Obama Will Now Dither on ObamaCare

Very strange:

Politico’s Mike Allen and Alexander Trowbridge have some bad news for Democrats, especially in the Senate, where Harry Reid has kept the chamber locked in battle over ObamaCare for weeks in an attempt to hit the finish line by Christmas. Barack Obama plans to put the health-care overhaul on the back burner until after the State of the Union address, pushing any conference between the House and Senate off until February. Instead, Obama plans a “hard pivot” towards jobs and the economy…

Was this a complete surprise to the Senate Democrats? If it was, then Obama just evaporated whatever good will remained for him in the Senate…and the House, for that matter. These people went to the mat for ObamaCare – have risked their re-election efforts and already have the “he voted for The Bad Thing” ads waiting for them at election time – and now Obama is putting it off until February?

I admit to being astounded by this – unless Nancy and Harry told him that they can’t reconcile right now given the fissures in the Democrat party. Or, they have done all their internal polling and realize that ObamaCare is the kiss of death. This is a possibility – but, really, the damage is already done.

This will make for an interesting Christmas.

Would This be Filed Under "Hope" or "Change"?

Or under “jobs saved” or “jobs created”:

Layoffs are a fact of life in this economy, but there are humane ways to do it. Then there’s the Arrow Trucking method.

The Tulsa, Okla., trucking company stopped payment on the gas cards of its drivers, leaving some of them stranded Tuesday around the United States, miles from home. No explanation on the website. No one at the company answering phones.

The 200 or so employees at Arrow Trucking’s headquarters were told to pack up their belongings and go home Tuesday morning, according to the Tulsa World.

The only acknowledgement was a brief recorded message on the company’s main phone number, asking drivers of its Freightliner and Kenworth trucks to turn their rigs in to the nearest dealer and to call a special hotline to arrange for a bus ticket home. Drivers of the company’s Navistar trucks were told to call back for more information.

But don’t worry, boys and girls, Barry, Timmy and the boys are telling us the economy is getting better…

Fat Cat Lobbyists Enjoy Boom Year

How’s that whole “hope and change” thing working out for ya?

Main Street has had a tough year, losing jobs and seeing little evidence of the economic revival that experts say has already begun.

But K Street is raking it in.

Washington’s influence industry is on track to shatter last year’s record $3.3 billion spent to lobby Congress and the rest of the federal government…

Good job, Barry – here are some more jobs you’ve “saved or created”…

Democrat Proposes to Use Taxpayers to Support Bankrupt Union Pension Plans

Mish’s has the full story stemming out of the possible bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide, America’s largest trucking company (which, by the way, is yet another indicator of just how bad the economy really is). Here is the crux of the matter:

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota Democrat, is drafting legislation that would amount to a massive, employer-crippling bailout for struggling union pensions. The congressman is trying to spin this as a cheap, proactive way to shore up said pensions. He claims that his bill is a response to an “urgent plea [from employers] for manageable and predictable pension funding rules as the nation works [its] way back to recovery.”

In reality, the bill as currently drafted would be a costly sop to unions, which have done so much to get Mr. Pomeroy elected. (Twelve out of his top 21 donors are unions, according to opensecrets.org.) It would allow the unions, which have badly mismanaged pension funds in the past, to make new companies liable for the pension obligations of workers at other companies, in other industries. It also would create an explicit taxpayer guarantee if it all comes crashing down.

The devil is in the details of the draft, the text of which can be found on the congressman’s Web site. The changes it introduces are chilling.

The draft would allow union-controlled multiemployer pension plans to form alliances with one another. It also would create something known as a fifth fund that the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., with taxpayer help, would use to prop up failing union pension plans.

Multiemployer union pension alliances might sound innocent enough, but consider what that actually means. Moody’s Investors Service recently warned of a vast underfunding problem with multiemployer pensions. Many employers fear being shackled into them. Even though the funds are controlled by unions, employers are liable not just for their own employees, but for every worker in the plan regardless of how the plan is managed or mismanaged.

The so-called last-man-standing rule holds that if every other company in a multiemployer pension plan goes bankrupt, closes or pulls out of the plan, the one survivor is responsible for every single employee covered by the plan, even those who never worked for him. UPS paid $6.1 billion in withdrawal fees just to escape the Teamsters Central States pension fund.

The “last man standing” under Pomeroy’s plan is you, dear taxpayer. Pomeroy, of course, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Union and as the unions have saddled corporations with crushing pension plans, it is natural that, instead of getting rid of the burden, the unions are casting about for a way to make everyone pay for their profligacy. Its in the nature of things that a Democrat falls easily in to line with this.

As we can see, the Democrats’ seem bent on putting as much of their constituency on the public dime as possible. They want ACORN using tax payer dollars to do the ballot box stuffing Democrats used to have to pay for on their own – why not also have the taxpayer fund the pension funds of those unions which provide so much cash to Democrat campaigns?

We’ll have a lot of repealing to do…

Obama More Unpopular Than Bush

Lo, how the mighty have fallen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-six percent (46%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21 That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President…

Gatewaypundit says that Bush’s strongly disapprove was at 43% at the end of his term.

UPDATE: And the GOP holds an 8 point lead in the “generic” ballot.

UPDATE II: And Dick Cheney is named Conservative of the Year – Gay Patriot nominates for Conservative of the Decade.

GDP Revised Down. Again.

As I told you it would be:

Estimated GDP growth for the third quarter has been revised downward again, to 2.2% from an initial estimate of 3.5% (it was also revised downward last month). That means that the Cash-for-Clunkers program accounts for most of the growth:

Motor vehicle output added 1.45 percentage points to the third-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.19 percentage point to the second-quarter change. Final sales of computers subtracted 0.08 percentage point from the third-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 0.04 percentage point from the second-quarter change.

Take away that 1.45 percentage points and you get 0.75% growth – anyone want to bet me that other government spending accounted for most or all of that? I’ll bet dollars to donuts that the private, productive economy contracted in the third quarter – and is continuing to contract right now.

Its all smoke and mirrors, as I’ve said. It will come crashing down. Will it crash by March as I expect? No one can say for certain – but crash it will. Bank on it.

Obama's Message To Americans

Right back at ya, Barry.

Voters Oppose Obamacare, Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

Just as Democrats bribed their way to get the 60 votes needed to bring Obamacare to a vote in the Senate, a new poll by Quinnipiac finds Americans overwhelming disapprove of the plan, and more than 70% oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

As the Senate prepares to vote on health care reform, American voters “mostly disapprove” of the plan 53 – 36 percent and disapprove 56 – 38 percent of President Barack Obama’s handling of the health care issue, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Voters also oppose 72 – 23 percent using any public money in the health care overhaul to pay for abortions, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.

And how about Independent voters? They ain’t buying the plan either.

Looking at the health care plan, independent voters “mostly disapprove” 58 – 30 percent, as do Republicans 83 – 10 percent. Democrats “mostly approve” 64 – 22 percent.

The situation only gets worse for Obama. Obama’s handling of the economy gets bad marks as well, even as Obama claims that this health care bill will reduce the deficit.

American voters also disapprove 51 – 44 percent of President Obama’s handling of the economy and disapprove 56 – 37 percent of the way he is creating jobs. But voters favor 52 – 42 percent his plan to use $200 billion left over from the bank bailout for a new stimulus package to create jobs rather than to reduce the budget deficit.

Only 31 percent of voters say Obama’s policies will help their personal financial situation, while 37 percent say his policies will hurt and 30 percent say his policies will make no difference. Among voters in households where someone has lost a job in the last year, 37 percent say Obama policies will help them personally, while 37 percent say they will hurt.

I guess the people aren’t buying Obama’s b.s. about the bill deficit-reducing nature. Of course, no thinking person would.

Rudy Won't Run for U.S. Senate

That’s the word at the moment. Very disappointing since polls showed him defeating Gillibrand,

I know there are some who believe that since Rudy is “a RINO,” or “not a true conservative” then this news is good news. While I totally agree that it is important and vital to support conservative candidates, if people in the Tea Party movement would rather have Kirsten Gillibrand in the U.S. Senate than Rudy Giuliani, then the Tea Party movement is doing more harm than good. While I would fully support Rudy for the U.S. Senate, I would not (and did not) support him running for president.

Not all victories have to look the same. Every election doesn’t have to be about electing 100% conservative candidates. Some victories must mean booting out the pawns of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, If electing Rudy Giuliani would mean Harry Reid would have one less vote to support the radical left-wing agenda of Barack Obama, that’s still a victory for liberty.

Democrats Getting Ready to "Torch" Dodd?

Interesting:

In the end, Connecticut Democrats can’t make Sen. Chris Dodd choose to retire. They can go to him and urge him to think about the joys of an ambassadorship, or teaching, or heading up some organization and raking the cash in by the bucketload. They could publicly endorse a serious primary challenger.

A former state party chair talking about how someone ought to urge him to retire is probably giving Democrats the worst of both worlds. Dodd isn’t likely to take the advice, and Connecticut voters notice, “Wow, even Democratic party officials are sick of this guy.”

This isn’t confirmation that the “Torricelli maneuver” — a last-minute, not-entirely-voluntary candidate switch — is coming down the pike, but clearly some Democrats in that state have thought about it.

And Connecticut is a rather blue State, isn’t it? And yet here is a long term, Democrat incumbent who is, to put it mildly, on thin electoral ice. If voters in Connecticut are angry enough to toss out a senior Democrat, how mad to you think the voters in the red States are? Especially in those GOP districts currently held by Democrats?

Getting a net gain of 41 House and 11 Senate seats is an exceptionally tall order for the GOP (11 in the Senate because if its 50/50, VP Biden breaks the tie and Democrats remain in control) – but, clearly, winning big is not out of the question.

Our problem, as GOPers, is twofold:

1. To craft a revolutionary message which will resonate with voter anger over the disgusting sewer which is American government.

2. Figuring out a way around the myriad ways Democrats will attempt to cheat in order to limit losses. The removal of Torricelli in NJ wasn’t just non-voluntary, it was entirely illegal, in to the bargain. Democrats will stick at nothing – I really can’t imagine anything they wouldn’t do in order to win.

But if we craft the message and carry it home against all vulnerable Democrats, then even with Democrat cheating, we still stand to make big gains next year – and, just perhaps, gains which will astound the world.