A corollary to the Peter Principle is that "nothing succeeds like failure." What a perfect description of the field in today's face for Republican National Chairman. In a deeply flawed field, we can only hope that through some stroke of luck, the cream rose to the top. There isn't a lot of room for optimism.
The only success running was the South Carolina state chairman. No one wanted a chairman from the deep south, as the party is regionalized there enough all ready. But at least he carried his state for McCain-Palin, elected and re-elected a GOP governor, U.S. Senator and a majority of the state's congressional delegation and legislature. No other candidate running could come even vaguely close to that achievement.
The "winner" of the race was black former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. He lost a race he should have won in a decent GOP year for the U.S. Senate. The best that can be said is that a timid and incompetent GOP National Committee let him down by not pouring in the $2-5 million in the last week that could have won the election for him.
He has a very checkered career in low level posts, and no proven ability as an inspired leader, manager or administrator. We can only hope he is not a token black, chosen in a pale attempt to keep up with The Messiah.
The rest of the field was even more laughable. For the GOP to find its future, it will not only take a visionary leader, but Democratic missteps that the GOP is bold and able enough to capitalize on.
Candidate Ken Blackwell, also black, had been the Ohio Secretary of State that did such a shaky job counting the vote for Bush in 2004 that Democrats could claim they actually carried the state. His woeful campaign for Governor two years later, in a bad GOP year, confirmed what they'd said.
Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis lead a complete wipeout of the GOP there. When was the last time in memory a major statewide office went Republican or the GOP presidential nominee carried that state? Certainly not on Anuzis' watch.
Tennessee chairman Chip Saltsman had some success with Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, but not with his state's governorship. He was never a factor after he sent out a Paul Shanklin comedy disc, which was harmless, but gave the liberal press a field day. (See next blog post).
The last candidate was the incumbent, Mike Duncan, who surprising had the guts to actually run again. After the party was wiped out in both the 2006 and 2008 campaigns, the best thing he can do is find a career outside of politics. Hopefully he has a happy life.
The GOP National Committee? We better say some prayers on that score.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Foolish consistency to resurface
Disgraced, corrupted Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, caught on wiretaps brokering President-elect Obama's Senate seat for campaign contributions, has just put his party in a vice--and particularly U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said the party will never seat a Senator appointed by Blago.
He named former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to the seat. A revered figure in Illinois Democratic politics and trailblazing black officeholder, the Democrats will look terrible if they disallow the appointment of their body's only black member. They will also look terrible if they go back on their word, and seat a Blago nominee.
The problem is that the wheels of justice grind slowly, if at all, in Illinois and at the rate the legislature is moving to impeach and try Blago for his many crimes, it could be March or April before he's out of office. Then the Lt. Governor would take over and appoint a Senator. With the theft of a Minnesota Senate seat for comedian Al Franken likely to come up for a vote, the Democrats need the seat from Illinois filled as soon as possible.
Many members of the legislature in Illinois are bound up in Blago's transgressions, and as beholden as Blago is, to the Chicago Daily machine. They clearly see the truth of the scripture: "There, but for the grace of God, goeth I." Many would look like total hypocrites to impeach and convict Blago, but carry on their own transgressions.
The face-saving way out is to pass a bill setting up a special election, which Blago has said he will sign. Democrats in Washington hate this alternative, because in a single-shot election, given their total screwing up of the Senate seat, a Republican could well be elected to it.
Thoreau said "Foolish consistency is the hobglobin of little minds." This probably rings true to U.S. Senate Democrat ears, who are looking for a fig leaf to cover the acceptance of Roland Burris as the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois.
He named former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to the seat. A revered figure in Illinois Democratic politics and trailblazing black officeholder, the Democrats will look terrible if they disallow the appointment of their body's only black member. They will also look terrible if they go back on their word, and seat a Blago nominee.
The problem is that the wheels of justice grind slowly, if at all, in Illinois and at the rate the legislature is moving to impeach and try Blago for his many crimes, it could be March or April before he's out of office. Then the Lt. Governor would take over and appoint a Senator. With the theft of a Minnesota Senate seat for comedian Al Franken likely to come up for a vote, the Democrats need the seat from Illinois filled as soon as possible.
Many members of the legislature in Illinois are bound up in Blago's transgressions, and as beholden as Blago is, to the Chicago Daily machine. They clearly see the truth of the scripture: "There, but for the grace of God, goeth I." Many would look like total hypocrites to impeach and convict Blago, but carry on their own transgressions.
The face-saving way out is to pass a bill setting up a special election, which Blago has said he will sign. Democrats in Washington hate this alternative, because in a single-shot election, given their total screwing up of the Senate seat, a Republican could well be elected to it.
Thoreau said "Foolish consistency is the hobglobin of little minds." This probably rings true to U.S. Senate Democrat ears, who are looking for a fig leaf to cover the acceptance of Roland Burris as the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Obama birth flap a nonstarter
There is substantial evidence that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. There is testimony from his paternal grandmother of having attended the birth. There is a monument there, recognizing his birth. Since his white mother from Kansas was under 18 at the birth, the father's citizenship determines that of the son.
The other scenario is that paperwork exists that Obama's stepfather, an Indonesian citizen, signed to get Barack into the Muslim madrassa, where he went to elementary school, certifying that Barack was an Indonesian citizen.
Either of these scenarios, if true, would disqualify Obama, under the U.S. constitution, from serving as President.
Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, and shows a copy of a birth certificate from there. It is not a certified state original, however. He could easily clear up the whole matter, by simply having the State of Hawaii issue a certified, official birth certificate and put the whole matter to rest. The fact that they haven't probably means they can't.
Afterall, most anyone, such as this author, has had to run down to his local county clerk's office to get a certified birth certificate when applying for a passport. It took a good 3 minutes (and $10) for them to shell one out.
There are 9 different court cases filed against Obama and his campaign, alleging that he is unable to serve as President. The campaign is spending millions to defend them. They are copiously documented. No court has even heard a case, dismissing them out of hand. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the one case that has reached them so far, and another is scheduled there on January 9, 2009. Since this is three days after the Electoral College has met and certified Obama's election, it is considered highly unlikely that they will act.
Just because something looks right, doesn't mean you can find a government official with the guts to rule. At least 9 Americans are finding that out the hard way.
The other scenario is that paperwork exists that Obama's stepfather, an Indonesian citizen, signed to get Barack into the Muslim madrassa, where he went to elementary school, certifying that Barack was an Indonesian citizen.
Either of these scenarios, if true, would disqualify Obama, under the U.S. constitution, from serving as President.
Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, and shows a copy of a birth certificate from there. It is not a certified state original, however. He could easily clear up the whole matter, by simply having the State of Hawaii issue a certified, official birth certificate and put the whole matter to rest. The fact that they haven't probably means they can't.
Afterall, most anyone, such as this author, has had to run down to his local county clerk's office to get a certified birth certificate when applying for a passport. It took a good 3 minutes (and $10) for them to shell one out.
There are 9 different court cases filed against Obama and his campaign, alleging that he is unable to serve as President. The campaign is spending millions to defend them. They are copiously documented. No court has even heard a case, dismissing them out of hand. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the one case that has reached them so far, and another is scheduled there on January 9, 2009. Since this is three days after the Electoral College has met and certified Obama's election, it is considered highly unlikely that they will act.
Just because something looks right, doesn't mean you can find a government official with the guts to rule. At least 9 Americans are finding that out the hard way.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Blagojevich a piker, comparatively
Compared to the real pros who populate Washington D.C., Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of conducting a public auction for President-elect Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, is a piker. He was only seeking a few hundred thousand in campaign contributions to his re-election, and only modestly well-paid jobs for he and his wife.
Former Democrat Bill Clinton has been forced by Obama to release the list of some 205,000 contributors to his private foundation and presidential library. It is rife with conflicts of interest among its some $200 million in gifts. It is loaded with foreign benefactors, led by Saudi Arabia.
You cannot say with a straight face that these folks were all normal, civic-minded citizens with no interest in buying influence.
Ha! If anything, the appointment of Hillary as Secretary of State will allow Bill to reload the arsenal. If it made sense to lavish $200 million on a former president, think how much more valuable a contribution will now be, with his wife as Secretary of State.
Blago, you think too small! The gov now says he will sign a bill from the legislature calling for an immediate special election for the seat, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Democratic majority will refuse to seat any nominee selected by Blago. Talk about screwing up a sure thing. Impeachment proceedings against Blago are bogged down in the sewer of the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature, and even the state supreme court has turned down the pleas of the opportunist Democratic Attorney General, to get involved.
Instead of a reliable liberal appointed by a Democratic governor, now the Republicans, in light of the scandal, will have a real shot at electing a U.S. Senator from Illinois in a few weeks in a special election.
Even in its atrophied, enfeebled, severely decayed state, the GOP managed to pull it together enough to elect a conservative Vietnamese immigrant to the seat of the freezer king, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, last week. This is a district that is 75% black and 80% Democratic.
As incompetent as Illinois Republicans have been in recent years, the turf is not near as bad as Jefferson's district, and don't think for a minute they can't pull it together in a special election. In fact, two GOP congressmen are already licking their chops, eager to make the race.
The squeaky clean, deft Obama ship is leaking oil. What a gas!
Former Democrat Bill Clinton has been forced by Obama to release the list of some 205,000 contributors to his private foundation and presidential library. It is rife with conflicts of interest among its some $200 million in gifts. It is loaded with foreign benefactors, led by Saudi Arabia.
You cannot say with a straight face that these folks were all normal, civic-minded citizens with no interest in buying influence.
Ha! If anything, the appointment of Hillary as Secretary of State will allow Bill to reload the arsenal. If it made sense to lavish $200 million on a former president, think how much more valuable a contribution will now be, with his wife as Secretary of State.
Blago, you think too small! The gov now says he will sign a bill from the legislature calling for an immediate special election for the seat, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Democratic majority will refuse to seat any nominee selected by Blago. Talk about screwing up a sure thing. Impeachment proceedings against Blago are bogged down in the sewer of the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature, and even the state supreme court has turned down the pleas of the opportunist Democratic Attorney General, to get involved.
Instead of a reliable liberal appointed by a Democratic governor, now the Republicans, in light of the scandal, will have a real shot at electing a U.S. Senator from Illinois in a few weeks in a special election.
Even in its atrophied, enfeebled, severely decayed state, the GOP managed to pull it together enough to elect a conservative Vietnamese immigrant to the seat of the freezer king, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, last week. This is a district that is 75% black and 80% Democratic.
As incompetent as Illinois Republicans have been in recent years, the turf is not near as bad as Jefferson's district, and don't think for a minute they can't pull it together in a special election. In fact, two GOP congressmen are already licking their chops, eager to make the race.
The squeaky clean, deft Obama ship is leaking oil. What a gas!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
It's a riot to see Obama and the boys tapdance
As the old style, Chicago Machine style, politics bubble to the surface once again in Illinois and in the budding Obama administration--it's a riot to see Barack and his team tapdance out of the way, to try to contain the damage.
What we're seeing in the indictment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, along with his chief of staff John Harris and others, is based largely on the gut-spilling recollections of the major fundraiser he and Obama share: convicted felon Tony Rezko. The fawning Obama media hide the facts, but any reading of the 79-page indictment and the various insections in Blagojevich and Obama's careers, cannot fail to point out the obvious.
Assuming he goes to jail, Blago will make it four out of the last five Illinois governors who have heard the jail doors clank behind them. Several other prominent Chicago Machine politicians like Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the U.S. House Post Office Committee when it ran up the huge postal account deficit scandal that snarled many solons, have done time too.
This is where Obama comes from, and had to trip through the Chicago Machine minefield, to get where he is today. He, Rezko and his chief campaign advisor David Axelrod, ran Blago's first campaign for Governor in 2002. He was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2006, dragging in one Barack Obama on his coat tails to the U.S. Senate. In fact, Blago and his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, were major players in getting Obama's primary opponent off the ballot, so he could trot unimpeded to the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
Blago's wife Patty was the real estate broker of record when Obama purchased his Chicago mansion, with the significant financial help of Rezko.
There are many other ties on record. Just as the compliant liberal media has refused to probe Obama's college writings at Columbia and the Harvard Law Review, his tangled birth records, his William Ayres and Chicago machine connections--they are quickly cordoning off the Blago mess from Obama.
Why should we be surprised?
What we're seeing in the indictment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, along with his chief of staff John Harris and others, is based largely on the gut-spilling recollections of the major fundraiser he and Obama share: convicted felon Tony Rezko. The fawning Obama media hide the facts, but any reading of the 79-page indictment and the various insections in Blagojevich and Obama's careers, cannot fail to point out the obvious.
Assuming he goes to jail, Blago will make it four out of the last five Illinois governors who have heard the jail doors clank behind them. Several other prominent Chicago Machine politicians like Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the U.S. House Post Office Committee when it ran up the huge postal account deficit scandal that snarled many solons, have done time too.
This is where Obama comes from, and had to trip through the Chicago Machine minefield, to get where he is today. He, Rezko and his chief campaign advisor David Axelrod, ran Blago's first campaign for Governor in 2002. He was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2006, dragging in one Barack Obama on his coat tails to the U.S. Senate. In fact, Blago and his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, were major players in getting Obama's primary opponent off the ballot, so he could trot unimpeded to the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
Blago's wife Patty was the real estate broker of record when Obama purchased his Chicago mansion, with the significant financial help of Rezko.
There are many other ties on record. Just as the compliant liberal media has refused to probe Obama's college writings at Columbia and the Harvard Law Review, his tangled birth records, his William Ayres and Chicago machine connections--they are quickly cordoning off the Blago mess from Obama.
Why should we be surprised?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Chapter 11: car companies a textbook case
The charade playing out today on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on whether or not to bail out Detroit's Big 3 auto manufacturers is a farce. Of course they will be bailed out. The question is whether it will be on a more moderate basis that President Bush would be willing to sign right away, or on far more grandiose terms the United Auto Workers-beholden Democrats vote in after the new Congress takes office in January.
Make no mistake about it: this is a bailout of the extremely-generous pension funds, health benefits and other perks of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union members, and not of the companies themselves. They are dead meat, and the Democrats could care less about them. But their handmaidens in the UAW? How much do you need?
Just as the airlines, steel manufacturers and other industries survived and got stronger after filing Chapter 11, the auto manufacturers would too. The only hope that have, just as with these other industries, is to shed their onerous, burdensome UAW contracts and get busy competing with the Japanese, Korean and German firms already operating efficiently and profitably in the largely non-union southern United States.
The only way to shed these Big Labor behemoths is through bankruptcy court. The UAW had made a few "window dressing" changes in their contracts, but major surgery is needed, and only a bankruptcy judge can force that.
This would not be the unmitigated disaster the bleaters and moaners in Congress are bellowing about today. There are ready buyers for the profitable parts of GM, Ford and Chrysler, who would continue to buy parts and components to build cars from the Big 3's current suppliers. This realignment is the future of the business, and it ought to be done now with minimal taxpayer dollars, rather than later, after the feds have poured $25-$50 billion of your money down the UAW rathole.
If Congress does nothing now, it might accidently force at least GM into bankruptcy court, to get the process started. If Congress passes some stopgap plan now that Bush will sign, they'll almost certainly hang on for a major Democratic handout come January.
Make no mistake about it: this is a bailout of the extremely-generous pension funds, health benefits and other perks of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union members, and not of the companies themselves. They are dead meat, and the Democrats could care less about them. But their handmaidens in the UAW? How much do you need?
Just as the airlines, steel manufacturers and other industries survived and got stronger after filing Chapter 11, the auto manufacturers would too. The only hope that have, just as with these other industries, is to shed their onerous, burdensome UAW contracts and get busy competing with the Japanese, Korean and German firms already operating efficiently and profitably in the largely non-union southern United States.
The only way to shed these Big Labor behemoths is through bankruptcy court. The UAW had made a few "window dressing" changes in their contracts, but major surgery is needed, and only a bankruptcy judge can force that.
This would not be the unmitigated disaster the bleaters and moaners in Congress are bellowing about today. There are ready buyers for the profitable parts of GM, Ford and Chrysler, who would continue to buy parts and components to build cars from the Big 3's current suppliers. This realignment is the future of the business, and it ought to be done now with minimal taxpayer dollars, rather than later, after the feds have poured $25-$50 billion of your money down the UAW rathole.
If Congress does nothing now, it might accidently force at least GM into bankruptcy court, to get the process started. If Congress passes some stopgap plan now that Bush will sign, they'll almost certainly hang on for a major Democratic handout come January.
Salazar would continue Obama moderate appointments
The news that president-elect Barack Obama has put Colorado U.S. Rep. John Salazar on the short list for Secretary of Agriculture continues a trend of much more moderate appointments to the posts in his budding administration that we have had any reason to expect.
They're all liberal Democrats, of course, but not from the left-most perch of the Democratic Party. The foreign policy team of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House Foreign Affairs advisor Gen. James Jones,and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are all relative hardliners on terrorism, Israel and the United States position in the world. Jones, a former commandant in the Marine Corps who turned down a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff offer from President Bush because of his policy disagreements with then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is far more conservative than such previous Democratic holders of the post like Sandy Berger in the Clinton administration or Zbigniew Brezinski in the Carter regime.
In some circles (certainly not mine) the Salazar family are considered political wunderkinds in Colorado. Ken Salazar is the senior U.S. Senator from the state and a former Attorney General. He won each of his races after a divisive, bruising Republican primary election for the post, and therefore was elected by modest margins as a result. His brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, represents the heavily GOP western slope district of Colorado.
He got elected as a successor to moderate GOP Rep. Scott McGinnis after the former went to the mat for his brother-in-law in the primary, who lost. With the moderate Republicans sitting on their hands in the general election, Salazar squeaked to victory, and with a Republican district to defend, has been a very moderate Democrat, voting much as McGinnis did before him.
John is certainly the more conservative of the Salazar brothers, and as a working potato farmer and rancher, qualified to be USDA Secretary. Obama is looking for more Hispanics for his cabinet, and Salazar would certainly be a far better one than we Republicans could have expected. Both Salazars have the maddening propensity to vote conservative on "no-hoper" issues like the flag burning amendment and liberal on the important stuff, and then claiming to be moderates.
Ken Salazar is up for re-election in 2010, so we can expect his votes for the next two years to inch to the middle, as Rep. Mark Udall of the Citizens Republic of Boulder, certainly did in getting elected to the Senate this year, replacing U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard.
John Salazar has voted a relatively conservative line on natural resource, grazing, water rights and other ag issues, so could be a far more friendly USDA Secretary than we might have expected. He is also from the West, which would be a big help, as opposed to a southern cotton, peanut or tobacco farmer, or midwestern corn farmer.
He'd sure have my vote, for what little that's worth.
They're all liberal Democrats, of course, but not from the left-most perch of the Democratic Party. The foreign policy team of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House Foreign Affairs advisor Gen. James Jones,and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are all relative hardliners on terrorism, Israel and the United States position in the world. Jones, a former commandant in the Marine Corps who turned down a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff offer from President Bush because of his policy disagreements with then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is far more conservative than such previous Democratic holders of the post like Sandy Berger in the Clinton administration or Zbigniew Brezinski in the Carter regime.
In some circles (certainly not mine) the Salazar family are considered political wunderkinds in Colorado. Ken Salazar is the senior U.S. Senator from the state and a former Attorney General. He won each of his races after a divisive, bruising Republican primary election for the post, and therefore was elected by modest margins as a result. His brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, represents the heavily GOP western slope district of Colorado.
He got elected as a successor to moderate GOP Rep. Scott McGinnis after the former went to the mat for his brother-in-law in the primary, who lost. With the moderate Republicans sitting on their hands in the general election, Salazar squeaked to victory, and with a Republican district to defend, has been a very moderate Democrat, voting much as McGinnis did before him.
John is certainly the more conservative of the Salazar brothers, and as a working potato farmer and rancher, qualified to be USDA Secretary. Obama is looking for more Hispanics for his cabinet, and Salazar would certainly be a far better one than we Republicans could have expected. Both Salazars have the maddening propensity to vote conservative on "no-hoper" issues like the flag burning amendment and liberal on the important stuff, and then claiming to be moderates.
Ken Salazar is up for re-election in 2010, so we can expect his votes for the next two years to inch to the middle, as Rep. Mark Udall of the Citizens Republic of Boulder, certainly did in getting elected to the Senate this year, replacing U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard.
John Salazar has voted a relatively conservative line on natural resource, grazing, water rights and other ag issues, so could be a far more friendly USDA Secretary than we might have expected. He is also from the West, which would be a big help, as opposed to a southern cotton, peanut or tobacco farmer, or midwestern corn farmer.
He'd sure have my vote, for what little that's worth.
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