• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2011-02-10

    • Gov. Mitch Daniels refused to answer this morning when asked if he will stay as governor if he runs for president.

      Asked by The Indianapolis Star if he would resign to pursue the GOP nomination for the presidency, Daniels first said: “There’s too many ifs in that question for me to answer it.”

      Pressed again, he said: “I haven’t even thought about it.”

      Daniels spoke briefly to Indiana reporters this morning after a Statehouse memorial to President Ronald Reagan, for whom Daniels worked as political director. Daniels left immediately afterward to fly to Washington, D.C., where he is speaking on Friday evening to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

      +++++++

      I would assume he would stay in office due to the scheduling of Indiana's Legislative sessions.

  • Dianne Feinstein,  Mike Huckabee

    Mike Huckabee’s PAC Raising Funds to Defeat California Senator Dianne Feinstein?

    This missive came into my e-mail box this afternoon. Now, Huck is not at CPAC and begins his book tour soon, so what is he doing here:

    California needs a conservative United States Senator. Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein has been in Washington too long and it appears she’s stopped listening to California voters – after all, you didn’t want bailouts, you didn’t want the stimulus package and you sure didn’t want Obamacare. Thanks to elected officials like Senator Feinstein you got bailouts, you got the stimulus and you got Obamacare.

    Senator Feinstein like all of the Democrats up for re-election in 2012 is a large reason our nation is going bankrupt. Sadly last week, when given a chance to begin to redeem poor legislative choices, Senator Feinstein voted AGAINST the repeal of Obamacare.

    Huck PAC is preparing to help conservatives win the California Senate seat and defeat other vulnerable Democrat Senators across the nation. We are asking 100 California supporters to donate this week towards this goal. Will you make a donation of $5 or more to stop Senator Feinstein and the budget-busting Democrats in Washington?

    I have sent this email to just 1,000 California voters across the state. I am counting on a response from you. If you would prefer to donate by mail, please send your check to Huck PAC at:

    Huck PAC
    Attn: Stop Senate Democrats Fund
    PO Box 2008
    Little Rock , AR 72203 

    California and America would be better off with conservative Senators like Marco Rubio in office. Together, we worked sohard to take back the House – now you can help conservatives take back
    the Senate. Please chip in today.

    Fighting for California,

    Mike Huckabee

    Mike Huckabee

    California’s Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein, unless she has failing health is a lock to win another Senate term in 2012. She will likely win by over fifteen points in a deep blue California.

    So, why is Mike Huckabee fundraising for her defeat? Since the money goes to his PAC, which he controls, I assume he could use the money for whatever race he deems fit.

    Or, is Huck, just getting some name ID out her in California for a possible 2012 Presidential run?

  • Mitch Daniels

    Shocker: Mitch Daniels Inhaled and One of His Roommates Was Arrested for Selling Drugs

    Looks like someone in the GOP wants to derail Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels during CPAC. This is why they “leaked” this ancient history to Ben Smith, the Left blogger at Politico.

    Mitch Daniels is weighing a run for president 22 years after he glumly told his college newspaper, the Princetonian, that “any goal I might have had for competing for public office were shot.”

    Though Daniels is often knocked as a dull numbers guy, his past is actually among the most colorful of any Republican contender’s, beginning with the surprisingly little-known fact that he was arrested and jailed in a drug sting operation that centered on his Princeton University dorm room.

    According to campus newspaper reports supplied by the university, Daniels and two other students were swept up in a five-month joint investigation between New Jersey state police and local police that culminated in the May 14th, 1970 raid on Daniels’ shared room at111 Cuyler Hall.

    Daniels and the two other students were initially charged with possession of marijuana, LSD and prescription drugs without a prescription and with “maintaining a common nuisance by maintaining a place for the sale of narcotics.”

    A local detective testified that police had seized “enough marijuana to fill two size 12 shoe boxes and quantities of prescription drugs were found in the room,” according to a dispatch in the Daily Princetonian, whose archives aren’t available online.

    The undercover state police officer involved in the sting visited Daniels’ room “eight or nine times” and “observed narcotics paraphernalia, saw marijuana and hashish being used, and purchased marijuana prescription drugs and LSD.”

    Daniels was never implicated in selling the drugs, and has never hidden the incident. During his 2004 run for governor, a former roommate told the Indianapolis Star that Daniels “had nothing to do” with selling drugs, saying “I was busted.” The roommate went on to say he was no fan of then-President Bush and would have gladly offered unflattering information about a GOP candidate if he’d had it.

    Prosecutors later dropped the stiffer charges against Daniels, and he pled guilty to a disorderly person charge based on his use of marijuana, paying a $350 dollar fine.

    OK, Mitch Daniels smoked marijuana while in college and he had a drug pushing roommate.

    And, President Obama was a “stoner” when he was growing up and lived in Hawaii and admits to using cocaine.

    I thought these stories died out after it was revealed that George W. Bush had a youthful occurring DUI a few days before the 2000 election. If this is all Daniel’s opposition has, then they better dig up the personal dirt harder.

  • E-Verify,  Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    Businesses Fear Expansion of the Illegal Immigration E-Verify Program

    Protesters at a Chipotle restaurant in Minnesota, where some workers were fired after an immigration audit

    Well, too bad.

    In an early indicator of how congressional Republicans will legislate on immigration, House GOP leaders are expanding an inquiry into an enforcement program that allows employers to check the immigration status of employees.

    The E-Verify program has long been championed by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration panel, which will hold a hearing on it Thursday.

    Many business owners believe that Gallegly and other House Republicans want to make E-Verify, currently a voluntary program for companies, mandatory. Critics of such a move, many of them farmers, warn that it could destabilize the agricultural economy, which is heavily dependent on undocumented immigrants, and jeopardize millions of jobs held by American citizens that are upstream and downstream of farm labor.

    The fact is that agricultural mega-business have been using cheap, illegal aliens for most of their labor for decades at great cost to American taxpayers.

    Why?

    Well, it is way cheaper than hiring native born Americans or mechanizing their farming/manufacturing operations. Hence, more profits. But, the taxpayers are picking up the tab for the illegal aliens and their American born (and american citizen) children e.g. public education, medicaid, criminal justice et. al..

    E-Verify is a sensible reform and if the large agricultural companies cannot obtain enough labor then there is always a guest worker program for which they can apply.

    Let’s get the illegal aliens and their hidden costs out of the shadows and back to their home countries while supplying jobs for Americans.

    I will gladly pay a bit more for my lettuce and grapes.

  • Rick Santorum,  Sarah Palin

    Video: Rick Santorum Crawls Back to Sarah Palin

    Former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Rick Santorum on Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Show

    White Sarah Palin was on Hannity calling Rick Santorum a Neanderthal of sorts, Rick was busy walking back his comments he made to S.E. Cupp.

    “This is a news story. Could they have said ‘is that what you meant?’

    And I would have said ‘No’ — that we know that I know, because, because she does — we’ve watched, I think, we’ve watched every episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska. We enjoy it. We like to watch with the family. I know she has obligations to do other things.

    …. I just assumed she was busy, that’s all.”

    How do you spell damage control from the claws of the Mama Grizzly?

  • Barack Obama,  New Hampshire 2012,  President 2012

    President 2012 New Hampshire Poll Watch: Obama 46% Approve Vs. 49% Disapprove of Performance

    Not a good poll for the President in a state where the GOP made gains in 2010. A key battleground state, New Hampshire is a must win for the GOP Presidential candidate in 2012.

    After enduring the 2010 elections which were brutal to Democrats in New Hampshire and across the country, President Barack Obama has yet to recover his popularity in New Hampshire. In the most recent Granite State Poll, 46% of New Hampshire adults say they approve of the job Obama is doing as president, 49% disapprove, and 4% are neutral. These figures are similar to his national ratings, a recent Gallup poll (February 3) showed 46% of U.S. residents approved of the job Obama is doing as President. “Political scientists consider 46% the ‘break even’ point for reelection,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center. “Presidents with approval ratings above 46% typically get reelected while an approval rating below 46% typically results in electoral defeat.”

    • On the economy: 42% Approve and 55% Disapprove
    • On ObamaCare: 38% Approve and 52% Disapprove

    The GOP will make New Hampshire a key pick up state for its nominee in the 2012 Presidential election.

  • Gabrielle Giffords,  Janet Napolitano,  Jeff Flake,  John Kyl,  John Shadegg

    AZ-Sen: Senator John Kyl to Retire – Seat Downgraded to Leans Republican

    Arizona Republican Senator John Kyl

    At 68 years old, Arizona U.S. Senator John Kyl is calling it quits.

    Three-term Sen. Jon Kyl will announce his retirement at a noon ET news conference Thursday in Phoenix, two Republican sources confirmed to Fox News.

    The Arizona lawmaker, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, will be the fifth senator scheduled for re-election next year to announce a departure from Congress in 2012.

    Kyl, 68, served four terms in the House before winning a Senate seat. In 2006, he was named one of the 10 best senators by Time Magazine.

    “He’s leaving now at the top of his game, he has money in the bank, and he’s one of the few long-term incumbents who doesn’t face a Tea Party challenge,” a senior Senate GOP aide with knowledge of Kyl’s decision said.

    Kyl has never lost an election, and would not have been expected to lose a vote for a fourth term. He will be 70 years old when he leaves.

    Good for Kyl as he leaves with enough years to enjoy life and leaves at the top.

    For Republicans, this may not be so good as this seat would be an easy hold for them. In fact, Larry Sabato has downgraded GOP prospects to “Leans Republican.”

    So, who are mentioned as possible replacements?

    Republicans: Rep. Jeff Flake, former Rep. John Shadegg and probably countless others in the Arizona Legislature

    Democrats: Former Arizona Governor and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano and Rep Gabrielle Giffords (if she rehabs in time).

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012: Mitch Daniels – I Would Have the Cash and Support to Win

    Indiana Republican Governor Mitch Daniels talking about a limited, yet vigorous goverment at a Republican Governor’s Association Conference Panel

    Mitch Daniels on the eve of his CPAC speech tomorrow is sounding fairly confident that he can win the GOP Presidential nomination.

    Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels boasts that he would turn heads with his fundraising firepower and roster of big- name GOP supporters if he jumps into the 2012 presidential race.

    “If I were to decide to do this, we would have an unbelievable letterhead,” Daniels predicted in a POLITICO interview Wednesday, lighting up as the hour-long conversation turned to why he could win.

    “I don’t know if we’d raise the most, but for whatever reason there are an awful lot of people standing by who I think know how to do this a lot better than I do,” he said, noting that he’s being pushed to run by an array of business types and political figures.

    Read the entire interview.

    Mitch Daniels exudes confidence and competence. He has been a successful, conservative Governor of Indiana who remains very popular in his state. He is both the anti-Palin and anti-Romney.

    But, if Daniels is considering a run, he has to start moving and organizing his supporters.

  • Rick Santorum,  S.E. Cupp,  Sarah Palin

    Video: Rick Santorum Steps Into It with CPAC Criticism of Sarah Palin

    Former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Rick Santorum with S. E. Cupp.

    Yeah, Rick stepped into the pile with his backhand criticism of Sarah Palin. I knew it was going to be a FLAP because shortly after the quotes hit Twitter, Tammy Bruce was tweeting barbs against him.

    Here is Sarah Palin’s response on Fox News last night.

    Santorum was not very bright in attacking Sarah Palin. What does he gain?

    S.E. CUPP: What about Sarah Palin turning down the keynote? What do you think happened there?

    SANTORUM: I don’t know. You know, I have a feeling she has some demands on her time, and a lot of them have financial benefit attached to them, so I’m sure that she’s doing what’s best for her and her family.

    CUPP: You wouldn’t have turned it down.

    SANTORUM: Well, no, I wouldn’t have turned it down, but I don’t live in Alaska, right, and I’m not the mother to all these kids, and I don’t have other responsibilities like she has.

    Note how Mitt Romney has been treating Sarah – with kid gloves and always supportive. Mitt relishes her support, if she does not run. Mitt makes nice and alienates nobody.

    I don’t think Rick Santorum with the attacks on Palin’s family will ever receive any.

  • Afghanistan,  Barack Obama,  Day By Day

    Day By Day February 10, 2011 – Main Squeeze



    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Zed is in a bad way in Afghanistan. He is in a ten year long war with a President who cares little except the heat he receives from the Democratic Party and its LEFT anti-war wing.

    As the spring fighting season begins in Afghanistan, I wonder why the military does not request an additional SURGE to route out the Taliban and the Islamic radicals – even in Pakistan. You must win the ground war, like in Iraq.

    President Obama must be committed to this effort or Americans MUST replace him in 2012.

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