Erick's blog

Attacked for Being a Conservative: Ted Cruz Needs Our Help

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

I never thought I’d see the day when a Republican attacks another Republican for being a free market conservative, but that’s what David Dewhurst is doing in his attempt to buy the Texas Senate Election.

New polling out shows that Dewhurst is close to, but not at, 50% — the threshold he needs to reach to avoid a runoff with Ted Cruz. So now Dewhurst is attacking Ted Cruz for being a free market conservative aligned with . . . wait for it . . . no serious, wait for it . . . free market groups like the Club for Growth.

Dewhurst is a multimillionaire who intends to win this thing by going negative on Ted Cruz. Cruz does not have Dewhurst level resources, but we can get him close. He absolutely needs your help right now. Got to www.tedcruz.org and pour the cash in.

When a candidate is attacked for being a free market conservative, we need to have his back and help him fight back.

The most stunning irony in the latest Dewcrist . . . er . . . Dewhurst attacks is that Dewcrist is trying to tie Ted Cruz to amnesty proposals when Dewcrist voted for the Texas DREAM Act and blocked efforts to enact e-Verify.

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz not only opposes amnesty, but drew ire from the left for successfully defending Texas’s right to execute an illegal alien for raping and murdering two teenage girls.

We need to do everything we can to get Ted Cruz elected.

Morning Briefing for May 25, 2012

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:45:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 25, 2012

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

1. Attacked for Being a Conservative: Ted Cruz Needs Our Help

2. The Growth Deficit and Spending Fairy Tales

3. The REAL Problem With the NLRB’s Ambush Elections Rule: Unions LIE.

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1. Attacked for Being a Conservative: Ted Cruz Needs Our Help

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. The Growth Deficit and Spending Fairy Tales

The United States faces a number of economic and fiscal challenges in the short and long terms. But the single biggest is the Growth Deficit: the problem of government spending and government debt growing faster than the private sector. That deficit needs to be reversed; we are on an unsustainable path unless we start producing a Growth Surplus. And Republicans and conservatives need to put more effort into emphasizing the importance of the Growth Deficit to the public.

The Obama Administration seems to recognize that this is a political vulnerability, as it has lately been spinning the notion that the last few years have not actually grown federal spending. Below the fold, I’ve collected a number of charts that illustrate why this is nonsense. But first, a word on how we should be measuring our solvency.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The REAL Problem With the NLRB’s Ambush Elections Rule: Unions LIE.

Recently, a federal court smacked down Barack Obama’s union appointees at the National Labor Relations Board for the manner in which they imposed their ambush election scheme. The scheme is, however, far from dead as the union-controlled labor board is “determined to move forward” with the needless rules. While there is much opposition to the NLRB’s ambush election rules, few have yet to address the underlying issue that makes the scheme unfair to workers and a disaster for America’s union-free workplace and that is: Unions and their organizers LIE to and deceive workers…All. The. Time.

What’s worse is that, not only do unions lie to, trick and deceive workers into unionizing, it’s perfectly legal to do so.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Media Dismisses Obama’s Bad Primaries

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:08:46 +0000

Tonight on the radio I’m going to talk about the media dismissing Barack Obama’s poor primary showings in a way they’d never dismiss it were it a Republican President.

Also, I’ll explain the B.S. in that CBS Marketwatch report about Obama’s spending.

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

Consider this an open thread.

Democrats Lie About Violent Crime to Beat Scott Walker

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:45:36 +0000

They thought it would help Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, running as the Democrat against Governor Scott Walker in the Wisconsin Recall. If the headlines said Milwaukee had lowered its violent crime rate under Barrett’s leadership, well then he must be a real leader. So that’s what the headline said. Only problem was it is a lie. Crime has not gotten better. State and local officials are demanding an audit of the Milwaukee Police Department’s crime numbers.

The Journal Sentinel found enough misreported cases in 2011 alone that violent crime would have increased 1.1% instead of falling 2.3% from the reported 2010 figures, which had their own errors.

Dozens of misclassified assaults were sent to FBI crime reporting experts, who confirmed that they should have been marked as aggravated assaults, which are counted in the city’s violent crime rate.

When even violent crime becomes a political topic to be fudged in advance of the left’s agenda, you know the situation has gone Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull bad for them. Oh, and we are at 7 of the 7 most recent polls having Scott Walker ahead of Tom Barrett.

Thanks unions for blowing all your cash and credibility in Wisconsin!

Bomber Turned Left Wing Activist, Brett Kimberlin, Tries to Silence Conservative Opposition

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

Tip of the hat to Michelle Malkin, whose May 23 column does one of the best jobs I’ve seen of laying out the convoluted tale of a low-level Democratic activist named Brett Kimberlin and his attempts to shut down those who criticize him. She applies the “disinfectant of sunshine” to a seamy story that deserves mainstream play.

Brett Kimberlin, subject of the book Citizen K, is the Speedway Bomber. If that is not familiar to you, you might remember him as the man who claimed he sold Vice President Dan Quayle drugs. Kimberlin is also, now, decades later, a left of center activist, former Independent Music Awards Industry Judge, involved in organizations getting Tides Foundation and Heinz Family Foundation grants, and is back in the media for harassing and bullying anyone who mentions his past.

According to the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Brett Kimberlin was convicted of a series of bombings in Speedway, Indiana, and other drug related matters. From the Court of Appeals:

Kimberlin was convicted as the so-called “Speedway Bomber,” who terrorized the city of Speedway, Indiana, by detonating a series of explosives in early September 1978. In the worst incident, Kimberlin placed one of his bombs in a gym bag, and left it in a parking lot outside Speedway High School. Carl Delong was leaving the high school football game with his wife when he attempted to pick up the bag and it exploded. The blast tore off his lower right leg and two fingers, and embedded bomb fragments in his wife’s leg. He was hospitalized for six weeks, during which he was forced to undergo nine operations to complete the amputation of his leg, reattach two fingers, repair damage to his inner ear, and remove bomb fragments from his stomach, chest, and arm. In February 1983, he committed suicide.

After being convicted of the bombings and related offenses, Kimberlin was sentenced to a fifty-year term of imprisonment for manufacturing and possessing a destructive device, and malicious damage by explosives with personal injury in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d) and (f), and 18 U.S.C. §§ 844(f) and (i). He received a concurrent twelve-year sentence for impersonating a federal officer, illegal use of a Department of Defense insignia, and illegal use of the Presidential Seal in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 912, 701, and 713, respectively, and a five-year term for receipt of explosives by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 842(i)(1). Finally, he was given a four-year sentence by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on an earlier, unrelated conviction for conspiracy to distribute marijuana.1

Kimberlin’s sentences were aggregated by the Bureau of Prisons and, pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 2.5, were treated by the Commission as a single aggregate sentence of fifty-one years, six months, and nineteen days. He received an initial parole hearing by a two-person panel of the Commission on July 28, 1988.

Of late, Kimberlin’s name has surfaced because one blogger claims to have been driven from his home due to Kimberlin’s harassment. Why the harassment? Various bloggers and others have pointed out that Kimberlin runs a variety of left-wing organizations getting money from the deep pockets of the left. As the web of connections has increased, so has the harassment. Yet again, the left tries to silence dissent.

Kimberlin is involved in and founded Justice Through Music, an activist site billing itself as “Music. Politics. Activism.” He has also been involved in a group called the Velvet Revolution. Back in 2010, the Velvet Revolution spearheaded an effort to have Andrew Breitbart, Hannah Giles, and James O’Keefe prosecuted for their investigative work around ACORN.

Justice Through Music, which claims to do “voter education and registration” is a Tides Foundation grant recipient. According to Breitbart’s Big Journalism site, Justice Through Music “has received a total of over $1.3 million in public gifts and grants since 2005 for these efforts.” (See also the Justice Through Music Project 2008 Form 990-EZ)

Likewise, Velvet Revolution, started with Brad Friedman of BradBlog, received $51,000.00 in 2009 from the Tides Foundation, which also gave Media Matters for America $75,000.00 the same year.

As individual bloggers and sites like Breitbart.com have begun shedding light on Brett Kimberlin, Kimberlin has resorted to suing them.

In an email to noted conservative blogger (and prosecutor) Patterico, Kimberlin threatened to sue Patterico writing,

I have filed over a hundred lawsuits and another one will be no sweat for me. On the other hand, it will cost you a lot of time and money and for what. I run a small non profit that works to inspire youth to get involved. I have only met Brad Friedman one time in my life. Your piece is a smear job against both me and Brad.

Robert Stacey McCain has posted his intentions to go into hiding after his wife’s employer was harassed relating to McCain’s blogging about Kimberlin.

Others, including Aaron Walker, and Breitbart blogger Liberty Chick have likewise been notified of lawsuits and other harassment for pointing out Brett Kimberlin’s background and sources of funding from prominent organizations like the Tides Foundation.

As Patterico notes, back on January 24, 1995, the Washington Times posted a editorial made a point about Democratic activists rallying to Kimberlin that rings true today.

those who have befriended and promoted Kimberlin should be ashamed. Kimberlin committed a truly monstrous crime. He planted a bomb in a high school parking lot on game day -an act that was random, brutal and targeted at children. It is a testament to the viciousness of Washington politics that such a man has been embraced by some in the firmament of the Democratic establishment.

That was in 1995. In the past decade, the Tides Foundation and others have been subsidizing organizations Kimberlin helped set up for political activism, much the way Barack Obama once used foundation money to subsidize Bill Ayers. And now, when Kimberlin’s past is brought up, he has sought to silence his critics.

As Michelle Malkin points out today, “The mainstream press, not just the conservative blogosphere, needs to hear and report their stories.”

Morning Briefing for May 24, 2012

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:45:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 24, 2012

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

1. Bomber Turned Left Wing Activist, Brett Kimberlin, Tries to Silence Conservative Opposition

2. Romney closes the gender gap

3. Well Thank God Nikki Haley Isn’t a Democrat Or It’d Be A Hate Crime

4. The Truly Massive ALEC Protests (Video)

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1. Bomber Turned Left Wing Activist, Brett Kimberlin, Tries to Silence Conservative Opposition

According to the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Brett Kimberlin was convicted of a series of bombings in Speedway, Indiana, and other drug related matters.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Romney closes the gender gap

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that in the last month Romney has closed his so-called gender gap from 19 to 7 percent. Last month Obama led among women 57 to 38 percent. Now that lead is down to 51 to 44 percent.

The new poll found voters would be split 49 percent for Obama and 46 percent for Romney if the November election were held now, but with regard to whom they prefer on handling the economy, Romney and Obama are tied at 47 percent. That is a 4 percent gain for Romney from last month’s Post poll.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Well Thank God Nikki Haley Isn’t a Democrat Or It’d Be A Hate Crime

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The Truly Massive ALEC Protests (Video)

The way the media is covering the ALEC protests, you would imagine they were about as huge as the OWS protests (which were also by and large pathetically attended in comparison to the TEA Party protests but endlessly hyped by the media). Turns out, maybe not so much. Check out this video from Ben Howe about the truly massive anti-ALEC posts in Charlotte.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The GPPF T-SPLOST Analysis

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:56:07 +0000

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.

Well Thank God Nikki Haley Isn’t a Democrat Or It’d Be A Hate Crime

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:16:28 +0000

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.

Like His Policies, His Attacks Are Not Working Either

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

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.

This is not good for the incumbent President.

While all of this is going on, Cory Booker of Newark, NJ, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee/New York, and Duval Patrick of Massachusetts were chiming in to defend Bain Capital.

The attacks are not working.

Morning Briefing for May 23, 2012

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:45:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 23, 2012

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

1. Like His Policies, His Attacks Are Not Working Either

2. Electoral implications of the Obama Administration’s War on Coal.

3. New ‘Basketball’ ad hits Obama for letting folks down

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1. Like His Policies, His Attacks Are Not Working Either

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Electoral implications of the Obama Administration’s War on Coal.

Will this be the 2012 election map?

If the Obama administration keeps up their War on Coal (literally: they consider coal more dangerous than terrorism), quite possibly. And it may be at least partially because of coal.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. New ‘Basketball’ ad hits Obama for letting folks down

The new Crossroads GPS ad “Basketball” could prove to be the most effective ad of the 2012 presidential campaign.

The ad is not red meat for right wingers. It does not go after President Obama for his associations with radicals such as Van Jones, Bill Ayers or the Reverend Wright. I doesn’t go after Obama’s Socialism — his desire to redistribute all our wealth. It doesn’t even go after Obama’s extremists efforts to radically transform America.

No, the new “Basketball” ad subtly goes after those who were swayed by presidential candidate Obama’s eloquent offer of hope for change and the disappointment they are now experiencing. As the New York Times puts it, the ad is not a “searing denunciation” of Obama. It is more a soft-pedaled, deeply researched, delicately worded story of a struggling family let down by Obama’s failure to make things better.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Morning Briefing for May 22, 2012

Tue, 22 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 22, 2012

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

1. Barack Obama Will Not Defeat The Taliban

2. Obama allows your children to go swimming for one more summer

3. Democrats Question Republicans’ Patriotism Over Debt Fight

4. State Voices: National Progressive Network Funding Local Progressive “Grassroots”

5. Divide, Conquer & Destroy: NLRB Region Unleashes Micro-Unit On Retailer

6. The Earmark Battle That Won’t Subside

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1. Barack Obama Will Not Defeat The Taliban

We have reached an endpoint of sorts in the decade-long Afghanistan War. President Obama will not keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and force them to accept terms of any kind. Have we lost the war? Should we have left years ago, or never gone in? That depends on your view of what we were fighting for and about in the first place.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Obama allows your children to go swimming for one more summer

Last week, news was made as today’s deadline approached for commercial and municipal swimming pool owners to install means, by which disabled swimmers could enter the nation’s swimming pools. It is the kind of regulation that would make a great punch line for the conservative version of the Daily Show, if conservatives were that funny. The Obama Administration has recently construed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Standards for Accessible Design to apply to the act of swimming.

Today, this regulation was supposed to go into effect, opening up the owners to $100,000 fines as well as trial lawyer liability. However, thanks to the kindness of the Justice Department, existing pools now have until January 2013 to comply.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Democrats Question Republicans’ Patriotism Over Debt Fight

With House Republicans (and their few allies in the Senate) gearing up for another battle over whether to raise the national debt limit without doing anything to cut spending, Democrats (and their many allies in the media) are falling back on their favored tactic of attacking the other side’s motives, this time accusing Republicans of deliberately harming the economy for partisan gain. This is either a sign of Democratic desperation or, perhaps, proof that the Democrats are so far down the rabbit hole they cannot even comprehend why anyone would want to reduce spending when the nation has spent itself so deeply into debt.

The irony, of course, is that Democrats are the first people to shriek and run to the media’s self-appointed civility police when they feel their patriotism is being questioned; it’s always a big applause line for Democrats to claim that they will never question anyone’s patriotism…

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. State Voices: National Progressive Network Funding Local Progressive “Grassroots”

State Voices, a national network of Progressive 501(c)3?s, has targeted Colorado for years. They provide GOTV technology, polling data, various other political advocacy tools, and cash to state affiliates such as the Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable.

The biographies for State Voices national staff tout connections to the AFL-CIO, Common Cause, the Sierra Club, and ACORN to name a few. Joanne Wright and Camellia Phillips were both longtime ACORN employees, working as deputy political director and assistant director of development, respectively. Joanne’s switch to State Voices has provided her with a handsome monetary benefit. The group’s 2009 and 2010 tax reports total her income to nearly a quarter of a million dollars in those two years alone.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Divide, Conquer & Destroy: NLRB Region Unleashes Micro-Unit On Retailer

Over the course of the last two years, Barack Obama’s union appointees at the National Labor Relations Board have been waging a war against America’s union-free workplace. While the NLRB’s prosecution of the Boeing Company for the alleged “crime” of opening a non-union pant in South Carolina captured much media attention, when taken in their totality, the less-reported decisions and rule-making that Obama’s appointees have issued is, to America’s union-free workplace, akin to a death by a thousand cuts.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. The Earmark Battle That Won’t Subside

It seems that every week in Washington brings forth another story of Republicans trying to abjure the moratorium on earmark. On Friday, the Hill posted an article on the latest and greatest from the earmarxists.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Skyfall, the Avengers, 3D, and Cory Booker #EERS

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:53:27 +0000

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.

In For the Talkmaster

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:26:12 +0000

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.

Morning Briefing for May 21, 2012

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 21, 2012

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

1. Thomas Fuentes, R.I.P.

2. Obama Once Again Shifting the Blame on Gas Prices

3. Tom Barrett (D CAND, WI-GOV RECALL) passes on honoring slain cops to… stump-speech the UAW.

4. Ad Wars

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1. Thomas Fuentes, R.I.P.

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Obama Once Again Shifting the Blame on Gas Prices

This week, President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar returned to familiar territory, once again chastising energy companies for maintaining an inventory of undrilled Federal leases.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Tom Barrett (D CAND, WI-GOV RECALL) passes on honoring slain cops to… stump-speech the UAW.

When it came out last week that Milwaukee mayor (and Wisconsin Democratic candidate for governor in the upcoming recall election) Tom Barrett had skipped out on two ceremonies honoring Milwaukee police officers, there was some questions about what Barrett thought could possibly be more important that going to, say, a memorial service for slain Wisconsin policemen. It probably didn’t help either that Barrett was so evasive about the answer, either – to the point of convenient memory loss. Well, it turns out that Barrett probably wanted to forget the answer of where he was doing instead of honoring fallen officers, given that the answer was… ‘making a stump speech.’

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Ad Wars

I am a rabid online video consumer. I love them, I watch them, I make them. The greatest thing about online videos is that, unlike television, the creators have all the time they need to explain their point and they are, more importantly, a relatively inexpensive way to react quickly to the opposition.

I’m not sure the Obama administration has figured out yet that between our continual victories on twitter and our exploding video production capabilities, they aren’t the only game in town anymore. Back in 2008, most tech savvy people found the McCain campaign to be woefully inadequate online. This doesn’t appear to the be the case this election cycle with Romney’s camp & conservative SuperPACs pushing new content almost daily.

It is also making for an interesting back and forth between competing narratives. Take for instance this ad from American Crossroads about Obama’s broken promises.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Thomas Fuentes, R.I.P.

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:16:03 +0000

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.

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.

Over at Human Events John Gizzi notes

Fuentes is best known as the longest-serving (1984-2004) chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, California. As the GOP leader of what until very recently was considered the most populous Republican county in the U.S., Fuentes built a vigorous, well-financed party organization that consistently captured most of the legislative and U.S. House districts as well as most of the county offices. Fuentes never backed away from being a conservative voice as well as party leader. Conservative leaders in the Golden State such as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, former Rep. Christopher Cox considered him one of their closest allies as well as a friend.

Our owner, Thomas L. Phillips, asked invited his friend Mr. Fuentes onto the board of Eagle Publishing. He has a particularly good remembrance of his friend.

Thomas A. Fuentes was a sixth-generation Californian whose great-great-great grandfather emigrated from Mexico to what is now San Diego in 1834, when California was still a Mexican province.

From 1984 to 2004, Tom was Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party. In that role, he was one of the most influential party leaders both in California and the country. He grew the Orange County GOP into a bastion of Republican strength in the state. He stood firm for conservative principles and resisted attempts to water down Republican ideals.

He was a founding director of the National Conservative Campaign Fund, a political action committee I helped launch in 1999. His insight and sage political advice were invaluable in shaping NCCF into an effective source of help for bona fide conservatives running for the U.S. House and Senate.

I enjoyed getting to know Tom Fuentes and appreciated those times he gave me advice based on his experience. He’ll be sorely missed and our prayers are with his family.

Barack Obama: A Composite Kenyan

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:46:00 +0000

“The Breitbart Crew are kind of like illegal immigrants — doing reporting Columbia journalism grads won’t do. And doing it quite well.”

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.

First, as someone who has written a book, I find Barack Obama’s literary agent’s explanation not very credible. The literary agent explains, “This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me — an agency assistant at the time. There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii.”

It was a fact checking error based on . . . no facts? Barack Obama never gave any information . . . suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii? Well where the hell did this very huge extrapolation come from? It’s like the virgin birth of a legend — some lady and God alone were involved.

That’s laughable. Miriam Goderich had to have gotten the idea from somewhere. But what is more laughable is that Barack Obama did not know and did not approve. When I wrote my book, I had to approve my biography multiple times. But more damning, this biography went to the press in 1991 and it circulated for more than a decade.

Even the Associated Press picked it up and I cannot find anywhere suggesting Barack Obama tried to have the AP correct its reporting.

The point is not that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. The point is that Barack Obama has repeatedly been perfectly okay embellishing and having others embellish his qualifications and biography to make himself someone unique instead of just another Chicago politician. The pattern goes back to his job as a “financial reporter”. A former colleague of his and Obama fan, way back in 2005, claims Barack Obama really embellished his resume describing his financial related reporting.

Second, and the largest point, however, is that the media is yet again caught flat footed, claiming the story is no big deal, irrelevant, or that somehow the Breitbart Crew is in the wrong and peddling Birtherism.

They are not peddling Birtherism. The Breitbart Crew are kind of like illegal immigrants — doing reporting Columbia journalism grads won’t do. And doing it quite well. In 2008, the New York Times ran a big story on John McCain having an affair with a lobbyist. It got picked up all over the place. Reporters were on the trail. There was no *there* there.

It took most of the month of August in 2004 for the media to pay attention to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — men who served with John Kerry and had real problems with both his conduct in Vietnam and his conduct after he left Vietnam. The media did not want to cover the story. For a while, it was just Fox News. The clear demonstration of bias finally forced the New York Times and the big three nightly newscasts to play catch up as dismissively as possible.

This story has been out there since Barack Obama ran for the United States Senate. Even now the media is dismissing it as frivolous. If it turned out Mitt Romney had not actually been a missionary in France, it would be headline news.

Barack Obama embellishing his biography to make himself look unique? Hardly worthy of press attention. In fact, nothing Barack Obama has done suggesting serious character flaws — and that’s what this is about — is ever worth the media’s collective attention. Why? Because some people think Barack Obama was born in Kenya, but much of the press corps is pretty damn sure he was born in Bethlehem.

One last point — a friend raised this on email. Could this be why the campaign screams bloody murder about racists and birthers every time someone asks about Barack Obama’s college transcripts? This would explain why Obama is so squirrely about the issue and waited until Donald Trump caused him measurable damage in the polls on this issue before responding. He’s not embarrassed that people will find out he lied about being born in Hawaii; he’s embarrassed they’ll find out he lied about being born in Kenya.

Morning Briefing for May 18, 2012

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:45:58 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 18, 2012

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

1. Barack Obama: A Composite Kenyan

2. Romney/RNC almost catches up with Obama/DNC in April.

3. Gov. Scott Walker might have been right – leads Barrett by 6

4. Media Trackers Uncovers Massive Ballot Irregularities in Montana

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1. Barack Obama: A Composite Kenyan

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Romney/RNC almost catches up with Obama/DNC in April.

The New York Times reported this morning that the combined raised total for Romney and the RNC was $40.1 million in April, with Romney having $61.4 million in the bank: in comparison, Obama/the DNC raised $43.6 million. Barack Obama’s own cash on hand for April – it was $104.1 million at the end of March – and we probably won’t be told it until the Sunday deadline, or possibly a little later than that. Though, to be fair, Romney and the RNC haven’t submitted their latest fundraising reports to the FEC, either.

Also: while I give points to the NYT for mentioning that this was a significant jump from Romney’s March haul of $12.6 million, they might have kept comparing apples-to-apples and included the RNC’s March fundraising total ($13.7 million). Or noted that the Democrats’ $43.6 million number for April represents a drop from March’s $53 million. Then again, I suppose that there’s a narrative in place.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Gov. Scott Walker might have been right – leads Barrett by 6

It looks like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker might have been right last month when he said would win the recall fight.

Three recent polls have found Governor Walker at 50 percent and leading Democrat Tom Barrett.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Media Trackers Uncovers Massive Ballot Irregularities in Montana

In at least two counties in Montana, the home of a competitive U.S. Senate race that could tip the balance of power in the upper chamber, massive mail-in absentee ballot irregularities have been uncovered by Media Trackers Montana, a non-partisan investigative research organization with operations in five states across the country. In Broadwater county alone, where Sen. Jon Tester received only 35 percent of the vote in the 2006 general election, up to 600 erroneous mail-in ballots have been reported. Over a dozen Billings-area voters have complained that they received incorrect ballots. Yellowstone county officials have also reported numerous complaints from voters receiving the wrong ballot.

And to top it all off, even a sample ballot available to individual voters on the Montana Secretary of State’s website is incorrect (this particular ballot allows the voter to select a state representative in two separate districts — districts 68 and 83). A majority of Montana voters are expected to vote by mail this November.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

No, He Wasn’t Born in Kenya #EERS

Thu, 17 May 2012 22:08:30 +0000

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.

Cleaning Up the GOP Moves to Texas

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:30:00 +0000

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.

But the payoff would be worth it – this is Texas for crying out loud. We’ve been given the opportunity to replace long time thorn in our side, Kay Bailey Hutchison, with an actual honest-to-goodness conservative. Ted Cruz is that conservative. David Dewhurst is not.

The first step is to prevent Dewhurst from getting to 50% on May 29th so that there is a head-to-head run-off between Dewhurst and Cruz in July.

The good news is that last week, Sarah Palin endorsed Cruz – adding to an already impressive list of solid conservatives like Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ed Meese, Mark Levin, the Club for Growth, the Madison Project, Gun Owners of America, RedState, and numerous others. These are not “DC insiders” as Dewhurst would have you believe, but strong conservatives who are fighting hard against the status quo and who know that Ted will join with them rather than the establishment.

Given Dewhurst’s rather paltry and almost embarrassing list of endorsements, it was not surprising that his response was to up the ante on spending – increasing his own ad buys, while his SuperPac launched another $1 million ad buy in Houston targeting Ted directly. In fact, while Dewhurst has spent just over $5 million on positive ads about himself – he or his SuperPacs have spent over $4 million on ads specifically going after Ted.

Why? It’s pretty simple – Dewhurst has been polling below 50% consistently despite having statewide name ID for over almost 15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around. And, he simply has no conservative record to run on. In fact, he would like people to ignore his record of proposed tax increases, higher spending and general incompetence as Lt. Governor. So, they are focusing on lies and distortions about Ted’s record.

The lies are extraordinary and should be ignored. The biggest lie – and one that sadly gained some traction – is that Ted is a “trial lawyer” who represented a Chinese company against an American company, and thus harmed American manufacturing jobs. This is facially absurd. Ted is an appellate lawyer – as Dewhurst well knows because Ted was the Solicitor General for the State of Texas, often fighting for the people of Texas in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. But even more, Ted represented one side of a dispute between two businesses – and the guy Dewhurst claims is an American manufacturer moved his business to China years ago.

The truth is simple. Everyone – and I mean absolutely everyone – in Austin who follows politics knows that David Dewhurst is a squishy moderate. They know he has been a major impediment – along with Joe Straus – to moving conservative reforms. They know he is boring and entirely unpersuasive. They know he is hiding behind the overall record of Governor Perry, who sadly is the lone conservative of any note who has supported Dewhurst… entirely out of loyalty to the man who has served as his Lt. Governor for some 12 years (in other words, don’t make anything of that support).

Meanwhile, Ted has a track record of fighting for conservatism. He has fought against ceding U.S. sovereignty to some unaccountable, leftist World Court… he has fought for religious freedom by successfully defending the placement of the 10 Commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds… and countless other efforts as a lawyer and a fighter for conservative principles.

Most importantly – Ted has sent a clear signal that he will work with conservatives in Washington to fight the establishment. Dewhurst not only will join the establishment – he is the establishment personified.

Texans have a chance to actually do something to change the direction of this country. They should do it, or perhaps we should stop looking to Texas as a leader of conservatism…

Morning Briefing for May 17, 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:45:00 +0000

RedState Morning Briefing
May 17, 2012

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

1. Cleaning Up the GOP Moves to Texas

2. Will the South Carolina Democrats Tolerate This Racism?

3. How to Astroturf an Online Cause: the Story of “I Stand with Bill Powers”

4. The Club For Growth’s Depressing Study: Failure and Lies of the Tea Party Congresscritters

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1. Cleaning Up the GOP Moves to Texas

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Will the South Carolina Democrats Tolerate This Racism?

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. How to Astroturf an Online Cause: the Story of “I Stand with Bill Powers”

Texas is ground zero in the national higher education reform movement. While the Washington crowd tends to fixate on President Obama’s piddling slap fight with Congressional Republicans over government-secured student loan rates, the real action on fixing higher ed is happening in Austin, Texas. The battle between Rick Perry and the higher ed reformers on one hand versus UT-Austin President Bill Powers and the Ivory Tower status quo on the other hand has been marked by years of grueling and often dull trench warfare that was punctuated last week by a flurry of bombs, beginning with a tuition freeze, followed by rumors of the UT President’s termination, and culminating in a textbook social media public relations campaign that deserves serious examination. And the consequences of this fight? Well, what happens in Texas won’t stay in Texas.

This is the story of “I Stand with Bill Powers,” a remarkably well-executed example of online astro-turfing.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. The Club For Growth’s Depressing Study: Failure and Lies of the Tea Party Congresscritters

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.

Please click here for the rest of the post.