Dem Pollsters Urge Hillary to Run

The Wall Street Journal has a jaw-dropping op-ed today by Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Douglas Schoen, who worked for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively.

Not only do Caddell and Schoen urge Hillary Clinton to run for president, they implore Barack Obama to take a cue from Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman: Decline to seek a second term for the good of the country.

Caddell and Schoen maintain that if Obama runs for reelection, we are in for the most negative campaign in history. So much for hope and change.

Certainly, Mr. Obama could still win re-election in 2012. Even with his all-time low job approval ratings (and even worse ratings on handling the economy) the president could eke out a victory in November. But the kind of campaign required for the president's political survival would make it almost impossible for him to govern—not only during the campaign, but throughout a second term.


Put simply, it seems that the White House has concluded that if the president cannot run on his record, he will need to wage the most negative campaign in history to stand any chance. With his job approval ratings below 45% overall and below 40% on the economy, the president cannot affirmatively make the case that voters are better off now than they were four years ago. He—like everyone else—knows that they are worse off.

. . .


We write as patriots and Democrats—concerned about the fate of our party and, most of all, our country. We do not write as people who have been in contact with Mrs. Clinton or her political operation. Nor would we expect to be directly involved in any Clinton campaign.



If President Obama is not willing to seize the moral high ground and step aside, then the two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, must urge the president not to seek re-election—for the good of the party and most of all for the good of the country. And they must present the only clear alternative—Hillary Clinton.

Of Course the Democrats are Behind the Cain Accusations

Let's face it: Romney can't beat Obama. Cain can could have. The Democrats realized that. So they formulated   a plot to bring Cain down. And it worked.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Cain sexual harassment accusations are a plot made up by liberals to bring down the best candidate to emerge in the 14 years of my life.

This is just like the Justice Thomas scandal.


"Liberal advocacy groups called me repeatedly looking for anything that could stop his confirmation." Juan Williams wrote. 


“Have you got anything on your tapes we can use to stop Thomas?” A Senate aid asked Williams.


Yes, Juan Williams, a liberal, admitted to being asked to help come up with a conspiracy about Thomas. Why wouldn't the liberals do the same for Cain?


I am fed up with these scandals and lies. Liberal bureaucrats will ruin this country  for my generation. While we spend our lives paying off their debts, we will look back and learn an important lesson on moral values.
We will realize that lies and fabricated scandals ruined our once great country.

That is the sad direction our country is headed.

But there is hope. If we can go back to the ethics and moral values that the founding fathers used to build  this great nation, than America may soon see its brightest days yet.

We could be a thriving nation with innovations in science, medicine, technology, literature, the list goes on and on.

I hope and pray that liberals and conservatives alike will come together and see the light before it is to late.

At least I know that God will always be at my side even if we become the United States of China. 

Dirty Hippies...

When the Occupy Wall Street movement began, many were quick to criticize the movement as just a bunch of dirty hippies. I thought this seemed unfair and overly critical. It seemed to me that many of the protesters were probably reasonable people with legitimate grievances. After seeing C-SPAN views of the camps and listening to a number of interviews with the protesters, I realized that I was wrong, dead wrong. They ARE a bunch of dirty hippies!

Okay before you Occupiers crucify me, let me say that I am using a little levity here. You are all not really a bunch of dirty hippies (although some of you really are!) You are misguided though. The 1%, for all their faults, and there are many, are not the source of your problems. If you are unemployed, it is not because of rich folks. If you want to blame someone besides yourself, blame the guy in the White House. He is far more culpable in this than the 1%. Occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue if you really want to protest against the source of your woes!

Also, most of America is giving the Occupy Movement a giant yawn. With the exception of lefty news outlets, most folks are not sympathetic to the protest. This is more of the same old, tired, hackneyed class warfare crap that most folks just don't buy. Many are sympathetic to your plight and frustration, we just think your unfortunate circumstances would be better cured by getting rid of Obama than by attacking Wall Street and the 1%.

Seriously, John Boehner?

How much fun the copy editors at the Courier-Journal must have had writing the headline that House Majority Leader John Boehner has agreed to tax hikes.

This, from the guy who told us just two weeks ago at the McConnell Center that he was all about finding common ground but not compromising on principle.

There is no way that Boehner will get the Republican votes he needs, so why even upset conservatives by pretending that this is a possibility?

Everyone is starting to freak that the Super Committee's deadline is next week.  Automatic cuts will occur unless the Super Committee can agree on identifying alternative cuts or funding the budget with, let me get the euphemism right, "revenue enhancements."

This economy cannot sustain the hit of hikes right now:  it would ensure the double-dip that everyone fears is happening anyhow.

So let the automatic cuts take place.  Pull the trigger.  Sure, Republicans don't want the massive military cuts. Truth be told, however, there is fat in the military budget just as there is in every federal department.

McConnell Reacts to SCOTUS Accepting Obamacare Challenge

Here's the statement of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the U.S. Supreme Court granting cert to hear the constitutionality of Obamacare.  Recall that early on in the initial challenges, McConnell filed an amicus brief in opposition to law's constitutionality. According to McConnell,

Throughout the debate, Senate Republicans have argued that this misguided law represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of the federal government into the daily lives of every American. Most Americans agree. In both public surveys and at the ballot box, Americans have rejected the law’s mandate that they must buy government-approved health insurance, and I hope the Supreme Court will do the same.

We now know that the Supremes have asked for five and a half hours of argument, to take place in March. The mandate to purchase insurance will get two hours of argument, and 90 minutes will go to the severability issue of whether the law survives if a portion, such as the mandate, is struck down. The Democratic Congress that rushed this monstrosity through on Christmas Eve, neglected in all its arrogance to include a severability provision.  Apparently that was one of the little niceties to which Nancy Pelosi was referring when she said they needed to pass the bill first, so we can find out what's in it.

I cannot wait to get Mitt Romney's reaction.

SCOTUS to Hear Obamacare Challenge! Jack Conway Yawns!

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to hear a challenge to the mandate to purchase healthcare, the heart and soul of Obamacare.  This just happened eight minutes ago, so I do not yet know any details.

This is the same challenge that our newly-reelected Attorney General, Jack Conway called too legally frivolous for Kentucky to join.  So much for his legal acumen.

Conway is said to have held a big meeting the morning after Election Night last week.  The meeting lasted a full two hours.  Kentuckians might like to think he was setting goals for his second term as AG, but no:  Conway was laying the groundwork for his plan to run for governor.

He spent his first term as AG running for senator, and he will spend his second term running for governor.  What a disgrace:  the office of Attorney General is too important for a mere seat-warmer.  Voters will get exactly what they deserve; Conway  made no pretense of even campaigning for the job, and he will perform the job the same way he campaigned, with indifference.

Rick Perry Steps in It

Watch how it took Rick Perry only 53 seconds to end his political career.  This YouTube clip from last night's debate will be shown by debate coaches from this point forward, evermore. Watch this at your peril:  this will give nightmares to anyone who does any public speaking.

The poor guy.  Yet note how he doesn't even seem all that bothered by his inability to remember his third talking point. Most of us would be break out in hives, have a heart attack, run crying from the stage. But Perry kept his composure during what had to be one of the more embarrassing moments of his life.

Election 2011 Wrap-up

It was about what I expected. I had hoped that David Williams would have cut into Gov. Beshear's lead a little more, but that is just a question of a few extra points that Gatewood Galbraith unexpectedly snagged.

Todd P'Pool did better than I had feared. So did K.C. Crosbie.

Jamie Comer performed exactly as I had hoped and expected -- the only consolation in an otherwise dismal night.

So what is the upshot for Kentucky?  A governor who evokes the words:  milquetoast, vanilla, non-offensive.

Truly, Beshear's margin of victory is astonishing given Beshear's record of non-accomplishment . He has had no successes, not a single one as governor. If ever there was an election when a candidate won simply by virtue of not being the other guy, this was it.

Republican Party leaders had better step up and do a better job with managing candidate recruitment and selection.  Phil Moffett or Bobbie Holsclaw would have won more votes than David Williams did yesterday, no question about it.  There are probably others who would have been even stronger candidates than Holsclaw or Moffett; David Williams' wife, (former) Judge Robin Williams did a great job in that last commercial, for example. The problem in the primary is that everyone was so terrified of David Williams that most potential candidates took a pass. 

That is, the attribute of David Williams that won him the primary -- the ability to terrify others -- cost him the election, where the anonymity of the private ballot allowed the voters vent their true feelings about him.

Applebee's Thanks Our Vets; You Can, Too

Applebee's restaurants will serve Veterans and Active Duty Military free meals on Veteran's Day, as it has done in the past. This year, Applebee's also has started an online movement that gives each of us a quick way to write an email of thanks to our men and women in uniform.  Even better, there is a contest to determine the Most Thankful Neighborhood by zip code. Click here to participate and learn more.

Go Vote Already

I am really tired of holding my nose when I vote.  Last year, it was because John McCain was at the top of the ticket, the wrong ticket.  This year it is because Kentucky Republicans have nominated for Governor the political equivalent of Lord Voldemort. In both instances, the outcome is known before the first vote is cast, so what should be a joyful act that expresses freedom just feels sad and pointless.

We don't know whether any of our down-ticket races will survive.  I am hopeful Jamie Comer will win Agriculture Commissioner. In the Attorney General race, however, we are probably looking at four more years of Jack Conway's perfectly coiffed hair, or however long it takes for Jack to find a better gig.  His campaign reflects his ambivalence about the job; he doesn't want to lose and yet does not really want to be Kentucky Attorney General. He said as much to one of his Republican friends who was looking at running for AG. Conway's honest take of the job is that it's not so great.

What we do know, before the polls close, is that David Williams is going to get pounded.  So what lessons do we draw from that?

That it is important to be nice.

Kentucky is a small state. We view each other as neighbors and family. Consequently, when one is rude and vicious, even to fight for a really important ideological principle, we cringe. Word gets 'round. Kentuckians don't like to reward the use of sharp elbows.

David Williams is a brilliant man. I appreciate his willingness to serve, and I think that he is a true conservative on most issues.  The smallness of Kentucky -- the fact that we all know how David Williams comports himself -- makes it nearly impossible to elect a politician who is ideologically and intellectually solid and yet also regarded as a jerk. This is a consequence of our smallness, and I don't think that it is such a bad thing.

Sure, in Chicago, David Williams' aggressiveness and causticness would play differently; maybe he'd be up by 25 points instead of down by that margin.  But one of the things that many of us (particularly transplants!) value about Kentucky is that we will never have to look at Rahm Emanuel as our mayor.

That could never happen here.  Let's remember that reality the next time we vote in a primary.

Sarah Palin Endorses Todd P'Pool

Sarah Palin's endorsement of Todd P'Pool may be too little, too late. Her endorsement of Rand Paul actually helped him in the Republican primary against Trey Grayson, and might have given P'Pool a boost in name ID when he really needed it early on. It's odd that Palin's endorsement comes at this point, when Republicans have all but given up. Maybe it will motivate a few people to go to the polls, but certainly not enough to change the inevitable outcome.

Meanwhile, a local tea party group is running a radio ad during a.m. rush hour on 970 AM, the Bill Bennett Morning in America Show.  The ad promotes P'Pool and Jamie Comer -- but not David Williams. It's like he doesn't exist. Williams has evolved from radioactive to invisible.

McConnell Contrasts Jobs and Infrastrucure Bills

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement on the floor of the Senate today in which he contrasted the starkly different approaches of the two parties regarding creating jobs to fix our crumbling infrastructures.

Louisville readers will be particularly interested in McConnell''s comments about bridge construction and repair:  the Republican bill takes unspent money and allows the states to use it to, for example, fix the Sherman-Minton Bridge rather than build bike paths. The Republican bill allows for immediate repairs; the Democrats, in contrast, take longer to do less and yet spend more money.

The Republican bill strips away the red tape that delays such projects; that's what it takes to make a bill "shovel ready."

Here's the video of  McConnell's statement, and here's the text:

“We’re going to see two very different approaches to infrastructure and job creation today. The American people can decide for themselves which one makes more sense.


“The Republican proposal extends the current highway bill for another two years, giving states and contractors the certainty they need to start new infrastructure projects and create jobs.

“The legislation Senator Hatch is proposing today puts an end to that uncertainty for the next two years.


“This proposal also gives states the authority to decide how this money is spent. If folks in Ohio or Kentucky want to build a bridge, Washington can’t force them to build a bike path.


“The Republican proposal accelerates the review period and clears away the bureaucratic red tape. The President admitted a few months ago that the shovel-ready projects in his first stimulus bill didn’t turn out to be as shovel-ready as he thought. Our proposal helps make sure they are.


“Our bill prohibits the EPA from imposing burdensome and unnecessary new regulations on American cement producers and domestic boilers, so the cost of American-made materials for the projects paid for through this highway bill don’t skyrocket just as they’re set to begin. This bill keeps those costs down.


“Best of all, it’s fully paid for through funds that were originally appropriated for another purpose but not spent. Whatever’s left over after these projects are funded goes to pay down the deficit.


“The Democrats are taking a different approach.


“First, according to the CBO, the Democrats’ proposal will do little for the economy and putting people back to work in the short-term because the money will be spent gradually.

“According to the CBO, less than one tenth of the funds in the Democrat proposal will be spent next year. And roughly 40 percent won’t be spent until after 2015. This hardly matches the President’s calls for doing something ‘right away.’

“Second, it costs another $57 billion we don’t have.

“Third, they want to pay for this temporary spending bill with a permanent tax hike on job creators.


“And fourth, they already know that Republicans and yes, some Democrats, don’t think we should be taxing job creators, particularly at a time when 14 million Americans are looking for a job — and that we’ll vote against any proposal that does so.

“In other words, the Democrats have deliberately designed this bill to fail.

“So the truth is, Democrats are more interested in building a campaign message than in rebuilding roads and bridges. And frankly, the American people deserve a lot better than that. The people of Kentucky deserve better than that.

“The people in my state have serious, time-sensitive bridge projects– Brent Spence, the I-69, the Louisville bridges, Sherman Minton.

“They deserve better than this.

“The Associated General Contractors of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have already spoken out against the Democrat proposal.

“The rest of the American people can decide which approach they prefer: our proposal, which doesn’t add to the deficit, doesn’t raise taxes, empowers the states to make decisions on the local level, and is designed to gain bipartisan support.

“Or the Democrat’s top-down approach, which perpetuates uncertainty, raises taxes on businesses at a time when we should be giving them more reasons to hire not less, and which was designed in coordination with the White House political team to fail.

“These are the two approaches on display in the Senate today.



“The choice should be obvious.”

David vs. Goliath: A Small Android Tablet Maker Takes on Apple

For over a year, Apple has filed numerous baseless patent infringement lawsuits against Android smart phone and tablet manufacturers. For example, Apple says that the Samsung Galaxy Tab (below to the left) looks to much like an iPad (below to the right). For your information, the devices below are to scale, the Galaxy Tab being 7" while the iPad is 9.7".

Image credit: Skatter Tech.

What's even more ridiculous is that Apple is actually winning these suits. Until today.

Apple is just being a jerk. They went after a small Spanish tablet manufacturer called NT-K, which makes dirt-cheap Android tablets. Personally, I have no idea why Apple would even care about this company. But there are consequences for being a bully, and in this case, a small company took down Apple's attorneys, who bill over a thousand dollars an hour.

Here is part of a blog post from the company: (Please by advised that this was translated with Google Translate).

We are a small company like many others in these times of crisis we are
trying to get ahead, and it seems grossly unfair that a company the caliber of
Apple has to use its dominant influence.

With the file in this case, reinforce the claim that we made ​​last August
to the National Competition Commission (CNC) and are confident that this entity resolved
quickly.

Parallel to this, start the corresponding civil suit against Apple for
consequential damages, lost profits and moral damage.

As stated in the blog post, NT-K does plan on retaliating with a civil suit. They deserve to win.

Dropping Politico

I am dropping Politico from the Blog Roll. They have given up all pretense at any kind of journalistic standards or ethics, and I will not promote them.

President Invited to Speak at Manual

As Whas 11 recently reported, Manual High School Seniors have created a FaceBook page called "The Presidential Project" inviting President Obama to speak at their commencement pep rally. The page is taking off and now has over 727 fans, close to half of the entire school population.

I think there is a good chance that the president will come. After all, it is Senator McConnell's school, and one of the nation's top schools.

Sen. Richard Burr Delivers GOP Address

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) gives this week's Republican Address. He presents a counterpoint to the president's bus tour, in which the president drives to battleground states in his million dollar Canadian bus and argues for massive amounts of new government spending.  That tour, incidentally hit North Carolina this week -- a key state for Obama -- and Burr is therefore a fitting choice to respond not only for the Republican Party, but to speak to those constituents directly.

Burr makes the case for government getting out of the way to allow the private sector to create real jobs, as opposed to phony government jobs. He outlines the Republican jobs plan to consist of the following points:

• Simplify the tax code. This is part of the appeal of the 9-9-9 plan, by the way.
•   Rein in government regulations. Steve Jobs apparently told Obama that the amount of regulation in this country was going to make Obama a one-term president.
•  Cap spending and reduce budget deficits.  Need we say more?
•    Propose common sense healthcare solutions. It is not enough to repeal Obamacare; Republicans need to restore competition to drive down costs.
•    Encourage domestic energy development.  This is Rick Perry's platform.
•     Create a competitive workforce,  To the extent that this justifies the federalization of education, I disagree.
•  Increase exports.  There is bi-partisan support for passage of free trade agreements. Let's get it done.

Herman Cain Bounces Back

After a lackluster debate performance this week, Herman Cain picked up some impressive support. First, Arthur Laffer -- the economist for whom the Laffer Curve is named -- praised the 9-9-9 plan. This did rebutted the inference at the debate that some unknown guy in Ohio had just made the plan up on a whim.

Laffer, who was the architect of Reagan's supply-side economist, called Herman Cain's plan a "wonderful plan."

Laffer told Human Events that the proposal

was pro-growth and would create the proper conditions for America's economy to expand and thrive again.
"Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan would be a vast improvement over the current tax system and a boon to the U.S. economy," Laffer told HUMAN EVENTS in a statement. "The goal of supply-side tax reform is always a broadening of the tax base and lowering of marginal tax rates.
"Mr. Cain’s plan is simple, transparent, neutral with respect to capital and labor, and savings and consumption, and also greatly decreases the hidden costs of tax compliance. There is no doubt that economic growth would surge upon implementation of 9-9-9."
Laffer also said that "such a system provides the least avenues to avoid paying taxes, yet also maintains the strongest incentives for work effort, production, and investment."

But Herman's week got even better:  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour praised the candidate on the Laura Ingraham show and said that if Cain is the Republican nominee, he will "sweep the South."

Barbour is highly respected for the outstanding job he has done as governor of Mississippi -- including during Hurricane Katrina -- as well as his role as a political operative in the Reagan administration. Indeed, many of us hoped he would run for president.

Barbour is a former head of the Republican National Committee; he can therefore be fairly described as an "Establishment Republican."  And he is former head of the Republican Governor's Association, which makes his plug for Cain so much more interesting, and telling, given that Cain's rivals for the nomination include a sitting governor, Rick Perry, and a former governor, Mitt Romney.

What Happened to Herman Cain?

Herman Cain did not perform in the debate as hoped or expected.  He didn't make any huge mistakes. Rather, his constant reference to the 999 plan became first tedious and then comical. Substantively, the plan is a good idea, but without an alternative way to describe it, the name diminishes it.

Mitt Romney, as always, looked more presidential than most presidents (including this one). It is beginning to feel like a Romney nomination is inevitable. That wouldn't be so terrible but for the fact that if Romney is the nominee, Republicans take the Obamacare issue -- which inspired the creation of the Tea Party -- off the table. It will be gone.

Moreover, given Romney's experience at Bain, Democrats will portray him as the personification of Wall Street. It is not clear that Romney can or will defend himself from the #OccupyWallStreet kooks; contrast Romney's non-response to those demonstrations with Herman Cain's vigorous denouncement of the protests.

One odd moment of the debate:  when the candidates were allowed to question each other, Romney used his opportunity to throw Michele Bachmann a soft-ball.  It looked sort of chivalrous, sort of condescending. She was having a good debate, so why did Romney choose to help her? Maybe he is thinking about her as VP.

Newt had a good debate; whoever wins the nomination, if they are able to defeat Obama, should put Newt in the cabinet.

Rick Perry is finished. He doesn't appear to have the depth or intellect.

As for Huntsman and Santorum, can we please stop inviting these guys to debates?  I am sick of Santorum whining that he hasn't had enough chance to speak.  Both of these guys just annoy me. They are worse than brown-nosers -- they come across as the class snitches, oozing with sanctimoniousness.

Chris Christie Disappoints; Herman Cain Wows

Does he want the VP slot?  Chris Christie's endorsement of Mitt Romney, coupled with his pathetic attempt to distinguish Romneycare from Obamacare, the whole thing stinks.  What made Christie an attractive potential candidate is his boldness about speaking the truth. After today's speech, his nose grew to Pinnochioesque proportions, and it is not a good look.

Herman Cain, consequently, looks better and better.  He brings the courage and boldness, a sunny optimism that evokes memories of Reagan, and he tells the truth -- consequences be damned. Moreover, his political instincts on the #Occupy Wall Street protests are prescient.  While Romney is waiting to see how it all plays out, Herman has called the rabble to account for their lack of personal accountability, their class warfare and their foolishness in understanding that this is Obama's economy:  picket him.

I am really looking forward to see how Herman performs in a debate now that he has a target on his back.

Here is what Fox News and the Republican leadership need to understand:  everyday conservatives take Herman Cain very seriously, and we have had enough of the elites telling us that he is a not a contender.

Herman Cain's Reaganesque Rebuke Of Protesters

Herman Cain's speaking the truth about the Occupy Wall Street protesters brings to mind then-California Governor Ronald Reagan's calling the anti-Vietnam protesters the spades that they were. And judging by the geriatrics showing up at today's protests, some of them likely are the same folks who vowed in the 60's not to trust anyone over thirty. Good for Cain for his Reaganesque stance against this bad acidic trip down memory lane.
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.