ST. PAUL — After two conventions, three cities, 11 days and more than 16 panel discussions, a pretty clear picture emerges on the different directions conservatives and liberals want to take the country. Conservatives recognize we live in a global economy from which we cannot afford to retreat. It’s a world where an information-based economy enables consumers to expect not only better choices in the products and services they buy, but more accountability from their government as well. They believe the same free market forces that have lifted billions out …
MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) came to the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs to “shill” for the Healthy Americans Act he’s co-sponsoring with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Bennett insisted his bill was meant to expand the debate on health care policy with the hope that it could become the framework for real legislative action next year. The driving force behind the Wyden-Bennett bill is the belief that the health care system cannot be fixed without changing the tax code. Specifically, their plan targets the subsidies businesses receive to …
ST. PAUL — The Heritage Foundation has long believed that a more informed populace will lead to greater government accountability and less wasteful spending. That is why we were so eager to partner with the Sunlight Foundation on their Exposing Earmarks project. In that same spirit, we are very proud to feature a guest post today from Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt: I established the Missouri Accountability Portal to equip taxpayers with new power to hold the government accountable for what it spends. In the year since the spotlight came on, …
MINNEAPOLIS – Economic advisers from both Barack Obama and John McCain’s campaigns squared off in a panel on tax policy this afternoon, and the consensus among the non-partisan members of the panel was that no matter who wins, Americans should not expect any major changes in tax policy. After both John Taylor and Austan Goolsbee made the case for their candidates’ tax plan to the crowd at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Michigan economics professor Joel Slemrod presented a power point presentation that concluded neither candidate …
ST. PAUL — The most common headline or lead for stories about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech last night was that she “electrified” the arena. Watching from our perch in the rafters we have to agree: Palin sent the energy in the Excel Center through the roof. For all the attacks from liberal media commentators this week, Palin proved to the nation that when it comes to the most important issue in this election, energy, she has experience and results in spades. The left says it wants to reduce American …
ST. PAUL – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) stopped by bloggers row here inside the Excel Energy Center and we pressed him to talk about … energy. Specifically what he thought about the Gang of 10 energy plan beginning to take form in the Senate. DeMint stressed that whatever the bill looked like when it was introduced, it was guaranteed to be drastically worse by the time it passed: “You have to remember, the five Republicans working on the compromise are working with the five most reasonable Democrats. If it gets …
ST. PAUL – Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) kicked off a House Republican Conference presser today explaining, “Energy is an issue we don’t have to wait till November to address.” For the next five minutes one might have thought they were at a Speaker Nancy Pelosi press conference as Putnam reeled of all of the commitments the GOP is proposing in their ‘All of the Above‘ energy plan including: tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase fuel efficient vehicles, permanently extending the tax credit for wind and solar power, and …
MINNEAPOLIS – “If Hubert Humphrey was still a leader of the Democratic Party, I would not be at this convention today,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told a packed audience at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Policy this afternoon. Sitting on a panel that included National Security Adviser to Ronald Reagan, and Ambassadors Robert Portman and Richard Williamson, Lieberman concluded his opening remarks saying, “Humphrey believed in the kind of progressive politics at home and idealism abroad that I grew up with.” Fortune magazine’s Nina Easton hosted the ‘Building …
ST. PAUL — Fred Thompson was by far the most well-received speaker last night, and the former senator’s detailed recounting of John McCain’s service and captivity in Vietnam produced more than a few tears inside the Excel Center. But the energizing moment, Thompson’s big applause line about McCain, came later: He has been to Iraq eight times since 2003. He went seeking truth, not publicity. When he travels abroad, he prefers quietly speaking to the troops amidst the heat and hardship of their daily lives. And the same character that marked John …
MINNEAPOLIS — As one might expect, the contrast between an education panel hosted by the conservative American Solutions and one hosted by the National Education Association (NEA) is stark. At the downtown Minneapolis Club this afternoon, the Republican Main Street Partnership co-hosted “An Education Forum on 21st Century Skills” with the NEA. Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), co-founder of RMSP, headlined the event, but NEA executive director John Wilson did most of the talking. Like this morning’s American Solutions session, Wilson opened by talking about how the future of the United …
