God Bless America

Florida's Libertarians

The Florida senate race could turn into one of the most interesting races to watch. An internal poll shows  Crist (I) leading with 40%, followed by Marco Rubio (R) at 33.5%, Kendrick Meek (D) at 9.5% and Libertarian Alex Snitker at 2.5%.

No only do we have centrist Crist battling hard-line conservative Rubio, now there is even a libertarian in the mix. And as KY showed, there is an appetite for Libertarianism in the country right now.

New Contract With America

Looks like I am not alone in hoping the GOP can capitalize on the prevailing winds by creating a solid reform platform. From ABCNews:

House Republican leaders are beginning the process of crafting a 2010 version of the "Contract with America " that proved so successful for the party in the 1990s. GOP leaders hope that the election-year agenda will help the party shed the "party of no" moniker that Democrats have sought to pin on them during President Obama's administration. They kick off the effort at a Tuesday press conference in Washington, D.C.

"There are a number of seats that you get just by being 'no,'" Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican spearheading the effort, told ABC News. "But you don't get a majority by just being 'no.' You've got to say what you're for."

Majority Want Obamacare Repealed

Rasmussen reports 63 percent of voters support the repeal of Obamacare... the most to-date. Only 32 percent oppose the all-out repeal of Obama's signature overhaul. Support for repeal had been ranging from 54% to 58%.

I'll say it again, so much could go well for conservatives this November if they can just develop a viable alternative. 

My New Favorite Candidate

This one just made me laugh...and like the guy all at the same time! Makes me wish I lived in Alabama.

CT Back in Play

After Richard Blumenthal (D) exaggerated his military record, a new Rasmussen survey in Connecticut shows him only three points ahead of Linda McMahon (R) in the U.S. Senate race. And we have to assume news of this has only begun to saturate the CT news market. In a week he should be behind.

If CT could gain a GOP senator, the New England moderate faction would have a solid nucleus.

Linda McMahon (R)

Scott Brown (R)

Kelly Ayotte (R) Likely winner in NH

Susan Collins (R)

Olympia Snowe (R)

Joe Lieberman (I)

Tuesday's Results: What do They Mean?

Here is what happened last night.

Kentucky
Rand Paul (R) beat Trey Grayson (R) for the Republican Senate nomination. Grayson had been Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and national Republicans.

Jack Conway (D) beat Dan Mongiardo (D) for the Democratic Senate nomination. National Democrats always preferred Conway.

Pennsylvania
Rep. Joe Sestak (D) defeats Sen. Arlen Specter (D) for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. Thats karma for you. However, Sestak runs better against Toomey.

PA-12 

Mark Critz (D) defeats Tim Burns (R) in the special election for the late Rep. John Murtha's (D-PA) seat.

Bottom line? Last night actually went pretty well for Democrats. In KY they got the most favorable general election match up; and in PA they defended a seat and nominated the stronger candidate. If the GOP thought it could sit back and ride a wave of Tea Party angst, it was wrong. Conservatives still have a shot at control of the House in the fall, but they need to start articulating a message beyond just voter frustration.

Kagan, USSC & Socialism

I admit to not knowing a lot about Obama's USSC nominee, Elena Kagan. However, from the little I heard she sounded like a middle of the road if left of center person, who was probably the best we could hope for from a far left president. then I read her undergraduate thesis emphasis mine-

In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories rather than of socialism's greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force? Why, in particular did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation's established parties?

In answering this question, historians have often called attention to various charcteristics of American society... an ethnically-divided working class, a relatively fluid class structure, an economy which allowed at least some workers to enjoy what Sombart termed "reefs of roast beef and apple pie"--prevented the early twentieth century socialists from attracting an immediate mass following. Such conditions did not, however, completely checkmate American socialism.... Yet in the years after World War I, this expanding and confident movement almost entirely collapsed....

From the New York socialist movement's birth, sectarianism and dissension ate away at its core. Substantial numbers of SP members expressed deep and abiding dissatisfaction with the brand of reform socialism advocated by the party's leadership. To these left-wingers, constructive socialism seemed to stress insignificant reforms at the expense of ultimate goals. How, these revolutionaries angrily demanded, could the SP hope to attract workers if it did not distinguish itself from the many progressive parties, if it did not proffer an enduring and radiant ideal? How, the constructivists angrily replied, could the SP hope to attract workers if it did not promise them immediate benefits, if it did not concern itself with their present burdens?...

Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP exhausted itself forever.... The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.

 Sounds awfully cozy to the idea of radical socialism. Troubling? Or just the normal radical musings of an undergrad?

Here Comes Giuliani Again

While I never thought he would make it as President, I have always liked Rudy and I am pleased that he is still a part of the national conversation. He is a moderate who is tough on crime and strong on national security- which is right on target for me. According to Politico he is making a resurgence of sorts.

He was on political life support after his disastrous 2008 presidential run, but Rudy Giuliani has positioned himself in a critical year as a potent Republican fundraiser and the party’s star surrogate for hammering the White House on terror.

After deciding against a run for governor after a prolonged flirtation with a bid, the former New York City mayor has upped his political and paid-speaking travel schedule. In June, he’ll make his first public visit to New Hampshire since the single-digit, fourth-place finish there in the January 2008 Republican presidential primary that triggered his fast fall from front-runner to also-ran.

His high-profile reemergence, coinciding with the return of terror to the national headlines and numerous Sunday shows appearances bashing the president on the issue, leaves little doubt that he wants to be in the national mix. What’s less clear is what Giuliani is looking for in his next act.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)...For President?

I love this guy!

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'

Does America Need a Third Party?

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, shows that 31% of Americans think the two party system is seriously broken and that America needs a third party, and 52% say that it has real problems but that it can still work with some improvements. 15% of Americans believe the two-party system works fairly well. 

A couple of thoughts.

 

First, this poll was of Americans, not voting Americans. In terms of politics, only voters matter. This poll was sort of like asking people who don't follow baseball to comment on the MLB. Big stories that break through, like steroids, would have an inflated effect. If this poll only questioned those who "follow the game" of politics I suspect fewer would be dissatisfied.

 

Second, would a third party really be any different? Sure for the first go around it would have ideological purity, but after a few election cycles its members would have accumulated the same baggage that our current two parties have. Human nature is what it is. 

 

What do you think?

Obamacare, Savings Gone

It has only been a couple months and already Obamacare is costing us more. From ABC:

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the health care reform legislation would cost, over the next ten years, $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion.

The revised figure is due to estimated costs to federal agencies to implement the new health care reform bill – such as administrative expenses for the Internal Revenue Services and the Department of Health and Human Services -- and the costs for a "variety of grant and other program spending for which specified funding levels for one or more years are provided in the act.

CBO had originally estimated that the health care reform bill would result in a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion from 2010-2019; this revised number would eliminate most of that savings.

Bad News For Massachusetts GOP

Well this is depressing. A  Rasmussen survey in Massachusetts shows Gov. Deval Patrick (D) taking a 14-point lead over Charlie Baker (R), and has Tim Cahill (I) a distant third in the three-way race for governor. Here are the numbers: Patrick 45%, Baker 31%, Cahill 14%.


Let's hope Cahill eventually drops out so that the non-Patrick vote is no longer split.

Projectd Budget in 2020- Thoughts?

 

Source: CBO via Mankiw

Play Ball...Not Politics

Sen. Robert Menendez, Democrat from NJ, "is urging Major League baseball players to boycott the 2011 All Star game, which is scheduled to take place in Phoenix, to protest Arizona's tough new immigration law," according to the New York Times. Regardless of your views on this bill, baseball players are not politicians, their are not a political action group, and should not be staging organized protests.

Maine GOP Tilts Away From Moderate Model

 

According to the Portland Press Herald   "In a move that seemed to surprise many members of Maine's Republican Party, a group of tea party-style activists redefined the party platform at the convention Saturday," the reports. Doesn't sound like the delegation that nominated Collins and  Snowe.  Maine Politics offers this commentary, "The official platform for the Republican Party of Maine is now a mix of right-wing fringe policies, libertarian buzzwords and outright conspiracy theories." 

 

This is not the kind of conservative politics that will re-establish the GOP in New England. There is so much promise right now. MA has Scott Brown and a strong gubernatorial candidate in Charlie Baker.  NH looks like it will hold its Republican Senate seat. Delaware has Mike Castle in the driver's seat. What do all of these politicians have in common? A common sense conservatism that is strong on fiscal policy and moderate on social issues. This is what works for the general electorate in New England. I hope Maine is not a forerunner of more cutting-the-nose-off-to-spite the face moves by state GOP's.

Joe Sestak in The Lead

The latest tracking poll in Pennsylvania has Sestak with the lead over Specter in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary race, 44% to 42%. Sestak clearly has the momentum. How ironic when you consider Specter switched parties to avoid a tough primary.

Required Viewing: GM, Tarp & How to Pay Back a Loan

Today I want to post two competing video clips. The first is the TV ad that is in wide circulation now showing Ed Whitacre, GM's chairman & CEO boasting, about how GM has paid back their loans.





Aside from the fact that this is basically a political ad, since GM is now owned by the government and Obama's and the Democrat's agenda and reelection depend on it's success, it is also factual dishonest. For a good explanation of why and how I offer the second clip of the day, from Reason.tv:

GM's Shell Game

I have had more than one liberal friend tell me that the GM bailout was a success. After all, they have paid it back, with interest. Right? Well, no, they have not. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pointing out that GM has apparently paid back its TARP money with...more TARP money. The shell game ensues. Here is an excerpt from Grassley's letter:

[I]t is unclear how GM and the Administration could have accurately announced yesterday that GM repaid its TARP loans in any meaningful way. In reality, it looks like GM merely used one source of TARP funds to repay another. The taxpayers are still on the hook...
The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were "repaid" with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the Administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials. When these criticisms were put to GM’s Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky in a television interview yesterday, he admitted that the criticisms were valid:
Question: Are you just paying the government back with government money?
Mr. Girsky: Well listen, that is in effect true, but a year ago nobody thought we’d be able to pay this back.

 Rep. Paul Ryan comments on this issue in our new featured video.

VAT: Taxe Reform a Possibility?

 From The Hill , emphasis, mine:

The idea of a value-added tax (VAT), attacked by national Republicans ever since it was floated by a White House adviser, has some GOP supporters in Congress.

Five Republican House members are co-sponsors of a bill by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) that would impose a border tax on imports similar to an importing country's VAT if the U.S. government couldn't negotiate a way to cut trade imbalances. In the Senate, George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has suggested that replacing income taxes with a VAT could be one way to streamline the tax code.

While I am always leery of the government even talking about new taxes, if they gave serious consideration to replacing one kind for another I think we owe it to ourselves to at least listen.

Is Karma Catching Up With Specter?

Areln Specter (D), the first GOP defector of the Obama era has been enjoying a double digit lead over his primary opponent, Joe Sestak. However, hte times they are a-changing.

An internal poll "conducted for another campaign" shows Specter's lead has dwindled to 9 points, 47% to 38%.

Additionally, new Muhlenberg College/Morning Call tracking poll of likely voters  finds Rep. Joe Sestak (D) gaining on Sen. Arlen Specter (D) in their U.S. Senate primary.

Crist Takes Fast Lead

A  McLaughlin & Associates poll now shows Gov. Charlie Crist ahead of the competition with 33%, followed by Marco Rubio (R) at 29% and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) at 15%.

Crist takes more votes from Meek than Rubio.  41% of Dems say they would vote for him compared to 31% for Meek.