Mike Pence To Join Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus

MIKE PENCE
RECLAIMING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
AND
THE AMERICAN DREAM
by
LTC Robert "Buzz" Patterson

and
Chris Dickson

http://mikepencethebook.blogspot.com

by Brian Beutler

Michele Bachmann's freshly minted Tea Party Caucus has its first member of GOP leadership: Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence.

At a press availability this afternoon, Pence was enthusiastic. "You betcha," Pence said when asked if he'd join.

"I come out of a background -- I was chairman of the Republican Study Committee, I was chairman of...the House Conservative Caucus," he added. My hope is that this Tea Party caucus...will be an avenue for bringing some of the energy and the enthusiasm and the focus that I've seen, from the National March on Washington where I spoke on 9/12, to traveling around Indiana and all around the country, deeper into the well of Congress.

Pence has been solicitous of the Tea Party movement in the past -- the 9/12 Tea Party in DC was promoted heavily by conservative groups like FreedomWorks and right wing radio and TV host Glenn Beck. But his enthusiasm for joining the new caucus is a reminder that GOP leaders continue to flirt with the far right flank of their base.

Defending Israel Takes More Than Hugs

PENCE & BAUER: Defending Israel Takes More Than Hugs

17 months of damage can't be erased with one friendly meeting

By Mike Pence and Gary Bauer

as printed in The Washington Times, July 7, 2010

The alliance between our nation and Israel has deep and enduring roots, yet since taking office, President Obama has torn apart the ties that bind. Despite a meeting this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that by many accounts was cordial, much still remains to be done to restore the friendship between our two countries.

The modern nation of Israel was established as the clock struck midnight in Jerusalem on May 14, 1948. Eleven minutes later, President Harry Truman, rejecting the advice of Secretary of State George Marshall and most of the foreign-policy establishment, recognized the newly restored Israeli nation. The next day, Arab states declared war on Israel in an effort to kill the new nation in its crib.

Since then, under Israeli prime ministers and American presidents of both parties, the friendship has endured. Both countries believe in the dignity of every human being. Both nations believe in fundamental human rights - freedom of speech, assembly and dissent. We share values rooted in the rich soil of Judeo-Christian civilization; we face hatred from similar enemies.

The Israeli people are overwhelmingly pro-American, and Americans express affection for Israel at levels that are rivaled only by our feelings toward Great Britain. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attack, Americans were shocked to see street celebrations break out in parts of the Middle East, with dancing crowds celebrating the pain inflicted on us. But we were comforted to see Israelis cry along with us, lower their flag and declare a day of mourning as we buried our dead. Israelis understood very well what had happened to America. Proportionately, more Israelis were killed by Palestinian jihadists during the intifada than we lost on Sept. 11.

It is against the backdrop of this cherished alliance that the realization is slowly taking shape in both Israel and the U.S. that Mr. Obama is the most anti-Israel president ever to occupy the Oval Office.

In the 17 months since taking the oath of office, the president methodically has moved the United States away from our friend Israel while reaching out to the most thuggish regimes in the Middle East. He sends letters offering friendship to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who says Israel will be "wiped off the map," while at the same time disrespecting Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Obama protests that nothing has changed and that he is committed to the U.S.-Israel relationship. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton went to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention to reassure the audience that we are committed to Israel's security. Other administration functionaries use the same talking points, but public policy tells a different story. The administration shows a disturbing pattern of currying favor with enemies like Iran while pushing aside the concerns and interests of allies like Israel.

Iran's government is responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq. Yet the White House offers the Iranian regime friendship, diplomacy and dialogue. The president has displayed infinite patience with Mr. Ahmadinejad. Iran's deception has been overlooked. Mr. Obama has eagerly sought talks while promising no preconditions even as Iran insists that its nuclear program will not be negotiated. A year ago, when Iranian reformers were beaten and murdered in the streets of Tehran, the Obama administration was slow and tepid in its condemnation for fear it would damage the administration's outreach to the oppressive Iranian government.

Compare this indulgent treatment of Iran to the bullying Israel has received from the Obama administration. There was unprecedented outrage when the administration heard that the Jerusalem municipal authority had allowed building permits to go forward in a well-established, undisputed Jewish neighborhood. White House officials made sure to "leak" to the media that Mr. Obama was livid with Israel. The White House publicly demanded that all building stop in East Jerusalem, a demand to which no Israeli prime minister could ever agree.

The American people have been left to wonder how an American administration could denounce the Jewish state of Israel for rebuilding Jerusalem. What should a reasonable observer conclude when Israelis building homes in their own capital elicit more White House anger than does Mr. Ahmadinejad, who promises a second genocide and urges the Iranian people to imagine a world without Israel and the U.S.?

When the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference met in May, it was widely assumed that the Obama administration would use the opportunity to rally support against the Iranian nuclear program. Instead, the conference, with the support of the Obama administration, issued a statement demanding that Israel, which is not a signatory to the treaty, open its nuclear program to outside supervision. It's unprecedented for a U.S. president to sign on to a resolution that singles out Israel and ignores Iran, Syria and North Korea.

The most recent browbeating of Israel came when the president criticized Israel's blockade of Gaza as "unsustainable." This administration does not understand the critical importance of the Gaza blockade. The terrorist organization Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for thousands of rockets that killed innocent civilians in Israel. The blockade helps keep weapons away from Hamas, saving lives in Gaza and Israel. Yet the American president sees fit to join the anti-Israel international chorus, which seeks little more than to tear down Israel's right and ability of self-defense.

Time and time again, the pattern is the same. The world is being sent a clear and unmistakable signal: This administration will not stand with Israel against the circling vultures. The Obama administration's policies are undermining our ally, emboldening Israel's enemies and making a Middle East war more, not less, likely. By endangering Israeli security, Mr. Obama is also making America less safe. Our alliance with Israel is not a liability; it is an asset. Together with other free nations, we are defending our shared values.

A group of respected world leaders and academic figures, including former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, met in Paris recently. They boldly asserted, "There is no West without Israel." They are right. Israel is the "tip of the spear" of Western democratic values in a dangerous neighborhood of thugs, jihadists and dictators. The weakening of the Israeli nation does not help America. It puts us more at risk. Undermining a 62-year alliance with Israel doesn't win friends for the U.S. - it makes every nation question the value of aligning with America. After all, if America will break with its most cherished ally, what other nation could rely on our promises?

We are entering dangerous waters. Iran is marching forward with its nuclear program. NATO member Turkey appears to have realigned against U.S. interests and toward a new alliance with Iran and Syria. The president's policies toward Israel are damaging an alliance that now more than ever needs to be strong. Meeting with Mr. Netanyahu and treating him with respect this week was a good start. But much work still remains to be done.

Rep. Mike Pence is chairman of the House Republican Caucus, and Gary Bauer is the president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/8/defending-israel-takes-more-than-hugs/?page=2

Mike Pence: Military Spending Bills Should Be About Military Spending

Mike Pence and the Winning Back of America

MIKE PENCE
RECLAIMING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
AND
THE AMERICAN DREAM
by
LTC Robert "Buzz" Patterson

and
Chris Dickson

http://mikepencethebook.blogspot.com

By Ed Lasky

As the political landscape shifts, one Congressman in particular is helping lead us forward to win back America: Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana.

What are the talents that leaders need in this environment to rally the troops and lead us to victory in November and beyond?

Principles that have been long held not just us but by the leaders themselves: politicians who do not flip flop but hold fast to their ideals. They are dependable. Their values harmonically resonate with most Americans because they reflect and express the American creed. They are an expression of what makes us Americans. Rep. Pence's fidelity to these values demonstrates his fealty to us. They are conservative values that hewn closely to the visions of our founding fathers. They are the values held dear by members and sympathizers of the Tea Party movement.

Mike Pence -- like Ronald Reagan -- is a son of the heartland has those values. While incumbents and establishment insiders try to figure out how to adapt and appeal to the tea party movement, Mike Pence was very early recognized by them as someone who had already earned their allegiance by years of devotion to those principles. He has not changed his bedrock values; the rest of the nation has come back to them. He expresses those values quite well as the keynote speaker at the recent Taxpayer March on Washington. After 18 months of Democratic steamrolling over our principles , the shredding of the Constitution, and the turning of the people's house into a house of ill-repute (via bribes and deals behind closed doors) , Pence called it like it is when he characterized Nancy Pelosi as "the least Democratic Speaker in U.S. History" . Telling it like it is -- that is what we should want in our leaders.

We need leaders who are a fount of ideas: people who are prepared to face the many challenges before us with policy proposals -- and not airy platitudes that are hot air nonsense read off a teleprompter (Yes We Can; We are the ones we are waiting for) that resemble haiku as written by a freshmen. We need someone who has experience with policies that work. Never before have Americans been more primed to learning about policy proposals. This is partly due to a revulsion towards the radical changes imposed upon us (hook and crook, and a lot of the latter) -- by the troika of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid and their Democratic partners.

Town hall meetings are just one manifestation of the deep concern people have towards policy. They hunger for new policy because the old ones often failed and the ones put in place by Democrats threaten our future. People are interested in charter schools and vouchers, cutting back public employee unions, the deficit time bomb, immigration reform.

Democrats denigrate Republicans as the "Party of No", as paleoconservatives, as antediluvian dummies. Of course, these slurs are wrong historically and currently but liberal partisans are wont to throw insult as often as they throw dollars away.

Supply-side tax cuts as a way to boost growth? A Republican idea. Enterprise zones? Republican. Vouchers and school choice? A Republican idea. Tearing down monopolies is a legacy of the Republican Theodore Roosevelt and has been modernized by the Republican quest to eliminate the one last vestige of monopoly power in America: the provision of "government" services (when was the last time you looked upon government workers as serving you?). Welfare reform to restore a sense of self-esteem to our less advantaged? A Republican idea (Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin; Bill Clinton was forced into such reform by a Republican Congress).

The list can be continued to the present day. The GOP has health care plans and budget proposals to slash the deficit-but the media smothered coverage of them. The GOP needs to push past the cover-up and bring the truth to the light of day.

As Peter Berkowitz wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal, "Republicans squandered their hard-won reputation as the party of ideas. It's time to reclaim it".

Mike Pence has been in the forefront of devising new policies for many years. Even before entering politics, he was president of a think tank. After entering politics, he has led the way on immigration reform (focusing on securing our borders and following and enforcing our laws as well as providing a way for honest immigrants to meet our labor needs), free speech (battling Democratic plans to impose the Fairness Doctrine on us -- that would be the death knell for talk radio and independent voices. He battled the health care plan water boarded down our throats by Democrats (see his Wall Street Journal op-ed, "This Law Will Not Stand"), the budget (as he was in the forefront opposing the disastrous "stimulus" bill and has tried to prevent yet another bailout -- this time of spendthrift European nations who have avoided the tough choices need to bring this fiscal affairs in order). He wants to stop "the freight train of big government " (a ringing phrase coined by him) before we are crushed by it. The big spending that is endemic in D.C. and has become a pandemic across state governments -he wants to end the waste of our money and restore fiscal sanity to the asylum that Democrats now run-into the ground.

Pence is a talented writer; he knows how to explain and expound his ideas (just peruse his Wall Street Journal columns, for example). I predict a book by him -- such as Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney have written -- to be published that charts his agenda to climb the bestseller lists because it is our agenda, too.

Mike Pence is a man open to new ideas -- if they bring good things to Americans. He has a real world example of how pro-growth policies and limited (but well-run) government works in his own home state. Indiana's Republican Governor, Mitch Daniels, has put in place the very type of policies that Pence has championed for years. The result has been an economic miracle in the so-called Rust Belt that has garnered acclaim across America. We need these types of policies writ large across America. Mike Pence can propel them forward.

These leaders cannot come out of the blue. We have an example of that in The Oval Office now. We will need a leader who knows the ways of the world, the people to reach out towards, the networks of power to plug into and channel, the levers to pull. Time is of the essence. While there may be a sour mood in the nation regarding incumbents, this is not the time to cast a ballot against them all. The problems we face need to be addressed now. In other words, we need someone who knows the way of Washington but has not been captured by them.

Mike Pence has, in barely a decade, become an influential leader among his fellow Republicans. He was chairman of the Republican Study Committee and is now the co-chairman of the House Republican Conference. He is third highest ranking Republican in the House leadership. His fellow Republicans hold him in high regard; he has -- and will continue -- to power his ideas and plans to fruition by being able to channel his fellow members' votes in the direction the nation so desperately needs now. He is the one national figure that can bridge the establishment world of party powers and the energized movement of millions of Americans towards the Tea Party. The tent can be bog when it is held aloft by standard bearers such as Mike Pence.

We need people in charge who can inspire America. As the Obama-induced malaise spreads across America, we need someone who can boost our spirits and restore our confidence. In our media age, we need someone who is telegenic, fast on his feet, and who has shown skill in using both old and new media not just as message machines but as morale boosters. He has to be media savvy-with or without a prompter leading the way.

Mike Pence has the very skills -- the ability to connect and inspire people -- that Ronald Reagan had during his life. Not surprisingly, both shared a background in media and the public stage before entering the political world. Ronald Reagan had experience in radio and film, and his ability to tap the energy of the crowds was honed by giving hundreds of speeches across America. Mike Pence, who was inspired by Ronald Reagan, learned the ropes by hosting both a statewide talk radio program in Indiana as well as a television program covering the issues of the day. Pence is a favorite of talk radio hosts to this day -- and for good reason. But he has not stopped there in his drive to be a tribune for the people.

He has been a pioneer in using You Tube to reach over the heads of a biased media outlets and into the hearts of Americans across the land (see -- and make a favorite -- the Mike Pence channel on You Tube, podcasts, the web-all our tools that a man determined to fix our government has brought to bear over the last few years. He has been ahead of the curve.

But he needs our help.

We need to step up to the plate and help fuel the engine and prime the pump. How can we do this?

Talk to our friends and family, spread the good news, send emails with links to his website and You Tube Channel, cut and paste his columns and broadcast them far and wide. We can also, candidly, support his campaigns -- as I have been doing for years. I consider it one of the best investments I can make to ensure a bright future for my children and to restore America to its rightful place in the world. I hope you join me and many thousands of Americans in helping Mike Pence help us.

Ed Lasky is news editor of American Thinker.