Sen. Orrin Hatch labeled President Obama's proposal to avert the looming fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts "a classic bait and switch on the American people," saying Mr. Obama and others on the left have shown "an utter lack of leadership" to tackle reform to the country's entitlement programs the Utah Republican says must be part of a deal to work toward curing the nation's financial ills. Published December 1 2012
Taking the venue for his weekly address on the road, President Obama made a visceral appeal to the American people from the floor of a Pennsylvania factory he visited this week, imploring Congress to approve a plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts on the first $250,000 of Americans' income. Published December 1 2012
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli on Saturday dismissed calls by some for the Republican party to "rebrand" or remake itself in the wake of the 2012 elections and offered an olive branch to supporters of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who announced this week he does not plan to seek the GOP nomination for governor next year. Published December 1 2012
Economist Ben Stein said there is an underlying sense of anger behind the so-called "War on Christmas" and that he doesn't consider people who attack the holiday "well in the head." Published December 1 2012
Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Fleck revealed publicly on Saturday he is gay, making him the only currently sitting openly gay Republican state legislator in the country and the first in Pennsylvania's history, PoliticsPA reported. Published December 1 2012
While the White House and congressional Republicans appear nowhere close to a deal that would avoid the economic double whammy of the expiration of the Bush-era tax rates and deep spending cuts scheduled to begin at the start of next year, a Democratic senator said Saturday that the two parties should get a solution on the tax rate issue before Christmas. Published December 1 2012
