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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 7:57 AM

Mitt Romney has a very good op-ed in the NYT today:

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

This further highlights the fact that, should the economy remain a dominant issue, Mitt Romney -- the turnaround expert whose father ran American Motors -- is uniqely qualified and positioned to benefit politically ...

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Chuck Hagel's Cabinet Campaign

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 10:10 PM

In what seems like a fairly obvious bid to gain an Obama administration Cabinet post, Chuck Hagel today unloaded on Rush Limbaugh and other radio talk show hosts.

What he obviously doesn't understand is that such behavior does nothing to endear him to the Obama administration -- at least if the people making the staffing choices are smart. Hagel's intemperance is markedly at odds with the "can't we all just get along" tone that President-elect Obama seems to want to set.

What's more, Hagel's reasoning is specious on its face. He calls for more bipartisanship and results-oriented governing -- but declined to endorse his old friend, John McCain, who had actually behaved that way in office. Instead, Hagel has continued to preen for McCain's erstwhile rival, who -- nothwisthanding all the pretty words -- has an actual record in office that is one of the most partisan in the Senate.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Stevens LOSES Senate Race!

Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 9:21 PM

Mark Begich (D.), Alaska's newest senator

Ted Stevens, the Senate longest serving Republican, has LOST his Senate race to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Begich beat Stevens by 3,724 votes, according to the Associated Press. This is not the final tally, but Begich's lead is now considered insurmountable for Stevens to overcome.

Stevens's loss comes weeks after he was found guilty on seven counts for making false statements about gifts received from VECO Corporation, as Alaskan oil fields contractor.

This loss brings the Democrats one seat closer to an attainable, filibuster-proof 60 seat majority.

Two more Senate contests remain to be decided that could flip from red to blue. Norm Coleman is facing a recount against Al Franken in Minnesota and Saxby Chambliss is in a run-off race against Jim Martin in Georgia.

If the Democrats win both races they will have 60 seats, including Independent senators Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Will Leahy Oppose Holder?

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 4:58 PM

Politics Magazine notes that Leahy was very critical of the Rich pardon ...

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

How Obama Got Elected...

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 4:53 PM

If you haven't seen this yet, it is very telling...

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Lefties Go Bananas over Holder as AG

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 3:43 PM

Those of us on the right recall with abhorrence Eric Holder's role in the pardon of Marc Rich. Well, some on the left aren't happy with him either, because of his legal work defending Chiquita International.

One blogger at Democratic Underground eloquently describes the potential nomination as "like a high-powered rifle blast to the little bird of hope."

Disillusionment is hell, isn't it?

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Review of "The Dukes"

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 3:23 PM

Townhall's own John Hanlon has a good review of the recently released film "The Dukes" on his blog. You can check it out by clicking here.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Eric Holder as New Attorney General

Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 3:20 PM

Breaking----

Eric Holder

Former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder has accepted an offer from President-elect Barack Obama to become the next Attorney General.

Before becoming deputy attorney general Republican President Ronald Reagan nominated Holder as judge of a D.C. Superior court.

This election cycle, Holder was tasked with vetting Obama's choices for vice president with Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Caroline Kennedy.

Holder will dredge up bad memories of the Clinton administration for many Republicans. While Holder was deputy attorney general Weather Underground members Susan Rosenberg and Linda Sue Evans were pardoned, the controversial seizure of Elian Gonzales took place and Holder is believed to have played a prominent role in the pardoning Marc Rich.

Former Clinton adviser Dick Morris has said Holder was the man behind the decision to pardon Marc Rich during the Clinton administration.

Upon hearing the news Holder would be a member of Obama's vetting team Morris wrote, "In 2002, a congressional committee reported that Holder was a 'willing participant in the plan to keep the Justice Department from knowing about and opposing' the Rich pardon. It is one thing to reach back to Obama's pastor to raise doubts about his values. But it is quite another to scrutinize the record of his first appointee. It couldn't be a bigger mistake."

If he is confirmed by the Senate Holder will be the first African American named to become Attorney General.

To do this, Holder will leave his partnership at Covington & Burlinton, a law firm where he has represented clients such as the National Football League, Chiquita Brands International and Merck.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Soros Connection

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 3:13 PM

The '90's saw plenty of stories like this one, a WaPo piece dubbing Richard Mellon Scaife "the funding father of the right."

What isn't clear to me is why there's so much less coverage of George Soros, who makes Scaife at his peak look like a piker. He's a devotee of the hard left, who has for some time been unloading unbelievable amounts of money to advance the left-liberal agenda.

His multiple ties to President-elect Obama are deserving of press scrutiny that, frankly, I doubt they will get. And today, it's being reported that he's helping Al Franken raise money for his recount.

What, to me, is particularly grating is the fact that George Soros is not a US citizen. So, in essence, he's instrumental in helping others formulate policies and create laws under which he himself will not have to live.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Next Up...The Auto Industry

Posted by: Michele Bachmann at 1:31 PM

Fresh off the $700 billion-plus financial service sector bailouts, including the most recent dole to AIG that upped their bailout total from $85 billion to $150 billion, the Democrat-controlled Congress is trying to rationalize a new $25 billion bailout for the auto industry.

For years, the American auto industry has struggled to keep up with foreign manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. CEOs at Ford, GM and Chrysler have operated using outdated business models, failed to invest wisely in new products and technology, and were not prepared for the massive rise in gas prices that scaled back their truck and SUV sales dramatically.

But besides the Big Three’s lack of innovation and mismanagement problems, the Big Three have labor costs that are far higher than their global competitors. Their CEOs failed to take on union bosses – and as a result millions of jobs could be in jeopardy. Ironic, isn’t it?

The Big Three pay out an average of $30/hour more than their competitors, including pension and health care costs for hundreds of thousands of retirees.

Take GM for instance, as Michael Levine from NYU School of Law wrote in the Wall Street Journal yesterday: “GM is contractually required to support thousands of workers in the UAW’s ‘Jobs Bank’ program, which guarantees nearly full wages and benefits for workers who lose their jobs due to automation or plant closure. It supports more retirees than current workers.”

Taxpayers are once again being asked to throw their hard-earned money behind a short-term, unproductive investment which will only prolong the companies’ failures at a cost that could be even greater later on down the road. Throwing taxpayer money at Detroit’s spiraling problems will not fix their long-term management and productivity problems. Any urgency that would force the Big Three to make tough restructuring choices would be lessened if federal money is available. Like AIG, they will be back at the taxpayer’s trough in no time. Let’s not forget that Congress already approved $25 billion in auto industry loans only a couple of months ago.

There are alternatives. For instance, if the Big Three were able to restructure and reorganize under the protection of the bankruptcy courts, they could be saved without a taxpayer bailout and could fix many of their long-term management and labor problems. Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy does not mean a company has gone belly up, that it will be broken up and that all jobs and productivity are lost – it means a company actually has the ability to make structural changes to keep it afloat without the threat of outside lawsuits and through a comprehensive payment plan.

Once you cross this line and bail out the auto industry, where does it end? Are the airlines next? We have already spent more than a trillion dollars in bailouts this year. We must take a hard look at why the auto industry is in this position in the first place. Only then will our economy regain the stability it desperately needs.

Cross-posted at the Hill's Congress Blog

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Your New Senate Republican Leadership

Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 12:13 PM

Senate Republicans held their leadership elections and well, not a whole lots has changed. Just some rearranging of the usual suspects.

Here's the lineup:

Republican Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Republican Whip, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)

Republican Conference Chair, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

Republican Policy Committee Chairman, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)

Republican Conference Vice Chair, John Thune (R-S.D.)

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, John Cornyn (R-Texas)

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

CONFRONTING BIG LIES IN A SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING

Posted by: Michael Medved at 12:00 PM

Filmmaker Michael Moore hailed an election night "landslide of hope in a time of deep despair. In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity." Actually, Mr. Moore's ignorance is shocking in its simplicity. The notions that America was founded on genocide, and built its wealth mostly on the labor of slaves, are big lies – two of "The 10 Big Lies About America" that I wrote my new book to rebut. The truth about America shows an imperfect country, to be sure, but one struggling to do right and blessing its own people, and the world at large, as no other nation. In a season of Thanksgiving, it's more necessary than ever to confront the smears against our past and present – the big lies about America.
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Michael's new book THE 10 BIG LIES ABOUT AMERICA is released by Crown Forum/Random House today (!) and can be purchased on Amazon.com or at a bookstore near you.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Keeping the Culture

Posted by: Carol Platt Liebau at 11:58 AM

Writing in Newsweek, Karl Rove offers a blueprint for the GOP's return to power. Not surprisingly, every point he makes is a valuable one.

#9 of his ten points deserves special mention. He writes:

Culture matters. Suggestions that we abandon social conservatism, including our pro-life agenda, should be ignored. These values are often more popular than the GOP itself. The age of sonograms has made younger voters a more pro-life generation. And California and Florida approved marriage amendments while McCain lost both states. Republicans, in championing our values agenda, need to come across as morally serious rather than as judgmental.

And of course, he's absolutely right. In the wake of the GOP's defeats, there will be plenty of people who will advise the GOP to embrace gay marriage as a way to appeal to the young.

What that advice overlooks is that there has been a serious dearth of thoughtful people who can explain the rationale for traditional marriage -- and sexual modesty, and many other seemingly old-fashioned but nevertheless important social values -- in a way that seems sensible and relevant to young people.

For too long, the cultural debate has been dominated by liberals on the one hand, and on the other, intelligent, well-educated and thoughtful people who nevertheless argue from religious authority. For better or worse, culture debates have to be engaged in sophisticated secular terms (even though, as with all of morality, the underpinnings of the arguments are themselves religiously-based).

The answer is not for the GOP to abandon the field when it comes to culture. The answer is to find, cultivate and present people who can make the arguments in a down-to-earth, easily understood and accessible way, which avoids falling into the "judgmental" stereotypes eagerly propounded by social leftists.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Re: Dems Keep Lieberman

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 11:55 AM

...according to CNN: "The secret-ballot vote was 42-13."

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dems Keep Lieberman

Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 11:53 AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he "feels good" about the Democrats decision to keep Independent Joe Lieberman in their caucus, despite the Connecticut senator's passionate support for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

"I am very satisfied about what we did today," Reid said after the vote. "I feel good about what we did today, I don't apologize to anyone about what we did today."

"We could not have had a Democratic majority for the last two years had it not been for Senator Lieberman," Reid added.

Liberal activists have expressed outrage at Lieberman's ability to participate with the caucus while Lieberman was campaigning with McCain. The only negative thing Reid said about Lieberman Tuesday was that "There is a time in Joe Lieberman's political career that I will never understand or approve of."

By staying with the Democratic caucus Lieberman will retain his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.