Voice For Liberty

Tag: Barack Obama

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday November 1, 2010

    Pompeo supporter’s sign causes stir. As reported by the Wichita Eagle’s Dion Lefler, a billboard sign urging votes for Republican Mike Pompeo has Democrat Raj Goyle and his campaign crying foul and raising charges of racism. The Goyle campaign says it will file a complaint alleging violations of campaign finance laws.

    Meanwhile, Democrats don’t care much for scrutiny. Not by me in a public place, anyway. See Democrats block me in Wichita.

    Kansas legislative candidates surveyed. Kansas Campaign for Liberty has surveyed candidates for the Kansas legislature and has made the results available at Kansas State Candidate Survey Results. The questions are useful in identifying candidates who support individual liberty and oppose intrusive government.

    Wichita Eagle voter guide. Click here. You can get a list of the candidates, along with their responses to questions, customized for your address.

    Republicans look for a big day. Wall Street Journal: “‘The Democrats are about to feel the full force of a tidal wave, tsunami or a 7.0 earthquake,’ said Democratic pollster Peter Hart.” Gallup predicts 45 percent voter turnout, with Republicans leading Democrats on the generic Congressional ballot 55 percent to 40 percent. Larry Sabato predicts Republican gains of 55 seats in the House, eight in the Senate, and eight or nine governorships. Conservative Richard Viguerie boldly predicts Republican gains of 88 House seats and nine senate seats. He also predicts a net gain of 650 seats by Republican state legislators.

    Obama no longer lofty, hopeful. The reality of his failed and failing policies sinks in: “President Barack Obama closed out his 2010 campaign season here with a mocking rebuke of Republicans, in stark contrast to the lofty, hopeful rhetoric that marked his 2008 campaign.” See Obama Less Lofty as Rhetoric Shifts.

    GOP rhetoric shifts from social issues to the economy. The influence of the tea party is recognized as economic issues become more important than social issues for many: “The tea party’s financial fervor contributed largely to the declining emphasis on social issues, said Dale Neuman, University of Missouri-Kansas City political science professor emeritus.” More from the Kansas City Star at GOP rhetoric shifts from social issues to the economy.

    What if Cannabis Cured Cancer? WSU Students for Liberty, in association with the Kansas Medical Cannabis Network, will be presenting the movie What if Cannabis Cured Cancer? on Friday, November 19, 2010 at 6:00 pm in the Sunflower Room of the Rhatigan Student Center (lower level of the Rhatigan Student Center). More information on this movie, including a trailer, may be found at What If Cannabis Cured Cancer.

    Waiting for Superman. The Kansas Policy Institute will host a free screening of Waiting for Superman on Thursday November 4th. Of the film, the Wall Street Journal wrote: “The new film ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’” is getting good reviews for its portrayal of children seeking alternatives to dreadful public schools, and to judge by the film’s opponents it is having an impact. Witness the scene on a recent Friday night in front of a Loews multiplex in New York City, where some 50 protestors blasted the film as propaganda for charter schools.” In Kansas, the Wichita Eagle printed an op-ed penned by the education bureaucracy status quo — Sharon Hartin Iorio, dean of the Wichita State University College of Education in this case — to inoculate Wichitans against the effects of what I am told is a powerful film. Let’s hope this film gets Kansans to thinking about public schools in our state, as Kansas is way behind the curve on innovation, compared to other states. The film will be shown at 7:00pm at the Warren Theatre East (11611 E. 13th St.). KPI asks that you RSVP by Tuesday, November 2 to James Franko at james.franko@kansaspolicy.org. Space is limited.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday October 13, 2010

    FactFinder 12: Goyle campaign ad. From KWCH Television: “FactFinder 12 found no evidence Sentry International directly outsourced manufacturing work, only that it partners with companies in China and many other countries to purchase foreign made products.” What’s not talked about in regard to this issue is that U.S. companies don’t manufacture products overseas just for the heck of it. Competitive pressures force them to.

    The energy future will look familiar. George Will takes a look at the future of energy in America. But a reminder of the past, in case you forgot: “In 1977, Jimmy Carter said mankind could ‘use up’ all the world’s proven [oil] reserves ‘by the end of the next decade.’ Since then, the world has consumed three times more oil than was in the proven reserves.”

    The truth about our jobs crisis. BankruptingAmerica.org has a short video illustrating the depth and magnitude of the crisis. “The jobs report released on Friday shows that unemployment persists at 9.6 percent. As high as this number is, it doesn’t tell the whole unemployment story.” Additional resources are available at the site.

    Sowell on government greed. “Those who are always accusing people in the private sector of “greed” almost never accuse government of greed, no matter what it does. Indeed, the question of whether the government is greedy almost never comes up, so most of us probably never think about it. … Perhaps one of the most unconscionable acts of greed by government is confiscating people’s homes, in order to turn this property over to other people, who are expected to build things that will pay more taxes.”

    Tweets from Communications Week. At Wichita State University I served on a panel on social media and political campaigns. Some tweets from the audience: “Denae Herrman: Bob Week’s advice for candidates on Twitter: Be more candid & informal. Loosen up! I agree. What makes SM fun is the interactivity.” … “Shae Blevins: @bob_weeks says Goyle, Brownback and Pompeo have failed at using social media for their campaigns in some way. UPDATE your stuff!” … “Lou Heldman: Brownback, Goyle, Pompeo campaigns criticized by @bobweeks on Elliott School panel for sometimes inept use of social media.” I’m sorry, campaigns … but it’s true.

    DCCC cuts back on Moore support. From The Atlantic: “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has pulled some funding from 10 districts, canceling their ad buys in six and reducing their buys in another four. … The committee has also continued cutting time in KS 03, where Stephene Moore (D) is running for her husband’s seat.”

    Liberal Billionaires Take On The Koch Brothers In California Energy Fight. Clare O’Connor in Forbes: “Much has been written about the oil and gas billionaire Koch brothers and their multimillion-dollar donations to right-wing causes. … However, in recent days a handful of liberal billionaires have decided to take on the Kochs in one of the most hotly contested battles this election season: Proposition 23, the California ballot that may well prove a bellwether for the future of energy legislation in the U.S.”

    Election dates to note: October 13 — advance ballots start to be mailed. October 18 — last day to register to vote or change party affiliation. October 29 — last day election office will mail advance voting ballots, so make sure your application arrives at your county election office before this date. November 2 — election day.

    Obama and the Politics of Outsourcing. William S. Cohen, writing in the Wall Street Journal: “For every job outsourced to Bangalore, nearly two jobs are created in Buffalo or other American cities.” … American popular opinion: “A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sept. 28 found that outsourcing was the top reason cited by Americans as the cause of the country’s economic problems — and that for the first time in years a majority (53%) of Americans say free-trade agreements have hurt the U.S.” This sentiment is unfounded. Continuing: “Most people treat outsourcing as a zero-sum game — one foreign worker replaces one American worker. But this is not how the dynamic global economy works. … [An analysis] found that when U.S. firms hired lower-cost labor at foreign subsidiaries overseas, their parent companies hired even more people in the U.S. to support expanded operations. … Those new U.S. jobs were higher-skilled and better-paying.” The politics of it: “During difficult economic periods, people are tempted to seek refuge in the false promise of protectionism. … Politicians are not above exploiting an issue by appealing to popular sentiment even when that sentiment is belied by economic reality.” Outsourcing of Kansas jobs is the major campaign theme — and attack ad hammer — of Kansas fourth district Congressional Democrat candidate Raj Goyle.

    Will Wichita have a government “bank” to fund downtown? The Wichita Eagle reports that the Wichita contingent visiting Louisville is being pitched the benefits of a government-run fund to spur downtown development. Two takeaways: “The fund, says JPMorgan banker Louis Straub II, doesn’t provide ‘free money’ to developers. ‘It’s a loan with much more favorable terms’ than developers would get through a traditional bank loan.” I would say that sounds like free money to me — as long as you consider paying interest on a loan a cost. Then, a real whopper: “Gary Schmitt, executive vice president at Intrust Bank, said the creation of such a fund in Wichita is possible. … there is precedent for Wichita-area banks getting together to help finance downtown projects. He said it was done in the case of the Hyatt Regency Wichita, for which local banks came together and created a participation loan to finance the hotel. ‘History has shown that the banks will come together for the betterment of the community,’ Schmitt said.” So wow did that work out? The Hyatt failed and is now owned by the city of Wichita, and can operate without concerns about profit. In 2001 the Eagle editorialized: “Having a marquee downtown hotel wholly owned by a city can’t be good for stimulating more private hotel development … Who’s going to be willing to finance, build and open a hotel in direct competition with one supported by public dollars?” As we’ve seen by recent action regarding the Broadview Hotel and Fairfield Inn, no one will — unless the government contributes millions in subsidy.

    Wichita Eagle opinion line. “The reason some people can’t find voter fraud in Kansas is the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”

  • U.S. business under attack by its own government

    Who would have thought that President Barack Obama would take a page — maybe an entire chapter — from the Richard Nixon political playbook?

    A Review & Outlook piece in the Wall Street Journal explains the connection. The subject is campaign fund disclosure: “Democrats claim only to favor ‘disclosure’ of donors, but their legal intimidation attempts are the best argument against disclosure. Liberals want the names of business donors made public so they can become targets of vilification with the goal of intimidating them into silence. A CEO or corporate board is likely to think twice about contributing to a campaign fund if the IRS or prosecutors might come calling.”

    The war on business that’s being conducted by liberals is puzzling and misplaced. Who do they think creates income and wealth that generates taxes to fund Obama’s expanding government?

    Regarding Wichita-based Koch Industries and an Obama administration official’s potentially improper disclosure of information, the Journal says it’s glad to hear that this example won’t be used again. But the Journal is skeptical: “… pardon our skepticism given the ferocity of this White House-led campaign against businesses that donate to political campaigns. Faced with electoral repudiation as the public turns against their agenda, Democrats are unleashing government power to silence their political opponents. Instead of piling on, the press corps ought to blow the whistle on this attempt to stifle political speech. This is one more liberal abuse of power that voters should consider as they head to the polls.”

    Shutting Up Business

    Democrats unleash the IRS and Justice on donors to their political opponents.

    If at first you don’t succeed, get some friends in high places to shut your opponents up. That’s the latest Washington power play, as Democrats and liberals attack the Chamber of Commerce and independent spending groups in an attempt to stop businesses from participating in politics.

    Since the Supreme Court’s January decision in Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats in Congress have been trying to pass legislation to repeal the First Amendment for business, though not for unions. Having failed on that score, they’re now turning to legal and political threats. Funny how all of this outrage never surfaced when the likes of Peter Lewis of Progressive insurance and George Soros helped to make Democrats financially dominant in 2006 and 2008.

    Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

  • Lynn Jenkins: The only jobs Democrats care about are their own

    Lynn Jenkins, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the second district of Kansas, writes that actions by Congressional Democrats are harming jobs prospects for Americans: “The American people elected us to do our jobs, but instead of focusing on that, Democrats in Washington have decided to wage a campaign against the very companies that eventually will get us out of this economic mess.”

    In particular, Jenkins mentions Wichita-based Koch Industries as a company working hard to create jobs and value in the marketplace, only to suffer criticism from President Barack Obama, his administration, and his political allies.

    Some of the attacks on Koch Industries are false. Jenkins mentions Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and his claim that Koch outsourced jobs, when the company in question was not related to Koch Industries at the relevant time. This false charge is often repeated.

    Then, there’s the income tax information about Koch Industries, which Austan Goolsbee, who was just named by Obama as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, leaked, apparently inappropriately. The Washington Times reports this matter now being investigated by a federal inspector general.

    JENKINS: Working on excuses

    The only jobs Democrats care about are their own

    By Lynn Jenkins

    When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, the Democratic majority told us it would cost $787 billion and keep unemployment below 8 percent. Neither proved to be true. Unemployment has risen to 9.6 percent, and the Congressional Budget Office anticipates that the law will increase deficits by $814 billion.

    In addition to historically high unemployment, this year’s annual federal deficit is set to exceed $1.3 trillion, and our national debt is more than $13.5 trillion. However, instead of focusing on job creation or doing our constitutionally obligated task of passing a budget and annual appropriations bills, the president’s staff and congressional Democrats have sought out a boogeyman to blame.

    Last week, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to allow members to get back to their districts to campaign for re-election. Instead of holding a vote on whether to extend the current tax rates set to expire in 2011 and eliminating the uncertainty that is crippling potential job creators of all sizes, Democratic leaders skipped town to protect their jobs rather than fighting to save jobs of hardworking Americans.

    Continue reading at the Washington Times

  • President Obama has not delivered on school choice

    Advertisement placed in New York TimesAdvertisement placed in New York Times

    President Barack Obama has talked favorably about school choice, both in his campaign, and while in office. But his actions have not lived up to the expectations of Americans, and importantly, the residents of Washington, DC.

    Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, William McGurn notes: “That deafening roar you hear — that’s the sound of Barack Obama’s silence on the future of school reform in the District of Columbia. And if he doesn’t break it soon, he may become the first president in two decades to have left Washington’s children with fewer chances for a good school than when he started.”

    It’s come to the point where the president’s supporters are criticizing him for his lack of action on school choice. Over the weekend Kevin P. Chavous of Black Alliance for Educational Options placed a full-page ad in the New York Times. There is a news release (Leader of Black Alliance Blasts President Obama on Parental Choice) regarding the ad, and Chavous’ letter appears below.

    Dear Mr. President:

    One of the reasons I supported you, as did virtually all of the Black community in this country, is because we believed that you would stand up to vested interests and do the right thing even if it was not politically expedient. You have now left us confused and dismayed.

    We simply cannot reconcile what you are saying about education reform with what you are actually doing to give parents the opportunity to choose the best schools for their children.

    Last year, you refused to support the reauthorization of the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program. As you know, this program allows low-income parents to receive government-funded scholarships so their children can attend private schools of their choice. This initiative has been an educational lifeline to thousands of children.

    You acted to eliminate hope for thousands of low-income children who live just blocks from the White House, despite compelling data that confirms these children are receiving a better education than they would receive in the D.C. public schools.

    While opposing this program would appear to be a contradiction to what you said on the Today show earlier this week, some might call it the height of hypocrisy. As a beneficiary of a privately funded scholarship, you attended the most elite private school in Hawaii. You and Mrs. Obama have also chosen a private school for your own children. Because there is not enough money to provide private scholarships to all low-income families, you more than anyone should be an advocate for government-funded opportunity scholarships nationwide.

    Far too many of our children are confined in schools that continue to fail, year after year. As Dr. Martin Luther King said during the civil rights movement, we need to act with the fierce urgency of now. Our children cannot wait. Opportunity scholarships help educate kids today.

    So, Mr. President, there is still time for you to throw off the shackles of the educational establishment and join our ranks. There are over one million empty urban private school seats in this country that are waiting to be filled if low-income families had government-funded scholarships. If you would like to learn more about our work at the Black Alliance for Educational Options or would like to meet some of the families who would like to participate in these programs, I would be happy to introduce them to you
    .
    Please, Mr. President, let’s educate our children by any means necessary.

    Sincerely,

    Kevin P. Chavous
    Board Chair
    Black Alliance for Educational Options

  • Political attacks by Obama camp endanger opportunity

    By Ronald Gidwitz

    As a recovering politician (I ran for governor of Illinois in 2006), I know it’s seldom a good idea to hint that voters are dupes. Sometimes, though, in an attempt to “divide and conquer,” politicians do just that.

    Lately we’ve seen President Barack Obama and his team, who ran for office on the claim they would bridge political differences, playing this foolish and ultimately self-defeating dividing game.

    “Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country,” the president told Democratic donors in Texas last month.

    His advisers have followed his lead. “Americans for Prosperity is funded by billionaire oil men, David and Charles Koch, to promote Republican candidates who support their right-wing agenda and corporate interests,” Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod wrote in The Washington Post last month. He further claimed that these “billionaire oilmen secretly (are) underwriting what the public has been told is a grass-roots movement for change in Washington.”

    Well, it’s no secret what AFP is, who we are or what we want to do. Nationwide, Americans for Prosperity and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation have more than 1.5 million activists and 31 state chapters and affiliates. I’m state director for Illinois. More than 80,000 Americans in all 50 states have given money to AFP or the foundation.

    • We want lower taxes and less government spending, ideas that appeal to a solid majority of Americans.
    • We support removing unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurship to spark citizen involvement in the regulatory process.
    • We aim to restore fairness to our judicial system.

    Americans aren’t fools. Our call for change is being echoed by millions of citizens. That experienced businesspeople and successful job-creators are among those putting resources behind it is not an insult to the effort, it’s an affirmation of it.

    Unfortunately, President Obama has ignored the people’s cries for fiscal responsibility. On issues including the stimulus, health care reform and tax policy, he’s hammered through decidedly liberal and unpopular approaches to America’s problems. Not surprisingly, his popularity rating is sinking, and polls indicate his party seems headed for a thrashing in November’s midterm elections.

    Without a positive agenda to run on, the president and his allies have launched the coordinated attacks in an attempt to discredit conservatives.

    After Obama’s Texas speech came a 10,000 word attack piece in the New Yorker magazine that went after the Kochs for supposedly “waging a war against Obama.” That article quoted a series of “experts” from groups that are supported by left-wing billionaire currency speculator George Soros, including the Center for Public Integrity and Media Matters for America.

    More chilling, Mark Holden, a lawyer for Koch Industries, has fingered Austan Goolsbee, one of Obama’s top economic advisers, as saying during a press briefing that Koch Industries did not pay corporate income taxes.

    Enough!

    The federal government has almost infinite power to investigate and intimidate people. It can, whether it intends to or not, easily destroy businesses and reputations. That’s why Americans recoiled against Richard Nixon in the 1970s when they learned he was using federal investigators to track his political “enemies.”

    Americans of all political persuasions can agree that we face serious national problems, including sluggish job growth and soaring federal spending. The way to solve these problems is by coming together, not by attacking each other. President Obama should call off the attack dogs, before they end up biting him too.

    Ronald Gidwitz is a partner in GCG Partners, a strategic consulting and equity capital firm he co-founded in 1998. He chairs the Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

  • Raj Goyle anti-outsourcing plan likely to backfire

    A plan advocated by Democratic Party candidate for Congress Raj Goyle to reduce the outsourcing of jobs from the United States is likely to produce the opposite effect, according to the Wall Street Journal.

    Goyle is candidate for United States Congress from the fourth district of Kansas. He has criticized his leading opponent, Republican Mike Pompeo, claiming that Pompeo, as president of a manufacturing company, outsourced Kansas jobs to Mexico.

    On Goyle’s campaign website, under the heading “Economy: Jobs” we find: “It’s vital to create jobs and keep jobs in Kansas. The very first thing I will do in Congress is work to immediately repeal tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas. We must start providing tax breaks and incentives to those who create jobs and manufacturing bases in Kansas.”

    In a “Review and Outlook” piece titled The Send Jobs Overseas Act, the Journal explains how the tax breaks Goyle wants to end actually work. This is something that probably very few people understand, so here’s the explanation: “Under current tax law, American companies pay the corporate tax rate in the host country where the subsidiary is located and then pay the difference between the U.S. rate (35%) and the foreign rate when they bring profits back to the U.S. This is called deferral — i.e., the U.S. tax is deferred until the money comes back to these shores.”

    So it’s not really a tax break — if by that we mean the corporation never pays taxes on its profits. Instead, payment of the tax is deferred, although the deferral does have value.

    The Journal notes that the only major country with a higher corporate income tax rate is Japan. The tax rate on new capital investment in the U.S. is nearly twice the average of that in OECD countries.

    This high tax in the U.S. encourages investment overseas. A report this year by the White House tax reform panel concluded: “The growing gap between the U.S. corporate tax rate and the corporate tax rates of most other countries generates incentives for U.S. corporations to shift their income and operations to foreign locations with lower corporate tax rates to avoid U.S. rates.”

    And as other countries cut their tax rates, the inventive to leave the U.S. and its high taxes becomes stronger, the report also says.

    The piece also cites an earlier tax reform from 1986 where the U.S. eliminated tax deferral on shipping income. This is the same reform Goyle touts as good for the entire U.S. economy. But the Journal notes this reform was “a real disaster for U.S. shipping,” with U.S. shipping capacity falling by 50 percent over a period of years following this reform.

    The path advocated by Goyle — President Obama wants this too — would be a disaster for America. “CEO Steve Ballmer has warned that if the President’s plan is enacted, Microsoft would move facilities and jobs out of the U.S.”

    The best solution for job creation in the U.S. is to reduce our corporate income tax rate to match or undercut the rate of other developed countries. This would spur investment in America, not only by domestic companies, but by foreign companies, too. Goyle’s plan to raise taxes on American corporations will only harm job creation both here and abroad.

  • Who is Americans For Prosperity?

    By Derrick Sontag, Kansas State Director, Americans for Prosperity. Kansas was one of the first states to have an AFP chapter.

    In recent weeks members of the press and even President Barack Obama have asked, “Who is Americans for Prosperity?” In asking this, many have implied AFP is just a front group for large corporations or as President Obama speculated, perhaps it’s even a “foreign controlled entity.”

    The answer is simple. Americans For Prosperity is a non-partisan, grassroots-driven organization that advocates for limited government and free market principles, principles under constant attack at every level of government today.

    AFP provides a voice for its more than 1.5 million activist members, including 40,000 in Kansas, to counter the powerful big government lobby that hovers on Capitol Hill and in state capitols like ours in Topeka. Being a part of an organization like AFP provides concerned citizens the tools to directly challenge the progressive agenda being advocated for by the multitude of special interest groups that try to influence elected officials on a daily basis.

    Since its inception in 2004, AFP has advocated for personal property rights, lower taxes and fewer government regulations, and to slow down the growth in government spending. Recently, we’ve voiced loud opposition to the numerous bailouts in which the government is picking the winners and losers in the marketplace, an act that threatens the viability of the free market itself. We have been vocal in opposing job-destroying legislation like cap and trade that would dramatically increase consumer prices and drive American businesses to countries with fewer regulations or force them to close up shop altogether. Perhaps most of all, the liberal elite dislikes us because of our opposition to the government takeover of our health care system.

    With a simple yet vitally important agenda like that, it’s no wonder we’re being targeted by members of the liberal elite. President Obama recently said that the “biggest problem we all have across the country right now … is groups like Americans For Prosperity.” Not the near ten percent unemployment rate but rather, the biggest problem according to the president is groups like AFP daring to challenge the progressive policies being put forth across the country.

    With this apparent coordinated attack on AFP and its limited government and free market oriented platform, one could easily conclude there are some in this country who fear that our message is resonating with the American people.

  • Does the White House have Koch Industries tax information?

    In an episode that may be reminiscent of Richard Nixon and his use of government agencies to harass his opponents, the Obama administration has singled out a major American company and its tax returns for criticism. In the process, the Obama administration may have crossed a line, as did Nixon and his disgraced administration.

    Here’s what The Weekly Standard is reporting today:

    … a lawyer for Koch Industries now tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the administration may have crossed a line by revealing tax information about Koch Industries. According to Mark Holden, senior vice president and general counsel of Koch Industries, a senior Obama administration official told reporters at an August 27 on-the-record background briefing on corporate taxes:

    So in this country we have partnerships, we have S corps, we have LLCs, we have a series of entities that do not pay corporate income tax. Some of which are really giant firms, you know Koch Industries is a multibillion dollar businesses.

    The full article is at Koch Industries Lawyer to White House: How Did You Get Our Tax Information?

    So far it’s not known whether this revelation about Koch Industries and its taxes is accurate, or whether the information was obtained improperly. John McCormack, the author of the article, raises these two questions: “Why won’t White House officials say if the quotation about Koch Industries is accurate — or even if a transcript of the briefing exists? And, if the quotation is accurate, why won’t they say how the White House obtained tax information on Koch Industries?”

    Recently President Barack Obama criticized Americans for Prosperity. (AFP was founded by David H. Koch, who is executive vice president and a board member of Koch Industries. He is chairman of the board of directors of Americans for Prosperity Foundation.)

    Criticism of AFP is fair — even if the president’s criticisms are baseless and unfounded — as AFP operates in the political arena. AFP is critical of President Obama’s policies, and it’s only natural that he would strike back.

    But tax returns — both personal and corporate — are supposed to be confidential and not used for political purposes.

    Update: The Weekly Standard reports that it was Austan Goolsbee who named Koch Industries. Goolsbee was just named Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.