BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
Originally published in The Hill
Uncertainty is the one thing that seems certain in the world today. We are in an age of transition, sparked by changing social mores and unstoppable technological progress.
Where it will end, nobody knows.
Uncertainty breeds instability. And instability breeds insecurity.
Both political parties are embroiled in insecurity. Continue reading
BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
Originally published in The Hill
Congress is coming back into session as the Super Bowl season begins, so I am going to rely heavily on a football metaphor in this column.
Congressional Republicans have a solid lead going into the second half. They are the favorites to keep the House, and the odds are looking good for them to take the Senate. The president is unpopular, his key legislative initiative (ObamaCare) is a disaster, and both the Senate map and House redistricting should give the GOP a big edge in the coming elections. Continue reading
BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
I’ve been doing a lot of TV since the shut down began. Specifically I’ve been doing one or both of Anderson Cooper’s programs at 8 PM Eastern and/or 10 PM Eastern.
In almost every one of those programs whoever is to my Left says that President Obama has been elected twice on the program of ObamaCare and, as ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, Republicans should back off, roll over, and accept their fate as having lost the Presidency in 2008 and 2012.
There is something to that. I’m not sure I remember either election turning on the fulcrum of ObamaCare but that might be because Mitt Romney didn’t have a good answer opposing ObamaCare because of the Massachusetts plan that was adopted when he was Governor – ObamaCare lite. Continue reading
BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
Just imagine if George III had told the colonists that he would delay for one whole year the implementation of the Stamp Act, the tax that Parliament imposed on the colonies to pay for its worldwide war against the French.
Do you think the colonists would have decided to pack it in and not break away from England?
In many ways, the Obama Administration is trying to do just that with its suspension of an Obamacare mandate on the business community.
The White House is giving employers a year reprieve, as if a year is going to make much of difference for most business operations.
BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com
Consider throwing your incumbent Congressman and Senator out of office in 2014 who has voted time and time again to saddle us with a 1935 version of ‘dependence’ that has not kept up with the times: Social Security.
Replace them with someone who will vote for the greatest economic freedom and independence package the world has ever known for each and every American citizen, young and old.
‘The New Great Deal’ that really is one and doesn’t just pretend to be. Continue reading
BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
Can they walk and chew gum at the same time?
That will be the question for congressional Republicans as they navigate the next year and a half before the 2014 elections.
The scandals that have dogged the Obama administration at the beginning of its second term have presented the House GOP with a seemingly golden opportunity. But all that glitters is not gold, and the temptation to put all of the political eggs in the scandal basket might be overwhelming but should be resisted.
The conservative advocacy group Heritage Action has sent a warning letter to congressional Republicans telling them to stop walking toward legislative accomplishments and focus only on chewing up the administration on the scandal front.
BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
I have no idea whether that translates to “Throw the Rascals Out” but that’s what happened around Europe in elections held yesterday.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy got beaten in his re-election try by Socialist François Hollande.
According to the International Herald Tribune (the global edition of the New York Times) Hollande is “seen as a challenge to the German-dominated policy of economic austerity in the Euro Zone, which is suffering from recession and record unemployment.”
In Germany, President Angela Merkel’s party was spanked in a regional election in the northern part of the nation. I am not an expert on electoral politics in Schleswig-Holstein, but according to the IHT the “Pirate party appeared to emerge as the biggest winners with 8 percent of the vote.” Continue reading
BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON
The death of the super committee on deficit reduction was so painful to watch.
It didn’t even get a decent funeral. But then it didn’t deserve one. Its life was ill begotten and misspent.
The eulogies were a mix of ‘I told you so’s’ by people and press who told us nothing, and politicians and interest groups pointing the finger of blame at each other—back and forth between conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, Senators and House members, Congress and the President (how does the Supreme Court always escape blame?), tea partiers and occupiers and on and on.
Nobody apologized for the failure.
The combatants remain defiant. They were still harping at each other the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Some seem to be under the influence of an elixir that has them hallucinating about the next election. They believe if they put off governing for another year, the American people will reward them by electing more politicians of their ilk. They could then, beginning in 2013, impose their political will on the country without any of this nettlesome bickering standing in their way today. Continue reading
BY TONY BLANKLEY
Reprinted from the Washington Times
President Obama’s post-Labor Day “jobs” speech will be his last chance to launch an economic policy with any chance of manifesting its effect – both economic and political – before the November 2012 elections. He has three options. In order of descending likelihood, they are: a timid hodgepodge of previous proposals, a bold left-of-center initiative or a turn to a free-market “nuclear option.” Continue reading
BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON
What were they thinking?
The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration last month turned an official hearing on a serious issue—migrant farm labor—into a 3-ring circus starring comedian Stephen Colbert. Colbert didn’t even testify, he performed a comedy routine as a character from his television show, mocking farm workers, immigrants and the U.S. Congress.
The Colbert comedy performance left absolutely no doubt why the American people are disgusted with Congress and some of those who serve there.