RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/24/2018_midterms_all_about_obama_138440.html

Former President Selfie Stick is back in action, firing up Democrats before the midterms with his signature rallying cries:

I, I, I, I! Me, me, me! My, my, my!

According to a tally by The American Mirror’s Kyle Olson, Barack Obama’s campaign speech Monday for Nevada Senate Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen referred to himself 92 times in 38 minutes — or an average self-allusion every 24.7 seconds.

When he wasn’t “I”-ing, the former narcissist-in-chief was lying.

“Unlike some, I actually try to state facts,” Obama snarked passive-aggressively in a swipe at President Donald Trump. “I don’t believe in just making stuff up. I think you should actually say to people what’s true.”

Sit down, Mister “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”

Thanks to you, my husband, children and I lost not one, not two, not three but four private individual market health plans killed directly by Obamacare. Reminder: When the health insurance cancellation notice tsunami hit in 2013, liberal Mother Jones magazine sneered that the phenomenon was “phony.” But after 4 million American families received cancellation letters at the end of 2013, Obama’s health care prevarication was finally deemed the “Lie of the Year” by left-leaning PolitiFact.

https://amgreatness.com/2018/10/24/trump

When the campaigner-in-chief rallies another huge crowd in central Wisconsin tonight, he surely will ask Leah Vukmir to join him on stage. Vukmir, a 60-year-old Republican state senator, is running to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin; President Trump is traveling to the Badger State to give Vukmir’s candidacy a boost.

“His energy is inspiring,” Vukmir told me Monday morning during her five-hour drive to campaign stops in northern Wisconsin. “One reason I want to go to Washington is to help the president.” She defeated businessman and Marine veteran Kevin Nicholson in the state’s GOP primary in August.

The self-described “middle-class mom” is taking on Baldwin, a first-term Democrat, in what most political prognosticators consider to be an unlikely Republican pick-up in the Senate. A poll taken earlier this month showed Baldwin with a 10-point lead.

But Baldwin’s camp seems less confident than the pollsters: Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) stumped for Baldwin in the Democratic strongholds of Madison and Milwaukee over the weekend. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared with his Senate colleague at a college rally on Monday, and former President Obama will stop in Wisconsin on Friday. With several other Democratic senate seats in play, it might be a telltale sign that Democrats are worried Baldwin could be in trouble amid surging Republican enthusiasm for the November 6 election.

Could it be the Kavanaugh effect? “The mood and intensity have definitely changed,” among Republicans, Vukmir said, in the aftermath of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. “People saw what he went through. And Senator Baldwin decided 48 hours after Kavanaugh’s nomination was announced that she wouldn’t vote for him. She never met with him, either.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-of-the-statehouses-1540336650

While the battle for Congress is the main event this election, the fight for control of 36 governorships may be as consequential for American politics. Opposition to Barack Obama’s policies galvanized conservatives during the 2010 midterms and ushered in GOP control of statehouses from Arkansas to Wisconsin. In 2010 Republicans held majorities in 15 legislatures and 24 governorships. Today the GOP controls 32 legislatures and 33 governorships.

The result has been a remarkable record of reform and economic revival in many states. Eight years of conservative governance have bolstered state budgets and economies. (See the nearby chart on job growth.) But this year Democrats are riding anti-Donald Trump sentiment in a bid to sweep most of the big state governorships and many legislative chambers and move in a far different policy direction. The stakes are worth highlighting.

Start with tax reform. In 2011 Michigan Republicans replaced the state’s onerous business tax with a flat 6% corporate rate while eliminating myriad carve-outs. The Wolverine State has led the Great Lakes region in GDP growth over the last seven years as business investment has surged, prompting other states in the Midwest to cut taxes to compete.

Indiana Republicans slashed the state’s corporate rate to 5.75% from 8.5% in 2011 and plan to reduce it to 4.9% by 2022. Republicans in Ohio have cut the state income tax by 16% across the board and reduced the top marginal rate to 4.997% from 5.925%.

Iowa has long been the New Jersey of the Midwest with the nation’s highest corporate rate and a punishing 8.98% top income rate. Republicans this year made the Hawkeye State more competitive by putting the top income tax rate on a path to 6.5% by 2023. Over the next three years, the state’s 12% corporate rate is set to decline to 9.8%—assuming GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds isn’t defeated. Her Democratic opponent Fred Hubbell has warned President Trump’s trade brawls may compel him to hit pause on the tax cuts.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/10/martha-mcsally-for-senate/

Representative Martha McSally began her career in public service not as a politician but as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, serving in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan. In 2001 she fought a Department of Defense policy that required women in combat to wear body coverings while serving in Saudi Arabia, and she has remained an outspoken critic of the woeful state of women’s rights in that part of the world ever since. Since taking office in 2015, McSally has been an exponent of center-right positions on foreign policy, immigration, and social issues. Now Arizonans have the opportunity to elect her to fill Jeff Flake’s soon-to-be-empty Senate seat.

McSally is facing Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, and the contrast between their résumés is conspicuous. Sinema was a prominent anti-war activist in the 2000s, handing out material that criticized “U.S. terror” in the Middle East and appearing on radio shows with assorted crackpots. When one libertarian activist said that he ought to be permitted to join the Taliban if he so pleased, Sinema responded on air, “Fine. I don’t care if you want to do that, go ahead.” She passed out flyers that denounced President Bush as a “fascist” and an “imperialist” and once said the Bush administration was waging war for the purpose of expropriating oil.

That Sinema was once a left-wing activist is no secret. In the 2010s she said she had changed her mind about military intervention, and she has compiled a legitimately moderate voting record on many issues since taking office. She is one of a dwindling few Blue Dog Democrats and often votes with Republicans on issues pertaining to foreign policy and immigration. Coming to a new, more reasonable point of view shouldn’t be disqualifying; indeed, it is commendable if it is honestly accounted for and explained.

Can a Navy SEAL win election in New York?By Seth Segal

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/10/can_a_navy_seal_win_election_in_new_york.html

As the midterms approach, outsider candidates are emerging across the country. Dan DeBono is one such example. DeBono is taking on the establishment and with it the permanent political class.

DeBono grew up on Long Island. He served as a Navy SEAL. He knows firsthand what service to country is all about. Unlike career politicians, DeBono is not bought and paid for.

Mr. DeBono owns a small investment business on Long Island. He knows firsthand the importance of small businesses for the economy to flourish.

Mr. DeBono also believes in fair trade deals. In order for trade to be truly free, it must also be fair. Like President Trump, he believes that for too long, America has been taken advantage of.

DeBono supports deregulation and increasing competition. DeBeno also believes in enforcing antitrust laws. In addition, he’s outspoken in support of economic populism.

DeBono is a strong defender of the Second Amendment. He is a true champion of the Constitution and the rule of law.

Political outsiders are prevailing across the country. The founding fathers envisioned citizen-public servants. Government by and for the people is the American way.

Candidates can help to Make America Great Again. DeBono is a true example of this phenomenon. He is a candidate who puts America First.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/elizabeth-warren-dna-test-meant-to-rebuild-confidence-in-government/

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts explained Sunday that she only released her DNA-test results to “rebuild confidence” in government.

In the second debate between Warren and her Republican challenger in the Massachusetts Senate race, state representative Geoff Diehl, she was asked why she ultimately changed her mind and released DNA-test results after saying in March that she wouldn’t submit to testing.

Warren, who released results indicating she had a Native American ancestor as far back as six to ten generations last week, said she felt she needed to post her family history online “so anybody can take a look. . . . I believe one way that we try to rebuild confidence [in government] is through transparency.”

Diehl argued during the debate that Warren’s identification as Native American for when applying to be a law-school professor demonstrated a lack of integrity.

“This is not about Senator Warren’s ancestry, it’s about integrity in my mind, and I don’t care whether you think you benefited or not from that claim, it’s the fact that you tried to benefit from that claim that I think bothers a lot of people and it’s something you haven’t been able to put to rest since the 2012 campaign,” he added.

“I don’t care what percentage she claims to be Native American; I just care that I’m 100 percent for Massachusetts and will be working for the people of this state.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/22/five_reasons_republicans_can_hold_the_house.html

Despite conventional wisdom, there is a path for Republicans to hold their majority in the House. Democrats need a net pickup of 23 seats to gain control of the chamber and most election watchers are predicting that will happen. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight is giving Democrats an 84.3 percent chance of taking over. The Cook Political Report thinks the Democrats have a 70-75 percent chance of becoming the majority. Adding to the pack is Nathan Gonzales’s Inside Elections, which is predicting a Democratic gain of 25-35 seats in the House, with even more possible.

What could go wrong?

For starters, these are the same prognosticators who were shocked that Hillary Clinton didn’t win the presidency in 2016. As White House aide Kellyanne Conway said, “Let’s not forget the same geniuses that predicted a huge romp by that woman who lost in 2016 are the same people predicting a huge win by the Democrats this time.” Perhaps a tad chastened, some election watchers are giving themselves a bit more wiggle room this time. Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” reported last week that although Democrats were favored to win the House, they’ve solidified the pickup of only 19 seats so far — leaving them four short of the number needed to claim the majority.

Here are five reasons the GOP could upset expectations:

— The president’s job approval rating acts as a coattail effect and is a strong predictor for the outcome of midterm elections, especially in the House. The reigning theory goes that the higher Trump’s approval rating, the better Republican congressional candidates will do. When the president approval was hovering around 40 percent, the conventional wisdom about a Democratic “blue wave” started to congeal. Then a funny thing happened: His numbers began ticking up. Not a lot, but maybe enough to make a difference.

According to the RealClearPolitics poll average, the president’s approval rating today is just a shade above 44 percent. That doesn’t necessarily bode well for Republicans when one looks at how the president’s party has done in previous midterms, but Trump may be sui generis. His personal approval rating on Election Day 2016 was only 32 percent – compared to a 53 percent disapproval rating. In other words, the gap between his approval to disapproval has narrowed. This is not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but in some tracking polls, such as Rasmussen and YouGov, his approval rating has crossed the crucial 45 percent mark where the coattail effect starts to have a significant down-ballot impact.

https://amgreatness.com/2018/10/22/kyrsten-

Just as Democrats try to woo suburban moms ahead of next month’s election, along comes Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to remind us how much the Left hates us.

Sinema is running against her Republican House colleague, Rep. Martha McSally, for the open seat vacated by retiring Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. The 42-year-old unmarried bisexual atheist lawyer with a Ph.D. in Justice Studies has some interesting views on life, as you might imagine.

She once wrote that capitalism poses a danger to Americans; she was an anti-war activist in the early 2000s—one of her protest groups distributed flyers portraying U.S. soldiers as skeletons with automatic rifles; she summoned witches to one anti-war stunt; and she mocks her own (adopted) home state as a “meth lab of democracy” whose residents are “crazy.”

Not exactly a winning campaign message when you’re running in Arizona.

But it’s her 2006 profane comments ridiculing stay-at-home moms that now pose a major problem for her party, and could very well cost her the election. Then-state representative Sinema questioned the feminist cred of women who don’t work outside the home and instead chose to care for their families. “These women who act like staying at home, leeching off their husbands or boyfriends, and just cashing the checks is some sort of feminism because they’re choosing to live that life,” Sinema said during an interview with a Scottsdale magazine. “That’s bullshit. I mean, what the f— are we really talking about here?”

An outsider for Connecticut? By Seth Segal

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/10/an_outsider_for_connecticut.html

The political class has endured a massive setback. The election of President Trump sent shock waves throughout liberal circles. A new crop of outsiders have emerged — among them is a businessman named Harry Arora.

Arora is challenging Jim Himes for his Connecticut congressional seat. Arora has an impressive website. On it he demonstrates a solid grasp of the most important issues.

On economic growth, Arora promises to “Promote Pro Growth policies to reverse Connecticut’s economic decline.” In addition, Arora seeks to curtail excessive red tape. The Trump economy is booming. Arora embraces the President’s economic vision.

Like our President, Arora is in favor of fair trade. He supports the America First approach to trade deals.

As a first-generation American (he was born in India), Arora knows at firsthand the importance of merit-based immigration. In Arora’s word’s “I grew up with little and am blessed to have attained the American dream”. He supports an immigration system where American citizens take priority.

Arora is no career politician. He has “worked as an investment manager and analyst for 20 years, researching and investing in commodities and currency markets.” He is a businessman, not a man of the political class. He can bring economic success back.

Arora’s values are American values. He is a man of faith. He also believes in freedom, opportunity and compassion.

Arora is not beholden to special interests. Connecticut has the opportunity to elect an outsider.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-debate-in-new-york-state-1540159576

Why be a journalist if you can’t have fun? Our friends at the New York Post have been doing exactly that while publicizing the refusal of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to debate their opponents in what is allegedly an election year. There’s also a lesson here about what happens in states with one-party government.

The Post has the two Democrats dressed in yellow chicken suits with the headline, “Birds of a Feather” and “We’re gonna need a bigger coop!” Both politicians are planning presidential runs, but they’re so far ahead in the polls that they don’t want to give their opponents a chance to highlight any of their career lowlights.

Republican nominee Marc Molinaro would no doubt want to mention the corruption that has effloresced on Mr. Cuomo’s watch, the lousy upstate economy, and the decline of New York City’s subways. GOP candidate Chele Farley might ask Ms. Gillibrand to defend her past admiration for Bill Clinton and Harvey Weinstein even as she says she believes charges without evidence against Brett Kavanaugh.

Ms. Gillibrand announced Friday she was ducking out of a debate with Ms. Farley scheduled for Sunday. The Senator claimed she didn’t want to cross a “de facto picket line” by workers striking against Charter Communications even as she said “open public debate is essential to democracy.” Is she getting credibility counsel from the Saudis? Late Sunday she finally agreed to a debate on Thursday at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The two Democrats can get away with this disdain for democracy because New York is increasingly a one-party state in which Republicans can’t win statewide. This is partly a result of a GOP majority in the state Senate that has failed to offer much of an alternative to liberal governance. But even that restraint in Albany is likely to vanish this year as Democrats expect to control every branch of government. Politicians aren’t more accountable when they face no significant opposition.