colbert, while hilarious, isn't a serious canidate for office, of course you can say that about dodd, richardson, huckabee etc..

exactly you are trying to compare a small countries health woes to a country of over 300 million with millions of undocumented people in country and millions more trying to get in.. not exactly the same set of problems. Also the EU shares a common currency and other governmental entities what country do you want to compare it to? france? spain? they have some of the highest unemployment, of course working a 32 hour work week would be sweet

Hey ripper... I might just be being "smarmy" here, but that link you posted clearly says,
"Comparing the economic performance of the European Union and the USA does not lead one to conclude that America has the more dynamic economy, or that it has performed better in the past or will do so in future."
So i think that whole 200 years of free market thing you said was disproven by your own attempt at finding support. A piece of crap like me could be wrong though... As I often tend to read things before jumping to conclusions about them. If only my 19 year old eyes weren't so young! Maybe then I could better understand how you got what you did out of that site! Curses...

Also, I've paid taxes. So I guess that means that I am allowed to have an opinion.

Well, you could try the UK. Oh, but their unemployment rate is barely higher than the United States, so that wouldn't prove your point. Better throw in a bunch of developing economies to make them look bad.

Say, did you know that the UK spends only half as much GDP on health care as the US, and still ranks higher in quality?

yes, and the article clearly states that ONE: America's economy is more wealthy, it gives excuses for it, but facts are facts!
TWO: The unemployment rate is MUCH higer in europe!

I thought all of the government assistance was supposed to help people! seems like one in 10 people are out of work, and they have had several thousand years to get it right

conclusions drawn are subjective, just the facts

and i thought you were not going to be debating with me anymore?

I guess the major reason why I'm backing Obama is because he was against the war from the very beginning. He's also got a lot of charisma, something the other candidates seem to be lacking. John Edwards may say NOW after everything that has happened that the war was a mistake. I would rather have a president with the foresight NOT to get us involved in unresolvable conflicts in the future.

Just out of curiousity, What don't you like about Obama?

BTW Al Gore isn't running.

 Nature and evolution have had millions of years to get people right but somehow it went horribly wrong with you.

He's a lawyer. Of course he's honest.

First "Yankee", and this is just because you are one of those americans who seem to think canada is some small hole in the ground, Canada has more than 33 million people, and according the texas census, thats 10 million plus change above.  Not only that, but if you hadn't noticed, most of northern canada is a barren wasteland, so I think we're doing pretty good.

Again, I'm not trying to make it seem like Canada's health care system is perfect, but its definitly preferable to a system where life and death can depend on if you have insurance or not.  How would you feel if you got cancer and didn't have insurance.  Hell, even if you did have insurance.  The doctor says "Well Joe, we have this procedure that might save your life, but it might not.  The bad news is its experimental so your insurance company won't cover it.  The worse news is it'll probably cost you half a million dollars, which I know you don't have.  The worst of the worst is you'll be out of work for 6 months as well in recovery time.  And after all this, you might still only live a few more years...So, want me to get you a pen?"

In Canada, or most other 1st world country, you'd not only get the treatment for free, you'd probably get disability leave to cover missing work and it'd all be taken care of for you.  In the US of A, the mightiest of the mighty...the richest of the rich?  "No insurance?  No money?  Sorry, would you like me to connect you with a good funeral home?"

edit: Fixed a spelling mistake that was making me crazy.

Well skipping the BS of reading what people have wrote I will say that all of the liberals scare the hell out of me to the point that I gag at the thought of them being elected...their social policies are downright frightening.

And the Republican candidates aren't much better, without going into details even some of their social policies worry me and several of them have..."other" things that make me want to gouge their eyes out.

I actually like McCain if anyone because he made the "promise" (not that he would keep it anyways) that he would veto any bill that had the slightest hint of pork in it and make the people who added that pork famous for defrauding the American people.

I think pork is a fundamental problem in our system. Stupid laws get passed as pork and it has ruined the system. Every law should be about a single topic..NOTHING MORE. This bullshit where you tack crap on to either kill it or to garner votes from other people is insanity and has been a bane on our system and a drain on the tax system for far too long..which was true the moment it started.

PS - I hope to whatever person/idea you hold dear that YOU...yes YOU..the reader can agree that a law should be written about one topic only. If people can't see the benefit in a law being written for the sake of that law only and with all of the focus on that topic then I think the world in general is a lot further down the drain than I had thought. This is such a fundamental concept it frightens me that it needs to be stated....its like breathing...only more obvious (I'm just being facetious now).

edit: OMG, I just realized what this is....senators have been trolling each other's bills for 80+ years....LMAO