A quick LinkSwarm for a Friday night:
LinkSwarm for 12/14/12
December 14th, 2012Rice Withdraws Secretary of State Nomination
December 13th, 2012Susan Rice decides that she would rather not be Secretary of State than answer questions about Benghazi at a confirmation hearing.
Maybe now Obama could chose someone, you know, competent to head the State Department. But I rather doubt it. We’ll probably get another Obama crony or Democratic retread as the nominee. And probably someone far away from the Benghazi scandal.
Texas vs. California: 12/12/12 Edition
December 13th, 2012This was supposed to go up last night, but there was a glitch. Ten hours late sounds about right for California…
Right-to-Work Signed Into Law in Michigan
December 11th, 2012Despite union threats to throw twice as big a hissy fit as Wisconsin liberals, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed right-to-work legislation today, breaking the union stranglehold on jobs in the state. As in Wisconsin, expect union members to start keeping their own money in droves rather than give it to union bosses and the Democratic party.
In related news, peaceful union protestors stood aghast as aggressive Steve Crowder repeatedly drove his menacing face into an innocent Michigan union member’s Fist of Happiness:
Bryan Hughes Drops Out of Texas Speaker’s Race and Endorses David Simpson
December 10th, 2012This is big news. Rep. Bryan Hughes has dropped his bid to be Speaker of the Texas house of Representatives and has endorsed Rep. David Simpson in his run against incumbent speaker Joe Straus.
While conservatives wanted to see Straus replaced, they was worry that Hughes’ background as a trial lawyer could work against him, and there was also worry that Simpson would split the anti-Straus vote. With Hughes out and endorsing Simpson, conservatives now have their best chance ever to oust Straus.
Expect to hear more about the Speaker’s race in the near future.
LinkSwarm for December 7, 2012
December 7th, 2012Enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:
DeMint Leaves Senate to Head Heritage Foundation
December 6th, 2012Sen. Jim DeMint has announced that he’s stepping down from the Senate to head the Heritage Foundation. DeMint’s official statement is here.
It’s big news when a Senator steps down to head a think tank, especially the granddaddy of all conservative think tanks, where founder Ed Feulner is stepping down at age 71.
It will be tough to lose DeMint from the Senate, where he’s done so much to further the cause of limited government and recruited stalwart conservatives like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to join him. But hopefully he can awaken a sleeping giant at Heritage, an enormously important institution before and during the Reagan Revolution, but almost invisible in the Internet era.
Erick Erickson likes the move. “Jim DeMint’s power in the conservative movement just grew exponentially. A man who was going to retire in four years anyway, will now be leading the conservative movement from its base of operations for years to come.”
Edited to Add: Ted Cruz joins the chorus of congratulations.
A Good List of Conservative Texas Blogs
December 4th, 2012This list of conservative blogs in Texas is well worth taking a look at. For starters, I’m in there, which means it passes the first-cut test.
I hope to take a good look at all of these when I have some time with an eye toward updating the blogroll.
Paul Burka Discusses Ted Cruz, and Proves (Yet Again) He Doesn’t Understand Conservatives
December 3rd, 2012So Paul Burka noticed that Senator-elect Ted Cruz picked conservative Chip Roy as his Chief of Staff.
Sayeth Burka:
What I find revealing about the choice of Roy is that Cruz–who has been making noise as a potential contender for the White House in 2016–appears to be putting his chips on the tea party as the future of the Republican party. In doing so, he is aligning himself with insurgents like Rand Paul and, of course, the chief insurgent, Jim DeMint, who helped fund Cruz’s Senate race.
Is this a good bet? I’m dubious. The tea party has a lot in common with the old Ross Perot “United We Stand” bunch. These groups seldom have staying power. Granted, the Kochs’ involvement makes the tea party’s survival more likely, at least in the short run, but in the establishment almost always prevails. It may prove to be the case, though, that Cruz is so appealing that he can transcend the factionalism in the Republican party. The strength of the Republican field in 2016 is that it is filled with big names: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee. Only Rubio and Cruz qualify as fresh faces, though, and that might be where the rank-and-file look first.
Wait, let me get this straight: A conservative Republican Senator-elect, who worked at a conservative think tank, ran as a conservative, courted conservatives, and beat the overwhelming favorite establishment candidate while pledging to govern as a conservative, has now chosen…a conservative chief of staff?
Sadly, Burka misunderstanding conservatives is nothing new. The idea that conservatives truly believe in low taxes, balanced budgets, and limited government seems entirely alien to Burka. When it comes to describing inter-Republican-Party dynamics, he’s like a color-blind man trying to describe The Wizard of Oz.
And so instead of reaching the obvious conclusion, that Ted Cruz chose a conservative chief of staff because he’s a conservative, Burka prefers to envision imaginary 2016 horse-race jockeying.
I could try to explain to Burka exactly why the Tea Party exists and what it wants, but I fear it would be like trying to teach the fundamentals of optics to a dog.
Pat Condell on “Islamophobia”
December 3rd, 2012Just as he did a few months ago, British atheist Pat Condell takes aim on another mockable aspect of modern radical Islam and their politically correct enablers: “Islamophobia”.
(Hat tip: Urban Grounds.)