Author: Eldon Kramer

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Will the GOP stand on principles, or roll over?

“If you say you oppose the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesty, show me where you stood up.  If you say you support life and you support marriage, show me where you stood up and fought. If you say you’ll stand up to the Washington establishment, the career politicians of both parties that got us in this mess, then show me where you stood up and fought.” – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Cruz (usnews.com)

Texas Senator Cruz urged voters to ask presidential candidates how they stood up and fought for conservative issues. (usnews.com)

“Talk is cheap,” said Senator Cruz during his appearance at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Jan. 24, 2015, as he demanded voters ask candidates how they have fought for conservative issues and against liberal issues.

Hearing Cruz speak, I was reminded of two issues that have been of concern to me.  Would the GOP wins in the mid-terms embolden them to “man up” against a rogue president and would those in the Senate remind the opposition of the Reid Reign against order in that body?  Would those who won in November stand up for issues they spoke of in their campaigns?

I was beginning to wonder when the trillion dollar “Cromnibus” bill passed in December, but I am seeing some signs of hope.  Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress was, in my opinion, a superb response to a president who continuously insults Congress by going around them to suit his agenda. Continue reading →

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Piecing together the costly health insurance website; IG finds CMS work rushed, sloppy and lacking oversight

Most of us have at one time or another dumped pieces of a jigsaw puzzle out on a card table to pass the time; usually when the weather outside is miserable.

If you have a good eye you could usually find the pieces that form the outside border or a clearly defined section of the puzzle.  Returning to it we often see pieces we didn’t see before and the picture on the box cover gets clearer.

1-d7e7c71695I have been trying to piece together a similar puzzle regarding the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).  No, not one depicting the accompanying organizational chart.  My interest was in the puzzling billion dollar cost for the healthcare.gov website.

After a contentious five-year stint as HHS secretary, culminating in the botched rollout, Kathleen Sebelius resigned in April last year.  Of course, she was not forced out.  While she defended the website during Congressional hearings, embarrassingly, the system went down.

Her departure left a number of unanswered questions, while new questions arose.  What about the outrageous cost of the website, and how has Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services escaped scrutiny? Continue reading →

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Iran continues its exploitation of President Obama’s foreign policy weakness

Ramierez Iran

“We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb and we are not going to do so.  We are solely seeking peaceful nuclear technology.” – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, September 2013.

Two months later, as Iran agreed to rollback parts of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some sanctions, President Obama assured us he wouldn’t allow and interim agreement to become a means for Tehran to play for time in the development of a nuclear weapon. … read more

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The GOP response to the State of the Union; wait for it

Joni Ernst, the newly elected senator from Iowa, will give the Republican response to the president’s State of the Union address tonight, and the long knives of the media are already out.

Of course, they recalled the anemic responses made by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Sen. Marco Rubio, while failing to mention last year’s impressive performance by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the most senior GOP woman in House leadership.

ben Baker for politico

Politico published this unflattering wide-eyed photo of Sen. Joni Ernst with its coverage of her selection to give the Republican response to the State of the Union address. (benbaker for politico)

Bachmann (village voice.com)

Newsweek did a number on Rep. Michele Bachmann with this wide-eyed cover shot in 2011. (villagevoice.com)

While most of the media published flattering pictures of Ernst in their coverage, Politico, the publication that promises to deliver nonpartisan news, fast, fair and first, chose to use a tight close-up featuring a wide-eyed Ernst.  It reminded me of the unflattering cover photo Newsweek published of Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2011 accompanying its piece, Queen of Rage. Continue reading →

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Peggy Noonan advises Mitt Romney not to run; why should he listen to her?

Those of us who follow the political scene and remember who said what about whom, recall how Peggy Noonan shook up the right with her “endorsement” of Barack Obama in 2008.

Noonan (lonelyconservative.com)

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan’s advice to Mitt Romney is dissected by kramerontheright. (lonely conservative.com

“He has within him the possibility to change the direction and tone of American foreign policy; his victory would provide a fresh start in a nation in which a fresh start would come as a national relief,” she wrote about Obama in her Wall Street Journal column.  She went on to comment that he was steady, calm, and showed good judgment.

Noonan was taken in like many other members of the media. New York Times columnist, David Brooks, wrote that he could tell by Obama’s perfectly creased pant leg that he was going to be president and a very good one at that; and MSNBC’s Chris Mathews remarked how he felt a tingle up his leg when he heard Obama speak.

Since 2008, however, Noonan has seen the light, writing a number of critical pieces on Obama, his policies and programs. “Mr. Obama seemed brilliant,” she wrote in 2011, recalling his longing for unity; that we weren’t divided into red and blue states; we can solve our problems together.

To conservatives, Noonan became someone we loved to hate.  As a writer, I never stopped reading her columns, and often found myself agreeing with her in later years.

Reagan (blog.heartland.org)

President Reagan delivered Peggy Noonan’s Pointe du Hoc speech in usual fashion at the 40th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. (blog.heartleand.org)

You may not be aware that Noonan was a speechwriter in the Reagan White House.  She wrote the famous speech Ronald Reagan gave at the 40th Anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1984.  I’ll never forget the memorable line as he spoke of the daggers thrust into the top of the cliffs, “And before me are the men who put them there.  These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs.” While you will find the complete speech on the Internet, click here to hear that stirring line. Continue reading →

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Is the White House delaying Bergdahl decision?

Mrs. Bergdahl (daily mail UK

In an unusual photo op, President Obama walks to the Rose Garden with his arm around the waist of Jani Bergdahl, mother of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. (dailymail.co.uk)

A casually dressed President Obama was all smiles as he left the Oval Office with his arm around Jani Bergdahl as they headed for a Rose Garden photo op to announce that United States had secured the release of her son, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in exchange for five terrorists being held at Guantanamo.

I have witnessed a number of such walks to the Rose Garden, with staff appointments, judicial nominees and special guests, but never has the president taken them arm and arm let alone with his arm around their waist.  It was truly unusual.

Who thought this photo op was something he should do?  Obama himself?  Yes, he was prisoner of war being released, but what about the murky circumstances of the case?  Clearly, he deserted his post in Afghanistan five years earlier. Continue reading →

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“We’re going to close Guantanamo.” – Barack Obama, June 24, 2007

It’s unconscionable that President Obama is more concerned about keeping a campaign promise, and preserving some sort of legacy with his base, than he is in protecting our national security.  Yet it’s happening before our eyes.

The faces of the five detainees (below) released in exchange for the release of Army Sgt.… read more

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What’s in the Delaware water? Biden, and now Coons

“Seventy percent of Americans in a recent national poll also said they want a carbon tax or they want the EPA to be able to regulate Carbon Dioxide.” – Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)

You may have missed this astonishing statement made by Senator  Chris Coons on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.  Disappointingly, it went unchallenged by Wallace. How many viewers do you suppose thought Coons’ statement was truthful?

coons (foxnews.com)

Sen. Chris Coons, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said 70 percent of Americans want a carbon tax. Not! Wonder if he believes in the tooth fairy. (foxnews.com)

I thought some background would be helpful for you to understand where his statement originated.

In December 2012, Friends of the Earth (FOE) contracted with the Mellman Group to do what they called a “national survey” by telephone.  You are aware of the FOE, but may not be familiar with Mellman, which has a long history of polling for Democrats, including Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Al Franken and Carl Levin.  They have also done work for the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund and a host of unions, including the NEA and the AFL-CIO.

Mellman pollsters were able to determine the respondent’s political leaning in the opening question, asking if they had a favorable or unfavorable impression of Barack Obama, environmental groups, Wall Street banks, Democrats in Congress, Republicans in Congress and companies that emit carbon pollution.

Then the pollster asked, “Which is a better way to reduce the nation’s deficit – Tax carbon pollution from big polluters such as oil, gas and other companies, or cut spending on programs like education, Social Security, Medicare and environmental protection?”  Well, duh! Continue reading →

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Duly noted …

                                                                                              We won’t miss you, Ma’am

Boixer (politico.com)

Sen. Barbara Boxer announced she will not seek reelection in 2016. She apparently sees the handwriting on the wall for her party (politico.com)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced she will not seek reelection in 2016.  It’s appropriate, I think, that the signal memory of her is one that clearly illustrates the arrogance of this egotistical, liberal senator.  It was in June 2009, during testimony by Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers, when he addressed her as “ma’am.”   Senator Boxer immediately interrupted him saying, “Do me a favor, can you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am?’”  Continuing, she said, “It’s just that I worked hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it.  Thank you.” Click here if you want to see it.

A good soldier, he obliged, but it will be this incident that will linger when Boxer’s name surfaces long after she’s gone. Continue reading →