In what’s become a biennial spectacle, supporters of unprincipled Republicans – who often vote with Democrats – are maligning conservatives as “purists” and accusing them of gambling away Republican control of the Senate.  Today, Kimberley Strassel published a column in the WSJ, “Conservatives vs. a Senate Majority,” insinuating that Freedom Works and The Club for Growth are helping elect Democrats to the Senate.  Specifically, she charges that conservatives opposing Lugar, Bruning, and Thompson will deny Mitch McConnell “the Senate majority leader’s office.”

There is one predominant point that is overlooked throughout Ms. Strassel’s column: it is the very insipid Republican candidates and senators that she supports who have helped the Democrats control the Senate – both in the minority and the majority.  It is the very people like McConnell, Lugar, and Thompson who have supported big government, and will continue to support big government in the majority.

The column starts off on the wrong foot with this oleaginous opening line: “Two things stand between Mitch McConnell and the Senate majority leader’s office: Democrats, and the conservatives who might help elect Democrats.”

Wait a minute.  Even if Republicans take back the Senate, who coronated McConnell to be majority leader?  The very fact that she deems the election of McConnell as majority leader to be the superlative endgame tells you everything you need to know about her politics.

Does she not realize that McConnell has failed to lead his conference against the plethora of bailouts, stimulus, subsidies, and market interventions that Democrats are itching to pass and have already passed?  Or does she support these ideas, so as not to be branded as a truculent purist?  The sad reality is that control of the Senate is worthless if less than 51 Republicans are willing to support basic Republican proposals and oppose fundamental Democrat big-government ideas.  At present, Senate Republicans are capitulating on so many things that I’ve had to prioritize which issues to highlight for lack of space in these pages.  And I’m sorry, but if we’re forced to nominate a guy who still supports Eric Holder in a state like Nebraska, we should all call it quits.  Ditto for Indiana.  Even in Wisconsin, we didn’t do too bad last time with the purist Ron Johnson, and that was against a well respected incumbent.

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In what’s become a biennial spectacle, supporters of unprincipled Republicans – who often vote with Democrats – are maligning conservatives as “purists” and accusing them of gambling away Republican control of the Senate.  Today, Kimberley Strassel published a column in the WSJ, “Conservatives vs. a Senate Majority,” insinuating that Freedom Works and The Club for Growth are helping elect Democrats to the Senate.  Specifically, she charges that conservatives opposing Lugar, Bruning, and Thompson will deny Mitch McConnell “the Senate majority leader’s office.”

There is one predominant point that is overlooked throughout Ms. Strassel’s column: it is the very insipid Republican candidates and senators that she supports who have helped the Democrats control the Senate – both in the minority and the majority.  It is the very people like McConnell, Lugar, and Thompson who have supported big government, and will continue to support big government in the majority.

The column starts off on the wrong foot with this oleaginous opening line: “Two things stand between Mitch McConnell and the Senate majority leader’s office: Democrats, and the conservatives who might help elect Democrats.”

Wait a minute.  Even if Republicans take back the Senate, who coronated McConnell to be majority leader?  The very fact that she deems the election of McConnell as majority leader to be the superlative endgame tells you everything you need to know about her politics.

Does she not realize that McConnell has failed to lead his conference against the plethora of bailouts, stimulus, subsidies, and market interventions that Democrats are itching to pass and have already passed?  Or does she support these ideas, so as not to be branded as a truculent purist?  The sad reality is that control of the Senate is worthless if less than 51 Republicans are willing to support basic Republican proposals and oppose fundamental Democrat big-government ideas.  At present, Senate Republicans are capitulating on so many things that I’ve had to prioritize which issues to highlight for lack of space in these pages.  And I’m sorry, but if we’re forced to nominate a guy who still supports Eric Holder in a state like Nebraska, we should all call it quits.  Ditto for Indiana.  Even in Wisconsin, we didn’t do too bad last time with the purist Ron Johnson, and that was against a well respected incumbent.

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Who needs Democrats when so many Republicans are willing to orchestrate their agenda for them?

The Senate is on the precipice of passing Barbara Boxer’s highway bill with overwhelming support.  Mitch McConnell is negotiating a deal with Harry Reid in which Republicans would be granted a vote on some of their choice non-germane amendments.  After Democrats summarily defeat those amendments, Republicans will return the favor by voting for the underlying bill, which overspends its revenue source by 43% and raises taxes to bridge the gap.

The sad thing is that S. 1813 is not just Boxer’s highway bill.  It was supported by every Republican on the committee level, and only 9 Republicans voted against cloture to proceed with the bill on the floor.  In a sane world, McConnell would be negotiating proposals to cut mass transit and eliminate the 10% beautification mandates on the states instead of securing failed votes on non-germane amendments.  Then again, most Republicans in the Senate actually support the idea of federally funded transportation.  They also buy into Obama’s puerile logic that it will create new jobs, instead of spreading around existing ones.

Consequently, not only will Senate Republicans decline to block the Obama/Boxer stimulus, they will lock hands with Democrats, pass the Senate bill, and jam House conservatives.  For his part, John Boehner is using the Senate bill against conservatives, instead of joining with conservatives, to fight this terrible bill.  He will lock arms with Mitch McConnell instead of coalescing behind a devolution bill or the original House bill, which pegged spending to revenues.  Later today, he will issue a pungent threat to bring the Senate bill to the House floor if conservatives fail to cooperate with his bill.  This, from Politico:

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Who needs Democrats when so many Republicans are willing to orchestrate their agenda for them?

The Senate is on the precipice of passing Barbara Boxer’s highway bill with overwhelming support.  Mitch McConnell is negotiating a deal with Harry Reid in which Republicans would be granted a vote on some of their choice non-germane amendments.  After Democrats summarily defeat those amendments, Republicans will return the favor by voting for the underlying bill, which overspends its revenue source by 43% and raises taxes to bridge the gap.

The sad thing is that S. 1813 is not just Boxer’s highway bill.  It was supported by every Republican on the committee level, and only 9 Republicans voted against cloture to proceed with the bill on the floor.  In a sane world, McConnell would be negotiating proposals to cut mass transit and eliminate the 10% beautification mandates on the states instead of securing failed votes on non-germane amendments.  Then again, most Republicans in the Senate actually support the idea of federally funded transportation.  They also buy into Obama’s puerile logic that it will create new jobs, instead of spreading around existing ones.

Consequently, not only will Senate Republicans decline to block the Obama/Boxer stimulus, they will lock hands with Democrats, pass the Senate bill, and jam House conservatives.  For his part, John Boehner is using the Senate bill against conservatives, instead of joining with conservatives, to fight this terrible bill.  He will lock arms with Mitch McConnell instead of coalescing behind a devolution bill or the original House bill, which pegged spending to revenues.  Later today, he will issue a pungent threat to bring the Senate bill to the House floor if conservatives fail to cooperate with his bill.  This, from Politico:

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The other day, Mitch McConnell made clear to Republican Senators that he would block efforts to offer amendments on full repeal of Obamacare this legislative year.

I wrote about.

Then Alexander Bolton at The Hill wrote about it.

Then Rush Limbaugh mentioned it.

Then conservative group Restore America’s Voice Foundation said it would, well, Alexander Bolton has a follow up report.

Restore America’s Voice Foundation said it would “unleash” its 2.3 million activists to call for McConnell’s resignation if he didn’t retract his comments.

Well, Mitch McConnell is now retreating.

Ken Hoagland, the chairman of the foundation, said McConnell’s chief of staff spoke with him for 20 minutes by phone after the threat was issued and vowed to make March “Repeal Obamacare Month.” Hoagland said his group was taking a “trust but verify” approach and would unleash TV ads and petitions asking for McConnell to step down as minority leader unless he shows he’s serious about repeal.

“He has to look for opportunities to bring amendments to the floor,” Hoagland said.

A senior GOP aide said Senate Republicans have planned a public relations campaign this month to highlight the need to repeal the controversial healthcare law. The aide said the campaign has been in the planning phase for weeks.

Now look, we all know this “planning phase for weeks” is pure nonsense. We know this from Alexander Bolton’s prior report.

Senators loyal to Mitch McConnell were willing to go on the record saying Obamacare wouldn’t be brought up all year. Senator Barrasso (R-WY), one of McConnell’s loyal lieutenants said people were already on the record and he didn’t think there was a need for another vote.

In Washington, this is the diplomatic dance of retreat. McConnell got exposed and the position was so set in stone his loyal lieutenants were willing to go on the record. So now they all have to say the original reporting was wrong, even though it wasn’t, and they now have to do what they did not want to do.

It really is striking how quickly McConnell folded when his leadership was threatened. This should tell everyone what they must do whenever they want McConnell to fold like a cheap suit.

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The other day, Mitch McConnell made clear to Republican Senators that he would block efforts to offer amendments on full repeal of Obamacare this legislative year.

I wrote about.

Then Alexander Bolton at The Hill wrote about it.

Then Rush Limbaugh mentioned it.

Then conservative group Restore America’s Voice Foundation said it would, well, Alexander Bolton has a follow up report.

Restore America’s Voice Foundation said it would “unleash” its 2.3 million activists to call for McConnell’s resignation if he didn’t retract his comments.

Well, Mitch McConnell is now retreating.

Ken Hoagland, the chairman of the foundation, said McConnell’s chief of staff spoke with him for 20 minutes by phone after the threat was issued and vowed to make March “Repeal Obamacare Month.” Hoagland said his group was taking a “trust but verify” approach and would unleash TV ads and petitions asking for McConnell to step down as minority leader unless he shows he’s serious about repeal.

“He has to look for opportunities to bring amendments to the floor,” Hoagland said.

A senior GOP aide said Senate Republicans have planned a public relations campaign this month to highlight the need to repeal the controversial healthcare law. The aide said the campaign has been in the planning phase for weeks.

Now look, we all know this “planning phase for weeks” is pure nonsense. We know this from Alexander Bolton’s prior report.

Senators loyal to Mitch McConnell were willing to go on the record saying Obamacare wouldn’t be brought up all year. Senator Barrasso (R-WY), one of McConnell’s loyal lieutenants said people were already on the record and he didn’t think there was a need for another vote.

In Washington, this is the diplomatic dance of retreat. McConnell got exposed and the position was so set in stone his loyal lieutenants were willing to go on the record. So now they all have to say the original reporting was wrong, even though it wasn’t, and they now have to do what they did not want to do.

It really is striking how quickly McConnell folded when his leadership was threatened. This should tell everyone what they must do whenever they want McConnell to fold like a cheap suit.

Read More →

I reported yesterday that Mitch McConnell is expressly blocking a vote on a conservative backed measure to repeal Obamacare, but there is news this morning that the situation is far worse than even I thought.

Alexander Bolton reports Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intends to avoid any votes on repealing Obamacare this entire year lest he anger Senator Harry Reid.

Obstensibly, McConnell says a vote on the DeMint authored legislation would give the Democrats cover to vote against Obamacare headed into the election. But this makes no sense because McConnell intends to offer up Senator Blunt’s amendment tomorrow on religious liberty, also letting Senate Democrats get on record defying the President on a controversial issue related to Obamacare.

In fact, however, Senate Republicans are willing now to go on record and offer up an even more damning reason — they don’t want to upset Harry Reid.

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I reported yesterday that Mitch McConnell is expressly blocking a vote on a conservative backed measure to repeal Obamacare, but there is news this morning that the situation is far worse than even I thought.

Alexander Bolton reports Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intends to avoid any votes on repealing Obamacare this entire year lest he anger Senator Harry Reid.

Obstensibly, McConnell says a vote on the DeMint authored legislation would give the Democrats cover to vote against Obamacare headed into the election. But this makes no sense because McConnell intends to offer up Senator Blunt’s amendment tomorrow on religious liberty, also letting Senate Democrats get on record defying the President on a controversial issue related to Obamacare.

In fact, however, Senate Republicans are willing now to go on record and offer up an even more damning reason — they don’t want to upset Harry Reid.

Read More →

On Thursday, the Senate will consider Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment to the Senate version of the highway bill. It is the only amendment the Senate GOP will offer up.

On its surface, it is a good amendment. It will allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacient drugs. But strategically, it is another lame effort by Senator Mitch McConnell to let Senate Democrats in swing states absolve themselves of any blame for what Barack Obama has done.

See, the highway bill probably is not going to pass. So Senator Blunt’s amendment won’t actually pass. But Senate Democrats can vote for it and then claim in their 2012 election that they too oppose the President, but alas their measure failed. At the same time, no outside groups want a vote right now. If there is a vote this week and the bill ultimately dies, the issue goes away in the press and Christian groups are only now whipping up opposition to the HHS regulation. Roy Blunt’s amendment comes too soon and takes off the table an issue social conservatives care about just as Republican leaders are whispering that the issue hurts them (coincidence?).

Consider the alternative. There is another amendment Senator McConnell expressly refuses to bring up this week as an alternative — an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint for full repeal of Obamacare.

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On Thursday, the Senate will consider Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment to the Senate version of the highway bill. It is the only amendment the Senate GOP will offer up.

On its surface, it is a good amendment. It will allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacient drugs. But strategically, it is another lame effort by Senator Mitch McConnell to let Senate Democrats in swing states absolve themselves of any blame for what Barack Obama has done.

See, the highway bill probably is not going to pass. So Senator Blunt’s amendment won’t actually pass. But Senate Democrats can vote for it and then claim in their 2012 election that they too oppose the President, but alas their measure failed. At the same time, no outside groups want a vote right now. If there is a vote this week and the bill ultimately dies, the issue goes away in the press and Christian groups are only now whipping up opposition to the HHS regulation. Roy Blunt’s amendment comes too soon and takes off the table an issue social conservatives care about just as Republican leaders are whispering that the issue hurts them (coincidence?).

Consider the alternative. There is another amendment Senator McConnell expressly refuses to bring up this week as an alternative — an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint for full repeal of Obamacare.

Read More →