Let Freedom Ring
Ronald Reagan’s Responds to Obama’s Campaign Promises
Senators criticize Geithner over stance on China’s currency
WASHINGTON — Democratic and Republican senators alike pilloried Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday for refusing to label China a currency manipulator and for ignoring a congressional mandate to issue a report on China’s exchange-rate practices.
Few issues spark bipartisan agreement in Congress like criticism of administrations for refusing to get tough with China over its fixed exchange rate. Critics charge that China sets the yuan at an unfairly low rate against the U.S. dollar, making American products more expensive in China and Chinese products cheaper here, exacerbating the U.S. trade deficit and holding down U.S. export-driven jobs.
“I’m not sure what this administration’s policy is … and I don’t see a China economic framework,” complained Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., adding that federal agencies lack a cohesive strategy for dealing with China. Read more.
A Message from Ronald Reagan
Dems ask Alvin Greene to pull out of U.S. Senate race
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A day after an unemployed veteran charged with a felony shocked S.C. Democrats by winning the U.S. Senate primary, party officials were still scratching their heads: What happened?
Alvin Greene, 32, didn’t raise any money. He didn’t have a website. And his opponent was a better-known former legislator, Vic Rawl, who was already preparing for the general election.
Greene was considered such a long shot that his opponent and media didn’t even bother to check his background. If they had, they would have discovered he faces a felony obscenity charge after an alleged encounter with a college student last fall. Read more.
Palin’s backing pays off for pals
Some of Sarah Palin’s riskiest endorsements scored major victories Tuesday for the former Alaska governor, showing off her power in Republican primaries.
Palin had four primary endorsements in play – Carly Fiorina, Nikki Haley, Terry Branstad and Cecile Bledsoe – and three won or moved on to a runoff.
Palin served different roles for each candidate – sometimes spotlighting conservatives not well known to the national scene while at others validating conservative credentials to an unsure grassroots and even stepping in to deflect nasty attacks.
Perhaps Palin’s most powerful demonstration came in South Carolina, where her endorsement propelled a major swing in the polls for Haley’s primary campaign for governor and sustained the state representative through accusations of two separate affairs. Read more.
Banking System Collapse: Wake Up America Your Banks Are Dying
U.S. banks are being shut down by federal regulators at a staggering pace this year, and yet most Americans seem completely oblivious to it. In fact, federal officials have already shut down 81 U.S. banks this year, which is about double the number that were shut down at this time last year. So why aren’t more people upset about this?
Well, part of the reason is because the FDIC is doing it very, very quietly. The bank closings for each week are announced every Friday, which means that they pass through the news cycle over the weekend almost unnoticed. For example, banks in Nebraska, Mississippi and Illinois with total deposits of almost $2.3 billion were shut down by federal regulators on Friday. So did you hear about it before now? If not, why not? Shouldn’t the fact that we are experiencing a banking system collapse be headline news? But most Americans are more than happy to remain blissfully ignorant of what is going on. Read more.
Obama Tells Graduating Class, ‘Don’t Make Excuses,’ Drawing GOP Taunts
Don’t point fingers. Don’t make excuses. Don’t pass the buck.
That was the advice President Obama gave to a graduating high school class in Michigan Monday night — advice that sent off an irony alert among Republicans who accuse the president of having “spent his tenure” doing exactly that.
Obama offered his guidance during the commencement speech at Kalamazoo Central High School.
“Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes, but for your failures as well,” he told the graduates. “The truth is, no matter how hard you work, you won’t necessarily ace every class or succeed in every job. There will be times when you screw up, when you hurt the people you love, when you stray from your most deeply held values. Read more.
America’s Election HQ: Primary Races in 11 States Make for Busy Election Day Across Nation
Another round of key primaries will be held on Tuesday and incumbents are finding their seats challenged by political newcomers as well as local and state candidates in a political season marked by an anti-Washington mood.
Eleven states are holding primary contests Tuesday.
Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces off against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in a Democratic primary runoff, while in Nevada Harry Reid will finally get an opponent in the Republican race to challenge the Senate majority leader.
California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is potentially endangered, will learn her challenger as voters in the state also decide who will win the Democratic and Republican nominations for the seat being vacated by term-limited two-term Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Read more.
First victim of health care overhaul?
A Virginia-based insurance company says “considerable uncertainties” created by the Democrats’ health care overhaul will force it to close its doors by the end of the year.
The firm, nHealth, appears to be the first to claim that the new law has driven it out of business. “We don’t know what the rules are going to be and, as a start-up, our investors need certainty,” nHealth CEO and president, Paul Kitchen, told POLITICO. “The law created so much uncertainty that is beyond our control.”
In a letter to the company’s 50 or so employees last week, executive vice president James Slabaugh said nHealth has stopped accepting new group customers and will terminate all business by Dec. 31, 2010.
“The uncertainties in the regulatory climate coupled with new demands imposed by national healthcare reforms have made it challenging to sustain the level of sales required to remain viable over the long run,” Slabaugh wrote. Read more.
Timing of probe is crucial for Charlie Rangel
With the investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel nearing its second anniversary, the New York Democrat and the House ethics committee face a new challenge — the political calendar.
Rangel, a member of Congress since 1971, filed for reelection Sunday, and the Democratic primary in New York is Sept. 14.
If the ethics committee releases a damaging report on Rangel before the Sept. 14 primary, it could be a death blow to the Harlem congressman’s storied career and open the door to a serious Democratic challenge, Democratic colleagues and party strategists said.
But if the ethics committee’s findings come out after the primary, Rangel will very likely survive and win a 21st term in the House. Still, that timing would raise questions about the ethics committee’s process and whether the investigative panel was too aware of the political calendar. Read more.
Buying the lie: ‘Something for nothing’
I suppose it was just plain greed that got us to this point.
Isn’t that one of the Seven Deadly Sins? So maybe we should not be surprised to see the country brought to its knees by avarice.
But it’s not the “greedy” bankers and industrialists whom we have to blame. Remember, it’s the bankers and industrialists who create the jobs that give the rest of us an opportunity to make something of ourselves in the first place. Sure, some of them will earn their place in hell, but those few people could not bring down the whole country.
For that, we must blame ourselves. Read more.
Five economic clues to 2010 election
Yet again, it’s the economy, stupid.
Political observers of every stripe agree it will be the deciding factor in November’s midterm elections. And between now and Election Day, there will be key milestones to measure just where the economy is heading — and perhaps more importantly, where voters think it is heading.
Here are five indicators that campaign strategists will be watching for:
1. August jobs report
The government’s monthly jobs reports have become the single most important proxy to measure the economic health of the nation and the political health of the Obama administration, with a significant portion of political Washington glued to computer screens at 8:30 a.m. on the first Friday of each month, waiting for the results.
Friday’s number, for example showed that the U.S. economy generated 431,000 jobs, a number that fell short of analysts’ expectations and cast doubt on whether the country is steadily digging itself out of a deep unemployment. Voters will also keep an eye on the unemployment rate, which ticked down to 9.7 percent in May, and they will be looking for signs of progress. Read more.
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