THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

At the 2009 Republican Jewish Coalition winter leadership meeting in Fort Lauderdale, I had the pleasure of meeting Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia.

http://cantor.house.gov/

http://www.rjchq.org/Multimedia/multimediadetail.aspx?id=0c20aece-925b-4c35-9fa4-a5914324743e

Eric Cantor is the House Minority Whip, which makes him the second most powerful Republican in the house behind the Minority Leader.

Given that the entire existence of the Democratic Party is held together by despising Republicans, they are struggling to find a new conservative demon. President George W. Bush is gone, and liberals were suicidal until their leaders instructed the leftist lemmings to go back to hating Rush Limbaugh. Yet he has no policy role, and besides, hating white conservatives is boring. Hating and trying to destroy minority conservatives keeps Democrats from folding altogether. Michael Steele and Sarah Palin are examples, but again, they do not make policy.

Therefore, Eric Cantor is now public enemy # 1. He is a Jewish conservative in a country where leftists do not tolerate minorities to be anything other than liberal. Yet Congressman Cantor is tough. He knows the arrows are out for him, and he is prepared.

While much of RJC Conference was strictly about policy, Congressman Cantor was there to fire up the crowd with a giant helping of political (kosher) red meat.

With that, I bring the fire of one of the great Jewish Republicans in America, Congressman Eric Cantor.

(after a very friendly introduction)

“I am glad my wife was here to hear all of those nice things.”

“The GOP went native. We built a bridge to nowhere.”

“We must not take the wrong message from our losses at the polls.”

“Contrary to Newsweek, Americans have not gone Socialist. By a margin of 40% to 20%, people call themselves conservatives vs. liberals.”

“President Obama talks about the DOW like it is a political tracking poll.”

“He makes a new blunder every week. The stimulus package was put online by Nancy Pelosi at 2am. We see the results of that type of leadership.”

“If President Obama and Rahm Emanuel spent more time on the economy than they did attacking Rush Limbaugh, we would all be better off.”

“We as Republicans must not and should not abandon the principles of limited government, free markets, and a strong national defense.”

“We are the Party of Ronald Reagan, who was an intellectual and an innovator. Yet we cannot live in the past.”

“Reagan was conservative, but his policies were relevant to what people were going through at that time.”

“Right now welfare and crime are not the greatest issues. Taxes and spending will always be important.”

“Our candidates cannot be seen as threatening the mainstream of our country.”

“Don’t just speak in ideological terms. We must communicate a vision.”

“We don’t and shouldn’t embrace Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, but we must have counter proposals.”

“On health care, the issue is choice. Rahm Emanuel’s brother Zeke is in charge of a health care board. We should choose our doctors, not him.”

“70% of jobs come from small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed. We need to show them that the future of the GOP affects the future of America, which afects the future of our youth.”

“(Ohio State Rep) Josh Mandel and (Florida House Majority Leader) Adam Hasner (both solid Jewish Republicans) are taking our message to the entire country.”

“We must combat President Obama on his plans by asking the youth of America one question. Who will pay for all of this? My GOP teammates get that.”

“The Democratic budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much.”

“Before students pay their college loans, their share of the deficit will be $75,000 and climbing.”

“I am the product of immigrants. My grandmother came from Russia and worked seven days a week. Nowhere else on Earth could she help me reach the American dream.”

After a rousing standing ovation, I did get a chance to speak with Congressman Cantor for a few minutes. I thanked him for his leadership, and he thanked me for blogging. As a fairly young man, he clearly understands the importance of the new media. At some point I will interview him.

I expressed concern that as a Jewish conservative, that he would be next on the target list. He let me know that the hate campaign has already started against him, and that he is well prepared. He is not one to roll over for the sake of comity. Whips are tough, and Congressman Cantor is ready to hit back hard when necessary.

The last thing I told him was that even though he may be prepared, I would keep him and his family in my prayers. He thanked me for that.

Unlike some politicians that quickly duck out of the room, he stayed for quite some time. After all, he is a Jewish Republican. He was among friends.

He is an inspiration for Jewish Republicans everywhere. For the rest, America is lucky to have his service.

May God Bless Congressman Eric Cantor always, politically and in life.

eric

At the 2008 Republican Convention in Minneapolis, I met and briefly interviewed radio talk show host Laura Ingraham.

http://www.lauraingraham.com/

For those who do not know, Laura Ingraham used to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

This was a quick interview because she was between interviews with television news programs. Her pace was hectic, so I kept my pace brisk.

1) Who are your three political heroes?

LI: “My political heroes are Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Winston Churchill.”

2) What issues are most important as we head into the 2008 election?

LI: “The economy. It comes down to the economy.”

(So many people are so passionate about red meat social issues, but as in most elections, people looked at their wallets before voting. Ms. Ingraham does frequently dive into cultural issues, but she was right about 2008 from an issue perspective.)

3) How do you explain the hostile reaction toward Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t a governor and mother of five be seen as Superwoman?

LI: “It was disgusting how the media treated her, especially regarding the story about her daughter. If Bristol Palin had decided to get an abortion, she and Sarah Palin would be celebrated by the left. Because Sarah Palin is pro-life, the left hates her.”

4) How would you like to be remembered 100 years from now? What would you want people to say about Laura Ingraham the person?

LI: “I would like to be remembered as somebody who tried to do the right thing.”

Laura Ingraham is a serious person. She is very smart, and passionate about seeing conservatism get back to its roots. With plenty of discipline (fiscal and political) and a bit of luck, the next time I run into her will be as part of a celebration of the governing GOP majority.

eric

I recently attended the Republican Jewish Coalition winter leadership meeting. This one was held in Fort Lauderdale.

http://www.rjchq.org/

While many political superstars were in attendance, the coming days will give them their due. Texas Senator John Cornyn gave a preview of the 2010 Senatorial races.

http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/

Michael Barone, perhaps the brightest elections expert in the entire world, offered his brilliant insights on the political scene. RNC Chairman Michael Steele fired up the crowd with his likable style, while House Minority Whip Eric Cantor offered red meat.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_S._Steele

http://cantor.house.gov/

Elliott Abrams offered his wisdom as one of the top foreign policy people of the past decade.

http://www.cfr.org

Other notables in attendance included former White House Spokesperson Ari Fleischer and Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. My admiration of Senator Coleman is no secret, and this time he greeted me with a warm hug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Fleischer

Sam Fox, the former Ambassador to Belgium, was also in attendance. Vice President Cheney once deadpanned, “Sam Fox is one of the bravest people I know. He goes hunting with me. Sam is a big deal now because President Bush has given him a nickname. Upon finding out I was going to see Sam, the President said, ‘Say hi to Foxy for me.'”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Fox

Others in attendance may or may not be as well known, but they should be. They are rising GOP stars on different levels.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum was in attendance. Mr. McCollum was a former Congressman from Florida who was one of the 13 House impeachment managers. He was targeted for defeat by the vengeful left, but he has bounced back statewide in a big way. If Governor Charlie Crist runs for the open senate seat, then Mr. McCollum may run for Governor of Florida.

http://www.myfloridalegal.com/

While Attorney General McCollum is fabulous on the issues facing people today, his best quality may be that he married very well. Mrs. McCollum may be one of the nicest people I have ever met. I was seated next to her during one of the dinners, and her sharp political mind is matched only by her kindness. A devout Christian, she enjoyed taking part in the Jewish rituals of the evening. I will not discuss my conversations with her, since she is a private citizen. I will only say that in terms of the major issues of our time, she clearly “gets it.”

While John Cornyn occupies one Texas senate seat, Kay Bailey Hutchison will be vacating her seat to run for the Texas governorship. Running to fill her senate seat is State Senator Florence Shapiro. Ms. Shapiro spoke to the RJC during the Sunday session, and she now has legions of new fans in the Jewish community.

http://www.shapiroexplore.com

The RJC has friends far and wide, all across this land. South Dakota State Senator Dan Lederman is among them. For those that do not read the Argus Leader (no loss), South Dakota is actually a politically conservative state. Senator Lederman is mainstream South Dakota, and for those not living on the coasts, that is mainstream America.

http://www.legis.state.sd.us

One man everybody should get to know real soon is Ohio State Senator Josh Mandel. At age 31, he has already served two tours of duty in Iraq. He is currently contemplating a run for Ohio State Treasurer. No less a man than Senator Norm Coleman told me, while pointing to Josh Mandel, that, “This is the future.”  On March 29th, Josh will be traveling to Los Angeles for a fundraiser. I have donated to him. You should as well.

http://www.joshmandel.com/

Veering briefly back to Senator Coleman, he offered very brief but fun remarks to warm up the crowd on the opening night of the weekend.

http://www.colemanforsenate.com/

“There is an old Norwegian joke about a man in Norway who was so overcome with emotion that he almost told his wife that he loved her. In America, this is the relationship between the Democrats and the poor. They are almost at the point of trying to care about them.”

“At a ceremonial dinner, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once stated that she would have the beef for dinner. She was then asked about the vegetables. She replied, ‘The vegetables will have the beef as well.’ Ladies and gentleman, the Republican Jewish Coalition is the beef.”

“History will prove that President George W. Bush was right.”

“The RJC knows what we are fighting for. We are fighting for the greatness of the U.S.A.”

“Being here with fellow members of the RJC. I feel like I am among family. You are all the Mishpachas.”

Politics is important, but so is friendship. I had the pleasure of meeting a young lady named Heather Robinson. While the entire world knows that I have a bias toward stunning Republican Jewish brunettes, Heather is in a class by herself because she is also a political blogger. She covered the conference as well. We actually had the paper and pen version of dueling banjos going, scribbling rapidly. She writes very well. Check her out. Then read her blog.

http://heatherrobinson.net/

Yes, the weekend was a serious policy conference. Yet of equal if not more importance was for Republican Jews and their supporters to reaffirm that we are the norm. We are the standard. We are mainstream America.

Hineni. Here I am. Republican, Jewish, and proud to be part of such a great coalition.

eric

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Muir. Chris Muir is the cartoonist behind the internet comic strip “Day By Day.”

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/

I first learned about Day by Day by reading one of my favorite books, “South Park Conservatives.” The book describes the four characters. Damon is a 25 year old software worker. He is a conservative who happens to be black. Jan is a young, raging leftist. Zed is an easygoing designer that the writer of South Park Conservatives, Brian Anderson, describes as “coasting through life.” Sam is a mechanical engineer in his forties.

Day by Day is a smartly written and politically conservative cartoon.

With that, below is my interview with Chris Muir of Day by Day.

1) What is the Chris Muir story?

CM: I try to keep Chris Muir in the background as much as possible, I think it distracts from DBD. Basically, I was in Design, most manufacturing in the US went to China, which killed Design as a field (in my niche), fortunately I had been putting a lot of effort into DBD by then.

2) What is the Day by Day story? How did it come to be? Tell us about the characters.

CM: I drew some toons as a kid, didn’t touch them again until 1997 when the internet started showing promise as a way to address political and cultural issues I found interesting. It seemed no media or toons reflected what the other 1/2 of the population thought, and I sought to fill that gap in a very small way. After 9/11, blogs started up, and I saw immediately what an enriched field it was that could be symbiotic with the strip. DBD was one of the first online strips to be designed for the internet, and blogs in particular.

The characters are all blends of myself and people I know-as well as some I have read about. It took me about 4 years to get to know them, and the strip is much smoother now, as ‘they’ pretty much speak for themselves in any scenario that comes up.

3) The politically conservative character is Damon, who happens to be black. Is he based on anybody in particular? Did you deliberately want a black conservative? What was the initial readership reaction to Damon?

CM: Damon just popped in my head one day; and I selected a black conservative man to play off Jan, the white Liberal. He is based on myself and some friends of mine. I always enjoy it when Libs say ‘you can’t speak for a black man’. By such logic, they should never speak for any phenotype other than themselves, not too mention all novels, articles, analysis, etc. would be invalid with such an outlook. Truly silly people. Damon’s a conservative American man with African heritage, not African-American.That’s all.

Reaction has always been good to him, though he has ‘mellowed’ lately, with a child on the way nee Jan.

4) (Unless I am reading the strip wrong), it seems that Damon, who often sparred politically with raging white leftist Jan, is now romantically involved with her. What was the readership reaction to that decision?

CM: As in the above, Jan’s pregnant with Damon’s child, they’re engaged and funnin’ it up in Italy right now. Again, my readership enjoys the sparks that fly between them, and they have always pressured those 2 to get married!

5) Who are your favorite cartoonists and/or comic strips of all time, be they political or apolitical? What comic strips should more people know about, and who are these up and coming or underrated cartoonists?

CM: Gary Larson, David Wade, Chris Onstad, Garry Trudeau, Dilbert, Milton Caniff (Male Call), Helen, Sinfest…and there are so many others, I can’t list. Very few are political, they’re just damn good in what they do.

The best thing now is simply search, and skip around, there are so many. I typically find new ones every other week or so to read regularly.

6) Do you feel that most political cartoons are fair, or that they take cheap shots? Exempting Day by Day, which comic strips do you feel are fair, and which ones take cheap shots? Who and what in particular if anything do you feel crossed the line?

CM: The poor ones take cheap shots. The good ones are not fair-and, I don’t exempt DBD from that observation. As to crossing the line, it’s hard enough to put something of yourself out there every day online…so I give kudos to whomever is putting their work out there, frankly. ‘Crossing the line’ is too negative for me to worry about.

7) Has the change in presidential administrations made it easier, harder, or had no effect on your daily comic strip?

CM: Yes, yes, and no. I tend to hammer the Left because they are such bountiful suppliers of material; yet they could not exist without the GOP, a group so inept they make the Democrats appear professional.

Lots of material! And Mr.O is a writer’s dream, every day he produces something…memorable.

8.) Who are your 3 political heroes, be they American or global?

CM: Reagan, Vaclav Havel, Margaret Thatcher.

9) What political issues are you most passionate about?

CM: Hard to say, more like an assemblage…but with Obama, constitutional issues are coming to the fore.

10) What would you want people to say about Chris Muir the person? How would you like to be remembered 100 years from now?

Nothing. Don’t care, honestly.

I would like to thank Chris Muir for his time, and for writing a strip that is smart, sharp, funny, and sometimes very warm. After all, if Jan and Damon can love each other, then there is hope for all of us to get along, even while hanging on to our core principles.

eric

President Barack Obama is officially more overexposed than the Geico Gekko.

Whenever he speaks, the stock market suffers. The market has had a nice rebound, and I really wish he would just leave well enough alone. He again spoke to the nation last night.

He praised himself for saving jobs of certain people. How does he know that somebody did not lose their job because of anything he did?

He spoke about the “equivalent” of a new tax cut. Would it kill him to give me an actual tax cut? Yeah, I know, 95% of people, blah blah blah. Not gonna happen.

He wants to make sure that we do not return to the cycle of bubble and bust. Of course we will. Speculation has existed since the beginning of time. He wants to make sure we do not face an economic crisis 10 or 20 years from now.

Will somebody please at least admit that Barack Obama cannot defeat the business cycle? We will have good and bad times in the future.

As for the rest, there were some basic themes.

1) Nothing is his fault. It was like that when he got here. His predecessor was 100% at fault.

2) We are all in this together, except when it suits him to blame the other side and absolve himself.

3) We should not demonize investors trying to make profits. What the heck does he think a corporation is?

One troublesome aspect of Obama press conferences is that he chooses in advance who gets to ask questions. He started out with Jennifer Loven of AP, a partisan hack and liberal activist married to another liberal activist. She and her husband did everything they could to deliver the AP for John Kerry in 2004.

She basically, in the form of an AIG question, asked why we should trust him. This allowed him to answer why we should.

President Obama pointed out that unlike banks, which were regulated by FDIC, AIG as an insurance company had no regulatory oversight. He is right in the sense that there is no federal insurance commissioner. Insurance is regulated at the state level.

MSNBC naturally was allowed to ask a question. The president was asked what sacrifices were expected of the public. Shockingly enough, he replied that the public has sacrificed enough. These were astonishingly ridiculous questions, even for liberal shills. The president also offered platitudes about how we have to make tough choices, and that we cannot ignore the long term. He also reminded people that AIG contracts were put in place before he took over. Nothing is his responsibility in this era of shared responsibility.

When ABC asked if him if he would promise to veto any budget that did not include cap and trade and a middle class tax cut, naturally the president bobbed and weaved. apparently he feels that the middle class already received their tax cut. I never got mine. He shifted to health care, energy, and education. These things have nothing to do with the question, but the president answers questions the way he wants to answer them.

When CBS asked him about increasing the debt 9.3 trillion in the coming 10 years, he passed the buck without stating he was passing the buck. He inherited the problem. Yet he is going to drive down the deficit in half in the next five years. Only after that does it absolutely explode.

He claims that the CBO forecasts 2.2% growth, while he assumed 2.6%. He claims that without fixing health care, energy and education, there will be no growth at all. Perhaps he does not know that spending does not equal growth. He claimed that the GOP had no alternative budget. The minority has proposed ideas. The Pelosiraptor rejects them. The president then blathered on about cutting out wasteful spending, and going through the budget line by line. Does he know he already won the election?

A reporter from Univision asked if he was taking Mexico seriously. SHockingly enough, of course he is. I know this because he intoned this in a serious voice.

When Stars and Srtipes asked him if he was going to find savings in the defense budget and money allocated for veterans, Mr. Obama explained that of course everybody would agree that savings could be found in procurement. John McCain agrees with him.

In fact, several times he mentioned that every credible person agreed with him.

Ed Henry of CNN finally offered something valuable from a reporter standpoint. He pointed out that Obama did nothing on AIG, and has blamed Bush. Will Obama leave a mess for his successor to blame him for?

Mr. Obama claimed that his job was “hard.” He then used a false straw man by claiming that the alternative was to stand pat and do nothing. He did state that he held a fiscal responsibility summit, as if that meant something. He trule does believe that words equal deeds. He does not want Chinese and Indian kids to surpass American kids, as if anybody in America does. He ducked the AIG aspect of the question.

Major Garrett of Fox News brought up the fact that the Chinese were worried about the dollar and Europe was worried about our spending.The President then claimed that we need to increase job growth, but that the dollar is strong and that investors see the strongest economy and political stability in the world here. When President Bush and Senator McCain said the same thing, Obama pilloried them. Yet did he praise President Bush for the strong economy he inherited? This man is a pretzel, yet unties himself because he is not challenged.

When asked if he regretted trying to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction, he said no. He then offered a stinging and completely false justification of his absolutely dreadful proposal to raise taxes on charitable giving by lowering the deduction.

He claimed that if people were truly charitable, the deduction would not matter. Commens like that are why he occasionally disgusts me. This man will not get off of his moral high horse. When asked what he thought about charities claiming that giving will lessen, he simply stated that the charities were wrong. Either this man knows everything, or he is a gasbag.

Ebony Magazine asked him what he thought about 1 out of every 50 children being homeless. No evidence of this statistic was cited. Presidet Obama bravely pointed out that no child should be hungry, and that homeless children in America was not acceptable. He then shifted to homeless veterans. He is against veterans being homeless.

Ann Compton of ABC Radio wasted time by asking him if he felt he was still being judged by his race. He correctly pointed out that people were worried about the economy, and that the glow of a black man being elected ended about one day after the last inaugural ball.

The Washington Times wanted to know if he had any ethical concerns about embryonic stem cell research. This allowed him to state that of course he thinks issues through.  He is against human cloning.  Yet he claimed that he was only in favor of using embryos about to be destroyed. No, that was the Bush position. He is in favor of destroying perfectly healthy embryos. If science offers solutions that avoid controversy, great. He is not interested in ideological rigidity., except that he is. He respects different opinions in terms of listening to people, but that is not the same as altering his position.

A French reporter acted like a French reporter by asking an anti-Semitic question about how the Israeli-Palestinian issue could possibly be resolved with Bibi Netanyahu and Avi Lieberman in the Israeli government.

The president lamented that it will “not be easier.” He stated that the status quo was unsustainable. He left out that Hamas are terrorists.

He then praised George Mitchell and actually compared the peace in Northern Ireland to the situation in the Middle East, as if there was any basis for comparison.

He again reminded us that he inherited knotty problems. He then went on a tangent about economics, and insisted he was right about Timothy Geithner. He defended his video to Iran, and considered it progress despite their rejectionist response. In liberal minds, symbolism actually is a victory regardless of any benefit.

He is confident we are moving in the right direction, and that in four years we will be better off.

If we are not, he will just hold a press conference and blame his predecessor, all the while telling us things are fabulous anyway because of him. He will not cite specifics, nor be asked any.

eric

Yesterday I was on the telephone with some Republican new media strategists.

The session was very useful and very informative.

The main focus was the budget. After President Obama speaks tonight, a press conference tomorrow with analysis will follow.

Over the last three weeks, the main issue has been the budget. It spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. This was validated by CBO estimates from this past Friday.

In 2009, the projected deficit will be 1.7 trillion. This is 12% of GDP. In 2010 the projected deficit will be 1.1 trillion, 8% of GDP. These are the highest levels since the World War II era.

On the tax side, this is a national energy tax in the form of cap and trade. This will be three thousand dollars per household. This is being referred to as a lightswitch tax.

On the borrowing side, in five years, 1/7 will go towards finance charges on the debt.

An organization known as Organizing For America is comprised of members of Obama’s campaign team. They will be in charge of selling the budget. They sent out 14 million emails, and got only 300,000 hits. That is a 2% success rate.

When we sent out our information about the tea parties going on around America, we received 188,000 hits. I am sure we have less than 14 million email contacts. They have work to do.

As for the AIG deal, we have no idea who and why was behind this fiasco involving the bonuses. Barack Obama seems to have ducked the issue, and let Geithner and Dodd take the heat.

Right now we are all being asked to accept a quick legislative remedy without the consequences being considered. That is what got us into this mess to begin with.

The Tygrrrr Express is leaving South Florida for Los Angeles. Upon arriving home, I will listen to what President Obama has to say. We shall see.

eric

Miami–Will Smith is 100% Right