Limbaugh Apologizes; Can GOP Get Back On Message?

Moments ago, radio host Rush Limbaugh released a statement apologizing to co-ed law student and part-time women’s rights activist, Sandra Fluke. The talk show host caused an national uproar by labeling her a “slut” because of her congressional testimony requesting the government pay for her and others birth control. He also suggested she upload porn. In his brief statement, Limbaugh admits “My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”

Limbaugh also scoffs at the absurdity of the nature of this discussion during such a crucial election cycle, stating “ if this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level”.

Many view this as a continued GOP attack against women. This has become a new battle cry for liberals offended by remarks from former Sen. Rick Santorum and others who have been said to speak irresponsibly and insensitively about women’s issues.

This denotes a  problem for the GOP.   The amount of women within the party, according to Gallup Poll, is down and has been trending this way for the last decade.  However, women are not being swayed by the Democratic party either.  The former female Republican is now opting to become an Independent. While the U.S. Population is 313,120,595 million, women account for 157 million. Thus, women are the majority. 85.4 million of these women are mothers and66.6 percent of female citizens have reported being registered to vote. This demographic is crucial to any party if they intend to make gains or seek national office majority. It is of great concern amongst many analyst that the Republican party is focusing on a new aged revival of social crusades and abandoning the message of economic reform that has been said to be both key and crucial to the 2012 election cycle.

Republicans Should Capitalize on Obama Budget to Nowhere

Class warfare has become a central theme of the Obama campaign.  In his 2013 budget released earlier this week, President Obama proposed major tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans – those making $200,000 per year or families making over $250,000.  Indeed, the “debt reduction” that the president claims is dependent largely on these tax increases alone. Class warfare and raising taxes on the rich may be beneficial to his political campaign, but it is bad for the economy as it merely redistributes wealth, not create it.  The Republican nominee needs to be committed to capitalism and battle the President’s class warfare, big government, Keynesian economic rhetoric using free-market principles, stressing economic growth, job creation, and wealth creation through lower taxes, less regulation, and smaller government.  Despite what the President claims, his budget does not promote growth and has the potential to be a weak spot that Republicans can capitalize on.

Included in the President’s proposal is around $1.5 trillion in new revenue coming from tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations.  These tax raises take various forms; a 9% raise in capital gains tax rates, the dividends rate jumps 25% from 15-40%, the carried interest tax on investment partnerships rise from 15 to 39.6%, and the estate tax rises to 40%.  In addition, the budget calls for allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire, raising the top-level income tax rates to 39.6%.  Then there’s the new “Warren Buffet Rule“, which requires all those making more than $1 million per year pay at least 30% of their gross income in taxes.

Obama signing The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010

Perhaps the most damning, however, is the tax hike on businesses; Obama has yet to announce his new corporate tax rates, but included in the budget is a “financial crisis responsibility fee” on large banks that amounts to $61 billion, taxing energy companies $30 billion over a decade by ending tax cuts, $148 billion in new taxes on multinational corporations, and another $87 billion by changing how businesses value their inventory.

Gore/Clinton 2012 Fading, but Hillary is Golden

Back in mid June, I wrote this.  Al Gore and Hillary Clinton would be successful primary challengers to Obama.  I think this very early prediction may need some adjusting.

Al Gore has recently joined the quickly backfiring liberal trend of charging opponents with racism in any context.  Gore, whose own father voted against the Civil Rights Act, said that global warming deniers should be treated like racists.  So, Mr. Gore, as a global warming denier myself, I’ll be expecting a gift-wrapped tie on Father’s Day.

Of course, Gore’s timing is terrible.  This is also the week that Andre Carson declared that TEA Party members would like to see blacks hanging from trees.  The constant charge of racism, especially towards a multi-racial group like the TEA Party, is getting stale and ridiculous.  At this point, Democrats who make charges of racism every time someone disagrees with them have lost credibility.

Enter Hillary 2012.  Back in June I didn’t think Hillary would have success at the head of the ticket because she lost in 2008 and has worked for Obama ever since.  In fact, hiring Biden and Clinton were probably the smartest things Obama has done politically. Now, I think she may have a better chance.

The worse things get, the more nostalgia sets in.  People start to fool themselves into thinking Hillary could be as moderate as her husband became when Newt ran Congress.  Already, 32% of Democrats are admitting they need a primary challenger.

Hillary could pull a Rick Perry, riding a wave of anti-current field sentiment and quickly becoming the front runner.  By entering the race now, she would be a fresh face.  She would carry the excitement of being something new and different.  She would bring change, the only thing more distracting to a Liberal than a shiny object.  She could offer the Democrats everything Obama has failed to deliver on, even though her similar policies would produce the same results.

If ever Hillary was going to be President, 2012 would be her year.

 

The Other Side…….. Coming This Week

   White House 2012 is proud to announce the addition of a new contributor, Democratic Darling. DD is the first and only Democrat to have joined our writing family. Don’t worry, were not going liberal on you. White House 2012 will continue to present the evolving race for the Republican presidential nomination and the general election from a conservative viewpoint.  But we also believe that knowing how and what the loyal opposition thinks is important. For that reason, Democratic Darling has graciously agreed to deliver her unabashed liberal assessment of the candidates, the politics, and the issues in the 2012 presidential election.

Democratic Darling is an unapologetic liberal voice whose forceful accounts of current political events is sure to fire up both liberals and conservatives and act as a reminder to both sides of what is at stake in 2012.  Her weekly column will be posted on Wednesdays.

We welcome Democratic Darling to the WH12 family and hope that you enjoy her participation here in the quadrennial debate and battle for the Oval Office.  Her own blog can be found here.