[VIDEO] Rush Praises ‘Remarkable’ Walker: ‘He’s The One Guy In The Race With A Conservative Track Record’

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh continued to heap praise upon Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during his Monday broadcast, calling him “the one guy in the race with a conservative track record” ahead of his 2016 announcement.

Limbaugh, a frequent admirer of the latest 2016 entrant, said Walker has been “remarkable” during his tenure in Madison, adding further that Walker defeat the media and Democrats’ attacks on conservatives.

“One of the most qualified Republicans made it official, Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin — who, as you know, if you listen regularly to this program — we have touted Walker’s qualifications time and time and time again,” Limbaugh began. “Here is a man who is conservative. You know what he said, by the way, in his speech? Name for me any other candidate…who’s made this point.”

“Scott Walker said one of the first things he’s going to do is build on and shore up the Republican conservative base,” Limbaugh said. “That’s somewhat unique, folks, because most of the Republicans are talking about the need to go beyond the conservative base, and, at the very least, making themselves sound like they’re taking it for granted and the conservative base isn’t the key to their plans.”

“Walker believes that there are a lot of Americans who live their lives as conservatives but they don’t vote that way for the usual reasons,” Limbaugh continued. “He thinks they are what we used to call the Reagan Democrats, and he thinks that he can go get them, because he has met them. As governor of Wisconsin, he’s traveled around, and he’s campaigned.”

Previously, Limbaugh gave Walker high marks in the aftermath of Walker’s speech to the Iowa Freedom Fest, telling his listeners that his approach is “the blueprint” for conservatives if they are “serious about beating the left.” (RELATED: Limbaugh: Scott Walker ‘The Blueprint’ For GOP If They Are ‘Serious About Beating The Left’)

“Scott Walker has a track record,” Limbaugh said. “Scott Walker doesn’t have to tell you what he will do if he’s elected because all he has to do is point to what he has done.”

“He just signed into law another budget in the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a blue state. He just signed a budget which eliminates tenure! He just signed a budget which gets closer to balancing the budget in the state of Wisconsin. He’s done remarkable,” Limbaugh said. “He has implemented a conservative agenda against everything the Democrat Party has to throw at him, and he’s beat them three different times — which we’ve heralded here quite often and talked about it quite often.”

“So he’s the one guy in the race with a conservative track record, the one guy in the race that has shown how to defeat the media and Democrat coordinated attacks on conservatives,” Limbaugh said. “He’s shown how to hang in and be tough, and so he’s the one guy that has something other than promises to make.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Massachusetts: Democrats now cast wary eye on Baker

JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF/FILE

The governor’s announcement in February of a panel to overhaul the MBTA has led to disagreements with unions.

Union workers are frustrated by Charlie Baker’s bid to privatize services at the MBTA.

Environmentalists worry that he plans to gut the state’s clean air and water regulations.

Advocates for criminal sentencing reform say he appears to have cooled to their agenda, despite campaign promises.

Baker, a Republican who was elected governor by appealing to Democrats as well as his more natural constituencies, has, in the course of governing, demonstrated how difficult it is to please everyone on every issue.

Consider his fumble last week over the question of removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House, after the massacre at an African-American church in Charleston. His initial answer: Leave it to the state to decide. But an immediate backlash forced him to back down and call for the flag’s removal. Friends, Baker said, had asked him, “What were you thinking?”

“Charlie Baker is a conservative, it will continue to emerge, and there will be some people who will be surprised by it,’’ said Peter Ubertaccio, an associate political science professor at Stonehill College.

In his first few months in office, Baker was mostly managing broken agencies, trying to make the MBTA’s trains run on time, getting the highways plowed, and closing a budget deficit, applying the managerial skills that were his strong suit in his race for governor.

But analysts say Baker is now crafting policies and spending decisions that sometimes go against the liberal grain of Massachusetts politics.

To be sure, the governor enjoys sky-high popularity ratings from the public. And he has made several decisions — raising pay for home health care workers, funding urban programs, increasing budgets for environmental programs — that are likely to be popular among liberals and moderates.

For its part, the Baker administration points with pride to his progress on attacking the state budget deficit, while spending on public education and other critical areas without raising taxes.

“Additionally, the administration, one of the most bipartisan in recent history, has won praise from leading Democrats for the governor’s crossing the aisle on issues such as battling the opioid epidemic, aiding low-income families, and offering state government opportunities to minorities,” said Tim Buckley, a Baker spokesman.

At this point, none of the criticisms of Baker has jelled into full-throated opposition from Democratic leaders. In fact, the first-year governor appears to have good relations with the Democrats who run the House and Senate.

Still, Baker’s unusually warm honeymoon is showing its first signs of fraying. It’s not a political crisis, but small cracks in the eclectic coalition that put him in the governor’s office are appearing.

It is particularly evident among some of the Democrats — liberals and moderates — who comfortably crossed party lines and chose Baker over Democrat Martha Coakley in last November’s election. Despite his conservative leanings, they found him to be sensible, approachable, and compassionate.

“Constituencies and interest groups can read into a candidate anything they want,’’ Ubertaccio said “With Baker, you could watch the campaign last fall and say, ‘He’s not a threat to my interests.’ But in the end he is a conservative.’’

The most high-profile example of such tension involves Baker’s push to privatize some services at the beleaguered MBTA, against the wishes not only of the T’s unionized workers (whose radio advertisements warn of “shark privatizers”), but also Democrats in the state Senate.

But there are less heralded skirmishes as well.

Via: Boston Globe

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EXCLUSIVE: FORAMERICA’S BRENT BOZELL: CONGRESS AN ‘UNHOLY MESS,’ MOST REPUBLICANS ARE REALLY DEMOCRATS

Every conservative who cares about the unholy mess known as Congress should visit conservativereview.com (CR) and examine the “Liberty Score.” Every liberal who wonders how conservatives view their elected leaders should examine it as well.

The “Liberty Score” is refreshingly (and painfully) honest, as opposed to other scorecards that have been known to be compromised. It separates the wheat from the chaff and the frauds from the champions. It tells you who the real conservative heroes are, who comes close, and who doesn’t deserve to be in the same sentence with that word.

It also blows the whistle on the charlatans who campaign for re-election as red-hot conservatives, having deceived their constituency by covering up a voting record that is anything but; after being rewarded with another term, they cynically proceed to betray voters yet again by returning to their liberal ways.

The voting analysis here is no meatball surgery. You cannot be more comprehensive than when you analyze 6,382 votes, selecting the top 50 for incumbents over a six-year period.

Let’s look at the Republicans in the Senate. “Liberty Score” tells you everything you need to know about the GOP majority – and what to expect from a body that almost universally champions itself as “conservative.” But the scores, pulled in June 2015, tell a different tale.

Start with the “A” grades, those with voting records between 90% and 100%. There is only one Republican – Sen. Mike  Lee of Utah – who registers a perfect 100%. (Two others, Ben  Sasse and David  Perdue, also score perfectly, but they are brand-new and have cast only a handful of major votes.) There are only two other Republicans in the entire body who receive an “A” — Cruz (96%) and Paul (93%).

Three veterans and two rookies. That’s it for the conservative GOP “A” team.

Surely, then, the lengthy list of “B” grade conservatives will at least alleviate concerns, correct?

There are only four Republicans who merit a “B.” Tim  Scott (88%) is the best, followed by Marco  Rubio at a surprisingly weak 81%, Jeff  Sessions at an equally head-scratching 80% and Jim  Risch, also at 80%.

For me, that’s it. No one below this grade can qualify as a conservative. So there are seven veteran conservatives and two rookies – period.

The remaining are moderates or liberals. Their records do not lie. They do.

We drop to the “C”s and there are no fewer than 10 Republicans here. Some are real surprises: Jim  Inhofe (79%), James  Lankford (75%), and rookies Joni  Ernst and Tom  Cotton (both also at a worrisome 75%). The rest long ago deserted their conservative bona fides (Chuck  Grassley, David  Vitter, Mike  Crapo) or never had them to begin with (Bill  Cassidy, Dan  Sullivan, Steve  Daines).

Now to the charlatans—those who will tell the media, their constituents and their friends what committed conservatives they are and then do the opposite, over and over, when it comes time to vote.

They are the ones who despise the idea of the “Liberty Score.” It is the flashlight that found them cowering in the corner and has exposed them for all to see. These incumbents do not deserve re-election. They should be primaried and thrown out of Washington.

First, the seven who have compiled horrific “D” scores.

Jerry  Moran (64%) and Richard  Shelby (66%) are perhaps the ones who least claim conservative allegiances, so give them that. Mike  Enzi (66%) has done a terrific job pulling the wool over the eyes of conservative Wyoming voters. John  Cornyn (61%) has betrayed conservatives so many times I’m surprised they even let him return to Texas.

Then there are the two shockers. I wish they weren’t here because they are such monumental disappointments. Conservatives expected them not only to vote right but also to lead conservatives in the Senate. They excited the conservative movement when they arrived in Washington. Happy days were here again.

Ron  Johnson at 69% must stop calling himself a conservative.

Pat  Toomey is the man who brought the Club for Growth to national prominence as the one group that vowed not just to support only conservative Republicans, but also to aggressively challenge impostors. Sadly, the Club needs to consider challenging its former boss.  At 64%, Toomey is a conservative in name only.

Finally, to the GOP disgraces, the men and women who may as well be Democrats, except Democrats are more intellectually honest.

In the “F” category you’ll find the rogues. Every single one, with the possible exception of Thom  Tillis (50%) and Mike  Rounds (25%), both freshmen, needs to go.

Deb  Fischer (58%) and Jeff  Flake (40%) owe their elections to the Tea Party. Theirs was blatant false advertising.

Some have been here so long, utterly violating the spirit of the Founders, they’ve long forgotten – or stopped caring about – what their constituents want. John  McCain has been in Congress 32 years, Pat  Roberts 34 years, Orrin  Hatch 38 years, and Thad  Cochran 43 years. That is truly obnoxious. Their conservative voting records – 45%, 57%, 54%, and 33% respectively – are even worse.

Then there are the blatant hypocrites, those who so predictably and cynically wrap themselves with the conservative flag when facing the voters only to laugh and rip it to shreds the moment they succeed at what can be described only as a political con.

We know who we’re talking about. It’s the same story, one election cycle after the next. It’s Hatch and McCain. It’s Richard  Burr (51%). It’s Dan  Coats (49%). It’s Lindsey  Graham (49%). It’s Johnny  Isakson (42%). It’s Roy  Blunt (39%). It’s Roger  Wicker (32%).

The rest – Portman, Heller, Thune, Corker, Boozman, Ayotte, Kirk, Hoeven, Gardner, Rounds, Capito, Alexander, Murkowski, Collins – might as well be Democrats. Someone tell me of a single conservative cause any one of them has ever championed in the United States Senate.

To put things in their proper perspective: There are eight Republicans whose voting records are, at best, only 15 points higher than Bernie  Sanders (14%), the body’s only Socialist.

And there are more Republicans with an “F” rating – 28 of them — than all other gradescombined.

And leading this charge? Mitch  McConnell (54%). The Republican Majority Leader ranks an “F.”

How many times do you think these scoundrels have promised to defund Obamacare, stop executive amnesty, cut the size of government, balance the budget, secure the border, cut taxes, end the funding of Planned Parenthood, PBS, the NEA and God knows what else, honor the Constitution, rebuild our national defenses, end abortion, restore prayer in school, and blah, blah, blah. How many TV ads? Radio ads? Speeches? Press releases? Facebook and Twitter posts?

It is fashionable to say that these Republicans have surrendered their conservative principles. Not so. As the record – not the rhetoric, the record – shows, the overwhelming majority aren’t conservatives, and many were never conservatives.

Via: Breitbart

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Differences Between Left and Right: Part I

Most Americans hold either liberal or conservative positions on most matters. In many instances, however, they would be hard pressed to explain their position or the position they oppose.

But if you can't explain both sides, how do you know you're right?

At the very least, you need to understand both the liberal and conservative positions in order to effectively understand your own.

I grew up in a liberal world -- New York, Jewish and Ivy League graduate school. I was an 8-year-old when President Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson. I knew nothing about politics and had little interest in the subject. But I well recall knowing -- knowing, not merely believing -- that Democrats were "for the little guy" and Republicans were "for the rich guys."

I voted Democrat through Jimmy Carter's election in 1976. He was the last Democrat for which I voted.

Obviously, I underwent an intellectual change. And it wasn't easy. Becoming a Republican was emotionally and psychologically like converting to another religion.

In fact, when I first voted Republican I felt as if I had abandoned the Jewish people. To be a Jew meant being a Democrat. It was that simple. It was -- and remains -- that fundamental to many American Jews' identity.

Therefore, it took a lot of thought to undergo this conversion. I had to understand both liberalism and conservatism. Indeed, I have spent a lifetime in a quest to do so.

The fruit of that quest will appear in a series of columns explaining the differences between left and right.

I hope it will benefit conservatives in better understanding why they are conservative, and enable liberals to understand why someone who deeply cares about the "little guy" holds conservative -- or what today are labeled as conservative -- views.

Difference No. 1: Is Man Basically Good?

Via: Real Clear Politics

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ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL REQUIRES PARENTS TO SELF-IDENTIFY AS LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE

OAK FOREST - An assignment sent home from an Oak Forest, IL high school government class is raising eyebrows among parents who are shocked by the questionnaire they and their children are required to fill out. The questionnaire (below) has the parents identify their positions on a number of highly-charged issues, and then places them on a "political spectrum."

The survey is from the textbook "U.S. Government 2", published by the "The Center for Learning". It is part of Oak Forest High School's Common Core curriculum, which according to the school district's website is to ..."provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them."

In Stage 1 of this particular unit, students are to match political philosophies with political parties, debate a political/social/economic issue from their viewpoint on the political spectrum and identify the viewpoint of a social issue on that spectrum.

In Stage 2, the students are to conduct a "Political Spectrum Interview" (questionnaire above) "...with someone 40 years old or older." The specific curriculum instructions are as follows:

Parents of some of the students told Illinois Review they fear possible retribution on their children if they refuse to complete the survey. However, each had determined not to do so.

Via: Illinois Review

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A Conservative’s Experience Enrolling in Obamacare

With all the hoopla surrounding Obamacare, I decided to call and sign up for its implementation in our state, Covered California. I dialed 1-800-300-1506. Jose answered.

He was polite but rattled when I told him I’d rather talk to him, a human, than trust my most personal information to a problematic state government computer. He attempted several times to get me to sign up online, but I held firm. I did not want to create an online account.

Jose asked for my salary information, my age, and my husband’s information. He asked me for information from our tax returns, and if I was a citizen. Rather than provide my actual income, I used $40,000 as my annual salary, to see if I would qualify for a subsidized plan.

After running a few calculations, Jose suggested I dump my husband, who gets Medicare, from the plan to lower my income, and possibly qualify for government subsidies. “Your annual income is just below the boundary — you may qualify for assistance,”

Then the awkward sales pitch began.

Silver, blue and gold

There are four levels of health plans available, from cheapest to most expensive: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

While Jose was explaining the metallurgy of the health plans, the 1982 Bad Company song, “Silver, Blue and Gold,”  popped into my head:

In the beginning
I believed every word that you said
Now that you’re gone
My world is in shreds

Jose skipped right over the Bronze- and Silver-level plans and tried hard to sell me on a Gold-level health plan. He said the Bronze-level health plan had the highest monthly premiums, but was reluctant to tell me what they were.

Via: California Political Review

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STUDY: AMERICANS IN ALL 50 STATES MORE CONSERVATIVE SINCE 1964

According to Cornell political scientist Peter Enns, conservatives are beginning to break through across the country. Based on “measures of policy mood for eac state from the 1950s to 2010,” Enns and his colleague Julianna Koch found that there has been a conservative opinion shift in every single state across the country. Most of the increases were “statistically significant”; the same held true for regions.

Between 1964 and 2010, America shifted heavily when asked whether every person should be provided a job by the government, or whether government should allow everyone to get ahead individually. Asked whether Washington was becoming too powerful, the country has again shifted dramatically. 

Those statistics do not hold true on same-sex marriage, and there is no question that policy liberalism grew during the 1980s, but then reversed itself. The bad news: the public moves in the opposite direction of policy – so should Republicans win, public opinion is likely to swing to the left. Nonetheless, the study suggests that America has moved steadily to the right since the full-fledged embrace of the welfare state.

Via: Breitbart

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The Importance of Quin Hillyer

A principled conservative in 

Alabama.

Butternut squash.

Say what?

In the world of disagreements between like-minded conservative colleagues, this was the code word I would use with Quin Hillyer when we had reached that rare stage of disagreement.

It was meant to acknowledge the disagreement — while making certain that both of us knew that in fact, in the larger world, we were exactly on the same conservative page.

My friend and former colleague Mr. Hillyer is a conservative’s conservative — the kind who takes umbrage if you mistake that fact. This is decidedly not someone who runs from the fray, trying to figure out what mealy-mouthed toss of word salad can please whomever needs pleasing in the moment. Quin, as it were, takes his conservatism straight-up. He runs straight towards the action, principles fixed.

This is, sadly, a rare phenomenon in the Republican Party, as conservatives have repeatedly learned to their chagrin. But take heart: today that principled political courage is on display as Quin runs for the congressional vacancy in Alabama’s 1st district in Mobile.

And by a quirk of fate — the resignation of the incumbent — the special election in the Alabama First takes on a special importance as the place the repeal of not just ObamaCare but the disaster that is the Obama presidency begins.

Via: American Spectator

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House Democrats Declare The Tea Party Has Been Defeated…

MADISON, Wis.—The tea party, at least its widespread influence on Republican congressional candidates, "is over," declared the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party group charged with electing Democrats to the House.

"House Republican incumbents—and their candidates—are running as far away from the Tea Party as they can," a pre-election DCCC memo provided to Yahoo News reads. "Regardless of whether [Republicans] win or lose, the Tea Party of 2010 is over. They've been forced on defense in the message fight all cycle long, and now those who win will have done so by giving up on the Tea Party."

The memo argues that Republican lawmakers who arose from the tea party are now promoting bipartisanship and willingness to compromise in their re-election bids instead of embracing the hard-line messages that propelled their campaigns two years ago.

It is possible, of course, that this Democratic declaration is premature. Tea party-backed candidates dominated Republican primary contests across the country in 2012, launching what could be a new class of future Republican leaders. In Texas, Ted Cruz defeated the establishment candidate backed by Gov. Rick Perry, and in Indiana, Richard Mourdock forced longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar into early retirement. Looking to 2013, tea party groups who are begrudgingly backing Mitt Romney have vowed to press him, should he become president, toward conservative positions.

The tea party, a grass-roots network of conservative activists, drove many Republican House and Senate candidates to victory in the midterm elections two years ago, but its influence seems to be overshadowed in 2012 by the presidential election. Still, the infrastructure that was built since the movement launched in 2009 has been used to promote Republican congressional candidates and serve as a backup ground game for Romney's presidential campaign.

Regardless of the health of the tea party's influence this election cycle, Republicans are widely expected to retain control of the House.

Via: Yahoo

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Obama Works His Magic, Tuns Historically Liberal Young People Into Fiscal Conservatives…

CHICAGO (AP) -- This generation of young Americans has been called many things, from civic-minded to "entitled." But fiscally conservative?

That's a new one, and it just might have an impact on the presidential election.

Listen to Caroline Winsett, a senior at DePaul University, who considers herself fairly socially liberal but says being fiscally conservative matters most right now.

"Ultimately, I'm voting with my pocketbook," says Winsett, a 22-year-old political science major who's president of the DePaul student body. She recently cast an absentee ballot for Republican Mitt Romney in her home state of Tennessee.

To be clear, polls show that President Barack Obama remains the favorite among 18- to 29-year-old registered voters, as he was in 2008. No one thinks the majority of young voters will support Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, in the Nov. 6 election.

But the polls also hint at a "schism" between those who weren't old enough to vote in 2008 and their older twentysomething counterparts, says John Della Volpe, the polling director at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

In one poll, for instance, he found that 42 percent of 18- and 19-year-olds identified as "conservative," compared with just over one-third who said they were "liberal." By comparison, those proportions were nearly flipped for 22- to 24-year-olds: 39 percent said they were "liberal," and a third called themselves "conservative." It was much the same for older twentysomethings.

Via: AP

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