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It appears that Speaker of the House John Boehner and the White House will have settled on a budget deal some time later tonight, that would cut $38 billion from this fiscal year budget, and would largely meet the goals set out by Republicans at the start of this term. It is still uncertain if the bill will pass, or will be delayed temporarily for the next few days, but the outline for a compromise is now in the works. The hold through out the day focused on Title X spending: the monies that go to health centers such as...

President Obama today confirmed what most conservatives already knew...that he will never lead on any subject, but is more than ready to be the person to obstruct any real reform and change that the country needs. In a "Statement of Administration Policy," the White House said that it will veto the one-week measure if it passes in Congress, saying that the stopgap measure is "a distraction" from a long-term solution to the budget impasse. "This bill is a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise for funding the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011...

Last November, the Republican party swept into the house with a vengeance. They also gained substantially in the senate. Many credit their success to the Tea Party. The movement energized people who wanted smaller government. It gave America hope that we could avoid a disaster that both Bush and Obama seem determined to force upon us. Today Amy Kremer is worried that the Tea Party's ideals are too "radical". She is urging candidates to compromise. Talk of shutting the government down is "just not realistic." It's important that the Tea Party stick to their guns and get the 61 billion...

No More Tea?Tea partiers still have to argue their case. Has the wind gone out of the sails of the small-government movement? Is the Tea Party going through a hangover? You can find some evidence for these propositions. In Washington, Democrats such as former party chairman Howard Dean gleefully anticipate a government shutdown, and Sen. Charles Schumer thinks he can drive a wedge between Speaker John Boehner and “extremist” tea partiers. In state capitals, some new Republican governors are getting hostile receptions to their plans for cutting spending and curtailing the power of public-employee unions. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich...

The tea party movement is the driving force in American politics. In every aspect of our politics — both in campaigns, in state Houses and up on Capitol Hill — the tea party movement is reshaping the debate on debt and the role and scope of government. This grass-roots, bottom-up movement completely dominated the 2010 GOP senatorial, congressional, and gubernatorial primaries — and won almost every contested GOP race. Even long-time conservative senators were defeated in GOP conventions and primaries because, in the eyes of the tea party, they were “too liberal” on fiscal issues. But not every tea party...

It seems so long ago, when the President of the United States stood up in Arizona, and gave a moving speech about how political rhetoric must be held back, and civility must reign. “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” he said, “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals,...

After weeks of rangling and protests, Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republican passed the legislation to virtually end collective bargaining in the state. Halted by the quorum need to pass fiscally related bills in the Wisconsin Senate, Republicans split off the legislative language regarding collective bargaining into a stand alone bill, which did not need a quorum. The Wisconsin Senate passed the bill this evening. Democrats are outraged by the 'nondemocratic' nature of such a maneuver. T

Paul Johnson doesn't suffer from PDS like some others. Rather he sees Sarah Palin as a courageous leader and likes "the cut of her jib." The celebrated British historian and journalist Paul Johnson expounded on American exceptionalism, the Tea Party and Sarah Palin in a Wall Street Journal interview this past Saturday. He's optimistic about this "marvelous country" and its ability to overcome the forces working to undermine its greatness. Johnson specifically credits conservative women as key players in shaping a new direction for the country in 2012. Interviewed in his West London home the prolific author offered a buoyant,...

Among the messages from attendees: Congress is too timid when it comes to slashing spending, Republican leaders seem too willing to compromise with President Barack Obama to avoid a government shutdown, and the newly empowered GOP won’t take a firm enough stand to tamp down the nation’s debt. Poll In the poll, which surveyed about 1,600 members of the Tea Party Patriots group at a convention in Phoenix, Paul led with 581 votes as the preferred Republican candidate to run against President Obama in the 2012 presidential election. (Paul, a libertarian favorite, also won a presidential straw poll at February’s...

Why is the Tea Party portrayed as it is? One simple answer: Liberals are afraid of it. They know that everyone wants us to return to the founding principles of our country. They are portraying people who are merely taking back their country and turning it in the direction of freedom as racists! Completely wrong. Racism has nothing to do with it. We are merely fed up with the Government involvement in our personal lives. Our constitution is being abused and we must stop this abuse. Our rights are being shredded. That is what the Tea Party is stopping.

I can't help but notice that the new wave of Tea Party Republicans, said to be on probation until they've proven themselves, have quickly circled their wagons to defend the established RINO culture. To make the point, we might as well start with the extremely popular young senator Rand Paul. But if you're paying attention, you too will notice the “business as usual” talking point repeated by many others. On February 24, 2011, Senator Paul was interviewed by David Letterman. Here is the excerpt that this article addresses. Letterman: “In this day and age, what does it mean if...

Republicans must "be careful" before nominating a presidential candidate identified with the Tea Party movement, a veteran former senator said Friday evening. Former Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) warned his party against nominating a candidate too quickly after the early caucuses and primaries, urging the GOP to instead pursue someone with more national appeal. "If you're going to nominate a national candidate, don't make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and the early primaries speak for the nation as a whole," Bennett said on Fox News. "If you're going to have a national candidate, you'd better...

The Obama campaign and other liberals are looking to tap into the populist current of today's politics and turn the Wisconsin union fight into a national issue in the 2012 election. While the liberals can wield rhetorical pitchforks and light political torches, they should realize that it's their guys who are living inside the castle today. Specifically, public-sector unions -- by many measures the most entrenched special interest in American politics -- are not fighting against The Man, which is to say the entrenched powers of government. In this struggle, The Man is the government unions, which are sitting in...

Politicians from the arch-conservative Tea Party have been making waves in the US Congress in recent weeks, but these actions appear pale in comparison to campaigners from the party who have been active in state legislatures across the country. Some of the bills pending in local legislatures include one which might effectively legalize gay discrimination in Iowa; proclaiming climate change to be "beneficial" in Montana; and in one strange move, a push in Georgia to pay state debts exclusively with pre-1963 gold and silver coins. In South Dakota, a bill sponsored by state representative Phil Jensen held that "homicide is...

How delicious is irony, how fickle fate?  Just a little more than two years ago, liberals were ecstatic about Barack Obama's election and Democrats' control of Congress.  Liberal pundits were all atwitter about the brand new Democratic Era that voters had ushered in.  America would finally become what America should have been years ago: a European-style social democracy.  Boy, did Democrats misread their mandate!  With very little hindsight needed, it's apparent to all but ideologically-blinkered liberals that the Democrats' gross overreach isn't what voters wanted or expected.  Voters wanted a redo of the Clinton years.  Instead, in the person of...

One of the great moments in the history of American candor occurred during the Carter administration, when economist Alfred Kahn decided to refer to a recession as a banana rather than deny its existence as administration officials would have preferred. While this lesson always is relevant to any discussion any minute of any day, it seemed especially so a week ago today as I read Rick Spruill's Page One story about the growth of the Tea Party. Rick reported a comprehensive picture of the growth, influence and mainstreaming of the Tea Party, its organizations throughout the region, its significant presence...

Groups explore recalling missing DemocratsPlan to file paperwork on Monday Article Author: Aaron Wiens 18 February 2011 07:54PM MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Groups are taking the first steps toward recalling two Democratic state senators who have fled the Capitol to avoid a vote on an anti-union bill. A group of citizens in Kenosha say they plan to file paperwork on Monday to form an exploratory committee to recall Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie. In Eagle River, another group is preparing to file paperwork to form a committee to explore recalling Jim Holperin of Conover. Wirch and Holperin are two of...

It’s now been one month since I last did my prediction of the top five Republican Presidential Candidates, and this time around we saw a little change in rank. The biggest leap forward, was Mike Huckabee, which I previously had him placed third, he is now first. Followed by Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty. (Chart at link) Now I’m sure many of you disagree with Romney being third behind Sarah Palin, but I don’t view him as a good candidate. I don’t hate him, and I certainly would vote for him over President Obama, but he...

Washington (CNN) – Still swaggering after its recent electoral successes, the Tea Party movement appears to be growing more emboldened as it tries to blaze a path to power. One new bold move: An activist group is publicly parading a list of lawmakers the group is determined to oust from office. On Thursday, the Tea Party Express added two more names to its "2012 Tea Party Target List" - Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. (snip) "Olympia Snowe dishonors the notion that the Republican Party is supposed to be the fiscally conservative, constitutionalist...

Ben Smith, former US Navy SEAL and fellow Tea Party Express member attended the TPX first-ever townhall meeting held at the National Press Club last night.  He snapped this photo of the participants. Do you recognize them? Photo by Ben SmithMore photos at The Radio Patriot