Redstate

Posted at 12:27am on May 14, 2008 Elections

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Another Tuesday, another Presidential primary. And in shocking news, Hillary Clinton announces that she is not going to get out of the Presidential race just yet. Her campaign communications director, Howard Wolfson, got on CNN this evening and insisted that the magic number for delegates is 2,209--and yes, that is the number that you get if you include Florida and Michigan in the mix. We are obviously going to go to June 3rd and perhaps longer if the Clintons believe that they have any chance whatsoever of winning the nomination--or at least going on long enough to ensure that they are able to extract concessions or even set up Barack Obama for a defeat in the fall, thus opening the way for Hillary Clinton to capture the nomination in 2012.

Meanwhile, it isn't as if Republicans don't have problems. There is no denying it anymore--if it could even be denied in the run-up to tonight; Republicans have serious problems with the brand identity. Yes, I know that there are six months left until the election but what else needs to occur for the GOP to realize that it has a very serious problem on its hands? There have been any number of indications concerning a Republican image problem and nothing has been done to ameliorate matters. Either Republican leaders get on the ball very quickly, or the GOP is headed for yet another round of epic Congressional losses.

This is all obvious, I know. But apparently, the Republican Congressional leadership class has still not caught on.

Posted in 2008 | Democrats | Republicans — Comments (75)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:42pm on May 7, 2008 California Republicans open primaries

By Neil Stevens

I was sitting here, reading my sample ballot for the June primary election here in California, and noticed something startling. It says here that nonpartisan voters may request a ballot for any of the following parties: Democratic Party, Republican Party, American Independent Party. This is a change. In the past, independents could only vote in the Democratic and AI primaries.

Clearly, the California Republican Party has changed the policy. I assume this happened at the last convention in San Francisco, during which my attention was focused on the platform fight.

This is disappointing to me. As things stand, conservative stalwarts in the party do the state a great service by leveraging their Constitutional prerogatives and limiting the tax-and-spend desires of the Democratic majority. If we allow ourselves to be watered down by 'independents,' then we could destroy that, and the Democrats would be able to run amok raising taxes, supermajority requirement or no.

I, for one, personally prefer we go back to having truly closed primaries. Even if "moderating" on spending, taxes, and culture would net us a few more seats, it could cost us what limited success we do have in Sacramento.

Posted in California | open primaries | primaries | Republicans | State Politics — Comments (12) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:26pm on May 4, 2008 Let's Start Calling Them "McCainocrats"

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

The New York Times came out yesterday with an article discussing the purported tendencies of what we are led to believe are legions of Republicans ready to jump across party lines to support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama not just during the primary contest, but in the general election once one of them captures the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Some context follows:

1. CBS News reports that in a general election fight, McCain gets 18% of Democrats against Obama and 12% against Clinton.  By contrast, Obama and Clinton take 11% and 10% of Republicans respectively.
   
2. In the Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, we find that McCain gets 22% of Democrats against Obama and 15% against Clinton. Meanwhile, Obama and Clinton take 13% and 6% of Republicans respectively.
   
3. See also this.

Maybe it is high time for the New York Times to run a piece on the "McCainocrats" and the danger that they pose to the Democratic Party. You know, to justify that whole "reality-based community" appellation for once.

Posted in 2008 | Democrats | John McCain | Party Identification | Republicans — Comments (63)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:50am on Apr. 11, 2008 Republican Online Activists: Stand Up and Be Counted

By Adam C

Compared to the online activism on the left, Republicans lack woefully in many capacities. No one person can change this overall difference in online activism, but here are some basic things you can do to make sure Republicans are standing up and being counted in the online competitions. Note that Tech President keeps track of facebook friends, myspace friends, web traffic and other indicators of online activity. Without costing you a dime, you can help Sen. McCain and Republicans show they exist online by doing the following:

Posted in 2008 | Facebook | MySpace | Online Activism | Republicans — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:05pm on Mar. 13, 2008 Pointing Out That Not Supporting Candidates In Hostile Territory Is NOT How To Build A Majority Party ...

By Martin A. Knight

This comment on eabo-clipper's "Mr. Ogonowski Goes To Washington" diary is one of those bits of political conventional wisdom that I think, in the long run, turn out to be not so wise. A good thing I will say about it though, is that it gave me the impetus to diary something that's been on my mind for a while; getting back on offense.

Please, [NRSC Chairman, Senator John] Ensign ... no. The NRSC can't afford to dump money here. Ogonowski lost in the most conservative district of Massachusetts ...

With all due respect, I think this attitude needs to go.

Read on ...

Posted in Archived | expansion | hostile territory | ogonowski | Republicans — Comments (55) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:51am on Mar. 7, 2008 Money = Enthusiasm

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Part of the political narrative this campaign season has been the argument that the vast sums of money raised by the remaining Presidential candidates is indicative of the enthusiasm Democrats feel for the upcoming election cycle. I suppose that there is some truth to that claim but I find it a little bit harder to believe--especially after reading this--that Republicans suffer from a lack of enthusiasm so pronounced as to make them uncompetitive in the election.

The Democrats can claim that they haven't structured their party to raise and keep a large financial reserve, but the ability Republicans have to amass cash--and President Bush and Vice President Cheney will have their roles in amassing a whole lot more--means that they will be able to coordinate with and assist John McCain's candidacy quite effectively.

To be sure, Democrats will catch up when their party selects a nominee. But that could take a while, from what I hear. And by the time it happens, any increase in the party's coffers may be offset by the decrease in the coffers of the eventual nominee since gobs of money doubtlessly had to be spent to defeat the eventual nominee's remaining rival.

Posted in 2008 | Democrats | Mother's Milk | Republicans — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:08am on Mar. 6, 2008 Heading into the 2008 election and beyond, the GOP must lead on health care

By Jeff Emanuel

If the Republican Party is to repair and reclaim its tarnished brand as the party of individual rights and responsibility, of limited government, and of real solutions for the American people, one issue on which the GOP must lead is health care.

The mantra of “50 million (and growing) uninsured Americans,” has become part of every Democrat politician's standard rhetoric. The Left, and many members of the media, are treating so-called "universal health coverage" as though it is (a) the correct solution to the U.S.’s health care woes, (b) a foregone conclusion, and (c) simply a matter of timing an detail at this point. Further, several polls show that a significant portion of the American population views the current health care situation both as an important issue, and as one which should be further intervened in, and regulated by, government.

This trend toward support of the Democrat platform on health care means that Republicans must eschew sitting idly by in favor of coming up with coherent, workable response to the Left on health care -- lest, through their inaction, they allow the party of government intervention to permanently own the issue.

Read on.

Posted in Economics | Health care | Nanny-Statism | Policy | Republicans | strategery — Comments (63) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:08pm on Feb. 26, 2008 House Republicans to interrupt housing debate in attempt to re-secure the country [UPDATED]

Some of those darned issues just don't seem to go away!

By Jeff Emanuel

Update 2: Moments ago, the House GOP offered the Senate-passed FISA bill (S. 2248) as their Motion to Recommit H.R. 3521, the Public Housing Asset Management Improvement Act. The chair declared the motion non-germane, and the GOP appealed the ruling.

Update: Democrats have won a battle for America's enemies, voting to uphold the Previous Question on the Protect America Act. Seven Democrats are to be commended for voting with the GOP: Barrow, Bean, Boren, Carney, Cramer, Donnelly, and Lampson.

Within the next half hour, House Republicans will be interrupting the all-important Housing debate to bring up that dreaded and tortuous subject of National Security.

The GOP will use the "previous question" parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the FISA legislation that the Senate passed by a 2/3 margin and sent to the House two weeks ago."

"We will not sit idly by while Democrats bring up bills that have already had numerous floor votes while important legislation is on the table collecting dust," said Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) earlier today.

"Because of the inaction by the Democratic leadership, a crucial provision in our national security laws was allowed to expire earlier this month," he added. "Since then, a dimmer switch has been placed on our ability to monitor terrorists. With each passing day, the quality of our intelligence is diminished for no other reason than politics. I find that unacceptable, and it’s a good bet the vast majority of the American people do too."

It's got to be tough on the party of the welfare state that the pesky House minority won't let them simply forget about the threats outside our borders and focus all their efforts on keeping people at home poor, rather than on keeping them alive.

Posted in Breaking News | FISA | Republicans — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:27pm on Feb. 20, 2008 I Am A Knuckle Dragging Neo-Confederate Racist Pig

By haystack

And a bigot to boot...apparently...but I am against Barack Obama for President (and Hillary Clinton too), and it's not because of their "Black-ness" or "Female-ness"...it's because they are WRONG - wrong for America, and wrong for the people they claim to fight for.

In my intentionally inflammatory rant about Frank Rich, I decided to throw a few race cards on parallel with those of Mr. Rich's level of ridiculousness when he suggested that the GOP had been reduced to nothing more than the "Grand Old White Party." I had a problem with the idea that a white man who came of age in Washington DC BEFORE desegregation and busing, and had moved to Harvard right BEFORE the MLK assassination and the ensuing riots and carnage wrought by ALL colors on our fair Nation's Capitol back in April 1968, would presume to suggest that being a Republican was somehow (by nuance, implication, and innuendo) the same as being a white supremacist male or some such nonsense. Worse, he presumes some expertise in the area of Black-White relations from the vantage point of a political party instead of one who lived with or grew up with black people (or any OTHER minority for that matter). Yeah, I ticked quite a few people off when I spoke even a little bit about any "positives" that might be gleaned from the pre-Civil war South...and whoo-boy did I fire up some folks.

GOOD.

Let's consider the Democrats regarding several pertinent areas of their elitist supremacy and minority exploitation, m'kay? I'm feeling the need for a little more hate to be thrown my way.

More below the fold...

Posted in Democrats | Elections | Hillary! | Obasm | Race in the 2008 race | Republicans — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:29am on Feb. 19, 2008 Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Constituency?

By haystack

The movie Oh Brother where Art Thou (which pits Pappy O'Daniel against Homer Stokes for Governor) gives an interesting backdrop for what the Democrats would have you believe about American culture and the upcoming election(s) in 2008. Afraid to actually assume responsibility for a racial divide originally concocted by Democrats to assuage minorities and convince them of some weird "imperative" that Democrats need to rule the US, we all should take a moment to recognize that it's the Left that wants you to believe the Right is the cause of all the ills the minorities in this country have been begged to suffer. Imagine, for just a moment, Barack Obama wearing the red cloak of the Klan's "Imperial Wizard" by night only to appear BY DAY to swear to represent the little people and insist on a change long overdue to all the citizens he presumes to represent. Head exploding yet? Then consider that piece of human waste, Frank Rich, asking you to believe as much about the GOP.

How exciting it must be for the Democrats these days; two minority candidates running for President of the United States of America. What must be especially pleasing to women and blacks in this country is the fact that neither of these presumed "Poster Children For Minorities Rising Above Their Stigma" candidates actually CARES to really fight for the causes of these minority demographics from whence they have arisen, satisfied in their presumption that their "peeps" will vote for them, "just because."

Cometh an Arts and Leisure expert who fancies himself some sort of expert in American Culture and its pretended affiliation with American Politics, to make sure we all understand that the GOP is "trapped in an archaic black-and-white newsreel," and "looks more like a nostalgic relic than a national political party in contemporary America."

According to this caricature of a thoughtful man, Frank Rich, the GOP apparently finds itself drowning in:

a cultural sea change [that] has passed it by.

I might otherwise have passed right on by this tripe, but Frank Rich ticked off the wrong guy by referring to me and my ilk as "The Grand Old White Party" and further begged my response by claiming some insightful expertise regarding race relations in America due to his having attended a then-segregated Woodrow Wilson High School in NW Washington DC, while living in the far-from-poor Cleveland Park neighborhood which is very close to the Zoo, and the National Cathedral, and a host of other big-name spots in "old DC". Rich also forgets to remind us that his Father was president of Rich's Shoe Stores down on F Street as he was growing up, and strikingly absent from Mr. Rich's race baiting trash was his reminiscence of his family's Shoe store having been burned to the ground during the riots that followed MLK's assassination in April of 1968. See, Mr. Rich was already off to Harvard when the death and destruction and all-out war between whites and blacks commenced, and I'm fairly certain the dinner table chatter at the Rich home was NOT about how much the GOP had wronged the black man in this country. Call it a lucky guess...

While I may be nine years Rich's junior, I actually STAYED for the mayhem that began in April of 1968 (I was 10), and the racial HELL that carried on through my entire Junior and Senior High School life. See, unlike Mr. Rich, I was (as a white kid in a white neighborhood) bused to a black neighborhood starting in the fall of 1970 (7th grade). I seem to remember an entirely different world than the one Mr. Rich glorifies, and I lived only a handful of miles away - just over the Maryland border...a simple enough bicycle ride back then through Queenstown that would likely see me killed were I to try such a ride today.

I'm used to the NYT's journalistic malpractice, but choosing to accompany Mr. Rich's piece with a Confederate Flag cartoon was the last straw. I'm sick and tired of this racism sleight of hand from the Democrats and the elitists who proclaim to know so much about life down in the mud of the streets and alleys in that school of hard knocks we "regular folk" graduated from, and I'm playing ALL the race cards below the fold...

More...

Posted in Democrats | Pandering | Repressing the Repressed | Republicans — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:57am on Feb. 15, 2008 This is what we're up against

Why, yes, I am angry, thanks for asking!

By Neil Stevens

This is a special message for those conservatives out there who have even the slightest doubt that we all need to band together for the political fight this year.

Are you angry at John McCain? Then you're angry at the wrong man. Look, before you forget: while we're chasing our own tails worrying about the perfect candidate, our opponents are still there. They have no principles, no consciences, and will feel no remorse about doing and saying whatever it takes to achieve political victory in November.

Read on and take a look at the latest example:

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Democrats | Iraq | John McCain | Lying Socialist Weasels | Republicans | The Big Lie — Comments (47)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:16pm on Feb. 14, 2008 Over 130 House Republicans sign letter asking conservative stalwart Shadegg not to retire

Hear our call - Don't Give Up the Fight

By The Directors

Earlier this week, we reacted to the announcement that John Shadegg was resigning from Congress with surprise and dismay. We have in the past endorsed Shadegg for the position of majority leader, and we consider him a leading voice for conservatism on Capitol Hill and in America.

Tonight, we were not surprised to learn that our high opinion of John Shadegg is shared by many on the Hill. According to multiple news reports, over half of the Republicans in the House signed the following letter in just the first two hours of its distribution, urging Shadegg to reconsider. We at Redstate wholeheartedly concur with those who circulated the letter - Reps. Pence, Hensarling, and Hoekstra - and with the other 130+ House GOPers' call for Mr. Shadegg to run for reelection and to remain in office. These are critical times for our nation, and Washington needs leaders of his caliber.

The text of the letter is below the fold. We encourage our readers to add their comments in support of John Shadegg, urging him to stay the course.

Read on.

Posted in Congress | Conservatives | John Shadegg | Republicans — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:46pm on Feb. 14, 2008 Democrats refuse to pass FISA; House GOP walks out

By Jeff Emanuel

Just moments ago, Republican Representatives walked off of the House floor in response to the Democrats' refusal to pass (or even debate) the bipartisan, Senate-passed FISA legislation.

"Meanwhile," according to a source close to the House GOP, "the Democrats are debating the merits of former White House staff."

Video below:

Posted in Breaking News | Congress | FISA | National Security | Republicans — Comments (195)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:01pm on Feb. 14, 2008 Forcing the Issue on FISA: The Next Round

By RS Insider

It isn't flashy. It's floor procedure and a leadership team that is holding the votes together. This is how a minority saves FISA.

Yesterday, we prevented them from doing a short-term extension. Now they can either take up the bi-partisan, senate-passed FISA bill that protects America - or - they can let it expire and leave our people vulnerable. It's up to them.

In a news cycle driven by gossip and baseball, serious business that fundamentally effects our ability to fight the war is on the line and happening on the floor.

Posted in Congress | FISA | National Security | Republicans — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »