Buh-Bye Benedict Arlen

Long-time Republican-In-Name-Only Senator Arlen Specter (PA) has been reading the tea leaves, Crumb Crunchers. Faced with a stiff Republican primary challenge from Pat Toomey and the possibility of being unceremoniously dumped by Pennsylvania voters, Arlen has decided to join his ideological comrades in the Democrat party. Good riddance.

On Friday, Rasmussen Reports released polling results in the Specter/Toomey race: Election 2010: Pennsylvania Republican Senate Primary: Toomey 51% Specter 30%

Specter is viewed favorably by 42% of Pennsylvania Republicans and unfavorably by 55%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. Those are stunningly poor numbers for a long-term incumbent senator. Specter was first elected to the Senate in 1980.

In another sign that could be troubling for Specter, the current poll finds that 79% of Pennsylvania Republicans have a favorable opinion of the “Tea Party” protests against big government spending and higher taxes held across the nation last week. Thirty percent (30%) know someone personally who took part. Overall, 82% of Pennsylvania Republicans say that the federal government has too much money and too much power. Just four percent (4%) say it has too little.

GOP National Chairman Michael Steele said "He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first." Woot!

This turn of events leads me to wonder... can we get him to take Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins with him?

Republicans Gone Wild: Michigan Congressional Delegation

Say it isn't so....

Michigan has seven Republican members of Congress. Six of them - SIX! - voted in favor of the unconstitutional, retroactive, ridiculous 90% tax on corporate bonuses paid by A.I.G. Only Rep. Thaddeus McCotter had the good sense to see it for what it is.

I wrote yesterday about Congress and the Administration knowing for A YEAR about these bonuses, and how Chris Dodd specifically exempted them from penalties in the SwindleUs bill because they were 'contractual obligations'. Congress has no power or authority to break private contracts.

So what is WRONG with these people? I know some of them personally and I know they are not ignorant. If there is a good excuse for this behavior, I'd love to hear it. Perhaps they're hoping for political cover, counting on the courts to toss this rubbish because it is - and it IS - unconstitutional? That's pretty spineless.

To say I am 'disappointed' in them doesn't begin to describe it. They're breaking my heart. If we can't count on Republicans to vote against this lunacy, we really have no hope of saving America. I'm sure this won't make me very popular with the GOP, but intellectual honesty demands I do more than serve as a cheerleader. My country comes before my party.

I will be contacting Representatives Camp, Ehlers, Hoekstra, Miller, Rogers and Upton to tell them what I just told you. Then I will contact Rep. McCotter's office to thank him for standing alone against the madness. Join me, won't you?

OmniPork Budget In Trouble?

Well, here I am...out of town, on business, blogging from the hotel instead. What can I say; I'm hooked.

The best news of the day has to be the rapidly failing OmniPork Budget Bill. I happened to hear Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-12), a Democrat, on Fox News this morning, expressing her opposition to the bill due to the earmark pork. From her website:

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has asked a prestigious panel of business, labor, community and government leaders to review all requests for funding received by her office for fiscal year 2010. The Citizens Oversight Panel will meet this month in public forums to review applications and hear from applicants before making recommendations to the congresswoman. Long a critic of the federal earmarking process, Speier has not requested any special funding in her ten months in office, instead choosing to study ways to “take the politics out of the appropriations process.”

Thank you, Rep. Speier, for being a voice of reason and defying party pressure to speak out against business as usual in Washington.

Republicans and Democrats are now calling the administration out on this issue. In the Senate, it appears Prince Harry will not get the votes needed for cloture.

This is a very good thing, Crumb Crunchers! Let Congress pass a continuing resolution, take a deep breath, and excise the pork and fat from the budget before passing it. In the meantime, keep planning those Taxpayer Tea Parties. Even if we win this battle, the war against taxpayer abuse will be long and hard-fought.

I'll be back tomorrow. See ya then.

Mount Rushmore
3 Republicans, 0 Democrats

Happy President's Day!

Saul Anuzis: Rebuilding the GOP

I posted an endorsement of Saul a few weeks ago. Here, in his own words, are some of the reasons why. Pay particular attention to his plans for using technology to our full advantage - because the Dems ran circles around us in the last two cycles from a tech point of view. Check out Saul's website and the 'Blueprint for a GOP Comeback' for more of his ideas.

Is the Future of the GOP in Michigan?

Could a Michigan-born Lithuanian guy with a funny-sounding name hold the key to a national Republican renaissance? I think so. Meet Saulius, aka Saul, Anuzis (ah-new-sis), the energetic, youthful, conservative, talk-show-hopping, blogging-and-Twittering chairman of the Michigan GOP and candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Don't let Michigan's recent spate of bluer-than-blue-collar election returns fool you; we invented the Reagan Democrat here. We know a principled conservative when we see one. Trouble is, we haven't seen very many lately. Our national leadership (and I use that term loosely) has defaulted on principle and integrity, governed as Democrat-lite spendthrifts and wilted like week-old lettuce every time someone called them a name. Is it any wonder the American people lost faith in our ability to do much of anything well?

Unfortunately, some really good people got swept away with the chaff in the last two election cycles. Saul has a few ideas on how we might remedy the situation:

The Republican Party must shift toward the center say some pundits. Others urge a tilt to the right. The right answer is that our party must move forward as a party of ideas, innovation, and – yes – conservatism.

The first step is admitting that we were "thumped" in two straight elections not because of ideology but because of hypocrisy. What had been a party dedicated to the power of the American dream and individual freedom lost its way, mired in pork barrel spending and Wall Street bailouts. Barack Obama seized on this opportunity and won many Americans to his side by promising to deliver on our broken promises.

Thus begins an op-ed Saul published at Politico.com. He's right. Our ideas didn't lose - we didn't use them! He proposes a 3-step strategy for building a comeback: One idea at a time, one neighborhood at a time, one e-mail at a time.

What's next? Right now, voters don’t quite know what to expect from the Republican Party. But we do know what they expect from President Obama. Voters expect tax cuts, spending restraint, secure borders and strong national security. They also expect Obama to respect our nation's values and traditions and to restore our economic strength, not strangle it with excessive regulations and government intervention. Republicans must support President Obama when he meets those expectations, and we must oppose him vigorously when he doesn't.

But to be successful, our party must be more than a loyal opposition. Simply opposing the Democrats will guarantee another four years in the wilderness after Obama's re-election in 2012. We can build our new majority one idea at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one email at a time. By sticking to our core values and focusing on delivering results, we can start our comeback and show America that Republicans are once again a party that keeps its promises and solves problems.

He also endorses the plan developed by the GOP activists at rebuildtheparty.com. I join him in that endorsement and add one of my own; I endorse Saul for chairman of the RNC. There are a number of fine candidates, but Saul's experience and ability to use technology to its full potential put him ahead of the pack. We have not been tech-savvy, and that must change. I remind you that aggressive and innovative use of technology helped another guy with a funny-sounding name win the Presidency.

Poem of Reconcilation

For my friends in the Democrat party, here's a little poem of reconciliation and unity...

Election day is over,

The talking is done.

My party lost, your party won.

So let us be friends,

Let arguments pass.

I'll hug my elephant...

You kiss your ass.

It's a JOKE people - lighten up!

Resurrecting the GOP

No one can deny it; the Republicans took a drubbing on election day. Why? Some would have you believe it was a failure to 'move to the center', become more 'moderate', more 'Democrat Lite'. What nonsense. Republicans lost precisely because they DID move to the vast, squishy, nebulous middle; they became philosophically vacant. Dick Armey rightly noted in "Armey's Axioms" that "When we act like them, we lose. When we act like us, we win."

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter demands a return to First Principles, and he calls them the “enduring principles” of the Republican Party:

1. Our liberty is from God not the government.

2. Our sovereignty rests in our souls not the soil.

3. Our security is through strength not surrender.

4. Our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector.

5. Our truths are self-evident not relative.

So simple, yet so powerful. Why have Republicans, especially those in leadership roles, forgotten this?

Ronald Reagan understood this. He spoke of freedom, honor and peace with such eloquence it is as relevant today as it was in 1964. Only the names have been changed - and that may not be true much longer. The bear is rising again, looking with malice at its old turf. When it comes to Vladimir Putin, you can take the man out of the KGB, but you can't take the KGB out of the man.

The Wall Street Journal noted the results of recent polls showing a majority of Americans agreeing with principles of Ronald Reagan:

A Rasmussen survey conducted Oct. 2 found that 59% agreed with the sentiment expressed by Reagan in his first inaugural address: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Just 28% disagreed with this sentiment. That survey also found that 44% of Obama voters agreed with Reagan's assessment (40% did not). And McCain voters overwhelmingly supported the Gipper.

If Republicans hope for more than permanent minority status, they would do well to heed this advice. Let the east coast, blue-blood, country club set whine and moan. They may find themselves less accepted on the A-list party circuit, poor dears, but the health, even the survival, of our country requires occasional sacrifice from each of us.