• Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: April 19, 2012

    April 19, 2012 /

    The Obamas and Bo, their dog – A Chilling Photo?

    These are my links for April 18th through April 19th:

    • Bam Bites Dog – The political perils of personal attacks – One time Barack Obama went to an Indian restaurant and ordered the lassi. Was he ever disappointed when the waiter brought him a yogurt drink!

      We’ll be here all week. But seriously, folks, we have a man-bites-dog story for you today.

      First, some background. Last week Byron York of the Washington Examiner reported that “some Obama staffers are reportedly obsessing over a nearly 30-year-old story about [Mitt] Romney’s dog”:

      In 1983, Romney took his family on vacation and, faced with a packed station wagon, put his Irish setter Seamus in a travel kennel strapped to the roof of the car. Romney constructed a special windshield in an effort to make the dog more comfortable, but Seamus ended up relieving himself on the roof, which reportedly caused much consternation among the Romney boys. Ever since the story got out–it was reported by the Boston Globe in 2007, during Romney’s first run for president–Romney opponents have used it in semiserious and sometimes fully serious ways to portray him as insensitive.
      “I have heard, in focus groups, the dog story totally tanks Mitt Romney’s approval rating,” Chris Hayes said on his MSNBC show. The Washington Post reported last month that the Seamus story “is ballooning into a narrative of epic proportions”:

      Late-night host David Letterman has been giving the dog near-nightly shout-outs. There are parody Web videos, “Dogs Aren’t Luggage” T-shirts and Facebook groups. (“Dogs Against Romney,” which protested outside last month’s Westminster dog show, has more than 38,000 Facebook fans.) The New Yorker featured a cartoon, with Rick Santorum riding in Romney’s rooftop dog carrier, on its cover last week. In the five years since the story was revealed, New York Times columnist Gail Collins has mentioned Seamus in at least 50 columns.

    • The Dog Days of the Presidential Campaign Begin – I would note that in 2008, John McCain’s presidential campaign wouldn’t have touched this anecdote with a ten-foot pole. Between this and the Romney camp’s rapid response to the Rosen comments, we are seeing a Republican presidential campaign that is exponentially faster on its feet and way more nimble than the previous general-election campaign against Obama.
    • IN-Sen: Don’t Believe the Anti-Incumbent Narrative – A few weeks after that primary, on May 8, Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar will either lose to state Treasurer Richard Mourdock or squeeze by him in the GOP primary.

      Lugar’s problems, however, have nothing to do with the “anti-incumbent” mood or Congress’ poor reputation. Instead, they have everything to do with his record and his horrible campaign.

      Lugar’s record and style don’t fit comfortably with where his party now is, yet he made little or no effort to sooth conservatives or to prepare for a battle. If he had, he might, for example, have purchased a house or condo in the state so that he wouldn’t need to stay in a hotel when he returns to the state to campaign.

      More than a year ago, I wrote in this space about Lugar’s vulnerability in a possible one-on-one primary. Almost immediately, I received a call from a Lugar staffer telling me how wrong I was and pointing out that the Senator was hugely popular and had a large campaign war chest.

      In other words, Lugar’s team didn’t understand what could happen if voters were presented with a credible opponent who either had money or would be supported by outside groups willing to spend heavily to defeat the Senator. And later, the campaign didn’t understand why anyone would care that Lugar didn’t own a residence in the state.

    • Weiner a jerk before crotchgate, craved media attention: book – Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner was behaving like a jerk long before the world got a glimpse of his crotch.

      A new book offering an inside look at the US House of Representatives depicts Weiner as a desperately ambitious loudmouth who berated his staff and would do or say anything for TV airtime.

      Weiner “would enter his office in the Rayburn Building screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘Why the f–k am I not on MSNBC?!’” journalist Robert Draper wrote in “Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives.”

      He finally got his wish, Draper wrote, when Weiner pushed to become the liberal spokesman for ObamaCare.

      “He was now on MSNBC every week, sometimes every day — to the point where he was carrying his own makeup kit. (Or rather, his press guy was.)” Draper wrote.

      Excerpts of the book, due out Tuesday, surfaced yesterday on the Web site Politico.

    • Daily exercise can reduce risk of developing Alzheimer¿s, study finds – latimes.com – RT @latimesmost: You’re never too old to reduce Alzheimer’s risk with exercise
    • Hydration for Runners – Run to Your Best – RT @Racerunningtips: Hydration for Runners: Hydrating for Optimal Performance
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-19 – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-04-19
    • The Top 10 Most Expensive Obamacare Taxes and Fees – Yesterday was tax day, serving as a special reminder of how big the federal government has become. As Heritage has warned before, Obamacare is on track to makes things a lot worse.

      The President’s health law will be partially paid for by tax increases and the creation of new taxes. When Obamacare first passed, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that its tax hikes would total $502 billion over the next 10 years. But most of the new, higher taxes don’t kick in until later in the decade, which means that once all of the law is fully implemented, the taxpayers’ tab will be much bigger than originally estimated.

      A new study by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) revealed today that Obamacare will impose higher taxes totaling $4 trillion between now and 2035, with substantial hits on working Americans. That works out to more than $1.7 trillion over a decade—more than triple the original 10-year score.

      Below is a list of 10 of Obamacare’s most costly taxes and fees, drawn from research by Heritage tax policy expert Curtis Dubay:

    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » R.I.P. Dick Clark 1929-2012 – R.I.P. Dick Clark 1929-2012
    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Study: No Independent Association of Periodontal and Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease? – Study: No Independent Association of Periodontal and Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease?
    • In-Sen: Mourdock Leads Lugar in Internal Poll – Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock leads Senator Dick Lugar by one point according to a poll commissioned by the Mourdock campaign. Conducted between April 16 and 17 by the firm McLaughlin and Associates, the poll surveyed 400 likely Republican primary voters and found Mourdock in the lead, 42–41, against Lugar. The poll had a 4.9 percent margin of error.

      Since January, Lugar’s favorability rating has fallen ten points, from 57 to 47 percent, while Mourdock’s has risen by eleven, from 35 to 46 percent. “These results clearly demonstrate that Richard Mourdock has the momentum to win,” a memo from pollsters John McLaughlin and Stuart Polk notes.

    • Is stagnation good enough for Obama’s reelection? « The Enterprise Blog – RT @JimPethokoukis: I plugged in Citi’s new econ forecast into 2 election models. Obama losses under both
    • Untitled (http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2012/04/la_churches_being_fo.php) – RT @LAObserved: L.A. churches being foreclosed on in record numbers. @LABizObserved
    • AD-38: Scott Wilk Signs Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Scott Wilk Signs Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge » Flap’s California Blog
    • Gallup Presidential Election Trial Heat Results: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney – RT @gallupnews: Presidential Election: Romney 48% (+1), Obama 44% (+1). Get the full trend… #Gallup
    • Gavin Newsom Gets Current TV Show — What About the Equal Time Rule? | TheWrap TV – California’s Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom gets a TV show on Current TV – whether you like it or not #catcot #tcot
    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » President 2012: Romney Up With Web Ad About Unemployment in Key Battleground State of North Carolina – President 2012: Romney Up With Web Ad About Unemployment in Key Battleground State of North Carolina
    • AD-38: Scott Wilk Signs Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge » Flap’s California Blog – RE:  Yes, last August seems a long time ago for Senator Tony Strickland…
    • Medscape: Medscape Access – Menthol Cigarettes Double Stroke Risk
    • Menthol Cigarettes Double Stroke Risk – Menthol cigarettes more than double the risk for stroke compared with regular cigarettes, a new study shows. In women and nonblack smokers, the risk for stroke was more than tripled.

      No significant associations were observed between the tobacco additive and other forms of cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

      The mechanism by which menthol may increase stroke risk remains unclear.

      One potential mechanism is that menthol stimulates upper-airway cold receptors, which can increase breath-holding time, which may in turn facilitate the entrance of cigarette particulate matter into the lungs, notes Nicholas Vozoris, MD, from St. Michael’s Hospital, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

      Another possibility is that menthol cigarettes exert some selective effects on the cerebrovascular system.

    • Potential VP pick Mitch Daniels endorses Mitt Romney – Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, frequently mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate, is the latest Republican leader to formally endorse Mitt Romney.

      “It must be a slow news day if this has made the air,” Daniels told Fox News on Wednesday. “But for what it’s worth, I did send a congratulatory note to Gov. Romney the other day offering to anything I could to help him, and here I am.”

      It didn’t come across as a particularly strong endorsement, and the Fox News anchor noted that Daniels has a dry, self-deprecating manner.

      “He’s already won our nomination,” Daniels continued. “He’s earned it, he’s proven himself the best nominee we could put forward, and I’m just happy to sign on and help him.”

    • Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » The Morning Flap: April 18, 2012 – The Morning Flap: April 18, 2012
  • Mitch Daniels,  Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: January 25, 2012

    January 25, 2012 /

    These are my links for January 23rd through January 25th:

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 23rd on 13:45

    May 23, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 23rd from 13:45 to 13:46:

    • Some observations as Mitch Daniels bows out – So Mitch Daniels is not running for president. That’s what I expected—on Tuesdays and Thursday and alternate weekends; on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I was convinced he would run, and on the leftover weekends I was uncertain.

      Let’s review the bidding.

      In, in alphabetical order: Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum.

      Probably in: Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman.

      Probably not in: John Bolton, Sarah Palin.

       Out: Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Mike Pence, John Thune.

       Declared out but still being wooed: Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Paul Ryan.

      =======

      Read it all….

    • President 2012: Exeunt Omnes – Not running: Mike Huckabee, the 2008 runner-up; John Thune, the likeliest candidate from the Senate, the body that has produced the out-party candidate in 2008, 2004, and 1996; Mike Pence, who could lay as much claim as anyone to represent the conservative movement; and Haley Barbour and Mitch Daniels, effective two-term governors with impressive D.C. experience as well.

      Pretty amazing.

      It would be unfair to call the current field a vacuum. But it doesn't exactly represent an overflowing of political talent. And insofar as politics abhors even a near-vacuum, others are bound to get in. I now think the odds are better than 50-50 that both Rick Perry and Paul Ryan run. I also now think they (and others—Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, John Bolton) may not feel they have to decide until after Labor Day—or maybe even until October or even November. The field could well remain open and fluid until Thanksgiving.

      =====

      Bill Kristol has a point that the field may not be settled for some time.

      But, it really looks like Romney now will be the nominee.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 21st on 22:36

    May 21, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 21st from 22:36 to 22:36:

    • Mitch Daniels won’t run in 2012 – Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told supporters in a midnight email early Sunday that he is opting against a 2012 presidential run, a decision that will again roil the GOP field and leave many party establishment figures looking for alternatives.In the end, he said, he couldn’t convince his family to get on board. His wife, Cheri, was known to have concerns about a campaign.
      The email went out from Indiana GOP chief Eric Holcombe, a key Daniels adviser, soon after midnight, with the word “Urgent” in the subject line.

      The following is from Governor Mitch Daniels….” the email began.
      “I hope this reaches you before the public news does,” Daniels wrote. “If so, please respect my confidence for the short time until I can make it known to all.

      “The counsel and encouragement I received from important citizens like you caused me to think very deeply about becoming a national candidate. In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one, but that, the interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all. If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry,” he added. “If you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, I understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise. I only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment I reached.”

      “Many thanks for your help and input during this period of reflection. Please stay in touch if you see ways in which an obscure Midwestern governor might make a constructive contribution to the rebuilding of our economy and our Republic.”

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 20th on 13:58

    May 20, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 20th from 13:58 to 14:29:

    • Building up to a possible campaign, Mitch Daniels is in stitches – Hit by Door – It simply hasn't been a good week to be a Republican presidential hopeful.

      The latest: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels received 16 stitches to his forehead Friday after what his office described as a "post-workout accident."

      "As he concluded a workout at about 1:30 p.m., he was standing near a door. The door suddenly swung open and struck the governor in the forehead," a statement from Daniels' office reads.

      Daniels' security detail brought him to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was treated and released. He's now recovering at home, his office says.

      The incident comes amid frenzied speculation in GOP circles about whether the two-term Hoosier State governor and former George W. Bush budget director will enter the presidential sweepstakes.

      =====

      I won't delay anything…..

    • Mitch Daniels Is the Tea Party’s Dream Candidate – Alternatively, the talk radio right (and neocons who want to expand America's global footprint no matter the cost) might succeed in keeping Mitch Daniels out of the race, and elevating a Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann — candidates who flatter them, make them feel important, and calm their intellectual insecurity at every opportunity. The irony is that this time, if the conservative movement prevails over the establishment, it won't be to put a more substantively conservative candidate before the people — what they'll have succeeded at is the most absurd elevation of style over substance in memory, and the nominee that results will likely be less reliably conservative and alienating in a way that makes them less likely to actually beat Barack Obama.   

      Thus your choice, GOP primary voter: Do you want a nominee who'll zealously shrink the size of government and address the deficit if elected? Or a nominee whose verbal attacks on liberals feel cathartic? "The underlying theory behind the talk radio critique of Daniels is basically that you can't trust a man who disarms liberals with his seeming reasonability, and what you need instead is somebody who takes the fight to the left at every opportunity," Ross Douthat writes. "This is an excellent description of the qualities required … to be a good talk radio host. But when applied to the presidential scene, it amounts to a kind of politics of schadenfreude, in which actual conservative accomplishments count for nothing, the ability to woo undecided voters is downgraded or dismissed, and all that matters is how much a prospective candidate irritates liberals."

      Put another way, today's conservative entertainers are selling out their professed beliefs for an emotional high and a ratings boost — and perhaps with the realization that effective conservative governance, achieved without intellectually dishonest bombast, is an implicit repudiation of their whole worldview. Tea partiers, many of whom revere talk radio, are being misled into thinking that Daniels isn't a desirable conservative candidate. If they are earnest in what they say about America's fiscal situation, however, a Daniels Administration is the best triumph for which they can reasonably hope.

      ======

      But, the carping has already begun against Daniels but who will the hard Right coalesce behind?

      Cain, Bachmann or Palin?

      And. when they lose to Romney and Daniels, then who?

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 14:11

    May 19, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 19th from 14:11 to 14:16:

    • Did Mitch Daniels Previously Support the Individual Mandate? – The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein highlighted today a passage from a 2003 news story which indicated that Mitch Daniels supported an individual health care mandate at the time. From the South Bend Tribune:

      The candidate [Mitch Daniels] said he favors a universal health care system that would move away from employee-based health policies and make it mandatory for all Americans to have health insurance.

      Daniels envisioned one scenario in which residents could certify their coverage when paying income taxes and receive a tax exemption that would cover the cost.

      “We really have to have universal coverage,” Daniels said.

      Under his plan, Daniels said, the nation could get away from the inefficient and unfair way in which health care is provided to those who are uninsured, many of whom end up in emergency rooms or “at clinics like this one.”

      Jane Jankowski, a spokeswoman for Daniels, said that the governor does not support an individual mandate.

       “Governor Daniels favors giving every American a tax credit individually so they can purchase insurance that is right for them,” Jankowski told National Review Online. “He believes nearly all would use it, so coverage would be nearly universal. He does not support a mandate.”

      Jankowski added that opposition to an individual mandate “has always has been the governor’s position.”

      ======

      Read it all….

      I believe the answer is no…

    • Mitch Daniels’ Office On Health Care Reform: The Governor Is ‘Against The Mandate’ – Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel's office is downplaying, if not fully disregarding, a 2003 story that claims he favored requiring all Americans to purchase health service as a means of achieving universal coverage.

      "Governor Daniels is against a mandate," his spokesperson, Jane Jankowski, emailed the Huffington Post on Thursday afternoon."He favors giving every American a tax credit individually so they can purchase insurance that is right for them. He believes nearly all would use it, so coverage would be nearly universal."

      Jankowski's comments come hours after the Huffington Post highlighted a clip from Daniels' 2004 gubernatorial run that stated he supported the same type of compulsory insurance that Republicans have deemed an unconstitutional component of President Obama's health care law.

      The video provides yet another clear indication that a principle once popular in conservative circles — the individual mandate — has now become poisonous.

      Daniels has pursued other, less noteworthy policies similar to Obama's approach to health care law, including a tax on cigarettes as a means of generating revenue for health care coverage elsewhere and the expansion of Medicaid to individuals well above the poverty level.

      As for the broader components of reform, Jankowski sent over an excerpt from an interview Daniels gave to radio talk show host Michael Smerconish on Thursday:

      =====

      Read it all

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 10:50

    May 19, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 19th from 10:50 to 12:53:

    • Mitch Daniels: Israeli-Palestinian conflict not central in Arab Spring – Mitch Daniels made a rare foray into foreign policy Thursday, arguing that the current climate in the Arab world has "little or nothing to do" with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

      Daniels, who is close to deciding on a White House campaign and recently said he's "probably not" ready to debate President Barack Obama on foreign policy, made the comments on Michael Smerconish's radio show, the same day that Obama gave a major address on Middle East policy.

      Continue Reading
      Asked what approach he'd bring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Daniels said: “I think that the — this may sound funny — but, the Arab-Israeli dispute, which has gone on for generations now and may go on for future generations, is not nearly so central to the events in that part of the world as sometime we treat is as.

      "I’m not saying it’s not worth continuing to work on," the Indiana governor added, "but what is going on in the Arab world these days has little or nothing to do with Israel or Palestine, it has to do with tyrannical regimes which have really stifled prospects for their people who are now restless for a better life. I think that should be encouraged. I think that tyrants who suppressing this human urge to greater freedom and prosperity ought to be sanctioned at a minimum. … I don’t think right now it pays very much of a dividend to try to cut the Gordian Knot of Israel and Palestine."

    • President 2012: Revving His Engines? Mitch Daniels Jump-Starts His Fundraising – While he has been publicly noncommittal about running for president next year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has quietly reignited his fundraising machine.

      Beginning late last year, the two-term Republican flipped the switch on a long-dormant political committee, Aiming Higher, that is qualified to accept donations in unlimited amounts. Since late last year, he has raked in more than $675,000 in contributions from individuals and organizations across the country, including $250,000 from the American Federation for Children, a group that promotes school vouchers. Meanwhile, Daniels's better-known political fundraising arm, the Aiming Higher PAC, raised $2.2 million last year, when the term-limited Daniels was not on the ballot.

      =====

      Read it all…..

      Daniels is gearing up

    • The Colbert Super-PAC – Colbert is right on target with his satire.  Free speech is such a headache when everyone gets to participate!  Especially evil corporations, which spend huge amounts of money to manipulate politics for their own interests… in sharp contrast to noble left-wing organizations, which spend huge amounts of money to manipulate politics for the good of all mankind. 

      What chance does an innocent mind have against that ocean of corporate political cash?  How can we tolerate such distractions from the vital messages conveyed by important left-wing campaigns filled with millionaire celebrities?  The messages built directly into the popular entertainment that spills from millions of theater screens, television sets, magazine pages, and music downloads are not enough to raise public awareness to the level of true enlightenment. 

      We should absolutely have draconian laws to prohibit corporations from influencing public opinion.  Except for media corporations.  They should be the only corporations allowed to have any influence, and theirs should be unlimited.  Why not?  They don’t have agendas or anything. 

      Well, most of them don’t.  There are just too darned many media corporations influencing opinion these days.  You’ve got sinister operations like Fox, and then you’ve got virtuous White House-approved truth tellers, like Comedy Central and al-Jazeera.  Fox routinely crushes its competition in the ratings, so its influence is obviously an unfair and dangerous exercise of evil corporate power.  Look at how many helpless viewers wander into their clutches, night after night, to be exposed to all those dangerous ideas!

      =====

      Read it all….

      ZING….

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 07:16

    May 19, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 19th from 07:16 to 08:31:

    • Iowa Straw Poll Could Offer Another Glimpse of Daniels’ Presidential Leanings – The Republican Party of Iowa holds its first meeting to discuss ground rules for the closely-watched Ames Straw Poll in August. Even potential campaigns have been invited to send representatives, but the Iowa party hasn't said whether Daniels is doing so.

      A Daniels delegation might be the clearest sign yet the Indiana governor plans to run. But Southern Illinois University's David Yepsen. who covered seven presidential campaigns for the Des Moines Register, says it's not critical that members of his team attend.

      "I don't think they need to have an operative there, because there'll be so many people who do have people there," Yepsen says." There is a past tradition and practices; even if Mitch Daniels doesn't have someone in the room, anything that protects the integrity of the process would be something that would benefit him."

      A more significant deadline is July 23. That's when the Iowa G-O-P will finalize the ballot for the August 13 straw poll.

      ======

      Read it all.

      Yeah, but I wouldn't expect anyone from the Daniels camp to be there.

    • Moderate Jon Huntsman, possible 2012 candidate, tests the waters in today’s GOP – At issue is Huntsman’s support for Obama’s economic stimulus package, which he said wasn’t large enough; for the Wall Street bailout; and for cap-and-trade climate legislation, which he has since backed away from, saying recently that it is a flawed approach.

      “He’s going to have to answer policy questions, and that’s a bigger challenge, but there is plenty of room in New Hampshire for another candidate,” said Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the Republican Party in the Granite State. “All of the candidates are putting their energy and focus into the so-called tea party activists, and nobody is campaigning for the broad mainstream of primary voters.”

      =====

      Puff piece profile of Jon Huntsman who really is running for the future and not 2012.

    • Who will be the John McCain of 2012? – Jon Huntsman: There is only one candidate in today’s prospective Republican field with the record, rhetoric, and staff to be the 2012 John McCain. That is former-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

      Not only has Huntsman served as President Obama’s ambassador to China, he also has also supported cap and trade, Obama’s economic stimulus, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and same-sex marriage civil unions.

      He’s been endorsed by no less a far-left liberal than former-President Jimmy Carter, and he has called Obama “a remarkable leader” who provides a “brilliant analysis of world events.”

      Like clockwork, the media elite are doing their part. Time Magazine has an article this week titled: “Jon Huntsman: The Potential Republican Presidential Candidate Democrats Most Fear.”

      No they don’t. Democrats would love a Huntsman run. But the story line is an old favorite of former-McCain strategist and current-Huntsman aid John Weaver. It is the same story he planted numerous time during the 2000 primary campaign.

      Weaver is not the only McCain veteran on Huntsman’s staff. Longtime Weaver ally and television ad consultant Fred Davis, communications adviser Matt David, spokesman Tim Miller, and media buyer Kyle Roberts are also McCain alums now working for Huntsman.

      President Ronald Reagan said “personnel is policy.” That makes Huntsman the 2012 McCain winner hands down.

      ======

      Yeah not Mitch Daniels but Huntsman.

    • Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 07:13 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for May 19th on 07:13 #tcot #catcot
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 12th on 19:39

    May 12, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 12th from 19:39 to 19:42:

    • The obligatory “still no idea if Mitch Daniels is running for president” post – Remember all those news stories this morning about Mrs. Daniels’s big speech to the Indiana GOP tonight and how it maybe hopefully possibly might finally offer an inkling as to whether the Hoosier Hamlet was ready to jump in?

      Nope:

      At an Indiana GOP dinner featuring first lady Cheri Daniels as keynote speaker, Mitch Daniels spoke for a few minutes — and gave little away about his 2012 plans.

      “This whole business of running for national office … I’m not saying I won’t do it,” he said, talking about how he had planned to go “to some quiet place … [like the] outdoors cable network” after his term as governor was over…

      Cheri Daniels said little that alluded to 2012 in her keynote speech. (Although Daniels fans may want to note that she said: “If Mitch wants me to do something and he thinks the answer’s going to be no, he tells Cindy [Hoye, the executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission] to ask me.”)

      “Look, just make a decision. It’s time,” grumbled Larry Sabato afterwards.

      =======

      Daniels is running and after the reception he and Cheri received he will soon announce the formation of an exploratory committee.

      Look for it around Memorial Day.

    • Hispanic Students – The Education Crisis Everyone Is Ignoring – Hispanics now constitute 16% of the U.S. population, and the Census Bureau estimates they will account for 30% in 2050. This obviously means the number of Hispanic students in our public schools is increasing as well. From just 2001 to 2008, the percentage of Hispanics in public schools grew from 17% to 21%. In Texas, Hispanics already make up the majority of public school students.

      You'd think those numbers would grab the attention of policymakers and educators and spur action — but you'd be wrong. Our public schools are woefully unprepared to deal with the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S. Only 17% of Hispanic fourth-graders score proficient or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (a test given to samples of students each year) while 42% of non-Hispanic white students do. Nationally, the high school graduation rate for Hispanics is just 64%, and only 7% of incoming college students are Hispanic, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.

      These two tectonic issues — our rocketing Hispanic population and the inadequate education of Hispanic students — are on a collision course that could either end in disaster or in another story of successful assimilation in America. The stakes are clear: how we meet this challenge will impact our politics, economy and our society.

      The Hispanic population boom understandably caught some states, communities and educators flat-footed. Places with few, if any, Hispanic students just a few years ago now have sizable populations. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that in North Carolina 16 of 100 counties are more than 10% Hispanic. Just four were in 2000. In Harrisonburg, Va., a sleepy university town in the Shenandoah Valley, about 40% of students in the city schools are Hispanic English-language learners, a figure that has soared over the past decade.

      Still, the demographic projections are so well known that no one should be surprised.

      =======

      Read it all.

      California is already feeling the budgetary effects and academic performance is very poor.

      One has to wonder where the next generation of California taxpayers are going to come from when very few of the "new" Hispanic majority have the skills or education to work at any high paying jobs.

      California high tech businesses are already moaning about easing VISA restrictions for foreign students to remain in the USA after they finish their educations because there are not sufficient numbers of indigenous highly educated workers.

      The fact is any illegal immigrant amnesty is going to guarantee the Mexican border is secure so that this same dilemma will not present itself again – America will be overrun by the third world if it does.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 12th on 10:28

    May 12, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 12th from 10:28 to 10:33:

    • Kochs Get Slammed for Donating Money to Education – Have you heard the news? First the nefarious Koch brothers were trying to end education for kids in Wisconsin (well, until they weren’t actually). And, now, if you can believe it, the news is that the Koch brothers are trying to promote education! Some nerve…The phony outrage this time is over a $1.5 million donation that the Koch Foundation gave to Florida State University (FSU) to hire new professors and implement a program that promotes political economy and free enterprise. The agreement was made in 2008 with FSU, and though it was transparent at the time, it went largely unnoticed—that is, until just recently.

      Here’s how an article in the St. Petersburg Times describes the agreement between the Koch Foundation and FSU:

      Under the agreement with the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, however, faculty only retain the illusion of control. The contract specifies that an advisory committee appointed by Koch decides which candidates should be considered. The foundation can also withdraw its funding if it’s not happy with the faculty’s choice or if the hires don’t meet ‘objectives’ set by Koch during annual evaluations.

      So while it gives the impression that the hiring is done by the Kochs, it’s actually highly misleading. But that hasn’t stopped the left, who have created something of bogeymen out of David and Charles Koch, from claiming that this program compromises the academic integrity of the university by allowing for outside sources to dictate to the university which professors can—and cannot—be hired.

      ======

      Read it all.

      More Koch Derangement Syndrome

    • Unlikely Cheri Daniels Will Mention 2012 in Speech Tonight – Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels will be delivering the keynote address at an Indiana GOP dinner tonight. Right before she speaks, Mitch Daniels will deliver brief remarks. Neither the governor or the first lady is expected to mention 2012, according to Indiana GOP insiders.“If Cheri is going to make any headlines tonight, that has been one of the best kept secrets in politics,” a former George W. Bush administration colleague of Mitch Daniels’s tells National Review Online.

      The source adds that Daniels is still interested in a 2012 run, saying, “Given how politically astute he is, I have a hard time believing he’d be doing what he’s been doing lately if he weren’t serious about it.”

      ======

      Agreed but her speech and Mitch’s remarks will be scrutinized. Daniels will announce by Memorial Day.