With the White House's health care summit at it's halfway point, the meeting looks more like a bait and switch trick on a used car lot than a negotiation over how to make health care more accessible and affordable. 

The White House and congressional Democrats lured Republicans to the table with the promise that conservative reforms to health care would be considered.  But as the date of the summit neared, the White House made clear that the only bill up for discussion would be the proposal released this week by President Obama based on the Democratic bill passed by the Senate. 

And once the bait of an open negotiation brought Republicans to the table today, the switch became clear this afternoon with a Politico story reporting that "Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week."

President Obama and Democrats in Congress never had any interest in Republican input.  Nancy Pelosi and ... more

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the signing into law of the $862 billion dollar “stimulus” package. 

Never one to miss an opportunity to trumpet increased government spending, President Obama sent cabinet members, White House officials and party operatives yesterday into every corner of the country to tout the jobs that were supposedly “created or saved” by the stimulus bill. 

There are only about 3.3 million problems with that storyline pushed by the White House.  Since the president signed the bill into law, that’s how many Americans have lost their jobs.  In reality, the number is likely far higher given the way unemployment numbers are reported. 

This hasn’t stopped the Obama Adminsitration from waging an all-out PR offensive on behalf of this boondoggle of a bill.  The signs on construction projects seem to be popping up all over.  The government is pushing those signs out so fast that the state of New York has spent nearly a million dollars simply on ... more

A lesson that the Obama Administration and their allies in Congress have apparently never learned is that the first thing to be done when you're in a hole is stop digging. 

Now, new polling shows that 57 percent of Americans believe Congress should scrap the Democrats' health reform bill and start over.  The PR hole the Democrats have dug themselves is getting deeper by the day.  Yet the Obama White House, along with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, are sticking to their guns and will be pushing their rejected ideas and their so-called "bipartisan" televised summit to be held on February 25.

Recent polls show that a majority of the American people oppose the current health bill.  More than 56 percent of voters would prefer Congress tackle health care on a piece by piece basis as Republicans have been arguing for months.  Yet despite this wave of public opposition to their takeover scheme, the Democrats continue to press forward with a bill that no one seems to want other than ... more

As part of a series of summits held around the country to help train and activate Republican volunteers and future candidates, the RNC Women's program is hosting an Island Summit today in Honolulu. 

The attendees will hear from national polling experts, RNC staff and experienced campaign operatives on how to organize campaigns, run local parties and run for office themselves.  On stage now is Jonah Ka'auwai, the Chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party.  Hawaii provides even more evidence that Republicans can win anywhere, with Governor Linda Lingle serving her second term as the state's chief executive, Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou running in a tight race in a special election for U.S. House and Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona sprinting through a dynamic campaign to succeed Lingle as governor.

Check back here often, as we'll be live blogging from the summit as more speakers take the stage.