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Why the Tea Party is unyielding on the debt ceiling

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The liberal media have gone to warp speed in their defense of President Obama and their attacks on the Tea Party. We are “extreme” and “dangerous.” Republicans are “afraid of” the Tea Party. And more.

The narrative in the media is that Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were close to a deal last week that would have resolved the debt-ceiling crisis. It would have allowed for continued borrowing and more “revenue,” the euphemism of the day for tax increases. And the Tea Party said no.

The Tea Party did say no. Unfortunately, Boehner is not listening to those who elected him and is now pushing a plan with almost nonexistent budget cuts.

Why is the Tea Party intransigent on the debt ceiling? Why is the Tea Party pushing congressional Republicans so hard that we have a crisis?

As the founder of Tea Party Nation, I feel confident in saying that the Tea Party understands what so many in Washington seem to have forgotten: We do not have a debt crisis. We have a spending crisis. There is only one way you get to a debt crisis — you spend too much money.

Read More at The Washington Post By Judson Phillips, The Washington Post

Republicans: Don’t fall for elites’ fear mongering

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The playbook of the Washington establishment is getting old and almost boring.

Play No. 1 is this: Pass billions in unfunded new programs. Tell everyone we will take care of them from cradle to grave. Subsidized food, medical care, housing, and if your employer goes broke like General Motors or AIG, we will step in with a safety net to rescue the businesses with government loans and grants. The criterion for help and rescue is: Does your support come our way at election time?

Play No. 2 is this: If the American people rebel and say we don’t want to pay anymore for Congress’ wasteful government spending, tell Americans that if they don’t capitulate, the end of the world is upon us. And give “destruction day” a specific deadline for added fright power. This time the date is Aug. 2, 2011 – the day the world will end unless you support our out-of-control foolish spending.

Then the theatrics begin. The media are mesmerized and cued to play their well-honed part in the playbook. Weeks of reporting commence on all of the terrible results from failing to fully fund the government elite’s pet programs. Here are some of the outcomes we have heard referenced resulting from a failure to raise the debt ceiling: Unemployment will skyrocket. Thousands of businesses will shut down. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will be abandoned without ammunition, pay or a way home. Your credit-card interest rate will double or triple. Your mom won’t get her Social Security check. Your local hospital will close. All stocks on the NYSE will suddenly fall to zero with massive bankruptcies filling the courts. Farmers will stop planting crops. The supermarket shelves are soon empty. One pundit even predicted mass psychosis if Los Angeles doesn’t get its monthly shipment of anti-depressants. He claims one-third of the population is on the government-subsidized pills.

Wow, no wonder John Boehner and the Republicans roll over and fund everything the Washington establishment desires. They would be personally responsible for the end of America, the starvation of 300 million people and the shutdown of your cable TV.

Read More at WorldNetDaily by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, WorldNetDaily

The “Gang of Six” Deal is the Antithesis of Reform

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The media frenzy over Republican Senators and Barack Obama making nice over the debt ceiling crisis exposes for all Americans to see the extent to which both parties are aligned with Wall Street interests, and against the interests of Main Street and small business. The subject of this latest bipartisan love fest is the Gang of Six plan.

Americans want reform. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives was swept into office by promising reform. The Gang of Six solution is the antithesis of reform.

Supposedly it offers the “balanced approach” of which Obama rambles on about endlessly. But in reality, the Gang of Six is one-sided. It offers only vague language about spending cuts. At best the Gang of Six plan might cut $500 billion, and even these cuts cannot be guaranteed. In real terms, government would continue to grow.

Also the Gang of Six solution would dramatically increase taxes. It calls upon the Senate Finance Committee to craft a tax reform plan that would actually increase taxes by $2.3 trillion over a 10 year period. Some members even cynically call it a tax reduction by using a baseline that everyone knows is phony. This is a baseline that predicts all of the middle class tax cuts signed into law by President Bush was repealed.

All of this because rejecting the debt ceiling increase would require the U.S. government to right size itself and begin a pay as you go diet.

Read More at Floyd Reports by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Floyd Reports

Both Sides Hardening in Debt-Limit Imbroglio

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The gulf between President Obama and a divided Congress grows ever wider as the debt-limit crisis stumbles toward a potentially catastrophic deadline.

Tempers flared Wednesday at the high-level negotiating session, with Obama walking out of the meeting at one point, angrily warning House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, “Don’t call my bluff. You know I’m going to take this to the American people.”

But apparently the president, who thinks he can tax his way out of this mess, is unaware that Americans are strongly behind Cantor and the Republicans on the issue of tax increases versus spending cuts.

The Gallup Poll reported Thursday that when people are asked how Congress should deal with the mountain of deficits and debt that threaten to sandbag our economy, 50 percent “prefer spending cuts to tax hikes.”

The nationwide poll showed 20 percent saying the debt should be dealt with only through spending cuts, while another 30 percent said “mostly spending cuts.”

Read More at Townhall by Donald Lambro, Townall

“Republican Candidate” Extends Lead vs. Obama to 47% to 39%

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Registered voters by a significant margin now say they are more likely to vote for the “Republican Party’s candidate for president” than for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, 47% to 39%. Preferences had been fairly evenly divided this year in this test of Obama’s re-election prospects.

The latest results are based on a July 7-10 poll, and show that the Republican has an edge for the second consecutive month. Obama held a slight edge in May, when his approval rating increased after the death of Osama bin Laden. As his rating has come back down during the last two months, so has his standing on the presidential “generic ballot.”
Gallup typically uses this question format when a president is seeking re-election but his likely opponent is unknown, as was the case in 1991-1992 and 2003-2004, when incumbents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively, were seeking re-election.

The elder Bush held large leads over his generic Democratic opponent throughout 1991, but early 1992 preferences were more evenly divided and Bush eventually lost his re-election bid. The younger Bush also consistently maintained at least a small advantage over the Democrat throughout 2003, before winning re-election in a close contest in November 2004.

Thus, the results more than a year ahead of the election do not have a large degree of predictive ability, and underscore that things can change greatly in the final year or more before an election.

Read More at Gallup by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

Republican Deals With Obama Are Killing Us

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Writing a syndicated column in 2011 is night and day different from when we started writing for publication in the 1990′s. The overriding change is the volume and immediacy of feedback. In the 1990′s we would receive the occasional letter applauding or challenging our thesis, facts and motives. Today we find our email inbox and comment sections so full it is difficult to read it all.

We take our readers seriously, and even if we don’t personally respond, we read and ponder their many times insightful thoughts. Ironically, as hard as we work to provide clarity through our own words, sometimes they fail to accurately convey our passion and hopes for America.

After last week’s column was posted, we were accused of hoping for the collapse of the country. We couldn’t be more misunderstood by a reader. We see collapse coming, and like Paul Revere we ride the countryside in the hope that the country will mobilize to meet the dangers.

Here are three reasons we are frightfully concerned about the future of the economy and country:

The first is the dedication of John Boehner to cutting deals with Barack Obama. The Republican majority wasn’t returned to Congress so that they could strike a mega-deal to balance the budget on the backs of the people. The growth of government must be stopped before it consumes what meager wealth the country has left. The current grand scheme as reported would increase taxes in exchange for budget cuts someday off in the future. We have seen how this bargain works. Taxes go up, but spending never goes down.

Read More at Floyd Reports by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Floyd Reports

Americans Will See if Republicans Are Any Different Than Democrats

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Speculation is running rampant about why House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walked out of debt ceiling talks with Democrats. Most of the speculation is credited by pundits to insider maneuvering between Speaker John Boehner and Cantor. The Washington Post reports the debt deal maneuvering this way, “One analysis of the House GOP right now is that there are two players in the GOP who can cut a budget deal: Eric Cantor and John Boehner … One of them is going to have to do it. Which means one of them is going to lose his job. The optimistic take is that what we’re seeing right now is a game of musical chairs over which one of them it’ll be.”

Our analysis is different, and the Washington media will never understand it. The GOP’s inability to make deals is a direct result of the effectiveness of the Tea Party movement. Washington media always wants a deal between the forces for permanent government growth. For the first time in our lifetime the forces in support of actually limiting government have gained power. John Boehner and Eric Cantor understand this new dynamic. The very future of the Republican Party depends on it.

Clearly, John Boehner is frustrated by the new political realities. He wants to play golf with President Obama on the weekends and make nice with him during the week. Boehner has done his best to strong arm Republicans into forfeiting their only budget leverage and vote to raise the debt ceiling. His problem is he doesn’t have the votes, and a speaker that cannot pass legislation is doomed to be replaced.

Republican members of Congress have been flooded by messages from citizens to not raise the debt limit. They pour in daily by FAX, FedEx, mail, and telephone. Citizens intuitively understand that the solution to a debt problem is not more debt. The solution to the problem needs to come in the form of budget cuts. The Tea Party Caucus, Michele Bachmann and a movement called “Cut, Cap, Balance” are winning the battle inside the Republican Party. Tea Party leaders are threatening to bolt the Republican cause if Boehner and Cantor don’t produce an acceptable deal.

The mainstream media, as usual, are oblivious.

Read More at Floyd Reports by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Floyd Reports

Rasmussen: Tea Party Vote Could Kill GOP

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Tea party candidates could undermine Republicans in congressional races so severely that Democrats could win many of those contests, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national survey.

In a three-way congressional contest with a tea party candidate on the ballot, the Democrat could pick up 40 percent of the vote. The Republican would get 21 percent support, while 18 percent would opt for the tea party candidate. Just over 20 percent remain undecided.

Not surprisingly, Republicans and unaffiliated voters are more likely to be undecided than Democrats, according to the June 9 telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters.

This is a slightly improved picture for Democrats from early February of last year. In a three-way matchup at that time, the Democrat earned 36 percent to the Republican’s 25 percent, while the tea party candidate won 17 percent of the vote.

In a two-way race, Republicans continue to hold a modest advantage over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Read More at Newsmax By Newsmax Wires

 

Death of the Duopoly

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Nothing in American life today seems as archaic, ubiquitous and immovable as the Republican and Democratic parties.

The two 19th-century political groupings divide up the spoils of a combined $6.4 trillion that is extracted eachyear from taxpayers at the federal, state, county and municipal levels. Though rhetorically and theoretically atodds with one another, the two parties have managed to create a mostly unbroken set of policies andgovernance structures that benefit well-connected groups at the expense of the individual.

Americans have watched, with a growing sense of alarm and alienation, as first a Republican administration andthen its Democratic successor have flouted public opinion by bailing out banks, nationalizing the auto industry,expanding war in Central Asia, throwing yet more good money after bad to keep housing prices artificially high,and prosecuting a drug war that no one outside the federal government pretends is comprehensible, let alonewinnable. It is easy to look upon this well-worn rut of political affairs and despair.

And Americans are, in increasing numbers. Perhaps the mostimportant long-term trend in U.S. politics is the four-decade leak in market share by the country’s two dominant parties. In
1970, the Harris Poll asked Americans, “Regardless of how youmay vote, what do you usually consider yourself—a Republican, a Democrat, an independent or some otherparty?”

Fully 49% of respondents chose Democrat, and 31% calledthemselves Republicans. Those figures are now 35% forDemocrats and 28% for Republicans. While the numbers havefluctuated over the years, the only real growth market in politics is voters who decline affiliation, withindependents increasing from 20% of respondents to 28%.

Read More By Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, the Wall Street Journal

Short debt limit hike possible: McConnell

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Congress and the White House could raise the debt limit for a few months while they seek a comprehensive, long-term budget deal, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday.

The Obama administration has warned it will run out of money to pay the nation’s bills if Congress does not raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit by August 2 — a prospect that could push the country back into recession and upend global financial markets.

Congressional Republicans, particularly in the House of Representatives, have balked at raising the debt ceiling unless it is accompanied by significant spending cuts.

McConnell said on Sunday the ceiling could be raised enough to last a few months so that negotiations can continue on a larger deal that would include changes to so-called entitlement programs like Medicare.

“The president and the vice president, everybody knows you have to tackle entitlement reform,” McConnell said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Read More at Yahoo! By Dave Clarke, Reuters