Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Yesterday’s votes demonstrate the power of the tea party

Posted: December 17, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, politics, tea parties
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Back in September I attended the 9/12 rallies in Washington I talked to a lot of tea party members gathered at the capital and asks many questions, this was the most significant one:

“Who here trusts the GOP?” Not a single hand went up, but people over and over promised me that if the GOP spent like the democrats they would be back to throw them out too. No wonder the GOP is scared of the tea party.

Yesterday’s vote on the Omnibus Spending Bill confirmed this. Remember that only Kirk was a tea party win bigtime. It is the most amazing thing to see. Republicans are so afraid of the tea party that even before the Tea Party people are in congress the Republicans are changing.

I really didn’t think I”d see this. I am very pleased.

What are people saying?

Here is Reuters:

Democrats abruptly abandoned a fight over spending on Thursday and said they would instead extend government funding on a temporary basis, a move that gives Republicans a greater chance to enact the deep cuts they have promised.

It’s really sets things up for a change.

Politico is sad:

The decision Thursday night sweeps away months of bipartisan work by the Senate Appropriations Committee which had crafted the $1.1 trillion bill to meet spending targets embraced by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R—Ky.) himself prior to the elections.

Yup nothing more bi-partisan than taking the public’s money and spending it on pork.

Doug Ross comments on Politico:

See if you can detect the spin from The Politico, the last redoubt of former WaPo reporters who don’t even try to disguise their party allegiance.

Bazinga!

National review’s Rich Lowry sees it for what it is

Tonight may indeed may be a “seminal moment,” as McCain said. This was to be the appropriators’ last hurrah. In the end, they couldn’t see it through, and it’s not going to get any better for them next year.

He cites McCain who deserves a lot of credit here

Gateway points out that there were plenty of republicans who started the day on board:

Reid says nine Republican senators approached him today to tell him that while they would like to see the bill passed, they could not vote for it.

This is very believable.

Interestingly enough the Frum Forum just quotes Politico but has no comments. I guess tea party victories aren’t worth commenting about over there.

Gay Patriot points out that this is happening because congress didn’t do its job:

You mean, Congress hasn’t even acted to fund the government for the current fiscal year? Wonder if we’re seeing any outrage on the editorial pages of the nation’s major dailies. Guess the Reid-Pelosi Democrats were so busy not letting a crisis go to waste than they created another kind of crisis.

Democrats you did this to yourselves.

Nice Deb isn’t dancing yet:

I hope some deal wasn’t struck with Republicans. I’m sorry I have a suspicious mind, but I do…

Well history would suggest this type of thing.

Cubachi asks a basic question:

Should a bill that will take two days to print and an estimated 50 hours to read on the Senate floor be passed? Of course not

That never stopped them before

Michelle Malkin points out the republican alternative to fund government is more than 2000 pages shorter

This is the Senate Republicans’ one-page joint resolution to keep the government-funded through February 2011 (via GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell):

In fact it is one page and Michelle has it on her site. She also had a play by play of the night in the senate and in the house.

Jane Jameson at Right Wing News isn’t letting her guard down:

Let’s take a deep breath, give each other a tip of the hat, and maybe even enjoy a cocktail but this discredited and dingy Congress grinds on in lame duck session….. so there is no rest.

Put your computer on, pull up the two links to the House and Senate and keep checking to see what they are doing. CALL CALL the numbers below. The Democrats are hoping we will all be too busy with the holidays to care what is happening. DO WHAT YOU CAN.

good advice.

Bottom line we have to be on this every day. This is only the first step but the first step of a journey is always the hardest.

Signs of the importance of Sarah Palin, the lame duck extravaganza

Posted: December 16, 2010 by datechguy in congress, opinion/news, politics
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SISU points out the following message from Washington concerning Sarah Palin:

“Seventy-nine percent of Washington elites believe Palin is a ‘negative influence in national politics’ while just 15 percent find her to be ‘a breath of fresh air,'” according to a new Politico poll that defines said elites as “those who live within the D.C. metro area, earn more than $75,000 per year, have at least a college degree and are involved in the political process or policymaking.”

Of course the beltway consider her a negative influence, she has helped lead a peasant’s revolt that threatens their ability to feed at the public though.

And when you look at the activity going on in the lame duck it speaks volumes concerning what people really think (not withstanding reminders that some conservative pundits who now worship at the altar of Ronald Reagan thought him a dunce in the past)

Let’s face it, if they didn’t think the culture of Washington was about to change they wouldn’t bother to be forcing all of the last-minute stuff that they are now. They would know that in the past republican congresses were easily co-oped and they would be able to make deals to keep their own prerogatives flowing.

Yet after a single election they are risking all. Why? I think it’s because their own internals on Sarah Palin and the tea party show she is a lot more popular than pseudo polls (and I guarantee that this poll will be a morning joe topic today to Mika’s delight, outlier or no) pretend she is and they are afraid of actual systemic change.

They are aware that before being picked as McCain’s running mate interviews not out to get her revealed her to be a bright and thoughtful woman and leader. Some people more interested in the party circuit than in actual conservatism hit her because they know her record in opposing Obama, taking substantial policy positions when others hang back, but to do so is to face rejection in Washington.

What’s worse snark not withstanding she doesn’t fear the media, in fact she considers them irrelevant.

The left will always tell you who they are afraid of, and the actions of this congress right now tell me that both the left and establishment republicans are afraid that Sarah Palin can win.

They are wise to believe so

No winners + No Originality + No Transparency = No Credibility for No Labels

Posted: December 14, 2010 by datechguy in elections, internet/free speech, opinion/news, politics
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On Morning Joe they are pushing the whole No Labels story but Ann Althouse was not impressed

Every couple of months we get something like this, don’t we? It’s the “Coffee Party” all over again — isn’t it? — an attempt by elite Democrats to create the impression of a grass-roots movement. It never works. [Remember “One Nation”?] And “No Labels” is such a silly… uh… label. It has a certain nostalgic 60s vibe: I ain’t lookin’ to… analyze you, categorize you, finalize you or advertise you…. But I came from the 60s, and I’m sick of that vibe when it’s used to advertise to me.

Well its a new moment I’m sure it is not unoriginal is it. Well Nice Deb says not so much:

NL: We are frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics.

CP: Critical policy discussions are subjected to a perpetual cacophony of misinformation designed to breed cultural resentment.

NL: We are passionate about addressing America’s challenges.

CP: We believe that by talking and learning together – we can take action to solve the problems facing our nation

NL: We are Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

CP: …we are non-partisan

NL: We believe hyper-partisanship is destroying our politics and paralyzing our ability to govern.

CP: The ugliness on television, on talk radio, and on blogs and conspiracy emails is alienating to the vast majority of Americans.

Hey it’s just a coincidence, I’m sure they aren’t stealing logos or anything from other organizations. Gateway Pundit:

The RINO-Leftist group “No Labels” completely stole their logo-design from a New York website “More Party Animals.”

Don’t worry Ben Smith has it covered:

No Labels designer Dave Warren, a Madison Avenue vet whose firm is FLY Communications, said the similarity is just a clip-art driven coincidence:

Well this is a new group and it is all about doing things the right way so I’m sure they are very public about their sources of funding…or maybe not Says Salon:

No Labels, the new centrist pro-“common sense” advocacy group that launched at a high-profile New York conference today, will not be revealing to the public who is putting up the money for the effort.

Salon asked No Labels spokesman Adam Segal if the nonprofit group, which has reportedly raised at least $1 million so far, would reveal the sources of its funding now or in the future. Segal declined to comment on the record. That $1 million has already paid for the big conference at Columbia today, a flashy website, a new logo, and a P.R. guy. The Wall Street Journal did report the names of three wealthy donors last month (more on this below), but it’s unknown how much they gave and who else is involved.

No Labels is organized as a 501(c)(4), which means that it is not legally required to release the identities of donors. You may remember that designation from the midterm elections, when similarly organized groups spent millions of anonymously donated dollars on campaign ads.

You mean the same folks who derided the hidden money in politics is hiding something? Amazing! Well politico mentions who is involved:

And its speakers—who ranged from Republican moderates like ex-Virginia Rep. Tom Davis to liberal Democrats like New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand—sang the praises of cooperation and compromise.

But the only Republicans present at Columbia University’s modern, square Alfred Lerner Hall seemed to be those who had recently lost primary races, such as South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis and Delaware Rep. Mike Castle, or former Republicans like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. No other senior elected Republican officials were in attendance,

All of these people are folks who lost and are part of the establishment, it’s as bi-partisan as I am (and I’m NOT), so what is it all about? Stacy McCain who writes for money and doesn’t pretend otherwise has the answer:

All of which is to say that this is an outright scam, and the only question you really need to ask about this kind of political hustle is: Cui bono?

Who benefits here? What’s the bottom line? Where’s the payoff, who’s paying and who’s getting paid? Before we identify the sow, let’s see which piglets are sucking the teats:

It’s something of an odd conceit, given the decentralized way powerful grass-roots movements generally come together these days. After all, MoveOn.org and the Tea Party groups sprang up organically and in a decentralized way, embraced by angry citizens circulating online petitions and holding rallies.
By contrast, No Labels was created by two Washington consultants, the Democratic fund-raiser Nancy Jacobson and the Republican image-shaper Mark McKinnon, and its slick opening event featured throngs of journalists, free boxed lunches and a song written for the occasion by the pop sensation Akon.

Ding! Ding! Ding! This scam is funded by Democratic money and scripted by the man whose name is a synonym for everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party.

So this No Labels operation is a stealth-Democrat ripoff perpetrated with the help of two-faced RINO backstabbers.

Or to put it another way, it is an attempt by consultants to stay relevant and keep making money and stay relevant because if the actual grass-roots are put in play, then their ability to suck money off of taxpayer dime is kaput!

I make my living selling myself and my radio show. When people buy from me they meet me and know exactly what they are getting. These people are selling a wisp of smoke that doesn’t really exist.

Will they be able to fool enough people to change elections? Likely not, but they might manage to keep themselves in other people’s money for a while, and that’s what it really is all about. It’s the time share media all over again.

Memeorandum thread here.

Update: Doug Powers at Michelle’s has a new logo for them. Somehow it looks familiar

Mitt Romney bravely follows behind Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin!

Posted: December 14, 2010 by datechguy in elections, politics
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Last week I had a meeting with a pol who will remain nameless. We talked for a while on a lot of subjects and election 2012 came up.

He is an unabashed backer of Mitt Romney, called him one of the smartest guys he ever met, said he understood economics like few others, and said that during a crisis or an emergency he is at his best. Fantastic at solving problems.

I’ve talked about my meeting with Romney and how unimpressed I was, but this is a fellow whose opinion I respect so I resolved to give Mitt a second look.

My primary objection to Mitt is that he is not a leader and this simply reinforces that impression:

Thus did Mitt cover his ass ahead of the 2011 primaries, where support for the new porkier tax cuts compromise will no doubt be a litmus test for grassroots righties.

and of Course Allahpundit ever ready to hit Palin is forced to make this concession:

I know our resident Palinistas can’t wait to point out that she was leading on this issue while Mitt was holding back until the very day of the Senate vote, so go on. Gloat. You know you wanna.

It’s not a question of “wanna” its a question of fact.

As far as his actual piece it’s here and he does make some good points:

In many cases, lowering taxes can actually increase government revenues. If new businesses, new investments and new hiring are spurred by the prospects of better after-tax returns, the taxes paid by these new or growing businesses and employees can more than make up for the lower rates of taxation. But once again, because the tax deal is temporary, a large portion of this beneficent effect is missing. What some are calling a grand compromise is not grand at all, except in its price tag. The total package will cost nearly $1 trillion, resulting in substantial new borrowing at a time when we are already drowning in red ink.

Part of the tax deal is a temporary reduction in payroll taxes. The president was insistent, however, that only the employee’s payroll taxes be reduced — the portion paid by the employer is to remain the same. Again, the president is looking to get more money into the hands of the consumer to boost near-term spending. But by refusing to lower the cost of hiring a new employee, he fails to encourage what the American people want even more than lower taxes — more good jobs. Like the income tax deal, the payroll tax deal will add to the deficit.

It’s a fair point but with the new congress this can be addressed, I suggest reading it. His points are certainly legit and one can come to that conclusion without being phony but again it is very interesting that he makes his point at the moment when it involves the least risk for him, Palin and Limbaugh have come out against, and there are already senate republicans against but not enough to stop the bill.

Assuming the gentlemen I talked to is correct I suspect Mitt is being over managed. If that is the case I have this advice for the Governor. BE YOURSELF Lead! Get away from your handlers and make your case. You are a man of faith, trust your faith and your God and don’t worry about the occasional mistake, everyone makes them.

There is every possibility that Governor Romney will be the next president, (I’d prefer comer’s or treasury sec) if that is the case then learn to be the best leader you can be.

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