House Repeals ObamaCare 249 to 189

Yes… the House of Representatives voted 249 to 189 to repeal ObamaCare, but Harry Reid has already said that he has no plans to bring the same bill to vote in the Senate, but Mitch McConnell says they will keep working at it until they do get a vote on repeal.

Please sign John McCain’s Repeal and Replace Obamacare petition below:

My Friends,

Today, the House of Representatives voted in favor of repealing Obamacare, bringing us one step closer to overturning the government takeover of healthcare that was signed into law last year.

The repeal bill will come to the U.S. Senate very soon, giving us very little time to take action in order to pass the repeal. Before the House vote occurred, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the other Senate Democrats vowed to block any repeal in the Senate.

Since supporters of the bill hold a majority in the Senate, we must act quickly and decisively to send a message that a majority of Americans support repealing this healthcare takeover by the government.

That's why I am launching Country First PAC's "Repeal and Replace Obamacare" petition, and I ask that you take a moment today to follow this link and sign this petition.

We must join together to show Senators from both parties that support for this repeal is strong. If Obamacare is not repealed and replaced, it will bankrupt our nation through tax increases and expensive burdens on small businesses. With an estimated price tag of $2.6 trillion over 10 years, this law will leave our children and grandchildren with even more debt. This amounts to generational theft and I pledge to do everything in my power to gather support for the repealing and replacing Obamacare.

But I need to know that you stand with me and the other conservatives in the U.S. Senate. Your signature on my "Repeal and Replace Obamacare" petition will send a strong message to the Senate Democrats that you are opposed to government-run healthcare and support repealing the bill. A one-size-fits-all government takeover of our healthcare system is not what our nation needs and I know you agree with me. This is your opportunity to exercise your rights as a citizen, speaking out for our shared values of smaller government.

The work we do in the final hours before the vote will make all the difference, so I hope you will follow this link right away to add your name to our petition.

After signing the petition, you will have the opportunity to make a contribution to Country First and I ask that you give as generously as you can so we can continue to elect candidates who share our values and priorities. We must work toward electing a majority in the U.S. Senate and expand our majority in the U.S. House.

Your response and support is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

John McCain
Chairman, Country First PAC

P.S. With the Senate scheduled to take up the Obamacare repeal bill next week, I am working to repeal the bill. But I need your support to show my colleagues that support for this repeal remains strong in every corner of the country. Please sign my "Repeal and Replace Obamacare" petition today by following this link. Thank you.

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HOUSE APPROVES OBAMACARE REPEAL

In a vote of 245-189, Republicans were victorious in passing a measure to repeal President Obama’s signature health care overhaul law.

The final vote tally includes one no vote — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who continues her recovery.  In addition, three Democrats voted with a solid Republican voting bloc to repeal the law — Ross (AR), McIntyre (NC) and Boren (OK).

The repeal measure now moves to the Senate where is faces a steep uphill battle against a Democratic majority.

The Associated Press has a full re-cap of the day’s debate:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eager to honor their campaign pledge, Republicans pushed legislation to repeal the nation’s year-old health care law toward House passage Wednesday despite implacable opposition in the Senate and a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

Passage would clear the way for the second phase of the “repeal and replace” promise that victorious Republicans made to the voters last fall. GOP officials said that in the coming months, congressional committees will propose changes to the existing legislation, calling for elimination of a requirement for individuals to purchase coverage, for example, and recommending curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits.

Republicans also intend to try to reverse many of the changes Democrats made to Medicare Advantage, the private alternative to the traditional government-run health care program for seniors.

Like the repeal bill itself, these other measures will require Senate approval and a presidential signature to take effect, and the prospect is for months of maneuvering on the issue.

For many first-term Republican lawmakers, this day was one they had long waited for, a chance to speak and then vote on the House floor against a bill they had campaigned for months to repeal.

Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C. said the legislation produced by Obama and congressional Democrats was a “job-killing, socialistic” approach to health care. Rep. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire, who defeated a Democratic incumbent last fall, said it was misguided, needing repeal.

“The American people have soundly, soundly rejected the Democrats’ government takeover of health care,” said Rep. Sandy Adams of Florida. Rep. Steve Southerland, also of Florida, said the law imposes a crushing tax burden on businesses, and he predicted “1.6 million jobs will be lost by 2014 due to this mandate” to require many businesses to provide coverage for employees. Both Floridians won their seats by turning out Democratic incumbents.

“This is not symbolic. This is why we were sent here,” added Rep. Michelle Bachmann, of Minnesota, a third term conservative with strong support among tea party activists.

On the short end of the vote, Democrats challenged Republican claims and highlighted politically popular elements of the bill that would be wiped out if repeal took effect.

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., accused some Republicans of “the height of hypocrisy” by voting to repeal a vast expansion of health care at the same time they had signed up for coverage for their families through a government-organized program available to lawmakers.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said that despite claims of employment loss, the economy had added jobs in each of the past 10 months.

In one of the most animated speeches of two days of debate, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said repeal would return power to insurance companies. “Has anybody, any family in America, any single mother, any spouse, any child, any grandparent met a more bureaucratic system than the American health insurance system? There is no more bureaucratic system.”

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the legislation will not see the light of day there, although Republicans will seek ways to force a vote.

The law faces another challenge, well beyond the reach of Obama’s veto pen. Several lawsuits have been filed, and while some judges have upheld the legislation, one recently ruled it was unconstitutional to require individuals to purchase insurance. The Supreme Court is widely expected to have the final word.

In the meantime, Republicans clearly relished the day.

The Obama administration has made a major effort in recent days to emphasize parts of the bill that have met with public approval, including one that permits children to age 26 to remain on their parents’ policies if they do not have on-the-job coverage of their own. Democrats also argue that repeal would short-circuit other changes yet to take effect, including a ban on the insurance industry’s practice of denying coverage or charging sharply higher premiums on the basis of a pre-existing medical condition.

Republicans intend to address the same issues with legislation they say they will bring to the House floor in the coming months, according to officials who have been involved in discussions on the issue, but no details were immediately available.

Last year, for example, the Republicans proposed a 10-year, $25 billion program to help states fund programs in which high-risk individuals could receive affordable coverage.

GOP leaders are working on the assumption that the repeal legislation will not become law, and they intend to draft future bills as changes to the structure that Obama and Democrats put into place.

On one point, they conceded no change was warranted. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters on Tuesday seniors would be permitted to keep the $250 they have been promised to help defray the cost of drugs under the Medicare prescription benefit.

The legislation Obama signed last year was sweeping in its scope.

The Congressional Budget Office said at the time that when fully enacted, it would spread coverage to tens of millions who now lack it and – in a forecast rejected by Republicans – reduce federal deficits over the next decade.

Beginning in 2014, millions of Americans would be required to carry health insurance, whether through an employer, a government program, or their own purchase. New insurance marketplaces called exchanges would open in each state, enabling individuals and small businesses to pick from menus of private plans that met government standards. Federal subsidies would help defray the costs.

The Blaze

House Repeals Obamacare 245-189

After a heated midterm election, the Republican-led House easily passed legislation to repeal the nation's sweeping health care law.

The vote was 245-189. There were four Democrats that voted for repeal.

Overturning the law was a major campaign plank for Republicans in the 2010 elections, and many of the House's nearly 100 new lawmakers promised to repeal the law that was pushed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.

House Speaker John Boehner said the law would add nearly $1.5 trillion to the deficit and stifle the growth of some small businesses, which are required under the law to provide health insurance to employees or face penalties. A key issue for Republicans is that the law requires all Americans to have health insurance.

"Let's stop payment on this check before it can destroy more jobs and put us in an even deeper hole," Boehner said. "Then let's work together to put in place reforms that lower costs without destroying jobs or bankrupting this government."

Democrats failed in their procedural attempt to send the repeal bill back to committee for a discussion. Meanwhile, House Republicans are already preparing for four House committees to take the next step in the repeal effort and figure out ways to change the law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reminded Americans that "this vote does not change the law" and that her department will continue to implement its provisions.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has vowed to block the measure, and Obama has threatened to veto it.

Reid denounced the House's repeal vote as a political stunt.

"This is nothing more than partisan grandstanding at a time when we should be working together to create jobs and strengthen the middle class," he said in a statement today.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said the House was not engaged in a stunt. "This is not symbolic. This is why we were sent here," said Bachmann, a favorite of the small-government Tea Party movement.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., challenged Reid and Senate Democrats to show their votes and debate the measure if they are so confident of stopping the repeal effort.

"The American people deserve a full hearing," Cantor said this morning. "They deserve to see this legislation go to the Senate for a full vote."

CAPTION

By Charles Dharapak, AP

Obama said he's willing to work with both Democrats and Republicans to improve the law, but "we can't go backward."

The only surprise in Wednesday's vote was how many Democrats would support the repeal effort.

In the end, Democrats Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Mike Ross of Arkansas were the only Democrats to join 242 Republicans to vote for the repeal legislation.

One issue key to the repeal debate is how much the law costs and the impact overturning it would have on the deficit. USA TODAY's Kelly Kennedy reports Republicans say the law will add $701 billion to the deficit while Democrats say repealing the measure will cost $230 billion.

Yesterday, Cantor sought to ease concerns from seniors who might think they would have to return $250 they received under the law to help pay for prescription drug costs. Democrats such as Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts have said throughout the repeal debate that seniors could be among those affected the most by overturning the law.

Shortly after the law was passed last year, about 2.8 million recipients of Medicare who have a gap in their prescription drug coverage (known as the doughnut hole) received $250 checks to help them defray the cost of medicines.

Asked yesterday whether Republicans would seek to have that money returned, Cantor said no.

"If a repeal bill passes ... the intention is not to require seniors to return the $250 checks they received," Cantor said at his weekly news briefing.

USAToday (Contributing: Associated Press)

Game Change - More Juicy Nuggets From Book That Has Dems Squirming

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime is in the bookstores and ruffling feathers and evoking apologies and explanactions from all directions and camps.

The relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden grew so strained during the 2008 campaign, according to a new book, that the two rarely spoke and aides not only kept Biden off internal conference calls but refused to even tell him they existed.

Instead, a separate campaign call was regularly scheduled between the then-Delaware senator and two of Obama’s top campaign aides – “so that they could keep a tight rein on him,” write journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann in “Game Change,” a long-awaited account of the 2008 campaign.

The book, based on over 300 interviews, reveals a series of previously undisclosed stories about the epic race. POLITICO obtained it Saturday at a Washington bookstore.

In addition to the discord between the president and vice-president, the authors write:

–Before the 2004 Democratic presidential primary, party strategists Mark Penn and Mandy Grunwald, both then working for Sen. Joe Lieberman’s presidential candidacy, met secretly with then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and a group of her closest confidantes to consider a last-minute entry into the race – and even polled New Hampshire voters about the idea. Ultimately, though, Chelsea Clinton persuaded her mother to opt out of a run, arguing that voters wouldn’t forgive her for breaking a pledge to serve a full Senate term.

–Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and a group of other senators who would back Hillary Clinton’s candidacy encouraged Obama to run for the White House as early as 2006. The concern over Clinton was that she would be a weak Democratic standard-bearer while Obama could energize the party. In late summer 2007, Schumer – using an Obama ally, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), as a back channel – pushed the candidate to “take a two-by-four to Hillary,” as the authors put it.

–In lobbying the late Sen. Edward Kennedy to endorse his wife, former President Clinton angered the liberal icon by belittling Obama. Telling a friend about the conversation, Kennedy recalled Clinton had said “a few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee,” the authors paraphrase. A spokesman for the former president declined to comment on the claim.

–Frustrated over the campaign following her disastrous interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin said she regretted accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. “If I’d known everything I know now, I would not have done this,” she said. McCain’s high command, already worried about her lack of eating and drinking and fearing that she was suffering from post-partum depression, convened a conference call and discussed whether she was mentally unstable.

Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton issued a statement in response to "Game Change" touting the former governor's own insider account.
"The Governor's descriptions of these events are found in her book, 'Going Rogue,'” said Stapleton. “Her descriptions are accurate. She was there. These reporters were not.”

–There were apparently "two Americas" within the marriage between John and Elizabeth Edwards. The former North Carolina senator's wife viewed herself as a worldly intellectual and publicly called her husband "a hick" and his parents "rednecks," according to the authors.

"She was forever letting John know she regarded him as her intellectual inferior," they write, mocking her husband, the presidential hopeful, as somebody who "doesn't read books."

–Before she was tapped as the vice presidential nominee, McCain’s campaign team devoted only five days to vetting Palin and her seventy-four-part questionnaire. But Palin herself only spent a few hours filling it out – an act which had “consumed weeks for other short-listers.” Ultimately, a forty-two-page vetting report of Palin was crashed by McCain’s team in a matter of 40 hours.

–McCain never held a single practice session before the first debate of the general election, in September of 2008. Now-RNC Chairman Michael Steele had spent the entire summer preparing to play Obama in the practice sessions, but McCain wouldn’t spar with Steele out of fear that the sessions would leak and he’d be accused of racial insensitivity.

–Upon finding out that McCain had tapped Palin as his running mate, Vice President Dick Cheney called it a “reckless choice,” believing the Alaska governor was unprepared for high office.

–Members of what the authors call Clinton’s “war room within a war room” became convinced in 2006 that Bill Clinton was having a serious extramarital affair, prompting Hillary Clinton to instruct her aides to be prepared to combat the story.

–After Billy Shaheen, Clinton's New Hew Hampshire campaign chairmen and the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, told the Washington Post that Obama's youthful drug use made him unelectable, Clinton initially cheered him on and encouraged her staff to draw attention to the comment. "Good for him!" she told aides. "Let's push it out." Clinton subsequently personally apologized to Obama over the matter and Shaheen quit the campaign.

–Following the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton was shocked to have been offered the Secretary of State job and decided to reject the offer. She prepared a statement explaining why she would turn the new president down and remain in the Senate. But in an after-midnight call between Clinton and Obama, he persuaded her – only after Clinton expressed concerns about the problems posed by her husband, the former president.

“You know I can’t control him, and at some point he’ll be a problem” the authors paraphrase Clinton as saying. Obama indicated that he was willing to take that risk.

–Reid said Obama could fare well nationally as an African-American candidate because he was “light-skinned” and didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.” Saturday, the majority leader said he had used “poor choice of words” and called Obama to apologize; the White House issued a statement indicating that the president had forgiven Reid.

–Before formally deciding to enter the 2008 presidential race, Obama met secretly with former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice-President Al Gore, the latter of whom the authors report had privately consulted with Obama adviser David Axelrod on a potential 2004 presidential run of his own.

Of all the freshly revealed anecdotes, though, none may be as eye-opening as the previously-unknown friction between the president and vice-president – which on Saturday a Biden spokesman dismissed as “rumors.” The tensions began in September of 2008 word got back to Obama’s campaign headquarters that Biden had told reporters on his campaign plane that he was more qualified than his running mate to be president.

“A chill set in between Chicago and the Biden plane,” Halperin and Heilemann write in the book, to be released Monday. “Joe and Obama barely spoke by phone, rarely campaigned together.”

And when Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was asked about having Biden dial into the nightly campaign conference call, he responded: “Nah.” Instead, Biden had his own call with Plouffe and senior campaign adviser David Axelrod.

Obama himself was growing increasingly frustrated with his running mate after Biden let loose with a string of gaffes, including a statement that paying higher taxes amounted to patriotism and criticism of one of the campaign’s own ads poking fun at John McCain.

But when Biden, at an October fund-raiser in Seattle, famously predicted that Obama would be tested with an international crisis, the then-Illinois senator had had enough.

“How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?” he demanded of his advisers on a conference call, a moment at which most people on the call said the candidate was as angry as they had ever heard him.

For his part, the authors write, Biden wasn’t pleased with the campaign’s direction.

After a prep session for a “Meet the Press” appearance following the Democratic convention, Biden was incredulous when he was briefed by campaign aides about the ticket’s tax policy. He told them: “Well, it’s your campaign. I’ll say what you want me to say. But after Election Day, all bets are off.”

Following his campaign plane braggadocio about being more qualified than the man who put him on the ticket, Biden’s access to the press was limited and he grilled new staffers that were assigned to him to try and determine if they were part of his team or loyal to Chicago.

When the ticketmates talked a few days after Biden’s prediction that Obama would be tested, Obama lit into his running mate. But Biden didn’t apologize – or even indicate he understood why his comments in Seattle were problematic, though McCain’s campaign had already cut an ad featuring the dark warning.

Speaking to his own staff, Biden insisted that it hadn’t really been a gaffe. And feeling a bit defensive, he invoked one of the worst memories of Obama’s primary campaign.

“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t say anything about bitter people who cling to their guns and religion,” Biden cracked, the authors paraphrase.

Asked about the book, Biden spokesman Jay Carney said: "We aren't going to comment on rehashed rumors about the campaign. But I can say that if the authors were concerned with accuracy they might have checked their reporting with people on the Vice President's staff. They did not. I can also say that the President and Vice President have worked together very closely and successfully this past year."

© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC

Source: The Fox Nation/Politico

Stop Spending Our Future... STOP!!!

Quote: "We are committing Generational Theft!", John McCain

Talking about YouTube - Stop Spending Our Future - STOP

Thank You From John Cindy McCain

Cindy and I would like to take a moment to thank you for your loyal and steadfast support during the course of this campaign. Governor Palin, her husband Todd, our families, friends and campaign staff extend our deep appreciation for your tireless dedication, support and friendship.

It is the end of a long journey and your support through the ups and downs has meant more to us than you may ever know.

Although we were disappointed with the results, we must move beyond this campaign and work together to get our country moving again.

It is our sincere hope that you will join us in putting our country first and continue to work to keep our nation safe, free and prosperous.

We urge you to join us in not just congratulating Senator Obama, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together as a nation. Whatever our differences may be, we are all fellow Americans.

We are truly blessed to live in this great country and call ourselves Americans, and we will forever be her loyal servants.

Today, let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

With warm gratitude,

Cindy and John McCain

Read Senator McCain's full Election Night remarks.

Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.