November 2010
In a way, the first Tuesday of November 2010 can’t come fast enough for me. But in a way I’m dreading it, because so much is riding on it.
I think it’s the most important election—undoubtedly the most important midterm election—of my lifetime. There are pivot points in history when things can go in one direction or another, and this seems to be the best time (perhaps the last time?) to stop the leftist agenda of President Obama and the current Congressional leaders from getting a firm grip and creating changes that might be exceptionally difficult to reverse later on.
I’m fairly confident that there will be gains by Republicans. But will the results be enough to throw effective roadblocks in the way of Obamacare (by defunding, for example) and other unpopular bills this Congress has passed—including the ones I believe they are determined to pass in the lame duck session between November and the January swearing-in?
It’s far from clear. But one thing that does seem clear—crystal clear—is that when Obama is stumping for Democrats running for re-election in 2010, we’re not going to be hearing a word about the phony “bipartisanship” that he so loved to natter on about during the 2008 election campaign:
Barack Obama has decided that fiery self defense and withering mockery of Republicans are the best modes of attack as he tries to save Democrats from a drubbing in November’s mid-term elections.
No more Mr. Nice Guy; we know who Obama is now, so he doesn’t have to pretend any more.
[NOTE: And then there’s 2012 to look forward to, and another run against George Bush.]
I wish President Bush hd been as tough on his opponents as Obama. As much as I despise his cruel, dishonest calculations, Obama doesn’t go down without a fight. He lies and does so convincingly with a practiced ease. How much better would the truth sound? If only Bush had made an effort…
I too share fearful trepidation about the potential damage of a lame duck Congress but I also fear the damage his Czars and leftist bureaucrats burrowed in the agencies are doing.
For me, a 50 seat turnover in Congress would be a good, healthy start.
There are a few things we on the political right need to shoot for in the intervening months before, as well as just after, the mid-term elections.
Motivate the traditional republican base.
Motivate those sympathetic to the tea party ideals.
Motivate the independents who last voted for Obama and now regret that decision.
Hold our collective noses and support the republican candidates in general.
Even though republican candidates are far from perfect in most instances, a simply majority can do wonders and provide a lot of influence for that party’s leadership over members who may want to be the next MSM annointed “maverick” thinking about going against the grain in some lame idea they will be loved by the press.
After November, hold the republican’s feet to the fire and make them start delivering! If certain individuals don’t perform as expected, support their rival in the next primary.
I’d like to see this election make people forget about 1994 as small change!
This is an election we cannot afford to assume will be an easy victory, but rather we need to run this race as if our life depended on it and we were way behind, and we need to continue running that way until the final votes are tallied the next day.
Once Obama is out in 2012 (and I think it’s a pretty safe bet at this point that this will be the case), his replacement absolutely MUST immediately start dismantling the machine he’s creating in our government – no matter how loudly the left, the MSM, and the spine challenged political consultants suggest “compromise” and “reasonable” accommodation of the opposition…..
So, what’s new here? He will campaign for Democrats using the same arguments that he has been making ever since his inauguration speech (if not before). And, he will be as unpersuasive as before. He will throw in a “kick ass” or two for humor (that’s liberal humor), and lie some more about the “lousy” economy under the Bush administration (when unemployment fell to 4.6%). He will push for more governmental control over our lives, as is he were capable of making good (if not so untimely) decisions. Those lies will fly and find some resonance with his audience only when he speaks to SEIU members and other government employees and union members. They will not be accepted by the rest of us, especially those now unemployed and desperately seeking work. We will laugh in his face. So, as now, he will carefully control his audiences and bore the rest of us to death.
Sometimes a win is a not a win. Obama’s switch to fiery self-defense and withering mockery may feel like a win and seem like a win especially when all his cronies and surrounders-by tell him how winning it is for once to let go of that repress button and vent all his and their foolish spleen, and so they will give in to glorious self expression with the attendant media up on its toes wanting to share and spread the excitement, but when the public finds out what this excitement is about they will turn away having been satiated long before with that fare, and finally the small cadre at the center will notice the dimming noise and who knows what they’ll do at that point whether or not they will become even more shrill, most likely, but it will not matter because we won’t know–their spotlight and microphone will be gone, and the winning strategy which at first brought them so much gratification resulted only in defeat and marginalization and ridicule and oh how the proud cannot endure to be mocked much less ignored, but that is the rule that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword and that sometimes a win is not a win.
For proof, read the first four pages of comments of the Yahoo article. I found only one pro-Obama comment. This “fiery” strategy is the very best gift to those who oppose Obama. No-one, not even fellows of the same order, like gratuitous self-gratification.
If there isn’t an effective counter attack from the Republican Party then Obama’s stumping and railing against the Bush-like institutions will minimize the number of seats the Democrats lose.
Obama is a master of standing up straw men to represent concerns and issues of the people and then toppling them with flawed spaghetti logic. There exists more than enough material in recorded speeches, soundbites, etc. to show not only Obama tangled in his own web of contradiction and arrogance, but also how completely out of touch the leading Democrats – even the Democratic Party – is with the wish of the people.
If the Republican Party (or any Conservative Party) cannot develop the cajones to go on the attack, to show the Democratic machine for what it is and how it will drag this country down into the same quagmire Europe is flailing in, then all that will happen is we’ll just prolong the partisan bickering and degeneration of this country.
But that’s the fly in the soup isn’t it…giving the Dems a nice healthy dose of their own swill. Nasty little urchins they are…they spit it back out and scream foul to the media who are more than eager to print or air only the urchin’s grievances.
I have been saying this is the first round of a ten-round fight, but I’m changing that. This is the third round of a ten round fight and we lost the first two. 2006 we lost on points; 2008 we lost badly, as close to a knockout as happens in American politics. We are on the ropes and have to start winning multiple rounds.
Yes, the number of rounds between the essential Whigs and essential Tories has been going on for over a hundred rounds, but 2006 was in some ways a new start. Bush went all-in with his political career in 2004, insisting on Iraq as the right thing regardless of what it cost him politically. He won that, but had no more political capital to spend. Only the force of the office and his personal will put the coinsurgency into play – there was no fresh capital coming into the game for him at that point. 2006 was the new era. We are currently out of the game.
So I don’t say “Most Important Election” because the next few will all be essential. I will say crucial as in crux, however.
This fall is a Maximum Effort election.
While we are working on winning elections we have to work on improving the Republican Party. We have heard, for example, that many current GOP representatives have little interest in repealing Obama care. Too messy. They prefer the role of Traffic Cop, guiding legislation through the process. This is not only insufficient to the task at hand, it displays a lack of awareness of what the problem is.
In order to improve the Republican Party we free-thinking Conservatives should take a long view and take things a step at a time. We, should always be ready and eager to”trade up” during primaries. This will take concentration, commitment and work over a span of time.
But it all starts with this year’s election campaign.
I think it’s the most important election–undoubtedly the most important midterm election–of my lifetime.
Partisans say that before most every election, but this time it could well be true.
There are pivot points in history when things can go in one direction or another, and this seems to be the best time (perhaps the last time?) to stop the leftist agenda of President Obama and the current Congressional leaders from getting a firm grip and creating changes that might be exceptionally difficult to reverse later on.
I doubt it will be a pivot point, but I’d be happy to see a time out.l
Afaic the current GOP, if returned to power, would wreck the country more slowly than the Obamacrats are doing. shrug
I hope that a divided government emerges from the next election. Under divided government, the growth of the State may slow enough for wild cards to emerge that will reverse the nation’s decline.
That seems unlikely, but, as long as this remains a sufficiently open society, such wild cards usually seem more unlikely than they really are. I try to discipline myself to a stoic optimism that things are not as bleak as they seem.
Let Obama campaign away. I’m betting even devout liberals are sick to death of hearing the monotone depressor in chief.
The Dems he is stumping for are toast. Here is why: His policies are so toxic, Indy’s are turned off. Indy’s are currently at 38/55 now. If the economy continues as it is, it will be under 35/55. Those numbers now belong to who ever he is stumping for.
Boxer, a fixture of the liberal left is within the margin of error…. in the second most liberal state in the country. Fiornia will if she continues to run ads of Babs dressing down a Col/Gen. in a senate hearing. Aside from Frisco/Oakland, and LA; she is underwater.
Same with Reid in NV. He is within the margin of error, behind Angle, but that is no consolation. Angle is the most media unsaavy candidate in the country right now, the media depicting her as a fringer/Birther, and Reid is sitting on at least 12 million.And he is still within the MOE, down 3 pts?!
Here is why Obama is toast. The more he stumps, the less Indy’s like him. As a confirmed Independent, I look for one of three things: A competent government manager; a policy wonk who sells pragmatic policies (even if controversial); or someone with a history of success in working with others to accomplish a tangible product.
Obama ran on all three. The results are in. He has failed on all three. He does not have policies, he has liberal ideals that are rammed through the Congress, like the last Ford Pinto through the assembly line on a Friday night, when $2.00 pitchers of beer are being sold in the bar across the street. So he is no policy wonk by any means.
Prior to getting elected, he has zero record of accomplsihing anything (bipartisan or otherwise),
except using technicalities and manuevers to get elected.
Everytime Holder, Napalitono, or BP is on tv, its an incrimination of his competence.
It is a crucial election; Seeing the dirty tricks the Dems did against Hillary in 2008 (and no, I didn’t support her), the way the voter intimidation case was dropped by Holder, I don’t think the Dems will stop at nothing to try to win elections through fraud. Electronic voting is a bad way to handle elections.
Whoops; I meant the Dems will stop at nothing to win through voting fraud.
My hope is for a scenario like that which Cubs_Fan is suggesting: a loss by the lib Dems of the moderates within their party and the Independents… the latter two joing with Republicans of all persuasions to sweep away the Democrat Congress in 2010, and Obama in 2012.
But I think its a mistake to treat it as a done deal. This is, indeed, a crucial election, as AVI said… in the way AVI pointed out… were in the third round of a mulri-round fight.
I think Obama’s term thus far, together with the Pelosi-Reid era in Congress, shows just how degraded the Progressives/Liberals/”the Left” have become. The left-of-center of politics has always contained its assorted totalitarians (Communists of various Stalinist, Maoist, Castroist, Marxists-Lennisnist, etc tec. etc. types), radicals, and crazies. But, it also used to be the place within the political spectrum. . . . especially in its most centrist portion… where there existed principled movements for reform, carried forward in measured, moderate practice with careful regard for constitutional liberties and rational debate. No more… all that is gone… now there is just this reckless pursuit of shopworn ideology, without regard for the constitution or the public, and driven with power-lust and political narcissism.
Neo and AVI are right that this is a crucial election… because, regardless of how conservative, libertarian, centrist… or even thoughtfully liberal (assuming that hasn’t become a contradiction) one is… the brakes have to be put on this Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda.
Two things to watch and plan for:
1. Voter fraud. This will mitigate some of the losses for Democrats.
2. October suprise. How conspiratorial minded are you? Was October’s 2008 credit meltdown a conspiracy? http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/the_october_surprise_is_coming.html
Or one may see it as Limbaugh predicts: That Dems intend to lose and then the lameduck congress will pass every burdensome piece of legislation they can and repubs will be unable to govern and set up an Obama victory in 2012.
I’m less concerned about the House than the Senate. It’s my understanding the party out of power typically picks up an average of 24 seats in the House mid-terms. If the GOP does at least that well, that should give us enough power that Queen Nancy can’t just ram legislation through without compromise. There’s too much diversity in the Democratic Party for her to get them all to vote as a homogenous bloc on most issues, which means she will have to compromise to get stuff passed.
The Senate though, is where I think we need to pick up at least 5 seats. That’s because I view Grahamnesty, McCain, Scott Brown, and the weak sisters from Maine unpredicable wild cards. I think McConnel can persuade nearly all the other GOP senators to vote together on most issues. But we need a 5 vote cushion to maintain a filibuster for the times when those 5 wild cards decide to go rogue and cut a deal with the Democrats.
Curtis I have to take issue with Limbaugh’s concern that a lame duck congress will lay the groundwork for a second Obama term. Reality is difficult to perceive but some things are undeniable. First can you think of single major piece of legislation or decision where did not go against the majority or display poor leadership skills? The MSM covered for him but that has become almost impossible now. For him to be taken seriously would require a major personality change either on his part or America’s. And he is obviously incapable of introspection.
I suspect most of those Democratic congressmen would like to eventually like to return to power, something they are unlikely to do if they conspicuously misbehave.
In short I seriously doubt he will get the Democratic nomination.
I can see one good thing in the unlikely event he is re-elected, America will get what it deserves.
Best case scenario for Obama et al might be a WMD strike on this country in mid-October.
There would be a tendency for the citizens to rally round the flag. And Obama and sycophants in the media could immediately start to blame Bush and company.
as long as the new guy caters to feminists, and the progressives or is one… then meet the new boss same as the old boss.
i said they have control of both sides of the issue in good cop bad cop, and since we cant put up our own candidates (that was changed rmember?), we are going to get progressive republicans to replace progressive dems.
as i said, you can ahve feminists for porn, femnisits against porn, but since they are both feminsits, the leaders get to choose and vote he power and the ones that dont like the choice, have to suck it up as its the only game in town.
you also have feminist X and femnist Y… and they too sum up.
but then at the next level you have feminsts, racialists, gay libs, free love, etc… but they all have a silent progressive in front of their names.
and so, power is summed as it goes up the collective hierarchy. and no on on the bottom pays attention to the top down view.
everything i talk about is about that TOP down view they have not the bottom up view…
so when i say that the purpose of feminism is to destroy the family. the bottom up view is no, they are liberating, and the leader is the great helper of this as we are too weak by ourselves.
the top down view is: look at the idiots thinkig i believe in something, when i believe in NOTHING but what will get me what i want. i am pragmatic, so i believe in nothing, and am strong becuse of it.
i need women to stop increasing their families wealth as i need more taxes to pay for more programs to get those idiots to do what i want’ which is make money for me and my team. 50% of them dont work in a way i can tax them. “how can i bring women into industry” (look up that phrase with marx and see the quotes).
same is true as to how do we teach the children what we want without their parents undoing it each night? well, bringing womeninto industry en masse not slowly will do that.
how do we do that? lets copy the nazis. they used disparate outcomes to prove false racism so as to get teh public angry enough to let them exterminate the jews… so we will do the same thing. we will copy the nazi, and we will create false science in journals we create (since there were none for the category, of controlling people by scientific manipulation)..
this was why, hitler had support of homosexuals and the fringe going into the game, and then he exterminated them.. (the ones in state had the sword over their heads so they were allowed to live being completely under control).
how could he do that?
easy, his top down view sees us like ants from the empire state building. the ants on the street all feel self important, and so he feeds into that to get the ants to move.
then once that task is done, they switch tot he next point..
this is how femiists can rail against female mutilation in one breath, be completely uncaring about male sexual mutilations at birth, and then without blinking support islam for the casue.
they have NO BELIEFS… but use yours against you
The October Surprise Is Coming
By Pamela Geller
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/the_october_surprise_is_coming.html
History hinges on this one.
As Dennis Prager has said recently, there is no other “last best hope” for the world out there. America will never again be the “last best hope” for the world if Republicans don’t take the House.
That’s the bottom line, and everything else at this point is for entertainment or disaster planning purposes only (that’s what’s left if Dems retain control).
I think we are at the point where prayer is needed. That is our best hope. And if the Dems retain control, anyway who could say we did not richly deserve the sorry fate that will befall us?
What shame will be upon us boomers especially. We were given more freedom and opportunity than any generation in the history of the universe (no exageration) by our parents, the Greatest Generation. We will have p*&sed it away on PCism and feel-goodism and juvenilism – leaving the future poorer, more miserable and with much less freedom and opportunity. We should pray that that never happens and that we can right the ship in time.
What bothers me (among many things…) is seeing that vote fraud –convicted felons voting — helped to elect Al Franken.
I pray for our country.
The left is not going to stop, you know. Ever.
No matter the outcome, even a sound thrashing, they will not stop.
Don’t ever forget that. Don’t ever let it leave your mind. All we can do is defeat them over and over – or we will lose America.
And when they DO lose this election, boy, are they going to act out!
JuliB: Me too!
Bob from Virginia: I take your comments very seriously. But is the notion that Obama could win election after two years of having repubs to blame incredible? The mantra of “we didn’t go far enough” is already being voiced. (Obama has his own Mayberry Machiavelli’s-Huffington Post) Nearly half of the populace thinks socialism is “okay.” And will the repubs comply with internal warring and incompetence. Moreover, if there is not yet enough “will to power” amongst the controlling progressives to forment an actual October suprise, is the present alternative of watching their man submit their movement to death by a thousand cuts acceptable to them? And then, of course, Obama may not get the nomination but the stage will be set for someone else.
There is a coming financial calamity and the opinion seems to be settling on the idea that government spending is the cause. There once was a man who rode the white horse called “Contract with America.” He cut the welfare rolls and curtailed big government for awhile. He speaks well, looks well, and incorporates the new tea party movement into the old guard. With Sarah Palin as his VP, he might be unstoppable. One thing is for sure: the coming calamity will need a true leader.
When they lose, the punishment phase will begin. I can’t imagine exactly what form it will take, but there will be a punishment of America for its rejection of the utopia it has been offered by its elite.
We will learn why we are best described by having the “tragic” view, as opposed to the utopian.
How conspiratorially minded am I? We’re in Illuminati trilogy territory here, that’s what I think (I know, I’ve said it before). http://tinyurl.com/234j5q7 It’s been a long time, I don’t know how many are familiar with it these days–you have to be old! 🙂 My guess is that Artfl has at least heard of it, but I wouldn’t guess about how many others here have. Maybe OB and rickl. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe lots have–or none. It was big amongst the hippies I knew, back in the day.
There will be an “October Surprise,” but no one will be surprised, not really. Shocked, maybe. But not surprised. No suitcase nuke is necessary (but I wouldn’t rule that out, either), all they’d have to do is unleash the smallpox virus–several generations now are uninoculated. My daughter is in law school at Georgetown, so I worry about DC being a target. Of course, that’s where the wizards are, The Goon Show on the Potomac‘s cast and crew, so that might provide some purchase on her safety. A mother can hope.
The Republicans will win, and maybe even win big. But oh well. They will neuter themselves by virtue of being constitutionally (now THERE’S an interesting usage!) unable to recognize either the nature or the stakes of the fight they are in. If they win, they will figure that they won, and ho-hum, time to reach across the aisle, they think that’s what the people want. If they muster enough cods to merely de-fund health care, it will profit the country at best, little, and at worst, nothing. De-funding would just be a way to kick the damned thing down the road a ways, and it will be re-funded after a while. As long as it’s left in place, it’s there as a snoozing monster, hungry when disturbed. The Republicans will have neither vision nor imagination to remove it, even though it will be quite shovel-ready.
There will be massive election fraud, especially in those elections that might be close. It will be like Duval County, Texas, where prisoners from the Texas correctional system were once shipped upon their release and made to vote. The scale will be national, though, and the methods will in some places be violent.
All the propaganda organs are being pressed into service. Once-honorable institutions like the NAACP are being whipped into shape, voting even now to condemn the Tea-Party movement as racist. Michelle of the Belts is urging the black racists to increase their intensity. The State of Arizona is under unprecedented assault, both legal (in the form of federal lawsuits) and economic (in the form of boycotts), and this assault will increase and will not relent. It would not surprise me to see Jan Brewer clapped into jail at some point soon, effectively over the immigration bill. Is that crazy of me? Maybe. But maybe not, too.
The New Black Panther Party has been released from deserved legal opprobrium, and their leader is making serious noises about becoming active again, Shabaaz is talking about killing honkeys and crackers. Whaddaya know, just in time for a big election.
If it matters what Obama’s motives are, I’ve come to think that he sees himself as an avenger. I’ve read some hints along these lines, and the more I consider it, the more likely I find it seeming. He’s a leftist, of course, but he turns the political program over to others to design and implement. He’s not a political detail man. He’s just there, having secured the power, to protect the program and its exercise, and to sow the chaos. The power is in the service of vengeance. His leftist Congressional tools may not know this, it’s not necessary that they should. It’s why he doesn’t work very hard at all at being president, why he golfs and vacations and parties and preens. This country, of which he is titular leader, matters to him only insofar as he can see it destroyed, and the rest is decoration. He knows leftism will accomplish this destruction, as it always has, everywhere it’s been tried.
I could go on, of course. We must pray for our country, as JuliB says, and for ourselves, our families, and our fellows.
And we must fight.
From my latest ( “the bottom line” ):
The election this November will be nothing less than a fight for our very lives; this is absolutely no time for any conservative to throw a hissy fit (because his candidate may be less than perfect), and just decide to sit it out.
…
Indeed, as he’s almost promised to use the 2 and 1/2 month lame duck session to ramrod his agenda down our throats (one promise you can count on him keeping), we’ll need not just enough conservatives to begin repealing things; but also enough to override vetoes that are guaranteed in those circumstances.
I’ve been seeing, in a few comments here and there, utter despair of ever getting enough Republicans to have a “veto-proof” congress. Well, just how would you define that? You could have 61 Republicans and fail to override a veto because a few voted with the enemy. Conversely, you could have less than 60 and succeed because a few Democrats weren’t too happy with the situation. In fact, if there become enough Republicans to even pass legislation that Obama would veto, that last possibility greatly increases.
…
So, DON’T defeat yourselves before you even start. If all you can envision is futility and hopelessness, please go somewhere else to psych yourself down. The rest of us have a lot of work to do, and it damned well wont be accomplished by those who believe it impossible in the first place.
And, do not excuse yourself with George Wallace’s 1968 assertion that, of the two parties, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them!”
There truly is a difference; the type of arrogant snots who feel they must control every aspect of our lives (because we’re too damned stupid to do so ourselves) seem to infest the Democratic party far more than they do the Republican party.
That difference is worth preserving, worth fighting for. Always!
But especially during the Nov 2010 elections.
–
“the bottom line”
http://paulinhouston.blogspot.com/2010/07/bottom-line.html
(I repeat myself here. Well, so what? Wont be the first time.)
I truly believe a reckoning will come.
BUT, it ain’t gonna apply itself; we’re the ones who will have to do it.
From my latest “the bottom line” …
So, DON’T defeat yourselves before you even start. If all you can envision is futility and hopelessness, please go somewhere else to psych yourself down. The rest of us have a lot of work to do, and it damned well wont be accomplished by those who believe it impossible in the first place.
And, do not excuse yourself with George Wallace’s 1968 assertion that, of the two parties, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them!”
There truly is a difference; the type of arrogant snots who feel they must control every aspect of our lives (because we’re too damned stupid to do so ourselves) seem to infest the Democratic party far more than they do the Republican party.
That difference is worth preserving, worth fighting for. Always!
But especially during the Nov 2010 elections.
–
Sorry about the redundancy; I cut and pasted from my original post, and managed to screw it up. 🙁
–
In this case, it was an accident; NOT an application of
“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.” ~Winston Churchill
(I’m probably NOT the first to wish for either a preview, or the ability to edit the comment within a certain amount of time after it goes up.)
–
Slight tangent. Politicians who get voted out tend to go find something else to do, and are not always successful at coming back next time around. In a one-sided election, many people in the majority party got voted in by the skin of their teeth – Al Franken, for example. When the pendulum swings back, they are vulnerable, even with the power of incumbency. Those people may be gone for good, with their party now faced with the problem of finding a new candidate with some name recognition or exceptional charisma. But those new candidates, if they wish to be viable, have to respond (or pretend to respond) to the change in district mood. They are thus likely somewhat less objectionable than their predecessors.
In the same way, a bloodbath defeat does tend to weed out some of the chaff from the party that loses, which also has to find candidates who will not repeat the mistakes of their predecessor. So in the ideal, we should get some purging of bad Republicans, and also get less-bad Democrats.
That’s the theory, anyway. I don’t know if it actually works that way. In NH it may not. We lost an exceptional Senator Sununu in 2008, and the equally exceptional Senator Gregg is not running this time. The Republicans are fielding good candidates, but not of their stature. Yet in the House, the Republicans running against the execrable Carol Shea-Porter and medium-bad Paul Hodes are likely to be better than Republicans Jeb Bradley and Charlie Bass who held those seats until 2007. Bradley and Bass weren’t terrible, but were not reliable. They went native in DC to a certain extent.
The Democrat who won in the runoff for Murtha’s seat did so by running to the right of the Republican on some issues. That may be a ploy, but it at least suggests he’s an improvement over Murtha.
Avi,
Isn’t part of the problem for Dems who want to be more moderate the Pelosi stranglehold on Dem power? Somehow breaking the power structure of the far left Dems needs to become an issue. Every Dem running (especially those in safe districts) should be asked whether he or she will represent the home district or be held captive to San Francisco fantasies from the summer of love.
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“br549 Says:
July 13th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
The left is not going to stop, you know. Ever.
No matter the outcome, even a sound thrashing, they will not stop.”
———
br549, I’ll have to add another item to the To Do List I tossed out when I first responded on this subject.
That item is to figure out exactly how society is generating these leftists and neuter that source.
I’m pretty sure it’s deeply entrenched in the higher education system, so that’s where we should focus resources starting immediately after the election.
We’ll have a favorable environment with the political right getting a good grip on at least one – and maybe even both – houses of Congress, and a great big political bull’s eye on Obama for the 2012 election cycle, which will tend to demoralize the less extreme members of the leftist opposition.
You’ll still have the true believers of course, and they will always be so inflexible they can never change their mind about their most deeply held beliefs, but the younger and less extreme population are not so deeply entrenched yet and tend to follow authority figures even as they congratulate themselves on being so anti-establishment.
With a high percentage of the youth vote disillusioned after the mid-term election – on top of having endured almost 2 jobless years of Obamanomics, a void will be created in the more youthful segments of society that the political right can try to fill with new purpose, new ideas (even if it is just educating them on their true birthright) and sense of political direction.
There are great opportunities ahead if we simply seize them.
We should not try to beat it into their heads so much as we should lead them by example and take every opportunity to educate them on political alternatives to leftist theory.
Re: Robert Anton Wilson, of Illuminatus fame.
Didn’t read Illuminatus, but I’ve read Cosmic Trigger. Very interesting writer.
Back in college, I swiped a friend’s copy of Principia Discordia, a book mentioned by Wilson, and shown on the same Amazon.com page.
For another interesting book along the same anarcho-libertarian lines, check out Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey.
Scottie, if you are following the crises that higher education is facing, part of that problem may solve itself. In simplest form, they no longer give value for dollar on later employment prospects, with the exception of licensure-requiring fields (law & medicine, for example) and the prestige schools. Parents are simply deciding that $150-200K for career preparation can be spent in much better ways. People are going to college online, opting for different careers, and generally buying out of the supposed mind-broadening courses beyond the absolute minimum required. Colleges are hiring fewer of those professors, not because they have changed their views, but because they can’t afford to. An increased percentage of the population that succeeds without them will further diminish their value and authority. That’s not a full solution, but be of good cheer. This is one where the invisible hand is on our side.
expat, I have similar hope for a different set of market forces to help us out. If Nancy Pelosi is not speaker, and has a dozen of her own who are less-reliable, she has to trim what she aims for, regardless of what she wants. All this blood-drinking exultation over the things they’ve passed is of course addictive, and no amount of victory is ever enough for those whose lives are centered on the party-competition aspect of Washington rather than the actual effect of legislation. They will indeed become maddened when denied what they view as their lawful prey (one could use a thrwarted rape metaphor if preferred – the neurology is about the same). They will surely become less scrupulous in tactics, and we will take wounding. But they will also become reckless, and I foolishly retain enough faith in the American people that a few percent more will have their eyes opened at each deterioration.
Nonliberals are now dealing with cult leaders whose members are leaving. Those folks leaving, though they do not fully agree with us (as if we agree with each other that much anyway), will be the most persuasive to those still in thrall.
Just read the comments sections on Yahoo page re the billboard equating Obama with Hitler and Lenin. A majority of comments seem to be with the billboard. It seems the backlash really is here and here to stay.
And we can rest “bipartisanship,” thankfully. At last the concealing “detente” has been stripped away and most people realize we are a nation at war in defining its identity.
Now, where can one put one’s money?
in this you learn why the state is afraid of those overweight americans they refer to as racist rednecks.
bikers, people, and they all confused and scared them with their reaction… no one did anything except make noise… and walk and scream, because, perhaps, they dnt like REAL RACISTS.
which is what happened in the parishes as well
New Black Panthers Driven Out of Town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W_in_1Ya3E&feature=player_embedded
Buraq, please come out here and campaign for Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown. We patriotic Americans need all the help we can get turning/keeping those clowns out of office. Your presence fires up the Newsweek demographic to support candidates, and everyone else to oppose them.
I say again: reflect on how much leftists must truly detest YouTube. We now can prove we haven’t always been at war with Eastasia.
An attempt at an October surprise is a lead-pipe cinch. (For the record, I think the credit meltdown — and particularly its timing – was likely to have been such. Stampeding nervous financial types is child’s play for those with the chops in that world.)
But what could change the political landscape? “Mape” the Republicans, i.e., produce forged documents against them? Nah, Dems have used that one too recently. Besides, there’s no one target. Even the MSM winners of the Helen Keller award for journalism would be hard-pressed to ignore a thousand forgeries showing up in October. Also, forging documents for all the various races in the country would be a tough job logistically. Lucy Ramirez would definitely have to take on some temps.
Foreign policy? What could Buraq possibly do? And how could he guarantee it would happen in October? Foreign policy takes two to tango, and unlike this nitwit, other world leaders would realize that Buraq needed the deal concluded before the election, and so would hold him up on price (thereby largely vitiating the point of the exercise).
More domestic legislation? Hard to see what could be passed that would be a) popular, and b) in time. In any case, such legislation wouldn’t be a surprise.
The more apocalyptic scenarios are even more problematic, because it’s impossible to know how they’ll play out, and who will be blamed for them. Bush can’t be blamed for everything, despite the Dems’ best (?) efforts.
Some time ago we speculated on how Buraq would respond to criticism, given his brittle personality and thin skin.
Now we know.
Sorry Scottie,
The leftist mindset – expert mindset really – is generated in the primary and secondary schools. The universities aren’t as important relatively speaking. By “expert mindset” I mean the idea that the experts rule – and we follow.
Democrats hate vouchers most and charters a little less. And its not really the teacher’s union either. Its the ideology. The idea of raising your own children is the ideology silver bullet against the leftist vampire. They know it too. The very first act of congress passed by Obama killed the DC voucher program for poor black kids. Its not an accident.
James,
As a father of two, I’ve certainly dealt with my fair share of the school system, from the principle on down to the teacher’s assistant.
In general, I have to say that at 7 years I can count on the fingers of one hand how many would fit into the category I would consider to be a problem who are unduly influencing young minds in a liberal manner.
This includes instilling a certain healthy skepticism in my son’s mind regarding the theory of AGW, and it also includes sending notes excusing both of my kids from class during Obonga’s national address to the schools during the last school year.
From my daughter’s teacher, I’ve found out I was by far not the only one having my kids not attend that sham of an event.
On the other hand, I’ve also dealt with my fair share of the overly educated – and most of their misconceptions about how life actually works (as opposed to how they think it should work) seems to have been rooted in their higher education years, which is why my focus was placed there.
But I’m perfectly willing to compromise.
Let’s attack BOTH ends of the education stream simultaneously!
😀
“Let’s attack BOTH ends of the education stream simultaneously!”
Well, it starts early when teachers ask their students what they “feel” about this or that thingy rather than what they “think” about it. Emotional response has replaced thinking in the schools and it starts in preschool.
Barack Obama has decided that fiery self defense and withering mockery of Republicans are the best modes of attack as he tries to save Democrats from a drubbing in November’s mid-term elections.
The man is standing in a hole, and he is threatening to use a shovel.
Go for it, sir. Show us how deeply you can dig. We’re all watching.
(Isaac Asimov had a wonderful exchange in his short story “Evidence”, from his “I, Robot” collection. In it, a politician finds out about his opponent’s likely plan of attack — and he astonishes people by saying he doesn’t intend to counter the charges. He says, “I mean, I’m going to let him go ahead, choose his rope, test its strength, cut it to the desired length, tie a noose, insert his head, and grin. I can do what little else is required.”)
Yes, we need to work VERY hard to get out the vote this year. But the Democrats continue to double down on the policies that have made them unpopular… and double down again. It’s amazing to watch, it truly is.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
One point of attack has to be financial. Here in California the California Teachers Association (which apparently hasn’t yet learned about apostrophes), bleating about cuts to education, says:
Apparently, they’re hoping we have forgotten about Proposition 98, a state Constitutional amendment, which mandates that at least 39% of the state budget be devoted to K-12 education. (Yes, you read that right — 39% – thanks, teachers’ unions!). That means the current budget provides $35.9 billion for K-12 education for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Add in the $12.9 billion for higher education, and you get $48.8 billion spent on education in California just by the state (i.e., not including the Feds), out of a total budget of $122.6 billion.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, California is next to last in educational results. Clearly, we need to spend more on education, because $50 billion doesn’t go that far anymore. /liberals
Or, alternatively, cut the bejesus out of educational spending. We can only drop one place anyway, so we might as well save the money. /grownups
Germany had worse finances…
We ain’t done yet. Weimar Germany is.
He lied and he didn’t lie; he fought one war and ‘neglected’ the other; he should have spoken out, he spoke out but said “nuclear” the wrong way; he spent too much money, he didn’t spend enough and the Dems are making up for that; he was dumb but he had a higher grade point at Yale than that Progressive intellectual, John Kerry; he was a draft-dodger but he flew a jet fighter and on and on … Poor Bush — he can’t win for losing.
For me Bush’s real value was that he decided that a proactive foreign policy would be better than the reactive foreign policy that brought us 9/11. He recognized that kicking butt was better than kissing ass.
They are NEVER going to ‘like’ us. If we ever win the WOT it is necessarily going to piss off most Muslims. In fact, if they ever do start liking us is when we need to be really worried. They want us under sharia, which is nothing less than an openly religious form of totalitarianism. When they are the most angry with us is when we are doing exactly what we should be doing.
This coming election is not the time to grudgingly give Republican candidates our vote; it is time to enthusiastically campaign for ALL Republican candidates or suffer the consequences that we are all witnessing now of the lackluster support by disappointed conservatives during the last election.
As for 2012, I believe Obama stands a good chance, better than even money at this point, of winning a second term. We must try with all our might to win majorities in BOTH Houses of Congress. I just heard Dick Morris, one of the shrewdest people in politics, say on The Factor that there is a real possibility of winning 11 seats in the Senate.
http://tinyurl.com/23ry9g8
With majorities in both Houses we may be able to stop the mischief Obama is cooking up for his second term.
Angle is the most media unsaavy candidate in the country right now …
True, Angle has committed a couple of verbal booboos which have been ballyhooed by the MSM but her first campaign ad is a winner. I wonder who created it.
http://tinyurl.com/2bajjvx
Daniel in Brookline – “The man is standing in a hole, and he is threatening to use a shovel.” Great line, not only for this situation, but for general use. Thanks.