"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
Sarah Palin was the runaway winner with 27%, while Mitt Romney (11.6%) edged out Herman Cain (11.3%) for second. It’s also interesting to see that all the hype for Tim Pawlenty couldn’t boost the former Minnesota governor past 6%, while Newt Gingrich didn’t crack 2%.
Of course, this isn’t a random-sample scientific poll, but it does indicate how competitive Cain is among conservative activists online.
Isn’t it time you joined the online grassroots army at Citizens for Cain?
by Smitty
Related: the future report.
by Smitty (via Hot Air)
O’Donnell does a more courageous job of expressing the Progressive Faith than almost anyone else on the Left.
The fact that the Progressive Faith arrives in a sodomized expression of Christianity comes close to triggering a puke reflex. It happens. May Heaven have mercy upon you, Lawrence O’Donnell, and the Holy Spirit grant you the wisdom to grasp that the State is not the Almighty, merely a secular means of de-conflicting group interests.
People seriously interested in the Rich Young Ruler are directed to Bonheoffer, but warned: ol’ Dietrich was never about the feel-good Gospel, right up to the bitter, tragic end.
Update: More at Eternity Matters.
by Smitty
Morrissey makes it sound as though the Speaker of the House was ‘a young apprentice / caught between the Scylla and Charybdis’ when it comes to the debt ceiling:
Of course, most voters don’t want the debt-ceiling limit raised, either. That gives Boehner a lot more political leverage than he normally would have, since he can claim to represent the mandate of the electorate — and a broadly bipartisan mandate at that. Even a plurality of Democratic voters don’t want it raised again (48% to 36% supporting an increase in the CBS poll). But that’s also a trap for Boehner even if a deal is finally struck that includes both entitlement reform and a debt-ceiling hike; the result will be unpopular for both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
That means that Boehner has to get entitlement reform and take ownership of it while putting the blame for the debt-limit increase on the White House, an effort amply assisted by the Obama administration’s early hysteria strategy on the issue. He can’t afford to come out of the battle with nothing but the debt-limit increase and some assorted discretionary-spending caps that save just tens of billions of dollars like he did with the FY2011 budget. There are no real ways to win in this fight, but plenty of ways to lose. Boehner’s latest warning is a recognition of that fact.
Lacking GOP control of both chambers of commerce, it seems that the sucking wallet wound is going to continue to extract lifeblood from the American people.
One route Boehner could take would be to play the Simpson-Bowles card:
The plan would reduce cost-of-living increases for all federal programs, including Social Security. It would reduce projected Social Security benefits to most retirees in later decades, though low-income people would get higher benefits. The retirement age for full benefits would be slowly raised to 69 from 67 by 2075, with a “hardship exemption” for people who physically cannot work past 62. And higher levels of income would be subject to payroll taxes.
But the plan would not count Social Security savings toward the overall deficit-reduction goal that Mr. Obama set for fiscal year 2015, reflecting the chairmen’s sensitivity to liberal critics who have complained that Social Security should be fixed only for its own sake, not to help balance the nation’s books.
Substantially leverage the entitlement reform pieces of that, and serve it up as the President’s own work. For added snark, publish the legislation with a watermark based upon the Hawaiian long form birth certificate. Then, the President has to defend, again, the old panel he’s blown off. VP Biden would feel the heat, too, on his new panel. Oh wait, he has no clue.
After that fracas, the debt limit can be raised by enough to bring the issue up again in another month. If we’re going to talk about the President like a dog, let us ensure he returneth to his vomit, say, monthly. It will help mellow him out, for caustic values of ‘mellow’.
Cubachi points to Sen. Mike Lee at The National Review preaching the Balanced Budget Amendment. Ho hum. When you’ve got a drug addict running the pharmacy, what good are promises? Tell me what you’re doing to separate the junkie from the pills, where ‘doing’ means ‘stripping power’.
by Smitty
Stacy mentioned the myopia of the Left with respect to providing future voters earlier today. Down in the land of Nikki Haley, there is a similar outburst of nihilism afoot, attempting to abort Boeing’s efforts to build planes.
Karl Marx famously said “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” The practical implementation of this has been “If I can’t have it, you can’t have it.” Thus is the Decalogue’s admonition not to covet converted from sin to Lefty ‘virtue’.
By challenging Boeing’s right to build aircraft in South Carolina, labor’s bureaucratic allies in Washington are threatening the ability of states to compete for new jobs and investment—and risking the economic recovery to boot.
In 2009 Boeing announced plans to build a new plant to meet demand for its new 787 Dreamliner. Though its union contract didn’t require it, Boeing executives negotiated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to build the plane at its existing plant in Washington state. The talks broke down because the union wanted, among other things, a seat on Boeing’s board and a promise that Boeing would build all future airplanes in Puget Sound.
Labor isn’t doing anything noble. This action is the antithesis of guts:
The NLRB obliged with its complaint yesterday asking an administrative law judge to stop Boeing’s South Carolina production because its executives had cited the risk of strikes as a reason for the move. Boeing acted out of “anti-union animus,” says the complaint by acting general counsel Lafe Solomon, and its decision to move had the effect of “discouraging membership in a labor organization” and thus violates federal law.
It’s hard to know which law he’s referring to. There are plentiful legal precedents that give business the right to locate operations in right-to-work states. That right has created healthy competition among states and kept tens of millions of jobs in America rather than heading overseas.
This is another brick in the wall of the mausoleum of American manufacturing. These unions, apparently, won’t be satisfied until they ensure that no aircraft are built in America. The notion of the union members, to paraphrase WFB, ‘starting their own goddamn aircraft company’ and competing with Boeing, rather that parasitically draining it seems to escape the discussion.
I suppose if you’re Airbus, you might use the union as a proxy to attack a competitor, but there isn’t any evidence of ought but bloody minded idiocy at work in the minds of these union twerps.
It’s great that Sarah Palin likes to use her and her hubby’s union history. However, the scorched earth approach taken by these unions cannot be reconciled with any notion of recovery. Union labor is overpriced. Hating capitalism and destroying commerce will nearly achieve a Pyrrhic victory, but, just at the last second, deliver self-destruction instead. Just as they’re doing on the demographic front, it seems.
More at Hot Air.
by Smitty
Morrissey and the dextrosphere are all enjoying a good chuckle at the expense of the Huffington Post lawsuit.
Jonathan Tasini:
We’re going to make it clear that, until you do justice here, your life is going to be a living hell.
Justice? Really? How does Tasini’s notion of justice relate to things like contract law? Maybe he should confine himself to croquet or other games where the rules are made on the fly. Or maybe Jonathan Tasini is qualified to be a god, and craft justice on the fly continuously, and without error.
The really interesting question in all this, however, is whether this mugging will be sufficient to recast Arianna as a conservative.
More fun courtesy of Little Miss Attila.
And I think it’s fair to characterize Volokh as amused.
“Not only did Democrats under her Speakership raise discretionary spending 18% in three years, not only did she pass a Pay-Go law and then fail to adhere to it even once, Pelosi became the first Speaker since Watergate to fail to pass a budget resolution for a fiscal year. In 2010, despite having a 77-seat majority in the House, a Senate which her party held by 18 seats, and a Democrat in the White House, Pelosi failed — or refused — to pass a budget for FY2011.”
— Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Don’t bother clearing your throat before you say, “chutzpah.”
“Democrats have long fought for fiscal responsibility as a top priority of this Congress.”
Anybody remember that fight? Anbody? I didn’t think so.
One of the things that has always amazed me about D.C. is how frequently young people change jobs here. You go to a cocktail reception and run into a think-tank guy you met at a reception six weeks ago: “Hey, how are things at [name of think tank]?” And he says, “Oh, I’m at [name of consulting firm] now.” So you say, “Oh, I know so-and-so who works there.” And the guy says, “No, she left. She’s working for [name of congressman] now.”
It’s a constant career merry-go-round and, apparently, the rule of this job-hopper game is: “He who has the most employers on his resume, wins.” And so anybody inside the Beltway who works anywhere more than two years is considered a loser.
Which is why, less than two years after former American Spectator managing editor J.P. Freire joined the Examiner, he’s gone:
J.P. Freire, associate editor of the Washington Examiner‘s Commentary section, is leaving his post for a gig at New Media Strategies (NMS). At NMS Freire will flex his news knowledge as a senior communications strategist. . . .
Freire has held his position with the Examiner for nearly two years. He was previously the managing editor of the American Spectator magazine.
J.P. is a smart guy who, a couple years ago, expressed a great truth in saying that what conservative journalism needs is fewer Bill Buckleys and more Robert Novaks — which is to say, more reporters and fewer pundits. And to replace Freire, Tapscott brings in brilliant young American Spectator staffer Philip Klein to fill the opening:
Philip has been Washington correspondent for the American Spectator for several years and before that was a reporter at Reuters in New York City. At both Reuters and the Spectator, Philip displayed the kind of detailed, thorough writing and reporting that will make him a key member of the Commentary staff.
Phil is a wonk. The guy loves policy like a squirrel loves nuts. Yes, he is a reporter and a very good one, but in his heart of hearts, the guy is about policy, not politics. (His writing on the health-care debate was some of the best stuff out there.) Knowing Phil as I do, I’m prepared to make a bold prediction: By summer 2012, Phil will be working as a policy guy for a GOP presidential campaign and, if Republicans take back the White House, will join the new administration, either in the speechwriting shop or as a policy assistant.
Now, finally, to something I mentioned at the bottom of a post last week:
NEW JOB
HotAir.com – Writer
Description: HotAir.com is seeking a third writer to join the current duo of Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit. HotAir is the largest conservative blog, has a readership of over two million readers a month and is cited daily by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Bill Bennett and pundits across the airwaves and online. Blogging at HotAir is the perfect opportunity for a writer with a quick wit and a nose for news. Competitive salary commensurate with experience plus full benefits. Please send inquiries to [email protected] or fax to 703-247-1257, Attention: Jonathan Garthwaite, General Manager.
Added 03/08/11.
Running a “help wanted” ad for such a plum job is extremely unusual. Notice, by contrast, how Tapscott filled the Examiner opening vacated by Freire’s departure almost instantly after Freire’s departure became known, and with a staffer from the same magazine where Freire had formerly been managing editor.
Most openings like that, you see, are never advertised, but are instead filled by friends recommending friends to their friends.
Therefore, from my perspective, this cattle-call ad can have only one meaning: The proprietors of Hot Air don’t consider me “a writer with a quick wit and a nose for news.”
Otherwise, why the ad? They could have just called me and said, “Hey, want a job?” Putting out the cattle call like this is therefore tantamount to a public declaration that nobody at Hot Air is interested in “the ugliest girl on the cheerleading squad.”
Meanwhile, at least two people have asked me to recommend them for the Hot Air job, but given this evidence of what extremely low regard the proprietors have for me, I suppose that a recommendation from me would hurt more than it would help.
So, if any of my friends are interested in appling for that job, pretend you don’t know me. If you think it will help you get the job, just say the word and I’ll be happy denounce you as a candy-ass RINO.
Because that’s what friends are for.