With all the Scandals Involving Democrat Candidates, Obama Turns to a Republican as Commerce Secretary
It is being reported that Judd Gregg will indeed be President Obama’s pick for Commerce Secretary. When I first heard that President Obama was leaning towards Senator Gregg I immediately thought that this was a conspiracy to help the Democrats gain a 60 vote majority. And it may have been. Senator Gregg only agreed to take the position after he was promised by Governor Lynch that a Republican would replace him. Perhaps a conspiracy was thwarted or perhaps there is another reason why President Obama picked a Republican for this position.
Sure President Obama has had all of his nominees appointed, with the exception of Bill Richardson and hopefully Tom Daschle, but they have been very embarrassing to him. Hillary Clinton’s selection as Secretary of State is a clear conflict of interest with her husband gallivanting the globe accepting money from the same foreign leaders that she must negotiate with (not to mention the unconstitutionality of the pick); Bill Richardson having to withdraw his nomination for Commerce Secretary for illegal campaign donations; Timothy Geithner evading taxes; Tom Daschle also evading taxes; and Rahm Emanuel in conversations with Rod Blagojevich about selling Obama’s vacant senate seat. Did I miss any? I probably did.
President Obama couldn’t afford another public relations hit with another ill advised cabinet pick and with so many Democrats already involved in one scandal or another perhaps he feared he couldn’t pick another Democrat. Or perhaps he couldn’t find a clean, qualified Democrat to appoint Commerce Secretary. So President Obama did the only thing that he could do, he turned to the Republicans. The only conspiracy here would be an attempt by Obama to rescue his faltering image as the man who would bring change to Washington. It has been business as usual in Washington since Obama took the oath of office. Nothing has changed. Corrupt politicians are rewarded. Tax cheats are forgiven. And the band plays on.
President Obama has shown a certain lack of judgement or at least a lax vetting process and he could not suffer another embarrassing pick so he turned to a man who has played by the rules and that man could only be found on the other side of the aisle. Bill Richardson certainly was not that man, Judd Gregg was.
The only problem with the Gregg pick is that he doesn’t seem to fit in with all of the other suspect picks that Obama has made.
Bonnie Newman to Replace Judd Gregg as New Hampshire Senator
According to thisarticle the leading candidate to replace Judd Gregg if he becomes President Obama’s Commerce Secretary is Bonnie Newman.
Bonnie Newman is considered a moderate Republican and because of this it seems to be the kind of deal that is most likely going to happen. Her possible appointment for Gregg’s seat has some Republicans nervous because she appears to be a RINO. And that is probably why this is going to happen.
Let’s face it, Governor Lynch will be under heavy scrutiny by national Democrats to select a Democrat to replace Gregg yet Gregg probably won’t accept the position of Commerce Secretary unless Lynch agrees to replace him with a Republican.
So as a compromise the governor will appoint someone who just might side with Democrats on many issues. And also someone he feels he can beat once he decides to run for that seat in 2010.
I guess I can’t be too picky, after all I should consider myself lucky that any Republican is even being considered for this job. But I can’t help but think about John Sununu and how a brilliant man like this is just sitting out there when he should be representing New Hampshire and America. He should be Judd Gregg’s replacement.
Republican Senators Believe Obama’s Stimulus Bill May be DOA
We can only hope that the senate republicans take their cue from the house Republicans and oppose President Obama’s welfare stimulus bill with all of their might.
President Obama is using the politics of fear to fast track this bill through congress so that he can sign it before the American people realize that it is nothing but a pork barrel spending bill and not an economic stimulus bill. But the word is getting out to the American people and more and more opposition is building to this scam that is about to be levied on the people of this great country. Support for this bill is dwindling with the voters of this country and because of this support for this bill is dwindling with the members of the senate.
I can only hope that this story about Obama’s stimulus bill meeting stiff opposition in the senate is true. I can only hope that republicans are ready to get back to fiscal responsibility. It is the only thing that can stop this bill from passing and save the country as we know it.
Democrats and President Obama are using the politics of fear in order to pass this bill as quickly as possible. The comment below is just one example of the politics of fear and how fear is being used to scare the American people into supporting a spending bill when America can least afford it.
“We cannot delay this,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate Democrats’ No. 2 leader. “We can’t engage in the old political rhetoric of saying, ‘Well, maybe it could be a little bit better here and a little bit better there.’ We’ve got to pull together.”
That statement and other that I have heard coming from the mouths of Democrats is nothing but fear mongering. It is an attempt to pass radical leftist ideals that have nothing to do with the economy. We are not supposed to question the bill because it is too fucking important. So while we are not questioning the bill the majority of this outrageous bill will go to liberal pet projects that will not do one fucking thing to improve the economy.
Republicans need to hold firm on this issue. They cannot let this bill pass as it is currently constituted. I want to see this whole stimulus package scrapped but eventually this bill is going to pass, regardless of whether I believe any action should be taken, which I don’t, so the best case scenario is that the Republicans in the house and senate can minimize the amount of damage (read spending) that we allow President Obama to achieve.
This is the Republicans chance to stand tall and as the American people turn against this bill they will look towards the Republicans to stop it. I only hopw they have the intestinal fortitude to take the stand.
President Obama and the Judd Gregg Conspiracy
Word is being circulated that Hew Hampshire’s Republican senator is the leading candidate for Commerce Secretary in Obama’s cabinet now that his last pick, Bill Richardson, had to resign in disgrace. He is expected to be named on Monday.
This pick will be promoted as a show of bipartisanship but is there more to it than that? Al Franken is in the process of stealing the senate seat in Minnesota. Some counties in Minnesota have counted more ballots than there are voters and suddenly Al Franken is the leader. That brings the total Democrat majority in the senate to 59.
What better way to achieve the ultimate goal of 60 senate seats by tabbing a Republican senator from a state with a Democrat governor who will then be able to appoint his replacement? There is no special election in New Hampshire, Governor Lynch will have the choice and speculation is that he will choose Rep. Paul Hodes to replace Judd Gregg. To further the intrigue Paul Hodes is one of only a few politicians who was invited to and will be watching the Superbowl at the White House. Coincidence?
This really would be a brilliant move by the president. (His first) He will look as though he is reaching across the aisle in an attempt to be bipartisan and in the process he will pick up the final seat that he needs to implement what will suddenly become even more of a left wing agenda.
There is speculation in New Hampshire that Senator Gregg will negotiate a deal with the governor to insure his replacement is a Republican, I just don’t see that happening.
Gregg is also being pressured by Republicans not to take the appointment if he is not able to negotiate a deal with the governor.
On a personal note for Senator Gregg he has to weigh his options. He is up for re-election in 2010, if he judges the political climate in New Hampshire will continue to be blue and he decides that he probably will lose the election than I suppose he has nothing to lose by taking this post. Because if he does take the post and he hands the Democrats a 60 vote majority his political career is over. He won’t be forgiven by the party.
However the last polls that came out in New Hampshire showed Judd Gregg well ahead a generic Democrat candidate. In the end Judd Gregg has to do what he feels is best for himself and his family.
As far as the state goes there are two possibilities that could prove to be a positive in this situation. First, state law does call for a special election to fill a house seat, so if Hodes is selected to replace Gregg there is a chance that the state could pick up a Republican representative. That is, if we can actually find a strong candidate.
Secondly, Governor Lynch could be caught Blagojeviching this seat and be removed from office in disgrace. Now that would make it all worthwhile.
If Governor Lynch decided to appear bipartisan he could name John Sununu to replace Judd Gregg. How would that be for irony?
President Obama, leave my senator alone!
Obama Signs Fair Pay Act, Can He Now Be Sued?
President Obama signed his first bill yesterday, the Fair Pay Bill. This bill will make it easier for people to sue their employers if they feel that they are not getting paid properly and they believe that this discrepancy in pay is not a result of them being inferior workers orless productive workers but rather based solely on the fact that they belong to a politically acceptable victimization group.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all races or genders don’t deserve the same pay if they do the same work, but if you are not equally productive you do not deserve to be paid the same as someone who is more productive. This bill will make it easier for people who are less productive and thus make their employers less money to sue their employer.
This is what our dear leader had to say when signing this bill:
It is a story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every $1 men earn, women of color even less, which means that today in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income, and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime
Like I said above, I don’t have a problem with that statement. Anybody who can do the same job and is as productive as another should be paid about the same. The reason I say “about” is because I feel that seniority with a company still holds some merit. A person who has been with a company for years deserves to be paid more than somebody who is doing the same job who is a recent hire. Experience still counts for something. It should take time and dedication to rise through the ranks and pay scale.
There is a slight problem with President Obama’s statement, or rather his actions.
Women who worked on Obama’s Senate staff last year, however, were themselves paid on average 78 cents for every dollar a man was paid, according to data last year from the Report of the Secretary of the Senate.
President Obama doesn’t live up to the standard that he is now demanding that the private sector of America lives up to. This man, dear leader, is the very definition of hypocrite. He sits there and signs legislation regulating the lives of ordinary Americans and he doesn’t even live up to the expectations that he is requiring us to live up to.
This begs the question, can Barack Obama now be sued?
Another Obama Cabinet Nominee in Tax trouble (Tom Daschle)
Herewe go again. Another Obama cabinet appointee, another scandal. You can now add Tom Daschle to the list of Obama appointees that include Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder, and Rahm Emanuel, with ethics problems.
Tom Daschle, much like Timothy Geithner, has tax issues.
ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.
The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy Democratic friend, a chauffeur service the former senator used for years without declaring it on his taxes.
In another stunning comparison to Timothy Geithner, Tom Daschle did not determine it was necessary to pay the taxes he owed until he became a nominee for a cabinet position.
During the vetting process to become HHS secretary, Daschle corrected the tax violation, voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007.
It is funny how a nomination to a prime federal position can quickly make a corrupt tax cheat suddenly see the err of their ways.
Did President Obama even vet any of these candidates? Surely a man as smart as Barack Obama did, and the fact that Timothy Geithner and Tom Daschle paid their taxes during the vetting process shows us an acknowledgement that they must have realized their wrongdoing.
So Obama did vet these candidates and determined their tax problems were not problems. He vetted Hillary Clinton and determined the conflict of interest with her husband taking in millions from leaders of foreign countries was not an issue, and he vetted Bill Richardson and decided that his ethics problems were not problems to be concerned with.
So I will give our messianic president the benefit of the doubt and give the point that Barack Obama did vetthese candidates. That makes the fact that he still decided they were worthy even more troubling. President Obama knew that all of these candidates had ethics problems and he still decided to nominate them. This from a man who ran on his judgement. The fact that President Obama decided he would still nominate ethically challenged people to the highest levels in his cabinet shows a lack of judgement that can hardly be comprehended. Or he is just incredibly arrogant. Or both.
The man who promised to bring change to Washington has failed to so. He has broken not just a campaign promise but the whole premise on which he ran and the whole premise that got him elected.
Republican Senators Vow to Oppose Obama’s Stimulus Bill
Republican senators, after having watched house Republicans show a united front, are vowing to oppose President Obama’s welfare stimulus bill as it is currently constituted.
Lets just hope that there is enough Republican opposition to send the bill back for further negotiations. I hope there is enough sentiment like the following from senate Republicans:
Ladies and gentlemen, a trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste,” he said. “Let’s be careful we’re not making the situation worse in an attempt to make it better
Republicans realize that the American people are just now beginning to realize what type of pork is in this bill.
But Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said the US public was only just realizing the enormity of the stimulus bill.
“I don’t think the American people like this. I think after the ground shifts with public opinion, hopefully we’ll be able to make some changes,” he said.
People are beginning to ask questions about this stimulus bill and Republicans realize that if they hold off long enough the opposition to this bill will grow. It has to, this bill is a disastrous pork barrel welfare bill with very little money actually going to projects that would stimulate the economy.
President Obama and the Democrats have tried to rush this bill through congress and it isn’t because the economy is so bad that they need to pass the bill right away. They were fast tracking this bill to sneak it by the American people before they realized what hit them. It didn’t work with immigration reform and we must make sure it doesn’t work now.
People are beginning to look deeper into the cunningly named stimulus bill and the groundswell of opposition is growing. The task at hand for senate Republicans is large, the opposition in this case has to be almost 100%. Obama only needs the votes of two Republicans.
The people are starting to wake up and oppose this bill, the senate is realizing it and I hope that they will take a stand and stop this legislation.
Are you listening John McCain?
The Real Goal of the SCHIP Expansion
This article gets to the real reason why Democrats are trying to expand the SCHIP program and it isn’t to help poor children.
More than 1.9 million American children will be taken off of private health insurance and moved to government health care if Congress approves expansions to the SCHIP program sought by Congressional Democrats
Almost two million families who currently can afford and do provide healthcare for their families will be eligible and will receive free healthcare. Of course the healthcare isn’t free, you and I will be paying for it.
Expanding the SCHIP program could also cause employers to scale back or eliminate workers’ health benefits
Do you see what is going on here? The government is in the process of providing healthcare that private companies now provide for their employees, or that people are buying themselves. This is a transfer of responsibility to the government. This is a government dependency expansion program.
Big government, nanny state, liberal Democrats are beginning to take responsibility away from the parents and are transferring that responsibility to the government. Democrats believe that they can provide for our families better than we can provide for them ourselves.
The only reason to expand the SCHIP program to include children of people who already have healthcare is to take more control away from the parents. Slowly but surely that is exactly what is happening in America. The Democrats want as many people dependent on government as possible to insure a permanent voting base, and this is part of that effort.
In the rush by the people to grab all the entitlements that they can, does anybody stop to ask the question, is this what our government is supposed to provide? Was this the intent the founding fathers had for our government?
President Obama’s White House is Filled With Lobbyists
I thought that President Obama promised not to hire any lobbyists to work in his administration? Didn’t he even sign an executive order banning lobbyists from his White House? Something must have happened because as can be read in this article President Obama has waived his no lobbyist rule several times.
I didn’t really expect President Obama to actually do what he claimed he was going to do on the issue of lobbyists, but the man’s arrogance is astounding. President Obama really believes that he can tell the American people one thing at the same time that he is doing another and that he should not be questioned about it.
He probably has good reason to be arrogant about it, he knows that nobody is going to question him about it and in the slim chance that they do he knows that the vast majority of the American people aren’t paying attention any more.
It was just a campaign promise, right? Well normally I would answer yes, it was just a campaign promise. But it goes deeper that just a campaign promise when we talk about President Obama. It goes deeper because this just wasn’t a campaign promise, it was his whole campaign. Not lobbyists alone but the whole notion of change.
Barack Obama as a candidate promised to bring change to Washington, while speaking in generalities his whole campaign was about his being a different type of politician. His campaign was about how he would reform Washington, how he wouldn’t go to Washington and let it change him.
But in his first week in office he seems to have fallen into Washington politics as usual. There is no change here. And coming from someone who built his whole campaign around change it has to be disheartening to any one who was foolish enough to believe him.
If they are still paying attention, after all the new season of American Idol has started. You gotta have priorities after all.
The more that we find out about President Obama’s stimulus package the worse it gets. There is nothing stimulating about this package. The latest atrocity in this bill is the fact that illegal aliens will be able to receive a tax rebate. (Not that it is really a rebate because they didn’t pay any taxes in the first place to get a rebate on.)
The legislation, which would send tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple, expressly disqualifies nonresident aliens, but it would allow people who don’t have Social Security numbers to be eligible for the checks.
This is not just a loophole that illegal aliens will be able to use to get the funds they have no business getting, this is a deliberate payout to criminals who don’t belong here.
Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for a Social Security number can file tax returns with an alternative number. A House-passed version of the economic recovery bill and one making its way through the Senate would allow anyone with such a number, called an individual taxpayer identification number, to qualify for the tax credits
And why is it that these people are ineligible for social security numbers? Because these people are in the country illegally.
Isn’t it nice of us hard working taxpaying Americans to hand over that hard earned money to our government so that they can give it to people who broke the law to enter this country?
House Republicans and eleven house Democrats saw this bill for what it really is, the biggest entitlement bill ever written, and they voted against it. Hopefully the Senate Republicans will rise up and stop this bill. This is a long shot however, as the Democrats only need two Republican votes and I guarantee you that they already have one Republican vote in John McCain.
This bill is unbelieveably bad and every day we find out then it is even worse than we thought. This bill needs to be defeated.
