The Erick Erickson Show


I’m on the air live right now at http://wsbradio.com. You can call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

I’ll give a translation of Barack Obama’s address this afternoon on Libya at 8:00 p.m. ET.

At 7:35 p.m. I’ll fill you in on why Obama really doesn’t care about what’s happening in the Middle East.


Bad Jew!


Union protestors, including waiver award winners Communication Workers of America (CWA), arrived outside of the FreedomWorks headquarters today apparently to hit female activists and police the Jews.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the same level headed Unions were scolding a black tea party activist for “voting against his best interests,” since they clearly know better than he does.

So don’t worry America!  The racist tea parties are finally being silenced by that bastion of understanding: the American left.  They’ll make sure to keep all those pesky minorities in lock step! And if any of them step out of line and think independently of the group, then brave men and women like those in this video will step forward to let them know that they are being ‘bad’ and need to shut up and get back in line.


Obama finally breaks silence on violence in Libya


President Obama condemned the violence in Libya, dispatched Secretary of State Clinton to Geneva for talks aimed at stopping the bloodshed, and said he directed his administration to prepare a full range of options to respond.

Obama also said the suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and unacceptable.

Obama made these profound announcements Wednesday evening — his first public comments on the violent unrest sweeping Libya.

After being asked several questions about Obama’s silence on the violence in Libya, an exasperated Press Secretary Jay Carney finally stated it was a scheduling problem:

MR. CARNEY:  Just one second.  This is just a scheduling issue.

That’s right, because of “scheduling” Obama was not able to speak out on Libya. Not on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday nor Tuesday.

From Right Side Politics.l


Obama’s leadership rating falls to a new record low


New Rasmussen Reports polling finds only 37% of likely voters think President Obama is doing a good or excellent job as a leader. Forty percent rate his performance as poor.

The poll’s finding represents a huge shift in opinion from just a month ago after Obama delivered his State of the Union speech. Back then, 47% of voters viewed Obama’s leadership positively.

Other interesting findings from the poll Include:

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Gov. Kasich (R, OH) Chews iron, spits nails…


…on public sector unions.  Gov. Kasich is unamused at the notion that it’s somehow unacceptable to even note that public employees are getting great deals on healthcare at taxpayer expense - and by great deals I mean ‘Ohio public sector employees are paying between one half and three-quarters what Ohio private sector employees pay:’

The 9%/23% number there*, by the way, is one of the better ratios out there for private sector employees. And by ‘better’ I mean ‘better for the tax payers.’ To give an idea: one large part of the sturm und drang being witnessed in Wisconsin right now is over public sector employees having been told that they will be expected to double their contributions to their own health care plans from 6% to 12% - which is half the Ohio number (or, for that matter, the Wisconsin number of 20%-23%), and even worse when you look at national ones.  I understand that people are upset that their unsustainable sweetheart deals are about to go belly-up.  I do, truly.  But they are sweetheart deals, and they are unsustainable, and the country can no longer afford to ignore the fact that government employee unions have been raiding the public treasury in exchange for tawdry partisan  political patronage.  So as a practical matter the subject’s kind of closed.

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Follow the Money: What the Wisconsin Education Association Isn’t Talking About


As Americans, we’re often taught that trusts and monopolies are the product of big business and are bad. However, if trusts and monopolies are bad when Big Business engages in monopolistic ways, why isn’t it bad when Big Labor engages in the same sort of behaviors that are condemned when committed by Big Business?

For over a week now, the nation has watched tens of thousands march in protest to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget plan. Democrat lawmakers (aka Fleebaggers) have fled the state in order to avoid doing their duty, while Obama’s OFA has bussed in the astroturf from out of state. While the union meme has been that Walker’s plan is “union-busting,” perhaps a more apt description would be “trust-busting.”

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The Last Refuge Of The Progressives


Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

- Isaac Asimov from Foundation

In light of the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by Jared Loughner calls have gone out far and wide for a new civility. The University of Arizona has even invited Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to waste the time and money of their student body by founding an institute of civility. In other words, we now will be lectured on proper political decorum by the man who was disbarred by the State of Arkansas for committing perjury.

But then again, the Reverend Jesse “Baby-Daddy” Jackson ministered to President Clinton and declared him morally fit. Compared to The Reverend, that may well have been a true statement. We should thus put that brand, spanking new civility institute to a positive use.

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Scott Walker’s Good Example and Mitch Daniels’ Bad Example


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In American politics, all eyes this week have been turned toward Wisconsin, where the clash over the bargaining process and entitlements for public employee unions has sparked protests and legislator walkouts. Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking with Mark Mix, head of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, about his views on the battle in Wisconsin and elsewhere over public employee unions. We also talk about Mitch Daniels’ surprising attitude towards right to work laws in Indiana.

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:

Mitch Daniels Salutes Dem Lawmakers Who Fled IN to Avoid Labor Vote
Rubin: Two Governors, Only One Ready for Primetime
Indiana House Passes Right to Work Bill
Barone: Public Unions Force Taxpayers to Fund Democrats
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
NRTW on Twitter


Mitch Daniels’s Truce


Mitch Daniels is encouraging Republican legislators in Indiana to yank right-to-work legislation they have the votes to pass.

The Democratic legislators fled Indiana yesterday giving way to a National Geographic special on the migratory patterns of absconding Democrats. NatGeo found they all wind up in Illinois. 48 more states to go before they all end up in Illinois.

Mitch Daniels received lots of criticism on twitter and online for his white glove approach to the fleeing Democrats. He praised them for their right to speak out and act out as a minority party in the legislature.

Daniels’s supporters defended him by pointing out he single handedly ended collective bargaining for public sector unions in Indiana by executive order on his first day in office. His supporters also noted that Daniels has major legislation before the legislature that fleeing Democrats will undermine — legislation that can’t be passed without Democrats to make up a quorum.

That is all well and good. It is also wholly beside the point.

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Rebuilding The Republican Reputation


After betraying the American trust in the Republican brand, Americans booted Republicans from power in 2006. The Republicans flopped around ignoring the obvious. So Americans booted them again in 2008. Republicans still didn’t get it. They picked moderate mealy-mouthed candidates. So, the Tea Party picked new ones and pushed back against a recalcitrant Republican party.

What didn’t they get? Republicans didn’t get that by expanding government, participating in government take-overs of private business, and bailing out irresponsible industries, they destroyed their own brand. Republicans stood for small government, personal responsibility, and low taxation. They voted against these core tenets over and over. Voters were not pleased.

Republicans now say they got the message.

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Haley Barbour and the Regressive Economics of Farm Subsidies


Farm subsidies are the most popular form of corporate cronyism among many Republicans.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, this regressive form of ‘progressive’ market intervention garners enthusiastic support from Republican presidential contenders, especially preceding the Iowa Caucuses.  Haley Barbour is the latest potential presidential candidate to prostrate on the altar of the farm lobby and support the $20 billion fleecing of the taxpayer.  Even with the exit of John Thune from the presidential sweepstakes, the farm lobby still boasts many champions of taxpayer handouts among the 2012 hopefuls.

Yesterday, in an interview with the Daily Caller, Barbour offered the following counterintuitive economic justification of government intervention in the food market.  Here are some of his greatest hits:

“What we want to have in the United States is abundant food at a responsibly low price. To do that, we have to have an appropriately large supply of agricultural products. When sales volumes are good, prices are reasonable, there shouldn’t be any farm subsidies. But for natural reasons, nature, or what other countries are doing in terms of how they’re handling their markets, sometimes it is appropriate to have farm subsidies.”

“What you want is to have policies that lead to ample supply and prices that yield good prices for the person at the grocery store but profits for the farmers.”

Let’s expound upon Barbour’s economic theory.  Barbour opines that government subsidies, most of which go to wealthy farmers, are often indispensable because they increase food supply and lower prices at the grocery store during rough times.  Well, why is food inflation dramatically rising, even as farmers continue to receive record levels of subsidies?  Indeed every American (at least those who are not on food stamps) is suffering from the lack of “good prices” at the grocery store.

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