Rep. Tom Cotton Gives GOP Address on Obamacare

Party For the Party --Tonight

The Jefferson County Republican Party will hold a "party for the party" tonight in Louisville at the downtown Marriott.  Sen. Rand Paul will be the guest speaker. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Congressmen Barr, Guthrie and Massie will attend as well as Agriculture Sec. Jamie Comer -- and many others.

As Sen. Paul described it, this will not be a "stuffy dinner."  Just good conversation with like-minded conservatives and even music (the Monarchs!).


It should be a really fun event.  Click here for details.

Bevin Was For TARP Before He Was Against It

 Ronnie Ellis has an excellent summary of Matt Bevin's latest truthiness problem. For those who have been unable to pry themselves away from the Olympics, we now learn that in 2008 Bevin personally signed an investor report that spoke glowingly about TARP. That would be the same TARP he blasts McConnell about daily.

Politico broke the story, quoting the investor document Bevin signed:

 "Most of the positive developments have been government led, such as the effective nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the passage of the $700 billion TARP (don’t call it a bailout) and the Federal Reserve’s intention to invest in commercial paper,” wrote Bevin and Daniel Bandi, chief investment officer and vice president of the fund. “These moves should help to stabilize asset prices and help to ease liquidity constraints in the financial system.”

I am just tired of Bevin and I wish he'd go away.  He has become more tedious than ice and below-freezing temperatures.  Like the bad weather, he too will pass.  Not fast enough to suit me, though.

Oh, the shape-shifting excuses proffered by Bevin and his supporters.  Channeling Nancy Pelosi:  he had to sign the SEC document to find out what's in it?  Please.  Or this:  he didn't really believe what he was signing.  That's not making me feel any better about him.  Or, the SEC made him do it?  Duress, right.  Or, he didn't draft it?  Blaming it on the staff is not classy; so much for personal responsibility.

The whole sorry episode brought to mind one of Bevin's other whoppers that has always struck me as particularly brazen.

This is the same guy that listed MIT on his LinkedIn profile under education and then complains that we, the great unwashed, were dumb for thinking that the listing implied he that he actually attended  MIT, as in matriculated and took real classes there. No, we the unenlightened should have realized it was just a continuing ed. class, so the argument goes. 

 Kentucky requires lawyers licensed here to attend continuing legal education classes ("CLE"), 12 hours annually.  I have never, ever listed my attendance at a CLE on my LinkedIn profile.  I would be embarrassed to do so.  Nor have I ever seen another lawyer list attending a CLE in  a LinkedIn profile -- even when the lawyer was so lucky as to get a boondoggle junket to take the CLE some place interesting, say Harvard Law School.  It's just not done. 

The oddest thing about Bevin's latest issue with the truth is the name of the fund for which he signed the SEC form:  Veracity.  Orwell would be impressed.

Cathy Bailey Wishes Sarah Palin Happy Birthday

Former U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Cathy Bailey, along with other GOP notables, appears in the birthday video card in honor of Sarah Palin's 50th.  Bailey and Palin became friends when Bailey was the Kentucky Victory Chair for McCain-Palin in 2008.

Bailey and Palin were pivotal endorsements for Sen. Rand Paul as well as prolific fundraisers for his campaign. Both of these women have done so much to advance conservative principles in Kentucky and across America.

When I think of Palin, two things spring to mind.  One, her speech at the Republican National Convention in 2008 was the best political speech I have ever seen, or probably ever will-- it surpassed even Reagan.  I count myself very fortunate to have been there in person.  Second, I think of the viciousness and condescension that she has endured, none of which would have been heaped on her had she not strayed from Feminist orthodoxy.

Happy Birthday, Gov. Palin, and thanks for your work on behalf of limited government, liberty and personal responsibility.

Bothered By Bevin's Push Poll

Two nights ago, I was called by a polling firm; another Registered Republican I know received a similar call.   Of course, the pollster did not identify who paid for the poll, but it seemed clear to both of us that it was the Bevin campaign or someone promoting Bevin.  The focus was on the Republican primary for the Kentucky U.S. Senate race with lots of questions about the Tea Party.  If it was Bevin, he should apologize.

I answered the questions without complaint until the point when I was asked to react to different "statements."  For example, I was asked for my reaction to the "fact" that Sen. Mitch McConnell has never held a job in the private sector.  As I pointed out to the pollster, that "statement" is simply not true.  McConnell was a lawyer, in private practice in Louisville.  As any attorney who has spent time in private practice can attest, it is hard work, not just substantively, but in terms of running the business side of it.  So I asked the pollster whether he still wanted me to react to his false statement and he said "No, I think we got it." 

He started talking really fast at that point because he wanted to get me off the phone. He asked another whopper:  How did I feel about the fact that McConnell spends most of his time in Washington, D.C.?  I pointed out that again, the premise was false.  McConnell spends as much time in Kentucky as possible.  He loves his Cards and almost never misses a home game.  He actually loves the Commonwealth and his time here.

To be sure, he has to be in Washington for votes, and running the caucus.  The notion that McConnell has "gone native" is incorrect, however.  McConnell once observed that the fastest way to lose one's convictions in D.C. is to go to the cocktail parties; it can become too tempting to want to garner favor with the Washington Post and the elites that look to it to shape their opinions.  So McConnell avoids the D.C. cocktail party circuit, and Kentucky and the country are the better for it.

Even more offensive was a series of questions about McConnell's net worth. He has a house in Washington, and real estate there -- unlike the rest of the country -- has skyrocketed along with the deficit. (Seen the Hunger Games? Things are different in the Capital.)

The clear implication from this line of "statements" was that if McConnell's net worth has increased while he was in office, then he must be corrupt, or at the very least, that the increase in McConnell's net worth is attributable only to the taxpayers paying his salary.

There were no "statements" asking me to react to Secretary Elaine Chao's family coming to America with nothing, fleeing the Communists, and through hard work building a successful business that enabled four daughters (including Elaine) to attend Harvard Business School.  (The Chao's recently donated $40 million to Harvard Business School.) There were no "statements" regarding whether McConnell and Chao file joint tax returns.

 The line of "statements" about McConnell's net worth was a transparent, disgusting attempt to smear a public servant.  It's the sort of class warfare that we have come to expect from the Democrats.  It has no place in the Republican primary.