Rep. Bart Stupak is retiring too

Now this is one that I totally saw coming:

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who had a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, plans to announce Friday that he will not run for reelection, a Democratic official said. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans.
“Now with health care done, he’s retiring,” a friend said. “He has thought about retiring for the last three cycles, but was always talked into staying: to elect John Kerry to help end the war, to elect a Democratic majority to get health care done.”
President Barack Obama called Stupak on Wednesday and asked him not to retire. Stupak, 58, also resisted entreaties from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the dean of the Wolverine State delegation.
via Rep. Bart Stupak won’t seek reelection – Mike Allen and Josh Kraushaar – POLITICO.com.

Of course, the G.O.P. got a very funny dig in:

“After selling his soul to Nancy Pelosi, it appears that Bart Stupak finally found the courage to tell her no,” said Ken Spain, communications director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “The political fallout over the Democrats’ government takeover of health care has put the political careers of many Democrats in jeopardy thanks in part to Stupak’s decision to abandon his alleged pro-life principles.

Heh.

As to what headaches this might cause for the Democratic Party, they might just have a problem getting that seat back. Now Ed over HotAir says that the U.P. is not deeply Conservative; which is partially true. However, I happen to be from Michigan and I can offer a different perspective. For the record, I have lived here all of my life and I happen to know the people around these parts and I can tell you what I do know. Now Detroit proper? Liberal/Progressive/Whatever you wanna call it as heck; now as for the ‘Burbs? The further South and North you get of Detroit, the less Liberal or Democratic Party leaning it gets. The only reason John McCain lost Michigan, was because his stupid President Campaign advisers chose to abandon this State, which left many Michigan Republicans quite peeved. When it comes to choosing Presidents around here, people vote, usually, the personality and the Person, and not the Party. I can tell you, from personal experience. Most Michiganders are NOT happy with Jennifer Granholm. It is not uncommon to hear that name and the term “Stupid Bitch” attached to it; and no, I do not mean from me! 😉

As most of you most likely already know; Michigan has been hit with one of the worst, if not the worst one state recessions ever. Many people here in Michigan voted for Barack Obama (NOT ME!) hoping he would bring change to the employment situation here in the Detroit area and in Michigan as a whole. So far? Nothing. We still have the highest unemployment problem in the United States, last time I checked, it was 75% in the city of Detroit. Based upon conversations that I have had with people around here in the last few years, there are people here in the State of Michigan, who are just fed up with the Democratic Party in general. The people of Detroit and largely the people of Michigan as well, are sick and tired of political speeches and empty rhetoric, they want results and so far, the token political Party of this area has not produced anything at all; but rhetoric and political speeches.

Having said all of the above, Democrats might just find themselves struggling to fill this seat again and many of the Senatorial seats in Congress and the House come November. There has also been talk that the Governor’s office might just flip back to the Republican for the first time since to the term of Governor George Romney. (Mitt’s Daddy…) Now that my friends would be feat in itself!

Again, it should be a very interesting thing to follow. Hey, at least it’s content, something I’ve been struggling to find here in the last few days! 😀

The Blogger Round Up is here.

Update: Looks like the folks over at FireDogLake, which is a liberal blog, are not to keen on this guy either:

If you’re a politician not inclined to deliver under “intense political pressure,” you have no business being a politician. And if death threats were a factor in resigning, there pretty much wouldn’t be a member of the Democratic caucus left. Stupak sought the spotlight. He wanted to lead the pro-life Caucus and hijack the health care debate. He refused to quit even when he essentially won by getting the Nelson compromise, which functionally did about everything he wanted. He made the debate a living hell and went out of his way to punish half the US population. And in the end, everybody hated him, left and right. Well played.

Ouch! That ought to leave a mark. 😯

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to retire

What is this retirement Friday? Must be nice to clock out on the best day of the week!:

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the court’s oldest member and leader of its liberal bloc, says he is retiring. President Barack Obama now has his second high court opening to fill.
Stevens says he will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in late June or early July.
His announcement Friday in Washington had been hinted at for months. It comes 11 days before his 90th birthday.
Stevens began signaling a possible retirement last summer when he hired just one of his usual complement of four law clerks for the next court term. He acknowledged in several interviews that he was contemplating stepping down and would certainly do so during Obama’s presidency.
The timing of his announcement leaves ample time for the White House to settle on a successor and Senate Democrats, who control 59 votes, to conduct confirmation hearings and a vote. Republicans have not ruled out an attempt to delay confirmation.
via Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring.

Now, I will be first to admit, that my knowledge of this whole process, is rather limited. So, If my analysis of this; is not like professional, please excuse that. 😉 Now Ed and AP over at HotAir both agree that they both doubt Obama is going to try and do anything radical, as some of the News Sources are writing in their articles. They also both agree that the G.O.P. will most likely not try and play the role of obstructionist. That is because of the elections coming up. However, their old boss, Michelle Malkin says to hold on to your hats, because there could be a protracted battle up there on the hill for the control on the SCOTUS. So, I guess at this point, it is whom you believe. Personally, I really do not know. I somehow doubt myself that either the Democrats or the Republicans have the heart for some sort of huge, epic, battle this close to the elections. That is because if the Democrats go for the throat and try something crazy, the Republicans are going to use it in the campaigns against them. Likewise, if the Republicans go for broke and block everything, the Democrats could do the same thing. So, either way, both sides are going to be screwed, no matter what they do.

Either way, it should be very interesting to follow. 😀

The Blogger round up is here

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)

Maxine Waters: Do as I say, not as I do, Part Two

Here we go again! (H/T Insty)

The Breitbart video very effectively makes the case that Waters is guilty of hypocrisy. Her behavior at the rally is at least as unattractive as her description of the tea partiers’s; conduct. On the other hand, so what? When has a politician ever complained about the other side's incivility without being guilty of hypocrisy?
But a look further back into Waters’s history reveals her hypocrisy to be far worse than is typical. The last time America experienced political mob violence–the Los Angeles riots of 1992–Waters was there offering excuses and justifications.
The L.A. riots began on April 29, 1992, after a jury returned a not-guilty verdict in the trial of four Los Angeles policemen charged in connection with the videotaped beating of Rodney King. By the time the riots wound down, six days later, 53 people had been killed and thousands injured.
Maxine Waters was a freshman representative from California’s 29th Congressional District (now the 35th), which covers areas of southern Los Angeles where the rioting was centered. Her own district office was burned to the ground. She quickly emerged as an advocate on behalf of the rioters.
“I accept the responsibility of asking people not to endanger their lives,” the Associated Press quoted her as saying on April 30. “I’m not asking people not to be angry. . . . I have a right to be angry.”
via ‘Riot Is the Voice of the Unheard’ – WSJ.com.

Looks like Maxine Water‘s past is coming back to haunt her. I guess that will teach her to open her mouth, when in all honesty, she should keep it shut.

But then again, does not that describe liberals in general? I mean, are they not all like that? Want others to conform to a high standard; all the while not living up to it themselves?

They’ve been doing it for years. This proves that.

Remember this come election 2010.

It's about time: Obama proposes offshore drillng

Finally, the stupid socialist is doing something right:

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.
The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.
The proposal is to be announced by President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday, but administration officials agreed to preview the details on the condition that they not be identified.
The proposal is intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.
via Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time – NYTimes.com.

It’s about time that Bambi Teleprompter is doing something right.

An exasperated Moonbat Steve Benon whines:

My confusion, then, is over the administration’s negotiating tactics. In February, the president cleared the way for the first new U.S. nuclear power plants in more than 30 years. Today, the president will reportedly open up new opportunities for coastal drilling.
In other words, Obama has already effectively given Republicans what they wanted on energy. What is he getting in return?

My question is, why the fuck should he get anything in return, at all?

He better be fucking hoping and praying that we don’t make his origin of birth a big issue when the Republicans take back the house and senate come 2010! What assholes… like the Republicans owe that floppy eared son-of-a- bitch anything at all. 😡 🙄

Again, I say, good on ol’ big ears for finally learning that capitalism is a good thing and that drilling is a good idea. Now if we could just teach the REST of liberal and socialist, and communist America that! We’d have to start in the fucking oval office first!

For the record, No, I do not think this is acceptable

In light of my posting yesterday, that not only succeeded in pissing off some liberals; but also my Mom. I thought I would clear the air on something.

It appears that some people who are not happy with the passage of this Healthcare reform bill, took it upon themselves to conduct some terrorism on the brother of one of the members of the house. It also appears that Bart Supack, received some threatening phone calls.

Here is the video on that story:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Okay gang, here’s the deal. I do not like this healthcare bill no more than the next “Right of center” blogger. But I want to be perfectly clear. I do not support the idea of conducting terrorism on anyone. The proper definition of terrorism is:

The root word for terrorism is terror and that is defined as: (Source)

Main Entry: ter·ror
Pronunciation: ?ter-?r, ?te-r?r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French terrour, from Latin terror, from terr?re to frighten; akin to Greek trein to be afraid, flee, tremein to tremble — more at tremble
Date: 14th century
1 : a state of intense fear
2 a : one that inspires fear : scourge b : a frightening aspect <the terrors of invasion> c : a cause of anxiety : worry d : an appalling person or thing; especially : brat
3 : reign of terror
4 : violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands <insurrection and revolutionary terror>

I mean, it is one thing to get on a Blog, such as mine here, and hurl insults and verbal flourishes at those that I disagree with on politics. It is another entirely to show up at someone’s house and do something destructive. That my friends is not promoting freedom, Democracy or anything else like that. Committing acts like that, makes you a two-bit thug; and basically no better than those who want to undermine our capitalistic society.

I said this before, and I will say it again; this sort of nonsense right here is why Conservatives, Republicans and Tea Party folks are losing the battle, when it comes to the political conversation in America. It is simply because the American people simply reject extremism in any form. We have a system in this wonderful Country of ours that allows the American people to choose whom they wish to lead their Country, and that is the inalienable right to vote. So, to my follow Americans, Conservatives and Tea Party folks; please, in the name of America —- stop the stupidity already! Committing acts like this makes you no better than those who slammed those planes in the World Trade Center in New York.

My good friends, anarchy never did a thing to promote freedom and peace or birth a Nation. Remember this, we are a civilized society, we are not Palestine, we are not a terrorist nation, We are Americans and we are much more better than that. Please, lets try acting like it.

If we are to win the battle come the 2010 and 2012 elections, we have to stop with this sort of nonsense and get back to the intellectual debate. We have to demonstrate to the American people that we as those who reject socialism are better than the average liberal and not some sort of knuckle-dragging terrorist from the backwoods. Until we can overcome that hurdle and get our own ranks in order, purge ourselves of the extremists. Until this happens, our cause will be a lost one.

Update: On the other hand…

Video: Is the Stimulus Working?

This comes via R.S. McCain:

Depressing Article of the Day

Political Byline pissing in your coffee since 2007. 😉

But Seriously, here’s the real downer of the day:

Already Republicans plan on introducing a bill this week to repeal last night’s historic healthcare vote.
Obviously that’s going nowhere.
But looking out, Republicans will probably try to run on repeal in the runup until November. It’s possible that will play okay at the ballot (we don’t know) but anyone who thinks this is a realistic prospect is smoking something illegal.
First of all, to repeal the vote would be just as difficult legislatively as passing healthcare was, so just think of how hard that was. Republicans would need 60 pro-repeal votes in the Senate to defeat a Democratic filibuster. And remember, they’d need a President who wouldn’t veto the bill (i.e. not Obama or any Democrat).
But even that’s putting too fine a point on it. Here’s the real story, and it gets down to the fact that this new bureaucratic superstructure is now permanently ossified into our federal government.
via One Thing That’s 100% Guaranteed: The Healthcare Bill Will NEVER Be Repealed.

Sad fact, but very true. Thank the Progressive Republicans for it.

Two very valid points about what happened last night

First up Philip Klein over at the AmSpec Blog:

The question conservatives should be asking though, is how did we get in this position in the first place? How come, over the course of two elections, Democrats were able to take back the White House and amass substantial majorities in both chambers of Congress, allowing them to enact this sweeping legislation with no Republican votes – and huge defections in their own party? How could a generally right-of-center nation be taken over by liberals from Chicago and San Francisco?
The answer, of course, is that none of this would have been possible without George W. Bush — or more broadly speaking, Bush era Republicanism. While they were in power, Republicans squandered an opportunity to push free market health care solutions. When they did use their power to pass major legislation, it was for policies like the big government Medicare prescription drug plan, which was (until today) the largest expansion of entitlements since the Great Society.
They took earmarks and doled out farm and energy subsidies. They earned a reputation for fiscal recklessness and corruption and incompetent governance. President Obama ultimately forced through the health care bill in spite of the political consequences to his party because he’s ultimately a true believing liberal. But it was only because of the failures of Bush-era Republicanism that an ideological liberal with little experience was able to capture the presidency on the abstract notion of change.

Today will be largely remembered as the biggest legislative victory for liberals since Medicare in 1965. But it should also be remembered as the day that Bush cemented his legacy as one of the most destructive presidents for advocates of limited government.

and… Robert Stacy McCain:

Which is to say that what happened Sunday night was not the birth of a new era of liberalism. Rather, it was the death of a kind of “conservatism” that was never really conservative at all. It was the “conservatism” of No Child Left Behind and ethanol subsidies, of unprincipled compromise and cynical self-dealing, of “shamnesty” and kowtowing to CAIR.
If the Republican Party can offer America nothing better than that in the future, the GOP will go the way of the Whigs, passing unlamented into political oblivion.

All I can say to add to this is, when you call yourself a Republican and you basically are a Progressive; what do people honestly expect? George W. Bush was, and still is, and will be to his dying breath; a Wilsonian President. That is a Progressive view on foreign policy. Which is why I do not quite understand why the folks over at HotAir are crying the blues.

Look, the point I am trying to make is this. It is the 900 pound gorilla in the room, that nobody on our side wants to discuss. It is a fact, that George W. Bush drove the United States of America into a war; that we all know now, had zero to do with 9/11. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There were parts; but no weapons. The Bush Administration decided to stay anyhow, and move the goalposts to keep us there. For this little foolhardy move, the American people decided that Republicans did not have the ability to govern a nation and as a result of that; the Democrats won. Elections matter, it is just that simple. Because of this, were are all staring — bleary-eyed as we may be — at a socialist nightmare.

I hate to say it, but David Frum is absolutely correct. We have no one other to blame, than ourselves for this one. Yeah, I know, I do not much care from Frum either; I know what he said about the Paleo-Conservatives, and yeah, I know he is a chameleon. But once and a while, that idiot kanook does get it right. ( 😯 )

Honestly, What do they expect?

Boy, I tell ya. The liberal crowd is some seriously stupid people anymore. 🙄

I guess most of you know that now the liberal crowd is all in a tizzy, because some protesters let their true feelings be known about this healthcare bill.

My question to them is; seriously guys, what the fuck do you expect? I mean, nobody wants this stupid bill passed and yet, this liberal Congress is hell-bent on passing this moronic bill anyhow; all to appease this President. Is it not any wonder the American people and yes, those protesters are a little bit pissed off?

I mean, and I how to do I put this? Ah, I know! The liberal media and I mean the one’s who are reporting this; You should be glad it was just words. I mean, it could have very well been worse. Luckily and thankfully, it was not. But it could have very well have been. So, to the Race hustlers and Gay Blades; be glad it was just words, signs and insults. Because the alternative could have been much worse.

But again, to the more important point —– What the hell do you people expect? I mean, you want to destroy this Country’s health-care system, all to fulfill a stupid, idiotic socialist agenda; and you wonder why some people are pissed off about it?

It’s time to get real boys and girls. Not everyone is on the same page with you. This should not be a surprise. 🙄

Here’s the roundup of the stupid cry babies and so forth…