Thread: Six reasons why Mike Lee’s tea party response to the State of the Union was amazing

Six reasons why Mike Lee’s tea party response to the State of the Union was amazing

11:09 PM 01/28/2014
Patrick Howley

Utah Sen. Mike Lee delivered a pretty amazing tea party response to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Lee’s speech was completely separate from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ official GOP response to the State of the Union.

Here are six reasons why Lee’s speech should be hand-delivered to every single Republican lawmaker and also broadcast most hours of the day on stadium Jumbo-trons and that big TV screen in the middle of Times Square:

1. Slammed establishment Republicans
“In the few minutes I have tonight — I’d like to speak especially to those Americans who may feel they have been forgotten by both political parties. Those individuals and families who work hard, play by the rules, balance their budgets, honor the Golden Rule … and don’t understand why their government in Washington can’t do the same.
… To be fair, President Obama and his party did not create all of these problems. The Republican Establishment in Washington can be just as out-of-touch as the Democratic Establishment.”

2. Called for protest and cited the Founding Fathers
“I believe we need to do what Americans have always done — come together and press for positive change. Protesting against dysfunctional government is a great American tradition, going back to the original tea party in Boston, about 240 years ago. Americans have a natural instinct to stand up and speak out when they know something is wrong.
In 1773, Americans had simply had it with a London-based national government that had become too big, too expensive and far too intrusive …”

3. FINALLY offered a populist Republican explanation of economic inequality
“This inequality crisis presents itself in three principal forms: immobility among the poor, who are being trapped in poverty by big-government programs; insecurity in the middle class, where families are struggling just to get by and can’t seem to get ahead; and cronyist privilege at the top, where political and economic insiders twist the immense power of the federal government to profit at the expense of everyone else.
… [Inequality is] guaranteeing insurance companies taxpayer bailouts if Obamacare cuts into their profits.
Inequality is blocking thousands of middle-class jobs in the energy industry as a favor to partisan donors and radical environmental activists.
… But where does this new inequality come from? From government — every time it takes rights and opportunities away from the American people and gives them instead to politicians, bureaucrats and special interests.”

4. Emphasized education, a social issue Republicans have won on in the past, and can win on again in the future (Repeat: education, education)
“Inequality — real inequality — is trapping poor children in failing schools to benefit bureaucrats and union bosses.
… Sen. John Cornyn has legislation that would empower states to improve K-12 education across the country. Sen. Tim Scott has reforms to improve our job-training programs. And I’ve introduced a bill to modernize higher education, making it more accessible and affordable for lower-income and non-traditional students.”

5. Pushed tates’ rights (READ: Also a great way to get out of the social issues debate, which Republicans are not winning)
“It’s denying citizens their right to define marriage in their states as traditionally or as broadly as their diverse values dictate.”

6. Don’t spy on Mike Lee
“[Inequality is] changing laws without congressional approval, and spying on American citizens without constitutional authority.”

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/28/si...e-was-amazing/

Common sense but so good to hear from anyone in DC.

AP Fact Check Pulverizes Obama State of the Union



Full Transcript: Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address

AP Fact Check Pulverizes Obama State of the Union

Fact Check Highlights Misstatements in Speech


President Obama declares that through executive orders he will turn America around this year. But looking at the Stock market this morning, it’s apparent that Wall Street isn’t buying into more empty promises from Obama.
President Barack Obama promised to clear red tape away from highway projects that actually are stalled because there’s no money for them, not because rules are in the way. He’s ordering a higher minimum wage for a sliver of the workforce, which affects no one now and not many later.
Going it alone — without Congress making a law — just doesn’t go as far as Obama made it sound at times Tuesday night in his State of the Union speech.
And when he talked about his health care law — a source of Obama misstatements in the past — he hit another fact bump.
A look at some of the facts and political circumstances behind his claims, along with a glance at the Republican response:

OBAMA: “Because of this (health care) law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma, back pain or cancer. No woman can ever be charged more just because she’s a woman. And we did all this while adding years to Medicare’s finances, keeping Medicare premiums flat, and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors.”
THE FACTS: Some Medicare premiums have gone up, not stayed flat.
Republican Response to State of the UnionPlay videoRepublican Response to State of the Union
As Obama said, insurers can no longer turn people down because of medical problems, and they can’t charge higher premiums to women because of their sex. The law also lowered costs for seniors with high prescription drug bills. But Medicare’s monthly premium for outpatient care has gone up in recent years.
Although the basic premium remained the same this year at $104.90, it increased by $5 a month in 2013, up from $99.90 in 2012. Obama’s health care law also raised Medicare premiums for upper-income beneficiaries, and both the president and Republicans have proposed to expand that.
Finally, the degree to which the health care law improved Medicare finances is hotly debated. On paper, the program’s giant trust fund for inpatient care gained more than a decade of solvency because of cuts to service providers required under the health law. But in practice those savings cannot simultaneously be used to expand coverage for the uninsured and shore up Medicare.
___
OBAMA: “Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled.”
THE FACTS: The most recent evidence suggests that mobility hasn’t worsened. A team of economists led by Harvard’s Raj Chetty released a study last week that found the United States isn’t any less socially mobile than it was in the 1970s. Looking at children born between 1971 and 1993, the economists found that the odds of a child born in the poorest 20 percent of families making it into the top 20 percent hasn’t changed.
“We find that children entering the labor market today have the same chances of moving up in the income distribution (relative to their parents) as children born in the 1970s,” the authors said.
Still, other research has found that the United States isn’t as mobile a society as most Americans would like to believe. In a study of 22 countries, economist Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa found that the United States ranked 15th in social mobility. Only Italy and Britain among wealthy countries ranked lower. By some measures, children in the United States are as likely to inherit their parents’ economic status as their height.
OBAMA: “We’ll need Congress to protect more than 3 million jobs by finishing transportation and waterways bills this summer. But I will act on my own to slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process for key projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible.”
THE FACTS: Cutting rules and regulations doesn’t address what’s holding up most transportation projects, which is lack of money. The federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of money in August without action. To finance infrastructure projects, Obama wants Congress to raise taxes on businesses that keep profits or jobs overseas, but that idea has been a political nonstarter.
The number of projects affected by the administration’s efforts to cut red tape is relatively small, said Joshua Schank, president and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank. “The reason most of these projects are delayed is they don’t have enough money. So it’s great that you are expediting the review process, but the review process isn’t the problem. The problem is we don’t have enough money to invest in our infrastructure in the first place.”
___
OBAMA: “More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.”
THE FACTS: That’s not to say 9 million more Americans have gained insurance under the law.
President Obama: Women Deserve Equal PayPlay videoPresident Obama: Women Deserve Equal Pay
The administration says about 6 million people have been determined to be eligible for Medicaid since Oct. 1 and an additional 3 million roughly have signed up for private health insurance through the new markets created by the health care law. That’s where Obama’s number of 9 million comes from. But it’s unclear how many in the Medicaid group were already eligible for the program or renewing existing coverage.
Likewise, it’s not known how many of those who signed up for private coverage were previously insured. A large survey released last week suggests the numbers of uninsured gaining coverage may be smaller. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate for U.S. adults dropped by 1.2 percentage points in January, to 16.1 percent. That would translate to roughly 2 million to 3 million newly insured people since the law’s coverage expansion started Jan. 1.
___
OBAMA: “In the coming weeks, I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour, because if you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.”
THE FACTS: This would be a hefty boost in the federal minimum wage, now $7.25, but not many would see it.
Most employees of federal contractors already earn more than $10.10. About 10 percent of those workers, roughly 200,000, might be covered by the higher minimum wage. But there are several wrinkles. The increase would not take effect until 2015 at the earliest and it doesn’t apply to existing federal contracts, only new ones. Renewed contracts also will be exempt from Obama’s order unless other terms of the agreement change, such as the type of work or number of employees needed.
Obama also said he’ll press Congress to raise the federal minimum wage overall. He tried that last year, seeking a $9 minimum, but Congress didn’t act.
Bottom line is Obama is a master of decption and king of lies. Read between the lines before drawing any conclusions.
Critical Reads: More News Mainstream Media Chooses To Ignore By Josey Wales, Click Here!




http://beforeitsnews.com/obama/2014/...rticalresponse

Income tax is the ultimate tool of redistribution and funds an elitist Goliath money sponge.

Mike Lee’s Tea Party Response To Obama’s SOTU Address: Both Parties Are Out Of Touch

January 30, 2014 by Personal Liberty News Desk

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave the official Tea Party response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday. He delivered a critical assessment not only of the President’s unapologetic dedication to expanding the reach of government, but of his own party’s inability to reflect the values of most Americans.

“To be fair, President Obama and his party did not create all of these problems. The Republican establishment in Washington can be just as out-of-touch as the Democratic establishment,” Lee observed.

Lee’s response may not have been endorsed by the GOP establishment, but that didn’t stop him from offering a number of common-sense alternatives and solutions not only to problems Obama has already created, but also to many of the new statist proposals the President tried to sell Tuesday evening.

Here’s Lee’s response in its entirety:



Filed Under: Conservative Politics, Government, Liberty News, Staff Reports

http://personalliberty.com/2014/01/3...-out-of-touch/