So the Gang of Eight (I prefer Banda de los Ocho myself) is about to release their plan for immigration reform, after months of behind closed door dealing, leaks, intrigue, accusations, and other nonsense. According to the National Review, these are the key points to the proposal: 1. Modernizing the legal immigration system There will be a shift away from the current family-based system, and more emphasis on giving visas | Read More »
Gov. John Kasich has largely been a conservative success story. He became the Governor of the great state of Ohio with an $8 billion deficit and lagging economy. Today, Ohio has a surplus, is adding jobs monthly, and is considering significant across the board tax cuts to stimulate the economy more. But on health care, John Kasich is so far failing. Last month, Kasich announced | Read More »
Let us start by stating a fact: John McCain is a true American hero. His military service, and even much of his political career, is to be praised and appreciated. He has given his life to public service, and I truly respect that. But Mr. McCain has officially jumped the shark. Sen. McCain along with with comrade-at-arms Sen. Lindsey Graham seem to believe they live | Read More »
O.K., we took a beating. Hell, we got pummeled. Obama and his colleagues took every bit of conservative conventional wisdom (and even some liberal conventional wisdom), turned it on its head, and smacked us silly with it. In one night, we lost the White House, lost seats in the Senate; we did take some governorships, and yes, held the House of Representatives, but lost Allen | Read More »
There are few ideas that would scare any Republican more than saying that Mitt Romney is turning into John Kerry…but there is at least some evidence that may be showing just that. This is not a new idea, as even some of his Republican opponents in the primary suggested the comparison. But is the comparison valid? I think in many ways Romney is a superior candidate to Kerry | Read More »
The response from this administration from the widespread protests through out the Muslim world is more than worrisome. It is, in some ways, a vision of a world that doesn’t exist other than in the movies and in Obama’s press releases. It is a completely failure to grasp reality; in short, they are deluding themselves into believing their own press releases. On Friday, White House | Read More »
The Arab Spring was a time for hope and joy, supposedly. Barack Obama, after giving his now famous Cairo speech in early 2009, took credit for much of the transformation of the North African portion of the Middle East, which largely consisted of removing Moumar Qaddafi and Hosni Mubarak, among with the ouster of totalitarians in Tunisia and Yemen. But as always, actions have repercussions. | Read More »
You can see my July predictions here. This previous post gives my breakdown of the strategies of the races, the candidates at that time, etc. This post mostly focuses on any interval changes. 1. Massachusetts The race between Sen. Scott Brown and Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren has been heated and likely will be the most expensive Senate race this year. A PPP poll released today shows Brown with | Read More »
There are very few things in life that I thought would make me call for the resignation of a politician. Clear corruption and dereliction of duty, surely. Treason, obviously. If they stated “Hail Hitler” on the floor of Congress. Somehow Rep. Akin found a new one. Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition | Read More »
[promoted from the diaries as part of the Ambitious Writer's Program] Presidents who are successful in winning a second term often center their campaigns on a grand vision. Reagan had the ‘city on the hill’ in 1984. FDR continued his grand progressive vision of the New Deal, cementing Democrats as the majority party for a generation. Even Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, neither known | Read More »
So now that we are past the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the ACA, we can move on to more important things. I am completely serious. This is not to put a spin on what is ultimately a loss for conservatives. It clearly was that, and a huge victory for progressives led by Barack Obama. You may hear me putting a silver lining | Read More »
In a landmark ruling the Supreme Court today announced that in a 5-4 decision (with Justice Kennedy dissenting and Chief Justice Roberts writing the decision) that Obamacare, for the most part, is constitutional, including the individual mandate. John Roberts declared, “Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and the Section 5000A need not be read to do more than | Read More »
I remember, when Barack Obama became a truly serious candidate for the Democratic nomination late in 2007, how awe inspiring it was. I knew very little about Obama, other than his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. But his oratory was uplifting and moving, and I honestly felt spurred by his statements. He spoke of a more civil, a more united future together as | Read More »
Last week, the monthly unemployment numbers for January arrived, and gave a boost to the Obama Presidency. The unemployment rate was calculated to be 8.3%, the lowest since February 2009, with the economy adding 243,000 jobs, the fourth month in a row of significant job increases. Republicans instantly attacked the numbers as twisted numerical spin, even fraudulent. And they very well may be, as I discuss below. | Read More »
For years, if not decades, the South Carolina primary has been thought of as ‘true’ conservatives firewall to prevent silly or liberal candidates from sneaking through Iowa and New Hampshire to win the Republican nomination. But it hasn’t always worked out that way. Bob Dole crushed right-winger Pat Buchanan there in 1996. And John McCain defeated a divided conservative field in 2008 on his way | Read More »
Now, it gets interesting. This week saw a lot of tumult in the nomination race. First, Gov. Huntsman left. Today, Gov. Perry will leave. The former endorsed Mitt Romney, the latter is to endorse Newt Gingrich. Today, we learned that Rick Santorum actually edged out Romney to win the Iowa caucus. And on Monday, we saw a debate that was finally…well, a debate. Although all | Read More »
My choice for President is Mitt Romney. I just shuddered at that statement. But there it is. There is the reality that 13 debates, months of bickering and intrigue, and countless discussions with conservative brethren have brought me. It is kind of a sad reality. Is this the best conservatives could do? So here has been my calculation for who I would support, from the | Read More »
Newt Gingrich is today getting vilified on many conservative blogs for his moderate stance on illegal immigration in last night’s CNN/Heritage Foundation debate. He stated the following: “If you’ve come here recently, you have no ties to this country, you ought to go home, period,” Gingrich said. “If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the | Read More »
For weeks, I have on various sites taken heat for defending the rights of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters. I am, by nature, a virtual absolutist on free speech rights. You have the right to assemble, speak, and protest, as long as you don’t infringe on my right to do the same. I also had one caveat: that support would only last until such | Read More »
The Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS) has captured the imagination of the American left, including our brilliant left leaning media. To be sure, there is a real movement here. Those on the right simply dismissing these people do so at their own peril. The angst among the American people is real, and is very much similar to the forces that led to the birth of | Read More »
Well, depending on when the dates of the caucuses and primaries end up, as they are still in flux, we could be looking at less than 100 days until the first vote to select our next Presidential nominee. That can seem like a blink of an eye. The field now appears to be set…finally. Gov. Chris Christie, Gov. Sarah Palin, and other stragglers now have | Read More »
Well, can we end the speculation now? http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/105741/ October 5, 2011 Wasilla, Alaska After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote | Read More »
Ohio is going to be the keystone to any Presidential strategy. And as such, we will be seeing a lot of this President, and the Republican nominee, over the next 14 months. But we have already seen that this President has little or nothing to offer the great state of Ohio. Obama last week, in what can only be defined as a political stunt, went | Read More »
The number of retrospectives of the events of September 11, 2001 are too many to count. The repercussions of the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and in the air space over Pennsylvania effected every American in one way or another, and there are just as many stories to go along with those people. For us today, I think a more relevant discussion is | Read More »
Jonathan Alter has a well publicized piece on Bloomberg asking people opposing Barack Obama why he has been a bad president. I know, I had to chuckle too. Varied commentators have taken their stabs at answering the question. Classic non-conservativeDavid Frum even took a swing at it. Mickey Kaus at The Daily Caller probably had the best answer. But I thought I would take a swing at | Read More »
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