The day’s top political news:
No Help for the Blue Dogs
Another false ObamaCare ‘saving’ is exposed. No wonder Congressional Democrats are muzzling Republican mailings telling the “folks back home“ the truth.
When Blue Dog Democrats revolted over the cost of ObamaCare 10 days ago, the White House quickly came up with a plan to give them political cover: a government board that would tell Congress how to restrain costs. Well, so much for that, as the Congressional Budget Office has now exposed this idea as another false economy. But it’s worth understanding the reason because it also exposes the core problem with government-run health care.
Over the weekend CBO director Douglas Elmendorf said the proposal will only save $2 billion over the next 10 years. That’s less than 0.2% of the total cost of the House bill, adding that “In CBO’s judgment, the probability is high that no savings will be realized.” Ever.
Road Map: Passing Appropriations This Year Gets Trickier
What’s another missed deadline among friends? Some days, selling really bad schemes to normal Americans Democrats see as victims, gets hard, no matter how large your majorities are.
Congressional Democrats have already given themselves a little more time to fight it out on health care.
So it probably won’t surprise anyone when they blow past the Oct. 1 cutoff date for funding the federal government, having sent only a handful of spending bills to the president’s desk.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_14/roadmap/37279-1.html
AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened -- another case of Democrat lawmakers getting special deals.
Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.
Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad's two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota.
Robert Feinberg, who worked in the Countrywide's VIP section, told congressional investigators last month that the two senators were made aware that "who you know is basically how you're coming in here." You don't say 'no' to the VIP," Feinberg told Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99N143G3&show_article=1
Opinion:
Democrats are desperate to muzzle Republicans and prevent normal America from learning the truth.
Free speech is as forbidden by Democrats on Capitol Hill as Republican participation in honest debate.
A heavy hand of brutal censorship is blocking Congressional Republicans from telling the people their represent the truth about the Democrat healthcare conspiracy.
I cant blame them. The Obama care debate is something Democrats are apparently ashamed to reveal. For senior citizens, passage of the Democrat scheme would mean facing denial of care as euthanasia actually becomes healthcare policy.
Democrat assault on the First Amendment began about a week ago when the House Franking Office blocked Republicans from sending to the folks at home, a diagram showing how convoluted the Democrat plan is, and makes obvious the bureaucratic entanglements that will complicate healthcare for all of us should the Democrat scam pass.
Make no mistake about it – if Democrats unite, this bill, as horrible as it is, WILL pass. Republicans don’t have the votes to block it and protect American healthcare.
The bottom line of this debate is obvious and unambiguous – it’s a choice between quality healthcare and Obama’s “healthcare on the cheap’ that imposes government-run healthcare – a scheme that will block quality care as wide spread as the current Democrat effort to block the truth reaching grass root America.
Democrats block lots of phrases – “government-run healthcare” is not allowed – and, I repeat, “Democrat” is blocked as well. The Franking Committee – dominated entirely by Democrats – requires Congressmen to refer to the Obama scheme as “public option”. Pelosi-speak that represents lying to the American public.
There’s nothing Republicans can do about the Democrat muzzling. Democrats have the power and can run roughshod over any and all opposition.
The censorship issue should make abundantly clear to those not yet aware, that we all have an obligation to do all we can to replace Democrats on Capitol Hill.
A GOP release explained the censorship issue:
“What we proposed as language was as follows, ‘House Democrats unveiled a government-run health care plan,’” Congressman John Carter (R-Tx) said. “Our response from Franking was, ‘You cannot use that language. You must use, ‘The House majority unveiled a public option health care plan,’ which is Pelosi-speak or ‘just last week the House majority unveiled a health care plan which I believe will cost taxpayers…’”
“I would submit to you this is a free speech issue, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,” Carter said. A highly-placed Hill staff source tells HUMAN EVENTS this is the new policy being enforced by Democrats. Republicans will be forced to use the Democrats’ version of language describing their attempted government takeover of healthcare on their official communications with their constituents or they will have to pay for the postage personally. Here's more of the story:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32856
Democrats are terrified grass root America will learn what the Obama healthcare conspiracy really means. No wonder.
We should all be terrified as well by the open censorship of GOP language – free speech. Democrats shut down honest discussion by Republicans today – what might they do to all Americans if we don’t stop them?
Buddy
The day’s top blogs:
1.
An Unraveling Presidency
Bruce Walker
As I noted four weeks ago, Scott Rasmussen's daily presidential tracking poll has shown a very steady increase in the number of Americans who have a "very unfavorable" view of Obama's presidency and a corresponding, though less dramatic, decline in the number of Americans who have a "very favorable" view of his presidency. As of July 27, the negative gap between these two groups of highly motivated voters was ten percentage points. Polls which focus only on softer "favorable" and unfavorable" opinion still appear to keep the Obama Presidency in safe political water, but that is misleading for several reasons.
First, while Republicans were playing dead and the Leftist media were presenting Barack and Michelle on every magazine cover, buying a pet, and all the other oh-so-loveable things that a young family with cute children moving into a new home, no one had given Americans a reason to doubt that the president was a pleasant, well spoken, sensible man. He followed the script well. His conscious attempt to enact an FDR style "One Hundred Days" of change simply overwhelmed all political opposition by a combination of political muscle, timid voices of opposition, and the perception of dramatic popular support.
Now following his umpteenth address to the nation and his frequent press conferences, his pretense of bipartisanship is gone. In short, Obama has descended rapidly from the Magnificent to the Monotonous. He says the same sorts of things over and over again, but there is really nothing new in Obama at all. Throwing vast amounts of tax dollars into the economy, more or less willy-nilly, in an effort to "stimulate" growth is an old, failed policy. His solemn assurances that reforms will not take away, for example, a patient's right to choose his physician, when there are several conflicting versions of health care reform floating around which seem to indicate otherwise, increasingly look like political grease to slide legislation through Congress.
Second, no presidency can be completely scripted. When Iranian people revolt against a truly revolting government, one that lies to its own Moslem voters about election results and shoots women protesters in the streets, what can a man like Obama do? Americans expect leadership, but Obama is in no sense of the word a leader. When a police force that is probably as politically correct and racially sensitive as any in the nation arrests a black professor, Obama makes a sincere, and profoundly silly and dangerous, comment. Inviting the policeman and the professor to the White House for a beer stops the bleeding but does not hide the scar. The more helpless and hopeless Obama appears, the more unhappy Americans will be with him as a leader (his personal popularity, though, will probably remain high much longer.)
Third, as I have noted often in the past, Americans are conservative. The Battleground Poll has put the percentage of Americans who are conservative at around sixty percent. Pointedly, when Ed Goeas after the last Battleground Poll, last November, broke the numbers down even more precisely -- What percentage are social conservatives? What percentage are "fiscal conservatives? What percentages of Republicans or independents or Democrats were conservative? -- nothing changed. However the data are examined, Americans are, overwhelmingly, conservative: not moderate, not liberal, not unsure, but conservative. See page 12 and page 13 of the post-election survey.
Fourth, Barack Obama is simply not very knowledgeable, and it increasingly shows. This is not a rap on his intelligence or his efforts in school. Prestigious schools have become, in areas like law and social sciences, little more than re-education camps. His gaffes were ignored by the Leftist media during the campaign. If Dan Quayle had talked about our fifty-seven states, it would have been fodder for late night jokes forever. But the more Obama talks, the more obvious it becomes that he simply knows very little. As an example, he recently said that winning the war on terrorism would not be like World War Two, when Emperor Hirohito signed articles of surrender. Yet as even an amateur student of history knows, Hirohito did not sign the articles of surrender. The famous event on the Battleship Missouri was watched by the whole world. It was recorded on film. The Emperor was conspicuous by his absence. It was rather like last year when Obama talked about "the bomb" that fell on Pearl Harbor or his May 2009 comment about his uncle who helped liberate Auschwitz.
(NOTE: Obama came to office as the most inexperienced and unprepared President in history. With the willing compliance of a media that signed on as an actual element of his campaign, Obama enjoyed early days of “wine and roses” – a time in which the media would protect him. Now the media is beginning to slip away – or at least normal America hopes it is.)
The more Americans see of Obama as president, the more they see a plastic ideologue who is utterly out of step with their vision of America and who lacks the basic knowledge to govern a nation.
Republicans have won nothing yet (they must first decide to stand for something and then articulate that position clearly.) It is encouraging that a number of Republican senators have announced they will vote against Judge Sotomayor, taking a principled stand in a losing battle.
It is vital to keep the lines between the parties bright and clear. Our champion, our leader, will come if conservatives show gumption. Few, if any, presidents have been as truly vulnerable as the man in the White House now.
Bruce Walker is the author of two books: Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie, and his recently published book, The Swastika against the Cross: The Nazi War on Christianity.
Page Printed from:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/an_unraveling_presidency.html
2.
Analysis: July has been disaster for Obama, Hill Dems
Sam Youngman
The Obama administration, which was flying high a month ago after pushing through a climate change bill in the House, has since been dealt a series of setbacks and is struggling to regain its footing.
After the climate bill passed 219-212 on the afternoon of June 26, there was a feeling that the White House could get much of its agenda through Congress in 2009.
A month later, there are doubts that President Obama will even achieve his No. 1 priority of healthcare reform, much less cap-and-trade, immigration reform and a regulatory revamp of the financial sector.
Since late June — when Democrats defied conventional wisdom and passed the climate bill by their self-imposed deadline — the stubborn realities of Washington have blunted and possibly even derailed the president's signature domestic efforts.
(NOTE: Obama and Democrats have only themselves to blame. Obama’s incredible slander of police officers and now the censoring of Republican language, invite distractions from his real goals. In both cases, Obama and his White House handlers, allowed personal bias and fear grass root America will learn the facts, to distract them from the primary thrust of what they are attempting to do.)
White House is frantically working to get healthcare reform back on track after missed deadlines in August. Obama had initially said he wanted both chambers to pass legislation by the August recess and sign a bill by Oct. 15. He now says he wants to enact healthcare reform by the end of the year.
And while the president continues to put his critics "on notice," targeting GOP lawmakers, the Republicans are quick to note the obvious — Obama has comfortable majorities in both the House and Senate.
Obama enjoyed immediate successes in office, signing into law his $787 billion stimulus package in just 28 days. He also helped shepherd a pay equity measure and a children’s healthcare bill through Congress.
But in the past few months, as unemployment rates have spiked, Republicans have increasingly found traction in lambasting Obama’s agenda and fanning the flames of division within the Democratic Party. Obama did score a significant victory last week on eliminating Senate funding for F-22 fighter jets, but the triumph was overshadowed by Democratic infighting on healthcare.
Despite a number of former Democratic members and aides working in the Obama administration, Democrats on Capitol Hill have grown bolder in defying their party leader. Many centrist Democrats are worried that Republicans will have the upper hand in the 2010 elections.
Paul Light, an expert on the presidency and a professor at New York University, said the president's problems with Capitol Hill reflect "a miscalculation by the Obama administration on how political capital gets spent in Washington."
Light said that capital, even for a president who enjoys immense personal popular support like Obama, is spent a bit at a time on each initiative or piece of legislation.
"I think the Obama administration has been spending political capital at roughly the same rate the federal government spends money," Light said. "Eventually, it runs out."
Light quoted President Lyndon Johnson, who said that "if you don't get it done in six months, you're not going to get it done."
One of the reasons Obama has spent so much capital, aside from his ambitious agenda, has been his willingness to cede so much control to Congress, Light said.
While lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are allies of the president, his political capital is not necessarily a priority of theirs.
To that end, Light says, Obama has made a mistake in making Pelosi his "broker," spending his political capital but not always to his benefit.
The other misstep that has bogged down the administration on healthcare specifically is Obama's inability to communicate effectively to the American people, Light said.
While it is shocking to consider that Obama is anything less than one of the best communicators in modern political history, when it comes to healthcare, he simply has not been able to make the sell to people who do have health insurance.
And Wednesday night's primetime press conference was a "disaster," Light said.
Light said that for the president to regain political momentum, he needs to reclaim his agenda from Congress and start connecting with the public.
"He needs to take this over and own it," Light said.
3.
Republicans Wage Floor Games
Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff
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House Republicans, unable to accomplish much legislatively these days, have found themselves increasingly adept at tripping up Democratic floor plans and dragging out debate.
From the banal procedural maneuver to resolutions condemning Democratic Members to the practice of reading lengthy legislative text on the floor, the GOP believes it has found one small way to frustrate — or at least attempt to frustrate — a powerful Democratic majority.
“There’s no question about it, [the additional restrictions] just completely energize the minority. I would think if you are going to run this place, let the minority have their say and defeat the amendments and call it a day,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) said. “They have all the votes, so what’s the point of silencing? It seems really counterproductive to me.”
Roskam pointed to the GOP’s protest last week when Members hijacked the floor for three hours to give one-minute speeches that included the phrase, “where are the jobs?” The effort was part of the larger GOP strategy to derail Democratic health care plans, which Republicans charge ignore their ideas.
“As the majority continues to deny outlets for other perspectives, that energy goes somewhere,” he said.
During the 110th Congress, Republicans were occasionally able to employ procedural tactics to trip up debate or force Democrats to pull legislation from the floor.
Over the two-year period, Republicans were able to use procedural tactics to pass legislative alternatives 25 times. By contrast, Democrats were only able to pass 14 such motions in the 12 years while they were in the minority.
But the GOP victories have had a price.
In the 111th Congress, Democrats decided against taking any chances and restructured the rules to severely limit GOP interference. Democrats have cited the Republicans’ floor antics as a key reason for tightening the reins.
And Democratic leaders recently rejected a deal offered by Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that would have allowed Republicans back into the debate over this year’s spending bills. The argument:
Democrats said they weren’t convinced that the GOP would stick with a promise to limit floor debate.
Minority Leader John Boehner has led GOP efforts to use procedural tactics to stall and disrupt the Democratic majority’s agenda.
It’s not surprising. On nearly a weekly basis, Republicans attempt another maneuver, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Last month, for instance, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stalled the passage of the Democratic energy bill for more than an hour by reading most of a 300-page amendment as a protest to a late-night addition to the bill.
Republicans’ other tactics have included the introduction and reintroduction of a series of resolutions designed to embarrass top Democrats. The targets have included Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). In each case, the resolutions were quickly tabled by Democrats.
“They are wasting their time annoying people and accomplishing nothing,” Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said. “They are angering their own Members.”
(NOTE: Of course Barney Frank is a notorious liberal, and played a major role in the financial fiasco that sent our economic affairs into chaos last fall. He hardly represents normal America and is a consistent spokesman for the extreme left.)
“Point of privilege, ‘I did not get my amendment in order.’ Please,” poked Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).
While the Republicans’ persistence has frustrated Democrats, Frank acknowledged that the minority has few tools at its disposal in a chamber where majority rules.
“When you are in the minority, there’s not a lot you can do. So minorities tend to do the same frustrating things,” Frank said.
To be sure, Democrats engaged in many of the same floor games when they were out of power. And just like the Democrats found in their minority days, Republicans often find their efforts produce limited returns.
On June 18, Republicans demanded a series of votes on amendments to the Commerce, Justice and science appropriations bill. Members were on the floor for eight hours for a record 53 votes in one day.
Democratic leadership was able to capitalize on the floor time to whip the vote on the cap-and-trade climate change bill that narrowly passed the House a week later.
And last Thursday, when Republicans tried to hijack the floor by forcing the clerk to read a lengthy amendment aloud, Democrats cried foul. Democrats attacked the move as political, charging that the GOP was stalling floor procedure only to allow Boehner and other Members to attend the GOP leader’s fundraiser.
Boehner’s office denied the charge.
Still, Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (Ga.) suggested that Members aren’t going to give up trying to make themselves heard, saying, “Our whole issue is so we can bring issues to the floor that are important to the American people and get votes on them.”
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