maverick muse on May 18, 2009 at 8:34 AM

Thoughtful post on the JBS. I do disagree with the label of “libertarian” for JBS, though. I believe it leans more conservative Christian.

Nontheless, no organization is perfectly correct on all stands it takes, nor is any organization without it’s foibles and screw-ups (individually and collectively). Still I see it as a very good organization and well needed.

Gonna fill out an application? :)

People listening who don’t hear what they want give their own knee-jerk responses.

Any one who demands a purist from the RNC Chairman is perpetually disappointed.

Steele’s personal opinions are NOT going to affect the legal outcome of any DNC witch hunt.

Steele would do the RNC a huge favor by willingly undergoing waterboarding so as to be able to defend its virtue as an enhanced interrogation technique, and to gain the respect of the many raw and enraged Republicans. Sacrifice, Steele. Just how far are you willing to go to coordinate the rebirth of the Republican Party and fight the Chicago Way? Sorry to suggest it, but a few moments of absolute agony might be well worth getting past all this and being ON TOP!

I agree with Fred Thompson’s approach.

Tax funded health clinics should NOT perform abortions on the tax dollar. Preventive health care by choice offers an array of alternatives that prevent the “unwanted” fertilization from occurring. An “unwanted” pregnancy demanding abortion should be paid for by the client; and measures taken during the procedure to prevent further “accidents” from the irresponsible female.

Every abortion excuse has become another rampant argument to murder innocent unborn babies. If a person chooses an abortion, I am sorry for their choice: I DON’T WANT TO BE INVOLVED!!!!!!! I donate to adoption and orphanage programs, but never to an abortion clinic. WE should NEVER be required to fund abortion.

MR. STEELE: Well, I, I–thank goodness for Nancy Pelosi. And I’m so, I was so edified by that press conference the other day where she really expressed in as long as, Tom, she could take, eight different views on this one issue. And I think the reality here is that Nancy Pelosi has stepped in it big time, and she’s not put the Democratic Party in a position where, where the question for me is does the president support Nancy Pelosi’s versions of what happened or his CIA director’s version of what happened? And then the next question is you’ve got, you know, Steny Hoyer himself who’s calling for a closer examination of what Nancy Pelosi knew and when she knew it. And I, you know, and I know Steny very well, and he’s a capable, qualified leader in the House. And he, if, if he sees some concern here, then there must be some rot somewhere in the explanation.

That gibberish comes courtesy of a Johns Hopkins education.

MR. STEELE: Well, my, my opinion on it doesn’t matter. My personal opinion is look, I want the information.

The “enhanced interrogation techniques vs. torture” explication has ALREADY been argued and PROVEN by those directly involved. Steele SHOULD study up on that so as to be their advocate. He’s taking into account ALL the voters and the roll call temperature, holding back his own opinion, which SHOULD be fine. Is HE the legal authority, or was HE “in” on the knowledge when all this went down? Obviously, not. Should this be the only criteria upon which the RNC reorganizes? Should this be any criteria upon which the RNC regains strength? Should Steele’s opinion match everyone’s? Impossible.

Steele’s mannerism uphold’s the right to private opinion.

THAT has been under attack simultaneously with the original argument.

Steele said he’s for getting the information. He’s the RNC Chairman, not the POTUS, not the Senator or Congressman now. Taking the “journalists” bigoted bait (as the MSM have their own agenda, not the nation’s best interest at heart, certainly not the RNC or Steele best interest at heart) would have fed the fire, rather than stifle it. Steele deprived the journalist interviewing free oxygen.

Steele’s position is the RNC position: and the members are infighting just as Steele won’t feed fresh meat during an interview.

Would I rather see Liz Cheney, RNC Chairwoman?
Yes. But she’d be assailed just as fiercely by disgruntled Republicans as Steele is; everyone’s grinding their axe right now. There’s good and bad to come from the grinding.

So what does this mean, then? A third party formed by real conservatives and lifetime memberships in the John Birch Society?

Skidd on May 17, 2009 at 11:48 PM

Extremists whose views come to be proven far more accurate than not? No, my parents eschewed the JBS just as they did the KKK. I certainly have no affiliation with it, and was interested to read it’s generalized Wikipedia entry this morning, unwilling to log into the official site.

In a 1983 edition of Crossfire, Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), then its newly appointed chairman, characterized the Society as belonging to the Old Right, rather than the new right [Goldwater's, which the JBS supported anyway].

The John Birch Society opposed aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions. The Society opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, saying it was in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and overstepped the rights of individual states to enact laws regarding civil rights.

For the record, as a child watching MLK on television, I supported his message and was absolutely shocked and scared by the brutality of the day during peaceful marches broken up with firehoses by law enforcement officers. Entering puberty, I was frightened and a bit angry by the mobs and rioting of the Black Panthers dividing America for Black Supremacy, burning their own neighborhoods and inner cities, ransacking the lives of everyone and ruining honest mom & pop businesses.

That the JBS will always be associated with white supremacy is their Achilles’ heel. Hardly fair on a few counts:
1. Perhaps most likely that was a generational expression applicable then, but no longer racist except historically, wherein the KKK Democrat Party must own up now.
2. The result of reverse discrimination is now reality.
3. The federal intrusive legislative movement to make the Bill of Rights “better” has progressed into Hate Crime mode which indiscriminately prosecutes each and every thought of citizens.

BTW, William F. Buckley was JBS, and was miffed with Welch’s observation that Ike was weak on the USSR, which he WAS during WWII. He DID hold back US forces from entering Berlin on the outskirts of town so that the USSR could go in first, and stay too long. Ike wasn’t perfect. Being a diplomat first takes its toll on military effectiveness, and to keep the alliance, Ike along with FDR permitted our troops to suffer the brunt whenever push came to shove in decisions. Easy to have thick skin when it’s not on your own bones.

Whatever else WIKI mentioned about the JBS, time seems to have proven their points well enough.

I am not Libertarian, though as an Independent, I have certainly voted for some local Libertarian candidates as small bedroom communities bloat into high taxes to pad the politicians’ pockets with extravagance, hiring professional municipal employees while the infrastructure continues its expensive and incompetent direction. Among the Libertarian party’s problems, their membership knows well enough what they think and what ought to be, but their candidates are not politically adept. Hard to get that experience without experience.

people have called me a right wing reactionarybecause i am so conservative. however, i am pro-choice. so i wouldn’t be worthy enough to wear the Republican mantle?

our party has to come to grips with this.

We have the votes in Congress, we will do what we want.

athensboy on May 18, 2009 at 7:18 AM

Go for it. One side is going to win, and deserves to. I suggest the winners expel the losers–whatever way necessary.

What is it with Steele? Was he like this all along or did he buffalo all of us conservatives?

Were we blind or did he pull the wool over our eyes?

Skidd on May 17, 2009 at 11:39 PM

I saw him once sub for Hannity on Hannity & Colmes. He was awful. I can’t remember who the liberal guest was, but he absolutely schooled Steele during their back and forth.

It’s gonna be a long 50 years of Dem rule….

no matter what Steele says it will never be a good enough response

I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but his clown act and clownish behavior prove he isnt fit for the job. Hell I could do it better.

“Do you think its torture?”
“I think Pelosi was briefed by CIA regarding the aggressive interrogation techniques.”

Spoken In a perfectly calm voice, no smiles, no goofy head moves and no stupid grins. You know, the way Dick Cheney would do.

And thats how you handle an asshat chattering skull trying to change the subject.

As el gordo said above though, Steele is trying too hard to be liked by the MSM. That’s like trying too hard to be liked by Dracula once he’s kicked the lid off his coffin after a three-day nap.

The RNC chairman’s job should be to piss off the Dems and the MSM every day. If he does that, the fundraising will take care of itself.

The problem is that he is not effective if he is using weaselly language. Do you think that evasive maneuvering impressed anyone, Republicans or Independents, no matter where they stand on the matter?

Steele is a good guy but he´s not a debater. I noticed it when he was substituting for Hugh Hewitt on the radio. He always instinctively agreed with whomever he talked to. Trying to find common ground does only get you so far. Obama certainly doesn´t do it. At some point you must be able to steer the conversation in your preferred direction. That is how you earn respect. That is how you get people to think “yes!”. And Steele has yet to show that he can do it.