Category Archives: Obama taxes

US debt limit, Senate debate, $ 14.3 Trillion, China $ 800 billion, Japan, Oil exporting countries, Senator Richard Burr, NC senator, Terminate TARP amendment, Pay down national debt

From Senator Richard Burr of NC, January 25, 2010.

 
“Dear Friend,
Last week, the Senate began debate on increasing our nation’s debt limit by $1.9 trillion.  This would permit our total debt to climb to $14.3 trillion – the highest in our nation’s history.  I will not support any measure to increase America’s debt.  It is outrageous to consider shackling future generations with the impossibility of ever paying off such a sum.
American families must live within their budget, and the most reasonable way to stop adding to the debt is to stop Washington’s appetite for spending.  The federal government, however, doesn’t understand what it means to cut spending and prioritize in order to keep our country solvent.  Instead, the preferred answer is simply to raise the limit on how much debt is allowed. We will never see responsible and accountable government as long as this attitude prevails.
Did you know that China now holds some $800 billion of our debt?  Japan holds another $750 billion.  Oil exporting countries hold almost $200 billion.  Is this the way we should be operating our government?  Not in my opinion.
The way to deal with our current budgetary situation is to stop spending, plain and simple. My voting record is clear on this subject.  And I will continue to vote against legislation that involves out-of-control expenditures and against irresponsible budgets. 
Last Thursday, I co-sponsored an amendment with Senator John Thune that would have terminated the TARP program as a means to stop any future expenditure of funds not already spent. This bill would also have required any TARP repayments be used to pay down the national debt.  This amendment received 53 votes in the Senate – including 13 Democrats.  But, under Senate rules, 60 votes were required for its adoption, so it failed.
The Senate will resume debate on this legislation this week.  You can rest assured that I will be fighting to stop this before we bankrupt America. 
If you agree with my position on this and other issues, would you consider making a contribution to my campaign this week?  As we head into the last week of the month, I need to ask for your help in order to meet my goal for January.  If you would send $25 or $50 it would let me know that you stand with me in this fight to stop spending and to control our debt.  Just click here to make your contribution.
I want to keep fighting for you in the U.S. Senate.  This means my campaign must raise the funds necessary for this year’s election. Please consider making a contribution today.
Whether you can send a contribution or not, I’ll be on the job this week voting to stop this increase in our national debt.  It is wrong, and we must send a strong signal to those in charge in Washington that enough is enough. 
Sincerely,
 
Richard Burr
United States Senator”

Obama Ohio speech, January 22, 2010, Jobs speech, Unemployment Up in 43 States in December, Lies, Narcissism, Karl Rove, Sean Hannity, Ohio job losses

While Obama was giving a  jobs speech, Friday afternoon, January 22, 2010 at Lorain County Community College
in Elyria, Ohio, a government report indicated that unemployment was up in 43 States in December. Consistent with Obama’s past and personality, Obama’s speech is driven by Lies and Narcissism. Commentary is provided by Karl Rove, Sean Hannity and Citizen Wells.

Fox News unemployment report, January 22, 2010.

“Unemployment Up in 43 States in December”

“WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.
The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December.
New Jersey’s rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York’s reached a 26-year high of 9 percent.
Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
“A lot of states that had started to add jobs (in November) gave up those gains in December,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody’s Economy.com.”

“Texas lost the second-most jobs: 23,900. That sent its jobless rate to 8.3 percent in December from 8 percent. The next-largest job losses were in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/22/unemployment-states-december/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529
 

Obama Ohio speech text

“Today, because of the actions we took, the worst of this economic storm has passed. But families like yours and communities like Elyria are still reeling from the devastation left in its wake. Folks have seen jobs you thought would last forever disappear. You’ve seen plants close and businesses shut down. I’ve heard about how the city government here is bare bones. And how you can’t get to work or go buy groceries like you used to because of cuts in the county transit system.”

“Let me tell you – so long as I have the privilege of serving as your President, I’ll never stop fighting for you. I’ll take my lumps, too. I’ll never stop fighting to bring jobs back to Elyria. I’ll never stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded, where responsibility is honored, where accountability is upheld, where we’re creating the jobs of tomorrow.”

“I’ll never stop fighting to open up government. That’s why we put in place the toughest ethics laws and toughest transparency rules of any administration in history.”

Read more:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/obamas-jobs-speech-in-ohio-the.html?wprss=44

Unemployment up in December, Obama speech in Ohio, Obama CYA speech timing suspect, Obama narcissism and lies

In typical Obama fashion, and true to his pattern of narcissism and lies, Obama speaks to a group at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio, today, January 22, 2010. Obama, whose socialist, big spending programs have greatly worsened the job situation and bleakened the outlook for job creation, has the gall to say  “I’ll never stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded” just as a new report was released indicating that  unemployment rates rose in 43 states in December.

From Fox News, January 22, 2010.

“Unemployment Up in 43 States in December”

“Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.”

“WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market and illustrating nationwide data released two weeks ago.
The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states — South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina — reported record-high jobless rates in December.
New Jersey’s rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York’s reached a 26-year high of 9 percent.
Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.
“A lot of states that had started to add jobs (in November) gave up those gains in December,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody’s Economy.com.
Texas and Georgia lost more jobs in December than they had gained the previous month, she noted, while Arizona and South Carolina lost nearly as many as they had gained.
That is consistent with nationwide trends. Employers shed a net total of 85,00 jobs in December, the government said earlier this month, after notching a small gain of 4,000 jobs in November.”

“Nationally, more than 600,000 people left the labor force in December, according to government data. The large exodus from the labor force indicates that “unemployment is a lot worse than the numbers suggest,” Koropeckyj said.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/22/unemployment-states-december/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529

Charles Krauthammer, What Scott Brown’s win means for the Democrats, January 22, 2010, Obama ABC interview, Democrats delusional, Obama and Democrats blame Bush, Obama blames insurance companies

From the Washington Post, January 22, 2010, Charles Krauthammer.

“What Scott Brown’s win means for the Democrats”

“On Jan. 14, five days before the Massachusetts special election, President Obama was in full bring-it-on mode as he rallied House Democrats behind his health-care reform. “If Republicans want to campaign against what we’ve done by standing up for the status quo and for insurance companies over American families and businesses, that is a fight I want to have.”
The bravado lasted three days. When Obama campaigned in Boston on Jan. 17 for Obamacare supporter Martha Coakley, not once did he mention the health-care bill. When your candidate is sinking, you don’t throw her a millstone.

After Coakley’s defeat, Obama pretended that the real cause was a generalized anger and frustration “not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”

Let’s get this straight: The antipathy to George W. Bush is so enduring and powerful that . . . it just elected a Republican senator in Massachusetts? Why, the man is omnipotent.

And the Democrats are delusional: Scott Brown won by running against Obama, not Bush. He won by brilliantly nationalizing the race, running hard against the Obama agenda, most notably Obamacare. Killing it was his No. 1 campaign promise.

Bull’s-eye. An astonishing 56 percent of Massachusetts voters, according to a Rasmussen poll, called health care their top issue. In a Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates poll, 78 percent of Brown voters said their vote was intended to stop Obamacare. Only a quarter of all voters in the Rasmussen poll cited the economy as their top issue, nicely refuting the Democratic view that Massachusetts was just the usual anti-incumbent resentment you expect in bad economic times.”

“The reason both wings of American liberalism — congressional and mainstream media — were so surprised at the force of anti-Democratic sentiment is that they’d spent Obama’s first year either ignoring or disdaining the clear early signs of resistance: the tea-party movement of the spring and the town-hall meetings of the summer. With characteristic condescension, they contemptuously dismissed the protests as the mere excrescences of a redneck, retrograde, probably racist rabble.”

“Democrats must so rationalize, otherwise they must take democracy seriously, and ask themselves: If the people really don’t want it, could they possibly have a point?

“If you lose Massachusetts and that’s not a wake-up call,” said moderate — and sentient — Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, “there’s no hope of waking up.””

Read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103500.html

 

Obama ABC George Stephanopoulos interview, Obama blames Bush for MA senate loss

Thanks to commenter Patriot Dreamer

Nancy Pelosi, Not Enough Votes to Pass Senate Health Bill in House, January 21, 2010, Fox News report, Republican Scott Brown, MA US Senate seat

From Fox News, January 21, 2010.

“Pelosi: Not Enough Votes to Pass Senate Health Bill in House”

“WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she does not have the votes to pass the Senate’s version of a health insurance bill that is now in severe jeopardy of being scrapped.

Just days ago, that was the most viable option for keeping alive President Obama’s top domestic priority, but with the election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, the fragile coalition of Democrats has broken apart as lawmakers bicker over which portions of the $900 billion, 10-year Senate bill they will and won’t accept.

Emerging from a closed-door meeting with her caucus, the House speaker vented frustration with the massive version of the legislation.

“In its present form without any changes I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “I don’t see the votes for it at this time.”

Among the issues that House lawmakers are unwilling to accept is the 40 percent excise tax on high-value insurance plans that unions earned an exemption from until 2018 after major backlash toward the Democratic-led Congress.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/21/pelosi-votes-pass-senate-health-house/

Scott Brown wins senate race, MA senate seat, Brown defeats Martha Coakley, January 19, 2010, Brown Campaign Could Provide Blueprint for Future GOP Success

Republican Scott Brown has defeated Democrat Martha Coakley to win the MA senate seat held for many years by Ted Kennedy. With 87% of the vote in, Brown leads Coakley 52 to 47%. Even before the election results, it was clear that Scott Brown was doing many things right in his campaign.

From Fox News, January 19, 2010.

“Brown Campaign Could Provide Blueprint for Future GOP Success”

“For GOP candidate Scott Brown to surge in Massachusetts, a state that hasn’t sent a Republican to the Senate since 1972 and is represented entirely by Democrats in Congress, he must have done something right.

And the Republican Party should be taking notes, analysts say, to try to replicate his strategy in races across the country in a year when GOP candidates are thought to be starting out with the upper hand.

Win or lose, the Massachusetts state senator proved that a Republican can be competitive in the bluest of states or districts.

“Every Republican long shot in America — for House seats, Senate seats, gubernatorial contests, is going to shout in unison – Remember Scott Brown,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.”

“But Brown practiced a certain practical conservatism in his campaign which appealed to voters, not unlike Chris Christie in the race for New Jersey governor and Bob McDonnell in the race for Virginia governor.

By concentrating on fiscal issues and focusing his criticism on the national Obama administration agenda, Republicans said, Brown brought himself to the verge of an upset.

“The lesson I take away from Massachusetts, win or lose, and New Jersey and Virginia prior to that, is there is no penalty to be paid for opposing the Obama agenda,” said GOPAC Chairman Frank Donatelli. “All three of these elections were nationalized.”

He said GOP candidates have to stand for something and they can’t just present themselves as the anti-Obama candidate. But he said Brown achieved this balance — noting that Brown, an Army reservist and seasoned state legislator, hardly came out of nowhere.”

“He said Brown did well by not presenting himself as a Washington Republican. Driving around the state in his pickup truck, Brown referred to himself as a “Scott Brown Republican” in what appeared to be an appeal to independents. Instead of dragging out the party brass to support him, Brown enlisted figures like former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and actor John Ratzenberger.

“People don’t want lockstep,” Feehery said. “They want independent thought and somebody who’s going to be an independent check on Obama.””

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/19/brown-campaign-provide-blueprint-future-gop-success/

Brown v Coakley, Voter fraud feared in Massachusetts, January 19, 2010, MSNBC Ed Shultz, Vote 10 times to keep those bastards from winning, Karl Marx, Accuse others of what you do

From The Examiner, January 19, 2010.

“Brown v. Coakley: Voter fraud feared in Massachusetts”

“”If you want to know what the Democrats are up to, just listen to what they accuse the Republicans of doing.” – Ann Coulter

“Accuse others of what you do.” – Karl Marx.
 
With the shock of a Republican leading a Democrat in the polls, some political observers believe the Massachusetts Senate race is ripe for fraud and abuse by an embattled Democrat Party.
 
In fact, some election watchdog groups have gone as far as issuing issued a warning that Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election to elect a successor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy is open to manipulation and voter fraud.
 
“It doesn’t help when a guy like Ed Shultz [an MSNBC host] angrily tells his viewers that if he lived in Massachusetts he’d vote 10 times to keep those bastards [Republicans] from winning,” said political strategist Mike Baker.
 
“These leftists believe they are righteous in their quest to win by any means necessary and that the law doesn’t apply to them,” adds Baker.
 
Some observers point to allegations that during the presidential election in November 2008, the New Black Panthers perpetrated voter intimidation with impunity and the Democrat-run U.S. Justice Department failed to investigate those allegations.
The latest polls show that Republican Scott Brown is leading Democrat Martha Coakley by as much as 51% to 46%, with Brown’s lead widening after President Barack Obama visited Massachusetts on Sunday to stump for the gaff-ridden Coakley campaign.

Watchdog groups are warning officials in Massachusetts — the bluest of the so-called Blue States — that they must increase security precautions for the Senate race.”

Read more:

http://www.examiner.com/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2010m1d19-Brown-v-Coakley-Voter-fraud-feared-in-Massachusetts

Scott Brown, January 18, 2010, Republican Scott Brown is surfing a wave of voter frustration with Barack Obama, Washington lies, Not Kennedy seat, Not Democrat seat, Lower your taxes and bring common sense back to Washington

From Fox News January 18, 2010.

“GOP Hopeful Riding Voter Anger in Kennedy Seat Bid”

“BOSTON — Republican Scott Brown is surfing a wave of voter frustration with President Barack Obama that has helped propel the once low-profile Massachusetts state senator from long shot to contender in the race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Edward Kennedy’s death.

Brown’s meteoric rise caught nearly everyone off-guard, particularly Democratic Party leaders who assumed their candidate, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, would have a cakewalk to the U.S. Capitol after winning a four-way primary in November.

They hadn’t counted on voters like Luis Rodriguez.

The 46-year-old plastics factory supervisor, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1988 from Uruguay and became a citizen last year, said he’s fed up with what he calls the lies told by Washington. It’s enough for him that Coakley supports Obama, who Rodriguez says has failed to make good on his pledge for openness.

“We don’t buy what we can’t afford. We don’t spend what we don’t have,” said Rodriguez, echoing the anger expressed by other voters who say Democrats are too eager to bail out bankers and people who bought homes they couldn’t afford. “These people, what they’re doing now, they’re spending money they don’t have so they can get elected again.”

Despite the Bay State’s liberal reputation, some Massachusetts voters are also chafing at the idea that just because the Senate seat had been held by Kennedy for 47 years, it should automatically go to a Democratic successor.”

“”It’s socialism. It starts with health care. It starts with the government bailouts,” said Johnson, 43, who’s retired from the military. “I work for a living and I see more and more of my money going to people who sit home and don’t do it. I’m all for helping people out, but I like keeping what I earn.”

In addition to showing a dead heat between Brown and Coakley, a Suffolk University poll last week of 500 likely voters also revealed unhappiness with Massachusetts’ landmark health care law, which has been used in part as the blueprint for the national health care overhaul. Close to two-thirds of those polled said the state cannot afford the health care system.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/gop-hopeful-riding-voter-anger-kennedy-seat-bid/

MA Senate debate, Monday, January 18, 2010, Scott Brown, Martha Coakley, Joseph L. Kennedy, Youtube video, Final debate, Turnout Critical in Tight Massachusetts Senate Race

****  UPDATES BELOW  ****

This article will be updated during the day today.

The final debate of the MA Senate race will take place tonight, January 18, 2010 .

From Fox News.

“Turnout Critical in Tight Massachusetts Senate Race”

“Both sides say turnout will be key in a race that could decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Obama campaigned Sunday for Democrat Martha Coakley.”

“BOSTON – Democrats and Republicans ramped up election eve get-out-the-vote efforts in their close battle for a Massachusetts Senate seat that could decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and the rest of his agenda at the opening of the 2010 midterm campaign season.

Obama needs newly embattled Martha Coakley to win Tuesday’s special election for the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat and deny Republicans the ability to block his initiatives with a 41st filibuster-sustaining GOP vote.

The president campaigned here Sunday with Coakley, who has seen the double-digit lead she had two weeks ago evaporate under a strong challenge by Republican state Sen. Scott Brown.

Voter turnout is normally low in special elections, but even in staunchly Democratic Massachusetts, apprehension about Obama’s health care overhaul is fueling a huge wave of populist support for Brown.

Polls show that independents, who make up 51 percent of the state’s electorate, have responded enthusiastically to Brown. His campaign is targeting them as well Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats 3-to-1 in the Bay State.”

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/turnout-key-tight-massachusetts-senate-race/

MA Senate debate, Monday, January 18, 2010, Scott Brown, Martha Coakley, Joseph L. Kennedy

****  Update January 18, 2010,  1:50 PM  ****

From Fox News

“Voter Enthusiasm a Problem for Coakley, Polls Suggest”

“A new poll out of Public Policy Polling on Monday underscored the depth of Coakley’s challenge. 

The poll showed Brown leading 51-46 overall, 64-32 among independents and winning 20 percent of the vote from those who backed Obama in 2008. On the flip side, the survey showed Coakley pulling just 4 percent of the vote from those who backed John McCain, in the 2008 presidential race. 

And the poll reflected the enthusiasm gap from which Coakley suffers. Eighty percent of Brown supporters said they were “very excited” about Tuesday’s election, while only 60 percent of Coakley supporters felt the same way.” 

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/18/polls-suggest-voter-enthusiasm-problem-coakley/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Flatest+%2528Text+-+Latest+Headlines%2529

“White House Predicts Martha Coakley Will Lose Tuesday’s Election”

****  Update January 18, 2010,  4:45 PM  ****

****  Update January 18, 2010,  6:20 PM  ****

From CNN Political Ticker

“Poll: Brown makes gains in Mass. Senate Race”

” A new poll released Monday afternoon indicates that Republican Scott Brown has a 7-point edge over Democrat Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat.

According to an American Research Group survey, 52 percent of likely voters back Brown, a state senator, with 45 percent supporting Coakley, the state’s attorney general. Meanwhile, 2 percent back Joseph Kennedy, a third party candidate who is not related to the late senator. The 7-point advantage for Brown is just within the poll’s sampling error.”

Read more:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/18/poll-brown-makes-gains-in-mass-senate-race/

****  Update January 18, 2010,  7:25 PM  ****

From Politico

“New poll: Brown up 9”

“A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted exclusively for POLITICO shows Republican Scott Brown surging to a 9-point advantage over Martha Coakley a day before Massachusetts voters trek to the ballot box to choose a new senator.
According to the survey conducted Sunday evening, Brown leads the Democratic attorney general 52 percent to 43 percent.
“I actually think the bottom is falling out,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery, referring to Coakley’s fall in the polls over the last ten days. “I think that this candidate is in freefall. Clearly this race is imploding for her.””
Read more:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31621.html

Scott Brown campaigns in Middleboro MA, January 16, 2010, MA Senate race, True Republican, Videos, Youtube video, Everett Square, Spoke from the back of a pickup truck, You deserve better, Taxes, Creating jobs

From Everett News, January 17, 2010.

“Scott Brown campaigns in Middleboro on Saturday night
More than 500 supporters attend event”

“MIDDLEBORO — Scott Brown pulled into Everett Square on Saturday night and spoke from the back of a pickup truck to more than 500 supporters.

The crowd filled the Flat Iron Cafe and even spilled out into the square, filling the parking lot of the Rockland Trust Bank.

Brown spoke briefly to the crowd and was greeted with cheers and chants as he outlined his platform and said.

“You deserve better. … When I go to Washington, I will do my very best to stop backroom deals. We’ve lost our way,” he told the crowd.

Brown spent more time on the ground shaking hands with the crowd, which was a cross section of steel workers, farmers, doctors and the unemployed.

Many, like David Ng of Pembroke, had already voted by absentee ballot. Ng said his vote was against “everything the Democrats try to ram down our throats.””

“Brown’s stand on taxes and creating jobs was a high priority for Voneow. Bill is out of work, and the couple is trying to make ends meet on one paycheck.

“He stands for working like a true Republican instead of feeding special interests. He’s the guy I think can help us,” said Bill.”

“Her husband, Norman, 88, a former member of the Planning Board had already voted for Brown by absentee ballot. Their son, Douglas, said he supports Brown because “he’ll take the reigns of government back from socialist concerns.”

Many in the crowd said the election has national ramifications, calling it a vote that will be heard around the world.”

Read more:

http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1685418015/Scott-Brown-campaigns-in-Middleboro-on-Saturday-night

Scott Brown in Middleboro

Part 1

Part 2

Thanks to commenter Jacqlyn Smith, et al.