Boehner: ‘Not My Job’ to Counter Obama Rumors

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Sunday that he believes President Obama was born on U.S. soil and is a Christian, but that it was not his job to challenge people who think otherwise.
“It’s not my job to tell the American people what to think,” [...]

Republicans Still Mum on Waging 2012 Campaigns

Republicans eyeing a campaign for the White House are nearing the time they will likely announce their plans. But several remained coy Sunday when they appeared on the morning talk shows.

“I’ll probably make a decision by the end of this month about whether or not to set up an exploratory committee, and we’re working our way through it,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R., Ga.) said on ABC’s This Week.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is on a slower timetable.  “I’m not going to make a decision about it until April, but I am very serious about it,” he said on Fox News Sunday.

Messrs. Gingrich and Barbour, along with other potential Republican candidates, appeared last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting in Washington, which served as a sort of early presidential showcase.

Ron Paul Wins Annual CPAC Straw Poll

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won an annual straw poll in Washington this week that may say more about the organizing capacity of his supporters than the tastes of Republican primary voters as a whole.

Mr. Paul, a libertarian favorite whose backers packed the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel near the zoo, won 30% of the vote in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, an early frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, came in second, with 23%.

Those results mirrored last year’s straw poll, said Tony Fabrizio, the Republican pollster who tabulates the ballots.

The bad news for each of the prospective candidates is that 43% of the 3,742 conservative activists who voted in the straw poll expressed some dissatisfaction with the field. Voters also expressed grave skepticism that the new Republican majority in the House would accomplish what they sent new GOP lawmakers to do — repeal President Barack Obama’s new health-care law and pare the deficit.

“Those should be disquieting results for members of Congress,” said David Keene, the outgoing chairman of the American Conservatives Union, which organizes the annual event.

The three-day confab gave 2012 hopefuls a chance to test applause lines and pay their respects to the conservative activists who play an influential role in the nomination process.

Ron Paul on Egypt: ‘People Don’t Like Us Propping Up Dictators’

By Scott L. Greenberg

Rep. Ron Paul roused activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday with a conservative homily that bashed interventionism in Egypt, the Patriot Act and government spending. But the libertarian icon gave no indication that he’ll run again for president.

The Texas Republican had to push through sustained applause to deliver his broadside against the U.S. government’s decades-long support of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, criticizing the billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Egypt.

“The people don’t like us propping up their dictators,” Mr. Paul said. “No more than we would like it if a foreign country propped up a dictator in our country.”

“I’m still against foreign aid. For everybody,” he said. “Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of rich countries and giving it to the rich people of poor countries.”

The Texas congressman also took aim at the USA Patriot Act, which he said “is literally the destruction of the Fourth Amendment.” The law, passed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, gives the government broad surveillance powers.

Ron Paul disciples came out in full force at the convention again this year. After winning CPAC’s presidential straw poll in 2010, he’s widely expected to take first place again this year.

“I’m glad to see the revolution is continuing,” Mr. Paul said, as the crowd chanted, “We love Ron Paul!”

Democrats Say GOP Antiabortion Bill Lacks That Bit About the Constitution

When tea party and other conservative activists helped give Republicans the House majority in the November elections, GOP leaders returned the favor with a new rule: All bills must cite the specific section of the Constitution under which their bills pass constitutional muster.

Two Democrats today used that requirement to argue that an antiabortion bill doesn’t qualify for a vote. In a letter to Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Frank Pallone of New Jersey said they scoured the bill. The nine page, 1,170 word bill doesn’t mention the Constitution.

At issue is a measure introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.) that would explicitly bar the use of federal funds for abortions under the health care law and would make it illegal to withhold government funds from institutions that refuse to offer abortions.

“It will make a mockery of the rule,” Reps. Waxman and Pallone wrote in the letter. “As the provision is now part of our rules, we believe it should be appropriately enforced – not rendered meaningless.”…

Transcript of Obama’s Remarks on Egypt

Here’s the White House transcript of President Barack Obama’s remarks Friday afternoon on the situation in Egypt.

REMARKS BY THE PRESDIENT
ON EGYPT
Grand Foyer
3:06 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same.

By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change. But this is not the end of Egypt’s transition. It’s a beginning. I’m sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers, and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. For Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.

The military has served patriotically and responsibly as a caretaker to the state, and will now have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people. That means protecting the rights of Egypt’s citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible, and laying out a clear path to elections that are fair and free. Above all, this transition must bring all of Egypt’s voices to the table. For the spirit of peaceful protest and perseverance that the Egyptian people have shown can serve as a powerful wind at the back of this change.

The United States will continue to be a friend and partner to Egypt. We stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary — and asked for — to pursue a credible transition to a democracy. I’m also confident that the same ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that the young people of Egypt have shown in recent days can be harnessed to create new opportunity — jobs and businesses that allow the extraordinary potential of this generation to take flight. And I know that a democratic Egypt can advance its role of responsible leadership not only in the region but around the world…

Double Take: Did Sarah Palin Show Up at CPAC After All?

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn’t attend the Conservative Political Action Conference this year — and that was probably good news for Patti Lyons, a Palin look-alike who bills herself as a “corporate entertainer and comedic impersonator.”

A rapt crowd eagerly snapped pictures with their cell phones as Ms. Lyons was interviewed Friday at CPAC.

Rep. Schiff’s Timely Resolution

Rep. Adam Schiff may have little sway in the Republican-controlled House, but the California Democrat’s influence over foreign affairs just reached historic proportions.

Concerned about the message sent by the Obama administration’s ambivalent position toward Egypt’s pro-democracy uprising, Mr. Schiff spent this week drafting a resolution urging President Hosni Mubarak to step down. After Mr. Mubarak’s defiant speech Thursday, Mr. Schiff put the final touches on the resolution and sent it to the House clerk Friday morning. Moments later, word came that Mr. Mubarak suddenly had resigned.

“How President Mubarak found out about our resolution, I will never know,” Mr. Schiff joked Friday. “But it was a pivotal moment.”

The congressman quickly scrubbed the resolution of references to the now-former president, and submitted a refreshed version that proclaims “solidarity with the people of Egypt in their democratic aspirations and as they begin a new chapter in their country’s proud history.”

Thune at CPAC: A Contrast With Sarah Palin

Sen. John Thune is no Sarah Palin.

Just ask him.

“It’s fair to say that I don’t have the same national name recognition as some my more famous Republican colleagues,” the understated South Dakota Republican, who’s considered a potential presidential candidate, told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Friday.

“I’ve never had a book signing,” he said. “I’ve been to Iowa plenty of times, but it’s usually on the way to South Dakota. And the closest I’ve come to being on a reality TV show is C-SPAN’s live coverage of the Senate floor.”

Mr. Thune, who referred frequently in the speech to his work in the Senate, was referring to “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a reality show on Discovery that has served as a national forum for the former Alaska governor.

“It’s not the most exciting television,” Mr. Thune said of C-SPAN, but he said, “It did have a good ending last year, because a number of my liberal colleagues got voted off.”

Mitch Daniels Suggests Re-Examination of End-of-Life Care

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is considering a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, veered from his party’s orthodoxy on end-of-life care Friday, suggesting the nation cannot afford to provide every treatment and technology available for every single dying patient.

“We all want to live forever. We want everything done to help us,” he told health care reporters during a discussion of Medicare and its financial pressures. “And we cannot , no one can, do absolutely everything that modern technology makes possible for absolutely everyone ‘til absolutely the very last day, the very last resort.”

He added that he understands the urge by families to push for what may be futile care. “It’s the most human thing in the world,” he said. “Your loved one is in desperate shape.” He said “we can try this thing that has almost no chance of working” but questioned whether it is worth it, especially given that “it’s going to cost an incredible amount of money.”

Many health care experts have voiced similar views, saying doctors and families need to do a better job at making choices at the end of life, but the subject has been politically taboo…