Trump nominee senate hearings: Pete Hegseth

President (and currently president-elect) Trump has made numerous nominations for roles within his administration. Yesterday the senate hearings for his nomination confirmations began. The first high profile hearing was for the Secretary of Defense position, with nominee Pete Hegseth.  The Democrats thought they could torpedo his nomination with some half-baked gotcha style questioning. 

Boy were they wrong:

Trump has locked up the nomination

Same with that other Let's Go Brandon guy.  I think.  He may get booted out still by the party that hates democracy. Still, Trump's nomination is the one that really matters.

The state of Trump vs De Santis for the 2024 nomination

The Trump lead over De Santis in the race for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, seems to be widening to the level of unassailable. It's early, it's very early. But this margin is not insignificant.

I think a lot of conservative (Republican) voters would be happy to see four more years of president Trump  followed by eight years of De Santis as president.  That would be my preferred option simply because America needs four years of house cleaning (at a minimum) followed by 8 years of strategic rebuilding.  I'm more inclined to believe that Trump would be willing to tear down the bloated, self-serving institutions that went after him than De Santis who would be a great leader but less invested in cleaning up a truly messy and dysfunctional federal beaurocracy. That's not to say De Santis wouldn't do it, but his motivation would not be as strong as president Trump's would be.

My silence on the Democratic candidates

I've been watching the Democrats vie for the nomination to be their presidential candidates.  I've made very few remarks so far, mostly based on a quote that I read once that's attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte:

President Trump is happy to chime in on what he sees.  Maybe he's right because there is nothing he can say that will sway the party to become more rational.  I doubt there is anyone who can swing them back to sanity and away from free healthcare for illegal immigrants at this point.  They may be beyond recovery at this point.

Romney - Last man standing in Virginia

Politics is blood sport.

It now looks like only Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are the only two candidates to qualify for the ballot in Virginia.  Everyone else did not comply robustly enough with the 10,000 signatures requirement to be on the ballot in that state.  Except that they did.  They didn't have enough to cover off the disqualified or contested signatures, which typically apparently means that to net out at 10,000, 15,000 signatures are required.  That didn't happen. Gingrich is the latest one to fall;

Washington (CNN) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the Virginia primary ballot, the Republican Party of Virginia announced Saturday morning, leaving the longtime Virginia resident without a place on the state's ballot and raising questions about his campaign's organization.

Gingrich, as well as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, did not meet the state's requirement of 10,000 signatures and, therefore, did not qualify for the ballot, the Virginia GOP said via Twitter.

The state GOP announced Perry's failure to qualify late Friday.

The news from the Virginia Republicans is a significant setback for Gingrich, who clamored earlier this week to gather enough voter signatures in the state. Gingrich utilized paid staffers to comb Virginia, asking voters to sign petitions that would allow him a place on the ballot.

On Wednesday, Gingrich ensured a crowd of supporters he had met the threshold for appearing on the ballot, saying he had gathered anywhere from 12,000-14,000 signatures.

Virginia requires candidates to obtain 10,000 signatures from registered voters, with 400 signatures coming from each of the commonwealth's eleven congressional districts.

Gingrich's spokesman said Wednesday the effort to secure a spot on the Virginia ballot was meant to showcase the campaign's ground game.

Allahpundit at Hot Air has the exact exit question that we should be asking for Perry, but it applies to each and every candidate not on the ballot;

Exit question: Is this a disqualifying mistake on Perry’s part? If you can’t trust him to do his ballot homework, why trust him to run a tight ship in the general election against Obama?

My first instinct is that this is an establishment move to ensure a Romney win in Virginia.  It's much easier to win with far less competition.  Dirty pool?  Maybe.  But regardless, the rules are the rules and failure toy play the game properly does call into question organizational and leadership skills.  It should serve as a wake up call to every candidate who considers themselves serious about the GOP nomination.

URGENT Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion MUST READ

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Senate To "Go To War" Today Over Jack McConnell Nomination.  There's a reason this nomination today is so important.  Please take a look at Professor Jacobson's post to find out why and then do what you can to affect the outcome.  Either help spread the word (like me) to people who live in the states that matter, or call your Senator to express your opinion if your senator is on the fence on this.  Professor Jacobson has even done some of the legwork for you by providing their phone numbers.

And yes, there is an urgency to this.

Make a difference.

Quick Post: GOP - Where's our list of 'moderate' alternatives?

What simpler way to make the Democrats the party of 'no' and the party of visible partisanship than to do what the Democrats tried to do to Bush.

Come up with a list of moderate-right judges for nomination to the Supreme Court post being vacated, to present to the President to decline out-of-hand.

When they reject the list as too right-leaning you could pull a 'gotcha' by being sure to include some actual moderate judges that were advanced by Democrats. There has to be some of them out there somewhere - say in Virginia for example.

After all, you need to stand on principle but since everyone in the MSM is harping on you being hyper-partisan you get a free 'we tried to play ball' that is going to go down in flames despite your best efforts to combat it. Why not score some good PR in the process?

Will the base forgive you for suggesting moderates? If you can find someone who is actually moderate, then maybe. If they understand that its a PR move, then definitely. Besides, you can stand on principle and still suggest some moderates who pass conservative mustard. They won't be stellar nominations like Alito or Roberts, but if they actually made it through they'd be better than the activist that's being forwarded now.

Just a thought.

Gregg Aftermath II

Previous Gregg analysis - impact on Gregg.

Senator Gregg's decision to step down as nominee for the Commerce Secretary position affects not only himself, but also President Obama and the Republican Turncoat 3.

What does it do for President Obama? Or more precisely to President Obama? A couple of things.

Firstly the Obama administration has to be shaking it's head at the number of mis-steps it's taken in the appointment process and the Gregg withdrawal, while not tax-cheat related like some of the others, is still another mark on the administration's appointment record. After issues with Richardson, Solis and Daschle (among others, including Geithner), and now the recanting of Gregg, the grading on the Obama selection/vetting/nominee process can at best be considered a D-. That diminishes his messianic image. If he's so brilliant, why all the false starts?

Secondly, President Obama is using up a lot of his political capital in pushing the stimulus bill. This expends another few cents of that political capital. Now while according to Gallup, Obama still has a lot left, others including Rasmussen are showing differently (at least on the stimulus). I'm sure he still has a lot of capital left, but it's starting to fall away in little bits, and we haven't reached the 100 day mark yet.

Thirdly it also shines a light on the politicking behind the Obama administration trying to co-opt the census process for political purposes. If nothing else, Gregg's departure helps de-brand Obama in the squeaky clean department. True, to the 'true believers' it won't matter one iota, but to moderates who swung towards Obama in the election, they might have through all of these impacts be swung back a little towards the red side of the spectrum.

Fourthly, the administration is looking a little vindictive and petty. From Townhall, According to Gregg he accepted an offer;

"The president asked me to do it," he said of the job offer. "I said, yes. That was my mistake."

Obama offered a somewhat different account from Gregg.

"It comes as something of a surprise, because the truth, you know, Mr. Gregg approached us with interest and seemed enthusiastic," Obama said in an interview with the Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register.

Hmmm. Who is telling the truth? My guess is the President is in full spin mode. According to the Boston Globe, the offer came from the President. Isn't it kind of hard to back-track now?

According to 538, the White House is steamed by the resignation (slight language alert);

Here is the statement the White House just put out on kicking Judd Gregg to the
curb, in full:

“Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart”.

Translation: Gregg asked us for the gig and lied to us, so eff him, this is his fault.As one longtime White House correspondent just told me, "I have never seen a White House statement that kicks someone in the balls that hard before."

Well now. That looks classy, even without the translation, after the Gregg comment, why would you contradict someone whom you previously stated was a great man for the post?

And what does it do for your image let alone credibility when you now try to knock him down after he slags your stinkulus bill? Nothing but hurts it, that's what. All the Republicans need to do, is have Gregg knock the stimulus bill and when Obama responds - play the above video in every major market. Another gift horse for Republicans and this time, unlike the Gregg nomination, it's not a Trojan Horse.