Erick Erickson's Blog, page 202
December 6, 2010
Morning Briefing for December 6, 2010
RedState Morning Briefing
For December 6, 2010
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Advertisements and Sponsorships
2. Stop START: Whip List
3. Wikileaks and the Limits of Law and Patience
4. The NBA Meets the Moratorium
5. Big Wind looking for federal handout.
6. A Death By A Thousand Cuts
7. Europe steeps its TEA
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1. Advertisements and Sponsorships
I've been getting a lot of emails from people lately asking about advertisements and sponsorships on RedState for the coming year. People seem to be getting their plans and costs ready for 2011. Here's what you need to know about advertising on RedState, sponsoring the Morning Briefing, and renting our email list.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Stop START: Whip List
Throughout the last year, it has been very difficult to nail down how many Senators are opposed to ratification of New START. Too many Senate Republicans have kept their powder dry as they deferred to Senator Jon Kyl to negotiate on their behalf. This has been a fundamental mistake, because it has precluded the opponents of the treaty from winning the public debate based on its flaws.
There are 42 Republican Senators in the lame duck. New START needs 67 votes to be ratified. If all 58 Democrat votes stick together, the Obama Administration needs 9 Republican votes. Below the fold is the universe of Senate Republicans who have not signed the Ensign-Bond-DeMint hold letter and need to be nailed down between now and next week. Here is the main number for the Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121. Call away!
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Wikileaks and the Limits of Law and Patience
The ongoing de facto declassification of hundreds of thousands of formerly secret documents by Wikileaks and it's leader, the androgynous accused sex offender Julian Assange, has received a lot of attention in the past weeks.
After being generally unconcerned when military secrets were revealed in the first document dump which was accompanied by the launch of the website Collateral Murder the press and the Administration are now aghast that the striped pants set is getting its comeuppance.
We don't know the magnitude of the damage yet and probably won't know it for years. At first blush the military damage looks modest if one discounts as many on the left do the fate of several Afghans who were cooperating with the United States — eggs, omelettes, etc. — and the diplomatic damage more severe.
Many are clamoring for the Department of Justice to do something. I am not among them.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. The NBA Meets the Moratorium
President Obama's callous indifference to his drilling moratorium's negative impact on Louisiana is worthy of the "Let Them Eat Cake" Hall of Shame. When pressed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to reconsider the drilling ban and corresponding shallow water permit foot-dragging on the state's economy, the President responded by suggesting that laid off workers might apply for BP funds, or failing that, unemployment compensation.
The President and the Ivory Tower Gang of advisers he's selected understand neither Basic Economics nor the Law of Unintended Consequences. Sometimes effects of a bad economic policy are felt in unexpected places.
Case in point: The New Orleans Hornets of the NBA.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Big Wind looking for federal handout.
The wind 'industry' is apparently looking for more federal aid - actually, no, there's nothing apparent about it. They want more federal aid, they want it permanently - and they want it specifically allocated to them, and not as part of a nebulous 'alternate energy' package. Otherwise, they're afraid that they'll go out of business. For the record: if your business plan requires - not benefits from; requires - an annual bailout from the federal government in order to function, then by definition you have a bad business plan. Mostly because you are not actually in business; you are a parasite pretending to be a business. I understand that this point has been obscured since the Democrats took Congress in 2007, but it bears repeating. A lot of repeating.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. A Death By A Thousand Cuts
We have written on numerous occasions that the Obama Administration is controlled by union bosses. Throughout the administration, union bosses have planted their people in order to do their bidding to help unionize America. After you read this post, it will be hard for you to disagree with the following statement:
The Obama Administration is the most anti-business administration
in the last 70 years—if not ever—in the United States of America.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
7. Europe steeps its TEA
I think we're beginning to see a real change in the politics of western Europe, and in the coming years we will see the rise of a right which we will recognize better, and be able to engage with on the pressing global issues of the day. It won't be a TEA party as we know it, but it'll be the best we can hope to see from Europe.
December 3, 2010
The Message Still Sucks, I Guess
On the night of November 2, 2010, and thereafter, the Democrats kept saying they lost not because of their policies, but because of their message.
They said they just got the message wrong and didn't explain how they were creating vast amounts of jobs.
Never mind that they weren't. The unemployment number speaks for itself.
So the Democrats got the message wrong.
Right now in Congress, the Democrats are trying to pass the START treaty with Russia and abandon Don't Ask, Don't Tell. They are pushing the DREAM Act to allow illegal aliens access to college. Harry Reid is personally pushing online gambling initiatives.
Meanwhile the GOP is trying to keep the government from shutting down and keep the stock market from crashing on December 15th and, once those two are addressed, want to extend unemployment benefits by December 31st.
I guess the messaging still sucks. Maybe the Democrats need to remember that it is, in fact, the economy stupid. And uncertainty over a pending Obama tax hike, including an increase in capital gains taxes, as well as the certain increase in health care costs due to Obamacare will continue to kill job creation in this country.
I'm beginning to think the Democrats just don't care if we become a giant pool of unemployed wholly dependent on the government for survival.
Metrics of Success
I sent out a fundraising pitch the other day to the RedState email list on behalf of American Majority. It was my pleasure to do so and I want to share it here with you. American Majority has real metrics of success this past year and I am quite proud of them.
With campaign season over, it is time to get ready for the next steps in the revolution. Giving to American Majority is one of those steps. It has the added benefit, at the end of the year, of being a 501(c)(3) so your contribution is tax deductible.
You'll make no better investment in our fight for freedom. American Majority's results speak for themselves.
Since January of 2009, American Majority's work was phenomenal. In that period of time, it:
Trained 12, 774 activists on how to hardwire precincts, build coalitions, be effective online, and work for greater transparency and accountability in our government;
Trained 1,099 candidates on how to run for office and win politically so that the new leaders can implement policies that reflect free enterprise, limited government and fiscal responsibility;
Conducted 395 trainings in 40 states
Simply put, American Majority is building a farm team for our movement and so far, the results have been nothing short of remarkable.
In Minnesota, 94 of 100 American Majority alumni won their primaries.
In Arkansas, 74 of the 78 alumni who ran won their primaries.
In Oklahoma, 45 of 79 alumni who ran won in their primaries.
In Kansas, 44 of 59 alumni won their primaries.
38 of the 65 AM Texas alumni running for office won their primaries.
We're talking school board all the way up to federal office. In the general election, the results were much the same, with 56 of the 74 candidates winning in November, 30 of the 44 in Kansas, and dozens winning in Minnesota.
It is because of American Majority's proven results in recruiting and training candidates and activists that I have agreed to lend my support to it and their recently launched New Leaders Project. Working with local tea party, 9.12 and other conservative groups, American Majority is working to have 1,000 local groups identify 10 new leaders to run for anything from school board to Congress in 2011 and 2012; this project will not only impact elections in the immediate future, but for years to come.
Help American Majority recruit and train 10,000 Americans from across the country willing to fight for the fundamental freedoms that you and I cherish by donating $25, $50, $100, or even $250 or more today.
I believe in them, I'm investing in them, and I'm asking you to do the same.
Please be generous and support American Majority's New Leaders Project today.
On This Nancy Pelosi Has My Thanks. God Bless Her.
None of us here are fans of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But I believe in praising people, whether I agree with them or not, when they deserve it. And Nancy Pelosi deserves our praise today.
You may not know it, but Pelosi is an ardent foe of the Chicoms' human rights record. As documented in the wikileaks releases, the Chinese are scared to death of the woman every time she goes for a visit.
A few years ago, Speaker Pelosi embarrassed the Chinese by unfurling a banner in Tianamen Square honoring the victims of the Chicoms' murderous put down of the protest. Speaker Pelosi, having been denied the right to visit Tibet a few years ago made a big stink about it.
Now, Nancy Pelosi is letting Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey bring his resolution to the floor honoring Chinese dissident and human-rights activist Liu Xiaobo, who is this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
I do hope Speaker Pelosi will go to Oslo for the ceremony. It will send the right message to the Chicoms that Americans, Thomas Friedman excluded, will continue standing up to them and their murderous, barbarous record on basic human rights.
Why Governors Matter: Nikki Haley Takes on Barack Obama
Nikki Haley is just so awesome.
At a White House gathering for the new governors, Governor-Elect Haley confronted Mr. Obama and asked him to repeal Obamacare. Obama refused so Haley said she wanted an opt-out for South Carolina.
She made sure the White House knew she was going to fight every step of the way on this.
What is more awesome is that she demanded a refund to the state of money used to build the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility. South Carolina has a temporary facility that has been used and South Carolinians contributed a pile of money for Yucca Mountain to get the stuff out of South Carolina.
Obama is refusing to open up Yucca Mountain so Haley publicly demanded a refund from the President.
Governors matter and Nikki Haley is going to fight.
Morning Briefing for December 3, 2010
RedState Morning Briefing
For December 3, 2010
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Who Made Them God?
2. Another punch to the gut of Keynesian economic "stimulus"
3. No compromise.
4. Stopping START. Part II
5. Bowles-Simpson is a Massive Tax Hike
6. Responding to the Two-Inch Crowd on Assange
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1. Who Made Them God?
To listen to the news coverage today, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles have become deities. No doubt Barack Obama will be jealous.
The coverage of this Deficit Commission plan is ludicrous. The reporters breathlessly reporting on it are overwrought in ecstasy, but few of them actually understand what they are talking about.
It's just . . . it's just . . . bipartisan.
Bend over America. The Bipartisan Ship is coming. Good Lord. Our only moderate saving grace is that the Commission does not have the votes to make the report "official."
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Another punch to the gut of Keynesian economic "stimulus"
I'm no economist, nor do I play one on TV. However, the argument about Keynesian vs. supply-side economic stimulus has fascinated me since the Good Ship Obama sailed in January. To free-marketeers and small-government adherents like myself, it seems intuitively obvious that reducing the taxes be handed over the government, allowing Americans to keep more of their own money, and reducing the amount that DC bureaucrats have to waste would be far more likely to stimulate the economy than growing an already-bloated government bureaucracy and incurring more unnecessary spending.
And…according to some new research data, we would be right.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. No compromise.
I have grown weary of hearing the calls for bi-partisanship. The calls for "reaching across the aisle" and "bucking your party." And yes, I'm even tired of that sacred word that hushes the most stubborn of partisans: Compromise. Compromise in terms of leadership or lack thereof. Compromise with ulterior motives and double-speak. Compromise that hurts our country, indeed our world.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Stopping START. Part II
There are two articles in the Washington Post which should be read by anyone with an interest in this subject. The first is by Henry A. Kissinger, George P. Shultz, James A. Baker III, Lawrence S. Eagleburger and Colin L. Powell in defense of the treaty. The second is a deconstruction of their arguments by George Will.
In my view it is Will who carries the day. Will points out that the enthusiasm for this treaty is driven by two closely related factors. Obama needs a success in order to remain relevant and Russian needs to feel important. START II arrives at this unique nexus of neediness tailor made to suit both parties. In counterpoint to the treaty defenders, this treaty is not necessary in order to reduce nuclear weapons.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Bowles-Simpson is a Massive Tax Hike
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairs of President Obama's deficit commission, released a revised proposal that will be voted on later today. It already does not have the votes to pass.
Bowles and Simpson have undoubtedly worked hard at a thankless chore these last few months. They have resisted the temptation to demonize all spending cuts and focus exclusively on raising taxes. They have put forward many reasonable individual reforms that warrant consideration. But overall the Bowles-Simpson package is what this commission was designed to produce–a massive tax hike that will keep the federal government at a size and scope that is historically high for this country.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Responding to the Two-Inch Crowd on Assange
Apparently some folks were upset by my suggestion yesterday that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Julian Assange were to find a small caliber bullet in his cranial cavity. I say "apparently" because, if this post from Mediaite is any indication, it's really hard to tell when these people are actually exercised about something. I had always wondered what Rush meant when he referred to "the two-inch crowd"; now I know.
December 2, 2010
Who Made Them God?
To listen to the news coverage today, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles have become deities. No doubt Barack Obama will be jealous.
The coverage of this Deficit Commission plan is ludicrous. The reporters breathlessly reporting on it are overwrought in ecstasy, but few of them actually understand what they are talking about.
It's just . . . it's just . . . bipartisan.
Bend over America. The Bipartisan Ship is coming. Good Lord. Our only moderate saving grace is that the Commission does not have the votes to make the report "official."
Look, the plan has some good ideas. Getting rid of tax exemptions that were obtained by lobbyists for the privileged few is a good idea. Getting rid of the home mortgage deduction would amount to a huge tax increase, though it is arguably offset by lower overall rates.
Some conservatives will argue that scrapping any tax exemption for any group is a tax increase. But many of those tax exemptions and deductions were obtained by big business to put them at a competitive advantage to competing entrepreneurs who can't afford the lobbyist. I'm in favor of getting rid of those.
Likewise, the quest for these exemptions and deductions has had a corrupting influence within the conservative movement as businesses pay conservatives to support particular tax exemptions and deductions regardless of the merit. Some of the most vocal critics of streamlining the tax process in this country are coin operated conservatives who profit from lobbying for individual exemptions to benefit individual companies at the expense of everyone else.
Bringing less complication and inequity to the tax code is a good thing and is arguably very pro-growth.
But that's about the sum of the good in the plan. The plan does not take on Obamacare, which we already know is unsustainable and will lead to ruin.
Likewise, the Deficit Commission presumes we will have long term higher taxes in relation to GDP than we have historically had and also presumes we will have a much larger government that we've historically ever had.
That is both foolish and unacceptable. No conservative can support a plan that presupposes the last decade's excessive government spending as the norm. The presuppositions of this plan are fatal to ever reining in government and reducing the burden of government on Americans. Likewise, those presuppositions are premised on the fallacy that tax increases will not affect the behavior of taxpayers.
Supporting this plan supports the idea of the leviathan. And let's make no mistake about it. If this plan passes we'll be back at this in ten years. Why? Because any plan that presupposes the federal government can continue to play the role of the leviathan in all areas of our lives presupposes that the leviathan must continue to be fed from all areas of our lives. The leviathan's hunger cannot be contained unless we have the will to gut it.
The only way to truly reduce the deficit is to get Washington to get out of our lives, privatize social security, and hand back the power of education, health care policy, and transportation to the states.
Senate GOP Sells Out National Security for Tax Cuts
Let's be honest, there are many sexy issues in politics these day. The START Treaty is not one of them.
No one other than Barack Obama and the Kremlin care about START.
But we should. We should also care that the Senate GOP, thanks to the "skillful" negotiations of Jon Kyl (R-AZ), have decided to sell us down the river to Moscow in order to temporarily avoid the Obama tax increase.
The sad part is that we could get the Bush tax cuts extended even without selling out our national security.
Supporters of the START treaty say all of this is nonsense, but the fact is the START Treaty will largely wipe out any ability to have a missile defense system in place. True, it doesn't actually prohibit one, but it drives up the costs so significantly as to make it impossible.
Barack Obama and the Democrats keep telling us Ronald Reagan would have signed this treaty. That is hogwash.
The treaty returns the United States and Russia to that dreamy time when your effeminate poindexter of a Jimmy Carter voting high school history teacher soiled his shorts gleefully explaining how "mutually assured destruction" was such a genius deterrent to nuclear war. After all, if the Russians can kill us and we can kill them, neither side will kill the other.
Except Pakistan, India, and a host of other countries now have nuclear weapons and Barack Obama, Jon Kyl, etc. are still playing on the pre-1990 world stage. Only a gaggle of pathological Washingtonians wishing to bask in the adoration of a Beltway Press Corp in search of bipartisanship, damn the issue, would dredge up a nuclear treaty with a country barely able to hold itself together as a country in remembrance of the grand old days of the Cold War. That the GOP would do it for a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts is all the more appalling.
Oh, and about the much touted verification process — it isn't concrete, it is full of loopholes, and is easily undermined by the Russians. Why the hell we want a country our State Department thinks is largely run by the Russian mob being able to dictate our future national security is beyond me.
But hey — they are the successors to the Commies and we know the Democrats love them some communists. Too bad Jon Kyl — he's a brilliant strategist by the way, just ask him — is going along with it.
Morning Briefing for December 2, 2010
RedState Morning Briefing
For December 2, 2010
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Senate GOP Sells Out National Security for Tax Cuts
2. A Very Stupid Argument Advanced by Opponents of America
3. Pelosi Pulls One Last Political Stunt
4. Just Say No to Louie Gohmert's Write-In Bid
5. The Texas Speaker's Race
6. The TSA Lies In Response to RedState
———————————————————————-
1. Senate GOP Sells Out National Security for Tax Cuts
Let's be honest, there are many sexy issues in politics these day. The START Treaty is not one of them.
No one other than Barack Obama and the Kremlin care about START.
But we should. We should also care that the Senate GOP, thanks to the "skillful" negotiations of Jon Kyl (R-AZ), have decided to sell us down the river to Moscow in order to temporarily avoid the Obama tax increase.
The sad part is that we could get the Bush tax cuts extended even without selling out our national security.
Supporters of the START treaty say all of this is nonsense, but the fact is the START Treaty will largely wipe out any ability to have a missile defense system in place. True, it doesn't actually prohibit one, but it drives up the costs so significantly as to make it impossible.
Barack Obama and the Democrats keep telling us Ronald Reagan would have signed this treaty. That is hogwash.
The treaty returns the United States and Russia to that dreamy time when your effeminate poindexter of a Jimmy Carter voting high school history teacher soiled his shorts gleefully explaining how "mutually assured destruction" was such a genius deterrent to nuclear war. After all, if the Russians can kill us and we can kill them, neither side will kill the other.
Except Pakistan, India, and a host of other countries now have nuclear weapons and Barack Obama, Jon Kyl, etc. are still playing on the pre-1990 world stage. Only a gaggle of pathological Washingtonians wishing to bask in the adoration of a Beltway Press Corp in search of bipartisanship, damn the issue, would dredge up a nuclear treaty with a country barely able to hold itself together as a country in remembrance of the grand old days of the Cold War. That the GOP would do it for a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts is all the more appalling.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. A Very Stupid Argument Advanced by Opponents of America
One would expect, in the wake of the incalculable damage done to America's diplomatic position in the world by WikiLeaks' revelation of illegally-obtained diplomatic cables, that condemnation of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange would be nearly universal among everyone who is not openly rooting for the demise of America. And indeed, when Oliver Willis steps off America-hating bus then you know that it is carrying a very light load indeed.
However, a small but determined band of morally vapid internet commentators are so blinded by their desire to see America fail that they cannot see that it is a bad thing for both America and the world at large for secret diplomatic cables to be spilled out into the public. These individuals generally fall into two camps.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Pelosi Pulls One Last Political Stunt
With their days numbered in control of the U.S. House, Democrats are planning a political stunt Thursday in hopes of embarrassing Republicans on a vote to raise taxes.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced Democrats would disregard the Obama administration's ongoing negotiations with congressional Republicans and force a vote on taxes. Democrats will use a procedural maneuver preventing the GOP from offering an amendment to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Just Say No to Louie Gohmert's Write-In Bid
The Republican Study Committee is the group in the House of Representatives that makes up the real conservatives among the Republicans. The body frequently pushes back on squishy Republican ideas and, over the years, has come up with some pretty bold and unapologetically conservative policy ideas. (One side note — it needs to stop letting in every person with an "R" next to their name, giving the squishes cover)
The Republican Study Committee has been chaired by Mike Pence of Indiana, Jeb Hensarling of Texas, and is presently chaired by Dr. Tom Price of Georgia. Next up should be Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, but Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas has decided to launch a write-in bid.
I like Louie Gohmert, but between he and Jim Jordan, I trust Jim Jordan to be a fully competent conservative trench fighter who will never go off the reservation about terror babies in embarrassing fashion — let alone be asked about it.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. The Texas Speaker's Race
There is a lot at stake in who becomes the next Speaker of the Texas House and as someone pointed out to me the other day, if the Tea Party movement could create the perfect candidate from the ground up, that person would come out looking a lot like Ken Paxton. I agree 100%.
For those of you tracking the race, I want to direct you to the Lake Fork Patriots' site. I love it. It is simple and it lets folks know which state reps are where in this race for Speaker along with their contact info. My favorite column is "Lost Causes."
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. The TSA Lies In Response to RedState
I'd like to be charitable, but more than a week after we highlighted an outrageous TSA action, the TSA finally decided to respond. It did so by flat out lying.
The TSA's response is to this post about my friend the soldier who experienced one of the most egregious bits of bureaucratic stupidity at the hands of the TSA to ever be documented.
How does the TSA respond?
December 1, 2010
Listen Live at 7pm ET
I'm filling in for Herman Cain tonight on WSB out of Atlanta starting at 7pm ET.
You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com/.
Consider this an open thread.
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