Erick Erickson's Blog, page 214

Is Jack Conway Involved In an Investigation About His Brother?

Jack Conway is the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Jack Conway's brother, Matt, was a prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Matt has been under investigation for possible drug use or drug trafficking.

Louisville, KY narcotics detectives tipped off Matt Conway twice that he was under investigation.

The investigation has been compromised. Matt Conway and the tow detectives who tipped him off have all given misleading and/or false statements — Matt Conway doing so under oath.

There is a lingering question about what Matt Conway's brother, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, knew — if anything. Jack Conway says that when he learned of the investigation he told his brother to get legal advice.

There remain questions, though, as to the full extent of Jack Conway's knowledge and what he did or did not do and if the leaking detectives were seeking to curry favor with people higher up.

In other words, while Jack Conway is running scurrilous ads about Rand Paul's religion, there are legitimate questions about whether he tried to use his office or connections to help his brother beat a drug trafficking investigation against him.

If You Live in Carroll County, Georgia

They're all terrible. All of them. Republicans and Democrats — the leaders of both parties, they are all terrible.

It's not just the start of my book, it is the truth. And Republicans and Democrats have together, across the country, ganged up against the tea party movement to shut them down

One of the great recent examples is Carroll County, Georgia. Many of you met Jim Watters at the RedState Gathering.

Jim is the leader of the Carroll County Tea Party. He is running for the Carroll County Commission. He was running as an independent until the Republicans and Democrats ganged up on him and has his ballot access petition rejected for a number of frivolous reasons.

One of those reasons was, for example, that my mother-in-law signed Jim's petition for ballot access and did not put her middle initial down, but she had signed her voter registration card decades ago with her middle initial.

Another was that Jim wrote "Carroll County" down in the "County" field for each signature. Since Jim did it and not the actual signer, those signatures were thrown out.

So now Jim is running as a write-in candidate. And the Republicans and Democrats are both scared to death. They have run hit jobs on him in the local paper because Jim was smart enough to get a qualified electric vehicle under the stimulus plan and they didn't. It's a pretty sweet ride too.

Jim may just pull this off on November 2nd. I hope he does.

Across the county we are seeing this happen. Win or lose, tea party activists are going to have to stick together because the leadership of both parties is making it very clear that they hope to keep ignoring us whatever happens on November 2nd.

Harry Reid Is Off His Meds

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took full credit for preventing a world wide depression yesterday.  That is correct, a politician who is the higest ranking member of the United States Senate is taking credit for saving the world economy.  We can now change the term "God Complex" and add a new term into the lexicon of America — "Harry Reid Complex." 

Reid seemed to be taking full credit for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, also known as the Bailout of Wall Street Bill, on MSNBC yesterday.  The delusional Reid took credit for personally saving the world economy and one could only assume that Reid was referring to his efforts to pass TARP.  Hot Air agrees with this assessment and wonders if he is also talking about the so called Stimulus bill.

Reid seems to be making the case that "but for" his efforts, TARP never would have been signed into law and he personally saved the world wide economy with his efforts.  At a minimum, he took credit for "saving" the world from the deep depression being experienced by so many in Nevada who are unemployed or have been victimized by the mass of forclosures in Reid's home state.  Too bad Reid spent so much time saving the world, because he seems to have forgotten his own constituents.

 

"All Catholics Are Pedophiles" — The Democrats' Closing Argument

This is not the first time the Democrats have gone this route in this election season. This may, however, be the most desperate attempt.

And where Democrats are doing this in multiple places around the country, we can be sure they have hit on this as a theme within their world view. The theme, of course, being that all Catholics are pedophiles.

This time, in Missouri, Democrat Russ Carnahan has coordinated a smear against his rival Ed Martin. Reboot Congress has details.

The attack alleges that Ed Martin was complicit in shuffling pedophile priests around St. Louis Catholic Churches while he served at the St. Louis Archdiocese

The people driving this campaign have been in the employ of Carnahan, which makes it more than a little futile for Carnahan to deny any connection. And that the Democrats have done this in multiple places in multiple campaigns tells you all you need to know about how they view Catholics.

A Few Necessary Truths

"The most significant truth is that had Juan Williams made his comments about Christians he would still have his job. The world is at war with Christ."

The media is largely run and operated by people who are left of center.

Consequently, in the newsrooms of America, instead of dealing with issues of right and wrong, the news revolves around victims and victimizers. It's why a highly educated lady like Gwen Ifill of PBS could mock Sarah Palin for accurately, though Ifill did not know it, saying the Boston Tea Party was in 1773.

Because the Boston Tea Party was not carried out by muslims, women, gays, the poor, minorities, or real Indians Native Americans, it is not important in American history — at least not nearly as consequential as anything Sacagawea, Victoria Woodhull, Richard Ely, or Cesar Chavez ever did — to the left.

That, though, is a minor truth.

The second truth is this has nothing to do with political correctness.

NPR has a long history of its reporters and guests making terribly politically incorrect statements and not losing their jobs. You can watch Roland Martin and I discuss this truth on John King USA right here.

A producer at an NPR affiliate said she ""laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out" if she saw Rush Limbaugh suffering a heart attack.

NPR darling Terry Gross held an entire conversation with a George Soros funded "evangelical" about how evangelicals had sold their soul to Rush Limbaugh.

Michel Martin, formerly of ABC, and now at NPR, recently implied that Catholicism or Christianity in general had some connection to Timothy McVeigh blowing up the Murrah Federal Building.

When Mother Theresa died, NPR anchor Scott Simon vilified her for her alleged support of "tyrants and criminals" and her "destructive comfort to keep people poor."

When white powder appeared in the offices of several Democratic Senators, an NPR reporter implicated the Traditional Values Coalition in the attack without any evidence.

Earlier this year, NPR openly speculated without any evidence that historic Cardinal John Henry Newman was gay.

Terry Gross was horrified at the "very extreme" Franklin Graham ruining the image of the United States.

All the way back to 1995, NPR icon Nina Totenberg said of Jesse Helms on Inside Washington, "If there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it."

NPR would never, nor would any other network, say anything similar about Islam or any group perceived to be a victim group. Superficially, this is because the left has unyielding sympathy for victim groups, whether or not they actually are real victims. It is how the left can embrace tolerance for both gays and muslims though many of the latter would gladly see all of the former put the death. Additionally, in the case of muslims, there is a great deal of unspoken fear.

No Catholic, Presbyterian, or unaffiliated congregant of the Assemblies of God will ever cut off your head for drawing a cartoon of Jesus. Many, many muslims would should you draw a cartoon of Mohammed. The fear of muslims within the secular left is why the media could be fully fixated on one preacher in Florida burning korans and avoid like the plague the other very legitimate story that we share the Earth with a large group of people who can be incited to global violence by one moron in Florida burning a book.

And this all gets us to the most significant truth — also the one that will offend a great many people, but still needs to be said.

The most significant truth is that had Juan Williams made his comments about Christians or Jews he would still have his job. The world is at war with Christ and, more generally, the Judeo-Christian God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Islam, derived from a man of this world, and the world are in supernatural alliance against Christ. This is the moment non-believers laugh and believers nod knowingly.

The secular world hates the real God of the Bible and those who follow Christ. Any group that is not of Christ or allied with Christ is spared by the world because it is of the world. Any group of Christ or allied with Christ is fair game for attack and ridicule.

Christians are aliens in this world and ultimately, on the last day, win. But until then, the world hates them.

It is a truth that we should all remember.

Morning Briefing for October 22, 2010

RedState Morning Briefing

For October 22, 2010

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

1. A Few Necessary Truths

2. Again I Say Fight!

3. Assault on Palin, DeMint and Other Conservatives Often Rooted In Lies or Distortions

4. Pew Research reveals THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

5. CWA Union Boss Says Tea Party Advocates "Slavery"

6. Lisa Murkowski - the Entitled Senator

———————————————————————-

1. A Few Necessary Truths

The media is largely run and operated by people who are left of center.

Consequently, in the newsrooms of America, instead of dealing with issues of right and wrong, the news revolves around victims and victimizers. It's why a highly educated lady like Gwen Ifill of PBS could mock Sarah Palin for accurately, though Ifill did not know it, saying the Boston Tea Party was in 1773.

Because the Boston Tea Party was not carried out by muslims, women, gays, the poor, minorities, or real Indians Native Americans, it is not important in American history — at least not nearly as consequential as anything Sacagawea, Victoria Woodhull, Richard Ely, or Cesar Chavez ever did — to the left.

That, though, is a minor truth.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Again I Say Fight!

They haven't even won the election yet, and Congressional Republicans are already looking to compromise. I know it doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it does show yet again how out of touch the establishment crowd is. The gains made in November will be in spite of them, not because of them, and it will require an ongoing and permanent vigilance by all of us in the movement to ensure they don't sell us out.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Assault on Palin, DeMint and Other Conservatives Often Rooted In Lies or Distortions

The long knives have been out for Sarah Palin since her emergence on the national stage just over two years ago. Katie Couric infamously mocked Sarah Palin and her family on tape even while the Republican Convention was still going on… long before her "objective" interview with her. But that was just the beginning.

Recently there was this silly effort by leftists to make fun of Palin for admonishing activists not to "party like it's 1773? yet. Not just random bloggers, mind you, but that paragon of fairness and balance from PBS, Gwen Ifill, lept at the opportunity to make fun of Palin for getting a date wrong. The problem, of course, was that Palin was correctly referring to the year of the Boston Tea Party. Ooops.

But then today, we see that Jonathan Martin with Politico has put out a piece trying to make the case that Palin is a "Diva."

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Pew Research reveals THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.

If I didn't know better, I'd think that Pew was just having its little joke by making sure that its latest report on the midterms had a URL of http://people-press.org/report/666/. If it did, then Pew would be well on its way to winning the contest of being The Coolest Research Center EVER - but it's much more likely that this was just an accident. A very, very hysterical accident.

Certainly the contents are. The very shortest version: the generic ballot flipped in a month from 44/47 Republican/Democrat to 46/42 Republican/Democratic among registered voters (the likely voter model only mildly increased from 50/43 R/D to 50/40 R/D). That would be bad enough for the Other Side - but there's more.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. CWA Union Boss Says Tea Party Advocates "Slavery"

Just when you thought the left-wing race baiting over the last year couldn't get any worse, the Communications Workers of America chief honcho Larry Cohen has sunk to new depths attacking those who do not agree with his socialist agenda.

On Wednesday, the NAACP, in continuing its unfounded "racist" accusations of the Tea Party movement, had a conference call on which the CWA President participated.

According to Big Journalism writer Niger Innis, after the NAACP's Ben Jealous continued his normal the-tea-parties-are-racist-harangue, his little buddy at the CWA threw the rhetorical grenade out on the call.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Lisa Murkowski - the Entitled Senator

As you know, Senator Murkowski is mounting a write-in campaign to try to hold on to her Senate seat. Daddy gave her the very seat he held and vacated to run for Governor, after all, and she cannot let some upstart Tea Party guy like Joe Miller take it away from her.

Just this last week, according to Politico, the Anchorage Press asked if "Republicans are secretly hoping [she'll] win." She replied, "Yes. Yes I do. Definitely." She went on to say she expects a warm welcome by both her Democrat and Republican colleagues," and that "they need my vote."

Now, when she refers to Republicans, she isn't referring to Alaska Republicans. She isn't referring to Republican citizens across the country. She's talking about Washington establishment Republicans.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Passing on Two Stories Without Comment

First is this one:

The new reports, filed late Monday night, show the RNC had just under $4.7 million cash on hand as of September 1, while carrying $2.46 million in debt — more than twice the $1.2 million debt disclosed when the committee initially filed its August report on September 20. What's more, earlier reports to the FEC have been amended to show previous debts, since paid off, of $4.7 million in June and July. Most of that debt was paid off within weeks, but because outstanding bills existed when reporting periods ended, they are required to be reported as obligations on FEC forms.

The second is is this one.

The Republican National Committee wrote a $15,000 check to Guam in September, spending money in a U.S. territory in advance of an election in which the party is already hunting for new sources of cash.

The RNC made the transfer on September 24, according to reports filed late Wednesday with the FEC. That money will go to help elect Sen. Eddie Calvo (R), who is running to replace term-limited Gov. Felix Camacho (R) in the island territory's governor election.

NPR Might Be In Trouble

I hear that Congressman Joe Barton might just make NPR's firing of Juan Williams an issue next year.

Specifically, I'm told, "It is very likely that this will be a priority for Mr. Barton in the next Congress, should voters trust Republicans with their vote in November."

A hearing would probably focus on whether taxpayer money is being used to suppress free speech at NPR.

Nice.

Again I Say Fight!

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

— Winston Churchill

"The lesson from this election should be the following: FIGHT."

They haven't even won the election yet, and Congressional Republicans are already looking to compromise. I know it doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it does show yet again how out of touch the establishment crowd is. The gains made in November will be in spite of them, not because of them, and it will require an ongoing and permanent vigilance by all of us in the movement to ensure they don't sell us out.

On Monday, Wall Street Journal readers were treated to the following in a profile of Rep. Kevin McCarthy*, who is likely to be the next Whip, if Republicans take control of the House:

Republicans on the campaign trail are bashing the president and his agenda and some are vowing to shut down Washington if they don't get their way. Behind the scenes, key party members are talking a different game.

A number of House Republicans, including some who are likely to be in the leadership, are pushing a post-election strategy aimed at securing concrete legislation, with the goal of showing they can translate general principles into specific action.

Among the ideas is to bring a series of bills to the floor, as often as once a week, designed to cut spending in some way. Longer term, GOP leaders say they recognize they may have to compromise with Democrats in tackling broader problems.

If they recapture the House, Republicans say they are wary of following the example of the class of 1994, which shut down the government in a standoff with President Bill Clinton. Top Republicans contend that passing legislation, or at least making a good faith effort to do so, will earn them more credibility with voters than refusing to waver from purist principles.

You have to be kidding me. Compromise is the lesson the congress critters are learning from this election cycle? I don't want compromise. I want people who will fight for principle. I know President Obama will still be in the White House for two more years, and Democrats in the Senate will have a filibuster to stall our agenda, but I don't want people who give up before the battle has been had.

Obama is a fighter. If our guys are compromisers, they lose. Fighters always beat compromisers.

The lesson from this election should be the following: FIGHT.

Fight the battle, and if we need to send you reinforcements, we will. It's not about "overpromising." Voters are not idiots—they recognize when their side is out-numbered. They want their politicians to be who they say they are (so if you're running against spending, don't vote for new programs and request earmarks) and to fight the other side. It's not exactly rocket science.

Thankfully, there are some who get it. Rep. Mike Pence—and only God knows how this guy has managed to not drink the kool aid in his time in leadership—is giving a speech tonight, and in remarks obtained by Redstate, he will pointedly address this sentiment to compromise:

Now, the last few days there has been some talk about how Republicans could avoid the "mistakes" of 1995 by seeking compromise with this administration. The last Republican Congress didn't suffer from too little compromise, it suffered from too much. Republicans lost their majority because of too much compromise on spending and deficits and debt. We didn't come this far to return to the big spending Republicanism of the recent past. If House Republicans get a second chance at a first impression—if the American people give us the privilege of leading their Congress again—let me be clear:

There can be no compromise that allows more borrowing, more spending, more deficits and more debt. There can be no compromise that allows a tax increase on any American. There can be no compromise on defending the cherished values of the American people. There can be no compromise that leads to more taxpayer-funded bailouts. There can be no compromise on stopping their government takeover of health care. And if I didn't make myself clear, no compromise! House Republicans will not rest until we repeal ObamaCare lock, stock and barrel!

Congressman, we could not agree more. Here is hoping we send you and all of the other battle-hardy conservatives reinforcements soon.

*It's also important to remember that while McCarthy is a good guy and I appreciate both his work in building a new Republican majority and his willingness to highlight rising stars here at RedState, he is most definitely not by any stretch of the imagination outside of California, an across the board conservative. In fact, I don't know any conservative in in his district who thinks he is a conservative and I know lots of conservatives in his district. The guy tried to have the pro-life plank yanked out of the California GOP's platform for God's sake! He is, to his credit, pretty good on business issues.

NPR Fires Juan Williams For Telling the Truth

National Public Radio has fired Juan Williams, its long time correspondent, over remarks Williams made on the O'Reilly Factor.

Specifically, in a conversation about Islamic terrorism, Williams said on the O'Reilly Factor that he sometimes had fear on airplanes seeing muslim passengers in Islamic garb.

NPR said Juan Williams' comments "undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR" and "his remarks on the O'Reilly Factor … were inconsistent with our editorial standards."

For reference, NPR recently ran a segment on how to speak "tea bagger".

All Juan Williams did is say both exactly how he feels and how many, many other Americans feel on this subject.

The man's body of work makes clear he is no bigot. But we sure can't offend muslims can we?

This is disgusting. But then the official state run media cannot have anyone expressing anything that might reflect what actual Americans think regarding Islamofascists because there is officially no such thing according to the Obama Administration.

I would encourage you to go here and tell the NPR Ombudsman what you think considering NPR is perfectly willing to teach you how to speak tea bagger, but cannot let one of its contributors express his feelings on Islam and terrorism.