Romney & Paul top SRLC 2012 Presidential Straw Poll

WRS was the pollster and tabulator for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference 2012 Straw Poll.

Methodology: Only paid, credentialed attendees to the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference were permitted to cast a ballot in the straw poll. The survey questionnaire includes six questions: first choice for 2012 Presidential primary, second choice for primary, resident state, age, and who the respondent supported in the 2008 primary.

If the primary election for president were held today, for whom would you vote?:
Mitt Romney 24% (439)
Ron Paul 24% (438)
Sarah Palin 18% (330)
Newt Gingrich 18% (321)
Mike Huckabee 4%
Tim Pawlenty 3%
Mike Pence 3%
Rick Santorum 2%
Gary Johnson 1%

---

Tags: SRLC, Poll, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Herman Cain's SRLC Speech - Imbued with Wisdom

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: I like Herman Cain. He is such a breath of fresh air and I could listen to him for hours. He came by to visit with bloggers in the media center before he spoke to a packed house at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Many of you know that Herman Cain is a noted speaker and radio show personality.

I along with many others gathered to listen to fellow bloggers ask him questions and to Herman's response, wit and wisdom. As much as I wanted time with Herman, I did not expect to get the opportunity. Then as people began to back away, I noted him hesitate and instead of leaving, turned toward me. I reached out my hand and introduced myself and got to shake hands with a man I admire.

It was also amazing that people gave us space and we shared various thoughts and comments and I answered a couple of his questions. As we parted, we shook hands again and grasped each others arms like two parting friendly co-laborers. I leaned in and asked him one more personal question, " Are you going to run again for office" (I meant for Congress). He smiled, and said, "there is only one race I would be interested in." I said do you mean you would run for President. He smiled, shook his head and we parted company.

He was then escorted to the main convention hall where he was to be an unscheduled special speaker. In the media room, we were able to watch speakers on a large screen TV. But, we could also go to the convention hall to listen to the speakers from a designated media area. I decided that I wanted to not only hear Cain, but I also wanted to gauge the reaction of the delegates and guests attending the SRLC. Unlike most speakers who get varied applause, Herman Cain brings people to their feet like a scoring team brings the fans to their feet -- Shouting, cheering, clapping and often laughing. And, at the SRLC, Cain scored big time. Below, You can hear his comments and gauge the reaction of the people in the video of his speech (talk with the people). Be sure to listen to the end to hear Herman Cain hint of his involvement in 2012.

---

Tags: Herman Cain, SRLC, Southern Republican Leadership Conference, radio talk show host, wisdom, video, speech,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Mike Pence at SRLC

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) gave a clarion message at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. In the aftermath of his speech, many people were asking, will Mike Pence run for president in 2012. [video]

---

Tags: Mike Pence, Indiana, SRLC, Southern Republican Leadership Conference
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Democrats Initiating A Debt Crisis With Their Irresponsible Spending

Yesterday, The Washington Post wrote, "he debt crisis that has taken root in Greece, sparking an investor panic and talk of a national default in the heart of Europe, is at the leading edge of a problem expected to roll through the economically developed world as government borrowing rises into uncharted territory. This mounting government debt poses a painful choice for developed countries such as Britain, Japan and the United States: either a deep reordering of public expectations about everything from the retirement age to tax rates, or slower growth as record levels of borrowing crimp economic activity. Economists at the International Monetary Fund project that the amount of government debt held in the world’s advanced economies will soon be so great that it surpasses the value of what they produce in a year."

The Post noted "In the United States, where the federal government's debt has reached 84% of GDP, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spelled out the risks in a speech this week calling for restraint of public spending on entitlement programs."

These warnings from the Fed chair and the IMF come only a couple weeks after President Obama signed into law a massive expansion of entitlement spending in the form of his $2.6 trillion health care takeover, which both the CBO and the administration’s own actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have said will increase government health expenditures. CBO estimated an increase in health spending of $210 billion over the next decade, while CMS estimated a $222 billion increase over the same period.

Looking at this mountain of debt and the increase in our obligations thanks to the health care bill, the publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal declares today that "Harry Reid and friends turned us into Greece." He adds, "The Obama/Reid/Pelosi policies are poised to financially swamp us as a nation."

On Thursday, the CBO released its Monthly Budget Review for February and announced that "[t]he federal government incurred a budget deficit of $714 billion in the first six months of fiscal year 2010 . . . ." Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson noted recently, "Two weeks before the House vote [on health care], the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of Obama’s budget, including its health-care program. From 2011 to 2020, the cumulative deficit is almost $10 trillion. Adding 2009 and 2010, the total rises to $12.7 trillion. In 2020, the projected annual deficit is $1.25 trillion, equal to 5.6%  of the economy (gross domestic product). That assumes economic recovery, with unemployment at 5%. Spending is almost 30% higher than taxes. Total debt held by the public rises from 40% of GDP in 2008 to 90% in 2020, close to its post-World War II peak."

As Samuelson said, "Should the United States someday suffer a budget crisis, it will be hard not to conclude that Obama and his allies sowed the seeds, because they ignored conspicuous warnings. A further irony will not escape historians. For two years, Obama and members of Congress have angrily blamed the shortsightedness and selfishness of bankers and rating agencies for causing the recent financial crisis. The president and his supporters, historians will note, were equally shortsighted and self-centered -- though their quest was for political glory, not financial gain."

---

Tags: debt, debt crisis, democrats, CBO,
To post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

American People Have Been Telling Washington That Promoting Job Growth Must Be The First Priority

Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (AZ): The effects of the ongoing economic slump have been severe and have touched all Americans. Too many people have lost jobs; others are working reduced hours or for lower pay. The latest report shows that unemployment has stubbornly stayed at just below 10%. Nearly four million workers have lost their jobs since President Obama took office.

The American people have been telling Washington that promoting job growth must be the first priority. But, for more than a year, Congress and the President have focused instead on a controversial health spending bill which a majority of Americans said they didn’t want. Recognizing that their $1.2 trillion stimulus has failed and in a frantic, election-year push, Democrats in Congress are labeling every bill they bring up as a ‘jobs’ bill. Most are just more government spending, leading to higher deficits and more debt—and very few jobs.

Republicans have a better plan. We believe the best course is to encourage job creation by private companies. And the way to do that is to limit intrusion by Washington and to keep taxes at a manageable level. The federal government has been growing at an astonishing rate. Just last year, the government borrowed $1.4 trillion! The American economy cannot grow and create good jobs if Washington spending takes more and more resources out of the private economy.

Second, we must not raise taxes. Under current law, unless Congress acts, taxes will rise dramatically on December 31st. Taxes will increase on families with children, on married couples, on income, on capital gains and dividends, and even after death. It comes to a total of $2 trillion in new taxes over the next 10 years. And that doesn’t include the more than $500 billion in new taxes in the health spending law.

Since most small businesses pay taxes as individuals, the increase in marginal income tax rates will hit job creators hard. Businesses are reluctant to hire because they are unsure about their future tax costs. Congress and the President should act to prevent the coming tax increase. That would provide job creators with some much needed certainty so they can begin hiring again. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress have yet to say whether they will prevent this massive tax hike. And, they’ve even proposed new taxes like the cap-and-trade bill. Republicans believe we need to act now, in a bipartisan way, to head off these tax increases. That would show job creators and families that it’s safe to invest and save.

So, these are two Republican ideas: First, reining in Washington spending. Second, keeping taxes at a manageable level. If we do these two things, private businesses and American families will be able to save, invest, and plan for the future. Together, we can help put Americans back to work.

---

Tags: Jon Kyl, job growth, government spending, federal spending, increased taxes, decreasing taxes
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Gov. Rick Perry Speech at SRLC

Gov. Rick Perry gave a Texas pro-10th Amendment / State Sovereignty speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC). [Video]

---

Tags: Texas, Rick Perry, Southern Republican Leadership Conference, SRLC, 2010
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Sarah Palin Speech at SRLC

Former Gov. Sarah Palin gave a great speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. [Video]

---

Tags: Sarah Palin, Southern Republican Leadership Conference, SRLC, 2010
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Newt Gingrich speaks at SRLC 2010

The College Press [Videos]:

---

Tags: New Gingrich, SLRC, Southern Republican Leadership Conference, 2010
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

SRLC New Orleans First Session Audience

Bill Smith: Lots of great bloggers reporting on the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Below is a video by Col. O.P. Ditch (Vets for Sarah Palin)reflecting the Mood of New Orleans, and in particular, Louisiana Zydeco music while waiting for the first SRLC session to begin.

---

Tags: video, O.P. Ditch, Vets for Sarah, Southern Republican Leadership Conference
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The VAT Man Cometh

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: This week, White House economic advisor Paul Volker said that the United States ought to consider imposing a European-style value added tax (VAT) to get the deficit under control. He said, “If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes.” A VAT tax is essentially a national sales tax, which would be added to existing state sales taxes. France’s VAT is nearly 20%. So just imagine all of your recent purchases costing 20% more.

That may seem outrageous to you, but Obama’s economic advisor doesn’t think so. Volker said that a VAT “was not as toxic an idea” today as it has been in the past. And just to be clear, Volker was not suggesting that we replace the income tax with a VAT tax, but that the VAT be added to the income tax. Evidently, Volker wouldn’t mind paying $7.00 a gallon for gas either, because he also recommended that we consider taxing carbon too.

Just like their love of socialized medicine, liberal Democrats are drawn to the VAT like a moth to a flame. The reason is simple: If you’re going to fundamentally transform America into a Big Government, European-style welfare state, you’re going to need big, European-style taxes. Last year, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told PBS’s Charlie Rose, “Somewhere along the way, a value-added tax plays into this. …I think it’s fair to look at a value-added tax as well.”

Is a VAT tax imminent? That depends. Obama’s spending is clearly out of control. Yesterday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that the deficit is the biggest threat to long-term economic growth and stability. I guarantee you that in the weeks ahead, we’ll hear from Obama about the need to get the deficit he created under control.

But there are only two ways to get the deficit under control – cut spending or increase taxes. Volker and Pelosi are clearly on the side of raising taxes, and Obama, who has already added $2 trillion to the national debt (that doesn’t even include ObamaCare), is clearly unable to restrain himself when it comes to spending. So I predict that all the rhetoric we’re going to hear about “fiscal discipline” in the days ahead will be laying the ground work for massive tax hikes down the road.

Democrats won’t propose a VAT tax now – just 208 days before the mid-term elections. But, unless conservatives make major gains in November, we could well see a VAT tax, a carbon tax or both – as Volker suggests – sometime next year. What will you do to make sure we elect more conservatives to Congress next year?
Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families. He submitted this article in an email to the ARRA News Service Editor. Bauer was a former Republican presidential candidate and served as President Ronald Reagan’s domestic policy adviser.

---

Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, VAT, Obama Administrator
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Gringrich: “Becoming The Party of Yes” - #SRLC

New Orleans, LA – Former House Speaker and Chairman of American Solutions Newt Gingrich addressed the Southern Republican Leadership Conference Thursday evening in a speech titled “Becoming the Party of Yes.” “To win in 2010 and 2012, it’s not enough to say no to the radical agenda of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid,” said Gingrich. Gingrich explained why "real leadership requires Republicans to offer a compelling vision of safety, prosperity, and freedom that stands in vivid contrast to Obama’s secular, socialist, machine now running Washington.”

Gingrich continued, “America needs to know that Republicans say ‘yes’ to balancing the budget by growing the economy and reducing spending, not by raising or creating new taxes; ‘yes’ to empowering patients and doctors to reduce healthcare costs, not government bureaucrats; ‘yes’ to achieving energy independence through an “all of the above” strategy that will lower energy costs and stop sending our money to hostile regimes, not through an energy tax that will be a burden on small businesses and families.”

---

Tags: Newt Gingrich, SRLC, GOP, Party of Yes,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

CBO Announces Staggering New Deficit Numbers; Bernanke Warns New Taxes Could Be Needed To Close Gap

Today, the CBO released its Monthly Budget Review for February and announced that “[t]he federal government incurred a budget deficit of $714 billion in the first six months of fiscal year 2010 . . . .” The deficit for February alone was $221 billion. For context, Democrats sold their health care bill partially on the premise that it would supposedly save $130 billion over the next ten years. But with the current pace of spending, that savings would cover only one month on average of the deficits being racked up by this administration.

Clearly this irresponsible fiscal situation is unsustainable. The Washington Post reports today, “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Wednesday that Americans may have to accept higher taxes or changes in cherished entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security if the nation is to avoid staggering budget deficits that threaten to choke off economic growth.” Bernanke said, “These choices are difficult, and it always seems easier to put them off -- until the day they cannot be put off anymore. . . . But unless we as a nation demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.”

Bernanke also said, “To avoid large and ultimately unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above.” The Fed Chair’s speech comes just a day after former chairman and current Obama economic advisor Paul Volker said that “[t]he United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax,” according to Reuters.

And taxes are already going up on many Americans to pay for Obama’s $26 trillion health care takeover, as the Los Angeles Times reports today. The LAT points out, “[F]or upper-income taxpayers, the tab for healthcare is just the beginning. Families earning more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000 will not only pay new healthcare-related taxes, but also face the likely expiration of upper-income tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. As a result, these Americans could be tapped for about $650 billion in additional taxes over the next 10 years . . . .”

And yet the most significant proposals coming from the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress seem to be ways to tax even more, instead of finding ways to spend less. Many Democrats continue to call for passage of a carbon cap-and-trade bill, which would amount to an energy tax on almost every American.

The spending and deficits are out of control, but at a time of nearly 10% unemployment, raising taxes is the wrong idea. Stunningly, even The New York Times editorial page understands why more tax hikes hurt economic recovery: “As states try to close their deficits with tax increases, consumers cut back on their spending, which harms businesses and hiring.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in February, “The American people are deeply concerned by the amount of money politicians in Washington have been spending and they want us to get a handle on spending without raising taxes. After trillions in new and proposed spending, Americans know our problem is not that we tax too little, but that Washington spends too much . . . .”

---

TAGS: CBO, Deficit, Ben Bernanke, new taxes
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Live From the Southern Leadership Conference in New Orleans

Bill Smith, Editor: The number of postings has been a little light as I prepared for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference 2010 in New Orleans. Yes, the ARRA News Service will be reporting (blogging) live from New Orleans beginning tomorrow evening and through Saturday. If you use twitter, I will also be joining other twitter media and attendees to cover a majority of the events using twitter; follow @arra. The updated SRLC Program is now online; take a look at the list of speakers which include Haley Barbour, Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum and many more. Sean Hannity's Fox News Show will be live from SRLC tomorrow night and he will be signing his new book for attendees. If you are attending the SLRC, I will be either on blogger row or in one of the media rooms most of the time. Drop by and say hi!

---

Tags: Southern Republican Leadership Conference, GOP, LA, New Orleans, Louisiana,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

The Media's Public Enemy No. 1: Critics of ObamaCare

Since the passage of ObamaCare on March 21, the liberal media have been working hard to crack down on dissidents, painting the tea party, talk radio, and Republicans as dangerous radicals inciting violence against Democrats. Check out a video compilation, “The Media's Public Enemy No. 1: Critics of ObamaCare,” with the most-outrageous instances of journalists painting the tea party movement, talk radio, and Republicans as dangerous radicals inciting violence against Democrats.

See the best evidence -- in the following video highlighting how the three broadcast networks and the cable channels all jumped on board the bandwagon of smearing conservatives as angry hate-mongers, in order to discredit broad-based legitimate opposition to the unpopular legislation. Clips compiled by NewsBusters' Kyle Drennen, video edited by Bob Parks.

---

Tags: media bias, liberalism, healthcare, Obamacare, TEA Parties, Bob Parks
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Demonizing Everyday Americans

Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski, Contributing Authors: There appears to be a concerted effort among the political Left and many mainstream media people to demonize and marginalize the expanding citizen-based movement known as the tea party movement. This effort flows from both a fear of what these tea parties represent and a contempt for everyday Americans. But those ordinary citizens are poised to be the ones laughing when it’s all over, when democracy takes its course.

There seems to be a consensus now among the liberal elite when it comes to the tea parties. Senior administration officials deride them, as do liberal congressional Democrats. These elitists characterize the tea partiers as extremists, some drawing analogies between these ordinary citizens and right-wing militias, fanatics, and religious zealots. Some members of Congress are even saying that these tea party people are racist, which is pretty much the worst label that can be slapped on you in modern politics.

And many leftist talking heads in the media parrot this message, with their own biting editorial, adding that some in the tea party crowd are dangerous. Some talking heads, including some Hollywood actors and others who don’t seem to have any credentials as policy analysts but are nonetheless given air time, are really playing up the racism angle, and even suggest that some tea party attendees may be domestic terrorists.

Try the decaf, people.

Agents of big government and their boosters in the mainstream media seem determined to throw cold water on this growing grassroots movement that is a reaction to the Obama administration’s power grab of the growth and expansion of this country’s central government.

There’s a great deal of diversity among tea party people. Some just want lower taxes, and some also want less regulation. Still others are pro-life voters or Christian conservatives that also want fiscal responsibility. Many others push for conservative judges, while still others hold up signs calling for a restoration of American sovereignty, or protecting America’s borders, or defeating cap and trade or card check.

But they all have two things in common: They all want smaller government, and oppose the trampling of the Constitution embodied in these efforts to radically expand the size and scope of government. And as part of that desire, they want this utterly-ludicrous spending binge to end before it bankrupts all of us.

There’s nothing extremist about that agenda, because common sense is never extreme.

Are there some people attending tea party rallies who are intemperate in their remarks? Sure. Whenever you get tens of thousands of regular folks together, you’ll always get a few who makes comments that they should reconsider. Even then, nothing we’ve seen is worse than the truly outrageous statements that we’ve heard from the Left in recent years about President Bush or Republicans.

Having been engaged in many gatherings of the tea party crowd, it’s offensive that many in the mainstream media are engaging in a systematic effort to marginalize American citizens who are simply trying to take a stand for individual liberty—a stand in opposition to big-government expansion. Also one of us speaking as an African-American (Blackwell), it’s especially insulting to suggest that these people’s opposition to President Obama is driven by racism.

America’s history of grassroots activism goes back to the founding of our republic. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people includes as a necessary element those same average, ordinary people being able to gather and speak out. This freedom to assemble was considered so essential to a free nation that our Founders put it in the First Amendment, right alongside the freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Ironically, these rights are set side-by-side with the freedom of the press, as well. The leftists in the media would do well to remember that their liberty to be a free press comes from the same constitutional amendment as the tea party crowd’s liberty to gather together.

And our elected leaders would do well to remember that the First Amendment exists to protect average people from the government, not the other way around.
-----------------
Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. He submitted this article to the ARRA News Service Editor which also appears in Big Government. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and American Civil Rights Union.
Mr. Ken Klukowski is a fellow and senior legal analyst with the American Civil Rights Union.
--------
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski are the authors of the forthcoming book, The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency, on sale April 27.

---

Tags: Ken Blackwell, Ken Klukowski, Barack Obama, Obama Administration, first amendment, free speech, demonizing Americans,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Obama's Volker Proposes Unprecedented "European-style" VAT Tax

In the wake of President Obama and Democrats in Congress passing their unpopular $2.6 trillion health care takeover, it seems the unprecedented levels of spending and debt are finally concerning some in the administration. Unfortunately, the response was to consider far-reaching new taxes. Reuters reports today, “The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday. Volcker, answering a question from the audience at a New York Historical Society event, said the value-added tax ‘was not as toxic an idea’ as it has been in the past and also said a carbon or other energy-related tax may become necessary. Though he acknowledged that both were still unpopular ideas, he said getting entitlement costs and the U.S. budget deficit under control may require such moves. ‘If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes,’ he said.”

But why are the debt and deficit breaking records in the first place? The answer, of course, is the unprecedented spending by the Obama administration. It began last year when the administration pushed through its debt-financed $862 billion stimulus bill, continued with Obama signing appropriations bills that increased spending over prior years by tens of billions of dollars, and has now culminated in a $2.6 trillion health care spending bill that will only increase government outlays on health care by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Last month, CBS’ Mark Knoller reported, “The latest posting from the Treasury Department shows the national debt has increased over $2 trillion since President Obama took office.” And the AP reported, “The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year’s record for the full year. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February of last year.” The AP also noted, “The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year will hit an all-time high of $1.56 trillion, surpassing last year’s $1.4 trillion total [which was also a record]. The administration is forecasting that the deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011, giving the country three straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.” And Knoller added, “In the 2011 federal budget released last month, the administration projects the National Debt will soar ever upward to over $25 trillion in the year 2020. The total debt will amount to more than 100 percent of the national economy as early as 2012.” Meanwhile, CBO projected that under Obama’s latest budget, by 2020, interest payments on the debt would approach $1 trillion a year.

These are staggering numbers, and they are deeply troubling to many Americans. Back in 2006, then-Senator Obama was among them. “Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally,” he said at the time. “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

But today his administration is moving forward with ever more spending plans and then announcing that the cure for the debt problem they have exacerbated are unprecedented new taxes in the form of “a European-style value-added tax,” as Reuters deemed it, and a new tax on energy Democrats are hoping to push through in their cap-and-trade bill.

---

Tags: Democrats, Obama Administration, Paul Volcker, VAT Tax, increased taxes, European socialism
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Reid and Democrat Leaders on Recess and So Are Their Brains!

Though Democrats left town for the Easter recess with plans to brag about their $2.6 trillion health care takeover, it seems that many of the highest-profile supporters of President Obama’s signature legislation aren’t as eager to commit "harry carry" discussing the unpopular bill with their frustrated constituents in an election year.   As Congress left for recess, The Hill reported, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants House Democrats to go on offense during the critical two-week recess that begins this weekend. Members returning to their districts should tout the new health care law’s benefits to their constituents, according to the ‘recess packet’ issued by Pelosi’s (D-CA) office this week and obtained by The Hill. ‘With the passage of health insurance reform, this District Work Period is a critical time to go on offense,’ the memo states.”

But according to a Politico story yesterday, “[I]nstead of barnstorming their districts celebrating their historic accomplishment, some [Democrats] have been content to remain beneath the radar, reluctant to advertise their role in passing the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s domestic policy agenda. Rep. John Boccieri, who represents [a] conservative area in northeast Ohio, is one of them. After announcing his intention to vote for the bill in a news conference televised live on CNN two days before the vote, Obama lauded his political courage. For the past week, however, Boccieri has gone dark, surfacing only last Wednesday night — in New York City — at a cocktail party fundraiser to benefit his reelection campaign. . . . Boccieri is not alone. He’s one of a number of House Democrats who’ve kept a low profile over the recess, a group largely defined by the level of political jeopardy they face this fall.”

In fact, Reuters reported last week that even “Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who fought for a year to muster the votes in his own party, had no plans to speak on health care during the spring break, his staff said.” But Harry Reid is facing a dose of reality as discussed yesterday by the ARRA News Service, "Nothing illustrates the fall of a man from favor more than coming home and having most people ignore him. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is one of the most unpopular people in the U.S. this week, he returned to his home town of Searchlight Nevada to "kick off" his re-election campaign at the Searchlight Nugget casino. The news report that over 100 people were there. I would expect that in a casino with food, drinks and corralled workers, Reid would have been able to mustered at least 100 people . . . . In contrast to the exaggerated 100 who attended Reid's re-election kick-off, recall that a few days ago, up to 10,000 people (the number most likely understated by the liberal media) attended an anti-Reid rally in his Reid's home town."

And yet, in a very interesting interview with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren last night Reid said, “[E]verybody acknowledges with rare exception that what we did was terrific, and if there are some problems in out years we’ll be happy to look at them.” Barf Reid - we sure do believe you!  National Review Online’s Jim Geraghty slapped Reid's comment around today by noting that 62% of Nevadans are apparently “rare exceptions” in Reid’s view, given a recent Rasmussen poll showing a large majority supporting repeal of the law. So Reid is awfully proud of the health care bill, but he doesn’t plan to speak about it while he’s at home in the Silver State?

He apparently wasn’t shy about bragging about it on TV, though. The Hill points out, “Healthcare reform has ‘changed America forever,’ Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) confidently proclaimed Monday night. ‘People compare it to Medicare. Bigger than Medicare,’ Reid told Fox News’s Greta Van Sustren. ‘Medicare just affected old people. Bigger than social Security, because at the time Social Security passed it dealt only with old people. This affects everybody.’” And still Reid had to admit, “This is not a perfect piece of legislation.”  Your right on that Harry (that's what he's called in Searchlight omitting the expletives)!

We can read read the deluge of stories over the last two weeks of major employers taking huge hits to their bottom lines thanks to the health care bill and small businesses like tanning salons lamenting the effects of new taxes in the bill. Then there is all the bad policy ideas in the bill: $500 billion in Medicare cuts, the fact that it won’t lower premiums for Americans while it grows already unsustainable government spending, or the fact that Democrat leaders failed to protect both active and retired military and their families by addressing TRICARE as adequate medical coverage thereby subjecting these families to potential penalties by either HHS or the IRS.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said recently, “Most people aren’t interested in celebrating a bill that makes their lives more complicated, takes more out of their paychecks and puts decisions they’re used to making themselves into the hands of federal bureaucrats.” Which may be why Democrats aren’t in a rush to brag about it in front of their angry constituents! The obvious fact to Americans is that while Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the other Democrat leaders are on recess, so are their brains!

---

Tags: Democrats, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, health care, military, US Congress, government healthcare, TRICARE, economy, tax increases, higher deficit, insurance coverage
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Malignant Tumor

by William Warren:

---

Tags: William Warren, political cartoon, USa, malignant tumor, federal control, obamacare
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Liberal Media Owes Sarah Palin an Apology

by Andrius Vaitekunas, ALG: The following video from ALG News featuring Barack Obama, Paul Krugman, and Sarah Palin gets to the truth about the true role of Independent Medicare Advisory Board (i.e. “death panels”).

---

Tags: ALG, video, Sarah Palin, death panels, government health care, liberal media, Obamacare
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Searchlight Foreshadows the Fall of Harry Reid

Bill Smith, Editor: Nothing illustrates the fall of a man from favor more than coming home and having most people ignore him. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is one of the most unpopular people in the U.S. this week, he returned to his home town of Searchlight Nevada to "kick off" his re-election campaign at the Searchlight Nugget casino. The news report that over 100 people were there. I would expect that in a casino with food, drinks and corralled workers, Reid would have been able to mustered at least 100 people for his short "I am back, please send me back to Washington D.C." speech

Harry Reid, the home wrecking, jobs killer, even promised in his comments that he would "bring home more jobs to Nevada" which is suffering record-high unemployment and home foreclosure rates. However, some of his supporters may have missed that both unemployment and home foreclosure can be laid squarely at the feet of the triad of progressive liberalism: Reid, Pelosi and Obama.

In contrast to the exaggerated 100 who attended Reid's re-election kick-off, recall that a few days ago, up to 10,000 people (the number most likely understated by the liberal media) attended an anti-Reid rally in his Reid's home town. The rally was called "Showdown in Searchlight" and was primarily organized by the conservative TEA Party movement. Sarah Palin was the "big-draw" speaker.
Searchlight Nevada - Harry Reid Tea Party Crowd shot 360

Laura Myers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said: Reid's popularity ratings are at an all-time low with only one-third of Nevada voters having a favorable opinion of him and about half unfavorable. The same poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows the senator losing to his three top potential GOP opponents with Reid gaining only about four out of 10 votes in various one-to-one match-ups. The election outcome could be different, however, if Reid faces multiple candidates in the fall, a scenario that could splinter the anti-Reid vote and help him eke out a victory." [Full Story]

While Searchlight may foreshadows the fall of Harry Reid, Myers' comment about multiple parties is important. It would indeed be a trajedy for Reid to be re-elected due to the fracturing of the conservative vote by self-centered interests seeking to run or even to co-opt the efforts of others including the TEA Party to achieve their own agendas. America is tired of agendas and independent third parties have always given conservatives the worst case scenario. In this case, it would be the re-election of Harry Reid. Also, we need to be wary of wolves seeking to misdirect the efforts of conservatives. The Democrat dirty tricks machine is alive and well and their boy Harry is in trouble.

---

Tags: Harry Reid, Searchlight, Nevada, 2010 election, Showdown in Searchlight, video
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!

Happy Easter 2010

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: 'He has risen from the dead ... -- Matthew 28:5-7, The NIV Bible. We are truly blessed in that "the Innocent" - Jesus Christ - voluntarily gave Himself to be our substitute and was sacrificed as an atonement for our sins. He then also overcame hell and the grave and He rose from the dead. Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed!

by Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: The ARRA News Service wishes all our friends, fellow conservatives, those who have helped us with resource and all of our readers a very Happy and Blessed Easter.

---

Tags: 2010, Arkansas Republican Assembly, ARRA News Service, Easter, Jesus Christ, Bible,
To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!