Pennsylvnia Federation of College Republicans

Liberal Democrats and their communications staff in the national media have been telling us since November that conservatism has failed, the Republican Party has fallen, that the best thing we can do is move leftward and gracefully accept life as a permanent minority.
The Rasmussen polling service finds today, however, that a generic Republican congressional candidate would beat a generic Democratic candidate for the first time in the nearly two years that Rasmussen has been tracking this trend.
Today 40% of voters say they will vote for their Republican candidate in the next congressional election versus 39% who will vote for their Democratic candidate.
Only a week ago, 42% said they would support the Democratic candidate, while 28% said they would support the Republican. The last poll taken before November’s disastrous election showed the generic Democrat with a 3-point lead, 43% to 40%.
The generic Republican candidate leads most strongly among independent voters (34-28%), investors (44-35%) entrepreneurs (44-40%).  Meanwhile, fully 12% of Democrats and only 8% of Republican say they would consider voting for the other party’s candidate.
You can see the full results here.

Jessica Thompson: Aaron, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Aaron Marks: I am an undergraduate at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.  I study Technology Venture Creation, which is a track in business administration that focuses on the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology.  Beyond serving as President of Carnegie Mellon College Republicans, I am also an avid blogger, political and new media consultant, web 2.0 and social networking guru, and entrepreneur.

I am President of Three Group, LLC, a Pittsburgh-based new media software and new media company.  Three Group specializes in building political technology solutions.  At Three Group, I conceived a software solution that we offer called Mission Control, which allows political campaigns and organizations to manage all aspects of their campaign.

I blog regularly at NextGenGOP, a blog of young, up-and-coming Republicans that I founded, and in addition I occasionally contribute to The Next Right.

Jessica: I know that you were involved with Rick Santorum’s campaign back in 2006. What was your role in the campaign?

Aaron: Like all of our staffers, I wore many hats on the campaign.  I served as a staffer, focusing on new media and online outreach, but I also chaired our Students for Santorum coalition.  Our campaign set the standard for political technology in 2006, recruiting over 50,000 volunteers and organizing one of the most effective voter outreach programs in ’06.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fellow College Republicans,

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who evaluated the two candidates put forward to lead our country and like I believed John McCain was the better person for the job. I want to thank those of you who volunteered your time throughout this tough election season. The undeniable truth is Republicans had an uphill battle from the beginning. Our efforts were not by any means a failure. Although our presidential candidate, John McCain, did not win we did have some victories such as Jim Gerlach, former PACR chairman/CRNC Co-Chairman Nick Miccarelli, and others.

This is a time of reflection and a time of rebuilding for our party. I truly believe that within 4 years, even better by the 2010 elections, people will realize that a liberal philosophy is not what our country needs, especially in the current economic status. Furthermore, democrats have essentially a free pass to spend as much as they want and tax as much as they want without any checks or balances, which I think will hit voters quickly once their taxes increase and/or if they loose their jobs because their small business is downsizing due to getting drilled with tax increases.

This is when our party needs us most, we are the obvious future for the party. Our party right now is looking for young leaders, leaders like you, so please contact your schools chapter chairman and join the Pennsylvania College Republicans. If you do not have a chapter at your school feel free to contact us and we will start the easy process of starting a chapter at your school.

Thank you all,

Anthony Pugliese

Pennsylvania College Republicans

State Chairman

As we all know, recent polls have concluded that Senator McCain is trailing Senator Obama even by double digits in some surveys.   McCain has denied the presumption that his campaign is a loosing cause, and for good reason. With 8 days to go before this election comes to a halt, political experts such as Karl Rove have also disavowed this recent gloomy poll numbers and given McCain a fighting, albeit up hill battle to gain the White House.  Are these pundits and even McCain himself simply delaying the inevitable?  Absolutely not.  McCain’s refusal to give in not only fits into his legendary character, but is reinforced by history.  Perhaps the most famous example, though not exactly recent history was Harry Truman’s victory over Thomas Dewey.  After weeks of polls declaring Dewey the leader by as much at 15 points, newspapers while publishing for the morning after election day, mistakenly published the headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”  The newspaper that committed this famous act and is forever enshrined in a picture is none other than the Chicago Daily Tribune. Just remember, this election isn’t over until it’s over. Never assume you know the outcome, because you may end up looking like the Chicago Daily Tribune.

Yes, I am back. I’m sure my left-leaning friends have been waiting for my return.

Apparently the Obama campaign has already released its talking points for tonight’s last Presidential debate. I wonder if this is what the media will sound like upon “reviewing” the debate?

An email from Press Secretary for Obama Camp (tip of the hat to Drudge Report):

* Just this weekend the weekend, John McCain vowed to “whip Obama’s you-know-what” at the debate, and he’s indicated that he’ll be bringing up Bill Ayers to try to distract voters.
Read the rest of this entry »

*Note: The following is a collection of live debate reactions from the Friday, September 26th, 2008 debate from Megan Ritter. Megan’s reactions from the beginning of the debate are found at the end of this post, with reactions from the end of the debate at the beginning of the post.*

• Barack Obama: “I’ve got a bracelet tooooooooo!” What could’ve been a moving discussion between the two men, Obama turned into a cheap moment of oneupmanship. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have brought up his paralell story, but is there any coarser, less respectful way in which he could’ve brought it up?

• Something Obama seems to forget when he tries to paint McCain as a warmonger: Both nominees on the Republican ticket have children currently serving in Iraq. It’s difficult to imagine either of them lightly committing troops.

• I’ve lost track of the number of times Obama has interrupted McCain. It’s somewhere north of six. Still waiting for McCain’s first interruption of Obama.

• McCain’s comment about the consequences of defeat is interesting in that historically it is something that the various peace movements have never honestly considered. We didn’t consider it in Vietnam - we left behind what Peggy Noonan describes as “an untold increase in horror for people on that part of the planet.”

• And “we took our eye off the ball” is a very, very juvenile metaphor for Obama to use when discussing such a fundamentally serious issue.

• A Republican who understands that effective defense spending doesn’t mean funding every goofy boondoggle project possible…I like this guy more all the time.

• Obama interrupting McCain count, so far: three times. McCain interrupting Obama count, so far: zero times.

• For all the animus that they’ve earned from the left it would seem that Reagan and then Bush the Younger have changed the nature of the debate so fundamentally that even liberal Democrats have to run on promises to cut taxes. We’re a looooooong way from Walter Mondale promising - promising in no uncertain terms! - that he was going to raise taxes on as many people as possible. Democrats promising to cut taxes is a political problem for Republican campaigns, but a really nice problem to have!

• Obama points out that high gas prices are killing the middle class. Too bad he didn’t realize this earlier in the summer, when he noted that he would’ve preferred that gas prices not rise quite so fast.

• “Earmarking as a gateway drug.” Obama’s asked for a million dollars worth of earmarks per day he’s been in the Senate?!?

• McCain takes a moment for Ted Kennedy. The left keeps calling McCain a right-wing fanatic, and this is why the label never quite sticks.

• Halfway through Obama’s first answer, I still don’t know what he thinks of the bailout.

• The consensus of the Fox News panel starting this thing: the winner is the one who proves himself likable. Since statistically Obama has run 75% negative ads to McCain’s 55%…

Check out this awesome video!.

From an enewsletter post at Susquehanna University:

“As students wake up and faculty return to campus on 9/11, they will notice 2,977 flags placed in grass near the fountain outside of Deg. Each flag commemorates a life lost seven years ago. The flags will remain in the grass for a few days to allow the campus community to take time to reflect on the events of the tragic day. The SU College Republicans acquired the flags, however a number of SU students helped the club members place them in the ground. Thank you to everyone who helped! ”

Please take a moment of silence to remember those whose lives were lost on this tragic day. No matter what political affliliation, this is a day to remember our friends and loved ones.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am as anti-feminist as it is possible to get.  I hate the idea of breaking up the family unit all in the name of “women empowerment” and abortion on demand.  I hate the “chickification”, as Rush Limbaugh terms it, of the male population because the feminazis take offense at men acting like men.

Recently, however, I have felt like a feminist.  I am almost ashamed to admit it.  Almost…The reason why I can admit that freely and hold my head high is two words:  Sarah Palin. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few weeks, I have been reading all of the comments on the PACR blog, and I have a few things to say:

1. Please refrain from attacks that are directed toward any particular person. I understand that many of you have strong opinions about certain issues/individuals, but I will not allow this blog to turn into a negative free-for-all. You can properly express your opinions without the use of dergatory speech. A certain decorum is expected on this site, and comments that are considered to be especially distasteful will not be accepted.

2. Please make sure that the comments you are making are actually associated with the post you are commenting on. Questions that have nothing to do with the topic at hand will be removed, as they seem to do nothing but cause trouble and detract from the original purpose of the blog, which is to create discussion around the topic at hand.

3. Please remember that people are busy. If you post a comment and do not receive an immediate response, you are not being ignored; the author of the post is probably just making sure that their school work (which should be the top priority of any college student), is being completed.

All of that being said, remember this: We’re all adults… I shouldn’t even have to post something like this, but I feel it necessary. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact the PA Federation of College Republicans at pacollegerepublicans@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Jessica Thompson

2nd Vice Chairwoman

PA Federation of College Republicans