• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 31st on 18:52

    These are my links for March 31st from 18:52 to 18:55:

    • Rudy Giuliani Blasts Obama on Libya Action – Rudy Giuliani told Laura Ingraham that "since this whole thing in the Middle East began," the Obama administration "doesn't know what it's doing."

      "This is probably the worst handled national security military action I have ever seen. From announcing — when he didn't know what to do — that Gadhafi must go to then making that speech the other night, which was internally contradictory. You cannot say we're there to protect the Libyan people, but we're not going to be for regime change with Gadhafi because the reason we are there to protect the Libyan people is because of Gadhafi."

      ======

      Obama does not understand foreign policy and has no experience in it.

    • President 2102: Can Obama Lose? – Perhaps – So what combination of factors in this complex system of politics must come together to cause a catastrophe for Obama politically that would result in his defeat?

      Only one Democratic president has lost a reelection bid.

      I see three, and all have to be in place and reinforce each other for Obama to lose. First, the economy in 2012 has to be either stagnant or in decline in the 10 or so key electoral states (especially the ones in the Midwest) as he heads into the election. This would mean that the economy is creating very few net jobs in 2012 and that prices (including food and gas) are still rising.
      Second, no new major international crisis arises that causes people to rally behind Obama because of his competent handling of it. And I emphasize the words “new,” “major,” and “competent.” Afghanistan and Iraq devolving again into a problem will not help Obama, and actually may hurt him because our country has basically moved on from the situation in both places.
      Third, a Republican nominee has to emerge who is charismatic; is a very good communicator; is in touch with the country’s economic and social needs; and is a new brand of GOP leader whom many younger voters can connect with. Think of what it took in 1980 to defeat the Democratic incumbent—Ronald Reagan and crises galore.
      All three factors must converge for Obama to lose, and two of them are needed to drive his job approval down to a place, as I have written before, that makes it difficult for him to win. As one can see, these three elements don’t include how much money the Democratic National Committee and Obama have at their disposal; how much cash the Republican National Committee or the Republican nominee raises; the quality of each campaign staff; the legislative machinations of Congress; or the use of modern technology in the campaigns (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). Those are all tactical factors that, ultimately, will have little influence on whether Obama wins or loses.

      ======

      It will have to be a new GOP candidate like Mitch Daniels or Chris Christie – not a retread like Huckabee or Romney.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 31st on 15:41

    These are my links for March 31st from 15:41 to 16:09:

  • Charles Koch,  David Koch,  Georgia Pacific

    Union Leader Says a Boycott of Koch Industries Georgia Pacific is a Bad Idea

    Greenpeace is flying a blimp over Rancho Mirage, California to protest the Koch Brothers

    Well, DUH.

    A number of organizations are advocating a boycott of the products that come from companies owned by the Koch family. This is problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it could potentially hurt the wrong people.

    The Koch brothers own Georgia Pacific. It is an American consumer goods company that makes everyday products like facial tissue, napkins, paper towels, paper cups and the like. Their plants are great examples of American advanced manufacturing. Incidentally,

    GP makes most of its products here in America. The company’s workforce is highly unionized. In fact, 80 percent of its mills are under contract with one or more labor union.  It is not inaccurate to say that these are among the best-paid manufacturing jobs in America.

    This presents a dilemma and a paradox. While the Koch brothers are credited with advocating an agenda and groups that are clearly hostile to labor and labor’s agenda, the brothers’ company in practice and in general has positive and productive collective bargaining relationships with its unions.

    While some companies are running from investment in American jobs, The Koch brothers’ Georgia Pacific just reached agreements with its primary union in the paper industry to invest more than a half a billion dollars in capital to essentially create two state-of-the-art machines that conserve fiber and energy at two separate union mills.

    While certainly there are disagreements from time to time on what the right pension program is, or right wage increases and incentives, or the right formula for health care cost sharing, ultimately we end up with negotiated solutions.

    So the problem for the advocates of a boycott against Koch is that it can only marginally hurt Koch, and the workers who are the epitome of what advanced manufacturing jobs in the United States ought to look like, would be the first casualties of a boycott. Of course, this will eventually drive a wedge between groups that are otherwise in political alignment.

    If consumers pick alternate products (because people will still use toilet paper), in many cases, the substitute will be from a company with a track record that is much less friendly to the values of the workers who would, as a result of the boycott, become the collateral damage. The Koch brothers’ lifestyle will not dramatically change; there are no shareholders that will become concerned; the company is privately owned. The stock won’t plummet either — there is none.

    The Koch Brothers believe in capitalism and free markets. This also includes collective bargaining and organized labor.

    I don’t see why Charles and David Koch are demonized by the LEFT – unless you don’t believe in capitalism. They are businessmen, run very good business enterprises and have ideas in which they will put their money where their mouths are. Oh yeah, and a great deal of charity donations, including cancer research and the fine arts.

    Kind of the American way, no?

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitt Romney,  Newt Gingrich,  Polling,  President 2012,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 Ohio GOP Poll Watch: Mike Huckabee Leading

    According to the latest Strategic National Poll.

    • Huckabee – 24.49%
    • Gingrich – 21.94%
    • Palin – 16.33%
    • Romney – 13.78%
    • Bachmann – 5.61%
    • Pawlenty – 3.57%
    • Santorum – 2.04%
    • Barbour – 1.53%
    • Huntsman – 1.53%
    • Undecided – 9.18%

    Ohio is a must win state for the GOP in the Electoral College against President Obama. Again, Mike Huckabee who has made little or no effort to declare himself a Presidential candidate is leading Mitt Romney who will be running.

    Again, Sarah Palin trails but this time in the middle of the pack.

  • California Budget,  California Republican Party,  Jerry Brown

    Video: California GOP to Governor Jerry Brown – Do Your Job

    Jerry Brown campaigned on the promise that he could bring both parties together and make the tough decisions now. Call Jerry and tell him to make the tough decisions now!

    A hard-hitting ad by the California GOP that makes an apt point to California Democrats. Where have you been? Especially since they have had control of the California Legislature for decades and Brown has been around California politics for decades.

    So, Jerry, why not negotiate with the Republicans and do YOUR job?

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 31st on 11:41

    These are my links for March 31st from 11:41 to 11:56:

    • President 2012 GOP: S.C. Republicans Escalate Election Calendar Feud – South Carolina Republican Party Chair Karen Floyd today brought into the open the simmering tensions between the traditional early states and the others — particularly Florida — jockeying to break into the primary calendar. 

      Floyd's demand: If Florida won't step aside, the RNC should move its convention out of the state. 

      She writes to fellow RNC members:

      Unfortunately, our Party stands on the precipice of our hard work being rendered meaningless, with the very real possibility looming that Florida’s Presidential Preference Primary may be held prior to March 1, in contravention of Party Rules – a move that would precipitate numerous other states similarly violating Party Rules.

      As conservatives, we believe in the rule of law, and that rules are made to be followed. To that end, I am sure we all appreciate our state Party counterparts in Florida advocating for the RNC rules being obeyed. But what is disconcerting is the apparent recalcitrance of Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature, which is in effect thumbing its nose at the RNC – and feels emboldened to do so because of the 2012 convention location….

      Simply put, if Florida does not respect the process by which our primary calendar was set, the RNC should not be bound to the process by which the convention site was selected.

      If Florida refuses to move its primary date into compliance with RNC rules, I am respectfully requesting that the Committee convene a special task force to select a new site for the 2012 Convention outside the state of Florida…

      She suggests the labor battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Ohio, or Indiana, Senate battlegrounds of Virginia, Missouri, or Michigan, or the Democratic convention spot of Charlotte as possible alternatives.

      ======

      Florida is > than South Carolina

    • The AARP America Doesn’t Know – An Investigative Report – AARP, formerly known as the American Association of
      Retired Persons, is a tax-exempt non-profit membership
      organization for those aged 50 years and older. As
      such, AARP has long been regarded as a protector and
      advocate of the nation’s senior community.
      What is less known is the extent to which AARP
      operates as a massive for-profit enterprise and how
      that conflicts with its legal requirements to “primarily
      operate to promote the common good and social
      welfare of a community of people.”
      This report highlights AARP’s increasing reliance on
      the “for-profit” sale of insurance, particularly health
      insurance, and the underlying implication for this storied
      “non-profit” organization. In conducting the research,
      one of the central questions became: Why would AARP
      aggressively advocate for the Democrats’ health care
      law last year which contained nearly one half-trillion
      dollars in cuts that independent analysts said would
      negatively impact seniors’ access to affordable health
      care services.

      =======

      Read it all

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitt Romney,  Newt Gingrich,  Polling,  President 2012,  Rudy Giuliani,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012 Florida Poll Watch: Obama 46% Vs Romney 44% – Within the Margin of Error

    According to the latest PPP Poll.

    Job approval Vs Disapproval:

    • President Obama: 48% Vs. 47% (45% Vs. 49% in December 2010)

    Favorable Vs. Unfavorable:

    • Mitt Romney – 39% Vs. 39%
    • Mike Huckabee – 40% vs. 39%
    • Jeb Bush – 44% Vs. 44%
    • Newt Gingrich 32% Vs. 48%
    • Sarah Palin – 32% Vs. 60%
    • Rudy Giuliani – 37% vs. 46%

    Head to Head:

    • Obama – 46% Vs. Romney – 44%
    • Obama – 50% Vs. Huckabee – 43%
    • Obama – 50% Vs. Gingrich – 42%
    • Obama – 48% Vs. Bush – 44%
    • Obama – 48% Vs. Giuliani – 42%
    • Obama – 52% Vs. Palin – 39%

    Fianlly, a good poll for Mitt Romney. But, Mike Huckabee is hanging in there and may give him pause as Huck decides whether to run or not.

    Another disastrous poll for Sarah Palin (60% unfavorables) as she fades from being considered a serious candidate for the Presidency in 2012.

    Interesting that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush does not do any better than Mitt Romney in this poll.

    The GOP NEEDS to win Florida in order to beat President Obama in the Electoral College. It appears the tried and true candidates of Huckabee and/or Romney may very well provide the opportunity.

  • David Prosser,  Tea Party,  Wisconsin

    Video: The Tea Party and the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

    State Tea Party Express reminds Wisconsin residents to vote on April 5th. Big union bosses are trying to defeat Justice Prosser and elect their own environmental activist judge. Justice Prosser is fair-minded and principled.

    Political pundits have been wondering if the Tea Party was going to lay down in Wisconsin after the Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Vs. Democrat Legislators Fleebaggers Flap.

    The ansewr is NO.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 31st on 09:42

    These are my links for March 31st from 09:42 to 10:37:

    • Sen. Marco Rubio Takes the Lead on Libya – THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained the text of a letter freshman senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent tonight to the Senate majority and minority leaders. In it, Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize the president’s use of force in Libya, and that the authorization state that the aim of the use of force should be the removal of the Qaddafi regime. (The full text of the letter is below.)

      This is by far the boldest move Rubio has made—it’s perhaps the boldest move any freshman senator has made—in the three months since the beginning of the 112th Congress. Rubio is taking on those in his own party who wish to distance themselves from what they consider Obama’s war in Libya. He is answering critics of the war who have tried to cast a vague sense of illegitimacy over the action because Congress hasn’t explicitly authorized it. And Rubio is trying to push the administration into fully embracing regime change as an explicit goal, thus providing a compelling clarity for American military action—a clarity that he thinks will increase support for the effort at home and the chances of success on the ground.

      =======

      Ill-advised political move giving President Obama political cover.

    • Poll Watch: What’s behind Tea Party approval numbers – But let’s unpack all that. First, the poll is of all Americans (generally a sign of a leftward-tilt in results), not registered or likely voters. Second, while the poll asserts that half of all American households make under $50,000, the electorate is very different. In the 2010 exit polls, only 36 percent of voters had household incomes less than $50,000. These people voted Democratic (54 percent), while the electorate as a whole voted for Republicans over Democrats by a wide margin. And for non-white voters with incomes under $50,000 the Democratic tilt was even more dramatic (80 percent voted Democratic). Among those who voted for Democrats, 86 percent had a negative view of the Tea Party.

      CNN hasn’t released the underlying data, so we don’t know if the drop in support among low-income respondents is simply a reflection of increased animosity by Democrats or a rally-’round- Obama phenomenon by minority voters who still favor the president to a greater degree than the electorate as a whole. Moreover, we don’t know whether the poll over-sampled the very groups most likely to have negative views of the Tea Party.

      But if the Tea Party’s favorable rating dropped only 5 percentage points since December — nearly within the poll’s margin of error — then the grass-roots movement must be doing pretty darn well with the rest of the respondents (that is, those with incomes over $50,000 who made up 64 percent of the 2010 electorate).

      It’s hard to figure why the results reflect “a reaction to the tea party’s push for large cuts in government programs that help lower-income Americans.” Was that question asked? Or is that pure speculation? That assertion is even more odd in that the cuts the Tea Party generally embraces — e.g. means-testing Social Security — AREN’T aimed at the poor.

      What we do know is that the electorate as a whole and the Congress including Senate Democrats have accepted the Tea Party’s core message of deficit reduction and spending restraint. But if liberals want to keep on discounting the importance of the Tea Party, and more important, the message of the Tea Party, I am sure fiscal conservatives would be delighted.

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      Read it all.

      Without the underlying data, the CNN poll on the Tea party looks like an outlier at best and a fraud at worst.