There's a first time for everything...

 

Last week, I led a conference call with MA-4 candidate Sean Bielat (disclosure: I work for the campaign) and several bloggers and local press. Peter Ingemi (@datechguyblog) noted a comment I made and wrote a blog post about it:

Once a Soldier...

...ALWAYS a Soldier... 

#CaffeineAddict

Just in case anyone thought I was joking in my bio about being a "caffeine addict," here's some evidence from this weekend:

Morning Coffee Reading for April 23, 2012

Here's your morning coffee reading for today:

• Love this write-up about BlogConCLT from the Republican Security Committee, which called Sean Bielat a "conservative dynamo" and "the most popular candidate at BlogCon." 

• • Hard-hitting column from Michelle Malkin: No More "Mr. Obama is a Nice Guy."

• Wow: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch was unable to fend off a primary challenge from Dan Liljenquist, despite spending a bazillion dollars. (OK, $5.7 million. But still, that's a heckuva lot of money for an incumbent to be forced to spend.) John Fund at the National Review thinks Hatch is vulnerable, and FreedomWorks for America is happy. Really happy.

1 > 43

Democrats must have magic powers. They are able to change the basic laws of math.

Barack Obama has proved that 1 > 43 ...

Tribute to Andrew Breitbart at #BlogConCLT

I'm at BlogCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we just had a special screening of the new Stephen Bannon film, Occupy Unmasked, which features a lot of footage of Andrew Breitbart.

After the film, Jim Jamitis (@anthropocon on Twitter) presented Dana Loesch, Brandon Darby, Larry O'Connor, and John Nolte with a portrait he created as a tribute to Andrew for the Breitbart offices.

What a perfect way to honor the man...with his own words:

Joe Kennedy III: Out. Of. Touch.

Ever since he entered the race for Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District, Joseph Kennedy III has been facing criticism for avoiding discussing any substantive issues. Even left-leaning blogs have pointed out that his website lacked an issues page.

Well, Kennedy finally stepped up this week and gave the voters some idea about where he stands on the issues:

Morning Coffee Reading for April 17, 2012 (Yep, I'm Still Here)

OK, I have been a ridiculous slacker in posting here for the past two weeks. No, the blog isn't going away (as much as a few chuckleheads out there might wish that it might), I've just needed a little time to take care that whole "pack up my entire house, spend three and a half days driving to Massachusetts, and hit the ground running with a new campaign" thing.

"Perspective"

Math is depressing, isn't it?

[Cartoon by Gary Varvel at the Week]

Catching up with Sean Bielat

Republican Congressional candidate Sean Bielat has been busy this past week, with lots of media appearances and meetings with voters throughout Massachusetts' Fourth District. Here are some of the highlights:

What's behind the shady false attacks on Cliff Stearns?

Cliff Stearns never struck me as controversial. Quiet and unassuming, he's managed to forge a solidly conservative path during his time in Congress, but largely avoided the spotlight until this past year, when he earned accolades for his work leading the Solyndra investigation. So I was, quite frankly, shocked that this election year brought not only a slew of primary challengers against Stearns, but also at the level of vitriol of their attacks on him.

Representative Plakon and Precourt's Role in Inspiring Florida's Lawsuit Against ObamaCare

Thousands protest in front of the Supreme
Court to support overturning ObamaCare

This week, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Florida vs. United States Department of Health and Human Services (for an excellent recap, please see this write-up by the Texas Public Policy Foundation), the lawsuit filed by the State of Florida against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka "ObamaCare."

Florida's previous Attorney General, Bill McCollum, filed the complaint on March 23, 2010. The litigation was joined by attorneys general in numerous other states, and some states filed separate lawsuits, but Florida's case has been the linchpin in moving this challenge forward all the way to the Supreme Court.

ObamaCare and its unconstitutional power grab have galvanized conservatives across the country and united them in their opposition to the Obama administration. What many people don't know is the back story behind how Florida's lawsuit came to be. I recently came across some interesting information when I was doing some research for one of my last Florida clients before I leave for Massachusetts.

No CGI Bunnies Were Harmed in the Making of this Video...

...but we can't say the same for small businesses in the current economy.

The latest video from Cain Connections:

A Message for Monday

So I'm sitting here feeling cranky because I have one week left in this house before the big move to MA and of course nothing can just be simple and now there's some sort of something wretchedly wrong with the plumbing (this isn't my area of expertise, but I'm pretty darn sure that when you run the washing machine, sandy water isn't supposed to flow up into your bathtub) and my new buddy from Roto-Rooter is pulling freaking tree roots out of the pipes (yes, this is a real thing that happens in older houses, oh, such joy) and it's going to cost several hundred dollars, ugh...

And then I came across this photo, and, well, it put things in a little more perspective:

Bill Posey's New Friend

Congressman Bill Posey represents Florida's Fifteenth District, and yesterday, he made a new friend:

Sean Bielat on Monica Crowley's Radio Show Today

Republican candidate for Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District, Sean Bielat, will be a guest on Monica Crowley's radio show on 77 WABC New York today. Her show starts at 1:00 pm ET, and he'll be on at 1:30 pm.

You can listen online at www.WABCradio.com or Monica has posted a list of all the stations nationwide where her show is syndicated here.

Gotta Love Mia Love

Mia Love is running for Congress in Utah's Fourth Congressional District, and her last name is really well-suited to her: when you get to know her, you're going to love her.

Watch this PJTV video to see for yourself.

Proven track record as a fiscal conservative, smart as a whip, and incredibly nice? More of this, please. And she quotes Bastiat? Sheer awesomeness.

Obama isn't bad at everything...

Barack Obama gets a lot of criticism on this site, so I thought it was only fair to give him credit when he did something right.

Fair's fair. I'll give him credit for doing one thing well...

Dennis Ross knows how to solve Congress' spending problem

The past month has gone by in a blur, traveling to Washington, D.C. for CPAC and then getting everything lined up for my new gig in Massachusetts, so I'm still catching up on the "really want to write a blog post about this but haven't yet" list.

When I was in D.C. last month, Representative Dennis Ross (FL-12) sat down with me for a short interview. We discussed his experiences as a freshman Congressman, his frustrations with how Congress deals with spending, and also his bill for "Zero-Based Budgeting" (more on that below):

Give me coffee or give me death!

From Right Wing News

How the heck did I miss this?

Apparently the recent discussions about Obamacare's health care mandate and the whole kerfuffle surrounding Sandra "my law school tuition is $45,000 a year but I should get free birth control" Fluke have led some people to start examining whether the government should mandate other benefits:

Wall Street Journal | Coffee Is an Essential Benefit Too