Palin dodging the questions

We know she's running for president, but she can hide behind her Fox News employment to avoid any interview she doesn't want to give. Gingrich and Huckabee are going to enjoy the same buffer, though I don't see Gingrich hiding the way Palin does.

Utah Senate candidates debate

Ken Verdoia moderated. I decided to watch while pretending I don't know what their parties are, see how it would go.


Opening statements:

Mike Lee - Our federal government is too big and too expensive. The jobless rate is increasing every day. I'll let you keep more of your own money.

Scott Bradley - 223 years ago, the US Constitution was born. We've strayed from the Constitution; I'll bring us back.

Sam Granato - Utahns have a real opportunity to elect a mainstream candidate (gestures to self) or an extreme candidate (gestures elsewhere).


QUESTION #1 - State sovereignty, do states have the right to refuse federal money?

Lee - The federal govt was never intended to be all things to all people, refers to 10th Amendment of Constitution. Yes they can refuse. Should citizens be required to work five months of the year to fund exorbitant government programs?

Bradley - The federal government cannot call for redistribution of wealth, no power in US Constitution to do so. The feds even trying to make states take fed money is violation of US Constitution.

Granato - 13 Original Colonies came together with a purpose of inner-state commerce. We send the dollars to DC, we need to take them back. We have the right. We need more transparency. Thank you.


QUESTION #2 - Do you support the DREAM Act and how would that affect universities?

Bradley - This deals with immigration, correct? Immigration is a great challenge. Illegal immigration must be addressed at national level. In the Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, Cla. 4 says to take care of those kinds of issues. I'd oppose encouragemen to illegal immigration.

Granato - Fully in favor of it, as are a lot of senators and Congress on both sides of the aisle. Feds have ignored illegal immigration for decades, but I would leave that out of the DREAM Act. Thank you.

Lee - My understanding is it would allow illegal immigrants to pay less tuition. There should be no incentive to illegal immigrants. Most of us in this room are immigrants or descend from them. To be immigrant-friendly place, we need to enforce our laws. Let's get rid of birthright citizenship.


QUESTION #3 - Illegal Immigration, what to do about the millions already here?

Bradley - They broke the law; they need to go home. We're not sending them to a gulag; we're sending them home. Once home, apply thru legal process to return. Catch and release those who fail to go home and never allow them to return. Amnesty in 1986 failed.

Granato - We're a passionate and compassionate state. I do not believe in ripping families apart. We have to find a way to bring them together. We need secure borders. We need workers here to do the jobs that need to be done.

Lee - Just as there are millions here illegally, there are millions outside US who want to come here. It's unfair to the ones waiting to come here to give favoritism to those who broke the laws to be here.


QUESTION #4 - Health care, Vermont wants to try a single-payer system, they'd like exemption from ObamaCare to try it.

Granato - I was part of IHC. Health care is killing small businesses. It's out of whack. We needed a health care bill. I enjoyed that the bill got rid of pre-existing conditions. No I wouldn't help Vermont. We need to come together with the right consensus. The package we got was not the right package. At least it's a start. Thank you.

Lee - Repeal and defund ObamaCare. This will allow states to address health care as they see fit. If Vermont wants to try single-payer govt-run health care system, that's up to Vermont. I will probably never live in Vermont. Let's let the states take a crack at it. States are closer to the people. I run into my state legislator all the time at the grocery store.

Bradley - The US Constitution grants to no authority for federal health care. The states need to resist ObamaCare with all due diligence. I'm opposed to socialized medicine. Medicine is a very personal issue between a physician and a patient. Medicine was great before 1965. Let charities help.

Somewhere around here, the moderator expresses disappointment they haven't gone after each other yet and encourages them to fight.


QUESTION #5 - 42% of Federal spending in on Pentagon budget, not even including Iraq and Afghanistan. What would you cut?

Lee - The Constitution talks about defense. I'm reluctant to say what we need is a cut in defense spending. We don't need cuts in defense spending. This is our very survival. It's the principle reason the 13 colonies came together, to protect themselves. I believe in strong defense.

Bradley - In the Constitution Art. I Sec. 8 on military, we need proper military posture. We're more interested in promoting safe borders in other countries (S. Korea) than our own. My changes would bring us back to a Constitutional perspective of the military. We're not to be the policemen of the world.

Granato - We need keep our men & women safe and out of harm's way. We need to look at every area they're in. As a businessman, I would look at everything, where we could cut, but we need to keep our country and our troops safe. Thank you.


QUESTION #6 - Wave of anti-Muslim sentiments; many Muslims feel threatened. How to mitigate tensions between freedom of speech and religion?

Bradley - I have the 1st Amendment memorized and "We the People..."; Tocqueville observed Americans lived their lives decently becuz they believe in God. What we need is an engagement within each religionto reach out. Stop trying to one-up each other. Burning a Koran or building a mosque at Ground Zero are inflammatory.

Granato - We know Utah was founded Mormons persecuted in the East. We need education. We have too much extremism. People for the most part are good. It starts a lot w/ fed government reaching out, helping the folks. Address the issue, not ignore it. Let's come together. Thank you.

Lee - Just becuz you can doesn't mean you should. We as citizens should remember that w/ rights come responsibilities. We don't have to be enemies just becuz we worship at a different altar.


QUESTION #7 - What one issue do you fear the most, so complex that would keep you up at night?

Granato - These are no easy shoot-from-the-hip solutions. "Both sides of the aisle." I can't tell you what would keep me up at night becuz I'm not afraid to get in and get the job done. I've done that my whole career. Analyze your situation and forget your fear.

Lee - We're losing jobs. Jobs is number one. The fed govt controls too much of the job market. Govt takes 25% of every dollar, massive spending, massive taxes. Debt almost $15 trillion. People feel ill-at-ease to invest. We have to reverse this. It's not easy or quick, but the solution has to involve a balanced-budget amendment.

Bradley - I've had this problem for decades. It has to do with continuing those that in office in violation of their office. We have spiralled downward as a nation. Those that hold office must honor their oath of office, so help me God. All the challenges are fairly simple if the reps return to the principles of the Constitution.


QUESTION #8 - What about radioactive waste?

Lee - Father Rex Lee died from lymphoma, exposed to radiation, "down-winder." I will fight tooth and nail to keep waste out, fought tirelessly under Huntsman to keep it out. We have a beautiful state, and I will fight to keep it that way, to maintain healthy environment.

Bradley - This state shall not become a dumping ground for anybody. it is not the natl govt's perogative to force it on us. This soculd be taken as anti-nuclear philopsophy. I am for nuclear power. Waste can be recycled until it's innocuous. That should be stored on the site where it's created.

Granato - Mike, you confuse me. You fought under Huntsman to keep out foreign nuclear waste, then you joined EnergySolutions to fight to bring it in. You used your family connections, which way are you going?

Lee (rebuttal) - I respectfully disagree with everything you just said. I've never worked for EnergySolutions, I served them as outside counsel. Fought on Constitutional grounds.


QUESTION #9 - What will you do to preserve Social security?

Bradley - The natl govt has no power to redistribute wealth; it doesn't show in Constitution. Soc Security has pillaged and plundered, it has run the end of its course. We're on a death spiral. Soc Security will fail unless we raise retirement rates. It should be voluntary. Look at my website.

Granato - It's a lifeline for so many people. 38% of people receiving it in Utah would be in poverty w/o it. Lee wants to raise retirement age to 75? Fed govt needs to maintain program. Thank you.

Lee - First, all those already retired will have no change. It would be immoral and impractical to take benefits away from those who've already retired. Demise of Soc Security has already been forecast by mathematicians. We need to raise retirement age.


QUESTION #10 - From staff sergeant who just did 3rd tour of duty: What's your foreign policy regarding Afghanistan specifically?

Granato - We don't belong there, but we're there. It's Obama's to finish. The sooner we get out, the better off we'll be.

Lee - We need to keep them there as long as it takes, then give them the promise we'll bring them home when job is done. Bring troop count down, focus more on counter-terror activities. Make sure al-Qaeda strongholds don't develop in Afghanistan. We've got to eliminate them.

Bradley - I was staff sergeant 40 years ago so I can perhaps identify. We went to get bin Laden, no to get Al Qaeda, no to nation-build, oh there are some minerals there we can't let China get. Afghanistan is mission-creep in worst sense. Our troops have done their job bravely. We should make a strategic withdrawal.


QUESTION #11 - Don't Ask Don't Tell

Lee - I consulted w/ panel of generals, colonels, etc. They've informed me DADT works and should be maintained. I'm following that recommendation.

Bradley - Unit cohesiveness is prime directive. Can't have homosexuals next to others not of that peruasion, can't have troops crawling over their sleeping bags at night figuring out what to do. I oppose removing DADT.

Granato - I think it's an insult to the gays already serving in the military. I would support elimination of DADT. Thank you.


Closing statements:

Granato - I'm mainstream, I'm moderate, once I get to Washington I will be looking for what I can do for Utah. It's about jobs and the economy. It's about optimism. Thank you.

Lee - Pleasure to be here. We live in a time of great conflict. Reagan prophetically declared "It's morning in America again." (Let me pick up that name I just dropped.) Reclaim the right to limited federal government. As we limit govt, we'll create jobs.

Bradley - I've spent my life trying to bring forth the principles of freedom.

Overall, I was vastly underwhelmed. Full of safe, pat, contained answers. Only once all night did any candidate engage anyone else, when Granato tried to illustrate Lee's different positions on nuclear waste, which Lee immediately slapped down, and then the moderator moved on. Lee and Bradley also seemed to have a side-bet as to who could bring up the Constitution more.

After a while Bradley came off as a self-parody. "What would you like for dinner, Mr. Bradley?" "The Constitution gives me the freedom to choose spaghetti." What I got from Bradley is he's for lower taxes, probably a flat tax, kicking all illegal immigrants out of the country, get rid of ObamaCare and leave people with giant medical bills to look to charities for help and not the feds, get rid of Social Security, get out of Afghanistan and Iraq, take the troops home from their bases in South Korea and Germany and let them protect our borders, homosexuals are gross, and showing off that he's memorized the Constitution.

Granato looked like a zookeeper trying not to scare the lemurs that escaped from their pen. If he said the word "Obama", 70% of the audience might stampede from the room. He emphasized working together, reaching across the aisle, let's work this out. He's for keeping the federal govt accountable, using their money (which isn't really their money), mainstream, moderate, really hoping the audience caught his subtext that Lee & Bradley are extremists. Thank you.

Lee took a professorial tone which was really off-putting. "Allow me to educate you on the Constitution and what our Founding Fathers intended." I think all three of them felt like they had to really dumb down their answers. Except when quoting the Constitution. Lee's for cutting spending everywhere except defense, which surprised me. For all his fiscal talk, surely all departments should be open to cutting waste? Let's get everything back to small government and states rights. Repeal the 14th Amendment and send illegals home, be friendly to legal immigrants coming in. Balance the budget, pay down the debt, we need to reform and maybe phase out Social Security. He seems okay with staying in Afghanistan.

If this was all I had to go on, I would be disappointed in my choices as to who I want to represent me.

Bradley's the Constitution Party candidate, Granato's the Democrat, and Lee's the Tea Party Republican.

Value Voters like Mike Pence

After the weekend of the Value Voters Summit, they took their poll, and Mike Huckabee has been dethroned by Mike Pence.

Out of 723 social conservatives there, the vote went as such:

1. Mike Pence - 28%
2. Mike Huckabee - 22%
3. Mitt Romney - 13%
4. Newt Gingrich - 10%
5. Sarah Palin - 7%
6. Rick Santorum - 5%
7. Jim DeMint - 5%
8. Bobby Jindal - 2%
9. Mitch Daniels - 2%
10. Chris Christie - 2%
11. John Thune - 2%
12. Undecided - 2%

Tim pawlenty and Michelle Bachmann asked to not be part of the poll. Also in the poll were Bob McDonnell, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Haley Barbour, Ron Paul, and getting one vote, Arizona governor Jan Brewer.

Noonan drinks some Tea

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter, frequent talking-head on Sunday news shows, is dealing with her own feelings on the Tea party.

So far, the tea party is not a wing of the GOP but a critique of it. This was demonstrated in spectacular fashion when GOP operatives dismissed tea party-backed Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. The Republican establishment is "the reason we even have the Tea Party movement," shot back columnist and tea party enthusiast Andrea Tantaros in the New York Daily News. It was the Bush administration that "ran up deficits" and gave us "open borders" and "Medicare Part D and busted budgets."

Bye bye, Karl Rove

How quickly the once mighty can fall. Karl Rove, the "architect", "Bush's brain", enjoyer of his cushy job as Fox News Analyst and even recent guest host for Rush Limbaugh, criticized the wrong candidate and has been blasted by the ... what do I call them? Right-wing establishment? Tea Party Express conductors?

Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, Mark Levin all came down on Rove for slamming Christine O'Donnell after her win.

Polls show O'Donnell behind Chris Coons by double-digits, but based on this year's primaries, it's probably too soon to assume anything.

As for Rove, he's the one who said deficits don't matter.

Tea Party Scorecard

Dave Weigel breaks it down.

November will be where it all matters.

Mike Lee wants to change the Constitution

"The Constitution was made to be amended from time to time. Sometimes we have to do that in order to make the Constitution more true to the American dream." - Mike Lee on CNN

I just don't know about this guy. I shook his hand once early in the primary process. I listened to him debate. I've had people all but bear their testimony to me that Mike Lee is true. But there's things about him that make me uncomfortable.

For one, he boasts of being a Constitutional expert. Well, seeing as how he wants to remove some Amendments and add new ones, I'm supposed to just trust that he knows what the founding fathers intended or that his definiton of "the American dream" is the right one.

He wants to remove the 14th Amendment with birthright citizenship. This is wrong to me.

He wants to remove the 17th Amendment which allows voters to pick their senators. This would give the people even less power in the electoral process where so many voters already feel disenfranchised.

And I take it he wants to remove the 16th Amendment. From his website:

With 50% of wage earners paying little or no taxes, too many voters have no “skin in the game”—and no reason to question new government programs that are funded by the real taxpayers. Until we reform the tax code to give all Americans a stake in their government (through the fair or flat tax), Congress will continue to adopt new entitlements, new bailouts, and new relief programs."

In other words, he wants to raise taxes on the poorest half of America.

I voted for Tim Bridgewater in the primary. I just found his campaign less offensive than Lee's. It bothers me that Lee is part of another potential Utah aristocracy, coasting on the fame and goodwill toward his father, the late Rex E. Lee, and a brother on the Utah Supreme Court.

I wanted Bennett out because he originally promised to only serve two terms when he ran, and here he was going for a fourth term. And now it looks like Utah's next senator is not really from the Republican party, but from the Tea party. Now that the Tea party has shifting from a real grass-roots movement to being co-opted by special-interest groups, I'm ready for the anger to simmer and the non-Democrats in DC to focus on responsible governing. We don't need them to govern angry, just govern responsibly.

Another Iowa Straw Poll Coming

There will be some new names to choose from in Iowa.

Among the new candidates in the poll are Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Most of the expected crop of presidential candidates made the straw poll, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Reps. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Mike Pence of Indiana and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also made this year’s ballot.
Yet even after picking 17 candidates, the straw poll left out Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, both reported to be exploring presidential runs.

And even though he's denied running, where's Jeb Bush?

The College Tuition Bubble

Real-estate's bubble burst. Is it time for higher education's? I would hope so. Seems nuts to send graduates out in to the world with poor job prospects and $100,000 in debt with skyrocketing college pricing.