RedState Morning Briefing February 2, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. Danger Will Robinson . . . or Ann Coulter 2. Give Me Your Money in the Name of Jesus 3. Senate Porkers Defeat Earmark Ban 4. A Former Union Thug’s Take On Right-to-Work: What’s Right & What’s Not… 5. Horserace for February 2, 2012 ———————————————————————- 1. Danger Will Robinson . . . or Ann Coulter This week is a career milestone for me. I appear in Time magazine writing about the state of the conservative movement. As a kid living overseas, my American history teacher subscribed us all to Time and U.S. News and World Report. So it is kind of cool to be in an issue of, between the two, the still printed survivor. The point I try to make is that the conservative movement is going through a necessary transition after the Bush years. You can read the whole thing here but a really relevant part is here: “The internecine fights we are witnessing are about a conservative movement starting to separate itself again from Republican Party. Unfortunately, neither of the front runners have legitimate conservative integrity to claim the banner of conservative movement leader, but they will both try. Romney will hold the banner for conservatives within the GOP and Gingrich will hold the banner of the traditional alliance of conservatives with the GOP.” I see this playing out in, of all things, my friend Ann Coulter’s column defending Romneycare . Mark Levin offers the definitive rebuttal, which you can listen to here , but there is a point that too few are making that needs to be made. It relates to the dangers associated with supporting Mitt Romney and Ann Coulter’s column is exhibit A on why supporting Romney portends disaster for the conservative movement. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. Give Me Your Money in the Name of Jesus Yesterday, in the middle of his campaign National Prayer Breakfast speech, President Obama delighted those of us who love irony by quoting C.S. Lewis. It was an interesting moment in a speech that put forth the notion that taxing the wealthy is right in line with the teachings of Jesus. I mean, Jesus did hang out with tax collectors, right? The idea that government welfare is somehow the fulfillment of Jesus’ teaching on charity is a common misconception that many people make, Christians included, and it’s the main reason that liberals believe conservatives are Christian hypocrites. Perhaps if the president visited church more often than only during campaign seasons, he might not be so confused. See, not only do we spend time praising God in church, we also gain insight from our pastors who have surely spent more time in the word of God than we have. While Obama may have been correct in saying that government mandated, shared responsibility is equal to the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, he is incorrect to group in Jesus’ teaching, “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.” Aside from the fact that Jesus was discussing requirements from God, not the government, he was actually teaching his disciples that they were stewards of God’s gift of Revelation. Their requirement was to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s the crux of Christianity that Obama seems to miss. Jesus came because we are imperfect. We could never fulfill all the requirements that the pharisees loved to lord over the people. Jesus’ coming ended the rule of law and the began the acceptance that our only way to God was through Him. Yes, Jesus very much emphasized the importance of giving to the poor, but as a reaction in joy to what we’ve been given; not because of a law. Giving out of obligation is not truly giving, it’s merely following the rules. Just ask anyone who’s ever written a check to pay their taxes, I doubt you’d find them excited. The Bible also teaches that everything we have, including money, belongs to God. We are called to be good stewards with His money. The government is the epitome of mismanaging money. If you truly want to help the poor, you should probably seek out charities; but that would require a bit of work on the part of the giver and a great many find it easier to just let the government run every aspect of their lives. So it is that welfare money ends up spitting out of strip club ATMs, and those same people who paid their charity to the government wonder why government hasn’t solved the issue. Perhaps they should ask the 27 Democrats who voted against stopping welfare checks from being used at strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. Senate Porkers Defeat Earmark Ban Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) learned a valuable lession today about member’s desire to go back to the practice of earmarking pet projects. Toomey and McCaskill offered an Amendment to the STOCK Act that would have created a new Senate point of order against earmarks in bills. They were met with bipartisan opposition to this common sense idea. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. A Former Union Thug’s Take On Right-to-Work: What’s Right & What’s Not… Having spent nearly a decade as a former union representative and activist (aka “union thug”) in a Right-to-Work state, it has been interesting to discuss and watch the activities and debates over the Right-to-Work battles occuring within the various states. Having been on both sides of the labor-management equation, it’s easy to see the two sides of the coin—the pluses and the minuses—that come into play with Right to Work legislation. Please click here for the rest of the post. 5. Horserace for February 2, 2012 There are storm clouds on the horizon. A day after Mitt Romney’s massive win in Florida he opened his mouth and promptly told conservatives he was incapable of articulating conservatism. Then Newt Gingrich found a bright line rule in the Republican rules that clearly and precisely states that all delegates awarded before April 1, 2012, must be proportional. There goes giving Romney all fifty delegates from Florida despite what Florida’s GOP Chairman says. Then National Review and other Romney supporters , taking a bit of comfort in his secure win in Florida, decided they could finally express some buyers remorse, or at least now stop zealously defending him and criticize him some. Then people really examined the exit polls in Florida. What they found was that turnout fell from 2008. But in counties where turn out was up, Newt Gingrich won. Where turnout from 2008 was down, Romney won. This pattern followed South Carolina. The base remains unexcited about Romney and his comments yesterday about the poor and the social safety net keep the base from getting excited. What should have been Mitt Romney heading into February securing his nomination now becomes an effort to stave off a rear guard action to pick him off. Gingrich and Santorum now have the ammunition they need to keep the Great Coalescing from happening. What should have been a clear path to the nomination is suddenly in jeopardy. We’ll get into it all in the Horserace. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for February 3, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing February 2, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. I’ll be filling in for Neal Boortz today. You can listen live from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Neal’s (and my) flagship radio station, News Talk WSB out of Atlanta by going to http://wsbradio.com . You can call in during that time by dialing 1-877-310-2100. 1. The National Review’s Candidate Won’t Stop Digging 2. Sixty-Five to One: It’s Not That Complicated 3. The Government is Playing Hide and Seek With Airfare Taxes 4. The Earmarxists are Back ———————————————————————- 1. The National Review’s Candidate Won’t Stop Digging It is days like today that make me thankful I think they all suck. At least I’m thankful I’m in the firmly not Romney camp. Having told us only Romney was viable (with half-nods to Huntsman and Santorum) and having trotted out Elliot Abrams to smear Newt Gingrich with out of context quotes, even National Review is having trouble defending their candidate today. This morning Mitt Romney said he wasn’t concerned about the poor. The poor, after all, have food stamps and Medicaid. But don’t worry. If the safety net is broken, Patrician Mitt Romney will fix it so the poor can stay comfortably poor. After all, just look what he did in Massachusetts. The poor can now wait 44 days to get in to see a doctor. Excelsior! After making sure we all understood the poor were for the Democrats to be worried about, Romney decided to keep digging his hole even bigger. By the end of the day, Jim DeMint had to rebuke him. Romney, digging his hole deeper, said his remark needed more context. The context, according to Romney, is that we have government programs to keep the poor . . . well . . . poor but comfortable. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. Sixty-Five to One: It’s Not That Complicated Political analysts have a need to sound expertly and important when it comes to elections. They have to go in depth and explain artfully and deeply why someone won and someone lost. It was the debates. It was the ground game. It was the strategies. It was the likability versus dislikability of the candidates. On and on they go. What gets danced around is the money. Money is usually why candidates win or lose. Candidates with the highest favorable name ID usually win. To do that takes lots of money and lots of ads. For all the hoopla about Mitt Romney’s victory in Florida, it really is not that hard to understand. All you need to understand is the ratio 65 to 1. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. The Government is Playing Hide and Seek With Airfare Taxes When purchasing a product or service, we all like to see the itemized list of charges – one that separates the cost of the purchase from the share going to Uncle Sam through the form of taxes and fees. Needless to say, government bureaucrats don’t like that. They desire that we remain blissfully ignorant of government’s burden on our everyday lives. This is one reason why they concocted the withholdings scheme for income tax collection. Now, they are expanding their tentacles into commercial taxes so they can obfuscate the magnitude of taxes and fees on airfare purchases. Without much fanfare, the Department of Transportation (DOT) enacted a rule which requires airlines to ensconce all government taxes and fees in a single total advertised price with the fare. For example, if you purchase a $350 plane ticket with $50 of taxes and fees, the DOT is demanding that the airline advertise the price as $400. Airline passengers pay over a dozen taxes and fees on any given airplane ticket, but the government doesn’t want us to know that. The rule was finalized last April, but only took effect last week. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. The Earmarxists are Back It’s another week in the Senate, and there’s another battle over earmarks. Senators Toomey and McCaskill are proposing an amendment to the STOCK Act (“insider trading bill”S. 2038) to permanently ban earmarks in the Senate. Not surprisingly, there is pushback from Harry Reid…and a number of Republicans as well. As always, there are those who argue that earmarks are just inconsequential “drop in the bucket” expenditures; that we must focus on more impactful issues. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for February 2, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing For February 1, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. Susan G. Komen Listened. Have You Responded? 2. The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung, But She’s Warming Up 3. The Bad Messaging of the Newt Gingrich Super PAC 4. The Inconvenient Constitution ———————————————————————- 1. Susan G. Komen Listened. Have You Responded? Yesterday, the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it would stop giving money to Planned Parenthood. Conservatives have been pushing on this issue for a while. As a result of the announcement, the left has gone on the attack. It is important that you who wanted Komen to do this say thank you. You can email them at news@Komen.org . More importantly, you can donate to them . If you are not willing to support an organization that takes a stand you want when they come under attack, you cannot be surprised when less organizations listen to you. So say thank you . Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung, But She’s Warming Up If I were a national Republican operative, I’d be very worried about tonight. If I were a Mitt Romney fan, I’d be ecstatic. The Romney win in Florida was huge. He won the hispanic vote. He split tea party activists and evangelicals. He won where people live. Gingrich won the panhandle and largely tied in the few northern Florida population centers, but it was Romney’s night. He is on the way toward the nomination. The fat lady is warming up. But it is not a done deal yet. He still has a fractured base and lost the heart of the base. He has trouble with tea party activists and evangelicals though he roughly tied with Gingrich in capturing their support, and he has trouble with strong conservatives. Nonetheless, his get out the vote operation was a phenomenal success and the 15 to 1 advertising ratio in his favor clinched it for him. Ron Brownstein has a solid analysis on Romney’s win. It is worth nothing that in the last week of the race only 0.1% of advertising was pro-Romney and roughly 70% was anti-Gingrich. The panhandle held for Gingrich, which is more typical of a number of upcoming primaries than the rest of the state. Here’s why I’d be nervous if I were a GOP operative. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. The Bad Messaging of the Newt Gingrich Super PAC I was surprised to land in Miami today for CNN’s coverage of the Florida Presidential Preference Primary and hear one Newt Super PAC ad over and over. I heard it on rock stations. I heard it on Rush Limbaugh. I heard it on a sports talk station. It attacked Mitt Romney for abortion. Abortion. In a state with a massive housing crisis and a state that led the way in the fight on Obamacare, the Newt Super PAC decided to run ads in Miami, FL on abortion. There is just one ad that the Newt Super PAC needs to run and that the Newt campaign itself needs to run. They need to take Rick Santorum’s attack on Romneycare from the CNN Jacksonville, FL debate and turn it into a commercial. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. The Inconvenient Constitution As a United States Senator, I have sworn an oath to support, defend, and bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Complying with this Oath is not always convenient. Sometimes this requires voting against legislation that embodies policies I agree with, other times it requires taking a stand when doing so may not be popular. The Constitution itself is not a document of convenience. It specifies an onerous process – bicameralism and presentment – with which the government must comply to enact legislation. And it imposes separation of government powers and a system of checks and balances between the different branches. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for February 1, 2012
Why do I get the feeling Tingles has been wetting the bed again? And yet he, along with the rest of the left, ignores the very real violence from Occupy Wall Street. WASHINGTON — Comparisons of the Tea Party movement to Occupy Wall Street have become a political parlor game over the past six months, but
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Tingles: “Honest Fear Of Violence” From Tea Partiers, “National Hatred” Of Obama Not Seen Under Previous Presidents…
RedState Morning Briefing For January 31, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. Moving Past Florida 2. House Conservatives Need to Block the Coming Highway Bailout 3. End Refundable Tax Credits for Illegals 4. Is Newt Much Better on the Question of Mandates? 5. Secretary Sebelius Scraps Conscience Exception for Health Plans ———————————————————————- 1. Moving Past Florida More and more polls show two things: (1) tonight Mitt Romney will win Florida and (2) Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum will combined get more votes. In fact, moving forward, the Romney campaign will probably engage in a concerted effort to prop up Rick Santorum because as long as he stays in the race, Gingrich will find it very difficult to stop Romney. More interestingly, if Santorum drops out and Newt Gingrich starts winning, suddenly the establishment will have to take seriously the idea of finding someone to replace Mitt Romney. I get repeated calls asking me to ask Rick Santorum to get out of the race. I doubt he would even listen and, unlike Rick Perry, Rick Santorum actually won a state. Today he is going to get badly, badly beaten. And it’ll probably be downhill from there. But there’s no more reason to ask him to get out of the race than Gingrich. He can decide to stay in and help Romney or get out and help Gingrich. After Florida, the decisions become more crucial. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. House Conservatives Need to Block the Coming Highway Bailout As part of their ongoing “jobs agenda,” House Republicans will unveil this week and soon consider the American Energy & Infrastructure Act (AEIA) to reauthorize transportation spending for five years. The “highway bill” promises a host of reforms (consolidating programs and streamlining red tape) and includes increased oil and gas exploration. But unfortunately these reforms are meant to distract from the overall size of the program, and the fact that such spending will require a massive bailout from federal taxpayers. [Before getting into the proposal, let’s first reflect on something. What does it say about a Republican Majority when their number one priority heading into an election year is to pass a massive federal infrastructure bill? I know Republicans are split on the issue, and that many burn all of their anti-Keynes stimulus talking points to give transportation spending a special dispensation as a government “job creator.” But really? This is what they want to fight on and draw stark differences with the other party? That is depressing.] Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. End Refundable Tax Credits for Illegals Much ink has been poured over the fact that 51% of tax filers paid no federal income taxes in 2009. There is less attention directed towards the more outrageous statistic; 30% of tax filers had a negative tax liability that year. In other words, they made money off the tax system. Those who won the jackpot on tax day benefited primarily from refundable tax credits; the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC, the refundable portion of child tax credit), and the now-expired Making Work Pay Credit. In 2011, refundable credits cost the treasury about $94.4 billion. Keep in mind that this is just one small portion of the burgeoning welfare empire, approaching $1 trillion in total federal, state, and local expenditures. While it would be nice to get rid of these redistributive “tax expenditures” for everyone, we could start with illegal aliens. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. Is Newt Much Better on the Question of Mandates? Yesterday I wrote an article on why I view the inevitability of an Obama defeat at the hands of Romney to be less than inevitable. Mostly I attributed this to weakness on a core issue: Obamacare. From my view, Romney cannot adequately take on this topic so long as he insists on defending the principles put forth in Romneycare. His state’s rights position plays ok with the base, but I believe it will be less than compelling to the general electorate when it comes time to decide what separates Obama & Romney on this issue. In passing, I mentioned that Gingrich, who previously supported the mandate as well, has since determined that he was wrong and will take that to his debates with Obama should he win the nomination. Please click here for the rest of the post. 5. Secretary Sebelius Scraps Conscience Exception for Health Plans As the implementation of Obamacare rolls into high gear, we’ve been given insight into how it will be implemented in general. On January 20, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would not exempt health plans provided by non-profit religious employers from the requirement to provide “contraceptive services.” Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for January 31, 2012
