Obama Stands Firm on No Negotiating on Debt Ceiling While Hard Right GOP House Plays Games

The modern day Republican party stands for economic uncertainty, chaos, refusal to pay its own bills, and radical nihilism. Not exactly big tent.  (Sarah Jones, Politicususa.com)

How is Speaker Boehner going to handle all the rhetoric he and other GOP have been spewing during their five-week recess about they are not going to cave on the debt ceiling unless Obamacare is defunded.  Are they that stupid?  Sure looks like they think they can back the President into a corner but it is going to backfire major league on Republicans as the vast majority of Americans are waking up to the fact the House Republicans along with some Republican hard right Senators are the reason our economy hasn't taken off as fast as it should have.  Most of us are in no mood for GOP games in September after their 5-week boondoggle with very few Town Halls.

A chaotic fall awaits Capitol Hill when lawmakers return to Washington in two weeks and face imminent fiscal deadlines to avoid sending the economy into a tailspin. 

The spotlight is on Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who faces perhaps his toughest test yet as he tries to talk rebellious House Republicans out of risking a government shutdown or worse. Instead he’s floating a potentially riskier strategy: pass a short-term funding resolution, preserve sequestration and take the debt ceiling hostage to goals like unwinding Obamacare and cutting spending. 

On Oct. 1, funding for the federal government will expire. And later this fall, the U.S. will default on its obligations unless Congress raises the borrowing limit, or debt ceiling. Averting these two cliffs will be one of the more daunting tasks facing a wildly dysfunctional Congress and a fractured Republican Party. 

“It reinforces all the reasons why I thought it was a good time to retire at the beginning of the year,” former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH), a friend and ally of Boehner, told TPM in a recent interview. “Because it looks like deja vu all over again. The same fights, the same cast of characters and the same unwillingness to find common ground.

When LaTourette announced his early retirement he did not hide the fact that it is almost impossible to get things done in the Congress unlike 25 years ago when he came into office.  The different IMHO is the Tea Party and shift to the hard right of the GOP with their no compromising attitude.  Thought this summed it up best:

"The Tea Party Republican Majority now has a sign outside their meeting room-- no moderates allowed," Jesse Ferguson spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement. 

A Democrat said it but I have heard the same thing from Republicans with the takeover by the Tea Party in the House that all they want to do is obstruct and only work for their base not their whole district like Congressman have in the past.  This is the most partisan group of malcontents I have witnessed in the House over the years.  Not sure Boehner can control them after they have been back in their districts listening to their hard right supporters.

This interview with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is one of the best I have viewed about the debt ceiling and sequestion effects on the budget.  We are lucky to have Lew as our Treasury Secretary IMHO:

”Treasure Secretary Jack Lew was on CNBC Tuesday where he reiterated that not only will the President not negotiate over raising the debt limit, but, we do not need another self-inflicted wound (courtesy of the GOP). 

“I will reiterate. The President made clear he is not negotiating. Since ’1789,' every congress has acted to pay the bills of the United States. This Congress needs to do the same. What we need in our economy is certainty. We don’t need another self-inflicted wound.” 

CNBC’s John Harwood talked to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday, August 27th:

Just yesterday the Speaker was threatening a “whale of a fight” over raising the debt ceiling. With consumer confidence heading toward a five year high, Boehner threatened to crash the economy if Republicans don’t get to rule as if they won 2012.  

The Republican leader told a Boise lunch crowd, “But I’ll say this: It may be unfair but what I’m trying to do here is to leverage the political process to produce more change than what it would produce if left to its own devices. We’re going to have a whale of a fight."

(snip) 

The President also made sure the public knew that Congress tells him what to spend, and Congress is in charge of paying those bills (raising the debt ceiling): 

“This is a matter of Congress authorizes spending. They order me to spend. They tell me, you need to fund our Defense Department at such- and-such a level, you need to send out Social Security checks, you need to make sure that you are paying to care for our veterans. They lay all this out for me, and — because they have the spending power. And so I am required by law to go ahead and pay these bills. Separately, they also have to authorize a raising of the debt ceiling in order to make sure that those bills are paid. And so what Congress can’t do is tell me to spend X and then say, “But we’re not going to give you the authority to go ahead and pay the bills.” 

Very impressed with Treasury Secretary Lew and his explanations on the debt ceiling and making a deal on Sequestration and the budget.   Lew might be the most articulate Treasury Secretary we have had in years.  He laid out everything very succinctly and understandable to everyone.  He refused to take the bait on the Fed Chairman saying that decision is in the White House.  Gives me a lot of confidence we are on the right track.   Now if only the GOP would get their act together and throw out the Koch Bros Tea Party, they could negotiate in good faith to get this Country moving forward.  My reason for that statement comes from moderate Cong Sensenbrenner, R-WI, on the Voting Rights Act:

Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is vowing to reverse the recent Supreme Court ruling that made them possible. 

“The first thing we have to do is take the monkey wrench that the court threw in it, out of the Voting Rights Act, and then use that monkey wrench to be able to fix it so that it is alive, well, constitutional and impervious to another challenge that will be filed by the usual suspects,” Sensenbrenner said Monday at an RNC event held to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. 

Sensenbrenner is a longtime advocate of the Voting Rights Act. As chair of the House Judiciary Committee when the law was reviewed in 2006, the Wisconsin legislator oversaw extensive deliberations which ultimately affirmed the VRA’s continuing necessity–and resulted in a 25-year reauthorization. So when the Supreme Court effectively gutted the VRA in June by voiding the requirement for certain states to get federal “preclearance” before changing their voting laws, Sensenbrenner was displeased. 

“Voter discrimination still exists,” he wrote in a June op-ed for USA Today, “and our progress toward equality should not be mistaken for a victory.”

Is it possible that someone like Sensenbrenner could be encouraged to join with other more moderate Republicans in the House (what few are left) along with Democrats to make sure the debt ceiling is passed.  Only need 18 to go with the Democrats to pass the debt ceiling increase with no strings.  If Republicans refuse to negotiate and compromise on the debt ceiling, they will bare the blame for the downgrade of American credit.  Even one of the GOP's budget guru's, Steve Bell, agrees:

The Republican government shutdown isn’t going to be blamed on the President.
Steve Bell, a longtime Senate Republican budget expert now at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Talking Points Memo that Republicans are fooling themselves if they think that they can get the public to blame the President for a government shutdown.
“If Republican leaders are going to be all tied up again with the debt ceiling and government showdowns, that really is a big negative. We went through this with Clinton. I was in the room when we did this. And it isn’t going to be blamed on the President.”

“In the Republican caucus, there are significant internal divisions,” Bell said. “The House gets most of the attention because it’s pretty melodramatic. But the Senate Republican caucus is absolutely just as tough.”

When the Congress returns to town after their five week recess, the House has nine working days left according to their schedule to get continuing resolutions passed along with a debt ceiling increase. How they could have left town with this hanging is beyond me.  Most of the appropriation bills on how much money can be spent has not been passed so the American people are stuck once again with no timely budget and appropriations bills passed.  The House for several years blamed the Senate for not passing a budget but now that the Senate passed it in the Spring, the House has refused to name any people to a Joint Committee to iron out the differences.

Today's House run by Republicans is the worst in history with the most rhetoric and lies.  All they care about is voting to overturn Obamacare which was found Constitutional by the Supreme Court and is not on the table for any negotiation.  Time to send the GOP House to the unemployment line along with their Tea Party affiliation and staffs.  The GOP House's so-called Hastert rule where you have to have a majority of GOP support to bring up a bill is no way to run the House and is hurting the Country.  As long as their wealthy donors are happy, they don't seem to care about the average American so it is time we decided to elect people who care for all Americans not just the wealthy.

Republicans are #1 at something: Biggest Do-Nothing Congress Ever who Continues to Lie about the Deficit!

In addition to being the #1 do-nothing Congress,  Republicans have also become polished liars as they claim Obama caused the deficit to rise when in fact it has gone down under Obama which Republicans know full has happened.  

Their dishonesty should disqualify them from holding office but with this bunch of Republicans lying against Obama gets you a badge of honor.  You can throw in the so-called 'liberal' media who have also ignored deficit reduction by Obama instead claiming Obama has raised the deficit.  A lot of the DC/NYC media sound a lot like Fox News today which is anything but a compliment.

When you have a bi-partisan duo declare that the Republican Party is dysfunctional in Congress, then you know that things have gone from bad to worse for the American people.  House Republicans refuse to pass any bill they perceive will help President Obama while holding the Country hostage because IMO they don't want a black President to get any credit.   Same is true by Senate Republicans who filibuster bills right and left along with nominees  Bills they voted for under Bush like raising the debt ceiling, today they threaten the credit rating of the United States because Obama is President.  There is only one conclusion to draw from this group of worthless Republicans and that is they are white men who believe only white males should be President.  The very idea that someone other than a white male is President is more then they can handle.  The way they treat women, they might treat a woman President worse then they do President Obama.

Last year, Thomas Mann of the left-leaning Brookings Institution, and Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, published a Washington Post op-ed saying that the GOP deserves the blame for the dysfunction. 

"We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional," they wrote. "In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party." 

In an interview with Washington radio station WAMU aired on Monday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) bemoaned the productivity of Congress and called on his colleagues to do more. 

"The first six months of this Congress have been among the least productive in American history," Connolly said. "Only 13 bills have been passed into law in the first six months of this year. That's gotta be a record low."

From AdditctingInfo comes this information about the deficit that Republicans don't want you to know:

The GOP, Fox News and AM Hate Radio regularly complain that Obama has raised the deficit. This is a lie. A very VERY big lie. It’s such a big lie and so easy to prove as a big lie that the fact 90% of the country thinks it’s true is one the greatest failures of the “liberal” media since they couldn’t be bothered to vet the Iraq War. The problem is that conservatives don’t want to know, independents can’t be bothered to look and liberals should be deeply ashamed for not knowing.

Step One: Establish the facts of what the deficit is and how it works – the deficit is not the same as the debt. This is super important because the right has gone VERY far out of its way to confuse the two. And for good reason; the debt has never been higher. This is inevitable since we still have a deficit. The debt is a byproduct of the deficit. The only way to pay down the debt is to turn the deficit into a surplus.   The deficit is how much more we spend than we collect in revenue (taxes, etc.). The debt is how much we owe. 

The deficit is the credit card, the debt is the bill. A bill that the right wants to pin completely on Obama as if we didn’t have a penny of debt until he took office instead of having been built by almost a century of deficit spending by both Republican and Democratic presidents (but mostly Republican). 

Step Two: Establish when the budget is passed – This is another deliberate lie the right LOVES to pass around. They would very much like you to believe that the 2009 budget with its record shattering $1.4 Trillion deficit was Obama’s. The reality is that budgets are passed and signed into law at the end of the year before. So the 2000 budget was signed into law by President Clinton and President Bush was stuck with it. In 2017, whoever takes the White House will have a budget signed into law in 2016 by the outgoing President Obama. Therefor, the 2009 budget was not “Obama’s,” it was Bush’s. If you need to prove this definitively, share this link to the CATO Institute. They they clearly state that the 2009 budget does not belong to Obama. 

Step 3: Establish what the 2009 deficit was.  It is a tenet of faith among the right that the 2009 budget was $1.4 Trillion and it was all Obama’s fault. Here’s a link to Fox News.  The relevant part: 

“The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year that ended last week, congressional analysts said Wednesday. – Published October 7 2009

The House and the Senate voted to pass the 2009 budget on June 4-5, 2008. President Bush signed off on all of it. Conservatives will try to blame the Democratic held Senate and House for the deficit but they can’t have it both ways. Either the president is responsible for the budget or he’s not. You can’t blame Obama while holding Bush blameless.

Step 4: What is the deficit now? – That’s easy. Go to the CBO’s page and look. the Congressional Budget Office is nonpartisan. If the current laws that govern federal taxes and spending do not change, the budget deficit will shrink this year to $845 billion, or 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), its smallest size since 2008. 

Is $845 Billion more or less than $1.4 Trillion? 

Just so we’re all on the same page here. Obama knocked $555 BILLION off of the deficit. That’s an entire third of the total deficit. That’s more than every president in the history of the country put  together. Republicans have been screeching for deficit cuts like demented harpies for years (except when a Republican is in office). If a Republican president did this, the Tea Party would be holding parades for him. Obama did it and 90% of the country doesn’t even know it. The GOP has them convinced the deficit is still going up.
Ignorance is the GOP’s best weapon. Knowledge is ours.

Excerpt:  Read More at AddictingInfo.Org

Bottom line is the US has a do nothing, lazy bunch of Republicans in the Congress who only work a 3-day work week interspersed with numerous vacations (recesses) while ripping off the US taxpayer with trips and additional expenses to add to their salary.  All this bunch of losers seem intent on doing is launching investigations into President Obama trying to make something stick.  Every time they have ended up with egg on their face.   Even Rush Limbaugh backtracked on his supposed feud with Fox News today after telling a listener not to watch Fox News yesterday - Ailes is busy at work lining everyone up on the same page of lies.

The once proud party of Abraham Lincoln is a shell of its former self and getting worse as the Koch's and other wealthy donors try to turn this Country from a Republic into a Christian theocracy.  Do you want Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee telling you how to think and what to do?  If you don't, then you had better start working TODAY to defeat Republicans at all levels.  They have earned only contempt and votes against them for their reelection with their actions which are against the best interests of the vast majority of American people.  Wanting to cut the deficit on the backs of the seniors and poor tells you all you need to know about these self-serving scumbags.  Don't know what else to call them with all the lies against this President and the damage they are inflicting on the Country by their unwielding stubbornness and lack of compassion for those less fortunate.  How can they look themselves in the mirror?

The Republican war on voting rights, women, minorities, immigrants, veterans, seniors, middle class, and poor have been duly noted.  Waiting for the "White Male Only" sign to go up on the RNC building to match what we are seeing out of today's Republican Party.

  

It is 2013, but in the GOP it seems more like it is the "Leave it to Beaver" of 1950's.

UPDATE from The Hill, 1:15 p.m., 20 June:

In a blow to House GOP leaders, the House on Thursday rejected a five-year farm bill.
Members voted down the $940 billion bill in a 195-234 vote that only won 24 Democratic votes. Most Democrats voted against the bill because it cut food stamp programs by more than $20 billion.

Many Republicans also voted no, but for a different reason. They said it was too expensive a bill to pass when the country has $17 trillion in debt.

In the final vote, 62 Republicans opposed the bill, and with the Democratic defections that was enough to send it to defeat.

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Cong Gingrey (R-GA) wants to teach grade school children proper gender roles in their future life as a "Mommy and Daddy." The GOP House just passed a 20-week Draconian abortion bill to protect a fetus.   In the House Agriculture bill the GOP wants to cut $20 billion from food stamps which would hurt the baby after it is born.  Makes zero sense!      

Are there no Republicans in Congress with the backbone to stand up to their members when they make such ludicrous statements like Congressmen Gingrey?  No one chastised Trey Franks either - they just moved in Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to run his bill as a woman since no women sits on their all male committee that came up with the horrific abortion bill.  Women have no voices in the Republican Party in Congress unless they agree to everything they are told to say.  If you agree to spout their GOP rhetoric, Leadership will put you out front like they did Blackburn to make a fool of herself on the House Floor and in an interview.  Still cannot get over in an interview Blackburn compared the abortion bill to something that will put more rapists behind bars because of its reporting requirement:

In case you doubt that Blackburn, the gentler face of the GOP, is as bad as Franks and Akin, here she is today defending the indefensible HR 1797:

Blackburn went on to defend the reporting requirements in the legislation, arguing, "[T]he hope is that that will help with getting some of the perpetrators [i.e. rapists] out of the population that are committing these crimes against women and against minor females. We certainly would hope that we could rid our society of these perpetrators." 

In other words, the Tennessee Republican thinks her bill will reduce rapes. When Melvin asked, "How do you fight rapists with an abortion bill?" Blackburn changed the subject. 

She went on to say, three times, "Science is on our side on this." The American Medical Association disagrees. Blackburn added that "80 percent" of American women support her bill, but there is no poll that supports this argument.

How Blackburn can do an interview and say with a straight face that 80% of the American women support her bill is beyond me.  First of all it is Trey Franks bill not hers.  Secondly there is no way 80% of women would support that bill.  I will bet no Democrat women, very few Independent women, and even some Republican women will not support that draconian abortion bill.

Why do Republicans keep assuming that all GOP women are pro-life? Is it because the Republican women are afraid to speak out if they are pro-choice because all the nastiness that will come their way.  Unfortunately, many on the GOP side are married to the same type of conservative as Gingrey, Akin, Franks, Santorum, or any other conservative male who believes they know what is best for women which is to be subservient to their husbands - you are to service your husband, get pregnant, stay home with the children and answer to his every want and need which would make you the perfect wife in their small hard right conservative minds.

Then you have Gingrey who wants proper gender rolls taught to grade school students:

“This is what a father does that is maybe a little different, maybe a little bit better than the talents that a mom has in a certain area..."

I want to throw up that this man is even in Congress.  The way he talks is so condescending talking down to people like we are all five or six year olds. Revise that to 1-3 year olds when he references Mommy and Daddy.  Unbelievable!  How dare he wants to teach young children their roles in life - there are no roles - each person is different in what they do with their lives.  Some stuffy Congressman have no right to want to put his idea of gender roles in the public schools.

Every morning I wake up I discover some Republican idiot in the US Congress has taken it to new lows and wasn't disappointed this morning when I read this from The National Memo of what Gingrey had to say about Father's Day:

Georgia’s Phil Gingrey: Teach Proper Gender Roles In Grade School [VIDEO]
June 19th, 2013 3:29 pm @LaurieInQueens 

As the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the Constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Republican congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia took to the House floor to make the argument for the discriminatory legislation. 

Children, he insists, need both a mother and a father… and should be taught — in separate classes for little boys and little girls, of course — proper, traditional gender roles in school. Because mommies do mommy things, and daddies do daddy things. 

“You know, maybe part of the problem is we need to go back into the schools at a very early age, maybe at the grade school level, and have a class for the young girls and have a class for the young boys and say, you know, this is what’s important,” Gingrey suggests. “This is what a father does that is maybe a little different, maybe a little bit better than the talents that a mom has in a certain area. And the same thing for the young girls, that, you know, this is what a mom does, and this is what is important from the standpoint of that union which we call marriage.” 

And though he believes children need two parents, Gingrey — who is running for retiring Saxby Chambliss’ Senate seat in 2014 — is quite clear that same-sex parents simply do not make the grade. Mommy can work, but afterwards, she should be coming home to daddy. The adult females in his family, he points out, all have jobs. “But they’re still there as moms,” he says. “And when they come home and take over that responsibility, they need a shared partner, and that partner is that partner for life. And I’m talking about, of course, the father.” 

If you can stand it, watch this stunning display of sexism and homophobia below:

Gingrey just doesn't take a swipe at gay parents, as he also hits single parents, and Dads who stay home with their children while their Mom's work.  Then there are the grandparent who may have custody of their grandchildren.  IMHO children need a loving home with parent(s) who they know care and are willing to become part of their lives and be there for them.   The worst part of Gingrey's remarks is that they are shared beliefs of the hard right of the Republican Party and no one in the GOP has the nerve to tell people like Gingrey to sit down and shut up because it might make their hard right base mad - bunch of Republican wimps are in the halls of Congress.  It makes sense when you look at who the GOP put in charge of and members of committees. The GOP Leadership in the House put Lamar Smith in charge along with some members on the science committee who don't believe in science and think the world is 5,000 to 8,000 years old.  There are all GOP males headed by Trey Franks on a committee that handles the numerous abortion bills and women's reproductive rights who believe you cannot get pregnant from rape.  You have people on the Intel committee like Michelle Bachmann which in itself is funny.  She has trouble with the truth and has for some time and you trust her with our nation's secrets?   Then there is the infamous former car thief who plea bargained and insured a building of his for three times the amount - burned down three weeks later who is head of House Investigations.  We saw how dishonest Chairman Issa was when he only allowed redacted transcripts to be released on their feigned IRS scandal.  He was warned by the ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to release all the transcripts but Issa kept up the farce it went to President Obama.  Cummings released the transcripts this week that showed Issa was liar and that it did not go to the White House. The latest one the GOP has come up with to defend their abortion bill comes out of a Texas State Senator on the reason for not getting an abortion is that young male babies masturbate so you have to teach when they are born not to do that.  The Republican Party and its members of Congress have officially jumped the shark!  Wonder if it is necessary to explain to the Neanderthal GOP what 'jump the shark' means? In all this hyperbole about abortion by the Republican Party and the fetus must be protected,  what is lost is their voting in the Agriculture bill to strip $20 billion from food stamps.  It can be summed up in one sentence:

Almost all Republicans in the House have shown a belief a fetus should be protected at all cost but after they are born want to cut the food stamp programs that lead to a healthy baby and child.  

Chris Hayes covered these cuts very well on his new program All In:

All In   |  June 18, 2013 

Republicans want to cut $20 billion from food stamps 

The House is slated to debate a farm bill this week, in which Republicans want cut $2 billion a year from the food stamp program. The president has threatened to veto it. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There is one person who is standing in the way of the archaic Republican ideas and ready to use his veto pen - President Barack Obama. Best decision in politics I ever made was to join Republicans for Obama and support his re-election. If I knew what I know now, I would have supported him in 2008 against McCain/Palin.  Republican hardliners are making it very easy to switch parties.

Democrats and Republicans for Sale Blog Declared Spam

This post is dedicated to the person(s) who decided to have a four year old blog declared spam.  What horrible thing did I do?  I took on the gun lobby of NRA, RNC, Republicans in Congress, and the Koch Brothers organizations!  If they think reporting my blog as spam is going to make me be quiet, they are in for a rude awakening.  Not only will it not silence me, but I intend to dig in even more to help Democrats defeat the GOP in the House in 2014 because they are nothing but obstructionists and believe free speech only belongs to them.

The RNC Chair wants to change the way the President is elected so they can scam the voters just like they have with gerrymandering House seats.   Only way they can win is to change the rules and suppress votes.  I cannot believe I am even a member of the Republican Party today where guns are more important than the lives of people.  More details later about the RNC plan to change awarding electoral votes in some states.

Tomorrow, I will have more but for tonight there is no Democrats and Republicans for Sale until blogspot determines it is not spam.  Will be back with more information about the President's plan and how the GOP is out of control calling for his impeachment and states saying they will not enforce federal law.  Absolutely disgusting.

Congress on Recess for Six Weeks

Email from Cong Sessions, Aug 6, 2010:

The Hill Report
A Weekly Newsletter from Congressman Pete Sessions
Week of August 2 – August 6, 2010

This week, the House of Representatives began its “August District Work Period” – which this year runs for six weeks until mid-September. The upside is that the House will not be spending more of your hard-earned tax dollars during this time, while the downside is that this Congress has failed to pass a budget or craft policies that encourage job creation and economic recovery from our sluggish economy.
______

NOTE: It is good news they cannot spend more of our money for six weeks. Does this mean that Obama will also leave the media scene for six weeks -- we can hope!

Ken Buck for Colorado Senator

Ken's wife Perry owns a small business in Greeley. She served as the Vice-Chair of the Colorado Republican Party for 4 years. Son Cody is a fourth year cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Daughter Kaitlin is a sophomore at Clemson University

The paragraph below says it all about Ken Buck and how hard he has worked over the years to get where he is today. He understands what people are going through on a daily basis. As District Attorney, Ken has been able to help young people who were headed down the wrong path. When he first decided to run, Ken was way behind the establishment frontrunner, Jane Norton, but today the race is tight after Ken and Perry have been traveling around the state listening to voters and what they have to say about their opposition to what they see in Congress.

Over the course of his career, he has worked as a truck driver, high school football coach, ranch hand, school janitor, paper boy, furniture mover, adjunct law professor, prosecutor, and businessman. Ken knows what Colorado families face everyday and is well prepared to serve as their voice in the United States Senate.

When the dust settles after the Primary, we expect Colorado to have a very strong candidate who all Republicans can get behind. If you live in Colorado, consider giving your vote to the people's candidate, Ken Buck, in the primary. Most important thing to remember is that whoever wins the primary, Jane Norton, Ken Buck, or Cleve Tidwell, they will need support of Republicans throughout Colorado to beat the Democrat.

*******

Connect with KEN

Thanks for stopping by my website.

I became a candidate for the U.S. Senate because of my growing concern about the direction the new Administration and new Congress are taking our country.

Having been elected District Attorney in Weld County twice by large margins I know how important it is to serve the public by doing what's right.

But too many in Congress today seem more interested in serving themselves and the special interests instead of the people they were elected to serve. Their irresponsible actions are putting our economic future at risk.

Colorado's appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet has quickly become part of the problem and is turning out to be just another reliable rubber stamp for the big spending, big government leaders in Congress. Bennet voted for the 800 billion dollar stimulus bill, admitting that he hadn't even read the bill. Bennet is ready to turn our health care system over to the federal government by pledging support for the so-called "public option" health plan. And Bennet is ready to hike energy prices and deal our staggering economy a deadly blow. He "wants to be for" the cap and trade disaster looming in Congress.

Well, Colorado is not going to settle for a rubber stamp Senator. The call to action to reclaim our U.S. Senate seat has been heard and people at home are responding with passion and enthusiasm.

Thousands of Coloradans have shared their concerns with my wife Perry and I as we have traveled through all 64 counties building the grassroots leadership team for my campaign. From downtown Greeley to main streets across the state, we have been overwhelmed by the willingness of so many to donate their precious time, energy and money to help our campaign get off to such a strong start.

If you share my concern about the direction the politicians in Washington are taking our country, I hope you will consider supporting my campaign. With your help, I can be the strong independent voice Colorado needs in the U.S. Senate.

Ken Buck

Paul Ryan: Should American Bid Farewell to Exceptional Freedom

On March 31, 2010, Cong Paul Ryan (R-WI) delivered a speech to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in Oklahoma City. From accounts, Cong Ryan's speech was excellent.

Cong Paul Ryan has put forth "A Roadmap for America's Future" which we will be spotlighting in the days ahead on this website as well as on Democrats for Sale, our companion site. Ryan's plan has already been scored by the CBO who confirms "this plan achieves the goal of paying off government debt in the long run - while securing the social safety net and starting up future economic growth."

There is an old saying "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense, Vol I That phrase is as true today as it has ever been.

Without Cong Ryan's speech, we would have never looked into what the Democrats have done over the years to secure voting blocks of votes based on economics, race, and perceived wrongs -- all basic lies. See our companion site for the background on the word 'progressive' and what it meant at the turn of the 20th century compared to what it means today at Democrats for Sale

In 2010, Republicans need to show the American people they can lead and with leading return the sense of personal responsibility to the individual to make their life, their local area, their state, and their Country better instead of waiting for the Government to take care of their every need. Yankee ingenuity needs a restart in America in 2010!

This speech by Cong Paul Ryan whose wife is from Oklahoma is what this Country needs. Read the speech and ask yourself who is this Republican Congressman from Wisconsin, Paul Ryan who wants to split his time between Oklahoma and Wisconsin when he retires? This speech goes a long way in telling us about the man and how he believes this Country should be governed. We will be sharing with you in the days ahead his "A Roadmap for America's Future" as we learn more about this Congressman and his vision for America.

Living in Oklahoma we particularly enjoyed this part from his speech:

I hope you won't mind an aside. I absolutely love Oklahoma! As you may know, I married Janna Little, daughter of Dan and Prudence Little, from Madill. Well, Janna and I are planning on spending half of our year here in retirement. And I can tell you it won't be Summer...it's just gets too hot here for a Wisconsinite. We will be spending the Fall and Winter here. You see, I love to hunt and fish. Each year we come for deer, duck, and turkey season. Janna refers to these times as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. There's something about Oklahoma that is truly captivating. It's a beautiful, big, unconstrained country with great-hearted people who know what it is to live like free men and women.

Some of my friends in Marshall County have on occasion called me "yankee," which I find particularly disturbing. I have always thought a yankee is someone from the Northeast, not the upper Midwest. Needless to say, I am told this can be fixed if I include among my life's achievements the high and noble accomplishment of noodling a giant catfish from the banks of Lake Texoma. And so, I will be returning in early June, otherwise known as noodling season, to gain this rite of passage so that I may never be called yankee again, and also hoping I keep my ten fingers intact.
Knowing America, and Oklahoma as I have come to know it, I am confident that the American character is up to every challenge. America is not over. This exceptional nation will not go down the way of mediocrity. Ronald Reagan used to say: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction ... It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for [our children] to do the same." We are that generation. The fight is our fight, and it begins now! The time is at hand to reclaim America for freedom.

Read his Full Speech at Real Clear Politics -- you will not be disappointed.

James Jones joins four Republicans in race in the Arkansas 8th District

Jan 31, 2010

Five candidates vowed Monday to seek the nomination: Gloria Carlineo, a Republican committeewoman from Solebury; Ira Hoffman, a Solebury businessman; Langhorne's James Jones, a small businessman and veteran of three wars; historian Tom Lingenfelter of Doylestown; and Jeffrey Schott, who runs an information technology firm in Chalfont.

"This is America and everyone has the right to run," Fitzpatrick said. "But let's not lose sight that the target is the rubber-stamping of the current congressman of bad national policies, excessive spending and misplaced priorities."

Read More at Philly Burb

We applaud a candidate being willing to stand up and ask a County GOP not to endorse in the primary but to let the voters decide. That should be the same across the Country -- Republican National, State, County, and Precinct officials need to stop officially endorsing candidates in the primary. An elected Party official as an individual is free to help a candidate but in NO instance should an official endorsement be given to any candidate by the official party. That is why we have primaries.

Best of luck to all five candidates -- it is wonderful to see so many people deciding to run for office. This is what America is all about -- if you don't like what you are seeing in Congress, then run to change the status quo.

In looking at the five candidates, we found James Jones, who officially joined the race today, to be a very interesting individual. He was raised as a sharecropper in Arkansas, went in the Navy fighting in two wars, and today is a small business owner. What a life story this man has to tell about the American Dream.

James Jones joins race in 8th
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
The Intelligencer
February 14, 2010 03:34 AM

Calling it "a historical moment," a black man from rural Arkansas raised as a sharecropper officially entered the 8th District congressional race for the Republican nomination Saturday.

"This is Black History month," James Jones told a group of family and friends. "What better time to stand in front of you?"

Describing himself as a "Tea Party guy," Jones, who fought in two wars with the Navy and also served in the Middle East, spoke out against government spending, deceitful politicians and the "killing" of the U.S. military's morale.

Jones, 54, lives in Langhorne with his wife Sharone. They have five adult children and eight grandchildren.

He contends that his background with the military and as a small business owner has given him the unique ability to expand the Republican base.

"It is time we unify rather than splinter and divide America," Jones said. "That's what I'm here to do, take the grassroots message, the crossover voters' message, and carry it forward."

Indeed, one man not usually seen at Republican events, John Jordan, president of the Bucks County NAACP, showed up at the Middletown Municipal Building to support his friend.

"It's a big day for Bucks County politics," said Jordan, who is giving up his position next week with the intention to run for the state's 6th District Senate seat. "I know how important it is for young black men to see people like James stand up for them in this community.

"It's not all about rappers, it's not all about sports stars," he said. "James has a good heart. He is a good person."

Excerpt: Read more at phillyburbs.com