SEAN HANNITY

Budget Hurts Veterans The Senate is voting today on the so-called bipartisan budget deal, which passed the House last week.  Yesterday, 12 Republicans joined all of the Democrats in the Senate to invoke cloture on the bill and it is expected to pass today.  What many supporters of this bill won't tell you is that the details of the deal include cuts to our brave military veterans.  The bill cuts over $6 billion from veterans benefits over the next ten years by reducing cost of living adjustments for future military retirees.  The Washington Free Beacon estimates that this could "cost service members up to $124,000 over a 20-year period." What's missing in all of this is the belief that the best politics is good policy.  What's also missing is the ability to communicate an agenda to inspire people for a better future.  If you want to be a leader, you need to inspire and motivate.  I would argue that we have some emerging leaders in the Tea Party movement who are capable of this, but notice how establishment Republicans are doing all they can to tamper their efforts.  For example, you know it's bad when the New York Times and DC lobbyists are cheering for John Boehner in what they believe to be a "war" on the Tea Party.  If battle lines do, in fact, exist, I'm not likely to end up on the same side as the liberal media and DC elite. This budget deal does not embody bold conservative solutions, and it is a moral outrage that it fails to address the big issues and hurts our veterans in the process.   Barbara Walters Said What? In a moment of honest candor, Barbara Walters demonstrates just how deep the expectations for Barack Obama were for many people.  She told CNN's Piers Morgan, "We thought that [Barack Obama] was going to be - I shouldn't say this at Christmastime, but - the next messiah." First of all, I want to know who this "we" is that Barbara Walters is referring to.  Not everyone in America was as taken by the hope and change promised by Obama because some of us did our homework and our research.  It's as if she assumes that the entire nation was just as in love with Obama as perhaps her colleagues in the mainstream media.  There's a reason why I call it the Obama-mania media.  Between Chris Matthews getting tingles up his leg and Barbara Walters comparing Obama to Jesus, it's clear that there was an irrational love of Obama that negates any sense of impartiality among the press.  Outrageous Quotes of the Day Last week I told you about Obama's new White House advisor John Podesta.  Podesta is joining the administration after serving as the lead in Obama's transition team in 2008 and also having served as an advisor to Bill Clinton during rocky times in his presidency.  Podesta is rightly catching a lot of flak for this quote he said to the Politico: "[Team Obama] needs to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress."  Jonestown, for those of you who are not familiar, was a cult led by Jim Jones who convinced nearly 1,000 of his followers to kill themselves in a cyanide suicide pact in 1978. Podesta apologized earlier today, stating that his "snark got the better of [his] judgment."  The fact that an incoming White House advisor, someone within the president's inner circle, would say something this inappropriate to begin with is galling.  What kind of people is Obama choosing to surrounding himself with, and what does this signal for what we can expect from this White House in the future? Today's "Hot Topic" From the Hannity Forums: A Cult Worthy Of Jonestown - Posted by Mountain SoldierThe White House has already made waves this week.  Read this! So that's new White House for you. How soon until the Hitler comparisons begin? But hey, it's a Democrat saying this so he gets a pass from the liberals. Nice to know that's how the White House views the GOP. At least I can thank him for being forthright and revealing how the White House truly feels. TV Tonight (10PM ET on Fox News) Senator Ted Cruz reacts to the latest budget deals.