The Right’s Unwitting Obama Apologists

By David Limbaugh

I hate to break it to those deniers who believe that President Obama's tax-guzzling capacity has somehow been diminished by the fiscal cliff provision to fix "permanent" tax rates. You're dreaming.

Several smart columnists and respected conservative editorial pieces tell us that a major silver lining in the crisis deal just concluded is that by agreeing not to reinstitute the Clinton tax rates (and leave the Bush rates in place) for all but the "wealthy" (income of $400,000 for single filers and $450,000 for marrieds), Obama and the Democrats made a major concession. They argue that if Democrats couldn't do better after Obama was just re-elected and when the debt is so high, they'll never be able to. They'll have to realize that they will never be able to sustain their desired welfare state through raising taxes alone and have to come to the table on serious spending cuts and entitlement reform.

This assumes that Obama and the Democrats have any real interest in reducing spending or curbing entitlements. They have shown no interest in doing so, despite the crushing debt problem threatening the nation's solvency.

Obama doesn't base his spending plans on projected revenues, except on a micro level when the law requires him to present bills with revenue-neutral scoring, at which point he…

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Source: Town Hall

DNC Senior Advisor for Hispanic Affairs Statement on Mitt Romney’s Speech at NALEO: “Americans Will Remember Extreme Positions in November”

DNC Senior Advisor for Hispanic Affairs Juan Sepulveda released the following statement on Mitt Romney’s speech at NALEO today:

    “Mitt Romney is banking on the memory of the American people being very short. No matter what he says now, it won’t change the fact that Romney holds an extreme position on immigration and is on the wrong side of every issue that’s important to the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney may want to forget the promises he made during the far right Republican primary, but Americans won’t.

    “Romney called the DREAM Act a ‘handout’ and promised to veto it. Now he’s stayed silent for seven days, refusing to tell voters if he would repeal the Obama Administration’s new action that will make our nation’s immigration policy more fair and efficient. It would prevent young people who were brought to our great nation through no fault of their own as children from being deported—something we should all be able to get behind. So, we shouldn’t believe that anything for Romney has changed—even though now he’s just afraid to come out and say it.

    “President Obama knows that if Hispanic families succeed, our nation thrives. He’s fighting for us all and working to create an economy that is built to last. He’s worked hard to make college more affordable for Hispanic students, and because of his leadership, health care will be more affordable and accessible. President Obama’s record is clear—he’s fighting for the middle class and for a better future for our country for all Americans. Mitt Romney’s far-right positions and philosophy of Romney Economics are dangerous for nearly everyone: middle class families and those still trying to make it there, and Hispanics families working to achieve the American Dream.”

DNC Announces “Romney Economics: The Middle Class Under the Bus” Tour

The DNC today announced a bus tour following the route Mitt Romney will travel over the coming days through New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan. The “Romney Economics: The Middle Class Under the Bus” tour will begin in Exeter, NH, TOMORROW, Friday, June 15, at 8:50 AM EDT and visit all of the states on Romney’s bus tour through the weekend and into early next week.

The “Romney Economics: The Middle Class Under the Bus” tour will take the message of Mitt Romney’s real economic record to communities across those six states, highlighting the broken promises Romney made while running for governor of Massachusetts for more jobs, less debt, and smaller government – the same promises he is making today. Once in office, Romney failed to keep those promises: he sank Massachusetts to 47th out of 50 in job creation, hiked taxes and fees by $750 million a year, and left taxpayers with the highest debt per person in the country. The tour will feature representatives from Massachusetts who will speak from firsthand knowledge about what Romney Economics meant for economic growth and the middle class.

While the President has outlined a clear plan to grow the economy, create middle-class jobs and pay down our debt in a balanced way, Mitt Romney has provided no real plan to help the middle class. Instead he has promised economic policies that are familiar and troubling: more budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer rules for Wall Street, the same formula that benefited a few, but crashed our economy and devastated the middle class. Romney Economics didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.

The four-day DNC bus tour will make at least ten stops across the six states Romney is visiting. The DNC bus will also stop in: Scranton, PA on Friday afternoon; Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton, OH on Saturday; Madison, WI and Davenport, IA on Sunday; and Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit, MI on Monday. Massachusetts and local elected officials and other prominent surrogates will appear on the tour along with the DNC’s Brad Woodhouse.

WHAT: Press conference launching the DNC’s “Romney Economics: The Middle Class Under the Bus” tour to highlight Mitt Romney’s failed Massachusetts record and vision.

WHO: DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse

Massachusetts State Representative David Linsky

Jen Hollis, Massachusetts Teacher

Laura Hainey, AFT-NH President

Rhonda Wesolowski - NEA-NH President

Terie Norelli, Former Speaker and Current House Democratic Leader

Dave Lang, President, Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire

WHEN: 8:50 AM EDT, Friday, June 15, 2012

WHERE: 134 Front St., Exeter, NH 03833

To attend events on the tour, press must RSVP in advance and present a valid credential at the event. For tomorrow’s New Hampshire event, press must RSVP to chalifr@dnc.org by Thursday at 11:00 PM EDT to be considered. All those receiving credentials will be notified. Details for Friday’s event in Scranton are forthcoming.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Statement on New Report Showing that Women Continue to Pay More Than Men for Health Insurance Until Reform Goes Into Effect in 2014

By DNC Press

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement today on the new report from the National Women’s Law Center which shows that in states across the country, women continue to pay more than men for health insurance—an unfair gender gap that will continue until the part of President Obama’s health reform law that bans this practice goes into effect in 2014:

“The news that in states across the country, including my home state of Florida, women continue to pay more than men for the same health insurance is further proof that President Obama’s health reform law is so important. Right now, women pay up to 50% more than men for the very same health coverage. Even if a woman’s policy does not cover maternity care, she can still be charged more because the insurance company fears it will be on the hook for complications from a pregnancy. When the part of the law that bans this practice goes into effect in 2014, being a woman will no longer be considered a pre-existing condition. That’s good news for women and their families, and will make it easier for women to get basic health care services they need.

“But we know that if Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum get their way this discriminatory practice will continue. They have all said they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and with it all the protections it puts in place, like prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions and the preventative care to which it makes sure women have access, like cancer screenings. That’s why this election is so important, and it’s why we need to reelect President Obama to a second term.”

ICYMI: Chairman Priebus: “A Speech Can’t Heal the Economy”

Excerpts from the Charlotte Observer

By Reince Priebus

March 6, 2012

 

"President Obama drops into North Carolina for a speech on the economy today. But while a presidential visit can be an exciting event for any state, presidential speeches cannot heal the broken economy. Nor can they cover up the president's record of failures: high unemployment, a failed stimulus, onerous regulations, Obamacare, higher gas prices, record debt, and more.

 

"Over three years since President Obama took office, families in North Carolina are still hurting. Unemployment remains unacceptably high, despite Obama's massive $833 billion stimulus.

 

"Worse still, his policies have made life harder for Americans. With excessive regulations, he has made it more difficult for job creators to do business...

 

"When President Obama took office, the average price of a gallon of regular gas was $1.84. Today, it's over $3.75-and climbing. Americans are paying the price for Obama's failure to tackle the cost of energy over the last three years...

 

"Our current path is unsustainable, but the president offers North Carolina no solutions-only speeches. And voters are ready for a new direction.

 

"North Carolina Democrats know this. They know they are headed toward defeat in November thanks to the unpopularity of their policies...look no further than Gov. Bev Perdue, who has decided not to run for reelection...

 

"North Carolina deserves a president who stands up for economic growth, not one who stands in its way. And in just a few months, they will have the chance to elect one-the chance to send a Republican to the White House."

 

Click Here To Read The Full Op-Ed: http://bit.ly/yauakx

 

Source: RNC Press

ICYMI: “Obama Allies, Foes Speculate on a Big and Hypothetical Second-Term Agenda”

Excerpts from The Washington Post

By: David A. Fahrenthold and Peter Wallsten

March 4, 2012

 

"If President Obama wins a second term, he will finally endorse same-sex marriage. Gay rights groups are almost certain. He will also make a new, historic effort to fight climate change - environmentalists are pretty sure.

 

"And Obama will finally do just what the Congressional Black Caucus wants. According to some members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

"Conservative groups are equally confident that Obama, freed from the fear of losing his reelection bid, would deliver on far-reaching left-wing dreams. GOP candidate Mitt Romney forecasts a runaway spending spree. Newt Gingrich envisions a 'war' on the Catholic Church. The National Rifle Association predicts a crackdown on gun owners.

 

"The funny thing about all this is: Obama himself hasn't said he'll do any of it.

 

"In his speeches - over the first few months of his re­election campaign - the president has only sketched out a vague agenda for his next term. He wants to fix the immigration system. Put his health-care law into practice. Rebuild infrastructure. Revive manufacturing.

 

"'And,' he told an audience in San Francisco, in what might be called a flourish of the obvious, 'we're going to have to figure out how to pay for all this stuff'...

 

"The speculation about a yet-unseen Obama agenda reflects an unusual commonality between left and right in a polarized election year. It also points to a strategy each side will use this year - trying to marshal excitement among core supporters by tapping into deep pools of worry or hope about Obama...

"At times, the details of Obama's vision can still appear fuzzy - even to him.

 

"'How do we make sure that we've got a tax system that reflects everybody doing their fair share?' Obama asked at a Jan. 31 fundraiser in Washington, describing his vision in terms of questions, not answers. 'How do we make sure that we've got a set of regulations in place that aren't designed to squelch entrepreneurial activity and the free market but are designed to make sure that our consumers are protected and that our air is clean?'...

 

"The GOP candidates running to replace Obama have released dozens of specific proposals: for cutting taxes, for reducing Medicare spending, even for a moon colony. Obama's allies, instead, look for hints and nods...

 

"Obama has also said that he will push for immigration reform. 'My presidency is not over. I've got another five years coming up. We're going to get this done,' he told Univision radio...

 

"But, in his campaign talks, the president has not given many details about how he would do it. In the past, he has called for requiring illegal immigrants to get right with the law, submitting to background checks, and paying fines and back taxes, before they get on a path to legal status.

 

"Inside the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) says she's also picked up on an agenda that Obama won't talk about openly.

 

"Last year, when some of Wilson's colleagues in the black caucus began accusing Obama of not doing enough to help his fellow African Americans, Wilson stood at a town hall meeting to argue that Obama was committed to their issues - but that he could not tackle them so overtly until he got safely past Election Day...

 

"'I haven't seen any evidence that he's going to do anything in his second term that isn't defensive,' said Andrew Roth of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth. 'He's got to defend Obama­care, and try and implement it. Against, you know, a lot of opposition. He's got to defend Dodd-Frank [financial regulation], against a ton of opposition.'

 

"The stifling gridlock of Obama's last year, he said, is not likely to vanish in 2013..."

 

Click Here To Read The Full Article: http://wapo.st/AAoPGC

 

Source: RNC