Tag: Republicans

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Iowa Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics presidential

My Kingdom For $10,000: Mitt Goes Gilded Age

So, how much damage did Mitt Romney do to his presidential campaign after offering Rick Perry a $10,000 wager on his health care position?  We’ll find out in the next few days after the pollsters have had a chance to wade through their data, but my sense is that it will do damage to what’s left of Romney’s standing as a regular guy who happens to be rich.

The damage control has already begun.

Political campaigns have turned on worse gaffes, as Perry, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain can tell you, but this one will stand out as Romney’s low point. It also comes at a bad time, with voting set to begin in Iowa a day after you’ve returned that last questionable holiday gift.

Of course, Newt Gingrich has harvested the most media attention over the past few weeks, and this trend continued last night. This AP article described Newt as having a “steely calm” and as:

defending his most controversial stands without appearing to be the thin-skinned hothead his critics often describe.

The former House speaker seemed to accomplish that goal in Saturday’s debate in Iowa. His challenge will be to sustain the strategy while rivals attack him on the airwaves and the ground, and to convince conservative voters that he’s their champion despite his occasional departures from orthodoxy.

But Newt’s already had to backtrack on his comment describing the Palestinians as an invented people, which will do nothing to help his foreign policy credentials. And he did a bit of constitutional reinvention when discussing his views of the mandate that would require everyone to buy health insurance. It seems that he supported it in 1993 when he was fighting Bill and Hillary’s program, but explained it this way on Saturday:

“I frankly was floundering, trying to find a way to make sure that people who could afford it were paying their hospital bills, while still leaving an out so libertarians could not buy insurance,” Gingrich said. “It’s now clear that the mandate, I think, is clearly unconstitutional. “

So I guess the Gingrich constitutional test has an 18 year time limit. He’ll need to work on that one.

Overall, Mitt did not do poorly aside from the bet, Bachmann’s reference to Newt Romney was amusing, and Ron Paul’s message continues to be the most consistent of all the candidates. It won’t get him the nomination, but you can’t accuse him of flip-flopping. He’s my pick for second place in Iowa.

What now then? Thankfully, Donald Trump’s mega-disaster debate has been exposed for what it truly is: an opportunity for him to be the star in a political game that only he can win. The GOP field will continue to try and get their messages out while the rest of America goes shopping, and President Obama will try to paint each and every one of them as against the middle class. The latest polls show Obama ahead both nationally and ahead of Gingrich specifically in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Six months ago, it would have been madness to predict the Republican state of affairs as it exists today. Six months from now, I think that Mitt Romney will stand as the eventual nominee. I don’t have $10,000 to back it up, though.

For more prescient predictions, visit facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives

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Politics weekly address

Presidential Address – Everyone Must Have A Fair Chance

President Obama used his weekly address to tell the American people that things will be better if everyone gets a fair shot at the resources necessary for success. He points out that the rich already have a multitude of lawyers and lobbyists in Washington working on their behalf.

That’s why he nominated Richard Cordray to head up a brand new consumer protection watchdog agency, whose sole purpose is protecting consumers from the unscrupulous predatory ways of Corporation. But surprise, Republicans have blocked Cordray’s nomination too.

The President.

So I refuse to take “no” for an answer.  Financial institutions have plenty of high-powered lawyers and lobbyists looking out for them.  It’s time consumers had someone on their side.

Republicans have also stood in the way of a balanced plan to extend the payroll tax cut for working families – and the President made it clear he believes that elected officials should not go home for the holidays until they’ve done what is right for the American people and for the economy by extending this tax cut.

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Energy Newt Gingrich Politics

Fact Checking Newt Gingrich’s Lie About President Obama

Welcome to the world of Newt Gingrich and quite frankly, today’s Republican party, where anything and everything is said with one objective in mind – solidifying your misguided, uninformed base.

One of these statements made by Newt Gingrich is an attack on President Obama – what else is new – where Newt tells everyone who cares to listen that President Obama has “kill” jobs since he’s taken office.

“I think the president has now spent three years proving that he kills jobs in energy, he kills jobs in manufacturing, he kills jobs in virtually every part of American life. I mean, notice — the only reason the unemployment rate is going down is because … twice as many people dropped out of the employment pool as the number of jobs were created.”

PolitiFact, a non-partisan, well-respected organization, studied Newt’s claim and found the following

In Energy

During the entire Obama presidency, employment in the oil and gas extraction sector grew by 18,800 jobs, or an increase of 11 percent. Over the same period, jobs in mining declined by 9,200, or 4 percent. Combining the two categories, energy jobs grew by 9,600 jobs, or 2 percent.

Beginning one year into Obama’s presidency, oil and gas extraction jobs increased by 27,500, a rise of 18 percent. Mining jobs grew by 14,900, or 8 percent. Combined, the two sectors increased by 42,400 jobs, or 12 percent.

So over both periods, the energy sector grew in absolute terms — and if you measure beginning in January 2010, the increase has been quite healthy at 12 percent over two years.

In Manufacturing

PolitiFact found that overall, manufacturing jobs decreased since President Obama took office. But the fact checking group also found that this decrease was not a phenomenon that started under President Obama. According to PolitiFact, manufacturing jobs have decreased since 1970.

When compared to past Presidents however, PolitiFact found the following;

So say what you may Newt/Republicans, but when your empty rhetoric settles, the truth will still prevail.

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Politics

Maryland Republican Found Guilty Of Voter Suppression Charges

Back in June, we brought you this story of two Republican aides indicted on voter suppression charges. The two, Paul Schurick and Julius Hen­son, were accused of sending over 100,000 robo calls to mostly blacks and minorities in Maryland, telling them not to vote, because Pres­i­dent Obama and the Demo­c­ra­tic con­tender for gov­er­nor, Mr. O’Malley, had already won.

“Hello,” the robo call said, “I’m call­ing to let every­one know that Gov­er­nor O’Malley and Pres­i­dent Obama have been suc­cess­ful. Our goals have been met. The polls were cor­rect, and we took it back. We’re okay. Relax. Everything’s fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TVtonight. Con­grat­u­la­tions, and thank you.”

Well justice is served. Earlier today, a jury of their peers found the first of the two, Mr. Paul Schurick guilty of voter suppression.

A Baltimore jury Tuesday found Paul Schurick, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s campaign manager, guilty of election fraud and related charges for his role in an Election Day 2010 robocall.

The jury found Schurick guilty on all four counts, including election fraud and failing to include an Ehrlich campaign authorization line on the calls. After the verdict was read, Schurick clutched his wife, who burst into tears.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Newt Gingrich Politics

Book Salesmen And Television Personalities Don’t Really Want To Be President

You listen to these Republicans bitch about the economy, the “failures” of President Obama and how,  if given a chance, they would be able to turn things around. To right what’s wrong in America, and they will do this while giving their inaugural address!

Pay close attention to any of the presidential candidates and you will hear their claims.  “…anyone on this stage can do a better job than this president,”,  Gingrich said at a recent Republican debate. This claim was regularly repeated by Herman Cain and is a staple in many Mitt Romney speeches.

But with just about all these Republican candidates vigorously promoting their “newly released” books, how genuine is their bid for the White House? Will they really give up the financial benefits of being number one on the New York Times Best Sellers List to be the Number One in the white house?

If you look at how these candidates are campaigning, you will understand where their priorities lie. Herman Cain spent more time at book signing events  than he did on the campaign trail, and with the Republican primaries just weeks away, Newt Gingrich, the leader in the Republican field, spent yesterday in New York instead of Iowa where voting is almost set to begin, selling copies of his book and meeting with Donald Trump.

And speaking of Donald Trump. He is promoting his new book, just as he was promoting his television show a few months ago when he lead the Republican field for the nomination. With a new book to sell, Trump is once again capturing the limelight and floating the idea of running for president as an independent. He recently told USA TODAY;

“If they pick somebody who I think can’t win and if they pick somebody who is, in my opinion, the wrong person … and if the economy continues to be bad, I might run as an independent.“

If he really believed that he could make a difference, that a Trump presidency would “turn this economy around” like he preached when he was the leader of the pack this past summer, then why didn’t he build on that lead and help save America?

Because, like Newt Gingrich and many of the other Republican candidates, he’s just a salesman doing what the people of his trade  do best – selling. Here’s Trump’s explanation for why he decided not to continue his run for president – basically – he’d have to give up his television show and that was just too much of a sacrifice for a television personality to make;

“Other people don’t give up anything when they run,” he said. “You give up a top, prime-time television show and I don’t want to sound trivial but that’s a lot.”

Sell on guys, your Republican base deserves nothing more.

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Politics weekly address

President Obama To Republicans – Stop The Politics And Put Country First

In another weekly presidential speech, President Obama urged Republicans to put country first and do what is necessary to uplift the economy, not a political party.

Unfortunately, too many Republicans in Congress don’t seem to share that same sense of urgency. Over the last few months, they’ve said “no” to most of these jobs bills. “No” to putting teachers and firefighters back to work. “No” to putting construction workers back on the job. And this week, they actually said “no” to cutting taxes for middle-class families.

You see, last year, both parties came together to cut payroll taxes for the typical middle-class family by about $1,000. But that tax cut is set to expire at the end of this month. If that happens, that same family will see its taxes go up by $1,000. We can’t let that happen. In fact, I think we should cut taxes on working families and small business owners even more.

And we’re going to keep pushing Congress to make this happen. They shouldn’t go home for the holidays until they get this done. And if you agree with me, I could use your help.

We’ve set up a simple tax cut calculator on WhiteHouse.gov so that you can see exactly what the stakes are for your family. Try it out. Then let your members of Congress know where you stand.

Tell them not to vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays. Tell them to put country before party. Put money back in the pockets of working Americans. Pass these tax cuts.

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Politics

Unemployment Falls To 8.6% – Still, Republicans Cast Doubt About Recovery

Yay for America!

It’s the news no one has heard over the last 2 and a half years – unemployment is at 8.6%. With all the anti-economy, anti-middle class antics of the Republican party, and their obvious efforts to make things worse for the American people, this is welcome news for all true patriots.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 120,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, and the jobless rate dropped to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, from 9.0 percent in October.

It was the biggest monthly decline since January. While part of the decrease was due to people leaving the labor force, the household survey from which the department calculates the unemployment rate also showed solid gains in employment.

“The economy is continuing to head in the right direction,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York. “However, the ultimate test of the sustainability of the recovery is for the economy to create a sufficient number of jobs to sustain a consumer-led rebound in activity.”

“On this measure, this report falls short,” he said.

Although the gain in the number of jobs created as measured by the survey of employers was relatively modest, it marked a pickup from October’s upwardly revised 100,000 increase.

In all, 72,000 more jobs were created in October and September than previously reported.

Of course, Republicans must come up with a way to try to damper this good news. They must remove any feeling of optimism the American people might have about the economy, and who is better at casting doubt about our economic recovery than Eric Cantor.

After the new unemployment data was released, Cantor, surrounded by his Republican allies, stepped to the podium to deliver their warning – there just aren’t enough jobs in America.

Maybe if Cantor and his Republican friends concentrated more on the American people, instead of the top 1%, there will be enough jobs for anyone looking for work.

But working for the American people is not the priority.

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failed Politics

Republicans Failed The Middle Class Again. No Payroll Tax Cuts For You

For the majority of people reading this post be prepared. Starting in January of 2012, your family will pay $1000.00 more a year because of what happened in Washington yesterday. Yesterday, the American people watched in amazement as two separate plans designed to help the middle class got defeated in the Senate.

Plan 1 was proposed by the Democrats. It required an extension of the payroll tax cuts that working families currently benefit from, but which is set to expire on December 31st. The plan was defeated by Republicans who objected to the way Democrats wanted to pay for the tax cuts – by slightly increasing the taxes on people making over 1 million dollars. Republican’s reasoning for defeating the plan was a claim that people making over $1 million were job creators, and they didn’t want to raise taxes on these people.

With the Democratic plan defeated, Republicans got a chance to offer their own plan to extend the payroll tax cuts. But the way they wanted to pay for the cuts was to continue a pay freeze on federal workers until 2015, and to eventually eliminate 10% of the federal work force.

With the economic benefits for the working middle class to have these payroll tax cuts extended past December 31st, the Republican plan was voted on and that too went down in defeat. The Republican proposal wasn’t defeated by Democrats, but by the very people who introduced the plan… Republicans!

The President, who has pushed Congress to approve the payroll tax cut extension called the vote “unacceptable,” and asked Republicans to “stop playing politics” with the American people.

Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire. That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet.

Now is not the time to put the economy and the security of the middle class at risk. Now is the time to rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility pay off, and everybody has a chance to succeed. Now is the time to put country before party and work together on behalf of the American people. And I will continue to urge Congress to stop playing politics with the security of millions of American families and small business owners and get this done.

And the American people watch in amazement, as the Republicans in Congress continue to put the middle class on the chopping block, while they infinitely protect the top 1%, even when the 1% are asking, no, begging to pay more in taxes.

The American people currently pay 4.2% in payroll taxes. Because of Republican’s actions yesterday, the taxes will go up to 6.2% in January, which will cost the average family another $1000.00 a year.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics presidential Wall Street

Huntsman – Romney Is In The Hip Pocket Of Wall Street

“Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too-big-to-fail banking system.” Per MSNBC,  Huntsman’s comments were delivered to an audience of about 80 people.

Huntsman went even further in his attack on Romney. Presumably referring in part to endorsements that Romney has received from Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Congressman Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), Huntsman said, “You should be wary of any candidate who carries the endorsements of every member of Congress, because it means they’re going to be a status quo president.”

And I totally agree with you Jon Huntsman. Being in the hip pocket of Wall Street is about the only thing consistent with Mitt Romney.

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Politics Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum – Lower Income Americans Should “Suffer”

So now it’s Rick Santorum’s turn to add his contribution to the list of Republican presidential candidates who just don’t give a crap about the unfortunate among us. Not to be left out of the Republican insanity, Santorum felt the need to add his two cents.

On Friday, Santorum attended a town hall meeting in Ottumwa Iowa, and complained that lower-income Americans receive too many government benefits. He calls this a bad thing and said that these Americans should just “suffer.”

 If you’re lower income, you get lots of things you can qualify for. In many states, you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance…”

“Suffering is part of life and it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life.”

And these are supposed to be the best of the best in the Republican Party. WOW!

p.s. – Whatever you do, don’t google “Santorum.” Don’t do it I tells ya!

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Health Care Politics Repeal

Health Care Reform Goes Before The Supreme Court

The announcement is made: beginning next March, the Republicans effort to officially take away your health care, and put your health decisions back into the hands of insurance companies, goes before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear arguments next March over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul —a case that could shake the political landscape as voters are deciding if Obama deserves another term.

This decision to hear arguments in the spring sets up an election-year showdown over the White House’s main domestic policy achievement. And it allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just over four months before Election Day.

The justices announced they will hear an extraordinary five-and-a-half hours of arguments from lawyers on the constitutionality of a provision at the heart of the law and three other related questions about the act. The central provision in question is the requirement that individuals buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty.

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Barack Obama Domestic Policies Mitch McConnell Senate United States

Big Up! To The Heroes

On the day before Veteran’s Day, The Senate overwhelmingly approved a provision of President Barack Obama’s  Job Act that gives companies tax credits for hiring unemployed military veterans –  a proposal which had rare bipartisan appeal.

A month ago, President Obama’s job’s plan was killed the second it hit the congressional floor, but as promised,  he began sending portions of the bill up to Congress in hopes of getting them enacted separately,  but until yesterday Republicans voted unanimously to knock them down as well.  But Thursday, Republicans joined Democrats in passing this bill with only one dissenting vote, that belonging to  Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) explaining that the amendment only created loopholes that benefited veterans over regular citizens for jobs (WTF?!).

President Obama urged lawmakers to “pass additional jobs proposals in the weeks ahead to help the millions of other Americans who are still looking for work.” After weeks of publicly campaigning against Republicans for failing to act on portions of his $447 billion jobs bill, President Obama said Thursday they “did the right thing.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) said the bill offered a welcomed opportunity to break the  gridlock on the Senate. “We’re going to legislate,” he said, before predictably ranking on Democrats for not advancing more jobs ideas Republicans could back.

The 94-1 vote for the legislation came as the jobless rate among Iraq and Afghanistan vets are  in the double digits. The bill  awards companies a $5,600 tax credit for each veteran they hired who had been unemployed for at least six months and $2,400 for hiring a veteran who has been out of work a month.

On his jobs plan stump, Obama has emphasized that taking care of our Veterans is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it is an American responsibility.

Big Up! for our military women and men and  President Obama’s bill.

 

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