Romney has resisted releasing his tax returns, and his campaign has thus far refused to provide the hard proof to back up his claims about Bain.

“Governor Romney has claimed to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain, and people are wanting to know: is there proof?” Palin told Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Rick Tyler, former Gingrich aide and head of Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC, has already accused Romney of having created those 100,000 jobs in Asia and Mexico. Earlier this week, Big Government pointed out that Romney’s claim to have created 100,000 jobs contrasts with claims he made during his 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, when he claimed to have created 10,000 jobs at Bain. Romney retired from Bain Capital in 1999.

Palin said that Romney needed to come clean about his record, given the likelihood that Democrats would probe the tax issue and Romney’s tenure at Bain if he were to become the Republican nominee.

The former Alaska governor also told Hannity that she did not think it was inevitable that Romney would become the Republican nominee.

“The majority has not yet coalesced around one,” she said, adding that conservatives were still searching for the right “free market, pro-military” candidate to back.

She also attacked the Obama administration’s creation of large new debts, excoriating the president for cutting defense spending before doing anything to address the financial instability of America’s entitlement programs.

Palin will be keynoting the February 11 CPAC convention, as announced on January 5, 2012.

***

BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said Tuesday that if elected he would end lifetime appointments for federal judges and slash the pay for federal lawmakers, effectively turning Congress into a part-time institution.

In a speech laying out how he would “uproot and overhaul” Washington, the Texas governor suggested that his Washington outsider background—unlike some of his GOP rivals—would help him succeed at changing the city’s culture. Changing Washington also was one of President Barack Obama’s goals and he’s had no success on that front since taking office.

“Unique to the Republican field, I have never been an establishment figure, have never served in Congress or part of an administration and have never been a paid lobbyist,” Perry said. “My career has been that of a Washington outsider.”

Until he jumped into the presidential race in August, Perry spent his entire political career in his home state of Texas.

The plan Perry rolled out at a heating and cooling company in Iowa also calls for requiring a two-thirds vote in Congress for any tax increases, halting all proposed federal regulations and criminalizing insider trading by Washington lawmakers.

Perry includes the president in the call for a pay cut and said lawmakers’ pay would be halved again—or essentially slashed by three-fourths—if the federal budget isn’t balanced by 2020.

The president’s annual salary is $400,000. Members of Congress not in leadership positions earn $174,000 a year.

“We should cut the salary of the president of the United States in half until that budget is balanced,” he said.

With voting set to begin in Iowa in less than two months, Perry is looking to turn around his once high-flying campaign. He is no longer a top-tier candidate, largely because of disappointing debate performances, including an embarrassing blunder in front of his rivals last week when he struggled to name the three federal departments he says he’d dismantle if elected.

The plan Perry unveiled Tuesday lets him stress his outsider credentials at a time when large swaths of the public say they are fed up with Washington and its seeming inability to function. Several of Perry’s rivals either are or have been members of Congress, or have served in presidential administrations, including Obama’s.

“The issue this election is not whether Washington is broken, but how we go about fixing it,” said Perry. “There are two approaches and even my own party is split.”

Throughout his speech, Perry sought to distinguish himself from his Republican rivals while not mentioning them by name.

“There are some who want to tinker with the status quo, they want to work within the current system to achieve marginal change,” he said of his rivals. “Then there are those who believe Washington is too broken to be fixed by tinkering within the margins.”

The plan also helps Perry appeal to conservatives who deplore activist judges, tax increases and government regulations. He added to that by attacking the financial industry bailout. Taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for bad decisions by stockholders, he said.

Perry claims the proposal is far more aggressive than any of the other Republicans who are challenging him for the right to go up against President Barack Obama next November because of his promise to do away with lifetime tenure for federal judges.

He focused the speech on judges and turning Congress into a part-time institution. A constitutional amendment would be required to eliminate lifetime appointments for federal judges. They are allowed, under the Constitution, to hold office during “good behavior”—interpreted to mean for the rest of their lives, unless they voluntarily step down.

“Too many federal judges rule with immunity from the bench and those who legislate from the bench should not be entitled to lifetime abuse of their judicial authority,” Perry said.

Polls have shown that voters have little regard for Congress, a sentiment Perry played on by arguing for deep cuts in congressional budgets and limiting the time lawmakers spend in Washington.

“Congress is out of touch because congressmen are overpaid, overstaffed and away from home too much,” he said. “It’s time to create a part-time Congress where their pay is cut half, their office budgets are cut in half and their time in Washington is cut in half.”

In Washington, House Minority leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., questioned the seriousness of Perry’s proposal and suggested he was pandering to tea party supporters.

“Is this a serious proposal he is making for a country that has very high unemployment, whose budget deficit is larger than it has ever been in history, where we have two wars that we are confronting and trying to bring to a conclusion?” Hoyer said. “If this is what he thinks is pandering to the tea party, it is not in my opinion speaking to the issues that the American people feel are very, very critical to them.”

Perry said he was not surprised by Hoyer’s reaction.

“It’s not a surprise to me when I laid out this fundamental reform that I talk about and ask the American people to consider a part-time citizen Congress, that career politicians like Steny Hoyer don’t like my plan to overhaul Washington,” Perry told conservative radio host Sean Hannity. “They’re making a great living up there.”

Latest update on the lack of progress for Dems and Republicans to reach a tax deal. Yesterday Democrats of the Super Committee rejected Republicans’ offer to “raise federal tax collections by nearly $300 billion over the next decade.”

Senator Rand Paul exclusively has JUST told Sean that not only are Democrats rejecting offers put on the table, but now they won’t even continue to negotiate and have “walked away from the table…refusing to talk to the Republicans.”

Paul warns the American people that this is all about Obama’s reelection, and the taxpayers livelihood is of no concern to Obama and the Democrats.

Audio verbate: Senator Rand Paul (KY) on the Sean Hannity radio show Nov. 9, 2011:
P:Sean can I make it up to you by giving you a scoop, that maybe people don’t know yet?

S: Yeah what you got it

P: I have news straight from sources close to the SuperCommittee that the Democrats have walked away from the table and they’re refusing to talk to the Republicans about a deal and they will not counter any offers and basically there’s an impass and it’s starting to look like they don’t want any deal at all.

S: This was all being telegraphed by Chuck Shcumer yesterday, I am sure you saw it on TV

S: They want to say that because Republicans will not raise taxes they are rigid. THat we are not going to have a deal on teh economy.I think the democrats are just gonna be happy gutting the defense department, which is part of this deal.

P: And the truth is quite the opposite the republicans have offered tax reform that lowers tax rates and closes loopholes.

Read more here. Bless the GOP’s heart. They really think this is about negotiating a compromise in good faith. It’s been decades since the Democrats played that game.

And here we are. It’s late 2011, and the Organizer-in-Chief has proven that his only strength lies in his ability to organize those who hate America—hating both the economic system embedded in her and the ideals on which she stands.

To put it bluntly, “Occupy Wall Street” is Obama’s America. He has organized it, perhaps indirectly, but has done so nonetheless via his relentless venom for “the rich” coupled with his ongoing calls for more people to sacrifice and to “pay their fair share.” Of course, he doesn’t mean the hippies and freaks in the protests should pay their share. Rather, he is fostering a feeling of betrayal in them so they will continue to “rage against the machine.”

Look at it, folks–Obama’s America. Ain’t it great? It’s a place where law is disparaged (you can defecate on police cars), capitalism is hated (“eat the rich”), and people are entitled to take money from others even if the takers played no role in earning the money they crave (especially if they played no role in earning it).

Hippies, freaks and union goons, all together in Obama’s community, have organized to oppose everything great about America. All the little ideologues are trying their best to imitate the masters:  Obama, Marx, and that Jimmy Hoffa dude who loves to tell Obama “this is your army”, “we are ready to march” and a bunch of other nonsense.

Since this is Obama’s army–the community he has organized–I suppose he gets the credit for their great accomplishments. You know, the vandalism in Oakland, the sexual assault at Occupy Dallas, the policemen attacked at Occupy Denver, the drug overdose at Occupy Vancouver, the kidnapping at Occupy Cleveland, and sexual predator/Seattle Occupier who was busted for exposing himself to kids at Seattle’s classy occupation. This is what “hope and change” looks like when you flesh it out, when you take it out of the leftist playbook and apply it to the real world.

Our Organizer-in-Chief has really outdone himself this time. Welcome to Obama’s America.

This all seemed innocent enough at first, but after I heard Axelrod’s announcement for the 8^th time over the course of a couple days it became evident that he and Obama weren’t picking the presumptive Republican candidate as much as they were picking the candidate they hoped they would get a chance to run against. (Seriously folks, if you’re Obama, what could be better than to run against a candidate who instituted his own form of Obamacare in Massachusetts, who still supports subsidies for ethanol, and who refuses to sign pro-life pledges when presented with them?)

But things don’t always go as planned. And on August 12^th, students of American politics learned this lesson anew when Sarah Palin rolled into the Iowa State Fair unannounced.

People who long ago realized Romney is just John McCain in taller boots flocked to Palin. They crowded around her at the fair and asked the very question the MSM has labeled passé – “Are you running for president?”

The New York Times covered her appearance with this headline: “Palin Spotted – and Swarmed – at Iowa State Fair.”

Reuters said, “Palin Stokes 2012 speculation with Iowa appearance.”

And RealClearPolitics.com reported that Palin’s appearance gave voters a glimpse at “what her campaign would look like.”

Question for Axelrod: Romney who?

To make matters worse for those who have either tried to seize on the weakest candidate possible or who have written Palin off altogether, she took part in Sean Hannity’s live broadcast from the fair and blew the doors off of it. In her normal, commonsense manner, she told the audience to hold current politicians of both parties accountable, and “make sure they’re not getting away with saying government is the answer.” She stressed the need to “cut spending, balance the budget, and pursue energy independence.”

Her message to Congress – “Cut the crap and balance!”

Folks, you’ve probably all seen the pictures by now, but those of you who haven’t can trust me when I say the crowds at the fair literally descended upon Palin in droves.

Iowans love her, the American people love her, and Obama fears her (I really believe this is so).

I didn’t see any headlines about Romney being “swarmed” by crowds, but rumor has it that Axelrod was last seen pacing in his office with a worried look on his face.

But 10 days later – July 21^st – I realized that Deputy Cole’s hypocrisy was nothing compared that demonstrated by Big Sis and her video crew at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I say this because the DHS just released a video ostensibly designed to encourage Americans to report suspicious terror-related activity when they see it: however, the message of the video is not actually about terrorism the way we’ve experienced it in the real world. Rather, it’s a public relations stunt in which every terrorist is depicted as white and almost every one who reports the suspicious activity is black, Asian, or Middle Eastern.

And early in the video, as the narrator describes the tragedy of terroristic acts against our nation, pictures of Ted Kaczynski, Tim McVeigh, and other white criminals are shown on the screen.

I actually believe that deep down inside, some of the hardcore lefties are thrilled with what McVeigh did because it finally gave them an example of a white bomber they can flash on the screen every time a Muslim extremist attacks the U.S.S. Cole or the World Trade Centers or the Pentagon or tries to blow up a plane with an underwear bomb or a shoe bomb or opens fire on Ft. Hood or shoots recruiters at the Little Rock recruitment center or blows himself up in a roadside attack against out soldiers, etc., etc.

The theme of the DHS video is, “If you see something, say something.” But to be honest with you, they should have called it “middle class white guys with bad intentions,” because it is completely framed around the idea that middle class white guys are the gravest threat our country faces (as far as terrorism goes).

And if you think I’ve somehow misjudged what the DHS intended to accomplish with the video, just consider the fact that about three quarters of the way through the thing, after the narrator has encouraged us to report suspicious activity when we see it, he adds the caveat: “It’s important to carefully consider what you observe. Reported suspicious activity should not be based on a person’s race, religion, or gender.” (Call me crazy, but I think those who attacked the U.S.S. Cole, the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, Ft. Hood, and the Little Rock recruitment center, were all of a similar race, as well as the same religion and gender. I even think the underwear bomber and the shoe bomber were thus aligned in all three areas as well.)

In a nutshell, the DHS has released a video about stopping terrorism that has nothing to do with stopping terrorism and everything to do with showing the world that we understand militant Islamists are people too.

It’s nearly ten minutes of blatant propaganda aimed at convincing us that Sean Hannity fits the mold for a terrorist, while the late Osama bin Laden fit the mold for a patriot. (Speaking of bin Laden, I think there’s a good chance this video is the Obama administration’s way of telling Muslim countries we’re sorry we had to kill him.)

By the way, great news!  Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World has been hovering between #1 and #2 on the Amazon Bestseller’s List in Non-Fiction, and between #10 and #12 Overall. Congratulations, Andrew!!!

Check out Andrew’s list of upcoming appearances and other press coverage.