Rise of the Center

Santorum Winning the Nomination, then Crashing and Burning, Exactly What the GOP Deserves

Jess Chapman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:04:05 +0000

I had a feeling that the soul of the Republican Party, having come back to life after admitting that its last president was an embarrassment to lesser embarrassments, was en route to flaming death when former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) found himself unable to rise above the mid-single digits in national polling. That was proven beyond reasonable doubt when he dropped out and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) didn’t. If this week’s pollsare to be believed, this is the stage at which someone should be performing an exorcism. Santorum is ahead of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) in the latter’s home state of Michigan, of which his (far superior) father was governor, and has achieved two-thirds favorability more »

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Great News from Gallup Polling: More Businesses Anticipate Hiring, Easier Credit, Capital Spending

Solomon Kleinsmith — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:08:04 +0000

The doomsayers continue to be proven wrong, with economic growth keeping up a steady pace for some time now. It still obviously has a long way to go before we’re seriously cutting into unemployment (real unemployment, not just the official unemployment numbers that don’t include people who have stopped looking for work), but it has been picking up pace. A series of recent polls from Gallup add more fuel to the optimistic fire, with businesses reporting higher overall confidence, that they’re anticipating increased hiring, that they’re finding credit easier to access and that more are looking to put money into capital spending. From Gallup: The increase in U.S. small-business owners’ capital spending expectations is consistent more »

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Should Police be Able to Force Suspects to Decrypt a Computer, or Should They be able To Plead the Fifth?

Solomon Kleinsmith — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:38:25 +0000

Here’s an interesting one for ya… Wired Magazine has a great story in their ‘Threat Level’ blog, that focuses on online privacy and crime issues, about a woman under investigation in Colorado for bank fraud. During the investigation, they took a laptop, but it was encrypted so they haven’t been able to get in to see what is stored. Just a side note for those a bit less tech inclined… unlike in the movies where a computer genius can crack military grade encryption in mere minutes or hours, anyone wanting to hide information from prying eyes can quite easily do so with off the shefl technology you can download from the internet. At a certain more »

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Will the Latest Promises from Obama on Foreclosures be as Empty as Previous Failures?

ProPublica — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:15:57 +0000

by Cora Currier The Obama administration recently unveiled a string of proposals to help struggling homeowners and get the housing market back on its feet — part of the administration’s “We Can’t Wait” election year to-do list. Of course, the White House has made big promises before about helping homeowners, only to see them disappoint time and again. Here are the latest proposals, whether they are anything new and whether they stand a chance of going anywhere. Refinancing President Obama wants to allow homeowners whose mortgages are backed by private-sector companies to refinance at lower rates through the Federal Housing Administration. (The FHA insures many mortgages, and it is not the same as the FHFA, the regulatory agency in charge of more »

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Interesting, Mostly Fairly Moderate, Data Gleaned from Issue Stances of Americans Elect Members

Ken Bingenheimer — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:12:55 +0000

We’re all amply aware of the hard-right political positions, as well as those of the extreme left. But what do the people in the middle believe, the ones who eschew both extremes in favor of solutions to the country’s problems that are practical rather than dogmatic? That question, of course, breaks down into multiple questions for every issue, and answers to many of those questions can be found on the Americans Elect website. Americans Elect, in case you are unfamiliar, is a non-partisan organization seeking to “break the gridlock in Washington, open up the political process and give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012.” The Americans Elect candidates will more »

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Obama’s Budget Proposal Pushes Deficits as Far as the Eye Can See

Jack Lewis — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:59:45 +0000

President Obama released his 2013 budget proposal and to no ones surprise the deficits continue as far as one can see. Although the President does propose some tax increase, these increases are insufficient to offset the continued parade of government expenditures. What we end up with is a $3.8 trillion budget accompanied by a $900 billion deficit. Using Wall Street Journal figures (which were based upon OMB data), we can see on the left side of the following chart government figures and on the right, “what if” figures: This chart says that if we were to set a spending target at 20% of GDP and a tax revenue target of 20%, we could balance the more »

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Is it Right for Obama’s Budget to Give Hundreds of Millions to Egyptian Military Controlled Government as it Continues to Violently Repress it’s People?

Jess Chapman — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:14:28 +0000

If Americans are going to give money to anyone outside their borders (hell, inside their borders), it’s reasonable that they’d want to know that it’s being spent wisely and that they won’t regret not opposing it sooner. At a time of deficits amounting in the trillions, that desire becomes more important than ever. But what happens when you factor in some of the first successful attempts at democratic reform in historically autocratic aid-receiving nations? This. President Obama’s proposed budget contains $800 million in aid to Arab Spring nations, specifically designated for long-term economic and political reform measures. This would only apply to those countries that are in the middle of a transition, including Tunisia, Yemen and even Egypt. more »

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Why Obama Doesn’t Deserve Reelection, and How a Centrist Could Take Away Moderates

Solomon Kleinsmith — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:39:19 +0000

Serves me right… the day I vent my frustrations about what has seemed to me a floundering Americans Elect organization, the very sort of candidacy that could turn things around for Americans Elect is netting some buzz. Thomas Friedman brought up a potential heavy hitter, who’s name popped up in Politico later in the day, with rumors that said candidate very recently got briefed by Americans Elect. In a post about some new buzz around one of my dream candidates (former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker) considering a run with Americans Elect, one of the comments was your standard tripe from a democrat implying that Obama has done a good job. I’ll more »

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Santorum Leading Republican Charge to Narrow Separation of Church and State

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:33:57 +0000

This is a guest post from Carol Benham It must seem almost quaint, now, that 50 years ago, then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, Jr. delivered a major speech seeking to allay voter concerns that his Catholic faith would somehow dictate or influence his actions as President of the United States. Kennedy, who became the nation’s first president of Catholic faith when he was inaugurated in Jan. 1961, addressed a group of Protestant ministers two months before the November election and spoke these words: “So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind more »

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Excellent Video Thoroughly Debunking Arguments in Favor of the Electoral College

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:29:20 +0000

Probably the best summation I’ve seen on this. Pass it on. >> Follow us on Twitter << - >> Follow us on Facebook << Related posts: Growing Support for National Popular Vote – Time to Ditch the Electoral College Quick Look at the Last New Hampshire Debate… Before the Other Last New Hampshire Debate How Santorum Used to Love Romney, and the Tea Party Mayor Who Cried “Queers”

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Tips from the CPAC Conference: How to Win / Buy Friends and Influence People and Politics

ProPublica — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:40:36 +0000

by Kim Barker The big Republican names were all at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., last week: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. The three-day conference, known as CPAC and hosted by the American Conservative Union, drew about 11,000 participants and 1,300 journalists, who crammed into the Marriott’s ballroom for the big speeches. While most attention focused on Republican presidential hopefuls and other party luminaries, we opted to take a spin around panels and events devoted to fundraising. They were a window into how money might be raised this election cycle, through new-fangled super PACs and their even more opaque nonprofit sidekicks, as well as more »

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The Real Story Behind the Bipartisan Opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline Finally Getting Out

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:37:08 +0000

As is oh so typical, the debate that people have heard on the Keystone Pipeline is far from accurate. The way the two major parties are pushing it, and the media has picked up on, it’s jobs vs environmentalists. This is part of the story, but there is a much bigger story that has been ignored. Elements of the Tea Party movement are starting to pick up on this, and I couldn’t be happier. For them, it’s an abuse of eminent domain issue, and they’re teaming up with landowners in the areas that would be near the proposed pipeline, in an effort to fight back against it’s passage from a second front. The landowners are more »

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Did Obama Have a Realistic Alternative to Flip Flopping on Super PACs?

Robert A. Levine — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:42:14 +0000

The Citizen’s United ruling by the Supreme Court two years ago, equating donations of money with free speech, changed the political landscape for campaign fundraising, fostering the emergence of Super PACs as the main conduit for wealthy contributors. President Obama’s recent change of heart regarding the pursuit of funds for Democratic Super PACs to compete with Republican entities has provided another issue that allows him to be skewered by his opponents. The latter, of course, who are collecting sums at a breathtaking pace from their stable of affluent donors, do not acknowledge their hypocrisy in criticizing Obama for doing the very same thing. However, Obama did previously take a strong stand in opposition to the Super more »

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Churches Should Have to Play by the Same Rules as Any Other Employer

Jack Lewis — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:56:57 +0000

The next few days and weeks will tell us how much wisdom the Catholic Conference of Bishops has. Last week they were offered a way out of a shameful moral and ethical dilemma and chose not to take it. The message is loud and clear. A male dominated, man-made rule driven church knows better than 21 first century science and the principle of equal individual rights. Last Friday President Obama announced a “compromise” where organizations (like Universities, Charities, and Hospitals) affiliated with the Catholic Church would not have to directly provide birth control as part of their employee health care plans. The previous requirement for the church to provide such coverage was what the Bishops more »

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Like Them or Not, the Americans Elect Experiment Isn’t Going Well

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:48:09 +0000

In another sign that the great experiment that is Americans Elect may be headed to failure, we still have no candidates that are on track to collect enough votes to even make it onto the ballot of their convention, and the only candidate in the top tier of current vote getters that might actually run (Buddy Roemer) has just been surpassed by a comedian who isn’t running. Libertarian-esque conservative republican Ron Paul is still in the lead, followed by Romney supporter Jon Huntsman, left winger Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama… who I think we can safely say isn’t going to run against himself. Mike Bloomberg comes next, and as much as I’d love to see more »

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LTTE – Two Major Parties Playing “Monkey in the Middle” with American People and Our Country’s Future

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:13:12 +0000

I found another great letter to the editor, this time from The Daily Citizen in Dalton, Georga. The author is the CEO of the local Chamber of Commerce, typically a conservative organization. It’s heartening that someone in that position, in a traditionally conservative organization, would come out and say these things. It does seem like he’s a bit of a right leaner, but shares the disgust that many like him have of how the GOP has gone so far off the deep end. There is a lot to like about the piece, including how the two major parties are growing increasingly disconnected from the American people. I thought this part was particularly good: Those who more »

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What are the Values that You Think Define What the United States of America is About?

Gruntled Center — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:22:38 +0000

This is part 3 of my series on Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960 – 2010. If you would like to read the short version of his argument, see “The New American Divide” in the Wall Street Journal. “If just one American virtue may be said to be defining, _______ is probably it.” How would you fill in that blank? I would have said “liberty” or “the love of liberty.” Charles Murray does not. Instead, he says “industriousness” is the defining American virtue. Murray offers four virtues as foundational for the American project: industriousness, honesty, marriage, and religion. He considers frugality and philanthropy as virtues that eighteenth century Americans might also have argued for. And he allows more »

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Contrary to Outsider Narrative, Santorum Made Millions in Recent Years as Washington “Consultant” (Lobbyist)

Solomon Kleinsmith — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:01:50 +0000

Who could have possibly seen this coming? Everyone of course, but still noteworthy given his campaign narrative trying to make himself out to be a middle class guy who’s an outsider. From the Washington Post: Santorum has sought to play down the money he made as a Washington consultant-for-hire after his time in the Senate, focusing instead on his working-class background and socially conservative beliefs. The strategy helped produce a spate of primary victories and a rapid rise in the polls, leaving him as the main rival to Romney in Michigan and other upcoming contests. But the tax returns released by his campaign could serve to remind voters of his strong ties to Washington, where more »

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“Leaner and Meaner Military” Budget a Lie So Far

Solomon Kleinsmith — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:26:54 +0000

Great post on over at the New America Foundation, looking at whether the talking point that the military is moving towards a “leaner and meaner” force is illustrated in their budget or not. After going through a list of areas where the military budget isn’t proposed to see cuts, or the proposal is fairly insignificant, Fred Kaplan had this to say: By contrast, look at some of the weapons that have actually been used in the conflicts of recent years (and not just in Iraq and Afghanistan). For instance, there’s the Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), aka the GPS-guided “smart bombs” dropped by high-flying planes with pinpoint precision. These things cost almost nothing (in comparison more »

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Fail of the Week: NPR Report on Romneycare Fails to Rise Above Cheerleading

Cranky Critter — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:21:47 +0000

So I surf by NPR. They do such good work sometimes. I see they have a report on how “Romneycare” (the several years old MA healthcare law) has performed. As a MA resident, I know that it has done a very good job of expanding access to healthcare. I also know that at inception, it immediately cost MA taxpayers substantially more than proponents’ forecasts. And since then, it has threatened to be a budgetbuster. So I’m hoping for an update on whether MA can afford this. Last I checked, it wasn’t looking so hot. Health Care In Massachusetts: ‘Abject Failure’ Or Work In Progress? The article spends substantial time with anecdotes recounting the benefits the more »

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