Elbert Guill0ry: Proud Republican

Here is an excellent video by Louisianna State Senator Elbert Guillory

Dem's Not Proud to be Americans

Gallup has a new poll showing that Republicans are far more proud of America and Democrats are.

That goes a long way to explain why the Democratic party has spent the past 70 years deconstructing our Constitution...

via Drudge.com

GOP Elites Circle the Wagons

As I predicted the other day, Reince Priebus of the RNC has prepared a 97 page document that exonerates the RNC and GOP leadership of ... to be blunt, fucking up the election. Their ideas to fix what went wrong in 2008 and 2012 would utterly change the GOP primary system.  They seek to eliminate caucuses.  These changes would only benefit those candidates with very deep pockets.  Stuck at the very end of the report is a suggestion that would seek to reduce by half the number of urges halving the number of  primary debates in 2016.  Furthermore, the report urges the creation of regional primary clusters that would start after the  early states of Iowa and New Hampshire.


This would only benefit the candidate that had amassed a huge warchest, such as Mitt Romney and John McCain...both of whom ran incompetent campaigns against a beatable Socialist candidate.  Furthermore, this is a naked attempt to beat back any sort of insurgent candidacy. POLITICO is reporting that,

The recommendations are also a nod to the party’s donor class. Several donors bluntly told RNC Chair Reince Priebus at meetings right after the election that they wanted Iowa, with its more conservative base, to have less of a role in the process.

Reaction was swift. Allies of potential 2016 hopefuls Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum, sensing a power play by the establishment-dominated panel, reacted angrily to recommendations they think are aimed at hurting candidates who do well in caucuses and conventions and need debates to get attention.

A Rand Paul supporter was even more to the point, 

“Elimination of caucuses would mean nuclear war with the grassroots, social conservatives and [the] Ron Paul movement,” said this Republican.

Bring it on, said some GOP leaders. “If Paul forces want ‘nuclear war’ over reducing [the number] of caucuses, let’s have it,” tweeted longtime GOP strategist Mike Murphy. “[The] key to [a] stronger party is more open primaries.”

How about me, I now believe that the GOP Leadership is beginning to run very scared.  They're starting to realize the the Tea Party movement is far broader than they thought it was.  That group seeks to toss them out on their collective asses.  After all, they've lost every single election since 2006.  2010, was a clear cut victory of the Tea Party as most of the candidates they supported were in fact elected.

That has been the only ray of sunshine in the GOP picture.  Instead of spending huge sums on candidates who are "moderates' or "Democrat Lite" that can't possibly win, the GOP should instead focus on candidates who are in fact conservatives.  Essentially, this is the party elites saying, "If we don't  select you get the hell out."  That will not do.

While I support the idea of regionalizing primaries, because it in my opinion would reduce the amounts candidates would have to spend bouncing from one side of the country to another...and would permit a less well funded candidate to concentrate on one region at a time. How ever, I  believe that instead of reducing the number of debates, that number should be tied to the regional primaries.

Iowa (Jan)

New Hampshire (1 week later)

Then New England (Feb)

Mid Atlantic (Late Feb: NY, PA, MD, DE, VA)

South (Early March:  NC, SC, GA, FL)

Upper South (Late March:  KY, TN, AL, MS , MO)

Mid West (Early April:  OH, MI, IN, IN)

Upper MidWest (Late April:  WI, MN, MT, ND, SD)

South West (early May:  TX, AR, OK, AZ, NM)

Central (Late May:  CO, WY, KS, NB, ID)

West (Early June:  CA, OR, UT, NV, WA, HI,  AK)

I'm sure I missed a few, but you get the picture.  That still gives the traditional early states their early time to shine...but would end the primaries by June and give us our convention by late June, and our nominee four solid months to campaign.  

What do you think?   Please comment.

GOP To Cave On Gun Control

It appears that the Party Of Stupid's Elite leadership is prepared to cave on gun control.  From a couple of reports, they will allow a national data base that will record all gun sales and ownership to be created.  This give the government quite literally a list of everyone who buys and sells guns across the country.

[The] Republican Majority Leader is leading the charge to cut a deal with President Obama.
The following are just some of the threats to innocent school children and our God-given 2nd Amendment liberties that Republicans are about to shove down our throats:
1.The NRA is cutting backroom deals to centralize gun owner data collection into the Obama/Holder massive government data base.
A centralized system is less costly to fight and far more lucrative for the NRA to appear to be “fixing“.
Like all establishment political lobbies the key to their job security is assisting in making problems they end up being called upon to “fix“.
2. Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor is leading the charge to give Obama and Holder what they want in exchange for appearing to be “fixing” the problem of innocent children being butchered in our public and private schools.
3. Newly appointed Republican Judiciary Chairman, Bob Goodlatte R-VA 6th District, is providing political cover for the sneaky back room gun control deals and gun grabbing sell outs that his political masters - – John Boehner and Eric Cantor – - are cutting with Obama and his corrupt Attorney General, Eric Holder.

Political insiders have confirmed to me, that Goodlatte earned his brand new chairmanship by ignoring the constitutional demands and grievances of every Republican Unit Chairman in his own 6th district.

Eric Cantor and  Paul Ryan are the ones leading the charge on this one.  What makes this so onerous is that for the 1st time, the government will know WHO is buying and selling.  That's the first step towards confiscation.  For the 1st time, an American government will have the ability, if it so decides to take away firearms from lawful citizens.  That's the slippery slope.

This also calls into play the rumours that the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was planning to pass laws without a majority of his GOP caucus.  The GOP ain't called the Party of Stupid for nothing.  Then there's this;

You might think that with Republicans in control of the US House of Representatives there would be no way ANY gun control legislation could reach the floor.

But sadly we are already beginning to see so-called “conservative champions” folding to pressure from the anti-gun media to sell-out gun owners.

Former Vice Presidential candidate, Congressman Paul Ryan, has stated that he would support legislation that bans private sales at gun shows.

In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, along with the help of Rep. Scott Rigell (VA), Patrick Meehan (PA) and others, have stated openly that they will work together with anti-gun Democrats from Maryland and New York to tighten restrictions on private firearms sales and expand background checks.

Possibly even more upsetting has been Senator Tom Coburn’s willingness to work alongside anti-gunner Chuck Schumer (NY) to propose “bi-partisan” anti-gun legislation in the Senate.
Make no mistake, so-called “expansion” of background checks is little more than a blatant attempt by anti-gunners to register all firearms and gun owners in America.

That is why Representatives Steve Stockman (TX-36) and Paul Broun (GA-10) have drafted a letter to Speaker Boehner and the Republican leadership urging them to require the support of the majority of Republican members in the House before bringing any anti-gun bills to the floor.

This so-called “Hastert Rule” would mean that 117 Republicans would have to support a particular bill before it had any chance of getting a floor vote, not just the support of the anti-gun elitist in leadership.

If the Republican elite leadership really wanted to to destroy the party and go the way of the Whigs...this is surely it.  They were winning the hearts and minds of America, which has been hardening its position on defense of the 2nd Amendment.  By caving into Liberals & Democrats demands to do something "for the cheeldren"...will be the rock upon which the party crashes.

There can be no compromise upon America's right to defend ourselves against the tyranny of government.  The 2nd Amendment is the rock upon which that right stands.  To force any crack into is to lead to the loss of that right and therefore, NO COMPROMISE may be allowed.  None, nein, nyet, ni...NO COMPROMISE.

This issue could lead to taking back the US Senate...by forcing the Senators in red states, who are up for reelection to take stands that are against their consituents desires...it cost Dem's Congress in 1994...and will in 2014, but only if the Party of Stupid isn't struck by Stupid!  Don't listen to just me.  There are people all over the country that this will enrage.

Such political ploys would be unnecessary if the GOP weren’t filled with such weasels. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports, but I have followed Cantor and Ryan for a while now on firearms freedoms and gun rights, and it doesn’t surprise me in the least.

It’s fascinating that the GOP leadership would be willing to sacrifice their careers on the altar of political correctness. And it will cost them their careers. I don’t know how else to say it other than to keep repeating myself. The gun owners who recently waited in lines for three or more hours to pay exorbitant prices for guns were not repeat buyers (long time gun owners like me already had most of the firearms we wanted and so we are purchasing ammunition now). They were first time buyers.

I’ve watched them at the ranges. I have overheard their conversations, I have watched them at the gun stores and gun shows. I have heard their relatively ignorant questions (not ignorant because they’re stupid, but because they’re in the process of learning). They are not us. We already have guns. These are new gun owners. The polls they are trotting out to show the number of gun owners decreasing are all lies.

I don’t know whether the questions aren’t being honestly answered or what other source there could be for the error. But the polls are in error. Don’t believe them. And as for older gun owners like me, and even the newer gun owners like I have monitored for the past half year, we have made it clear with our voices and wallets. No new gun laws. None. Period. Not one more inch. Not one.

I've been saying for a while that it's time to either get rid of the leadership of the GOP in Congress.  They've gone along to get along for so long, they don't know how to do anything else.  They've sold their principles for invitations to be on the "A" list for party invitations inside the beltway...forgetting that the Republican Party used to have ideas...ideas like small government...staunch support of America's right to defend itself from government tyranny...balancing the budget...

Principles are important...until you throw them out the window.  When you do that, you can forget why you were sent to Congress.  The GOP leadership has forgotten what they stand for.  It's time to either get rid of them, or get rid of the party they putatively represent and find new leaders who WILL stand for their principles.

What the tea party needs to do is read the history of the 1840's and 1850's.  The Whig party leadership got to the point where they believed they knew better than their base how to run not just their party, but the country.  Eventually, the political base of the party became disenchanted  with their leadership and began to flee the party.

By the early 1850's, the Whigs disintigrated as a coherent political force.  From those ashes rose the Republican Party...fast forward to 2010...

The GOP leadership made unrealistic promises to conservatives that if they were given control of Congress, they would reduce spending, repeal ObamaCare and roll back the regulatory brick walls that Democrats had raised against investment and business expansion.  Following the election, Congressional Republicans deliver "reductions in 'future spending'"...and nothing else.

The base, the Tea Party movement has been casting around for a leader...but instead found hundreds and thousands...because "all politics is local"...it's time for conservatives to realize that the GOP is both moribund and morally bankrupt.  They will do none of those things that are planks to the party, except to enrich themselves and their cronies...just as Democrats are doing.  The party Establishment will do everything in it's power to maintain their hold on the party...so...we must toss them out like dirty water...

...and start fresh.  The Tea Party has been played for a fool by the Estalishment of the GOP.  Republican "leaders' will pay lipservice to the ideals that the GOP stands for, but will continue to "go along to get along".

If we can complete the process started 2 years ago, in 2014, The Tea Party can present an entire slate of candidates who are uncorrupted by the current Republican Party Establishment, and in fact, shunt the GOP aside, and take it's place to make the very difficult decisions that are necessary to place this country back on a sound fiscal stance.

Romney Wins Fla Primary...but Kills Party Doing So...

The GOP Establishment has driven this country (in cahoots with the Democratic Party) onto a reef...and now we're sinking. What do they do? They choose ObamaLite as the Elite's candidate. Mitt Romney will merely spend a little less than Obama's done/doing...all while the GOP Establishment lines it's pockets...just as Obama's supports are doing.

After Romney's and the GOP establishment's attacks on the "elite's chosen one," I will not vote for Mitt Romney in any election at all. I will skip that line and vote down ticket. My choices at this point are reduced to voting against all incumbents...whatever the party.

Incumbents and the GOP Establishment have become the problem, NOT the solution. They will tax and spend just like the Democrats have done...and they have "gone along to get along" with for the past 70+ years. They are the problem and not the solution..

The GOP Establishment has shown that they have nothing but contempt for the base of this party, and the Tea Party Movement in particular. This election cycle is done with (I firmly believe that Romney can't beat Obama in the general) and the party has not learned anything from 2010. That being said, it's time to start a new fiscally conservative party that will be able in 2014, and later, begin fielding candidates that will actually try and make those difficult choices that the GOP Establishment has refused to make.
It's time for a fundamental shift in the American political scene...by turning the Tea Party Movement into a genuine political party.  Fiscal conservatives should, nay, must abandon the party of "spend a little less" and begin finding candidates who will enter primaries TPM candidates.

The end of the GOP is nigh...and it will be an ugly end...just as the end of the Federalist and Whig parties were ugly...the end of the later...led to the Civil War and the rise of a now corrupt and moribund Republican Party.

ObamaNomics

Here are some startling facts about our current president's policy effects...

1. Every day, the U.S. government takes in $6 billion and spends $10 billion. This means that every day the federal government spends $4 billion more dollars than it has.
2. The real unemployment rate is a jaw-dropping 11 percent.
3. Every fifth man you pass on your way to work is now out of work.
4. College graduates are now 34% less likely to find a job under Obama than they were under President George W. Bush.
5. Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk now relies on food stamps.
6. The ravages of the Obama economy now mean that more Americans live under the federal poverty line than at any time in U.S. history since records have been kept.
7. Under President Barack Obama, every fifth child in America now lives in poverty.

I don't know about you, but I've had just about enough of this man.  I'm barely keeping my head above water, financially.  My wife can't find full time work.  No one is hiring...yet, the MSM tells us "things are getting better."  For whom?  Not me...

Obama
Must
Go!

It's time for a change...but those choices we have so far in the GOP primary process aren't the ones that can do the job.  Here's a comment I mad on Powerlineblog's endorsement of Mitt Romney:

John, despite your endorsement…Romeny ISN’T electable. He’s not won an election of any sort since he narrowly won the gubenatorial election in Massachusetts. He chose not to run for reelection because he would have been solidly defeated, just as he was soundly defeated by an even worse candidate in 2008 named John McCain. As the GOP “elite’s” chosen “front runner” he wouldn’t represent those of the base.

He has soundly rejected the Tea Party movement and what that movement stands for. He’s a big government Republican…and those have just about ruined our party. He can only be called a “conservative” in Massachusetts…his continual flip-flopping, and defacto support of universal health care are repugnant to the principles upon which the Republican Party stands…as does his “big government” beliefs. This man are only marginally a Republican anywhere outside of California (which has ZERO chance of winning in the general election) or New England…which hasn’t gone Republican since Reagan.

Unfortunately for our party, the best candidates have chosen not to run…when we needed real leadership, we’ve gotten Romney and Newt or Paul…who will be just as disasterous as G. W. Bush (whom, while I greatly admire him personally, his “Big Government” policies have helped drive us to the brink of economic disaster).

It’s time for a change all right, but Romney’s not it. He’s more of “go along to get along…” that’s been the hallmark of the GOP Congressional Leadership & “elites.”…their “good intentions” have paved the way to economic hell.

I’ll choose someone else…Mickey Mouse, perhaps, he couldn’t do any worse than our “elite leadership” already has…
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland

I believe that choosing Mitt Romney will be just as disasterous for the Country as it was for the Party to choose John McCain in 2008.  Once the Chicago political machine gets in gear...they will tear Romney a new asshole and we will in fact have 4 more disasterous years of "Hope & Change" that will be so bad, I don't think we'll be able to repair the damage that man can and will do to the fabric of our great Republic.

Ron Paul Won't Rule Out 3rd Party Run

Texas Congressman Ron Paul won't rule out third party run. If he does so, he will ensure an Obama second term...which would be disasterous for the country.

President Obama Is Doomed....BUT,

There's a terrific article in Forbes today by John Tamny.  His premise is that Mr. Obama will be a one term president, but only if the GOP candidates can figure out why.  He argues that having a soft dollar will doom Obama because he's not done anything to defend the currency.  Mr. Tamny make many valid assertions, at leas in my opinion.  BUT, yes, that horrible word, Mr. Tamny doesn't take into account the following, which I added to the comments:

The One Big Thing you miss is presuming the GOP candidates are smart enough to catch on. After all, the leadership of the GOP in congress promised real spending cuts...and delivered "cuts in future spending." As if that means anything (since no Congress can restrict what a future Congress can do...without a Constitutional amendment.).

 

That being said, the media anointed "front runner," Mitt Romney is Obama "Light"...see RomneyCare, the blueprint for ObamaCare (not that I object of Massachusetts having a state mandated health care system...that's covered by the 10th Amendment). Rick Perry is faltering, and I don't really think that he has what it takes to puts things back on track. Herman Cain, has a clue, but I'm not certain he has the political experience to get things done either.

 

Soooo...never under estimate the ability of the GOP to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The real problem with the GOP currently is that it's current leadership, has "gone along to get along" for so long, that they just don't know anything else. They've compromised (i.e. sold out to) with the Democratic Party on every item that's been passed through Congress over the past 50 years. I don't think they have what it takes to...right the vessel of state.

 

Congress if they really wanted to could pass a genuine austerity budget, and derail the Obama attempt at growing government by fiat and through the regulatory agencies (EPA, alphabet soup offices) by simply NOT FUNDING THEM...they can't pass new growth chocking regulation if they have no funds.

 

The GOP needs to pass a budget, a real budget and send it to the Senate and watch the Democratically controlled Senate, choke on it. 23 Democratic Senators are up for reelection...let them explain to their constituents WHY THEY VOTED AGAINST A BUDGET THAT WOULD MOVE THE COUNTRY FORWARD...unfortunately, Mr. Boehner doesn't have the courage, or character to do this...and the country will continue to suffer because both parties are playing politics.

If we could actually get the GOP in Congress to actually deliver on what they promised BEFORE the election of 2010, when the country gave them a majority  in the House of Representatives, and near parity in the Senate. 

• Vote to repeal ObamaCare...and send it to the Democratically controlled Senate so they can choke on it.
• Vote on a budget that either cuts funding altogether, or severely reduces funding on the alphabet soup regulatory agencies...as well as those useless cabinet level departments that simply waste money and provide employment to bureaucrats...and send it to the Democratically controlled Senate so those 23 Dem Senators would have to explain to their constituents WHY THEY VOTED AGAINST reducing the size and scope of government.
• Live up to the promises you gave in 2010...
• Pass a balanced budget amendment and send it to the states.
• Really screw the Senate and pass and send to the States an amendment repealing the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators, instead of them being selected by the various state legislatures, and immediately remove a huge crutch of federalism)

If they GOP would do this...the Democrats would be painted into a corner they can't get out of...just looking at the meltdown in Europe and pounding home the simple lesson that what is happening there will happen here within 5 years if we don't do something NOW...would give us super majority in both houses of Congress as well as a president with a mandate to commit America to real change...change that would guarantee a return to prosperity for at least 20 years.

  

GOP Leadership: Still Going Along To Get Along...

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has an excellent post on Mr. Obama's Jobs Bill.

THE HILL: Democrats scramble to save face on President Obama’s jobs bill.“Democratic leaders in the Senate are scrambling to avoid defections on President Obama’s jobs package, which appears headed for defeat on Tuesday. A lack of Democratic unity on the president’s bill would be embarrassing for the White House, which has been scolding House Republicans for refusing to vote on the measure. Obama has been touring the country, aiming to put pressure on the GOP to act. But Senate Democrats have indicated they are feeling some heat. Last week, Democratic leaders revised Obama’s bill, scrapping his proposed offsets. Instead of raising taxes on families making more than $250,000 annually, Senate Democrats lifted that figure to $1 million. Despite the changes, the legislation still does not enjoy the support of all 53 senators who caucus with the Democrats. A handful of Democrats are undecided or leaning no on the bill.”

Reader Pual Burich's take is excellent,

“The GOP is showing its absolute fecklessness right now when it should be on the offensive. The GOP should have LONG AGO produced a bill to counter Obama’s ‘Jobs Bill’ and marketed it relentlessly: roll back the last 5 years of regulations, a simplified flat tax for both corporations and individuals, roll back spending to 2008 levels via an across the board CUTS (not reductions in the rate of growth). The GOP has fallen into the Waiting for Godot (Supercommittee) trap. Does anybody actually believe that a group that includes John Kerry et al is going to produce anything meaningful? This is all very distressing–but not at all surprising. The GOP is only slightly less venal than the Dems, and considerably less bold.”

While Mr. Burish's assesment is acccurate, he too misses a key point.  The GOP leadership in Washington, as well as many state capitals where they've been in the minority for most of the last century has been "Going along to get along" for so long they don't have a clue of what else to do.  That's the problem.  Instead of attempting to get out a real message, much as Paul Ryan has tried to do, they continue to believe that the media will give them a  chance to voice their opinions.  That's just not so.

The MSM is so much in the bag for the Democratic party in general, and Barack Obama in particular, that they can't allow any other narrative to escape thier messaging.  Just turn on any of the three (or if you include PBS) non-cable  news broadcasts and you'll see a repeat of very nearly all the DNC's weekly talking points.  It's even worse on the cable news networks, excepting only FoxNews.

Because the GOP continues to operate on the same game plan they used in the 1970's and 1980's, when media bias wasn't nearly as blatant as it is today.  This won't cut it today.  Now, with city and national editors who won't publish stories that go against their political biases and world views, the only way to get out a message that's diametrically opposed to the social democratic line is to use the internet and citizen journalists....like Mr. Reynolds at Instapundit.

But, our current "elite GOP leadership" will inevitably snatch defeat from the jaws of victory if they continue to think the Liberals will allow them access to the national media.

Paul Ryan Not Running For President...bummin'...

According to ABC news, Congressman Paul Ryan will NOT be running for President next year.  That's bad for the country...

After much speculation and some pressure from fellow Republicans, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin and the House Budget Committee Chairman, says he is NOT running for President.

"I sincerely appreciate the support from those eager to chart a brighter future for the next generation. While humbled by the encouragement, I have not changed my mind, and therefore I am not seeking our party's nomination for President. I remain hopeful that our party will nominate a candidate committed to a pro-growth agenda of reform that restores the promise and prosperity of our exceptional nation. I remain grateful to those I serve in Southern Wisconsin for the unique opportunity to advance this effort in Congress."

HatTip:  Legalinsurection

GOP: How Not To Choose A Candidate....

Over on PajamasMedia there's a terrific post by Adam Graham on how the GOP SHOULDN'T chooes their candidate for the presidency of the US in 2012.  Here are the first few paragraphs.  Undecided

and loosely committed conservative voters face a tough decision on whom to support in 2012. How should they make their decisions? Pundits and activists offer plenty of advice for voters, but several factors are not worth considering:


Electability
While we should consider a candidate’s experience, record, and ability to communicate with voters, for many pundits and party leaders, this isn’t what electability means. It’s an alias for conventional wisdom.

Pundits and politicians make false assumptions like: a conservative can’t win the election. Also, “bird in the bush” theories propose that if the party jettisons social conservatives, then a large pool of voters would embrace the Republican Party. No proof is ever offered that this large pool of voters exists anywhere but in the minds of pundits. In the case of the abortion issue, the actual evidence suggests Republicans enjoy a large advantage because of their position on the issue.

Voters are far more concerned about the condition of the country than the factors “electability” experts trumpet. Republicans should nominate a candidate who will put their best foot forward in representing the party. Unsubstantiated electability claims should be dismissed.

Identity Politics
There are good reasons to back Herman Cain. One bad reason is often cited by activists: in nominating Herman Cain, the GOP would neutralize the race card and gain a significant portion of the black vote. Andrew Breitbart doubled down and called for a ticket of Herman Cain and freshman Congressman Allen West (R-FL)
It is doubtful this tactic will provide lasting gains. Black conservatives are attacked as race traitors. Justice Clarence Thomas was once forced to withdraw from a school event in a predominantly black district due to threats of a protest. The GOP in recent years had a black House Caucus chairman, a black RNC chairman, and elected two black congressmen from the former Confederacy.
In addition, the party has nominated several blacks for the U.S. Senate, governorships, and seats in the House. It has done little good in advancing the GOP cause in the African American community. This is clearly not enough to win over the black vote.
Those who advocate a Cain candidacy on racial grounds are right that the GOP needs to increase its share of the black vote. However, they’re trying to take a shortcut. The Democrats dominate the black vote because they’ve politically organized in the black community. Republicans must do the same. It will take time, money, and effort to reach out. There is no easy way to victory.
Similarly, nominating a female candidate will not give the GOP any edge among women. To the contrary, women rate Sarah Palin more unfavorably than men.
The GOP should nominate the best candidate regardless of race or gender. Basing nominations on identity politics thinking it will gain brownie points has been proven to be baseless.

Forget Veep Madness
In addition to Breitbart’s Cain-West dynamic duo, N.M. Guariglia has called for Congressman West to spice up a Mitt Romney candidacy. In light of the 2008 campaign, these calls for West and other rising politicos, such as Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) or Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), to be placed in the veep spot seem ill-advised at best.
While Sarah Palin’s addition to the ticket brought excitement to an uninspiring McCain campaign, it has done great harm to Sarah Palin’s brand. Had Palin not been tapped, she likely would have served out her first term as governor of Alaska and won a second. If she were running for president right now under those circumstances, she would be seen as a dark horse candidate in the midst of a gradual process of introducing herself to America. She would be talking to local media in early primary states, any national interviews would be on a cordial basis, and tea party conservatives would be warming to her campaign.
Instead, if Palin runs, it’ll be as a battle-scarred, media wars veteran driven from office by Democrats who abused the ethics process to financially ruin her. Palin’s problems began during the campaign because she was not in charge of what interviews she gave or how she was presented to the American people.
While Palin energized the campaign, she overpowered rather than complimented the McCain candidacy. The lesson is clear: If the Republicans nominate a candidate in need of a veep who will energize the party, they have chosen the wrong person.
Rather than taking the chance of sacrificing promising leaders as the vice presidential candidate for a lackluster principal, conservatives should support a strong nominee and hope for a veep who is conservative, credible, and relatively quiet.

READ THE WHOLE DAMN THING.  If you know someone in  a "leadership" position within the party, please, please, PLEASE force them (at gunpoint if necessary) to read this!

Hat Tip Instapundit

Paul Ryan: A Duty To Serve

Recently, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said that he didn't want to run for president because,

Ryan has said that one reason he is not interested in running for president is that he would have to spend time away from his family, including three young children.

As a former US Marine...at some point in their every single American has a duty to serve our country, in some shape form or fashion, even if it's only showing up to a retail store to work.  But, Jenifer Rubin in her WaPo blog, Right Turns, makes this devastating point:

I do not know Paul Ryan. I am not acquainted with him. I have never even met the man. If I knew him at all well, I would walk into his office and slap down on his desk Jennifer Rubin’s post. As she points out, lots of Americans in uniform have answered their country’s call. Here is the question I would ask Ryan: “In this crisis, how can you of all people justify not doing what those soldiers have done?” And here is the argument that I would make: “You have the preparation; you have the training; you have the temperament; you have the knowledge; you have the persuasive capacity. We now face a great crisis, and you understand what has to be done better than anyone else. Your country needs you. In the circumstances, what possible excuse could trump that? You have a duty to serve.”

Mr. Ryan, you are currently, the only member of the GOP leadership that has a clue about the myriad of problems that face this country.  More importantly, you are the only "official" member of the leadership that has actually had the balls to put out a plan on how to undo the economic train-wreck that the Democratic party and Barack Obama has turned us into. 

Therefore sir, you have the DUTY to serve!  It's time to ante up and put your money where your mouth is.  You can talk the talk, not it's time to walk...down Pennsylvania Avenue in January, 2013 and take the oath of office...here's a web page petition to draft Mr. Ryan. I signed it.

GOP Debate Focus Group

Here's a short video of the Luntz focus group after the GOP South Carolina debate...interesting take on Herman Cain.

The Great 2011 Debate

By

J P Bender



So the first 2012 presidential GOP debate is now history – and nobody other than the Fox News Network were dupes to cover this charade. It is a darn shame that the Republican Party has lost its way and given us such a sorry lot to select from in the 2012 primary. As for me…it is “Boot Newt”, “Dump Trump” and “Make Hominy out of Romney”. Most of the rest are lightweights and just more of the same. I might be able to support someone like Gov. Daniels, of Indiana, if he had someone like Sen. John Thune on the ticket as VP. Oh for an independent candidate who has the qualities and character of Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman? God knows our country needs someone like that to lead us out of the mess the clowns in both parties have gotten us into.

POLL: DC Elites Hate Palin

Politco.com is reporting on new poll they commissioned that, get this, shows that the so called "DC Elites" don't like Sarah Palin.  Imagine that...the "elites" don't like her because she's not one of them and has the temerity to oppose them and their corrupt practices.  This bullshit is what the Tea Party movement opposes most.  The cliqueishness that is what comprises our nation's capital.  The following paragaphs from the article show just how out of touch Washington "insiders" are with the rest of the country: 

79 percent of Washington elites believe Palin is a “negative influence in national politics” while just 15 percent find her to be “a breath of fresh air.” Outside the nation’s capital, however, more than twice as many believe she has had a positive impact on politics, while 50 percent see her as a negative influence.

“Palin is a populist-oriented phenomenon drawn heavily from lower middle-class voters, but she also deliberately comes off as anti-intellectual and anti-Washington, so it is no surprise she does not play in the Beltway,” said Mark Penn, CEO of the polling firm Penn Schoen Berland, which conducted the survey for POLITICO. “Elites almost everywhere are turned off by her and some of the very things she does that attracts her core support.”

Washington elites’ low opinion of Palin was also clear when those surveyed were asked who is “most likely to win” the Republican nomination in 2012.

Former Massachusetts GOP Gov. Mitt Romney is by far the Washington elites’ prediction, as 30 percent believe he is most likely to win the nomination. Palin is the next closest among Washington elites but trails Romney by 19 percentage points. Following Palin are former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Mississippi GOP Gov. Haley Barbour, both of whom were picked by 5 percent of D.C. elites.

Our ruling elites have chosen Mit Romney and Mike Huckabee (both of whom are RINO's) as the "annointed" GOP front runners.  The main problem is neither is capable of actually winning an election outside of their home states.  Mr. Romney has the huge weight of MassCare (the ObamaCare of Masschusetts that's already $60 billion dollars in the hole)  which is the template for ObamaCare, hanging around his neck.  Mr. Huckabee's track record of governing in Arkansas was well to the left of Bush (43)'s "compassionate conservative" doctrine of big government solutions to his state's problems.  Neither possible candidate can win the GOP nomination, but they've been tapped by our "betters" as the "party's" choice for 2012.

I'm not sure Mrs. Palin can win a general election at the moment, not without a massive makeover, one the MSM will do it's utmost to contrdict, as she's been smeared since she entered the national picture more than 2 years ago.  However, the course she's charted, one  that opposes pretty much everything the current president is doing, polls well with the "great unwashed masses" when her name isn't mentioned.  By the same token, either Romney or Huckabee would be more of the same if they were elected in 2012.  There wouldn't be an appreciable change from "Democrat lite" that Mr. Bush was in his last 2 years of office.

Back from the dead...

GOP: We're Watching You...

My journey into the belly of the beast

Here's a terrific column from the Washington Times by Milton R. Wolfe, MD.  He's a political neophyte from Chicago who became active in the Tea Party movement out of anger and disgust with Washington DC...

I told them I will be the first to defend Barack or anyone from personal attacks. Besides, I'd rather win in the marketplace of ideas. But for the sake of our republic, I would launch the mother of all family feuds, if that's what it takes, and take my cousin Barack to task not for some petty, spun-up inference, but for his actual policies. It would be an epic showdown for the heart and soul of America.


I would make him defend the bank bailouts, the failed $814 billion stimulus, double-digit unemployment and the auto-industry takeover. Make him defend the disastrous health care takeover, the 16,000 new IRS agents. Make him explain why he broke his eight pledges to hold health care hearings in public.

I'd make him explain why he became our appeaser-in-chief, bowing (sometimes literally) to the demands of dictators. Make him explain why he abandons Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East, but won't "meddle" in Iran while it is racing for a nuclear bomb. Make him explain why he wants to grant constitutional rights to the Sept. 11 terrorists but disregards his own constitutional obligation to defend America's borders from invasion.

I'd make him explain why taxpayers should pony up for yet another borrowed-money stimulus when the first one failed so miserably. Why he gave a second round of permanent big-bank bailouts but ignores Main Street businesses that actually create jobs. Make him explain why he broke his pledge not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 and, for that matter, why he thinks families making more than $250,000 - the people who actually create jobs - aren't already taxed enough. Make him explain why each baby born today is welcomed into America with the shackles of more than $40,000 of debt.
I'd make him explain why a government that can't even plug an oil leak can somehow manage the complexities of our lives better than we can ourselves. It's time he explained why he or any president should exercise the unholy power to choose which Americans will be winners and which will be losers.

It's not a smear to say Barack Obama is just flat-out wrong. To disagree with him is not racist, and it's not a personal attack to say he's got some explaining to do. But even that's not the point.

The Tea Party movement exists, I told them, not because of the Democrats. We know who they are, with their tax increases, endless spending and Washington-knows-best takeovers. No, the Tea Parties exist because of the failures of the Republican Party. We were supposed to be the ones Americans could trust.

For too long, the Washington establishment - including Republicans - has been more interested in growing its own power than honoring the ideals upon which generations before us have built the greatest nation in history.

I realize that other serious issues exist. Some of those, in fact, are very important to me. But our nation is in a collapse of our own making because we have violated these basic principles, and if we don't get them right and do it now, we won't survive long enough to fight for those other causes. There comes a time when we must be Americans and take a stand, not for party, but for nation. That time is now.

Incidentally, he's a cousin of Barack Obama...but more importantly this is just the average heretofore, not been involved politically.  He's the typical Tea Partier...but all of his points are exactly what our "political elites" have done (on both sides of the aisle) to screw up our country.  I'm not sure if it will be possible to unfuck the mess that they, collectively have made.  The highlighted/bold is my emphasis, not the author's.

Voters & The GOP