RedState Briefing 02/07/2014

Hey folks,

Very sorry, but I messed up the Morning Briefing this morning with one of the links.  Dan McLaughlin wrote a really must read piece about Chris Christie.  The text and line were messed up.  I wanted to make sure you read it.  Please click here to find it.

Morning Briefing For February 7, 2014 >> Today's Sponsor Yikes The Republicans look like they are doing well and headed to pick up the Senate. Polling in Arkansas, Louisiana, and elsewhere shows strong Republican support. Ironically, the GOP may wind up still losing the Senate because of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. Another new, independent poll — this one from WHAS-TV and the Louisville Courier-Journal has 30 year incumbent Mitch McConnell four points behind Democrat challenger Allison Grimes. He polls only at 42% with only 12% undecided, has a job approval rating of only 32%, and has a personal favorability rating of only 27%.  . . . please click here for the rest of the post → Harry Reid and the Lockstep Senate Democrats Vulnerable Senate Democrats want desperately to distance themselves from an unpopular President and cast themselves as independent voices, not partisan rubber stamps. The numbers say otherwise: according to a recent study by Congressional Quarterly, nearly 70% of all votes in the Senate in 2013 involved party-line votes, close to an all-time high, and in more than half of those votes, Harry Reid’s Democratic caucus was unanimous – the highest level of party unanimity in the history of either House of Congress. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → Ken Buck Leads The Pack To Take Out Mark Udall in Colorado Mark Udall is looking vulnerable. And according to a Quinnipiac poll releasted today, it’s Ken Buck who is best positioned to take out the Colorado Senator who rode the Obama wave to election in 2008. The poll shows Udall with a slim lead over Buck at 45-42 with a 2.9% MoE. Essentially this race is tied, and a look at some of the cross tabs explains why.  . . . please click here for the rest of the post → Obama’s Plan to Bankrupt Coal Continues Without Congress Remember back during the 2008 presidential campaign when Barack Obama promised to bankrupt anyone who wanted to build a coal-fired power plant and essentially shut down the coal industry? . . . please click here for the rest of the post → The Lesson of Chris Christie and Bridgegate: Don’t Fall In Love Too Fast I think liberty is a genuinely fascinating concept, far more difficult in execution than concept.  Just about every American would nod enthusiastically if asked whether liberty is a good thing.  (A dismaying portion of the remaining Western world would not agree reflexively that liberty is an absolute good, whose preservation is the highest duty of lawful and just governments.)  The Founding Fathers of the United States did such a good job of crafting the Constitution that it reads like a declaration of obvious truth, the sort of thing humanity should have noticed a thousand years ago… which, of course, was the point of the exercise, since the task at hand was to recognize the God-given rights of every citizen. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → President Obama Doesn’t Know How to Create Jobs, and a Minimum Wage Increase Won’t Help President Obama’s big government philosophy has created an economic environment hostile to job growth and economic prosperity. He says he is committed to “shovel ready jobs,” yet onerous regulations from his agencies delay projects from moving forward and shackle businesses with costs that prevent them from expanding. His signature legislation—The Affordable Care Act—has led some employers to slash hours and freeze hiring, and may lead employees to voluntarily reduce their own hours or leave the workforce altogether. Now it appears that the President is doubling down. His newest plan to help Americans is to raise the minimum wage, a proposal that would likely destroy job opportunities for those who need them most. The policies coming from the White House all seem to say the same thing: President Obama does not know how to allow the private sector to create jobs. . . . please click here for the rest of the post → Family honor The value of intact families has been vigorously debated for the past few years, always in the muted tones appropriate to social-issues discussions the Left doesn’t like.  There is little question that broken families and illegitimacy are enormous handicaps for children; controlling for illegitimacy greatly reduces every other demographic factor in crime and poverty.  The upper class in America tends to marry young, have children, and stay together until the kids depart to raise families of their own; the lower and middle classes do it the other way around, with marriage revealed in polls as an end-of-life career capstone in the minds of many young people. . . . 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