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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

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Bankrupt and Failed US Government program, the big 3 are on the same course.

Money Driven, Anal Lover, Yankee Fan, Cowboy up & I Ride w/ the Heat!! I'm a relentless & persistent animal my desire is to be the worlds greatest. - me

“Liberalism is a mental disorder" ~MIKE SAVAGE

“I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”
Joe DiMaggio

Them that governs least, governs best- Thomas Jefferson

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. - General George Patton Jr

I love my wife & my life.

"I am an Animal Rescuer. My work is never done, my home is never quiet, my wallet is always empty...but my heart is always full." Annette King-Tucker

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem."

Vic's daily to do list:

1- Hug a tree
2- 550 useless posts
3- Check in with Domjuan's secretary to see what hes up to for the day.
4- Tweet Obama 150 times
5- Master-bate to pics of Cindy Sheehan
6 - Spread innovative thinking that failed 25 years ago in Europe.
7- Burn an American flag
8- Spew out racist remarks to anybody that isn't a tree-huger like himself.

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03-14-2013 10:28 AM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

"We don't need a new idea. There is an idea: the idea is called America, and it still works." #CPAC2013 #rubio2016

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03-14-2013 03:26 PM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

“The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered,” Paul said. “I don’t think we need to name any names here, do we? The Republican Party has to change, by going forward to the classical and timeless ideas enshrined in our Constitution,” he said. “When we understand that that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then we will become the dominant national party again. I will stand for you. I will stand for our prosperity and our freedom. And I ask everyone who values liberty to stand with me." - Rand Paul

Today, hundreds of CPAC attendees stood with Rand (literally) during his 2013 speech. This speech is well worth watching. He hit on foreign aid, the drug war, facebook, drones, eliminating the DOE, his budget, taxes, flat tax of 17%, the regulatory complex, and corporate welfare! I stand with Rand! !! everyone should!

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03-14-2013 06:12 PM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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I guess Paul Ryan didn't get the memo.

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-14-2013 06:31 PM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

The libertarian message coming from a younger mouth piece is spreading like wild fire. We all loved grampa Paul, but he was too old to be looked upon as a serious leader in this country. #standbyrand

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03-16-2013 09:24 AM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Barry refused to eat lunch with Republicans because of lack of food taster, lmfao. Didn't this clown campaign about compromise for 1.5 years?!? When is it finally going to come when he loses the senate in 2014?

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03-16-2013 02:15 PM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Boehner: I 'Absolutely' Trust Obama

by Ben Shapiro 17 Mar 2013 600 post a comment View Discussion

On ABC’s This Week, hosted by Martha Raddatz, Speaker of the House John Boehner appeared to downplay the problem of national debt while loudly proclaiming his wonderful relationship with President Obama. “The president and I, as I have made very clear, have a very good relationship. We're open with each other. We're honest with each other,” said Boehner.

“Do you trust President Obama?” Raddatz asked.

“Absolutely,” Boehner replied.

“Absolutely?” Raddatz emphasized.

“Absolutely,” Boehner repeated.

Framing Republicans as out-of-touch radicals, Raddatz then asked, “President Obama says these meetings are intended to find members of the common-sense caucus who he can make a deal with …. Are you not a member of the common-sense caucus?”

Boehner, falling for the trap, shot back, “I’m part of the common-sense caucus. We appreciate the outreach. We appreciate the engagement from the president. But it’s gonna take more than this if we’re serious about solving our problems.”

Then Boehner dropped the bombshell. Raddatz, after quoting President Obama saying we don’t have “an immediate crisis in terms of debt,” asked Boehner for his thoughts. And Boehner eagerly agreed: “We do not have an immediate debt crisis. But we all know that we have one looming …. It could be a year or two years, three years, four years. It’s not an immediate problem.” And then Boehner said he agreed with Obama on the immediacy of the problem.

With Republicans fighting tooth and nail to implement solutions necessary to reducing the national debt, Boehner’s language certainly undermines the public relations narrative set by conservatives. A House GOP aide angrily told Breitbart News today, “This undercuts the fight House conservatives have waged since 2010. Our efforts to prevent a debt crisis we will certainly face should never be minimized.”

The 4 people in leadership positions in Congress are getting crazier by the minute, FIRE the big 4! I trusted campaign mode 2008 Barry as well, the kenyan today is a shell of that man.

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03-18-2013 12:44 PM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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LOL, the GOP is gonna turn on Boehner in 3....2....1....

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-18-2013 12:49 PM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Rand Paul rising: the 'Facebook generation' shouts over the Republican establishment

The Republican Party is trending libertarian with tech-savvy, activist youth

By T.C. Sottek on March 15, 2013 01:00 pm Email @LaughingStoic

"Now, I was told I got 10 measly minutes," the junior senator from Kentucky said as he took the podium at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Maryland. "But just in case, I brought 13 hours’ worth of information." The crowd, well aware of Rand Paul’s recent half-day seizure of the Senate floor in protest of the White House’s drone policy, roared in approval. Paul, in jeans, cowboy boots, and a suit jacket, held up two thick binders with material from his heroic, old-school filibuster. "I also came with a message, a message for the president," he said. "A message that is loud and clear — a message that doesn’t mince words." But Paul’s message was preempted by a young man in the audience, who interrupted with a shout that could be heard across the Potomac ballroom: "don’t drone me, bro!" "That’s not exactly what I was thinking," Paul said. "However, I think he may have distilled my 13-hour speech into three words."

There’s a new crowd in town, and when they’re not shouting over Rand Paul, they’re standing up for him. And as they fill the halls of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, they will help debate the GOP’s ideological future after its second consecutive defeat in search of the White House.

"This conservative crowd is young, loud, and more liberal than the GOP establishment"

This is not the same party you saw on television at the 2012 Republican National Convention, which, if described in two words, would be "white" and "old." (Ornery supporters of Rand’s dad, Ron Paul, were infamously relegated to the convention’s hallways — there was no time for riff raff in the Republican establishment’s Mitt Romney parade.) But this conservative crowd is young, it’s loud, and it’s more liberal than the GOP establishment, which refuses to budge on an endless culture war that has dogged its success with young and diverse voters in recent election cycles.

""They're killing the party.""

While some of the younger Republicans I met wanted to go off the record for fear of offending higher powers, their thoughts about the future of conservatism and the GOP were clear before even arriving at CPAC. "It’s obvious," one young College Republican told me outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C., wearing a suit that could make the cover of the next edition of Celebrating Wasp Style. "The party needs to embrace gay marriage. Ask anybody in my group and they’ll tell you they support it." The young man was disgusted that Sarah Palin and Donald Trump — who he called "representatives of the past" — had been invited to speak. "They’re killing the party," he said.

Tea_party

Of course, the party has more to solve than getting its ideas right with voters; it was rolled over by the Obama campaign in 2012, and needs to gain technological parity with the Democrats to win future elections. "The GOP as a whole is lagging on social media use," said Arianna, a student at the University of Chicago. You might think that reality would inspire more to attend panels at CPAC on technology, but a panel on "privacy, big data, memes & social media" was largely ignored. "Being considered a technology wizard in the US Senate is a lot like being the best surfer in Kansas," former Senator John Sununu opined. That’s not a problem for the party’s youth, which knows the importance of Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and other new forms of communication. It also hasn’t been a problem for the Paul family, which has been buoyed by fiercely outspoken libertarian support on sites like Reddit. (It helps that Reddit happens to be a libertarian dream world with few top-level regulations.)

Paul’s keynote was preceded on stage by Marco Rubio (R-FL), another young Tea Party senator in the new Republican vogue. But unlike Paul’s remarks, Rubio’s speech was a psalm on the same kind of American exceptionalism that you’d hear from the party’s vigorously jingoistic wing. "Now as soon as I’m done speaking, I’ll tell you what the criticism on the left is gonna be... that he didn’t offer any new ideas," Rubio said. "And there’s the fallacy of it. We don’t need a new idea, there is an idea — the idea is called America, and it still works." That’s not the kind of self-aware indictment the party needs to reverse its stunning electoral defeat, but like other Republican platitudes, it sure feels good to hear.

Stand_with_rand

""The GOP of old has grown stale and moss covered. Our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom.""

Then there was Rand Paul. "The Republican party has to change," Paul said on stage, in his rare, vaguely southern accent. "The GOP of old has grown stale and moss covered," he said. "Our party is encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. The new GOP will need to embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere." Paul stroked the younger crowd in a way Rubio didn’t, pointing to their tech and intellectual savvy. "We need to jealously guard all our liberties," Paul said. "The ‘Facebook generation’ can detect falseness and hypocrisy a mile away. They want leaders that won’t feed them a line of crap, or sell them short. They aren't afraid of individual liberty. Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use and you'll hear a resounding no."

Of course, Paul and Rubio are still two of the most conservative members of the Senate, and want to enact drastic cuts in government scope and spending that would send shivers even down the spines of some of their Republican colleagues. Paul’s actual recipe for so-called liberty — a hands-off government approach that would see things like the Department of Education completely eliminated, as well as federally-funded research involving robotic squirrels — still won’t appeal to a mainstream audience. But it has younger conservatives excited, and for every Marco Rubio sticker on the floor, there seemed to be ten for Rand Paul. Signage and apparel for Paul dominated the conference much in the same way that passion for Rand’s father Ron Paul has risen in other party gatherings in recent years. Paul supporters were told to leave their "Stand with Rand" signs at the door, but they snuck them in anyway.

College_republicans

""We're so well connected.""

For many of the dozens of young conservatives I spoke to, Paul’s message was right on target. "We’re so well connected, and we can see through the bullshit," said Derek Magill, one of four friends from the University of Michigan. "Rand talks about ideas and principles, and actually gives reasons for what he believes." Another student, Marissa Allegra, said "we love Marco Rubio, but we see him doing what Obama does." "People should be able to marry whoever they want to marry," said Cody Chapman. "Get the government out of marriage completely... government has no moral right." Paul’s comments on the "Facebook generation" may ultimately be shallow lip-service to a group of voters that the GOP desperately needs to recruit, but all of the students I spoke to at CPAC could see him running for president in 2016 — and they’re eager to support him.

As Paul walked off stage, and a panel on the Benghazi attack began, hundreds of Paul loyalists quickly shuffled out of the room. They may not be interested in what the Republican establishment has to say on Obama’s failures and the "death of journalism," but if they want leaders like Rand Paul to succeed, they’ll have to walk back in the room when it really matters: when it’s time to vote.

We can restore liberty and usher in a new era of prosperity by returning to the Constitution, its not that hard....Barry. College kids will stand with the new GOP-libertarian party. NO DRUG laws!! BOOM! #standwithrand

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03-18-2013 12:55 PM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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LOL, the GOP is such a clusterfuck right now that they don't know what to do. Both Boehner and Ryan flip-flopping last weekend on the immediacy of dealing with the deficit shows how cynically they change message when their political strategists tell them to. The GOP's entire platform had been based on saving the country from an apparent collapse any day now cause of the deficit. Suddenly, when polls tell them that people are no longer scared of an overnight crash cause of deficit spending, they do an about face, essentially admitting their party was lying about the threat.

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-18-2013 01:09 PM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Rand Paul wins CPAC Presidential straw poll.

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03-18-2013 01:19 PM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Originally posted by translucent
LOL, the GOP is gonna turn on Boehner in 3....2....1....

His disdain for BHO is clearly visible.That is the only portion of the video that gives me hope.

Money Driven, Anal Lover, Yankee Fan, Cowboy up & I Ride w/ the Heat!! I'm a relentless & persistent animal my desire is to be the worlds greatest. - me

“Liberalism is a mental disorder" ~MIKE SAVAGE

“I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”
Joe DiMaggio

Them that governs least, governs best- Thomas Jefferson

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. - General George Patton Jr

I love my wife & my life.

"I am an Animal Rescuer. My work is never done, my home is never quiet, my wallet is always empty...but my heart is always full." Annette King-Tucker

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem."

Vic's daily to do list:

1- Hug a tree
2- 550 useless posts
3- Check in with Domjuan's secretary to see what hes up to for the day.
4- Tweet Obama 150 times
5- Master-bate to pics of Cindy Sheehan
6 - Spread innovative thinking that failed 25 years ago in Europe.
7- Burn an American flag
8- Spew out racist remarks to anybody that isn't a tree-huger like himself.

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03-18-2013 01:22 PM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Originally posted by translucent
LOL, the GOP is such a clusterfuck right now that they don't know what to do. Both Boehner and Ryan flip-flopping last weekend on the immediacy of dealing with the deficit shows how cynically they change message when their political strategists tell them to. The GOP's entire platform had been based on saving the country from an apparent collapse any day now cause of the deficit. Suddenly, when polls tell them that people are no longer scared of an overnight crash cause of deficit spending, they do an about face, essentially admitting their party was lying about the threat.

Republican National Committee To GOP: Be More Libertarian

by David Bier on March 18, 2013 · 0 comments

in Coalitions & Outreach, Culture, Features, Personal Liberty, Zeitgeist
Post image for Republican National Committee To GOP: Be More Libertarian

If there is one message underlying all the recommendations from the recently released Republican National Committee (RNC) strategy guide, it is that the Grand Old Party (GOP) should heed the advice of libertarians: focus on free market economics, become more socially inclusive, and reforming, rather than immediately abolishing, the welfare state.

“We need to remain America’s conservative alternative to big-government, redistribution-to-extremes liberalism, while building a route into our Party that a non-traditional Republican will want to travel,” declares the report prepared by a team of GOP strategists. “We are the party of private-sector economic growth because that is the best way to create jobs and opportunity.”

But the party clearly lacks a compelling vision for voters. In the strategists’ meetings with voters, the party was repeatedly called “narrow minded” and “out of touch.” Freedom in both social and economic spheres, the report details, is the only solution. As one local Republican leader told the group, “the key problem is that the Republican Party’s message offends too many people unnecessarily. We win the economic message, which is the most important to voters, but we then lose them when we discuss other issues.”

The numbers of people being driven away by GOP’s narrow and inconsistent messaging are astounding. “The minority groups that President Obama carried with 80 percent of the vote in 2012 are on track to become a majority of the nation’s population by 2050,” the report notes. The GOP also has a huge problem with younger voters. “Mitt Romney won individuals older than 30 by 1.8 million votes; he lost voters younger than 30 by 5 million votes,” it laments.

Although the authors repeatedly state that “we are not a policy committee,” they also hint that sweeping libertarian reforms are needed to save the party. On economic policy, it boldly declares that “we have to blow the whistle at corporate malfeasance and attack corporate welfare…. When it comes to social issues, the Party must in fact and deed be inclusive and welcoming.”

The authors recommend looking to state politics for some of the answers, where “Republicans are thriving.” They cite Mitch Daniels, who once called for a GOP “truce on social issues,” as an example. Daniels told the authors that focusing on how big government hurts young people should be the paramount concern for Republicans. “They’re getting the shaft,” he said while describing how young voters will spend far more to bailout the national debt than to pay off student loans, “There’s an opening, and a need, for someone to be their voice.”

At the same time, it notes that to secure the votes of younger voters the GOP must change course on gay rights. “Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be,” the authors write.

For minority voters as well, outreach should maintain a libertarian bent. The report endorses immigration reform, saying that “Hispanic voters tell us our Party’s position on immigration has become a litmus test, measuring whether we are meeting them with a welcome mat or a closed door.” But the authors note that the shift need not simply be political pandering. “Comprehensive immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all.”

Outreach to inner-city blacks should again emphasize inclusivity and economic opportunity. “We should be driven by reform, eliminating, and fixing what is broken, while making sure the government’s safety net is a trampoline, not a trap,” the report states. “Perhaps no policy demonstrates the depth of our Party’s commitment to all Americans as strongly as school choice—our promise of ‘equal opportunity in education’ to all children regardless of color, class, or origin.”

Focusing on a message of economic freedom and social inclusion has been the message that libertarians have taken to conservatives for the last four decades, and as shown by this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which featured a CEI panel on gay rights (read CEI President Lawson Bader’s explanation for the event here and watch the video here) and a vigorous defense of gay marriage by libertarian Charles Murray, are still taking to them. Even conservative columnist George Will noticed, saying, “What I did see at CPAC was the rise of the libertarian strand of Republicanism.”

The fact that conservatives finally seem to be embracing the libertarian message before their party disappears is encouraging. Big government social policies have weakened the GOP, and liberty is the only antidote.

The Message is clear, powdered wigs like McCain and boner aren't part of the 2013 movement.

Money Driven, Anal Lover, Yankee Fan, Cowboy up & I Ride w/ the Heat!! I'm a relentless & persistent animal my desire is to be the worlds greatest. - me

“Liberalism is a mental disorder" ~MIKE SAVAGE

“I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”
Joe DiMaggio

Them that governs least, governs best- Thomas Jefferson

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. - General George Patton Jr

I love my wife & my life.

"I am an Animal Rescuer. My work is never done, my home is never quiet, my wallet is always empty...but my heart is always full." Annette King-Tucker

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem."

Vic's daily to do list:

1- Hug a tree
2- 550 useless posts
3- Check in with Domjuan's secretary to see what hes up to for the day.
4- Tweet Obama 150 times
5- Master-bate to pics of Cindy Sheehan
6 - Spread innovative thinking that failed 25 years ago in Europe.
7- Burn an American flag
8- Spew out racist remarks to anybody that isn't a tree-huger like himself.

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03-18-2013 01:35 PM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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I don't see the GOP fighting to legalize drugs any time soon.

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-18-2013 02:50 PM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Thanks to Rand Paul, libertarian politics is more popular than ever

Rand Paul is the fresh face of US politics, and he's using his influence to change GOP policies on drones, defense and more

James Antle
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 March 2013 10.55 EDT

Kentucky senator Rand Paul
Kentucky senator Rand Paul. Photograph: Mark Lyons/EPA

Rand Paul won the presidential straw poll at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), but he appears to have won the debate on drones by an even larger margin.

A poll of CPAC attendees found that 86% opposed the use of drones to "kill US citizens," while 70% were against using them to "spy on U.S. citizens". More strikingly, 50% of respondents at America's largest gathering of conservative activists agreed with the following statement: "Nearly 70 years after the end of World War II, it's time for our European, Asian, and other allies to provide for their own defense."

Only 34% agreed with this statement: "As the world's only superpower, the US needs to bear the responsibility of protecting our allies in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world." Another 17% didn't know, weren't sure or preferred not to say.

The wording of the questions certainly made conservatives more likely to give non-interventionist responses. One simple edit in the drone questions –changing "US citizens" to "terrorists" – might have elicited a somewhat different answer. Nevertheless, the momentum definitely appears to have shifted. Gone are the days of Americans supporting anything in the name of US security.

This latest libertarian surge on the American right began with Kentucky Senator Paul's 13-hour filibuster over domestic drones. Paul posed a simple question to the Obama administration: Do they believe the president has the legal authority to kill a US citizen on American soil with a drone?

In what originally appeared to be a quixotic crusade, Paul won the support of the top two Senate Republican leaders, many of his GOP colleagues, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and grassroots conservatives all over social media, who began tweeting "#standwithrand". He also got the Obama administration to cry uncle on the question of domestic drone killings, though some mysteries remain.

For Republicans who had never particularly cared about drones or extrajudicial killings before, the Paul filibuster was great fun. It allowed them to hit liberal hypocrisy on civil liberties, seldom in shortly supply when Democrats are in power. It gave them the opportunity to engage in a messaging war with the White House and actually win. And for the first time in quite a while, the GOP was able to rally the conservative base without irritating anyone else.

Almost anyone, that is. The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol said that Paul was leading the "Code Pink faction of the Republican party." John McCain groused about "wacko birds" and libertarian kids sitting in their dorm rooms.

In the not-too-distant past, jibes like these might have been devastating. Not this time. Tea Party rising star Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz wore the "wacko birds" sobriquet like a badge of honor. Kristol's Code Pink-baiting was mostly ignored.

The tough on defense hawks appeared to have the upper hand as recently as the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearings. Now Paul was getting conservative Republicans to question something more fundamental than drone strikes: whether a permanent war without geographic or temporal limits – that is, the neoconservative framing of the war on terror – is really compatible with limited government.

Paul pointed out that if the American homeland is considered part of the battlefield, then the Bill of Rights goes out the window. And if the president can commit troops to whatever country he wants based on the authorization of force most Americans understood as pertaining to Afghanistan, congressional war powers are the next part of the Constitution that must be jettisoned. When put that way, that's further than many Republicans want to go, especially when there is a democratic president.

Paul isn't alone. Not only does he have allies in the Senate like Cruz of Texas and Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, another Tea Party darling, but there is now a cadre of libertarian-leaning Republicans in the House of Representatives: Justin Amash (Michigan), Kerry Bentivolio (Michigan), Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Raúl Labrador (Idaho), and Tom McClintock (California) to name a few.

There are now thousands of libertarian activists working within the Republican Party, especially through organizations spawned by Rand Paul's father, Ron, who ran for president in 1988, 2008 and 2012. Campaign for Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty are the largest. The Pauls' message is even starting to gain traction among members of more established fiscal conservative groups, like FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth.

The "liberty movement" is now a bona fide wing of the Tea Party and an increasingly active part of the GOP. But its supporters are not 100% beholden to the Republicans, either. These voters helped swell 2012 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's vote totals to a record-breaking 1.2m last November.

Foreign policy and civil liberties may be where these activists have their biggest impact, and Paul has shown the way. The filibuster isn't the first time he has isolated the neoconservatives from the rest of the party. While many Americans are only learning about Rand Paul for the first time, he has a track record of succeeding against the usual GOP crowd. He managed this feat in his 2010 Senate primary, when Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani endorsed his opponent. And again two years later when his ally Thomas Massie won a congressional primary in northern Kentucky.

It's easy to see how this libertarian moment could be undone: elect a sufficiently hawkish Republican president and much of this sentiment on the right could recede. It's also possible that this wing of the party tries to rise too fast for its own good. If Justin Amash were to run for Michigan's open Senate seat next year and lose, followed by Rand Paul pushing forward with a competitive but unsuccessful presidential campaign rather than running for senate reelection in 2016, the movement could be without its two most prominent elected leaders.

For now, that's a problem libertarian Republicans are happy to have.

America, F*CK yeah!!

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03-19-2013 10:45 AM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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Problem for Libertarians is that if they want to succeed in today's GOP, they'll have to toss many of the ideals of Libertarianism out the window. They still have to court support from right-wingers. True Libertarians would push for dismantling much of our military because they'd push for a non-interventionist foreign policy. I don't see anyone pursuing that getting very far in the GOP.

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-19-2013 11:26 AM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

GOP FINALLY fighting back!

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03-20-2013 09:34 AM domjuan is offline

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“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

House rejects budget from Senate Democrats
By Pete Kasperowicz - 03/20/13 03:03 PM ET

The House on Wednesday rejected the Senate Democratic budget in a 154-261 vote, with 35 Democrats voting against the blueprint from their upper chamber colleagues.

The Senate Democratic budget was one of three budgets cast aside in a series of votes Wednesday after a debate in which Republicans excoriated President Obama for failing to offer his own budget plan in time for the votes.

House Democrats were instructed to vote for the Senate Democratic budget, but 35 of them defected.

Blue Dog Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) said he voted against the Senate budget because it did not go far enough on entitlements.

"It is not enough entitlement reform in there going forward. It needs to be a more complete and balanced picture and it wasn't bipartisan in the end of the day," Schrader told The Hill.

He said he thinks there is an even chance of a deficit grand bargain this summer, but it will not look anything like the House majority or Senate majority budgets.

"Given the fact that none of these bills are going to pass with any bipartisan votes, it begs the question. The president has teed it up. He has talked about entitlement reform--not the Paul Ryan approach--he's defended some of the tough things in front of the Democrat caucus," Schrader said.

He said there are many centrist Republicans who would do something to increase revenue in exchange for real entitlement reform.

The Senate budget has been criticized by Republicans for doing too little to cut spending. It would turn off the sequester and includes $975 billion in new taxes. It also includes new spending cuts, but it would increase spending when turning off the sequester is included in the calculation.

Democrats in the Senate hope to see their budget approved by the end of the week. It would be the first budget passed by the Senate in four years.

The House also rejected the budget from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in a 105-305 vote. That vote split Democrats 105-80, nearly the same as last year when they split 107-75.

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), the former head of the CBC, said that he had expected a vote similar to last year.

He said that the budget is a marker for debt-ceiling talks this summer.

“It says that we are committed to reducing our debt and deficit without damage to the poor and working class people in the country. Our budget was designed more than any other budget to reduce pain for the poor.”

The Progressive Caucus budget was also rejected 84-327, but it managed to pick up a few more votes compared to last year. Most Democrats voted against this bill, just as they did last year when it was rejected 78-346.

“I thought it was a good showing. Every time we present it, incrementally, we gain ten votes,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), author of the Progressive Caucus budget.

“I thought we made a good contrast. We are going to keep pushing it and we are going to react to Obama’s budget too,” he said.

“It is also a good marker for a couple of things. We feel our role in this budget fight is to be not only opposition but effective and fierce opposition,” he said.

Grijalva said that his caucus has warned the administration not to cut entitlement benefits and to think twice before offering to do so.

“I’d be very careful in many areas. In the House, to me a lot of people are going to back [the warning] up,” he said.

None of the three alternative budgets garnered a single Republican vote.

All three budgets were expected to fail in the Republican-led House, as all three call for at least $1 trillion in taxes over the next decade, and more spending on things like jobs programs and infrastructure.

Of the three, the Senate budget was least offensive to Republicans. But even that plan would raise taxes by $1 trillion and still add nearly $5 trillion more to the deficit than the House GOP budget from Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

The CBC and Progressive budgets call for trillions more in taxes and spending compared to the Senate plan.

Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) offered the Senate budget as a way to create a contrast with the Ryan budget, and put members on the record on the Senate plan. Mulvaney said he would have rather submitted President Obama's plan, as he did last year, but said Obama's plan is not expected to be released until April.

"This is the first time in modern history that a president has failed to offer a budget before the United States House of Representatives took up the topic," Mulvaney said.

"It's the very first time since the Budget Act of 1921," he said. "I don't know how we're supposed to discuss the president's vision for the nation, as contained in the budget, when it's not here."

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and others reminded their colleagues that the law requires the president to submit a budget.

"That might be amusing to some," Price said after pointing to a blank poster representing Obama's plan. "But… the law states that the president of the United States is required to present a budget to Congress by the first Monday in February."

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) during the budget debate on Wednesday Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) during thebudget debate on WednesdayScreen Grab/CSPAN.org

"I did see today in the news that the president has released his final four bracket for the NCAA men's basketball bracket, but we've yet to actually see his budget," Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said. "And at some point, we hope to be able to see our national priority be on budgets, not on NCAA brackets in the days ahead."

Democrats were left to defend each budget plan. Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) thanked Mulvaney for introducing the Senate budget, even though he questioned whether it was just a "stunt."

Still, Van Hollen encouraged members to vote for the Senate budget, which calls for repeal of the sequester and would provide $100 billion for infrastructure projects.

"It's a good thing the gentleman brought to the floor to replace the sequester," Van Hollen said. "This plan that the gentleman has brought forward today, apparently under a sort of a mock bipartisanship, will reduce the deficit in a balanced way, calls for shared responsibility, and certainly does not give folks at the very top a tax break financed by middle-income taxpayers like the Republican proposal does."

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) defended the CBC budget's call for $2.7 trillion in more taxes by saying the budget outlines trillions in possible taxes that Congress could implement.

"The budget shows that this is a real and achievable goal by highlighting approximately $4.2 trillion in revenue options that the Congress could use to achieve the $2.7 trillion in new revenues," Scott said. Those include limiting the tax deductibility of corporate interest payments, limiting corporate tax breaks, and treating capital gains and dividends like regular income.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who argued in favor of the Progressive budget, pointed to Speaker John Boehner's recent comments that the deficits it not an imminent threat to the country. He said that is a reason to support the Progressive budget, which calls for an aggressive path of trillions of dollars in taxes and new spending to help boost job growth.

"Let me tell you what is immediate, the jobs crisis," Ellison said. "That's why the 'back to work' budget brings down unemployment to 5.3 percent within three years by investing in people — our construction workers, our teachers, our police officers."

--Erik Wasson contributed to this report.

--This report was updated at 5:14 p.m.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/289325-house-rejects-dem-budget-plans-gop-slams-obamas-missing-budget#ixzz2O7Tj6EqN
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

House Democrats were instructed to vote for the Senate Democratic budget, but 35 of them defected. KUDOS to the 35 dem congressman left in this "progressive" liberal world with a spine.

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03-20-2013 05:58 PM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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With Leaders Like This, Libertarians Can't Trust the Tea Party
Amy Kremer says Americans have no choice but to trust the president in matters of foreign policy. This is what she thinks limited government is?

Wouldn't it be nice if libertarians could enthusiastically embrace the Tea Party, a protest movement that purports to be about small government and strict adherence to the Constitution? The temptation is understandable. For all the Herman Cain-style hucksters it has foolishly elevated, the Tea Party wave managed to facilitate an upset Senate victory for Rand Paul, who has done more than any other Republican to question the civil-liberties transgressions of the Obama Administration, and whose filibuster relied on support from Tea Party-affiliated colleagues like Marco Rubio, not supposed mavericks centrists like John McCain.

Has the protest movement done more harm or good? Given that all of its worst pathologies seem to be shared by the Republican establishment anyway, I am inclined to be glad that it exists. May it mature and grow.

But for now, the Tea Party movement cannot be trusted in the realm of foreign affairs, because on executive power, too many of its leaders are still closer to Dick Cheney and John Yoo than James Madison.

Take Amy Kremer, who helped found the Atlanta Tea Party and subsequently rose to leadership positions in the Tea Party Express. Understand that this is someone who has been steeped in Tea Party ideas and rhetoric for years now, coordinating national events, traveling cross-country on a Tea Party bus tour, and giving national media interviews. For that reason, there's no excuse for the interview that she just gave CNN. It concerns the faulty intelligence Team Bush cited prior to the Iraq invasion, and what lessons to take from that unexpectedly long war:

CNN ANCHOR: The next time an American president wants to declare war on some country or wants to carry out a war, will the American people believe him or her?

AMY KREMER: I think that all of our leaders acted with the information they had available to them at that time. And you know, it wasn't that President Bush just went in and did this on his own. Congress had to vote to go in as well. He had support. Like I said, we can never have enough intelligence. So the American people I don't think have any alternative to believe our president. That's why he's been elected. And I certainly hope we don't ever go down this road ever again, because you never want to lose any lives, and there's always unintended consequences.

CNN ANCHOR: I think clearly, especially from my Facebook comments, Americans have no appetite for war, or very little appetite for war, unless the country comes under direct attack.

AMY KREMER: I have to agree with you that we didn't want this. No one wanted this. But we had been attacked on September 11. And going into Iraq was not a direct result, but it led to Iraq. And none of us want that. We have to trust our leaders, and I think that's really the only alternative that we have. But also, when we go in and do something we need to have an exit strategy, a plan that we can execute, and have as much intelligence as we can.

This is madness.

What a Tea Party leader ought to say, if that movement really stands for limited government and constitutional principles, is that the American people must never just believe the president, especially with a decision so consequential as whether to go to war -- the president should be checked by legislators who understand the Founding-era insight about why the executive branch must not be vested with the power to declare war; POTUS should be questioned by an adversarial press that has learned from long experience that presidents lie in the runnup to wars; and he or she should be questioned by citizens whose civic duty includes skeptically evaluating claims made by government officials and speaking out when they fail the test of credibility.

Put simply, we do not have to trust our presidents. A Tea Party leader ought to be fighting for executive-branch transparency so the legislature can better fulfill its oversight function and the need for "trust" is diminished. The Tea Party ought to stand for healthy skepticism of all official claims, knowing the incentive that politicians have to lie. Kremer's statement would be naive and discrediting in any circumstance. That she made it in the context of the Iraq War, as clear cut an example as any of why the executive branch cannot be trusted as an honest broker of information, is telling. So is her apparent belief that there isn't even any available alternative to trusting the president. How is that the message the Tea Party Express wants to spread on national TV? Paul is trying his hardest to change these attitudes and give Tea Partiers a vocabulary for participating in what Ron Wyden calls the checks-and-balances caucus. He has his work cut out for him.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/with-leaders-like-this-libertarians-cant-trust-the-tea-party/274182/?google_editors_picks=true

"Tresor never sleeps"

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03-21-2013 08:32 AM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

Liz Cheney: Republicans, Get Over the 2012 Loss—and Start Fighting Back
Those who counsel that the GOP should move left are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both.

By LIZ CHENEY

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."

—Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961

President Reagan's words, spoken 52 years ago this weekend, still ring true, with one modification. If we don't defend our freedoms now against the onslaught of President Obama's policies, we won't have to wait until our sunset years for American freedom to be a distant memory.

These days Washington careens from crisis to crisis, most of them manufactured. The Obama White House and its allies are engaged in the kind of sky-is-falling melodrama normally reserved for the lives of teenage girls. (As the mother of teenage girls, I speak with authority on this, though the comparison does a disservice to teenagers.) With our attention diverted by each fiscal cliff or sequestration drama, we are at risk of missing the real threats to the republic.

President Obama is the most radical man ever to occupy the Oval Office. The national debt, which he is intent on increasing, has passed $16 trillion. He believes that more government borrowing and spending are the solution to every problem. He seems unaware that the free-enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system devised by man.

Perhaps his ignorance of that fact explains his hostility toward the private sector. In one of his autobiographies, the president writes that he felt "like a spy behind enemy lines" during his brief stint working for private industry.

Enlarge Image
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Images.com/Corbis

The president has launched a war on Americans' Second Amendment rights. He has launched a war on religious freedom. He has launched a war on fossil fuels. He is working to nationalize one-sixth of the economy with job-killing ObamaCare. He wants to collect a greater portion of every American paycheck, not for the purpose of paying down the national debt but to expand his governing machine. He doesn't believe in creating a bigger pie with more opportunity for all. He believes in greater redistribution of a much smaller pie. If you're unsure of what this America would look like, Google GOOG -1.06% "Cyprus" or "Greece."

The president has so effectively diminished American strength abroad that there is no longer a question of whether this was his intent. He is working to pre-emptively disarm the United States. He advocates slashing our nuclear arsenal even as the North Koreans threaten us and the Iranians close in on their own nuclear weapon. He has turned his back on America's allies around the world and ignored growing threats.

Al Qaeda is resurgent across the Middle East. President Obama stood by and did nothing when its affiliates in Libya killed the U.S. ambassador and three other brave Americans in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. Then he and his administration misled the American people about the attack. Today, more than six months later, no one has been held to account. The clear message of this episode to America's enemies around the world is: Attack us with impunity. You will suffer no consequences.

In the face of this reality, it is time for Republicans to get over their loss in 2012. We are all that stands between this president's policies and a damaged and diminished America. It is time to get back in the fight.

And I do mean fight. Republicans are being counseled to move the party to the left, but in my experience, those who advocate more liberal policies for the GOP are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both. You can be sure that President Obama would welcome an America in which the Republican Party is preoccupied with remaking itself into a watered-down version of the Democrats.

It is time to defend our values with vigor and courage. We are conservatives. We believe in limited government, low taxes, a strong national defense, individual freedoms, self-reliance, the importance of the family, and the miracle and authority of America's founding documents. We know that government is best that governs least and governs closest to the people. We know that the private sector is the engine of economic growth. We know that America is the exceptional nation, the best that has ever existed. We know that the men and women who wear the uniform of the U.S. military are the greatest fighting force and the greatest force for good that the world has ever known.

We know that preventing this president from enacting devastating policies is not obstructionism. It is patriotism.

The miracle of the Constitution resides to a large extent in the first three words, "We the People," placing sovereignty with us, not with our rulers. We are the inheritors of these blessings of liberty, and it is our solemn duty to fight for, protect and defend our freedom. Now is the time to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and man the barricades for freedom.

Ms. Cheney is chairman of Keep America Safe, a nonprofit organization focused on national security issues and education. She was a principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

A version of this article appeared March 29, 2013, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Republicans, Get Over the 2012 Loss—and Start Fighting Back.

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03-29-2013 03:55 PM domjuan is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15." - Ronald Reagan

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04-15-2013 09:27 AM domjuan is offline

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translucent
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Originally posted by domjuan
"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15." - Ronald Reagan

LOL, Ronnie had some great writers! Some of the best ever.

"Tresor never sleeps"

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04-15-2013 12:04 PM translucent is offline

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domjuan
“Yes, we can!” has devolved into “Hey, we might.”

S&P 500 hits a new all-time high of 1,619.52: http://cnb.cx/10en8Y4

THANKS BOYS!

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05-06-2013 02:05 PM domjuan is offline

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