John McCain Attacks Tea Party, Conservative Principles

Senator John McCain has lost it.  He has shown his true colors in a  Wall Street Journal editorial where he attacked the Tea Party and conservatives for holding to their principles in the debt ceiling debate.

Before we get into why John McCain is wrong, it's important to note that John McCain is no conservative. John McCain has been part of the combine (h/t to Ann Barnhardt) for that one.  Throughout his Senate career he has shown that he is a big government Republican.

In the editorial found here, John McCain derails conservatives and members of the Tea Party Caucus for criticizing House Speaker John Boehner's recent bills.  McCain incorrectly states that the the conservatives have no alternatives.  When in fact they do - it's called Cut, Cap and Balance.  It's important to note that John McCain was absent or didn't vote on Cut Cap and Balance last Friday evening.


McCain's poor use of comedic humor while attacking the Tea Party proves he is out of touch with the mandate the voters gave by giving the Republicans the House last November.  His attack on Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell, both 2010 U.S. Senate Republican nominees is beyond pale:

"This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell into GOP Senate nominees."

Really, John McCain.  Was this really necessary?

You prove what a lot of conservatives knew about you during the 2008 Presidential Election.  We voted for you only because Sarah Palin was on the ticket.  But with this, you prove that you are no different than Barack Obama and your progressive stripes are glowing louder and louder.

Perhaps if you voted last Friday in support of Cut, Cap and Balance and exemplified leadership to get a few more on-board, we would have have a winning solution to the debt crisis. Get on board, or leave running the country for the adults.

Delaware GOP Chair: Obama Irresponsible for Rejecting Bi-Partisan Debt Limit Deal

WILMINGTON – Today, after it was reported that President Obama rejected a bipartisan debt ceiling plan that would have raised the debt ceiling and cut spending based on political purposes, Delaware Republican Party Chairman John Sigler released the following statement:

“President Obama’s willingness to put his re-election campaign ahead of the well-being of our nation is at the height of irresponsibility.  Rejecting a deal based solely on political expedience once again shows that our president is concerned about one thing, his own job,” said Chairman Sigler.

It has been widely reported that President Obama desperately wants a large debt limit increase that will take him past the next presidential election.

“President Obama was elected to lead our nation after a campaign of hope and change, but today shows that he is unwilling or unable to lead when it matters.  While our president drags his feet at the risk of our nation’s economy, Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Boehner will continue to work on a framework aimed at preventing default that includes enacting spending reforms and cuts greater than a debt limit hike,” concluded Chairman Sigler.

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Obama Doesn't Get It

President Obama's speech on the budget and deficit earlier today while again nicely delivered, failed to connect to reality.  Whether President Obama or his staffer wrote this speech, found here, is irrelevant.  What is relevant is that the context of the speech is purely ideological, and is rife with platitudes.

The President's emphasis and usual scare tactics that the Republican proposals will hurt education, harm the environment are just that - party talking points.  Obama's continual denial to the state of America's fiscal affairs is telling of an ideologue who is hell bent on spending money at all costs to advance an ideological agenda.  Obama is still in denial that even the IMF is warning the United States to get its fiscal house in order.

But we all know that if America gets on a path to tighten its belt, Obama's remaking of America to a socialist nation is in jeopardy.  Hope and Change will be a failed marketing campaign to get elected, and Obama will have alienated the extreme progressive base that bought the false hope and misunderstood what change really meant to our liberties and freedoms.

The more troubling part of Obama's speech is that for being a lawyer who did have to study the Constitution, that the cuts Obama is balking of should really be deferred to each of the fifty states.  Since Obama is a Statist who feels a big, central federal government is the answer and cure all to every one's ills, the notion of the Tenth Amendment is a foreign and failed concept. 

The continual attacks by Obama and the Democrats on the producers of this nations is getting old.  The failure of the Democrats and Obama to connect reality that the top 2.5 percent of wage earners of this nation because of tax law, may be an owner of a small or medium-sized firm or family farm.  Raising their tax base, especially in an extremely soft economy as we have now, could break them.  A higher tax increase could also force them to layoff staff to make ends meet.  Regardless, Obama is diving the haves versus the have nots and this is nothing less than class warfare.

Obama and his (failed) economic team fail to realize that America's punitive tax code is hurting American businesses and American families.  No longer is it advantageous for Americans to set up new business, or expand existing ones, when the odds are stacked against thriving in an environment that punishes success.   No longer is it advantageous to take risks on innovation when the odds of recouping the investment costs and making a profit are slim or nil.

While Obama and his hired guns may not deal with reality, this does not mean that rest of us have to buy into a failed America.   Those that still believe in the American dream must open their eyes to ideas and a vision that America is still a great country, with the best talent and can thrive once again.  The opportunity to explore your dreams, and the freedom to enact on those dreams must never be trampled on.  Since Obama & Co is not going to help you, look elsewhere.  You really have no choice.

Shutdown Averted, but...

At the eleventh hour, Congressional leaders and President Obama agreed to a deal that would prevent the shutdown of the federal government.  The deal consists of $38.5 Billion dollars in cuts, mere crumbs given the multi-trillion dollar budget and over $14 Trillion in accumularted federal deficit.  Given the mandate given to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and the House Republicans we could have done better.  Much better.

To be honest, Boehner caved when the Democrats balked about defunding Planned Parenthood.  Many Democrats accused the Republicans as "trying to kill women" and other childish attacks just so the Democrats can continue to murder innocent babies.

And the Republicans were not forceful enough in defunding Obamacare, which takes affect today, now that the federal government has a FY2011 budget.   Let's not forget that the Republicans took back the House on the promise to do what ever was necessary to defund and repeal Obamacare.  By not agreeing to defund Obamacare, Congress kicked the can down the road to the upcoming debt ceiling and FY2012 budget debates.  The longer we stall, the harder it is to remain strong and focused on the mission at hand.

As Congress marches towards its next battle of deciding whether or not to approve an increase to the federal debt ceiling, let's hope Boehner & Co. use more force and reject an increase.  Republicans must realize that we cannot continue to make deals where the interest on the national debt paid daily exceeds the cost of the deal made to appease the Democrats.  Remember, we are dealing with crumbs here.  Mere window dressing.

Harvard Prof: Obama Leading Us Back to Carter's 1970s

Not what you might expect coming out of New England, but Harvard professor Niall Ferguson said that President Obama is leading the nation back to former President Carter's 1970s.  That period in the late 1970S was riddled with high inflation, stagnant high unemployment and high energy costs. 

Niall Ferguson points out that that ""Best case, we're about to rerun the 1970s, only with Barack Obama instead of Jimmy Carter in the White House."

The premise behind Ferguson's claims stem from the rampant printing of money, and the rise of China as the world's dominant manufacturing power.  He questions the ability of the dollar to remain as the world's reserve currency.  As the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing ends in June 2011, there is a big unknown as to what the interest rates will be, and guess they will skyrocket up to counter-act the rise in wholesale prices. 


The rise of oil prices, part of it attributed to turmoil in the Middle East, but the other due to the low valuation of the dollar draws concern.  The high price of oil creates a huge uncertainty amongst American families and addes to the hidden cost of goods shipped around the globe.  Thus consumers are getting pinched twice - at the pump and at the store register. 

This does not bode well for consumer confidence, of which could be controlled if the Federal Reserve stopped overprinting money, and the U.S. Congress controlled fiscal spending.  The latter is a must, but highly doubtful with a Democratically-controlled Senate and President Obama in the White House.  They are armed to reject whatever the Republican-controlled House proposes, and have already have.  Look at what they have done with the passage of funding cuts of Planned Parenthood and NPR.  They have rejected them as unjust and barbaric. 

Until the political elite gets a grip on reality that the U.S. economy is on the verge of fiscal Armageddon, a return of Carter's 1970s is looking more likely a reality every day.  With the passage of every day and inaction by both chambers of Congress to use a hatchet to the fiscal budget and deficit, the U.S. careens down a road of no return where it just might be too late to save the republic.  Let's hope that is a wrong assessment, and that the political elite wake up to reality.

Rand Paul Delivers

Freshman Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) proposed a deficit-busting budget that eliminates the deficit within five years. 

Rand Paul's proposal would eliminate $4 Trillion from the deficit. The plan would cut non-defense discretionary spending down to 2008 levels. It would cut defense spending by six percent. It would eliminate four expensive and unconstitutional departments - the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development.

Here Rand Paul along with Senate colleagues Jim Demint (R-SC) and Michael Lee (R-UT):



Here is Rand Paul on FoxBusiness with Judge Andrew Napolitano talking about the deficit-busting budget.



Rand Paul and his tea party caucus have done more in two months than most Senators have done in two or terms.  See the Senate bill here. 

Obama's Deficit Problem

Nobody likes being lied to, but when President Obama speaks on the federal deficit by blaming his predecessor, you better know the facts.  Clearly, Obama either is that clueless or he is in serial denial.  But the facts report a different picture.

Yesterday Obama, while talking about the deficit stated:

Making these necessary investments would be hard at any time. But it’s that much harder at a time when resources are scarce. After living through a decade of deficits and a historic recession that made them worse, we can’t afford to kick the can down the road any longer. So the budget debate that we’re having is going to be critical here in Washington. And so far, most of it’s been focused almost entirely on how much of annual domestic spending — what in the parlance we all domestic discretionary spending — that we should cut. There’s no doubt that cuts in discretionary spending have to be a part of the answer for deficit reduction.

Based on this statement, it is obviously clear that Obama fails to see what affect this programs are having on the federal deficit.  The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports that Obama is directly responsible for the tripling deficit since he assumed office in January 2009.  And pictures don't lie.

 

GOP-Controlled House Passes $1.2 Trillion Budget

The GOP-controlled U.S. House passed a $1.2 Trillion budget yesterday 235-189.  The budget which covers every federal department funds the government through the end of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends September 30th. 

The House passed the bill, with $61 Billion is cuts which cut from Planned Parenthood, the new federal health care reform bill, domestic and foreign aid, partial school funding and even cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.  The cuts came forty percent lower than the initial goal of cutting $100 Billion from the budget, but did cut $100 Billion from what Obama has proposed.

What was not cut was funding for the Department of Defense funding of NASCAR advertisements.  The Pentagon spends $7 Million annually to fund NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Randy Newman and other partnerships.  Given the U.S. federal deficit is over $14 Trillion, Congress should have passed the amendment to defund the Pentagon's funding of NASCAR.  The funding is not necessary to protect the United States, the core reason why the Department of Defense is funded in the first place.  Instead, Congress gave the green light to the funding by rejecting the Democrat submitted amendment 281-148, with Republicans largely voting against the measure. With this vote, the Republicans dropped the ball and failed to live up to their fiscal conservative calling card.

Obama on the Deficit

How to Cut Federal Spending: Idea #1