Saturday, May 9, 2009

Quote of the Day

"After proposing a $3.5 trillion budget with massive spending increases, President Obama yesterday announced with a straight face $17 billion in spending “cuts,” which amount to one half of one percent of his total budget. As it turns out, even this isn’t really a cut – the money was just going to be diverted to other spending programs. But get this headline on the front page of today’s Washington Post: “Democrats Assail Obama’s Hit List.”

Even this “cut” of one-half of one percent is too much for the tax and spend liberals now running Capitol Hill, who just a few months ago ran against Republicans by accusing them of wasteful spending and fiscal irresponsibility. Many conservatives have been irritated at past GOP spending habits, but the Republicans can’t hold a candle to the Democrats when it comes to big spending and Big Government!

Here’s something else to consider. A significant percentage of Christians bought into the idea that Obama was a moderate and wouldn’t be a radical on values. But as we know, he has repealed virtually every restriction on taxpayer-funding of abortion. We spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to support Planned Parenthood every year, but yesterday Obama zeroed out funding for abstinence education, money intended to help parents reinforce their values and teach our children to avoid sexual activity until marriage.

By the way, everyone knew the trillion-dollar “stimulus” bill was full of wasteful projects, but Obama personally confirmed it yesterday with his list of budget “cuts.” USA Today reports that among the projects that Obama now says he wants to eliminate as “ineffective” are five programs that received $500 million in stimulus money. That’s half a billion dollars of your money that Obama and the Democrats insisted on spending for ineffective programs in the “NO TIME TO READ, MUST PASS NOW” stimulus bill!

The bottom line is this: When Democrats “cut” the budget, they slash defense and gut the priorities of values voters just so they can increase spending in other areas. Moreover, they intend on confronting the historic $1.5 trillion deficit by raising taxes, and not just on the wealthy. Obama is taking us down the road of European-style socialism, where effective marginal tax rates in England are at 60%! And like their socialist counterparts in Britain, Democrats will use the massive debt they created as an excuse to take more money from the productive citizens of society.

Given the media’s fawning coverage of President Obama’s first 100 days and the rock star image he projects to adoring crowds at his campaign pep rallies, you’d think conservatives stood alone in opposition to Obama’s agenda. But you’d be wrong. Increasingly there are signs of dissent from within the president’s own party. In my Human Events column today, I write about the ways in which Obama is facing opposition from within his own party and what it means for the GOP. You can read my piece here. Thank you."

Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families