Newt Gingrich endorses Michael Williams for Texas Senate.

Now that I may comment: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has endorsed Michael Williams for Kay Bailey Hutchison’s soon-vacant Senate seat. It’s a strong endorsement, too (that link also leads to contribution information)

Having been a part of the last effort to retake the congressional majority, I am convinced we don’t have to wait 40 years this time to regain power. Democrats in Congress offer the same old, tired recipe of Democrats past — big government hand-outs, bloated bureaucracy and big-time deficit spending.

The kind of change they offer is simply a return to the discarded practices of the pre-Reagan era.

Our problem is not Americans are newly attracted to Democrat ideas, but that Republicans simply failed to live up to their own ideas.

Let me illustrate my point this way: while conservatives continue to embrace the conservative label, liberals have been re-marketing themselves as progressives. You can call a used car pre-owned all you want, but I will be just as worried about the engine going out.

We do not need to change our ideas, we need to live up to them. And when I talk about modernizing the Republican brand, I mean using tried and true Republicans principles in new ways to solve new problems.

The key to building a new Republican Majority is not simply branding Democrat policies as the destructive and discredited ideas of the past…but offering real alternatives that meet Americans where they are. And offering new leaders not bogged down by the old fights of the last decade.

We need conservatives willing to engage the Democrats on the field of ideas…willing to speak of a 21st Century conservatism…willing to stand and fight on principle. We need leaders like Michael Williams.

The full endorsement is at Michael’s site.  And, obviously, I agree.

Moe Lane

Full disclosure: I am in regular contact with the Michael Williams campaign, and I endorse him as a replacement to Senator Hutchison, once she resigns her Senate seat.

Crossposted to RedState.

Announcement by Michael Williams (R Cand, TX-SEN) campaign tomorrow.

Reposted without comment:

@MichaelWilliams Watch for an exciting announcement on Tuesday via Twitter. Will also email & Facebook.

…except to note that it was a pleasure to have him as a speaker at the RS Gathering.  The video again, for people who may later feel the need to refresh their memories:

Michael Williams from David Thompson on Vimeo.
Moe Lane

Full disclosure: I am in regular contact with the Michael Williams campaign, and I endorse him as a replacement to Senator Hutchison, once she resigns her Senate seat.

Crossposted to RedState.

RedState Gathering – Michael Williams (R Cand, TX-Sen)

I have a bunch of these quick interviews, and they’ll all be going up as the day goes on. This one is with Michael Williams, who you will remember is someone that I’ve been boosting for some time. This is not his speech and question/answer session: that will be a separate video that will appear later. This is just me asking him a few questions.

…and me getting a picture, too. Perk of the job.

rs-gathering-019


Full disclosure: I am in regular contact with the Michael Williams campaign, and I endorse him as a replacement to Senator Hutchison, should she resign her Senate seat.

Crossposted to RedState.

Kay Bailey Hutchison will resign seat to run for Governor of Texas.

I find some of the rhetoric going on between Senator Hutchison and Governor Perry to be already a bit harsh, so here are the bare bones of the story:

Hutchison told WBAP-AM (820) host Mark Davis that she would officially kick-off her campaign in August.

“Formal announcement: I am in. Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime — October, November — that, in that time frame,” she said.

It was her most definitive statement yet that she would leave the Senate in the middle of her third term.

This being a Senate seat, there will be an appointment made by the Governor, followed by a special election for the remaining two years of Senator Hutchison’s term.  As the disclaimer below makes clear, my recommendation for Governor Perry is to appoint Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams for the position, on the grounds that Williams is a). a solid conservative; b). prepared (thanks to his role as Railroad Commissioner*) to be a powerful voice on energy policy; and c). actively running for the spot.  Oh, and d). he’ll be talking at the RS GatheringContinue reading Kay Bailey Hutchison will resign seat to run for Governor of Texas.

Michael Williams’ Cap-and-Trade series, continued.

Part 4 and Part 5 of his cap-and-trade review are up.  Part 4 goes in quickly about the differences between the cap-and-trade restrictions of Waxman-Markey and the Clean Air Act (very quickly: it’s the difference between carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide); Part 5 discusses the problems that W-M is going to give Texas specifically.  Still remaining: the Chinese connection and how people can get involved.

Energy policy is going to loom rather large, running up the 2010 elections; should KBH resign her seat to run for Governor, it would be helpful to have this guy in there.  Heck, I wouldn’t mind having him in there now.

Moe Lane

PS: He’ll be at the RS Gathering.

Full disclosure: I am in regular contact with the Michael Williams campaign, and I endorse him as a replacement to Senator Hutchison, should she resign her Senate seat.

Crossposted to RedState.

Michael Williams examines the cap-and-trade bill.

Michael Williams, current Texas Railroad Commissioner* and candidate for Senate, is doing a multi-part survey of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill currently before Congress. He’s up to Part III (see also Part I & Part II, of course), and here’s what he’s hoping to accomplish with it:

Democrats in Congress, joined with the Obama administration, are proceeding along parallel tracks to impose CO2 regulations so sweeping as to become the most expensive and expansive environmental reach of government into the lives of American families, businesses and consumers in history.

In May, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill that is designed to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming. The full House could complete action on the bill within the next two weeks.

[snip]

The prospect for cap and trade is less certain in the Senate and the EPA, while poised to finalize its landmark finding, has not done so, yet. If enough Americans band together, we can still protect the American economy, jobs, and incomes from undue and unnecessary CO2 regulations.

Continue reading Michael Williams examines the cap-and-trade bill.

So we give Michael Williams a few months of incumbency as Senator.

This is bad?

Sen. John Cornyn is worried that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is going to retire early this fall to run for Governor, but I’m missing the problem here (via Political Wire):

“My guess,” he told Texas reporters at his Senate office today, is that Hutchison will resign “this fall sometime.”

That would allow Perry to appoint an interim senator and allow a special election to take place in May 2010 instead of this November (which would happen if she resigned this spring or summer).

It seems pretty simple:

  • Hutchison resigns.
  • Governor Perry appoints Texas Railroad Commissioner* Michael Williams to be interim Senator.
  • Williams wins the special election.

Come on, Senator Cornyn. This isn’t exactly rocket science.

Moe Lane Continue reading So we give Michael Williams a few months of incumbency as Senator.