Obama Pledges Economic Equality In SOTU Speech

Obama Pledges Economic Equality In SOTU Speech: US President Barack Obama has used his last State of the Union speech before the November election to paint himself as the champion of the middle class, by demanding higher taxes for millionaires and tight reins on Wall Street.

Taking advantage of the huge national platform of his annual speech to Congress, Mr Obama defiantly defended his record after three years in office and laid blame for many of the country’s woes at the feet of banks and an out-of-touch Congress.

He proposed sweeping changes in the tax code and new remedies for the US housing crisis as he made the case for reducing income inequality in America.

While the biggest proposals in Mr Obama’s election-year speech are considered unlikely to gain traction in a divided Congress, the White House believes the president can tap into voters’ resentment over the financial industry’s abuses and Washington’s dysfunction. Continue Reading…

Republican Rebuttal To State Of The Union

Republican Rebuttal To State Of The Union: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered a pointed and pugnacious response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, in a speech likely to amplify the drumbeat of voices urging Daniels to wage a late presidential bid.

The term-limited Daniels, who ruled out a White House run last year, slammed Obama for promoting “pro-poverty” extremism and leading a “constant effort to divide us.”

A former budget director under George W. Bush, Daniels was chosen by Republican leaders as a respected and serious voice who could credibly position the party as the champion of business.

“As Republicans, our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life’s ladder,” Daniels said. “We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have-nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves.”

Daniels also assailed the president for halting the Keystone XL pipeline project that would transport oil from Canada to Texas, equating the move to a “pro-poverty policy” — a line reminiscent of Newt Gingrich’s accusations on the campaign trail that Obama is the “food stamp president”. Continue Reading…

Fred Thompson Endorses Newt Gingrich On Hannity

Fred Thompson Endorses Newt Gingrich On Hannity: Fred Thompson, the 2008 presidential candidate and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, endorsed Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination on Monday, two days after Gingrich’s stunning upset over Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary.

“Newt Gingrich is the guy who can articulate what America is all about — American exceptionalism — who can make the case and not just read the talking points or do it off the teleprompter,” Thompson told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He can make the case for free markets and our basic case that lower taxes can be good for everybody. Bring about growth, it’s good for everybody. He is not afraid. He is tough. He is experienced.”

Thompson’s endorsement gives an added boost to a campaign that was declared dead on arrival before resurging dramatically — not once, but twice.

The 2012 campaign has become, in many respects, a contest over who can be the most anti-Washington and anti-establishment — many voters who supported Herman Cain saw his lack of political experience as a strength rather than a weakness — but Thompson said that was the wrong way to look at it.

“I don’t think anymore [that] it’s an advantage to be able to say, ‘I know nothing about the operation of the federal government,'” Thompson said. Continue Reading…