Erick Erickson's Blog, page 36
July 5, 2012
Freedom’s Slate
On this Independence Day, it is time to focus on improving the crop of Republican congressmen by examining some of the remaining Republican primaries.
Want the GOP to stand up to Barack Obama?
Tired of the GOP cutting deals?
Want to make sure the GOP doesn’t back out of full and complete repeal of Obamacare if they sweep in November?
Then you absolutely must support these candidates still in Republican primaries.
If you care about freedom, here is Freedom’s Slate.
These are the candidates guaranteed to restore the GOP’s testicular fortitude.
United States House
District
Website
Ron Gould
AZ-04
Matt Salmon
AZ-05
Dave Schwiekert
AZ-06
http://www.davidschweikert.com/
Ron DeSantis
FL-06
Sandy Adams
FL-07
http://www.sandyadams.com/home.php
Chauncey Goss
FL-19
http://www.gossforcongress.com/
Adam Hasner
FL-22
Jeff Landry
LA-3
http://www.landryforlouisiana.com/
Jack Hoogendyk
MI-06
http://www.jackformichigan.com/
Kerry Bentivolio
MI-11
http://bentivolioforcongress.com/
Scott Keadle
NC-08
U.S. Senate
State
Website
Jeff Flake
AZ
Clark Durant
MI
http://www.clarkdurant.com/home
Ted Cruz
TX
I would also note that Mark Neumann and Eric Hovde are far superior to Tommy Thompson. While I personally prefer Neumann, given his track record when in the United States House, his campaign seems to be having trouble rebuilding bridges burned in the GOP gubernatorial primary. If Neumann can’t repair those bridges and get momentum, Hvode is far superior to Tommy Thompson and I’d have no problem supporting him.
We may add to this list, but it’ll get you started.
Morning Briefing for July 5, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
July 5, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Freedom’s Slate
2. Eric Cantor & The Pro-Life Statists Take Sides In North Carolina
3. Individual Mandate A Tax Or A Penalty
4. Natural Gas Economics: A Look Under the Hood
———————————————————————-
1. Freedom’s Slate
On this Independence Day, it is time to focus on improving the crop of Republican congressmen by examining some of the remaining Republican primaries.
Want the GOP to stand up to Barack Obama?
Tired of the GOP cutting deals?
Want to make sure the GOP doesn’t back out of full and complete repeal of Obamacare if they sweep in November?
Then you absolutely must support these candidates still in Republican primaries.
If you care about freedom, here is Freedom’s Slate.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Eric Cantor & The Pro-Life Statists Take Sides In North Carolina
North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District provides the quintessential battleground between go-along to get-along Republicans and small government conservatives.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Individual Mandate A Tax Or A Penalty
For conservatives, the debate over whether the individual mandate in ObamaCare is called a tax or a penalty has become a litmus test for the Romney campaign’s conservative credentials. It should not.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Spokesman for Mitt Romney, said on MSNBC earlier this week that Romney “believes that what we put in place in Massachusetts was a penalty, and he disagrees with the court’s ruling that the mandate was a tax.” There is nothing inherently non-conservative about this statement. Believing that the individual mandate is not a tax is consistent with Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito’s opinion that the individual mandate is not a proper exercise of the federal government’s taxing power.
Today, Mitt Romney walked back Fehrnstrom’s statement with his own declaration that the individual mandate in ObamaCare is a tax. Conservatives should not be so hung up on the declaration of the individual mandate being called a tax or a penalty. The goal is complete and total repeal of ObamaCare.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Natural Gas Economics: A Look Under the Hood
Christmas comes in June for energy geeks and graph junkies. Every year, the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy releases its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), a compendium of 30-tear forecasts and analyses of energy sources and uses. The 212 page .pdf file contains tables, bar charts and area graphs galore, enough to provide blog fodder at least until Christmas (the December one).
This week’s installment is a look at production decline curves from selected shale gas plays. The extreme rates of decline experienced in these wells has interesting and far-reaching policy implications, although this angle is rarely described in the mainstream press. For the energy operator, the performance of his wells in aggregate determine the success or failure of his enterprise. For the nation, shale well performance has become a key factor in energy policy and planning.
July 4, 2012
Freedom’s Slate: Who to Support to Give the GOP Some Testicular Fortitude
On this Independence Day, it is time to focus on improving the crop of Republican congressmen by examining some of the remaining Republican primaries.
Want the GOP to stand up to Barack Obama?
Tired of the GOP cutting deals?
Want to make sure the GOP doesn’t back out of full and complete repeal of Obamacare if they sweep in November?
Then you absolutely must support these candidates still in Republican primaries.
If you care about freedom, here is Freedom’s Slate.
United States House
District
Website
Ron Gould
AZ-04
Matt Salmon
AZ-05
Dave Schwiekert
AZ-06
http://www.davidschweikert.com/
Ron DeSantis
FL-06
Sandy Adams
FL-07
http://www.sandyadams.com/home.php
Chauncey Goss
FL-19
http://www.gossforcongress.com/
Adam Hasner
FL-22
Jeff Landry
LA-3
http://www.landryforlouisiana.com/
Jack Hoogendyk
MI-06
http://www.jackformichigan.com/
Kerry Bentivolio
MI-11
http://bentivolioforcongress.com/
Scott Keadle
NC-08
U.S. Senate
State
Website
Clark Durant
MI
http://www.clarkdurant.com/home
Ted Cruz
TX
I would also note that Mark Neumann and Eric Hovde are far superior to Tommy Thompson. While I personally prefer Neumann, given his track record when in the United States House, his campaign seems to be having trouble rebuilding bridges burned in the GOP gubernatorial primary. If Neumann can’t repair those bridges and get momentum, Hvode is far superior to Tommy Thompson and I’d have no problem supporting him. But, this article gives me some concern about Hvode. We can’t have him going wobbly.
We may add to this list, but it’ll get you started.
Independence Day
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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
July 3, 2012
On the Radio — Independence Day and Constitutional Conventions
I’m jumping in for the last hour of Sean Hannity’s Show in the Atlanta market only. I’ll be talking Independence Day and we’ll talk about whether it might be time for conservatives to reconsider their disdain of constitutional conventions.
You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK. The show starts at 5pm ET and runs to 8pm ET.
Consider this an open thread.
Eric Cantor & The Pro-Life Statists Take Sides In North Carolina
North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District provides the quintessential battleground between go-along to get-along Republicans and small government conservatives.
Richard Hudson, a Capitol Hill careerist, returned home to North Carolina from Washington, DC to run for Congress to go back to Congress. He is a Republican careerist — just like so many of the Republicans in Capitol Hill who have helped drive up the nations’ debt. Just read his own biography from his own website:
Richard worked for the 1996 Richard Vinroot for Governor campaign and later served as Communications Director of the North Carolina Republican Party. He was then named District Director for Congressman Robin Hayes and led the Congressman’s Concord and Rockingham offices for six years. In 2005, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) named Richard Chief of Staff and he later served in the same capacity for Congressman John Carter (R-TX). In 2008, Richard was named Campaign Manager of Pat McCrory for Governor. In 2009, he was appointed Chief of Staff to Congressman Mike Conaway (R-TX) and served in that role for over two years.
When he went back to North Carolina, he went back and did something called “strategic consulting,” which is DC careerist speak for using his Washington connections. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Eric Cantor and his Young Guns PAC are pouring more money into this race. Why do they want Richard Hudson? Because he was a team player as a staffer and they know he’ll be a team player as a congressman. Just one of the guys on the same team that helped get us to $16 trillion in national debt.
On the other hand, Dr. Scott Keadle is not a careerist in Washington. Scott Keadle is not a lobbyist. Scott Keadle is dentist. He’s the type of citizen politician we always say we want — a Rand Paul type who got involved because he sees the country going to hell in a hand basket, not because he wanted to go back to Washington as the boss instead of the staffer.
Between the two of them, Scott Keadle has a record, not just a resume. His record is as a county commissioner in local government standing up for small businesses and against tax increases. We know where he stands based on what he has already done. All we know about Richard Hudson is that he is a creature of Washington who the Washington crowd wants back.
The most destructive thing to ever happen to the GOP was to be overrun with pro-life statists — Republicans who are perfectly happy to preside over an expansion of government and debt for their own political allies, but they love them some babies.
Unless conservatives are willing to fight for people like Scott Keadle against Eric Cantor and the coalition of pro-life statists who won’t actually cut spending, we deserve to lose.
The Truth. It Hurts.
Mitch McConnell is in the headlines again for saying the odds are against those wanting repeal of Obamacare. “[I]t’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place,” he said in part.
For once, let’s give McConnell the benefit of the doubt and suggest he is talking about the present Congress, not the next Congress, though in actual context he seems to mean both. Let’s be charitable.
The truth is, I don’t expect Republicans in Congress to be fully committed to repeal next year even if they have Mitt Romney in the White House, a Republican Senate, and hold the House.
We’ve played this game before. And yes, we are being played.
We are being played by a group of Republican leaders who have consistently shown in the past few years to lack the testicular fortitude to do what’s right when it counts — they are the John Robertses of Congress.
Republicans, at this point, are all about drawing lines in the sand against the Democrats only to wipe them away with their feet.
The debt ceiling? Cave.
The continuing resolution? Cave.
Republicans have excelled at theater and not much else. “Oh, pshaw!” you say. “They only control one house of one branch of the federal government. What could they do?”
In February, Mitch McConnell had the option of bringing Jim DeMint’s amendment to the floor of the Senate to force another vote on repeal. He wouldn’t. Why? He didn’t want to make Harry Reid mad.
When the blowback was so great after that news leaked, Americans for Limited Government and other groups demanded McConnell get in line or get out of the way. He folded like a cheap suit and in so doing promised March would be a month of fighting about repeal.
Nothing happened.
So now McConnell says he will force the issue before the election and then make repeal of Obamacare priority number one if the GOP takes back the Senate, but the odds are against full repeal. This is code for Republican leaders, timid as they are and driven by polling, keeping parts of Obamacare instead of doing full repeal and starting over.
The truth is many Republicans like parts of Obamacare. The truth is a number of Senate Republicans were willing to vote back in December of 2009 that the individual mandate was unconstitutional while keeping their names on healthcare legislation by Senator Bob Bennett that had an individual mandate.
The truth is with Republican leaders like we have in both Houses, who needs the Democrats? It was not just Democrats responsible for $16 trillion in debt. Even now, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and the rest are trying to find ways to weasel out of paying down the debt and bring back earmarks.
When Republicans won’t fight on their ground, they just won’t fight. John Boehner has to have David Winston, a pollster, tell him up from down, and Mitch McConnell only does WWE fights — lots of theater, but a predetermined outcome negotiated in advance with Harry Reid that can get both bases fired up while doing as little to advance freedom as possible. Maybe Linda McMahon in the Senate will do McConnell some good.
There is a truth that hurts Mitch McConnell. The truth is, Jim DeMint has now been joined by Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and others. The truth is they see what must be done. Send them men like Ted Cruz to help force McConnell’s hand.
And then there is this. Jim DeMint is parting ways with adding to the Senate Conservatives Fund. In its place will be a Super PAC called Senate Conservatives Action. Unlike DeMint’s prior effort, this Super PAC can take unlimited money. Conservatives with cash can pony up and force Mitch McConnell’s hand.* [Editor's Note: This is misstated based on my misunderstanding. The Senate Conservatives Fund will still exist. Senate Conservative Action will not accept funds to help specific candidates, but will raise money for independent expenditures. Gotta love campaign finance law.]
Let’s be very clear here — voting to repeal Obamacare is not enough. Repealing it is.
Morning Briefing for July 3, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
July 3, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. The Truth. It Hurts.
2. Romney Camp: Obamacare Not a Tax
3. Republicans Help Grow HUD and Big Government
———————————————————————-
1. The Truth. It Hurts.
Mitch McConnell is in the headlines again for saying the odds are against those wanting repeal of Obamacare. “[I]t’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place,” he said in part.
For once, let’s give McConnell the benefit of the doubt and suggest he is talking about the present Congress, not the next Congress, though in actual context he seems to mean both. Let’s be charitable.
The truth is, I don’t expect Republicans in Congress to be fully committed to repeal next year even if they have Mitt Romney in the White House, a Republican Senate, and hold the House.
We’ve played this game before. And yes, we are being played.
We are being played by a group of Republican leaders who have consistently shown in the past few years to lack the testicular fortitude to do what’s right when it counts — they are the John Robertses of Congress.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Romney Camp: Obamacare Not a Tax
This is upsetting to say the least. The moment that the ruling came down last Thursday the hounds of hell were released by conservatives on twitter and in the blogosphere and videos galore of Obama saying the mandate was not a tax contrasted with news reports that the Supreme Court of the United States disagreed. In fact, not just disagreed but indicated that it was required for it to be a tax in order to pass the constitutional test.
Many articles were written with conservatives rubbing their hands together in gleeful anticipation of the next several months of Barack Obama trying to explain how he didn’t break his promise on taxes while simultaneously claiming that the Supreme Court found his bill constitutional. It seemed obvious that these two things were in direct contradiction with one another given the decision, and assaulting the Democrats on this point was going to be easy.
Then comes word today that there are no such plans from the Romney camp.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Republicans Help Grow HUD and Big Government
The House just completed work on another FY 2013 spending bill; the Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill. This is a unique appropriations bill because most of the underlying content is an anathema to conservatives. A good part of transportation (highway spending) should be within the purview of state governments; mass transit spending should be eliminated; HUD should be abolished altogether. As you can imagine, the open floor process offered Republicans many opportunities to cut spending, and more importantly, to limit the power of the federal government in areas that it shouldn’t be involved with in the first place.
July 2, 2012
For Conservatives, August Begins and Ends in Florida
At the end of August, Republicans will gather in Tampa, FL to nominate Mitt Romney for President. But at the beginning of August, Conservatives will gather in Jacksonville, FL for the RedState Gathering.
We’re going to have RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Senator Ron Johnson, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, along with a number of candidates including Joe the Plumber, Ted Cruz, and more.
There’ll also be a few big names attending who we will announce in the coming week. We’re also going to throw in, free of charge, activist training from American Majority. It is, bar none, the best training you can get as we try to take back the Senate and White House.
You are not going to want to miss it. I’ll be there as well.
Remember, unlike any other conference, the RedState Gathering happens because the politicians and candidates want to meet you. There is no fancy stage. There is no big divide between you and the candidates. Every person who speaks is required to take 15 minutes of their time to answer your questions. The candidates and politicians pay their own way and answer your questions because they value the authentic grassroots conservatives who make up the RedState readership. It helps us keep your costs down and your access up.
But time is running out. You only have a couple weeks left to get a super deal on the hotel and a discounted registration rate. Go here now to register for the 2012 RedState Gathering.
You won’t want to miss it. See you in Jacksonville, FL on August 2nd as we begin the march to Tampa and our campaign to take back the White House.
Morning Briefing for July 2, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
July 2, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. For Conservatives, August Begins and Ends in Florida
2. More Proof We Need More Conservatives in Congress
3. Repeat after me: THE OBAMACARE ‘MANDATE’ WAS ACTUALLY A TAX.
4. The Supreme Court’s Disappointing Tax Ruling
5. Arkansas Democrat Puts On A Weird Show
6. Holder’s Contempt Citation Could Give New Meaning to “House Arrest”
———————————————————————-
1. For Conservatives, August Begins and Ends in Florida
At the end of August, Republicans will gather in Tampa, FL to nominate Mitt Romney for President. But at the beginning of August, Conservatives will gather in Jacksonville, FL for the RedState Gathering.
We’re going to have RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Senator Ron Johnson, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, along with a number of candidates including Joe the Plumber, Ted Cruz, and more.
There’ll also be a few big names attending who we will announce in the coming week. We’re also going to throw in, free of charge, activist training from American Majority. It is, bar none, the best training you can get as we try to take back the Senate and White House.
You are not going to want to miss it. I’ll be there as well.
Remember, unlike any other conference, the RedState Gathering happens because the politicians and candidates want to meet you. There is no fancy stage. There is no big divide between you and the candidates. Every person who speaks is required to take 15 minutes of their time to answer your questions. The candidates and politicians pay their own way and answer your questions because they value the authentic grassroots conservatives who make up the RedState readership. It helps us keep your costs down and your access up.
But time is running out. You only have a couple weeks left to get a super deal on the hotel and a discounted registration rate. Go here now to register for the 2012 RedState Gathering.
You won’t want to miss it. See you in Jacksonville, FL on August 2nd as we begin the march to Tampa and our campaign to take back the White House.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. More Proof We Need More Conservatives in Congress
Every Republican swears up and down that he/she supports limited government, a balanced budget, and free markets. Yet, once again, only a fraction of Republicans in Washington were able to stand for those ideals. The House and Senate passed the Obama highway bill/student loan stimulus on Friday with overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Repeat after me: THE OBAMACARE ‘MANDATE’ WAS ACTUALLY A TAX.
And that affects profoundly the question of how to get rid of it. Mickey Kaus is correct, and Ryan Lizza & David Frum are wrong on this: the only reason that Obamacare was not cast down was because the US Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the so-called ‘individual mandate’ was constitutional if it was considered to be a tax. The US Supreme Court also decided, 5-4, that the so-called ‘individual mandate’ was not Constitutional if done under the Commerce Clause. So anyone who wants to argue that the Obamacare health tax is not actually a tax must also admit that Obamacare is unconstitutional. Supporters of Obamacare do not get to have it both ways. The Supreme Court has ruled that Obamacare’s centerpiece is a half trillion dollar tax hike on the middle class. This is a thing that has happened. And it means, among other things, that the Democrats’ threat of a filibuster is an empty one when it comes to repealing it next January. We have a Senate majority, we can remove the health tax. Simple as that.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. The Supreme Court’s Disappointing Tax Ruling
The ruling that Obamacare’s individual mandate exceeded Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause showcased the Supreme Court at its intellectual best: the fruits of years of detailed and heated scholarly and judicial debate, intensive briefing and vigorous argument were reflected in the various opinions. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Court’s opinions on the alternative ground – the taxing power – that Chief Justice Roberts and the Court’s four Democratic appointees found to be an alternative basis for the mandate. Critics on the Right have assumed that Roberts is wrong about the taxing power, and the cheerleaders on the Left are simply pocketing the result, but neither the various opinions nor most of the commentary have bothered to explain a theory of what Congress can and cannot constitutionally do through its power to tax.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Arkansas Democrat Puts On A Weird Show
I just … I don’t even … wut? The above video shows Democrat State Senator Gene Jeffres, who is running for Congress in Arkansas against Republican Tom Cotton, answering a question about healthcare. The first weird thing Jeffres did was get down on his knees in front of a woman, like maybe he was going to whisper the secret 11 herbs and spices to her. The second weird thing he did was assert that Germany has provided for the healthcare of their citizens for “centuries”. No wait, sorry. The first weird thing he did was to choose to wear that suit.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Holder’s Contempt Citation Could Give New Meaning to “House Arrest”
I’ll give you two disclaimers here: 1) I am nowhere near as well-versed on the Fast & Furious events as folks here like Moe & Jeff, so this piece won’t help anyone understand the events behind that, and 2) I Am Not A Lawyer…and there’s a lot of lawyerly stuff here.
With that out of the way … when the Holder contempt of Congress vote first came up, I asked my attorney buddies here on RS a question: if Holder is found in criminal contempt of Congress, who is going to enforce it? It’s not likely that a representative of the Department of Justice is going to swoop in and arrest their own boss. So what happens? The consensus was – there’s not a lot that can be done.
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