Coach Mike Ditka: Sarah Palin is the real deal!

New York Times Finally Admits Glenn Beck is Right

If you are a leftist watching this video may cause a coronary or a conniption fit.

11-23-2009

Democrat Prosecutors Refuse to File Charges Against SEUI Thugs Caught on Video Beating Protestors.

Via BigGovernment.com:

It has been more than three months since Kenneth Gladney was viciously attacked by SEIU employees. The assault wasn’t an accident, but a deliberate attempt to intimidate and silence tea party activists and town hall protesters. The morning of the Gladney assault, the White House presented to Senate Democrats a ‘battle plan’ to quell the protests. The White House advised Democrats “punch back twice as hard.” Gladney was the first casualty.

The Gladney beating took place at a forum on ‘Aging’, sponsored by Rep. Russ Carnahan. Carnahan had been caught flat-footed by earlier protests. This time he was more prepared; the day before the forum, Sara Howard took over as his communications director. Ms. Howard is a veteran leftist activist, holding senior positions with SEIU.

SEIU and partisan hacks like Media Matters have tried to spin away the Gladney beating. They would have you believe a 130 lb diabetic, recovering luekemia patient, picked a fight with men almost twice his size. The police report puts an end to that lie.

You can view the police report HERE.

Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis DA, is trying to cover-up SEIU’s crime.

Glenn Beck has a must see segment on this story.

Cash for Clunkers Cost You $24,000 Per Car! Government Efficiency in Action!

It cost you $24,000 to hand out a $4,000 check for each new car that wouldn’t have been solde anyway (and most of that went to Japanese cars).  Why?

One reason: The thousands of bureaucrats hired to administer the program knew that the program was temporary so they tried to extend the program by rejecting as many applications as possible, knowing that denied filers would refile and thus keep their government finding incoming. And these are the people that some want running health care.

CNN:

White House blows a gasket on Clunkers critique

The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates.

The average rebate was $4,000. But the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, according to Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.

“It is unfortunate that Edmunds.com has had nothing but negative things to say about a wildly successful program that sold nearly 250,000 cars in its first four days alone,” said Bill Adams, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

 

How is that Stimulus Working Out for You?

As we stated from the very beginning.  The stimulus was a leftist slush fund that is a boon to government and special interest groups. It was not intended to create jobs which was obvious from the content of the stimulus. Dr. Schiller told them so when they asked him so they can’t claim ignorance (per his lecture at IUSB).

Remember when Obama said that if the stimulus plan wasn’t passed right away unemployment would reach 8.5%. Well now it is 10,2% and when you figure in those who have just given up looking for work it is 17.5% (LINK). This means that almost 1 in 5 members of the workforce are unemployed.

Nice graphic from Mike Pence. The editorializing in the graphic really wasn’t necessary as the numbers speak for themselves.

The second graphic is from “Innocent Bystanders” which has some other stats and graphics from previous months.

Why is unemployment up?

It can be summed up in two words, “no confidence”. NO confidence that those who invest in hiring new people, expanding business or production or making capital investments will lead to a fair return on their investment.

When Obama decided to break the law and go after the bond holders who held those GM bonds in favor of his union friends, who would buy loan bonds in the United States? It has always been the rules that bond holders get paid first even if a company goes out of business. Obama stated that he wants to nearly double the capital gains tax which serves only one purpose, to punish investors by taking their return. One would have to be crazy to invest in bonds or much else under such circumstances. In China the capital gains tax rate is ZERO.

With the administration deliberately trying to make energy (cap & trade energy tax) and health care more expensive who would would to build factories here? Who would want to hire?

With the Federal Reserve printing up money like crazy, setting the benchmark lending rate to zero, the Treasury not acting to protect the value of the dollar and the Democrats quadrupling deficit spending and considering a new bill to force banks to once again make home loans to people regardless of income; who would invest in American financial institutions? Who would wan’t anything to do with the dollar?

No one with a brain could expect anything but greater unemployment and more jobs and wealth going to China under such an environment.

Deficits Rise

When wealth and jobs are chased out of the country that is economic activity that cannot be taxed. This raises deficits.

In the last budget that Republicans had control (2007) the deficit for the YEAR was $211 billion. The deficit for the MONTH of October was $176.36 Billion.

Wall Street Journal:

The federal government kicked off fiscal year 2010 by posting its widest-ever October budget deficit, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The $176.36 billion gap is more than $20 billion wider than the shortfall recorded in October 2008, driven up by lower tax receipts, stimulus-related revenue reductions and consistently high government outlays.

The 50 Job Lawn Mower

New York Times:

In June, the federal government spent $1,047 in stimulus money to buy a rider mower from the Toro Company to cut the grass at the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Arkansas. Now, a report on the government’s stimulus Web site improbably claims that that single lawn mower sale helped save or create 50 jobs.

Earlier that same month, when Chrysler got a $52.9 million stimulus order for new cars for the government, the struggling automaker claimed that the money did not save a single job.

Those two extremes illustrate the difficulties in trying to figure out just how many jobs can be attributed to the $787 billion stimulus program. Last week the Obama administration released reports from more than 130,000 recipients of stimulus money in which they claimed to have saved or created more than 640,000 jobs, but a review of those reports shows that some are simply wrong, while others contain apparently subjective estimates.

That is a pretty tough indictment considering that the New York Times has been in the tank for the Obama Administration. Ed Morrissey at Hotair.com has more commentary on this part of the story.

Democratic Leadership on Stimulus Not Creating Jobs – “So What”

Hat Tip Hotair

The quotes come from an NPR interview Obey gave which shows a rather cavalier attitude towards responsibility, especially when considering the $787 billion context of the question.

That’s right. The government said that the stimulus created jobs in congressional districts that do not exist. Yup it’s this bad.

Obama organizing group: Palin book tour “dangerous”

Dangerous to whom?

Ed Morrissey at Hotair.com:

 

This is actually kind of cute, and completely hypocritical.  Organizing for America warns its mailing list of a new danger to America.  Is it terrorists getting a global platform in federal court?  Political correctness keeping soldiers in danger?  Massive deficits being run up by the Democrats to satisfy their statist agenda?  Er … not quite:

President Obama’s political operation took a shot at Sarah Palin today, accusing her of lying on her media blitz.

“It’s dangerous,” Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart said of Palin’s book tour. …

Government has a 23% success rate at delivering vaccines since it took that industry over.

Government legislated and regulated the American vaccine industry out of business and out of the country thanks in large part to Senator Hillary Clinton.

The results…

 

 

 

Sarah Palin on the Dennis Miller Show

This is a good interview. Palin goes more into her record and policy in this interview as opposed to the conflict stuff that the elite media always wants to talk about.

Palin also explains in part her decision to leave the governor’s chair early. MY problem with Palin is that previously she is only told two thirds of the story. She tells how all was left was a lame duck session of the legislature. She had already gotten her legislative agenda through and the Democrats were exploiting a loophole in the Alaska ethics law to cost her family and the State of Alaska millions of dollars.

In this interview she finally put forth the other third of the story, which should have been front and center from minute one. Palin makes it very clear that she could not fight the awful, cruel and hurtful policies of the Democratic leadership while cooped up in Alaska. She had to bring that fight to the lower 48.

University of California Regents Approve 32 Percent Student Fee Increase

UPDATE – Students riot

Socialists spend until they run out of other peoples money and few places are a better demonstration of this than the California budget crisis that regulated, taxed, corrupted and tinkered with its economy to the point where the jobs and wealth are fleeing the state.

So the first group to feel the pain are the ones with the least political power. Young people by and large don’t vote, don’t donate to campaigns and are easily manipulated by emotional appeals in political campaigns and are most likely to vote for the same leftist incumbents, or replace one progressive with another.

Fastweb:

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press via Yellowbrix

November 19, 2009

University of California students will get a much larger tuition bill next year.

The Board of Regents on Thursday approved a 32 percent increase in undergraduate student fees, despite protests by hundreds of demonstrators outside the regents’ meeting at UCLA.

By next fall, undergraduate fees will be boosted by $2,500, sending the average annual education cost at a UC campus to more than $10,000.

Regents say they had to raise fees because the cash-strapped state government can’t meet the university’s funding needs.

The decision came as hundreds of students chanted and marched outside the meeting hall to protest the measure. Some students also took over another UCLA building and chained the doors shut.

Police in riot gear kept an eye on the protesters.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Officers armed with beanbag guns stood by as hundreds of protesters chanted, marched and even took over a building Thursday on the UCLA campus, where University of California regents were scheduled to vote on a 32 percent student fee increase.

The UC Board of Regents is considering boosting undergraduate fees – the equivalent of tuition – by $2,500 next year. The average annual fee for a full-time undergraduate would jump to about $10,300 – three times the cost only a decade ago.

For a second day, the proposal drew demonstrators to the University of California, Los Angeles. Some came from other UC campuses and stayed overnight in a tent city.

The demonstrators outside UCLA’s Covel Commons building chanted, beat drums and waved signs urging “No fee hikes” and “Wanted: Leadership.”

One student was arrested for obstructing an officer. She was cited and released, said UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton.

Campus police in helmets with face shields stood guard outside the conference building. The campus was also being monitored by police from several UC campuses and more than a dozen California Highway Patrol officers armed with beanbag-tossing shotguns.

MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell Grills Little Girl Over Palin Support

I have seen low, but wow this takes the cake. O’Donnell is engaging in a half truth.

And now for the truth..

Sarah Palin opposed the bailouts and has stated so. Sarah Palin was the VICE-presidential candidate which means that if the Presidential candidate takes a position so do you. Anyone who accepts the VP nomination knows this. Palin went back to her own views after the campaign was over.

Joe Biden had some different policy positions than Obama, Biden conformed.

Dick Cheney had disagreements with President Bush, especially on Scooter Libby and standing up to the administrations critics.  Cheney conformed until he was out of office and is now on the offensive (and his approval numbers are going up).

John Edwards was more hawkish than John Kerry, Edwards conformed to the ticket.

Joe Lieberman had a great many policy differences with Al Gore, especially on Social Security policy, national defense and environmental policy. Lieberman argued for Al Gore’s positions in the debates. Lieberman assumed his old policy positions after the campaign was over. Did MSNBC find a little girl Lieberman supporter to grill over it?

Al Gore was further to the left than Bill Clinton, it is well known that they didn’t get along. Gore played the VP role as the VP role is expected to.

Dan Quayle had domestic policy differences with President Bush 41. I know this because I have talked with VP Quayle about this very subject. Quayle is a Reaganite and Bush 41 never was.

Bush 41 had differences with President Reagan.

LBJ hated JFK and reversed many of his policy positions after JFK was murdered.

Question of the day; why the double standard when it comes to former VP candidate Palin?

Senator Graham Grills Attorney General Eric Holder Over NYC Terrorism Trials

Watch Senator Graham run legal rings around the Attorney General, who by the way has a conflict of interest because his law firm is playing an active role in the defense of these terrorists.

The Obama Administration refuses to give intelligence on the jihadist who killed 14 people at Ft. Hood but is perfectly willing to give national security secrets to 9/11 terrorists as a part of the discovery process with this bone headed move to take enemy combatants and treat them like bank robbers.

There is only one reason for this trial is to have a show trial where ACLU lawyers and lawyers from the Attorney General’s law firm can put the United States on trial as their defense. They will try to get all evidence thrown out by claiming torture and that they werent read their “Miranda” warnings.  This will serve the purpose of putting such claims in the court aqs evidence which canb them be used by so called international courts to invent war crimes charges against members of the previous administration.

Will this happen for sure? We will have to see but opening it up to even the possibility of it is foolish. These are illegal military combatants who should be tried in a military court as this is a martial matter not a criminal one.

Pay close attention to the part where the Attorney General is asked about previous precedent about trying enemy combatants caught on the battlefield in civilian criminal court. Holder doesn’t know the answer to the question. This is very disturbing because precedent is the bread and butter of the law. The first thing any lawyer does is scour the record to see what courts may have ruled on this issue. This is a matter of basic competence.

Long Lines for Sarah Palin in Indiana

 

Klavan: Limbaugh, Beck and Coulter Are Nazis and I know that because the elite media tells me so!

Charles Krauthammer: Obama’s Narcissism is Unbounded.

WOW!

Where is the elite media fact checking Obama statements like Krauthammer just did.

Dollar Tanking Against Gold & Foreign Currency

And government policy as well as Federal Reserve Policy is encouraging it.

The world is screaming at us to stop the furious pace of printing and burrowing, foreign banks want out of the dollar, the oil producing nations are soon to abandon the dollar for oil swaps. They are behaving as if they believe that we are trying to exercise political control over our banks and blow up our own currency to either pay off the debt by monetizing it and/or blow up the US Dollar for the purpose of establishing a new currency in its place. Either way this will have the effect of great damage to our economy, wiping out the value of peoples savings and creating yet another ecop0nopmic crisis that the government can use as an excuse to take more control.

Bloomberg News:

Gold Futures Rise to Record on Speculation Dollar Will Decline

By Pham-Duy Nguyen and Nicholas Larkin

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) — Gold surged to a record $1,119.10 an ounce in New York on speculation a decline in the dollar will spark demand for the precious metal as an alternative asset.

The metal climbed for the eighth straight session, the longest rally since January 2006. Before rebounding today, the dollar extended a slump to a 15-month low against a basket of currencies. India’s central bank bought gold last month to diversify reserves.

“The interest that central banks have shown for gold has really lit a fire under the market,” said Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. “People are questioning the value of not only the U.S. currency, but all paper currencies. Investors are more comfortable holding gold.”

Gold futures for December delivery climbed $12.10, or 1.1 percent, to $1,114.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. The price has jumped 7.1 percent this month, while the dollar dropped 1.5 percent against the currency basket. The metal is headed for a ninth straight annual gain.

Gold for immediate delivery jumped to a record $1,118.88.

The dollar has declined more than 7 percent since December, when the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate close to zero percent to pull the U.S. economy out of recession.

Dollar Outlook

“The dollar is not going to get any firm footing with rates at zero,” Zeman said. “The dollar is going to continue to be the victim of the carry trade. People are selling dollars and putting it in higher-yielding assets. All commodities are going higher.”

 

With the benchmark lending rate at zero (The rate at which the fed and some other top banks lend money to its most credit worthy customers) those customers are burrowing dollars now to buy gold, silver, Chinese investments, or Euro’s witch are going up. Since the value of the dollar is falling the dollars they are peying back are worth less than the dollars they borrowed. The affect is that they are creating a bubble of such assets and inflating their value while pushing the value of the dollar down and making servicing our foreign debt less attractive.

Question – what if that asset bubble bursts like the mortgage bubble did?

Bloomburg News:

U.S. stocks extended a global advance, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a 13-month high, as China’s industrial production surged and Federal Reserve policy makers signaled interest rates will remain at a record low. Gold climbed to an all-time high.

AP:

A weaker dollar may boost the nation’s economy by increasing exports and narrowing the trade gap — but that won’t happen anytime soon.

Instead, the nation’s trade deficit rose in September by the largest percentage in a decade as U.S. exports grew for the fifth straight month, but imports rose faster, a government report showed Friday. That trend is likely to continue until the middle of next year, economists said.

UK Telegraph:

Barrick shuts hedge book as world gold supply runs out.

Global gold production is in terminal decline despite record prices and Herculean efforts by mining companies to discover fresh sources of ore in remote spots, according to the world’s top producer Barrick Gold.

Aaron Regent, president of the Canadian gold giant, said that global output has been falling by roughly 1m ounces a year since the start of the decade. Total mine supply has dropped by 10pc as ore quality erodes, implying that the roaring bull market of the last eight years may have further to run.

“There is a strong case to be made that we are already at ‘peak gold’,” he told The Daily Telegraph at the RBC’s annual gold conference in London.

AFP/Yahoo:

Dollar falls, sending gold to record high.

LONDON (AFP) – The dollar fell on Monday as China accused the United States of increasing protectionism and following unexpectedly strong Japanese economic growth figures, pushing gold prices to a record high point.

US President Barack Obama is in China for a three-day mission aimed at convincing Beijing that Washington is its partner, not its rival.

As the dollar dropped against the euro and yen, gold struck an all-time peak of 1,133.20 dollars an ounce.

In late morning trading here, the euro climbed to 1.4969 dollars from 1.4918 dollars late in New York on Friday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fell to 89.42 yen from 89.66 yen late on Friday.

“Far better than expected Japanese third-quarter GDP data…spurred risk appetite,” said Jane Foley, an analyst for online trading firm Forex.com.

“This pushed the euro close to 1.50 dollars in early European hours.”

.

 

 

 

 

How Did the Government Go From “Your Life is in danger at 40 if you don’t get your regular mammograms” to “Don’t do self exams and don’t get a mammogram till age 50″ in six months?

The health recommendations board that was passed as part of the stimulus, that will likely become mandatory if Pelosi/ObamaCare passes. Guess how many oncologists are on that board; if you guessed a big fat goose egg congratulations.

Government insurance only pays for a test if it is rated an A or a B test. Well mammograms for women under 50 and over age 75 got moved by this board to a C.

The rationing has already begun and you women who voted for Obama in such overwhelming numbers are the first target. He knows that single women under 30 will likely vote for him anyways.

Leftist Elite Media Smearing Glenn Beck, But Each Major Story He Has Reported Was at First Ridiculed Only to be Proved True.

Beck lists every major story he has broken and how each one has proved true. Yet leftist reporters lie about what he says and his message.

Beck current has FOUR books on the New York Times best seller list.

 

 

 

Army New About Hasan, Administratrion Keeping Info Secret

ABC News:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with an individual associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

According to the officials, the Army was informed of Hasan’s contact, but it is unclear what, if anything, the Army did in response.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he requested the CIA and other intelligence agencies brief the committee on what was known, if anything, about Hasan by the U.S. intelligence community, only to be refused.

Great, so the Administration is now hiding information from the intelligence committee. All in the name of political correctness.

 

 

Obama Purging Bush Appointees From Bureaucracy

Did you just see the post below how 40% of top Obama donors were given positions within the administration? Well in the name of “hiring for merit” if you worked for the Bush administration you are locked out of civil service.

There is establishing proper civil service rules for merit and then there is Chicago style use and selective enforcement of such policies.

Most of these policies go back one or two years, but five …wow. It just kills me how bureaucrats can make the most outrageous of policies sound so reasonable.

Bush fired six “serve at the pleasure of the president” US Attorneys and the elite media and the Democrats had a cow and pretended like it was a criminal act. Of course when Bill Clinton fired ALL of them in a single stroke they said it was perfectly justified.

Here it is:

I believe we must hold ourselves and the government to a higher standard, one that honors and supports the President’s strong commitment to a Government that is transparent and open.   OPM’s responsibility to uphold the merit system is not limited to Presidential election years nor to competitive service appointments.  That is why I am instituting a change in OPM policy with respect to hiring political appointees for civil service jobs.

Beginning January 1, 2010, agencies must seek prior approval from OPM before they can appoint a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level under the provisions of title 5, United States Code.  OPM will review these proposed appointments to ensure they comply with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws.  I have delegated decisionmaking authority over these matters to career Senior Executives at OPM to avoid any hint of political influence.

In no case may an agency make an appointment of the type described below without written authorization from OPM:

1. The appointment of a current political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee or a former political Schedule A or Schedule C Executive Branch employee who held the position within the last five years to a competitive or non-political excepted service position under title 5 of the U.S. Code.

1. The appointment of a current Non-career SES Executive Branch employee or a former Non-career SES Executive Branch employee who held the position within the last five years to a competitive or non-political excepted service position under title 5 of the  U.S. Code.

UK Daily Telegraph: Obama’s Top Ten Broken Promises

We have composed lists of these and our friend Michael van der Galien at Poligazette wrote one as well.

European press is reporting this where is the NYT?

 

UK Telegraph:

Less than nine months into his four-year term of office, President Barack Obama’s record is already one of abandoned promises, sidelined issues and lack of action.

1.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said he would “not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days”. But the “sunlight before signing” promise has already fallen by the wayside with Mr Obama signing three major bills without public scrutiny.

2.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama repeatedly said he would negotiate health care reform in televised sessions broadcast on C-SPAN, the public service network. Instead, he his approach has been no different from his predecessors, holding talks behind closed doors at the White House and Congress.

3.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama solemnly pledged that “no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years”. In practice, Mr Obama has granted several waivers to this rule, allowing lobbyists to serve in the top reaches of his administration.

4.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said he would end income tax for the elderly making less than $50,000 per year, thereby eliminating taxes for seven million of them. This has not been part of his economic stimulus bill, his first budget outline or any legislation proposed by the White House.

5.PROMISE STALLED. On taking office, Mr Obama announced with great fanfare that the Guantanamo Bay prison camp would be closed within a year of his inauguration on January 20th. Defence officials now concede that this self-imposed deadline will not be met.

6.PROMISE SIDELINED. Mr Obama promised to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibits openly gay personnel from serving in the United States armed forces. Despite reiterating the pledge this weekend, Mr Obama shows no signs of taking concrete action on the issue.

7.PROMISE BROKEN. Mr Obama said that in 2009 and 2010 “existing businesses will receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired”. Democrats on Capitol Hill opposed this and Mr Obama has quietly abandoned the proposal, omitting it from his list of requirements for draft legislation.

8.PROMISE BROKEN. During the campaign, Mr Obama promised that “as President I will recognise the Armenian genocide” carried out by the Ottoman Empire after 1915. Once in office, he travelled to Turkey and made no mention of genocide. In a statement in April on the memorial day for the genocide he spoke of the “heavy weight” of history and the “terrible events ” of the period but failed the use the g-word.

9.PROMISE SIDELINED. As a candidate, Mr Obama highlighted his support for abortion rights, stating he would back this up “by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president”. At a press conference marking his first 100 days, Mr Obama said this was “not my highest legislative priority” and that it was important to “focus on those areas that we can agree on”.

10. PROMISE SIDELINED. Mr Obama promised to end warrantless wiretaps on the domestic communications of Americans and to “update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability”. So far, he has taken no action.

CORRUPTION: 40% of top Obama fundraisers get posts

“Your doing a good job Brownie.” Those are the words spoken by President Bush to the soon after to be doomed FEMA Director Michael Brown. Democrats including Barack Obama chastised the Administration for appointing cronies to government positions. Obama promised to appoint professionals based on merit. As we can see this was just another lie.

USA Today:

WASHINGTON — More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found.

Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama’s presidential campaign. USA TODAY’s analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession.

Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats’ union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.

That’s a rate higher than any president in more than four decades, the group’s data show, although that could change as the White House fills more openings. Traditionally about 30% of top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees, and roughly 70% to veteran State Department employees. Ambassadors earn $153,200 to $162,900 annually.

 

The list of donors who got jobs:

RAISED MORE THAN $500,0000

Nicole Avant     Ambassador to the Bahamas

Matthew Barzun     Ambassador to Sweden

Don Beyer     Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Jeff Bleich     Ambassador to Australia**

Richard Danzig     Member, Defense Policy Board

William Eacho     Ambassador to Austria

Julius Genachowski     Chairman of Federal Communications Commission

Donald Gips     Ambassador to South Africa

Howard Gutman     Ambassador to Belgium

Scott Harris     General Counsel, Department of Energy

William Kennard     Ambassador to the European Union**

Bruce Oreck     Ambassador to Finland

Spencer Overton     Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Thomas Perrelli     Associate Attorney General

Abigail Pollack     Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino

Charles Rivkin     Ambassador to France and Monaco

John Roos     Ambassador of Japan

Francisco Sanchez     Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade

Alan Solomont     Ambassador to Spain and Andorra**

Cynthia Stroum    Ambassador to Luxembourg**

RAISED BETWEEN $200,000 and $500,000

A. Marisa Chun     Deputy associate attorney general

Gregory Craig     White House counsel

Norman Eisen     Special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform

Michael Froman     Deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs

Mark Gallogly     Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Max Holtzman     Senior adviser to the Agriculture secretary

James Hudson     Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Jeh Johnson     General counsel, Department of Defense

Samuel Kaplan     Ambassador to Morocco

Nicole Lamb-Hale     Deputy general counsel, Commerce Department

Andres Lopez     Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino

Cindy Moelis     Director, Commission on White House Fellows

William Orrick     Counselor to the assistant attorney general

John Phillips    Chairman, Commission on White House Fellows

Penny Pritzker***    Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Bob Rivkin     General counsel, Transportation Department

Desiree Rogers     White House social secretary

Louis Susman     Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Robert Sussman     Senior policy counsel, Environmental Protection Agency

Christina Tchen     Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

Barry White     Ambassador to Norway

RAISED BETWEEN $100,000 and $200,000

Preeta Bansal     General counsel, Office of Management and Budget

Laurie Fulton     Ambassador to Denmark

Fred Hochberg     President, Export-Import Bank of the United States

Valerie Jarrett     Senior adviser to the president

Kevin Jennings     Assistant deputy secretary of Education

Steven Rattner     Treasury Department adviser

Miriam Sapiro     Deputy U.S. trade representative**

Vinai Thummalapally     Ambassador to Belize

RAISED BETWEEN $50,000 and $100,000

Eric Holder     Attorney general

David Jacobson     Ambassador to Canada

Ronald Kirk     U.S. trade representative

Rocco Landesman     Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

Susan Rice     Ambassador to the United Nations

** Nominated, not yet confirmed by Senate

*** National finance chairwoman

Sources: Obama campaign, Public Citizen; White House; USA TODAY research

Tucson Tea Party Party – November 10, 2009

Blue Dog Democrats who turned yellow.

The Human Cost of Canadian Government Health Care

These are heartbreaking, but you need to see them.

Who is Joe Biden?: “Just how ignorant are people who watch the elite media”

In the previous installment of just how ignorant are people, Steven Crowder went to the number one public university in the country, Berkeley California, to ask a few simple questions and was able to find almost no one who could answer them.

Crowder got complaints saying that going to Berkeley wasn’t fair because California people are spacey. So Crowder went to New York to do the same experiment. The following are the results…

Sarah Palin: DRILL!

Sarah Palin in NRO:

Given that we’re spending billions of stimulus dollars to rebuild our highways, it makes sense to think about what we’ll be driving on them. For years to come, most of what we drive will be powered, at least in part, by diesel fuel or gasoline. To fuel that driving, we need access to oil. The less use we make of our own reserves, the more we will have to import, which leads to a number of harmful consequences. That means we need to drill here and drill now.

We rely on petroleum for much more than just powering our vehicles: It is essential in everything from jet fuel to petrochemicals, plastics to fertilizers, pesticides to pharmaceuticals. According to the Energy Information Administration, our total domestic petroleum consumption last year was 19.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Motor gasoline and diesel fuel accounted for less than 13 million bpd of that. Meanwhile, we produced only 4.95 million bpd of domestic crude. In other words, even if we ran all our vehicles on something else (which won’t happen anytime soon), we would still have to depend on imported oil. And we’ll continue that dependence until we develop our own oil resources to their fullest extent.

Those who oppose domestic drilling are motivated primarily by environmental considerations, but many of the countries we’re forced to import from have few if any environmental-protection laws, and those that do exist often go unenforced. In effect, American environmentalists are preventing responsible development here at home while supporting irresponsible development overseas.

My home state of Alaska shows how it’s possible to be both pro-environment and pro-resource-development. Alaskans would never support anything that endangered our pristine air, clean water, and abundant wildlife (which, among other things, provides many of us with our livelihood). The state’s government has made safeguarding resources a priority; when I was governor, for instance, we created a petroleum-systems-integrity office to monitor our oil and gas infrastructure for any potential environmental risks.

Alaska also shows how oil drilling is thoroughly compatible with energy conservation and renewable-energy development. Over 20 percent of Alaska’s electricity currently comes from renewable sources, and as governor I put forward a long-term plan to increase that figure to 50 percent by 2025. Alaska’s comprehensive plan identifies renewable options across the state that can help rural villages transition away from expensive diesel-generated electricity — allowing each community to choose the solution that best fits its needs. That’s important in any energy plan: Tempting as they may be to central planners, top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions are recipes for failure.

For the same reason, the federal government shouldn’t push a single, universal approach to alternative-powered vehicles. Electric cars might work in Los Angeles, but they don’t work in Alaska, where you can drive hundreds of miles without seeing many people, let alone many electrical sockets. And while electric and hybrid cars have their advantages, producing the electricity to power them still requires an energy source. For the sake of the environment, that energy should be generated from the cleanest source available.

Natural gas is one promising clean alternative. It contains fewer pollutants than other fossil fuels, it’s easier to collect and process, and it is found throughout our country. In Alaska, we’re developing the largest private-sector energy project in history — a 3,000-mile, $40 billion pipeline to transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas to markets across the United States. Onshore and offshore natural gas from Alaska and the Lower 48 can satisfy a large part of our energy needs for decades, bringing us closer to energy independence. Whether we use it to power natural-gas cars or to run natural-gas power plants that charge electric cars — or ideally for both — natural gas can act as a clean “bridge fuel” to a future when more renewable sources are available.

In addition to drilling, we need to build new refineries. America currently has roughly 150 refineries, down from over 300 in the 1970s. Due mainly to environmental regulations, we haven’t built a major new refinery since 1976, though our oil consumption has increased significantly since then. That’s no way to secure our energy supply. The post-Katrina jump in gas prices proved that we can’t leave ourselves at the mercy of a hurricane that knocks a few refineries out of commission.

Building an energy-independent America will mean a real economic stimulus. It will mean American jobs that can never be shipped overseas. Think about how much of our trade deficit is fueled by the oil we import — sometimes as much as half of the total. Through this massive transfer of wealth, we lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year that could be invested in our economy. Instead it goes to foreign countries, including some repressive regimes that use it to fund activities that threaten our security.

Reliance on foreign sources of energy weakens America. When a riot breaks out in an OPEC nation, or a developing country talks about nationalizing its oil industry, or a petro-dictator threatens to cut off exports, the probability is great that the price of oil will shoot up. Even in friendly nations, business and financial decisions made for local reasons can destabilize America’s energy market, since the price we pay for foreign oil is subject to rising and falling exchange rates. Decreasing our dependence on foreign sources of energy will reduce the impact of world events on our economy.

In the end, energy independence is not just about the environment or the economy. It’s about freedom and confidence. It’s about building a more secure and peaceful America, an America in which our energy needs will not be subject to the whims of nature, currency speculators, or madmen in possession of vast oil reserves.

Alternative sources of energy are part of the answer, but only part. There’s no getting around the fact that we still need to “drill, baby, drill!” And if those in D.C. say otherwise, we need to tell them: “Yes, we can!”

Democrats prevent hearing on corrupt “VIP Sweetheart Mortgages” given out by Countrywide to top Democrats. Lock Republicans out of committee room.

The Hill:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure to launch an investigation into Countrywide Mortgage’s reported sweetheart deals to VIPs.

For months Towns has refused Republican requests to subpoena records in the case. Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas at a Committee mark-up meeting. The mark-up was abruptly canceled. Only Republicans showed up while Democrats chairs remained empty.

Republicans charged that Towns canceled the meeting to avoid the subpoena vote. Democrats first claimed the mark-up was canceled due to a conflict with the Financial Services Committee. Later they said it was abandoned after a disagreement among Democratic members on whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industry’s political contributions to Republicans.

A GOP committee staffer captured video of Democrats leaving their separate meeting in private chambers after the mark-up was supposed to have begun. He spliced the video to other footage of the Democrats’ empty chairs at the hearing room, set it to the tune of “Hit the Road, Jack” and posted it on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s minority webpage, where it remained as of press time.

UPDATE: Key Evidence Destroyed – Wall Street Journal:

The discovery that Countrywide Financial Corp. recorded phone conversations with borrowers in a controversial mortgage program that included public officials — and that those recordings have been destroyed — has prompted new congressional calls for more information about the program.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is trying to subpoena the remaining records of Countrywide’s VIP loan program. So far, the committee’s chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, has turned down that request.

Democrats’ 2010 midterm strategy: Attack relentlessly and win ugly

Via the ALLAHPUNDIT @ Hotair.com reports:

That’s what the “experts” are telling them, anyway. I don’t know, though. It’s so …unlike them.

Do Nancy “Un-American” Pelosi and Harry “Evil-mongers” Reid really have it in them to go bareknuckle?

“Very often the instinct for an incumbent party is to defend and justify,” said Geoff Garin, a pollster for Democratic candidates. “But in this kind of environment, the best defense is a good offense. This needs to be a cycle where Republican vulnerabilities are a central part of the debate.”

Charlie Cook, the nonpartisan political handicapper, framed the Democrats’ challenge for 2010 more bluntly. It does not track the genial, new-politics identity that President Obama has cultivated.

“They’re going to have to play really rough,” said Mr. Cook, who pegs Democrats’ chances for holding the House next year at only slightly better than even…

Democrats will “have to make the opponent the issue,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. “No. 1, try to tie them to George W. Bush — and then make it personal after that.”

Sarah Palin on the Falling Dollar and Energy Woes

Sarah Palin:

Further Proof of the Need for Energy Independence

The British newspaper The Independent reported today that Gulf oil producers were negotiating with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the dollar in pricing oil with a basket of currencies.[1] According to the Wall Street Journal, Arab oil officials have denied the story, but even the possibility of such a talk weakens the dollar and renews fears about its continued viability as an international reserve currency.[2] In fact, today a United Nations official called for a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar and end our “privilege” to run up huge deficits.[3] We can see the effect of this in the price of gold, which hit a record high today in response to fears about the weakened dollar.[4]

All of this is a result of our out-of-control debt. This is why we need to rein in spending, and this is also why we need energy independence. A weakened dollar means higher commodity prices. This will make it more difficult to pay our bills – including the bill to import oil.

In his book Architects of Ruin, Peter Schweizer points out that the Obama administration is focusing primarily on “green energy,” while ignoring our need to develop our domestic conventional energy resources.[5] We’re ignoring the looming crisis caused by our dependence on foreign oil. Because we’re dependent on foreign nations for our oil, we’re also at their mercy if they decide to dump the dollar as their trade currency. We can’t allow ourselves to be so vulnerable to the whims of foreign nations. That’s why we must develop our own domestic supplies of oil and gas.

Though the chant of “Drill, baby, drill” was much derided, it expressed the need to confront this issue head-on before it reaches a crisis point.

Bottom line: let’s stop digging ourselves into debt and start drilling for energy independence.

- Sarah Palin

[1] See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798175.html

[2] See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125484066563367821.html

[3] See http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e272eaa74dccc30f21c6ff7638b0f37b.461&show_article=1

[4] See http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091006/ts_afp/commoditiesgoldmetalsprice_20091006144514

[5] See http://www.peterschweizer.com/

..

Tens of Thousands Gather for Second Capitol Hill Tea Party

Congresslady extraordinaire Michelle Bachmann asked for citizens to come to the capital one week ago and wow did they come.

Michelle Bachmann

Our friends at FactReal.com put together a fabulous post with all of the pictures, videos and other goodies for you to view - LINK. So be sure to pay them a visit. FactReal also put together the following list of links to help get educated on the latest version of Pelosi/ObamaCare:

Read the bill:
- HR3962 Pelosi Healthcare Bill (PDF) (1,990 pages)
- PDF via Government Printing Office (GPO.gov),
- Legislation details via Libray of Congress (Thomas)

More info:
- Pelosi healthcare will cost more than $1.2 trillion
- 10 Facts About Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990-Page Gov’t Takeover of Health Care
- Facts of Pelosi Health Care Bill
- Reading Guide: the Pelosi Health Care Reform Bill
- Taxes: Comprehensive List of Taxes In House Democrat Health Bill
- It Will Require a Monthly Abortion Premium
- Heritage’s Fix Healthcare Policy site
- The Pelosi Blueprint for Government Run Health Care
- Health Care Round Up
- WSJ: The Worst Bill Ever (H/t: Rush Limbaugh)
- AARP to endorse government health care takeover, AARP’s own vested financial interests,
- AARP’s members revolt

 

SHOCK: Speaker Pelosi’s Government-Run Health Plan Will Require a Monthly Abortion Premium

GOP Leader John Boehner:

Posted by GOP Leader Press Office on November 5th, 2009

Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions. Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life – not end it.

Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page government takeover of health care does just that.  On line 17, p. 110, section 222 under “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan.  The Speaker’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions.

What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan.  It’s right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under “Insurance Rating Rules.”  The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.

Section 213 describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run plan.  The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.

This is pure insanity and as foolish politically as can be. The Democrat leadership must want this more than they want to keep their seats in 2010.

Health Care Round Up Sticky Post

This post has been stickied to the top of the page. Please scroll down for the latest posts & updates - Editor

UPDATE: SHOCK! Speaker Pelosi’s Government-Run Health Plan Will Require a Monthly Abortion Premium – LINK. UPDATE - So does Senator Reid’s new Bill! – LINK.

Obama Advisor and former Labor Sec. Robert Reich. Listen for yourself:

We are going to let the old die because its to expensive and we are going to make the drug companies poor so they cant innovate new drugs so you young people likely will not live much longer than your parents. We have to make the young pay more.

And the Democrats called Sarah Palin a liar ……

.. The Roundup:

Democrats Lied About Choice: Health Care Bill Targets Most New Private Health Insurance Policies. Watch the videos to listen to their own words - LINK

Ten questions to ask your Congressman about ObamaCare – LINK.

Obama health care advisors say: Very old and very young will get less care – LINK.

Oregon State health Service tells 64 year old woman: We wont pay for the drug to save your life, but we will pay for Euthanasia – LINK.

IBD Poll: 45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Obama/Pelosi Health Care Overhaul – LINK.

Answering far left talking points on US health care – LINK.

Congressional Committee confirms: Buy Insurance, Pay ObamaCare Penalty, or Go to Jail! – LINK.

Senator Brownback on Death Panels – LINK.

Cornell Law Professor: Palin is right about “Death Panels” for ObamaCare – LINK.

European Member of Parliament – National Health Service has made us iller” – LINK.

CBO says that ObamaCare will result in benefit cuts. AARP stands to make millions from ObamaCare – LINK.

ABC 20/20 Takes on Government Health Care:

The Case Against Nationalized Healthcare in 3 minutes 42 seconds:

GOP Health Care Alternative Bill Online. First Step in Moving Towards Consortium Based Health Pools & Away from Mandates Forced On Citizens by Employers, Union Bosses, and the State - LINK.

You can examine all of our health care coverage HERE.

GOP Congressman: If Obama/PelosiCare is so good, why do you have to threaten people with jail if they try to opt out?

GOP Health Care Alternative Bill Online. First Step in Moving Towards Consortium Based Health Pools & Away from Mandates Forced On Citizens by Employers, Union Bosses, and the State.

The best interview you may ever see on how to help bring down health care costs and get people covered, and believe it or not it was on MSNBC. The anchor here finally asked the right questions; questions that aren’t partisan gotchas but questions that are designed to look out for the folks.

The host asks a key question in the interview; why is it that we are subject to the limits our employers, the state or the union bosses put on us when it comes to picking our own health care plan? He hit the nail on the head. The time for letting someone else have so much control over our own health care choices needs to come to an end. It is time to move away from the state, union, employer based insurance to a consortium based series of health care pools that people can buy into.

The new 219 page GOP health care bill is the first step to move in that direction by incentivizing the creation of health care pools across state lines which are now prohibited by the government. The bill also creates and provides incentives for the states to create a guaranteed high risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions.

The GOP alternative removes the government barrier to buying health insurance across state lines, lets you have more choice as to the pools that you can buy into, has bogus lawsuit reform and more. The summary of the bill can be found HERE and you can examine the full text of the bill HERE.  

The CBO says that this new 219 page GOP alternative bill will lower premiums by 10%, lower the deficit by 68 billion and help more people get insurance. This bill is not the “be all end all” in health insurance reform, but it is a very smart, incremental first step. Most importantly it doesn’t do any damage.

The current 2000 page Pelosi health bill has the legal mandate word “shall” in it 3,425 times. It doesn’t take a genius to see that such a bill does not expand flexibility in making your health care choices.

The Aftermath!

Republicans take New Jersey by 5 points.

Republicans take Virginia by 18.

NY 23:  Owens 49, Hoffman 45, Scozzafava 6 – with precincts still reporting.

But what is the real news??

It was no surprise that the GOP took back the state of Virginia, what is a surprise is the massive 18 point margin. This amounts to 34 points of movement away from Democrats  in Virginia since 2008. Virginia is Washington DC’s back yard so this can very much be seen as a partial referendum on the Democrats behavior since they have taken power as Bill Clinton said it would be.

New Jersey is now in GOP hands. The 5% margin for the GOP is a big shocker because New Jersey is known for vote fraud. If not for that the GOP may have won by another point.

NY 23. The awful behavior of the GOP Party leadership in that district sent voters to the Democrats in this heavy R+ district.  Doug Hoffman, who was totally unknown 30 days ago, who had very little money and ran on a couple of high profile endorsements, got 45% of the vote. Imagine if NY23 had bothered to have a primary instead of Scozzafava being selected by the machine? What if Doug Hoffman had that $900,000 that the GOP spent on that campaign for Scozzafava? What if Hoffman actually lived in the district? While Hoffman being a virtual unknown certainly did hurt him in the race, there can be little doubt that the Republican machine in that district was either not trusted or even punished for their behavior in this race and it cost them votes. In my view many voters will be watching the behavior of the local GOP machine in NY23 before they decide if they will be trusted in 2010. My suggestion to NY23 Republicans; its time to get some new party leadership.

The real news!

When you look at statewide and mayoral races in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Florida Republicans did very well and won many seats. In counties where Republicans win by  a few thousand votes, the margins for Republicans greatly increased. The margins for Republicans greatly increased.

Independents and cross pressured voters went for Republicans in these battleground states in a big way. Exit polls show that young people, who so overwhelmingly supported Democrats in 2008, stayed home showing a 9% turn out in surveyed precincts.

Ok its getting late and it is passed my bed time. I am sure that there will be much to chat about tomorrow.

Attention GOP Leadership: There is a Tent!

Obama special advisor Valerie Jerrett said on a talk show that the GOP is driving moderates like Dede Scozzafava out of the party….oh and she seemed sooooo concerned (sarcasm). This is the talking point that you hear repeated by the Democratic leadership and the elite media over and over and over again.

So this begs the question is Dede Scozzafava a moderate?

Let us examine her two claims to fame.

1 – She got the support of some union leadership because she supports a policy called “card check”

2 – She is the recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award.

Card check is a very simple proposal that the unions have been fighting to get enacted into law. It strips employees of the right to a secret ballot in workplace elections and subjects them to pressure from union thugs coercing, threatening or worse into signing a card for union membership as was the case here in Indiana (LINK).

Is there anything moderate about stripping people of basic freedoms and subjecting them to coercion and violence? There are only two ways to describe such a policy and be academically honest about it. Such a policy is undemocratic and evil. I use the word evil and not a word like unfair because evil is the right word to use. Unfair is when a soda machine steals your change; this goes way, way beyond that.

Margaret Sanger was a eugenics enthusiast (LINK) who believed that those who are born should be centrally planned. Sanger believed that blacks were inferior and that society would be served by seeing to it that as many black babies were destroyed in abortion mills as possible. It is not a coincidence that so many Planned Parenthood mills are located in or near minority inner city areas. If one were to swap out “blacks” for “Jews” in such an ideal who would it remind you of?

This is the key question and answer that everyone but the Republican Party Leadership was able to understand; there is nothing even remotely close to moderate about such positions.  It is true that the Republican Party is and should be a “big tent ” party, but never forget there is a tent and such views should not only be rejected by the GOP but by good people everywhere. Some may claim that gleefully accepting an award with Sanger’s name is in no way an endorsement of Sanger’s views; perhaps no more than accepting a “Joseph Goebbels Award for Excellence in Political Communications” would be. Anyone with more than a residue of humanity and good sense would find such an award to be repulsive at best. Rudy Giuliani, who like many in the GOP believe that abortion should be legal in some circumstances, would find such an award offered to him to be insulting.

So the foolish GOP leadership spent almost a million dollars on Dede Scozzafava, who pulled off her GOP face mask the day after Halloween and endorsed the Democrat, which was utterly predictable by everyone but the GOP leadership.

If one were to wonder why so many rank and file voters are more hesitant to donate to the GOP, all they need to do is take a look at how nearly a million dollars of their hard earned money was wasted.

ATTENTION GOP LEADERSHIP

This should be a big wake up call. The Republican’s best spokesmen like Newt Gingrich can no longer rail on about how the Democratic leadership has abandoned its former principles and is now in a relentless pursuit of  power to only abandon principle when it means pursuing power by supporting the NT 23 picked candidate even though she holds views that are truly repulsive to most Americans. Gingrich’s stated view on this race is too convenient and the voters are now wise to it.

The party machine and the party exists to advance a cause, but what is important is the cause, not the mechanism. When the GOP forgets this simple truth they lose elections and deserve to.

There is one more lesson the GOP leadership needs to learn. Republicans must stop accepting Democrat and elite media premises about elections and policy; in fact, they should aggressively rebuke them. The NY23 GOP leadership believed that if they hand picked a “Democrat lite” candidate that they could not lose; after all, the Democrats, the elite media types like David Frum tell them to do just that.  Any political strategist who examines recent history knows that this so called “conventional wisdom” wrong.

When President George H. W. Bush agreed with Democrats in signing a tax increase that resulted in a short recession it cost him the election. At the time of the signing Democrats praised the Republican president, only to have Bill Clinton’s campaign call out Bush for breaking his “read my lips” pledge and campaign to the right of him on key issues. Clinton campaigned to the right of Bob Dole as well.

Look at the strategy that former DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel used in the 2006 and 2008 congressional elections. Emanuel put together a list of “blue dog” Democrats who ran as pro-life, pro-gun and anti-illegal immigration candidates. As Democrats they campaigned to the right and swept the congress.

John McCain is the poster child “moderate republican”. Barack Obama ran as a pro-gun Democrat who couched his rhetoric in “Reaganspeak” and lambasted President Bush for not standing up to the growth of the federal government.

Of course the Democrats have governed to the far left and are working to grow government, spending and taxes at a furious pace. Where are the endless comments from the elite media about how the Democrats have driven traditionalist proven winners out of their party such as Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller? Where are the comments from the elite media calling Dede Scozzafava out as a traitor to the party when she endorsed the Democrat? Silence.

Republicans win big when there is a clear difference between the Democrat and the Republican so long as the Republicans stick to their principles and the Democrat leadership knows it. When will the Republican leadership figure it out?