RedState Morning Briefing January 6, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. What a Big Government Conservative Looks Like 2. Politics As Entertainment, Endless GOP Debates Edition 3. The Late Term Abortion of a Conservative Resurgence 4. Mitt Romney Got Arrested 5. The Biggest Mistake of the Worst Debat e 6. Vast Majority of ObamaCare Waivers Go To Union Workers In Latest Round ———————————————————————- 1. What a Big Government Conservative Looks Like I’m rather tired of all the people who don’t like Romney trying to claim Rick Santorum is not a big government conservative, or not a pro-life statist. I would support him before I would support Romney too, but I have no intention of giving up ideological and intellectual consistency in the name of beating Mitt Romney. Rick Santorum is a pro-life statist. He is. You will have to deal with it. He is a big government conservative. Santorum is right on social issues, but has never let his love of social issues stand in the way of the creeping expansion of the welfare state. In fact, he has been complicit in the expansion of the welfare state. Suddenly we’re all forgetting what a big government conservatism is. The term was coined by Fred Barnes in defense of George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservative” agenda. Bush intended to use domestic social welfare policy for conservative ends. In the process, he expanded the welfare state to do so through No Child Left Behind, the prescription drug benefit, etc. Rick Santorum was a willing participant in this. Santorum is a conservative. He is. But his conservative is largely defined by his social positions and the ends to which government would be deployed. But he has chosen as the means to those conservative ends bigger government. We see big government conservatives most clearly when they deviate from the tireless efforts of people like Mike Pence and Jim DeMint and the others who were willing to oppose George W. Bush’s expansion of the welfare state. Rick Santorum was not among them. I and some friends, none of us Romney fans, have set about exploring Santorum’s record since Wednesday morning. Here now is a non-exhaustive list of what we have found. It does not even include his support for No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, debt ceiling increases, funding the bridge to nowhere, refusing to redirect earmark allocations to disaster relief along the Gulf Coast post Katrina, etc. This is not the record of a man committed to scaling back the welfare state or the nanny state. Had he been up for re-election in 2010 instead of 2006, this is the record of a man who the tea party movement would have primaried. The only real justification for supporting him now is he is not Mitt Romney, but I still believe we can do better. Consider, if you will, this contrast. Ronald Reagan said, “The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom.” Rick Santorum, in 2008, said, “This whole idea of personal autonomy, well I don’t think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues. You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone.” Rick Santorum’s voting record reflects his rejection of small government. See for yourself. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. Politics As Entertainment, Endless GOP Debates Edition We live in an entertainment culture. The lives of many in this country revolve around the consumption of media and entertainment. Sports is almost an object of worship to some, and events such as the BCS Championship and the Super Bowl are virtually national holidays, surrounded by endless attention in the news/sports media and other popular culture outlets. Given that media consumption is now so ubiquitous, with flat-screen digital TVs, smartphones, satellite TV, streaming video, iPads and other multimedia sources, is it any wonder that politics has now taken on a similar flavor? 2012 is an election year and along with it, politics as entertainment has come to the fore. Even Entertainment Weekly has a “Politics As Entertainment” page! But the biggest proof point for this is the seemingly endless series of debates between GOP candidates. This may make for good entertainment, but does it make for good politics? Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. The Late Term Abortion of a Conservative Resurgence In 2009 we began a conservative resurgence. We had just witnessed a stunning economic intervention from the Bush administration, and were now facing an expansion of government. President Obama, with a complicit Congress, had charted a course that included giveaways to every left wing pipe dream couched as stimulus. Conservatives and libertarians formed a loose coalition and took to the streets to seek redress. As the movement gained strength and popularity, the Obama administration decided to flex its muscles and force even greater socialist schemes on the people of this nation. The passage of Obamacare, while an absolute defeat for smaller government, served as a rallying cry that strengthened our resolve. In 2010 we put down the protest signs and picked up campaign signs. We made errors, but more importantly, we took back the House. Unfortunately, we didn’t change our leadership. Betrayals and half measures served to squash the optimism that had been prevalent. As we began pondering the 2012 GOP candidates, there was a palpable pessimism. The field was unworthy of the conservative resurgence that had returned the House to our control. We were all awaiting a champion. Pence declined, Palin declined, Daniels, Christie, Jindal, Ryan, none would step forward. Then, something happened. Governor Perry heard the call and threw his hat into the ring. For a moment, we were optimistic about our primary. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. Mitt Romney Got Arrested It is such a silly thing, but it plays right into the left-wing attack on Mitt as an out of touch elitist. All the way back to 1981, Mitt Romney got arrested. It was no big deal. Still, the Obama campaign is rapidly building a John Kerry narrative against Mitt Romney. You and I may think the whole 99% vs the 1% crap is in fact crap, but the average joe doesn’t like elitists. And this isn’t the only time Romney has had encounters with law enforcement that got nasty when things didn’t go his way. Please click here for the rest of the post. 5. The Biggest Mistake of the Worst Debat e Let’s face it: the ABC News New Hampshire debate was the worst debate of the entire election cycle. And that is saying something, considering the sheer volume of debates. How many years and election cycles will it take before Republicans learn to turn to conservatives as moderators for presidential debates, instead of washed up Democrat hacks disguised as journalists? Now, to the extent that such a pathetic debate is worthy of any analysis, the clear winner was Mitt Romney. Watching the debate, you’d think Ron Paul was the frontrunner. All of the verbal altercations played out between Ron Paul and one of the other candidates. Romney was able to sit pretty throughout the entire debate, except for one monologue from Santorum at the end of the debate. Undoubtedly, the platform for the debate, along with the inane questions, wasn’t exactly conducive to attacking Romney’s liberal record as governor. However, they all had an opportunity during the opening salvo of the debate. They failed miserably. Please click here for the rest of the post. 6. Vast Majority of ObamaCare Waivers Go To Union Workers In Latest Round For a special interest group that pushed so hard to enact legislation that weighs on the rest of America, unions seem to be the largest group that want to avoid the very law they helped enact. In fact, according to Friday afternoon’s document dump, the vast majority of individuals receiving special treatment in this latest waiver boondoggle are union workers. This brings the total of unionized ObamaCare waiver recipients to over 50% of the total recipients. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for January 9, 2011
It’s a weird thing in this country. When it comes to state and local elections, American citizens seem to act in a responsible manner; that is, they actually do the work necessary to make informed and responsible choices in the voting booth. People seem to be able to grasp the issues that affect their lives and then make sober decisions based on what is beneficial for them and their families. Yet, when it comes to presidential elections, all bets are off. Every fourth November all critical thinking seems to go out the window. One of the most important decisions an American can make is often treated as nothing more than a popularity contest. The quest for the next leader of the free world is frequently the butt of late-night TV jokes and worse. Whereas folks realize that their local and state representatives will have a great impact on their social and financial well-being and then vote accordingly, when it comes to selecting a Commander in Chief, they act like judges on American Idol . But why? Can it be that the collusion of the press is more pronounced when the White House is at stake? Recall the dirty dealings of the so-called JournoList , a group of leftists in the media who conspired to kill stories that might hurt the 2008 Obama campaign. Although this sort of thing has been rumored to exist for years, its exposure was greeted by the rest of the media to the sound of cricket chirps. Yet such is what passes for objective journalism in America today. But that’s not the only arm of the left with which we have to contend. The Nazis had their Hitler Youth and Mussolini had his baby Black Shirts, but here in America we have the public school system. Armed with federal money from pre-school Head Start programs all the way through Pell Grants, and staffed by loyal NEA unionistas, new waves of young socialists roll out of our classrooms and college campuses every day, eager to embrace the Nanny State and “make a difference.” But perhaps the most insidious weapon at the disposal of liberals is their entertainment division; including certain TV personalities and shock jocks, who for some reason have a mesmerizing influence on a large chunk of the populace. Back in 2000, a few friends of mine who had never expressed an interest in politics shocked me by opining that George W. Bush was “an idiot.” When asked how they had arrived at that learned opinion, the reply was typical: “Come on, everybody knows it!” When this dreaded phrase slips the mouths of an otherwise uninformed electorate in a presidential election year, you know the country is in big trouble. So, if we hope to overcome liberal propaganda and presidential electoral stupidity in order to save our beloved constitutional republic, we might have to concentrate elsewhere. And a good place to start would be to work on regaining the Senate. Does this mean abandoning our efforts to depose Barack Obama? Of course not; but failing to attain that end would not necessarily be a total disaster. After all, as conservatives, our goal in Washington is, essentially, gridlock. And if we can keep the House and add the Senate, we could reduce Obama to the lamest of lame ducks. And the possibility of regaining the upper chamber is quite probably within our reach. The GOP has two seats that might change hands; Nevada and Massachusetts, while the Democrats are in danger of losing eight seats; most notably Nebraska, North Dakota, Missouri, and Virginia. A net pickup of four seats will have Republicans in great position to blunt most, if not all, Democratic mischief. Now many would caution that a weak candidate at the top of the ticket would automatically doom our chances, but I’m not so sure. Although a man with long coattails would naturally be a bonus, in the face of the events of the past four years, it’s not really a necessity. The ugly process Democrats used to pass Obamacare — with all its deals and backroom sleaze — was too big for even the liberal media to cover up, revealing their skullduggery to the nation. That’s why incumbents like Ben “Cornhusker Kickback” Nelson have been running for the hills. And over the hill is just where we need Democrats to be if we are to block Obama judicial nominations and other vital appointments. If the GOP can retake the Senate and live up to their reputation as obstinate obstructionists, Obama and his ilk may well be revealed as the petulant adolescents we believe them to be. Hopefully this petulance will manifest itself this coming November; if not, we can wait.
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Gridlock
And God only knows how much the Moonbat brigade has raised for the various pro-Obama PACs. (CNS News) — A number of big names from the entertainment industry have contributed to President Barack Obama’s campaign for a second term in office and to the Democratic National Committee. According to the campaign contribution data on the
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Commie-Infested Hollywood Opens Their Wallets For Another Round of Hope And Change…
Home Entertainment: Lost JFK Assassination Tapes on Sale
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Home Entertainment: Lost JFK Assassination Tapes on Sale
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here . Or by Twitter @AaronWorthing.] From the official Playstation blog: We want to let you know that we have detected attempts on Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment (“Networks”) [abbreviated as “SOE”] services to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database. These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources. In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks. We have taken steps to mitigate the activity. Less than one tenth of one percent (0.1%) of our PSN, SEN and SOE audience may have been affected. There were approximately 93,000 accounts globally (PSN/SEN: approximately 60,000 accounts; SOE: approximately 33,000) where the attempts succeeded in verifying those accounts’ valid sign-in IDs and passwords, and we have temporarily locked these accounts. Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked. We are currently reviewing those accounts for unauthorized access, and will provide more updates as we have them. Please note, if you have a credit card associated with your account, your credit card number is not at risk. We will work with any users whom we confirm have had unauthorized purchases made to restore amounts in the PSN/SEN or SOE wallet. Read the whole thing . You will know if you were one of the targeted ID’s because you will get an email from Sony. Personally with that PSN outage a few months back, I have decided not to keep any credit card information associated with my account. Instead I buy physical Playstation gift cards when I want to download something, limiting my exposure. So as of right now, if someone hacked my PSN account, they could buy a whole whopping $0.96 cents of crap. Don’t spend it all in one place, hackers! And while surely those who use Xboxes will have a snicker, let’s face it, sooner or later it could happen to you, too, and it might be wise to follow the same approach, with this and other online accounts. H/t: Joystiq . [Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
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PSA: A Big Attack on the Playstation Network’s Security
