Category: conservative

From the "Ya Think?" File….

Someone on the right, is finally starting to face reality. Finally!

A new poll by widely respected Public Opinion Strategies pollster Glen Bolger has some very interesting data on an important question: What do voters think of the Republic message when it isn’t attached to the GOP label? His data is a perfect way to test whether voters…

A. Like what we have to say but simply don’t trust us after Bush, Iraq, Katrina, overspending, the bridge to nowhere, endless scandals (need I go on?).

Or

B. Don’t like us because they don’t agree with what we say we want to do for the country. – Poll: Is Our Message More Effective Without GOP Label? – (Via The Next Right)

Fester at Newshoggers, weighs in:

OUCH!!!  Branding and consistency of messaging is important but only when the ideas are palatable or can be made palatable to a decent fraction of the population.  Instead what we are seeing right here is the elements of a realigning movement as the Republican Party is rejecting the Republican Party.  Residual loyalty and long-standing brand imaging is currently supporting Republican Party fortunes and not causing disproportionate harm.  Staying away from policy and running as a generic sunshine candidate may be the best that most Republicans could do this fall. 

John McCain has been trying to run a campaign as an anti-Bush change agent who, on most issues, is presenting standard issue Republican policy tropes and when he is not, he is either ill-informed, unengaged, or seeking minimalist defensive measures instead of proactive solutions such as on greenhouse gases auctions.  Right now he is about even in the daily tracking polls although his electoral map is a losing map as of this morning.  So this polling information is reassuring that although the McCain Brand is stronger than the Republican brand, his solution set has very little salience with the public.

What he said, and yes, Ouch.

Only thing original that I can bring to this discussion is something that I have said on this Blog many times. Until the Republican Party can shake this Neo-Conservative doctrine of warmongering and the attitude of "We must rule the world" for democracy’s sake. The G.O.P. will be in the state it is now, and that is, in the minority of the political landscape in America.

One the most troubling things that is wrong with America right now is, that America has become so sharply divided, Republicans and Democrats are sworn enemies. President George W. Bush, in his wrong-headed and quite feeble vision to bring democracy to the Middle East, managed to do something else entirely. He managed to put this Nation into a war, that possibly spend us into a recession, that might take us into another depression and also divided the political landscape, to the point where there is a "grand canyon" difference between the political discourses of the Right and Left. Senator Barack Obama seems to believe that he can bridge that Canyon and bring America back together. The problem with Senator Obama is that he lacks the Experience needed to tackle some of the very tough issues facing America at this point. Not to mention that the fact that Obama has some very "interesting" people in his background as well. Speaking as a fellow American Citizen, I can tell you that Americans, Black, White, Hispanic and every other race, will not vote for someone that they know little or nothing about. There is an American and very much a human thing, (for a lack of a better word…) called trust. It can take decades to build and be destroyed within seconds, if it is abused. American’s trust in our Government, was quite frankly, destroyed by President Bush, and I just do not know, if America will be willing to trust a man, that they know little about, to straighten out the mess that Bush and Co. have created.  

As hard as it is to believe, not every American sits by their computers or TV and gobbles up every little morsel of politics news that the Main Stream Media and Blogging world heaves out to the General populous to ingest. As a matter of fact, most people simply tune politics out, until Election Day comes. This could, very well present a problem for Obama come the general election in November.

Further Discussion @ Memeorandum

Scott McClellan implicates Bush in Valerie Wilson scandal

Holy Crap… SurprisedSurprise

Scott McClellan : But the other defining moment was in early April 2006, when I learned that the President had secretly declassified the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq for the Vice President and Scooter Libby to anonymously disclose to reporters. And we had been out there talking about how seriously the President took the selective leaking of classified information. And here we were, learning that the President had authorized the very same thing we had criticized.

Viera: Did you talk to the President and say why are you doing this?

Scott McClellan: Actually, I did. I talked about the conversation we had. I walked onto Air Force One, it was right after an event we had, it was down in the south, I believe it was North Carolina. And I walk onto Air Force One and a reporter had yelled a question to the President trying to ask him a question about this revelation that had come out during the legal proceedings. The revelation was that it was the President who had authorized, or, enable Scooter Libby to go out there and talk about this information. And I told the President that that’s what the reporter was asking. He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said "yeah, I did." And I was kinda taken aback.- Via Emptywheel

This is a serious accusation and I do believe that the Democrats and possibly some Republicans might just turn on Bush because of this. It just depends though, most of the Republicans up on Capital Hill are Bush Loyalists and Nancy Pelosi is so scared of Bush, I highly doubt that anything will even happen.

However, it is an interesting revelation.

Other Opinions via Memeorandum

This is another reason, that this war was a mistake….

I am a Christian and this angers me, greatly….  Angry

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They’d been given the coins, too, he said. – Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah (Via McClatchy Washington Bureau)

The reason this angers me, is because when we went to war, one of the main things that George W. Bush said, was that we would not attempt to change the Iraqi people’s culture, religion or lifestyle, and what do we have happening here? Marines trying to proselyte Muslims. As a Libertarian, a believe that using the Government’s military to push a particular Religious belief system is totally wrong, and quite frankly unconstitutional!    

The Article continues:

A spokesman said the U.S. military is investigating.

"Multi-National Force-Iraq is investigating a report that U.S. military personnel in Fallujah handed-out material that is religious and evangelical in nature," the spokesman, Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, said in a statement e-mailed to McClatchy. "Local commanders are investigating since the military prohibits proselytizing any religion, faith or practices."

Yeah, I bet they will investigate it. I almost see it now….:

Investigator: Did you do this?

Marine: Yep! I wanted to spread the love of Jesus Christ to these ragheads.

Investigator: Good job solider.

(writes in report) "No evidence of wrongdoing"

Do you all see why this Nation is headed down the wrong path?

Do I support the troops? Yes. Do I support Conservative Religious Far Right’s mission to turn America into a Theocracy? No.  Not talking

Answering the Stupidity of the Republicans….

You know, I see crap like this here, and I just get inspired to remind these Neo-Conservative idiots of the truth.

The lies in this video are quite humorous, Yes, the surge worked, militarily (when there’s no suicide bombers!) . But the Government is still in disagreement, they’ve made zero progress.

and so, having said that, I present a video, that I put back on youtube, after it was removed, an answer video to the Republican B.S.:

 

I realize that one of the accusations in this video, is quite wrong, that the war was about oil. It was not directly. However, if one is being honest, the United would profit from this war, not only from a Oil stand point, but in contracts.  At first glace, it does seem that it is wrong, but it has been admitted, that Bush wanted to promote democracy in the middle east and get a oil for food program in Iraq. But wouldn’t some of that oil end up here in the United States? I would say so.

One thing I believe that all people, conservatives and liberals alike, that this war was a mistake, not only because of the lives lost, but because of the social and political ramifications that it has caused. Not to mention that it will affect the United States economy for many years to come. Anyone who says otherwise is a Neo-Con apologist and still drinking the poisoned Kool-Aid of the George W. Bush Administration. 

Memo to the G.O.P.: The Iraq War is NOT to be used a Political Point!

Now this here, does piss me the hell off, and I’ve never even served in the armed forces! Grrrrr! Angry

Senator Barack Obama said today that he is considering visiting American troops and commanders in Iraq this summer. He declined an invitation from Senator John McCain to take a joint trip to Iraq, saying, “I just don’t want to be involved in a political stunt.”

In a brief interview here, Mr. Obama said his campaign was considering taking a foreign trip after he secures the Democratic presidential nomination. No details have been set, he said, but added: “Iraq would obviously be at the top of the list of stops.”

Mr. Obama visited Iraq in January 2006 as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East, but he has not returned since he became a presidential candidate. Mr. McCain and the Republican National Committee have sought to use that singular trip to highlight a lack of foreign policy experience.

For weeks, aides to Mr. Obama have been quietly discussing a foreign trip, but the long Democratic nominating fight has delayed making any concrete plans. Now, with only five months remaining until the general election, it remains unclear whether there will be time to take such a trip.

Mr. Obama suggested today that any foreign itinerary would include a stop in Iraq.

“I think that if I’m going to Iraq, then I’m there to talk to troops and talk to commanders, I’m not there to try to score political points or perform,” Mr. Obama said. “The work they’re doing there is too important.” – Obama Says He Is Considering Iraq Trip – (Via The Caucus)

You know, I do not even like Barack Obama, nor do I agree with 90% of his Politics, but I do have a bit more respect for him. Unlike John "I served in the Armed Forces and I am going to use it to score political points!" McCain, Obama has shown himself to have a bit more integrity then McCain will ever have.

Let me be absolutely clear here, This War and the service performed by the brave men who volunteered to give their lives to their Country are worth more, than to be used for a cheap political point. If John McCain uses this misguided war in Iraq, the one that was started using bad intelligence, the one that has taken the lives of 4000+ young people, all so George W. Bush could achieve his rather warped goal, as some sort of cheap political stunt or point, it will be the death knell of his Presidential Campaign. The American people, present company included, do not appreciate being exploited.

I can only imagine how the parents and families of those who have been killed in Iraq feel right now, the blood and lives of their loved ones, are now going to be used by the G.O.P for exploitation, so that a Man, who was, in all reality, a failure as a fighter pilot, can achieve his selfish dream of becoming President of the United States. It gives the world, a glimpse into the warped mind and intellect of the Republican Party. My heart grieves for them, My the Lord Jesus be with them through this hard time. Praying

My friends, this is your poisoned Republican Party, poisoned by the Neo-Conservative mentality, that a war is political fodder, that the death and blood of our American soldiers are nothing more, than mere political points to be used, as ammo against the opposing party. 

This what I have just described, is why I am voting for Chuck Baldwin, and is why I will never, ever, vote for a Republican, ever!

Others: Commentary, The Carpetbagger Report, TIME.com, FOX Embeds, Hot Air, Redstate, Gateway Pundit, GOP.com, Comments from Left Field, Atlas Shrugs, Spin Cycle, Top of the Ticket, Sister Toldjah, Needlenose, Fox News, Stop The ACLU and Wake up America

 

Breaking News: John McCain's Consultant's Wife has ties Libyan Government

This could be bad for McCain…. 

A top consultant to Senator John McCain is married to a lobbyist who has worked in recent years for the Libyan regime of Muammar Khaddafi, UltimateJohnMcCain.com has learned.  

She began working for the Khaddafi government at a time when it was officially designated by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Under Khaddafi’s rule, the Libyan government supported terrorism in countries as far afield as Spain, the U.K., and the Philippines, and was responsible for the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people died.   The Lockerbie bombing was considered the largest terrorist attack on Americans prior to 9/11.

The McCain consultant, Mike Hudome, is one of the media advisors who took over for Mark McKinnon when McKinnon left the campaign rather than work against Obama. Mr. Hudome previously worked with McCain media advisor Michael Murphy in the 2000 primary campaign. (via McCain consultant’s wife worked for Libya’s terrorist regime (Via Ultimate John McCain))

This could be seriously bad. Especially if the Main Stream Media gets it. You know, I have always suspected that McCain was dishonest. This simply proves it.

What this will do to John McCain’s Presidential Campaign, is anyone’s guess. But it will be interesting to see if the Blogging World and the Main Stream Media bothers to cover it.

So much for the policy of kicking out the Lobbyists out of his Campaign. Frustrated

You know, I will just say what the Republicans will not say, because of their loyalty to their candidate. This is the very large distinction between the Paleo-Conservatives and the Constitution Party and the New or Neo-Conservatives and Republicans. The Neo-Con’s know no integrity, if they smell money, they will go against the very fabric of the Principles of the United States of America to make a buck, even it means working for a Nation that was regarded as a Terrorist Nation.

It is a sad commentary of the present state of the Republican Party. One that makes me wretch in disgust. Angry

Editorial: Objective Journalism or hit piece on Michelle Malkin?

I never thought in a million years that I would be defending the knuckle-headed woman. However, here I am, once again, defending someone, of whom my political beliefs are a bit similar. Michelle, being a staunch Republican and Conservative, and me a former “Left of Center” type and more of a Libertarian and very much a Constitutionalist.

In the interest of full disclosure, there are times, when I read what Michelle Malkin writes and I just roll my eyes and think to myself, “My God in Heaven, why do they let that women near a Computer?” However, there are other times, when I would like to whack her upside the head with an aluminum baseball bat, to knock some sense into her head, for some of the things that she has written. But then again, there has been quite a few times, that I would loved to kiss her soundly on the lips and give a nice squeeze on the butt, for some of the good stuff that she has written as well.

Deadly violence and sexual fantasies aside, when I see stuff like this piece in the Boston Globe, I find myself in a position of saying, “Hey, wait a minute here!”

What strikes me about this article is the glaring bias, could it be any clearer that this was written by some idiotic liberal who has a axe to grind with the Conservatives?

I mean, yes, when I read the article on Malkin’s Blog I just laughed and thought, “Well, maybe it is a slow news day, and she is looking for content.” It happens, I as a Blogger have the problem, some days, there just is not much write about in Politics. This is especially painfully true with the Democrats. I mean, can we just chose the candidate and move on please?

Nevertheless, what bothered me about this piece was this little quote here:

Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.

‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column.

‘‘Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.’’

The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be easier just to yank the ad.

Said the suits in a statement: ‘‘In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.’

Yowls? I mean, can you get any more biased than to reduce a woman of great writing skills and awesome Conservative values to a word like “yowls?” This is, by the way, an underhanded way of basically calling Michelle Malkin a crybaby.

I mean, I can understand the idea that some people find Michelle Malkin’s writing a bit screechy at times, but to basically slam her for her Conservative values in a article and disguise it as objective journalism is just pathetic. As far as I am concerned the editors at the Boston Globe owes Michelle Malkin and people like me, who share her values a big apology, and should terminate the employment of the writer who produced this story.

Trust me, this is only the beginning of the Books whacking Bush and his White House

Shocking Yes. Surprising? Not hardly. Not talking

Quote:

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95):

• McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.

• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.

• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.” 

• The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.

• McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. -  McClellan whacks Bush, White House (Via Politico.com)

Other Interesting tibits:

Among other notable passages:

• Steve Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, said about the erroneous assertion about Saddam Hussein seeking uranium, included in the State of the Union address of 2003: “Signing off on these facts is my responsibility. … And in this case, I blew it. I think the only solution is for me to resign.” The offer “was rejected almost out of hand by others present,” McClellan writes.

• Bush was “clearly irritated, … steamed,” when McClellan informed him that chief economic adviser Larry Lindsey had told The Wall Street Journal that a possible war in Iraq could cost from $100 billion to $200 billion: “‘It’s unacceptable,’ Bush continued, his voice rising. ‘He shouldn’t be talking about that.’”

• “As press secretary, I spent countless hours defending the administration from the podium in the White House briefing room. Although the things I said then were sincere, I have since come to realize that some of them were badly misguided.”

• “History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.”

• McClellan describes his preparation for briefing reporters during the Plame frenzy: “I could feel the adrenaline flowing as I gave the go-ahead for Josh Deckard, one of my hard-working, underpaid press office staff, … to give the two-minute warning so the networks could prepare to switch to live coverage the moment I stepped into the briefing room.”

• “‘Matrix’ was the code name the Secret Service used for the White House press secretary."

Unlike Jack Moss, who totally trashed Scott and his book, and even goes as far to say that Scott is lying about Bush in his book. I will say this, it is a good chance that Scott is actually telling the truth about Bush in his book. I think Jack Moss thinks that unless someone is praising Bush and saying he is 100 percent right and Iraq was a great idea, and Katrina was not his fault, they’re lying in their books. In other words, if they do not toe the party line, (of B.S.) they are just lying liberals out to discredit Bush. You see how screwed up the mind set is of the Bush apologists and Neo Conservatives?

The truth is, this book is most likely going to be one of the more stunning books, seeing that it is from an insider, someone who was in his inner circle. I personally would like to get a copy of it.

You can pre-order yours at:

Like I said in the title of this post, this is only the tip of the iceberg. I believe that torrent, a flood, if you will, of books will come out, after Bush leaves office, by former staffers, and friends of his, some glowing and some will be glaring. Bush might lose some friends over it too. You cannot stifle truth and it will prevail in the end.  It shall be interesting, to say the least.

Update: The White House responds:

The White House is panning a new book by former presidential spokesman Scott McClellan.

"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad – this is not the Scott we knew," Dana Perino, one of his successors at the podium, says in a statement to reporters.

"The book, as reported by the press, has been described to the president. I do not expect a comment from him on it – he has more pressing matters than to spend time commenting on books by former staffers," she says.

How prissy. Rolling Eyes

More Opinions @ Memeorandum

Bob Barr, Another Opinion….

This is very interesting….

via Alexander Brunk:

Quote:

As of Saturday, Bob Barr is now the official Libertarian party nominee for President of the United States. Some conservatives, dissatisfied with John McCain as the GOP’s standard bearer, seem to think that here is a candidate ripe to receive the protest votes of thousands of movement conservatives dissatisfied with the direction that McCain is taking our party.

I wasn’t shocked that the libertarian party picked Barr – they are desperate for a candidate who more than a tiny fraction of the country has actually heard of. He’s a compelling speaker and will gain publicity for the party. But I’m surprised at how willing they are to ignore much of Barr’s history in doing so.

Certainly, it seems ironic that the man who was once congress’s greatest champion of the “War on Drugs” is now the leader of a fringe party devoted to opposing it. A man who rails against overspending in Washington himself voted for No Child Left Behind, which libertarians hate. A man who was one of the main movers and shakers in the impeachment trial of President Clinton, which most libertarians opposed. A man who voted for the Patriot Act, but has now spent the last five years speaking out against it.

The bottom line is that when he was in congress, Barr was a loyal Republican footsoldier, not a movement conservative or libertarian who just happened to have an R next to his name.

His criticism of big government Republicanism, and then his movement toward the libertarian party and his rejection of Republicans altogether only occurred after Republicans rejected him – tossing him out of his congressional district in a 2002 primary, and failing to support an attempted return to congress the following year.

When Bob Barr was in congress, when he had the opportunity to stand up for the principles he now claims to champion, he didn’t. He is not the principled leader he claims to be. And conservatives and libertarians alike looking to cast a protest vote should look past him.

You know I kind of had a feeling that this was true. I just was not sure. It is what I suspected. I noticed that during the voting process at the Libertarian convention, that were were a few who spoke out against Bob Barr. Now I see why.

I'm contributing at another Conservative Blog….God help us all…

Well, it can’t be that bad. I haven’t been tossed yet, but then again, I did just sign up about 5 minutes ago.

I am contributing to "The Next Right". I am bringing my Paleo-Conservative/Libertarian/Constitutionalist voice to the joint. Hopefully, I won’t tick anyone off, well, maybe just a little. TongueHee hee

Anyhow, so, if you see my name over there, yes, that is really me. Big Grin