Redstate Morning

Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover-Up
IMAGINE A GOVERNMENT agency designed for the specific purpose of investigating and preventing the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms. Now imagine this agency engaging in an operation that not only goes against that purpose, but actually seeks to accomplish the opposite, by actively encouraging the sale of firearms to people whose ties to organized crime and gun violence are well known– and that this operation involves sending firearms across an international border into a country that this agency, and the government of which it is a part, purposely failed to warn, inform, or request permission from.

That, in a nutshell, is the Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” program, whose development, bloody results, and ongoing cover–up are comprehensively documented and presented by investigative journalist Katie Pavlich in her new book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover–Up (Regnery, 2012). In the book’s ten chapters and 222 pages (of which nearly sixty are appendices and meticulously cited endnotes), Pavlich makes the case that the Obama administration’s “gunwalking” operation “wasn’t a ‘botched’ program, [but] a calculated and lethal decision” by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, with the full knowledge and assent of the Departments of Justice and of Homeland Security, “to purposely place thousands of guns into the hands of ruthless criminals” (p. 162).
Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Most Ludicrous Graph of the Month

Obama’s energy policies are a key vulnerability in the November elections, which has his staff scrambling to make it look like he’s actually done something to support domestic energy production. Since neither he nor anyone in his Administration knows the first thing about oil and gas, that can lead to some pretty ridiculous claims.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

Q&A with with Steve Scalise on Retransmission Consent; Snyder backs Marketplace Fairness Act; Lieberman-Collins gets opposition

I know many RedState readers are big fans of Jim DeMint, so in my coverage of the Retransmission Consent debate, I’ve focused on him. However he’s not the whole story. This Congress, due to the TEA party-driven Republican majority, it’s been the House where our major regulatory reform successes have happened. And it’s Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana and Bobby Jindal’s successor in the House, who is the champion of the Next Generation TV Marketplace Act there.
However I know that there have been skeptics on this reform, so I was fortunately able to snag some of the Congressman’s time, and ask him a few questions about the proposed reforms.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

Florida investigation reveals 180,000 non-citizens may be registered to vote
Florida officials have discovered that 180,000 registered voters may be non-citizens.
A CBS4/Miami Herald analysis of information supplied by Miami-Dade shows a large number of the potential non-citizens voters cast ballots in the past — including the 2000 election, when the presidency was decided by just over 500 votes.

According to Deputy Supervisor of Elections Christina White, there are a “lot of non-citizens on our registration rolls.”

Florida’s Division of Elections is checking the citizenship of voters by comparing drivers license records, which show whether a licensed driver is also a U.S. citizen.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

When you’re done with the briefing, don’t forget to check out Caleb’s daily links from around the web.

Redstate Morning Briefing

1. America's First Black President Tries to Push Out Another Black Politician
First they came for David Patterson, Governor of New York. Barack Obama and the Democrats ganged up on him and forced him to not seek re-election.
Now they've come for Kendrick Meeks, or at least Bill Clinton, America's first black President, has come for Kendrick Meeks, but at the behest of America's second black President.
Specifically, "Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to Politico" that Clinton's top aide, Doug Band, brought up the subject with Meeks. Meeks sounded amenable. They then brought Clinton in.
Kendrick Meeks denied it to CNN.
Clinton confirmed it then backed away from it then confirmed it again. But Clinton said the White House was not involved.
Charlie Crist, who has had to heated private conversations with Kendrick Meeks in the past week, says the White House was involved.
Some Democrats "with knowledge of the plan" confirm the White House knew.
Had this been the Republicans ganging up on a black man to drive him from office, we'd hear all sorts of cries of racism.
But there are three really important points to make here. They are major points.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Significant Election Complaint Filed in Nevada
Attached is a Nevada Election Task Force complaint filed late today in Nevada by Babette Rutherford, a Nevada voter.
The complaint alleges scores of union tactics designed to undermine the integrity of the voting process and intimidate voters.
Specifically, the complaint notes that union officials are busing in union workers, leading them to the polls, deterring or preventing the union member from going to unobserved polling locations set up in Las Vegas, etc.
"The union personnel strategically position themselves at various points around the boundaries of the polling location to ensure that one or more of them are able to monitor their members' activities at all times."
The complaint is highly detailed and filled with eye witness accounts of union officials intimidating casino employees and directly overseeing how the union employees are attempting to vote.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Jerry Brown Not A Fan Of Women. Or, You Know, The Truth
Earlier this month, the National Organization For Women (N.O.W.) endorsed Jerry Brown for Governor of CA a mere 24 hours after an audio tape surfaced wherein Jerry Brown was heard agreeing with an aide that Meg Whitman should be called a "whore". What's a little sexism if it is aimed at a Republican woman! I mean, Jerry Brown is totally For The (Real) Women T , right? And The Children, of course. Only, not so much.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. White House Conspires With Media Matters
ABC News notes the White House had a meeting of special needs representatives. What ABC News fails to point out is that two of them work at Media Matters For America, the George Soros funded character assassins who see evil racists in the white filling of every twinkie they consume.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

Redstate Morning Briefing

BREAKING: SEIU Handling the Voting Machines in Las Vegas
Remember the news story yesterday about the lady in Las Vegas who, when casting her ballot, discovered that Harry Reid's name was pre-checked for her? My friend Jim Hoft has breaking news that the SEIU is responsible for servicing those machines. Hhhmmmmm. . . .
Read more about it right here at Jim's site.

1. What Better Way to Signal the World You "Get It?" - Hire Washington Insiders!
So, expecting to pick up a number of seats by "newbies," what do GOP leaders in Washington want to ensure? They want "GOP insiders to staff outsiders," according to Roll Call. Eric Cantor's staff added, "There's a lot of important work to get done right out of the gate, so it's important that newly elected Republicans have access to experienced, competent staff so that they can hit the ground running."
According to Roll Call, "[a] Republican aide confirmed leadership's interest in having staff that works well with Boehner to move the agenda forward." And even better, the lobbyists and strategists are in on the act, as well - one lobbyist saying, "[y]ou want to be sure that the newbies, when they hit town, do not necessarily bring their campaign staff to run their Congressional offices, because in some cases they are totally ill-equipped."
But that's not really what this is about at its core. This is about making sure the "newbies" do not rock the boat and get with the program. the Washington establishment's program. The staff that the establishment will "suggest" to the new members will be the same freaking idiots who have been bouncing around the Hill forever and will be more likely to go along to get along - to continue the same way Washington has been working forever. Just take a look at top Republican offices - they are a bunch of re-treads from years past, Administrations past - and for those of us who have been in the trenches fighting for conservatism, let me just say that we have more often been fighting against them than with them.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. It's Time to Make GOP Leadership Less Powerful
As Election Day approaches, no outcome should be taken for granted, but it looks increasingly likely that Republicans will take control of the House, and perhaps even the Senate. For those who want to reform Congress, increased thought and planning needs to take place now because many decisions are made the very next week after the election when Republicans "organize."
During these organization meetings, Republicans will elect their leadership for the upcoming Congress, agree upon their internal conference rules, and give their blessing to the slate of members who will represent them on the powerful "steering" Committee that distributes committee assignments. Much of this resembles a bum's rush where the current Leadership offers a series of resolutions, often designed to preserve their own power, that are quickly agreed to because none of the members in attendance are prepared (or willing) to object and consider the long-term ramifications for conservatives.
Yet in many respects, these organizational meetings will lay the framework for whether the incoming class of members will actually be able to change the way Congress and their party does business.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Did Harry Reid pull strings to protect aide in immigration conspiracy?
The facts of the case are these: in 2003 Diana Tejada entered into a fraudulent conspiracy with Lebanese national Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini, with the aim of securing permanent US residency for the latter (there was also and investigation whether Mr. Tarhini had links to 'extremist groups,' but nothing was ever confirmed). Money changed hands. For the next five years Ms. Tejada continued to misrepresent her relationship with Mr. Tarhini, despite official inquiries by immigration services; her eventual confession took place in November, which was one month after she joined current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's staff. Despite her confession, Ms. Tejada was not charged with any crime at all, let alone a felony; in fact, Ms. Tejada was misidentified as still being at her former job (La Raza) by immigration officials at Tarhini's deportation proceedings. Harry Reid's office has fired Ms. Tejada only in the last month (she was an official Reid spokesperson for the latest DREAM Act push), and claims that they had no prior knowledge of her activities: this has been contradicted by Fox's own sources, which insist that Tejada's confession was partially motivated by concerns relating to her new job with Harry Reid; and that in any case it would be standard operating procedure for the Senate Majority Leader to be made aware of a situation of this magnitude that involved one of his own aides.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Dan Benishek: Of The People, By The People
We are getting down to the wire here and a candidate who can win needs our help. Dan Benishek is running in MI-1 for the seat that Bart Stupak is vacating. Y'all remember Bart Stupak, right? The man who proved that the myth of the Pro-Life Democrat is just that; a myth. He disgustingly sold out the unborn, after promising not to, and voted for Obamacare. Then bravely ran away, in the form of retirement.
Dan Benishek is the man that can, and should, replace the cowardly Stupak. He has a money bomb going on right now. . . . His latest ad, entitled "Get Us Back" shows why we need him to win. Oh, and it is an ad done by a RedState diarist.

5. Alex Sink Drips
Alex Sink and Rick Scott agreed before hand to the rules of their debate. One of the rules was that they'd not take messages or converse with staff during the debate.
Alex Sink, during the debate, sung her own praises about how she always follows the rules. Then her makeup artist came in and handed her a message. During the debate.
Given Alex Sink's debate performance, however, we may need to give her a mulligan.
She spent the entire debate bragging about all the newspaper endorsements she's received. You'd think she was running for Editor of the New York Times. Of course Sink also kept denying she was an "Obama liberal."
Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. We Helped Him Start His Campaign. Let's Help Him Finish It.
It was March 19, 2009. I got on the front page of RedState and said Marco Rubio was my choice to be Senator in Florida and we should not be going all in with a guy like Charlie Crist.
Rubio was at 4% in the polls.
Everybody laughed and thought I was crazy. He who laughs last . . .
We helped Marco Rubio start his campaign. Now let's help Marco Rubio finish it.
Please click here for the rest of the post.

Redstate Morning Briefing

1. Why Not Barack Obama?

2. Taxpayers are Against Earmarks - Will Elites Listen?

3. Congressman Charlie Wilson Is A Wife Beater

4. Democrats Are Funding Their Campaigns With Money Taken From Foreign Nationals

5. Tolerance and Diversity: Teaching Girls That Misogyny And Beatings Are An Honor

6. If Democrat Marcy Kaptur can't tell the difference between Islamic terrorists and our Founding Fathers.

7. Video: Dem Majority Leader Ducks Question on Taxes

Time For A New RNC Chairman

I wanted Ken Blackwell running this machine. I still do. Whatever, Steele has to go.

Conservative commentator William Kristol immediately called for Steele to resign.

“At a time when Gen. [David] Petraeus has just taken over command, when Republicans in Congress are pushing for a clean war funding resolution, when Republicans around the country are doing their best to rally their fellow citizens behind the mission, your comment is more than an embarrassment. It’s an affront, both to the honor of the Republican Party and to the commitment of the soldiers fighting to accomplish the mission they’ve been asked to take on by our elected leaders,” he writes in a post at The Weekly Standard.

Steele released a statement in which he walked back his comments and voices support for the war.

“There is no question that America must win the war on terror,” he said. “During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama made clear his belief that we should not fight in Iraq, but instead concentrate on Afghanistan. Now, as President, he has indeed shifted his focus to this region. That means this is his strategy. And, for the sake of the security of the free world, our country must give our troops the support necessary to win this war.”

The RNC staff sought to tamp down the controversy—ill-timed ahead of the July 4 holiday—by circulating a memo to reporters highlighting the chairman’s support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The memo is title: “RNC Chairman Michael Steele Has Been A Consistent, Vocal Supporter Of The Wars In Afghanistan And Iraq.”

It may not be enough to appease conservatives, many of whom are already tired of Steele’s lengthy record of verbal gaffes and fund-raising controversies since he took over the party committee in January 2009.

“The war in Afghanistan is not a war of Barack Obama’s choosing. It is a war of Al Qaeda and the Taliban’s choosing. We responded. Michael Steele must resign. He has lost all moral authority to lead the GOP,” Erick Erickson of RedState.com, a popular conservative blog, wrote this afternoon.

10 Things Him Could Have Done, but Chose Not To

Hey Barack, You Should’ve Done This...

President Obama addressed the nation on the Gulf oil spill, and told the American people how he has been doing all he can to “plug the damn hole” and whose behind he might kick.

Since his strategy dealing with the spill seems lacking thus far, Redstate editor Erick Erickson has compiled a Top 10 list of things to alleviate the disaster that Obama could have done but didn’t.

1. Accepted help from the Netherlands when they offered it shortly after the accident. The Dutch, experienced in the oil business, offered prompt help for oil skimming booms and plans to create barriers to stop the oil from infiltrating into wetland areas.

2. Suspended the Jones Act, as President Bush did after Katrina, to allow foreign vessels into American waters to assist with recovery without having to swap ships and transfer equipment onto American flagged vessels.

3. Suspended the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws, as President Bush did after Katrina, to allow rapid deployment of new workers to help with containment efforts.

4. Suspended FEMA contracting and bidding rules, as President Bush did after Katrina, to allow a more rapid assignment of contracts to assist with the recovery effort.

5. Allowed coastal governors to immediately begin dredging to create barrier islands.

6. Talked to BP's CEO to establish initial metrics for progress to gauge BP's response so the federal government would have ascertainable metrics to determine when federal intervention was needed. Heck, he should have talked to BP's CEO period.

7. Not imposed a blanket deep water drilling moratorium, further crippling economies in coastal communities.

8. Talked to experts about how to fix the problem instead of trying to figure out whose "ass to kick."

9. Not waited to act lest he be seen as owning the situation. Guess what? He owns it now so why is he still on the golf course?

10. Not have wasted time trying to blame the accident on George Bush before diving in to take responsibility.

Senate Sell-out..Redstate

Less than 12 months to find replacements for the corrupt politicians subverting our Constitution. We need a super-majority, lets get one.

Eric from Redstate posted this about an hour and a half ago.

We Are No Longer a Nation of Laws.
Senate Sets Up Requirement for Super-Majority to Ever Repeal Obamacare
The Senate Democrats declare a super-majority of senators will be needed to overrule any regulation imposed by the Death Panels

If ever the people of the United States rise up and fight over passage of Obamacare, Harry Reid must be remembered as the man who sacrificed the dignity of his office for a few pieces of silver.

The rules of fair play that have kept the basic integrity of the Republic alive have died with Harry Reid. Reid has slipped in a provision into the health care legislation prohibiting future Congresses from changing any regulations imposed on Americans by the Independent Medical Advisory Boards, which are commonly called the “Death Panels.”

On December 21, 2009, however, Harry Reid sold out the Republic in toto.

Upon examination of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment to the health care legislation, Senators discovered section 3403. That section changes the rules of the United States Senate.

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medical Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.