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Obama Jobs Bill: Top 10 False And Irresponsible Republican Responses

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President Obama delivered a rousing speech outlining his plan, the American Jobs Act, to create jobs for Americans. Knowing any improvement in the economy or in unemployment numbers nets the President a second term, the Republicans are fiercely against his proposal to invest $447 billion — fully paid for — in getting Americans back to work, while repairing this nation’s roads, bridges, and schools.

Most important in this equation, and remember this as you read further, is the revelation — for the second time — from the congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the Stimulus, which Obama implemented when he took office, did work. In fact, “the stimulus raised real gross domestic product by between 0.8 and 2.5 percent, lowered unemployment by 0.5 to 1.6 percent and increased jobs by 1 to 2.9 million.”

So, when you have to lie for your points to sound OK, they’re not.

Here are the top 10 worst, nastiest, most negative and irresponsible responses from Republicans, who clearly are not interested in jobs:

10. Mitch McConnell:

“A debate that was forced upon us by the historic run-up in debt that’s occurred over the past two and a half years as a result of this President’s unprecedented spending,” McConnell said. “Yet here we are, tonight, being asked by this same president to support even more government spending with the assurance that he’ll figure out a way to pay for it later.”

9. Jeb Hensarling:

“By asking the Joint Select Committee to increase the $1.5 trillion target to cover the full cost of his plan, the president is essentially tasking a committee designed to reduce the deficit to pay for yet another round of stimulus.”

8. Eric Cantor:

All I can say is, we are looking forward to trying to see if we can transcend differences, set them aside and try and come together on what we can do to grow the economy and to help people get back to work. That’s why I reject the notion that there is somehow an all-or-nothing approach here, that we have got to accept his package, or somehow he will look to hold us accountable. Again, it’s about results here, and there are plenty of things that we can do to produce results, transcending the differences and trying to stick to where can find commonalities.

7. Rick Perry:

“Like the president’s earlier $800 billion stimulus program, this proposal offers little hope for millions of Americans who have lost jobs on his watch and taxpayers who are rightly concerned that their children will inherit a mountain of debt,” he said. “America needs jobs, smaller government, less spending and a president with the courage to offer more than yet another speech.”

6. Jon Huntsman:

Americans are “tired of President Obama’s empty rhetoric and failed policies; they’re desperately searching for leadership and, above all, results. Tonight’s list of regurgitated half-measures demonstrates that President Obama fundamentally doesn’t understand how to turn our economy around.”

5. Michele Bachmann:

While the President’s speech comes on the heels of a trillion dollars of failed stimulus, bailouts, and temporary gimmicks aimed at creating jobs, the President continued to cling to the idea that government is the solution to creating jobs.

I stand here tonight to say to the President, not only should Congress not pass your plan, I say, “stop; your last plan hasn’t worked, it’s hurting the American economy.” Instead of temporary fixes, do what has proved to work in the past, permanent pro growth policies that are driven by the free market.

Generational theft is a moral and ethical issue, and I care deeply about both the present generation and generations to come.

The President is politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done.

4. Jeff Flake:

“I feel like I’ve just been to the principal’s office. It was equal parts platitudes and scolding. He has given a lot of good speeches in his day but this wasn’t one of them. It was vacuous. You knew what it was, but some of the talk made me scratch my head. Retention of teachers? It was just lines thrown out there for applause from the Left, without any real connection to what we need to do.” Obama, with his sinking polls, Flake says, threw a “Hail Mary,” and missed.

3. Steve King:

“The president said that we can reduce the deficit and pay down the national debt, which isn’t going to happen. That requires a balanced budget. This president didn’t offer a balanced budget. But he said, several times, it will be paid for. But when you listen, well, it’s goint to be paid for out of the conclusion that is drawn from the super-committee, which sets up a cage match between our national defense and our entitlements. We don’t know what it costs either. He didn’t put a price tag on it. [Note: He did. $447 billion.] Whatever it is, he would ask us to come up with those costs and do that within the crunch time of the super-committee. It’s an extremely heavy lift for Congress to come up with something like this. The president has, essentially, done what we say in the Midwest: he’s just tossed a cat into the kennel. Now he’s going to step back and watch the fur fly.”

2. Allen West:

“Did I really need to have a speech for this? You could have given me the American Jobs Act and allowed me to read it and understand it; give it to the CBO, let them evaluate it. Now he’s put the cart before the horse, telling people we need to pass something that none of us have seen. In fact, we knew nothing about this since the speech didn’t come out until 7 p.m. We didn’t have an opportunity to really read and understand these points and proposals.”

“This presidency is absolutely in real trouble,” he concludes. “What I heard at the end was a real sense of desperation. He kept talking about 14 months, we need to do this now, but where was that sense of urgency 34 months ago?”

1. David Vitter:

Stunning. Evryone standing, cheering, reassured, more confident in r future…just by #Saints entering #Lambeau. On 2 recovery–& #SuperBowl!

 

By the way, Nancy Pelosi gets it right:

“In nearly 250 days of being in the Majority, House Republicans have not passed a single piece of legislation to create jobs. The Republican silence on Thursday evening will speak volumes about their lack of commitment to creating jobs.”

 

 

 

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News

‘You Have a Lot of Hate’: Trump Threatens Reporter After Hate Speech Question

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September 16, 2025

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President Donald Trump is facing a barrage of criticism after threatening a well-known veteran reporter who asked about his Attorney General saying that she would target people who engage in hate speech, which is largely seen by experts as a constitutionally-protected right.

“We’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart,” the President told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Asked if that was “appropriate,” Trump replied, “Well, ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech. So maybe they’ll have to go after you.”

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After claiming, “we want everything to be fair,” Trump went on to say that “the radical left has done tremendous damage to the country, but we’re fixing it.”

Critics blasted the President.

“Donald Trump says he will send the DOJ after the press if they say things he doesn’t like,” declared California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Totally normal behavior from a president and not at all a sign of some kind of emotional issue,” charged The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor and expert on Russia and national security.

“The logical and obvious companion to turning the government loose to harass and criminalize political opposition is doing the same thing to the free press,” warned Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “People will doubt his intentions, as they somehow always do, but once again Trump is just coming out and saying it here.”

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“Trump is overtly saying that DOJ is going to use Charlie Kirk’s assassination to silence anyone he perceives as an enemy,” observed former Obama official Tommy Vietor.

“He isn’t even pretending not to play dictator. This is third world s– and I’m so tired of the MAGA excusing,” lamented “On Democracy” podcaster Fred Wellman.

“This First Amendment is under attack, and it has never been a scarier time,” warned attorney Aaron Parnas.

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‘Not a Monarchy’: Trump’s Lawsuit Against NYT Sparks Mockery — and Free Speech Warnings

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September 16, 2025

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President Donald Trump has filed another lawsuit against The New York Times, drawing warnings from legal experts about free speech and First Amendment implications — even as they mock the filing itself.

Trump filed the $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against the paper of record, which he called “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”

At issue, he said on his Truth Social website, is their endorsement of then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, which Trump called “the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER.”

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“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” he declared.

According to Politico, the lawsuit “alleges the reporting had harmed Trump’s ‘unique brand’ and business interests, including his media company’s stock value, causing ‘reputational injury’ worth ‘billions of dollars.'”

Bloomberg News reported that “The New York Times said in a statement that the lawsuit ‘has no merit’ and ‘is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting’.”

“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a Times spokesperson said on Tuesday. “The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”

Critics and legal experts have mocked the legal filing.

“Is it possible for a legal pleading to be psychotic?” asked attorney George Conway, a well-known Trump critic. “I think we have an answer.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, a professor of law and MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, wrote: “I’d like to see the judge dismiss and grant rule 11 sanctions. That’s not a stretch here. We do, after all, have a 1st Amendment and a constitutional republic, not a monarchy/dictatorship.”

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Rule 11 sanctions refer to penalties a court may impose on attorneys for filing frivolous lawsuits.

“The 85-page lawsuit reads like a pro-Trump op-ed, with page after page of gushing praise for the president,” wrote CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. “The suit demands $15 billion in damages, which exceeds the entire market cap of The New York Times Company.”

But Stelter also called Trump’s lawsuit “the latest example of what First Amendment experts have described as a presidential strategy to silence critical news coverage and curb free speech by filing legally dubious suits.”

Others also warned of the First Amendment implications.

Former Biden White House senior advisor Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, remarked, “So much for free speech.”

Attorney Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief for MeidasTouch News, urged, “No Settlements! Needs to be the rally cry for every press outlet, university, business, law firm, nonprofit, and other entity that is targeted by the regime. Settlements sell us all out.”

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Greene Says Kirk Killing Sparked ‘Spiritual Revival’ for Christ — Urges ‘National Divorce’

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September 15, 2025

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) revived her call for a “national divorce” in a lengthy social media statement where she declares the assassination of Charlie Kirk has sparked a “spiritual revival building the kingdom for Christ.”

“There is nothing left to talk about with the left,” Greene’s missive begins. “They hate us.”

“They assassinated our nice guy who actually talked to them peacefully debating ideas,” she added, despite a lack of definitive evidence of the shooter’s motives or beliefs.

“Then millions on the left celebrated and made clear they want all of us dead,” she wrote, also without definitive evidence.

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After calling for a “national divorce,” Greene declared that the “country is too far gone and too far divided, and it’s no longer safe for any of us.”

Earlier this year, Greene was labeled “one of the most polarizing figures in American politics” by a Fox affiliate in Atlanta.

“What will come from Charlie Kirk being martyred is already happening,” the Georgia lawmaker continued. “It is a spiritual revival building the kingdom for Christ.”

After lashing out at an upcoming vote on legislation she claimed funds transgender policies, Greene declared, “Government is not [the] answer, God is. Turn your full faith and trust to our Almighty God and our Savior Jesus. Tighten your circle around your family and protect them at all times. I will pray for the left, but personally I want nothing to do with them.”

The Hill reported that at least one national poll found the idea of a national divorce “was overwhelmingly unpopular with the majority of Americans, though.”

The media outlet added that “dozens of people not directly linked to the assassination have faced backlash and, in some cases, lost their jobs over comments they have made about Kirk’s political beliefs following his death.”

As part of what he called an effort to promote “unity,” Vice President JD Vance on Monday said, “When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer.”

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