Courage of Conviction

I saw Smart Talk on PBS this evening.  The issue was clean air quality right here in Carlisle.  It was a pretty good show.  I don’t remember the name of the gentleman from the Clean Air Board, but he presented himself well.  Also, Doug Wendt from Cumberland County Economic Development office was there.  Doug did a great job too.  It really wasn’t the typical Smart Talk I have seen before.  Both were pretty agreeable that we need to do something to clean the air - I liked the ideas  presented too - a focus on private-public partnerships. 

I think Doug Wendt has a lot of great ideas and has done a great job at Econ Development for the county.  I hope he decides to run for public office someday - I’ll be the first to support him. 

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different result.

I think it is now safe to medically diagnose the PA House of Representatives and all of it’s existing members as insane.  I’ll give the new members a pass on this one - they were probably lucky to just get around the capitol, let alone figure out who to vote for leadership.

The existing Republican members ought to be ashamed of themselves in re-electing the same “leadership” team that caused them to lose seats.  When will the members get a backbone and give Perzel and his arrogant cronies the finger and get rid of them????  When, oh when, will the Republicans in the House of Representatives take a stand for the taxpayers of this state?  When, oh when, will elected Republicans get the message that the grassroots has had enough arrogance? 

The reform movement still has a great deal of work to do.  The people of Pennsylvania have spoken, but the elected officials aren’t listening. 

Couple this with the Chairman Gleason refusing to resign and the Republican establishment has just given the finger to the Republican grassroots and refused to make changes that are necessary.  Elected Republicans just signaled to the public that they feel that they haven’t lost enough seats to get the message.  Elected Republicans announced to the world that they are weak and worthless - they won’t take a stand to fight for what is right.  Elected Republicans have declared themselves insane.  We should not rely on them to actually fight for the principles of the Republican Party any longer. 

The question now becomes what do registered Republicans do?  They have a few options:

1. They could do nothing.  As Bob Durgan always says they can shut up and pay their taxes.

2. They can continue to put pressure on their Representatives until they get the message.

3.  They can start today to plan their campaigns against incumbents for 2008.  This would mean a rebuilding strategy from the ground up - electing real Republicans to lower positions with the idea that they will advance and replace idiot insane Republicans as they do move up.

4. They can leave the party and go elsewhere until the party returns to its roots.

I will be curious to see what happens over the next two years.  I’ll be honest and tell you that I also have to make a decision on what to do as well.  I’ll let you know what I decide when I get there.  I can tell you this much - it ain’t gonna be option 1 - I have too much fun pissing the establishment off for me to go away and shut up. 

Robert Novak wrote a piece about what’s wrong with Republicans in DC.  It could have just as easily been about what’s wrong with Republicans in Harrisburg - from the pork, to the riduculous loyalty that hinders that party, to a number of other things. 

Let me clarify one thing - loyalty on its own is a good thing.  But loyalty taken to the extreme that the establishment has required of others is not good.  There are some good people in DC and Harrisburg who won’t run for leadership positions because of fear of being seen as unloyal - that’s not healthy.

The media just had a McCain orgasm over the news that the Senator from Arizona is “deciding” to move forward with a run for the Presidency again. 

I for one really don’t like McCain, so let me be the first to say that I will be voting against him, regardless of who runs against him. 

There are too many things to dislike in my opinion.  Don’t worry, as the race heats up, I’m sure it will all come out. 

I’m not sure who I like for President in 2008, but I do know who I don’t want - so that’s a start at least. 

Gee, I bet the White House was so glad that they came to the support of Lincoln Chaffee in the Primary a few months ago to beat a more conservative challenger.  That investment paid off didn’t it?  The last installment of that bad investment was just announced - Chaffee will not support John Bolton’s nomination as ambassador to the UN. 

Maybe the Republican Party can start acting like Republicans again.  Maybe we can get away from always supporting the incumbent, especially when it’s a horrible incumbent that doesn’t even vote for a Republican President.  Maybe we can have a Party that just plain stays out Primaries and let’s the party members actually determine who they want to represent them in the general election.  What a concept. 

Maybe Bush will start filling the ink of his veto pen and use it alot.  Maybe Bush and Congress will just create gridlock so that the American people don’t get screwed over.  Maybe, but not likely. 

When it comes down to it though, I’m not sad by the election results - did I want both chambers of Congress to go to the Democrats, no.  But ultimately who wins and who loses does not control how I feel.  I’m an optimist.  I see alot of opportunity ahead for Republicans.  We got rid of some deadweight.  We can now start re-building again from the bottom up.  We need to put in conservatives at the lowest levels of government.  That’s where everyone starts in the political process.  They win and advance up.  That’s where we need to focus our energy.

Now that the elections are over, the question that arises is - What do we do with our new found freedom.  The favorite answers are:

- Discuss 2008

- Talk about the State House

- Discuss what we learned from last night.

I’ll leave the first two options for others for now for a few reasons.  The biggest reason I don’t want to talk about 2008 is because there is more not to like about the “candidates” for president than there is to like, in my humble opinion.

I’ll pick up the state house soon enough, so I’ll hold off for now.

The last one is the interesting one.  Of course, there are just as many people with an opinion of what last night meant, as there are people.  Some get it, some don’t.  My aim will be on Sen. Specter. 

Specter’s comments on what the election mean are presented in the following article.  All I can say is - Gee thanks for the help Senator.  You really went out of your way to help Sen. Santorum, after he essentially lost his job to save yours two years ago.  I can only thank God that I didn’t vote for Specter in the primary or general election in 2004. 

Specter still doesn’t get it.  It’s my belief that Republicans lost last night because conservatives are pissed off at their own party for being too ”progressive.”  If more Republicans would have actually acted like Republicans, the night would have been different.  (How much more progressive does one have to be than Lincoln Chaffee, and thankfully he’s gone Senator)  Republicans need to get back to basics - lower taxes, no pay raise politics, smaller government, etc.  They purposfully drifted from that and suffered the consequences. 

I’ll predict this, if the party does become more Arlen Specter-like, i.e. progressive, then there will be fewer Republicans.  People like me will leave the party.  We tried Rockefeller Republicanism - it doesn’t work Senator.  It’s nothing more than Democrat-Lite.  What we saw last night was the idea that why vote for Democrat-lite, if we can just have the real thing. 

Obviously, this isn’t an all-encompassing theory here.  Real conservatives lost last night too.  

The Republican Party does need to take a look at itself.  The Party needs to determine what it’s all about - Does it want to move in the more “Progressive” direction that Arlen Specter advocates, or does it want to get back to basics - smaller government ideals.  When the Party rediscovers it’s vision, then we will start to win again. 

Well, I was 0 for 3 on my endorsements.  They weren’t predictions, they were only endorsements, or really the people I was voting for.  Congratulations to all those who won. 

Now we can start looking at the municiple races next year - and more importantly, to continuing to reform our state government - starting with the State Legislature. 

Let’s put pressure on Republicans to get rid of Perzel in Leadership. 

I’ve taken a great deal of time and thought and have determined who I am voting for and why.  I’ll now share my thouhts and my endorsements:

Senate - Rick Santorum.  If you really need an explanation on this one, you can back through all the positive things I’ve said about Santorum and all the negative things I’ve said about Casey here on this blog and over at Santorumblog.com. 

Suffice it to say, I like Rick more and more with each passing day because he’s got a backbone and is a true leader in an era where political leadership is seriously lacking.

Governor - Lynn Swann.  I really had to debate this one with myself, over and over.  I’m not thrilled with Swann, but Rendell is a worse alternative in my view.  So why am I supporting someone who will probably lose.  It’s not because of the staff he surrounds himself with - I don’t care for many of them.  It’s not because of the reform efforts - I don’t find sincerity when Swann talks about reform.  I’m doing it for one simple reason - If he wins, Republicans will return to the top of the ballot for four years.  Right now, they are second on the ballot.  Not a great reason, but it’s a reason.

State House of Representatives:  Bill Cobb.  A surprise I’m sure to some.  I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Bill and I find him to be genuine.  Here’s a guy whose pretty conservative for a Democrat, whose concerned about reforming our state government, and has some pretty good ideas.  I don’t agree with him on all issues, but I don’t know of a candidate that I do frankly. 

Also, I used to work for Will Gabig, I know what he’s like - he’s a poor manager of people, he’s inconsistant, he has no vision, and he flip-flops on issues.  He’s also an opportunist.  It’s a poorly help secret that he’s just waiting for his opportunity to run for County Judge when one of the current Judges retires.  Furthermore, he believes there is some kind of conspiracy out to get him.  He claimed it was the Democrats fault when he was almost knocked off the ballot in a previous election when he didn’t fill in the financial disclosure form correctly.  He claims that Philadelphia interests are out to get him, yet supports John Perzel for Speaker.  He claims to be against the pay raise, voted against it, then took it until he got caught red-handed.  He’s flip-flopped on a number of other issues too numerous to mention.  About the only thing he is consistant on is being inconsistant. 

Do we want someone who is just a place holder, waiting for something better, whose inconsistant, who continues to support John Perzel?  I sure as hell don’t.  The people of the 199th would do everyone a favor in voting for Bill Cobb tomorrow.

I just came from the Santorum Rally in the Valley held here in Carlisle.  It was a great event.  I would guess there was atleast 150 people, maybe approaching 200, maybe more - tough to tell, but the room was pretty packed - and it wasn’t a tiny room by any means. 

The usual suspects were there to represent the local and state-level delegation.  Also Pat Toomey, Elaine Chao - the Secretary of Labor, John Ashcroft - Former Attorney General were all there for the event.  Lot’s of good speeches. 

The best line of the event goes to Sen. Santorum though.  He was talking about turnout and made this statement - “I don’t know of too many people who are excited to go out and vote for Bob Casey.  I don’t think Bob Casey is excited to vote for Bob Casey.”  The crowd burst out with laughter. 

I had a moment to talk with the Senator and wish him well.  He mentioned how much he appreciated all the pro-Santorum blogs out there.  We are definately winning the blog wars.  Let’s hope that turns into some votes.

Attached are some pictures from the event.  I apologize for some of the pictures being fuzzy - I had to stand towards the back of the room - like I said it was crowded.

 Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor

 Pat Toomey

 John Ashcroft, Former Attorney General

 Sen. Santorum

I cannot wait for election day to come.  Not because I am loving this campaign season.  Not because I’m excited for my candidates.  No, rather selfishly, I can’t wait for election day to get here so we can get this election over with and move our focus back to what really matters - life.  I’m tired of all the stories about how this is the most critical election of our lifetime, just like the last election and just like the next one will be. 

I’m tired of the attacks on negative campaigning - or what people claim to be negative.  In reality - they are just pansies who don’t like criticism.  Negative, in my mind, would be telling lies.  Criticising your opponent for something he or she did isn’t negative if it is truthful - it’s informing the voters - that’s what campaigns are supposed to do. 

I’m tired of seeing poor campaigning - from inconsistant messages to no messages, inconsistant themes, to-little-to-late antics, poor comercials, bad direct mail pieces, lost opportunities, etc.  It only proves that something like 90% of the people in politics really have no clue what they are doing. 

I do want to be positive though.  I have seen some bright spots out there.  I have seen a few promising candidates who have run pretty good campaigns - it’s my hope that the voters will reward these candidates for running good campaigns.  I’ve seen a handful of candidates who actually have a vision for what they want to accomplish in office.  Far too many people get elected that really shouldn’t.  And then once they get in office, they don’t have a reason of why they should be re-elected.  Unfortunately, too many still get elected based on their name recognition. 

I do want to mention one last thing - I think the Democrats are making a huge mistake.  They have set the bar way too high for themselves.  They are going to lose the expectations game and in a big way.  Take a look at the predictions - here in PA they are talking about winning the governor’s race, Senate, State House, and now some are talking about the State Senate.  If Santorum manages to win and the Republicans hold on the the Senate and the House, who do you think will be percieved as the big winner on election night?  Republicans, even if they lose seats. 

The federal level is no different.  All the predictions out there are for the Democrats to take over the House.  Many are also now talking about taking over the Senate.  If Republicans manage to maintain control of one of the chambers, who wins?  Republicans because they beat expectations.  Democrats are predicting a sweep of all the chambers of government - I don’t think that is likely and I think Democrats are going to shoot themselves in the foot for making such bold claims.