Morning Briefing
For April 10, 2013
1. Sources Report Senate Republicans Caving on Guns
Sources inside the Senate tell me that the Republican Conference is scared to death of the tactics of Senators Lee, Cruz and Paul – that it is supposedly putting them in a tough spot.
Several of the Republicans are using the Manchin-Toomey compromise plan as an excuse to cave on the gun filibuster. They claim that Senators Lee, Cruz, and Paul are running ahead of the conference in their insistence on a filibuster.
What they fail to see is that the cloture vote is the vote to stop the gun legislation from passage. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2. Austerity Cuts vs. Real Entitlement Reform
In his latest attempt to cajole Republicans into raising taxes, Obama has called for a budget plan that makes some cuts to Medicare providers and subjects Social Security payments to the chained CPI. John Boehner was correct to reject this ploy of holding entitlement savings hostage for tax increases. However, he has come close to negotiating such a deal in the past, and there are some GOP officials who are saying they would still agree to such a trade. Lindsey Graham has already expressed encouragement over the proposal. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. Gay Marriage: About the Children Whether We Like It or Not
Two of the more interesting (where “interesting” is a euphemism for “horrifying”) aspects of the debate over gay “marriage” are inexorably intertwined: the decision by the movement’s backers to pretend that there is no strong connection between marriage and children (this is overwhelmingly done by those who do not have children) and a separate but related track to “get government out of marriage,” which is treated as some sort of tactical decision to, er, divorce government from its ability to decide who may marry and when.
The former is overwhelmingly done by libertarians who have taken the curious position that the failure by the state to expand a right is the same as the affirmative denial of that right, and by liberals who do not understand what rights actually are. The latter is a position taken by libertarians who believe the state’s role in marriage reaching back centuries is part of the nanny state, and conservatives who either legitimately want to preserve marriage from the barbarians or who like sounding good to their more left-wing friends. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. Carterism revisited, Thatcherism needed
Kevin Williamson has a great piece at National Review explaining why the Left hates Margaret Thatcher so much. (Enough to throw parties celebrating her death, followed up by a bit of light rioting and looting.) In short, Williamson says Thatcher earned the undying animosity of the Left by making them look silly, and having a good time doing it. In other words, she challenged their legitimacy.
The Left is big on asserting that there are no morally legitimate arguments against their positions. Every word said against them is born of greed or mindless hatred. It doesn’t matter if the practical results of liberal policies fail to meet expectations – it doesn’t even matter if things spiral into outright disaster – because the alternatives are unthinkable. They really hate when their own legitimacy is questioned in turn, particularly when someone like Thatcher or Ronald Reagan does it with a smile and a well-turned phrase. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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