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Apparently he is, if you follow the left’s logic.

Shortly after the CBO said Harry Reid’s touted government-run health care bill would cost $848 billion dollars, the GOP said the true cost is actually $2.5 trillion when fully implemented. Talking Points Memo’s “TPMDC” blog fought back against this “GOP Meme:”

Whenever a Democratic agenda item spends some time in the spotlight–be it health care or energy–Republicans do a little hocus pocus and claim that, whatever the CBO might believe, the true costs of reform are sky high. So it’s no surprise that the new GOP line regarding the Senate health care bill is that it’s actually three times more expensive over a 10 year window than the CBO says it will be.

But it’s not spin to insist that the 10 year cost of the bill should really include 10 years of implementation.  The Reid bill gets its low cost because while the taxes and mandates start right away, the benefits don’t start until 2014. But you don’t have to take our word for it, ... more

By now, a few things are well known about the agenda of President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Their $787 billion economic experiment failed to stop unemployment from reaching double digits. So what are they pushing now? (1) taxes in their government-run health care experiment that will kill jobs, (2) their “cap-and-trade” national energy tax that will kill jobs, and (3) their so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” will kill jobs.

But none of those three bills have passed Congress and enacted into law. So can mere threat of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda kill jobs? Former Delta CEO Ron Allen says yes, and talks about the economic uncertainty that the Democrats’ tax-hiking agenda has created for small business owners:

After months of indecision and delay, President Obama will finally announce his strategy for Afghanistan.  While he has made his decision, there are still some things the president must continue to do, most notably: remind the American people of the importance of victory in Afghanistan. On an RNC conference call with reporters today, former Senior Advisor to U.S.-led Coalition in Iraq Dan Senor said:

Because he took so long on this process, he is clearly educated about it.  In fact, I would venture to say he has become an expert, and I clearly think he owns the decision in a way he may not have been if he had made it quite quickly.  In that sense, I think it is very important to be constantly educating, setting realistic expectations for the American people, informing them, explaining what is going on and what is important, and what the stakes are.

In August, President Obama told the American people that Afghanistan “is a war of necessity.”  During the campaign, he said “this is a ... more

It looks more and more like that’s exactly what the Obama Administration wants. Despite the U.S. not being a member of the International Criminal Court, the ICC’s top prosecutor believes he has jurisdiction over U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and is currently “investigating” NATO and U.S. troops for possible war crimes. What’s more troubling is that this comes shortly after the Obama administration, for the first time, agreed to attend ICC court meetings as an observer.  And on top of that, in August, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed “great regret” that the U.S. is not yet a signed member of the ICC.

There’s a reason former administrations strictly avoided the court. The Bush and Clinton administrations both considered the ICC to be a, “seriously flawed institution.”  That conclusion seems entirely appropriate as American troops in Afghanistan, under the jurisdiction of the ICC, would be eyed with the same suspicion as members of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda as well ... more

White House New Media Director Macon Phillips took to the official White House blog to rebut Republican charges that Reid’s health care bill will cut Medicare benefits. 

First, he writes: “Not one penny from the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for reform...” This is obviously false. Reid’s bill raises Medicare payroll taxes by $53.8 billion over 10 years to pay for reform. Medicare payroll taxes are supposed to go into the trust fund, but instead they’re being used to pay for reform.  That’s 5.38 trillion pennies.

That’s not even the only thing wrong with that sentence! He goes on to write that “no guaranteed benefits will be cut.” This is an enormous concession. Elsewhere on the White House site is a video denying that any benefits would be cut for any Medicare beneficiaries, but now it’s only guaranteed benefits.  Under current law, traditional Medicare has a list of benefits it must cover, but Medicare Advantage plans allow seniors to get all those guaranteed benefits ... more

When it comes to Latin America, President Obama’s misguided policies continue a trend of courting adversaries “while smacking allies.” Case in point: Honduras.

In June, the Honduran Supreme Court issued an arrest order for the country’s president, who had “breached the constitution” by trying to illegally rewrite the country’s election charter.  The arrest order and subsequent removal of the president was approved unanimously by “Honduras's political institutions, including its congress and Supreme Court.”  But instead of siding with these democratic institutions, the Obama Administration sided with Latin American leftists in Cuba and Venezuela by condemning the act, calling it a “coup” and calling for the ousted president to be reinstated. 

Many are starting to take notice of President Obama’s mishandling of this situation.  As The Los Angeles Times editorializes today, “The bungling of the Honduran crisis has further damaged U.S. credibility and caused a rift with strategic ... more

Three Congressional Democrats have drafted a letter to their colleagues, pushing back against the idea of a stock transaction tax being promoted by Reps. DeFazio (D-OR) and Perlmutter (D-CO) to fund a second stimulus. The authors of the letter, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Mike McMahon (D-NY) and Debbie Halvorson (D-IL), argue the following:

The imposition of such a tax would place a huge new tax burden on our fragile economy and could drive up an already high 10.2% unemployment rate. It also may have serious unintended consequences on our financial markets by raising the cost of credit and private investment for businesses and governments alike … A tax on stock transactions would affect every single person who owns and invests in stocks from small business owners to senior citizens.

Are these three members of Congress circulating this letter to prevent vulnerable Democrats like themselves from walking the plank for a third time? Halvorson, Maloney and McMahon all voted for ... more

Yesterday, Politico reported that top Senate Democrats met with members of the Obama Administration and its friends to talk about passing government-run health care. While we weren’t surprised to see names like HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on the list of attendees, we thought it was interesting that Interior Sec. Ken Salazar was also present. The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein offered his thoughts via Twitter:

Why is Salazar so involved in health-care rerform? He wasn't a terribly impressive senator and he doesnt have jurisdiction on the issue.

This isn’t the first time Sec. Salazar has been called upon to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid get votes for government-run health care. According to The Hill, he’s part of Reid’s “all-star team” of arm-twisters:

Reid (D-Nev.) plotted strategy with the vice president, Interior Secretary Salazar and former Majority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) on Wednesday, days ahead of a crucial vote to begin debate ... more

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) offered the first amendment to Harry Reid’s government-run health care experiment. Her stated intention is to ensure that women are guaranteed insurance coverage for preventative medicine, like mammograms. In reality, she’s just trying to help Democrats avoid more embarrassment because their bill directly empowers the government panel responsible for the mammogram controversy, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, with mandating benefits for all Americans. To do this, Sen. Mikulski plans to allow the Health Resources and Services Administration to have authority over benefits mandates with respect to women.

This is obviously all for show. Politico was wise to her game:  

It shows the debate, at this point, is as much about messaging as legislating. The first day of the debate will garner media attention, so the lead amendment on both sides reveals strategy. Women are a key constituency who need to be sold on the benefits of this bill.

So what will ... more

Today, The Denver Post’s editorial board called on Obama to “tap the brakes” on recent talk of Stimulus II, citing Americans’ concerns about the failures of the first stimulus and the deficits it created:

American taxpayers, as well as their grandchildren, already are on the hook for well over a trillion dollars in recent government spending that was meant to stimulate the economy. So forgive us for being a bit skeptical as President Obama and top Democrats in Congress think about cranking up yet another round of spending to stimulate the creation of jobs ...

[W]e have yet to see substantive proof that all of that money has created a meaningful number of new jobs. It is imperative that American taxpayers get some clear answers and strong evidence that a new government bailout/stimulus plan will work before we're asked to foot more debt …

[H]e needs to give the American people more than lip service on our mounting debt.

Back in February, The Denver Post’s editorial board gave a ... more