Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) Indicted for Abuse of Power by Travis County Grand Jury (Update: Perry Fires Back Calls it Partisan Politics)(Update: Even Obama Political Adviser David Axelrod Thinks Indictment is ‘Sketchy’)

Travis County, Texas grand jury proves once again Judge Saul Wachler’s famous saying that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to ‘indict a ham sandwich.’”

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury for abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for prosecutors investigating public corruption. However, the indictment reeks of political payback and political disagreements being handled via the courts.  The indictment stems from when Perry promised publicly to veto $7.5 million over two years for the Public Integrity Unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. DA Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving with a blood-alcohol nearly three times the legal limit. Perry had asked for her to resign; however, she refused.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: Gov. Perry indicted, accused of coercion, abusing power.

A Travis County grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday, accusing him of abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for prosecutors investigating public corruption — making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state’s first indicted governor in nearly a century.

A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to veto $7.5 million over two years for the Public Integrity Unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry’s calls to resign.

Although the Republican governor now has been indicted on two felony counts, politics dominates the case. Lehmberg is based in Austin, which is heavily Democratic, in contrast to most of the rest of conservative Texas. The grand jury consisted of Austin-area residents.

The unit Lehmberg oversees investigates statewide allegations of corruption and political wrongdoing. It led the investigation against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who in 2010 was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering for taking part in a scheme to influence elections in his home state — convictions later vacated by an appeals court.

Mary Anne Wiley, Perry’s general counsel, predicted Perry ultimately will be cleared of the charges against him — abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.

“The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution,” she said.

UPDATE I: Gov. Rick Perry Fires back at the bogus indictment that he abused his power.

Gov. Rick Perry fired back at the indictments and called it nothing more than outrageous and partisan politics.

“We don’t settle political differences with indictments in this country. It is outrageous that some would use partisan, political theatrics to rip away at the very fabric of our state’s Constitution. This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power. And I cannot and I will not allow that to happen … I am confident that we will ultimately prevail.  That this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it really is and those responsible will be held accountable.”

VIDEO Hat Tip – The Gateway Pundit

UPDATE II: KXAN Video – Jailers had to restrain DA Rosemary Lehmberg when she was nearly 3x’s the legal limit for DUI.

DA Rosemary Lehmberg initially denied that she was drunk to police as seen by dash cam.

DA Rosemary Lehmberg blames the police for pulling her over for DUI and ruining her career. In fact, the police did not pull her over, she had pulled over on her own in a Church parking lot. The police deputies could not believe they had the chief law enforcement officer in the country on DUI. Since then, not only did Gov. Rick Perry ask her to step down, the Austin police association asked for her to resign as well.

Honestly, how in the hell did this woman not have the common decency and respect for those who enforce and uphold the law, not resign?

UPDATE III: Even Democrat Obama political adviser David Axelrod thinks the indictment is sketchy.

“David Axelrod said that this was a very sketchy indictment,” Perry said. “Professor [Alan] Dershowitz, who’s not exactly my cheerleader, said that it was outrageous. So across the board you’re seeing people weigh in, reflecting that this is way outside of the norm…When you’ve got David Axelrod and Harvard law professor Dershowitz saying the things as they’ve said, I think it’s pretty reflective of what we’re working with here.”

HHS & HealthCare.gov Official Marilyn Tavenner: “Please Delete this Email” … More from the Most Transparent WH Administration EVER!

YUP, NOT A SMIDGEN OF CORRUPTION … And now for something completely different, the Obama administration deleting emails.

From Sharyl Attkisson comes the latest example of not a smidgen of corruption from the Obama administration.  Attkinsson reports that an email obtained by Congress shows the top official for Healthcare.gov at CMS  under the Department of HHS, Marilyn Tavenner, instructed the agency’s top spokesman to “Please delete this email.” It would appear other than golf, the Obama administrations greatest past time is deleting emails and keeping the truth from the American people. Transparency, eh?

Marilyn Tavenner – It all depend on how you interpret “delete this email”

An email obtained by Congress shows the top official for Healthcare.gov at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Department of Health and Human Services, Marilyn Tavenner, instructed the agency’s top spokesman to “Please delete this email.”

The instruction appears significant for several reasons: First, the email to be deleted included an exchange between key White House officials and CMS  officials. Second, the email was dated October 5, 2013, five days into the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov. Third, federal law requires federal officials to retain copies of –not delete– email exchanges. And fourth, the document to be deleted is covered under Congressional subpoena as well as longstanding Freedom of Information requests made by members of the media (including me).

In a letter today, House Energy and Commerce leaders asked Tavenner to explain why she asked her colleague to delete the email, and the letter questions whether there are other instances in which she instructed HHS staff to delete emails. The letter also asks for more details regarding Congressional subpoenaed documents, including Tavenner emails, that CMS recently said might be permanently lost; and it requests an explanation as to why redactions are made in some documents provided to Congress so far.

Tavernier Email Trail

And So Her 2016 Presidential Campaign Begins, Hillary Clinton Blames Rise of Islamic Militants (ISIS) on Obama’s Failed Policies & “Stupid Stuff”

Hillary Clinton blames Islamic militants rise on Barack Obama’s failed policies. But what difference does it make Hillary?

Suddenly, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blames US foreign policy failures under President Barack Obama for the rise of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. Of course the follow up question would be, what foreign policy? In an interview with The Atlantic, Hillary suggested that Obama lacked a strategy for dealing with the jihadist threat. She said, “Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle.”  Hillary was  referring to an Obama slogan. OUCH. Hey Libs and Dems, that’s Hillary Clinton agreeing with Conservatives and Republicans. How are them apples?

Obama and Hillary in friendlier times

The Gateway Pundit reminds us of what Clinton was saying on September 2011. In an interview with VOA Hillary Clinton said, “Al-Qaeda was on the path of defeat.”

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton blamed the rise of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria on failures of US policy under President Barack Obama, in an interview published Sunday.

Clinton specifically faulted the US decision to stay on the sidelines of the insurgency against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad as opening the way for the most extreme rebel faction, the Islamic State.

“The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad —- there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle -— the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton told the Atlantic.

Clinton, widely considered an undeclared presidential candidate, was an unsuccessful advocate of arming the Syrian rebels when she was secretary of state during Obama’s first term.

Hillary has lost that luvin’, sycophant feeling

The Atlantic: Hillary Clinton: ‘Failure’ to Help Syrian Rebels Led to the Rise of ISIS.

President Obama has long ridiculed the idea that the U.S., early in the Syrian civil war, could have shaped the forces fighting the Assad regime, thereby stopping al Qaeda-inspired groups—like the one rampaging across Syria and Iraq today—from seizing control of the rebellion. In an interview in February, the president told me that “when you have a professional army … fighting against a farmer, a carpenter, an engineer who started out as protesters and suddenly now see themselves in the midst of a civil conflict—the notion that we could have, in a clean way that didn’t commit U.S. military forces, changed the equation on the ground there was never true.”

Well, his former secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, isn’t buying it. In an interview with me earlier this week, she used her sharpest language yet to describe the “failure” that resulted from the decision to keep the U.S. on the sidelines during the first phase of the Syrian uprising.

“The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton said.

At one point, I mentioned the slogan President Obama recently coined to describe his foreign-policy doctrine: “Don’t do stupid shit” (an expression often rendered as “Don’t do stupid stuff” in less-than-private encounters).

This is what Clinton said about Obama’s slogan: “Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle.”

She softened the blow by noting that Obama was “trying to communicate to the American people that he’s not going to do something crazy,” but she repeatedly suggested that the U.S. sometimes appears to be withdrawing from the world stage.

But Hillary, what difference does it make? Oh, it suddenly becomes something to speak out and talk about to distance yourself from Obama’s failed policies because you want to run for president in 2016.

Classic … Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander Supporters Cannot Name One Single Accomplishment of the Two Term Politician … BEAT LAMAR, VOTE JOE CARR!!!

Sorry, if your own supporters cannot name one accomplishment of a two term US senator, then it is time to retire or be voted out in a primary challenge …

Who say’s we are not fair and balanced? We criticized Hillary Clinton supporters for not being able to name one single accomplishment for her, well we are doing the same for incumbent Republican, two term US Senator Lamar Alexander. Watch the below video from BEAT LAMAR’s Michael Patrick Leahy as he interviewed several supporters of Lamar Alexander as they went in to the exclusive invitation only Lamar Alexander bus stop tour event in Chattanooga, TN on July 29, 2014. The Incumbent US Senator from the Volunteer state is actually have a bus tour that is by invitation only. Yes Tennessee, a real man of the people will to listen to all. UNREAL.

Hey Tennessee … WAKE UP!!! You have an opportunity to affect major change and actually have a true conservative represent Tennessee. Lamar Alexander as an abysmal conservative voting record, including voting with Barack Obama on Amnesty. Are you tired of the same old, same old? Then do something about it. Show up August 7 and cast your vote …  BEAT LAMAR, VOTE JOE CARR!!!

VIDEO – via BEAT LAMAR

NBC/WSJ Poll: Barack Obama Approval Rating Hits All-Time Low … Also, 71% Say Country Headed in Wrong Direction

AMERICANS ARE FINALLY FED UP WITH BARACK OBAMA’S DISASTROUS PRESIDENCY … HOW’S THE “HOPEY-CHANGEY” STUFF WORKING OUT FOR YA?

In the most recent NBC/WSJ poll, Barack Obama’s approval rating has hit an all-time low as only 40% approve while an overwhelming 54% disapprove.  It appears the American people have finally grown weary of Obama’s disastrous presidency and 6 years into “Hope and Change,” Barack Obama has no one else left to blame but himself. He has had his opportunity to make positive change, and has only made things worse. An amazing 71% say that the country is headed in the wrong direction, while only 21% say we are on the right track. This number can be easily explained when individuals looks at the domestic and foreign policy issues and see nothing positive. The recession continues as the real unemployment rate is closer to 18%, the US debt continues to spiral out of control, median incomes are down, the US-Mexican border crisis, scandals abound and the the Middle East on the brink, failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, rise of terrorism and Obama siding with, not our allies. Even liberal Democrats have come to the reality that he is nothing but a liar.

Other poor poll results for Barack Obama handling domestic and foreign policy issues:

• The economy: 53% disapprove – 42% approve
• Foreign policy: 60% disapprove – 36% approve

Full poll results (pdf.)

Six in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the U.S. economy, more than 70 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and nearly 80 percent are down on the country’s political system, according to the latest NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll.

The frustration carries over to the nation’s political leaders, with President Barack Obama’s overall approval rating hitting a new low at 40 percent, and a mere 14 percent of the public giving Congress a thumbs up.

“We’re in the summer of our discontent,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “Americans are cranky, unhappy… It is with everything going on the world.”

What’s more, a combined 71 percent say the recession personally impacted them “a lot” or “just some,” and 64 percent say it’s still having an effect on them.

Then there are these numbers in the poll:

• 40 percent say someone in their household lost a job in the past five years;
• 27 percent say they have more than $5,000 in student-loan debt for either themselves or their children;
• 20 percent have more than $2,000 in credit card debt they are unable to pay off month to month;
• 17 percent say they have a parent or a child over 21 years old living with them for financial or health reasons.

Check out the average job approval polling at RCP, if not for that bias Republican Rasmussen poll, Obama’s average approval would be at 40%.

Source – Real Clear Politics