The Exercise of Vital Powers

HT: The Smallest Minority

While I’m often happy to point out Republicans who act like Democrats *cough* Bush *cough* or Republicans who were Democrats *cough* Sonny *cough*, McCain is no Democrat. Sure he has had issues with our party - but that just makes him smarter than those of us who actually supported the man who grew government by more than LBJ, mis-managed a war into near defeat, and sullied the concepts of limited government and conservatism with his nonsense of “compassionate conservatism”.

Yes, many people disagreed with McCain’s attempt at immigration reform. Many Republicans wonder about his position on man-made global warming and the need for carbon rationing. Many conservatives are still angry over his gutting of free-speech via campaign finance “reform”.

But John McCain has been right on a whole lot of issues where the grassroots Republicans have been wrong. McCain said we didn’t have enough troops and that Don Rumsfeld was mis-managing the mission in Iraq. McCain was right, the grassroots were wrong.

McCain said we should not have tax cuts without also cutting spending. Bush, Hastert and Frist spent like drunken sailors and the grassroots went silently along. McCain was right - the grassroots were wrong.

John McCain voted against the largest entitlement expansion since the Great Society. A massive entitlement program pushed by a (so-called) Republican President and enacted by a (so-called) Republican Congress. McCain was right - the GOP leadership was wrong.

John McCain spent five hellish years in a Vietnamese prison camp being tortured by the VietCong and their Chinese enables. Yet while in Congress, John McCain voted to establish normalized trade relations with Vietnam and China and bring both of those countries the miracles of Capitalism.

John McCain may not be the most conservative person the GOP could have nominated, but he is a hell of a lot better than the guy we nominated in 2000 and 2004, and a whole lot more conservative than the folks who were running Congress for the past 10 years.

I see that the LNC hasn’t gotten any more functional since I left even though they managed to nominiate someone who wasn’t a nutjob:

At the Libertarian National Committee meeting today, Mary Ruwart moved to reconstitute the Advertising and Publications Review Committee, seconded by R. Lee Wrights. Ruwart said “We recently had a press release that recommended more government, and if it had been reviewed it probably wouldn’t have gone out.” Secretary Bob Sullentrup pointed out that the APRC has been created and abolished multiple times, and said that if it gets reconstituted it should be done in a way that won’t require abolishing it yet again.

Ruwart suggested that the APRC be created and then its chartering language be improved. Wrights objected to hearing from staff about potential problems in the operational details of the APRC, and said “This committee does the business of the party, not staff.” LP Media Director Andrew Davis said that even a 12-hour turnaround time can miss a news cycle. Redpath said he had a policy of reviewing “anything that might be controversial”, but he admitted it did not happen with the recent controversial press release. The APRC was re-created, with Aaron Starr and Pat Dixon voting no. Its members will be Wrights, Ruwart, Starr, Jingozian, Flood, and they will have no authority until they create and win approval for new chartering language for it.

The Executive Committee was populated with the four officers and Mark Hinkle, Michael Colley, and Jim Lark.

I’ve highlighted the interesting bits. The APRC is also known as the purity committee. I’d love to see how this works with someone like Barr as the nominee. Purists tying the hands of the party staff trying to help the presidential campaign. Thats Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld levels of incompetence there.

Wrights is a nice guy and all, but you can tell he’s got no idea what being on a Board of Directors is about if he objects to hearing what the employees have to say.

Wrights and Starr hate each other with a passion, and on a commitee with no authority this is probably all meaningless. It will be interesting to see if this is the last gasp of the kooks or the start of a come-back. I’m actually suprised Barr got the nod. It was close. After the reformers gutted the platform in Portland, I expected to radicals to be back in more force for Denver. Denver is also a lot easier and cheaper to get to - which does factor into things as their is a reverse coorelation between radicalism and affluence in the LP.

HT: Third Party Watch

Malkin proves she is an ass-wipe with this but of idiocy.

Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
more stories like this

Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.

‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. (Dunkin’ Donuts yanks Rachael Ray ad - The Boston Globe)

Word on the street is that Casey Cagle is looking to run for Governor. That means Georgia will need a new Lieutenant Governor.

While it might be premature (he hasn’t announced) I’m endorsing one of the strongest fiscal conservatives in the General Assembly: Senator David Shafer.

Senator Shafer is a tireless champion for the taxpayer. He has opposed tax increases, even when the Republicans proposed them! He has led the charge on both zero based budgeting and spending limitation. His zero based budgeting bill passed both the Senate and House this year, and his idea to return budgetary surpluses was incorporated into Senate Resolution 20, and at least one version of the Speaker’s tax reform initiative.

Most big thinkers are not effective lawmakers, but David is the kind of guy who both thinks outside the box and knows how to translate ideas into law. Tapping the Tennessee River to secure a long term supply of water for North Georgia, creating a privately funded Umbilical Cord Blood Bank to save postnatal tissues and encourage nonembryonic stem cell research and deregulating cable and telecommunications to improve customer choice are among his many initiatives.

David is talking with financial backers and I have no doubt that he can raise the money to be the effective. He is one of the top GOP fundraisers in the state, with a large network of donors and plenty of political IOUs from the candidates and elected officials he has helped.

He is the type of candidate who can bring the various factions of the Georgia Republican Party together. He was an early and strong backer of both Casey Cagle for Lieutenant Governor and Karen Handel for Secretary of State, he will be able to work with the next Governor, no matter who that might be.

If you agree with me that David Shafer would make a great Lieutenant Governor, drop David an email david at vote david dot com and encourage him to run.

Significantly, a key player in their press conference was Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief who is now one of McCains most visible economic advisors.(source)

This incompetent woman managed to take a healthy and vibrant Fortune 50 company and run it into the toilet. If there were a tracking stock for China (of for that matter Bangladesh) it would be a good investment with her around the West Wing.

Still, if any of us had been secluded for the past seven years, a description of the Bush years without attribution would likely have had most any Republican assuming a Democrat had been in control. Is there an explanation for this? The first one would be that all politicians disappoint. By definition. Beyond that, given the statist direction taken by the Republican party in this decade, it’s fair to ask if it any longer represents laissez-faire growth. Many would point to the even harsher anti-growth views held by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but it seems a lot of their stances at present are pure politics.

Even if they’re not, it would be hard to find an administration in modern times that has been more interventionist than the present one. That in mind, stinging losses for the GOP may be just what the doctor ordered. Indeed, maybe the pain of being out of power will force them to look inward, and in doing so, perhaps understand that when a Democrat runs against a Democrat, a Democrat always wins. ( RealClearMarkets - Articles - Is the GOP Still the Party of Economic Growth?)

I’ve come to the conclusion that the FairTax no longer represents fundamental pro-growth tax reform.

It has taken me awhile to resolve my feelings for the FairTax. Unlike Indy and others, I think the bill would benefit our economy and country greatly. I think it might be one of the few ways out of this mess our congress critters have made with entitlements. I think a consumption tax is a better way to raise revenue than a tax on productivity. I think the FairTax would encourage savings and investment, bring foreign capital to our shores, strengthen the dollar and lower the price of oil.

The problem is that the FairTax promoters and supporters jumped onto the Mike “I’m happy to raise taxes in anyway you want” Huckabee bandwagon. How is it that people who want to lower taxes and improve government would vote for someone who increased the tax burden of his state by 50%?

I began to realize that the FairTax promoters would use any means available to promote their idea and the FairTax supporters would buy it. The FairTax movement stopped being for better public policy and became a cult.
(more…)

From Cato-at-liberty:

Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed a transportation bill that included a provision objecting to the federal REAL ID Act. The bill would have required the federal government to pay 95 percent of the cost of issuing national IDs before Minnesota would participate.

Here is your stupid government regulation of the day:

Mayor Dave Heilmann said the Illinois Department of Transportation determined the signs violated the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. He said had Oak Lawn not removed the signs, the city could have lost federally funded projects.

The public safety campaign to cut down on speeding through stop signs began in September 2007. Slogans such as “right there pilgrim,” “and smell the roses,” “do not pass go” and “means that you arent moving” were placed near or under 50 stop signs.

At the time, Heilmann said he thought the remarks would get motorists to pause, if for nothing else, to read the phrases.