The book Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin is one of those “inside the campaign” books that is both fascinating and gossipy all at the same time.  But the purpose of this post is not to review the book.  Chapter 6 of that book has the intriguing title “Barack in a Box” which we have here borrowed.  In that chapter is this most insightful paragraph:

The debates fed a narrative that was becoming pervasive in the press: Edwards was running on bold ideas (universal health care, a new war on poverty); Hillary was the mistress of the nitty-gritty; and Obama was a lightweight, all sizzle and no steak. This is what the media did—it put every candidate in a neat little box and slapped a pithy label on it. Obama understood. But for the past three years, as the press fawned over him, the box he was stuffed into bore a succession of tags that were flattering and advantageous. New. Fresh. Inspiring. Post-racial. He’d never had a negative run of press on the national level, and therefore never developed the kind of thick protective hide that repelled the media’s slings and arrows.

[emphasis added]  There is little question,  as we discussed in our review of campaign ‘08, that the box Romney was most stuffed into was labeled “Mormon.”  As Romney has begun, with his book tour, to reemerge publically, some in the press are continuing with that narrative, as we saw in yesterday’s review of the coverage.   Due to Mike Huckabee’s deliberate attempts to box in Evangelicals, being stuffed in the “Mormon” box harmed Romney significantly in ‘08.

Questions:

• Will the press be able to put Romney in that box this time, or will it be so “old news” that to use it is a sign of poor reporting?
• What strategies, if any, can Romney employ to break out of the box?
• Should Romney ignore the box – pretend it is not there?
• Assume neither Huckabee nor Palin are in, will the box be harmful?  Assume one or both are in?
• Should the CJCLDS take steps to reduce the potential harm the box might cause?  What would those steps be?

We are interested in our readers input here.  Comments on this blog are subject to moderation, which means they may not get up for a while as your moderators have limited time to check.  This post should appear on our Facebook fan page within 24 hours (although at this moment the Facebook servers seems to be a bit behind) and there comment is immediate and unmoderated, though limited by size.  Either place, let us know what you think.  Answer these questions and any others that may come up in the course of the discussion.

©2010 Article VI Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Watch on You Tube

SOLID PRINCIPLES PODCAST: Episode 25

Mulvaney vs. The Blue Lap Dog: How did South Carolina’s ‘Blue Dog’ Democrat John Spratt, suddenly turn into Nancy Pelosi’s lap dog? Now this long term serving Congressman, faces the race of his life from the conservative Republican State Senator, Mick Mulvaney this November. As part of the 2010 Contenders Series, Solid Principles spoke to Mulvaney on his pursuit for representing the 5th Congressional District of South Carolina.

DOWNLOAD, add the RSS Feed or get it from iTunes / Stitcher

RT correspondent Kristine Frazao (the Alyona Show) reports on MittRomney’s ‘No Apology’ book tour, recent National Press Club speech, and speculates on a possible Romney 2012 presidential run: When questioned why NPC attendees were ’smitten’ with Romney, his experience, eloquence, and looks were mentioned. Frazao elaborates further: “Everyone that I spoke to said we like his [...]

Greg Sargent reports for The Plum Line: As you may have heard, Mitt Romney went on Fox News this past Sunday and described the universal health care plan he passed in Massachusetts four years ago as “the ultimate conservative plan.” Romney mad...

Republican challenger John Kasich has extended his lead over incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland to 11 points in Ohio’s gubernatorial race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Ohio voters finds Kasich leading Strickland 49% to 38%. Six percent (6%) prefer another candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

Last month, Kasich held a six-point lead – 47% to 41% – over Strickland, mirroring the 47% to 40% lead he had in early January. These results also show little change from the first survey of the contest conducted in December.

‘R’ recently sent us a message via Facebook suggesting this article be added to the Solid Principles Blog.

He added:  ”Mike Cox is the only candidate out of the top three running for governor here in Michigan not to endorse Gov. Romney in 2008.  I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

Livonia — Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox has picked up an endorsement from Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who ran for president in 2008.

In a statement released Wednesday by Cox’s campaign, Huckabee describes the Michigan attorney general as a “pro-life, pro-gun candidate.”
Huckabee says Cox is an innovative, strong leader who opposes “runaway tax and spend policies.”

Huckabee was Arkansas governor from 1996-2007 and unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination two years ago.
Cox is running to succeed Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

Read Complete Article at The Detroit News

Very funny characterization of Nancy Pelosi’s Health Care Bill “shell game.”

~~John Cronin~~

null

Posted by Sarah Lenti

The British newspaper The Telegraph opines today that Obama may be coming to the end of his road as POTUS.

More and more often words like “desperation,” “in-fighting,” “demoralized” and “fractious” are being used to describe an administration that once held out hope to it’s partisans that it would be able to deliver the long hoped for socialist paradise where life would be easy, our every whim would be government’s command and it could all be paid for by taxing “the rich” who would be thrilled to see their hard earned wealth confiscated. After all, it was such a noble cause, who wouldn’t want to contribute more and more so that the masses could do less and less.

But then reality hit this feckless administration between the eyes.  Isn’t it funny how 15,000,000 unemployed Americans, jaw-dropping deficits and the endlessly proferred middle finger salute from the White House to the voters can galvanize public opinion?

With his poll numbers headed south and most of his policies with lopsided, upside down approve/disapprove ratios as well, Obama has demonstrated that he has spent his own political capital almost as fast as he is burning through our money with his ineffective, redistributive policies.

On March 18, we are told that Obama wants to have his “up or down vote” on the shop worn Health Care bill that has been drug through both Houses of Congress for the last year.  Whichever way the vote goes, IMHO Obama is done.  If it passes, it will be the middle finger to the voters and they will return the sentiment in November.  If it fails, it’s ” The Emperor Has No Clothes” and Obama’s opponents in both parties will move in to wrest power from him.  Obama has painted himself into the proverbial corner and it doesn’t look like their is any way for him to get out.  That being said, I don’t for a moment think we can let our guard down until this administration is politely ushered from the Oval Office back to being private citizens.  What a welcome relief that will be!

~~John Cronin~~

A thrashing of the Democrats in the mid-terms would not necessarily be the beginning of the end for Mr Obama: Bill Clinton was re-elected two years after the Republicans swept the House and the Senate in November 1994. But Mr Clinton was an operator in a way Mr Obama patently is not. His lack of experience, his dependence on rhetoric rather than action, his disconnection from the lives of many millions of Americans all handicap him heavily. It is not about whose advice he is taking: it is about him grasping what is wrong with America, and finding the will to put it right. That wasted first year, however, is another boulder hanging from his neck: what is wrong needs time to put right. The country’s multi-trillion dollar debt is barely being addressed; and a country engaged in costly foreign wars has a President who seems obsessed with anything but foreign policy – as a disregarded Britain is beginning to realise.

There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation’s having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.

Read Complete Article at telegraph.co.uk

Immigrant rights groups on Monday demanded that President Obama impose a full moratorium on deportations of illegal immigrants, arguing that his policies have been worse for their cause than those of his Republican predecessor.

Saying they’ve been “betrayed” by and lost patience with Mr. Obama, the advocates suggested that the president could regain their support by leading a fight on Capitol Hill for a bill to legalize illegal immigrants. Mr. Obama took the first step toward legalization during a meeting Monday at the White House with two lawmakers working on a bill.

But a bill could take months to pass. In the meantime, the immigrant rights groups say, Mr. Obama must end deportations altogether.

“We demand an immediate stop to all deportations, because each one of these deportations, each one of these numbers, equals a life destroyed and a family devastated,” Angelica Sala, executive director of the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said at a news conference in Washington.

The government reported 387,790 deportations in fiscal 2009, which spanned the last few months of the George W. Bush administration and more than eight months of the Obama administration. That marked a small increase over fiscal 2008, when deportations totaled 369,221.

The Obama administration insists that its enforcement policies target unscrupulous employers and stop abusive practices that target illegal immigrants.

“This administration is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that focuses first on those dangerous criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, not sweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately,” said Homeland Security Department spokesman Matt Chandler.

Legalization versus enforcement has driven tense debate for years.

Read more at washingtontimes.com

Romney Remains Front-and-Center…

…funny how a book tour does that.  We’ll start with a sampling of the headlines:

• Mitt Romney Makes No Apologies – Greta Van Susteren interview
• Interview: Romney grilled on health, policy and private life – Fox Utah coverage of the Cavuto interview.  Special note, Ann Romney tackles “the Mormon Question” and she is a converted Episcopalian.
• Mitt Romney Says He Will Make 2012 Presidential Decision At Year’s End – FOXNews – and relatedly – Romney Ties Decision on Presidential Bid to Outcome of November Elections
• Mitt Romney Offers Ideas And ‘No Apology’ – NPR audio and transcript
• Romney in the Wilderness, Waiting – Robert Costa at NRO
• Romney: GOP’s 2012 nominee must be Reaganesque – The Washington Times
• Mitt Romney: Rejecter of Populism – The Atlantic

You just have to love this letter-to-the-editor out of Des Moines:

Had Republicans set aside their problem with Mitt Romney’s religion, I have no doubt we would now have a president leading our nation with honesty and integrity, who actually understands fiscal responsibility and who has a track record of fixing institutions that are broken.

And some coverage just won’t help.  Consider this from The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room on comment by Orrin Hatch:

Hatch endorsed Romney, a fellow Mormon, for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, though Romney eventually lost the GOP primary to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Why the “fellow Mormon” crack?  Do we read such things about Episcopalians or Presbyterians or Catholics?  Clearly the press, at least some of the press, is not through playing with this particular toy . . .

and “Flip-Flop/Inauthentic” is still out there . . .

Mitt Romney is still trying to be what he isn’t – Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Mitt Romney, version 2012 – The Boston Globe (hey, there’s a surprise!)

Compared To Other Possibles . . .

. . . Romney looks pretty good though.  Palin is shopping a reality TV show.  That’s new, and inadvisable, ground for a presidential possible, but then we have contended all along, she’s not running.  In London they think she came out ahead in last Tuesday’s late night wars, but conclude with this stunner:

Neither candidate has yet said whether they will stand. Romney told Fox News: “I’m not going to make that decision until I have to . . . and it’ll be after November.”

He was given a boost from the blogging sphere by claims that the Tonight Show manipulated Palin’s performance by adding laughter tracks to cover up audience groans and silence. “I can recount many portions where there was little or no laughter or response,” wrote Michael Stinson, who was at the recording.

“But at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that were not there at the taping.”

And poor Tim Pawlenty, he has gone from losing traction to spinning on ice.

Meanwhile the assault on religion generally continues . . .

. . . although it is getting “grayer.”  There was this story out of Tennessee covered by a couple of different Catholic bloggers on a tract put out by a Baptist church proclaiming Catholics not be “Christian” and calling Eucharist wafers “death cookies.”  Just a couple of comments.  Thankfully this is not political debate – it’s religious, and religions differ.  But this is just ugly.  Talk about places where Catholic doctrine is wrong, argue, but “death cookies” is just over the edge!

Which brings me to this interesting piece from a blog featuring religion conversations between Mormons and more conventional forms of Christianity:

A common characterization of the difference between Mormonism and Evangelicalism is the idea that Evangelicals emphasize orthodoxy (right belief) and Mormons emphasize orthopraxy (right action).  If you ask an Evangelical and a Mormon “what is more important a correct understanding of God or the proper mode for baptism?”  you will most likely get different answers from each.

Catholics, like Mormons, emphasize orthopraxy and it is funny how the conversation seems to get really ugly along that othropraxy/orthodoxy line.  Of course when all you have is the intellectual ascent of orthodoxy, it is very hard to do much but argue.

Which brings me to this interesting piece of health care reform:

Now I do not object to those whose opposition to even indirect funding of abortion is unrelated to matters of faith.  If they feel strongly about abortion as a public policy issue, fine.  I can live with that.  More important, so could James Madison.  (Although I absolutely have nothing but contempt for those who argue that all life is precious while supporting war and capital punishment — and opposing free health care for every child in America out of concern for “life”).

But if the issue is one of personal faith (i.e., the particular religion a Member of Congress adheres to), legislators must not consider it in the making or unmaking of policy.  Frankly, I apply the same logic to Jewish Members and Israel.  Their belief — if some actually hold the belief — that God gave the land to the Jews should be utterly irrelevant to US policymaking.

The views of the various religious orthodoxies on any of the so-called social issues like abortion or marriage should be confined to their respective house of worship and their homes, not the houses of Congress.

Interesting statements.  Policy is based on the will of the people and if the majority of the people have a particular religious view, or multiple religious views arrive at the same policy conclusion forming a majority, then it seems to me that religious view should prevail and become policy.  Also, his argument is somewhat self-defeating.  If you cannot form a policy based on religion, you cannot reasonable reject one based on religion either.

But there is an interesting hypothetical in all this – what is an elected official to do if his personal religious views are at odds with his constituency, or the law?  It seems to me that unlike most politicians, Mitt Romney had to face this very dilemma when it comes to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.  I think he made the right choice – follow the law.

Speaking of Interesting . . .

I found this really interesting about freedom.

And this is interesting as well.  A leading Evangelical blogger is quoting one of the preeminent Calvinistic preachers trying to sum up that preachers views on political action.  Quoth the preacher (John Piper):

My main job is not to unite believers and unbelievers behind worthwhile causes.  Somebody should do this.  But that is not my job.  Some of you ought to be doing that with a deep sense of Christian calling.  My job is to glorify Jesus Christ by calling his people to be distinctively Christian in the way they live their lives.

[Emphasis added.]  So many preachers use politics as a lever to gain converts or at least proclaim their viewpoint, never understanding that such is politically self-defeating.  It is great to see a preacher that understands the inter-relationship between the two.

Lowell adds . . .

The blog post about Mormons, Orthopraxy and orthodoxy caught my eye.  Not surprisingly, I think most Mormons would find it an oversimplification at best, flat-out wrong at worst.  But that is how religious discussions go.  There is just so much nuance and it is so hard to convey.  For the record, we believe that the foundational principles of the Gospel are faith in Jesus Christ and repentance.  Not much orthopraxy there.  We believe that the first “ordinances” (a term unique to Mormons, I think) are baptism by immersion and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.  So practices (ordinances) follow belief and are animated by it.  But I’ll stop there.  This little discussion is an excellent reason why such “inside baseball” aspect of faith are not appropriate for evaluating candidates.  Indeed, I daresay that my theological cousins among Evangelicals who promote the idea that such nuances are in fact important.  Not pointing fingers, just trying to analyze the problem.  By the way, if you ask two Mormons “what is more important a correct understanding of God or the proper mode for baptism?”  you will still probably get different answers from each.

I am still waiting, by the way, for the MSM to report that Chuck Schumer has been endorsed by one of his “fellow Jews.”

©2010 Article VI Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Today: Romney on 'The John Gibson Radio Show' - noon ET
Listen Live online here

Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com

From March 4th

Newsmax: Romney: Obama's Healthcare Plan 'Makes No Sense At All'

Last night Doug Hoffman officially launched his 2010 run, a rematch of the 2009 contest between a TEA Party hero against a liberal Democrat, this time without the spoiler RINO. As you will recall, the RINO betrayed the GOP after taking a million dollars of the party faithful's money, quit the race, and then endorsed the Democrat. Even with two liberals against Doug he came in only 3000 votes short of the win. This year it won't even be close.

Doug Hoffman interviewing at CPAC

I got to have a short interview with Doug at CPAC where he was making the rounds with bloggers. He said his announcment of the run was coming in March, the decision had not been made. I was particularly interested in his plans to get the Independence Party backing, and given how independents are flocking to him, that endorsement is on the way.

Great to hear Hoffman's in, and that he'll have the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party support to get those three lines on the November ballot and clean the Democrat's clock!

Read his announcment on Facebook, follow Doug on Twitter, and be sure to donate to his campaign!

Liberal columnist, Jay Bookman, in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Mitt Romney is still trying to be what he isn’t When the AJC interviewed Mitt Romney before the 2008 Georgia presidential primary, a conservative journalist in the roo...

Adrian Walker writes in The Boston Globe: Relax, America. Mitt Romney’s got your back. No more of Barack Obama’s pathetic groveling for the world’s greatest nation. No more apologies to the Muslim world. No more suggestion that America encou...

Hey Guys -- I thought this might be of interest to you:

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Just had the pleasure of speaking to South Carolina State Senator Mick Mulvaney, running for Congress in the Fifth Congressional District against Rep. John Spratt.

Watch on You Tube

By:  Robert Costa

New York — Mitt Romney, sitting ramrod straight, is gazing up at the gleaming glass boxes on Park Avenue as we zoom through midtown Manhattan. It is lunchtime, and the streets are swarming with business folk — attorneys with lattes, analysts with take-out sushi. For Romney, this is a glimpse of his old world, a world of mergers, acquisitions, and Harvard Business School lingo.

His new world, one of big ideas and presidential aspirations, sits on his lap, in the form of his latest book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.

Romney knows how to use his time in the wilderness. Unlike many of his potential Republican foes for the 2012 presidential nomination, Romney has kept a relatively low profile since ending his 2008 primary campaign.

No television show, no drama for the former Massachusetts governor.

Instead, Romney is laser-focused on electing state and federal Republican candidates in the midterm elections.

That strategy is paying off. In January, Scott Brown, the Bay State’s new GOP senator, credited Romney as being instrumental to his come-from-behind win. Elsewhere, Romney’s political-action committee, Free and Strong America, has donated over $120,000 to Republican candidates over the past year. Last month, he went so far as to defend former president George W. Bush, his party’s battered hero, in a speech at a conservative conference. All of these efforts, and his book, are signals to the GOP faithful that a certain former governor is tanned, rested, and ready.

GETTING TO THE POINT

The release of No Apology has garnered Romney numerous lighthearted television appearances, from The View to The Late Show with David Letterman. The buzz is nice, he says, “and a lot of fun,” but not his purpose. The will-he, won’t-he presidential chatter misses the point as well.

Americans, he explains, do not want to hear horse-race chatter, but desire, strongly, a real and substantive policy debate, be it about geopolitics or domestic policy. No Apology — a 324-page Romney vade mecum chock-full of policy talk, data, charts, anecdotes, quotes, and arguments — is, in his eyes, a step in that direction. It covers a few key policy areas: 100 pages on America’s role in the world, plus chapters on health care, fiscal policy, education, and “the culture of citizenship.”

“I have wanted to write something like this for about 20 years,” Romney says.” He jokes that he “became unemployed unexpectedly” and, “with a little time on my hands,” told himself that “this is the time to do it.”

Developing his book’s theme was easy. “When I was in the private sector, doing business around the world, I became concerned that Americans were not seeing what was happening around the world,” Romney says. “We think of ourselves as being light years ahead of other nations, and that was the case when I was going around the world in the 1960s. But today that is no longer the case. There are other parts of the world that are eclipsing us in terms of productivity, infrastructure, investment in higher education, and technology. Unless we change course, I’m very concerned that America is going to be eclipsed by some of those other nations. So I wanted to tell this story.”Read more at NRO

By Colleen O’Connor

Who can forget the images?

Just over a year ago.

Hillary Clinton, defeated in her quest to become the first woman elected President of the U.S.— returning to the U.S. Senate for an agonizing and awkward reunion with her colleagues — and suffering the embrace of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who endorsed the young, inexperienced, junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.

Two years earlier, Nancy Pelosi — triumphant in her quest to become the first woman Speaker of the House — smiled broadly, as she lifted the ceremonial gavel into the air, and surrounded herself with a podium full of Members’ children and grandchildren.

The Democratic House roared its approval for a woman who promised to “drain the swamp” of corruption and return “transparency” to the legislative process.

In fact, she promised to deliver the “most ethical Congress” in history.

Pelosi and Clinton: the iconic, and contrasting images of powerful women in victory and defeat.

That didn’t last long.

Read more at SDNN.com

Related Listening: Colleen O’Connor interview Solid Principles Podcast 19

  During the 1984 Presidential campaign, the two Vice-presidential candidates George H. W. Bush and Geraldine Ferraro met October 11 in Philadelphia for a debate.  At one point Bush pointed out that he had a whole lot more experience in ...

Posted by Sarah Lenti

Below is brief excerpt from Politico’s ” The Huddle”, commenting on Obama’s health care bill quandry. Since he can’t close the sale on this over priced clunker, he has resorted to the saleman’s “desperation close”…..”trust me.”

~~John Cronin~~

POTUS KNOWS THE PLAYERS WITHOUT A SCORECARD

The president’s making the full sales pitch to Democratic members of Congress and “instructing aides to address every question or concern Democratic lawmakers possibly can raise,” according to AP’s Chuck Babington.

“Some answers, however, rely more on faith than fact. Confronting party unrest on his left and right, Obama is calling for political courage, citing historic opportunities and essentially saying ‘trust me’ in areas inherently murky, uncertain and out of his control. The process for getting health care legislation through Congress is tough enough already, and Republicans are determined to derail it.”

GOP SEES CAMPAIGN EDGE

POLITICO’s Morning Score snags a memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee’s deputy executive director Johnny DeStefano that instructs GOP hopefuls to tie their opponents to unpopular provisions in the bill.

“Candidates should be aware that although the Senate health care bill – the bill currently being pushed by Democrat leaders – is not the same as last fall’s $1.2 trillion health care takeover passed by the House, it is no less egregious. In addition to the broad political toxicity of the Democrats’ health care agenda, a vote for this bill opens an entirely new line of attack on House Democrats. By supporting this bill, your opponent would go on record in support of the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, and every other backroom deal cut to sneak the legislation through the Senate.”

Read More at Politico

by Dan Nowicki
The Arizona Republic

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s recent endorsement of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s re-election was widely viewed as another sign of how far the relationship between the two fierce rivals from the 2008 Republican presidential primaries has evolved.

More cynical observers noted that Romney, a leading GOP 2012 White House prospect, likely wants to remain on the good side of McCain, his party’s 2008 nominee.

But to some in the camp of Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth, Romney’s embrace of McCain came as a personal blow.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, perhaps Hayworth’s highest-profile ally in the state, previously was Romney’s honorary Arizona campaign chairman, going so far as to stump for Romney and against McCain in the key early presidential-race states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Arpaio said Romney’s decision to back McCain won’t diminish his respect for him.

“If he runs again, I’m sure he would like to have McCain support him,” Arpaio said. “Is that how politics operates? One day you’re on one side, and the next day you’re on the other side?”

Jason Rose, Hayworth’s campaign spokesman and political consultant, was Romney’s state director during the 2008 race.

“Governor Romney is a good man who would make a great president,” Rose said in an e-mail when asked about Romney’s choice of McCain over Hayworth.

Meanwhile, a Facebook group called “Mitt Romney Supporters for J.D. Hayworth” as of late Friday had 137 members, including Hayworth himself.

In other developments:

• Local “tea party” activists apparently aren’t totally sold on Hayworth as a conservative alternative to the more moderate McCain. Organizers of four tea-party groups in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Mohave County issued a joint statement Monday saying they are declining to endorse in the GOP Senate primary.

“The Tea Party is a non-partisan, grass-roots movement that stands for limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility,” Tucson Tea Party co-founder Robert Mayer said in a written statement. “Both McCain and Hayworth’s records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired on these issues.”

But Hayworth still can point to local tea-party support - many in attendance at his Feb. 15 campaign kickoff identified themselves with the movement - and he recently did secure the endorsement of the national group TaxDay TeaParty.com.

• Rep. Charles Rangel’s ethics troubles have prompted three House Democrats from Arizona to jettison campaign cash linked to the embattled New York Democrat.

Rep. Harry Mitchell returned $28,000 and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords donated $21,000 to veterans groups, aides confirmed. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick relinquished $14,000, the Associated Press reported.

Rangel, under fire for multiple ethics issues, on Wednesday said he was stepping aside as chairman of the prestigious House Ways and Means Committee.

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Part II



h/t: Thanks to MRC Rebel Ross

The California Republican Assembly Convention has just completed, with it comes the endorsements for the 2010 Mid-Terms & Gubernatorial Race.

US Senate
Chuck DeVore

Governor
Steve Poizner

Board of Equalization, District 2
George Runner

Board of Equalization, District 3
Michelle Steel

Lieutenant Governor
Sam Aanestad

Secretary of State
Damon Dunn

Controller
Tony Strickland

Treasurer
Mimi Walters

Attorney General
John Eastman

Insurance Commissioner
No Endorsement

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Diane Lenning

It took 2/3 to endorse.  Governor and BOE District 2 took two rounds while Superintendent of .  Here’s how the votes went down:

US Senate
Chuck DeVore 194 – 68.6%
Carly Fiorina 89 – 31.4%

Governor (Round 1)
Steve Poizner 176 – 63.8%
Meg Whitman 66 – 23.9%
Larry Naritelli 34 – 12.3%

Governor (Round 2)
Steve Poizner 178 – 79.1%
Meg Whitman 47 – 20.9%

Board of Equalization, District 2 (Round 1)
George Runner 176 – 63.8%
Barbara Alby 94 – 34.1%
Alan Nakanishi 6 – 2.2%

Board of Equalization, District 2 (Round 2)
George Runner 152 – 67.6%
Barbara Alby 73 – 32.4%

Lieutenant Governor
Sam Aanestad 247 – 96.5%
Abel Maldonado 9 – 3.5%

Secretary of State
Damon Dunn 193 – 81.1%
Orly Taitz 45 – 18.9%

Controller; Treasurer; Board of Equalization, District 3
Unanimous for Tony Strickland, Mimi Walters, and Michelle Steel, respectively

Attorney General
John Eastman 197 – 80.4%
Tom Harman 40 – 16.3%
Steve Cooley 8 – 3.3%

Insurance Commissioner
No one sought the endorsement

Superintendent of Public Instruction (Round 1)
Diane Lenning 116 – 46.7%
Alexia Deligianni 76 – 30.8%
Lydia Gutierrez 55 – 22.3%

Superintendent of Public Instruction (Round 2)
Diane Lenning 121 – 65.1%
Alexia Deligianni 65 – 34.9%

Superintendent of Public Instruction (Round 3)
Diane Lenning 130 – 71.4%
Alexia Deligianni 52 – 28.6%

Read More at redcounty.com

Further Listening: Chuck DeVore Interview – Solid Principles Podcast 10

Further Listening: Diane Lenning Interview – Solid Principles Podcast 7

[Editor's note:  This column was written June 2009.  It is as up to date in it's analysis as if it was written this weekend]

By:  Colleen O’Connor

Few believe that any Republican can win the governorship of one of the country’s most dependably Democratic states—California.

I beg to differ. It could happen.

Everything seems to be in the Democrats favor;
• Lopsided party registration; ( 44.6 percent = Democrats; 31.1 percent = Republicans, 20 percent = Declines to State; and 4.4 percent = Other , i.e., American Independent and Green Parties);
• Seasoned political talent for contenders (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigoso;
• Dominance in the state legislature; (both controlled by Democratic majorities);
• A popular President Obama; a legendary fundraiser at the helm of the state party apparatus (former Representative and State Senator, John Burton) as well as home to House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

How much more political firepower can one party have?

How can the Democrats possibly lose to a Republican newcomer like Meg Whitman?

And who is she, anyway?

Whitman is the former CEO of the on-line auction site, eBAY. She is herself, New York-born, Princeton and Harvard educated, a billionaire, 52 years of age, and currently the recipient of flattering stories in several business news magazines. She is the protégé of former Republican Presidential candidate and Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, and a campaign adviser to Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain—both of whom have already endorsed her, thereby almost clearing the field of all but one other billionaire primary opponent.

So, she has the Republican heavyweights supporting her bid, enough personal income to fund her own campaign, and some training time on the campaign trail.

Jerry Brown takes her seriously enough to ridicule her campaign as, “I ran a business. I can buy a campaign. I have zero experience in government. I want to take on the most difficult state job in America. Therefore, make me governor.’ That’s her campaign,” he says.

As a Jeffersonian Republican, (”that government governs best that governs least”), Whitman wants to “run California like a business” — hardly new. However, she opposed all of Schwarzenegger’s ballot budget propositions, thus siding with the popular outcome.

Still, how does she win the governorship?

Easy. Gov. Schwarzenegger can win it for her.

As Schwarzenegger continues to propose hugely unpopular, even if necessary, cuts to the state budget, the seething anger among all classes of the electorate will be primed for another recall election. High-pitched squabbling over a seemingly intractable budget has most of California’s voters on edge. Add more job losses, plant closings, and falling state revenues, and the stew thickens. The Republicans sense this.

In fact, five recall petitions against the Governor have already been registered with the California Secretary of State’s office. Money and misery love petition signings.

Together they may produce an encore performance of our last recall election—the one that ousted the unpopular Democratic Governor, Gray Davis, and elected the Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger,—with less than 50 percent of the vote.

In a recall scenario, the electorate only needs a majority of “YES” votes to oust the current Governor, and a simple plurality of votes for a candidate to get elected!

Put simply, if all the current candidates stay in the race on the Democratic side (a serious possibility) and the only woman and Republican candidate is Meg Whitman (also a very real possibility), she only needs approximately 38 percent of likely voters to win!

Ironically, the key to a Republican victory for Meg Whitman, is an instant replay of Schwarzenegger’s original win.

Republicans are shrewd enough chess players to attempt this checkmate move again. As long as the Democrats are preoccupied fighting The Terminator and his budget cuts, while battling on behalf of their constituents who about to lose their state funding, the Republicans are free to gather petition signatures, and try another stealth win in an otherwise difficult state.

Add to this dynamic, the rising tide of “independent” voters, Ms. Whitman’s appeal to women (many of whom are still irritated at the rather shabby treatment of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, and want some history making news of their own) and you can easily put together a perfect storm that leads to Meg Whitman occupying the Governor’s mansion.

Read Complete Article at SDNN.com

Related Listening: Colleen O’Connor interview Solid Principles Podcast 19

Solid Principles may be focused on Politics but at times our blog gives way to our self indulgence, be it football or music.  Ask me about music I will talk your ear off, and out of the hundreds of bands I listen to, I have always enjoyed Mark Linkous, A.k.a: Sparklehorse.   It was sad to hear, but Mark is no longer with us as of this weekend.

Please enjoy this song and his music.

Craig Edwards

As the Daily Show and Colbert Report leave Hulu, they reveal the video streaming site’s greatest weakness.

By Chris Gaylord

Next week, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, two of the most watched shows on Hulu, will be pulled from the website’s video library.

Fans have until Tuesday, March 9, to watch these and other Comedy Central shows before they disappear from Hulu. Reruns will still exist online, but only through the cable network’s official sites, TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com.

This departure will probably cause only a small dip in traffic. Hulu’s audience has grown steadily for some time now, with 1 billion video views a month – second only to YouTube.

But the Comedy Central announcement highlights an enduring problem for Hulu: loyalty.

Read Complete Article at csmonitor.com

By: Joy Juedes

REDLANDS - Dee Barrow waved to drivers from a lawnchair on San Mateo Street. Some honked or called in support.

“We can’t be in D.C. but we wanted to do something,” said Barrow, who lives in Upland. She wore an American flag baseball cap, earrings and necklace, and attached a flag to her chair.

She and several others stood at San Mateo and Brookside Avenue with flags and signs Friday afternoon. They asked passers-by to sign a petition asking Rep. Jerry Lewis to support HR 1026, legislation that would crack down on illegal immigration.

“We want them to know we’re not just sitting here waiting for them to pass a bill,” Barrow said.

The group brought the petition to Lewis’s Brookside Avenue office later Friday. About 100 signatures were collected, organizer Raymond Herrera said Saturday. He said Lewis’s staff said they would give him the petition, and he planned to call Lewis at his Washington office Saturday.

“What we’re asking is for Congressman Jerry Lewis to stand with his constituents,” said Herrera, founder of We the People, California’s Crusader, a Claremont-based grassroots group that organized the demonstration.

“The congressman always welcomes hearing from his constituents on any issue,” Jim Specht, Lewis’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in an e-mail from Washington, D.C.

“Congressman Lewis is opposed to considering legislation that would grant amnesty or other legalization of illegal immigrants at this time because Congress has not addressed the need to secure the border and to develop systems that will stop illegal immigration in the future,” he wrote.

“However, he has never been a supporter of Congress passing legislation that tells Congress what it can’t do.”

The resolution currently has 57 supporters and needs more than 200 by June to be voted on, Herrera said. It would require businesses to enforce immigration law, make E-Verify mandatory, strengthen border security and offer no amnesty to illegal immigrants.

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows an employer to see if an employee is eligible to work in the United States.

Herrera said the group is giving Lewis 30 days to support the resolution.

“If he doesn’t sign we’ll pass out fliers to his constituents in supermarkets and parks,” he said.

If Lewis does not support it, he will not receive votes in November, Herrera said.

“The American people want deportation, so there is no compromise on this,” he said.

The group will also “demand” President Obama enforce the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, he said. The law requires “legalization of undocumented aliens who had been continuously unlawfully present since 1982, legalization of certain agricultural workers, sanctions for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers, and increased enforcement at U.S. borders,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Demonstration organizer Robin Hvidston said the group was receiving positive responses from passers-by. Many who stopped signed the petition.

“We are thinking as many as 70 percent of his constituents want him to sign this bill,” Hvidston said.

Volunteers came and went, most holding signs that said “Hire Americans,” “Stop Illegal Immigration” and “Support American Workers.”

“We love our country and don’t want to see it go down,” said volunteer Don Schenck of Corona.

Herrera led an immigration reform demonstration at Lewis’s office in June. He said We the People held demonstrations Friday in Arizona, New Jersey and Illinois, and all members of Congress will be asked to support the legislation.

HR 1026 was introduced Jan. 21 by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.

Specht said Lewis is co-sponsoring HR 19, which would expand the E-Verify program and make it mandatory. He supported Rep. Ken Calvert’s effort last year to attach that legislation to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. The bill did not pass.

Specht said Lewis worked with former Rep. Duncan Hunter to pass the Secure Fence Act in 2006 by accepting it as an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. Lewis has supported $1.2 billion in spending in appropriations bills to build at least 700 miles of the fence, Specht wrote.

Read Complete Article at redlandsdailyfacts.com

This video comes from ConservativeNewMedia, I’m opening this video up for comments for you all, the phone lines are now open.

Craig Edwards

If you are a new reader of Solid Principles, we would like to recommend our most recent Podcasts for your listening pleasure.  Complete back editions are available on our home page and at iTunes.

Episode 24: Melting Waxman: Ari David is indeed a rare breed. A Hollywood conservative taking upon himself the difficult task of challenging Henry Waxman this November. As members of ‘Generation X’ are now entering the political arena, Ari David is proving the children of the ‘Baby Boomers’ are now yawning defiantly at the tired Liberal dogma coming from Washington D.C. Could this unthinkable mix of decades old cynicism, and a steady diet of pop culture possibly change Washington and in turn America?

Episode 23: The Jackie Mason Interview, There is not much more you can say about Jackie Mason, that hasn’t already been said before. What continues to shine through, is Jackie’s sheer bravery. While others are gaged by political correctness, Mason continually speaks with courage what is accurately on everyone’s heart and mind. Solid Principles was privileged to have a short audience, with the man himself.

Episode 22: Tea Party for Sale, What originally served as an outlet for Government anger, has now given way to commercialism, and opportunism. An expensive Tea Party Convention with a six figure speaker fee for Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party now viewing Tea Party supporters as potential recruits. So how exactly did the Tea Party reach this point? Solid Principles spoke to Dale Robertson, the founder of teaparty.org to find out why.

Episode 21: IF YOU ARE GOING TO ‘TAKE BACK’ SAN FRANCISCO, BE SURE TO VOTE OUT PELOSI: One of the more overlooked congressional races in the 2010 Mid-Terms is the 8th Congressional District of California, the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On this edition, Solid Principles speaks with Republican entrepreneur John Dennis the man challenging Speaker Pelosi.

Episode 20: Government Motors Redux: During it’s first year in office, the Obama Administration repeatedly used the subject of TARP to stir up public anger towards the financial sector. Other recipients also receiving TARP funds included General Motors & Chrysler, both of which escaped the long running campaign of TARP resentment. On this edition, Solid Principles revisits the saga of Government Motors. We track the status of these ‘bailed out automakers’ with Karl Brauer, Editor In Chief at Edmunds.com.

Recent polling has made it clear that despite the refusal by some on the Right to acknowledge the GOP Law of Primogeniture, former Gov. Mitt Romney is well on his way to becoming the next Republican presidential nominee.  Romney, by esse...

JONAH GOLDBERG
Who gets to claim responsibility for success in Iraq? Joe Biden?

‘Victory has a hundred fathers,” John F. Kennedy said, “and defeat is an orphan.”

By that standard, George W. Bush has won the Iraq war.

Last month, Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed on CNN’s Larry King Live that the peaceful transition to democracy and the (partial) withdrawal of U.S. forces “could be one of the great achievements of this administration.”

Initially, I ignored Biden’s comment because, well, he’s Joe Biden. As critical as I may be of the Obama administration, holding it accountable for Biden’s mouth seems grotesquely unfair.

But then White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended the vice president, suggesting that it was Obama who put Iraq “back together” and worked out bringing American troops home.

Read Complete Article at NRO

In the two videos below, Gov. Mitt Romney is grilled like I can’t recall him being grilled before on national television. In what could’ve been a disastrous moment that hurt Mitt’s chances to Bring America Back in 2012, Mitt actually comes out looking stronger and more equipped to take on the challenges our country [...]

I wanted to repost this article from the British paper The Telegraph.Co.Uk because I thought it was an interesting take on our political situation from a European point of view. I am most assuredly not endorsing the opinion that our next American President be white, short, bald or any other physical characteristic.

Competent? Oh, yes. Conservative? Please.

~~John Cronin~~

As the glamour of Barack Obama fades, Americans are likely to turn to entirely different presidential candidates next time, argues Toby Harnden in Washington.

Toby Harnden’s American Way

You could call it the revenge of the ugly white guys. After electing a handsome sleek, biracial – and untested – man as President last time, Americans may well be ready for something entirely different in 2012.
Remember that you heard it here first: make way for the short, pudgy, balding white fellow who’s been there and got the scars – and the results – to prove it.
In many respects, Barack Obama was the ultimate candidate for the television age. He looked fantastic and sounded wonderful. He soared above politics and made people feel better about themselves.

Ability to get things done? Track record? Such petty considerations seemed beside the point in 2008 for Obama was the very culmination of history. It was almost as if the then Senator for Illinois symbolised the end of politics, the point at which the perfect candidate drew a line under grubby partisanship.

Now, Americans have woken up from that dream and are living with the hangover. Neither history nor politics ended when Obama’s ascended to the Oval Office. The recession is biting, unemployment is still hovering just below 10 per cent, the deficit is soaring and there is still gridlock in Washington.

Having elected two Senators as President and Vice-President for the first time since 1960, Americans are likely to look once again towards the more traditional stable for commanders-in-chief – the governor’s mansions.

As the Republican challengers to Obama begin to prepare the ground for their 2012 runs, two hitherto unlikely potential candidates are gaining support among party insiders.

Before Obama, neither would have had a prayer. Mitch Daniels, described by the “Washington Post” as Indiana’s “diminutive governor” sports what looks suspiciously like a combover.

He’s the kind of geek who seemed straight from central casting as head of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush when I interviewed him in 2001.

In what Americans for some unfathomable reason refer to as “the Hoosier state”, Daniels has been a quiet star, securing bipartisan support for a Healthy Indiana programme Indiana that provides health insurance for blue collar workers, cutting property taxes and turning an $800 billion deficit into a surplus.Daniels remarked to Ross Douthat of the New York Times that “I’ve never seen a president of the United States when I look in the mirror” (which instantly sets himself apart from all 100 Senators). Douthat duly noted that Daniels would be the baldest President since Dwight Eisenhower, who left office in 1961.

Haley Barbour has more hair than Daniels but isn’t much taller and if elected would be the most portly president since William Howard Taft, who occupied the White House from 1909 to 1913.

The Mississippi governor has a certain rumpled panache and Southern charm. I first bumped into him in a casino in his home state – where he later came to personify executive competence as he dealt masterfully with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while neighbouring Louisiana lurched towards catastrophe.

Barbour – who has a political brain second to none – has always been dismissed as a possible presidential contender. That’s partly because he has the perfect face for radio but also because he was a big-time lobbyist in Washington whose firm represented the tobacco industry.

But while Obama sanctimoniously instituted grand new rules to ban lobbyists from his administration and then immediately granted himself exceptions, at least with Barbour is up front about things. So could he really have a tilt at the White House? The door is ajar. “If you see me losing 40 pounds that means I’m either running or have cancer,” he quipped a fortnight ago..

All this could be a problem for the likes of Mitt Romney – a.k.a.
“Matinee Mitt” - the buff, chiselled-jawed hunk who has not stopped running for President full-time since he lost out in 2008. And for Sarah Palin, who would be a celebrity candidate seeking to oust a celebrity president if she was pitted against Obama.

It might even make John McCain, who used to describe himself as “older than dirt, more scars than Frankenstein” when he was running against Obama, wonder whether he should resurrect that combover from the 1980s and have another go next time.I’m not going to predict who’ll succeed Obama. But I’ll wager it will be someone whiter, shorter, uglier, fatter and balder who won’t be able to deliver half as good a speech as the current commander-in-chief can.

Read More at telegraph.co.uk

Mitt Romney visited the National Press Club the other day as part of his book tour.  He spoke for 30 minutes without teleprompter and with only an occasional glance at his notes.  The Pièce de résistance of the visit was the ...

Advice: next time, try more courtesy. First-time candidates, particularly those who happen to be infrequent voters and who are running against people with long records of public service, should not call their rivals by their first names. Stop saying “Tom” and “Chuck,” and try “Congressman Campbell” and “Assemblyman DeVore.”

Joe Mathews (Journalist and Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation)

Read Complete Article at foxandhoundsdaily.com

The job market may be hitting bottom, but it seems likely to remain mired there. And despite the insistence that their top three priorities are jobs, jobs, jobs, Congress and the Obama administration aren’t doing enough to create them.

Read More at NY Times

It seems there are a few lazy web designers out there, one of which includes the City of Calabasas in California.  When it came to adding an image of the 2010 Census logo to their website, they decided to use the image we had on our server for the trick.  Here at Solid Principles, we have a few tricks of our own, so we gave them the finger.  If you do decide to hotlink/use images from our site onto yours (without permission), we reserve the right to change/edit the image.

You have been warned lazy webmasters.

Craig Edwards

March 5, 2010

Fellow Conservatives:

This November, California will have an opportunity to call Barbara Boxer home and send a new conservative leader to the United States Senate. That new leader is Carly Fiorina. We are proud to endorse her as a fellow conservative who has real-¬‐world business experience and the guts and moxie to take on Barbara Boxer and win.

Carly is not a Washington insider. She is a proven business leader who understands the economy and advocates a strong national defense. And, she is a tough fiscal and social conservative who:

• Signed Americans for Tax Reform’s “No New Taxes” Taxpayer Protection Pledge;

• Will fight to lower taxes, reduce the deficit, and cut wasteful Washington spending;

• Is Pro-¬life, unlike her liberal opponents, Barbara Boxer and Tom Campbell;

• Opposes Barbara Boxer’s Cap-and-Trade legislation;

• Opposes the radical “government takeover” policies that President Obama and Barbara Boxer support for health care and other sectors of the economy; and

• Supports a tough national security policy that prosecutes terrorists as unlawful enemy combatants before military commissions, not as civilians in our federal courts.

Democrats fear Carly more than any other candidate in the Republican primary. That’s why Barbara Boxer has been using Carly’s name in fundraising letters for nearly two years, while the California Democratic Party employs two full-time staffers to follow Carly around the state, and why numerous union-funded groups have launched independent expenditure efforts attacking her.

Carly Fiorina worked her way through undergraduate and graduate school, majoring in medieval history at Stanford University and earning two graduate business degrees from the University of Maryland and MIT. A self-made woman, Carly started her business career as a secretary and went on to become the first and, to date, the only woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Hewlett-Packard Company. Most recently, Carly served on the Defense Business Board advising the U.S. Secretary of Defense on overall management of the department and as Director of Business Executives for National Security.

As conservative leaders in the United States Senate, we know you can count on the principled leadership of Carly Fiorina. We are confident that she will stand with us and stand up for you against the liberal special interests that have kept Barbara Boxer in Washington for almost 28 years.

This is a golden opportunity for the people of the Golden State to come together to elect Carly to represent them in the United States Senate. Please join us in supporting Carly’s campaign.

Sincerely,

TOM COBURN, M.D.
U.S. Senator (R-OK)

JAMES INHOFE
U.S. Senator (R-OK)

JON KYL
U.S. Senator (R-AZ)

When it comes to arts, the left have the belief they have it all made.  But what happens when ‘The State’ starts to control the art and calls the shots?  Look no further then Soviet Era poster boy ‘La La’ Eduard Khil, this You Tube has to be seen to be believed.

Craig Edwards

Christina Lamb writes for the The London Times from Washington, D.C.:   The charismatic Republican is beating her rival on the charm front. AT first sight it was no contest. On one channel Sarah Palin, the poster-girl of the American right, w...

The "Freedom Foundation of Minnesota" has announced that they are going to have Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney on the same stage together April 9th.  Mitt will be speaking at a dinner and signing copies of his new book: Former Massachusetts Gov...

As the country wrestles with a future of historic-level deficits, 67% of U.S. voters say that illegal immigrants are a significant strain on the U.S. budget.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 23% disagree and do not believe illegal immigration is a strain on the budget.

Two-out-of-three (66%) voters say the availability of government money and services draw illegal immigrants to the United States. Nineteen percent (19%) think otherwise and do not believe government money and services are a magnet for illegal immigration. Another 15% are not sure.

These findings help to explain why 68% say gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States. Twenty-six percent (26%) think legalizing illegal immigrants is more important.

Here’s something else obama is defying the voters on.  A supermajority of Americans believe that illegal immigrants in the U.S are another budget buster.  Anybody who respects the voters would back off any legislation that showed that level of disapproval.

Not this administration.

~~John Cronin~~

From our friends at the FEDERAL WAY CONSERVATIVE.

~~John Cronin~~

By: Frosty E Hardison

I have developed a short list of principles that you MUST support if you are a liberal. If there is just one you do not agree with – then you are not as liberal as you might think. In fact you might want to reconsider that donation to the DNC and ACLU- if you don’t agree with them all.

1. You have to be against capital punishment for repeat offenders, but support the murder of an innocent child through abortion on demand.
2. You have to believe that it’s alright for your kids to have sex in your home or wherever they choose to – without your permission and if they get pregnant at 12, it’s ok for them to seek an abortion without your knowledge or consent.
3. You have to believe that the state knows more about parenting than you do, can do a better job at it and therefore can take your kids away at the whim of your neighbor and put them into foster care where they are 80% more likely to be beaten, sexually abused and murdered.
4. You have to believe that every pagan thing is about freedom of expression and that everything Christian is just another religious zealot believing in outdated myths and legends.
5. You have to believe that funding the Palestinians, Hezbollah and Hamas, so they can buy weapons “to defend themselves”, is the only way to peace in the middle east.
6. You have to be against the building of the third Temple in Jerusalem because it will give credibility to Jewish claims to the land.
7. You have to believe that you are smarter than the natural law of thermodynamics and entropy; that you are the descendant of an ape and that at some point your species came from some scum sucking primordial ooze.
8. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.
9. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat than nuclear weapons technology in the hands of the Chinese, Iranians and North Korean communists.
10. You have to believe that there was no art before federal funding.
11. You have to believe that global temperatures are affected by soccer moms driving SUVs than by scientifically documented cyclical changes in the sun and earth’s climate.
12. You have to believe that gender roles are offensive, discriminatory and artificial, but being homosexual is natural.
13. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.
14. You have to believe that the same teacher who can’t teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
15. You have to believe that sportsmen and hunters don’t care about nature or protecting the pristine environment they enjoy but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.
16. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something right.
17. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make The Passion of the Christ for financial gain only.
18. You have to believe that the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
19. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.
20. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell.
21. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.
22. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.
23. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn’t worked anywhere it’s been tried is because the right people haven’t been in charge.
24. You have to believe that conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House.
25. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
26. You have to believe that illegal funding by the Chinese, and other foreign governments, of the Democratic Party is somehow in the best interest of the United States.
27. You have to believe that it’s okay to give federal workers the day off on Christmas Day, but it’s not okay to say “Merry Christmas.”
28. You have to believe that a mandatory court ordered anger management class, specializing in the parenting of teenagers, can be taught by a teacher that has gone to school for years but has never had a child of their own.
29. You have to believe that the government is your friend, that the Federal Reserve Bank is a part of the Federal Government and that the dollar will always be the world’s most stable reserve currency even though the U.S. is now the largest debtor nation in the world, we owe over 74 trillion dollars to other countries and our currency is no longer based on tangible assets such as gold, silver or copper..
30. You have to believe that there is a finite amount of oil in this world and that we have discovered every single deposit there is and that alone is the reason a barrel of oil is trading at $90.
31. You have to believe that an education can be a substitute for intelligence and common sense.
32. You have to believe that this message is part of a vast right wing CONSPIRACY.

Frosty E. Hardison is a graduate of Colorado Technical University with a degree in Business Administration. An MBA honors student with a 3.83 GPA, Frosty is most recognized for standing up against the Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth” being shown as a stand alone “science film” in his daughter’s science class in January 2007. He specializes in data research and analysis as well as work flow/production efficiency. For questions, see his website.

A huge ‘hat tip’ to Apostle Claver T. Kamau-Imani, the founder of RagingElephants.org for letting us know about their latest Television Commercial. Raging Elephants are seeking donations to get this shown on Television, if you enjoyed the American Rising video, please spread/share the word and help if you can.

Related Listening: Solid Principles Podcast Episode 5, interview with Apostle Claver.

Reuters:

Potential Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama on Friday for his recent attacks on health insurance companies.

Obama has argued this week for congressional passage of a healthcare overhaul by pointing to rate increases by insurance companies that have made insurance unaffordable for many people.

Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met several top health insurance executives on Thursday to complain about what Sebelius called "jaw-dropping" rate increases.

Obama read them a letter from an Ohio woman who said her insurance premiums had gone up 25 percent in 2009 and were about to go up another 40 percent this year, making insurance unaffordable for her.

"Insurance companies freely ration healthcare based on who's sick and who's healthy; who can pay and who can't," Obama said on Wednesday.

Romney, who is contemplating a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, said in remarks at the National Press Club that the problems within the U.S. healthcare system are more complicated than simply zeroing in on the insurance industry.

"Gosh, how disappointing it was to see the president take on the health insurance companies, as if the reason that healthcare is expensive in America is because of the insurance companies," Romney said.

"I'm sure there are some insurance companies that deserve blame and we can find them out and point them out," he said. "But this is an issue that is broader than trying to punish some scapegoat."

It is so dangerous to have a president who seems to want to vilify certain industries. Businesses don't grow (including hiring people) when they are fearful that a marauding federal government will come after them and take what they have worked so hard to build. The kind of talk we are hearing out of Washington these days is a great way to extend the recession. Gov. Romney rightly opposes it.

For background on a similar era in American history, let me recommend Amity Shlaes' The Forgotten Man.

Mitt Romney continues his media blitz pushing his new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness. Here he is on CNBC’s Squawk Box: Other Interviews that Mitt has done this week: Mitt Romney on the Today Show, The View, Hannity and David Letterman Mitt Romney on Morning Joe, Laura Ingraham, and Neil Cavuto Mitt Romney on NPR Where [...]

Update: See photos from Framingham here: Facebook.com/MittRomney




Note: The NPR interview mentioned in video here

Also: Romney on 'The Howie Carr Show'

A still from Carly Fiorina’s ‘sensationally lame Demon-Sheep’ You Tube video attacking Tom Campbell

The California Republican Senate nominees running against Barbara Boxer in November heated up today with a debate on “The Capitol Hour” on KTKZ-AM 1380 in  Sacramento, CA.   Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) and former congressman Tom Campbell showed up, Carly Fiorina only participated via phone.

Audio from the event can be streamed here or you can download part 1, 2, 3 or 4

Calif. Senate debate focuses on support for Israel

By KEVIN FREKING and ROBIN HINDERY (AP)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former congressman Tom Campbell on Friday used the first debate in the California Senate race to demand that his challengers not engage in a “whispering campaign” claiming he is against Israel or is an anti-Semite.
Campbell and his two opponents in the Republican primary, former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, participated in their first debate, organized by Sacramento radio station KTKZ-AM. Fiorina joined by telephone.
Campbell requested the debate after his opponents began questioning his support for Israel. Their attacks were based on his voting record when he served in the House of Representatives and on campaign money given by a donor who later was revealed to have ties to a U.S.-listed terrorist organization.
The attacks on Campbell took a sharper turn after the Los Angeles Times reported that Fiorina’s campaign manager, Marty Wilson, told former California secretary of state Bruce McPherson that Campbell was an anti-Semite.

Read Complete Article at AP

Further Listening: Chuck DeVore interview Solid Principles Podcast Episode 10

Craig Edwards

Oh dear, looks like Sen. Lindsey Graham is going to give John McCain a run for his money.  If the previous Kennedy/McCain bill taught us anything (in how it helped McCain), Graham will probably end up with the Republican nomination in 2012 thanks to the mainstream media using the New Hampshire Primary as a groundhog.

Obama must be under the impression Health Care will be pushed through the Senate with easy Reconciliation,  and only held back on immigration reform until Obamacare passed.  The question is, will Obama’s three ring circus of Health Care Reform, Cap & Trade, and Immigration Reform, finally be the moment the Democrats decide not to follow Obama to defeat in November and in 2012?

Craig Edwards

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is “looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” Shapiro said Friday.

The meeting will be the first Obama has had with Schumer and Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year.

Read More at breitbart.com

Related Article: Green Jobs Fantasy Sen. Lindsey Graham picks up the standard for job-killing energy taxes.

Magellan Strategies (R) California 2012 GOP Primary

• Mitt Romney 31%
• Sarah Palin 18%
• Mike Huckabee 13%
• Newt Gingrich 12%
• Ron Paul 8%
• Tim Pawlenty 3%
• Another Candidate 3%
• Undecided 12%

Among Men

• Mitt Romney 30%
• Sarah Palin 21%
• Newt Gingrich 14%
• Mike Huckabee 13%
• Ron Paul 9%
• Another Candidate 3%
• Tim Pawlenty 3%
• Undecided 7%

Among Women

• Mitt Romney 32%
• Sarah Palin 16%
• Mike Huckabee 13%
• Newt Gingrich 11%
• Ron Paul 6%
• Another Candidate 4%
• Tim Pawlenty 3%
• Undecided 15%

Among Social Conservatives

• Mitt Romney 30%
• Sarah Palin 20%
• Mike Huckabee 17%
• Newt Gingrich 13%
• Ron Paul 6%
• Another Candidate 3%
• Tim Pawlenty 3%
• Undecided 8%

Among Social Moderates

• Mitt Romney 35%
• Sarah Palin 16%
• Newt Gingrich 12%
• Ron Paul 10%
• Mike Huckabee 6%
• Another Candidate 3%
• Tim Pawlenty 2%
• Undecided 16%

Survey of 612 likely Republican primary voters was conducted February 25, 2010.  The margin of error is +/- 3.97 percentage points.

Congress and other government agencies are under a cyber attack an average of 1.8 billion times a month, a number that has been growing exponentially since President Barack Obama took office.

In 2008, security events caused by vectors including worms, Trojan horses and spybots averaged 8 million hits per month. That number skyrocketed to 1.6 billion in 2009 and climbed to 1.8 billion this year, according to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer.

The Senate Security Operations Center alone receives 13.9 million of those attempts per day.

“We operate in an escalating attack environment in which threats to our information infrastructure are increasing in both frequency and sophistication,” Gainer wrote in testimony submitted to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee last night. “Our raw numbers bear this out, so we must remain on guard.”

The vast majority of the attacks have been stopped by the network’s automated system defenses, but cyber attackers have become smarter.

Read entire article by ERIKA LOVLEY at Politico

Further listening: Solid Principles Report The Slow Road to Cybersecurity

Mugshot of CA State Sen. Roy Ashburn Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

It’s not often you see the NPR loving/Huffington Post types cheering with the Fox News/Drudge Report demographics over a single incident.  When Californian State Sen. Roy Ashburn was arrested for a over the limit D.U.I, driving back from a Gay Nightclub, with an unidentified man in the passenger seat of a State Government car, the left grinned with scandal with a R at the end of it’s name.

When the staunch Republicans of Kern County heard of the incident, they took relish in seeing their local representative fall. Still reeling from Ashburn voting for massive tax increases to end the 2008-2009 California budget crisis.  Even Bakersfield talk radio station KERN cancelled his ‘Roy Ashburn Show’ and removed his show profile from their website’.

When the left and right both hold hands together and sing Kumbayah, then its called ‘The Ashburn Factor’.

Craig Edwards