes Fordman, you are technically right because unemployment was 6.9 percent under Clinton, but it was during the first year of his presidency. What you fail to mention is that the 6.9 percent was a 0.6 percent drop from the year before. And as you can see, the unemployment rates fell consistently through his eight years.

Looking at job creation from another way, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bloomberg Financial Markets, five of the top six job-creating terms since 1928 come from Democratic presidents:
Clinton 1993-1996: 11.6 million
Clinton 1997-2000: 11.4 million
Reagan 1985-1988: 10.8 million
Carter 1977-1980: 10.5 million
Johnson 1965-1968: 9.8 million
Roosevelt 1941-1944: 7.7 million

The bottom five are all Republicans:
Hoover 1929-1932: negative 6.4 million
George W. Bush 2000-2004: negative 1.2 million
Eisenhower 1957-1960: 0.8 million
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 2.5 million
Eisenhower 1953-1956: 2.8 million

Just looking at cold numbers is not completely fair without considering other world events happening concurrently with each term, but you have to admit, there is a distinct trend here.

With regard to unemployment—isn’t 5% considered “full employment”? 6.91 doesn’t sound very bad, if that were the high-water mark.

As to voter IDs—if it’s going to happen I think the 2 big political parties should be required to cough up the cash to fund a photo-ID cards for the poor. Split the cost 50/50.

And get your facts straight about about nation debt. We were never on the plus side. National debt has existed since WW2. And as far unemployment goes you are again wrong. Look up statistics before repeating the Democrat play book and you might try another angle. The Clinton years were as high as 6.91 percent.

The fraud in the 1960 election was not voter-ID fraud—it was systematic fraud at the precinct level, having D ballots magically appear in large numbers, and R ballots disappear in large numbers. Not unlike what happened in Florida in 2000, or in Ohio in 2004. None of these shenanigans would have been stopped by requiring voter IDs.

Think about it: If you wanted to commit fraud, how many fraudulent votes could you cast in a day? Let’s see—you have to go from precinct to precinct so you won’t be recognized as a repeat, pull a legitimate voter’s name out of thin air of someone who hasn’t voted yet that day, and then forge his signature in order to get into the booth. So, WHY do we need voter ID cards?

What I find amazing (or pathetic…) is that so many citizens are taken in by this voter-ID issue, rather than seeing it for what it is. Unfortunately, I was not at all surprised by the Supreme Court decision.

-jp

Republican policies only work in theory, not reality. When you gear the entire country to benefit the top 3 percent, it doesn’t trickle down. You get a very happy 3% and a struggling 97%. Taxes are patriotic. If you want to live in the world’s greatest country, you have to pay your your dues. You wouldn’t buy a mansion and then just let it go to hell over time; you would pay for repairs and upkeep. A country is the same thing. You have to pay your share to keep it strong. You can’t get something great by putting nothing into it.

As far as voter IDs: the right to vote can’t be compared to driving or anything else in this country. One person, one vote is the very backbone of our Constitution. Barriers need to be eased, not put up when it comes to the sacred right of voting.

State-issued IDs cost time and money, two things that many poor people simply don’t have. Although, according to a news report that I heard the other day, in Indiana you can travel (how?) to your county seat and submit an affidavit declaring that you are too poor to afford the fee, and then they will give you a waiver that you then take to the DMV to get your ID without paying the fee. All during your lunch break, supposedly.

When I go in to vote, they check my signature against the one on file. Seems reasonable to me, especially considering the incidence of voter ID fraud in the country (at last report, somewhere between zero and nil).

-jp