On second thought, fire all the Democrats!
September 23, 2009
Earlier today I reported that, “Democrats and Republicans Agree!“ Democratic Representative Brian Baird sponsored a bill that would require Congress to actually read the legislation they voted on. Democratic leader Pelosi and other Democrats struck down the legislation in a partisan vote this afternoon. The bill would have required Congress to release legislation 72 hours before voting on it – i.e. so that Congress and the public could read and comment on the legislation. I think 72 hours is a pretty tight window, but Democrats voted the measure down despite sponsorship by one of their own – Brian Baird of Oregon. I just don’t understand how they can tell the American people they don’t need to read the legislation before they vote on it. Really, I don’t understand. Democrats suck. Please take a moment to contact your representative and express your displeasure – unless you agree with this idea…
Please, quit calling me a racist!
September 15, 2009
Dissent in America is no longer tolerated. If you don’t agree with the President you are either lumped in with the KKK or the Nazi Party. Rep Joe Wilson told the president he was lying about the health care bill. He apologized and the president accepted his apology. It was not a racial incident. Today, the House decided to take the matter up and for the first time in history formally rebuked Rep Wilson. Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA) explained that NOT censuring Wilson would mean a return to the KKK riding through the countryside. I am not making this stuff up, watch it for yourself:
My request, take my rejection of the president’s policies as a rejection of his policies not his race. Obama’s ONLY redeeming factor IS his race. I was excited to have a black president – I only wish he was a conservative. Maybe someday.
Pelosi on Rep. Wilson and Rep. Rangel
September 11, 2009
Today Pelosi agreed pass a ‘resolution of disapproval’ to punish Rep. Wilson for calling Obama a liar earlier this week. Two weeks ago Pelosi indicated she would not punish Rep. Rangel for lying on his tax returns or on House financial disclosure forms EVEN if the House Ethics Committee found him guilty. Can you say double standard?
I guess it is better to lie than to call someone a liar (even if they are right).
Speaking truth to power is ugly. . .
September 9, 2009
There is no getting around the fact that speaking truth to power is ugly. If someone gets caught over and over telling lies it is hard to resist calling them a liar. South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson couldn’t resist shouting down Obama during his speech to Congress, branding him a liar. Obama suggested that the current health care bills (namely 3200) don’t include provisions that would cover illegal immigrants. Lots of time has been spent on this issue, Obama knows that the current bill covers illegals.
Rep Wilson rightly points out that Section 1702 of the bill restricts inquiries about immigration status expanding Medicaid eligibility. Rep Dean Heller and Rep Nathan Dean offered a number of clarifications and fixes to this section that were rejected. Rep Lamar Smith explains,
H.R. 3200 contains gaping loopholes that will allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded benefits. And these loopholes are no accident. The legislation contains no verification mechanism to ensure that illegal immigrants do not apply for benefits. Republicans offered an amendment to close this loophole — it would have required verification using the existing methods that are already in place to verify eligibility for other federal benefits programs. But, when they were asked to put the language of the bill where their words were, in a party-line vote, House Democrats rejected the amendment to require verification and close this loophole.
Why not just close the loopholes? Why not end the debate. Obama can claim all day, “the plan does not cover illegals”, but why not close the loopholes? Maybe because the language is on purpose – maybe they intend to cover illegal immigrants. Maybe we should cover them, but we should be honest about the plan. I applaud Joe for taking a stand for Americans. I applaud him for speaking truth to power. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do the same . . .
Democrats Overwelm Bloggers
September 3, 2009
The Democrats, in a very sneaky plot, are attempting to keep conservative bloggers busy by behaving “like jackasses“. The plot wouldn’t work if just one or two Democratic congressmen were behind the effort – the fact that they are all acting nuts is overwhelming our ability to report on the madness. Hot Air has a list of the madness from today:
- Louise Slaughter refused to hold a town hall because she was concerned more ‘right-wing wackos would show up and get their fingers bitten off’.
- Baron Hill freaked out when he found out his constituent want to record his town hall meeting.
- Pete Stark explains that national debt is a sign of wealth???
Is something going on with the water in Congress? Really, someone should look into it. These guys are really out of control.
Endorsing Candidates
It may be hard to believe, but two different candidates for statewide office have asked me for an endorsement. I explained that I didn’t think my opinion carried much weight, but that I would think about it. Most politicians, Republican and Democrat, are actually very charismatic. If they aren’t, they usually don’t get elected. The problem with charismatic people is that they are charismatic. Many of them will tell you what they think you want to hear and it is likely that you will like them for the wrong reasons. I guess I am stating the obvious.
Most Republican candidates can enunciate the standard ‘conservative’ line about smaller government, lower taxes, strong defense and protection of our Constitutional rights. Fewer of them do anything to actually forward those goals. The problem is that when you ask them to enunciate their ideas they rarely if ever can. The Contract with America was a cheat sheet for House Republican Candidates in 1994 – unfortunately there is no cheat sheet today. My test for a candidate is pretty simple, what are you ideas on the major issues of the day. For Congressional candidates I ask for their plans on:
And if I believe those ideas are a) conservative, b) grounded in common sense, c) possible and d) they promise to work tirelessly to pass their ideas into law – I might endorse the candidate (not that my endorsement matters) and more importantly they would get my vote. We should judge politicians not on their past voting record, not on their charisma, not on their bank account – but on what they promise to accomplish. We shouldn’t elect people who have no plans. We shouldn’t elect people who fail to pass their plans. Why do we treat our Congressmen like our buddies? Why don’t we treat them like employees – they either get the job done or we replace them.
If I can spent a couple of hours writing my own plans on this blog, surely our elected officials can do the same. They should put their plans in writing and we should insist they work to enact them.
My conservative mentor and roll model, Newt Gingrich, recently announced he was endorsing Michael Williams for U.S. Senate here in Texas. Based on Newt’s endorsement I am likely to give Williams the benefit of the doubt, but his website doesn’t really give me much to go on. Check out his position on the ‘issues‘.
On Health Care: Nothing.
On Immigration Reform: “To reduce illegal immigration, we must secure the border first with both physical and virtual fences as well as more patrols; aggressively enforce sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants; immediately deport immigrant felons; require applicants for a temporary work visa to return home and maintain a tamper-proof identification card. We must end the cover provided by lawless sanctuary cities to illegal immigrants.”
Is this really a plan? We have 20 million illegal immigrants here in the US already. Is build a fence a way to fix the problem? No. Should we build a fence – sure I think it would be smart to control our borders better. I think it is a national security issue more than an immigration issue. With regard to the rest – those ideas do NOT address the problem. What do we do with the 20 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. Why is it so hard for any Republican to offer a rational plan to solve the problem? Simple: we demonized the idea of amnesty long ago. Any workable idea can, at some level, be called amnesty. We need to stop being idea-logs, and start being conservative problem solvers. If we can accept that there are 20 million people already here the only ideas that have any chance of success require a path to citizenship. There I said it. Here is my plan.
On Tax Reform: “The federal income tax system is unfair. We should eliminate death and capital gains taxes, move to an optional single rate flat tax, allow the investment in new equipment to be written off in one year and make permanent the research and development tax credit.”
Wow, now he is speaking my language. My only request would be that he be more specific. How would it work? Who would be exempt? The devil is in the details. Ironically, support is in the details as well. If we can show voters that make less than $50,000 that we don’t want to tax them I suspect we might be able to get quite a bit of support for this sort of plan. Most people don’t understand the idea of a flat tax – we need to start explaining that a flat tax helps the poor and middle class the most. We aren’t for the rich – we are for Americans. Here is my plan.
On Energy and Environment: “On energy, our motto should be “all of the above”. We should drill for more American oil and natural gas here in America. We should accelerate the commercialization of clean coal technologies with carbon capture and storage, build more nuclear plants to reduce carbon emissions, and expand the utilization of alternative and renewable energy sources. We can have a strong economy and a healthy environment. But that requires pro-growth energy and environment solutions. Pro-growth energy and environment solutions – those that rely on innovation, entrepreneurship and new technology—will yield more clean, affordable and reliable energy for America’s families and businesses.”
Again, I agree. I would like to see more concrete plans to build more nuclear power plants. We need to show voters how this will save them money over the long run. We need to show them how investing in capital improvements versus stupid plans like cash for clunkers can actually make our country stronger. Here is my plan.
So in general Williams has been very smart. He said the right things (in general) without going into too much detail. I think we as Republicans need to start offering more concrete solutions. So you still want my endorsement? Tell me where you stand on the issues and share your plans with me.
Democrats Making Sense, Finally!
September 2, 2009
The Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, now free from Obama’s public option, has promised that any reform passed by the House will a) not increase taxes, b) not incur deficit spending and c) it must be paid for. Thank God!
Of course this will mean that they will need REAL reform to find enough money to help expand coverage to the uninsured. Hoyer doesn’t offer much hope that any actual reform will take place, instead he suggests reform could be paid for by making Medicare more efficient. Huh? Reform is the part that should save us money. Reform shouldn’t cost more money. Expanding coverage is the part that costs more money. I think there is a real disconnect between the Democrats idea of reform and the average Americans understanding of reform.
Simply suggesting “it would be paid for, in part would be paid for, as I indicated, in ringing out and making more efficient, Medicare.” That isn’t a plan. It is a poorly worded statement. I am not a politician or a health professional, but I can enunciate a reform plan that is likely to save us billions. Why can’t our politicians (both Republicans or Democrats).
House Ethics Committee Censured?
Pelosi, in a stunning announcement, indicated that she would NOT pressure Rangel to resign if the House Ethics Committee found him guilty of misconduct or even if a prosecutor brings charges against him. That caused me to ask my associates, “what is the function of the House Ethics Committee if their findings carry no weight?” He responded simply, “to investigate Republicans.” Of course he is right.
Rangel, who makes $150,000 per year, evidently failed to report $3MM in income to both the House and the IRS. My biggest question isn’t about the failure to disclose, but how the hell did he get $3MM? Did he inherit the money? Nope. His mother worked as a maid and his father was unemployed and abusive leaving home when Charles was six. Rangel dropped out of high school when he was 16 to sell shoes. He enlisted in the Army and afterward got his law degree. Maybe he made his money in private practice? Nope. Turns out Rangel, “was hired by Weaver, Evans & Wingate, the city’s most prominent black law firm. Rangel made little money in private practice, but did get a positive reputation for providing legal assistance to black civil rights activists.” He left after a year and took a job in politics. Since 1966 Rangel has been in government – how has he accumulated so much wealth?
Between 2007 and 2008 his wealth grew by more than 100%. How? He owns stakes in Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers) and PepsiCo. He has FOUR apartments in New York City’s ‘tony’ Lenox Terrace. He owns a villa at the Punta Cana Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic. His checking account has almost $500,000 in it. He has three pieces of real estate in New Jersey worth more than a million dollars.
Where is all of this money coming from?
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was run out of office for taking a $250,000 ‘gift’. He was convicted of lying on his financial disclosure forms (just like Rangel has acknowledge doing) and sentenced to jail. What is the difference between Rangel and Stevens? Rangel’s lie was to the tune of $3MM, Stevens was only for $250K. The real difference? Rangel is a Democrat and Stevens is a Republican. My opinion – throw them all out – Republicans and Democrats.
Making sure conservatives get the seats. . .
August 31, 2009
Experts are predicting double-digit losses for the Democrats in 2010. Nate Silver, a Democratic analyst who is almost always right predicts that Republicans will win between 20 and 50 seats (40 seats gives the GOP control).
I don’t know if they are right, but assuming they are we need to ensure that conservatives who are willing to fight for their values are elected (and not the sort of Republicans willing to go along to get along). We need something similar to Newt’s Contract with America to help define what this wave of conservatives promise to do with their opportunity. Too often we send Democrats and Republicans to office without a clear set of goals. Instead we get a lot of – “I share your values” “I will fight for your rights” “Yadda, yadda, yadda”.
Lets outline a set of laws we want to see passed. Lets outline the change we want. Lets outline the reform we demand. Then lets find lawmakers who share our values and are willing to enact our legislation. Here are a few plans I would love to see included (edit as you see fit):
- My plan for tax reform
- My plan for health care reform
- My plan for immigration reform
- My plan for the environment and energy
After Newt left the House I felt as though the Republicans lost their way. With control of the House, Senate and White House we managed to get almost nothing accomplished. We didn’t balance the budget. We didn’t solve our energy issues. We didn’t tackle immigration. We didn’t institute tax reform. We might as well have had Democratic control; hell Bill Clinton was a better Republican than George Bush – don’t you think?
First: Congressman personally checking IDs?
August 27, 2009
You will have to watch the video the believe what I am going to tell you. Representative Moran (D-VA) asked a voter from his district to show him ID prior to asking a question. Why do Democrats think that people who disagree with them are all from somewhere else? According to polls, more than half of Americans oppose the Democrats plan (whatever it is). Here is the video (left me speechless):
