Obama Admonishes FL Pastor To Call Off Quran Burning

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From Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sternly admonished a Florida pastor Thursday and appealed to him to call off plans to torch the Quran, saying Saturday's planned protest on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks was a dangerous "stunt" that could imperil U.S. troops abroad and incite suicide bombers on American soil.

American Muslim leaders urged members to remain calm if the pastor doesn't back down from a threat that already has inflamed passions around the globe. Interpol, the international police organization, issued an alert to its 188 member-countries warning of a "strong likelihood" of violent attacks if the burn goes forward.

FBI agents met with the Rev. Terry Jones at his Dove Outreach Center, an independent church in Gainesville with about 50 members. At issue are his plans to stage an "International Burn-a-Koran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks.
Jones planned a public response to the president's request and the FBI visit later Thursday, said church spokesman Wayne Sapp.

Obama, speaking both to an audience of millions and to Jones in particular, said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that: "I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in."

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Rush Limbaugh: Health Care "It has to be defeated"

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Throughout the course of the show, Rush would repeatedly say that the vote reportedly scheduled for this weekend is really about getting the Senate bill to Obama, that Democrats aren't really that concerned about passing fixes to that bill through reconciliation, and that Obama won't be concerned about the reconciliation package after he signs the Senate bill.

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Rush brought up a provision in the reconciliation package that would have allowed the Bank of North Dakota to continue making student loans, even though North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad already said he plans to kill it.

Rush noted that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus put out a press release declaring its support for the health care bill. Rush said this didn't matter because members of that caucus were never really going to vote against the bill anyway.

After a break, Limbaugh mentioned that Mark Levin's legal foundation is planning to challenge the health care legislation on the grounds that the "deem and pass" procedure is unconstitutional, even though some experts say that it clearly passes muster and has been used many times in the past by both parties.

Limbaugh then played a clip of Obama speaking at George Mason University and said that health care reform actually is about getting undocumented immigrants "amnesty" and health care, because Obama needs their votes to get re-elected.

After a break, Rush talked a bit more about the Bank of North Dakota, calling it a "socialist bank" because it's owned by the state of North Dakota. Limbaugh then noted that Conrad opposes the provision.

Rush moved on to a report that Caterpillar said that its health care costs would increase by $100 million in the first year alone if health care reform passes. He tied this to a report that Caterpillar was laying off 121 workers -- a move that had already been announced.
Limbaugh then launched into a series of sports metaphors to describe the whip count on the bill. Scintillating stuff.

Rush returned to insisting that the Senate bill will be signed into law on Sunday and that the changes to it in the reconciliation package likely wouldn't go through until Congress' Easter break, if they ever act on it at all. Rush described the health care legislation as getting "the big shaft" and told his listeners that "this is tyranny."

Before the end of the first hour, Rush read from a blog post by CNBC's Larry Kudlow and told a caller that the Obama administration has said that 10 percent unemployment is the new norm and that Americans should get used to it. Furthermore, he said, "That's exactly what they want, too."

Limbaugh On Health Care Bill: "It Has To Be Defeated. It Has To Be Stopped"

Tea Party Cup Half Empty?

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FROM POLITICO:

From Texas to Illinois to upstate New York, a string of lackluster showings for tea party-linked candidates have highlighted a central question about the group’s future: Can an organic and fledgling movement that lacks the institutional grounding and top-down organizational strength of either major political party transfer protest-oriented grass-roots energy into tangible success at the polls?


Some observers raise the question of whether the tea party crowd is cut out to achieve electoral success — or whether it is more influential as a more radical, guerrilla movement. “I think they are tremendously influential as a force in the November election,” said Curt Anderson, a veteran GOP strategist and a top adviser to the Republican National Committee. “Except if you see them as an organized political force — in which case, they have been less relevant.”

The early results from tea party candidates, despite their focus on hot-button issues such as opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill and concern about budget-busting policies of both parties, have not been pretty.

In Tuesday’s Texas GOP primary, tea party-inspired contenders found themselves blown out in races across the state. Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina, who closely aligned herself with the grass-roots conservative movement, picked up just 19 percent of the vote. And while a host of House GOP incumbents faced challenges from tea party opponents, the only one who faced anything remotely close to a scare was Rep. Ralph Hall — who dispatched his nearest competitor by nearly 30 percentage points.

It wasn’t the first electoral blow for tea party faithful. In last month’s Illinois primary, tea party favorite Patrick Hughes won just 19 percent against GOP Rep. Mark Kirk in the Senate primary, while gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, who aggressively sought the support of tea party activists and won high praise from conservative outlets like RedState.com, finished a distant fifth place in the Republican contest.

And in November,Doug Hoffman, whose Conservative Party campaign for an upstate New York House seat was the beneficiary of support from grass-roots activists across the country, fell short to Democrat Bill Owens.

The main reason seems to be a predictable growing pain of any new political movement. While tea party partisans have proved effective in organizing rallies and protests, they have yet to show they possess the bread-and-butter on-the-ground campaign skills it takes to win races, said Jerry Ray “Tea” Hall, who won less than 5 percent of the vote in his primary campaign against Ralph Hall in Texas.

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