In VA-35, Both Campaigns Predict Tight Race

The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

GOP Must Take 'Chill Pill' On Obama Nobel

The Republicans need to take a "chill pill" about their reaction to the president being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They have gone overboard and are risking the "sour grapes" perception by the public at large. If there are any sour grapes, they should be found in the garden of former President Bill Clinton. I speculate that upon hearing the news Friday morning, President Clinton let out a few expletives that would have made Rahm Emanuel blush. President George Bush must have done the same.

The fact is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee decides who is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Norway is a peaceful country with a long history of making surprising choices with the Nobel. Not only did they give it to Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, but Henry Kissinger also won. Many people were shocked when both of these men were awarded the peace prize. The prize has been used as both an award and as a carrot to promote better action and leadership on specific issues. In my view, President Obama is getting the award for what some would call "representative leadership." There were other people in addition to Mikhail Gorbachev and former President Ronald Reagan who were responsible for ending the communist era. However, both of the leaders were the individuals who represented the change. The same is true for President Obama. Many people have worked on climate change and non-proliferation, but he is the one who represents much of what is being done and the change that is taking place in the world.

The carping on the airwaves has included the fact that the nominations are made in February and that President Obama had only been president for a very short period of time. The fact is that the Norwegian Nobel Committee can decide at any point to change its mind and decide that candidate Obama had already reached across the ocean with his goals and dreams by the time he became president.

It is also something to be proud of as Americans. This year was an excellent year for Nobel Prizes won by Americans. Some of the medicine, chemistry and physics prizes went to Americans. I didn't see any Russians on the list, and despite China's huge population only one Chinese person was on the list. America should be proud. We may be having a difficult time economically, but we are still out in the forefront contributing to science and medicine.

There were some Republicans who were proud of the president and Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly was one of them. He said as Americans we should be proud, but not so with the Republican Party and its Chairman Michael Steele. There are times to comment and times to let it be, and his timing was way off. He asked, "What has the president accomplished?" The Norwegian Nobel Committee was clear in what it stated about the award. It was due to President Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people."

The award did not say that he created peace or that a treaty had been signed. The honor states that it is for "effort." Like him or hate him, Barack Obama has put in the effort. He did it before he became president and has continued to do it since taking the highest office in the land.

The Republicans really went overboard with their fundraising letter that they produced and distributed just 30 hours after the prize was announced. They sent the letter to their vast e-mail list, and my guess is that it will go directly to their direct mail house.

In his fundraising appeal the Republican Chairman said: "It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working toward peace and human rights."

Steele goes on and lumps the Democrats in the same boat as people on the very far Left. He stated: "the Democrats and their international leftist allies want America made subservient to the agenda of global redistribution and control. And truly patriotic Americans like you and our Republican Party are the only thing standing in their way."

He goes on with his pitch to say, "Help our party spread the word about the Obama Democrats' dangerous naïveté and power grab. Please support GOP elected officials as they work to hold the Democrats accountable by making a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500, or $1000 to the Republican National Committee today."

It is shameful that the Republican Party is so desperate to raise cash that they would stoop to the lowest tactics possible and utilize the receipt of the Nobel Peace prize by the president to raise money and red bait by saying "leftist allies." It is a complete outrage, and the Republican Party really should take its foot out of its mouth and substitute "a chill pill."

Republicans would do themselves a favor if they put aside partisan differences and were proud of the Nobel committee's recognition of our president instead of using the award as a divisive fundraising technique.

Pelosi Fights Back: "I Am In My Place"

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) countered Republican criticism that suggested that General McChrystal should “put her in her place” in regard to the war in Afghanistan.

“I'm in my place. I'm the Speaker of the House, the first woman Speaker of the House and I'm in my place because the House of Representatives voted me there,” Pelosi said Thursday during her weekly press conference.

Pelosi came down on McChrystal Monday, saying that his recommendations to Obama “should go up the line of command” rather than be discussed openly.

The National Republican Congressional Committee issued a press release Tuesday ridiculing the Speaker, calling her “General Pelosi.” The release also said, "If Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.”

Pelosi responded by saying the comments were ill-suited and outdated.

“It's really sad they don't understand how inappropriate that is," Pelosi said. “That language is something I hadn't even heard in decades."

The NRCC unapologetically defended their statements saying that Pelosi was “out of her league” in criticizing McChrystal.

“The Speaker of the House is taking on a highly decorated general who has outlined a strategy in Afghanistan that she once claimed to advocate...Up until it became politically inconvenient, Pelosi and her puppets were referring to Afghanistan as the ‘real central front’ in the war on terror, now their excuse is that there is just not enough political will to keep America safe. Nancy Pelosi might think she’s a general, but she’s playing out of her league and she knows it,” NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said.

Pelosi stated Thursday that she would respond to the President’s decisions on Afghanistan as they are made, but the safety of the American public is a top priority.

House GOP’ers Risk Injury To Present Health Care Amendments

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

Although none of them stretched beforehand, House Republicans lugged dozens of boxes filled with legislative health care amendments called the “Rx for a Healthy America,” around the Capitol on Friday.

"I'm gonna take a chance with my back here," Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said jokingly. "You can't offer your ideas if there's not a forum, a legislative forum, to offer your ideas. . . we've been right up to the edge of pounding on the door for six months."

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and others unveiled the GOP’s 12-point proposal for health care reform. Specifically, the plan focuses on health care affordability, availability, and accessibility. Barton asserted that the plan’s amendments will be offered as soon as “Democrats resume the stalled bill-writing session.”

The plan is designed to ensure that time is taken to produce reform that adheres to the desires of the American public, while at the same time solving the problems of the current health care system.

“It took the President six months to decide how long and which puppy he was gonna have,” said Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.). “To expect Congress to do something on major health care reform in six days is totally irresponsible.”

The “Rx for a Healthy America” plan ensures that Americans keep their current insurance, prohibits pre-existing condition clauses, and guarantees that health care will not become government operated. Moreover, the plan will ensure senior choice, transparency, and government health care for the President, Vice President, and members of Congress.

Barton said that the 17 boxes worth of amendments are more comprehensive than the Democrats' plan and achieve the goals set by President Obama. Barton added that unlike the President’s plan, the Republicans can prove their plan’s effectiveness.

Steele Condemns Democrats' Approach To Health Care Reform

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele condemned proposals for health care reform advanced by the Democratic Party and criticized the legislative process that he says has excluded the GOP in an address at the National Press Club on Monday.

Steele called President Obama a “good man who cares deeply about this country, but he is determined...to transform it into something none of us would recognize.”

Steele argued that the primary affliction of the health care system in the U.S. is rising costs, noting that the U.S. spends over 15% of its GDP on health care, whereas comparable countries spend about 10% of their GDP with similar outcomes. He said that “our uninsured are a symptom of that cost problem.”

Steele claimed that both Republicans and Democrats would like to see the costs associated with private health care significantly reduced, but argued that "the “Democrats’ plan to save money will cost us more money,” and that their “plan to reduce health care costs will cost us trillions more in tax dollars.” He cited a report released by the Congressional Budget Office last Friday as evidence, and also said that this report did not account for the administrative costs associated with the legislation, which he said would be even more expensive.

Steele suggested some solutions to curb these rising costs. These suggestions included posting the prices and outcomes of various procedures online, simplifying health insurance contracts to promote competition, protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuits, enacting penalties against those who unethically profit from the health care system, encouraging small businesses to form health care plans and coops, cutting Washington bureaucrats out of the equation, allowing people to retain health insurance as they move from job to job, and enabling Americans to purchase health insurance from various states, regardless of their home state.

Steele also said that “much about our health care system is in very good shape,” and said that the Democratic proposals could “lead to a 119 million Americans being dumped out of their private coverage into a cheaper, government-run health care program.”

He said that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House respectively, “aren’t really doctors, they’re just trying to play one on Capitol Hill by experimenting with health care and insisting on a big government takeover.”

Steele criticized the legislative process, which he says is occurring too quickly for Congress to read the legislation at hand, saying that the Democrats are “determined to shove this bill through without permitting any meaningful scrutiny,” and are leaving Republican leadership out of the discussion. “The Democrats have no intention to have a bipartisan bill,” he added.