Rand Paul’s immigration plan: Border security before probationary legal status
[HotAir.com]
posted at 12:01 pm on March 19, 2013 by Allahpundit
The AP claimed this morning that Paul was set to endorse a path to citizenship in his speech today. Not so, countered conservatives on Twitter: Read his prepared remarks and you’ll see that citizenship is never mentioned. Which is true, and also irrelevant.
The whole point of Paul’s speech is GOP rapprochement with Latino voters; he spends nearly two-thirds of it extolling Latinos’ work ethic, reminiscing about his friendships with Latinos growing up in Texas, name-checking Jaime Escalante and Pablo Neruda, and of course citing the ancient canard that Latinos are really just Republicans who don’t know it yet. (He mentions abortion and gay marriage as particular areas of overlap.
In fact, younger Latinos support legal abortion in all or most cases and nearly 60 percent of Latinos overall support state recognition of gay marriage.) There’s no earthly way that Paul, having made a conciliatory pitch that florid, would ultimately turn around and insist that illegals be forever barred from seeking citizenship. In his op-ed on immigration today at the Washington Times, he actually refers to them at one point as “undocumented citizens.”(!) When pressed on the issue in the Q&A after his speech, he said this:
So no, he won’t create a special path to citizenship to help move illegals quickly through the green-card process but there’s a path to citizenship through normal channels in the end. Then again, with the singular exception of Jeb Bush, whom no one believes is serious anyway, every prominent Republican politician I can think of supports a path to citizenship eventually. That’s my whole point: If you’re trying to build goodwill with Latinos, there has to be. But what about the rest of Paul’s plan? Quote:
The first part of my plan – border security – must be certified by Border Patrol and an Investigator General and then voted on by Congress to ensure it has been accomplished…
With this in place, I believe conservatives will accept what needs to come next, an issue that must be addressed: what becomes of the 12 million undocumented workers in the United States?
My plan is very simple and will include work visas for those who are here, who are willing to come forward and work…
Occupiers Arrested With Weapons, Bomb Making Materials
[Breitbart.com]
December 31, 2012
NY Post: The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.
Morgan Gliedman — who is nine-months pregnant — and her baby daddy, Aaron Greene, 31, also had instructions on making bombs, including a stack of papers with a cover sheet titled, “The Terrorist Encyclopedia,’’ sources told The Post yesterday. People who know Greene say his political views are “extreme,” the sources said. Morgan Gliedman, daughter of Realtor Susyn Schops Gliedman and prominent doctor Paul Gliedman, was busted at this building with her OWS boyfriend. Cops found the stash in the couple’s West Ninth Street home Saturday when they went there to look for Gliedman, 27, who was wanted for alleged credit-card theft.
A detective discovered a plastic container with seven grams of a white chemical powder called HMTD, which is so powerful, cops evacuated several nearby buildings. Police also found a flare launcher, which is a commercial replica of a grenade launcher; a modified 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun; ammo; and nine high-capacity rifle magazines, the sources said. Cops also allegedly uncovered papers about creating homemade booby traps, improvised submachine guns, and various handwritten notebooks containing chemical formulas. The couple’s arrest Saturday was a sharp turn from their privileged backgrounds.
GOP Infighting, Tea Party ‘Purges’ Break Out over Fiscal Cliff
[Newsmax.com]
Tuesday, 04 Dec 2012 12:10 PM
- Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolinian with a following among small-government conservatives, lashed out at House Speaker John Boehner, saying his $2.2 trillion deficit plan would cost jobs and mushroom the debt.
- Two first-term Republican Tea Party stalwarts – Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan – were removed by party leadership from the powerful budget committee in what Huelskamp called “a vindictive move.”
- A top House conservative, Jim Jordan of Ohio, was scheduled to unveil his own fiscal cliff plan on Tuesday but has backed off in the wake of Boehner’s offer to President Obama.
Only the deceit is transparent
[FloppingAces.net | Reader Post]
November 19, 2012
Barack Obama promised his administration set a new standard in transparency:
I will also hold myself as president to a new standard of openness …. Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.
Obama even issued a memo
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Rep. Gohmert Nominated Newt Gingrich to Replace John Boehner as Speaker
[CNSNews.com]
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) nominated former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to replace current Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday.
Gohmert reportedly felt it was time to halt “business as usual” in Congress. His nomination of Gingrich did not receive a second and House Republicans voted to retain Boehner as speaker.
Thank you to our defenders of freedom
[HumanEvents.com]
November 12, 2012
By: Debbie Lee
It is with great respect, admiration and deep understanding that I write this letter to honor each and every Veteran that has served or is serving our blessed Country! I understand and appreciate all who have given so much for me, so that I could enjoy my daily freedoms.
I was able to sleep well in the safety of my bed last night, because you served.
I was able to pray before my meal this morning in a public place without fearing arrest, because you gave.
I am able to freely speak my mind and voice my opinion without fear of retaliation against me or my family, because you cared.
I am able to stand up for what I believe in and not have a Dictators thoughts and opinions forced down my throat, because you stood up to the call to defend.
I am free to worship the one true God who created me in His image, because you were selfless in your actions.
To each one of you I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are my heroes and I want to remember and honor you this Veterans Day. Not a single day goes by that I don’t think of the sacrifices you and your families have given!
U.S. Piled Up More Debt Since Election Day ’08 Than Under All Presidents From Washington Through Clinton
[CNSNews.com]
November 6, 2012
(CNSNews.com) – The federal government has now piled up more debt since Election Day 2008 than it did under all presidents from George Washington through Bill Clinton, according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.
When the polls opened on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, the total debt of the U.S. government stood at $10,556,177,748,045.21 (the number it had reached by the close of business on Nov. 3, 2008). As of the close of business on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, the most recent day reported by the Treasury, the total debt of the U.S. government stood at $16,206,129,028,709.29.
State troopers deployed as tensions boil at gas stations in Sandy’s wake
[FoxNews.com]
By Greg Wilson
Published November 01, 2012
People line up to fill gas containers at the New Jersey Turnpike’s Thomas A. Edison service area Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, near Woodbridge, N.J. After Monday’s storm surge from Sandy, many gas stations in the region are without power and those that are open have very long lines. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
State troopers have been deployed at all gas stations along the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, where dwindling gasoline supplies are causing frayed nerves as the region endures its third full day with massive power outages.
Frustration with gas supplies topped the list of issues causing tensions to boil over in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, the states hardest hit by power outages in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Residents jockeyed for fuel at the few stations still pumping, searched store shelves in vain for batteries, struggled with sporadic cell phone service and found themselves unable to buy necessities at supermarkets.
Shock poll: Obama could lose Illinois, Romney leads in Chicago suburbs
[DailyCaller.com]
Political Reporter
President Barack Obama could lose his home state of Illinois in November, a new poll shows.
A poll conducted by Illinois-based pollster and political strategist Michael McKeon found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 49 percent to 37 percent in Cook County, the home of Chicago. That puts him ahead by a far thinner margin than expected in a county he should be winning handsomely.
Cook is the most Democratic leaning county in the state. It is also the most populous.
Those numbers do not bode well for the president.
“He has to come out of Cook County with a big lead or he’s gonna have problems downstate,” explained McKeon, who said that based on the numbers he had seen, Obama polled only in the forties in downstate Illinois.
CIA’s Hayden: Romney Right On Iran
[Newsmax.com]
By Jim Meyers and John Bachman
October 23, 2012
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden tells Newsmax that Mitt Romney was right — and President Obama wrong — when the GOP candidate said during the Monday debate that a nuclear Iran and not a terrorist attack was the biggest threat to America’s national security.
The retired 4-star Air Force General also says he is “not very hopeful” that negotiations with the Iranians will dissuade them from developing nuclear weapons. And he predicts that a President Romney would “review” Obama’s exemption of some of Iran’s major trading partners from imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Labor report reflecting falling jobless rate stirs campaign firestorm
[FoxNews.com]
Published October 05, 2012
Sept. 28, 2012: Job-seekers hand in resumes during a job fair at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. (AP)
In the homestretch of a presidential race where every minute shift in the economy can translate into potential votes, both campaigns took aim Friday at the Labor Department’s estimate that the jobless rate fell below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years.
President Obama’s team touted the numbers as a sign the economy is improving. Mitt Romney, along with several economists, expressed deep skepticism about the report.
The data even elicited a conspiracy theory from former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who tweeted: “Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers.”
The Labor Department reported that the rate dipped in September from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. It was a glimmer of good news for Obama, who’s trying to recover from a disappointing debate performance and whose central argument is that the economy is moving in the right direction.
“This morning, we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since I took office,” Obama said at a Virginia rally Friday. “It’s a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. … We’ve made too much progress to return to the policies that led to the crisis in the first place.”
But skeptics pointed out that not only is 7.8 percent unemployment hardly a “real recovery,” but the report reflected an uptick in part-time jobs and the number of self-employed. Further, they stressed that there appeared to be a huge disconnect between the modest number of new jobs reported and the significant decrease in the unemployment rate.
The Labor Department, based on a broad survey of employers, said 114,000 jobs were added in September.
But the unemployment rate itself is based on a separate “household survey,” which showed a whopping 873,000 new jobs in September.
“This must be an anomaly,” former Congressional Budget Office director Doug Holtz-Eakin said in a snap analysis of the numbers. “It is out of line with any of the other data..”
Holtz-Eakin noted the household survey is smaller, suggesting it is not as reliable. He called estimate of 873,000 new jobs “implausible.”
He said the report was otherwise “solid,” but reflected “the economy is merely moving sideways.”
Liberal economist Dean Baker, with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, called the September rate drop “almost certainly a statistical fluke.”
“It is common to have large monthly changes in the employment numbers that are not consistent with other economic data. For example, employment reportedly rose by 649,000 in November of 2007, the month before the recession began,” he said in a statement. “Still, this month’s numbers almost certainly indicate that the unemployment rate is moving downward, even if the speed is considerably slower than the latest data indicate.”
Romney’s campaign quickly pointed out the number of people who have left the workforce has also helped keep the jobless rate down.
“This is not what a real recovery looks like. We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office,” Romney said in a statement. “If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent.”
The recovery has been tepid, but the president is trying to show that it’s at least improving. The Labor Department report showed the economy created 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated. Wages rose in September and more people started looking for work.
The revisions also show employers added 146,000 jobs per month from July through September, up from 67,000 in the previous three months. Still, the 2012 average of 146,000 jobs per month remains lower than last year’s average of 153,000 jobs per month.
The monthly numbers are subject to change. Voters will see one final jobless report on Nov. 2, just days before the election.
The increase in September was due in part to employment growth in the health care and transportation sectors. The unemployment rate fell from 8.1 percent in August, matching its level in January 2009, when Obama took office.
The decline could help Obama, who is coming off a disappointing debate performance against Romney. Stock futures rose modestly after the report. Dow Jones industrial average futures, up 30 points just before the report came out, were up 45 points after it was released.
The job market has been improving, sluggishly but steadily. Jobs have been added for 24 straight months. There are now 325,000 more than when Obama took office.
Still, many of the jobs added last month were part time. The number of people with part-time jobs who wanted full-time work rose 7.5 percent to 8.6 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Every Governor a Walker
American [Spectator.org]
By GROVER G. NORQUIST from the SEPTEMBER 2012 issue
Posted: October 2, 2012
THE TAX AND SPEND SPECTATOR
Republicans control 24 states. Where are the rest of our Scott Walkers and Bobby Jindals?
IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, the governor of Wisconsin has reformed public sector unions so that they can no longer withhold union dues from every worker’s paycheck; ended teacher tenure; required government employee unions to be re-certified each year; signed legislation that made Wisconsin the 41st state with “shall issue” concealed carry; cut over $800 million from the state budget; and expanded parental choice in education by removing the 22,500-student cap on the Milwaukee Parental Choice program and extending the program to include the city of Racine. The governor of Louisiana, elected in 2007 and re-elected last year, has helped usher Republican majorities into the state house and senate; signed legislation that gives more than half of the state’s students (380,000 out of 700,000 total) a voucher for the amount the state government spends per pupil; signed a strict ethics law; and moved government worker pensions to a blend of defined contribution and defined benefit.
But Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal are only two of 29 Republican governors. They are only two of 24 Republican governors who enjoy the company of Republican-controlled state legislatures. In theory, in two dozen states for 2011 and most of 2012, if the Republican governor, house speaker, and senate leader could agree on any particular reform, it would be the law of the land now. Why are we not reading about the groundbreaking Reaganite agendas passing in 24 states? Why are we not hearing the howls of the labor union bosses and trial lawyers in two dozen states?
Fraud concerns swirl around Florida’s unregulated absentee ballot brokers ahead of election
[FoxNews.com]
Published September 26, 2012
AP
Recent allegations of absentee ballot fraud in Florida have shined a light on the shadowy work of so-called “boleteros” – absentee ballot brokers who, in some cases, have been accused of cajoling, bribing and even forging the names of unsuspecting voters.
The most recent claim involves Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who hired an alleged “boletero” for his 2010 campaign. In Scott’s case, the campaign claims it did nothing wrong and indeed nobody has been charged. But the claim follows the arrest of a boletero in a separate case, and coincides with a wave of coverage and attention in the Miami-Dade, Fla., area surrounding what for authorities is an illicit practice.
Boleteros — translated roughly to mean ticket-person — assist in collecting absentee ballots and helping primarily elderly and disabled voters in filling them out. This can be entirely lawful, but sometimes these workers walk a fine legal line.
For many boleteros, it can be a profitable enterprise – with some guaranteeing votes in exchange for money, authorities say. They are particularly prominent in heavily Republican Spanish-speaking communities, like Hialeah.
Under Florida law, it is legal to assist voters in ensuring their absentee ballots are properly mailed. But it’s illegal to influence voters, request ballots on behalf of someone else and forge signatures. The state no longer requires witness signatures on absentee ballots, officials note, and many of the boleteros will illegally “follow the ballots all through the process.”
“This is a dirty business and unfortunately it’s become pretty common.”
- Joe Centerino, director of Miami-Dade’s Ethics Commission
GM is Alive and the Volt is Dead.
[RedState.com]
By: Ben Howe (Diary) | September 13th, 2012 at 06:00 PM
One of the talking points that Obama’s reelection campaign has been pushing is that “Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive!” It’s fair to say that the success of GM is a pretty important linchpin to his reelection case.
Something that Obama has not been running on is his failed attempts to force his green dreams on an unwilling public. You won’t see him selling bumper stickers about Solyndra or Fisker.
For Obama, his supposed successes and his actual failures merge into one story. Such is the case with the Chevy Volt, Obama’s green initiative and GM’s “moonshot.”
But these days even the Obama-friendly press is having trouble keeping up the act after the Volt halted production following their dismal sales of 21,000 vehicles since manufacturing first began. Honing in on the outlandish claims the administration & GM had made in the beginning that in hindsight are clearly unrealistic, the Washington Post Editorial Board ripped apart the administration on their failure to make their investment in the Volt worth the taxpayer’s while.
U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading
[CNSNews.com]
By Terence P. Jeffrey
September 10, 2012
Chicago Public Schools – [Editor: Here's a statistic I just heard from Rush. The average salary for a teacher in Chicago is $76, 000 Per Year excluding bennies. The average citizen in Chicago makes $48,000 Per Year. AND THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH A WHOPPING 16% RAISE! Also, 71 cents out of every new dollar taxes goes towards Public Union Pensions. Is that fair? Is it "social justice" when all this money produces results indicated in this story?]
(AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Seventy-nine percent of the 8th graders in the Chicago Public Schools are not grade-level proficient in reading, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and 80 percent are not grade-level proficient in math.
Chicago public school teachers went on strike on Monday and one of the major issues behind the strike is a new system Chicago plans to use for evaluating public school teachers in which student improvement on standardized tests will count for 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. Until now, the evaluations of Chicago public school teachers have been based on what a Chicago Sun Times editorial called a “meaningless checklist.”
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in reading and math to students around the country, including in the Chicago Public Schools. The tests were scored on a scale of 0 to 500, with 500 being the best possible score. Based on their scores, the U.S. Department of Education rated students’ skills in reading and math as either “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” or “advanced.”
Official Accounting: $10T Withdrawn From U.S. Treasury This Fiscal Year Alone
[CNSNews.com]
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)(CNSNews.com) – Although the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal government will spend $3.563 trillion in fiscal year 2012 and the White House Office of Management estimates it will be $3.795 trillion, actual withdrawals from the U.S. Treasury have already exceeded $10 trillion.
In fact, as of the close of business Wednesday, withdrawals from the Treasury equaled $10,201,615,000,000 for fiscal 2012, which began on Oct. 1, 2011 and will end on Sept. 30.
According to the Daily Treasury Statement–the official daily accounting sheet for the federal government—withdrawals from the Treasury exceeded $10 trillion this year on Aug. 30, when they rose from $9.903 trillion to $10.035 trillion.
How can this be?
Occupy Wall Street Shows up at DNC, Bashes Obama
[Reason.com]
Garrett Quinn | September. 4, 2012 4:34 pm
CHARLOTTE – The Occupy Wall Street movement has materialized in zombified form near the venues of the Democratic National Convention. In Marshall Park, a leafy city property complete with a shallow pond, a camp of approximately 50 tents has sprung up in typical Occupy fashion. It’s not as developed as some of the camps that appeared during the “American Autumn” but its occupants are cantankerous and disappointed with President Obama, much as they were almost a year ago.
When I visited their encampment, they were mustering for a march that focused on Bradley Manning and unmanned drone strikes. The Occupiers were maneuvering a close to life-sized replica of an unmanned drone that they would later parade through the police-lined streets like the statue of a saint on a Catholic feast day.
“People like Obama garnered support from a lot of people when he was running. Once he got into office he basically turned his back on the working class. He said he was gonna end the wars, he escalated the war in Afghanistan, he continued use of mercenaries in Iraq, he said he was gonna close down Gitmo. He hasn’t done that,” said Travis Cummins, 27, of Mobile, Alabama.
Michelle Obama leads convention campaign to rekindle the ’08 fire
[FoxNews-AP]
Published September 04, 2012
Michelle Obama will lead a Democratic convention program Tuesday aimed at rekindling that feeling her husband’s supporters had in 2008.
Amid an increasingly bitter presidential campaign and concerns about the state of the economy, a full roster of Democratic officials and activists will take the stage in Charlotte Tuesday evening to make the case for a second President Obama term. Just as in Tampa, the speeches are sure to include plenty of fiery accusations against the other side. And just as with the Republican convention, the speakers’ chief job is to sell their candidate to voters.
The enthusiasm in 2012 is not exactly what it was for the president’s history-making, world-rallying 2008 campaign. The president’s approval rating, according to Gallup, has dropped from nearly 70 percent when he took office to 45 percent at the beginning of September — with more Americans now disapproving than approving of his job performance.
Ryan on tap to deliver ‘hard truths’ in VP nomination speech
[FoxNews.com]
Published August 29, 2012
If Chris Christie lit a fire under Republicans last night, it’s now up to Paul Ryan to provide the fuel to keep it burning for what promises to be a hard-fought two-month battle to win the White House.
The Republican vice presidential candidate is teed up Wednesday to deliver the “hard truths” Christie talked about in his rousing keynote address on opening night. While Christie is known as the GOP fighter, Ryan is the point-man for budget-balancing solutions the party claims to represent.
The Wisconsin congressman has been quietly preparing his speech for days. Members of Ryan’s staff contacted by Fox News earlier this week said they couldn’t say precisely how long it would be, but that he has “teased” some of the ideas in it before.
Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is best known for his controversial plans to overhaul Medicare and the tax system. They are likely the kinds of “hard truths” Christie raised Tuesday night, as the New Jersey governor claimed Mitt Romney and Ryan would lead a “new era of truth-telling” in Washington.
Ryan Candidacy Puts Debts, Deficits Front and Center
[Breitbart.com]
by Wynton Hall 11 Aug 2012, 4:34 PM PDT
Liberals who are “giddy” at the prospects of Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan are in for a rude and sober awakening when they realize the strategic genius behind the decision.
Team Romney’s strategy? Lure the Obama campaign into attacking Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” deficit reduction plan as a means to frame the 2012 election as a battle over the economic consequences of debt and deficits. If Obama strategists David Axelrod and David Plouffe take the bait, Mitt Romney will win.
The Lie That Should Sink Obama
[PersonalLiberty.com]
Posted: August 1, 2012
by Chip Wood
If there is one sentence that determines who will win this year’s Presidential election, I hope it will be Barack Obama’s incredible statement that “you didn’t build that.”
In just four short words, Obama confirmed his bias against America’s business builders and job creators — the men and women who slaved and sacrificed to help make us the wealthiest, most productive and most generous Nation the world has ever known.
This week in Congress: Tax battles, Iran sanctions, GSA scandal
[HumanEvents.com]
By: Hope Hodge
7/29/2012 10:25 AM
In August, Congress will still be locked in a partisan showdown on whether to renew Bush-era tax rates for all Americans, or just some of them.
The Senate last week passed Democratic tax legislation that conformed to President Barack Obama’s plan to extend the rates to only Americans making $250,000 or less per year; now the Republican-controlled House will have a chance to vote the bill down. Meanwhile, a House vote also is expected on its version of the extension, which continues the tax cuts for all income brackets.
Legislators also are hoping to finalize a new round of Iran sanctions that meets the approval of both houses. The sanctions legislation passed months ago in the House and Senate, but some are concerned that trade loopholes authorized by the Obama administration could keep the final package from winning House support.
NBC Desperately Scrambles to Claim Romney Told Olympians ‘You Didn’t Build That’
[Newsbusters.org]
By Kyle Drennen| July 24, 2012 | 13:34
In an article for NBCNews.com’s First Read on Monday, Domenico Montanaro eagerly proclaimed to readers: “Mitt Romney has criticized President Obama for his ‘you didn’t build that’ line, when it came to businesses….But in 2002, during his speech at the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics….Romney made a similar argument about Olympians.”
Romney simply told the Olympic athletes – many in their teens and twenties – that they achieved their individual success with help of parents, coaches, and their local communities. However, by Monday night, The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, filling in for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, wildly misconstrued the comment to slam Romney: “Got that, Olympians? You didn’t build it….It’s like David Axelrod went back in time and put the precise words he needed into Mitt Romney’s mouth.”
An update to the First Read article added: “A Republican strategist sends over this response: ‘The Obama Campaign is comparing the government to a loving parent? What happened to Julia?’” Montanaro felt compelled to clarify: “For the record, the post did not originate with the Obama campaign but an NBC archive search.” Based on Klein’s reaction to the Romney hit piece, is there any difference between NBC News and the Obama campaign?
Norquist: A Vote for Obama is a Vote for $500 B Tax Increase
[Newsmax.com]
Monday, 23 Jul 2012 07:37 PM
Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist fired back against criticism that his anti-tax pledge is getting in the way of a tax compromise by Congress, arguing in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV that his pledge makes possible real tax reform and that contained in any compromise is a hidden tax increase.
Norquist’s group organizes the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. The pledge, which Norquist says he dreamed up when he was 12 years old, was endorsed by Ronald Reagan upon its inception in 1986, and has been signed by more than 1,100 state office holders as well as 238 current House members and 41 current Senators.
Norquist has come under fire from the first President George Bush and others about the rigidity of the pledge and Senate Democrats believe they have come up with a plan to get around the anti-tax pledge by letting all tax cuts lapse Jan. 1 and then reinstating most of them days later, an idea which Norquist has said “doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
The plan shows efforts by lawmakers to include new federal revenues in an attempt to avoid the “fiscal cliff” in January. All Bush-era tax cuts expire at that time and automatic spending cuts to the military kick in.
Norquist told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview that the pledge “stops a tax increase, so if somebody tells you the pledge is getting in the way of getting something done what they mean is it’s getting in the way of a tax increase.”
CWNews Posted Comments