Cleaning House

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Posted at 9:52am on May 15, 2008 Tom Davis: Bush Too Conservative On Spending. Yeah, That's The Problem.

Why Congressional Republicans May Soon Be Added To The Endangered Species List

By Dan McLaughlin

With the latest setback in a House special election, Virginia's Tom Davis - who formerly headed the NRCC - has the long knives out for current head Tom Cole. But his diagnosis of the problem seems more a symptom than a cure:

Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment.

"This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor."

Inside the meeting, Davis had just presented his colleagues with what he said was a 20-page memo outlining his prescription for a way out of this mess. He did not offer details to the press, yet did not spare the party and the president scathing criticism in his public comments.

"The president swallows the microphone every time he opens his mouth," Davis said.

He believes Bush's staunch opposition to the Democratic housing bill and the SCHIP bill, for example, is hurting rank and file. Look at yesterday's vote on [stopping the purchase of oil for] the SPRO [the federal oil reserve], where Republicans defied the president in droves. Lo and behold, the White House says today that it will not veto the bill.

Today is also the day when the House takes up the farm bill, which the president has promised to veto. It's expected that this will become the second veto of Bush's administration to be overridden -- though the farm bill has more of a parochial dynamic than the national political one.

H/T.

Now, as it turns out, when you go to Davis' actual memo, a copy of which is available through the Weekly Standard, he has a mixed bag of suggestions, some good and some not so good. But the long-time moderate Davis will have a hard time selling skeptical conservatives on his suggestions if the first thing out of his mouth is that the GOP shouldn't be fighting the few battles where it has truly stuck its neck out for fiscal responsibility.

Read On...

Posted in Cleaning House | Republicans | tom davis — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:53am on Mar. 17, 2008 RedState Endorses Sean Parnell (R-AK)

By The Directors

Don Young (R- Don Youngland) is embittered, corrupt, out of touch, and part of the problem in Washington. His fifteen minutes are up and the time has come to send him back to Alaska, though we know he'll be heading to K Street instead.

In the past few years, Don Young voted to force workers into an open, public ballot on the issue of unionization, he voted against reauthorization of the Patriot Act, he voted to expand government funded stem cell research, and he railed against conservatives who wanted to cut earmarks by calling the taxpayer dollars his money. Don Young is also under FBI investigation for taking bribes, illegal gratuities and other unreported gifts from an Alaskan corporation, and he has dubiously forced on the people of Florida a road they don't want all because one of his donors wanted the road.

We fully support and encourage you to support Alaska's Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his bid to unseat Don Young in the Republican Primary.

We commend Governor Sarah Palin for supporting her Lieutenant Governor and recognizing that the Republican Party must clean up its own house. Putting Don Young on the trash heap of history is a perfect place to start.

Posted in Alaska | Cleaning House | Don Young | Endorsements | Sarah Palin — Comments (89)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:04pm on Nov. 12, 2007 John Doolittle gets desperate

Vote for the "weasel." It's important.

By Neil Stevens

The Sacramento Bee writes about a recent meeting of Republicans at the State Convention that was headlined by speeches by Rep. John Doolittle and two challengers, including Red State-supported Eric Egland. I'm thinking that our having helped Egland out-raise Doolittle has scared the guy, because he's now referring to Egland and fellow challenger Ted Gaines as "weasels."