The news last week that recently hired Yahoo News Washington DC Bureau Chief David Chalian was fired for a truly unbelievable “hot mic” moment was bad enough–but digging into his background re-enforces the mess that likely awaits Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan come debate time.

Chalian was fired for yucking it up with fellow reporters by saying that “They (Republicans) are not concerned at all.  They are happy to be having a party while black people are drowning (Hurricane Isaac).”  You can hear the “hot mic” comment here along with the, almost as disturbing, huge laughs this got from the reporters he was talking to.

In an earlier piece, I made the point that the folks selected to moderate the three Presidential debates and the one VP debate were very …

Lost in the sea of coverage following Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, was the news that the moderators for the three Presidential debates, and one VP debate, were also selected.

There is a certain kind of news one receives that falls into the category of “this may or may not be bad—but it can’t be good”.  For Republicans, learning of the moderators that will be at the helm for these four debates certainly earns this distinction.

In order of appearance they are- Jim Lehrer (PBS News Hour), Martha Raddatz (VP Debate-ABC News), Candy Crowley (CNN), and Bob Schieffer (CBS News).

Since the Romney campaign had to sign off on each moderator, it is hard to imagine that they could not have …

I recently heard a radio commercial urging me to contact various members of Congress to voice my support for tax credits connected to the wind energy industry. On a lark, I went to the Iowa Legislature website and searched active bills for the word “wind,” and received several dozen hits, many of which seemed to be focused on state tax credits for manufacturing and installing wind turbines. Both state and federal politicians seem to be tripping over themselves to get into the wind energy craze.

Back in 2010 Alliant Energy was petitioning to be allowed to increase the rates they charged for electricity, and one of the supporting reasons they put forward was the $150 million project called the Whispering Willow-East wind farm in Franklin …

While not big news that Iowa Republicans don’t wait with bated breath for the Des Moines Register to anoint a Republican candidate the cream of the presidential crop, in recent years their recommendations have barely risen above laughable fodder. Since we could all use some comic relief from this seemingly endless campaign season, let’s take a look back at the Register’s recent forays into Presidential advocacy. What follows are two main reasons, among many others, why they should stick to merely reporting on the political pulse of Iowa—instead of trying to alter it.

Reason #1 – A Sketchy, Schizophrenic History

While nearly all the data on editorial board endorsements show that they have a miniscule impact, if any at all, well over 70% of newspapers …

“The Conservative also recognizes that the political power on which order is based is a self-aggrandizing force; that its appetite grows with eating. He knows that the utmost vigilance and care are required to keep political power within its bounds.” – Barry Goldwater

Evidenced by the fact that I recently finished re-reading Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative on a kindle—much has changed since it was first published in 1960. However, by the staggering parallels that its content has to the political realities of 2011, one could say that not much has changed at all.

Anyone who chooses to invest the few hours necessary to read this book will become apprised of the historical context in which the political and ideological battles of our …

As discussed and promised on The Conservative Reader Report on December 22, here is the full Senate Minority Leader’s speech (Mitch McConnell of Kentucky) just prior to the Monday’s Cloture vote.  If you don’t have 13 minutes, you can see a 3 minute highlight just below it.  This was a power and compelling speech, and Mitch won the TCR Report’s Smart Politician of the week for this speech.

You can also checkout more info at Shane Vander Hart’s Caffeinated Thoughts, Eric Florack’s Bitsblog and Michelle Malkin’s site as well.

…

On The Conservative Reader Report today we will have Kim Lehman, President of Iowa Right To Life and Iowa’s Republican Committee Woman to the RNC, on our show along with Shane Vander Hart, conservative uber-blogger from Caffeinated Thoughts and guest blogger on The Des Moines Register’s political web page.  Our focus today will be all about the Health Care Reform Massacre about to be perpetrated by the United States Senate.  The show starts at 3:00 Central on Des Moines Local Live Internet Radio.…

Update! Link to podcast of today’s show!

Last Tuesday (September 29), I hosted the second half of Tim Albrecht’s program “The Bean Walker Live!” on Des Moines Local Live, and today begins 3 weeks of hosting the program in full while Tim concentrates on getting married!

On today’s show, during the first hour I will have Shane Vander Hart from Serve Our Youth Network to share about the volunteer opportunities they have and how they cooperate with local government to impact the lives of high-risk kids in the Des Moines Metro area.

During the second hour, Connie Schmett from Polk County (Iowa) Republicans will join us to talk about the upcoming Fall Dinner at Living History Farms this Sunday featuring the Iowa Republican Gubernatorial …

A friend of mine (John Bloom) shared a “letter to the editor” that his brother (William S Bloom) wrote to the Quad City Times.   For those of you that are outside Iowa and Illinois, the Quad Cities are Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline in Illinois.

Anyhow, the piece, as edited by the newspaper, can be found on their web site at this link.  The text of the original letter is below.  Although I understand the concept of editing letters to conserve space, and a few of the edits made sense in that regard, there are still some key parts that were cut out.  You be the judge… starting with the second paragraph (the first one was rewritten by the …

… for the most boring interview in history.  Last night felt more like 3600 seconds.  For those of you that missed it (lucky you), it was the big “first interview of the 44th President Elect of the United Stated”.  Steve Kroft, one-on-one with Obama for half the show, Michelle included in the second half (with a little time for Rooney).

Softball questions by Kroft… oh, wait a minute, he did press Obama mightily to reveal yet unannounced cabinet position appointments.  Darn, Barack refused to slip up on that!

Why oh why do we care about Obama’s position on college football playoffs?

Very little of what was discussed from a policy standpoint was any different than what we’ve heard on the campaign OR Obama just didn’t provide …