CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Senate Republicans suggest way for Obama to save $80 million

Republican Senators Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, Lamar Alexander and John Thune have a suggestion for President Obama to help him meet his pathetic goal of cutting a meager $100 million from Obama's and the Democrats' spend too much, tax too much and borrow too much budget:

Keep the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay open, so that American cities don't have to play host to terrorists. That will save the $80 million budgeted for the closure - 80% of Obama's goal.

Once again I ask, where will Obama put the terrorists?

Boehner on the Obama Budget, Dem energy tax, bipartisanship and bailout fatigue

In an interview yesterday evening on PBS' "NewsHour," House Republican Leader John Boehner discussed the economy, Obama's spend too much, tax too much and borrow too much budget, the Democrats’ “cap-and-trade” energy tax, the American automobile industry, bipartisanship, bailout fatigue:

Watch the video:

A transcript of the interview is available here.

Report on the House Republican budget alternative - read it here

Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on House Budget Committee, introduced the House Republicans' comprehensive alternative to President Obama's spend too much, tax too much and borrow too much budget.

The Republican budget alternative, "The Path To American Prosperity," works to accomplish four main goals:

1. Fulfill the mission of health and retirement security;
2. Control our nation's debts;
3. Put our economy on a path of growth and leadership in the global economy; and 
4. Preserve the American legacy of leaving the next generation better off.

You can the "The Path To American Prosperity," below.

Click full screen to make it easier to read.

report on_gopbudget - Free Legal Forms

The GOP 'Road to Recovery' budget - read it here

House Republicans have unveiled the "Road to Recovery," a budget plan to curb spending, create jobs, and control the debt, in contrast to the irresponsible budget proposed by President Obama, which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.

You can the "Road to Recovery," below.

Click full screen to make it easier to read.

 
GOP Road to Recovery - Free Legal Forms

Republicans to offer alternative to Obama budget

Republicans will reveal an alternative to President Obama's "spend too much, tax too much and borrow too much" budget, later today.

House Republican Leader John Boehner outlined the principles of the alternative budget last week.

1. Lower Taxes: "First, our budget alternative will help create and protect jobs by letting families and small businesses keep more of what they earn," Boehner said.
2. Fiscal Restraint: "Second, our budget will make sure the federal budget doesn’t grow faster than family budgets. Americans are making tough spending decisions every day.  It’s time for Washington to do the same."
3. Health Care: "Third, our budget will aim to expand access to affordable health care for every American, while preserving Social Security and Medicare for future generations." (Republicans are pushing for medical liability reform to reduce the number of "frivolous" lawsuits.) 
4. No More Bailouts: "Fourth, our budget will end the bailouts to protect taxpayers and reform the financial system so this crisis never repeats itself.  Instead of raising energy costs through a 'cap and trade' energy tax that will cost every family up to $3,100 a year, our budget will encourage an 'all of the above' energy strategy that harnesses new technologies, encourages greater conservation and efficiency, and increases American energy production in an environmentally-safe manner."
5. Inflation Control: "And last but not least, our budget will fight inflation so the prices of goods and services Americans depend on every day remain stable during and after this economic crisis."

In an interview on "Fox & Friends" this morning, Boehner discussed the House Republicans' better budget solution that will be outlined at a press conference later today. Boehner also discussed President Obama's $3.6 trillion bigger government budget. Watch the video:

Chairman Steele's first interview

Sean Hannity landed the first interview with the Republican National Committee's new Chairman, Michael Steele:

Steele Elected Chairman of Republican National Committee

Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, is the new chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Steele, the first African-American to hold the post, is a conservative, but he was considered the most moderate of the five candidates running.

He promises "it's going to be a new day" and "a brand new message."

You can watch Steele's remarks to the RNC in the following msnbc video:

,

Steele's background includes the following:

He is a  self-described Lincoln Republican. In 2003 he became the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland.

An expert on political strategy, fund-raising, PACs, and election reform, Steele is the current Chairman of GOPAC.  He has served on the National Federal Election Reform Commission and the NAACP Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform.

Born in 1958 at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George’s County, Maryland, He was raised in Washington, D.C. He spent three years as a seminarian in the Order of St. Augustine in preparation for the priesthood, but, ultimately, chose a career in law instead. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1991.

He is currently a Partner in the international law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf in Washington, D.C.  From 1991–1997, Steele was a corporate securities attorney at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Washington, D.C., specializing in sophisticated financial transactions on behalf of Wall Street underwriters. He also was a corporate finance counsel for the Mills Corporation and founded his own company, The Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm.  

We wish Chairman Steele well in his new role.

Most Republicans want a more conservative GOP

A recent Gallup Poll found only 34% of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party. Just as bad, if not worse, 61% now hold an unfavorable view of the party. That is the highest unfavorable number recorded for the Republican Party since Gallup started polling on that question in 1992.

To find clues about the Republican Part can do to reverse this unfavorable trend, Gallup asked repondents:

"Over the next few years, would you like to see the Republican Party and its candidates move in a more conservative direction, a less conservative direction, or stay about the same?"

Most Republicans (59%) want to see the party become more conservative, another 28% want it to remain about the same and 12% would prefer to see the party become less conservative.

In order to make gains in Congress or win the Presidency in 2012, Republicans must attract substantial support from political independents. According to Gallup, independents are split about the direction they would like the Republican Party to move. About a third say the party should become more conservative, an equal percentage say it should become less conservative, and just under one-quarter say it should stay the same.

Gallup Poll Editor in Chief, Frank Newport, covers the details in the following video report:

Energizing The Republican National Convention

With Politico's Richard T. Cullen writing that the GOP convention is plagued by a lack of enthusiasm, the co-chairmen of the Republican Platform Committee, North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and California Congressman Kevin McCarthy are trying to come up with a platform that will energize the Republicans.

According to The Hill, Burr and McCarthy see inclusion as the key. The lawmakers hope to appeal independents and conservative Democrats by soliciting input from individuals and groups hailing from “all walks of life.” They also hope to produce a shorter platform than the 92-page 2004 party platform.

With Senator McCain as the nominee, the platform writers will be more amenable to a plank on climate change:

“The Bush people had little or no use for any kind of advocacy regarding the environment or conservation. They’d just assume it would all go away. With McCain, that’s an issue that’s important to him.”

The platform will also present other opportunities to capitalize on McCain's Maverick credentials and further distinguish McCain from President Bush, such as McCain's relative openness to federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

But the core issues of the Republican policy -- pro-life, national security, as well as lower taxes will remain staples of the GOP platform.

While the Republicans are drafting the 2008 party platform, on Saturday, the Democrats voted to recommend adoption of a new party platform which adopts the liberal policies of the Democrats' presumptuous nominee at the same time it tries to satisfy Hillary supporters. According to the Associated Press, the Democrats' new platform contains the following planks:

Iraq: The draft calls the way "ill-considered" and "unnecessary" and states that Democrats "expect to complete redeployment within 16 months," reflecting Obama's time frame but not the tone of certainty he brought to it when he was running in the primaries.

Detention of Terrorists: The draft promises to close the Guantanamo detention center.

Health Care: The draft aims for universal coverage without promising it.

Illegal Immigration: The draft promises "tough, practical, and humane immigration reform in the first year of the next administration."

Gun Control: The draft favors restoration of the ban on assault-type weapons and other "reasonable regulation" that recognizes the constitutional right to own and use firearms.

On abortion, the Democrats move from the 2004 language:

Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right. At the same time, we strongly support family planning and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.

To this:

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. The Democratic Party also strongly supports access to affordable family planning services and comprehensive age-appropriate sex education which empower people to make informed choices and live healthy lives. We also recognize that such health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre and post natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.

All that after the Obama's shift to the center. Burr and McCarthy may not have to worry about energizing the Republican Convention, the Democrats will do it.

Rice Campaigns For VP

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is "campaigning" to be John McCain's running mate:

Rice has been courting the Republican elite, Dan Senor, a political strategist and former foreign-policy adviser to President Bush, said on ABC's "This Week."

"Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this," he said.

If Condi is seeking to be the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she's being too subtle about it. McCain failed to notice:

“I missed those signals,” Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign plane en route to Kansas City.

Nonetheless, Mr. McCain took a few moments to compliment Ms. Rice. “I think she’s a great American, I think there’s very little that I can say that isn’t anything but the utmost praise for a great American citizen, who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world,” Mr. McCain said, adding that “her overall record is very, very meritorious.”

Condi, should not be McCain's running mate. She is as experienced as Hillary and Obama, except she has never campaigned for elective office.

Condi also failed to distinguish herself as the person in charge at the State Department. In February Manual Mda wrote a blistering departure assessment of the State Department's meager efforts in Iraq:

A State Department official this week issued a blistering critique of Foreign Service bureaucrats at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for undermining civilian stability efforts in Iraq.

"After a year at the embassy, it is my general assessment that the State Department and the Foreign Service [are] not competent to do the job that they have undertaken in Iraq," said Manuel Mda, a conservative former Senate staff member who is part of the office of legislative statecraft in Baghdad.

[. . .]

Mr. Mda's most stinging accusation is that the State Department is an "albatross around the neck of the coalition command."

The department "failed to assist coalition initiatives by delaying or failing to supply the civilian expertise needed in a thoughtful and timely manner and also delaying decisions on funding and staffing vital to GOI (and our) success," he said, using the acronym for the government of Iraq.

Also, the embassy has blocked the flow of information to the White House and other policy-makers, the State Department in Washington, and the commanding general in Baghdad, fearing leaks to the press.

[. . .]

Mr. Mda said the State Department's Iraq operations, judged by private sector standards, is "willfully negligent, if not criminal."

The response from Condi's State Department consisted of supporting her team:

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Mr. Mda, as a temporary appointed employee in Iraq, "is entitled to his opinion."

"However, the president and Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice believe that Ambassador Crocker and his team at Embassy Baghdad are performing ably under incredibly difficult circumstances," he said.

And who can forget the cowardly refusal of members of Condi's State Department to accept assignments in Iraq. Bill Kristol and Dean Barnett contrasted the State Department refusals with the heroics of the four soldiers who fought off nearly 40 al Qaeda fighters -- a magnificently told story written by RedState's Jeff Emanuel.

Finally, I think Dr. Steven Taylor has it exactly right:

Rice’s positives: black, female, not in her 70s.

Negatives: Bush’s foreign policy.

I have a hard time seeing the former overshadowing the latter.

There was a time when Rice was considered a clear up-and-comer in the party, but given her central role in the Bush foreign policy apparatus, first as National Security Advisor and then as Secretary of State, it would seem that Rice would bring only negatives to the ticket. McCain already has an Iraq problem and the only way he can even hope to try and deal with it is to say that he will be more competent than the Bush administration has been on the subject. The inclusion of Rice on the ticket would make such an argument far more difficult to make.