Obama & Deomcrats at Odds on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she sees little congressional support for boosting troop levels in Afghanistan, putting the Democratic majority in Congress on a possible collision course with the Obama administration over the future conduct of the war there.

The remarks Thursday by Pelosi (D., Calif.) make her the highest-ranking Democrat to signal opposition to the administration's handling of the Afghan war, a top national-security priority.

The remarks also underscored the increasingly complex political dynamics confronting President Barack Obama as he considers whether to send additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Kabul, is expected to formally request as many as 40,000 U.S. reinforcements this month. He and other U.S. commanders there say they believe that they need more troops to successfully implement a new counterinsurgency approach that focuses on protecting the Afghan populace from Taliban violence.

The administration handpicked Gen. McChrystal and has already signed off on the deployment of 21,000 new troops to Afghanistan, which will push U.S. troop levels there to a record 68,000 by the end of the year.

Still, Gen. McChrystal's pending request for tens of thousands of additional reinforcements will put the White House in a tough spot politically. - FOX News Story

Obama Team takes Jabs at FOX for not Covering Speech

President Obama took a thinly veiled shot at the Fox network Thursday, in remarks on health care reform in the ...

... Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

At a morning event with nurses, Obama reiterated the key points from his speech to Congress Wednesday night — and jabbed at the one network that chose not to air his address on broadcast television.

"Just in case folks weren't tuned in last night — if they were watching 'So You Think You Can Dance,'" Obama said, "a show Michelle likes, let me explain more briefly than I did last night what health insurance reform will mean for ordinary Americans."

Fox aired the dance contest show on its local affiliates, though Fox News covered the president's speech live.

Obama's comments weren't the White House's first shot at Fox's programming decision. Appearing on the cable morning show "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs jabbed his interviewers, telling them: "I do hope people will check into the reality of what's going on in America, rather than the distraction of a reality TV show." - Politico

The interesting part will be to see what the ratings are when they come in.

Sen. Reid Called Bush a Liar, Never Apologized

Interview with Senator Harry Reid, NBC’s Meet the Press, December 5, 2004

MR. RUSSERT: When the president talked about Yucca Mountain and moving the nation's nuclear waste there, you were very, very, very strong in your words. You said, "President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country."

Is that rhetoric appropriate?

SEN. REID: I don't know if that rhetoric is appropriate. That's how I feel, and that's how I felt. I think to take that issue, Tim, to take the most poisonous substance known to man, plutonium, and haul 70,000 tons of it across the highways and railways of this country, past schools and churches and people's businesses is wrong. It's something that is being forced upon this country by the utilities, and it's wrong. And we have to stop it. And people may not like what I said, but I said it, and I don't back off one bit.

h/t Brian Walsh

More, via Tim Grieve, from a 2005 Rolling Stone sit-down:

RS: You've called Bush a loser.

HR: And a liar.

RS: You apologized for the loser comment.

HR: But never for the liar, have I? - Politico Story

Heckling President not New, Just ask the Democrats - They did it

Joe Wilson's 15 minutes of infamy notwithstanding, Democrats were pretty rough on George W. Bush during a joint sessions a few years back.

Two examples:

In 2004, Democrats delivered a “Chorus Of Boos” during Bush's Bush’s State Of The Union when he called for renewal of the Patriot Act., according to the Washington Times.

In 2005, Dems howled, hissed and shouted "No!" when Bush pushed for Social Security reform in the SOU: "Foreshadowing the contentiousness of the coming debate, Democrats broke decorum and booed twice," according to the National Journal.

At the time, CNN's Bill Schneider remarked, “It was unusual. I had never heard it at least at that level before. The Democrats clearly were booing, heckling, saying no when the president talked about the crisis in Social Security."

Moreover, Obama's claim that illegal immigrants won't be covered -- which sparked Wilson's outburst -- while technically accurate, doesn't quite tell the entire story. Some of the bills being considered in the House and Senate contain provisions locking in local statutes that prevent providers from inquiring about immigration status prior to treatment. And illegals are treated, and are bound to be treated, in ERs, covered by local, state and federal uninsured pools.

So why the outcry over Wilson?

I think it's because Congressional Republicans have used the health care debate to vent a deeper, uglier contempt for Obama that verges on the personal.

They've done little to discourage the party's fringes from questioning Obama's legitimacy to serve through the birther movement, fitness to govern through the death panel canard -- and even the territorial integrity of the US under a Democratic president through Texas Gov. Rick Perry's flirtation with secession.

Anger may stoke the base at town halls -- and goose Glenn Beck -- but it just looks ugly on the national stage. - Politico Story

ACORN Hit with More Fraud

Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service and providing guidance on how to claim underage girls from South America as dependents.

The videotape was made public Thursday on BigGovernment.com, a political blog launched by Andrew Breitbart as a companion site to his BigHollywood.breitbart.com blog.

In the videotape, made on July 24, James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as a pimp with a 20-year-old woman named "Kenya" who posed as a prostitute while visiting ACORN's office in Baltimore. The couple told ACORN staffers they wanted to secure housing where the woman could continue to maintain a prostitution business.

ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — bills itself as the nation's largest community of low- and moderate-income families "working together for social justice and stronger communities," according to its Web site. The organization has been accused by Republicans and conservative activists with fraud in voter registration drives around the country and has been under fire since last year for its support of President Obama and for its planned participation in next year's census.

A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, when asked to comment on the videotape, said: "The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at gotcha journalism. This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further."

On the videotape, "Kenya" can be seen telling an ACORN staffer that she earns roughly $8,000 a month. The ACORN employee then suggests to "Kenya" that ACORN could submit a tax return for 2008 showing that she made $9,600 for the entire year — instead of $96,000 — and that ACORN would charge "Kenya" $50 instead of the usual $150 fee for preparing her taxes. - FOX News Story

Republican Response to Obama Health Care Speech

Rep. Charles Boustany: Good evening. I'm Dr. Charles Boustany, and I'm proud to serve the people of Louisiana's 7th congressional district. I'm also a heart surgeon, with more than 20 years of experience during which I saw firsthand the need for lowering health cost.

Republicans are pleased that President Obama came to the Capitol tonight. We agree much needs to be done to lower the cost of health care for all Americans.

On that goal, Republicans are ready, and we've been ready to work with the president for common-sense reforms that our nation can afford.

"Afford" is an important word. Our country's facing many challenges. The cost of health care is rising. Federal spending is soaring. We're piling huge debt on our children. And families and small businesses are struggling through a jobless recovery with more than 2.4 million private sector jobs lost since February.

It's clear, the American people want health care reform.

But they want their elected leaders to get it right.

Most Americans wanted to hear the president tell Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the rest of the Congress that it's time to start over on a common-sense, bipartisan plan focused on lowering the cost of health care while improving quality.

That's what I've heard over the past several months, in talking to thousands of my constituents.

Replacing your family's current health care with government-run health care is not the answer. In fact, it will make health care much more expensive.

That's not just my personal diagnosis as a doctor or a Republican. It's the conclusion of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the neutral scorekeeper that determines the cost of major bills.

I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt and raises taxes on job creators by $600 billion.

And it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors.

The president had a chance, tonight, to take the government-run health care off the table. Unfortunately, he didn't do it.

We can do better with a targeted approach that tackles the biggest problems. Here are four areas -- four important areas where we can agree, right now.

One, all individuals should have access to coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions.

Two, individuals, small businesses and other groups should be able to join together to get health insurance at lower prices, the same way large businesses and labor unions do.

Three, we can provide assistance to those who still cannot access a doctor.

And four, insurers should be able to offer incentives for wellness care and prevention. - FOX News Story

Is Acorn Covering it's A**

Arrest warrants have been issued in Miami for 11 people suspected of falsifying information on hundreds of voter registration cards -- including registering the name of the late actor Paul Newman -- the Florida state attorney told FOXNews.com.

The FBI and state authorities took seven people into custody Wednesday as it issued 11 arrest warrants for voter registration fraud in Homestead, Fla., in June 2008.

Florida state attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said 11 workers hired to register voters by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- or ACORN -- submitted 888 fraudulent names. She said the names included people who were already registered voters, fictitious names, and the name of the late actor Paul Newman, who died in Sept. 2008.

Fernandez-Rundle said ACORN alerted her office after it reviewed hundreds of voter registration cards it suspected were fraudulent. She said that none of the names in question actually voted.

"While they were attempting to steal from ACORN, they were stealing from our electoral process and we just will not tolerate that," she said.

Fernandez-Rundle said the workers, who were being paid 10 dollars an hour to register voters, face anywhere from 2 to 37 counts of "false swearing in connection with voting or elections" and "submission of false voter registration information."

"They were attempting to justify their hourly wages," she said.

In a statement sent to FOXNews.com. on Wednesday, Florida ACORN board member Leroy Bell said, "We want to commend the state attorney for taking decisive action. Today's action demonstrates the seriousness we brought to the task of not only expanding the electorate, but also of protecting the integrity of the voting process. " - FOX News Story

Funny how ACORN swore up and down that there was no fraud and that it goes through great pains to ensure that there is none. How come we are closing in on a year after the last election and they are admitting to fraud in their ranks?

This is a case of good ole CYA!!!

Public Option Can Not Pass in Senate

Hours before President Obama was set to deliver a make-or-break speech on health care reform, a top Senate negotiator conceded the government-run insurance program so dear to the president's supporters cannot pass the Senate.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who was trying to hammer out the details of a bipartisan compromise Wednesday with five other senators, announced that he would be moving ahead with or without Republican support.

But he made clear that the so-called "public option" would not be part of any deal with his name on it.

"The public option cannot pass the Senate," Baucus said. "I could be wrong, but it's my belief that the public option cannot pass."

Obama, who will address a joint session of Congress at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, has indicated he wants a public option, but so far has not said he will demand it. He also has not said he will veto a package that omits a government-run health insurance program.

Baucus' assessment Wednesday afternoon is the latest blow to die-hard supporters of a government plan.

Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has so far favored a system of non-profit cooperatives as an alternative to the "public option." A draft plan he outlined Tuesday included the co-ops. Baucus also said Wednesday that a so-called "trigger," which would keep a government plan on reserve in case private insurers don't meet certain benchmarks, has not been part of talks -- though many analysts consider a trigger a possible compromise. - FOX News Story

We Waterboard US Soldiers?

In a discussion on MSNBC's Hardball program about whether the government ought to consider prosecuting people involved in enhanced interrogation techniques used on some terror suspects, former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, argued that the issue really comes down to waterboarding.

"And," he said, "waterboarding is not torture."

In fact, said Hunter, a Vietnam veteran and former candidate for president, "We waterboard, incidentally, hundreds of our own military personnel. They waterboard themselves in training to toughen themselves up."

He added, "The Geneva Convention .. .was analyzed by the lawyers in place, and they came to the conclusion, especially about waterboarding, because that's the primary thing, that, since we do it to our own soldiers, by the hundreds, incidentally, and it doesn't hurt them, and they — and it makes them tougher, and it doesn't hurt anybody — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gained weight after he was waterboarded — we decided that, since we do that to our own soldiers in training... we‘re not going to consider that torture. "

Hunter later challenged host Chris Matthews saying, "But the point is, if we do it, are we torturing American soldiers? You have to answer yes if you consider waterboarding to be torture."

Matthews said the difference is that U.S. service people know they are in training. They know they aren't going to be killed. "That captured person who is one of our enemies has no idea what we‘re doing when we submit him to water torture."

Said Hunter: "If we use it with our own soldiers in training, as we do waterboarding, then it should be allowed with people who have killed thousands of Americans."

We decided to examine Hunter's claim about waterboarding our service personnel as part of their training and found that he is right.

U.S. special operations troops have, in the past, sometimes used a form of waterboarding as part of survival exercises, called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training. The idea is to prepare them in the event they are ever captured and interrogated with such means.

According to reports in the New York Times and Vanity Fair, the CIA adopted some of the interrogation techniques used on terror suspects from that SERE training, including the use of waterboarding.

According to the Vanity Fair story, three-week SERE training for the U.S. soldiers included waterboarding, forced nudity, extreme temperatures, sexual and religious ridicule, agonizing stress positions, and starvation-level rations. The story quotes Michael Rolince, former section chief of the FBI's International Terrorism Operations: "You're not going to die, but you think you are." - Politifact

Harry Reid in Fight for his Career in Re-Election Bid

NORTH LAS VEGAS — Four years ago in this sprawling desert town, a powerful labor union abruptly withdrew its endorsement of Republican Mayor Mike Montandon.

The reason, relayed to Montandon by a top union official: “Harry told us to.”

Harry Reid’s power is the stuff of legend in Nevada. But as the Senate majority leader prepares for his 2010 reelection run, voters back home are beginning to ask what’s in it for them.

Nevada’s unemployment rate is 12.7 percent, 3 percentage points higher than the national average. Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate of any big city in the country. And economic forecasters are sounding the alarm about an impending crash in the state’s commercial real estate market.

It’s all taking a toll on Reid. While Reid may be at the peak of his power in Washington, a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll out earlier this month showed him trailing two potential GOP challengers. And Reid’s in-state approval rating stands at just 36 percent — statistically indistinguishable from the 35 percent approval rating of his adulterous Republican colleague, Sen. John Ensign.

Reid dismisses the polling, complaining that reporters “run to it like it’s sugar coming from some place.” But he admits he’s not “boasting” about his own private polls — which Democratic sources say show him with just single-digit leads over his likely GOP challengers — and his campaign is looking like the work of a man running to save his career. - Politico Story

Health Care Trigger just a Gimmick?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning Republicans that Democrats will indeed pull that trigger eventually if they get their way on the public option in health reform.

In a speech he'll deliver later this afternoon as a prebuttal to President Obama's prime time address, McConnell dismisses the trigger idea as a gimmick that still gives Democrats a chance to eventually push through a "government takeover" of health care.

“A government takeover on the installment plan — or a ‘trigger’ as some are calling it — is still a government takeover," McConnell will say in his Senate speech. "It’s a bad idea now. It’ll be a bad idea whenever the trigger kicks in. Proponents of a trigger say that it might not be needed.

"But you can be sure of this: if Democrats are in charge, they’ll pull the trigger at some point. Let’s be honest. Letting Democrats decide whether to pull the trigger on government-run health care is like asking the pitcher, not the umpire, to call the balls and strikes."

McConnell's speech is also designed to draw a clear line of reasoning for the 40 Republicans in the Senate to oppose the health care proposals. Democrats have now put a ton of stock in luring Maine Republican Olympia Snowe to support some form of a public option -- with a trigger -- so that they can reach 60 votes.

McConnell, like many Republicans, are asking for a more incremental approach to health reform -- but he's still playing to his base in this speech, asking for an end to "junk lawsuits" and reforming medical malpractice laws. - Politico Story

Pelosi's Trump Card - Public Option or No Bill

Nancy Pelosi finally has a trump card.

Tired of watching helplessly as House bills are carved up to win support from conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate, the speaker has a message for President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Take the public option out of health care reform, and you may not have a bill at all.

“Every time we have had a negotiation, Reid and [White House chief of staff] Rahm [Emanuel] say you have to accept this or that because we need the 60 votes [for cloture],” says a senior Democratic aide in the House. “That’s true this time. The difference now is that Pelosi can turn right back at them and say, ‘I can’t pass this in the House without the progressives.’ And that will be true, too.”

Pelosi’s leverage in her perpetual push-pull with Reid has been boosted by a rebellion among pro-public-option progressives, African-American and Hispanic House members, who say they are tired of being shortchanged by the White House and will vote no rather than OK a bill without the public option. - Politico Story

Palin - I Disagree that Increased Government Involvement can solve the Problem

(CNN) – For the second time since resigning the Alaska governorship more than a month ago, Sarah Palin is adding her voice to the fiery debate over health care. This time, Palin is hitting the pages of the Wall Street Journal as President Obama gets set to address a joint session of Congress on the issue.

"The answers offered by Democrats in Washington all rest on one principle: that increased government involvement can solve the problem. I fundamentally disagree," Palin writes in the 1,110 word op-ed in Wednesday's edition of the paper.

"Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones," the former GOP vice presidential candidate continues. "Common sense also tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy." - CNN Story

Obama's Speech Do or Die for Health Care?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After months of criticism that he has failed to outline a specific health care reform plan, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night in a speech aides say will be to the point.

President Obama will lay out health care reform specifics in a speech before Congress on Wednesday.

At stake for the president: getting Democratic factions on board with his plan and convincing Americans of the need for health care reform.

"They will know the plan provides safety, security and stability to the millions of people that have health insurance each and every day, but watching their premiums skyrocket and double," spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning." - CNN Story

"Secondly, for those who don't have health insurance, but need affordable coverage, he will lay out a plan for how people can get that, as well. He'll talk about the cost on government and why we can't afford to wait longer. We have to act now."

Obama to Give Details in Speech

In his highly anticipated address to Congress today, President Obama told ABC News that he would provide a much more detailed health care plan, saying that while he was still open to ideas, he is determined to get health care reform passed this year.

The president tells ABC's Robin Roberts he will not yield on core principles.

"So, the intent of the speech on [Wednesday] is to, A, make sure that the American people are clear exactly what it is that we are proposing," Obama told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview. "[And] B, to make sure that Democrats and Republicans understand that I'm open to new ideas, that we're not being rigid and ideological about this thing, but we do intend to get something done this year." - ABC News Story

After Months of the White House sitting on its hands and claiming that there is a lot of misinformation being put out, will finally try to step up and take a leadership role in the Health Care Debate.

My question is, if this is so important to the President, where has the leadership been all along. He just doesn't really seem to know what he wants. He changes with the opinion polls and then changes again when his own party parts ways with him. He changes his tune depending on who is listening. There is a drastic lack of leadership from this President.

Obama's Bailout of Auto Industry Most Likely never will be Paid Back

WASHINGTON - Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday.

The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid.

"I think they drove a very hard bargain," said Elizabeth Warren, the panel's chairwoman and a law professor at Harvard University, referring to the Obama administration's Treasury Department. "But it may not be enough."

The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government owns 10 percent of Chrysler and 61 percent of GM. The two companies are currently private but are expected to issue stock, in GM's case by next year.

The shares "will have to appreciate sharply" for taxpayers to get their money back, the report said.

For example, GM's market value would have to reach $67.6 billion, the report said, a "highly optimistic" estimate and more than the $57.2 billion GM was worth at the height of its share value in April 2008. And in the case of Chrysler, about $5.4 billion of the $14.3 billion provided to the company is "highly unlikely" to ever be repaid, the panel said. - FOX News Story

Sen. Reid - Health Care is 90% Done

After meeting with President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that health care reform is 90 percent done and that Republicans still have a seat at the negotiating table.

President Obama has often said that Republicans and Democrats can agree on 80 percent of the health care reforms Congress should enact -- that it is the remaining 20 percent that has stalled legislation.

"In our conversations today, we think we're up to 90 percent," Reid said from outside the White House. "We have 10 percent to work on, and we can do that."

The majority leader also said the Congress is still taking a bipartisan approach to reform and would not consider reconciliation -- a voting procedure that would allow Democrats to bypass Republican opposition -- unless there was no other choice. - CBS News Story

Democrats Investigated Bush for Speech to School Students

Much has been made about the criticism surrounding President Obama's Tuesday speech to the nation's schoolchildren.

But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech in October 1991 to students at a junior high school in Washington, D.C., Democratic critics went much further and investigated the event, Washington Examiner columnist Byron York reported Tuesday.

Democrats, who controlled Congress at the time, ordered the General Accounting Office to probe the production of the speech and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for a hearing, York wrote.

The Bush speech at Alice Deal Junior High School cost $26,750 -- an expenditure paid by the Department of Education -- and drew fire from Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, who ordered the probe.

"As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

The GAO found no wrongdoing on the part of the Bush administration

But after Bush spoke, The Washington Post implied in a front-page story that the speech was staged for the president's political benefit, and Democratic allies continued to pounce on Bush for the cost of the event. - FOX News Story