Category Archives: Tea Party

September 13, 2011 · 7:06 pm

Civility

In May of 2010 President Obama spoke at the graduation of the University of Michigan and echoed a theme often proclaimed in his campaign and speeches since his election. He spoke of the ”…basic need to improve the level of civility in our public debate.’ He warned against “demonizing our political opponents or questioning their motives or patriotism.” He continued, “This kind of vilification and over the top rhetoric discourages compromise, undermines democratic deliberation and robs us of a rational and serious debate. It can even send signals that violence is a justifiable response.”

He’s said these kinds of things repeatedly until the word “civility” has become trite. Surprisingly, he does not even make a token effort to rein in his supporters and administration officials who have become increasingly aggressive and uncivil, as his poll numbers have declined.

A classic example comes from Obama’s Labor Day address at a rally in Detroit. Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa introduced him with a fiery speech calling GOP congressional leaders “sons of bitches” and calling for Democrats to “take them out.” Obama took the podium and did not bother to caution Hoffa about the need for civility. Later AFL-CIO President Trumka defended Hoffa and added his own inflammatory comments on his website.

VP, Joe Biden, in his labor day remarks in Cincinnati opined that, “Unions are the only ones keeping the barbarians from the gate.” That’s not the dumbest thing Joe ever said but…

Andre Carlson, one of only two Muslim members of Congress and a leader in the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a vitriolic speech in late August that the Tea Party was intent on “lynching Black Americans”. He advised Black voters to “prepare for war.” Really? Lynching? War?

Maxine Waters, long known for her less than civil remarks weighed in with “The Tea Party can go straight to Hell!” Thanks for sharing, Ms. Waters. (article from the WA Post here.)

OK. We get it. Obama cannot run on his record so he needs someone to blame. His focus group testing has told him that blaming Bush for high unemployment and a dismal economy no longer sells. So he’s decided to attack the Tea Party and conservative Republicans in Congress. His “jobs speech” on Thursday was Exhibit A in this strategy. He said “pass this bill now” dozens of times. Only problem, Mr. President…. There is no bill!! Not a word has been written. There is nothing to vote on. I believe his plan is to play “rope a dope” on this like he did with the debt ceiling debate. IOW, keep changing the terms and backing out of deals until in frustration, little gets accomplished. Then on the campaign trail next summer he can say, “If the damn Republicans had done what I asked them to do, we wouldn’t be in this fix now. It’s not my fault.”

His other strategy is to allow and encourage his hard-core supporters to demonize the Tea Party in hopes of intimidating them into silence and to reduce their influence on less informed voters. This can be a dangerous path. Despite his wise and cautionary words about staying civil in our political debate, his failure to rein in the rhetoric of his supporters can easily get out of hand. Some worrisome examples:

· Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin attempted to make some modest adjustments in public employee benefits in an effort to get control of the state’s budget woes. Unions and leftist stormed the capitol and occupied the building for weeks, vandalizing the place. Democrat lawmakers fled the state to avoid voting and later millions of union dollars from outside the state flowed into recall campaigns against GOP office holders. Money wasted. It did not work.

· This summer roving bands of Black youths attacked whites leaving the Wisconsin State Fair, pulling people from their cars and beating them. The same thing happened at the Iowa State Fair.

· “Flash Mobs” in Philadelphia, Kansas City, Los Angles, Chicago, Cleveland and DC featured Black youths rioting, beating innocent by standers and looting stores. Read about any of this?

· In Longview, WA this past week 500 union members from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union broke into a grain terminal and took the security guards hostage while they rampaged through the facility cutting train brake lines and dumping grain from the boxcars. This despite a restraining order requested by the NLRB because of previous violence and harassment on the part of the union. This is not collective bargaining, its collective mayhem.

Hear about any of this in the mainstream media? Not too bloody likely. Did Obama or his AG, Holder speak out and condemn any of this? No. The preacher of “civility” remained totally silent. Worse, Holder in his refusal to prosecute the Black Panthers in the voter intimidation case in Phillie (Hey, they already pled guilty) has sent a signal to the Black community that lawlessness is OK.

Black unemployment has reached a 27- year high under Obama at 16.7% with Black youth at 41%. That’s a lot of people with plenty of time on their hands and there are many purveyors of hate out there to incite their anger and disappointment.

Consider this: Note: I am NOT predicting this, only saying that the following scenario MAY be possible.

As the 2012 campaign for President proceeds into the late summer and the US economy continues its slide into deep recession with high unemployment, especially in the inner cities, the rhetoric becomes more heated. The “rich” (code for “White”) and the Tea Party (“Racist and White”) are blamed. It becomes increasingly likely that Obama is going to go down to defeat in a landslide election. In the inner cities throughout the US, Blacks riot in rage and frustration. The cities burn and the violence spills out into the predominately white suburbs where frightened citizens break out their hunting rifles in self-defense. Meanwhile, unions fearing their loss of an ally in the White House stage illegal job disruptions and violent confrontations with police.

Obama declares Marshall Law and calls in the troops of the Army’s Northern Command to restore order. He orders the confiscation of all firearms. (Can’t do it? Posse Comitatus is full of loop-holes and they did confiscate all firearms in New Orleans during Katrina.) He postpones the 2012 elections indefinitely. Civil war erupts…. Again.

OK, that’s the doomsday scenario and I’m not saying it will happen. However, Obama could do much to calm things down by reiterating his calls for “civility” and kicking the asses of his own supporters in the media and fellow Democrats when they cross the line.

That he has not shown leadership and done so already worries me.

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Filed under Obama, Politics, Predictions, Tea Party

November 4, 2010 · 5:24 pm

Major Ebb

After the tsunami sweeps ashore all that water has to eventually go back where it came from, taking with it all manner of flotsam and the carcasses of critters drowned in the flood. The election tsunami on Tuesday swept away a lot of Democrats with some 60 House seats swinging over to the GOP and with a half dozen or so races still counting chads. (Hennepin County where Minneapolis is located was trying to figure out how they had 880,000 votes to count and only 708,000 registered voters. I wonder if that’s how Al Franken made it to the Senate?) The Republicans also picked up five governorships and five Senate seats with Alaska and Washington as yet undecided.

The wave washed away three Democrat committee chairmen, seven Dems with more than 20 years of experience and most of the freshman representatives that came in two years ago on Obama’s coattails. James Oberstar, MN (18 terms), John Spratt, SC (14 terms) and Ike Skelton, MO (17 terms) were among the notables who now need to go find a real job. Actually, I suppose if you have spent 34 or 36 years in the House of Representatives you likely stole enough that working is no longer a necessity.

In one of the more satisfying purges, Alan Grayson of Florida, perhaps the most obnoxious politician in the US, got his ass handed to him. Good riddance.

Of course, this being US politics where incumbency means almost certain re-election, many Democrats more than worthy of being sent off to new careers, survived. Barney Frank, MA and 30 year veteran of the House prevailed over his first opponent even given a fleeting chance at beating him. Barney, who’s only real job was pumping gas at age 18 and the individual most responsible for the housing crisis, showed that in some liberal enclaves you can get away with almost anything and get re-elected. Pete Stark of CA is another example. He’s a very cranky 78 years old and 18 termer. Viral videos of him insulting his constituents at town hall meetings didn’t hurt him any. He got 72% of the vote. Yes, it is California.

Harry Reid survived. Although most polls showed him tied with Angle or slightly behind, he won easily. Pundits said he “had a good ground game” which means that the labor unions hired a fleet of buses, catered lunches and dragged people to the polls. Boxer thumped Forina and Brown showed Whitman what the California Democrat machine could do when threatened. McMahon in CT also got whacked.

To me the three highly successful businesswomen that entered politics for the first time in this election; Forina, Whitman and McMahon represent the biggest surprise.

All were enormously successful CEOs and rose to the top of male dominated industries. All three are smart, articulate and honest and all dumped millions of their own money into the effort. Yet they all got their asses handed to them. Why?

OK, they chose to run in notoriously liberal states but it’s got to be more than that. Is it possible that powerful women threaten men or is it that women are turned off by these assertive gals? Both? One would think that the feminist groups would be pounding the pavement for these accomplished women. But no, these are conservative, capitalist women not enthusiastic about abortion. The feminists wouldn’t go near them.

Whitman dumped $140 million of her own money in the campaign to try to get the job of Governor of California that, to me, is one of the least desirable jobs on the planet. Maybe she did want to save CA, but I can think of other things to do with $140 million. The “fruits and nuts” elected Jerry Brown. Good luck. If you’ve got any California bonds, this would be a good time to unload them.

So what can we learn from this and what can we expect for the next couple of years? A lot of the political wags say that Obama will now try to pull a Clinton and govern more from the center and find practical solutions with the new Republican majority in the House and new balance of power in the Senate. I’m not so sure about that. He is buggering off on an absurdly expensive trip to India and Indonesia tomorrow without meeting with the new leaders in the House. Not sure if that’s symbolic. Compromise and finding middle ground has never been his style and doesn’t fit his Chicago politics/ Saul Alinsky philosophy. He once said he didn’t mind if he’s a one-term president. Maybe he means it. If he and Harry Reid obstruct GOP efforts to preserve the Bush tax cuts and refuse to cut spending, then he will certainly get his wish. Maybe the Dems will even nominate someone else.

Another interesting thing to watch will be what happens to the Tea Party movement. Will the grass roots movement fade away? Will the enthusiasm die or will it persist? The Tea Party enjoyed some successes in this Tuesday with the election of Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. They also experienced some failures, most notably the selection of Christine O’Donnell and Sharon Angle. Both were elected in the primaries by the Tea Party folks based on their ideological purity and both got hammered in the general election. In both instances there were other Republicans in those states that would have had a better chance. Will the Tea Party folks be a little more pragmatic next time around?

Then there is the Sarah Palin question. What’s she gonna do for the next couple of years? Personally I think that her ego is going to get the best of her better judgment and she will run for President. Mistake. While I personally like her, I don’t think she’s right for the Oval Office. Most polls I’ve seen agree with me on that one.

Well, as the Chinese say, “May you live in interesting times.” No problem there.

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Filed under Election, Obama, Politics, Tea Party

October 23, 2010 · 5:44 pm

Paradigm Shifts and Flying Mud

Thomas Kuhn defined a paradigm shift in his 1962 book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” as “… when one conceptual world view is replaced by another.” One of the classic examples is the Swiss watch industry. Until the mid ‘70s the Swiss dominated the world market for watches. The Japanese approached the Swiss with a new concept in watches, digital vs. analog devices, in plastic cases and with few moving parts. They were extremely low cost, unrepairable and basically throw away watches. The Swiss demurred. The Japanese returned to Japan and introduced the “Swatch” and many follow on digital models. The Swiss watch industry was nearly wiped out.

Of course, there are countless examples that have occurred throughout history. Makers of buggy whips and manure shovels never thought much of the future of the new noisy, gasoline burning vehicles, much to their surprise and dismay. And, no one can deny that the PC and the Internet have changed the world forever.

With the elections in the US less than two weeks away we are left to ponder whether a paradigm shift in American politics is about to take place. For decades now the US has drifted toward a more socialist/statist government, culminating in the election of Obama and the dominance of the left wing of the Democrat Party in Congress. As the Democrats rushed forward with their agenda of pushing the US further toward a socialist economy with the pork laden stimulus bill, the take over of the auto industry, the unpopular health care law, take over of the student loan business and cap and trade legislation, voters reacted with alarm and anger.

Rick Santelli, CNBC business commentator, is widely given credit for striking the match that ignited the Tea Party Movement. As thousands of Tea Party groups sprang up around the country, many professional politicians of both parties ignored the movement and the liberal mainstream media sneered. Later, as the movement gained momentum, some Democrats, fearing disaster, retired and some complacent, “moderate” Republicans got booted by the Tea Party candidate in the primaries. Entrenched lifetime GOP politicians Lisa Murkowsk of Alaska and Charlie Crist of Florida refused to go quietly and are running against the Tea Party candidates that won the Republican primaries.

Many of these TP candidates are new to politics and come with military experience and business backgrounds and are, thankfully, not lawyers. Some are weak candidates and easy targets. In another surprise, boatloads of money flowed into these campaigns from motivated citizens around the country.

As the polls started to suggest a rout for the Republicans on November 2^nd, the alarmed Democrats and their left wing allies have swung into action. Incumbent Democrats found themselves unable to tout their votes for wildly unpopular legislation and instead have resorted to personal mud slinging attacks on their GOP opponents. Of course, American politics has always been a brutal blood sport but I suspect, that this election will be remembered as one of the nastiest. That’s saying a mouthful.

Those of my vintage may remember the “Daisy” commercial run by Lyndon Johnson’s campaign against Goldwater. It featured a little girl in the foreground picking daisies while an atomic blast occurred behind her. The implication being that Goldwater was such a right wing nut job that he would use the bomb if elected. He was not. More recently, you might recall the James Bryd ad run by the NAACP against G. W. Bush suggesting that Bush condoned dragging blacks to death.

The list for this election cycle so far is long and if you are curious you can consult the blog site, The Daily Beast, and their “Hall of Shame”. Two stand out for me:

California is an economic basket case with a $19 billion dollar deficit (probably more since they have pushed some debt into the next fiscal year) and some $50 to $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The state is hemorrhaging jobs as businesses flee anti-business taxes and regulations. A company in a similar situation would call in a “turnaround CEO” to straighten things out. Enter Meg Whitman, the highly successful former CEO, who grew eBay from startup to mega company. She’s running against Democrat Jerry Brown, a 40-year career politician and former governor, who was dubbed “Governor Moonbeam” (for obvious reasons) by Mike Royko, Chicago’s famous columnist. (RIP)

Whitman, a Republican in a notoriously “blue” state, was doing pretty well against Brown so the Democrats trot out her former maid in the company of Gloria Allred, a publicity hound liberal lawyer. Allred’s claim? Whitman had knowingly hired an illegal alien and worse, mistreated her. It turns out the maid, Nicky Diaz, had been hired through an agency and Diaz had used a phony social security card and drivers license. The poor girl had “only” been paid $23/ hour for cleaning Whitman’s house… pretty good pay for menial labor. The whole thing was a sham to drum up sympathy in the large CA Hispanic community. Of course, there is much more in the way of negative ads against Whitman and now she looks like a long shot. California will likely get Brown II and continue its decline into the toilet.

Without question the prize for the most offensive and despicable ad came from Florida Democrat Congressman Allen Grayson. His ad against his opponent, Dan Webster, called him “Taliban Dan” and selectively edited his statements to make it look like he was saying something he never said. Should we be surprised? Not. Grayson is the same guy who stood up in front of the House and declared that the Republican plan for health care was to let old people die. If there is any justice in this world the liberal bomb thrower Grayson will be sent packing.

Once the voting starts and the counting begins the mud slinging will end and the corruption will begin. If history is any guide, we can expect lots of “irregularities” in this phase of the struggle. Remember the governor’s election in Washington State between Rossi and Gregoire? (The first one.) Rossi won on the original count and the recount but the King County (Seattle) election officials kept digging for votes, finding some in a closet and some in a car trunk and voila, Gregoire, the Democrat, finally won [in a hand-recount, no less]. Whew! The Democrat lawyers pulled the same stunt recently in Minnesota putting clown Al Franken in the Senate. And, let us not forget the vote counting fiasco in Florida in the Bush/Gore Presidential election of 2000. The Democrats have lawyers standing by to fly to any close election to contest every vote. They do. You could look this up. The dirty tricks have already started. In Illinois some counties failed to send out their military ballots on time as required by law. They say these votes may now not arrive on time to be counted. The military votes traditionally favor the Republicans. Coincidence? Hardly.

While I still have doubts that the GOP will win enough senate seats to take control there, it seems more than likely that the personal attacks will not sway enough voters to prevent the take over of the House by the Republicans. However, they will be on a short leash. If they betray the Tea Party they will incur their wrath in two years. A paradigm shift is coming and those that fail to recognize it are going to be swept away.

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Filed under Election, Obama, Politics, Tea Party, Whitman

April 18, 2009 · 7:39 am

Tea, Sir?

If you get all your news from the networks–ABC, NBC, CBS, otherwise known as the Main Stream Media, or MSM to those of us gamely holding the right flank–you might have missed that about one million pissed off citizens showed up at “tea parties” around the country on April 15th, tax day. You might have missed it because the MSM tried to pretend it wasn’t happening.

If a handful of Cindy Sheehan’s Code Pink fruitcakes set up somewhere for a peace protest or fifty lesbian bikers decided to ride down the streets of Fargo to promote gay marriage, the media would be all over it. Not this though. It didn’t fit with their liberal mindset and their mission to do no harm to the Obama Administration.

Although this was truly a grass roots movement inadvertently set off by an impromptu rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli, and demonstrated coast to coast resistance to the policies being promoted by President Obama and the Democrat Congress, the MSM decided it was not news worthy. CNN and MSNBC, long since having given up any pretense of being anything but cheerleaders for Obama, ridiculed the event calling the participants “tea baggers”. This term, I later learned referred to a homosexual act. I hate to admit this since I have gone to college, been in the Navy and attended several county fairs, but I was unfamiliar with the term. Google to the rescue.

What cut ups Olbermann and the folks over at MSNBC are! And, thanks to them we have enlightened million of otherwise ignorant youngsters around the country on this important piece of gay trivia.

The Democrats, of course, poo-pooed the whole thing, calling it a Republican inspired non-event. Nancy Pelosi said it was not a grass roots movement but an “Astroturf” event. Amusingly, this term originated with David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign manager and advisor, who routinely ginned up non-movements to deflect and confuse his opposition. It reminds me of Hillary and her “politics of personal destruction” charge when she and her cohorts actually invented the practice. Pelosi went on to make herself look even more foolish by saying the people involved were all “rich people trying to get out of paying their taxes”.

These “tea parties” were not about simply taxes any more than the original Boston Tea Party was about the British Tea Tax. It reflected a real and growing concern that the policies of this Administration and Congress were leading the country in a dangerous, socialist direction with massive spending and intrusion in the economy. Democrats were quick to spout the campaign fallacy that 95% of Americans are getting a tax cut and, in any event, no one’s taxes had been increased. (Yet.) Everyone knows tax increases are coming, although the Dems hope that delaying them until after the 2010 elections will keep them in power.

I believe these protests also indicate a growing concern about Obama. Although he, like Clinton, schedules an event daily to keep him as the lead story on the evening news, there have been some disquieting indications that BHO may not be the messiah everyone hoped. A few examples:

· Bad mouthing the USA in Europe. (We are arrogant?)

· Bowing to the Saudi King.

· Sucking up to the Iranians.

· Firing the head of a public company (GM).

· Appointing a tax cheat as head of the IRS.

· Saying he supports the 2nd Amendment but quietly pushing for gun restrictions.

· Pushing a huge carbon tax to finance the takeover of the health care industry.

· Jetting around on Air Force One (he calls it his “cool ride”) and living the luxurious life. (Hauling his wife’s hair stylist and make up artist on AF-1 to Europe. Flying in a pizza chef from St. Louis. Flying to Chicago for Valentine’s Day. Lavish parties in the White House.) These are not great examples for the leader who moans about the financial circumstances of the electorate. (Let them eat cake?)

· Talking about nuclear disarmament while North Korea is firing rockets and re-starting their nuclear program and Iran keeps those centrifuges humming.

In a curious coincidence, while the tea parties were getting fired up, the “Washington Times” unearthed a confidential Department of Homeland Security document sent out to the FBI and law enforcement warning them to be on the lookout for “right wing extremists”. You might be surprised to learn that if you are an opponent of abortion, an advocate of state’s rights, a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, object to high taxes or are a returning military veteran, you are a potential threat to the security of the USA. The government thinks they better keep an eye on you just in case. That’s comforting.

This amazing pronouncement comes on the heels of the same DHS wizards proclaiming that henceforth the word terror will be banished. Terrorism will now be dubbed “man caused disasters” and the war on terror will now go by the newspeak term “overseas contingency operations”. I feel safer already knowing we won’t be offending any terrorists and keeping an eye on those dangerous pro lifers.

The big losers in this tea party protest business is the MSM who have further damaged the remaining shreds of their claim to credibility and the Democrat Party. Once again, and in explicit fashion, the leaders of Congress have demonstrated their distain for the American people. The question remains whether the voters will turn out in 2010 and throw a lot of these fools out of office.

Fox News covered the events extensively and I think are big winners here. It’s all the more reason for the Democrats to push hard to shut Fox and talk radio the Hell up.

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Filed under Fox News, Obama, Politics, Tea Party

March 8, 2009 · 8:12 pm

Let’s Have the Debate

Journalist Peter Foster reports in the “National Post” today that he is heading off to New York City to attend the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. Dubbed the largest ever gathering of climate change skeptics, the title of the event is: “Global Warming: Was it Ever Really a Crisis?” Dozens of presenters from the scientific community will offer papers disputing the conventional wisdom that global warming exists and that, in any event, is not a threat to humanity. Presumably, (and hopefully) they will discuss the economic folly of promoting drastic measures in the midst of a worldwide recession.

I suspect that this conference will not get even a passing reference in the mainstream media. That would prove embarrassing to the media and Obama Administration as they push forward with their plans to impose a $650 billion cap and trade regime (carbon tax) on the American people. Even Obama and his fellow socialists admit that energy costs will skyrocket, while they are less forthright in admitting that this war on CO2 amounts to a huge tax increase on everyone. No one in support of this scheme wants to confess that poorer citizens will be hardest hit. That famous 13 bucks a week in tax breaks (falling to $7.10 in 2010) for lower income Americans will quickly evaporate as the cost of everything goes up…. except the stock market, of course. That will be going down and so will the job market as industries flee the country. You really have to wonder if these guys have a clue. Or maybe, (and God I hate to say this) it’s intentional. Can it be possible that they hate business so much that they would intentionally destroy the American economy? When ideology trumps reason and science you have to wonder.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond in Merry Old England where they are still seething over the dissing of PM Gordon Brown by the White House, another conference is taking place. This one at the University of the West of England in Bristol brings together psychologists, sociologists and eco-gurus and will explore the Mental Disorder of “climate change denial”.
Yes indeed, the 650 certified meteorologists and climate scientists on the US Senate compilation of climate cataclysm skeptics and the 32,000 scientists who signed the Oregon Petition saying they dispute that humans are causing climate change are certifiably nuts. Hold on while I see if I can find a straight jacket on eBay.

Foster dubs this group climate true believers adherents of a “global state religion” or “eco-shariah” and anyone disagreeing with accepted dogma in need of serious psychological treatment. Like the medieval Christianity, Islamic fundamentalists or communist dissenters, non-believers need to be tortured (re-educated?) until they accept the true faith. Perhaps a little electro-shock therapy would do the trick?

This sort of thinking lends a lot of credence to the late Michael Crichton’s contention that modern society has embraced environmentalism as a secular religion. Only a true believer refuses to look at scientific evidence with an open mind.

One thing remains clear, no one in the Obama Administration wants to have a debate about the validity of global warming. (Al Gore doesn’t want to debate anyone on the science either.) And, they certainly don’t want to have a vote on this massive tax increase. They can avoid that messy confrontation by simply imposing cap and trade through the regulatory auspices of the EPA and/or regulations under the ESP (Endangered Species Act. Remember those “endangered” polar bears?) Having a debate would expose millions of people to the scientific evidence and raise the question of whether this is about saving the planet or simply a massive tax and power grab.