Category: Republican

Democrats Prepared to go it alone.

Call me skeptic, but this just does not pass the smell test….

Via The NYT:

WASHINGTON — Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.

Top Democrats said Tuesday that their go-it-alone view was being shaped by what they saw as Republicans’ purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month’s Congressional recess, as well as remarks by leading Republicans that current proposals were flawed beyond repair.

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said the heated opposition was evidence that Republicans had made a political calculation to draw a line against any health care changes, the latest in a string of major administration proposals that Republicans have opposed.

“The Republican leadership,” Mr. Emanuel said, “has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.”

The Democratic shift may not make producing a final bill much easier. The party must still reconcile the views of moderate and conservative Democrats worried about the cost and scope of the legislation with those of more liberal lawmakers determined to win a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers.

On the other hand, such a change could alter the dynamic of talks surrounding health care legislation, and even change the substance of a final bill. With no need to negotiate with Republicans, Democrats might be better able to move more quickly, relying on their large majorities in both houses.

Okay here is why I do not believe that the Democrats will try and ram this legislation through. Right now, Congress in recess and they are out meeting with the people; the Congress critters are not stupid, they know that the people that are protesting at these meetings also vote, and whether the liberal media wants to admit it or not; these people are voting for the one’s who are trying to ram this through Congress. I believe before recess is over and the Congress convenes in August, there will be a major “Backsliding” in the Congress’s confidence in getting this passed. I believe at the last minute; many of these Congressmen will decide against this bill and It will die in the either the House or the Senate.

The reason I say this is because there are just too many “Blue Dogs” to prevent this bill from going anywhere. While there might be a 60 seat majority. Not all of these Congress people are far lefty Liberals. Some of them are Moderate and some some from very Conservative districts.  The Democrats made a very fatal error in their judgment; they assumed that the entire Democratic Party had leaned to the far left. I am sorry to say, but that just is not true at all. There are some Democrats; God Love them, who still believe in the idea of Free Market Principles. They are also knowledgeable of the fact that the Healthcare industry accounts for 12-15% of the Nation’s Economy and if this plan goes through, that it would destroy or at the very least impair our nation’s economy.

So, while some of my fellow Conservative Bloggers are throwing up their hands and are saying “Get ready for Obamacare!” I am not so ready to raise the flag of surrender yet. Because I just have this itching feeling that the “Blog Dogs” and some of the not-so-Blue Dogs are going to have a “Come to Jesus” moment on this and are going to hastily retreat on this bill and vote against it. So, while I do not underestimate the majority of the Democrats, I also know that some of those Democrats are looking at 2010 and are wanting to keep their jobs. We must keep this in mind.

Others Covering the Subject: , Hot Air, RedState, YID With LID, Sweetness & Light,  Commentary, The Sundries Shack, The Strata-Sphere,  Wake up America, Right Wing Nut House,  QandO, , Scared Monkeys,  Don Surber and Atlas Shrugs

Conservative Icon Journalist Robert Novak has died

A truly sad day in Conservatism. Conservative Icon and award winning Journalist Robert Novak has died.

I really do not think that my mere words could ever measure up to those who have already paid tribute to him.

Tim Carney Pays tribute:

Bob Novak hired me away from HUMAN EVENTS in late 2001. “Poaching,” HE Editor-in-Chief Tom Winter called it. I was not the first early-20s reporter Novak would pluck from HE’s newsroom. Nor would I be the last.

Work for us Novak reporters, in addition to writing the Evans-Novak Political Report, consisted of doing “the opposite of research,” as I put it. Rather than trying to find an answer to a question Novak had — he had another staffer for that — we would try to dig up scoops, leads, and unreported nuggets to feed him.

That Novak would hire a leg-man to go around Washington sniffing out news reflected the virtue at the heart of his work: His columns, while they resided on the op-ed pages, were built upon previously unreported facts that revealed and explained the machinations of government, the men and women in power, and the politics behind it all. His job demanded he get a constant flow of new information, but curiosity and a thirst for knowledge were natural traits for him.

Bob Novak was, above all, a reporter.

I suggest that you read all of that tribute; as I feel that it is excellent.

CNN did a nice tribute as well:

Kenneth Tomlinson writes:

How many reporters, when George W. Bush named Paul O’Neill as his Treasury secretary, knew that he had been a pal of young government staffer Dick Cheney and that it was O’Neill who was the reason Gerald Ford’s vision as he opened his presidential campaign was “essentially that of a Washington bureaucrat.”? Of course Novak wrote the column. But did Bush (and Rove) ever come to see that Novak was right?

In recent years, some of Novak’s most significant work was done in association with Tom Phillips, who had begun publishing the bi-weekly Evans-Novak Political Report in1971 at Phillips Publishing and then had moved the newsletter to Eagle Publishing after he founded Eagle in 1993. Under the umbrella of the Phillips Foundation, Phillips and Novak developed the nation’s largest journalistic grant program for young writers — offering five-figure stipends to finance research and development of significant conservative books and articles that otherwise would not have been produced.

Not a Saturday night passes that I do not miss “Capital Gang.” Spring is not the same without the ACC tournament. I cannot pick up the Saturday New York Post or the Monday Washington Post without a sense of regret that the column is not there.

There was one thing about Novak that I admired greatly; and that is that he was skeptical of the Washington D.C. crowd. Something that I found myself to be quite a bit. He also was highly critical of the Bush Administration and much of its action that lead up to the Iraq War and afterwards. Novak did not carry water for the Republican Party; something that I highly admired about him.

You can read the roundup of opinions and memorials here at Memeorandum. Of course, there are some opportunistic liberals who are taking pot shots at the man at his passing. I find this to be totally offensive, and I told one so on a liberal rag blog that no one reads. I will not link to it; that would be sacrilegious. On the other hand, one of the bigger Liberal Blogs out there; which is ran by some marbled-mouthed ex-Republican, who knowingly married a gay man;  had surprisingly nice things to say about Mr. Novak.  Shocking indeed.

My deepest condolences to the Novak Family and most of all his many Children.

May Bob Rest in peace, as he has earned it.

Video: Ed Driscoll Interviews Chris Muir Creator of Day by Day

As some of you might know. I carry Chris Muir’s online Blog Cartoon called Day by Day. Ed Driscoll interviewed Chris on his show called Silicon Graffiti.

Here’s the Video:

On a personal note; I have been reading Chris Muir’s online comic, since I started blogging in December of 2006; as a left of center Blogger. I thought it was great then and still do. I recommend all Conservatives and liberals with a sense of humor, to read and possibly embed on your blog, Chris’s comic.

Good Job Chris! Keep up the good work! 😀

(H/T Chris Muir on Twitter)

Interesting Video: The Rise and Fall of Liberalism

(H/T Viral Footage)

Author James Piereson discusses his 2007 book, Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism with the Hoover Institute’s Peter Robinson. A synopsis of the book’s thesis can be found in the brilliant essay that preceded it at Commentary.

 

James Piereson’s Books are here:

Amazon.com: The Pursuit of Liberty

ISBN: 1594032386
ISBN-13: 9781594032387

Michelle Bachmann, Traitor?

Now this sounds interesting….

This comes via Freedom Fighter Radio:

Yes, Michelle Bachmann the latest FAKE Conservative that had recently had TOO swift a rise to national notoriety and gained popularity within the Patriot community with her Academy Award Winning floor speeches pretending to attack the Federal Reserve voted AYE on HR2749 Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. I have looked at two different sources of the voting record of this bill. If someone can show me that these records are inaccurate, please notify me ASAP, and I will call off the dogs.

On July 30th at 10:02 PM this bill that was supposed to have been delayed for 90 days actually passed the House with the help of 54 Socialist Republicans. This vote broke the House rules in order to get passed in the House swiftly. I would michelebachmannbr-mnsuggest that anyone that is in realistic driving distance to one of Michelle Bachmann’s townhall meetings show up and expose this vote and make her explain to her constituents how she could possibly have helped pass this egregious bill that will turn over tremendous control to the Federal Government of all crops grown in the US, bankrupt our farmers and even applies the same mandatory control on our backyard gardens. This bill has not passed the Senate yet but we know there is virtually no hope there! Together with the amendment of the water bill which turns over control of ALL water regardless of private property rights is the perfect storm and nailing of the coffin on private property rights in the US.

It is obvious the New World Order has FULL control of the passage of all of these bills no matter how many people shout or how loudly, it has done us no good. Only the bravest and most principled will buck the agenda and sadly there are very few left in the halls of Congress. We need to fire them all and encourage REAL Americans to run for every office in this land.

ALL Minnesota Congressman voted AYE. Calling all MN Patriots and those nearby need to hold their Representatives accountable and explain their vote! Phone calls, emails and townhall meeting participation in mass. The Full list of surprise votes is linked below. How Dennis Cucinich and Marcy Kaptur also went along with this, is beyond words.

You can see the record of the votes by going here. I believe it is important to defend our farmers from those who would want to have Governmental control over them.  If Michelle Bachmann is in favor of big governmental control over our farms, she should be replaced with someone else, who does not.

More of Pat Buchanan's Defeatist Bullshit

Oh Boy, here we go again….:

“Taliban Are Winning: U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties.” Thus ran the startling headline on the front-page of The Wall Street Journal. The lead paragraph ran thus:

“The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency’s spiritual home.”

Source for the story: Gen. Stanley McChrystal himself.

The general’s spokesman in Kabul was swift to separate him from that headline and lead. They “go too far,” he said: The general does not believe the Taliban are winning or “gaining the upper hand.”

Nevertheless, in the eighth year of America’s war, the newly arrived field commander concedes that U.S. casualties, now at record levels, will continue to be high or go higher, and that our primary mission is no longer to run down and kill Taliban but to defend the Afghan population.

What went wrong?

via » Unwinnable War? ::: Patrick J. Buchanan – Official Website.

What happened was that Pat Buchanan’s BRAIN checked out shortly after the Nixon Administration.  No wonder this feckless idiot never made President.  The very suggestion that Obama should pull out Afghanistan is an damned insult to the 2,996 people who died on September 11, 2001; and dare I say this? It is quite Anti or Un-American as well.  As you can see, between this; and the nonsense sputtered by that ignorant Faux Conservative in South Carolina, Jack Hunter, I am truly beginning to see what these morons are really about. Anti-Americanism, Racism, and Antisemitism.

I admit, that sometimes, I quote Pat on this Blog, for a quote of the day; that is when actually writes something that sounds halfway intelligent; and not something that sounds like it was written by an escapee from the damned mental ward.  The problem with Pat Buchanan’s and for that matter; Ron Paul’s idea of Foreign policy, is that it is rooted in the past.  This is not 1935, this is 2009 and things have changed.  Isolationism is what got this damned Country into World War II and at this stage in the game would only cause America more troubles that it would help the country.

…and before anyone thinks it. No, I am, nor will I ever be a “Neo-Conservative”, I do not embrace Wilsonian Foreign policy nor do I believe in preemptive strikes. But I do believe in protecting Americans Interests and defending the Republic. Something that Ron Paul and Yes, Pat Buchanan have zero concept of. Which explains why the White House is one place that they shall never occupy.

Video: The Lock and Load show visits Grand Master Shooter Angus Hobdell

Angus Hobdell is the Dale Earnhardt of shooting! In this episode he visits Brandy and Andy and races against machine guns to shoot a 4×4 in half. He also explains what it takes to be a good shot

The Lock and Load show is sponsored by Impact Guns. Please visit them for all your gun needs! 😀

On Guns, Obama and the Right

I wanted to do a posting on this and I did not want to do the usual quoting someone else and then adding my thoughts routine.  On this posting, I did want to give my complete original thought with reference links as needed.  Yes, I am fully aware, as I am sure most of you are; about the idiot Ron Paul follower, who took it upon himself to bring his gun to an event that President Barack Obama was going to be attending.  I have also seen the interview that this person gave to Chris Matthews at MSNBC —-which I might add, that the man handled himself very well.  Being that he did not fall for the baited trap that Chris Matthews laid out for him.

However, on the subject of what actually took place here, was this man well within his Constitutional right; being he was well within the proper law to carry his gun, the answer to this question is an obvious yes.  The second question is and I will answer it; is this.  Was it really in the best interests of Conservative, Republicans, and yes, even libertarians and law abiding gun owners for this man to show up at a town-hall meeting where the President of the United States was going to be attending with a Firearm and a sign that says that the Government needs to be overthrown by a violent revolution?  I say this as not only Conservative who believes in the right to carry a firearm.  But as someone who believes in something, that is not found in this day and age of internet sound bites, called common sense —  I am going to come down on that side and say that this man was totally out of line and should been removed from the area.  The reason I say this is because I happen to know that our President is getting more threats on his life now, than when the previous Administration was in power.

Please, do not get me wrong, I fully believe in the right to carry and own firearms.  As long as that carrying of a firearm, is well within the proper laws of that said state.  However, I also believe that this man was horrible distraction to our Secret Service whose job it is to protect our President.  This is the huge difference between the mainstream Conservatives and yes, Republicans, who believe in the idea of “Rule of Law” and the whole “Viva Revolution” Ron Paul crowd who believe in a so-called peaceful (Wink Wink) Revolution.  The Ron Paul crowd believes that the “Rule of Law” infringes on the Constitutional rights of every American citizen.  This, in the opinion of this writer, is an extremist position that is rooted in the concept on anarchy.  This is the reason why I consider myself a Conservative, who leans more towards the thought process of a Republican than a libertarian one, because I believe in a moderate interpretation of the Constitution, and because I believe the concept of a rule of law.

The whole depressing aspect of this whole story is this, it simply feeds in to the socialist left’s talking points that guns promote violence and that the right are bunch of gun toting nut cases that run around waiting for a chance to shoot the President.  Which I happen to know is bunch of nonsense as does anyone else who has a half of a brain.  This is why I happen to believe that the Republican Party and generally Conservatives as a whole need to articulate a clear distinction, between the Constitutional extremists of the “Ron Paul” crowd and those of us who do not subscribe to that sort of a mindset.

Update: InstaPundit Links in… Thanks Glenn!

Noted Detroit Sports Writer and Faux Liberal Hack says "Hey Townhalls Protests are American too!"

From the ultra-Liberal Detroit Free Press‘s Mitch Albom:

I have no illusions about protesters at the recent town hall meetings on health care.

Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom

Some are fueled by angry conservative groups. Some are hopped up on radio hosts’ rants and ravings. Some are Barack Obama haters. Some use one piece of wrong information to smear an entire event.

And some just think the whole idea of government health care stinks.

But all of them — all of them — have the right to be there, and the right to their point of view. Liberal-minded thinkers who regularly speak up for the poor and underprivileged cannot suddenly yank the rug when it comes to free speech for others.

No matter what I think of national health care — no matter what you think, either — it is an issue that affects everyone, and everyone should have the same right to talk, argue or shout about it.

The fact that some are doing so in an impolite, abrasive way is unfortunate.

[…]

Now, I know some of these protesters are sent by dubiously named groups like Americans obama_jokerfor Prosperity, which sounds harmless enough, until you check and see the group’s leader once organized for Enron and worked with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

I know these groups often hand out instructions on how to be disruptive.

And I know some people just want to see Obama — and any of his plans — fail.

But that’s what America is. That’s what town halls are for. And let’s be honest, politicians try to orchestrate these events as much as protesters do. The only problem I have is when people won’t let others speak or come only to disrupt. That’s not right. That’s not democracy.

But the rest is. If you feel other people are ill-informed, take the time to try to correct them. If you feel others are shouting to bring down a cause, shout to bring it up.

But I would rather live in a place where people questioned what their government proposed rather than swallowing it blindly — especially a government whose members guard our tax money while taking bribes, shout morality and then get caught with their pants down, or lecture businessmen about private planes and then order a bunch for themselves.

What did Democrats expect with a bill like this? Roses and hosannas? Many who supported Obama’s campaign promises of health care for everyone wouldn’t have done so if they read how he now plans to pay for and administer it.

It may not be pretty, but shouting and confrontations are part of this country. They have been from the start. More manners would be better. But silence would be worse.

Listening to this idiot yowl on about this; is like listening to Aleister Crowley say that Jesus Christ is Lord. You know the words coming out of his mouth, but you know damn well that the person does not mean a damn word of it. Albom goes on to very lamely attempt to paint a parallel between these Townhalls and the Anti-War Demonstrations of the Vietnam era. Which in itself is an idiotic comparison. The difference is that those war protests were done by a bunch of America-hating assholes, who wanted to see us lose and come home defeated. For what it is worth Mitch; Vietnam was started by a Democrat, The man who was the driving force and architect behind Vietnam was a liberal Democrat — something that that he went to his grave regretting. Also, want to know which party ended Vietnam??  It was the Republicans! After that idiot liberal broadcaster Walter Cronkite lost it for us, there was nothing more we could do! Anyhow, these townhall protests are being put on by those who happen to give two shits about our Country and the direction that it is headed in; people like me and every other damned person that either shows up at them and happens to Blog about them.

Further more, the problem here is Mitch Albom is a nothing more than an opportunist. This guy used to bash Bush and from what I have read, he used to trash Reagan as well. So, while on the surface, he comes off as someone who is attempting to defend the America people’s right to free speech. In reality Albom is really trying to mock those who really care about this Country. So, nice try Mitch, but you should really stick to what you know —- Sports.