[VIDEO] Marco Rubio Has a New Answer for His Inexperience Problem

Has Marco Rubio hit on a way to turn two political minuses into a plus? 

The 44-year-old first-term senator is competing for the Republican presidential nomination against a crowded field that includes eight governors or former governors and several more experienced lawmakers. He has also been dogged by questions about his acumen when it comes to his personal finances. In recent days he has come up with an argument that seemingly attempts to handle both potential problems.

At a forum last weekend in Ames, Iowa, Republican pollster Frank Luntz told Rubio that "the single biggest knock on you" is that "you haven't been around long enough." In response, the son of Cuban immigrants from humble beginnings cleverly morphed job "experience" into life "experience," arguing that his makes him the most qualified to understand issues facing ordinary Americans.

"I don't think anybody running for president understands what life is like for people today more than I do," Rubio said, adding that his parents lived "paycheck to paycheck" and that he had student loans until four years ago. His youth and his financial struggles have given him more of kind of experience a president needs, he argued.

"No one running has more experience on the issues we face right now, today, in the 21st century, with a world that's more dangerous than ever and an economy that's changing faster than we've ever seen since the industrial revolution."

The crowd applauded.

Thursday, in another interview, Rubio trotted out a different version of the same line.

"The world is changing, and no one who is running for president has more experience than I do on the issues confronting our country right now," the freshman Florida senator told Fox News in an interview Thursday.

Fox host Bret Baier didn't seem convinced. Why, he asked, is a governor not better positioned for the White House than he is?

Rubio responded that the presidency is a "unique office" that's "not like being a senator, but it's not like being a governor, either," saying that presidents face national security challenges but that they "don't create jobs."

Via: Bloomberg Politics

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Rubio Pushes Back Against NYT Story Citing Financial Imprudence

The Rubio campaign has hit back at a New York Times story Tuesday claiming that the Florida senator's personal financial habits have been "imprudent" and at times extravagant. 

"First, The New York Times attacks Marco over traffic tickets, and now they think he doesn't have enough money," said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant, according to USA Today. "Of course, if he was worth millions, the Times would then attack him for being too rich, like they did to Mitt Romney." 

Tuesday's story by the Times, headlined, "Struggles with Finances Track Marco Rubio's Career" said that Rubio stands out not only for his youth and dramatic political rise but also for persistent doubts about his personal financial management.

"A review of the Rubio family's finances — including many new documents — reveals a series of decisions over the past 15 years that experts called imprudent: significant debts; a penchant to spend heavily on luxury items like the [$80,000 speed] boat and the lease of a $50,000 2015 Audi Q7; a strikingly low savings rate, even when Mr. Rubio was earning large sums; and inattentive accounting that led to years of unpaid local government fees," the Times said.

The Times also said that, separate to his personal spending patterns, there were instances in which he intermingled personal and political money. He used a state Republican Party credit card to pay for a paving project to his home and travel to a family reunion. He also put relatives on campaign payrolls.

Conant said that Rubio has the same financial challenges as many Americans do and that he is not motivated by wealth.

"His goal at this stage in his life is to provide his four children with a good home, a quality education, and a safe and happy upbringing," Conant said in a statement, according to USA Today. 

"As he wrote in his book, 'the mark I make in this world will not be decided by how much money I make or how many titles I attain. Rather, the greatest mark I can leave is the one I will make as a father and a husband.'"

A separate story by the Times last week detailed how Rubio was cited four times in 18 years for minor traffic violations while his wife received 13.  The report said that the Rubios received tickets for violations that include speeding, driving through red lights, and careless driving. 

Via: NewsMax

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Bernie Sanders Wants To Bring Back A 90 Percent Tax Rate

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wouldn’t mind hiking taxes to an eye-popping 90 percent for wealthy Americans.

The socialist lawmaker — running against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary — told CNBC that he could get behind exploding tax rates back to levels not seen since the 1950s.

“[When] radical socialist Dwight D. Eisenhower was president,” Sanders said in an interview with John Harwood, “I think the highest marginal tax rate was something like 90 percent.”

“It was 90,” agreed Harwood. “When you think about 90 percent, you don’t think that’s obviously too high?”

“No,” Sanders replied. “What I think is obscene, and what frightens me is, again, when you have the top one-tenth of one percent owning almost as much wealth as the bottom 90.”

“Does anybody think that is the kind of economy this country should have?”

Via: Daily Caller

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Mary Landrieu expected for Energy chair, #Keystone approval, defeat in re-election.

Some people might think that this news might disappoint me, given that I am of course a partisan hack.

Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will probably become the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee early next year, giving the gavel to a lawmaker with deep ties to home-state oil producers and refiners. The shift stems from President Barack Obama’s nomination of Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana to be U.S. ambassador to China, and the likelihood that the current energy panel chairman, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, will replace Baucus at the head of the Senate Finance Committee.

[snip]

The energy committee’s top Republican, Lisa Murkowski, hails from another oil and gas producing state, Alaska. That may improve chances for bipartisan alliances around industry priorities such as expanded exports of natural gas sought by Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG:US) and Dominion Resources (D:US) Inc., as well as TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Actually, it pleases me greatly. Senator Landrieu’s weakness this election cycle is not due to her energy policy positions; it’s because she’s a Democrat who provided the crucial 60th vote on Obamacare. Trying to get out of the way of that rapidly-approaching career-killer – and trust me: Obamacare is hurting Democrats most wonderfully dreadfully – by embracing the Keystone Pipeline will be very useful to the GOP, without noticeably changing the electoral calculus.  The truth of the matter is, Barack Obama rather badly wants to sign off on that stupid pipeline; the only reason that he hasn’t yet is because if Obama does then radical Greenies will rant and rave at the perceived slight to their religion.  Better by far if the Senate gives him a fait accompli. The President can blame the Senate, and Senate Democrats can shrug and piously claim that none of the environmentalist faithful voted for the pipeline.  Everybody wins.  Well, except for Landrieu in the long term.

And radical Greenies, of course.  And the best part?  There’s no reasonable chance that the radical Green movement can actually stop Landrieu from becoming Energy chair in the first place.  All bark, no bite from those guys.

Via: Red State

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Mary Landrieu and All That JAZZ

The Louisiana senator says she's pro-energy, but her PAC has raised a lot of money to elect opponents of the oil and gas industry.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu rolled out her pitch for a fourth term in an interview with the Times-Picayune in April. "I'm indispensable," she told the New Orleans newspaper, noting that her pull in the Senate would "secure for Louisiana a significant and reliable string of revenue."

As usual, Ms. Landrieu was talking about her efforts on behalf of Louisiana's oil and gas sector, the bedrock of the state's economy. She claims to be her party's fiercest advocate for that industry, and she talks extensively about her support for the Keystone XL pipeline, her opposition to industry taxes and her desire to rein in EPA regulations.

In the Times-Picayune interview, Ms. Landrieu emphasized her intentions to expand oil and gas production and speed up royalty payments to her state, hinting at greater influence in 2015 as potential chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Behind the scenes, however, Ms. Landrieu has been working just as hard to make sure she's irrelevant. Through the auspices of JAZZ PAC, her leadership political action committee, she has from 2006 to 2012 contributed some $380,000 to re-elect some of the most ardent Senate opponents of the oil and gas industry. One result is a bloc of liberal members who easily cancel out Ms. Landrieu's votes and guarantee the defeat of legislation designed to help Louisiana.

Via: Wall Street Journal

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HAGAN PLEADS THE FIFTH ON OBAMACARE

Last week more of Kay Hagan’s Democratic colleagues revealed that they knew full well that some Americans would lose health care plans that they liked, yet repeatedly made dishonest promises otherwise.

Kay Hagan, however, has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the truth that millions of Americans are losing health insurance that they like as they are forced into the ObamaCare exchanges. This is - and always has been - an intended consequence of the Affordable Care Act.

ABC11′s Jon Camp reports: “Sen Kay Hagan defends ‘Obamacare’ but won’t say when she learned not everyone would be able to keep their insurance, as promised.”

Click here to watch the full segment.

Kay Hagan’s own spokesperson all but admitted that the Senator knew that Americans would lose their health insurance, despite repeatedly promising otherwise. Three years ago, Hagan joined her Senate Democratic colleagues in unanimously supporting the very ObamaCare rule that’s responsible for the health insurance cancellations that have caused so much consternation over the last month. Even though 473,000 North Carolinians face the possibility of losing their health insurance, Kay Hagan refuses to accept responsibility for her deciding vote in favor of ObamaCare.

Either Hagan was knowingly dishonest about people keeping their care yet repeatedly promised otherwise; or, Hagan is so incompetent that she didn’t comprehend the legislation that she championed.

Via: Human Events

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Al Franken: 'We Have to Consider Extending the Deadline for the Mandate'

Unless HealthCare.gov meets its deadline at the end of November, Senator Al Franken (D., Minn.) wants lawmakers to consider pushing back the enrollment date. He could join six Democratic senators who are already supporting a bill that would extend the enrollment period by two months from its original date of March 31, 2014.

“I think then we have to consider extending the deadline for the mandate [in the event that the website is not fixed in time], but let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” he told MinnPost.

Some experts have doubted that the White House will be able to meet the November 30 deadline for HealthCare.gov, pointing to the website’s vast array of problems. Last week, the administration stated that its goal is for 80 percent of users to be able to enroll on the federal marketplace.

As for President Obama’s recent “fix” that would allow people with canceled plans to potentially renew them, Franken said he’s “making sure that [people who have lost their plans] can find the absolute best policy” on the state’s exchange marketplace. Earlier this week, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton announced that the state would not accept the president’s “fix.”

Franken is up for reelection in 2014 and, while he is currently generally considered to be able to hold the seat, Republicans are hoping to make the race more competitive in light of the political fallout over the health-care law.

Via: NRO

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[VIDEO] Feinstein: Take Down Healthcare.gov Until It’s Fixed

California senator Dianne Feinstein revealed on Sunday that she told the White House, in the wake of the botched rollout of the health-care exchanges, that the administration should pull down Healthcare.gov until it is functioning properly. Her advice was rejected. “They believe that they need to keep it running and that they can sort out the difficulties,” she said.

Feinstein also conceded that the president did not make clear that millions would lose their health plans as a result of the law. Though she indicated that she is murky on the details of the law, she told CBS’s Bob Schieffer that “I think that part of it, if true, was never made clear” and, with regard to individuals’ ability to keep insurance, “it is really very unclear, right now, exactly what the situation is.”

Nonetheless, the California senator cast some of the blame for the chaos and confusion surrounding the law on its Republican opponents and others who have spoken out against the law’s passage and implementation. “The big problem here is that there are so many destroyers in the House, in the public, in the private health-care sector that just want to destroy, and that’s not helpful,” she said.

Via: NRO
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Landrieu Admits She Broke Her Promise

Posted October 30, 2013

Today, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Said She Would Offer Legislation To Stop People From Being Kicked Off Of Their Health Plans Due To ObamaCare. “Sen. Mary Landrieu said Wednesday she would propose legislation to ensure all Americans could keep their existing insurance coverage under Obamacare, a fresh sign of the political problems the law’s rollout has created for congressional Democrats. Landrieu, a Democrat who faces a tough reelection in Louisiana in 2014, said she would either offer her own bill or formally sign onto another measure that would ensure that the law would not force anyone off of their existing health policies.” (Manu Raju, “Landrieu To Propose Halting Vanishing Health Plans,” Politico, 10/30/13)

But Landrieu Was One Of The Many Democrats Who Promised ObamaCare Would Let People Keep Their Insurance

In 2009, Landrieu Said On The Floor Of The Senate That “Those Individuals Who Like The Coverage They Already Have Will Be Able To Keep Their Current Plan.” LANDRIEU: “Individuals and small businesses that do not have coverage would be able to select a private insurance plan from a range of options sold on a National Insurance Exchange. Lower and middle income people would receive subsidies to help them afford this insurance, while those individuals who like the coverage they already have will be able to keep their current plan. This is a very accurate description of this bill before us–the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” (Sen. Mary Landrieu, Floor Remarks, 12/22/09)

Just Yesterday, Landrieu Said The Promise Had Been Kept, Claiming Democrats Had Only Promised That People Who Had “Good Insurance” Could Keep It. “According to Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Democrats had only promised that Americans could keep their insurance if it was ‘good insurance.’ We said when we passed that, ‘If you had insurance that was good insurance that you wanted to keep it, you could keep it,’ Landrieu said.” (John McCormack and Michael Warren, “Senate Democrats Struggle To Defend Health Insurance Promises,” The Weekly Standard , 10/29/13)

Now Landrieu Is Blaming Obama For Her Broken Promise

Asked Today About People Losing Their Existing Health Coverage Due To ObamaCare, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Blamed Obama. “Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, who like Begich is up for re-election in a Republican-leaning state, acknowledged that Obama’s claims were an important political sales pitch that she and other Democrats relied on to make their case for Obamacare.” (David M. Drucker, “Democrats Concede That Obama Oversold Promise For Health Care Law,” Washington Examiner , 10/30/13)

• Landrieu: “The President Said It Many, Many Times. … I Don’t Think He Intentionally Oversold It, But If That’s Not What’s Happening Then It Needs To Be Fixed, Because It Was Clearly A Promise That He Made.” (David M. Drucker, “Democrats Concede That Obama Oversold Promise For Health Care Law,” Washington Examiner , 10/30/13)

Via: GOP.gov

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Action Figure - Heritage Action’s Mike Needham is just getting started.

Heritage Action, the conservative group that orchestrated the defund-Obamacare campaign, emerged from the recent shutdown with few legislative victories. But it didn’t walk away empty-handed; it won influence, especially among activists, who view the group as the operational muscle behind Senator Ted Cruz.

How Heritage Action wields its newfound authority (and its Cruz ties) in the coming months will say much about its place in the conservative firmament — and its ability to shape the GOP’s strategy.

To get a better sense of its agenda, National Review sat down with Mike Needham, Heritage Action’s 31-year-old CEO, at a Capitol Hill coffee shop. He remains disappointed about the way his defund strategy fizzled, but he’s convinced he can win the brewing conservative debate over best practices during divided government.

When I mention how some Republicans think Cruz and his group were damaged by the showdown, Needham tells me, “They haven’t been more than five miles outside D.C. if they think that.”

At the top of Needham’s to-do list: encouraging House Republicans to take the lead on both tactics and policy, regardless of resistance from their Senate counterparts. “Speaker John Boehner and Eric Cantor fought during the shutdown,” Needham says. “They fought to keep the message on Obamacare. But they were kneecapped constantly by the Republicans in the Senate.”

Via: NRO

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