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Friday, March 12, 2010

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 11:27 AM

This is a meme I've been following for a while: the libertarian nature of the tea parties. Today, Ben Smith has a smart piece out on social conservatives feeling left out. He cites a plethora of sources, including the Sam Adams Alliance, who suggests that tea party leaders are consciously avoiding religious issues. Brendan Steinhauser, the director of federal and state campaigns at FreedomWorks, claims that the Tax Day Tea Party did not emphasize social issues.

People didn’t come out into the streets to protest gay marriage or abortion.

I would agree. Regardless of the individual beliefs of tea partiers, the main push has been on fiscal issues. That's not saying other issues aren't important, but that taxes, spending, and the deficit are the focus.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

Let's Just Use Reconciliation For Everything!

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 10:38 AM

A proposal that's up for grabs in the Senate would prohibit the private sector from making any education loans whatsoever, removing this area of the market from private control. But sixty votes are needed in the Senate to allow this proposal to pass, and Harry Reid doesn't have them.

So Reid and Obama are considering using reconciliation to pass the education bill as well as the health care bill.

There's something of a case to be made financially for the government take-over of private educational loans, if you use the warped parameters set by Democratic accounting standards. Since the student loan industry is so highly regulated by Uncle Sam -- to the point that the government suffers a loss if a student defaults on a private loan -- having the government take over the loan actually might save the government money.

The free-market solution to this might be to remove all the regulations on private student loans, and let the market make the decisions. But Democrats prefer to have the government take over the entire industry. This will ostensibly help the government save money, help students because they will have easier access to loans, and help society fund higher education.

But the ramifications of artificial subsidies for higher education never enter the discussion. What if the higher education bubble bursts? What if a student would be better off not going to college? What about the U.S. taxpayer, who is being forced against his will to pay for the education of his neighbor?

The bill passed the House last year, in a move that the New York Times characterized as a victory over "an intense lobbying effort by the for-profit lenders." The NYT says the insurmountable 60-vote threshold in the Senate was because of "the industry's allies in the Senate." While it's true that legislators from states where student loan companies are located are fighting this bill, there's a bigger principle at stake: propping up and industry that, like all other industries, is better left in the hands of the market.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

Democrats' Rules Trickery Might Still Be Allowed

Posted by: Kevin Glass at 10:33 AM

Via Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) comes this report that the ruling made by the Senate Parliamentarian yesterday doesn't necessarily mean that the health care bill has to go through the entire legislative process before it can be changed:

The parliamentarian, however, later reportedly clarified his position to Senate aides, saying that the reconciliation bill could be written in a way that would not require Obama to sign the Senate bill into law before the reconciliation bill is voted on.

This is very inside-baseball stuff, but it gives the Democrats a small shortcut in their quest to pass this unpopular health care bill. Whereas it was reported yesterday that the Senate health care bill, which passed the Senate back in December, had to be passed by the House unamended and then signed by President Obama before any changes could be made, it now might seem that the bill could be changed without first going through Obama.

All this information seems to change hourly so this will likely not be the last you hear on this. On the other hand, raise your hand if you're tired of the whole debate and are annoyed that the boondoggle that is the Democrats' health care program has descended into discussions over rules trickery.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Dereliction of Duty

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 10:22 PM

How many flavors of crazy is it for President Obama and Democrat leaders to continue the forced march toward a vote on a health care bill despised by the majority of Americans? The New York Times lays out what's happening:

Leaving a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, lawmakers said they had received few details about what would be in the [health care] legislation, on which they may be asked to vote in the next week or two.

Got that? This is legislation that would remake fully 1/6 of the US economy, and the people who are being pushed to vote on it aren't even sure about what's in it. How, under any circumstances, can voting in favor of this -- given the rush, the uncertainty about the bill's contents, not to mention its effects (and including the widespread, fierce opposition to it) -- be anything other than a dereliction of duty?

Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen warn that passing the legislation will be a political disaster for the Democrats. Frankly, the point is so obvious that it's frightening that it needs to be made.

But the bigger problem now, for Democrats, is that their interests and President Obama's diverge. Many Blue Dogs can save themselves (and their party) if they take a principled stand against ObamaCare. But the President needs this victory -- in a sense, just to stay in the game. Without it, he's revealed as politically impotent. With it, he can at least comfort himself with his "historic" expansion of the welfare state.

Overall, though, the President's in trouble either way this goes. Even if he wins, he's paid a heavy price. First, he's lost the trust of the American people by his willingness to say anythign to get the bill passed; second, he's shown himself willing to ignore the expressed wishes of those he governs; and third, he's revealed himself as arrogant enough to believe that opponents are too stupid to understand what's in the bill -- but once ObamaCare is foisted upon them by the "platonic guardians" in The White House and on Capitol Hill, the ignorant rubes will love it.

A President can come back from political defeat. Recovering after losing the trust of the people is much more difficult.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

CNN's "Cafferty File": Why Are Black Barbies Cheaper Than White Ones?

Posted by: Greg Hengler at 7:44 PM

It's come to this, but the race card appears to be losing a foothold. HT: Lee Habeeb

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

An Investigation is the Right Thing to Do

Posted by: Michele Bachmann at 6:06 PM

The handling by House leadership of former Congressman Massa’s alleged actions and subsequent resignation proves first and foremost that Speaker Pelosi's promise of "the most open and ethical" Congress in our country's history was nothing more than campaign rhetoric.

There is something seriously wrong with the level of corruption and the number of questionable actions taking place in our nation's capitol these days. And the House vote today agreeing to an investigation to examine what House Democratic leaders and staff knew about the allegations against former Rep. Eric Massa and what actions they took after learning of those allegations couldn't come soon enough.

This is not the "change" people voted for and it’s most certainly not the "most open and ethical" Congress Nancy Pelosi promised when she received the Speaker's gavel.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Obama Announces Recipients of Nobel Award Donations

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 4:01 PM

President Obama today announced which charities will be receiving portions of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award:

Fisher House: $250,000
Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund: $200,000
College Summit: $125,000
Posse Foundation: $125,000
United Negro College Fund: $125,000
Hispanic Scholarship Fund: $125,000
Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation: $125,000
American Indian College Fund: $125,000
AfriCare: $100,000
Central Asia Institute: $100,000

“These organizations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need,” Obama said. “I'm proud to support their work.”

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Next Target of O'Keefe Investigation: HUD

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 1:48 PM

The latest reports out today suggest ACORN antagonist and conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe has another bombshell of an investigation to drop. This time, however, his focus will be exposing corruption in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Noah Shachtman of Wired.com writes:

Late last year, O’Keefe and fellow activist Joe Basel went into the Detroit and Chicago offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a hidden camera. They pretended to be scam artists, asking employees there to participate in a complex kickback scheme involving federal incentives for first-time home buyers. In the excerpted footage shown to me by O’Keefe, the staffers seemed only to happy to comply.
The law says that the tax credit maxes out at $8,000 for an $80,000 home. On the tape, O’Keefe asked a staffer, “What if I bought a place for $50,000, but the seller and I agreed to write down $80,000 as the purchase price?”
“Flip it any way you want,” the staffer replied.
What if the place is worth much less — like only $6,000?
“Yup, you can do that.”

Hmmm... sounds like another juicy corruption-exposing nugget coming our way in the near future. In fact, Andrew Breitbart has recently exclaimed that in the next year there will be much more video of O'Keefe's investigations released. "More than we all can handle," he says.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Global Warming in Wonderland and the Green PR Machine

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 1:38 PM

Guest post from Audrey Jones with the Heritage Foundation

These are times straight out of Alice in Wonderland, as everything becomes an “un-birthday” and definitions are turned on their head. Climate change scientists, according to The Washington Times this last weekend, are turning to PR, rather than data, to defend their work. Then there’s Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who yesterday continued to make patently false job-creation claims to sell the administration’s radical environmental agenda. His timing was unerringly bad, as his statements came on heels of further evidence that two front-runners—California and Europe—are discovering that their “green” policies are producing more red (ink) and less green(backs).

It is not very often that scientists need to resort to crisis communications, but we’ll take it as further confirmation that the whole world of global warming has hit a crisis point. Among the strategies being considered figure taking out a back-page ad in the New York Times. What is of more than passing interest is the defensiveness with which these scientists have met criticism. One of them groused to the Times that climate scientists were facing nothing less than “well-funded, merciless enemies who play by entirely different rules.”

The scientific method, like its close kin the Socratic dialogue, is supposed to rest, however, on the ability of posited theories to meet and survive constant challenges. And yet it is this type of gentle jousting...
Read More...

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Punting Decisions

Posted by: John Campbell at 12:00 PM

Since taking office, President Obama’s Administration has been singularly obsessed with passing a government takeover of healthcare. In times like these, one would think that the President and his team would have other buzz words and topics on their mind rather than a wildly unpopular expansion of government. I can think of several things…to start, how about, jobs, the economy, or the deficit?!

Yesterday, the Treasury Department released its latest budget numbers, and the story is told in a trail of red ink. In February, the federal government ran a deficit of nearly $221 billion, 14% higher than the previous record set in February of 2009.

As you might know, the fiscal year of the U.S. Government begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. Now, 5 months into the new fiscal year, the government’s budget deficit totals nearly $652 billion which is 10.5% higher than this time last year. This is absolutely beyond sustainability.

Recently, I had the opportunity to question Dr. Peter Orzag, President Obama’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Peter is smart and intellectually honest, and what I wanted to know, is why the President chose to submit a budget to Congress that actuarially does not work, it simply doesn’t...I’ll let the video speak for itself.

NOTE: Mr. Campbell's line of questions begins approximately at mark :51.

Tags: obama Campbell earmarks john pork Representative debt Congressman deficit budget spending

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Don't Miss

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 11:44 AM

Karl Rove's analysis of reconciliation, out today in the Journal.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Crushed Between the Left and the Right

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 11:31 AM

USA Today notes the serious political trouble President Obama is now confronting. Anger at him on the left has led to disengagement; anger at him on the right has produced unity and activism.

More than anything, the President's current troubles illustrate the impossibility of succeeding as President when one has run without much of a record, and instead deliberately sought to be a "blank screen" upon which everyone's best hopes could be projected, in order to win.

Left and right may not agree on much in this country -- but they both react to a politician's "bait and switch" the same way: With anger.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Michigan Jobs Ain't What They Used To Be...Unless You Work For The Government

Posted by: Townhall.com Staff at 11:16 AM

Guest post from Brett Gall with Americans for Tax Reform

Currently home to the worst state unemployment rate in the nation at 14.3% and with some counties facing almost 19% unemployment at the start of 2010 (higher than the state record unemployment rate of 16.8% following the 1982 stock market crash), Michigan residents are in dire need of jobs. However, a job sure isn’t what it used to be…unless, of course, you work for the government!

According to an article by the Michigan Taxpayer Alliance, compensation for Michigan's private sector citizens decreased by 10.3% between 2007 and the third quarter of 2009. This makes sense in light of the national economic situation. What doesn’t make sense is that during this period, state and local government employee compensation increased by 5.5% while federal government employee compensation rose 7.5%.

What accounts for this disparity and Michigan’s vast unemployment?
Read More...

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

#1 Obama Fan Mocks Scott Brown For Premature Biography

Posted by: Greg Hengler at 10:29 AM

I wonder if Mr. Leg Thrill's contradiction registers on his leg-o-meter. HT: Ed Morrissey

Vid

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Health Care Update: I Own A Unicorn

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 9:55 AM

Pelosi continues to try and round up stragglers for her unprecedented policy proposal, and just said today that, lo and behold, she has the votes!

Unfortunately, most observers (who have been doing nothing but vote counting) say that she doesn't. For the record, those vote counters include Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Real Clear Politics, Fox News, The Huffington Post, a top Pelosi aid, and your mother. I called her and checked. She's got a pretty firm stance.

Hanlon wrote a good blurb about how no one really knows what's in the bill. But that can't be the entire reason that no one knows if they can support it. After all, pro-life Stupak Democrats are only concerned about one thing. They're not even clear if that one thing can be remedied. Democrats who are concerned about corruption aren't sure if they can support it, given the plethora of back room deals. But those deals very well might go through. Pro public-option Democrats aren't sure if they can support the badly watered-down public option proposal. But no one has any clue as to the current incarnation of the public option in this bill.

In other words, not knowing is only half the battle. The other half is Democrats not trusting their leadership enough to take them at their word. Then there's unprecedented nature of the Senate procedural tricks needed to pass this behemoth. Then there's American public opinion. Then there's the 2010 mid-term elections. The environment of animosity and skepticism is at an all-time high.

The end result is that Nancy Pelosi is pretty much the only one who believes the votes are there. Actually, that's not quite right -- there's Pelosi, and the unicorn I keep as a pet inside my Townhall cubicle.