Thanks to Breitbart TV for providing this video of an immigration protest at the Maricopa County, AZ. jail, featuring Mexican flags and a finger pointing confrontation with SWAT team members and sheriff’s deputies.
~~John Cronin~~
Archive for the ‘Solid Principles’ Category
Mexican Flag Flies as Dozens Arrested at Illegal-Immigration Law Protests
Friday, July 30th, 2010Mitt Romney, you’re our only hope
Friday, July 30th, 2010
[Editor's Commentary: I wanted to repost this Boston Herald article, not because I agree with every point the author makes, but because I think it's very well written and she has used some very clever expressions. My personal favorite is the "Ward Clever Reassurance Scale." I know a lot of our readers will have to Google "Ward Cleaver" to find out who the heck he is, but it will be a pleasant stroll down "memory lane" for some and new information for others.
Just a reminder......for those readers in Missouri, our primary is this coming Tuesday, Aug., 3. Polls are open from 6am to 7pm. Please be sure to vote and bring somebody with you. Vote for the most conservative candidate available, put a clothespin over your nose if necessary. Vote "YES" on PROP C, to protect Missourians from the tender mercies of Obamacare.]
By: Margery Eagan bostonherald.com
So Mitt Romney – the venture capitalist guru who never sweats – leads all Republicans in a new Zogby poll that has him within striking distance of Obama, 45-43.
Can anyone be surprised? The economy’s a mess. We’re basket cases over keeping jobs and homes. Obama’s reduced to courting Whoopi and Barbara Walters today on “The View,” hoping a cozy chat will reassure the wives of independents and/or Tea Party sympathizers who’ve abandoned the president in droves.
Close your eyes. Envision, for a second, the best known GOP contenders: Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. On the Ward Cleaver Reassurance Scale, none comes anywhere close to impeccable and unflappable Mitt with his crisp Power Point efficiency, his broad shoulders, his Vanilla Cokes, his beatific wife, and all those strapping sons with Talbots wives and Pottery Barn kids.
Does Mitt Romney ever go berserk? No.
He presides like a patient patriarch with that dignified splash of gray around his temples. (How come that gray never advances, you privately wonder).
How come, you may also ask, he seems preternaturally bloodless?
In these troubled times, nobody cares. We’ll overlook a lot: Mitt’s flips. Mitt’s flops. Mitt’s flip-flop-flips. Mitt’s illegal Guatemalan leaf baggers and the poor Irish setter Seamus he once tied to his station wagon’s roof for an eight-hour family trip.
Last time around, GOP “values” voters were supposedly spooked by the Mormon thing. There were unnerving GOP debates over evolution vs. creationism and the CNN questioner who actually asked if candidates believed every word of the Bible.
Today, it’s Mormon, Sch-mormon.
Mitt’s biggest problem: His fellow Republicans will wrap Obama-care around his neck no matter how he tries to wiggle away. And we’ll hear over and over Romney’s infamous quote: “I think the fundamentals of our economy are sound.” Whoops.
Expounding on the wonders of the free market – just months before it stole our 401(k)s – he said this to the New York Times [NYT], among others. When John McCain uttered the exact same words in the summer of 2008, and again after September’s Wall Street meltdown, it all but killed his chances along with, of course, his choice of running mate, Ms. Palin.
Suppose McCain had picked Romney instead. I, for one, am rooting for Mitt to get the GOP nod. What great fun for Massachusetts. And it’ll guarantee no repeat run by Palin, whose hokey-pokey candidacy, Part II, my shattered nerves will not survive.
read more at the bostonherald.com……
Missouri Prop C……Just Say No to Obamacare
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
After months of saying NO to Washington, the Missouri legislature has given voters something to say YES to. The language that will appear on the August 3 primary ballot, Proposition C, will be as below.
Shall the Missouri Statutes be amended to:
Deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept direct payment for lawful healthcare services?
Modify laws regarding the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies?
It is estimated this proposal will have no immediate costs or savings to state or local governmental entities. However, because of the uncertain interaction of the proposal with implementation of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, future costs to state governmental entities are unknown.
[Editor's Commentary: Kudos to the Missouri Legislature for having the courage to put Prop C on the MO. Primary Ballot so that it's citizens can finally get a real say in how our health care is managed. I know that "Kit" Bond, our Republican Senator voted against this monstrosity as did all the Republican Senators and Rep. Todd Akin voted No as well. We still feel that this is being shoved down our throats because the federal Government has no Constitutional authority to impose a national health care system on the states. But because of Prop C, Missouri voters will get a chance to join other states, like Arizona with their new law to enforce existing federal law, in opposing the relentless encroachment of state's rights by the leftists in Washington.]
~~John Cronin~~
Arizona Immigration Decision
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
By: Andy McCarthy NRO
On a quick read, the federal court’s issuance of a temporary injunction against enforcement of the major provisions of the Arizona immigration law appears specious.
In essence, Judge Susan Bolton bought the Justice Department’s preemption argument — i.e., the claim that the federal government has broad and exclusive authority to regulate immigration, and therefore that any state measure that is inconsistent with federal law is invalid. The Arizona law is completely consistent with federal law. The judge, however, twisted to concept of federal law into federal enforcement practices (or, as it happens, lack thereof). In effect, the court is saying that if the feds refuse to enforce the law the states can’t do it either because doing so would transgress the federal policy of non-enforcement … which is nuts.
The judge also employs a cute bit of sleight-of-hand. She repeatedly invokes a 1941 case, Hines v. Davidowitz, in which the Supreme Court struck down a state alien-registration statute. In Hines, the high court reasoned that the federal government had traditionally followed a policy of not treating aliens as “a thing apart,” and that Congress had therefore “manifested a purpose … to protect the liberties of law-abiding aliens through one uniform national system” that would not unduly subject them to “inquisitorial practices and police surveillance.” But the Arizona law is not directed at law-abiding aliens in order to identify them as foreigners and subject them, on that basis, to police attention. It is directed at arrested aliens who are in custody because they have violated the law. And it is not requiring them to register with the state; it is requiring proof that they have properly registered with the federal government — something a sensible federal government would want to encourage.
Judge Bolton proceeds from this misapplication of Hines to the absurd conclusion that Arizona can’t ask the federal government for verification of the immigration status of arrestees — even though federal law prohibits the said arrestees from being in the country unless they have legal status — because that would tremendously burden the feds, which in turn would make the arrestees wait while their status is being checked, which would result in the alien arrestees being treated like “a thing apart.”
The ruling ignores that, in the much later case of Plyler v. Doe (1982), the Supreme Court has emphasized that
Although the State has no direct interest in controlling entry into this country, that interest being one reserved by the Constitution to the Federal Government, unchecked unlawful migration might impair the State’s economy generally, or the State’s ability to provide some important service. Despite the exclusive federal control of this Nation’s borders, we cannot conclude that the States are without power to deter the influx of persons entering the United States against federal law, and whose numbers might have a discernible impact on traditional state concerns. [Emphasis added.]
Furthermore, as Matt Mayer of the Heritage Foundation notes, the Fifth Circuit federal appeals court similarly held in Lynch v. Cannatella (1987) that “No statute precludes other federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies from taking other action to enforce this nation’s immigration laws.”
However this ruling came out, it was only going to be the first round. Appeal is certain. But the gleeful Left may want to put away the party hats. This decision is going to anger most of the country. The upshot of it is to tell Americans that if they want the immigration laws enforced, they are going to need a president willing to do it, a Congress willing to make clear that the federal government has no interest in preempting state enforcement, and the selection of judges who will not invent novel legal theories to frustrate enforcement. They are not going to get that from the Obama/Reid/Pelosi Democrats.
Read more at NRO…..
Arizona Hotels Thriving Despite Boycotts Over Immigration Law
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
FOXNEWS.COM
Arizona’s tourism industry has a target on its back, but the widespread boycotts over the state’s immigration law might not be hitting the mark.
Recent data compiled by a market research group show hotel bookings across the state — as well as in tourism hot spots Phoenix and Scottsdale — have been on the rise the past two months.
The numbers could dispel warnings from local officials that Arizona stands to lose a fortune and dampen the chances that cities and organizations will be able to compel the state to reverse its immigration law by choking its economy with a sanctions-style business boycott.
“Fundamentally, the boycotts have been unsuccessful,” said Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
The data from hotel industry research firm STR showed that for the state of Arizona, hotel occupancy was up 5.7 percent in May and up 8.3 percent in June compared with the same time a year ago.
In Phoenix, occupancy was up 10.6 percent in June; in Scottsdale, it was up 10.7 percent for the same period. Revenue also was up, with Arizona hotels raking in $148 million last month — up more than 11 percent from a year ago.
Broome said the state also has been able to attract new businesses to locate in Arizona despite bad publicity. He said his group plans to announce 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs thanks to investment from California, where Arizona boycotts are in place in several major cities, over the next few months.
“Business continues,” said Garrick Taylor, spokesman with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Read more at FOXNEWS.COM……
A Sanctuary for Terror
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
The militants wage war in Afghanistan while using Pakistan as a place for rest, recuperation and recruitment.
By SADANAND DHUME
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the so-called Afghanistan war logs released by WikiLeaks Sunday is our continued capacity to be shocked.
That the war isn’t going as well as advertised is already painfully evident—last week alone, the Taliban kidnapped two American sailors and killed five soldiers. Allegations of Pakistani double-dealing—of accepting a torrent of American dollars with one hand while arming and sheltering the Taliban with the other—are hardly new. Nor are revelations that the country’s Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has apparently perfected its own version of don’t ask, don’t tell. Don’t ask your clandestine operatives too many questions about their ties with Islamist militants, and don’t tell the Americans more than the minimum required to keep the aid faucet open.
But the detail gives the leaked documents their punch. Even if some of their gaudier revelations—say a plot to sell American troops poisoned alcohol, or to assassinate Afghan officials with a bomb disguised as a gold Quran—need to be taken with a grain of salt, they nonetheless create a bleak picture of life on the ground for American troops.
Most of all, they show how the gaggle of Islamist groups fighting NATO in Afghanistan—primarily the Taliban and its allies, militants loyal to Jalaluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar—have an advantage that more than makes up for their inferior equipment and training. The militants wage war in Afghanistan while using Pakistan as a sanctuary for rest, recuperation and recruitment.
Ironically, one of the best explanations of Islamabad’s perfidy comes from Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., and the man charged with the unenviable task of explaining to outraged Americans why their tax dollars—$18 billion since 2001—must continue to flow to a country with so much American blood on its hands. In a seminal book, “Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military,” written five years ago when Mr. Haqqani was a critic of his country’s government rather than its representative, he examined the symbiotic relationship between Pakistan’s generals and its Islamic fundamentalists. In a nutshell, Mr. Haqqani argues that in Pakistan—unlike, say, in secular Turkey or Indonesia—the mosque and the military have always been allies rather than adversaries.
This alliance has roots in both ideology and realpolitik. On the one hand, the army (of which the ISI is the intelligence wing) sees itself as the guarantor of the world’s first nation created purely on the basis of Islam. Its motto: “Faith, Piety and Jihad in the Path of Allah.” Historically, even those generals who have had no interest in turning Pakistan into an Islamist state by formally applying Shariah law—among them the dictators Ayub Khan and Pervez Musharraf—have championed aggression toward Pakistan’s neighbors, primarily India and Afghanistan.
For Islamist-leaning generals, the army’s rank and file and most of the fervently anti-American Pakistani masses, bloodying America in Afghanistan represents a triumph over the infidel akin to what they experienced in 1989 when the last Soviet troops limped home. For the more secular minded, it gives Pakistan the so-called strategic depth it has long sought against its much larger neighbor India.
Read more at wsj.com……
Political Cartoons: Financial “Reform”
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Thousands Show Up At Tulsa Food Pantry Friday
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
[Editor's Commentary: Instead of using the news photo that accompanies this article, I have used this 1933 image from our media library to make a point. If we don't take back Congress this November, I fear this country may be headed for another Depression. No matter what the polls say this fall, you must vote in this election and bring as many conservative voters with you as you can.]
~~John Cronin~~
By: Mike Averill Tulsa World Staff Writer
Iron Gate was forced to suspend its food box distribution program Friday morning due to a large, misinformed crowd.
The line started forming at 6:30 a.m. outside the food pantry, located on the south side of Trinity Episcopal Church, 501 S. Cincinnati Ave.
“We estimate there were 2,000 people here this morning,” said Connie Cronley, executive director. “The heat, the crowd and the incorrect information they have received rendered, in my judgment, a situation that was unsafe.”
Cronley attributed the crowd to false information sent via group e-mails and Facebook regarding supplemental food boxes, 30-pound food boxes paid for by a $2 million federal stimulus grant to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
“It’s like a bad version of the old telephone game in which children whisper a sentence to one another and it is passed around a circle. At the end, the sentence is not recognizable,” Cronley said.
The message that was circulating was that the food boxes were free for anyone, however they’re actually restricted to families with children younger than 18 and there is an income restriction as well.
Through the program families can receive one 30-pound food box for each child and one box for every two adults. Families also receive one household box (toilet paper, soap, shampoo, toothpaste) for every two people younger than the age of 18 in the household. Families may receive these boxes each week.
Iron Gate receives 250 food boxes and 125 household boxes each week that it distributes Fridays and Saturdays in conjunction with its regular grocery distribution program. The program runs through September.
In June it distributed 382 food boxes and 191 household boxes and these served 165 adults and 217 children.
Cronley said distribution should resume in a few weeks once a better system is in place.
“The need seems to be overwhelming, not only in Tulsa but in the surrounding towns. We need to figure out how to better distribute these boxes. Other agencies are sending people to us for food,” she said.
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=17&articleid=20100723_11_0_IronGa403000&rss_lnk=1
Political Cartoons: Michael Ramirez
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Ed Martin Surges: Carnahan Stalls
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
ST. LOUIS, MO.) July 23, 2010 – Today, the political world is wondering about the stalled fundraising of Congressman Russ Carnahan as his opponent Ed Martin continues to surge. In the final report before the primary, Carnahan reports raising just over $9,000, while Ed Martin nearly doubled this with more than $18,000.
More troubling for Democrat watchers is Carnahan’s big spending. The FEC reports show Carnahan spent quite a bit more than he actually brought in. He only raised $9,375 yet he spent $12,432. A portion of his expenses went to relocating even more staff to help with his campaign. Carnahan now employs two Capitol Hill politicos as his top staffers Angela Barranco from Whip Crowley’s office and Angela Guyadeen from Marion Berry’s office, not to mention another staffer brought in from Louisiana.
Meanwhile Ed Martin continues to show steady growth and common sense spending as he quickly closes in on Carnahan regarding his campaign’s cash on hand. Ed Martin raised $18,207 yet only spent $6,805.
“Even in fundraising Congressman Carnahan serves as a prime example of the wasteful spending that is currently so rampant in Washington. The people of Missouri’s 3rd district don’t want someone who would throw away money on hiring Washington-insiders to help them do their bidding. They want a representative who uses common sense when it comes to money – someone who will take spending seriously. Carnahan’s spending is on track with the deficit problems plaguing our country and mortgaging our children’s future,’ said congressional candidate Ed Martin.
Ed Martin’s fundraising speaks volumes as to what the people want. In these last days before the primary, candidates are required to report contributions over $1,000 within 48 hours. Ed Martin just received two of these from Missourians who are worried about the future. Carnahan has reported none.
For more information about Martin’s background and the campaign, visit EdMartinforCongress.com, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter @ed4congress.
Theresa Petry
Press Secretary
“Ed Martin for Congress”
(314) 807-7077 (cell)
Listen to our interview with Ed Martin on Episode 26 of the Solid Principles Podcast
Rasmussen Poll: Obama at Minus 20
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 25% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20.
Poll: Blunt has narrow lead over Carnahan; Obama’s numbers are “horrible”
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
By: Tony Messenger St. Louis Post Dispatch
Fueled by voter dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama’s administration and the economy, Republican Roy Blunt leads Democrat Robin Carnahan in the highly charged Missouri race for U.S. Senate, according to a Post-Dispatch/KMOV-TV (Channel 4) poll.
The poll, conducted July 19-21, asked voters if they would support Blunt, a congressman from Springfield, or Carnahan, Missouri’s secretary of state. Blunt was backed by 48 percent of the respondents, compared to 42 percent for Carnahan. The remaining 10 percent were undecided.
The two are expected to sail through their party primaries on Aug. 3 and face off in the general election in November.
“Outside of the metro areas, he’s killing her,” said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, the firm that conducted the poll.
Carnahan leads in the more populated St. Louis and Kansas City areas, which tend to vote Democratic. But Blunt leads every other region of the state by a healthy margin, the poll found. In the Republican hotbed of southwest Missouri, where Blunt lives, the seven-term congressman leads nearly 3 to 1.
Pollsters conducted telephone interviews at random with 625 registered Missouri voters who said they cast ballots regularly in state elections. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Coker pointed to the unpopularity of Obama, especially among independents, as a key reason Blunt is faring better with Missouri voters. Blunt has made tying Carnahan to Obama a staple of his campaign. While the poll was in the field, he was running a television ad highlighting Obama’s recent appearance at a Carnahan fundraiser.
In the poll, 57 percent of respondents disapproved of Obama’s performance as president, compared to 34 percent who approved. Among independent voters — those who didn’t identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans — 63 percent disapproved of Obama’s performance.
Obama, who narrowly lost Missouri in the 2008 election, now has “horrible” numbers in the state, Coker said, especially compared to the rest of the U.S.
A CNN poll taken the same week as the Post-Dispatch poll, for instance, had 50 percent of national respondents disapproving of Obama’s job performance and 47 percent approving. A Fox News poll a week earlier had the president’s disapproval rating at 48 percent.
Coker said it’s possible that Blunt’s television ad skewed the Missouri results somewhat, but he said the overall unfavorable ratings voters gave to Obama — and Carnahan’s lack of strength with independent voters — were stronger factors.
The poll found that the top issue on voters’ minds was the economy. Government spending and health care came in second and third. Those issues simply don’t line up well for Democrats this year, Coker said.
“The voters are on the Republican side on all three issues,” he said.
Read more at stltoday.com……
Obamacare: The President’s Wooden-Headed Interpretation of Our Constitution
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
By: Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski
In chapter 4 of our book, The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency, we make the point that Team Obama would try to pull a fast one when it comes to Obamacare’s individual mandate that everyone reading this blog post needs to buy health insurance, or be subject to a penalty payable to your good friends at the IRS.
We first made this argument in a column we coauthored with Senator Orrin Hatch in the Wall Street Journal back in January. Now this issue has suddenly exploded back into the news.
For months, Team Obama has been saying that the individual mandate is authorized by Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce found in the Commerce Clause. We explain in the book why that argument is a loser in court, and that the White House would have to pull a bait-and-switch and suddenly argue that the mandate is a tax (violating Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250K per year).
Looks like we were right. In their first filing against the multi-state lawsuit challenging Obamacare, Team Obama is now arguing that the individual mandate is… a tax.
If you read chapter 4 of our book, though, after we explain how the mandate is not authorized by the Commerce Clause, we then go on to explain how it is also unconstitutional if it’s a tax.
Evidently worried about this, Team Obama then goes on to argue that if the court doesn’t buy the tax argument either (because the argument is bogus, perhaps?), then it’s still justified under the General Welfare Clause.
Anticipating that, our next section in chapter 4 explains why the mandate is also not authorized by the General Welfare Clause.
We close that section by noting that one thing you’re taught in law school is that the General Welfare Clause doesn’t authorize the federal government to do anything. It is a limitation on federal power, not a source of additional power.
When you cite the General Welfare Clause, you’re grasping at straws. That’s exactly what Team Obama is doing. Their legal argument is desperate, because the Obamacare mandate is unconstitutional.
With Elena Kagan’s confirmation vote for the Supreme Court right around the corner, this issue could not be more timely. We need federal courts that will uphold the Constitution’s limits on federal power. They can start by striking down Obamacare.
Fiorina Faces Challenges on Abortion
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
By EMILY SCHULTHEIS POLITICO
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is drawing almost the same support from California voters as incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, according to recent polls.
Fiorina’s position on abortion? Not so much.
A full 71 percent of Californians favor either keeping the state’s liberal abortion laws intact or making abortion easier to obtain, according to new data from the Field Poll. The same percentage said they support the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.
That’s a potential obstacle for Fiorina as she attempts to become the first anti-abortion candidate to win a California race at the top of the ticket since 1986. Former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian was the last abortion opponent to win a Senate or gubernatorial election; both subsequent GOP governors, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, supported abortion rights.
Californians’ support for abortion rights — and the Roe decision — has been more or less stable, hovering between 66 percent and 71 percent, since Field started asking the question in 1987.
Democratic consultant Garry South, a veteran California operative, predicted that the state’s pro-Roe lean would be “one of the things that ultimately does in Carly Fiorina.”
“This Field Poll reaffirms what we’ve known for years — even Republicans do not favor overturning Roe v. Wade or tinkering with a woman’s right to choose,” he said.
Fiorina spokeswoman Andrea Saul acknowledged the candidate “realizes a lot of voters don’t agree with her” on abortion, but predicted the social issue wouldn’t be a prime motivator for them this year.
“Voters are evaluating candidates and making decisions about who they’re going to support based on a wide range of issues, not just one,” she said, predicting that voters’ main concerns would be “jobs and out-of-control spending.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40116.html
#ixzz0uW6hGV6L
Political Cartoons: Michael Ramirez
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Mitt Romney’s Inner Circle
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is running for president again in 2012. Getty photo
THE WASHINGTON POST
THE FIX Political News and Analysis By Chris Cillizza
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has never really stopped running for president since that February day in 2008 when he ended his challenge to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
While Romney took an extended hiatus to write his book — “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness” — he never really left the political game, staying in close touch with a small group of political advisers who have kept the presidential flame lit over the past two plus years.
That loyal group has helped Romney emerge as the frontrunner in the Invisible Primary — the behind-the-scenes battle before the battle for the nomination, a contest defined by fundraising, endorsements and general political sway. (The Romney team’s performance was near perfect until a background quote disparaging former Alaska Sen. Sarah Palin caused a bit of stir nationally.)
What better way to kick off our 2012 inner circle lists — the men and women closest to the various Republicans (and Democrat) running for president — than with Romney. Look for future inner circles for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and, yes, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in this space in the coming weeks.
The Romney Inner Circle
*Matt Rhoades: Rhoades served as communications director for Romney’s 2008 bid and earned a reputation as a savvy strategist in and out of the press world. Rhoades was named director of Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC earlier this year — a move that won the governor praise among insiders — and is widely expected to be the campaign manager for the 2012 race.
* Beth Myers: Myers served as chief of staff during Romney’s time as governor and managed the 2008 race. Myers is regarded as the staffer with the closest personal relationship with Romney — a not-insignificant thing in a presidential campaign where scads of advisers seek to win the candidate’s ear.
* Eric Fehrnstrom: While Fehnstrom has dabbled in outside consulting — he helped guide Sen. Scott Brown (R) to victory in Massachusetts earlier this year — he is still focused heavily on forwarding Romney’s political interests. Fehnrstrom’s relationship with Romney cemented during the ’08 campaign when he served as traveling press secretary but the two also have history; Fehnstrom served as Romney’s deputy campaign manager in the 2002 governor’s race.
* Stuart Stevens/Russ Schriefer: Romney had many — too many, according to some — media consultants on board during the 2008 presidential campaign. (Check out our 2008 Romney inner circle post for a look at all of them.). Stevens and Schriefer, whose firm helped elect Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) in 2009, are the only image men left standing and are a near-lock to produce Romney’s ads in the race to come.
* Spencer Zwick: Commonly referred to as the sixth Romney son (Romney has five boys), Zwick is tasked with raising the money for the PAC — and, by any measure, has done a bang-up job. Romney has collected nearly $6 million for Free and Strong America since the start of 2009 and had doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates across the country as well. In both money raised and donations made, Romney stands alone among 2012 candidates — thanks to Zwick.
* Peter Flaherty: Flaherty is Romney’s go-to guy in outreach to conservatives, the same critical role he played for the governor in the 2008 presidential race. Flaherty, like Myers and Fehnrstrom, goes way back with Romney; he served as Romney’s deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office.
* Bob White: White is a longtime Romney confidante – they worked together at Bain Capital — and remains a trusted voice for the governor.
Kevin Madden, Spokesman for Mitt Romney's 2008 Primary Campaign
* Kevin Madden: Madden, the telegenic spokesman for Romney in 2008, has moved on to the world of political consulting — he is partners with former Republican National Committee strategist Jim Dyke — but keeps a hand in Romney world. Madden is also a regular presence on cable television, a role he’s likely to reprise if/when he signs up for a second bid.
* Ben Ginsberg: Ginsberg (and his law firm Patton Boggs) remains on Romney’s PAC payroll — a sign that the governor values the advice of one of the top election lawyers in Washington (or anywhere.)
* Ron Kaufman: Kaufman, a principal at the Dutko Group, is the insider’s insider and serves as a behind-the-scenes advocate for Romney within the professional political class in Washington.
Jim Talent, former Missouri Congressman and Senator
* Jim Talent/Mike Leavitt: Talent, the former Missouri Senator, and Leavitt, the former Utah governor, know the life of an elected official and can relate to Romney in a way that few others in the inner circle can as a result.
Read more at the washingtonpost.com….
Obama’s Latest Monstrosity
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
By: John Berlau The American Spectator
The 2,315 page Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign today should not be called “financial reform.” Instead the bill, which passed the Senate 60-39 last week when Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown joined Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to grant cloture, should be called what for what it is: pages and pages of massively costly, counterproductive and possibly unconstitutional mandates on nearly every type of business except for those government-sponsored enterprises at the root of the crisis. And while the bill claims to crack down on excesses on Wall Street, its harshest impact will likely be on Main Street businesses that had nothing to do with the meltdown.
A front-page Wall Street Journal article this week noted that “far from Wall Street, President Barack Obama’s financial regulatory overhaul… will leave tracks across the wide-open landscape of American industry.” The Journal notes that “the bill will touch storefront check cashiers, city governments, [and] small manufacturers.”
But one thing it will leave totally untouched is the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which new research by Congress’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and other bodies shows was even more of a prime factor in the subprime boom than originally assumed. The Federal Housing Finance Agency now reports that Fannie and Freddie purchased 40 percent of all private-label subprime securities in 2003 and 2004. Indeed, according to Edward Pinto, housing scholar and Fannie’s former chief credit officer, millions of mortgages to borrowers with credit scores of less than 660, considered by prominent researchers to be the dividing line for subprime loans, had been labeled by Fannie and Freddie as prime going back as early as 1993.
Rather than wait for Congress’s own Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to issue its report in December to examine the role of the GSEs and other causes, Congress passed a bill that will not prevent future bubbles and imposes untold costs that will put the country in danger of slipping back into a recession.
New collateral requirements on derivatives could cost U.S. companies as much as $1 trillion in lost capital and liquidity, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. And as the WSJ piece notes, these costs would hit not just big banks, but farmers who use derivatives to hedge the price of their crops and fuel for their tractor. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could also hit retailers that issue credit tangentially related to their business, such as small stores that offer layaway plans.
On the other side of the retail ledger, some of the biggest retailers also got an unjustified mandated benefit with the Durbin amendment that puts price controls on the interchange fees they pay to process credit cards. This corporate welfare for fat cat merchants will mean higher costs to consumers, community banks, and credit unions.
In addition, the bill contains provisions that will empower special interests at the expense of ordinary shareholders and that may exceed the limits of the U.S. Constitution. The bill’s “orderly liquidation” authority will allow the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department not only to bail out firms whose failure is deemed to be a threat to “financial stability,” but to actually seize firms that are not even asking for a bailout.
Read more @ The American Spectator…….
Palin invents word ‘refudiate,’ compares herself to Shakespeare
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
By: Matt DeLong
The Twittersphere erupted Sunday when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted that “peaceful Muslims” should “refudiate” the mosque being built in New York City near where the Twin Towers once stood. Palin found herself the butt of many tweets, as refudiate, of course, is not a word in the English language.
After deleting the offending tweet, Palin replaced it with another calling on “peaceful New Yorkers” to “refute the Ground Zero mosque plan,” which only added to the confusion because it would appear the word she was looking for was “repudiate.” Then came the kicker: To quell the vicious Twitter-ribbing she was receiving, Palin unleashed yet another tweet comparing herself to no less than the Bard of Avon.
Naturally, this led to a very entertaining Twitter meme, #ShakesPalin, in which participants revamped classic Shakespeare quotes, Palin-style (and of which Reason’s The Cato Institute’s Julian Sanchez was arguably the champion).
A good time had by all.
Daschle accuses Romney of flirting with ‘nuclear anarchy’
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Ex-Sen. Tom Dascle delivered a speech at the uber-leftie Center for American Progress recently where he accused Mitt Romney of advocating policies that would result in “nuclear anarchy.” Really? What would need to change for that to happen?
Last time I checked that’s what we already have. Iran’s program to “generate electricity” from it’s nuclear reactors continues unabated. Their development of long range missiles continues as well. If we are naive enough to believe that they only want to “generate electricity” with their nuclear program, then I guess the missiles must be to deliver the electricity to other countries that want to purchase their excess production.
Kim Jong Il has thumed his nose at the Clinton, Bush and now the Obama administrations and continues to rattle the nuclear sword when ever his dreary little criminal organization runs low on cash and the the world beats a path to his doorstep to bail him out.
So that’s why I am puzzled at Mr. Daschle’s agitation over “nuclear anarchy” developing as a result of some alleged change wrought by Mitt Romney’s foreign policy proposals. Mr. Romney is just advising Obama not to give the store away and then get bupkis in exchange. You know, like he usually does.
~~John Cronin~~
USATODAY.COM
The normally mild-mannered former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle blistered Republican presidential potential Mitt Romney and some of the GOP’s favorite talk-meisters this morning, reports our Gannett News Service colleague Chuck Raasch.
Appearing at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, Daschle targeted a Washington Post op-ed in which Romney urged the Senate to reject a proposed new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. America’s military leaders favor the update of the 19-year-old pact and with good reason, Daschle said.
Failing to renew the deal would trigger “nuclear anarchy,” Daschle argued, not only by renewing an arms race with Russia, the world’s only other nuclear superpower, but by encouraging rogue states such as North Korea, to join the fun.
Daschle was just getting started, according to Chuck’s report.
Ratification of the treaty requires 67 votes, which means President Obama will need some Republican support. Republican senators “can choose Mitt Romney or they can choose the entire U.S. military establishment,” Daschle said.
The former senator went on to accuse some Republicans of caring more about scoring political points against the president than about the future of the country. He suggested that they are ignoring the responsibilities of their office to pander to the conservative chattering class.
“If Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh choose to make a living peddling partisan hate and anger and mangled conspiracy theories, there will always be people for them to sell a bill of goods,” Daschle said. “It is not healthy for our democracy.”
Daschle has been close to the White House. President Obama tapped him to be Health and Human Services secretary in his Cabinet, but Daschle withdrew his name after embarrassing disclosures about his failure to pay taxes on some of his compensation. Daschle has worked as a consultant for various corporations and causes since losing his Senate seat in 2004 to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Pat Proposes to Jamie at the National Mall, July 4, 2010
Monday, July 19th, 2010Congratulations to our son, Pat Cronin and to his fiancee, Jamie McCune on the occasion of their engagement at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on the Fouth of July, 2010.
Woo Hoo!! Pat’s a 2nd Lt. in the USMC and is currently in training at the Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia and Jamie is a CPA with Price, Waterhouse, Coopers and they are both Reagan Republicans.
Jamie is busy doing internal audits for PWC and Pat is poppin’ rounds with M16-4A assault rifles, Model 92 Berettas and Model 1911 .45 cal. automatics, when he is not studying subjects like “War Fighting” and “Law of War and Rules of Engagement.”
Congrats to Pat and Jamie!
~~John Cronin~~
Pat Proposes to Jamie at the National Mall, July 4, 2010
