First Tuesdays Strategies

by J. Warren Tompkins

Welcome to the U.S. Senate, where we’re playing, “Let’s Make a Deal.” Your host is the Democratic Party, and those guys will do just about anything for you to get their colossal health care boondoggle passed. Anything, that is, if you’re a senator.

The antics by Senate liberals got so out of hand that there are now calls for investigations into their behavior. Events went down that have been dubbed the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Nebraska Compromise.” Sens. Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson were two Democrats sitting on the fence regarding the bill. If they wanted to stay true to their self-professed moderate status, they would have voted against the legislation. The wily Democratic leadership had other ideas.

It’s on page 432 in the bill, but Landrieu got hers – a line-item that only applied to one state, Louisiana. An expansion of Medicaid for the people of one state, to buy off one senator. The price: $100 million. Yes, it’s shocking – Majority Leader Harry Reid is not above using $100 million taxpayer dollars for a political ploy. This is the sort of governance you get with liberals in power.

Let’s not forget about Nelson, whose capitulation on the legislation led to it getting passed by the super-majority needed to avoid a filibuster. Since May, the Nebraska Democrat said that he would oppose the bill. Then, he was a supporter of the conservative opinion of this big-government plan. Enter Reid, stage left.

There was no need to reinvent the wheel. In addition to getting cursory language about abortion funding, Nebraska was exempted from paying for any further Medicaid expansion in the state. Under the usual rules, the state and the Federal government share the cost. Now, your tax dollars go to pay all of Nebraska’s Medicaid costs.

Two senators, bought off, with your money.

South Carolina isn’t left out of the liberal malfeasance, either. Rep. Jim Clyburn has made no bones about his free-spending ways and his pork-laden projects. In regard to justifiable outrage from conservatives about the deals handed out in the Senate, the Sixth District congressman said that Republicans should be looking to see what they could get out of the bill. Translated, he was saying that conservatives should try to find inventive ways to spend your money on pork. Sorry, Congressman, one party already cornered the market on that game.

Clyburn tried to make a deal. He attempted to slide in $100,000 for a one-room library in Jamestown, S.C. into a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Mint. The money was sent to Jamestown, Calif. Even when liberals try to waste your money, they can’t do it right.

by J. Warren Tompkins

In the financial community, today is called the Quadruple Witching Day on Wall Street. For me, today is Quadruple Witching Day in politics. I never thought I’d agree with Howard Dean, Keith Olbermann, the AFL-CIO and Sen. John McCain all in one day.

For those who don’t have knowledge of the unusual parlance of investors, “quadruple witching” is when contracts for stock index futures, stock index options and single stock futures all expire. This time, Dean, Olbermann, the union organization and the Arizona senator’s support of the liberals’ health care legislation expired, and I’m glad about that.

It cannot be said enough what a job-killing bomb this bill would be on our economy in general, and our small businesses in particular. The penalties on companies are wide-ranging: fines – per worker – for not providing insurance, paying half of the $54 billion Medicare tax increase, more than $100 billion in taxes and fees on the health industry itself. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And fortunately, liberals are now eating their own and killing the chances of the bill to pass.

Dean, the demagogic former presidential candidate, opened his Washington Post column with, “If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill.” Neither would I. Olbermann, on his MSNBC show, said, “This is not health. This is not care. This is certainly not reform.” Indeed.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka stated, “The House bill is the model for genuine health care reform. Working people cannot accept anything less than real reform.” There lies the rub. Liberals want the bill to go further, to be even worse than what the Senate is now considering. Thanks to this faction of the far-left, conservatives find ourselves in the enviable position of watching Democrats fight each other until the bill finally flatlines.

McCain was pleasantly surprised by this development as well, saying in an AP story, “If you live long enough, all things can happen. I now find myself in complete agreement with Dr. Howard Dean, who says that we should stop this bill in its tracks. … Dr. Dean, I am with you.”

The liberal in-fighting over this turkey of an attempt at health care reform is a real Christmas gift to American business, American workers and conservatives’ chances to throw the Democrats out next year.

As my long time good friend Governor Haley Barbour recently said in Politico, “This is such bad policy for the United States, and it’s going to be so bad for our health care system. It’s going to make health insurance premiums go up. It’s going to cut Medicare by about $500 billion. Huge state tax increases. It is catastrophic for small business. But if the Democrats wanna do something to help Republicans, I can’t improve on this.”

by J. Warren Tompkins

Here in South Carolina, we’re lucky. Our conservative leaders have roundly denounced the proposal from President Barack Obama to move suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the United States. If only Democrats had the leadership to buck a bad idea from their party and put the interests of their constituents first.

A prime example is Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn, who is showing open arms in welcoming these dangerous combatants to American soil. In a news conference recently, he said, “This is something that is very good for our state, it’s good for our economy, it’s good for public safety.”

Suspension of disbelief is good for watching movies, but not public policy. Instead of creating an atmosphere amenable to business, like cutting taxes and deregulating industry, the liberal elites in power are trying to create jobs by making us inherently unsafe. These detainees were kept on a military base away from our country on purpose.

By bringing these people to our shores, we raise the profile of those, and other places in America, as targets for terrorists. We learned on Sept. 11 that the oceans that so long kept our country safe can no longer do so. For Illinois, it has enough problems without asking for O’Hare airport and the downtown skyscrapers to become targets for international terrorists.

In South Carolina, we have numerous military bases, including two of the biggest training areas in the country – Ft. Jackson for the Army and Parris Island for the Marines. Charleston is a major shipping and military center, and we have numerous nuclear power plants. Each is a potential target. Expect Charleston to ratchet up the chart of places that could be targeted if the Navy brig there becomes home to suspected terrorists.

That’s not the only problem. By bringing detainees here, and especially in maximum-security prisons like the one in Illinois, we open ourselves up to having to try them in civilian courts, like common criminals. The only problem is that they aren’t criminals. They are enemy combatants that are a threat to the lives of American soldiers overseas and the American public here at home.

Top Illinois Democrats say the terrorist transfer could create up to 2,000 jobs. Can you imagine such a sorry state of affairs that the only way you can create jobs for your area is to put the entire region at risk? Democrats are so eager to find good economic news that they’ll pander to an international court of public opinion, which will hate us no matter what we do.

Yet again, this massive mistake shows how out of touch liberals are with the needs of our country, whether it be jobs or national security. By trying to spin it to a positive in both categories is more akin to being categorically insane. The Obama administration is already pushing forth on one of these ideas, seeking to try five terrorists, including 9/11 conspirator Khlid Sheikh Mohammed, in civilian court in New York.

Democrats are killing our economy with government growth, high taxes, and extreme spending. It’s sad that they won’t reverse that trend, and instead they’re looking toward terrorists for good economic news.

by J. Warren Tompkins

There were three major elections in this past odd-year, off-year election. Usually, the odd-year races are dominated by Virginia and New Jersey. 2009 was no different. It was great to see Republicans reverse trends of the previous years and sweep the most important offices in the Old Dominion, along with Chris Christie beating the odds to knock off John Corzine in New Jersey.

Then, there was U.S. House District 23 in New York. All year, the district was expected to go against the Democrats, one way or another. First of all, that area of the Upstate hadn’t seen a Democrat incumbent in more than 150 years. Second, Republicans outnumber Democrats in the area by 12 percentage points. It shouldn’t have been all that close. Then it went pear-shaped.

At the beginning, the National Republican Campaign Committee backed nominee Dede Scozzafava. She was the type of moderate Republican that typically wins in the Northeast. The problem with her nomination was that she was essentially picked in a backroom deal among county chairmen, leading to a revolt among the grassroots. GOP activists that turn out in special elections didn’t want any part of her.

NRCC chairman, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, who took over this year, said in a statement, “After two special elections in New York, there is no doubt in my mind that the candidate selection process lacks openness and transparency and should be changed to a primary system so voters can have a say in who their respective parties nominate.”

So, the hardcore base of support that usually makes sure Republicans win special elections opted for Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. That didn’t stop D.C. consultants from advising the national GOP to drop almost a million dollars on Scozzafava. And what did she do? She dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democrat. Sessions and his advisors should already have Damocles’ sword swinging above their heads.

As of that election, the NRCC has lost 26 out of the last 29 special elections. These are times to put the whole organization behind winning one or two races at one time, picking off a Democrat or keeping a needed seat. But sporting a 10.3 winning percentage is no way to start taking back the House. On Election Day, Republican issues were winning, and provide a good base for 2010. But, tone-deaf Congressional leaders need to get out of the way.

Consultant Matt Parker was able to impart some words of wisdom in Politico, saying, “I don’t think we’ve had the best candidates put forward. It’s difficult for folks from Washington to recruit the best candidates because sometimes they’re unfamiliar with some of these districts. [...] Republicans have largely been in the wilderness. It’s tough because there’s hasn’t been much of an identity.”

At the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chairman John Cornyn appears to have learned the lesson of the New York affair and backed off the endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist in the heated Senate primary in Florida. Now, the NRSC won’t be making primary endorsements anymore.

There’s absolutely no reason why Democrat Bill Owens should have won the New York race. National opinion has turned on liberal ideas, and NY-23 is set up for Republican wins in cycle after cycle. A GOP candidate should have won the race between seven and 12 points.

The people in charge in Washington need to get their affairs in order, or keep watching Democrats steal elections that Republicans should win.

By J. Warren Tompkins

Not since Richard Nixon has a president been so combative with a particular news organization. But, the Obama administration is doing its best to go after Fox News, with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel saying it isn’t a news company. Strategist David Axelrod went on a Sunday morning program and said roughly the same thing, adding that the White House is treating Fox like an opinion outlet.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs defended these statements on Tuesday. ABC’s Jake Tapper asked, “I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a ‘news organization’ – why is that appropriate for the White House to say?” Gibbs responded, “That’s our opinion.”

Mind you, this is at the same time Gibbs regularly fields questions from The Huffington Post reporters at press conferences. That Web site is almost exclusively a liberal journal of opinion.

At a time when there are numerous crises besetting the country, and two wars going on abroad, the Obama administration seems to be spending a large amount of time worrying about what’s going on at a news outlet. Maybe it’s because Fox has actually taken Obama to task over his liberal policies.

Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” said famously, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” The plan of Obama’s push-back looks like, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the critics”

It’s yet another example of how out-of-touch Obama and his advisors are. This crew looks like they’re working out of the wrong building – they shouldn’t be in the West Wing, they should take their rightful positions in an ivory tower. Fox News Channel routinely beats its competitors in ratings by massive margins. There’s a reason for this, and it’s that the vast majority of people just don’t trust what they’re getting from the other guys.

I used to read The New York Times and watch CBS Evening News daily, but I stopped both because of their obvious slant against conservatives. But, that was my choice. The government shouldn’t be making those choices for us. But, time and time again, Obama shows that he thinks the government is better at making your decisions than you are.

Less than 10 months into his presidency, Obama’s agenda is getting shot down and the frustration is clearly showing through his staff. The American people have already had enough as the White House fumbles from one issue to the next. It now seems they will work to silence anyone who points out those fumbles.

by J. Warren Tompkins

An article in the Oct. 12 edition of the Wall Street Journal detailed how the National Republican Campaign Committee is trying to use Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the proverbial “albatross around the neck” of Democratic candidates. A poll cited in the piece shows Pelosi with a 44 percent unfavorable rating.

That’s all well and good, but it didn’t work in 2006 and it didn’t work in 2008. Just about every poll you look at these days show bad markings for Congress in general and the Democrats in particular. The two latest polls on Congress both show disapproval hitting the 60 percent mark. A Rasmussen poll of 3,500 likely voters had a 43-39 Republican lead in a generic ballot for the House.

These are signs that the national party shouldn’t be adding an anti-Pelosi page to its playbook, but rewriting it altogether. The reason Republicans are moving up in the polls and Democrats moving down them is that the public saw what it got with a Democrat-controlled Congress coupled with an Obama presidency – liberal policies coming from out-of-touch, liberal politicians.

If it hasn’t been one thing, it’s been another with Washington liberals, not the least of which is their big-government, “I know better than you” health care plan they’re trying to force on a nation that doesn’t want it. Then there’s cap-and-trade, a scheme made up to look like a way of protecting the environment, when it’s really just more taxes and more bureaucracy. And we can’t forget the bailouts, in which it seemed that Ft. Knox got raided to give money to people who made bad business decisions.

These examples, and more, are why the voters are increasingly fed up with the way liberals have been running the country. And let’s face the facts folks – the Democrats aren’t the only one’s at fault. We gave them the opportunity to retake the White House and Congress because our Republican leaders fell flat on their conservative promises.

That’s what needs to be addressed in the 2010 House campaigns. Voters aren’t angry with individuals. They’re angry at the system as a whole. People are tired of empty promises and big government agendas being put before private industry and working families.

People already don’t like the policies that have been coming out of Washington, and they know why. It should not be a problem for a Republican in a competitive district to say, “My opponent, if sent to the House, will raise your taxes, help stunt the economy and misspend your money. How do I know that? Democrats in Congress have been doing it already, and show no signs of stopping.”

But…and this is the most important part…Republicans must take the next step too. We must offer real ideas to our nation’s most pressing problems. We have to promote ideas that reward private industry and entrepreneurship. Republican candidates must carry the banner of free enterprise and remove regulations on the American sprit.

The playbook for victory next November should be built on opposing big-government policies while promoting ideas that will put America back to work. The 2010 election cycle must be about ideas, not personalities.