THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL COME APART
The inevitable outcome of the Greek financial crisis – soon to be followed by comparable events in Portugal, Spain and probably Italy – will be the collapse of the Euro and a sharp halt in the momentum for European integration.
Ultimately, there is only one nation in Europe that investors trust – Germany. And they will only support the Euro and treat the southern European nations (now called Club Med) as credit-worthy if Germany backs up the debt. The current $1 trillion fund is a palliative that will not satisfy the market once the larger obligations of Spain ($1.6 trillion) and Italy ($2 trillion) come into question.
SESTAK SCANDAL GROWS…AND STILL STINKS
The New York Times revealed this afternoon that anonymous sources have informed it that Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel asked former President Bill Clinton to offer Congressman Joe Sestak a high but unpaid advisory post in the Administration if he would drop out of the Senate race against Senator Arlen Specter. One post mentioned was service on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
The idea was to immunize Obama and Rahm from possible criminal prosecution by using Clinton, not a government employee, as a cut out and to keep the offer to an unpaid job in hopes of not running afoul of the federal bribery statute.
PENN AG TOM CORBETT SHOULD EMPANEL GRAND JURY IN SESTAK AFFAIR
By Dick Morris and Judge Andrew Napolitano
With a Democratic Attorney General in Washington, a Democratic president, and both houses of Congress solidly in Democratic control, it is obviously futile to hope that the possible bribery of Joe Sestak to induce him to withdraw from the Senate race against Arlen Specter will be fully investigated. But, as the facts of this scandal grudgingly emerge from the White House and from Congressman Sestak, there is an alternative way to pursue justice.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General, Tom Corbett — who is the Republican nominee for Governor this year — has ample jurisdiction to convene a grand jury to get to the bottom of the scandal and answer the key questions:
1. Who offered a job to Sestak?
2. What job was proffered?
3. And did the president know of the offer?
ISSUE TRIFECTA DRIVING OBAMA DOWN
The oil spill, the Arizona law, and the fallout from the Greek crisis are a trifecta of issues that are driving Obama’s job approval ratings to an all time low. After four months of hovering between a low of 46% and a high of 49% in the daily Rasmussen polls, Obama has dropped precipitously to only a 42% approval rating.
The three issues that are depressing his ratings have a great deal in common. In each case, the president originally seized on the issue to make populist political hay. Then, when the problem wouldn’t go away, voters began to realize that Obama is, in fact, the president and, logically enough, blamed him for the three ills that beset them.
CAPITALIZE ON SESTAK SCANDAL
Published on TheHill.com on May 25, 2010
Rep. Joe Sestak, the winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, says quite openly and repeatedly that he was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race against Sen. Arlen Specter. Having secured Specter’s conversion to the Democratic Party, thus giving the party a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Obama administration obviously sought to keep its word to Specter that it would do its utmost to deliver the Democratic nomination to him. According to Sestak, that included a job offer.
Who made the offer? What position was offered? And when did it happen? Sestak, who was nominated on a platform of “transparency,” refuses to answer any of these questions. The White House admits that a conversation took place but won’t provide any details and insists that an “internal investigation” revealed that “nothing inappropriate” took place.
A SENATE MAJORITY COMES CLOSER
The tenth seat — the one that will give the Republicans control of the Senate — is coming closer and closer. Three key developments:
1. Connecticut
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has been caught repeatedly fabricating a record of service in Vietnam. While he constantly claims to have fought, the fact is that he never went near the place. His candidacy is falling apart as a result.
The Republican candidate against Blumenthal will be Linda McMahon, a businesswoman whose husband founded the World Wrestling Federation. She is outspoken and an outsider. She now trails Blumenthal by only 3 points (48-45) and deserves our help. Go here to donate to McMahon’s campaign.
2. Wisconsin
Ron Johnson — an independent, successful businessman with great access to funding — won the Republican nomination to run against Russ Feingold. A true conservative, Ron has an excellent chance to win. Feingold, who is way too liberal even for Wisconsin, is under 50% in the polls and Johnson should move up quickly. This race could be the key to getting 51 seats. Please give him money. Go here to donate to Johnson’s campaign.
FINANCIAL REGULATION BILL IS SOCIALISM
President Obama has taken the United States one more giant step towards socialism by ramming through the Senate his financial regulation bill.
The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury – a political appointee – to seize any financial company (bank or nonbank) simply because, in his opinion, it is too big to fail and in danger of insolvency. This power can be used for political retribution, pressure for campaign funding, or any other abuse bureaucratic whim or partisan politics can conceive. It is a power Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez would love to have!
OPEN SEASON ON INCUMBENTS
The message of the May 18th primaries is that it is open season on incumbents. In Pennsylvania, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa) lost decisively to Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa)in his primary contest while Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) limped into the runoff in the Democratic primary by 44-42 over Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. There can be little doubt that Lincoln will lose the runoff having scored so far under 50% of the vote. The fact is that 56% of the Democrats in Arkansas decided to vote against Lincoln.
Both Specter and Lincoln are now reaping the harvest of their votes for health care, a fate soon to be shared by Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.), Michael Bennet (D Col.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). And the liability of incumbency was also vividly on display a week ago when long time Democratic incumbent Congressman Alan Mollohan (D-W Va.) was upended in his primary contest.
PROGRESS IN WINNING THE SENATE
Behind the scenes, the chances of a GOP takeover of the US Senate increased in the past two weeks with key developments in pivotal states.
Already, Republican candidates are ahead in eight states now represented by Democrats: Delaware, North Dakota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Arkansas and Nevada. And, in California, Senator Barbara Boxer is polling in the low 40s just barely ahead of her Republican challengers.
But nine seats won’t give us control since Biden would break the tie for the Democrats. We need ten.
GREEK DEBT CRISIS WILL WORSEN: THE CENTER WON’T HOLD
When the European Union voted to put up a $1 trillion fund to bailout indebted countries in the Eurozone, it implicitly rejected the alternative which was to purchase the Greek debt outright, making it an obligation of the EU as a whole and no longer just a Greek affair. By opting for the bailout, the European Union has taken a middle course between full debt assumption and abandonment which won’t work. The markets will keep pressing until the EU throws in the towel and buys up all the outstanding Greek debt. Shortly thereafter, it will have to do the same thing for Portugal and perhaps for Italy and Spain.
Greece owes $400 billion. Portugal owes $175 billion. And, over the horizon likes Italy which owes $2 trillion and Spain is on the hook for $819 billion. Against these numbers, a $1 trillion fund doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence.
