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...your eyes and ears for the next four years Volume 2 www.obamabidenwatch.org Issue 1 January 2010 www.citizensunited.org The Harry Reid Flap: Democrat Hypocrisy And Desperation The Democrat establishment from President Minority Whip of the U.S. Senate—stated, “as Obama on down must be furious! Because of closely as I’ve worked with him, I don’t know the precarious situation they find themselves in how in the world I could condone, support or over the uncertain state of their health care ne- understand his statements…I think what he gotiations, liberals have been left with no choice said is not good for America; it’s repugnant but to go out and defend Senate Majority Leader what he said.” Reid later said that Lott had “no Harry Reid (D-NV), and brush off alternative” but to resign. Then- the seriousness of his racially in- Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) stated, sensitive comments. “…you cannot be insensitive to race issues from positions of lead- It was recently disclosed in a book ership….they’ve got to define for about the 2008 presidential elec- themselves what kind of face they tion that Harry Reid stated Barack want to put on their party. And Obama could be a successful can- my guess is out of their self- didate because he is “light- interest, they may very well decide skinned” and speaks “with no Ne- that…Trent has to go.” gro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” To make matters The conventional wisdom is that if worse, it has been reported that Reid were forced to resign his posi- Reid was told that the interview tion as the most powerful Senator for the book was off the re- in the country during this critical cord. If that’s the case, is this Harry Reid is on the Brink time in the health care saga, the how Senator Reid always talks bill would also likely not sur- when he’s “off the record”? vive. This dilemma has left the President of the United States and the vast majority of his cau- Reid’s divisive choice of words were immedi- cus with no choice but to adopt a double stan- ately compared to then-Senator Majority Leader dard and support Reid. If the Democrats were Trent Lott’s 2002 comments in which he to fail in their year-long quest to get a health praised Senator Strom Thurmond’s 1948 run care bill signed into law, it could spell doom for for president. Lott resigned his leadership post the Obama presidency. Their collective indiffer- after being criticized by many prominent politi- ence towards Reid’s remarks reeks of despera- cians. tion. Among the Democrats sounding off at the time was Reid himself and Joe Biden. Reid—then the Continued on Pg. 3 © Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003 Page 2 What Happened to Transparency? In this Issue President Obama campaigned promising to have the most transparent administration in history, going so far as to say that the negotiations over his health care proposal would be televised on C-SPAN. In fact, on eight separate televised oc- Notable Quotables casions, then-presidential candidate Obama promised to tele- Pg. 3 vise healthcare negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people could see who was in the room influencing the legis- Another Unworthy Candidate lation and who was cutting deals with whom. Now, even the Pg. 4 totally non-partisan cable network called President Obama out on his broken promise. Job Growth Stifled Pg. 5 As The Associated Press reports: “In a Dec. 30 letter to House and Senate leaders released Tuesday, C-SPAN chief ex- Panic In Bay State ecutive Brian Lamb asked for negotiations on a compromise Pg. 6 bill to be opened up for public viewing, as Democrats work to reconcile differences between legislation passed by the Which Path? two chambers.” Pg. 7 Unsurprisingly, the Obama administration and the Democrat- Final Thoughts run Congress have rejected all entreaties to open the nego- Pg. 8 tiations to the public and continue to meet behind closed doors. On January 13 th and 14 th , President Obama sum- ______________________________ moned the Democrat Congressional leadership to the White House to hold closed-door meetings to cut deals and plot hardball strategy to save the boondoggle of a bill that Sena- Published By tor Chris Dodd claims is “hanging on by a thread.” Citizens United It’s not just President Obama that is breaking the promise of Editor the “most transparent administration in history.” Vice Presi- David N. Bossie dent Joe Biden is getting in on the act as well, and keeping in character as the jester of the White House, the gaffe is de- Managing Editor lightfully ironic. As the Los Angeles Times noted on January J.T. Mastranadi 14 th , the Vice President’s daily schedule included a large number of “closed press” meetings (meaning that there Contributor would be no media allowed to report on what happened in Will Holley the meetings), but one in particular caught our eye: Meeting with the Chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Ac- Publication Design countability Board – “Closed Press.” Kirk Risinger Michael Catts It just doesn’t get any better than that. Copyright ©©© 2009 by Citizens United © Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003 Page 3 ...Continued from Pg. 1 Two committee chairmen, one from the House August 2009: Reid calls town hall activists “evil and one from the Senate, each voiced dire con- -mongers.” cerns about how the negotiations are coming along. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) said the bill August 2009: Reid says that Ted Kennedy’s is “hanging on by a thread” and that “everyone death will help Democrats pass health care bill. feels, I guess, to some degree who have been for this, that they would have liked something April 2008: Reid blasts Capitol Hill tourists: different, and that’s not uncommon when “You can always tell when it is summertime be- you’re considering an issue of this magni- cause you can smell the visitors.” tude.” Similarly, in the House, Representative Charlie Rangel said that Democrats have “a June 2007: Reid calls Joint Chiefs Chairman problem on both sides of the Capitol. A seri- Peter Pace “incompetent.” ous problem.” April 2007: Reid Says The Iraq War “is lost.” Part of this problem could be Senator Ben Nel- son (D-NE). Nelson, who delivered the critical May 2005: Reid calls President George W. Bush 60 th vote to pass the initial version of the bill, “a loser.” said recently that he is not 100 percent certain that he will vote for the conference report, par- March 2005: Reid calls Alan Greenspan “one of ticularly if it contains a public option or wa- the biggest political hacks we have in Washing- tered-down anti-abortion language. ton.” Even if Senator Reid holds on to his leadership post, his popularity in his home state of Ne- Notable Quotables vada is suffering horribly. Recent polling indi- cates that all three of Reid’s potential Republi- Fox News: can challengers would defeat him in a general “Forty percent of Americans said they were election match-up in November 2010. Accord- conservative, compared with 36 percent who ing to a Rasmussen poll, Danny Tarkanian said they were moderates and 21 percent beats Reid 50 percent to 36 percent; Sue Low- who professed to be liberals.” den beats Reid 48 percent to 36 percent; and Sharron Angle beats Reid 44 percent to 40 per- Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE): cent. Rasmussen also found that only 39 per- “I think it was a mistake to take health care cent of those polled favored the trillion dollar on as opposed to continuing to spend the Democrat health plan, and Reid is obviously time on the economy… I would have pre- one of the plan’s leading advocates. ferred not to be dealing with health care in the midst of everything else, and I think working on the economy would have been a Senator Reid’s unfortunate comments about President Obama are not the first time he’s wiser move.” gotten himself into hot water for saying Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK): something inappropriate. "I think the House Democratic leadership along with the administration made a very Here are a few of Reid’s “lowlights”: large mistake by focusing on a lot of differ- ent pieces of legislation that would not do a December 2009: Reid compares opponents of lot to help the economy.'' health care bill to slavery defenders. © Citizens United ~ 1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE ~ Washington D.C. 20003 Page 4 Another Unworthy Candidate unacceptable. The head of the Transportation Security Administration must be beyond re- Democrats have spent the weeks since the proach when it comes to trustworthiness. As Christmas Day terror attack complaining that new and more invasive methods of screening Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has been are being employed in the wake of the Christ- holding up the Obama Administration’s nomi- mas Day terror attack, the TSA will have more nee for head of the Transportation Security Ad- information on travelers than ever. The person ministration purely for political reasons. Of running the TSA must secure not only our course, this is merely an attempt by the Obama safety, but our privacy as well. Is this the man White House to shift blame for taking their eye for the job? off the ball when it comes to the War on Terror to Republicans. But Senator DeMint’s hold on Even more concerning, a 2008 interview that the nominee has allowed some further scrutiny Southers gave reveals that he claims that al- into his past, and it looks like Senator DeMint Qaeda’s desire to attack the United States stems has done America a service.