“I noticed that you are supporting Newt Gingrich,” a longtime reader emailed me this week, “but your position puzzles me.” Others have expressed similar comments, especially those who know I am much more in line philosophically with Ron Paul. So I’ll explain. (Disclosure: I’m presently a paid adviser to Winning Our Future PAC)
Although I was involved in local GOP politics superficially in 1993, Gingrich’s efforts and stunning victory in 1994 inspired me to get much more involved. So lacking the good sense God gave me, I ran for chairman of the Clark County Republican Party in 1995. And lacking the good sense God gave the members of the party at that time, they elected me.
Frankly, they shouldn’t have. I had no idea what I was doing. But Gingrich, and his team who were running GOPAC at the time, produced a wealth of training material that helped teach me a ton of things I otherwise wouldn’t have known. And that inspired me to attend the Campaign Management College in Washington, DC that Gingrich and his top strategist, Joe Gaylord, were running in March 1996.
Which ultimately inspired me to return to Nevada and do two things. Continue reading »
Let’s say you have a really bad headache. And then along comes somebody who says what you really need is a bonk on the head with a hammer. That would be absurd, right?
OK, consider Nevada’s current economy and unemployment problem. Now consider that there are at least five active efforts to increase taxes on Nevada businesses percolating. Absurd, right? Right. But that ain’t stoppin’ ‘em.
Legislative Democrats last year wanted to take the 2009 “temporary” tax hikes – currently valued at $620 million – and make them permanent. These tax hikes include an increase in the payroll tax for some larger businesses and a doubling of the penalty/fee every business must pay for the “privilege” of operating in Nevada.
Enough GOP opposition forced the Democrats to accept “only” a two-year extension of those “temporary” taxes; however, plots and schemes to come back in 2013 and make those tax hikes permanent are well underway.
Yep, that’ll sure spark job creation and economic recovery, right? Continue reading »
Up until Monday’s NBC debate in Tampa, I’ve generally regarded Mitt Romney with a healthy dose of indifference, slathered with a decided lack of enthusiasm. But his Pelosi-like attack last night on Newt Gingrich as a “failed leader” and a “disgrace” really fried my Fritos.
“Speaker Gingrich…was a leader for four years as speaker of the House,” Romney told moderator Brian Williams. “And at the end of four years, it was proven that he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace.”
In the immortal words of Col. Sherman T. Potter: Horse-hockey!
That’s like saying that despite his four years leading Americans to victory in the Pacific in World War II, Gen. Douglas McArthur was a “failed leader” and a “disgrace” because in the end he was fired by President Truman.
Now, like Mitt Romney, I’m no historian – though in the interest of disclosure, I am a paid adviser to Winning Our Future PAC – but let’s take a look at the historical record. Continue reading »
I’ve never been able to get past the fact that Rick Santorum, as a U.S. senator, not only endorsed liberal Republican Sen. Snarlin’ Arlen Specter over conservative Rep. Pat Toomey in that 2004 U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, but actively and enthusiastically campaigned for him. And yet Santorum has the cheek to now claim he’s the only principled conservative in this presidential race?
Puh-lease.
His entire campaign has consisted of incessantly ankle-biting each and every one of his fellow GOP opponents while delusionally suggesting he’s the most electable despite the fact that when he last ran for re-election in 2006, he lost by a whopping 17 points.
And then there was Thursday night’s debate in which Santorum tried to explain his vote against a national right-to-work law that would have freed millions of American workers from the clutches of anti-Republican/anti-conservative union bosses in states currently suffering under forced unionism.
Santorum says he simply voted the way the people of his state wanted him to vote – but if elected president…well, now he’d support such a law. So he was against right-to-work before he was for it? So much for principled conservatism. Continue reading »
Assembly Republicans (thankfully!) elected a new leader this week: Reno Assemblyman Pat Hickey.
Hickey – whose autobiography “Tahoe Boy” is extremely interesting and still available on Amazon – replaces Minority Leader Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea, who was a disaster of a leader in the 2011 legislative session for conservatives.
Now here’s the thing: Hickey’s voting record in the 2011 session was pretty moderate. Which led liberal “journalist” Jon Ralston to write: “It must really infuriate the folks upset about last year’s extension of tax sunsets that Hickey, who voted for it, was elected. Expecting news releases seething with outrage any moment from Americans For Prosperity and Citizen Outreach.”
Which once again shows just how little Ralston knows about conservatives and how ignorant he is of the conservative movement here in Nevada. Continue reading »
Word on the street is that Assembly Assistant Minority Leader Lynn “Bug Man” Stewart (R-Las Vegas) is planning to NOT run for re-election this year – which would be GREAT news for conservatives since Stewart has the worst, most-liberal voting record of any Republican in the state Assembly despite falsely running as a conservative year after year.
However… Continue reading »
Last night’s debate. Game-changer? Maybe. Still too early to tell.
But I think last night’s performance by Newt Gingrich – especially in responding to John King’s opening question about his ex-wife’s accusations – is going to take a lot of undecided Republicans and soft Romney supporters and move them from “It’d be great if Gingrich could actually give Mitt a run for his money, but it ain’t gonna happen” to “You know what, the son-of-a-gun might actually be able to pull it off!”
And don’t think Romney’s peeps aren’t sayin’ the same thing this morning. The smell of fear is in the air.
With that said,
Continue reading »
The purpose of National School Choice Week, January 22-28, is to “to shine a spotlight on the need for effective education options for all children.” And nowhere is such exposure needed more than right here in Nevada.
Let’s first consider the latest failed experiment our government has performed on our nation’s children in its ongoing efforts to “fix” education – joining other failed fads such as new math, whole language, multiculturalism, block scheduling, cooperative learning and…I absolutely love this one…“brain-based teaching” (duh).
“For decades, the prevailing wisdom in education was that high self-esteem would lead to high achievement,” reported the Washington Post on January 15. “The theory led to an avalanche of daily affirmations, awards ceremonies and attendance certificates – but few, if any, academic gains. Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise.”
Alas, not everyone got the memo. Continue reading »
Citizen Outreach is joining activist/lawyer Kermitt Waters in a lawsuit against Secretary of State Ross Miller challenging his AB81 election reform bill from the last legislative session (as well as SB 224 from 2005) for “violation of the single subject restriction of Article 4, section 17” of the Nevada Constitution.
Here’s the wording of Article 4, section 17:
“Each law enacted by the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, and matter, properly connected therewith, which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title…”
AB81 “is 55 pages in length and…is composed of 69 sections and amends, adds or deletes more than 50 separate freestanding NRS Statutes,” reads the complaint. “Even though the Nevada Constitution prohibits legislation that exceeds a single subject, this Bill addresses more than 30 different subjects and amends more than 50 separate statutes.”
AB81, by the way, includes the NRS language change Miller proposed to redefine the meaning of the term “express advocacy” which, of course, is what Miller is using to sue Citizen Outreach for mailers that were mailed out a year before Miller’s unconstitutional law even took effect.
All of which is the latest example of how Ross Miller – the boy who would be governor – is perhaps the worst Secretary of State in Nevada history.
Very interesting, classy and magnanimous tweet from former University Chancellor Jim Rogers today about a Republican elected official…
“In the year I have written 260 twitters, I have tried to be accurate. I have reread each and every one of these twitters and find I would change only one of them. In my analysis of the 13 members of the Board of Regents, I graded each of them. I stand by those grades except for Kevin Page who I gave a C-. I was wrong.
“I should have given him an ‘A’ because I failed to fully understand all of the hard, productive, thoughtful work, total passion and sound thinking of this very smart public servant. (The pay is less than fifty cents an hour.) In the last several months, I have seen him assume a real leadership role in the Higher Education System. He has learned the intricacies of how the eight institution system works and, with very limited financial support, how the system makes a valiant effort to improve the lives of all Nevadans.
“Regent is a part-time job that requires full time effort, perseverance, dedication, thoughtful consideration, along with the ability and character to stand up for what is good for Nevada’s education. Kevin has all of these attributes. I apologize to Kevin for misjudging him.”
I guess what Mr. Rogers wrote about me being born with “somewhat less than half a brain” still stands. Oh, well.
