General Motors 2: The Strengthening of the Strength is Strong & Stuff

Regular Red State readers know how much fun I’ve had covering the auto industry in recent years. From Obama’s push for newer, tougher CAFE standards on a struggling industry to GM’s crony CEO Dan Akerson. From the Chevy Volt’s fits and starts to GM blowing tax dollars onbonuses, marketing schemes, and ideologically-driven “green” projects.  I even had the honor of  being attacked by Attack Waaaaaaaaaatch probably because I wrote about GM’s special tax gift, as well as the fact that I’ve been caught parodying GM ads and clips.  To put it mildly, it’s an issue I’ve followed closely.

It would all be funnier if none of it was true.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe “Government Motors” is over. Maybe, once Treasury sells off its remaining shares, GM will magically become a pioneer of free market industry, worthy of its storied legacy. Maybe, just maybe, GM will begin to appeal to anti-bailout conservatives & libertarians again one day. Take, for example, GM’s new Chevy Silverado commercial, “Strong”:

Doesn’t it make you feel warm? “He,” whoever he is, shows up to work on time! And he’s monogamous! He has a barn, and he works on a farm and stuff! You can totally trust him – he’s steady!  Like a Chevy truck, obviously. Nashville artist Will Hoge, a hip, edgy, self-styled musical pundit, recorded the music for the ad.

‘Murica, y’all.

GM knows conservatives are a huge target market. That’s why they sponsored a “Free Enterprise tour” with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this summer (which was rightly mocked by the National Legal and Policy Center), and that’s why they made this ad. I’m curious what readers think: are you more or less likely to buy a GM truck because of the GM bailout?

Via: Red State

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Obama to Wall Street: This time be worried

Wall Street needs to be genuinely worried about what is going on in Washington, President Barack Obama told CNBC in a White House interview Wednesday.

While gridlock in D.C. is nothing new, "this time I think Wall Street should be concerned," Obama said.

CNBC

CNBC's John Harwood speaks with President Barack Obama on the government shutdown and stalemate in Congress.

"When you have a situation in which a faction is willing to default on U.S. obligations, then we are in trouble," Obama said.

U.S. stock-index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street Thursday. Click here to get the latest futures action.

(Read more: Wall Street wonders: Does Obama want a selloff?)

Late Wednesday, Obama met with Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell told CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" that Washington is still far from resolving its differences over the fight to reopen the government. 

(Read more: Sen. McConnell: White House meeting 'unproductive')

Boehner said Obama reiterated in the meeting with congressional leaders that he would not negotiate. The speaker said he hoped Obama and Democrats in the Senate would have a serious discussion about resolving their differences very soon.

Via: CNBC

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Merging Spending and Debt Debates Means Shutdown Likely to Last 2 Weeks

Signs grew clearer today that the debates about reopening the government, raising the debt limit and setting spending levels for the next year are being rolled into one. And one unspoken consequence is that the partial shutdown, now in its third day, looks increasingly likely to stay in effect for the next two weeks – until the Treasury’s deadline for either gaining more borrowing authority or defaulting.

Senior congressional Republicans and Democrats are conceding it makes little policy or political sense to put much more effort into finding votes for a continuing resolution lasting only a few weeks, when the even more consequential debt ceiling must be confronted almost immediately after.

GOP conservatives still believe they can win concessions from President Barack Obama — on both entitlement curbs and curtailing Obamacare — as part of a double-barrel bargain on both spending and borrowing. The president forcefully rebutted that expectation this morning.

“Let me be clear: There will be no more negotiating,” he told a friendly crowd assembled at construction company  in suburban Rockville, Md., echoing the message he delivered last night to the four top congressional leaders during a meeting in the Oval Office that seemed only to harden the standoff in all corners. His message to the GOP, the president said: “You don’t get a reward for keeping the government running, and you don’t get a reward for keeping the economy running.”

Obama spoke as the Treasury Department warned that an impasse on the debt ceiling beyond Oct. 17, when the government will be essentially out of cash to pay its bills, could start a downward economic plunge worse than the recession of five years ago – with credit markets seizing up, the dollar’s value plummeting and U.S. interest rates soaring. And even coming close to the brink of such an unprecedented default could roil both domestic and foreign financial markets.

For at least another day, though, Republicans planned to keep pursuing their current  strategy of pushing bills through the House to open the most politically popular portions of the government. Votes are planned this afternoon on bills to fund veterans programs and most operations of the reserves and the National Guard. The Democratic Senate was sure to reject those, along with bills passed by the House on Wednesday to take the sawhorses away from national park entrances, revive federal biomedical research and cover operations for the  District of Columbia.

Via: Roll Call

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Dems, It's Okay to Change Your Mind on Obamacare by Larry Elder

Note to congressional Democrats: You can change your mind on Obamacare. It's allowed. Really. You can. We won't tell.

If MSNBC's anti-gun lefties like Ed Schultz can do a 180 on a hot-button issue like guns, then Democrats can change their minds about President Obama's signature Obamacare. More on this later.

President Barack Obama promised to provide healthcare insurance to some 30 million Americans without it.

He promised to do so more cheaply than under the current system, without lowering quality for anyone. He promised: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your healthcare plan, you will be able to keep your healthcare plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what."

Obamacare requires carriers to take on people with pre-existing conditions and to allow young adults up to 26 years of age to remain on their parents' plan. Oh, and all this while "bending the cost curve" of health care downward and lowering the deficit.

Early results are in -- and they are not pretty.

Obamacare defines a full-time worker as one who works 30 or more hours a week. So some employers, especially those in food service, have simply cut hours for workers. According to a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 74 percent of small business owners say have or intend to reduce hours, put off hiring or fire people.

Even Teamsters union President James Hoffa, once an avid supporter of Obamacare, now wants major changes: "[Obamacare] will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class. ... The unintended consequences ... are severe," and "perverse incentives are causing nightmare scenarios."

Via: Real Clear Politics

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Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: Um, no, I won’t be forfeiting my congressional pay during the shutdown

More than 100 members of Congress, nearly half of them Democrats, have agreed to refuse their pay to share the shutdown hardship with furloughed federal workers. Wasserman-Schultz is, of course, no ordinary member — she’s the chair of the DNC. Naturally, the DNC is broke; as it turns out, so is Debbie herself. But here’s the thing: Even if she’s the rare congresscritter who’s living paycheck to paycheck, shouldn’t a professional politician tasked with a national leadership role by her party be able to dodge a question like this more artfully? Good lord. Even the lefties at TPM can’t resist highlighting it.

The Florida congressman was somewhat evasive when MSNBC’s Chuck Todd first asked about her salary.

“Because I support everybody who works for the federal government getting a salary, I continue to support reopening the government, making sure that everybody who is doing a job in the federal government can earn their salary and so that’s my position,” Wasserman Schultz said.

When Todd asked a follow-up, Wasserman Schultz gave a definitive answer.

“Yes, I’m gonna continue to take my salary,” she said.

Suggested answer: “I’d like to but, like many federal workers, I have kids in school and tuition payments coming up. Unlike most of my colleagues, I’m not rich. Still, I’d support a bill suspending the pay of all members of Congress until the shutdown is over, since that would send an institutional statement of solidarity to people who have been furloughed.” See? Sympathetic and supportive of the basic goal, and unlikely to cost her anything since that hypothetical bill almost certainly won’t be offered. If that doesn’t move you, though, here’s Mike Lee on the same subject. I don’t think this answer does him any favors — it’s easily spun by enemies as “I need to get paid to keep this shutdown going,” which is not a message you want out there when most of the public is opposed to shutdown — but at least there’s a principle involved, not just “Yeah, I want my money.”

“I don’t,” Lee said when asked if he refuse a salary like some members of Congress during the shutdown. “I’m working, I’ll continue to be paid.”

“You don’t want the lawmakers influencing their decision by whether or not they are going to get their paycheck,” he added. “You want them to come to consensus, you want them to get the government funded, and you want that to be on the basis of the merits of the decisions, and not on the basis of something else.”

His office says he’ll make a donation to charity for each day that the shutdown lasts. Via the Corner, here’s Debbie.

Via: Hot AIr
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Nancy Pelosi: Obamacare ‘A Dream Come True,’ Will Go On ‘No Matter How Hard Some Try to Stop It’

MORE LIKE A NIGHTMARE 

IN THE MAKING!!

Speaking during a presser this afternoon, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asserted that Obamacare is a “dream come true” while railing against the Republican Party’s desire to defund it.

While lamenting that we are currently in the third day of a government shutdown, Pelosi cheered that we are also three days into the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — “A dream come true,” she said, “for many people in our country.”

Under Obamacare, Pelosi asserted, “many people in our country… can fully realize the promise of our founders of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Healthier life, liberty to pursue their happiness.”

Touting the seven million visitors to the federal government’s healthcare.gov website, Pelosi suggested the program has been a popular success in its first two days. “No matter how hard some try to stop it,” she concluded, “the Affordable Care Act is up and running.”

Watch below, via C-SPAN3:

Via: Mediaite.com

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[VIDEO] McConnell and Rand Paul on Hot Mic: Hey, Democrats Are Hurting Themselves By Refusing to Negotiate

Let's begin with some fresh and relevant polling data. CBS News' brand new national survey has four major take-aways: (1) Obamacare remains unpopular.(2) Government shutdown is even more unpopular, with 72 percent of the country opposed. (3) Americans narrowly blame Republicans more than President Obama (44R/35O/17both), though the split is far less lopsided than it was in 1995 (2-to-1 blaming the GOP). (4) The public overwhelmingly supports a compromise solution to resolve the impasse:

 Most Americans want compromise. Majorities think the President and the Democrats in Congress (76 percent) and the Republicans in Congress (78 percent) should compromise in order to come to an agreement on the budget. But there are some party stalwarts who don't think compromise is the way to go. Thirty-eight percent of Republicans say members of their party in Congress should stick to their positions even if it means not coming to an agreement, while 36 percent of Democrats say that about their party.

So, on average, a massive 77 percent of Americans want to see both sides to come to the table and negotiate a settlement. Which brings us to the 'hot mic' moment between the two Senators from Kentucky. Watch as Rand Paul explains that his go-to talking point on television has been to repeatedly state the fact that Democrats and the president have stubbornly refused to negotiate at all. "I think it's awful for them to say that," Paul says. McConnell agrees, adding that based on his meeting at the White House last night, Democrats have been as obstinate behind closed doors as they've been in front of the cameras.

Via: Townhall

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Glitches and Glee: 5 Lessons From The Obamacare Exchange Launch

NOT QUITE

On the day that the federal government shut down, the Obamacare exchanges opened up—barely.

Tens of thousands of Americans virtually queued up at healthcare.gov and more than a dozen other state-run health exchange websites on Tuesday. But most would-be shoppers couldn’t access the sites, and 24 hours later, technical problems remained widespread.

So what’s the verdict on the exchanges’ debut? Citing IT glitches, Republican critics are calling it a snafu. Citing consumer demand, federal officials are calling it a victory.

On balance, it’s way, way too early to judge success—especially since officials refuse to release some very crucial numbers—but the exchanges’ long-awaited launch did offer several takeaways. Here are five of them.

1) Glitches were a real pain—and a real issue

How bad were yesterday’s IT problems?

Even Massachusetts and Utah—two states with experience running online insurance exchanges—saw their sites temporarily crash on Tuesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, only seven state-based exchanges seemed to be fully functional, while D.C.’s exchange, seven other state exchanges, and all 36 exchanges that relied on the federal government’s system weren’t working, according to our rolling tracker at the Advisory Board Daily Briefing.

Via: Forbes

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[VIDEO] RNC Chairman Lights Up MSNBC Anchor

During a heated interview on MSNBC, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called out anchor Thomas Roberts for liberal bias.

The interview was heated from the start, with Roberts claiming Obamacare has a ”mandate by the people reelecting the president and both houses of Congress,” leading Priebus to accuse Roberts of using “talking points.”

“They’re not talking points,” Roberts exclaimed, referring to a speech Obama gave in Maryland moments before the exchange. “That’s directly from what the president just gave a speech on.”

“It sounds like I’m debating the chairman of the DNC here, Thomas. That’s fine. I’m happy to debate you,” Priebus said.

At the conclusion of the interview, Priebus continued to throttle Roberts by suggesting he interview for a job within the Obama administration’s communications department.

Via: WFB

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2 GOP state senators sworn in after Colorado recalls

WASHINGTON –  Two Republicans were sworn in Thursday to replace the Colorado Senate Democrats they defeated in historic recalls over new gun restrictions.

Former Colorado Springs Councilman Bernie Herpin and retired Pueblo police officer George Rivera took the oath of office in front of a Senate packed with Republican lawmakers and other supporters in the gallery. They were greeted with loud cheers and applause.

Herpin said in his opening speech that he would "never forget the lesson of this summer."

"We serve at the pleasure of those we represent," he said.

The recalls last month marked the first time in state history legislators were ousted from office and reflected the continued debate over what gun restrictions, if any, are needed.

The wins boost the GOP's power in the Senate, narrowing the Democrats advantage in the chamber to an 18-17 margin. Democrats control the House 37-18.

Via: Fox Political News

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