Op-ed: Drummond, the Antifa Candidate

The Antifa Candidate

by James Silberman

Leftists cynically and dishonestly wielding the epithet “fascist” against Republicans has become a feature of modern American politics. Every Republican Presidential nominee since Gerald Ford has faced a version of this accusation. Kamala Harris repeatedly called President Trump a fascist during the 2024 election cycle.

But its use is not merely electoral. This particular slander serves another purpose crucial to the Left’s plan: justifying violence and legal persecution against conservatives. “Hey, Fascist! Catch!” was engraved on the bullet that took Charlie Kirk from this world. As was said by many following the Kirk assassination, "They don't kill us because they think we're fascists; they call us fascists so they can justify killing us." The 2023 indictments of President Trump and his staff were similarly justified by claiming the defendants deserved jail because of their “fascism.”

At a Tuesday forum, Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Gentner Drummond proclaimed that political parties “want the most extreme candidate to be their banner-waver,” and that the “extreme” candidates favored by the GOP are “fascists.”

In the following words, I may seem indignant at Drummond’s use of the phrase. That is because I am indignant. You should be too. Drummond’s reckless accusation plays into a radical, far-left narrative about American conservatives that often puts us in physical danger. 

Hofmeister's Long Con: running for Gov as the Dem she's always been

Back in 2014, first-term State Superintendent Janet Barresi was very unpopular. In the Republican primary, she came in third out of three candidates, something that is quite shocking for an incumbent. The victor that primary, and later on in the general election, was Joy Hofmeister.

Hofmeister ran on a pretty standard "conservative Republican" platform. She took advantage of discontent with Janet Barresi, particularly as it dealt with controversy over Common Core and other Obama-era education pushes. 

Take, for example, this screenshot from her campaign website before the 2014 primary.

However, as time has elapsed since her first election, Hofmeister has increasingly revealed that she was not what she tried to pass herself off as in 2014. She fully supported the leftist education unions in their push for higher taxes, and the Department of Education under her leadership has advocated for social policies and curriculum that would absolutely shock many Oklahoma parents if they only knew.

Now, Hofmeister's long con is fully revealed. She is switching parties to run for Governor as a Democrat.

But never fear, she claims that "While I'm changing my party affiliation, I am not changing my values or who I am."

Oh really? That actually reveals more about her character than she intends to.

You see, either she's lying now, or she was lying back in 2014. I believe that her actions since 2014 indicate the latter to be true. 

Engle: A Cornett However...

A Cornett However...

By Richard Engle

I was at an event and got stuck talking to a musician. I am not musically inclined, so to make conversation, I asked him about the difference between a trumpet and a cornet. Knowing me he responded, “A Trump-ette is likely to be conservative, a Cornett however...”

I live in Oklahoma City and have during the entire tenure of Mick Cornett as Mayor. We have had occasion to visit before and during his terms in office. He is a nice guy. He is intelligent and he has strong communication skills. He is not a conservative by any definition.

Some will say he was a good manager of our city. Well, we have a city manager to do that. They can point to the recent MAPS projects, but should note that they are built with funds from a tax increase he supported, but the city is now faced with the costs of operation of those projects and little to nothing was done to prepare for those costs. In the waning days of his final term another tax increase was passed at his urging and those funds may well be used to plug the gap in his planning.

The most important project in the recent MAPS plan is the convention center. Any observant citizen of the city will know that it has been mired in problems and delays. He cannot be credited with a success in this matter.

His campaign seems to be taking credit for the Thunder. Nearly all of us are pleased to have a big league team, and more that they are finding success. As the team is a private business, and an expensive one, the credit should first go to the investors who bought a team in Seattle and then moved them to Oklahoma. Second, if a public entity is to be credited, the state legislature made a significant “investment” in the team. Finally, the person most directly involved in the city government’s role in getting the team here is former State Senator David Holt who has now succeeded Cornett at City Hall. Holt even wrote a popular book entitled, Big League City.

There may be little opportunity for a mayor to establish conservative credentials, but there are opportunities for the opposite. As Mayor, Mick Cornett wrote a letter to Congress to discourage any repeal of the “Affordable Care Act” also known as Obamacare. In his letter he says, “The effects of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be most heavily felt at the local level, so it is our responsibility to protect the citizens of our cities and metro areas. The new GOP plan is bad for cities, bad for people who live in cities and bad for people who provide healthcare in cities.” He continued by stating that “healthcare is not a privilege; it is a human right.”

It should be noted that this was not a simple note to a single member of Congress. This was a formal and public letter from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Cornett was the primary signatory and the head of the organization.

Does it need to be stated that conservatives do not favor Obamacare?

What of other issues of import to conservatives? Cornett has no record nor known stated opinions or policies that could be considered pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, or favoring smaller government. Regarding the final matter, he is quite proud of his expansion of government in Oklahoma City. His tenure as Mayor, the longest in city history, did not include a single significant improvement in efficiency or cost reduction in city services.

The other GOP candidates have variant levels of conservative credentials. Mick Cornett not only lacks the same, he has abundant evidence of the opposite.

No one who votes for Mick Cornett will have any cause to consider themselves to be a conservative, and if the OKGOP nominates him it abolishes the moniker “conservative” from its description.

Richard Engle is a longtime conservative Republican activist, a former city councilman, and businessman.

State Rep. Carol Bush (R) endorses Horn (D) for Congress

photo credit: @JustinWingerter

On Thursday, July 13th, Democrat candidate Kendra Horn kicked off her campaign for Congress in the 5th District, seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Steve Russell.

State Rep. Carol Bush (RINO-Tulsa) attended the event to give her endorsement to the Democrat candidate, calling Horn "authentic" (according to a reporter from the Oklahoman).

Bush made headlines at the end of last year when she gave an interview that sounded like a left-wing Democrat. After sending an apology to the Republican caucus for her comments, she then claimed to have been misquoted -- something the publisher strongly disputed.

source: Kendra Horn for Congress

Bush defeated a conservative Republican in the 2016 primary, then showed her true Republican In Name Only colors after the election. Hopefully, a real conservative will challenge and defeat her in the 2018 election.

Carol Bush says she was misquoted; publisher disagrees

State Rep. Carol Bush

In a December interview with TheTulsaVoice.com, freshman State Rep. Carol Bush (R-Tulsa) made a series of comments on her policy views that were... unorthodox for a Republican, to say the least. The HD70 representative took liberal positions on taxes three times, said ObamaCare was the "wrong execution of the right idea", and leaned left on social issues like abortion, marriage, and assisted suicide. She also said she was recruited to run for office by now ex-representative Jeannie McDaniel (D-Tulsa), who was one of the most liberal Oklahoma  legislators in recent memory.

After her statements caught attention on social media and my post here, Rep. Bush sent an apology to members of the House Republican caucus, obtained by SoonerPolitics.org:

Bush pleads "misquoted" and "taken out of context" for her liberal positions.

Joshua Kline, editor of TheTulsaVoice.com, responded to Bush's claim with this statement:

"We stand by Barry Friedman's story, which presented Rep. Bush in her own words. Bush is welcome to contact us directly if she seriously believes she was misquoted or "taken out of context." We'd be happy to go over the audio with her and sort this whole thing out."

The tone of the original article was that of a conversation between old pals; in fact, the author started off with a disclaimer noting that he and Bush have been friends for 35 years. I think the truth of the matter isn't "misquoted" or "taken out of context", but rather that, at ease in a friendly environment, Bush was simply caught voicing her real thoughts on these policy issues.

At least it gives conservatives a heads-up about another legislator to keep a watchful eye on.

RINO Alert: HD70 Rep. Carol Bush shows true colors

Republican Ken Walker was one of only three incumbent legislators to lose their reelection bids (all Republicans, all defeated in their primaries). Walker lost the House District 70 GOP primary to challenger Carol Bush by just over 3% of the vote.

Walker ranked high in both his conservative rating average (9th in the House) and his Conservative Performance Index score (14th in the House). 

It appears that he's been replaced by a true 'RINO' (Republican In Name Only). In an interview with TheTulsaVoice.com, new HD70 State Rep. Bush reveals her true colors.

In the interview, she takes positions supporting numerous liberal positions. Here's a sampling:

ObamaCare: "Wrong execution of the right idea. I do believe we have to take care of the healthcare of everybody."

Tax Hikes 1: "We’ve taken too much money out of the budget in the last 12 years."

Tax Hikes 2: "I was all for that cigarette tax. It should go back on the table." 

Tax Hikes 3: [question from interviewer: "So, where do we make up the revenue? Higher taxes on horizontal drillers?"] Bush: "Yeah. What about a luxury tax?"

Gay "Rights": "Of course. You can’t legislate morality."

Abortion: appears to be pro-abortion, and wants schools to be able to give birth control to students

Bush also appears to lean toward allowing assisted-suicide laws, and found Rep. John Bennett's talk at a recent caucus meeting to be "prayer revival, Bible thumping" and "offensive", further saying "We need to muffle his megaphone."

Bush says she was recruited to run by extreme liberal Democrat ex-Rep. Jeannie McDaniel . McDaniel had the 7th most liberal rating in the House, and 5th worst CPI score.

It looks like she will be a "fitting" replacement for ex-Rep. Doug Cox, who had the 2nd-worst CPI score among Republican House members and the worst conservative average.

OkiePundit: Tulsa World Withholding Harry Coates Scandal

The anonymous writers at OkiePundit are writing that the Tulsa World is purposefully withholding a major scandal on State Sen. Harry Coates (R-Seminole) until after Tuesday's election. Coates (often called "Harry TurnCoates" by conservatives for his tendency to vote with the Democrats on some major issues) is facing a conservative Republican primary challenger.

OkiePundit can confirm that the Tulsa World is withholding a damaging story on incumbent State Senator Harry Coates until after Tuesday’s primary in order to protect his re-election prospects.

Multiple well-placed sources have confirmed for us that the Tulsa World is sitting on the story that explores the allegation that Coates has been engaged in an affair with a lobbyist who is about 30 years younger than he is and that the married lobbyist may be pregnant with the senator’s child.

Read the rest of the story here.

Coates is the most liberal Republican in the state senate. He's also one of two candidates to become the next Senate Pro Tem.

Tom Cole Endorses Doug Hoffman in NY-23 Race

The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol is reporting that Oklahoma Congressman and former NRCC Chairman Tom Cole will be endorsing Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate in the NY-23 special election.

Kristol: Former NRCC Chair Tom Cole Endorses Hoffman in NY-23

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that veteran and widely-respected Rep. Tom Cole (R, Okla.), former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and a member of the GOP Steering Committee and a Deputy GOP House Whip, will be endorsing Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 race.

This is significant. Cole is a conservative, but not a fire-breathing and bomb-throwing one. He's a shrewd political operative, and indeed made a living as one before becoming a congressman. He'll say in his statement that one reason he's endorsing Hoffman is that he's the one Republican who can win next Tuesday.

The GOP establishment's united front behind Dede Scozzafava is crumbling--along, apparently, with her campaign.

This certainly is an unexpected surprise. Tom Cole, as Kristol observed, is not the most conservative congressman around, much less in Oklahoma. The tide is rising for Doug Hoffman, in a race that has become quite an anomaly.

The NY-23 incumbent, a Republican, was appointed to a post in the Obama administration, causing a special election. Dede Scozzafava is the Republican nominee (picked by party officials), Bill Owens is the Democrat pick, and Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party ticket (New York has an interesting background with third parties).

Scozzafava (a state assembly member) is an extremely liberal Republican, who has won awards from Planned Parenthood and was endorsed by various Republican Party leaders (such as Minority Leader John Boehner and Newt Gingrich), and ironically, the founder of the ultra-left Daily Kos website.

Hoffman, on the other hand, has been endorsed by the Club for Growth, Fred Thompson, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, talk show hosts Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck, Dick Armey, and many others.

NY-23 is a traditionally Republican district, and rarely does the GOP nominee receive less than 60% of the vote. However, due to the three strong candidates in the race, the election is a toss-up. In the latest poll, Hoffman held a narrow lead with 31%, Owens at 27% and Scozzafava at 20%. Previously, Owens and Scozzafava had been trading the lead around 30%, with Hoffman at 20-25%, but that was before Sarah Palin and several other conservative heavyweights endorsed the Conservative Party candidate.

UPDATE: Here's the text from Tom Cole's email announcement sent out earlier today.

Due to the vagaries of local politics two Republicans are on the ballot in the special election in NY-23. Doug Hoffman, the conservative, clearly represents the main stream values and positions of the Republican Party. He opposes the stimulus, cap and trade, card check, the Democratic health care bill and the Obama Administration's reckless spending binge. He is a pro-life fiscal conservative who is committed to restraining the growth of government. And Hoffman is committed to fighting and winning the war in Afghanistan.

Doug Hoffman is right on the critical issues facing America -- and he is the only Republican who can win this special election. For those reasons I have chosen to endorse Mr. Hoffman and my leadership PAC has contributed to his campaign. I look forward to working with Doug in Congress and welcoming him into the Republican Conference.

Sincerely,

Tom Cole

And there you have it.

Health Care Reform Quote of the Day

"My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-ME, after voting with the Democrats for the Baucus health bill in the Senate Finance Committee today.