chuckdevore's Diary

Chuck DeVore: “This race is winnable”

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:55:44 +0000

This race is very, very much winnable.

Why? Turnout. According to some experts, Tuesday’s vote may be a RECORD LOW TURNOUT.

With only 22% of vote by mail ballots turned in so far many people won’t vote at all and many more will bring their absentees with them on Election Day. There are many reasons why, mainly the lack of any real serious race for governor on the Democrat side and the huge amounts of negative advertising in the Republican governor’s race combined with the lack of any real exciting propositions on the June ballot.

With the extremely low turnout, this leads one expert to say: “If the trend continues, it will be good news for candidates and causes that have worked seniors and party regulars especially hard.” That would be our campaign.

I cannot overstate the importance of this — turnout completely overwhelms the polling models and will cause unexpected results on Election Day. For instance, in our internal poll taken on May 19-20, we were leading in two interesting categories: those who hadn’t voted in the last two elections (a potential disaffected Tea Party surrogate population) and those who were absolutely committed to a specific candidate.

Also, the last Field Poll shows signs of major movement for us:

http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2338.pdf, with Fiorina at 37%, Campbell at 22% and DeVore at 19%, a more than doubling of support from the last poll taken in March.

More importantly, our positive name ID has spiked, as the Field Poll says: “DeVore is still the least known of the GOP senatorial candidates, with 51% of likely GOP primary voters unable to offer an opinion of him. However, among those able to rate him, opinions are very positive – 41% favorable and 8% unfavorable. This is a big improvement from last March when just 22% could rate him and opinions divided 11% positive and 11% negative.”

Lastly, we have two ads up on Fox News in half of the state, with ads running on major talk radio stations over large population areas too. Our sign crews are very energetic and our call centers are working hard.

If team DeVore stays focused we will win this election.

Help us keep these ads on the air. Make a donation today.

No Need to Compromise – A message from Chuck DeVore

Fri, 07 May 2010 14:20:19 +0000

Last night I finished strong in a one hour debate with Tom Campbell and Carly Fiorina (to be broadcast Sunday morning — we’ll send you the media analysis when it comes in).

But I wanted to take a moment to type out some of my thoughts on the day’s news and provide you with an update on my campaign.

If you didn’t hear, Sarah Palin posted a Facebook message earlier yesterday about the California Republican primary.

She bashed Tom Campbell.

She tried to ignore me.

And she announced her support of Carly Fiorina.

She called Fiorina a “commonsense conservative” and said Fiorina is “the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer.”

I like Sarah Palin. I think highly of her. But she got this dead wrong.

Carly Fiornia is NOT a conservative.

And she is certainly NOT the only candidate in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer.

Let me address each of those issues with some cold, hard facts.

Is Carly Fiorina a conservative?

She supported the Wall Street bailouts.
She supported Cap and Trade.
She supported the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayer.
She has criticized the new Arizona immigration law.
Before she was fired as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, she allowed the company to sell technology to Iran.
And last year when liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans were trying to push through a massive tax increase in a California referendum, Carly Fiorina had “no comment.”
I call her a “John McCain Republican” – she talks the talk from time to time and says she’s a conservative but she has a “never with us when it counts” record just like McCain.

Don’t get me wrong, if a liberal Republican like Tom Campbell or a moderate Republican like Carly Fiorina win the primary instead of me, I will support them against Barbara Boxer.

But there’s no need to make a compromise like that.

This is not a primary election where electability needs to be a factor.

Again, let me offer the cold hard facts.

Here’s the most recent polling numbers from the independent Rasmussen poll.

Fiorina 38% – Boxer 42%
DeVore 39% – Boxer 42%
Campbell 41% – Boxer 43%

The margin of error in the poll was 4.5%.

That means Fiornia is statistically tied with Boxer.

So am I (actually one point better than Fiorina).

And so is Tom Campbell.

There is literally no difference at all in how we are performing against Boxer.

The fact is Boxer has been mired in the mid-to-low 40s for more than a year.

Whether it’s her abrasive politics, her leading role in Cap and Trade, the way California Democrats have run the state into the ground, the way Washington Democrats are running the country into the ground, the “Can you call me Senator?” episode, or something else, the fact is Barbara Boxer is going to have a very difficult time winning re-election this year.

So the choice before the California primary voters isn’t who can beat Boxer…

…it’s which Republican candidate best represents your values.

Is it Tom Campbell, the “Nelson Rockefeller Republican” who supported the largest tax increase in history at the state level, a 32-cent gas tax increase, and is liberal on social issues?
Is it Carly Fiorina, the “John McCain Republican” who claims she is a conservative but has a never with us when it counts record of support for the bailouts, for cap and trade, and for the confirmation of liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor?
Or is it me, Chuck DeVore, a “Ronald Reagan Republican” who has a proven, conservative record on taxes, on spending, on social issues, and on defense?

I believe it’s vitally important to California and America’s future that we get Barbara Boxer out of the Senate…

…but I also believe it’s just as important we replace her with a true conservative who will faithfully hold strong to the Founding Father’s vision of a limited government

My record is clear.

I have a proven voting record in the California State Assembly that has earned me several “Legislator of the Year” awards from conservative organizations.

I was a Reagan White House appointee in the Pentagon and I’m a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army Reserve.

And I was against the bailouts, against cap and trade, and against the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayer. I support the Arizona immigration law. And when California Republican moderates tried to raise taxes I resigned my leadership position in protest.

My record has earned me support from conservatives like:

*** Senator Jim DeMint’s “Senate Conservative Fund”
*** Governor Mike Huckabee’s “HuckPAC”
*** Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA)
*** Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
*** Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
*** The Tea Party Express
*** Citizens United PAC
*** Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association PAC
*** And more than 60% of California’s Republican elected officials.

Media commentators Glenn Beck, George Will, Andrew Breitbart, and Mark Levin have all identified me as the true conservative candidate in this race.

I’m not going to lie to you, I would have liked Sarah Palin’s endorsement, too (and I look forward to getting it after I win the primary).

But the support I most need and want is yours.

If you live in California, I need your vote on June 8th.

And no matter where you live, I urgently need your immediate financial support.

Based on the Facebook and Twitter comments, it seems a lot of Sarah’s supporters weren’t very happy about her decision to support Carly.

To those of you who are looking for a strong, tried-and-true conservative who can win in November, I invite you to join my team right now.

I need your help.

Click this link right now to make a donation and help me win this primary. Any amount you can give, even if it’s just $5, will make an immediate difference.

I am the REAL conservative who can win this primary and defeat Barbara Boxer.

But I can’t do it by myself.

I need the help of conservatives like you. And I need it right now.

So please don’t delay. Click this link right now and help me, the “Ronald Reagan Conservative,” win the Republican primary.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman (R-CA)
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve

The Armenian Genocide, the President, and the truth.

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:40:54 +0000

On April 22nd, 1981, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation in which he asked the American people to commemorate the “solemn anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps.” In doing so, he noted the other horrifying acts of 20th-century barbarism that preceded and succeed the Holocaust, including “the genocide of the Armenians before it.”

No American President since Reagan has had the simple courage to do the same. The Armenian Genocide that began 95 years ago today in 1915 — a historical fact uncontested by the mass of serious historians — is now a forbidden topic to the leader of the free world. It’s a risible state of affairs made possible by the intersection of three factors: Turkish determination to promulgate its national mythos in our own country, a misunderstanding of the American national interest, and a failure of American political courage.

In this as in so many things, President Barack Obama is not showing himself the courageous leader Ronald Reagan was.

In mid-March, the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee attempted to stiffen the President’s spine on the public mention of the Armenian Genocide, with the narrow passage of House Resolution 252. The resolution “calls upon the President … to accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.” It’s what candidate Obama proclaimed he would do in a speech exactly one year before his Inauguration, when he explicitly said, “[A]s President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

Add this to the lengthening list of Barack Obama’s broken promises. The day of the House Committee’s vote, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a plea for the resolution’s defeat; and since its referral to the full House, she has said that the Administration will “work very hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor” for a full vote. Barack Obama himself is ignoring the pleas of those Americans who believed in him, and today, as the New York Times puts it, he “marks the [Armenian] genocide without saying a word.”

In just over two years, the President has gone from electioneering champion of historical truth, to its adamant opponent. Why?

The proximate cause is Turkish outrage, which has taken an all too familiar course: following the House Committee’s passage of the resolution, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States was recalled, and Ankara issued dark hints of consequences to come. Turkish nationalism is a thorny and multilayered thing, born in the humiliations of the Ottoman Empire’s long decline, and solidified in the deliberate, decades-long eradication of non-Turks from modern Turkey. It’s a process that began with the Armenian Genocide, and finds its modern expression in the repression of the dwindling Greek community of Istanbul, and specifically the Ecumenical Patriarchate — and in the intractable Kurdish problem of Turkey’s southeast.

The unfortunate reality is that Turkey objects to naming the Armenian Genocide because the social and political paranoia that birthed it are current now. This is by no means true of Turkey’s increasingly modern, informed, and Western-oriented middle class. Intellectuals like Orhan Pamuk and Taner Akçam have led the way in honest engagement with their national past. These baleful impulses nonetheless inform and override Turkish policy.

The next cause of the President’s flagging moral courage is a profound misapprehension of American national interests as they pertain to Turkey. (This is surely not the only example, nor even the most damaging, of the President’s misconceptions of our national interest: but it is among the most morally appalling.) The conventional wisdom is that the United States needs Turkey far more than Turkey needs the United States. In this narrative, assiduously promoted by Turkey’s lobbyists in Washington, D.C., Turkish influence in the Islamic world plus the NATO airbases at Adana and İncirlik are indispensable assets to American foreign policy. These are indeed tremendously valuable, and not to be dismissed. Yet realization of their worth must be tempered with realism.

The truth is that the U.S.-Turkey relationship is more valuable to Turkey than it is to the United States. Turkey’s perennial aspiration to European Union membership is abetted by two major factors: its membership in NATO, and the persistent friendly advocacy of the United States. American loans, aid, and financial assistance have been useful to Turkey at various points in the recent past. Not least relevant is the immense benefit that accrues to Turkey’s military with the American strategic alliance. Simply put, though the end of the Turkish-American alliance might make American foreign policy difficult at points, it would outright transform for the worse Turkey’s place in the world.

This is all hypothetical: were the Armenian Genocide resolution to pass, and were the President to abide by it, the Turkish-American relationship would not end. We know because there’s precedent. Twenty-one nations officially recognize the fact of the genocide, and they include countries of major importance to Turkey like NATO allies — and hoped-for fellow E.U. members — France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Turkey maintains full and fruitful relationships with each.

The United States should not be frightened into complicity with genocide-denial over fears of a rupture that isn’t in Turkey’s interest, and has yet to happen with any other nation.

The final reason for the President’s change of heart is a plain failure of political courage. Why fight over this, and why fight now? Why not simply take the path of least resistance? Turkey is large, Armenia is small, and Armenian-Americans are well used to disappointment. Why not sell them out? It’s realpolitik, after all.

I submit that this is a betrayal of the best of the American spirit. We’ve had enough of this President’s realpolitik that leads the America to abandon the United Kingdom over the Falklands, spurn Poland over missile defense, humiliate Israel over nearly everything — and now silently comply with the remaining Big Lie of the last century.

Our nation was founded in an affirmation of fundamental truths about the nature of man. It ill befits us to assent to a lie. The fight over the Armenian Genocide resolution may seem a small thing, but it speaks directly to who we are as a people. Are we, as Thomas Jefferson said, an “empire of liberty” — or just an empire?

Ronald Reagan understood this. That’s why he called the Armenian Genocide what it was. And that’s why the House of Representatives should vote on and pass H.R. 252 — despite the President’s objections, and perhaps even because of them.

—- Chuck DeVore is a California State Assemblyman and a Republican candidate for United States Senate.

Our Mission: Repeal It.

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:45:57 +0000

The passage of this phony healthcare “reform” is a tremendous blow to the cause of fiscal restraint, limited government, Constitutional principles, and free enterprise. In short, it strikes directly at America’s core principles. This is shameful moment in the history of our country — and especially the Democratic Party, which has apparently come unmoored from whatever remaining attachment it had to the ideals of our Founders. In place of a dedication to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” there is only a rapacious impulse to ever-expanded state control, and an avaricious imperative to seize ever-more of your rightful possessions.

The Democrats are beyond reason. They are beyond appeals to common sense and patriotism. The corrupt milieu that produced President Barack Obama has metastasized and seated itself in Washington, D.C. — and we saw it on full display in the razor-thin passage of this healthcare “reform.” Every trick, every pressure, every shameless deal was done. Down to perverting the rules of the American Congress, the Democrats stopped at nothing.

Perhaps most pathetic was the spectacle of Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak, who exchanged his pro-life principles for a hollow promise from the most pro-abortion President in American history. That executive order won’t stand up to judicial scrutiny — the President cannot override the law by fiat — and pro-life organizations like National Right to Life and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops understand that it’s a worthless scrap of paper. Yet Rep. Stupak’s desperation for thin cover to do the wrong thing is useful in one way: it illustrates the union of moral vacuum and maneuvering deception at the core of the Democratic effort for Obamacare.

That’s why the American people will throw them out of office this November.

When Americans vote this fall, they’ll vote for candidates who stood strong against Obamacare from the start — and who will overturn it once in office. In California, I am the only U.S. Senate candidate of either party who fits that bill. I’ve been speaking out against the government takeover of American healthcare since the President first mentioned it. There are so many simple steps we could take to make healthcare more affordable, more accessible, and more efficient — without expanding the reach and control of the federal government. They include, but are not limited to:

Allowing interstate competition between health care plans.

Revising the tax code to reward and encourage purchases of coverage and healthcare saving.

Curtailing junk lawsuits that drive up healthcare costs — and not coincidentally, line the pockets of Democratic contributors.

Attack fraud in medical billing.

Encouraging a restructuring of American health insurance toward an individual-policy market rather than an employer-mandate system.

Obamacare accomplishes none of these goals. One of my first priorities in the United States Senate will be to repeal it and start over. The American people are profoundly unsettled by today’s vote, and they deserve no less.

The movement to turn back the Democrats’ takeover of American healthcare has already begun: but it will only happen if Republicans select the right candidates for the job. In the U.S Senate race in California, I am that candidate. I’m the only one who signed the Club for Growth’s “Repeal It” pledge that commits its signatories to “sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.”

Neither Tom Campbell nor Carly Fiorina joined me in this. Worse, Carly Fiorina has been telling audiences that though she opposes this particular bill, she agrees with President Obama’s “goals” for healthcare reform. As recently as late October, she said she had no opinion on Obamacare — surely the only public figure in America to have remained ignorant of this signal issue.

Well, I do not agree with President Obama’s “goals.” I am pledged to overturn what he’s done today. I’m the only person in this race who can say that. And if I am sent to the United States Senate — it will be job one.

– Chuck DeVore is a California State Assemblyman, a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve, and a Republican candidate for United States Senate from California.

Glenn Beck to Chuck DeVore: “You intrigue me.”

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:01:12 +0000

Chuck DeVore appeared last night on FOXNews with Glenn Beck talking about the role of government and his race for the U.S. Senate. While reiterating his policy of not endorsing candidates, Beck declared: “You intrigue me.” Beck had Assemblyman DeVore on the program for two segments (they will play sequentially):

Early on the in the program Glenn listed the litany of liberal interest groups who have given Chuck DeVore a failing grade for his hundreds of votes in the California State Assembly. As he went down the list he handed Chuck his jar of jelly beans, a bottle of water, and even the infamous red phone. Chuck intoned: “I don’t want the red phone” to which Beck chuckled: “They never call…”

Beck seem unabashed sharing his affinity for the Assemblyman especially as Chuck related his feelings about the history of the progressive movement.

Bottom line: Chuck DeVore is indeed the tea party candidate and, as George Will declared on Sunday, will be the Republican nominee.

Justin
Director, New Media
DeVore for California

Happy Anniversary Chuck and Diane

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:02:02 +0000

Chuck DeVore (candidate for U.S. Senate) and his wife Diane took a few moments on Twitter last night to discuss their 22nd wedding anniversary.

You can follow the thread below:

	22 years ago tonight, there was a heck of a snowstorm in New York. The next day, Diane and I became husband and wife. Congrats, honey!
	@chuckdevore Where is my card? I got you a card. Are you making me a card? I don’t really want a card. I just wanna give you a hard time. :p
	@chuckdevore Cricket, cricket. Are you making that card? I am going back to facebook. Later!
	Don’t bother me about that anniversary card @dianedevore, else I may remember a card for you four days hence on the 13th…
	@chuckdevore Oh, now that’s a good one honey! L.O.L.!!!
	Hmmm, what happens on the 13th? Do you even remember @dianedevore???
	@chuckdevore Nope. O_o
	There the XXII Anniversary, and then there’s the BIG L.
	@chuckdevore Smooth. Sigh.
	@dianedevore But you don’t look a day over XXXIX honey!
	@chuckdevore That’s it. Where is the “report spam” button?
	In lieu of flowers for @chuckdevore and @dianedevore ‘s wedding anniversary tomorrow, contribute here: http://bit.ly/8aZNU6
	@jonmarkevans Funny!
	@dianedevore Where is the “report spam” button?” Too late, you should have pushed it 22 yrs ago-before AlGore invented the Interwebs
	Isn’t this romantic @dianedevore? Tweeting to each other on the eve of our 22d Anniversary. At least I’m not in uniform or in Sacramento!
	@chuckdevore Yes, I should make a list of how we have spent the previous anniversaries!
	@dianedevore I remember that in 1991, for our third anniversary, I was on active duty with the U.S. Army.
	So, @chuckdevore, where are we bringing the girls for our anniversary tomorrow?
	@dianedevore Up in L.A. somewhere. Someplace funky. Maybe the La Brea Tar Pits; sinking mammoths are kind of romantic, no? Maybe you pick…
	@chuckdevore Nooooooooooo!
	@chuckdevore That was adorable. @dianedevore
	@JennyErikson Thank you! And I am NOT going to the La Brea Tar Pits!
	@dianedevore Silence… no sinking mammoths at La Brea? Back to the drawing board…
	@dianedevore I @dianedevore L @dianedevore O @dianedevore V @dianedevore E @dianedevore Y @dianedevore U @dianedevore D @dianedevore A @dianedevore N @dianedevore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	@dianedevore try that again, sticky keys…
	@dianedevore I @dianedevore L @dianedevore O @dianedevore V @dianedevore E @dianedevore Y @dianedevore U @dianedevore D @dianedevore A @dianedevore N @dianedevore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	What’s with the O’s and the I’s on Twitter, it is sabotaging my special message to @DianeDeVore !
	@chuckdevore that’s it. I am coming up there to look for the O, I and E on your keyboard.
	@dianedevore Did Chuck buy his ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ?? lol…at least he’s persistent!
	@jonmarkevans I think he’s using our daughter’s World of Warcraft keyboard.
	@dianedevore I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U-D-I-A-N-E
	@dianedevore L-I-B-E-R-A-L plot…
	Well, @DianeDevore, let’s wrap-up this pre-anniversary Twitter-fest, shall we? My gut hurts from laughing…

Barbara Boxer Remix Music Video

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:26:26 +0000

Ad: Barbara Boxer: condescending, disrespectful… or just mean?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:50:22 +0000

Senator Barbara Boxer is at it again. Whenever she disagrees with someone, her first instinct is to show them disrespect. Whether Boxer’s dealing with former Secretary of State Condi Rice, Gen. Petraeus, BG Walsh, Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, or Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, you can be sure that her condescending manner will show through — or is she just mean? Another video brought to you by the DeVore for California campaign:

Doctors, Police & Firemen – Oh my Obama!

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:57:57 +0000

Over the course of the past few weeks it has become obvious that President Obama distrusts those who serve us the most in our communities. It’s time for real change in Washington.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore
http://chuckdevore.com/

Boxer’s En-Title-ment ?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:08:40 +0000

What is it about liberals and the military? Why are liberals uncomfortable with the military? Why do some liberals apparently despise our military? Is it because the armed services remind them that not every international dispute can be solved with soothing words uttered by a diplomat? Is it because they view military expenditures as taking money away from greater health and welfare spending?

The latest liberal-military confrontation occurred in a hearing room on Capitol Hill on June 16, 2009 when Brigadier General Michael Walsh called California’s junior senator “Ma’am” – a perfectly acceptable sign of military respect to both a U.S. Senator or a senior female officer. What happened next was remarkable. Barbara Boxer immediately dressed down the general officer, saying, “I had a… You know… do me a favor, could you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘Ma’am’ – it’s just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title so I’d appreciate it, yes thank you.”

According to the U.S. Army’s own guide to protocol, Members of the U.S. Senate should be verbally addressed as “Sir,” “Ma’am” or “Senator.” So, General Walsh was simply following longstanding tradition.

Ironically, when addressing senior officers, with the exception of generals whom most junior officers and enlisted personnel will call “General,” the most respectful form of address is “Sir” or “Ma’am” with use of the actual rank in address being reserved oftentimes in situations when the senior officer has not yet earned respect from an enlisted person, as in “Yes, Lieutenant!” as opposed to “Yes, Ma’am!”

Of course, this wasn’t Barbara Boxer’s first confrontation with the U.S. military – not by a long shot. Boxer cut her political teeth on the anti-Vietnam war protests around the Bay Area back in the day and never really changed her outlook on the uniformed defenders of the Constitution of the United States. Who can forget her confrontation with American hero Gen. David Petraeus back in 2007 when she called him a liar and then wrote a now laughable blog for the Huffington Post on September 14, 2007 which she headlined, “General Petraeus, Take Off the Rose-Colored Glasses” calling for an immediate end (read: “defeat”) to the war in Iraq.

Perhaps it’s time for the Barbara Boxer to have a new title: “Ex-Senator.”

Mr. DeVore (R.-Irvine) represents about 500,000 people in Orange County California. He retired as a lieutenant colonel after 24-years of service in the Army National Guard and is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010 against Barbara Boxer. visit: http://chuckdevore.com