About a month ago, many conservatives pounced upon Nikki Haley when she endorsed Mitt Romney and branded her as a traitor and RINO as though she is failing to govern South Carolina in a conservative manner.

I’ve asked it at the time and I’ll ask it again; where had Newt Gingrich been when these very conservatives including Nikki Haley and Marco Rubio challenged establishment Republicans in primaries in 2010? Why, he was busy endorsing others like Dede Scozzafava over tea-partier Doug Hoffman, Robert Bennet over Mike Lee, and so on. Not only has Newt chosen to support left-leaning candidates over Tea-partiers, he had repeatedly supported liberal legislation first as a Congressman and later as a private citizen.

The Drudge Report has become the number one news source for millions of conservatives who are refreshed to see news which the mainstream media fails to report. Drudge has linked to and helped make viral many liberal-exposures including Breitbart’s explosive Acorn videos.

Last week, Drudge had a headline about a network’s upcoming interview with a presidential candidate’s ex-wife; a news that would under normal circumstances be featured on every website. Although divorces are usually a messy business and many ex-spouses seek to slander their former spouse, it is only reasonable that voters will still want to hear what the candidate’s ex-wife has to say (taking it perhaps with a grain of salt) especially since the court documents regarding his first divorce have shown that Newt and not his wife had requested the divorce, contrary to his claims.

Drudge had come under heavy attack from Newt supporters for reporting this news, and Saturday night after Newt had won South Carolina, twitter was loaded with messages proclaiming Matt Drudge had lost. What has he lost? He owns a news site, and reported this piece news as he does with all other news.

Also, what’s wrong if he personally doesn’t support Newt (although I haven’t heard him say so)? It has come to the point that anyone who says anything not so complimentary of Newt, even when it’s the truth, is branded as in the camp for Romney. I, for instance, support neither Newt nor Romney. I support Rick Santorum. I’ve found it quite disturbing, though, to have been told by Newt that supporting Santorum is equivalent to supporting Romney. No, it isn’t and being told so won’t change that. I don’t support many of Romney’s policies of which Santorum has always held contrary views. I’m of the opinion that I will support the person who appears to me as the only principled conservative still in the race and I also feel that supporting Newt is similar to supporting Romney since they’ve held similar views on a majority of the issues. You may disagree with that, but don’t say I’m not allowed to support someone other than yourself.

It’s true that a huge chunk of conservatives are currently supporting Newt. However, that doesn’t mean one isn’t a conservative if he supports another candidate, including Romney. Furthermore, disagreeing with Newt doesn’t automatically mean the individual supports Romney; he may be supporting an alternative candidate such as Santorum or has not yet made up his/her mind.

Conservatives have already dumped Nikki Haley. They’ve blasted Matt Drudge for the past week. Now Rubio has become the target of attacks. What has Rubio done? Rubio hadn’t questioned Newt’s conservatism or dared discuss Newt’s past. He simply responded to an analogy that Newt had made which included Rubio. Also, after having been questioned about a specific ad, he responded that it was more befitted for a liberal with its false fear-mongering message to Hispanics (much in the manner Obama has engaged in the 2010 midterms). The Newt team apparently felt Rubio was in the right for it responded quite quickly and promised to pull the ad.

Newt is beloved by many for his sharp responses and hard-hitting answers. At times, though his remarks seem to follow liberal tactics or deliver a punch which is contradictory with conservative values, and he’s admitted as much. Just as he’d apologized for his fear-mongering comments on the Paul Ryan Plan as “right-wing social engineering” which hurt conservatism at a time when the left attempted to portray conservatives as throwing grandma off the cliff, so too, his portrayal of Romney as anti-immigration without differentiating between legal and illegal immigration has struck the wrong balance.

If we’re going to throw under the bus every conservative who utters anything anti-Newt I think we’ll need super-long tractor-trailers to fit everyone under. We should be able to understand that conservative opinion will be split in a primary and that not everyone will agree with your choice of candidate. That’s what primaries are all about. Let’s stop the trashing and bashing of conservatives solely because their opinion conflicts yours.

Abie Rubin blogs at The Thinking Voter and can be followed on twitter.

Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is using his committee to further his bill, SOPA. SOPA is very bad. It threatens due process and prior restraint of speech as it censors the Internet, and risks putting Internet-based business out of business.

Darrell Issa is leading House efforts to oppose SOPA. He’s on the Judiciary Committee, but he’s not in charge. However he does head the Oversight Committee. So guess what? Oversight is looking into the effects of DNS filtering, which is one of the more egregious provisions of SOPA. Nice play, Mr. Issa.

I love it when a conservative gets clever, because I hate that Republicans are looking to give more tools to the already out of control Obama regulators.

Read More →

Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is using his committee to further his bill, SOPA. SOPA is very bad. It threatens due process and prior restraint of speech as it censors the Internet, and risks putting Internet-based business out of business.

Darrell Issa is leading House efforts to oppose SOPA. He’s on the Judiciary Committee, but he’s not in charge. However he does head the Oversight Committee. So guess what? Oversight is looking into the effects of DNS filtering, which is one of the more egregious provisions of SOPA. Nice play, Mr. Issa.

I love it when a conservative gets clever, because I hate that Republicans are looking to give more tools to the already out of control Obama regulators.

Read More →

The conservative media’s current behavior in response to Nikki Haley’s endorsement is not too shocking, since many had revealed their self-serving nature at prior occasions, such as during the 2010 elections.

Sarah Palin endorsed John McCain in 2010 for the Arizona senatorial seat, and understandably so, since she was his former running mate. In addition, McCain is the individual who launched Palin onto the national stage. Her endorsement of McCain was seen by many as an act of gratitude and doing that which had always been considered basic human decency. Despite the debt of gratitude she owed McCain, there were quite a number of conservatives who criticized her endorsement and even questioned her conservatism because of it.

Nikki Haley’s endorsement of Romney for 2012 can be seen and understood in a similar light. Tea Party candidate Nikki Haley was one of many candidates seeking the governorship of South Carolina in 2010. During her campaign, she came under a considerable number of false attacks. Nevertheless, she bravely fought the attacks and forged forward, and with the support and endorsement of Palin and Romney ultimately won the nomination.

I’ve written two articles against David Frum and rarely agree with him, though I’m beginning to think he might be right for once. Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity may be creating a negative image of and causing considerable damage to the conservative movement. Just to make it absolutely clear, Levin is my favorite talk-show hosts and I listen to him and Limbaugh daily. However, their behavior of the last several weeks has taken a negative turn.

Haley’s endorsement of Romney for the 2012 presidential campaign is an obvious act of gratitude and thankfulness for his support in 2010, and conservatives shouldn’t blast Haley for attempting to pay back Romney for his support during her difficult campaign. Why do some conservatives find it so difficult to comprehend that she owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude and that basic human decency demands one to remember one’s benefactors?

A quick shout out to RealQuiet is necessary, a fellow diarist here at Red State, for straightening the record about Haley’s endorsement of Romney in context of 2010.

When Haley fought to win the governorship in South Carolina in 2010 despite false and harmful allegations, Romney stood by her side and expressed her support while Newt endorsed one of the others. I no longer remember whether the individual Newt had endorsed was a RINO or not, although Newt’s endorsements in 2010 consisted primarily of moderates. Either way, it doesn’t make much of a difference. What does matter, is that he didn’t stand with Nikki.

Why has my favorite talk-show host Levin bitingly bid her goodbye? Why doesn’t he remember that not a single one of the other current presidential candidates have felt it necessary to defend her, the conservative, in 2010? Why was that not enough to say bye to Newt and the others forever? Why are conservatives so eager to throw their fellow conservatives under the bus because they disagree with one single act they’ve done?

Besides, it just so happens to be that Romney’s flip flops are pretty much equal to Newt’s “change of hearts” regarding each and every single issue. Their records on most major issues are strikingly similar, and both of their records are sprinkled with conservative acts. Romney actually carries less baggage than Newt, and I say this not as a Romney supporter for I’ve criticized his flip-flops on many occasions. My original choice for the presidency was Sarah Palin, and since she isn’t running I am currently considering supporting Santorum with Perry coming in not too far behind.

What irks me more than anything else, is how countless conservatives bash Romney and in the same breath bash those who unfairly attack Newt. Since when is criticizing Romney’s record part of the vetting process, yet doing the same to Newt unfair attacks? The disingenuous two-faced acts of these conservatives does not go unnoticed by many of their listeners and readers, and I’m afraid their hypocrisy will lead to the weakening of the conservative message and movement.

Not only does the truth no longer matter for them, but with the free pass they provide for Newt, conservatives will no longer be able to blast a politician for adultery, serial or single. Nor will conservatives be capable of lambasting a president for his big-government solutions if conservatives continue to promote Newt for the presidency. Unless we wish to appear as hypocritical and character-less as the left.

Now, with the waves of criticism directed towards Haley, one can no longer even expect from conservatives to act with basic decency such as returning a favor to a fellow human being.

Abie Rubin blogs at The Thinking Voter and can be followed on twitter.

The legislature and Governor in South Carolina have had a rather fractious relationship for the past decade. The Governor during that period has typically broken up the good old boy network and actually fought to reduce government in South Carolina and privatize what could be privatized.

Well, recently there’s been a port expansion issue affecting Georgia and South Carolina. Georgia wants to deepen the Savannah River to expand the port in Savannah to accept new ships coming through the Panama Canal. The good old boys in South Carolina wanted their backs scratched to get things done.

It didn’t work out that way. Neither the Governor nor the agencies responsible for getting the good old boys’ their backs scratched actually did it. Georgia gets to dredge and South Carolina will get a port expansion in Charleston, but it will still take a while.

The good old boys decided then to haul all of Governor Haley’s top aides into the legislature for examination. They couldn’t find that anyone did any wrong doing. And now Governor Haley has responded. She means to keep changing South Carolina, keep moving the state forward, and keep making it place where business is free to do business without scratching backs or letting government pick winners or losers.

The legislature and Governor in South Carolina have had a rather fractious relationship for the past decade. The Governor during that period has typically broken up the good old boy network and actually fought to reduce government in South Carolina and privatize what could be privatized.

Well, recently there’s been a port expansion issue affecting Georgia and South Carolina. Georgia wants to deepen the Savannah River to expand the port in Savannah to accept new ships coming through the Panama Canal. The good old boys in South Carolina wanted their backs scratched to get things done.

It didn’t work out that way. Neither the Governor nor the agencies responsible for getting the good old boys’ their backs scratched actually did it. Georgia gets to dredge and South Carolina will get a port expansion in Charleston, but it will still take a while.

The good old boys decided then to haul all of Governor Haley’s top aides into the legislature for examination. They couldn’t find that anyone did any wrong doing. And now Governor Haley has responded. She means to keep changing South Carolina, keep moving the state forward, and keep making it place where business is free to do business without scratching backs or letting government pick winners or losers.

There was this moment early in the first Republican debate in Greenville, SC:  Juan Williams asked, “Governor Pawlenty, despite 10 years of the Bush tax cuts the unemployment rate here in South Carolina was 9.6% in March. Do you have any ideas for stimulating the job market beyond continued tax cuts?”  It was a “gotcha” question.

Pawlenty responded generically: “I sure do, Juan. It is an important question. As I travel the country people are worried. I grew up in a meat-packing town not unlike Greenville here in South Carolina, that used to have textile mills. When at an early age those plants shutdown I saw the face of jobless and economic worry in my hometown and my own family. I’ve seen this. I’ve lived it. We have a situation where the best thing that we can to for our fellow citizens is do those things that are going to make it more likely that jobs are going to grow.”

And then, Pawlenty swung for the fences and hit a grand slam:  ”In South Carolina I’ll give you a good example, you have this administration through the national labor relation board telling a private company they cannot relocate to South Carolina and provide jobs in this state. And they are good paying jobs and needed jobs. It is a preposterous decision and position of this administration. I want to make it clear. The idea that the federal government can tell a business where they can be is a new line this administration has crossed. It is outrageous.”

The cameras panned to Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, who was applauding, smiling, and nodding in agreement.  After the debate, she told reporters: “I applaud him [Pawlenty] for responding to the lawsuit against Boeing, and I challenge every other candidate to do the same,”

Four years ago, when she was a state representative, Haley endorsed Mitt Romney, but he exited the race just before the South Carolina primary.  This time Haley has made it clear that she believes the Republican nominee should be a governor, but not necessarily Romney.  She recently hammered Newt Gingrich for “undermining” Paul Ryan‘s Medicare proposal, saying that “The people of South Carolina support conservatives who are trying to push real change, and the people of South Carolina expect their presidential candidates to back them up when they show courage.”  She has had kind words for both Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee, but both have since decided not to run.  She was endorsed by Sarah Palin, but has made it clear that she did not seek Palin’s endorsement and has had little contact with her since the election. That leaves Pawlenty.

Haley’s endorsement of Pawlenty, particularly if it comes sooner rather than later, would be a major boost to his campaign.  It would likely generate more support and more money.  The two do share a common bond–Pawlenty pollster, Jon Lerner, was an advisor to Haley and her predecessor Mark Sanford.  The smart money in South Carolina is betting that Haley will endorse Pawlenty, although she is being advised to remain neutral.  Since South Carolina is one of the three big early prizes and winning Iowa and New Hampshire may be out of reach, Pawlenty needs Haley’s endorsement if he expects to carry the state. Expect him to get it.  The question is really “When?”

I have been keeping an eye on what is happening in seven Statehouses with GOP ladies as Governor or Lt Governor. So far I have not been disappointed. These lady Governors and Lt. Governors are stepping up and even in purple states like Florida and Iowa the people can recognize cream rising to the top no matter that there is an (R) after their name. I do not have much additional commentary to the news articles I link to in this diary. All I can hope for is more please.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin

OKLAHOMA CITY — Governor Mary Fallin announced that Oklahoma will file a lawsuit against the new healthcare law.

Instead of joining some two dozen states in their lawsuit, Oklahoma will sue on the grounds that the federal healthcare law violates the new constitutional amendment just approved by Oklahoma voters.

State Question 756 changed Oklahoma’s constitution to say Oklahomans can’t be required to participate in any healthcare system.

Fallin made the announcement on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Fox News.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Oklahoma — I looked this up, too — has an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, which is far below the national average of 9.6 — or 9.8 I guess is where we are. Why does Oklahoma — why do you — why do you have such a low unemployment rate?

FALLIN: Well, I think Oklahoma is definitely a conservative state, that we have made, I believe, just wiser policy decisions. We’ve got a great economy. We have a low cost of living. We have a low cost of housing. We have an abundance of natural resources. We have a great energy sector. Certainly, agriculture is very strong, strong in small businesses. And I think our legislature has done a very good job of working towards pro-business legislation.
And this is actually one of those, you know, pro-business type issues, holding down health care costs and allowing Oklahoma to be able to innovate and choose how we want to provide health care in our state, letting the free market system work. Oklahoma was on the cutting edge in developing a public-private partnership to help those who couldn’t afford to buy health insurance called Insure Oklahoma, in which the employee, the employer and a federal portion of the money matched together to provide low cost health insurance to those who don’t have good access to health care.
SO we’ve been doing things in our state to help lower health care costs, create better access to health care, and that’s what we want to continue to do. We want the federal government to get out of the way. You know, let the states work their own solution, propose new innovative ideas.

Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/transcript/oklahoma-join-039obamacare039-battle-its-own-lawsuit#ixzz1BgdbMKJU

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing her first big lawsuit after saying the state would try to keep unions out of the Boeing Inc. plant in North Charleston.
“We believe there’s no basis to this suit, and if the machinists are offended that the governor doesn’t think unions are a good thing in South Carolina, they’re just going to have to get used to it,” said Gov. Haley’s spokesman Rob Gregory.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez

SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico’s newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez has come out swinging with a budget proposal that would cut spending and close the budget deficit without raising taxes or making cuts to classroom spending or health care for New Mexico’s most vulnerable.

Martinez also stated one of her first priorities is to revoke driver licenses issued to illegal aliens, pointing out since Arizona passed SB 1070, illegal aliens have been pouring in to New Mexico, which does not require proof of citizenship to obtain licenses.

Martinez, who also opposes amnesty, stated, “There has to be another way of dealing with the issue – we cannot just have a path to citizenship created when there are people in line already doing the proper things,” and said she is focused on removing provisions that allow illegal aliens to obtain driver licenses and revoking those already issued.

On Jan. 1, during her inaugural address, Martinez vowed to “shine a light into the dark corners of state government in order to regain the public trust and to ensure that public officials are putting the people’s business first.”

  Florida Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll

MIAMI – When newly elected Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll would give her first major address as Florida’s highest ranking black official in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. at the Church of the Incarnation in Liberty City, she was on very familiar territory.

So Jennifer Carroll was at home Sunday when she went to the church and was greeted by hundreds of people, including politicians, most of them Democrats, along with dignitaries and a who’s who among Miami’s black elite.

The notables in attendance included her husband’s uncle, Earl Jackson Carroll, who served as the first black Miami-Dade County commissioner from 1968-72. Earl’s son Steven, a Miami resident, was not surprised at the size of the gathering or that many people, including many Democrats, have embraced Jennifer Carroll, who formed half of Republican Rick Scott’s successful gubernatorial ticket.

“She is just the most compassionate, understanding, willing – a born humanitarian,” said Jean Carroll Morley, a retired educator school administrator. The world, she said, is now getting a glimpse of someone who has impressed the family from the beginning.

“She is quite the young lady to be proud of. She knew her priorities when I met her and she knew exactly how to go about attaining her goals and now God has blessed her to attain those goals. We’re just so proud of her success and look forward to her going even further,” Morley said.

Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds

DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday named Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds to oversee the closing of the Rebuild Iowa Office, an agency created in the wake of record flooding in 2008 that is scheduled to be shut down this summer.

Reynolds told the crowd at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines that “I stand here today as a proud but humble southern Iowa girl.”

She spoke about the importance of family values, education and the Branstad administration’s goal to help improve Iowa’s business environment.

Reynolds, 51, of Osceola, was a longtime Clarke County treasurer before being elected two years ago to the Iowa Senate. Branstad has said Reynolds’ knowledge of local government will help him in shaping policies to boost local economic development and better serve local governments.

“We can use technology to both reduce the size of government and deliver services to Iowans more efficiently,” Reynolds said in her speech. “We can work together – state and local, public and private – to transform the way we deliver services to Iowans.”

Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor

In one of his first official acts after being sworn-in, Governor John Kasich appointed Lt. Governor Mary Taylor to be director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Immediately following the announcement, Kasich signed an Executive Order creating the Common Sense Initiative to lead a transformation of Ohio’s regulatory policies and named Taylor to lead the effort.

The complete text of the Executive Order can be found at: http://governor.ohio.gov/ExecutiveOrders.aspx

Taylor is the former Auditor of State where she served for four years as the state’s top fiscal watchdog guarding against fraudulent and wasteful spending of tax dollars.

The first Certified Public Accountant to serve as Auditor, Taylor modernized the office into a nationally-recognized, 21st-century public accounting firm and provided state and local government officials across Ohio with thousands of ideas and solutions to improve efficiency and cut costs by more than $140 million annually.

Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday released drafts of five bills meant to create jobs. The legislation won’t directly help contractors, but industry lobbyists said any pro-business legislation would be a productive first step.

Besides the announced bills, though, Walker promised regulatory reform — a key issue to construction companies and trade groups — also will be on the table soon. Construction groups want fewer licensing requirements and restrictions on the work they perform.

Walker insisted it would help employers trying to add jobs. “The more we can show them that things are going to be easier to do business in the state in the future,” he said, “the more I think they take that leap of faith and start putting people to work, even in the next few weeks.”

The special session should mark the beginning of a promising year for the industry, said John Mielke, vice president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Inc. “What I’m anticipating might be a two-stage process,” Mielke said. “I think you’ll get the shell in the special session and the filling in the budget bill (later this year). That’s probably the way it has to be done.”

In the meantime, Mielke, like Boullion, said he’s looking forward to sharing ideas with the Walker administration about how to increase construction work. Mielke also said he thinks Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch will be heavily involved in such discussions.

“If I were reading the tea leaves – and that’s all I’m doing – I would expect Rebecca Kleefisch will want to play a role connected to the economy and job growth,” Mielke said. “That’s what she campaigned on, and I think there’s a lot of leeway in the lieutenant governor’s position to identify priorities.”

Cross-posted at The Minority Report

Hi folks.  I just wanted to give the RedState userbase a head’s up, because sometime this week a major story is going to break.  The truth of the matter is, I had an affair with Nancy Pelosi.  I have exactly zero evidence to back this up: not one e-mail, not one text message, not one phone record…  But trust me, I had an affair with Nancy Pelosi.

Some of you knuckle-dragging teabagger racists may deny and decry this, but it’s true.  How do we know this is true?  I wrote it on a blog. I took fifteen seconds to surf to Redstate, log into my account, and typed “I had an affair with Nancy Pelosi.”  That makes it true.

I can already foresee what some of you right-wing, Bible- and gun-clinging lunatics are going to say: I am opposed to Nancy Pelosi, and this story is just a bunch of bunk meant to drag her into the muck.  However, you are overlooking one serious, objective, undeniable fact: I wrote this on a blog, so it must be true.

If you have any questions, like “Hey, do you have any objective proof whatsoever of this absurd, outlandish accusation?” I’ll be burying my head in the sand, shouting “Yes we can!” and “Redistribute the wealth!” in my head.  Be sure not to do anything radical like contribute to Nikki Haley’s moneybomb.  That would be absolutely crazy.  President Obama is perhaps the most centrist, post-partisan American hero ever to have lived.  I am far too busy kissing the ground he walks on to take your questions.  My deepest and most sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

And folks, please remember: if it was written on a blog, it must be true. No exceptions.

[/sarcasm]