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Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking to Melissa Clouthier of LibertyPundits who shares her views on the political fallout from the Arizona shooting. We also discuss whether Congressional staff should be armed, and how the right should respond to the smears of old media.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

DC Examiner: Should Congressional Staff be Armed?
Marc Thiessen on the Outrage From the Left
Glenn Reynolds on the Politics of Blood Libel
Halperin: Pointing Out Smear Only Makes Things Worse
Poll: Americans Reject Democrat Spin on Rhetoric
Yousefzadeh: Short Memories Ignore Left’s Calls for Violence

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Today Coffee and Markets is proud to be joined by Senator-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The new year will bring with it a new House and Senate, one populated with several members whose approach to the job stands to be a unique departure from politics as usual. Foremost among these is Paul, the Kentucky eye doctor who won a contentious primary over a handpicked Republican candidate, and whose first elected political office will be that of United States Senator. How will being in the Senate effect Paul’s anti-establishment approach? What does he think of former rival Mitch McConnell’s leadership during a contentious the lame duck session? And what are his priorities for the next two years? We’ll hear the answers to those questions from Senator elect Paul today.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.
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It looks like Matt Damon’s been overdosing on Kool-Aid again.  He’s apparently doing the bidding now for the ACORN spawn, Working Families Party.  Watch as he asks you for his birthday present.

I’m about to celebrate a very important birthday myself, Matt.  On November 13^th, I turn 41 ! I know, I can’t believe it either.

If there’s something you want to give me for my birthday that’s going to really cheer me up, please tell the recently departing Working Families Party co-chair Bertha Lewis to stop referring to constitutional conservatism as “McCarthyism”.  And while you’re at it, could you please ask your friend, President Obama not to call American citizens “enemies” simply for not belonging to his political party?

I think maybe it’s time to step away from Soroswood and start paying attention to the real world.

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In the lead-up to the 1972 elections, then-Vice President Spiro Agnew headed up something called “Operation Switch” at President Nixon’s request. His mission was to help get Southern Democratic elected officials more comfortable with Republican conservative values than their own party to switch and urge their supporters to follow.

Most Southern elected officials at the time were Democrats, and the Republican parties in the region tended to be small, elitist groups that couldn’t win elections that were often referred to by cynics as “Post Office Parties.” They were comfortable little groups of elitists eligible for patronage jobs when Republican presidents occupied the White House. Most Southern GOP leaders were quite comfortable as big fish in very small ponds and felt personally threatened at the prospect of admitting new members to their small and exclusive club.

I served as Agnew’s chief political assistant back then, and shortly after Operation Switch launched, then-Rep. Lou Frey of Florida came to see me. He was furious. “We don’t want these people in our party,” he (literally) yelled, “because if we let ’em in, the next thing you know, they’ll be primarying us and taking over.”

That White House scene has often come to mind as newly energized voters with new concerns have, in the process of moving to the GOP, threatened the comfort level of the establishment in charge.

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As the NAACP prepares to condemn the tea party movement for phantom “explicitly racist behavior”, the Department of Justice and the NAACP overlook actual instances of explicitly racist behavior by the New Black Panther Party. Blatant disregard for actual racist behavior shows the NAACP to be nothing more than a tool of hard leftists; hard leftists who are intent on creating exploitable divisions.

I know from personal experience that the tea party movement is mainstream. Americans of all ethnic, economic and political backgrounds have been rallying and running for office because they want a government that works for the people. I am one of those Americans-and I am Black.

After being slated as a candidate in Illinois’ 43rd State Senate District, I gave my first public speech at a tea party rally and have spoken at several more since then.

With just two weeks to gather signatures, dozens of people from the tea party movement circulated my petitions. I turned in over 2100 signatures in just 19 days to get on the ballot.

The support I have received from the tea party movement since getting on the ballot has been overwhelmingly positive. Supporters have donated their time and money. They have participated in precinct walks, protests, phoning, and they even packed a hearing room to support me.

The hearing room is significant because one group of people have not been supportive of my ballot access – Chicago Machine Democrats. The Chicago Machine unleashed their top election lawyer, Michael Kasper, to unjustly knock me off the ballot on a party line vote by the Will County Board of Elections. My team has appealed the decision in circuit court and we are confident the ruling will be overturned. I have yet to hear from the NAACP about this injustice to my campaign and the voters of Illinois’ 43rd State Senate District.

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The great Pat Caddell and Kendra Stewart survey the recent South Carolina elections over at Real Clear Politics:

Soon-to-be Congressman Tim Scott

Perhaps nothing better illustrates the historic change brought on in these June elections than the nomination – and all but certain election – of Tim Scott. In the first Congressional District – the very cradle of the Confederacy (a.k.a. the “Fort Sumter” district) – the over 90% white GOP primary runoff voters, elected the black conservative Scott in a 68-32% landslide over the son of South Carolina legend Strom Thurmond who was endorsed by all of the unsuccessful white candidates from the primary including the son of former governor Carroll Campbell. For South Carolina it was truly a “when hell freezes over” moment.

Clearly change and reform are in the saddle – and boy does this state need it. For a state seemingly inured to its multitude of problems of terrible schools, an under supported higher education system, the nation’s 7th highest unemployment rate, and undisputedly dysfunctional state politics this moment has not come too soon. Despite its many attributes and resources, South Carolina has stagnated for three decades while its coastal neighbors, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia have achieved startling progress.

For decades, first as a one-party Democratic state and now as a one-party Republican state, South Carolina has been ruled by a self-serving good-ole boys power structure which has blindly catered to the demands of special interests and insider deals. Nothing better illustrates its contempt for reform than the continued resistance of the legislative barons to the radical notion of recorded votes. From the era of segregation to the latest day, the good-ole boy system has protected its power by winning elections with the twin weapons of fear and smear. Enter Nikki Haley.

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“The adults are in charge now.” That was a much-repeated phrase after the 2008 election all around the Left.  It never seemed right to me; like when you’d overhear a thirteen-year old girl calling a boy “immature.”  But now there is scientific evidence of something I suspected long ago.

It doesn’t make sense that the party who stresses personal responsibility could really be less mature, than the party of entitlement. The entire Democrat platform is structured to give away things that most adults find for themselves.

Republicans thinks people are better of finding their own way in the world, the Democrats want a government who pays for college, gives them an allowance, and helps out with the groceries and rent. Things that we consider privileges, they consider rights. (Is the Left’s push for public transit really about the environment, or is it more like borrowing dad’s car on date night?)

The new health care bill will force health insurance companies to cover adults unable to leave their parents, which certainly doesn’t seem mature. On the bright side, 27 year old “children” still living with mom, will no longer have to make the difficult choice, between paying for Health Care, or unlimited texting.

Our protests are definitely more mature. At Tea Parties, we often pick up the trash that was left behind from the Earth Day rally. Leftist protests are full of screaming, rock throwing, and the ultimate end when the protesters drop on the floor and refuse to move, like a spoiled kid who has decided that he will not go to bed. Of course when the police finally take the protestors into custody they start kicking and screaming in full-on tantrum mode.

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Bill Clinton was absolutely right when he wrote the following in the New York Times:

Finally, we should never forget what drove the bombers, and how they justified their actions to themselves. They took to the ultimate extreme an idea advocated in the months and years before the bombing by an increasingly vocal minority: the belief that the greatest threat to American freedom is our government, and that public servants do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them.

….

Criticism is part of the lifeblood of democracy. No one is right all the time. But we should remember that there is a big difference between criticizing a policy or a politician and demonizing the government that guarantees our freedoms and the public servants who enforce our laws.

We are again dealing with difficulties in a contentious, partisan time. We are more connected than ever before, more able to spread our ideas and beliefs, our anger and fears. As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged.

We couldn’t agree with President Clinton more. We must all be vigilant in our efforts to avoid fostering an environment that offers quarter to extremist and violent elements.

This is as true for the Tea Party as it is for any other political movement – and while we are on the subject of other movements, we trust that President Clinton’s intellectual consistency would necessarily lead him to condemn Lisa Fithian’s United For Justice and Peace the Direct Action Tendency (DAT) anarchy group.

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Leftist and racist infiltrators were forced to flee at tea party rallies in St. Louis, San Francisco, Oceanside and Greensboro.

Patriots -4 Alinsky Thugs -0

In St. Louis last night local patriots drove this racist infiltrator with Nazi symbols on his shirt from the rally:

The sign pointing down at the white supremist plant was from the Big Government tool kit. It came in handy. The infiltrator scurried off after he was confronted by several patriots including local blogger Adam Sharp who got up in his face. “Just know that you’re not going to come here and pretend that you’re with us.” Adam told the plant. Adam was fearless. The hater left shortly after the confrontation.

Adam’s parting words… “GO HOME NAZI.”

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The “Tea Party Crashers“, bless their hearts, think that if they publicly announce they are going to infiltrate tea party rallies with outrageous signs they will be able to…we don’t know…make people like ObamaCare? Convince people to pay more in taxes? It is all very confusing, but the leftist mind has never suffered from an overabundance of clarity. Well, the good people of the Central Texas 9-12 Project know exactly how to handle these “crashers”. Consider yourselves advised.

On April 15th, it is always a worthy enterprise to reflect on one of the major motivations of the American Patriots that caused them to break away from England. Of course, I am referring to “Taxation Without Representation.” Today, we know from the Tea Parties multiplying around the Country that Gerald Berzan is quite to say right that “Taxation with representation ain’t so hot either.” Perhaps that is why Douglas Adams declared that he was “spending a year dead for tax reasons.”

In that lively spirit, I give you my Top 10 Anti-Taxation Quotes with my annotations:

No. 10.

“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin. It is hard to start anywhere else. The little known full quote is “Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” The Founders, who framed a Constitution to protect us from government, did not dare consider an income tax. Franklin obviously did not trust future politicians.

No. 9.

“I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.” Milton Friedman. The 1st of two Friedman quotes in this countdown brings up the question: Why the Republican Party is (or should be) so anti-tax? Franklin obviously warned us. Friedman accepted his warning and knew that unless we fought them at every turn, taxes would be more than inevitable.

No. 8.

“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.” Legendary Judge Learned Hand. I guess it turns out Joe Biden was wrong?

No. 7.

“The power to tax is the power to destroy.” The first of John Marshall’s 2 quotes in the countdown: Simply stated, but sadly not well understood: that maxim also applies to income as well – which is why higher rates result in less tax revenue. Later Alan Greenspan would say that “Whatever you tax, you get less of.” It REALLY is that simple – if only our politicans would learn that lesson.

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Are you going to Washington, DC to partake in the Tax Day Tea Party Rally this Thursday?  If you are and you will be arriving on Wednesday, Big Government has a party for you!

Wednesday night starting at 6:00 pm, Big Government is co-sponsoring a happy hour for tea party activists who are coming to town for the rally.  Along with other co-hosts, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, The Daily Caller, Freedomworks and my group, First Friday, Big Government will be gathering at Lounge 201 on Capitol Hill near the Senate offices in Washington.

Lounge 201 is located at 201 Massachusetts Ave, NE, and the drink specials run all night.  So if you’re in town, thinking about coming to town, or plan to be around, make sure you swing by the happy hour for your chance to meet and network with like-minded, freedom loving individuals for a night of relaxation before the big day.

The drinks will be cheap, the conversation will be interesting and many political celebrities and elected officials have been invited to stop by, so this could be your best shot to have a private conversation with them. And don’t miss your chance to mix and mingle with some of your favorite Big Government contributors and staff!

See you there!

From the Associated Press:

Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, targeted for defeat by Tea Party activists for his crucial role in securing House approval of the health care overhaul, said Friday he would retire from Congress this year.

The nine-term congressman told The Associated Press he could have won re-election and insisted he wasn’t being chased from the race by the Tea Party Express, which is holding rallies this week in his northern Michigan district calling for his ouster. Instead, Stupak said he was tired after 18 years in office and wanted to spend more time with his family.

“The Tea Party did not run me out,” he said in a telephone interview. “If you know me and my personality, I would welcome the challenge.”

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Many a partisan and pundit-provocateur has spent the last year trying to convince us that the tea parties consist of violent extremists.  The multi-front attack has come from the media, Hollywood, and the current White House.

At the genesis of the movement, David Axelrod couched criticism of the Obama agenda as “unhealthy” on national television.  Last April, the infamous “right-wing extremism” report released the week before the tax day tea parties by the Department of Homeland Security.  The report referenced “disgruntled veterans” and lumped those that believed in states’ rights in with white supremacists and militia members.  It was an embarrassment to the Department of Homeland Security and the administration.  Public apologies to veterans and regrets regarding the extremely broad language were issued.

A while back, “Law and Order” ran a ridiculous episode where a lawyer declared that Rush, Beck, and O’Reilly drive people to commit violent hate crimes.  Before that, there was an episode referencing a tea party in the context of discussing extremists. In February of this year, Marvel Comics issued an apology after a comic implicitly painted tea parties in a racist, violent light.

Countless guests have appeared on Keith Olbermann’s show to dissect the tea party movement psyche.  Most notable was budding amateur psychologist Janeane Garofalo who erroneously dismissed tea partiers as intellectually deficient violent racists.  More recently a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show, talking about the recent Midwest militia arrests, conflated the tea party movement and right-wing militant extremists and implied that the nation is somehow in danger of the tea party splintering into militia terror cells.

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Of course there were no news accounts of this, so we missed it. On March 31st, Rep. Paul Ryan delivered a keynote address to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, one of the better state-based free market think tanks. It is a magisterial distillation of where we are…and where we need to go. Full text of the address below:

Last week, on March 21st, Congress enacted a new Intolerable Act. Congress passed the Health Care bill – or I should say, one political party passed it – over a swelling revolt by the American people. The reform is an atrocity. It mandates that every American must buy health insurance, under IRS scrutiny. It sets up an army of federal bureaucrats who ultimately decide for you how you should receive Health Care, what kind, and how much…or whether you don’t qualify at all. Never has our government claimed the power to decide when each of us has lived well enough or long enough to be refused life-saving medical assistance.

This presumptuous reform has put this nation … once dedicated to the life and freedom of every person … on a long decline toward the same mediocrity that the social welfare states of Europe have become.

Americans are preparing to fight another American Revolution, this time, a peaceful one with election ballots…but the “causes” of both are the same:

• Should unchecked centralized government be allowed to grow and grow in power … or should its powers be limited and returned to the people?
• Should irresponsible leaders in a distant capital be encouraged to run up scandalous debts without limit that crush jobs and stall prosperity … or should the reckless be turned out of office and a new government elected to live within its means?
• Should America bid farewell to exceptional freedom and follow the retreat to European social welfare paternalism … or should we make a new start, in the faith that boundless opportunities belong to the workers, the builders, the industrious, and the free?

We are at the beginning of an election campaign like you’ve never seen before!

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UPDATE: The bounty is now $100,000 for any audio/video footage of the N-word being hurled at Congressmen John Lewis and Andre Carson.

***

After 14 months of committing 100% to health care reform, the day after the signing of the Health Care bill was to mark the Democratic Party’s new primary concern: destroy the uprising, annihilate by all means necessary, the Tea Party movement.

The first sign that a plan was in place was the ham-fisted, high-camp posturing of the most controversial members of the Democratic caucus walking through the peaceful but animated “Tea Party” demonstrators on Capitol Hill. There is no reason for these elected officials to walk above ground through the media circus amid their ideological foes. The natural route is the tunnels between the House office buildings and the Capitol. By crafting a highly symbolic walk of the Congressional Black Caucus through the majority white crowd, the Democratic Party was looking to provoke a negative reaction. They didn’t get it. So they made it up.

The proof that the N-word wasn’t said once, let alone 15 times, as Rep. Andre Carson claimed, is that soon thereafter — even though the press dutifully reported it as truth — Nancy Pelosi followed the alleged hate fest, which allegedly included someone spitting, by walking through the crowd with a gavel in hand and a shit-eating grin on her face. Had the incidents reported by the Congressional Black Caucus actually occurred the Capitol Police would have been negligent to allow the least popular person to that crowd – the Speaker – to put herself in harm’s way.

That crowd was a sea of new-media equipment. Not only were tens of thousands people armed with handicams, BlackBerrys and iPods, so also was the mainstream media there, covering every inch of the event. Why did not one mainstream media outlet raise the specter that perhaps a video would exist to prove the events occurred? I am still dealing with the same press telling me we didn’t prove that ACORN was aiding and abetting criminal activity because we “did not provide enough audio and video evidence.” (Insert laugh track.) Is there not a blatant double standard at play here? Nancy Pelosi tipped her hand that race was a central part of her strategy. She invoked the Civil Rights Act and compared it with the universally reviled health care bill. Her caucus is doubling down on the civil-rights rhetoric. There are no coincidences.

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Who is this man?

To remind our readers, this fine gentleman thrust his finger in a journalists face and shouted “Get him out of here, or I’m going to jail today!” We’re pretty sure he didn’t mean he was going to jaywalk. Let’s find out who he is and bring his intimidation tactics to light.

And, while we’re at it, please help identify this man:

Proudly wearing his Harry Reid t-shirt, this man lied to the police in Searchlight when he falsely accused Andrew Breitbart of throwing an egg at the Tea Party Activists’ bus. Does he work for the Reid campaign? Does he work for IBEW Local 357? Does he work for another union in the Las Vegas area?

Finally, we need your help with a missing persons case… Has anyone seen or heard from the media? (more…)

Instapundit points to this video interview of a Berkeley student representative explaining why it’s okay for students to riot in the streets in the name of their cause.

We posted the raw video of the rioting here.

What’s so interesting about this interview is that during two separate moments, the student representative displays an astounding level of liberal-Progressive hypocrisy.

We have taken the liberty of transcribing these two sections below.

Moment number 1 – (2:00)

HOST: Describe to me what exactly what you guys are going through that just absolutely causes this outrage.

STUDENT: Absolutely. Well um in the fall the UC regents voted in a %32 fee increase to over 10000 a year for in-state tuition. This at a time that they are cutting classes, letting in fewer student from in-state and more students from out of state. Um, so effectively we are closing off the campus, making it less accessible to people, and those who are here are getting less out of their education.

That complaint doesn’t sound too immigrant friendly. Is she saying that Berkeley students only want immigrants from other states and countries just as long as they go to private schools?

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The enthusiasm at this year’s CPAC was palpable.  Conservatives turned out in record droves, optimistic and on the offensive against a government they rightly feel has run amok.  Dick Cheney and John Bolton amongst others predicted that Barack Obama would be a one term President.  I would take a more cautious view.  Beatable as I think President Obama is based upon his bombastic arrogance, blind elitism, blatant dishonesty, and boundless seemingly intentionally destructive policies, if the 2010 CPAC straw poll tells us anything it is that the conservative movement is still searching for its opponent.

Before delving into the numbers, it is important to note that while roughly 1/4 of the 10,000 in attendance at CPAC participated in the poll, around 50% of these voters were students.  And indeed the youthful Campaign for Liberty crowd was highly visible and energized throughout the convention, which explains the extent of Congressman Ron Paul’s success.  Paul, the staunch libertarian came in first with 31% of the vote, Mitt Romney the establishment candidate second with 22% and Sarah Palin the (absent from CPAC) Tea Partier third but lagging significantly behind at 7%.

What is fascinating about the results is that the top three spots were split between three different types of conservatives, and further that the top two spots were divided between two candidates so bipolar.  In my view, Ron Paul comes off as unrefined, radical and principled, while Mitt Romney comes off as polished, moderate and slickly political. Sarah Palin alternatively is the homey if not hokie populist.

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As a member of a very successful Tea Party in Quincy, Illinois it is my distinct honor and privilege to offer my thanks and congratulations to this astroturf response to the tea parties. This hard hitting website has taken the MSNBC format to a new level. Hit us again guys, because while you spend never-ending union dollars attacking Tea Parties, we are repairing the change you said we could believe in, one candidate at a time.

This tiny group of Tea Bashers says its mission is “To prevent the Tea Party’s dangerous ideas from gaining legislative traction.” You might want to watch something other than the mainstream media. In case you haven’t heard, we have already gained legislative traction, which I’ll venture a guess that this was the reason for the emergency birth and delivery of your premature website.

We can’t think of a better way for organized labor to spend its time and money. I am so thrilled with your approach I may donate to your cause myself.

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