Wednesday Whata-Post
Just wanted to reserve a few posts for singling out and mocking ... something they richly deserve. Enjoy.
- NRO: "The Era of Big-Government Conservatism Must Come to an End" - Larry Kudlow
Mocking Larry Kudlow is fairly close to shooting fish in a barrel. Not quite Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh territory, but it passes the minimum threshold. This particular report is such an iconic display of everything that is wrong with conservative governance, though. I just marvel at how much he packed into one column. Let's check the talking points ...
The era of big-government conservatism must come to an end. And right now.
I hate to break it to Kudlow, but American voters pretty much saw to this on November 7th. Try to keep up with the times, Larry!
Many Democrats are saying there’s a $350 billion “tax gap� that could be collected from tax deadbeats. But this is a huge reach. Sure, a tax amnesty, such as the one proposed by supply-side economist Arthur Laffer, would bring in good money. But not enough to fund the Democratic spending machine.
Wow, talking point alerts were needed for that one. For starters, Kudlow's a bit too disingenuous in suggesting that Dems believe all $350 billion can be recouped. Harry Reid is on record as suggesting that maybe $200 billion of it is doable, and that may be a slight reach right there. But why give so much as a nod to reality when there's magazine copies to sell?
The GOP must preempt this with a spending-cap approach that will maintain low tax rates and grow the economy. They must show voters that they’re moving back home to small government.
Sorry, Larry. But voters have already shown Republicans that they're moving back home ... period. That's their approach to smaller government: vote out the problem.
And yet, in political terms, many voters are unhappy with debt creation to finance bigger government. On the radio I am constantly hearing callers ask, “How will we ever repay this debt?� It’s a nagging political attitude that Republican strategists have long overlooked.
Check the language here closely. "Debt creation" is an "attitude" to be "overlooked." Simply put, this is the problem with Republican governance ... the refusal to realize that there are actually items to cut if you "say" you're in favor of smaller government. Clearly, the rhetoric of the Republican Party is not suited for governing. That seems to be what Kudlow is overlooking, anyway.
Another tangent from this is to note the lack of responsibility that Republicans like Kudlow see toward government. Better to pass some vague law that forces others to clean up the mess since we obviously screwed it up so badly. In other words, when Republicans screw up, it's because government is bad. "Personal Responsibility" is clearly not among the talking points being peddled by Republicans these days.
The money shot we close this analysis with ...
During the Gingrich congressional years, and particularly during the fight for the balanced-budget amendment of 1997, limited spending coupled with low tax rates was the winning message that gathered both conservatives and Ross Perot independents into the GOP tent. Now is the time to return to these very same principles.
"Principles" it seems are just fine so long as you don't have to worry about running the show and actually have to execute the gameplan. Check Kudlow's use of the words "message" and "principles." Execution and performance are two aspects that Republicans just don't seem to believe in. Maybe that's why they're in the boat they're in.
Furthermore, Kudlow seems to miss the fact that the "big government conservatism" came from costs associated with the war on terror and the DHS buildup (see the third item in this post for more on that!). If Kudlow is so convinced that Republicans "lost their principles," then by all means show me the first expenditure toward either of those categories that Kudlow ever wrote an objection to.
Seeing the problem yet, folks?
- NRO: "TABOR Lost" - Michael New
This is a far weaker article, but there's a few tidbits worth highlighting for particular mockery ...
... instead of talking about the revenue limit, a better strategy for TABOR advocates might be to emphasize TABOR’s voter approval requirement for tax rate increases.
Heh, in case - ya know - you were going to "talk" about this "point," here's what you might want to say. Clearly this sentence is a figment of my own imagination ;-)
Overall, despite the losses, fiscal conservatives would do well to be persistent. In Colorado, Douglas Bruce tried and failed to enact fiscal limits similar to TABOR through the initiative process in both 1988 and 1990. It was not until 1992 that TABOR received majority support. Perhaps an even better example comes from California. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howard Jarvis was able to win some victories for taxpayers in southern California. However, prior to the passage of Proposition 13, most of his statewide efforts were unsuccessful. In 1976, he even failed to collect enough signatures to get a proposal for property tax relief on the California ballot. It was not until he joined forces with Paul Gann of People’s Advocate in 1978 that he received enough signatures to put Proposition 13 on the ballot. The rest of course is history.
This 'graf strikes me as comical due to the fact that Republicans have this habit of perpetuating this "Nobility in Losing" myth. Granted, it's not entirely misplaced, it's not the sole property of the GOP, nor is it intrinsically bad ... it's just that it's overused by a factor of about 10 and most egregiously by Republicans. That it would be used in the guise of discussing TABOR, a proposal in which the primary state of it's enactment, Colorado, saw the enacting Governor tarred and feathered by the very organization that this author writes for is, however, the height of idiocy.
That TABOR proposals are now losing ground in more states (like that liberal bastion of NEBRASKA!) and the big celebratory moment is the "relatively strong" showing in Maine of 46% support ... well, you can just add your own laugh track to the cause with that.
- WaPo: "Report Finds DHS Lax on Contracting Procedures" - Robert O'Harrow Jr. / Scott Higham
Private consultants hired by the Department of Homeland Security have found widespread problems with its contracting operation, including nearly three dozen contract files that could not be located.
Files that could be found often lacked basic documentation required under federal rules, such as evidence that the department negotiated the best prices for taxpayers, according to a copy of the consultants' report obtained by The Washington Post.
"The inability to locate files and inconsistent file organization puts the government at risk in ensuring the contractor is fulfilling its contractual obligations and the government is meeting its contract administration responsibilities," the consultants wrote in their report
Channelling Kudlow, this is clearly a messaging problem on the part of Republicans. If only the House would pass some lame duck legislation forcing Democrats to clean up this mess, that would clearly show that Republicans have returned to their true guiding principles.
UPDATE: One more little ditty that makes me laugh. Does anyone even take the "liberal media" talking points seriously anymore?