Yes, I Would Vote for Donald Trump For President

The conversation about Donald Trump is very refreshing. Let’s be honest about it. It is really refreshing to see the establishment go into hysterical, pile-on mode. I’m actually proud of Rick Perry for being bold in his statements. Perry is owning the anti-Trump issue and he’s making it about principle and issues. But the number of denouncements from pundits and the press have gotten to crazy levels. And now the establishment that hates Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% is piling on him too for daring not to pile on.

But it gets better. Donors and consultants are ganging up to try to get the candidates to all unite and gang up against Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is a non-traditional candidate who is running a non-traditional campaign and kicking the asses of traditional campaign consultants. They do not like that he is taking advantage of the system they created. I’ve been critical of Trump. I’ve reminded people that Trump has been a Democrat donor with Democrat positions on healthcare, abortion, immigration, etc. I wish Donald Trump could go a news cycle without making news. The media is fixated on Trump in the same way the media fixates on the one guy with a confederate flag at a tea party rally as if that guy represents the whole movement.

But here’s the thing. The Establishment always tells conservatives they need to vote for the nominee. They ridicule conservatives as taking their football and going home if they don’t get their way.

Well, I’m not voting for Donald Trump in the Georgia primary. I don’t think he’ll even be in the race by that point. But I would support him were he the nominee. That the establishment guys won’t is deeply hilarious to watch after years of them lecturing all of us about not taking our football home. The meltdown is delightful to watch and after years of putting up with pompous, preening members of the Establishment telling conservatives they have to suck it up, it is wonderful to be reminded that the Establishment is incapable of sucking it up.

Via: Red State

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Hillary Clinton is not even likable ENOUGH at this point.

…does get the basic message out (which is to say, it’s noting that Hillary Clinton is not getting the support that she’d need to win the general election), I feel that it does not really pop as a graphic.  This is a real shame, because their readers deserve something that pops.  So, I have gone through the trouble of giving this graphic a little of the old razzmatazz:

No, no need to thank me.  Really and truly.  I am a giver.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Note that that’s a poll of adults.

Via: Red State

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Hey! Twenty three Democratic Senators can do minimum wage math!

Shocking. Why have they hidden their light under a bushel for all these years?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday delayed action on legislation raising the minimum wage, the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2014 agenda.

[snip]

Reid has not yet unified his caucus on the issue, which is a constant in the Democrats’ election-year playbook. Of the 55 senators who caucus with the Democrats, only 32 have signed on as official co-sponsors of Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) bill.

(H/T: Hot Air) The ostensible problem was a CBO (a org that the Left can never decide is good or bad these days) report promising that this measure would lose half a million jobs. But the real problem is that Democratic politicians have never been able to gently explain to their more activist members that business owners do not have Scrooge McDuck swimming pools full of gold coins. I know that this sounds unbelievable, but trust me: many progressives really do think that prices are high simply because capitalists take ‘too much’ profits. That a business like, say, oil production could be seeing most of its revenues go out in overhead (ESPECIALLY taxes) seems to be absolutely alien to them, as a whole.

But you have to understand: many of the Left’s theoreticians lack critical educational or life experiences that would help them properly understand economics. Very few of them have owned a business, worked directly for a small business owner, and/or experienced what we in this country laughingly call ‘poverty.’ The closest most of them have come are a variety of retail jobs that were abandoned the moment something better came along – or, more likely, they got boring. Couple that with the usual lack of empathy* and you get this kind of failure to communicate.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board! …Which is going to be a little bare on the Democrats’ side, given that it’s an election year, but such is life.

Via: Red State

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Blue State Lawmakers Make Taxpayers Blue

The terms “Blue State” and “Red State” were coined about a dozen years ago by journalist Tim Russert and were based on the colored maps being used by the television networks to graphically display presidential election results. Although originally based on the arbitrary decision to label Republican voting states red, and those supporting the Democratic candidate blue, these colors have also come to represent liberal (blue) and conservative (red).

The latest Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Legislative Report Card demonstrates that, in terms of state representation, California continues to be the bluest of blue. But while California has a reputation as being ultra-liberal on a host of issues, for purposes of the HJTA Report Card, we focused solely on how legislative votes were cast on tax issues.

Taken as a whole, the Report Card shows that a preponderance of lawmakers actively support the redistribution of wealth, not from one citizen to another, but from all citizens to the government. This allows the majority party in the Legislature to continue to reward their most active backers, the government employee unions. Government employees in California are the highest paid in all 50 states and it is no secret that money to meet the payroll must come from taxpayers.

The HJTA Legislative Report Card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues. For the 2013 legislative year, 20 bills were used to evaluate and grade voting records. Practically all of these bills deal with tax increases — often masquerading as fees — or direct assaults on Proposition 13 and Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act.

There is no question that the consequences of what occurs “Under the Dome” are very real and personal for average taxpayers. For example, decisions made by legislators in the last five years have helped ensure we have the highest income, sales, and gas taxes in the nation. These are facts most lawmakers fail to mention when discussing their voting records. The letter grades allow Californians to see past the politicians’ self-promoting press releases and glossy campaign mailers touting their record in Sacramento.

Via: California Political Review

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Better to Live in a Red State or Blue State?

California was the subject of both admiration and derision in the Intelligence Squared sponsored Oxford-style debate on the topic: For a Better Future, Live in a Red State. California’s former governor, Gray Davis, was one of the debaters defending blue states, while Chapman University professor and radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt spoke up for red states. These Californians were joined by New America Founder Michael Lind on the blue side of the table, and Wall Street Journal editorial writer Stephen Moore on the red.

Davis argued that blue states are better because they aim to give economic opportunity for everyone by investing in education and infrastructure, protecting the environment and providing a safety net. The former governor said if you look at the top ten states with the highest average income nine are blue states.

Hewitt countered that education in many blue states was subpar, pointing to California’s low ranking. He attributed that to red states’ innovation in education while blue states are in the grip of education special interests.

Statistics flew about the debate as both weapons and shields. There were plenty of comparisons between the economic leaders of the two categories, California and Texas.

Stephen Moore said while one million jobs have been lost in California, Texas has gained one million jobs over the same time period. Moore said the poverty rate in California was higher than Texas.

Yet, Lind argued that those moving to Texas were more likely low-income people undercutting the argument that high taxes chase out those with higher incomes.

Davis said that California leads in Fortune 500 company headquarters, manufacturing and agriculture and has more venture capital investment than all other states combined.

Citing the innovation of the Silicon Valley, Davis flatly stated: California is the future.

Via: CA Political Review

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Democrats’s Shutdown Is Refusal To Face The American People

We’ve heard stories of Democrats attempting to “shutdown” privately owned historical sites like Mount Vernon and many other privately funded and run parks. They want the shutdown for use as a weapon, to “hurt and rescue” the American people. Case in point: Canyon Voyages Adventure Company.

Don Oblak’s Moab, Utah-based Canyon Voyages Adventure Co. depends on the Colorado River, which winds through breathtaking ravines in the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

But national parks will have to remain closed during any government shutdown. The Bureau of Land Management has told Oblak that he would not have access to rivers on its lands.

That means he’d have to cancel kayak and whitewater trips on the river, his core business.

Oblak fears that if the government shuts down even for a short time, it will affect his business for the entire month of October because his clients will cancel their trips. If that happens, he’d have to furlough all 25 employees at Canyon Voyages and cancel pre-sold tours. Combined with lost sales from his retail store, a lengthy shutdown could lead to an estimated $200,000 loss.

Apparently all of the water has been shut off in rivers that wind through public land. Despite no “maintenance” needed for this company to take tours down the river, it’s still “shutdown.”

Democrats want the shut down to be as visible and painful-looking as possible so as to convince the public that they need massive government. Barricades have been placed in tour bus turn-arounds; direct orders were given to block WWII veterans from seeing the memorial built to them, mostly by them.

Via: Red State

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