• Barack Obama,  Hillary Clinton

    Quote of the Day: ‘I Broke My Elbow, Not My Larynx’…

    Hillary, everyone warned you about being Obama’s lap dog as Secretary of State.

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday rejected suggestions she had been sidelined by President Barack Obama, her rival for last year’s Democratic presidential nomination.

    With media reports swirling that Clinton’s influence has been usurped by the National Security Council, the top U.S. diplomat insisted she played an important role in crafting the foreign policy agenda.

    “I really stay focused on the work that I do. I broke my elbow, not my larynx. I have been deeply involved in the shaping and implementation of our foreign policy,” she told reporters.

    “I don’t really pay a lot of attention to what is said,” Clinton said of several commentaries speculating she was being sidelined.

    Since she slipped and broke her elbow last month, Clinton has been forced out of the limelight, canceling two foreign trips and undergoing intense physical therapy.

    On Wednesday, Clinton gave what the State Department billed as a major foreign policy speech at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, but she broke no new ground.

    Now, that “The One’s” poll numbers are falling don’t you wish you were still in the Senate? And, available to challenge Obama in 2012 should he flame out after one term?


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  • Andrew Cuomo,  David Paterson,  Polling,  Rudy Giuliani

    Poll Watch: 2010 New York Governor’s Race Has Rudy Giuliani Far Ahead of Governor David Paterson

    New York Governor's Poll

    In the latest Rasmussen poll, Republican and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is far ahead of incumbent New York Governor David Paterson. Rudy is behind if he runs against Democrat Attorney General Andrew Cuomo but by only 7 points.

    It’s a knockout for Rudy Giuliani if he’s the Republican candidate for governor in New York next year running against incumbent Democrat David Paterson. But if Andrew Cuomo is Giuliani’s opponent, chalk up a win for the Democrat. At least that’s the way it looks in the summer of 2009.

    A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Giuliani beating Paterson by 22 points, 55% to 33%. Eight percent (8%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent are undecided.

    However, Cuomo tops Giuliani by seven points – 48% to 41% – in a match-up between the two, with six percent (6%) favoring some other candidate and six percent (6%) not sure who they’ll vote for.

    At this point, it appears Giuliani is likely to face the tougher of the two Democrats since a survey of Democratic Primary voters shows Cuomo ahead of Paterson 61% to 27%.

    But, will Andrew Cuomo be able to push out David Paterson?

    And, with Obama’s and generic Democrat Party poll numbers in the tank, will Cuomo decide to run in a tough race against Republican Rudy?

    Stay tuned……


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  • Joe Biden,  Obamacare

    Oh That Joe Biden: “We Have to Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt”

    Biden on spending and bankruptcy

    Say what?

    Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
     
    “And folks look, AARP knows and the people working here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it. It can’t do it financially.”
     
    “We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
     
    “Well, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, I’m telling you.”

    Medicare and Social Security are already going towards insolvency and Obamacare will correct his how? Make more taxpayers or kill off more senior citizens?

    Come on, Joe – get real.

    Even the Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf has said with Obamacare that there will be ACTUALLY AN INCREASE in long-term health costs.

    So, is this just another Joe Biden GAFFE? Or does he will believe this BS?


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  • Barbara Boxer

    Video: Senator Barbara Boxer Makes ASS Out of Her Herself with Condescending Racial Remarks

    Black Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO Harry Alford accused Senator Boxer (D-CA) of playing race politics during an EPW Committee hearing on green jobs.

    Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer has always had weak opponents when running in California elections. If the GOP can mount any sort of campaign this time, Boxer should have enough negatives to be drummed out of the Senate.

    Watch this clip in the Fall 2010 blast the California television airwaves.


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  • New York City,  Obamacare

    Obamacare: Spreading The Wealth Around – Except in New York City

    Obama 57 per cent NYC tax

    So, who is going to pay for Obamacare, President Obama’s Universal health care scheme?

    I guess the residents of New York City – for one of many.

    Congressional plans to fund a massive health-care overhaul could have a job-killing effect on New York, creating a tax rate of nearly 60 percent for the state’s top earners and possibly pressuring small-business owners to shed workers.

    New York’s top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent — rates not seen in three decades — to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.

    Hello, NEW Republican Governor of New York Rudy Giuiani and U.S. Senator George Pataki should Obamacare pass the Congress.

    NYC Tax

    Click for larger graphic


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  • Day By Day,  Obamacare

    Day By Day by Chris Muir July 16, 2009 – Don’t Judge ME

    day by day 071609

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Chris, you are correct. The old and inform will NOT do well under Obamacare as the wealth of America is “spread around” with rationing and redistribution of health care resources.

    And, look at how Obama and the Congressional Democrats are paying for the Obamacare reform – massive tax increases which WILL hit the Middle Class and Small Business owners.

    When all of the details are finally understood, I don’t think American voters will be too pleased with this “HOPE and CHANGE.”

    Now, with regards to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, can she “STONEWALL” her way to confirmation?

    Apparently so. Well, the Democrats have a filibuster proof majority and elections have consequences.

    +++++++++++

    A reminder to all Flapsblog readers:

    The annual Day By Day fundraising drive is under way.

    Day By Day FundraiserPlea09

    Please donate generously so that Chris Muir can keep up his great conservative cartoon work.

    So, what are you waiting for?

    Click here and give Chris a few bucks.

    Flap knows you will be glad you did.


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  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2009-07-15

    • Rep. Dan Boren, a conservative Democrat in the reddest state in America, Oklahoma, says in the bluntest terms imaginable that President Obama has become a political liability:

      “Barack Obama is very unpopular,” said Boren, who represents Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District. “He got 34 percent of the vote statewide, and less in our district. If he were to run for re-election today, I bet it would be even worse.”

      Boren points out that he does support some of Obama’s initiatives, like the economic stimulus package. He has voted for Obama-supported bills 81 percent of the time, according to a recent Congressional Quarterly study. But despite this, he said the president is too liberal.

    • House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that job growth and economic recovery would not be harmed by a Democratic plan to increase income taxes by $540 billion to pay for their health-care reform proposal because the tax hikes would not affect small businesses.

      Hoyer also said he could not think of any small business owners who make enough money to qualify for the higher taxes.

    • California tax officials say a state proposal to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.

      A State Board of Equalization report released Wednesday estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes.

      The bill introduced by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in February would allow adults to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana.
      Ammiano has promoted the bill as a way to help bridge the state's $26.3 billion budget shortfall.

      As the bill is written, the state could not begin collecting taxes under the bill until the federal government legalizes marijuana.

    • Florida. Two Republican sources said today that even as former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio campaigns for retiring GOP Sen. Mel Martinez's Senate seat, he has been calling around to top Republican donors and activists in the state to discuss the idea of switching from the Senate primary against GOP Gov. Charlie Crist and into the open-seat race for attorney general, where a serious Republican candidate has yet to emerge.
    • Rationing health care means getting value for the billions we are spending by setting limits on which treatments should be paid for from the public purse. If we ration we won’t be writing blank checks to pharmaceutical companies for their patented drugs, nor paying for whatever procedures doctors choose to recommend. When public funds subsidize health care or provide it directly, it is crazy not to try to get value for money. The debate over health care reform in the United States should start from the premise that some form of health care rationing is both inescapable and desirable. Then we can ask, What is the best way to do it?
      ++++++++++
      Uh – No thanks
      (tags: Obamacare)
    • As immigration has slowed, more people have moved out of California to other states than into California from other states — a net loss of more than 435,000 and perhaps as many as 945,000 in the last four years.

      "During recessions, when California's unemployment rate is higher than the nation's, as is the case right now, we tend to experience quite a bit of outmigration," said Hans Johnson, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

      The state's population has grown, nonetheless, because births and continued, albeit slowed, immigration have outpaced deaths and people moving out of California.

      (tags: California)
    • President Barack Obama “strongly opposes” an effort in Congress to require General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to restore relationships shed during bankruptcy proceedings, while stopping short of a veto threat.

      The administration said today in a statement that “the decision by Chrysler and GM to rationalize their dealer networks was a critical part of their overall restructuring to achieve long-term viability in order to save jobs in the long run.”

      The statement also said it would set a “dangerous precedent” to “intervene into a closed judicial bankruptcy proceeding on behalf of one particular group at this point.”

      (tags: barack_obama)
    • House Democrats plan to fund the broadest U.S. health-care expansion in four decades by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, imposing a surtax of 5.4 percent on couples with more than $1 million in income.

      The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.

      House leaders said the plan, which includes mandates to purchase coverage and a public health-insurance option, would cover 97 percent of Americans by 2019. President Barack Obama praised their work, saying it will “begin the process of fixing what’s broken” in the system.

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • Yet even as the balance begins to shift, the old guard is still yapping in the foreground. Shortly before McCain sat for this interview, Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, gave an interview to Christianity Today in which he complained about “queers” and declared, “I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children.” Unprompted, McCain rails against the man her father’s presidential campaign touted as an American everyman and made a showpiece in the weeks before the election. “Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing.”
      ++++++
      Why her father is not trusted in conservative circles.
    • The hearings on the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court heated up yesterday. The outcome previously was thought not to be in doubt and there was speculation that she might even match Chief Justice John Roberts’ 78-vote total. But then she came before the Senate Judiciary Committee and began to tell one “jaw-dropper” (as a U.S. senator labeled one of her answers) after another, raising doubts about her credibility.

      And it is not just conservatives who are disturbed. The Washington Post’s Eva Rodriguez, who had touted Sotomayor’s nomination, wrote: “I’m surprised and disturbed by how many times today Sonia Sotomayor has backed off of or provided less-than-convincing explanations for some of her more controversial speeches about the role of gender and ethnicity in judicial decision-making.” Indeed, that this the question of the moment: is Sotomayor being honest with the Senate?

    • On the issue of Sotomayor's infamous 2001 "wise Latina" speech, Republicans are more skeptical now than before Sotomayor began her attempts to explain the remarks. In response to questions from Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the committee, Sotomayor said that the "wise Latina" remark was "a rhetorical flourish that fell flat…It was bad, because it left the impression that I believed that life experiences commanded a result in a case, but that's clearly not what I do as a judge."

      Republicans pointed out that Sotomayor gave versions of the "wise Latina" speech at least six times over the years. "Fell flat?" asked one senior GOP aide. "Well, it fell flat six times. If you said this one time, and it fell flat and you stopped using it, that would be one thing, but when you've said it repeatedly over a ten-year stretch, it's very hard to believe that it is anything other than what it appears to be. It's only fallen flat now that she's been called on it."

    • The President has said he would not allow taxes to be raised on anyone with less than $250,000 of income.

      Today for the first time we see the legislative language for and a summary of the health care reform bill that House Democrats intend to try to pass before the August recess. The following is based on an initial quick scan of the bill and studying a few key sections. I have been wondering how the drafters were going to solve the problem I am about to describe. As best I can tell, they didn’t solve it.

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • Germany's foreign intelligence agency BND denied a report in a magazine on Wednesday that its experts believe Iran is capable of producing and testing an atomic bomb within six months.

      The report, in German weekly Stern, cited BND experts as saying Iran had mastered the enrichment technology necessary to make a bomb and had enough centrifuges to make weaponised uranium.

      It quoted one expert at the agency as saying: "If they wanted to, they could detonate an atomic bomb in half a year's time."

      (tags: Iran)
    • Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission.

      If approved, the plan by TracFone Wireless in Miami would make Colorado the 17th state it has settled into with free cell service for the indigent, a form of wireless welfare that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology.

      "Our hope is to have it up and running by September," said Jose Fuentes, TracFone's director of government relations. "Historically, it's a very underutilized service, and we'd like that to change."

      (tags: socialism)
    • 's long-term bond rating after the state began issuing IOUs.

      Moody's Investors Service downgraded California's general-obligation bond rating to Baa1 from A2, a drop of two notches and only slightly above junk status. Fitch Ratings issued a similar two-notch downgrade last week. California has never defaulted on its bond payments, but it had the lowest bond ratings of any U.S. state prior to this month's ratings deterioration due to its ongoing budget problems.

      The Moody's downgrade potentially increases California's borrowing costs for public works projects, raising the stakes for the state's ongoing budget saga.

    • A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.

      His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending deployment orders.

      "We won! We won before we even arrived," she said with excitement. "It means that the military has nothing to show for Obama. It means that the military has directly responded by saying Obama is illegitimate – and they cannot fight it. Therefore, they are revoking the order!"

      She continued, "They just said, 'Order revoked.' No explanation. No reasons – just revoked."

      (tags: barack_obama)
    • House Democratic leaders, pledging to meet the president's goal of health care legislation before their August break, are offering a $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans. Left to pick up most of the tab were medical providers, employers and the wealthy.

      "We cannot allow this issue to be delayed. We cannot put it off again," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said Tuesday. "We, quite frankly, cannot go home for a recess unless the House and the Senate both pass bills to reform and restructure our health care system."

      In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said he wanted floor debate to begin a week from Monday. With the Senate Finance Committee still struggling to reach consensus, that timetable could slip. Even so, it underscored a renewed sense of urgency.

      (tags: Obamacare)
    • House Democrats plan to fund the broadest U.S. health-care expansion in four decades by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, imposing a surtax of 5.4 percent on couples with more than $1 million in income.

      The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.

      House leaders said the plan, which includes mandates to purchase coverage and a public health-insurance option, would cover 97 percent of Americans by 2019. President Barack Obama praised their work, saying it will “begin the process of fixing what’s broken” in the system.
      +++++++
      Class warfare politics

      (tags: Obamacare)