Some Things Are Not Negotiable

Mitch McConnell, the new Senate Minority Leader, reached out to bloggers in a conference call this afternoon. I covered the event for RedState.

In his opening remarks Senator McConnell noted the historic significance of the House electing the first woman Speaker and observed that this is traditionally a time to employ civility, but not capitulation.

The Minority Leader drew a line in the sand saying two things were not negotiable.

1. Raising taxes -The minority won't put the economy at risk by allowing taxes to be increased.

2. Staying on offense in the War - The country has not suffered a terrorist attack since 9/11 because we have been on the offensive, taking the fight to our enemies.

The minority will cooperate on lobbying reform.

In the responding to a question about fighting so-called campaign finance reform, Senator McConnell said he will continue the fight for free speech. He noted the battle is now limited to litigation. There is hope in this arena because the initial legal battle over McCain-Feingold resulted was decided by a 5-4 vote. Now that Sandra Day O'Connor, part of the majority, has been replaced there is hope of chipping away at the McCain-Feingold free speech restrictions.

That's most of the good news.

Asked about the Republican position on the "illegal" immigration" bill that the Senate passed last year, Leader McConnell candidly stated we probably won't agree on this issue. He noted border enforcement is improving and is funded, then said he supports comprehensive immigration reform. The need for a guest worker program was discussed, with the Senator noting some crops couldn't be harvested this year because of a lack of workers. McConnell did state he is opposed any preferential treatment for illegals becoming citizens. He doesn't think a guest worker program has to necessarily be related to a path to citizenship. The part of the question about whether the Senate would approve a more liberal immigration reform than that passed last year was ignored in the response.

On earmarks senator McConnell takes the position that the key to earmark reform is transparency. He said some earmarks, like a cancer hospital, are good, while others, like the Bridge to Nowhere, are bad.

The Minority Leader talked about the importance the Senate for the minority. Procedures are different in the Senate. It takes 60 votes to accomplish anything significant. That means the Democrats have to find nine votes and the Republicans can lose eight. He encouraged bloggers to inform their readers about Senate procedures and how the Senate works.

I thank Senator McConnell for taking time out of what had to be an extremely busy day to reach out to the right side of the blogosphere. It is clear that conservatives aren't in complete agreement with the Senate minority on a number of issues, but we can and should, work together in pushing back against the left wing extremists that now control the Senate. We should also work hard to encourage and nurture a dialogue with the Senate minority in order to help limit the damage as much as possible.

John Hawkins was also on the conference call and has a less optimistic view. He wonders whether McConnell can deliver the non-negotiable support for the War.

UPDATE: You can listen to the conference call via this link.

At Human Events, Robert B. Bluey posts about the call. QandO's Bruce "McQ" McQuain does so as well.

I failed to thank Jon Henke, McConnell's new-media director, for pulling off the blogger conference call. Henke's position is another indication of the Minority Leaders outreach to the blogoshpere.