Category Archives: Turncoats

Hard Times

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Turncoats are having a tough time. Charlie Crist was a ‘Pub once, being elected as Florida’s Governor and Attorney General. He was unsuccessful in his run for the US Senate, being beaten in the primary by the Tea Party candidate, Marco Rubio. After his senate loss, Crist switched parties, first to be independent and finally to the democrats.

He lost again as a democrat. Now, he’s attempting to regain the Governor’s seat, a position he held in past years as a ‘Pub. But his past party shuffling has become an anchor chained to his leg.

CRIST’S CONVERSION COMES BACK TO HAUNT HIM
Charlie Crist’s own words on political bona fides are getting a going-over in the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat’s bid for Florida’s governor’s mansion. AP: “It sounds like something Republican Gov. Rick Scott would ask of…Crist: ‘How can the people of Florida trust your recent conversion?’ But the words were Crist’s, and the question was asked to Tom Gallagher during the 2006 Republican primary for governor. [Then-Republican] Crist easily won that race in large part because he accused Gallagher of shifting his politics to win the election. ‘Talking about being a conservative after a political lifetime of liberalism just isn’t believable,’ Crist said of Gallagher. [Now] Crist is the leading Democratic candidate for governor and is fielding the same accusations — in reverse — from Florida Republicans and his Democratic primary opponent, Nan Rich. They say Crist can’t be trusted because of his political conversion from Republican to independent to Democrat.” — FOXNewsletter, August 11, 2014, Trib Total Media.

Voters have memories and those same voters will remember the turncoat who betrayed them. That situation applies to another turncoat, Missouri’s Attorney General Chris Koster, who started politics as a conservative republican. Koster won election as Cass County’s Prosecutor in 1994. After ten years as Cass County’s Prosecutor, he ran successfully for state senator in 2004 as a ‘Pub and voted conservatively during his only term.

But the state senate was just a stepping stone. Koster wanted to be Governor. Unfortunately, the ‘Pubs already had a candidate and Koster hadn’t yet paid his dues for the next rung up the political ladder.

Koster found he couldn’t buck the GOP state organization. Instead of building a base and serving another term in the senate, he switched parties and was successful winning election for Attorney General as a democrat. In that conversion, Koster discarded his conservative stance and adopted all of the democrat’s radical politics. In politics, that is known as burning your bridges…sometimes, as Charlie Crist has found, in front of you.

Once again, Koster is aiming for Governor vice current Governor Jay Nixon. But he has hit a stumbling block. No one really trusts a turncoat and democrats fear Koster could betray them like he betrayed the ‘Pubs in 2007.

Steve Kraske: Chris Koster hits his first speed bump on the road to Missouri governor

By STEVE KRASKE, The Kansas City Star, 08/08/2014 3:42 PM, Updated: 08/08/2014 3:42 PM

Chris Koster waited only three months into Gov. Jay Nixon’s second term to announce that he was preparing a run for Missouri governor in 2016.

The two-term attorney general has coasted on a smooth-as-glass highway to the Democratic nomination ever since.

Until now.

In recent days, two longtime party leaders — former lieutenant governor Joe Maxwell and former state senator Joan Bray — have questioned Koster’s bona fides for the state’s highest office.

Their concerns center on recent Koster moves that they say cloud his commitment to the Democratic Party he joined almost exactly seven years ago in a switch that stunned politicos.

That Bray is a liberal serves to highlight the long-standing tensions between Democratic conservatives and progressives in a party increasingly centered in the state’s two biggest cities.

Bray and Maxwell, known for his work on elderly and children’s issues, pointed to Koster’s public support of the controversial “right to farm” amendment that appears to have narrowly passed. Critics, including Maxwell, called the amendment a sellout to corporate and foreign interests.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/local-columnists/article1179151.html#storylink=cpy

Their concerns center on recent Koster moves that they say cloud his commitment to the Democratic Party he joined almost exactly seven years ago in a switch that stunned politicos.

That Bray is a liberal serves to highlight the long-standing tensions between Democratic conservatives and progressives in a party increasingly centered in the state’s two biggest cities.

Bray and Maxwell, known for his work on elderly and children’s issues, pointed to Koster’s public support of the controversial “right to farm” amendment that appears to have narrowly passed. Critics, including Maxwell, called the amendment a sellout to corporate and foreign interests.

…

Some Democrats are piqued by the $260,000 campaign donation that Koster accepted from GOP kingmaker Rex Sinquefield. And Bray had hoped that Koster would oppose the 3/4-cent sales tax for highways based on the hit the state’s poorest citizens would have taken. Instead, Koster took no position.

“I have questions about where he’s coming from,” Bray said.

Said Maxwell: “Who is the real Chris Koster? These moves are concerning to Democrats who don’t know him that well.”

The complete article can be found at the website. The bottom line is this: no one trusts a turncoat. Seven years as a democrat cannot overcome the fact that Koster was a ‘Pub for the fourteen years  before changing his coat.

Koster’s troubles couldn’t happen to a better person.

The
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/local-columnists/article1179151.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/local-columnists/article1179151.html#storylink=cpy
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News from the Front

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At times I feel like channeling Edward R. Murrow. There aren’t too many people who still remember viewing and hearing him. I’m one of those.

Murrow had a news program, See it Now, on CBS in the 1950s. Mom and Dad didn’t have a television on The Farm at that time. Instead, we’d drive over to Grandma’s place and watch TV there. Dad liked to watch Murrow and Dragnet. Mom liked listening to Murrow on the radio but she was never a TV fan. She’d rather read.

Imagine…instead of hearing Murrow say, “This is London,” as he would report during World War II, imagine him saying, “This is…,” and then pick a US location. Somewhere in Texas, Missouri, anywhere except Washington. In our version of history, image reporting as it was during WW II. Think of the parallels. Britain is now the  United States. In the imagined parallel, Washington must be Berlin. With that world in mind, we have two items in the news today; news from the front.

Conservatives forces are making gains on the continent…er, in Washington. Reports from the field have conservatives strengthening their positions as they advance on establishment positions. After a successful counter-attack led by Senator Ted Cruz, we have this news release.

Conservative insurgents strike blow against GOP Establishment

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | JANUARY 14, 2014 AT 6:30 PM

Sen. Ted Cruz is shown. | AP PhotoCold cash, together with control of institutions, is what makes the Establishment the Establishment. But in the current Republican civil war, the insurgents have secured their own money pipelines, and they control their own institutions – which means the GOP leadership and its allies in the business lobby have a hard fight in front of them.

The firing and hiring of conservative staffer Paul Teller makes it clear that the anti-establishment has built its own establishment.

Teller was a House staffer for more than a decade, and was longtime executive director of the conservative Republican Study Committee. The RSC always exerted a rightward pull on party leadership, but it is nonetheless a subsidiary of the party.

After the 2012 election, the Republican Establishment captured the RSC, in effect, by getting Congressman Steve Scalise elected chairman. Scalise is a conservative, but he is also a close ally of the party leadership – much more so than his predecessors Jim Jordan and Tom Price. Scalise immediately swept out most of the RSC staff.

Last month, Teller was accused of working with outside groups such as Heritage Action to whip RSC members – and Scalise showed Teller the door.

In the old days, this might have been a disaster for Teller. He had lost his job and landed on the wrong side of the party leadership. Anyone who picked up Teller would be spitting in the eye of the Establishment. But this week, Sen. Ted Cruz announced he had hired Teller as deputy chief of staff.

The Establishment no longer has the power it once had to demand obedience.

How did the party leadership maintain such power in the past? Basically with money. Party leaders had a near monopoly on access to money, both in terms of raising funds for candidates and landing jobs for individuals.

Floor leaders and committee chairmen have always been the GOP’s main contact point with corporations’ political action committees and lobbyists. If a member stays on the good side of party leaders, the leaders make a phone call to a lobbyist who throws the member a fundraiser.

Similarly, if a staffer always played nice with the Establishment, that brought with it job security: Even if your boss retired, you could land on your feet, as the leadership would recommend you for a job in another office, or K Street would hire you.

You can see how this would make dissenting staffers and members watch their words and actions. Sure, members were allowed to vote against the leadership – as long as the leadership didn’t need your vote. But at the end of the day, you had to play ball, otherwise you got no money for re-election, and no jobs for you or your staff.

But Teller landed on his feet — and today any conservative staffer disposed to fight the party leadership can hold out the same hope. The GOP Establishment has lost its monopoly, and the insurgents now have many bases of power – and thus many sources of money.

Conservative activist groups have always existed inside the GOP, but because they couldn’t raise and distribute large amounts of money, they functioned mostly through moral suasion – which means they were largely powerless. Eventually, these Beltway conservative groups grew dependent on the GOP, and instead of holding the party accountable, they often ended up being the establishment’s liaison to the conservative base.

Today’s conservative groups are fully armed, though. Thanks to advances in Internet fundraising and changes in campaign finance laws, the Senate Conservatives Fund, FreedomWorks, and the Club for Growth can raise and spend enough money to compete in GOP primaries with the Chamber of Commerce and lobbying firms.

Beyond these new pipelines of campaign cash, the insurgents now control institutions – institutions they created, and ones they took over. Jim DeMint, who founded the Senate Conservatives Fund in 2008, left Congress in 2013 to head the Heritage Foundation.

Heritage used to be a faithful ally of the GOP – at least when it counted most. Under DeMint, Heritage is a scourge of the GOP leadership and an enforcer of a hard limited-government line.

And the Senate offices of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul are three insurgent beachheads on Capitol Hill. Being a senator doesn’t merely give one a vote — it gives these men the budget to staff a congressional office. As they gain seniority, the Tea Partiers will get control over budgets for committee staffs.

When a member’s re-election, or a staffer’s ability to pay the mortgage, doesn’t depend on the Establishment’s favor, the Establishment may need to find a new way to gain conservatives’ loyalty.

Another news report from the Front exposes an attempt by enemy agents to infiltrate conservative support organizations. The target of these infiltrators was to misdirect funds and reinforcements from conservatives. The infiltrators, funded and organized by liberal operatives, were exposed as reported below.

The “Republican Main Street Partnership” is Democrat Funded

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 14th, 2014 at 10:32 AM

Steve LaTourette, a former congressman and friend of John Boehner, runs the “Republican Main Street Partnership”. Note the word “Republican.”

As the left-wing Talking Points Memo reported a month ago, LaTourette and his Main Street Partnership have created an affiliated SuperPAC called “Defending Main Street PAC.” Along with the Chamber of Commerce and Republican Leaders, the Main Street Partnership wants to take out troublesome conservatives.

Defending Main Street PAC plans to raise $8 million in this election cycle; by contrast the Senate Conservatives Fund handled $12 million in 2012 and expects to raise even more this time around.

Note, first, that LaTourette spoke with a left-wing site to reveal his plans. Note second that Defending Main Street PAC has had to release its year end campaign finance numbers.

According to its fundraising report, Defending Main Street PAC received its money from a Democrat donor, a group of unions, and an Indian tribe.

More specifically,

  • Bonderman, David gave $30000.00 – the Los Angeles Times referred to him as “David Bonderman, a significant contributor to Democrats, “
  • Laborers’ Political League Education Fund gave $100000.00
  • The Chickasaw Nation gave $50000.00
  • International Union of Operating Engineers [EPEC] gave $250000.00
  • Laborers’ International Union Of North America (LIUNA) PAC gave $150000.00
  • MEBA PAF gave $15000.00 (Marine Engineers Beneficial Association)
  • Working for Working Americans-Federal gave $250000.00 (Building Trades / carpenters PAC)

In other words, the “Republican” Main Street Partnership’s affiliated PAC intends to use George Soros connections and Democrat back groups’ money to defeat conservatives.

More troubling, the Republican Main Street Partnership has a lot of ties to Republican leaders. Again, folks, it is us versus them. You pick.

It is no longer sufficient nor wise to assume anyone claiming to be republican is working for our benefit and is a conservative. All too many ‘Pubs, elected using the Tea Part and other grassroot organizations, have turned out to be turn-coats. Instead of listening to and following the demands of their constituents, those who elected them, these turn-coats parrot the establishment line. In many cases, the turn-coats talk and agree with their constituents at home, while voting, in lock-step, with the establishment in Washington.

It is worse. The local party officials quake in fear of these turn-coats. They point to their massive campaign funds, funds gathered with the help of those local dupes, and declare the turn-coats are unbeatable. That may be true, if the local and state party organizations don’t disavow and work to present primary opponents to remove these traitors in our ranks.

Failure of the county and state parties will likely result in a repeat of 2012 in 2014 and 2016. The conservatives, feeling unrepresented and seeing no real difference between the two national parties, stay home. The dems retain the Senate, and may take back the House. It will be Pelosi back as Speaker and a repeat of 2008 through 2010.

Will it take a repeat of of 2012 to make the ‘Pubs listen? Or, in disgust, will conservatives leave the party forever, creating a new party that speaks for them. Only the republican officials can say.

It’s 1856, ‘Pubbies. Think on that.

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Krauthammer, Redux

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Part of my blog yesterday concerned statements by Charles Krauthammer, MD, Pundit, and FOX contributor. Krauthammer stated that there were no functional differences between the Tea Party and the GOP establishment. I took him to task and today, The American Spectator joined me. I found this article through a Facebook post by Mark Levin. If you have a Facebook account, I would urge you to ‘like’ his page.

Dear Dr. Krauthammer

O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, and the GOP Civil War.

By

November 12th. As the O’Reilly Factor begins, host Bill O’Reilly gets the ball rolling with a talking points discussion about the divide in the Republican Party, saying that politics are getting “even more bitter ” and that “Tea Party conservatives, as well as the hard right, continue to reject the moderate wing of the party.” O’Reilly segues to a clip of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praising Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and saying among other things that the two were asking for debate and that “when you stand in the middle of the road you’re going to get hit on both sides of the road.”

O’Reilly divides GOP party leaders as moderates, represented, he said, by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Senators John McCain and Marco Rubio as well as Congressman Paul Ryan. He calls conservatives the “hard right,” pegging the leadership as Senators Cruz, Lee, and Rand Paul as well as Governor Palin. O’Reilly notes that “at this point there’s no détente, both sides are far apart” and refers to the frequent labeling of “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only) by “talk radio and some on cable news stoke the fire.”

There is a reference to the previous night’s appearance by commentator Bernard Goldberg in which Goldberg accuses the GOP “hard right” of ideological rigidity and need for ideological purity. Also mentioned: “thousands” of letters/e-mails to O’Reilly from conservatives upset with not only O’Reilly and Goldberg but Karl Rove and Brit Hume as well, accusing O’Reilly of being a “traitor” and the others as RINOs. Krauthammer acknowledged that he too had received such missives.

What was striking in all of this was Krauthammer’s insistence that the differences between conservatives and moderates are all about tactics, not goals. Among other things, Sir Charles said that:

I think this whole thing is very much blown up in the liberal media…. The difference between the hard right and moderates is really one over tactics rather than over ideology and objectives…. On objectives you tell me what is the fundamental difference between the so-called moderates and radicals. I don’t see it. We all agree on limited government, we all agree on restoration of individual rights, we all agree on liberty being the central ideal, we all agree on the restoration of individual responsibility and initiative… where’s the big difference?… This is ginned up by a lot of players for a lot of self-interested reasons…. Cool this a little bit by looking rationally at what are the real differences… and they are tactical.

Respectfully, I disagree.

So perhaps it’s best to discuss in letter form to the good doctor, who in fact is highly respected not just here but in many solidly conservative quarters.  (And for the record, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charles Krauthammer has also been honored by many conservative organizations including both The American Spectator and, just this fall, the conservative Media Research Center. It should also, of course, be mentioned that Dr. K. has a bestseller now on his hands, Things That Matter: Three Decades of Pastimes, Passions and Politics)  and he was the subject of this recent Fox special hosted by Brett Baier.

So, a letter.

Dear Dr. Krauthammer:

The other night on the O’Reilly Factor, you made the case that the differences within the Republican Party were “really one over tactics rather than over ideology and objectives…. On objectives you tell me what is the fundamental difference between the so-called moderates and radicals. I don’t see it.”

With respect, I do see that fundamental difference. And it is certainly safe to say I am not alone in seeing some moderates as having long ago abandoned the GOP’s core beliefs  — and that is in fact a fundamental difference.

The reason there was such heat in the debate between the Cruz-Lee supporters and others over shutting down the government in order to defund Obamacare — or, at a minimum, to delay it a year — was precisely because this was seen on the conservative side of this divide as merely the latest example of moderation at work. And when I say the “latest example” I specifically mean “latest” in the sense that the moderation displayed has been going on now for decades. This was not some one-shot, one-time stand-alone difference.

There is a reason conservatives believe so-called moderates do not, in fact, share the same goals.

To use a central point at issue, just as you correctly say, at the core of the Republican Party is a belief in limited government.

Is that really the case for so-called “moderates”?

In 1980 Ronald Reagan ran for the presidency on a platform that read, in part, this on the subject of education:

… the Republican Party supports deregulation by the federal government of public education, and encourages the elimination of the federal Department of Education.

President Reagan failed to eliminate the Education Department. Why? As his OMB Director David Stockman noted in his baleful memoirs, there were Republicans who “could not and would not disown… the ‘me-too’ statism that had guided it” for the decades leading up to the Reagan presidency. Indeed, Stockman’s point was that there were so many statist Republicans in Congress at the time that there was “no political home” for the idea of limited government in the GOP.

The column continues at the website turning to George W. Bush continuing support for the Department of Education. The creation of the Department of Education was a pivotal point in the socialization of America. The left, in a few years, controlled the institutions across the country, where a few years earlier, those same institutions, were strongly conservative.

I can attest to that. During my college years, 1964 through 1969, my university, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, was thoroughly conservative.

One of my History, American Foreign Policy instructors was a former Deputy Secretary of State for NATO under John Foster Dulles. He lectured on recent events such as the 1956 Arab-Israeli War, the Hungarian Uprising, and the British fight against communist insurgents in Malaya. His version of events, supported by reams of declassified documents from his days in the State Department, differed greatly from the versions I heard at my democrat parents dinner table.

There was one daily paper in our county. We read it from front to back, but it was the columnists, Drew Pearson and others that formed our viewpoints—democrat, liberal columnists.

It took me some time to compare the opinions from the democrats and the republicans. The democrats presented opinion. The republicans presented facts. In a short time I knew where I stood. I became the second Republican in the family following my older sister, who like me, saw the differences between leftist rhetoric and the actual events.

A few years later, with the ascendancy of federal and state control of education funds under the direction of Johnson’s Great Society, those same conservative instructors were gone replaced by leftists and marxists, secure in tenure, who were last seen on the streets of Haight-Ashbury.

The issue of the elimination of the Department of Education is one proof that the division between the GOP establishment and the grassroots voters is not recent but goes back for decades. The pundits in Washington ignore these examples from history. They fit not their vision and goals, hence they make myth of those divisions blaming liberal media.

They could not be more wrong.

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Betrayed by the establishment—again

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Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are in a battle. they are battling Harry Reid, Senate dems, Obama and the GOP establishment. The issue is that Ted Cruz and Mike Lee want to block Reid’s amendment to the CR that would remove the defunding of Obamacare. That means, an amendment that would allow funding of Obamacare.

McConnell won’t help and can’t understand why Cruz is filibustering. Either McConnell is astoundingly stupid and therefore unfit for the Senate, or he’s an active supporter of funding Obamacare. On second thought, McConnell is probably both.

The real issue is the Ted Cruz and Mike Lee won’t kowtow to McConnell’s magnificence and that of the rest of the GOP Senate leadership. Consequently, McConnell will try his best to torpedo Cruz’s attempts to keep the defunding Obamacare in the CR.

Erick Erickson, from RedState, posted a column about Cruz’s fight and McConnell sabotage. I’m not a Erickson fan, his writings are a bit too raw for me, but in this case, he’s nailed it.

A Cruz Missile Launch, Like a Light, Shows the Cockroaches Scurrying

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 24th, 2013 at 04:30 AM  |

A curious moment happened on Fox News Sunday. Chris Wallace told Karl Rove that a number of Republicans in Congress had sent him opposition research on Ted Cruz once Fox announced Cruz would be on.

Rove responded. He said this was all happening because Cruz and Mike Lee had not worked out strategy in the regular Senate Republican Conference lunches on Thursdays. Rove said that was what was supposed to happen. Except that for a year now, Senate Republicans have routinely leaked the proceedings of those meetings to the New York Times and Washington Post in ways designed to harm Cruz, Lee, and others who side with them.

In fact, as one Senator noted in last week’s meeting, this would not be happening but for John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell choosing not to lead. Had Lee and Cruz approached their Senate colleagues, they would have been dismissed. I can say this confidently because it has happened repeatedly and since their election to the Senate their Republican colleagues have routinely taken to “on background” leaks assailing them.

…

Let’s be clear here — absent the American people lending a loud, clear voice for Cruz and Lee, the Republicans will cave. They will not stand with Cruz and Lee unless dragged kicking and screaming against their will. I hope they will. I hope a collection of House conservatives will stand strong and force the issue. But the majority of them will betray Cruz and Lee. In fact, Senate Republican Leaders have built up so much irrational hatred of Cruz, they want him to fail just so they can say they beat him — damn the Obamacare implications. Their pride comes before the nation.

Cruz only needs a few dozen Republicans in the House to stand firm to be successful. He might get that. But the bulk of the GOP in the House will try to cut a deal with the Democrats and move on.

Like a light switch flipping on, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are casting light on the scurrying of Republican roaches in and out of the Capitol. Republican congressmen and Senators are now openly attacking Cruz and Lee. Outside groups like Americans for Tax Reform and outside media interests like the Wall Street Journal are amplifying attacks made by the establishment GOP against conservatives. Lobbyists are up in arms.

Mike Lee and Ted Cruz are showing the leadership skills others have claimed for themselves and conservatives now see just how badly they’ve been played by their so called leaders and many outside groups that have hung for too long on the conservative label while really being affiliates of the Republican Party itself. Because of Lee and Cruz, polling against Obamacare is up and the GOP’s favorability is up.

Even more importantly, the Republican base’s willingness to get back in the game has gone up too in the aftermath of a bitterly depressing 2012 election that saw a good bit of disengagement by the base. Conservatives may see their leaders now as the pathetic lot they are, but they have also seen real leadership in Cruz and Lee. They’ve also found real voices on the outside like Heritage Action for America and the Senate Conservatives Fund with which they can engage for education and motivation.

The column continues at the RedState website. I urge you to read it all.

John Cornyn, R-TX, sent out an e-mail proclaiming support for defunding Obamacare all the while supporting McConnell’s schemes against Cruz and Lee. I see our own Roy Blunt sent out a similar message. I don’t see him supporting Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, either.

Erick Erickson and RedState aren’t as big as some of the other internet media outlets, but others have taken noticed of McConnell’s spitefulness, too. Byron York, writing in the Washington Examiner, had this to say.

GOP flinches at Obamacare plan devised by Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee

By BYRON YORK | SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 AT 6:31 PM

There are 44 Republicans in the Senate not named Ted Cruz or Mike Lee. By and large, they have been quiet during the various twists and turns in the effort to defund Obamacare. This week, they’ll speak.

Cruz and Lee took to the Sunday shows to advocate a complex plan under which Senate Republicans would filibuster the House-passed continuing resolution that also denies funds to Obamacare. Of course, that is the very bill Cruz and Lee asked the House to pass. But under the new scenario, filibustering the House bill would somehow pressure Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to grant concessions that would allow Republicans to successfully defund Obamacare. So Cruz and Lee advocate filibustering the bill to “preserve” it.

What York doesn’t say is that Cruz and Lee are filibustering Harry Reid’s amendment to the CR that would reinstate funding for Obamacare.

All that might take time, Cruz and Lee concede, and the clock is ticking toward a possible government shutdown. So in the interim, instead of closing the government, they want the House to pass a number of spending measures to keep agencies up and running.

It is a very far-fetched scenario. The question now is how many Republicans will go along with it.

In July, Lee circulated a letter asking his fellow GOP senators to pledge to “not support any continuing resolution or appropriations legislation that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare.” Just a dozen — out of a total of 46 Republicans in the Senate — chose to sign. Since then, a couple more have come along.

But the bottom line is that about one-third of the Republican caucus has signed on to the plan. That’s a minority of the minority in the Senate.

Ask defunding advocates about the letter today, and they get a little irritated. “The letter is irrelevant,” says one GOP aide who supports the defunding strategy. “It is totally meaningless. It was simply a signal to our leadership of what we intended to do.”

Maybe so. And perhaps there are many more Republican senators who are on board with the plan. But there’s a strong possibility that lots of Republicans will choose not to go along with Cruz and Lee’s complicated bank-shot strategy. They are all opponents of Obamacare and all support defunding Obamacare, but they don’t want to be involved in a gambit they believe will result in failure and possibly a government shutdown. — The Washington Examiner.

The issue is that McConnell and Cornyn don’t want to be seen as the ones who “shutdown the government.” Some of us thing that’d be a good thing, shut it down and let Obama take the heat. No, they’d rather let Reid reinstate Obamacare funding and send the bill back to the House—where Boehner, in the conference committee, would rubber-stamp the change and Voila!, Obamacare is funded!

So, readers, be prepared to be sold out by the Washington GOP establishment, again. It’s getting to the point where voting for a democrat against McConnell and Boeher, would almost be worth the effort just to get rid of those traitors once and for all.

Monday’s Moments for July 1, 2013

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A collection of miscellany for today. Today is the date a series of new state laws take affect across the country. The Senate, the dems and fifteen ‘pubs, passed their Illegal Alien Amnesty bill. The House rejected the Food Stamp and Pork bill with the help of democrats and Heritage Action for America had a presentation at a local Tea Party gathering.

Starting with the last item, last Friday night, Mrs. Crucis and I were invited to attend a Tea Party meeting where the regional Hertiage Action representative Ben Evans would be speaking. It was an interesting session. The HA representative was accompanied by the MOGOP Political Director, Steve Michael.

That, by itself, was an interesting connection. The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action purport themselves to be non-establishment. The Missouri GOP is the establishment…at least at the state level. The question is, is Heritage Action supporting the establishment or is the MO GOP establishment distancing themselves from Washington?

The actual presentation was about what I expected. I did have my opinion confirmed that sending emails to our elected US Representatives and Senators was useless. At best, they are just counted. Some officials may tally by subject. A few, a very few apparently, may note the number of pros and cons on a subject. For the most part, emails, unless addressed to a specific staffer, go into the bit bucket. Unfortunately, the same applies for phone calls. Unless you connect to the specific staffer working the issue, your call is ignored.

Signing online petitions is worth even less. There are a few exceptions when the petitions are conducted by some lobbyists. They use the petitions to brow-beat pols into believing whatever position the lobbyist represents.

What does work? Personal visits and actual snail-mail letters according to Heritage Action. I have my doubts on the former. I’ve spoken several times with my local US representative on a number of issues. Regardless, she votes the Washington establishment line.

What did I take away from this meeting? Personal meetings and letters work for some but I’m not convinced it will be all that effective.

A woman at the meeting, in the Q&A session, asked if our ‘Pub representatives really understand how angry people are becoming. The answer? “No, they’re not.” Apparently, once in office, our representatives become isolated behind their hired staffers—staffers whose job it is to formulate policy and to isolate their boss from the public.

Many of these hired staffers are long-time members of the establishment. When a Congressman leaves office, they migrate to another Congressman. In their view, contrary positions from constituents are ignored and public trends are modified to support political positions of the Washington establishment. Establishment staffers insure inexperienced Congressmen toe the establishment line.

Not only do our officials not understand how angry people are, neither, I believe, do the Heritage Action rep and the MOGOP political director. My impression is that these two heard what they expected to hear.

I have been a Heritage Action member since it was created over a year ago. I will continue to be a member. Unfortunately, I’m coming to believe the Heritage Action leadership and by extension, the Heritage Foundation are behind the curve. Both the HA and HF believe in action by lobbying ‘Pub politicians. I no longer believe that tactic works.

***

One aspect of the HA meeting was the Heritage Foundation scorecard of Missouri’s U.S. elected officials. I was surprised to hear that Billy Long, Congressman from Missouri’s 7th District had a score above 90%. The score reflected how consistent Billy Long voted on issues—conservative vs. non-conservative, as judged by the Heritage Foundation.

During the last primary, I heard a lot of criticism about Billy Long. I had no real basis to judge, I’m not in his district. In retrospect, if Billy Long was so bad, how did he acquire such a high score? I have some opinions why but those aren’t the subject of this post.

Newly elected Jason Smith (R-MO-8) who was recently replaced Jo Ann Emerson, had a very low score. Jason Smith had only voted once when the last scoreboard scores were calculated. He voted, “Yes,” on the Food Stamp bill, in contradiction of his campaign rhetoric. He campaigned that he’d vote, “No.” Jason, you disappoint me. In office a week and already you’ve already reneged on meeting your campaign promises to your constituents.

But, Jason Smith wasn’t alone. Every Representative in Missouri voted for that monstrous welfare bill—as did all the ‘Pubs from Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, and other midwestern states. It lost because 71 ‘Pubs, and the House dems (who wanted MORE welfare,) voted against the bill.

It’s a sad tale when we have to rely on dems to kill a wasteful bill. Yes, Jason Smith, disappointed me. I’d hoped you’d be more than just an establishment rubber-stamp.

***

The Senate, with the help of 15 ‘Pub Senators, passed the Illegal Alien Amnesty bill—a bill masquerading as an immigration ‘reform’ bill. The primary spokesman for the ‘Gang of Eight’, Marco Rubio staked his political career on the vote and will likely now bear the consequences. Rubio used the Tea Party to get elected. I doubt the Tea Party members in Florida will repeat their mistake.

***

Today is July 1st and across the country new laws take effect. Here’s a summary.

Around the nation, July 1 marks the start of new fiscal years and the date recently passed legislation goes into effect, although states often mark their independence by enacting new regulations on their own calendars.

The laws and effective dates vary somewhat from state to state, but an overview of legislation set to hit the books July 1st shows that state lawmakers took positions on the following five topics of national debate:

– GUNS: State legislatures across the U.S. discussed gun laws in the wake of mass shootings that shocked the nation in 2012. Most efforts to pass restrictions faded amid fierce opposition. Only a handful of states enacted new limits, some of which go into effect Monday. Among them Colorado is notable for requiring background checks for private and online gun sales and outlawing high-capacity ammunition magazines. At least 18 states, however, have gone the other way and loosened gun laws. Kansas laws set to take effect will allow schools to arm employees with concealed handguns and ensure that weapons can be carried into more public buildings.

– TECH: Dozens of states examined technology laws. Recently passed legislation in eight states will prevent businesses from demanding passwords to social media sites as a condition of employment. The law in Washington state also stops employers from compelling workers to add managers as “friends” so their profile can be viewed. Four states updated tech laws to allow drivers to show proof of car insurance on an electronic device, such as a smartphone.

– CARS: A handful of states have restricted cellphone use while driving. Starting Monday in Hawaii and West Virginia motorists will have to put down handheld devices. Meanwhile, in South Dakota beginning drivers will face similar restrictions. Utah also enacted limits for newbies with a law that has already taken effect. A few states have banned texting while driving. Other state laws affecting drivers will make it illegal to smoke in a car with a child, raise highway speed limits, crackdown on drunken drivers and raise gas taxes. NOTE: in Kansas, texting in an automobile is illegal even when the auto is stopped or not moving.

– ABORTION: Nationally, state lawmakers proposed more than 300 bills that would have restricted abortions, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At least 13 state legislatures passed new limits, though two are waiting for governors to sign off. Notably, a bill that would have closed almost every abortion clinic in Texas was defeated by a Democratic filibuster and a restless crowd in late June. The Texas governor, however, has ordered another special legislative session to push the bill through. North Dakota has passed the nation’s strictest abortion law, which takes effect in August, banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

-DRONES: An Idaho law taking effect Monday forbids anyone from using an unmanned aircraft for spying on another. Virginia has passed a ban preventing authorities from using drones for the next two years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Four other states approved anti-drone regulations, though legislation aimed at law enforcement in Texas isn’t effective until fall.

…

Not all of the measures set to take effect were matters dominating national political discussion. The following five examples of recently approved legislation show state-level updates can cover a variety of topics:

– SEXIST LANGUAGE: Washington lawmakers are completing work to strip the state’s books of sexist language. References to “his” will be changed to “his or her,” college “freshmen” will become “first-year students” and “penmanship” will be called “handwriting.”

– JACKPOT: Wyoming residents might soon consider 7, 1 and 13 as lucky numbers. A Cowboy State law kicking in Monday calls for the state to establish a lottery for the first time, leaving a dwindling list of only a handful of states without such a prize drawing.

– ELECTION DAY DRINKING: Kentucky has lifted a ban on election day drinking. It was one of the last states with Prohibition-era restrictions on the sale of alcohol while polls are open.

– EDIBLE LANDSCAPING: Maine lawmakers this session have directed officials to plant edible landscaping, such as fruit trees or berry shrubs, around the Statehouse.

– TANNING: Dozens of states this year considered keeping minors out of tanning beds. New Jersey and Nevada restrictions kick in July 1, and an Oregon limit takes effect in January.

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Despicable

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What do you call a former GOP Speaker of the Missouri House who donates $7,500 to a democrat, MO AG Koster? A democrat who refused to investigate the illegalities of the state government? Who made the donation? Steve Tilley, the former State Representative who resigned his office months early to become a paid lobbyist in Jeff City.

Despicable seems to fit.

The story broke late last week. I’ve not seem much mention of it in the usual GOP news sources.

Koster receives campaign boost from former GOP speaker

June 13, 2013 – Politics

– Just days after announcing his pledge to raise more than $400,000 to help Missouri Democrats in their effort pick up seats in the General Assembly, Attorney General Chris Koster reported a campaign contribution from an unlikely source: A Republican.

On Wednesday, Koster reported a $7,500 contribution from former GOP House Speaker Steve Tilley, now a lobbyist in Jefferson City.

Tilley’s donation came four days after Koster announced his pledge to raise more than $100,000 annually for House and Senate Democrats. A source with knowledge of the transaction said Tilley’s pledge was made before Koster’s speech to the Missouri Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner in St. Louis on Saturday.

The move has struck a nerve with some Republicans, who are concerned about Tilley helping Koster raise even a dime as Koster works to fulfill his pledge and concurrently raise funds for his likely 2016 campaign for governor.

“Very disappointed to see money raised by a Republican Speaker going to a Democrat [Attorney General] who recently pledged to fund [Democratic] Legislative races,” Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said on Twitter.

Tilley’s donation is small in comparison to some of the GOP money Koster accepted in 2012. Koster received $250,000 from Republican mega-donor Rex Sinquefield that year, as well as $10,000 from William Danforth and $50,000 from GOP donor Sam Fox, a close ally of Republican state Auditor Tom Schweich (who is also considering a 2016 gubernatorial campaign).

Tilley has contributed to Democrats in the past. Last year, Tilley contributed to Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat, for her state Senate campaign. Both Nasheed and Koster are personal friends of Tilley.

After leaving public office last year and with no plans to seek it again in the near future, Tilley still has an active campaign count. In April, Tilley reported more than $1 million on hand.

I should note that Tilley, while serving as Speaker, refused to bring RTW legislation to a vote. He said there weren’t sufficient votes so he wasn’t going to waste his time. The true version of that statement is that Tilley didn’t want to upset his union contributors.

In retrospect, Koster and Tilley are alike. Neither have any strong personal convictions except those that benefit themselves. My wife and I met Koster when he was running for Cass County’s prosecutor. He claimed to support the entire conservative list of issues. He won and within a year or two, switched parties to run for AG. Tilley appears to be following a similar path.

Tilley and Koster are prime examples of people who should never be elected or appointed to any public office. They will sell out their constituents at any moment for personal advantage or advancement. They are truly despicable.

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