It was fashionable a while back to complain about the cost of flying out of San Angelo's airport to places far and wide. The alternative was driving for two hours to Midland and hopping on a cheaper Southwest flight. The oil boom and American Airlines' bankruptcy did away with that. For my flight to Chicago yesterday, I paid a grand total of $285. Had I driven to Midland, Southwest would have cost me $458. AA.com's pricing structure is easier to understand, and if you're an AAdvantage Frequent Flyer, you get credit for four hops, not two like your big city brethren, earning Gold or Platinum status faster. So thank God for SJT, and fly American!
Extracting Political Favors from Greg Abbott, and now Wendy Davis?
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running for governor, withdrew Texas from Obama's lawsuit against the American - U.S. Air merger in exchange for American's promise to continue to serve small markets in Texas like San Angelo. We've extracted all the good stuff we're going to get out of that politician, it's time now to turn our eyes to Wendy Davis, who announced she'll be challenging Abbott, who remains the favorite to win the 'Pub primary. With Davis, we can get all the free birth control we want and abortions up to five months of pregnancy. As a manly man, I call this a win-win-win. Go Wendy!
Republicans beware: My khaki-clad Republican insider in Austin gives Davis a 50-50 shot at winning.
Jim DeMint is Winning the Argument over Obamacare
The National Journal published and interesting piece on Obama the Divider yesterday. Beth Reinhard, the author, reviews the latest polling that reveals that more and more, American public opinion is blaming Obama as much as the House Republicans for the government shutdown. Conventional wisdom was that the government shutdown will be a disaster for Republicans.
On the plane today, I read an old BusinessWeek article from last week that argues that former Senator Jim DeMint, who now heads Heritage.org is the brains behind the Ted Cruz and (what has become) the House Republican's strategy to slow or delay Obamacare's implementation. From BusinessWeek:
DeMint views the impulse to avoid confrontation as the root of Republican woes: Only by engineering grand clashes and then standing resolutely on the side of small government can Republicans win this existential struggle.
DeMint, like conservative talk radio host Mark Levin and even Rush Limbaugh advocate for selling policies based upon conservative principles first, Republican tactical considerations second. In the end, they assert, Republicans will win the argument based upon principles because they paint a stark contrast with the Democrat status quo, or conventional wisdom.
Hence, Ted Cruz's 21-hour speech didn't stop the Senate from stripping out the Obamacare defunding language. But it served its purpose of transmitting to the conservative base reasoned arguments as to why Obamacare is bad policy. That changed the tactics of the House leadership to really fight Obamacare's implementation. The shutdown forced unengaged citizens to listen and consider why Republicans will shutdown government rather than just get along with Obama.
Maybe regular 'ol Americans are understanding the Republican point-of-view.
If the National Journal reports of the polling moving to the Republican's advantage are true and continue, it means Jim DeMint is quite effective.
That's probably why the left wing press has been publishing harsh stories about DeMint's Heritage Foundation.
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