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Sunday, July 18, 2010

THE AUDACITY OF NOPE

A television ad launched against Harry Reid late last week underscores an obvious tension, if not outright duplicity, that exists within the Republican Party with respect to the economic stimulus package passed by Democrats last year.

On Thursday evening, the new conservative group American Crossroads -- conceived of by veteran GOP operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie -- released a TV advertisement attacking the Senate Majority Leader for, of all things, not bringing enough stimulus dollars back to Nevada.

It's bad enough that Nevada has the highest unemployment in the nation. And Harry Reid claims to be helping the jobs situation? Really Harry? Recent data show Nevada ranks 50th in the money received from Harry's stimulus bill. That's right -- Senate leader Harry Reid has gotten his own state less help than every other state but one. And along with bailouts, deficits, and Obamacare, that's what Harry Reid's done for Nevada. Really Harry? That's not the kinda help Nevada needs.

Coming in the middle of the heated Nevada Senate race, the spot is designed to put the entirety of the blame for Nevada's unemployment at Reid's feet. But the numbers are wrong. There are, in fact, 13 states that have received less stimulus money than Nevada, according to administration data.

More important than the misleading message, however, is the audacity of the messengers. Americans Crossroads is a conservative outfit run by a host of fierce critics of the Democratic stimulus program. Gillespie, the former RNC Chair and Bush hand, has criticized the stimulus package as ineffectual and misguided. Karl Rove, another American Crossroads chief and Bush confidant, actually insisted that the stimulus bill hurt the economy. Now, it appears, they see virtue in the recovery package. Were it not for the ineptitude of Harry Reid, the group argues, Nevada would be reaping more of the benefits.

Of course, the more fundamental message being advanced by American Crossroads is that Reid is simply incompetent. How, after all, could a Majority Leader not bring home the bacon to his needy constituents? But that too is misleading. As The Atlantic's Derek Thompson explains: "Republicans have spent the last three months blocking a Sen. Reid-endorsed extension to unemployment insurance that would particularly help Nevada, since federal UI contributions are tied to state unemployment rate. They're blocking Democrats' jobless aid in Washington and blaming Sen. Reid for not spending more on joblessness in Reno."

Indeed, from the perches of Congress and the cable news circuit, Republican lawmakers have howled at the mere suggestion of additional government spending -- reflecting concerns over rising deficits. But when the debate moves back to districts or the states, the tune is decidedly different. GOP lawmakers have attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies for stimulus projects; they have hosted job fairs with companies who have received recovery funds; they've complained about the slow pace of stimulus distribution; and they've even privately lobbied departments within the administration for stimulus funds.

In the end, the GOP isn't just trying to have its cake and eat it too. They're insisting that the cake has no nutritional value, refusing to bake more, and then criticizing Democrats for not feeding it to more people.

Oh Mr. Cornyn, You outdid yourself this morning!

Jon Cornyn (R- Texas) appeared on Meet the Press this morning spewing talking points like they were crude flowing from the oil pipe in the Gulf of Mexico. Oh Mr. Cornyn, you should have kept your Blow Out Preventer closed this morning. You have given away the GOP's agenda for November. The Grand Old Party proposes a moratorium on new regulations, repeal health care reform, repeal financial regulatory reform, eliminate social security and medicare, extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich adding 2.5 trillion to the deficit from 2010-2019. Sounds great doesn't it. It's like going Back to the Past instead of Moving on to the Future, isn't it.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

GOP legislation blockage will "filibuster our recovery"

President Barack Obama says Senate Republicans are playing politics with bills that would extend benefits to the unemployed and increase lending to small businesses.

Striking a deeply partisan tone in his weekly radio and online address, Obama said the GOP leadership has chosen to "filibuster our recovery and obstruct our progress" by blocking votes on agenda items the president says would breath life into the economic recovery.

"These steps aren't just the right thing to do for those hardest hit by the recession," Obama said. "They're the right thing to do for all of us."

The address was recorded at the White House before Obama flew to Maine on Friday for a weekend family vacation.

Lawmakers have battled for weeks over extending unemployment benefits to workers who have been out of a job for long stretches of time. The last extension ran out at the end of May, leaving about 2.5 million people without benefits.

The House has already passed a bill to extend the benefits through November, but with the death of Sen. Robert Byrd, Senate Democrats don't have the 60 votes they need to overcome a GOP filibuster. The Senate plans to take up the measure again on Tuesday -- when Byrd's successor, the former chief counsel for Gov. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is expected to be sworn in.

Obama said lawmakers' obligation to extend benefits is both moral and practical, citing some economists who believe extending unemployment insurance is one of the most cost-effective ways to jump-start the economy because it puts money in the pockets of people who are likely to spend it quickly.

The $34 billion needed to extend benefits would be borrowed, adding to the nation's mounting debt. Republicans have tapped into the public's anger and concern over that debt, saying they would only support extending benefits if the bill was paid for.

Obama pushed back in his address, accusing Republicans of making their stand at the expense of the unemployed "after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit."

Obama also called on lawmakers to send him a package of tax breaks and credit extensions for small businesses. Democrats are hoping to schedule a vote on the small business bill by the time Congress breaks for its August recess. Republican leaders say they're happy to vote, as long as they get a chance to change the bill to their liking.

You can view the weekly online address at http://www.whitehouse.gov or read the transcript.

GOP STRATEGY: AVOID ISSUES AT ALL COST

Sometime after Labor Day, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner plans to unveil a blueprint of what Republicans will do if they take back control of the chamber. He promises it will be a full plate of policy proposals that will give voters a clear sense of how they would govern.

But will Republicans actually want to run on those ideas -- or any ideas? Behind the scenes, many are being urged to ignore the leaders and do just the opposite: avoid issues at all costs. Some of the party's most influential political consultants are quietly counseling their clients to stay on the offensive for the November midterm elections and steer clear of taking stands on substance that might give Democratic opponents material for a counterattack.

"The smart political approach would be to make the election about the Democrats," said Neil Newhouse of the powerhouse Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, which is advising more than 50 House and Senate candidates. "In terms of our individual campaigns, I don't think it does a great deal of good" to engage in a debate over the Republicans' own agenda.

Others are skeptical that any Republican policy proposals will have much of an impact. "They really still have to have a sharp contrast with the Democrats," said John McLaughlin, another leading Republican pollster whose firm counts both the House and Senate campaign committees among its clients. "They really need to drive that home before people will be willing to listen to what Republicans stand for."

It's not that Boehner (Ohio) is arguing for a cease-fire. The debate among Republicans comes down to this: The speaker-in-waiting, for all his love of political combat, thinks that voters will not trust GOP candidates if their attacks don't also provide at least some substance. The consultants argue that public anger, if properly stoked, alone can carry the party over the finish line. In their view, getting bogged down in the issues is a distraction and even a potential liability.

One who begs to differ is the architect of the last GOP takeover of the House. "Consultants, in my opinion, are stupid," former speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said in an interview. "The least idea-oriented, most mindless campaign of simplistic slogans is a mindless idea."

The working title for Boehner's promised agenda is "Commitment to America." It is an unmistakable echo of the fabled 10-point "Contract with America" that Gingrich and his battalion of long-shot candidates signed on the steps on the Capitol in 1994, six weeks before they stunned the political world and won the House.

Yet the strategist who Republicans are studying most closely this year isn't Gingrich: It's Rahm Emanuel, the former Democratic congressman from Chicago and current White House chief of staff. Emanuel led the 2006 campaign that put the House back in Democratic hands 12 years after Gingrich's Republican Revolution. One clue to the balance Boehner is trying to strike between heat and light: House Republican leaders are passing around an old Time magazine story about Emanuel's 2006 election strategy. His formula was for candidates to spend 80 percent of their time on the attack and 20 percent on the issues.

Republicans in the Senate, with dimmer prospects of gaining control, are plotting a much simpler course. Their platform, to the degree they have one, is to offer themselves as an even bigger roadblock to the Democrats than they are now.

A prelude of this message came Thursday in a speech by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to the Young Republican Leadership Conference. McConnell blasted President Obama and the Democrats for overspending and overreaching but didn't spell out how the GOP would do things differently.

"We're not going to tell you that if you vote Republican you're going to wake up in your dream home with a brand-new Corvette outside, ready to take you to the best job in the world," McConnell said. "You know why? Because government can't deliver that promise."

Though poll numbers suggest a political climate very much like that of 1994, Republicans recognize they face a different kind of challenge.

Back then, it had been four decades since the GOP had run the House, which meant that few Americans knew what Republican rule would look like. Now, as party leaders themselves have acknowledged, they need to convince voters they have learned from the mistakes that cost them the majority only four years ago.

It is no accident that Boehner has put two up-and-coming second-term congressmen, Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Peter Roskam (lll.), in charge of drafting the new agenda for governing. Neither has the taint of having been in Washington for the previous 12-year reign of House Republicans.

Although their plan is not likely to be as ambitious as the Contract with America, Republicans say it will be more detailed than anything the Democrats offered in 2006.

"There will be legislation. There will be bills. You'll see what's in them," said McCarthy. He is gathering public suggestions on a Web site the party calls "America Speaking Out," though traditional polling is likely to be the real GPS for drafting any legislation.

It will probably be relatively cautious, and limited to a few of the top concerns of both conservatives and independent voters.

"What's our plan to create jobs and grow the economy?" said GOP pollster David Winston, who is advising the House Republican leadership on the effort. "That's really what we have to address. We need command focus."

Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said it will also include sections on national security and proposals for making internal reforms of the House, to create more transparency as to how the legislative process works.

All of this will sound like well-worn themes to many voters. But in the end, Cantor said, the most important reason for coming up with an agenda is to ensure that Republicans have "something that can become a governing document."

It will be announced with nothing like the fanfare of Gingrich's Capitol steps event, which drew GOP House candidates from across the country. Indeed, the last thing that many of their 2010 contenders would want is a photo op inside the Beltway.

House Republicans also plan to leave it up to their candidates to decide which proposals to embrace, Roskam said.

A clear agenda might not enhance the Republicans' prospects for winning on Nov. 2. But if things go their way, it could come in pretty handy starting Nov. 3. Assuming, of course, that the candidates run on it -- and not from it.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Republican Leader John Boehner’s Moratorium: Who Would Pay the Price?

Today Republican Leader John Boehner put his mouth where the money is. After a meeting this morning with a bevy of special interest lobbyists, and one day after he called for the repeal of Wall Street reform, he said:

“I think having a moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea.”

Boehner said the ban would send “a wonderful signal to the private sector that they’re going to have some breathing room.”

That’s right, instead of standing up for American workers, their families and small businesses who have been burned by Wall Street, Big Banks and Big Oil – Boehner wants to give “breathing room” to the special interests. The Bush-Republican decision to take the referee off the field is what led to the most serious fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.

Which of these proposed federal regulations to protect taxpayers and consumers does Mr. Boehner think is “a great idea” to stop to give “breathing room” to the special interests?

SAFE CRIBS AND BASSINETS FOR CHILDREN: The Commission is proposing a more stringent safety standard for bassinets and cradles that will further reduce the risk of injury associated with these products.

TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING: The establishment of a free, public, website containing full disclosure of all Federal contract award information.

CONSUMER PROTECTIONS FOR AMERICAN AIR TRAVELERS: New action to strengthen the rights of air travelers in the event of oversales, flight cancellations and long delays, and to ensure that passengers have accurate and adequate information to make informed decisions when selecting flights.

We are not going back to the failed policies of the Bush Administration where the special interests and lax oversight wasted our taxpayer dollars and put our economic and family security at risk.

READ MY LIPS, NO NEW REGULATIONS

That's right, House Majority Leader, John Boehner (R-Ohio) held a news conference this morning after meeting with business and trade group lobbyist's in the roll out of the GOP's "America Speaks Out" initiative. The leader of the House GOP called for a moratorium on federal regulations for one year. If the GOP wins back the House in November, John Boehner will be the Speaker of the House and third in line to the presidency. Mr. Boehner appeared in front of the Press this morning and said "I think having a moratorium on new Federal regulations is a great idea, [It] sends a wonderful signal to the private sector that they are going to have some breathing room. I think there is a way to do this with an exemption for those emergency regulations that may be needed or some particular agency or another. If the American people knew that there was going to be a moratorium for a year, that the federal government wasn't going to issue thousands of more regulations, it would give them some breathing room."

Is the leader still drunk from last night? Is it me or does the TAN MAN look hungover everyday? This idea is not too far fetched after the rumors surfaced that he is "out in the Washington nightlife by 5:00 PM every night." A charge that Mr. Boehner did not deny two week ago when asked. Micheal Steel, the leader's chief of staff (not to be confused with Micheal Steele, chairman of the RNC), confirms Mr. Boehner is out every night but he is fundraising. Mr. Steel confirmed that Mr. Boehner raises an average of $118,000 per fundraising event.

Haven't we seen what the lack of regulations can do? From Enron to British Petroleum (BP), we have seen what deregulation has done to all of us. Not to mention, it's bad politics. Nearly, 6 in 10 likely voters in the most recen NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll say we need more regulation not less.