Communications

“In a burst of rule-making, federal agencies have toughened or proposed new standards to protect Americans from tainted eggs, safeguard construction workers from crane accidents, prevent injuries from baby walkers and even protect polar bears from extinction.”

That was the lede from a New York Times look into the growth of red tape under President Obama.  These increases are not unique decisions occurring in a vacuum.  The expansion of the federal regulatory system into the lives of average Americans and small business owners are the product of a worldview that says “We are the federal government and we know better than you do.”

If you needed any further evidence of this prevailing attitude from President Obama and the unelected political appointees he has placed throughout the cavernous federal bureaucracy, look no further than this following headline, “EPA Contest Seeks Videos Promoting Government Regulations.” That’s right, the EPA is trying to enlist ... more

Missed Opportunity

By Doug Heye

Today, President Obama will sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, which encourages a greater examination of the status of press freedoms in nations beyond the United States.  Certainly this is worthy legislation and an honorable tribute to a respected journalist who lost his life pursuing a passion that’s plays an important role in making ours a free and transparent society. But in signing this legislation before a limited press pool, the President is missing a tremendous opportunity to live up to the high standards he himself set regarding transparency and freedom of the press when entering office.  It has been nearly an entire year’s since the President’s last true press conference.  To wit, from today’s signing ceremony:

In the spirit of journalism freedoms, pooler Chip Reid attempted a question about BP, prefacing it with, “Speaking of press freedoms…” The president was not biting, though. “You are free to ask them,” he said, adding, ... more

Democrats and their allies on the Left and in the media are jumping on Chairman Steele’s statement on Solicitor General Elena Kagan this morning, in which he raised concerns about “her support [in a law review article] for statements suggesting that the Constitution ‘as originally drafted and conceived, was “defective.”’”  

The statements come from a speech by Justice Thurgood Marshall, in which he says:

The government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental today.

Yet while Marshall pointed to constitutional amendments as redressing the wrongs of slavery, Kagan moves beyond that, contending that, “The credit, in other words, belongs to people like Justice Marshall.  As the many thousands who waited on the Supreme Court steps well knew, our modern Constitution is ... more

By Doug Heye

RNC Communications Director

Hotline On Call has a post up this morning that portends looming trouble for the Democrats come November. In analyzing the returns from yesterday’s primaries in Indiana, North Carolina, reporter Reid Wilson concludes “Dem Turnout Falls Off a Cliff.”

Democratic vote totals in yesterday’s competitive primaries fell far short of the totals in previous non-competitive primaries. Only 663,000 Ohio Democrats voted in the primary between Lee Fisher, Ohio’s Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. That’s more than 200,000 votes short of the 2006 Democratic primary totals in Ohio when neither Gov. Ted Strickland nor Sen. Sherrod Brown faced opposition.

In Indiana, Democratic votes in House primaries yesterday were 100,000 votes shy of their 2006 numbers and 153,000 votes short of 2002 numbers. Republican numbers, however, were up 14.6% from 2006.

This trend holds true in the Tar Heel state, as well. Quoting from the story:

As you talk with your friends, family and neighbors about the disastrous effects of ObamaCare, the Republican National Committee wants to make sure you are armed with the important facts every American needs to know.  

Here are some Quick Facts on ObamaCare for you to refer to, or print out at any time you’d like. 

ObamaCare Quick Facts: 

• Causes 9 million people to lose the insurance they now have;
• Increases the already bloated deficit by $260 billion over the next decade when all the components are included;
• Adds $371 billion to the deficit by not including the Medicare physician fee schedule change, also known as the “Doc Fix” provision;
• Raises taxes by $569 billion on small businesses and creates a new marriage penalty with new income and investment taxes;
• Cuts Medicare by $523 billion;
• Increases premiums by 10% for people without employer-based insurance;
• Expands the power of the IRS to enforce a government mandate that ... more
  
  

• Causes 9 million people to lose the insurance they now have; 1
• Increases the already bloated deficit by $260 billion over the next decade when all the components are included; 2  
• Adds $371 billion to the deficit by not including the Medicare physician fee schedule change, also known as the “Doc Fix” provision; 3
• Raises taxes by $569 billion on small businesses and creates a new marriage penalty with new income and investment taxes; 4
• Cuts Medicare by $523 billion; 5
• Increases premiums by 10% for people without employer-based insurance; 6
• Expands the power of the IRS to enforce a government mandate that requires Americans to purchase government-approved insurance and; 7
• After all the spending is done and the bill is fully implemented, 23 million people will still be uninsured in 2019. 8

1. Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/20/10);
2. CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf, Letter To Rep. Paul Ryan, 3/19/10);
3. Table ... more

Transparency?

This afternoon President Obama signed an executive order supposedly to prevent federally-funded abortions. When asked why the signing was in seclusion from the press, Robert Gibbs explained that the White House photographer would be taking a photo of the President signing the Executive Order which would then be released. In response to press concerns about the closed event, Gibbs’ only answer was “you’ll have a nice picture.”

This is a far cry from the President who came in to office claiming that his “administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness is government,” (Memorandum to Heads of Executive Departments and Administrations). Instead of the openness he promised, the American people have seen nothing from this President but backroom deals and secret lawmaking.

Check out the RNC Research Archives for more information on Obama’s transparency hypocrisy.

Uncomfortable

Last night President Obama had a closed-press meeting with Israeli Prime ... more

Apparently winning is more important than the constituents.

President Obama seems to be just as out of touch with what the American people want as his vice president since he claims that the health care reform bill was passed on behalf of American citizens yet a CNN poll shows that the vast majority of Americans are opposed and pessimistic about the passage of the bill.  A whopping 59% of those surveyed are opposed to the bill; with such blinding numbers, how can Democrats even pretend to be acting in the best interests of their constituents?

The polls also demonstrate a resounding fear of the future it will behold.  A glaring 70% of those surveyed believe deficits – a seemingly bottomless pit Democrats have been digging – will skyrocket with the passage of the bill. 

Over and over again Democrats have relentlessly cried that health care reform is what the American people want most out of their government yet the polls repeatedly prove the opposite.

ObamaCare: Time to Fire Speaker Pelosi

This weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ensured that the 111th Congress will live in infamy. Instead of listening to the people she used every procedural trick at her disposal to pass her health care legislation. She must be stopped.

Over the last year, the American people have witnessed a Speaker who will stop at nothing to achieve her vision of a Leftist government. She believes that she is no longer accountable to congressional rules, and national laws. Those are just guidelines that can be tossed away on a whim if determined they will prevent her from accomplishing her goals. On Sunday, she cast them aside with reckless abandon and forced through her government takeover of health care.

Nancy Pelosi has no regard for public opinion. Even in a hostile electoral environment, she asked members of her caucus to fall on their swords so that she might add another achievement to her increasingly shameful legacy. Her actions are deceptive, ... more

Shot:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: “My proposal would bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and for the federal government.  So, Americans buying comparable coverage to what they have today, I already said this, would see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent. That’s aren’t my numbers, that’s what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says.  For Americans who get their insurance through the workplace, how many people get insurance through your jobs right now, raise your hands.  Well a lot of those folks, its your employer, it estimated, would see costs could fall by as much as 3,000 percent. That means they could give you a raise.”  (President Barack Obama, Remarks of President Barack Obama, Strongesville, OH, 3/15/10)