Even More Cracks
The Obama Administration has been moving full-speed ahead on anticarbon regulation, never mind waiting for Congress to pass a bill. But now opposition is building among senior Democrats, with two powerful committee Chairmen introducing a bill last week to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from declaring that carbon is a dangerous pollutant. (WSJ, 2/8/2010)
President Obama may soon find that he has bigger problems then Republican “obstructionism.” His own party may be turning against his agenda.
Could it be true?
When Republicans take President Obama up on his invitation to hash out their differences over health care this month, they will carry with them a fairly well-developed set of ideas intended to make health insurance more widely available and affordable, by emphasizing tax incentives and state innovations, with no new federal mandates and only a modest expansion of the federal safety net. (NYT, 2/8/2010)
So, notwithstanding President Obama's characterizations, it turns out that the Republicans do have a plan after all....and a "fairly well-developed" one at that!
Unsettling
Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist’s version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations’ climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with former Vice President Al Gore.
But Dr. Pachauri and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are now under intense scrutiny, facing accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest from climate skeptics, right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists. (NYT, 2/8/2010)
But wait, we thought that the issue of climate change was “settled science!”
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bye-partisan
President Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse….Republican leaders said they welcomed the opportunity and called on Democrats to start the debate from scratch, which the president said he would not do (our emphasis). (NYT, 2/8/2010)
Well then it’s not really “bipartisan” is it? President Obama’s approach – as we have noted – is to run around saying “bipartisan, bipartisan, bipartisan” in order to fool the public into thinking that he is trying to work with those pesky Republicans. In point of fact, he is willing to concede nothing.
Follow-up to our recent post
Just two years after Mr. Obama helped his party pull in record Wall Street contributions — $89 million from the securities and investment business, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics — some of his biggest supporters……have become the industry’s chief lobbyists against his regulatory agenda. Republicans are rushing to capitalize on what they call Wall Street’s “buyer’s remorse” with the Democrats. And industry executives and lobbyists are warning Democrats that if Mr. Obama keeps attacking Wall Street “fat cats,” they may fight back by withholding their cash. Though Wall Street has long been a major source of Democratic campaign money (alongside Hollywood and Silicon Valley), Mr. Obama built unusually direct ties to his contributors there. (NYT, 2/8/2010)
So it’s official folks, Wall Street is Democrat territory. Furious at the financial meltdown, bailouts and bonuses? You now know who to blame.
Well then it’s not really “bipartisan” is it? President Obama’s approach – as we have noted – is to run around saying “bipartisan, bipartisan, bipartisan” in order to fool the public into thinking that he is trying to work with those pesky Republicans. In point of fact, he is willing to concede nothing.
Follow-up to our recent post
Just two years after Mr. Obama helped his party pull in record Wall Street contributions — $89 million from the securities and investment business, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics — some of his biggest supporters……have become the industry’s chief lobbyists against his regulatory agenda. Republicans are rushing to capitalize on what they call Wall Street’s “buyer’s remorse” with the Democrats. And industry executives and lobbyists are warning Democrats that if Mr. Obama keeps attacking Wall Street “fat cats,” they may fight back by withholding their cash. Though Wall Street has long been a major source of Democratic campaign money (alongside Hollywood and Silicon Valley), Mr. Obama built unusually direct ties to his contributors there. (NYT, 2/8/2010)
So it’s official folks, Wall Street is Democrat territory. Furious at the financial meltdown, bailouts and bonuses? You now know who to blame.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Truth to Power
Wall Street’s Democrats
Wall Street’s current disaffection is intriguing, as Mr. Schumer served for 30 years as Horatio at the bridge, guarding against too many incursions against the financial industry. He artfully sidetracked an effort to tax hedge funds and pushed for repeal of legislation that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in risky investments like trading stocks or mortgage-backed securities. And he helped craft a bank-friendly bailout. In return, he has taken in more money from the securities and finance industry over the course of his career than any Democrat other than Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. (NYT, 2/4/2010)
Democrats love to pin the shenanigans of Wall Street on Republicans. The dirty little secret is that the fat cat bankers are, as often as not, Democrats supported by Democrat politicians. (See Corzine, Jon)
That Old Kennedy Magic!
A stung U.S. Sen. Scott Brown lashed out at U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy today for insulting his landmark win by calling his candidacy “a joke.”
Brown said Kennedy’s remarks are “mean-spirited,” especially coming on the day he was celebrating being sworn into office.
“This is where he shows that when they need him, he’s in the tank for the Republicans,” Kennedy is quoted as saying.
A WPRI-12 poll shows Kennedy with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district. (Boston Herald, 2/5/2010)
RedStateVT hereby accuses Democrat Patrick Kennedy of being “in the tank” for the Democrats! How do you plead, sir?
The President Will See You Now
President Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama later this month, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. Gibbs declined to give a specific date. (CNN, 2/4/2010)
Recall that last October the Dalai Lama was in town, but the President chose not to meet with him.
Wall Street’s current disaffection is intriguing, as Mr. Schumer served for 30 years as Horatio at the bridge, guarding against too many incursions against the financial industry. He artfully sidetracked an effort to tax hedge funds and pushed for repeal of legislation that prohibited commercial banks from engaging in risky investments like trading stocks or mortgage-backed securities. And he helped craft a bank-friendly bailout. In return, he has taken in more money from the securities and finance industry over the course of his career than any Democrat other than Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. (NYT, 2/4/2010)
Democrats love to pin the shenanigans of Wall Street on Republicans. The dirty little secret is that the fat cat bankers are, as often as not, Democrats supported by Democrat politicians. (See Corzine, Jon)
That Old Kennedy Magic!
A stung U.S. Sen. Scott Brown lashed out at U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy today for insulting his landmark win by calling his candidacy “a joke.”
Brown said Kennedy’s remarks are “mean-spirited,” especially coming on the day he was celebrating being sworn into office.
“This is where he shows that when they need him, he’s in the tank for the Republicans,” Kennedy is quoted as saying.
A WPRI-12 poll shows Kennedy with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district. (Boston Herald, 2/5/2010)
RedStateVT hereby accuses Democrat Patrick Kennedy of being “in the tank” for the Democrats! How do you plead, sir?
The President Will See You Now
President Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama later this month, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. Gibbs declined to give a specific date. (CNN, 2/4/2010)
Recall that last October the Dalai Lama was in town, but the President chose not to meet with him.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Rahm Emanuel's Macaca Moment
RedStateVT is certainly no fan of Rahm-bo Emanuel who is now embroiled in the latest political correctness – loose speech controversy. As we said (see Quote Unquote, January 12, 2010) when Harry Reid’s description of President Obama (light-skinned, no Negro dialect except when he wants to) surfaced, politicians talk a lot and are going to say dumb things. We are inclined to give them a pass or even two……but only if the courtesy extends both ways. Except it never does.
George Allen, Representative, Governor and Senator from Virginia calls someone a “macaca” and his presidential aspirations are destroyed even though, to this day, most people don’t even know what a macaca is. And, of course, there is Sarah Palin who is forever being ridiculed for not delivering the political equivalent of a Shakespearean soliloquy whenever she speaks.
George Allen, Representative, Governor and Senator from Virginia calls someone a “macaca” and his presidential aspirations are destroyed even though, to this day, most people don’t even know what a macaca is. And, of course, there is Sarah Palin who is forever being ridiculed for not delivering the political equivalent of a Shakespearean soliloquy whenever she speaks.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Disarray
White House Refutes…White House
Answering a participant in a town-hall meeting in Nashua who asked about green jobs—those connected to renewable energy—and so-called cap-and-trade legislation, Mr. Obama said, "The only thing I would say about it is this: We may be able to separate these things out. And it's possible that that's where the Senate ends up." A White House spokesman downplayed the president's comments, saying Mr. Obama still favored a bill that would combine measures to encourage jobs in green-energy fields with the establishment of a trading mechanism for emissions. (our emphasis) (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
Anybody else catch this one?
Free to Be Me
Mr. Dodd also appeared slightly annoyed that President Barack Obama threatened during his State of the Union speech last week to veto the legislation if administration officials weren't satisfied with it. Mr. Dodd called it "somewhat interesting" that the White House would threaten a veto when Mr. Dodd's bill was the only major piece of legislation in the Senate that had a chance of attracting Republican support. White House officials didn't respond to questions about Mr. Dodd's comments on the veto threat.
Mr. Dodd also slammed the White House for not having answers to technical questions about the proposals, saying he was calling the administration and "not getting good answers." (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
See what happens when a Dem is no longer beholden to Obama?
More Cracks
President Barack Obama's 10-year budget plan is off to a rocky start in Congress, where his Democratic allies have spent much of the past two days picking it apart.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.) complained about cuts to farm subsidies. Rep. Mike Thompson (D., Calif.) was upset about a user-fee proposal that would force wineries and others in the alcoholic-beverage sector to fund the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) bemoaned a proposal to end four tax breaks for the coal industry. "I want you to know there really isn't anything in this budget which I can take home or talk about in favorable terms," he told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a Tuesday hearing.
But underneath the parochial concerns—which perhaps are to be expected from a budget that attempts to chip away at trillion-dollar-plus annual deficits—lies a deeper unease about Mr. Obama's response to unemployment that remains above 10% and the continued reliance of the federal government to borrow for its spending needs. (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
Slip sliding away....
Answering a participant in a town-hall meeting in Nashua who asked about green jobs—those connected to renewable energy—and so-called cap-and-trade legislation, Mr. Obama said, "The only thing I would say about it is this: We may be able to separate these things out. And it's possible that that's where the Senate ends up." A White House spokesman downplayed the president's comments, saying Mr. Obama still favored a bill that would combine measures to encourage jobs in green-energy fields with the establishment of a trading mechanism for emissions. (our emphasis) (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
Anybody else catch this one?
Free to Be Me
Mr. Dodd also appeared slightly annoyed that President Barack Obama threatened during his State of the Union speech last week to veto the legislation if administration officials weren't satisfied with it. Mr. Dodd called it "somewhat interesting" that the White House would threaten a veto when Mr. Dodd's bill was the only major piece of legislation in the Senate that had a chance of attracting Republican support. White House officials didn't respond to questions about Mr. Dodd's comments on the veto threat.
Mr. Dodd also slammed the White House for not having answers to technical questions about the proposals, saying he was calling the administration and "not getting good answers." (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
See what happens when a Dem is no longer beholden to Obama?
More Cracks
President Barack Obama's 10-year budget plan is off to a rocky start in Congress, where his Democratic allies have spent much of the past two days picking it apart.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.) complained about cuts to farm subsidies. Rep. Mike Thompson (D., Calif.) was upset about a user-fee proposal that would force wineries and others in the alcoholic-beverage sector to fund the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) bemoaned a proposal to end four tax breaks for the coal industry. "I want you to know there really isn't anything in this budget which I can take home or talk about in favorable terms," he told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a Tuesday hearing.
But underneath the parochial concerns—which perhaps are to be expected from a budget that attempts to chip away at trillion-dollar-plus annual deficits—lies a deeper unease about Mr. Obama's response to unemployment that remains above 10% and the continued reliance of the federal government to borrow for its spending needs. (WSJ, 2/3/2010)
Slip sliding away....
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Floundering
RedStateVT asks: when will the mainstream media write the story that the Obama presidency is floundering? (Adrift or unraveling will also work as descriptors). If this were any other president that story line would be everywhere. It does not even take a partisan observer to make the case. The facts speak for themselves:
--A highly divisive attempt to change the very nature of health care in this country, characterized by backroom deals and political bribes.
--Stunning political defeats in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts – even after Obama campaigns.
--National security confusion including where and how to try 9/11 conspirators and now the revelations that the handling of the Christmas bomber was botched.
The list goes on. Obama purports to have heard that Americans are concerned more about jobs and deficits than global warming. And so he packs his State of the Union address with references to these topics. But now, one week later, what is the new hot button issue from Team Obama? Gays in the military! This is a presidency that has lost its way.
Monday, February 1, 2010
If Journalists Told the Truth
At a moment of what appears to be great if unexpected opportunity, the Republican Party continues to struggle with disputes over ideology and tactics, as well as what party leaders say is an absence of strong figures to lead it back to power, from the party chairman to prospective presidential candidates. (NYT, 1/30/2010)
At a moment of what appears to be great if unexpected opportunity, the Republican Party continues to struggle with disputes over ideology and tactics, as well as what party leaders say is an absence of strong figures to lead it back to power, from the party chairman to prospective presidential candidates. Of course, these disputes pale in comparison to those faced by the Democrats who have now consecutively lost three important elections. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
For a president who campaigned on a promise to close Guantánamo, and who just missed a self-imposed one-year deadline to get the job done, the meltdown of a potential Manhattan 9/11 trial is the latest measure of the stubborn complexity of his national security inheritance. (NYT, 1/30/2010)
For a president who campaigned on a promise to close Guantánamo, and who just missed a self-imposed one-year deadline to get the job done, the meltdown of a potential Manhattan 9/11 trial is the latest measure of the Administration’s inability to get results. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
President Obama will send a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress on Monday for the coming fiscal year that would increase financing for education and for civilian research programs by more than 6 percent and provide $25 billion for cash-starved states, even as he seeks to freeze much domestic spending for the rest of his term. (NYT, 1/30/2010)
President Obama will send a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress on Monday for the coming fiscal year that would increase financing for education and for civilian research programs by more than 6 percent and provide $25 billion for cash-starved states, even as he seeks to freeze much domestic spending for the rest of his term. Of course, this freeze effectively locks in an average 22% increase in domestic spending during Obama’s first year. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
At a moment of what appears to be great if unexpected opportunity, the Republican Party continues to struggle with disputes over ideology and tactics, as well as what party leaders say is an absence of strong figures to lead it back to power, from the party chairman to prospective presidential candidates. Of course, these disputes pale in comparison to those faced by the Democrats who have now consecutively lost three important elections. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
For a president who campaigned on a promise to close Guantánamo, and who just missed a self-imposed one-year deadline to get the job done, the meltdown of a potential Manhattan 9/11 trial is the latest measure of the stubborn complexity of his national security inheritance. (NYT, 1/30/2010)
For a president who campaigned on a promise to close Guantánamo, and who just missed a self-imposed one-year deadline to get the job done, the meltdown of a potential Manhattan 9/11 trial is the latest measure of the Administration’s inability to get results. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
President Obama will send a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress on Monday for the coming fiscal year that would increase financing for education and for civilian research programs by more than 6 percent and provide $25 billion for cash-starved states, even as he seeks to freeze much domestic spending for the rest of his term. (NYT, 1/30/2010)
President Obama will send a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress on Monday for the coming fiscal year that would increase financing for education and for civilian research programs by more than 6 percent and provide $25 billion for cash-starved states, even as he seeks to freeze much domestic spending for the rest of his term. Of course, this freeze effectively locks in an average 22% increase in domestic spending during Obama’s first year. (RedStateVT, 1/30/2010)
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