I thought this was a good press release to be put out onto the blogosphere. It is the response from the Republican Study Committee; a group of 100 conservatives in Congress joined together to fight for conservative principles.
Here is their press release:
RSC Statement on Economic Growth Package
Washington D.C.-Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee – a group of over 100 Conservative members of the House of Representatives, issued the following statement regarding a potential economic “stimulus” plan:
“It is clear that hard working families in America are struggling to make ends meet and that the economy needs a boost. Conservatives know that it is never a bad time to let families keep more of their own money. We are, in fact, the ones who have been leading that charge in Congress. We agree that now is an especially good time for family tax relief given rising energy, food, and tuition costs. However, temporary consumer tax rebates should not be confused with economic stimulus. I remain concerned that in the rush to act, an opportunity to put together legislation that will actually grow and stimulate the economy is being missed.
“The last time our country faced recession, rebates were helpful to consumers but did little to turnaround the economy. History shows us that the best way to provide an economic turnaround, preserve jobs and spur economic growth is to ensure that job creators face a lower tax and regulatory burden. Part of our economic slow down is due to the massive tax increases threatened by Democrats and the resulting uncertainty. Thus, nothing would help our economy more than making permanent the tax relief that is soon to expire. Congress should also immediately enact laws that reduce the corporate tax rate and capital gains rate while indexing gains attributable for inflation.
“Though many of the ideas and principles being discussed will not hurt at their inception, Democrat leaders and candidates continue to talk about enacting a massive tax hike to pay for increased government spending. Raising taxes to fund a temporary package intended to grow the economy is akin to taking a bucket of water from the deep end of a pool and dumping it into the shallow end. Tax increases would penalize businesses while taking more out of the family budget, further damaging the economy. In addition, under no circumstances can a stimulus package begin to carry Democrat spending proposals that have thus far languished. Now is the not the time to induce our entitlement crisis to explode even further.
“House conservatives believe that economic stimulus legislation should actually include economic stimulus.”
So I was driving home today and listening to my Sirius radio, and I heard some guy talking about his offense to Mike Huckabee’s position on the South Carolina flag; I guess they fly the Confederate Flag and reporters were trying to get Presidential candidates to comment.
Honestly, I think Mike Huckabee took the right position by saying it is a State issue, and something that he is not willing to take a position on or get involved in. People are being a little ridiculous by twisting his words and making it seem as if Mike Huckabee supports racism.
The Las Vegas Journal-Review endorsed Barack Obama today, and had this to say regarding Hillary Clinton and her campaign:
“She’s a one-term-plus-a-year senator whose lackluster legislative record rivals Sen. Obama’s. Other than that, the ‘experience’ in question must surely refer to her presence as a witness and enabler during her husband’s presidential terms,” and that Nevada Democrats should “ask themselves whether they really want to spend two months later this year watching a re-run of the horror movie ‘It Came From Little Rock,’ with the sound turned up much too loud — or if they’d rather make it a real contest this fall. If they prefer the latter, they’re better off backing Barack Obama on Saturday.”
I thought this was a balanced review on Romney’s win in the Michigan Primary and the status of the GOP without a clear frontrunner.
From US News and World Report
January 16, 2008
Campaign News
US News-Three presidential nominating contests, three different Republican winners. According to CNN, with 100% of precincts reporting, native son Mitt Romney triumphed, taking 39% of the vote, followed by John McCain, 30%; Mike Huckabee, 16%; Ron Paul, 6%; Fred Thompson, 4%; and Rudy Giuliani, 3%. The Detroit News reports, “‘Tonight is a win for optimism over Washington-style pessimism,’ Romney told a cheering crowd at a Southfield hotel where he had awaited the results. McCain, who defeated Romney just a week before in New Hampshire, was campaigning Tuesday night in South Carolina. ‘For a minute there in New Hampshire I thought this campaign might be getting easier,’” McCain said, adding, “But you know what? We’ve gotten pretty good at doing things the hard way too. And I think we’ve shown them, we don’t mind a fight.”
The economy (Michigan has one of the nation’s worst) appears to have put Romney over the top. The New York Times reports that “just as important as Mr. Romney’s personal ties was that he found himself, after setbacks in Iowa and New Hampshire, in an economically downtrodden state that has shed millions of jobs. The economic woes here played neatly into his strengths as a candidate, and his newly retooled message centered around his private sector experience and a promise to bring change to Washington.” USA Today notes, “Given four choices, half of Michigan’s GOP primary voters surveyed picked the economy as the top issue facing the nation while one in five picked Iraq, one in seven immigration and one in 10 terrorism.” The Wall Street Journal says, “Despite the momentum from” McCain’s “comeback win in New Hampshire, enough voters didn’t come around to his plan to restore the state’s ailing economy, which relied heavily on long-term strategies such as education, job retraining and investment in new technologies.”
The Michigan outcome is seen as having two major results: keeping Romney’s campaign alive after a pair of disappointing outcomes in Iowa and New Hampshire, and showing that there is no clear GOP frontrunner. The Washington Post reports on its front page, the “surprisingly easy win…vaults Romney back into contention and reaffirms the sharpened campaign message that he debuted several days ago: an attack on Washington and an emphasis on the need for dramatic change in the way politics is practiced.” USA Today reports, “The outcome gives Romney a ‘jolt of caffeine,’ said John Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles. ‘It’s an opportunity to move on.’” The Wall Street Journal says “many considered Michigan a must-win for” Romney.
The Washington Times says Romney’s win “further muddles the Republican race” and that none of the three winners “has built lasting momentum.” In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times describes the GOP primary race as one “in which candidates seemingly win and then lose the leadership spot each week.” Under the headline “No GOP Anchor In Sight,” the New York Times also says Romney’s “convincing victory…means three very different states — with dissimilar electorates driven by distinctive sets of priorities — have embraced three separate candidates in search of someone who can lead the party into a tough election and beyond President Bush.”
In a very pointed analysis piece, AP’s Ron Fournier calls Romney’s win “a defeat for authenticity in politics.” Romney “pandered to voters, distorted his opponents’ record and continued to show why he’s the most malleable — and least credible — major presidential candidate.” Meanwhile, “the man who spoke hard truths to Michigan lost. Of all the reasons…McCain deserved a better result Tuesday night, his gamble on the economy stands out. The Arizona senator had the temerity to tell voters that a candidate who says traditional auto manufacturing jobs ‘are coming back is either naive or is not talking straight with the people of Michigan and America.’”
Gallup took a survey with the current frontrunners to determine who would be the best match-up for a win in the General Election. Right now Huckabee and McCain carry the most delegate votes, along with Clinton and Obama.
Their prediction is would be:
1. McCain wins against Obama or Clinton
2. Clinton wins against Huckabee
3. Obama wins against Huckabee
A poll on RealClearPolitics.com today indicates a tye race between Rudy Guliani and John McCain in Florida. The LA Times is reporting rows of Floridians leaving Rudy’s townhall meetings early, and Fox News has a story indicating Christian conservatives leaving the Rudy camp for “Rudy Light”; a term dubbed by a Fox News contributor refering to John McCain as the perfect Guiliani alternative without all of those “liberal calories.”
Once considered a front runner of the GOP, Guiliani has been stumping the issues of terrorism, military build-up, tax cuts, and immigration; all issues heard before from our current President who has extrememly low approval ratings. National Polling seems to back this up showing Guiliani support declining from 37% in March of ‘07 to 14% January of ‘08.
Truth be told, Guiliani has made a large gamble by throwing all of his campaign eggs in the Florida basket, and if the polls are right, his support there is in decline. Strategists have been critical of his campaign tactics from the get go, and don’t believe that Rudy is adapting his message to will of the electorate.
My opinion is that Rudy does not have a wing or a prayer, even if Romney pulls through in Michigan; the perfect storm Guiliani has been hoping for. The reason for this is that the media has been covering Huckabee, McCain, and Romney with such detail that these GOP frontrunners have been able to easily address voter concern.
For the last couple of days, I have sympothized with John Edwards for not getting the media coverage that Obama and Clinton were getting, but then I read his statements on energy today and finally understood why; he’s not realistic.
When asked about a permit in South Caroline to build a coal-burning power plant along the Pee Dee River, he said “it needs to stop…they are taking a bad situation and making it worse.” Now to give him some credibility, utility officials want to build this 600 mega-watt facility to keep up with energy demands, and coal is not the cleanest burning fuel available. But Edwards took it further than the coal, and opposed any nuclear power facilities to then say “we are the worst polluter on the planet.”
So Mr. Edwards disagrees with coal facilities and nuclear facilities to provide power, but what kind of alternative energy does he support? His website doesn’t say, but it does give an energy plan.
He supports a Cap & Trade plan to allow corporations to trade emissions credits. This is an admirable idea, and might work by allowing smaller manufacturers to give their excess emissions to larger manufacturers. It might work.
Edwards also supports a Global Climate Treaty. In theory, this is nice, but I don’t think China will ever agree to reduce their emissions and how do you enforce a global climate treaty? The U.N.?, give me a break; remember oil for food.
Another solution he has is to auction off $10 billion worth of greenhouse gas permits. How much greenhouse gas is worth $10 billion dollars, and who decides that? I doubt the free market.
But the last thing is what I find comical, and I am going to quote:
“Meeting the demand for electricity through efficiency for the next decade, instead of producing more electricity.”
Are you kidding me!? Let just point out that after a decade, he will no longer be President.
P.S. Did I mention his support for windmills? Just ask Ted Kennedy how he feels about them; he voted no on the idea because he didn’t want to ruin the view in his back yard, and the bill didn’t pass.
Over the weekend, we have seen the Michigan economy highlighted as the hot button issue, but have we heard an actual plan to deal with the state’s 7.6% unemployment rate?
Romney has been traveling Michigan telling voters that it will take a business man to fix Michigan’s issues; highlighting government regulations as the source of the problem, and his experience as a CEO and invester in multiple ventures to back up his knowledge. But what are the regulations that the Romney camp is referring too?
Congress just passed new mileage standards for the auto industry, is that a problem?
McCain is another issue. His message appears to be nothing more than doom and gloom for Michigan voters. Recently he has dropped this line, but he was quoted as saying that some of the jobs are permanently lost to the overseas market. The Romney campaign has criticized McCain for his comments, and stating that Romney will not give up on the workers in Michigan.
McCain just does not seem very strong or policy oriented on this issue.
Now lets talk about Huckabee. Today, Mike Huckabee told auto workers that the biggest hurdle effecting jobs is government taxation and regulation, and bolstered his support for the “Fair Tax”; moves the federal tax system from business, employee, and income taxes to a national sales tax with rebates for the poor. He alleges that his plan will free up money for employers to provide workers and to reinvest in the economy.
The Democrats have barely touched this state, and it is mainly due to the Democrat Party penalizing Michigan for moving their primary date; all delegate votes have been removed. This is leaving Michigan voters unheard just because party idealogues are disatisfied with a state party. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards are all doing a disservice to these Americans.
Bottom line, Michigan deserves some answers from all candidates from both parties. Americans needs to know how Democrats and Republicans are going to treat businesses and deal with high unemployment rates. We want to know what regulations they will impose and remove. We want to know how we are going to be taxed. We want to know why we should vote for them as president when it comes to the economy; health-care and immigration are important, but we all have the need to make money and have money in our pockets.
Change is what is needed in Washington, and a new face would do the White House good. So who has the message and the impetus to do it?
Here’s your chance to tell the world how you feel about candidates and their views on the economy. As I said in my last blog, it looks like Michigan will highlight views on the economy as the state faces a 7.6% unemployment rate that voters blame upon the U.S. free trade agreements.
The one to watch here is Huckabee and Romney as they position themselves to bolster free trade, but protect American jobs. McCain has a Senate voting history on free trade that will most likely be spotlighted in this state, whereas Huckabee and Romney neither have a congressional voting record on this issue.
