Cuccinelli Thrills Pro-Family NOVA Crowd on Monday

Nearly 100 grassroots activists, elected officials and candidates for office attended the Prince William and Manassas Family Alliance Gala dinner Monday evening where they were addressed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli gave an update on the lawsuit filed on behalf of the Commonwealth by his office concerning the recently passed federal health care legislation. Cuccinelli argues that the provision in the health care act that requires Americans to purchase health care insurance is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Interestingly, Cuccinelli referenced George Washington University Law School professor and oft quoted “legal expert” Jonathan Turley in his defense, saying that Turley has argued that the federal health care act could indeed be the final blow to the Founder’s vision of “federalism.” Should Cuccinelli’s suit, or the other suits being brought by other states, fail, Turley insinuates that there would then be very little left outside the control or influence of the federal government.

Cuccinelli added, if the government can compel its citizens to purchase one product (health insurance) there is nothing to stop it from purchasing another product (say, a car made by GM).

Essentially, Cuccinelli is arguing that individual citizens who do not have health insurance, and thus are not participating in the “interstate commerce” of health care insurance, cannot be compelled to purchase health insurance by the federal government under the interstate commerce clause of the federal constitution. Case law surrounding the interstate commerce clause is lengthy and confusing to say the least. However, there appears to be no other example where the courts have ruled economic inactivity to be interstate commerce (one exception being from 1792 when Congress compelled people to buy guns – really).

Ultimately, this case is likely to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Cuccinelli estimates that won’t take place until at least mid-2012. The individual mandate in the health care bill doesn’t take effect until 2014.

Currently, 21 states, including Virginia, are involved with some type of lawsuit against the federal government concerning the health care bill. The two primary suits are in Virginia and Florida. The Virginia General Assembly also passed the Health Care Freedom Act during this year’s session, legislation that protects Virginians from being forced to buy health insurance.

Cuccinelli urged the crowd Monday to take advantage of the times to educate and inform their friends and family, particularly their children, on the first principles of our nation’s founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Many people today do not know enough about our Founding or what those documents say to understand the implications of the federal government’s take over of what has always been a private enterprise.

Few disagree that there is need for some type of health reform in our nation. But few outside the beltway or among the academic left believe that the federal government is capable of managing our nation’s health care system wisely.

Source:  The Family Foundation

Reality Check

"I love numbers, and today the number from the Congressional Budget Office that this health insurance reform legislation will save $138 billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years speaks very eloquently to the deficit reduction that is in our package."
-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, March 18, 2010


The Reality: On May 11, 2010, the CBO reported that the health care reform legislation that was enacted in March could cost another $115 billion over the next 10 years in federal health care spending. The new estimates include up to $20 billion to enable federal agencies to implement the law, $34 billion for community health centers, and $39 billion for American Indian health care.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up...

After the signing of the Freedom of Press Act yesterday, President Obama declined to take any questions from the press.

During a pooled press event in the Oval Office, President Obama was asked if he would take a couple questions.

"You're certainly free to ask the question," Obama told the reporters in the room. "I won't be answering, I'm not doing a press conference today, but we'll be seeing you in the course of the week."

Again, this was at the Freedom of Press Act signing. Unbelievable...

Napolitano Admits She Hasn't Read Arizona Law But Says She Wouldn't Sign It

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admits she hasn't read the Arizona immigration law, but passed judgment on it anyway. "That's not the kind of law I would have signed," she declared.

"I believe it's a bad law enforcement law. I believe it mandates and requires local enforcement and puts them in a position many do not want to be placed in," Napolitano said.

"When I was dealing with laws of that ilk, most of the law enforcement agencies in Arizona at that time were opposed to such legislation," she claimed.

Reagan Conservative Scott Walker Touts 'Brown Bag' Approach to Government in Wisconsin

Yesterday, ABC News.com ran the following piece on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, the young Conservative who is the front-runner to get the GOP nomination in this year's gubernatorial race in Wisconsin.  The RC Blog provided its strong endorsement for Walker more than a year ago and is proud to have worked with him professionally over the past several years.  Not only is he a budding superstar in the national Conservative arena, he is genuinely one of the kindest and most sincere politicians we have ever encountered.  Walker is the quintessential Reagan Conservative...

Wisconsin Republicans have yet to nominate a candidate for governor. Indeed, the state's primary is not until Sept. 14. But two national GOP heavyweights -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- are bullish on the prospects of Scott Walker, the self-described, brown-bag-packing county executive of Milwaukee.

Two national GOP heavyweights -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- are bullish on the prospects of Walker, the self-described, brown-bag-packing county executive of Milwaukee.

"The guy is a fantastic candidate," Bush said. "The event that we did together, he gave a stump speech that sounded like it was the last three days of the campaign. I mean, he was on fire. It was, it was, he's the real deal."

The Wisconsin governor's race is one of the 2010 contests that could have implications in the 2012 White House race. Much more so than senators, governors tend to command the kind of state political machinery that can make a difference in a presidential contest.

Although President Obama carried the state by 14 points over John McCain in 2008, the state was a major battleground in 2004 when John Kerry won the state by 1 percent and in 2000 when Al Gore carried the state by less than 1 percent, a mere 5,708 votes.

Walker, 42, has put anecdotes about his personal frugality at the center of his campaign. In all his campaign messaging, he touts himself as someone who "drives a 1998 Saturn with 100,000 miles on it" and who "packs the same brown-bag lunch before heading to the office to save money: two ham and cheese sandwiches on wheat with mayo."

His first television ad touted that he has given back $370,000 in salary over eight years because he thought it was wrong for the county executive to be paid more than the state's governor.

"My wife was like, 'We're doing what?'" Walker said in his first television ad. "But we believe that government spends too much and that included my salary."

Making political hay out of the lunch that he packs for himself, Walker has branded his events around the state as part of a "Brown Bag Movement" that has three tenets: (1) "don't spend more than you have"; (2) "smaller government is better government"; and (3) "people create jobs, not government."

Walker's movement has a website that includes images of brown paper bags with pointed messages on them such as, "I'd be eating out if the government wasn't gobbling up all my money." Another message is, "We spent $780 billion on a stimulus plan and all I got was this brown bag."

During a recent fundraising trip to Washington, D.C., Walker talked to ABC News about the hands-on approach that Gingrich has taken toward his candidacy.

"Newt, my gosh, Newt must e-mail me like every other day, sometimes, I think, with new ideas," Walker said. "Sometimes, it's hard to digest it all."

One part of Walker's appeal to Republican bigwigs is his Milwaukee base. If Walker outperforms the typical Republican in Milwaukee, he said, he believes that traditional Republican strength in more rural parts of the state will power him to victory in November.

"The year I got 60 percent, Obama took two-thirds of the vote in my county," Walker said. "We're going to run to win in Milwaukee County, but if I get, say, 45 percent, it's over."

Another part of Walker's appeal to Republicans is his fiscal record in Milwaukee. The size of the government workforce is down 23 percent from where it was in 2002 and the county debt is down by 10 percent, he said.

Democrats have responded to Walker's "Brown Bag Movement" with their own "Bag Scott Walker" campaign. Walker's critics are eager to use Jeb Bush's support to tie the Wisconsin Republican to the economic record of Jeb Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush.

"Wisconsin cannot afford another Bush recession, which is just what Scott Walker would bring us," Michael Tate, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said.

Walker is also being criticized by Democrats for spending lavishly on the meals associated with campaign fundraising. A March analysis by the Associated Press ran under the headline, "Walker Meals Aren't Always 'Brown Bag.'"

"The campaign's bills for Walker's meals, campaign meetings that included meals for Walker, his staff and others, and food and drinks for fundraising events amount to at least $24,500 since mid-2008," the A.P. wrote.

"By contrast, the campaigns of his GOP primary rival Mark Neumann and Democratic opponent Tom Barrett spent some money on food and drinks for fundraisers but virtually nothing on meals for themselves and their campaign meetings. Both entered the race later than Walker."

Bush, who met Walker last year at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Sun Valley, Idaho, said he believes Walker's track record in Wisconsin's most populous county gives his "brown bag" message credibility.

"There are symbols in campaigns and then there are gimmicks," Bush said. "This is a symbol because he's proven he's a thrifty, frugal man. He lives his life in a way, in the way he's served as county executive. So, it's a good connection to how he would serve as governor because he's already done it."

Walker is one of five Republicans whom Bush is backing in competitive gubernatorial primaries: the others are former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in California, former state Sen. Bradley Byrne in Alabama, Attorney General Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania and Attorney General Bill McCollum in Florida.

When endorsing a gubernatorial candidate in a competitive GOP primary, Bush said he looks for someone who is committed to education reform. He also looks for conservative change agents.

"The duty of a leader is to change the way things work if they don't work," Bush said. "And a lot of things aren't working these days."