RedState's Morning Briefing for Monday, July 6, 2009

July 6, 5:43 AMRight Side Politics ExaminerDan Spencer

Thoughts on Sarah Palin

She resigns effective the end of July. It was unexpected

2. I *Told* Everyone That This Would Start Happening….

The only mystery is why it hasn’t started sooner….

3. The Honduran Question

America turns its back on a cold war ally to side with enemies of freedom

4. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

There’s a sucker born every minute.

5. GOP Not as Dead as Advertised

Not that the media will tell you anything

Thoughts on Sarah Palin

She resigns effective the end of July. It was unexpected

1. Sarah Palin resigned, I think, to spare her family from more attacks. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Sarah Palin is doing this just days after a very nasty Vanity Fair article where folks like Nicolle Wallace and, according to Bill Kristol, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (though I’m told Schmidt is not involved), savaged her.

2. Unfortunately, by resigning, I think the left and national media will be emboldened to ritualistically engage in the metaphorical gang raping of conservative politicians, particularly those who are female and have children. They’ll decide savaging Palin’s family drove her from office, so the sky’s the limit on the next conservative with kids.

3. I’m sad that so many people are mad at those of us saying she’s done with elected politics. I have always supported Sarah Palin. I continue to support her. But that does not change what I think. We should not be invested in the politician or the personality, but the ideas.

4. I’ve had this running thought all day, perhaps because I was watching it on TV in HD for the first time, that this is kind of like Ben Kenobi letting Darth Vader strike him down. Palin is not going to run in 2012, but by doing this she can now become Barack Obama’s worst nightmare, and help rebuild the opposition to Obama. How? Because were she to remain a 2012 contender, she’d keep having stories by anonymous McCain campaign staffers and other 2012 contenders going after her and her family. Take that ambition off the table and it neutralizes a lot of that. So she can focus on candidates and ideas without an ulterior motive focused on 2012.

5. My friends on the right who are heaping the most scorn on Palin and saying things like “this proves she shouldn’t have been elected in the first place,” “if she can’t take the heat she should have never gotten in the kithchen,” etc. are also typically the ones who do not have small children.

6. Yes, yes. Jokes were made about Chelsea Clinton. How many allegedly credible media organizations pursued stories that she was not Hillary Clinton’s child? How many late night comics joked about her getting raped at a Yankee’s game? How many allegedly mainstream comics and pundits made mental retardation jokes about her? See e.g. the Huffington Post, which put up then took down a post by Erik Sean Nelson entitled “Palin Will Run In ‘12 On More Retardation Platform.”

7. People are so cynical. Immediately, several people I know concluded there must be a scandal. After all, that’s why politicians abruptly do stuff like this. How about her being tired of her family being smeared constantly and forced to pay huge legal bills to fight frivolous complaints? Maybe it is a scandal, but it’s sad that so many people default to that.

Click Here for More.

2. I *Told* Everyone That This Would Start Happening….

The only mystery is why it hasn’t started sooner….

Tucked deep inside Mark Steyn’s excellent (as usual) weekend column is this bit of shocking news:

“Last week, the donut chain Tim Horton’s, which operates on both sides of the border but is incorporated in the state of Delaware, announced that it was reorganizing itself as a Canadian corporation to take advantage of Canadian tax rates.”

Let’s just review a few facts.

• Tim Horton’s is mostly a Canadian-based operation (bit of an icon up there, particularly in Ontario); they may own some other brands, but I’m not sure and that might have changed.
• Canada’s corporate tax rate (now 21%) is lower than the U.S. rate (35%) - Prime Minister Harper, sensing an opportunity (particularly given the increased idiocy in Washington), has talked about reducing it further.
• Any profits earned in Canada but “repatriated” (sic?) to the U.S face that nutty double-taxation game that I’ve written about multiple times; Canada (like the rest of the world) doesn’t do double taxation.

So this just makes sense from a business point of view.

What is most mind-boggling about people who have spent their whole lives 100% marinated in politics and with 0% contact with business is that they can delude themselves into believing that shifting like this simply won’t happen for…. whatever…. reasons….

Click Here for More.

3. The Honduran Question

America turns its back on a cold war ally to side with enemies of freedom

Ignoring the constitution, President Manuel Zelaya, a man less popular in Honduras than George Bush was when he left office in this country, ordered a “non-binding” referendum be put to the voters on extending his stay in office.

Glenn Garvin wrote in the Miami Herald, “After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country’s congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. … When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.”

The Honduran Supreme Court, congress, attorney general and members of Zelaya’s cabinet opposed his move as unconstitutional. The supreme court ordered the military to remove Zelaya from office. Honduras has no impeachment process as we know it.

Now Roberto Micheletti, a member of Zelaya’s own political party, is president of Honduras. Despite protests from Zelaya’s supporters, the nation’s trade unions, business groups, Catholic Church, and most citizens supported Zelaya’s ouster — no one wanted a tyrant, let alone one propped up by drug lords and marxist thugs like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Nonetheless, Barack Obama declared the Honduran government’s actions a coup — never mind the government was preserving its democracy instead of overthrowing it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all.” She called on Hondurans to uphold their constitutional processes, the very thing they were doing by ousting Zelaya.

Click Here for More. This is from an original newspaper column that I wrote. You can read the full article, with more specific details here.

4. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

There’s a sucker born every minute.

Colin Powell “has concerns” about Barack Obama’s policies.

Sucker.

Click Here for More.

5. GOP Not as Dead as Advertised

Not that the media will tell you anything

While the mainstream media keeps asking how the GOP needs to change to survive, Republican candidates are leading in a host of races around the country. In fact, if you set aside for a moment the unified Democratic control in Washington (admittedly, a heavy lift) you might think it was the Democratic party that was on the ropes.

It seems to me that the proper question to ask is, if Barack Obama is so popular and Republicans are so unpopular, why are so many Democrat candidates in deep trouble? The answer is that voters in 2006 and 2008 rejected Republicans who had reneged on their promises to limit government, and to make it work more effectively for taxpayers. Barack Obama promised to make government more effective - and to reduce the overall level of spending. It’s clear that voters have already soured on Obama’s agenda (if not on him personally) and are prepared to dump Democrat candidates - as long as they believe Republicans are prepared to bring the sort of change they want.