Morning Briefing for July 7, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing
For July 7, 2011

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1. Republicans Must Show They Will Shoot the Hostage

Does the party of freedom have less courage than the party of socialism? Jim DeMint thinks if the GOP fails to be bold in the debt ceiling fight that’ll be why.As the sun rises this morning, be prepared to be completely and totally disappointed in the total lack of leadership by House Republicans when it comes to taking a bold stand in the debt ceiling fight.Just how badly are supposedly “tea party friendly” House Republicans abandoning conservatives? Olympia Snowe of Maine has gotten to the right of them. They should all break out the leather braids and self-flagellate. Shame on them.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. David Brooks Gets Played

It is a familiar tactic that the Democrats have used lately — say it enough times and hope someone believes it. I was traveling yesterday and couldn’t comment on the David Brooks column, but it is more and more clear David Brooks got played.”The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has talked about supporting a debt reduction measure of $3 trillion or even $4 trillion if the Republicans meet him part way. There are Democrats in the White House and elsewhere who would be willing to accept Medicare cuts if the Republicans would be willing to increase revenues.”This $3 to $4 trillion mysterious deal is the Democrats’ talking point du jour. On CBS, Delaware Senator Chris Coons said the same.“The next decade we can cut $4 trillion in federal spending. We can achieve real savings, and we’ve had plans on the table since March to do it in a bipartisan, responsible way. It’s their intransigence, their refusal to consider any increase in revenue that has really stalled the talks so far. . . . I’m willing to make significant cuts in domestic spending and entitlement reform.”There’s just one problem. This $4 trillion deal with entitlement reform does not actually exist. They may be saying that. David Brooks may be getting sweet nothings whispered in his ear by the White House. But there is no deal.This has become a familiar tactic by the Democrats in the past year when it comes to cutting the budget. We saw it with the continuing resolutions. We saw it with the Christmas 2010 tax extension deals. We’re seeing it again. They claim there is an offer made, a deal on the table, and recalcitrant Republicans blocking the way.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. This Needs To Be Edited Into A TV Ad

The Charles Koch Foundation has come up with a web ad on economic freedom. It is an important message. I cannot stress enough that you need to watch this. It is only 2 minutes. But more importantly, the Koch Foundation needs to turn this into a 1 minute television advertisement. It’ll require some work to do, but this is a message that needs to get out to the greater masses. If you are a radio show host, you should just play the audio. It is fantastic.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Casey Anthony and the Law And Order Effect

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t even play one on the internet but I am a concerned citizen and the trial, but not the acquittal, of Casey Anthony concerns me greatly.I’m a conservative, not a libertarian. Generally speaking I’m all in favor of putting asses in jail. What I’m not in favor of is the life, liberty, and property of American citizens being treated as some sort of a game. That is why the Casey Anthony trial makes me angry.Much of the commentary on the Casey Anthony trial has centered on what is being called the “CSI effect”: the alleged belief that juries require more scientific evidence, like that routinely developed on the television conglomerate CSI: Whatever (where apparently jaywalking rates investigation by a half dozen lab tech cum SWAT members). I disagree. If anything the Casey Anthony trial showed that juries aren’t necessarily overawed by scientific hoohah. If anything, I think the Casey Anthony verdict was a direct result of the Law and Order effect.Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. The Palestinian Accountability Act

One of the more intractable components of our foreign policy dating back to the Clinton years has been the obsession of creating a Palestinian state. The career egghead diplomats in the State Department believed that if we would only send billions in aid to the venerable leaders of the Palestinian Authority and grant them statehood, they would put down their terror toys and sing kumbaya. To that end, we have given them billions in aid and provided them with military training during the past two decades.Those of us who lack the credulity of a toddler understand that Mahmoud Abbas is not a dulcet freedom-lover, and the PA/Fatah is not a moderate Muslim boys’ club. It’s time to end the good cop/bad cop charade between the “extremist” Hamas and the “moderate” Fatah – by treating them as co-equal perpetrators of terror. Abbas has repeatedly called for armed struggle against Israel (in Arabic, of course), glorified suicide bombers, and is closely linked with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an Iranian-funded terror group that rivals Hamas in its ferocity in recent years.Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Fast and Furious update: Ken Melson’s secret testimony.

The sound that you’re hearing is the muttered “Uh-oh” of a plethora of staffers at the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives. Of particular interest is the letter that Oversight Chair Darrell Issa and Judiciary Ranking Member (for now) Chuck Grassley sent to Attorney General (for now) Eric Holder regarding Melson’s testimony… but we’ll get that in a moment.For those coming in late: Issa and Grassley are investigating the horrifically botched Fast & Furious program that Justice/BATFE had put together, starting in late 2009. F&F was this ingenious method by which the federal government ended up knowingly and deliberately permitted illegally-resold firearms to be supplied to Mexican narco-terrorists; said narco-terrorists then proceeded to use those guns to shoot various hostages, Mexican civilians and police officers, at least one US Border Agent… as you can imagine, the Mexican government is not exactly pleased about any of this, which is why elements within said government are currently muttering about extradition treaties. This is where Kenneth Melson comes in: he is the Acting Director of BATFE, and was apparently picked to be the duly-assigned sacrificial lamb in this particular drama.Only, it turns out that Melson doesn’t actually believe in any of that dulce et decorum est pro Duce mori stuff; so he grabbed a lawyer and started talking to Issa & Grassley – on July 4th, no less. So now, let’s talk about that letter.Please click here for the rest of the post.

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