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It would be years before someone bothered to declare that gay people, which I knew secretly included myself, were just folks with a sexual orientation outside of the norm. Such is a lesson I wish was instilled in me much sooner in my life, which is why I find it rather pathetic that Republican lawmakers in Missouri are going out of their way to prevent such not-so-outlandish facts from being shared with school children – particularly at a time when little by little gay Americans are inching toward wider acceptance.

Yet last week, a group of 20 Republican Missouri state representatives introduced a “Don’t-Say-Gay bill” to stop the teaching of sexual orientation in public schools, with the exception of courses pertaining to human reproduction. The Huffington Post reports that this group includes some key members of the Missouri legislature, including House Speaker Steve Tilley (R-Perryville), Majority Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka) and the chairs of the Rules and the Ways and Means committees.

State Rep. Steve Cookson, who is a part of the Interim Committee on Strengthening Missouri Families, dismissed accusations that the bill is discriminatory. He released a statement Tuesday morning, saying the bill simply wants schools to focus on what matters – like math, science, and reading – and leave other matters “in the home at the discretion of parents.”

He also writes:

It’s also important to point out that my bill does not target a particular sexual orientation but instead says instruction or materials related to any sexual orientation should not take place in our public schools. This would not prohibit a student struggling with his or her sexual identity from talking to a school counselor or cause any of the other issues that have been misreported by the media. Instead it would simply ensure the focus of our public schools is on the curriculum parents expect their children to learn when they send them to school each day.

So the bill isn’t discriminatory, but another instance the GOP is acting as if sex should be barred from any form of discussion? Even if I was to believe Cookson’s assurance that this bill isn’t about keeping gay people invisible – and trust me, I don’t believe him given that Republicans in Tennessee are considering their own “Don’t-Say-Gay bill” – that wouldn’t make this bill any less acceptable and completely unnecessary.

One of the many explanations behind the sophomoric depictions of sex found in entertainment – and the increasingly high STD rates they help create – is that Americans have a knack for not talking about sex frankly.

Many conservatives cling to a perverse view of sex, especially when it concerns any groups engaging in sexual activity that’s not missionary and heterosexual. Far be it from me to denote the obvious, but it’s not like teachers are going to pull out a tube of lube and show the children how the gays get down the same way they won’t hand minors a pamphlet on how to make a baby. To that end, these politicians need to grow up.

You can teach the kids about algebra, proper grammar in addition to simple facts about sexual health – and yes, even sexual orientation. It’s not shoveling the “homosexual agenda” down people’s throats, it’s opening up young minds. Trust me, GOP, the children will be much better off learning about the world as it is versus the archaic way you desire it to be.

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Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer currently based in Los Angeles. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick

Mitt Romney

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While describing his campaign, the man who almost uprooted Romney’s “inevitable” securing of the Republican presidential nomination claimed, “We have tried … to provide a positive vision, not a negative campaign.” Though he is bowing out, Santorum stressed the importance of taking the White House and seizing control of Congress in November. Santorum quipped: “I know a lot of folks — even at the White House — are gonna write ‘game over,’ but this game is a long, long, way from over.”

Santorum also claimed: “We need a hopeful, positive vision for the country that does more than turns around the economy.”

Santorum’s decision to suspend his campaign effective today all but confirms that Mitt Romney will seize the GOP nomination. Though former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) remain in the race neither has a viable chance of obtaining the 1,144 delegates needed to net the nomination.

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In a blistering election-year critique, Obama sought to present himself to voters as the protector of the middle class and the leader of a Democratic Party that is willing to compromise in Washington. He singled out the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, for criticism and more broadly said Republicans had shifted from any reasonable debate on health care, debt reduction and the environment.

Republicans “will brook no compromise,” Obama told news executives at the annual meeting of The Associated Press.

He cited a Republican presidential debate late last year when the entire field rejected the prospect of $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases as a means to lower the debt.

“Think about that. Ronald Reagan, who as I recall was not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases,” Obama said. “He did it multiple times. He could not get through a Republican primary today.”

Republicans called Obama’s remarks a partisan attempt to cover up broken pledges to cut the federal deficit in half, curb spending and make tough choices to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“The president has resorted to distortions and partisan potshots and recommitted himself to policies that have made our country’s debt crisis worse,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman, said that after the past three years, “the last thing President Obama is qualified to lecture on is responsible federal spending.”

Making his case for re-election, Obama said the nation must restore a sense of security for hard-working Americans and stand for a government willing to help those in hard times. The Democratic president blasted Republicans by name and said the choice between the parties is “unambiguously clear.”

Stirring anew the themes of his State of the Union speech, Obama said the central issue for the country is deciding whether it wants to give everyone a fair chance – with government as a tool to help do that – or whether it is content to let only the wealthy succeed.

Obama used his speech to paint his Republican rivals as protectors of a trickle-down economic philosophy that does not work. He spoke on the day that GOP presidential front-runner Romney was expected to move closer to seizing his party’s nomination as voters went to the polls in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Obama directly challenged Romney for embracing a $3.5 trillion budget proposal led by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin that was approved by the House last week. Ryan’s proposal aims to slash the federal deficit and reduce the size of government. It stands little chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, yet Obama targeted it as a symbol of the Republican vision.

Obama even poked fun at Romney’s word choice. “He even called it `marvelous,’ which is a word you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget,” Obama said. “It’s a word you don’t often hear generally.”

The president said that instead of moderating their views even slightly, the Republicans running Congress have “doubled down” and proposed a budget so far to the right it makes the “Contract With America” look like the “New Deal.”

The Contract with America was the policy document that helped Republicans win the House in 1994 and propelled Newt Gingrich into the speakership. The New Deal was President Franklin Roosevelt’s plan for pulling the nation out of the Great Depression.

Yet Obama also sought to buffer himself from criticism that he is a supporter of big government.

Speaking to publishers and editors, Obama said: “I believe deeply that the free market is the greatest force for economic progress in human history.”

Obama went into a lengthy, point-by-point critique of the Ryan budget, showing what he said would be a perilous future for senior citizens, college students, people with disabilities and many other Americans. He condemned the GOP plan as a “prescription for decline.”

“It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it, a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top but grows outward from the heart of the middle class,” he said.

Obama made a separate call for economic fairness encapsulated by the “Buffett Rule,” arguing the wealthy shouldn’t pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than middle-class taxpayers. He said maintaining current rates or more tax breaks for the wealthy would mean “higher deficits” or “more sacrifice from the middle class” that would force seniors to pay more for Medicare and lead to college students losing some financial aid.

Republicans have said the new tax on the wealthiest Americans would push investors into sending money overseas where it would be taxed less. The GOP also points to congressional analysts who note the new revenue would be only a small amount compared with the projected budget deficits.

Obama’s focus on tax change has come as Democrats seek to bring attention to Romney’s business background and wealth. Romney is a millionaire who is paying 15.4 percent in federal taxes for 2011 on income mostly derived from investments. The top rate for taxpayers with high incomes derived from wages is 35 percent.

Asked about the fate of his health care reform law, his signature legislative achievement, Obama said his administration was “not spending a whole lot of time planning for contingencies” in the event that the law is struck down.

Obama said the nation’s high court has exercised “restraint” and “deference” to Congress in economic cases in the past and he expected the court “to recognize that and to abide by well-established precedents out there.”

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Out of a dozen states where voters in the GOP contest have been polled, most Romney voters have said they strongly favor him in just five of them. A majority of Santorum voters felt that committed to him only four times out of 11 states where he was on the ballot and voters were surveyed.

Each man is struggling to consistently spark the intensity that could separate him from the pack.

Consider that Arizona is the only state where Romney had a higher proportion of voters expressing strong feelings about him than his rivals did. And Santorum hasn’t had that edge in any state yet, despite an animated campaign style and passion for hot-button social issues like contraception that have contrasted with Romney’s stiffer, more analytic manner.

On average, 50 percent of Romney voters and 49 percent of Santorum’s say they strongly favor their candidate, with the rest expressing reservations about their man or a greater dislike for his rivals, according to entrance and exit polls of voters in 12 states.

When it comes to winning fervent devotion from his own supporters, both men trail former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Those two GOP presidential campaigns are lagging but 58 percent of Gingrich’s backers and 53 percent of Paul’s, on average, say they strongly favor their candidate. Analysts say higher percentages of devoted supporters are common with candidates whose lesser backing leaves them with only the most committed followers.

Republican operatives express concern about Romney and Santorum. They say the figures raise questions about how quickly the GOP will be able to end its drawn-out slugfest and begin generating voter enthusiasm for a nominee to challenge President Barack Obama in November.

“At this point in the game, you should be drawing the troops toward you. The intensity about you should be pretty strong,” said Mike McKenna, a Republican consultant not working for any of the contenders.

Political professionals generally consider intensity of support a key ingredient to a winning campaign. Such enthusiasm can help pave the way for everything from yard signs to campaign contributions to voters who show up on Election Day.

“Motivation is the name of the game in trying to get people to the polls,” said Josh Putnam, a political scientist at Davidson University. “It makes campaigns’ work easier if they can bank some votes, so to speak.”

Though Romney and Santorum attract similar amounts of passion, there are different reasons why many of their voters are tepid, the polls show. For Romney, the chief explanation seems to be doubts about his empathy.

Among Romney’s staunchest supporters, 80 percent say the former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital executive understands average Americans better than the other candidates, the combined surveys show. That figure falls to just 44 percent among those who support him more tenuously.

Opponents of the wealthy Romney have at times derided him as being out of touch with typical voters, an image fed by remarks like saying his wife owns two Cadillacs.

Questions about Romney’s credentials as a conservative also seem a liability. While hardly any of his most committed voters say he’s not conservative enough, around 2 in 10 of his less passionate voters say so.

For Santorum, his intensity of support falls off among voters who are less religious and more moderate.

While 63 percent of his strong backers say sharing religious beliefs with a candidate is very important, just 35 percent of his less loyal voters say so, the combined polls show. Santorum voters who ardently back him are also significantly likelier than his less committed supporters to favor making abortion completely illegal, to be born-again or evangelical Christians, or to be tea party backers.

“I also have conservative values,” said Patricia Moran, 71, of Pensacola, Fla., who said in an Associated Press-GfK poll last month that she backs Santorum with qualms. “But his whole women’s issues and contraceptives thing has diminished my enthusiasm for him.”

Santorum has said contraceptives conflict with his Catholic beliefs and states should be free to ban them.

Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse says that while Romney voters may not all exhibit fervor, they are attracted by more important qualities.

“His ability and focus on fixing the economy and his perceived ability to beat Barack Obama really overwhelm everything else in the data,” Newhouse said.

Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s communications director, said he didn’t believe the polling data and contrasted its findings with the excitement he said he sees at the candidate’s campaign events.

“Even if I believed that, what does that say about Mitt Romney,” who has had the advantages of running for president longer and far outspending his rivals, Gidley said. “It says a whole lot more about Mitt Romney’s supporters than ours.”

Some Republicans expressed surprise that Santorum’s support wasn’t more passionate than Romney’s, attributing it in part to the lesser familiarity that many voters have with him.

Several said it probably also reflected a desire by many Republicans to find a contender who can oust Obama. In the exit polls, Romney dominates among voters seeking that quality in a candidate.

“Santorum has become the vehicle to register your rejection of Romney,” said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP consultant who had worked for one-time GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry. “But a lot of folks don’t think necessarily that Santorum can either win the nomination or beat Obama.”

Romney supporters say their candidate’s focus on the economy accounts for the tempered enthusiasm of his supporters.

“He’s not the guy who uses red hot rhetoric,” said Sen. Robert Portman, R-Ohio, who has campaigned with Romney. “He’s a thoughtful conservative who wants to roll up his sleeves and fix our problems. That may lead to less enthusiasm in some of the primaries, but I think it will serve him really well in the general” election.

The data comes from surveys of voters conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research in 12 states that have held GOP primaries or caucuses: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

Exit and entrance polls in those states in

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Exit pollsters had such few votes from the Black voting base that it couldn’t be determined who was the preferred candidate among the group. Even states like Georgia, where Black voters make up 31 percent of the voting pool, only made for 3 percent of the total. Similarly, in Michigan, where Black voters make up 15 percent, only 2 percent of Blacks pulled levers for the GOP candidates.  South Carolina and Florida both clocked in with about 1 percent of the total GOP vote.

The GOP has been largely out of touch with Black voters, further marked by the ascension of President Barack Obama to the White House. In much of the GOP debates and discussions, the candidates have largely turned a blind eye toward race or have made disparaging comments about African Americans. All three candidates have put the lion’s share of attention, though, toward the game of one-upmanship. On Tuesday, Mississippi and Alabama residents can vote on the GOP primaries. Both states have large African-American residents, but it is expected that the trend of inactivity will continue.

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The information shows that only 14% of Alabama republicans believe that Obama is a Christian, while 45% believe he is a Muslim, and the 12% of Mississippi republicans believe that Obama is a Christian, while 52% of Mississippi republicans believe he is Muslim.

The Huffington Post reports:

Religion rumors are nothing new for Obama. Back in August 2010, a poll showed that almost one-fifth of all Americans believed he is a Muslim. Obama responded in an interview with “NBC Nightly News” saying that “the facts are the facts” regarding his Christian faith.

Read More At The Huffington Post

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From Rep. Joe Wilson’s now infamous “You Lie!” outburst (watch above) to fellow Republic Congressman Doug Lamborn’s “tar baby” remarks last summer, Obama has had to deflect some of the GOP’s harshest barbs, exhibiting a grace that has caused some critics to complain that he should meet the fire head on. The latest line stepping from a GOP elected official happened this week, and the images captured froze a moment that won’t soon be forgotten.

On Wednesday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (pictured) was snapped in an Associated Press photo with her finger in the face of Obama, who had his right hand on her left elbow as she seemed to be yelling at him once he landed in the governor’s state. Although speculation surrounding the confrontation swirled about, Brewer addressed the perceived argument in a press conference (report courtesy of USA Today) last night.

I must say, I was not hostile, I was trying to be very, very gracious, said Brewer of the moment between she and Obama.

Brewer claimed that upon meeting the President on the tarmac, Obama switched the subject to her memoir, “Scorpions for Breakfast,” where she described him as “patronizing” after a 2010 White House meeting. Of the photograph, Brewer again showed slick politician savvy by answering a direct question of whether she was disrespectful to the President in that moment:

I probably have better photographs of me than that, said Brewer. But I hope will take it into context that I was talking and I talk with my hands.

Talking with one’s hands is one thing, pointing your finger in the face and yelling at the President of the United States is another matter all together.

Obama isn’t the first president to endure such a blitz from an opposing party: Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton both suffered under the hot glare of critical analysis.

The particular way President Obama has been handled, though, points to racism as the bottom line.

In an election year still shaping itself for an epic November showdown between Obama and whoever the GOP nominee shall be, Republican officials and conservative pundits are surely sharpening their pens and words in attempt to maim the President’s name and perhaps rattle his formidable shell.

Still, the likes of Brewer, Wilson, and Lamborn should be taken to task for their behavior and outright racism. Even though the President has helmed the assassination of Osama bin Laden, forced insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, coordinated the rescue of two Navy Seal hostages, reformed student loans, and rehabilitated the American auto industry, I would argue that President Obama is indeed one of the most disrespected — if not the most disrespected– president of this country.

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Walsh was confronted by MSNBC host Martin Bashir over his child support situation, after he attacked President Obama’s budget plans on his show.
RawStory reports:

You’ve repeatedly said over the last two years in your opposition to the president, when he’s even suggested raising a surtax of naught-point-five percent to enable the American Jobs Act to be paid for, that naught-point-five percent levied against people earning more than a million dollars, you’ve opposed that, Bashir noted during an interview with Walsh about the president’s upcoming State of the Union address. “And one of the things that you have repeatedly said is that you will not place another dollar on the back of your children.

Haven’t you already done that by inadequately paying child support? Bashir wondered. “That is a question viewers have asked me. They’d like to know why you still owe $117,437 in child support.”

Read More At RawStory

We talked earlier about all of these different comments that Republican candidates have been making when it comes to African-Americans and food stamps and welfare and things along those lines. Let’s be clear. This is all by design in terms of they want to push the buttons of White conservatives who’re walking around with particular views, as well as subjective views, of African-Americans. And so it appears as if they simply want to get a rise out of African-Americans every time they do it.

So, what should we be doing? First of all, not fall for the okey doke. Certainly, keep people accountable [for] what they say, but also continue to push them on policy and challenge them on policy, but also change the conversation to being mad with what somebody says, but explain to the American public that, “Look, more White folks are on welfare and receive food stamps than anybody else.” Black folks don’t need to own poverty. We don’t need to own the issue of welfare, just like when I discuss Affirmative Action, I make it clear that White women have benefit from Affirmative Action more than any other group in this country. So, some things we don’t need to own. Certainly, hold them accountable, but trust me. Let’s not fall for the tricks that they always play when it comes to trying to push the buttons of Black folks.

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Speaking with 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in an interview that aired Sunday night, the president said Republicans chose to stand on the sidelines while the economy worsened so that they could capitalize on blaming him.

“When I came into office in 2008, it was my firm belief that at such an important moment in our history, there was no reason why Democrats and Republicans couldn’t put some of the old ideological baggage aside and focus on common sense, what works, practical solutions to the tough problems we were facing,” Obama told “60 Minutes”.

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Obama sought to steal the spotlight from Republican presidential contenders who have blanketed the political battleground with anti-Obama messages while tending to a state expected to be heavily contested in the next year’s general election.

“The next time you hear one of these folks from the other side … talking about raising your taxes, you just remind them that ever since I’ve got into office, I’ve lowered your taxes, haven’t raised them,” Obama said at a high school gymnasium. “That’s worth reminding them.”

The president said “in the spirit of Thanksgiving,” Democrats in Congress would offer Republicans another chance next week to consider a plan to extend and expand the cut in payroll taxes that fund Social Security. Obama said it would save the typical middle class family about $1,000 in taxes.

“Don’t be a Grinch. Don’t vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays,” Obama said.

Even as he sought to draw a bright line with Republicans over taxes, Obama was reminded about the unhappiness among some in the Occupy Wall Street movement. As he began to speak, Obama was briefly interrupted by protesters who screamed, “Mic check!” and then chanted, “Mr. President — over 4,000 protesters, over 4,000 protesters, have been arrested.”

Obama paused to let the demonstrators speak. “No, no, no. That’s OK,” Obama said. The crowd then sought to drown out the protesters with chants of “Obama!”

Working the crowd after the speech, Obama was handed a note from the protesters that amounted to a script of their chant. Captured in photographs, the note said peaceful demonstrators had been arrested while “banksters” destroy the economy “with impunity.”

The note urges Obama to stop the assault on protesters’ First Amendment rights and says his “silence sends a message that police brutality is acceptable.”

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, meanwhile, was airing his first TV ads in the Granite State, a spot sharply critical of Obama’s economic record. The former Massachusetts governor also ran ads in New Hampshire newspapers that say to Obama, “I will be blunt. Your policies have failed.”

Traveling to New Hampshire, White House spokesman Jay Carney swiped at the ad, which plays audio of Obama from the 2008 presidential campaign declaring “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

Obama, however, was quoting the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a distinction the ad doesn’t make and that alters its meaning. In fact, the Romney campaign statement announcing the ad includes Obama’s full quote: “Sen. McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

“Seriously? I mean, an ad in which they deliberately distort what the president said?” Carney said. “It’s a rather remarkable way to start. And an unfortunate way to start.”

New Hampshire, with only 4 electoral votes, has been a key target in recent presidential elections. Republican George W. Bush carried the state in 2000, but Democrats took it back in 2004. Obama lost the 2008 New Hampshire primary in a surprise to Hillary Rodham Clinton but bounced back to win the state in the general election.

Billy Shaheen, a longtime Democratic operative in New Hampshire and the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said Republicans’ huge gains in the state during the 2010 midterm elections served as a wake-up call for the state’s Democrats.

“After the 2010 election, New Hampshire got a taste of what the tea party can do, and it’s not happy. I think an undercurrent exists that’s ready to be tapped for the 2012 election,” he said. “We’re not proud of what has been going on in the state capitol, and we’re getting ready. We let our guard down in 2010, but we’ve come too far to go back.”

The president’s trip followed the collapse of a special congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee, which failed to reach a deal on $1.2 trillion in cuts. Democrats had hoped to tuck the payroll tax extension, as well as a renewal of unemployment benefits, into the supercommittee agreement.

With that option seemingly off the table, the White House plans to make a full-court press for a separate measure to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of the year — and set up Republicans to be the scapegoat if the measure doesn’t pass.

The White House says a middle-class family making $50,000 a year would see its taxes rise by $1,000 if the payroll tax cuts are not extended.

Republicans aren’t wholly opposed to the extension. In fact, party members sent the White House a letter in September stating that extension of the payroll tax cut is one element of Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill where the two sides may be able to find common ground.

Some Republicans worry that the extension would undermine the solvency of Social Security. Others oppose any effort to pay for the renewal by taxing the wealthy.

The issue could appeal to independent voters in low-tax New Hampshire. With Republican candidates led by Romney assailing Obama’s record at every turn, the president and his surrogates, including Vice President Joe Biden, are trying to rebut their economic message.

Recent polls have indicated that, if an election between Obama and Romney were held today, Obama would lose by roughly 10 percentage points.

It was Obama’s first visit to New Hampshire in nearly two years and the president harkened back to a campaign event at Manchester High School nearly four years to the day, when an early snow storm forced him to leave early.

“I wanted to point out,” Obama said, “we are keeping our promise. We are back.”

The tweet came hours after a man was arrested for shooting at the White House.

Y’all as tempting as it may be, don’t shoot Obama. We need him to go down in history as the WORST president we’ve EVER had! #2012.”

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The Huffington Post reports:

Pierce told ABC News that the comment was a “joke” and that the “whole [shooting incident] was stupid.” Giggling, she said that an attempted assassination would “only make the situation worse.”

“Insofar as she’s a representative [of the College Republicans], maybe it shouldn’t be said, but she’s made a positive statement in a way,” said Cassie Wright, the group’s vice president.

“I don’t really see anything wrong with it,” Wright added. “It’s just a personal comment, not representative of any group. Just freedom of speech, you know?”

Read More At The Huffington Post

His rivals descended this week on what is essentially his home turf and they are ready to challenge the former Massachusetts governor on the economy, his central campaign theme, in a Tuesday night debate focused on that issue.

But don’t expect the criticism from Romney’s opponents to stop there, given that time is quickly running out before the first votes are cast in the GOP nominating fight.

“Even the richest man can’t buy back his past,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign said in a web video that describes Romney as the inspiration for President Barack Obama’s national health care overhaul that conservatives detest and questions Romney’s assertion that he is a “conservative businessman.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota on Monday urged conservative voters not to support for a candidate who isn’t one of them. “It’s not good enough to settle for anyone but Barack Obama,” she said while campaigning in New Hampshire.

Even lower-profile rivals are trying to knock Romney off his game.

“Simply advocating more ships, more troops and more weapons is not a viable path forward,” former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said Monday in a foreign policy speech that was a direct rebuttal to Romney’s a week earlier.

Romney, a second-time presidential contender, has a comfortable lead in New Hampshire polling after virtually camping out in the state since his 2008 loss and building a strong statewide campaign network. To stop him, his opponents have readied criticism on health care policy, cultural issues and environmental positions.

Tuesday’s debate was designed to be on the economy – voters’ top concern in a nation that recorded 9.1 percent unemployment last month – but there was scant chance Romney would be able to dodge questions about his record.

Perhaps mindful of that, Romney referenced Perry’s web video at a campaign event Monday.

“For some people in campaigns their process is one of obfuscation and bewilderment,” Romney said while visiting a VFW hall. “You’re going to find in a campaign like this people running against me who will take what I said and try to say something else. There’s an ad out there today that does that.”

Perry and Bachmann both have tried to pitch themselves as an alternative to Romney, who signed into law a health care mandate as Massachusetts governor that conservatives loathe.

However, the candidates stumbled in their early attempts: Perry flubbed a practiced criticism during his last debate; Bachmann struggled to hold onto her fast rise in popularity and has struggled to gain traction for her message that casts Romney as a moderate who can’t be trusted.

The criticism has not thrown Romney’s pace. Nothing, to this point, has started an exodus among his supporters. And time is running short for Romney’s rivals to make that happen.

While New Hampshire has yet to schedule its primary, it is likely to come before mid-January. That means there are fewer than 100 days for the newcomers to make inroads in New Hampshire, a state where Romney is well known, owns a vacation home and won a second-place finish in his 2008 presidential bid.

Yet, his rivals note, Romney hasn’t faced steady nasty attacks here on television. His chief opponent four years ago, Sen. John McCain, didn’t have the campaign cash to buy the commercials.

That is not the case now.

Perry is sitting on $15 million. Bachmann has yet to report her fundraising, but previous campaigns show she is a prodigious fundraiser who isn’t shy to spend. And Huntsman, a former Utah governor who has made New Hampshire his make-or-break state, has a personal fortune he could tap; his allies have established an independent organization that could run anti-Romney ads with their almost unmatched family fortune.

Perry’s campaign signaled their anti-Romney ads were almost certain to start soon.

At the ready: a strong defense of Romney, emphasizing his record as a business executive whose campaign has been based almost exclusively on the economy. Since coming up short four years ago, he and his advisers have laid the extensive groundwork to respond quickly with a message tailored to the economic uncertainty.

If voters’ decision comes down to the economy, Romney is ready to highlight his accomplishments – and his rivals’ shortcomings.

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According to the latest Gallup poll, Cain’s support has jumped to 18 percent, trailing closely behind Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney who came in at 20 percent of the poll conducted Oct. 3-7.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who just weeks ago was the favorite among those polled, came in at 15 percent.

Cain has impressed some GOP voters with his straight-talking style, and he has clearly benefited from increased media coverage following a somewhat surprising triumph in a GOP straw poll in Florida on Sept. 24.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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Gohmert said on Tuesday, “We’re adding in this bill a new protected class called ‘unemployed. I think this will help trial lawyers who are not having enough work. We heard from our friends across the aisle, 14 million people out of work — that’s 14 million new clients.”

HuffingtonPost.com reports:

According to the National Employment Law Project, Gohmert is incorrect: The proposal would not make employment status a protected class like race or sex. It simply bans hiring discrimination against the jobless, and is modeled off of legislation drafted by Democrats in Congress earlier this year.

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

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“That’s what’s freedom is all about,” Republican presidential nominee Ron Paul said when CNN’s Wolf Blizter asked who should pay when uninsured Americans encounter catastrophic illness.

“He should do whatever he wants to do,” Paul said. My advice to him is have a major medical policy.”

As Blizter continued his line of questions asking, “So congressman are you saying society should just let him die?,” members of the audience can be heard cheering “yeah,” as if they approved.

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Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and Jim DeMint are just a few of the congressmen who are boycotting the president’s address.

Their reasons for missing range from opposition to what they consider political posturing by Obama, to not wanting to miss the opening night of the football season.

Having a number of members skip a president’s joint address is not unprecedented, however. The last time was in January 1999, when multiple members — led by Speaker of the House Dennis Hassert — skipped President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union, feeling that is was “disrespectful” to a Congress in the middle of an impeachment process.

Read more at the Huffington Post.

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Hinkle, who recently voted for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, allegedly sought out Kameryn Gibson in the men-for-men section on the website.

Gibson claims that he met with the 64-year-old politician, but says he got cold feet and left after Hinkle exposed his body, according to Gawker.com:

Hinkle responded with an offer to fill this role and pay Gibson $80 or so dollars, and, “for a really good time, you could get another 50, 60 bucks. That sound good?” He picked Gibson up at his house, took him to a hotel room, and showed him his state lawmaker ID. Gibson got cold feet and went to the bathroom to call his sister, Megan, and ask her to pick him up.

Read more at Gawker.com

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By having the secretaries of state under Republican presidents weigh in, GOP critics couldn’t just lay the blame at the feet of Obama without having to trample the integrity of Henry Kissinger, George P. Shultz and James A. Baker III.

Once they publicly came out for the treaty and were photographed in the White House, the momentum shifted, and the treaty was approved.

No matter how principled someone may be when he comes to Washington, he is going to have to learn how to play along with others. That’s the rule in the sandbox, and it should be the same rule in Congress.

But we have become a nation in which the strong ideologies that the left and right clutch to for dear life don’t allow for middle ground. In fact, if you even broach the idea of compromising, activists on both sides will tear you to shreds and make it hard for you to even win a primary.

As a result, we have elected mercenaries to Congress who aren’t interested in the well-being of all Americans, just the sliver of the voting public that sent them to the nation’s capital. They play to the activists who raise money and turn out en masse at rallies.

The ongoing debate over the debt ceiling is a prime example of this unwillingness to consider an alternative viewpoint that could avert a crisis.

On one side, Democrats didn’t want the GOP — or even President Obama — going near entitlement programs as a part of deficit reduction. When the president put those on the table in his negotiations with Republicans, Democrats revolted in anger.

Social Security and Medicare have long been strong political rallying points for the Democrats, and they want to keep that edge.

President Obama made clear that revenues had to be a part of any plan. The Congressional Budget Office has been clear that the Bush tax cuts contributed $3.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. Talk to conservative activists, TV pundits and members of Congress and they swear that it isn’t true. But it is. Facts simply aren’t debatable.

So instead of confronting cuts that adversely impact the national debt, House Republicans saw that as a non-starter, refusing to allow any revenues to be a part of any debt ceiling deal. As a result, Obama’s grand plan of a $4 trillion debt reduction was shot down, but House Speaker John Boehner’s plan came to slightly less than $1 trillion. And fiscal conservatives are happy?

The reality is that President Obama is a Democrat; Republicans control the House; and Democrats control the United States Senate. Both sides can push their perspectives as hard as possible, but unless we stop treating the word “compromise” as a dirty word, we will have endless partisan fights that make ideologues feel good but the nation in a worse state than it was before, and we will not move this country forward.

The House has passed Boehner’s plan. Now the Senate will take up Majority Leader Harry Reid’s debt plan. They are very different. Let’s pray that both parties don’t dig in their heels and learn to give a little. Otherwise, the nation’s credit is jeopardized, and those already hit by the recession will be plunged even further into the economic abyss.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the book “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.” Please visit his website atwww.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

On one hand, Republicans are trying desperately to hold on to their purely insane ideological position of there being no revenue or tax increases. It is as if these idiots refuse to believe any data that make clear that the massive tax cuts put in place by President George W. Bush have increased the federal deficit. But they are afraid of running afoul of Grover Norquist and his Kool-Aid drinkers at Americans for Tax Reform, who are more than willing to protect the millionaires and billionaires in this country — with their jets and yachts — from having to pay taxes at previous levels.

Then there are the Democrats, who have this equally insane belief that we can reduce the deficit and not touch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those three areas, along with the billions we continue to spend on national defense, constitute most of the dollars we spend on the federal budget. And those costs are spiraling out of control. So of course, we must make some hard choices, and yes, that will mean making adjustments that might upset seniors.

At the end of the day, this ludicrous standoff is doing severe damage to America’s credibility in the financial markets, and even toying with not increasing the debt ceiling could have severe repercussions on all of us. But when clueless representatives, such as Michele Bachmann, suggest that nothing would happen if we were not to raise the debt ceiling, they just prove they would destroy this nation in order to preserve an ideological purity.

Right now, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, the world’s two leading credit rating agencies, have put the U.S. and our AAA credit rating on their watch lists, with S&P stating Thursday that “owing to the dynamics of the political debate on the debt ceiling, there is at least a one-in-two likelihood that we could lower the long-term rating on the U.S. within the next 90 days.”

No party can try to claim that the other is at fault for this perilous situation. Both have contributed to this mess with their unwillingness to make the tough choices. And yes, American taxpayers must absorb the burden, as well, because when a politician makes the tough choice to cut or not fund our every whim and desire, we toss him out of office.

This debate is all about politics. No matter that not raising the debt ceiling would impact every American in a negative way. Social Security and military checks would be in jeopardy; expect to see massive losses in our 401(k) accounts; and access to credit, already difficult, would become nearly impossible. But Democrats don’t want to touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, because those are a potent bat to bash Republicans with in every election.

We just saw the Dems win a congressional seat in a hard-core Republican district in New York based on Rep.

Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal. They know seniors vote in larger numbers than anyone else, and losing a potent political weapon is unthinkable for them. So that’s why they are angry with President Barack Obama for putting the options on the table.

Republicans are like a suicide bomber when it comes to the mantra of low taxes and smaller government; no matter how much damage is done, as long as they hold their ground, they think they are doing the right thing. Get angry all you want about my making the suicide bomber analogy, but even threatening to blow up the American economy is akin to committing suicide, all for an ideological purity. But by holding firm to their position, they know it appeals to their core voters.

That is precisely why I’ve despised the labels of Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. Damn an ideology. At some point, you’ve got to analyze a situation and say, “This is the right thing to do.”

But all of these politicians are afraid of one thing: losing their jobs. Frankly, they really don’t care about the millions of jobs that we have seen lost in this economy over the past four years. It is about those 435 powerful jobs in the House of Representatives, the 100 in the Senate and the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

This is when the American public, especially the silent majority, must get off their collective butt and say, “Get this deal done. Now.” Enough with the tea partyers driving Republicans over a cliff with their insistence on no revenue increases. And enough with Democrats bowing down to the liberal left, which says “no mas” to any entitlement cuts.

All of you who sit passively by and watch as the ideological purists make all the noise and dominate the cable news shows must take a stand and say, “Enough!”

All Americans should be blowing up the phone lines and email inboxes of their representatives every day until a debt ceiling deal is brokered. Sure, you may not like a revenue increase or an entitlement cut, but thinking the other side must share the full burden is just dumb. “Shared pain” is not a negative statement. It’s real and necessary.

If the GOP gets its way, we lose. If the Democrats get their way, we lose. We simply cannot continue down this insane path of ideological purity driving our nation’s agenda. If President Ronald Reagan understood that he would have to accept revenue increases and President Bill Clinton saw that welfare needed to be changed, then Obama must be followed in brokering a deal in which all sides have skin in this game.

So, folks, it’s time for you to get in this game. Pick that phone up. Send that email. We aren’t in the room negotiating this deal, but I can guarantee you that if Congress and the White House hear from the millions of us with enough common sense to compromise, a deal will get done.

None of us wants to see the carnage that would ensue if we let the self-inflicted bomb to our economy go off.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the book “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.” Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

Republicans said that after a heated disagreement with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the president “abruptly” walked out of the meeting.

Democratic lawmakers, however, said that Obama gave a lecture to Cantor and Republicans and left the meeting because it had ended, not because of anger.

Mr. Obama did have ardent words for Republican lawmakers, however.

“Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this,” the president said just shortly before concluding the two-hour meeting.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, warned on Wednesday of a “huge financial calamity” if President Obama and the Republicans cannot agree on a budget deal that allows the federal debt ceiling to be increased.

The NYTimes Reports:

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, said he raised the idea of taking what savings could be achieved now — roughly $1.4 trillion — and then having additional votes to raise the debt limit again before the elections in November 2012, with Republicans ultimately seeking a total of at least $2.4 trillion in cuts with no tax increases.

At this, Mr. Cantor said, the president “got very agitated, seemingly.” Mr. Cantor quoted the president as saying: “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people with this.”

Then, Mr. Cantor said, “He shoved back and said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and walked out.”

Read More At NYTimes.com

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The aforementioned caveats implicitly stem from rhetoric used by the Republican Party as of late, and as in most election seasons, the GOP’s inner loathing for all humanity has emerged to the forefront.

Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum recently signed a pledge in Iowa drafted by “The Family Leader,” a conservative group. The pledge said that if signed, the candidate will vow to uphold the most basic conservative values such as marriage between a man and woman, as well as stand firmly on the belief that African-American babies were better off during slavery because they were more “likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than is an African-American born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”

Of course, the The Family Leader later retracted that language, but the damage was already done. Don’t back track now, say how you really feel. Word of advice for conservatives and Republicans: Leave race out of your political argumentation. You only make yourself come off as more of an arse, especially when you know nothing about the African-American family during slavery, or in any capacity for that matter.

In fact, the African-American family was far from intact during slavery. Children were auctioned off to slave owners, ripped away from their mother’s bosom and forced into child labor. And yet some conservatives believe that to be some kind of familial Utopia? If you’re going to bring up slavery, stick to the facts.

If you care so much about the African-American family, vote on policies that bring quality education to underprivileged communities, commit to funding recreational services for children who are engulfed in violence and drug wars. If you really care about the African-American family, and want to highlight their unique place in America, you wouldn’t question the need for affirmative action, or for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and you certainly wouldn’t threaten to obliterate public assistance.

And then there’s the argument that single-parent households are somehow less regarded than two-parent households; that a child can’t possibly live a quality life if he or she is not raised by both parents. What world are they living in? Because it’s certainly not the real world.

But wait there’s more.

A pastor affiliated with potential 2012 presidential candidate, Rick Perry, called Oprah a “harbinger of the anti-Christ” who is “utterly deceived.” How in the world did Oprah get into the conversation? What makes her an anti-Christ?

I guess it’s the fact that she is supported by Americans of all creeds, ethnicities, and gender, or the fact that she is a billionaire who voluntarily gives millions of dollars back to the middle class–something Republicans find to be absurd. She’s an anti-Christ, alright.

But sadly, the real reason Oprah is targeted is because she publicly supports the president, and if you’re a Obama supporter you’re most certainly a cold-blooded, anti-Christian sadist. Right, Republicans?

It never cease to amaze me how a political party that claims to stand on Religious principles (which implies love for all), could spew so much garbage. Who mandated the Republican Party as the humane experts on what’s right or wrong? Republicans are far from perfect, and I wish they would stop preaching as if they are. Last time I checked the only one fit to judge was God himself. But what do I know? I’m not a conservative, religious absolutist.

Excuse me if I’m coming off a bit over the top, but this is the same tactic conservatives use when engaging political debate, and quite frankly, it’s getting old. The “I’m-holier-than-thou” approach to politics is deplorable, and until Republicans take themselves seriously, they will never garner my respect.

Say what you want about Democrats, but I’d rather support a caucus that stands on a platform of tolerance for all than one that stands on extreme, absolute detestation. Democrats, too, of course have their own issues, but nothing as condemning as the GOP.

No one has all of the answers, but if I have to live in a world designed by the Republican Party, I’ll be buying my first ticket to the moon.

*Note: These sentiments do not characterize every Republican, just most.

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“Yes, Republican base, you are just like that jury. It is pathetically clear who is killing the middle class, but you keep letting them get away with murder,” Maher lashed out.

“If you’re a working-class American who still votes Republican then you don’t get to bitch about that verdict.”

Maher went on to condemn Republican lawmakers and voters:

[Half of American voters] say ‘I’m with the party that cuts all these programs for real people, for the 99 percent. Planned Parenthood, environmental protection, college, health care, infrastructure, but holds the line on private jets.’ Voting for them is as stupid as voting not guilty for the mom who lost her baby for a month and went looking at a wet t-shirt contest.

Video Below:

SOURCE

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Senator Sessions And Republicans Are “Rather Pathetic”

In true Democratic fashion, Reid proposed: “It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.”

In essence, Reid suggested that millionaires share the burden of most struggling middle class Americans (and Americans in general) by contributing more to the pot, essentially—a common ideology of the Democratic Party. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) fired back that such a postulation was “rather pathetic.”

What is so pathetic Mr. Sessions? The fact that millions of Americans are unemployed? Or is it the fact that the median income for American households sits around $50,000?

Sessions comment was a slap in the face to every blue-collar American, every minority who has to work to overcome the disadvantages in education, economics and socialization, every single child that will grow up to work an honest job as a teacher, nurse or city worker. These everyday Americans count on their Government to put their best interests at heart, and sadly that is not the case today.

We stand on a constitution that is supposed to guarantee the right of pursuit and happiness. But when men and women, like so many parents that I know, have to work day in and day out to barely pay bills, let alone live a comfortable life for them and their children, it suggests that somewhere our Government has failed us.

What Sessions comment pervades is a commonality within the Republican Party; the absurdity of holding on to their pockets while the rest of America suffers.

Glad to see how you really feel, Mr. Sessions. And this coming from a guy who called his Black subordinate “boy” and tagged the NAACP as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.”

Maybe if the rest of the GOP would stop veiling their true sentiments, we could have real, honest discussions about the true cause of our financial drought. America is faced with economic strains because of greed; greedy CEOs, politicians and other fat cat millionaires who only seek to preserve their own wealth, and in the process they use middle- and lower- class Americans as collateral.

If Congress does not come to an agreement on the nation’s deficit it will be because Republicans chose to be stubborn, mercenary politicians rather than elected safeguards for their constituents.

Many people always go up in arms when it’s suggested that the GOP, or in the words of Kanye West, when “George Bush doesn’t like Black people.” But when Americans, African-Americans especially, most succumb to the financial strains of America, what are they supposed to think? Surely not that Congress and the Republican Party cares anything about them.

America as a whole got us into this financial predicament, therefore everyone needs to share the burden, including gluttonous millionaires holding on to their bank accounts.

Now that’s pathetic.

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Newt Gingrich is the latest white politician to claim the Obama administration has failed Black America. As the political gears roll into action for the 2012 elections, the Republicans look to take the Black vote away from the incumbent president’s reelection bid.

An article on The Grio discusses whether or not Gingrich and his Republican Party stand a chance at showing Black America they’re on our side.

Read more at The Grio.com

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House Democrats accused the GOP of political demagoguery, while the Obama administration maneuvered to avoid taking sides – or giving offense to majority Republicans.

The debate was brief, occasionally impassioned, and set a standard of sorts for public theater, particularly at a time when private negotiations continue among the administration and key lawmakers on the deficit cuts Republicans have demanded.

The bill “will and must fail,” said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the House Ways and Means Committee chairman who noted he had helped write the very measure he was criticizing.

“I consider defeating an unconditional increase to be a success, because it sends a clear and critical message that the Congress has finally recognized we must immediately begin to rein in America’s affection for deficit spending,” he said.

But Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., accused Republicans of a “ploy so egregious that (they) have had to spend the last week pleading with Wall Street not to take it seriously and risk our economic recovery.”

He and other Democrats added that Republicans were attempting to draw attention away from their controversial plan to turn Medicare into a program in which seniors purchase private insurance coverage.

The proceedings occurred roughly two months before the date Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said the debt limit must be raised. If no action is taken by Aug. 2, he has warned, the government could default on its obligations and risk turmoil that might plunge the nation into another recession or even an economic depression.

Republicans, who are scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Wednesday, signaled in advance that the debt limit vote did not portend a final refusal to grant an increase. And in fact, the White House is negotiating with top lawmakers in both houses on a package of deficit cuts to accompany a debt limit increase in the coming weeks.

The roll call vote was to be held late in the day, when it would be least likely to rattle the U.S. financial markets while still allowing rank-and-file lawmakers to vote against unpopular legislation the leadership has said eventually must pass.

For its part, the administration appeared eager to avoid criticizing Republicans.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” presidential press secretary Jay Carney said when asked about the Republican decision to tie spending cuts with more borrowing.

“We believe they should not be linked because there is no alternative that’s acceptable to raising the debt ceiling. But we’re committed to reducing the deficit,” Carney said.

The government has already reached the limit of its borrowing authority, $14.3 trillion, and the Treasury is using a series of extraordinary maneuvers to meet financial obligations.

By no longer would making investments in two big pension funds for federal workers and beginning to withdraw current investments, for example, the Treasury created $214 billion in additional borrowing headroom.

At the same time, the Obama administration and congressional leaders are at work trying to produce a deficit-reduction agreement in excess of $1 trillion to meet Republican demands for spending cuts.

Political maneuvering on legislation to raise the debt limit has become common in recent years, as federal deficits have soared and presidents of both political parties have been forced to seek authority to borrow additional trillions of dollars.

Because such legislation is unpopular with voters, presidents generally look to lawmakers from their own political party to provide the votes needed for passage. In the current case, though, Republicans control the House, and without at least some support from them, Obama’s request for a debt-limit increase would fail.

However, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced months ago that he would demand spending cuts as a condition for passage.

“It’s true that allowing America to default would be irresponsible,” he said on May 9 in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. “But it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt limit without simultaneously taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and to reform the budget process.”

He added that any spending cuts should be larger than the increase in borrowing authority, a statement meant to lay down a marker for the deficit-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden.

Few details have emerged from those negotiations, although Biden said recently the negotiators had made progress. He expressed confidence they would be able to agree on specific cuts in excess of $1 trillion over the next decade, and then look to procedural mechanisms known as “triggers” to force further automatic deficit cuts adding up to another $3 trillion or so.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a participant in the talks, said afterward, “I am confident that we can achieve over a trillion dollars in savings at this point, and hopefully more.”

Earlier, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., had said the discussions centered on deficit cuts totaling in the range of $150 billion to $200 billion over a decade, but that was from a relatively small category of programs.

Among the areas eyed for spending cuts is the federal pension program, where the White House has signaled it is receptive to a Republican proposal for employees to make greater contributions.

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WASHINGTON — House Republicans have told the top U.S. foreign aid official that the country’s earthquake relief efforts in Haiti have been pathetic.

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz says only 5 percent of the rubble has been removed and 22 percent of the needed transitional shelters have been built. Those figures came from inspector general reports.

Obama administration aid official Rajiv Shah told Chaffetz at a hearing Wednesday that major progress has been made in providing safe drinking water and medical care. He says a new industrial park will create 5,000 jobs.

Republican Darrell Issa of California told Shah that if a recovery effort was that slow in the United States, the administrator would be fired.

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