FIRST Welcome to the 2016 presidential race Rand Paul.
The junior senator from Kentucky formally announced his candidacy for the White House on Tuesday and Conservative First welcomes the “conservatarian” into what is shaping out to be one of the best presidential fields in a long time.
While Senator Paul can at times express more libertarian views than we tend to like, there is no question that he is a constitutionalist with strong fiscal and social conservative principles and we think he is extremely bright, articulate, and passionate.
If Mr. Paul can merge his libertarian brigade that helped his father Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential race, with the grassroots conservative base, the senator will be very tough to beat in the primaries.
Regardless, his entrance into the race makes the field that much stronger and deeper and the prospect of having a strong constitutional nominee take the podium in June of 2016 in Cleveland is more and more likely.
The great Winston Churchill once remarked many years ago, “A lie gets halfway around the world once before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” In today’s society, his words still resonate.
On Monday, Rolling Stone magazine retracted its story accusing a fraternity at the University of Virginia of gang rape after a 13,000 word essay from Columbia University debunked all the information and pointed out many factual errors in the reporter’s story. The publisher of Rolling Stone, Jann S. Wenner, said that the source for the story, Jackie, was “a real expert fabulist storyteller” who managed to “manipulate the magazine’s journalism process”. The magazine went on to say that the incident was isolated and that the reporter would continue to work at the magazine. Well, thank goodness for that!
The real issue here is the liberal media setting aside journalistic integrity for political narration.
They do this all the time.
No longer are the media out to tell the story as it happened. The facts are secondary and irrelevant.
And this is by design.
Whether it was “white Hispanic” George Zimmerman being falsely accused of racism by NBC News who purposely doctored the 911 call or the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” mantra, which even the Department of Justice ruled did not occur, the media never lets the actual facts of what happened get in the way of promoting a political agenda that they seek to achieve.
The events in Sanford, Florida and Ferguson, Missouri respectively in recent years are just two of the very unfortunate events where the actual facts of the case would alter the perception of what many people believed happened based on how the media first reported them.
The next time a tragic event happens, first consider the source of the information, then analyze the media’s possible motive, and finally hold off judgment until all the facts are forthcoming.
This should save a rush to discriminate in the public court of opinion.
Perhaps, just perhaps, human lives won’t be forever tarnished and/or ruined by a media hellbent on making political statements with lies before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.
Arizona Senator John McCain announced this week that he will indeed seek a sixth U.S. Senate term in 2016. The 78 year old senator must be defeated in next year’s primary, and not just because of his age, though we believe that few senators at or around his age have historically been very effective. The reason we call for his primary defeat is rather simple: he is a moderate, entrenched, establishment politician.
Having served nearly 30 years in the U.S. Senate already, Senator McCain has overstayed his welcome in Washington D.C. and is now part of the problem, not the solution. With a resume consisting of the McCain-Feingold Act, the Gang of Eight amnesty, working with liberals like Ted Kennedy on immigration, opposing tax cuts, and disparaging conservatives/libertarians like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Justin Amash by calling them “wacko birds”, Senator McCain has been on the wrong side of constitutional and conservative history.
Conservative First’s mission is to defeat politicians like Mr. McCain and replace them with solid constitutional conservatives who will serve the people, not serve a political party and their special interests. Over the next several months, we will begin to vet potential candidates who may run against Senator McCain and then make a decision on who to support based on who we feel best identifies as a conservative first and will uphold the Constitution and help restore this great republic. The changing of the old guard in Congress, especially the U.S. Senate, is a must and the great citizens of Arizona can help send a message to politicians that the capitulation of principles is no longer acceptable. Together, the grassroots movement in Arizona and all across America can force Senator McCain into political retirement.
On Tuesday, President Obama admitted in an interview with NPR News that his nuke deal with Iran only “delays the inevitable” that they will eventually acquire nuclear weapons. Then why bother with a deal? Why not just let them have nukes now?
The best way, aside from military force, to prevent a terrorist regime like Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is to continue to force strong economic sanctions on them until their economy is nearly crippled. The current sanctions in place have been working Mr. President, so why let them off the hook?
We all know why. This is all about the president’s legacy, at least in his mind, and appeasing the Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, his closest adviser inside the White House who is no doubt the brains behind this awful nuclear deal with Iran. President Obama and his administration can spin this deal anyway they want but by admitting that the Iranians will eventually acquire nuclear weapons, it is quite obvious that he is appeasing Tehran and is not serious about preventing them from their ultimate goal of having the capability to “eliminate” Israel.
The United States Senate must treat Obama’s nuke deal with Iran as a treaty and vote against it. Congress should then use its constitutional authority to defund or implement a single aspect of it.
Sorry Mr. President, but the Constitution is not just the executive branch. There are three equal branches of government with separated powers and no one branch is above the other, despite you trying to make it so.
And as long as you are being honest Mr. President, will you now admit as well that the talking point “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” that you used over and over is not true?
Final We salute University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh for standing up for our military, American hero Chris Kyle, and First Amendment rights.
After the the university caved to a tiny minority of some 200 or so students who protested the school’s decision to show “American Sniper” at a Friday night screening and subsequently cancelled it, the coach took to Twitter later that night and tweeted this:
“Michigan Football will watch “American Sniper”! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!”
Since his hiring as the football team’s new coach in late December, the university, the community in Ann Arbor, and the local media have welcomed him with open arms as a potential savior of the downtrodden gridiron program. They all hope he can return it back to its glory. The former Michigan quarterback seems he can do no wrong.
So why make a stance like this and upset the apple cart?
Most coaches at any level refrain from making political statements such as the one Mr. Harbaugh made in order to avoid negative attention or a controversy. But then again, to anyone who personally or publicly knows anything about Coach Harbaugh, he is fierce and competitive and he will say what it is on his mind as the tweet stated, “if that offends anybody then so be it!”
What is refreshing to see, regardless of your thoughts about the man or the University of Michigan, is the bold and courageous decision to make such a statement, especially coming from a high profile figure in college football.
In today’s world, that’s not common, but it is most welcomed.
