McCain: Time to Kill the GOP debates

Sen. John McCain says we need to put a moratorium on Republican presidential debates before they drive up the unfavorables of the ultimate nominee any further.

He may be on to something. The debates are beginning to look like a cheesy reality show. We know that Newt will attack Mitt on Bain just as certainly as we know that Snooki will do jello shots.

We have had ample opportuni to assess the debating skill, temperament and demeanor of each of the four remaining candidates.

There is still a real and urgent need for the candidates to outline their positive positions on the economy, for starters. But this can be more effectively done in a substantive and serious policy speech rather than in a debate.

Sure, the debates are kind of fun to watch. People who do not follow politics are tuning in just to see who gets bloodied worse. It's great theater, but it is not the job of the Republican party at this critical juncture to entertain America. Our purpose must be to defeat Barack Obama.

Neighbor Gets It Right....

Our neighbor to the north, Indiana, is on the verge of becoming the 23rd state to enact a Right To Work law. The legislation passed the Indiana House on Wednesday and with a Republican controlled Senate and the strong endorsement of Governor Mitch Daniels, the legislation is on the fast track to becoming law. Indiana would be the first state in ten years to enact such a law and will presumably create more momentum for other states to follow suit.

Under the new law, unions would be banned from collecting mandatory fees from workers. Unions are understandably upset because this will greatly limit their ability to generate campaign dollars for union friendly (read Democrat) politicians. They are waging a mighty battle against it, but it appears at this point that the battle is lost in Indiana.

Unions need to face up to the fact that they, in their current form, are facing functional obsolescence in this country. When we had a relatively closed economy, we could afford the luxury of unions. There was a time when almost all products were made in the United States and workers could negotiate higher wages because they had little competition. Management was forced to meet many of their demands. Unfortunately for the unions, we now live in a global economy where capital and wages can quickly flow to cheaper labor markets. Union members that make $30 an hour do not understand that they are not competing anymore against American non-union workers making $20 an hour, they are competing against Asian and Indian workers making $5 an hour. Their alternatives are no longer between high union wages and lower non-union wages, they are between non-union wages and unemployment, as so many have painfully learned.

Unions are not intrinsically bad and they have done positive and beneficial things for many workers over the years. The reality though is that things change and that they are no longer viable, in their current American form, in the global economy. One would hope that smart and progressive union leaders could see this reality and proactively make changes to make unions more competitive and relevant, but this does not seem likely. In the meantime, progressive states like Indiana and 22 others will reap the benefits of increased business and investment from non-union companies.

Indiana has strong, forward looking political leadership that is looking out for the best interests of a majority of its citizens. One can only hope that Kentucky could be so lucky.

Marco Rubio Gives Republican Weekly Address

Sen, Marco Rubio give this week's Republican Address. Whoever gets the nomination needs to pick Rubio as V.P. He does a masterful job skewering Obama's record. He reveals the meanness of Obama's appeal to class warfare. And his description of American exceptionalism is downright inspiring. Take a moment to watch:



http://m.youtube.com/?rdm=4pauejspo&reload=3#/profile?desktop_uri=%2Fgopweeklyaddress&user=gopweeklyaddress&gl=US

SantorumShowed Up

Rick Santorum had his best debate of the election last night, maybe because his mom was in the audience.  He seemed less whiny.  And his request that the time be used for substance, as opposed to Mitt and Newt's sniping, was welcome and overdue. I still don't see Santorum winning.  However, he should do well enough in Florida to press on.

Newt has crested, in my view. The more I see of Newt, the better everyone else looks.  It didn't help that Elliott Abrams put the lie to Newt's claim that he helped Ronald Reagan win the Cold War.  On NRO, Abrams details all the snotty things Newt said to and about Reagan, and how Newt in fact undermined Reagan. Had Newt prevailed, it is unlikely that America would have won the Cold War.  It is a devastating critique of Newt and a must-read for anyone who is seriously considering him and anyone who considers Reagan the standard by which we should judge those who seek to carry the Republican mantle.

I fear that Newt would demean the Office of the President.  As one elderly lady observed to me recently, the man has the "morals of an alley cat."  When I see Newt, I think of Bill Clinton, and then I think about how W. had to put new carpet in the Oval Office.  My mind doesn't want to go there, but this is the consequence of Newt's life choices.

Mitt Romney did well the first hour. But it is uncomfortable to watch him go negative against Newt; plainly, this is not in Mitt's character.  That raises the concern:  will he be similarly awkward attacking Obama?

Andy Barr Raises $425k

Andy Barr, who lost by a hair in the 6th Congressional District, will file an FEC report stating that raised $425,000.

Barr ran the third closest Congressional race in the country two years ago. On Election night, the NRCC sent out emails to its volunteer lawyer network in anticipation of a recount. The margin, 647, just wasn't close enough.

The challenge for Barr is that Ben Chandler has voted to the right of the Democratic caucus. It is therefore harder to motivate conservatives from outside the district to donte than they would be inclined to donate to defeat John Yarmuth, for example.

But that's where realism comes in. No matter how much Yarmuth annoys conservatives, his advantage in registration makes Kentucky 3 a bad value for Republican donations. In Kentucky 6, however, we have a real shot.

John Yarmuth Whining

John Yarmuth had an amusing editorial in today's CJ. It highlighted his proposed constitutional amendment to overturn key provisions of the recent Citizens United case. This was the case in which the Supreme Court determined that corporations were "people" as regards their free speech rights and ability to make contributions to political action committees, or PACs. Mr. Yarmuth thinks the ruling was deplorable because of its injection of more corporate cash into the political process.

The most amusing statement in the editorial was this one: "The last thing Congress needs is more corporate and special-interest candidates who don't answer to the American people." Now a guy who is beholden to union interests and doesn't answer to the American people is okay. What hypocrisy!

For decades the Democratic party has used unions as campaign piggy banks. In effect unions have been "people" for a long time. Now that the Citizens United case allows legitimate PACs that might oppose their interests, they, and their bought-and-paid-for politicians like Mr. Yarmuth, are all upset and whiny.

Citizens United was a good decision. Mr. Yarmuth, get over it.

List of Barack Obama's Positive Achievements......

About That Republican Response

Watching  the Republican Response to the State of the Union by Gov. Mitch Daniels last night felt like a flash-back to when Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the Republican Response to an earlier Obama State of the Union. There was so much anticipation among conservatives that we were going to see something great -- a break-through performance by a rising Republican star.

And then we watched with horror as Jindal did that deer in the headlights thing, thereby dashing our hopes (and nearly, his career, until the BP Oil Spill gave him a chance to show how to govern under pressure).

Mitch Daniels didn't perform quite as badly as Jindal, last night, but nonetheless was disappointing.  He looked visibly nervous.  It is a hard setting, to be sure:  an empty space in Indiana with no crowd to work, and none of the grandeur of a Joint Session of Congress.

I still wish Daniels was our nominee because of his extraordinary record as governor, not because of this speech.

Talk About Getting Things Done

In the past hour, President Obama called on Congress to compromise and get things done. 


"I ask the Senate to pass a rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days." said President Obama.


Interesting. It seems like every time someone asks Obama to make up his mind, he says "no," that he didn't have time to make an informed decision. 


Is three years not enough time to decide whether or not to approve an oil pipeline that would create thousands of jobs? 


Apparently not. Maybe he wanted to please his environmental friends, or perhaps Mr. Buffet's railroad?


Obama has no business asking people to follow his deadlines when he can't even follow their own. 


Any responsible boss would fire an employee who takes three years to avoid a decision. The American people should do the same.

Sen. Paul on Roe v. Wade Anniversary

Sen. Rand Paul did not get to deliver his remarks to the March on Life yesterday, due to the TSA treating him like a terrorist at the Nashville airport.   Here's what he would have said, if TSA had not made him miss his flight.  Note that Paul used the formulation of John Locke -- "life, liberty and property" rather than Thomas Jefferson's version, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  The distinction is not relevant to  anniversary of Roe, but is interesting nonetheless.

The question remains, can a nation long endure or can a civilization long endure that does not respect Life? Our Liberty comes from our Creator and our freedoms depend upon a respect for Life.

In order to protect the unborn from the very moment life begins, I introduced the Life at Conception Act during my first year in the Senate. I have also cosponsored several other pro-life bills including the Life at Conception Act, the Protect Life Act, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, and the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.

I also strongly support a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would confirm in law that an unborn child is a person entitled to the right to life and support legislation that would restrict federal courts from hearing cases involving abortion. State governments must be allowed to implement laws that protect life.


It is the government’s duty to protect life, liberty, and property, but primarily and most importantly, a government must protect life. Today, tragically our nation wavers; our moral compass is adrift. Today, I worry about our nation's future. Together a brighter tomorrow is possible if we join hands to restore our nation's virtue.


To respect life and to listen to the voice of God that lives and breathes and beckons and yearns for our attention. When America remembers and restores her respect for life, when America refinds her moral bearings then we will thrive again, then we will find our way.


I will never give up fighting for the lives of our unborn children. May God bless America.”