Erick Erickson's Blog, page 174

Dan Eggen of the Washington Post Engages in Journalistic Incest With Left Wing Interest Groups

Power Line's John Hinderaker has done the heavy lifting on a case of journalistic incest by Dan Eggen at the Washington Post.

The Obama mouthpiece Center for American Progress did a hit job on Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) who happens to represent that part of Kansas in which Koch Industries is located.

The Center for American Progress had one of its employees run against Pompeo and, in all their unsuccessful hit jobs against Pompeo before the November election, failed to mention the conflict of interest.

The attacks have continued as a way to not just hurt Pompeo, but go after Koch Industries.

Dan Eggen, who I think we can deduce is an avid reader of Center for American Progress nonsense, took up the hit job and placed it in the pages of the Washington Post.

Among other things, Eggen tries to portray Mike Pompeo as a pawn of Koch Industries because of its financial contributions to Pompeo's campaign via the Koch PAC and, when Pompeo was in business, a Koch venture capital firm contributing 2% of the overall money to Pompeo's business. Eggen wholly ignores, in bringing up the accusation, that Koch Industries is a legitimate constituent of Pompeo's.

More troubling, Eggen uses as objective sources for his story individuals who actively worked against Pompeo in the 2010 political campaign and are tied to far left interest groups. Eggen never bothers to disclose this.

There are many examples of the media picking up far left attacks and recycling them into "objective" journalistic pieces. This is just another example of the incest between left-wing interest groups and the mainstream media.

John does a fantastic job of breaking it down.

A Rumsfeld Rule Barack Obama Should Take to Heart

With no one sure why the heck we are in Libya or who exactly is on the same team with the same mission for Libya and a Commander-in-Chief without a teleprompter full of rationales to explain himself, perhaps it is time to look for wisdom in the snowflakes of Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld, famous for his "snowflakes," or little memos documenting this or that or requesting various things, also generated some of his snowflakes as "Rumsfeld's Rules" — sound rules for living.

Secretary Rumsfeld's office noted one today that he authored on September 22, 2001, following a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and sent over to President George W. Bush.

The text is short and to the point:

I submit the following as a good rule of thumb:

"The mission must determine the coalition; the coalition ought not determine the mission."

Oh, and the best thing about it is you don't need a teleprompter to figure it out.

Maybe Barack Obama, having now embraced the George W. Bush caricature the left created as his own image, will take some advice from a real George W. Bush advisor.

Will the Opposite of "Saved or Created" be "Killed or Wounded"?

Barack Obama wants everyone talking about the jobs he has saved or created, but it is time to put some attention on those jobs killed or wounded by Barack Obama.

A case in point would be the oil industry. According to a report by CNS News, Barack Obama has killed or wounded 19,000 jobs due to his ban on drilling for oil.

Of the 19,000 jobs lost, 13,000 jobs have been lost regionally along the Gulf Coast. The study, performed by Joseph Mason of Louisiana State University,

estimated that the new regional job losses due to the moratorium on offshore oil production in the Gulf region is now 13,000 – up from his original estimate of 8,000.

Mason also estimated the national job losses to have increased from 12,000 to 19,000; regional wage losses to be $800 million, up from $500 million; national wage losses to be $1.1 billion, up from $700 million; lost tax revenues on the state and local level to be $155 million, up from $100 million; and lost tax revenues on the national level to be $350 million, up from $200 million.

Likewise, while Obama is taking credit for increased oil production in the United States, the fact is that oil production ramped up before Barack Obama became President and, in 2010, began going back down because of Barack Obama.

The President of the United States is a one man wrecking crew of economic devastation who, along with a team of job abortionists, killing and wounding American jobs at an alarming rate.

But we'll always have Libya. And windmills!

Morning Briefing for March 23, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For March 23, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. My Working Theory on Obama in Libya

2. The Fatal Flaw Of The Federal Subsidy. Why Things Aren't Swell In The Land of Pell.

3. Are Union-Bought Democrats Rushing to the Aid of the Union-Controlled NLRB?

4. Sen. McCaskill: "We have paid every dime of our taxes."

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1. My Working Theory on Obama in Libya

Obama has not really had a personal international crisis. Libya gives him exactly that. He can use the U.S. Military to prove he is not afraid of using the U.S. Military. He can look Presidential. He can get Politico drafted "Lewinskies" about how he dared to stop having dinner in Chile for updates on downed American pilots in Libya.

Suddenly Obama can look Presidential again — all through manufacturing the need for American involvement where there was no need. Barack Obama wants to be re-elected. The best playbook for his re-election is that of Bill Clinton. But Clinton had a government shutdown and Kosovo. In the absence of either, Barack Obama must manufacture them.

And he has.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. The Fatal Flaw Of The Federal Subsidy. Why Things Aren't Swell In The Land of Pell.

An old economic fallacy argues the following: Anything you subsidize, you get more of. Sadly, like bloggers jumping the latest shred of rumor they would like to believe, our political leadership decided that this supposed truism was Too good to check! One example of where the foolish fallacy has led to misery, involves the current state of the Pell Grant Program.

US Senator Claiborne Pell's name-sake program was designed to give low-income Americans an opportunity to climb out of poverty through education. Senator Pell took great pride in providing Federal Money to educate people. He famously remarked "the real strength and health of America is the sum total of the education and the character of our people." (HT: The Chronicle.com)

Like all diligent workers paving the road to Hell, the senator's intentions were both noble and good.

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3. Are Union-Bought Democrats Rushing to the Aid of the Union-Controlled NLRB?

For the last several years, outside of union bosses themselves, there has been no greater proponent behind the hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act—the failed bill that effectively would have killed secret-ballot elections on unionization in the workplace—than California Democrat Congressman George Miller. In fact, going all the way back to 2003, Miller has introduced the job-killing legislation in the 108th, 109th and 110th Congress', where it finally passed the House in 2007 (but stalled in the Senate).

Since EFCA is effectively dead for the time being, union bosses and their dues-funded Democrats are relying on the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board to unionize America's workforce for them. However, unemployment is still hovering around 9% and under-employment closer to 17%, and we also have a national debt that is simply staggering. As a result, Republican lawmakers are looking for savings in as many areas as possible. This includes $50 million from the NLRB—one several agencies that is actively working to kill an already anemic economic recovery.

Despite the fact that the NLRB's caseload is considerably less than it was ten years ago, the AFL-CIO, as well as the union zealots who serve on the NLRB, and Democrat George Miller are apoplectic over the proposed cuts—presumably because the cuts throw a monkey wrench into their plans.

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4. Sen. McCaskill: "We have paid every dime of our taxes."

That is, McCaskill said that she did, back in 2006 in an ad.

For those who don't remember the initial controversy mentioned in the ad, McCaskill's husband was linked to some extraordinarily poorly-operated Missouri nursing homes at the same time that McCaskill herself had oversight over Missouri nursing homes as Missouri State Auditor. As you can see, back in 2006 McCaskill vehemently denied any wrongdoing, just before she declared that she paid her taxes.

Which she actually did not do in 2006; and has continued to not do since then.

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Obama's War — The Erick Erickson Show

Tonight from 7-10 p.m. ET, we'll delve into Barack Obama's War in Libya. Also on deck tonight, what do lesbians and immigration have in common? You'll have to tune in to find out on the Erick Erickson Show.

You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.

My Working Theory on Obama in Libya

"The best playbook for his re-election is that of Bill Clinton. But Clinton had a government shutdown and Kosovo. In the absence of either, Barack Obama must manufacture them."

According to Robert Gates, our goal is not to get rid of Ghaddafi. According to the others in the administration, our goal is not to help the rebels. According to Barack Obama, our goal is protect the citizens of Libya. But that then begs the question why he is (A) not going into Darfur, (B) not going into North Korea, and (C) something about keeping GTMO open.

There is not in any way, shape, or form any rational explanation for the United States engaged in Libya to do nothing except for one I can think of — Barack Obama's re-election.

Obama is sitting out negotiations on Capitol Hill for the budget lest he take any ownership of anything that should happen. He wants a government shutdown because that's what Bill Clinton got. But he wants to keep everything away from himself so he can't have any ownership of the shutdown and can instead work to re-open the government.

The other area of Bill Clinton's playbook Obama feels the need to steal from is Kosovo.

In 1995, Scott O'Grady got shot down. The nation became transfixed on Bill Clinton's efforts at securing the Dayton Accord. He looked very Presidential.

Obama has not really had a personal international crisis. Libya gives him exactly that. He can use the U.S. Military to prove he is not afraid of using the U.S. Military. He can look Presidential. He can get Politico drafted "Lewinskies" about how he dared to stop having dinner in Chile for updates on downed American pilots in Libya.

Suddenly Obama can look Presidential again — all through manufacturing the need for American involvement where there was no need. Barack Obama wants to be re-elected. The best playbook for his re-election is that of Bill Clinton. But Clinton had a government shutdown and Kosovo. In the absence of either, Barack Obama must manufacture them.

And he has.

Morning Briefing for March 22, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For March 22, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Okay. We're Bombing Libya.

2. Libya is Not Our Fight

3. ClaireAir Crash Lands in Missouri

4. FAIL: Crooks and Liars Claims Evil Minnesota Republicans Are Making it Illegal for Poor People to have Cash

5. Regulating The Fourth Amendment Out of Existence

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1. Okay. We're Bombing Libya.

Now what?

After playing Hamlet for a period of some weeks, a supremely disengaged President Obama has been nagged into action on Libya. Over the weekend, US and allied forces hit Libya with a barrage of cruise missiles which was followed up by airstrikes directed not only at infrastructure supporting the Libyan air force but also against the Libyan army

What has been more notable than what has happened is what hasn't happened. We still have no idea of the goals or objectives of this exercise. Are we trying to topple the odious Muammar Qaddafi? Are we trying to establish a "free state of Benghazi" where his opponents, the self described mujahideen, can rule? Are we trying to moderate his use of force as he exercises the legitimate right of any sovereign to put down an armed insurrection? Are we leading this coalition? Or is Nicholas Sarkozy? Who decides when enough is enough? When, if ever, is the administration going to ask for Congressional approval to carry out this operation?

Not only do we, the American people, not know these answers it is more than a little unclear that the administration itself knows the answers or is even of one mind on the few answers it does have.

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2. Libya is Not Our Fight

Liberals have a penchant for engaging in the wrong wars and fighting them the wrong way. They are always meek and submissive towards those who represent an existential threat to America, such as Iran, Russia, China, Syria, and Venezuela. When they finally choose to engage in military intervention, it is usually for a dubious cause or for the purpose of some humanitarian aid that lacks a clearly defined mission or end result for our troops. Unfortunately, many Bush Republicans have a predilection to automatically support any military intervention, even if it lacks a clear mission or its original purpose does not represent a substantial threat to our national security.

Somalia was a classic example of a leftist foreign policy folly. There was no reason to involve our military in a humanitarian operation in that part of the world. However, once Somalia became a magnet for terrorists, these hypocritical interventionists refused to deal with the new reality and treat the mission as a military operation. Consequently, our soldiers were unprepared for the ensuing ambush in which over a dozen American soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Instead of bringing the terrorists to justice and turning the place into a waste zone, we summarily retreated. Thus, the very interventionists who were all too eager to engage in an imprudent use of our military were suddenly lacking the temerity to engage the enemy when it really mattered.

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3. ClaireAir Crash Lands in Missouri

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill reminds me of the Seinfeld episode "The Opposite", where George decides that in order to succeed, he must do the opposite of every instinct he ever had. For years now, just like George Castanza, Claire McCaskill has said one thing and done the opposite.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. FAIL: Crooks and Liars Claims Evil Minnesota Republicans Are Making it Illegal for Poor People to have Cash

As part of the Left's ongoing quest to make every attempt at welfare reform look like the opening scene from Oliver Twist, Susie Madrak of Crooks and Liars has written a profoundly misleading and wrong-headed piece that might better have been entitled "Please Sir, Can I Have Some More Cash?"

Relying heavily on unimpeachable sources such as FightBack!News ("News and Views from the Peoples' Struggle") Ms. Madrak weaves a tale in which Minnesota has surpassed Fascist Arizona in sheer villainy with its now infamous "Show Me Your Paper Money" law. On the off-chance you haven't heard of this law, and aren't already vibrating with outrage, Ms. Madrak is quick to enlighten you.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Regulating The Fourth Amendment Out of Existence

The Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures and demands that judicial officers issuing search warrants do so only on a showing of probable cause, is an important guarantee of our civil liberties, designed to protect personal privacy - especially in the home - from random governmental snooping. The Fourth Amendment tends to get a lot of bad press because it is usually enforced only by the Exclusionary Rule, which keeps the government from using illegally obtained evidence; by definition, the Exclusionary Rule protects only the rights of people with incriminating evidence to hide. It's also subject to various common-sense exceptions to allow law enforcement to operate on public streets when a warrant is impractical or public safety is imminently threatened. But whatever the misuses of the Exclusionary Rule, the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures remains a core Constitutional right.

And like all such rights, it is bound to come under more pressure the larger the regulatory state grows and the further it sinks its tentacles into every avenue of our existence. The growth of the regulatory state is a much greater threat to rights like these than are ordinary law enforcement or even the national security state, both of which are much more narrowly focused in their goals and thus unlikely to expend much effort harassing ordinary citizens.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

What's the Story on Libya — The Erick Erickson Show

Secretary of Defense Gates says we shouldn't remove Ghaddafi from control of Libya. So what the hell are we doing there?

We're going to get into it tonight on the Erick Erickson Show. The show starts at 7:05 p.m. ET. You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.

Be Sure What You Believe

I get asked all the time what tea party activists need to do to become more effective in the fight for freedom.

Without hesitation, I say tea party activists need to be sure what they believe.

What I mean is simple — it is one thing to have read the constitution and quite another to understand why the founding fathers did what they did and how.

So I'm very pleased to be asked to help out with a free opportunity for you to be sure what you believe.

On April 16, 2011, you can participate, from the comfort of your own home, in an online town hall with Congressman Mike Pence and Drs. Larry Arnn and Paul Moreno of Hillsdale College.

The town hall starts on April 16, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. It is online and free for you. You'll learn how our economic liberty has diminished and how we can get it back under the U.S. Constitution.

You can watch all or part of it. But most importantly, you can make sure what you believe. You really have no excuse given how easy Hillsdale College is making it.

For more information and to register for the event, go here.

Morning Briefing for March 21, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For March 18, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Be Sure What You Believe

2. Srebrenica Resurrected

3. What is America's *Goal* in Libya?

4. This week is the first anniversary of Obamacare.

5. AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Union Targets $15 Million/yr in Dues Through Card Check

6. Arianna Huffington's Hilarious Hypocrisy: Union-Busting Like…a Capitalist Pig?!?

7. Sodexo Slaps SEIU Cockroaches With RICO Suit

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1. Be Sure What You Believe

I get asked all the time what tea party activists need to do to become more effective in the fight for freedom.

Without hesitation, I say tea party activists need to be sure what they believe.

What I mean is simple — it is one thing to have read the constitution and quite another to understand why the founding fathers did what they did and how.

So I'm very pleased to be asked to help out with a free opportunity for you to be sure what you believe.

On April 16, 2011, you can participate, from the comfort of your own home, in an online town hall with Congressman Mike Pence and Drs. Larry Arnn and Paul Moreno of Hillsdale College.

The town hall starts on April 16, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. It is online and free for you. You'll learn how our economic liberty has diminished and how we can get it back under the U.S. Constitution.

You can watch all or part of it. But most importantly, you can make sure what you believe. You really have no excuse given how easy Hillsdale College is making it.

For more information and to register for the event, go here.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Srebrenica Resurrected

Friday, after some weeks of shillyshallying, President Obama made the momentous decision to sort of do something halfway in response to the revolt against and attempted ouster of Muammar Qaddafi.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. What is America's *Goal* in Libya?

As you may have heard, the U.S. is now at war in Libya, leading a coalition of a dozen or so countries (including some nebulous group of "Arab nations" of which only Qatar will allow itself to be publicly named) in offshore SEAD strikes and anti-aircraft patrols against a country whose sole resources are oil and terrorism. In this case, of course, there have been no presidential addresses to the nation explaining exactly what our rationale is for this action, and laying out our specific goals (contrast this to, to pick one example from the Iraq War run-up, President Bush's statement to the nation explaining exactly why he was preparing to go to war there, and giving Saddam Hussein and his sons 72 hours to leave Iraq as a means of averting that war). In fact, the president isn't even on this continent right now; he's in Rio, and he's canceled any opportunities the press may have had to ask him questions about anything, including Libya.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. This week is the first anniversary of Obamacare.

And the Democrats are going to - very entertainingly - try to put the best face on that particular electoral disaster that they possibly can: they have a week's worth of events planned, apparently in the hope that the only thing wrong with their party's messaging thus far was that they did not speak loudly enough, or slowly enough, or use small enough words, or any combination thereof. They also plan to "shine a spotlight on Republicans who have opposed the law at every turn" - which, the last time that I checked, included not only every Republican sitting in Congress now, but the net +6 Senators and +63 Representatives who were not in their current Congressional seats in March 2010. Put another way, Republicans do not so much worry that their opposition to Obamacare be highlighted as they demand that it be.

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5. AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Union Targets $15 Million/yr in Dues Through Card Check

Sunday's breaking business story is the announcement that unionized AT&T will be buying union-free T-Mobile for $39 billion. With 42,000 mostly union-free employees, German-owned T-Mobile has long been a target of the red-shirted Communications Workers of America. Now, as the mostly unionized AT&T Mobility has agreed to allow the CWA to unionize its employees without secret-ballot elections (via neutrality and card-check), the red-shirted union bosses are seeing the green that will likely come from T-Mobile's employees.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Arianna Huffington's Hilarious Hypocrisy: Union-Busting Like…a Capitalist Pig?!?

We probably won't hear AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka comparing Arianna Huffington to Hitler; nor will we likely see Joey "BFD" Biden weigh in on the merits of collective bargaining in this case either. However, ever since Arianna Huffington convinced AOL to give her gobs of money ($315 million), a cushy new job, and some prestige for her rise to the top of the blogoshpere, she's had a bit of a PR problem. You see, on top of getting her millions on the backs of the 900 AOL staffers losing their jobs, Huffington appears to be turning into one of those evil, greedy, capitalist pigs she so often hypocritically excoriates on her website.

Now, an affiliate of the "Marxist Maulers" (the red-shirted union otherwise known as CWA) is calling on all of HuffPo's bloggers to honor an "e-strike" until HuffPo bloggers get their fair share.

Full disclosure from Erick: when Eagle Publishing, Inc. purchased RedState, the four owners (including me) set aside ten percent of the gross sales price to divvy up between the volunteer staff. Arianna? Not so much.

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7. Sodexo Slaps SEIU Cockroaches With RICO Suit

Imagine being at a dinner event and having your plate served with (plastic) cockroaches scattered over the food. Envision going to a hospital with a loved one only to be confronted with the hint that the hospital food is infested with bugs, flies, mold, and rat droppings. Pretty disgusting, right? Well, imagine how disgusting it is that these tacticss are due to a union's efforts to unionize the "offending" company's employees. At least, that's the allegations being made by the French-owned company Sodexo.

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