Archive for August, 2012

Chip Cravaack is fighting the EPA. Based on the information in this statement, it’s likely that he’ll win:

On August 21, 2012, the D.C. Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a sixth overreaching EPA rule, writing that “…Congress did not authorize EPA to simply adopt limits on emissions as EPA deemed reasonable. Rather, Congress set up a federalism-based system of air pollution control.”

Here’s why that information is important:

Today, the Cravaack for Congress Campaign issued a statement regarding the continued assault on Minnesota mining jobs by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in which the Agency proposes a rejection of the Minnesota State Implementation Plan put forward by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for upgrading taconite facilities.

The rule, which imposes an unrealistic timeline for compliance, would threaten Minnesota’s mining industry and the over 40,000 residents who depend on the mining industry for their livelihood.

“The silence from the DFL and Mr. Nolan on this issue has been deafening, and without surprise. On August 13, two days before the EPA’s rule was announced, Twin Cities–based Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness publically opposed the state plan and mining jobs in Minnesota,” said Michael Bars, Cravaack’s Press Secretary.

This isn’t about whether mining should be regulated. It’s about whether the MPCA’s regulations should be applied, especially considering the fact that this doesn’t affect anyone outside of Minnesota.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the next most powerful court behind the Supreme Court, has issued its ruling.

Rick Nolan is losing the mining vote bigtime because he’s too tied with militant environmentalist organizations like Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

Nolan isn’t pro-mining because the militant environmentalists won’t let him be pro-mining.

Tags: MPCA, EPA, Chip Cravaack, Mining, GOP, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Militant Environmentalists, Rick Nolan, DFL, Election 2012

While Mitt Romney’s speech wasn’t as exhilarating as Paul Ryan’s speech, it’s impossible to say Mitt’s speech wasn’t effective. The media has characterized the speech as workmanlike. That isn’t it at all. The adjectives I’d use would be economical and stoic.

The pundits who’ve said Mitt needed to bare his soul in his speech are wrong. The country doesn’t need an Emoter-in-Chief. What we need now is someone to fix this broken economy. Mitt’s that person, with Paul Ryan being the perfect vice presidential candidate.

During his speech, Mitt made an underappreciated point that was the line of the night:

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise…is to help you and your family.

America doesn’t need lofty rhetoric. It needs the right policies and the right priorities. That’s Mitt. Here’s another line that worked:

Many Americans have given up on this president but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America.

Americans that’ve given up on this president quit because he didn’t share their priorities. While he campaigned in 2008, President Obama complained about Iraq because it “distracted us” from Afghanistan, where “the real war” was happening.

A similar accusation would fit President Obama. After signing the stimulus and a new budget for FY2009, President Obama didn’t focus on creating jobs. Instead, he didn’t “let a good crisis go to waste.” He turned his focus away from the economy and passed the biggest job-killing legislation in US history.

Mitt’s campaigning to repeal that monstrosity and get the economy moving again. We’ve been miserable long enough. We’ve waited too long for a return to prosperity.

Together with Paul Ryan, Mitt will get the economy going again. They’ll tackle real challenges that threaten our economic health. With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, America is getting a technocrat and an ideologue, a mechanic and a visionary.

They’re getting men that will reapply America’s founding principles to today’s difficulties. They’re getting men with real accomplishments.

Last night, when the Olympians were onstage, I remembered that the Salt Lake City Olympics were in a terrible mess. (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) Corruption was rampant. Important projects weren’t getting completed.

Mitt was called to rescue those Olympics in February, 1999. Three years and a terrorist attack later, the Salt Lake City Olympics were judged a major success. Some sportswriters called it a miracle.

Mitt didn’t blame his predecessor. Mitt didn’t complain about the mess he’d inherited. Instead, he turned failure and disgrace into another American miracle.

That’s the type of leader we need. That’s who the GOP nominated. That’s who America will hire this November.

Tags: RNC, Mitt Romney, Bain Capital, Staples, Salt Lake City Olympics, Paul Ryan, Founding Principles, GOP, President Obama, ACA, Stimulus, Corruption, Democrats, Election 2012

It’s obvious that Ryan Winkler is either the most ignorant, loud-mouthed DFL legislator or he’s totally dishonest. Rep. Winkler tweeted this during Thursday night’s speeches:

First time tuning in to RNC. Romney speech seems fine but it occurs to me GOP wants to go back to Founders: white, male property owners.

I believe Rep. Winkler when he said that Thursday night was his “first night tuning into the RNC” because he doesn’t have a clue about the racial and ethnic diversity within the GOP. Chuck Todd appreciates the GOP’s diversity:

Anyone who watched this convention knows that the GOP is filled with tons of talented newcomers and that there’s tons of diversity within this group of newcomers. Brian Sandoval and Susana Martinez wowed crowds with their speeches. That they’re Hispanic just adds to their appeal with the general public. Add them to Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley, the first governors of Indian descent, and it’s pretty obvious that the GOP is a principled big tent political party.

That’s before talking about soon-to-be US Senator-Elect Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. That’s before talking about rising rock star Mia Love, who should defeat Jim Matheson in Utah’s 4th District.

Had Rep. Winkler paid attention to the delegates in the hall, he would’ve seen a hugely diverse crowd. It’ll be difficult for the Democrats to be more diverse than the GOP’s delegates.

The TEA Party has helped grow, not to mention energize, the conservative movement. They’ve attracted men and women into the movement. Apparently, the TEA Party’s principles of limited, constitutional, government resonates with people of all ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds.

Rep. Winkler hasn’t figured it out that ABM’s charicature of the TEA Party doesn’t match reality. The Left’s charicature of the TEA Party isn’t even close to reality.

When it comes to the national stage, the so-called party of diversity are more like the Neanderthal Party. Their image of the GOP is severely outdated.

Tags: Ryan Winkler, ABM, DFL, Diversity, Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval, Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal, Mia Love, Marco Rubio, Condi, GOP, TEA Party, RNC, Election 2012

Paul Ryan entered Wednesday night’s speech with the spotlight clearly shining on him. I wrote this post to talk about the things I thought Congressman Ryan needed to do in his speech. This is what I predicted:

Paul Ryan stepped into the spotlight that day without hesitation, with an outstanding grasp of the health care facts and with an understanding of the American people. When he was done with the GOP’s closing argument, President Obama sat humbled and silent.

That’s the man I expect to see step to the podium tonight.

Last night, Chris Christie talked about telling the American people the truth about adult subjects. Tonight, I expect to hear Paul Ryan talk about the challenges we face. I expect him to talk about why it’s vital that we reverse course ASAP.

The man that politely and thoroughly humiliated President Obama with his closing argument at the Health Care Summit is the man that delivered a stinging indictment of the Obama administration. Here’s Congressman Ryan’s first count in the indictment against President Obama:

I have never seen opponents so silent about their record, and so desperate to keep their power. They have run out of ideas. Their moment came and went. Fear and division is all they’ve got left. With all of their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money.

And he is pretty experienced at that.

Though Congressman Ryan brought this point across with humor, it’s still a stinging criticism of President Obama. President Obama hasn’t shifted course even slightly. His record of failure is verifiable. His reckless spending is there for all to see.

Here’s another powerful, personal, count in Ryan’s indictment of President Obama’s administration:

My own state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it. Especially in Janesville where we were about to lose a major factory. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that G.M. plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, “I believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years.”

That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.

President Obama’s bold declaration quickly turned into another campaign promise that President Obama broke.

People quickly learned that President Obama’s campaign promises came with expiration dates.

This is the question President Obama didn’t want asked:

So here’s the question, without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?

President Obama can’t answer that. There’s $2,000,000,000,000 supposedly sitting on the sidelines not getting invested in bigger plants and more jobs. Without a quick reversal in regulations, the repeal of the ACA and without tax reform, that $2,000,000,000,000 will stay sitting on the sidelines.

Expect that to be the question that the Romney-Ryan ticket to pummel the Obama-Biden ticket with through the election.

Another major indictment against this administration was the crony capitalism that was part of the stimulus. Ryan captured that perfectly, too:

The first troubling sign came with the stimulus. President Obama’s first and best shot at fixing the economy. At a time when he got everything he wanted under one party rule. It cost $831 billion. The largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government.

It went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs and make believe markets. The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare anachronism at their worst.

President Obama swept into office promising to cut the lobbyists out of the loop. Thanks to Solyndra, we’ve learned that President Obama didn’t cut pork out of the budget. He simply directed the money to his most prolific bundlers, not the lobbyists with the fanciest suits.

This part of his speech reminded people that President Obama’s speechifying is annoying:

You know, President Obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. He said, “Well, I haven’t communicated enough.”
(LAUGHTER)
He said his job is to, quote, “tell a story to the American people.” As if that is the whole problem here? He needs to talk more and we need to be better listeners?

Congressman Ryan talked earlier in the speech about how tired President Obama’s ideas seemed. While that’s certainly true, it’s equally true that many Americans are tired of hearing his voice.

Thanks to Paul Ryan’s tour de force speech, it seems more likely that we’ll soon commit President Obama’s speechifying to history.

Tags: Republican National Convention, Acceptance Speech, Paul Ryan, GOP, President Obama, Indictment, Affordable Care Act, Pork, Cronyism, Bundlers, Corruption, Stimulus, Solyndra, Democrats, Election 2012

Political junkies like me have known about Paul Ryan for 5-6 years. The man that will step into the spotlight tonight is the smartest man on policy in DC. That’s why he gets under President Obama’s skin so easily. President Obama’s narcissism won’t let him admit that he isn’t the smartest man in the room about anything.

Ryan steps into tonight’s spotlight as a seasoned veteran of the political wars. He’s most famous for demolishing the ACA during the Health Care Summit at Blair House:

Paul Ryan stepped into the spotlight that day without hesitation, with an outstanding grasp of the health care facts and with an understanding of the American people. When he was done with the GOP’s closing argument, President Obama sat humbled and silent.

That’s the man I expect to see step to the podium tonight.

Last night, Chris Christie talked about telling the American people the truth about adult subjects. Tonight, I expect to hear Paul Ryan talk about the challenges we face. I expect him to talk about why it’s vital that we reverse course ASAP. Finally, I expect him to give a midwestern perspective for what’s at stake if we don’t change course.

I don’t expect him to deliver ‘the plan’ in full, though I’d expect he’ll touch on that.

Finally, I expect him to a) critique the Democrats’ agenda, b) keep the Christie momentum going and c) tee things up for Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech Thursday night.

Paul Ryan is part of the new leadership of the GOP. He’s an expert. He’s fearless. He’s principled. Most importantly, he’s in touch with the American people because he’s from a small town in America’s heartland.

That’s why he’ll connect with the American people.

Tags: Republican National Convention, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Speeches, Health Care Summit, GOP, Election 2012

Ed has a great post up about MSNBC’s racist behavior. Here’s part of Ed’s commentary:

Why did they just happen to block all of these speakers? Obviously, it’s not a coincidence. They’re afraid of two outcomes by showing these speakers, the first of which is the exposure of the intellectual vapidity of their repeated accusations of raaaaaaaaaaaacism. The second is the possibility of acknowledging that conservatism appeals to a broad, diverse section of the electorate, which might encourage more people of color to consider its policies, especially with the powerful personal stories told by Mia Love and Ted Cruz. Instead of dealing with that reality, MSNBC chose to deliberately misinform their 15 14 12 viewers. Fortunately, the MSNBC lineup (with the apparent acquiescence of Comcast) is so busy marginalizing themselves that it really doesn’t matter any more.

Ed’s point that MSNBC might be frightened of the thought that “conservatism appeals to a broad, diverse section of the electorate” is worth closer examination.

This past June, I attended the RightOnline conference, where I had a fantastic time. At the Saturday night banquet, I joined Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft at a table that included at least 5-6 women, including several women of color.

The point is that the TEA Party movement has appealed to Americans from a wide array of backgrounds. This isn’t Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party, though there’s no doubt that he’d approve of it.

This is this generation’s conservative movement, a movement represented by TEA Party favorites like Michelle Malkin, Mia Love, Susana Martinez, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

The racist myth that MSNBC is peddling was discredited before most people read their morning papers. Their dishonesty was that blatant.

Tags: Michelle Malkin, Michele Bachmann, Susana Martinez, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, GOP, MSNBC, Censorship, Media Bias, Liberalism

The last week, Chris Matthews has repeatedly accused Republicans of being racists. Newt Gingrich and Reince Priebus laughed at Matthews while he vented.

It’s in this context that this news must be viewed:

MSNBC wants you to think the Republican Party hates minorities. So much so that the liberal news network cut minority speeches from it’s convention coverage.

When popular Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz, the GOP nominee for Senate, took the stage, MSNBC cut away from the Republican National Convention and the Hispanic Republican from Texas’ speech.

MSNBC stayed on commercial through former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis’ speech, as well. Davis, who recently became a Republican, is black.

Then, when Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno’s wife Luce’ Vela Fortuño took the stage minutes later, MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews opted to talk over the First Lady’s speech.

And Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval? Noticeably missing from MSNBC, too.

Mia Love, a black candidate for Congress in Utah, was also ignored by MSNBC.

In conventions past, liberal commentators on CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC commented about how the delegates at the Republican National Convention “didn’t look like America.” Based on shots of the convention floor, these delegates definitely look like America.

MSNBC isn’t about journalism. It isn’t about giving Americans accurate information. It’s all about sabotaging Republicans to keep President Obama in office.

Little Chrissie Matthews is a disgusting person. He’s arrogant, ignorant and insufferable. If MSNBC didn’t exist, they’d have to create it so he’d have a job.

Jeff Poor’s article has more about MSNBC’s disgusting behavior:

In lieu of airing speeches from former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah; and Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, MSNBC opted to show commentary anchored by Rachel Maddow from Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt.

MSNBC’s commentary is either proof that they’re willing liars or that they’re exceptionally lazy journalists. Their commentary has nothing to do with reality.

Tags: Racism, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, Bigotry, Liberalism

If there’s a theme from tonight’s convention, it’s that the GOP is filled with rising stars that aren’t anything like Reagan’s Revolution or Newt’s Rebellion.

Tonight’s speeches were magnificent. The first speech I listened to was Sher Valenzuela, the GOP candidate for Lt. Governor of Delaware. She said that her and her husband started their own business because their son was an autistic child. Here’s her powerful speech:

There were 3 powerful parts of her speech.

The first powerful part of her speech talked about why they started their small business and their unwillingness to accept the doctors’ predictions. The second powerful part of her speech talked about how they grew their business, eventually growing the company to take business away from other countries’ businesses, including China. The third powerful spot was when Mrs. Valenzuela talked about how their son had just finished his first year of college.

Later in the hour, Artur Davis delivered a powerful speech:

I suspect that he stunned people at the convention that there’s 6,000,000 people that voted for President Obama in 2008 that won’t vote for him again. He asked for the people in the hall to bear with him while he spoke to disaffected Democrats and independents. Here’s part of what he said:

DAVIS: When they say they have a duty to grow government even when we can’t afford it, does it sound like compassion to you or does it sound like recklessness? When you hear the party that glorified Occupy Wall Street blast success, when you hear them minimize the genius of the men and women that make jobs out of nothing, is that what you teach your children about work?

The CBC criticized Davis prior to his speech, possibly to dampen the impact his speech would have on those voters who’ve experienced buyers remorse.

If that was their motivation, it didn’t work. Davis gave a rousing speech that his President Obama right in his vulnerabilities.

John Kasich isn’t a rising star but his speech was important because of his accomplishments as the man with the plan that balanced the budget while creating tons of new jobs as House Budget Committee Chairman. His impact was to tell voters in confident tones that there’s a serious alternative to President Obama’s policies.

Gov. Scott Walker was a hit, partially because his reforms are working but mostly because he defeated the public employee unions and because he did what he said he’d do.

The first night of speeches got this convention off to a flying start. The GOP started on the right foot. Chris Christie’s speech was about setting the stage for a campaign on big things.

That’s Romney-Ryan turf, something that President Obama knows. That’s why they’ve attempted to make this campaign about anything but important things.

Tags: Republican National Convention, Sher Valenzuela, Entrepreneurship, Mia Love, Scott Walker, Reforms, John Kasich, Surpluses, Wisconsin Ohio, GOP, Election 2012

Yesterday’s ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court is a major step in the right direction to restoring election integrity in Minnesota. Unfortunately, it’s the first step. Unfortunately, it isn’t the silver bullet solution.

Glenn Reynolds’ op-ed highlights what’s needed for a truly world class election system:

An ideal voting system would:

• Make it easy for voters to register.
• Positively ensure that voters were who they said they were.
• Make certain that no one could vote more than once.
• And guarantee that votes properly cast would be properly recorded, while making the recording of fraudulent votes impossible.

Unfortunately, no such system exists, and the ones we have are far from the best available.Reynolds then highlighted another problem that needs addressing:

In Minnesota’s 2008 disputed US Senate election, won by Al Franken, who proceeded to cast the deciding vote in favor of ObamaCare, the margin of victory was 312, but it turned out that 1,099 votes were cast by felons who were ineligible to vote. Many of them have gone to jail, but Franken has remained in the Senate.

Secretary Ritchie’s office failed Minnesotans because they didn’t enforce key provisions in HAVA. Specifically, Ritchie’s office didn’t meet HAVA’s requirements:

The Help America Vote Act also lists strict standards for each state in maintaining its Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS). HAVA mandates that each elections official at the State and local level MUST perform list maintenance on their SVRS with respect to the computerized list on a regular basis as HAVA mandates when a state does SVRS list maintenance that if an individual is to be removed from the SVRS from their respective state, that this maintenance must be done in the compliance of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.) which lists what is legal and illegal for reasons for a state to legally purge their voting rolls what is illegal to remove voters from the SVRS. 

When a state removes a ineligible voter from the official list of eligible voters states  mandated as follows that: Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 that each respective state’s election authority must coordinate with their Department of Corrections the computerized list with State agency records on felony status of convicted felons if they are eligible to vote under each state’s voting laws of allowing convicted felons to vote under probation/parole or released from prison If a registered voter dies that the registered voter under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 each state’s election authority MUST coordinate with the respective agency handling birth and death statistics (i.e. Department of Health and Human Services) in removing these voters as soon as possible from the voting rolls when the death is reported. Also, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) puts in strict requirements and oversight to make sure that each state is following their own laws on enforcement of maintenance of their respective Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS).

In other words, HAVA requires timely updating of the SVRS to prevent ineligible felons and dead people from voting. The fact that Ritchie didn’t enforce this key provision in HAVA indicates his disinterest in enforcing election laws. It doesn’t appear as though county workers are that interested in preventing voter fraud either:

The county workers’ attitude is pretty arrogant:

INVESTIGATOR: In theory, I could just, you know, say I have some illness or disability and just be at home and there’s no way that the state would know otherwise. WORKER: You are signing a statement, a form, that the information you’re providing is true and correct. INVESTIGATOR: So that’s it? It’s just kind of the honor system? WORKER: Yes, I guess, it’s, I mean, it’s been that way for many, many years, that, you know, Minnesota’s been an after-the-fact type of state. And, now, we do catch people, that do things, and they’re investigated and charged. But it is, you know, after-the-fact. My election judges have a difficult time with that. It’s like “Change the law. Change the law.”

These county workers admitted that voting fraud happens but that the fraudulent votes get counted.

There’s a national movement to restore election integrity, a tide that the Democratic Party is fighting against. It’s time that that tide swept these Corruptocrats Democrats out of office. Photo ID will clean up most of this voter fraud.

Still, a white hot spotlight should be shined on Corruptocrats Democrats like Ritchie. If he won’t enforce Minnesota’s election laws, then he must be thrown out of office, whether that’s through impeachment or whether it’s through defeating him in November, 2014.

Tags: Voter Fraud, Photo ID, HAVA, SVRS, Felons, Al Franken, Dead Vote, Corruption, Investigation, DFL, Impeachment, Elections

Democrats talk like they’re the most compassionate people in the history of mankind. This article is proof that they aren’t the compassionate people they portray themselves as:

On Sunday, Ellen Barkin expressed her hope that Tropical Storm Isaac would smash up the Republican National Convention in Tampa and drown all its delegates.

She retweeted the message of one of her followers that read: “C’mon #Isaac! Wash every pro-life, anti-education, anti-woman, xenophobic, gay-bashing, racist SOB right into the ocean! #RNC” Barkin did not express any disagreement in her retweet.

Ms. Barkin is a disgusting hateful woman. What’s most disgusting is the fact that her accusations aren’t close to being accurate. They’re fictional. They’re chanting points that the DNC published 20 years ago.

What is it about Hollywood types thinking of themselves as being worthy of judging others? James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and others have made disgusting, hate-filled, statements over the past 4 years. Had a Republican made their statements, the media would’ve demanded that the GOP cease to exist.

When this collection of bigots, has-beens and haters make the disgusting remarks that they’ve made, the press just shrugs their statements off. It’s time for the press to start criticizing these haters.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re role models or public figures that people look up to. They’re haters. People should reflexively ridicule haters wherever they’re found. PERIOD.

Ms. Barkin, you’re a disgusting human being. Step out of the public eye so we don’t have to tolerate your disgusting accusations.

Tags: Ellen Barkin, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Hollywood, Hatemongers, Liberals