In recent days many radical liberals have changed their tune regarding campaign finance laws. The drumbeat of the past two years has begun to shift. President Obama is no longer assaulting Citizens United or Super PACs, instead he is encouraging his supporters to open their check books. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer now believes that “I think as a First Amendment principle, Citizens United was correct.” Even veteran Washington Post and Newsweek scribe, Robert J. Samuelson has declared “Except for contribution disclosures, campaign finance laws should be scrapped.” 

Unsurprisingly, the only ones still trying to rein in the First Amendment are those interested in silencing all other voices but their own. Whether they be incumbent elected officials (for example, a certain liberal congressman from Maryland or justices on the Montana Supreme Court), or media corporations like the Washington Post seeking a monopoly on political speech. Why is their speech more worthy of protection than others? 

Two prolific fundraisers, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) led the fight to curtail independent speech with their 2010 legislation, the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (“DISCLOSE Act”). According to Schumer and Van Hollen’s latest FEC disclosures they have $10 million and $1.9 million cash on hand respectively. They have the means to engage in political speech, but would rather their opponents be left without sufficient resources to respond. 

Read more at Politico here.  

In the name of protecting his fundraising juggernaut, President Obama has reneged on campaign finance promises that he knew full well he would not keep.  Back in 2008, after stating repeatedly that he would abide by the public finance system, then-candidate Barack Obama reversed himself in favor of raising unlimited private money, setting new fundraising records.  Now in 2012, President Obama is flip-flopping on Super PACs, the federal PACs that only make independent expenditures in support of or in opposition to candidates. 

Over the last two years President Obama has been criticizing the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision – even lecturing the Justices seated in front of him during his 2010 State of the Union Speech.  In the run up to the 2010 mid-term elections, President Obama made the Citizens United decision an issue in the campaign on a daily basis.  In his criticism, the president sought to demonize Citizens United, even calling it a “threat to our democracy.” 

It is President Obama’s policies that threaten democracy, not the Citizens United decision.  The government takeover of health care, unaccountable czars, and unconstitutional recess appointments are but a few examples of Obama’s disregard for our republican system of government. President Obama and his policies are a threat to our democratic republic and the First Amendment rights reinstated via Citizens United are the antidote to his bully pulpit. With political speech freed once again, the American people thoroughly rejected President Obama’s arguments by electing a Republican controlled House of Representatives in 2010.  

Read more at Cagle here.  

President Obama’s flip-flop on Super PACs reeks of hypocrisy. He spent the last two years criticizing the decision - even lecturing the Supreme Court during his 2010 State of the Union Speech. Now, President Obama and his $1 billion campaign are fully embracing it. 

The White House launched a campaign to demonize Citizens United, even calling it a “threat to our democracy.” President Obama’s policies are what threaten our democracy, not the Citizens United decision. Socializing medicine, czars, and unconstitutional recess appointments are but a few examples of Obama’s disregard for our republic. President Obama and his polices are a threat to democracy and the First Amendment right reinstated via Citizens United is the antidote. 

Read more at Politico here.  

101 years ago today, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois.  Ronald Reagan was – and still is – the heart of the modern day conservative movement.  President Reagan saw America as a special place, “a shining city on a hill,” and a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world.  Many in today’s conservative movement owe a great deal to the man who did not shy away from the conservative fight. 

In 2009, Citizens United Productions produced a documentary called Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny, hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich.  The film is a feature length documentary that focuses on the three pillars of the Reagan presidency: reviving the American economy, restoring America’s spirit, and challenging the oppression of the Soviet Union. Through interviews with historians, cabinet members, and world leaders, the film examines and celebrates the Great Communicator and his legacy.  

Featuring exclusive interviews with former Presidents Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Lech Walesa of Poland, along with Reagan Cabinet and staff members including James Baker, Edwin Meese, Marlin Fitzwater, Richard Perle, William Bennett, and the late Jack Kemp, Rendezvous With Destiny is President Reagan’s story as told by the people who were with him on the front lines of the Reagan Revolution.  

Read more at Cagle Post here. 

It’s not Susan G. Komen for the Cure putting women’s lives at risk, but Planned Parenthood. 

Planned Parenthood is trying to fan the flames of a culture war to distract from the serious allegations being investigated in Congress that led to Komen for the Cure’s decision.  Former Planned Parenthood workers have pledged to testify that the company has: failed to report the sexual abuse of minors, given women inaccurate and misleading information, and fraudulently mishandled state and federal taxpayer funds.  Some of these allegations were exposed by "The Gift Of Life" cast member Lila Rose and her group Live Action. 

Last week the United States Senate passed a dubious milestone and fittingly it came on the day President Obama gave his State of the Union address.  January 24th marked the 1,000th day since the Harry Reid Senate last passed a federal budget.  Families across America sit around their kitchen tables and work on their budgets.  The key to any small business success in America is to follow a budget.  But when it comes to passing a budget, our elected leaders in the Senate are incompetent.  It is unconscionable that the Senate refuses to do the people’s work and pass a budget that will not bankrupt the country.  Where is the outrage from the American people? 

We are a nation that is over $15 trillion in debt and the greatest deliberative body on the planet cannot produce any budget at all good or bad for the American people.  Most of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Last spring Harry Reid said about the 2012 budget process, “There’s no need to have a Democratic budget in my opinion. It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.”  Senator Reid is the poster child for what is wrong with Washington.  Reid’s irrational statement about the budget process last year is why he has a 23 percent approval rating – the lowest among all Congressional leaders. 

The truth is Senator Reid does not want to develop a budget for the American people because he does not want Democrat members of the Senate to take tough votes that will set their core liberal constituencies’ heads on fire.  Our national debt has grown to unprecedented levels. The credit agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded America’s credit rating for the first time in history last summer.  We are truly in a crisis and tough decisions need to be made by our leaders.  However, Senate Democrats lack the courage to make those tough decisions because of failed leadership from the top. 

Read more at Cagle here.  

A party that is satisfied with 8.5 percent unemployment is a party that is going nowhere. 

64 percent of Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track.  This abysmal number shows that the liberal policies of President Obama and Democrats in Congress have sullied the American psyche.

Read more at Politico here. 

President Obama's State of the Union speech last night was more of the same tired rhetoric wrapped up in a big red bow for President Obama's core liberal constituency. 

President Obama can only run on class warfare this year because he needs to deflect blame for a poor economy.  Speech after speech, the president says he knows what Americans want, but with 68 percent saying America is on the wrong track, what Americans really want is a new president.  

Read more at Politico here.  

While President Obama and other pro-abortion zealots celebrate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it is important to remember the true face of “choice”: the 54 million unborn souls killed by abortion.  It is a tragedy that respect for innocent human life has become so degraded in our society that an abortion takes place at an average of one every 26 seconds.  But out of this culture of death springs new hope. 

I had the pleasure of presenting, with Governor Mike Huckabee, the film The Gift Of Life this weekend at the Students for Life of America national conference.  Two thousand pro-life leaders of the next generation sat in rapt attention, moved and motivated by the documentary’s message of the precious gift of life.  On Monday, hundreds of thousands marched for life in the freezing DC rain, an overwhelming number of them young students from kindergarten to graduate school.  These youth inspire me and give me optimism for the future of the pro-life movement. 

 Read more at Cagle here. 

Sadly, since taking office, President Obama has lowered the stature of these important speeches. President Obama turned the State of the Union into pure political theater two years ago when he took a partisan and unprecedented shot at the United States Supreme Court for their ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.

Read more at Politico here.