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

LCol Allen West (Plus Some Light Reading)

The Patriots News


Obama’s Quest To Consolidate Federal Power
Theories abound as to the motives and significance of Barack Obama’s April 2, 2012 tirade against the United States Supreme Court. Perhaps the most plausible, given the timing of the events, is that one of the “justices” sympathetic to the Obama regime leaked word that the Court had struck down Obamacare in large part, or in full. In response, Obama could be attempting to publicly stay ahead of the court, since its decision will not be officially announced until June.

‘Article II or Bust - Does the Constitution Matter or Not?’
The entire civilized world knows that Barack Hussein Obama is the most anti-American resident in the history of White House residents, so much so, that people all over the globe watch in disbelief as the American people fail to confront the most glaring modern threat to freedom and liberty, as they focus only upon their insignificant individual agendas.

“Social Issues” From A Truly Conservative Perspective
With Republican candidate Rick Santorum’s meteoric rise of recent weeks, the media has predictably gone into full attack mode against him. The new controversy of the day, repeated incessantly by the network anchors, is anything related to “social issues.” And even a casual association with them will be the “kiss of death” to aspiring contenders. Or so we are told.

Go Ahead, TAX Yourself Again, Stupid!
How did political lefties become totally ignorant on even grade school level economics? Not a single Democrat could pass a basic economics class today and not too many Republicans could pass either.

’ Why did Russia and the West reverse roles?’
Russia, the West and persecuted Christians - There is evidence that Russia is, for whatever motive, interested in protecting Christians. One article in Interfax(1) bears the title “Putin vows Russia will defend persecuted Christians abroad.”

Can You Say Lawsuit?

Looks as if ole Spike screwed the pooch big time on this one.

Spike Lee's Re-tweet Causes Elderly Couple to Abandon Home in Fear

Susan Jacobson of the Orlando Sentinel reports that an elderly Florida couple has fled their home, after Spike Lee re-tweeted their address, thinking he was sending people to the home of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

Jacobson reports:A school-cafeteria lunch lady and her husband have received hate mail, unwanted visits from reporters and fearful inquiries from neighbors — all because their Sanford-area address is being disseminated on Twitter as belonging to Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, her son said late Tuesday.The woman, 70, who has a heart condition, and her husband, 72, have temporarily moved to a hotel to avoid the spotlight and possible danger, said son Chip Humble of Longwood.The woman has another son named William George Zimmerman who lived with her in 1995 and still lives in Central Florida. He is no relation to George Zimmerman, 28, who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Feb. 26, sparking national outrage and international interest.

The elderly couple are the latest victims of an attempt by the organized left--with the blessing of President Barack Obama himself--to exploit the death of Trayvon Martin to inflame political and racial divisions.

So What Are They Going To Do Now?

Registered Dem Killed Trayvon

Meet registered Democrat and self-identified Hispanic American, George Zimmerman

The individual at the center of the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting is a registered Democrat.

George Michael Zimmerman, born Oct. 5, 1983, registered as a Democrat in Seminole County, Fla., in August 2002, according to state voter registration documents.

It is unclear whether he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008. Some in the media have sought to blame Republican politicians and conservative activists for Martin’s death.

“[Republican politicians] reinforce and validate old stereotypes that associate the poor and welfare as criminal behavior with African-Americans and people of color, calling us lazy, undeserving recipients of public assistance. In the case of Trayvon, those festering stereotypes had lethal consequences,” said MSNBC political analyst and Democratic fundraiser Karen Finney.

According to the document, Zimmerman’s race is officially listed as Hispanic. The son of a white father and Peruvian mother, he has been described as a “white Hispanic” in most media reports.

Following the Feb. 26 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in a Sanford, Fla. gated community, Zimmerman has been the target of widespread outrage.

Zimmerman shot and killed Martin following a physical confrontation, but has yet to be charged with a crime. He says he acted in self-defense, a claim supported by the Sanford, Fla., Police Department investigating the case.

Protesters and activists led by professional racial justice advocates Al Shartpon and Jesse Jackson have suggested Martin’s killing was racially motivated, and have called for Zimmerman’s arrest.

“We want George Zimmerman in court with handcuffs behind his back,” Sharpton said last week.

Martin’s mother, Sabrina Fulton, has alleged that Zimmerman killed her son “because of the color of his skin.”

Craig Sonner, the attorney representing Zimmerman, has denied such allegations, noting that his client has acted as a mentor to a black single mother and her two children, and had helped them raise money for their all-black church.

For Zimmerman’s safety, the Free Beacon has redacted his address from the registration document. The New Black Panther Party has offered a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman’s capture.

The Jawa Report: Ironic Statement Of The Day

The Jawa Report: Ironic Statement Of The Day
And a nice illustration of liberal hypocrisy:

Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling on the Justice Department to investigate so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws following the fatal shooting of an unarmed Florida teen. [...] "These laws seem to be encouraging vigilantism by allowing individuals to use deadly force as a first resort," Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
Schumer asked Holder's department to probe whether the laws "are creating more violence than they are preventing," and whether potential murders are "going unprosecuted" because of them.
Senator Schumer had no comments about the $10,000 bounty the New Black Panthers have put on the head of George Zimmerman. The racist group hopes to increase the bounty to $1,000,000 through donations, mostly from black entertainers who support the call for vigilante justice.

H/T @Publicrelations

Anyone have Spike Lees address?

Sen DeMint Says Give It Up, Let It Go

DeMint: Gingrich, Santorum Should Consider Dropping Out

The South Carolina Republican and tea party favorite tip-toed around flat out endorsing Romney as a candidate, but did say that the possibility of the former Massachusetts governor as the nominee “excited” him, reports CNN.

“I can tell conservatives from my perspective is that, I’m not only comfortable with Romney, I’m excited about the possibility of him possibly being our nominee,” DeMint said. “Again, this is not a formal endorsement and I do not intend to do that right now but I just think we just need to look at where we are.”

DeMint joins former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who called on the Republican Party to unite behind Romney yesterday.

"For the Troops? What Do You Need?"

CUBA LIBRE'

Babalu called me Friday coming home from work. Says he was finally able to finish the blogpost about BAMC and wanted to let me know it was up. I had heard a lot of what he relates during the 3 days we were in San Antonio. I have one of those coins, too.

As he says in his prologue, there is a recurring theme; but there is more than one theme. These folks are American by choice, but they are Cubans first, and they get it. We should all be Cuban.

Warning: Its only fair I should tell you; Get a box of Kleenex.

An Island On The Internet Without A Bearded Dictator

Book Burning Is An Expression of Bigotry

Just as public demonstrations of hate for anyone are expressions of bigotry, so is book burning. An over simplification of the definition of bigotry is a belief that one is morally and intellectually superior to all others and no one is right but them. Jones didn't kill those people in Afghanistan, but he tripped the triggers of those who are by nature violent and bigoted. Radical islamists are bigots and need very little provocation to act out. They do not have the wiring in their brains to allow them to embrace the philosophy of freedom of expression. The problem is, Jones essentially yelled FIRE!!! in a crowded theater knowing the crowd would panic and trample one another, and there was no fire. Jones caused the deaths of those people just as surely as if he had been there. But Jones is a bigot and bigots don't care about innocents.

Tell Me Again Which Political Party Is Racist

You can read more after the jump

As of 2004, the Democrat Party (the oldest political party in America) has never elected a black man to the United States Senate, the Republicans have elected three.

and the Keynote Speaker at CPAC was none other than Republican Representative Lt Col Allen West, a career Army officer and American of African descent.

The Rise of Islam

From Dr Richard Swier, (USA LTC Ret)

As the Islamic civilization has modernized it has become more religiously fundamental and has rejected the Western ideals of democracy, free markets, civil rights, the rule of law, decentralized government, the prohibiting of a state religion and freedom of worship.

All civilizations are not created equal, all civilizations are not good and all civilizations are not our friends. Diversity and multiculturalism work against us and favor those who would destroy us. The West is made up of many cultures living and working in peace together. Those who come to the West must embrace its ideals and assimilate into our culture. Islam does not and will not do that.

We cannot live with a state within a state - it is the United West or nothing.

I could not agree more.

Here's A Plan We Can Get Behind

U.N. funding an early target for House Republicans
By Bridget Johnson -

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) that is “a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“I’d like to make sure that we once and for all kill all U.S. funding for that beast,” she said last month. “Because I don’t think that it advances U.S. interests, I don’t think that that’s a pro-democracy group, it’s a rogue’s gallery, pariah states, they belong there because they don’t want to be sanctioned.”

Supporters of continued U.S. support of and participation on the HRC say that it’s essential that Washington have leverage on the panel, renowned for including countries that have their own records of human-rights violations.On Tuesday, Ros-Lehtinen will host a panel of U.N. critics and advocates that was originally scheduled for the week that the House suspended most activity in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

The 10 a.m. briefing before the full committee is titled, “The United Nations: Urgent Problems that Need Congressional Action.”

We Already Knew This

20 States: ObamaCare Unconstitutional

President Obama's landmark health care reform law is being challenged in court by a coalition of 20 states. Lawyers argued in Florida that Congress does not have the authority to force all Americans to buy health insurance or face penalties.

Attorneys also told the judge Obama care is a bank buster and if cash strapped states are forced to pay more to expand Medicaid programs, they will go broke.

Earlier this week a federal judge in Virginia ruled that citizens can not be forced to buy health insurance. Supporters of the Florida lawsuit want the judge to go further and stop the federal government from enacting health care reform. But so far, two other federal judges have upheld the law.

President Barack Obama's administration says all Americans should have health insurance because everyone requires medical care sometimes to cover catastrophic injuries and chronic diseases.

More ACORN Nuts Fall

The voter fraud hall of shame:
Milwaukee voter fraud conviction makes ACORN’s 2010 total at least 15

Yet another former ACORN employee was convicted of voter fraud last week. This brings the total number of convictions for former workers from the embattled group to at least 15 so far this year.

Kevin L. Clancy of Milwaukee pleaded guilty last week to participating “in a scheme to submit fraudulent voter registration applications,” according to Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. Clancy admitted to filing multiple voter registration applications for the same individuals and registering himself and other voter registration canvassers to vote multiple times while working on an ACORN voter drive.

Clancy received a 10-month prison term for his crime. Clancy’s sentence will begin when he completes another sentence he is currently serving for armed robbery.
“The integrity of elections is dependent upon citizens and officials insisting they be conducted lawfully,” Van Hollen said. “Wisconsin’s citizens should not have to wonder whether their vote has been negated or diminished by illegally cast ballots.”

So far 2010 has been a banner year for ACORN voter fraud prosecutions.
In Milwaukee, former ACORN worker Maria L. Miles, who worked with Clancy, pleaded guilty to “falsely procuring voter registration.” She will be sentenced next month.

Also in Milwaukee, Frank Edmund Walton was convicted of “falsely procuring voter registration.” According to Van Hollen, Walton solicited voter registrations while working for a group called the Community Voter Project. Court documents indicate that after committing the crime he became an ACORN employee. Walton will be sentenced in December.

In Washington state, ex-ACORN canvasser Kendra Lynn Thill was convicted of voter registration fraud and given a 12-month deferred sentence.

In Miami, Florida, former ACORN voter registration canvassers Maurice Childress, Kashawn John, Liltovia Rhodes, Carlos Torres, Evangeline Williams, Lilkevia Williams, and Richard Williams, were all convicted of “false swearing in an election.”

All were sentenced to probation, community service, and forbidden to participate in political campaigns, according to the office of Katherine Fernandez Rundle, State Attorney for Miami-Dade County. In addition, Childress and Richard Williams were ordered to serve 72 days and 125 days in jail, respectively.

Arrest warrants were issued for three other former ACORN canvassers in the Miami area who are apparently still at large.

In Pennsylvania, former ACORN workers Alexis Givner, Mario Grisom, and Eric L. Jones, were convicted of voter registration fraud-related offenses. All three were sentenced to two years probation.

ACORN, the nonprofit shell corporation that runs the ACORN network, is still facing criminal prosecution in Nevada. Although ACORN filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Election Day to escape its debts, prosecutor Conrad Hafen, who is Nevada’s chief deputy state attorney general, previously said neither bankruptcy nor dissolution would “necessarily protect (ACORN) from prosecution” in Nevada.

The trial of ACORN for conspiracy to commit felony voter registration fraud was scheduled to begin Nov. 29, but ACORN lawyer Lisa Rasmussen had a scheduling conflict and the proceeding has been postponed. The trial will likely proceed in 2011. Hafen won’t be heading the prosecution’s team because he was recently elected a justice of the peace.

Read more

Welcome To the Massacre UPDATE

Looks like a blowout for conservatives. Grayson (Die Quickly) is gone; Col West has a good lead.

Virginia may have a majority conservative delegation to Congress. Rigell is pounding Nye. Boucher is gone. One Term Tom is gone gone gone, Connally's is to close to call right now.

Waiting to see if former Marine Chuck Smith can put Bobby out to pasture in the 3rd.
UPDATE--Unfortunately, Bobby Scott has managed to hold on.
Thats OK. Chuck Smith will make a good replacement for the EX-Marine Jim (I Don't Know Where My Pistol Is) Webb in 2012.

I just received a note that the hippies in Reston have re-elected the Moron in the 8th District. Another Senator-in-waiting to replace Markie-Mark in 4 years, or maybe we ask the Colonel to hook up with Chuck Smith and decide between them who does what.

Thank you to both of these veterans for fighting the good fight.
Neither of you is a loser tonight. Everything happens for a reason.
Apparently, God has other plans for you and needed you free to do whatever it is He needs.


Its STILL a great day to be an American and a Virginian.

I Lost A Friend This Week

I lost a friend this week. A good friend. The kind of friend the song “You Find Out Who Your Friends Are” was written for. There was never a time when I asked for his help and he wouldn’t be there. We were friends for over 35 years. We did some monumentally stupid stuff in our youth. We were reckless, irresponsible and we took chances, but we had our version of fun when we were together, and while we may have been reckless and irresponsible in our own lives, we were never bad people.

In spite of all the stupid stuff, Billy was a good person. He was a good and decent man. He was content with his station in life and I never heard him blame anyone for it. He was deeply spiritual without being religious and his understanding of Biblical history and End Times prophesy was encyclopedic.

He was born 100 years too late. He lived simply. He gardened. He worked. He fished. He played. He read a lot. In the last 10 years, he expanded his knowledge and worked overseas installing power generating devices at US Embassies. He spent Independence Day 2003 in Yemen with the Marine detachment, something that made me very envious. He called me from The Gambia and described the western Atlantic coastline of Africa a year later. I have the African carving he brought me hanging on my wall.

It had been awhile since I saw him last. I stopped by one day a few weeks back, but he wasn’t home. The one thing about being friends with Billy was, no matter how long it had been since the last time you saw each other, the next time you saw each other was just a continuation of the last time. Chances are you’d just take up the conversation right where you left off, like one of you had just stepped out for a head call. I’m going to miss that.

I used to drive a moving van back in my youth. Billy had never been north of the Rappahannock River. He used to say he’d get the shakes the further North he went, and he was convinced if he crossed the Potomac River chaos would ensue. I needed a hand with a load of furniture, and Billy was willing. I took him to Pennsylvania where I proceeded to get a lung infection. Billy literally carried me into the hospital emergency room that morning. After that, he was only willing to go south on the truck with me. So I took him to Florida the next time. We had a blast.

We worked together off and on for the next 30 years. He was the best help I ever had, without exception. He was a good friend all the time. He was with me the day I caught the biggest largemouth I’ve ever seen outside of a Bill Dance commercial. Billy said it was the biggest he’d ever seen come out of the little pond we were on, and he had been fishing that pond since he was 10.

We were together on 9.11.2001.

I’m going to miss not being able to talk to him.
Thank you for your friendship over the past three and a half decades.

To Our Cousins Across the Pond

First off, while I cannot speak for everyone on this blog, I want to emphasize that I do not hold BP accountable for the blowout that allowed the oil to escape. Frankly, no one knows exactly what happened or why, and to assess blame on anyone this early in the process is either irresponsible or diabolical.

Second, please know that Bambi, aka Dr Utopia, no longer speaks for the majority of Americans. He does not like it when people make money and do not give it away to him. He was very happy taking campaign contributions from all sorts of companies and corporations, and now that he has what he wants, he no longer has a need for the capitalist system which generated those funds. He is a typical Marxist. Use whatever is needed to get the results and then do what you want.

He is also adamantly against any sort of free trade and free will. He is a snake oil salesman; a shyster; a con man. And whats up with those Dumbo ears? You ever see a set of ring hangers like that in your life? I bet he has to tape them back to keep his skinny little ass on the ground in a high wind.

I am not going to apologize for Dr Utopia's remarks concerning BP or Britain. I didn't vote for his leftist agenda and its not my fault; however we will do everything legally allowed to rid ourselves of this penis-head ASAP.

You can take that to the bank.

Let the Ass Whooping Begin

I have the list. The top five spots are occupied by His Holiness the Annointed One, "I've been involved since it started to rain...I stood in the rain before the talking heads got their umbrellas".
I'm still not convinced this was "just an industrial accident", and if I were the Governor of a Gulf Coast state, I'd be cleaning my beaches, and telling the MUCC, the COE, and the Bambi Administration to go pound sand. I'd rather seek forgiveness than ask permission.

How the White House is Making Oil Recovery Harder
Five weeks ago Escambia County officials requested permission from the Mobile Unified Command Center to use a sand skimmer, a device pulled behind a tractor that removes oil and tar from the top three feet of sand, to help clean up Pensacola's beaches. County officials still haven't heard anything back. Santa Rosa Island Authority Buck Lee told The Daily Caller why: "Escambia County sends a request to the Mobile, Ala., Unified Command Center. Then, it’s reviewed by BP, the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard. If they don’t like it, they don’t tell us anything.

"Keeping local governments in the dark is just one reason why the frustration of residents in the Gulf is so palpable. State and local governments know their geography, people, economic impacts and needs far better than the federal government does. Contrary to popular belief, the federal government has actually been playing a bigger and bigger role in running natural disaster responses. And as Heritage fellow Matt Mayer has documented, the results have gotten worse, not better.

And when the federal government isn't sapping the initiative and expertise of local governments, it has been preventing foreign governments from helping. Just three days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the Dutch government offered to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms and proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands. LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) supported the idea, but the Obama administration refused the help. All told, thirteen countries have offered to help us clean up the Gulf, and the Obama administration has turned them all down.

According to one Dutch newspaper, European firms could complete the oil spill clean up by themselves in just four months, and three months if they work with the United States, which is much faster than the estimated nine months it would take the Obama administration to go it alone. The major stumbling block is a protectionist piece of legislation called the Jones Act which requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens. But in an emergency this law can be temporarily waived as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff did after Katrina. Each day our European allies are prevented from helping us speed up the clean up is another day that Gulf fishing and tourism jobs die.

And then there are the energy jobs that the Obama administration is killing with its over-expansive ban on offshore energy development. Experts--who were consulted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar before he issued his May 27 report recommending a six-month moratorium on all ongoing drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet--now tell The New Orleans Times-Picayune that they only supported a six-month ban on new drilling in waters deeper than 1,000 feet. A letter from the experts protesting the use of their names to support a ban they actually oppose reads: "A blanket moratorium is not the answer. It will not measurably reduce risk further and it will have a lasting impact on the nation's economy which may be greater than that of the oil spill. We do not believe punishing the innocent is the right thing to do."

And just how many innocent jobs is Obama's oil ban killing? An earlier Times-Picayune report estimated the moratorium could cost Louisiana $2.97 billion in revenue and 7,590 jobs directly related to the oil industry. President Obama still has the power to save many of the jobs. He could reverse his decision and lift the ban. But political considerations make that impossible.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the President was the largest single recipient of campaign contributions from BP and its employees over the past twenty years. Therefore, the President has to put distance between himself and BP, which may be why President Obama has not spoken with BP CEO Tony Hayward one single time since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April. The problem is, vilifying BP's corporate leadership does nothing to stop the spill or quicken the cleanup.

After the Obama administration refused help from the Netherlands, Geert Visser, the consul general for the Netherlands in Houston, told Loren Steffy: "Let's forget about politics; let's get it done." It's sound advice, Mr. President. Let's free local governments to clean up their shores, waive protectionist laws that keep out foreign help, and let the oil workers who can safely do so get back to work. Let's get it done.

Here's the thing...they DON'T WANT TO CLEAN IT UP!!! They need this crisis to further their agenda. How would it look if it only took a few months to get this fixed? Why, people would say, "We can fix anything. Keep drilling, but be careful this time."

DCExaminer Morning Email

Byron York - How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
The drafters of the law knew the lawsuit was coming; a lawsuit is always coming when a state tries to enforce the nation's immigration laws. What the drafters didn't expect was Obama's aggressive and personal role in trying to undermine the new measure.
"You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona ..." the president said Tuesday at a campaign-style appearance in Iowa, "suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed."

Julie Mason - Bill Clinton has no shortage of time or opinions

In irregular rotation, the former president can be found: below the radar, on international rescue, or prominently off-message. Lately, it's a bit of the latter.
"I am not sure they violated the law," Clinton said earlier this week of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank being sued for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

J.P. Freire - Obama made $5m in 2009 and tells us we've made enough?
This comes on top of the other millions of dollars Obama received in previous years. The fact that Obama has been in the public spotlight as a politician has undoubtedly had an impact on the royalties of his two books as well. Go ahead and compare Obama’s 2009 income with other presidents here.

Susan Ferrechio - Bitter breakup between Crist and GOP in Fla. Senate race
The move could save his political career. As a Republican, Crist was trailing his more conservative opponent, Marco Rubio, by 20 points in the party's primary but runs much closer in polls with a third-party candidate in November.

Byron York - On AZ immigration, Gerson responds to me; I respond to him
Gerson’s big point is that when people like me “fail to comprehend” that being asked for a driver’s license is more burdensome in some circumstances than in others, it “reveals a fundamental lack of empathy.” But here’s the thing. If you are doing something illegal, then mundane interactions with the police are always a potential problem. Just look at the amazing variety of wrongdoing police discover as a result of routine traffic stops. When cops stop somebody with an expired tag, they aren’t necessarily looking for guns or meth or a guy wanted for skipping out on his debts. But that’s what they sometimes find.

They're Finally Getting It

Cornyn: Crist v. Rubio Primary Has Been "A Learning Experience"

BY John McCormack

National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn said this morning that the Florida Republican primary between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist has been "a learning experience" for him.

Cornyn told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor that he first tried to recruit Jeb Bush to run for Senate. When Bush declined, Cornyn looked for the next most popular Republican (Crist) in the state to run. The lesson he's learned from the NRSC's endorsement of Crist?

"In this political environment," Cornyn said, "it's not necessarily helpful for candidates running in the states to have the national party chairman" endorse them.

"More than any time than I've seen in the recent past," Cornyn added, "instead of a Contract for America [voters] want a Contract from America."

Cornyn said that voters don't want to "have their choices made" for them by the political elite. They want those in Washington to hear their voices.

Cornyn will request that Crist return the money donated to him by Cornyn's PAC if Crist follows through on his switch to independent today.

Here's My Surprised Face

Anyone that didn't see this coming the minute Crist denied he would do it on Fox News last month, is in dire need of something.

News Alert: Crist says he'll run for Senate as independent
--------------------
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday that he is leaving the Republican Party and will seek a seat in the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist began his campaign as the dominant candidate in the race, but he has steadily lost ground, in GOP polls and fundraising, to former state House speaker Marco Rubio.