UPDATE

Champlain College might be on vacation - but the Champlain College Republicans are still in action.

1) The Shirts Are In! And they look great!
2) We'll be setting up a booth in coordination with Nancy Cathcart on Monday with information on your favorite Republican Presidential Candidates.
3) Champlain College Republicans have been helping out Paul Decelles and Karen Paul with their City Council races in Burlington.
4) We're gearing up for next weeks Town Meeting Day and Presidential Primary!

• 
  

Be sure to tune in later this week to see how you can get involved!

An Refreshing Op-Ed

Below is an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal today. Enjoy! It's a great read.

Press Corps Quagmire

By WILLIAM MCGURN
February 19, 2008; Page A19

When a man hangs up his byline to write for a president, he gets more than a new job. He gets to see how the press and pundit corps look from the other side of the notepad.

And over three years in the West Wing, you see a few things. You see who's a straight shooter, and who's full of snark. You see who's smart, and whose outrageous behavior would have made its way to Drudge had it involved White House staffers instead of White House correspondents. Most of all, you see how conventional wisdom can keep otherwise talented reporters and commentators on the same stale storyline long after the facts on the ground have changed.

Let me put this in context with three contentious issues -- one economic, one cultural, and one on foreign policy. In each case, President Bush took a clear stand. In each case, he was accused of stupidity or stubbornness and sometimes both. In each case, the facts on the ground increasingly bear the president out, sometimes dramatically. Yet the beat goes on -- with no sense of the great irony that it may be our writers and pundits who are stubbornly clinging to old assumptions.

Start with taxes. In the first three years of his administration, the president signed into law a series of tax cuts. They helped families by lowering rates, doubling the child credit, and reducing the marriage penalty. They helped small businesses, by increasing the incentives for investment and lowering the rate at which most small businesses pay taxes. And they put the death tax on the road to extinction.

Critics attacked on all fronts. The tax cuts were unfair because they only helped the rich. They would blow out the deficit, and do nothing for the economy. And when the economy began to improve, the focus shifted to a "jobless recovery."

We now know that "jobless recovery" in fact produced the longest period of consecutive job growth in our history. We now know that the tax cuts that were supposed to blow a hole in the federal budget deficit actually contributed to economic growth that has in turn yielded record tax revenues. As for unfairness, we also know that if the Democrats have their way and allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, a family of four with $60,000 in earnings in 2007 would see their taxes go up by about $1,800. So who's being stubborn?

Or take stem cells. Shortly after taking office, the president had to make a tough decision about federal funding for embryonic stem cell research that holds out hope for life-saving treatments. The problem was that getting the stem cells requires destroying embryos. In July 2001, Mr. Bush announced a reasonable compromise. The solution was that the federal government would support embryonic stem cell research, but would not support the creation of life just to destroy it.

For more than six years, the critics have reacted by suggesting America was regressing into a new Dark Ages. "An act of self-serving political Houdinism" said one columnist. A later editorial after a presidential veto ran under the headline "The President's Stem Cell Theology." The science reporter for ABC News put it this way: "We talk to a lot of scientists who believe nothing will change until the next inauguration in 2009."

Well, we didn't have to wait until 2009 for something to change. Last November, scientists discovered a way to reprogram adult skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells. In other words, we now have the potential to cultivate adult cells with the same pluripotent qualities that make embryonic cells so valuable -- and without having to destroy human life. That sure sounds like a welcome development. So let me ask: How many stories or editorials have you read giving the president his due?

Finally there is Iraq. By the end of 2006, sectarian violence was tearing Iraq apart, the terrorists were getting away with spectacular acts of murder, and our strategy plainly was not working. For a man said to resist unpleasant truths, the president acted boldly. He replaced his defense secretary, replaced his commanders on the ground, and completely overhauled his strategy. Granted, it would have been better had it come earlier. But it was a tough thing to do, he did it -- and he did it knowing full well that the critics would jump all over him.

The president announced the surge in a nationally televised address in January 2007. A conservative columnist accused the president of offering nothing but "salesmanship and spin." A cable TV host went on a rant declaring "the plan fails militarily, the plan fails symbolically, the plan fails politically." Columnists and commentators either hedged their bets or predicted disaster ahead, with allusions to Vietnam sprinkled in for good measure.

Yet the surge went ahead. In Anbar Province, Marines were sent in to take advantage of a popular Sunni revolt against al Qaeda -- and by April the capital city of Ramadi was being taken back from the terrorists. By September, U.S. and Iraqi forces were clearing out Baquba, a one-time al Qaeda town in Diyala Province. And though Gen. David Petraeus says that the gains can still be reversed, sectarian killings are down, civilian deaths are down, and the people of Baghdad are getting a taste of normal life. Surely the president deserves a little credit here.

Of course, if you are one of those experts who reassured us that a "well managed defeat" in Iraq was the way for America to go, you don't like hearing the president use plain words like "win" and "victory." Then again, you're not the audience George W. Bush worries about. During one of my first meetings in the Oval Office, the president told me and my fellow speechwriters that we must always be mindful of how his words would sound to the enemy -- and how they would sound to the young Marine risking his life against that enemy in some dusty town in Afghanistan or Iraq.

President Bush hasn't always been right. But he's been right on the things that matter most, and he's been willing to take the heat. I, for one, admire him for it.

***

Mr. McGurn, an executive at News Corporation, served as chief speechwriter for President Bush from January 2005 until February 2008.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120338469685475857.html

John McCain is coming to Vermont!

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain will be visiting and holding a rally:

THIS THURSDAY, February 14th
11:00AM
Burlington International Airport
Atlantic Aviation
1130 Airport Drive
South Burlington, VT

VERY IMPORTANT!

Because Vermonter's have insisted on electing Democrats that are way out of touch to the needs of Vermonters; we're springing to action to warn you!

The Vermont Democrats have sponsored a bill that taxes the consumer 17 cents PER PLASTIC BAG when making a purchase. We're with you, we know it's tough and very expensive to be a college student these days. So please, for your sake... ask for a paper bag, and absolutely under no circumstances ask for a double-bag!

Here's the excerpt from the Vermont Republican Party's weekly e-mail.

On, Thursday, January 31st House Republicans made another attempt to adjourn the legislature one month early, saving $1 million. This money would be used to help low income Vermonters with their heating bills this winter. An amendment, offered by Rep. Patti Komline that would have accomplished this, was voted down largely on party lines. Every Democrat and Progressive voted against it. They need that extra month to do important things…

…Like tax your grocery bags and sandwich wrappers.

Yes, this past week saw the introduction of H.743, A Tax on Plastic Bags. This bill reads in part:

There shall be paid by the purchaser or recipient a tax of $0.17 on each plastic bag purchased or received in a retail transaction in this state or purchased or received for use in this state…. "Plastic bag" in this section shall mean a bag or wrapping provided by a wholesale or retail seller… (For details, CLICK HERE)

As the bill is written, this would mean that a Vermonter purchasing a box of two hundred fifty Ziploc sandwich bags would pay $42.50 in additional taxes on the purchase (plus 17 cents more if he or she "would like a bag for that").

No doubt this is not what the writers of the bill intended. But they never intend for the painful and expensive UNintended consequences of their foolish attempts to govern every single aspect of our lives.

So, are we ready to send them home early yet?

No wonder college students are fleeing the state. Gotta love the ideas that these Democrats come up with!

Field School

Have you ever been interested in working on a campaign? Well here's your shot! Coming up, the Champlain College Republicans will host a Field School for Vermont College Republican members. Alden Guptill and Jeffrey Bartley of the Vermont Republican Party will be teaching attendees the basics in grassroot organization development, voter id, Get Out the Vote, and volunteer recruitment.

When: February 16, 2008
Where: Champlain College, Ireland 217
RSVP: E-mail Jeffrey Bartley at Jbartley@vtgop.org

See you then!