Ill. GOP Minority Leader in Bed With Criminal ACORN?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Shockingly, it looks like Tom Cross (R- Oswego), the Republican Minority leader at the State Capitol in Springfield, has taken several large campaign donations from the criminal organization ACORN. Even worse, it looks like Cross indulged a quid pro quo to help the troubled community organization out on some of their favored legislative efforts.

Over at ChampionNews.net, Doug Ibendahl has uncovered some uncomfortable information about our Republican minority leader’s campaign coffers. Ibendahl has found that Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 880 donated $17,750 to Cross in 2003 and another $10,000 from SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana PAC.

The SEIU is a public employees union that is closely linked with the troubled ACORN organization and SEIU Local 880 is close to ACORN, indeed. In fact, on the Local’s webpage you can see an email address it lists for contact info that settles the question. That email happens to be seiu880@acorn.org.
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Ill. GOP Minority Leader in Bed With Criminal ACORN?”


Ill. GOP Central Committee Meeting Report

-By Warner Todd Huston

Featuring: Laughs, Congrats and Some Disapproving Stares (See end of report for the controversy)

This morning I attended the first Illinois Republican Central Committee meeting chaired by new party chief Pat Brady held at the Double Tree Hotel, Oakbrook, Illinois (Cook County, West of Chicago). Over all, the public portion of the meeting was brisk and convivial as chaired by Brady. The new GOP head seemed comfortable in the role and appeared to be well liked and respected by the committee members in attendance. Whatever behind the scenes deals that may or may not have been struck at the State Fair such a short time ago when Andy McKenna abruptly stepped down with Brady hurriedly appointed to replace him, Brady seems to have settled into the position of GOP Chairman well.

Surveying the room it appeared that about 10 members of the committee was not in attendance — so near a third of the members did not answer the roll call — and I was one of the few folks that came out to witness the public portion of the meeting. As Dave Dierson so amusingly put it, we sat in the “peanut gallery.” Dierson is best known for his daily Illinois news update email so many of us get each day in our email in-box.

The meeting began a tad later than the 11AM start date advertised and after Pat Brady called the meeting to order and introduced himself, and a few standard business items were taken care of (like approval of the minutes from the last meeting), Brady introduced the National GOP Committeewoman Demtra DeMonte to the room.
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Ill. GOP Central Committee Meeting Report”


Brit Hasn’t a Clue About U.S. Politics

-By Warner Todd Huston

Many elitist American leftists like to go about claiming that it is only Americans that are dunces on foreign matters. There is some truth to the accusation that Americans are not knowledgeable about the rest of the world but if a column in the UK Telegraph is any indication it isn’t much better for Britain’s understanding of American politics. Worse, it is plain that even a British journalist hasn’t a clue what he’s on about when attempting to discuss the differences between a Democrat and Republican in today’s climate.

At issue is the incredibly garbled take on American Democrats and Republicans as posted by U.K. Telegraph writer David Lindsay, who claims himself to be a “freelance writer and tutor at Durham University.” One wonders why he doesn’t get a real job.

In “Why real American conservatives should register as Democrats,” Lindsay’s main point seems to be that Republicans really support what the Democratic Party supports and so GOP voters should resign from their party and join the left side of the aisle. But Lindsay’s reasons prove that he doesn’t know a thing about what he’s talking about.
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Brit Hasn’t a Clue About U.S. Politics”


Kirk Lambastes Obama Over Missile Shield Policy Change

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Kirk may not be on the right side of economics, abortion, the homosexual lobby, and a host of other issues, but he is 100% right on his position that President Obama is wrong with his decision to reverse course on the European missile shield.

On Thursday morning, after Obama’s announcement of the missile shield policy change Kirk came out swinging against the president saying that “History is not kind to leaders who sacrifice our Polish allies.” Kirk went on:

Illinois Republican Representative Mark Kirk called the president’s decision a blow to Poland and an encouragement to Iran.

“Iran, a state sponsor of terrorists, now makes the longest-range missile of the terrorist world,” said Mark Kirk. “The administration’s decision is particularly ironic because Poland just announced it would be sending more troops to serve alongside Americans in Afghanistan. America is going to let Poland down, sending a message of weakness to our Polish allies and the people building Iran’s new missile arsenal.”

Kirk is right on with this. Obama has bent over backwards to appease our enemies in Russia and has opened the door for the proto-Soviet Putin to begin to bully surrounding democratic states without fear of a weak Obama crossing him. Obama has abandoned our Eastern European allies with this horrible decision.

Sadly, it appears that every time a Democrat becomes president, no ally can be sure of American support afterward. Democrats simply can be trusted with neither our foreign policy nor our security.
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Kirk Lambastes Obama Over Missile Shield Policy Change”


Poizner Signs Anti-Tax Pledge Despite History of Supporting Tax Hikes

-By Warner Todd Huston

SoCal radio wags John and Ken got California GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner to sign a no tax pledge this week. This is momentous news, indeed, since Poizner, the current State Insurance Commissioner and putative GOP frontrunner, has a long, long history of supporting massive property tax hikes that he has yet to directly disavow.

Radio talkers John and Ken witnessed Poizner’s signing of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge during their Los Angeles based show this week. (See photos here.)

As he signed the pledge, Poizner told the radio talkers, “Not only will I not raise taxes, not only will I veto every attempt to raise taxes, I will lower taxes for the people of the state of California. You can count on that.”

Poizner joins 34 U.S. Senators and 172 members of the House of Representatives as well as 7 state governors and over 1,100 state legislators in signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The pledge commits signers to, “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
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Poizner Signs Anti-Tax Pledge Despite History of Supporting Tax Hikes”


Capitol Fax: McKenna/Murphy is ON!

-By Warner Todd Huston

At the Capitol Fax Blog, Rich Miller saysthey have confirmed that former State GOP Chair Andy McKenna is throwing his hat into the rign for the 2010 race for governor.

It seems set that currently announced GOP hopeful Matt Murphy (R- Palatine) will drop his bid for Guv and run for the number two slot on a pseudo ticket with McKenna. (I say pseudo because gov. and lt. gov. candidates do not run as a ticket in Ill., for those unaware.)

Miller says that the two men have met and made the bargain.
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Capitol Fax: McKenna/Murphy is ON!”


Kirk Suddenly a “No” on Cap and Tax?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rep. Mark Kirk (R, IL) has been getting hammered by conservatives and moderate Republicans alike for his “yes” vote on the Cap and Trade bill. But at a recent appearance Kirk suddenly said he now intends to vote against the disastrous bill.

The Obama administration admits that the Cap and Trade legislation will cost every American family and additional $1,761 a year and likely that is on the low side. Conservatives have slammed Kirk for supporting this economy killing carbon emissions capping legislation.

On the 5th at a suburban rally, Kirk announced his switcheroo amidst many loud boos and catcalls. “About cap and trade: I voted for it because it was in the narrow interests of my congressional district. But as your representative, representing the entire state of Illinois, I will vote ‘No’ on that bill coming up.”

Well, this sure seems like an opportunistic flip flop, doesn’t it? Now that he’s running for Senate he’s found that his cap and tax “yes” vote is proving to be an impediment to his campaign and suddenly he finds his principles again?

I guess Kirk should be congratulated for finally coming to his senses and actually representing his constituents’ desires, but the fact that he thought he could make a dash for the cash (he voted cap and tax because of donations by enviro-nazi groups) without bothering with principle or representing his constituents in the first place marks him as an opportunist of the worst sort.

Kirk’s reversal is at the three minute, ten second mark in the video:


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Kirk Suddenly a “No” on Cap and Tax?”


Democrats Can Dish It Out But They Can’t Take It

-By Ann “Babe” Huggett

How soon Democrats forget! Didn’t we just finish up eight non-stop, miserable, name-calling, hate-filled, invective-slinging years by them aimed at President Bush and his policies? We are not just talking about the Daily Kossacks’ “Chimpy McHitler” taunts either. We’re talking Senator Harry Reid on record calling President Bush a “liar”, Senator John Kerry insulting US troops in Iraq by referring to them as “stuck” there because they obviously failed at school and Rep. John Murtha attacking US Marines for the fictional Haditha Massacre.

Let’s not forget the entire Main Stream Media banging the anti-war, anti-Bush drum incessantly either. Somehow Abu Ghraib was Bush’s fault as was Hurricane Katrina and global warming. One has only to go to a 2006 posting on Democratic Underground to see a thread offering new and exciting (to them) insults to be leveled at President Bush and the GOP.

Yet one lousy but brilliant poster of President Obama tricked out as the Joker in Batman with the word “Socialism” underneath and the Left falls apart. Why? Because the dead eyes of Obama correlated perfectly with the anarchy that he is unleashing on America with his Nanny State policies. In other words, it was believable! The Left had already used the same iconography to smear President Bush but it never took because Bush was still perceived as upholding American values.
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Democrats Can Dish It Out But They Can’t Take It”


Illinois GOP Central Committee Meeting Scheduled

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like the Illinois Republican Central Committee Meeting is scheduled for September 19th.

It will beheld at the Double Tree Hotel, 1909 Spring Rd., Oak Brook, IL 60523 and will start at 11AM.

For further info email: info@ilgop.org.
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Illinois GOP Central Committee Meeting Scheduled”


Biggert, Shimkus Endorse State Legislator in Race to Succeed Kirk

-By Warner Todd Huston

RollCall is reporting that there has been some endorsements in the race to replace Mark Kirk in the House…

Illinois GOP Reps. Judy Biggert and John Shimkus announced this week that they are supporting state Rep. Beth Coulson in the competitive GOP primary and race to succeed Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Kirk is vacating his Democratic-leaning suburban Chicago seat to run for Senate in 2010.

Here is the list of those running for Kirk’s Seat:

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Biggert, Shimkus Endorse State Legislator in Race to Succeed Kirk”


Nasty Tennis Player’s ‘Anger’… Just Like Joe Wilson?

-By Warner Todd Huston

It was bound to happen, but it might have been the Orlando Sentinel’s TV reviewer Hal Boedeker that was first out of the gate to compare the obscenity laden tirade disgorged at a tennis match by Serena Williams to the no more than annoyed outburst of “you lied” from Representative Joe Wilson during President Obama’s healthcare speech.

Apparently, according to Sentinel columnist Boedeker, there is no difference to pointing out that a liar is lying, as Wilson did, and losing one’s mind in a petulant, childish explosion of anger, as Williams did. In fact, Boedeker didn’t just compare Wilson to the diva tennis player but he lumped Fox News, Tea Party attendees and Glenn Beck into the mix just for good measure. They are all “angry” according to Boedeker.

After comparing Williams tirade to Rep. Wilson, , Boedeker went on to claim that the “fury” of the Tea Party goers won’t help anything, then he chided Rep. Wilson for raising funds as a result of the incident last Wednesday, hit at Glenn Beck and Fox News, and on and on it went. It was one extended attack on everything conservative.
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Nasty Tennis Player’s ‘Anger’… Just Like Joe Wilson?”


Mark Kirk Aiding Pro-Homosexual Lobby?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Laurie Higgins recently found another disturbing vote cast by Representative and Senate Candidate Mark Kirk (R, IL) revealing again his penchant of voting left of center all too often. This time he’s co-sponsoring a bill that will aid the homosexual lobby gain more influence in our schools.

Higgins reveals that Kirk is looking to vote “yes” on H.R. 2262, The Safe Schools Improvement Act — a so-called anti-bullying act. What could be wrong with being anti-bullying?
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Mark Kirk Aiding Pro-Homosexual Lobby?”


Not The Party of No, GOP’s Offered Many Healthcare Bills

-By Warner Todd Huston

For months the Old Media, President Obama, and the Democrats have been jabbing the GOP for being the “party of no” and for not offering any healthcare ideas of its own. Byron York of the Washington Examiner, however, reveals the facts behind this epithet and finds the attack to be false. The truth is, the GOP has offered all sorts of ideas and bills, not that the Democrats have bothered to entertain any of them.

We learned earlier in the week that Obama hasn’t invited GOP leaders to the White House since April. And there’s been report after report that Democrats either don’t need or don’t want to bother with Republicans during this process. All this despite Obama’s happy-talk of how he wants bi-partisanship.
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Not The Party of No, GOP’s Offered Many Healthcare Bills”


California’s Mass Job Loss… Except in Government

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent report by the Sacramento based California Budget Project shows that two out of five working-age Californians are out of work. The jobless rate has not been this bad since 1977. California’s unemployment rate is one of the worst in the country at 12 percent.

Yet, union membership has grown in California despite the recession. And it’s no wonder when looking at the CBP study. On page three, for instance, we see a notation that reports that unionization in government jobs has grown substantially and is also at a much higher percentage of the total sector workforce in California than it is in the rest of the country.

Unionization rates were consistently higher in the public sector than in the private sector in 2008-2009. As Figure 2 shows, public-sector unionism was especially strong in Los Angeles as well as in California: during 2008-2009, well over half of all workers in the California and Los Angeles public sectors were union members. In the nation as a whole, the unionization rate for public-sector workers was 37.0 percent; much higher than the 7.5 percent rate found in the private sector, but well below the rates for public-sector workers in California (57.4%) or Los Angeles (56%).

So, while regular citizens are losing their jobs by the millions, government workers are in clover, riding the gravy train, on easy street.
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California’s Mass Job Loss… Except in Government”


Rep. Shimkus Walks Out on Obama Healthcare Speech

– By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Representative John Shimkus was “fed up” with the lack of new ideas in President Obama’s healthcare speech Wednesday. So, nearing the end of the speech, he got up and walked out in disgust.

“Congressman Shimkus was frustrated that the president was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining in the speech,” spokesman Steven Tomaszewski said today in response to our question about the late-speech walk-out.

“Regardless of the words the president used, the tone did not bring Republicans on board,” the congressman’s spokesman said. “As George Stephanopoulos said, ‘He was right on the edge of anger,’ and as Rachel Maddow said, ‘I think liberals will be happy.'”

Shimkus is the 19th District Congressman from Madison County (southwest near St. Louis).
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Rep. Shimkus Walks Out on Obama Healthcare Speech”


Maria Rodriguez Announces for 8th District

-By Warner Todd Huston

Second term Long Grove Mayor Maria Rodriguez, 50, has announced her bid for the GOP nomination for the 10th District Congressional seat.

Rodriguez told reporters that Congress was “out of touch” as she launched her bid for Congress at an appearance in front of Abernathy’s Department Store in downtown Mundelein.

Rodriguez’ theme was economic recovery as she attempts to unseat Melissa Bean (D). Rodriguez also plans to participate in an upcoming healthcare townhall meeting in cooperation with Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. and State Sen. Dan Duffy of Lake Barrington at an as yet undetermined location.

“I want to start listening right now,” Rodriguez said.

It isn’t complete yet but here is Maria Rodriguez’ Website.

For a .pdf download of Rodriguez’ palm card flyer Click Here.

The Long Grove Mayor joins two other GOP applicants for the office.

School Board member John Dawson’s campaign website

Greg Jacobs’ FaceBook Page
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Maria Rodriguez Announces for 8th District”


Rep. Wilson Apologizes to The White House

-By Warner Todd Huston

Dang it. Here I thought we had a new hero on the conservative side. Representative Joe Wilson (R- SC) yelled out “you lie” when the president DID lie during his healthcare speech Wednesday night. Now news has it that Wilson has called the White House to apologize.

Just when I thought we had a Republican with a spine, he whimps out on us.

Obama insisted that “his” plan (which is not his plan at all) would not cover illegal aliens with free healthcare coverage. The problem with Obama’s insistence that illegals aren’t covered the truth is they are. Many sources have proven that Obamacare does, indeed, cover illegals.

So, when Obama said it didn’t during his address to the joint session, Wilson passionately called out that Obama was a liar.

Wilson was right. Obama was lying.

Too bad Wilson lost his spine after this initial good showing.
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Rep. Wilson Apologizes to The White House”


Obama’s Newest Healthcare Sales Pitch: Lies and Damned Lies… I Mean HIS!

-By Warner Todd Huston

The snake-oil salesman in chief offered “his” healthcare prescriptions this Wednesday night. What he’s been selling the last 5 months is anyone’s guess, but be that as it may, here are my reactions to tonight’s message written as I listened (a sort of delayed live blog, as it were).

First of all let’s be honest. Anything the President said tonight really isn’t very meaningful. After all, the bills have already been written and are out of committee. No rewrites will be in the offing because of what Obama said tonight. But the fact that he assembled this joint session is evidence that he knows he is in trouble with his healthcare ideas. This was a Hail Mary pass, for sure.

Obama started with his assessment of the economy since when he spoke to Congress last. “A full and vibrant economy is still many months away,” he told us. Naturally he claimed that his “bold and decisive” actions pulled us back from the brink. This is a tad hard to believe as we are still seeing deep job losses.

Obama opened his healthcare discussion by saying he is “determined to be the last” president to discuss healthcare. This is a bit odd since he is proposing that government take over our healthcare system. Realizing that federalizing our healthcare system certainly means that every president from this point forward will have to deal with healthcare. If “his” plan gets through he most assuredly won’t be the “last” president to talk about healthcare. Many, many more presidents will have this mess to deal with.
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Obama’s Newest Healthcare Sales Pitch: Lies and Damned Lies… I Mean HIS!”


Biver Says Hughes Over Kirk for U.S. Senate

-By Warner Todd Huston

John Biver seems to have come out endorsing GOP Senate candidate Patrick Hughes over Mark Kirk today. Biver is the editor of ChampionNews.net, a conservative organization out of Cook County. (Hughes’ campaign website.)

Biver says that Hughes is “the best chance conservatives have in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate,” and that he came away impressed after meeting the candidate in person.

He’s a platform-supporting Republican, and just as important, he gives every indication that he understands what ails the Illinois and Washington, D.C. Republican political system. His chief opponent, Mark Kirk, exemplifies everything that’s wrong with our Party here in Illinois and in our nation’s capital.

Biver warns that as we approach the peak campaigning days, the several candidates had better take some time to assess their chances and decide what is best for the party as opposed to what strokes their egos.
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Biver Says Hughes Over Kirk for U.S. Senate”


Are Voters Fed Up at Last? Ohio Congressman Turner Gets Slammed for Earmarks

-By Warner Todd Huston

Much to his dismay, Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio’s 3rd District has just discovered a new attitude from his voters. Unfortunately, it’s a lesson that congress isn’t likely to learn too quickly. But let’s see if Congressman Turner will.

Until now there has been an averting of the eyes at the overspending of “my” congressman. The individual voters have for decades been willing to excuse their own congressman for bringing home the pork even as they complain at the wild over spending by congress as a whole.

For a very long time the voters have been upset at spending by congress, but they’ve completely ignored the excesses of their own congressman because, after all, his wild spending came home to them. Voters have been willing to overlook their own pork if it’s their pork.

But if a recent tea party rally in Ohio is any indication, this permissive attitude so long exhibited by voters might finally be about to change.
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Are Voters Fed Up at Last? Ohio Congressman Turner Gets Slammed for Earmarks”


SFChron: Palin’s ‘Paranoid Politics’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again the extreme left goes into a conservative-bashing theory without the slightest knowledge of human nature not to mention owning even a tiny bit of introspection. This time it is one Geoffery Dunn of the San Francisco Chronicle who told his readers that Palin exemplifies America’s ages-old “paranoid-style politics.”

The piece is interesting for the fact that it is apparent that as the left-wing Dunn talks about “American paranoid-style politics” he offers examples from only the conservative side of the aisle. Apparently Mr. Dunn imagines “paranoia” only resides on the right in that “American” politics of which he assumes to be an expert.

Dunn amusingly praises the long-ago work of leftist professor Richard Hofstadter, whose fame came from his 1964 book “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Hofstadter was a Marxist in an era when Marxists infested American politics as Russian archives successfully proved years ago. Hofstadter was an avowed communist who associated with the anti-capitalist, anti-American “historian” Charles Beard whose hackneyed work tearing down America’s founders was so well debunked decades ago by Forrest McDonald. But whatever Hofstadter was he wasn’t an unbiased observer of American politics. He wrote from an extreme left-wing point of view and castigated conservative politics from that ideological vantage.
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SFChron: Palin’s ‘Paranoid Politics’”


Responsible Taxation: Jeff Danklefsen Seeks Haster’s Old 14th Dist. Seat

-By Warner Todd Huston

Political newcomer Jeff Danklefsen has announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination for the 14th District Congressional seat, the one once held by Speaker of the House Denny Hastert.

Mr. Danklefsen is a twelve-year resident of Geneva and seems to have been driven to run for Congress by his involvement in the Kane County Tea Party movement. He has no “political resume,” but says he’s ready to lead.

I do not have a political resume, but I understand the challenges families face with increasing tax burdens and the uncertainty of the job market. I am asking for the opportunity to represent the 14th District taxpayers in Washington D.C. I will stand up for responsible taxation, a balanced budget, and job growth.

The central message on Danklefsen’s website is that of the fiscal irresponsibility of Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat comrades including current 14th District Congressman Bill Foster.

Danklefsen joins several other GOP hopefuls seeking the nomination.

  • Ethan Hastert, son of former Speaker Dennis Hastert (FaceBook page)
  • Iraq Reconstruction Worker Mark Vargas of Elgin (FaceBook page)
  • Former Aurora councilman and businessman Bill Cross — not yet announced

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Responsible Taxation: Jeff Danklefsen Seeks Haster’s Old 14th Dist. Seat”


One More For Kirk’s House Seat

-By Warner Todd Huston

Robert Dold (Dold’s campaign website) has announced his entrant into the race for the 10th District House seat that Mark Kirk is abandoning for his run for the U.S. Senate.

Dold told CQPolicts.com that he’s running for Congress because…

“we’re seeing a tremendous amount of spending that I believe is going in the wrong direction. I think that the government is kind of overreaching at this stage of the game.”

“Unless we make some changes in Washington very quickly, we are going to bankrupt future generations,” Dold said. Dold said that Congress should be run more like small businesses, which he said are the nation’s “economic backbone” and create two-thirds of all jobs. He supports a “moratorium or cutting back on the payroll tax” as the “quickest way to infuse dollars into the system.”

Dold calls himself a fiscal conservative but says he’s a social moderate. Looking over his website and other information, it seems that fiscal issues are to be the focal point of his campaign.

Dold joins three others seeking the GOP nomination for Kirk’s old House seat:

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One More For Kirk’s House Seat”


Dem. Adviser Joe Trippi Admits Carter’s a ‘Failed Presidency’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Amusing note of the day: Well known Democratic advisor Joe Trippi called President Jimmy Carter’s a “failed presidency” on CNN yesterday.

Trippi bemoaned what those nasty ol’ Republicans are trying to do to his Obammessiah but admitted that Carter was a failure as president. This is something we have not seen before coming from such a prominent Democrat.

“This administration has the potential to be FDR or Jimmy Carter and I think the Republicans are going to do everything they can to make him Jimmy Carter, to create a failed presidency. That’s, unfortunately, what many of them want.”

You know Democrats are desperate when they finally admit that Carter was an utter, abject failure as president.

It is amusing to me that Trippi has made this admission. After decades of extremist liberals bald-facedly maintaining the lie that Jimmy Carter was a great president, they have now finally come to grips with the truth. Carter, the terrorist supporting, tyrant’s best friend was one of the nation’s worst presidents. But not only is he one of the worst, he was one of our most dangerous ones.

Only one failed president was more dangerous in office than Carter and that was James Buchanan, he who fiddled while the country began to burn in civil war. Carter’s mistakes are not quite as disastrous as Buchanan’s, of course. So, even as a failed president he fails to get the worst slot. He’s even a failure at being the worst.

Still, the fact that Democrats are finally beginning to admit this singular truth is amazing, indeed.

Jimmy Carter, failed president. Even Democrats are finally admitting the truth. It only took twenty-five years.
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Dem. Adviser Joe Trippi Admits Carter’s a ‘Failed Presidency’”


Illinois Conservative Summit Report

-By Warner Todd Huston

I am currently sitting in Carlucci’s Restaurant in Downer’s Grove, Ill. to listen to six Republican candidates for the GOP nomination for Illinois governor.

What we have will be each of the six candidates coming before the host and answering a series of questions about their campaign and what they’ll do for the state if elected.

They will appear in alphabetical order. But, one thing will hamper me a tad. There is a ban on live blogging because the candidates don’t want to have their answers sent out onto the Internet before the net guy goes on for his session.

This is a perfectly logical request. I, for one, don’t want to be responsible for accidentally helping a candidate come off better than he should because I leaked what his opponents had said.

So, I will have a full report when this is done.

The candidates we will hear from are (in order of appearance):

Adam Andrzejewski
Bill Brady
Kirk Dillard
Matt Murphy
Dan Proft
Bob Schillerstrom

As I said, I’ll have a full report later on today.


John McCain in Town to Stump for Kirk — Are We Grateful?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former GOP candidate for president and highest profile Republican Senator, John McCain (R, AZ), appeared in town this weekend to stump for Mark Kirk’s Senatorial campaign.

McCain appeared side-by-side with Representative Kirk in Glenview on Sunday.

Now, I suppose that if you want to make a wild guess, you can feel sanguine that the national party has decided who it is going to endorse in this upcoming GOP primary here in the Land of Lincoln. This, of course, is a boon for Mark Kirk, but not very good for the Illinois GOP that should have been given more space to feel out its own candidates for its own representation in the fight to fill Senator Roland Burris’ ill-gotten seat.

There is a plethora of candidates coming forward to face the Democrats in 2010. Kirk is not the only one. But, if the bigwigs in Washington have their way, it seems that the others aren’t even going to be given a chance to make a dent before the national folks stampede for Kirk.
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John McCain in Town to Stump for Kirk — Are We Grateful?”


NRSC in Colorado: Hey, Let’s Endorse a Tax Raiser!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nationally, Americans are beginning to again trust Republicans over Democrats on taxes and the economy. The overreach in spending and the constant Democratic drum beat of wanting to raise taxes on “the rich” to pay for a massive enlargement — and engorgement, really — of big government has dug into the high approval rates that Democrats had enjoyed for well over a year. So, what does the National Republican Senatorial Committee want to do in Colorado? You guessed it, they want to endorse a tax raising, squishy moderate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate for the 2010 race.

My friend Ben DeGrow of the Mount Virtus blog has discerned the rumblings beginning to come out of the NRSC and it looks like that wayward group is about to land four-square behind former Lt. Governor Jane Norton as the GOP race for the Senate gets rolling in the Centennial State.

So, what is Norton known for? Raising taxes. Great, huh? I’ll let my Colorado friend tells us more:
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NRSC in Colorado: Hey, Let’s Endorse a Tax Raiser!”


Obamacare to Force Restaurants to Post Health Info

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another great piece by CNSNews reveals that Obamacare will force restaurants to post nutrition information on menus throughout the country. This is more of the amazing overreach that Obama is attempting to force upon all Americans as he launches a full assault on the American character in order to push his nanny state ideals.

If Obamacare passes, Congress has taken upon itself the power to force millions of businesses to reprint their menus. Congress expects any restaurant with 20 outlets or more to observe a provision in section 325 of the House healthcare bill that demands nutritional information to be printed on menus.

Section 325 of the bill says the listings must be placed “(i)n a nutrient disclosure statement adjacent to the name of the standard menu item, so as to be clearly associated with the standard menu item, on the menu listing the item for sale, the number of calories contained in the standard menu item, as usually prepared and offered for sale.”

The nanny state strikes again.
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Obamacare to Force Restaurants to Post Health Info”