Morning Briefing for October 18, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing
For October 18, 2011

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1. Herman Cain Singlehandedly Revives an Old Stereotype

The other day, Herman Cain said if he was in charge of defending our borders, he’d build a twenty foot high wall, put barbed wire on the top, electrify it, and put a big sign on it that read “if you touch this, you will die!”On Sunday, asked about it by the dimwit who replaced Tim Russert, Cain said he was joking.The media headline: “Cain Retreats From Hardline Immigration Position.”Herman Cain has done something we all owe him a debt of gratitude for doing. He has singlehandedly revived a stereotype many people thought had been forgotten — the humorless liberal.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. I Support Occupy Wall Street

I support Occupy Wall Street. And not in the ironic way that I’m sure many would assume upon reading that sentence. I literally support their protest and their desire to influence the political discourse. In fact, I want them to influence the political discourse. I want them push their ideas and have them heard by politicians whose hearts beat for the same reasons. I want those kindred spirits to run on campaigns that promise to fulfill all the objectives that Occupy Wall Street is demanding, and I want them to push for legislation and laws that will accomplish them.The reason I want all of these things is because Occupy Wall Street is a purely ideological movement that, in many ways, is the antithesis of the Tea Party. For too long, the Tea Party has stood alone, holding signs in the streets and being told to sit down and shut up by the power structure of Washington, D.C. Having an ideological movement that pushes the narrative of half of the country, or at least half of our elected officials, further left is exactly what this country needs to rid us of a scourge that has plagued our political landscape for far too long.Moderates.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Even #OWS Has A Point: Rent-Seeking In Higher Education

The #OWS movement has become like the Type II Diabetes of a customer at an all you can eat buffet. It won’t go away, and it has become accepted as a problem of everyday life now. A portion of this longevity can be traced to its political expediency to a media-favored and embattled incumbent president. Part of this can be ascribed to the tenacity and organization of the protestors themselves.So that begs another question. People have been out there since Sept 17. They’ve been doing this for long enough for the sanitation to get tenuous. They could be indoors sipping coffee instead. In another month it may not be very good for their health to sleep outdoors in a large group. It becomes possible that the most dedicated ones are legitimately angry and legitimately scared. The demands may have been only partially coherent, but at least some of these #OWSers actually have a point.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Little did we know how well Herman Cain was doing last week

Before the cold that really took me down since Friday (to explain my silence since), we checked in on the pre-debate polling for Herman Cain’s first debate as a major contender.It turns out that Cain’s momentum had taken him even further ahead of the Tuesday debate, though post-debate polling suggests he took at hit in the national audience.I’m far enough behind that I have four national polls to catch up on. First we’ll check on the three that were in the field before the debate. In no particular order we have Ipsos for Reuters polled 410 Republican adults, mobile and landlines, MoE 4.8. Next is Hart/McInturuff for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal polled 336 GOP Primary voters, mobile and landline, MoE 5.35. Last is Public Policy Polling’s survey of 484 “usual Republican primary voters,” automated. MoE 4.5.Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Herman Cain Thinks 9-9-9 Is A Really Bad Idea

or at least he did only eleven months ago.Last week I took a couple of looks at Herman Cain’s tax plan masquerading an economic plan called 9-9-9 (here | here)What struck me about the plan was the extremely non-conservative nature of the plan (for the past 30 years conservatives have opposed new taxes or increases in existing taxes), in this case the implementation of a national sales tax, and the naïveté involved in proposing a brand new tax based upon the underlying assumption that no one will ever raise that tax.Much to my surprise, or not, I found that his supporters were completely in favor of a new federal tax on retail sales and that the idea that said tax would ever increase was roundly discounted as bogus and a strawman. This despite the fact that the current federal income tax had a top rate of 7% when it was first introduced and the VAT debuted in Britain at 8% and now is a healthy 20%Today I found out that Herman Cain agrees with me. A national retail tax is a really bad idea.Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Save The Date: RedState Gathering 2012

We’re going to the swing state of Florida in 2012. For Republicans, August will start and end there with the RedState Gathering the first weekend of the month and the Republican National Convention the last weekend of the month.By then we should have the nominee and we hope he’ll be at the Gathering. Of course, we’re inviting Governor Scott, Senator Rubio, and senate candidate Adam Hasner, among others.It should be a fun time. I’ll have hotel details forthcoming and a great introductory rate.But here’s one thing you need to know — the event is expanded by a full extra day so it is going to be a bit more expensive. Why expand by a day?Please click here for the rest of the post.

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