Paul Ryan: I‘d ’Consider’ a Vice Presidential Run
[TheBlaze.com]
Posted on March 25, 2012 at 2:57pm by 
Madeleine Morgenstern
CBS – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Sunday he “would consider” running in the vice presidential slot on the 2012 Republican ticket, though is “so focused” on his current job that it’s “not even” in his mind.
Ryan, chair of the House Budget Committee, unveiled a budget plan this week that has been praised by GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney — and been dubbed the “Romney-Ryan budget” by top Obama administration adviser David Plouffe.
“I’m so focused on my job in Congress. If I wanted to be president or vice president so badly I would have run for president. I don’t — so I didn’t,” Ryan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Still, Ryan wouldn’t entirely close the door on the No. 2 spot when pressed by host Norah O’Donnell.
“I would consider it but it’s not even something in my mind because it’s a decision someone else makes at a later time,” he said. “It’s a bridge I haven’t gotten close to having to cross so in the meantime I think it’s important to do my job.”
Coming Soon: The Commercials that Obama Fears
[American Thinker]
March 14, 2012
By Ed Lasky
President Obama knows that every public statement he makes is recorded and lives forever on the internet. That is cause for serious worry. The best campaign ad to run against Obama is one that uses his own words — and those of the officials he has empowered — against him. When it comes to high gasoline prices, this is a target-rich environment.
Two new polls show that Americans’ opinion of Barack Obama has taken a dive. The Washington Post headline “Gas Prices sink Obama’s ratings on economy” zeroes in on the impact of high gas prices on his political prospects. A New York Times/CBS poll released the same day shows a similar dramatic decline and states that Obama is heading into the general election on “treacherous political ground” and also chalks up at least part of the decline to much higher prices at the pump over the last few months.
High gas prices are a particular vulnerability of Obama’s since they affect so many people so many times a week — especially in those battleground states where people are forced to drive long distances. Each of those signs is free advertising for the Republicans. They can’t be explained away by Barack Obama’s friends in the media.
A Balanced Budget Consensus
American [Spectator.org]
Posted: January 28, 2012
The Tax and Spend Spectator
By Grover G. Norquist from the December/January issue
It is central to a free society that every man owns his own soul. Thus the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion.
A free society must not live in fear of the state: hence the Second Amendment.
We do not trust democracy or the separation of powers to protect freedom of religion or of the press, or the right to keep and bear arms. In those cases, the Constitution was specifically amended to highlight the danger and protect us.
Then where in the U.S. Constitution, designed primarily to limit the power and scope of the federal government, is there a limit to the size and cost of the state?
Did everyone in Philadelphia just assume this was understood? Sort of the way they forgot to mention property rights–because everyone assumed they were assumed?
For at least 30 years now, conservatives have been working to enact a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to the federal Constitution to prohibit or limit Congress’s ability to borrow money.
Christie Endorses Romney Ahead of GOP Debate
[FoxNews.com]
Published October 11, 2011
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, just one week after definitively announcing he will not run for president in 2012, endorsed Mitt Romney for the job Tuesday afternoon.Christie, at a news conference in Hanover, N.H., described the endorsement as an “easy decision.” He cited Romney’s experience in the private and public sectors, saying he “brings the best of both” to the job.
“America cannot survive another four years of Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney’s the man we need to lead America and we need him now,” Christie said.
The announcement came just hours before the Republican candidates were set to gather for a debate nearby at Dartmouth College. In securing the support of Christie, Romney will have at his side a tough-talking governor who during his two years in office has built a reputation as a fiscal hawk not shy about taking on the public employee unions.
New New York Times Boss, Same as the Old New York Times Boss
BigJournalism.com
Weinergate and Sarah Palin have dominated this space the last couple of days, but another story with major media implications is that Jill Abramson will replace Bill Keller as the New York Times executive editor beginning September 6th. The headlines have been boasting that Abramson is the Times‘ first female boss since the paper’s inception, but this shake-up is hardly progressive: Abramson was raised in New York, is Harvard educated, has little new media expertise (if any), and has a long history of liberal bias in her reports. She’s a daughter of the old, biased, liberal MSM.
The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto was quick to point out this incredible excerpt from the NYT article announcing the change:
Ms. Abramson said that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, she considered being named editor of The Times to be like “ascending to Valhalla.”
“In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion,” she said. “If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth.“
Scary.
Taranto then goes on to demonstrate that Abramson has a history of “trying to tear down” the Times‘ competitors, most notably Fox News.
Newsbusters, which has documented dozens of examples of liberal bias in Abramson’s past, focused a post on Abramson’s support of Anita Hill, the one-time Clarence Thomas colleague who bears major responsibility for the fiasco that was Thomas’s SCOTUS confirmation hearings.
Obama Appointees to Hear Healthcare Challenge
Newsmax.com
By Andra Varin
The third member of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court Appeals panel hearing arguments Tuesday in Richmond, Va., was appointed by President Bill Clinton.The hearing marks the first time an appeals court considers the constitutionality of the new law, which critics call Obamacare, USA Today reported.The paper said the judges were chosen by random by a computer program. They are Andre Davis and James Wynn, both appointed by Obama, and Diana Gribbon Motz, appointed by Clinton.
At issue is the provision in the law that says people must have health care insurance by 2014 or face a tax penalty. Virginia challenged that portion of the law, saying that Congress was exceeding its power to regulate commerce.
USA Today said one federal judge has upheld the provision but another declared it unconstitutional. The matter is expected to eventually end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Sebelius: Yes, we’re double-counting Medicare savings (WOW!)
HotAir.com
Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) pins down HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on one of the most controversial budget tricks in ObamaCare — the $500 billion cut in Medicare that supposedly goes for both cost control and to fund other parts of the program. Medicare’s own actuary blew the whistle on this sleight of hand in August of last year, which makes this admission by Sebelius a no-brainer:
In her first appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee since the health-care law passed, Kathleen Sebelius responded to a line of questioning by Republican Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois about whether $500 billion in Medicare cuts were used to sustain the program or pay for the law.
The GOP Is on Probation
BigGovernment.com
Posted Nov 8th 2010 at 8:04 am
by Jamie Radtke
For nearly two years, the tea parties have warned the Ruling Class there would be serious consequences to ignoring the will of the people, and that day finally arrived this past Tuesday, Nov. 2. The tsunami was felt at all levels of government as a majority of House, Senate and Governor races were won by candidates who had substantial support from tea party voters. Previously the tsunami had been felt within the GOP when tea party voters ousted many incumbent and “establishment-preferred” Republicans in primaries.
Now it is important that Republicans read the right message in the tea leaves: “You are on probation!”
It seems paradoxical that a political party could win such commanding victories, yet be held in such low regard by voters. A recent NYT/CBS poll (10/26) found the favorable rating for the Republican Party was 41% and a recent AP poll (10/18) pegged the job performance approval rating for Congressional Republicans at 28%. As my parents always used to say, “trust must be earned” – and it is earned with actions, not pledges.
Republicans have failed us miserably in the recent past by failing, among other things, to curb spending and debt, reform entitlements, or tackle illegal immigration. In fact, they have bloated spending, increased debt and expanded entitlement programs.
Republicans cannot afford to play politics at the margins, focus more on maintaining their power rather than changing Washington, or return us to the business-as-usual approach of “plodding along.” It isn’t often that one can claim to speak for the entire tea party movement without swift rebuke, but I feel confident in saying that the tea parties will not tolerate timid or self-motivated politics.
The stakes could not be higher. Americans are threatened with a disastrous fiscal collapse unless immediate and drastic action is taken to address the underlying causes. Neither major party has had the political fortitude to offer such a plan. The Republican Pledge to America released in September was plainly inadequate. The tea parties demand courageous action – now.
Foley Considers Legal Challenge After Malloy Seizes Edge in Connecticut Governor’s Race
FoxNews | Associated Press
Published November 05, 2010
AP – Nov. 3: Democrat Dan Malloy, left, and Republican Tom Foley, both candidates for Connecticut governor.
HARTFORD, Conn. — Republican Tom Foley said Friday a re-count might be needed to get an accurate tally of the vote in the Connecticut governor’s race and left open the possibility of a legal challenge after a late count in Bridgeport gave Democrat Dan Malloy the edge.
Foley said he was not ready to concede, even after the results from Bridgeport showed Malloy had won the state’s largest city by more than 13,000 votes. If those number hold, that would give Malloy a victory statewide of more than 5,000 votes — well above the 2,000 margin needed to trigger a recount.
Foley said he wants to meet with officials to discuss the problems in Bridgeport, where a ballot shortage forced some residents to stand in long lines Tuesday night or vote on photocopied ballots.
“We need to understand more about how Bridgeport got to these numbers,” he said, adding how “the number in Bridgeport has been moving around so much.”
He later said: “We are being laughed at around this country.”
Foley said his campaign would review the numbers before deciding whether to take legal action.
Bridgeport officials announced the vote totals after working through the night to hand count the ballots.
Obama Tells Left-Wing MoveOn: I Will Fight GOP (So much for working towards WILL of voters!)
Newmax.com
President Barack Obama may have expressed humility during his conciliatory news conference Wednesday over the shellacking he took in the midterm elections, but just hours after speaking to the nation, he made it very clear in a phone call to left-leaning activist group MoveOn that he is not willing to compromise his core beliefs.
“We always knew bringing about change in Washington wouldn’t be easy, and it might get tougher in the days ahead,” Obama told the liberal organization’s supporters a day after Republicans won the House in a landslide. “The message I took away from the elections is very simple: The American people are still frustrated. They still want change; we just have to work harder to deliver the change the American people want.”
Obama said he and activist organizations like MoveOn must work harder pushing the progressive agenda “until every American sees real change in their own lives . . . We didn’t sign up for doing what was easy, we signed up for doing what was right,” he said of his policies to fix America. “We are going to continue to take all the time it takes –– and all the effort it takes –– to get our country back on track.”
Obama wants MoveOn to keep the spirit of hope and change alive because it helps him translate that spirit into accomplishment.
“To those who began the journey with me almost four years ago, think about how far we’ve come,” Obama said. “Think about the ups and downs we went through during the course of the campaign. There were times when folks counted us out and we always came back. The same thing is going to happen over the next two years, and the next six years.”
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Republican Leaders Challenge Obama to Work With New Congress After Vote
Bloomberg
Republican leaders in Congress challenged President Barack Obama and Democrats to “pivot in a different direction” to reduce government spending and create jobs after Republicans captured the House and gained at least six Senate seats.
House Republican leader John Boehner, who will become speaker in January, and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell said at a news conference today they hope Obama and Democrats in Congress will heed the voters’ desire that they change course and find bipartisan solutions to growing government debt and persistent high unemployment.
Boehner, of Ohio, said that during a telephone call last night he and Obama “discussed working together on the people’s priorities: cutting spending, creating jobs, and we hope that he will continue to be willing to work with us on those priorities.”
The Battle for America 2010: Election Day Results
PajamasMedia.com
Well, here we go. The first polls have now closed, in Indiana where they close at 6 pm Eastern. So we will be getting hard numbers soon. Keep an eye on IN-9, where the Democrat incumbent, Baron Hill, has been particularly noxious toward the voters. Geraghty says he’s heard from folks who’ve seen exits, and — get ready for this — “If this holds, we win everything.” That’s according to one GOP source who has seen the exit poll numbers.
As hard numbers roll in, we’ll update. I’ll be checking in from Gov. Rick Perry’s election watch party near Austin. It should be a very interesting night.
* * * * * * * * * *
You can follow the raw vote totals and results in Indiana here, and Kentucky here.
Update 3:34 PDT: Ed Driscoll here, taking over for Bryan temporarily — he’ll back in just a bit. Here are the very early and very raw numbers, which include the Drudge exit polls and early returns from Twitter. Take these — particularly the exit polls — with an enormous grain of salt:
Arkansas: Boozman (R) defeats Lincoln (D)
Ohio: Portman (R) defeats Fisher (D)
North Dakota: Hoeven (R) defeats Potter (D)
Wisconsin: Johnson (R) defeats Feingold (D)
New study shows ObamaCare subsidies potentially five times higher in first year than predicted
HotAir.com
posted at 3:13 pm on October 21, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
printer-friendly
In passing ObamaCare, Democrats argued that it would provide a net relief to the budget deficit in its balance of new taxes and fees, drastic cuts to Medicare Advantage, and the subsidies it would provide to Americans making $88,000 a year or less. A new study commissioned by Families USA, a group that supports ObamaCare, shows that the Democrats and the CBO badly miscalculated the level of subsidies provided. In the first year (2014), 28 million Americans would have eligibility for more than $110 billion, outstripping the Congressional/CBO estimate by almost 600%:
Families USA commissioned The Lewin Group to use its economic models to estimate how many individuals would benefit from the new premium tax credits in 2014 and the value of the dollars going to help pay for insurance (see the Methodology on page 12 for more details). We found that an estimated 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for the tax credits in 2014, and that the total value of the tax credits that year will be $110.1 billion.
The new tax credits will provide much-needed assistance to insured individuals and families who struggle harder each year to pay rising premiums, as well as to uninsured individuals and families who need help purchasing coverage that otherwise would be completely out of reach financially. Most of the families who will be eligible for the tax credits will be employed, many for small businesses, and will have incomes between two and four times poverty (between $44,100 and $88,200 for a family of four based on 2010 poverty guidelines). However, because the size of the tax credits will be determined on a sliding scale based on income, those with the lowest incomes will receive the largest tax credit, which will ensure that the assistance is targeted to those who need it the most.
Allegedly unintelligent Republicans make fools of Democrats [Reader Post]
FloppingAces.net
Posted by: DrJohn @ 11:35 am, October 20, 2010
It’s been quite the 24 hours.
Liberals just love trying to beat up on Sarah Palin. They repeatedly question her intelligence. And she just wipes the poop off the floor with them.
Mark Hemingway had a glorious article at the Washington Examiner and I am posting the whole thing:
So the Los Angeles Times reported on a recent Sarah Palin event:
Seeking to channel the sign-bearing, flag-waving enthusiasm of the “tea party” movement into ballot-box victories, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told hundreds of supporters Monday they couldn’t “party like it’s 1773″ until Washington was flooded with like-minded conservatives.
Immediately, Palin’s critics leapt into action. Here’s The Daily Kos himself on Twitter:
Sarah Palin to supporters: “Don’t party like it’s 1773 yet”. is.gd/g7rRb…. She’s so smart.
And here’s PBS’s Gwen Ifill, moderator of presidential debates, also on Twitter:
Sarah Palin: party like its 1773! ummm,
Blogger Cuffy Meigs rounds up all kinds of similar “HAHAHAHAHA! She’s so stupid!” reactions to Palin’s reference to 1773. So what did happen in 1773? Oh, right.
That, ummm, would be the Boston Tea Party.
Moulitsas and Ifill were in such an orgasm to insult Palin they stuck their feet not only into their mouths but up where the Sun doesn’t shine as well. Idiots.
Nicely done, Sarah.
Boehner: Vote to Adjourn Is a Vote to Raise Taxes
NEWSMAX.com
Appearing at the weekly Republican leadership press conference, Congressman John Boehner, R-Ohio, decried Democratic leaders’ intent to adjourn for the fall without allowing an up-or-down vote to stop all of the tax increases set to take effect on Jan. 1.
Boehner issued the following statement:
“A vote to adjourn this Congress without an up-or-down vote to stop all the tax hikes is a vote to raise taxes and destroy more jobs. American families and small businesses deserve better. This Congress has a chance to help end uncertainty for families and small businesses by stopping all the tax hikes set to take effect on January 1. If Democratic Leaders leave town without stopping all of the tax hikes, they are turning their backs on the American people.
“With the Pledge to America, Republicans are offering a specific plan to help create jobs, which includes stopping all the tax hikes. This is an agenda that could be voted on today if the speaker [of the House] will allow it.
© All Rights Reserved.
Great news: $111 million in stimulus money to L.A. produces … 54 jobs
HotAir.com — GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY?
(That’s costing taxpayers over 2,000,000 per job!)
posted at 10:37 pm on September 16, 2010 by Allahpundit
printer-friendly
Via Patterico, who’s trumpeting the gruesome per-job breakdown. Actually, to be precise, the money produced 54.46 jobs, so it’s almost half a job better than it sounds. And in fairness, some of the waste is doubtless due to mismanagement by California’s horrible municipal governments.
Who knows? With a solid leadership at the local level, this hundred mil could have produced, say, 70-80 jobs.
DPW has received $70.65 million and created or retained 45.46 jobs, though they are expected to create 238 jobs overall (the fraction of a job created or retained correlates to the number of actual hours works). LADOT has been awarded $40.8 million and created or retained 9 jobs, though they are expected to create 26 jobs overall. Overall, the Departments have received $111 million in federal stimulus funds out of the $594 million the City has been awarded so far and created or retained 54.46 jobs.
“I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million in ARRA funds. With our local unemployment rate over 12% we need to do a better job cutting the red tape and putting Angelenos back to work,” said City Controller Greuel. “While it doesn’t appear that any of the ARRA funds were misspent, the City needs to do a better job expediting the process and creating jobs. We’re going to continue to audit how these funds are spent, to ensure that they are expended quickly and correctly. I’m pleased that since our auditors completed their field work, the Departments have begun to implement the changes we identified to help get this money out the door faster.”
Common Sense vs. the CBO on ObamaCare
From: BigGovernment.com
Both the House and Senate versions of the healthcare reform bill would require employers above a certain size to provide health insurance for their workers or face some sort of penalty. The House bill that passed last month would require employers to pay an 8% additional payroll tax for not insuring their workers. The Senate bill now under consideration is much less punitive, requiring employers who do not provide insurance to pay a $750 annual fee per full-time worker, but only if one or more of their employees receive a government subsidy in the insurance exchange.
Quite a difference between the two bills. By way of example, take an employee earning $50,000 per year. Under the House bill, an employer who did not provide insurance would be required to pay an additional tax of $4,000 to the federal government. Compared to only $750 under the Senate bill – a difference of more than 500%.
Now consider whether it would make more sense financially for the employer to provide insurance or pay the penalty. In our example above, under the House bill it would probably be close to a break-even if the employer is providing coverage only for the employee. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average monthly insurance premium for private industry employers across all worker categories was $317.63. Or just over $3800 annualized (compared to the $4,000 penalty). However, it would be quite a bit more expensive if the employer was providing family coverage (BLS data: $737.68/mo – $8850/yr).
Obviously under the Senate bill it would be far less expensive for the employer to just pay the $750 penalty rather than provide the insurance.
Obama’s Approval Continues to Crater!
From: FloppingAces.net
Posted by: Mike’s America @ 7:18 am 11-24-2009
The reason? Perhaps voters feel he makes Jimmy Carter look competent by comparison!
The biggest gap yet in the Rasmussen approval index:
Get your update to the daily Gallup index which also has Obama in a steep downward trend.
What’s driving this? One factor may be growing disapproval of the Democrat’s plan for a government takeover of health care. The latest Rasmussen poll shows 56% oppose the plan while only 38% support it.
____________________________________________
Staffer Comment: Call it sticker shock, bait and switch, disguised socialism, marxism in a can, you got what he paid for, buyer’s remorse… I didn’t vote for him; we conservatives saw this coming, we made loud noises but the “state controlled media” called the MSM got your eyes and eyes!
Poll: Dems will lose votes next year if ObamaCare passes — or if it doesn’t
From: HotAir.com
posted at 7:34 pm on November 23, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Obamacare Not Wanted
The political repercussions for Congressional Democrats of not passing a health care bill could be severe. Our newest national survey finds that Democrats lead 46-38 on the generic Congressional ballot. But asked how they would vote if no health care bill is passed respondents split 40-40 between saying they would vote Democratic or Republican in next year’s election.
In some sense the Democrats may be in a damned if you don’t or damned if you do position on health care. Asked how they would vote for Congress next year if a health care bill with a public option is passed respondents said they would go Democratic by a 46-41 margin, still more narrow than before any hypotheticals about health care outcomes were introduced into the questions…-
Congress, We Don’t Trust You With Health Care At All
From: BigGovernment.com
by John Loudon
Just because you have a gun, you do not necessarily need to shoot it. Just because you have a vote in Congress does not mean you need to grab power.
While both Parties have their internal battles, Republicans who are wondering why their numbers are waning need look no farther than the current health care debate for clues. When Democrats roll out a Federal takeover of private health insurance, the Republican response should not be less of a government takeover, it should be a total federal government withdrawl from regulating private health insurance. The point is simple, although lost on many.
When we think about insurance in our lives, from life, home, auto, professional liability and health, which one is the biggest source on consternation? Guess what? Health insurance is the only one in which the federal government has significantly intruded. Even that is currently regulated at the State level. However, the many Federal government restrictions that complicate the health insurance marketplace are the primary reason competition cannot thrive.
The biggest perversion of the healthcare marketplace dates back to the forties when only businesses and not individuals were allowed a tax deduction for health insurance premiums. While we are now dependent upon our employers to provide for this need, we would never expect them to provide for our home insurance. Most of the additional federal intrusions that perverted the market came in the federal acts including ERISA, COBRA and HIPPA including the provision barring insurance purchasing across state lines.
So now that we have Democrats and Republicans tossing out a variety of federal solutions, it is only fair to acnowledge that the Republican plan under the architecture of Congressman Roy Blunt, at least leans more toward market-based solutions. It offers some creative strategies but nevertheless leaves in tact most of the previous federal intrusions. The Democrat proposal on the other hand, is a vile package of power grabs and payoffs, primarily to big labor and Senator Louisiana Landrieu. Still the leftist American oligarchy of Obama, Reid and Pelosi continues to push this menacing bill forward against plummeting poll numbers for both the bill and themselves. It seems passing any bill at all is more important than what kind of bill they pass.
As the debate rages on, it is clear that the American public does not trust the Congress, period. The army of lobbyists and special interests negotiating various carve outs, mandates and other special privileges into the 2000 page nightmare has Americans justifiably in nearly full rebellion. While both Parties argue over which bill ought to be on the table they are trying the patience of an American public that wants no bill at all.
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