This is in response to President Obama's Q & A with Republicans yesterday which is almost universally being hailed as a boffo performance by the President.
To me, personally, it’s not a surprise. I debated policy with Mike Pence once and the guy is a stone-cold idiot. That was a years ago and I’ve been surprised since then to learn that conservatives consider him an unusually sharp policy mind and I take leading rightwingers at their word about that. But it’s the kind of thing that I think most Americans aren’t aware of.
Here's another review referencing Pence that made me chuckle:
At the end, shaking hands with the president, Pence's face looked as if he'd sucked a lemon for an hour – and in a way he had.
Here's the full video of the "Rumble in Baltimore" as some are calling it:
Via RedState, a copy of a letter to be sent out later today:
As many of you are aware, I have been approached about running for the United States Senate in 2010. Karen and I have been humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement which we received from across Indiana, especially since there are several capable and qualified candidates already seeking the Republican nomination.
After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to remain in the House and to seek reelection to the 6th Congressional District in 2010.
I am staying for two reasons. First because I have been given the responsibility to shape the Republican comeback as a member of the House Republican Leadership and, second, because I believe Republicans will win back the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010.
One year ago I was unanimously elected chairman of the House Republican Conference, the third ranking position in House Republican leadership. I accepted that responsibility because I believed that if Republicans returned to their conservative roots, they could win back the confidence of the American people. And I see it happening every day.
Pence got his free press, which is all he was probably interested in to begin with.
So you heard about that Rasmussen poll, did you? The one that says Senator Evan Bayh is toast and the only decision left is whether Mike Pence or John Hostettler will be the next junior senator from the great state of Indiana?
Well, news travels fast these days.
I, too, read the results of this latest survey yesterday, and I'll admit to being a little taken aback at first. I mean this was, after all, a shocking set of numbers, and coming on the heels of the media-fueled PenceWatch '10 spectacle, seemed to signal the start of a perfect political storm.
But let's take a step back and look at the situation. Aside from the fact that early polls are almost always terrible -- I can show you a few from this time in 2008 proclaiming a McCain victory over Hillary Clinton in Indiana -- and ignoring the fact that the campaign season has yet to even kick off for either side in this race, there are some simple logistical problems with this gem of a poll.
Here are just a few:
This poll is at odds with every other internal/external set of numbers we've seen. Way off. Outliers happen, folks.
The damn thing was taken during the Colts game. Let me ask you: would you trust any statewide survey that was taken during an AFC Championship game featuring Peyton Manning and the boys in blue? I didn't think so.
Rasmussen has become increasingly ideologically motivated, and timing is everything. Politico covered recent criticisms of the outfit earlier this month, and the fact that Republican money paid for this poll while Pence sits on the fence should tell you everything you need to know about the "fair and balanced" output of Rasmussen.
Now, all that aside, it's worth noting that these results are indicative of what is shaping up to be an extremely tough year for incumbents both here in Indiana and across the country. Senator Bayh is well aware of this, and echoed such sentiments this morning on MSNBC.
"People are mad at Democrats, they're mad at Republicans. They are just angry at the situation. I've seen polls that show me in a stronger position than the one probably you just showed your viewers. The important thing is we focus on what matters to people. Job creation, getting the deficit under control, health care reform that will matter to them right now. The polls take care of themselves. The poll in my case is illustative. The people like me personally, I'm happy to say. I'm doing a good job for them. It's all this other stuff in Washington that has them upset. You've got to change business as usual in Washington. If I have one message this morning, that's it."
Smart money is still on this whole fiasco just being a PR push on the part of the Pence camp, but regardless of who the Republican candidate ends up being, Senator Bayh has the resources, the infrastructure, and the campaign trail skills to bring his message to Hoosiers. And media clusterfunfest aside, that's something that no poll -- ideological or otherwise -- can change.
Bad candidates lose elections. That much we know. But it probably warrants repeating that good candidates win elections. And good candidates who happen to already be popular incumbents are in even better shape.
At least one Republican might do more than cheer for Massachusetts: House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence is now considering a campaign of his own against Sen. Evan Bayh.
The outspoken conservative could effectively clear the Republican primary field and give his party a top-tier opponent for one of the best funded Democratic incumbents in 2010.
Senator Evan Bayh -- along with Senator Richard Lugar, coincidentally -- has achieved unparalleled popularity with his personal brand of fiscally-conscious centrism.
Mike Pence has spent the better part of the last year throwing himself as far to one extreme of the political spectrum as he could manage.
And most importantly, Senator Evan Bayh is a good great candidate.
If the Republican Party wants to take one special election victory and translate it into a national campaign of self-destructive delusions, I say worse things could happen. But even I don't think Mike Pence is dumb enough to take the bait being dangled by GOP activists in Washington.
Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, is a possible 2012 presidential candidate, and today he's added some national-level talent to his political team: prominent Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway has joined his House reelection campaign as a strategist, and he's also announced that former Dan Quayle treasurer Bill Neale will serve as treasurer. Pence hasn't announced any plans for 2012, but it would seem unnecessary to get top GOP talent for a House reelection campaign, since Pence is relatively safe in his seat.
Pence's hyperpartisan positioning over the last year may have soured his chances statewide, but it appears the talking points machine may have his sights set on bigger things.
(...and if it gets him out of the state for any period of time, good riddance.)
My now, semi-regular round up of blog posts relating to Indiana. Obviously, I'm a fan of Masson and A Loyal Opposition. What other left of center, statewide Indiana blogs out there should I be reading?
Our regional FBI branch is a busy little hive of activity these days. With plenty of Republicans under the microscope. Not only are they conducting raids on Indianapolis businessmen who write very large checks to Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi ($150,000) and Governor Mitch Daniels ($50,000) but they are also looking into whether or not members of the Perry Township Constable’s Office run by Constable Roy Houchins was selling badges and using some of the loot for campaign funds.
In discussing the George W. Bush build-up to the Iraq invasion, he points out Bush’s unprecedented tax cuts at the time of preparation for war. Of special note is how Governor Mitch Daniels, then head of the Office of Management and Budget is complicit in the deception leading up to the war:
Disgruntled citizens might suggest that *lots* of lawmakers are guilty of impersonating public servants; but, former representative Dennie Oxley plead guilty to the formal, legal crime of impersonating a public servant.
When asked if they would support a tax to pay for the additional cost of war in Afghanistan, Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar, and Representative Pence all indicated they would not.
This indicates their concern about the deficit is selective. They raise the specter of debt only when the issue is something they would prefer not to pay for.
The committee took testimony on SJR 1 which places the property tax caps into the Constitution. This is state law, currently, but some folks want to get it into the Constitution so that future lawmakers can’t change it if they decide that the current structure is no longer good policy. My position is that there are too many moving parts to the tax cap specifically and our tax structure generally for us to cement the current cap legislation into the constitution.
Long ago the citizens of Indiana voted to send Evan Bayh to the U.S. Senate. His two largest donors in 2008 were Goldman Sachs ($123,750) and Eli Lilly ($65,722). Also in that hall of shame are Blue Cross and the corporate welfare case AIG. Billions of your tax dollars bailed out overcompensated AIG executives who then put nearly $27,000 into Evan Bayh's pocket. Where his loyalties lie are clearly visible to everyone in Indiana.
Update: To answer my own question, I added Reverent & Free to my feed reader. Should have been on there already.
In other words, Pence is in favor of more war and death, so long as the President or Congress doesn't try to find a way to pay for it. His efforts will be applauded by the conservative-dominated media and he will continue to be labeled a "fiscal conservative", even though such a label is completely meaningless.
Via Glenn Thrush over at Politico, it appears that Mike Pence really, really wants to complain about the passage of a health care reform bill in the House. So much so that he went ahead and kicked things off hours before voting started:
Apparently Mike Pence (R-Ind.) jumped the gun on today's health reform vote -- and shot himself in the foot.
While Democrats are professing optimism -- but not certainty about the passage of today's bill, the third-ranking man in the House GOP seems to be conceding defeat, seven hours before voting is expected to start.
This, just now, from Pence's website:
PENCE DENOUNCES HOUSE PASSAGE OF PELOSI HEALTH CARE BILL
"This 1,990 page government takeover of health care holds devastating consequences for every family and small business that wants to lower health care costs."
The release has been taken down, but it's worth noting that Pence has already thanked the entire GOP caucus for voting against the bill. So much for debate and deliberation, eh?
A major theme of last night's speeches at Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Conference" was, ironically, out-and-out gloating about Chicago's failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
Mike Pence was in attendance and had this to add:
Following shortly after Ingraham, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) got in more political barbs about the loss of the games. "After those first-round results," said Pence, "it looks like the president has had about as much luck pitching Chicago to the Olympics as he had pitching health care reform to the American people."
If a Democratic congressperson said something similar about Dubya, they would have been accused of treason and of being Anti-American. I doubt Michele Bachmann will be asking the media to investigate Pence for being Anti-American.
Oh, and this is an interesting statistic:
Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan said a poll conducted last week shows 72 percent of Chicagoans back bringing the Games to the city while 84 percent of Americans support the Games.
When he isn't busy blowing millions of tax dollars on bad investment strategies, or blowing millions more on quixotic lawsuits to distract from said investment strategies, it sure seems like State Treasurer Richard Mourdock has plenty of disposable time to dedicate to political activities.
Take this weekend, where Mourdock was a speaker at a gathering of teabaggers in Washington. He wasn't the only Hoosier in attendance:
The list of speakers included only a sprinkling of politicians. The highest ranking was Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Republican Conference. The other politicians on the roster of speakers were Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), State Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia and Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now the leader of FreedomWorks, also spoke.
I wonder why only the most radical of politicians were willing to participate in this thing. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that most of the people attending are, for lack of a better term, crazed conspiracy theorists.
Protesters and speakers used the rally to voice their anger at Obama's stimulus package, the House-passed "cap-and-trade" energy bill, and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
But it went well beyond that to include anger about federal funds going to the liberal group Acorn, the number of "czars" appointed in the Obama administration and accusations that the White House solicited critics' e-mails to compile an "enemies list." Others pushed for tort reform and making English the official language and questioned whether Obama was born in the United States.
That's a hot mess of wackiness there, and the Pence / Mourdock teabagging tag-team had to feel right at home.
Starting in August, the GOP apparently - and suddenly - became stalwart defenders of Medicare. Republican chairman Michael Steele unveiled a new "Seniors Bill of Rights", vowing to protect Medicare from cuts during the health reform debate. Indiana's Mike Pence was at the forefront of this GOP push, urging his house colleagues to avoid
''harmful cuts'' to Medicare that would ''result in millions of seniors losing their health coverage.'' [1]
What Mike Pence hasn't thought to mention lately is that in April 2009, he - along with fellow Hoosier Republicans Dan Burton and Steve Buyer - voted to kill Medicare. Not to cut its funding or to limit its benefits, but to end the Medicare program, leaving elderly Americans to the whims of Wall Street insurers.
In April, during the budget hearings, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced an "alternative" GOP budget document. This plan called for the elimination of Medicare and providing subsidies so that those 65 and older could buy a private insurance plan. In all, 137 Republicans were willing to vote for a budget that killed Medicare. (The only member of the Hoosier GOP delegation to vote against the bill was Mark Souder.)
Do Hoosiers actually believe that, in less than six months, Mike Pence has gone from wanting to kill Medicare to wanting to "protect" it from plans that would reduce waste and fraud? Of course not - we can see through his political opportunism in opposing Obama, even when it means opposing the positions he took just months earlier. But it's still sad to see a Hoosier give in to beltway thinking.
According to Countdown's Keith Olbermann, at least, Mike Pence was the worst person in the world on Friday, September 4, 2009.
In a meeting with constituents, ostensibly about healthcare, Mike Pence thanked a woman for comparing proponents of healthcare reform to Adolf Hitler. This exchange was first caught over at Think Progress, and noted in several places.
GOP values, as epitomized by Mike Pence: laughing at religious values while embracing Hitler comparisons.
Update: Only days after thanking a woman for her Hitler comparison, Mike Pence has called on himself an advisor at the White House Office of Environmental Quality to resign, saying:
"His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate."
Just found this forwarded message in my inbox. I don't have my own vehicle and the meeting location is not on the bus line, so I won't be able to make it. I hope other's out there will be able to.
I [Mike Pence] will be hosting a town hall meeting Tuesday, August 4th. Please join me at this open forum to discuss current issues in the 111th Congress or to voice your opinion on any issue affecting you or your family.
Tuesday August 4
4:00 - 5:00 PM
Westminster Village
5801 W. Bethel Ave
Muncie, IN 47304
For all the blustery condemnation thrown around whenever the word "earmark" comes up, it is important to remember that behind the moth mating spectacles is a huge body of legislative work that has helped local communities around the country. Gems such as the Indianapolis Children's Museum would simply not exist in their present form without federal funding, and that story is rarely told when the debate over spending projects heats up.
And that's the story local officials are trying to bring up by passing a resolution urging Rep. Mike Pence to abandon his anti-earmark pledge.
In a 6-3 vote, the council passed a non-binding resolution to that effect Monday.
"It's our money going back to the federal government," Democratic council member Sam Marshall said. "Why shouldn't we recoup some of that money?"
The resolution was specifically aimed at convincing Pence to help score federal aid through the transportation bill for local road and street projects.
Is the earmark process flawed? Surely. But Pence voted against reforming the process in 2007, and hasn't appeared all that willing to constructively participate in a discussion, what with such a great opportunity for grandstanding and all.
In a week when the Iranian people, on their own, began protests against their government and the fraudulent election results from their Presidential election June 12th, Rep. Mike Pence defies President Obama, the State Department, foreign policy experts and even the likes of Pat Buchanan to pass a resolution in support of the Iranian people. You would think this would be a good thing, and under normal circumstances such a resolution would be meaningless, but when dealing with Iran, this kind of direct US government meddling is exactly NOT what they need.
I love any and all stories with Rep. Mike Pence in them, because he gives Rep. Mark Souder a run for his money in terms of the consistency by which he embraces the absurd. But even more than that, I love how much Mike Pence really, truly seems to believe that if he can just drag the Republican party that much more to the right, Americans will come running back to the GOP with open arms.
Pence said Democrats were successful in the last election despite the fact most voters aren't overly liberal, because Republicans had strayed from their own beliefs.
"Republicans didn't just lose in a few elections, we lost our way," he said.
His partisan speech included an impression of Margaret Thatcher and a less-than-flattering imitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(Emphasis added, wackiness not.)
I'll just go ahead and let Madame Secretary take this one:
And so it went, up and down the street, in between tents and tables, squeezing past pedestrians to inspect the offerings in one booth after another, we milled around this marketplace in downtown Baghdad for more than an hour. I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime.
"I think, rightly understood, the cap and trade legislation represents an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals in Washington, D.C.," Pence said in a telephone interview.
Real War = Peace. Energy Independence = War.
Any questions?
And by that, I mean any questions as to why the Republican Party was summarily rejected by the American people last year?
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Indiana 6th District Rep. Mike Pence appeals to Sec. Geithner to delay any new bailout money to Chrysler until the auto maker repays money to Tipton County economic development officials.
County officials used millions of taxpayer funds to build infrastructure surrounding the mothballed Gertrag Transmission plant which was closed before it ever opened due to the economic crisis. They now want Chrysler to pay back that money.
TIPTON, Ind. -- An Indiana congressman wants Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to deny more federal loans to Chrysler LLC until it settles a dispute over millions of dollars that Tipton County spent on a transmission plant that a Chrysler supplier stopped building last year.
Republican Rep. Dan Burton, whose 5th District includes Tipton County, said he spoke yesterday with Geithner, a day after sending a letter to the Treasury chief about the situation surrounding the planned $530 million Getrag Transmission Manufacturing plant.
For once in my life, I find myself in the horrible position of actually agreeing with Mike Pence. The circumstances surrounding this entire episode has always stank to me. With the amount of hoop jumping that goes on by small governments like Tipton County to attract new factories like the one abandoned before it opened
it just seems unfair to stick Tipton County taxpayers with the bill and no return on those investments in the form of property tax and other revenues generated by an active factory.
Temperature in hell today: 20 degrees Farenheit and dropping.
A tip o' the hat to Craig for rivaling stAllio in terms of getting efficiency out of short blog posts. Today's target: Rep. Mike "Love Me Some Limbaugh" Pence.
It's really quite amazing. Rush Limbaugh accuses Hillary Clinton of murder and refers to President Obama as a "little black boy"; Mike Pence remains silent. Limbaugh comes under criticism from Democrats and Pence screams "censorship!" It's nice to see that the Congressman is using his publicly funded website to stick up for a racist, sexist, drug-addict.
Earlier today CNN's Rick Sanchez interviewed Eric Burns froim Media Matters to basically tear down all the basic arguments Pence made when he was on the show a mere 24 hours earlier. Hilarity ensues:
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In a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Indiana 6th District Rep. Mike Pence appeals to Sec. Geithner to delay any new bailout money to Chrysler until the auto maker repays money to Tipton County economic development officials.
