Category — Republicans

The UAW certainly let us know who’s running the country as it flatly rejected any concessions in discussing the auto industry bailout:

The US United Auto Workers (UAW) union has ruled out concessions - at least for the time being - to help rescue the ailing Detroit-based car industry.

Ron Gettelfinger, the union president, said at the weekend that “the focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract”.

Will Barack Obama bring us real change and stand up to the unions?  I’m not holding my breath.  Democrats owe the unions and putting the industry on permanent taxpayer funded life support is just part of the payback.  It’s a policy Democrats will pay for as people tire of bailout nation.  Even Wall Streeters are starting to hear the music as some of their senior executives are giving up bonuses this year.

Any talk of “change” was pre-election hype.  Welcome to the post-election reality of business as usual by Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.

John McCain and Barack Obama were all smiles in today’s bipartisan (AKA doing what liberals want) meeting, but is John McCain the leader of the Republican Party now?  I hope for its sake that’s not true.  McCain’s constituents, the mainstream media, jumped ship during the election.  John simply has nothing to offer a rebuilding party except failed “maverick” policies that provide top cover for disastrous liberal policies.  And let’s be honest, had McCain pulled the election out, it would only have masked divisions between conservatives and RHINOS.

Get smart Republicans and dump McCain.  Your path back is by opposing Democrats, not helping them wreck the country.

How many millions did unions spend getting Democrats elected this season?  They must be livid that Democrats can’t shove the auto industry bailout through:

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he knew of no Republicans who would support the Democrats’ $25 billion proposal and said he was disinclined to move a bill without bipartisan support.

“I’d want to be careful about bringing up a proposition that might fail,” given that a rescue plan would likely fare better under a President-elect Barack Obama administration, Sen. Dodd (D., Conn.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “There’s some political considerations that need to be made over the next few days.”

What political considerations?  If it’s the right thing to do, get your Democratic majorities moving.

More from Pelosi:

A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats were “hopeful” they could get a package passed but that the chances hinged on support in the Senate and from President George W. Bush, who hasn’t indicated whether he would sign the legislation.

Maybe the Democrats aren’t going to get much done after all.  I suspect the days of trading safe Republican votes so Democratic Congressmen in more conservative districts can vote no on issues like illegal immigration are over.  First, the compassionate conservative is gone, so there’s nobody undermining the party from the inside trying to drag votes across the aisle.  Sure, guys like McCain will always play the sap, but he won’t drag Republicans with him like a sitting president can.  Second, as the minority party, Republicans must now clearly delineate what separates them from Democrats if they ever hope to return to power.  “I voted with the other guys” isn’t a very compelling campaign slogan when you’re asking people to make a switch.

Democrats better get their house in order if they’re going to govern.  Republicans have no incentive to rescue you guys.

What do I think the GOP really needs?  They need candidates that can communicate.  When President Bush first hit the scene, I didn’t see his tendency to mangle the English language as a real impediment or reflection on his intelligence.  I’m still not convinced that he’s “dumb”, but his communication skills caused considerable harm to his presidency and the conservative cause.

Bush simply didn’t have the skills required to rally people from the bully pulpit of the presidency.  The few conservative programs he pushed, like privatizing a portion of your Social Security tax, went down in flames.  His inability to communicate meant he was forever at the mercy of the MSM where all things Republican wither and die.

The next Republican standard bearer doesn’t have to be Reagan, but he does need those kind of communication skills.  Reagan faced the same MSM bias in an era before talk radio and blogs.  However, he overcame them and is now widely regarded as a very successful president.  Even liberal academicians, a redundancy I know, consistently rank him in the top 10 for everything he got accomplished.

Republicans don’t need a new philosophy as much as they need someone who can explain it.  John McCain’s communication skills weren’t great, but he still captured plenty of electoral votes.  It’s an amazing accomplishment when you consider everything arrayed against him–a hostile MSM, Obama’s funding lies and spending advantage, and a bad economy.  Amazingly, this election still hinged on a few percentage points here and there.

The GOP needs to start grooming candidates that can communicate and pronounce nuclear.  We can’t afford to run more Bushes, Doles, and McCains.

I know it’s early, but President-elect Obama didn’t have a lot to say in today’s economic press conference.  In fact, he was almost the anti-Truman by insinuating that the buck stopped with President Bush until 20 Jan 09.  Other than that, he enumerated policies we’d heard before–bailouts, a new stimulus package, and in general a lot more spending.  There wasn’t a lot of talk about new revenue sources AKA taxes and an odd hedge on his promise to raise taxes on the “wealthy” by stating he’d have to wait and see.

My early take–they have no idea what to do, which leads me right back to the strategy I espoused yesterday.  Republicans just need to sit on their hands and wait.  That’s what Obama is doing.  Why do you think he’s so careful to insist that we have only one president at a time?  He’s not going to step up and put his neck on the chopping block and support President Bush.  That would be risky, bi-partisan, and might get him in trouble if a major mistake gets made.  Better to let President Bush sink on his own, so I say follow his lead.

The people gave Democrats power; now force them to lead.  The last thing Republicans should do is provide cover for tax increases, the Fairness Doctrine, or any other liberal programs.  When they appear, provide the conservative alternative, and vote against them.  Sure, the media will howl about partisanship, but so what?  Republicans won’t get credit for being bi-partisan, and they sure as hell won’t get an ounce of credit if the program is successful.  So, when faced with a zero-sum game, the best option is not playing.

Note to the President-elect:  The dig at Nancy Reagan was not presidential and rather mystifying given she’s not a public figure anymore.

I have a sinking feeling that NYC Mayor Bloomberg and President-elect Obama will be sharing similar tax plans this year:

To illustrate the problem, the mayor said a 7.5 percent increase in income taxes for a family of four earning $50,000 to $70,000 annually would mean they would pay an extra $116 a year.

That “does put in perspective what might have to change,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg defines the “rich” as a family of 4 making $70K a year in the world’s most expensive city.  You have got to be kidding me.  But that’s not all by a long shot.  Mayor Mike wants to eliminate property tax rebates, hike property taxes, fire 1,000 cops, raise sundry fees, and hire more meter maids to, as liberals would quaintly put it, raise more revenue.

I’m so glad the Republican Party supported the liberal Bloomberg.  He not only embarrassed the party by turning independent, but he continues to damage the Republican brand with liberal policies.  It would have been better to have a Democrat in office to push these liberal policies and let them own them.

That’s right.  If Republicans are going to rise from the ashes, they have to let liberals own their policies.  This will be especially important for Congressional Republicans.  If they follow the moderate “reach across the aisle” meme and provide a fig leaf for the failed Democratic policies soon to be pushed by Pelosi, Reid, and Obama, they’ll be slitting their own throats.

There’s nothing in Obama’s priorities that Republicans should support.  Are Republicans going to “compromise” on higher taxes?  Is muzzling talk radio via the Fairness Doctrine a good idea after the media just kicked the “moderate” McCain in the teeth?  How about adding 10s of millions to Democratic coffers by supporting card check for the unions?  Will the GOP add 20 million new Hispanic voters after they just broke 2 to 1 for Obama even though John McCain has been front and center on all their issues?

There’s nothing to do now but let the Democrats kill themselves.  They’ll overreach.  They’ll kill an already bad economy with higher taxes.  Be disciplined, take some media flack, get out of their way, and get ready to run against them when even a blind monkey could tell their policies have failed.

Strange none of these fraudulent filings are by Republicans.

Chester man arrested in voter fraud

Amid national outcries over alleged voter-registration fraud, Delaware County officials announced the arrest yesterday of a 34-year-old Chester man for election-related offenses.

Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green said Jemar Barksdale, an ex-employee of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), turned in voter-registration cards for 18 already-registered voters, altering information and forging signatures. [snip]

Must be ACORN is just trying to “reform” the system.

“That One” did say he will include ACORN and La Raza in his policy formation after the election, before the Inauguration, and meet with them regularly afterward.

Maybe like the “Kitchen Cabinet” of yore!

I’ve been looking over numerous stories about Colin Powell’s Obama endoresement.  The phrases that appear over and over are that Obama is a “transformational figure” and could be an “exceptional president”.  Is that all Powell could come up with?  The guy who drives the ice cream truck in my neighborhood could be an exceptional president too, but I’d expect a bit more evidence from someone making the claim.

And let’s decode Powell’s “transformational figure” statement.  It means that Powell is voting Obama because he’s black.  Or stated another way, McCain is white, so he’s not getting Powell’s vote.  But then Powell goes on to claim Republicans are saying Obama is a Muslim (would love to see the evidence there Colin) and not being inclusive.  No small amount of hypocricy there coming from a guy who’s voting for Obama because he’s “transformational” AKA black.

If Powell truly wanted this to be substantive and transformational, why didn’t he tell me about Obama’s tax or health care plans?  All he gave us is that Obama is black, he could be a good president, and it’s not fair to worry about Obama’s long standing associations with terrorists.  Some endorsement.

The Anchoress has a must read post that perfectly describes how I feel. It is too good to cut up and pull individual quotes from.

Go read it and feel free to come back and comment on it.

Update: This post from Right Wing Nut House is also excellent.

It was only a matter of time before Obama played the race card.  Question him or the people he associates with, and according to John Lewis, you’re “sowing the seeds of hatred and division”.  But that absurd statement isn’t enough for Lewis because he goes on to link McCain with George Wallace and church bombings.

All I can say is wow!  If Obama wins, it’s going to be a long 4 years.  Don’t like socialized healthcare?  You wouldn’t oppose it if Obama wasn’t black.  Higher taxes stifle the economy you say?  Whitey just doesn’t want black children to eat.

However, I’m not really that concerned about Lewis’ rant.  Anyone taking it seriously wasn’t voting for McCain anyway, and I think it’s a boon to McCain with independents.  Honestly, how hard is it to dismiss Lewis as a lunatic when he provides absolutely no evidence?

According to Lewis, McCain is the George Wallace of our time, but he can’t cite one example.  Is McCain associating with right-wing Jeremiah Wrights and Bill Ayers?  Nope.  And even if he was and we applied the Obama standard, he wouldn’t be responsible for his associations anyway.

Listen, I know a lot of people blame Bush and the Republicans (incorrectly in my opinion) for the financial meltdown, but let’s be careful here.  Is an inexperienced, left-wing moonbat the guy you want protecting us and leading us through the economic crisis?  That’s far too great a risk in my mind.

The latest meme being pushed by the media elite is that Republicans are angry and that this is somehow unheard of in presidential campaigns.

There were shouts of “Nobama” and “Socialist” at the mention of the Democratic presidential nominee. There were boos, middle fingers turned up and thumbs turned down as a media caravan moved through the crowd Thursday for a midday town hall gathering featuring John McCain and Sarah Palin.

[snip]

In recent days, a campaign that embraced the mantra of “Country First” but is flagging in the polls and scrambling for a way to close the gap as the nation’s economy slides into shambles has found itself at the center of an outpouring of raw emotion rare in a presidential race.

I’m shocked, absolutely shocked!

Who would have thought that McCain/Palin supporters think Obama is a socialist and that the biased mainstream media is for all intents and purposes the enemy.

Isn’t it funny how you never see media reports about all the moonbats comparing Bush to Hitler or spouting their insane September 11th conspiracies. Since the media ignores them, I’ll just repost one picture from a protest during the 2004 election.

I’ll take our angry republicans over their moonbats any day.

Right Wing Nut House has more here, including this:

I can’t tell you how much contempt I have for the Post and other media outlets who have been pushing this meme – that it is somehow dangerous, or racist, or indicative of something horribly ugly in the mindset of GOP supporters to show strong emotion at the mention of Obama. Not when similiar outbursts happen at Democratic rallies. Not when Democratic party partisans on the internet and elsewhere have whipped up a frenzy of hate against John McCain.

Has there ever been someone who screamed out about McCain “Kill him!” at an Obama rally? We don’t know because the idea that the press would report what one, lone, idiot shouts out at a rally of thousands is ludicrous – except if it is a McCain rally and then it becomes front page news.

Update: Stephen Hayes finds “unhinged democrats”. At least that is how the media would describe them if they were republicans.

Here are a couple more videos that need to be circulated around the web. Please email them to all of your friends and family. If they are relying on the mainstream media for their news, they will never be able to make an informed decision on election day.

First up is a new web ad put together by someone on YouTube. The McCain campaign or the GOP should hire him. (HT: RedState)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9W_6U7GRrI

The next video comes from out of left field (literally). It features ultra liberal Alec Baldwin blaming democrats. If a dimwit like Alec Baldwin can admit this, there may be hope yet for the rest of America. You only need to watch the first few minutes. (HT: Newsbusters)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yop7ks9N3bk

Previously posted videos can be seen here and here.

The market was down big today with the Dow down over 777 points.  However, people are missing the real point in the financial meltdown.  It’s not about where we’ve been, but where we are going.  There is plenty of blame to go around.  Sprinkle some of it on the greedy Wall Street execs who got involved in this mess to pump up their profits, options, and pay.  Put some of it on Congressmen…paging Barney Frank…who turned the issuance of mortgages into a social engineering experiment.  He and others erased traditional mortgage practices, like requiring a down payment, by having Fannie and Freddie create a market for toxic mortgages.  And then last, but certainly not least, are the buyers who thought house values never fell and that interest rates never went up.  Caveat emptor, my friends.

But all that pales in comparison to where we might be heading.  How much more capital will be wiped out before someone provides us with some leadership on this issue?  Will Barack “I can’t postpone the debate” Obama step forward to save us from a depression?  Remember, Barack said he was monitoring it very closely by phone.  I guess that wasn’t enough to get the 95 Democrats support who voted against the bill.

And don’t even get me started with Pelosi.  She lost the support of 40% of her party.  That’s staggering.  Then she has the temerity to blame the minority party because she couldn’t craft a bill that Democrats could support.  By way of comparison, 133 Republicans went against the bill, but our lying liberal media covers that up the actual closeness by saying “the majority of Democrats” voted for it.  Supposedly, Nancy, you are in-charge for a reason.  You have the levers of Congress and enough votes to pass anything you want.  Enough whining about why the minority party couldn’t bail you out.

Unfortunately, House Republicans don’t get a pass here.  If you have an alternate plan, speak up.  This isn’t the time to be sitting on your hands poking holes in everyone else’s plan.  Those are real jobs, 401Ks, and homes people are losing.  If we get double digit unemployment and Dow 5000, your principled stand against market intervention and concern over protecting the taxpayers will play just about as well Smoot-Hawley Act did in 1929.

Sadly, the two people taking a drubbing in the media also have the least blame.  Bush and McCain knew this was serious.  Both tried to bring the parties together, and were ridiculed.  Democrats blamed a lack of regulation, which was clearly an attempt to deflect their responsibility in fomenting the crisis.  The media and Democrats piled on McCain by saying he was running from the debate when he suggested that something needed to be done.  Now they’re saying he blew up the deal although he was clearly the only candidate who understood the serious nature of what we are facing.  Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don’t.  And of course, through it all, the media steadfastly refuses to examine the role that’s continuing to be played by the Freddie and Fannie CEOs in Obama’s campaign.  You just can’t make this stuff up.

Overall, Paulson’s plan wasn’t bad.  Bill Gross offered to value the toxic mortgage debt for the Treasury free of charge.  There aren’t too many people more qualified to do so.  But lower we head and where we stop nobody knows.

Update:  Here’s Pelosi right before the “bi-partisan” vote on the bill today.  Sounds like she was really trying to reach across the aisle, eh?

Who won?  Well, McCain has the substance and was better on style than I thought he would be.  We’ll see.  Not sure foreign policy will change too many votes given the current economic worries.

10:35 PM Obama points to father’s coming to America as sign of former greatness that we’ve lost it.  Has he seen the illegal immigrants streaming across the borders?  Still seems the same to me.

10:34 PM McCain hits Obama on surge again.  Clearly Obama goofed on that one.  Why not just admit it and put it behind you?

10:33 PM Obama argues for larger strategic vision.  Again, lack of al Qeada attacks undermines his arguments.

10:31 PM Obama says Iraq sole focus of administration.  Doesn’t lack of al Qeada attacks indicate that’s not true?  Somebody is paying attention to them.

10:30 PM McCain says withdrawal dates are dangerous in Iraq.

10:29 PM Obama back to al Qeada.  But we haven’t had any attacks on US soil?  His theory that Afghanistan/al Qaeda is critical seems poorly thought out given no further attacks and al Qeadas assertion that Iraq is the key battleground.

10:28 PM Do my ears deceive me?  Obama says we are safer now?  That must have been painful.

10:27 PM As someone who was tortured in Vietnam, you can understand McCain’s opposition.

10:26 PM McCain highlights differences on 9/11 investigation with the administration.  Trying to put distance between himself and Bush.

10:25 PM Interesting exchange between McCain and Obama on alternative energy.  Bit testy there.

10:25 PM McCain points to drilling as a way to help energy prices.  Markets are forward looking, so not a bad point.

10:24 PM Obama goes off on alternative energy.

10:22 PM Obama warned the administration about Russian troops in Georgia?  Really?

10:21 PM Obama agrees with McCain.  Obama doesn’t understand this issue like McCain does.  That seems evident.

10:20 PM Interesting that McCain has meet a lot of leaders.  Do Democrats realize that attacks on Palin not meeting leaders highlight that their lead guy hasn’t meet any either?

10:19 PM Points to Russian action against Georgia first and Obama’s call for both sides to show restraint.

10:18 PM Obama uses Luger to gain bi-partisan “street ‘cred”.

10:16 PM Obama says Russia is a threat.  This probably won’t be that explosive.  Does Obama know that NATO is a hollow organization now?

10:15 PM On to Russia.  Do they make good beer?

10:14 PM Obama says his position is mischaracterized.   Now Obama says Bush supports him on meeting with Iran.  That’s a switch.

10:13 PM McCain hammers Obama on North Korea.  Points to Reagan’s trust but verify.

10:11 PM Does Obama realize that Bill Clinton gave the North Koreans the technology and time to develop their weapons through talking without preconditions?

10:10 PM Obama says we should talk without preconditions.  McCain’s point was the president meeting.

10:09 PM Even though McCain butchers his name, he makes a great point that you don’t loan the presidency to terrorists states like Iran.  Why strengthen them?

10:08 PM Obama says we need to talk to Iran and other nations. [Read more →]

Barack Obama has said he considered joining the United States military when he left school but decided not to because the Vietnam war was over and “we weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point”.

Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s “This Week” programme whether he’d ever thought about military service and replied: “You know, I actually did. [snip]

“And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”

Phew!

All male American citizens are legally required to register for Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday.

Mrs Palin’s eldest son Track, 19, is due to leave for Iraq on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the September 11^th attacks on America and exactly a year after he joined the US Army as an infantryman.

John McCain’s youngest son Jimmy, also 19, is a lance-corporal in the US marine corps who served in Ramadi, deep in Iraq’s Sunni triangle, last year. His other son Jack, 21, is currently training to be an officer at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Beau Biden, 39, elder son of Senator Joe Biden, Mr Obama’s running mate, is scheduled to go to Iraq early next year. Beau Biden is attorney general of Delaware and a captain in the legal corps of the US Army’s National Guard. [snip]

Biden’s job is to prosecute any trooper that locks and loads before coming under automatic weapons fire.

Voters often fault Democratic candidates on issues of patriotism and support for the military. Bill Clinton was vilified by Republicans as a Vietnam draft dodger, though he defeated two Second World War veterans, President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and Senator Bob Dole in 1996.

But Al Gore, a US Army journalist in Vietnam, (Gore served in the Conex Corp) and John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who won a Silver Star while serving in patrol craft on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, both lost to George W. Bush, who avoided active service in Vietnam by joining the Texas Air National Guard.

Mr Obama is more vulnerable than most Democrats on the patriotism issue because of his exotic life story, his past radical associations, his previous refusal to wear an American flag pin - though he has since relented and is now seldom seen without one - and inaccurate smears that he is a Muslim. [snip]

(Obama speaking to Stephanopoulos) “Let’s not play games,” he said. “What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you’re absolutely right that that has not come.”

The Illinois senator’s maternal grandfather Stanley Dunham served in the US Army in Europe during the Second World War.

His maternal great uncle Charlie Payne helped liberate Ohrdruf, a part of the Buchenwald concentration camp network - though he was criticised for misstating this on the campaign trail as an uncle who liberated Auschwitz. [snip]

Note to Obama, this stuff doesn’t rub off, you got to do it yourself.

But these military connections pale in comparison with Mr McCain’s fabled biography as the son and grandson of admirals who spent more than five years in the Hanoi Hilton prison after his jet was shot down over Vietnam.

Mr McCain took as his Republican convention theme the slogan “Country First” and both Mrs Palin and Rudy Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York, mocked Mr Obama’s time as a “community organiser” in Chicago when he was in his twenties.

Hillary Clinton, who Mr Obama defeated in the Democratic primaries, was ridiculed in 1994 for stating that she tried to join the US marines in 1975, the year she married, but was rejected because she was too old and had poor eyesight. Her husband Bill said this year that she had tried to join the US Army.[snip]

Probably she did, in what country?

 ”Understand what I did as a community organiser. When I got out of a college as a young person, 24, 25 years old, I moved to Chicago and worked with churches, who were dealing with steel plants that had closed in their neighbourhoods, to set up job training programmes for the unemployed and after-school programmes for youth.”

He also tried to “deal with asbestos in homes with poor people - community service work - which John McCain has been talking about, putting country first and extolling the virtues of national service”.

According to Obama, he had to make a steep dive in, level out and zig-zag to the buildings while receiving fire from asbestos junkies in an armed ‘hood. “They had everything but tanks.” “This is why I believe in the 2^nd Amendment but only if no one has guns.”
The only salvation for these people is Elijah Muhammad in the guise of BLT.

All make sense doesn’t it? Reading the entire article just roils the mud.