The perfect gift any time.
Chuck Muth’s News & Views – December 23, 2009
Dec 24th, 2009 by TMH
By: Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach
SHEDDING CROC-TEARS FOR SENATORS….NOT!
“On CNN Monday afternoon the was a great deal of wailing, keening, and rending of flesh over the fact that members of the United States Senate were going to have to work on Christmas Eve to vote on final passage of their version of health care legislation. . . . I didn’t say on the set, but wish I had, that there are some 15 million people who would love to have to work on December 24, or December 26 or any other day. They are among the 15 million Americans who are unemployed and will not be helped one bit by the Senate, House, or Administration version of health care reform.”
- Rich Galen, Mullings.com, 12/23/09
SAME OL’ GOP RALLYING CRY: LET’S GO HOME!
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had vowed to fight Obamacare to the finish, has caved on a procedural issue, allowing the final vote on this monstrosity to be held at 8 am instead of 7 pm on Christmas Eve.”
- Richard Viguerie, ConservativeHQ, 12/23/09
PORKED UP AND LOVING IT
“The Senate’s health care bill is chock full of favors, payoffs, special deals and exemptions, but Majority Leader Harry Reid is proud of his handiwork, calling it an art form.”
- John Fund, Political Diary, 12/22/09
BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD
“I believe our nation is at a crossroads, and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt. . . . I want to make it perfectly clear that this bill is bad for our doctors. It’s bad for our patients. It’s bad for the young men and women who are considering going into the health care field.”
- Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama in announcing his decision yesterday to switch parties from Democrat to Republican
THE TYRANNY OF GOOD INTENTIONS
“Forcing every American to purchase a product is absolutely inconsistent with our Constitution and the freedoms our Founding Fathers hoped to protect,” said Senator DeMint. “This is not at all like car insurance, you can choose not to drive but Americans will have no choice whether to buy government-approved insurance. . . This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.”
- Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
HURRY UP, BEFORE THE RUBES FIND OUT!
“Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, notes that the (Senate health care) bill declares on page 1020 that the new Independent Medicare Advisory Board the bill would create cannot be repealed by future Congresses. . . . Plenty more such surprises undoubtedly await those who plumb the 2733-page Senate health care bill. Unfortunately, the rushed schedule of the Senate will only allow another couple of days to unearth and discuss them before final passage.”
- John Fund, Political Diary, 12/22/09
PUPPY LOVE
“(T)he health care bill that is coming out of the Congress now has not an ounce of bipartisanship attached to it – not counting Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. The Democrats completely own this puppy, and should it prove to be as unpopular as the catastrophic health reform on the 1980s, it could turn out to be a political catastrophe for the Democrats.”
- John Feehery, former aide to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert
NOT SORRY, CHARLIE
“(Florida Republican) Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday he’s ‘proud’ of his stand on President Obama’s stimulus package, in a wide-ranging interview with the Sun Sentinel editorial board. Asked how he would counter campaign attacks over his support of the $787-billion stimulus, Crist said: ‘I don’t know if you do counter it. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the fact that at least I, as governor, said I thought it was right to use those dollars…’”
- SunSentinel.com, 12/17/09
MUTH’S TRUTHS
Yesterday, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) raised the constitutionality issue regarding Sen. Harry Reid’s version of ObamaCare in a last-ditch effort to derail it.
He raises an excellent point, but in reality he’s actually a Johnny-come-lately on this question. Ryan Leonard, a Republican candidate for state Attorney General in Oklahoma, has been raising this issue for some SIX MONTHS now.
“While this important (health care reform) battle will continue to be waged in Congress,” Leonard wrote in a letter published by Tulsa Today on December 2, “in my speeches across Oklahoma the past 6 months I have raised the very important issue – that seems to be lost on Congress – that nowhere in the United States Constitution does it provide the federal government the authority to require an individual to purchase health insurance, or be punished with a tax if he or she doesn’t.”
“When confronted several weeks ago about the ‘constitutionality’ of the pending health care proposals,” Leonard continued, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded ‘Are you serious?’ To dismiss such a legitimate, and fundamental, question that goes to the very heart of the debate is illustrative of the extent that liberal interests will go to achieve their ends of growing government.”
Glad to see there are still SOME conservatives out there who embrace the quaint Goldwateresque practice of not attempting “to discover whether legislation is ‘needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.”
What a shame Sen. Ensign and his fellow Republicans in the Senate hadn’t asked themselves “What would Barry Goldwater do?” BEFORE Harry Reid started buying off the votes of all those Democrat senators such as Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu.
ADDITIONAL READING
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has really stepped in deep doo-doo now. Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., RNC chairman under President Reagan says, “Holy mackerel, I never heard of a chairman of either party ever” doing what Steele has been doing? And what exactly is it that has the GOP poo-bah in such hot water? Find out HERE
The Huffington Post’s Dawn Teo reports that Sen. John McCain’s senate re-elecion race is already heating up….and he doesn’t even have a declared opponent yet. What in the JD Hayworth is going on HERE?
Al Franken’s mouth starting to get the better of Al Franken’s brain. The Hill has it HERE
A union has gone so far as to block Red Cross blood donations from getting to a hospital, as well as picketing blood drives from private companies. The Union Label Blog has the details HERE
Can you outrun Tiger Woods’ golf club-wielding wife? Give it try HERE
SURVEY SAYS!
Do you think the Harry Reid health care bill is constitutional?
- Yes
- No
To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.”
- Thomas Jefferson
