Archive for the ‘elections’ Category

Around the blogroll: 3/24/10 Gabriel Iglesias edition

Posted: March 25, 2010 by datechguy in elections, internet/free speech, opinion/news
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While I laugh at the comedy of Gabriel Iglesias on his Fluffy shop tour (a nice Christmas present) other people on the blogroll are hard at work:

No Sheeples here talks about the reconciliation that wasn’t and the Democrats in the senate taking advantage of it:

Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Nelson of Nebraska strayed frequently from their party during Wednesday night’s voting. Bayh, who is retiring, crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans 10 times. Lincoln, who faces a tough re-election race, supported Republicans eight times. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia also bucked his party three times.

Nelson, who has come under fire from his conservative base in Nebraska for his support of the healthcare reform effort, supported the GOP the most—on 20 out of 29 votes as of the 2:55AM adjournment.

Be aware that democrats like Lincoln will use each of these votes to try to paint themselves as more conservative than they are.

Don Surber notes that Stupak isn’t the only “pro life democrat” who is now persona non grata in prolife circles:

Having voted for federal funding of abortion, Democratic Congressmen Allan Mollohan and Nick Joe Rahall lost the support of West Virginians for Life — just as Mollohan and Rahall face their first serious challenges in 20 years each.

Everything costs something, will it cost any of these people their seats?

Camp of the Saints discovers a new Battle Cry via the great Val Prieto guest blogging at Michelle Malkin’s place

Dad’s a Cuban exile, so he knows a little something about the Nationalization of businesses and government intrusion.

There’s a brief moment of silence between us, then the old man sighs again, puts his big welder’s hand on my arm and squeezes just a bit. “Listen to what I’m about to tell you,” he says. “Prevent or lament.”

Have you ever noticed that people who escape totalitarian systems always seem to turn up on the right?

On our heels? What are these people drinking?

Posted: March 25, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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Somehow the daily caller has decided that republicans are on their heels:

If politics were war, Republicans would have just been lured from their walled city to chase a force they thought was retreating, only to find Democrats suddenly turning and attacking them head-on.

Even before the bill passed, President Obama had begun pounding the message that the new legislation would immediately benefit many Americans, and cast Republicans who opposed the bill as on the side of greedy insurers.

As the democrats celebrate their great victory against those feared republicans can we gain some perspective here.

There are 222 days to the midterm elections and Democrats have managed a mere 420 days or so into their term Democrats with a 70+ seat majority in the House and a 18 seat majority in the senate managed to get the administration healthcare bill passed. In fact they are still voting on modifications that might take several days or maybe even weeks more done.

They have also managed to energize not only the normal base of the republican party but get thousands of people who were otherwise uninterested in politics involved and networked. These people are meeting monthly and talking to friends. If democrats think they will not be talking about and voting on this in October they are deluding themselves.

This is a great victory? This is having the Republicans on the run? It sounds a lot like the following story of the last days of the Civil War from Shelby Foote’s Magnum Opus The Civil War a Narrative vol 3.

A squad of well-clad, well-fed bluecoats, for example, descended on a tattered, barefoot North Carolina private who had wandered off, lone and famished, in search of food. “Surrender, surrender! We’ve got you!” they cried as they closed in with leveled weapons. “Yes, you’ve got me,” the Tarheel scarecrow replied, dropping his rifle to raise his hands, “and a hell of a git you got.”

Unlike the tarheel vet the republican party is well supplied, well armed and raring for a fight in the fall. In fact the public wants the GOP to keep fighting

A CBS News poll released Wednesday finds that nearly two in three Americans want Republicans in Congress to continue to challenge parts of the health care reform bill.

Yeah that’s a great victory all right.

If the Democrats had any brains they would have passed this a year ago and managed to get republican votes, it would have been so easy it’s frightening. Instead they democrats and their allies in the media victory celebrate a Pyrrhic victory that will doom them in the fall.

Victor David Hansen channels …me

Posted: March 22, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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I’ve been saying this for a bit so it is a real ego boost (via glenn) to see a person of Hanson’s stature say the same:

Do Democrats realize that we really have crossed the Rubicon? In the future when the Republicans gain majorities (and they will), the liberal modus operandi will be the model—bare 51% majorities, reconciliation, the nuclear option, talk of deem and pass, not a single Democrat vote—all ends justifying the means in order to radically restructure vast swaths of American economic and social life. Is someone unhinged at the DNC? They just blew up any shred of bipartisan consensus when their President polls below 50%, the Democratically-controlled Congress below 20%, and health care reform less than 50%. Usually unpopular leaders and their unpopular ideas seek the shelter of minority rights and prerogatives. What will they do when they are in the minority—since they’ve entered the arena, boasted “let the games begin” and shouted “by any means necessary”?

Oh and I guess I owe Christiana Bellantoni a gift card, if she would like to contact me I’ll get it purchased.

We did this to ourselves collectively

Posted: March 22, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but never forget that in a representative republic we always get the government we deserve.

We as a nation let ourselves be taken and voted for President Obama when his voting record, beliefs etc were all out there. In an information age we decided to ignore the info.

Conservatives sat on their hands and decided to teach the republican party a lesson, well here is a lesson for you, congress will still get first rate health care, it is you conservatives who decided that John McCain was too liberal who will see your care change, but you are not alone. You republicans who considered Sarah Palin’s populism so bad for the country that nothing could be worse, try socialized medicine on a grand scale.

David Frum’s idiocy not withstanding (I guess he hasn’t recovered from the free beer party at CPAC yet) only the conservative Tea Party movement prevented this lemon from passing a year ago but even that awakening is likely not going to be enough to make the difference.

As a nation we elected these people to make our laws. As a nation we will live and die (literally in this case) with this decision. We are responsible and we are going to pay.

Like other great changes it will take a generation for the full impact to be seen but it will be, and our current issues with the healthcare system will be a walk in the park compared to this.

Update: I disagree with Phil Klein. I don’t blame Bush. His primary issue and duty was victory in the war and he provided it. I suspect that a lot of the reason he let some of this spending through was to provide victory in the war.

With Iraq safely won it is easy to through rocks and George Bush, but let me tell you, although I don’t think this will be repealed it is a lot better to have a bad bill to repeal than to have to recover from a lost war.

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