This is a step in the right direction at curbing spending. You have to start somewhere and pork-barrel spending is a good place to start. While the numbers involved aren’t huge, in relation to total spending, at the very least it means that the GOP is listening and starting to take heed. Usually, one isn’t apt to take a lone stance against accepting earmarks, because the self-serving rationale often used is that if everyone else is still doing it, your constituents are paying for the pork of others and getting nothing in return. Sure, they’ll sometimes talk about it, but usually won’t actually turn any earmarks down. It’s also why pork-barrel spending lends itself very easily to corruption, which is the larger issue.

At least, that’s what the status quo has been. Until now:

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No, really. Not only are members of the media trying to irresponsibly and erroneously tie J. Patrick Bedell, a registered Democrat, a Troofer and a total loon, to the “right-wing” in general, but they are now upping the defamation by attempting to libelously imply that the words of Jim DeMint “fed the rage.” Jim. DeMint. Full disclosure; I love DeMint. I was thrilled when moving from New Jersey to South Carolina because it meant I’d be trading Senator Frank Lautenberg for Senator Jim DeMint. Score!

However, even if I didn’t think so highly of DeMint, I’d obviously feel the same way about the following vile statements by the Associated Press:

In an Internet posting, Bedell had suggested an act like the 2001 terrorist attacks could have been the work of a criminal organization controlling the U.S. government, accepting a “sacrifice of thousands of its citizens … as a small cost in order to perpetuate its barbaric control.”

His poisonous view of the government appears well out on the extreme—until you see what some people close to the center of power are saying these days.

“America is teetering towards tyranny,” Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina told the Conservative Political Action Conference last month. He accused the governing Democrats of peddling socialist policies “that have been the enemy of freedom for centuries all over the world.”

Republicans have been branding Democratic policies as some form of socialism for generations, par for the course.

But tyranny? America has real issues with that—it violently overthrew that enemy at the start.

Wow. Firstly, DeMint’s statement isn’t “inflammatory”; it’s accurate. Secondly, while the media still insists upon claiming some sort of delusional moral authority, with aggrandized claims of journalistic integrity, it should now be quite clear to everyone that they truly have given up on any attempt - at all - at objectivity. They are no longer journalists; they are propagandists. The media is no longer merely biased, but they are now outright lying and propagandizing purely for the purpose of driving a false narrative.

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http://senateconservatives.com/petition/makeitmichael#x

Sign the petition and tell KBH to keep her promise to resign and when she does, tell Rick Perry to appoint Michael Williams to the seat.

How do you like your Demon Sheep cooked? Or maybe you prefer him squished, mocked, or just plain sheared? Whatever your preference, today’s the day to Finish Him! with a hop on over to Chuck DeVore’s new Demon Sheep extermination website.

The California Senate primary has heated up in recent weeks. After Tom Campbell tucked tail from the Governor’s race, he immediately drew fire from the previous frontrunner, Carly Fiorina. And while her ad drew… attention, it is true that Tom Campbell is not the libertarian Republican he appears to be. Many support him because they believe he is a compromise: strong on fiscal issues, and “moderate” on social issues. The sad part is though: he’s neither.

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You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you’re confusing courage with wisdom.

–The Wizard to the Cowardly Lion

There are different types of wisdom. One of them, conventional wisdom, can sometimes be neither wise nor conventional. I am not saying that the four-term Senator from Arizona is a wizard or that the one term senator from South Carolina is a cowardly lion. I guess I just used the quote because the wizard of Oz used “my friend”, an annoying phrase used often by John McCain.

The reason for writing this diary about these two Senators running for re-election in 2010 has nothing to do with the horse-race aspect of the election. As much as I detest McCain and admire DeMint both of them are going to be re-elected. My reason for writing this diary is to focus on the money that these two men have raised for other people in 2010. Winning support for a position of leadership has a lot to do with how much campaign support you have provided to your colleagues. John McCain has a PAC, Country First, that has contributed to four candidates for the US Senate. Jim DeMint has two PACS, MINT and Senate Conservatives Fund. The tables below indicate the names of the recipients, and the amount of dollars they received. The Florida US contest is extremely important for determining if Sen. DeMint is rising in the US Senate and Sen. McCain is dropping in the leadership department.

The real comparison between these two men is a choice between having leadership that is authoritarian and progressive (McCain) or libertarian and conservative (DeMint). I am personally rooting for the latter.

The early 20th century progressives were authoritarian in prohibiting booze, and the early 21st century progressives are authoritarian in prohibiting lobbiests campaigning, and consumers buying incandescent light bulbs. As a progressive they know they are smarter and must decide for all of the rest of us what is in our best interest. They lost the argument with the passage of the 21st amendment then, and they are losing the argument incrementally with Supreme Court decisions now. We always need to remain vigilant against these authoritarians. They may go off and hide for a while, but they will be back when they think they see an opening.

I recently watched the movie, Fountainhead. I recommend this movie especially two main characters, Ellsworth Toohey and Howard Roark, for showing the authoritarian progressive vs the conservative libertarian. a Cliff-Notes excerpt:

Toohey knows that a Fascist or Communist state requires a citizenry willing to obey. He can establish a dictatorship only if the majority of individuals are willing to give up personal autonomy - to surrender their minds to a leader. This is the two-pronged goal that he attempts to reach: destroy the independent thinkers like Roark, and, by convincing individuals to surrender their judgment and values, turn them into followers like Keating. A dictator requires a flock of sheep; he cannot hold power over a citizenry of independent men.

Toohey has a clear vision of his role in the collectivist state. He himself is not the brute of physical force who gains dominance by unleashing a reign of terror. His role, rather, is to be the intellectual advisor behind the throne. The brute will hold physical power over the masses, and Toohey will hold spiritual power over the brute. Toohey is a behind-the-scenes puppet master, who surreptitiously wields the real power - and this will be his place in the totalitarian state he seeks.

source

Country First PAC John McCain

Cross-posted at The Minority Report

Lest you think the Republican Party really has gotten on the Marco Rubio bandwagon, this morning’s Politico can disabuse you of that notion.

It’s like one of the scenes from your standard horror movie. As the monster is swept into the water/lava/mud/chasm/other plot device, it tries to drag the protagonist with it to its death. Think of the Balrog grabbing Gandalf on its way down.

In any event, check out this quote about Marco Rubio going to South Carolina to do a joint fundraiser with Jim DeMint:

“Anything such as this which lends appearance that Marco is already looking past not only the August primary, but the November election, is not a good place for him to be politically,” a Republican strategist told Morning Score. “Oftentimes some forget that while Jim DeMint may have a small universe of followers who read RedState, the reality is that the vast majority of Americans, including in Florida, don’t have the slightest idea who Jim DeMint is.”

Never you mind that Charlie Crist routinely leaves Florida to fundraise. In the next couple of weeks, in fact, Crist will be in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. trying to raise money.

By the way, “Republican Strategist” is media code for “unemployed Republican”, though blaming the NRSC is always a safe bet. I’m pretty sure I know which unemployed Republican strategist it was.

Many, many reporters have asked me who the leader of the conservative movement is right now or who the leader of the tea party movement is.

They rarely report the answer, though they should be paying attention to it. In the CPAC straw poll, one name dominated the pack. With the highest favorable ratings (73%) and lowest unfavorable ratings (8%), Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina led the field — scoring higher popularity than Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Mike Pence, John Beohner, Mitch McConnell, or Michael Steel.

It’d be easy to dismiss the polling except that, unlike the Ron Paul vote for winner, DeMint’s popular scores across the field from young to old, conservative to libertarian oriented.

Why is that?

Largely, I think it is because Jim DeMint is actually doing what other Republicans talk about — staying true to conservative values and recruiting conservatives. From Chuck DeVore to Michael Williams to Pat Toomey to Marco Rubio, Jim DeMint is picking, funding, and supporting conservatives across the nation in stark contrast to other Republican leaders.

DeMint is not afraid to involve himself in a primary. And in Congress he is not afraid to pick tough fights and challenge his own party to do what is right. DeMint does not just talk the talk, but he unapologetically walks the walk.

Few people leave Washington having really changed America. Jim DeMint will one day be able to proudly say he did not just change his party, but his country too.

The RedState contingent is alive and well at CPAC 2010, camping out in the (Redstate-sponsored) Blogger Lounge.  There are at least seven of us here so far, and more will float in and out during the day.

Note Moe Lane’s fingers on the keyboard in the foreground.

Estimates are at about 10K attendees for this year’s event.  So far we’ve had Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint addressing the crowd.  Both were fantastic, as expected, and got the audience fired up.  Rubio detailed several key ideas he has for how to turn the country back from the Obamination that we find ourselves experiencing today:

• Reform the tax code, reduce tax rates across the board
• Eliminate double taxation – abolish capital gains, dividends, interest, death taxes
• Lower the corporate tax rate so it is competitive with the rest of the world
• Stop big govt energy madates such as Cap & Trade
• Put the consumer in charge of healthcare spending in America
• Pass lawsuit abuse reform
• Undertake serious measures to get control of national debt
• Terrorists attack to impose their view of the world on as many as they can; America is standing in the way
  • We will do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to defeat radical Islamic terrorism
  • We will stand with our allies like Israel
  • We will capture them (terrorists_, get useful info from them, bring them to justice in front of military tribunal at Gitmo, not a civilian courtroom in Manhattan (BIG APPLAUSE)

The agenda here is rich, and there will be more where that came from.  Watch the action on Twitter via hashtag #cpac10.  And watch the front page throughout the conference…we’re all working to bring the conference to you live!

If you are reading this on February 10, 2010, TODAY IS THE DAY.

Tomorrow, February 10, 2010, Senator Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund is launching a money bomb for Marco Rubio.

You need to understand specifically why it is important that this be a success.

DeMint is under massive and sustained attacks from establishment Republicans for daring to challenge the hand picked candidates of the Washington GOP crowd. These people think you and DeMint are a joke. These people think that you cannot beat them at what they view as their game.

They blame Jim DeMint for pushing Arlen Specter to the Democrats. Even the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal attacked Jim DeMint for endorsing Pat Toomey. But now Toomey is beating both Specter and Sestak in the polling.

Then there is Marco Rubio, the target of the present money bomb. The Republican leadership in Washington flocked to Charlie Crist. They launched “on background” attacks against Jim DeMint in Roll Call for daring to step out of line and back Rubio.

And all the while they said DeMint could not win. He could not raise the money. You would not give the money. And the conservative effort would fail.

That is why it is important to support this money bomb. That is why it is important to give what you can. Show Washington that Jim DeMint and conservatives across America will take back the Republican Party from the leaders who support compromising with Obama on national health care, who support bailing out automakers, and who support plans like TARP.

If Jim DeMint fails, it will be seen as our failure.

Go here, read the note from Senator DeMint, then give what you can. And if you can give a little extra to help the Senate Conservatives Fund, so much the better.

I’m in for $100.00. Who is with me?

Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC] is one of the 31 co-sponsors of Bernie Sanders’ [I, VT] popular “Audit the Fed” bill (S. 604), which mirrors the Ron Paul bill in the House. But he has also introduced his own version of the bill that would maintain the Fed’s current level of secrecy under the guise of the “audit the Fed” ethos (S. 2939).

The two bills look outwardly similar. Both would amend Title 31 of U.S. Code so as to require the Comptroller General to conduct an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks within the year and submitted their finding to Congress within 90 days of the audit’s completion.

But the bills have one small but crucial difference.

Under current law (31 USCA §714), the Comptroller General/Government Accountability Office is specifically restricted from auditing the Fed in four important areas:

(1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or non-private international financing organization;

(2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;

(3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or

(4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)-(3) of this subsection.

Sanders’ bill includes language that would strike these special audit protections for the Fed from the law. DeMint’s bill contains no such language and would keep the restrictions in place.

The Fed is already routinely audited at the same level that DeMint’s bill would allow. According to this PublicEye report, they have been audited over 100 times at this level in the past 30 years. You can find the audit reports on the Government Accountability Office’s website — here’s a recent GAO Fed audit report from May 2009 (.pdf) that found room for improvement in areas of information security. As far as I can tell, DeMint’s bill would literally maintain the status quo.

So, someone please tell me, what’s the point of DeMint introducing this completely toothless bill? Or am I missing something here…

(Cross-posted from OpenCongress)