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Well, was the Indiana Governor misinterpreted?

“I need to clarify a confusion I personally caused yesterday,” Daniels said.  “Yesterday I began extemporaneous comments by saying that the activities of the last two days — and I think I gestured to the atrium — were entirely appropriate. I was talking about the protestors and those who came to express their views and the strength of those views. They are welcome here, today and every day. What they’ve done is completely appropriate. It was not to condone the activities of the House Democratic caucus, which is completely unacceptable of course. Rereading my own comments, I could see how they could have been misconstrued and a couple of people did. So just for those of you who did misunderstand, my bad, but I don’t want any question left.  Huge distinction between people exercising their first amendment rights and people who take a public paycheck, walk off the job, go to another state, and try to wreck the democratic process.”

Or was it a faulty pronoun?

CAVUTO: Governor, maybe you can clarify some things for me, sir, because there have been some critics of yours who’ve said “Well, we don’t quite know where Mitch Daniels is coming from.”

Specifically, on this issue of Democrats bolting the state. You had said at the time, I believe: “This is a perfectly legitimate part of the process.”

Did you say that? Because it sounds like what you say now is different.

DANIELS: Well, they can be forgiven, because I was a little careless with my words. Most people understood exactly what I meant. What I said was legitimate was the protests by union members and others out in the capitol of our state.

I was just simply saying they were within their First Amendment rights. I have always said what the Democrats did — walking off the job, taking taxpayer dollars over to a swimming pool in Illinois — was unacceptable and outrageous and embarrassing.

But there was one news story in which those two things were confused, and I’ll take the responsibility for not being clearer about my pronoun.

Nevertheless, clarification has been made and Mitch Daniels did confront the same issue as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did but six years previous. The issue confronting the Indiana Legislature was PRIVATE Right to Work laws.

Now, the Indiana Fleebaggers want to negotiate MORE issues before they return from Illinois.

How Mitch Daniels decides this FlAP will be watched as a predictor of Presidential leadership.

These are my links for February 24th from 14:06 to 14:17:

• Follow the Money – Who Benefits from the Public Employee Unions? – Everyone has priorities. During the past week, Barack Obama has found no time to condemn the attacks that Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi has launched on the Libyan people.

  But he did find time to be interviewed by a Wisconsin television station and weigh in on the dispute between Republican governor Scott Walker and the state’s public-employee unions. Walker was staging “an assault on unions,” he said, and added that “public employee unions make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens.”

  Enormous contributions, yes — to the Democratic party and the Obama campaign. Unions, most of whose members are public employees, gave Democrats some $400 million in the 2008 election cycle. The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the biggest public-employee union, gave Democrats $90 million in the 2010 cycle.

  “Follow the money,” Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public-employee unions — who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public-employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic party.

  So, just as the president complained in his 2010 State of the Union address about a Supreme Court decision that he feared would increase the flow of money to Republicans, he also found time to complain about a proposed state law that could reduce the flow of money to Democrats.

  And, according to the Washington Post, he had time enough to get the Democratic National Committee to organize protests against the proposed Wisconsin law — protests that showed contempt for the law, with teachers abandoning classrooms, doctors writing phony medical excuses, Democratic legislators fleeing the state and holing up in a motel. The lawmakers played hooky without losing any salary, which is protected by the state constitution.

  It’s true that Walker’s proposals would strike hard at the power of the public-employee unions. They would no longer have the right to bargain for fringe benefits, which are threatening to bankrupt the state government, and they would no longer be able to count on government withholding dues money and passing it along to them.

  But what are the contributions that public-employee unions make to our states and our citizens? Their incentives are to increase the cost of government and reduce toward zero the accountability of public employees — both contrary to the interests of taxpaying citizens.

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  Read it all

• Obama’s Gay-Marriage Striptease – The Obama administration’s announcement today that it regards the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional and will not defend it in court is the latest act in a striptease. President Obama favors same-sex marriage — favors its judicial imposition — and is casting off the disguises that have hidden that position one by one.

  The portion of the Defense of Marriage Act on which the administration just opined defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for the purposes of federal law. So if a state court declares that in Massachusetts men can marry each other, its edict does not require the federal government to provide spousal benefits under Social Security to such couples. Obama, while claiming to oppose same-sex marriage, has also favored repeal of this act.

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  Read it all

• President 2012: Mike Huckabee defends Obama on Jeremiah Wright – In an interview with Christianity Today, Mike Huckabee denounces the line of attack that Republicans opened up against Obama in 2008 concerning his controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright. Huckabee, on Obama:

  He's been very expressive in his statements, even at the Saddleback Forum when he ran in 2008. He spelled out very clearly what his view was, and frankly, it's inappropriate , wrong-headed, and not helpful to the overall discussion when people try to say he doesn't have a birth certificate or he's a Muslim. To me that demeans the entire real discussion—what is he proposing and whether it's good for the country—that ought to be the centerpiece for our entire conversation, not what did he hear when he sat in church. If people went back and heard every sermon I heard when I was a little kid and some of the more fundamentalist pastors were yelling from the pulpit at me, if they took every one of those sermons and lifted out of them certain phrases and things, it could be scandalous, but only out of the context of the bigger picture. That's why I thought that a lot of the focus on Jeremiah Wright was misplaced.

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  Still think Huckabee is running for President in 2012?

  Mike will have a hard time winning the GOP nomination and he will not readily give up his fat paycheck at Fox News.

• Watchdog calls for criminal probe of Governor Walker over prank Koch call – A Washington-based campaign finance watchdog group is calling on Wisconsin prosecutors to launch an investigation of Governor Scott Walker, alleging potentially illegal fundraising activity in an exchange with the prankster who posed as billionaire David Koch, the group says.

  The Public Campaign Action Fund provided me with a letter it has sent to the Dane County District Attorney, who has jurisdiction over state government matters, asking him to probe whether Walker engaged in an effort to solicit "illegal coordinated political spending," as well as whether he illegally did so from state property, i.e., his office.

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  Greg Sargent is a lackey for the Far Left and what else do you expect from the Fleebag LEFT.

  This is as stupid as it is moronic.

Watch it all.

California will have NO choice but to change its pension rules for public employees. California has a massive budget deficit and unfunded pension liabilities.

The time to start is today.

These are my links for February 24th from 10:36 to 10:41:

• New Planned Parenthood Report: Record Abortions Done in 2009 – A new report the Planned Parenthood national abortion business recently released shows the embattled agency did more abortions in 2009 than it has done in any prior year. The report also shows it providing fewer pregnant women with non-abortion services.

  Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently posted on its website what it calls its service numbers for 2009. This document, dated February 2011, shows Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide did 332,278 surgical abortions or abortions using the dangerous RU 486 abortion during in 2009.

  That’s 2.5 percent more abortions than the September 2010 report the abortion business released covering 2008 and showing it doing 324,008 abortions, which was a 6.1 percent increase over the 305,310 abortions it did in 2007. The 2007 figure was itself a 5.3 percent increase over the 289,750 abortions Planned Parenthood did in 2006.

  With approximately 1.2 million abortions done annually in the United States via surgical abortions or the mifepristone abortion drug, Planned Parenthood has increased its share of the abortion industry to 27.6 percent of all abortions done annually.

  However, the new numbers make it more clear that women who are pregnant who come to Planned Parenthood receive only abortion services rather than help and support.

  The new document the abortion organization posted shows Planned Parenthood provided prenatal services to merely 7,021 women and referred only 977 women for adoption services. These numbers were a 25 percent drop in prenatal care clients and a whopping 59 percent decline in adoption referrals from the 2,405 adoption referrals in 2008. The abortion business helped only 9,433 prenatal clients in 2008, down substantially from the 11,000 women it provided prenatal care to in 2007 — showing health care given to pregnant woman has fallen substantially over the years.

  As a result, 97.6 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood are sold abortions while less than 2.4 percent of pregnant women received non-abortion services including adoption and prenatal care. That’s up from 96.5 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood getting abortions in 2008.

  “Despite its protestations that abortion is only a small part of its services,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of the pro-life group American Life League, “Planned Parenthood has increased its number of abortions for 15 straight years. During that time, it has gone from committing 9.3 percent of all abortions in the United States to committing 27.5 percent.”

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  Read it all

• Obama Backers Given Singing Slots for Motown Bash – Sheryl Crow is Motown? – Some of the performers at tonight’s White House tribute to Motown don’t seem to have much obvious connection to Motown. But they do have a connection: to Obama.

  Tonight’s East Room event is titled, “The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House – a Thank You from the Obamas to Their Supporters.”

  OK, actually, it’s only titled, “The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House,” but that hardly seems to do the event justice.

  Let’s start by wondering what white teen idol Nick Jonas is doing on the line up.

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  Obama cannot even do Motown right.

These are my links for February 24th from 08:07 to 08:55:

• Romney antes up for Wisconsin GOP – As Does Pawlenty – Mitt Romney is sending cash to Wisconsin Republicans in a show of solidarity with Gov. Scott Walker’s push to end collective bargaining for state employees.

  “Liberal big government interests are fighting efforts to rein in out-of-control public employee pay and benefits in Wisconsin," Romney said in a Thursday statement. "It is critical that we stand with the Wisconsin GOP as it stands up for the rights of the taxpayer."

  Continue Reading
  His Free and Strong America PAC is sending the maximum $5,000 contribution to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

  The fight is part of Walker’s battle to solve the state’s budget woes, and union protestors have come out in force to oppose his plan.

  Romney isn’t the only 2012-er to jump into the Wisconsin fray: Tim Pawlenty launched a website to back Walker’s push.

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  As they should

• Mitch Daniels addresses right-to-work bill — in Ohio – With Indiana House Democrats lodged in a hotel in Illinois, Gov. Mitch Daniels headed the other direction — to Ohio.

  Daniels spoke Wednesday at the Duke Energy Convention Center for the Hamilton County Republican Party's annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner fundraiser.

  Though he is the 10th possible GOP presidential contender to make the pilgrimage to Southwest Ohio, a Republican stronghold that will be key to the 2012 Ohio presidential primary, Daniels stressed the visit was not a "stump speech." He praised Ohio Republicans, who this year took over control of the governor's office and the House of Representatives.

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  Mitch Daniels realizes his initial response to the Wisconsin/Indiana Union Legislation was a non-starter and will try to crawl back.

• Mitch Daniels ’71: Into the spotlight – Daniels’ classmates said they do not envision any future political ambitions being affected by the drug incident from 40 years ago.

  “It’s certainly ancient history by now. Mitch has made lots of public statements about not being involved with [the incident] for a long, long time,” Stuart said.

  Daniels said that he is not in an appropriate place to say whether the drug incident will impact any political hopes.

  “Since I became an elected officer, I have not suggested to any voter what they shouldn’t use as a criterion,” Daniels said.

  Engel, meanwhile, said Daniels’ past is unlikely to raise unease among potential voters.

  “He’s really competent and I would have no concern,” Engel said. “No one would take him to the cleaners. He’s too smart.”

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  Mitch Daniel's drug coinviction will not affect a Presidential run.

  But, running away from conservative principles will

This is according to the latest Rasmussen Poll on the issue.

Half of America’s voters favor public sector unions for government workers, but they strongly oppose the tactic by Wisconsin state senators to flee their state to prevent a vote that would limit the rights of such unions.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 25% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of this tactic, while 67% disapprove. State legislators in Indiana have used the same approach to avoid a vote in their state.

Not surprising and could you imagine if the GOP had done this during other contentious issues over the years what the media response would have been?

What is interesting is that even Democrats are about evenly split on the issue.

Sizable majorities of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party reject such a strategy. Democrats are fairly evenly divided, with 48% approving and 44% disapproving.

Until the Democratic senators return, there will not be quorum allowing a vote on Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to have public employees pay more for their health and pension benefits and to limit their collective bargaining rights. The Republican majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature are expected to pass the governor’s proposal which has been the subject of major protests in the state for several days now. 

Now, whether Wisconsin allows collective bargaining for its public employees is an issue to be decided by the Wisconsin Legislature. If Wisconsin voters do not like it, they can replace their representatives at the next election. This is how American government works.

Voters continue to be closely divided over the question of public employee unions themselves. Fifty percent (50%) at least somewhat favor such unions, while 44% oppose them. These figures include 25% who Strongly Favor the unions and 25% who are Strongly Opposed.

Last month in a survey of American Adults as opposed to Likely Voters, 45% supported public employee unions, while 45% opposed them. Support for the unions was down from 53% in May of last year.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats now favor public employee unions, while 66% of Republicans and 54% of unaffiliated voters oppose them.