Blue Collar Muse

On Thursday night, July 15th, 7 of the 10 candidates for US House in Tennessee’s 5th District met for a candidate forum the night before early voting began. The event, sponsored by Conservatives on the Move and co-sponsored by The Tennessee ConserVOLiance, Tennessee Tax Revolt, The Davidson County Republican Party, Tennessee Tea Party, 9-12 Project Tennessee and the National Fiscal Conservative PAC drew a crowd of about 150 at Apollo Middle School for two hours of questions from audience members and sponsoring organizations.

Candidates participating, in alphabetical order, were Jeff Hartline, CeCe Heil, Patrick Miranda, Bob Ries, Bob Schwartz, Lonnie Spivak and Tracy Tarum. The event was moderated and overseen by event organizers Fabian Story and Ken Marrero.

The event format was significantly different than formats for events of this nature. Rather than asking all 7 candidates the same 5 questions, event organizers chose a different approach. No candidate was asked to respond individually to the same question. A random order for participation and random questions drawn from those submitted by sponsoring organizations ensured a wide variety of topics and the opportunity to be exposed to several positions from the candidates. Rather than a standard rebuttal, each candidate was given a red “challenge” flag to use the way NFL coaches use their challenge flags. In the event of a disagreement, a candidate could challenge the statement or position of an opposing candidate. Further, each candidate was issued a small whiteboard to answer what were dubbed “Final Jeopardy” questions. These were questions asked of all candidates at the same time with all answers written down and revealed at the same time. Response from the audience and candidates alike indicated that the changes made for a more fresh and fun experience.

There was a straw poll taken, the results of which are noted below. In addition, one of the Final Jeopardy questions was to list as many of the Federal Government’s enumerated powers, from Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution, as possible in a 2 minute period. The answers given by the candidates along with the text of Article 1 Section 8 are also listed below.

STRAW POLL RESULTS:

CeCe Heil 31 – 32.9%

Jeff Hartline 24 – 25.5%

Lonnie Spivak 17 – 18.1%

Bob Schwartz 12 – 12.8%

Bob Ries 4 – 4.3%

Patrick Miranda 4 – 4.3%

Tracy Tarum 2 – 2.6%

The number of correctly identified Enumerated Powers (full list of answers and actual enumerated powers appear at the end):

Lonnie Spivak – 14 right / 0 wrong
Bob Ries – 7 right / 2 wrong
Jeff Hartline – 6 right / 0 wrong
Bob Schwartz – 5 right / 2 wrong
Tracy Tarum – 5 right / 0 wrong
CeCe Heil – 2 right / 1 wrong
Patrick Miranda – 2 right / 2 wrong

Lonnie Spivak’s answers were: “Tax, Borrow Money, Regulate Commerce, Coin Money, Prosecute Counterfeiters, Protect Intellectual Property, Create Tribunals, Declare War, Create Armies, Create a Navy, Standardize Naturalization and Bankruptcy, Provide for sending troops to war, Militias, Seat of Government”. Credit given for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17

Bob Ries’ answers were: “Control Interstate Commerce, Tax but Tax evenly, Postal Roads, Coin Money, Lend Money, Authority over Captives, Authority over Washington DC – Docks – Arsenals – Forts, Patents and Copyrights, Banking” Credit given for 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 17. “Lend Money, Banking” were considered incorrect answers.

Jeff Harline’s answers were: “Form an Army, Form a Navy, Establish Post Office and Post Roads, Lay and Collect Taxes, Regulate Interstate Commerce, Establish Court System” Credit given for 1, 3, 7, 9, 12, 13

Bob Schwartz’s answers were: “Levy Taxes, Raise Armies, Protect Intellectual Property, Regulate Interstate Commerce, Mint Money, Create Budget for Federal Government, Provide Oversight/Impeachment for POTUS, VP and Cabinet level Officers” Credit given for 1, 3, 5, 8, 12. “Create Budget and Provide Oversight” were considered incorrect answers.

Tracy Tarum’s answers were: “Levy Tarriffs, Postal Service/Roads, Raise a Navy, Regulate Trade between States, Print Money” Credit given for 1, 3, 5, 7, 13

CeCe Heil’s answers were “Power to Lay and Collect Taxes, Military/Defense, Set the Budget” Credit given for 1, 14 “Set the Budget” was considered an incorrect answer.

Patrick Miranda’s answers were “National Defense/Protect Citizens, General Welfare, Coin Money, 3 Branches Kept Separate, State’s Rights vis-a-vis Expansion of Federal Government” Credit given for 1, 5. “3 Branches Kept Separate, State’s Rights vis-a-vis Expansion of Federal Government” were considered wrong answers.

The complete list of enumerated powers from the Constition’s Article 1, Section 8 is as follows:

1 – To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
2 – To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
3 – To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
4 – To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
5 – To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
6 – To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
7 – To establish post offices and post roads;
8 – To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
9 – To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
10 – To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
11 – To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
12 – To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
13 – To provide and maintain a navy;
14 – To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
15 – To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
16 – To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
17 – To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles (16 km) square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.
18 – To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Popularity: 34% [?]

For the years I have been privileged to show up in your browsers, while I have often scolded politicians for their misdeeds and bad policy, I have never publicly endorsed a candidate. This election cycle, the challenges facing our state and country are so important and the issues in play are so foundational to our future that I will be endorsing a select few based on qualifications and their exemplary record.

I am excited to announce that my first endorsement is in support of Susan Lynn, candidate for Tennessee Senate District 17.

I have known Susan for 4 years and have consistently been impressed with her commitment to sound principles and sound policy as opposed to merely allying herself with a party or a person. The issues she has chosen to champion are those critical to the individual and economic liberty of Tennesseans and all Americans.

Susan has done far more than just talk about the issues, however. As a State Representative from District 57, in the 106^th General Assembly alone, Susan was the primary sponsor of legislation to keep your ballots secret, to keep the federal government from forcing health care choices on you, to reduce regulatory roadblocks to economic opportunity, to protect the rights of consumers in financial transactions, to eliminate inheritance taxes, to make government spending more transparent and to reduce government intrusion on the religious practices of all faiths in Tennessee, Moreover, she introduced resolutions to establish and defend Tennessee as a sovereign state, to establish Free Enterprise as the economic model for Tennessee and to amend Tennessee’s Constitution to prohibit any form of tax on personal income.

In addition to her own legislation, Susan co-sponsored excellent legislation protecting the Rights and liberty of Tennesseans in the areas of their 2^nd Amendment Rights, their education choices, the sanctity and security of the voting process, making the legal system more transparent and too many others to list.

Beyond her work on behalf of all Tennesseans, Susan is recognized as an accomplished legislator across the country. Since 2007 she has served as Chairman of the Commerce Task Force for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the premier organization of state legislators advocating for Conservative policy at all levels of government. Susan created and chairs Tennessee’s Committee of Correspondence charged with acting as liason to the other 49 States in the Union in the matter of State Sovereignty.

In short, she is an outstanding legislator and her exemplary record is one all elected officials would do well to emulate.

However, her commitment to serving Tennessee and Tennesseans doesn’t stop there. After her legislative work is through for the day, Susan tirelessly reaches out to Tennesseans and makes herself available and accessible to citizens in and out of her district. She writes a blog on her experience in the General Assembly and authors a separate weekly newsletter on the same. She is active on Social Media sites such as Twitter and FaceBook and makes her contact information available publicly. She is involved in events all over the state, not just in her district. She personifies the concept of “public servant.”

Now she is looking to represent a larger group of Tennesseans in Senate District 17 in the same way she served the citizens of House District 57. I can think of no one better to represent Tennesseans in any capacity. I am excited and proud to wholeheartedly endorse Susan, without reservation, and encourage you to donate to her campaign, to volunteer for her campaign and on election day, I urge you to cast your vote for perhaps Tennessee’s finest legislator, Susan Lynn.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Following smaller than expected (and certainly smaller than desired) turnout at most of the Tea Parties in Middle Tennessee last week, I’ve heard the sentiment expressed that perhaps the Tea Parties have peaked and are no longer a force to be reckoned with in American politics. While this is one possible explanation for the showing here and elsewhere last week and while it appears some politicians may be thinking the massive grassroots response to DC shennanigans can now be safely ignored, there is another explanation that is just as legitimate. It’s the one I think is most valid. But we’ll have to wait until November to say for sure.

It’s my considered opinion that Tea Party goers are looking at late 2009 and 2010 as even more important than the early days of a movement only just barely a year old. At first, the Tea Parties were a place to vent and to network with those of like mind. Very quickly they morphed into places to network and organize. Now the groups that networked and organized at the early Tea Parties are rivaling the Tea Parties themselves for attendance and man-power. In short, folks are either suffering from rally-fatigue or they are seeing less value in merely gathering to protest and are banding together to acquire political power and accomplish political goals.

Some of you may remember recent events here in Middle Tennessee where an organized group not affiliated with the Tea Parties came close to taking over the second largest county GOP organization in the state. There are echoes of that same activity from the same group currently underway to try and wrest control of the state GOP Executive Committee from the folks who have controlled it for years. I have been asked if there is a similar coordinated attempt by Tea Party people here in Tennessee to also take over the GOP’s SEC (there isn’t). But it’s this sort of political activity that Tea Partiers are rallying to. Here in Tennessee it takes the form of community organizing like Conservative Neighbors and the Tennessee Precinct Project. Or it is showing in huge interest in groups like the Young Republicans. Some of it is seen in the increased numbers of PACs and the formation and operation of other 527s and 501c3s and 501c4s. But the swell of activity is huge. And since most of this activity doesn’t bear the name Tea Party, it may be getting lost in the usual clutter of activity in an election year. But I think November will show the depth of the passion with which Tea Partiers are committed to political activism.

In other places Tea Partiers are more open and more blunt in their approach. Richard Viguerie’s Conservative HQ reported today that NewsMax is reporting that Tea Party activists in Utah may have successfully “taken over the [state] GOP.” This sort of activity and its related result didn’t express itself as a Tea Party. But it certainly sprang from one and is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Tea Partiers, abused and ignored or feeling abused and ignored, in one of the most Conservative states in the Union have flexed considerable muscle and mobilized hundreds of activists to accomplish this. Again, while it remains to be seen if they are ultimately successful, it is evidence that both the political Right and the political Left dismiss the Tea Parties as either irrelevant or over-the-hill at their peril.

Progressive Socialists bent on a 5th column take over of America from within ignored hundreds of thousands gathered in DC on 9-12-09. Moderate Republicans seem willing to, at a minimum, consider ignoring them if the price isn’t too high. Those hundreds of thousands from DC along with many more hundreds of thousands who were unable to make it to DC last Fall took notice and have decided their votes and their voices have been ineffective. It’s time for action.

Or not … time will tell. But my money is on the Tea Partiers …

Popularity: 35% [?]

I received the following from the Gibbons campaign about an hour ago. General Gibbons has announced he is dropping out of the race for financial reasons. I was honored to meet Bill several times on his campaign and he graciously spent time with many of the ConserVOLiance bloggers and activists in Middle and West Tennessee. General Gibbons brought a real grassroots presence to the race and his campaign issues, particularly those on crime and public safety, added an element to the discussion that was unique to his campaign. His voice and his ideas will be missed. I hope the other candidates and the eventual nominee will seek out General Gibbons for his insight and wisdom as they move forward in the race.

Thanks, Bill, for all you did for Tennessee and Tennesseans!

Today, I am withdrawing from the race for governor for one reason and one reason only, and that is lack of sufficient campaign funds to go forward.

For over a year, we have had a specific campaign plan which called for a budget of $2.5 million – substantially less than what one other campaign will spend and at least slightly less than what two others will probably spend. Our initial goal was to have at least $1.0 million of that by the end of 2009. We fell significantly short of that goal. We then set a goal of having at least $1 million by April 1 of this year. It is obvious at this point that we will not achieve that. Our balance on hand has gone down rather than up since our last disclosure in early February. We have no reasonable prospect of paying for any media campaign, a necessity for success in this race.

I had hoped to achieve our financial needs by convincing enough people that this campaign was an opportunity to invest in a movement to tackle the big challenges our state faces of reducing our crime rate, improving our schools, and creating a better climate for more good paying jobs. Those are challenges that are especially critical to my home community of Memphis. My primary responsibility was to successfully convince enough people to make that investment. To the extent we failed, it was my failure.

Since State Senator Jim Kyle and I have both withdrawn from the race, we have no candidate from my own community of Memphis and Shelby County or who understands personally its unique needs and opportunities. We have crime driven by gang activity and drug trafficking which cries out for changes in our state sentencing laws. We have one of the largest urban school systems in the nation with the urgent need for reform. The University of Memphis is a unique urban research university which is being overlooked by state government and deserves its own independent governing board. And state government needs to end its neglect of the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences and The MED. I hope the other candidates of both parties will work to learn more about the community I love.

I thank the hundreds of people who did join me in this effort. Many are old friends. Others are new friends I made during the course of the campaign. I will be forever indebted to their support and friendship.

Although raising money has proved most difficult, an extremely heartening aspect of this experience has been the willingness of people across the state who care about its future to give their support and their time to my candidacy. They have reinforced my own faith in the political process.

I commend the campaign staff. I could not have asked for a more talented group of individuals. And I thank my family for their support and tolerance of the many hours I spent on the campaign trail. Frankly, one plus to ending the campaign is that I will be able to spend more time with my wife Julia who has been unable to participate because she is a federal judge.

I’m looking forward to continuing my service as district attorney in Shelby County, our state’s largest jurisdiction. I’m honored to serve with many dedicated public servants. I’ll go to work every day determined to make my community an even better place in which to live. And I will continue to push aggressively for needed changes at the state level in our criminal justice system.

A statewide campaign in Tennessee is not for the faint-hearted. It is both physically and emotionally demanding. I wish the other candidates of both parties well in the coming months. I urge them to focus on the real challenges our state faces and to be bold in proposing ways to meet those challenges.

All the best,

Bill Gibbons

Popularity: 52% [?]

Let me say from the outset that I’m a fan of Mae Beavers. I appreciate her service in the Senate. I applaud her fights for Tennesseans there. I admire her commitment to sound principles. But it is precisely my appreciation of such things which are the foundation for my inability to support her current decision to jump back in the TN Senate District 17 race after dropping out of the race for Wilson County Mayor. Mae is a Conservative, but this decision is not.

As Conservatives, we believe in both individual liberty and individual responsibility. We believe that a man should be free to do what he chooses with his life and property. We also believe in the natural and obvious implication of such freedom; that a man must, therefore, also be willing to accept the consequences – for good or for ill – of exercising that freedom. The two go hand in hand. For Conservatives, it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of liberty and responsibility. They are at the core of everything we do.

Before Mae announced she was running for Wilson County Mayor, she had options. Any decision concerning what to do about remaining the Senator from District 17 was hers alone. Mae admits many people encouraged her to run for Wilson County Mayor and that such encouragement was influential in her decision not to run for Mayor. But no one forced her to make that decision. She took counsel of her family, her God, her advisors, her constituents and her self and, ultimately, she alone made the decision not to seek re-election to the Senate. She alone had the freedom to make that choice for her life.

Once made, announced and implemented, other people took into account her choice and made their own decisions. Susan Lynn chose to run for Mae’s available seat and as many as 10 candidates may run for Lynn’s seat from TN House District 57. Money was spent, momentous decisions were made that impact individuals, families, voters, the TN GOP and perhaps even Americans beyond the borders of Tennessee. While Lynn and any others who made decisions about their candidacy must also accept responsibility for their choices, the entire chain of events was set in motion by Mae Beavers’ decision. No one I have spoken with has suggested that Susan Lynn would ever have considered a primary challenge of Mae. There is no hint of the notion that anyone was considering a primary challenge of Lynn. The political scene played out the way it did because of what Mae Beavers did with her freedom and for no other reason.

But what about responsibility for the consequences of our decisions? What happens when, despite our best efforts to synthesize the information we have and turn it into to best decision possible, the inevitable happens and we make what we come to see is the wrong choice? It is precisely here that, at least in theory, Conservatives separate themselves from the rest of the population. Liberals and Progressives make excuses. I didn’t know this or that fact when I made my decision so I can’t be held accountable for it. I can’t be held responsible for my failure because I tried my best! The situation changed after I made my decision and if I had known then what I know now I wouldn’t have made my original choice. Excuses! Liberals are never responsible, they are only victims who cannot be expected to pay the price for their exercise of their freedom. Conservatives know better. Mae knows better. We choose to be responsible.

It is understood by the wise that few, if any, plans come off without a hitch. The military famously notes that no plan of battle survives the first shot. Once Mae’s campaign for County Mayor got underway, something – I don’t know what it was, changed. Mae has referenced requests from her Senate constituents that she not leave the Senate and prayer as being the agents of her decision to abandon her run for County Mayor. She has chosen to suspend her campaign for Mayor and seek re-election to the Senate instead. Here is where the Conservative notion of personal responsibility for one’s actions intersects the discussion. I contend that Mae’s Conservative principles permit her to leave her Senate seat for the Mayor’s race. They permit her to also choose to abandon her race for Mayor. But they do not permit her to return to a Senate re-election bid because there are consequences to her previous actions for which Mae Beavers, and only Mae Beavers, must be held accountable.

Mae told Ralph Bristol on the radio the other day that people know her and they know that “When I say something, I mean it!” Susan Lynn and the GOP candidates for Susan’s House seat know that about Mae, too. They trusted her assertion that she wasn’t running for the Senate. They trusted that Mae’s word was good and that she would honor it. They expected Mae to be responsible for her own decisions. That’s what Conservatives do. But Mae didn’t. Her choice to once again run for Senate has thrown the lives and fortunes of men and women just as fine as Mae into turmoil and uncertainty. Mae has suggested Representative Lynn follow the Beavers’ strategy and drop her Senate bid, run for re-election to the House and do to the fine men and women seeking the TN House 57 seat what Mae is doing to Susan. To her credit, citing the obvious ethical problems of such a choice, Representative Lynn has declined to do that. She understands the Conservative notions of freedom and responsibility.

With only a couple of weeks left before the filing deadline, there remains time for Mae to stand up and accept responsibility for her actions. As a Conservative, she has two choices. She can leave the Mayor’s race and not seek re-election to the Senate or she can take up her race for County Mayor again. Either choice is honorable and require only Mae to pay for her actions and choices. But as a Conservative, abandoning the Mayor’s race for a Senate re-election bid is not an option. Not for a Conservative.

I said at the outset that I admire Mae Beavers. But my admiration for her does not mean I don’t know right from wrong. It does not mean I don’t recognize making others responsible for a bad decision when I see it. It does not mean that I should not call out bad behavior.

Please, Mae. Do not do this. Run for Mayor or step down from the Senate. But don’t give in to the temptation to abandon your Conservative principles because it seems the fastest way to political success. You are better than that. You are a Conservative. Time to act like one!

Popularity: 50% [?]

New Orleans media is reporting that in the wake of his vote with the Democrats to pass House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Health Care Bill, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (pronouced “Gow”) is experiencing some backlash back home.

WGNO, ABC 26 News is reporting there have been two fundraisers canceled in the week since Cao became the lone Republican to support what many believe to be an irresponsible and reckless increase in federal spending. They are also reporting some previous donors, unable to cancel their fundraisers or choose not to attend one are asking for their money back.

Cao’s actions have obviously angered supporters in his district. He is a freshman Congressman who barely edged out his incumbent opponent, Democrat William Jefferson, best known for being caught with almost $100,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Around the country, Republicans and Conservatives are also angry with Cao as his single GOP vote has enabled Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic caucus to claim their victory was bi-partisan in nature based on the votes of 219 Democrats and Congressman Cao.

ABC 26 News notes that GOP Minority Whip Eric Cantor, while disappointed, has no plans for “political retaliation” against Cao. Given the vital importance money plays in political campaigns and given the mood with donors back home, it appears Cantor won’t need to worry about that at all. Cao’s supporters will take care of that for him with their own vote on reforming his campaign finances.

Popularity: 87% [?]

South Carolina GOP Senator Jim DeMint has just announced his introduction of a Constitutional Amendment limiting the amount of time a US Senator or Congressman can serve. He calls it “Term Limits for All” and proposes that Senators be limited to 2 terms and Congressmen to 3 terms.

The idea already has some weighty Senate co-sponsors in Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).  Brownback was even a GOP candidate for President in 2008.  To actually become a part of the Constitution, however, it will need a few more Senate votes and then some.  To pass, a Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote of approval in the House and Senate and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.  Given the current make-up of the federal chambers and the dependency the Democrats have on long serving members such as Durbin, Frank, the late Senator Kennedy and so many more, it is highly unlikely these “public servants” will be swayed to legislate themselves off the gravy train.

Yet, for the country to move forward, it may be a necessary step.  As DeMint notes in his presser,

Some say only long-serving, seasoned elites have the skills to lead the people, but that’s exactly what we have today and how do you think it’s working out for us? It wasn’t the ‘people’ who gave us a $12 trillion debt, an IRS tax code seven times longer than the Bible, over 1,700 departments of the federal government, trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, $100 trillion long-term shortfall in Social Security and Medicare, the Wall Street and auto bailouts, and the pending health care takeover.

This nation can no longer afford these entrenched men and women who enjoy lives of luxury wholly insulated from the consequences of their major policy failures.

Notably and importantly, the title of DeMint’s proposed amendment is indicative of his attitude. Term Limits for All means that DeMint supports term limits as a legislative or constitutional mandate but not self-imposed term limits chosen by individual legislators. Not only do Democrats never choose to do it, in DeMint’s words,

… demanding that reformers adopt self-imposed term limits is a recipe for self-defeat on this issue. We lost the battle for term limits after the 1994 Republican Contract with America because we forced our best advocates for reform to go home, while the big-spending career politicians waited them out. We must have term limits for all or term limits will never succeed. Only when we apply the same rules to all will we be able to enact vital bipartisan reforms.

The larger goals DeMint has in mind for his amendment are to

… increase legislative turnover, expand the field of candidates who run for office, and instill transparency and accountability in our public officials. By ratifying this amendment, we can end the tremendous advantage enjoyed by incumbents in Washington, break long-lasting ties to special interests and lobbyists, and transform Congress from the body of career politicians that it has become, to a chamber of true citizen legislators.

If the proposal has no chance of passing under the current Beltway leadership, a revolution of the sort some are predicting in November, 2010 may bring about a federal legislature more willing to ratify such a notion and **gasp** take the extraordinary step of putting the idea of Term Limits out in the public to be debated and weighed in on by, if not the People themselves, then at least legislators a whole lot closer to the people than the career federal politicians the amendment would turn out. Not only that but it gives challengers and incumbents alike a great campaign platform plank over the next few months.

Popularity: 43% [?]

Dede Scozzafava is every bit the Liberal Republican the Grassroots has been warning about for weeks. Bowing to the political reality, reported in the Watertown Daily Times, “that Siena Research Institute poll numbers show her too far behind to catch up – and she lacks enough money to spend on advertising in the last three days to make a difference”, Scozzafava announced this morning she was suspending her campaign. However, claiming that, “Today, I again seek to act for the good of our community,” and, “I am and have always been a proud Republican,” her actions reveal that nothing could be further from the truth. She did not withdraw from the race, she suspended her campaign. While the practical result is the same, the difference is telling.

She continues her explanation with, “It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support.” Nowhere does she address the reasons for her lack of money or the pressure on her supporters. All of this is understandable. In the pressure of the moment, it’s hard to be either precise or circumspect enough to satisfy everyone. There is, however, one specific thing it is incumbent upon a candidate to do in such a situation. They must tell their supporters what to do next.

At the end of a primary, losing candidates all pledge to rally behind the person who won their Party’s nomination. Hillary Clinton sounded positively Republican in telling the nation how bad a President Barack Obama would be. But when he was the Democrat’s nominee, she supported him and encouraged her followers to do so as well. OK, maybe the PUMA people are evidence she didn’t really do that but you get the idea. The Hoffman challenge of Scozzafava in NY-23 was a primary of sorts. It was a fight to see what values and principles the Right of Center voters in NY-23 would rally behind. The voters chose Hoffman’s and that didn’t sit well with Dede.

What Scozzafava did next was unconscionable. She “[released] those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so.”

This is key because in her official statement, her very next words were, “I am and have always been a proud Republican.” What a slap in the face to the NRCC and RNC which spent $900,000 in support of her campaign. When the NRCC recently withdrew from the NY-23 race, it made overtures to Hoffman. Scozzafava knows Hoffman is the obvious candidate to support if she gets out. But she couldn’t make herself do it. It is a slap in the face to all the GOP supporters across the country who supported her because they understand the importance of keeping the seat in the GOP. It is a slap in the face to all the people in NY-23 who want Republican representation in DC. With proud Republicans like Scozzafava, the GOP doesn’t need Democrats to worry about. And that’s been the point of Hoffman’s candidacy all along.

Some will rightly argue Hoffman isn’t running as a Republican, he’s the Conservative Party candidate, and so there will be no GOP representation even if Hoffman wins. But Scozzafava herself was running as both the GOP candidate AND the Independence Party candidate. Hoffman would have run on the GOP ticket had he been allowed to. Since there was no primary he had no choice except to run as another Party’s representative. Scozzafava’s refusal to specifically tell her supporters she was supporting Doug Hoffman; that they should support Doug Hoffman, too; and that even though her name was on the ballot, she was requesting her supporters NOT to vote for her but to vote for Hoffman instead can be spun as defending the Republican brand. More likely it will be seen for what it is – what happens when RINOs go on a murderous rampage.

Of course, all this is what you’d expect if Scozzafava’s opponents were correct and folks like Newt Gingrich and the NRCC were wrong. If Scozzafava were the Conservative Republican they said she was, she would have fought hard, been gracious in defeat and supported the candidate with the most Conservative principles moving ahead to Tuesday’s election. Instead she proved herself to be the Liberal RINO she was charged with being and has outed herself as the petty, vindictive and mean-spirited Republican that your Democratic friends are always telling you about. You know the ones. The Democrats in Republican clothing.

Now that this is done, it’s time to focus on Tuesday. We have an election to win!

SEE ALSO:

Without Grace, Dede Scozzafava Drops Out Of NY-23 Race by David Hinz @ The HinzSight Report;

Scozzafava Spokesperson Gracious in Defeat by Michael Patrick Leahy @ The TCOT Report;

RNC Chair’s Statement on NY-23 by Communications Staff @ RNC HQ

Popularity: 19% [?]

Two headlines jumped out at me this morning as I browsed my usual stops on the information superhighway.  The first was the results of the most recent Gallup Poll indicating that more Americans identify themselves as Conservative than identify themselves as Liberal. The second was the results of a WSJ/NBC poll showing, for the first time, a majority of Americans say “the U.S. is headed down the wrong track.”

Even in light of the inherent weaknesses in polling and the legitimate arguments available that a poll is merely a snapshot of the country at the time of the poll and things can and do change, these results seem to say a few things to me and hopefully to the GOP.  These poll results are not merely a picture of what the country is thinking about today.  They are a picture of what the country thinks about what the Obama administration and the Democratic majority has actually done and how that relates to what they believe about the country and themselves.  In short,  it is a mini-referendum on the last 9 months of “Yes, we can!”

When the President gratuitously inserts himself in criminal investigations but won’t protect your 2nd Amendment rights to protect yourself from criminals, these results shouldn’t be surprising.  When the President spends more time with the IOC to bring the Olympics to Chicago than he does with his military commanders to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan and our troops home safely, these results shouldn’t be surprising.  When the President tells the country to judge him by the people he surrounds himself with and then surrounds himself with people like Tim Geithner and Van Jones, these results shouldn’t be surprising. When the President promises Change to bring Hope to America and proceeds to Alter America so radically we all Hope we are dreaming, these results should not be surprising.

The bottom line is that the GOP and grassroots organizations looking ahead to 2010 and 2012 should pay attention to what the President has actually done and the results his actions have actually produced.  Then they should busy themselves doing the opposite as much as possible.  The more Americans learn about the intent and results the administration want for America, the less they agree with it. The more Americans realize that if the President’s plans are indicative of what it means to be Progressive and Liberal, then they are Conservative.

Giving the majority of Americans what they want is easy.  Vote to Limit Government, Lower Taxes, Increase Transparency, make States Sovereign, increase personal and economic Liberty, reduce unconstitutional Regulation, reduce and control Spending, Balance the Budget, Reduce the Deficit, Protect the Country, Secure the Borders and Secure the Rights of the Individual.

These ideals are among those that created and sustained the Republic for the first 150 years or so and built the economic and idealistic engine that transformed the planet.  Only in the last 75 years or so has Progressive nonsense been artificially imposed on a thriving system to muck up not only the process but the results as well.  We can enjoy the incredible prosperity and Liberty that we once knew as Americans.  But we can’t do it via Progressive policies.  The polls referenced above show Americans are aware of that.  It remains to be seen whether or not the GOP and others entrusted with implementing and defending a conservative, constitutional Republic will get the message.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Usually when I hear stories about a Governmental something-or-other trampling on the 1st amendment rights of Liberty loving Americans I think of national Democrats and their smarmy puling about the beat down they take on Talk Radio.

In what will no doubt be a visual aid for examples of “GOP behaving stupidly”, a group of Arizona Republicans (likely outmaneuvered by the lone Democrat involved), has decided that the 1st Amendment’s guarantees don’t extend to residents of Maricopa County if the people doing the speaking happen to also work for the Government.

At issue are relationships members of the County Attorney’s office have with the media, including a few bloggers. Not all the media, however, just those beating up on the Maricopa County Supervisors County Manager’s office.  Seems the Board of Supervisors has been feuding with other state departments for some time, including messing with Maricopa County’s best known government employee, Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  Not only that, the same Supes squeezing the County Attorney employees have a really bad track record when it comes to things like character and integrity.  The gaggle of liberal GOP Supes and the lone Dem in their midst have been accused of “wasteful spending, power grabs and criminal investigations” and there’s even a Twitter account, CorruptAZSupes.

The dispute with the County Attorney’s office got so bad the County Supervisors fired the County Attorney as their legal representative.  And now the County Manager, David Smith, has decided to divert attention from his own side’s misbehaving by brow beating those pesky bloggers and their friends.

Smith sent a letter to the County Attorney’s office demanding to know who had relationships with bloggers – or else! They even specifically demand to know about activity that might have taken place on an employee’s personal time and their personal computers!  Specifically named in the letter is Michael Scerbo, the County Attorney PIO, who is SUPPOSED to be in touch with the media!  While there are some traditional media outlets mentioned, blogs are specifically targeted.  The Sonoran Alliance, The Cactus Alliance and Intellectual Conservative Arizona are all named in the letter as being eeeeeeevil bloggers that bad County Attorney employees shouldn’t have anything to do with.

Given the dust-up going on inside the GOP in places like NY-23 and Doug Hoffman v Dede Scozzafava and Florida’s Senate race with Marco Rubio v Charlie Crist where GOP stalwarts cling to Liberal policies and personalities, I shouldn’t be surprised to find Republicans squelching free speech and trying to use the power of their office – not to serve the people but to intimidate them.

One hopes that Arizonans have the ability to recall County Managers who seem ignorant of 1st amendment provisions or at least that the Supes are elected and must face the voters of Maricopa County for this.

SEE ALSO:

Clueless Arizona GOP Heavies Demonizing Bloggers? by Warner Todd Huston @ Publius Forum (GREAT graphic included);

Conflicts of Interest vs Free Speech by Maggie Thurber @ Thurber’s Thoughts;

GOP Run Amok in AZ by Rob Huddleston @ VOLuntarily Conservative;

Even the GOP Are Getting Into the Stifling of the 1st Amendment by Stix1972 @StixBlog;

“Big Tent” Plague: AZ GOP Tool David Smith Goes After Bloggers by Stephen Kruiser @ Stephen Kruiser;

Maricopa County Going After Bloggers? by Ed Morrissey @ Hot Air;

Popularity: 17% [?]