Health Care boondoggle: Can you hear us now?

Ramussen shows that support for the healthcare boondoggle has fallen to a new low.

56% Oppose
38% Support

Since some of those that read this page think Rasmussen is a right wing pollster, I thought I would wait until there were additional polls out showing low support for the boondoggle.

A USA Today/Gallup poll out today shows support for the healthcare boondoggle is still down.

42% Oppose
35% Support

Partisan breakdown:

Democrats 76% support, 17% Oppose
Republicans 86% Oppose, 12% Support

Big Democrat problem
Independents 53% oppose, 37% support

Probably the most disconcerting news for Democrats is what Americans think of President Obama's handling of the nation's health care.

40% approve
53% Disapprove

In the meantime, Democrats in Congress and the President are in complete denial. A majority of Americans do not want the healthcare boondoggle. Why are they ramming this down our throats?

Budget

I got home about 45 minutes ago from a budget finance committee meeting. The meeting started at 5pm. So, long night. You will read some stuff in today's paper that has changed since the paper will printed.

Hang tight, for tomorrow's paper for more current information.

Why No One Expects a Strong Recovery by Jeb Hensarling and Paul Ryan

This is a good article in the Wall Street Journal, even if it is news that we do not want to hear.

One of the strongest factors promoting recovery from our 10 post-World War II recessions was an unshakable conviction that, regardless of the immediate trouble, the American economy is fundamentally strong. Based on this underlying confidence, recessions and recoveries roughly conformed to the principle of the bigger the bust, the bigger the boom, and vice versa.

Thus real growth in the four quarters following postwar recessions averaged 6.6% and 4.3% over the following five years. As the chief economist for Barclays, Dean Maki, said in this newspaper on Aug. 19, "You can't find a single deep recession that has been followed by a moderate recovery."

That may no longer hold. Since the current recession has lasted a record seven quarters—and has been marked by a near-record average GDP decline of 1.8% per quarter—we should be witnessing the start of a powerful and sustained recovery. Yet forecasts of a 2% recovery in growth are only one-fourth as strong as postwar experience suggests. Meanwhile, unemployment sits at a generational high of 10.2%.

The New Louisiana Purchase

Those people wondering if your political leaders are still for sale, look no further than Louisiana.

Harry Reid has bought Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu vote for healthcare reform. Of course, Harry Reid did not actually spend one thin dime of his own money, he used taxpayer money instead. Total cost to American taxpayers, $100 million for a health care reform bill that Americans do not want.

ABC

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?

Here’s a case study.

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

Snuffaluffagus or Eeyore?

I am finally able to get caught up with some things after a busy week.

The week started off in a pretty interesting way. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett started of the week with a bang(kinda) announcing he was running for governor. Interestingly enough, there was no real bang.

Not even a week into the announcement, Mayor Barrett's announcement has already fallen off the radar screen. I do not care which side of the aisle you lean towards, all have to admit that Mayor Barrett's lack of enthusiasm is very apparent. Worse yet, the lack of enthusiasm state wide is even more apparent.

Maybe there are some democrats that are excited, but I have not really seen that yet.

I really got a kick out of Vicki McKenna's evaluation of the situation on Monday. She likened the lack of enthusiasm from the mayor to Snuffaluffagus. A few moments later, someone added Eeyore to the mix.

So which is it? Snuffaluffagus or Eeyore?

We all love Snuffaluffagus and Eeyore, but would you make either of them your governor?

Listen to Vicki's audio here.

Team McCain blew it

I originally posted this at Conservatives4Palin. I have since updated it for my home page.

Well, the moment has finally arrived. To those of us that are fans of Governor Sarah Palin, the year in exile has been tumultuous and long.

Governor Sarah Palin has been unleashed!

After watching and listening to numerous interviews over the last few days, the melting of Barbara Walters’ heart, the hysterics of certain McCain staffers and the dedication to conservatism with Rush Limbaugh, it is now clear that Governor Palin will not hide and will not head off into retirement quietly.

Governor Sarah Palin is part of America’s future, not just a stigma of America’s past.

Before we move into the future of this country and the dangers that lie ahead for America as we follow President Obama’s path, it's only fair to address the mistakes in the 2008 that brought us the President currently sitting in office.

I know that many in the McCain campaign are vehemently defending themselves and the mainstream media is all too happy to give them a platform to slam Governor Palin (see MSNBC, et al).

It's time for an honest reality check.

Team McCain blew it and they blew it bad.

Many of us sitting on the bottom rung of Team McCain at the grassroots level could easily look up the ladder and see that we had a big problem. Team McCain had a message problem and it grew as the election wore on.

Amazingly, today’s mainstream media is attempting to defend Team McCain and wondering why Governor Palin went “rogue”. Shouldn’t Governor Palin have just gone along with Team McCain’s messaging? When asked by interviewer Barbara Walters, Governor Palin said yes to Team McCain controlling the messaging and they lost anyway.

The message out of Team McCain was a problem from the top of the campaign all the way down to those of us on the grassroots level. The grassroots could clearly see the problem.

I stood a few feet away from a high level McCain policy adviser on October 31st, 2008 as Team McCain was making its last rounds, and asked a simple question. I asked the adviser to please give me a sixty second statement so I could explain Senator McCain’s health care policy. All I needed was a short simple answer about health care to give to the people that were calling our county GOP headquarters. The adviser managed to drone on for about 10 minutes without ever actually explaining McCain’s health care policy. Disappointed, I finally cut him off.

To this very day, I am willing to bet that not a single McCain adviser could clearly define McCain’s health care policy and make it coherent in a 60 second sound bite.

Of course, this messaging problem started early, long before Governor Palin was on the ticket and continued all the way through the election last year. Steve Schmidt, for all of his defensive babbling right now, had the McCain message heading along the wrong path for a long time.

Still, to this day, Mr. Schmidt cannot admit the real problems with the campaign. By the summer of last year, Senator John McCain was already defined as President George W. Bush. Team Obama got that message out early and often and John McCain could never shake that label.

Then Governor Palin was added to the ticket, and the messaging problem got worse. I believe that Team McCain recognized immediately that there was an energy surrounding Governor Palin. Many folks were inspired back into the political fight. Instead of guiding Governor Palin and allowing her to define herself with their guidance, they shut her down and the media quickly defined her as unqualified. Big mistake.

This was one of many epic failures by Steve Schmidt’s Team McCain. Both candidates on the GOP had now been defined by the mainstream media and Team Obama.

Probably the biggest messaging problem for Team McCain was on the economy. The economy was the problem that was first and foremost on America’s mind when heading to the polls. A clear and concise message was needed. Americans never got a clear and concise message from Team McCain.

Can anyone honestly remember Team McCain’s message on the economy? After the McCain debacle of calling the economy strong, the messaging battle on the economy was lost immediately. What I fail to understand is why Team McCain never recognized that the strongest positive message on the economy from all the candidates was Governor Palin's. Only one of the four candidates could relate to the average economic problems of Americans. Only one of the four candidates actually ran a state that is financially stable. Only one of the four candidates had ever written a budget. Only one of the four candidates had lived without healthcare coverage and has small business experience.

Team Obama’s message on the economy was clear, concise and simple. “95% of Americans will get a tax cut under my plan”.

Amazingly, Team McCain never figured out what a great campaigner Governor Palin actually is. In the last several days alone it has become painfully obvious that the problem was the ineptitude of the elitists running the McCain campaign. Team McCain never recognized the power of the average American and what they expect from their government. Governor Palin is an average American and can relate to our problems.

Americans live in a fast paced world and they like their news in short, precise sound bites. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Governor Palin managed to do on her own, what the entirety of the Team McCain did not last year. Governor Palin was asked about unemployment and the economy by interviewer Barbara Walters and the Governor gave a simple yet powerful answer on what she would do about the economy.

"I would start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they are earning, more of what they are producing, more of what they own and earn so that they could start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people," she told Walters. "Not punishing them by forcing health care reform down their throats; by forcing an energy policy down their throats that ultimately will tax them more and cost them more to stay in business. Those are backassward ways of trying to fix the economy."

In a short, concise 39 second message Governor Palin managed to state what she would do and smack President Obama on healthcare reform and the atrocious cap and trade bill. It's that simple.

It's time for Team McCain to admit they blew it on messaging so we can all move on. For the past year Team McCain has blamed Governor Palin. Governor Palin was not the problem, letting your opponents define your campaign was the problem. Losing control of the message was the ultimate mistake and that happened long before Governor Palin joined the ticket.

Surely Team McCain must know this by now. Americans are clamoring for a conservative option (not a Democrat-lite option) and we need to give it to them. Governor Palin has recognized this. Less than 24 hours after the release of her book, Governor Palin was forming a message that Americans can embrace. It is time to move on to 2010.

Added:
Even as bad as things went at the elite level of the McCain campaign, locally and statewide, things could not have been more organized. The state made sure we had everything we needed on the local levels. The volunteers arrived by the hundreds at our local office. Even though I have not seen things run better for the GOP in the state of Wisconsin, we still needed a clear and concise message from the top of the ticket. A great disservice was done to John McCain and Sarah Palin the moment we lost the message war.

Voters reject him, President Obama embraces him

I do not understand it. Voters have rejected Loophole Louie twice now. Even though the voters have made it pretty clear they do not want Louis Butler sitting in a judicial seat, twice now, the Democrats in charge have overridden the will of the people and placed Loophole Louie into a judicial seat anyway.

Wall Street Journal

As consolation prizes go, Louis Butler can't complain. After being twice rejected by Wisconsin voters for a place on the state Supreme Court, the former judge has instead been nominated by President Obama to a lifetime seat on the federal district court. If he is confirmed, Wisconsin voters will have years to contend with the decisions of a judge they made clear they would rather live without.

Judge Butler served on the state Supreme Court for four years, enough time to have his judicial temperament grow in infamy. Having first run unsuccessfully in 2000, he was appointed by Democratic Governor Jim Doyle to the seat vacated by Justice Diane Sykes in 2004. But after serving four years, voters had seen enough of his brand of judicial philosophy, making him the first sitting justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in four decades to lose a retention election last year.

continued...

Clearly the Democrats are not listening to the people. They are ignoring the will of the people when it comes to taking over the healthcare industry, car companies, energy policies and banks.

We Wisconsinites just need to learn that the Democrats are smarter than us and just let them have their way.

Where did our tax dollars go?

Remember "3 to 4 millions jobs saved or created"?

Remember "transparency"?

Remember the promise of accountability?

All of this is what we were told about spending $787 billion on the stimulus.

Now we have the person heading the stimulus who will not verify that Obama's numbers of 1 million jobs created from the stimulus as being accurate.

Politico

The chief federal oversight official for the stimulus program said in a letter Wednesday that he can’t certify whether the number of jobs “created or saved” by stimulus funds is accurate.

Recovery Board Chairman Earl Devaney was responding to a request for information by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In a letter to Issa dated Nov. 17, Devaney wrote, “Your letter specifically asks if I am able to certify that the number of jobs reported as created/saved on Recovery.gov is accurate and auditable. No, I am not able to make this certification.”

Continued...

Cut taxes?

This makes to much sense:

To address the highest unemployment levels since 1983, Palin said she would cut taxes. "I would start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they are earning, more of what they are producing, more of what they own and earn so that they could start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people," she told Walters. "Not punishing them by forcing health care reform down their throats; by forcing an energy policy down their throats that ultimately will tax them more and cost them more to stay in business. Those are backassward ways of trying to fix the economy."

Watch the video.

The disgrace of Stimulus reporting

I am certain many of you have already heard, the disgrace of the falsified and ignorant reporting for the money spent in stimulus funds.

These guys cannot get the reporting right. Congressional districts that do not exist reporting stimulus jobs. Jobs that do not exist. Overreporting by tens of thousands of jobs.

Check out this report for Wisconsin. Where did these congressional districts come from?

Even better, why is Con 2 getting such a majority of money? Madison? I want proof that Doyle actually created 8,000 jobs in Madison.

Votes by Tom Barrett

I found a nifty little tool here. This link provides insight into Mayor Tom Barrett's voting record during his time in Congress.

Typical liberal tax raiser and spender here.

Again?

Could someone get the President to stop doing this?

Americans do not bow to royalty. We never have.

H/T James T.




Up next, Robert Gibbs will deny that this was a bow.

Way to go County Executive Kreuser

Thank you, Jim Kreuser!

Taking the bull by the horns, County Executive Jim Kreuser vetoed the insurance raise the county board supervisors gave themselves this week.

Thank you Jim Kreuser for taking no chances at letting this travesty against Kenoshans get through.

Kenosha News

“I am exercising the county executive’s veto authority in the spirit of the shared sacrifices made by most of our Kenosha County employees to help us address an anticipated $5 million deficit for 2010,” Kreuser said in a news conference in his office.

Board Chairman Joe Clark, alongside Kreuser at the news conference, said he agreed the veto was the most expedient way to undo the board’s actions, which he opposed.

My guess is that this will be a gigantic campaign issue this year.

County Executive Jim Kreuser did the right thing.

Obama: First Pacific President?

I do not know what that means.

President Obama declares himself the "First Pacific President".

Declaring himself “America’s first Pacific president” (a description that somehow ignored Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, two Californians), Mr. Obama previewed many of the themes that will shadow him during his weeklong trip, which will also include stops in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul.

Someone tell me what that means?

Are we moving Washington to the west coast?

Does that mean we will continue to hand over American jobs to the other side of the Pacific Ocean?

Oh...I do know what this means:

But at every turn of his address, Mr. Obama projected a more conciliatory America, which is trying to break from the past.

It means, the apology tour continues!

Why are we bringing terrorists to America?

Thank you President Obama. Terrorists are on their way to America and we have invited them here.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. prosecutors plan criminal trials for five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and military tribunals for five others held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, self-described mastermind of the attacks, and four others will be tried in New York federal court. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday he expects to order prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the five cases.

Let me get this straight. KSM has admitted to plotting the death of thousands of Americans and we are bringing him here so he can make his case in front of the entire world as to why Americans deserved it???

Why are these guys being given all of the rights of a US courtroom?

AG Eric Holder has promised that this event will be on TV for the entire world to see.

The defense lawyers for the terrorists will get to put our CIA officers, military officers and politicians on the stand.

With this move, the President of the United States has actually put Americans on trial.

Oh my!

Wisconsin economic climate compares to California?

You know that your state is in serious financial trouble if your state is being compared to California.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, issued the following statement today responding to claims made by Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Michael Morgan about Pew's study, Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril.

"Pew's report is factually accurate and fair. Wisconsin was highlighted in our report because it exhibits many of the same fiscal warning signs seen in California, as documented by widely accepted, publicly available data.

"The facts are clear. Wisconsin, like California and the eight other states Pew profiled, faces serious fiscal challenges. In reaching this conclusion, Pew relied on data from respected sources including the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the U.S. Census Bureau and experts in both academia and government.

"Our report states that California's budget problems are in a league of their own. But Wisconsin has had persistent budget shortfalls -- the state has had a negative general fund balance from fiscal years 2002 to 2008, according to its own Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. Additionally, Wisconsin has used short-term fixes to meet budget challenges, such as relying on its transportation funds to cover day-to-day operating expenses.

continued...

Hey, don't yell at us

Once again, I normally try to stay away from local issues, but this latest kerfuffle has exploded in Kenosha.

Kenosha county residents are furious at their county board supervisors over sticking taxpayers for health care insurance. They are not angry at all of them, but most of them.

Read the KNews story from Wednesday:

Kenosha County supervisors opted Tuesday to beef up, rather than cut, their health insurance, and to retain a new $64,000-a-year admissions coordinator for Brookside Care Center.

The County Board spent most of its time on these matters as it headed toward adopting a $201.7 million 2010 budget. The budget passed 24-3, with Doug Noble, Rob Zerban and Bob Haas voting against it, decrying the health insurance move.

continued...

Apparently, there is quite a bit of heat on the county board supervisors. Charlie Sykes had a field day on his radio show on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the KNews put out this article:

A movement is already under way to reconsider a more generous health insurance package that the Kenosha County Board voted to give itself Tuesday.

Supervisor Jennifer Jackson, one of the proponents in a 14-13 vote to strip supervisors of the requirement to contribute to their insurance premiums, will make a motion to reconsider the matter, County Board Chairman Joe Clark confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

continued...

Somehow, there is some confusion out there about who voted for this and who did not. I received a phone call from a gentleman who was quite upset over this. He said his friend told him is was the "guy from the 5th district" that initiated the increase in benefits. He knew he lived in the 5th district so he looked up the information on the internet and came up with my name.

I explained to him that I am the alderman of the 5th district, not the county board supervisor of the 5th district. The caller was a pretty nice fellow, but it was clear he was upset.

I listened patiently and then explained to him that we have no control over what benefits the county board gives themselves.

Your city aldermen had nothing to do with this! None of us voted for this.

Alderman do not receive any healthcare benefits and they never have received them. City aldermen have not received any pay increases since 1988. The per diem did increase in 1992 from $50 a month to $100 a month, but that is the last time anything has changed as far as pay for aldermen.

For about 20 years, the city aldermen have not given themselves a raise.

Even though I do not speak for all of the city's alderman, it is a virtually certainty that none of us will request a pay increase this year either. That would be shear foolishness on our part, especially after watching this debacle.

I can understand people being upset about this. I am upset too. I pay taxes also.

If you are upset, call your county board supervisor and let them know where you stand.

The Hillbuzz buzz

For the forth time in the last couple of days, I have listened or read about the Hillbuzz boys writing on President Bush. The Hillbuzz boys are giant fans and friends of the Clinton family. Big fans of Hillary Clinton.

During last year's election, there was a huge change in attitude on this website. These guys immediately recognized that the treatment by the lefties of Governor Sarah was precisely the same treatment that the Hillary Clinton had received. The Hillbuzz boys were right during last year's election.

We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura.

If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker.

Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.

We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.

Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush. We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11. He would have not gone there with a bullhorn and struck that right tone. More likely than not, he would have been his usual fey, apologetic self and waxed professorially about how evil America is and how justified Muslims are for attacking us, with a sidebar on how good the attacks were because they would humble us.

continued...

This is pretty amazing.

Not just Rasmussen anymore

A couple of weeks ago, a Rasmussen Poll showing the GOP ahead in the generic poll was trashed by a commenter. Rasmussen was a GOP pollster, so it could not be believed.

Well I'll be jiggered...Another respectable pollster just came out today showing virtually the same results as Rasmussen.

Gallup


The biggest change taking place is with independents. The change has flipped Independents to a 22 point advantage for the GOP.

Funny, Rasmussen comes out today with another poll showing the GOP with a 23 point advantage among independents.

I agree with Gallup and Rasmussen. The elections are a year away and it really may not last for the GOP. It is going to a lot of hard work to stay on an upward path for the GOP.

Clearly, next year's elections will rise and fall on the independent vote, not the partisans from either side.