Quotes of the day
posted at 9:30 pm on April 26, 2009 by Allahpundit
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“Rank-and-file Republicans remain, by all indications, staunchly conservative, and they appear to have no desire to moderate their views. GOP activists and operatives say they hear intense anger at the White House and at the party’s own leaders on familiar issues – taxes, homosexuality, and immigration. Within the party, conservative groups have grown stronger absent the emergence of any organized moderate faction…
‘My e-mail overfloweth,’ said David Overholtzer, a longtime GOP activist in western Iowa’s Pottawattamie County. ‘Amnesty is still very much a hot-button and gay marriage especially is here in Iowa. The view is that we’ve got to hold our legislators’ and governors’ feet to the fire.’
‘I’ve never seen the grass-roots quite as motivated, concerned and angry,’ said Steve Scheffler, the head of the Iowa Christian Alliance and the state’s RNC committeeman…
Asked about how a presidential candidate urging the party toward the middle on cultural issues would fare, Scheffler said flatly: ‘They’re not gonna go anywhere.’”
***
“At a recent listening session that Ryan held in East Troy, a constituent told him she was so disturbed by Obama she could hardly open her eyes in the morning.
‘I think he wants to destroy private enterprise. I think he’s really out to destroy this country,’ she said.
Ryan let the comment go, one of several he fielded over the course of six listening sessions that day from conservatives angry and exasperated over Obama and Democrats in Congress.
‘It’s like you’re their psychiatrist but you don’t charge them. They just want to get this stuff off their chest to you so they can vent. So just let them do it,’ Ryan explained later, paraphrasing the advice his wife, Janna, once gave him about handling what Ryan called ‘comments in frustration.’”
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‘It’s like you’re their psychiatrist but you don’t charge them. They just want to get this stuff off their chest to you so they can vent. So just let them do it,’ Ryan explained later, paraphrasing the advice his wife, Janna, once gave him about handling what Ryan called ‘comments in frustration.’”
did anyone else find this a tab elitist? I mean our congresspeople instead of listening and acting on our wishes instead fill like all they need to do is listen and then go back to washington and do whatever the hell they want to do since they “allowed us to vent” I think this quote sums up the reasons our government is broken. the congress looks at their employees wishes as “venting” instead of actions that need to be done.
unseen on April 27, 2009 at 2:19 AM
You’re a little late to the party, but that’s been part of the discussion 2nite.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 2:23 AM
We need as many people as possible explaining to our fellow citizens that:
– DC does make money out of air;
– higher taxes remove money from businesses that make jobs and keep America competitive, while lower taxes stimulate economic growth; and
– massive debt is a burden on our children and causes indebtedness to foreign countries whom we might not be able to trust (e.g. China).
If we can get a majority to learn these simple things, it will be easy to explain that we simply cannot afford national health care and cap-and-trade.
Smaller government is the only way to reduce spending, debt and taxes.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 2:24 AM
Hate to sound pessimistic, but didn’t we already try to inject FUD into the Stimulus? I guess HilCare would be a better target, since it directly affects people’s day-to-day lives. What we need right now is for the White House to get a black eye and lose the aura of perfection and invulnerability. I think less people will support Obama going forward if one of his big plans goes down in flames due to public opposition.
darii on April 27, 2009 at 2:27 AM
You mean the Foundation built on the Five Pillars built on the Rock? Or, whatever that gobbledygook Obama said at Georgetown University?
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 2:28 AM
The grassroots are far out front of the GOP leadership. And if the leadership doesn’t understand, it will be leading no one. I have been a Republican since the Goldwater campaign and I have never seen such lack of comprehension as has dominated the Party’s officials since last year. The grassroots took back the Party from the “right” people after they abandoned Goldwater. From the bottom, conservatives took over the organization until even the elitists couldn’t deny Reagan in 1980. But then the grassroots went back to sleep and we got Bush, Dole, Bush and McCain.
I don’t think we have time to rebuild the Party again. If the “leadership” doesn’t get the message, there will be no Republican Party within a decade. And no meaningful GOP within the next three years. It is time to leave the moderates in the middle of the road with the dead armadillos and build a Party, Republican or otherwise, based on people who believe in something.
kghahn on April 27, 2009 at 2:29 AM
What? He said something like that? Sounds like some Louie Farrakhan.
darii on April 27, 2009 at 2:31 AM
Yes, but we were told that if it didn’t make it happen Right Now! we were going to go over the fiscal cliff and into the abyss of a Global Depression. But remember, no republican voted for his budget either.
We at least have time to make the case with real world examples where it’s not working. Like England, Canada, etc…
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 2:38 AM
May I suggest a target to push: Janet Napolitano.
She’s not a policy, but the MSM seem to have caught on that she might have made a big boo boo with the DHS report. If the Mexican Flu does go pandemic in this country, it will be her responsibility for studying it instead of taking precautions as many other countries have done.
And if she is so bad, who appointed her?
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 2:38 AM
Obama’s economy speech at Georgetown University (with Jesus covered over), mixing Jesus’ parable of the Wise Man building on a Rock with the Five Pillars of Islam:
We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity – a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad. It’s a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century…
Gobbledygook.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 2:47 AM
One of many. However, I think what would really have a huge impact would be to destroy one of his policies.
Tarp, the budget, bailouts, have already been done. Napolitano is damaged goods and is well on it’s way to implosion.
The Hillary/Obama Health Care socialism issue a good target. The argument could be used from bureaucratic mismanagement, layers of government redtape, and who approves the cost. Where has government health care worked?
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 2:49 AM
I’d say it’s the Five Pillars of how to destroy an economy.
Oh by the way, the Jesus covering should have generated more outrage.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 2:54 AM
Napolitano might have some traction as a target. God forbid the flu becomes a pandemic!
However, I have this nagging feeling that the DHS report is similar to Obama’s “bitter clingers” comment. No matter how many times conservative media replayed it and no matter how many times we made lame jokes about being bitter people clinging to our guns and our religion with antipathy towards those not like us, it didn’t catch. The media is mostly to blame. Maybe the MSM will focus on the DHS report, but I feel that her apology to the vets quelled any interest the MSM has in the issue.
darii on April 27, 2009 at 2:56 AM
Everywhere it’s been tried. Unless you mean worked to actually improve health and save lives. Then nowhere.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 2:57 AM
The MSM are now functioning as Obama’s fan magazines, spokespersons and human shields. Nothing comes out about Obama except sweetness and light. The only thing bad in this world is Republicans. Liz Cheney did the best job I’ve seen in standing her ground against the onslaught of:
Shame on you! How dare you? Shut up! That’s why!
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 3:04 AM
Nobody ever defended anything successfully. There is only attack and attack and attack some more.
- George S. Patton
Don’t defend capitalism, attack socialism.
Don’t defend Bush’s Iraqi policy, attack Obama’s Afghanistan policy.
Don’t defend water boarding, attack Obama’s kissy-kissy with dictators.
Don’t defend the current medical system, attack Obama’s bureaucratic rationing medical system.
MB4 on April 27, 2009 at 3:04 AM
I like the cut of your jib sir!
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 3:09 AM
Good point. Don’t defend waterboarding, since Obama won’t let it happen (or won’t admit that we’re outsourcing interrogations). Obama’s strategy is to use Bush as a strawman to justify his policies. If we get caught up in defending Bush, we play into that trap.
darii on April 27, 2009 at 3:11 AM
That may be the best approach in armed warfare, but in politics?
Is that how Reagan won election and re-election and sop many votes in a Democrat Congress? By always attacking? I think I’m remembering a lot of inspirational and defend American values talk as well.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 3:13 AM
Mostly by attacking, yes, I believe so. The Pina doll was Jimmy. I am not sure that Reagan would have been elected without him. People are more likely to unite against a common enemy (person or policies) than for a common friend (person or policies).
It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works.
- Confucius
MB4 on April 27, 2009 at 3:25 AM
More to the point -
(Among swing voters) it is easy to hate politicians and it is difficult to love politicians. This is how the whole scheme of things political works.
- Confucius
MB4 on April 27, 2009 at 3:28 AM
Water, Food, and Energy for everything you can think of for at least a month………..
……….. ammunition, seeds, and clothing for barter.
While you still can……….
…… printing Trillions of dollars does have an effect on a currency, and those in the Political Class who aren’t even talking about it, regardless of party, need to go.
Period……..
Seven Percent Solution on April 27, 2009 at 3:46 AM
There is a difference between defending our beliefs and promoting them. Promoting our beliefs is a form of attack since it is offensive. We set the agenda rather than having the libs set the agenda, forcing us on the defensive.
darii on April 27, 2009 at 3:54 AM
And while you’re at it.
Invest heavily in canned goods with long expiration dates.
This also may be worth reading.
Excerpt:
The real pain is yet to come.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 4:05 AM
Attack weakness. Yes, whenever possible. Promote values. Yes, whenever it will draw or inspire followers.
But when under attack, as we are almost constantly, there are times one simply must defend, as Liz Cheney did against Norah O’Donnell regarding “torture.”
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 4:12 AM
I’ve found two different attributions for that quote, neither of them Confucius. I like your adaptation:
(Among swing voters) it is easy to hate politicians and it is difficult to love politicians. This is how the whole scheme of things political works.
The thing that has been boggling my mind for months is idol worship of Obama. I don’t understand why people are like this, but I’ve seen this phenomenon in the entertainment field. Rarely in politics. This is a powerful current to swim against. Somehow, through defeat of a policy or an appointment or exposure of some outrageous Obama gaffe, this idolization has to be turned around.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 4:19 AM
Evan can explain it for you.
Random Numbers (Brian Epps) on April 27, 2009 at 4:21 AM
Obama has been apologizing for America.
I am convinced he Hates America, our way of living.
Jeeze, his wife said we are a bad nation:
Those of you that voted for this monster that troll this website.
Reap your rewards.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 4:25 AM
What percentage of Americans would agree with the following:
Not God bless America! God damn America!
How did so many get reassured that this attitude was not shared by Obama? How many do not know about the world apology tours? how many don’t know about a single gaffe since he became president?
Americans who are working hard and have families an only have time to access TV news, are getting a very narrow picture of the world and our country.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 4:33 AM
For the first time in my life, I’m proud of my country.
That also did not disturb enough people. Why?
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 4:36 AM
Good night all, and best wishes for a better tomorrow.
Loxodonta on April 27, 2009 at 4:49 AM
It is not that it isn’t known that Obama sat in a racist church for 20 some years, was married and had his children brought up listening to the same vile sermons that Wright spewed to his congregation. It was excused because of who he is. The MSM filled that sounding board by choosing our candidate to lose and the Obama as the Messiah.
See this.
Apathy. Apathy is what brought the beast into the highest office of power in the world. No one did their homework, no one questioned, no one challenged. Even our candidate, didn’t challenge the one, because it could be viewed as racism. They used guilt as a tool to make Americans feel that objective truth is wrong. Victims. Everybody is a victim. As Michelle Obama says, we’re ignorant of our own beliefs.
We did have a republic and we didn’t fight for it?
No, we were, to coin a phrase from the Pharaoh Obama, we were bamboozled.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 4:54 AM
It seems to me that the GOP “leaders”, who want to be called conservatives, are “plants” of the liberals and their mission is to persuade real conservative flag waving gun totin’ church going apple pie lovin’ regular people to think like they want them to think.
I really feel so bad for the asshole from Iowa who is frustrated and needs his wifey to tell it’s all ok.
As for me and my house: IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!! As the GOP presents itself today I would not give them a plug nickel and if you want to get their attention EVERYONE stop sending money and they will change their tune when they can’t get paid.
jarhead0311 on April 27, 2009 at 4:59 AM
The MSM was quick to point out that Michelle was not running for President, Obama was, stay on message.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 5:01 AM
And this is why we are frustrated. We don’t just want to vent and have a polite pat on the head so we go away. We want the elected GOP to represent us by advancing Conservative principals.
I remember before the 2006 election people were calling Rush and expressing their discust with the GOP acting like Dem light. At the TEA PARTIES the GOP tried to use it as their platform not realizing the anger starts with them doing the first BAILOUT plan, further advancing the notion they are not listening. If Arlen Specter wins the Primaries it will allow the GOP to keep their blinders on and all they will hear are a bunch of people venting while they continue with business as usual. I expect debate with liberals, but why do we have to convince the one’s we thought were on our side?!
lwssdd on April 27, 2009 at 5:18 AM
This is why Michael Steele needs to get on message.
So far, he hasn’t been on message, just fund raising. That’s just part of the job.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the people of that part of Pennsylvania reelect him. They got rid of Rick Santorum, yet they reelect John Murtha. It’s all about the Pork. Unions, govmint money, and useless projects they bring into their districts. It’s North East Politics in its finest.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 5:30 AM
McLame set the tome. “He is a great guy”.
He has been sold to America….And any one who saw no clothes on the emperor were beaten down by all of media….fox news included.
Now, the Census, ACORN, illegal immigration will set the scale to never reverse itself….The World has their wish.
nondhimmie on April 27, 2009 at 7:05 AM
I think America is still a center right country, Obama or no Obama.
I am not going to blame McCain for losing this last election, I don’t think it would have mattered who the nominee was once the meltdown happened.
I don’t think that Republicans need to turn into Paulbots or get too far right, but then again it is their job right now to be the opposition party and when Obama starts tacking left, they need to pull him back if they can.
But you know what? Conservatives need to take a lesson from Reagan and learn how to express themselves and get out their message without alienating so many people.
Terrye on April 27, 2009 at 7:16 AM
Dear goopers, you are no longer the mainstream. You have become the reactionary right. The country is no longer center-right.Go read the latest Gallup poll results. You are now approaching fringe territory. The only ones listening to you are other reactionaries. I get it, you don’t want to moderate, goody, that means you’ve lost moderates and independents. Young people think your party is a bunch of neanderthals. You’ve lost minority voters. Your reaction to all this is to scream louder and veer more sharply to the right.You are now living in a self-imposed exile. Your state of denial is actually kind of cute in a sick sort of way. But keep up your attacks on Obama, and watch as his popularity keeps on going up, as your fortunes hit rock bottom. Maybe Joe the Plumber can lead your movement out of the cellar. Oh, thats right, he’s really not a plumber. Yes libruls are so stupid, and conservatives are so smart, just keep on believing that Jethro, your side is always right.
athensboy on April 27, 2009 at 7:22 AM
athensboy: no matter how wonderful you or other dems may think bambi is, bambi’s poll #s will likely not go up unless our nation is attacked here on our own soil (& we rally behind him).
the president’s poll #s rarely go up. that’s just the way of it.
kelley in virginia on April 27, 2009 at 7:29 AM
athensboy: as for what real conservatives in this country can do when we get organized, i only have this as a warning to you. hide & watch.
kelley in virginia on April 27, 2009 at 7:30 AM
athensboy is either a professor or a college student (Athens, GA home of UGA or Athens, Ohio home of Ohio U).
Either way, a kool-aid drinking Obamabot troll who should be ignored.
angryed on April 27, 2009 at 7:42 AM
You’re right. Janet already accumulated 3 strikes; and Obama’s umping from his own play book. Three Strikes: She’s IN!
Re: flu
Japan got it right, thermo-scanning people deporting transit from Mexico. The American liberty to infect everyone with what one person has was already documented with man taking cross-continental flights with virulent TB, against medical “advice”.
Obama provides yet another inappropriately delayed response, refusing to acknowledge the lab induced flu threat, refusing to take action to prevent or at least COUNTER the flu, while taking his 3-day-leave to decide what he thinks. Upon reflection, his spokesman says that the president maintains the right to change his mind in time.
An immediate international economic response to the flu scare is Russia’s banning meat imports from Texas yesterday. THAT benefits Obama’s agenda, to cause punitive damages to Texans.
This flu episode will take an unprecedented toll beyond lives lost, beyond economic warfare, enabling further authoritarianism from Obama and global socialists. This flu appearance coincides with another application of federal cybercontol (executive branch, military overlay of national cyberintelligence). The NEED to protect the military is real. The infinite length of MEANS that will extend from said protection is the concern as political opportunists abuse the “unintended” loopholes permitted.
The CHIEF is now referenced as “a former senior cybersecurity official at the Homeland Security Department”. Former Chiefs resigned in protest of the abusive direction federal cybersecurity has been taking since GWB initiated the fascistic core layer of over-indulgent federal executive powers. They were dismissed by the press for having not fit into the brilliant Washingtonian manner of thinking, ironically the very ideology that the NYC native Janet Napolitano verbally repudiates in order to excuse her awkward representation of the Washingtonian, detached and above the Constitution.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 7:45 AM
To paraphrase Clinton, it’s the social issues stupid.
Republicans will be on the losing end of elections for a long time as long they focus first and foremost on social issues. I can’t begin to tell you how many discussions I’ve had with people who have said, yea I’d vote for Republicans because I want lower taxes, more economic freedom, etc but they scare the shit out of me with all the Jesus talk.
I’m not saying the GOP should abandon social issues entirely. But put them on the back burner and concentrate on fiscal and national defense matters.
angryed on April 27, 2009 at 7:47 AM
angryed on April 27, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Nomen est omen.
/Professors eschew the “boy” tag of a student.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 7:51 AM
The initial GWB president spent all of its political capital on social conservative issues. Given the majority in both House and Senate and a President to push the agenda and sign on the dotted line, aggressive social conservative FEDERAL legislation failed.
When addressed LOCALLY, where the social issues belong, conservatives win and lead. The progressive tendency to throw all responsibility AND POWER into Washington’s hands is not the Republican Platform, anyway.
Had the FISCAL CONSERVATIVES been given first priority during time in majority, we would NOT be in the current situation. Progressives just don’t jive on fiscal conservatism; but they certainly manipulated the social conservative Washingtonian pork spending spree.
Fiscal conservatives have already granted social conservatives first lead on moral grounds. Now, on moral grounds of justice, the social conservatives owe the fiscal conservatives the same support with our united thrust. E pluribus unum.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 8:02 AM
Listening to Lynn Cheney, for example, regardless of how well one expresses an ideology contrary to Obama’s followers, Socialists have presented the alienation a priori.
Consider the comparative response, then vs. now, of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” message.
maverick muse on April 27, 2009 at 8:09 AM
“Giddy Multitude” is more like it.
bluelightbrigade on April 27, 2009 at 8:16 AM
I’m not saying the GOP should abandon social issues entirely. But put them on the back burner and concentrate on fiscal and national defense matters.
angryed
They are all important and none of them need be on the “back burner”. Sounds like you just don’t want to be associated with “social cons” and want them to shelve their core beliefs which, by the way, include the same fiscal and defense concerns that you have.
SKYFOX on April 27, 2009 at 8:30 AM
” I can’t begin to tell you how many discussions I’ve had with people who have said, yea I’d vote for Republicans because I want lower taxes, more economic freedom, etc but they scare the shit out of me with all the Jesus talk.
I’m not saying the GOP should abandon social issues entirely. But put them on the back burner and concentrate on fiscal and national defense matters”
DITTO. The way the American family is structured, or unstructured right now, a platform of social values – most individuals are going to say – “that doesn’t look like me.” Fiscal responsibility, national defense, and alignment with the constitution – this looks like all Americans. Also, the more the Repubs stress the social issues, the more they are on the hook to uphold these principles. And it just not in the politicians DNA to uphold social principles. The Dem politicians never make such absurd claims to social morality, so affairs, drugs, whatever, is not an issue they own and don’t need to uphold.
EyesOpen on April 27, 2009 at 8:33 AM
If your side is so smart, why don’t you have the money to pay for your idiotic plans, except from taking it from my pockets by force of law? It ought to be easy for libs to set up businesses to fleece conservatives (maybe by selling us shiny stuff with NASCAR logos?) and be able to pay for all your crap plans. Then, we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on in complaining about the cost because you’d have gotten the money in a fair transaction.
Ah, who am I kidding, that whole paragraph went so far above your head I might as well have written it to the pig that was ground zero for this new swine flu. Current-day liberalism is based on collectivism and multiculturalism. There is not a single smart idea in the corpus of ideas related to those two ideologies. The only logical conclusion is that liberals do not have a single smart idea. That said, it’s possible that some liberals are smart and have been taken in by dumb ideas. That’s about the best case scenario. It’s also not impossible that a large group of people with stupid ideas could take over a large country via legal means, which is clearly what has happened here in the US.
venividivici on April 27, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Dear Congressman:
Are YOU nuts! What you are hearing from “ordinary” people out there is T R U T H. They don’t need a psychiatrist – they need Conservative Representatives with stones…..The Messiah IS repeat IS a danger to this country and I can hardly open my eyes in the morning either – but not out of fear of The One – he’ll get voted out soon enough – it’s out of fear of so-called Republicans who say we conservatives need a psychiatrist!
Cinday Blackburn on April 27, 2009 at 9:25 AM
We were right:
1952-1960
1968-1976
1980-1992
2000-2008
So, little moonbats, read a effin’ history book. No party remains in power forever.
Blake on April 27, 2009 at 9:30 AM
I just
I just had an epiphany, Highlander.
tyvm, lol.
Its all about teh RESPECT isnt it?
LIke how the commentariat only found Couric funnie in AllahP’s autotuning mock…….when Hannity + Angry Gorilla was obviously the funniest.
The SNL mocks on Palin really stung, didn’t they?
Well…..I think she’s your choice, and NOW instead of shredding her and mocking her the conservo intelligentsia should be trying to fix her, help her, right?
Instead of pissing and moaning about how impossible she is and how stupid the base is to insist on her, gtf up to Alaska and help her, give her some decent advice, educate her on foreign policy.
R-E-S–P-E-C-T!
;)
strangelet on April 27, 2009 at 9:36 AM
Jacka$$: You are a troll. You have no respect for anyone. Why don’t you go get some psych help and then maybe you can get some R-E-S–P-E-C-T
Blake on April 27, 2009 at 9:53 AM
hahaha, truth hurrts, huh Blake?
strangelet on April 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM
The fact that you are a troll doesn’t hurt me one bit, jacka$$.
Blake on April 27, 2009 at 10:11 AM
I think the apathy was mixed with a strong dose of weariness, which allowed the Democrats to capitalize on fear. The voters of 2008 were exhausted from the relentless pounding of the media and popular culture, which spent eight years trying to pin them to the mat and make them admit voting for George Bush was a horrible mistake. Literally everything Bush did was painted as stupid or criminal, with his effective leadership in the War on Terror, and the nearly miraculous recover of the economy after 9/11, ignored to the point of invisibility. On economics in particular, the strong growth following 2001 was The Greatest Story Never Told, and the public was hit with such a confusing narrative of the War on Terror that they just don’t know what to think.
For eight years, the psychoses and superstitions of the Left were blasted into the voters’ faces from every direction: the 9/11 attacks were probably a sinister plan by Bush and Cheney, and even if they weren’t, nothing like that would ever happen again – it was a unique natural disaster, like a tornado knocking over a skyscraper. Actually, 9/11 didn’t really happen at all – you never see pictures of them any more, right? We’re less safe because Bush dared to fight the terrorists and launched his indefensible and doomed invasion of Afghanistan, where the brutal winter and invincible Pashtun warriors would create Another Vietnam. But then we defeated the Taliban with remarkable speed, so the liberal action line became that Afghanistan was The Good War they supported all along, and the real outrage was Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq to steal its oil for Halliburton, crushing its peaceful kite-flying people and turning them into insurgent freedom fighters. Bush created a nation of brave Minutemen battling our evil Nazi soldiers – so named by prominent Democrat Dick Durbin, who you will note is still infesting the halls of Congress. Of course the soldiers are innocent, childlike victims of Bush’s evil… all Democrats love the soldiers, but Bush turned them into brutal killbots who just kick in the doors of Iraqi houses for no reason and shoot everyone inside. We should have surrendered to al-Qaeda immediately, as top Democrats repeatedly stated. Then General Betray Us lied to Congress, but luckily the Iraq insurgency magically collapsed for no particular reason, so there was certainly no reason to think about the War on Terror when casting your vote in 2008, except to remember Bush is Hitler and only a Lightworker could heal the damage he has done and make the world love us again.
The electorate of 2008 was beaten to its knees with the above lunacy. The Democrats were like an insane, neurotic spouse who screamed and cried in their faces, until they finally just gave up and let the Democrats have what they wanted. The lack of effective leadership from the Republicans, and the generally weak and self-indulgent performance they turned in from 2004 onward, made it work. Voting against the tide of the media and culture is always an uphill battle for the electorate, and in 2008 the Republicans and McCain gave them no compelling reason to fight that battle. When the opposition tells the voters they can have all their problems solved, with everything paid for by faceless rich people who have plenty of money to spare… and voting against their candidate is racist and will probably bring about a Great Depression… you have to do something besides assure the voters that your opponent is a splendid fellow and wait for people to realize how self-evidently sensible your platform is.
Doctor Zero on April 27, 2009 at 10:14 AM
I don’t believe the two halves of conservatism can ever be separated. Fiscal conservatism always seems to collapse without the moral imperative of social conservatism behind it, because liberalism is explicitly marketed as a moral imperative: it doesn’t matter that liberal policies have an unbroken record of spectacular failure, and every problem they supposedly “address” just gets worse as more tax money is thrown at it… you have to support liberalism because all other approaches to economic and social issues are evil, selfish, and greedy. Liberalism is based on the devout belief that submitting to morally correct policies (as defined by liberals) is vastly more important than following policies that would effectively improve American life. Presented with a program that would eliminate poverty and hunger, but make a particular businessman or corporation very rich in the process, liberals would recoil in horror.
Since leftists are always judged by their promises, rather than their results, and their programs become permanent bleeding wounds in American society long before their utter failure becomes apparent, it is essential to make the case against them with moral authority and urgency. The socialist promises welfare paid for by the bottomless deep pockets of outrageously rich class enemies, with the implication that the super-rich can easily afford to pay for everyone’s free ride, if the government forces them to stop hoarding their money. The statist promises society will be improved by wise regulation, designed by moral and intellectual demigods like Barack Obama. The multiculturalist assures the voter that the world will hate us unless we elect liberals who bow to the wisdom of other nations, and accept their criticism of greedy, arrogant America. The environmentalist says that refusing his demands will destroy the planet, leaving a barren wasteland for our children. These premises are amplified to a deafening roar by liberal control of education and the media.
You can’t fight that by showing the public some spreadsheets and quoting Milton Friedman, no matter how accurate those spreadsheets and quotes might be. Even if Obama’s policies have brought utter economic ruin by 2012, you can’t run an earnest fiscal conservative reformer and expect to win, unless the moral degeneracy of liberalism is addressed. You won’t be able to sell a purely financial criticism of Obama, when an emotional and poorly educated electorate is told by the other side that your true motivations are racism and greed, the poor and downtrodden will be destroyed if any of Obama’s policies are touched, and those policies are not untouchable and eternal parts of the federal government anyway.
I would agree that social conservatives need to be equally mindful of fiscal conservatism, because offering the moral argument without fiscal restraint turns them into “compassionate conservatives” – socialists who just have different spending targets. However, if a sizable number of fiscal conservatives “run screaming when they hear the Jesus talk,” I would submit that is a problem with the people running and screaming, and it’s one they had better get over, pronto.
Doctor Zero on April 27, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Since it is sailboats that tack, I would say that the proper patriotic response is to heave to and pour as many water buckets into the boat tacking to the left as possible.
Sort of like that arms smuggling ship that mysteriously sank. Protecting the cargo was apparently not priority one. Protecting the political existence of this deceiver is an illusion since he has already thrown away anything worth protecting. So pulling him down is the proper way to go.
platypus on April 27, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Thank God the assessment of the state of the GOP isn’t done by someone with a screaming bias towards social issues.
radiofreevillage on April 27, 2009 at 12:53 PM
I couldn’t have said it better. Even though, Obama outlined exactly what he wanted to do with the economy, health care, the environment (cap and trade), the war, and that somehow wasn’t enough red flags raised. Even the lowly plumber who got Obama to spell out “spread the wealth around” wasn’t enough to for conservatives to seriously consider their vote.
The disingenuous MSM deliberately chucked their journalistic credibility under the bus and sacrificed their industry just to placate the coronation of the One. As the print media drowns in a sea of their own irrelevance with the hope the One will reach out and save them before eventual oblivion. Like the other bailouts, to be run under the direction and guidance of the Ones wishes.
We are gonna be in a world of hurt.
Kini on April 27, 2009 at 1:12 PM
well 50% of the electorate is sub intelligent and 50% of that is retarded so he probably is doing the right thing…
Zekecorlain on April 27, 2009 at 2:41 PM
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