Breitbart

by Michael Patrick Leahy

At a meeting of the Ripon Society held in Washington, D.C.'s exclusive Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday, new Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Mike Shields effectively declared war on the conservative grassroots. In a strong attack, Shields coined a new derogatory term, "the professional right," to refer to groups that have publicly criticized the recent RNC "Autopsy" report.

"It's a term I'll be using often in the coming months," he told the crowd of about 40 Ripon Society members, RNC insiders, and Capitol Hill staffers. But Reagan biographer Craig Shirley, who was not one of those in attendance at the meeting, was quick to note that Shields's new term had already backfired. “As opposed to what, unprofessional Republicans?" he shot back.

"These attacks on conservatism by the Establishment GOP are reminiscent of those made against Reagan all through the 1960’s and 70’s and even into his presidency,” Shirley added.

Shields, five weeks into his new job as RNC Chief of Staff, applauded the RNC on its "courage" in publicizing its own "Autopsy" report. According to the source, Shields "gloated that not even the Democratic National Committee was critical of the report, while only the 'professional right' pounced on it."

When questioned about his eagerness to offend the “professional right” even as he was reaching out to other groups, Mr. Shields fairly bristled.  According to our source, Shields stated that he is totally eager and willing to remove "the professional right" from the GOP.  “They won’t come to us and ask. They just send out lies and ask for money. I have to tear up mailings at my own parents’ house and tell them which emails to delete,” he said, according to the source.

According to the source, Shields lumped “grassroots supporters” into the same lot as the “professional right," and displayed an equal distaste for both groups.

Read this story at breitbart.com ...

CNS

Craig Bannister

*excerpt*

"John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy: You said all the right things to conservatives to propel the GOP back to the majority and you to the top three leadership positions in the House.

'You, like virtually every single other Republican elected to Congress solemnly vowed to rid us of Obamacare, which you can do simply by refusing to fund it. Why haven't you done so?

"While we're at it... when the Secretary of HHS decrees that we should be forced to pay for the murder of babies, why don't you decree that Americans are no longer going to pay for HHS?  What of all the other oppressive, and in the case of Planned Parenthood, evil organizations immorally funded by our tax dollars?  What of the utterly useless agencies like NPR, and PBS, and Legal Services, and the NEA and so many others you solemnly pledged to put out of our misery?

"You've done nothing for over two years but give us excuses and more commitments that tomorrow, yes tomorrow, you'll honor your promises.  Gentlemen, where promises are concerned, you are not what you promised to be.

"Do you want to restore your reputations as conservative leaders? All you need to do is honor your promises. They were good ones. Watch what happens next. You'll be heroes."

Read this story at cns.com ...

Pat Caddell, the Fox News Contributor and Democrat pollster who engineered Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Presidential victory, blew the lid off CPAC on Wednesday with a blistering attack on "racketeering" Republican consultants who play wealthy donors like "marks."

Breitbart

"I blame the donors who allow themselves to be played for marks. I blame the people in the grassroots for allowing themselves to be played for suckers....It's time to stop being marks. It's time to stop being suckers. It’s time for you people to get real," he told the audience that included two top Republican consultants.

Caddell stole the show as a panelist in the breakout session titled "Should We Shoot All the Consultants Now?" He spoke with a fire and passion that electrified the room. When the session began the large room was half filled, but as word spread of the fireworks going on inside, the audience streamed in. By the end, it was standing room only.

Breitbart News spoke with Caddell prior to his talk, and he promised he would deliver a "brutal critique" of the Republican establishment and its political consulting class. He did not disappoint, pulling no punches with an unyielding evisceration of a small group of Republican consultants, the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee, and Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS Super PAC.

"When you have the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies get $150 million at the end of the campaign for the 'fantastic' get-out-the-vote program...some of this borders on RICO [the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] violations," Caddell told the crowd. "It's all self dealing going on. I think it works on the RICO thing. They’re in the business of lining their pockets."

"The Republican Party," Caddell continued, "is in the grips of what I call the CLEC--the consultant, lobbyist, and establishment complex." Caddell described CLEC as a self serving interconnected network of individuals and organizations interested in preserving their own power far more than they're interested in winning elections.

"Just follow the money," Caddell told a rapt audience. "It’s all there in the newspaper. The way it works is this--ever since we centralized politics in Washington, the House campaign committee and the Senate campaign committee,  they decide who they think should run. You hire these people on the accredited list [they say to candidates] otherwise we won't give you money. You hire my friend or else."

Financial corruption is a key component of the current process, according to Caddell. "There's money passing under the table on both parties. Don’t kid yourself...If you can’t see racketeering in front of you, God save you."

Read this story at breitbart.com ...

Republican senator reverses his opposition to gay marriage after his 21-year-old son comes out

Daily Mail

Katie Davies

A respected Republican senator has announced he is reversing his stance against gay marriage after his 21-year-old son came out to him and his wife.

Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican considered as a running mate by the Romney campaign, said the discovery that his son Will, 21, was gay had given him a 'new perspective' and understanding of why equal opportunities matter.

Will, a junior at Yale University, came out to his politician father and mother, Jane, two years ago, The Plain Dealer reports.

Portman, who backed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, says since his son's announcement he has been reconsidering his views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

He said he had spent some time speaking to his church in Cincinnati and former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is gay.

Today he wanted to officially and publicly reverse his political position on the issue.

'It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that's of a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have -- to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years,' Portman told the local paper.

'The overriding message of love and compassion that I take from the Bible, and certainly the Golden Rule, and the fact that I believe we are all created by our maker, that has all influenced me in terms of my change on this issue.'

He added that he believed opening marriage up to homosexual couples 'strengthens the institution' and he realized his son's sexuality 'wasn't a choice'.

He said his son had not exerted any influence on him politically but supported his new position and 'encouraged' him.

Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

Sandy Rios

If Republicans cave on same sex marriage, they will lose their base and the “party” will be over. Phyllis Schlafly knows this and Republicans would do well to listen to her. Drawing a line in the sand, Schlafly, a member of the 2012 Platform Committee has written a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus with this warning:

“We expect all Republican officials to support the Platform. The endorsement of same-sex marriage is not acceptable…We call on the Republican National Committee to consider passing a resolution, at its next meeting, re-affirming its support of the Platform and of the Defense of Marriage Act, which was overwhelmingly passed by Congress.”

 Former First Lady Laura Bush disagrees, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other, then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.” Speaking on behalf of Respect for Marriage Coalition, in a commercial advocating gay marriage, she and Vice-President Dick Cheney along with General Colin Powell all agree.

At the same time, an impressive list of 100 Republicans signed a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8, a voter initiative limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

 But according to a recent FOX Poll, 66 % of Republican voters oppose same-sex marriage while Americans in general are evenly split. The pressure is on. The party divided.

So what’s a party out of power to do?

And who is Phyllis Schlafly that Republican celebrities should listen? A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University School of Law, one of the first female students to complete a Masters degree in Political Science at Harvard, her early interest in public policy was nuclear disarmament. But she was thrust into the public eye when radical lesbian feminists, throwing blood on the Capitol steps in Springfield, Illinois, made her mad enough to confront their demands and become a spokesman for millions of American women. The “Equal Rights Amendment” intended to strip women of all gender distinctions from marriage law to wartime combat.

Explaining that “equality” did not mean “sameness,” Phyllis rightly understood the ERA was a precursor to the current confusion on gender differences.

Because of her valiant leadership, it did NOT pass in Illinois, thus preventing it from becoming Federal Law. But the radical feminist view of the world was implemented through the classroom and the media. Protective barriers were broken and bright lines between men and women…even the good distinctions were eradicated.

Phyllis founded Eagle Forum and became a staunch and powerful arm of the Reagan Revolution. She has been a delegate to the Republican Convention every year since 1952 and a major voice on the party platform since 1980.

Exactly…some would say; A voice from the past, NOT the GOP’s future. According to FOX, 60% of voters under the age of 45 favor same sex marriage while 57% of those over 45 oppose it.

For young people especially (and I’m almost talking under age forty here) gay marriage is a fait accompli,” observed former PJ Media CEO Roger Simon.

But while Republican pragmatists hold their finger to the wind, they should hold it up in one of the bluest states in America.

In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and father, Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, along with Democratic majorities in both houses in Springfield, plus Pat Brady, the Republican Party Chairman, the President of the United States and the entire body of Chicago media are all loudly, aggressively pushing gay-marriage. Gay rights advocates tried to pass legislation during the Lame Duck Session, setting wheels in motion the Friday before Christmas 2012. Family groups, in the midst of their Christmas celebrations unexpectedly fought back.

They formed what proved to be the very effective “Coalition to Protect Children and Marriage,” so that the legislature lost the support to even bring it up for a vote.

The newly elected Illinois Senate passed SB 10 handily, but in preparation for a vote in the House, traditional families descended on the Capitol, nearly 5,000 strong. Catholics, Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews rallied, and expert witnesses were brought to testify. For the first time in most of their lives, legislators heard the other side of the same-sex marriage story from a former lesbian, a professional family expert, and an impassioned black pastor. They heard what they have never heard on television or at the movies or in their public schools for the past twenty years; that same-sex marriage is harmful, especially to children. It robs them of the basic need to have a mother AND a father. Extensive studies show that children raised by same sex parents have more problems with drugs and alcohol and sexual identity.

As legislators listened, minds began to change. What was expected to be an 8-4 slam-dunk in committee became a squeak-by majority of one. The fight in Illinois is not over and if there is a vote, it will be close. But the fact that there IS a fight is the untold story.

Now GOP leader Pat Brady is under fire for his support of same-sex marriage. The catalyst for Schlafly’s letter to Reince Priebus was the Republican Party Chair’s intention to attend a Brady-sponsored luncheon in Illinois. The luncheon was abruptly canceled.

Mrs. Bush and the others should educate themselves on the real costs of homosexual marriage to society. One can only look to Massachusetts to see the devastating effects of gay marriage and the LGBT movement on public schools where children are encouraged to change genders without parental approval or knowledge, and public school girls’ bathrooms are accessible to boys who think they are girls.

If this madness is what Mrs. Bush, Colin Powell, or Dick Cheney want for their grandchildren in the misguided notion of “fairness” then so be it. But when one day, the other side of this sordid story is told, they will be glad the wisdom of Phyllis Schlafly prevailed and not their fickle, feckless leadership in dangerous times.

American Spectator

JEFFREY LORD

Well, this is helpful. A clutch of Republican elites have run to the Supreme Court demanding the judiciary shut off debate on gay marriage.

The story has predictably been front page news at the New York Times and in the world of the liberal media, the Times leading with this:

Some of the signatories’ names are published here at the Blaze. The group — including names such as Ted Olson (the Bush 43 Solicitor General), Meg Whitman (the last GOP nominee for Governor of California), Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York, ex-Bush-appointed RNC chairman (and 2004 Bush campaign manager) Ken Mehlman, Bush national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, Bush commerce secretary Carlos Guitierrez, Bush deputy attorney general James B. Comey and Reagan budget director David Stockman — has decided to force gay marriage on the American people without their consent.

Effectively making of this case a gay Roe v. Wade.

They are asking the Court to force an elitist world view on a nation in which thirty states have chosen by state constitutional amendment, referendum or legislation — this is called “consent of the governed” — to support marriage between a man and a woman.

Read this story at spectator.org ...

NY Post 

Ever since the American voter gave Mitt Romney a drubbing in the November election, the best minds in Republican circles have been debating how to revive the battered GOP brand.

You might think this would be a special priority for New York City, where Romney captured just 18 percent of the vote. You might think in a sluggish economy, there’s an opening for a party that distinguishes itself from the usual run of candidates vying to out-spend, out-tax and out-regulate their rivals. You might even think conservative and Republican leaders would be looking for ways to make this year’s vital mayoral race a contest of ideas.

You would be wrong.

Take the effort to get Adolfo Carrión — a two-term Democratic Bronx borough president who just finished an undistinguished stint in the Obama administration — onto the Republican ticket.

Read this story at nypost.com ...

Politico

By MANU RAJU and DAVID ROGERS

Days before the March 1 deadline, Senate Republicans are circulating a draft bill that would cancel $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts and instead turn over authority to...Barack Obama to achieve the same level of savings under a plan to be filed by March 8.

The five- page document, which has the tacit support of Senate GOP leaders, represents a remarkable shift for the party. Having railed against Senate Democrats for not passing a budget, Republicans are now proposing that Congress surrender an important piece of its Constitutional “power of the purse” for the last seven months of this fiscal year.

Read this story at politico.com...

Editor's Note: The inevitable fate of a nation, or a political party, that would claim an equal “right” to do what is wholly unnatural and morally wrong, but that won’t provide equal protection for the supreme right, the right to live, of its most helpless, innocent posterity, is predictable, but not pretty.

NBC News

Miranda Leitsinger

Supporters of same-sex marriage hope for a boost this week when dozens of high-profile Republicans, many no longer in office, submit their legal argument to the Supreme Court on why gays and lesbians should be allowed to wed, bucking their party's platform in a move that one who had a change of heart on the issue said would “strengthen our nation as a whole.”

More than 80 Republicans have signed the brief to be filed in the case of Proposition 8, a California law banning same-sex marriage, according to the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is waging the legal battle against the law. The nation’s high court will hear arguments in the case in late March.

Read this story at usnews.nbcnews.com ...

Nearly two-thirds of them voted to give weapons to the Egyptian government.

National Review

I’m done grumbling about how [Alleged] President Obama is empowering America’s enemies. After all, it is not just Obama. When it comes to abetting the Muslim Brotherhood, Republicans are right there with him.

Not all of them, of course. This week, for example, Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment that would have prohibited our government from transferring F-16 aircraft and Abrams tanks to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood–dominated government. This lunatic plan is not just an Obama initiative. It is also a GOP brainstorm — of a piece with 2011’s Libya debacle, in which Republican leaders cheered as Obama, upon consulting with the Arab League, ignored Congress and levied war on behalf of the very jihadists who, quite predictably, have since raided Qaddafi’s arsenal, besieged northern Africa, and massacred Americans in Benghazi.

A few weeks back, the John McCain & Lindsey Graham roadshow made its way to Brotherhood Central in Cairo, with newcomer Kelly Ayotte in tow. Senator Ayotte appears to have filled the void created by Joe Lieberman’s retirement — after all, when you have Republicans, who needs another Democrat? The former trio is best remembered for its Tripoli triumph of late 2009, when the three kicked back in the Qaddafi compound and toasted our newly cozy relations with the dictator. The bipartisan solons then winged their way home in time to second the Obama State Department’s increase in funding for the Libyan dictator’s regime. After all, they reasoned, Qaddafi was our hedge against Libya’s jihadists. As is their wont, though, the solons soon dazzled us with a 180, suddenly deciding that what we really needed to do was back Libya’s jihadists in their war against Qaddafi. The rest, as they say in Mali, is history.

So the GOP brain trust now brings this Midas touch to Egypt, rallying behind Obama’s cozy relations with the new “Islamic democracy.” That would be the Brotherhood’s rapidly unraveling sharia basket case, into which our own bankrupt government has so far sunk nearly 3 billion U.S.-taxpayer dollars, with more billions soon to come through U.S.-backed IMF loans and, yes, sophisticated U.S. weaponry. Any moment now, as it was in turbulent Libya, the ground in Egypt is certain to shift, or crater. When it does, who knows whose side the senators will have us on . . . and who knows what American enemies may be wielding that U.S. weaponry?

Read this story at nationalreview.com ...