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House Tea Party Defiance Will Kill Amnesty Bill

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Photo Credit: APElites of both parties are united in support of Marco Rubio’s immigration bill. That sort of unity is remarkable in Washington, but not unheard of.

Here’s the unprecedented part: The elites are going to lose.

The Tea Party has cultivated in House Republicans such a distrust of the establishment and such a disregard for party unity that even when the issue isn’t a Tea Party issue — and immigration isn’t, really — the GOP rank and file have little interest in doing what they’re told.

…Republicans elected since 2010 simply do not feel they need to answer to K Street, the GOP leadership, or any party elites. Newer Republican members came to Washington without the help of business PACs, often running against K Street in primaries and general elections…

So, unlike the days when Bush, Armey and Delay dragged the GOP caucus around, the Republican rank and file today calls the tune for its leadership. Speaker John Boehner, no enemy of K Street, has declared Rubio’s bill DOA in the House.

Read more from this story HERE.

Establishment Betrayal, Other Factors Leading Republicans to Abandon Party Label

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Photo Credit: legalinsurrectionThis week, The Frontier Lab published the results of months of research into why some Republicans are refusing to go by the label “Republican,” choosing to identify as anything but. I was the Research Director for this study, which applied a research approach called “Behavioral Event Modeling,” which essentially reverse engineers and maps all events that precede an individual’s disaffiliation…

The results were fascinating; after combining the flowcharts from individuals who share conservative or moderate views and no longer will use the label “Republican” to describe themselves, we ascertained four core patterns that they had in common:

1. Rejection of the “Lesser of Two Evils” argument;
2. Articulation of “Loss of Hope” in the GOP;
3. Affiliation with a new community, and
4. Incident of perceived betrayal by the GOP establishment.

…Disaffiliation from the Republican label is not only, or even primarily, a matter of philosophical differences. Rather, the perception of former Republican adherents that their party has personally attacked them, continued to present choices as a “lesser of two evils,” select candidates and principles unpalatable to voters to the point where they retain “no hope,” and failed to provide the sense of community that other outlets like talk radio and the Tea Party provide, reveal that ideology takes a back burner to what is essentially a hollow brand for those disaffiliating.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Republicans Launch Investigation Into Employer Mandate Delay

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

House Republicans said Wednesday they are launching an investigation into the Obama administration’s decision to delay the “employer mandate” provision in the new health care law.

Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee argued the White House’s consultations with business leaders ahead of Tuesday’s announcement were conducted in secret and raise questions about the administration’s ability to carry out other facets of the Affordable Care Act.

“Just as the law was crafted out of sight from the American people, the administration is again taking care of some interests behind closed doors while struggling Americans are left to pay for the looming rate shock and grapple with the law’s complex mandates,” said committee Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Republican.

The employer mandate required businesses with more than 50 workers to offer insurance to all full-time employees, or else pay a fine of $2,000 per worker. Business lobbied heavily against the mandate, and now it will not go into effect until after the 2014 mid-term elections.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican Senator Accuses Group of Bribing People To Block New Alaskan Mine’s Construction

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Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Republican Sen. David Vitter claimed an environmental group tried to skew survey results regarding the construction of a new Alaskan mine, which has recently put Republicans and the Environmental Protection Agency at odds.

Vitter accused the group, Trout Unlimited, of “bribing” people to comment on a study examining the environmental impact of the new mine by offering them a chance to win a free fishing trip, according to Fox News.

The study, which was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, looked into the effects of the proposed copper and gold mine — named Pebble Mine — on its surrounding the Alaskan ecosystem, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

“This is a pretty low tactic to try and bribe support of their efforts to preemptively kill a job-creating project,” Vitter said. “Skewing the public’s response is really unhelpful in the process to get an unbiased review.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Republicans Use ‘War on Coal’ Charge Against Dems Ahead of Elections (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Foes of President Obama’s alleged “war on coal” climate plan are hoping to use the combustible issue to tarnish Democrats in the next round of elections.

The political backlash started almost immediately after the president announced last week he’s ordering the EPA to draft new rules to limit emissions at coal-fired power plants.

In Virginia, it didn’t take long for Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli to label the plan the “Obama-Biden-McAuliffe war on coal,” in his race for governor against former Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe.

The Cuccinelli campaign launched a coal-themed online ad blitz last week, as both candidates charge into the November 2013 election.

Other politicos already are looking down the calendar to 2014 and beyond.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Judiciary Chair Brings Sanity to Immigration Debate: No Citizenship, Just Greencards

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GoodlatteHouse Republicans insisted Sunday that they plan to change key elements of the Senate-passed immigration bill, signaling a protracted and rocky battle ahead despite one Democrat’s pronouncement that in the end the House will cave and pass the Senate bill anyway.

Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who is playing a major role in the chamber’s consideration of immigration policy, on Sunday addressed what is perhaps at the heart of the impasse.

He said the House, which is drafting its own plan, cannot agree to a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Rather, he wants a “pathway to legalization” — in other words, allow some illegal immigrants a shot at a green card, but not full-fledged citizenship.

The pathway to citizenship, though, is a cornerstone of the Senate-passed bill, and any Democrat-backed plan. Increased border security, better enforcement of businesses and an expansion of the legal immigration system make up the rest of the bill.

Putting the issue in stark terms, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told “Fox News Sunday” that if Republicans strip the pathway to citizenship, “no Democrat” would support it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rush Limbaugh: ‘Wait Until the Republican Party Hears About This’ (+video)

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daily rushA caller from Lubbock, Texas, on Friday told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh that some illegal immigrants in his area don’t want amnesty because it means federal income tax and fiercer competition for cheap labor.

“Today I went out and was doing some ag’ work on some of the farms out here and got to talking to some of these guys, asking them about what they think about this. And they’re very, very concerned,” the caller said. “A lot of them were telling me, ‘Well, we really don’t want to become United States citizens.’”

He went on: “There’s two things that they brought up that really scared me. They do not want to become United States citizens. I said, ‘Why not?’ They’re afraid that the United States government is going to take so much taxes out of their paychecks once they have to pay into the federal income tax.”

“Are you kidding me on this?” Limbaugh replied.

“I am dead serious. They do not want to become American citizens,” the caller said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Christie Now Trying to Back Away from Obama: I Didn’t Vote for Him, He Doesn’t Lead

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Republicans accused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of getting too cozy with President Obama after Superstorm Sandy.

But during a visit Friday to a Republican stronghold, the governor went out of his way to put some distance between himself and the Democratic president.

Before taking questions from the public, Christie spoke about the problems in Washington and “a president who can’t figure out how to lead.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Intolerant Oregon Muslims Bully College Republicans Out Of Their Own Event (+videos)

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college republicansThe ever accepting, open minded socialists and Islamists at Portland State University have taken their bullying tactics to a new level. (Remember last year’s uber fail of a “protest” at Erick Stakelbeck’s presentation?)

The College Republicans hosted a showing of the film “Obsession”, which focuses on radical Islam’s obsession with western civilization. Several people from PSU’s muslim and socialist groups, such as Students United For Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER) and the International Socialist Organization (ISO), decided they would crash the event. And crash iScreen Shot 2013-05-31 at 3.42.37 AMt they did.

Before the event even started, they began to shout and tried to take over. The film played as planned, with a few random heckles, but immediately afterward, the counter attendees began to shout down, intimidate, and bully the College Republicans out of the room. Despite the fact that the documentary specifically said several times that it only focused on the radical Islamists, and even featured a segment where the moderates who denounced the terrorists were praised, the played out shouts of “Shame!” and “Hate speech!” rang through the room, as the Republicans fled, feeling their personal safety was in jeopardy.


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Texas Abortion Bill Falls After Dispute Over Late-Night Vote

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Texas’ lieutenant governor acknowledged early Wednesday that Republicans missed their deadline to pass new abortion restrictions after protesters screamed down lawmakers as the final 15 minutes passed before the special legislative session’s deadline.

Senators from both parties emerged from a private meeting with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and said they were about to officially acknowledge that fact.

Initially, Republicans insisted they had started voting before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent much of Tuesday filibustering. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place on Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators convened for a private meeting.

An hour later, Dewhurst was still insisting the 19-10 vote was in time, but said, “with all the ruckus and noise going on, I couldn’t sign the bill.”

He denounced the more than 400 protesters who staged what they called “a people’s filibuster” from 11:45 p.m. to well past midnight. He denied mishandling the debate.

Read more from this story HERE.