Jake Tapper of "ABC News This Week" started off his interview with Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman by quoting Tim Pawlenty: “‘What I brought forward I thought was a rational, established, credible, strong record of results, based on experience governing, a two-term governor of a blue state, but I think the audience, so to speak, was looking for something different.’ Isn't Governor Pawlenty describing the same problem you're having on the campaign trail right now?”
Jon Huntsman was making his debut on a Sunday news show during a week when the full-time host, the president, and Congress were on vacation.
After a week when most major news outlets had played Rick Perry’s sound bites about the treasonous Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the questionable theory of evolution, and the uncertain causes of climate change, Huntsman was able to elbow his way into the ambient light of the media spotlight, not with a bold ill-considered remark but with a tweet.
“To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.”
Interview Transcript | Link to Full Interview
Huntsman's Views On:
Perry’s Scientific Views:
“I think there's a serious problem. The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party -- the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. We lose a whole lot of people that would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012.
Perry’s Bernanke Treason Statement:
“And every time we have these sideshows take place, finger-pointing and name-calling, it takes us that much further off the ball, which is fixing our core in this country, is getting our economy fixed and creating jobs.”
Michele Bachmann’s Promise of Gas Under $2.00 a Gallon:
“You know, I just -- I just don't know what -- what world that comment would come from, you know? We live in the real world. It's grounded in reality. And gas prices just aren't going to rebound like that.”
Republican Candidates' Refusal of Debt Ceiling Deal:
“You can imagine -- even given the uncertainty of the marketplace the last several days and even the last couple of weeks -- if we had defaulted, the first time in the history of the greatest country that ever was, being 25 percent of the world's GDP and having the largest financial services sector in this world by a long shot, if we had defaulted, Jake, this marketplace would be in absolute turmoil. And people who are already losing enough as it is on their 401(k)s and retirement programs and home valuations, it would have been catastrophic.”
The Media:
Tapper asked why he had raised his hand, along with all the other Republican candidates in response to Bret Baier’s Iowa debate question about refusing to raise even $1 of taxes for $10 of spending cuts.
“Well, I'm just sorry that the debate resorted to a raising of hand as opposed to some discussion about where this country needs to go in terms of overall tax policy.”
Friday, August 26, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Theocracy of Michele Bachmann
After GOP presidential candidate and Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Pole, edging out Texas representative Ron Paul and causing former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to leave the race, voters in other early primary states may be taking a closer look at her background.
Ryan Lizza’s article, “Leap of Faith: The Making of a Republican Front Runner,” in “The New Yorker” proves a valuable tool.
As Lizza explained during a Fresh Air interview, “She comes out of a religious evangelical conservative movement that is very much concerned with developing a biblical world view and applying it to all corners of one's life.”
Apparently, her campaign manager, Ed Rollins, has asked her to remove that Christianity from all aspects of her biography.
Using Lizza’s article as a skeleton key, here’s how Bachmann describes her qualifications on the 08/14/11 edition of “Meet the Press.”
I'm 55 years old. I've been married 33 years. I have five children. I've raised 23 foster children.
I also am a federal tax litigation attorney.
I have a law degree and then a post-doctorate degree from William & Mary.
Law degree was from Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University where she worked with Professor John Eidsmoe on his book Christianity and the Constitution. She studied at William & Mary while her husband Marcus got a degree in counseling from Pat Roberts’ C.B.N. University (now Regent University).
I've worked for years in the United States Federal Tax Court. So I know up close and personal how devastating high taxes are on businesses and families and farmers.
She worked for the IRS for a total of four years. She took maternity leave twice during that time and left to become a stay at home mom.
But also my husband and I started a successful company. We're job creators. We get it how you have to turn a profit and, and keep a margin in line.
Bachmann and Associates is a Christian Counseling service.
So I've lived life, but also--I've also been in the state senate, where I've been very successful turning around education reform in Minnesota. I led that effort in Minnesota. I brought Republicans and Democrats and independents together. I did that.
She led the effort to overturn a Minnesota education law known as Profile of Learning, which set state education standards because she thought they were socialist.
But in Congress, I've been at the tip of the spear and a champion for what people have been calling for and that's fiscal responsibility and accountability. For the last two months, I was the leading voice in Washington against raising the debt ceiling. Now that doesn't mean default. I introduced a bill to make sure that we would not default, but also to get our spending priorities in line.
The Promise Act recommended paying the principal and interest on the debt and active service military. Although Bachmann stated several times that it was wrong for Obama to scare senior citizens about social security, the act didn’t mention them.
Ryan Lizza’s article, “Leap of Faith: The Making of a Republican Front Runner,” in “The New Yorker” proves a valuable tool.
As Lizza explained during a Fresh Air interview, “She comes out of a religious evangelical conservative movement that is very much concerned with developing a biblical world view and applying it to all corners of one's life.”
Apparently, her campaign manager, Ed Rollins, has asked her to remove that Christianity from all aspects of her biography.
Using Lizza’s article as a skeleton key, here’s how Bachmann describes her qualifications on the 08/14/11 edition of “Meet the Press.”
I'm 55 years old. I've been married 33 years. I have five children. I've raised 23 foster children.
I also am a federal tax litigation attorney.
I have a law degree and then a post-doctorate degree from William & Mary.
Law degree was from Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University where she worked with Professor John Eidsmoe on his book Christianity and the Constitution. She studied at William & Mary while her husband Marcus got a degree in counseling from Pat Roberts’ C.B.N. University (now Regent University).
I've worked for years in the United States Federal Tax Court. So I know up close and personal how devastating high taxes are on businesses and families and farmers.
She worked for the IRS for a total of four years. She took maternity leave twice during that time and left to become a stay at home mom.
But also my husband and I started a successful company. We're job creators. We get it how you have to turn a profit and, and keep a margin in line.
Bachmann and Associates is a Christian Counseling service.
So I've lived life, but also--I've also been in the state senate, where I've been very successful turning around education reform in Minnesota. I led that effort in Minnesota. I brought Republicans and Democrats and independents together. I did that.
She led the effort to overturn a Minnesota education law known as Profile of Learning, which set state education standards because she thought they were socialist.
But in Congress, I've been at the tip of the spear and a champion for what people have been calling for and that's fiscal responsibility and accountability. For the last two months, I was the leading voice in Washington against raising the debt ceiling. Now that doesn't mean default. I introduced a bill to make sure that we would not default, but also to get our spending priorities in line.
The Promise Act recommended paying the principal and interest on the debt and active service military. Although Bachmann stated several times that it was wrong for Obama to scare senior citizens about social security, the act didn’t mention them.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Obama’s Economic Growth Agenda: Payroll Tax Cut, Unemployment Insurance Extension, and an Infrastructure Bank
President Barack Obama laid out three ideas for growing the economy during his August 8 address on the Standard & Poor’s credit downgrade and its impact on the markets.
“We should extend the payroll tax cut as soon as possible, so that workers have more money in their paychecks next year and businesses have more customers next year.
“We should continue to make sure that if you’re one of the millions of Americans who’s out there looking for a job, you can get the unemployment insurance that your tax dollars contributed to. That will also put money in people’s pockets and more customers in stores.”
The last time Obama got Congress to agree on these ideas, it was tied to an extension of the Bush era tax cuts on top-bracket earners.
“We should also help companies that want to repair our roads and bridges and airports, so that thousands of construction workers who’ve been without a job for the last few years can get a paycheck again. That will also help to spur economic growth.”
Obama doesn’t specifically mention an “infrastructure bank” here by name but describes the concept. Such a bank would extend targeted loans and limited loan guarantees to projects that would repay them through future revenue streams. Examples, as explained in this “New York Times” op-ed, would include toll roads and power plants.
“We should extend the payroll tax cut as soon as possible, so that workers have more money in their paychecks next year and businesses have more customers next year.
“We should continue to make sure that if you’re one of the millions of Americans who’s out there looking for a job, you can get the unemployment insurance that your tax dollars contributed to. That will also put money in people’s pockets and more customers in stores.”
The last time Obama got Congress to agree on these ideas, it was tied to an extension of the Bush era tax cuts on top-bracket earners.
“We should also help companies that want to repair our roads and bridges and airports, so that thousands of construction workers who’ve been without a job for the last few years can get a paycheck again. That will also help to spur economic growth.”
Obama doesn’t specifically mention an “infrastructure bank” here by name but describes the concept. Such a bank would extend targeted loans and limited loan guarantees to projects that would repay them through future revenue streams. Examples, as explained in this “New York Times” op-ed, would include toll roads and power plants.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Michele Bachmann's Thoughts on Debt, Taxes, and "Great Society" Programs (the largest of which is Medicare)
When Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann spoke before the National Press Club on the Thursday before the debt ceiling deal was reached, she spoke about how things would be different if she were in office.
She admonished President Obama for mounting so much debt and turned to praising President Ronald Reagan’s trimming of taxes and the federal budget. She spoke of the Obama administration as being "borrow and spend." But looking at the percentage of debt increase under the last five Democratic and Republican presidents, one name stands out: Ronald Reagan.
As David Stockman, a director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan recently wrote in a "New York Times" op-ed, "Through the 1984 election, the old guard earnestly tried to control the deficit, rolling back about 40 percent of the original Reagan tax cuts. But when, in the following years, the Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, finally crushed inflation, enabling a solid economic rebound, the new tax-cutters not only claimed victory for their supply-side strategy but hooked Republicans for good on the delusion that the economy will outgrow the deficit if plied with enough tax cuts."
Michele Bachmann voted against lifting the debt ceiling and promised to resist lifting it in the future. She promised to cut spending without raising taxes. She wasn't specific about what cuts she would make but implied that a good place to start would be the elimination of "the Great Society," programs (the largest of which was Medicare). Here's what she said:
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