When Democrats Have No Answers . . .They Make Stuff Up

The Democratic Party knows that the gas that Obama put in the tank in 2012 has about run out.  Most likely, they counted on the Hillary rollout earlier this year to help boost their brand.  For the first time, she stepped on the national stage unencumbered by powerful men such as her husband and Obama.  Unfortunately for her, the book tour turned into a book snore.  She came away looking both out of touch and saddled with painful reminders that foreign policy devolved into a mess under her stewardship.

Hillary was the last chance for a Democratic Party that has clung more to appearances than accomplishments.  But she turned out to not have nearly the political savvy of her husband, which most had assumed whether they supported her or not.  Without Hillarymania, Democrats have nothing on which to hang their hat.  No one wants to own either Obamacare or the rapidly deteriorating foreign policy disasters.

What is a Democrat to do?  When you don't have the facts, just make something up.

Liberal media coordination showed its weird face again last week.  Almost simultaneously, Think Progress, MSNBC, Atlantic, and other outlets posted stories about the Republicans planning a government shutdown over possible executive order amnesty for illegal immigrants.  This naturally took the GOP by surprise, since it is confident that voters will oppose Obama enacting law on his own.

The Daily Caller and other conservative media exposed the crude ruse yesterday.  Quickly following this came White House word that Obama had backed off on his amnesty proposal, calling for a national debate before doing anything.  The Daily Caller's Neil Munro speculated that this is a retreat, if not a white flag.

Did the White House gin up a fake concern, lead supporting media by the nose, and then start to dump the whole issue?  Maybe not, but clearly someone made up the shutdown story for some purpose they thought would benefit the Democratic Party.

This all came only weeks after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent weeks wasting the Senate's time grousing about two Americans promoting their ideals within the letter of federal and state laws.

With many predictors indicating Republican control of Congress after this election, desperate times must have called for desperate measures from the Democratic Party.

West Virginia is not immune.  Natalie Tennant's campaign actually brought in anti-coal Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts to campaign with her.  No sane campaign official could have thought this would help Tennant against Capito; it seemed more of a rally for Warren's possible presidential run than anything for Tennant's benefit.

After Warren's visit, Capito increased her polling lead dramatically.

Meanwhile, Nick Casey's campaign against Alex Mooney has also gained no traction.  From Stephen Elkins to Jay Rockefeller to Patrick Morrissey, the Mountain State's supposed prejudice against outsiders has usually proved illusory. Polls indicate that prior residency is still not an issue in this race.

Casey's supporters have tried to paint Mooney as anti-coal, based in part on his opposition while state senator to putting a trash incinerator within literal shouting distance of a national battlefield.  Also Casey, owner of five separate houses, has tried to cast himself as a frugal common man.  He slammed Mooney in the past because he, like many other West Virginians, rented his home instead of owning it.

The WVGOP has enjoyed poking fun in particular at Casey's claim that he only buys black shoes and socks.  Some criticized the party for making a point of showing that he indeed had other colors of shoes and socks, but state Republicans have made the Casey campaign look trivial in the spat.  Mooney talks about jobs; Casey talks about his socks.

Capito, Mooney, Evan Jenkins, and David McKinley all run on common sense proposals that would help the state and national economy while enhancing our security.  Tennant, Casey, and others try to run on the tired old stereotypes of the rich Republican, seemingly unaware that Obama has made the Democrats the party of golf and Kobe beef.  More damningly, they are also the party of rich environmental elitists putting working men out of jobs.

Nationally, Democrats face the same set of crises.  They followed left wing policies on health care and the environment, only to see them lead straight to what the GOP predicted. They exploited the easy politics of the cult of personality, until that personality was shown to be bankrupt of ideas and listless in action.  Republicans do not have a beautiful image to rally behind, just a set of tried and true ideals that most people happen to agree with.

And Democrats have no real or imaginary answers to both their upcoming political defeat and the escalating crises facing the US.

Has Republican Revival in West Virginia Brought Hope to State Residents?

Shelley Moore Capito is running away with her race for US Senate.  David McKinley has not seen any serious challenge.  Alex Mooney maintains a double digit lead in his race.  Evan Jenkins has the momentum against his opponent and is nearly statistically tied.  House Republicans anticipate taking over chamber leadership next year.

Republicans have ascended in West Virginia.  The only question now is whether the state will remain a two party or transform into a Republican dominated system by 2016.

A recent Gallup Poll shows that 36 percent of West Virginians see their state as one of the best to live in, well below the national average of 46 percent.  Nearly three-fourths would prefer to remain in state, much higher than the national average of nearly two-thirds.

Part of this comes from better government.  By necessity, state Democrats have had to (for the most part) adopt a quasi-Republican plan of governance.  Don't raise taxes, cut spending, reduce obligations.  Had they followed the bigger government ideals of their predecessors, voters would have switched parties long ago.

One way to interpret this is that people in the state have hope for the future.  Despite 80 years of Democratic policies that have prevented prosperity, despite the federal government's assaults on coal, farming, and other ways that West Virginians can better themselves, people want to stay.

West Virginia Republicans have ideas that are proven to bring more investment and jobs to the state.  Those running for the House of Representatives and Senate have vowed to roll back bad regulations that hurt the Mountain State.

Residents want to stay.  They are no longer satisfied with the same old leaders. What is coming next makes them want to stay.

Casey, Rockefeller Blasted Over Offensive Comments About Obama Opponents

Yesterday, the Daily Caller reported on offensive comments made by Senator Rockefeller about those opposing Obamacare.  Second District Congressional nominee Alex Mooney fired back and also referred to similar remarks by his opponent Nick Casey.  Full release below.

MOONEY CALLS ON CASEY TO CONDEMN RACIST COMMENTS BY SEN. ROCKEFELLER

For Immediate Release: May 23, 2014

Media Contact: Nick Clemens (304) 702-5009

Martinsburg, WV - Today, Alex Mooney, Republican nominee for Congress in West Virginia’s second congressional district, called on Nick Casey to condemn recent comments by Senator Jay Rockefeller who accused opponents of Obamacare of opposing Obamacare simply because President Obama is "the wrong color."

Wednesday, Sen. Rockefeller remarked: "I'll be able to dig up some emails that make part of the Affordable Care Act that doesn't look good—especially from people who made up their mind that they don't want it to work because they don't like the president. Maybe he's of the wrong color, something of that sort. I've seen a lot of that and I know a lot of that to be true. It's not something you're meant to talk about in public but it's something I'm talking about in public because that is very true." (National Journal, 05/21/14)

Nick Casey has similarly made offensive comments, saying in 2008, "John McCain is confident that ignorant, redneck racists are not going to vote for Barack Obama, because Barack Obama is black." (Politico, 10/19/08)

"Nick Casey's 2008 comments were offensive and insulting to the good people of West Virginia," Alex Mooney said. "I call on Nick Casey to condemn Sen. Rockefeller's recent comments and disavow his 2008 comments. Obamacare has been a disastrous policy for West Virginia families, killing our jobs, increasing taxes, and causing premiums to skyrocket. It is downright offensive to imply that the president's race is the reason for hardworking West Virginians' opposition to the Obamacare train wreck."

Senator Alex Mooney, his wife, Dr. Grace Mooney, and their children reside in Charles Town, West Virginia. Mooney is taking his campaign to defend conservative values to every part of West Virginia's second congressional district.

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Paid for by Mooney for Congress

West Virginia Republicans Shatter Stereotypes

Most people can list common stereotypes of West Virginians.  After all, academia and the media perpetuated them for years.  Demographically, the state is merely described as overwhelmingly white.  Many would add uneducated, insular, suspicious, misogynist, and a number of other three and four syllable words that add up to what West Virginians call "backwards."  In other words, they spread the smear that West Virginia Republicans are resentful of advancing women and are inherently racist.

Nationally, Democrats and other leftists work tirelessly to attach the same stereotype to the GOP as a whole.  In both cases they are wrong.  Elections over the past ten years prove it.

Do West Virginians, and Republicans in particular, mistrust immigrants who come, live, and thrive here legally?  State Republicans have nominated at least three first or second generation immigrants to important offices.  In 2006, second generation Lebanese-American Chris Wakim was nominated and strongly supported by the Republican base and independents. Left wing conventional wisdom assumes that Republicans are racist and West Virginians even more so, but Wakim's ancestry was no issue for GOP voters.

Two years later, state Republicans nominated Charleston businessman and Nigerian immigrant Charles Minimah for secretary of state.  Minimah, who also works to promote black history and cultural events in the Kanawha Valley, again garnered Republican and independent support despite a huge funding discrepancy between him and his opponent.  This year, he is in a tightly contested race for the 37th delegate district in Charleston. Republicans often cite his experience, kindness, and honesty when talking about their support for him.

Just this month, Republicans in the West Virginia Second District nominated Alex Mooney for Congress.  Voters responded positively to the story of his mother's escape from Cuban tyranny as forming part of the foundation for his ideals.  National predictions still see the district as "lean Republican."

As for the national liberal "War on Women" scheme to tar the party, the Mountain State shatters that myth too.  For many years, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and former secretary of state Betty Ireland served as pillars of leadership for the state GOP.  Ireland has since stepped back, while Capito is expected to cruise to victory in her US Senate race.

Also if state legislative races show anything, it's that the good ol' "boy" network of the Democratic Party remains alive and well.  Fifty percent more women ran in state senate and delegate races on the Republican side than the Democratic.  Many of them, including several incumbents, won their primaries or ran unopposed.  Seventeen year old Saira Blair received national and international attention for upsetting her primary opponent.

Democrats, mostly white male Protestant liberals in positions of influence, will rush out the tired old tales of Republicans being racist and hating women.  But the truth is not what is said, but what is done.  The West Virginia Republican Party has attracted and supported more female and minority candidates than its Democratic counterparts due to its more inclusive atmosphere and its more effective set of ideals.

How the West Virginia Second Congressional District Was Won

Last Tuesday, Alex Mooney won the West Virginia Second Congressional District primary in commanding fashion, outdistancing his nearest of six other competitors by 13 percent of the final tally.  While Sasse's win in Nebraska and West Virginia's own 49th delegate district winner, 17 year old Saira Blair got more coverage, Mooney's win illustrates real changes in the 2nd.

It Has Grown More Conservative

In 2000, when Shelley Moore Capito beat Jim Humphries (and many do not remember what an underdog she was, outspent 3 to 1) the district had around 2/3 of its registered voters signed up as Democrats.  Republicans trailed significantly and way fewer voters were independent.  Capito then and now has never seen "moderate" as derogatory.  Her style and charisma won over centrists who were not sold enough to join the Republican Party, but believed in her.  

Capito's ascension to Congress came in the same year as West Virginia's favorite living president.  George W. Bush also sold in West Virginia a moderate Middle American conservatism.  His style, ridiculed by elitists elsewhere, endeared him to a state that enthusiastically supported his administration regardless.  

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party on the national level abandoned its roots.  Jefferson founded it as the party of farmers.  Jackson expanded it to include the poor country people.  Later, it fully embraced the working man's cause.  Since Bill Clinton, it neglected and even attacked all of these former rock solid constituencies. What Senator Zell Miller wrote about the South is true of all these groups, "if Southern voters think you don't understand them - or even worse, if they think you look down on them - they will never vote for you."

Al Gore attacked their livelihood.  Massachusetts John Kerry never had a prayer.  And Barack Obama's high church academic style that even Northeastern conservatives secretly admire looks condescending to West Virginians.  Then the War on Coal, snide remarks about religious people and gun owners. Obama couldn't even carry his own primary in West Virginia by 2012.  Romney won it by 22 points.

Somewhere between Bush and Obama, the district shifted far to the right.  They still love Capito, but they have also embraced a candidate much more aggressively conservative across the board.

Add to that the exodus of conservatives from Maryland and Northern Virginia.  Civil liberties in the Free State and the heavily regulated Fairfax Proprietary counties of the Old Dominion have decreased dramatically.  Anti-gun attitudes, zoning laws, strict regulations all combined to push the population of Jefferson and Berkeley counties much higher.  Many of these people, seeking a literally freer way of life, are very conservative. 

The Eastern Panhandle Is Becoming a Republican Center of Power

West Virginians in other parts of the state are not used to hearing that people are moving here for opportunities and a better lifestyle.  Bad economic conditions perpetuated by bad state level policies for decades bred a determination that better times looked more Utopian than possible. No one coming to the state could possibly move because the Mountain State offered something better.

The political success of Mooney and Attorney General Patrick Morrissey (who moved from out of state to Charles Town several years ago) illustrates a deeper trend.  Maryland has lost business and residents to Jefferson, Berkeley, Hampshire, and Mineral counties.  Hampshire also has attracted many who work and do business in Winchester, Virginia.  Affluent private sector oriented families, such as those moving in, tend to be conservative and Republican. According to USA Today, Berkeley and Jefferson increased their populations by three to five percent between 2010 and 2012. 

Kanawha's population declined to under 200,000 while Berkeley's is now near half that and ranked second, ahead of Cabell.   

But It Was Not Just the Panhandle

Mooney won 15 of the 17 counties in the district.  Ken Reed won his own county of Morgan; Charlotte Lane carried her home of Kanawha by a surprisingly small margin.  The rest of the counties responded overwhelmingly to a message and a record of unabashed conservatism in gun ownership, pro life, and opposition to the EPA.  A deluge of mailings, television, and radio ads reinforced Mooney's message. Certainly the broadcast advertisements helped to implant him in the minds of conservative Democrats and independents as well.

The Kanawha Valley bloc, that includes Putnam, gave the Charles Town resident much more support than what might have been predicted.  

His opponents were unable to convince voters that residency mattered, regardless of region.  Concerns about West Virginia's supposed hostility to "outsiders" is likely more stereotypical than true, voting in large numbers for Mooney, Morrissey, and Jay Rockefeller, among others would seem to confirm that.

Personal Wealth Also Did Not Matter

Two candidates tapped their own fortunes to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance their campaigns.  Mooney, without a personal fortune, still ended up with a more substantial campaign chest by first having to appeal to donors.  This certainly undercuts the usual Democratic narrative of rich Republicans simply "buying elections" (as if one could simply spend money and guarantee a win.) 

Was the Campaign All That Rough?

No one was accused of wanting to establish monarchy, put "dwellings in flames," or see "female chastity violated."  Candidates never heard the accusation that they imported mistresses from Europe.  All in all, the campaign developed in a way more spirited than nasty, more populist than personal.  Certainly some issues got exaggerated, others spun, but even modern campaigns in different areas have gotten far worse and for a much longer period of time.

The West Virginia Second, however, had not seen a really tough primary fight in at least a generation. Leading up to election day, more people paid attention as they saw the fight take place on TV and radio, over their phones, and in their mailbox.  Interestingly, the focus on this race did not inflate voter numbers beyond what had been predicted shortly before balloting.  

Why I am Supporting Alex Mooney For #WV02 (and why you should as well!)

Written opinion of Stephen Smoot.

It's not a secret that I am backing Alex Mooney for the Republican Party nomination for the Second Congressional District of West Virginia.  I want to take this opportunity to explain my support to my friends, family, and others.

I have known Alex and his family for years.  They definitely understand the pressures and strains that the average West Virginia family has to bear.  Other major candidates for this seat were able to lift hundreds of thousands of dollars from their own fortunes to help their own cause.  While financial success is admirable, Alex is more like the rest of us.  His family lives on a budget to pay their bills, worries about the rising cost of health care, and is straining to make sure that they can send their children to college.

In other words, Alex gets it.  Families are very nervous about the future, especially for their children.

A lot of us worry about freedom.  Alex was raised on stories of how his Cuban born mother was arrested and imprisoned for many months by Fidel Castro.  His father fought Communism in Vietnam.  From both, he learned about the value of liberty, what must be done to protect it, and what happens if it is lost.

Unlike most other candidates in this race, Alex served in his state legislature.  A lot of people have made a big fuss that he served in Maryland.  But consider this.  Try fighting against tax increases in Maryland.  Try fighting for second amendment rights in Maryland.  Try fighting for the rights of unborn children in Maryland.  Maryland seizes guns for little or no reason, charges a tax on rainfall, and wants taxpayers to pay for abortions. His values, commonly held by members of both parties in West Virginia, were sometimes hotly debated among people calling themselves conservatives.

Alex has fought these fights many times and never backed down.  DC is rough on people trying to hang onto your values.  Alex's experience proves that he will stand by his principles and our interests.

West Virginia has a long tradition, from US Senator Stephen Elkins to current state Attorney General Patrick Morrissey, of welcoming experienced and capable people from other states to serve and fight for our voters and values.  Elkins came from New York and Morrissey from New Jersey.  Both performed outstandingly.  Alex and his family just hopped across the river.

Until a few years ago, Alex led a media education foundation in Washington.  I worked there under his leadership for almost two years.  For seven years, he supervised the training of up and coming reporters.  Some of the interns who passed through in those years are now media leaders, editing magazines, online news, and exposing waste and fraud in government.  Alex took the fight to the Obama Administration and its cronies.  One of his interns played a key role in busting the infamous ACORN racket. Another intern later exposed the incompetence of the federal stimulus regime.

No one else in this race worked from day one of the Obama Administration to expose its waste and incompetence.

From there, Alex went into business.  And, as a small businessman, he understands how tough it can be to comply with state and federal regulations and taxes while also fighting for a piece of the market.

I am going to keep running this every so often on my Facebook because 2014 is important.  We have to get as many people in Congress as possible who we know will fight hard.

Who will fight for farms and coal against the EPA.

Who will fight for our complete right to keep and bear arms, with no infringements.

Who understands how families cannot take anymore from a broken Obamacare system and rising costs across the board.

Please join me in supporting and voting for Alex Mooney.  Thank you for your attention!

Putting Communism's Stranglehold on Cuba In Perspective

More evidence that Marxism doesn't work.

In the past two years, Cuban president Raul Castro has introduced over 300 changes to the totalitarian command economy.  These actions indicate that even the country's leadership knows that Communism is destructive to an economy and its people.

How destructive?

American Enterprise Institute released a state gross domestic product map.  This map was unique in that it listed the country closest to each states output.  Cuba's economy was closest to that of West Virginia.

The Mountain State ranked 49th in the nation in some measures of GDP in 2012, yet tremendously outperformed Cuba.  West Virginia's 1.8 million people live in an area with less than half the land area of Cuba and less than 10 percent of the population.

Were Cuba a US state, a chasm would separate it from the per capita productivity of all other states.

Leftists avoid the issue of Fidel Castro's brutal treatment of political dissidents and Che Guavara's murderous terrorism, while praising selected parts of his system.

The current Cuban regime's moves mirror Vladimir Lenin's 1921 New Economic Policy.  Lenin liberalized the Soviet Communist system just enough to keep it afloat, but did little to expand true opportunities for the industrious.

A free Cuba holds tremendous potential.  Cuban refugees flourished in the American business community, particularly in Florida.  Immigrants and their children have emerged as important leaders at the state and national level.  Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio represent their constituents ably in the United States Senate.  West Virginia's Alex Mooney may well succeed Shelley Moore Capito as 2nd District Representative should he win the GOP nomination there.

Certainly the same tradition that produced such success stories in the United States can revive under the warm sun of liberty, once it is restored to that country.

That means that Cuba should not be overly praised or rewarded for simply trying to keep their totalitarian system afloat with piecemeal changes.  Only a full revolution of liberty deserves praise and support.

How Pro-Life Voters Are Gaining In Importance and Influence

The 2014 election cycle is setting in.  Primary races are gearing up.  Some issues, like free silver and Medicare coverage of prescription drugs, lie in history.  Others never fade.

Abortion has remained one of the most divisive social and political issues and will likely remain so.  Signs indicate, however, that the pro-life side has pulled even with abortion supporters and may soon pull ahead.

The West Virginia Second District Congressional race demonstrates the issue's importance.  Charleston area Republican candidate Charlotte Lane, long known for favoring abortion rights, issued a recent and very public mea culpa.  She apologized for her previous support of abortion and pledged to oppose it from this point on.  That could come from personal conviction.  It could stem from the fact that Eastern Panhandle based candidate  Alex Mooney has a long and very public record aggressively fighting for the pro-life cause.  Regardless, it illustrates trends within West Virginia and around the nation.

During the tenure of a liberal, abortion supporting president, pollsters have seen more Americans opposing the practice.  Last summer for the first time in decades, support for abortion dipped below 50 percent.  Rasmussen, often criticized as leaning conservative, published that 46 percent identified as pro choice, 43 percent as pro life.  The Gallup Poll showed a different result.  Forty-eight percent opposed abortion while support for the practice was set at five points lower.

Immigration will likely tip this balance even further against abortion.  National Catholic Register's Peter Jesserer Smith reported that Hispanic groups are only now tapping their potential to support the pro-life cause.  Over half of Hispanics oppose abortion and many are first generation migrants from countries that strongly oppose the practice.  Most still identify with a Roman Catholic faith that staunchly opposes abortion. 

The groups have formed to counter efforts by those such as Planned Parenthood to crack into the Hispanic culture to promote pro-abortion ideals.  One such attempt is a telenovella aimed at Hispanic teens called East Los High.  Planned Parenthood plays a major role in shaping the storytelling on the program.  

This type of message, however, has grown rare on mainstream television and motion pictures.  Characters advocating abortion are almost always sinister and selfish characters.  Keeping the baby, regardless of circumstances, is portrayed as the virtuous choice.  Modern technology has nullified the old arguments that an unborn child is not human.  

The changing social currents on other major social conservative issues have strengthened the hand of those opposed to abortion.  Gay marriage at one point attracted much more support and attention among conservative groups.  As state legislatures and courts have acted, however, opposition to gay unions has declined considerably.  Abortion opponents will have more resources as gay marriage opposition dissipates.

For the foreseeable future, which in politics means the next two major elections, abortion will remain an important issue that divides constituencies.  Conservatives can take heart, however, that as on issues of small government and taxes, they know that more and more people are with them.

West Virginia Citizens' Defense League Releases First Round of Candidate grades.

The West Virginia Citizens' Defense League, a group dedicated to fighting for Second Amendment rights, released its grades of candidates running in 2014.  These were not endorsements, but ratings based upon return of a survey and record.  

For United States Senate, the WVCDL gave both Shelley Moore Capito and Pat McGeehan an A+ rating.  Capito's House of Representatives and McGeehan's House of Delegates voting record on gun rights was spotless.  The WVCDL noted that Capito repeated some of its arguments in the days after the Sandy Hook shooting.

Natalie Tennant received an F for supporting gun control schemes and previous statements.

So far, WVCDL has only rated two candidates for the 2nd Congressional District.  Alex Mooney received an A+ for a strong record of defending gun rights at the legislative level.  Meshea Poore of Charleston received the dreaded F- rating, along with the admonition "DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS CANDIDATE."

The group also handed out grades for state legislators.  In the Eastern Panhandle, Craig Blair, Gary Howell, Allen Evans, Dave Sypolt, Larry Faircloth, John Overington, Larry Kump, Jason Barrett, Michael Folk, and Eric Householder all received A+ ratings.  John Unger only earned an A, but the WVCDL expected him to rise to A+ at the end of this session.

Senator Joe Manchin is not running, but WVCDL marked its displeasure with the Democrat by criticizing statements made supporting his gun proposals.

WVCDL rated many Democrats among its A+ grades, indicating that West Virginia's stance on full Second Amendment rights remains a bipartisan affair.