Democrats use intimidation tactics on lobbyists, witnesses
posted at 12:55 pm on June 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Two reports from Washington DC demonstrate the level of bipartisanship we have gotten from full Democratic control of the federal government. First, The Hill reports that Rep. Edward Markey demanded a FERC investigation into a business run by a witness scheduled to testify to Congress against Markey’s cap-and-trade legislation:
Energy panel Republicans are levying accusations of witness intimidation against Democratic Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the key authors of the contentious House climate change bill.
Republicans have seized on a letter – a copy of which was obtained by The Hill – that Markey penned to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff asking FERC to investigate the actions of a major energy company on the same day that the company’s CEO was set to testify before the energy panel on the dangers of a carbon cap and trade system. …
GOP sources confirmed that Republicans reacted furiously when they saw that the letter was sent the very same day that MidAmerican’s CEO, David L. Sokol, was testifying as a Republican witness before Markey’s subcommittee.
Once upon a time, we used to call that abuse of power and corruption. Now we just call it Hope and Change. Markey should get removed from Congress for threatening to abuse prosecutorial powers of the federal government in order to silence a witness before Congress. That won’t happen as long as Nancy Pelosi is in charge of the House, but this should be Exhibit A for the Republicans in 2010.
Nor are those tactics limited to just the one Democratic policy priority. They’re strong-arming lobbyists on the health-care reform bill, too, according to Congressional Quarterly:
Health care lobbyists met Thursday with Senate Republicans despite what some characterized as warnings from Democratic staffers against undermining overhaul legislation.
Democratic leaders denied discouraging participation in talks as health care legislation takes shape, citing committee meetings with Republican lawmakers and sessions with industry advocates, such as one Thursday at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
But attendees at a June 10 meeting with top Democratic aides described apparent warnings about participating in two meetings with Republicans on Thursday. One meeting included Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota, and the other was with GOP leadership staffers.
Those apparent warnings came from Russell W. Sullivan, the Finance Committee staff director, and Jonathan G. Selib, chief of staff to Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., according to a Democratic lobbyist who was among those cautioned about Thursday’s Republican meetings.
The lobbyist said that he didn’t feel threatened — “not at all” — but that there was a general message that working with Republicans would be a “hostile act.” … Another participant in the June 10 meeting said he also felt discouraged from working with Republicans.
Remember when Barack Obama promised to change the way Washington works? He has — for the worse.
Blowback
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Thugocracy.
rockmom on June 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Some of us knew that those promises would lead to this. It will only end when Emanuel and Obama are frog-marched out of the West Wing in the bust since Watergate. Until then this Chicago-style thuggery will be the norm in Washington.
Of note- Not one Democrat is standing up against these tactics.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM
The only shock in all of this is that it is being reported at all.
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM
I always wondered what it would be like to live under a Marxist dictator.
faraway on June 12, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Can you imagine what would happen to them if they did? When your friends are thugs and looters and robbers, and the media sides with them, you worry less about your enemies.
Spc Steve on June 12, 2009 at 1:01 PM
I am starting to get really frightened about this. Why isn’t this a bigger story?
Cindy Munford on June 12, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Yep, the tone is changing in DC…and it’s a death knell we hear.
DrW on June 12, 2009 at 1:03 PM
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM
not by the msm.
SHARPTOOTH on June 12, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Keep diggin’ your grave, donkey-boy, 2010 will be here sooner than you think….
zekero on June 12, 2009 at 1:05 PM
They’re not even trying to hide it any more.
Gator Country on June 12, 2009 at 1:05 PM
No, actually, once upon a time, you used to call this the standard Republican playbook against Democratic campaign contributors and just about anyone who had ever shook hands with Bill Clinton.
Stop crybabying. Toughen up a litte bit, why don’t you, Ed? Look on the bright side, any day now and you’ll be represented in the Senate by Al Franken!
Lizza on June 12, 2009 at 1:06 PM
One ring to rule them all.
Limerick on June 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM
When the Obamas are back in Chicago unpacking their suitcases on Jan. 21, 2013 and Michelle beats him over the head screaming “what the hell happened”. This problem should make the top two on the list.
Ethics in DC will be the root of this administration’s spiral. Hopefully, the R’s will reap the benefit of this in 10.
sherry on June 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM
A Standard Republican playbook huh?
Prove it.
upinak on June 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Overreach.
29Victor on June 12, 2009 at 1:08 PM
You all should be watching the House hearing today on the GM and Chrysler dealer closings. There has been absolutely heartbreaking and infuriating testimony from some of these dealers who have had their family businesses arbitrarily killed with no recourse, no appeal, and no compensation. One man runs a dealership in Texas started by his father’s father-in-law in 1926, and is being closed while GM retains a two-year-old dealership five miles away. It is beyond appalling what is happening to these honest, hardworking Americans and all of their employees, so that Ron Gettelfinger can keep his corner office.
rockmom on June 12, 2009 at 1:08 PM
What’s the difference between the current ruling establishment and the Mafia again? The Mafia leaves children alone and has some kind of code of honor. Those are the only two differences I can think of.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Lizza on June 12, 2009 at 1:06 PM
ouch! that’s a ugly though.
SHARPTOOTH on June 12, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Thug thizzle fo’ shizzle.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on June 12, 2009 at 1:09 PM
One has only to look at the long line of indictments against Illinois governors, senators, and congressmen to see the inevitable rewards of “Chicago style” politics…I can’t wait
zekero on June 12, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Fixed.
Del Dolemonte on June 12, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Isn’t it funny that the b*tch that was going to drain the swamp as she said could’t do it because it would destroy the environment her species requires to live. It would put a lot of Washington cronies out of work. Pass em the Kool-aid please.
bluegrass on June 12, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Which contributors would those be? Norman Hsu? Bernard Schwartz? Denise Rich?
rockmom on June 12, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Since his will be may last post for a while, (I’m going on vacation for a week) I want it to be good.
It’s not a done deal that Obama won’t win reelection. He has the support of the liberal media, many large organizations (such as organized labor) owe him big time. Even though there is a recession on his campaign contributions are through the roof. If the economy has even a slight upturn and the price of gas doesn’t hit $4 a gallon. If the GOP can’t remember what made them the “Grand Old Party”, then we may well see two full terms of Obama’s America. God Help us all.
I think Ronald reagan said it best, “A communist is someone who has read Lenin and Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Lenin and Marx.” Which mold do you think Obama fits into?
Tommy_G on June 12, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Is it illegal to wear wires/bugs to some of these meetings ??
Oh, to get all of these on tape !!
Seriously, I do wonder ! hmmm
pambi on June 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Awww, it’s nothing that you don’t see everyday… in Chicago politics.
Star20 on June 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Bill Clinton’s not President any more.
Just curious-did you think Bill should have been punished for lying under oath about sex? After all, it was, and still is, a felony crime.
And before you answer, remember that his Administration had already successfully prosecuted a female Federal employee for doing the exact same thing.
Del Dolemonte on June 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM
That screen cap of N-Pel is great.
Feeling sick after watching the march to national socialism thus far.
NTWR on June 12, 2009 at 1:13 PM
“”Is it illegal to wear wires/bugs to some of these meetings ??
Oh, to get all of these on tape !!
Seriously, I do wonder ! hmmm
pambi on June 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM”
I wore one for a whistle blower lawsuit. It wasn’t illegal.
Star20 on June 12, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Only if the media quits running interference for the donks.
a capella on June 12, 2009 at 1:13 PM
And your point? It can get reported till the cows come home and pigs fly, but nothing will happen. Kind of like the Pelosi scandal and the “CIA are liars”.
Kind of disappeared from the news, now didn’t it.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Knucklehead on June 12, 2009 at 1:13 PM
oh yeah.
gwelf on June 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM
A communist is someone who has read Obama
and Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Obama
Leninand Marx.faraway on June 12, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Ed -
Note that the American Medical Assn is backing off from reports that it opposes a pubic healthcare option, and Ezra Klein wonders if this isn’t connected to Max Baucus’ “hardball” tactics.
Buy Danish on June 12, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Democrats out of power: “Bush is evil for firing prosecutors!”
Democrats in power: <let us show you how its really done>
gwelf on June 12, 2009 at 1:16 PM
The most ethical Congress EVAH!
Each day I say it cant get any worse.
I am now going to stop saying that.
faol on June 12, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Which really concerns me. I know the hard left want this, but I can’t believe everyone that voted for Obama, wants this kind of life, and government rule? These aren’t the actions of a president, these are the actions of a fascist tyrant, and we fought wars, to depose this kind of rule.
Where is the outrage at this???
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 1:17 PM
What are you talking about? I see previews for that movie Public Enemies twice a day.
Shock the Monkey on June 12, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Yet, the GOP will roll over, for whatever reason, and let this pass.
Freaking cowards!
madmonkphotog on June 12, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Hey Hillary – the “vast right wing conspiracy” had nothing to do with your husband getting his knob polished by 20 or so women.
I thought the House impeachment taught you that.
Now get the Brits on the phone, they have a few questions regarding Bermuda. China’s on line 2…
Odie1941 on June 12, 2009 at 1:19 PM
Tammany Hall II
faol on June 12, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Sounds like one of the cabal. Likely Paul Begala.
Lizza is a new troll, correct?
MarkABinVA on June 12, 2009 at 1:20 PM
North Korea’s songbun system:
In the aftermath of the Korean War, North Korea imposed the notion of “songbun” on its citizenry. The poor and shiftless for being poor and shiftless had “good” songbun, and today they are the privileged class for having failed most impressively. The successful in North Korea were demonized for being that way, and today they are the bottom caste in a society that has committed economic suicide right before our eyes.
- John Tamny
Dear Leader Obama’s songbun system:
The population of Dear Leader Barack Obama’s coming Democratic People’s Republic of America can be roughly divided into three tiers, and ones place in these tiers is called songbun. An individuals songbun is based on ones position at the time of Obama’s ascendancy from questionable circumstances of birth to presidential occupation: party members, largely comprised of the capos of Reid, Pelosi and Kennedy and their sub-capos, are the elite; people who helped to bankrupt the nation while lining their own pockets are at the next level in the hierarchy and often have high positions in congress or are appointed to cabinet positions and other high offices; the final group is comprised of an as yet to be determined number of distinct classes, each with lower songbun then the next. Conservative talk show hosts and bloggers and people who still believe in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of individual rights or in the soon to be outdated U.S. Constitution have the lowest songbun, and consequentially occupy a role analogous to India’s untouchables.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Uh, no not really. His thugness from the top down to the lowlifes in congress are nothing more than chicago politics at its worst.
Move along, nothing new here….
jbh45 on June 12, 2009 at 1:21 PM
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King Obama is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Are we there yet?
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on June 12, 2009 at 1:21 PM
LOL!! I had to google, I had forgotten that this is coming out. I am sure an instance of making a hero of a criminal. Hollywood really likes that formula.
Cindy Munford on June 12, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Currently I’m too mad to be scared… after the Hope & Change Camps I’ll be too scared to be mad.
mjbrooks3 on June 12, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Examples please.
What is “crybabying” btw? You’re making up words and charges it seems.
Perhaps you should put a “litte” bit of thought into your ideas before you post.
Asher on June 12, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Seems more like just a recycled old analog model.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I happen to now one of the very senior attorneys at FERC (a Republican, as are many of the staff there and the Obamulans have not had time to purge the agencies of all these people yet) and I’ll bet they threw Ed Markey’s letter right into the trash where it belongs. But it’s a great example of “the most ethical Congress EVAH.”
rockmom on June 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I know that is rhetorical…but still an important question to ask each time a major story that breaks against liberals is uncovered, but not reported.
That is why newspapers are becoming worthless…
right2bright on June 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
This isn’t surprising and it’s why it sickened me to my core to hear Bush talk about “bi-partisanship”. It’s also why my blood pressure goes up when I hear the Beltway types telling us to be more like them. When we get back in power, and we will, I want these democrat socialists butt-wipes treated like the whores they are.
SouthernGent on June 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
Enjoy your vacation, clear your head and don’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the news.
Somewhat of an answer to your question – I refuse to ever think that one man will ever be bigger than this country. He is attempting to subvert the constitution, grab power, and shape this country in his image. I will always have faith in what we are, who we are, what we have achieved and what we aspire to achieve.
Time is the bittersweet factor in all of this.
Three more years of his destruction and three more years for Americans to see and live through the results. In the end, time will benefit us more than him.
sherry on June 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
You’re a good little lefty, you learned your lessons well . . . your assertions are lies and your facts are garbage but nevertheless, you learned them well.
rplat on June 12, 2009 at 1:26 PM
You’d think, but I’m not holding my breath. I hope you guys are keeping these things archived, and probably cross-tabbed by topic for future use, “gently reminding” the rest of the country what’s been going on here, in case the GOP forgets.
Blacksmith on June 12, 2009 at 1:26 PM
The audacity of hope was for his campaign
Fear and demonetization are for his reign
His candidacy was rather like that of a Henry Houdini
His presidency is shaping up to be much more like that of a Benito Mussolini
Although he’s trying to slip it all in under another guise
To all his fascist action most foul we must still be wise
In spite of all the Houdini lies
Dancing in Obama’s Mussolini eyes
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Hey, Cindy! O/T – Rush just said his interview in next month’s Limbaugh Letter is with Liz Chaney.
Hang on to that address!
ladyingray on June 12, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Power in the money, money in the power,
Minute after minute, hour after hour,
Everybody’s running, but half of them ain’t looking
It’s going on in the kitchen
But I don’t know what’s cooking.
They say I gotta learn
But nobody’s here to teach me.
If they can’t understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they can’t,
I guess they won’t,
I guess they front,
That’s why I know my life is out of luck, foo!
We’re spending our lives
Living in a gangsta’s paradise.
We’re spending our lives
Living in a gangsta’s paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta’s paradise.
We keep spending most our lives
Living in a gangsta’s paradise.
Tell me why are we
So blind to see.
That the ones they hurt
Are you and me?
Tell me why are we
So blind to see.
That the ones they hurt
Are you and me?
TheBigOldDog on June 12, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Lizza on June 12, 2009 at 1:06 PM
I’m curious. How much is The Left payng you to posting here? Are you and SouthernGal working in shifts? Nobody is being converted. Nobody is impressed.
kingsjester on June 12, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Hello you little troll (however my experience is that most of the liberal trolls are hardly little)
Try explaining Billy Dale, and your Clinton’s…who is Marc Rich?
You stepped into, you can never win an argument using the Clinton’s as a bellwether for integrity.
Billy Dale:
Oversight Committee report summary: This is just one part of a long report.
A better more innocent man then Billy Dale, serving several presidents, both Dems and Republicans with not one bad mark in his decades of service…until the greedy Clinton’s needed to pay back some cronies.
right2bright on June 12, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Riiight. Like those poor, poor victims like Johnny Chung who were persecuted by that mean Dan Burton.
Buy Danish on June 12, 2009 at 1:33 PM
Don’t feed the trolls. They thrive on it.
Daggett on June 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM
He’s a real Control Freak Man
Ruling in this hostage held land
Making all his controlling plans
For everybody
Doesn’t listen to an opposing point of view
Control freak man, ruling all he thinks is his purview
Control Freak Man, he had better listen
he don’t know with what he’s messing
Knows already just what he wants to do
Doesn’t he seem a lot like Hitler and Mussolini to you?
He’s a real Control Freak Man
Ruling in this hostage held land
Making all his controlling plans
For everybody
He’s as blinded by his lust for power as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
He’s got such a God complex point of call
Control Freak Man can you even see America at all?
Knows already just what he wants to do
Doesn’t he seem a lot like Hitler and Mussolini to you?
He’s a real Control Freak Man
Ruling in this hostage held land
Making all his controlling plans
For everybody
About Control Freak Man we should all worry
To destroy all America built he is in a hurry
If he controls everything his Mussolini way
It will be a forlorn day
Hes going to leave it all a mess
Anyone of sound mind must confess
He’s a real Control Freak Man
Ruling in this hostage held land
Making all his controlling plans
For everybody
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM
I love asking that question to Trolls, I cannot recall one time they actually took me up on it though…but facts are such foreign concepts to the purposely retarded.
javamartini on June 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM
correct.
upinak on June 12, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Lizza – for the sake of argument, let’s say you are correct and only Repubs. behaved this way. Wasn’t your Messiah supposed to bring a new way of doing business to Washington, a new era of transparency, bipartisanship, blah, blah, blah? Yeah, I thought so, so much for Hopenchange.
WordsMatter on June 12, 2009 at 1:36 PM
yep, the reason I ask it quite often.
Your name isn’t familiar. Becareful not to say the word retarded. It isn’t liked much here and you wouldn’t want to be banned.
upinak on June 12, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Seems to me there are more trolls and poets on HA since open registration.
txag92 on June 12, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Daggett on June 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM
I know. Their arrogance and stupidity just gets under my skin every now and then.
kingsjester on June 12, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Congratulations Obama!
Your name will now go down, in the anals of history, as being the man who destroyed the greates country, God allowed to be, on the face of this planet!
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Yeah, but this one is a downgrade… at least the earlier models had two brain cells to rub together on occasion.
hindmost on June 12, 2009 at 1:42 PM
The kool aid tasted like blood, and when wild animals get a taste of blood…everything goes to hell, and fast.
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 1:42 PM
There’s no need to stipulate even hypothetically that Republicans did this, because they didn’t.
Lizza has probably been issued a history book written by someone like Howard Zinn. She is clearly upset that people were successfully prosecuted (except for those who fled the country) for funneling money from Communist China to the Clintons and Al Gore. In her view those campaign finance violations were nothing more than “shaking hands”.
Buy Danish on June 12, 2009 at 1:43 PM
This is scary.
Where is Michael Steele?
Iblis on June 12, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Not totally rhetorical and my opinions on the media’s abdication on their Constitutionally protected duties would fill a book. As I have said before it will be the historical highlight of this era.
Cindy Munford on June 12, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Republicans did, actually, announce committee hearings at the last minute in an effort to block democrats out and hold votes at odd times for the same reasons.
Democrats railed against it of course. So did their voters.
The democrats have upped things 100x though, and their voters are silent about it.
So the problem exists on both sides, really. The democrats are far better at it though. They have the media cover to do what they want, pretty much.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 1:46 PM
I heard, I am going to have to break down and subscribe. This afternoon.
Cindy Munford on June 12, 2009 at 1:46 PM
excuse me, but I think that would be
who had ever shaken hands with Bill Clinton.
scalleywag on June 12, 2009 at 1:49 PM
I’m sorry, what’s happening in 2010? The GOP running on reach arounds across the aisle? The only people I hear speaking up against Obama and his policies are people like Limbaugh, Levin, Cheney, and Palin…and the pants droppers in the GOP that you seem excited about voting for are telling them to be quiet and stop making waves. What exactly are we getting excited about? Re-electing a bunch of time servers that want to keep their heads down and hope the media writes nice things about them?
Don’t forget we’ve got Amnesty 2.0 coming up. I’m willing to bet Backdoor John is going to want to ride up front on that one, and let the GOP suffer the electoral consequences of whatever happens during that lovely debate. I see nothing in the GOP behavior right now that excites me for 2010, or 2012 for that matter. No principles. No spine. You’re voting for a letter, that’s all. Let’s see them do something to oppose Obama, and then get excited about electoral prospects.
austinnelly on June 12, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Just some more of that Chicago Style politics. When do the beatings for non-compliance with The One’s wishes start? And I can hardly wait for the Democrats to start offering “protection” to businesses.
GarandFan on June 12, 2009 at 1:52 PM
The Chicago Way.
brennan251 on June 12, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Did Republicans use investigatory privileges as the majority against private individuals and/or companies as a means to intimidate? I understand the games played within the rules of Congress and votes have consequences but I would be unhappy with this. I will admit that I may have missed it but it’s hard to believe given the media’s concentration on misdeeds by the Right.
Cindy Munford on June 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM
Sorry for the long post – I’m wound up today…
This article may, perhaps, lend a broader perspective on the many posts within the Palin/Letterman article earlier today that espoused a more confrontational approach.
While I like Palin and believe she is a “star”, I am in no way saying she is the definitive answer. At the very least, however, she stands up, looks one in the eye, and states positions with which a very large number of Americans likely concur. And (importantly) she does so without seeming gruff, angry, curmudgeonly, etc.
No equivocating, no attempts to show her understanding of what she feels is simply wrong.
Anyone that truly wishes to have the slightest inkling of a chance in coming elections, must agree that this is a strategy that must logically be followed. There must be differentiation. Agreed? Not?
The tactics of Markey are simply a tangential extension of what the civilian attack dogs within the media and Obama support groups are doing effectively – attempting to settle the debate without the opposition gaining their time at the podium – and doing so by installing variants of fear into their opponents.
While I am not a Republican (nor Democrat), and truly consider myself a maninthemiddle, I believe the stakes are now higher than they have been in my life time.
Because the Palin/Romney (whomever) side of the argument is given such miserly coverage, I believe we can no longer hedge our story – perhaps it is better to say “no longer pull our punches”.
I, like so many others, knew exactly who Obama was, and wrote many times about it. McCain, on the other hand, in attempting to rise above the fray – often seemingly a tactic suggested on this, my favorite of blogs. McCain set the evidence of Obama’s true being as out of bounds – the one man who could have derived coverage on the Obama dark side, declined to do so.
Simply – this is exponentially too important to concern ourselves with how an enemy will treat us – as they already treat us abhorrently.
Back before Charles went bye-bye, I attempted to ameliorate his condemnation for those average European individuals that voted for parties much farther to the right than is comfortable for most of us. “The problem, Charles, is that the people know they are being destroyed. Nary a one of the mainstream political choices stands fast in opposition to their destruction. When one finally seas a lone life preserver while bobbing in a rough sea, one typically does not consider the possible negative motivations of the life preserver. He grabs the life preserver.”
I predicted the trend would continue until mainstream “conservative” parties began to differentiate themselves from the Socialist Orwellians and Islamists.
My primary point is this: Palin – by being Palin – can force other Republicans to stand up and act like Republicans. Whether she gains the nomination or not, this is highly important. Because if Republicans do not begin to stand fast, I fear there will be others who will come to the fore – life preservers – whose cure may be as bad as the disease.
maninthemiddle on June 12, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Minor quibble, Ed. Between corrupt Murtha, Dodd, et al., the various porkulus bills with no time to read them, etc. this is merely Exhibit Z (or even Exhibit AA).
Plenty of material for Republicans to use, but they have to 1) use the material, 2) use it effectively, 3) have a credible, pro-liberty & smaller government, answer.
rbj on June 12, 2009 at 1:55 PM
The Chicago Way
PattyJ on June 12, 2009 at 1:56 PM
I’m really looking forward to that.
Bring.It.On.
Did I mention I am a very good shot?
tru2tx on June 12, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Although I await 2010 & 2012 with great anticipation. I am trying real hard not to become cynical. It seems that as this power grab and destruction of our constitution is going unnoticed by the masses. The MSM will not report the corruption or intimidation that is becoming rampant. Until each
citizenpersonvoter gets hit in the pocketbook (which will happen with rampant inflation and taxation) then most of the damage will go on being done.HoustonRight on June 12, 2009 at 1:57 PM
That’s a little different than what this thread is talking about because your examples involve procedural tactics within the Congress. It has gone on in all sorts of forms since the earliest days of the nation.
The thug in the White House and his minions in Congress are not using procedures to get the votes they need. They are flat out seeking to intimidate anybody who doesn’t agree with them by threats. Markey should be defending his letter in front of the Ethics committee but that isn’t going to happen since ethics in Congress died the day Pelosi and the Dems took power.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 1:59 PM
SORRY.. So angry that my grammer is right out the window.
HoustonRight on June 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM
How dare you criticize the Obamamessiah?! You must be punished for apostasy!!! Heretic!! [/DU commenter off]
Physics Geek on June 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM
How cool it would have been if your comment was the only one on the entire thread – and left that way.
That says it all.
fogw on June 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM
I can just imagine it. Rham Emanuel goes to an company and asks them how much they’d be willing to funnel to the DNC in exchange for not being taken over Obama the way GM, financial services, and healthcare have been.
Seriously, Obama is nothing more than Hugo Chavez without the beret, Castro without the facial hair, or Putin without the ill-fitting suit.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 2:04 PM
I’m calling bullshit on this.
Not that the left ever cares.
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Please don’t feed the trolls.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 2:08 PM
I must add that the statute that the prosecutor used to force Bill to testify was lobbied for, and eventually signed by Clinton himself.
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:09 PM
That’s a bit different, don’t you think? As Barack likes to say, that’s a “tactic” not a “strategy”.
Buy Danish on June 12, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Exactly my sentiments
kthomas8268 on June 12, 2009 at 2:10 PM
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