Liberal gotchas like this one might hold more credibility if they were accompanied by a little consistency. Citing a CBS-4 Denver report, a diarist on the Dead Guvs' site highlights the following critique of one part of a Republican ad against Boulder liberal Mark Udall: He didn't vote to raise taxes, he voted against a tax cut passed by a Republican Congress and vetoed by President Clinton. While critics say Udall's vote had the same effect as supporting higher taxes, the fact remains, Udall voted to maintain the status quo, which is not the same as voting for a tax hike. "He didn't vote to raise taxes, he voted against a tax cut...." When was the last time you saw a liberal attacking a conservative lawmaker with the allegation of … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2007
Quashing Liberal Rumors
Liberal distortions about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's early fundraising totals continue to circulate among the blogosphere's left-wing echo chamber without any serious reflection or criticism. The latest repeat of an unsubtantiated rumor that the $717,000 has fueled the fire for a more "moderate" Republican to join the race shows up at a site called The Political Realm: Bob Schaffer, Udall's likely opponent, apparently has some Colorado Republicans worried that he may not be able to keep up with Udall's strong fundraising. Of course, I already refuted the distortion earlier, but Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi has taken the explanation even further on a new blog to which he contributes: Republicans of a … [Read more...]
Udall Undercuts Enforcement of White-Collar Crime
Boulder liberal Mark Udall has cast his lot with the Democrat caucus and corrupt union leaders at the expense of law enforcement and defrauded workers. Udall voted to defeat an attempt that would have spared the modest budget of the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) from draconian cuts. So, apparently, OLMS was a highly ineffective and wasteful branch of government, right? The Democrats just wanted a leaner and more efficient operation, right? Wrong on both counts. As John Fund noted in yesterday's Opinion Journal: In the past six years, the Office of Labor Management Standards, or OLMS, has helped secure the convictions of 775 corrupt union officials and court-ordered restitution to union members of over $70 million in … [Read more...]
Remembering Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Former NYC mayor Ed Koch, a staunch 9/11 Democrat, announces in a column today that he has abandoned support for the Iraq War. Without the time to dissect his arguments, I can say his disillusionment is understandable to some extent. However, his conclusion have left out some important pieces of the puzzle. For example, Koch omits mention of al-Qaeda. Yet ironically, we learn today through PajamasMedia: The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group’s foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter. Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was … [Read more...]
Big Labor Payback: Democrats’ Idea of Fiscal Responsibility
If you hear Democrats next year on the campaign trail touting Congress for a fiscally conservative record of cutting a government program, keep in mind which program it was: The new Democratic Congress has finally found a government agency whose budget It wants to cut: an obscure Labor Department office that monitors the compliance of unions with federal law. In the past six years, the Office of Labor Management Standards, or OLMS, has helped secure the convictions of 775 corrupt union officials and court-ordered restitution to union members of over $70 million in dues. The House is set to vote Thursday on a proposal to chop 20% from the OLMS budget. Every other Labor Department enforcement agency is due for a budget increase, and … [Read more...]
Denver Post: Udall out of Step with “Western Values”
A scathing editorial in yesterday's Denver Post calls out Colorado Democrats for bowing to Big Labor with their support of HR 800, the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (read here, here and here). Though all Democrats in the state's delegation voted for the bad legislation, the Post specifically singled out bill co-sponsor Boulder liberal Mark Udall - the man who would be U.S. Senator- first for his anti-business agenda: The proposal, which passed the House with support from Rep. Mark Udall, contained an offensive and little-known provision that would have allowed a government arbitrator to impose a two-year contract on businesses and workers that actually specified wages and working conditions. Neither the employer nor the workers … [Read more...]
“We’re All 49th”: Colorado TABOR-Bashing, Northwest Style
It seems like whenever another state proposes a taxpayer-friendly ballot measure, the big government crowd turns up the scare factor by looking at Colorado and dredging up the same discredited and refuted statistics [PDF - full disclosure: I am the author of the linked Independence Institute publication]. The latest round comes from Washington State, where proponents are pushing Initiative 960 to require lawmakers to reach a supermajority or receive voter consent in order to raise taxes. Admittedly, I don't know a lot about the measure itself, though it sounds like a fine idea on its face. What has me convinced that Washington State likely would benefit from the proposal is the fact that leading opponents have dug into the well of … [Read more...]
Give Petraeus a Chance
I share the heaviness of Jim's heart and El Presidente's disgust at Colorado's band of Surrendercrats. Short-sighted political pandering from both parties - but most especially the Democratic leadership in Congress - ignores the military realities of Iraq, and the promising success of Gen. Petraeus' "surge" strategy, which has been in full effect for scarcely a month. We need to move past our feelings about the current administration (mine aren't too positive) and recriminations about the earlier halfhearted war policy and the mismanagement that put us at a disadvantage. Stop the blame game, and let's get to victory first. And whatever we do as a nation, it's infuriating to see some of our leaders try to pull out the rug just as we're … [Read more...]
Stop the Fairness Doctrine
In case you've missed it, please take a minute to sign the National Republican Senatorial Committee's petition to stop the proposed censorship of restoring the Fairness Doctrine. This is an issue of free speech that should garner support from Left and Right. Also, bookmark N.Z. Bear's Fairness Doctrine Watch for the latest on the topic. Just doing my two cents' worth to stand up for the First Amendment on this issue. … [Read more...]
Schaffer’s Fundraising Figures “Inconvenient Truth” for Left
First, let's start with the good news: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer announced that he raised more than $717,000 in the second quarter (April-June). As pointed out in the campaign press release: Walt Klein, Schaffer campaign consultant said "Schaffer's contributions averaged more than $119,000 a week in the brief time Bob has been a candidate – a remarkable start for the long campaign ahead." There were 1789 individual contributions to Schaffer, with more than 83% coming from Colorado. The full report will be available on July 15th. [Full Disclosure: Mt. Virtus was part of the 83+%, contributing a small amount to Schaffer in June.] Schaffer's $119,000 a week surpasses liberal Boulder Democrat opponent Mark Udall, … [Read more...]