House GOP Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) and Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.) just sent White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel a letter regarding the upcoming health-care summit:
Mr. Emanuel:We welcome President Obama’s announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks. In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on health care in an attempt to find common ground on health care, but he declined and instead chose to work with only Democrats. Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they will come to like it. Just the opposite has occurred: a majority of Americans oppose the House and Senate health care bills and want them scrapped so we can start over with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses.
Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is “absolutely not” resetting the legislative process for health care.
If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation? As the President has noted recently, Democrats continue to hold large majorities in the House and Senate, which means they can attempt to pass a health care bill at any time through the reconciliation process.
Eliminating the possibility of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to Republicans and the American people.If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand? Our ability to move forward in a bipartisan way through this discussion rests on openness and transparency. Will the President include in this discussion congressional Democrats who have opposed the House and Senate health care bills? This bipartisan discussion should reflect the bipartisan opposition to both the House bill and the kickbacks and sweetheart deals in the Senate bill. Will the President be inviting officials and lawmakers from the states to participate in this discussion?
As you may know, legislation has been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures, similar to the proposal just passed by the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate, providing that no individual may be compelled to purchase health insurance. Additionally, governors of both parties have raised concerns about the additional costs that will be passed along to states under both the House and Senate bills. The President has also mentioned his commitment to have “experts” participate in health care discussions.
Will the Feb. 25 discussion involve such “experts?” Will those experts include the actuaries at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who have determined that the both the House and Senate health care bill raise costs – just the opposite of their intended effect – and jeopardize seniors’ access to high-quality care by imposing massive Medicare cuts? Will those experts include the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which has stated that the GOP alternative would reduce premiums by up to 10 percent? Also, will Republicans be permitted to invite health care experts to participate? Finally, as you know, this is the first televised White House health care meeting involving the President since last March.
Many health care meetings of the closed-door variety have been held at the White House since then, including one where a sweetheart deal was worked out with union leaders. Will the special interest groups that the Obama Administration has cut deals with be included in this televised discussion?Of course, Americans have been dismayed by the fact that the President has broken his own pledge to hold televised health care talks. We can only hope this televised discussion is the beginning, not the end, of attempting to correct that mistake. Will the President require that any and all future health care discussions, including those held on Capitol Hill, meet this common-sense standard of transparency and openness?
Your answers to these critical questions will help determine whether this will be a truly open, bipartisan discussion or merely an intramural exercise before Democrats attempt to jam through a job-killing health care bill that the American people can’t afford and don’t support. ‘Bipartisanship’ is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support. Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means.These questions are also designed to try and make sense of the widening gap between the President’s rhetoric on bipartisanship and the reality. We cannot help but notice that each of the President’s recent bipartisan overtures has been coupled with harsh, misleading partisan attacks. For instance, the President decries Republican ‘obstruction’ when it was Republicans who first proposed bipartisan health care talks last May.
The President says Republicans are ‘sitting on the sidelines’ just days after holding up our health care alternative and reading from it word for word. The President has every right to use his bully pulpit as he sees fit, but this is the kind of credibility gap that has the American people so fed up with business as usual in Washington.We look forward to receiving your answers and continuing to discuss ways we can move forward in a bipartisan manner to address the challenges facing the American people.
Sincerely,
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Feb. 4
On the evening if the first day, we gathered in the main hall for mingling and hors d’oevres. There, we ran into good people from Cherokee County, Cleveland County, Henderson County, and Polk County. Meet Debbie Arcenaeux of Polk County 9.12 Project:
The featured speaker that evening was former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo. While many of his remarks, especially those about the education system in America, were on target, Congressman Tancredo’s speech was met with mixed reviews and was, of course, portrayed by the media as jingoistic and racist.
The speech would likely have been objectionable to Progressives, Socialists, supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants, and opponents of the preservation of American culture, but it was not racist. If I could find the entire speech anywhere online, I would post it here. Apparently, it doesn’t serve the media’s purpose to publish the entire speech in context. Here is part of the speech.
Feb.5
On the second day, after breakfast and a short speech by Memphis Tea Party organizer Mark Skoda, we broke out into sessions. We attended the Leadership Institute’s training session on using new media. This class was led by one of the media directors of the wildly successful Scott Brown campaign. In it, we learned more about the effective use of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Google AdWords, Google Docs, Google Forms, Google News Alerts, online petitions and polls, Ning, Drop.io, and text messaging services such as Tatango. This class was a great value and many of the ideas put forward are things that Asheville Tea PAC will be able to use effectively in the upcoming Congressional campaign.
We then went to lunch where we heard speeches by Judge Roy Moore, candidate for Alabama Governor, and Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. Tom Fitton’s speech was extremely informative. Asheville Tea Party members should definitely avail themselves of the information provided by Judicial Watch at their website.
After lunch, David DeGerolamo and I conducted a breakout session on “How To Unite State Tea Party Groups.” The session was well attended and received. After we finished our presentation (without PowerPoints because the IT guy never showed up) we took questions. When the hour allotted for our session was up, the participants agreed that they wanted more of this topic and material. We inquired of Judson Phillips, the convention organizer, if it would be possible to hold another session during the free period the next day and he provided us a room and a three hour time period.
At dinner, we heard from Congressional Candidate and media personality Angela McGlowan and WND founder Joseph Farah. McGlowan’s speech was inspiring. Farah’s speech was almost entirely devoted to challenging the authenticity of the President’s birth certificate. This was a disappointment to me and, I believe, a negative contribution to the Tea Party Convention.
Fortunately, what followed eclipsed Farah’s speech completely. We had the privilege of screening an as-yet-unreleased movie, Generation Zero. This movie which will be released in select theaters in the coming weeks, is a jaw dropping assessment of our current economic straits, presented in a way that holds you visually captive. I had the opportunity to speak to Stephen K. Bannon, the man behind the movie, at the close of the convention and found him to be sincere and passionate about his work. He wants this movie to not only be a tool for education and motivation, but a source of pride for the Tea Party movement which he feels is heir to the Ronald Reagan legacy. As soon as the film is available on DVD, Asheville Tea Party will host a public viewing.
Feb.6
On the morning of the third day, we heard from Amy Kremer, early leader in the Tea Party movement and one of the organizers of Tea Party Express. We also were treated to a speech from Andrew Breitbart, founder of BigHollywood.com, BigJournalism.com, BigGovernment.com, and Breitbart.tv. Andrew’s speech was amazing and, as he brought the crowd to its feet over and over again, his words brought the mainstream media to its knees. We are so pleased and proud that Andrew Breitbart counts himself among us. I had a chance to speak to him and, hopefully, have persuaded him that Asheville should be one of his next stops in his busy travel schedule.
After Breitbart’s total evisceration of the the mainstream media, we had a Panel Discussion. Our own David DeGerolamo, founder of NCFreedom, was a member of the three person panel answering questions from the general audience. The other two panelists were Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express and Mark Skoda of Memphis Tea Party. Videos of the panel discussion are available here and here.
After the panel discussion and lunch, we returned to the meeting rooms for our second session of “How To Unite State Tea Party Groups.” We presented the material with PowerPoint slides this time and took a few questions. Then, we broke up into four geographical regions to discuss amongst ourselves what works, what doesn’t, and what’s next. After a half hour, we reconvened and Judson Phillips joined us. At this session, we discussed how to use Tea Party Nation’s website as a hub of communication for the nation’s Tea Parties and where to begin with networking. In the coming weeks, we will be developing this network further with Tea Party Nation and devising a Toolkit for Tea Party organizers to use in their efforts to organize their states for improved communication. Also at this session, we had a chance to utilize a new media tool we learned about in the Leadership Institute session.
The day was capped off by dinner, a performance by singer/songwritier/patriot Jon David, and a rousing speech by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin’s much anticipated speech carried no hint of an attempt to coopt the Tea Party movement for personal or political gain. Much to the contrary, Governor Palin extolled the benefit of the Tea Party not having a national leader or spokesperson in that we are a force for change in both parties and across ideological boundaries. You can see her entire speech here.
Much to my great pleasure, the convention ended without a single mention of the formation of a Tea Party political party. It was entirely devoted to opening up lines of communication among patriot groups, encouraging the movement, and moving forward using strategies that work. There was no heavy handed partisanship on display and no divisiveness or conflict among members. If my schedule permits, I will gladly accept the invitation I received from Judson Phillips to present another session on “Uniting a State” with David DeGerolamo at the next Tea Party Convention in July.
Party on, Asheville Tea Party!
Angela McGlowan, author of Bamboozled, speaks at the National Tea Party Convention.
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McGlowan to enter north Miss. congressional race
Associated Press | February 5, 2010
Fox News analyst Angela McGlowan is expected to announce her candidacy for Congress when she makes five stops in north Mississippi’s 1st District next week.
Andrew Breitbart Introduces Sarah Palin at Tea Party Convention
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Sarah Palin interviewed
by Chris Wallace | Fox News | February 7, 2010 [video]
CHRIS WALLACE: Why wouldn’t you run for president? SARAH PALIN: I would. I would if I believed that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family, certainly. I would do so.
Andrew Breitbart [video]
The Tea Party movement says, “Don’t Tread on Me.”
It Will Be as if the American Founding Never Happened from the Heritage Foundation:
Forget George Washington, James Madison, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln—nothing meaningful happened in America before 1877.
That’s the lesson North Carolina public high schools are teaching. New changes in their high school history curriculum, the U.S. History course (which seniors take), will cover events from 1877 forward only.
It will be as if the American Founding never happened.
According to Rebecca Garland, the chief academic officer for North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the goal of this change is to teach what students will feel connected to, “where they see the big idea, where they are able to make connections and draw relationships between parts of our history and the present day.”
By implication, nothing before 1877 has any meaning to students: the Declaration of Independence that proclaims the self evident truths of equality, natural rights, and consent of the governed; the Constitution that establishes the rule of law and the framework in which we exercise our liberty; the Civil War in which Abraham Lincoln defended the principles of the American Founding and ended the institution of slavery. These events are irrelevant for today’s students.
We need to get (in the immortal words of the late Jim Varney) a lit-tul-bit rowdy over this. You know what I mean, Vern?
Dr. Rebecca Garland, Chief Academic Officer
Academic Services and Instructional Support
6368 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-6368
Telephone: (919) 807-3200
Fax: (919) 807-4065
rgarland@dpi.state.nc.us
The Brilliance of That Hayek vs. Keynes Rap
Jeffrey A. Tucker | Mises Institute | February 05, 2010
The beauty of new media is its capacity for showing us what we otherwise might miss. Fear the Boom and Bust, a YouTube video made by producer John Papola and economist Russ Roberts, and backed by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, turns this advantage to the point of genius, pitting Keynes and Hayek against each other in a rap that captures a reality few have fully understood until now.
Already, the video has been viewed a half million times and has made international news. Aside from its high production values, what’s remarkable about it is its theoretical accuracy and transparency. It has brought Austrian business-cycle theory from the background to the forefront of debate…
Brown Swearing-In Likely To Foil NLRB Nominee
By Sean Higgins | Investor’s Business Daily | February 4, 2010
Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts is set to be sworn in today to take the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat. Brown requested the event be moved forward a week in a letter to state officials, saying there were Senate votes he wanted to participate in. Key among them was the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.
Becker has served as a top attorney with the Service Employees International Union. Its chief, Andy Stern, is a close ally of the White House. The nomination was widely seen as payback for Big Labor’s support of President Obama in the 2008 election. SEIU was the first major union to come out in support of Obama.
With the stalling of the pro-union card check legislation, concern mounted among big-business leaders that Becker’s appointment would allow the NLRB to enact pro-labor policies through regulation rather than legislation…
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Craig Becker’s Nomination: A Threat To Freedom
by Katie Packer | January 29, 2010
And now that Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts will block their pathway for Senate passage of EFCA, labor bosses are frantically searching for a Plan B, a way to bypass the legislative process and obtain the “payback” they believe they are owed. That vehicle to forced unionization outside of Congress has a name. That name is Craig Becker.
Media descends on Nashville for first national Tea Party Convention
By Alex Pappas | The Daily Caller | 02/04/10
At Nashville’s Gaylord Hotel, where grassroots activists who each paid more than $500 to attend the first National Tea Party Convention will convene this afternoon, the national press has descended — despite initial reports that most media outlets would be barred from the Tennessee Ballroom.
“Unlike the promises of this administration, we actually have C-SPAN covering our convention,” convention spokesman Mark A. Skoda said.
“We desire transparency at this convention and have worked with media that are friendly to the Tea Party movement as well as those that have not been seen to be supportive of our efforts.”
Skoda said of the 120 media organizations that asked to cover the convention, the group credentialed 111 members of the press. A notable exception was the host city’s own paper, the Tennessean…
The Asheville Tea Party figures prominently in the latest edition of the Asheville Daily Planet. Pick one up.
The Planet has a cover story on the Tea Party protests of the Asheville Regional Airport Authority board member’s recent junket to Hawaii. Aloha!
Photo by Daily Planet Staff
And we have placed a quarter-page color ad in the paper announcing the upcoming political debate to take place in March.
Jane Q.
snopercod
timpeck
