The GOP Has Been Bad. But Not as Bad as You Think

David Harsanyi / Townhall Columnist

Republicans, I'm told, were elected to Congress by the people, and yet they've done absolutely nothing. This indictment has now mutated into "Republicans gave President Obama everything he wanted," i.e., the GOP and Obama were basically colluding against the American voter this whole time.

Republicans have been dreadful on plenty of fronts -- the quality of their advocacy, the spine they show making arguments and the lack of innovation and malleability in the focus of their policies, to name a very few -- but resistance to Obama's legislative agenda was definitely not one of them. If Republicans had capitulated in the way the average angry populist claims, Obama would not have needed to enact some of the most consequential abuses of executive power since World War II.

Some of this anger is propelled by false expectations and wishful thinking about how government works -- which is to say, when voters don't get what they want they assume the system has failed. On one hand, voters are under the impression that presidents should be able to craft law and policy and make everything great again; and on the other, they are angered about the ineffectiveness of the legislative branch. It all depends on which of these corresponds with their own political affiliation.

As far as expectations go, Republicans deserve blame for making promises they couldn't possibly fulfill -- including the notion that they could repeal Obamacare. Then again, overpromising is not exactly a new political trend. And it's not as if voters flock to candidates who tell them unvarnished facts about this cruel world of ours.

Which Party Is Better For The Economy?

John C. Goodman / Townhall Columnist

Yesterday’s papers came with a slew of depressing headlines.

“Earning Skid is Worse Since Crisis,” said the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

“Hiring Rises: Output Lags. It’s a Mystery,” said the front page of The New York Times.

“White House struggles to explain weak economy…” said the Drudge Report, followed by “First President Not To See Single Year 3% growth…”

“Warning signs are surfacing: Temp job numbers can indicate a recession is around the corner,” said Bloomberg news.

There is no doubt that our recovery from the Great Recession has been the slowest recovery in more than half a century. But why is that? Surely part of the reason is that the Obama administration has been more hostile to private sector job creators than any president in memory.

Virtually every program the president has proposed reduces the reward from working, saving and investing -- from higher taxes to more regulations to more public policy uncertainty.

Take regulations. A new report from the Mercatus Center estimates that the growth of government regulation between 1977 and 2012 has shaved about 0.8 percent off the rate of growth, costing $4 trillion worth of GDP. And Obama has been the worst regulatory president in modern times – often appearing to exceed his constitutional authority in efforts to impose more and more burdens on US companies. President Obama, for example, has imposed twice as many new major regulations as President Bush.

Iran to build seven new nuclear plants by 2020
By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

A country whose leaders constantly make its citizens scream “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” What could possibly go wrong? Nothing, of course: Barack Obama and John Kerry promised us that their nuke deal would secure peace in our time. “Iran to Build Seven New Nuke Plants By 2020,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free […]
 
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Kansas DEFIES Obama on Syrian Refugees

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

We should all defy Obama on his invasion plot in order to “protect the safety and security interests of” all Americans.

Kansas Governor Brownback and several other governors asked the White House in November of last year to share vetting information as President Obama pledged to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees. The administration refused to do so, citing the privacy rights of the refugees.

“Kansas Defies Obama on Syrian Refugees,” By Steve Byas, The New American, April, 29, 2016: 

Led by Governor Sam Brownback (shown), the state of Kansas informed the Obama administration this week that it is defying its dictates for Kansas to cooperate in the resettlement of refugees from Syria. In a letter to Robert Carey, director...

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New Indiana Poll: Cruz Up by 16 Points Over Trump

By Todd Beamon / NEWSMAX

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A third poll was released Friday gauging Indiana voters ahead of the state's primaries on Tuesday — but this one shows Ted Cruz holding a commanding double-digit lead over Donald Trump among Republicans.

Here are the results of the poll of 400 likely GOP voters by the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne:

• Cruz: 45 percent.
• Trump: 29 percent.
• John Kasich: 13 percent.

The Downs Center's poll comes after one showed Trump ahead of the Texas senator by 9 points — and another putting the candidates in a virtual dead heat — among Hoosier State voters.

The Downs Center poll was reported by The Tribune-Star in Terre Haute.

In explaining its results, the center said that 2016 was "quite a departure with competition in both presidential primaries, including a neighboring state's governor swapping states with a competitor a week prior to voting, a vice presidential candidate nomination, and presidential candidates from both sides sweeping through the state.

 

"Because 2016 is different than any previous primary election, the electorate is difficult to predict for either the Democratic or Republican presidential primaries, as well as the U.S. Republican Senate seat."

 

Further, "the Republican primary electorate remains relatively open to changing their vote with one-sixth of Cruz supporters, three in 10 Trump supporters and over 43 percent of Kasich supporters saying their preference for their candidate is not strong," the center said.

The Downs Center also surveyed 400 likely Democrats. Here are those results:

• Hillary Clinton: 55 percent.
• Bernie Sanders: 40 percent.

"While Clinton may have a lead, it should be remembered that Sanders has closed substantial leads in other states such as neighboring Michigan," the analysis said. "With this in mind, Clinton's support is stronger than Sanders' support at this time."