Archive for January, 2012
America is Counting on Us!!!
Sunday, January 29th, 2012Weekly Musing 1-29-12
Sunday, January 29th, 2012Weekly Musing 1-29-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman
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The Comeback Kid? Romney Rebounds in FL
After some vicious attacks back and forth between candidates and third party committees, the race seems to be crystalizing. Voters across Florida will help decide who the next Republican nominee will ultimately be.
Polling seems to indicate Romney is making a comeback as voters consider the candidates past records, vision for the future and who is in the best position to defeat Barack Obama and his policies.
I believe Mitt Romney is the right man for Michigan and the right man for America!
Obama’s Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record –
Obama Has Made it Worse!
A great video to share with our friends!
Tea Party Endorses Clark Durant for U.S. Senate
One of Michigan’s largest Tea Parties, Tea Party Patriots of Western Oakland County endorsed Durant this week. In their endorsement they said:
”After considerable analysis and vetting of the candidates, we have concluded that Clark Durant is the strongest and best candidate to win the primary in August and the general election in November. He is an articulate voice for smaller, constitutionally limited government, a more equitable simpler tax system and less spending. He has a history of challenging the status quo, fixing things that are broken, and improving the lives of thousands in Michigan thru private charity and the privately funded Cornerstone Schools.
Clark Durant is the right man for the job and would make a great United States Senator!
http://teapartypatriotsofwestoakland.ning.com/
MI4CS Tea Party Endorsement Questioned
There is growing concern by various candidates and Tea Party members and clubs around the state that some are trying to manipulate Tea Party members, groups and the process for MI4CS for a specific candidate. Here is a good post that discusses the controversy.
http://lapeerteaparty.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mi4cs-the-best-of-intentions
No Budget Debbie: Enough is Enough
A great online video from the Michigan Republican Party about Debbie Stabenow and the Democrats – NO Budget in over 1,000 days, outrageous!
State of the Nation – Obama is making it worse!
The RNC puts out a video that and runs commercials that lays out Obama’s record. Shameful.
How the GOP can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory — a playbook
I think this is somewhat of a oversimplification of what could happen. However, it is one of the arguments why I believe a commonsense conservative like Mitt Romney could unite the “center-right” coalition we need to win.
Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund
Save the Date: The 7th Annual Dinner & Auction will take place Saturday, April 28, 2012 at the Suburban Collection Showplace, 46100 Grand River Ave. in Novi…supporting those who serve and protect our country!
MI GOP: Precinct Delegate Applications online!
For activists who want to become precinct delegate and play a greater role in our party…here is your first step! File locally and run for precinct delegate.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aff-ID_Precnt_139901_7.pdf
Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.
Please share.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.
On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis
On Twitter at:
@sanuzis
Thanks again for all you do!
TEA Party Patriots of West Oakland County Endorse Clark Durant
Monday, January 23rd, 2012http://teapartypatriotsofwestoakland.ning.com/
TEA Party Patriots of West Oakland County Endorse Clark Durant for the United States Senate.
After considerable analysis and vetting of the candidates, we have concluded that Clark Durant is the strongest and best candidate to win the primary in August and the general election in November. He is an articulate voice for smaller, constitutionally limited government, a more equitable simpler tax system and less spending. He has a history of challenging the status quo, fixing things that are broken, and improving the lives of thousands in Michigan thru private charity and the privately funded Cornerstone Schools.
From analyzing the various tea party debates and public appearances, iCaucus questionnaires, past voting records, and personal histories we concluded that Clark Durant is the strongest conservative primary candidate and he is the best suited to confront and defeat the sitting Senator. While most of the candidates have similar stated positions and all scored in the high 90 percentile on the iCaucus questionnaire, there are several points that separate Clark Durant from the other candidates. Pete Hoekstra is a career politician whose votes in favor of TARP, debt increases, bridge to nowhere, and his cozy relationship to unions do not offer a compelling alternative to our current Senator. The other primary candidates have not demonstrated the capacity to motivate the public for significant support of their campaigns via political contributions nor do they have the depth of experience that it will take to effectively post up against a sitting U.S. Senator.
On the other hand, Clark Durant is the only primary candidate that has won a state wide election. He has demonstrated the ability to motivate real grass roots support as he has raised almost 1.4 million dollars in less than 4 months of campaigning. But, most importantly, what separates Clark Durant from the others is the nature of his work. He created alternatives to failed government systems when he founded Cornerstone Schools as an alternative to Detroit Public Schools, and when he saved jobs by privatizing the Ann Arbor Railroad providing an alternative to a failing taxpayer funded business. Washington DC is broken and failing. Clark Durant is the right person to fix it.
A brief word about how our endorsement of Clark Durant fits into the broader Tea Party picture in Michigan. Our group, and it appears many others, have chosen to make our own decision about who to support for U.S. senate and will not participate in the MI4CS process. While well intentioned, the MI4CS did not have sufficient time to work out a transparent system that accurately reflects the voice of the Michigan Tea Party movement nor will it disclose the list of participating groups. We wish all the various Tea Party groups, regardless of whether they express their choice thru the MI4CS process or independently, our best wishes in choosing a candidate that defends Constitutional principles, can win the primary and is the strongest candidate to defeat Debbie Stabenow. We strongly believe that candidate is Clark Durant and we hope all will join us in supporting him.
Please click on the following links for more information.
TPPWOC%20Durant%20Endorsement1%20-%20Jan%202012.doc
TPPWOCUSSenateSummaryChart-20-Jan-2012.pdf
Leadership Committee – Tea Party Patriots of West Oakland County
Weekly Musing 1-22-11
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012Weekly Musing 1-22-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her
altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,
“Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air
balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet
above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude
and 100 degrees, 49..09 minutes west longitude.
She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be a Republican.
“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”
“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is
technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your
information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to
me.”
The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Democrat.”
“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”
“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are — or where you
are going. You’ve risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of
hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you
expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position
you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”
South Carolina Republican Primary
I’m finishing this newsletter in Charlotte SC after the SRLC conference and just following the primary here. Off to catch the plan after I hit send.
Newt pulls off a big victory in South Carolina after two great debate showings. South Carolina, being the most conservative state in the early round, gave Newt the victory he needed to fight another day.
With Santorum winning Iowa, Romney winning New Hampshire and Newt winning South Carolina – we have a race for the nomination.
Overly optimistic, better than expected, early polling numbers created higher than realistic expectations for Romney. Originally no one thought Romney could win Iowa, he ignored it for much of the race and then came back within 34 votes…in effect a big victory.
New Hampshire was strong for Romney and he performed better than expected giving him a big momentum bump.
Here in South Carolina, a state where Romney came in 4th place with only 15% of the vote in 2008, Perry was the presumed favorite before dropping out. Newt had two very strong showings in the debates leading up to the primary, Perry dropped out and endorsed Newt – who then pulled off an impressive victory.
One has to also wonder how much the mainstream media’s “cheap shots” backfired on their attempt to put Newt on the defensive when Juan Williams and John King gave him an opening to deliver a knock-out punch to primary voters nationwide on network TV during the debates…and he did!
From the very beginning, most believed this was going to be a long nominating process…and it looks like it’s going to be the case. The RNC rules were specifically designed to prolong the process to allow all the candidates a chance to be vetted and not wrap things up too early. It looks like it worked.
Romney is in a veru strong position, having a great organization nationwide and a fundraising network second to none. The campaign is prepared and ready for a long, drawn out nominating process. I think realistically, we’ll have our nominee sometime in early April.
Michigan’s primary will now be VERY important and give our state a stronger voice in the process. This promises to be an exciting time over the next few months…onward to Florida!
Larry Arnn endorses Clark Durant for U.S. Senate
Hillsdale College President, Dr. Larry Arnn, endorsed Clark Durant for Michigan’s United States Senate seat. Arnn issued a video message “speaking as a citizen, not on behalf of the College,” stating, “This is an unusual time. It calls for very unusual people…”
Activists push politics on Facebook, Twitter
“The Holy Grail of social media from a candidate’s viewpoint is to ‘go viral,’ get noticed and hope that exposure translates into votes,” said Adam Kravitz, CEO and co-founder of the nonpartisan election information website eVoter. “
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-social-media-2012-election-20120113,0,4186187.story
Right to work fight may hit Michigan – Why the Controversy?
It ONLY gives Workers a Choice about joining a Union??? I’m always amazed how union bosses manipulate the issue, shouldn’t worker have a choice versus today’s “forced” membership?
MI GOP: Precinct Delegate Applications online!
For activists who want to become precinct delegate and play a greater role in our party…here is your first step! File locally and run for precinct delegate.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aff-ID_Precnt_139901_7.pdf
Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.
Please share.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.
On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis
On Twitter at:
@sanuzis
Thanks again for all you do!
Weekly Musing for 1-15-12
Sunday, January 15th, 2012Weekly Musing 1-15-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman
Pure Michigan! The Comeback!!!
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Governor Rick Snyder and Lt. Governor Brian Calley at the Detroit International Auto Show.
10 Ways Barack Obama Is Destroying The Middle Class
The statistics paint a sobering picture for just what President Obama has achieved in his fight to “help the middle class reclaim a sense of economic security that will benefit the entire economy”:
• Unemployment: The number of people unemployed has grown by over one million.
• Long-term Unemployment: The average duration of unemployment has more than doubled, to an astonishing 40.8 weeks.
• Jobs: Nearly 1.7 million jobs have been lost.
• Income: Median household income has declined by nearly $1,000.
• Poverty: The number of people in poverty has grown by over six million.
• Hunger: Food stamp participation has increased by more than 14 million people, to a devastating 46.2 million.
• Health Care: Average family health insurance premiums have increased by more than $1,500.
• Energy: Gas prices have nearly doubled, to $3.38 per gallon.
• Housing: Foreclosures have spiked to a record one-million-plus annually.
• Debt: Each family’s share of the publicly-held national debt has skyrocketed by more than $35,000, to nearly $90,000.
When Barack Obama ran for the presidency, he promised to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” Sadly, he is succeeding. He is pushing America toward a European-style entitlement society that would have been unrecognizable to our parents’ generation – let alone the Founders’ – with diminishing economic opportunity and ever-growing government programs and regulations.
The election this November will be about whether the America wants to continue in this direction, or reverse course and rebuild the Opportunity Society that has made her the greatest in the history of the world. Mitt Romney looks forward to offering voters that choice.
http://images.politico.com/global/2012/01/120114_romneymemo.html
RNC Meeting Update from New Orleans
Yesterday I returned from a week of meetings in New Orleans at the RNC Winter Meeting. Republicans from around the country are excited about our prospects and we had some great updates and shared lots of information. Here is a quick summary:
MI GOP: The RNC committed significant funds for our Victory effort in Michigan. With both the Presidential and U.S. Senate races being in play, Michigan is in contention to be a top target!
Rules & Penalties: The RNC decided NOT to impose any additional penalties on MI, AZ and NH. However, additional penalties that effected housing, floor seating and loss of guest/VIP passes were imposed against the FL GOP delegation.
Technology: The RNC is implemented an aggressive plan to improve our communications, GOTV, social media and overall technological capabilities nationwide. You’ll see new launches of various applications over the next few months.
Expenses: I received a few inquiries this week as to whether or not the RNC or Michigan Republicans reimburse RNC members for these meetings. NO, RNC members are ALL volunteers and are NOT reimbursed by the party for any expenses, including travel, hotel nor meals.
Republican U.S. Senate candidates debate foreign policy, constitution at CMU
I think when you look at who is right on the issues and has the capability to raise the money necessary to run an effective campaign against Debbie Stabenow..it’s Clark Durant!
The burden of Obamanomics
The President must take responsibility for policies that have resulted in the reluctance of employers to hire workers. The reason may be found in the writings of James Madison, Federalist #62:
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot by understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow.
It is clear that the Obama administration is exactly what Madison warned us about.
It has created an economic environment of high unemployment and lack of investment. Markets are amazingly resilient and we will have economic growth in 2012 despite the this administration. But replacing Mr. Obama will go a long ways towards solving the nation’s economic problems.
http://www.michiganview.com/article/20120112/MIVIEW/201120500/Wolfram–The-burden-of-Obamanomics
The Worst Economic Recovery Since The Great Depression
The record of President Obama’s first three years in office is in, and nothing that happens now can go back and change that. What that record shows is that President Obama, with his throwback, old-fashioned, 1970s Keynesian economics, has put America through the worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression.
Obama cooks the unemployment books
Don’t believe bureaucrats, unemployment is really 11.4 percent
This raises the question why the unemployment rate continues to improve. The answer is that the “official” workforce is shrinking. Only those working or actively seeking employment “count” in the unemployment statistics. The discouraged, the dropouts and those who don’t even bother trying to find work aren’t included in the official unemployment rate. The 30-year average participation rate – that is, the percentage of Americans in the workforce – is 65.8 percent. During the last three years, this number has fallen sharply to around 64 percent. While the potential worker population rose last year by 1.7 million, the official workforce only went up 275,000. Counting like that makes it easier to report better employment numbers.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/9/obama-cooks-the-unemployment-books/
The Fact Checker: Four Pinocchio’s of the “King of Bain” Romney hit piece
The 29-minute video “King of Bain” is such an over-the-top assault on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney that it is hard to know where to begin. It uses evocative footage from distraught middle-class Americans who allege that Romney’s deal-making is responsible for their woes. It mixes images of closed factories and shuttered shops with video clips of Romney making him look foolish, vain or greedy. And it has a sneering voice-over that seeks to push every anti-Wall Street button possible.
MI GOP: Precinct Delegate Applications online!
For activists who want to become precinct delegate and play a greater role in our party…here is your first step! File locally and run for precinct delegate.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aff-ID_Precnt_139901_7.pdf
Stay In Touch…Feel Free to ShareMy goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.
Please share.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.
On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis
On Twitter at:
@sanuzis
Thanks again for all you do!
Weekly Musing for 1-8-12
Sunday, January 8th, 2012Weekly Musing 1-8-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman
Obama’s Revisionist History: Here is what really happened.
Those Bush tax cuts quickly ended the 2001 recession, despite the contractionary economic impacts of 9/11, and the economy continued to grow for another 73 months. After the rate cuts were all fully implemented in 2003, the economy created 7.8 million new jobs and the unemployment rate fell from over 6% to 4.4%. Real economic growth over the next 3 years doubled from the average for the prior 3 years, to 3.5%.
In response to the rate cuts, business investment spending, which had declined for 9 straight quarters, reversed and increased 6.7% per quarter. That is where the jobs came from. Manufacturing output soared to its highest level in 20 years. The stock market revived, creating almost $7 trillion in new shareholder wealth. From 2003 to 2007, the S&P 500 almost doubled. Capital gains tax revenues had doubled by 2005, despite Bush’s 25% cut in the capital gains rate.
The deficit in the last budget adopted by Republican Congressional majorities was $161 billion for fiscal 2007. Today that deficit is nearly 10 times as much. Total federal revenues under Bush soared by nearly 30%, from $1.991 trillion in 2001 to $2.568 trillion in 2007. The day the Democrat Congressional majorities took office, January 3, 2007, the unemployment rate was 4.6%. George Bush’s economic policies, “the failed policies of the past” in Obama’s rhetoric, had set a record of 52 straight months of job creation.
Even before Obama was elected, under those “failed policies of the past,” the top 1% of income earners in 2007 paid 40% of federal income taxes (up from 17.6% when Reagan entered office), while the CBO just reported that they earned 17% of the income in 2007. Moreover, that 40% of federal income taxes paid by the top 1% was more than paid by the bottom 95% combined, according to official IRS data. While the top 1% paid 40% of federal income taxes, the bottom 40% paid no federal income taxes as a group on net. Today 47% pay no federal income taxes.
Don’t Let Obama/Democrats Spin the Facts
When the president says he inherited the “worst economic conditions ever”…don’t buy it. The facts above are good talking points. Obama is making things worse…we are for change…and hope!
New Hampshire primary: Mitt Romney rises above squabbling pack
The Republican presidential debate Saturday broke out into a volley of charges and counter-charges between the candidates, but left front-runner Mitt Romney almost entirely unscathed in the second-to-last forum before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
The debate was an object lesson in the challenges facing Romney’s conservative opponents: much as they need to tear down the former Massachusetts governor, they can’t help squabbling amongst themselves instead.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71198.html#ixzz1iq0ECrsb
Durant Raises over $1.3 MILLION against Stabenow!In just over 4 months, Clark Durant’s campaign has raised over $1.3 million dollars. This last quarter, even over the holidays, they raked in over $600,000 and having around $1 MILLION cash on hand.
Very impressive!
http://www.thatssaulfolks.com/2012/01/06/durant-team-raises-of-1-3-million-in-just-over-4-months/
9th Congressional District Pancakes & Politics
Yesterday I joined over 100 Republican and Tea Party activists at their first Pancakes & Politics event for 2012. Congressman Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican’s Political Director Steve Ostrow and I addressed the activists. We discussed the 2012 elections coming up and the work ahead!
Everyone stressed we are going to have a competitive primary for President, U.S. Senate and other seats. WE Republicans have to remember that regardless who wins the primary, ultimately our goal is to defeat Obama and his allies to stop his liberal policies! Prepare for UNITY!!!
Oh yeh, and NO demonstrators showed up:)
Interesting Analysis: Anatomy of a Narrow Victory
“Romney’s staff presided over an aggressive effort to both monitor the supporters and keep nudging the persuadables. Field organizers managed phone banks where volunteers would place calls to identify voters’ leanings (known as ID calls), registering the results onto bubble sheets by hand and then scanning them digitally. Volunteers would patrol the doors of Romney’s events to ensure attendees filled out cards identifying them as supporters. All of that information was fed back into TargetPoint’s databases to refine the quality of its predictions.”
Why U.S. should cheer for Scott Walker
“Wisconsin has emerged as a central battleground in the fight over the outsized political role played by, and the enormous privileges enjoyed by, public employee unions. The collective bargaining entitlement enables public sector workers to extract excessive compensation, benefits, and pension packages at the expense of taxpayers.”
House GOP Jobs Plan Status – Why Obama & the Senate Democrats are KILLING Jobs?!?Last year, House Republicans released a comprehensive pro-growth jobs plan to foster an environment for economic growth and job creation. In August, House Republicans took the plan a step further by repealing or delaying the 10 most harmful regulations preventing businesses from growing and hiring new workers. In September, House Republicans outlined areas of agreement with President Obama’s jobs plan, focusing on areas of common ground where we can make incremental steps toward putting Americans back to work.
To date, the House has passed 27 bipartisan jobs bills that await action from Senate Democrats.
http://majorityleader.gov/JobsTracker/
Best Critique of Obama I’ve Ever Read
“Ferrara succinctly examines Obama’s upbringing, his early professional life, his liberal ideology, his ascendency into politics, his becoming President of the United States and his policies since occupying the White House. This is a very interesting and insightful read, especially in light of the challenging economic and financial times we find ourselves in.”
http://profutures.com/article.php/777/
Obama’s Repo Men – The Democrat’s 1%
“Wall Street can do math, and the math looks like this: Wall Street + Washington = Wild Profitability. Free enterprise? Entrepreneurship? Starting a business making and selling stuff behind some grimy little storefront? You’d have to be a fool. Better to invest in political favors…Free-market, limited-government conservatives should be none too eager to welcome them back, nor should we let our natural sympathy with the profit motive blind us to the fact that a great many of them do not belong in the conservative movement, and that more than a few of them belong in prison.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/286704/repo-men-kevin-d-williamson
Will Obama steal the 2012 election?
“Racism has nothing to do with states implementing voter ID laws. Rather, it is about protecting the integrity of our electoral system. Voter fraud is rampant; abuses regularly take place.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/30/voter-id-terrifies-democrats-will-obama-steal-the-/
GOP’s election battle plan: Use Obama’s own words against him
Republican officials say they will leverage the party’s newly catalogued video library containing every publicly available utterance from Obama since his 2008 campaign. Television and Internet ads will juxtapose specific Obama promises of job gains, homeowner assistance, help for people in poverty, lower health insurance premiums and stricter White House ethics standards against government data and news clippings that paint a different reality.
Scary! The Coming Collapse of China
“The problem for the country’s ruling party is that, although Chinese people generally do not have revolutionary intentions, their acts of social disruption can have revolutionary implications because they are occurring at an extraordinarily sensitive time.”
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/29/the_coming_collapse_of_china_2012_edition
MI GOP: Precinct Delegate Applications online!
For activists who want to become precinct delegate and play a greater role in our party…here is your first step! File locally and run for precinct delegate.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aff-ID_Precnt_139901_7.pdf
Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.
Please share.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.
On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis
On Twitter at:
@sanuzis
Thanks again for all you do!
Durant Team Raises of $1.3 Million in Just Over 4 Months!
Friday, January 6th, 2012
DURANT TEAM RAISES OVER $1.3 MILLION IN JUST OVER 4 MONTHS
Bob Lutz, the General Finance Chairman for the Durant for U.S. Senate team, will report another excellent fundraising quarter. “The Durant campaign raised just over $600,000 in the final quarter of 2011,” said Lutz. Since Durant entered the race in mid-August, the total monies raised by the campaign exceed $1.3 million.
“We are grateful to so many people from across the state who are investing in our American Way of doing things, not the Washington Way of career politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, who have given us more debt, more spending, more subsidies, more regulation, and more taxes,” said Durant.
“Looking ahead, our team will raise more than $600,000 in the next quarter. If the people elect him, Clark will be a constitutional catalyst for change in Washington”, said Lutz.
“I am grateful to so many people across the state who are helping us be a voice for freedom and opportunity instead of entitlement and unconstrained spending and debt. We fully expect Congressman Hoekstra, the establishment’s candidate, to raise more funds, but we are raising the kinds of funds needed to mobilize a grassroots insurgency for freedom and victory”, said Durant.
