Back to Basics

Whenever the issue of energy policy comes up, and it will often with skyrocketing gas prices, here is the proper way for Republican leaders to address the issue. This speech, by Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA), addresses nearly every facet of the energy industry and what the president could do to create an environment conducive to lower-cost production.

Of course, President Obama said skyrocketing energy prices were a key part of his agenda, so we can expect his administration will continue to do the opposite of what would be good for energy producers, and thus the economy and the nation.

Arizona Presidential Debate AP/Photo By Jae C. Hong

No question, this has been one of the more tumultuous presidential primaries in recent memory. I should think this would not be a major surprise when one considers all that is at stake in this election cycle, a topic I wrote about in this piece at Ricochet. Having said that, the remaining candidates in the presidential primary have been covered ad infinitum, ad nauseum; I feel this has been at the expense of many of the critical down-ballot federal races for the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.

Here at The Political Operative, we will be shifting our focus from the presidential campaign writ large to these vital down-ballot races. Already, we have interviews lined up with several of the U.S. Senate candidates and a number of important U.S. House races. We plan to bring our readers extensive coverage of these often neglected races. In this cycle, every race matters.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Governor Mitt Romney’s Wyoming Steering Committee which prevents me from covering anything presidential without significant bias. I really don’t want the reputation of being a @JRubinBlogger

Secretary Chu/NYT

In a shocking development, the most transparent administration in history is refusing to cooperate with investigators. Energy Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, was invited to the hill this morning to testify before the U.S Senate. When asked by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) about making DOE officials available to investigators in the U.S House, Secretary Chu clammed up,

It’s no wonder the administration has been stonewalling. Misappropriation of taxpayer money has become so endemic, it is hard to keep track of each instance of misuse. Secretary Chu, in keeping with Obama Administration policy, expresses no desire to cooperate with investigators  by providing access to the DOE officials in question. It is clearly time for subpoenas to be issued; given this response to Senator Barrasso, it will likely be sooner than later.

Today marks the 1000th day since the Senate Democrats last passed a budget. A lot can happen in 1000 days, and Heritage has produced an excellent must-see video with that very theme.

The true irony is the fact that this date falls on the same day as the president’s State of the Union Address. He has already made it clear he intends to use his SOTU speech to press the Democrats message of class warfare and resentment. The Democrats continue to celebrate failure with no regard to the course of the Nation.

For quite some time conservatives have made the assumption that Obama will absolutely not be able to run on his record. Naturally this makes sense given how poor his record actually is, but Team Obama did not get the memo. In fact, this ad has to be seen to be believed,

This is surely one of the most disingenuous ads of this election cycle. To pretend this president has an excellent record on jobs is so patently absurd, only the Democrats could produce something like this with no shame.

Have no fear, ABC News fact-checked this and found the ad to be… true. No question most readers will find that shocking.

The U.S. economy added 200,000 private sector jobs in December, the Labor Department reported today, better than the 150,000 economists expected. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5 percent – the lowest level since March 2009.

All told, the economy added 1.6 million jobs in 2011 after adding 940,000 in 2010, the Department said.

“More private-sector jobs were created in 2011 than any year since 2005,” Obama said today, taking credit for the gains. “After losing more than 8 million jobs in the recession, obviously we have a lot more work to do.  But it is important for the American people to recognize that we’ve now added 3.2 million new private sector jobs over the last 22 months.

These numbers actually have meaning when they are placed into context. This is called “fact-checking the lying MSM fact-checkers.”

The U.S. economy added 200,000 private sector jobs in December. Yes, this is quite common during the Christmas season. Many businesses hire temporary employees to get through their busiest time of the year. The bad news is many of those people will be laid off after the holidays. Status: debunked

The unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5 percent. The reason behind the down tick in unemployment was due to both the seasonal hiring, but more importantly, the drop of over 300,000 employees from the workforce in November alone. These are individuals who have given up seeking employment. This is similar to saying that if all the patients with a certain condition died, it would improve the numbers related to the incidence of that disease. Status: debunked

*As an aside, Jim Pethakoukis did some very important work on the labor force and actual unemployment rate. The impact of the discouraged worker not counted in U3 unemployment makes the president’s argument utterly ridiculous.

All told, the economy added 1.6 million jobs in 2011. A trip to the BLS website reveals this is true, but it excludes a rather important statistic that is mentioned above; that statistic is the number of people who dropped out of the labor force. Status: partially true

Do not be fooled by this ad. It has been awarded 3 Flaming Democrat Logos. The president and his compatriots in the media would like people to believe that he has been successful on the one issue most important to Americans. This is a blatant lie, and these numbers will continue to remain ugly until his disastrous anti-business policies can be reversed.

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

The last 48 hours in presidential primary politics has been unprecedented. From the Iowa Republican Party’s announcement that Rick Santorum actually won the Iowa Caucuses to the Gingrich blowout in South Carolina, the inevitability of a Mitt Romney nomination have evaporated. Whereas the discussion on Friday centered on the Romney Juggernaut winning the first three primary states, Romney’s campaign now finds itself with a 1 and 3 record; the same as the other serious candidates.

The final results in South Carolina:

• Newt Gingrich – 40.4%
• Mitt Romney – 27.8%
• Rick Santorum – 17%
• Ron Paul – 13%
• Rick Perry – 0.4%
• Other – 1.4%

The campaigns are now headed to Florida, a state whose seeming importance had diminished following the loss of  half their delegates when they moved their primary forward. That is no longer the case. Florida will be the first real test of Gingrich’s campaign vs. Romney’s. It is unlikely Santorum will have the resources on the ground or the money to effect the outcome in his favor, and Ron Paul is moving on to the caucus states where he has a chance.

Latest RCP avg in Florida:

• Mitt Romney – 38.4%
• Newt Gingrich – 23.7%
• Rick Santorum – 14.4%
• Ron Paul – 9.6%

This is a real primary race now. It is fair to say that the testing of each candidate and a longer primary process will produce a nominee better prepared to take on the Obama machine.

While we were once great adversaries, America and Britain share a common bond that today transcends our differences. Indeed, Britain is one of our closest allies on the world stage, along with the State of Israel.

The challenges facing both of our Nations as we emerged from the 1970′s seemed insurmountable, and yet under the leadership of Reagan here in the U.S. and Baroness Thatcher in the U.K., great progress was made in terms of defeating the statists and proving that conservative principles put into practice work amazingly well.

Due to the imminent release of the film The Iron Lady, the Heritage Foundation recently posted this short video memoir of the real Baroness Margaret Thatcher, and it is truly inspiring.

As we wrap up celebrations of the 100th birthday of one of our great conservative leaders, Ronald Reagan, it is fitting that we celebrate one of his great friends and allies. Enjoy this short video clip of the Baroness Margaret Thatcher.