Grant Bosse and Friends

Monday, September 21, 2009

Kelly Ayotte in Newport

Potential Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte addresses the Sullivan County Republican Committee dinner in Newport last Friday evening.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Bold Prediction- Obama Approval Ratings will rise in next ten days

I'm predicting that President Obama's approval rating will go up, at least 3 points and possibly more, over the next ten days.

We like our politicians more when they aren't showing up on television reminding us of how much they are doing to help us. Call it the John Lynch Popularity Model. He was extremely popular when he wasn't doing anything. This year, he's actually had to govern, done it badly, and is seeing his support erode.

President Obama has also sabotaged his signature initiatives, especially the ObamaCare debacle, by putting himself in front of the issue on every occasion. Now that's he's going on vacation for ten days, he won't be holding any awkward and pedantic press conferences or lying about AARP's endorsement at Town Hall meetings. This has to be good for his image.

As of Friday, Rasmussen has Obama's approval ratings at -8, 31% to 39%. I predict that by September 2nd, which will give the full vacation time to make its way into the poll, his approval rating will be up to at least -2. Then, he can come back to Washington and resume eroding his popularity.

Friday, August 7, 2009

President tells "folks who created the mess" to get out of the way

I presume he's talking about Barney Frank:

Friday, July 3, 2009

Star Wars for the 4th

Let me be clear ahead of time. If we end up shooting down a North Korean missile on the 4th of July, not only will that be super-cool, but I will give President Obama full credit.

He's said some silly things against missile defense in the past, but if he manages to demonstrate that the United States will not remain defenseless in the face of a ballistic missile threat, he will have greatly strengthened national security, which in turn will make the world a safer place.

Happy Independence Day

By GRANT BOSSE

Mother Nature has a cruel way of reminding us that the Fourth of July isn’t all about fireworks and barbeques. This particular date on the calendar marks the anniversary of American independence. Maybe the rainy weekend will remind us that the day is about more than hot dogs and sunscreen.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia voted to declare the 13 American colonies independent from Great Britain. This was a bold and controversial decision, even for a group of revolutionaries that had been at war for a year. At the time, a sizable segment of colonists held out hope for reconciliation with the Crown, and a return to British rule with greater colonial autonomy. Declaring independence meant not only the prospect of a long war, but of a life without political and economic support from the British Empire if they won.

The Continental Congress announced this new Declaration of Independence on July 4, and most members signed the document on August 2. John Adams wrote his wife Abigail that “the Second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.” He was only off by two days.

While the importance of independence and the tragic fate that befell so many of the Declaration’s signatories have made their mark on American history, it is the strength of Thomas Jefferson’s words that have truly changed the world. While it was conceived as a formal notice to King George of the grievances that led to separation from the Crown, Jefferson’s poetic preamble turned the Declaration into one of the most powerful statements of human rights ever printed. I would summarize its meaning, but Jefferson stated the inherent justice of self-government more succinctly than I ever could:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. I still haven’t found a better way to describe the limits of government in a democratic society. It turns out the government the Founders instituted in 1776 didn’t work very well. The Articles of Confederation were scrapped in 1789 in favor a Constitution, granting us what Benjamin Franklin described as, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Jefferson’s ideals have spread over the past 233 years. The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are shared far beyond our borders. The people of Iran are fighting for those rights today. The people of North Korea are still trapped in darkness.

I hope the sun comes out long enough this weekend to use the grill. I’m taking the family to Fenway on Sunday. So I’m going to enjoy this Fourth of July. But I’m going to celebrate Independence Day.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Souter Wrong Again for Old Times' Sake

The Supreme Court made a lot of sense today by siding New Haven firefighters who did well on a promotions exam but had the results thrown out, because those who did poorly didn't like the results. New Hampshire's own David Souter ruled that the city should have put political correctness over public safety, and that firefighters should have been promoted based more on skin color than on ability. His sloppy jurisprudence will not be missed, though likely-Justice Sotomayor's race-based rulings won't be any improvement,

Richard Epstein does into much more detail about the Ricci case, and it's implications for government-sponsored racism in the future.

I'd also recommend the continuing coverage over at the Volokh Conspiracy, the best legal blog on the planet.

And if you've still got the time and interest in the Ricci case, you can check out today's reaction from the worst legal reporter in America.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Cline on Sanford

UL editorial guru Andrew Cline has a new piece in the American Spectator on the political suicide of Mark Sanford. Read the whole thing, but I had to clip this paragraph:

Beautiful women can impair men's reasoning faculties. If that was the case here, Sanford's mistress must be the most beautiful woman on earth because she turned his brain into grits.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sanford exits Zipped Pants Caucus

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is the latest politician who can't keep it in his freaking pants!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

We Are All Iranians Now

The future is on the brink right now in Iran. The next few hours may decide whether an oppressive regime hangs onto power or crumbles under the force of freedom. There is little we can from here, but perhaps we can make it just that much easier for Iranian bloggers to remain free from the state security services.

Join Operation Haystack, change your Twitter settings to Tehran, and provide some cover for those telling the world about what's going on in Iran right now.

After 9/11, the world reached out to America. Tonight, my prayers are with the Iranian people. We are all Iranians now.

Help the Iranian People

Two small ways to help Iranians risking their lives for more freedom, one useful and one symbolic.

1) Change your Twitter location to Tehran, and your time to GMT +3:30. The State Security Services are searching Twitter to find protesting bloggers. Adding more hay to the haystack will make it harder for them to find the needles.

2) Change your Twitter and Facebook pictures to make them green in solidarity with the protesters.

It's remarkable how useful new media, and especially Twitter, has been in not only letting the world know what's going on inside Iran, but also helping protesters communicate with each other. I know people like to mock Twitter as just bloggers telling each other what they're eating, but any tool that makes it easier for people to communicate makes for a better world.

NY Times Reporter Escapes Taliban

Nice.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Predicting Obama's Reaction to Iran

Last summer, we got a glimpse into Barack Obama's likely response to a foreign policy crisis when he failed miserably to adequately respond to Russia's invasion of Georgia:

Moral relativism, appeasement in the face of aggression, and failed foreign policy: Barack Obama- Change You Can Believe In!

Powerline charts the Obama's weak response to tyranny on public display in Iran:

President Obama has figured out that "something has happened in Iran." Unfortunately, his take on what that "something" is suggests that he is uncaring, clueless, or both:

"I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past."

In other words, the mass demonstrations aren't about the quest for freedom, they are about being more respectful towards "the international community."

The Zipped Pants Caucus

More details are coming out about Sen. John Ensign's admitted affair with a campagn worker.

Political insiders in Nevada and in the Senate said that Ensign decided to acknowledge the affair publicly after the husband of the woman he had been seeing asked him for a substantial sum of money.

Ensign described the affair Tuesday as “the worst thing I have ever done in my life.”

“If there was ever anything in my life that I could take back, this would be it. I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said.

As the details come out, it shows that Ensign did the absolutely right thing by making this public. That is the proper response to blackmail.

Given the pressures of being a U.S. Senator, and the fact that he and his wife were estranged at the time of the affair, and that Ensign told his wife about the affair and ended it when they got back together....I still don't care.

You're a United State Senator. Until yesterday, you had aspirations to run for President. Keep it in your freaking pants!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Setting a Higher Standard

Seriously! I mean, c'mon. I like John Ensign a lot. He was a great member of the Commerce Committee when I was working there, generally standing up for the right ideas. So was David Vitter.

But keep it in your freaking pants!

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. "I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions," said Ensign. He is expected to announce the affair at a press conference at 6:30 pm tonight. The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign's re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. Ensign's wife, Darlene, said that the couple's "marriage has become stronger" and added: "I love my husband."

The link between sex and power is hardly a partisan phenomenon. How about we start a Third Party based on a platform of not being a cheating scumbag. We'll call it the Zipped Pants Caucus. It's a low threshold, but I think voters might prefer politicians who underpromise and overdeliver.