Tuesday, February 22, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing For February 22, 2011



1. Eric Cantor’s Failure of Leadership



2. The Wisconsin Union Battle is About America’s Future Generations



3. Barack Obama’s Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him


4. On Obama’s ‘Trip to the Center,’ He Stumbles Over Planned Parenthood


5. Public employee unions: The big money in politics



6. The Silent Shift


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1. Eric Cantor’s Failure of Leadership


On Friday, 92 Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, joined all of the Democrats to defeat an amendment offered up by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn to ensure the GOP lived up to its “$100 billion in cuts” pledge.


This was a failure of leadership, particularly by Eric Cantor.


Blackburn’s amendment, by its own description, would have “reduce[d] spending by 5.5% in 8 non-securiy spending subsections of the bill and reduce[d] Legislative Branch appropriations by 11%.”


In other words, just as Republicans pledged to bring spending down to 2008 levels, Congresswoman Blackburn’s amendment would have ensured it happened across the board, save for security matters.


Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy joined Democrats to oppose this. Other Republicans took to the floor to call Rep. Blackburn and her conservative colleagues “lazy” for wanting across the board cuts.


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2. The Wisconsin Union Battle is About America’s Future Generations


In Wisconsin, and elsewhere, union bosses are fighting to maintain control over more than just their having a say in wages and benefits. With the SEIU ramping up rallies nationwide, the protests in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are the beginning of a much larger battle that America is facing—whether America’s children will be saddled with generational indebtedness and conditioned to serving the collective, or whether they will live a free life.


Last week, the six-figure salaried head of the Wisconsin teachers’ union (WEAC) was quite clear in stating that the Wisconsin protests have little to do with salaries and benefits. The protests are, however, about union power.


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3. Barack Obama’s Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him


Supporting public sector unions in Wisconsin must be hurting Barack Obama. We know because he is using the New York Times to back away from his earlier statements and the tactics of his own Organizing for America.


In fact, the White House says the involvement of the DNC and OFA “were overblown from the start”, but even the Times can’t help but note . . . “national party officials were taking credit for encouraging the protests, especially through the use of Twitter and other online social networks.”


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4. On Obama’s ‘Trip to the Center,’ He Stumbles Over Planned Parenthood


In an interview with an NBC affiliate in Richmond, VA, President Obama responded to the recent vote to defund Planned Parenthood after a flood of videos exposed illegal activities taking place at their clinics including exhibiting a willingness to support sex trafficking of minors, secret abortions for minors, and giving “pimp” discounts.


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5. Public employee unions: The big money in politics


A lot of people focus on the federal level when they think about politics. On the day after the 2010 election, I urged people to continue the fights at the state level. The unions — and especially the public employee unions — know that. Recall that in October of last year, the Wall Street Journal broke a very important story that found that AFSCME, the main non-teacher public employee union in the country, was the largest spender of the 2010 election. Their political director said, “we’re the big dog.”


I urge you to turn your eyes to the state level.


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6. The Silent Shift


Often some of the most interesting stories are the ones not told. Such a tale is being deliberately ignored by the Democratic Party-run media. This tale is a shift in identification and perception so rapid and deep, it foretells serious continued losses for the Left in this country. Since George W. Bush won in 2004, the Party-run media and its allies have been running down Republicans and smearing conservatives without pause. But something seriously major is happening under the radar. The Party-run media outlets are completely ignoring a trend so powerful, it could shake the establishment to the core. That earthquake could shake some of the established powers-that-be from their ivory towers and positions of influence.


From the Huffington Post, Emily Swanson writes, “Only two years after the proportion of U.S. adults who identified themselves as Democrats matched its highest level in 22 years, a new annual survey has found it plunging by 5 percentage points to match record lows over that same period.”


Please click here for the rest of the post.




Sincerely yours,


Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

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