Category: AR PAC

According to Topline Translator, a recent AP poll showing President Obama’s approval rating at 60% under samples Republicans and skews the results.  Ed Morrissey at Hot Air explains, “The Dem/Rep/Ind breakdown in this poll is 46/29/4, as AP assigned most of the leaners to the parties.  That is a 17-point gap, more than twice what was seen in the 2008 actual popular vote that elected Obama.  It only gets worse when independents are assigned properly.  When taking out the leaners, the split becomes — I’m not kidding — 35/18/27”.

Interesting post from Senator McConnell’s office on the Democrats’ failure to “message” ObamaCare:

There was yet another article this morning about Democrats working to “come together around a message” on their health spending bill, and one over the weekend about their attempts to “coordinate health messaging.” We’ve seen these headlines for two years now and heard them talking about shifting/retooling the message since the beginning. Maybe it’s not the “message” that people don’t like.
For example:

• Two years ago, the New York Times wrote that “Democrats said they felt an urgent need to devise a ‘message’” on health care.
• A year ago, ABC noted that “President Obama is hoping to remake his message as divisions deepen among Democrats on health care legislation.” 
• And just last week, Politico reported on the new HHS advice to Democrats on how to talk about the bill (oh, excuse me, ‘law’).  But there are dozens of examples over the past two years (I’ve pasted some below).

How’s it been working out? Well, two years ago, polls showed modest support for the Democrats’ health spending bill. Now, after two years of “messaging,” polls show that Americans want to repeal it and that support for the bill has been upside-down for the last 18 months (and largely unchanged for the last year) of their “messaging” campaign. Oh, and there was that election in November some of you may have covered.

As you look back over these headlines, you may notice that they’ve been pushing the same thing for two years now. Maybe it’s not the “message.”
***

• Democrats coordinate health messaging (Politico, February 4, 2011)
• HHS: Call health care reform a law, not a bill (Politico, February 1, 2011)
• Democrats seek redo of health care pitch (Politico, January 18, 2011)
• Democrats’ Challenge: Finding Perfect Pitch For Health Overhaul Message (Kaiser Health News, January 18, 2011)
• Democrats Seek Right Message To Boost Health Law (NPR, January 17, 2011)
• Democrats mount new sales pitch for health-care law (Washington Post, January 9, 2011)

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• Dems prepare defense of healthcare law in face of repeal threats (The Hill, December 21, 2010)
• Congressional Democrats look for magic campaign message to woo electorate (Oregonian, October 1, 2010)
• Democrats Move Away From Health Cost Pitch, Focus On Changing Senior Minds (Kaiser Health News, August 20, 2010)
• Dems retreat on health care cost pitch  (Politico, August 19, 2010)
• Dems’ New Message On Health Care Reform: ‘Improve’ Legislation, Don’t Talk ‘Costs And Deficit’ (Huffington Post, August 9, 2010)
• Obama, Democrats Launch Health Care Push (NPR, June 8, 2010)
• Senate Democrats Building Broad Message Campaign (Roll Call, March 18, 2010)
• Obama’s New Health Pitch: Families, Businesses Would Get Benefits This Year (Politics Daily, March 6, 2010)
• President Obama Seeks to Remake His Agenda as Health Care Divides Democrats (ABC, January 5, 2010)

—

• Sights lower in health fight; Democrats retool in final push for a smaller victory (Tribune, September 6, 2009)
• Under fire, President Obama shifts strategy (Politico, September 3, 2009)
• Obama seeks to sharpen health plan message (Associated Press, September 2, 2009)
• The 5 key Strategy Questions the White House is Considering on Health Care (ABC, September 2, 2009)
• White House Rethinks How It Sells Health Overhaul (Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2009)
• Health Care Reform Strategy Shift (ABC, August 17, 2009)
• Obama Retools Health Care Pitch as Ratings Slip (Associated Press, August 11, 2009)
• Democrats try to get back on message (Politico, August 5, 2009)
• Obama Trims Sails On Health Reform; He Seeks to Rally Support by Promising Less (Washington Post, August 2, 2009)
• Democrats work out healthcare deal as Obama retools message (Associated Press, July 29, 2009)
• Obama shifts to campaign mode on health reform (Examiner, July 17, 2009)
• Obama shifts into campaign mode on health care (Associated Press, July 16, 2009)
• Democrats work to shape message on health reform (Union-Leader, May 14, 2009)
• Democrats to Develop Plan to Sell Health Care (New York Times, May 13, 2009)
•  

With the lever of American patriotism, he lifted up the world.
– Baroness Margaret Thatcher

One hundred years ago today, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, in an apartment above a dry goods store. Through the course of his life that followed, Reagan watched the 20th Century bring forth the heights of human achievement and the depths of human depravity. Yet before that century came to its end, Reagan would set in motion a new birth of freedom and prosperity for Americans and peoples across the globe.

If one can distill Ronald Reagan’s animating conviction down to a few words, he said it best himself in his October 27, 1964, speech “A Time for Choosing” endorsing Sen. Barry Goldwater’s candidacy for the U.S. presidency:

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man….Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

Reagan’s patriotism flowed from his conception of the United States of America as a “shining city on a hill,” a society where ordinary individuals had that rare chance in human history to make their own decisions in their exercise of liberty. He told us our best days were ahead of us, but more than that, he instituted policies that allowed the American people to make it so.

As president, Ronald Reagan ushered in the liberalization and modernization of America’s economy, not by instituting any grand welfare program or regulatory regime, but by unleashing the entrepreneurial drive of the American people through tax and regulatory reform. Our nation’s economy boomed for essentially the next quarter century, taking in stride two historically shallow recessions. We owe the age of private technological innovation we live in today to the private capital unleashed by President Reagan’s economic policies.

Yet Ronald Reagan’s conviction that the human spirit was oriented toward freedom extended far beyond our shores. Having grown increasingly wary of international communism and alarmed at the empire-building of the Soviet Union following the Second World War, Reagan set U.S. national security policy on a dramatically different course upon assuming the presidency.

Where Reagan’s predecessors had failed through retreat and accommodation, Reagan succeeded with a policy of peace through strength. Deploying offensive weapons in Europe and developing the Strategic Defense Initiative – against strong opposition at home and abroad – brought the Soviets to the bargaining table. Ultimately, U.S. pressure against Soviet influence and aggression around the world bankrupted the Evil Empire’s socialist economy. Across Eastern Europe, capitals that once feared Soviet invasion threw off their shackles as formerly communist nations opened stock markets and held their first free elections in decades. Only a few years after Reagan demanded, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” the Berlin Wall was gone and the Cold War was won.

But Ronald Reagan’s influence did not cease with his own enormous achievement s in office. A generation of activists and politicians has followed in his footsteps. The political realignment he solidified remains with us today as the recent 2010 elections confirmed America’s identity as a center-Right nation. Just as Ronald Reagan made his own political transformation from a New Deal Democrat to a bold, unapologetic conservative, millions of Americans over the last two years have rediscovered America’s founding principles and energized our political discourse with a renewed commitment to accountable, constitutional government .

American Crossroads honors President Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday. Confident as he was that America’s best days still lie ahead of us, we rededicate ourselves to the values Ronald Reagan cherished: individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise, and a strong national defense. Happy Birthday, Mr. President and may God bless America.

The Jersey Journal reports that Democratic Senator (and ex-DSCC chairman) Bob Menendez is in denial about his 37% approval rating.

David Brooks Op-Ed: Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe their nation is in decline. But the U.S. is well situated to lead the world in the information age. Article here.

The American Crossroads team all across this country struck a decisive blow for freedom and renewed economic growth on November 2!  Together we not only retired House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, we also achieved the largest House seat switch since 1938!  Republicans took control of President Obama’s former Senate seat, ran the table on every one of their own open seats, and racked up big blue-state wins in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (in addition to Illinois).  American Crossroads also helped secure huge down-ticket gains in state legislatures that will shape the redistricting map starting next year.

Thank you for recognizing the critical importance of this election to the future of our country, and for giving your utmost to this momentous and astoundingly successful undertaking!

President Obama abandons Hope and Change for Hype and Blame, equating supporters of American Crossroads and the millions of Americans who are rejecting his radical liberal agenda with the “Empire” in Star Wars.  Watch the video of Obama’s latest attack and help us check his aggressive power grab this Nov. 2! [Read more…]

Thanks go out to liberal Democrat Sens. Claire McCaskill, Chuck Schumer, and Sheldon Whitehouse for highlighting the progress we’ve made in holding the Democrat Congress accountable for their extreme agenda of government-run health care, reckless debt increases, and hundreds of billions of dollars in sheer waste of our taxpayer dollars.  Check out these video clips from the Senate’s latest Talk-a-Thon, where Democrats are demanding new government controls on independent conservative advocacy groups – while exempting the Democrats’ allies like labor unions and extreme left-wing groups. [Read more…]

Scott Rasmussen reports today that 61 percent of likely voters favor repeal of President Obama’s signature legislative victory: health care reform. [Read more…]

Nine years ago, America was viciously attacked by terrorists who intended and expected to deal this country a mortal blow, by destroying the symbols of our economic system (the World Trade Center), our military strength (the Pentagon) and our democracy (an intended attack on the U.S. Capitol).

They failed because America’s strength does not rely merely on symbols, but on the ideals and values that have made our country prosperous, secure, altruistic, and a force for good in the world.  On 9/11, Americans rallied together, put aside differences, and acted decisively to care for the victims, confront those who had perpetrated this act of war, and adopt protective measures against terrorist attacks in the future.

On this ninth anniversary of 9/11, with a watershed election barely 50 days ahead and many vital issues at stake, it is worth taking a moment to remember that we are all Americans – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and many others – united by a sincere love for our country and a common purpose to defend and strengthen her.

God bless America.

Steven Law