AR-02 GOP Hopefuls at 2nd Amendment Rally

Tim Griffin

Both GOP candidates for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District seat addressed advocates for 2nd Amendment rights in Little Rock on Saturday. And even though the race looked like it might get a little heated earlier this week, neither Scott Wallace nor Tim Griffin lashed out at each other.

Scott Wallace

Both Griffin and Wallace promised to stand firm in support of 2nd Amendment right, and backed up their positions with personal experience. Griffin explained to rally goers that a key component of protecting gun rights is to get conservative justices on the Supreme Court. “I spent a lot of labor and energy in 2005 to get Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed to the US Supreme Court,” said Griffin. Wallace emphasized his work in the community, especially as a reserve Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputy. “Over the past two years, I have seized guns out of countless cars with felons in the car. Criminals have guns. And criminals will always have guns! The people who are law abiding citizens need to have protection,” proclaimed Wallace.

Earlier this week, Wallace appeared on Dave Elswick’s afternoon radio show to denounce Griffin as a Washington “insider.” Elswick opened the segment by chastising the Republican’s national organization for interfering in Arkansas’ primary, but didn’t label Griffin an insider.

Wallace used the opportunity to publicize his “Insider Bomb,” an online fundraiser similar to the models used successfully in the campaigns of Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Marco Rubio in Florida. On his website, the Little Rock businessman posted a photo of an invitation to a Washington, DC fundraiser that had ended as Elswick’s 5:00 segment began. The invitation listed the price of admission at $1000 for PACs and $500 for individuals, and Wallace later blogged that taking money from outside the district makes a candidate beholden to special interests.

Apparently, Griffin didn’t respond to the insider charges. Scrolling through his status updates on Facebook and tweets on Twitter, we couldn’t find one remark that even acknowledged the criticisms of Wallace and Elswick. But influential Arkansas political blogger Jason Tolbert of The Tolbert Report says he doesn’t “understand why Wallace is trying to make a campaign issue over his opponent’s ability to raise a lot of money and receive support from folks like Sarah Palin, Rep. John Boehner, Rep. Eric Cantor, and Rep. Pete Sessions.”

Griffin doesn’t seem to fear being tagged an insider. His reference to the work he did to help get Roberts confirmed to the Supreme Court could certainly be used by Wallace and others leery of Washington influence to confirm their arguments. But Griffin evidently considers his ties to Washington an asset, or he certainly wouldn’t be emphasizing them himself.

At the rally we caught up with David Meeks, who until only weeks ago was vying for the same office as Wallace and Griffin, and asked if he planned to endorse one or the other. Meeks withdrew only a few days after posting a status update on Facebook and a blog post charging Republicans in Washington with interfering in the Arkansas primary. But he informed us he has no intention of endorsing Wallace or Griffin. Both, he said, stand for conservative values.

Only time will tell which candidate voters in the 2nd District will choose in the Republican primary. Their position on the 2nd Amendment won’t differentiate them, but the “insider” argument might. It appears to be a major part of Wallace’s strategy, and Griffin doesn’t seem bothered enough by the label to counter it.

Obama’s Health Care Summit Backfired!

There’s little doubt our Socialist President, Barack Hussein Obama, hoped his health care summit would would change Americans’ minds.

Remember? After lecturing us all summer last year on all the great things a Socialized system would do for us, Obama remained convinced we didn’t know enough about his planned government takeover of another 1/6 of the US economy. After the election of Republican Scott Brown to the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy, President Obama told us we just didn’t understand what he’s trying to do for (to?) us. So he decided it was up to him to educate us.

Earlier this month, the President told his supporters

“What I’d like to do is have a meeting where I’m sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats. Sitting with health care experts. And let’s just go through these bills. Their ideas, our ideas, let’s walk thought them in a methodical way so the American people can see and compare. What makes the most sense. And then I think we’ve got to go ahead and move forward on a vote.”

Thursday, he did sit down. He did have his meeting. And the results weren’t what our narcissistic Socialist President envisioned.

Yesterday, one day after Obama sat down with Republicans and Democrats, live on CSPAN, the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking poll showed the President’s approval rating hit a new low. And today, it’s dipped even lower!

Presidential Approval Index = -21%
Total Approve = 43%
Total Disapprove = 55%

Because this poll is based on a three-day rolling average with data collected nightly, two thirds of responses for today’s poll were collected after the televised summit. Even though Obama and Congressional Democrats were allowed more than twice as much time to make their case, this poll shows American voters don’t like and DON’T WANT Obamacare!

Columnists and commentators from both ends and the middle of the political spectrum seemed to think Republicans landed the most punches in the match on Thursday and this poll confirms their initial calls.

We the people are informed, we are educated, and we understand what Obama and his Socialist pals want. WE DON’T WANT OBAMA’S SOCIALIST SOLUTION!

How’s that Hopey-Changey thing working for YOU Mr. President?

Wake up Mr. President!

It’s not that the American people don’t know what you want. We don’t WANT what you want!

From Rasmussen

The aftermath of the health care summit: Confusion, conflict

by Carrie Budoff Brown at Politico

Democrats wake up after Thursday’s health care summit staring down another deadline to get their bill done, exactly four weeks to Easter break.

They’ve blown through most every deadline before, so there’s no guarantee they won’t this time either. President Barack Obama didn’t help by leaving the door open to compromise with Republicans – even if it takes weeks.

So that means a party looking to emerge from the summit with a clear sense of the path forward instead find itself in the same old place – fighting the clock to finish health care, with an uncertain timeline, a complex legislative path and no idea if its leaders can muster the votes.

“We hope based upon this discussion that we can move forward, but move forward we will,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

But the truth is, the Democrats are no more certain of getting health care done after the summit than they were before. The seven-hour session did little to change the underlying dynamics of the debate.

…More

Saving for Retirement? Hand it over!

by Paul Hsieh at Pajamas Media

Uncle Sam wants your retirement money.

The Obama administration has just solicited public comment on their proposal to take money from Americans’ private 401(k) retirement accounts and convert it into government-backed annuities. In other words, they want to take your money now to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds, then pay you a monthly sum later after you’ve retired.

Although this proposal is being initially portrayed as a voluntary choice, Americans already have the ability to purchase Treasury bonds with their retirement money. Moreover, the Obama administration is considering making these annuities the default option. And as analyst Karl Denninger noted, “‘choices’ have a funny way of turning into mandates.” Nor is his concern unjustified.

In 2008, Professor Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School of Social Research testified before Congress proposing a similar scheme to convert private 401(k) accounts into government-run “guaranteed retirement accounts” that would pay a 3% return. And in 2008, the Argentinian government attempted to nationalize private retirement funds to help cover its runaway deficit.

As the U.S. Social Security system moves ever closer to bankruptcy, the billions of dollars Americans have saved in their private retirement accounts will become an increasingly tempting target for our politicians.

A government raid on private retirement funds wouldn’t necessarily take the form of outright confiscation. It could take the form of mandatory conversion into government accounts, where the government would determine how much money retirees could receive. Or it could take the form of, for example, a 40% surtax on disbursements from 401(k) balances over $1 million — on the grounds that it would only harm wealthy “millionaires.”

But regardless of the precise method employed, the basic principle would be the same: Your money would no longer be your money. Instead, the government would claim the right to redistribute your wealth to pay for others’ retirement on the grounds that they needed it more. In essence, the government would be implementing the Marxist principle: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

…More

Bipartisanship? Obama’s not even listening to the other side!

Look at him, bored to death and not paying the least bit of attention at his “health care summit.” He never intended to compromise, or even listen to GOP alternatives.

Can They Make Obamacare Worse? Yes They Can!

from The Foundry (The Heritage Foundation blog)

Flacking for President Barack Obama’s “new” health care plan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters assembled for yesterday’s press briefing: “The president posted ideas of his on the White House website today. We hope Republicans will post their ideas either on their website, or we’d be happy to post them on ours, so that the American people could come to one location and find out the parameters of what will largely be discussed on Thursday.” And this might have been a small bit of successful Obama administration gamesmanship on health care and transparency in government except for one small problem: reality. Not only do House Republicans already have their own health care plan, not only is it already available online, but the White House’s own website already links to it!

…More

Arkansas Gov–Lincoln needs to “educate” voters to win

from the Tea Party of Lonoke County

The folks at Politico caught up with Arkansas’ Governor Mike Beebe on Monday and peppered him with questions on health care and Senator Blanche Lincoln. The popular governor ducked and bobbed on several questions, but when asked if he thinks the embattled Lincoln’s seat is still winnable he replied, “Yes, I think it’s winnable and yes, I think she can win.”

Lincoln’s pitiful polling of late recently led conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer to remark, “Poor Blanche Lincoln couldn’t even compete with Mussolini” on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. The last several polls by Rasmussen have shown Lincoln trailing at least four potential Republican opponents, and the latest had all four ahead by at least 8 points.

Beebe believes Lincoln’s campaign cash will be enough to overcome her lack of popularity in Arkansas by November. “She’s got a lot of money, she needs to spend it wisely to educate,” said the governor.

But we would argue the electorate is educated on Lincoln, and her money won’t be enough to “reeducate” us.

The Senator’s popularity has consistently collapsed with virtually every vote she cast in support of President Barack Obama’s Socialist platform. On TARP, the auto industry bailout, budgets that created record deficits, increasing the federal debt limit, and Obamacare, Lincoln has stood with Obama and against the will of a large majority of Arkansas voters. Each time her “Yea” was heard by Arkansans, her poll numbers plummeted.

Lincoln’s willingness to abandon the clear will of the Arkansas electorate and walk arm-in-arm with Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to support their proposed government takeover of the US health care system was likely the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Because passage in the Senate required 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, Reid and Obama needed every single Democrat. Lincoln’s status as one of the final two holdouts indicates she understood the tightrope she was walking. She understood the people of Arkansas were strongly opposed to Obamacare, but she succumbed to the pressure of Reid and Obama.

She could have chosen to represent the clear will of Arkansas voters, and cast the vote that would have killed Obama’s dream of socialized medicine in America. But instead she chose to stand with her liberal buddies from Chicago and Las Vegas, against her constituents in Arkansas.

Governor Beebe and Blanche Lincoln may think voters in Arkansas can be “educated”, but we’ve been educating ourselves on Lincoln ever since she began marching in lockstep with Reid and Obama.

Krauthammer was right, and Arkansas voters are already educated on the upcoming Senate race.

Senator Lincoln should start packing.

Government, Yes! God and Parents, No!

by Dennis Prager at Townhall.com

One of the major differences between the right and the left concerns the question of authority: To whom do we owe obedience and who is the ultimate moral authority?

For the right, the primary moral authority is God (or, for secular conservatives, Judeo-Christian values), followed by parents. Of course, government must also play a role, but it is ultimately accountable to God and it should do nothing to undermine parental authority.

For the left, the state and its government are the supreme authorities, while parental and divine authority are seen as impediments to state authority.

Let’s begin with God.

From Karl Marx — “man is God;” “religion is the opiate of the people” — to today’s left in America and elsewhere, God and God-based religion, specifically Judaism and Christianity (Islam, too, but in the West, Islam has played little role) have been the primary obstacles to leftist victory.

…More

I’ve Got Your Deficit Commission Right Here!

by Joseph C. Phillips at Townhall.com

Even as a bloodbath looms in the November distance, the Obama administration continues to push healthcare because they know that Americans love their entitlements like winos love wine. They are betting the farm that once that fiery warmth begins running through the National body we will not only love national health care, but will fight to defend it. We will also be too glassy eyed to notice that we have suddenly signed away our liberty, becoming slaves to those that serve us. But I digress.

Like wine, entitlements cost money. Sadly the more addicted we become the less money we have to spend on more important and often essential things. The wino lacks food, housing and clothing; the entitlement addict lacks employment, savings and luxury.

Consider that today our national debt stands at roughly $12 trillion or roughly 70% of our gross domestic product or GDP. But wait. We have promised today’s workers Social Security and Medicare benefits totaling another $41 trillion. Toss in another trillion for miscellaneous expenses, and suddenly our debt skyrockets to $54 trillion. In layman’s terms it means in order to pay our future obligations we would need $54 trillion dollars invested today. How much of that money does this nation have sitting around? Zip! Zero! Zilch!

…More