2012: Perry-Bachmann, et al

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December 13-15, 2011

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90%

Newt Gingrich (congress.org) Newt Gingrich(votesmart)

93%

Rick Perry (congress.org) Rick Perry (votesmart)

90%

Mitt Romney (congress.org) Mitt Romney (votesmart)

90%

Michele Bachmann (congress.org) Michele Bachmann (votesmart)

83%

Rick Santorum (congress.org) Rick Santorum (votesmart)

73%

Jon Huntsman Jr. (congress.org) Jon Huntsman, Jr. (votesmart)

For the record: OBAMA 27%

Is This a Joke? Obama Off to Hawaii for Seventeen Day Vacation

 

‘Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington’

Get Rick Perry’s Best-Seller
Rick Perry

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent book is shooting to the top of the best-seller lists, as the new presidential contender skyrockets to the top of GOP 2012 presidential field.

Perry may well become the Republican presidential nominee and the man who defeats Obama to become our next president.

But do you really know Rick Perry — the real Rick Perry?

You need to get Rick Perry’s “Fed Up!” and find out what he really believes:

  • Why he believes Obama’s “progressive” agenda is wrecking America
  • How he would dismantle Obamacare and put healthcare back in the hands of states and citizens
  • Why he believes many federal programs are simply unconstitutional
  • How the Dodd-Frank finance law signed by Obama is strangling the economy
  • The dangers of educational policy being set by Washington and not parents and communities
  • Al Gore’s global warming is not only nutty, it’s a fraud!
  • His take on gun rights, abortion, gay marriage, and so much more!

Get informed about the Texan taking America by storm — the man who angers the liberal media and will soon be the focus of the Obama White House’s attacks!

“It’s a book about Rick Perry’s ideas. And his big idea is that most everything the federal government does is unconstitutional. . . . [Perry's book] is big, bold, and, to borrow a word that was once associated with our current commander-in-chief, audacious.”

—The Washington Post
 

 Rick Perry Gets It on Global Warming

Marc Morano

Manmade global warming? Scientific theory that has not been conclusively proven, and no less is riddled with fraud and greed.

Perry: Fed Must Show Nothing Is ‘Improper’

Meanwhile, Ron Paul bragged about his status as a critic of the Federal Reserve — and poked fun at his home-state governor, Rick Perry, for his heated comments about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

“Now they have this other governor, I can’t remember his name,” Paul joked. “He realizes that talking about the Fed is good, too. But I’ll tell you what, he makes me sound like a moderate. I have never once said Bernanke has committed treason. But I have suggested very strongly that the Federal Reserve system and all the members have been counterfeiters for a long time.”

Well Mr Paul, you seem to contradict yourself. You call them counterfeiters, are you being serious, wouldn’t that be criminal, federal crime, crime against the U.S., possibly treason? Perry is going after the Feds secret and unaccountable actions that are riddled with questions of fiat, collusion, conflicts, and just what level of harm they are inflicting upon our economy, in such a way that quite frankly may be more effective than your simple call to audit them.

AGAINST THE GRAIN

Perry: The GOP Front-Runner

August 15, 2011 | 1:49 p.m.
Brandon Thibodeaux/Getty Images

Gov. Rick Perry talks like George W. Bush but might win like Ronald Reagan. 

Last weekend’s Ames straw poll made for great political theater, but the important action was taking place in South Carolina and New Hampshire, where Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his presidential campaign.

Perry, the straight-talking three-term governor, is bringing to the race a message and biography that couldn’t contrast any more starkly with President Obama’s.

He grew up in rural Paint Creek, Texas, farming cotton in his early years, and attending the state’s land-grant university, Texas A&M. Obama went to Harvard Law School, earned his political chops in Chicago, spending much of his early career in academia. Perry has governed a low-tax, low-regulation state at a time when the president has sought to expand government’s role in the economy. The Texas governor’s blunt advocacy of conservatism and faith-tinged rhetoric couldn’t be any different from Obama’s nuanced rhetoric and cautious governing style.  

And he’s going to be bragging about his record of job creation in Texas, compared to the economic stagnation that’s been prevalent nationwide.

The money line from his kickoff speech: “I’ll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your life as I can.” Those 18 words will define Perry’s candidacy, and is a pitch-perfect appeal to a Republican primary and caucus electorate angry at Obama’s policies and a November electorate disenchanted about the lack of jobs and economic growth. If he becomes the nominee, it would also set up an epic general election with two divergent visions of the appropriate role for government in American life. 

The contest for the GOP nomination, meanwhile, is shaping up to be a compelling affair between Perry and Mitt Romney, the two heavyweights in the GOP field. Romney has run a cautious campaign, focusing more on preparing for a general election than catering to the conservative interests that predominate in Republican primaries. 

Polls show Romney as the front-runner, but one vulnerable to a serious challenge. He achieved front-runner status after other serious contenders decided not to run or flamed out. His campaign has been premised as much on electability as it is around a narrative about his record. It’s a strategy that’s worked very well so far, but with Perry now in the race, he’ll need to present a compelling case for his own candidacy. 

Going after Perry as a career politician — which was the Romney campaign’s opening gambit — doesn’t sound like the most effective line of attack, given that Romney has essentially been running for president since 2007. This campaign has changed markedly in the last two weeks, and Romney will need to quickly show he can connect with conservatives and speak their language.

With the Ames victory, Michele Bachmann has proven her political chops, but it will be difficult for the Minnesota congresswoman to sustain her momentum throughout the nomination process — with the media spotlight on high and a Republican establishment looking to rally for the rival most likely to beat her if she gains traction. She has to prove she can put together a coalition beyond the most ardent tea partiers and cultural conservatives. She’ll face her toughest test holding onto support against a candidate with a more accomplished résumé and his own healthy dose of charisma, to boot. 

Make no mistake: Perry is no flash-in-the-pan candidate, akin to Fred Thompson in 2008 or Wesley Clark in 2004. Just before he entered the race, national polls showed him at the top of the Republican field, narrowly behind Mitt Romney. He wasn’t even on the Ames ballot, yet managed to tally 718 write-in votes, ahead of Romney’s total. Despite being caricatured as a candidate whose appeal is limited to hard-right conservatives and Southerners, he’s spent much of his early focus in New Hampshire, a state where social conservatism is shunned, but which has a proud libertarian tradition in line with Perry’s message.

Perry has his own obvious vulnerabilities. Close your eyes and listen to him speak, and you could mix him up with George W. Bush. Even though they come from very different backgrounds (Bush, an establishment blue-blood, versus Perry, who grew up poor on the Texas plains) and their political teams in Texas are famously distant, voters may not be ready for another straight-talking Texas governor as president.

That said, the political environment has changed markedly in the last several months. With Obama’s job-approval rating now below 40 percent in Gallup’s latest survey, nominating a candidate based on electability is becoming a nonissue for Republicans. If the economy fails to grow — and the current economic forecasts are grim — it’s hard to see Perry’s style being a serious impediment to becoming president. The notion that a three-term governor of the second most-populous state in the country is somehow unelectable simply because of his Texas twang strikes me as fanciful.

If Obama is in trouble, Perry should be able to hold the states Bush carried in 2004. He could be stronger in some of the Southern battlegrounds, like North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. But he’d probably face a higher hurdle winning suddenly-competitive Democratic-leaning, Rust-Belt states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, where his style could wear thin and Romney would be a better match for the electorate.

No two elections are alike, but in style and substance, this year’s Republican primary and general election are shaping up to be replays of the 1980 presidential race: President runs as an outsider looking to clean up Washington, but deals with the harsh reality of an economy out of control; a Republican primary pitting an outspoken conservative governor of a large state, considered unelectable by Democrats and the establishment, against a moderate blue-blood preparing for a candidacy for some time.

Reagan, the famous cowboy, dispatched George H.W. Bush and went on to win 489 electoral votes in 44 states. We’re about to see if another cowboy will repeat the trick.

President Perry?

By on 8.15.11 @ 6:11AM

So, to the surprise of exactly no one, he’s in. A single question remains, concerning Rick Perry, governor of Texas. If he wins the Republican presidential nomination, as well he may, can he be counted on to send Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Tim Geithner to the unemployment lines (pending their recruitment by the lobby or the universities)? Will America accord him that chance?

Er. Maybe. Quite possibly. I don’t know, and I don’t speak abstractly concerning the finite nature of human knowledge.

My governor — I am a Texan — is operating at a level at which none of his fans — I am one — has seen him operate. We are moving about in the dusk here. Some deliberation is in order.

My governor, as a presidential candidate, brings various strengths to the table:

First, a good gubernatorial record for keeping a relatively tight lid on spending while encouraging enterprise and economic growth. Rick Perry loves business and the spirit of enterprise even more than Barack Obama seems to look down his nose at same. He’d probably love for every start-up concern or corporation in the country to move here , taking advantage of Texas’s low-tax, light-regulation climate. From 1999 to 2010, the number of Texas jobs rose 12.6 percent; the country’s overall number fell 0.2 percent. How do we like them apples? A whole lot, I bet.

Were Perry to become president, the Environmental Protection Agency could forget about lashing coal producers and automobile manufacturers to lofty standards for “pollution reduction.” We would see a different kind of Energy Department — a more forward-looking one, focused not just on so-called green energy but likewise on traditional sources, including oil, natural gas, and, yes, coal. To the extent legally and politically feasible, the dismantling of Obamacare would commence under a Perry administration, followed by the substitution of something more logical, efficient, and market-oriented.

As a campaigner, Perry would bring considerable vitality to the race. He’s a good speaker who commands a public platform. Nobody zings our guv and receives a meek smile in response. The fun of a run against Obama, at the presidential debate level, would consist — I predict — in Perry’s delight at calling Obama’s hand whenever necessary: exposing the generally huge gap between rhetoric and performance.

Texas liberals have had great sport with Perry’s mediocre college transcript, leaked recently to the media by some enemy or the other. I have news for Ivy League hecklers everywhere. The governor of Texas is in fact one sharp cookie. Go on and misjudge him if you care to. That’ll be your problem and yours only. Further, go on and misjudge the American electorate’s commitment to government by Harvard graduates who, for all their book-larnin’, can’t seem to identify the forces that drive and undergird great, prosperous economies.

Very well, then. Can’t we go ahead and measure my governor for his inauguration suit? We might want to wait on that, due to factors such as the unknowableness of human destinies. Another factor to which I have alluded is also worth consideration — that of Perry’s newness to the national, as distinguished from the state or regional, political scene.

A lot of calibration in terms of presentation will be necessary as Perry reveals himself to 300 million-plus Americans, some of whom are backward enough — ahem — to suppose Texans unfitted for any place but the back of a horse. Anti-Texas prejudice becomes Texasphobia under certain political and cultural conditions: as when the Eastern media perceive Eastern political and cultural ways to be threatened by us boobs and barbarians. As aNew York Times subscriber of many years’ standing, I can tell you Maureen Dowd, Frank Bruni, and the squinty fanatics of Andrew Rosenthal’s editorial page will come unglued at the idea of Rick Perry approaching unto the seat of Barack Obama. Likewise the Eastern bloggers — the Jacob Weisbergs, the Andrew Sullivans, and so on. Why do the nations so furiously rage together when a Texan comes in view? They just do.

That’s a related point: Quote the Good Book, or speak a word in behalf of its narrative, and the nations rage louder than ever. That’s to say, Rick Perry makes no bones about his Christian faith: as witness the Houston rally at which he bade Americans pray for America. Will a commitment to prayer, and to God, be held against him in fast-secularizing America, where gay marriage has joined wealth-redistribution on the marble tablets where liberals’ ideals are inscribed? Or will mainstream voters instead cut slack for a candidate unwilling, in a time of stress and strife, to assert the priority of human ideals over all others? A lot, I think, will depend on Rick Perry’s rhetorical skills. These, as I say, are large, so we mustn’t yet draw negative conclusions regarding his prospects.

It’s frequently said that America isn’t ready for another Texas governor, given lack of love for the last one, whatever his name was. The point worth noticing perhaps is that the last one preceded possibly the most oversold president ever: a chief executive unable, we subsequently found out, to get his act together. The perceived offenses of What’s His Name have been blotted out already in considerable degree by the bungling and obfuscations of the pig-in-a-poke the public bought in 2008. I wouldn’t ‘t count, were I a Democratic strategist, on names like “Rove,” “Rumsfeld,” and “Guantanamo” to work like talismans in a country with 9 percent unemployment.

President Perry? Maybe. Again, maybe not. What fun, though, the finding out will be. The guy is going to shake up this race, big time: with Stetson on, or without.

Get ready.

Eight things you ought to know before you start writing stories about Rick Perry. You’re welcome.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-08-01/btl.php

August 2011

Here we go again. As you know, Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, is contemplating a presidential run, which means that any day now, your boss will be sending you down here to take the measure of the man. Though he managed to avoid the 2012 spotlight longer than any other candidate, Perry, the nation’s longest-serving governor, has lately become, in the words of a recent NPR report, “the eight-hundred-pound gorilla on the sidelines of this race.” The trickle of stories about him has become a stream, and the minute Perry declares his candidacy, that stream will become a flood, a flood that will carry you straight to Austin. I am writing you this note in the hope that it will help you avoid the political and sociological clichés that Texas is subjected to every time one of our politicians seeks the national stage.

It’s an experience we’re all too familiar with. A Texan has occupied the White House in 17 of the past 48 years—just over a third of the time. Texas has become an incubator for presidents, as Virginia and Ohio were in America’s distant past. I’ll grant you that the presidents we have sent to Washington, from LBJ to 
George W. Bush, have not always served as the best advertisements for Texas. Nevertheless, we have endured a disproportionate amount of bad writing about our state from journalists who don’t know very much about the place, and I for one can’t bear to suffer through another campaign of it.

So please, heed this advice. Rick Perry, as you have no doubt already discovered, is not the easiest man to write about. He is secretive and leery of the media (sometimes to the point of hostility), and he has a strategically valuable knack for being underestimated by his critics. I have been writing about him since the eighties, when he began his career in the Texas Legislature. Along the way I have learned a few things, which I have arranged in this handy list of Eight Points to Keep in Mind When Writing About Rick Perry.

1. Perry is not George Bush. Don’t assume that because Bush and Perry served together in the Capitol, or because they’re both Republican Texans who wear boots, the two men have a lot in common. They don’t. As governor, Bush positioned himself as “a uniter, not a divider,” championing education as one of his main priorities. Perry has been the opposite kind of chief executive: dismissive of Democrats and fond of political maneuvers that put the heat on moderates within his own party. And in the legislative session that just wrapped up, he presided over a budget that cut $4 billion from public schools. The cultural differences are striking too. Perry, the son of a Big Country cotton farmer, is at ease with a populist tea party message; W., the scion of a political dynasty, always seemed more comfortable with the country club set. They have followed starkly different paths. When W. began his political career, he had a famous name, access to his father’s huge national fund-raising base, and the backing of the establishment wing of the Republican party. As a late arrival in the Republican ranks, Perry had no fund-raising base and little name identification. He had no choice but to gravitate to the conservative wing of the GOP, where he could prove up his conservative bona fides. Nor is there any love lost between the two men. When Perry ran for lieutenant governor, in 1998, Bush’s camp wanted everyone on the ticket to run positive races; the Perry team defied the order, and ever since, relations have been frosty. There is one other critical difference. Bush lost his first race, for Congress. Perry has won every race he’s ever run.

2. It’s not a big deal that Perry was once a Democrat. To suggest otherwise will make you look foolish. When Perry was elected to the statehouse, in 1985, conservative Democrats ran the Legislature. In 1989, realizing that a conservative had little future in the party, Perry switched to the GOP. He has been a rock-solid Republican ever since and has driven the state party further to the right. Only twice has he made strategic errors that brought him into conflict with his hard-right base. One was an edict that twelve-year-old girls be inoculated against cervical cancer (it was quickly overturned); another was his promotion of a giant system of toll roads called the Trans-Texas Corridor, which stirred up significant opposition from landowners. These two bobbles aside, Perry has a genius for sensing where his base is on any given issue.

3. Perry is cannier than you think he is. Perry revels in political plays that are initially misunderstood by the press and his critics. Take his secession “gaffe” on tax day 2009, when he responded to a TV reporter’s question with an acknowledgment that if the federal government continued to interfere with Texas, the state might have to leave the union someday. His response may have repelled Democrats and independents, but it hit a nerve among conservatives and led to his shellacking of Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 Republican primary for governor.

4. Texas is not a “weak governor” state. A common misconception. It used to be true, but during his historic governorship, Perry has reinvented the office as a power center. This may be his greatest accomplishment. Yes, our state constitution, written the year before Reconstruction ended, created a weak governor’s office (as did most constitutions of the states of the former Confederacy). We had two-year terms (the Legislature changed it to four-year terms beginning with the 1974 election) and a fragmented executive department with power divided among the governor, the lieutenant governor, the comptroller, the land and agriculture commissioners, the attorney general, and the railroad commission. But Perry has used his appointment power to install political allies in every state agency, effectively establishing a Cabinet form of government and making him vastly more powerful than any of his predecessors. In this regard, the Texas politician he most resembles is LBJ, who, Robert Caro reports, once told an assistant, “I do understand power, whatever else may be said about me. I know where to look for it and how to use it.” Rick Perry, to a tee.

5. Perry is not a male hair model. The late Molly Ivins coined the nickname Governor Goodhair, and it has stuck, especially with ­liberals and journalists from up north. It is true that Perry has a much-remarked-upon coif, but don’t let this lead you to assume that he’s soft, or feckless, like that other recent walking shampoo ad, John Edwards. Perry is a hard man. He is the kind of politician who would rather be feared than loved—or respected. And he has gotten his wish. Perry does not have many friends in the ­Legislature.

6. Perry is from the middle of nowhere. The first place you need to go to understand Perry is Paint Creek, where he grew up. Paint Creek is not a town. It’s a watercourse that runs through the cotton fields of southern Haskell County. Perry’s parents were tenant farmers, and not just tenant farmers but dryland farmers, which is as hard as farming gets. In a June 2010 interview with TEXAS MONTHLY editor Jake Silverstein, Perry described an incident involving a new couch that his parents, who “rarely ever bought anything,” had just purchased. “There were places in our house that you could see outside through the cracks by the windows,” the governor recalled, “and this dust storm came in and there was a layer of dust all over that new couch. And it just, you know, kind of—it was a hard life for them.” In the interview, Perry also described taking baths in the number two washtub and using an outhouse until his father built indoor plumbing in his early years. “We were rich,” Perry said, “but not in material things. I had miles and miles of pasture, a Shetland pony, and a dog. . . . I spent a lot of time just alone with my dog. A lot.”

7. Perry is an Aggie. Like many Texans with rural roots and sympathies, Perry attended Texas A&M University. This is the other place you need to go to understand him. Of course, it has changed dramatically, so you’ll have to envision it as it was when Perry was there, around 1970. A&M was uncompromising in those days. There was a saying, regarding the road to College Station, that was directed at students who resisted the A&M military culture: “Highway 6 runs both ways.” You either bought into the school’s traditions or you didn’t. Perry bought all the way in, becoming a yell leader. To this day, Perry’s style on the stump is that of the Aggie yell leader (“Are you fired up?”).

8. Don’t discount the luck factor. It is uncanny how often good fortune has been in ­Perry’s corner throughout his political career. His opponents self-destruct, as Jim High­­tower did in 1990, when Perry, a big underdog, won his first statewide race, for agriculture commissioner, and as Kay Bailey Hutchison did in 2010. In 2006, when he was at his most vulnerable, Hutchison opted not to challenge him. Perry got only 39 percent of the vote, but because there were four major candidates in the race, he won with a plurality. This spring, he lost two top aides to the Gingrich-for-president campaign, only to see Gingrich self-destruct and the aides return with national campaign experience. The list goes on and on. If you look at Perry’s career, it seems that fate is always arranging the universe so that its favorite son will be in the right place at the right time.

So there you have it. In closing, I would like to request that you please do your best to avoid tin-ear clichés about barbecue, cattle, oil, football, and the Alamo. Remember, this is an urban state of 25 million people. We don’t go to sleep at night dreaming of William Barret Travis drawing a line in the sand. We do admire our rural history, as this month’s cover attests, but our vitality is in the cities. Enjoy your visit, best of luck, and please get it right this time.

Yours truly,
Paul Burka

Welcome to Rick’s Cabaret

The Weekly Standard COLD OPEN

AUGUST 17, 2011 * By Matthew Continetti

Well, I goofed. I lost my bet that Tim Pawlenty would be the Republican presidential nominee. The former Minnesota governor wasted no time exiting the race after coming in third in the Ames straw poll. Goes to show you that resume, positions, and electability aren’t everything. A winning candidate needs to have a gut connection with his constituents. Pawlenty didn’t have it.

A gut sense of politics is what Texas governor Rick Perry has in spades. I confess to being skeptical of Perry before he entered the race. But it now seems to me that Perry has had the most successful launch of any of the candidates currently in the field. To watch him interact with crowds, and with the political press, is to watch a political natural. The way in which Perry’s team handled the opening stages of his campaign—building buzz and grassroots support while reaching out to donors, then stepping on Bachmann’s straw poll victory—was professionalism at its finest. The governor’s message is crystal clear: Texas is a success, and I want to apply my approach to Washington, D.C.

Watching all this, I was reminded that you can’t be governor of the second largest state in the country for 11 years without having some major skills. Yet question marks hang over Perry: Will the act grow tired after months of campaigning? Can he build a rapport with independent voters? And where does he stand on entitlements and foreign policy? The Tenth Amendment won’t be able to stop Iran and China.

The fact that these questions have so quickly become central to campaign 2012 only reaffirms that Perry is a dynamo. For the next few months, we’ll be in Rick’s cabaret. Might as well sit back and enjoy the show.

Video: Gov. Rick Perry’s Announcement Speech

by Bryan Preston - “Reaganesque” 
 

My Heart Stirred: A Review of Rick Perry’s Speech

by Andrew Klavan - His ideas are right and the left’s are wrong — his ideas work and theirs don’t — his ideas tend toward freedom, theirs toward stagnation and collapse.

Gov. Rick Perry: America Needs New Leadership (Full Text of Announcement Speech)

by Gov. Rick Perry ”It’s time to get America working again.” The governor of Texas lays out his vision as he announces his run for president.

 
Rick Perry
Saturday, August 13, 2011, 02:50 PM
Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced today that he is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2012. He made the announcement in Charleston, S.C., at the RedState Gathering, a convention of conservative bloggers
 

By Jonathan Martin, Politico

Rick Perry, on his first day of extended Iowa campaigning, foreshadowed his coming assault Monday against Mitt Romney and swiped back at the former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist’s suggestion that others in the GOP race don’t understand the economy.

In back-to-back answers, Perry nodded at the difference between his economic record as Texas governor and Romney’s in Massachusetts and then drew a cultural contrast between his background as an Air Force pilot and family farmer and his opponent’s high finance pedigree.

“It’s being able to work with your legislature to get the right tax and regulatory and legal system in place — and we done that in Texas,” Perry said of how he created jobs in his decade-long tenure as governor.

Asked if Romney had done the same, Perry responded: “You just have to look at the record.”

Perry 2012Obama and the Perry MiracleAugust 14, 2011 By Jeffrey Folks - Liberals have let it be known that they intend to “kill” Romney — or any other GOP candidate who poses a threat to Obama in the 2012 election. The attack on Romney at the Iowa state fair by hecklers pretending to be ordinary retirees is prelude to what we can expect. Obama’s own team are hard at work as well. Recently, they’ve been trying to head off the challenge posed by Gov. Rick Perry, the most successful American governor in living memory. The knives came out even before Perry announced and David Axelrod arguedthat Perry’s record of job creation in Texas was not what it seemed. Axelrod is an a fools errand, and is a hypocrite no less for suggesting that oil & gas companies (who he has regularly demonized) should get credit not Perry! More telling however is the (liberal policies) California vs (conservative policies) Texas comparison, as well as the D.C. vs Texas comparison, read on…

Campaign Trail: Fear of Perry

by Roger Simon “With Rick Perry already leading Romney for the GOP nomination on Intrade before the Tex gov has formally declared, it’s no suprise the Obmanoids are already dusting out the anti-Rick talking points on the chat shows. Today the terminally-loyal David Axelrod appeared on Democratic Party poodle George Stephanopoulos’ The Bottom Line to downplay Perry’s success as a job creator. Credit for those jobs should go to the oil companies, said Axelrod (that being the same oil companies the Obama Admin wants to tax and curtail.)

Needless to say this should all be a compliment to Perry who appears to be generating so much fear from our vacationing president that he’s giving his subaltern a busy August. But here’s an interesting question for Axelrod’s laser-like mind. How come California has such an abysmal employment record when Apple is now a bigger and faster growing company than Exxon? Hard to fathom, huh? Maybe it does have something to do with how the states operate. Of course, what Axel-bubbe is presenting is just so much early campaign drivel. If he spent even a tenth of the time on improving the horrifying economic conditions of our country as he does on maintaining the power of a failed presidency, he might be doing something useful with his life.”

Rick Perry Presidential Push Quietly Gains Steam

By Erin McPike and Scott Conroy

As many grass-roots Republicans remain in search of a conservative candidate with the pizazz to go toe-to-toe against President Obama, a man from deep in the heart of Texas who was tea party before the tea party was cool appears to be giving the presidential race some thought…

Another Texas Governor for President?

rick_perry(You bet, and just because there may be similarities, doesn’t mean this one’s the same as the other)

August 11, 2011 by V2A - There’s a debate in Texas over whether or not Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally before 30,000 worshippers in a football stadium last Saturday was conceived to help launch his presidential candidacy. But there’s little dispute about his prospects should he decide to enter the Republican field, as expected.

Most people here think he’ll win.

Perry’s appeal to Republicans is not hard to fathom. It has three distinct parts. The first, as the prayer rally demonstrates, is an overt religiosity that is sure to excite the social conservatives in the Republican base who feel neglected by the unrelenting focus on the economy. Perry casts the issue as a crisis of faith. “Lord,’’ he told the crowd, “we see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us.’’ That message should resonate across the South and in states like Iowa, where religious conservatives dominate the party – Post Continues on www.boston.com

Rick Perry’s Christianity Is Good for America
By Ben Shapiro – It is profoundly right to request that God look kindly and benevolently on the United States of America.

Agnostics for Perry

by Roger L Simon

Personally, I’m an agnostic, but I respect Perry for his faith: America was founded on religious tolerance, which some modern liberals tend to forget includes people who actually believe in God.

An Historic Event

Perry: ‘Global Warming a Phony Mess’

Rick Perry: Obama shutting down our legacy in space

Texas Governor Rick Perry sharply criticized the end of the space shuttle program yesterday, issuing the following statement: Read More

Ed Morrissey: CNN poll: Perry in 2nd place? (before he entered the race)

 
Iowa Straw Poll Bachmann 2012

Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

Saturday, August 13, 2011, 06:54 PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.) won the presidential straw poll that the Iowa Republican Party hosted today at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She took 4,823 votes out of a total of 16,892 votes that were cast
 

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Sunday he is ending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. (AP)Out: Tim Pawlenty Quits GOP Presidential Race

One door closes, another opens. We agree this could be the better result of his efforts:  Pawlenty for Senate
August 15, 2011 – An excellent opportunity for the Republican Party: nominate Tim Pawlenty to run in the 2012 Senate race against Amy Klobuchar More

Palin out in 2012?Watch: Is Palin Definitely Out of the 2012 Race?

Palin’s pick: ‘Anybody but Obama,’ … maybe even me

 
The Undefeated Sarah Palin: The Politics of Palin’s Personality

“They’re dead right in that clip,why aren’t they, about the root cause of the whole Palin maddness being the failure of the establishment– Republicans and Democrats?” — James Poulos

The Undefeated: Does the New Palin Documentary Mean She’s Running for President?

“I don’t make films that are like PBS documentaries.” -

- Stephen K. Bannon, Director of ‘The Undefeated’

Allen West: Ron Paul ‘Not the Kind of Guy You Need to Be Sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave’

Aug 11, 2011

Gingrich Blasts Debt Super Committee

Aug 11, 2011

Republican Rivals Make Closing Arguments in Iowa  

The Growing Republican 10th Amendment Debate
August 13, 2011 – The federalism issue may seem like a sideshow, but in fact it is the key to solving the sickness of our national government More

Iowa governor: Romney campaign in ‘real trouble’ if he loses big in caucuses

Poll: Romney narrowly leads Obama in a head-to-head race – TheDC

Romney’s ascendance comes alongside disappointing job approval numbers for the president
Spoiler alert: They’re not pleased with Obama’s progress (your not alone, no one is!)

 

 

 

 

2012 Dream Ticket Survey: America’s Next President Is…

July 16, 2011 -

Who will be America’s next President and Vice President? According to our new poll found at www.2012dreamticket.com, America wants Texas Governor, Rick Perry, for President and Michele Bachmann, Congress woman from Minnesota for VP.

As of today, the Perry/Bachmann ticket has a commanding lead over the second place pair.

Who is in second place you ask? Romney/Bachmann. Romney/Bachmann? That’s right! Our survey shows that America has Romney and Bachmann pairing up. This is course is due in part to the fact that Perry is not actually a candidate yet.

The most interesting point throughout the survey, is how many times Bachmann and Perry were picked in either the President or VP spot.

2012 dream ticket is unique in that it allows you to choose from over 30 potential candidates (even those who have made no mention or intent in wanting to run for office).

If you aren’t happy with the results, then we encourage you to come and vote. Help move your favorite to the top of the list. Our simple drag and drop poll is one of the easiest polls ever developed!

This poll has the potential to affect the outcome of the next election.

Vote now and then share your results on Facebook and Twitter! We want to know what you think and what all of America thinks!

Philip Klein – Perry on prez run, says he’s starting to feel “this is what I’ve been called to do”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is sounding more and more like a man who intends to run for president. “I’m not ready to tell you that I’m ready to announce that I’m in,” Perry said, according to the Des Moines Register. “But I’m getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I’ve been called to do. This is what America needs.” Read More

Ben Shapiro: Rick Perry’s Christianity Is Good for America

Texas Executes Mexican Citizen Despite Liberal U.S. and Foreign Pleas
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas refused to capitulate to U.N. demands and executed a Mexican national Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to act on concerns raised by the Obama administration regarding international treaty violations. Humberto Leal Garcia, 38, a murderer of our fellow Americans, was executed by means of lethal injection. As to the question of Gov Perry’s Christianity, is there a contradiction? Absolutely not, evil has been confronted and erradicated, and we appreciate his strength and resolve. 

Latest Michele Bachmann Ad: “Courage”

Tim Pawlenty TV Ad: The American Comeback

An Interesting Review of “The Undefeated”

Ben Howe of RedState wrote a piece simply entitled “Palin” that I recommend everyone take a few minutes to read. In this piece he discussed the media bias against Palin, his views on her, and then discusses how he felt after watching the documentary, “The Undefeated.” Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“I didn’t think she’d really done much in Alaska, or if she had, that it was enough to act like she was the second coming of Reagan. …I was entirely incorrect.”
more…
Read the entire piece and I recommend checking out “The Undefeated” as it hits theaters today.

 Sarah Palin’s Grace Under Pressure – James Lewis

A Republican Ticket That Probably Can’t Lose In 2012

“Blank? – Senator Marco Rubio”

 

Brand Huntsman (In our view a VP maybe, not a front runner, not a “solid” conservative, in ways Romneylike, and like Romney – there are better choices)

Tea Partiers: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman don’t “have courage”

A few comparative notes: Politician/ Issue – Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain

Immigration

He has made banning “sanctuary cities” a top priority for the Texas state legislature, and takes a strong stand on securing the border.

Bachmann is a  supporter of Arizona’s immigration policy, and takes a tough overall stand on the issue of “illegal” immigration.

Paul opposes amnesty and wants to end birthright citizenship, which allows people born in the U.S. automatic citizenship. He has said he has “some reservations” about the Arizona law, but supports its intent.

Cain has said the U.S. must secure the borders, enforce existing laws  and promote the current path to citizenship. He has said, “I don’t believe Arizona went to far.”

Foreign Policy

Perry opposed plans by pro-Palestinian groups to protest and potentially disrupt Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and he earlier criticized President Obama’s speech advocating a deal between the warring sides based on pre-1967 maps.

Bachmann has said she supports Israel. She posted Web ad accusing that President Obama “betrayed Israel” with his statement on the 1967 boundaries.

Paul wants to see rapid troop withdrawl from the Middle East and isolationism. He has called for American neutrality in regard to Israel’s conflicts. He supports a dangerous non-interventionist policy.

Cain believes the U.S. should intervene on behalf of its allies. “You mess with Israel, you’re messing with the U.S.A, ” he said to to Neil Cavuto on Fox News in May.

Economy

In Fed Up! Perry suggests major cuts to federal spending and a decreased role of the national government in state affairs.  He is a longtime proponent of low taxes and spoke in favor of extending Bush-era tax cuts in 2010.

Bachmann’s Congressional website calls for a simplified tax code, tax cuts, and suggests making tax relief passed in 2001 and 2003 permanent.

Paul’s website calls for abolishing the Federal Reserve, returning to the gold standard. His Congressional website says he is for “low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies.”

Cain has called for a simplified tax code, has said he would allow  for a one year payroll tax holiday to spur the economy and wants to make the Bush-era tax rates permanent.

Same-sex marriage

Perry has said he would support an amendment to ban same-sex marriage, but in Fed Up! says civil union decisions should be left to the states.

Bachmann supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Paul opposes all federal efforts to define marriage and says the states should decide. He voted against an amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Cain opposes same-sex marriage, but doesn’t rule out civil unions and he opposes an amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Abortion

Perry  is pro-life and opposes government funding for abortions. He signed into law a 2011 Texas bill  requiring women to have a sonogram before having an abortion, but excepting cases of rape and incest.

Bachmann is Pro-life in all cases, including rape and incest.

Paul is strongly pro-life, despite his libertarian ideals. He has said, “If you can’t protect life, how can you protect liberty?”

Cain thinks abortion should be illegal except in cases affecting the mother’s health, and has said he is “pro-life from conception.”

Obama Boasts Raising $86M for 2012 Campaign? Far ahead of challengers. Uh not quite!

July 13, 2011
President Obama’s re-election team is touting having raised more than $86 million and therefore the significant incumbent fundraising lead over Republicans ahead of the 2012 race.

However the real story is that the Obama 2012 campaign has brought in just over $47 million and that is actually lagging behind their previously stated goal of $60 million combined for the quarter.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) collected more than $38 million for the campaign in the quarter ending June, but that’s the DNC. Where there is no doubt that some of those funds will be used for the Presidential race, by no means is this Obama’s money, and a substantial portion will be use for Congressional races.

As of July 13th a Des Moines Register poll shows Bachmann and Romney in a virtual dead heat in the Hawkeye State with 23% and 22% respectively. Bachmann’s solid committment to defend traditional marriage, pledge fidelity to her spouse, oppose abortion, appoint faithful constitutionalists as judges, and flatly reject Sharia law, among other things, gives her a clear edge.

Generic Republican Beats Obama By 8 Points

 

Poll Analysis: PPP has released their national vs. Obama for the month of July. It doesn’t look good for Obama.

First the top line:

(vs. Obama) Obama Candidate UnDec Diff
Romney 45 45 10 0
Bachmann 48 41 11 -7
Pawlenty 48 39 13 -9
Cain 48 36 16 -12
Palin 53 37 9 -16

Romney is tied with Obama. Bachmann, the flavor of the month, is still seven points back near Pawlenty’s -9. Cain continues to struggle, and Palin assumes her usual place in the rear.

Here are the trends for their national vs. Obama poll for this year

  (7/20) (6/13) (5/11) (4/13) (3/15) (2/16) (1/20)
Romney 0 -2 -5 -6 -5 -5 -5
Bachmann -7 – – – – – –
Pawlenty -9 -11 – – – – –
Cain -12 -10 – – – – –
Palin -16 -14 -17 -18 -15 -18 -17

Over the past year Romney has improved to the point of tying with the President. Palin is practically unchanged from January. She is still nearly 20 points behind the President.

Finally, here is an interesting crosstab that PPP provides on their blog post announcing this poll. It shows the percentage of the Undecided in the first table that approve or disapprove of the job Obama is doing. It is most enlightening:

(Undecided vs. Obama) Approve Obama Disapprove Obama Diff
Romney 21 61 40
Bachmann 10 67 57
Pawlenty 9 75 66
Cain 8 76 68
Palin 5 84 79

This drives home the point that the vast majority of those who haven’t made up their minds on whom to vote for do not like Obama’s job performance. If you add those undecideds who approve of him to his vote number and add those who disapprove to his opponent’s number, you get the following version of the first table:

(Undecided added) Obama Candidate Diff
Romney 48 52 4
Pawlenty 50 50 0
Bachmann 51 49 -2
Cain 51 49 -2
Palin 54 46 -8

Suddenly, Romney leads by four. Pawlenty, Bachmann, and Cain are all looking good, and even Palin is well within striking distance.

Things do not look good for the President; that is for sure. Even PPP headlines this poll as “Obama in perilous shape “. If he cannot get this economy turned around, he is headed for a one-and-out.

Poll Watch: PPP (D) 2012 Presidential Survey

  • Barack Obama 45%
  • Mitt Romney 45%
  • Barack Obama 48%
  • Michele Bachmann 41%
  • Barack Obama 48%
  • Tim Pawlenty 39%
  • Barack Obama 48%
  • Herman Cain 36%
  • Barack Obama 53%
  • Sarah Palin 37%

Poll Watch: Rasmussen 2012 Presidential Survey

  • Mitt Romney 43% {40%} [44%] (44%)
  • Barack Obama 42% {45%} [42%] (44%)

Poll Watch: Civitas (R) 2012 North Carolina Presidential Survey

  • Rick Perry (R) 45%
  • Barack Obama (D) 42%
  • Undecided 12%

Poll Watch: EPIC-MRA Michigan 2012 Presidential Survey

  • Mitt Romney (R) 46% (46%)
  • Barack Obama (D) 41% (41%)

Favorable / Unfavorable {Net}

  • Mitt Romney (43%) / (28%) {+15%}
  • Barack Obama 47% (50%) / 47% (43%) {0%}

Poll Watch: ARG South Carolina 2012 Republican Primary Survey

  • Mitt Romney 25% (18%)
  • Sarah Palin 16% (10%)
  • Michele Bachmann 13% (5%)
  • Herman Cain 10% (1%)
  • Rudy Giuliani 6% (4%)
  • Rick Perry 6%
  • Newt Gingrich 3% (9%)
  • Ron Paul 2% (1%)
  • Rick Santorum 2% (1%)
  • Buddy Roemer 2% (0%)
  • Gary Johnson 0% (0%)
  • Jon Huntsman 0% (0%)
  • Tim Pawlenty 0% (2%)
  • Undecided 15% (11%)

Race42012 Polling Averages and Line Chart – July 17, 2011

2012 Republican Presidential Nomination

Poll Average Quinnipiac FOX News McClatchy-Marist Morris Rasmussen
Date 6/14 – 7/11 7/5 – 7/11 6/26 – 6/28 6/15 – 6/23 6/18 – 6/19 6/14 – 6/14
Romney 23.60 25 18 19 23 33
Bachmann 12.80 14 11 8 12 19
Giuliani 11.50   10 13    
Palin 10.33 12 8 11    
Perry 10.25 10 13 13 5  
Paul 7.20 5 7 5 12 7
Cain 6.20 6 5 5 5 10
Gingrich 4.80 5 3 2 5 9
Pawlenty 4.00 3 3 5 3 6
Santorum 2.40 1 2 1 2 6
Huntsman 1.80 1 3 2 1 2
Johnson 0.75   1 0.5    
McCotter 0.50 0.5 0.5      
Roemer 0.50   0.5    

Intrade State of the Race:

Movement is from the last update one week ago:

Name Value Change
Romney 34.9 +0.8
Perry 16.1 +3.1
Bachmann 14.5 -2.5
Huntsman 9.4 +0.8
Pawlenty 7.3 -1.0
Palin 5.8 +0.6
Paul 2.2 +0.1
Gingrich 2.0 +0.1
Cain 1.5 +0.1
Santorum 0.7 +0.1
Johnson 0.3 -0.2
McCotter 0.3 E

Poll Watch: American Research Group 2012 New Hampshire Republican Primary Survey

  • Mitt Romney 29% (32%)
  • Michele Bachmann 12% (1%)
  • Rudy Giuliani 9% (8%)
  • Sarah Palin 8% (2%)
  • Newt Gingrich 7% (8%)
  • Tim Pawlenty 5% (2%)
  • Ron Paul 4% (8%)
  • Herman Cain 4% (2%)
  • Rick Perry 2%
  • Rick Santorum 2% (0%)
  • Gary Johnson *% (1%)
  • Jon Huntsman 0% (0%)
  • Buddy Roemer 0% (0%)
  • Other/Undecided 18% (8%)

Townhall.com Presidential Straw Poll

As GOP presidential hopefuls begin to test the waters in preparation for the 2012 election, Townhall and HotAir are conducting a poll to gauge whom conservatives are currently leaning towards. The results will be tabulated monthly, featured in an upcoming issue of Townhall Magazine, and released via email and on the Townhall.com Presidential Straw Poll Facebook page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Jeb Bush has said No, maybe 2016, but we’ll bring you some news from time to time anyhow)

In Miami, Obama praises Jeb Bush

Politico’s 2012 Candidate Hub

 

   

 

   

 
  • Bobby JindalBobby Jindal »
  • Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani »
  • George PatakiGeorge Pataki »
  • Buddy Roemer »
  • On Buddy Roemer
  • I want a President who is free to lead

 

Michael Bloomberg »

Joe Scarborough - Like the Egyptians, conservatives have no idea who will lead them through the next election. Hey Joe get a clue, we’ll help ya. 1) First and foremost, we know it won’t be you. 2) Conservatives do have a clue, it’s you who does not, because your not one of them. You can be called MSNBC’s resident conservative but it means nothing.

“It’s about time”: Joe Scarborough finally praises Republicans for showing some courage in tackling America’s debt crisis.

In Iowa, five possible 2012 candidates say social issues are a top priority

Screen shot 2011-01-15 at 12.54.13 “Five potential presidential candidates vied to please a socially conservative crowd at a packed event here Monday night that marked the unofficial start to the Iowa caucus campaign and the first time a crush of GOP hopefuls shared a major stage. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, Buddy Roemer and Herman Cain each took a turn at the microphone, riffing on a range of social-issue touchstones — denouncing gay marriage, lambasting activist judges and praising the push to defund Planned Parenthood. But all five essentially share the same positions, and in the end, it was Cain and Roemer — the least known and probably longest-shot of the hopefuls — who got the most praise from a group of influential Hawkeye State conservatives.” - Politico

Jonah Goldberg: “Republicans voters are ravenous for a one-term Obama presidency. Some potential hopefuls are flawed, but the party faithful will surely stomach whichever candidate captures the nomination.” - LA Times

The Cook Report: It’s Nobody’s Turn – It’s Anybody’s Turn

BY CHARLIE COOK

Who will be the Republican presidential nominee? Even political professionals don’t have a clue.

Thursday, March 3, 2011 | 3:54 p.m.

Consider yourself clairvoyant if you can correctly predict who is going to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The race is that wide open.

In most years, Republicans tap the person whose “turn” it is to be the party’s standard-bearer, and that individual’s identity is often known long before the start of the primary and caucus season. This time, the race looks different. One could argue that it is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s turn because she was the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2008. Or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s turn because he won the Iowa caucus last time around. Or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s turn because he was eventual nominee John McCain’s toughest rival in 2008. But none of those arguments is particularly convincing.

In most years, current and former U.S. senators are grossly overrepresented in presidential fields. But with the announcement by Sen. John Thune of South Dakota that he isn’t going to run, it appears no sitting GOP senator will enter the race. Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum may be the only former member of the chamber to make a bid. Current and former House members have a dismal record in winning nominations, but that hasn’t stopped them before. This time, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas looks to be the only House member running, and former Speaker Newt Gingrich may be the only former member in the contest.

With Washington so out of favor, this could be a campaign that features lots of current and former governors. Three sitting governors are possible candidates—Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, and Rick Perry of Texas—along with five former governors: Jon Huntsman of Utah, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Huckabee, Palin, and Romney.

via NationalJournal.com – The Cook Report: It’s Nobody’s Turn – Friday, March 4, 2011.

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March 01, 2011

The 2012 Nomination Lead is There for the Taking

By C. Edmund Wright

It’s right there for all to see: a hanging curve ball moving so slowly that even a “Republican strategist” should see the stitches.  Well ok, maybe it’s not moving that slowly. 
Nonetheless, the early lead for the 2012 GOP nomination is there for the taking — waiting only for one of the candidates to boldly pounce on this obvious opportunity.  I submit that the first hopeful who boldly runs on a platform of simply ending public sector collective bargaining will bust from the pack into the early lead.
And all along we thought the 2012 elections — like the 2010 elections — would be about government spending.  Well, actually, the seamless way that the public sector union issue ties into government spending — not to mention the tea party notion of producers and takers — is what makes this such a dynamic once in a lifetime opportunity.  The fact that the opposition here is totally unlovable is icing on the cake.
Consider:  Chris Christie became a national sensation for one reason and one reason only:  he was bold and unapologetic about staring down the teachers unions in New Jersey.  He broke every rule in the strategy book and predictably, it has worked. 
(Memo to GOP hacks: throw out the book). 
Frankly, Christie is probably not conservative enough to really win a GOP nomination — and he has not even called for an end to public sector unions — yet merely the willingness to engage them in battle has made him a superstar. It has some folks so excited they are willing to overlook some ominous Jersey liberal tendencies.
Then there’s successful governor Mitch Daniels, a tiny man so bereft of excitement that we can only conclude his charisma bypass operation was a success.  And yet, due to his ability to balance the books in Indiana six years after quietly sweeping away collective bargaining power from Indiana government, he is considered by some a serious national player.  Serious is what they call you if you have substance but are too boring to have a TV show.
And we now have Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose name has suddenly started appearing on various pundits’ Presidential wish lists all over the place.  Why?  It’s not his oratory or his stance on taxes or on terror or on abortion.  Nope. It’s his stance on public sector unions.  His proposed legislation does not wipe out public sector unions per se, but it goes a long way toward neutering them.  This he knows is the key to long-term financial stability for state governments.  He sees it playing out in Indiana.
So let’s take stock of the situation today: We have a seminal moment coming up in a couple of days involving the budget, a potential government shut-down and Congress.  By the way, this is the same Congress swept into power with an anti-spending fervor just some 120 days ago.  This is supposedly the tea party issue.  But what are people talking about?  
Unions.
The Middle East is on fire, and while folks tend to yawn at that nowadays, they don’t tend to yawn at four dollar gas tanking an economy.  All of that is happening in front of our eyes, but what are people talking about?  
Unions.
Names like Palin, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Romney, Thune, Cain, Huckabee, Bolton, etc have been floated around and talked about for months.  But who are people talking about now?  Christie, Daniels and Walker — which is to say, unions.
Are we seeing a trend here?  The government union story has captivated most all of us in the country who are not immune to anything important.  And it should, because this one issue touches and even embodies most of the big national discussions we are having today.  As Christie put it a couple of days ago on the fights around the nation and in Madison,  “if we don’t win this fight, there’s no other fight left.”  And he’s right.  This is not only a huge financial issue, this is a “heart and soul of the nation” issue.
Nobody is to be taken seriously on reducing government spending, be they in Washington or Madison or California or Illinois or anywhere else, unless they address  unsustainable and gold plated government employee compensation.  This is most serious in unionized states and is a serious issue for the Federal budget as well.  Unions are responsible for most of these outsized compensation packages and bloated bureaucracies. This makes the public sector union issue tailor made for the tea party mentality.
And of course, government spending and intrusiveness is a key headwind preventing any meaningful economic recovery.  Moreover, the more fundamental notion of producers versus takers runs to the heart of this issue.  The idea that government workers are, or should be, some sort of protected class immune to the winds of economic reality is one that Americans are beginning to reject as they see the raw entitlement mentality on display. 
As these displays go on, this momentum will surely increase.  People making 50K a year in a risky environment with no retirement are not thrilled about continuing to pony up for folks making twice that in a risk free bubble of government life.  And daily, more people realize that this is the equation in play here.
Another thing the public sector union issue does is really crystallize the biggest topics on our minds into one clean simple narrative.  We simply have too much government that spends too much money and has too many bureaucrats that terrorize businesses far too often.  This speaks to jobs, the deficit, freedom, and most of the issues that are front and center in our minds now. 
Rolling back public sector unions will reduce government spending and will also increase liberty and also unleash the economic engine of entrepreneurs at the same time.  It would also, not coincidentally, curtail the channeling of taxpayer funds to the Democratic Party, via union dues taken from paychecks and funneled to Democrat campaigns.
It is almost not an overstatement to say that the public sector union issue is a magic bullet for the nation and for the GOP.  For an electorate that is suddenly interested in learning the issues, this will resonate so clearly and address so much in one fell swoop. 
For anyone deep down in the pack of presidential hopefuls, it could be a quick elevator ride to the top in these early days. If you doubt that, please tell me why everywhere we turn we now see Christie, Daniels and Walker.  None of these three have talked about ending public sector unions nationally — and only Daniels among them has even feigned interest in the White House.
And yet, because they’ve taken a stand against public sector unions in their respective states, they are becoming national heroes.  The electorate is ready for this.  Hopeful candidates should take note. Your local GOP strategist won’t get it for you.
 
 

Presidential Bright Side

By on 2.25.11 @ 6:08AM

Several weeks ago I listed the most important, surface-level arguments why just about every seriously mentioned, potential Republican presidential candidate has drawbacks that should make conservatives severely nervous. The point was less to trash the candidates than to encourage them and their supporters to figure out the weaknesses against which they need to inoculate themselves — in order that they be better candidates in terms of winnability and ability to serve if elected.

The flip side of that column is that conservatives should also concentrate on each candidate’s most important strengths, so as to figure out how best to weed out the field. In that spirit, it is worth considering the following major points of interest. (Any failure to mention a particular candidate is entirely intentional. Some, like last cycle’s two runners-up, don’t merit mention. Others, such as Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Jim DeMint, and several others, seem truly disinclined to run.)

Rick Santorum merits forgiveness for his one sin of once supporting Arlen Specter, because his record otherwise is one of the finest of any senator in the past two decades. He was a major player in welfare reform, a major rallying force for conservative judicial nominees, a stalwart for the sanctity of life, and a real leader — extremely knowledgeable — against threats from abroad. Yes, he lost Pennsylvania in a horribly Democratic year, but no other candidate has such an overall record of using political savvy and energy to beat the odds. He was given no chance for the House in 1990, but he won. He was given no chance for the Senate in 1994, but he won. He was given little chance for re-election in 2000, but he won while G.W. Bush lost the state. He also is a man of genuine and fundamental decency.

Mitch Daniels is becoming way, way, way too much of a Johnny-one-note on the budget, but he is so superb on that issue that he merits serious consideration. Meanwhile, his record if not his rhetoric on “social” issues also is terrific. Conservatives have developed a habit of looking too much at verbiage and not enough at proven conduct. Daniels’ conduct, at least until his abdication on right to work, has been A-1.

Tim Pawlenty’s record is solid (if unexciting) almost across the board, except for his formerly promiscuous dalliance with cap-and-trade globaloney. When asked a question he doesn’t want to answer (try asking him about ethanol), he is a truly inartful dodger. But his record on spending, on taxes, and on life is excellent.

Herman Cain is an inspirational American success story. The man is a proven commodity when it comes to turning around businesses, and he is a wonderful speaker. Philosophically, he seems as sound as can be. He’s a serious man, and also seriously likable.

John Bolton is smart as a whip, tougher than five layers of rawhide, and deeply conservative, as far as can be determined, across the board. He’s also one of the most articulate men on the scene today. He effectively gets his points across, and makes their good sense clear.

Sarah Palin has a genius for finding just the right turn of phrase to capture attention and get her message across. Her principles seem to spring from deep within, rather than being mere appendages of convenience. And her instincts are anti-establishmentarian, in an age where the establishment’s ramparts do need to be assaulted. (And yes, we can still use the word “assault” in a political context. And we know Palin won’t hesitate to do so, nor to “target” the word-police for justifiable ridicule.)

Newt Gingrich is a great ideas man. He also is a visionary, usually in the best sense of the word. He’s also tough as nails.

Haley Barbour knows how to build an unparalleled political operation. He’s a fairly reliable conservative, and is as good as they come at beating back the jackpot-justice trial lawyers.

Dark horse  Bob Riley of Alabama is the best governor that almost nobody has ever heard of. He looks a little like Reagan, has an infectious optimism, and successfully improved Alabama’s education, economy, and ethics. His ACU rating in six years in Congress was 97 percent. He’s tireless. And he’s a genuinely nice human being.

There. For now, that’s it. Ronald Reagan Reincarnate isn’t running. Maybe Jon Kyl of Arizona should run, although he will be 70 on election day. Former Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma is an impressive man who in the past has been mentioned, and maybe should be drafted. But for now, those above are our choices, and they really aren’t bad. It behooves us to find some enthusiasm for at least one of them; our nation can’t afford another Obama term, so we can’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. Nuff said.

Letter to the Editor

Quin Hillyer is a senior editorial writer at the Washington Times and senior editor of The American Spectator.

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