2012 Election – Page 18 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Cain Accusations Show Why Beginners Have it Rough

A lot of people seem to like Herman Cain. Given that the GOP field is a choice between Romney, who’s bonafidesÂ on the Second Amendment and health care are not to be trusted, and Rick Perry, who is increasingly looking like a candidate who doesn’t have the chops to operate on the national level, Cain seems like he could be a refreshing alternative.

But it was almost predictable that he’d have a “public hair on the coke can” moment. Not only because of the fact that the quickest way to politically lynch a conservative black man is to drag forth the old racist stereotype that the black man can’t control his libido, but also because the guy is a political neophyte who has never really been vetted in a serious way before. Unlike Perry and Romney, Cain has never held any elected office. He’s been involved in politics, but generally as a behind the scenes operator. He has never put a target on his back until he became the GOP frontrunner, and now everything that could ever possibly come out about him is going to come out.

Romney and Perry have the advantage of having attained a governorship, with Romney having done that in a state which is heavily Democratic. Generally speaking, to attain an office like this, you have to work your way up the political ladder. As you work your way up, you put a bigger and bigger target on your back. People have an incentive to dig. Any skeletons in your closet are going to come out, even if they are skeletons someone else put there. All the chickens from your past are going to come home to roost.

Mitt Romney comes from a political family, his father having been Governor of Michigan. This is an advantage to Romney because he would have been exposed to the rancorous nature of politics from an early age. Romney actually attained the governorship of Massachusetts as a relative newcomer to politics — his only experience prior to winning Governor was a failed challenge to Ted Kennedy’s seat in 1994. Nonetheless, this would have put a big enough target on his back for opponents to start digging. His successful gubernatorial run in a Democratic state certainly would have given opponents and the media an incentive to dig.

Rick Perry won his first election to the Texas House in 1984, ironically as a Democrat. After that, as a Republican, he ran for Agricultural Commissioner. From there he ran for Lieutenant Governor, and was elevated to Governor once George W. Bush assumed his role as President. Perry has only really ever faced a tough high-profile race once in his career, which was for Lieutenant Governor. I think his weaknesses as a candidate have been showing in his primary performance.

Cain has virtually no political experience. He has never held any elected office. All the accusations, whether true or not, are going to start coming out now. For the first time, he’s painted a big target on himself. Having run for political office before is certainly not a guarantee you won’t come under new allegations, after all it was Bill Clinton who had a team dedicated to dealing with “bimbo eruptions,” but having run for lower offices previously at least means some of the sources for allegations your opponents might know about have already been used up, and overcome. Herman Cain will have the disadvantage of having to deal with many of them now, rather than in prior races during his political career.

It’s a risk trying to win a national office with someone who has never even held a single elected office. Even Obama, despite his lack of real political experience, at least had the Chicago machine behind him. While I like many of Cain’s positions, have been disappointed in Perry, and harbor no real love for Mitt, I’m wary of pushing such a political neophyte as Cain onto center stage. It’s a huge gamble, and the stakes are unbelievably high for 2012. Our primary goal is to ensure Obama does not get a second term. For that I want the strongest candidate we can run. As much as I wish that could be Herman Cain, his lack of real experience on the political stage is a major issue I don’t think GOP primary voters should overlook.

Sam Rohrer Running Against Casey?

I got this from Sam Rohrer via his e-mail list today:

Later this month, I will outline my next step in promoting constitutional principles and courageous leadership. It’s a road – like others we’ve traveled before- that will be difficult and with an uncertain destination.

And then there’s this article in MSNBC:

A former state representative who lost to Tom Corbett in last year’s Republican gubernatorial primary is planning to enter a crowded field of GOP candidates running for U.S. Senate.

I’ve always liked Sam Rohrer’s politics. He’s about as close as you can probably get to libertarian in this political climate. But Sam’s Achilles heel, which was shown in the race for Governor, is that he’s a bad fundraiser, and you need to be a good fundraiser to win elections. As much as I might wish this were about principle and restoring liberty, the vast majority of people who vote barely pay attention. As a candidate, you’re a product that is being sold (to voters), and to tell that product, you need to advertise. That costs money. Philadelphia is one of the most expensive media markets in the country, and our media market reaches a lot of GOP voters.

That said, we have no one that looks decent currently stepping up to run against Casey, and I’d be willing to give Rohrer a chance. Maybe with the entire GOP apparatus behind him, he can overcome his fundraising inadequacies. The Democrats will dump whatever money they can afford to hold that seat, however, so it’s not going to be an easy race, even if the GOP nominee were a seasoned politician with a statewide record. If Rohrer runs, he’ll be the king of underdogs. We’ll see what he’s made of.

Our Opponents Really Are Un-American

I don’t really require someone to buy into much to consider themselves a good American. As long as you accept our basic tenants of human liberty, and foundational principles of our nation, I’m pretty open to the idea that we may disagree, but we disagree as fellow Americans. But one of those foundational principles, I think has to be that the Declaration of Independence is the moral justification for this country’s entire being. If you don’t accept the Declaration, well, then we really aren’t anything more than some misguided subjects of the British Crown. You might be an American in the sense that you were born here, but pardon me if I don’t agree you’re a good American. Such is the case with some of our opponents:

I am having a really difficult time figuring out what is so controversial about what Herman Cain is saying. Here’s the video they are so roundly criticizing:

It seems to me that Cain is speaking of “alter and abolish” in the terms of our normal democratic process of putting our government up before the people every 2 to 4 years and the people deciding whether they want to keep it or toss it.

Pardon me, but if you can watch this segment here, and think Cain is calling for every member of that audience to take up arms, and March down to Washington, and overthrow the government, you not the ones that should be calling us paranoid. You are, in fact, delusional, or just very much out of touch with the kind of crowd Cain is speaking to.

I am also comfortable in saying that if you don’t believe that Americans have the power to “alter or abolish” their government, even if it’s through peaceful means, through the ballot box, and through the hearts and minds of fellow Americans, this isn’t the country for you to be living in. If the Declaration of Independence makes you uncomfortable, I am quite fine with saying you’re a poor American. I think some of our opponents need to think long and hard about which country they belong in.

NRA Ad on F&F

As election season approaches, we can expect to see more in this vein:

Getting holder out would be a great victory, but if Holder hangs on this will be a campaign issue if the Republicans will be willing to make it one (which so far, they have not been). Either way, NRA will hopefully have the money to run ads like this in important markets for Obama, like Pennsylvania, during the 2012 elections.

So either he fires Holder, or we use Holder as a boat anchor to drag down the entire administration’s re-election prospects. Not too concerned about how we carve this turkey, as long as Obama doesn’t get to pick the next justice on the Supreme Court. Let’s hope that Justice Ginsburg can hang in there just a little longer.

Senate Race Against Casey Suddenly Gets Interesting

I’m working on a review of all the races Pennsylvania gun owners have to worry about in 2012, even though we’re still weeks out from Election Day 2011. The Keystone State will be an interesting place to be. Even though it’s been solidly blue for presidential elections, Obama’s popularity is in the toilet here.

We have a Senate race where the incumbent’s staff can’t even confirm whether the Senator is actually alive. There’s even a Facebook group dedicated to figuring out if Sen. Bob Casey is breathing. And yet, just to keep things interesting, a possibly dead Senator with a reputation of not even showing up to do his elected job as part of an unpopular party still couldn’t attract any top-tier challengers. D’oh.

The last couple of weeks have seen that change, and now we have two who I would classify as top-tier for fresh blood. They haven’t held office before, but they have solid networks in place to put together real campaigns. One ran in a heavily Democratic district for Congress and lost by pretty narrow margins in 2010, and the other didn’t have a chance to shine given that the GOP incumbent in his district suddenly “un-retired” from the race and pushed him out. Specifically, they are Tim Burns and Steven Welch.

Burns had an A rating from NRA in his campaign against John Murtha’s former chief of staff. While Welch never had the opportunity to be graded, he does have a “2nd Amendment” section on his issues webpage. (Bob Casey previously had an A rating, but that could change based on his behavior in office.)

I still can’t say much about Congressional races since we’re losing a House seat, and no one knows where the district lines will be drawn. The likely result will be two A-rated Democrats pitted against one another in a primary. Boo – at least based on the gun issue. The state races will also be big. We have at least one gun-unfriendly candidate for Attorney General – a race that will impact Pennsylvania’s ~600,000 concealed carry license holders. So, yeah, 2012 will be an interesting year for gun folks.

Quote of the Night – GOP Debate

The quote of the night didn’t come from any of the candidates. Nor is the quote of the night CNN’s false promise of a right to keep and bear arms question (and subsequent failure to deliver). It came from Wyatt on Twitter:

Why am I picturing Rick Perry riding the A-bomb to campaign destruction a la Slim Pickens?

“Go Obama!” Or Not.

As a reddish-purple Pennsylvanian who hates living in a sea of blue, I find this heartening:

Minutes stretched on awkwardly after U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis spoke to local Democrats. Yet that was less uncomfortable than one man’s attempt to break the silence.

“Let’s go Obama!” he shouted, clapping loudly.

No response.

Obama’s Pennsylvania Problem, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Obama has a Pennsylvania problem, particularly with working-class Democrats and women who supported Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Looks like we get the fun of being a swing state yet again. Maybe this time we’ll actually swing.

Another Illegal Mayor Supporting Mike Bloomberg

It’s not a criminal matter, but it’s still worth noting that Bethlehem, PA Mayor John Callahan illegally used money from his mayoral campaign coffers for his congressional campaign – to the tune of nearly $10,000.

He used money raised for his federal campaign to pay just half of the amount taken from his local campaign chest. Callahan settled with the FEC, paying back the rest of the money and an addition $1,200 fine.

Callahan is contemplating another run for Congress in 2012. Though he works against the rights of lawful gun owners, let’s hope he’ll learn to respect election laws next time around.

Prepping For 2012

Looks like NRA is really trying to drive the point home on Supreme Court nominees, with Chris Cox writing in the Daily Caller:

Currently, the Second Amendment clings to a 5-4 pro-freedom majority on the Supreme Court. JustÂ one voteÂ is all that stands between the America our Founding Fathers established and a radically different America that Barack Obama and his supporters envision.

This is probably the biggest issue for us in the 2012 elections. If we lose one of the Heller Five, and Obama gets to pick his replacement, all the Alan Guras in the world won’t be able to save the Second Amendment. Even if Heller and McDonald never get formally overturned, we’ve seen from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that intermediate scrutiny can easily be used to conclude that banning commonly used entire categories of firearms is just fine. The same logic could be used to erase the “bear” part of “keep and bear” just as easily.

Voting the Wallet: Dwight Evans in Trouble?

Capitol Ideas is reporting that Dwight Evans could be in trouble this coming election. Those of us in the shooting community in PA certainly know Rep. Evans well, as he’s one of the leaders of our opposition. Evans has been in his seat as long as I can remember, so the idea that he might be in trouble shows just how pissed off people are over economic conditions, and the African-American communities that Rep. Evans represents have been hit the hardest by the financial crisis.

Home ownership losses among the black community are of historic proportions, and they’ve taken a larger pounding on their net worth than any other community. That must be why Obama’s favorability ratings are slipping even among black voters. I don’t care what color you are, or what language you speak, or what country you originally came from, there’s a universal truth in politics that when you boil away all the bullshit, people vote their pocketbooks. Something like a financial crisis of this magnitude has a tendency to boil away an awful lot of bullshit, and make things a lot more real.

I’ve never been of the opinion that there’s any politician that owes me a living. Obama didn’t start the Financial Crisis, and things would still suck pretty bad had McCain been elected instead of Obama. What I do blame Obama for is passing a massive, expensive, and incomprehensible entitlement program in the middle of a financial crisis. What I’ve been noticing in the job market is an abundance of contract positions, and a relative dearth of full time positions. Those hiring full time are taking their time about it. It’s my opinion that no one wants to hire full-time people because no one has any real clue how much Obamacare is going to cost, and the mandates on employers are not insignificant.

In my volunteering with NRA, I’ve talked to businesspeople who say they have work, but don’t want to hire because they have no idea what they are going to be paying for health care for workers in a few years. This is going to affect lower wage workers a lot more than upper middle class professionals who already had gold plated health plans.

Politicians of all stripes are going to have to face angry voters in the 2012 elections. Dwight Evans will certainly not be alone. I just hope some of the people replacing these long time left-wing politicos start to understand that the money for free lunches has run out, and the only way we’re getting back on track is to get out of the way, and give people the opportunity to make their own living. That doesn’t mean we can’t solve most people’s health care anxieties, or at least ease them, but those solutions are going to have to come with the understanding about free lunches.

UPDATE: Speaking of easing people’s health care anxieties, repealing this stupid law, and letting employees pay for their own health care with pre-tax money would be a good start. My main anxiety is that my health care is tied to my job. Since the job loss, I got a cheap, major medical plan. A plan, that, ironically, will be illegal under Obamacare. Glad I didn’t become unemployed after 2014.