This time the Politico is reporting on Senator Inhofe’s attacks. Inhofe, occasionally rated as the most conservative senator in Washington, uses that label with pride to give cover to his huge porkfest.

As we’ve seen repeatedly, earmarks always lead to bigger government. Inhofe, betraying his “most conservative” label, just the other day sided with the Democrats on their jobs bill solely because it funneled gobs of money into Inhofe’s pet program — the highway trust fund.

Republican senators running to the Politico to anonymously attack Jim DeMint is as regular an earthly occurrence as the sun rising in the east. It is also part of their stages of grief as they realize their political capital is dwindling while DeMint’s is rising.

First they denied DeMint was relevant.

“The only one who cares about Jim DeMint’s opinion is Jim DeMint. He’s not burdened with having to win races,” said a senior Senate aide.

His endorsements don’t matter.

A GOP strategist, however, said the latest endorsement by DeMint “means absolutely nothing” in Texas and only serves to further the Democratic narrative that Republicans are at war for the future of their party.

Then the new attack became only crazy RedState readers know anything about Jim DeMint and the rest of the world doesn’t care for him.

“Oftentimes some forget that while Jim DeMint may have a small universe of followers who read RedState, the reality is that the vast majority of Americans, including in Florida, don’t have the slightest idea who Jim DeMint is.”

Now Jim DeMint is a selfish press hound who people should ignore.

But even as most in the party concede they lost their way during the Bush years, the mere mention of DeMint’s name in the Capitol is enough to get GOP eyes rolling. The common view, which no official will voice publicly, for fear of giving the South Carolinian a higher profile, is that DeMint is a caucus of one who relies upon old tricks to draw notice.

All from mostly anonymous aides. A good number have come from the NRSC. Meanwhile, DeMint-style candidates are surging across the nation.

Folks, we need to get Jim DeMint some real allies and friends in the Senate. We need to get him some comrades in arms who will not run off to the Politico to attack him.

We can change our side and we must if we want to change Americans’ opinion that the GOP is tired, out of ideas, and corrupt. We know we are better than the other side, but when our side cannot clean up its own house, we cannot sell ourselves successfully to the American people. We must and can do better. We need more Jim DeMint-style conservatives.

The House of Representatives spent much of yesterday discussing H.ConRes. 248, the Afghanistan War Powers Resolution, sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).  The resolution would have required the president to remove all U.S. troops in Afghanistan within 30 days of the resolution being signed into law unless the president felt it would not be safe to do so.  In that case, the president would then have until December 31, 2010 to withdraw all troops from the country.  The resolution went directly against General McChrystal’s recommendation for the region and against President Obama’s own strategy.  It lost by an overwhelming vote of 356-65.

Not only would this resolution have sent a bad message to our troops overseas, it would also have sent a message to our enemies that we are not committed to winning the war on terror.  I was strongly opposed to this resolution and will continue to be opposed to any resolution like this one that does not give our full support to our men and women in uniform.

This resolution epitomizes the extreme disconnect between the American people and the majority party in Congress.  Rather than discussing legislation that will create jobs and improve our economy, the House of Representatives spent the day debating a resolution that would endanger our troops and undermine our efforts in Afghanistan and around the world.  The American people are sick and tired of Congress wasting precious time while the unemployment rate continues to hover at 10 percent and the economy still continues to lag.  They are fed up with a Congress that disregards what they want and need in order to push their own liberal agenda, including a massive government takeover of our health care system. 

It’s time for this government get back to the business of representing our constituents.

After riding into Washington with promises of hope and change and overwhelming public support, one year later President Obama is sitting in a much different position.  He has yet to pass one of his major agenda items, including health care and cap-and-trade, and his approval rating has dropped below 47% according to the latest Rasmussen poll.

In his first State of the Union address this evening, the president has the opportunity to change his tune a bit. 

Although the full text of the speech has not been released, the White House has stated that the president plans to focus his speech on the economy – not his stalled health care bill.  There has been mention that he will propose a three-year freeze on all discretionary, non-defense spending.  I am encouraged by president’s change of heart – during the election he stated that spending freezes sound good but don’t actually work.  However, I hope he is actually serious about this.  It has also been announced that he will request a 6.2% increase in education spending during the speech, all the while continuing to support the Senate’s $80 billion jobs bill and their $1.9 trillion debt limit increase proposal.

The election in Massachusetts last week should have served as a wake up call for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that their current agenda of dramatically expanding the size and scope of the federal government that require unprecedented levels of spending and borrowing is simply not what the American people want.  Rather, we need to get back to focusing on job creation, improving our economy, and providing tax relief for the American people.

I encourage everyone to tune in tonight at 8:00pm central and hear what the president has to say – it should be an interesting watch.

Earlier this month, a massive earthquake struck the small island-nation of Haiti, producing catastrophic damage in and around its capital city of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake has caused immeasurable human suffering.  Although the total devastation is still unknown, approximately 100,000 people have been killed and more than two million people have been left homeless. During such a time of great peril and human suffering, the American people and the American government have once again stepped up as the world leader in providing aid and assistance to countries in need. As of today, the U.S. has pledged over $100 million in aid and sent 12,000 American troops to Haiti to work around the clock to coordinate rescue efforts and assist the Haitian government with maintaining order.

In particular, the people of Oklahoma have demonstrated extraordinary compassion and resolve in their response to this humanitarian disaster. Just last week, 50 soldiers and six C-17 cargo planes deployed from Altus Air Force Base to assist relief efforts in Haiti. Additionally, last week several Oklahoma families, in coordination with the Cherokee Hills Christian Church in Oklahoma City, adopted ten orphans from Haiti.  The tremendous outpouring of support has made me proud to be an American and an Oklahoman.  As the Haitians continue to work to rebuild their nation, I am certain that the American people will continue stand by them and assist them in their work.

The resounding victory by Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special election last night demonstrated a fact that President Obama might not be too happy with: the winds of change can blow both ways.  The people of Massachusetts – an historically liberal state – spoke with one voice to reject his legislative agenda and to loudly say no to a government takeover of health care, no to a $600 billion national energy tax, and no to an economic policy of borrow, tax, and spend.

His campaign promises of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ inspired many Americans and brought him a considerable victory in 2008.  However, the American people didn’t have any idea what kind of ‘change’ they were in for.  Now, one year later, they see his idea of ‘change’ – and they realize it’s change they don’t want. 

Since taking office, the president’s popularity has continued to decline, dropping him 20 percentage points to a 48% approval rating one year into his term according to Rasmussen.  New polling numbers by NBC and the Wall Street Journal show that only 33% of Americans are in favor of his health care reform and 46% consider it a bad idea.

With now-Senator Brown’s victory, the Democrats have lost their supermajority in the Senate, derailing their agenda of ‘change.’  On the day after the political hurricane that hit the state of Massachusetts last night, the American people are all waiting to see what President Obama will do.  I, for one, hope he remembers there is a fine line between doing something for the people and doing something to them.