All posts by Chuck Norton
This is what I want MY president to be saying
This is likely the best moment from the December 15th debate
Newt is right about the language he used as well. It must rise to the degree of the problem. Romney just doesn’t get it.
Newt rips the UN:
Other good moments
Michelle, I am so fond of you, but really, context matters and this isn’t the first time:
As a lawyer, Bachmann hits a home run in this statement:
Santorum Schools Paul On Iran Policy:
Bachmann To Ron Paul: I’ve Never Heard More Dangerous Foreign Policy:
Bachmann: Obama Put Reelection Above American Jobs:
Perry Praises 10th Amendment In Defense Of Texas Energy Policy
Contractors: Obama Administration Pressed to ‘Soften’ Job-Loss Estimates From Mining Rule
More lies and more concentrated efforts by this administration to kill jobs and how many times has the administration used this tactic to try and silence contractors, insurance companies and corporations?
The Obama administration pressured analysts to change an environmental review to reflect fewer job losses from a proposed regulation, the contractors who worked on the review testified Friday.
The dispute revolves around proposed changes to a rule regulating coal mining near streams and other waterways. The experts contracted to analyze the impact of the rule initially found that it would cost 7,000 coal jobs.
But the contractors claim they were subsequently pressured to not only keep the findings under wraps but “revisit” the study in order to show less of an impact on jobs.
Steve Gardner, president of Kentucky consulting firm ECSI, claimed that after the project team refused to “soften” the numbers, the firms working on the study were told the contract would not be renewed. ECSI was a subcontractor on the project.
The government “‘suggested’ that the … members revisit the production impacts and associated job loss numbers, with different assumptions that obviously would then lead to a lesser impact,” Gardner testified before a House Natural Resources subcommittee. “The … team unanimously refused to use a ‘fabricated’ baseline scenario to soften the production loss numbers.”
Bill Whittle: Voter Guide to Republicans (Video)
New ad from Newt Gingrich
Wisconsin Teachers Union targets teachers who support Governor Walker
Thugs…
Obama Administration buys bio-fuel for the Navy at $15 a gallon!
Cronyist ripoff….
Navy Buys Biofuels for $15 Per Gallon From Stimulus-Linked Firm
A California company has been hired to provide 450,000 gallons of advanced biofuels to the U.S. Navy – the “single largest purchase of biofuel in government history,” according to the Navy – at $15 per gallon, or about four times the market price of conventional jet fuel.
The Institute for Energy Research unearthed the purchase in a recent post on its website:
Last week, the Navy signed a contract with two biofuel companies to purchase 450,000 gallons of advanced biofuels at $12 million to assist in President Obama’s goal to establish a domestic biofuels industry and to advance it in ways that do not require Congressional approval. Of course, given the Navy’s mission, they claim to be pursuing biofuels to ensure adequate fuel in the future without relying on crude from the Middle East or other overseas sources that may be a threat to our national security. While this purchase is only a drop in the bucket compared to the Navy’s annual usage of more than 670 million gallons, their goal is to fuel a normal Navy mission with a 50-percent blend of biofuels and gasoline by 2016.
The company selling the fuel to the Navy is called Solazyme. The company’s corporate board includes “strategic advisor” T.J. Glauthier, who “advises companies dealing with the complex competitive and regulatory challenges in the energy sector today.”
Glauthier was the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operations Officer of the Department of Energy from 1999 to 2001, meaning he has experience dealing with energy issues on both sides of the regulatory equation.
Also of note: Glauthier served (pro bono) on President Obama’s White House Transition Team, where he specifically worked on the energy provisions of the stimulus package, according to Solazyme’s website. Solazyme itself landed a $21.8 million stimulus grant to build a biofuel refinery.
Read more – LINK
Totally Amazing Rick Perry Interview – “#71”
This is a must see.
Newt Gingrich’s Incredible Interview with Sean Hannity
Welfare Fraud: The Story of a Wal-Mart Casheir
Christine Rousselle at The College Conservative:
I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.
Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:
a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
b) People using TANF (EBT Cash) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.
c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.
d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.
Read more – LINK.
Romney doesn’t get Reagan.
REAGAN
Mitt Romney’s latest comments about not having strident criticisms of President Obama is an indicator of how he is absorbed by a beltway mentality that is the antithesis of Ronald Reagan. Romney also said in multiple interviews that people in the primary are making bombastic comments that by implication they do not believe.
Bombastic. You know like when Mitt Romney told Rick Perry that one cannot be too against illegal immigration.
What statements has Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum or John Huntsman or Herman Cain said about Barack Obama that was not demonstrably true?
This thinking comes from the “beltway” idea that most voters lean liberal, that if we go directly after Democrats foolishness and corruption that they will send voters into the Democrats arms; as if the Democrats never say bombastic things about Republicans such as
Republicans want to bring back Jim Crow
Republicans want dirty air and water
Republicans hate old people
Republicans hate children….
…All of which are common fare from the Democrat Party leadership.
The numbers show that in 2009 and 2010 that independents responded to the traditional/conservative TEA Party message in a big way, including women and Catholics in nine of the top ten swing states.
Here is a novel idea Mitt Romney, instead of saying things that you think beltway independents want to hear, how about you show us that you have a core and tell us what you genuinely believe, assuming of course there is anything. David Axelrod says that do not have a core. You are proving him correct.
As far as President Reagan, he savaged the left, he savaged Jimmy Carter. Reagan did it with the truth because he understood that truth is indivisible.
Reminder to the ‘Civility Police’: Reagan Savaged Carter and the Democrats With the Truth
In this piece I quote President Reagan and show you his speech at Liberty Island where he blasted the left and Jimmy Carter. Please click the link above for the video.
The Carter record is a litany of despair, of broken promises, of sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. Eight million — eight million out of work. Inflation running at 18 percent in the first quarter of this year. Black unemployment at 14 percent, higher than any single year since the government began keeping separate statistics. Four straight major deficits run up by Carter and his friends in Congress. The highest interest rates since the Civil War, reaching at times close to 20 percent, lately they’re down to more than 11 percent but now they’ve begun to go up again. Productivity falling for six straight quarters among the most productive people in the world.
Through his inflation he has raised taxes on the American people by 30 percent, while their real income has risen only 20 percent. The Lady standing there in the harbor has never betrayed us once. But this Administration in Washington has betrayed the working men and women of this country.
Gallup: Americans Say Reagan is Greatest President
Here is more of Ronald Reagan being strident.
Reagan’s short stories: Leftist college student vs. capitalist. The story of the Little Red Hen
Reagan didn’t just go after the failed apparatchiks of the leviathan state, he went after the core of their belief system.
And the elite media didn’t like it either….
Reagan vs. Obama
Media Research Center: How the Elite Media Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy Reagan’s Legacy
EU plots revenge against Britain
This is exactly the kind of behavior that American conservatives and UKIP have warned would happen.
The EU is undemocratic, has ignored referendums, the most powerful positions are unelected, the EU has governed against the will of the people, and recently it has behaved more and more as a tyrant.
Here is the latest example:
BRITAIN last night faced a revenge attack for David Cameron’s EU snub when a senior Brussels bureaucrat promised a new deluge of damaging red tape on UK business.
European economics commissioner Olli Rehn insisted that the EU could override the Prime Minister’s veto to slap more regulation on the City of London.
And he vowed that Brussels would ignore Mr Cameron’s bid to protect British finance and British jobs.
Finnish-born Mr Rehn said: “If this move was intended to prevent bankers and financial corporations in the City from being regulated, that is not going to happen. We must all draw lessons from the financial crisis and that goes for the financial sector as well.”
In a further threat, the commissioner added: “The UK’s excessive deficit and debt will be the subject of surveillance like other member states, even if the enforcement mechanism mostly applies to the euro-area member states.”
His remarks were being seen last night as the opening salvo in a new offensive by Brussels chiefs to isolate and bully Britain as punishment for Mr Cameron’s defiant stand against a further EU power grab.
And they provoked outrage among Tory MPs last night following fears that more EU tax and regulation on the City could cost up to 500,000 jobs across the UK.
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell said: “This unelected commissioner has helpfully reminded us exactly why we need to be outside the new fiscal union.
“Britain needs to be outside the EU, like Switzerland, to keep our banks and other financial institutions outside the clutches of bureaucrats like Mr Rehn.
“If he is such an economic genius, why is the continent that he helps to preside over heading down a debt vortex? He should be worrying about his own maths, not ours.”
Stephen Booth, of the Euro-sceptic think tank Open Europe, said: “The threat of EU regulation on the City of London remains.
“The British Government must continue to push to prevent any further unnecessary and unwanted regulation from Brussels.”
Mr Rehn yesterday spoke of his “regret” that Britain was refusing to join the new “fiscal union” economic bloc championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Prime Minister used Britain’s veto at a summit in Brussels to reject EU treaty changes to give Brussels sweeping new economic powers that could hit the City. He was given a massive cheer by Tory MPs at Westminster yesterday for his stand.
Glenn Beck’s Double Standard About Newt Gingrich
by Political Arena Editor Chuck Norton
As we have all seen in the elite media by some in the chattering class, the long knives are out for Newt Gingrich. Every time he has ever thought out loud it will be used against him and taken out of context. The “establishment” types are in a panic because they are afraid that Newt will shake things up as he did when he helped balance the budget and pass welfare reform.
“Put ourselves in a room and balance the budget by force of will; lock the experts out.” – Newt Gingrich
As for Glenn Beck the former liberal and alcoholic.
Newt is not the same man that he used to be.
I saw him on Sean Hannity some time ago. Newt said that he had come to realize that his old friends in academia, like this crew in the White House, are as big a threat to the United States as the Soviet Union ever was. Because, as Newt told Sean, “If these people are allowed to get their way this country will look nothing like the one we grew up in.”
Ever since that time Newt has had a moral clarity that I personally find to be astonishing. Newt is not the only one to become more accurate and conservative with age. He wrote a book about rediscovering his faith and has made films about President Reagan and Pope JP II’s efforts to fight communism.
Rick Perry, Ronald Reagan, Michelle Bachmann, Ron Silver, Chris Hitchens, Star Parker and yes even Glenn Beck all used to be Democrats and/or leftists. Heck, even Erskine Bowles embraced free market economics. He said it had something to do with him becoming a grandfather.
Glenn Beck is no longer a liberal neo-secularist and is no longer an alcoholic. So why can Glenn Beck can have a spiritual and philosophical awakening and Newt Gingrich cannot?
Economic Freedom & Quality of Life
Newt’s comments on Freddie Mac in 2008 (video)
This video is being clipped and edited to make it look like that Newt was a part of why Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae failed, but when you look at his complete comments in context you can see that Newt’s remarks were spot on.
Cronyism in America (video)
Professors Don Boudreaux (George Mason University)
Susan Dudley (George Washington University)
Bradley Schiller (University of Nevada-Reno)
Discussion the causes & solutions to Cronyism in America.
Produced by Sean W. Malone
http://www.economicfreedom.org
Voice over by Bill Catlett
GOP Lawmakers Push to Keep U.S. Funds Out of Euro Bailouts
This is all well and good, but unfortunately the Federal Reserve is printing up more money to loan to the Euros totally on their own. The loans are not likely to ever be paid back. It seems that the purpose of the loans is to delay the Eurobank collapse until after the election. Ben Bernanke is out of control and must be fired. The only way out of a Eurobank collapse is to cut Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and perhaps Spain off from the Euro and send them back to their old currencies once again.
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are moving to block the International Monetary Fund from using U.S. money for European bailouts, as talks intensify across the pond over how to stanch the debt crisis.
Some U.S. lawmakers want their concerns addressed as part of the feverish end-of-year budget talks. On the House and Senate side, lawmakers have introduced legislation to wall off U.S. taxpayer money from playing any role in averting a European meltdown.
“It’s time to stop the bailouts and start restoring fiscal discipline to our own economy,” Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said in a statement, as he and 25 other senators introduced an IMF bill Friday.
A similar bill on the House side has been on the table since the summer, though it has not moved out of committee.
But lawmakers are sharpening focus on the issue as European leaders discuss what future role the IMF can play in stabilizing the region. They are talking about lending billions to the IMF to create a backup fund for future crises, in addition to pressing the European Central Bank to expand its role.
Asked whether the U.S. would put up any money as part of the latest proposal, the White House on Friday assured skeptics that whatever plan the Europeans come up with will not involve more U.S. money.
“Our position hasn’t changed, which is that the IMF has substantial resources and that American taxpayers are not going to have to make any more commitments to the IMF,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The U.S. involvement with the IMF also works differently than U.S. support of organizations like the United Nations. Rather than appropriate money on an annual basis, the U.S. has what amounts to a bank account with the monetary fund. While paying the U.S. interest, the IMF can then use that money on deposit to finance lending elsewhere.
But Republicans are trying to claw back U.S. money that already has been obligated — particularly a $108 billion line of credit the U.S. approved in 2009.
The Senate bill introduced this week would rescind that line of credit, and ban U.S. involvement in any European IMF bailouts until those countries bring down their debt to a certain percentage of their economy. The lawmakers argue that, considering the U.S. is the largest contributor to the IMF, its funds have already gone toward the massive and sustained Greek bailout effort.
On the House side, a bill from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., would take similar steps.
Largest Corporations Spending More on Lobbying Than Taxes
Some while laying people off. Revolting.
Rick Perry Receives Endorsements of War Hero Marcus Luttrell & Multiple Medal of Honor Recipients
War heroes Marcus Luttrell and Daniel Moran as well as Medal off Honor recipients Jim Livingston, Dakota Meyer, and Mike Thornton.
Those of you who do not know the story (2) of Marcus Luttrell should learn it. Marcus Luttrell, as well as each name mentioned above, is a hero in every sense of the word. Mike Thornton was one of the founders of Seal Team 6.
These endorsements carry weight.
Live Blog of Iowa GOP Debate
Editor’s thoughts:
ABC – Newt won, Romney just did not have a pulse.
ABC, that last answer from Romney when given a chance to praise others was weak.
Romney had a couple of good moments but clearly lost the most. RomneyCare is back around his neck. Bachmann drew blood on Romney. Romney’s $10,000 bet crack was stupid and a huge mistake.
Perry came across as strong, presidential, and grounded in the right perspective for the country. Clearly this was his best performance. I think Perry should take second place.
Bachmann’s “Hail Mary” play with I am the consistent conservative pounding might resonate or it might not. We will just have to see.
If Bachmann comes back in the polls she will end up facing Newt one on one and she does not want that.
Rick Santorum certainly increased his stature as a man and a statesman.
I think this is the beginning of the end for Mitt Romney.
ABC: What is your distinguishing idea on how to bring jobs back?
Gingrich: I worked to help Reagan’s governing program which created millions of jobs and Clinton on a similar program. Tax and regulatory reform, a 12% corporate tax rate, 100% expensing for new equipment, energy, etc etc.
Romney: I came from the private sector and I know how to create jobs. Our tax rates are higher than the industrialized world and we need to fix that, China has been cheating, reign in the NLRB, etc.
Ron Paul: Stop excessive credit and printing my the Federal Reserve. Debt and mal-investment stop economic growth. We all want lower taxes and lower spending.
Perry – get rid of the tax and regulatory environment that has been killing jobs. I have been setting a blue print for that in Texas. The Federal Reserve who makes all of these massive secret loans etc etc. An outsider like Rick Perry can do that.
Bachmann: Pays homage to Herman Cain. WIN WIN WIN plan. I am a federal tax lawyer and we need to abolish the tax code and put in a pro-growth policy and is the same for all Americans and not picking favorites, energy policy, repeal ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank etc.
Santorum: Spoke about his talk with locals in Iowa businesses and I learned that we need to have a pro manufacturing environment, perhaps even a zero percent corporate tax for businesses that actually make things, drill and get energy, and jobs will be created. Rural and Small town will be revitalized.
Santorum in a shot against Romney: Government cannot make a plan from the top down that will guarantee XXX many jobs or do any successful bean counting.
New Question – Payroll Tax:
Bachmann – The payroll tax extension is a gimmick that is temporary that doesn’t create jobs and it has blown a 111 billion dollar hole in the social security trust fund and will cost another 112 billion in the next year. We will have to borrow money to cover this.
Romney: I don’t want to raise taxes on people under the Obama economy. This is just a band-aid. This president has not put forward a plan to get this economy going again, how will we be competitive again. People aren’t investing in America because Obama has made this a less attractive place to do business.
Santorum: Is there a Social Security trust fund or not? The Democrats policy is absurd, either Democrats care about Social security or they don’t, they say that Republicans want to cut it but it is Democrats who are doing that right now.
George Stuffingenvelopes: Who is the most conservative? George is trying to start a fight and the ABC moderators are seemingly already locking Perry out of the debate.
Romney: We have a merit society and I think I can take that message to the president and the people. I believe in America, Mitt jumps the shark in making fun of and mischaracterizing Newt’s plans. Mitt came off as petty. This will be a YouTube moment as will Newt’s response.
Newt: The only reason you (Romney) didn’t become a career politician is that you lost to teddy Kennedy in 1994. You would be a 17 year career politician by now if you had won so to for you to blast me as a career politician is silly. Kids should be allowed to work part time in school (like apprenticeships) and give them work experience and work skills.
Capital Gains: Mitt you and I talked about this at Dartmouth, I am astonished at what you just said about capital gains.
George stuffingenvelopes to Ron Paul: Why do you think that Newt is engaged in serial hypocrisy.
Ron Paul says that newt received a million dollars from Freddie mac. Newt isn’t always consistent. People would have a hard time competing with me on consistency.
Newt: I was in the private sector and they paid me to tell them what I think. I was in the PRIVATE SECTOR (looks at Mitt).
Bachmann: I am the proven Constitutional Conservative here. Newt for 20 years advocated for the individual mandate in heath care, Mitt is the only governor who put in government mandated institutionalized medicine. If you look at Newt/Romney they were for ObamaCare principles, Bailouts, Tarp, Cap & Trade etc etc.
Newt dismantles Bachmann’s allegations and her words were too vague and loose. I had 13 best sellers and that is where most of where my income came from.
Bachmann doubles down on Newt/Romney’s support for a health care mandate. I will go toe to toe with Obama and wills stand 180 degrees opposite of his bad policies. I will defeat him.
Romney, on Obama Care I wish Obama would have given me a call because I would have told him that he is going down a bad path. (But come on Mitt your team did work at the White House to implement ObamaCare). I will oppose ObamaCare and repeal it.
Perry comes out and says that Romney took Massachusetts down the same road that Obama took America. Wow Perry is looking presidential and powerful. It is about time Rick.
Romney: you like the 10th Amendment Rick, I like the 10th Amendment. If the people in Mass want to get rid of it, they can do so. I oppose ObamaCare. Romney to Perry, you mandated some vaccines as Governor (not totally true as it had an opt out).
Newt: I opposed HillaryCare and we were wrestle in an effort to stop HillaryCare. And we concluded that the mandate would be unconstitutional.
Romney and Perry spar over what Romney said in his book about the mandate. I have looked at this and Perry is just plain right about this.
Santorum: You know that it is easy for people to say what people want to hear in election season. But I opposed mandates the whole time. And if you want consistency you just have to look at someones record. Michelle is right about all these things, but the difference between Michelle and I is that Michelle fought and lost on all of them, I fought and one on issue X, Y, Z , etc. (A great showing by Santorum)
Bachmann: The important thing is that when I was in the minority I fought and fought and I led 40,000 people to the capital to get rid of ObamaCare. I took them on no matter what the odds. I wont rest.
Santorum: I was in the minority in the House too. Talked about how he beat the Democrats and uncovered the House banking scandal and ousted Rostenkowski.
ABC reporters “analyzing” the debate during the commercial. Where do they find these painfully ignorant people?
Bachmann’s “NewtRomney” crack stuck. It will hurt Romney most.
Return From Commercial Break: Faith etc etc.
George Stuffingenvelopes brings up the divorce issue. Will someone who breaks marital vows break their word to the voters? Reagan was divorced too folks.
Perry sort of doubles down on it saying that if you will cheat on your wife you will cheat on your business partner.
Rick Santorum has a very mature answer.
Ron Paul: we should not be talking about these issues. These issues show through on their own. What I want to talk about are politicians who violate their oath of office. Great answer on small constitutional government. A great Youtube moment for Ron Paul.
Romney: Obama says that I do not have a “core”. I am concerned about America and I do not want us to become a Greece or Italy.
Bachmann: Fonder spoke on this. They wrote about what we need as a president and they asked what is the measure of the man? Integrity is more important than anything else. Talked about her faith in Christ.
Newt: It is a real issue. People should look at the person who they may loan the presidency and they have the right to answer every question. I am a 69 year old grandfather who like all men has made mistakes and they can look at the man I am now.
ABC – Border Enforcement and The Illegals question.
Newt: we should have a local citizens review board who decides when someone applies who is worthy to stay and who should not. We are not going to rip mothers away from children and have people holed up in churches in standoffs. So we have to be realistic about this. Newt explains the details as we can all look these details up.
ABC News asks Romney about rounding people up. Romney says that we need to stop the magnets and secure the border. Illegals should register, go home and get in the back of the line to get in here. No favoritism for anyone.
ABC asks Perry about illegals who signed up for the military. Perry starts off saying that we need to enforce the laws that we have now. I will not sue states like AZ who are being sued by the Fed Gov. I will not have a catch and release program like Obama has now. Then we can have a legit convo about Immigration reform. Again Perry looked great.
George Stuffingenvelopes: Are the Palestinians and “invested People”
Ron Paul, even talking about this gets us in a mess and in trouble. We should not be dealing with these issues. Israel didn’t exist in the Ottoman Empire. We are not the policeman of the world.
Newt Gingrich: Wow Newt knocks this one OUT of the park. I will have to post the youtube of this as Newt is going faster than I can type. This is totally awesome. Newt has such moral clarity here.
Romney: I agree with most of what Newt said but I would not have said what Newt said. Romney then goes after Obama about his 1967 border proposals etc.
Newt: The Israeli’s are getting rocketed every day. The Obama policy is what endangers Israel. This is a propaganda war and we must stand for the truth in a campaign of lies and the word Palestinian in the current context was not even commonplace until the 1970’s.
Romney: I do not want to say anything that can harm the process. I am not a bomb thrower.
Newt: I think it is important to tell the truth just as Ronald Reagan called out the Soviets as an “Evil Empire” and in spite of everyone saying it was too provocative. I am a Reaganite, Reagan understood the power of truth and if it makes some people uncomfortable well so be it.
Bachmann talks about the hate the Palestinians teach about the Jews and their textbooks say that Jews are from apes and pigs and Bachmann. Blasted them for teaching hate.
Santorum says that we need to speak the truth but we have to do so with prudence.
Perry: This (Newts accurate comments about “Palestine”) is a minor issue and is just a media creation. Perry blasts Obama for mishandling the “drone issue”. Obama is the problem, not what Newt said. Perry knocked this out of the park.
ABC News: What times have you had in your life where you were short on money and gad to cut back.
Perry: Talks about his upbringing without Running water and his mom sewed his own clothes for him. Luxury really isn’t in my lexicon. Talks about his military service.
Romney: I didn’t grow up poor, but my dad did and he made sure that we understood the value of work and learned not to spend money foolishly. This might be Romney’s best moment. Great answer.
Ron Paul: I feel fortunate and we were poor but I really didn’t know it. I worked through college and my wife also worked through medical school. When a country destroys its currency it transfers wealth from the middle class to the wealthy.
Santorum: I grew up in a modest home and I was blessed with a mother and a father. Talks about family, a great moment for Santorum.
ABC to Bachmann: Troubled homeowners got evicted. I opposed TARP, I took on my own president and Hank Paulsen because I knew this was a bad deal.
Newt: I lived in an apartment above a gas station. My dad was in the Army.
Talked about his family and his small businesses. I know how difficult this for small businesses.
ABC – Back to the health care mandates:
Romney: States can do what ever the heck they want to do. States should try what is best for them. Some will do X and some will do Z. But the idea of the Feds imposing this violated the constitution.
ABC to Newt – what made you change your position: The problem is that a govt can make you buy a product they can make you do anything, we realized that the very idea was unworkable. The very idea of third party paying is failing and we need to get back to the doctor/patient relationship.
ABC Lifestyle changes about health – what should government do?
Ron Paul – Govt doesn’t have much of a role other than being ab referee to help prevent others from hurting you. But the govt should not be in the position of protecting you from yourself. Govt is FORCE and too often they overstep their bounds.
Perry – the feds should have no role and it should be left to the states. People are sick of Washington DC. Another good moment for Perry.
ABC – what have you learned from your opponents on stage:
Santorum: Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC tapes. And a great answer from Santorum while he tells a short story. A great YouTube moment. What a kind and fair man Rick Santorum is.
Perry: Ron Paul’s book on currency was very good and I learned from it. Perry, there are really good men and women who want to get this country back on track. We have to get it right.
Romney: The principle of leadership is the most interesting and I see Ron Paul people in the freezing cold holding a sign. This is a time for real leadership. (Romney made it about him mostly, petty)
Newt: Governor Jerry Branstead is my role model. Serve, get out of government a while and make money and learn, than come back to govt when you are too old and do great things. Rick Perry got me engaged on the 10th amendment issue and Santorum’s consistent leadership on Iran may have save the country.
Ron Paul: Freedom brings people together.
Bachmann: Herman Cain’s clear message like 9 9 9. People want a serious outside of Washington answer. WIN WIN WIN rather than 9 9 9.
Newt Gingrich in Lengthy and Substantive Interview /w CNN
Much of the interview has a focus in Middle-East policy.
Sloppy Hit Piece on Gingrich has Freddie Mac Execs Admit Conservatives Were Pushing Reform
by Political Arena Editor Chuck Norton
In what was an attempt to create a hit piece against Newt Gingrich, Freddie Mac execs have admitted that through the last decade it was “conservatives” who were pushing reforms to “dismantle” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before they could blow up the mortgage market and the banking system.
The next time Obama says that it was the Republicans who caused this, remind him of this article. This piece helps Republicans and makes a liar out of Obama far more than it hurts Newt.
So let us address what the anonymous Freddie Mac execs have to say about Newt.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac execs are almost all Democrat appointees. Newt has been blasting them in public since 2008 if not before, so under condition of anonymity what do you think they are going to tell a reporter?
Obama and the Democrats have protected Fannie/Freddie from serious reform, have been bailing them out for hundreds of billions and the Democrats, using language in the stimulus bill inserted by the Democrat leadership, made sure that Fannie/Freddie execs (as well as AIG execs) got their many millions of bonuses for running the mortgage industry into the ground.
So I ask you again what are they going to tell a reporter about the Republican front runner? If any Republican is elected their gravy train gets cut off.
Readers, does anyone honestly believe that people in the same position as Frank Raines, Jim Johnston, or Jaime Gorelick would ever say to a reporter, “Yup! Newt told us not to do what we were doing”?
Remember that Fannie/Freddie bought almost every lobbying and consulting firm in DC to prevent people from working against them. Fannie/Freddie also spent $20o million in partisan donations with the vast majority going to Democrats.
BUSTED: Newt Gingrich Lied About What He Did For Freddie Mac
In last week’s CNBC debate, newly-minted top-tier Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich claimed he was hired by Fannie Maeto be a “historian,” and claimed that pointed out flaws in their “insane” business model.
But an investigation by Bloomberg reveals that Gingrich was much more involved with the government-backed lender than he let on — and that he was hired to promote the company (and its business practices) to other conservatives.
“Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.”
While not technically lobbying, he worked directly for Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist, taking in at least $1.6 million from Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2008.
In the debate, Gingrich claimed he warned the company that it was causing a housing “bubble,” but Freddie Mac executives told Bloomberg he was never critical of its business model.
“Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with his work in 2006 say Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.”
His close ties to Freddie Mac are likely to be a liability in the Republican primary — where voters are deeply skeptical of the government-backed lenders, and furious that the public had to bail them out for their bad business practices.
In statement on his campaign website, Gingrich admits to helping the company reach out to conservatives — more than he said he did in the debate — but does not disclose how much he made from his consulting work:
“Freddie Mac was interested in advice on how to reach out to more conservatives. The Gingrich Group stressed that Freddie Mac must be open to reform of their lending practices but that by stressing the historical success of public-private partnerships in achieving public goods at a minimum of taxpayer money and bureaucracy.”
After Gingrich left Freddie Mac’s payroll, Bloomberg notes that he quickly turned into one of its most vocal critics, writing in his 2011 book “To Save America” that the companies “are so thoroughly politicized and preside over such irresponsible lending policies that they need to be replaced with smaller, private companies operating without government guarantees, whose leaders focus on making a profit, not manipulating politicians.”
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Indiana 2008 Presidential Primary Election Fraud Probe Heats Up
[This scandal happened in my home town. The article mentions that the Democratic Machine here is much like Chicago and that is very true. Some business owners in downtown South Bend tell me that they vote GOP, but do not dare to put anything but Democrat signs in their windows or the city will exact revenge. The same goes for many road workers and police officers. – Editor]
UPDATE – Charges Filed – LINK
Eric Shawn at Fox News [The link has video]:
Charity Rorie, a mother of four, sat in her Mishawaka, Ind., kitchen, stunned that her name appeared on a 2008 Democratic presidential primary petition for then-candidate Barack Obama.
“That’s not my signature,” she told Fox News, saying her signature is “absolutely” a fake. She also said she was troubled someone forged both her signature and that of her husband, Jeff, and listed personal details such as their address and birthdays.
“It’s scary,” Rorie said. “It’s shocking. It definitely is illegal. A lot of people have already lost faith in politics and the whole realm of politics, so that just solidifies all of our worries and concerns.”
Robert Hunter Jr. said his name was faked, too.
“I did not sign for Barack Obama,” he told Fox News, adding his signature supporting the then-Illinois senator’s effort to get on the primary ballot was also a forgery.
As he examined the Obama petition he held in his hands, Hunter pointed out that “I always put ‘Junior’ after my name, every time … there’s no ‘Junior’ there.” He said the signature on the petition looks “very close” to his real one, but it clearly is not.
“My wife and I actually signed a petition for Hillary Clinton,” he said. “I am an Obama fan, but not in the primaries I wasn’t.”
The prospect that theirs are two of an estimated 150 signatures that may have been forged on the petitions has raised the question of whether President Obama actually reached the legitimate number of signatures needed to be placed on the ballot in Indiana. Under state law, presidential candidates need to file 500 signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional districts. Indiana election officials say that in St. Joseph County, the Obama campaign qualified with 534 signatures; Clinton’s camp had 704. The certified signatures were never challenged.
“I had always thought that, now-President Obama, had earned his victory in Indiana,” said the state’s Republican chairman, Eric Holcomb. “But then I quickly learned that he had cheated his way on to the ballot in the primary.”
The allegations that election fraud touched a race for the highest office in the land are at the center of an investigation by St. Joseph County Attorney Michael Dvorak . He would not comment, but sources say the probe is gaining steam as prosecutors delve into the petitions that sailed through the St. Joseph County Voter Registration Board, located in South Bend. There have been reports that as many as seven people may have been involved in an alleged conspiracy to fake the petitions.
[Political Arena Editor’s Note – Dvorak has been a part of the Democratic Machine for a long time. A small clique in the Democratic Party plays musical chairs here in St. Joe County. A politician will be a city councilman, a member of the local administration, a state senator, back to the local administration etc. The same people just keep getting recycled into different local positions.]
“I was very surprised,” said the newly elected Democratic chairman of St. Joseph County, State Sen. John Broden. “This is a bipartisan issue that we need to take a look at … so I hope that this is something, that we as both parties, try to look at what exactly happened, and most importantly, how do we prevent it from happening again.”
Broden recently replaced long-serving Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan, who resigned suddenly in October under party pressure because of the scandal.
“There is no evidence that Butch Morgan ever personally directed, authorized or condoned the forging or alteration of petition signatures,” [Notice that is not a denial – Political Arena Editor] said his attorney, Shaw Friedman, who argued against the resignation. He said Morgan did “absolutely not” forge any signatures, or know who might have.
“This is a man who has worked mightily over the 20 years that he served as district chairman, to do so fairly, ethically, appropriately, and my concern was that he not leave under these circumstances,” Friedman told Fox News.
He called the alleged forgeries “a sloppy, amateurish effort, ordinarily that kind of thing would have been caught by the voter registration offices. I’m not quite sure here why it slipped through.”
St. Joseph County Board of Voter Registration worker Dustin Blythe has reportedly been identified as having handwriting that matches the writing on some of the suspect Obama petitions. The South Bend Tribune and the political newsletter Howey Politics Indiana hired a handwriting analyst who examined the documents and says Blythe’s writing can be found on “nine suspicious pages from the Obama petition,” according to the newspaper.
Blythe, 37, works at one of the desks in the Board office. When Fox News asked if he forged any signatures or faked any petitions, he repeatedly replied, “I don’t have anything to say.”
Blythe’s LinkedIn profile describes him as a “government employee” who is also an “independent contractor/volunteer at Indiana Democratic Party” and a St. Joseph County Democratic Party “volunteer.” His Facebook page includes a photograph of him taken with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
Blythe’s lawyer, Andre Gammage, has said that his client did not do anything wrong. He told Fox News that handwriting comparisons don’t mean anything.
“Handwriting is not the same as DNA, handwriting is not the same thing as fingerprints,” Gammage said.
Authorities would not comment about any aspect of the ongoing investigation, including any possible targets of the probe.
Government Emails: Use “Fast and Furious” to argue for gun restrictions
UPDATE: Eric Holder lied to Congress & threatened with impeachment!
Holder: Lying has to do with your state of mind …..
Wow, talk about Clintonian answers. Holder didn’t mean to lie when what he said to Congress wasn’t true repeatedly…
In the document dumps the Justice Dept has delivered to Congress, there is not one email from Eric Holder on the issue, in spite of his deputies and chief of staff being all over it – Video Link
*****Original Story*****
First of all, we would like to show appreciation to CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson. Her courage in the face of derision and implied threats to get this story right has earned her great respect. If we had an award for Reporter of the Year it would go to Sharyl Attkisson.
Please examine our other operation gunrunner news HERE.
Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation “Fast and Furious” to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
PICTURES: ATF “Gunwalking” scandal timeline
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the “big fish.” But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called “gunwalking,” and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3”. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”
On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.”
This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 “disappointing and ironic.” Keane says it’s “deeply troubling” if sales made by gun dealers “voluntarily cooperating with ATF’s flawed ‘Operation Fast & Furious’ were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles.”
Read more of the emails HERE.
UPDATE – Michelle Fields at the Daily Caller with New York Democratic Party Luminaries: None of them knew what “Fast & Furious” was – LINK /w video
Swedish Paper: Photo of Obama in Situation Room Photoshopped
[Editor’s Note – I am am American of Swedish ancestry so I keep up on Swedish news. Afton Bladet is a real paper and this is real news. The photo is “Photoshopped” as we will demonstrate further.]
Via our friends at Gateway Pundit:
Swedish news agency Afton Bladet claims the famous “chipmunk in the small chair” was photoshopped.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The Swedish news agency Afton Bladet says Obama was photoshopped into the picture. AB insists that the president was just way to small in the picture. It must be a fake. Via Free Republic.
Indeed it is an obvious Photoshop.
Not only is President Obama sized incorrectly when inserted, but look at the light angles of the flash. Judging by the glare it is clear that the flash is being held up and to the right of where the camera is (and aimed slightly upward as well). This is a tactic that helps reduce “redeye effect” and is used to reduce the amount of glare in the photo. It is obviously a directed photo because all of the laptop screens are off.
I used Microsoft Paint to add the red circles which remakes the entire picture, but if you look at the “original” photo up top examine Obama’s shoulders and then look at Biden’s. Obama is obviously a digital insertion because one can see how pixilated the angle of his shoulders are against the beige wall and one can see that Biden’s shoulders are not pixilated (they are smooth). Vice President Biden was in the room. President Obama was not.
Governor Palin on Donald Trump, Ron Paul, Endorsements, and Nancy Pelosi’s Insider Trading.
All Herod’s fail…
If any of our readers like Martina McBride, …well get a load of Elle Zamudio. She is coming at you with both barrels!
Crank up the volume and turn the sub-woofer on, seriously.
Song: “What Child is This?”
Artist: Elle Zamudio
Producer and Director: Carlos Zamudio
Filmed at Aurora Studios Miami Lakes
Follow her on Twitter @ellezamudio
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To purchase song from ITunes go to: http://bit.ly/whatchildisthis
Governor Christie To Obama: “Get Out Of Your Chair”
“Mr. President. We need a leader who will lead us to the moment…who will help define what the challenges of meeting the moment means… and then not to be cautious and safe and sit back and wait for someone else to do the hard work, but to get out of your chair and start doing the hard work yourself to make America a greater place,” – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s forum.
Why Donald Trump Matters and Helps the Process
Editorial by Political Arena editor Chuck Norton
The Sean Hannity Interview with Donald Trump and it is worth viewing as they have a good policy discussion, especially in the second half of the interview:
One of my worthy academic friends sent me the following note:
Chuck, Trump is a complete buffoon.And his comments in this interview are garbage even compared to his usual bleats…why promote this? Cheers!
I can understand why someone might think this way. Trump is a showman, he knows all about television timing and hype and to some people the hype can certainly be viewed as buffoonery.
But as someone who is trained in communications, which includes journalism, classic rhetoric, manipulation, politics and propaganda, I have learned to separate hype and emotionalism from the substance of any message and I encourage all readers of Political Arena to learn to do the same.
So I respond:
Professor, the thing is, even though he is a showman who is over the top (I mean look at the HAIR), he is an over the top showman who has a policy point of view that connects with voters.
I, as a student of propaganda, tend to strip away the hype and examine the message, and right now Trump is the only one saying what he is saying, and that is why it is news.
Don’t prejudge, just listen. Laura Ingraham with Donald Trump on the derisive comments of pundits like Charles Krauthammer.
Learned Professor:
OK. I listened. Where’s the beef? I hear15 minutes of him dumping on Rove and Krauthammer. Rove is someone I would pay some attention to on strategies and tactics for winning elections, not political philosophy. Krauthammer usually has interesting things to say on politics and culture, but sometimes gets things wrong. I hear repeated boasting that he is a business success, saying that he understands economics…what is the audio supposed to convince me of?
Editor (me):
One of the points being that the pundit class thinks they can pick our nominee.
Think of it this way, yo do real research in physics as well as teach. If you put out crappy research being whoppingly wrong, it would affect you. You have a stake in what you do.
But what if you just taught high school physics and nothing else? You could be glaringly wrong and wrong often and there would be no consequences (just as we see with public school teachers and the textbooks they use).
These pundits who talk and talk (Krauthammer opposed Reagan) are wrong about plenty of things (George Will even once called the Second Amendment an embarrassment) and yet where are the consequences? Yet they act as though they are entitled to dictate to us who our nominee is and anyone else who “butts in” can “butt out” as far as they are concerned.
For someone like Donald Trump, when he is wrong it affects him very directly, the credibility he has for his TV show, not to mention his credibility as a deal maker and a business man.
When Donald Trump makes a mistake it tarnishes his entire brand, his children who are a part of that brand, each move he makes has the potential to cost many millions of dollars of his personal wealth and those who invest in him, and the many thousands of jobs that he provides.
All of this is on the line with every move Trump makes. When Karl Rove or Charles Krauthammer say something stupid does it endanger the entire Fox brand? Of course not, in fact people will likely forget it two weeks later.
So who is more qualified to offer on opinion? Who has more at stake in America and in Americans? The answer is obvious, and that is why if anyone has MORE of a place to speak out as a pundit as the chattering class, it is Donald Trump, and ever other business owner who risked everything to have a chance at success. And that is the point which Laura understands and demonstrates to some degree on her show.
Where is the plan to fix America from Charles Krauthammer? Trump just wrote a book on how to do it. In fact, Charles Krauthammer’s entire life’s work is not as influential or as substantive as Donald Trump’s iconic book “The Art of the Deal”.
This brings me back to my previous point about separating the hype and emotion from the raw substance. We are so used to hype without substance from the elite media, that we start to believe that when we see hype that it automatically means there is no substance.
P.S.
Did you see Mika Brzezinski tell Boon Pickens that he doesn’t pay enough in taxes? Boon is 83, he goes to work every day and he has paid $665 million in taxes since he turned age 70, and Mika went after him for not paying enough. Yet look at who holds up Mika as someone who actually matters.
Learned Professor:
Regardless of what you think about Rove or Krauthammer, the question is: “Is Trump a useful person for the Republican candidates to elevate by attending his debate?” I say ‘no’ (Not R. or K., *I* say this.). I say that Trump is not a serious man. He is a successful real-estate mogul. He is also a vain braggart with too many stupid and non-conservative ideas for me to want him to be a ‘blessed’ voice for American conservatism. I don’t think the roof will fall in if this happens, but I think that the candidates will muddy themselves by association.
Editor:
There is much truth to what you just said, but in fairness, Trump never claimed to be a a “‘blessed’ voice for American conservatism” like Rush Limbaugh or as implied by Krauthammer. Trump speaks as a businessman who sees a government that is stupid with money, corrupt in it’s regulations, killing jobs, and is foolish in managing our resources. Almost every business owner in the country can identify with Donald Trump at some level. Besides, how many reporters moderating a primary debate are anything but a mouthpiece for the extremist wing of the Democratic Party?
Trump will ask questions no one in the media would think to ask, he will address issues they will not bring up, and it will give us an opportunity to see how the candidates react in a very different environment.
[Editor’s Note – It is not that I do not respect Krauthammer, Will, or Rove, it is the entire idea of “butt out” that I really take exception to.]
Political Arena 