Most of the political pundits are now predicting a rout – that Democrats are going to lose the House, and maybe even the Senate.  I feel confident, but not overconfident, that we will win our race.  Enthusiasm is tremendous, and we’re firing on all cylinders, but we can’t let up, and we won’t. 

So what’s Steve Driehaus up to?  Well, he’s run his first TV ad, and it’s a doozy.   An article appearing in the Enquirer two days ago about the ad was headlined “Driehaus Proclaims Himself a Fiscal Conservative.”  Can you believe this guy?  How someone with a voting record like his could, with a straight face, call himself a “fiscal conservative” is beyond me.

He voted for the $814 billion so-called economic stimulus package which has driven the national debt to previously undreamt-of heights, and clearly hasn’t worked, despite Joe Biden’s attempted pedaling of a so-called “Recovery Summer.”  (No one’s buying it.) 

Driehaus voted for the thoroughly discredited Cap and Trade bill, which, if it becomes law, will drive more jobs overseas, dramatically drive up the cost to drive your car or heat or cool your home, and virtually everything you purchase. 

And perhaps most notoriously, Driehaus, after leading us to believe he would vote against it, voted for Nancy “we’ve got to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” Pelosi’s trillion dollar plus health care power-grab. 

And, Steve Driehaus has voted with the biggest-spending, most liberal Speaker in our nation’s history, Nancy Pelosi, 94.8% of the time.  Some fiscal conservative.

It’s been said that you can predict how honestly a candidate will represent you in office, by how they run their campaign – whether they tell you the truth about their positions, or whether they try to mislead you.  Posing as a fiscal conservative, when even a cursory look at your record shows that you’re anything but, isn’t acting honestly.

And even something as seemingly innocuous as yard signs can tell you something about a candidate.  Campaigns spend a lot of money purchasing them, and a lot of time and effort securing the permission of homeowners to display political signs in their yards.  It’s a way for voters to show their support for a particular candidate, or party, or political point of view.  That’s why it’s particularly disappointing when a homeowner’s front yard is trespassed upon and political signs are damaged, destroyed, or stolen.  

Now I’ve been through a lot of campaigns over the years, and vandalism occurs, and generally it’s no big deal.  But this past Saturday, in the middle of the night, an organized wrecking crew traveled this Congressional District stealing, shredding, and destroying dozens and dozens of “Chabot signs,” to an extent I’ve never seen since first running for office 31 years ago.  Check out these photos. 

This wasn’t just a few kids out on a lark, it was an organized effort to strike at one of our strengths – the strong grassroots support our campaign has across this Congressional District.  An interesting point – the only other signs stolen or destroyed that night were those of Mike Robison, who just happens to be running against Denise Driehaus, Steve Driehaus’s sister. 

Anyway, enough of that.  I began this blog reminding you that we only have two months to go to begin to change the direction of this country.  Two months to go to reverse the Obama Administration and the Pelosi/Reid Congress’s march towards bigger government, skyrocketing spending and debt, and ever-rising taxes.  Two months to go to begin enacting policies to get the economy moving again and get Americans back to work.  Two months to go to get the Washington out-of-control spending under control.  Two months until the change – from The Change. 

P.S. Someone emailed me a VIDEO the other day, and although, I’d seen it several times before, I’m inspired every time I see it.  I bet you will be too. 

Teddy Kennedy died exactly one year ago today – August 25, 2009. Following his death, there was much speculation as to what Democrat would replace him in the Senate, and take up the liberal causes he had championed. When Martha Coakley prevailed in a spirited Democratic primary, it was assumed by all of the political pundits, and just about anybody else who follows these things, that the people of Massachusetts had made their choice, and Ms. Coakley would be off to the Senate.

But the political pundits were missing something – something big. And that’s just how outraged the American people had become over what was happening to their country. Washington was a total mess. Spending was completely out of control, and the National Debt was skyrocketing. Huge stimulus spending was growing the government exponentially, but not creating jobs in the private sector, votes were being bought left and right (the Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana purchase). And the government takeover of health care was at the door.

As a result, patriotic Americans were rising up all over the country, rallying at Fountain Squares and other venues, marching on Washington, and attending tumultuous Congressional town hall meetings all over America. Democratic Members of Congress were cowering, canceling town halls rather than answering to their constituents, and even refusing to answer their Congressional office phones. In November, races for Governor in Virginia and New Jersey shocked the liberal power structure to its core. In Virginia, a state Barack Obama had carried by six points just the year before, the Republican candidate for Governor Bob McDonald won by 18 points, a 24 percent turnaround. And even more shockingly, in New Jersey, a blue state that Obama had carried by 17 points, Republican Chris Christie won by four points, a 21 point turnaround.

Then came Massachusetts – and in the bluest of blue states, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate, Scott Brown, defeated the Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, to replace Teddy Kennedy. It was a shock heard round the world. Democrats no longer automatically had the 60 votes they needed to ram their liberal agenda through Congress. (It’s probably the single most important check Republicans have to stop the Democrats from pushing through even more liberal agenda items in a lame duck session – like an immigration/amnesty bill, Cap and Trade, Cardcheck, and more wasteful stimulus spending.)

Well, good news. Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is coming to Cincinnati this Friday, August 27th, to do a fundraiser for my campaign at the Hyatt , downtown. And we’d love to have you there. We tried to keep tickets to the event at a relatively affordable level, so it would be within the price range of as many people as possible. The breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and it’s only $75. We also have a pricier event at 7:30 a.m. where you can have your photo taken with Senator Brown (and me!) for $500. And an even pricier roundtable event at 7 a.m. for a mere $1,500.

I hope one of the levels mentioned above meets your price range (although I know everyone’s hurting in this Obama/Pelosi/Reid economy!) Just call my office at 481-9998 for a ticket. Also, as always, you can sign up for a yard sign or to volunteer by clicking the links here.

And, oh yeah, Remember in November!

Well, this Democratic Congress is sort of like that wounded animal.  Their policies and track record have been so bad that they’re wounded and limping into the next election, and exceedingly unpopular with the public.  But they still have a big weapon at their disposal – a huge war chest in the amount of $34 million, compared to the Republicans at only about half that, $17 million.  And those millions can do a lot of damage, especially if the truth isn’t important to them.  (Some of that $34 million was raised right here in Cincinnati when Nancy Pelosi blew through town last month, raising money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [DCCC] at Stan Chesley’s home.) 

The DCCC has just announced that they are purchasing $49 million worth of TV ads in 60 Congressional races around the country.  (They intend to borrow more money on top of the $34 million they already have.)  These are the 60 races that they believe have the most vulnerable Democratic Congressmen, and one of those is Steve Driehaus.  They’ve allocated $552,000 in the Cincinnati media market for TV ads.  We’ve seen ads like these over the years, or ones just like them, where they’ll blame everything bad that has ever happened on me (and George Bush.)  And they’ll claim that Steve Driehaus (and Nancy Pelosi) are just what we need to make everything right (but they won’t mention Nancy Pelosi because she’s so unpopular.) 

In the final analysis, I don’t think it will work, because Driehaus’s voting record is just so bad.  His very first vote was to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House; he voted for the failed Stimulus bill; he voted for Pelosi’s budget, which is bankrupting the nation; he voted for the job-killing, energy-tax-raising Cap and Trade bill; he voted for Obamacare, or Pelosicare, or whatever you want to call the health care debacle; and on and on. 

But $552,000 is a lot of money, and a lot of TV commercials, so if you are able to help us offset the misinformation they’ll soon be spewing, you can contribute to my campaign by clicking here.  Our fundraising has been very encouraging so far; in fact, I’m one of the few challengers to now have a slightly bigger war chest than my incumbent opponent, a little over $1 million for us, $973,000 for Driehaus.  But, as I previously mentioned, the DCCC has twice what the Republican Campaign Congressional Committee has, so your help is really appreciated. 

Also, if you’ve driven around the area since last Saturday, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve just started putting up our yard signs, so if you’d like us to put one up in your yard, click here. 

So, in conclusion, the Pelosi/Reid Congress is like some lumbering wounded animal, flailing about, spewing out our money in every direction, and leaving a path of destruction in its wake.  It’s still dangerous, but fortunately for the future of our nation, its days are numbered.

And of course locally, among a number of other important races which will be on the ballot, the voters in the First Congressional District will make a choice between Steve Driehaus and myself.  This week I’ll compare our records on eight important issues.

FIRST, JOBS AND THE ECONOMY: During my time in Congress, I consistently supported policies to revitalize the economy and create jobs.  Mr. Driehaus, on the other hand, voted for the job-killing Cap and Trade bill, voted to raise taxes time and time again, and voted for the failed Stimulus bill which grew government, but not jobs in the private sector. 

SECOND, TAXES: I was named a “Taxpayer Superhero” by Citizens Against Government Waste and consistently received an “A” rating by the non-partisan National Taxpayer’s Union.  Mr. Driehaus received an “F” rating by the National Taxpayer’s Union. 

THIRD, SPENDING: Citizens Against Government Waste rated me as having one of the best records in the entire Congress for fighting against wasteful spending.  Driehaus on the other hand was called a “Big Spender” by the National Taxpayer’s Union and voted for Pelosi’s big-spending budget that added $1.2 trillion in new debt.

FOURTH, HEALTH CARE: I opposed Obamacare, and while in Congress I sponsored legislation which would have allowed families to fully deduct all their health care premiums from their taxes.  Mr. Driehaus voted for Obamacare, after leading us to believe he would vote against it. 

FIFTH, ENERGY: I supported a comprehensive, environmentally-friendly energy plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  I also strongly oppose Cap and Trade.  Mr. Driehaus voted for the huge new tax on energy called Cap and Trade, that’s been estimated to cost the average American family an additional $1,770 a year in higher energy costs. 

SIXTH, GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS: I voted against the bank bailout and the auto bailout.  Driehaus said he would have voted for the bank bailout, and he voted to allow AIG executives to receive huge bonuses – courtesy of the American taxpayer. 

SEVENTH, PRO-LIFE: I’ve been endorsed by National Right to Life, Ohio Right to Life PAC, and Cincinnati Right to Life PAC in this race.  I was the principle sponsor of the Ban on Partial Birth Abortion, which was upheld by a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision, and is now the law of the land.  Pro-life leaders have said that Driehaus betrayed his supposedly pro-life views by voting for a bill they called the “greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v Wade.”  Driehaus has voted with National Right to Life a miserable 33% of the time since he’s been in Congress.

EIGHTH, INDEPENDENCE: National Journal in recognizing my independence from party leadership said that I was, “willing to split from his [my] party and willing to take political risks for principle.”  Driehaus, on the other hand, has done what he’s been told by Nancy Pelosi, voting with her 94.8% of the time.  Politico called Driehaus a “reliable backer of party leadership.” 

So there you have it, a pretty clear choice between an independent-minded, tax-cutting, true fiscal conservative, versus a big-spending, tax-raising, Pelosi-following liberal. 

I feel confident that the people of the First Congressional District will make the right choice.  Remember in November. 

I’ve been attending festivals since my City Council days.  I first ran in 1979, so we’re going back 30 plus years.  And if you consider my student days at Holy Family school in Price Hill, and then St. Catharine’s in Westwood, we’re going back 50 plus years.  That’s a long time.

As a candidate running for public office, I particularly like attending festivals, because it gives me the opportunity to talk with lots of people about anything on their minds.  Most people are very friendly, but are not shy about telling me what they really think.  Here’s what I’m hearing this year. 

People are very worried about the direction of the country.  They think spending in Washington is completely out of control.  The rising debt is of particular concern.  Right now they principally blame President Obama and the Democrats controlling Congress for the wasteful spending, but they also think President Bush and Republican Congresses should have been more restrained in spending when they were in charge – and they’re right.  (Fortunately, most people will say something along the lines of “We know you were one of the guys fighting against the spending when you were there, but we hope if Republicans take control again, you guys will get it right next time.”) 

People also think the Stimulus Package was just a big waste of money.  They say the economy is still lousy, and if they haven’t lost their own job, they have family members or close friends who have. 

People still hate the health care bill – or Obamacare, as many of them refer to it.  They are particularly negative about Steve Driehaus on this issue.  Not just that he voted for it, but that he led us to believe he’d vote against it, then voted for it anyway.  And I haven’t come across a person yet who buys that President Obama’s Executive Order does anything to stop their tax dollars from going to pay for abortions.  And that particularly incenses people.

I’ll occasionally get comments or questions about Afghanistan, legalizing marijuana, the Over-the-Rhine streetcar plan, and just about anything else that might be on peoples’ minds.  But mostly, it’s the out-of-control spending, the lousy economy, the huge government debt, and Obamacare. 

And maybe it’s just because they’re talking to me, but the overwhelming majority of people say they were terribly disappointed when I lost last time, and can’t wait to get rid of Steve Driehaus this upcoming election.  Maybe he’s hearing the same thing, but I doubt it. 

The feedback I’m getting at the festivals this year reinforces my belief that this election year is likely to be a really big deal.  People don’t like what’s going on in Washington, and they’re likely to vote for change – big time.  They can’t vote directly for or against President Obama this year, but they sure can vote up or down on this Administration’s, and especially on this Congress’s policies.  And the people more likely to turn out this year, for the most part, don’t like these policies. 

In conclusion, festivals can be a lot of fun.  And you can learn a lot there too. 

He believes the best way to grow the economy is through more government spending (the Stimulus).  I believe allowing people to keep more of what they earn (cutting taxes) and letting people spend their own money the way they want to, will grow the economy and create jobs.  He thinks government takeovers of health care and government bailouts are just fine, and I believe, like Ronald Reagan, that government IS the problem, not the solution.  And he votes with Nancy Pelosi virtually every opportunity he gets – I think she’s a disaster.

Another important facet of a winning campaign are its people – volunteers.  We have been blessed with some of the finest, hardest-working volunteers that you can imagine.  Countless hours spent cheerfully walking in parades, handing out cups at festivals, making phone calls, stuffing envelopes, and so many other campaign related activities – our volunteers are the best!  To each and every one of you – thank you for your commitment. 

And finally, it’s important to raise sufficient campaign funds to get our message out, and defend against the misleading attacks we all know will be coming.  After all, it’s been said that “money is the mother’s milk of politics.” 

The results of second quarter fundraising by all Congressional candidates were just released on July 15th.  Great news for us – very disappointing news for the Driehaus campaign.  Despite the fact that incumbents almost always out-raise their challenger opponents, we out-raised the Driehaus campaign last quarter: $306,312 for us, $230,321 for them.  And of even greater significance, we now have more cash-on-hand than the Driehaus campaign: a little over $1 million for us, and $973,266 for them. 

The Cincinnati Enquirer in their coverage of the fundraising results made the following observation:

You are that individual local support.  And let me take this opportunity to once again thank you for taking the time to read this blog, and stay informed on this race.  If you have signed up to volunteer, or for a yard sign, or made a contribution, I want to especially thank you. 

Although we clearly have the momentum in this race, we know that it’s only a matter of time before the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Big Union money will come pouring in with big TV buys, in an attempt to completely distort my record.  If you’re able to help us to continue to prepare for this inevitable onslaught, you can click here to help. 

As elections go, they don’t get much bigger than the one coming this November.  I believe we have a real opportunity to take the gavel out of Nancy Pelosi’s hands, and begin to put our country back on the right track.  Don’t sit on the sidelines.  Please join with me, and thousands and thousands of our fellow citizens, and be part of something that will truly make a difference. 

FIRST, the head of America’s space program, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, informs us that the number one priority of NASA is now – drumroll please – making sure that people in predominantly Muslim countries have high self esteem. Not getting to the moon, or to mars, or advancing our scientific knowledge, or creating more space-connected jobs or products on earth (remember Tang), but making sure Muslims around the world feel better about themselves. I’m not making this up.

Referring to President Obama’s instructions to him, Bolden stated as follows: “Foremost, he (Obama) wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, and math, and engineering.” As usual, the mainstream press all but ignored this gaffe, so you may well not have heard about this new, ridiculous policy, by an Administration that seems to be losing more and more credibility every week.

SECOND, President Obama decided to skip the normal Senate confirmation process and just appoint Donald Berwick to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Why? Well, this is the government agency that will oversee “Obamacare,” which was rammed through Congress by Obama/Pelosi/Reid back in March. And some of the radical quotes this guy has made about health care over the years are the polar opposite of what Obama promised.

Remember the Democrats’ promise that there would be no rationing of health care? Here’s Berwick: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.” And remember the assurance that our new health care would be nothing like Britain’s socialized health care system? Once again here’s Berwick: “I am a romantic about the British National Health Service. I love it because it is generous, hopeful, confident, joyous, and just.” No wonder the Obama Administration wanted to avoid any tough questions that might have been asked as a result of such inconsistencies.

And listen to this quote by Berwick, “Any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must – must – redistribute wealthfrom the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate.” This sounds a lot like candidate Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks that got him into trouble when he told Joe the Plumber that we need to “spread the wealth around.” No wonder a recent poll done by Democracy Corps (a polling outfit run by Democrats James Carville and Stan Greenberg) found that 55% of likely voters say they believe the term “socialist” describes the Obama Administration “well” or “very well.”

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Administration for trying to “Sneak him through without public scrutiny.” And even Democratic Senator Max Baucus said he was troubled by the recess appointment since “Senate confirmation of Presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on Executive power.”

THIRD, Politico reports that the Obama White House is trying to fight the perception that they are anti-business. How could anyone possibly have that impression? (Cap and Trade, health care, higher taxes, more regulations…) And oh by the way, virtually all Obama’s Cabinet choices have little or no business experience – they overwhelmingly come from a community organizer, academic, or government background. No wonder they can’t get the economy moving again, or start creating jobs in the private sector.

FOURTH, pollster Frank Luntz now says that the Democrats in Congress are in more trouble today than they were back in 1994, when they lost 53 seats in the House of Representatives, and thus lost control of the House for the first time in 40 years. (I was one of the 53. And this time we only need to pick up 39 to take Nancy Pelosi’s gavel away.) Luntz’s exact quote is as follows: “On every statistical measurement, the Democrats are in more trouble today than they were in July 1994 when they lost control of the House and Senate.”

FIFTH, the latest Washington Post – ABC News Poll indicates that the American people by 51% to 43% would prefer to see Republicans in control of Congress rather than Democrats. This eight point Republican edge shows a huge turnaround from the fifteen point Democrat edge before the last election. But, as I always say, not a single vote has been cast in the election yet, and we must continue to work hard, and not get overconfident or cocky.

SIXTH, there are rumors filtering out of Washington that the Democrats realize they are going to take a shellacking this Fall, and intend to try to push through the remaining parts of their un-passed liberal agenda in a lame duck session of Congress (the time between election day November 2nd,and the new Congress being sworn in two months later in the first week of January.) This liberal laundry list of unfinished business could include an immigration amnesty bill, Cap and Trade, even more stimulus spending, even higher taxes, and God knows what else. Frank Luntz, the pollster I previously mentioned, says that if the Democrats did this, and thus in effect ignored the will of the American people as expressed in the November election, they would take a pounding in the next election, the Presidential election of 2012. He noted that Americans polled on this issue oppose such action three to one, and even a plurality of Democrats oppose it.

And on a final note, congratulations to the National League, especially Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, Arthur Rhodes and Joey Votto, for their big win in the All-Star Game last night! 

First, two headlines in the Cincinnati Enquirer were of particular concern: “Recovery Is Fizzling, Reports Suggest,” and “U.S. Loses 125,000 Jobs In June.”  Despite Congress throwing hundreds of billions of our tax dollars into a so-called economic stimulus package, the American economy continues to limp along, and unemployment remains at unacceptable levels.  Fiscal conservatives warned that this was likely to happen, but were shunted aside by the Obama Administration and by Pelosi’s followers in Congress, and the American people are paying the price.

In an attempt to try to convince the public that the economy is just swell, and getting sweller, Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are on their much heralded “Recovery Tour” traveling across the country this summer trying to convince the American people that everything’s great.  The American people aren’t buying it.  President Obama had the nerve to say at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin last week that “every economist who’s looked at it has said that the Recovery Act (the $787 billion stimulus bill) did its job.”  Now that’s just ridiculous.  Economists are at best split on whether the Stimulus has been a marginal success or a total failure – but it’s clear that they don’t all think “it did its job.” 

So where was the mainstream press coverage of this whopper.  Virtually absent.  FOX News mentioned it.  But the rest of the mainstream press ignored it altogether.  Let’s face it, there’s a double standard when Republicans and Democrats say dumb or controversial things.  Look at the glee shown by the mainstream press in covering Republicans Joe Barton, Rand Paul, John Boehner, and Michael Steele. 

But just as there was virtually no coverage of President Obama claiming that all economists agree the so-called economic stimulus package is working, where was the coverage of Bill Clinton at Democratic Senator Robert Byrd’s funeral just a couple days ago in essence justifying Byrd’s membership in the KKK, saying he was just “a country boy in the hills of West Virginia just trying to get elected.”  He also said Byrd’s association with the clan was “fleeting” when in fact Byrd had worked his way up to being what they call a Kleagle (a recruiter) for this despicable organization.  He also failed to mention that Byrd voted against not only the Civil Rights Act, but also against the Voting Rights Act, and that Byrd used the “N word” in an interview (for which he later apologized) a few years back.  Where was the coverage of this?  Virtually absent.

And perhaps most outrageously, where was the mainstream press coverage of Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, just a few weeks back, when discussing more government assistance money, claimed that it wouldn’t just go to “minorities and defective people, it would go to average, good American people.”  FOX News covered the racist comments, but the rest of the media ignored it.  What if he’d been a Republican?  I wonder. 

Another headline which caught my attention in the Cincinnati Enquirer, on July 3rd, read, “Expect ER Wait Times to Lengthen.”  Remember the health care legislation that Obama/Pelosi/Reid rammed down our throats a few months back?  They claimed it would improve health care delivery, reduce the deficit, basically improve our lives.  Well, let me quote from the article: “Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can’t find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation’s new health law.”  This is just one more bad thing we’ve learned about the health care legislation since it’s been passed into law.  Remember when we were promised it would cost less than $1 trillion, and then after passage the cost estimates were revised up by $115 billion, putting the cost well over $1 trillion?  And remember when we were promised that people who had health care plans they liked could keep them and wouldn’t be affected, and it was later revealed that it’s now estimated that over one-half of the people currently covered and satisfied with their plans will have to change?  No wonder most Americans remain opposed to the federal health care takeover. 

And no wonder so many Americans are skeptical of giving the federal government more power, and more control over our lives, and over our money.  A July 3rd Enquirer headline read “Federal Program Bilked Out of More Than $100 Million.”  Here’s the first paragraph of the story: “A federal program designed to help impoverished families heat and cool their homes wasted more than $100 million paying the electric bills of thousands of applicants who were dead, in prison or living in million dollar mansions, according to a government investigation.” 

And finally a July 2nd Enquirer headline read “Millions of Doses of Flu Vaccine to be Burned.”  Once again, I’ll just quote from the article:

Now the article begs the question, should the federal government have ramped up and prepared the nation for the possible swine flu onslaught? In my view, yes.  But can we trust the federal government to be reasonably efficient with our tax dollars when it spends them?  And to that I would argue, emphatically – NO. 

There is way too much waste at the federal level, in fact at all levels of government.  Millions, in fact billions of our tax dollars are wasted every year.  And as our government has been allowed, in fact encouraged to grow since this Administration and this Congress took over approximately one-and-a-half years ago, it has grown from bad to worse.  We’ll have the opportunity to reverse that trend in a little less than four months.  Remember in November. 

P.S. on an unrelated note, I’d like to encourage you to join me in helping Cincinnati Red, Joey Votto make it to the All-Star Game, by voting for him here.  Good luck Joey!

A few interesting things happened over the last week which demonstrate how truly arrogant and out of touch with the American people this Administration and this Congress are.

First, Vice President Joe Biden, while doing a PR tour in Glendale, Wisconsin, angrily called the manager of Kopp’s Frozen Custard a “smartass” when the poor guy had the audacity to ask Biden to “lower his taxes.”  (To Biden this is apparently one of the “small people” that that arrogant BP executive was referring to.)

Then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (the guy who didn’t pay his own taxes, but expects the rest of us “small people” to do so) says that the world “cannot depend on the United States as it did in the past.”  So much for American Exceptionalism.  Geithner’s downgrading of the U.S. role in today’s world reminds me a lot of what President Obama said when he was asked whether he believed in American Exceptionalism (the belief that America is uniquely qualified to lead the world.)  Obama’s response: “I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism.”  (Translation: no, he does not believe in American Exceptionalism.  We’re just one more country – no better or worse than any other.)  Thank God Woodrow Wilson, and FDR, and Ronald Reagan didn’t see it that way.

At the G-20 meeting in Toronto, it became very clear, very quickly, that President Obama is to the left of what we used to think of as leftist “Old Europe.”  Most of the European leaders, as well as Canada, and even China, are worried about out-of-control government spending and the resulting debt burden on countries around the world.  They see Greece as a warning sign of what will happen if they don’t get their fiscal houses in order.  President Obama says nothing to worry about here, just keep spending like there’s no tomorrow.  They’re right – he’s wrong.

And finally, Nancy Pelosi, the most liberal, big-spending Speaker of the House in our nation’s history, was in town Saturday to raise money in Indian Hill for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).  The DCCC spent $1.6 million on Steve Driehaus’s campaign last time, and will spend a ton this time too.  Why not, he votes with Nancy Pelosi virtually every time.  (94.8% to be exact.)  However, she’s so unpopular with the American people due to her leftist policies, that they wanted to slide her into town below the radar screen, raise their cash, and slide back out of town without anyone realizing she was ever here. 

No doubt they raised a lot of money which will go towards the effort to keep the liberals’ stranglehold on all levers of power in Washington after November 2nd.  If you would like to counter the benefit Steve Driehaus will get from Pelosi’s visit, you can make a contribution to my campaign by clicking here.  Coincidentally, today, Wednesday, June 30th, is the last day of the second quarter of this year, and we have to report what we’ve raised by midnight today.  So a contribution today is particularly helpful to my campaign.

As I’ve mentioned before, we are well positioned to win this race.  There have been three polls done so far: one shows us up by 14 points, one by 17 points, and the third poll was done by the Driehaus Campaign, and they won’t release the results of it (you can draw your own conclusions why!)

But we’re taking nothing for granted.  We’re not going to rest on our laurels, or get overconfident.  We are going to continue to work very hard, fight the good fight, and win.  It’s critical that conservatives like myself do, if we are to have any chance of changing the dangerous course that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama have set for this nation.

Please, act now.  And, Remember in November!