(Ed. note: This article appears in the February issue of Bearing Drift Magazine.)
Each week on “The Score” radio show, Scott Lee interviews the people who are making news in Virginia and across the nation. Here are some of the more notable quotes:
Can Social and Economic Conservatives Get Along in 2012?
“The vast majority of social conservatives, and I mean 80 or 90 percent or more, are inherently fiscal conservatives. I think where the rub comes a little bit sometimes is that maybe the numbers aren’t that large with respect to fiscal conservatives being social conservatives. But I think we’re really going to merge the two groups as we go into the 2012 election because the primary issue on everybody’s mind is going to be job creation and the economy. “
– Del. Jimmie Massie August 20, 2011
“I think that what you discover as you look over time is that campaigns and candidates that are devoid of any one of the three areas of the ‘Reagan stool’ — whether it’s national security, economics or social issues — when those campaigns don’t focus on all three of those, you lose a huge portion of the base that you’re trying to rally to get out to vote for you. So I think that there’s no way someone can try to call a time out on social issues, try to put those on the back burner, and still expect to be somebody heading into higher office.”
– Victoria Cobb, Family Foundation president, April 21, 2011
What Presidential Candidates Need to Know About Global Warming
“Republican politicians, historically, just don’t understand environmental issues, and they can’t talk about them. So the easiest way to get Republicans tongue-tied about the environment is to ask them a question about global warming…they need to know that there really is no scientific evidence linking human activities to catastrophic global warming.”
– Steve Milloy, publisher, JunkScience.com, June 4, 2011
What Does a Conservative Government Mean in Virginia?
“First of all it means that government backs off in our lives. Number two, it means that we continue to become a more business-friendly state. Number three, it means that we have a greater ability to restrain state government spending and to prioritize our state government’s initiatives. We’re going to look for ways to get government out of areas it never should have gotten into.”
– Sen. Mark Obenshain, August 27, 2011
There’s Nothing So Permanent as a Temporary Tax
“The War of 1812 is almost ready to celebrate its 200th anniversary and [the Business, Professional and Occupational Licensing] tax was put on the books in 1815 to pay for that war. And most of us are willing to celebrate the 200th anniversary and declare it over.”
– George Peyton, vice president, Retail Merchants Federation, August 20, 2011
It’s Good to be the King. Or Work for Him
“When I started writing [Stealing You Blind], I wondered ‘What was the wealthiest congressional district in America?’ Was it Beverly Hills? Nope. Manhattan? No. It’s the 11th district of Virginia, where [Democrat] Gerry Connolly is the Representative. It’s the richest congressional district in the country — twice as high an average income as the rest of the country. House prices are higher, unemployment is four percent as opposed to ten percent in the rest of the country. This is a recession-proof district.”
– Iain Murray, author of Stealing You Blind,” August 6, 2011
The Big Issues for Senate Republicans
“I think that some of the big issues we’re going to focus on are instilling our right to work statutes in our constitution. People are going to work hard to instill eminent domain reforms in our constitution. And then the biggest struggle that we’re going to have is going to be the increasing expenditures put down on us from the federal government involving Medicaid and Medicare.”
– Sen. Ryan McDougle, December 4, 2011
It’s (not) for the Children
“Any time a politician can invoke ‘the children,’ they are immediately on a moral high ground. Except, and I think people are finally coming to realize this, people know now that just because a politician says that something’s for schools or the children and they are going to spend a lot of money on it, it doesn’t actually mean it’s for the children. They realize more and more that it’s for the teachers and especially the teachers’ unions and for the administrators and their lobbying associations. It’s for the adults.”
– Neal McCluskey, Cato Institute, September 17, 2011
