“She represents a +15 GOP district that voted for George Bush and John McCain for president by 63% and 62% respectively. ” She was elected in 1996, and is serving her 8th full term in Congress. She believes her mission in life is to solve world hunger—whether its through foreign aid or food stamps here in this country that we can no longer afford. But if people start eating too much, well hold it right it there, because the federal government has a role in controlling obesity too. She will subsidize anything. Tobacco, sugar, peanuts, milk, mohair, energy, Fannie and Freddie, the Postal Service, the DC metro system, small businesses, and the purchases of auto consumers (Cash for Clunkers). Increasing the minimum wage? She is a fan. Price controls on prescription drugs? She co-sponsored the bill. Davis-Bacon? She supports it. She has voted the wrong way on almost every big bill that her party got wrong on principle since coming to Congress: No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, Medicare Part D, TARP (twice), multiple farms bills, multiple highway bills, SCHIP, etc. She wants to tax the internet, voting not to extend the moratorium on internet taxation. She wants oil and gas companies to pay more in taxes and be treated differently than other companies. She is an appropriator, and a “cardinal” who chairs a subcommittee. She opposed comprehensive reforms to improve a budget process geared to spend. She opposed the line-item veto. She opposed a cap on entitlement spending even though appropriators are notorious for arguing that discretionary spending isn’t the problem, just exploding entitlements. She supported none of the Hefley 1% cuts. She has never supported a budget offered by the conservative Republican Study Committee. In casting over a hundred votes on whether to cut special-interest earmarks out of spending bills, I can literally find only two example where she was willing to support such an amendment. Both were this year. One was John Murtha’s National Drug Intelligence Center that has become controversial, causing her to flip her earlier support . And the other was to reinstate an earmark for Alaska’s Don Young, which probably had more to do with sticking with her appropriators who wrote the bill than anything. But these exceptions run up hard against the rest of her earmark votes: a Johnstown industry “incubator” (another Murtha earmark), a West Virginia research corporation, a planning and urban research in San Francisco, the infamous Charlie Rangel center, a Wisconsin regional planning commission, among many. As late as FY 2010, at the peak of outrage over earmarks, she was still funneling $30 million in earmarks being included in various bills, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. She currently scores a 49% on the Heritage Action scorecard. No boys and girls. She is not Carolyn Maloney from NYC, Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco or Jan Schakowsky from Illinois. She represents a +15 GOP district that voted for George Bush and John McCain for president by 63% and 62% respectively. She is now the chairman of the remaining Republican liberals in the House, the Tuesday Group. She is Jo Ann Emerson, and she represents Missouri’s 8th district. She needs to be primaried.
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Paging the Missouri Tea Party: Here’s One to Primary
One of my favorite groups in Washington is Heritage Action for America. A major indicator of their success is that the Washington GOP Establishment planted a story in Roll Call about their lack of influence. The article was clearly planted by House Republican leadership staffers, the same staffers who planted a story about me in the Washington Post at the end of July about how I have no influence and nobody listens to me. Two weeks after these House leadership aides declared, anonymously, that I had no influence I introduced Rick Perry at the RedState Gathering where he declared his candidacy for President. No influence. It is the same with Heritage Action for America. You know a conservative wields influence when House leadership staffers push out stories about the conservatives’ lack of influence, but are too chicken to go on record about it. Nobodies don’t get booed. Kicking off the attack was Congressman Geoff Davis of Kentucky ( HAFA Score: 63% ) telling Ginni Thomas at the Daily Caller that “Heritage Action is a self-interested fundraising organization led by a former Giuliani staffer who is not taking counsel from real conservatives … It is a worthless organization to the conservative movement. I’ll be the first to say that.” Congressman Davis, who opposed social security reform, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform, and offshore drilling while supporting farm subsidies, cash for clunkers, green energy subsidies, the AFL-CIO, and NEA spending, was the only person willing to go on record attacking HAFA. Heritage Action for America is so worthless in fact that House Republican Leadership staffers are forced to give anonymous quotes to Washington newspapers about how no one listens to HAFA. By the way, the sources are most likely from Eric Cantor’s Office ( HAFA Score: 60% ). I say this rather factually because the Politico was the first to drum up an anti-HAFA piece and a source at the Politico all but flat out told me it was Cantor’s office more than Boehner’s office pushing the line of attack. Same with the “Erickson and RedState have no influence” story at the Washington Post . Not that Boehner’s office has clean hands, but his office doesn’t yet seem to be the driving force behind these stories. In fact, with the Politico story, which substantially changed from its original form, the key motivator was a feeling among some leadership staff that Heritage Action for America is staffed by people who went to Washington and decided it was more important to fight for conservative causes than to sell out for the “greater good” of the Republican Team. Frankly, in my experience, conservatives who sell out their values are usually the most embittered, angry people in Washington — full of self-loathing every time they look in the mirror and realize, in the quiet of the night, what sell outs to their own values they’ve become. But unable to hate themselves, they hate those who haven’t sold out instead. Outside of the psychology of these hit pieces, what is interesting is that while, like with me, leadership aides are unwilling to go on the record to smear HAFA, congressmen are willing to go on record to defend HAFA. Congressman Jim Jordan, leader of the conservatives in the House, (HAFA Score: 96%) took to their defense as did South Carolina Congressman Mick Mulvaney (HAFA Score: 95%), and my Congressman, Austin Scott of Georgia, (HAFA Score: 80%) has used Heritage Action For America’s support on legislation as a key selling point for why other members of Congress should sign on to legislation. The latest “they’ve got no influence” story came after House leaders were able to get a highway bill through with a voice vote when Heritage Action had scored against it. The reaction by members of Congress and the backpedaling of leadership (and of Senators) on this legislation suggests that instead of having no influence, Republican Congressmen are scared to death of HAFA and fear not only being on record against them, but also being in opposition to them. Like with RedState, these hit jobs from Republicans come because Republican Leaders in Washington, who campaigned throughout 2010 saying they’d learned the lessons of 2006, are being proven squishy and resent their conservative base holding them accountable for betraying the trust not just of the Republican base, but of the American people.
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Nobodies Don’t Get Booed
Today President Obama announced the nomination of Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger to head the Council of Economic Advisers. Krueger is already a veteran of both the Obama and Clinton administrations.
As Soon As Obama Is Gone, He'll Build Another One Just Like It! Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn held a corporate conference call. Seeking Alpha did the thankless work of listening in and then blogging the transcript. It was the typical cheer-leading sales event until Mr. Wynn was asked the following by an analyst from Deutsche Bank Securities. …back to Las Vegas, does it not make sense to expand your meeting square footage? – William Lerner – Deutsche Bank Securities The epic response follows below. Well, here’s our problem. There are a host of opportunities for expansion in Las Vegas, a host of opportunities to create tens of thousands of jobs in Las Vegas. I know that I could do 10,000 more myself and according to the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Convention Bureau, if we hired 10,000 employees, it would create another 20,000 additional jobs for a grand total of 30,000. So Mr. Wynn just verified what a lot of people claim. The opportunities to invest are there, and the capital has been formed to exploit them. Yet the capital sits on the sidelines of its own volition. Mr. Wynn then explains why. I believe in Las Vegas. I think its best days are ahead of it. But I’m afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States. Mr. Wynn then proceeds with specifics. Given his stalwart and continuing support of Nevada Senator Harry Reid, we’re sure to hear all about the iniquitous Tea Party. But no…. And I’m saying it bluntly, that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime. And I can prove it and I could spend the next 3 hours giving you examples of all of us in this market place that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our healthcare costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right. A President that seems — that keeps using that word redistribution. A part of me harbors no sympathy for a business man who votes for and generously helped fund America’s leading repository of Marxian philosophy. Just who’s wealth did this jack-ass think Barack I intended to spread? But he goes on, and it gets more entertaining. Well, my customers and the companies…..they are frightened of this administration. And it makes you ….not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America. You bet. And until we change…..the conversation from Washington, it’s not going to change. And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. This suggests liberalism really isn’t any fun when it gets inflicted on you instead of the other guy. It also demonstrates quite eloquently that you don’t have to like Mr. Wynn to understand well that he votes with his money and with his property every day when he goes to work and makes decisions. He may like Democrats, but he isn’t intending to lose his money just to make one happy. And a lot of people don’t want to say that. They’ll say, “Oh God, don’t be attacking Obama.” Well, this is Obama’s deal, and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America. The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution, and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don’t invest or holding too much money. We haven’t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Begorra! He strongly implies Obama is a pure socialist. He even disputes the gospel according to the DNC that this is all Bush’s fault! Everybody’s afraid of the government, and there’s no need to soft peddling it, it’s the truth.…..And I’m telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he’s gone, everybody’s going to be sitting on their thumbs. And that, more than anything else, probably explains why stimulus, QE2, Cash For Clunkers, HAMP, and all the rest of the garbage this administration has thrown at the current recession have all massively failed. FDR could at least partially succeed with The New Deal, because, by and large, people trusted the guy dealing the cards. This is not true of the current administration. Mr. Wynn, a prominent Democratic Party donor, just said that will remain true until Barack I is out of office. 2012 is not soon enough. Update: Realclearpolitics has the audio of Mr. Wynn speaking truth to America! Update II: Apparantly Mrs Wynn, Not Mr. Wynn was the Obamacrat. From Comments. http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2008/nov/20/elaine-wynn-embracing-change/ “Much to Mr. Wynn’s dismay, Elaine held several fundraisers for Obama, donned an Obama T-shirt to knock on doors and gave the maximum $4,600 to the campaign even as Steve gave the same to John McCain. ”
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Buyer’s Remorse In Sin City. Steve Wynn Regrets His Support For Obama.
Left wing journolister, Ezra Klein, posted an article yesterday wherein he argues that the economy will continue to suck, we should all prepare for tax hikes, and Pawlenty is lying. He comes to his authoritative conclusion by consulting an economic megamind consisting of people made famous for being wrong, and/or being tied to Think Progress, but I repeat myself. Ezra begins his article by having Jared Bernstein define the economic speed limit as, “the growth rate of productivity plus the growth rate of the labor force”, no problems here really. I am sure Ezra would have liked more from Bernstein, but then he’s the other name on the infamous Romer-Bernstein graph on the effects of stimulus on unemployment … Romer-Bernstein This graph is what led to Okun’s Law being spun to create the Orwellian concept of jobs ‘Saved or Created’ . Our next Klein megamind member , Clinton appointee to the Fed and early Cash for Clunkers proponent, Alan Blinder picks up Okun’s Law and applies it with a fixed constant, building a nice straw man he can then knockdown. There is a relation between growth and unemployment just as there is between taxation and revenues, and just like the Laffer curve, this relationship is qualitative not quantitative. “Trend growth is three percent or so, five percent growth would be two percentage points higher[ ed. note Wow! Did you see those wicked math skills?? -AG ], which should cut the unemployment rate by about one percentage point per year. So after 10 years, it will have fallen from nine percent to minus-one percent. Nice trick!” I’ll admit to being an economic simpleton, but even so I believe there to be a obvious flaw and fundamental disconnect here. I’ll quote someone far brighter than I am to make the point, long time contributor to RedState and frequent guest of Coffee & Markets, Francis Cianfrocca… The real unstated piece here is that the economy is currently performing far below capacity. According to a study quoted by Jack Welch, we could grow GDP by something like 12% without adding a single new job. And you’d better believe that if the opportunity ever comes to add that growth, that’s exactly how the guys running the big companies will do it. So the simple Okun’s Law multiplier that Alan Blinder is obviously quoting isn’t operative anymore. That’s one problem. So, while Ezra and the megamind are talking about the speed limit set by Okun’s Law they’re totally disregarding the fact that the economic policies of the current administration have us moving about 15mph under the speed limit like some weirdo riding a bicycle while wearing mom jeans. We will have to have growth just to get to capacity, after that we can have real growth and talk about the effects of Okun’s Law as a rule of thumb. Rounding out Klein’s megamind, and source for various left wing talking point regurgitators, is Think Progress’ Michael Linden and his deep analysis of Pawlenty’s tax plan. Linden is a fine fellow from the Center for American Progress, and Ezra assures the reader that his models are “[t] he most respected tax models.” Based on these models, Klein argues that the tax cuts in Gov. Pawlenty’s plan will decrease revenue and result in a deficit of $8.4 trillion, even with an 18% cap on spending. Oh dear! That sounds bad, doesn’t it? I went down the rabbit hole of links from Klein to Linden, there I found that the models came from the Tax Policy Center’s analysis of Paul Ryan’s plan. Linden had just multiplied it by two. Lot’s of heavy lifting there Michael, make sure you don’t get a hernia. The point I will make about these “most respected tax models” is simple, and in fact the Tax Policy Center made the point first… The table does not estimate the revenue effects of the entire FY 2012 Budget Resolution proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). The proposed resolution includes measures to broaden the individual and corporate tax bases, but lacks sufficient detail for an estimate including those provisions. Because they can’t quantify the broadening of the tax base they assume it to be zero. The model is inherently flawed, and cannot be trusted as an accurate prediction of what our revenue would be if the base broadening measure were enacted. And this doesn’t even touch on the growth effect that other policies, not directly related to taxation, would have on our economic productivity. Multiplying it by two and changing your target to Pawlenty doesn’t change the inherent flaw. If the Klein megamind had ever bothered to read the works of people like Burke , they’d have realized that economic freedom is the seed from which prosperity and economic growth sprouts… And what is the soil or climate where experience has not uniformly proved that the voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than could be squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the politic machinery in the world? Lowering the tax and regulatory burden on producers and job creators while also limiting congressional spending will have a demonstrably positive effect on economic growth in the United States. Creating an environment where business is embraced rather than squeezed will undoubtedly lead to greater employment and growth opportunities as well. The Klein megamind doesn’t get these simple facts of life, or doesn’t want to. Unfortunately for them, that just results in their continued beclowing all over the internet. Especially Ezra Klein, who closed out with what I can only imagine was an attempt to pierce the space time continuum and send a message to himself on the morning of Nov 4th 2008… Let me be clear: If there’s any presidential candidate out there who can force the unemployment rate below zero and cut the deficit by 40 percent before we need to make a single spending cut, he or she has got my vote. But there isn’t. There’s just a presidential candidate saying he can do these things and hoping voters don’t look closely enough at the numbers to call him on it. Aaron B. Gardner P.S. As I was adding Tags to the post I got to Bernstein and my mind did an automatic word association which reminded me to include ‘Unemployment’ as a tag. Thanks Jared, you are the gift that keeps on giving.
Link:
Ezra Klein & The Megamind: Lower Your Economic Expectations
