Erick Erickson's Blog, page 23
August 23, 2012
Morning Briefing for August 23, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 23, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
My apologies for the untimely delivery of what amounts to your mid-morning briefing today. Believe it or not, I actually do get up at 4 o’clock and send it out each morning. But for the first time in several years, I was so exhausted after a whirlwind several days of travel that it just didn’t happen. Sorry about that folks. In any event, here you go. I’ll be back on track tomorrow.
– Erick
1. Equal Pay Icon Rallies for Obama. Attendees Unaware of Pay Disparity at White House.
2. Obama Supports Traffic Congestion
3. FCC gets it wrong by pushing an agenda in its 706 Report
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1. Equal Pay Icon Rallies for Obama. Attendees Unaware of Pay Disparity at White House.
Lilly Ledbetter is the namesake of the first bill signed by President Obama back in 2009, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. The purpose of this act was supposedly to make it easier for women in the workforce to file discrimination lawsuits and demand equal pay for equal work.
So pleased with Obama is Mrs. Ledbetter, that she decided to rally on his behalf recently in Colorado, along with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Apparently Ledbetter neglected to mention that the same White House she’s rallying on behalf of has its own issues with pay equality. Luckily, Caleb Bonham of Revealing Politics was there to let them know.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Obama Supports Traffic Congestion
Through Obama’s truculent special interest campaign of division and derision, he is rapidly exhausting his check list of demographic groups. He’s already targeted women, Hispanics, gays, blue collar workers, and all sorts of minorities. Now he is going after the ‘commuter vote’ in northern Virginia.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. FCC gets it wrong by pushing an agenda in its 706 Report
So, the FCC put out another report (the “706 report”) that just pushes an agenda rather than reporting the true facts about high speed Internet in America. Commissioners McDowell and Pai tell it like it is. We’ve also got Broadband for America telling the story. I’m not even worried about the details: the FCC is saying what they feel they must say to justify expanding government.
Behold as CREW, of the tolerant and liberty-minded left, pushes for censorship of Fox as political retribution.
August 22, 2012
Just a Reminder: Nikki Haley Remains Awesome
The Myrtle Beach newspaper brings word to conservatives nationwide that Nikki Haley remains awesome.
The Governor, who had a series of vetoes overridden by the state legislature because she dared to cut spending, has also wielded her veto pen and seen the legislature back down recently. But, what’s so awesome, is the tears shed by liberals. Get this — she, in the words of the newspaper, “unilaterally” dissolved “the S.C. Arts Commission and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.”
She also drew a line in the sand over pork barrel spending in the state, pretty clearly telling the legislature that the good times aren’t back yet and they need to not live high on the hog.
Just read this editorial and you get a great flavor of what’s going on in South Carolina.
People is policy and conservatives rallied to a great person. The result? Great conservative policy coming out of the Governor’s Mansion.
Morning Briefing for August 22, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 22, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Just a Reminder: Nikki Haley Remains Awesome
2. Obama assists Bain takeover at OMB and tries to hide it
3. DC Circuit Tosses Out EPA’s Pollution Rule
4. Radical Islam Joins the DNC
1. Just a Reminder: Nikki Haley Remains Awesome
The Myrtle Beach newspaper brings word to conservatives nationwide that Nikki Haley remains awesome.
The Governor, who had a series of vetoes overridden by the state legislature because she dared to cut spending, has also wielded her veto pen and seen the legislature back down recently. But, what’s so awesome, is the tears shed by liberals. Get this — she, in the words of the newspaper, “unilaterally” dissolved “the S.C. Arts Commission and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.”
She also drew a line in the sand over pork barrel spending in the state, pretty clearly telling the legislature that the good times aren’t back yet and they need to not live high on the hog.
Just read this editorial and you get a great flavor of what’s going on in South Carolina.
People is policy and conservatives rallied to a great person. The result? Great conservative policy coming out of the Governor’s Mansion.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
2. Obama assists Bain takeover at OMB and tries to hide it
It looks like President Obama is assisting in a friendly takeover of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), by Bain Capital.
As you may have heard, earlier this year Obama picked Jeff Zients to lead the OMB. You might not have heard that Zients worked at Bain from 1988-1990. The Zients White House biography did not originally admit that fact.
Now Obama has appointed another former Bain consultant, Boris Bershteyn, to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is part of the OMB. Recognizing how awkward this is for Obama’s reelection campaign, Bershteyn’s tenure at Bain has been edited out of his official White House bio. This is an obvious and glaring attempt to hide Obama’s friendly Bain takeover of the OMB.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
3. DC Circuit Tosses Out EPA’s Pollution Rule
Amidst Obama’s inexorable war on American energy, consumers, jobs, and prosperity, his EPA is in the process of promulgating 4 new pollution rules that will bury the coal industry and “necessarily” raise the price of electricity on American households. They are the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Utilities (MACT), the Cooling Water Intake Structures regulation, and the Disposal of Coal Combustion residuals. The former two have already been finalized while the latter two are close behind. Today, the D.C. Circuit Court struck downthe EPA’s authority to implement the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
4. Radical Islam Joins the DNC
Starting at the end of this month the Democratic National Convention will open with a focus on Islam. 20,000 Muslims are expected to attend according to the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), the national Muslim American non-profit coordinating the two days of events they claim are non-political. ”Jumah at the DNC” begins August 29 and will start with a Friday afternoon jummah prayer followed by other unnamed programs and events, leading up to the Islamic Regal Banquet. The following day will be an all day Islamic Cultural and Fun Fest which will include discussions on the topics of Islamaphobia, Anti-Shariah, Middle Eastern Crisis, Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act and more. The purpose, according to BIMA, is to attract national and international attention to the plight of American Muslims and to hold political parties accountable for issues that affect them. However, not all Muslims feel that BIMA represents them and M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has expressed serious concerns.
August 21, 2012
Will Congressman Akin Put His World View Ahead of His Pride?
The hyperbole from the left over Todd Akin has been disgusting. The man truly believes that children who are conceived out of rape should not be killed. The Bible teaches us that God raised us up from the dust of the earth and stitched us together in our mothers’ wombs.
When you believe that, as Congressman Akin does, then it is asking much to tear apart what God has stitched together.
The left would make this about his poor word choices. Some have actually accused the Congressman of being “pro-rape.” Congressman Akin said something dumb and inarticulate. But God bless him for trying to explain why so many Christians do not believe in an exception for rape and believe that to have one could see an increase in the number of claims of rape that are not actual rapes (“legitimate” rapes in his words), but are claims of rape used to justify an abortion when abortion is otherwise prohibited.
It’s a terribly difficult position for politicians to defend, particularly in hyper-partisan climates. The Congressman tried and failed. On Thursday night he exacerbated the problem by agreeing to sit with Piers Morgan on CNN and then not showing up.
I would rather Todd Akin in the United States Senate than Claire McCaskill. He said something he should not have. Claire McCaskill voted for Obamacare.
Todd Akin should not have to withdraw from the Senate race in Missouri. But given how quickly party leaders sought to distance themselves from Todd Akin and pull money from Missouri, there is not much left for him to do. By 5 o’clock today, Todd Akin must withdraw.
Todd Akin is a Christian. He must understand that one of the greatest sins — the greatest according to C.S. Lewis — is pride. His pride should not keep him in the race. Todd Akin believes that Obamacare must be repealed. He believes we must take back the Senate to do so.
Given the way party leaders from Mitt Romney to John Cornyn have run from Todd Akin in the past 24 hours, Todd Akin must be willing to overcome his pride and realize that to advance his world view, he must end his campaign. The fight to take back the Senate runs through Missouri. It is a terrible burden to be now in Todd Akin’s position, knowing by staying in he could cost the Republicans the Senate and even be a drag on Mitt Romney’s chances to win Missouri.
Should he stay in the race, he will be the boogeyman in the Democrats’ false claims about a war on women and the man every Republican blames should they not take the Senate.
Every politician thinks he can win. Some times he just can’t. By 5 o’clock this evening, Congressman Aiken needs to withdraw so his party can unite behind a new nominee.
Morning Briefing for August 21, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 21, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Will Congressman Akin Put His World View Ahead of His Pride?
2. Rape, Abortion, and the Moral High Ground
3. As Stupid As It Gets: Longshoremen’s Union Protests U.S. Marines
4. Women Pilots in Afghanistan Up In The Air
5. The Registration Gap
1. Will Congressman Akin Put His World View Ahead of His Pride?
The hyperbole from the left over Todd Akin has been disgusting. The man truly believes that children who are conceived out of rape should not be killed. The Bible teaches us that God raised us up from the dust of the earth and stitched us together in our mothers’ wombs.
When you believe that, as Congressman Akin does, then it is asking much to tear apart what God has stitched together.
The left would make this about his poor word choices. Some have actually accused the Congressman of being “pro-rape.” Congressman Akin said something dumb and inarticulate. But God bless him for trying to explain why so many Christians do not believe in an exception for rape and believe that to have one could see an increase in the number of claims of rape that are not actual rapes (“legitimate” rapes in his words), but are claims of rape used to justify an abortion when abortion is otherwise prohibited.
It’s a terribly difficult position for politicians to defend, particularly in hyper-partisan climates. The Congressman tried and failed. On Thursday night he exacerbated the problem by agreeing to sit with Piers Morgan on CNN and then not showing up.
I would rather Todd Akin in the United States Senate than Claire McCaskill. He said something he should not have. Claire McCaskill voted for Obamacare.
Todd Akin should not have to withdraw from the Senate race in Missouri. But given how quickly party leaders sought to distance themselves from Todd Akin and pull money from Missouri, there is not much left for him to do. By 5 o’clock today, Todd Akin must withdraw.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
2. Rape, Abortion, and the Moral High Ground
Recently, a long term friend and I got into a discussion about abortion over a few glasses of scotch. The debate devolved quickly into an outright fight. I held firm in the position that abortion was either a form of murder, and was therefore wrong in all instances where the physical life of the mother wasn’t threatened, or it wasn’t. The friend insisted that there must be exceptions in instances of rape or incest.
A few days after the argument with my friend I went to talk to my mother about the entire incident. My mother is politically active and also has a lifetime of experience as a nurse. Unbeknownst to me, in my almost 36 years of existence, my mother was the product of a rape.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
3. As Stupid As It Gets: Longshoremen’s Union Protests U.S. Marines
Somehow, it seems that the folks at the International Longshoremen’s Association misunderstood Candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 statement: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
4. Women Pilots in Afghanistan Up In The Air
As U.S. and NATO forces have begun to withdraw from Afghanistan, problems previously manageable for the Afghan air force have become serious concerns, with no resolution in sight. As of June, the majority of their helicopters joined already grounded cargo planes deemed unfit to fly due to maintenance and safety issues such as missing parts, a lack of spare parts, and generally just being old. Their fleet is comprised of mostly Russian-made aircraft, with contributions from the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and other nations. According to Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, the situation is actually worse than it was 20 years ago. ”When I was chief of staff of the Afghan army, I had 450 types of air assets. Today, we have 102. One hundred two, but mostly on the ground,” says Wardak. However, maintenance and safety problems aren’t the only issues that are keeping them grounded. The Afghan air force has been struggling with recruitment.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
5. The Registration Gap
The Democrats in general, and Obama in particular, rely on winning college-age voters by large margins. According to the NY Times exit polls, in the past 4 elections, Democrats carried the 18-29 year old vote 53-34 (Clinton vs Dole), 48-46 (Gore vs Bush), 54-45 (Kerry vs Bush) and 66-32 (Obama vs McCain). In the same four elections, Democrats won first-time voters 54-34, 52-43, 53-45 and 69-30. CNN’s exit polls had Obama winning voters age 18-24 (10% of the electorate) by 66-32 and 25-29 (8%) by 66-31, while McCain won a slight majority among the 64% of the voters age 40 and over. (The gap was especially pronounced among white voters, who went for Obama 54-44 in the under-30 age cohort but which McCain won by some 17 points among white voters over 30). Both sets of exit polls pegged new voters at 11% of the 2008 electorate.
August 20, 2012
Break Up The Banks
I hope the Romney campaign seriously takes on this idea. We have created a financial situation in this country, with Dodd-Frank and other policies, that have stacked the banks against the American people. They have become so massive that they can do pretty much what they want because they can hire all the lobbyists they need to get what they want from Washington and if they falter or fail, the nation goes belly up.
It is absolutely a conservative imperative to break up the big banks. Conservatism should eschew public-private partnership at this level. The banks have, in effect, become an extension of the government in that they now exist in a wholly symbiotic and unhealthy relationship with Washington. If we want smaller government, we need smaller banks too.
Be Ashamed
When John Edwards was doing what he was doing with Rielle Hunter, much of the conservative movement was up in arms that the man had an affair on his cancer stricken wife, had a baby with the adulteress, and then tried to cover it up. The National Enquirer, of all places, was first on the story and it took the more traditional media forever to pick it up.
That one was major. But there are plenty of minor ones too where partisans on the right scream foul, just as there are many on the left who do the same over minor stories on the right.
Today comes word that a bunch of Republican Congressmen got drunk, naked, and jumped in the Sea of Galilee. No doubt a few of them, given the religious significance, peed in the holy waters while swimming. Many conservatives are greeting it with a yawn, a “the media is out to get us,” and a “no big deal.”
Were these Democrats, we’d be out to get them. We should not surrender our intellectual honesty just because they are Republicans. The story is not a major story, but it is embarrassing and we should not be so dismissive of a group of American lawmakers behaving badly as if they were starring in a Girls Gone Wild video.
Ben Quayle, in a primary with Dave Schweikert in Arizona, came to Congress in the midst of the news that he had a website rating the various women of Scottsdale. We should not be surprised the child of privilege still hasn’t grown up. As parents, we should be appalled that drunk, naked Congressmen are skinny dipping with the children of other Congresscritters and then hiding behind Jesus to do it.
They have embarrassed themselves, their families, their constituents, and their party. They should have the decency to resign, or at least put a paper bag over their head and go away for a very long time.
Partisans of both parties would be better off if they lost the need to instinctually defend what in non-partisan society would be indefensible.
By the way — Republican Leaders in Washington should really have their heads examined if they didn’t think this news wouldn’t leak out in August of a Presidential election year. Everything embarrassing leaks out in August of Presidential election years.
Todd Akin’s Dumb Comment vs. Obama’s Support of Infanticide
Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, made an inarticulate and rather dumb statement about rape and abortion on television in Missouri. He subsequently clarified his remarks. Congressman Akin, like many devout Christians, does not believe in a rape exception for abortion.
Naturally, the very same left that gave Joe Biden a pass on his “put y’all back in chains” comment is horrid by Todd Akin’s remarks.
Todd Akin was inarticulate. Some are now accusing him of being pro-rape. The people horrid by Todd Akin’s remarks are, I’m sure, thrilled to have a President who defended infanticide. I’ll take Todd Akin’s inarticulate remarks over an infanticide supporter any day of the week.
And no, this is not hyperbole. President Obama was the only member of the Illinois State Senate to speak in favor of the position that a child who survives an abortion and fully exits the womb can still be killed by the abortionist.
Exit point: The media barely spent any time on the shooter at the Family Research Council. I bet they’ll spent a whole lot more time on this than either the FRC shooting or even Ted Kennedy killing Mary Joe.
NOTE: Politifact disagrees with the statement about Obama and infanticide, but as is often the case, Politifact is obfuscating what Barack Obama said to help a Democrat. Politifact is, after all, the Walter Duranty of fact checkers complete with a Pulitzer Prize.
Morning Briefing for August 20, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 20, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. The Strategic Failure of the Obama campaign
2. Todd Akin’s Dumb Comment vs. Obama’s Support of Infanticide
3. False Sense of (Energy) Security
4. Evil Preaches Tolerance
1. The Strategic Failure of the Obama campaign
We are one week into Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan. A number of polls are coming out telling a variety of stories about what it means. But one thing is clear: Barack Obama’s campaign has had several significant strategic failures this summer. And they failed to define Paul Ryan out of the gate with their Mediscare tactics. And they failed to define Mitt Romney this summer with a huge campaign spend.
The Obama campaign hoped to use the summer to define Mitt Romney. They spent $25 million in May ads. Obama spent $58m in June. What effect did it have? At the end of July, Purple Strategies, a bipartisan polling firm, found (PDF) that Romney has pulled ahead of Obama, even as Obama’s favorability ticked up slightly. Obama’s out of control campaign spending yielded nothing, just like his out of control government spending yielded nothing. Politico even described that poll as giving the Ryan pick a small bump for the Romney campaign.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
2. Todd Akin’s Dumb Comment vs. Obama’s Support of Infanticide
Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, made an inarticulate and rather dumb statement about rape and abortion on television in Missouri. He subsequently clarified his remarks. Congressman Akin, like many devout Christians, does not believe in a rape exception for abortion.
Naturally, the very same left that gave Joe Biden a pass on his “put y’all back in chains” comment is horrid by Todd Akin’s remarks.
Todd Akin was inarticulate. Some are now accusing him of being pro-rape. The people horrid by Todd Akin’s remarks are, I’m sure, thrilled to have a President who defended infanticide. I’ll take Todd Akin’s inarticulate remarks over an infanticide supporter any day of the week.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
3. False Sense of (Energy) Security
Superficially, it would seem that the nation is successfully pursuing the Obama Administration’s stated energy goals of “increasing domestic oil production” and “reducing our dependence on foreign oil.” Domestic oil production has increased, but in spite of and not because of Administration policies. And while our overall oil import demand has declined, our imports from the Persian Gulf states, and Saudi Arabia in particular, have actually grown dramatically to make up for shortfalls from Mexico and elsewhere.
There are two separate issues with regard to the supply of petroleum and refined products: Price, and Security of Supply.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
4. Evil Preaches Tolerance
On Twitter, Chris Ziegler flags another example of left-wing intolerance. The Republican Party of Sarasota County in Florida put up a “Repeal Obama” billboard on Friday. Today it stands destroyed.
August 19, 2012
Evil Preaches Tolerance
Archibishop Chaput of Philadelphia knows a thing or two about tolerance. I preached a Sunday School lesson about tolerance today. I’ll get into it later. Let me quote the Archbishop though.
We need to remember that tolerance is not a Christian virtue. Charity, justice, mercy, prudence, honesty — these are Christian virtues. And obviously, in a diverse community, tolerance is an important working principle. But it’s never an end itself. In fact, tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of serious evil. Likewise, democratic pluralism does not mean that Catholics should be quiet in public about serious moral issues because of some misguided sense of good manners. A healthy democracy requires vigorous moral debate to survive.
This year during Lent, he also said that evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.
We see that more and more in society and as culture is upstream from politics, we are seeing an increasing intolerance for moral virtue creeping downstream into our politics.
During the August recesses of 2009, the media — a creature of an ever more secular culture — reported again and again about hostile tea party crowds and their heckling of members of congress. In fact, of eight documented acts of violence during that August recess, seven were against tea party activists.
The intolerance of the left continues to grow. SWAT teams show up at conservatives doors in the night as a form of intimidation. Union thugs show up at private individuals’ homes to bang on their windows because of policy disagreements.
The President says to bring guns to knife fights, the SPLC labels conservative groups with which it disagrees “hate organizations,” and when nuts do show up with guns the secularists blame conservatives or choose to ignore the act and make excuses for not covering it. “Well,” they say, ” no one died so it isn’t news.”
Increasingly, the left is having a hard time playing the “but the other side does it too” card because the examples and consistency of intolerance for conservative views is growing more and more extreme.
On Twitter, Chris Ziegler flags another example of left-wing intolerance. The Republican Party of Sarasota County in Florida put up a “Repeal Obama” billboard on Friday. Today it stands destroyed.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant. Then it tries to silence good. There is nothing new under the sun and what we are seeing here is nothing new, just a change. Tolerance has been redefined to mean accept and it is no longer enough to have values. The values must be the correct values.
The situation will only grow worse and the leader in this nation seems to talk a good game when it is politically advantageous, but otherwise tells his supporters the bring guns to knife fights while his Vice President tells a majority black audience that Republicans want to put them back in chains.
We are rapidly moving to a time when the First Amendment will no longer be as good as the paper on which it is written. It will be only as good as the judges put on the bench.
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