Fates of 2005’s top ten RINOs should alarm GOP purists

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In recent years, many conservatives have blamed RINOs – Republicans in name only – for the recent Republican failures at the polls as well as for the failure of the GOP to stop the explosive growth in government. The use of RINOs as a target and scapegoat is not new and predates the advent of the Tea Party. But are RINOs really to blame for Republican Party’s woes and would the party be better off if RINOs were kicked out?

In 2005, four years before Barack Obama became president and sparked the Tea Party movement, Human Events published a list of that year’s top ten most wanted RINOs. Where are these RINOs today? Have they been replaced by Tea Party inspired conservatives or are they still subverting the Republican Party from within?

 

Read the full article on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Advice to GOP candidates: ‘It’s the economy and Obamacare, stupid’

 

 

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As this year’s midterm primary and general elections approach, analysts in many quarters are preparing for a sweeping Republican victory that may fundamentally change the balance of power in Washington, D.C. The collapse of Obamacare at the starting line, a faltering economy and deteriorating conditions around the world from Syria to the Ukraine make a Democratic implosion seem all but assured. In fact, to paraphrase cartoonist Walt Kelly, the greatest threat to a Republican victory may be the Republican candidates themselves.

 

2012 was proof that, even if voters are dissatisfied with Democrats, they still need a reason to vote for Republicans. Merely being opposed to Obamacare and higher taxes will not be enough in many cases.  Voters are not flocking to the GOP even though approval of Obama and the Democrats is falling.  In 2012, several flawed Republican candidates who did not connect with voters – or worse, alienated them – preserved Democratic control of the Senate for at least two more long years.

 

Read the full article on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Ann Coulter denounces ‘shysters’ who attack ‘establishment’ GOP

On Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on February 19, guest Ann Coulter and Hannity got into a heated discussion about the nature of the Tea Party on its fifth anniversary.  While both are Tea Party supporters, Coulter differentiated between “people in America who call themselves Tea Partiers [who] are fantastic” and the “con men and scamsters” who “trick good Americans into sending them money, claiming we are fighting for you and they aren’t fighting for you.”

“Basically anyone who claims to be going after establishment Republicans, the key word there is ‘Republican,’” Coulter said.  “If we don’t elect Republicans, I don’t care which Republican, we will not repeal Obamacare.”  She continued, “The only way to repeal Obamacare is to elect Republicans.  It is not to be fighting against Republicans.”

Read the full article and see the video on National Elections Examiner

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Poll: Americans still like Obama. His policies? Not so much.

A new poll by AP-GfK released on Jan. 23 reveals that even though most Americans like Barack Obama personally, many think that he is a poor president. The poll found that while Obama’s image has rebounded in the months since the government shutdown, people are still pessimistic about the economy and the direction of the country.

The poll showed that President Obama’s likability had increased by nine percent since the end of the government shutdown in October. Fifty-eight percent of Americans now view the president as very or somewhat likeable.

 

Read the full article on National Elections Examiner

Obamacare won’t cause beheadings (does this really need to be said?)

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A new rumor about Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, making its rounds on the internet is that the law will make beheadingan official method of execution in the United States. The rumor, apparently has its origin in an article by Lorri Anderson on the Freedom Outpost on Nov. 18, 2013, about international medical codes. Conspiracy sites claim that a medical code for “legal execution” reveals that beheading and decapitation are coming to the United States. The Freedom Outpost is a conservative pseudo-news site that has articles on birtherism, nullification and otherconspiracy theories.

Anderson’s article refers to a medical code, “ICD 9 E 978,” that conspiracy theorists believe purports to list the legal methods of execution in the United States. The definition of the coding is found on CentralX.com under “International Classification of Diseases” and is as follows:

E978 Legal execution

All executions performed at the behest of the judiciary or ruling authority
[whether permanent or temporary] as:
asphyxiation by gas
beheading, decapitation (by guillotine)
capital punishment
electrocution
hanging
poisoning
shooting
other specified means
INJURY UNDETERMINED WHETHER ACCIDENTALLY OR PURPOSELY INFLICTED

 

Read the rest on Examiner.com

See my hat tip from Politifact

Relax. Obamacare doesn’t bring beheadings to US.

Kim Traynor / Wikimedia

A new rumor about Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, making its rounds on the internet is that the law will make beheading an official method of execution in the United States. The rumor, apparently started by Lorri Anderson on the Freedom Outpost on Nov. 18, 2013, claims that a medical code for “legal execution” reveals that beheading and decapitation are coming to the United States. The Freedom Outpost is a conservative pseudo-news site that promotes birtherism, nullification as well as other conspiracy stories.

Anderson claims that a medical code, “ICD 9 E 978,” purports to list the legal methods of execution in the United States. The definition of the coding is found on CentralX.comunder “International Classification of Diseases” and is as follows:

 

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

High premiums and cancellations – not website problems–are real Obamacare scandals

The continuing revelations of the meltdown of the Obamacare website have obscured news of a problem that is much more difficult and perhaps impossible to fix with President Obama’s namesake health care plan. New information suggests that there are at least three separate problems that threaten the viability of the entire Obamacare premise. In fact, early signs point to the possibility that more Americans will be uninsured under Obamacare than before. As Rep. John Barasso (R-Wy.) said on the Sunday, Oct. 27 edition of ABC’s “This Week, the problems with Healthcare.gov are “the tip of the iceberg.”

First and most obvious, health insurance premiums have not decreased due to the Affordable Care Act as Barack Obama promised. Instead, an analysis of HHS data byForbes found that few Americans will see decreases in average premiums. The HHS data, which detailed premiums for 27-year-olds and the average-age exchange participant for each state, found that premiums for the younger group would increase by an average 97 percent for men and 55 percent for women. Forty-year-olds, which were used to approximate the average participant, saw an increase of 99 percent for men and 62 percent for women.

Read the rest on Examiner.com

Millions of poorest Americans get no Obamacare subsidies

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Lost among reports of the difficulties of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges is the news that President Obama’s health insurance reform law is actually making it harder for the very poor to get insurance coverage. The architecture of the law and the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision that struck down a portion of the Affordable Care Act have combined to create a gap for low income Americans that deprives them of Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies as well as no-cost coverage under Medicaid.

Danielle Morgan, the 23-year-old married mother of four in North Carolina, is one of those affected. Danielle’s husband is a full-time Bible college student with no income. Danielle told Examiner that she works to support their family, but her employer does not offer health insurance. The family has not had health insurance in the past, but Danielle was hopeful that the new health insurance marketplaces would allow her to purchase an affordable policy for her family and avoid Obamacare’s fine.

 

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Government shutdown lessons for the GOP

Ted Cruz (Gage Skidmore)

The Republican Party suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Barack Obama yesterday. The Republicans essentially got nothing in the deal to end the government shutdown and were barely able to keep the spending caps of the sequestration, one of their few victories, in place.

The past few weeks have seen Republican approval plummet to record lows in several polls including those by Gallup and NBC News/Wall Street Journal. A new Pew pollreleased Oct. 16 shows that Tea Party support among Republicans has fallen by nine points since June. Independents disapprove of the Tea Party by a 19 point margin. GOP supporters feel betrayed by the deal. Reactions range from anger at “RINOs” or the Tea Party to resignation that the Republican Party is totally ineffective and unworthy of support.

While there is very little upside to the debacle in the short term for Republicans, it does provide them with a few hard lessons to learn. If the GOP can take these lessons to heart, it may eventually save itself and the turn the country around in the process.

Read the rest on  Atlanta Conservative Examiner

A path forward for Republicans

Ted Cruz (Gage Skidmore)

As the government shutdown goes through its third week, poll after poll indicates that Republicans are taking the brunt of the blame. AsExaminer noted last week, an NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll found approval of the Republican Party at a historic low. Generic congressional polls (summarized on Real Clear Politics), which have been in a dead heat all year, have turned against Republicans since the shutdown. Recent polling shows a consistent advantage for Democratic candidates.

Through it all, Republicans have made no headway in defunding the Affordable Care Act. In fact, the negotiations to reopen the government have shifted toward a new Democratic demand to undo the sequester cuts from last January. The sequester represented a rare GOP victory during the Obama era. It also worked. As Stephen Moore pointed out in theWall St. Journal, the sequester law actually reduced spending and cut the deficit by about half. Removing the sequester’s spending limits would represent a major defeat for Republicans.

The government shutdown also tarnishes the Republican reputation for fiscal responsibility, an area where Republicans polled well before the shutdown. The shutdown is costing an estimated $160 million per day on the conservative side. Higher estimates rise to more than $1 billion per day in lost growth and other factors. To add insult to injury,the House voted last week to give furloughed federal workers their back pay, which means that federal workers will be paid for doing nothing if the Senate passes the bill.

 

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner