America Fights Back! Town Hall Uprising! (Video)

Via Drudge:

SEE THEM SCREAM: Protester Shouts Down Obamacare in Ohio...

Crowd Explodes When Sen. Specter Urges We 'Do This Fast'...

UPRISING BACK HOME: Constituents Make Congressman Sweat...

TOWN HALLS TURN TO 'TOWN HELLS'...

White House Attacks Drudge Report, Etc Over Health Care Videos

Just another example of Alinsky-esque attacks on those who dare to question "Dear Leader". Unreal.

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”
-Barack Obama in 2003





The AP reports:

WASHINGTON – The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance.

The three-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. That site carries a series of video clips from another blogger who strings together selected Obama statements on health care to make it appear he wants to eliminate the private health insurance business.

In the video Douglas says the site is "taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they're cobbling them together to leave a very false impression."

Politico adds more:

The video the White House seeks to rebut, labeled “SHOCK UNCOVERED,” was linked by Andrew Breitbart on his video site, Breitbart.tv, after a site called Naked Emperor News brought it to his attention.

The clip is labeled, “SEIU Health Care Forum 3/24/07,” and shows Obama saying: “I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be, potentially, some transition process: I can envision a decade out, or 15 years out, or 20 years out.”

Rep. Issa To Rahmbo: This Is Not Chicago; "Back Off"

Rahm Emanuel has a long history of brutal intimidation tactics.

Darrell Issa put him in his place!

WASHINGTON. D.C. – Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work In Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.”

“I and others have dared to bring these facts to the attention of President Obama, the Congress and the American people,” Issa wrote. “You’ve unfortunately reacted by once again resorting to the playbook of the Chicago political machine.”

Last month, Politico reported that Emanuel had “launched a coordinated effort to jam” Senator Kyl and other Administration critics… “[A]fter seeing Kyl and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) again paint the legislation as a failure on Sunday talk shows, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel directed that the letters from the Cabinet secretaries be sent to [Governor] Brewer, according to two administration officials.”

Issa noted, “The fact that the letters were coordinated by you to maximize the level of intimidation is supported by the timing, structure, and content of each letter. Not only were the four letters all sent the day following Senator Kyl’s remarks, but they were also remarkably similar in tone and sentence structure.”

Letter from Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation:
On Sunday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl publicly questioned whether the stimulus is working and stated that he wants to cancel projects that aren’t presently underway. I believe the stimulus has been very effective in creating job opportunities throughout the country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, as Senator Kyl suggests, please let me know [emphasis added].

Letter from Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior:
Some key Republican leaders in Congress have publicly questioned whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working and suggested cancelling all projects that are not currently in progress. I believe they are wrong. The stimulus funds provided through the Recovery Act are a very effective way to create job opportunities throughout the Country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to Arizona, please let me know [emphasis added].

“At what point do you believe your practice of Chicago-style politics violates a public official’s right to speak out in favor of alternative policies,” Issa asks. “The American people have a right to know what role you played in developing the threatening letters to Governor Brewer and whether you intend to continue to engage in these tactics in the future.”

In order to assist the Committee with its investigation of this issue, please provide the following information by close of business on Tuesday, August 11, 2009:
Your response to Politico’s report that “White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel directed that the letters from the Cabinet secretaries be sent to [Governor] Brewer, according to two administration officials.”

A full and complete explanation of the development of the four July 13 letters from the cabinet secretaries to Governor Brewer, including but not limited to the role you or any other White House official played in writing the letters or encouraging the writing of the letters.

All records and communications between you and Secretary LaHood, Secretary Salazar, Secretary Donovan, and Secretary Vilsack referring or relating to the decision to send the July 13 letters to Governor Brewer.

A full and complete explanation of the role of the Democratic National Committee and the White House Office of Political Affairs in authoring, encouraging, facilitating, or directing the four July 13 letters from the cabinet secretaries to Governor Brewer.

You can view a copy of the full letter to Emanuel by clicking here.

Alan Greenspan: "We've Already Seen The Bottom" In Recession (Video)

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggests to George Stephanopoulos that "there's been a very significant improvement in the financial system... where the problems have been," and that as far as the retracting economy: "I'm pretty sure we've already seen the bottom... Collapse is now off the table."

"The state of confidence in the economy is beginning to pick up," he suggests.



Bloomberg reports:

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The most severe recession in at least five decades may be ending and growth may resume at a rate faster than most economists foresee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.

“We may very well have 2.5 percent in the current quarter,” Greenspan said in an interview today on ABC’s “This Week” program. “The reason is there has been such an extraordinarily high rate of inventory liquidation that the production levels are well under consumption.”

The U.S. economy contracted at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported July 31. Stabilization of housing markets and consumer spending, a lessening of financial turmoil and increased government spending all suggest the longest recession since the 1930s may be close to ending.

“I’m short-term optimistic, but with many caveats,” the former Fed chairman said. Housing markets have “stabilized temporarily” though it is “possible” the economy might relapse if there is a further slide in home prices of more than about 5 percent.

‘Close to Stabilization’

“I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I do think it is possible that we could get a second wave down,” he said. “But the important issue is that if we don’t, and I think the probability is that we won’t, that we are close to stabilization.”

Economic growth will average 1 percent in the current quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists in July.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen the bottom,” Greenspan said. “In fact, if you look at the weekly production figures for various different industries, it’s clear that we’ve turned, perhaps in the middle of last month, the middle of July.”

He predicted “the unemployment rate is going to continue to rise, but more slowly than it’s been. We’ll continue to have job loss, but that’s slowing as well.”

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke projected a week ago the U.S. unemployment rate will top 10 percent, up from 9.5 percent in June, even as the economy recovers. Growth of about 1 percent is likely in the second half of the year, Bernanke said at a town- hall-style meeting.

Al Hunt on Barack Obama: "He Has a Tendency...to Pop Off" (Video)

In the Green Room following the end of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Al Hunt remarks that for such a smart guy, Barack Obama has a tendency to speak out when he would be better served saying nothing or else making less inflammatory statements.