Election Year Barometer: Watch Sens. Dick Lugar & Orrin Hatch

May 1, 2012 By 1 Comment

For those who have written-off the TEA party as having lost influence or worse yet, dead, will have their first real test coming up in a few weeks. Not long ago, Orrin Hatch, the long-time senator from Utah, was narrowly prevented from walking away with the GOP nomination when the TEA party prevented him from achieving 60 percent of the vote at the state’s nominating convention. He will now face challenger Dan Liljenquist in a primary election this June. Orrin Hatch is a long-time Washington insider with moderate tendencies who once stated that he wished to punch conservative activists in the mouth and that the TEA party was filled with radical libertarians.

Similarly, Dick Lugar, the 36-year incumbent senator from Indiana, has been in the TEA party’s cross-hairs for a long time. After a conference of 70 TEA party groups declared their unanimous opposition to his re-nomination, conservative Richard Mourdock declared his candidacy to take him on. The most recent indicators suggest that Lugar is at serious risk of losing in the May 8 primary. The Washington Post reports that some Lugar supporters may be bailing on him in the homestretch. Remember that Lugar is the guy that takes money from George Soros, refused to sign a letter supporting the lawsuit against Obamacare, voted to confirm both Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and has a horrible record on gun rights.

Taking on and defeating entrenched incumbents is nothing new to the TEA party. If, as some claim, the TEA party’s day has come and gone, well-funded establishment moderates like Sens. Lugar and Hatch should easily dispatch their insurgent opponents. On the other hand, if the coming electoral season will be another TEA party bloodbath (ala Fall 2010), these two primaries may well be the warning bells.

Closing note: why on this green Earth would Eric Cantor’s group be propping up Dick Lugar? It seems like an incredibly stupid move, knowing that he is public enemy number one to the most active core constituency in the Republican Party. It seems that some, especially the current GOP leadership, just won’t get the clue until we kick them all out of Washington.

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Michele Bachmann’s Dishonesty Re: Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan

October 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

First off, I’d like to say that last night’s GOP debate was the most entertaining yet. I think it is important that primary debates be substantive and that the candidates challenge each other on their weaknesses. This is how the candidates, which (hopefully) includes the eventual nominee, improve themselves and their responses in preparation for the general election title match.

I do take exception, however, to outright dishonesty and deception being paraded as fact. This has unfortunately become a feature of Michele Bachmann’s campaign, and was on full display in last night’s debate. The other candidates took exception to Herman Cain’s “9-9-9″ tax plan on the basis that it would impose a new federal sales tax without repealing existing revenue streams. Bachmann took the criticism one step further. It is that last step that lands her into the outright dishonesty category.
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Senators DeMint and Lee Proposal to Tie Debt Ceiling Vote to Balanced Budget Amendment is Full of WIN

January 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah have joined forces to advocate a compelling solution to the next major legislative battle over raising the national debt ceiling. Both lawmakers are demanding that any vote to increase the debt ceiling be conditioned on amending the United States Constitution to require that Congress balance the budget. This is not just a sensible permanent solution to our current fiscal crisis, it is a political winner. Republicans, conservatives, and tea party activists should examine the implications of this proposal and begin the grassroots campaign to ensure the outcome.

One of the most important legislative battles this year will be over how — or whether — to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. It is no secret that our country is careening towards an economic cliff of monstrous proportions. With news of the Congressional Budget Office’s recent projections – that the single-year deficit for FY-2011 will reach nearly $1.5 trillion – one cannot help but feel a mounting sense of urgency. Indeed, The Heritage Foundation’s budget analysis projects permanent yearly deficits of between $1 and $2 trillion dollars as far as the eye can see. [Read more...]

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Framing the Debt Ceiling Debate: Attach a Balanced Budget Amendment

January 6, 2011 By 3 Comments
If a balanced budget amendment is attached to raising the debt ceiling, the bill will either pass and the amendment will go to the states for ratification (where it will surely succeed), or it will fail and the failure will be at the hands of Democrats in Congress. Either way, it is a victory for the GOP, and especially for conservatives.

It is truly amazing to me that most of the talking heads on national television and in national publications are amazed, – amazed! – that there is actually a debate over whether or not to raise the federal government’s debt limit. This is continued proof that these people simply don’t understand what exactly it is that is bubbling up from the American grassroots, sweeping the state legislatures and governorships, and ultimately manifesting itself in Congress.

As Dan McLaughlin rightly points out, this debate is not just about revenue and expenditures. It is ultimately a debate about the role of the federal government in our free nation. As conservatives and tea party activists, we know that this debate is only the first in a series of battles that will define national domestic policy for decades to come. The incoming freshman class in the House of Representatives knows well the importance of this first battle.

The outcome, however, will be dependent on how it is framed in the public’s mind’s eye. If it is perceived as a hostile Alinskian attempt to intentionally bring about economic ruin in an effort to impose an extreme right-wing agenda, we will surely lose. The left is already hard at work framing this issue as being a coup d’etat by a lunatic tea party movement that wants to cut its nose off to spite its face: [Read more...]

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Welcome Home: Florida National Guard Returns Stateside After Yearlong Deployment

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Over the past week, nearly 3,000 men and women of the Florida Army National Guard returned to the United States, concluding a yearlong overseas deployment to Kuwait and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The men and women of Florida’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will demobilize at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and are expected to be released from active duty in time to rejoin their friends and families before Christmas. The 53rd IBCT has a distinguished service history including deployments in support of World War II, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, among others.

This deployment, officially named “Operation Tomahawk” but unofficially known as “OIF ’10″ by service-members, was the largest deployment of the Florida Army National Guard since World War II. Although the active duty portion of the mission officially occurred between January 2, 2010 and December 15, 2010, Florida guardsmen conducted multiple annual training periods and extended drill weekends over the course of 2009 to train for the mission and most won’t be released from active duty until just prior to Christmas 2010. [Read more...]

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