First Tuesdays Strategies

by J. Warren Tompkins

If you’re of a certain age, you remember Jim Bunning’s days as an all-star pitcher before he hung up his cleats for the suit and tie of a United States Congressman. I was proud to serve with my former colleague Lee Atwater as a consultant to Bunning’s 1986 congressional campaign. He’s retiring after this session, opening up his seat to another Kentuckian motivated to serve their state and country. But, he’s not going quietly.

During the past week, Bunning objected on a voice vote to appropriate another $10 billion for government projects, which if it wasn’t spent, would end up furloughing about 2,000 Federal employees. True to form, Democrats suffered another bout of temporary insanity.

Sen. Dick Durbin was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, “It is simply unfair for one Senator to attempt to hold the Senate hostage.” Maybe he should check with the rhetoric of his fellow Illinoisan, President Obama. Less than a month ago, Obama said that Congress should pay for what it spends, as in, adhere to a pay-as-you-go philosophy. And here’s something funny – the Obama administration said that Bunning was playing political games. Figures.

What’s truly unfortunate here is that he’s only one of a few conservatives, and one alone who has already said he is not running for reelection, that is standing up to say no to yet another spending spree by Washington liberals. Even worse is the Democrats’ reaction. Seriously, Obama’s mention of pay-as-you-go was good a few weeks ago, but apparently it’s not worth anything now, not even to the man who uttered the words.

Because, here’s the thing – liberals are fine with pay-as-you-go requirements as long as they’re limited to one part of government spending. But, what happens when they want to spend more, as they inevitably will? They’ll just push through an “emergency” appropriations bill, which is exactly what happened here.

As you might expect, their definition of what should be a recipient of emergency Federal spending and what yours is are likely to be very different. While most people would think an emergency outlay of taxpayer dollars would be needed only for very important things, like national defense, Congressional liberals seem to believe that payment for a road worker on a pork project rises to that level.

We need more Bunnings in Washington right now. Luckily we have one who hails right here from South Carolina. In coming to Bunning’s aid, Senator Jim DeMint said “When we borrow the money to do it we threaten the futures of our children and grandchildren, diminish their quality of life and likely cause their unemployment in the future.” I’m just glad we have people calling out the Democrats when their rhetoric doesn’t match their actions.

Whenever anyone takes a close look at a program funded by the so-called stimulus, it seems that more government waste is discovered. One such program that was exposed recently involves a program to weatherize houses, under the idea that the homes need less energy to heat and cool, and jobs would be created because of contractors being hired for the service. Let’s just say, things didn’t go as planned.

A report released by the Government Accountability on Feb. 11 said that through the end of last year, only $9,100 homes were a part of this program, even though 593,000 homes were supposed to be involved, according to the Obama administration. And how much money has been allocated to this boondoggle? A cool $5 million.

It’s not like the warning signs weren’t out there already. Way back in June of last year, an Associated Press story called the weatherization program “one of the most difficult-to-track portions of the $787 billion recovery act signed into law by President Barack Obama in February.” Unsurprisingly, it’s yet another example that Obama’s promises of transparency have been just that. If you can’t see where the money’s going and why, that’s not change – that’s more of the same.

Weatherization is a part of a wider effort by the White House to create “green jobs.” Ostensibly, by programs like weatherization, the administration intends to deal with our energy problems and bring down the unemployment numbers. However, in practice, it’s simply not working.

California, deep in its own fiscal crisis, was supposed to be a major beneficiary of the push toward green jobs. It hasn’t. Firstly, though the Obama administration said that California has seen more than 100,000 jobs created because of the stimulus, very few have been green jobs.

As well, analysis by the Los Angeles Times showed that what green jobs were created were in research. In other words, people are getting paid to come up with good ideas for green jobs. Enjoy the irony here – people are getting paid through stimulus funds to come up with ideas that the stimulus was supposed to be paying for right now, not at some indeterminate part of the future.

Is it any wonder that more and more Americans are turning to Republicans every day? The Obama administration, aided by liberal Democrats in Congress, has plowed through taxpayer dollars like they’re spending Monopoly money. They’re throwing around Park Place cash with a Baltic Avenue income. These days, conservatives are becoming more inventive about taking their message to the public. Liberals seem to be doing a great job themselves at proving that the conservative plan is right.

by J. Warren Tompkins

Over the recent months, we’ve seen widespread repudiation of President Obama’s liberal agenda. Last November, Republicans rolled to victories in Virginia and New Jersey. Last month, Scott Brown won a Senate seat in Massachusetts that had been held by Democrats for more than half a century. If you recall, Massachusetts went for Obama by 28 points in 2008.

Voters in these elections clearly said that what they’ve been getting over the past year is definitely not change they can believe in. When asked about the conservative surge, Obama said he got the message. But what message did he get? It certainly wasn’t from the voters. He proved that by submitting a record $3.8 trillion budget for the coming year.

We’re already drowning in debt, yet this budget will double the national debt in five years. Credit is already a problem for businesses and homebuyers. The more the government has to borrow, the less money is in the pool for everyone else. Business can’t expand, home sales dry up and the economy continues to be weak.

The same goes for the spending binge. How is Obama paying for it? With your tax dollars, of course. If unchecked, the tax increases contained in the budget would reach $2 trillion in the next decade. It’s incredible. Raising taxes in a recession? OK by them. Talk about another burden placed on the American people to pay for his misplaced priorities. Liberals chafe when we call them out for taxing and spending. We should add borrowing to the list, and we’d have the exact description of what’s going on in Washington.

Next is the unprecedented $1.6 trillion deficit. In what universe does this sort of thing fly? Republicans in Congress need to get out in front and make sure the Obama budget never makes it close to passing in the form it’s in. The taxpayers of this country cannot be saddled with the budgetary mistakes of Washington liberals. The numbers are against them right row, but tough fight could make a real difference in making some concrete changes to the legislation.

One thing is for sure – voters will not stand for this rank disregard of their wishes as it comes to responsible government. They must be pulling out all the stops, knowing things are really going to change, and for the better, after this year’s elections.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that liberals put another notch on their belts recently by making jokes about U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s pickup truck. Being out-of-touch never looked so blatant. In a speech intended to back Mass. Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, President Obama said, “Forget the ads. Everybody can run slick ads. Forget the truck. Everybody can buy a truck.” That line drew laughter from the crowd.

Brown, to his credit, responded, “Mr. President, unfortunately in this economy, not everybody can buy a truck. My goal is to change that by cutting spending, lowering taxes and letting people keep more of their own money.” And he’s right. People don’t invest in big-dollar purchases like automobiles in times like these. A majority of Massachusetts voters agreed, too, making history by putting a Republican in the seat held by the Democrats for decades.

Maybe it never came across the minds of liberals, in their elitism, attacking Brown that the pickup truck has led auto sales in this country for years. From the smaller models to a decked-out full size version, you’ll see pickups involved in every aspect in American life. They also missed the fact that Brown’s truck is American-made, by GM of all places. Like most of us, Brown hasn’t been going out and getting newer models. He’s put more than 200,000 miles on his vehicle.

This episode is eerily reminiscent of when Obama went to San Francisco in 2008 and tore into small-town America, saying, “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Sounds a little more like the bitterness and antipathy is coming from the left side of the aisle. It’s no wonder the country is in the depths of buyer’s remorse.

Though Massachusetts is a decidedly blue state, the voter registration numbers tilt heavily in favor of independents. Recently, independents have been swinging races across the country, and they’re not happy with the way liberals are acting. From bailouts to health care, cap-and-trade and giveaways to unions, they’re realizing that their voices and opinions and needs aren’t making it to the powers that be.

Liberals are now reaping what they’ve sown. Long-time Congressional Democrats are retiring. U.S. Rep. John Spratt is reportedly considering not running for reelection. Others, up and down the line, are switching parties. Because voters have seen the liberals for who they really are, the tide is switching back to conservatives, who will get this country working again.