Thursday, May 19, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing For May 19, 2011


 
1. TODAY: Biggest Nomination Fight of 2011


CALL YOUR SENATOR AT (202) 224-3121 THIS MORNING AND TELL HIM TO VOTE AGAINST CLOTURE FOR GOODWIN LIU. GO HERE FOR A DIRECT LINE TO YOUR SENATOR.






2. Rick Perry Is Not Running for President. Mitch Daniels Is Running for President.




3. Mitch Daniels in 2009: Stop Disagreeing with Democrats


4. David Dewhurst Embraces The DewCrist Label And Openly Declares War on Conservatives




5. Turns Out Grover Norquist Lobbied For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac



6. Oil Company Profits Are the Solution, Not the Problem


7. Secretary Geithner, spending is not a problem of the past


8. Where are the adult Wisconsin Democrats?


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1. TODAY: Biggest Nomination Fight of 2011


Today the Senate Democrats will force a cloture vote on Ninth Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu, President Obama’s most radical judicial nominee and the man whom Obama would dearly like to make the first Asian-American Supreme Court justice. Liu’s left-wing agenda and outrageously activist view of the law makes this showdown a classic test of the bipartisan “extraordinary circumstances” standard for when judicial nominees can be filibustered. The standard originated in the 2005 Gang of 14 agreement.


Liu is a 40 year old Berkeley law professor whose vocal and unabashed championing of judicial activism has made him a star on the legal left. Liu “envisions the judiciary … as a culturally situated interpreter of social meaning” and believes judges should create constitutional rights to “distributive justice,” including welfare rights to “education or housing or medical care.”


Liu has expressed left-wing views on virtually every hot-button issue likely to come before him on the bench, including the view that Americans are obligated to pay reparations for slavery, an obligation he would likely read into the Constitution. Liu is too far to the left for even Rahm Emanuel, who advised the President against making this nomination.


CALL YOUR SENATOR AT (202) 224-3121 THIS MORNING AND TELL HIM TO VOTE AGAINST CLOTURE FOR GOODWIN LIU. GO HERE FOR A DIRECT LINE TO YOUR SENATOR.


Please click here for the rest of the post.




2. Rick Perry Is Not Running for President. Mitch Daniels Is Running for President.


Rick Perry is not running for the Presidency.


There is a lot of buzz about what Perry has recently said, but he is not running. His key people are helping Newt. Behind the scenes, many have been pestering him, but he has been swatting them away.


Rick Perry is not running for President of the United States. The buzz is related to the continuing disappointment of many conservatives about the current crop of candidates and the wishful thinking of many.


But he’s not running.


Now . . . I do think Rick Perry could be persuaded to run. In the next couple of weeks Mitch Daniels will announce he is running for President.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






3. Mitch Daniels in 2009: Stop Disagreeing with Democrats


I am not really sure what is wrong with Mitch Daniels. Two years ago, you would not have found a bigger Mitch Daniels booster in the United States than yours truly. He had bucked national trends to win an landslide re-election and was doing all the right things to demonstrate administrative competence, which is something our party badly needed to demonstrate after the last two years of the Bush administration. Then he started saying crap like this.


So, as Republicans were gearing up for their biggest electoral victories in 16 years by fighting Obama and the Democrats tooth and nail on every aspect of their agenda, Mitch Daniels was telling everyone that the way to victory was to forget what a wedge issue even was, and just be nice so that people will like us again. Since then, Daniels has demonstrated that having a political tin ear in his case is a congenital defect rather than an isolated occurrence, telling social conservatives repeatedly to get to the back of the bus and indicating that he would pick Condi Rice - widely vilified as a miserable SecState by Republicans of all stripes - as his VP.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






4. David Dewhurst Embraces The DewCrist Label And Openly Declares War on Conservatives


Next year’s U.S. Senate primary in Texas offers a wide range of choices. RedState has previously noted our strong preference for either former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz or former railroad commissioner Michael Williams – both of whom have proven themselves as articulate and reliable champions of conservative principles. On the next tier are former Texas secretary of state Roger Williams and current railroad commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, whose commitment to conservative principles may be somewhat shakier but at least are mouthing the right words so far in this campaign.


And then there is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, or as I like to call him, DewCrist.


Much like the former government of Florida turned ambulance chaser, DewCrist’s conduct as lieutenant governor has been consistent: whatever advances his political aspirations at that moment, he’s for. Obviously, it worked well for him during his first two terms. But in the first few months of his third term – the one in which his path toward higher office has finally cleared – his continuing to play both sides of the fence is costing Texas conservatives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make historic policy gains.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






5. Turns Out Grover Norquist Lobbied For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac


While heading Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist founded the lobbying firm of Janus-Meritt Strategies with David Safavian, the former Chief of Staff of the General Services Administration (GSA) who was convicted of lying to prosecutors during the Abramoff scandal and sentenced to prison. Safavian’s conviction was recently upheld.


One of the more interesting clients for Mr. Norquist was Fannie Mae. In 2000, Janus Merit received $120,000 in lobbying fees from Fannie Mae. Mr. Norquist, along with Safavian, was listed as one of the main lobbyists on the Fannie Mae account.


In disclosure records, Janus-Meritt says its lobbying activities related to a “Home ownership tax.” It appears this lobbying work was designed to protect the homeownership tax credit, which Franklin Raines described as key to “increase homeownership in urban and rural areas.” As many conservatives believe, this credit, which Mr. Norquist and Safavian apparently defended, was a major contributing factor in the housing bubble and mortgage crisis.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






6. Oil Company Profits Are the Solution, Not the Problem


Left to its own devices, the oil industry is its own worst enemy. Relatively low barriers to entry have made the industry freely competitive. The reward goes to the quickest and the most efficient companies; just like in a Gold Rush, we remember the big winners and quickly forget the also-rans. Since the days of Colonel Drake, Patillo Higgins and Dad Joiner, twas ever thus.


The consumer ultimately benefits from a profitable and efficient energy business in the form of affordable and abundant energy supplies. This is because energy is essentially a “grow or die” business. An oil company that does not efficiently replace its production with new reserves is essentially holding a “going out of business sale” with every barrel of oil it produces.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






7. Secretary Geithner, spending is not a problem of the past


Unless we reverse course from the Obama Administration’s endless borrowing and spending policies, economic collapse is a certainty.


If our entitlement programs are not reformed, they will go broke and break their promises to millions of seniors, disabled and needy Americans. If the government never stops spending more than it takes in, it will go bankrupt. And, if liberals are successful in passing massive tax increases to continue their spending spree, millions more jobs will be destroyed, companies will ship new investments overseas, and our economy will be crippled for years to come.


None of these outcomes are desirable and all of them are preventable.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






8. Where are the adult Wisconsin Democrats?


Because somebody in the Wisconsin Democratic party needs to be the adult in the David Prosser/JoAnne Kloppenburg state Supreme Court recount, here. This nonsense has gone on long enough: three weeks and a quarter-million taxpayer dollars later, it has - not ‘become’ obvious that Prosser has won. It’s been obvious since they certified the results. What’s more properly ‘become’ obvious is that the Kloppenburg camp has decided to simply wait until the recount is over, then challenge the results in court on the grounds of a Democrat lost/ they don’t like the results/democracy. Which is why the Democrats are doing things like disenfranchising nuns; it’s all about the narrative that they hope to present, at this point.


Please click here for the rest of the post.






Sincerely yours,


Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

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