Category: Congress

‘President of the Back of the Bus’

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In order to keep the leadership perks for herself and fellow big-shot honky Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi created a meaningless “No. 3” position for James Clyburn. Michelle Malkin’s snarktastic reaction:

Imagine if the Republicans created a figurehead position out of thin air to keep “the black guy” from making waves and challenging the two white people at the top. MSNBC would have their lead story for the next week.
The new as-yet untitled position (I assume “President of the Back of the House Bus” is not under consideration) Pelosi is creating for Clyburn will at some point be known as “We lost because of him!”

(Via Memeorandum.) How is Nancy’s “Liberal Honkies in Charge” plan going to help Democratic turnout in 2012? Do you suppose Charles Lollar might get some of Steny Hoyer’s voters thinking twice?

Professor Palin and the Class of ’12

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A wonderful introductory lecture for the freshmen:

Never forget the people who sent you to Washington. Never forget the trust they placed in you to do the right thing.
The task before you is daunting because so much damage has been done in the last two years, but I believe you have the chance to achieve great things.
Republicans campaigned on a promise to rein in out-of-control government spending and to repeal and replace the massive, burdensome, and unwanted health care law President Obama and the Democrat Congress passed earlier this year in defiance of the will of the majority of the American people. These are promises that you must keep. . . .

Read the whole thing.

Miracle Comeback: Ann Marie Buerkle Now Has Slim Lead in NY-25

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Oh, my goodness. This was a Republican candidate I covered during my road trip with Da Tech Guy, but I’d written off this district as lost last night. Incumbent Democrat Rep. Dan Maffei had already declared victory.

But today Left Coast Rebel proclaimed the good news: Ann Marie Buerkle has come back to a 659-vote lead, thanks to late returns from Wayne County.

Absentee ballots remain to be counted, so say a prayer.

I’m a “Road Man for the Lords of Karma,” and the karmic wheel may be turning against Dan Maffei.

VIDEO: Allen West Victory Speech

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BOCA RATON, Fla. — Will be uploading these segments in stages, in no particular order. It was freaking awesome, is what it was.

UPDATE: My plan for Election Night had been to end up at Marco Rubio’s victory bash down in Coral Gables. But I was a little late leaving Panama City in the morning and, though I drove like a bat out of hell, it was obvious I would be late getting there. So I called the West campaign, found out they were having their victory party here about 45 miles up the coast from Miami and . . .

Well, Colonel West has been a sentimental favorite for a long time, ever since he was Pamela Geller’s “Colonel from Kandahar” columnist inAfghanistan. I interviewed him during his 2008 campaign, back when the NRCC wouldn’t give him the time of day, so it’s like destiny that brought me here.

The congressman-elect meets the press after his victory.

Mrs. West and the couple’s lovely daughters.

Smile and say, “Charles Johnson!”

Just Requested Media Credentials for the Marco Rubio Victory Party in Miami

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Me and every other freaking reporter on the planet:

Perhaps the most sought-after press credential in the country on Nov. 2: Republican Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio’s party at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
As of yesterday, the campaign had received requests from 232 media outlets. That includes 35 television cameras (of which 17 are from Florida) , network crews from NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, the BBC, NPR, Univision and Al Arabiya, and 75 members of the foreign press — radio reporters from the Czech Republic, West Africa, China;  TV crews from The Congo, Columbia, Japan, France, Spain; and  print reporters from Germany, New Zealand, Argentina and the UK.
To say Rubio has come a long way is a massive understatement. . . .

Indeed. In the first poll taken after “those treacherous bastards” at the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist in May 2009, Marco Rubio trailed by more than 30 points. 

Professor William Jacobson gives credit to the “Not One Red Cent” rebellion against the GOP Establishment. I’ve told the story behind that rebellion at Hot Air Green Room:

We were standing outside the Continental Lounge in Rosslyn, Va., while the young Republican operative explained it to me.
“All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don’t care how they get there,” said the operative. “They don’t want to spend any money, so they were looking for a self-funder.”
“They” are Republican senators, and what my friend was explaining was the otherwise inexplicable decision of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to endorse Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race — 15 months before the primary!
As soon as this news hit the Internet on Tuesday, the outright stupidity of the NRSC and its chairman, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, became the No. 1 topic of conversation among conservative activists, including the journalists, bloggers and GOP operatives who gathered for Thursday night’s cocktail party at the Continental in Rosslyn, just across the Potomac River from Georgetown.

The uprising of conservatives for Rubio has been one of the most inspiring political stories of recent years. Here in my cheap hotel, I just saw a TV ad in which Charlie Crist denounces Marco as “extreme.” Charlie doesn’t get it. He’s toast.

Anyway, I just interviewed a staffer for Steve Southerland, the GOP candidate here in Florida’s 2nd District. They’re feeling pretty confident they’ll defeat Allen Boyd tomorrow. But I just saw a DCCC TV ad distorting Southerland’s support for the Fair Tax, so “don’t get cocky.”)

It’s 592 miles to Miami. I want to stop by and see Allen West on the way. Please hit the tip jar.

Among The Reasons We Keep Returning Knobs To Congress

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by Smitty

TrogloPundit noted a survey saying roughly 2/3 would like to flush the Congress as a whole. Given our population size, the argument that we can’t find equal or better talent in the population for any seat is specious. And if the argument has merit, say, for Federal Reserve Chairman (oops, we don’t vote for that chap) then we should be asking ourselves: why is the system rigged with so many failure points?
But back to the systemic drivers for keeping the devils and succubi we know: the seniority system drives a Prisoner’s Dilemma of sorts. What to do?
To quote something I wrote over at NTC News, let’s do this

Every Congress must win approval from two thirds of the state legislatures in the 18th month of the Congress, or none of the members of the Congress are permitted to run for re-election for their current seat.

Note that this is not an individual term limit, but, rather, a global kill switch for the entire pack of louts. By default, the Congresscritters are gone. Most of the time, they will clear the approval wicket. The 111th Congress would have been down the tubes, and we’d have primaried fresh faces (careful with the vowels in ‘faces’) this Spring.

GA-12: Greetings From Vidalia!

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VIDALIA, Ga. — I’m here at Ray McKinney for Congress headquarters in the “Sweet Onion City,” and wanted to give you a quick campaign update.

Here’s Ray in front of headquarters on Main Street.

The Raymobile. It’s like the Batmobile, except for the bumper sticker on the back: “This vehicle does not brake for Blue Dogs.”

Ray’s wife of 26 years, Lisa, fills in his schedule for Monday.

This is the intersection of Main Street and Main Street in Statesboro. Notice that they have East Main Street blocked off. That was for Saturday evening’s “Scare on the Square” Halloween festival. Ray attended to greet and shake hands with voters.

Ray talks to one of his supporters on East Main Street during the “Scare on the Square” festival.

Ray was surprised to find that this young trick-or-treater was disguised as Christine O’Donnell.

Ray explains that this year’s candy shortage is caused by Democratic policies that John Barrow voted for.

Ray: “See that guy? He’s the media. Never trust those guys.” And this young Christine O’Donnell admirer took his advice to heart.

A young girl dressed up in an elephant costume does a perfect imitation of a Republican establishment insider who has just learned that a Tea Party-backed candidate might win an election Nov. 2.

RAY McKINNEY for CONGRESS

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! And here’s an early look at Monday’s American Spectator column:

VIDALIA, Ga. — John Barrow is a Democrat endorsed by Barack Obama. Or, depending on who he’s talking to, John Barrow is fighting against Barack Obama and the Democrats. Judging from his campaign’s mixed messages, Barrow believes a majority of voters in Georgia’s 12th District want to re-elect a one-man bipartisan compromise.
In a mailing sent out last week, the Democrat congressman told independent voters that he is “not a rubber stamp” and bragged that he has “stood up to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Washington.”
Of course, that’s not the message Barrow sent to Democrats. The three-term incumbent sent them a different mailer, featuring a photo of the president with the slogan “Now More Than Ever” and the message: “John Barrow is working hand in hand with President Obama.” Meanwhile, listeners to black-oriented radio stations in the southeast Georgia district are hearing ads that tout Obama’s endorsement of Barrow.
Barrow’s schizophrenic campaign demonstrates the precarious political calculus for a Blue Dog Democrat seeking re-election in a year when his party is unpopular and when Republicans are on the winning side of what has been termed the “enthusiasm gap.” . . .

Please read the whole thing.