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Subscribe to RSSGov. Mitch Daniels delivers the Republican response, saying that the loyal opposition puts "patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology" and says the GOP "program of renewal" will rebuild the American dream.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Here's the full text, as prepared for delivery, of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' Republican response to the president's State of the Union address to the nation:
"The status of 'loyal opposition' imposes on those out of power some serious responsibilities: to show respect for the Presidency and its occupant, to express agreement where it exists. Republicans tonight salute our President, for instance, for his aggressive pursuit of the murderers of 9/11, and for bravely backing long overdue changes in public education. I personally would add to that list admiration for the strong family commitment that he and the First Lady have displayed to a nation sorely needing such examples.
"On these evenings, Presidents naturally seek to find the sunny side of our national condition. But when President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true.
"The President did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. One in five men of prime working age, and nearly half of all persons under 30, did not go to work today.
"In three short years, an unprecedented explosion of spending, with borrowed money, has added trillions to an already unaffordable national debt. And yet, the President has put us on a course to make it radically worse in the years ahead. The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy; it borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation, no entity, large or small, public or private, can thrive, or survive intact, with debts as huge as ours.
"The President's grand experiment in trickle-down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars. In fact, it works the other way: a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.
"Those punished most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight, and those so discouraged that they have abandoned the search for work altogether. And no one has been more tragically harmed than the young people of this country, the first generation in memory to face a future less promising than their parents did.
"As Republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life's ladder. 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.
"In our economic stagnation and indebtedness, we are only a short distance behind Greece, Spain, and other European countries now facing economic catastrophe. But ours is a fortunate land. Because the world uses our dollar for trade, we have a short grace period to deal with our dangers. But time is running out, if we are to avoid the fate of Europe, and those once-great nations of history that fell from the position of world leadership.
"So 2012 is a year of true opportunity, maybe our last, to restore an America of hope and upward mobility, and greater equality. The challenges aren't matters of ideology, or party preference; the problems are simply mathematical, and the answers are purely practical.
"An opposition that would earn its way back to leadership must offer not just criticism of failures that anyone can see, but a positive and credible plan to make life better, particularly for those aspiring to make a better life for themselves. Republicans accept this duty, gratefully.
"The routes back to an America of promise, and to a solvent America that can pay its bills and protect its vulnerable, start in the same place. The only way up for those suffering tonight, and the only way out of the dead end of debt into which we have driven, is a private economy that begins to grow and create jobs, real jobs, at a much faster rate than today.
"Contrary to the President's constant disparagement of people in business, it's one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs - what a fitting name he had - created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew. Out here in Indiana, when a businessperson asks me what he can do for our state, I say 'First, make money. Be successful. If you make a profit, you'll have something left to hire someone else, and some to donate to the good causes we love.'
"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy. It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.
Praising the Midwestern conservatism and mentions of "protecting the safety net," Chris Matthews says he understands why the GOP establishment is said to be rooting for Gov. Daniels.
"That means a dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates. A pause in the mindless piling on of expensive new regulations that devour dollars that otherwise could be used to hire somebody. It means maximizing on the new domestic energy technologies that are the best break our economy has gotten in years.
"There is a second item on our national must-do list: we must unite to save the safety net. Medicare and Social Security have served us well, and that must continue. But after half and three quarters of a century respectively, it's not surprising that they need some repairs. We can preserve them unchanged and untouched for those now in or near retirement, but we must fashion a new, affordable safety net so future Americans are protected, too.
"Decades ago, for instance, we could afford to send millionaires pension checks and pay medical bills for even the wealthiest among us. Now, we can't, so the dollars we have should be devoted to those who need them most.
"The mortal enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead Americans that we should change nothing. Listening to them much longer will mean that these proud programs implode, and take the American economy with them. It will mean that coming generations are denied the jobs they need in their youth and the protection they deserve in their later years.
"It's absolutely so that everyone should contribute to our national recovery, including of course the most affluent among us. There are smart ways and dumb ways to do this: the dumb way is to raise rates in a broken, grossly complex tax system, choking off growth without bringing in the revenues we need to meet our debts. The better course is to stop sending the wealthy benefits they do not need, and stop providing them so many tax preferences that distort our economy and do little or nothing to foster growth.
"It's not fair and it's not true for the President to attack Republicans in Congress as obstacles on these questions. They and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down time and time again by the President and his Democratic Senate allies.
"This year, it falls to Republicans to level with our fellow citizens about this reality: if we fail to act to grow the private sector and save the safety net, nothing else will matter much. But to make such action happen, we also must work, in ways we Republicans have not always practiced, to bring Americans together.
"No feature of the Obama Presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others. As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat. If we drift, quarreling and paralyzed, over a Niagara of debt, we will all suffer, regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have.
"As a loyal opposition, who put patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology or any self-interest, we say that anyone who will join us in the cause of growth and solvency is our ally, and our friend. We will speak the language of unity. Let us rebuild our finances, and the safety net, and reopen the door to the stairway upward; any other disagreements we may have can wait.
"You know, the most troubling contention in our national life these days isn't about economics, or policy at all. It's about us, as a free people. In two alarming ways, that contention is that we Americans just can't cut it anymore.
"In word and deed, the President and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex, perilous world without their benevolent protection. Left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids; why, unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb!
"A second view, which I admit some Republicans also seem to hold, is that we Americans are no longer up to the job of self-government. We can't do the simple math that proves the unaffordability of today's safety net programs, or all the government we now have. We will fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. We will allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other, blaming our neighbor for troubles worldwide trends or our own government has caused.
"2012 must be the year we prove the doubters wrong. The year we strike out boldly not merely to avert national bankruptcy but to say to a new generation that America is still the world's premier land of opportunity. Republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen; who believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them; who trust Americans enough to tell them the plain truth about the fix we are in, and to lay before them a specific, credible program of change big enough to meet the emergency we are facing.
"We will advance our positive suggestions with confidence, because we know that Americans are still a people born to liberty. There is nothing wrong with the state of our Union that the American people, addressed as free-born, mature citizens, cannot set right. Republicans in 2012 welcome all our countrymen to a program of renewal that rebuilds the dream for all, and makes our 'city on a hill' shine once again."
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May we please vote for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for president? Finally someone speaking articulate facts with a deep insight to the present and future... instead of promotional pre-election hype. And can we count how many times BO said "Me, my, and I?" Scary.
It was really funny how the Daniels started off by congratulating Obama for having such a strong family commitment, which Gov. Daniels said was an example "to a nation sorely needing such examples."
Now, he couldn't have said that as a snipe towards Newt, could he????? Nahhhhh.
Mitch Daniels is W. Bush Budget Secretary, nuff said.
no you could articulate something that really had a bearing here or maybe meant something. What was Obama's big accomplishment before the press gave him to us gift wrapped and unveted?
Daniels lambasted what he called an "unprecedented explosion of spending" which added "trillions to an already unaffordable national debt."
Mitch Daniels was W's budget director. Here's a direct quote about his tenure:
Daniels, who had very little experience in budgeting and was most adept at policy promotion, directly contributed to one of those budget blunders, the gross underestimation of the cost of the Iraq War.
In 2002, Daniels famously low-balled the war's cost at $50 billion to $60 billion and joined in the repudiation of Bush's economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, who had ventured an estimate as high as $200 billion. Daniels called Lindsey's price tag "very, very high."
As it turns out, Lindsey was very, very low... and Daniels was absurd! And now we are supposed to listen to him talk about fiscal responsibility?
I still find it amazing that even after 3 years of leaving the Oval Office that Mr. Bush manages to deflect his unprecedented record of destruction of our country. Even more amazing is the fact that Republicans voters are in so much denial (besides being bigots), that they jump on the bash Obama train with such relish. 'Just my opinion' but I think the fact that our Republican led Congress has done nothing but stonewall any type of bill or proposal to improve the State of the Union. All they say is re-elect us and we'll fix things! Why on God's green Earth would anybody be stupid enough to vote for another Republican to come in and continue where Bush left off is absolutely unbelievable.
The Republican Party is as out of touch with reality as Lindsay Lohan, or the Kardashian Klan. And I use the spelling of clan with a 'K' because that is what 'In my opinion' the Republican party represents. The 'Good ole (white) boy' trying to regain there grip on power so they can continue to line their pockets on the backs of everyone else in the country.
I'm not saying that Democrats are any better either. On the contrary, there are more Democrat millionaires that Republicans. But that is mostly due to the fact that there are more Democrats in the US. In what is perhaps the most glaring problem with our country is the fact that 44% of our lawmakers millionaires! If you compare that to the population as a whole, where slightly more than 1% are millionaires, I think you might be able to see the problem we have.
That is, of course, depending on whether you are willing to take your blinders off for a few minutes. And long enough to realize that we, the American people, are being played with by a political system that embraces the rich only, and pit us against each other (Dems vs Reps) to blind us to the fact that they are all sitting there up in Washington on the high-horses, laughing their a$$e$ off at the stupid middle-class and poor who fight each other instead of voting them all out (or throwing them out, literally).
The last time conditions were this bad in the US was when we decided we had enough of England taxing us to death, but not representing us. Is it time for the second American Revolution? In my opinion, that is pretty obvious.
well put, Charles... tea party really,this is America. I drink coffee. Vote for Newt show AMERICA how STUPID you really are...
Huh! What if anything are you trying (but failing miserably) to say!
Mitch has been a disaster for Indiana. Unaccounted for money, a seriously underfunded DCFS that left more children dead last year than any in a long time, unrepaired roads, closed parks, Mitch governs under the scorched earth policy, a drive through Indiana should give you a hint. There is a reason for all those Ditch Mitch bumper stickers.
Did you catch the "trickle down" government line, trying to confuse voters when it comes time to talk about the success of "trickle down" economics.
Right off the bat this guy is dead wrong. To suggest that our economy is worse now than on 1-20-09 takes some impressive gymnastics, a blind eye, and an empty head. The numbers - anyone's numbers - do not support this claim, but the GOP and Daniels both desperately need us to believe it.
Then he talks about spending (this from Bush's budget director?) and suggests that Obama is recklessly destroying the economy. Umm...Daniels...that spending is the only thing propping up our economy. You can't have it both ways. The economy is turning around, albeit slowly, thanks in no small part to stimulus money, auto industry bailouts, and other economic incentives, which you call reckless. The rest of us call them mandatory.
Obama mentioned GM in his speech. He said three years ago that many said GM should be allowed to die since that is the way of capitalism. Obama said he wouldn't stand by and watch as a million more jobs are lost and America looses one of its largest manufacturing sectors. GM got assistance from the government that Daniels calls reckless. GM is currently back on top as the largest auto maker in the world. Ford and Chrysler are growing and investing in new factories in America, but according to Daniels our economy is worse and our spending was worthless. Maybe he should explain to US autoworkers why their jobs are worthless?
I'm not sure if Daniels was watching the same SOTU address as the rest of us, or is this just the one day a year he pulls his head from the sand to make a comment?
Mitch for President? "During his tenure as head of the Office of Management and Budget, from 2001 to 2003, the federal budget went from an annual surplus of $236 billion to a deficit of $400 billion, and Daniels's projection of a return to surplus by 2005 proved to be inaccurate.[5]" Source Wiki
Peg we also went from a time of peace to a time where were fighting wars on two fronts of course we are going to go from a surplus to a deficit. Not only that but in the aftermath of 9/11 the government spent money left and right FEMA alone spent a billion dollars on related expenses. Sheila I don't know where you are from but I live in Indiana and Mitch Daniels has done a great job of turning the state around. If he had run for President, I think he would have stood a much better chance than Newt or Mitt!
A) we didn't HAVE to fight two wars. The one in Iraq was strictly voluntary.
B) when you must fight a war, you don't LOWER TAXES on the wealthy. You don't say "we want everyone to contribute except rich folk."
But the REAL clincher is that the Republican Congress DELIBERATELY destroyed propsperity, turning a federal surplus into MASSIVE UNFUNDED DEFICIT SPENDING for the sole purpose of rewarding their wealthy benefactors. And a weak executive went along with it, just like he did as Governor of Texas.
Massive tax give aways to the wealthy preceeded the Great Depression, too.
At least there was 1 great speech last night, and it wasn't the one from Obama.
He hasn't done any such thing, and Obama has the support of many successful business owners. Classic example of a "strawman argument", they've made up a fictional "straw-bama" and argue against that, rather than against what the real President Obama has said and done.
Says the Republicans, who have done their best to obstruct and divide, currying favor with the rich and teapartiers while castigating working class union members, the working poor, and and anyone they consider to be "sinners". Classic case of projection.
I think my irony meter just exploded. "Self interest" and "ideology" is what the Teapublicans are all about. As for the "door to the stairway upward", that must refer to all the money flowing upward to the wealthiest while the working class stagnates.
Sounds like he's contradicting himself, until you realize that they want to "save the safety net" for Senior Citizens that turn out in large numbers to vote, but also completely eliminate the safety net for the working poor and unemployed that they hope to keep out of the polls with restrictive "voter ID" laws.
Another way the Republicans are trying to divide the country is to maintain Social Security for those already retired, but "privatize" it for everyone else, with predictably disastrous consequences when the stock market crashes again. But the retirees are seeing through that scam, and they want their children and grandchildren to have the same retirement security they enjoy.
The rest is mostly empty platitudes, shallow promises that sound good but don't mean much.
You mean him destroying one state isn't enough, JMO? you want to give him 49 more to run into the ground?
Weak & Dumb right-winger people always find their Messiah this way ... such as Faux Noize, Beckerhead & Fatbo viewers ... and always vote for the likes of Bush & Palin and will vote for either Romney, Noot, inSanatorium and Paulie ...
LOL.
Hypocrisy, pure hypocrisy, nothing has been more divisive than the new and improved GOP/TP refusal to do anything to help the Middle class, Main Street and working people of America, like pushing for big tax cuts for the wealthy (flat tax at 15%, eliminate capital gains tax) while cutting spending (SS and Medicare, but NOT Farm Subsidies and military spending, most of which goes to the southern and Farm Belt red states, all while complaining about "class warfare", I think they have been possessed by the ghosts of the 1789 French aristocracy. I voted GOP for many years (Reagan twice, G.H.W. Bush. Dole, G.W. Bush, but only the first time, supported McCain in the 2004 GOP primary), but they have lost me. What the hell happened to these people? Don't agree? Well, give us some concrete examples of GOP/TP proposals to specifically help the Middle Class, hint, it ain't tax cuts for the wealthy or corporations, they're stuffing their money in Swiss bank accounts and/or already sitting on several trillions of unused cash, and as Mitt Romney and Bain Capital have shown, they don't create jobs, just wealth for the lucky few at the expense of the many.
Mitch Daniels: Let government tell us what mortgage we should take....ouch. I wish that was in place. Could have saved us from the collapse.
Mortgages didn't collapse the economy - the derivatives Wall Street dreamed up to play poker with them collapsed the economy.
Go read "All the Devils Are Here".
Thanks for the article, it's a good read !
Mortgage derivatives would not be toxic were it not for the fact that many of them contain a majority of bad loans. They are overpriced because of the housing bubble. The housing bubble exists because they made it easy for people who never should have had a home loan to get one. There would not be so many bad loans if they hadn't made it so easy for people who shouldn't have one to get one. The reason banks were willing to make bad loans is because they could count on not having any responsibility for them by bundling them into derivatives and selling them to some other poor sucker. Bundling all bad loans into derivatives and selling them off makes derivatives toxic.... and we are back where we started.
All of this is sooo intertwined. To say that derivatives collapsed the economy is naive at best. This all started with the idea that everyone should own a home, no matter how risky it was to lend to them. Thank good ol' Georgie Bush for that. See American Dream Downpayment Act.
Mitch Daniels can not even lead my state Indiana right. The only reason we had a surplus was because he made huge cuts to things that should be the later things that should be cut like education which cost my former high school to replace six teachers that retired with two because they could not afford to hire any more. If Mitch ever ran for president he may not even win Indiana because we know what he is like
The only thing the Republican party has done since 2009 is to find ways to obstruct any accomplishments the President tried to make. And those he did get done, have suffered constant criticism and threats that American is sliding into socialism. Mitch Daniels' speech does not reflect the reality of what the Republican Party has been doing in Congress. Gov. Daniels may praise Steve Jobs, but the greatest part of Apple's job development are in China, not the USA. Protecting the "safety net?" - Gov. Daniels, have you been paying any attention to what the Republicans in Congress have been doing???
oh so that's how he got his 2nd term. It might be a minority opinion you are spouting their. Does not say much for you intellect.
Since the 2010 election, Mitch Daniels has followed the republican and tea party agenda to the letter. The GOP was able to get a majority in the state legislature, and was able to push everything through into law. What was done in Wisconsin by Walker, was also passed in Indiana.
We have hundreds of teachers laid off, school closings, unemployment cut by 25 percent, and taxes raised on everyone except business'.
masterblabber98 - If you want to use re-election results as a sign of a successful politician, you have definitely been drinking way to much tea. Politicians get re-elected because they have enough money too! I'll leave the intellect comment alone, but only because you spelled it right.
Lets not forget Mitch raised taxes also, so that might have helped get the budget under control. But what he is cutting hurts the most vulnerable in the state. And there is going to come a time in the future when some other governor of Indiana is going to have to deal with the neglect to the state that all those cuts incurred. It is much cheaper to fix things as they come along, not let them fall completely apart and leave the mess for the next person. Mitch is just like the rest of the republicans, not much for long-term strategy.
Let the shell game begin............
major delusion and grasping at straws by you minority loud mouths.
Mitch Daniels has an idea:
Hey, I got it! Let's sell the Interstate Highways, already paid for by American taxpayers, to foreign powers, so that future generations of Americans can pay a 'user tax' to foreign countries for the privilege of driving on an American road, built by American labor, with American capital. Then we'll take all the money we get for selling off our infrastructure and mortgaging our future and we'll give it all to rich folk in the form of 'tax cuts'. Then those rich guys can finance my next campaign, or include me on a real estate deal, or just tell me which stock to buy and when.
Yeah. Great idea, Mitch.
That wretching sound you hear is former President Dwight D. Eisenhower vommiting in his grave.
We have a republican gov. here in Mich who has balanced the budget and given us a surplus. Now we will have a startling contrast to look at real soon. We will have a state that is turning around and picking up steam with a deletion of the awful business tax we had killing the people providing jobs. The contrast will be the democratic city of Detroit. It will be forced to file bankruptcy in April of this year. They will be unable to make payroll for most of the city employees. They have had year after year of bad democratic mayors, one of which will be sent to federal prison this year along with his entire family. The unions continued to hold the stance they were entitled to their contracted benefits even though the city is broke. It will be interesting to see what happens if and when the Gov. names a Financial manager to run the city and get it back on track. The existing City council is very vocal in not wanting the State Government called (Whitey) to interfere in their business
AHHHHH the name Daniels: Mitch, Charlie, Jack............all rednecks somewhat not in tune with reality and/or dedicated to the elimination of it!
Hey Jolly guy, how would Michigan be doing if DC hadn't pulled GM out of the grave?
PS, GM has re-hired since the recession started and is the predominant auto comany making sales in China, bringing US dollars back to this country. How bad is that? How come people like you never mention things like that?
gotta say mitch spoke the truth and the right and left wings need to listen, all the other stuff is bs and we need to move forward with a guy like him
GOP: "Yeah, we trashed the entire world economy in 8 years. But just put us back in - we can fix it!"
wow your emotions really do cloud the truth from your eyes. That or your 12 years old.
He couldn't even keep Indiana at a steady pace, let along move forward. How do you suppose he could handle more?
Mitch Daniel's nose was so long by the end of his no-plan, no-details snow job that I thought he was going to poke someone's eye out with it.
If anyone thinks that the complete and total mess left by the prior administration could be corrected in one term, then you are delusional and have no place commenting in any kind of adult forum - especially in response to the president of what you might as well say is the so called greatest nation in the world. I don't find the democrats a great alternative, but I have now left the republican party on the basis that their pure selfishness now borders on pure evil (while they cling to religion that the founders of the country recognised has no place in government). The republicans should prepare for the greatest landslide against them in the history of the country - especially if Newt G is nominated (sorry for stating the obvious).
Jscottmcd
That was and is a bold statement you just made. I think you are right. But we can not solve the problems of this country with one party or the other, they need to put country first over party. Country first over big money. Put the people here first for once. The people that made or stole all that money from the housing mess should all be in jail and all that money should be returned.
Yeah Jscottmcd the funny thing about that is as so many Republicans claim to be some form of Christian or Catholic, yet none of em not a single one shows it in their actions. A mans actions dictate his beliefs and if we look to the entirety of the republican party for the last 20 years their actions paint them more as satanists rather than Christians. If anyone has a problem with that true statement all I have to say is prove me wrong. Please show me a single republican that hasn't cheated, lied, or gamed the system in some way for their own personal profit, or a republican that didn't cheat on their spouse or preached hate and fear mongering rather than love and forgiveness. No it seems in this day and age in order to be a member of the republican party you must leave all christian practices at the door. The truth is in public record and the history books, real history books not that distorted garbage republicans make up every few years that they claim is the truth in order hide their sins because they believe most people are stupid with bad memories. Which for the most part is true, but we live in an internet age now and luckily the real truth is just a few search results away.
Take Mitch Daniels speech here for example he is even now trying to distort the past and present with lies. There isn't a single shred of honesty in this entire speech, hes looking us dead in the eyes and lying to us with words someone else wrote off a teleprompter. If you believe anything hes said like "socialtrucerep" or "Just my opinion.." you are either A. Delusional B.Incompetent C. Getting paid to say that or D. All of the above. All you have to do is look at public record to see hes lying.
The Republican party and Republican party policies very nearly murdered our economy and those mostly racist politicians have done everything possibly to try and make the democratic party and Obama fail, and its no secret they were very open in public about it in the past. Mitch Daniels hands are covered in our economies blood and his finger prints are all over ever obstructionist action that has slowed progress and prosperity in our great nation. To say otherwise is a lie, the truth is in public record.
Instead of taking responsibility for their failures the republican party instead returns to underhanded and dirty tactics that worked for bush. Those being fear mongering, and that's all this speech is, its nothing more. There is no hope in this speech only absolutes and lies and tongue in cheek insults to both the president and Americans everywhere. Mitch Daniels and the republican party do not respect us it's people, they don't respect the principles our country was founded on, or the sacrifices our forefathers made for us. They prove this with every lie they tell and every action they take.
You cannot be a Capitalist and a Patriot at the same time. Its impossible, a Patriot's #1 priority is country, while a Capitalist's #1 priority is creating more capital for themselves. The republican party is short on Patriots and has an abundance of Capitalists, Mitch Daniels is a Capitalist. He doesn't care what happens to this country so long as he makes a profit at the end of the day.
Mitch Daniels gave new meaning to the phrase "loyal opposition".
No American has been as "loyal" as John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Scott Walker, Mitt Romney, the Alabama legislature, and what the Repubican Party has sadly become, since the end of the Civil War.
Daniels pathetic response
The GOP is the party that got us into this mess First they destroy the country through their malfeasances of the 8 years of the Bush Administration debacle, the worst president in history, now they want the country to fail thinking that will get them back into power, so they can rule over a pile of rubble. The GOP is a perfect example of what is wrong with politics today and now the obstructionist party of NO is at it again if it’s not threatening to obstruct unemployment benefits for people out of work caused by their economic policies over the eight years of the Bush debacle, it was their opposition to the Economic Recovery Act, or Health Insurance Reform, or Cash for Clunkers or the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights than it’s their desire to destroy Social Security, or their lying about WMD, or death panels all the while giving their rich, corporate, puppet masters obscene tax breaks. If the GOPee gets its way there will be a rich 1% and the once middle class will look like refugees in a third world country.
clinton was in office when all the mortgage protection legislation was removed, driven by him
no
The President can't remove legislation. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was passed by congress in 1999. The republicans had the majority in both Houses of Congress, and the republicans pushed the bill through.
^ and daniels is the budget director who *personally* and intentionally destroyed the surpluses we enjoyed during the Clinton administration.
yes Clinton was in office when the Regs were removed. But that didn't mean that the bankers should have gotten rich off selling loans they knew people couldn't afford. Or putting people into adjustable loans when the could have put them into fixed loans. Home loans and car loans are rigged so people lose the. People are set up to fail. The banks bet on them failing. That is what capitalism has become today. And they call it making an honestly. Give a loan, take insurance out on that loan and set back and watch them fail and collect the Insurance, take the house back and sell it again. They have made billions for themselves. What a racket.
socialtrucerep -- is another prime example of Republican (he should be Newt's editor) ignorance and blabbing about something they know nothing about. "The mortgage lending deregulation was inserted by Phil Graham into legislation at the last minute. It passed a Republican-controlled Congress with veto-proof majorities in both houses." Nothing gets through Congress now, good or bad, unless 'Boner' gives it his blessing. Which is kind of like shooting yourself in the foot and suing the gun manufacturer.
Ya might want to start checking your facts a little more before opening you pie hole in public.
And that happens right after he checks with the Tea Party faction to see if what he wants to give his blessing to is allowed. I am sure he is embarrassed having to roll back from stated positions after being taken to the wood shed and having his positions explained to him as he has been a number of times already.
If the American Public cannot see through the Republican Retorical crap they are still dishing out ( to us the public ) over jobs , and taxes , and how they have stonewalled this President over the last year to just help simple people over reforms alone , this Congress will have another thing coming in November as The House , and the Senate will be flipped to a Deocratoc majority to get things done . Its not the President whos to blame ....Hell Newt could probably get it done with a Democratic Majority .
i am not political, but obama is using the same "hope" bs he used when he fooled us the first time, he has sold out to the left and cant have a bipartisan agenda
Considering the positions of the Republican Party, I don't want him to have a bipartisan agenda. I want him to do what's best for the 99%. As Americans we need to do our part and vote all Republicans out of office next November.
Socialtrucerep the president did what he had to, to get something done. I don't like it but it is what is it is. He did what was best for this country and that sometimes goes against your base. So if he sold out his party to help the people that needed the help the most. then I am ok with that.
Obama is a dictator when it's convenient for the GOP to call him one and impotent to fulfill his promises when it's convenient to say so for the GOP. So which is it? Is he ramming his socialist agenda down our throats, or is he getting nothing done?
Well if he's getting nothing done - that's because he tries to compromise and/or cooperate with a hostile minority and lacks the legal authority to proceed without them.
If he is a dictator - that's because he finds a legal way to get the job done without the hostile minority.
Either way it is this hostile minority which seeks to hinder him (even when he proposes legislation that they themselves invented!) and which will call him a weak leader if he cannot find a way around them, or call him a tyrant if he does.
To hell with the piss-ant spoiled brats in the GOP! Americans aren't as dumb as you hope we are. When this era of American history is over and the Republican experiment in tantrum throwing is behind us we can finally enter the 21st century.
with the emphasis on the bs.
Frustrating on every platform... statewide, nationwide, and all around the block. Interesting comments here, and well-appreciated. I would still like to see equal pay for equal work, and opportunities for all, regardless of race, gender, marital status, age, and pedigree. Even the highly promoted FAFSA excludes most older women without children from financing to get a degree, and the "ageism" prejudice is rampant, still prevailing and preventing employment, even though it is illegal. Being single, unemployed, over 40, female, and childless without a degree is a state of being that becomes more and more hopeless every day. Society would like us to crawl under a rock and simply go away. I guess some things never change, regardless of the political rhetoric.
Once again the Hypocrisy of these GOP clowns is exposed Where were all these tea baggers hypocrites when Bush & the GOP turned a record Federal surplus into a record deficit by failing to raise taxes to pay for the wars? What does he do he cut taxes especially for the rich not once but twice.
WARS ARE EXPENSIVE and we have been in the Middle East now for a decade spending trillions to ensure profits for oil companies at the expense of everyone else and you wonder why we have a deficit.
And lets not forget the GOPees hatred of science they deny evolution, they deny stem cell research, they deny global warming, they deny education (yea keep the people stupid it’s to their advantage). They still believe the Earth is flat and the universe revolves around the earth they want to take us back to the middle ages.
Enough of going backward with the GOP and their ignorance
sounds to me as though your so called obvious facts are derived out of some deep dark sexual frustration and not facts at all but only nasty opinion. Go See a shrink.
Master- Not to be snarky, but you can't lambast someone's opinion out of your own biases. If someone's facts are wrong, you certainly have the right to correct them, but just saying they are wrong with no support is childish. Your post was simply meant to be inflammatory. That, as well as your English is horrible. Please go see a tutor.
It's called ipse dixit (because I say so) and people with no basis for their diatribes do it all the time.
FACT: The GOP was handed federal budget surpluses and DELIBERATELY turned them into MASSIVE UNFUNDED DEFICIT SPENDING in order to transfer an AVERAGE of $130,000 PER YEAR to each of the wealthiest families in America.
NASTY OPINION: "derived out of some (blah, blah, blah) frustration".
OK, yep, Steve Jobs created thousands of jobs... in China. You're so full of crap, it's unbelievable. Safety net... hehe. BTW, my generation (generation X) was the first generation that was faced with the idea that we would not do as well as our parents... because of YOUR generation... selfish, pillage and burn, then... oh let's take care of the kids... let's take care of the old people... YOU. Selfish bastards.
lol. each generation has to make it on their own. Quit complaining Generation X and learn to deal with the hand you've been dealt. Other than the current job market, which won't last forever, your generation has it so much better than mine (baby boomer) it's just incredible how much you all still whine.
I don't think Mike is whining at all. Hes stating facts, not complaining. Maybe you should get your reading glasses n try again, and while your at it how about you take responsibility for your generation instead of passing the buck and telling everyone else to stop complaining.
KVSmith- Ummmm....but we DO have it worse than our parents did when they were entering into the work force. The baby boomer generation has been provided with the best social programs our nation has ever seen, during times that were very prosperous and lucrative. And your notion that each generation has to "make it on their own" is insensitive. So, we can't continue to progress as a nation on the merits of the last generation? Do you (or your generation) not care about your kids and their future? Isn't it generally every parents' ambition to see their kids NOT have to struggle as much as they did? I was always taught that principle, and it makes sense. Why would you prefer to see the future generations fight the same battles as past generations have??
And let's not forget that the Generation X/Y will be doing the heavy lifting as it relates to providing the baby boomers with their promised retirement services. We want our parents and grandparents to live well also, and not have to continue to struggle either.
We can make Social Security and Medicare solvent in perpetuity simply by eliminating the CAP on contributions which means rich folk like Mitt Romney pay in one twentieth of one percent (0.05%) of their income in FICA taxes, while the working poor and middle class pay in 15.6% of their income in FICA taxes.
Or we can do what Mitch Daniels and Mitt Romney want to do. Eliminate Social Security and Medicare, and give the built up and already paid for monies to their rich pals in the form of "tax cuts".
And the next generation can do without, right?
Thanks, Mitch. Great plan.
Have you sold the Interstate Highway system to Communist China yet? We need working Americans to start paying taxes to the Communist Chinese dictators so that Mitt Romney's kids can get another $100 million under the table without paying any taxes at all.
I love it when a baby boomer tries to get on their high horse and preach to all the underlings. Sorry bud, it was YOUR generation that has been in charge, and you guys screwed everything up. Try a little of that personal responsibility you preach about.
Reduce and eliminate government agencies, THAT'S what their side wants. Those with the money, running the large corporations, want SO desperately to "police" themselves on environmental and worker protection. They've shown time and time again that they WON'T clean up the messes they leave behind, until agencies charged with enforcing compliance step in. The corporations don't want to have to clean up their mess, it costs too much!
Sure, vote to downsize government and oversight. Go with the GOP and limit, stifle or eliminate the powers of agencies such as the EPA. Your grandchildren will be playing in toxic sludge pits, left behind by those big corporations that are lobbying politicians in Washington.
They want to keep their loopholes, tax breaks, "incentives", exemptions and be free to rape pillage and burn this great land. They only care about their own kids who they have protected from society in private schools and private retreats.
Open your eyes people. Romney, the great white hope, is stashing money in off-shore accounts in the Caymans. That's probably just the start.
Every election, we tolerate a little more, and a little more from politicians. We need, no we should DEMAND total transparency from ALL candidates. PERIOD!
Im so sick of Obama ! Another 4 years of his policies and we will all go broke. I am a farmer who cant afford to continue farming. We dont need big governement or an unfair tax code or to lose any more of our civil liberties. The democrats and their progressive counterparts have never been on the right track. We need a nominee with business experience and conservative values. Unfortunately, there aren't any real choices for the republican nominee. It looks like Obama is here to stay.
So Phil, are you telling us that all the Farm subsidies and price supports that Roosevelt, Democrats, and their progressive counterparts created were failures? I trust that you've never taken a single penny from a single agency, including Soil Conservation. Nor, for that matter should you have sold a single kernel of grain in a price supported market.
You wouldn't want to be a hypocrite, would you?
Look at Phill whining for more government handouts!
Don't worry Phil, the republicans will guarantee that a corporate farm is right there ready to replace all of the crops you can no longer afford to grow. Heck, they might even buy your farm and then let you pay rent to live there. Just remember, their seed is all patented and you can't use it unless you pay!
Mitch Daniels is a force to be reckoned with and sadly has taken himself out of the Republican Race to candidacy. Mitch has restored a state that was floundering financially and has raised the level of integrity for politicians in office. He has served the ofice of the President as the Budget director so his discussion of finance should be taken seriously. I was delighted tohear that he was to offer the rebuttal not so much as mudslinging but simply Mitch is a man of facts. I knew his commentary would be solid and Gov. Daniels delivered.
He has served the ofice of the President as the Budget director...
Yeah, for George W. Bush! Much of the current economic mess can be laid at his feet. Policies that he put in place have caused this mess! Here's just one example - an exact quote about his tenure under Bush:
Daniels, who had very little experience in budgeting and was most adept at policy promotion, directly contributed to one of those budget blunders, the gross underestimation of the cost of the Iraq War.
In 2002, Daniels famously low-balled the war’s cost at $50 billion to $60 billion and joined in the repudiation of Bush’s economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, who had ventured an estimate as high as $200 billion. Daniels called Lindsey’s price tag “very, very high.”
As history has shown us, Lindsey's estaimate was very, very low! And Daniels' estimate was absurd! And now you say "so his discussion of finance should be taken seriously." BZZZZT! Look, he lied to us before. Why do you think we can trust him now?
Mitch has not restored the state. He raised taxes, cut programs for children and families, cut education. left the infrastructure to crumble and you think that is doing a good job? Good grief.
why yes Sheila and he personally lynched black people too. your just a loud mouth
If you are okay with so underbudgeting a division that tries to look out for children and keeps them out of harms way, if you are okay with Indiana encouraging DCFS to stay underbudget and actually return some of the money, to about the tune of 10000.00 per dead child, then yeah, I am a loud mouth. It is disgusting what is going on in this state.
Mich Daniels was Budget Director while the National Debt went from 5 trillion to 9.9 trillion, mainly due bad budgeting and the Bush tax cuts that are still in effect, and which resulted in the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression - and he thinks we should seriously consider his proposals for even more tax cuts?
Trying to do more of the same and expecting different results is just plain foolish.
May we please vote for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for president.
^ Why? Obviously you don't know this idiot is W Bush former budget director. he personally wrote the budgets that turned our surpluses into debts.
Read:
As Bush's budget director, he is best remembered for being at the helm when Bush pushed through two large tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. In an interview with National Public Radio on Monday morning, he was asked if he was responsible for the disappearance of the projected budget surpluses, totaling $5.6 trillion over 10 years, after Bush became president.
The strangest part of Daniels's comment is his claim that the surplus was going to go away anyway. That's certainly not how Daniels and other Bush administration officials spoke at the time. In fact, officials expressed concern that too much of the national debt was being paid down so fast and so quickly that soon the U.S. government would be forced to buy assets because it had purchased every last publicly traded bond. (Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave weight to this theory in a high-profile congressional appearance shortly after Bush took office in 2001.) In other words, the surplus was getting so big it was going to create economic harm.
my god your a mindless robot
And for the umpteenth time, Masterblaster, you have spelled 'you're' incorrectly, given the context of YOUR statement. Mindless?
Masterblaster probably graduated from one of Mitch Daniels business friendly with no accountability charter schools...
as opposed to a mindless nothing!
In listening carefully to President Obama in the State of the Union address, he outlined again and again how he would appoint a committee...and another person to head up another agency...and how he would propose another action for the government. We are already financial depleted. I heard tonight that he will continue to promote bigger government spending. It's time for Mr. Obama to do the responsible thing--RESIGN.
In other words, the surplus was getting so big it was going to create economic harm.
^ the very fact that this fool, can continue to hold a job in a position of responsibility explains much about how our country was allowed to fall into the Great Recession in the 1st place.
response to Mitch Daniel's response to SotU 2011
by ~JakeKoboi122
You talk of math, but you do not do math. You do not know math. You do not love math as those who know it well do. You are a politician. Do not DUMB DOWN matters and say it is ' simple arithmetic. Anyone who knows math knows the most mistakes happen, not in the complexities of the problem, but in the arithmetic.
Your body language tells a message different from your words. Your mind laughs at words like the first paragraph's 'serious' and 'loyal' and your eyebrows raise too, as if you have just told a hilarious joke. You lick your lips often, clearly in need of a glass of water. You squint at the screen before you with the pre-written speech you have probably never seen before in your life. Your eyes water throughout.
Body language does not support your words 'that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true.' He shows untruths with a head shake no at words - 'Niagara of debt' and 'other category'.
Your face is built for spectacles. You squint at the screen, as if desperately wishing you had your glasses.
You don't look at the camera straight-on most of the time you are talking. You tilt your head sideways, looking almost -- inquisitive.
You do not believe the words you say. Perhaps about half you support - killing of terrorists, etc. You are clearly speaking this garbage your mouth spouts for a huge amount of money. Your mind is connected to your body, Mr. Daniels. Your mouth may scream anything it likes, but there is integrity locked somewhere in your head and it betrays you in your face, your eyebrows, your head-tilt, and other motions. And, in future reference, Mr. Daniels, try to - if you must read a speech - and one in 'response' get a speech written AFTER whatever you are responding to.
I understand that integrity is very hard, in Washington, with the big companies with the huge wallets and the hatred of all those unlike you.
You must understand that you cannot control your subconscious. Likely you have never even met it. You see, the dangerous thing -for you- is not the lies or the buying off; no. It's the fact that somewhere deep inside your head, where you may not even be aware - there lies integrity and it SHOWS through your skin. I could not stand in your shoes, I give you that.
Let the integrity out, Mr. Daniels. This is an appeal. There is a part of you, perhaps someday you will see it, that wants to come out here and speak with the rest of us, instead of softly betraying your lies with its inner truth.
-JACOB KOBOI (jacobkoboi122@yahoo.com
By the way I could use 1.2 trillion dollars I already spent...... Built to last..... Ford truck? Fix or repair daily.... Yikes.
The cost of higher education is ridiculous, my son wanted to go to college but we could not afford so we choose the High Speed Universities for his education while working now he working for fortune 500
Daniels response was pathetic and if all the followers think it was great they are very wrong and the reason is why America is in the mess we are in at the present time, very simple.
All you other cry babies need to listen instead of complaining and the key is, WORK TOGETHER OR YOU WILL END UP LIKE GREECE and ITALY.
Byron: It's already going to happen. You must be a real peach to think America can spend more to get out of debt. Wow, I wish you possessed basic math skills.
Fed up- It's called Keynesian economics, and it is basically the system where governments spend money on stimulus programs in order to jumpstart economies, which in turn employ more people and thus increases tax revenues.
Now, someone as smart as you should know this already. You should also know that the Keynesian system has been heavily promoted by the conservative agenda as well as the liberal agenda. Remember the stimuli that Bush enacted during his tenure? Remember all those congressional hearings with Greenspan and Bernanke full of snarky interrogation and sophomoric answers, bickering over the Fed Reserve rates?? Er......bailouts????
While I personally do not agree with Keynesian philosophy (I am more of a economic neo-classicist), and tend to feel it is not as successful in practice as it is on paper, nonetheless it IS indeed the system where we spend money to get out of debt. There is merit in the whole idea, and one can make a legitimate argument that it has helped to cushion the effects of the Great Recession.
Indy: Thanks for the free lesson in economics. I am angry and don't deny it. If our team of economics majors know so damn much.... why is our country in the shape it's in currently? Thank you for your patience, but I believe we disagree. I do hope I am an idiot and things turn out much better.
Mitch Daniels is W. Bush Budget Secretary, nuff said.
Holy @!$%#.
A republican who admitted it was Bush's fault for the economic collapse? Maybe there is hope.
Though, Obama is basically the same guy. He talks the Liberal/Progressive talk, but he walks the Republican/Conservative walk.
BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES are bought and paid for crooks and it is the American people who have bought into this corruption and suffer!
Add another Trillion to the debt, entitle people, and too big of a do nothing government = too many living on the dole!
Mitch have you been taking lessons from Booooooner.....?