The American Spectator : From Hope and Change to Dope and Chains

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The Obama Watch

From Hope and Change to Dope and Chains

By David Catron on 8.20.12 @ 6:08AM

How inspiration devolved into desperation in four short years.

As everyone in the galaxy has by now learned, our esteemed Vice President spoke before a group of Barack Obama’s remaining supporters last week and included the following in his observations about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: “Look at what they value, and look at their budget. And look what they’re proposing … unchain Wall Street. They’re gonna put y’all back in chains.” This was no slip of the tongue. It was in a prepared speech delivered with the aid of a teleprompter, and it is part of the trifecta of fear on which he and his boss are betting in the hope that a majority of the electorate can be frightened into voting for them in November. Biden’s slimy race-baiting is the inevitable complement to “Mediscare” and “the war on women.”

How sad. Four years ago, then-Senator Obama was an inspirational figure for many. Millions of voters pulled the lever for him and watched with glistening eyes as he declared, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time … tonight is your answer.” Four years later, however, he is just another cynical pol. Thus, when his Vice President produced a disgusting minstrel drawl to conflate GOP victory with the return of slavery, he shrugged it off: “The truth is that during the course of these campaigns, folks like to get obsessed with how something was phrased even if everybody personally understands that’s not how it was meant.”

It would appear, however, that not everyone believes “that’s not how it was meant.” Douglas Wilder, the grandson of slaves who became the nation’s first elected African-American governor when he won Virginia’s gubernatorial election in 1989, isn’t buying the President’s excuses. Shortly after Biden’s speech, Wilder said the reference to “chains” was an obvious appeal to race, and he went on to point out that the Vice President’s comments revealed his own racism: “Biden separated himself from what he accused the people of doing. As a matter of fact what he said is, they are going to do something to y’all, not to me, not us. So he was still involved with that separate America. And I’m sick and tired of being considered something other than an American.”

Wilder, who is a Democrat, went on to characterize Biden’s remarks as offensively patronizing to his audience and to African-Americans in general. And the former Virginia governor is not buying the standard “crazy old Joe just committed another faux pas” excuse: “You can forgive people for gaffes, but there comes a time when you realize you’re forgiving the same guy for making the same mistakes.” Finally, Wilder delivered the unkindest cut of all by suggesting that President Obama would be much better off with a different running mate than Biden: “If Hillary were on that ticket today, based on the job she’s done as secretary of state, I think there would be a clearer advantage the president would be seeing.”

Wilder is right about Hillary’s superiority to Biden. The Vice President is indeed a buffoon. And Ed Klein, author of The Amateur, says Hillary was actually offered the number two spot on the 2012 Obama ticket: “Up until just a couple of weeks ago the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary would accept the vice-presidential nod and replace Joe Biden.… But then Hillary had lunch in the White House a couple of weeks ago with Valerie Jarrett … and she told Valerie that she would not accept the vice president’s spot.” But even had Hillary accepted, her presence on the ticket would not have obviated the real problem that has forced the White House to trade in the 2008 message of hope for a reelection campaign based on fear — Obama’s pathetic record.

Barack Obama’s presidency has been a catalogue of clumsy failures. His domestic initiatives, particularly the “stimulus” package, ObamaCare and the financial “reform” law, have exacerbated the problems they were allegedly meant to solve. His foreign policy has been even more amateurish. Obama’s mishandling of the “Arab Spring” has abetted extremists like the Muslim Brotherhood, the “Russian reset” is a dangerous joke, and his politicization of the Osama bin Laden killing has provoked former special operations officers to produce a documentary accusing him of taking undeserved credit for the raid and leaking sensitive secrets about U.S. covert operations to the news media. These and other failures have left the country demonstrably worse off than it was four years ago

Obviously, no President could hope to win reelection running on such an abysmal record. Thus, the Obama reelection crew decided to bet on their trifecta of fear. First, they fabricated the Republican “war on women” and launched it with a faux congressional hearing whose star witness was an upper middle class law student whining about the refusal of a Catholic university to pay for her birth control pills. The President then demonstrated his solidarity with this absurd creature by calling her on the telephone and thanking her for speaking out on his manufactured contraception issue. And, as if to erase any doubt that he actually believes such nonsense will win him votes, he recently made a campaign appearance with her in Denver.

Having thus demonstrated his determination to protect well-heeled law students from the necessity of respecting the religious beliefs that animate schools they voluntarily attend, Obama and his minions then embarked on a “scare the seniors” campaign, in which they accused Mitt Romney of choosing a running mate who wants to “end Medicare as we know it.” Never mind that Obama and his accomplices siphoned more than $700 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. Forget about the inconvenient fact that “Medicare as we know it” will begin collapsing under its own weight a mere decade from now, and that Obama has offered no credible plan for preventing this debacle. Just scare the hell out of the oldsters.

Which brings us back to the third horse on the Obama campaign’s trifecta — race baiting. Obama won in 2008 because he was able to turn out a lot of voters who don’t always vote. This year, however, there is a noticeable decline in the enthusiasm of these same voters: “Black turnout is traditionally 11% of the total vote. In 2008, it rose to 14%, providing Obama with more than half of his margin of victory. Current polls suggest a reversion to the pre-2008 turnout level.” This decline, combined with the disaffection of many independents who voted for him last time, will cost Obama the election. So, he has to scare these voters so badly that their fear drives them to the polls in November to vote against Romney and Ryan.

And that’s where good old Joe comes in. Obama can’t indulge in too much race-baiting himself without further damaging his personal favorability ratings. So, he sent Biden to Virginia to suggest to African Americans that a GOP victory will be the first step in their long march back to the cotton fields. This led Governor Wilder to ask, “Did he feel that these people were so dumb that he had to appeal to them with something like that?” The answer is obviously “yes,” and the President clearly shares that view. They both believe that blacks, women, and seniors are so many cattle who can be stampeded with ridiculous lies about the evil genius Mitt Romney and his demonic running mate. No one this cynical should be rewarded with reelection.

About the Author

David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (62) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

spike59| 8.20.12 @ 6:27AM

ObaMao has been revealed to be not the transformational messiah of MSM lore, but just another political hack and inept bungler with a reverse Midas touch...he's shown himself to be petty and small, and has diminished the office in like fashion

Aristocat| 8.20.12 @ 7:31AM

Y'all ain't gonna let them racist Republicans put y'all back in chains, are y'all? So get out & vote for me & Bammy so y'all won't have to go back to bein' slaves, OK y'all ?

WIrepublican| 8.20.12 @ 11:33AM

"Bammy" that literally made me LOL

Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 8.20.12 @ 6:11PM

and BTW, it was never about Bush-- it was about the guy Obama ran against: McCain.

Stephie| 8.20.12 @ 6:35AM

What a despicable human being.

Stephie| 8.20.12 @ 6:40AM

Another thing, I wonder if what Gov. Wilder said in response to Biden's racist tirade was reported on the MSM? Anyone know?

TLP| 8.20.12 @ 8:17AM

"Did he feel that these people were so Dumb?

Have you SEEN the Black Community, lately? Have you SEEN their pictures in the papers whenever there's a Flash Mob Story? When there's a SHOOTING? When there's a somewhat blurred photo of a Suspect, in the Papers, that the Cops are asking for Help in Finding?

Have you heard the Black B*tch on Obama's Payroll, and her Pig Vomit Racist Screed?

Have you heard Obama's Black Panther buddies calling for the MURDER of White Babies, with impunity?

Unemployment among Black Adults is around 15%. Among Black Youth it's off the charts. Yes we Can!

The #1 Cause of Death for young Black Men ( in their own communities) is Homicide. 4 More Years!

They have been Feeding at the Government Trough since LBJ's time. (And no Alan, that's not something you can get in the YMCA Men's Locker Room.)

Yet, they go to to the Polls and pull the lever for the exact same people, everytime they get the chance. They just keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result and a Bigger Check for sleeping til noon, after drinking and Hoeing all night.

The White Liberal, and now, the Black one, has thrown the Proud Black Man OUTTA THE HOUSE, and replaced him with a Dog Dish a Water Bowl, and a Check. They have, once again, made it a CRIME, to teach a Black to Read and Write, with their Jihad against Private School Vouchers.

So, it's not so much that they're Dumb, as it is that they have become DOMESTICATED.

"Here Boy. Sit. Beg. Roll over."

Now, go Vote.

WIrepublican| 8.20.12 @ 11:32AM

You know what i find "interesting". Is that the African-american community even votes democrat to begin with. it does show how dumb they truly are considering that the democratic party was founding in the "old south" i.e. they were the plantation owners.

Every time a dem speaks he/she sounds like the elitist plantation owner that they are. they advocate so hard for socialism which is basically just slavery. /facepalm

TLP| 8.20.12 @ 5:14PM

Exactly.

Joellen| 8.20.12 @ 6:56AM

"Based on the job she has done as Secretary of State" - say what! Didnt we just read an article from George Wittman that confirms what an absolute mess Hillary has left us with. She has done nothing but travelled and spend on the taxpayers dime. Please, I keep asking you all of this - let's stop with this phony nostalgia for the Clintons. They were and are a part of the mess we are in.

Kitty | 8.20.12 @ 7:02AM

How sad. Four years ago, then-Senator Obama was an inspirational figure for many. Millions of voters pulled the lever for him and watched with glistening eyes...

Sad? More like delusional. They saw what they wanted to see; they didn't want to know the truth about Obama and his plan to "fundamentally transform America." That phrase alone should have given them pause.

Sad? More like scary. Ignorance is our most expensive commodity, and willful ignorance is a crime.

Von Mises Jr| 8.20.12 @ 9:02AM

They don't teach history in public schools for a reason. This is how the totalitarian regimes in the USSR turned neighbor against neighbor, and in Nazi Germany targeted Jews, Catholics and Poles. It is a terror campaign that will not end well if Obama is re-elected.
There is a great pamphlet (as well as some fine books) at the Foundation for Economic Freedom http://feestore.myshopify.com/. The "Great Myths of the Great Depression" is available for $2 and it is frightening the parallels of today's government to the policies that caused and prolonged the Depression. Re-elect Obama and you can save the $2 by living it firsthand.

Appleby| 8.20.12 @ 7:16AM

I watched my delusional Canadian work colleagues waste an entire day of work watching the inauguration of Obama -- he is a hero in Canada because they recognize a Brother when they hear one -- I took the day off because I have heard and seen this Clown College episode before. I was at University in the REAL 1960s and I heard Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda and their crowd spew this foolishness and a lot of idiots who wanted the world to believe they were Still Young climb on board the Peace Train in easy-fit bell bottoms and fall flat on their faces in the 1980s. As for Joe Biden, I have to confess I laughed when I heard a whitebread man from Delaware say "Y'all." The fact that it was scripted onto a teleprompter screen is even better. What's next? A teleprompter script with broken Spanglish on board?

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.20.12 @ 8:59AM

While you may correctly be characterizing the current VPOTUS and former US Senator from Delaware as “whitebread”, an important point is being missed. What Biden is demonstrating in his verbal mock dialect pandering before the crowd in Danville is one of the same techniques that helped him achieve electoral success from 1972 through 2008 in his earlier races.

Delaware is almost 22% black ( a larger percentage than Virginia). Biden would go before these crowds, shuck and jive and pretend to be one of the oppressed, to woo this voting bloc. He would go before the autoworkers and try to sound like a working guy (in a state with between 500,000 and 900,000, there used to be both a Chrysler and a GM assembly plant when he became a Senator, now there are none). He would appear before the Fraternal Order of Police, and pretend that he was a law and order guy, and then head to the ACLU, and have praise heaped upon him for his judiciary work, appointing liberal federal judges who set criminals free at every opportunity.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.20.12 @ 9:00AM

It worked for him every six years, as long as no one outside the group he was addressing got to hear what he had to say. I had a neighbor who was both a survivor of Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima, who once told me that it was only our ownership of guns that prevents what happened in Schindler’s List from happening here. At the same time, he supported Biden, the man who led the charge on any gun ban he could find in the 1994 Crime Bill, because Biden used to pal around with the veterans group at every parade.

Hopefully, the increased attention and ubiquitous videos will have exposed this fraud, and the voters will be sufficiently outraged and sophisticated to toss him out.

CJW| 8.20.12 @ 9:25AM

For Obama to offer the VP slot to Hillary shows he is worried and desperate. For Hillary to reject the offer shows she knows O will lose, and she is already campaigning for 2016.

Maybe Hillary remebers Obama giving her the middle finger during their debates, he would look at her,scratch his cheek with his middle finger. Classy guy.

I first became aware, unfortunately, about Biden during the 1987 Bork hearings when he was Judiciary chairman, and the Thomas hearings. He had a con law professror tying to teach him con law so he could question Bork. He also embarassed himself and some nuns who testified for Thomas.

Bork, in his book, said Biden was stupid.

Von Mises Jr| 8.20.12 @ 9:49AM

Could you imagine Hillary being the surrogate of Moochelle and Jarret?
Right now she does her own thing travelling the world and never sees Barry Obomber. She said she is not even up for that if our remote control drones king continues his imperial reign.

CJW| 8.20.12 @ 10:50AM

Must bother Hillary that the medial questioned their finances on Whitewater, cattle futures, and tax returns, while Obama gets a pass on Michele's $350,000 job obtained through the earmark request, Rezko paying for Obama's house, and no questions about O's college application.

Von Mises Jr| 8.20.12 @ 10:55AM

"Why Hal, is there no honor among thieves?" (Shakespeare – Henry XIII)

Von Mises Jr| 8.20.12 @ 10:56AM

Excuse me it was Henry VIII.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.20.12 @ 11:01AM

CJW;

Are you in Avalon this week?

CJW| 8.20.12 @ 2:07PM

Albert
Yes. Just came in from lunch, check on emails from office. Been to Cape May. There's a beautiful stone church near the beach.Went to a hot dog shop in Wildwood, "Maui Dog" that was on Diners, Dives. even my wife liked it.
There's an plane flying at the beach advertisin:g "ROTHMAN, Best Orthopaedic in Jersey." With Obamacare, it will not matter if he is the best or worst, it will be rationed. He is trying to make the money now.
I must sound like Ben Stein, reporting from south Jersey.

Von Mises Jr| 8.20.12 @ 3:06PM

I was at the Jersey shore last weekend and may return mid week. I recall that Anthony is also from Jersey. Are we one of the only states with the guts to yell from the rooftops? I am often critical of Christie, but maybe it is something in the water?

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.20.12 @ 3:26PM

VMJ;

As a Delawarean aware of your disagreements/ concerns with Mr. Christie, I nonetheless would trade him anyday for the national embarassment who is Biden (and the fact that Biden is also an alumnus of the University of Delaware is something that likely galls your Governor as much as it does me).

Albert Constantine Jr.| 8.20.12 @ 3:21PM

I believe it was probably the Rothman Institute, which is linked to the Jefferson Hospital System in Philadelphia. With Obamacare, they can be just as good as your local Post Office, though the lines will move slower due to all of the people on crutches.

Appleby| 8.20.12 @ 11:38AM

It was my experience while I worked in Atlanta that the White people who were claiming to be taking the "Black folks' side" in any argument were the worst racists of all. Or to quote an old bromide whose author I never knew, "The more he spoke of his honour, the faster we counted the spoons."

Hardcard| 8.20.12 @ 7:27AM

I think a few of biteme's plugs have grown in. Too many tangled webs and crooked deals to remember what goes around comes around.

benny havens| 8.20.12 @ 7:36AM

On one hand you can’t say, "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time … tonight is your answer."

And then say, “We are going to fundamentally transform America.”

Why do you need to reform when the system you have already gives you “a place where all things are possible”?

This tells me that what he says is not in his heart. It comes only from a teleprompter.

Trinacria| 8.20.12 @ 5:12PM

Thank you! Only thing I would quibble with - you got it right when you used the words "fundamentally transform" America, but then you ask why we would need to reform a system that allows all things to be possible.

There's a big difference between reforming and fundamentally transforming; to reform something is to improve it, to transform it is to make it something entirely different. One reforms that which one likes (but believes can be even better), one transforms that which one dislikes. In the regard, Obama's commitment to fundamentally transform America speaks volumes...

Mimi | 8.20.12 @ 7:41AM

Well, well....the news that this "ROPE and Chains" thing dutifully done by Joe Biden was a pre-planned, race baiting bit sheds some light here!
They killed two birds with one stone due to the media excitement and replay... over and over on a dimes worth of change...They knew how America hates racial baiting and a lot of people again took pity as the video was played ...everywhere on T.V.
The media played there role faking outrage at Joe and added to the story "Maybe Hillary " will replace him.
This played out the whole week...Romney got little "V.P. pick attention"....It makes you wonder what tricks they have up their sleeve to keep the news off Obama's RECORD ...anything to KILL TIME"........When are our guys going to WISE-UP?

Mimi | 8.20.12 @ 7:48AM

Get the darn BALL out of their hands and start shooting at the goal....ATTACK THE DAMAGE AND HARM DONE TO OUR COUNTRY AND ABOVE ALL TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

Anthony| 8.20.12 @ 8:33AM

"Dope and Chains": Can't wait for the HBO movie about Biteme to come out.
I hear it will be released in October, along with Obozo's college transcripts and applications.

Al Adab| 8.20.12 @ 9:22AM

Now the inspiration that so many found in '08 has proven to be so much hot aire, we can understand just what "fundamentally transform America" meant.

Now we understand just how low tyrants can stoop when their power is threatened by free citizens. Perhaps that is why the administration plans this economy to represent the new norm. With 40% of our people dependent on government largess the actual chains are being forged.

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God."

Kwan| 8.20.12 @ 9:24AM

No President with an abysmal record like Obama's has ever won reelection. Obama's only hope is lying and deception. Try to convince the saps, suckers, and morons in the electorate that no matter how great a failure he's been that Romney/ Ryan will be much worse. Problem is the people in the electorate that have suffered reversals under Obama's failed Presidency are not likely to be very forgiving. Also many are awakening to the reality that a criminal-conspiracy that is being led by Obama is trying to fundamentally transform our country into a Communist People's Republic.

Al Adab| 8.20.12 @ 11:10AM

Keep counting those electoral votes Kwan. In '08 it was 365 to 173. Where can the GOP find those hundred votes it will take? FL is critical along with VA, NC and Ohio. Even those leave the republicans short. Any others actually in play?

George S| 8.20.12 @ 11:46AM

I think -- and it's certainly possible -- Romney will win all the states Bush won in '04 plus PA, IA, WI, and MN, with possible wildcards NJ and ME.

Crassus| 8.20.12 @ 6:10PM

Dubya won Iowa in 2004. Not by much but he won it.

JimH| 8.20.12 @ 1:11PM

At least here in FL the GOP get to count the votes.

spike59| 8.20.12 @ 3:59PM

in '08, ObaMao didn't have the post-Depession record for the most people on food stamps, he longest period of unemployment, the lowest job participation rate, the highest poverty rate, and the slowest recovery...Bungling Barry has done all he could, with his incompetence, to provide the necessary electoral votes to Mitt. the voting booth will NOT be skewed D+11 on Election Day like the MSM polls; prepare for the surprise of your life

Al Adab| 8.20.12 @ 4:40PM

Akin likely just cost the GOP the electoral votes of MO.

pogybait| 8.20.12 @ 9:29AM

Just look at the cast of characters: Joe Biden, Barney Frank, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, Nancy Pelosi, Sheila Jackson Lee and Harry Reid plus Al Gore talk about Dopes and Chains.....

Aristocat| 8.20.12 @ 9:37AM

Can't wait for the Convention to see all these losers on parade....What a cast of schmucks !

spike59| 8.20.12 @ 4:00PM

every single one of them should be doing the 'perp walk'

Alej| 8.20.12 @ 9:51AM

Democrats pander to certain types of people because certain types of people lend themselves to patronization. GBVovc. Wilder et al were insulterd by the inference, but they represent only a tiny ffraction of the group. Percentages, not self-respect, drive DNC actuaries.

Remember Hilary's pathetic attempttwo octaves lowered, to empathize, "Ah ain't no ways tired... Ah done come too far ta quit now."

Alej| 8.20.12 @ 9:59AM

Wow... on satellite internet... had to transmit last msg three times, and strange stuff finally came through... Wilder isn't a "GBVovc," and usually, I can spell !

Who Knows?| 8.20.12 @ 11:16AM

Hope and change to dope and chains.

Good one.

WIrepublican| 8.20.12 @ 11:38AM

What I always find so interesting is that the Democratic Party was founded in the "old south" i.e. the plantation owners. With every policy and word out of a Dem's mouth..you can just hear the "lord of the manor" coming out. Socialist programs are slavery. period.

I just find it interesting that the black population of america votes for democrats. it literally just boggles my mind with the stupidity of it. It's not the republicans that are chaining Americans, in general....it's the Democratic Party.

Mimi | 8.20.12 @ 12:03PM

Someday they will wake up! The GOP wants vouchers to help their children get a better education...the conservative does not see the color of their skin and will never judge them on that..only the content of their Character...To the "NOT DEMS" they see the Black American voter as just that....AN AMERICAN ! Purple , pink, green We are all Americans...Ask Alan West who is thought of in the state of FLORIDA as an American Officer ...who is the greatest of SPEAKERS who just happpens to be a GREAT, PATRIOT and an AMERICAN! I had a friend up from there this summer bragging ..."WE got ourselves a GREAT MAN" in our state"
No one has suffered as much in this terrible Obama recession as the Black family....they need to let the DEM'S know this time LOUD & CLEAR!

WIrepublican| 8.20.12 @ 11:43AM

Oh, and i'm not surprised that Hilary didn't except the VP...as much as I don't like the Clinton's...I'll say this..she's not stupid. She wants to distance herself from this administration, like a rat on a sinking ship. If she has ideas of grandeur, again, she'll try to slink back into hole and reemerge at a "better" date.

Mimi | 8.20.12 @ 12:09PM

It seems that her and BILL want to save the PARTY! Wait until this thing is over and Mitt and Paul get in...we will hear bad mouthing and books written about how disastrous this Administration was....This Presidency will not look good in the History Books...those guys usually TELL THE TRUTH !

Anthony| 8.20.12 @ 12:42PM

WI, You are more correct than perhaps you know. With Slick Willie "dying" ( given his real bad health situation) to get back to 1600 Penn. Ave and his sex chamber off the Oral Office, for Hillary to say no means she knows Dope and Chains are finito!!!
I hope Chic-fil-A offers both Dope and Change jobs at one of their franchises come Nov.
Chains (Biteme) will ask if our orders are half a fries short of a happy meal, to which we will answer, no, but you are.

BackToBasics| 8.20.12 @ 12:21PM

Hope and Change was really smoke and mirrors. That it succeeded was due to the fact that it was aided and abetted in a criminal, treasonous sense by the MSM and by the spawn of our dismal public education system.

Most articles, including this one, speak of the disappointments of Hope and Change as if it had some basis in truth to begin with. It never did !Almost half of the voting population always saw through it and voted for the weakest of Republican candidates, McCain, in spite of himself because they knew what the alternative was.

Occam's Tool| 8.20.12 @ 12:32PM

Another masterpiece of idiotic ranting from Joe "Shakes the Clown" Biden.

"Shakes the Clown" is a brilliant movie, "The Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies."

Occam's Tool| 8.20.12 @ 12:34PM

The Citizen Kane quote is from Betsy Sherman of the Boston Globe. Any movie that has Florence Henderson as a nympho Clown Groupie is a great one in my book.

supremecourtlegislator| 8.20.12 @ 12:59PM

They keep saying the Democratic ticket is the Dope and the Brain, but Obama-Biden keep proving its really the Dope and the Same.

Jack London| 8.20.12 @ 1:23PM

The true race card is being played by Romney with totally false accusation - repeated in ads and shown to be totally false - that Obama is softening welfare/work requirements. How you can support this lier I really don't know.

George S| 8.20.12 @ 2:04PM

False? From the July 12, 2012 memo from HHS announcing the policy:

"[T]he TANF work participation requirements are contained in section 407, section 402(a)(1)(A)(iii) requires that the state plan “[e]nsure that parents and caretakers receiving assistance under the program engage in work activities in accordance with section 407.” Thus, HHS has authority to waive compliance with this 402 requirement and authorize a state to test approaches and methods other than those set forth in section 407, including definitions of work activities and engagement, specified limitations, verification procedures, and the calculation of participation rates. As described below, however, HHS will only consider approving waivers relating to the work participation requirements that make changes intended to lead to more effective means of meeting the work goals of TANF."

HHS has falsely claimed authority to waive the work requirements of section 407 because they have authority (which is questionable at best) to waive section 402 which references section 407.

Isn't congress vested with all legislative power under the constitution? How can the executive branch waive requirements under the law?

So, how is this TOTALLY false? How is this RACIST? Please explain.

Pecos Pete| 8.20.12 @ 5:32PM

GS: Jack hates facts. He will never explain.

Kwan| 8.20.12 @ 1:31PM

Joe "Buckwheat" Biden tells his peoples hows it's going to be: "O-tay if ya all don't put me and Barack back in office dem dere Republicans will hav ya all in chains wookin on some cotton plantation tain't no doubt bout it."

Oldefarte| 8.20.12 @ 2:55PM

This racial remark is just the tip of the political iceberg so to speak. These domestic terrorists should not even been elected in 2008, and were so due to the utter stupidity of the American people. Enough fact/data was available prior to that election to warrant the public election of McCain-Palin instead, but the dummies among us sit there with their H&C, inspired by C&P brainwashing from the MSM via their TV/newspaper propaganda, which the public obviously don't have enough brain cells to dicipher between fact and fiction [in fact 99% of it is the latter]. Will they do so again in November? Possibly, sadly! None other than the legally brilliant Harvard professor renown Alan Durshewitz previously went on a rampage against this administration over matters relating to Israel, and then the other day came out an d stated that he, being a good and loyal Democrat, would vote for Obama/Biden again. I mean, how dumb is that? If it's not possible to convince someone of supreme intellect of the corruption and ineptness of this group now destroying this nation, what hope is left? Oh as to the "chains" statement by Biden, IMO the only ones possibly ending up in CHAINS would be the American taxpayers if this group of domestic terrorists is allowed four more years of control/destruction!!!!!

sam1953| 8.20.12 @ 3:37PM

Actually the war on women started with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in the Republican debates which makes it even more faux then most people realize or care to learn about. We all watched with confusion when George Stephanopoulos asked a question about the government's right to regulate contraception at one of the Republican debates. "Looking back on the timing of this question it is clear that Obama and his progressive allies wanted to make a woman's access to contraception a major campaign theme. " http://www.usnews.com/debate-c.....r-on-women

ebonystone| 8.20.12 @ 7:20PM

Romney will keep all the states that went for McCain in 2008 -- that's 180 EV.
He'll likely gain those that went for Bush in 2004, but for Obama in 2008: CO - 9EV, Fl - 29EV, IN - 11EV, IA - 6EV, NV - 6EV, NM - 5EV, NC - 15EV, VA - 12EV. That's 93 EV, bringing the total to 273. Enough to win.
Add OH - 18EV, and PA - 21EV, bringing the total to 312. More than enough.

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The #FreeKate Narrative Melts Down: Lies Exposed in Florida Teen Sex Case

Robert Stacy McCain | 5.25.13

Jimmy Wray, R.I.P.

Aaron Goldstein | 5.25.13

The Spectator’s Spectacular: May 18-May 25

Patrick Ryan | 5.25.13

Updated: NBC News: Holder Personally Approved Fox Reporter Warrant

Ross Kaminsky | 5.24.13

Felonious Attorney General?

Kaylin Bugos | 5.24.13

Did the Boy Scouts Cave to Pressure?

Claire Healey | 5.24.13

BBC World Survey Ranks Israel Near Bottom in Global Popularity

Aaron Goldstein | 5.24.13

Obamacare is a Big and Growing Problem for Democrats