January 17, 2008
Jan 17 01:06 Rethinking Boehner Jan 17 11:35 How To Alienate Voters in a Single Paragraph Jan 17 11:57 Leahy Endorses Obama Jan 17 15:36 Huckabee the Flip-Flopper Jan 17 21:06 Fred Calls on Huckabee To Stop Push Polling
Rethinking Boehner
I've never made it a secret that I've had trouble trusting John Boehner. I saw him 'slip' questions on Crossfire too often to think of him as trustworthy and straightforward. After reading this post on Club For Growth's blog , I realize that I'll have to rethink my opinion on Rep. Boehner:
Boehner Says House GOP Must Draw Line On Earmarks Or Prepare For Permanent Minority. House Minority Leader John Boehner used the first House GOP Conference meeting of 2008 to draw a very hard line on congressional earmarks. Boehner, who is one of the few Members of Congress who does not earmark, told his colleagues that if they cannot break out of that habit, they will not regain the majority. According to a knowledgeable source, Boehner told the Conference this morning, "Washington is broken. We need to show the American people we're ready to fix it," adding, "We aren't going to earn the majority back until we do something serious about earmarks. If we don't get serious about it, and get serious soon, we're going nowhere." The source said Boehner concluded by saying, "I have no interest in being minority leader just to be minority leader. I took this job to lead an effort to earn back our majority; this year. Not next year or the year after that. This year."That's music to my ears!!! If Boehner pulls this off, then I'll start trusting him more. Let's hope that this bulletin inspires President Bush to issue the EO that instructs government agencies to ignore the airdropped earmarks included in this year's budget bill conference report.
The sooner Republicans make fiscal sanity their trademark, the faster we'll return to being the majority party.
Originally posted Thursday, January 17, 2008, revised 18-Jan 9:08 AM
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How To Alienate Voters in a Single Paragraph
Mike Huckabee is thought to have the gift of gab. According to this quote , Gov. Huckabee didn't have that gift going yesterday:
"Folks, I don't know what you are going to hear, about that I'm not a conservative, but when you cut taxes, and you increase the per capita income, you improved the schools, and you rebuild the roads, and you preserve the national resources, and you streamline government, your government grows at a rate that is half that of the average of all states," Huckabee said, his voice rising. "Call it anything you want to, but anybody with an I.Q. above broccoli calls that conservative , rock-solid, kind of leadership."I'll start this fisking with the tax thing. When you cut some taxes a little bit but raise other taxes alot, you aren't a conservative.
Next, let's talk about the education issue. You aren't a conservative when you get endorsed by the NEA, especially when you tell them that you'd veto any school voucher legislation that made it to your desk.
Next, let's talk about the things that Gov. Huckabee didn't talk about. When legislators here in Minnesota tried passing the DREAM Act, it was supported almost exclusively by the DFL. (DFL is Minnesotan for flaming liberal.) Mike Huckabee supports giving in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants. At least he did before flip-flopping and saying that he'd deport every illegal immigrant in the US.
BTW, the outcry against Minnesota's DREAM Act was so loud that the DFL dropped that out in conference committee.
If Mike Huckabee is the GOP nominee, I won't vote for him. I'll focus solely on local races. It's time that the GOP faithful rejected Gov. Huckabee's flippant one-liners and his inconsistent beliefs.
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 11:38 AM
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Leahy Endorses Obama
The Politico's Ben Smith has confirmed that Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy has endorsed Barack Obama :
"We need a president who can reintroduce America to the world, and actually reintroduce America to ourselves," Leahy said in the conference call, saying Obama carried the "hope" to end the war in Iraq and to bring "healthcare for all."Here's the full article:
He also compared the decision to support Obama to supporting John F. Kennedy for president.
Two sources familiar with the senior Vermont senator's plans say Patrick Leahy will be endorsing Obama in an 11:00 a.m. conference call today.This raises several questions, including why Leahy didn't endorse Sen. Clinton. This can't mean that Team Hillary is happy. Though they won't admit it publicly, I'll bet that they're fuming inside.
Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, wouldn't confirm the senator's plans, but did suggest a reporter pay attention to the call, which the Obama campaign is touting as a "major endorsement."
If Leahy endorses as expected, it would be the latest in a string of Senate validations for Obama, and to the extent that endorsements play a role in voters' decisions, Leahy's, along with those of Senator John Kerry and others, could counterbalance charges that the Illinois senator lacks readiness or establishment credibility. Like Kerry, he's also a liberal stalwart and a veteran of battles with the Bush Administration.
UPDATE: "We need a president who can reintroduce America to the world, and actually reintroduce America to ourselves," Leahy said in the conference call, saying Obama carried the "hope" to end the war in Iraq and to bring "healthcare for all."
He also compared the decision to support Obama to supporting John F. Kennedy for president.
This also has to have the Obama campaign smiling. To the extent that endorsements matter, this is a big get. It's something that lets Obama say that he's a serious candidate endorsed by serious men.
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 11:59 AM
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Huckabee the Flip-Flopper
To say that Mike Huckabee doesn't have a steadfast governing philosophy is understatement. This article offers sufficient proof of Huckabee's 'flexibility' in his attempt to be all things to all people.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee yesterday continued to move to the right on immigration during this year's presidential campaign, signing a pledge to enforce immigration laws and to make all illegal aliens go home.It's also the opposite of Huckabee's policy before the presidential spotlight got shined on him. It's obvious that he's pandering now after getting slammed for wanting to give illegal immigrants in-state tuition. This happened just a day after his flip-flop on signing a federal ban on smoking.
The pledge, offered by immigration control advocacy group Numbers USA, commits Mr. Huckabee to oppose a new path to citizenship for current illegal aliens and to cut the number of illegal aliens already in the country through attrition by law enforcement, something Mr. Huckabee said he will achieve through his nine-point immigration plan.
"Some would say it's a tough plan. It is, but it's also fair and reasonable," Mr. Huckabee said.
In other words, he's saying whatever he thinks will gain him a few extra votes. That isn't that dissimilar from John McCain's approach. It doesn't take tons of courage to be all things to all people. It takes steadfastness to stand for the same underlying principles year after year, decade after decade.
Fred's done that because he understands Goldwater's and Reagan's thinking. Fred knows that keeping taxes low means that families have financial freedom. Fred knows that securing our borders limits the possibility of terrorists getting into the country. Fred understands that keeping as much of the decisionmaking as close to the people as possible isn't just constitutionally mandated. It's also the smartest type of governance ever devised by man.
Mike Huckabee either doesn't understand about that or he doesn't care about that. I'v seen scant proof that John McCain cares about that type of thinking either. Here's why that matters.
Today, McCain's appeal to liberals is to adopt their liberal positions. In 1984, Reagan's appeal to Reagan Democrats was based on them adopting his conservative beliefs. Let's put it in contemporary terms.
John McCain abandoned the GOP to craft tax increase legislation. That's what his Global Warming initiative is. Does anyone think that Mike Huckabee, the populist, wouldn't sign onto that if he thought it meant a few votes?
Mike Huckabee and John McCain essentially said that our sovereignty wasn't important when they just accepted the broken borders as acceptable. At least, that was their position until they saw how outraged people were with Shamnesty. Then they reversed course.
Here's why Shamnesty is a stain on our nation:
Illegal immigrants have had a huge impact on education and health care costs, shifting those costs onto taxpayers. Asking people to work hard, play by the rules and subsidize others isn't grounded in individual liberty. That's the principle of enslavement upon which modern liberalism is founded.
We can't afford to vote for Huckabee because he's a flip-flopping liberal. The only differences between him and Sen. McCain is that McCain's unswervingly liberal.
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 3:38 PM
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Fred Calls on Huckabee To Stop Push Polling
According to this Washington Post article , Fred Thompson got upset when told about his supporters getting push polled. Here's how Fred got to the bottom of things:
At a steak house in this small town west of Columbia, a man in the small crowd told Thompson that many people had gotten such calls in the past 24 hours. Thompson asked anyone who had received such a call to raise his or hand. At least a dozen hands shot up. The former senator said he'd heard of push polls accusing him of supporting partial birth abortion.According to this CBS article , Fred's called on Gov. Huckabee to put a stop to the calls:
"They're taking the most outrageous, easily disproved things that they can come up with. It's amazing to me. Its so ham-handed," Thompson said. "I had a 100 percent pro-life voting record over 8 years."
Trey Taylor, 41, told The Post that he'd gotten a call in which, after he'd revealed his preference for Thompson, a recorded voice said Thompson had lobbied on behalf of a "radical" pro-abortion organization. The recording then cited Huckabee's anti-abortion record.
Fred Thompson called on Mike Huckabee to put a stop to push polling calls that misrepresent Thompson's record. "I find it ironic that this man would talk about cleaner politics and rising above the fray," Thompson said, "while this is going on right under his nose."That's a rather passive response on Gov. Huckabee's behalf. I'll take him at his word that he doesn't know anything about them but just saying that they don't condone them seems passive at best. The proper response is to villify the people doing the push-polling, then telling them to stop such calls immediately.
At an event in Prosperity today, a Thompson volunteer stood up during the audience questions portion and said a lot of people had received negative phone calls that "misrepresented your record." "Really?" Thompson asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "Could I ask you to raise your hand if you got a phone call like that?" Roughly half the 75 people in attendance raised their hands.
"Good gracious," Thompson said. "Who do they say is calling? Do they say anything good about any candidate?" "Huckabee," the audience responded. "They're picking the most outrageous, easily disproved things that they could come up with," Thompson said, referring to the substance of the calls, which say that Thompson supported so-called "partial-birth" abortions. "It's amazing to me, it's so ham-handed. I call on the governor to put a stop to this."
Huckabee's campaign has said it doesn't know anything about the push polls and doesn't condone them. Thompson pointed to his endorsement from the National Right to Life Committee and several state right to life organizations as proof of his anti-abortion rights credentials.
WCBD-TV is reporting that an organization named Common Sense Issues is behind the calls:
Huckabee's campaign quickly disavowed the push polling and Common Sense executive director Patrick Davis says his group is not affiliated with the former Arkansas governor.That's laughable. Why would this organization tell South Carolinians that Fred Thompson supported "partial birth abortion" if they're now saying that they're "backing Huckabee because of his views on issues including a strong defense and cutting taxes"?
Davis says his group is backing Huckabee because of his views on issues including a strong defense and cutting taxes.
This organization should be sued into oblivion if it's supported by the facts. If they're saying these types of things, which I believe they are, then this organization is sleazy to its core.
I'd further demand that the Huckabee campaign be investigated for possible ties to this organization.
This type of thing is why I think the polling is wrong. If Fred wasn't closing the gap and possibly overtaking Huckabee, this organization wouldn't be doing this. This organization obviously sees Fred as a threat to their prefered candidate because Fred's the only candidate that's been mentioned in the push-polling. They didn't go after McCain. They didn't go after Romney. Just Fred.
Erick at RedState has a must-read post up on the Thompson campaign. Based on Erick's reporting, Huckabee is feeling Fred's heat:
At events in rural areas today, despite sleet, snow, and ice, Thompson saw large crowds. Likewise, Huckabee has escalated his attacks. This bears with conventional wisdom from reporters I talked to who have said they are seeing Huckabee going down and Thompson going up in the polling.I've always beleived that a man of integrity didn't worry about close scrutiny. If someone wants to check me out, fine. They won't find anything disquieting. Based solely on Gov. Huckabee's campaign going negative, I'd say that he doesn't want people srutinizing his record because he knows it won't fly.
One thing that's indisputable: Fred's getting noticed by conservatives wanting to take their party back. Once that reaches critical mass, the entire dynamic of this race changes dramatically.
UPDATE: Jim Geraghty just laid the wood to Gov. Huckabee and Huckabee's supporters in this post :
More than a few South Carolina readers have reported the same calls, as well as Campaign Spot Senior South Carolina Correspondent.Thanks, Mr. Geraghty, for putting things this eloquently. As I said earlier in this post, I thought that Gov. Huckabee's response was passive. If that's the best he can do in confronting a push-poller, then I don't want him negotiating with a hardline foreign leader.
I'm neither impressed by the Huckabee campaign, nor from Common Sense Issues, the group behind the calls.
Sure, the Huckabee campaign says they don't support this, and they're calling on it to stop. But let's see some anger. Let's have Huckabee call up Davis, the guy who's doing this and say, "stop it, you're hurting my campaign." Come on out and denounce Davis as a mudslinging slime merchant who's manufacturing cynicism on a grand scale. (They're saying they'll make a million calls in South Carolina!) The governor's a good wordsmith, I'm sure he can put it even better than that. Let's see some fire and brimstone. Tepid words to the Associated Press aren't going to deter Davis.
If Huckabee supporters want to make Thompson's lobbying in two or three meetings 17 years ago the reason Republicans shouldn't vote for him in the primary, they should come on out and say it. Don't do this in the dark of night, hoping to reach primary voters who aren't familiar with the issue. If this really was such an objectionable, disqualifying bit of Thompson's background, we would be hearing it from the candidate himself.
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:28 PM
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