Rudy Giuliani

Greetings from the Great City of Austin in the Great State of Texas in the Good Old U S of A on this, our Independence Day.  Just spent three hours under the 105 degree Texas sun (in addition to walking back and forth to the capital...about 2 miles in each direction).  Before I collapse from Heat Stroke, let me share a few observations:

Attendance: Roughly 3000.  Substantially lower than the April tea party @ the Capitol.  Then again, at the April party the temperature was 75.

Crowd: Mostly folks in their 50's and 60's.  Some families with children.  All in all, an older crowd than April.  About 30% Ron Paul types, 50% more traditional GOPer, 20% assorted other.

Signs: Generally quite clever.  Personal favorites: any of the several that referred to Waxman/Markey as "Crap and Trade."

Sleeper GOP Gubernatorial Candidate: Debra Medina.  I might be biased because I met her today (also briefly met Sen. Cornyn and Gov. Perry) AND got to talk to her a bit.  She's a down the line, SERIOUS, conservative.  Like the message, concerned about viability.  I told her I intend to re-elect the incumbent, but that if she could prove herself a viable candidate in BOTH the primary AND general, I'd consider giving her my vote.

Most Embarrassing Moment for a Speaker: Sen. John Cornyn being greeted by a loud chorus of Boos as he took the stage due to his vote on TARP.

Most Embarrassing Moment for the Ron Paul supporters: Continuing to Boo Senator Cornyn after he acknowledged their concerns and moved on to Porkulus/Crap and Trade/Obamacare where he's firmly on our side.

Best Speaker, Runner Up: Wanye Allyn Root.  The 2008 LIbertarian Party Vice Presidential Nominee gave the crowd an inspiring speech on the value of limited government with a whole lotta quotes from Goldwater and Reagan thrown in.  Gets brownie points in my book for his rousing (by libertarian standards) defense of President Bush's overspending and bailouts being several orders of magnitude less bad than President Obama's overspending and bailouts.

Best Speaker, Overall: Governor Perry.  No one else even came close.  Whatever his alleged flaws, Governor Perry has done A TON over this past decade to have left us the strongest economy in the country right now.

In many ways, the attitude of people in Texas towards Governor Perry right now reminds me of the attitude in NYC of people towards Rudy in July 2001.  The man's gotten so much right that his citizens now take these things for granted.

All in all, an Afternoon well spent!

I hope this helps.

That is all.

Cahnman out.

With the recent defection of Arlen Specter and the entry of Charlie Crist into the Florida Senate race, much has been recently made of an alleged split between moderate and conservative Republicans.  While I think there's some truth to this argument, I also think it misses the point.  The problem is that "Republican Moderate" is such a broad category that it doesn't mean anything.

With that in mind, I want to differentiate between two types of Republican Moderates.  For the sake of clarity, I'm going to define them as the "Rudy Giuliani Moderates" and the "Arlen Specter Moderates."

Who are they?!?

Rudy Giuliani -- These are the Republicans who are Conservative on most issues and have a few issues where they legtimately disagree with the Republican base.  In Rudy's case, he's GREAT on National Security, the Economy, Health Care, Education, Crime, and a whole host of other issues.  At the same time, there are a few issues where Rudy differs from the GOP mainstream: Life, Gun Control, and Cross Dressing.

Moderates like Rudy are our friends.  When people talk about a big tent, that's fine.  We need to be inclusive of people who are with us on most of the issues even when they differ on a few.  Reagan said it best when he said: "My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy."

Recruiting candidates who fall into the Rudy Giuliani mold who are well suited to a particular district or state is a essential.  We can't be excessively doctriaire in who we recruit.

(Author's Note: John McCain, Lindsay Grahmnesty, Mark Kirk, and Sheriff Dave Reichart all fit into this category.)

That said, there's another type of "moderate" candidate we need to avoid like the plague.

Arlen Specter -- These are "Republicans" who find it politically expedient to run for office with an R after their name and are nothing more than gloified prostitutes seeking power and personal aggandizement.  While Specter was a respectable Judiciary commitee chairman and backed most of Reagan's defense buildup in the 1980's that's the only useful thing he's ever done in the United States Senate.  Otherwise, he's been a thorn in the side of Conservative reform for the past three decades.  Beyond his vote for Porkulus, Specter led the Smear Campaign against Judge Robert Bork, and he sold his soul to the trial lawyer lobby over the asbestos bailout.  Unlike the Giuliani style moderates, who actually care about Public Affairs, people like Arlen Specter are in Politics to increase their personal power and will do or say whatever it takes to make that happen.

Arlen Specter style prostitutes shred our credibility and dilute our message.

(Author's Note: George Pataki, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Colin Powell all fit into this category.)

As I said several months ago: Apostates are O.K.; Grandstanding RINO's are not.

Thoughts/Suggestions?!?

Cahnman out.

Greetings from New York City;

First things first, the New Stadium is AMAZING.

Secong things second, holy shit, today was an AMAZING GAME!!!

That is all.

Cahnman out.

Having quoted Rush earlier today, I can't help coming up with my own self-indulgent 35 undeniable truths of life:

1) The New York Yankees represent everything that is right with America.

2) The Chicago Cubs represent everything that is wrong with America.

3) The Greatest Threat to World Peace comes not from a strong America, but from a weak America.

4) The only way to acheive real Peace is by having superior firepower vis a vis our enemies.

5) Conservatives revere the United States Military.  Liberals are, at best, ambivalent.  At worst, liberals express outright contempt for the U.S. Military.

6) Karl Rove was right: After 9/11, liberals offered therapy to our enemies; conservatives prepared for war.

7) The Prision at Guantanamo Bay has (quite literally) saved American Lives.

8) Liberals are more concerned with conferring rights upon terrorists and criminals than with protecting decent people.

9) Over the Long Run, dictatorships kill far more people than the wars that end dictatorships .

10) Iraq proves undeniable truth # 9.

11) Since 2003, more people have been killed in Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Burma than have been killed in Iraq.

12) There are only two ways to end wars: Victory or Defeat.

13) The Man who threw his shoe at George W. Bush would never have done that to Saddam Hussein.

14) Persons who whine about alleged U.S. torture have no idea what real torture is.  Such persons will whine about anything the U.S. Miltary does to give meaning to their insignificant lives.  They are best ignored.

15) Israelis are morally superior to Palestians. 

16) Palestinians cannot be trusted until they suffer overwhelming military defeat.

17) Free-Market Capitalism is the best, and only, path to prosperity.

18) The American Consumer is the greatest force for good in human history.  The American Military is second.

19) Free Trade creates jobs and prevents wars.

20) Taxes are not too low; government spending is too high.

21) When Investment Tax Rates are lowered, the government collects more tax revenue.

22) Joe the Plumber knows more about economics than President Obama.

23) Paul Krugman is a pathological liar.

24) When politicians talk about "investments," they're coming for your wallet.

25) Targeted Tax Cuts are a euphemism for welfare.

26) Reprductive Freedom is a euphemism for murder.

27) Medicare Part D is the model for all future entitlement reform.

28) Californians ruined California.

29) Rudy Giuliani personally saved New York City.

30) Motley Crue is the Greatest Band of All Time.

31) Dave Matthews sucks.  If you listen to Dave Matthews, you suck.

32) See undeniable truth #31; ditto Jack Johnson, John Mayer, The Killers, or Fallout Boy.

33) Instant Replay is Good for the NFL; Major League Baseball should incorporate it.

34) Any country that allows fans of the New York Mets to marry already practices Gay Marriage.

35) Liberals want to make America more like Cuba.  Their reason for wanting this will always baffle me.

On the heels of murder going up for the first time in 18 years, Tsar Bloomberg has decided to roll back a central component of the NYC Crime Miracle:

SOME petty crime is apparently too petty for the NYPD.

The department is edging away from a highly successful model of attacking all minor offenses to focus more on major crimes and counterterrorism....

The decline highlights the department's struggle to maintain the "broken windows" theory of crime prevention - that fixing problems such as a broken window right away will prevent bigger problems later.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani modeled his "zero tolerance" policy in part on that theory, leading to widespread reductions in minor and major crimes.

The broken-windows theory helped bring about the NYPD's CompStat program, the city's crime analysis and accountability system. CompStat keeps track of crime in each neighborhood - and puts each commanding officer's feet to the fire....

The decline highlights the department's struggle to maintain the "broken windows" theory of crime prevention - that fixing problems such as a broken window right away will prevent bigger problems later.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani modeled his "zero tolerance" policy in part on that theory, leading to widespread reductions in minor and major crimes.

The broken-windows theory helped bring about the NYPD's CompStat program, the city's crime analysis and accountability system. CompStat keeps track of crime in each neighborhood - and puts each commanding officer's feet to the fire.

This is incredibly dangerous, considering that the same people commit petty and violent crime.  The reforms of the Giuliani years demand eternal vigilance.  I fear this lesson has been forgotten.

Is it too late for a draft Rudy movement?

Guess who's crawling back to the GOP.  Money quote:

Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat who joined the Republican Party for his first mayoral bid in 2001 but then abandoned it in 2007, must mend fences if he wants to secure the Republican line, several sources said.

"A lot of them [GOP leaders] told me they will not carry petitions for Mayor Bloomberg," said one source. "They feel he bought us and sold us."

Allowing this man back into the party would be an act of supreme stupidity.  Let us count the ways:

1) He's a tax hiker.  Since taking office in 2002, Michael Bloomberg has raised taxes on at least 5 seperate occasions.  The result has been that NYC has lagged behind the national job creation pace for this entire decade.  Now he's preaching a New New Deal.

2) He's sold his soul to orgaized labor.  Bloomberg has gone on the greatest public spending spree since the 1960's; his calls for discipline correspondingly ring hollow.

3) He's the most pro-Abortion Mayor in NYC's history.

4) He allowed murder to go up for the first time in 18 years.

5) He actively obstructed Rudy's Presidential run.  Obviously, Rudy's Presidential campaign had plenty of other problems.  That said, anyone who wants to run on the GOP line for mayor of NYC should have been an early and unapologetic supporter.

The citizens of New York City deserve a choice, not an echo.

Thank You Very Much Michael Bloomberg.

In other news (same link), the NYPD cut it's 2009 recruiting class by 500.  I've seen more graffiti in the past day (even in my parents' neighborhood) than any time in the last five years.  New York is on the precipice of a return to the bad old days.

We need to keep the cops and fire a bunch of teachers, nurses, and social workers.

People who know me will tell you this falls into the beating-a-dead-horse category, but I still maintain that if this Rudy Giuliani had shown up during the campaign, he'd be on the stage tonight. 

Speeches like this are what made me believe in the first place. This may have topped his 2004 convention performance.

Video clips at Ustream

This was a line from an old Billy Joel song Miami 2017. Sadly, it accurately describes the straits of the New York State GOP.

Now, lots of folks will immediately post that this is a liberal, Democratic, Bush hating state chock full of nonwhite and nonchristian voters. Well, it wasn't Goldwater's Arizona a decade ago and the state still had a Republican Governor, a Republican senator, a Republican attorney general, and a dozen GOP congressmen.

Not to mention Giuliani was Mayor of NYC then.

So where have the mighty fallen:

a) the leader of the NY State Senate is stepping down  http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/bruno_1255832___article.html/decision_joe.html

Now Joe Bruno had been pretty much a status quo Republican over the past few terms; even opposing former Governor Pataki's budget cuts at one point. But with liberal Democrats controlling the rest of state government; status quo was actually pretty refreshing. We can thank Bruno for contributing to the self-immolation of former Governor Eliot Spitzer, for example.

Republicans are highly likely to hold Bruno's seat in the Albany suburbs but with a razor thin margin going into this election and many vulnerable incumbents, Dean Skelos's tenure as Majority Leader may be brief. http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/20747614.html

b) the Island of Lost Dreams

Staten Island's 13th Congressional District has been a Republican stronghold since the days of Reagan. It would take a political disaster for the Democrats to swing this seat. And guess what......the Republicans have had two already this year.

First, Cheato Vito Fossella's drinking and philandering render him politically toxic, so he stands down for re-election. Then ,after all the well known local officeholders passed on the race, a retired financier stepped up offering to partially self fund the race, and got the nod.

And he died

   http://www.nypost.com/seven/06242008/news/regionalnews/gop_left_in_the_lurch_on_si_116950.htm

Now there are enough registered Republicans and behavioral Republicans in this district that even one of the "nobodies" might win, since McCain is expected to carry this area. But we've taken a double whammy here.

Mike Bloomberg, who has never been accused of not having good radar for this stuff, exemplifies this. Adopting the GOP as a flag of convenience post Giuliani, he has now become quite publicly "independent".  

It's likely that in 2009 there will be no indicia of GOP control of state government,  low single digits of Republican house members out of 29, and control of no local government larger than some upstate counties.

No matter what you think of New York, this sort of weakness in the nation's third largest state--and still it's mainstream media capital--isn;t good for the party in the rest of the nation.

Looking outward, the national party may be too closely identified with southern white protestants for this electorate.

Looking inward, mushy moderate officeholders have made the local party's "brand"  hard to distinguish from the Democrats.  Weak candidate recruitment and gaffe prone campaigns haven't helped either.

If there's ever a state that desperately needs its own "Next Right", it's  New York,  Will the locals rise up, or will they huddle in the bunker or call Mayflower?