The honeymoon is over

How do I know the Obama honeymoon is over? The main-stream media love-fest is ending.  First you had Helen Thomas, who has been a White House correspondent since JFK and who – until recently – was an ardent supporter of Obama saying that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to.  On July 1st, at a pre-staged town hall meeting, she lashed out:

“Nixon didn’t try to do that. They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try. What the hell do they think we are, puppets? They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”

Then, we have seen a number of articles in the press talking about the healthcare plan that even the Congressional Budget Office says won’t save any money, the HUGE deficit, the lack of success of the so-called stimulus package, the plummeting poll numbers and then this week, we get this gem from a liberal blogger in California, picked up by the left in Utah:

Can I just ask if those of you who are older than 35 or so are getting that strange familiar feeling?  You know the one, where the media are suddenly hostile to the president, the Democrats are running for the hills and the country is confused and doesn’t know what to think? The one where cable news gets obsessed with manufactured wingnut s***torms designed to distract and diminish the president’s stature and sap his political capital just when he needs it the most?…Indeed, I heard a TV commentator suggest this morning that this one comment may be the reason for the death of health care reform because it sucked the air out of the conversation. The fact that it’s the media which is doing the sucking doesn’t seem to occur to anyone…

Yeah, that’s right.  The media has been SOO hard on Obama…..I’m still laughing my head off over that one….Welcome to an awakening world….

Wanna talk with Chaffetz?

Congressman Jason Chaffetz is holding five “Town Hall” meetings in the next few weeks. These are great opportunities to show up, ask questions and find out what’s really going on in DC. Mark your calendars and go!

Utah County
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
7:00 PM
51 South University Ave
(Old County Courthouse)
Third Floor Ballroom
Provo

Salt Lake County
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
7:00 PM
Elk Ridge Middle School

3659 W 9800 S
South Jordan

Sanpete County
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
1:00 PM
Greenwood Student Center
250 E. College Ave.

Millard County
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
5:00 PM
Old Territorial Statehouse
50 W. Capitol
Fillmore

Delta
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
7:00 PM
Delta City Office
76 N. 200 W.
Delta

Shout out!

Happy birthday to Representative Craig Frank‘s blog “Under the Dome“. It has been up and running for three years now, making it one of the longest-running legislative blogs in Utah. From the recent caffeine tax discussion (wherein Rep Frank clearly made his point that targeted taxes are NOT the way to go) to Huntsman going to China (both posts garnered national attention, by the way) and from email tips to info on political blogging, Representative Frank has been sharing his views for 1095 days. Kudos.

Cot-side chat on health care

More from Congressman Jason Chaffetz

Herbert confirms 2 potential LG picks

According to the Deseret News, current Lt. Governor Gary Herbert has confirmed that two people on his “short list” for LG are Assistant Majority Whip in the Senate, Greg Bell, and Utah Transportation Commission Chairman Stuart Adams.

Two others still reportedly on his list are Salt Lake County Commissioner Michael Jensen, who pegs himself as a long shot, and Salt Lake Chamber Chief Operating Officer Natalie Gochnour.

Current Governor Huntsman’s confirmation vote is expected to be tomorrow, Tuesday, July 28, with the inauguration for Governor Herbert now scheduled for August 10.

I guess this means I can stop waiting by my phone….

Totally fun!

This has nothing at all to do with politics – it’s just the best wedding entrance ever.

Can you pass the test?

From the Intercollegiate Studies Institute comes a “Civic Literacy” exam.  The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better?

Here are their major findings:

Americans Fail the Test of Civic Literacy

Seventy-one percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.

• Liberals score 49%; conservatives score 48%. Republicans score 52%; Democrats score 45%.
• Fewer than half of all Americans can name all three branches of government, a minimal requirement for understanding America’s constitutional system.

Americans Agree Colleges Should Teach America’s Heritage

Americans remain divided over many issues, but on one they have forged a deep consensus. A large majority agrees that colleges should prepare citizen leaders by teaching America’s history, key texts, and institutions.

College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge

Earning a college degree does little to increase knowledge of America’s history, key texts, and institutions. The average score among those who ended their formal education with a bachelor’s degree is 57%, or an “F.” That is only 13 percentage points higher than the average score among those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma.

Television—Including TV News—Dumbs America Down

ISI examined whether other factors add to or subtract from civic literacy and how they compare with the impact of college. The survey revealed that in today’s technological age, all else remaining equal, a person’s test score drops in proportion to the time he or she spends using certain types of passive electronic media. Talking on the phone, watching owned or rented movies, and monitoring TV news broadcasts and documentaries diminish a respondent’s civic literacy.

What College Graduates Don’t Know About America

By the time an American earns a bachelor’s degree, it is highly unlikely that he or she will have a solid command of the founding and Civil War eras, core constitutional principles, and market economics. Pre-college education tends to increase knowledge of themes from twentieth-century American history at the expense of economics and pre-twentieth-century themes that tend to be the foundation of much subsequent political discourse. Colleges begin to reverse this trend, but not enough to close significant gaps in these crucial categories of civic knowledge.

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Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public

Officeholders typically have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they score 44%, five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.

• Thirty percent of elected officials do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.

There you have it.  Take the test and if you’re brave enough, post your results here.  And hat tip to Red Meat Radio, heard Saturday mornings from 8 am to 10 am on KTKK for talking about this quiz.. <!–

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Keeping Utah county open and transparent

On Thursday, the monthly Utah County GOP executive committee meeting was held in Orem.  Things started off smoothly with an announcement of calendar items, the treasurer’s report, secretary’s report, and tech committee report.

In case you’re a junkie like me, the calendar includes:

Aug 20 – next executive committee meeting
Aug 27 – central committee meeting and legislative district leadership elections
Aug 29 – Utah county GOP summer barbecue (likely to have a fee)
Sept 9 – training meeting for all legislative district officers
Oct 10 – additional central committee meeting to address bylaw changes

After some additional reports by the secretary, the treasurer, the fundraising committee and the tech committee, the meeting moved to proposed bylaw changes.  All proposed bylaws were tabled – one at a time – until the August meeting.  New chair Taylor Oldroyd allowed anyone who wanted to speak the opportunity to do so and there were several comments from members of the public.

Vice-chair Mark Cluff pointed out that he did not believe the county was “required” to have a filing deadline for the legislative leadership elections.  After a somewhat spirited discussion, it was decided that no one needs to file to run for leadership positions in their legislative district.  All filing deadlines were canceled and people can and will be nominated from the floor on August 27.   It seems that decision favors those who choose not to campaign openly and disadvantages those who do.  How is it “open” to not even require candidates to declare?  Hmm…

The argument in favoring of removing the deadline – a deadline voted on and approved by members of the executive committee in June, by the way – was this: because the bylaws do not specifically state that there MUST be a deadline, it was therefore a defacto statement that there COULD NOT be a deadline.  It was felt that precedent from the last several election cycles was not reason enough to have a deadline and it was removed.

The only member of the steering committee to speak in opposition to this proposal was Lisa Shepherd, county party secretary.  There were several other members of the executive committee who were in opposition but since the decision was made to remove the deadline without a vote, there is no way to accurately report whether the majority took this position, or simply those who talked loudly and vociferously.

From that discussion, two other proposed bylaws were quickly tabled – one to codify the deadline for delegate replacement and one to bring platform changes to the conventions for ratification on an individual basis.

Then, the discussion went to the idea of the county party providing a “delegate information pamphlet” on the pros and cons of various resolutions, by-law changes, platform changes and party constitution changes.  Great idea, right?  Help the delegates understand both sides?  Apparently it’s not that simple.  Who would write the “pro” argument”?  Who would write the “con”?  What if there was no con? (No one said this, but I had to wonder – what if there is no pro?!)  Over and over I heard members of the executive committee say the committee should be the ones controlling the message. They decided they would “probably” ask the person who brought forward the proposed change to write the “pro” (which does seem fair and reasonable), but that they (the exec committee) would choose the person to write the con from among their committee. Of course, they would have final say on all “positions”.  The reasoning was that you can’t have “just anyone” write an information piece and publish it.  What if they lied?  What if they swore?  No, no – that would never do….the committee must control it.

I ask – what is so scary about a differing opinion?  Surely there are ways to ensure that a profanity-laden piece of snark not become the “position paper” without resorting to “overseeing” and controlling a position on a proposal that disagrees with their own.  Come on people – you are smart.  I know you can figure this out.

Good thing bloggers are out there keeping things real, keeping things open and keeping them transparent.  If you live in Utah county, I encourage you to come to these meetings.  I venture you will find them quite enlightening.

Ooh, closer to Governor Herbert!

Lt Governor Gary Herbert is one giant step closer to officially taking the reins of the state of Utah.

According to multiple news reports, Governor Jon Huntsman‘s hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations committee is scheduled for next Thursday, then will presumably be followed quickly by confirmation by the entire Senate. The Senate recesses on August 7. If he is not confirmed before the summer recess, it will be early September for his next chance.

Undoubtedly, Gary Herbert’s transition team just kicked into high gear.  No summer (political) doldrums this year!

$700,000 bash

Hmm. I wonder what kind of “bashes” the new health care czars are gonna have?? Way to reward a failing system.