Erick Erickson's Blog, page 181
February 24, 2011
Secret White House Meetings
Remember all that highfalutin rhetoric from Barack Obama about not doing business with lobbyists, etc? Well, we already knew it was a lie given the number of lobbyists he let into the White House to work after saying he wouldn't.
But it appears the lie is a serial lie. Obama is having his minion take meetings with lobbyists routinely, but they are doing it outside the White House across the street.
Why?
Because he can say no lobbyists have been to the White House. At the facility where they are meeting the secret service does not keep logs. So there is no way to really track who is going into and out of the meetings with the White House.
In other words, we know the White House is happy to have routine visits from the AFL-CIO and SEIU. And if they want those to be known, who exactly are they ashamed of you knowing about? Or scared?
This, my friends, is the most transparent administration ever!
Morning Briefing for February 24, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For February 24, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Union Thuggery Descends On FreedomWorks
2. Defense of Marriage Act, ObamaCare and Kagan
3. New Tone: Union Thugs Assault Woman, Arbitrate 'Badness' of Jews, Berate Black Man
4. Follow the Money: What the Wisconsin Education Association Isn't Talking About
5. Gallup: Obama Under 50% among 'Adults' in 38 States
6. Obama finally breaks silence on violence in Libya
7. The Last Refuge Of The Progressives
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1. Union Thuggery Descends On FreedomWorks
Today, union thugs descended on the FreedomWorks office. It was the middle of the day, and there was some excitement outside as all the buses pulled up and people started to fill the courtyard. We decided to go out and show our support for freedom. Intern Steve was quickly suited up.
We wandered around talking to people, and saw the buses lined up on the street. NEA, AFT, SEIU, and CWA signs dominated - a veritable "who's who" of union thuggery, to be sure. They all had on matching tee shirts and printed signs, as is to be expected.
I was taking pictures and video with my phone, and I heard my coworker getting into a heated exchange with one of the protesters. I turned on my iPhone camera and headed over to film it. They were going back and forth, the protester called my colleague a "little sh*t" just as I walked up, which is where the video starts. Then he noticed I was filming. Here's what happened . . .
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Defense of Marriage Act, ObamaCare and Kagan
President Obama's decision today to abandon the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is both outrageous—as a matter of Justice Department policy and constitutional law—and a miscalculation that will decreases the chances of ObamaCare being implemented, while potentially increasing calls for Supreme Court Justice Kagan to recuse herself from certain gay rights cases.
The President's refusal to defend DOMA, a federal statute enacted by overwhelming margins in the Senate (85 - 14) and House (342 - 67) and signed into law by President Clinton, flies in the face of Justice Department policy and principles of democratic government. It has long been the Department's policy to defend any challenged federal statute unless no plausible argument can be made in its defense. By ignoring that policy, President Obama is engaging in a disturbing power grab that, if taken to its logical conclusion, would allow him to undermine any duly enacted federal law that he doesn't personally agree with.
But that's not the worst of this power grab.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. New Tone: Union Thugs Assault Woman, Arbitrate 'Badness' of Jews, Berate Black Man
Yesterday, Massachusetts Democrat Representative Mike Capuano encouraged union members to go out in the streets and get a little bloody.
Firstly, oh, the irony in saying that throwing a coffee cup – at a human – is okay if it's for human rights. Secondly, I suppose if throwing a coffee cup and "getting a little bloody" are just fine and dandy, it's no surprise that union thugs decided that throwing phones and hitting a woman are just as proper.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Follow the Money: What the Wisconsin Education Association Isn't Talking About
As Americans, we're often taught that trusts and monopolies are the product of big business and are bad. However, if trusts and monopolies are bad when Big Business engages in monopolistic ways, why isn't it bad when Big Labor engages in the same sort of behaviors that are condemned when committed by Big Business?
For over a week now, the nation has watched tens of thousands march in protest to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's budget plan. Democrat lawmakers (aka Fleebaggers) have fled the state in order to avoid doing their duty, while Obama's OFA has bussed in the astroturf from out of state. While the union meme has been that Walker's plan is "union-busting," perhaps a more apt description would be "trust-busting."
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Gallup: Obama Under 50% among 'Adults' in 38 States
Gallup has collected the data from their daily tracking polls throughout 2010 and contrasted the results to the same information from 2009. Not surprisingly, their findings show that Obama has suffered a decline in every state since 2009. His unpopularity is now ubiquitous. Overall, Obama's national approval rating has dropped 11% from 58% to 47%. Furthermore, the polling data collected from nearly 180,000 interviews shows that Obama is viewed favorably by less than 50% of respondents in 38 states. He is above 50% approval in just 12 states, and is viewed unfavorably by the majority of respondents in 16 states.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Obama finally breaks silence on violence in Libya
President Obama condemned the violence in Libya, dispatched Secretary of State Clinton to Geneva for talks aimed at stopping the bloodshed, and said he directed his administration to prepare a full range of options to respond.
Obama also said the suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and unacceptable.
Obama made these profound announcements Wednesday evening — his first public comments on the violent unrest sweeping Libya.
After being asked several questions about Obama's silence on the violence in Libya, an exasperated Press Secretary Jay Carney finally stated it was a scheduling problem.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
7. The Last Refuge Of The Progressives
In light of the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by Jared Loughner calls have gone out far and wide for a new civility. The University of Arizona has even invited Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to waste the time and money of their student body by founding an institute of civility. In other words, we now will be lectured on proper political decorum by the man who was disbarred by the State of Arkansas for committing perjury.
February 23, 2011
The Erick Erickson Show
I'm on the air live right now at http://wsbradio.com. You can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
I'll give a translation of Barack Obama's address this afternoon on Libya at 8:00 p.m. ET.
At 7:35 p.m. I'll fill you in on why Obama really doesn't care about what's happening in the Middle East.
Mitch Daniels's Truce
Mitch Daniels is encouraging Republican legislators in Indiana to yank right-to-work legislation they have the votes to pass.
The Democratic legislators fled Indiana yesterday giving way to a National Geographic special on the migratory patterns of absconding Democrats. NatGeo found they all wind up in Illinois. 48 more states to go before they all end up in Illinois.
Mitch Daniels received lots of criticism on twitter and online for his white glove approach to the fleeing Democrats. He praised them for their right to speak out and act out as a minority party in the legislature.
Daniels's supporters defended him by pointing out he single handedly ended collective bargaining for public sector unions in Indiana by executive order on his first day in office. His supporters also noted that Daniels has major legislation before the legislature that fleeing Democrats will undermine — legislation that can't be passed without Democrats to make up a quorum.
That is all well and good. It is also wholly beside the point.
The point is that with wind at Scott Walker's back in Wisconsin and Chris Christie's back in New Jersey to finally take on unions, Indiana is the next battleground for taking the fight to the unions.
Right-to-work legislation incentivizes an economic engine to get going again. Right-to-work states are more business friendly. Indiana is portraying itself to Illinois as a business friendly state. This would cement that.
Instead, despite union battles on the front page of every newspaper in America today, Mitch Daniels decided he wanted a truce on fiscal issues just like he wants on social issues.
It is not that Daniels has been bad. Frankly, it's not even that he is wrong (though I think he is). It is that Mitch Daniels, a much talked about potential 2012 candidate, is extraordinarily tone deaf.
It is a tone deafness that will impact Scott Walker's fight in Wisconsin and other Republicans elsewhere as a shallow media tries to stretch comparisons and begins asking, "Why don't you just pull it from the table like St. Mitch of Indiana."
Morning Briefing for February 23, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For February 23, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Straight Into Darkness
2. Is the White House Helping to Orchestrate a National Union Uprising? You be the Judge.
3. Stop Direct Deposits and Recall the AWOL
4. Wisconsin Unions Calling for a General Strike if Walker Plan Passes
5. Haley Barbour and the Regressive Economics of Farm Subsidies
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1. Straight Into Darkness
2010 became the year many Americans realized that the emperor stood shivering in the nude. Liberalism was dead, the Liberals had killed it; what now would the Liberals do? The impact of this Nietzsche-like revelation has awakened the American conscience to the existence of a major crisis. Namely, America is run, lock, stock, and barrel by a set of governments designed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They are designed to execute an antiquated vision of the Liberal ideology that will lead our people nowhere except to cataclysmic failure.
Conrad Black explicitly describes why the great system set up by Franklin Roosevelt became a casualty of The Great Society of Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Is the White House Helping to Orchestrate a National Union Uprising? You be the Judge.
A full 88% of America is union-free. Yet, despite the fact that the vast majority of American taxpayers do not belong to a union, let alone work for the government, we Americans are being held hostage by a loud and thuggish minority who feel that it is their right to force the vast majority of Americans acquiesce to their demands.
Last week, we learned that the Democrat National Committees's Organizing for America has been orchestrating and mobilizing the protests going on in Wisconsin. This week, unions across the country are marching on state capitols to show their "solidarity."
Today, we learn that top AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka is visiting the White House two to three times per week and speaking with someone in the White House everyday.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Stop Direct Deposits and Recall the AWOL
The Senate Democrats in Wisconsin have fled the state. On Friday, more than 1200 state employees will be laid off because the Democrats are refusing to show up to vote for budgetary matters.
Governor Walker is now contemplating withholding direct deposit for senators. The legislature is a full time job. The Democrats would have to go to the Senate to pick up their paychecks.
Along the way, our friends at American Majority have set up a new site: Recall the AWOL.
Wisconsin is a state that allows the recall of elected officials. The Democrats are organizing to do it to the Republicans. Turn about is fair play.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Wisconsin Unions Calling for a General Strike if Walker Plan Passes
In an attempt to follow their European counterparts, public-sector unions in Wisconsin are endorsing a call for a general strike if Governor Scott Walker's plan passes and is signed into law.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Haley Barbour and the Regressive Economics of Farm Subsidies
Farm subsidies are the most popular form of corporate cronyism among many Republicans. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this regressive form of 'progressive' market intervention garners enthusiastic support from Republican presidential contenders, especially preceding the Iowa Caucuses. Haley Barbour is the latest potential presidential candidate to prostrate on the altar of the farm lobby and support the $20 billion fleecing of the taxpayer. Even with the exit of John Thune from the presidential sweepstakes, the farm lobby still boasts many champions of taxpayer handouts among the 2012 hopefuls.
Yesterday, in an interview with the Daily Caller, Barbour offered the following counterintuitive economic justification of government intervention in the food market. Here are some of his greatest hits.
February 22, 2011
The Erick Erickson Show
The show starts at 7:05 p.m. on WSB radio in Atlanta. You can tune to 750 AM or 95.5 FM or just go to http://wsbradio.com.
We'll be spending the first hour talking local news in Georgia and move into national news at around 8pm. Specifically, I'm going to be spending more time on the fleeing Democrats from Wisconsin and explore the possibility of a federal government shutdown.
As always, you can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
Consider this an open thread.
Stop Direct Deposits and Recall the AWOL
The Senate Democrats in Wisconsin have fled the state. On Friday, more than 1200 state employees will be laid off because the Democrats are refusing to show up to vote for budgetary matters.
Governor Walker is now contemplating withholding direct deposit for senators. The legislature is a full time job. The Democrats would have to go to the Senate to pick up their paychecks.
Along the way, our friends at American Majority have set up a new site: Recall the AWOL.
Wisconsin is a state that allows the recall of elected officials. The Democrats are organizing to do it to the Republicans. Turn about is fair play.
Eric Cantor's Failure of Leadership
On Friday, 92 Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, joined all of the Democrats to defeat an amendment offered up by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn to ensure the GOP lived up to its "$100 billion in cuts" pledge.
This was a failure of leadership, particularly by Eric Cantor.
Blackburn's amendment, by its own description, would have "reduce[d] spending by 5.5% in 8 non-securiy spending subsections of the bill and reduce[d] Legislative Branch appropriations by 11%."
In other words, just as Republicans pledged to bring spending down to 2008 levels, Congresswoman Blackburn's amendment would have ensured it happened across the board, save for security matters.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy joined Democrats to oppose this. Other Republicans took to the floor to call Rep. Blackburn and her conservative colleagues "lazy" for wanting across the board cuts.
When I noted that Cantor and McCarthy joined Democrats, Cantor's Press Secretary, Brad Dayspring, emailed me as follows:
It's astounding to me that in the largest spending fight battle of all time, you find ways to attack other conservatives. Even more surprising is that during a week when Republicans led on entitlement reform, you resorted to attacking Conservatives. To address your attack here, Cantor voted against the Jordan amendment because during a week in which the House will pass the largest spending cut in his lifetime, this additional across the board measure avoided singling out specific programs for cuts. A few weeks ago, he told Chairman Jordan that the he thought that amendments should specify specific programatic cuts, and this particular amendment did not.
Let me break this down:
It's astounding to me that in the largest spending fight battle of all time, you find ways to attack other conservatives.
Actually, I attacked Republicans, not conservatives. Confusing the two to give conservative bona fides where none are deserved got us into this mess in the first place.
Even more surprising is that during a week when Republicans led on entitlement reform, you resorted to attacking Conservatives.
Again, I attacked Republicans. It was actually Eric Cantor who managed a House Republican conference that went all in joining Democrats attacking conservatives as lazy, among other charges.
To address your attack here, Cantor voted against the Jordan amendment because during a week in which the House will pass the largest spending cut in his lifetime, this additional across the board measure avoided singling out specific programs for cuts.
On November 3, 2010, the same Eric Cantor spoke with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric and said:
"We have put on the table an attempt to put discretionary spending back to 2008 levels, and that means an across-the-board reduction in spending."
In 2007, Marsha Blackburn offered up a similar piece of legislation which would have, by its description, "[made] 1 percent across-the-board rescissions in non-defense, non-homeland-security discretionary spending for fiscal year 2007."
Eric Cantor co-sponsored it.
In fact, both in 2005 and 2007, Eric Cantor co-sponsored 3 similar Blackburn bills each session of Congress to make across board cuts of 1%, 2%, and 5%. See here and here and here and here and here and here.
It is increasingly clear there are 147 conservatives in the House of Representatives, make it 148 depending on which way the polling blows Eric Cantor — the leader of House Republicans who sided with all 189 Democrats to defeat a measure he has three previous times co-sponsored.
Morning Briefing for February 22, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For February 22, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Eric Cantor's Failure of Leadership
2. The Wisconsin Union Battle is About America's Future Generations
3. Barack Obama's Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him
4. On Obama's 'Trip to the Center,' He Stumbles Over Planned Parenthood
5. Public employee unions: The big money in politics
6. The Silent Shift
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1. Eric Cantor's Failure of Leadership
On Friday, 92 Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, joined all of the Democrats to defeat an amendment offered up by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn to ensure the GOP lived up to its "$100 billion in cuts" pledge.
This was a failure of leadership, particularly by Eric Cantor.
Blackburn's amendment, by its own description, would have "reduce[d] spending by 5.5% in 8 non-securiy spending subsections of the bill and reduce[d] Legislative Branch appropriations by 11%."
In other words, just as Republicans pledged to bring spending down to 2008 levels, Congresswoman Blackburn's amendment would have ensured it happened across the board, save for security matters.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy joined Democrats to oppose this. Other Republicans took to the floor to call Rep. Blackburn and her conservative colleagues "lazy" for wanting across the board cuts.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. The Wisconsin Union Battle is About America's Future Generations
In Wisconsin, and elsewhere, union bosses are fighting to maintain control over more than just their having a say in wages and benefits. With the SEIU ramping up rallies nationwide, the protests in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are the beginning of a much larger battle that America is facing—whether America's children will be saddled with generational indebtedness and conditioned to serving the collective, or whether they will live a free life.
Last week, the six-figure salaried head of the Wisconsin teachers' union (WEAC) was quite clear in stating that the Wisconsin protests have little to do with salaries and benefits. The protests are, however, about union power.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Barack Obama's Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him
Supporting public sector unions in Wisconsin must be hurting Barack Obama. We know because he is using the New York Times to back away from his earlier statements and the tactics of his own Organizing for America.
In fact, the White House says the involvement of the DNC and OFA "were overblown from the start", but even the Times can't help but note . . . "national party officials were taking credit for encouraging the protests, especially through the use of Twitter and other online social networks."
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. On Obama's 'Trip to the Center,' He Stumbles Over Planned Parenthood
In an interview with an NBC affiliate in Richmond, VA, President Obama responded to the recent vote to defund Planned Parenthood after a flood of videos exposed illegal activities taking place at their clinics including exhibiting a willingness to support sex trafficking of minors, secret abortions for minors, and giving "pimp" discounts.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Public employee unions: The big money in politics
A lot of people focus on the federal level when they think about politics. On the day after the 2010 election, I urged people to continue the fights at the state level. The unions — and especially the public employee unions — know that. Recall that in October of last year, the Wall Street Journal broke a very important story that found that AFSCME, the main non-teacher public employee union in the country, was the largest spender of the 2010 election. Their political director said, "we're the big dog."
I urge you to turn your eyes to the state level.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. The Silent Shift
Often some of the most interesting stories are the ones not told. Such a tale is being deliberately ignored by the Democratic Party-run media. This tale is a shift in identification and perception so rapid and deep, it foretells serious continued losses for the Left in this country. Since George W. Bush won in 2004, the Party-run media and its allies have been running down Republicans and smearing conservatives without pause. But something seriously major is happening under the radar. The Party-run media outlets are completely ignoring a trend so powerful, it could shake the establishment to the core. That earthquake could shake some of the established powers-that-be from their ivory towers and positions of influence.
From the Huffington Post, Emily Swanson writes, "Only two years after the proportion of U.S. adults who identified themselves as Democrats matched its highest level in 22 years, a new annual survey has found it plunging by 5 percentage points to match record lows over that same period."
February 21, 2011
A Striking Difference
We see now the striking difference between unions and tea party activists in Wisconsin.
During the Obamacare fight, tea party activists did not storm the United States Capitol in an effort to shut it down.
In Wisconsin, union activists have.
During the bank reform fight, union activists showed up on the door step of banking executives.
In Wisconsin, despite unions publishing the home addresses of the absconded Democratic legislators, tea party activists have not held court outside those legislators' homes. . . . At least not yet. And even if they did, I have no doubt they'd stay on the sidewalks, behave peacefully, and not storm the front porches of the legislators.
Time and again where union thugs have shown no restraint to shut down government and intimidate legislators and others, tea party activists have shown restraint.
But again and again the tea party activists are the ones portrayed as violent, racist, and out of control.
It is a striking difference between the two groups.
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