RedState Briefing 12/11/2013

Morning Briefing For December 11, 2013 >> Today's Sponsor 1.  BOHICA Act of 2013 I am old enough to remember when the GOP said not to worry about it caving on Obamacare funding because, by God, it would hold the line on sequestration. Hell, that was a month ago. Amazing how much can change in a month. Congressman Paul Ryan and Senator Patty Murray have decided to give up the last thing the GOP was fighting for — spending restraint. “Don’t worry,” Paul Ryan says with his boyish charm designed to induce sweats and heart palpitations among conservatives, “it’s only a little less restrained.” The budget deal puts discretionary spending over $1 trillion, which is higher than the sequestration deal of 2011, which was at $967. This is, in fact, a spending increase. It funds Obamacare. It does not impact the national debt. It does not reform entitlements. And it raises taxes, but with the more acceptable euphemism of "user fees", i.e. it only raises taxes on people who go through airport TSA checkpoints.  For those of you who dispute this, let me put it this way, has the cost of the TSA grabbing our junk gone up?  Will the TSA will be able to grab more junk per hour with the added revenue?   By the way, if this money is going to the TSA, I hope they'll kindly be slightly more honest and refer to "abuser fees" instead of "user fees" if they aren't going to honest and call this a tax increase. So it raises spending, it raises taxes … errr … “user fees”, and it funds Obamacare. It’s the budgetary equivalent of being only a little big pregnant. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 2.  “Thank You, Paul Ryan, Sir!” In the wake of the shutdown, there is every evidence that the congressional leadership has renewed its commitment to rolling over conservative lawmakers, in order to gain favor in the “puppet press.” And there is some evidence that demoralized conservatives are willing to let this happen. But understand these three things  . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 3.  A Washington Budget Deal: Republican Style Yesterday, Democrats utilized the nuclear option for the first time.  They pushed through the nomination of Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).  Now, one of the biggest supporters of affordable housing mandates will guard the hen house at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Additionally, Democrats pushed through the nomination of two more liberal judges to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second most important court in the country. Instead of responding by shutting down all bipartisan deals on outstanding legislation (which are still subject to a filibuster), Rep. Paul Ryan, without any protest from leadership, handed Democrats the biggest legislative victory in months.  Let’s examine the ramifications of the deal . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 4.  McConnell Hosts Fundraiser for North Carolina’s Charlie Crist at Home of Fannie Mae Lobbyist Senator Mitch McConnell has been awfully quiet lately.  After making it clear in October that he would never again fight Obamacare in the budget or a debt ceiling increase, he has fallen off the face of the earth.  Harry Reid pulled the nuclear option in the Senate, yet McConnell has not threatened to hold up the deals on the farm bill or new budget conference.  In fact, he hasn’t commented on them at all.  He hasn’t even commented on Obama’s Iran capitulation, an issue in which he presumably shares our views. So what is Mitch McConnell doing as the most powerful Republican in Washington? . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 5.  State Rep. Amy Stephens (R, Colorado) needs to run the state assembly primary gauntlet. #obamacare Amy Stephens is a Colorado state legislator who is running for the 2014 Republican nomination. As that link shows, there is at least one serious issue with her as a candidate: Rep. Stephens sponsored and helped get passed a bill that set up Colorado’s currently-malfunctioning state Obamacare exchange. As I noted earlier today on RedState, the site is under-performing even the most pessimistic expectations of it; and with end of year deadlines looming, betting that a Democratic-controlled state could handle Obamacare any better than the federal government can is starting to look like a very, very poor call on Rep. Stephens’ part. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → 6.  The pathology of dissent A few weeks ago, I went to see “12 Years a Slave,” a movie retelling the harrowing experience of Solomon Northup, a free man from the North kidnapped and sold into slavery for the agonizing twelve years referenced in the title.  I found it a somewhat difficult film to review, in the same way that some very effective horror movies are tough to review: is anyone going to truly enjoy the experience of watching it, and are they really meant to?  The craftsmanship and acting in the film are excellent, particularly Chiwetel Elijofor, who provides the only truly uplifting moments in a relentless dirge of horror by delivering some memorable speeches about his refusal to submit to despair. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → >> Today's Sponsor Sincerely yours, Erick Erickson Editor-in-Chief, RedState Forward This Email to a Friend Take me to RedState