Friday, Mark Sanford wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, in which he enumerated his many reasons for initially opposing the Dems’ “stimulus” and then seeking to use $700 million of the funds slated for South Carolina to pay down state debt. It’s defintely worth a read, but here are some of the best excerpts:
A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked us 47th worst in the nation for annual debt service as a percentage of tax revenue. Our state dedicates nearly 11% of its annual tax revenue to paying debt. On top of that, South Carolina has another $20 billion in unfunded, long-term political promises for pensions and other liabilities. The state budget has already been cut four times in recent months as the national economic downturn has impacted South Carolina and driven down tax revenue…
…Here’s the background: Before the stimulus bill passed, I asked for states not to be bailed out. After it was signed into law, I said that a state bailout would create more problems than it solved, and that we shouldn’t spend money we don’t have. That debate was lost, so I looked for a reasonable middle ground. I asked the president for his support in using the $700 million to pay down state debt.
If we’re going to spend money we don’t have at the federal level, it becomes all the more important that our state balance sheet is in good order — particularly if this is a protracted downturn. But many people do not realize that the stimulus money runs out in 24 months — at which point South Carolina will be forced to find a new source of funding to sustain the new level of spending, or to make sharp cuts. Sure, I could kick the can down the road; in two years, I’ll be safely out of office. But it would be irresponsible.
If South Carolina could use stimulus money to pay down debt, in two years we will be able to spend, cut taxes or invest even if the federal government can no longer provide more money — not a remote possibility. In fact, paying debt related to education would free up over $162 million in debt service in the first two years and save roughly $125 million in interest payments over the next 13 years — just as paying off a family’s mortgage early frees up money for other uses.
When you’re in a hole, the first order of business is stop digging. South Carolina is in a hole, and it’s not a shallow one. Spending stimulus money on ongoing programs would mean 10% of our entire state budget would be paid for with one-time federal funds — the largest recorded level in state history.
Also, spending stimulus money will delay needed state restructuring. General Motors recently found itself in a similar spot. It needs to be restructured if it is to prosper, but a federal bailout enabled it to put off hard decisions. Likewise, taking federal stimulus money will only postpone changes essential to South Carolina’s prosperity. Though well-intended, it forestalls hard choices we must make…
…In the end, I just don’t believe a problem created by too much debt will be solved by piling on more debt. This doesn’t strike me as an unreasonable or extremist position.
Sanford wisely cites the percentage of South Carolina tax revenues (11 percent) that go toward paying state debt. Reducing the state’s debt load frees up tax revenues Sanford and the lawmakers in Columbia can use to fund other spending initiatives or close the budget defecit. With so many people (not just Democrats) accusing Sanford of placing politics over responsibility, the inverse has actually become apparent; people like the DNC and lawmakers like Jim Clyburn place politics over responsibility when they slam Sanford for safeguarding South Carolina’s long-term interests, instead of taking the politically easy way out, like Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It happens every Spring. I speak of God-made global warming when Earth’s axis aligns with God’s warming agent, The Sun.
Six weeks ago Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of Winter, and sure enough, last week’s High Pressure system centered on the Potomac River produced a westward moving cold front that survives to impede, not only round bats striking round balls in the Grapefruit League (Exception: unimpeded Atlanta Braves 16-4, but I digress), but also, and more significantly, the survival of Free market American capitalism and Liberty itself.
Was last week one of the most chilling in American history?
Let’s look at the voluminous meteor-illogical readings:
AIG millions used as scapegoat for Democratic Party controlled Congressional trillions
AIG found to be conduit for funneling billions to foreign banks
President Obama fakes outrage over AIG bonuses he exempted when he signed Stimulus Bill
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) lies twice before admitting he inserted AIG exemption at Obama’s behest
White House denies knowledge of exemptions despite signing of Stimulus BillHouse passes redundant (Treasury already re-couped) Bill of Attainder confiscating AIG bonuses with 90% tax
Barney Frank (D-MA) demands names of AIG execs after ginning up populist death threat producing anger
President Obama seeks to ram through fundamental energy price raising and socialized medicine changes via budget reconciliation process to avoid hearings
Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) declares enforcement of immigration laws “un-American”
President Obama declares that 20 million illegals must be made legal so they can join labor unions
President seeks to apply CEO pay restrictions to companies not receiving TARP funds
Attorney General suggests some Gitmo detainees be released inside the United States
Obama fiscal 2009 deficit to top $1.8 trillion (Bush worst was $400B)Fed prints over $950B via bond market/Treasury bill buys (seen as last ditch effort to stimulate economy since Obama/Dems refuse to pass real stimulus bill of supply side tax and reg cuts)
Obama still refuses to suspend mark-to-market accounting rules
Pelosi seeks newspaper industry from anti-trust laws
Democrat Congress and President play innocent bystander role as they demonize corporate officers
Whew!
It’s cold and I tremble for my country, but its not due to the weather.
Republicans and right thinking Democrats must stop the cold front by putting heat on those that would fundamentally change the greatest nation on Earth into something less.
Liberty itself depends on it.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Examiner.com and Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Originally published by Mike DeVine, Legal Editor for The Minority Report
Soon after we learned of the AIG bonuses last weekend, we were told that taxpayer money must not be used to fund them. Late Tuesday that prospect was remedied:
In an effort to quell a mounting furor, the Treasury Department said late Tuesday that it would require AIG to repay the government more than $165 million in bonuses doled out last week to the executives blamed for driving the firm to insolvency.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (pictured) said the money would be deducted from the government’s latest $30 billion infusion of bailout funds to the insurance company at the center of the nation’s deepening financial crisis.
Problem solved?
If one deemed the problem as one of the fiscal variety, yes. But the real problems were political, as in Barack Obama’s increasing disapproval rating; Congressional Democrats’ falling approval numbers and Dodd-ging an ObamaAIGate for duplicity in inserting an Amendment into the stimulus bill exempting the AIG bonuses from TARP guidelines.
Hence, the slobbering McCarthy-ite demands of Barney Frank that AIG name names of bonus recipients (as opposed to real communist spy enemies of the state) under death threats and the House passage of an ex post facto Bill of Attainder to impose 90% confiscatory taxes on the bonuses.
The former smacks of a dangerous, third world like vigilantism against invented demons while the latter would have the government make a 90% profit on the bonuses given that Treasury is already recouping the amount of the bonuses by deducting $165M in spit from the latest $30B ocean bailout installment.
The Brothers House of Representatives, (with only 87 Republicans outside the patricide conspiracy) with no Grand Inquisitors in sight, set about to kill Daddy, i.e. the goose of free market capitalism that lays the golden eggs.
All to the tune of a non-Dostoevsky (pictured) like pied piper with contempt for the disabled whose first 60 days have been spent disabling the American economy and improving his bowling score from 37 to 129.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Examiner.com and Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
Originally published by Mike “gamecock” DeVine @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed.
I have been trying my best to support newly elected RNC Chair Michael Steele, but he must get his talking points in order. His quotes are becoming embarrassing…
This is what Chairman Steele said in regards to global climate change:
We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long.
You will never catch me on a Greenpeace boat attacking Japanese fisherman or denying that changes have occurred in our climate in the last 25 years, but I have not been able to locate scientific evidence promoting that our planet is getting colder.
And Mr. Steele, Greenland got its name because its inhabitants sported blue-green skin from living near the sea, not because it was once green, and Iceland received its name (after several name changes) because of the sea view of a distant fjords, full of sea-ice.
—–
UPDATE:
As the amatuer geo-political analysts and inuit historians on this site debate the historical origins of the name of the autonomous region of ‘Greenland’, many seem to be missing the main point of the post. Chairman Steele made two absurd claims; 1) The planet is cooling, 2) Greenland was once a “green” island.
UPDATE #2:
Greenland is getting colder? That is not what the sat. images are showing us.
UPDATE #3
Greenland really was green, world’s oldest DNA reveals
…and still is in the southern parts today.
From Michael Wolff over at Newser:
Having been so successfully elected, he’s acting like people actually want to hear what he thinks. He’s the great earnest bore at the dinner party. Instead of singing for his supper, he’s just talking—and going on at length. The real job of making people part of the story you’re telling, of having them hang on your every word, of getting the tone and detail right, the hard job of holding a conversation, he ain’t doing. He’s cold; he’s prickly; he’s uncomfortable; he’s not funny; and he’s getting awfully tedious. He thinks it’s all about him. That we want him for himself—that he doesn’t have to seduce, charm, surprise, show some skin.
Well, of course it’s all about him, you nitwit. That was his entire sell. Forgive me if I’m a little impatient with your types, Mr. Wolff, but even the mindnumbingly tedious Joe Klein realized this a long time ago. In his immortal words: “The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is.”
That was a year ago. Some of you pseudo-intellectual Obama fanatics simply failed to realize soon enough that chanting doesn’t heal an economy or “bridge the partisan divide.” And what are we stuck with now?
On the bright side, I would refer us all to something I relished in pointing out shortly before the election. I was asked in a College Republicans-College Democrats debate by an audience member to name something good that would come from an Obama presidency. I replied that the country needed to be reminded what unbridled liberalism really means and what it can do to a country. So there you have it.
Preliminary results indicate that 55% of Americans can be classified on the populist or Mainstream side of the divide. Only seven percent (7%) side with the Political Class. When leaners are included, 75% lean in the Mainstream direction and 14% lean the other way.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of those on the populist side of the debate are Republicans, 36% are Democrats, and 27% are not affiliated with either major party.
In light of this poll, the criticism of both Huckabee and Palin for being “populist” seems silly.
Contrary to what many believe, Vermont did not legalize same-sex marriage eight years ago (the state legalized civil unions), although the state now appears to be on the cusp of changing their marriage laws. While the political left and libertarians have been waging a coordinated campaign in favor of the proposed equal-marriage laws, social conservatives all but appear to have given up the fight, just as it begins.
Members of the panel voted to bring the legislation to the full state Senate floor, surprising even the most ardent Democrats with a 5-0 vote. Floor debate for the bill is expected to begin on Monday.
The Vermont Marriage Advisory Council has also expressed deep concerns about the risk of losing ” the natural, inherent bonding right of a child to his/her own biological mother and father.” It has said that “same-sex marriage directly increases the number of children who will be motherless or fatherless.”
Governor Douglas has not committed either way to signing or vetoing the bill. Opposition groups are calling for a state-wide plebiscite, similar to the one in held in California in 2008.
It’s Saturday, so it’s time for the open thread. Instead of my standard quote or story, however, I have a different idea. I would like people to lay out the argument why their person is the best choice for the nomination in ’12.
You see, I haven’t chosen a candidate to support in ’12 yet. There are a couple of people who aren’t on the left-hand side who I’d probably jump immediately on their campaign (Rep Kasich of Ohio for one, but I think he’s got his eyes set on Gov of Ohio, where he has a real chance to revitalize a state party that’s really hurting), but I’m just not excited (yet) about any of the other known factors. Each have their unique strengths and weaknesses, and most (if not all) I would support over Pres Obama.
There are a few criteria I want you to consider, in no particular order.
Now, a candidate might not be able to do all of these things. That’s fine, but if they need to fit several. I consider the issues most important to voters to be the economy and gov’t spending. To me, I also want foreign policy along the lines of Pres Reagan (not afraid to call out “the evil empire” and respond decisively to threats, but also cognizant of the need for dialogue).
I’ll occasionally check up on the post and research anything I see that doesn’t fit what I’ve heard or seen. Expect a post next week on where I’m leaning.
Alternatively, just post on whatever. This is, after all, an open thread.
Michael Steele can breathe a sigh of relief:
In its first full month under the chairmanship of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the Democratic National Committee only raised $3.26 million in February, according to figures released by the committee this afternoon.
The total lags behind the February fundraising total at the Republican National Committee, which raised $5.1 million during the month. RNC chairman Michael Steele, who faced a tumultuous first month as chairman, will get to claim an early fundraising victory over his Democratic counterpart.
…
The DNC now has $8.6 million in its campaign coffers, and holds $6.9 million in debt. The RNC has over $24 million cash-on-hand.
Really? Really?
President Barack Obama’s budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush’s presidency, congressional auditors said Friday.
The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama’s budget than the new administration predicted just last month — a deficit $2.3 trillion worse. It’s a prospect even the president’s own budget director called unsustainable.
In his White House run, Obama assailed the economic policies of his predecessor, but the eye-popping deficit numbers threaten to swamp his ambitious agenda of overhauling health care, exploring new energy sources and enacting scores of domestic programs.
The dismal deficit figures, if they prove to be accurate, inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends or else pare back his agenda.
By CBO’s calculation, Obama’s budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year of red ink over 2010-2019.
Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama’s policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.
What lots of contemporary Republican observers who want to double-down on Huckabeeism to squeeze a few more votes out of the South fail to realize is that there are millions of voters, particularly white collar voters in the North and Northeast, who once made states like Michigan and Maine swing states because Democrats behaved just like this. In fact, the solid blue states of the North were quite purple even in 1992, where Clinton’s percentage of the vote rarely topped Dukakis’ in the Northeast and Great Lakes States and where Ross Perot proved the spoiler by stealing a large chunk of the vote that went to Bush 41 back in 1988. It wasn’t until 1996, after Bill Clinton took ownership of the pragmatic techno-libertarianism that was the offspring of the Clinton/Gingrich years, that the North began to vote Democratic as a bloc, giving large majorities to Democratic candidates. Now, freed from Clintonism for the first time in sixteen years, Democrats are able to re-discover those very traits that made Northerners an actual swing vote. And while they’ll never vote for Huckabee or Palin, it’s not the top of the ticket that matters — what matters is that Republicans like Rudy Giuliani and Mike Castle will become governors and senators, and that the shape of the Republican Party will change from the bottom up, even if the 2012 presidential field continues to look fairly hopeless, with a few exceptions.
Hey, NPR’s not all bad. They’ve got a nifty 2012 Republican Presidential Bracketology to coincide with March Madness. They’ve got some long-shots and no-shots among the 32 candidates listed. This is to be expected as the GOP never has 32 credible candidates. Some of the more jaw-dropping potential candidates:
There are two potential upsets going on right now, both in the right bracket. #9 Meg Whitman is leading #8 John Thune, and #12 Sam Brownback is leading #5 Mitch Daniels. There are some that are very close to an upset.
In the left bracket, #7-Paul Ryan is only leading #10-John Kyl 54-45%. #8-Jim Demint is barely holding off Corker, 53-46%.
Go and vote.
(Hat Tip: Club for Growth.)
One of the first things I thought after hearing President Obama’s tremendously insensitive quip about the Special Olympics was “Sarah is going to be TICKED!” Hence, I was waiting to see if she issued any statements, and sure enough, this came out from her office today:
Governor Comments on President’s Remarks on Leno
March 20, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin responded to remarks made last night by President Obama related to the Special Olympics on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
“I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics,” Governor Palin said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world.
“These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community.”
Here are the videos of Gov. Romney’s appearance on Larry King Live from last evening:
Thanks to Nate G. over at The Mitt Blog for the videos!
Some new numbers from Rasmussen this morning show Obama continuing to lose points in his job approval rating:
President Obama Job Approval Rating
- Approve – 55%
- Disapprove – 43%
- Strongly Approve – 35%
- Somewhat Approve – 20%
- Somewhat Disapprove – 12%
- Strongly Disapprove – 31%
That 55% total approve number is the lowest Obama has ever polled. The 43% disapproval ties the highest it has ever been. Additionally, the 35% strongly approve number is the lowest ever, and the difference of +4 between the two extremes (what Rasmussen calls his Presidential Approval Index) is the smallest it has ever been.
Independents now disapprove of Obama’s job by a ten point margin, and minorities other than African Americans disapprove of his job by a 2-point margin. Obama’s only strong demographics of support remain women and African Americans.
Why the fallout? It could very well have something to do with this latest poll from Rasmussen… it reveals that when Obama was elected, just 28% of the country viewed him as being “very liberal”. Now, that number has jumped to 44%.
America, can’t say we didn’t warn ya…
Remember that set of DVDs that Barack Obama gave Gordon Brown? An eyebrow-raising gift, given that Obama was given a pen made out of wood from a slave ship from the 1800′s. But now we find that there’s a Part Two to this embarrassing saga: the DVDs were encoded for DVD players made only in North America.
While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies – including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington.
Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.
The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or “special partnership”, as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.
Aye.
From my latest Pajamas Media Piece:
Like most writers, I dream of writing a bestseller. In recent days, there’s been an added dimension to this dream. I’d like the book to be popular enough to merit an appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. When he asks me a question, I want to take the opportunity to tell him exactly what I think of his show and tell him to stop hurting America.
This stunt would be the same one that Stewart pulled in 2004, when he was given the opportunity to appear on CNN’s Crossfire to promote his book and instead decided to rip the show and its hosts for “hurting America” with its sharp partisan banter, which Stewart didn’t even view as real debate.
Stewart fans credit this moment with causing the cancellation of Crossfire the following year. In reality, the show had been tanking in the post-Pat Buchanan era and had a declining viewing audience. Contrary to Stewart’s self-righteous rant, the show couldn’t hurt Rhode Island, let alone the whole country. But never mind, it was Stewart’s moment to shine, even if it was the equivalent of dressing down Steve Urkel during the last season of Family Matters.
Stewart is a talented comedian. He skewers politicians and the media with precision. Along with Stephen Colbert, Stewart has raised mocking politicians to a whole new level. However, The Daily Show is not mere comedy. While the show argues that it’s not a significant news source for Americans, studies tell another story. Pew Research found that two percent of Americans — and six percent of young people — identified Stewart as their favorite journalist. While studies also indicate he’s not his viewers’ only source of news, it’s clear many in Stewart’s audience view him as a source of news. This is where the situation gets sticky.
The Daily Show is an exercise in creative editing in the style of Michael Moore. Putting clips together to make a point or a joke doesn’t give an accurate impression of reality. Unlike The Onion or Saturday Night Live’s obviously satirical “Weekend Update,” Stewart gives the impression that he is making fun of what has actually happened rather than embellishing reality to create humor or outrage.
The rest is here.
When Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain’s vice-presidential pick, her opening speech was fiery, exciting, and notably politically correct. “It turns out the women of America aren’t done yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling after all!” she proclaimed. (And my gosh, her husband was in the union!) Gina Cobb of Right Wing News listed 25 Reasons to Love Sarah Palin as VP, including this gem: “She gives renewed hope to women of America that they will live to see the first woman president. This is especially touching when it comes to seniors who long to see the glass ceiling broken in their lifetimes.” Aw.
I was reminded of that nonsense — and all of it that accompanied the Palin nomination about “women having a candidate to believe in” and blah blah blah (despite the fact that women don’t like Palin) — after Max Twain’s post about President Obama’s dumb Special Olympics joke: “Making fun of the handicap[ped] is simply not acceptable, and the President should be ashamed of himself…There is no excuse. It’s a disgrace. Period.”
Needless to say, there’s no “glass ceiling” and the president was not “making fun of the handicapped.” But between politically-correct Max Twain whining about ‘ableism‘ and newly-minted feminist Gina Cobb, we could be mistaken for a NOW convention.
That is all.
UPDATE: Never to fear. The GOP doesn’t have a corner on the 
market. Obama apologized, talking about how words can hurt. 
This is pretty disgusting. Making fun of the handicapped is simply not acceptable, and the President should be ashamed of himself. For all those who would say ‘oh it’s not a big deal’, I would ask that you imagine that George Bush made that comment and think of how the left wing media would respond. There is no excuse. It’s a disgrace. Period.
He bowled a 129, the president said.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.
It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.
I think they’re going to have to deadbolt a teleprompter to Obama’s head if he keeps this up.
We’ve all heard the big news about how Gov. Palin reject 45% of the potential stimulus money for her state , but didn’t see video of her presser on the subject until I looked at the local TV news stations up North. So, I figured I would share this video with all of you (it’s off to the side of the story, for some reason it isn’t workking in their normal video section). This is particularly interesting to those of us who are focused on absurdly early 2012 speculation – as it is probably the first time we’ve really seen Gov. Palin in “serious executive” mode since the election. I think she did a fine job.
Hat-tip to Conservatives4Palin:
Protesting federal “strings,” attached to stimulus funding, Gov. Sarah Palin said she doesn’t want nearly half the estimated $930 million Alaska is eligible for.
“Will we chart our own course, or will Washington (D.C.) engineer it for us?” Palin said.
She expected to file an appropriations bill this afternoon accepting about $251.5 million in stimulus funds, coupled with allocations of $262.6 million already requested for transportation and aviation projects for a total state take of about $514.1 million.
Missing in her bill will be millions for education, especially under TItle One, energy projects including some weatherization funding, and social services, all funds that Palin said are contingent on the state increasing the size of government, chipping in more dollars, or passing new laws that Alaskans might not want.
In a press conference Thursday morning, Palin said she looks forward to a public discussion in the Legislature about other funding.
She said she hopes the Legislature will have enough time to take up the stimulus issues before an April 3 deadline for her to accept the federal money. It’s unclear still if the Legislature will have additional time to evaluate the funds.
“I would hope that’s going to be enough time,” Palin said. She also said she won’t “get myself in a box” by saying she will or will not veto measures by the Legislature accepting more money than she is advising.
Read the rest here.
As we all wait with bated breath for tonight’s appearance of our Beloved Leader on Jay Leno, you can tune in to Larry King Live at 9pm to see Gov. Mitt Romney discuss the AIG debacle and the future of the Republican Party.
Dear Michael Steele,
I’ve been one of your more ardent proponents on the Internet over the past months, and I’ve been more than willing to grant you every benefit of the doubt when you’ve made odd little slip-ups. Yes, the abortion quip had little tact to it; no, you shouldn’t have called the thought of civil unions “crazy,” and yes, the hip-hop jargon is a tad bit awkward — but why hold you to such an obscene standard, when the entire point of your chairmanship was to reshape the role of the RNC Chairmanship and to let you act as a catalyst for sweeping, pragmatic change?
But I’m sad to say that, so far, the change is not the sort that, so to speak, I can believe in. Yeah, yeah, Steele: you’re gonna turn it on baby, and you’re open to everything and you’re gonna give us an off-the-hook hip-hop makeover to make us cool like the Democrats through a 12-step program. Well — and remember, this is coming from a fan of yours, alright? My Facebook picture is of me with you; I have a pin promoting your chairmanship on my messenger bag, I’m a Maryland resident who campaigned for you in 2006 — with all due respect: please don’t. Please rethink what you’re doing.
It’s not fair that they’re making fun of you for using hip-hop jargon. No Democrat would ever be held to that sort of standard. When Obama did it at that restaurant, it was seen as amusing and — hey! — ain’t he got fun? And I understand that it’s not always fun for us to be the party of, well, squares. But the Republican Party needs to be the party of squares. Someone has to be the uncool grown-up in the room, getting things done rather than making college kids swoon; racking up accomplishments rather than hoping for change. The Republican Party must exist as a contrast to the Democrats: if someone is going to vote based on how cool a party is, then we’re doomed before we start. Even if you succeed and make us really cool, the Democrats are still going to be really, really, really cool, and, well, where are we then?
So please don’t give us a hip-hop makeover. Give us a business makeover. Make us the pragmatic, modern party of competence. The party of squares. The party that can restore public trust. You understand why we’ve lost that trust — you said so yourself — so there are few better to fix it than you. Katon Dawson couldn’t do it, because he doesn’t really think that the party is fundamentally flawed going into the future. You know that it is. That’s why I supported you. That’s why pragmatists, moderates, realists, and modernizers of all stripes formed a winning coalition behind you. We know that things have to change.
But we’ll never win by becoming more like Obama in our image. There’s already an organization for people who want syrupy, cool hope ‘n’ change: it’s called the Democratic Party. We can’t ever forget that, even during a recession and two difficult wars, at the tail end eight years of one of the most unpopular presidents in history, 46% of the population saw through Obama and voted for the flawed McCain-Palin ticket to stop him. Don’t leave them behind by chasing the dragon of ‘cool.’
Sincerely,
Alex Knepper
—
Alex Knepper can be contacted at apkkib@aol.com
Drudge has posted the link to this Wall Street Journal article, which details plans the Justice Department may have to release former Guantanamo prisoners in the U.S.:
Attorney General Eric Holder said some detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may end up being released in the U.S. as the Obama administration works with foreign allies to resettle some of the prisoners.
Mr. Holder, in a briefing with reporters, said administration officials are still reviewing individual cases of the approximately 250 detainees to determine which will be put on trial and which may be released to comply with plans to close the detention facility by next year.
Revelations like these lend credibility to former Vice President Cheney’s arguments that Pres. Obama has made America less safe and secure from terrorist threats. I, for one, would not want a former GITMO inmate anywhere near my home, let alone within the country. We can only hope that American lives will not pay for the Obama administration’s naivete.
Gov. Romney discusses the impact that Card Check will have on American jobs with Sean Hannity:
Hat-tip: Hot Air
Incumbent Republican Senator Richard Burr appears to be vulnerable in his 2010 reelection bid if this poll from Public Policy Polling is accurate:
Public Policy Polling (D) 2010 North Carolina Senate Poll
- Sen. Richard Burr (R) 43%
- Elaine Marshall (D) 35%
- Sen. Richard Burr 42%
- Generic Democrat 38%
Sen. Richard Burr Job Approval
- 35% Approve – 32% Disapprove
3/12-15/09; 1,000 registered voters, 3.1% margin of error.
Hat-tip: RedState
That sound you hear is Murtha’s staff collectively slamming their foreheads against their desks upon watching this video.
I’ve already posted on why I think the GOP lost in 2006 and 2008, as well as what they need to do to avoid losing in the future. All of that said, it doesn’t answer the important question, which is how to win. The answer is as simple as it is difficult. Don’t do what caused you to lose, and repeat the things that caused you to win. Profound, isn’t it? As I’ve already discussed what to avoid, I’ll focus on what to do:
The concepts are simple, the discipline to stand by them is hard. This is doable, folks, but we need to demand this of our candidates, and make those who stray from this formula know they’re wrong!
I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why Alex’s post-on heritage- bugged me so much. It’s obviously true that I haven’t been bequeathed any stupendous artistic talent because of my German “blood”; or a rich tolerance for alcohol, because of my Irish “blood”; or a fine sense rhythm, because of my Caribbean “blood”. I don’t own any of those traits, and simply claiming them really is a way to avoid responsibility for my own life. It can lead to complacency, oppression, and worse. About this much, I’m sure Alex and I agree.
But, I confess to still believing that heritage matters. We live in a world where men and women are divided by level of educational achievement. This is not entirely new: elites have always existed, and in some respects “our” elites are rather tame. Yet, even King George shared the mythical pride of an Englishman- of Arthur and Agincourt- with his stubborn American subjects. The average elite today doesn’t even share that common bond; they’re too smart for such cultural simplicities. Everyone knows that man is an atomistic individual, free to create his own essence. Everyone knows that genetics, and geography, and familial ties are mere accidents- and that man, in his infinite wisdom, must learn to embrace a fully rationalistic portrait of this cold universe. Everyone but the common man, at any rate. But, not to worry- if our modern elite wants to connect with common men, why, he’ll just take the Obama route; he’ll organize them, like a few spare items lying in his closet, or the wooden men on his chessboard. Neat and sterile.
Alex brought up the Germans. The German culture certainly has been suffused with a reverence for past figures, institutions, and yes sometimes even “blood” itself. Hitler put this to haunting and ghastly use. But, there’s a much longer, and richer tale of pride in heritage embedded in that sorry moment: the tale of the Jews. Has there ever been a people more tied to their history and heritage? Men as religiously disinclined as Elie Wiesel can say, unequivocally “I support Israel—period. I identify with Israel—period. I never attack, never criticize Israel when I am not in Israel”, because they see themselves as part of something that goes beyond religion, geography, or nationality. The lowliest Jewish cobbler matters to the greatest Jewish author; they’re connected and can connect. They have a common nomenclature that cuts across continents.
From this, they can share in the solid lessons of Mt. Sinai and the river Nile. What are these lessons? With David and Goliath, we see that every man can be a king, if only he has will and faith. When Moses led the Hebrews to Canaan, he showed that perseverance can bring even a desperate people out of bondage. The narrative of Abraham is more powerful still- of man as responsible father of all future men. And I think it goes without saying that the Jewish people- history’s greatest scapegoats- have sorely needed the sustaining power of this heritage. I do not claim that this is enough, or that it can erase the horrors of Dachau and Auschwitz. I do claim that it is democratizing, ennobling, and yes, in some essential sense, real.
The levelers will have none of this: man must be divorced from his context. Man must be returned to men. If they make a hash out of him- if our common cultural markers are reduced to episodes of American Idol- then he’ll at least have been freed from the “Noble Lie”. But, have the Jewish people lost anything because they feel- in some barely articulated, but deeply meant, way-that Abraham is their Abram? Not all ties bind. And I can’t help but think that- for the men and women who huddled together emaciated and broken in tattered Poland at the close of the last war- it helped to know that they were part of a tradition 6000 years in the making, which had sheltered Maimonides and Moses alike, and which made men brave and women steadfast.
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Matthew E. Miller can be contacted at Obilisk18@yahoo.com
Link to bracket
I’m working the NCAA tournament this week, so no political talk from me, but put your picks here in this thread.
My picks? I usually don’t advertise them, but this is one of those years that I can’t keep silent.
Of course, I’m picking my alma mater to upset the UConn Huskies (yeah, I know, but I can’t pick against my beloved Mocs basketball team… I’ve been attending games regularly for almost thirty years). For some reason, so is the new host of Late Night on NBC, Jimmy Fallon:
Monday Night:
Well, the video is not working… watch them support my college here.
Be sure to catch Wednesday night’s program as a close friend of my family, Coach John Shulman, will be interviewed. Also scheduled to be interview will be our school’s 2nd most famous alum… the guy who played Mr. Belding on Saved by the Bell (a Chattanooga native who still attends every home game). However, I don’t think our most famous alum, a certain football player named Terrell Owens (who actually played basketball at UTC also) probably couldn’t be bothered. Don’t know whether the other two most famous Mocs, Samuel L. Jackson and the old guy who played Ward Cleaver, will be involved. Chattanooga folks are passionate about our home town BBall team. GO MOCS!
In all seriousness, I won’t bore you with my entire bracket or put myself on the line (hey, I’m in the media), but keep an eye on the University of Memphis. They are probably the best defensive team in the NCAA.
