Erick Erickson's Blog, page 100
October 20, 2011
Thin Skin
It finally hit me tonight why I think Mitt Romney would have a real problem in the general election.
He is Barack Obama.
No, not really. But yeah, there is something there. They are both robotically good on the campaign trail. But throw them off guard, get them off balance, and they turn a bit nasty.
We are all intimately familiar with Barack Obama lashing out. During a closed door meeting with Republicans he tells them "I won." When John McCain stands up to him at a closed door meeting, Barack Obama snidely remarks, "We're not campaigning anymore" or some such.
Romney, in the debates, has been very, very polished and smooth. Never mind the repeated times he hasn't quite gotten the facts right, including the bit about his book wherein he actually did delete a line suggesting Romneycare was a model for the nation. In two debates now he has denied he wrote that and claimed to have always suggested otherwise. It simply is not true.
In the CNN debate he was confronted on multiple occasions and on multiple fronts with the fact he has an honesty gap. He resorted to demanding fair play and threw out some rather savage remarks with a smile reminiscent to Barack Obama on the campaign trail raising his middle finger to his nose with a smile.
Then, after the debate, the Romney camp began pushing out the narrative that Rick Perry is too mean to be the nominee. Obama does the same with the GOP — they are just too mean to him when they start ganging up on him.
Then, in the height of overreaction, Mitt Romney put out a devastating web ad on Rick Perry's debate performance. The ad was designed to make viewers believe Perry's awful performance was in the Las Vegas CNN debate. Most of the commentators used were from CNN, including me. They were spliced in and shuffled around outside the actual timeline of when they were delivered — most after that awful Fox News debate.
It was a vitriolic overreaction to kick Perry and distract from the wounds Romney actually suffered in the debate. They subsequently pulled the ad. It made them look both desperate and defensive over Romney's own debate performance.
This is all so familiar. Romney is behaving exactly as the GOP said Barack Obama behaved on the campaign trail in 2008 and still says he is behaving as campaigner in chief.
Isn't ONE thin-skinned debater enough?
Morning Briefing for October 20, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For October 20, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. All Huffy, Joe Biden Stands By Rape Reference to GOP
2. Thin Skin
3. Harry Reid: 'Private Sector Jobs are Doing Just Fine; It's the Public Sector Jobs Where We've Lost Huge Numbers'
4. Mitt Romney Bleeds. I Star in the Film
5. Exacerbating Distrust
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1. All Huffy, Joe Biden Stands By Rape Reference to GOP
Vice President Joe Biden now says he didn't make a reference to rape, and got testy with HUMAN EVENTS when we asked if he would like to retract his comments that the number of sexual assaults would increase if Republicans don't sign on to Barack Obama's latest "jobs" proposal.
"I didn't use, no no no…Let's get it straight, guy. Don't screw around with me," Biden lashed out at HUMAN EVENTS. Then Biden confirmed that he indeed did talk about rape in terms of the President's spending measure. "Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise," if the Democrats agenda isn't passed, he added.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Thin Skin
It finally hit me tonight why I think Mitt Romney would have a real problem in the general election.
He is Barack Obama.
No, not really. But yeah, there is something there. They are both robotically good on the campaign trail. But throw them off guard, get them off balance, and they turn a bit nasty.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Harry Reid: 'Private Sector Jobs are Doing Just Fine; It's the Public Sector Jobs Where We've Lost Huge Numbers'
Here's Sen. Reid's (D-NV) statement from the Senate floor today:
"The massive layoffs we've had in America today-of course they're rooted in the last administration-and it's very clear that private sector jobs are doing just fine. It's the public sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation's all about. And it's unfortunate my friend the Republican Leader is complaining about that. I would also note that my friend said the House passed another bill. Well, they pass lots of bills, but they rarely go anyplace."
Here's a fact that Reid should look over before he opens his mouth again. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, government workers have the lowest unemployment rate of any industry or class recorded, at 4.7%, while the national unemployment rate is 9.1% – nearly twice that of public sector workers.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Mitt Romney Bleeds. I Star in the Film
This is a necessary attack from Mitt Romney. Had he not pushed something out like this, the story would be that Mitt Romney got wounded last night. In several unscripted, unguarded moments he mentioned he failed to keep costs down in Massachusetts and was worried about illegals working for him because he was running for political office.
Mitt Romney had to do this.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Exacerbating Distrust
Even Mitt Romney's advisors will admit that they see what the rest of us see. In the Real Clear Politics polling average going back all the way to November of 2010, Mitt Romney has never gotten above 25.0% in the polling average. It is a real ceiling for him.
The campaign had hoped that by encouraging states to escalate the time table and getting endorsements like Chris Christie's they'd (1) build an air of inevitability, (2) get voters to start settling for him, and (3) keep the field against him so fractured that consolidation could not be possible before the clock ran out.
It is still a viable strategy if the field does not consolidate.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
October 19, 2011
Mitt Romney Bleeds. I Star in the Film
Mitt Romney has a new web ad out about Rick Perry. I star in it.
This is a necessary attack from Mitt Romney. Had he not pushed something out like this, the story would be that Mitt Romney got wounded last night. In several unscripted, unguarded moments he mentioned he failed to keep costs down in Massachusetts and was worried about illegals working for him because he was running for political office.
Mitt Romney had to do this.
What is interesting about the way it is done is that you'll notice all the shots of CNN in the background. And pretty much all the footage is CNN footage. Why?
Well because they want to give people the impression that Rick Perry flubbed last night's debate and distract from Romney's slip ups. The timeline on the comments in the video is grossly distorted.
They certainly did not come from last night's debate. I wasn't even available to talk about last night's debate due to a family matter. I think a good portion of both Gloria Borger's and my comments came after the disastrous Fox News debate. They certainly did not come after last night's debate. But that seems to be the impression Romney wants to give.
Romney had to do this to distract from this being the first debate where he bled. But I think the story is going to be that Romney's team spliced up and edited the footage to convey the impression that this was all about last night's debate to push the narrative that Perry flubbed yet again.
After all, Perry's performance last night was good for him and Romney knows what's going to happen if Perry rebounds. He cannot afford for that to happen. He knows, like we do, that he has never gotten above 25.0% in the Real Clear Politics polling average since November of 2010.
Play By Play of the Debate #EERS
All night tonight on the Erick Erickson Show we're going with a play by play of the debate and the horserace.
You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com.
Consider this an open thread.
Exacerbating Distrust
Even Mitt Romney's advisors will admit that they see what the rest of us see. In the Real Clear Politics polling average going back all the way to November of 2010, Mitt Romney has never gotten above 25.0% in the polling average. It is a real ceiling for him.
The campaign had hoped that by encouraging states to escalate the time table and getting endorsements like Chris Christie's they'd (1) build an air of inevitability, (2) get voters to start settling for him, and (3) keep the field against him so fractured that consolidation could not be possible before the clock ran out.
It is still a viable strategy if the field does not consolidate. But there is also a problem driven home last night by one unguarded moment forced upon him by a surprisingly lively Rick Perry.
"So we went to the company and we said, look, you can't have any illegals working on our property. 'I'm running for office, for Pete's sake. We can't have illegals!'"
That statement, which I suspect we are going to be hearing a lot more of, says so much to so many who are deeply distrustful of Mitt Romney. Conservative voters have seen this guy running for President for six years and, in the course of his political career, taking every position on every issue known to man.
Take, just as one example, Mitt Romney's positions on abortion. In 2008, John McCain prepared a comprehensive opposition research book on Mitt Romney, a copy of which multiple people associated with the McCain camp sent to me. The book was prepared by the guy who is now Mitt Romney's head of research. Look at just the pages on abortion.
This is why people don't trust Romney and it is Mitt Romney's real weakness in the race. Conservatives do not trust Mitt Romney because they think he will say or do anything to get elected. And his unguarded, unscripted statement last night, which sounded like he couldn't have illegals solely because he was running for office and how it might look, reinforces the view many conservatives have that he is an opportunist.
Nostalgia & Decline
Apple has out a new app in its App Store — Cards. You can take a picture on your phone, design a card, and have it sent via the post office to someone. Think about that for a minute. In an age of digital communications, text messages, emails, and cell phones, Apple has produced a product that harkens back to one of the earliest message transmission methods — snail mail as the kids these days are calling it.
Siri, the assistant on the iPhone, kindles fond memories of growing up in the age of Star Trek for the thirty somethings out there.
A friend of mine two nights ago showed me an awesome app he works on called Goba. It's available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, etc. It lets you plan an offline gathering of friends and manage sending texts and emails and the replies thereto. An app for the phone designed to facilitate a gathering of friends off line and unplugged.
My neighborhood is pretty new. Almost every house has a relic of an earlier time — a front porch. My wife, me, and our kids sit on the front porch in rocking chairs or the kids play on the porch. On sites like Etsy, people are getting back to early American crafts — typography, quilts, homemade soaps, arts, etc. Like with Apple's Cards program, people are trying to reconnect to a past that exists in our dreams. Part is real and part is not real. But we are trying to connect to it.
At this time, as so many perceive a decline in the country, there is a profound sense of nostalgia for a past era. Successful technologies from Apple or this Goba program or others are those technologies that actually help us realize, in some way, some part of that past. From getting a card in the mail to meeting friends on a front porch in the evening for a drink, Americans want to turn back to a simpler time or at least a time that they perceive to be simpler.
This is why the Republicans will lose next November to Barack Obama.
Now, to be clear, the GOP does not have to lose to Barack Obama. They can turn it around. But to beat Barack Obama, the GOP is going to have to offer up something. That something needs to connect with American nostalgia.
The anger on stage at the CNN debate might fire up the base and it might drag it out for Mitt Romney, but voters are ready to return to an era of happy warriors brimming with optimism and a vision of the country that is positive, not premised on American decline. The anger was directed at each other, not at the state of the country.
This is why Herman Cain resonates. This is why 999 and its utter simplicity resonates.
As a society, regardless of party, we've made our lives too damn difficult. It is not easy to file your taxes. It is not easy to start a business. The byzantine structure of the tax code, the bureaucracy, the regulations, and so on have complicated our lives needlessly.
People are mad as hell because we've gone from a country that rewards hard work to rewarding failure. Those who played by the rules are forced to bail out the people and businesses who didn't. Kids are growing up expecting reward without either risk or success. To quote Jeremiah Wright, "the chickens are coming home to roost."
We've gone soft as a nation, propping up the nanny state to make life easier and more egalitarian, but in the process we've seen some really are more equal than the rest of us and our efforts to make life easier and less risky have created a growing social safety net smothering risk and freedom. We've tried to ensure outcome of equality, not creation stage equality.
And people, subconsciously or consciously, are trying to turn back the clock. They want to get back to a time that was less complicated, maybe a little more raw, but filled with the wild west spirit of optimism and hard work that saw each horizon as something to be crossed to a better tomorrow.
Right now, only Herman Cain really expresses that time. Rick Perry says he wants to make Washington as inconsequential in our lives as possible, but where is the hope? Where is the optimism? Where is the warrior for what's right? Where is the guy who is willing to throw out the money changers?
Herman Cain is running not against Obama, but for a view of the United States that is still the shining city on the hill. I hear him speak and I hear him connecting with that sense of American nostalgia so many are embracing right now — a nostalgia that says, "Yes, yesterday was pretty awesome for America. But you ain't seen nothing yet."
I hear Rick Perry talk about that in terms of Texas. I hear Romney talk like a technocrat muttering on about plugging in various variables into arcane economic formulas to churn out various forms of growth and zzzzzzz . . . .
Where is the vision of the shining city on the hill? Where is the vision of the better tomorrow. Where is the rhetoric that transcends red meat? I'm not hearing it and people want to hear it. They don't want to wait for the general election. They want the happy warriors with their optimism in the fight for freedom now. And let's not underrate the "warrior" bit. Along with the optimism must come a heavy dose of moral outrage at what is right now going on. The outrage is outrage against those gaming the system, against the politicians making it harder and harder for the entrepreneur against the established business, and against a less than free market where the government picks winners and losers largely based on campaign donations.
These candidates need to sell hope. Not the false hope that Obama sold. Obama sold a hope in himself. He wanted people to put their hopes in him. And now he's lost them. But the GOP cannot gain them merely by not being Obama. They've got to offer more.
In the Bible, Paul writes about hope. That hope is a specific hope. It is Christ. The hope in a supreme God who through his son will deliver those who believe into the promised land, vanquish sin, and save the world.
In America, we have always had our own brand of hope — that of America against the world. That hope that says we are the last best hope for mankind and all those yearning to breath free can come here, work hard, and thrive and the government exists to make sure everyone has a chance to compete.
It is a hope that has real punishment and consequences both for those countries that try to outpace us and for those of our own citizens within and outside government who try to stifle the American entrepreneurial spirit.
Right now, we're not thriving. We're rewarding those who are gaming the system, not working hard. We've let the government pick winners and losers instead of a free market, which itself is increasingly not free. We're putting up candidates who make decisions based on how it will look when they run for office, not on whether it is right or wrong. See e.g. Mitt Romney last night on his sanctuary mansion saying, ""I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals."
The Republican who should be the nominee and who can beat Barack Obama is the Republican who can tap that Reagan like optimism in this country and also the Reagan like moral outrage at the condition we find ourselves in — an outrage driven by conviction in a better way and a better set of principles rooted in freedom.
Right now, from the President to the rest of the field save Cain, they are saying the words, but they sound angry and defeatist. They say America's best days are ahead of us like they think we really are in decline.
Right now, America just needs someone with a warm smile, a heavy amount of indignation at where Washington has led us, and a vision and real hope for a better tomorrow. The candidate who delivers that will win. We need a happy warrior.
Morning Briefing for October 19, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For October 19, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Nostalgia & Decline
2. The CNN Debate: Where Has This Perry Been?
3. Herman Cain, Gilad Shalit, and Emptying GITMO in Exchange for One Captive Soldier
4. Meet #OWS 'Crisis Creator' Lisa Fithian: The Radical Extremist Helping To #OccupyAmerica
———————————————————————-
1. Nostalgia & Decline
Apple has out a new app in its App Store — Cards. You can take a picture on your phone, design a card, and have it sent via the post office to someone. Think about that for a minute. In an age of digital communications, text messages, emails, and cell phones, Apple has produced a product that harkens back to one of the earliest message transmission methods — snail mail as the kids these days are calling it.
Siri, the assistant on the iPhone, kindles fond memories of growing up in the age of Star Trek for the thirty somethings out there.
A friend of mine two nights ago showed me an awesome app he works on called Goba. It's available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, etc. It lets you plan an offline gathering of friends and manage sending texts and emails and the replies thereto. An app for the phone designed to facilitate a gathering of friends off line and unplugged.
My neighborhood is pretty new. Almost every house has a relic of an earlier time — a front porch. My wife, me, and our kids sit on the front porch in rocking chairs or the kids play on the porch. On sites like Etsy, people are getting back to early American crafts — typography, quilts, homemade soaps, arts, etc. Like with Apple's Cards program, people are trying to reconnect to a past that exists in our dreams. Part is real and part is not real. But we are trying to connect to it.
At this time, as so many perceive a decline in the country, there is a profound sense of nostalgia for a past era. Successful technologies from Apple or this Goba program or others are those technologies that actually help us realize, in some way, some part of that past. From getting a card in the mail to meeting friends on a front porch in the evening for a drink, Americans want to turn back to a simpler time or at least a time that they perceive to be simpler.
This is why the Republicans will lose next November to Barack Obama.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. The CNN Debate: Where Has This Perry Been?
1. Where has this Rick Perry been? Finally, the guy showed up with unscripted, from the gut answers. The few scripted answers fell flat (see e.g. Jeffres). The rest were good. He's not the best debater. But he certainly did not lose that debate.
2. Rick Santorum is too angry to be President and came across as a jerk to everyone. Rick Santorum conveniently forgot to mention he got his butt kicked in Pennsylvania, was not a fiscal conservative, and endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey.
3. This debate hurts Mitt Romney more than anyone else. Why? Because the candidates started piling on him. A lot of polling seemed to indicate that voters were getting ready to settle. This pile on and the Newt-Santorum-Cain-Perry pile on of Romney "lying" will keep voters from settling for him. He got flustered tonight for the first time. Perry got under his skin. I don't know where so many enthusiastic Romney supporters came from, but though he was cheered on stage by the crowd, he was clearly flustered.
4. As the candidates were piling on Romney for Romneycare, Captain Stubing . . . er . . . Michele Bachmann . . . interjected and totally shut down that line of attack. Was she returning the favor for Mitt's lifeline at the last debate?
5. Herman Cain continues to shine as the great optimist. He stayed upbeat with a sense of humor. But this debate showed his serious weak point — foreign policy. He is going to have to seriously, seriously beef up by the next CNN debate, which will be a foreign policy debate.
6. Newt Gingrich, hands down, won the debate. He was confrontational, but polite. He was good on faith issues. He really hit every answer out of the park, though nuclear power is his and everyone else's ethanol.
I suspect Perry saved himself tonight. Gingrich will go up a bit, probably drawn from some Cain votes. Romney will stagnate. Santorum and Bachmann will go down. Paul will hold steady.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Herman Cain, Gilad Shalit, and Emptying GITMO in Exchange for One Captive Soldier
Herman Cain is taking a beating – at least judging by my email inbox – over a line he uttered in the interview below with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
The synopses of this I'm seeing are some variation of "Cain said he'd release all Gitmo terrorists in exchange for one American P.O.W." and "Cain would release all gitmo detainees for one soldier." However, that's not what happened at all – and I don't share the outrage at this point that some of my very good friends and colleagues do over this statement. Here's why.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Meet #OWS 'Crisis Creator' Lisa Fithian: The Radical Extremist Helping To #OccupyAmerica
"When people ask me, 'What do you do?' I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible." — Lisa Fithian
To say that Lisa Fithian is just a paid-professional protester would be to undersell her radical accomplishments. True, she's received compensation from the SEIU and the SEIU's labor federation Change to Win as a consultant. However, her war on the free market goes well beyond that. Last year, Fithian helped the UAW shut down Bank of America branches and, now, is helping the #OccupyWallSt protesters wage their occupations all across America.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
October 18, 2011
The CNN Debate: Where Has This Perry Been?
My quick thoughts before I get back on radio (you can listen and call in):
1. Where has this Rick Perry been? Finally, the guy showed up with unscripted, from the gut answers. The few scripted answers fell flat (see e.g. Jeffres). The rest were good. He's not the best debater. But he certainly did not lose that debate.
2. Rick Santorum is too angry to be President and came across as a jerk to everyone. Rick Santorum conveniently forgot to mention he got his butt kicked in Pennsylvania, was not a fiscal conservative, and endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey.
3. This debate hurts Mitt Romney more than anyone else. Why? Because the candidates started piling on him. A lot of polling seemed to indicate that voters were getting ready to settle. This pile on and the Newt-Santorum-Cain-Perry pile on of Romney "lying" will keep voters from settling for him. He got flustered tonight for the first time. Perry got under his skin. I don't know where so many enthusiastic Romney supporters came from, but though he was cheered on stage by the crowd, he was clearly flustered.
4. As the candidates were piling on Romney for Romneycare, Captain Stubing . . . er . . . Michele Bachmann . . . interjected and totally shut down that line of attack. Was she returning the favor for Mitt's lifeline at the last debate?
5. Herman Cain continues to shine as the great optimist. He stayed upbeat with a sense of humor. But this debate showed his serious weak point — foreign policy. He is going to have to seriously, seriously beef up by the next CNN debate, which will be a foreign policy debate.
6. Newt Gingrich, hands down, won the debate. He was confrontational, but polite. He was good on faith issues. He really hit every answer out of the park, though nuclear power is his and everyone else's ethanol.
I suspect Perry saved himself tonight. Gingrich will go up a bit, probably drawn from some Cain votes. Romney will stagnate. Santorum and Bachmann will go down. Paul will hold steady.
The Debate #EERS
I'm going to be doing a pre-debate show from 7pm to 8pm tonight and then we'll cover the CNN debate live. From 10pm to 11pm, I'll be back on radio covering the post debate show.
You can listen live right here from now till 10pm.
And call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
Consider this an open thread.
Morning Briefing for October 18, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For October 18, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Herman Cain Singlehandedly Revives an Old Stereotype
2. I Support Occupy Wall Street
3. Even #OWS Has A Point: Rent-Seeking In Higher Education
4. Little did we know how well Herman Cain was doing last week
5. Herman Cain Thinks 9-9-9 Is A Really Bad Idea
6. Save The Date: RedState Gathering 2012
———————————————————————-
1. Herman Cain Singlehandedly Revives an Old Stereotype
The other day, Herman Cain said if he was in charge of defending our borders, he'd build a twenty foot high wall, put barbed wire on the top, electrify it, and put a big sign on it that read "if you touch this, you will die!"
On Sunday, asked about it by the dimwit who replaced Tim Russert, Cain said he was joking.
The media headline: "Cain Retreats From Hardline Immigration Position."
Herman Cain has done something we all owe him a debt of gratitude for doing. He has singlehandedly revived a stereotype many people thought had been forgotten — the humorless liberal.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. I Support Occupy Wall Street
I support Occupy Wall Street. And not in the ironic way that I'm sure many would assume upon reading that sentence. I literally support their protest and their desire to influence the political discourse. In fact, I want them to influence the political discourse. I want them push their ideas and have them heard by politicians whose hearts beat for the same reasons. I want those kindred spirits to run on campaigns that promise to fulfill all the objectives that Occupy Wall Street is demanding, and I want them to push for legislation and laws that will accomplish them.
The reason I want all of these things is because Occupy Wall Street is a purely ideological movement that, in many ways, is the antithesis of the Tea Party. For too long, the Tea Party has stood alone, holding signs in the streets and being told to sit down and shut up by the power structure of Washington, D.C. Having an ideological movement that pushes the narrative of half of the country, or at least half of our elected officials, further left is exactly what this country needs to rid us of a scourge that has plagued our political landscape for far too long.
Moderates.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Even #OWS Has A Point: Rent-Seeking In Higher Education
The #OWS movement has become like the Type II Diabetes of a customer at an all you can eat buffet. It won't go away, and it has become accepted as a problem of everyday life now. A portion of this longevity can be traced to its political expediency to a media-favored and embattled incumbent president. Part of this can be ascribed to the tenacity and organization of the protestors themselves.
So that begs another question. People have been out there since Sept 17. They've been doing this for long enough for the sanitation to get tenuous. They could be indoors sipping coffee instead. In another month it may not be very good for their health to sleep outdoors in a large group. It becomes possible that the most dedicated ones are legitimately angry and legitimately scared. The demands may have been only partially coherent, but at least some of these #OWSers actually have a point.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Little did we know how well Herman Cain was doing last week
Before the cold that really took me down since Friday (to explain my silence since), we checked in on the pre-debate polling for Herman Cain's first debate as a major contender.
It turns out that Cain's momentum had taken him even further ahead of the Tuesday debate, though post-debate polling suggests he took at hit in the national audience.
I'm far enough behind that I have four national polls to catch up on. First we'll check on the three that were in the field before the debate. In no particular order we have Ipsos for Reuters polled 410 Republican adults, mobile and landlines, MoE 4.8. Next is Hart/McInturuff for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal polled 336 GOP Primary voters, mobile and landline, MoE 5.35. Last is Public Policy Polling's survey of 484 "usual Republican primary voters," automated. MoE 4.5.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Herman Cain Thinks 9-9-9 Is A Really Bad Idea
or at least he did only eleven months ago.
Last week I took a couple of looks at Herman Cain's tax plan masquerading an economic plan called 9-9-9 (here | here)
What struck me about the plan was the extremely non-conservative nature of the plan (for the past 30 years conservatives have opposed new taxes or increases in existing taxes), in this case the implementation of a national sales tax, and the naïveté involved in proposing a brand new tax based upon the underlying assumption that no one will ever raise that tax.
Much to my surprise, or not, I found that his supporters were completely in favor of a new federal tax on retail sales and that the idea that said tax would ever increase was roundly discounted as bogus and a strawman. This despite the fact that the current federal income tax had a top rate of 7% when it was first introduced and the VAT debuted in Britain at 8% and now is a healthy 20%
Today I found out that Herman Cain agrees with me. A national retail tax is a really bad idea.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Save The Date: RedState Gathering 2012
We're going to the swing state of Florida in 2012. For Republicans, August will start and end there with the RedState Gathering the first weekend of the month and the Republican National Convention the last weekend of the month.
By then we should have the nominee and we hope he'll be at the Gathering. Of course, we're inviting Governor Scott, Senator Rubio, and senate candidate Adam Hasner, among others.
It should be a fun time. I'll have hotel details forthcoming and a great introductory rate.
But here's one thing you need to know — the event is expanded by a full extra day so it is going to be a bit more expensive. Why expand by a day?
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