CONSERVATIVE RIGHT

Obama's Constituents!

2012-02-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

The number of Americans dependent on the federal government has exploded over the past five years, reaching a record 67.3 million people, according to Heritage’s annual Index of Dependence on Government. That means 1 in 5 Americans (21.8 percent) today receive some level of assistance from the federal government

Great JFK Quote

2012-02-12T16:30:00.001-05:00

˜No Precedent for the Government Ordering Private Companies to Offer a Product for Free

2012-02-12T16:20:00.001-05:00

Saturday's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal discusses the White House's “accommodation” concerning its decree that all new private insurance plans must cover birth control pills, morning-after pills, and the abortion drug ella—and must cover them free of charge. The Journal writes, “Under the new rule, which the White House stresses is an 'accommodation' and not a compromise, nonprofit religious organizations won't have to directly cover birth control and can opt out. But the insurers they hire to cover their employees can't opt out. If that sounds like a distinction without a difference, odds are you're a rational person.”

The Journal writes that if, say, Notre Dame doesn't choose to include such (free) coverage in the health plans it offers to its employees, “Notre Dame's insurer will . . . be required to offer the benefit as an add-on rider anyway, at no out-of-pocket cost to [the employee], or to any other worker, or in higher premiums for the larger group.” The Journal notes, “The reality, as with all mandated benefits, is that these costs will be borne eventually via higher premiums. The balloon may be squeezed differently over time, but eventually prices will find an equilibrium. Notre Dame will still pay for birth control, even if it is nominally carried by a third-party corporation.”

Link to article:â€˜No Precedent for the Government Ordering Private Companies to Offer a Product for Freeâ€™

Today's Founding Father Quote

2012-02-11T19:51:00.002-05:00

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."

-Patrick Henry

Catholic Bishops Reject Obama Deal on Birth-Control Coverage

2012-02-11T13:43:00.001-05:00

Bishops Reject Deal on Birth-Control Coverage

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577217181415407806.html

NRA official: Obama wants to outlaw guns in 2nd term

2012-02-11T11:01:00.000-05:00

NRA official: Obama wants to outlaw guns in 2nd term

A top official with the National Rifle Association said Friday that President Obama will move to "destroy" gun rights and "erase" the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November.

While delivering one of the liveliest and best-received speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the president's low-key approach to gun rights during his first term was "a "conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep."

“Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself.” - Barrack Obama, 2008 campaign trail.

2012-02-11T10:48:00.001-05:00

Today 's Quote

2012-02-10T17:58:00.000-05:00

"A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”

Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876, 954 (2010) (Stevens, J., dissenting)

The president bails out housing ‘deadbeats’—Charles Gasparino - NYPOST.com

2012-02-10T17:22:00.001-05:00

Link:The president bails out housing ‘deadbeats’—Charles Gasparino - NYPOST.com

An Economics Lesson!

2012-02-10T16:49:00.001-05:00

5 hours agoMartha Gray
Steve - I thought you might appreciate this:
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
By: Ed Will (whomever he is.)

Andy Barr Statement on Congressional Redistricting

2012-02-10T16:30:00.001-05:00

Andy Barr Statement on Congressional Redistricting

Lexington, Ky. – Andy Barr released the following statement regarding the
Congressional redistricting plan that earlier today passed the Kentucky
General Assembly:

“Today, Ben Chandler has turned his back on tens of thousands of his own
constituents by cutting a backroom deal to get rid of them. This brazen
and desperate attempt to avoid accountability for supporting Barack
Obama’s job killing agenda is exactly why the American people are so
disillusioned with politics and career politicians. At the end of the day,
the Chandler-Obama agenda of bigger government, fewer jobs and massive
debt has been a disaster for all of the people of Kentucky, no matter
where they live. I look forward to taking that message to the many new
voters of the Sixth District, and offering a better, more hopeful
alternative.”

Today's Conservative Quote

2012-02-10T09:01:00.002-05:00

"The task of government in this enlightened time does not extend to actually
dealing with problems. Solving problems might put bureaucrats out of work. No,
the task of government is to make it look as though problems have been solved,
while continuing to keep the maximum number of consultants and bureaucrats
employed dealing with them."
-- Bob Emmers
Source: Orange County Register

Ronald Reagan born 101 Years Ago

2012-02-09T19:57:00.001-05:00

Breitbart.tv » Ryan Open To VP; Doesn’t Rule Out Convention Draft

2012-02-09T19:49:00.000-05:00

Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt asked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) if he would consider being a vice presidential nominee on the GOP ticket. Ryan said, "If it happens, I'll think about it then; If I ever got to that bridge, I'll think about whether to cross it or not."

Asked if he would be "available" in the event of a convention deadlock, Ryan explained that it's nowhere "close to [his] mind" but did not categorically rule it out.

Breitbart.tv » Ryan Open To VP; Doesn’t Rule Out Convention Draft

GHEI: A nation of moochers - Washington Times

2012-02-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Tuesday against both raising taxes and cutting spending. In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, Mr. Bernanke said we must protect the fragile economic recovery, which saw some 243,000 jobs created in January. The problem with his line of thinking is that it adds to our ever-increasing debt, which is not only a burden for the current generation but also means higher taxes on our children and grandchildren. It is hardly a sustainable fiscal future.

The more we delay bringing our books into balance, the closer our problems resemble those that have crippled Europe. Going by the latest Index of Dependence on Government, released by the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, we may already be a lot closer to Greece than we thought.

The Heritage study found more than 70 percent of federal spending goes to dependence programs, which it divides into health care and welfare, housing subsidies, retirement, higher education and agricultural subsidies. The index grew a dramatic 8.1 percent in 2010 alone. Growth in agricultural subsidies is perhaps the most egregious example of subsidizing the rich. Farm incomes grew by $7,271 in 2010, while the average non-farm American household saw income drop by $500. Despite the improved situation, farm subsidies have not declined.

Link:GHEI: A nation of moochers - Washington Times

Republican Governor Has Turned State Around:Michigan Must Decide What to Do With an Unexpected Surplus - NYTimes.com

2012-02-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

Over most of the past decade, budget deliberations in Michigan have taken on a glum and familiar monotony: What do we cut now?

Gov. Rick Snyder must decide what to do with the surplus in Michigan.Michigan has had an increase in revenue as well as in jobs.

But the state that experienced an economic downturn earlier, deeper and longer than most of the rest of the country has made an unlikely discovery as its officials closed out its latest financial books: Michigan has a $457 million surplus.

Even more surprising: Revenues, which had sunk or had been mostly flat for all but one year since 2000, have grown. Not a lot, but grown.

Link:Michigan Must Decide What to Do With an Unexpected Surplus - NYTimes.com

Unconscionable - The Editors - National Review Online

2012-02-09T14:05:00.004-05:00

The Obama administration is now telling liberals that it is not backing down on its new health-care mandate, even as it coos of compromise to religious groups appalled by it. These messages may seem to be contradictory, but actually the administration has been quite consistent: Nothing it has ever said on this issue has been trustworthy.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, has been the leading misleader. The administration, recall, has decided that almost all employers must cover contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients in their employees’ insurance plans — even if those employers are religious universities, hospitals, and charities that reject those practices.

Link:Unconscionable - The Editors - National Review Online

The American Spectator : Justice Ginsburg Should Resign

2012-02-09T12:48:00.001-05:00

If she can no longer support and defend the Constitution, as she is sworn to do, she should leave -- and take the New York Times with her.

Link to article:The American Spectator : Justice Ginsburg Should Resign

The American Spectator : The Delousing of a Movement

2012-02-09T12:44:00.002-05:00

Occupy Wall Street-This health hazard and social menace is what the Left regards as America's next great political cause?

Link:The American Spectator : The Delousing of a Movement

Quote of the Day

2012-02-08T20:57:00.001-05:00

“The federal government should do what it’s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a church,”

-Cardinal Timothy Dolan

RIGHT SPEAK: Mitt Romney and the Angry GOP - Challenges Ahead - Michael Medved

2012-02-08T14:00:00.002-05:00

Michael Medved nails Mitt Romney’s challenges in 2012, as well as the GOP’s.

From today’s The Daily Beast

On no significant issue has Romney moved to the left or to the center over the last four years; his platform of 2012 offers a program of conservative reform far bolder and more substantive than any ideas he put forward in 2008.

Mitt’s precise problem came into focus for me with an e-mail from an angry listener to my radio show who upbraided me for my open support of Romney as the most electable candidate against Obama. “We remember what you did to us last time, and we won’t let you get away with it again!” she wrote. “This time you’re trying to ram the RINO, Romney, down our throats and last time it was McCain. It was because of people like you that we got stuck with McCain, when we could have had a real conservative who would have beaten Obama!”

And who would have been that “real conservative” back in the distant days of 2008?

None other than … Mitt Romney, the “conservative’s conservative ” eagerly endorsed by Senator Jim DeMint and nearly all of my talk radio colleagues, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and many more.

That Romney no longer counts as a “real conservative” doesn’t reflect any ideological shifts on his part, but it does suggest a significant movement of the entire GOP toward the enraged and indignant right. The far lower turnouts in Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri all indicate that this tectonic movement hardly counts as a positive development for the Republican Party.
-----------------

Link to blog article:RIGHT SPEAK: Mitt Romney and the Angry GOP - Challenges Ahead - Michael Medved

The race card is a joker - NY Daily News

2012-02-08T13:33:00.003-05:00

It’s racial code, we’re told, when Newt Gingrich accuses Barack Obama of being America’s “food stamp President.” It’s an assault on low-income Americans, some pundits insist, when Mitt Romney says he’s “not concerned” about the very poor, who he said have a safety net.

There’s more. When Gingrich assails Obama as “entertainer-in-chief” because the President crooned some Al Green, we’re told by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Gingrich is depicting the singing Obama as a “minstrel.” Oh, really?

Charges of racism and class warfare, I think, should be made of firmer stuff.

When I watch MSNBC and read plenty of liberal commentary online, I get the distinct feeling that I am not living in 21st century America, but in some imagined past where racism is still an all-pervasive, all-powerful bogeyman.

Andrea Mitchell, among others, decried Gingrich’s racial overtones as “dog whistles” to whites. Chris Matthews piped in, accusing Gingrich of the racially charged use of “Juan” when Gingrich answered a question from journalist Juan Williams during a South Carolina debate.

MSNBC’s white anchors seem to think they know more about race and racism than I do. Their obsessed daily rants insist that almost everything the Republicans do is really about sending messages to white people about black people. Says who? Don’t they realize that when they overreach in playing the race card, it is a vicious insult to the intelligence of millions?

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/race-card-a-joker-article-1.1018726#ixzz1loh9A3Ve

Link to article:The race card is a joker - NY Daily News

Ky. lawmakers want burley in trade pact; The Last Nail In Tobacco's Coffin

2012-02-08T13:23:00.005-05:00

Ky. lawmakers want burley in trade pact

By Randy Patrick — Associated Press

FRANKFORT — Legislators have drafted a bipartisan resolution urging the Obama administration to include burley tobacco in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

On Tuesday, Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, and Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, introduced their resolution about the agreement being negotiated by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Stone said he is concerned that opponents in Congress and the administration want to use the trade agreement as a way to "drive a nail in the coffin" of the tobacco industry.

"For others to try to make public policy through our trade agreements is just not right. It's not fair to farmers," Stone said.

Almost all of the burley tobacco grown in the United States is grown for export, he added.

Hornback said the exclusion would be "devastating" for Kentucky's 75,000 to 100,000 tobacco farmers.

"We need to be able to compete on a level playing field with farmers from all over the world," Hornback said.

He said tobacco is important to the state's agricultural economy.

"We've already gone from a billion-dollar crop down to three or four hundred million, but three or four hundred million is still very significant, especially for our small farmers in the state," he said.

Roger Thomas, director of the Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy, said Gov. Steve Beshear has petitioned Kentucky's congressional delegation for action on the issue. The entire delegation has sent a letter to Trade Representative Ron Kirk protesting the possible "carving out" of tobacco.

The congressmen's letter said it is their "understanding that those seeking to exclude" tobacco have misinterpreted a provision called the Doggett Amendment.

"The Doggett Amendment does not require the United States to carve tobacco out of free trade agreements," the letter said.

State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer also spoke in favor of the resolution urging the administration's support for tobacco.

"We're just going to be very vocal about encouraging them to do everything they can to support Kentucky's small family farmers, because that's what Kentucky's burley growers are," Comer said.

The legislation is SR 130 and HR 128.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/08/2060072/ky-lawmakers-want-burley-in-trade.html#storylink=cpy

Administration names official advocate for illegal immigrants - Washington Times

2012-02-08T13:15:00.001-05:00

Omama to appoint a taxpayer paid advocate for people in this nation illegally! Whatever happened to that part of the Presidential oath to uphold the constitution and laws of the U.S.?

Administration names official advocate for illegal immigrants - Washington Times

Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress - Washington Times

2012-02-08T12:57:00.002-05:00

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.

The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.

Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.

The provision in the legislation is the fruit of “a huge push by lawmakers and the defense sector to expand the use of drones” in American airspace, she added.

According to some estimates, the commercial drones could number 20,000 by 2020!

Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress - Washington Times

Dependent Nation: Dependency Index Surges 23% Under President Obama; 67 Million Get Aid - Investors.com

2012-02-08T12:54:00.002-05:00

The American public's dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program, according to a newly released study by the Heritage Foundation.

The conservative think tank's annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks money spent on housing, health, welfare, education subsidies and other federal programs that were "traditionally provided to needy people by local organizations and families."

The increase under Obama is the biggest two-year jump since Jimmy Carter was president,

Dependent Nation: Dependency Index Surges 23% Under President Obama; 67 Million Get Aid - Investors.com

Quote of the Day

2012-02-07T19:58:00.001-05:00

The New Intellectual will be the man who lives up to the exact meaning of his title: a man who is guided by his intellect not a zombie guided by feelings, instincts, urges, wishes, whims or revelations.

– Ayn Rand

Judge grants injunction against new legislative district boundaries

2012-02-07T16:26:00.001-05:00

Judge grants injunction against new legislative district boundaries

jbrammer@herald-leader.com (Jack Brammer)

FRANKFORT — A judge granted House Republicans and Democratic State Sen. Kathy Stein a temporary injunction Tuesday in their legal challenge of Kentucky's new legislative district boundaries.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd extended the filing deadline for legislative candidates until 4 p.m. Friday.

In an 18-page order, Shepherd blocked Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and other state election officials from implementing the new district boundaries set out in House Bill 1. The General Assembly approved HB 1 and Gov. Steve Beshear signed it into law last month.

"Until the General Assembly passes redistricting legislation that complies with all applicable constitutional requirements to revise the districts (under state law), the elections for the House and Senate shall be conducted with the legislative district boundaries in effect immediately prior to the enactment of House Bill 1 for both the House of Representatives and the Senate," Shepherd said in Tuesday's order.

The original filing deadline was Jan. 31. But Shepherd last week issued a restraining order that moved it back to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It now has been extended again.

Shepherd's order is appealable. It was not immediately known if Lundergan Grimes and the Legislative Research Commission will appeal, but an appeal is expected.

An appeal could take several days and put major action in the state legislature on hold until lawmakers know who their opponents will be in this year's elections.

Scott White, an attorney for Stein, said "it is our hope that the General Assembly will go back and get the redistricting right. If they appeal, we will continue to fight for a constitutional district in Lexington."

Stein's 13th Senate District in central Lexington was moved to northeastern Kentucky under HB 1.

The new law is unconstitutional primarily because it divides more counties into separate legislative districts than necessary, House Republicans have argued. The House plan split 28 counties and 246 precincts, although only 22 counties have more than the roughly 43,000 people that each district must contain. A GOP proposal would have split 24 counties and 10 precincts.

Irrelevant NYT:‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World - NYTimes.com

2012-02-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. And it is the oldest written national constitution still in force anywhere in the world. But its influence is waning.

In 1987, on the Constitution’s bicentennial, Time magazine calculated that “of the 170 countries that exist today, more than 160 have written charters modeled directly or indirectly on the U.S. version.”

A quarter-century later, the picture looks very different. “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to a new study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia.

The study, to be published in June in The New York University Law Review, bristles with data. Its authors coded and analyzed the provisions of 729 constitutions adopted by 188 countries from 1946 to 2006, and they considered 237 variables regarding various rights and ways to enforce them.

“Among the world’s democracies,” Professors Law and Versteeg concluded, “constitutional similarity to the United States has clearly gone into free fall. Over the 1960s and 1970s, democratic constitutions as a whole became more similar to the U.S. Constitution, only to reverse course in the 1980s and 1990s.”

“The turn of the twenty-first century, however, saw the beginning of a steep plunge that continues through the most recent years for which we have data, to the point that the constitutions of the world’s democracies are, on average, less similar to the U.S. Constitution now than they were at the end of World War II.”

There are lots of possible reasons. The United States Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights. The commitment of some members of the Supreme Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little current use to, say, a new African nation. And the Constitution’s waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power and prestige.

Link:‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World - NYTimes.com

RealClearPolitics - A Defining Moment

2012-02-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

Governor Mitt Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor has been treated as a gaffe in much of the media, and those in the Republican establishment who have been rushing toward endorsing his coronation as the GOP's nominee for president -- with 90 percent of the delegates still not yet chosen -- have been trying to sweep his statement under the rug.

But Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor -- because they "have a very ample safety net" -- was followed by a statement that was not just a slip of the tongue, and should be a defining moment in telling us about this man's qualifications as a conservative and, more important, as a potential President of the United States.

Mitt Romney has come out in support of indexing the minimum wage law, to have it rise automatically to keep pace with inflation. To many people, that would seem like a small thing that can be left for economists or statisticians to deal with.

But to people who call themselves conservatives, and aspire to public office, there is no excuse for not being aware of what a major social disaster the minimum wage law has been for the young, the poor and especially for young and poor blacks.

It is not written in the stars that young black males must have astronomical rates of unemployment. It is written implicitly in the minimum wage laws.

Entire Article:RealClearPolitics - A Defining Moment

Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom Of Conscience? - Forbes

2012-02-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

Authoritarian liberalism has taken over Obama administration policy. People must be forced to accept anything and everything in the name of tolerance. The only valid belief is no belief. Acting on one’s faith must be punished.

Such is the impact of the new Department of Health and Human Services ruling on birth control (as well as abortifacients, or “morning after” pills, and sterilization procedures). Even religious organizations must provide policies offering full coverage with no shared payment. Never mind if the people involved believe that contraception is morally wrong.

ObamaCare, which vastly expands federal control over American health care, suffers manifold flaws. One of the most obvious is further taking insurance out of “health insurance.”

Insurance is supposed to counter the risk of unlikely but potentially catastrophic events, such as having an accident or contracting cancer. Using birth control, a voluntary, routine and inexpensive decision, obviously is not such an occurrence. “Insuring” against something over which one has full control makes no sense.

Link:Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom Of Conscience? - Forbes

Welfare Rights

2012-02-07T08:35:00.001-05:00

Welfare rights are pseudo-rights: They rely on the force of law to take private property for the use of others without compensation and without consent. Public charity is forced charity; it is not a virtue but a vice."
-- James A. Dorn
V.P. for academic affairs at the Cato Institute, director of Cato’s project on Civil Society

CURL: Obama's made-up jobless numbers - Washington Times

2012-02-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

When it comes to the unemployment rate, it’s nice to be president.

Sure, it wasn’t so nice for President Obama in October 2009, when the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics declared the rate was 10 percent. But exactly a year from Election Day 2012, the rate began a precipitous plunge, first to 8.9 percent, then the next month, to 8.7, then to 8.5. And just last week, the BLS said the rate had fallen all the way down to 8.3 percent.

If the spectacular “recovery” keeps up at the same pace, the rate will be 6.3 percent by Nov. 6. It hasn’t been that low since — well, all but four of the 96 months George W. Bush was in office. But you get the point. America is back!! Woo-hoooo!!

So, spectacular news for the president, yes? And fantastic news for America, right? Uh, yes. And absolutely no.

See, the BLS boys, no doubt at the president’s direction, are busy rewriting the rules, and they’re in uncharted, and unchecked, territory. The federal government Friday declared that the U.S. had created — not “saved,” mind you, “created” — 243,000 jobs. Amazing, right?

Link:CURL: Obama's made-up jobless numbers - Washington Times

Dick Armey: Gingrich campaign turned into 'first-rate vendetta' against Romney

2012-02-05T16:23:00.001-05:00

Dick Armey: Gingrich campaign turned into 'first-rate vendetta' against Romney
By Meghashyam Mali- 02-05-12 10:30 AM ET

Freedom Works chairman and former Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) blasted Newt Gingrich for his continued tough attacks on Mitt Romney saying Gingrich was carrying out a vendetta against the Republican frontrunner.

Armey said that Gingrich’s criticisms of Romney were not helpful for either the GOP in November or Gingrich’s own campaign during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “I feel bad for him. I think he’s digressed into a state of taking a second-rate campaign and turning it into a first-rate vendetta,” said Armey

“He’s putting himself out of the game, because he can’t get over his obsession over his own hurt feelings over the campaign in Iowa,” Armey added. “He needs to get beyond that and get to the nation’s people’s business if he expects to have any chance whatsoever.”

Gingrich has harshly attacked Romney, claiming his GOP rival is a “Massachusetts moderate” and is running a “dishonest” campaign.

In a speech to his supporters after his second place finish in Nevada’s GOP caucuses Saturday night, Gingrich kept up the assault, saying that he had “never had a person next to me in a civil engagement be as substantially dishonest as he was,” in reference to Romney’s performance in an earlier debate.

“I thought that last night was really said for him,” said Armey about Gingrich’s Saturday speech. “Quite frankly again so much of Newt’s whole life is overstated, he overstates the case in such a hyperbolic fashion, it just looks vindictive.”

When asked by CNN host Candy Crowley to characterize his often rocky relationship with he former House Speaker whom he served with, Armey said they had “worked well together” in Congress. “But I’m sure we both had disappointments in one another.”

Stay Stupid America...Vote Democrat

2012-02-05T15:51:00.001-05:00

it Is Not Only the Economy and We Are Not Stupid

2012-02-05T14:56:00.001-05:00

"It’s the economy, stupid,” was a useful slogan for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign. Of course, it wasn’t really true. The Clinton campaign was about much more than the economy. It was about “ending welfare as we know it,” for example, and putting government on the side of those who “work hard and play by the rules”—all of this part of a broader redefinition of the Democratic party away from the failed liberalism of Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. And the collapse of the Bush administration in 1992 was also, as it happens, about much more than the economy, which was in fact coming back strong in the fall of that year.

CLINTON CAMPAIGNS FOR PRESIDENT, 1992.

AP PHOTO / STEPHAN SAVOIA

Since then, we’ve seen an epic Republican collapse in 2006. That happened despite pretty good economic growth in the preceding two years. Its cause was some combination of the Bush attempt to institute private Social Security accounts, Hurricane Katrina, Harriet Miers, Tom DeLay, Donald Rumsfeld, immigration, and God knows what else—but not particularly the economy. The repudiation of the Democrats in 2010, for that matter, was fundamentally about Obamacare, the size and scope of government, and particular Obama policies like the stimulus and cap and trade. It wasn’t primarily a referendum on “the economy, stupid.”

Nonetheless, the slogan has become a talisman, evoked by unimaginative political consultants and reached for by cautious candidates, in pursuit of an easy, safe, cookie-cutter campaign strategy. But it’s not safe. The belief that voters react in a simple-minded way to their current economic well-being leads campaigns and candidates to counterproductively dumb their message down. It’s also condescending, and voters often see it as such.

Link:http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/it-s-not-only-economy-and-we-re-not-stupid_620952.html

TAUBE: The great North American divorce - Washington Times

2012-02-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

TAUBE: The great North American divorce - Washington Times

President Obama recently decided to rejectTransCanada Corp.’s proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline. While it may have warmed the cockles of the hearts of his Hollywood buddies, environmentalists and various financial supporters, it could cause a devastating political and economic rift with the Canadian government.

Yes, the U.S. is a superpower, whereas Canada is a middle power. The U.S. dollar is a major currency, whereas the Canadian dollar is a decent-sized currency. The American financial markets have long had a direct impact on the global economy, whereas the Canadian financial markets have never been regarded in such an esteemed position.

But if the U.S. economy is going to recover properly, it needs to improve on both the domestic and international fronts. Canada plays a significant role in the latter category because it has long been a major ally and trading partner. It’s the world’s 10th-largest economy measured by gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund andWorld Bank; has one of the highest levels of economic freedom; and is rich in terms of natural resources. Canada also is on more solid economic ground these days because it didn’t get too tangled up in the trappings of the subprime mortgage crisis and global financial meltdown.

It's takers versus makers and these days the takers are winning | Glenn Harlan Reynolds | Columnists | Washington Examiner

2012-02-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

It's takers versus makers and these days the takers are winning | Glenn Harlan Reynolds | Columnists | Washington Examiner

“Fifty thousand for what you didn’t plant, for what didn’t grow. That’s modern farming -- reap what you don’t sow.”

That’s a line from a song about farm subsidies, “Farming The Government,” by the Nebraska Guitar Militia.

But these days it applies to more and more of the U.S. economy, as Charles Sykes points out in his new book, A Nation Of Moochers: America’s Addiction To Getting Something For Nothing.

The problem, Sykes points out, is that you can’t run an economy like that. If you tried to hold a series of potluck dinners where a majority brought nothing to the table, but felt entitled to eat their fill, it would probably work out badly. Yet that’s essentially what we’re doing.

In today’s America, government benefits flow to large numbers of people who are encouraged to vote for politicians who’ll keep them coming. The benefits are paid for by other people who, being less numerous, can’t muster enough votes to put this to a stop.

Over time, this causes the economy to do worse, pushing more people into the moocher class and further strengthening the politicians whose position depends on robbing Peter to pay Paul. Because, as they say, if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can be pretty sure of getting Paul’s vote.

But the damage goes deeper. Sykes writes, “In contemporary America, we now have two parallel cultures: An anachronistic culture of independence and responsibility, and the emerging moocher culture.

2012-02-04T21:06:00.001-05:00

The Quote of the Decade:
“ The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

DONATELLI: The 40th president's legacy: 'Not bad at all' - Washington Times

2012-02-04T16:56:00.000-05:00

DONATELLI: The 40th president's legacy: 'Not bad at all' - Washington Times

It is rare that a contemporary political figure would generate such acclaim so soon after his time in office. The public judges President Ronald Reagan to have been one of the great presidents of the 20th century - indeed, one of the greatest of all time. Even professors are coming around. Though they’re not as enthusiastic as the public at large, a poll of academicians conducted by Young America's Foundation found that 61 percent considered Reagan’s tenure to have been “mostly a success,” as opposed to 59 percent who felt that way about the “Chosen One,” Barack Obama.

I think there are several reasons why the Reagan legacy wears so well.

Finally A Use For The Volt!

2012-02-04T11:48:00.001-05:00

2012-02-03T19:17:00.001-05:00

Washington ignores key free enterprise issues | Ron Arnold | Columnists | Washington Examiner

2012-02-03T19:10:00.000-05:00

Free market and private property advocates and activists are bemused by the current crop of hostile measures coming out of Congress and the Obama administration. Their interests are being ignored and they're saying so.
Robert Gordon, the Heritage Foundation's senior adviser for strategic outreach, sees the big picture:

"Washington has been ceaselessly issuing environmental regulations that target energy producers, fishermen, farmers, ranchers, foresters and miners -- the people who provide our food, fiber, minerals and energy."

I asked Gordon what our leaders should do about that. "Some have rightly recognized the negative effects these regulations have on jobs," he said.

"What I would like to see front and center in the political discourse is that when environmental policies hurt people, they cease to be good environmental policies. Human well-being is the first measure of an environmental policy."

Frank DuBois, former rodeo champion (he even kept on after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) and a four-term New Mexico secretary of agriculture, takes the detailed look.

He's puzzled by the Republican presidential candidates and their silence about problems that can mean life or death to the family ranch. He said, "To my knowledge the candidates are saying nothing about issues such as property rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, and wilderness that are important to us in the West."

Like many, DuBois is soured on the campaign ruckus. "The candidates are more focused on attacking each other than on defending those whose lives and livelihoods are under attack by the federal behemoth."

Myron Ebell, president of the Washington-based nonprofit Freedom Action, expands on today's GOP presidential front-runners: "Unfortunately, neither Mitt Romney nor Newt Gingrich appears to know or care very much about what federal environmental and land use regulations are doing to destroy the livelihoods of rural Americans and particularly rural Westerners."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/02/washington-ignores-key-free-enterprise-issues/2163386#ixzz1lMpUVVI2

Washington ignores key free enterprise issues | Ron Arnold | Columnists | Washington Examiner

Did Susan G. Komen Cave to Planned Parenthood's Bullying?

2012-02-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

Did Susan G. Komen Cave to Planned Parenthood's Bullying?

2012-02-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

Did Susan G. Komen Cave to Planned Parenthood's Bullying?

Abbott & Costello On Unemployment

2012-02-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

COSTELLO: I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America.

ABBOTT: Good Subject. Terrible Times. It's 9%.

COSTELLO: That many people are out of work?

ABBOTT: No, that's 16%.

COSTELLO: You just said 9%.

ABBOTT: 9% Unemployed.

COSTELLO: Right 9% out of work.

ABBOTT: No, that's 16%.

COSTELLO: Okay, so it's 16% unemployed.

ABBOTT: No, that's 9%...

COSTELLO: WAIT A MINUTE. Is it 9% or 16%?

ABBOTT: 9% are unemployed. 16% are out of work.

COSTELLO: IF you are out of work you are unemployed.

ABBOTT: No, you can't count the "Out of Work" as the unemployed.
You have to look for work to be unemployed.

COSTELLO: BUT THEY ARE OUT OF WORK!!!

ABBOTT: No, you miss my point.

COSTELLO: What point?

ABBOTT: Someone who doesn't look for work, can't be counted with those who look for work.
It wouldn't be fair.

COSTELLO: To who?

ABBOTT: The unemployed.

COSTELLO: But they are ALL out of work.

ABBOTT: No, the unemployed are actively looking for work.
Those who are out of work stopped looking.
They gave up. And, if you give up, you are no longer
in the ranks of the unemployed.

COSTELLO: So if you're off the unemployment rolls, that would count as
less unemployment?

ABBOTT: Unemployment would go down. Absolutely!

COSTELLO: The unemployment just goes down because you don't look for work?

ABBOTT: Absolutely it goes down. That's how you get to 9%. Otherwise it would be 16%.
You don't want to read about 16% unemployment do ya?

COSTELLO: That would be frightening.

ABBOTT: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Wait, I got a question for you.
That means there are two ways to bring down the unemployment number?

ABBOTT: Two ways is correct.

COSTELLO: Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job?

ABBOTT: Correct.

COSTELLO: And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job?

ABBOTT: Bingo.

COSTELLO: So there are two ways to bring unemployment down,
and the easier of the two is to just stop looking for work.

ABBOTT: Now you're thinking like an economist.

COSTELLO: I don't even know what the hell I just said!

Now you know how Obama's unemployment figures are improving!

KUHNER: Getting a reading on Romney - Washington Times

2012-02-03T12:14:00.000-05:00

There are similarities between Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain. Both are establishment Republicans. Both are distrusted and disliked by large segments of the conservative movement - especially talk radio. Both have signature issues - Romneycare, McCain-Feingold - that constitute major political liabilities. And both lack personality and charisma. Yet that is where it ends.

In fact, the two men could not be more different. Mr. Romney is a much stronger candidate. He is more articulate, telegenic and disciplined and possesses a considerably deeper grasp of the issues. Mr. Romney would be the first GOP nominee since President Reagan to be able to defend Republican positions effectively. The Bushes, Mr. Dole and Mr. McCain were all dismal failures regarding a key aspect of politics: communication. This alone makes Mr. Romney a serious threat to Mr. Obama’s re-election.

Link:KUHNER: Getting a reading on Romney - Washington Times

AG Holder should walk the plank on 'Fast and Furious' | Washington Examiner

2012-02-03T11:53:00.000-05:00

A petulant, angry, and defiant Attorney General Eric Holder refused yesterday to take any responsibility for the growing scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the ill-conceived and incompetently managed program in which federal agents allowed thousands of guns to be purchased in the United States by known suppliers to Mexican drug cartels. The hope was to be able to use the weapons to link drug bosses to particular crimes, making it easier to prosecute them. But federal officials lost track of more than 1,400 of the weapons, two of which were used in the slaying of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry just before Christmas in December 2010.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2012/02/holder-should-walk-plank-fast-and-furious/2164191#ixzz1lL3HJIxO

Link:Holder should walk the plank on 'Fast and Furious' | Washington Examiner

Santorum Warns Of Doomsday Under Obama « CBS Washington

2012-02-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Rick Santorum’s campaign slogan could very well be one word: doomsday.

To hear him tell it, the United States will collapse under the weight of its health care system and basic freedoms will be history. Iran will annihilate Israel and then South Carolina if Iran isn’t blocked from building a nuclear weapon. And divorce will yield higher taxes for all Americans.

Unless, of course, Republicans pick Santorum as the party’s presidential nominee and he goes on to defeat President Barack Obama.

Link:Santorum Warns Of Doomsday Under Obama « CBS Washington

Long Overdue!

2012-02-02T18:45:00.001-05:00

The Senate voted 96-3 to pass the STOCK Act, which would ban insider trading for members of Congress, their staffs and top executive branch policymakers. The bill now heads to the House, where Republicans are expected to try to toughen the legislation.
to further limit congressional perks.

The Senate action puts pressure on House Republicans to pass similar legislation to quell allegations of congressional self-dealing at a time when Congress’s approval rating is at an all-time low.

Too many Congressmen and Senators have gotten rich from exempting themselves from insider trading laws!

Shepherd brings legislature to stop » Updates » The Morehead News

2012-02-02T15:15:00.000-05:00

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd not only put on hold the filing deadline for candidates for state House and Senate districts — he effectively shut down the business of the General Assembly.

Shepherd on Tuesday issued a restraining order, enjoining the secretary of state from implementing the previous filing deadline of Jan. 31 and effectively extending the deadline at least until next Tuesday while he reviews the legislature’s redistricting plans and considers whether they are constitutional.

Link:Shepherd brings legislature to stop » Updates » The Morehead News

EDITORIAL: Obama's divided America - Washington Times

2012-02-02T15:07:00.001-05:00

A new survey shows that Barack Obama is the most polarizing president in the last 60 years. As divisive as he is, the current occupant of the White House has simply exacerbated a trend towards disunity that has been developing for years.

A report released by Gallup on Friday shows that the partisan divide over Mr. Obama continued a record-setting pace for the third year straight. In 2011, the gap between his approval ratings by party was 68 percent, the highest for any third-year president on record. Even the liberal Washington Post headlined its report on the Gallup survey as, “Obama: The most polarizing president. Ever.”

The Gallup data show that while Mr. Obama has had the most polarized first three years in office, they also reveal that George W. Bush holds the top three slots for most divisive presidential years ever, occurring 2004-2007. This shows that the partisan antipathy is mutual. This is a recent phenomenon; eight of the top 10 most divided years have occurred from 2004 to the present.
Link:EDITORIAL: Obama's divided America - Washington Times

Debt crisis: live - Telegraph

2012-02-02T14:05:00.000-05:00

US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke warns that the country must rein in spending and create a sustainable budget in order to avoid a debt crisis similar to that seen by Italy and Spain in the eurozone.

Link:Debt crisis: live - Telegraph

NYTimes Freely Mocks Mormons: 'I Wouldn't Buy the Underwear Just Yet' | NewsBusters.org

2012-02-02T12:31:00.000-05:00

Liberal Religious Bigotry!

Mormon fear at the New York Times. The paper’s online “Room for Debate” section, which “invites knowledgeable outside contributors to discuss news events and other timely issues” on Monday asked “What Is It About Mormons?," inspired by the prospect of Mitt Romney winning the Republican nomination for president. The fact that the Senate has for the last five years been led by a Mormon, Democrat Harry Reid, has failed to trigger similar concerns at the Times. The Times also shows it feels free to shower at least some religions with derision and mockery.

Heading into the Florida primary, Mitt Romney appears to be in the lead. The candidate, whose results so far have been mixed, continues to be stymied by suspicions about his religion. But why are so many Americans uncomfortable with Mormonism?

A recent Pew survey found that Mormons are hard-working and civic-minded. Couldn’t the nation use some Mormon discipline: frugality, morality, self-improvement, worldliness? Indeed, with these traits, shouldn’t Americans be dying to vote for a Mormon?

According to three of the Times five chosen outsiders, Americans have good reason to fear Mormons, while the other two writers lamented prejudice against Mormons, saying it would hurt a Romney presidential run.

NYTimes Freely Mocks Mormons: 'I Wouldn't Buy the Underwear Just Yet' | NewsBusters.org

PJTV - The Coin of the Realm - Bill Whittle

2012-02-02T12:26:00.000-05:00

What is the coin of the realm in a country filled with sanctimonious liberals like Michael Moore, Matt Damon and Jay Z? Find out as Bill Whittle talks about the unearned moral superiority of American liberals, and their demands to redistribute American wealth.

PJTV - The Coin of the Realm - Bill Whittle

UN panel says retool world economy for sustainability - Yahoo! News

2012-02-02T12:21:00.000-05:00

The world can no longer afford to ignore the environmental cost of economic growth and must redefine the very concept of national wealth, a UN panel of heads of state and environment ministers said Monday.
The panel challenged leaders to recognise that "current global development is unsustainable."

"We need to chart a new, more sustainable course for the future, one that strengthens equality and economic growth while protecting our planet," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in Addis Ababa to mark the release of the panel's report, which outlines more than 50 policy recommendations.

By 2030, the report warned, the planet will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water.

These needs are emerging "at a time when environmental boundaries are throwing up new limits to supply," it said.

Continuing along the same path as today risks "irreversible damage to both ecosystems and human communities."
Entitled "Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing," the 100-page report seeks to shape in broad strokes the agenda for the Rio+20 summit this summer.

The June 20-22 event in Rio de Janeiro takes place 20 years after the landmark 1992 Earth Summit that set down the UN conventions for protecting biodiversity and tackling global warming.

Link:UN panel says retool world economy for sustainability - Yahoo! News

Obama: I Pushed Dodd-Frank And Health Care Reform Because Of Christ

2012-02-02T12:19:00.000-05:00

Obama: I Pushed Dodd-Frank And Health Care Reform Because Of Christ

So Jesus Christ wants healthcare reform and tax increases on the rich?

Romney Leads Newt By 20% In Nevada!

2012-02-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney enjoys a substantial lead over rival Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich among registered Nevada Republicans and those likely to attend Saturday's statewide presidential caucuses.

An 8NewsNow/Las Vegas Review-Journal telephone poll, conducted Friday through Tuesday by UNLV's Cannon Survey Center, found Romney favored by 44.5 percent of 608 registered Republicans polled, compared to only 24.2 percent for former House Speaker Gingrich. Fellow Republican candidates Rick Santorum (10.9 percent) and Ron Paul (9.1 percent) also remained well behind.

Indiana Becomes First Right-to-Work State in Rust Belt

2012-02-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Indiana Becomes First Right-to-Work State in Rust Belt

First lady Michelle Obama cites 'remarkable progress' on the economy - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

2012-02-01T17:43:00.000-05:00

First Lady Michelle Obama cited "remarkable progress" on the economy during a speech for a small crowd of high-profile Hollywood names in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

"In the last three years, we've worked hard to get out of this mess and we've made some remarkable progress," the first lady told a group of about 135 supporters at a private campaign event for her husband. She listed President Obama's accomplishments on healthcare reform, the removal of troops from Iraq and the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" among other items on the list of "promises kept" touted by Obama's reelection campaign.

What planet has this woman been living on for the past 3 years?

First lady Michelle Obama cites 'remarkable progress' on the economy - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Today's Conservative Quote

2012-02-01T17:37:00.001-05:00

"Even the striving for equality by means of a directed economy can result only in an officially enforced inequality - an authoritarian determination of the status of each individual in the new hierarchical order."

-Friedrich August Hayek

Small Government Is Best!

2012-02-01T17:34:00.001-05:00

HURT: 'Islamist Firster' president not what he claimed - Washington Times

2012-02-01T15:48:00.000-05:00

GOLAN HEIGHTS — Surveying the live minefields, cratered roads and mortar-pocked concrete buildings along the border here between Syria and Israel, it is hard not to be reminded of the historic and monumental disappointment President Obama has been.

When he was campaigning to become the most powerful man in the last standing superpower on Earth, he spoke passionately about changing the world, restoring America’s greatness and bringing more peace and fairness to everyone.

In both foreign and domestic matters, Mr. Obama had unique credibility to change things as few presidents ever had.

Despite his background as a liberal street organizer, he campaigned on tax cuts and personal responsibility and preached that the government simply cannot be the answer to every problem. Republicans would have no choice but to go along with an agenda to shrink the tax burden and get the federal government out of our everyday lives.

Instead, Mr. Obama has devoted his administration to raising taxes, adding to the byzantine structure of the federal government, and has created a whole new massive bureaucracy he claims really will cure our every little boo-boo.

As for the rest of the world, Mr. Obama promised to devote himself to healing the grave injustices and halting the atrocities that have afflicted the world since the rise of radical, violent jihadism. With his Muslim roots, Mr. Obama was positioned better than any leader on the global stage to speak with authority to radical Islamists and finally bring about permanent peace.

Link:HURT: 'Islamist Firster' president not what he claimed - Washington Times

Dick Morris: How Mitt Romney suckered Gingrich in Florida - TheHill.com

2012-02-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

or students of American politics, following the way the Romney campaign played Newt Gingrich in Florida is a lesson to learn and to keep. Romney’s people must have realized that Newt does best when he is positive. His bold ideas, clear vision, revolutionary insights and extraordinary perspectives resonate with voters and win him millions of supporters.

Romney, less compelling but more consistent, doesn’t need stellar debate performances or bold vision to win. The case for the former Massachusetts governor is more circumstantial: He can reach out to independents by virtue of his past apostasies on healthcare and abortion. He looks, talks and acts like a president. His record of job creation is exemplary.

But Newt needs the bold sally, the breathtaking moment of rhetorical clarity, to prevail.So Romney’s people set out to mire Newt in negatives so he couldn’t and wouldn’t get out the positive message he needed to project to prevail. They tormented him with negative ads in Iowa. While the ads were generally accurate — the allegation about backing China’s forced-abortion policy aside — they presented only one side of the story and were stinging in their impact. Without funds, Gingrich couldn’t answer the negative ads. He fumed but watched, in impotence, as his vote share fell away.

Link to entire article:Dick Morris: How Mitt Romney suckered Gingrich in Florida - TheHill.com

Review & Outlook: $5 Trillion and Change - WSJ.com

2012-02-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

Obama's four years have seen the four highest deficits since 1946.

Review & Outlook: $5 Trillion and Change - WSJ.com

Obama Struggling In Battleground States - 2012 Decoded

2012-02-01T14:35:00.000-05:00

President Obama's reelection team has spun multiple pathways to an electoral vote majority, but a glance at his state-by-state approval ratings throughout 2011 suggests the campaign has been doing a lot of bluffing.

First, the good news for Team Obama: His political standing is in respectable shape in traditionally Democratic Midwestern battlegrounds, like Wisconsin, Michigan and the more Republican heartland state of Iowa (46 approval/46 disapproval). Obama's numbers in Virginia are better than in other battleground states - 45 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove. And his numbers in North Carolina (44/49 approve/disapprove) and Florida (44/48 approve/disapprove) and even Georgia (45/48 approve/disapprove) aren't good, but given his overall numbers, they are relatively decent.

The bad news: His job approval ratings in the other battleground states are solidly underwater and, in many states, worse than publicly perceived. In Colorado, seen as a gateway to aggressively contesting the Southwest, Obama scored a net -12 job approval (40/52) throughout the year. In Nevada, also seen as a major bellwether, Obama has a 41 percent approval rating, with 50 percent of respondents disapproving. In the critical battleground state of Ohio, 50 percent of voters disapprove of his performance, with only 42 percent approving. In the must-win state of Pennsylvania, Obama's job approval is underwater, with 45 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving.

Some unpleasant surprises abound for the Obama campaign, too. New Mexico has been seen as a Democratic-leaning state because of its voting history and significant Hispanic population. But Obama's performance there -- 42 percent favorable, 51 percent unfavorable -- isn't much different than his weak standing in the other Southwestern battlegrounds. The Obama campaign has been arguing it has an outside shot at contesting Arizona, but his approval rating is at 40 percent, with 52 percent disapproving.

In New Hampshire, a state that John Kerry carried in 2004, Obama's job approval is at 39 percent, with 54 percent disapproving. It's a state that, with Romney heading the GOP ticket, is starting to look out of reach.

Keep in mind the data is from throughout 2011, reflecting as much the past year as the present. But Obama's approval hasn't budged all that much throughout the year, dipping in the low-40s in Gallup's daily tracking, and inching upwards to 46 percent in the most recent three-day track.
Based on these numbers, the most plausible path for the president's re-election runs through Virginia, Florida and Iowa. That wasn't a scenario Team Obama drew up in its spin sessions, but if Gallup's numbers are to be believed, it may be the most likely.

Obama Struggling In Battleground States - 2012 Decoded

Huckabee: Newt Is a Sour "Sore Loser"!

2012-02-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee says that he was "stunned by the approach" taken by Newt Gingrich in his speech last night, after losing to Mitt Romney in the Florida primaries.

Gingrich failed to acknowledge the loss and did not congratulate Romney. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, told Steve Malzberg, filling in for Joyce Kaufman on WFTL Radio, "Newt can't be sour and last night he was sour."

Huckabee also said that he disagrees with FL Senator Marco Rubio that the race is over. Huckabee told Malzberg that there is still a long way to go and many delegates to be decided. Yesterday Rubio predicted that the winner in Florida would go on to be the Republican nominee.

Gallup State-by-State Shows Huge GOP Victory in 2012!

2012-02-01T14:28:00.003-05:00

Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

Gallup adds:

Overall, Obama averaged 44% job approval in his third year in office, down from 47% in his second year. His approval rating declined from 2010 to 2011 in most states, with Wyoming, Connecticut, and Maine showing a marginal increase, and Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia showing declines of less than a full percentage point. The greatest declines were in Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Quote of the Day!

2012-01-31T18:42:00.001-05:00

"Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other." -Oscar Ameringer

Welcome to the Obamanation!

2012-01-31T18:32:00.001-05:00

Weakness always invites war | Cal Thomas | Columnists | Washington Examiner

2012-01-31T17:21:00.000-05:00

One of the memorable slogans from the Reagan administration was "peace through strength." Reagan believed a strong defense was a safeguard against enemy attacks and the best hope of victory should America go to war.
President Obama is taking the opposite approach. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced cuts in defense spending of $487 billion over the next 10 years. Supposedly, these cuts will reduce the federal deficit, but Congress always finds new ways to spend money, so I am not optimistic.

The cuts were announced before critical questions were asked: What is America's role in the world in the 21st century? Where does the military fit into that role?

The administration thinks a sleeker, more mobile military -- like SEAL Team Six, which has had recent successes taking out Osama bin Laden and rescuing hostages from Somali pirates -- is the way to go, but even the highly-trained SEALs can't confront, say, a nuclear threat from Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or China's increasing military power.

The administration says it will preserve its manpower and weapons systems in the Middle East and shift resources to Asia.

Ships and planes take time to build. If America is not building them to ward off present and future threats, someone else -- like the Chinese -- will. The world does not remain stagnant and threats are not always obvious.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/01/weakness-always-invites-war/2150796#ixzz1l4qEe9HE

Link:Weakness always invites war | Cal Thomas | Columnists | Washington Examiner

Rubio: Florida Primary Winner ‘To Be Nominee Of Our Party’ « CBS Tampa

2012-01-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Rubio: Florida Primary Winner ‘To Be Nominee Of Our Party’ « CBS Tampa

Kentucky GOP gubernatorial candidate Phil Moffett to run for House seat

2012-01-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A Republican who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year will seek a House seat this year.

Louisville businessman Phil Moffett filed candidacy papers at the Capitol on Monday.

Moffett proved himself a tenacious campaigner last year when he finished second in a three-way race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to David Williams. Williams, the state Senate president, lost the general election to incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

Moffett wants to replace Republican state Rep. Julie Raque Adams in Louisville's 32nd District. Adams is running for a Senate seat and won't seek re-election to the House.

Not a Winning Argument

2012-01-30T15:14:00.000-05:00

Link:Not a Winning Argument

If another resurrection is coming, it didn’t start Sunday. After a week of shaky debate performances and slipping poll numbers in Florida, Gingrich’s appearances on political talk shows Sunday should give his supporters more reason for concern: In attempting to explain his bad week, Gingrich provided answers that directly undermine his claim to be the strongest candidate to take on Barack Obama in a general election.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked Gingrich about his tough week. The former House speaker played the victim, noting that he was being outspent and complaining that Mitt Romney has “an amazing ability to raise money from Wall Street” and is willing to engage in “carpetbombing his opponent” and “tearing down his opponent.

Today's Freedom Quote

2012-01-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

"Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big."

-Theodore Roosevelt

Why Americans Hate Socialism!

2012-01-30T14:56:00.001-05:00

Gingrich Endorsed Health Care Mandate Following Obamacare Press Conference in May 2009

2012-01-30T14:36:00.000-05:00

LinkGingrich Endorsed Health Care Mandate Following Obamacare Press Conference in May 2009

The blog Verum Serum has dug up a clip of a May 2009 Newt Gingrich conference call that followed a White House press conference on health care reform. (You can listen to the whole call here.) Gingrich said he was "little bit skeptical but encouraged" by the approach President Obama was taking. He also endorsed the idea that people who didn't buy health insurance would "post a bond." While Gingrich was "encouraged" by Obamacare in its early stage of development, many conservatives were sounding the alarm about the Democrats' plan. See, for example, this article by Yuval Levin and James Capretta from the May 18, 2009 issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD: "Stop ObamaCare: The Democrats' plan would displace tens of millions of happily insured Americans and exacerbate the worst elements of the current system."

It’s time for leaders with less banal rhetoric, better ideas and more courage.

2012-01-30T14:31:00.000-05:00

The Political Cowardice of Barack Obama
Soaring rhetoric won't fix the economy.

Steven Greenhut | January 27, 2012

Now, a return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibility will help protect our people and our economy. But it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future.—President Barack Obama, State of the Union, January 24, 2012

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night was the latest reminder that the state of political discourse in America is shockingly low. I’m not singling out Obama for special condemnation, given that these addresses always are a potpourri of banalities, regardless of which president is offering them. Yet Tuesday’s address was a vivid reminder of the shoddy thinking so common at the highest level of the federal and state governments and why we are—in the more precise, but less lofty words of a former president—in deep doo doo.

Criminologists have remarked on “the banality of crime,” the idea that most criminals are not dark geniuses, but ordinary dolts driven by the basest motives. The State of the Union is the ultimate example for the banality of American politics, of the reality that the people who want to reform us haven’t the slightest clue about anything. They are predictable and bland, traders in base ideas and driven mainly by ego and the desire to help those groups that assure their re-election. California is the starkest example. A friend of mine called the other day and told me that it finally dawned on him that Gov. Jerry Brown, despite his clever word plays is really not so brilliant. Here’s a man who actually believes that raising taxes and “investing” in green jobs will save California.

Politicians from Obama to Brown to Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich want so desperately to build a legacy, save our state or nation, and create some shining city on the hall, but they want it all on the cheap. Democratic pols want to sound like John F. Kennedy while Republicans sing hosannas to the legacy of Ronald Reagan, but such legacies don’t come from cheap banalities and the retreading of empty words. They come from tackling real issues and fixing real problems. The courage needed to do the latter is in short supply, given that most politicians crave adulation but don’t realize that those who put that first almost assures that they won’t receive it. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had a historic opportunity to bring the state back from the brink, yet changed course dramatically after his first defeat. He chose to be loved above all else and has ended up a scorned figure.

Many of us had hoped that Brown, who no longer seeks higher office, would embrace the tough work of real governance and take on his own allies—i.e., the public sector unions—who are the key obstacle to reviving California. Instead, he has embraced one foolish answer, a massive tax increase, and has governed in a way that’s not too different from the two failed governors before him. If Brown were a serious man, he would acknowledge that it’s the way the state spends money that’s the problem, not the lack of revenue. But he has taken the easy, banal course and will in time be forgotten. And so too will Obama who continues to believe that government is the font of all wisdom and energy in this nation and that populist attacks on evil-doing mortgage companies are more crucial than serious policy.

“Let's never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same,” he intoned. “It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.”

Banality is one thing, but this veers into dishonestly. No president—not even the terrible one that preceded him—has embraced the culture of bailouts, handouts, and copouts more than Obama. His administration epitomizes the term “crony capitalism,” whereby friends of the leaders get large infusions of taxpayer cash (see Solyndra) and then are full of copouts about why the money disappeared. In his speech, Obama sung the praises of the automobile bailout and called for more bailouts and government investments.

Instead of dealing seriously with the financial crisis, he embraced a kindergartner’s view of what happened (greedy banks foisted bad mortgages on decent people!), called for a special investment crimes unit to crack down on financial wrongdoers, and then pledged a new bailout for homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages, many of whom acted irresponsibly as they bought houses they couldn’t afford and tapped the equity in those houses and spent it on consumer goods. Said Obama, “And while government can't fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief. And that's why I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low rates.”

Just what we need—yet another irresponsible subsidy courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. In reality, the real estate market needs to hit bottom before it can rebound, and Obama’s plan will only delay the day of reckoning. This is more pabulum and more false hope for people who think the government is going to save them.

Soaring rhetoric and promised bailouts won’t fix what’s wrong in California or in the United States. It’s time for a little reality and some tough choices. It’s time for leaders with less banal rhetoric, better ideas and more courage.

Steven Greenhut is editor of CalWatchDog.com.

CARMEN: Newt Gingrich betrayed Ronald Reagan - Washington Times

2012-01-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

Because the Gipper is not here to say, “There you go again!” to Mr. Gingrich, and because the choice of a new president is so critical to the nation today, it falls on us who served with Reagan and are still around to tell America the truth about Mr. Gingrich and his repeated attempts to thwart Reagan’s cornerstone achievement: the defeat of global tyranny in the form of the Soviet Union and the final rejection of communism as a failed experiment.

Although Mr. Gingrich was an unknown congressman after being elected in 1978, he was one of the very few Republicans who voted for the creation of the Department of Education under Jimmy Carter, a position Reagan abhorred and a central campaign whipping boy in the 1980 campaign. That telltale vote should have prepared us for Mr. Gingrich’s regular ridicules of the president, but we were too occupied with reversing Mr. Carter’s disastrous economic policies at the time to pay attention to a gadfly at the fringes. Nowadays, Reagan is universally appreciated as a hero of vision and determination, but at that time, the battles we fought were challenging, and popular opinion (at least as defined by Washington) often was against us.

Link:CARMEN: Newt Gingrich betrayed Ronald Reagan - Washington Times

Rasmussen: Romney Heading for Blowout in Florida

2012-01-29T18:50:00.000-05:00

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has opened a double-digit lead in Florida as the perception grows among Republican primary voters that he is the strongest general election candidate against President Obama. The state's GOP Primary is on Tuesday.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Republican Primary Voters, conducted Saturday, shows Romney up by 16 points with 44% support. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a distant second at 28%. These figures reflect a significant turnaround over the past week.

Last Sunday, just after his big win in the South Carolina Primary, Gingrich led Romney by nine.

Rasmussen: Romney Heading for Blowout in Florida

Yes, We Can...

2012-01-29T18:49:00.000-05:00

To be clear: There are important differences between Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, and the eventual Republican nominee, whoever he is, will be no Ronald Reagan. But where the 2012 race resembles the 1980 race is that the public, which still likes Obama personally for the most part, is very much inclined to vote him out of office. They believe he’s overmatched by events.

This doesn’t mean the GOP nominee will win the presidency in 2012. It only means he should.

Link:Yes, We Can...

An America divided

2012-01-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

An America divided

Today's Conservative Quote

2012-01-28T18:31:00.001-05:00

"Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

T. Roosevelt, 1907

Obama's Lowball Vision: Tax Success and Growth

2012-01-28T15:25:00.000-05:00

You would think that with one of the weakest economic recoveries on record, President Barack Obama would be searching desperately for ways to promote economic growth. It is, after all, an election year. Most pundits and pollsters agree that it's the economy, stupid.

But instead, Obama used his State of the Union speech to rail on about fairness, inequality and redistribution. The Obama strategy is simple: Tax the rich, because they don't pay enough.

The problem is that they do pay enough. According to the Tax Foundation, Americans making $1 million or more pay a 25 percent average tax rate. People in the $50,000 to $100,000 income category -- call it the middle class -- pay 7 to 8 percent.

But no, Obama's one big idea in his Tuesday night speech was a 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires. This, by the way, is really a hike in the capital gains tax. And this Obama penalty is aimed squarely at his likely election opponent, Mitt Romney. Talk about taxing success. Talk about taxing growth.

The capital gains tax is the single most important economywide tax on wealth, risk taking and investment. It's a tax on seed corn. What a brilliant idea, Mr. President.

I remember the late Jack Kemp always saying you can't have successful capitalism without capital. But that wasn't in the president's State of the Union.

It's not as though the economy is prepared to take another tax hit. The fourth-quarter gross domestic product report adjusted for inflation came in at a mediocre 2.8 percent. Wall Street promptly sold off on the news.

And we're now 10 quarters into the tepid Obama recovery, with its average quarterly growth rate of 2.4 percent annually.

Deep recessions are supposed to breed strong snap-back recoveries. But it's not happening -- even after an $800 billion government spending package, a $2 trillion Federal Reserve balance sheet expansion, a zero Fed interest rate (for three years and counting) and a whole bunch of temporary targeted tax cuts.

It's the whole Keynesian bag of tricks, but it's still a very sub-par recovery.

Way back when, Ronald Reagan used the supply-side model and rejected big-government Keynesianism. He permanently lowered marginal tax rates, deregulated the economy, went to a strong King Dollar that collapsed oil and gold prices, and limited domestic spending (as a share of GDP). After 10 quarters of recovery, the Reagan growth rate was 6 percent.

Compare that with Obama's 2.4 percent. Or compare Obama's 2.4 percent with the 4.6 percent post-World War II average recovery rate after 10 quarters. The average is twice as good as Obama's. But Obama is only roughly a third of Reagan. That tells you something.

On top of all this, under current-law Obama policy, the vitally important capital gains tax is going up, even without the millionaire's minimum. Next year, the capital gains tax will revert to 20 percent from today's 15 percent. Then Obamacare will raise investment tax rates by 4 percent, bringing us up to 24 percent. That equals an 11 percent rollback of wealth and growth incentives.

But that's not all, because the capital gains tax is paid on top of the 35 percent corporate tax. So under Obama, a 24 percent cap gains tax is really a 51 percent tax rate on capital.

As Romney found out, even today's 15 percent cap gains tax is really a 45 percent double tax on top of the corporate levy. But there's a better way here: Slash the corporate tax rate, and leave the cap gains rate alone until full-fledged tax reform can take place.

In other words, increase incentives to grow and invest. Make it pay more after tax to invest and take risks. That's a growth prescription, the exact opposite of Obama's redistributionism.

Why is it fair or equal to create a lower tide that pulls down all boats?

I interviewed Romney on CNBC this week, and it's clear that he gets this. And as he aggressively argued in the Jacksonville, Fla., debate, he is proud of his success and doesn't want to give it back to the tax man.

More importantly, Team Romney is cooking up a stronger tax-reform plan. Romney intends to broaden the base by getting rid of deductions, exemptions and loopholes and then bring down the rates. I asked him whether the plan would be ready during the primary season. He said yes.

There is a growing consensus across the country for full-fledged reform of the personal and corporate tax codes. People yearn for simplicity, competitiveness and new incentives. Obama's great mistake in the State of the Union was his lowball vision of class warfare and redistribution when the country wants growth measures.

This November, we'll see a great debate between a big-government entitlement society that emphasizes fairness and a smaller-government growth society based on free market capitalism. Pro-growth tax reform is essential to this debate.

Link:Obama's Lowball Vision: Tax Success and Growth

The $1.2 Trillion Economic Gap: Obama's Subpar Recovery Continues - Investors.com

2012-01-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

The $1.2 Trillion Economic Gap: Obama's Subpar Recovery Continues - Investors.com

The Most Polarizing President Ever

2012-01-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

It’s official now. Barack Obama’s ratings are “historically polarized,” according to a new Gallup survey.

Jeffrey Jones of the Gallup organization writes, “The historically high gap between partisans’ job approval ratings of Barack Obama continued during Obama’s third year in office, with an average of 80 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans approving of the job he was doing… The 68-point gap between partisans’ approval ratings of Obama last year is nine points higher than that for any other president’s third year.” Obama, by the way, holds the record for the most polarized first and second years in office, too. Which means Obama has set a record for polarization every year he’s been in office.

So now is as good a time as any to remind people one of the core claims made by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign wasn’t simply that he would heal the planet; he would also heal the nation’s political breach. He would elevate the national debate. Reason would prevail over emotion. He would do away with what he called the “50 plus one” style of governing. Obama would “turn the page” on the “old politics” of division and anger. He would end a politics that “breeds division and conflict and cynicism.” He would help us to “rediscover our bonds to each other and … get out of this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.” He would “cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.”

The Most Polarizing President Ever: pIt’s official now. Barack Obama’s ratings are “historically polarized,” according to a new Gallup survey. Jeffrey Jones of the Gallup organization writes, “The historically high gap between partisans’ job approval ratings of Barack Obama continued during Obama’s third year in office, with an average of 80 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans approving [...]/p

Today's Conservative Quote

2012-01-27T19:26:00.000-05:00

"It is increasingly clear that the President's vision for America differs from ours. We believe, as President Reagan said in his inaugural address, that "government is the problem not the solution." Only by unleashing the greatness of American individualism can we grow our way out of this recession. I hope the President will come to understand this and that he will work with Republicans to get an overzealous federal government out of the way."

Senator Rand Paul

Why Newt Soared but Could Sour

2012-01-27T18:04:00.000-05:00

Why Newt Soared but Could Sour

The Real State of the Union

2012-01-27T18:00:00.000-05:00

Link to article:The Real State of the Union

Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years? Last night, during his State of the Union address, he promised "a blueprint for an economy." But economies are crushed by blueprints. An economy is really nothing more than people participating in an unfathomably complex spontaneous network of exchanges aimed at improving their material circumstances. It can't even be diagrammed, much less planned. And any attempt at it will come to grief.

Politicians like Obama believe they are the best judges of how we should conduct our lives. Of course a word like "blueprint" would occur to the president. He, like most who want his job, aspires to be the architect of a new society.

Is Obama Creating A Nation Of Dependents? Nearly Half Now Get Government Benefits - Investors.com

2012-01-27T14:23:00.000-05:00

Is Obama Creating A Nation Of Dependents? Nearly Half Now Get Government Benefits - Investors.com

Obama is creating a dependent nation much like Europe!

They Hate Poor People

2012-01-26T20:12:00.000-05:00

The elite liberals dirty little secret!

They Hate Poor People

Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi - We Can Solve It

2012-01-26T13:34:00.000-05:00

This is the Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi ad for the We Campaign demanding action on climate change! Is this who we want as President?

Newt Gingrich Critical of Reagan in 1986!

2012-01-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

“Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy will continue to fail. . . . President Reagan is clearly failing.” Why? This was due partly to “his administration’s weak policies, which are inadequate and will ultimately fail”; partly to CIA, State, and Defense, which “have no strategies to defeat the empire.” But of course “the burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on President Reagan.”

Cong. Newt Gingrich speech on the floor of the House

Liberal Media Bias Exposed!

2012-01-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

MRC founder and president Brent Bozell today announced the launch of "Tell The Truth 2012", a multi-million dollar campaign to document, expose and neutralize severe liberal bias in the reporting of the 2012 election campaign. It will be the largest undertaking by the Media Research Center in it's 25-year history as America's largest media watchdog organization.

Coulter: Re-Elect Obama:Vote Newt!

2012-01-26T11:57:00.000-05:00

RE-ELECT OBAMA: VOTE NEWT!
January 25, 2012

To talk with Gingrich supporters is to enter a world where words have no meaning. They denounce Mitt Romney as a candidate being pushed on them by "the Establishment" -- with "the Establishment" defined as anyone who supports Romney or doesn't support Newt.

Gingrich may have spent his entire life in Washington and be so much of an insider that, as Jon Stewart says, "when Washington gets its prostate checked, it tickles [Newt]," but he is deemed the rebellious outsider challenging "the Establishment" -- because, again, "the Establishment" is anyone who opposes Newt.

This is the sort of circular reasoning one normally associates with Democrats, people whom small-town pharmacists refer to as "drug seekers" and Ron Paul supporters.

Newtons claim Romney is a "moderate," and Gingrich the true conservative -- a feat that can be accomplished only by refusing to believe anything Romney says ... and also refusing to believe anything Gingrich says.

-- Romney's one great "flip-flop" is on abortion. (I thought the reason we argued with people about abortion was to try to get them to "flip-flop" on this issue. Sometimes it works!)

Nearly two decades ago, when Romney was trying to defeat champion desecrator of life Sen. Teddy Kennedy, he sought to remove abortion as a campaign issue by declaring that he, too, supported Roe v. Wade.

(Nonetheless, Kennedy ran a campaign commercial against him featuring a Mormon woman complaining that Romney, as a Mormon elder, had pressured her not to have an abortion, but to give the child up for adoption. Are you getting the idea that Massachusetts is different from the rest of America, readers?)

Romney changed his mind on abortion -- not when it was politically advantageous, but when it mattered. As governor of liberal, pro-choice Massachusetts, he vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill and "worked closely" with Massachusetts Citizens for Life. The president of MCL recently issued a statement saying that, "since being elected governor, Mitt Romney has had a consistent commitment to the culture of life."

He didn't defend his changed position by saying he was a "historian," or denounce people who raised the switch as "fundamentally" dishonest asking "absurd" questions, or go back and forth and back and forth. He just said he changed his mind.

Meanwhile, Gingrich, who has run for office only in a small, majority Republican, undoubtedly pro-life congressional district, lobbied President Bush to support embryonic stem cell research.

-- Romney is now the only remaining candidate for president who opposes amnesty for illegals. (Ever since President Bush's amnesty plan cratered on the shoals of public opposition, no Republican will ever use the word "amnesty," despite wanting to keep illegals here -- just as Democrats refuse to say "abortion," while supporting every manner of destroying human life.)

Romney supports E-Verify and a fence on the border. As governor he promoted English immersion programs for immigrants, signed an agreement with the federal government allowing state troopers to enforce federal immigration laws, and opposed efforts to give illegal immigrants in-state tuition or driver's licenses.

At the same time, Romney says he'd like to staple a green card to the diploma of every immigrant here on a student visa who gets a higher degree in math or science.

Gingrich supports importing a slave labor force from Mexico under a "guest worker" program and wants to create government "citizen review boards" to grant amnesty on a case-by-case basis (i.e. all at once) to illegal aliens.

-- Romney supports entitlement reform along the lines of the Paul Ryan plan, as he has said plainly, but without histrionics, in the debates.

Just last year, Gingrich went on "Meet the Press" and called Ryan's plan -- supported by nearly every House Republican -- "right-wing social engineering."

He apologized for those remarks, then took back his apology, still later doubled down, calling the Ryan plan "suicide," and now -- currently, but it could change any minute -- Gingrich supports Ryan's entitlement reform efforts.

For the latest updates on Newt's position on the Ryan plan, go to http//twitter.com/#whatcheapshotgrandstandymovewillworknow?

-- As for crony capitalism, Romney made all his money in the private sector by his own diligence and talent -- even giving away all the money he inherited from his parents. He's never lived in Washington or traded on access to government officials.

Meanwhile, without the federal government, Gingrich would be penniless. He has been in Washington since the '70s, first as a congressman, then becoming a rich man on the basis of having been a congressman.

Most egregiously, he took $1.6 million to shill for Freddie Mac, one of the two institutions directly responsible for the housing crash that caused the financial collapse. (Or one of three, if you consider Barney Frank an institution.)

If the tea party stands for anything, it stands in absolute opposition to government insiders shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the very time those institutions were blowing up the economy.

-- Romney could not be more forceful in saying he will issue a 50-state waiver to Obamacare his first day in office and then seek its formal repeal. Whether you like a state-wide insurance mandate or not, it's a world of difference when the federal government does it. Conservatives, having read the Constitution, ought to understand this.

It was on account of the difference between state and federal powers that the Supreme Court overturned the federal Violence Against Women Act. The court was not endorsing rape, but reminding us that states make laws about rape, not Congress.

To act as if Obamacare is the same thing as "Romneycare" is just a word game, on the order of acting like a "gun" has the same properties as a "gunny sack," or "fire" is the same thing as a "firefly."

Romney supported the idea of other states doing something along the lines of his health care bill, but always opposed insurance mandates from the federal government (just as I oppose the federal government issuing general laws about rape, but support state laws against rape.)

For those of you who still think Romneycare is the worst possible sin a Republican candidate could commit -- even worse than taking money from Freddie Mac as it destroyed the economy -- that doesn't help Gingrich: He supported Romneycare.

(While we're on the subject, the nation's leading conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, helped draft Romneycare. Indeed, Bob Moffit, Heritage's senior fellow on health care issues, can be seen in the picture of the bill-signing ceremony, standing proudly behind Romney.)

But Gingrich did more than support Romneycare. As former senator Rick Santorum has pointed out, Gingrich supported a FEDERAL individual mandate to purchase health insurance from 1993 until five minutes ago -- i.e., at least until a "Meet the Press" appearance just last May.

Asked by Maria Bartiromo in the CNBC debate last November to explain what he would do to fix health care, Newt attacked the question as "absurd" and said he would need a "several-hour period" to answer it.

In a world where words have meaning, Mitt Romney is not the "moderate" in this race. He is the most conservative candidate still standing, with the possible exception of Rick Santorum, who is bad on illegal immigration. (Santorum voted in the Senate against even the voluntary use of E-Verify by employers, which means he doesn't want to do anything about illegal immigration at all.)

Romney is "moderate" only in demeanor -- which is just another word game. His positions are more conservative than Gingrich's, but he doesn't scare people like Gingrich does. Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms were moderate in demeanor, too. No one would call them political moderates.

Romney is the most electable candidate not only because it will be nearly impossible for the media to demonize this self-made Mormon square, devoted to his wife and church, but precisely because he is the most conservative candidate.

Conservatism is an electable quality. Hotheaded arrogance is neither conservative nor attractive to voters.

Multi-Millionaire Brian Williams Hits Romney For His 'Unimaginable Wealth' | NewsBusters.org

2012-01-25T20:27:00.000-05:00

In an interview with Mitt Romney following the State of the Union Tuesday night, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams used the tax returns of the former Massachusetts governor as a weapon: "And it's fair to ask tonight, will you be explaining further the story of them, the back story....the amounts we've learned about today equaling unfathomable wealth for most Americans..."

Earlier in the evening, at the top of Nightly News, Williams was equally melodramatic: "...Mitt Romney, chose today to release his tax returns from the year 2010. He did it to help stop the questions about his wealth, but in releasing his taxes, he reveals what most Americans will regard as unimaginable wealth...." Williams signaled the media would not let go of the issue: "The numbers in these returns will likely get talked about for the rest of the way in this campaign."

Williams should be reminded that people in luxury Manhattan apartments shouldn't throw stones. A 2008 Parade magazine profile of the NBC anchor detailed his high-end digs at the top of New York's Bloomberg building, surrounded by famous neighbors: "...gutty Yankees import Johnny Damon and Phillies slugger Bobby Abreu, singer Beyoncé Knowles and, in a corporate Big Love, both former GE chief Jack Welch and current G.E. chief Jeffrey Immelt."

The article goes on to note that apartments in that building at the time ranged from "$2 to $27 million."

In addition, TV Guide's 2011 list of the highest paid people in television placed Williams' salary at $13 million annually.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2012/01/25/multi-millionaire-brian-williams-hits-romney-his-unimaginable-wealth#ixzz1kWVyYDpk

Link:Multi-Millionaire Brian Williams Hits Romney For His 'Unimaginable Wealth' | NewsBusters.org

The Culture of Big Government Dependency

2012-01-25T20:17:00.001-05:00

Poll: Romney lead in Florida widens after strong debate performance - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

2012-01-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

Poll: Romney lead in Florida widens after strong debate performance - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record

2012-01-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

Same old Crap!

Barack Obama is still driving America towards decline – Telegraph Blogs

2012-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama is still driving America towards decline – Telegraph Blogs