I’ve Moved!

Just a note to let everyone know that I’ve moved to my new, permanent blogging location: PitbullPatriots.com.

Please adjust your bookmarks!

“You Picked a Fine Time to Lead Us, Barack”

Since President Chuckles has been in such a comedic mood lately…

UPDATE: Oh, and this one too!

Kasich-Taylor Hearts Tea Party, Bloggers

Courtesy of friend and fellow blogger Jesse Hathaway over at Athens Runaway, a special message from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich for Tea Party Patriots and those in the new media:

We love you too, John!

We Need Jan Brewer

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are joining forces and telling President Barack Obama to do his job and secure our borders. Check out their new ad:

See also the statement on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. Money quote: “We’re all Arizonans now and we say with clear unity: ‘Mr. President, do your job. Secure our border.'”

Jan Brewer succeeded Janet Napolitano to become the 22nd governor of Arizona when Napolitano was appointed Secretary of Homeland Security in 2009. Prior to her service as governor, Brewer served a term and a half as Arizona Secretary of State. She served for thirteen years in the Arizona State Legislature, three years as a state representative and ten years as a state senator. She served as chairwoman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for six years, steering Maricopa County through a serious fiscal crisis and earning the county the reputation of being “one of the two best managed large counties in the nation,” according to Governing Magazine.

Gov. Brewer already has more experience in government than Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Sarah Palin had in 2008. She has more executive experience than any of the candidates on either of the 2008 presidential tickets. Gov. Brewer will have recently turned 68 years old on November 6, 2012. I think you know where I’m going with this.

Palin Endorses Fiorina, Idiocy Ensues

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in her bid for California’s U.S. Senate seat yesterday. From Palin’s Facebook page:

Carly is the Commonsense Conservative that California needs and our country could sure use in these trying times. Most importantly, she’s running for the right reasons. She has an understanding that is sorely lacking in D.C. She’s not a career politician. She’s a businesswoman who has run a major corporation. She knows how to really incentivize job creation. Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits. We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career.

Please consider that Carly is the conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November. I’m a huge proponent of contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate. Carly needs our support in this crucial election year when we have a real chance of putting an end to the Pelosi/Reid “Big Government” agenda.

Emphasis mine. Of course Chuck DeVore supporters nationwide aren’t happy with Palin’s decision, and their contempt for her common sense is pretty well encapsulated by the DeVore campaign referring to Palin as a “sheepdog.” From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“This grassroots movement is actually a grassroots movement,” said DeVore spokesperson Joshua Trevino. “Carly Fiorina thinks she can find the sheepdog to corral the sheep. Chuck DeVore knows they’re not sheep at all. They’re Americans. And they’ll make their own decisions.”

According to DeVore supporters, Palin has betrayed the grassroots. She is just another establishment hack. Yadda, yadda, yadda. There’s been plenty of speculation about Palin’s decision as well. Was she just trying to pick the winner to make herself look good and curry favor with the woman who could well be the next U.S. senator from California? Was this a shrewd maneuver to gain a key ally should Palin run for president in 2012? Did Palin endorse Fiorina because she was a top McCain advisor? Did she endorse her simply because she is a woman?

No, morons. Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina because she “is the conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November.” The end.

Unlike his supporters, Palin and the rest of us don’t have time to be concerned with Chuck DeVore’s stroking of his own ego. The DeVore campaign can go on and on about being a “grassroots movement” all it wants, but maybe Joshua Trevino can explain to us why this “grassroots movement” has garnered the support of only 10.8% of Californians according to the RealClearPolitics average. He might also want to explain to us why Palin, or anyone else for that matter, should support the Republican candidate losing the worst to Barbara Boxer in the polls.

It might be all about Chuck DeVore to DeVore and his supporters, but to Palin and the sane, rational majority of Republicans in these United States it’s about beating Barbara Boxer. It’s also about beating Tom Campbell, whom Palin accurately describes as “a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer.” If the polls are to be believed, DeVore stands no chance of beating either Campbell or Boxer. Riddle me this, DeVore supporters: If Chuck DeVore can’t even come close to beating a liberal RINO in a Republican primary, why on earth should we believe he can beat an incumbent senator in November?

Here’s reality, folks. According to the RCP average, Carly Fiorina is currently losing to Tom Campbell by six percentage points. DeVore is losing to him by eighteen. Hopefully we can all agree that regardless of how much more conservative DeVore may be than Fiorina, Fiorina is much more conservative than Campbell and is the only one who stands any real chance of beating him.

The real question we should be asking isn’t why Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina. That should be obvious: She endorsed Carly Fiorina because she wants to take back America, which involves taking Barbara Boxer’s seat in the U.S. Senate. The question we should be asking is why Chuck DeVore and his supporters are so self-involved. He must know that he can’t beat either Fiorina or Campbell, and so must his supporters. If he were to drop out of the race and endorse Fiorina, and if all of his supporters went to her, she would take out Campbell and stand a good chance of defeating Boxer in November.

So, Mr. DeVore, Mr. Trevino, and DeVore supporters: Why do you care more about Chuck DeVore’s ego and your own Kool-Aid slurping wishful thinking sorry, “grassroots movement,” than you do about defeating Tom Campbell and Barbara Boxer and taking back America? Sarah Palin has her priorities straight. Time for y’all to figure out what your priorities really are.

Dave Yost for Ohio Auditor of State

From the Rust Belt endorses Delaware County prosecutor Dave Yost for Ohio Auditor of State.

It is no secret that this blog viewed Mr. Yost as a weaker candidate for Auditor of State than his primary opponent, State Representative and Certified Public Accountant Seth Morgan. It would be disingenuous to try to brush aside all of the many words that have been written here in support of Rep. Morgan and in opposition to Mr. Yost. I do not regret my support for Seth Morgan in this primary campaign, nor do I regret that I aggressively challenged Mr. Yost on both qualifications and issues.

But the primary is over. Voters in Ohio now face a clear choice. They can choose a true conservative who has spent his time as both a county auditor and a county prosecutor holding government accountable. Or they can choose his Democrat opponent, David Pepper, whose only qualification for the job is that he has a lot of his family’s money to throw around.

Sure, this blog has raised questions about whether a one term county auditor and current county prosecutor was more qualified than a CPA to be our Auditor of State. But isn’t someone with the experience of a county auditor and prosecutor more qualified than a man whose only experience is that of a county commissioner? It is time for the Ohio Democratic Party and David Pepper to tell Ohio voters just what it is, besides his family money, that makes Mr. Pepper a serious candidate for Auditor of State. Mr. Redfern, Mr. Pepper, we’re waiting.

Meanwhile, I plan to spend from now until November explaining to the voters of Ohio why I believe Dave Yost is a vastly superior candidate to David Pepper. I’ll start by saying that the citizens of Athens County have seen his passion for fighting corruption and holding government accountable first hand. Mr. Yost served as the special prosecutor in the case against former Athens County Democratic Chairwoman Susan Gwinn. Yost worked hard to ensure that she was held accountable for her violation of campaign finance law. She was found guilty of two first-degree misdemeanors and had to resign her position as chairwoman of the Athens County Democratic Party.

Dave Yost did that. That’s the kind of Auditor of State we can all be sure that Mr. Yost will be. He will root out corruption, hold government accountable, and protect Ohio taxpayers. What kind of experience does David Pepper have to prove that he will do the same?

Now that primary season is over, it is important for the center-right majority in this state to remember what this election is really about. This election is about getting Ohio back on track. It’s about creating jobs and lowering taxes to help Ohio families and create an atmosphere that is friendly to businesses that will get Ohioans working again. As our next Auditor of State, Dave Yost will hold government accountable and make sure that your tax dollars are spent wisely.

We need someone with Dave Yost’s experience in standing up to corruption and holding government accountable in the Auditor of State’s office. David Pepper doesn’t have that experience. We need someone like Dave Yost, with his commitment to conservative principles, sitting on the Apportionment Board responsible for legislative redistricting. The primary is over. It is time for both Yost and Morgan supporters to unite behind this truly conservative candidate to keep the Auditor of State’s office and its seat on the Apportionment Board.