For Conservatives Who Want a Break from the Wall-to-Wall Trump News Coverage . . .

[Valin]

National Review/The Corner:

Jonah Goldberg

July 27, 2015

 

I’m still in the thick of mysterious travels. But I’ve been following the news as best I can. As I glean things, it goes something like this: “Trump, Trump, TRUMP! Oy Trump. Iran! Trump. Unborn-baby parts for sale. Trump. Cosby rape!”

 

I’m sure I’m missing a thing or two, but I’m pretty confident in my general impression that it’s a difficult environment for anything un-sensational to bust through the noise chamber. It’s no wonder that Rand Paul recently vowed not to pander to the horrible news environment, drawing the line at setting himself on fire: “Yeah, I’m drawing the line at self-immolation,” he said.

 

So it is with some trepidation that I call everyone’s attention to the release tomorrow of a new series of policy briefings from the Conservative Reform Network. You may recall that last year they came out with Room to Grow, one of those rare policy tomes to actually break out into the popular debate. Building on that success, they’re releasing the Room to Grow Series. The launch event will be tomorrow. Details here.

 

Now, I could offer a barrage of full disclosures here. This whole project is crawling with friends, colleagues, and former colleagues of mine from National Review and AEI. I’d list them all, but it would seem like name-dropping. Suffice it to say, I know, admire, work with and/or am friends with a lot of these people.

 

(Snip)

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

But What Will Donald Say About This?

[clearvision]

:

Jonah Goldberg

July 27, 2015

 

I’m still in the thick of mysterious travels. But I’ve been following the news as best I can. As I glean things, it goes something like this: “Trump, Trump, TRUMP! Oy Trump. Iran! Trump. Unborn-baby parts for sale. Trump. Cosby rape!”

 

I’m sure I’m missing a thing or two, but I’m pretty confident in my general impression that it’s a difficult environment for anything un-sensational to bust through the noise chamber. It’s no wonder that Rand Paul recently vowed not to pander to the horrible news environment, drawing the line at setting himself on fire: “Yeah, I’m drawing the line at self-immolation,” he said.

 

So it is with some trepidation that I call everyone’s attention to the release tomorrow of a new series of policy briefings from the Conservative Reform Network. You may recall that last year they came out with Room to Grow, one of those rare policy tomes to actually break out into the popular debate. Building on that success, they’re releasing the Room to Grow Series. The launch event will be tomorrow. Details here.

 

Now, I could offer a barrage of full disclosures here. This whole project is crawling with friends, colleagues, and former colleagues of mine from National Review and AEI. I’d list them all, but it would seem like name-dropping. Suffice it to say, I know, admire, work with and/or am friends with a lot of these people.

 

(Snip)

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

But What Will Donald Say About This?

 

 

You're fired! ?

[Valin]

 

:

Jonah Goldberg

July 27, 2015

 

I’m still in the thick of mysterious travels. But I’ve been following the news as best I can. As I glean things, it goes something like this: “Trump, Trump, TRUMP! Oy Trump. Iran! Trump. Unborn-baby parts for sale. Trump. Cosby rape!”

 

I’m sure I’m missing a thing or two, but I’m pretty confident in my general impression that it’s a difficult environment for anything un-sensational to bust through the noise chamber. It’s no wonder that Rand Paul recently vowed not to pander to the horrible news environment, drawing the line at setting himself on fire: “Yeah, I’m drawing the line at self-immolation,” he said.

 

So it is with some trepidation that I call everyone’s attention to the release tomorrow of a new series of policy briefings from the Conservative Reform Network. You may recall that last year they came out with Room to Grow, one of those rare policy tomes to actually break out into the popular debate. Building on that success, they’re releasing the Room to Grow Series. The launch event will be tomorrow. Details here.

 

Now, I could offer a barrage of full disclosures here. This whole project is crawling with friends, colleagues, and former colleagues of mine from National Review and AEI. I’d list them all, but it would seem like name-dropping. Suffice it to say, I know, admire, work with and/or am friends with a lot of these people.

 

(Snip)

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

But What Will Donald Say About This?

 

 

You're fired! ?

 

 

 

[Valin]

Reformocon Group Bids to Shape GOP Agenda in 2016
Joel Gehrke

July 28, 2015

 

A group of conservative writers and policy experts unveiled a new suite of reforms Tuesday that they hope could set the tone for the 2016 presidential election and shape the GOP agenda if Republicans retake the White House.

 

The Conservative Reform Network — which grew out of the “Young Guns” movement spearheaded by Representatives Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan — aims to bring innovative new ideas to the GOP policy platform, and their proposals have circulated among tea-party and establishment Republican lawmakers alike over the last year. Now, with the 2016 election cycle in full swing, they’ve also attracted the attention of GOP presidential hopefuls, who may draw on their ideas to craft a winning message — and an agenda that could deliver conservative policy victories if Republicans retake the White House.

 

“The problems that our nation faces — that families and entrepreneurs and even established businesses and our communities face today aren’t the same problems that we faced when Reagan was elected,” Neil Bradley, CRN’s chief strategy officer, said Tuesday. “Because the problems aren’t the same, the solutions can’t be the same either.”

 

To that end, the group unveiled three new policy papers at Google headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, pertaining to higher education, startups and entrepreneurship, and the environment. They are the first tranche in a series of proposals called Room to Grow, which CRN hopes will build on a reform-conservative manifesto of the same name that it released last year. That book attracted the attention of Republican lawmakers ranging from tea-party senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). Lee and Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) later proposed a tax-reform plan that bears the hallmarks of some of CRN’s ideas; Lee also wrote legislation reforming the college-accreditation process that CRN touted in the new white paper on higher education.

 

Congressional Republicans seem to think the new policies, as tested in various states and outlined by the so-called “reformocons,” could help improve the GOP’s standing among some of the voters who propelled President Obama to victory in 2008 and 2012.

 

(Snip)