Not My Republican Party

Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach), soliciting campaign contributions to help him "defeat the forces of socialism here and those who threaten to weaken us from abroad," issues this manifesto in an e-mail blast:

Over the past 100 years or so, an intriguing yet powerful phenomenon has been witnessed by mankind, regardless of culture, history, or circumstances. When citizens of any nation have seen their country overrun by foreign invaders or become governed by an oppressive and autocratic state, individuals would often form a "resistance" organized to stand up to the occupiers or oppressors and to fight for freedom from within. In fact, this very nation owes its lifeblood to a resistance movement born of like-minded individuals who believed so firmly in the principles of freedom and the individual rights of man that they were willing to forfeit life and limb and security to band together to fight to protect those freedoms. It is this courageous spirit, intrinsic to countless brave men and women across the world, that I now invoke.

Campbell goes on to say that readers can "join the resistance" by Tweeting and sending him money, but the harshness of his rhetoric -- "foreign invaders?" "Occupiers"? "Oppressors"? -- is unmistakable. How could this bizarre and offensive diatribe not be read as a veiled call to take up arms against the Obama administration?

Speaker In The Dock?

If waterboarding is found to have been illegal torture, if all all those who were complicit in breaking the law are impeached or indicted, and if Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach) is telling the truth about a senior colleague in his April 27 e-mail to constituents, then we may end up short at least one constitutional officer (since the Speaker should've called the D.C. police as soon as she was briefed):

Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional leaders were informed of the decision to use the controversial interrogation method and did not protest at the time.

Maybe The IRS Is Hiring

Though I don't always agree with him, I never miss the weekly e-newsletter from Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach). Here's his math on the federal budget that passed the House and Senate this week without a single GOP vote, en route to an appropriations process that will be considerably more rancorous. Italic and boldface type in the original:

The spending increases are so massive that it doubles the national debt in only 5 1/2 years and triples it in 10 years. The government can probably not even sell that much debt. We’ve already seen this scenario play out in the UK and Germany, where issuances of their national debt failed to attract enough buyers. If the President wanted to balance his budget, he would need to increase every federal tax on every American by at least 30%. That means an increase on your payroll taxes, gas taxes, income taxes, alternative minimum taxes, corporate tax, capital gains tax, cigarette tax, excise taxes, etc by 30% each. This is in addition to what he has already proposed.

Targeting Moderate Democrats

As the House budget committee passes the Obama budget on a party line vote, Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach) yearns for a new spirit of bipartisanship:

Hopefully, the Senate will kill this thing. Republicans are united in opposition and joined by some like-minded Democrats. But those Democrats are being threatened. According to a report from the Capitol Hill publication, Congressional Quarterly, The Campaign for America's Future is "launching television and radio ads targeting Democrats that the group says are 'standing in the way of President Obama's reforms.’" I hope that together we can block the door. Now, there's a bipartisan effort.

AIG's Good Money Going After Bad?

In his weekly e-newsletter, Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach) totes up the full AIG bill:

All the ire surrounding AIG right now is about the bonuses. But frankly I’m more worried about the $1.6 TRILLION of assets that AIG needs to liquidate from their financial products division. Mismanagement there could easily cost the taxpayers $100 billion or more. And I am worried about their formerly profitable property and casualty as well as life insurance divisions. Taxpayers have invested $80 billion in AIG. We will never get it all back. And we will almost certainly put in more. But any hope of getting any of it back requires the sale of those “good” divisions. But they are sinking fast.

Buy It This Year, Sell It Whenever, Tax-Free

From his weekly e-newsletter, a bright idea from Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach):

[My soon-to-be-introduced] bill would eliminate all Capital Gains taxes for any assets purchased in 2009, regardless of when the asset is sold. So, people would be encouraged to purchase homes, property, stocks bonds and businesses in 2009. This incentive would alter the risk/return ratio and likely spur a great deal of economic activity that is currently paralyzed by fear and uncertainty. And from the federal government standpoint, there might be an increase in revenue to the federal government now as the sellers report capital gains. The “loss” of revenue on the sale would not occur until some years later when the asset is sold and hopefully the government is also on better footing.

No Time For Normal Politics

Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach), whose e-newsletter is the best I've ever seen from a member of Congress (not that I always agree with it), doesn't like what happened when he was on sick leave:

I can't believe that in the middle of this huge economic crisis, the President is still pushing forward on socializing medicine and a cap-and-trade tax increase on energy to combat global warming. Both of these programs are enormously expensive. If the President confiscates the income of everyone over $100,000 per year per person, he still will not have enough money. I know that he is doing this to try and push through his agenda while his political capital is at its peak; this is a lesson from many of his predecessors, both Republican and Democrat. But these are not normal times and they do not warrant normal action.

Butt Of Jokes

GOP Rep. John Campbell's weekly constituent e-mail to his upscale Newport Beach district always has an inviting, over-the-pickle-barrel tone, even when he alerts voters that he'll be out of commission for a month recovering from colon surgery:

OK. Now the jokes can begin. Could it be these past 2 years with Nancy Pelosi as Speaker has caused such a pain in my stomach that it led to this? And I know that some of you have felt that I was full of it, but now I have medical evidence that you were correct. However, after this surgery, you will no longer be able to make that claim.

You can add your own jokes now.

Godspeed, congressman!

Recovery Coming In 2019?

From Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach), who sends out a must-read e-newsletter, a tidbit from President Obama's meetings today with congressional Republicans:

The President believes that the “lost decade” of Japan is a more relevant comparison to the current economic situation than the great depression. He believes that the Japanese government did not act decisively enough to end their crisis.

The Big Three Thought Too Big

In his not-to-be-missed e-newsletter, Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach), who worked in the car business before beginning his political career, says the Big Three's biggest problem is not poor quality compared to foreign manufacturers, the failure to build attractive products, building too many big cars, or even the UAW contracts (expensive though they are because of retirement benefits).

So, what is the problem with the Big 3? They have made some bad management decisions of course. But they have been chasing increased market share for decades as their market share has steadily declined. They have never been able to accept the idea that they could be smaller but more profitable companies and instead have always spent like they were bigger than they actually were. That is an oversimplification of course. But if you spend $100 thinking you can sell $120, but only sell $80 and you keep doing it because you have access to the cash flow and that $120 is right around the corner, you will eventually run out of money. And they have.

His advice? Go buy an American car or truck!

Blagogate And Jackson's Airport

Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach, California) continues to fail to pull his punches in his must-read e-newsletter:

Several years ago I exposed an earmark requested by Congressman Jackson for $231,000 which was directed to a non-profit organization to develop a 3rd airport in the Chicago area. The problem is that no such airport exists even on a drawing board and that the organization was formed by Congressman Jackson and one of his Congressional staffers runs it. I offered an amendment to remove this clearly abusive earmark but it failed by a vote of 48-372. I also tried to get national news organizations to investigate it further but none did, and in one case the prominence of the Jackson name was cited as the reason why....

In my opinion this Blagojevich scandal will be on a par with Watergate and the House Post Office. The effects will reach many powerful people and will the issue will not go away any time soon. I hope that it causes the public to demand more stringent ethics of elected officials and for us to demand more of our colleagues. If that happens, Governor Blagojevich may have perversely helped us all.