Democrats Fail To Stop Climate Change — AGAIN!!

The following was in the on-line edition of the Wall Street Journal this evening.

On the same [NY Times] page, Matthew Algeo, author of “The President Is a Sick Man,” describes how severe the weather has become. “On Tuesday, Aug. 22, in the Atlantic Ocean, four hurricanes were swirling simultaneously, an event never before recorded. . . . Wednesday night, one of the hurricanes slammed into New York City. At least 30 people were killed.” Four days later, an even more powerful hurricane killed some 2,000 in and around Savannah, Ga.

What, you don’t remember reading about those storms in the papers? That’s not because reporters are dropping the climate-change ball, but because Algeo is writing history, not news. The hurricanes in question occurred in 1893.

“Grover Cleveland did nothing,” Algeo writes. The 24th president, a Democrat, “opposed government intervention in natural disasters,” which he thought, as he once wrote in a veto message, “encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.” Just like Imaginary Mitt Romney!

But all’s well that ends well. “Into the void stepped Clara Barton, . . . who had founded the American Red Cross 12 years earlier,” Algeo writes. “Her heroic work, especially in the South, saved countless thousands from disease and starvation.”

Yet even though private charity proved sufficient in the absence of federal action, the history Algeo recounts is an indictment of Cleveland. To see why, connect the dots with the Kristof column. America was already experiencing severe weather in 1893. Yet history records that Stephen Grover Cleveland, despite having been president twice, did nothing to stop global warming.

via We Blame Grover Cleveland – WSJ.com.

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it; the second time as farce.

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Why Did The Presidential Debates Matter?

Democratically-controlled and Republican-controlled “superPACs” have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising in all the key battleground States. The Obama campaign and Romney campaign have spent hundreds of additional millions of dollars on ads, polling, radio, newsprint, direct mail. Perhaps more than $2 billion will have been spent on the Presidential election.

And… for months, the polls stayed the same. From February through the first debate, the tracking polls were basically unmoving. Other than the false polling reports two weeks before the first debate, the President had a statistically meaningless lead over his challenger, Governor Romney.

Then 70 million viewers tuned into the first debate to watch 1 candidate spar and the other candidate withdraw. Almost 52 million viewers tuned in to watch VP Biden “yuck-up” his way to 82 interruptions in 90 minutes. Then over 65 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2nd “mano-a-mano” debate where the President first stepped into the mendacious story that is Benghazi. Finally, just shy of 60 million viewers tuned into the “Boredom-in-Boca” (but 1 out of 6 viewers watched on Cable’s FOX channel — setting a record).

The first debate began a momentum swing to Romney and each debate has seen the movement to Romney continue… Why were these debates that important? Why after billions spent on advertising, thousands of hours of “news” commentary, and hundreds of proxy speeches did the race really just come down to the four debates?

Because free and widely spent money in politics by both sides meant that many voters only have one way to gauge the reality of the candidates… To see them, personally, without filters, without pundits, without spinmeisters, without tele-prompters. Americans are a smart people. Sometimes their busy and so its hard to get their attention, but once they are focused, they are a smart people. They waited to see the candidates for themselves.

There were about 130 million votes cast in 2008. Assuming that each of the debates had 80% audience overlap (a total guess on my part), that means that perhaps as many as 95 million unique viewers watched at least one debate. That means that as many as 3 of 4 Presidential voters tuned in to see the candidates personally face-off. Those are stunningly high numbers. Those are wonderful, heart-warming, stunningly high numbers.

When all is said and done, the unfettered ability for each side to promote their message through television, radio, mail, social media, “news” outlets, etc. have led to a wonderful result. Voters tuning in to watch the candidates, themselves, without television ads, radio ads, direct mail, social media or “news” outlets. Democracy in action is a beautiful thing.

I support Mitt Romney. However, if the President should win re-election, it will be because Americans tuned in and made their decision after watching the candidate himself. If my guy wins, the same facts hold. Thank goodness for campaign spending. It failed to move the needle or shed new light on the race which forced a level of importance on the debates that was unexpected. Just imagine a world with spending controls and limits. Just imagine a world in which 4 media outlets control who gets to be heard.

God Bless America.

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735-1781 — Darryl, I got your number — Fraudulent DSEA Mailer for Mike Katz?

So the DSEA weighs in with a mailer for Doc Mike Katz. Doc Mike is, evidently, the “right decision”. Frankly, I think that you should call Doc Mike per the instructions of the mailer @ 302-735-1781. The problem is that when someone picks up the phone, it is likely going to be Darryl or Carol Scott, because the number on the mailer is not Doc Mike’s number. Check the link to the White Pages…

Oops, but that’s just poor proof-reading and kind of funny. It’s that the piece is out-right wrong that is the problem…

The piece says that Doc Mike:

• Supported necessary school funding to prevent teacher layoffs and keep class sizes at reasonable levels.
• Voted for uninterrupted construction of new schools

However, Doc Mike voted against the Bond Bill in 2011 (The only NO vote in the Senate), and against Budget bills in both 2011 & 2012.

Therefore, Doc Mike did NOT vote for uninterrupted construction — to the contrary, he voted against it! And, unless the DSEA is now endorsing no salary increases or program expansion, he voted against the “necessary funds to prevent layoffs & keep reasonable class sizes”…

So I guess that means that the DSEA is now either 1) endorsing no pay increases for their members; 2) they’re just lying about Katz for political reasons or 3) they just replaced Darryl Scott’s name with Doc Mike without updating the copy to reflect Doc Mike’s actual voting history.

In truth, I have to assume that it was item 3 in the list, but the piece is still outright wrong.

Is being fraudulent in a mailer a campaign finance violation??? Call Doc Mike and ask? Oh, yeah, you can’t not only because the number on the mailer is wrong, but Doc Mike has an unlisted number (How’s that for constituent service?)…

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Doc Mike Hides His Stipend and the Hypocritic Oath

I’ve seen a copy of a mailer sent out by Doc Mike Katz. He is running for “re-election” in a newly drawn district, and for the most part, his campaign literature seems to be him in a lab coat hobnobbing with Governor Markell. That is until his hypocrite streak kicked in..

It seems that the good doctor is whining that Greg Lavelle gives too much of his legislative compensation to charity ($30,000 at last count). Doc Mike points out that Rep. Lavelle hasn’t returned his stipend for serving in leadership. The problem is that Doc Mike has served for 4 years on the Joint Sunset Committee and so is also receiving a stipend. And Doc Mike also hasn’t mentioned that he has pocketed the same expense reimbursements that he complains that Greg Lavelle has taken.

So let’s see, both have received expense reimbursements and stipends and annual pay raises along with the pay raises in the quadrennial compensation commission report. Greg Lavelle has pointed out that the annual pay raises are improper given the Compensation Commission raises and so gives those raises to charity to the tune of $30,000. In other words, Greg feels that legislators shouldn’t get two pay raises at a time (one automatically and the other voted on in the annual budget), so he returns his by giving it to charity.

Doc Mike? He pockets both sets of pay raises, and whines. My understanding is that Doctors take a Hippocratic oath. Looks like Doc Mike also took a hypocritic oath, too…

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Is Delaware’s Department of Election Stifling Free Speech

The following is from the Ernie Lopez campaign. While I’m not fully up to speed on all of the issues, the story as laid out by the Lopez campaign raises some very, very serious and dangerous implications for Free Speech in Delaware and the crisis that can be caused by 1 Party Rule…

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters, As we march towards primary day, political games are afoot and I wanted to take a moment to update you on some recent developments. The Commissioner of Elections for the State of Delaware has notified me that an advertisement produced and paid for by Project Restore America, the conservative group led by former Jack Kemp staffer, Paul Welday, fell outside the definition of issue advocacy as defined by the Commissioner. We had no role in the production of the video (other than allowing ourselves to be video-taped by the group) and when we saw the finished product we were pleased to see a positive, clean issue advertisement. For those not trained in campaign finance laws, that is why the ad could not and did not say “vote for Ernie Lopez” or remind viewers that there was an election. Indeed, it never even mentioned me as a candidate for public office. Let me be clear, while I have great respect for the Commissioner’s office, I strongly disagree with their decision. Not only was their reliance on the law incorrect but the Commissioner never bothered to ask me or my campaign whether we were involved in the advertisement. Even more troubling, the sanctions put in place by the Commissioner not only stifle free speech but place our campaign (as opposed to Project Restore America which created the ad) at a disadvantage just two weeks before the primary election. Those factors alone make me believe that not only was this decision based on erroneous justifications, it was rooted squarely in politics. It is an obvious attempt to silence a campaign that is a threat to the Democratic ambitions in the 6th Senate District in November. I have attached here my complete response to the Commissioner so you can see for yourself how wrong this decision is. View my response to the Delaware Commissioner of Elections here. Our campaign is stronger than ever. My friends, people of all parties have seen the momentum our campaign has generated and the positive energy with which our grassroots movement has evolved from the bottom up. With your support and with that of thousands of others who believe in the protection of freedom of speech and working towards the elimination of one party rule in Delaware, we will win our primary on September 11th and like a great wave, build on that victory not by attacking our opponents but by setting the standard that all of us want for representation in our new district: honesty, hard work, stewardship and accountability to the people. I thank you for your continued support and ask for your prayers these last two weeks before the primary. As has been made plain here, now more than ever, as those who seek to defeat us begin to smear and attack, the sunshine of our campaign, rooted in the law and based on the truth, will clear the cloudy skies and bring light to the political process in Legislative Hall. With blessings to you and yours and with grateful thanks, Ernie Ernie Lopez Candidate for State Senate – 6th District lopezforsenate@yahoo.com

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Erskine Bowles — Obama’s Selection For Deficit Reduction Planning — Praises Ryan – Pans Obama

Evidently, the Democratic Chair of the Bowles-Simpson Deficit Reduction Committee feels that Paul Ryan is more serious, more informed, and more bi-partisan than the Commander-in-Chief. Glad to see that there are still a few adults left on the Left…

From Yahoo News:

A video of former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles began circulating in conservative news outlets today. In the clip, the Democratic co-chair of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform gives high praises to Paul Ryan’s budget plan.

“I’m telling you, this guy is amazing. I always thought I was OK with arithmetic. This guy can run circles around me,” Bowles tells a class of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“He is honest, he is straightforward, he is sincere. And the budget he came forward with is just like Paul Ryan. It is a sensible, straightforward, honest, serious budget and it cut the budget deficit just like we did by four trillion dollars.”

The video was shot on September 8, 2011, but was just uploaded to YouTube yesterday. What’s striking is that not only does Bowles, a former U.S. Senate candidate from North Carolina, praise Ryan’s effort, but he is also highly critical of the budget offered by President Obama. More from the video:

“The president came out with his own plan. And the president, as you remember, came out with a budget. And I don’t think anybody took that budget very seriously,” Bowles continues.

“The Senate voted against it 97 to nothing. He therefore, after a lot of pressure from folks like me, he came out with a new budget framework. And in that budget framework, he cuts the budget by four trillion dollars over twelve years. And, to be candid, this four trillion dollars cut was very heavily back-end loaded. So, that if you looked at it on a ten-year basis and compared apples to apples, it really was about a two and a half trillion dollar cut.”

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Y’all

I spent my college career in North Carolina. My college roommate was from Greenwood, South Carolina. I lived for almost 3 years along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. Joe Biden started life in Scranton and then grew up in Delaware. Really, Joe? Y’all? Really? Only Hilary Clinton sounds less Southern than you do… To quote Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon…”

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Leadership versus politics – Ryan versus Geithner

In a very brief interchange, VP Candidate Paul Ryan spells out the difference between Republican leadership and Democratic political junk…

“Leaders are supposed to fix problems,” Mr. Ryan lectured Mr. Geithner, demanding the White House offer a new proposal to tackle rising health-care costs. Mr. Ryan said the White Houses approach to the deficit would bring on a “European-style debt crisis.”

“We are not coming before you today to say we have a definitive solution to that long-term problem,” Mr. Geithner said. “What we do know is we don’t like yours.”

via For White House and Ryan, Deficit Became Personal – WSJ.com.

In other words, the White House has no solution, they just want to throw rocks at everyone else. That is what has become of the Left. Pitiful. Really pitiful.

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Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Is Panicking

There are very few friends and allies in politics. Even the Democrats in the U.S. Senate are using the President’s woes as a tool to raise money for themselves. With friends like that, who needs enemies..

From an email sent by the Fundraising entity that is the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…

friend — Mitt Romney has won the fundraising race for two consecutive months, and the last month of polling shows it has destroyed President Obama’s lead: *** 30 Day Poll Tracker*** 7/25: TIE Obama: 46 Romney: 46 (Gallup) 7/10: +6 points Obama: 49 Romney: 43 (Pew Research) 6/20: +13 points Obama: 53 Romney: 40 (Bloomberg) We only have 102 days left until the election, and Romney gets closer to executing a full GOP takeover every day we don’t hit our fundraising goal. The July FEC deadline is in just four days, and we still have $500,000 left to raise. Can you pitch in $5 to Democrats to turn these numbers around? Thanks, Crystal King DSCC Political Director

In case you missed it, Ms. King admits that Romney is on a roll. He is out-fundraising the President and has caught him in the polls (actually says “destroyed [his] lead”). Strong admission from the President’s “friends”…

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Small Businesses Hesitant to Hire, Say the Economy Is Off Track – Council on Small Business

As the owner of a small business with at least 2 openings that, under normal circumstances, I would like to fill, the following survey results come as no surprise to me. 59% say the fiscal cliff will have a direct impact on them and almost 3 out of 4 think that the healthcare law will make hiring more difficult. As the Vice President said, “It is a big f***ing deal.” — Yep, depression era unemployment is a big f***ing deal… Thanks, Mr. Veep. I’m so glad that now that he has received his marching orders, Governor Markell is supporting it.

Only one in five small businesses expect to add employees in 2013 and 82% think the national economy is on the wrong track, according to the U.S. Chamber’s fifth quarterly small business survey released today.

“Washington’s policies are not meeting our country’s fiscal challenges and are prolonging uncertainty among small businesses,” said Dr. Martin Regalia, the Chamber’s chief economist. “Washington can restore confidence for small businesses in this country by  addressing the fiscal cliff, removing regulatory barriers, increasing energy production, and starting over on bipartisan health care legislation.”

The poll of 1,225 small business owners, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that nine out of ten small businesses are concerned about Congress’ ability to reach consensus on expiring tax rates and other business provisions coupled with sequestration cuts—the so-called “fiscal cliff.”  59% say failure to address the fiscal cliff will have a direct impact on their company’s growth.

Of the small businesses surveyed, 72% said the health care law will make it harder for them to hire.  Specifically, they will scale back their workforce to avoid triggering the employer mandate and cut back on full-time workers.

78% of small business owners are looking for government to “get out of the way,” noting that decisions in Washington impact their business. Additionally, 96% believe it is important to vote for a candidate that supports free enterprise.

“We need a change in Washington in order to stimulate economic growth and create jobs,” said the Chamber’s Senior Vice President and National Political Director Rob Engstrom. “Small business owners cannot afford more of the same failed policies.”

via Small Businesses Hesitant to Hire, Say the Economy Is Off Track – Council on Small Business.

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