Freedom Line Blog

It looks like retired seniors aren’t the only New York-area residents making an impact in Florida this time of year. After upstate New Yorkers nearly pushed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over the finish line last night, Republican leaders are taking note. One Miami New Times blogger suggests that conservative insurgent Marco Rubio may have a new hurdle to overcome in his quest for establishment credibility and access to GOP moneymen. The argument goes that party big-wigs are likely to be even stingier with their support after watching a red district go blue.

On the other hand, ABC News’ Rick Klein reports that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) will not be giving money to any candidate in an open, contested primary. Sorry, Charlie (Crist)! NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) notes that in the aftermath of NY-23, “[t]here’s no incentive for us to weigh in.”

This is huge. Now there’s every incentive for the conservative grassroots to promote and resource Marco Rubio’s campaign, without the fear of being outspent and undercut by the national party. The big guys are saying ‘may the best man win’ in the Florida GOP primary. Game on!

So one year after Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, where do we stand on his promise to pacify the world after eight years of alleged Bush mismanagement?

Well, North Korea just flipped him the bird, providing one resounding answer to that question.  Yesterday, Pyongyang announced that it has disregarded disarmament promises that it made in 2007 and 2008 by processing enough nuclear fuel to produce additional atomic bombs.  By continuing this “one step forward, two steps back” routine, North Korea appears ready to demand even more concessions and dollars from the Obama Administration.  Apparently, Pyongyang resumed nuclear processing in April of this year, after the United Nations Security Council scolded it for testing new long-range missiles.

So there you have it.  The only thing that Obama has offered in terms of defending America’s security interests was a wagging finger and warnings of “stop, or I’ll issue more warnings.”  Now, even that is apparently unacceptable to Kim Jong Il.  Some “Hope and Change.”

What to do if you’re a California politician holding statewide office, but not enough money or name recognition to make it to the governor’s mansion? Win a Sacramento-area congressional election and head to Washington! With John Garamendi’s win last night in the other congressional special election (CA-10), the soon-to-be former Lieutenant Governor will join former state Attorney General and 1998 Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren (CA-3) in the House of Representatives. Although he never achieved statewide office, perennial Republican candidate Tom McClintock (CA-4) certainly tried. Eventually, McClintock – like Lungren and now Garamendi – discovered that the best way to escape the horns of the dilemma of one who is termed out of office, but can’t open the door to the next, is to pour a lifetime’s worth of money and connections into an entry-level race for federal office.

While it’s good to see that career politicians can find work even in a recession with 10% unemployment, one wonders how many perpetual office seekers pause to consider the example of Rome’s greatest – and perhaps only – citizen-statesman. Though Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus had some aristocratic prejudices (such as opposing equally applicable laws to plebeians and patricians), his chief virtue was that he voluntarily surrendered absolute power as soon as it was feasible; a trait revered and emulated by George Washington.

Perhaps these three Californians serving in the people’s chamber will have a chance to make a lasting contribution to their country, and then quietly go away. Until such a time, there’s still room at the table with the shades of Cincinnatus and Washington.

The Center for Individual Freedom is up on Twitter and Facebook.  We currently have over 750 followers on Twitter and 285 members on our Facebook group.

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Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website.

H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s attempt at a government takeover of health care weighs in at 1,990 pages.  However, there are a few reading guides available to save your eyes, and your sanity.

The House Republican Conference has done the dirty work and compiled a list of all the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs created in the House health care bill.  There are over 111.  Here are a few highlights:

• Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111)

• Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)

• Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)

• “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 321, p. 211)

• Ombudsman for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 321(d), p. 213)

• Demonstration program providing reimbursement for “culturally and linguistically appropriate services” (Section 1222, p. 617)

• Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)

• Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198)

• Healthy Teen Initiative grant program regarding teen pregnancy (Section 2526, p. 1398)

• Program of Indian community education on mental illness (Section 3101, p. 1722)

• Urban youth treatment center demonstration project (Section 3101, p. 1873)

No waffling, we were flat-out wrong about the possibility of Doug Hoffman winning the special congressional election in NY-23.  That rather significant part of the equation was a bridge too far, too fast, and we just got carried away by the effort, by the momentum (which was genuine) and by the weird dynamics of a race that behaved like a game of pinball rather than politics.

In the end, the Wicked Witch of the North, Dede Scozzafava was able to exact revenge by backing Democrat Bill Owens and drawing away enough votes to deny Hoffman the victory.  Regardless, her future is not going to be that of “a great leader,” Bill Owens’ appreciative words from one clueless backbench hack to another.  Owens will get his lapel pin and his year, during which we suspect he won’t become one of Nancy Pelosi’s acolytes.  No one could be that dumb.

For conservatism, however, the victory of shoving a dose of grassroots reality down the throats of Republican Party bosses cannot be underestimated.

As someone once said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  Now, who’s paying attention to the Florida Senate race?

Chris Cillizza – Sorting Through Election Numbers
The Hill – Democrats Feeling Angst Over 2010
Michael Barone – Lessons from the 2009 Election
WSJ Editorial – GOP Gets Some Love
The Economist – Voters Punish Obama and the Democrats

Politico – Democrats, Incumbents Get Wake-Up Call
ABC News – Exit Polls: Voters Approve of Obama, Wary of Economy
San Francisco Chronicle – FCC’s Net Neutrality Proposal is Ambiguous
Investor’s Business Daily – Health Reform Faces Moment of Untruth

Federal Debt: $11.914 trillion

By any measure, tonight is not going to be a good one for Democrats. Republican Bob McDonnell has won a commanding victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race, Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffmann looks well-positioned to win the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, and Republican Chris Christie is at the very least going to keep the New Jersey gubernatorial race much closer than anyone would expect in a deep-blue state.

It’s against this backdrop that HBO is debuting “By the People: the Election of Barack Obama” a behind-the-scenes documentary of the presidential campaign that cruised to victory almost exactly a year ago. This also coincides with the release of “The Audacity to Win”, the insider book by Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe.

By the time tonight is over, the public may understand what some of us have been saying for a year: that the 2008 election was a personality-driven anomaly, not an enduring realignment. Not the best time for the Obama camp to be in the hagiography business.

In an effort to provide one-stop-checking for tonight’s election returns, the following links will take you to the respective state’s official election results website.

New York 23rd Congressional District official website for election returns.  (New York State Board of Elections)

New Jersey Governor official website for election returns.  (New Jersey Department of State – Division of Elections)

Virginia Governor official website for election returns.  (Virginia State Board of Elections)

Additionally, Foxnews.com is keeping track of the governor’s races on its home page.

For those wanting to impress others at your election returns party tonight (and if you’re reading this blog, you’ve at least thought about it), here’s the link to the New York Conservative Party website.

And below is a link to short video description of its history by the incomparable Rick Brookhiser of National Review:

Rick Brookhiser on the New York Conservative Party

Don’t be upstaged by that know-it-all acquaintance who can quote Michael Barone’s “Almanac of American Politics” from memory.  You’ll be able to counter with factoids like this:

The 1994 elections were a breakthrough for the Conservative Party as we provided the margin of victory for Governor George E. Pataki with the 326,605 votes cast on our line.  Attorney General Vacco nosed out radical Karen Burstein by 88,340 votes.  He received 305,961 votes on the Conservative Line.  In 1998, 348,272 votes for Governor George E. Pataki were cast on the Conservative line, almost 20,000 more than in 1994, an anomaly in political history.”

Enjoy!

The Hill, a Washington-area newspaper, has a handy whip count of House members who are undecided on Speaker Pelosi’s attempt to takeover your health care.  All of the members listed are Democrats but if you live in their district, please call 202-224-3121 and tell them to get off the fence and oppose ObamaCare.

If this ultra-liberal attempt at health care “reform” fails in the House, then it’s likely dead for the foreseeable future.  Let’s keep it that way.

Call your representative at 202-224-3131 and tell them to vote “No” on H.R. 3962.

The Associated Press reports:

WASHINGTON – The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan.

While the Congressional Budget Office has put the cost of expanding coverage in the legislation at roughly $1 trillion, Democrats added billions more on higher spending for public health, a reinsurance program to hold down retiree health costs, payments for preventive services and more. …

The officials who provided overall cost estimates did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss them.

Earlier this week, the editorial staff of The Wall Street Journal informed its readers that, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told fellow Democrats that she’s prepared to lose seats in 2010 if that’s what it takes to pass ObamaCare.”

So Pelosi is forcing a vote without any significant debate in the House this week on the nearly 2,000-page bill, which was crafted behind closed doors without any public or bipartisan input and which appears to be expanding by the minute in terms of its price tag and assault on individual freedom.  It certainly would seem as though the Speaker is being true to her word of passage of ObamaCare at any cost, now doesn’t it.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Fun Races for Conservatives
Political Wire – A Deal with Lieberman on Health Care?
WSJ – Obama and ‘Special Interests’
The Hill – Reid Claims Lieberman on Board for Health Care
Politico – Conservatives to Challenge GOP Candidates
RedState – America Unites Against Net Neutrality
National Review Online – Can Voters Save New Jersey?

Federal Debt: $11.908 trillion

Last week, we noted that American consumers rewarded Ford for refraining from bankruptcy and accepting federal bailout dollars by significantly boosting its share of domestic auto sales.

So leave it to unionized workers to react to Ford’s admirable success story in a very different way.  As we noted in our commentary last week, many market observers worried that Ford would face a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis General Motors and Chrysler, which did accept bankruptcy and government largess.  All three Detroit automakers had been on a decades-long course of suicidal labor and business practices, but Ford chose to right its course the old-fashioned way, in contrast to GM and Chrysler.  For this, Ford was rewarded by American car buyers.

But not by union voters, who rejected a contract that would have brought Ford’s unsustainable labor costs in line with those maintained by GM and Chrysler after their bailouts.  As noted by the Associated Press, “workers weren’t convinced they should make more concessions, since Ford avoided bankruptcy and is considered healthier than its rivals.”

So there you have it.  Behave responsibly by reviving your business without taxpayer dollars, and unionized workers will punish you for doing the right thing.  We’ll check back in with these same union voters when they exclaim shock that their jobs disappear overseas or other non-union locales.

When Doug Hoffman wins the special election for NY-23 tomorrow, as he now seems poised to do, much will be written about what that means, and much of that will be meaningless.

What won’t get that much attention is that Hoffman is the candidate of New York’s scrappy Conservative Party, founded in 1962, with the support of William F. Buckley, Jr.  Buckley became the Party’s candidate for New York City mayor in 1965, losing as he knew he would, but with great wit and that wonderful twinkle in his eye.

The Party, with its own ballot line, is a political force, for decades under the savvy, never-blinking, steadfastly conservative leadership of Mike Long.  Hoffman’s win will be a rare, single line victory, but that diminishes not at all the influence New York’s Conservative Party has been able to wield over politics even in New York’s liberal wilderness, now aided mightily by the Tea Party brigades.

Have a party tomorrow night, Mike.  You and a Conservative Party worthy of the name deserve it.

HT: Reason.tv

1. $729.5 billion in new taxes and fees on small businesses and individuals.
2. $1.055 trillion in new federal spending over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
3. 114 million people could lose their current health care coverage, according to the Lewin Group.
4. 43 new entitlement programs that the bill creates, expands or extends.
5. 3,425 uses of the word “shall” in the legislation.

If you haven’t already done so, please call your representative at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote “No” on Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill.  A vote is expected in the House this week.  Learn more about health care here and here.

During his closing argument for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s re-election campaign, President Barack Obama moved back the goalposts on when elected leaders should be held accountable for their actions:

Listening to Jon’s opponent, you’d think New Jersey was the only state going through a tough time right now,” Obama told almost 19,000 gathered inside the Prudential Center in Newark. “I have something to report: We have the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. By the way, that didn’t start under Jon’s watch, that didn’t start under my watch. I wasn’t sworn in yet.”

Obama quipped there was a little revisionist history or selective memory on the part of Republicans and other critics who seek to hold Corzine responsible for New Jersey’s economic woes.

“A little amnesia about how we got into this mess,” Obama explained. “This crisis we are living . . . came about because of the same theories, the same laxed regulation, the same trickle-down economics that the other guy’s party has been peddling for years. And you know, look, we’re not interested in relitigating the past, and I’m more than happy to go and do the work that’s required to get this economy moving again. I think about it every day. Jon Corzine thinks about it every day.”

One problem with Obama’s remarks; Corzine was sworn in before the economic recession hit – by two years. And it’s not like Corzine can say he’s just a community organizer with scant business experience. As head of Goldman Sachs during part of its “master of universe” phase, Corzine – along with former colleague and successor, Hank Paulson – knows how to make money under a lax regulatory system.

In fact, Corzine apparently knows how to “spread the money around” to take care of his former corporation while serving in government.

As for the president, apparently he thinks a re-election campaign is not the right forum to “re-litigate” the past four years of the current administration. Good to know. I guess that means a politician can only be criticized when he’s termed out of office. Thank goodness for Jon Corzine!

For those worrying about the lack of legislative action in our nation’s capitol, Jonathan Weisman at the Wall Street Journal writes a nice summary of the “other” legislation racing through Congress and landing on President Obama’s desk.

Last week, Mr. Obama signed defense-policy legislation that included an unrelated measure widening federal hate-crimes laws to cover sexual orientation and gender identification — 12 years after it was first introduced. The same legislation also tightened the rules of admissible evidence for military commissions, an issue that consumed Congress in debate in 2007 but received almost no attention this go-round.

Other new measures signed into law since the administration took office, all of which kicked up controversy in past congresses, make it easier for women to sue for equal pay, set aside land in the West from development, give the government the power to regulate tobacco and raise tobacco taxes to expand health insurance for children. Congress and the White House, in the new defense-policy bill, also killed weapons programs that have survived earlier attempts at termination, among them, the F-22 fighter jet, the VH-71 presidential helicopter and the Army’s Future Combat System.

Rob Nabors, the White House’s deputy budget director, called the series of new laws “a very, very quiet but important victory.”

But it’s not like the Republican opposition is asleep at the wheel. According to Rep. Tom Price (R. Ga.), “The administration is pushing so many things so rapidly it’s difficult to concentrate on all of them.” Hopefully, the bills they are concentrating on – health care, energy, education – can be stopped or modified before they too become unqualified Democratic victories.