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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: There's this ongoing battle about me being too conservative for the Republican Party and too powerful, and the Republican Party is scared of me, and nobody will stand up to me, and they're not gonna get anywhere until they have the guts to stand up to me because I'm too conservative and they need to be more moderate. They need to move to the center, but I won't let them. But really, how powerful am I? How good am I? And then people are out there saying, "Look at Limbaugh's track record in presidential races. He's 1-for-6."...

57 Terrible Consequences Of The Sequester By CHRIS GOOD (@c_good) February 21, 2013 If the heads of 20 federal agencies are to be believed, disastrous consequences await if President Obama and Congress fail to reach a budget deal, triggering the automatic, across-the-board cuts known as "sequestration." Those cuts are slated to begin March 1, and earlier this month, the Senate Appropriations Committee asked agency heads to explain what would happen in such a scenario. In separate letters to Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., they warned of terrible things: Greater risk of wildfires, fewer OSHA inspections and a risk of more...

I have said before I never cease to be amazed at how President Obama is able to manipulate any given political situation to his favor. Let me rephrase that by saying I stand in awe at his willingness to lie about his record and to place the blame for all things Washington on his political opponents. The latest of these lies came yesterday at the White House. Remember the sequester? That's the plan that includes automatic, across-the-board spending cuts. Domestic and defense programs are under the knife and President Obama has raised all kinds of cane, claiming they are bad...

This is the second time in as many months he has been exposed for the duplicitous scoundrel he is. I also did a post on his two-faced take on the national debt.

It's headed straight down the toilet in the Senate but not half-bad as a PR ploy designed to show the party's reasonableness on cuts. GOP problem: Obama keeps complaining that the sequester is a blunt instrument that'll impose all sorts of hardships because it cuts spending indiscriminately, across the board. What we need are more targeted cuts aimed at agencies that are better prepared to cope with them. GOP solution: Let Obama and his agency chiefs pick the targets then. When people start complaining that they've been furloughed or that they have to wait in line at the airport for...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted Sunday that Republicans would eventually accept Democrats’ combination of closing tax loopholes and spending cuts to replace sequestration. Schumer characterized the GOP’s plan to offset the across-the-board cuts with other spending cuts and no new revenues as out of step with a majority of voters. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee chairman said Republicans’ preferred path caters to special interests and the wealthy. “I think that the Democrats have the high ground both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue. … I believe that just like on the ‘fiscal cliff,’ Republicans will come...

Senate Democratic leaders unveiled a $110 billion sequester-replacement bill at a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday that would replace $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to hit March 1. The Senate Democratic package is split evenly between spending cuts and provisions raising new tax revenues, according to a Democratic source. It would raise nearly $54 billion in taxes by implementing the Buffett Rule, setting a minimum effective tax rate for wealthy individuals and families. It would raise additional revenues by changing the tax treatment of oil extraction from oil sands. ....snip.... On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified that...

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said Wednesday he was unimpressed by efforts from fellow House Republicans to lay blame for the sequester on President Obama, calling the moves "disingenuous." "I think it's a mistake on the part of Republicans to try to pin the sequester on Obama," Amash told Buzzfeed. "It's totally disingenuous. The debt ceiling deal in 2011 was agreed to by Republicans and Democrats, and regardless of who came up with the sequester, they all voted for it. So, you can't vote for something and, with a straight face, go blame the other guy for its existence in law."...

Video at link

House Speaker John Boehner, in advance of President Obama's State of the Union address, said Tuesday that he doesn't think the president "has the guts" to seriously address the country's debt and deficit. The speaker aired his concerns during a breakfast outside his office on Capitol Hill with anchors and reporters covering Obama's address Tuesday night. He said he's pessimistic about the odds the president will tackle the country's long-term spending problem, which he sees as the biggest threat to America's future. "I don't think he has the guts to do it. He doesn't have the courage to take on...

The White House has warned of the devastation that would result from sequestration: The White House warned Friday that allowing the $85 billion sequester to happen would devastate the economy and disrupt the everyday lives of millions of people. In a move intended to intensify pressure on Congress to prevent looming spending cuts set for March 1, White House officials told reporters the cuts would hamper law enforcement, hurt federal education programs, withhold mental health services and furlough thousands of workers. One horrible thing after another would come to pass: In a fact sheet, the administration said some 373,000 “seriously...

Sequester: In his State of the Union speech, President Obama is sure to issue dire warnings about the automatic spending cuts resulting from the "sequester." But look closer, and the cuts are far less than meet the eye. As the March deadline for the sequester draws closer, Obama's rhetoric about the cuts it will impose grows more overheated. In his radio address over the weekend, he said they would be "a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole."

<p>Washington is in a fit of collective terror over the "sequester," aka the impending across-the-board spending cuts. Trying to explain the zero economic growth at the end of 2012, White House spokesman Jay Carney blamed Republicans for "talk about letting the sequester kick in as though that were an acceptable thing." He left out that President Obama proposed the sequester in 2011.</p>

President Obama warned in his weekly address that the sequester would deal a "huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole" and urged Congress to strike a compromise deal to avert the $85 billion in automatic cuts. "There’s certainly no reason that middle-class families and small businesses should suffer just because Washington couldn’t come together and eliminate a few special-interest tax loopholes, or government programs that just don’t work," Obama said. "At a time when economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress, we shouldn’t allow self-inflicted wounds...

In November 2011, President Obama lamented that “some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts” that were part of that August’s deal to raise the debt limit. “My message to them is simple: No. I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending. There will be no easy off ramps on this one.” Now, it’s Obama who is looking for an off ramp. With the automatic spending cuts about to go into effect, the Associated Press reports, “President Barack Obama will ask Congress to come up with tens...

With all feel-good talk about immigration reform, fans of conflict and dysfunction may fear the arrival of genuine bipartisanship in Washington. Not to worry! Another budget crisis is almost upon us! This time it’s not the dread fiscal cliff or the debt ceiling, but rather the “sequester”—the extremely crude cutting mechanism that essentially nobody favors but that seems likely to happen anyway. It’ll drag down the economy, impair the functioning of the government across the board, and do nothing to improve America’s fiscal sustainability over the long run. Here’s what you need to know. What is it? Sequestration is broad,...

White House: GOP responsible for shrinking economy By Justin Sink - 01/30/13 01:11 PM ET White House press secretary Jay Carney laid the blame for a surprise economic contraction squarely at the feet of congressional Republicans Wednesday, saying economic threats during the "fiscal cliff" negotiations had prevented important defense spending. "Our economy is facing a major headwinds, and that's Republicans in Congress," Carney said. The Commerce Department projected Wednesday the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. Carney said that was partially attributable to the threat of sequestration, which would implement across-the-board...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Republicans appear to be willing to avoid a showdown over the debt limit and instead use the sequester as their main negotiating lever in upcoming fiscal fights with the White House and Senate Democrats. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Republicans at a closed-door retreat in Williamsburg were weighing a short-term increase in the country’s borrowing limit, giving all sides time to work on a broader fiscal plan in March that would include substantial spending cuts. “Sometimes you’ve got to lay down a sacrifice bunt,” said Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida about the debt ceiling...

President Obama should violate the debt ceiling, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are urging. Force Republicans to sue in court. Democrats are already violating legal requirements to pass a national budget each year. Republicans would lose even more influence if Democrats broke more laws. So does the national debt ceiling have 'teeth?' What would happen if Barack Obama simply shattered the debt ceiling, to avoid negotiating with Congressional Republicans? Democrats argue it would take a long time for appeals courts to wrangle through the dispute. Obama could go on spending for years while unpredictable judges sort it all out. In...