Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is allegedly running for Senate in 2010 against Republican Rep. Roy Blunt.  But you wouldn’t know it from listening to her.  In fact, she’s pretty much been MIA since announcing her intent to run.  We’ve beat on her here on RS, the Missouri GOP has mocked her, and there’s even a “Where’s Robin?” Twitter presence.  She’s a pretty easy target, as she - at least up ’til last week - has steadfastly refused to tell anyone what she thinks about pretty much anything.

Those of us on the Right have noted for a while now that Carnahan has been ducking from any examination of her positions on key national issues… and now even the left is starting to mock her for it.  This week, the (at least borderline) liberal blog “St. Louis Oracle” poked Robin about her near-silence.  The Oracle seems to have been awakened not as much by Carnahan’s emergence from her political hibernation as by the fact that she (unsurprisingly) kissed up to Barack Obama by supporting his newfound hawkish position on a troop surge in Afghanistan.  To those of us on the Right, this is unsurprising - we fully expect Carnahan would be an Obama/Reid lapdog.  But to the Left, this troop surge is akin to Obama donning a GWB mask, and Carnahan’s support does not play well with the anti-war pacifists on their side.

Aside from his opposition to Carnahan’s troop surge support, the Oracle makes a very interesting point about her behavior - he notes that Carnahan is employing a strategy referred to as the “Rose Garden” strategy:

Actually, it’s an embodiment of an old political ploy called the “rose garden” strategy. It evolved from the conduct of incumbent presidents seeking to look presidential by busying themselves with the duties of the office while publicly ignoring the campaign. Ms. Carnahan seems to be trying to look busy as secretary of state and ride into office on her reputation from that office and her unmistakable family name.

Wait… what?  This is from a “progressive”?  Progressive or not, his observation is dead on target.  This is exactly what Robin is doing.

But there’s more…

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Right now in America, the people of this great nation are staring down the loaded barrel of government-run healthcare. If this bill passes, it is no less than the end of America as we know it. You know it. Most Americans knows it.

Yet the people most in a position to do anything about it right now – Senate Republicans – are doing absolutely nothing. If anything, they actually are HELPING Democrats by offering amendments to “highlight problems in the bill,” giving the Democrats the opportunity to produce “cover votes.”

Consider the comments of the number two Senate Republican, Jon Kyl, yesterday on Bill Bennett’s radio show, being hosted by Rick Santorum (hat tip to mayhem in comments of one of Erick’s post, here). In response to the question, “what is your strategy, to the extent you can share it,” Kyl said, “actually, I think we can be fairly upfront about it. Our strategy is not actually to delay and not take votes.” He added, “our strategy is to have a lot of good amendments and highlight the problems in the bill,” and “it is not our strategy to somehow slow things down.”

This is what happens when Senators sit around their offices with overpaid, but largely incompetent staff in fancy rooms scattered about the Capitol – and they listen to pollsters and political strategists talking about how unpopular this bill is, but stressing that Republicans “need to be for something.”

Senator Kyl continued, spending several minutes detailing the GOP strategy to improve the bill with amendments. But, then, the Jon Kyl that we usually applaud conceded that it was simply not possible to improve a bill that at its core allows a government takeover of health care.

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The United States Senate Judiciary Committee just voted along party lines, 12-7, to send the nomination of liberal activist Judge Louis B. Butler Jr. to the floor of the Senate. The Democrats did so, according to friends inside the room, in a disrespectful manner… talking over Republicans who wished to voice their disapproval and tried to – heaven forbid in the U.S. Senate – actually debate the nominee. I am told Schumer and Whitehouse were on their cell phones, and a number of Democrat Senators were talking loudly during the limited debate they even allowed.

Classy.

This is the latest of an increasingly distinguished line of completely-out-of-the-mainstream, leftists who have absolutely no respect for, much less use for, the Constitution. If it weren’t so damaging to our nation’s well being, it would almost be comical how uniquely unqualified and crazy these nominees are.

Following on the heels of the nomination of admitted leftist and activist Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who was overturned repeatedly, who believes judges make law, who holds sexist views and who has decided cases based on race… and then, David Hamilton, who was nominated for the 7th Circuit – someone who raised money for ACORN, who worked for ACLU, who blocked parental consent laws and who was soft on the worst of our criminals… NOW comes Louis Butler, Jr. for a Federal District Court slot in the Western District of Wisconsin… a nominee with a long track record of liberalism and activism (see Ed Whelan’s piece over at NR here).

Judge Butler was rejected by voters not once, but TWICE, for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. WISCONSIN. Butler, like Sotomayor, believes judges should base their decisions not on the law, but on their personal beliefs and policy preferences, having said, “…the background, personal beliefs and policy decisions of the justices selected will influence how they vote on the difficult cases before them… And that is the main reason I support Senator Obama.”

In his brief tenure on the Supreme Court (he was appointed by a Democrat Governor given his inability to get elected… again, in WISCONSIN), Butler distinguished himself by overturning the will of the people when he voted to strike down medical liability limits – and he earned the nickname “Loophole Louis” for his noted soft-on-crime stances, as documented in this Wall Street Journal editorial.

It is indeed a new day in America, and “change” is in the air. That change will be most notable in an Obama-planted activist judiciary ripping away what little grip the American people still have on this little democratic experiment. Nice work.

Friends, it is as bad as I feared. The Republicans are playing so nice with the Democrats in the Senate that they are improving the health care bill so it can pass.

Here is an email from Don Stewart in Senator Mitch McConnell’s office:

The Leaders just locked in a unanimous consent agreement for four amendment votes tomorrow.

There will be votes on the Mikulski and Murkowski amendments in the morning at 11:45. The McCain motion to commit (on the half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts), and a Sen. Bennet amendment, will have votes at 2:45.

As Sen. McConnell noted on the floor, Republicans offered to vote on the Mikulski and Murkowski amendments this evening. But despite all the “obstruction” talk from Democrats today, there was an objection on the Democrat side to having those votes tonight.

As Sen. McConnell just said on the floor about the Murkowski/Mikulski amendments: “our side of the aisle, the Republicans side of the aisle, was prepared to vote on both of those amendments tonight, and then a problem developed on the other side.”

Let me know if you need any further information

Why was “The Republican side of the aisle prepared to vote on both of these amendments tonight?” Or tomorrow? Or ever? Why would we help the Democrats pretend to fix their unfixable bill.

The GOP and Democrats are putting up several amendments, all designed to “improve” the bill:

• The Democrat Mikulski amendment purports to ensure mammograms are covered, but actually ensures abortions are covered.
• The Republican Murkowski amendment response to the Mikulski amendment ensures mammograms are not cut and beefs up pro-life protections.
• The Republican McCain vote sends the bill back to Finance Committee to restore funding to medicare.
• The Democrat Bennett amendment responds to the McCain vote by ensuring no one ever loses their medicare.

Whoopideedoo. While I’m glad the Democrats are now fighting it out amongst themselves, the GOP is not really helping the fight for freedom here.

If Mikulski and Bennet pass tomorrow, Democrats will argue that they have fixed the Medicare and mammogram issues. Why are we in such a rush to allow Democrats to vote on their amendments to fix the bill? This is a unanimous consent request. All Senators are responsible for this disaster. Will anyone stand up and say “I object?”

This is frustrating.

The Senate Republican Conference is giddy that its first amendment to the health care legislation is to preserve the bloated Medicare bureaucracy. The Senate Democrats want to do what they always accuse the GOP of doing and cut Medicare. The GOP is apparently giddy at the opportunity to rub the Democrats’ noses in their Medicare cuts.

So now the GOP is using its first amendment to reaffirm the Democrat theory that Medicare cannot be cut and cuts even to the rate of growth of Medicare are also wrong.

The GOP could have, by chance, offered up the Stupak language, which has not yet been inserted. The GOP could have offered up an amendment to split the Democrats up front. The GOP could have done nothing and moved on to let cloture fail, thus killing the bill. Instead, Democrats and Republicans will no doubt join hands and vote to put the money back in Medicare, making it a grand bipartisan exercise.

What next? A GOP amendment to guarantee breast cancer screenings in the legislation?

Having started from the presupposition that the health care legislation is going to pass, the GOP seems to be signaling it will work to “improve” the legislation just enough to overcome a filibuster.

The legislation has 57 votes already. The GOP does not need to offer amendments to improve the bill — they need to bring it to a vote and kill it. Preening for cameras and favorable press coverage is going to get the bill to 60 votes and a signing ceremony.

*Yes, I realize these are all motions to recommit the bill to committee, which will never pass. So they aren’t trying to improve the bill, this a pure messaging/posturing exercise, but it doesn’t help to stop the bill. Since I assume we’re trading amendments (one GOP amend vote, then one Dem, and back and forth) every lame GOP recommit amendment we rush to do gives Dems another chance to fix their bill and cobble together 60 votes.

Chuck DeVore has hit a major milestone in his campaign fundraising. In the year since he announced his bid for Senate, he has raised (dramatic music) one million dollars. Do we think he’s a viable candidate yet?

Meanwhile Carly Fiorina, who’s only recently announced her candidacy, announced early that she would not fund her campaign out of her own deep pockets. However she’s already gone back on that and is loaning her campaign some money. She has to do this because her NRSC-backed announcement, rushed out the door as a reaction to the Jim DeMint endorsement of DeVore, has clearly gone far below her budgetary expectations. Do we finally see that she’s not the candidate we’ve been promised?

California statewide races are tough for Republicans. We need somebody who can fight hard, raise money, and keep the Democrats honest. Carly Fiorina can’t do it. Chuck DeVore is already proving that he can. Chuck DeVore is not just the better candidate on the issues. He’s also the better candidate on practical and technical grounds.

Experience counts, and experience running a corporation’s share price into the ground isn’t what we need for the Republican party in a state where we already have problems. Experience winning elections is what we need, and Chuck DeVore is the candidate in this race who has the best chance to win this one. And I have one million reasons to back that up.

68 years ago, Americans around the nation settled into a peaceful Thanksgiving weekend and celebrated with their loved ones. A week later, the nation was viciously attacked by Japan – an attack that sparked our involvement in perhaps the greatest of all wars.

This Thanksgiving holiday is different from that weekend. While we should likewise celebrate and give thanks for our innumerable blessings, this time, the American people are staring at an attack on our nation and can stop it. This attack is coming from within. The Obama/Reid/Pelosi healthcare bill – in its various forms - is an assault on the American way of life and an affront to all the generations before us who fought to preserve and protect our cherished freedoms.

Why? Because the bill will eliminate your God-given ability to care for your family according to YOUR wishes and YOUR conscience. It will insert Washington D.C., and the incompetent bureaucrats who live there, into your hospital room, your doctor’s office, your insurance company, your home and ultimately, into your personal health decisions. As analyzed here, the bill is loaded with active-government terms like “shall,” “tax,” and “require.” And, even a cursory review of the text will show how much power this bill gives Washington to interfere with your healthcare (you know, the town that brought you the TARP bailout, Katrina-relief and over $12 Trillion in debt and counting…). Qualifications, panels, reports, studies, mandatory insurance whether you want it or not, penalties, taxes, fees, mandates on coverage but restrictions on prices… and 2079 pages of non-stop assaults on your right to live free and care for your family as you see fit.

Say hello to lines, waiting rooms, priority lists and more expensive, less effective healthcare. Say goodbye to freedom.

That is, unless you act now. It is your job – indeed, it is your duty – to talk to your friends and family this weekend and in the coming weeks. Call them to action. Other than our fine men and women in uniform fighting around the world, there is nothing more important that you can be doing right now to preserve our children’s birthright – heirs to the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Read over the bill. Read summaries. Whatever you need to do. Try the Heritage Foundation’s website, http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/. Then… pause the football games and take a break from the turkey and cranberry sauce. Talk to friends and family this weekend. Explain it to them.

Then… next week, when the Senate come back in session - call your Senator. Email more friends. Email more family. Then… Call your Senator AGAIN. Don’t stop. Repeat. Then… call Senators on the fence. And, feel free to start with Senators Ben Nelson (R-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Mary Landrieu (D- LA). They represent solidly red states - and need to have their feat held to the fire. The list of Senate office phone numbers can be found here. Shut their phones down. Flood their offices. Visit their offices.

The American people can win this, but only if you take action to stop it. There is one thing that elected representatives fear - and that is YOU, the American people. Celebrate Thanksgiving this year in the American way - by fighting for freedom and working hard to preserve this, the last best earthly hope for mankind.

While I hesitate to waste even a few seconds of my God-given time on this planet responding to Media Matters (you know, the “progressive” Media Matters… a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization dedicated to “comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media..”), with respect to this monstrocity of a bill, I SHALL “leave everything on the field” as they say.

So, in response to my post earlier titled “Words Mean Things,” in which I list just a few of the many words in the Senate health care bill that highlight the massive amount of power given to government at the expense of freedom, Media Matters wrote this dismissal.

What is so laughable about the liberal - er, uh, I mean “progressive” school of thought is the fact it simply ignores the Constitution until it suits “progressive” purposes (such as killing babies in the name of privacy - I wonder if Media Matters will do a word search for “privacy” or “penumbra” in the Constitution - but I digress), and even when “progressives” do tacitly acknowledge its existence, they ignore the rich history of its adoption.

The Constitution was, of course, the result of significant negotiation and compromise. Whether one agrees with the federalists of the day, the anti-federalists of the day, or finds himself in between - the reality is that the Constitution was all about power. That was its purpose. It’s a CONSTITUTION. It’s purpose was, and is, to use words like shall, may and tax, and to do so in a way that would be an acceptable balance of the power it would authorize.

Now, everyone with an elementary understanding of the history of our nation’s adoption of the U.S. Constitution understands this simple concept. They also understand that the Constitution was one that limited the powers given to the central or national government - and that by so limiting that power, any legislation offered by the Congress would not be about power-grabbing, but about focused legislation constrained by the limits imposed by the Constitution.

No one who has even an ounce of respect for the Constitution would suggest that this Obama/Reid Senate healthcare bill, the Pelosi House healthcare bill, or any variation thereof, fit within the limits given the national government.

They don’t.

The Senate healthcare bill has numerous flaws – but you needn’t know the details to know that it erodes freedom, restricts your ability to care for your family according to your wishes, costs trillions of dollars, increases taxes, increases premiums and is so massive that it is impossible to comprehend fully. In fact, the 2074 page behemoth in the Senate is an interesting study in word choices that tell you all you need to know about the bill. See below for a list of select words – and I am not the only one to do such a review (I noticed, e.g., Lee DeCovnick over at American Thinker from yesterday here).

The word “shall” appears 3607 times, but “freedom” only twice. The word “penalty” and its various forms 163 times, but “liberty” doesn’t appear at all. The word “require” and its forms 1025 times, but the “Constitution” is absent both literally and figuratively. The word tax and its forms appears 183 times, fee 234 times, and “Internal Revenue” 104 times. Other words like apply, rule, culture, diverse, enforce, provide, authority - all words that appear repeatedly, while a word like “own” appears only 11 times. See the full list below. It is quite telling.

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Call your Senator right now. Use this link to bypass the congressional switchboard.

Tell your Senator to vote NO on cloture for the motion to proceed to debate.

If the health care legislation goes to debate, Harry Reid will start offering amendments to pick off votes.

Call your Senator right now. Tell them both that a yes vote on cloture is a vote for the health care bill. The Congressional Research Service’s latest study proves that.

There is a study out today that is damaging to the Democrats efforts to pass health care in the Senate.

On Saturday, when constituents cannot contact their Senators’ offices because they’ll be closed, the United States Senate will vote on a cloture motion to debate the health care legislation.

This is important — a vote in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed (a parliamentary issue) is, in effect, a vote for the health care legislation. Why? Because Harry Reid has enough votes to pass the health care legislation by a simple majority, but he does not have the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate, any Senator voting for cloture is voting for the health care plan.

Roll Call reports that according to the Congressional Research Service, “[a] study of Senate voting patterns shows the chamber has approved more than 97 percent of all bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate — a finding that could undercut Democratic efforts to paint a key health care vote on Saturday as procedural.”

In fact, “since 1999 the Senate has approved 97.6 percent of all bills when lawmakers first voted to begin debate.”

Some Senators, like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, want the health care legislation to pass, but know politically she would lose if she voted for it. So unless pressure is brought to bear on her and others, she may vote “yes” on cloture for the motion to proceed and then try to hide behind a no vote later.

We cannot let that happen. Call your two Senators all day today and demand they vote no on the motion to proceed. The phone number to call is 202-224-3121.

There is still much to learn about the Senate health care plan, but we know a few things already.

The Senate bill does not have a price tag. The Democrats are touting a cost of $849 billion, but that number is a fabrication.

From Please click here for the rest of the post.Roll Call we learn that “one Senate Democratic leadership staffer acknowledged that the cost estimate did not even represent an official preliminary score from the CBO but was a representation of “preliminary feedback” that Reid has gotten from the nonpartisan Congressional agency.”

In other words, we do not know how much it will actually cost.

We also know that the Senate has severely weakened the pro-life language of the legislation. It comes no where close to the Stupak amendment language.

We also know that the legislation purports to cut the deficit. How? By massive and painful tax increases, including raising the payroll tax on medicare.

Finally, we know that now some Democrats are leaning against a vote on the “motion to proceed.” Any Senator who votes for the motion to proceed is, in effect, voting for the legislation. Harry Reid needs all sixty of the Democrats.

Under the unique rules of the United States Senate, a member of the body may insist legislation actually be read before a vote is cast on the legislation.

After threatening to do that, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has now confirmed the health care bill must be read. Republicans will also try to filibuster the health care legislation. The Democrats will need 60 votes to proceed, which they will try to get sometime around Friday.

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), and Bill Nelson (D-FL) are key votes on this. If those three Democrats vote to end the filibuster, they are, in effect, voting for passage of the health care legislation — voting to end the filibuster and against final passage is a clever way Democrats up for re-election have found to pass bills they love, but know they cannot support.

They ensure the legislation has enough votes to pass by a simple majority and then vote to end the filibuster, which requires a super majority. Then these erstwhile Democrats vote against the legislation’s actual passage knowing it will pass even if they vote no.

I suspect voters will remember these tricks next year and punish them.

Or simply… thoughtful?

[Former President Bill] Clinton delivered the keynote address at the party’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner, the kickoff to the 2010 campaign in Delaware — a foray many Democrats hope will again feature “Biden for Senate” buttons.

But there was no word from Attorney General Biden on Tuesday night about whether he will run for the U.S. Senate seat once held by his father.

Mark my words, an announcement was expected last night; the Jefferson-Jackson dinner would have been the logical time and place for it, too. On the other hand, VP Biden’s name does not have the luster… well, it never particularly had any real luster, but he doesn’t poll well these days. And on the gripping hand, as one of Jim Geraghty’s readers notes 2014 may be a more logical time for AG Biden to run for Senate anyway.  Meanwhile, of course, Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) is running for Senate himself.  For those keeping score: no on stimulus, yes on cap-and-trade - but yes on Stupak/no on health care.

Possibly lately he’s been… thoughtful… too.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

I have written about David Hamilton before.

He is the federal judge who believes it is a violation of the first amendment for Christians to pray at school events, but is not a violation of the first amendment when Muslims pray at school events.

He is also the judge who was cited by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals for abusing his power by keeping an injunction in place on an informed consent law despite the law clearly being constitutional.

Barack Obama has naturally appointed the man to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals — the very court that said Hamilton had abused his power.

Call your Senator today and tell him to vote against cloture on David Hamilton’s nomination. Call 202-224-3121. Ask for your Senator. Tell him to oppose cloture and oppose the nomination of David Hamilton.

Carly Fiorina truly is panicked. The NRSC has been spooked by the Scozzafava/Hoffman/Owens race, and is more or less going to leave Fiorina out to dry. And while she got the support of conservative favorite Tom Coburn to match Chuck DeVore’s Jim DeMint, the rest of her supporters paint a different picture. Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Lisa Murkowski: to many of us, these are what is wrong with the Republican Senate caucus.

So now she’s launched prematurely, shot the wad of endorsements she has in the middle of a week, rushed to pander to the right by appearing in the OC Register, but even that’s not enough. Now she’s making outrageous attacks on Chuck DeVore and the rest of us who favor an Internet free of burdensome government regulation.

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We won the big statewide races yesterday, and now it’s back to work trying to win some more. The California Senate primary may not be until June, but when we’re faced with an entrenched incumbent like Barbara Boxer, we need all the lead time we can get.

Up until now, the DC types have all been supporting Carly Fiorina in our primary, even though she had not yet declared her candidacy, and had yet shown either an inability or an unwillingness to campaign to the Republican voters of this state. Thus, that early support had failed to move any dials as Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has raised money well, gained loyal grass roots support, and ran ahead of Fiorina against Boxer in polls. But now, with the fallout of Dede Scozzafava’s blowup spreading nationwide, events are moving more quickly.

The NRSC is conceding its positions in primaries, pulling a crutch out from under Fiorina’s already-limping campaign. Conservative DC types are taking advantage of the new neutrality, too, starting with Senator Jim DeMint endorsing DeVore, while Fiorina has the backing of South Carolina’s other Senator, Lindsey Graham.

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Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is encouraging Republican colleagues to filibuster Barack Obama’s nominee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, David Hamilton.

Hamilton has major issues against him, including stating publicly his believe that the founders intended the judiciary to routinely amend the constitution through case law. More troubling, David Hamilton has ruled that praying to Allah does not violate the Establishment of Religion clause in the First Amendment, but praying in Jesus Christ’s name does.

According to Sesions’s letter,

Judge Hamilton’s most determidly activists decisions might be his series of rulings in A Woman’s Choice v. Newman, 904 F. Supp. 1434 (S.D. Ind. 1995). Through his rulings in this case, Judge Hamilton succeeded in blocking the enforcement of an Indiana informed consent law for 7 years. In reversing, the Seventh Circuit noted that Judge Hamilton had abused his judicial discretion.

Sessions concludes, “[t]his is not the type of service that should be rewarded with a promotion. In deed, this is one of those extraordinary circumstances where the President should be informed that his nominee is not qualified.”

You can read the full letter here (PDF).

Likewise, you can call your Senator at 202-224-3121 and ask him to oppose Judge David Hamilton’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

This is rather inside the baseball, but it is also very important.

The Senate is about to vote for cloture on S. 1776. This legislation is the first vote in the Obamacare battle on the floor of the Senate.

Basically, the bill would bribe the doctors’ lobby into supporting Obamacare to the tune of three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Importantly, the Democrats are claiming Obamacare will reduce the deficit because they are putting most of the deficit ballooning in this piece of legislation. This will add trillions of dollars to the deficit.

Unfortunately, some Republican Senators who say they will vote against S. 1776 do support calling for cloture, i.e. cutting off debate.

But the media is reporting the Democrats do not have the votes on their side for cloture. Any Republican who supports cloture is, in effect, assisting the Democrats in passing Obamacare.

CALL YOUR SENATOR RIGHT NOW. TELL HIM TO OPPOSE CLOTURE ON S. 1776.

IF WE LOSE THIS BATTLE, OBAMACARE WILL MORE LIKELY THAN NOT BECOME A REALITY

Bob Corker explains why opposition of S. 1776 is in the country’s best interests.

The Baucus bill is finally out.

It came in at 1,502 pages.

The Clinton health care bill was only 1,342 pages.

The Baucus bill has more pages than the last two Harry Potter books. Keep in mind that the last Harry Potter book was so thick they’re making it into two movies instead of one.

The Bill Number is S. 1796.

If Republicans don’t go along with the Democrats, Harry Reid is threatening to drop copies of the bill on their heads.