Alabama | MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Day 1 of McCain’s “It’s Time for Action Tour”

Day one was spent right here in sweet home Alabama, which I appreciate, because usually after the primaries, Alabama is pretty much written off by both parties. Even better, John McCain went into Democratic territory. I’ve always been annoyed that The Black Vote™ is always sort of ceded to the Democrats by default, and our candidates generally don’t really make an effort to take a bite out of that vote. Of course, I understand it–we conservatives see “black issues” as the same issues everyone else has, and that we all have the same basic goals. We’ve done a crappy job of selling our solutions to minorities, though. Good for McCain for reaching out and letting people know he’ll work for their votes.

60 Minutes Story on Karl Rove vs. Don Siegelman: FALSE

60 Minutes is up to their old tricks again–or should I say, as usual. Quin Hilyer, who wrote for the Mobile Register for eight years, has the real story.

THE TRUTH IS that the entire Siegelman investigation stemmed from a series of articles in the Mobile Register (my former newspaper) by ace investigative reporter Eddie Curran, a winner of numerous journalism awards who is anything but a Republican.
[...]
Words cannot express how obviously false this tale is. If 60 Minutes airs the story as planned, it will merit a hundredfold the criticism that the New York Times has so well earned in the past two days. As was famously written in another context, the TV news show would be guilty of being “a little nutty and a little slutty.” Actually, we can drop the qualifier. This will be one cheap and sleazy one-night’s ratings stand.

Want to know the truth about this, and about the people behind this lie? You need to read this.

Don Siegelman was and is no victim, and virtually no honest person in Alabama or elsewhere would buy this attack on Karl Rove. SeeBS.
Some things never change.

Please digg the Hillyer story here, too. Digg’s been carpet-bombed lately with Evil Rove™ vs. Victim Siegelman stories lately. (Typical diggtard crap.)

Alabama’s Jo Bonner appointed to House Appropriations Committee

That would be MY representative, Jo Bonner. This is good news for conservatives, because Rep. Bonner has seen the light since the 2006 election.

The conventional view in Washington is that members seek a slot on the Appropriations Committee in the hope of steering more money to their districts. Congressman Bonner undoubtedly will look after the interests of his district — after all, that’s an important part of his job.

However, he can’t put parochial concerns before the national interest in prudent budgeting. If he does put pork first, he will compound the federal government’s budget woes and help consign his party to minority status for the foreseeable future.

From all indications, Congressman Bonner understands his new responsibilities. He issued a statement supporting the Republican leadership’s call for a moratorium on earmarks — local projects inserted in the budget without debate or a full vote in the House and the Senate. He also promised to “serve as a vigilant guardian of the taxpayers’ money, helping to expose and eliminate wasteful or questionable spending.”

Critics of congressional pork note that the congressman has contributed his share to wasteful, pork barrel spending. But, unlike some of his Republican colleagues, he seems to have learned a lesson from the party’s stinging defeat in the 2006 election.

Last year, for instance, Congressman Bonner voted to uphold President Bush’s veto of a pork-stuffed appropriations bill. With that vote, which he said he cast in “a greater effort to help restrain federal spending,” Mr. Bonner helped shoot down two projects for his own district.

He correctly observed that Republicans lost control of Congress because they didn’t control spending. Too many GOP leaders succumbed to the temptations associated with the power to distribute federal dollars. Some of them fell into outright corruption, directing earmarks to special interests in exchange for bribes.

Jo Bonner is a man of his word, and this portends a dim future for porkers in Congress. (Thanks to Quin Hillyer for the link to the al.com piece.)

From Bonner’s statement following the appointment:

“This appointment to the House Appropriations Committee means even more to me when you take into account the many outstanding colleagues the Steering Committee had from which to choose. Just being considered along with friends like Tom Cole, Henry Brown, Dave Reichert, Marilyn Musgrave, Jeff Flake, and Mike Turner has been an honor in itself.

“The current earmark process has become a symbol of a broken Washington. I sought this seat on the Appropriations Committee because I believe the time for change and reform – especially of the appropriations process and the much scrutinized subject of earmarks – is now. My first priority as a member of the committee will be to serve as a vigilant guardian of the taxpayers’ money, helping to expose and eliminate wasteful or questionable spending. Towards that end, I have strongly supported the efforts of House Republican leadership to reform the current earmark process and eliminate wasteful spending.

“I support my leaders’ call for a moratorium on all earmarks while a bipartisan select committee identifies ways to eliminate pork barrel spending. Speaker Pelosi has the power to bring the earmark process to an immediate halt. Until she does, I will use my seat on this committee to ensure there is full accountability and transparency on the Appropriations Committee in the spending decisions it makes.

“By entrusting me with this position, the Steering Committee has charged me with helping to reform the earmark process and restoring fiscal credibility to Washington. I won’t let them down.”

With a “vigilant guardian of the taxpayers’ money” on Appropriations and if we elect John McCain as President, we can get some real change in the budgetary process. Not just rhetorical change, REAL change for the better.

In fairness, there are other conservatives who aren’t happy about this; they were pushing for Jeff Flake for the committee appointment (not that I opposed him) and say Rep. Bonner is a porker. I think it’s only fair to give Jo Bonner a chance to show he’s serious about earmark reform, and support him as long as he supports the taxpayers’ best interests. I don’t think hammering him for past transgressions* is productive. As the Mobile Register’s editorial said, he has recently “shot down two projects in his own district” (my district!), so that says quite a bit in itself. Bonner is known as a man of his word, and as his constituent, I’ll be paying attention, as will his critics. I don’t expect to be disappointed.

* One man’s cancer research center is another man’s “pork,” I guess. Same goes for hurricane relief. You know what they say, all politics is local.

This is why I’m not voting for Romney

UGH.

I’ll vote for (and campaign for) Romney in the general election should he be the nominee, but RomneyCare is another major reason I can’t vote for him in the primary. If he is elected, I’ll fight this to my dying breath.

There are many other reasons why I’m supporting John McCain, of course. What follows is McCain’s ad about RomneyCare, but it goes much deeper than a 30-second ad, of course.

Spending on the state’s landmark health insurance initiative would rise by more than $400 million next year, representing one of the largest increases in the $28.2 billion state budget the governor proposed yesterday. The biggest driver of the cost increase is projected growth in the number of people signing up for state-subsidized insurance, which now far exceeds earlier estimates. State and federal taxpayers are expected to bear nearly all of the additional cost. Although the price tag for the initiative is ballooning, the governor yesterday reaffirmed the state’s commitment to ensuring that nearly every resident is covered.

Read the rest of this entry »