http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/26/republicans-admit-failure-obamacare-hope-distract-voters-benghazi.html




Republicans are openly admitting that they have given up on bashing Obamacare, and are now trying to distract voters with Benghazi.

Buried in a AP story about the Republican pivot away from Obamacare are these nuggets:

Several GOP political strategists said revived inquiries into Benghazi and the IRS will probably do their party more good than harm, provided their lawmakers appear more professional than partisan.


Undecided voters might not get excited about GOP accusations regarding the IRS and Benghazi, said Dan Schnur, a former Republican consultant who teaches political science at the University of Southern California. But given the administration’s questionable behavior in both areas, he said, “They certainly don’t line up on the other side.”
GOP strategist Terry Holt agrees. The Benghazi assault, he said, was “the phone call Hillary Clinton warned us about in 2008 when she was running against Obama. They both blew it.”
Republicans never learn. Manufactured scandals such as the IRS and Benghazi don’t work. Most people can smell the bull coming a mile away. The fact that Republicans can’t explain what exactly the scandal is in the Benghazi scandal has led the media, and the vast majority of people, to ignore it. The basis for the Republican Benghazi and the IRS allegations is their belief in a White House cover-up.



The right is fond of comparing Benghazi to Watergate, but the problem with this comparison is that the Watergate break-in took place in June 1972. By July 1973, evidence of wrongdoing was growing, and Nixon resigned in August 1974. Benghazi happened in September 2012, and despite seven previous investigations, there is no evidence that the White House did anything wrong.

There is no similarity between Watergate and Benghazi. Watergate was a real scandal. Benghazi is a cooked up sideshow that exists for partisan political gain. If Republicans don’t think that their refusal to discuss jobs and the economy will hurt them in November, they are more delusional than anyone could have imagined.

With Obamacare working, and Democrats feeling empowered, Republicans have nothing to run on. This is why they have revived the widely discredited Benghazi and IRS conspiracy theories. Republicans are all but admitting that Benghazi and the IRS are distraction issues.

The Benghazi gambit has been a total disaster for Republicans. The media and the American people both aren’t buying it. Republicans are admitting defeat on Obamacare, and watching their Benghazi and IRS conspiracies blow up in their faces.

Democrats are gaining confidence because the outlook for November is getting better by the day.
Republicans Admit Their Failure on Obamacare Hope to Distract Voters With Benghazi was written by Jason Easley for PoliticusUSA.
© PoliticusUSA, Mon, May 26th, 2014 — All Rights Reserved

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/10/tuesdays-shooting-oregon-74th-school-shooting-america-sandy-hook.html
Another day, another school shooting in America. On Tuesday morning, news hit that a gunman entered a school in Troutdale, OR, a suburb of Portland, and opened fire, killing one student. The gunman was also found dead, per Troutdale police. Information is still pending on the identity of the shooter and whether or not he was killed in a shootout with police. This incident marks the 74th school shooting that has occurred since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza murdered 26 people at the school, after having killed his mother earlier, before taking his own life.

In the aftermath of Sandy Hook, the President promised action, and stated that he would push for common sense gun laws to be passed by Congress. Of course, as we all know, nothing got done, because Republicans in Congress are not going to cross the NRA. Therefore, outside of some executive orders, President Obama had his hands tied. Meanwhile, we’ve not only seen the continuation of school shootings, we’ve seen an increase in their frequency, which is embarrassing and tragic. At the same time, we’ve seen conservative legislatures in states across this nation push for relaxed restrictions on local and state gun laws, pushed forth by the NRA and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

Now, we are at the convergence of complete and utter insanity in this nation when it comes to guns. With no ability to pass any type of meaningful legislation at the federal level due to Republicans in both the House and Senate, as well as a handful of red state Democrats concerned about their NRA ratings, the NRA and ALEC have been emboldened to shoot for the moon in terms of creating a Wild West mindset in this country. Stand Your Ground laws are now converging with Open Carry laws, which will inevitably lead to showdowns on the street and idiotic shootings, all because one person holding a gun out in the open will pass by another gun nut, leading to one claiming that they needed to ‘stand their ground’ and shoot the other due to fear.



While dealing with the combined insanity of SYG and Open Carry, we’ve also seen access to guns and ammunition increase across the nation. Once again, this is a construct of NRA and ALEC, all for the benefit of gun and ammo manufacturers. Gun owners need to be able to buy more and more guns, and have access to more ammo than a military base, all so they can exercise their 2nd Amendment rights and protect them and their own. The NRA lobbied to make sure that the Center for Disease Control receives no funding to study gun violence. Obviously, it’s because they need to make sure that nobody has the faintest clue about the damage being caused by the laws being passed allowing for more unfettered access to firearms.

The fact is, the NRA has created, and is now appealing directly to, a fringe element of gun fetishists whose entire lives revolve around guns, ammo and making sure nobody takes away their freedom. These people tend to believe they are the ‘good guys with guns’ and they’ll stop the ‘bad guys with guns.’ Inevitably, though, many of these people tend to turn out to be the bad guys with guns, killing people with no guns. In today’s America, the percentage of households with guns is near an all-time low. A 2012 General Social Survey poll showed that only 34% of homes had a gun, down from over 50% in the 1970s. Yet, it is estimated we now have as many guns as people in this nation. Basically, if you own a gun, you likely own several.

Therefore, what we have here is a country where the majority of the population has no real use for guns and does not want them in their homes. However, because there is an industry which is seeing huge profits from the sale of guns and ammo to a minority of the population, it is imperative for the NRA to make sure that this group of people has the ability to continue to arm themselves to the teeth in the name of the Constitution and freedom, consequences be damned. Thus, the increased frequency of mass shootings, killings in public places and a general air of fear is a small price to pay for unregulated, rampant capitalism. Isn’t that the American way, after all

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/10/obama-gun-control_n_5481799.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013


WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama offered some of his most forceful comments to date on gun violence in America, hours after the country faced its 74th school shooting in the 18 months since the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

During a Q and A with Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp, Obama was asked about the spate of mass shootings in the United States and lack of action on gun control. The president said it is his "biggest frustration so far" that America has been unwilling to take basic steps to reduce gun violence.

"The country has to do some soul-searching on this. This is becoming the norm," Obama said. "Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There’s no advanced developed country on earth that would put up with this."

The president said he respects gun rights, but he lamented the fact that even a modest bill to expand background checks failed to pass in the Senate last year. That legislation, which would have required universal background checks for all gun purchases, fell victim to a GOP-led filibuster amid intense pressure from the National Rifle Association.

"Most members of Congress are terrified of the NRA," Obama said. "The only thing that is going to change is public opinion. If public opinion does not demand change in Congress, it will not change."

Stricter gun laws rose to the top of Obama's agenda at the start of his second term, after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting left 20 children and six educators dead. Despite the failure of the background checks measure, the president has continued his call on Congress to act and quietly approved modest reforms through executive action.

But his presidential powers grant him only limited authority, Obama said, noting, "We don't have enough tools right now to make as big a dent as we need to."


Congress has shown little appetite to revisit gun control -- let alone in an election year where Democrats face an uphill battle holding onto their Senate majority. House Republican leaders have said existing laws are adequate, although the lower chamber did boost funding for the national background checks database earlier this month shortly after a gunman left several dead near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Richard Martinez, the father of one of those victims, lashed out at "craven politicians and the NRA" for failing to act on gun control, blaming them in part for his son's death. Obama expressed sympathy for Martinez, whose outburst became yet another symbol of public frustration with gun violence.

"As a father myself, I could not understand the pain he must be going through … just the primal scream that he gave out," Obama said, adding later that even the "mildest restrictions" would not get through Congress right now.

"We should be ashamed of that. This is becoming the norm and we take it for granted in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me," he said.

Lawmakers have sought to shift the focus to mental health, pointing out that many mass shooters have struggled with mental health issues. But Obama rejected the notion that mental health was the cause of gun violence.

"The United States does not have a monopoly on crazy people. It's not the only country that has psychosis," he said. "And yet we kill each other in these mass shootings at rates that are exponentially higher than anyone else. Well, what's the difference? The difference is that these guys can stack up a bunch of ammunition in their houses, and that's sort of par for the course