Miscellaneous

We’ll never get a handle on this man.  Edmund Morris is a great writer.  His books on Theodore Roosevelt are brilliant.  So he was made Reagan’s “official” biographer, getting access to Reagan in the White House that was unprecedented and not repeated.  The result, Dutch, was a punt.  He had no idea what made Reagan tick, so he wrote a sort of fictional account of who Reagan was.  A complete bust.  I’ve read half a dozen Reagan biographies, and don’t think I have a lot to learn.  But I did get some insight from the latest, H. W. Brands’ Reagan, The Life.

Brands is not a conservative.  He chides Reagan for saying the states created the federal government.  Uh, sorry, H. W., but the Gipper knew a few things you don’t.  But if he’s a liberal he hides it very well.  He’s quite fair.

If you haven’t read a Reagan biography lately, I’d recommend it.  A good Christmas gift.

One of the things that struck me was how much Reagan cared about people, as individuals, not in the abstract sense.  The whole Iran-Contra thing happened because he felt he had to do everything in his power to get those hostages back.  He couldn’t get them out of his mind.  His subordinates mis-served him, but they were trying to do what he wanted.  If you wanted to get President Reagan’s attention, it always helped if you could put a face on a problem.  He liked people.  He really did.

As a boy, and a young man, Reagan was not a bad ass.  The only way he made it in college football was because he went to a tiny school where everybody made the team, and he was third string.  He loved the ladies, but he didn’t have the kind of masculine sexuality you see in real movie stars.  Nancy picked him out and got her man.  She had to take the initiative.

And he was whipped. I suppose we all are, but it got a little ridiculous when he let Nancy and her astrologer pick the best dates to hold events.  Sorry, Mr. President, that’s a bit much.  He was a little docile around her, let her get a little pushy on personnel.  None of this is a criticism. The Reagans had a ridiculously successful marriage, but her hatred of Reagan’s first wife poisoned the relationship between Reagan and his first two kids by her, Michael and Maureen.  Nancy tried to erect barriers between them and their father, and succeeded.  Reagan agreed to give the commencement speech at Michael’s graduation, and pass out diplomas.  When Michael came up to get his, Reagan didn’t recognize him.  Michael had to identify himself to his own father.

In December of 1979 Reagan came up to Anchorage for a rally and speech.  It was a complete waste of his time.  I was Chairman of his Alaska campaign, and we had it in the bank.  No problemo.  But our national committeeman, Eldon Ulmer, a pharmacist, had extracted a promise from Reagan to campaign in Alaska, and he insisted on making Reagan keep it.  I tried to talk him out of it, but it was a big feather in his cap, so the Reagans and their entourage fly up from Seattle for a one night stand.  Reagan was not happy.  The only thing he agreed to do was go to the hotel, give a speech, and go to bed.  I had the opportunity to ride from the airport with him and Nancy, and I must say I was looking forward to it.  Then Ellis Conklin, the liberal reporter for the Anchorage Times, asked me to let him ride with them instead of me.  It was a big deposit into the favor bank, which I later redeemed in full.  Ellis blew his chance, asking Reagan about things like his hair.  So I didn’t get to spend any time with the Reagans, just very briefly introduced them to the crowd and got off the stage.  Nobody was interested in anything I had to say.

I shook his hand after I introduced him, but he didn’t seem real friendly, at least to me.  I think he blamed me for not getting him out of this stupid trip, or for having to answer dumb questions from Ellis..

He was a great man, but just a man.

Mark Levin’s a smart guy. Like many others, he sees Article V as the only solution to our current political dilemma. So he wrote a book, “The Liberty Amendments”, describing the process and outlining ten excellent amendments. So far, so good. He inspired and has promoted the Convention of States as the political organization to implement his ideas. Rather than propose a series of Article V Amendments, he wanted all or most of his ideas to be considered at a single Convention, which would propose a BBA, term limits, and other separate reforms, as many as could be agreed on.
But Mark is not as smart as he thinks he is. He doesn’t understand politics, except what he reads in books. He doesn’t realize that every time you add a subject matter to a piece of legislation you double your opposition. Term limits and the BBA both poll at 80% approval. But some people support a BBA, and not term limits, and vice versa. Wyoming Speaker Kermit Brown is all in on a BBA. We passed the Wyoming House 44-16 with his help. But he’s adamantly opposed to term limits. No way, Jose. So the Convention of States never got out of committee. The same sort of thing has happened all across the country. It’s why we’ve got 27 and they’ve got three. It’s why we can get to 34 and they can’t. It’s why Mark Levin does not, in fact, know his ass from a hole in the ground.
If Kasich makes a gaffe on the trail it won’t be because of that chip on his shoulder. Quite the contrary. It is the better angels of his nature which pose a threat. He risks looking like a Bush. This could be deadly.
Bush 1 was kinder and gentler, Bush 2 was compassionate, and Bush 3 is kind, gentle, and compassionate all rolled into one. Politicians speak in code. The Bush code is softness, gentility, and moderation. It’s why Jeb! won’t win the nomination. If Kasich starts sounding like a Bush, he’ll go nowhere. He’s not the tin man. He doesn’t have to show us his heart. Everybody’s got a heart, pretty much. Republicans aren’t looking for an Oprah. We want Marshall Dillon. The trouble with talk melding Christian values, good works, and government is that it can sound like conservatism that cares — the politically deadly formulation of Bushism.

I’m working on an article for AT.  I’m arguing that Congress is irredeemable and the federal government beyond repair  — without Article V.  Elect Kasich, or Trump or Cruz  — none of them will be able to bring the beast to its knees  — without Article V.

What I don’t understand about Kasich is his real attitude toward Article V.  I wish I’d gotten a chance to talk to him in Phoenix last year.  I don’t care much for what I have heard.  He talks of using Article V as a prod to Congress, which would produce the actual proposed amendment.  He seems to think a Convention is a necessary backstop, but something which should be avoided, rather than sought.

But that read might be bullshit, just stuff he says to calm people who might be jittery about a runaway.  But I do think he’s not really up to speed on Article V.  I hope I’m wrong, but I have seen no sign that he has really thought it through.  The funny thing is, not that many people have thought it all the way through.  Smart people, like Sen. Nicholas, and Sen. Davis.  Kasich’s a busy guy.  He can’t be expected to know everything.  I saw him give one of his very first pitches in Phoenix last year, and then another one in Cheyenne.  It was all BBA, no Article V.

My hope is that this is all part of the three step.  He hasn’t finished step one  — the establishment guy.  When he goes to step two, (which happens when Bush 3 folds) he’s the Reagan man.  It would be as Reagan man he would talk about the role Article V can play in restoring federalism to our system of government.  Reagan man could also talk about getting federal land back to the states.  That would help in Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming, but Bush 3 will probably be still kicking, so it might be too late, politically, for those caucuses.

A lot seems to be happening.  I screen out any thing to do with the three media candidates, so it makes it easier.  So much of what you read right now is just idle bullshit.  But fish gotta swim, and writers gotta write, but it’s tiresome.

This is the article they’ve refused to put up at the American Thinker.  J. R. Dunn is opposed to Article V, and doesn’t appear willing to reconsider.  A shame.  We’ll look for other ways to spread the word.

 

Boehner’s not the problem. It’s Thad Cochran and Don “bridge to nowhere” Young and hundreds of others in Congress; it’s Congress as an institution, not the Republican Party.
Trump won’t be able to fix Congress. Neither will Kasich or Cruz or Rubio. No President can change Congress, and it will not change itself. Reformers — real conservatives — are 190 votes shy of a majority in the House. Ted Cruz needs about 45 more votes to accomplish anything in the Senate. It’s not going to happen.
The Supreme Court has told the country, in upholding Obama care, that it will not prevent even the most flagrant violation of the Constitution. It will not control or reform Congress.
The McConnell Doctrine — which holds that Congress forfeits the power of the purse when the President’s a Democrat — is just one example of the fecklessness of Congress. Not necessarily  of Mitch McConnell, he’s just acknowledging reality. He knows his colleagues. He can count. Even if he wanted to fight, the Thad Cochrans of the Senate would never play along, and there are a lot of them. They are wholly owned agents of the money interests that put them in office. Large, even overwhelming, majorities of Congress answer first and foremost to their contributors, not their constituents. Elect new blood and nothing changes. Only a small minority will stay true.  It is possible to imagine a successful strategy that included a shut down.  But it would only work if there was a unified and determined Republican caucus.  Which we don’t have in either the House or the Senate. Electing new leaders won’t change that.
Aside from chronic overspending and debt, the administrative state is the ultimate demonstration of Congressional uselessness. Rather than legislate, and make the hard choices and do the work, Congress delegates its power and duty to write the law. The EPA is but one arm of the regulatory octopus created and empowered by Congress. These agencies are a law unto themselves. They not only perform legislative functions, but executive and judicial as well, enforcing their “laws” like a parallel government. The entire administrative state is an affront to the Constitution, as ably demonstrated by Philip Hamburger in his book “Is Administrative Law Unlawful?”
The solution to a corrupt and dysfunctional Congress is not a Presidential or a Congressional election. No one, not Donald Trump, Abraham Lincoln or LBJ, is capable of changing Congress. The entire federal government is a captive of entrenched interests.  The greatest threat to our liberties is the federal government.  If George Washington were around we could elect him President, and even he would be unable to bring the federal government under control.  At this point it’s irredeemable. An outside intervention is needed.
The Framers did everything in their power to prevent this from happening. But their Constitution has been so perverted and ignored that it’s almost a dead letter.
Except for Article V, designed for precisely the circumstances we face today. The States can control Congress, the Courts, and the President, if they want to. If 34 of them can agree on the topic of a Constitutional Amendment, they would meet at an Amendment Convention to draft a proposal, and, if 38 ratify, change the Constitution and put this country back on track. This is the last best hope.  There’s no other answer.
We’re not far away. We have 27, and the eight legislatures we need are all under Republican control. The topic chosen is a Balanced Budget Amendment, supported by 80% of voters, including 65% of Democrats. If we don’t control federal spending we’ll go bankrupt. Congress doesn’t care enough to curb it appetites. The country can go off a cliff, as long as the donors are happy.  And if the Amendment Convention decides to include revenue enhancements as part of a BBA, constitutional regulatory reform would do more for the economy than a balanced budget.
If a Convention is called, and a BBA proposed and ratified, it would do more than just save the country from financial ruin. It would demonstrate that Article V works. The States, and the people, acting in concert, can restore the Constitution and preserve our form of government.
Boehner will be gone soon. It won’t make any difference. He’s not the problem. Congress is the problem.
And Article V is the answer.

Here the link to my AT piece:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/09/don_juan_of_florida_and_the_old_pro.html

My editor, J. R. Dunn, was kind enough to make some minor changes.  The unedited version is at the bottom.

Naturally I’m getting my ass handed to me in the comments.  These people are motivated primarily by rage at illegal immigration. I’m with them.  The message of Donald Trump is, Secure the border.  Don’t try to secure it.  Don’t pretend.  Cut off illegal immigration, end sanctuary policies, deport criminals and crack down on employers who hire illegals.  That’s for starters.  I hope Kasich and Rubio get the message.  If they don’t, Cruz can beat them on this one issue.  He’s a fool to be talking about shutting down the government, but he’s channeling a lot of righteous indignation on illegals.  Kasich and Rubio have to convince people they’re for real on this issue.  Don’t just speak about it, speak with some passion.  When Trump falls Cruz will be poised to pick up this flag and run with it.  He’s the natural beneficiary of the rage vote.  He’s the only other candidate the Tribe of Trump has any attraction to.  Depending on the timing, he could be at the top of the polls when the Donald leaves the stage.

I don’t care much for Parson Cruz, and I have doubts about his effectiveness as President.  But I think he could win the general.  He’s a lot smarter than Walker or Bush.  Hillary/Sanders/Biden will be an extraordinarily weak opponent, running for a third term on behalf of a discredited President, and a tired agenda.  I don’t think people will ever warm up to Cruz, but we really didn’t like Nixon either.

He’s too hawkish for me, but then so is Rubio.  Foreign affairs is always an electoral wild card.  We’re being pushed by a powerful political tide, but earthquakes can stem a tide, and something overseas could pop out of nowhere.  If it happens at the last minute, whether it’s an orchestrated October Surprise or not, all bets are off.  There’s always personal scandal, like Bush 2’s DWI.  The thing is, with the Clintons, they’ll just make something up, and most of the media will tag along.  That’s their game plan.  Hillary and the resuscitation of her image are a lost cause.  You win by destroying your opponent.

Yesterday afternoon’s email drop is the latest sign that Obama and the Queen have decided that Hillary is expendable.  Someone in the State Department, at someone’s bidding, decided to go back and look again for Hillary emails, and lo and behold.  I stuck in a thumb, I pulled out a plumb.  I get the feeling that Hillary’s health is rapidly deteriorating.  She may not be physically capable of continuing her campaign.

That’s another wild card: health.  Or, God forbid, a crazy person doing something awful.  A lot of things could happen.  But here’s the point.  Something has to happen. The narrative of this campaign is a story we want told.  Something has to change the story line, or we win in a cake walk.

The Church Lady’s out with another column urging the Republicans rid themselves of Trump and everything he’s associated with.  I went back and checked, and sure enough, in 1974 Will was saying Ronald Reagan should go form a third party and take the riff raff with him  — it would cleanse the party.  41 years later, and the Church Lady is singing the same hymn.  Go play with your baseball, George.

And then there’s the Hammer, with the Wisdom of the Semites.  I actually like Krauthammer, and listen carefully when he speaks.  He’s a full bore patriot and a good man.  But I do believe he sometimes conflates the best interest of Israel with that of the U.S., and they’re not always the same.  And he is not, to put it gently, a man of the people.

As Louis Mayer said, anybody who goes to a psychiatrist is crazy.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10 Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 3:29 PM, fritz pettyjohn <fpettyjohn@hotmail.com> wrote:

“Don Juan of Florida and the Old Pro”  by Fritz Pettyjohn

fpettyjohn@hotmail.com

An analysis of the Republican nomination contest

The spotlight is a solvent, and under its glare the muddled water of the Republican nomination fight becomes clear.  Even now, we can state with some assurance that only two of the candidates remain viable, while the rest are residue.

The three media candidates, Trump, Fiorina and Carson, were never really in it.  In 2016, the most auspicious political year for Republicans since 1920, the Party will not nominate a candidate who has never won public office.  The tweet campaigns of these candidates is just one sign of their triviality.  They are personality and protest candidates, with no record in office, and no hope of winning.  The nomination will not be awarded to a rookie without a track record in office.

The serious candidates are Christie, Cruz, Bush 3, Kasich and Rubio.  Christie’s going nowhere, and neither is Jeb!  Bush 3 has the money to hang around for a while, but he does not have the gravitas, the vision, and the political skill to win this nomination.  He has, at last, owned up that he is a Bush, and this admission he will fade into oblivion.  There is a substantial majority within the Republican Party who are adamantly opposed to another Bush, and they’re not going to change their mind.

With their debate performances, Cruz and Rubio have competed for the insurgent, Tea Party, hard right wing of the party, and Rubio has won a decisive victory.  It isn’t close.  He is, quite simply, far more appealing than the stiff and robotic Texan, who can’t help but look and sound like a fancy lawyer arguing before an appellate court.  Aside from his marvelous speaking skills, Rubio has the persona of a Latino Reagan.  The more people see of him, the more they like him, especially women.

The final round between Rubio and Kasich will decide the nomination.  It is a contest between a show horse and a work horse.  Kasich cannot compare to Rubio in God given political talent, but can compete on his record.  All but an insignificant fraction of voters have any idea of what Kasich has accomplished, and they will be impressed when they are made aware of it.

In the Democratic landslide of 1982, with Reagan at the nadir of his popularity and 11% unemployment, Kasich, then just 31, was the only Republican in the country to knock off an incumbent Democrat Congressman.  He’d met Reagan at the ’76 Convention, and ran as an unapologetic Reagan man.  He remained a Reagan man in his entire eighteen years in Congress.

The federal budget, and deficits, were a very serious concern in the 80’s and 90’s, and, even though in the Minority, Kasich rolled up his sleeves and went to work.  With a small cadre of staff and colleagues he produced alternative budgets to the Democratic majority.  At first they received little attention, but over time the ideas he was promoting gradually became the position of the House Minority.  When they achieved majority status in 1994, and he was promoted over more senior colleagues to the Chairmanship of the Budget Committee, his work was the basis of the balanced budgets which were passed in the late 90’s.  Even with a Democrat in the White House, Kasich and the Republicans accomplished the unheard of.  The federal government spent less than it took in.

His service on the Armed Services Committee gave him the background in military and foreign affairs every commander in chief should have.   He waged war on Pentagon waste, but never wavered in his commitment to the Reagan expansion of the military which brought the Soviets to their knees.

After a quixotic run for the Presidency in 2000, Kasich returned to Ohio, with his second wife and two their young daughters.  He joined Lehman Brothers, where he immersed himself in the world of finance and commerce.  Elected Governor in 2010, he turned the state around, erasing massive deficits, cutting taxes, and promoting private sector growth.  He was reelected in a landslide in this critical swing state, a state that no Republican can win the presidency without.  He accepted the “free” federal Medicaid money because he believed doing so was in the best interest of the people he represented.  That’s what politicians do.  His knowledge of the Ohio state budget allowed him to take this action in a clear conscience.  Ohio will, in the future, pay for this program without federal help.  That’s what he, as Governor, believed was consistent with Ohio values.  Reagan made similar decisions when he was Governor of California.  Other states, with other values, have rejected the Medicaid expansion.  That’s what federalism is all about.  As President, he will not impose his values on the country.  As an ardent federalist, he will leave such decisions to the States, and the people.

Barring a black swan, a Republican will win the Presidency next year.  Who can envy the winner, with such an enormous task ahead of them?  It’s a very big and complicated job.  Turning this country around will take a skilled politician at the very top of his game.

Experience would help.

Fritz Pettyjohn is a former member of the Alaska Legislature and a Co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force. He blogs at ReaganProject.com

If we ever get this done, nobody will deserve more credit than Bill Fruth.  He’s back from Wyoming, having put 800 miles on his rental.  The big news is that Nicholas won’t stop us.  It will take a lot of work, and good fortune, to pull it off.  But at least it can be done.

Lew Uhler’s 40th Anniversary of the National Tax Limitation Committee is on for D.C. on 10-20.  There are a lot of guys that Lew has known for 40 years in Washington.  All these guys go way back.  Think of what you were doing in politics, or anything else, 40 years ago.  It would be fun to see all those guys again.  He’s got the House and Senate Chairmen of Budget, Finance, and Judiciary coming, and maybe some others.  The one guy I’d like to talk to is Enzi of Wyoming.  For obvious reasons.  I’m hoping to go.

The Assembly of State Legislators (ASL) is meeting in Salt Lake on Nov. 11 to adopt proposed rules for an Article V Convention. We hear they want a rule requiring a 2/3 vote to send an amendment out for ratification.  This is crazy.  Under current conditions the R’s have 31.  To propose an amendment they’d need to pick up three states that are partially controlled by Democrats.  The result is a watered down nothingburger that is a waste of everybody’s time.  This needs to be stopped.  If this were adopted, it would be used against us in our target states.  We’re asking all of our friends in leadership to send a representative to Salt Lake to vote “no”.

Boehner took one for the team and I admire him for it.  Congress is not going to do anything until Obama leaves office, except limp along.  Everybody hates them now , and that’s not going to change.  The really bad stuff that has to be done will get done before he leaves.  His successor will be a caretaker.  The political calculation is that, under current political conditions, they’re going to win.  So they don’t want these conditions to change.  No need to go on offense.  No drama.  The presidential campaign will decide everything, and things couldn’t possibly look any better for the Republican.  The Democratic field is a joke, and Kasich, Rubio, and even Cruz would win handily.

Cruz is making a miscalculation.  Leading the charge for a shutdown is a political blunder.  It’s going to backfire on him, Mitch McConnell will see to that.

Did you ever know a guy you did crazy things with, things you wouldn’t normally do?  Just to see who the bad ass was?  Queien es mas macho?  I think that’s the deal between Mark Levin and Cruz.  Cruz thinks of himself as pretty bad ass, and Levin claims to be even more bad ass.  And it’s like a challenge to him.  What I’m trying to say is that Levin is a political idiot.  He doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. He’s a lawyer.  That’s all he is.  A lawyer who thinks he knows everything.  If you’re dumb enough to let Mark Levin whisper in your ear you’re not going to make it.

You see, these guys think because they’re real smart lawyers, they should be real smart politicians.  But it doesn’t work that way.  They are separate and distinct skills.  I’m trying to think of a real smart lawyer who became President.  Taft, maybe.  You’d think there’d be more if the skills correlated.

My macho buddy was my best friend in Alaska, Wayne Cates.  RIP