Politicians often bring guests to the President’s State of the Union address, sometimes to make a partisan point. This year that privilege is being stretched beyond the bounds of decency: At least two members of a radical Islamic group will be attending as guests of Members of Congress, supposedly to represent American Muslims. That is a disgrace.
Representatives Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)(D-Calif.) and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL)(D-Fla.) are bringing leaders from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR says it is an “advocate for justice and mutual understanding.” Yet after the San Bernardino terror attacks last month, CAIR was the chief public advocatefor the terrorists’ family, even arguing in court that they should retain custody of the terrorists’ child.
CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad, has stated publicly he supports the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. CAIR itself wasdesignated a terrorist group by the United Arab Emirates in 2014.
The impetus for this travesty was a call by Representative Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress, and Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) for their colleagues to bring a Muslim to the State of the Union. They said this is needed to counter the “shocking and alarming rise in hateful rhetoric against one particular minority population in our nation.”
But Muslims are not the primary victim of hate crimes in the U.S. The vast majority of victims of hate crimes, according to the FBI, are Jews.
What is actually more shocking and alarming than alleged rhetoric against Muslims is the rise in hateful killings by one minority population.
The recent slaughter in San Bernardino, the attempted assassination of a police officer in Philadelphia, and the slayings of our troops in Chattanooga and Fort Hood all had one thing in common: The killers were Muslim – or, more specifically, jihadists – a significant subset of Muslims who believe Islam must dominate the world.
The violent version of jihad is easier to understand, but the insidious nature of “civilization jihad” makes it even more dangerous in the long term. It aims to use the very institutions of free society to destroy it. This goal and strategy was stated outright in the Explanatory Memorandum of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was seized in 2004 during a police raid in Virginia:
The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.
CAIR is considered part of a network of front groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. It was also named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror financing trial in US history, which shut down the Holy Land Foundation due to its funding of Hamas.
CAIR is out front in the effort to downplay the role of Islam in Islamic terror. For example, CAIR reacted to the recent shooting of a police officer with this statement from CAIR-Philadelphia’s executive director, Jacob Bender: ”At this time, it does not appear that he was an observant or mosque-going Muslim.”
He was describing a man who was wearing Islamic garb and who told police he was acting in the name of Islam.
After the San Bernardino jihadist attacks, Hussam Ayloush, director of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, told CNN that the United States bore responsibility for the killings: “Let’s not forget that some of our own foreign policy, as Americans, as the West, have fueled that extremism.”
CAIR does more than justify terrorism and obfuscate the motivations of the jihadists. It pushes the boundaries of “tolerance.” Last year, it promoted the story of Ahmed the clock-hoaxer as an incident of anti-Muslim bias, rather than what it arguably was: namely, an incident of political warfare striking back at the mayor of Irving, Texas, who came into CAIR’s crosshairs when she fought back against an attempt to open an Islamic Law tribunal in Irving.
The success of CAIR in presenting itself as an organization of “moderate” Muslims is especially dangerous as it marginalizes groups actually trying to reform Islam. TheMuslim Reform Movement, headed by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, is one such group that actually deserves to be heard. It calls for an awakening within Islam to make it compatible with free western society. We must ensure that extremists like CAIR don’t drown such voices out.
Jim Hanson is the Executive VP of the Center for Security Policy and previously served in US Army Special Forces.
During his final State of the Union address, president Obama celebrated himself, attempted to polish his legacy, and bragged about his deal with the terrorist state of Iran. “That’s why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” thePresident said. “As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran seized two U.S. Navy vessels while they were navigating the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, detaining the ships and ten American sailors near Iran’s Farsi Island, the Pentagon said.
Farsi Island is home to an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) military base.
It has been confirmed that the boats were captured by the IRGC, whose leaders are aligned with the regime’s hardliners and have expressed staunch opposition to the now-historic nuclear deal.
The White House said that the sailors were not mentioned by the President tonight because, “We do not see this as hostile intent, they’ve been well treated, and we have received assurance they will be released.”
If it seems incredible that an American president, a commander-in-chief, would not acknowledge such a thing during a State of the Union scheduled on the very day this event occurred, keep in mind that this is the same President who went golfing immediately after announcing the beheading of American journalist James Foley.
Tuesday following President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address to Congress, a panel on CNN that included former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) (R-MI) and Democratic strategist Paul Begala discussed what appeared to be Obama reacting to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s rhetoric during his address.
According to Rogers, Trump resonates with Democrats because he espouses sentiments about the economy and about the state of the federal government and warned Trump’s critics not to dismiss that.
“I think we’re missing one important point here,” Rogers said. “Donald Trump is appealing as much to Democrats as he is to Republicans. And anybody who misses this point by missing the folks on the street who are drawn to his campaign – he’s got this whole group of Democrats for Trump. It’s an economic issue. There will be a Republican candidate who can speak to these economic issues in a way that doesn’t offend average Americans. I think Nikki Haley proved that point tonight. That’s where you’re going to see the strength of this Republican Party. But the notion that this is the Republican Party imploding on itself — this is a Republican Party attracting Democrats, independents, Reagan Democrats to a message that says this town is broken. The institutions of government are broken. The economy is broken.”
Later in the segment, Begala responded to Rogers’ remarks and dismissed the notion there were Democrats coming over to the Republican side to support Trump.
“The notion that Trump is appealing to Democrats is myth, not math, tested the better part of today going through polls” Begala said. “Trump – he has a higher negative among Democrats than various forms of syphilis. I hate the guy. That’s why I want him to be the Republican nominee.”
Near the end of President Obama’s final State of the Union address, which was really a petulant, partisan stump speech aimed in large part at Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner used his Twitter account to criticize the speech as “really boring, slow, lethargic – very hard to watch!”
President Barack Obama promised his final State of the Union address would be short. Dana Bash of CNN called it “low-energy.” One thing it was notwas accurate–or honest. Here are Obama’s top ten lies, in chronological order.
1. “[W]e’ve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters.” This is pure fiction. Obama has doubled the national debt, and it’s not because he cut the deficit. Rather, he spent staggering amounts of money in his first months in office–which he assigns, dishonestly, to the previous fiscal year, under George W. Bush. He “cut” (i.e. spent more gradually) from that spending, but only under protest, after Republicans took the House in 2010.
(Update: It is true that Obama’s 2015 budget deficit was about 25% of his 2010 deficit. But he referred to “deficits,” plural. Until last year, all of Obama’s deficits were worse than all of Bush’s deficits except for the last two.)
2. “Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”With that line, Obama took a shot at his would-be Democratic successors, as well as his Republican critics. But the truth is that despite the slow recovery–the slowest since World War II–labor force participation is the lowest it has been in decades. Wages are stagnant, household incomes still have not recovered from the recession, and young people see a bleak future.
3. “That’s what the Affordable Care Act is all about. It’s about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, we’ll still have coverage.”That is a cruel joke, given that Obamacare canceled insurance coverage for millions of Americans who did not change jobs. It also raised deductibles and premiums so high that many insurance companies are leaving the Obama exchanges totally.
4. “Food Stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did.” Actually, food stamp recipients, metaphorically speaking, were indirectly responsible–as well as Wall Street sharks. Obama leaves out the government’s role, under the Community Reinvestment Act, in pushing mortgages on people who could not afford them, and in backing the derivatives based on those mortgages that ultimately burst the whole bubble.
5. “We’ve protected an open internet…”. Obama’s policy of Net Neutrality has turned Internet service providers into public utilities under an ancient regulatory regime. The result has been a sharp decline in broadband investment and a much less free and open system. In addition, the Obama administration is rushing to shift control of ICANN to the international community, which will ensure that the Internet is less free, and subject to overseas censorship.
6. “Seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. Here are the results.” It is laughable that Obama would claim his failed clean energy spending–think Solyndra–led to the fracking-fed energy boom we have enjoyed for the past several years, especially when the administration did all it could to stop oil and gas development. He also nixed the Keystone pipeline and started a plan to kill coal plants.
7. “No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin.” Of all the lies in Obama’s speech, this was undoubtedly the worst, coming hours after Iran seized two U.S. Navy boats and ten sailors. Obama did not even mention those Americans in captivity at any point in his speech, declining the chance to reassure the nation that they would come home safely. It is an omission that will define this address in history.
8. “As someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous time.” Obama does not attend most of his daily intelligence briefings, preferring instead to read intelligence reports–so he claims–on his iPad, a stark contrast to the attentive approach of his predecessor. Late last year, even as Obama claimed that there was little risk from attack, radical Islamic terrorists carried out brutal attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino.
9. “We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria [from Islamic State].” The Obama administration’s attempt to train and arm Syrian rebels has been a disaster. Belatedly, the administration has helped Kurdish peshmerga forces, and the Iraqi military has made gains lately, but Obama has not made a serious effort to defeat the Islamic State, and is even giving up on regime change in Syria.
10. “Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America.” And a year of appeasement has not promoted democracy, either. The Castros remain firmly in power, and we are not helping the opposition. Worse, the Cuban regime continues to arrest thousands of political dissidents, to cozy up to enemies like Iran and North Korea, and to carry out provocative acts–such as stealing a U.S. Hellfire missile.
Towards the end of his speech, Obama told one important truth: “There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide…”.
President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union speech tonight as Iran is holding 10 American sailors.
According to NBC News, “officials said the Americans were on a training mission around noon ET when their boat experienced mechanical difficulty and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Coast guard.” Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly “been on the phone with Iranian officials in Tehran attempting to gain the release.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) (R-AK) told CNN that the Obama administration seems more intent on protecting Iran and the nuclear deal than getting America’s sailors back. Cotton said this is an example how much the nuclear deal has emboldened Iran while adding that this is likely an effort by Iran to humiliate America and Obama before his final State of the Union Speech and exert “maximize leverage with the emboldened hand President Obama gave them with the nuclear deal.”
Obama, according to White House Communications Director Jen Psaki, is not planning to address the incident.
So much for a more conciliatory Iran after the Obama administration’s widely criticized and deeply unpopular nuclear deal with Tehran. The deal, which will lift various economic sanctions on Iran and send the nation billions of dollars, is set to be implemented this month and perhaps as early as this week.
Though only 37% approve of Obama’s foreign policy agenda, according to December’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal monthly tracking poll, Obama will reportedly defend the Obama Doctrine in his speech. Obama, who, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, enabled ISIS’s rise in the Middle East also underestimated its threat, infamously calling ISIS the “JV team.” And just 34% approve of Obama’s handling of ISIS and terrorism.
It will be interesting to see how much Obama touts his executive amnesty for illegal immigrants and his administration’s plans to resettle Syrian refugees after one of the Paris terrorists entered France under the guise of being a “Syrian refugee.” A Syrian refugee and a DREAMer who served in the U.S. military are among the guests in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box.
Though Obama has issued sweeping executive actions on illegal immigration and guns, he will say in his speech, without irony, that, “our founders distributed power between states and branches of government, and expected us to argue, just as they did, over the size and shape of government, over commerce and foreign relations, over the meaning of liberty and imperatives of security. But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens.”
Obama will certainly exploit the mass shootings that have occurred during his presidency to make one last push for his gun control agenda a week after issuing his executive actions. There will be an empty seat in the First Lady’s box to honor the victims of gun violence.
“Last week, the President took a series of commonsense steps to help reduce gun violence in America and make our communities safer,” the White House said in a statement. “We leave one seat empty in the First Lady’s State of the Union Guest Box for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice – because they need the rest of us to speak for them. To tell their stories. To honor their memory. To support the Americans whose lives have been forever changed by the terrible ripple effect of gun violence – survivors who’ve had to learn to live with a disability, or without the love of their life. To remind every single one of our representatives that it’s their responsibility to do something about this.”
Obama will also argue that his fundamental transformation of America will accelerate and is here to stay. According to excerpts the White House released, Obama will say that that “we live in a time of extraordinary change – change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world.”
“It’s change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families. It promises education for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists plotting an ocean away. It’s change that can broaden opportunity, or widen inequality,” he will say. “And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.”
The White House has said Obama’s speech will be non-conventional. The majority who disapprove of Obama and the 70% of Americans who think the country is on the “wrong track” may hope that Obama just submits a written State of the Union address instead of giving what may be yet another self-congratulatory another campaign speech.
This will be the first time new House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will sit behind Obama during the State of the Union address. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union address.
Obama and Haley may take veiled shots at GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. Obama will blast the GOP’s campaign rhetoric and say, “each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears.” Though many Americans are angry at Obama’s executive actions and how far he is trying to push the country to the left, Haley will rail against following the “siren call of the angriest voices.” Establishment Republicans like Ryan have championed Haley and, to nobody’s surprise, her warning against the following “angriest voices” will sound like Obama. The more things change in Washington, the more they stay the same.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates throughout the evening.
The White House released the text of Obama’s State of the Union speech.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) responds to Obama’s State of the Union speech.
President Obama’s policy agenda on trade, crime, immigration, spending and debt all have one common feature: they make life harder for working Americans and put the country at needless risk.
With wages down, record numbers not working, and crime rising in cities across the U.S., the next person to occupy the oval office will have to chart a dramatically different course. That course must include:
• Immigration control and reduction
• A dedicated effort to reduce crime and prosecute armed career criminals and drug dealers
• Cancelling the sovereignty-eroding 2 million-word Trans-Pacific Partnership, and rebuilding our manufacturing core
• Welfare-to-work: celebrating the dignity of work, and helping our own people move from welfare to good-paying jobs
• Adoption and implementation of a balanced budget plan
• Repeal of Obamacare
• Creating a smaller, leaner and less costly bureaucracy
• Streamlining the tax code, making it easier to keep jobs and wealth in America
• Tapping into our vast energy resources
• Restoration of the constitutional rule of law.
Haley’s robotic response devoid of any emotion is why Americans hate politics. It is obvious the speech was written before Obama’s speech, as there were no specific rebuttals to anything Obama said. Nearly everybody knows that Iran has captured ten American sailors. Haley could have, at the very least, offered her thoughts and prayers to the sailors. But she did not in her unmemorable speech. Few have done the State of the Union response well. Jim Webb’s response to George W. Bush’s State of the Union is still probably the best response that has been given by either side.
Haley takes some veiled shots at Trump. She says that “some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.” She says that “there’s a tendency to falsely equate noise with results.” She warns against following the “siren call of the angriest voices.” And Haley, who denounced Trump’s temporary ban on Muslim immigration and, in so doing, endeared herself even more to the GOP establishment elite, says America must welcome “properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion.”
Nikki Haley’s GOP response to Obama’s State of the Union:
Good evening.
I’m Nikki Haley, Governor of the great state of South Carolina.
I’m speaking tonight from Columbia, our state’s capital city. Much like America as a whole, ours is a state with a rich and complicated history, one that proves the idea that each day can be better than the last.
In just a minute, I’m going to talk about a vision of a brighter American future. But first I want to say a few words about President Obama, who just gave his final State of the Union address.
Barack Obama’s election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that.
Unfortunately, the President’s record has often fallen far short of his soaring words.
As he enters his final year in office, many Americans are still feeling the squeeze of an economy too weak to raise income levels. We’re feeling a crushing national debt, a health care plan that has made insurance less affordable and doctors less available, and chaotic unrest in many of our cities.
Even worse, we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11th, and this president appears unwilling or unable to deal with it.
Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. That direction is what I want to talk about tonight.
At the outset, I’ll say this: you’ve paid attention to what has been happening in Washington, and you’re not naive.
Neither am I. I see what you see. And many of your frustrations are my frustrations.
A frustration with a government that has grown day after day, year after year, yet doesn’t serve us any better. A frustration with the same, endless conversations we hear over and over again. A frustration with promises made and never kept.
We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: while Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone. There is more than enough blame to go around.
We as Republicans need to own that truth. We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America’s leadership. We need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken.
And then we need to fix it.
The foundation that has made America that last, best hope on earth hasn’t gone anywhere. It still exists. It’s up to us to return to it.
For me, that starts right where it always has: I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country.
Growing up in the rural south, my family didn’t look like our neighbors, and we didn’t have much. There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it.
My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America. They wanted better for their children than for themselves. That remains the dream of all of us, and in this country we have seen time and again that that dream is achievable.
Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.
No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.
At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can’t do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.
We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.
I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to America’s noblest legacies.
This past summer, South Carolina was dealt a tragic blow. On an otherwise ordinary Wednesday evening in June, at the historic Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, twelve faithful men and women, young and old, went to Bible study.
That night, someone new joined them. He didn’t look like them, didn’t act like them, didn’t sound like them. They didn’t throw him out. They didn’t call the police. Instead, they pulled up a chair and prayed with him. For an hour.
We lost nine incredible souls that night.
What happened after the tragedy is worth pausing to think about.
Our state was struck with shock, pain, and fear. But our people would not allow hate to win. We didn’t have violence, we had vigils. We didn’t have riots, we had hugs.
We didn’t turn against each other’s race or religion. We turned toward God, and to the values that have long made our country the freest and greatest in the world.
We removed a symbol that was being used to divide us, and we found a strength that united us against a domestic terrorist and the hate that filled him.
There’s an important lesson in this. In many parts of society today, whether in popular culture, academia, the media, or politics, there’s a tendency to falsely equate noise with results.
Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.
Of course that doesn’t mean we won’t have strong disagreements. We will. And as we usher in this new era, Republicans will stand up for our beliefs.
If we held the White House, taxes would be lower for working families, and we’d put the brakes on runaway spending and debt.
We would encourage American innovation and success instead of demonizing them, so our economy would truly soar and good jobs would be available across our country.
We would reform education so it worked best for students, parents, and teachers, not Washington bureaucrats and union bosses.
We would end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms that lowered costs and actually let you keep your doctor.
We would respect differences in modern families, but we would also insist on respect for religious liberty as a cornerstone of our democracy.
We would recognize the importance of the separation of powers and honor the Constitution in its entirety. And yes, that includes the Second and Tenth Amendments.
We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around.
And rather than just thanking our brave men and women in uniform, we would actually strengthen our military, so both our friends and our enemies would know that America seeks peace, but when we fight wars we win them.
We have big decisions to make. Our country is being tested.
But we’ve been tested in the past, and our people have always risen to the challenge. We have all the guidance we need to be safe and successful.
Our forefathers paved the way for us.
Let’s take their values, and their strengths, and rededicate ourselves to doing whatever it takes to keep America the greatest country in the history of man. And woman.
After seven years under President Obama, America has become less prosperous, less safe, and less free,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “Americans are reminded daily of this president’s failures and broken promises, whether it’s higher costs under ObamaCare, the continued decline of the middle class, or the increased threat posed by ISIS and radical Islamic terrorists. It’s no wonder the American people overwhelmingly say the country is on the wrong track and want to see their next president take a different direction. But rather than signal a much-needed course correction, the president took a lonely victory lap before a country that is ready to turn the page.
The one thing the president made clear tonight is that the next ten months will be all about ensuring he is succeeded by Hillary Clinton, who gives his failed presidency an ‘A’ grade and wants to take his divisive, left-wing agenda to the next level. More taxes, more spending, more leading from behind, more Washington overreach, and more scandal – that is what Democrats are offering in this election. It’s clearer than ever that only a Republican president can tackle the big issues facing our country and restore faith in our government.
President Obama was elected to the White House with voters demanding change, and fittingly, that is how he will leave.
Data from Facebook shows Iran was the top issue. Andy Stone of Facebook’s Policy Communications department released a statement showing that and many other facts from engagement around the country.
Top social moment President Obama criticizes anti-Muslim sentiment. Top issues 1. Iran 2. Islam and Muslims 3. ISIS 4. Terrorism 5. Food stamps Top issues among women 1. Food stamps 2. Education 3. Wall Street
Top issues among men 1. Islam and Muslims 2. ISIS 3. Terrorism Most engaged states 1. Maryland 2. Virginia 3. Georgia 4. New York 5. North Carolina
From Swoyer:
GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee live tweeted during the State of the Union on Tuesday night, blasting President Obama’s foreign policy and commenting on the length of Obama’s speech.
“Latest @POTUS broken promise: that this speech was going to be “short.” #SOTU,” Huckabee posted, referencing Obama’s 59 minute speech.
“What @POTUS fails to mention about #Libya we can probably glean from @HillaryClinton’s classified emails,” he posted, adding, “@POTUS Quit apologizing for the evil forces of radical Islam and start protecting Americans! “
Huckabee also commented on Obama’s relations with Cuba and his desire to close GITMO, posting, “Once @POTUS returns Gitmo to Cuba, the Castros will have more space for political prisoners.”
He also commented on Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s facial expressions during Obama’s speech.
“Looks like @SpeakerRyan would rather chaperon a Six Flags field trip with El Chapo than listen to more of this speech,” Huckabee joked.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) responds:
President Barack Obama delivered the final State of the Union speech of his presidency on Tuesday night, hours after the Pentagon confirmed that Iran apprehended a U.S. Navy boat and is detaining 10 American sailors. Rep. Mark Meadows, a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement:
What an unfortunate juxtaposition for the President: as he took to the podium to defend his Iran nuclear deal and other foreign policy initiatives, American sailors were being detained in Iran. Make no mistake, the signing of the Iran Deal has only been emboldened the Iranian regime and Tehran grows increasingly more hostile to the West by the day. Let us not forget that in addition to these sailors being held, four innocent Americans have remained imprisoned in Iran for years.
The world is becoming a more dangerous place because of the Obama Administration’s failed foreign policy that fundamentally misunderstands America’s enemies. At nearly every turn, the President has unilaterally made foreign policy decisions that baffle the American people. From failing to temporarily halt Syrian refugees from being admitted into the U.S. until we improve our vetting system, to bypassing Congress and unlawfully initiating the transfer of Guantanamo detainees, the American people are perplexed by the Obama foreign policy.
More than a year into the conflict with ISIS, the U.S. is engaging in anemic airstrikes with no clear strategy, creating a vacuum for Russian leadership in a conflict that demands American leadership. There’s no such thing as a lame duck President in times of war—and that is precisely what the United States is engaged in with ISIS. The President must fundamentally alter his foreign policy—and quickly—or there will be repercussions for decades to come.
After 7 years in office, it’s time President Obama try a new strategy: working with Congress to address these critical issues for the American people.
From Breitbart’s Swoyer:
GOP presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush posted on Twitter during President Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
“Middle-class income has declined $2,000 under Obama’s failed policies. That’s not progress. That’s not giving everyone a fair shot. #SOTU,” Bush first posted.
The rest of Bush’s posts focuses on Islamic terrorism and fighting the Islamic State (ISIS).
He added, “It appears Obama is still under the impression ISIS is the JV team. Next President must understand the enemy and the threat. #SOTU”
“They’re not just “killers and fanatics.” They’re radical Islamic terrorists. Still can’t call them by name. #SOTU,” Bush posted about Islamic terrorism, adding, “Safer? ISIS on the rise. North Korea testing nukes. Syria in chaos. Taliban on march. This president is living in a different world. #SOTU”
Carly Fiorina’s response:
Tonight, President Obama once again proved that he is a politician, not a leader. Instead of talking about solutions, he talked politics.
Despite his rhetoric, Americans know that our economy is lagging, our leadership in the world is waning, and the very character of our nation is threatened.
This administration has continued to grow a bloated, corrupt government that serves only the powerful, the wealthy, and the well-connected. President Obama talked about wanting to end crony capitalism–but then proposed doubling down on the same policies that have enabled this corruption and ineptitude.
We cannot elect Hillary Clinton to the White House. She has promised throughout her campaign to extend and expand Barack Obama’s failed policies. And, like this President, she has always put politics ahead of problem-solving. She lacks a track record of leadership and accomplishment. She has lied. It is the Clinton way.
We need a nominee who can beat Hillary and who will finally hold her accountable. One thing is clear: Hillary Clinton will wipe the floor with Donald Trump.
I can beat Hillary Clinton and I will. I will force her to fight on her record—on her lies and lack of trustworthiness, whether that’s about emails and servers or Benghazi.
It is time to elect a leader who has been tested, who will see and speak and act on the truth. We need a President who will be a clear-eyed advocate for policies formed by principles, not by polls and politics.
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) responds:
The American people see the state of our union much differently than our President, and perhaps that is why this Administration continues to be a disappointment. The unfortunate reality is that for too many Americans, our country and the world is in a worse situation today than we were 7 years ago. The good news is that the sun is setting on the Obama Administration, and the country has an opportunity to set a new course. While the influence of this Administration is already notably waning, I will continue to vigorously hold the Administration accountable and oppose unilateral executive actions that weaken our democratic institutions. I will also continue putting forth conservative solutions to improve our economy, provide opportunity for all Americans, and protect our national security. However, it is important to note that the greatest policy decisions this year will be made by the American people this November.
Obama warns that “as frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.”
“We can’t afford to go down that path. It won’t deliver the economy we want, or the security we want, but most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world,” he continues.
Here’s the bookend to Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention that put him on the national stage and on the fast track to the White House:
Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen — inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far. Voices that help us see ourselves not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native born; not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed. Voices Dr. King believed would have the final word — voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love.
From Breitbart’s Swoyer:
GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson live tweeted on Twitter throughout President Obama’s final State of the Union, blasting the president through a number of posts.
“I agree Mr. President, we must cut red tape. But the fact is that you have created thousands of regulations creating more red tape #SOTU
A new CBS report ahead of President Obama’s last State of the Union address details how the Republican response– delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley– will serve as a rebuttal to the policies of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. The new report seems to underscore prior reportingfrom the Washington Post that “Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is rapidly emerging as Republicans’ anti-Trump.”
CBS writes: “The Republican response to the President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening appears to rebut… some of the policies espoused by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to excerpts released by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.”
According to Ryan’s excerpts, it seems as though Haley will focus particularly on chastising Trump’s call for curbing immigration:
I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country…My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America…Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.
Haley’s declaration that “no one who is willing to work hard… should ever feel unwelcome in this country” articulates the central principle of the open-borders philosophy. In essence, this policy formula means that any willing employer should be able to hire any willing worker regardless of the country in which they reside. Under this theory, there is no limitation whatsoever to the amount of labor that can be imported into the country and, thus, there is no preference given to American citizens for jobs.
Republican leadership’s decision to rebuke Trump’s policy positions may seem surprising given the recent polling data. According to Rasmussen, 65% of conservative voters say the United States should not let in any refugees from the entire Middle East– the point of view Republican leadership is presumably attacking with its State of the Union rebuttal.
Yet Ryan’s strategy for the Republican Party’s State of the Union response seems consistent with GOP leadership’s longstanding practice of demeaning its own voter base.
Indeed, this is not the first time the Ryan wing of the Republican Party has sought to rebuke Donald Trump’s immigration plan. Donor-class favorites Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Paul Ryan have both essentially suggested that Americans cannot restrict the large numbers of Muslims migrants resettling within America. In a November interview with Sean Hannity, Ryan saidcurbing Muslim migration is “not who we are.” Similarly, in a separate interview, Marco Rubio told Hannity, “We’ve never had a religious test, and I would just say to you that to have a religious test would violate the Constitution”.
In contrast to Haley’s call for continuing large-scale visa issuances, conservative heroine Phyllis Schlafly, who recently expressed her full-hearted supportfor Trump’s presidency, declared that it is time to pause immigration:
If we don’t stop immigration, this torrent of immigrants coming in, we’re not going to be America anymore because most of the people coming in have no experience with limited government. They don’t know what that is. They look to the government to solve all of their problems, and as soon as we have a high majority of people who think that, it’s going to be a different country…”
Indeed, the Senate Immigration Subcommittee issued a chart book today detailing how if visa issuances are not curbed, the U.S. will issue more green cards in the next ten years than the population of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nikki Haley’s state of South Carolina combined– effectively nullifying the electoral impact of those states’ voters.
Haley, however, is not the first South Carolina politicians to push immigration policies that would nullify the electoral power of its own constituency. For instance,Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who has pushed for citizenship for illegal aliens, along with Gang of Eight member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and immigration booster Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), all represent South Carolina voters as well.
