A very nice article on the decline of the left

An article by Walter Russell Mead in the American Interest on decline of liberalism in America; some highlights:

“The blue model is breaking down so fast and so far that not even its supporters can ignore the disintegration and disaster it now presages. Liberal Democrats in states like Rhode Island and cities like Chicago are cutting pensions and benefits and laying off workers out of financial necessity rather than ideological zeal. The blue model can no longer pay its bills, and not even its friends can keep it alive. Our real choice, however, is not between blue or pre-blue. We can’t get back to the 1890s or 1920s any more than we can go back to the 1950s and 1960s. We may not yet be able to imagine what a post-blue future looks like, but that is what we will have to build. . . . There are a lot of reasons to be nostalgic for the old days (especially for the white males who were, far and away, the biggest beneficiaries of the old system), but there are also good reasons to bid the blue model good riddance.”

Please, go read the rest of that; because in a sense, this article says much of what I have written in the past on my old blog. Basically, that the left went off the rails years ago; along with organized labor, when they shifted from offense to defense. Since then, they have gotten worse and worse. A perfect example was in 2008, that whole thing with Hillary and Obama was a perfect manifestation of the class warfare between Man and Woman, Black and White; it all got to be a bit too much for me. Which is why I left them.

The sad thing is, the left, as it were, got even crazier after Obama was elected. It was as if the arrogance of the left went through the roof; they had the media, the white house, congress —- everything — and what did Obama do with all that favoritism? He blew it! I believe the grassroots left knows they were played; the establishment left does not really care, they are getting paychecks; but the people I know, the bloggers, are not happy.

Which brings me to my last point; I really wish this process between Newt and Romney would finally end and the Republican Party would get behind one of them. This whole populist versus establishment fighting is wearing very thin with me. It has nuances of the left’s class warfare; which I really do not get into at all. Do not misunderstand me here; I am all for airing someones dirty laundry and misdeeds, but to wrap it up in a package that the left would approve of, is not a way to fight a battle.

In other words; Florida’s primary cannot come quick enough!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: “Unions want me dead”

Just a showing of how bad it is gotten up in Winsonsin:

With a June recall election all but certain, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says the debate is no longer just about collective-bargaining rights for state workers. Union leaders and others, he said, have made it personal.

“They want me dead. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration,” Mr. Walker said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Times after a roundtable discussion Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute.

His opponents have until Jan. 15 to collect about 540,000 signatures and trigger another election, which would surely center around Mr. Walker’s successful but controversial efforts to strip many collective-bargaining rights from teachers and other government employees in his state, all in an effort to close budget gaps and put Wisconsin back on firm financial footing. — Via Wisconsin Gov. Walker: Unions ‘want me dead’ – Washington Times

I feel for the guy, but I have to say this; this above, is why Rick Snyder did not do anything drastic here in Michigan. Because I believe he happens to know, what I know — that actions always have consquences. There is also something else too; that little thing that the C.I.A. likes to call “Blowback.” Blowback is the adverse reaction to an action taken by someone in position or power; it always happens, especially in politics. It is Ron Paul’s favorite term. 🙄

There is something else too; there is a thing in politics called political capitial. Many Presidents have burned through it quickly. Bush did, Obama did and still is. When you have burned through it; you are quite screwed. Smart Presidents have slowly burned through it and went on to serve two terms and do well. The not-so-smart ones end up like Bush and Obama — hated before they even can really do anything.

I guess nobody told Scott Walker about this. You just do not make drastic changes, when first taking office without paying for it in the end. This is just how it works, and also long as we have a two party system in this Country, that is how it will be for a long time to come.

(H/T HotAir Headlines)

The Obama White House pokes a finger in the eye of their biggest base

I’m sure by now that you have heard about the Left’s attempt to unseat blanch Lincoln, which ended up in epic failure.

A senior White House official just called me with a very pointed message for the administration’s sometime allies in organized labor, who invested heavily in beating Blanche Lincoln, Obama’s candidate, in Arkansas.

“Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members money down the toilet on a pointless exercise,” the official said. “If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November.”

via White House official: ‘Organized labor just flushed $10 million down the toilet’ – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com.

I don’t know about you, but I think that statement has Rahm Emanuel written all over it.

Of course, the Unions are not taking that little statement sitting down:

The major labor federation AFL-CIO took sharp objection tonight to a White House official’s assessment that they’d “flushed $10 million of their members’ money down the toilet” in the “pointless exercise” of supporting the failed bid of Bill Halter to unseat Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

“If that’s their take on this, then they severely misread how the electorate feels and how we’re running our political program. When we say we’re only going to support elected officials who support our issues,” said AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale. “When they say we should have targeted our money among some key house races among Blue Dog Democrats — that ain’t happening.”

“Labor isn’t an arm of the Democratic Party,” Vale said. “It exists to support working families. And that’s what we said tonight, and that’s what we’re gong to keep saying.

Heh… That’s pretty funny. Labor is not the arm of the Democratic Party — But they have been strong-arming the Democratic Party since about —oh, the beginning of the Auto Industry! Espeically here recently, during the election of President Obama. Does anyone remember Kenneth Gladney? Nice to see these bastards getting a dose of their own medicine for a change and getting told, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you….” Could not have happened to a better bunch of people.

I doubt the Obama White House would want to hear it from me. But Kudo’s to the Obama White House for telling these thugs, “You do not control us…”

Video: We Will Remember

(H/T HotAir)

Sign the Pledge at We Will Remember.

Stupid: General Motors plays a shell game

Here’s one for the “Stuck on Stupid” file that seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day.

AP Headline: Gas in the tank: GM repays $8.1B in gov’t loans

Quote:

WASHINGTON – Fallen giant General Motors Co. accelerated toward recovery Wednesday, announcing the repayment of $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans five years ahead of schedule.

The Obama administration crowed about the “turnaround” at GM and fellow bailout recipient Chrysler LLC, saying the government’s unpopular rescue of Detroit’s automakers is paying off.

Much of the improvement comes from GM slashing its debt load and workforce as part of its bankruptcy reorganization last year. But the automaker is a long way from regaining its old blue-chip status: It remains more than 70 percent government-owned and is still losing money — $3.4 billion in last year’s fourth quarter alone. And while its car and truck sales are up so far this year, that’s primarily due to lower-profit sales to car rental companies and other fleet buyers.

Chrysler, now run by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, said Wednesday it lost almost $200 million in the first quarter. But it said it boosted its cash reserves by $1.5 billion, reducing the likelihood that it will need more government aid.

“This turnaround wasn’t an accident of history,” said White House economic adviser Larry Summers. “It was the result of considered and politically difficult decisions made by President Obama to provide GM and Chrysler — and indeed the auto industry — a lifeline, if they could demonstrate the will to reshape their businesses.”

Vice President Joe Biden said President Barack Obama “took a lot of heat” to keep GM alive. “And this has even exceeded our expectations.”

Everything is happy yappy and yippie skippy right?

Wrong.

Jamie Dupree dishes the straight dope on this little shell game: (H/T Q & O)

General Motors will make a big splash in the news today by announcing that the automaker will repay several billion dollars loans from the federal government earlier than expected. But it’s not really coming out of the GM wallet.

The issue came up yesterday at a hearing with the special watchdog on the Wall Street Bailout, Neil Barofsky, who was asked several times about the GM repayment by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who was looking for answers on how much money the feds might make from the controversial Wall Street Bailout.

“It’s good news in that they’re reducing their debt,” Barofsky said of the accelerated GM payments, “but they’re doing it by taking other available TARP money.”

In other words, GM is taking money from the Wall Street Bailout – the TARP money – and using that to pay off their loans ahead of schedule.

“It sounds like it’s kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other,” said Carper, who got a nod of agreement from Barofsky.

[….]

Most of Uncle Sam’s bailout money that was given to GM has now been turned into stock in the U.S. automaker.

“The assumption is that, over time, hopefully the value of the stock will appreciate,” said Carper.

Long term that could prove to be a money-making investment for the feds – or if things go the wrong way for General Motors – a big, fat loss for Uncle Sam.

As most of you know, my Father is a 31 year veteran of the General Motors company. I find this little idiotic shell game right here to be just plain immoral. I mean, how in the hell are you going to use money from the Government to pay off the Government? That is basically taking money out of one pocket and putting into another. That is not paying off your debt; that is nothing more than a shell game. The reason why this is so upsetting to me is; that it is just going to hurt my Father. Because sooner or later, this company is not going to be able to pay my Dad’s pension.

As the son of a General Motors worker, I want to see G.M. succeed; but I want to see them succeed the right way and honestly. Not by playing a dirty, underhanded shell game, and that my friends is what this is, a dirty shell game to fool the American people and the workers at G.M. into believing that they are on to the road to recovery, when in all honesty, they are not.

The American Taxpayers, The workers and retirees for General Motors; deserve better than this.

Shame on General Motors for their deceptive tactics and shame on the White House and Yes, the President for aiding and abetting in this little scam.

The real cute part is that not a word of this, has been said in the media, as to just HOW this loans are being paid back. That my friends is a damned human tragedy.

Others: Questions and Observations, Mish’s Global Economic …, TigerHawk, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool and The TrogloPundit

Update: Not surprisingly, Ed Morrissey Agrees with me.

SEIU President to Resign

Hmmmmm:

Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, one of America’s most prominent labor leaders, is set to resign, according to a member of the union’s board and another SEIU official.

The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle, Diane Sosne, broke the news to her staffers at 11:35 this morning, local time.

“Last night I received confirmation that Andy Stern is resigning as President of SEIU. He has not yet made a public announcement; we will share the details as we become aware of them,” Sosne wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.

Sosne offered no explanation for the move, but another SEIU official speculated that Stern had finally tired of the draining job.

via SEIU officials: Stern to resign – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com.

Of course, this is big news in the Blogosphere. Especially amongst Conservatives. Michelle Malkin has a nice piece on Stern.

Memeorandum has the normal round up.

Some on the right are speculating that Stern might be headed to the White House. I highly doubt this would be the case. The conflict of interest would be glaringly obvious and I highly doubt that Obama is just that dumb. Stern is just doing what most socialist liberals are good for. Inflict massive damage to the system and then run like hell, before the fallout. Elitist liberals have been doing this stuff for years. So have some Republicans. It is quite common for people like this guy here; to parachute out just before the melt down.

This could be a sign of any things. We will have to wait and see; as I just do not like playing the guessing game.

Movie: Just in case anyone has forgotten

Just remember, Ron Paul believes in negotiating with these bastards. Therefore, he is a terrorist supporter. So are Democrats.

More Socialist Liberal Union Thuggery

Go Read.

I wonder if the MSM will cover this? (Yeah right! 🙄 )

Remember this come 2010 and 2012.

(H/T to Glenn)

About that mine tragedy in West Virginia

I just wanted to post something here to all my readers. I noticed that not too many Bloggers on my side of the political fence have said anything about this.

Well, once again, I will be the one to do it.

Politics is one thing, real life is another.

Losing someone to a tragedy such as this, is unimaginable. Unlike some on the left, I will NOT bring my personal politics into this. But I will say that I personally feel for this people. Mining is in my family too; sort of. My Father is from Middlesboro, Kentucky. Back when he was a young man, he drove a tri-axle dump truck down in his home town. He worked out of a strip mines down in that town. Oh, the stories he would tell, about Hazards of driving those trucks. Some of the stories were side splitting tales, some were quite scary.

Anyhow, my heart goes out to these people during their time of loss. This is where I will also deviate from my normal hard line Conservative stance, and say the following; which most likely will not do anything for my Conservative creds. Not that I quite honestly give a damn about that anyhow.

It would be a crime, if I did not mention the fact that this mine was, in fact, a non-union mine. Because of that, the safety record of this mine, was, in fact, terrible. Unions; for all their short-comings and horrible politics, are the best defense against companies who want to cut corners and allow their employees to work in unsafe conditions. I honestly believe that if the union that my Father was represented by at G.M. had not been there, my Father would have been dead ages ago. For those who are just passing through, my Father is a retired G.M. Worker and is represented by the U.A.W. The Union forces the big business owners to a very high standard of safety and if the companies do not adhere to them, they simply will not allow their employees on the job. Which I feel is a very good thing. Equipment can be replaced —- Human Lives cannot.

There are some possibly of the right, that might say my bringing this up is morbid or something silly like that. Well, too bad. As they say, all politics is local; and this my friends is a local, personal issue for me. One of the nicest things I read, was the fact that even though this mine was non-union, the President of the Union miners was sending a team of people up to the site, to offer their assistance. Because it is the human and responsible thing to do. That is what normal, sane, rational Americans do, when their fellow man is hurting. They put partisan differences aside and come together. I bet some in the world of Political Blogging could learn something from that; on both sides of the aisle.

Again, my and my family’s prayers go out to the people of MONTCOAL, W.Va. tonight.

Update: Video confirming what I wrote above:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

HotAir.com's Ed Morrissey Honored by Rush Limbaugh

I agree 100% with AllahPundit, Ed Morrissey is highly deserving of this honor:

I will admit it, I have not always agreed with Ed. In fact, I have been known to jump his butt, when I thought he needed it. I’ve even flamed him a good one in e-mail once, because I thought he was being unfair, and a bit hypocritical. But, as always, Ed always handled everything with class. I will also make a stunning admission. For a Detroit native former Democratic party voter. I agree with a good 90% of what Ed writes.

Ed Morrissey is one of the more saner voices in the Right Wing Blogosphere. He does not go for the paranoid, shrieking headlines, that grace such places as, maybe, WorldNetDaily and some of the other Right Wing sites out there. He goes for the truth; and the my friends is a rarity on our side of the fence. It all boils down to a simple thing that is not found in Journalism or even politics much anymore. That simple thing is integrity. This is why Ed’s work is better than most, the man has integrity. Even if you do not agree with his political point, that he might be trying to score —- you do have to admit that he does speak the truth. That my friends goes a long way in writing, in blogging and in life in general.

So, yeah, Ed’s a good man. But the next time he writes something stupid about G.M or the unions — Oh, It’s on baby. 😉 😛 😀 😆