Paul Ryan says he’s “nervous” about the upcoming recall election in his home state of Wisconsin: Ryan told editors and reporters of
RedState Morning Briefing May 17, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. Cleaning Up the GOP Moves to Texas 2. Will the South Carolina Democrats Tolerate This Racism? 3. How to Astroturf an Online Cause: the Story of “I Stand with Bill Powers” 4. The Club For Growth’s Depressing Study: Failure and Lies of the Tea Party Congresscritters ———————————————————————- 1. Cleaning Up the GOP Moves to Texas Late last evening came word that House Republicans intend to keep parts of Obamacare. Even if the United States Supreme Court throws the whole law out, House Republicans intend to resurrect portions of Obamacare. House Republicans publicly say the story is wrong. I’ve talked to several House Republicans who tell me the story is actually on the money and the Republicans now denying it are really playing at semantics. These House Republicans tell me these denials about the accuracy of the story are equivalent to the House GOP semantically arguing it was living up to its Pledge to Nowhere requirement for $100 billion in cuts that actually amounted to something like $34 billion. Conservatives in the House of Representatives tell me explicitly to go with Politico on this and be very wary of the House GOP Leadership when it comes to repeal. It is a sad time for the Republican Party. The base must treat its leaders as if they are Soviets — trust but verify their statements. And lately, it is harder and harder to verify their statements. The work of the Tea Party must continue or within a decade I honestly do not believe the GOP will be one political party. In both Indiana and Nebraska, the Tea Party has continued to make gains. People have flat out rejected the establishment favorites for U.S. Senate – Dick Lugar and Jon Bruning, respectively – in favor of candidates who offer a challenge to the status quo. Will Texans prove what they’re made of and do the same? I love Texas. But let’s face it – the Texas congressional delegation is mediocre at best and leaves much to be desired. Now, Texas has the chance to get it right – by sending Ted Cruz to the U.S. Senate. But will they? Maybe. But we have a lot to do and the Republican Primary in Texas is only 2 weeks from today. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. Will the South Carolina Democrats Tolerate This Racism? Phil Bailey sat next to South Carolina State Senator Jake Knotts when Knotts called Governor Nikki Haley, then a candidate for Governor, a “raghead.” Phil Bailey did nothing. Phil Bailey is the Executive Director of the South Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus. It seems he is now intent on one upping Jake Knotts. Bailey, who had no problem with Knotts’ “raghead” comment when even the First Vice Chairman of the State GOP, Patrick Haddon, was calling for Knotts’s resignation, seems determined to one up Knotts with racism. Bailey has been on twitter referring to Nikki Haley, a Methodist of Indian descent, as the “Sikh Jesus.” Governor Haley’s parents are sikh, but she and her husband attend a Methodist Church. Not content to do it just once, Phil Bailey did it a second time, complete with a picture of a dog. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. How to Astroturf an Online Cause: the Story of “I Stand with Bill Powers” Texas is ground zero in the national higher education reform movement. While the Washington crowd tends to fixate on President Obama’s piddling slap fight with Congressional Republicans over government-secured student loan rates, the real action on fixing higher ed is happening in Austin, Texas. The battle between Rick Perry and the higher ed reformers on one hand versus UT-Austin President Bill Powers and the Ivory Tower status quo on the other hand has been marked by years of grueling and often dull trench warfare that was punctuated last week by a flurry of bombs, beginning with a tuition freeze, followed by rumors of the UT President’s termination, and culminating in a textbook social media public relations campaign that deserves serious examination. And the consequences of this fight? Well, what happens in Texas won’t stay in Texas. This is the story of “I Stand with Bill Powers,” a remarkably well-executed example of online astro-turfing. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. The Club For Growth’s Depressing Study: Failure and Lies of the Tea Party Congresscritters There have been many studies out on the “tea party congress” and just how tea party it actually is. One study last year noted that 70% of candidates who went to Congress under the tea party banner were voting just like the Republican Leaders they ran against. Probably one of the best places to get a sense of this is the Club for Growth. Why? The Club ignores social votes and focuses only on fiscal votes — spending issues more than anything else. The tea party candidates went to Congress not just to repeal Obamacare, but were really motivated by out of control government spending, bailouts, etc. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for May 17, 2012
“ If the tea party is not much more successful in primarying Republican candidates and then having those guys practice what they preach , the GOP is within a decade of going the way of the Whigs. ” There have been many studies out on the “tea party congress” and just how tea party it actually is. One study last year noted that 70% of candidates who went to Congress under the tea party banner were voting just like the Republican Leaders they ran against. Probably one of the best places to get a sense of this is the Club for Growth. Why? The Club ignores social votes and focuses only on fiscal votes — spending issues more than anything else. The tea party candidates went to Congress not just to repeal Obamacare, but were really motivated by out of control government spending, bailouts, etc. Remember, it was Rick Santelli of CNBC on February 19, 2009, who predicted this grassroots army of activists would rise up and say enough to out of control government spending and bailouts. Santelli said, in part, The government is promoting bad behavior. Because we certainly don’t want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check, and think that they ought to save it, and in terms of modifications… I’ll tell you what, I have an idea. You know, the new administration’s big on computers and technology– How about this, President and new administration? Why don’t you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water? … We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing. Things sort of spiraled from there sending a wave of candidates to Washington embracing the concerns of the activists who showed up to the tea party. They wanted to cut spending because of out of control debt, stop Barack Obama, end Obamacare, and they were willing to primary Republicans to do it. A number of Republicans lost. In some open primaries, the candidates who were supported by the GOP out of Washington went down in flames. But what of the candidates who actually went to DC on a wave of tea party support. Turns out some of them were liars and a lot of them behaved like the pigs in Animal Farm with some of them deciding they were more equal than others. The Club for Growth’s new study of this Tea Party Congress paints a rather depressing picture. You can see how the freshman of the Tea Party Class of 2010 preformed by clicking right here. If you want a more in depth look at the Congress as a whole, one of the best places to go is Heritage Action for America’s comprehensive score card . What you’ll find is not much better there. I’m afraid if the tea party is not much more successful in primarying Republican candidates and then having those guys practice what they preach , the GOP is within a decade of going the way of the Whigs.
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The Club For Growth’s Depressing Study: Failure and Lies of the Tea Party Congresscritters
Hot on the heels of Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi’s declaration that “The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal…Today we can establish Sharia law because our nation will acquire well-being only with Islam and Sharia,” Egyptian lawmakers are again making news, and none of it is promising. According to the Egypt Independent, MP Nasser al-Shaker of the Salafi-led Nour Party is citing notable Islamic scholars in justifying female genital mutilation (FGM) as a part of the “prophetic” Sunnah (a holy work of Islam). (Photo: UNICEF) For those unfamiliar with Egyptian politics– the Salafi party is even more fundamentalist than the Muslim Brotherhood, and they control nearly 24% of Egypt’s parliament. These are the people who try to live their lives in the example of the earliest Muslims, and their marks on the world include Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri . Regarding FGM, MP Shaker reportedly remarked that former first lady Suzanne Mubarak was the driving force behind banning it, and, as everyone is well aware, the Mubaraks are long since persona non grata in Egypt. Randa Fakhr Eddin of the Cairo Coalition Against Female Genital Mutilation replied to Shaker’s statements, saying there is no consensus on the law by senior scholars or Islamists, and that it was rejected in the 1990s as being a cultural habit rather than a religious practice. The rejection didn’t seem to have much influence, however, since it is not only ultra-conservative Salafis who are involved in the practice. In fact, the whole issue began after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party started a charity initiative in the city of Minya, where they were accused of performing the wicked deed (they deny the allegations). Egyptian Salafis (Photo: AP) Female genital mutilation is widely practiced in Egypt and Sudan, along with many other African countries. While most Arab and Islamic countries technically view it as a crime, there is rarely any intervention in the matter–the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population conducted a study in 2003, where they reported that 94.6% of married women had undergone FGM, and 69.1% of those women agreed to have the procedure performed on their daughters. (Related: Shocking: UK Medics Filmed Offering Gruesome FGM Procedure, as Report Shows 100,000 May Be Victims) The dangerous practice was outlawed in Egypt in 2007, after a 12-year old girl died as the result of the $9 procedure. While it is sometimes performed by doctors, in the rural areas– where it is more often performed– a local midwife of barber can be called upon to operate. Is this what democracy looks like? (H/T: WeaselZippers ) Link: Egyptian Lawmaker Pushing to Legalize FGM in the Name of Islam
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Egyptian Lawmaker Pushing to Legalize FGM in the Name of Islam
…which is why, of course, I am asking it. The background… comes in three parts: Vice President Joe Biden, when he was Senator Joe Biden, happened to be a sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act. We’ll pass to one side for a moment the current (as in, this week) controversy over the latest iteration of the law – it’s up for reauthorization – to specifically note, again, that this was Biden’s baby, as it were. Charlie Wilson is known mostly for three things (four, if you count the fact that he’s often confused with the infinitely better Democratic Charlie Wilson from Texas); he was the former Congressman from OH-06; Charlie Wilson of Ohio is an admitted wife-beater ; and Charlie Wilson of Ohio is unaccountably running for Congress again . Guess where Joe Biden will be stumping for the President, this week? That’s right! OH-06! Also OH-17 (Youngstown), but Thursday Biden will be making a speech Thursday at an auto dealership in Martin’s Ferry . Which, as has been privately pointed out to me, leads to a fascinating set of questions. Will Charlie Wilson be making an appearance at this event? If Wilson does show, will we be treated to the spectacle of seeing the Vice President and sponsor of anti-spousal abuse legislation praise a guy who was a poster child for why we might have needed the legislation in the first place? If Wilson does not show, will the administration come clean about why the wife-beater wasn’t invited to his party’s own in-district campaign event? In either case, will the press bring up the inherent rhetorical contradictions that this entire scenario represents? No, wait, I know the answer to that last one already. Moe Lane ( crosspost ) PS: Hey, you know something? Bill Johnson (R, OH-06) STILL doesn’t beat his wife!
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Will VAWA sponsor Joe Biden campaign with wife-beater Charlie Wilson in OH-06?
