Word Up

"Enough is Enough!", is the tag line on Dr. Dan Benishek's campaign material, the Republican candidate for Congress in Michigan's 1st District.  He is running to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Democrat Bart Stupak.  His website http://danbenishekforcongress.com/ also proclaims "Read it...Reduce it...Repeal it...Reform it."  Sound advice if you ask me. 

Double Doocy

An unfortunate and scary trend in cable news is developing and should be nipped in the bud asap.  No, it is not the seemingly hip back-and-forth style "gotcha" segments between cable "news" shows like Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or whatever progressive miscreant on MSNBC has with Fox News.  No, it is much more hideous and detrimental to the American psyche than that.  I am talking about the extremely unnecessary and inane practice of putting the offspring of news anchors or personalities on the tube.  Maybe a good five cent cigar isn't what the American people need anymore, but I can assure you we do not need anymore Doocy!

I don't know how long Peter Doocy, the son of Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy has been an on air  contributor to Fox News, but seeing him yesterday was enough for me.  Ditto to the cherubic Luke Russert, the son of the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert.  What began innocently enough several years ago, with Fox News' Chris Wallace following in the footsteps of his dad Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame, has escalated into theatre of the absurd.  Why must the American audience be subjected to what anyone besides their immediate family see as the equivalent to a performance in an elementary school recital? Enough with the nepotistic practices of cable news programming.

Obstructed Vision

I just watched President Obama try and explain why the unemployment rate just went up, even after all the hard work that he has done to put the U.S. on a path to recovery and prosperity.  Like an overweight child, our economy just won't behave like it's supposed to, even after a strict diet of sticky sweet stimulus, additional rewards, and effusive praise for sitting on the couch and not going out to play.   Our President continues to plead with us to just bear with him, that this economy took years to get this way and it might take a similar amount of time to properly recover.  He remains confident that things are going in the right direction.  Really Mr. President, the right direction?  Based on what evidence?  A clear majority of Americans do not believe we are headed in the right direction.  I suspect a clear majority of those same Americans believe that if we continue with the policies of this administration, things can and will get considerably worse.

Honestly, how does he see that an exponential growth in spending will reduce the deficit?  How can he be trusted to curtail entitlements, when he expands them?  How can he cut unemployment when everything he's for encourages it?  None of this makes sense to us anymore and he and his party are feeling it.  But it's our fault.  In a column in the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson says the "American people are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats."  We just don't understand the wisdom behind Obama or his parties' policies or tactics.

Thank God that for many Americans, the beginning of the end of Obamanomics may be just a few weeks away.  The American electorate is poised to sweep away the Democrat majority who through their own policies have obstructed the path to their own sustainability.  Republicans offer a renewed vision for long-term economic growth and personal well-being.

2010 Republican State Convention/Reinvent Michigan Caucus

I delivered the following remarks to the 2010 Republican State Convention, at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University, in East Lansing, Michigan.  The convention was being asked to pass a resolution to oppose a constitutional convention.  State Republican party chair Ron Weiser, Michigan national committeeman Saul Anuzis, and Eric Doster an attorney for the state party,  each spoke in favor of the resolution.  State Senator Tom George, Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner Dennis Lennox, and I each spoke against the resolution.  The resolution passed overwhelmingly, but I remain convinced that holding a constitutional convention in a addition to electing Rick Snyder governor is the right course of action to repair our dismal state of affairs.   

"Good morning, my name is Tim Kelly and I am the chairman of the Saginaw County Republican Party and a candidate for county commissioner. The State of Michigan has had six constitutional conventions since 1835, the most recent being held in 1962.  While opponents of a con-con have said that a convention would be too costly, chaotic, and time consuming, I believe it is in the best interest of our citizenry, and would provide the single greatest opportunity to force the kinds of systemic and necessary reforms that could make Michigan a great state once again.

If we can all agree that Michigan is badly broken, and I think that we all can, then what better opportunity will present itself in the future to fix what desperately needs to be repaired.  If not now, when?  If not us, who?   If you had asked me two years ago if I were in favor or a con-con, I would have probably responded with an emphatic NO.  But, timing is everything in politics and two years ago, conservatives in general, and Republicans in particular, were in no shape to try and dictate their wishes upon anyone.  Now that we've experienced almost two years of Barack Obama, and here in Michigan we will finally put an end to eight years of Jennifer Granholm, we see where unbridled liberalism and excess can leave us.

A con-con would provide the opportunity to fix a whole range of issues, or none at all.  148 delegates would be elected to review the current version of the Michigan Constitution and decide on what changes, across a broad range of issues, should be made.  Things like a part-time legislature, term limits, local government configuration, right-to-work, public education options, and taxation could be addressed.  Even getting Michigan to adopt a budget or fiscal plan beginning on July 1, instead of Oct. 1, like 46 other states do, could make planning things like school budgets much easier for local school superintendents.

We have been told that a con-con would be a huge distraction to a new governor and legislature.  To be sure, Rick Synder and Brian Calley are the face of reinvention in Michigan.  And they will need all the support they can get from all of us here today and across this great state.  However, a con-con held in close proximity and concurrent with even a Republican legislature could provide a powerful catalyst for those with reinvention in mind, but more familiar with trivial aspirations. 

We have also been told that a con-con would invite unwanted guests like Jon Stryker and George Soros with a bevy of liberal needs and wants.  Honestly, who really believes that an electorate poised to sweep a plurality of Republicans into office in the coming weeks, would suddenly reverse itself and elect a plurality of liberals as delegates to a constitutional convention?  We are poised for victory, not defeat. 

A con-con would also be the perfect vehicle for the tea party movement and other conservative groups to weigh in and affect the changes we so desperately seek. The infusion of their energy and passion would very likely tip the scales in favor of putting Michigan on the right track to limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedom and economic opportunity.

I urge this convention to vote NO on the proposed resolution.  Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my time to Sen. Tom George."

Biden's Not The Problem

Talk of President Barack Obama dumping Vice President Joe Biden for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the 2012 ticket might be intriguing to some, but it's a continuing sign that the Democrats have truly lost it.  As ungifted and as untalented as Joe Biden may be,  no one can seriously say that Obama's fall from grace can be attributed to old Joe.  Helped maybe, but Obama without Biden is still a disaster.  What was that saying from the '08 campaign that got so much mileage?  Something about lipstick on a pig?

Here's The Problem

In an article from the Washington Post, Matt Miller describes the latest $26 billion state assistance bailout from the Obama/Reid/Pelosi regime, as akin to the old Saturday Night Live ad parody "New Shimmer is a floor wax and a dessert topping."  He writes that borrowing money from China to bailout the auto industry is on thing (and a wrong thing), "but borrowing from China to keep runaway Medicaid programs in New York and California free from fundamental overhaul, and gargantuan unfunded public pensions untouched, seems mad. In California, more money is spent each year on compensation and pensions for 70,000 prison employees than on the state's entire higher education system!"  Washington has given us all 26 billion more reasons to end the Reid/Pelosi nightmare in November.

JJ Horgan

Saginaw County lost a good man earlier this week when former Democrat party chair J. J. Horgan died at age 72 of brain cancer.  Diagnosed in May, JJ was running in the Democrat primary for state representative up until his death.  A New Yorker by birth, JJ had the best interest of Saginaw/Bridgeport, Michigan in all that he did for his community.  He was quite a character and I counted him a good friend.

Despite our political differences, we often shared information over phone calls or lunches.  Like so many others, I often felt that I got more from these conversations then perhaps he did.  He had a great wit, abundant Irish charm, and I loved hearing about his days growing up on the rough and tumble of New York City streets.

He will be greatly missed by his loving wife Geri, his family and friends, and all those who came in contact with him.  As Geri wryly told me, "he's God's problem now."  Rest in peace JJ.