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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Taking Back America'

Obama invokes ‘state secrets’ claim to dismiss suit against targeting of U.S. citizen al-Aulaqi

September 26th, 2010 · Accountability, Defense, Homeland Security, National Security, War on Terrorism

By Spencer S. HsuWashington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 25, 2010; 1:49 AMThe Obama administration urged a federal judge early Saturday to dismiss a lawsuit over its targeting of a U.S. citizen for killing overseas, saying that the case would reveal state secrets.

The U.S.-born citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, is a cleric now believed to be in Yemen. Federal authorities allege that he is leading a branch of al-Qaeda there.

 Government lawyers called the state-secrets argument a last resort to toss out the case, and it seems likely to revive a debate over the reach of a president’s powers in the global war against al-Qaeda.

Civil liberties groups sued the U.S. government on behalf of Aulaqi’s father, arguing that the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command’s placement of Aulaqi on a capture-or-kill list of suspected terrorists – outside a war zone and absent an imminent threat – amounted to an extrajudicial execution order against a U.S. citizen. They asked a U.S. district court in Washington to block the targeting.

In response, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the groups are asking “a court to take the unprecedented step of intervening in an ongoing military action to direct the President how to manage that action – all on behalf of a leader of a foreign terrorist organization.”

Miller added, “If al-Aulaqi wishes to access our legal system, he should surrender to American authorities and return to the United States, where he will be held accountable for his actions.”

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House Republicans to make a conservative ‘Pledge to America’

September 23rd, 2010 · Change of Power, Economy, Obama Exposed, Republicans

By Paul Kane and Perry Bacon Jr. Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 23, 2010; 2:36 AM

House Republicans will announce an expansive agenda on Thursday called a “A Pledge to America” that proposes to shrink the size of government and reform Congress, offering a conservative plan of action they will pursue if they win a majority in the midterm elections.

Republicans would slash $100 billion in government spending on non-military agencies and replace President Obama‘s landmark health-care legislation with a scaled-back version. Small businesses would be able to deduct from taxes up to 20 percent of their annual income, and the Pentagon would receive increased funding to more quickly implement a ballistic missile defense system.

The plan would also eliminate any unspent money from last year’s $814 billion stimulus package and from legislation that authorized hundreds of billions of dollars to prop up failing Wall Street firms.

There are no specifics about how the spending cuts would be carried out, and the agenda does not outline how Republicans would deal with Social Security and other expensive federal entitlement programs, saying only that lawmakers “will make the decisions that are necessary” to cut costs.

The agenda is designed to give voters a broad outline of what proposals House Republicans will push if they regain the majority and to give their candidates specifics to cite on the campaign trail. It also aims to answer a favorite attack line of Democrats: that Republicans have no new ideas and are merely the “Party of No.”

“The need for urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated,” Republicans write in the Pledge, according to a draft document released Wednesday night.

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The Obama Heyday Is Over

September 10th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Democrats, Dissention, Obama Exposed

With so many Democrats running against the president’s agenda in the midterm, change will come in the next Congress, regardless of which party is in control.

By Kimberley A. Strassel

Barack Obama hit the campaign trail this week to resurrect some of that hopey-changey stuff and to complain that his critics talk about him “like a dog.” Turns out the president wasn’t, in fact, referring to his own party.

Voters might be forgiven the confusion. It isn’t as if Democrats have been showing Mr. Obama much love. Quite the opposite. Seven weeks from Election Day, the vulnerable wing of the majority has finally found itself a campaign issue: blunt opposition to Mr. Obama and his agenda.

Has it only been 20 months? Candidate Obama swelled into office with an ambitiously liberal plan. He promised his party that his legislative items would be more than policy triumphs; they’d be political triumphs. Stick with me, he said, and we’ll get credit for leadership. Voters will come to love this stuff. Polls will improve. I’ll campaign in your district.

It was bunk, as many Democrats knew even back then. Witness the threats and bribes necessary to coax a bare majority for every vote. But enough went along. And now that the ambitious Obama experiment in liberal governance is going kaboom, his members—even those who voted with him—are running for cover.

Health care? A total of 279 House and Senate Democrats voted for ObamaCare. Not one is running an ad touting that vote. How can they, given headlines about Medicare cuts and premium hikes? You will, however, find a growing catalogue of ads such as this one from Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil: “As a career prosecutor, I made decisions on facts, not politics,” and that’s why “I voted against . . . the health-care bill.”

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WI Moms keeping “Made in America” alive.

September 9th, 2010 · Wisconsin

Fox Valley, Wisconsin – Local mom’s make custom purses and baby ‘must haves’ to beat the economy.  Why can’t our Government follow their lead and make “Made In America” mean something again?

 I give a lot of credit to these ladies.  2 of them have full time jobs and 1 a full time stay at home mom.  How do they find the time to sew?

 Good luck to them.  You can visit their site at http://rosebudcreations.com and keep “Made in America” alive.

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Most Americans object to planned Islamic center near Ground Zero, poll finds

September 9th, 2010 · Selling Out the US, Terrorist Attack, Treason

By Jon Cohen and Kyle Dropp Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 9, 2010; 3:06 AM

Most Americans say the planned Muslim community center and place of worship should not be built in Lower Manhattan, with the sensitive locale being their overwhelming objection, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Two-thirds of those polled object to the prospective Cordoba House complex near the site of the former twin towers, including a slim majority who express strongly negative views. Eighty-two percent of those who oppose the construction say it’s because of the location, although 14 percent (9 percent of all Americans) say they would oppose such building anywhere in the country.

The new results come alongside increasingly critical public views of Islam: 49 percent of all Americans say they have generally unfavorable opinions of Islam, compared with 37 percent who say they have favorable ones. That’s the most negative split on the question in Post-ABC polls dating to October 2001.

Nearly a third of all Americans see mainstream Islam as encouraging violence, little changed from recent years. More, a slim majority, say it’s a peaceful religion.

“Whatever faith or God they believe in, I think most people are decent,” Susan Deal, 45, of Walbridge, Ohio said in a follow-up interview.

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Unlikely battleground of Wisconsin reflects Democrats’ vulnerability in midterm elections

September 7th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Obama Exposed, Republicans, Wisconsin

By Karen Tumulty – Monday, September 6, 2010; 10:47 PM

MILWAUKEE – Democrats in Congress are no longer asking themselves whether this is going to be a bad election year for them and their party. They are asking whether it is going to be a disaster.

The answer will probably be found in states such as Wisconsin, one of a growing number of spots on the map where Democrats accustomed to winning reelection with ease – including Sen. Russell Feingold – are unexpectedly in trouble.

The GOP pushed deep into Democratic-held territory over the summer, to the point where the party is well within range of picking up the 39 seats it would need to take control of the House. Overall, as many as 80 House seats could be at risk, and fewer than a dozen of these are held by Republicans.

Political handicappers now say it is conceivable that the Republicans could also win the 10 seats they need to take back the Senate. Not since 1930 has the House changed hands without the Senate following suit.

“Given the races in play – six for Republicans and 13 for Democrats – a plausible case can now be made that those 10 seats are within their reach,” the nonpartisan Cook Political Report wrote last week. But it predicted that the GOP‘s gain will fall just short of that, at seven to nine seats.

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Republicans making gains against Democrats ahead of midterm elections

September 7th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Obama Exposed, Republicans

By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 7, 2010; 12:04 AM

Republicans are heading into the final weeks of the midterm campaign with the political climate highly in their favor, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Americans are increasingly frustrated by a lack of economic progress, deeply dissatisfied with the federal government and critical of President Obama‘s leadership.

For the first time in more than four years, Republicans run about evenly with Democrats on the basic question of which party they trust to handle the nation’s biggest problems. Among registered voters, 40 percent say they have more confidence in Democrats and 38 percent say they have more trust in Republicans. Three months ago, Democrats had a 12-point advantage.

On the economy, 43 percent of voters side with Republicans when it comes to dealing with financial problems, while 39 percent favor Democrats. (Fifteen percent say they trust neither party more.) Although not a significant lead for Republicans, this marks the first time they have had any numerical edge on the economy dating to 2002. In recent years, Democrats have typically held double-digit advantages on the issue.

The principal obstacles to GOP electoral hopes continue to be doubts that Republicans have a clear plan for the country should they win control of the House or Senate in November. But overall, the poll shows that the party has made big gains in the public’s estimation since earlier this year.

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Gloom for Democrats as they look to November

September 1st, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Congress, Obama Exposed, Republicans

By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2010; 11:39 PM

The Gallup organization dropped a bomb on the political world this week. In shorthand, the pollsters said Monday that if the midterm elections were held now, Republicans would take control of the House – and probably by a comfortable margin.

On Tuesday, James Campbell, a professor of political science at the University of Buffalo, weighed in with a prediction based on his modeling of the political climate. He said that Republicans are poised to gain 51 or 52 House seats, at least 11 more than needed to depose the Democrats.

Election Day is still two months away, but the twin findings added to the fear among Democrats that their House majority – and possibly their Senate majority as well – is in jeopardy.

For decades, Gallup has asked voters the following question: “If the elections for Congress were being held today, which party’s candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?”

This week’s survey produced the largest lead for the Republicans in the history of asking that question: 51 percent to 41 percent. Ninety-six percent of Republicans said they would vote for the GOP candidate, while 88 percent of Democrats said they would support the Democrat. Independents, who helped power Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008, split 48 percent to 31 percent for Republicans.

This measurement (known as the generic ballot question) has sometimes been considered an imperfect or misleading indicator of House election results. Gallup begs to differ. Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup poll, said that Gallup’s final survey of likely voters before Election Day has been an accurate predictor of the two parties’ share of the national vote in House elections. The national vote, in turn, he added, is an excellent predictor of seats won or lost.

Four years ago, when Democrats won control of the House, the final Gallup survey of likely voters gave Democrats an advantage of seven percentage points over Republicans. Their actual share of the national two-party vote was eight points more.

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Indiana’s Ellsworth, onetime Democratic star, now a symbol of party’s struggles

August 30th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Democrats, Dissention, Obama Exposed

By Shailagh Murray Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 29, 2010; 10:16 PM

INDIANAPOLIS – When Brad Ellsworth won his U.S. House seat in Indiana four years ago, he was hailed by Democrats as the future of their party: a telegenic former sheriff with moderate instincts and an ability to appeal to a diverse electorate.

It was candidates such as Ellsworth who enabled the Democrats to conquer frontiers that mostly seemed beyond their reach, places such as Evansville and Terre Haute, which stuck with the party in 2008 and enabled President Obama to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana in 44 years.

Today, those gains are in jeopardy, with Democratic prospects following the downward trend of the economy and Obama’s approval ratings. Ellsworth is running well behind in the race to replace Sen. Evan Bayh and has now become the face of the Democrats’ reversal of fortunes across the Midwest. The state’s two other vulnerable House Democrats, Reps. Joe Donnelly and Baron P. Hill, are battling to hold their seats, and Republicans could reclaim the district Ellsworth has represented for the past four years.

The dynamics raise a question larger than any one race – whether new Democrats have succeeded in expanding the political map in any sort of lasting way or whether candidates such as Ellsworth were just in the right place at the right time.

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In 2010, Obama’s poll numbers less of an asset for congressional Democrats

August 30th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Democrats, Dissention, Obama Exposed

By Chris Cillizza Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 30, 2010; 12:18 AM

Two years can change just about everything in politics.

In the 2008 campaign, Democrats running for the Senate did anything – and everything – to associate themselves with then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

With about two months remaining in the 2010 campaign season, however, Obama’s political fortunes have dipped in a handful of states holding competitive Senate races – complicating the winning math for Democratic candidates already struggling with a pessimistic electorate that remains deeply concerned about the country’s direction.

“In midterm elections, the presidential numbers serve like a weight on scale,” said one senior Democratic consultant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid about the playing field. “The heavier [or worse] the numbers, the harder it is for any person in the party to get back to even keel.”

Recent polls on Obama conducted for many of the nation’s top Senate races show that those who disapprove of the job the president is doing outweigh those who approve.

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