Erick Erickson's Blog, page 199

Senator Ethanol, the Young Guns, and the Politically Expedient

Senator John Thune took to the Senate floor yesterday to criticize his fellow 2012 presidential contenders for playing politics with the Obama-Kyl tax deal.

"It is easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize this deal," Thune said. "And it would perhaps be politically expedient to stand on the sideline and criticize this tax deal. But to advocate against this tax deal is to advocate for a tax increase."

It certainly is not.

None of the conservatives opposed to Obama-Kyl, including myself, want tax rates to go up on January 1. However, we are simply unwilling to accept the party line that the best deal we could get includes a mammoth 13 month extension of unpaid unemployment benefits (thus caving after a year-long fight on the principle of paying for such extensions), an extension of current tax rates that conveniently ignores the resurrection of the death tax, and a package of tax extenders that includes all sorts of giveaways for big business.

One of those giveaways is the renewal of the tax and tariff subsidies for ethanol that Senator Thune is so beholden too. At the end of November, Thune joined over a dozen other Senators in requesting that these extensions be made a priority in any legislative end-game, and inevitably these subsidies made it into the Obama-Kyl package that Thune is now heartily supporting. (Who is playing politics here, Senator?)

But Thune isn't the only one casting aspersions on the motives of those opposing Obama-Kyl.

Republican Whip and self-declared Young Gun Eric Cantor, through his spokesman, is accusing opponents of the tax deal with "playing political chess with the budgets of millions of working families and small businesses." Another Young Gun, Paul Ryan, stated that, "I think presidential aspirants will try to out-conservative each other for their own purposes."

Folks, I have said it before, and I'll say it again. The issues are different, but the proponents of Obama-Kyl tax make up the same coalition that gave us TARP. They are the doomsday caucus that warn us repeatedly that the world is about to end if we don't accept THIS deal RIGHT now WITHOUT delay. Take the comments of the much heralded Ryan back when TARP was being considered on the floor of the House:

This is a Herbert Hoover moment. He made some big mistakes after the Great Depression, and we lived those consequences for decades. Let's not make that mistake. There is a lot of fear and a lot of panic out there. A lot of what this is about is getting that fear and panic out of the market….Colleagues, we are in the moment. This bill doesn't have everything I want in it. It has a lot of good things it. But we are here. We are in this moment. And if we fail to do the right thing, heaven help us. If we fail to pass this, I fear the worst is yet to come.

The more the issues change, the more the protagonists stay the same.

I get that John Thune loves his ethanol subsidies that raise the cost of food. I get that Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan always think the world is about to end without Congressional action. But let's not buy into their notion that it's politically expedient to be among the few who are out there willing to stand up to their party, and most of the political establishment, and say that a deal stinks and ought to be killed. That takes real courage, and real courage is never politically expedient.

Herman Cain 2012

It was all for fun, but I am surprised by the results.

In our 2012 brackets, Herman Cain reigns supreme as the reader pick for 2012.

Now, to be fair, he also has a huge twitter following and microphone to drive people to vote. He garnered 8,900 votes to Governor Sarah Palin's 8100 votes. Mighty impressive.

Herman Cain is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a radio show host on WSB in Atlanta, and, judging by RedState Readers, the Republican Party's 2012 Nominee for President of the United States.

He's a tremendously good speaker and a thoughtful conservative. He rejects the idea of "big government conservatism" and believes in empowering individuals. I like Herman Cain and, though truth be told I never thought he'd make it past Mike Pence, I am delightfully surprised by the results.

It's all for fun folks. I wouldn't too much stock into it, but I would say it is a good sign for Herman Cain that, being relatively unknown, he can generate that much enthusiasm for himself. Works for me.

P.S. — Herman spoke at the RedState Gathering 2010. See what happens when you fire up the grassroots? Better plan on coming to RedState Gathering 2011. Details on that soon.

The Ominous Omnibus

The Senate has released an omnibus appropriations bill that blows the lid off spending. They waited until the last possible minute to put it out for review. It is 1,924 pages long, filled with earmarks, and goes so far as to declare Nevada a Pacific Coast state so it can get in on a few million dollars to protect salmon. The Democrats have also put a provision in the legislation to begin funding Obamacare.

It is insane and the GOP claims it will fight. Naturally though, several of the outgoing Republican Senators have decided they can finally flip the middle finger at their constituents. Senator Susan Collins is joining these departing senators — Voinovich, Bennett, Bond.

Please take a few moments to call these 4 Senators and tell them to Vote NO:

Senator Kit Bond: (202) 224-5721

Senator George Voinovich: (202) 224-3353

Senator Bob Bennett: (202) 224-5444

Senator Susan Collins: (202) 224-2523

Then click here to go to the RedState Action Alert Center and call your own Senator. Tell him to vote no.

Morning Briefing for December 15, 2010

RedState Morning Briefing

For December 15, 2010

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

1. The Ominous Omnibus

2. Vermont as a "Laboratory for Change"

3. Moratorium Leads to Abrupt Production Declines

4. To Sexist AP, HuffPo Inanely Bashing Palin Is More Important Than Helping Haiti

5. 2012: The Championship Match

———————————————————————-

1. The Ominous Omnibus

The Senate has released an omnibus appropriations bill that blows the lid off spending. They waited until the last possible minute to put it out for review. It is 1,924 pages long, filled with earmarks, and goes so far as to declare Nevada a Pacific Coast state so it can get in on a few million dollars to protect salmon. The Democrats have also put a provision in the legislation to begin funding Obamacare.

It is insane and the GOP claims it will fight. Naturally though, several of the outgoing Republican Senators have decided they can finally flip the middle finger at their constituents. Senator Susan Collins is joining these departing senators — Voinovich, Bennett, Bond.

Please take a few moments to call these 4 Senators and tell them to Vote NO:

Senator Kit Bond: (202) 224-5721

Senator George Voinovich: (202) 224-3353

Senator Bob Bennett: (202) 224-5444

Senator Susan Collins: (202) 224-2523

Then click here to go to the RedState Action Alert Center and call your own Senator. Tell him to vote no.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Vermont as a "Laboratory for Change"

The pro-freedom movement has done a good job so far of resisting Obamacare. The new House majority has the ability to de-fund much of it. Officials at the state level have already started the process of legal challenges. On Monday the 13th, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the insurance purchase mandate in the bill is unconstitutional. Numerous corporations are asking for an opt-out option, as are some states. The whole thing is headed to a "death by a thousand cuts" if this trend continues. Since some of the worst features do not kick in until 2014, we might even have the whole thing repealed before they kick in, if we keep up our momentum in 2012. Of course none of this is guaranteed, so we must keep up the pressure. In keeping up the pressure through the obvious avenues, we need to be aware of back door avenues.

Not all of the states looking to opt out of Obamacare are likely to put forward a free market alternative. Here in Vermont, the objection of the state's "progressive" leadership is that Obamacare does not go far enough toward a full single payer system.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Moratorium Leads to Abrupt Production Declines

Offshore oil and gas wells typically are able to produce at high rates at the beginning of their lives. Reserves are not infinite, so that means a rapid natural rate of decline as reserves deplete. "Reserve replacement" is a big issue; we often say that every day that you don't replace production in the oilfield means you're just slowly going out of business.

How do you replace production? By drilling new wells and working on old ones.

But you need permits to work on wells and permits to drill new ones.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. To Sexist AP, HuffPo Inanely Bashing Palin Is More Important Than Helping Haiti

Every time I think that the "Press" can't sink any lower than the rock bottom they've already hit, they somehow manage to burrow themselves further into the earth's mantle. As is so often the case, this most recent gutter-dwelling example has to do with Sarah Palin, who dared to go on a humanitarian trip to Haiti. This does not suit! You see, how can the Press feel all holier-than-thou and better than Sarah Palin – and her fellow rubes – when she is out helping people in Haiti, while they are sitting at home and sipping their soy lattes? I mean, you can't even see their super awesome and caring "cause ribbons" in print. Plus, she's just a girl and not the right kind of girl; she embraces motherhood and doesn't hyphenate her name. She doesn't even limit herself to caring only about topics that women are assigned to caring about by the left. This aggression cannot stand.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. 2012: The Championship Match

Just a reminder that you have until noon today to vote in the championship match. Since Friday, RedState readers have been voting on the potential 2012 field of Republican candidates. It's all in good fun, but there have been some surprises along the way.

The votes will count until noon today.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2012: The Championship Match

We've narrowed down the candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination for President of the United States.

In Round 1:

Tim Pawlenty beat Mitt Romney.

Sarah Palin beat Mitch Daniels.

Rick Santorum beat Newt Gingrich.

Herman Cain beat Donald Trump.

Mike Pence beat Mike Huckabee.

David Petraeus beat Jeb Bush.

John Bolton beat John Thune.

Haley Barbour beat Rick Perry.

In Round 2:

Herman Cain beat David Petraeus.

Mike Pence beat John Bolton.

Haley Barbour beat Tim Pawlenty.

Sarah Palin beat Rick Santorum.

In Round 3:

Herman Cain beat Mike Pence.

Sarah Palin beat Haley Barbour.

That brings us to the final round. Who do grassroots activists prefer — Sarah Palin or Herman Cain. We'll start the poll now and close it out at noon tomorrow.

How do you prefer as the GOP Nominee for 2012




Herman Cain




Sarah Palin





  




Free polls from Pollhost.com

An Unserious Circle of Smug Seriousness

"It should be terribly frightening to the Democratic establishment that a group of long time loyal Democrats no longer feels comfortable using the 'Democrat' label."

Only in a place like New York, where a man can set off a bomb in Times Square and have the mayor blame opponents of Obamacare, could an unserious circle of smug, self-righteous political exiles get together and demand that they be treated seriously — so long as we give them no labels.

What the heck?

I'm talking, of course, about a new group out calling itself No Labels. It is a group of snobs, elitists, true believers, and other left-of-center Democrats and Republicans who share nothing in common except being rich, pretty white, repudiated by the American political system, and convinced that if they are good enough and, doggoneit, serious enough, they can bring Aaron Sorkin's West Wing to reality. Oh, and they are very serious. Just ask them.

Kicking things off as only left-of-center elitists can, they "borrowed" a logo from a graphic design artist instead of actually creating one of their own.

Having contributed nothing to society except a love of ordering society around on a technocratic basis, this Confederacy of Clintonistas and Failed Republicans got together with the all white cast of MSNBC to tell us all that they aren't really the mostly out of touch, urban, elitist, liberals they are, rather they are the serious people crying out in the wilderness demanding to be let back into power.

We can get a pretty good idea of why they are out of power by looking at their issues where we clearly see they stand for nothing and everything at the same time — hardly a compelling way to get into power. It's like a convention of Unitarian-Universalists.

In any event, it is helpful to understand exactly what this group is all about.

With few exceptions, the people who compose the group are Clinton and Gore Democrats for whom Barack Obama has no use coupled with a handful of Republican politicos from failed political campaigns — in other words, people who love politics but who can't make a living in politics without a rich benefactor like . . . oh . . . say . . . Michael Bloomberg.

As mentioned, they also share a striking fondness for getting their jollies satiated by believing they can bring the West Wing out of syndication and into reality with Michael Bloomberg as President instead of Martin Sheen and, in fact, I have no doubt that if you watch any West Wing re-runs you'll see a strikingly similar pattern in both the prognostications and rhetoric of this group.

Because all of the people involved have been repudiated by their respective political parties, they have decided that neither party is serious. After all, how can they be serious without these serious technocrats?! And because seriousness means treating these people as serious when they can't get an invite to a gathering of either the Democrats or Republicans, they have formed their own self-help group where they can treat each other serious and bring along the all white network known as MSNBC to moderate their serious exegesis of seriousness. Have I mentioned just how serious these people are — and not just about living off of Michael Bloomberg's bank account?

In two years, many of them will run back to their respective political parties hoping to get their foot in the door one more time, but some of them will rally to a third party that they hope will raise the conversation in American politics to a serious level, by which they mean they'll hope to have a seat at the table with Michael Bloomberg's money at hand.

Let's not, however, kid ourselves. These people are kindred souls to the Democrats, they just can't get jobs right now in that party because they backed the wrong team in 2008. Likewise, it should be terribly frightening to the Democratic establishment that a group of long time loyal Democrats no longer feels comfortable using the "Democrat" label.

At yesterday's event, Jim Torrey, a rich Wall Street Hedge Fund manager who, like most rich Wall Street Hedge Fund managers, is a Democratic donor — but it is unserious of me to point that out — gave away the game when asked why so few of the attendees were Republicans and all the Republicans who were attending had been driving from the GOP by Republicans.

Torrey said,

"Of all the people in the audience, if you drilled down you wouldn't find that many Republicans," he said, adding that Obama "aligned with the values of this organization."

That's about the extent of the seriousness of the circle. And hopefully we no longer need to take them seriously.

I should add, in conclusion, this group starts off in a politically awkward place — the middle of the road, or at least that is what they are pretending. In politics, as in life, the only thing found in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead skunks.

Morning Briefing for December 14, 2010

RedState Morning Briefing

For December 14, 2010

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

1. Obamacare's Individual Mandate Exceeds Congress' Commerce Clause Power

2. An Unserious Circle of Smug Seriousness

3. The Ethanol Juggernaut: Do Republicans Have the Will to Stop Big Government?

4. The Cost of Unions: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Files For Bankruptcy

5. Stephen Breyer Takes a Stab at Originalism: Hilarity Ensues

———————————————————————-

1. Obamacare's Individual Mandate Exceeds Congress' Commerce Clause Power

I have had time now to briefly read Judge Hudson's opinion ruling that the individual mandate portion of Obamacare is unconstitutional. My initial impression is that, while this ruling will widely be viewed as a victory for opponents of Obamacare, there are some potential problems with the opinion that may result in this opinion being a net loss down the road (where it will inevitably be decided by the Supreme Court in any case).

To begin with, Judge Hudson specifically refused to enjoin the Act's enforcement pending appeal (a decision which will likely not be revisited by the Fourth Circuit whenever they get around to hearing the appeals). More importantly, Judge Hudson - improperly, in my view - severed the individual mandate from the Act as a whole. If that decision stands, it could well result in the wholesale destruction of private health insurance companies in the United States. It is also worth noting that this lawsuit did not address the potential capitation problems being litigated in the Florida lawsuit.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. An Unserious Circle of Smug Seriousness

Only in a place like New York, where a man can set off a bomb in Times Square and have the mayor blame opponents of Obamacare, could an unserious circle of smug, self-righteous political exiles get together and demand that they be treated seriously — so long as we give them no labels.

What the heck?

I'm talking, of course, about a new group out calling itself No Labels. It is a group of snobs, elitists, true believers, and other left-of-center Democrats and Republicans who share nothing in common except being rich, pretty white, repudiated by the American political system, and convinced that if they are good enough and, doggoneit, serious enough, they can bring Aaron Sorkin's West Wing to reality. Oh, and they are very serious. Just ask them.

Kicking things off as only left-of-center snobs and elitists can, they stole a logo from a graphic design artist instead of actually creating one of their own.

Having contributed nothing to society except a love of ordering society around on a technocratic basis, this Confederacy of Clintonistas and Failed Republicans got together with the all white cast of MSNBC to tell us all that they aren't really the mostly out of touch, urban, elitist, liberals they are, rather they are the serious people crying out in the wilderness demanding to be let back into power.

We can get a pretty good idea of why they are out of power by looking at their issues where we clearly see they stand for nothing and everything at the same time — hardly a compelling way to get into power. It's like a convention of Unitarian-Universalists.

In any event, it is helpful to understand exactly what this group is all about.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The Ethanol Juggernaut: Do Republicans Have the Will to Stop Big Government?

It's always politically advantageous to support tax cuts. However, it takes more intransigence and fortitude to oppose big government programs and special interest handouts. It is even more arduous to oppose such programs when they are coupled with tax cuts as part of a backroom compromise. Based upon Senator Jim Inhofe's comments to NRO it appears that there aren't too many GOP Senators who are down for the struggle.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The Cost of Unions: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Files For Bankruptcy

The grocery industry is a highly competitive industry and, as so often is the case, those businesses that are saddled with extraordinary obstacles falter.

On Sunday, the 151-year old Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., once the nation's largest grocery chain and current operator of 395 grocery stores with 41,000 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. With $1 billion in debt, the company has struggled in recent years and has lost market share, making the bankruptcy filing all the more likely.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Stephen Breyer Takes a Stab at Originalism: Hilarity Ensues

I have read enough of his opinions to know that Stephen Breyer is not an idiot. However, despite any protestations to the contrary he might make, he undoubtedly is a partisan. And his partisanship leads him down paths that require him to engage in intellectual dishonesty, which serves to make him look like an idiot far more often than he should.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Amazing: A View Inside the Josh Marshall Echo Chamber

This one just makes me laugh.

Josh Marshall, Editor of the left-wing "Talking Points Memo," writes, "A year ago, no one took seriously the idea that a federal health care mandate was unconstitutional."

Maybe on the left, but on the right it was a fundamental argument. In fact, just before Christmas one year ago, the Senate Republicans voted unanimously that the individual mandate was, in fact, unconstitutional.

Getting outside the echo chamber sometimes helps put things in perspective.

Consider this an open thread.

The Final Four: Picking a 2012 Champion

We started out with a big pool of candidates. We narrowed them down over the weekend. Now we are left with four candidates. Let's see how they do.

Vote now and this afternoon we'll settle on the ultimate champion. Update: I've been asked to hold over the championship till tomorrow to see just how many votes come in total.

You can view round one here and round two here.

Herman v. Mike




Herman Cain




Mike Pence





  




Free polls from Pollhost.com

Haley v. Sarah




Haley Barbour




Sarah Palin





  




Free polls from Pollhost.com

Killing the Tax Compromise

I think the GOP needs to kill the tax compromise.

This is not a hill to die on. It is certainly a gamble. Those who support the deal argue that it is too great a gamble to assume we could get a better deal next year when the number of Republicans in Congress increase and the GOP takes over the House.

I've made it easy for you. You can go here to call your Senator and tell him to vote against the tax compromise.

They say that the deal is reasonable and we can hope for no better on the estate tax increase. But that argument defies all sorts of rhetoric.

Supporters of the tax deal say that increasing the estate tax from zero to 35% is actually a tax cut because otherwise the estate tax will go up to 55%. But at the same time they are arguing that keeping income tax rates frozen is somehow a tax cut because otherwise those rates will go up next year.

There is a general inconsistency there.

In effect, what we are arguing about is keeping the income tax rate the same in 2011 that it is right now.

Let's be clear, Congress can retroactively fix this if the deal fails.

it is not a hill to die on. There is lots of uncertainty. But I am willing to take the gamble that any deal we get next year will be far better than any deal we get this year, when such a deal depends on making it palatable to Nancy Pelosi.

Call your Senator now and tell him to vote against the tax compromise.