Erick Erickson's Blog, page 188

The Erick Erickson Show — Open Container Friday

I was in such a hurry tonight that I didn't put this up on time. The show is live from 9 to midnight. You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com. You can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.

Back to the Future?

I sure hope the Tea Party Express backs away from perhaps the lamest comment uttered so far gearing up for 2012.

Sal Russo, chief strategist for Tea Party Express, says TPE won't go after Orrin Hatch in 2012 because 35 years ago Orrin Hatch supported Reagan over Ford.

No, I'm not making that up.

There are lots of reasons one may decide not to oppose Orrin Hatch. But having to jump into the way back machine to find one should not be it.

Club For Growth, perhaps in a hint of what it intends despite what its statement says, sent out a press release with these remarks from CFG President Chris Chocola:

"While Senator Hatch's activity in the 1976 presidential campaign is commendable, a lot can change in 35 years," said Club President Chris Chocola. "Senator Hatch has a lower lifetime average on the Club for Growth's Congressional Scorecard than his former colleague Bob Bennett for a reason. Orrin Hatch has done some good things over the decades, but six term incumbents who vote for TARP, the Bridge to Nowhere, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, SCHIP, and higher taxes are quite clearly not 'as good as it gets,'" Chocola said. . . .

Chocola concluded, "We have made no decision about the upcoming Utah Senate race, but when we do, our decision will be about improving the Senate in 2013, not 1977."

As of yet I have no dog in the fight, though I suspect tea party activists in Utah, with or without TPE, will be looking for someone to oppose Hatch in 2012. That's just reality.

Is Jim Moran Just Stupid?

According to Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, Barack Obama is opposed because he is black. No, it has nothing to do with his policies. Nothing at all.

Moran even took shots at former slave holding states, including his own, which, like the slave holding state of North Carolina, went for Barack Obama.

"In this case a lot of people in this country, I believe, don't want to be governed by an African American, particularly one who is inclusive, who is liberal, who wants to spend money on everyone and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society," Moran told an interviewer, as reported by the Washington Post.

Race and "inclusivity" have nothing to do with it Congressman. But at least you are willing to admit Barack Obama is a liberal.

Morning Briefing for January 28, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For January 28, 2011

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

1. The Filibuster Is Preserved - Progressives Lose

2. Egypt Approaches The Abyss

3. Has an Obama Executive Order Put Federal Agencies Into Union Bosses' Hands?

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1. The Filibuster Is Preserved - Progressives Lose

The Senate voted on a package of rules reform proposals, but the filibuster is safe from an attempt by a simple majority of Senators to expunge it from the rules of the Senate. The minority party and individual Senators will retain the right to force an extended debate and participate in the legislative process. The left wing partisans seeking to seize total control over the Senate's agenda for the next two years have lost.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Egypt Approaches The Abyss

The long reign of Hosni Mubarak seems to be in its final decline and the next few weeks will probably determine to a great extent the security picture of the Middle East for a generation.

While we should all applaud the removal of a dictator we should do so with the realization that the odds of the Obama Administration producing an outcome superior to that produced by Jimmy Carter in Iran approaches zero.

As i've said many times, no historical analogy is ever exactly right but the parallels developing between the way the Carter administration betrayed the Shah of Iran are chilling.

While the Carter Administration believed for reasons that have never been made clear that it could manage the accession of Ayatollah Khomeini to power, so too the Obama Administration seems to think it has found a working partner in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Why the Administration believes cavorting with an organization that is both violent and islamist makes sense is as unclear as Carter's man-crush on Khomeini.

The Administration clearly feels that it is sympatico with the Muslim Brotherhood. Early in the Administration the man chosen for "muslim outreach" was heavily involved with the Muslim Brotherhood. And Egyptian media has reported that Obama has recently met with Muslim Brotherhood representatives.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Has an Obama Executive Order Put Federal Agencies Into Union Bosses' Hands?

There is no way to put this that does not sound alarmist. However, when you read the document [in the original] and give due consideration to all of the ramifications—including national security as the TSA agents begin voting whether or not to unionize—it will be hard not to be concerned that…

The President of the United States of America has turned over a significant portion of the Executive Branch of the United States government to union bosses.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Erick Erickson Show

The show goes live in just a few minutes. Big news tonight — starting next Wednesday I'll be bumped up to evening drive time with the show going 7pm to 10pm every week night on WSB.

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

Consider this an open thread.

Pence is Out

As many of you are hearing, Mike Pence will not be running for President. Many conservatives across the spectrum from fiscal to social had been rallying hoping for Pence to run. I was one of them.

While Indiana Republicans can rejoice at a stellar candidate with a clear field for Governor, conservatives looking for inspiration in the 2012 Presidential field will have to keep looking.

It is disappointing, but not unexpected. The field is now wide open for a candidate to shine with conservatives. I would only say that 2012 is not like 2008 and I think before settling conservatives are going to have to take a serious look at some of the fresh faces who might enter.

As for me, I am going to sit on the sidelines and do as I have always done — publicly weighing both the pros and cons of the field, no doubt making everyone mad along the way.

Morning Briefing for January 27, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For January 27, 2011

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

1. Obama's Clueless Energy Policy

2. Reid not happy about Obama's earmark ban pledge.

3. Ehrenreich: Giffords Shooting Meant To Intimidate The Left

4. I Like Mike (Pence)

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1. Obama's Clueless Energy Policy

From the President's State of the Union Address:

"We need to get behind this [green] innovation. And to help pay for it, I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's."

Those billions of dollars we "give the oil companies"? Prior Congresses, going back nearly 100 years, purposely tweaked the tax code to encourage drilling. Their "investment" resulted in the stable, secure and affordable energy supply that enabled our nation's industrial might. By taking those benefits away, drilling becomes less attractive to the investor. Fewer wells will be drilled, and more jobs will be lost. Energy prices will rise, making the U.S. less competitive in international markets and more dependent on foreign energy producers.

Several of the proposed tax breaks available to energy are available to other industry: energy is being singled out.

A point often missed by Democratic policy wonks: You can't punish oil without punishing natural gas. The two are inextricably linked; what we refer to casually as "oil companies" are also America's biggest natural gas suppliers. The tax code for drilling is the same for oil and natural gas. Since 80% of America's domestic drilling targets natural gas, you can't take away those tax breaks from oil without crippling gas.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Reid not happy about Obama's earmark ban pledge.

I don't know why he's bothering to yell at the President over this, though: the question of whether Harry Reid has the ability to get earmarks passed into legislation was abruptly settled last November. The House has banned them, and in case anybody was wondering whether the Republican base considers that ban to encompass the conference process where the differences between the Senate and House versions of a bill are resolved, let me clear that up: the Republican base does so consider it.

And the Republican base will get very, very loud if it even looks like the House GOP is wavering on this issue - which, I hasten to add, it does not currently appear that they are doing. I fully expect them to stay fully righteous on earmarks, in fact. But it's just best that everything be put on the table, all spelled out and everything, just so that there are no unfortunate misunderstandings later. I'm sure that we all want to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings, don't we?

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Ehrenreich: Giffords Shooting Meant To Intimidate The Left

The desiccated feminist, Barbara Ehrenreich, poses this question in an op-ed in today's LA Times:

"Why are Americans such wusses? Threaten the Greeks with job losses and benefit cuts and they tie up Athens, but take away Americans' jobs, 401(k)s, even their homes, and they pretty much roll over. Tell British students that their tuition is about to go up and they take to the streets; American students just amp up their doses of Prozac."

Naturally, she has an answer. Too many guns. And the wrong people have them.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. I Like Mike (Pence)

I think he should run. While not denigrating the other potential GOP candidates for President in 2012, ask yourself: do any of them really excite you? That should clear out half the field right there, if not three fourths. Then ask yourself who has held true to his or her principles under fire, time and time again? I'm not saying standing up and proclaiming this or that: words mean nothing to me. It's what you actually do, and Mike Pence's voting record has shown from No Child Left Behind to Medicare Part D to TARP to the stimulus bill, even taking a stand against the recent tax compromise, he has talked and walked the walk.

Then ask who you think has the ability to excite the base and not alienate independents? Keep asking yourself questions along these lines, and throw in the fact that Mike Pence is a very good communicator of the ideas we hold dear, and you start to realize a Mike Pence for President bid could really take off.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Erick Erickson Show & SOTU

We go live right now at http://wsbradio.com and you can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK. I'll have my take on the State of the Union at 10:00 p.m.

Open thread now.

Two Great Takes on SOTU

Hop on over to Mark Levin's Facebook Page for his take on the State of the Union. The first paragraph starts it off nicely.

President Obama's foot remains where it has been since the day he entered the Oval Office, on the gas pedal.  He's not braking for anyone or anything.  All this pre-SOTU spin from Obama's whisperers, gobbled up by the Obama-hungry media, was always nonsense.  Obama has no intention of touching entitlements in any significant way, period.  Why would he tamper with the New Deal and Great Society when he considers them a good start but insufficiently bold to advance his statist beliefs?  Obama has no intention of honestly working with Republicans on health care, cap-and-trade, etc.  These are hallmarks of his transformative agenda.  They define him and his presidency.  His bureaucracy is working overtime to institute them. 

Ben Domenech has another very good take over at the New Ledger.

One of the most striking elements of President Obama's State of the Union speech last night is how many times he passed up the opportunity to rely on the recommendations of his own advisors. On topic after topic, Obama ignored advice he had requested or been supplied, instead choosing to speak in broad language which signified little.

Perhaps we should've seen this coming after his series of White House meetings with business leaders, where he told economic experts inside and outside his administration, on the right and left, that their ideas were insufficient.

The speech is not playing well really anywhere. Leftwing sites don't like it. Rightwing sites don't like it. And largely even the media is admitting the speech fell flat.

The Sputnik Moment

"Barack Obama did not jump the shark; he sputniked."

Barack Obama's "Sputnik Moment" sums up his speech best. In fact, there is no reason to fully dwell on his speech in light of the sputnik moment. What do I mean? Consider this: Barack Obama declared that "This is our generation's Sputnik moment." His reference was to the mobilization of the United States after the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite. President Kennedy mobilized the United States to aggressively combat the Soviets with not just an arms race, but with a space race — a race to the moon.

President Obama declared our present economic climate our sputnik moment then proceeded to ignore NASA in his speech while defunding our space program. Nevermind that he did not identify an enemy hell bent on destroying us. He just wanted to use the metaphor without regard for its historic meaning — something this President all too often does.

Barack Obama's bold leadership will not lead to a new race to space. Rather, in his own words, Barack Obama's "sputnik moment" is . . . wait for it . . . no seriously, wait for it . . . "solar shingles that are being sold all across the country."

Not exactly a John F. Kennedy oratory moment. But wait, it gets even better as Barack Obama announces his intention to return us to the 1950's.

As much as the Democrats caricature the Republicans as hell bent on driving us back to 1950's style culture, Barack Obama is hell bent on driving us back to 1950's style economics where people work for large corporations that subsist on government program subsidies and the employees all belong to unions. In the history of the United States, that world view is very recent.

Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs — none of these people needed government subsistence to innovate. They did it on their own. And those, like Jobs, Gates, and others that built off of government inventiveness, the inventiveness on which they built off of came from technological advancements in national security and war — an area of the budget the President is willing to cut.

Barack Obama's speech was a terrible speech. The only saving grace for him is that it will not be remembered by the American public. Paul Ryan had much more substance and, surprisingly enough, Michelle Bachmann had the best speech of the night with both style and substance.

All and all, Barack Obama's "sputnik moment" should stand in American history for a great buildup without delivery. Barack Obama did not jump the shark; he sputniked.