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Why Being Opposed To Mayor Bloomberg Is Not Anti-Semitism

March 27, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
Bloomberg

This article originally appeared on TownHall.com:

On the network of hysterical opinion known as MSNBC, Morning Joe guest and contributor Mike Barnicle claimed that there was a “level of anti-semitism” aimed at New York Nanny Michael Bloomberg and his $12 million campaign to push gun control. It’s not anti-semitism. And those who think it is, as my grandmother would say, are mind-numbingly ignorant schumucks.

Barnicle was part of a panel discussing Bloomberg’s anti-gun rights ad campaign that included former Romney advisor Dan Senor, and MSNBC Race Baiter-In-Chief Al Sharpton. Senor stated that the Mayor of a Blue city should not be telling people in Red states how to live, saying that it probably “wasn’t constructive.” Barnicle, then added his insightful thoughts:

Let’s get down to it, Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City…I mean, there’s a level of anti-Semitism in this thing, directed toward Bloomberg.

No. It’s not anti-semitism. How do I know? Because my brain works. Also, because Al Sharpton agreed with Barnicle. Rule of Thumb – If Sharpton agrees, its got to be a bad idea.

Nanny Bloomberg is wrong on many things. When you try to regulate the size of a person’s drink, when you regulate the amount of salt that a chef can use, when you want to prevent adults from purchasing and smoking premium cigars, when you attack lawful gun owners for engaging their Second Amendment rights – you’re wrong. And none of it has to do with him being Jewish.

A few years ago I popularized the term “Racer.” A Racer is someone who decides that because you don’t like President Obama’s policies, you’re a racist. Don’t like Obamacare? Then you’re a racist. Got a problem with nonstop vacations? Racist. Opposed to raising the debt limit? Racist. Barnicle is a Racer, but gave it his own little twist.

Opposing Bloomberg isn’t anti-semitic. It’s the right thing to do. Anti-semitism is real. Barnicle’s assessment is not. Barnicle, like a good “Racer,” uses the claim of anti-semitism to shut down conversation, preventing others from opposing Bloomberg’s control agenda. Bloomberg is wrong, and his nanny-esqe ways have ended the reign of New York as the greatest city in the world.

The Nanny likes control, and he’s trying to gain more of it every way he can. It’s not anti-semitic to point it out. It’s common sense

Liberal Talk Station Closes, Blames Money

March 18, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
ed_schultz

This article was originally posted on TonyKatz.com:

In December, I reported on liberal talk station WVKO in Ohio, which went dark because they did not receive the kind of financial support they needed from advertisers and listeners. The station went so far as to blame the Obama campaign for not doing more advertising. Now, another liberal station calls it quits – and revenue is again to blame.

According to Talkers.com, Reno, NV liberal talk station KJFK announced that it will go dark on March 18th. (A screen shot of the announcement is posted below.) The line-up is a who’s who of left leaning hosts, including Thom Hartmann, Leslie Marshall and now MSNBC weekend mascot Ed Schultz. The problem? The money: (emphasis mine)

Given the volume of rhetoric dispensed on-air from “the other side”, we felt it vital to remain on-the-air through the 2012 General Election, despite the fact that KJFK has operated at a loss of thousands of dollars a month. Since we launched the station with an appearance by Al Franken in 2005, when nearly 500 people joined us at the Atlantis for now Senator Franken’s appearance just days after we hit the air, we’ve known a passionate audience has been with us all along. Unfortunately, this station was never able to generate the revenue necessary to sustain, and we simply cannot absorb the financial loss any longer.

Yes, the market is to blame. The station could not generate revenue. According to AllAccess.com, KJFK was among the bottom of the ratings in the city. It’s Fall 2012 Arbitron share was a 1.7, compared with juggernaut talk station KKOH, which enjoyed a 8.8 share in the same time period. The KKOH line-up includes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Mark Levin.

The market isn’t to blame. It simply holds up a mirror to reality. A station that operates at a loss of “thousands of dollars a month” should close. When, after 8 years, you are unable to find “the revenue necessary to sustain” the station, the mirror doesn’t lie. Progressive talk works on TV, where no one ever asks a tough question of the host (kind of like the Obama Administration.)

However, when forced to deal with the real world, liberal talk doesn’t sell. (Which is exactly why liberals are so keen on the Fairness Doctrine. And yes, expect its unfortunate comeback.) Leftist radio doesn’t move an audience. There is not enough return for sponsors and advertisers. Even in a country where Democrats control the Presidency and the Senate, the market tells the tale.  Angry, nasty hosts like Bill Press and Mike Malloy (also on the now-defunct station) don’t create radio that people want.

Audiences aren’t buying liberal radio, because the product isn’t worth it.

KJFK

 

 

Post Chavez: Venezuela, Iran, and the U.S.

March 11, 2013 blog No comments
amy_laff

From APM colleague and political/media strategist Amy Laff:

Upon landing in Caracas yesterday for Hugo Chavez’s funeral, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed, “Iran and Venezuela are two brother peoples and will be united forever.” While “forever” might be a stretch, the countries share a way-too-cozy relationship, including convoluted military, political and financial ties.

Iran and Venezuela had exchanged diplomats since the 60s, but until 2005, that was the extent of their ties. As soon as Ahmadinejad was elected president, the leaders became bffs. Although their histories and cultures have precious little in common, the two megalomaniacal leaders shared a ruthless determination to dominate their respective regions along with a hatred of America and Israel, and in 2007 declared an “axis of unity.” Then-Manhattan DA, Robert Morgenthau, conducted extensive research into the Venezuela-Iran relationship in 2009.

Ahmadinejad and Chavez entered into a series of Memoranda of Understanding, pledging cooperation in areas as diverse as banking and finance, technology, and oil and gas exploration. By most accounts, Chavez has helped his friend to evade international sanctions. Iran launders tens of billions of dollars in transactions through Venezuelan banks and industrial entities. Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, continues to break the embargo.

Analysts differ on the extent to which Iran-sponsored Hezbollah has infiltrated Venezuela’s government. At a minimum, however, Hezbollah raises revenues for jihadist exploits through its involvement in the cocaine trade, with the full complicity of Venezuelan officials.

Alarmingly, over the past few years, periodically there have been reports of long-range Iranian missiles in Venezuela, in striking distance of the U.S.

Given their mutual adoration, it’s not surprising that Ahmadinejad posted on his website, “I have no doubt that he [Chavez] will return alongside Jesus Christ and the Mahdi [the Hidden Imam] to establish peace and justice in the world…” Bases covered.

Does Chavez’s death represent an opportunity to disrupt this unholy alliance?

Hard to tell.

Polls show former vice president Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor and now acting president (instant incumbency?), the likely winner on April 16th. Maduro has fashioned himself as a Chavez clone, but he lacks the late leader’s charisma and his command. Madura’s challenger, Henrique Capriles, is the centrist governor of Miranda, Venezuela’s largest state,

Neither of Venezuela’s presidential candidates is likely to share Chavez’s popularity.
The winner may well need to focus on internal problems, including 20% inflation and rampant food shortages, for fear of civil unrest.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton suggests that, regardless of the outcome of the election, there may be an opening for the U.S. and Venezuela to resume relations. As ambitious as this sounds, Morgenthau recalls:

In 1962, President Kennedy stared down a nuclear threat to the United States when a leftist popular leader with a strong anti-American streak joined forces with the Soviet Union to bring nuclear weapons in close proximity to our borders. JFK ended the Cuban missile crisis through resolve and tough diplomacy.

Ending the alliance with Iran and ejecting Hezbollah would be preconditions to normalization of U.S. – Venezuela relations.

Obama is no JFK, but we tolerate Iranian influence in Latin America at our peril.

The Stamp Act Lives. California Dies.

March 6, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
california_bankrupt

As our history tells us, The Stamp Act was a cause to revolution. The colonists saw King George’s latest tax – on newspapers, legal documents and other paper – as a personal affront and assault. It moved the people of the time to say, “No Taxation Without Representation.” In California, state representatives have decided to take up the banner of the old King – the represented be damned!

According to California Political Review, state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Contra Costa) has introduced SB 391, a bill that would impose a $75 tax on all real estate transactions outside of a home sale:

According to DeSaulnier, SB 391 would:

  • Put a small ($75) recordation fee on real estate transactions, excluding home sales. This fee will generate an estimated $500 million in state seed money each year without creating new debt. It would be used to leverage an additional $2.78 billion in federal and local funding and bank loans annually.
  • Deploy these dollars in California communities through a successful private/public partnership model.
  • Build safe and affordable single-family homes and apartments for Californians in need, including families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.
  • Reduce homelessness, resulting in significant savings to taxpayers and reducing strain on our health and criminal justice systems.

Translation – The Stamp Act is trying to be reborn in California. In the guise, as all these bills are in the guise, of helping the poor.

California has lost, on average, 225,000 people a year for the past decade. It loses business to  Texas on a almost daily basis. The aerospace sector, which helped to build California and the dream of California, has abandoned the state for Virginia and other places.

This is, in large part, because of the undue regulation and burdensome taxation imposed on the citizens by the state. Nothing about losing productive citizens helps the poor. With both the Assembly and the state Senate, along with the Governor, Democrats in California can continue – without anything remotely close to an objection – to institute any horrific and historically foolhardy tax scheme they wish.

I doubt highly that Californians will be moved to revolution. But they will move…to Nevada, Arizona and Texas.

 

Actor Joseph C. Phillips: Teacher Threatened My Son, Questioned His Mental State Over Photo Of BB Gun

March 5, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
Actor and author Joseph C. Phillips

This article was originally posted on TonyKatz.com:

In California, gun hysteria has reached such fanatical heights that teachers now feel empowered to confiscate student property, disregard their privacy, question their mental state and threaten police action – in front of other students. All have happened to the son of actor and entrepreneur Joseph C. Phillips, at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills, CA.

Phillips, best known for his role as Lt. Martin Kendall on The Cosby Show, lives with his wife and three sons in the San Fernando Valley. In addition to being a regular fill-in host for Larry Elder on KABC radio in Los Angeles, he owns Daddy J’s Wingshack, where his 15-year-old son works and earned the money for an Airsoft bb gun. Last week his son brought a digital camera to school to show his friends a picture of the Airsoft.

On my radio show Saturday, Phillips explained that as his son was showing off the single photo, his Social Studies teacher, a Mr. James DeLarme, walked by. As his son described the incident, DeLarme “snatched” the camera out of his hand and asked him about the photo. When his son explained that it was a picture of an Airsoft bb gun, DeLarme declared the police would have to be notified and promptly left the room to confer with another teacher. The two teachers scrolled through all the photos on the camera, finally handing it back to the boy. Then, in front of all the students, DeLarme asked him, “Do you have any animosity towards your classmates?” and “Are you angry at anyone at school?”

Listen to the full interview here.

The school never notified Phillips or his wife. He learned about the incident from his son five days later. Phillips is livid:

…I’m not sure he’s qualified to teach social studies. He certainly isn’t qualified to psychoanalyze my kid. Looking through the photographs…what are they looking for? What are they qualified to determine by any other images on this camera? Tony, it is ridiculous.

It turns out that DeLarme has been public about his opposition to gun ownership. In an interview with the school paper, The King’s Courier, in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, he said “…our country’s position on gun control and violence is what makes such situations probable.”

Phillips spoke of the current anti-gun hysteria:

You see, Tony, and this is the reason I called you… I know there is sensitivity now about children coming into the school, shooting up their classmates. I get that. But at a certain point, people have to stand up and say “Enough with the hysteria! Enough is enough!” We are not going to sacrifice the dignity of our children, our own dignity… What they (the school) did is not keeping anyone safe.

Furious at the way his son had been treated, Phillips wrote a letter to the principal, Mr. David Fehte:

It may come as a shock to Mr. DeLarme, It may even be news to you, but my son is not the only boy in Woodland Hills with a BB gun.  There are quite a few boys attending your school who not only own BB guns, but own real guns as well. (Some of them play air soft with my son!) Their fathers, mothers, and brothers also own guns and shoot regularly.  Owning a gun is NOT a sign of mental illness.  Owning a BB gun is NOT an indication of mental instability! Certainly, showing friends a photograph of a gun is NOT a warning sign that a student is a potential danger to his classmates! I object, in the strongest of terms, to my son being treated as a potential danger and to his being threatened with law enforcement.  I further object to not being notified!  If Mr. DeLarme truly believed my son presented a danger, both my wife and I should have been notified immediately!

Rather than respond himself, Fehte dispatched a vice principal to answer Phillips’ letter. The vice-principal claimed, according to Phillips, that the teacher had done the right thing to, “secure the safety of the 3,000 students and the 250 faculty members at the school.” Secure their safety from what? A photo?

One wonders how many other El Camino Real High School students are being threatened and humiliated by their teachers, and how many parents are likewise uninformed.

One Year Past; Remembering Andrew Breitbart

March 1, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
Andrew Breitbart

The Team at All Patriots Media would like to take this moment to remember Andrew Breitbart. It was one year ago today that Tony first started getting phone calls in the early morning hours, some frantic and asking if it was true.

Tony made this video that day, and we share it with you now. He also spoke of the legacy of Andrew Breitbart at the Wisconsin Defending The Dream Summit, sponsored by Americans For Prosperity. It is shared below.

As Tony said, “Take a moment to remember Andrew Breitbart. Then, get back to work.”

Remembering Breitbart -

The Legacy of Andrew Breitbart -

Chris Christie Gets CPAC Invite, Offered $3000

February 26, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
New Jersey Governor Christie speaks at a campaign rally with Republican presidential candidate Romney in Exeter

This article was originally posted at TonyKatz.com:

NJ Governor Chris Christie was not invited to be a part of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a large annual gathering of conservatives each year in the DC area.

I think he should attend. While we can differ in our politics, shouldn’t we learn more about what he’s all about? How he views the conservative movement? How he looks at 2012 AND 2016?

What is the point in shutting him out?

I want Gov. Christie to attend, and I make him an offer he can’t refuse….SNL style.

Is Obama To Blame For America’s Spending Problem?

February 18, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
money

This article originally appeared on ChristianPost.com:

In a recent article on CP, I discussed President Obama’s “selective amnesia” in his State of the Union speech. His “Fix-It First” and “protect Americans abroad” proposals were simply rehashes of old campaign speeches (and since he’s been campaigning almost non-stop for five years, he has plenty of material to work with.) I also talked of Obama’s spending, and the $6 Trillion (and counting) added to the national debt so far.

But am I right? Is the spending problem all Obama’s fault?

One of the commenters on the original article was apoplectic over my statement that, “His own outlandish spending has added $6 Trillion the debt, with deficits of over $1 Trillion each year he has been in office thus far.” They stated:

…as soon as you say that you out yourself as a liar and a political hack. The majority of that 6T was added long before he got there, in fact by republicans who are now trying to blame him for it. Utter garbage.

If the conversation is about utter garbage, well, then yes, it would be (and is!) utter garbage to blame the $6 Trillion all or mostly on former President George Bush.

Not exactly utter garbage, the commenter is right to the extent that spending is not the fault of the President alone. He didn’t get to spend all of our cash in a vacuum. Far too often Congress empowered him. Worse than that, a large swath of the American people saw a value in it; selling out unborn generations to fund their ponzi-schemed free (or subsidized)-for-all.

The current national debt is $16 Trillion. And yes, deficits (said in a more kitchen-table friendly way, overspending) have been over $1 Trillion a year for the past four years. According to Reason, 79% of Americans say that government spending has reduced the quality of their lives, or has made no real impact on the quality of life in the US.

Younger Americans see things differently. According to a study from the Panetta Institute, over 50% of college students think that government should be even more involved in economic matters:  (emphasis mine)

Nearly two in three (65%) college students worry that government is getting too involved in the issue of morality while 33% say that government should domore to promote morality in society…However when it comes to economic matters, a slim majority of college students (54%) believe that we need a strong government to handle today’s complex economic problems while 40% take the other side that states the free market can handle today’s complex economic problems without government being involved. And the partisan unity dissipates on economic concerns as majorities of Democrats (68%) and independents (52%) agree that we need a strong government to handle economic problems while 63% of Republicans take the free market position.

These two studies show the sickening problem and the vicious disconnect between our economic reality and the indoctrinated economic fantasy. Since the re-election of President Obama, I have discussed on my radio program how it happened. I have said, repeatedly, that 60 million voters (which I refer to as 50% +1 of the American population, as a way of explaining the slim majority) now believe in the idea that “Government Should Do Something.”

That means that regardless of the problem, 50% + 1 of Americans look to government for a solution. Said differently, more than half of America’s voters want the federal government to take care of them. Turns out Julia is a real girl, after all!

Congress plays an important role in the profligate spending. As the Christian Science Monitor notes, “Between 2001 and 2011, increased discretionary spending amounted to about $3 trillion.” That includes defense spending and Homeland security. It also includes Food Stamps. A record $80 Billion was spent in FY2012 on the SNAP program.

Add on to this President Bush’s TARP spending and President Obama’s stimulus. TARP was, and continues to be, a horrific idea. Bush’s quote, “I had to abandon free market principles in order to save the free market system,” was not only ignorant, but totally wrong. It’s like saying you’re going to run a marathon by going swimming.

And we haven’t even begun to understand the full costs of Obamacare.

Most of these mega-programs were passed, at least in part, by Congress. Their continual unwillingness to confront the major issues, to kick the can down the road,  to find more ways to demonize those who want to engage prudent, smart, sane fiscal policy is disheartening (and infuriating) to those of us who want to abandon these reckless concepts and fix the problems.

But elected officials are only representations of the electorate. Politics Is Downstream Of Culture. Politicians mostly do what their constituents want them to do, so as to earn their votes and stay in office. (This is a direct, and disastrous, consequence of the 17th Amendment.)

So, is the commenter correct? Well, to a point. Blaming America’s spending problem solely on Obama isn’t accurate. (It’s also wrong to blame it all on Bush and Republicans. That is political hackery!) It would be fair to say that President Obama aligns with, and believes in, spending as a way of solving our economic woes. Obama and Keynes (and Krugman) are wrong. You can not spend your way to prosperity.

But they are not alone. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to accept the idea that there is a spending problem:

“We have to recognize that, which cuts really help us and which cuts hurt our future? And cuts in education, scientific research and the rest are harmful, and they are what are affected by the sequestration,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.” “So, it is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem. We have a budget deficit problem that we have to address.”

Every cut is harmful to someone, somewhere. That doesn’t mean that the cuts aren’t needed and necessary. In education, we’ve seen that increased budgets do not equate to better educated students. Pelosi employs the demonizing philosophy; those who want to cut her hand pick examples are “harmful.”

Then again, Pelosi thinks members of Congress getting a pay cut would be an attack on their dignity. True story.

The real problem is not the politicians. The problem is a culture that demands instant gratification, an electorate that pressures Representatives to spend money we don’t have, borrowing $.46 out of every dollar, calling anyone who proposes spending cuts “selfish” or worse.

The blame is theirs, and the blame is ours. We have allowed the culture to be hijacked and college students to be indoctrinated, and politicians to advance the “government is the solution to everything” agenda. For if it is the job for government to do “something,” then, by definition, government must do “everything.”

Obama’s Selective State Of The Union Amnesia

February 18, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
obama_sotu

This article originally appeared on ChristianPost.com:

In the State of the Union, President Barack Obama engaged a series of lofty goals and challenges for the American people, and for Congress. He railed on education, military preparedness and spending. It was all vaguely familiar. He has said just the opposite over the past four years. It’s easy to explain; President Obama lied has selective amnesia.

President Obama’s speech was better suited for a campaign stop than a State of the Union speech. Instead of addressing the real issues the nation faces, President Obama pushed platitudes and rhetoric. In addressing the debt and the deficit (two very, very different things) Obama stated: (emphasis mine)

Tonight I’ll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat: Nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It is not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.

Anyone who pays attention – at all! – to Obama’s record and rhetoric knows that this does not match up to his history. Obama’s first four years were dedicated to bigger government. His own words about “You didn’t build that” were about government being the driver of a “better” society. His own outlandish spending has added $6 Trillion the debt, with deficits of over $1 Trillion each year he has been in office thus far.

Obama also referred to his “Fix-It First” plan, saying:

Ask any CEO where they’d rather locate and hire, a country with deteriorating roads and bridges or one with high-speed rail and Internet, high-tech schools, self- healing power grids…Tonight, I propose a “Fix-It First” program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country.

Is that deja vu you’re experiencing? Yes, it is. “Fix-It First” used to have another name – “Shovel-Ready Jobs.” It was shovel-ready jobs that were supposed to seriously reduce the unemployment rate. Why else spend all that money? Yet, even President Obama noted that those jobs were not as shovel-ready as he expected. Should America believe him now because he gave the same idea a new name?

The most glaring case of amnesia came as he talked about protecting Americans overseas:

As long as I’m commander-in-chief, we will do whatever we must to protect those who serve their country abroad, and we will maintain the best military the world has ever known.

Some one should check that Mr. Obama hasn’t taken a fall like Hillary. How can he say this with a straight face? As Guy Benson of TownHall.com put it, it’s simply “astounding:”

Just six months ago, our diplomats in Benghazi were attacked and murdered by terrorists on 9/11.  The battle at two US compounds lasted nearly eight hours, during which time no resources were deployed to rescue our besieged personnel.  The attack came on the heels of multiple requests for increased security in Libya (and Benghazi specifically), which were inexplicably denied.  We still do not know why they were rebuffed, nor do we know what the president was doing during the prolonged battle.  We do know that he wasn’t actively engaged in his Commander-in-chief duties while these Americans’ lives were in grave danger, and they died.  Given the slaughter at the consulate and the administration’s subsequent stonewalling, this passage in the speech was actually insulting.

Then came a retake on one of his favorite phrases, which I pointed out on Twitter: (emphasis mine)

To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and the well-connected.

The “well-off and the well-connected” is the new “millionaires and billionaires.” The implication – again! – is that they are unfairly advantaged because they know the right people. Class warfare is here to stay in Term the Second.

He’s already won re-election, he’s giving his fourth State of the Union address, and he’s still campaigning. Valerie! Eric! Michelle! Tell him its over already! Almost a month after the Inauguration, President Obama is still trying to win by dividing Americans and trashing the GOP.

Don’t look for the mainstream media to further expose this selective deja vu. They will focus on what’s really important; Sen. Marco Rubio’s sip of water. Seems they are in perpetual campaign mode as well. Selective amnesia strikes again!

The Article In Which The Tea Party Accepts Karl Rove’s Challenge To A Duel

February 6, 2013 blog, Tony Katz No comments
karl_rove

This article was originally posted on TownHall.com:

When Karl Rove, the defacto Capo of the Republican establishment intelligentsia, took aim at the grassroots activists (the Tea Party), offering them up like Issac for sacrifice to the mainstream media and independent voters, he surely doesn’t expect them to prostrate themselves at the Altar of Rove.

The Tea Party is ready to do battle. But before we count off our paces, perhaps Mr. Rove would like to rethink his challenge to a duel.

Rove’s thesis – that the GOP has been held hostage by the Tea Party, which picks candidates that can’t win, thereby sabotaging and embarrassing Republicans – is a lie on its face. It’s not a half-truth or an exaggeration. It’s a lie. Karl Rove Lies.

Ted Cruz, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Allen West – all had Tea Party backing.

Certainly Sen. Cruz is a solid Republican, with his enticement of Illinois business owners to move to Texas and his exquisite dress-down of Sen. Chuck Hagel during his Senate confirmation hearing. Sen. Lee is a star. Sen. Rubio has some worried regarding immigration reform, but perhaps a very public face needs to at least discuss the very important issues. Rubio seems interested in solving the problem, as opposed to President Obama, who seems interested only in taking credit for solving the problem.

Doesn’t Mr. Rove want a Republican who is willing to attempt to be a leader?

Yes, Rep. West lost his re-election bid in 2012 to the racist Patrick Murphy. (When you make a TV commercial that shows a black man, West, punching a white woman in the face, you’re a racist. I didn’t make the rules, Chris Matthews did. Now live with it, racist Democrats!) While I strongly disagree with his vote on NDAA, West was largely good for the GOP.

Is Karl Rove saying that the GOP is better off without Tea Party favorite West? The Florida GOP thought so, as they worked hard to change district lines to make it harder for West to run. According to Javier Manjarres at Shark-Tank.net, at the time:

West’s congressional district inexplicably sheds the most Republican electoral support, in comparison  to all other incumbent Republican and Democrat Congressman. A few weeks back we quoted an unnamed legislator saying that, “Allen West was screwed”, a statement which was originally made about made five months before the proposed maps were made public, leading insiders to believe that the fix was in against Allen West. But in light of (Florida House Speaker Will) Weatherford’s comment, it is increasingly clear that this is a fait accompli.

Michelle Malkin noted that Rove disingenuously lumps very different Tea Party candidates together, as the collective bane of the Party:

Rove and his Tea Party-bashing minions will point to the losses of Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and others as justification to tighten his grip on the party in the role of Chief Decider. But those are all very disparate cases. It is ridiculous, for example, to continue smearing and lumping Mourdock (a bona fide, grass-roots candidate and fantastic State Treasurer whose sin was to honestly state his views on life) with establishment incumbent Republican Akin (whose indefensible Magical Uterus Meme idiocy cost the GOP a winnable Senate seat).

Mourdock made a comment based on his views on the sanctity of life. Rather than an attempt to explain Murdock’s statement, and beat back the MSM vultures, Rove went invisible. Obviously, winning the Senate means less to Rove than taking credit for the win…or so it seems.

One other point on Mourdock. The Tea Party support for Mourdock was based on his fiscal beliefs, not his views on abortion. His politically misguided, if heartfelt, comment, coming as it did on the heels of Aikin’s asinine remarks, proved to be his undoing. It had nothing to do with the Tea Party. To say otherwise is a lie. Mr. Rove is lying a lot these days.

Since leaving the White House, Mr. Rove hasn’t met with much success. He’s raised incredible sums of money, but he hasn’t put his money behind the right candidates. Rove’s candidates don’t win. Rove spent $127 million on TV spots for Mitt Romney. He lost 10 of 12 Senate races, and four of nine House races.His record in 2012 is 7-15.

He’s the Charlotte Bobcats of politics.

The Tea Party has taken its lumps, some well-earned. (Note to Tea Party activists: Don’t get off message. Ever.) But once again, Rove has underestimated the determination of the grassroots. Especially after the rigging of Rule 12 at the RNC convention, the grassroots will not shrink from his challenge.

Before Mr. Rove goes any further down this particular path, he might want to consider the areas of agreement between Tea Party and “establishment” Republicans. He might want to consider the need for committed activists who will walk the precincts, staff Get Out The Vote efforts and keep the GOP competitive with Progressives, who are mastering grassroots activism. (Do we need another repeat of ORCA? Do we, Karl?)

If Rove were a tactician, he would embrace the Tea Party based on its values, which were the values of Reagan, and not too long ago, Republicans. Once upon a time, Tea Party values – minus the racism – were Democrat values.

I implore Karl Rove to reconsider this misguided move, and Republicans to refrain from donating to his 527 and its new “Not Tea Party” spinoff. (Seriously donors, with a record like his, can you trust him with your money? Email me. Let’s talk.) But he had better decide soon. The Tea Party is locked and loaded.

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