• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 27th on 06:02

    April 27, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 27th from 06:02 to 07:58:

    • Medicare As We’ve Known It Isn’t an Option – The Democratic Party is urging Americans to choose Medicare as we've always known it rather than a new plan by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) that would enroll seniors in private health insurance beginning in 2022. This choice is a hoax: Medicare as we've always known it is already gone. It was eviscerated by President Obama's health law. Yet if the president and the Democratic Party successfully bamboozle voters, they may win back independents and registered Democrats who voted for Republicans in 2010. The 2012 election could turn on this falsehood.

      The truth is that the Obama health law reduces future funding for Medicare by $575 billion over the next 10 years and spends the money on other programs, including a vast expansion of Medicaid. In 2019, Medicare spending under the Obama health law is projected to be $14,731 per senior, instead of $16,162 if the law had not passed, according to Medicare actuaries (Health Affairs, October 2010).

      Such cuts might be justifiable if the savings extended the financial life of Medicare. Mr. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius frequently make that false claim. Indeed, even Medicare's mailings to seniors repeat the claim that reducing spending on Medicare will make it more financially secure for future years.

      The fact is that Mr. Obama's law raids Medicare. Mr. Ryan's plan, on the other hand, stops the Medicare heist and puts the funds "saved" in this decade toward health care for another generation of retirees.

      ======

      Read it all

    • Is Paul Ryan Republicans’ dream presidential candidate? – There is a seventh reason as well: Everyone else is either horridly flawed (Newt Gingrich), a joke (Donald Trump) or just not that exciting ( Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels). That’s not to say one of these candidates couldn’t be “good enough,” but if you match each of the likely contenders up against Ryan, they look decidedly unattractive to many conservatives. The author of RomneyCare or the author of the “Roadmap for America”? The “social truce”advocate or the unabashed pro-life congressman? The disastrous former speaker of the House or the current, wonky budget committee chairman? You get the idea.

      With fewer candidates than expected in the race, there is plenty of campaign talent around. (And did anyone notice how professional and effective was the ‘campaign’ to roll out his budget?) And, I suspect, that should Ryan enter the race he’d have no problem raising the needed cash.

      Ryan has said he doesn’t want to run, but sometimes the question of “want to run” is a luxury. There are times when the moment presents itself, the party and the country are receptive, and there is no one else quite as compelling. Think Bill Clinton in 1992. Ryan has some time, though not much, to decide whether he wants to fill the obvious gap in the GOP field. And if party activists, insiders, Tea Partyers and operatives think Ryan is the man, then they’d better start making their wishes known.

      =====

      Paul Ryan and Mitch Daniels should both consider throwing their hats into the Presidency arena.

      And, Mike Huckabee has to fish or cut bait very soon.

    • Day By Day April 27, 2011 – Above His Pay Grade | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day April 27, 2011 – Above His Pay Grade #tcot #catcot
    • President Obama’s Long Form Birth Certificate | The White House – Here ya go folks : RT @rickklein: President Obama's long-form birth certificate: #tcot #catcot
    • Now Can We Call Him A RINO? – By Jonah Goldberg – The Corner – National Review Online – Donald Trump: Now Can We Call Him A RINO?
    • Donald Trump: Now Can We Call Him A RINO? – Recipients include Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), former Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell, and Rahm Emanuel, a former aide to President Obama who received $50,000 from Trump during his recent run to become Chicago’s mayor, records show. Many of the contributions have been concentrated in New York, Florida and other states where Trump has substantial real estate and casino interests….

      ….The Democratic recipients of Trump’s donations make up what looks like a Republican enemies list, including former senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and the late liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.).

      The biggest recipient of all has been the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee of New York, which has taken in more than $125,000 from Trump and his companies. Overall, Trump has given nearly $600,000 to New York state campaigns, with more than two-thirds going to Democrats.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 26th on 19:27

    April 26, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 26th from 19:27 to 19:30:

    • President 2012: Rudy Giuliani leaving ‘door open’ to White House run – Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani told The Washington Times on Tuesday that he is keeping “the door open” to a 2012 presidential bid, saying he might jump into the race if he believes the other candidates are unelectable.

      Mr. Giuliani is slated to speak next month in New Hampshire, where he finished fourth among 2008 Republican presidential candidates in the first-in-the-nation primaries.

      “I’m going to go to New Hampshire to speak to a law enforcement
      o to New Hampshire to speak to a law enforcement group, so that’s really the main purpose of the speech, but I keep in contact with people in New Hampshire and try to figure out what kind of a chance I have,” Mr. Giuliani said in an interview. “At this point, I’m not actively considering it, but I have the door open.”

      ======

      I can see Rudy being selected as Vice President with Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan or even Mike Huckabee.

      Rudy is a terrific campaigner and debater. Plus, who else would you want to take over in case anything happened to the President.

    • Mitch Daniels’ timeline for White House campaign ticking – Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, nearing an announcement on whether to run for president, is spending the final week of his state's legislative session pushing for the final pieces of a record that would be ready-made for a Republican campaign: a balanced budget, tax refunds and a school voucher program.

      This week's unexpected decision by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Daniels friend, to forgo a presidential candidacy seemingly makes it more likely the Midwestern governor will seek the GOP nomination. Party insiders close to the two men say Barbour and Daniels, whose early careers intersected as aides to President Ronald Reagan, had indicated privately they would not both seek the 2012 nomination.

      But Daniels, 62, is not rushing to join the field.

      The governor, who typically keeps his own counsel, is staying mum about his plans. Even his closest advisers here say they still aren't sure what he will do.

      He's kept open the possibility of a run for months, if only to make sure his top issue — enormous deficits and the national debt — was a serious part of the debate. And he is keeping his pledge to tend to business in Indiana before making an announcement or taking even the most preliminary steps toward a national run.

      "He has said he's focused on the legislative session and he would make a decision when that's over," Jane Jankowski, the governor's spokeswoman, said Tuesday. The Legislature is slated to adjourn by the end of this week.

      ======

      I would say 60 – 40 at present.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 25th on 17:30

    April 25, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 25th from 17:30 to 17:32:

    • Mitch Daniels: I would have backed Haley Barbour – In a statement sure to stoke speculation about his presidential intentions, Mitch Daniels said Monday that he would have backed Haley Barbour had the Mississippi governor not opted out of a White House bid.

      “Haley Barbour is a great citizen; he’d have made a great president," Daniels, the Indiana governor, said in a statement. "I’d have been proud to try to help him had he chosen to run."

      Continue Reading
      Daniels, who first became friends with Barbour when they served together as 30-somethings in the Reagan White House added: "The Barbours have been close and true friends to the Daniels family, and we will always be 100 percent supportive of any decision they believe is best for them.”

      Daniels has said in the past that he would likely not run if Barbour is in the race.

      =====

      Now, will Haley Barbour reciprocate?

    • Motion to Vacate Judge Walker’s Anti-Prop 8 Judgment for Failure to Recuse – It is important to emphasize at the outset that we are not suggesting that a gay or lesbian judge could not sit on this case.  Rather, our submission is grounded in the fundamental principle, reiterated in the governing statute, that no judge “is permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome.”  Surely, no one would suggest that Chief Judge Walker could issue an injunction directing a state official to issue a marriage license to him.  Yet on this record, it must be presumed that that is precisely what has occurred.  At a bare minimum, “[r]ecusal is required” because former Chief Judge Walker’s long-term committed relationship, his failure to disclose that relationship at the outset of the case, his failure to disclose whether he has any interest in marriage should his injunction be affirmed, and his actions over the course of this lawsuit give rise to “a genuine question concerning [his] impartiality.” 

      We deeply regret the necessity of this motion.  But as the Supreme Court emphasized earlier in this very case, “[b]y insisting that courts comply with the law, parties vindicate not only the rights they assert but also the law’s own insistence on neutrality and fidelity to principle.…  If courts are to require that others follow regular procedures, courts must do so as well.”  The “regular procedure” here requires adherence to the principles that a judge may not sit on a case when “his impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” 28 U.S.C. § 455(a), and certainly not when he has an “interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding,” 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(4).  Proponents ask only that these principles be applied faithfully and neutrally here as in any other case.

      ======

      The failure to disclose will doom this case

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 14th on 18:47

    April 14, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 14th from 18:47 to 20:07:

    • Obama blows up the bridge – "Rather than building bridges, he's poisoning wells," said Rep. Paul Ryan, after listening to Barack Obama's scathing attack on his deficit-reduction plan as a shredding of America's social contract with the elderly and poor.

      Ryan is right. Yet, with Obama's partisan savagery, virtually calling the GOP plan immoral, we have clarity.

      There will be no grand bipartisan bargain on taxes and spending.

      The two parties on Capitol Hill and the president will not be coming together to solve the gravest financial and fiscal crisis America has faced since the Great Depression. Between them today is a high wall and a deep ditch.

      The heart of the Ryan plan is to turn Medicaid into block grants to the states, so each can decide for itself how best to use the funds, and to convert Medicare into a program where the U.S. government would provide citizens with the funds and freedom to chose whatever health insurance they wished to buy.

      Obama denounced both.

      But if the Republican Medicare and Medicaid proposals are dead on arrival in Harry Reid's Senate and Obama's White House, Obama's plan to raise taxes is equally lifeless.

      ======

      So, did Obama do the GOP a favor with his "political speech" on Paul Ryan's budget proposal?

    • Undeclared candidate Mitch Daniels becoming the big man on campus – It might be a stretch to call him the big man on campus. But Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is getting some presidential buzz at colleges across the country.
      Daniels, a Republican, can thank Yale University students Max Eden and Michael Knowles, who launched the Students for Daniels website.
      "He has incredible executive experience, and what's more, he's just very down to earth, very direct. You don't see that from anybody else," Eden said.
      Borrowing a page from the 2008 playbook, the Students for Daniels organization uses social media to spread the word to chapters at 57 colleges and universities. Interest in the group spiked after it released a YouTube video featuring Knowles and former New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, who coined the phrase: "The rent is too damn high."
      "The deficit is too damn high," McMillan says in the Students for Daniels YouTube video, seizing on the Indiana governor's message on fiscal discipline.
      Eden, who volunteered for the Obama campaign in 2008, says he's disappointed in the president's approach to the mounting national debt.

      =====

      Read it all…..

    • Republican presidential primary: Many top GOP donors remain on the sidelines – Michael Ashner was one of Sen. John McCain's major fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign, bringing in $500,000 for the Republican nominee.

      That makes the Oyster Bay, N.Y., real estate investment executive one of the most sought-after bundlers for prospective GOP candidates in 2012. Supporters of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have been particularly persistent in wooing him — New York Jets owner Woody Johnson even invited him to take in a game in his private box.

      But Ashner is reluctant to sign up with any of the White House hopefuls.

      "I'm sort of hiding under my desk when the calls come in," said Ashner, noting he still wanted to learn more about the contenders. "I don't see a dynamic candidate out there yet. A number of them have interesting credentials, but they just strike me as a little lackluster."

      Ashner is part of a large swath of top-tier Republican donors still sitting on the sidelines of the 2012 race, according to prominent Republican political operatives and fundraisers, in a reflection both of torn loyalties and ambivalence about the field of candidates.

      ======

      Unless Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan or Chris Christie run, the donors will stay on the sidelines and help in Senate races.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 14th on 13:00

    April 14, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 14th from 13:00 to 13:23:

    • Gov. Mitch Daniels calls for immigration reform – Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels called on state lawmakers Wednesday to pass a proposal aimed at implementing immigration reforms in the state, adding that changes in the bill were necessary before passage.

      Mr. Daniels says a bill aimed at implementing an Arizona-style law should focus more on Indiana employers and less on law enforcement. The Indiana governor is the latest governor to call on state lawmakers to implement immigration reforms.

      “I think that legislation will be changed,” Mr. Daniels said Wednesday. “I support this, to drop the law enforcement provisions that have been the ones that have bothered most people.”

      The Indiana Republican and potential Republican presidential candidate says he hopes the law enforcement provision is remove, refusing to note whether that provision would cause him to veto the bill.

      “The idea I like is to deny them the tax deduction if they’re caught doing it,” he said. “It’s a fairly clean way to get at it, and really employment is the magnet that leads to the illegality.”

      ========

      Again, the right will go wild here but Daniels is practical again.

      The Arizona law will be declared unconstitutional since the states are precluded from immigration enforcement – it is a federal responsibility.

      But, E-verify or state laws that give a disincentive to employers who hire illegal immigrants is a practical and realistic goal.

      Daniels should he run for President will be able to elaborate in a debate against the others.

      In the meantime, the Tom Tancredo right will go crazy against Mitch.

    • California Teachers’ Union plan built on emotion – The California Teachers Association this week declared a "State of Emergency" over the state budget and potential deep cuts to schools. It posted a 15-page "plan of action" on its website to help teachers, parents – and apparently children – lobby for tax extensions.

      Some of the union's ideas went beyond the usual letter-writing and rallying:

      • Attempt to close a major artery into town/cities.

      • Turn fire/earthquake drill into crisis response drill to the budget cuts (involve students and the community).

      • "Penny drive" where kids empty piggy banks to support teachers and deposit in the state Capitol.

      • Pay for everything with $2 bills to show the true impact of teachers.

      • Have students create a BIG poster on a school bus that is sent to Sacramento.

      • Take mug shots of teachers and students to make the point that prisons receive better funding.

      By Wednesday, the more creative ideas on the list had been removed. CTA spokesman Mike Myslinski said the list was "brainstorming" from the union's 800-delegate state council, and that CTA is not suggesting students be used as props.

      ======

      Guess some of the leftists in the CTA (California Teacher's Association)thought the Wisconsin protests were a good thing?

    • Thousands rally at Cal State University campuses to Protest Education Cuts – Decrying what they called an assault on higher education, thousands of faculty and students at California State University campuses across the state rallied, marched and held teach-ins Wednesday to protest steep funding cuts and rising tuition.

      Dubbed the Day of Class Action, events were held on all 23 Cal State campuses, featuring speakers, workshops, gospel singers, guerrilla theater and, on one campus, a New Orleans-style "funeral" march.

      The protests were largely peaceful and there were no reports of disruptions, although student groups staged sit-ins in hallways outside the offices of presidents Jolene Koester at Cal State Northridge and James M. Rosser at Cal State L.A.

      No arrests were made, and students left the buildings by the end of the day. Peaceful sit-ins were also held at campuses in Pomona, San Francisco and the East Bay.

      With education funding at risk and higher tuition possible in many states, students and faculty at public universities elsewhere also held rallies and teach-ins Wednesday, including at Portland State in Oregon, Rutgers University in New Jersey and the University of Massachusetts' Boston campus.

      The goal, organizers said, was to raise public awareness of the consequences of continued disinvestment in higher education and to give faculty and students a greater voice in policy decisions.

      ========

      The students and faculty should really direct their protests to the Democrat Governor and Legislature who have been ruling California for decades now.

      For every action the left-wing California Legislature takes there is an equal and opposite reaction by private business who vote by their feet – and leave.

      Also, for every new entitlement program and cost of living adjustment the California Legislature makes, there is less money for other programs, including a heavily subsidized public university education.

      But, true to from the left faculty will try to convince their students that it is the rich who are refusing to pay their fair share or something.

      Sometimes the truth is hard.

    • Texas reporter weighs in on California lawmakers’ visit – "People out here laugh at Perry walking down the main street of Dallas, waving a pistol around and talking about the crazy people in California who want to legalize marijuana," said veteran Democratic political consultant Chris Lehane.

      But some facts are clearly on Perry's side. Texas created more jobs last year than any other state: 253,900 vs. California's 89,400.

      Texas has no state income tax. It's a right-to-work state, so there are none of the collective-bargaining issues bedeviling states such as Wisconsin and (with high public-employee pensions) California.

      In the games that statisticians play, there are numbers favoring California, too.

      Texas has higher property taxes and oil extraction taxes. Its jobs pay less. It leads the nation in uninsured people and chemical pollution. And while Texas has created more manufacturing jobs, California's created more in semiconductors, computers, communications equipment and medical equipment.

      Texas has the Alamo; California has Disneyland . Texas has Ted Nugent ; California has Charlie Sheen.

      Which is to say we're different. So it's no surprise that Texas and California are taking different approaches to solving their budget shortfalls.

      ======

      California and Texas are different states with different demographics and priorities.

      If they both can learn from each other, this is great.

      But, I would not hold my breath.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 7th on 17:55

    April 7, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 7th from 17:55 to 18:38:

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 5th on 12:05

    April 5, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 5th from 12:05 to 13:47:

    • Mitch Daniels on Paul Ryan Budget: ‘First Serious Proposal Produced by Either Party’ – Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, who referred to the growing national debt as our generation’s “red threat” during his February CPAC speech, has issued this statement in response to Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget:

      The House budget resolution is the first serious proposal produced by either party to deal with the overriding issue of our time. The national debt we are amassing threatens the livelihood and the liberty of every single American, and in particular the life prospects of our young people.

      Anyone criticizing this plan without offering a specific and equally bold program of his own has failed in the public duty to be honest and clear with Americans about the gravest danger we are facing together.

    • San Francisco supes to vote on Twitter tax break – A tax break to keep Twitter from fleeing San Francisco is coming up for a vote by city lawmakers as part of a package to revive a blighted neighborhood.

      The vote by the Board of Supervisors expected Tuesday afternoon would exempt the microblogging service from paying the city's payroll tax on new hires.

      The tax break would apply to any business in the crime-plagued neighborhood.

      Twitter is fast on its way to outgrowing its current San Francisco headquarters. The company said it would commit to moving into the city's Mid-Market neighborhood if it got the break, which would also exempt stock options from the tax.

      Critics, including the city's largest employees union, have called the plan backed by Mayor Ed Lee an ill-conceived corporate giveaway.

      =======

      Good luck with this San Francisco.

  • Pinboard Links

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

    March 31, 2011 /

    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 25th on 06:38

    March 25, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 25th from 06:38 to 06:55:

    • President 2012: Scapegoating Mitch Daniels – Over the past year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has been a case study in how not to seek the Republican presidential nomination — if indeed that is his intention.
      Despite having a generally conservative governing record, in the run-up to a possible candidacy, Daniels has managed to alienate all parts of the GOP’s so-called “three-legged” stool. He has rattled economic conservatives by floating the possibility of a VAT tax, unnerved national security hawks by talking about defense cuts and seeming indifferent about foreign policy, and angered values voters by calling for a “truce” on social issues while the country confronts the national emergency of our fiscal crisis.
      It’s the latter comments that have drawn the most heat, giving his potential rivals an easy opening at conservative events to say that yes, social issues are a priority.
      But while Daniels has become a popular target for social conservatives who understandably don’t want to see their issues downplayed, the reality is that Daniels’ crime was to say explicitly what most of the other potential candidates are saying and doing implicitly — that is, emphasizing the importance of economic and fiscal issues over moral matters.

      =======

      Read it all.

    • Sen. Jim DeMint’s Defense of RomneyCare is Ignorant…And Dangerous – Jennifer Rubin alerts me to these disturbing comments Sen. Jim DeMint made to the Hill in defense of RomneyCare:
      “One of the reasons I endorsed Romney [in 2008] is his attempts to make private health insurance available at affordable prices,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), a GOP kingmaker.
      DeMint blames Democrats in the Massachusetts State Legislature for adding many of the features to Romney’s plan that many on the right decry.
      “It just depends on how he plays it. For me, I think he started with some good ideas that were essentially hijacked by the Democrat Legislature,” DeMint said.
      To start with, blaming everything on the Democratic legislature is simply not an accurate account of what happened. Romney helped craft the basic architecture of the health care plan, and pursued it even though he knew that he was working with an overwhelming Democratic legislature who he knew would override his symbolic line-item vetoes of parts of his bill. He signed the bill with Ted Kennedy at his side, and did so knowing he wasn't seeking reelection and that it would almost certainly fall on a Democratic governor to implement it….

      ======

      Read it all

      Sen. Jim DeMint is turning out to be just another POL.

    • President 2012: Tea party leader says he’d endorse Mitch Daniels – Gov. Mitch Daniels: the tea party pick for president?

      That could happen, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Thursday.

      Armey, now the leader of the tea party group FreedomWorks, was in Indiana to begin a three-day campaign-training seminar his group is conducting along with the Indiana-based tea party group America ReFocused.

      He met with Daniels privately before a Statehouse ceremony honoring the governor with a "legislative entrepreneur award" and told reporters he encouraged Daniels to "think about the service he could do for this nation as president."

      =====

      Some on the right are scapegoating Mitch Daniels but Dick Armey knows Daniels is a credible conservative office holder with a track record.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 25th on 06:38

    March 25, 2011 /

    These are my links for March 25th from 06:38 to 06:55:

    • President 2012: Scapegoating Mitch Daniels – Over the past year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has been a case study in how not to seek the Republican presidential nomination — if indeed that is his intention.
      Despite having a generally conservative governing record, in the run-up to a possible candidacy, Daniels has managed to alienate all parts of the GOP’s so-called “three-legged” stool. He has rattled economic conservatives by floating the possibility of a VAT tax, unnerved national security hawks by talking about defense cuts and seeming indifferent about foreign policy, and angered values voters by calling for a “truce” on social issues while the country confronts the national emergency of our fiscal crisis.
      It’s the latter comments that have drawn the most heat, giving his potential rivals an easy opening at conservative events to say that yes, social issues are a priority.
      But while Daniels has become a popular target for social conservatives who understandably don’t want to see their issues downplayed, the reality is that Daniels’ crime was to say explicitly what most of the other potential candidates are saying and doing implicitly — that is, emphasizing the importance of economic and fiscal issues over moral matters.

      =======

      Read it all.

    • Sen. Jim DeMint’s Defense of RomneyCare is Ignorant…And Dangerous – Jennifer Rubin alerts me to these disturbing comments Sen. Jim DeMint made to the Hill in defense of RomneyCare:
      “One of the reasons I endorsed Romney [in 2008] is his attempts to make private health insurance available at affordable prices,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), a GOP kingmaker.
      DeMint blames Democrats in the Massachusetts State Legislature for adding many of the features to Romney’s plan that many on the right decry.
      “It just depends on how he plays it. For me, I think he started with some good ideas that were essentially hijacked by the Democrat Legislature,” DeMint said.
      To start with, blaming everything on the Democratic legislature is simply not an accurate account of what happened. Romney helped craft the basic architecture of the health care plan, and pursued it even though he knew that he was working with an overwhelming Democratic legislature who he knew would override his symbolic line-item vetoes of parts of his bill. He signed the bill with Ted Kennedy at his side, and did so knowing he wasn't seeking reelection and that it would almost certainly fall on a Democratic governor to implement it….

      ======

      Read it all

      Sen. Jim DeMint is turning out to be just another POL.

    • President 2012: Tea party leader says he’d endorse Mitch Daniels – Gov. Mitch Daniels: the tea party pick for president?

      That could happen, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Thursday.

      Armey, now the leader of the tea party group FreedomWorks, was in Indiana to begin a three-day campaign-training seminar his group is conducting along with the Indiana-based tea party group America ReFocused.

      He met with Daniels privately before a Statehouse ceremony honoring the governor with a "legislative entrepreneur award" and told reporters he encouraged Daniels to "think about the service he could do for this nation as president."

      =====

      Some on the right are scapegoating Mitch Daniels but Dick Armey knows Daniels is a credible conservative office holder with a track record.