Here is the T-SPLOST analysis from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. The GPPF is less than thrilled with the T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) and the Atlanta area T-SPLOST’s emphasis on rail. There is one graphic that stands out in my mind.

From page 19 of the report:

Atlanta and Barcelona have the same number of people and Atlanta uses 30 times the physical land area as Barcelona. In other words, rail works great in Barcelona due to population density, but not Atlanta for the same reason. Zoning in Atlanta doesn’t help the matter.

Tonight on the Erick Erickson Show, I’m going to get into this topic and also Joe Biden’s comments that the tea party is to blame for the lack of economic recovery. You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK. The show is from 6pm to 9pm ET on the nation’s most listened to talk radio station.

Consider this an open thread.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Newsbusters has the video of South Carolina AFL-CIO president Donna DeWitt beating the hell out of a piñata with a picture of Nikki Haley taped to it. The union crowd cheers her on.

This comes just days after Phil Bailey of the South Carolina Democratic Party called Nikki Haley a “sikh Jesus” multiple times on Twitter.

Were Nikki Haley a Democrat, the media would make this the front page story across the nation — racist tea partiers beating up the minority governor in effigy.

But no, Nikki Haley is a Republican minority. The media views most stories like this in terms of victim and victimizer and a minority who signs on with the Republicans has, in the mind of so many reporters in America, chosen to join the victimizer class. Therefore, when she herself is a victim, it’s just payback.

It’s sad that this would be the case, but the media has for decades shown us how they operate. What would be front page for days in a row on the New York Times were Nikki Haley a Democrat will be barely covered.

But on the bright side, we lose one less news cycle to a story of union violence and keep the focus on how Barack Obama is destroying the economy.

Barack Obama’s economic policies have failed to do anything except drive up the national debt. He has not created or saved jobs. He has not gotten Americans back to work. About the only significant industry he has expanded is the printing industry printing all the extra food stamps Americans now depend on.

His campaign attacks do not seem to be working either.

He is winning women, but not by the overwhelming margins he needs to get elected.

He is now losing Catholic voters, a key constituency he won in 2008.

He is even losing Democrats on his Bain Capital attacks. His campaign has spent more time explaining itself to Democrats this week on those attacks than it has been able to level the attacks. It doesn’t help when the Obama campaign is raking in money from Bain Capital and private equity firms while trying to demagogue them.

In a nutshell, the Obama campaign must convince Americans that Mitt Romney would be a worse option on the economy than Americans already believe Barack Obama is. Running a campaign on the message of “you think I’m bad, just look at him” is not really a winning message.

Last night, Barack Obama got a lower percentage of the vote among Democrats in Kentucky and Arkansas than Mitt Romney did with his base. Over 40% of Democrats in Kentucky voted against Barack Obama. Even at 11pm ET last night, the Associated Press had called the Arkansas Republican Primary for Mitt Romney, but still had not called the Democratic race for Barack Obama.

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Tonight, I’m going to spend some time talking about movies, what a waste 3D is, and of course talk about the new James Bond movie.

Oh, and I’ll get into the Cory Booker backtrack too.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

The show is live from 6pm to 9pm ET.

Consider this an open thread.

I’m filling in for Neal Boortz this morning from 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. Then Herman Cain will take over. This morning I’ll get into the Occupy kids rioting in Chicago and the reeducation of Cory Booker.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.

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You probably did not know Thomas Fuentes. I did.

He sat on the board of Eagle Publishing, Inc., our parent company. Today comes word that the Lord has finally called him home after a long battle with cancer.

Tom Fuentes was a grand man. He was a conservative fighter. Two words for you: Orange County. In the seventies, Orange County, California was starting to drift left. Tom Fuentes stopped that drift. He made Orange County safe for conservatives. From 1984 to 2004, he served as county GOP Chairman. Unlike so many, Tom Fuentes did not build up an organization making himself the indispensable man whose work would collapse without him. A true leader, he built up Orange County so it could go on as a Republican juggernaut.

Many men in conservative politics whose organizations will collapse the moment they are gone could take lessons from what Tom Fuentes did.

He will be missed.

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The Breitbart Crew has done the world a very valuable service in finding a 1991 biography of Barack Obama from his literary agent claiming he was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”

Our own Jeff Emanuel also pointed out a 2004 Associated Press article that began, “Kenyan-born US Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations.” [Editor's note: James Taranto pinged me on Twitter that this "Kenyan-born" bit was an addition added by a local editor of a Kenyan paper.]

I do not believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya. I don’t think it matters even if he were born overseas because his mother was an American citizen. I’m not going to debate it with the cult of birtherism.

But the Breitbart Crew has, only a few days after the Obama White House was caught editing the biographies of other Presidents on the White House website to insert Barack Obama into their Presidential legacies, done an invaluable service in highlighting two very important issues.

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RedState Morning Briefing
May 18, 2012

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

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No, Barack Obama wasn’t born in Kenya, but we’re going to talk about it tonight.

Listen live right here and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.

Late last evening came word that House Republicans intend to keep parts of Obamacare. Even if the United States Supreme Court throws the whole law out, House Republicans intend to resurrect portions of Obamacare. House Republicans publicly say the story is wrong. I’ve talked to several House Republicans who tell me the story is actually on the money and the Republicans now denying it are really playing at semantics.

These House Republicans tell me these denials about the accuracy of the story are equivalent to the House GOP semantically arguing it was living up to its Pledge to Nowhere requirement for $100 billion in cuts that actually amounted to something like $34 billion. Conservatives in the House of Representatives tell me explicitly to go with Politico on this and be very wary of the House GOP Leadership when it comes to repeal.

It is a sad time for the Republican Party. The base must treat its leaders as if they are Soviets — trust but verify their statements. And lately, it is harder and harder to verify their statements. The work of the Tea Party must continue or within a decade I honestly do not believe the GOP will be one political party.

In both Indiana and Nebraska, the Tea Party has continued to make gains. People have flat out rejected the establishment favorites for U.S. Senate – Dick Lugar and Jon Bruning, respectively – in favor of candidates who offer a challenge to the status quo.

Will Texans prove what they’re made of and do the same?

I love Texas. But let’s face it – the Texas congressional delegation is mediocre at best and leaves much to be desired.

Now, Texas has the chance to get it right – by sending Ted Cruz to the U.S. Senate. But will they? Maybe. But we have a lot to do and the Republican Primary in Texas is only 2 weeks from today.

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Phil Bailey sat next to South Carolina State Senator Jake Knotts when Knotts called Governor Nikki Haley, then a candidate for Governor, a “raghead.”

Phil Bailey did nothing.

Phil Bailey is the Executive Director of the South Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus. It seems he is now intent on one upping Jake Knotts.

Bailey, who had no problem with Knotts’ “raghead” comment when even the First Vice Chairman of the State GOP, Patrick Haddon, was calling for Knotts’s resignation, seems determined to one up Knotts with racism.

Bailey has been on twitter referring to Nikki Haley, a Methodist of Indian descent, as the “Sikh Jesus.” Governor Haley’s parents are sikh, but she and her husband attend a Methodist Church.

Not content to do it just once, Phil Bailey did it a second time, complete with a picture of a dog.

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There have been many studies out on the “tea party congress” and just how tea party it actually is. One study last year noted that 70% of candidates who went to Congress under the tea party banner were voting just like the Republican Leaders they ran against.

Probably one of the best places to get a sense of this is the Club for Growth. Why? The Club ignores social votes and focuses only on fiscal votes — spending issues more than anything else. The tea party candidates went to Congress not just to repeal Obamacare, but were really motivated by out of control government spending, bailouts, etc. Remember, it was Rick Santelli of CNBC on February 19, 2009, who predicted this grassroots army of activists would rise up and say enough to out of control government spending and bailouts. Santelli said, in part,

The government is promoting bad behavior. Because we certainly don’t want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check, and think that they ought to save it, and in terms of modifications… I’ll tell you what, I have an idea.

You know, the new administration’s big on computers and technology– How about this, President and new administration? Why don’t you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?

…

We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.

Things sort of spiraled from there sending a wave of candidates to Washington embracing the concerns of the activists who showed up to the tea party.

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The Federal Reserve is not my issue. Audit it if you want, I’m with you. But it’s not something that drives me crazy or makes me passionate. But there is one issue that really gets me and the Fed has been at the center of it lately — crony capitalism.

Barack Obama has nominated Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for six years each. Senator David Vitter (R-LA — HAFA Score 85%) placed a hold on both men. They are creatures of Wall Street and, in the biggest red flag of the day, both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have been pressuring Senator Vitter to drop his hold.

The issue here is bailouts. Mark Calabria notes the Federal Reserve has bailout powers, but it needs the support of five Federal Reserve governors. Stein and Powell are both in favor of the Federal Reserve continuing to bailout banks and other entities with little oversight.

Harry Reid can bring these men to the floor any time he wants. The word in the Senate is that he is about to.

Conservatives in the Senate and outside the Congress are deeply worried that Mitch McConnell will cut a deal with Reid to undercut David Vitter’s hold. We potentially could delay the appointments until after the November election if Mitch McConnell will side with David Vitter and Senate conservatives by objecting to Harry Reid’s cloture motion.

Please call Senator McConnell’s office today and encourage him to stand with David Vitter and object to cloture on Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell. His office number is (202) 224-2541. Then call your own Senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to oppose Stein and Powell.

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Last week, the House passed H.R. 5326, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, by a vote of 247-163, providing $51.131 billion in discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2013. That’s $1.61 billion or 3% below the amount of funding provided for these programs in fiscal year 2012–and $731 million or 1.4% below the amount requested by the president for fiscal year 2013.

Not terrible, but clearly there was room to cut more spending, right? Surely House Republicans realized that Americans want them to cut more spending than 3%–and be more than 1.4% below where President Obama is, right?

Right?

Well, some conservative amendments did indeed pass. See these, for example:

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The Democrats have been taking professional training on how to be race baiters in this election cycle. I’m surprised this hasn’t gotten significant coverage.

I’ll get into it tonight and the logical outcomes of Obamacare start to kick in as Obama starts inserting himself into other Presidents’ biographies.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream from 6:05 pm to 10pm and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread. Also, please consider going to http://wsbradio.com to find out how you can help Amy Copeland.

If you are in the Atlanta area and can give blood, please click here right now to register for a spot at the blood donation drive.