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Obama to America: Bend Over and Cough 3.17.10

Larry Elder — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:12:18 +0000

Americans resoundingly reject ObamaCare. What, then, accounts for the Democrats’ determination?

Democrats believe health care is a right. Start with that premise and everything else makes complete sense. Rights — whether the right to vote or to freely assemble or to avoid self-incrimination — exist independent of popular feeling, poll numbers or even, in the case of health care, the Constitution.

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Tea Party Brings Energy, Change and Tumult to GOP 3.12.10

Michael Barone — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:06:50 +0000

The political commentariat doesn’t know what to make of those thousands of Americans who have spontaneously thronged to tea parties and town hall meetings to oppose the big government programs of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders.

Some on the left attack them as fascists or racists, though evidence of that is sorely lacking. David Brooks in The New York Times compared them to the New Left campus radicals of the 1970s, which comes closer to reality but doesn’t quite ring true.

From OutloudOpinion – For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com

Paul Ryan And The Republican Vision 3.12.10

Jonathan Chait — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:49:53 +0000

Conservatives are very excited about Paul Ryan and his budget roadmap. Liberals are also excited, for very different reasons, about Ryan and his roadmap. This tells you that the roadmap is a highly clarifying document.

Ryan and his conservative allies believe that the roadmap clarifies the fact that they have laid out a plan to put the United States on sound fiscal footing, and the Democrats have not. I find this claim highly unconvincing, as does the well-respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which has a report showing that Ryan’s plan would dramatically increase the budget deficit. Ryan disputes the some of the claims in the report. CBPP stands by its report and plans to issue a response to Ryan’s response tomorrow.

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Liberals And Illegal Immigration 3.12.10

Jonathan Chait — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:48:51 +0000

There’s s general tendency among people of all ideological stripes to adopt a can’t-do posture toward activities they just don’t want the government to do. And some things are genuinely difficult for governments to do. Building a border wall isn’t one of them. $49 billion over 25 years, or $2 billion a year, isn’t that costly.

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VERSACE: Making the most of those rising oil and gas prices

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

OPINION/ANALYSIS: Over the past several columns, I’ve been tracking economic data and discussing how it ties together. This week, let’s take a look at a ripple effect of an increasing commodity price and let’s use oil as an example. I chose oil because of the perceived direct impact to consumer wallets in the form of gas prices but also because of the indirect impact on a number of items that people use or consume every day. I say indirect because oil can have many uses through a number of petrochemical formulations. Per the Paleontological Research Institution, petroleum-derived products include fertilizers, …

Obama and the L-Word The president’s habit of telling untruths 3.9.10

Matt Welch — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:39:25 +0000

Here’s how predictable the president’s slippery relationship with the truth has become: Hours before the State of the Union address, Washington Examiner reporter Timothy P. Carney posted a “pre-emptive fact check” that, among other things, prebutted any presidential claim to have “stopped the revolving door between government and corporate lobbying.” As it happened, that night Barack Obama made an even bolder (read: less truthful) claim: that “we’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.”

From OutloudOpinion – For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com

Obama vs. Insurers and the People, Part 2 3.8.10

David Limbaugh — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:00:47 +0000

President Barack Obama obviously has no qualms about slandering people or industries that interfere with his agenda. In the same creepy manner he defamed the Cambridge Police Department without benefit of the facts, he is scapegoating the insurance companies based on his distorted version of facts.
In the past week, he has ratcheted up his war on insurance companies, who, he apparently figures, must be destroyed if he is to accomplish his Utopian dream of socialized health care. He made them the focus of his wrath again, in his umpteenth health care speech, Monday in Philadelphia. Even the White House blog, in a post titled “Moving Forward to Put the American People Ahead of Insurance Companies,” frames this debate as between insurance companies and the people.

From OutloudOpinion – For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com

Of Rules And Rulers 3.8.10

Investor's Business Daily — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:22:14 +0000

Just as they are having a hard time unloading two other poor products – health care overhaul and reconciliation – on the public, party bosses will also find it difficult to sell the promise of fixes. A few in Congress will go along with the ruse. And there will be pockets of support in the public. But anyone who falls for the promise of fixes wants to be duped.

The Democratic leadership is about to force the country to take a ride it doesn’t want to take – a journey from which there is likely no return. Voters may get rid of the offending legislators in the fall elections, but by then it will be too late.

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Obama Bribes, Threatens, and Rewards Congress to Pass Health Care 3.5.10

Dick Morris — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:46:06 +0000

All aspects of President Obama’s Chicago-style tactics are on display as he cajoles, bullies and bribes the House to pass his health care proposals despite the overwhelming public rejection with which they have been met.

To some, he offers bribes. Rep. Jim Matheson, endangered species — a Utah Democrat — succeeded in getting his brother Scott appointed to a federal judgeship. Matheson voted against Obamacare when it first passed the House. With his new-found winnings in his pocket, he now professes to be undecided. He faces a clear conflict between his district and his conscience on the one hand and the bribe to his brother on the other. The conscience will probably lose.

From OutloudOpinion – For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com

Labor and Delivery: An obscure nominee and a hinge moment for the Obama presidency. 3.8.10

John B. Judis — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:16:28 +0000

In a few weeks, Barack Obama will have a chance to do something he hasn’t done particularly well during his first year in office: successfully defy his opponents and, at the same time, reassure his most loyal supporters. At issue is the fate of Craig Becker, one of Obama’s nominees for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Last month, Becker was denied a vote on his nomination when Senate Democrats failed to overcome a GOP filibuster. Now, the Senate’s coming Easter break will give Obama an opportunity to put Becker on the NLRB via recess appointment. And there are good reasons–among them, the need to restore some semblance of functioning government in Washington–why he shouldn’t pass it up.

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