Weiner, Crowley lead fight to keep Obamacare

Dems pick targets in health fight (Politico)
With the House set to vote Wednesday on repealing health reform, Democrats plan hometown attacks on many of the 62 House Republicans representing districts President Barack Obama carried on 2008. The Democratic National Committee is monitoring tweets and interviews by the targeted Republicans, and has begun to push for news coverage of the statements back home. Democrats plan press events hosted by state parties, including appearances by “real people” who would lose care if the law ...

ObamaCares Reality Deficit
ObamaCare’s Reality DeficitSaturday, January 8th, 2011 Lots of good quotes in this Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook column, although none better than this sub-headline some pithy editor slapped in: If you believe that a new entitlement saves money, you’ll believe anything. Like Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss once said, “When we saw you would willingly spend your entire days in cubicles smaller than a Prison cell, we realized anything was possible.” I’...

Obama urges end to "symbolic battles" in Congress
Obama issued his appeal in his weekly radio address after Republicans took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up potentially fierce fights with the president and his Democrats on spending, Debt and healthcare. "Our fundamental mission must be to accelerate hiring and growth," Obama said. He touted as an example of Bipartisan cooperation a massive Compromise Tax Cut package approved by Congress last month that he said had contributed to "more optimistic economic forecast...

Republicans attack healthcare agenda
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy can't get back on track with existing Democratic healthcare policies, House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Saturday. In the party's weekly radio and Internet address, Cantor derided the 10-month-old healthcare package as flawed and claimed it was hindering Economic Recovery, The Hill reported. "At a time when we need to do everything in our power to encourage Job Creation, the healthcare law hangs around the necks of businesses small an...

Obama says economy moving in right direction
The Private Sector added 103,000 new jobs in December and the Unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent. "Now, we know that these numbers can bounce around from month to month. But the trend is clear," said the president, whose 2012 re-election prospects may well hinge on the condition of The Economy. "We saw 12 straight months of Private Sector job growth—the first time that's been true since 2006," he said. The economy added 1.3 million jobs last year. And each quarter was ...

Obama: Economy Is Moving in Right Direction
(AP) WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is trumpeting private-sector job growth and lower Unemployment, telling the public that "the trend is clear" on The Economy - and it's encouraging. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to discuss the latest economic news and press for Bipartisan action in the newly divided Congress on measures to spur growth. He presented the December jobs report in a positive light, even though it fell short of what Economists had been look...

Getting off the ropes
GETTING OFF THE ROPES.... Being in the House minority is necessarily awful, but it's not all bad -- the status makes winning harder, but it makes attacking easier. It's probably just the nature of the process. Having a majority means having to defend an agenda; being stuck in a minority means getting to say, "Look how badly the majority is screwing up." This week, the House of Representatives officially changed hands, and the new GOP leadership got right to work tackling of its top priorities:...

Dems, media out of touch on health care repeal
Image by Getty Images via @daylife IBD: ... The media, always rushing to protect statist schemes, have joined Democrats in warning opponents to stay away from the Repeal effort. Expect both politicians and pundits to act as if congressional Republicans are nigh on committing Treason. "This week's Health Care debate," writes the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne in his Sunday column, "will put (Speaker John) Boehner and the Republicans on the defensive." ABC News Political Director Amy Walter start...

Weekly addresses focus on deficit, jobs
(CNN) - Democrats and Republicans often spout plans to address the Budget and long-term Deficit, but in their weekly web and radio speeches charted different courses to achieve the goals. New House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor targeted Health Care as the first order of business for the new Congress, saying in Saturday's address that repealing the Legislation would not only tackle care, but also decrease Government Spending and help businesses. "At a time when we need to do everything in our ...

Obama trumpets economic growth
The Private Sector added 103,000 new jobs in December and the Unemployment Rate fell from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent. "Now, we know that these numbers can bounce around from month to month. But the trend is clear," said the president, whose 2012 re-election prospects may well hinge on the condition of The Economy. "We saw 12 straight months of Private Sector job growth—the first time that's been true since 2006," he said. The economy added 1.3 million jobs last year. And each quarter was ...

Obama urges end to "symbolic battles" in Congress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged newly empowered Republicans on Saturday not to wage "symbolic battles" against him but to instead work together to help spur job growth and Economic Recovery. Obama issued his appeal in his weekly radio address after Republicans took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up potentially fierce fights with the president and his Democrats on spending, Debt and healthcare. "Our fundamental mission must be to accelerate hiring ...

President Obama touts benefits of tax cut package
Citing recent positive economic trends, while calling it "our mission" to accelerate the pace of the recovery, President Obama today outlined what he sees as the benefits of the package of Tax Cuts that he signed last month. For businesses: Yesterday, I visited the Thompson Creek Window Company, a Small Business in Maryland. Over the past year, sales there have grown by 55% thanks, in part, to an energy Tax Credit we created. And this year, they’re also planning to take advantage of a new...

Obama to GOP: Stop the symbolic battles in Congress
Stumble This! WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama urged newly empowered Republicans on Saturday not to wage "symbolic battles" against him but to instead work together to help spur job growth and economic recovery. Obama issued his appeal in his weekly radio address after Republicans took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up potentially fierce fights with the president and his Democrats on spending, Debt and healthcare. "Our fundamental mission must be to accelerate hi...

The Obamacare deficit scam
Image via Wikipedia Opinion Journal: Of all the claims deployed in favor of ObamaCare, and there are many, the most preposterous is that a new open-ended entitlement will somehow reduce the Budget Deficit. Insure 32 million more people, and save money too! The even more remarkable spectacle is that Washington seems to be taking this claim seriously in advance of the House's Repeal vote next week. Some things in politics you just can't make up. Terminating Trillions of dollars in future spendin...

Obama's Sets Mission For New Team: Accelerate Growth
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama sees a clear and encouraging trend on The Economy, citing fresh reports showing private-sector job growth and lower Unemployment. He used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to discuss the latest economic news and press for Bipartisan action in the newly divided Congress on measures to spur growth. Obama presented the December jobs report in a positive light even though it fell short of what Economists had been looking for and even though the dr...

GOP House cut spending by $540 billion, taxes by $770 billion
The Congressional Budget Office was forced to admit that it deliberately misled the public on repealing ObamaCare. The agency, run by Democrat Douglas Elmendorf — a proponent of universal health coverage, contended that the Republican plan to Repeal Obamacare would add $230 billion to the Deficit. That’s nonsense. Eliminating a Federal Program does not increase spending. No logical person would buy that. Which is why Liberal Bloggers went ape over this deception. The American Spect...

A Peculiar Path to Deficit Reduction
Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee (and, alas, my congressman) has been getting before every camera he can find over the past few days to insist that ObamaCare is a Deficit reduction plan and so repealing it would increase the deficit, and that this is what the Congressional Budget Office says too. Several folks around here, and many elsewhere of course, have noted that the CBO was forced to accept some very implausible assumptions in making its calculations&mda...;

John Boehner Defends Weepy Displays
(NewsCore) - House Speaker John Boehner has defended his emotional displays, the New York Post reported Saturday. "I am who I am," the Ohio Republican -- who had to break out his hanky to wipe away tears as he was elected speaker this week -- told NBC. Boehner, who has long had a reputation for shedding tears, said the waterworks are just the result of his strong feelings about issues. "When it comes to kids. When it comes to my own family. Soldiers. You know, I get, I feel very strongly that I ...

Obama in Weekly Address: We Cant Refight the Battles of the Last Two Years That Distract Us
Barack Obama is the worst jobs president since the Great Depression and possibly the worst jobs president in US history. In December the Obama economy once again created less jobs than expected. Rather than focusing on The Economy, the Obama-Pelosi regime rammed through unpopular bill after unpopular bill. They nationalized Health Care, took over car companies, rewarded Wall Street, punished business owners, and demonized entire industries. In his weekly address, Obama wants Republicans to forg...

Michael Sigman: For the Right: A Regular Deregulation Celebration
When it comes to regulating, the Right is downright irregular. Now that Republicans control the House, they're hell-bent on further deregulating corporations -- now, thanks to the conservative Supreme Court, designated as "people" -- while threatening the freedoms of actual people, such as those with preexisting medical conditions or public-sector union memberships. The absurdity starts with the fact that Deregulation of banks and Insurance Companies was a crucial component to our current fin...

God Save the Debate
By Gail Collins NYT Next week the House Republicans are going to vote to Repeal the Health Care reform law. It’s a symbolic gesture they got the right to make when they won the majority, but it would be nice if they could leave God out of it. I am thinking about you, Representative Steve King of Iowa. On Friday, King gave a 58-minute-and-20-second Speech on the floor of the House in which he made it abundantly clear that God did not want more federal Regulation of health Insurance Companies....

Rise of the New Confederacy
For two years Conservatives indulged themselves in unheard-of dogwhistle campaigns against this young African-American President while enlightened liberals pointed it out in a mild, somewhat derisive Fashion but with little outrage. Now, in the aftermath of the midterm 'shellacking', a New Confederacy is rising with the assistance of the Tea Party and John Birchers, and it's getting enough traction in Congress to do real damage.The scary part? It's working. Fact: We are NOT living in a post-raci...

House Takes First Step Toward Health Care (socialized medicine) Repeal In 236-181 Vote
Cantor: Despite claims of reducing Deficits and saving Taxpayer Dollars, the new law is riddled with Budget gimmicks that double count savings, offset 6 years of benefits with 10 years of Tax Increases and rely on cuts to Medicare and Tax Increases to fund the new entitlement. On the Debt: "Our surging debt burden hangs over The Economy like a dark cloud waiting to unleash a storm of Inflation, higher taxes and higher borrowing costs upon businesses and families" . House takes first step towar...

Pols bristle at Kathleen Sebelius visit
President Obama’s health secretary sparked a mini-firestorm yesterday after she shrugged off the House Republicans’ effort to Repeal ObamaCare, triggering instant outrage from the repeal’s legislative sponsor and Tea Party allies. “The vote in the House, I think people understand, is sort of symbolic so there isn’t a (Protest) march being planned. That’s sort of a waste of time and energy,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius &mda...;

Obama talks tax cuts; Republican vows health care bill repeal
President Obama and House Republican leader Eric Cantor offered different ways to create jobs Saturday, with Obama touting his Tax Cut program and Cantor promoting Repeal of the president's "job killing" Health Care bill. In a radio address a day after the Unemployment Rate dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%, Obama cited the agreement he reached with Republicans last month for a two-year extension of tax cuts signed by him and predecessor George W. Bush. "Independent experts have concluded that, taken t...