GOP

GOP, Government Spending

Habit

Since 2013, the GOP has consistently proposed budgets that increase spending, and not by just a little. Consider that the Republican budget for the 2014 fiscal year, offered by then-Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., proposed $966 billion in base spending. This year, Speaker Ryan is pushing a budget that proposes $1.07 trillion.

That means in four years, Republicans have increased their proposal by $104 billion.

Via They are Doing It Again—-Republicans Are Addicted to Increased Federal Spending @ David Stockman’s Contra Corner.

Donald Trump, GOP, Presidential Race 2016

GOP Options

Sen. Ted Cruz could still conceivably win. But there’s no soft landing in this scenario. No rapprochement. No team-building exercise is going to fix the 2016 iteration of the Republican Party. There is only going to be a crackup, no matter who captures the nomination. If that’s true, and if it means one side has to prevail, why not save your party from a hostile takeover that could potentially cost it both the Senate and the House?

Via The GOP Should Steal the Nomination from Trump @ Reason.com.

Elections, GOP, Libertarians

Kasich Behind Take Down Of Libertarian Gov Candidate In 2014

According to court documents, Kasich successfully derailed his Libertarian Party competitor for governor in 2014 in order to clear his path of obstacles so he could win without worry, then launch his second bid for president.

“The Kasich Campaign, Borges, Schrimpf, Damschroder, the Governor’s staff and Casey from the very beginning were in constant contact about the protest,” wrote plaintiff attorneys for Libertarian Party of Ohio (LPO) candidate Charlie Earl in court documents. According to filings from Mark Brown and Mark G. Kafantaris, co-counsels for Charlie Earl,”They shared a common objective — to keep Earl off the ballot. Their minds had met; they acted together.”

Via Kasich Court Docs Reveal “Civil Conspiracy” Behind Take Down Of Libertarian Gov Candidate In 2014 @ Plunderbund.

GOP, Presidential Race 2016

Money for (Almost) Nothing 

Bush landed down in sixth place, behind Ben Carson and Sen. Rand Paul. Bush has the most campaign cash raised on his behalf of any of the Republicans. The only other candidate to have raised more money than Bush is Hillary Clinton, she of the alleged animosity toward the Citizens Uniteddecision, which freed up Americans to independently spend money on behalf of campaigns and causes. Check out the most recent campaign spending numbers here. Bush has twice as much money as Rubio.

What did $155.6 million buy Bush? A whopping 2.8 percent of the vote in Iowa….

Via Dollar for Dollar, Jeb Bush Was Tonight’s Biggest Loser – Hit & Run : Reason.com.

Capitalism, Crony Capitalism, GOP, Government Spending

Eye of the Beholder

When Florida Senator Marco Rubio voted against a transportation funding bill in December, he said one of his main objections was that it “preserves Washington’s power in picking winners and losers in transportation funding, and even revives the crony capitalist Export-Import Bank,” an agency that provides export financing for American goods.

Rubio, however, also likes to pick winners and losers. He supports sugar subsidies, explaining to Chuck Todd on Meet the Press in January, “ I believe agriculture, unlike any other industry, should be treated a little differently…. We are competing against other countries that don’t have our regulations, don’t have our labor laws and subsidize their own industries.… I am prepared to get rid of the sugar program tomorrow if the countries we compete against get rid of theirs.”

Via Crony Capitalism Is Evil…Except for Mine, Say Republicans @ Newsweek.

GOP, Presidential Race 2016

After Iowa

In the end, it seems clear that last night was a testament to the fact that even in an era of all-day cable news, constantly updating news on cable television, on the Internet, and via social media, winning elections still comes down to the same on-the-ground efforts that have characterized electoral success for generations. Much…

Debate, Democrats, Gary Johnson, GOP, Lawsuits, Libertarians

Fighting the Debate Monopoly

September 29, 2015, Washington, DC – 2012 presidential candidates Gov. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, along with the Libertarian and Green parties and their vice-presidential candidates, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, DC, today charging that the exclusion of qualified candidates from the general election presidential debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) violates federal anti-trust laws.

The lawsuit is funded by the Our America Initiative, a not-for-profit advocacy organization, through their Fair Debates project, https://www.fairdebates.com. It was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Our America Initiative’s attorney Bruce Fein, who served as Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under the Reagan Administration.

Via Fair Debates lawsuit filed against Commission on Presidential Debates @ Independent Political Report.

Link to complaint.