Hat tip: USRepJoAnnEmerson

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“We have a crisis of confidence in this country because we see every day excesses of people that have more money than people can imagine wanting more money. Greed and selfishness can kill this great democracy and ruin capitalism. We need to have governance to make capitalism work for everybody.” – Dick Gephardt, former majority leader and ‘son of a milk truck driver.’ (2004)

Dick Gephardt when he was in public life was always fond of saying in his speeches that he was the ‘son of a milk truck driver.’ Well, according to this report, the ‘son of a milk truck driver’ is now firmly ensconced in the one percent after leaving a twenty eight year career in Congress. As capitalists, we don’t begrudge anyone making money, because there is nothing wrong with making a lot of money. The hypocrisy of Democrats like Gephardt and his ilk are what makes people cynical on politics.

Related:

Gephardt Lobbying Firm Earns $1.3 Million During 2nd Quarter

TARP Recipient Goldman Sachs’ Tax Rate Falls to 1%; Gephardt is Firm’s Lobbyist

The Obama Era Brings Boom Times for Lobbyists: Gephardt Cashes In

Surprise! Surprise! Lobbyist & Auto Parts Manufacturer Board of Director Dick Gephardt Supports Auto Bailout

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On Sunday night, 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft asked President Obama during his interview, “Did you overpromise? Did you underestimate how difficult this was gonna be?” Obama responded, “I didn’t overpromise. And I didn’t underestimate how tough this was gonna be.”

Perhaps the president has forgotten the promises he and his administration made about the nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill they passed through a Democrat-controlled Congress within a month of taking office. In February 2009, Obama said, “It’s a plan that will save or create up to 4 million jobs over the next two years.” And Vice President Joe Biden boasted, “this is about getting this out and spent in 18 months to create 3.5 million jobs and to tee this up so the rest of the good work that’s being done here literally drop-kicks us out of this recession . . . .” And of course key economic advisors Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein published their famous chart predicting unemployment wouldn’t exceed 8% with the stimulus.

In stark contrast to the president’s stimulus bill, which was all added to the nation’s debt, Republicans, a number of Democrats, and labor unions are calling on the president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime. And unlike the stimulus bill, which relied on vague promises of jobs “saved or created,” the Keystone XL pipeline would create real, American jobs, around 20,000.

And yet President Obama has said repeatedly that he would veto a bill that combines legislation requiring the State Department to make a decision on the pipeline with a payroll tax cut he has spent weeks demanding that Congress extend.

Related:

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D-MO): ‘Make It Go More Quickly’ Q: “My guess is if you send them back a bill that… gave them Keystone… everybody goes home for Christmas.” SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D-MO): “Well, let’s hope we can negotiate something like that… if states’ rights are being protected and if this is going to be something maybe that we can try to jump start the approval process, make it go more quickly.” (MSNBC, 12/14/11)

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): “I’m very much for the pipeline. There is no question about that.” (Rep. Clyburn, MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 12/14/11)

 

 

 

 

 

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): “We need to put Montanans back to work and cannot afford further delays to the Keystone XL pipeline…” (“Baucus, Tester Support Keystone XL, But Not GOP Bill,” KTVQ News, 11/30/11)

SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): “The Keystone pipeline will create Montana jobs and it should not have to wait 14 months for an up-or-down decision…” (“Baucus, Tester Support Keystone XL, But Not GOP Bill,” KTVQ News, 11/30/11)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): “It’s truly a godsend for America to have that supply from a neighbor that is friendly… I can assure you (the Canadian oil) is going to be used somewhere in the world, if it’s not used in the U.S.” (“Democratic Senator Blasts Obama Energy Policy, Says It’s ‘Bouncing Around Like A Ping Pong Bill’,” The Houston Chronicle, 6/8/11)

SEN. BEN NELSON (D-NE): “The pipeline will be built, bringing jobs to Nebraska.” (“TransCanada To Alter Keystone Route,” The Hill, 11/14/11)

SENS. MARK BEGICH (D-AK), MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA) & MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): “…we write today in support of the Keystone XL Gulf Coast Expansion Pipeline, a project that the Department of State has been considering under a Presidential Permit application since 2008. Now more than ever, it is critical that this country move forward with this project.” (“Media Advisory – Fourteen U.S. Senators Urge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Approve Keystone XL Pipeline,” TransCanada, 3/16/11)

“Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas… counted more than 20 Democrats who would likely support adding the Keystone language to the payroll tax package. And he said he disagreed with Obama’s threat. ‘Look, I think that’d be a mistake on the president’s part,’ Ross said. ‘That’s the kind of economic activity we need. It’s a win-win. It reduces our dependence on foreign oil and creates jobs here at home.’” (“Dems’ Keystone-Payroll Tax Dilemma,” Politico, 12/8/11)

REP. DAN BOREN (D-OK): “At a time when many are without work, it is time that we come together in a bi-partisan way to pass this legislation which will create tens of thousands of new jobs. I commend the Speaker for including the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that is supported by business and labor. I also believe that this bill should attract votes from both political parties, because it takes initiatives supported by President Obama including the payroll tax cut extension…” (Rep. Boren, Press Release, 12/12/11)

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Senate Democrats, working with President Obama, are currently threatening a government shutdown. They’ve decided to hold hostage an agreement on appropriations bills, which includes funding for our troops, over political considerations.

As Roll Call reported yesterday, “With only three days left before a government shutdown, Democrats took a gamble Tuesday, strategically linking a package to extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits to an all-but-agreed-upon bill that wraps up fiscal 2012 appropriations. . . . [I]n the process, they’ve made themselves vulnerable to the attack they’ve been using all year against Republicans: that they’re holding the government hostage until they get what they want. . . . A frustrated Rep. Mike Simpson [R-ID] — who as chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment has slogged his way through dozens of riders to reach a bipartisan deal — said Democrats are playing shutdown politics. . . . ‘After six months of trying to blame Republicans for trying to shut down the government, they’re the ones that won’t sign the conference report that would keep the government open.’”

Recall that Democrats spent most of the year saying things like “one thing we can’t do is take extreme steps like shutting down the government,” as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in February. At the same time, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned, “Because make no mistake about it – if you start playing with shutting the government down, the same credit markets that abhorred default get very nervous. And we don’t know the consequences of what would happen. It’s too risky to even entertain.” Schumer later said, “It would be a tragic mistake to force a government shutdown . . . .” In April, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) said, “The American people did not elect us to shut down the government.” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said, “It’s insanity that we would hurt our economy by shutting down the federal government . . . .” and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) claimed that “any shutdown would injure or at least slow down the recovery that we’re in the midst of right now.”

Earlier this year, Democrats seemed to believe that shutting down the government was an “extreme step” that was “too risky to entertain.” Yet this week Democrats are threatening just that: shutting down the government, holding funding hostage to another priority of theirs.

Speaking on the Senate floor earlier, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained the situation, “Our most immediate concern is that despite federal funding expiring on Friday night, my friend the Majority Leader is blocking action on the funding bill. That is our most immediate concern and we should address it first because the deadline is literally just days away. . . . Since there is agreement on the funding bill, but no agreement and no plan at all from our friends across the aisle to pass a payroll tax cut extension in the Senate . . . we ought to finish our most immediate concern first.” He added that Democrats “have no plan, and some might suggest no desire, to pass a payroll tax cut extension—the President’s top priority . . . . They’ve made no attempt at all to produce a bill that can pass the Senate. It is their responsibility in the majority to do.  Instead we’ve wasted week after week with one senseless show vote after another.  Votes that one member of the Democrat Senate leadership recently admitted were designed solely to ‘score points on millionaires.’”

As Roll Call points out, “Even some Democrats were frustrated at the tactic. ‘Our [government funding] bill is done, and it should go to the president immediately,’ said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), ranking member on Simpson’s subcommittee. ‘We’re not holding it up. … I can’t speak for Harry Reid. I can’t speak for him. As far as I’m concerned, it should be done.’”

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 45% Say Democrats, Republicans in Congress Are Extreme

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This editorial “written” by GED educated Rep. Jamilah Nasheed gave us quite a chuckle last week. Here’s a few excerpts with our comments:

“When Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved term limits for state legislators in 1992, the idea was to prevent elected officials from becoming career politicians who lose touch with the wants and needs of their constituents.”

This from a woman who sold out her constituents for a third floor office at the Capitol and a nice parking spot in the legislator’s garage?!?! And who also went AWOL on a vote to extend unemployment benefits?!?!

“The resulting talent drain has shifted the knowledge and power away from lawmakers and into the hands of lobbyists who sometimes have agendas that do not coincide with what is best for the public….Longer terms would shift the power away from lobbyists and special interests and back into the hands of the men and women who were elected by the people to serve.”

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Hat tip: caralefebvre

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Although President Obama said during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper lasatweek, “any effort to try to tie Keystone [XL pipeline] to the payroll tax cut I will reject,” Politico reports today that “to some House Democrats, getting approval for the $7 billion, 1,700-mile pipeline from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries is a serious effort that should hitch a ride in a must-pass payroll tax cut extension.”

According to Politico, “Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas — one of 47 Democrats that supported a House bill this summer to require a decision on the pipeline project by Nov. 1 — counted more than 20 Democrats who would likely support adding the Keystone language to the payroll tax package. And he said he disagreed with Obama’s threat. ‘Look, I think that’d be a mistake on the president’s part,’ Ross said. ‘That’s the kind of economic activity we need. It’s a win-win. It reduces our dependence on foreign oil and creates jobs here at home.’ Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) said he’s not swayed by Obama’s veiled veto pledge. ‘For the president, that’s a negotiating technique. And if you issue that veto threat, you better live through it. Because the next one then nobody will believe you if you don’t,’ Green said. ‘But that doesn’t give me any pause.’”

In fact, 22 House Democrats wrote to President Obama in October, urging approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. “America truly cannot afford to say ‘no’ to this privately funded, $20 billion, jobs-creating infrastructure project, which would bolster our economic, energy and national security.” They pointed out, “With job growth an ongoing struggle for our country, the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline represents a true shovel-ready project that would directly create 20,000 high quality domestic manufacturing and construction jobs for Americans who are desperately seeking employment. The project would also create an additional 118,000 spin-off jobs.”

Interestingly even liberal Democrat Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Maryland “suggested Friday that he would be willing to trade approval of the Keystone pipeline for an extension in the payroll tax cut. ‘I do think that if I had one minute to vote, I probably would vote to accept the deal, but it’s not good government,’ Cleaver said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe,” Politico reports. And The Hill adds that Cleaver “on Friday said President Obama might cave on his threat to veto an extension of the payroll tax cut if it’s tied to a controversial pipeline project. ‘I think [Obama] is serious, but at the end, it may be here’s an opportunity to get a deal and get what I want and go home,’ said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). ‘Consider the fact that in previous debates like this, before the end of the summer, the president never said, ‘I will veto [the pipeline deal],’ so I don’t know the strategy in the White House right now, but I’ve got to say that the president is serious, but I think in politics everybody understands you have to get the best deal you can.’”

Labor unions have also been outspoken in support of moving forward on Keystone XL. The Laborers’ International Union of North America has said it is “not just a pipeline, but is a lifeline for thousands of desperate working men and women.” The AFL-CIO’s Mark Ayers wrote last month that “it is America’s workers who are clamoring for the expedited approval of this important project. As President Obama has rightfully declared when it comes to the creation of jobs, ‘WE CAN’T WAIT.’” And International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers president Edwin Hill said, “At a time when jobs are the top global priority, the Keystone project will put thousands back to work and have ripple benefits throughout the North American economy.”

So why is President Obama threatening a veto of a bill that has bipartisan support, would both extend the payroll tax cut he’s spent so much time campaigning for, and create jobs by moving ahead on the Keystone XL pipeline? In an interview at The Heritage Foundatiolast week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “This is a shovel-ready project. It could start tomorrow. All it needs is presidential approval. . . . And then the president decided, ‘Oh I’m not going to decide this until after the next election,’ presumably to curry favor with environmentalists who don’t like any form of energy production. But we need jobs. This is a project ready to go. All it needs is the permission of the President of the United States. So legislatively we’re going to demand that the president make a decision within 60 days and we’re going to try to pass it.”

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 48% Rate Obama’s Handling of Economy As Poor

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Columbia Daily Tribune reporter Rudi Keller

“I’ve followed people out of legislative committee rooms in an attempt to interview them hundreds of times, but an incident after yesterday’s Mamtek hearing was the first time anyone ever called for security protection and one of the rare instances where someone physically tried to prevent me from doing my job…

As I asked Kerr to schedule an interview, Fougere said: “You want to call security?” When the elevator door opened, I stepped in as I sought to gain the interview I was seeking. “Call security. Let’s get security,” Fougere said as he folded his arms and pushed against me to get me out of the elevator. I told Fougere not to touch me, and again turned to Kerr. I asked when we could schedule an interview.” Read more…

Unfortunately, this is not the first time we’ve seen the Nixon Administration run roughshod over a private citizen exercising their constitutional right to question their government. A St. Louis City Republican committeeman in 2009 had an unexpected visit from the FBI after he has the gall to file a sunshine request for the video from a camera in Governor Nixon’s office:

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The Source: Nixon Admin Ignored Red Flags, Forged Ahead with Mamtek Deal

Video: Activists Thrown out of Nixon’s Office; 4th Attempt to Get MIAC Appointment

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The AP reported yesterday, “Angered by President Barack Obama’s delay of a proposed oil pipeline from Canada, Senate Republicans are moving to force him to act. A bill introduced Wednesday by 37 GOP senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, would require the administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, unless the president declares the project is not in the national interest. The State Department decided on Nov. 10 to delay the project until 2013, after the presidential election . . . . McConnell, R-Ky., called the $7 billion pipeline the ultimate ‘shovel-ready’ project and said it could create as many as 20,000 jobs.”

In fact, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO’s building and Construction Trades Department, agreed in a piece for The Huffington Post last month. Ayers wrote, “For America’s skilled craft construction professionals, any discussion of the Keystone XL project begins and ends with one word: JOBS. . . . Throughout America’s Heartland, the Keystone Pipeline represents the prospect for 20,000 immediate jobs, and as many as 500,000 indirect jobs via a strong economic multiplier effect. . . .”

Yet, as the AP notes, “The pipeline project has divided labor groups eager for the jobs it would create from environmentalists and other traditional Democratic allies who oppose the pipeline as an ecological disaster waiting to happen.”

Indeed, environmentalists have been vocal in their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. McClatchy reported in early November, “Thousands of protesters encircled the White House Sunday in a show of numbers intended to persuade President Barack Obama to stop a proposed oil pipeline from being built. . . . Environmentalists say the project is a key test of Obama’s environmental credentials. Protesters first heard from prominent environmentalists, a preacher, a Nobel laureate, and a movie star, and then gathered to hold hands in a ring that stretched in front of the White House and several blocks down sidestreets before joining behind the White House lawn. Organizers estimated that the crowd exceeded 10,000 people.”

Politico noted at the time, “Activists fighting a proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline brought their message to the White House on Sunday: Their support for President Barack Obama next year is not a foregone conclusion. . . . And they said at the protest that no matter the decision that Obama makes, the pipeline will not disappear during the election. Rather than turning out to support Obama, activists would continue to push the president; instead of knocking on doors,, student and retired activists will continue challenging the campaign and interrupting fundraisers, organizers said. . . . No doubt the administration faces a party divided on the pipeline.”

So when President Obama decided to delay a decision until after the election, the Houston Chronicle editorialized, “The Obama administration’s decision to postpone a ruling on the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline till 2013 is a poorly disguised political punt. The ruling has 2012 presidential politics written all over it, despite the environmental reasons given. By delaying a decision on the $7 billion project, which is ‘shovel-ready’ and would immediately produce an estimated 20,000 well-paying jobs in this country, Obama has avoided offending environmentalists on his party’s left, a key fund-raising and voting bloc.”

The Hill pointed out today, “The pipeline delay was a victory for environmentalists that had said approval would sap their energy to mobilize on Obama’s behalf in next year’s election.” And the AP adds, “[McConnell] and other Republicans called Obama’s decision to delay the project transparently political and said Obama had put his reelection above job creation. ‘This is politics, pure and simple,’ said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.”

Related:

Rasmussen Reports:National Poll: Gingrich 45% Obama 43%

Mother Jones: Barack Obama Has, on Average, Attended a Fundraiser Every Five Days in 2011

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“Most importantly, the burden of the proposed tax increases would fall disproportionately on the income of America’s small and mid-sized businesses who pay taxes at individual rates.” (Tax Relief Coalition, Letter To Congress, 11/30/11)

Another example of the Liberals lunacy and non understanding of business and basic economics. These economic illiterates propose extending unemployment benefits by placing a surtax on millionaires.

We all know the typical refrain by now: “The wealthy can afford to pay a little more, they need to pay their fair share.” Unfortunately, the basic facts in this letter to Congress from a group of business leaders called the Tax Relief Coalition are completely ignored by these socialists:

• “According to a recently-released Treasury Department study, 392,000 taxpayers reported incomes exceeding $1 million in 2007, 331,000 of those returns included business income, and 311,000 were ‘business owners’ under the Treasury Department’s narrow definition. In short, the Obama Administration’s own data demonstrates that 4 out of 5 of the taxpayers who will face this surtax are business owners – and thus, increasing the tax burden on these business owners will reduce the amount of capital that they would otherwise have available to invest in their company or hire additional workers. In sum, the Senate legislation would raise tax rates on hundreds of thousands of business owners, a job killing tax hike to pay for a bill purported to strive for job creation.” (Tax Relief Coalition, Letter To Congress, 11/30/11)

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 16% Say Country Heading in Right Direction

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