• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: March 12, 2013

    Papal Conclave

    These are my links for March 7th through March 12th:

  • Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: February 19, 2013

    Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles

    Simpson and Bowles

    These are my links for February 19th:

    • New Bowles-Simpson deficit plan would cut $2.4 trillion – Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson proposed a new framework Tuesday to cut the country’s debt by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.Bowles and Simpson were the co-chairmen of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission in 2010, and their recommendations came to serve as a yardstick for other debt-reduction proposals.
    • Obama, the puppet master
    • Obama blackmails tax payers while blaming Republicans
    • Tea Party challenger to McConnell emerging – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could see a primary challenge from local businessman Matt Bevin, who sources say is reaching out to Tea Party groups in the state to gauge support for a 2014 Senate run.Sarah Duran, president of the Louisville Tea Party, told The Hill that Bevin had been in touch with her over the phone to discuss his run multiple times over the past few weeks, and that he met with the group two weeks ago to discuss his interest in the race.
    • GOP senators waiting for Obama outreach
    • Colorado Democrat: Women Don’t Need Guns If They ‘Feel Like They’re Going To Be Raped’
    • Obama leak lets ‘Gang of Eight’ look tough on immigration | WashingtonExaminer.com – RT @ByronYork: New: Obama leak lets ‘Gang of Eight’ look tough on immigration.
    • Twitter / Flap: Way to go @LizMair! We need … – Way to go @LizMair! We need to see you on the Tee Vee much more!
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | WashingtonExaminer.com – Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | #tcot
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” | WashingtonExaminer.com – Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” #tcot
    • Why is Obama threatening to release his own immigration plan? – The brutal truth, as some Republicans aren’t shy about noting, is that Obama’s bill isn’t all that different from Rubio’s. And to the extent that it is different, Democrats and their immigration-lobby allies will go on agitating to make the final product more like O’s bill if/when it passes. He can live, happily, with Rubio’s bill as law. On the other hand, If Obama talks up his own bill and ends up polarizing the issue until the compromise falls apart, great! He’ll happily use that as leverage for the “GOP hates Latinos” talking point in 2014. Realistically, the only way he’ll have a truly consequential second term is if Democrats can take back the House; that’s what his gun-control campaign right now is all about, and that’s what the fate of things like cap-and-trade rests on. If Republicans hang onto the House next year, O’s last two years will be spent mired in lame-duck misery. If they don’t, he’ll be the rare president who ends eight years in office with a flurry of significant “achievements.” I think Obama would be willing to trade that legacy for the legacy of having passed comprehensive immigration reform with GOP help, especially given what it means for Democratic electoral gains long-term, but if he does get the House back in 2014 then he can pass immigration reform — and an assault-weapons ban, and cap-and-trade — later. The only true disaster scenario for him is if immigration talks collapse now and the GOP holds the House in 2014 anyway. That’s quite possible, and maybe even probable, and that’s why he’s not being more aggressive right now in trying to sabotage the negotiations.
    • Sessions: “The leaked plan is little different in its substance from the Gang of 8 plan” – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., may have quickly denounced the immigration plan President Obama leaked this weekend, but most conservatives see little difference between Rubio’s efforts and Obama’s framework. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee released the following statement on the leaked Obama plan today:The release of the President’s immigration plan is more than a misstep or clever political maneuver. It is a dramatic disclosure of his real immigration ideology and goals. The plan grants amnesty on day one while making hollow promises of future enforcement that will never occur. The plan is a giveaway for the special interests and the open borders lobby. This president will never dedicate himself to enforcing the law, and this plan offers only further proof of that.It is plain what is happening. The special interests are again in the White House, demanding and getting their favors granted, while American workers and the public interest are again locked out.
    • Immigration reform groups use low-key strategy against Rubio amnesty – Immigration reform groups are responding cautiously to the Feb. 14 revelation that Sen. Marco Rubio’s aides apparently tried to portray them as left-wing, anti-Christian misanthropes.Their low-key response has helped tamp down the potential conflict with Rubio, who is working with seven other senators on a controversial rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws.The senator’s spokesman, Alex Conant, also downplayed the revelations sketched in the Washington Post’s article.
    • Immigration Double Kabuki – Maybe there is some Beltway logic to this story that I don’t understand. Here’s the situation: Obama wants an immigration bill. He knows that if he comes down heavily on one side Republicans might get their backs up and oppose whatever he proposes. So he is giving the Senate “negotiators” space. I understand that much. Never mind that the Senate “Gang of 8? negotiators are seven amnesty-first supporters plus Marco Rubio, who is also an amnesty-first supporter (if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have Cesar Conda as his chief of staff). Let’s assume for now that if these eight Friends of Amnesty can come up with a deal the rest of the Senate can pretend it’s a “bipartisan compromise,” at least until the public finds out what is in it.
    • Obama’s Amnesty Bill = Rubio’s Amnesty Bill – Over the weekend, the White House leaked parts of a proposed amnesty bill to USA Today’s Alan Gomez. Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, described the proposed bill as a backup plan in case the Senate doesn’t act. Unlike the Schumer/Rubio amnesty plan, the administration bill contains no enforcement “triggers” that would have to be met before the amnestied illegals could move from green card lite to full green-card status. Rubio said the bill would be “dead on arrival” if it were to be introduced, while Paul Ryan said it would take things “in the wrong direction.”The “backup plan” stuff is nonsense — the point of leaking the bill is to enable Rubio to say that his amnesty plan is waaay different from the dastardly Obama plan, even though they’re identical in the only respect that matters: amnesty immediately for all illegal aliens, with work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, the right to travel abroad and return, etc. The president has repeatedly said he wants to stand back and let Congress come up with a bill because if he were to send one to Congress it would be toxic for Republicans — i.e., those Republicans who desperately want to sell out their constituents by backing amnesty but are afraid of the voter backlash. The Rubio and Ryan criticisms of the proposed bill sound almost as though they were scripted by Schumer and White House to make the Senate Gang of Eight scheme seem more palatable to such Republicans.
  • Day By Day,  Joe Biden,  Paul Ryan

    Day By Day October 12, 2012 – Joker

    Day By Day cartoon for October 12, 2012

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Vice President Joe Biden was quite the JOKER during last night debate with Rep. Paul Ryan. But, what was so funny?

    Slow Joe Plagiarizing Biden was rude, arrogant and basically an ASS.

    One must not confuse aggression with debate strength and I really don’t think independent and undecided voters were to impressed with this display.

    Here is a clip of the Biden laugh machine below:

  • Joe Biden,  Paul Ryan,  Polling

    Pre-Debate Poll Watch: Ryan and Biden Both With Lackluster Favorability

    Gallup Vice President Favorability Polling

    According to the latest Gallup Poll:

    Americans view Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan similarly heading into Thursday’s vice presidential debate, with 44% viewing Biden and 43% viewing Ryan favorably. This contrasts with most other vice presidential pairings since 1992 when one candidate had higher favorable ratings than the other in advance of the election’s vice presidential debate.

    At 44%, Biden has the lowest pre-debate favorable rating of any Democratic vice presidential candidate of the past six elections. At 43%, Ryan’s favorable score is no better, but he is viewed more positively than Vice President Quayle was in 1992 and roughly on par with Cheney in 2000. Both of those candidates were associated with Republican tickets that lost the popular vote (although, in the case of Bush/Cheney, not the Electoral College).

    Al Gore was easily the most popular vice presidential candidate of the last two decades. More than six in 10 Americans viewed him favorably prior to the 1996 and 1992 vice presidential debates, eclipsing both of his opponents’ favorable scores: Jack Kemp’s 51% and Dan Quayle’s 33%. John Edwards was viewed significantly better than Dick Cheney in 2004. Also, Joe Lieberman in 2000 and Sarah Palin in 2008 had slim favorability advantages over their counterparts.

    But, does it really make any difference in the Presidential race?

    Probably not and history says not so much.

    Unless Ryan or Biden has a complete meltdown on stage, I would think that not too much would change in the polls. But, Biden probably has the bigger downside since President Obama performed so poorly in his first debate against Mitt Romney.

    Biden and Ryan will take the stage in Danville, Ky., on Thursday about equally well-liked by Americans. Gallup trends suggest that past vice presidential debates have had little to no impact on voter preferences; nevertheless, the current parity between Biden and Ryan theoretically gives them equal opportunity to use the debate to their team’s advantage, something Biden may be particularly focused on given Obama’s subpar performance in the first presidential debate. However, demonstrating that pre-existing views are not determinative, Obama entered that debate with a 55% to 47% advantage over Romney in favorability, and yet, by 72% to 20%, debate viewers said Romney rather than Obama did the better job.

    How much vice presidential popularity matters to the outcome of presidential elections is another question. The ticket with the more popular vice presidential candidate at the end of the campaign won in 1992, 1996, and 2008. However, George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, and roughly tied Al Gore in the popular vote in 2000 despite Cheney’s favorability deficits to Edwards and Lieberman, respectively.

  • Paul Ryan

    The Obama LEFT Goes Nuts Over Paul Ryan

    Paul Ryan addresses RNC

    The long knives are out for Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

    Liar, Liar he is….

    Watch this video:

    [youtube]http://youtu.be/ukkJYkANZ98[/youtube]

    Except….most of the content in the video is untrue.

    Here is a point by point refutation.

    (1) They begin with video of CNN reporters discussing accusations of Ryan’s “lies.” This is proof that the Obama campaign sent out a lot of angry emails, and nothing else.

    (2) Medicare – Sorry, guys, but it is 100 percent true that Obamacare raided $716 Billion from Medicare to pay for itself.  It does cut benefits to current seniors.  And Paul Ryan’s plan took the president’s Medicare “savings,” and re-routed them back into Medicare to shore up the program.  Mitt Romney’s plan would undo those cuts altogether.  Obama took those cuts and used them to pay for Obamacare.  He has admitted this on camera:

    [youtube]http://youtu.be/t5Ha7RNpn24[/youtube]

    (3) The GM Plant – Part of the factory Ryan mentioned was shut down under Bush, despite the initial GM bailout (which Senator Obama supported).  The plant finally fully closed in April of 2009, during Obama’s presidency, as this report clearly states.  Obama’s problem is that he showed up and made empty promises to pander for votes.  Ryan never said Obama was personally responsible for the plant’s closure, but he accurately stated that it closed down within a year of candidate Obama’s hope-filled speech and remains closed today.  Obama goes on and on about “saving” the auto industry and his economic recovery.  That boarded-up Janesville plant tells a different story.

    Read the rest here.

    The Obama Camp and the organized LEFT are trying to discredit Paul Ryan just like they did to Sarah Palin. The talking points are all over the Lefty blogs and they are flailing trying to find a MEME that sticks – again just like Palin.

    I don’t think it will work this time.

    Now, is the time for a frank discussion of the issues of the role of government and the direction of America.

  • CA-26,  Linda Parks,  Mitt Romney,  Paul Ryan,  Tony Strickland

    CA-26: Tony Strickland Says NO to Paul Ryan Budget

    DCCC attacks Parks 2 CA 26: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Hits Linda Parks in Republican Framing Mailer

    The DCCC has released its first attack mailer (for the June 2012 primary election) and it is not against the Republican, Tony Strickland, but against NPP (No Party Prefeerence) Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks

    Tony Strickland, the Republican candidate for my Congressional District is not taking the bait and opening himself up on defending Paul Ryan and his controversial stand on Medicare.

    You can read Strickland’s quotes over at my colleague, Timm Herdt’s blog over at the Ventura County Star newspaper.

    As most in Ventura County know, Strickland is close to Mitt Romney and has been for years. He, like, Romney, will not be trapped like Linda Parks was in June by reaining silent or defending Paul Ryan’s proposal, which is dead in the Congress anyway.

    He is aware of the mailers used against Parks, like above and this piece below:

    There is no need to open himself up for these types of “strawman” attacks. Strickland knows they are coming, but his defense is that he would have voted “No”. Let’s move along….

    Then, like Romney, he will pivot and talk about the Romney Plans to save Medicare, oppose ObamaCare and reduce government spending in order to improve employment and the economy.

    Score 1 for Strickland for avoiding the Democratic trap.

    But, don’t be surprised to not see Paul Ryan, but Mitt Romney or his wife, Ann, to be in Ventura County for a “big” fundraiser for Tony.

  • Barack Obama,  Medicare,  Mitt Romney,  Obamacare,  Paul Ryan

    Video: Romney Goes on the Attack to “Save Medicare” from ObamaCare

    Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan today unveiled an ad to be broadcast in key battleground states that attacks President Obama and his ObamaCare health reform legislation.

    In what is viewed to be a pre-emptive strike against Democratic criticisms of Ryan’s efforts in the House to reform Medicare, Romney is shooting the first shot across Obama’s bow.

    Here is the ad:

    Now, the Romney ad team will be able to build upon their own narrative not the negative portrayal of the national Democratic Party and their minions in the mainstream media.

  • Paul Ryan,  President 2012

    Video: Paul Ryan Heckled at Iowa State Fair

    Well, you knew it was bound to happen – Paul Ryan being heckled.

    The LEFT likes to push the Alinsky tactics and maybe just maybe they can generate a Macaca moment or a McCain red in the race tantrum.

    Paul Ryan though is from Wisconsin and with all of the BS protests Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker had to undergo, I think he is prepared – with a thick political skin.

    But, the amount of outrage and push from the LEFT, so far in the social media world regarding Ryan, has been mild so far as compared to when Sarah Palin entered the arena.

    Perhaps, the push back from the RIGHT social media has been exponential in growth or Ryan is just such a good candidate.

    We will see.

  • Paul Ryan,  Polling,  President 2012

    President 2012 Poll Watch: Paul Ryan a Mixed Reaction?

    Romney Ryan 60 Minutes Video: The Romney and Ryan 60 Minutes Interview

    Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney

    According to the latest Gallup/USA Today poll.

    Americans don’t believe GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney hit a home run with his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, with more of the public giving him lower marks than high ones.

    Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, is seen as only a “fair” or “poor” choice by 42% of Americans vs. 39% who think he is an “excellent” or “pretty good” vice presidential choice.

    I would wait a few weeks and after the national conventions before a “REAL” assessment can be made of Paul Ryan’s impact on the Republican Party ticket. Besides, it is the last few weeks of summer and who is answering the pollsters calls on a weekend?

    Most Americans don’t really recognize Ryan as a national political figure. His name recognition at this point in the campaign is just not that high.

    But, it is interesting that President Obama took time, the first thing this morning in Iowa, to attack Ryan. Guess Team Obama is not reading too much into this early poll.

    Neither should we….