Is There An Obama ForgeryGate? Are Some Republicans Afraid To Hold Him Accountable? Congressman Grilled

Tom Ballantyne Jr., Author of “Oh Really, O’Reilly?” asks Republican Congressman Jeff Flake about his stand on the investigation of Barack Obama’s Birth Certificate and Selective Service Card by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Western Journalism contributor Tom Ballantyne Jr., author of “Oh Really, O’Reilly?“, went to a meeting of the Red Mountain Tea Party in Arizona on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. Although cameras were not allowed into the meeting, Tom was able to sneak in a recording device.

Republican Congressmen Jeff Flake was asked about his views on the controversy revolving around Barack Obama’s “forged” birth certificate and selective service card that the mainstream media on both sides seeks to hide. The subject seems taboo to some. Has the Obama camp and some in the controlled media effectively controlled the narrative? Is the controversy growing because of the attempt to spin the message concerning Obama’s questionable documents? Hear Sheriff Joe Arpaio opinion on the matter below.

House votes to repeal part of Obamacare

House votes to repeal part of Obama health care law

By Staff Reporter
AFP American Edition

Mar 22, 2012 19:16 EDT

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal a key measure of Obama’s health care reform, a symbolic move on the historic law’s second anniversary.

The bill, adopted by lawmakers 223-181, including seven Democrats, would scrap a 15-member panel established to control costs for elderly beneficiaries of the government-run Medicare program.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is one of several elements of the Obama-backed Affordable Care Act — nicknamed “Obamacare” by critics — that have encountered vehement opposition from Republicans.

“The president and I do agree on this: the current Medicare reimbursement system is broken,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told the House. “But we do not need a board of unelected bureaucrats to control costs.”

The bill is sure to die in the Senate, which is currently controlled by Democrats who supported Obama’s health care reform plan.

However, the bill revives a battle over the landmark legislation less than eight months before the presidential election.

Supporters of the legislative proposal say IPAB will be crucial in keeping costs down once the entire law comes into effect two years from now, acting as a backstop on unlimited entitlement growth.

Critics say the panel’s efforts to control costs will ultimately be used to deny care to seniors.

The top Democrat in the House, Nancy Pelosi, called Thursday’s legislation “a cynical political ploy — and I know that America’s seniors will not be fooled by it.”

Shortly after Republicans took control of the House in early 2011, they voted to repeal the entire bill, but that effort failed in the Senate.

Thursday’s House vote comes just days before a review by the Supreme Court, which will determine whether the bill’s measures, including a mandate that everyone have or purchase health insurance, are constitutional.

Source: AFP American Edition

Video: Republicans Vow to Reverse Obama Birth Control Policy

Republicans are vowing to reverse Barack Obama’s new policy on birth control, blasting the rule that religious schools and hospitals must provide contraceptive coverage for their employees as an attack on religious freedom. (Feb. 8)

Video: Fast and Furious – Flawed Gun-smuggling Investigation – Eric Holder, Republicans Square Off Over Documents

Disgraced Attorney General Eric Holder squared off with Republicans on a House committee who are demanding the Justice Department turn over documents about its handling of congressional inquiries into a flawed gun-smuggling investigation. (Feb. 2)

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Attorney General Eric Holder will go before a Senate committee on Tuesday to face Senate over gun sting “Operation Fast and Furious”

Attorney general to face Senate over gun sting

Jeremy Pelofsky

Reuters US Online Report Domestic News

Nov 08, 2011 00:29 EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Attorney General Eric Holder will go before a Senate committee on Tuesday where he will likely be asked about a botched operation that was meant to track gun smuggling to top Mexican drug cartels.

Holder has been in a war of words with congressional Republicans over “Operation Fast and Furious” for months, leading to demands from some critics that he step down.

Lawmakers want to know who approved letting so-called straw purchasers buy nearly 2,000 guns for the cartels and who knew about it. The attorney general has said he only knew about it after controversy erupted. Republicans have expressed doubts.

So far, no evidence has come to light showing that Holder read 100-plus page memos that briefly and broadly referred to the operation, or that his senior aides knew either.

Excerpts of Holder’s remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee, released in advance, reiterate past statements about “Fast and Furious” — that it was flawed and that more needs to be done to stem gun trafficking. Holder will almost assuredly be asked what he knew and when.

“This operation was flawed in concept, as well as in execution … This should never have happened,” Holder plans to say according to excerpts released on Monday.

“Like each of you, I want to know why and how firearms that should have been under surveillance could wind up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels,” he says in the prepared statement.

Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives who have been investigating the scandal have excoriated Holder, saying he should have known about it. Some have gone so far as to demand his resignation.

To coincide with the Senate hearing on Tuesday, the powerful gun lobbying group the National Rifle Association has begun running an 60-second advertisement on cable television calling for Holder’s resignation as well.

OBAMA BACKS HOLDER

That is unlikely. Obama said a month ago that he fully supported Holder despite the controversy.

Holder’s prepared remarks also offered veiled criticism toward Republicans, saying he wanted their shared concerns about the bungled operation to lead to more than “gotcha games” and “cynical political point scoring”.

He urged Congress to provide more resources to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to crack down on guns being smuggled to Mexico.

He said “Fast and Furious” highlighted that “we are losing the battle to stop the flow of illegal guns to Mexico.”

The debacle came to light after a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed in a shootout with illegal immigrants on the border. Two of the weapons at the scene were tied to the operation. It was not clear if they fired the fatal shot.

The controversy about the operation, which ran from late 2009 until Terry was killed in December 2010, led to a shakeup at the Phoenix offices of the Justice Department and ATF.

Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has questioned whether Holder misled Congress when he said in May he only learned of the operation and its tactics just weeks earlier. The Justice Department has said he stands by his comments.

“I hope he comes to the Judiciary Committee with a willingness to be forthcoming in answering some difficult questions,” Grassley said in a statement.

In a further bid to blunt some of the criticism, Justice Department officials have pointed to a similar sting, dubbed “Wide Receiver”, during the previous Bush administration in which guns were allowed to be illegally taken to Mexico.

One of Holder’s top aides, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division Lanny Breuer, was told about the “Wide Receiver” program in early 2010 and last week expressed regret for not alerting others to gun smuggling tactics used.

Source: Reuters US Online Report Domestic News

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Virginia state Senate election may be signal for Obama

Ian Simpson

Reuters US Online Report Politics News

Nov 05, 2011 12:16 EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Virginia’s state Senate elections next week are shaping up as an early signal for President Barack Obama ahead of national elections next year.

Republicans have a strong shot at taking control of the state Senate from Democrats on Tuesday, political analysts said. A win would put state government solidly in Republican hands in an important swing state, and mark a sharp turnaround from 2008, when Obama became the first Democrat to win Virginia since 1964.

Political analysts said loss of the 40-seat state Senate to Republicans would be a bad sign for Obama as he seeks to win Virginia and its 13 electoral votes next year.

In 2009 Republicans won the governorship, previously held by a Democrat, and increased their majority in the House of Delegates. A Senate majority would complete Republican control of the state.

“I think the odds are strongly in favor of the Republicans taking control of the Senate,” said Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University.

“It is a very key, important state, and political observers around the country will be watching Virginia as an important bellwether.”

Underscoring the state’s significance, Obama toured Virginia last month, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has visited a northern Virginia campaign office, and former President Bill Clinton held a campaign fund-raiser for Democratic state Senate candidates.

The Democrats now control the Senate by a 22-18 margin. Although local issues such as gun control, traffic jams and education dominate the races, some Republican candidates have made Obama and his handling of the sluggish national economy an issue.

GIVE ME SPACE

With the president’s most recent Gallup poll approval rating in Virginia stagnant at 46 percent, at least some Democrats are seeking to put space between themselves and the president.

Asked if voters were linking her to Obama’s perceived shortfalls, Senator Yvonne Miller, a Democratic incumbent running unopposed in southeastern Virginia, near Norfolk, said: “I’m not representing anybody but the people in this electoral district.”

She added: “Obama does not sit in Richmond, do you understand that, sir?”

Senator Phil Puckett, a Democrat seeking re-election in coal-producing southwestern Virginia, has distanced himself from Obama over environmental issues. He has said he will not support Obama’s reelection.

Spending in the Senate races had reached almost $32 million by October 26, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), which tracks campaign financing.

Dave Rexrode, executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, said the party was “completely on the offensive” as Democrats moved away from Obama.

“Across the state, he is not a popular figure,” Rexrode said. “I do think it (the election) will have national implications.”

ZOMBIE OBAMA

In one attack on the president, the local Republican party in Loudoun County, on the outskirts of the Washington metropolitan area, sent out a Halloween email depicting Obama as a zombie with a bullet hole in his forehead.

After an outcry over the email, the county’s Republican chairman apologized and the party’s local communications director resigned.

Brian Moran, chairman of Virginia’s Democratic Party, said he was confident his party would keep control of the Senate since many candidates were incumbents and more moderate than Republicans.

He downplayed the impact of the Senate race on Virginia’s electoral votes next year.

“There is a lot of time between now and next year to make conclusions on where Virginia is in terms of its politics,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Matthew A. Ward in Portsmouth, Virginia; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)

Source: Reuters US Online Report Politics News