Archive for February, 2008
Walberg Speaks out on Liberian Refugee Issue
I have to put in a good plug for the boss here. He has been a strong advocate of the cause of Liberian refugees in the United States, and has spoken out on the issue on a number of occasions. His most recent post on the Hill’s Blog.
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End Political Limbo for Liberians in America (Rep. Tim Walberg)
By Mich. GOP Rep. Tim Walberg
February 25th, 2008
Liberia suffered greatly in recent years, as the nation was torn apart by two long Civil Wars over the past two decades.
Though Liberia has made great strides in its recovery, President Bush’s recent visit to Liberia highlighted that Liberia still needs help. The nation faces high unemployment, a damaged infrastructure and serious threats from sickness and diseases.
My wife Sue and I have a unique personal story which led us to become involved in this issue. For almost a year, we had a Liberian refugee stay in our home. This gentleman came from dire circumstances in Liberia, as his wife was brutally assaulted and he was beaten and forced to leave his country. He still has scars from when he was beaten with the blunt end of a rifle.
During the time our friend lived in our home, we developed an appreciation for his culture and were deeply moved by his commitment to his family and his homeland. He pursued higher education and worked several jobs so he could send financial assistance back to Liberia. Just as Sue and I found with our Liberian friend, America has a special relationship with Liberia. The country was founded as Africa’s first republic in 1821 by former American slaves, and Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia, is named after American President James Monroe.
The best way Congress can help Liberia is to allow law-abiding, hard-working Liberian refugees currently in America the chance to not only continue contributing to American society, but also to continue playing a pivotal role in furthering Liberia’s recovery from years of strife and turmoil.
A bi-partisan bill, H.R. 1941, introduced by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and myself, would allow Liberians in the United States on Temporary Protected Status the opportunity to apply for Permanent Residency Status.
Many of the Liberians in America on Temporary Protected Status have now resided in America legally for over seventeen years.
One of the unintended consequences of the Temporary Protected Status is it didn’t foresee that civil wars would continue in Liberia for several years, leaving refugees in America stuck in a state of flux.
These men and women could not return to their home countries because of the danger involved, but they also never had the opportunity to become American citizens.
It is time for Congress to end their political limbo and allow these hard-working, legal Liberian-Americans to continue in the communities where their children have grown up. By granting them Permanent Residency Status in the United States, America can say to Liberia we understand your situation, and we want to work with you to make things better.
Rich Galen on the Keys/Nader Candidacy
The following is a post from Rich Galen this morning. He’s usually pretty insightful – but I enjoyed his commentary on the importance of uniting behind our Republican nominee. Alan Keyes, always the entertaining sideshow, is of course further relegating himself to the fringes of the party – and the conservative movement for that matter.
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Mullings
An American Cyber-Column
Ralph Nader & Alan Keyes
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday night I spoke at the Galveston County, Texas Lincoln Day Dinner.It was a great event. Maybe 300 people came on a Friday night to chat with each other, greet candidates, bid on tshatshkes placed on tables against the back wall which no one really wants or needs to help raise money for their county party, and listen to a speech.
Or, in the case of the Galveston County GOP, speeches.I was the after dinner speaker, but the chairman of the event called about a week ago to tell me that Alan Keyes had asked to speak and he would be speaking for five minutes before dinner.
I said Alan Keyes has never spoken for five minutes in his life. Key es spends more than five minutes talking to the guy at a toll booth. Sure enough, Keyes went into a full 20-minute exhortation as to why the audience should not support John McCain for President nor Mike Huckabee, nor Ron Paul (who was, uncomfortably, sitting at a table in the front row but was not asked to speak).
Alan Keyes, as you may remember, participated in that dreadful debate in Iowa run by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Broadcasting. Other than that, he has not been as much a participant in this campaign as Duncan Hunter. Or Mike Gravel. I didn’t care that Alan Keyes spoke. What I did care about was that he spoke at a county Lincoln Day Dinner and, in effect, told Republicans to stay home rather than vote for John McCain.
This was not the Conservative Political Action Conference, where you can assume a significant portion of the audience were not registered Republicans.This was a REPUBLICAN Lincoln Day Dinner.So, naturally, when I got up to give my remarks I asked how many people had served in public office, run for public office or worked on the campaign of someone who was running.
As you might expect a huge percentage of the hands in the room went up because the people in the room are the Republicans who pay good money and give up their Friday night to make their county party stronger.
I told them the story of my having lost my first campaign for City Councilman in Marietta, Ohio 45750 by two votes.I asked them to think about how many candidates across the country for everything from US Senate to School Board might lose by a handful of votes if they followed Alan Keyes’ advice and stayed home because McCain doesn’t meet his standards of perfection.
I reminded them that this is a 50-50 country and it was very likely that the Presidential election was going to come down to one or two states just has it has for the past two elections.I bring this up because the Democrats, who in spite of if all, are not at all certain they can win the election for President in November, got the news that Ralph Nader was going to run for President again.
No one believes Nader is going to be President, but a lot of Democrats believe he can siphon off enough votes from either Hillary supporters if Barack becomes the nominee, or from Barack supporters if Hillary finds a way out of the delegate hole she’s dug for herself.Democrats used the environment as on of their central, unifying themes in the elections of 2006. Want to clean up the Earth? Vote Democrat.The polls taken over the past two weeks show John McCain beating Hillary C linton in the general election head-to-head matchup by an average (according to RealClearPolitics.com) of 4.5 percentage points.
Those same polls show Barack Obama beating John McCain by exactly the same margin – 4.5 percentage points.In the election of 2000, Ralph Nader got 2.7% of the vote. And that was with Mr. Enviromentalism – Al Gore – on the ballot.
Nader may well prove to be the way the supporters of whichever Democratic candidate loses the nomination show their displeasure with the Democratic Party while still supporting the issue nearest and dearest – the environment.This election is going to come down to whether the Republicans or the Democrats do a better job of keeping their supporters’ eyes on the goal and avoid internecine distractions.
Here’s my dream ticket: Ralph Nader and Alan Keyes. They’d never leave the toll booth. On the <a href = ” http://www.mullings.com/dr_02-25-08.htm
“><b> Secret Decoder Ring</b></a> page today: An informal definition of the word “tshatshkes,“ a link to the RealClearPolitics page and a link to CNN’s coverage of the Nader announcement. Also a Mullfoto, the caption for which made me laugh to myself, and a BIG Catchy Caption of the Day.
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Secretary Land to lead Michigan’s GOP Delegates
From MIRS News -
Land Leads GOP Delegate List
Secretary of State Terri Lynn LAND, three senators and three House members were elected delegates to this September’s Republican national convention in St. Paul-Minneapolis. Three more senators and one House member will serve as alternates.
Land never endorsed anyone, but she’s an at-large delegate for John McCAIN, the likely nominee who placed second in Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary.
Land Spokeswoman Kelly CHESNEY said it was important for the Secretary of State to stay neutral, but she felt “it’s pretty much over now” and McCain was the party’s pick.
Delegates were picked at the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) convention last weekend. The three Republican National Committee (RNC) members are uncommitted — National Committeeman Chuck YOB, Committeewoman Holly HUGHES and Michigan Republican Party (MRP) Chair Saul ANUZIS.
This year, none of Michigan’s nine Members of Congress (MOC) are delegates. MOC have convention credentials but aren’t often delegates, said MRP Spokesman Bill NOWLING, in contrast to the Democrats, who give them “super delegate” status.
Though the MRP lists the majority of its 60 delegates as “uncommitted,” since Mitt ROMNEY won the primary but has dropped out, the entire delegation is likely to go for McCain. Eighteen of Romney’s 23 delegates told the Associated Press they would vote for McCain.
Nowling said he doesn’t expect any protest votes for other candidates.
“That’s not our cup of tea,” he told MIRS. “We want to be united at the convention.”
The party also expects all delegates to be seated, even though half were stripped away as punishment for holding an early primary. If 30 aren’t seated, Nowling said the decision of who’s cut will be made by the convention’s credentialing committee, not the MRP.
Sens. Nancy CASSIS (R-Novi) and Michelle McMANUS (R-Lake Leelanau) will serve as at-large delegates for McCain. Sen. Jason ALLEN (R-Traverse City), of District 4, is an uncommitted delegate.
House Minority Leader Craig DeROCHE (R-Novi) and Rep. Dave HILDENBRAND (R-Lowell), both Romney supporters, will be at-large uncommitted delegates. Rep. Kevin ELSENHEIMER (R-Bellaire) will be a McCain delegate for District 1.
Prominent Republican fundraiser Bill VOORHEES is an at-large Mike HUCKABEE delegate and former Rep. Scott HUMMEL, who also backed Huckabee, is an uncommitted delegate for District 8. Also, in District 8, former Sen. Norm SHINKLE is an uncommitted delegate.
Scott ROMNEY, brother of the presidential candidate, is an uncommitted at-large delegate. Other familiar faces are former U.S. Ambassador Ron WEISER as an at-large McCain delegate, incoming National Committeeman Keith BUTLER as an at-large Huckabee delegate and Romney fundraiser John RAKOLTA as an uncommitted at-large delegate.
In District 3, Dave DISHAW, who was floated as a 2006 replacement for Anuzis, is an uncommitted delegate, as is former U.S. Ambassador Pete SECCHIA.
Gadflies also get their due. Dennis LENNOX, the Central Michigan University student crusading to get instructor Gary PETERS canned for holding that post while challenging U.S. Rep. Joe KNOLLENBERG (R-Bloomfield Hills) in the 9th Congressional District. Lennox is a District 1 alternate for McCain.
“He’s shown initiative and is making a difference on the Republican side,” Nowling said of Lennox.
And Wyck SEELIG, who runs the Web site thetruthaboutmark.com against Sen. Mark SCHAUER (D-Battle Creek), is a District 7 uncommitted delegate. Schauer is challenging U.S. Rep. Tim WALBERG (R-Tipton) in the 7th District.
The list of alternates includes a slew of notables. Sens. Alan CROPSEY (R-DeWitt), Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland) and Mark JANSEN (R-Grand Rapids) are at-large McCain alternates. Rep. Judy EMMONS (R-Sheridan) is an at-large McCain alternate and former Rep. Andy RICHNER is an uncommitted District 13 alternate.
Michigan Board of Education Member Nancy DENHOF is an uncommitted at-large alternate and Gary GLENN, head of the American Family Association of Michigan, is an at-large Huckabee alternate. Former Romney Co-Chair David FISCHER is an at-large uncommitted alternate and Sterling Group President Steve LINDER is an uncommitted at-large alternate.
