Romney, Paul partisans brawl at Oklahoma GOP convention ~ VIDEO

Norman, Okla.-- Contention at the convention, that's how many Republicans described the Oklahoma State Convention Saturday.
Republicans from almost every county gathered in Norman to vote on party issues. However, parliamentary procedure took a back seat to physical altercations.
Dozens of attendees told NewsChannel 4 police had to get involved when a Mitt Romney supporter believed to be almost 80-years-old punched a Ron Paul supporter in the head after they disagreed on a vote.
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Exclusive Inside Look at GOP's Anti-Obama War Room ~ VIDEO

While Republican candidates battled it out in their primaries and caucuses, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was preparing for the general election battle against President Obama. Political Punch got an exclusive look inside the committee's anti-Obama attack machine, and the space they call "the war room."
"We said from the very beginning ... we were going to get this building in fighting shape for the Republican nominee, and part of that - in today's news cycle, 24/7 - is to be on things instantly," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.  That means having transcripts of all President Obama's speeches at the ready, and responding immediately any time there is a gaffe by a the president, vice president, or a Democratic operative.
Attack plans are hatched daily in a morning meeting, where a team headed by RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer constantly maps and monitors every move of the president and his surrogates. In the "war room," a group of young workers are practically glued to their computer screens, waiting to catch the next Hilary Rosen moment.
"We - 24/7 - monitor print news, online news, TV, radio, Twitter, Facebook," said Spicer. We try to capture everything that's going on in real time so that we know what's happening ... and we're able to respond within seconds."
"Definitely, I can say at one time or another, everyone in this room has caught something," said Mike Danylak, Director of the War Room (and yes, that is his official title).
Check out this week's episode to watch the RNC's warriors in action.

GOP senators fail to reverse birth control rule

WASHINGTON (AP) - In an election year battle mixing birth control, religion and politics, Democrats narrowly blocked an effort by Senate Republicans to overturn President Barack Obama's order that most employers or their insurers cover the cost of contraceptives.

The 51-48 vote on Thursday killed a measure that would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of portions of the president's health care law they found morally objectionable. That would have included the law's requirement to cover the costs of birth control.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, who this week dropped her re-election bid and cited frustration with the polarized Congress, cast the lone Republican vote to block the measure. Two Democrats up for re-election and one who is retiring voted against Obama's requirement.

Majority Democrats said the legislation would have allowed employers and insurers to avoid virtually any medical treatment with the mere mention of a moral or religious objection.

"We have never had a conscience clause for insurance companies," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Insurers, she said, don't need an invitation to deny coverage for medical treatment. "A lot of them don't have any consciences. They'll take it."

Republicans argued that the requirement under the health care overhaul violates the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom by forcing insurers and employers to pay for contraception for workers even if the employers' faith forbids its use. Roman Catholic leaders have strongly opposed the requirement.

The Senate vote aside, the debate "won't be over until the administration figures out how to accommodate people's religious views as it relates to these mandates," said the measure's sponsor, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. "This is a debate that might be settled at that building across the street," he said, referring to the Supreme Court.

Such cultural issues have been prominent in this presidential election year, with Republican presidential candidates casting Obama's health care law as government overreach into the most personal types of medical decisions. The contraception policy in particular touches on religious and women's rights important to the activists at the core of each party.

A majority of Americans support the use of contraceptives. The public is generally in favor of requiring birth control coverage for employees of religiously affiliated employers, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll Feb. 8-13. The survey found that 61 percent favor the mandate, while 31 percent oppose it. Catholics support the requirement at about the same rate as all Americans.

The legislative fight came after the controversy had already forced the White House to budge somewhat. The administration initially ruled that religious-affiliated institutions such as hospitals and universities must include free birth control coverage in their employee health plans. As protests mounted from Catholic leaders and many Republicans, Obama announced an adjustment: Religious employers could opt out, but insurance companies must then pay for the birth control coverage.

Defending the White House stand on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden also gave voice to the way it came together.

Said Biden: "It got screwed up in the first iteration."

Republicans say it's still not fixed since many employers pay insurers to cover their workers and in effect underwrite the contraception coverage.

GOP senators insisted on attaching Blunt's amendment to an unrelated transportation bill. Democrats cast the move as just one of a number of attempts by the GOP to roll back long-established women's rights.

Both sides protested strenuously that an issue affecting millions of Americans was being used for political gain. But in reality, virtually the entire four-day discussion in the Senate was about election-year strategy. With the presidency and congressional majorities at stake, both sides used the issue to rally their bases of support.

Republicans sought to hold together conservatives and others in the midst of their party's unsettled battle for the presidential nomination. And for Obama, there is no constituency more crucial to his re-election chances than women.

In the end, the vote hung on a handful of centrists as Democrats chose a parliamentary maneuver that required only 50 votes to kill the amendment.

Snowe, R-Maine, had said the GOP amendment was written too broadly for her to support. Democrats voting in favor of the measure were Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, both up for re-election, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who is retiring.

Democrats saw broader symbolism in Snowe's decisions. "If Republicans keep this up, they're going to drive away independent voters, women and men, just as they are driving moderates out of their caucuses," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

But Republicans kept one such lawmaker in the fold on the vote, Snowe's fellow senator from Maine. Susan Collins kept all sides on edge until minutes before the vote, saying on the Senate floor that she was troubled that the administration could not assure her that faith-based self-insured organizations would be protected from the mandate to cover contraception.

"I feel that I have to vote for Senator Blunt's amendment," she said.

On the presidential campaign trail, GOP front-runner Mitt Romney apparently stumbled over a question of whether he supported the amendment, in the end saying that he did, "of course." His main challenger, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, has said that contraception conflicts with his Roman Catholic beliefs.

The Obama administration and congressional Democrats said Blunt's measure was so broad it could allow employers to opt out of virtually any kind of medical treatment.

"This proposal isn't limited to contraception, nor is it limited to any preventive service. Any employer could restrict access to any service they say they object to," said Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kathleen Sebelius. "The Obama administration believes that decisions about medical care should be made by a woman and her doctor, not a woman and her boss."

VIDEO: Palin Accuses Establishment of ‘Trying to Crucify’ Gingrich

Sarah Palin attacked Newt Gingrich’s detractors in an interview set to air tonight. “Look at Newt Gingrich, what’s going on with him, via the establishment’s attacks,” she told Fox Business Network. “They’re trying to crucify this man and rewrite history, and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years.”

She said she felt Ron Paul had also been “vilified.”

“It’s not just Ron Paul,” Palin added. “I believe it is also Newt Gingrich that the establishment, that the liberal media, certainly that the progressives and Democrats don’t like.”

Iowa GOP worried by hacker threat to caucus vote

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Republican Party officials in Iowa are taking new steps to secure their vote counting systems after an anonymous threat suggested computer hackers could attempt to disrupt next month's presidential nominating caucuses.


A video uploaded to YouTube features a computer-generated voice denouncing a corrupt political system and calls on supporters to "peacefully shut down" the Jan. 3 caucuses.


The video claims to be from Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hackers who have successfully conducted past computer attacks.


Investigators aren't sure whether the video is authentic, but party officials have instructed precinct caucuses to use paper ballots as a backup system and taken other steps to protect the database and website that displays caucus results.

New Jobs Battle Erupts Over EPA Rules. Barbara Boxer: GOP House Bill Will 'Kill 8,100 People'

Republicans say 'green' mandate kills jobs, Democrat says taking it away would kill people

Obama '60 Minutes' Interview: GOP Presidential Candidates' Core Philosophy Is The Same

In making the case for his re-election, President Barack Obama is arguing that it doesn't matter who the Republicans nominate to run against him because the core philosophy of the GOP candidates is the same and will stand in sharp relief with his own.

The president laid out an argument for a second term in a wide ranging interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday, bluntly saying that if voters believe in the Republican agenda of lower taxes, including for the wealthy, and weaker regulations then he will lose.

"I don't think that's where the American people are going to go," he added, "because I don't think the American people believe that based on what they've seen before, that's going to work."

Sarah Palin on Hannity Calls President Obama a Phony; Will Support GOP Nominee

Sarah Palin on the GOP Candidates

Obama warns GOP lawmakers not to tie controversial pipeline plan to payroll tax cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama warned congressional Republicans that he would reject any effort to tie extraneous issues to an extension of the payroll tax cut, including the approval of an oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada.

"If the payroll tax cut is attached to a whole bunch of extraneous issues not related to making sure that Americans' taxes don't go up on Jan. 1, it's not something I would accept," said Obama, speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republican leaders have pushed for Obama to approve the pipeline project, saying it would create much-needed jobs in the U.S. And they've suggested adding a provision to a payroll tax cut bill that would be designed to speed construction of the pipeline.

The payroll tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year.

The Obama administration has decided to delay a decision on whether to proceed with the pipeline until 2013, after the presidential election. The move was poorly received in Canada, which views the project as critical to its economy. Labor groups in the U.S., as well as Republican lawmakers, also want the pipeline.

The White House has denied that politics caused the project's delay, saying further review is needed in order to balance job creation and energy security with public health and the safety of communities along the pipeline.

During a joint appearance with Harper, Obama said it's important that all the issues "are properly understood."

LEFT WING HUFFINGTON POST rates GOP candidate positions on Muslims !!!

For the BNI audience, as well as most true Conservatives and non-RINO Republicans, the more of a hardliner you are against Islam, the better we like you. And the better you will be for America.
HuffPo As Republican voters near the time to elect their presidential candidate for the 2012 election, the candidates’ respective religious perspectives become significant to many. One topic that does not escape public scrutiny is the candidates’ stand on Islam and Muslims in America. It has become an important issue that calls the attention of both Muslim and non-Muslim voters. Noticeably some candidates appear not to realize that the American Muslim community has a significant number of political conservatives sympathetic to many issues within the Republican Party platform(but they vote with the liberals/democrats because they are able to easily bamboozle them with their constant lies about the religion of ‘peace’)
The GOP presidential hopefuls’ stand on Islam and Muslims has been varied. Their stands have ranged from being thoughtful and considerate to being discourteous, rude and unappreciative of the history, losing potential support. (It isn’t rude to inform people about Islam’s violent and oppressive policies throughout history that continue today and to tell the truth that the dhimmi media and Muslim propagandists and apologists work very hard to hide from the American public)
Some candidates have clearly opted to try to win votes by denigrating Islam and disparaging Muslims. (You call it denigrating and disparaging, we call it fact sharing)

HERMAN CAIN
Taking the lead in the anti-Muslim frenzy(Frenzy? That’s rich. Maybe it’s playing catchup to refute the myth about Islam being just another religion, rather than the tyrannical political system it is) is Herman Cain, who has consistently held a hostile discourse on Islam, belittling almost anything or anyone resonating Muslim. (And this is a BAD thing because why? Where are the Muslims who think of themselves as Americans before Muslims? We never see any) Among many instances we may take as example Cain’s opposition to the construction of an Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., unreasonably arguing that it’s not religious discrimination for a community to ban a mosque. (It’s all about building a monster mosque in a neighborhood with virtually no Muslims where traffic will become a nightmare and Islamic Calls to Prayer will be blasted several times a day) On this same line, Cain has also affirmed that he wouldn’t appoint Muslims to his cabinet and even suggested to impose a loyalty test on any Muslim before allowing him to serve in his administration. (A loyalty test is a waste of time because Muslims lie) His anti-Muslim rhetoric returned recently when he expressed that more than half of American Muslims are extremists based on a “trusted adviser” who informed him so. (ONLY half?)
RICK PERRY
Rick Perry has wisely distanced himself from the bigoted (It isn’t bigotry, it’s reality) rhetoric and instead has a history of good and positive relations with the Muslims community. (ANOTHER reason NOT to vote for Perry, Terrorist Front Group CAIR likes him and he has bent over backwards to cave to Muslim religious demands) Perry endorsed Texas public high school teacher education programs on Islamic history. As governor he signed a Halal Law, which makes it a criminal offense to sell Halal and non-Halal meat in the same store without specifically labeling the two and to misrepresent non-Halal meat as being Halal. (Too bad this doesn’t apply to Butterball when they sell halal birds but do not label them as such) Governor Perry has held constructive ties with the Muslim Aga Khan’s community and hosted their world known leader on his visit to Texas. He followed up by attending the inauguration of their Ismaili Jamatkhana Islamic Center in Sugar Land, Texas in 2002; and later laid the first brick for another of their centers in Plano, Texas in 2005. (Sheeesh, Perry’s even worse than I thought) On the other hand, Perry’s ties to the rest of the mainstream Muslim community as a whole are scarce, and his posture is mostly perceived as neutral, with neither “pro” nor “against” community stances. (If he isn’t against Islam, he doesn’t get my vote)
MITT ROMNEY
Mitt Romney’s relations with the American Muslim community have not been smooth. Recently, the Terrorist Front Group Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) asked the presidential hopeful for the ouster of Dr. Walid Phares (Excellent choice) a recently appointed foreign policy adviser to his team. (And happily, Romney did not comply with the rude demand) Phares authored “Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America” and also acts as an advisor to the U.S. Congress on the Middle East. According to CAIR he worked as an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia, and other militias that reportedly took part in various massacres of Muslims (AWESOME!). The controversial appointment has certainly created a wave of controversy within the American Muslim community that waits for Romney to take their concerns into consideration. (We can never be sure about Romney the flipflopper)
NEWT GINGRICH
Newt Gingrich’s stance on issues related to American Muslims and Islam has been scornful. (YES!) Falling victim to the Muslim hysteria on the debate on the Ground Zero Mosque, Gingrich compared the Islamic Community Center project to building a Nazi monument outside the Holocaust Museum. This was clearly a very insensitive position that will take more than a simple apology — not that it is expected (Don’t hold your breath) — to amend. (And let’s not forget, Newt promised to prosecute groups like CAIR and all the other Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups infiltrating the US and US government)
MICHELE BACHMANN
Michele Bachmann has not demonstrated a capacity to engage the American Muslim community neither shown capacity to understand and respect diversity. (She gets props for this) Her comments on the civil uprisings (The ones where Muslims rioted and torched more than a thousand cars in Paris) that took place in France back in 2005 (and every year since then) were very discomforting: “Those who are coming into France, which has a beautiful culture, the French culture is actually diminished. It’s going away. And just with the population in France, they are losing Western Europeans, and it’s being taken over by a Muslim ethic. Not that Muslims are bad, but they are not assimilating.”(In other words, stop letting them in and start getting rid of the troublemakers)
RICK SANTORUM
Rick Santorum has joined Gingrich’s Islam-bashing team, expressing misleading comments on the question of sharia taking over the U.S. court system. (Rick gets an A+) On the most recent debate Santorum was even more assertive on his opinion on Muslims. When asked if he would support ethnic and religious profiling he replied: “The folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes … obviously Muslims would be someone you’d look at, absolutely.” ( I love a man who’s not afraid to tell it like it is)
RON PAUL
Among all candidates, libertarian leaning Ron Paul seems to be the one who have consistently pronounced himself distant from any expression that could be construed as Islamophobic. (No balls)He issued firm statements condemning Pastor Terry Jones’ controversial call for a “Burn the Quran Day.” (Then, he’s a phony constitutionalist who wants to limit free expression) In September 2010 Paul stated: “This blame of all Muslims for the atrocities of 9/11 only makes things worse — especially since it wasn’t the Taliban of Afghanistan that committed the atrocities.” More recently, on a CBS interview, Paul said that al Qaeda itself cited American intervention in the region as its motivation for attacking the U.S. and “to argue the case that they want to do us harm because we’re free and prosperous I think is a very, very dangerous notion because it’s not true.” (Ron Paul is the same as the lefties who blame America first)
JOHN HUNTSMAN
John Huntsman is another candidate that for the most part has rejected to take a ride on the Islamophobia train that most republic candidates not only designed but are now fueling and giving hand-detailed maintenance. (I’ve heard him, he is pro-Islam and a supporter of the Ground Zero Victory mosque)

______________________________________________
The comments and actions that vilify Islam and Muslims — or any other religion and its practitioners — by the Republican Party presidential hopefuls show an evident betrayal of commitment to the freedom of religion consecrated in the U.S. Constitution. Exploiting Muslims for political gain will undoubtedly alienate them from a significant section of the voting public who hold religion dear to their hearts.
(Islam is a dictatorship, whose prophet was a murderer and a notorious paedophile. Islam is a tyranny that is abusive to women and children, and seeks to wipe out every other religion, as it has done in many countries. It only uses religion as a ploy to fool the people into thinking it is legitimate. Islam needs to be banned in every country that embraces freedom)

HT~ barenakedislam 

"Don't Be A Grinch": Obama Advises GOP To "Redeem Themselves" & Pass His Jobs Bill

Wednesday in Scranton, PN, Barack Obama taunted and double-dared the Republicans in Congress to extend his "payroll tax cut." Obama's failure to mention the actual bill that would enact this "tax cut" tells us for the umpteenth time a little about who this guy really is and how unpopular his dead-end $447 billion dollar jobs bill (read: Stimulus 2.0) has become. Obama coated his speech in an easier-to-swallow sugar-coated pill, using words like "tax cuts" for the middle class. Of course he adds that the "rich" will take the hit in order to help fund the revenues. Read More

Gingrich is GOP’s latest not-Romney

Getting Republicans to line up behind Mitt Romney, it turns out, is like trying to stuff a cat into a trash can. No matter how you present the feline to the receptacle, at least one claw always manages to reach out at the last second and cling desperately to the rim.

Romney has been the anointed front-runner for four years now in a party that likes its front-runners. Nothing contents Republicans more than an orderly transition of power.

But not this time. The long list of slain or surrendered GOP saviors is astonishing to consider.

Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and, now, Herman Cain.

In this round-robin primary, all anybody has had to do is stand still in one place long enough and eventually you take your turn as the front-runner. Unless, of course, you are Jon Huntsman Jr., who is nothing more than a penumbra of Beltway parlor speculation — Washington’s idea of “a good conservative.”

It appears the only thing Republican primary voters can agree upon for any length of time is that they just don’t want to nominate Mr. Romney. Other than the deep antipathy for President Obama, the discomfort withMr. Romney is the only enduring theme of the 2012 GOP primary process.

This is how we wind up in this absurd situation, where angry citizens armed with pitchforks demanding to throw all the bums out have coalesced around … the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

GOP voters were looking for a snow machine-racing, Harley-rumbling, trash-talking, manure-kicking executive with a Mississippi twang and now appear to be settling for a man whose giant portrait hangs in the grandSpeaker's Lobby off the House floor.

No one in either party has lived in the bowels of this town longer thanNewt Gingrich, and yet he appears to be peaking at the perfect moment to capture the nomination.

As strange as it all may be, here is why the former speaker really could win.

First, Mr. Gingrich is truly Clintonian in all his faults. Yes, there are many, but they have been out there for all to see for a long time. His laundry has been so well-aired over the decades that we are not likely to see Gloria Allred midwifing any new salacious scandals now. Read More

GOP presidential field shows diverse views on foreign policy

By John T. Bennett The Hill

The more GOP presidential candidates spoke Tuesday evening, the more apparent it became how far the party has splintered on national security issues since 9/11.

From the Afghanistan conflict to dealing with Pakistan to combating Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the eight candidates offered a cornucopia of policy prescriptions.

That’s a big change for a party that for most of the last decade largely has been united on most national security issues. The party stood unified on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and generally was in lockstep on issues like Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons ambitions. No more.


“There is little consensus on some of the biggest foreign policy challenges among GOP or conservatives right now,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a former Senate staffer now with the Heritage Foundation.

“None of this will be cleared up before the elections next November,” Eaglen told The Hill. “While the House has demonstrated some leadership on defense and foreign policy … conservative members will ultimately have to be led and united on this issue by their presidential candidate.”

Polls show likely voters are increasingly wary of America’s overseas wars after a decade of fighting, and that economic issues will dominate the 2012 presidential race. But where the candidates stand on several high-profile national security issues will play a role in the campaign.

“It’s apparent that the candidates No. 1 objective is to get elected. Then on issues like national security, I’ll figure it out later,” said one Pentagon and White House adviser on security issues. “I suspect all these candidates lack the depth on national security issues at this point to make in-depth policy [pronouncements] unless they have especially strong views about an issue.”

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said he does not believe the U.S. should keep 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, arguing billions being spent there annually could be better used at home.

But Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would take the advice of U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, suggesting he would stick closely to the Obama administration’s plan to keep most American troops there until 2014.

Many military and regional experts say centuries of evidence show Afghanistan is perhaps the most complex nation — in terms of terrain, politics and economics — to successfully fight a war. But Romney declared the mission there “is pretty straightforward,” creating a “sovereign” nation that is not ruled by the Taliban.

No other candidate described the decade-old mission in such simple terms, however.

On Iran, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the U.S. should try “every sanction that we have,” including against that nation’s central bank, before even considering a strike against its alleged nuclear weapons facilities.

That would so cripple the Iranian economy that the regime would have to get serious about negotiating about its nuclear ambitions, Perry said.

Businessman Herman Cain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said if they were president, they would support a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites — though Cain said Iran’s mountainous topography might pose a problem.

But Gingrich went further, advocating regime change in Tehran “before they get a nuclear weapon without a war, which beats replacing them by a war.”

Romney said a military strike on Iran should be considered a “last resort.”

The candidates also sparred about how Washington should shape its policy toward one of its shakiest allies: Pakistan.

Huntsman said Pakistan is the nation that should "keep Americans up at night," labeling it a "nation-state that is a candidate for failure." Huntsman called for increased U.S. drone strikes on extremist group targets on Pakistani soil.

Several candidates noted Pakistan has hundreds of nuclear weapons, with one, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), coining a new phrase about the volatile nation: "Too nuclear to fail.”

Perry said Washington should pull the millions in aid it sends annually to Islamabad.

Bachmann, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, labeled that idea as "naive.” She made clear she would continue the close but tense relationship with Pakistan that has been managed by the Bush and Obama administrations.

When Perry charged officials in Washington with handing Pakistan a "blank check," Bachmann noted the U.S. and Pakistan often share intelligence for use in the war in Afghanistan and the region.

Perry said he would not, as president, send another cent to Pakistan’s leaders until they show they have America's best interests in mind. Bachmann said she would not cut off aid.

“It’s true there’s no single voice in the Republican party — either the candidates or in Congress — that has staked out clear positions on these issues,” said Andrew Krepinevich of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). “The burden will ultimately fall on the eventual nominee.”

GOP Latinos face questions of own immigrant past

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is forced to research and clarify her late grandfather's immigration status. Marco Rubio, Florida's GOP Senator, is accused of embellishing his family's immigrant story. A Republican congressional candidate in California puts on his website that he is the great-grandson of an illegal immigrant.

As more Latino Republicans seek and win elected office, their families' backgrounds are becoming subject to increased scrutiny from some Latino activists, a reaction experts say is a result of Latino Republicans' conservative views on immigration. It's a new phenomenon that experts say Latino Democrats rarely faced, and could be recurring feature in elections as the Republican Party seeks to recruit more Latino candidates.

"It's a trend and we are seeing more of it," said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.

For years, most Latino elected officials were largely Democrats, except in Florida where Cuban Americans tended to vote Republican. But recently, a new generation of Latino Republicans has won seats in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, California and even Idaho. Those politicians have come under fire from some Latino activists for pushing for laws targeting illegal immigrants and for opposing efforts for comprehensive immigration reform - views that are in line with most Republicans.

And the immigrant advocates are pointing to the GOP Latino elected leaders' own family histories in an effort to paint them as hypocrites. Ignacio Garcia, a history professor at Brigham Young University, said it comes from a long tradition by liberal activists of portraying Latino Republicans as "vendidos," or sellouts, since the majority of Latino voters tend to vote Democratic.

For example, Martinez tried twice in the New Mexico state legislature to overturn a state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain state driver's licenses. Then earlier this year, various media outlets reported that a grandfather of Martinez may have been an illegal immigrant. The reports sparked immigrant advocates to protests outside the state Capitol with poster-size photos of Martinez on drivers' licenses.

Martinez, a Republican and the nation's only Latina governor, ordered her political organization to research her family's background and found documents that suggested that her grandfather legally entered the country and had various work permits.

The episode drew criticism, even from those who opposed Martinez' efforts on state driver's licenses. "This has nothing to do with her views and how she governs," said Michael A. Olivas, an immigration law professor at the University of Houston who also is aiding in a lawsuit against a Martinez's administration probe over the driver's license fight. "I don't think it's fair for people to dig around in her family's past."

In Florida, Rubio's official Senate website until recently described his parents as having fled Cuba following Fidel Castro's takeover. But media organizations reported last month that Rubio's parents and his maternal grandfather emigrated for economic reasons more than two years before the Cuban Revolution.

Somos Republicans, a group dedicated to increasing Latino Republican voting numbers, immediately attacked Rubio over the discrepancy and for holding harsh views on immigration. "We believe it is time to find out the complete history of his parents' immigration history," the group said in a statement. "It is also time for Rubio to be a leader and help Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) fix the broken immigration system."

Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, an immigrant advocacy group in Somerville, Mass., said voters need to know a politician's family background for clues on how they will respond to people with similar stories. "It's very important to voters," said Montes.

Montes said most Latino and immigrant voters don't simply Latino Republicans as "vendidos" but rather as politican leaders who don't share their views. "I don't care if someone is Latina or not," said Montes. "I care if they believe in the same things I do, and if their policies will affect the immigrant community."

Garcia said the current tension also is a result of a new breed of Latino Republicans finally winning high profile seats after years of being largely ignored or dismissed. Garcia said there have always been Hispanic Republicans, through their numbers have been typically small and they have often faced heat from the largely Democratic Latino population.

In New Mexico, for example, the colorful lawman and lawyer Elfego Baca helped established the Republican Party just after New Mexico became a state in 1912 and actively tried recruit the state's mutigenerational Latino population to join the party. Baca won a number of local offices, including district attorney, but lost bids for Congress and various statewide offices.

In Texas, civil rights activist Felix Tijerina, a Mexican-American Houston restaurateur and former national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens in the 1950s, remained committed to Republican Party despite a backlash from fellow activists who disagreed with his laissez faire, pro-business views. One Texas civil right leader, John J. Herrera, called Tijerina "a white man's Mexican" for his support of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower for president over Democrat Adlai Stevenson.

"The difference now is that these new Latino Republicans like Martinez and Rubio are better prepared and are being groomed as national figures," said Garcia. "Meanwhile, the Democrats are falling behind. They have no equivalent and they aren't giving Latinos the same opportunity."

Garcia said there's also a new factor - the millions of new independent Latino evangelicals who could be potential GOP voters. This population is new and unpredictable, he said.

Still, some Latino Republicans want to use the new attention around them in the party to change what they see is damaging rhetoric around immigration. Tony Carlos, who is seeking the GOP nomination for California's 3rd Congressional District, is running on a platform to push comprehensive immigration reform and believes if other Republicans follow, more Latinos will vote with the GOP.

On his campaign website Carlos says his great-grandfather came to Arizona from Mexico "without papers." Carlos said it's all about showing that his family is part of an ongoing American story and that political leaders need to honestly attack today's problems

"I'm putting my family history out there. And once Latino voters hear that I support immigration reform, I find that they are open to other issues that appeal to conservatives," said Carlos. "My argument is that they are just as conservative. They are just in the wrong party."

Obama Adviser: Shutdown Looms as GOP Bends to Will of Tea Party

WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders are putting the demands of 30 Tea Party members over 300 million Americans, a top White House adviser said Sunday, insisting that Congress pass a resolution to keep government functioning and approve President Obama's jobs plan.

Senior adviser David Plouffe, who managed the president's 2008 campaign, said the Tea Party is controlling the debate in Congress, even as it comes close to a government shutdown over how to pay for disaster relief as part of a continuing resolution to keep government operating. 

"We're not going to make progress on the deficit, on things we can do right now for jobs, on tax cuts, unless those 30 or 40 Tea Party members of the Republican House stop being the focal point of our discussion," Plouffe said.

Senate Democrats on Friday defeated a House GOP-backed stopgap continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 18 by a vote of 59-36. The $1.04 trillion measure contained $3.7 billion for disaster aid, $200 million of which was offset by cuts to green energy programs, including a loan account that once helped fund the now-defunct, controversial solar panel firm Solyndra.

Without a continuing resolution, government is set to shut down on Friday. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund is poised to run out of cash by Tuesday, if not earlier, with the account at the dangerously-low level of $175 million, according to Senate aides.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has offered a substitute for the CR that strips the offsets, and a procedural vote is set for Monday night in the Senate. But the chamber's GOP leader, Mitch McConnell, predicted that bill's demise.

"Our friends on the other side don't like the idea. They'd rather just add these funds to the deficit. Why?," McConnell asked on Friday. "Because they say that's the way we've always done things around here. Well, I think there's a lesson we can draw from the debates we've been having here over the last six months, is that the American people won't accept that excuse any longer."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/25/white-house-aide-upper-income-dont-pay-fair-share-taxes/#ixzz1Z0kyi6qN

Obama says GOP would 'cripple' America !!!

SEATTLE (AP) -- President Barack Obama charged Sunday that the GOP vision of government would "fundamentally cripple America," as he tried out his newly combative message on the liberal West Coast.


Aiming to renew the ardor of Democratic loyalists who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him, the president mixed frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intended to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up.


"From the moment I took office what we've seen is a constant ideological pushback against any kind of sensible reforms that would make our economy work better and give people more opportunity," the president said at an intimate brunch fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley.


About 65 guests were paying $35,800 per couple to listen to Obama at the first of seven fundraisers he was holding from Seattle to Hollywood to San Diego on Sunday and Monday. The three-day West Coast swing, ending Tuesday in Denver, offered him the chance to re-engage with some of his most liberal and deep-pocketed supporters.





Read More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

GOP front-runners Romney, Perry spar on Social Security and health care reform.

Face to face in confrontational debate, Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Perry sarcastically accused each other Thursday night of flip-flopping on Social Security and health care.

House Republicans Pitch Jobs Plan as Obama Prepares to Roll Out New Agenda

AP In this Aug. 1 photo, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor leaves the House chamber in Washington.

President Obama announced Monday that he will outline his new jobs plan next week, calling job creation an "urgent mission," as House Republicans unveiled a new set of jobs proposals aimed at stripping regulations and easing the tax burden on small businesses.

Details of the president's plan are sparse, but the president offered broad strokes during an announcement naming Alan Krueger as his nominee to lead the Council of Economic Advisers. Obama said the plan would "immediately" help middle-class families, make it easier for small businesses to hire and put construction crews to work.

"These are bipartisan ideas that ought to be the kind of proposals that everybody can get behind," he said. 

Upping the ante as officials look to reset the economic agenda, both parties may be forced to moderate past proposals. 

With a supercommittee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit savings before the end of the year, Democrats' hands are tied when it comes to New Deal-style programming. One outgoing Obama economic adviser insisted the president won't be offering another stimulus proposal. 

On the Republican side, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, in a memo to fellow Republicans Monday, narrowed the GOP focus on job growth to two prime areas -- regulation and tax treatment of businesses. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/29/house-republicans-pitch-jobs-plan-obama-says-new-agenda-coming-next-week/#ixzz1WRgZmT9E