• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2010-12-20

    • Mitt Romney's been looking weaker and weaker in our 2012 Presidential polling over the last couple months and it's pretty easy to identify the reason why: he has a major problem with conservatives and there's no evidence it's getting any better.

      We've polled eight states, not including Massachusetts, since the 2010 election ended. Romney has the lowest favorability rating of the Republican top 4 with conservatives in every single one of those states except Michigan, where he probably benefits from his dad having been the Governor.
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      Read it all

      (tags: Mitt_Romney)
    • Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session.

      Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told reporters Monday afternoon that he would vote to ratify the treaty and also support a motion to end debate, which the Senate will consider Tuesday.

      “I believe it’s something that’s important for our country and I believe it’s a good move forward,” Brown said after emerging from a classified briefing in the Old Senate Chamber.
      +++++++
      Good luck to those GOP Senators supporting this treaty in their next primary election.

      The Tea Party will primary those non-lame duck GOP Senators who vote for START

      (tags: START)
    • A lot has happened in the 32 years since Proposition 13 that will have to be taken into account. The landmark Serrano vs Priest decision, for example, will require that school districts aren’t wildly underfinanced in one community and lavishly funded in another. Proposition 98 will have to be handled. All kinds of state mandates that don’t include funding will have to be altered. See Hillel: on commentary.

      California state government has plenty to do to fund and repair higher education, highways, state parks, state law enforcement, prisons, state courts, environmental protection, natural resources and the like, just as state government did before Proposition 13.
      ++++++
      And, who run local counties and city governments?

      The public employee unions.

      This plan would crash Cali Real Estate market

      But three decades after the great transfer of power to Sacramento, it’s time to fight for power to local communities, for sanity in government finance and even, we dare say, for democracy.

    • Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

      How did the FCC get here?

      For years, proponents of so-called "net neutrality" have been calling for strong regulation of broadband "on-ramps" to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast.
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      Read it all

    • It's official: the path has been cleared for Tuesday's historic vote at the Federal Communications Commission approving sweeping new "network neutrality" rules designed to ensure that the Internet remains an open platform that doesn't favor dominant telecommunications and cable companies.

      Democratic FCC regulators Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn plan to "concur" on the proposal, meaning they support adoption but don't agree with every detail. Their backing gives FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski the three votes he needs on the five-member commission for passage.

      Copps and Clyburn have been fighting for stronger provisions to better protect consumers and smaller competitors. Critics of the regulatory initiative, including the agency's two GOP members, dismiss it as unnecessary government intervention that seeks to correct marketplace problems that do not exist.
      +++++++
      Read it all. And, what will the GOP do to the regulations in January?

  • Meg Whitman,  Rob Stutzman

    Rob Stutzman: Meg Whitman Paid a High Price for Latino Distrust of GOP

    Rob Stutzman: Meg Whitman Paid a High Price for Latino Distrust of GOP

    Meg Whitman’s former lead spokesman is starting to speak up about the candidate’s losing race for governor. And he’s shouting about the need for Republicans to stop the demagoguery over illegal immigration.

    Senior advisor Rob Stutzman isn’t exactly spilling his guts about the former EBay chief’s spectacular thumping. The billionaire lost to low-budget Jerry Brown by 54% to 41%, despite spending a record $160 million-plus, roughly $142 million of it her own money.

    But the veteran Republican strategist is blaming the mini-landslide size of Whitman’s loss on some ugly dust-ups over illegal immigration that alienated Latinos from the GOP.

    On Nov. 2, a record 22% of the California electorate was Latino. They voted heavily for Democrat Brown — somewhere between 64% and 80%, depending on which poll you believe.

    Whatever the real figure, it should scare the GOP because Latinos are by far California’s fastest-growing voter group.

    “Republicans need to understand that they live in suburbs with second-generation Mexican American neighbors whose parents came here and worked in agriculture and the service industries and are very proud” of their families’ success, Stutzman says.

    “They sit around at cocktail parties and they listen on talk shows and hear their parents referred to as ‘illegals.’ And we wonder why these people don’t want to register as Republicans.”

    Stutzman, 42, is no RINO — what right-wing ideologues deride as a Republican in Name Only — even if he did serve as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first communications director. His party credentials include communications jobs with former Atty. Gen. Dan Lundgren and state Senate Republicans. He also ran a successful 2000 initiative campaign to ban same-sex marriage.

    Read it all.

    The Truth is Meg Whitman’s campaign was one of the worst run I have ever seen. What a waste of money and people’s resources. Stutzman and Mike Murphy milked Meg Whitman for whatever they could get out of her and helped lead the California GOP to disaster in November.

    The California Latino demographics have been something, he has just now discovered?

    Ridiculous……

  • Mike Pence

    Indiana GOP Rep. Mike Pence to Run for President?

    U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) speak to reporters during a news conference about their goal of permanently extending Bush-era tax rates at the U.S. Capitol in Washington December 2, 2010

    My bet is he runs for Indiana Governor and then perhaps for President in 2016 or 2020 – if he so desires.

    If Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence decides to run for president, he’ll announce his candidacy before the end of January.

    A source close to Pence told POLITICO that the conservative congressman still hasn’t decided whether to run for president or if he’ll opt for a gubernatorial bid instead. But sitting Republican Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman’s announcement Monday that she won’t run for governor appears to be pushing Pence toward Indianapolis.

  • Dream Act

    DREAM Act is Dead: A Procedural Note about H.R. 5281

    Michelle Malkin has the story that was swirling around the nets this weekend after the DREAM Act was blocked on Saturday.

    There is a bit of confusion on the Internet that needs to be cleared up about the Democrats’ plans for the DREAM Act.

    A number of readers have pointed to a weekend post at FreeRepublic.com warning that the DREAM Act is “hidden” in another bill, H.R. 5281.

    Senate staff explained to me today that DREAM was passed as an amendment to HR 5281 in the House and it was sent over as a “message,” which gave it privileged status so the Senate didn’t have to vote on a motion to proceed (simply a cloture vote). My Senate staff source added that it essentially gave the Democrats an avenue to bypass a procedural hurdle in the Senate, but since the Senate failed to proceed to the 3rd amendment (the DREAM Act), it is dead and HR 5281 does not
    include it.

    Vigilance for open border type illegal alien amnesty is warranted, indeed – since this DREAM Act and other legislation is bound to return.

    Now, it is time to go on offense.

  • Dave Weigel,  Sarah Palin

    Is Sarah Palin Overexposed?

    Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, center, holds 6-month-old Peyton Gray, as she talks to her father Derek Gray, 29, of Meyerland who is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces 138th Fighter Wing, during a book signing even in which Palin autographed her new book, ‘America by Heart’, at a Borders Bookstore on Monday, Nov. 29, 2010, in Houston

    Yeah, perhaps. After all, Sarah has a weekly television show on TLC, a new book, America By Heart, commentary/guest spots every few days on Fox News and is doing interviews with Barbara Walters and other MSM outlets .But, it is not as bad as saying her book tour is sputtering.

    She’s going to sell more books than just about any 2012 presidential candidate, unless Deepak Chopra throws his hat in the ring. Let’s just admit that. Let’s also ask what it means that Sarah Palin’s America by Heart is not anywhere close to the hit Going Rogue was. The new book debuted at number 2 on the NYT bestseller list, then fell to 3rd, 5th, and now 8th, which means it’s unlikely it will ever get the “#1 New York Times bestseller” badge given to recent hits by David Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, and Glenn Beck.

    Big deal. It is Christmas time and folks are busy with shopping, Christmas celebrations and family.

    But, then again consider the source. Remember Weigel resigned from the Washington Post because of the JournoList flap.

  • Day By Day

    Day By Day December 20, 2010 – Solid State?

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The new Congress coming into office this January will be like no other. Never in American history will there been as much day to day scrutiny of its members.

    Every big campaign check, every speech, every foible and slip up with be immediately electronically blasted to voters in their districts. There is no hiding of votes by national parties, parliamentary tricks, or trading of “earmarks” with other members.

    Doing Congressional business will be more democratic and open.

    Isn’t that what the Founders intended?

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