We know you are in holiday mode right now, getting ready for Christmas. Heaven knows we all need a little Christmas (right this very moment). But, 2010 is fast approaching and if there is any chance of saving this country from the Liberals, you need to decide if it’s time for you to make that big scary leap into activism.
Trust us, we know how you feel. ”Activist” is a pejorative to many of you — especially the conservatives who found their way here by way of Rush or Dennis Miller or Tammy Bruce along the way. None of us here ever wanted to be activists. Frankly, we really kind of liked being random guys in Boystown having a good time, enjoying life, and not getting our hands dirty in any of this political stuff. But, the DNC and Democrat Party changed all that for us — with how they behaved in 2008, and everything they have done since. We cannot sit idly by and watch these people destroy this country.
So, we’ve had to change our lives drastically. Behind the scenes here at Buzzquarters, here’s what we spend our time doing when we aren’t writing essays for you:
(1) READING — we spend as much time as possible reading up on past campaigns, past attempts Liberals have made to seize power, past Alinsky efforts, the history of ACORN, etc. Everything the MSM does not want us to know, we work hard to figure out. Every day we learn more about George Soros and become more convinced than ever he is the one behind all of this. We wish every day that man has a heart attack, and he’s removed from this Earth by some benevolent power (including Mossad, if we could only so dream).
(2) NETWORKING — this one is the hardest for us because we, truthfully, are kind of shy in real life. But, we force ourselves to go to as many events as possible, to exhange cards and meet as many people as we can when out just about anywhere, and try our level best to reach out to as many people as we can via this site to try to get people not only informed, but in contact with one another. In 2010, we are going to need an army of active and engaged volunteers to drive the Liberals from Congress. Every day is an opportunity to build that. We cannot let a single day pass without doing what we can to fight for this country…and right now that means finding ever more recruits.
(3) STUDYING — as an extension of #1 above, we make flash cards on the issues and constantly do debate prep here at Buzzquaters. We have not stopped doing this since the campaigns, when we used to surrogate speak first for Hillary Clinton and then for McCain/Palin. Whenever we go anywhere, Utopians find us to be their worst nightmares because they talk in generalities and have no idea what they are saying while we can lay cold hard facts down on them. Yes, this is a royal pain in the neck to do. We don’t especially enjoy spending all of our free time preparing for impromptu debates with strangers in bars or the occasion round on some TV or radio show. But, in 2010 we’ll have to be out canvassing and campaigning, and we want to stay sharp so we can cover the most ground and be the most effective. It is going to take a massive Herculean effort to drive the Liberals from power…and just like it takes time in the gym every day to become a bodybuilding, it takes mental effort and exercise to build the ease and dexterity it requires to convincingly out-debate these loons at every turn.
(4) TECHNICAL SKILLS — we’ve still yet to master YouTube video making and Photoshopping, which is a damn shame, but thankfully we’ve found EXCELLENT photoshop artists out there who’ve helped us create images we’ve needed for various things. We’ve found that essays alone don’t go viral. We need pictures. We need video. We need people adept at social networking. We’d personally love to be one-stop-shopping for all of this, but we know we never will be. Not when we are working multiple jobs and doing all of this in our spare time. Sometimes, you have to know your limits. But, every day we try to learn something new that we can use going forward to be better at getting messages out and making things go viral. This is all a massive effort to counteract the MSM. We all have to operate in the reality that the MSM is part of Dr. Utopia’s White House and neverending campaign machine. The MSM will lie for him, cover up bad news for him, and do everything it can to not only re-elect him in 2012, but ensure Democrats keep Congress in 2010. It is up to all of us to get the truth out to as many Americans as possible. So far, we’d say collectively the anti-Utopian efforts of all sites out there is abotu 15% of what it could be. We need to get smarter…find easier ways to make things go viral…package our message in easier bites (bytes)…and find ways to drive narrative better than the pros in the MSM do. This is very much a cyber David versus deep pockets conglomerate Goliath fight.
(5) LEADERSHIP — All of us need to work under the assumption that no leader will actually emerge to embody the charge against Liberals in 2010. We want Sarah Palin to step up to the plate and assume that role, but we can’t count on her doing that. Absent a strong and committed leader, the counter-Utopia movement to oust Liberals needs to be comprised of millions of individual leaders, each hitting Liberals in our own ways. Every day, we need to all hit them on every front imaginable, so there’s no way the White House and DNC can counteract everything that is being thrown at them. We need to bring our friends and families together into little Coffee Clubs across the country, where we share information and work out action plans to educate our own communities about what is going on in Washington. We are the Resistance to this Liberal socialist takeover of our country; every day is a chance for us to stand up and work to bring these villains down. And if someone like Palin does eventually emerge, we’ll all be ready to join together under her flag and follow her as she marches on Washington and drives these Liberals from our government hopefully once and for all.
It is vitally important that you begin your evolution from someone who reads political blogs and is angry at home in front of your computer to someone who reads political blogs, gets angry, and then channels that anger into action. You need to get organized, become efficient, and develop action plans for what you can do to drive the narrative in 2010 that Liberals in Congress need to be driven out and Democrats need to be defeated at every turn.
It’s going to be an uphill struggle. None of it is going to be any fun. You will probably make a lot of enemies. It’s going to take up your free time. Trust us, it will take up your free time. But, America is worth it.
At least to us. Our great hope is that in 2012 we can defeat Dr. Utopia, install Sarah Palin in the White House, and she and a Republican-controlled Congress can work day and night beginning the day of her Inauguration to roll back everything Dr. Utopia and the Liberals did to America under his single term in office. When that happens, we will take a much needed break, and could very possibly leave the political realm for keeps…as we will at that point consider our tour of duty over in all this.
So, we are willing to commit the next two years of our lives to this cause. We are not going to take any vacations. We are going to spend all of our free time doing the five points above…and more, as we think of them. We are going to keep this site running, and hopefully grow it into something more productive and farther reaching than what it is now. We will be a little engine of activity here in Boystown, Chicago — in hopes we inspire you to be little engines of activity in your home towns too.
To our knowledge, nothing like this has ever been attempted before: a concerted effort to counter the MSM on the grassroots level with average people stepping up and becoming little information hubs of their own, taking charge of their communities, in one big effort to take back the country from radical Liberals.
When we are finished, we want the word “Liberal” to be right up there with “c***”, “n*****”, “k***”, and every other unacceptable pejorative in this country. ”Liberal” will make people of the future CRINGE, the way they’d cringe if called a Nazi. By 2012, if we’ve informed the public enough, just about as many people will willingly identify with Liberalism as currently clamor to join the Klan. Americans needs to see these people for the villains that they are, and for the destruction they’re causing, and hope to cause, in this country.
What can you do to help drive Liberals from Congress, defeat ACORN once and for all, and make Liberalism something people never again want to associate with?
Start thinking…because come Thursday and Friday you will be off visiting relatives, gathering in groups, and that sure sounds like a great opportunity for some networking and strategizing.
December 22, 2009 at 4:12 am
I do admire your unwavering commitment to what is a very important issue. It is people like you who eventually turn the tide, because without your effort nothing wioll change. Too many people are apathetic where politics is concerned, and it is only when their own freedom and liberty is threathened that they dare to do something about it. You have the forsight to see what the future can hold if action is not taken now, so keep up the good work. Incidentally, I do not live in the US, but I have a great interest in your country because of the huge influence it has on the rest of the world.
December 22, 2009 at 10:26 am
I think overwhelmed is a better word then apathic. I am not apathetic, but my God, I am over-welmed!
December 22, 2009 at 10:59 am
me too.
I’ve said this before, every day is another “WTF” moment with this administration. Some day’s it’s an hourly occurance.
December 22, 2009 at 4:02 pm
My husband wants me to stop reading the news b/c I get so upset and feel so overwhelmed also. I live in the “Peoples Republic of Maryland” and feel like I am all alone in this.
I wish more people would wake up and see what we all see so clearly. It’s hard to feel like the outsider.
December 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm
This may be an appropiate spot to quote a maxim by Cicero “the politicians’ nightmare; the requirement to give a straight answer” Obviously the MSM would never have such a requirement.
December 22, 2009 at 5:02 am
RE: #3
My hubby is active in the local and county GOP. They recognize the need to prepare for debating the local Democrat majority and I’ve encouraged them to have mock debates like you do, but I’m not sure they’ve followed through much.
As Democrats in Chicago, you have a unique window on what Democrats think and say. It would be an invaluable resource if you could set up a section here where you post your own prep questions and answers.
It would also multiply your own hours mega-times. Did you know that Townhall Magazine spotlights excellent blogs each month? And peeps like me push links around the tea party and GOP email networks.
Suggestions: Access via the green bar at the top so it won’t get lost in old blogs. And include and/or allow visitors to add tips, particularly about debating techniques. I would love to help with this!! seriously!! I’m a good writer!
I’ve been thinking it’s such a shame that debate clubs aren’t common in schools any more. They taught people how to think logically, present an argument and identify and counter arguments. I would really enjoy creating a little primer with stuff like “how to identify and deflect an ad hominem attack.”
I was absolutely blown away listening to one little thing that a congressman said to Al Gore in a YouTube clip I saw. The C. asked G. to respond to serious anti-AGW testimony they’d heard and G. said, “There are still people who believe the moon landing was staged on a Hollywood set.”
Now I have had this thing done to me and it’s been maddening to watch the jerk I asked a serious question of get a laugh at my expense and move ON without a scratch.
So I really perked up when the C. said, “I know you like to give cutesy answers like that, but this isn’t a cutesy issue. I want you to answer the question.”
I mentioned it to hubby and he said, “Oh yeah. Hannity does that to people all the time.” Malkin is another one I’ve seen take on multiple rude, hostile, finger jabbing, interrupting, red faced libtards without turning a hair. We need to study, learn, and pass on HOW they do this.
Dems have hijacked intelligent debate in this country and we’ve been too cowed by niceness and allowed it to happen. It’s time we learned how to win a debate without lowering ourselves to their level.
Oh … just remembered something I heard at an abortion debate from way back during the first Bush war with Iraq. A man in the audience challenged the anti-abortion speaker about the war.
The speaker answered seriously that he had thought long and hard about the war and decided he was in favor of it. The man in the audience sneered at him that he was a hypocrite to oppose abortion, but favor war.
The speaker said, “Even if I am a hypocrite, it doesn’t make me wrong about abortion. But let me ask you something? You oppose the war, correct?”
The man stood up straighter and proudly said, “You bet I am!”
The presenter said — polite and courteous as could be, with no sneering or finger jabbing or interrupting — “But you think abortion is okay.”
The guy in the audience just WILTED!
December 22, 2009 at 6:32 am
You’re right that conservatives and libertarians need to learn from the left. I’ve worked with lefties before (hey, I’m more socially libral and I’ve moved right economically in recent years) and I know for a fact that they spend a lot of time just learning how to put their point accross and just how rude they can afford to be. The right and center need to follow the rules that the left has set, and beat them at it. I recommend reading Saul Alinsky especially. He has no morals but he was a damn good organizer.
We cannot let the left set the terms of the debate. If their premises are wrong, challenge them. Don’t be afraid to spend lots of time just challenging their basic assumptions (y’know, ever more welfare GOOD, capialism BAD)
They will be wrong because their cognitive dissonance lets them fearmonger (“economic conservatives want babies to starve!”), be disingenuous (“how could anyone possibly not want Obamacare “reform”?) and outright lie (“raaaaacists!”) while still believing that they are the good guys.
That’s the scary thing: they have no intention of turning the US into Detroit; it’s just that their brains don’t seem to get what their policies will cause.
December 22, 2009 at 10:32 am
During the lead up to election ’08 i watched the recent Marx ( he is to smart to be a liberal ) and what he did everyday was stay on message. Day after day after day he just insulted repubs and conservatives. Bush is a liar, Palin is a bimbo, etc, etc. Of coarse he never once sad anything in favor of Obama just against his rivals.
December 22, 2009 at 7:01 am
Lisette and you both have some good points. One person I would watch for tips is Liz Cheney, VP Cheney’s daughter who appears on news programs from time to time. She is excellent at not allowing leftists to derail the discussion.
She says things like the following:
“First of all, I do not accept your premise.”
“Yes, John, I know what you think about THAT, but what about THIS?”
“It is UNTRUE that this happened (or was said).”
She is always armed with facts and never raises her voice or loses her temper. She always has a slight smile as she speaks, and she knows when to look at the camera and when to look at the opponent.
She is a good example and one I am trying to follow, because I get so exasperated and angry that I cannot make a coherent point.
Practice is an excellent idea!
December 22, 2009 at 7:56 am
Also, we need to challenge “teh soyence”, where the left brings out studies that supposedly prove their points. This includes social sciences as well as climate change “science”.
There was one study that apparently showed that 90% of the guns in the Mexican gun wars came from the US, and its supporters claimed that that meant that guns in the US should be banned. It wasn’t true and they were coming to the wrong conclusions from it*, but that’s how they do it. “Scientists or other smart people said it, therefore it must be true”.
Most people don’t have the time, expertise or inclination to look at these studies in depth, so someone needs to do so, and offer other explanations as well. Properly and without hyperbole. The left couldn’t *possibly* judge Islam by its terrorists. The couldn’t *possibly* judge liberalism/progressivism by its failures or its crazy supporters. They can and will, however, judge the right according to one exaggeration or wrong fact. It’s not fair, but it’s life.
*If it was true, it would make more sense to seal the borders.
December 22, 2009 at 6:42 am
Boyz, you are a pattern we can all follow.
Becoming an activist is a growth process. We are all coming up to speed from different starting points.
I am really shy myself. That is why it is easier to be snarky on the web…BUT…I can remember calling my Rep., my Seantor, etc and being nervous. On the phone. My voice would crack.
Not anymore. I write done my ‘talking points’ I have notes. I aske questions (of the staff). Yesterday, (preface the call by these questions are obviously aimed at your boss) but, ‘Did Senator Specter read the Bill before he voted on it?’ When the rambling starts…I go back to, ‘No, my question was did he read the Bill? Is he voting on a Bill he did not read…why can YOU not tell a constuent his knowledge of…’
You get the picture.
I think–honest–(and just because you are paranoid it doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you) that at my ‘other’ Senator’s office they use technology to their advantage…and just avoid ‘repeat’ callers.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t call.
Next step. I am showing up in person…I am nervous but have to get over it and move forward.
December 22, 2009 at 9:38 am
Mary, good for you and you make an excellent point. i.e. it DOES get easier with practice!
Many of us, perhaps ‘most’, are shy and, given our ‘druthers’, would avoid acting in a hostile way, or calling attention to ourselves. It’s not ‘who we are’.
However, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Hillbuzz boyz, a thousand thanks for what you are doing (ALL of it!)!!!
We are FIRED UP!
December 22, 2009 at 11:09 am
Mary, good luck with your in-person meeting. Feel free to write your thoughts down and have them there with you. If you need t–read it word for word to them, and then leave a signed copy of it. I’m sure your true emotions will come through and you will get your point across just fine. :)
December 22, 2009 at 6:49 am
There will be a protest in front of McCaskill’s office tomorrow at noon:
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/12/keep-your-stinkin-gift-christmas-protest-at-claire-mccaskills-office-wednesday-at-noon/
Unfortunately I am much too far away to attend.
If anyone is able to be there, please do.
This is the kind of action we all agree is necessary.
December 22, 2009 at 7:55 am
I can’t link from my phone (ok…the phone has the technology…its owner, a recovering Dem, is the challenged part of the equation…) But…
Flopping Aces (I love that site as well!!!) Has a piece about the upcoming Senate race to fill Teddy (hey, he’s been sober now for months!!!) Kennedy’s seat.
The Dim candidate, Martha Coakley is in the lead; the Republican, Scott Brown a distant second (yet a terribly qualified candidate) along with a ‘Joe Kennedy’ (whose not one of THE Kennedy’s but is playing the name game. I digress…but isn’t running as a fake Kennedy–a double negative if ever there was–kinda like being named ‘Ben Ladden?’
Anyway, Flopping Aces proposes that if NY23rd type support came ‘out’ for Brown…building upon the abject anger many feel right now at the ‘business as usual’ tactics of Dims, that Reid would lose his filibuster proof 60. And of course, seismic activity would occur along the Atlantic coast as ‘The Swimmer’ rolled over in his grave with an ‘R’ in HIS seat.
Its the ‘first’ salvo we can throw.
December 22, 2009 at 8:09 am
I’m a bit nervous about this newest czar appointed to watch over the Internet. What is to stop the administration from pulling the plug on blogs like this, or just making the whole thing go dark? (sorry, I’m not technologically savvy enough to know if there are workarounds or safeguards) How can we establish a backup info network that can’t be hacked/shut down? How can we contact each other to rally the troops if we can’t do it online?
December 22, 2009 at 8:45 am
I have a couple ideas on whom to ask. Once I get the info I need, I’ll run it past the bosses via email and we’ll go from there.
Give me a week. This will take some digging.
Yours is not an idle question. I go on websites both left and right and they are all asking the same thing….what if?
December 22, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Soldiers throughout history have managed. As did the Underground Railroad and the French Resistance. Those folks didn’t have technology, no snail mail or phones. (Remember Paul Revere?) They found ways to communicate; we have no excuse.
December 22, 2009 at 8:09 am
I read an article that said the best thing we could do is make Obama a joke.
The LOL with the Obama emblem is a good one.
Forget trying to convince liberals.. they are a lost cause. Its the middle ground the ones that dont pay attention… ect.
Convince them Obama is a joke and Obama is finished.
December 22, 2009 at 10:34 am
I like this idea.
December 22, 2009 at 11:46 am
I think it was a you tube video.. I have searched and I can not remember what it was called. The video was based on psychology.
Basically.. a narcissist can not handle being laughed at.
also, people dont want to support a joke. So the mass of people who never pay attention.. and do not do what we are doing.. paying attention.
are easily influenced by things like LOL. (with the Obama emblem)
December 22, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Ridicule is THE most potent weapon in an argument or a campaign. Reducing Obama to a stinging, belittling caricature (a la Caribou Barbie) is one way to take the wind out of him.
It takes a vicious mind and a pack mentality to come up with something that will be widely effective, so we non-Washington/NY-journalists are at a disadvantage. Still, it’s worth trying. The Joker motif is great, but we need to top it.
December 22, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I never miss an opportunity to email stuff like this to all on my email list.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obamas_home_teleprompter
I find when I email a news article.. most people dont read it all or dont pass on.. but this kind of stuff.. it goes on and on and on and on.
December 22, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Or I email cartoons…
Townhall.com always has the best…
http://townhall.com/cartoons/
December 22, 2009 at 8:26 am
Christmas comes once a year. We can reasonably prepare for it, plan for it.
What we’re facing now, comes once in a century. We can’t plan ahead for it, but we’d better get our shit together more quickly than we write out and send Christmas cards.
Or, in the future, sending out Christmas cards on time will be the LEAST of our worries.
December 22, 2009 at 8:35 am
In a comment to another post on this blog, someone pointed to this article:
http://www.thepostemail.com/2009/12/21/a-republican-walkout-is-last-chance-for-redemption-on-obamacare/
I just e-mailed my own and several other senators and urged them to WALK OUT!
December 22, 2009 at 12:58 pm
That is an excellant idea. I’m not sure the GOP has the you know what to do this though.
On a different note, does anyone have a list of the states that have addressed the 10th amendment this year? I know Oklahoma was working on it earlier.
December 22, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Here’s a few links. I haven’t read all this yet, but what I’ve read so far lookes pretty interesting, especially the last link.
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/02/09/state-sovereignty-movement-quietly-growing/
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/10th_amendment_movement_gainin.html
http://www.rlc.org/2009/03/08/state-sovereignty-movement-hits-partisan-roadblock/
December 22, 2009 at 8:35 am
Lovely piece but let me start from the beginning. First you commit to being willing not to just live with it. I think that for so many, the first step of saying ‘hell no’ is bigger than any other step. Instead of treating it like something that you watch from afar, it’s something to become involved with.
One of my most powerful moments was telling a friend who supports all of this stuff that she didn’t get to define my belief system. Extrapolating that out to national attitudes, is important.
So much of what happens is that we are demonized by the liberal left. They paint charicatures of us and then rip them to shreds in front of our faces while we’re appalled by both the erroneous definition as well as the violent response.
Instead of getting roped into fighting their definition, instead say HELL NO YOU DON’T GET TO DEFINE MY POSITION FOR ME. You have more than enough to work on defining yourself. I will define myself, thank you.
That being said, let me then rip your ridiculousness to shreds.
So often we take the above personally and get emotional. How dare they call me a racist/nazi/domestic terrorist blahblahblah.
Instead say HORSEFEATHERS and then go STRAIGHT to the issue instead of arguing the perjorative.
Cut the crap and cut to the chase. Imagine yourself with a football, running STRAIGHT to the end zone, while all of these linebackers are zig zagging around, trying to block you.
Refuse to be blocked. The insults, the strawmen, the attacks, are all about chumming the water, hoping that you’ll attack that instead of the guy in the water.
How much energy has been wasted debating stupid side notes instead of the real debate which is about changing the very face of this country?
Think ‘bottomline’. What is the bottomline issue at hand. Deal with that. The people who are the best at bottomlining, calling something what it is from the hip and able to explain their reasoning in detail are the ones that win debates.
Tangents take you off on side roads.
Just my two cents.
December 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Excellent post.
This is a good primer on logical fallacies that will help identify our own and others’ deliberate or inadvertent fallacious arguments:
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/
December 22, 2009 at 8:37 am
The Hillbuzz Boyz make many excellent points. One that really concerns me–and I say this with all seriousness, not as a “concern troll”–is this: There is no non-Obama leader around which to rally for 2010. That makes our challenge so much more difficult.
You Hillbuzz Boyz are so articulate, so passionate. How do we get you on TV and radio, locally and nationally? Getting you on Rush would make your cause viral, as you say. Can you imagine an interview in which you all were you and Rush was Rush? He’s as straight as they get, as conservative as they get, etc. And you guys are cool and queer and yet you have common ground.
The pundits would have a field day. Maybe what we need is a gay Rush Limbaugh . . . I think we need to get you all “Out There.” I’ve been pushing your website with friends. But wearing a Hillbuzz T-shirt would be fun!
December 22, 2009 at 9:06 am
That’s an excellent idea!
December 22, 2009 at 8:43 am
You boyz are the best! More than ever, people like you are needed. I’m an old fart (67 years old) and past my prime, but I’m doing what I can!
As to the current crop of Dems in the House and Senate, we know what they are and now they’ve revealed their price!
Talk about fighting fire with fire. Chicago being fought by Chicago smarts! Go Cubs!
December 22, 2009 at 8:56 am
Gayle,
You need to get the memo:
Sixty seven is the NEW 47, lady.
Party on! You don’t look a day over 45 anyway.
heh ;)
December 22, 2009 at 8:54 am
What’s really hard is trying to bridge that partisan divide. We are brainwashed with messages that tell us our fellow Americans are the enemy, from stereotyping Republicans as evil to labeling Dems as loony lefties. Ultimately it’s the people of this country uniting as much as possible that will save us. We have to set some of these divisions aside and come together as Americans.
December 22, 2009 at 9:33 am
Perhaps we can come together by starting recall petitions against some of these senators. It seems left, right, and center are all angry right now. I saw on a website last night that 18 states allow this. I looked it up on Bing a few moments ago and got a list of all 18 states. Unfortunately for HB, Ill. is not one of them, but my state is and this is something I would work on in addition to working against the incumbent in 2010. The site did say this would be a difficult thing to do, but even getting a few of these started might make a few of these Jokers nervous enough to rethink their positions.
For a list of the states just Bing something like recalling US senators.
Food for thought.
December 22, 2009 at 10:22 am
The Hillbuzz Boyz have helped me see the other side of things and find common ground more than any other organization. I really appreciate their efforts. It is amazing what thinking, sincere, humorous, polite people can do to make you see things from a different angle, even if you don’t agree with them. That’s what these guys have done for me.
December 22, 2009 at 8:56 am
Hot Air has now picked up the story of the “peculiar provision” in the Reid bill, and doesn’t mince words about its significance and aim.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/22/video-demint-objects-to-supermajority-protection-in-reids-obamacare-bill/
I’ll be calling DeMint’s office a bit later today.
December 22, 2009 at 9:11 am
I have spent the past several days just crazed over what’s been going on, feeling totally helpless and feeling like there is nothing I can do about it. I know, I know, I know, I know…but before the Hillbuzz guys call me an Eeyore, I saw the mycongressmanisnuts.com site they put up against that whackjob Alan Grayson and I went to it and donated. Grayson is trying to get Eric Holder to imprison them for criticizing him. I feel so much more peaceful now. Aahhh.
December 22, 2009 at 9:46 am
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Looks like its happening anyway… Look how bad Oblahblah’s polls are…
December 22, 2009 at 10:31 am
Rasmussen’s daily ‘Presidential Approval Index’ at -21%! WOW!
This is a new all-time ‘low’ and it’s a sign that the wheels are really starting to come off.
This makes it even MORE important to pull out all the stops at this crucial time!
In spite of everything, Rasmusssen also is reporting this:
‘One bright spot in the numbers for the President is that 51% of voters still say former President George W. Bush is more to blame for the nation’s economic woes.
Just 41% point the finger of blame at the current President.’
We have to counteract these MORONS!
December 22, 2009 at 10:36 am
People may blame GWB for the mess we got into. But the longer Utopia is president, they will blame him for not being part of the solution, I believe. Also, they will see him not only for failing to be part of the solution, but for adding to the problem.
That’s my take on that. The longer things go as they are–or get worse, which they will–the more Utopia will suffer the wrath of the electorate. And suffer he should!
December 22, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Wow! That poll says now only 58% of AA’s strongly approve of Teh One. Amazing.
December 22, 2009 at 9:53 am
BTW — if you feel it’s too soon:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/12/harry_reid_slips_in_a_bombshel.html
I think we need to start assembling and connecting locally. Many of us have made the trips to DC, made the calls to DC, even stepped to the mike for our two minutes of fame as a speaker at a Tea Party. It is time to find out that we are not alone, because I think the issue that stops some people is they feel isolated. Many of us have blogs, or if elderly they don’t have computers but would like a ride to the voter place or meeting place. Right now we need to connect. One place to do that to connect with your neighbors is your local church, that has halls or rooms for rent or for free in some cases, your local VFW, the back room of your favorite bar, the local library (althought that is government property). Start by ‘coming together’ into ‘Mineral City Coffee Clubs’, meeting and discussing. Because the socialist takeover of America is just getting started — the Congress Critters are writing bills in secret with hidden language that does not allow them to be amended at a later date (see link above). They are not going to stop.
And boyz, if you want to make some money for this site — remember the flap about Sarah’s visor? Make your logo for the Mineral city Coffee Club on a visor and sell them via CafePress or Zazzle. To the bots they would be a joke but to us an identifier of a fellow patriot. The congress critters have only just begun to tear down America as we once knew it. We MUST prevail against the Dirty Harry and Dingy Pelosi’s, the Claire Buttholes, all of them!
December 22, 2009 at 10:00 am
P.S. By connecting we can begin to share knowledge with each other, such as you have wonderfully spelled out for everybody above. We can also start at those meetings getting ourselves organized, sharing skills, meeting one another, and volunteering to get it done, because after the speeches are done we go to what? The last stand against the Feds is the States. It is easier in this non-economy for people to travel locally, and then have connectors at each meeting place who can meet at the the state level with the state coordinators, etc. Team Sarah has organized state groups and so does Resist.net. We have to come together into a political force or movement.
December 22, 2009 at 11:49 am
Yes. Everyone, please read what Harry has in the bill:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/12/harry_reid_slips_in_a_bombshel.html
He might as well try to just outlaw all opposition! Forever.
December 22, 2009 at 10:04 am
In the short term, we might want to see how we can help the GOPer win the special election in Massachusetts. Sure, it’s a long-shot. But if that 60th vote can be taken away, that would help greatly in saving the republic.
December 22, 2009 at 10:15 am
How do we NY-23 the Mass election?
December 22, 2009 at 10:19 am
Perhaps the Leftists will drive themselves out of office. Get a load of the Rasmussen Report that came out this morning: Utopia has an approval index of -21 %. “The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve,” says the website.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
December 22, 2009 at 10:20 am
Sorry, I didn’t see this was already posted. My apologies.
December 22, 2009 at 10:45 am
I know I commented about this in another post of yours, but it bears repeating: we can change the game by going on the offensive and recalling Democratic senators in the 18 states that allow recalls. We want to target the ones who don’t have to run again until 2012 or 2014.
I have posted the names of the states, the Democratic senators and the link to state-by-state instructions at my blog.
December 22, 2009 at 11:37 am
CONGRATS!!! Cynthia on being nominated for the Grande Conservative Blogress Diva. Good luck with that.
Anyway, I will work in 2010 to remove Sen Bennet from office in Colorado. Both of my senators are bad for our state and country. Thanks for posting the list.
December 22, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Ashter,
Thank you!!! I was shy about bringing it up. I hope my friends from HillBuzz will vote for me — Gay Patriot says the criterion for the winner of the title Grande Conservative Blogress 2010 is to “command the respect (or otherwise have earned the admiration of) gay conservatives.”
Although I am the newest blogger on the list of finalists, I have fought the most, best and hardest for equality for homosexuals while maintaining a loving and respectful attitude. And gay-marriage-wise, I have put my money and my life where my mouth is with my 20-year marriage to my late life partner, who was quadriplegic the last 10 years of her life, and who died of complications of multiple sclerosis five years ago this month in hospice care in our home with me at her side. I’ll link my post about her at my place. Conservatives do understand what goes into this level of love and commitment and it means that I embody the kind of homosexual whose equality they will embrace and vote to support.
I am here campaigning for votes as Grande Conservative Blogress because I hope that honor will help me reach more conservatives and assure them that it is worthwhile to get to know me and consider what I have to say favorably, especially with regard to the issues of homosexual equality.
FYI, I think you can vote once per day per computer you use to visit Gay Patriot and cast your ballot. Please vote for me early and often.
Also FYI, currently Ann Althouse — who voted for Obama — is ahead. Why, yes, I DO mean for that to piss off HillBuzz readers and fill them with righteous determination to go to Gay Patriot and vote for me right now.
(If I didn’t do the HTML correctly, the link is http://www.gaypatriot.net/2009/12/22/2010-grande-conservative-blogress-diva-official-ballot/.)
Thank you!
December 22, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I’ll vote for you everyday :)
December 22, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Thank you!
December 22, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Voted for you.
December 22, 2009 at 11:48 am
Exclusive: Rep. Parker Griffith switches to GOP
So what if this continues to happen?
December 22, 2009 at 11:48 am
http://www.hotair.com
December 22, 2009 at 11:55 am
Dem switches to become a Republican:
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/22/breaking-blue-dog-flips-to-gop/
Now we need a senator or two to do the same.
December 22, 2009 at 11:58 am
More than two would be better…dozens of them would be great!
December 22, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I know it is just wishful thinking, but wouldn’t be awesome to see both houses flip to GOP majorities by Christmas!?
December 22, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Yeah..pretty wishful..can’t say I’ve ever seen it…but I guess there are Christmas miracles…??
December 22, 2009 at 12:35 pm
A very loud, central theme for the Republicans and the Tea Party needs to be “We need laws in place to protect our government and constitution from ANY political party takeover”. A very loud, loud voice needs to be made about how this administration has tried to take over the country against the will of the American people. This is not the first time nor will it be the last, but we need stronger laws in place so that when a political party gets the majority of power we are protected. Politics is so full of corruption we have to protect ourselves. This is OUR country. Not the left’s, not the right’s, not anybody. We cannot allow outside forces to highjack our country and change it against our will.
This administration will go down in history as the worst and most hated..there is no doubt in my mind. Obama is so arrogant and greedy I could totally see this guy thinking to himself “You don’t like me…good…let me really screw things up before I leave”. We have to protect our country.
I don’t trust the Republicans any more than I do the far-left. Although I’ll have to say they are a lot more devoted to tradition and history than the far-left they are just as corrupt. But what is happening now is beyond reason. The Democrats will pay the price…I don’t care how desperate and dependent we become on their hand-outs…we will revolt. We will throw them out. We will win.
December 22, 2009 at 3:46 pm
A dyed-in-the-wool Republican here, I know what you are saying about the Pubbies in Congress. They are the lesser of two evils for the most part. Once in while you find a good Dem; once in a while you find a slightly better Republican.
Given what I’ve just said . . . You could say I belong to the Throw-the-Bums-Out Party or TBOP. I’d like to toss ‘em all out on their butts and start over.
December 22, 2009 at 12:48 pm
“…Convince them that Obama is a joke and
Obama is finished…”
Kristi,
I have been thinking along those lines for a
while, Barry is definitely the most thin-
skinned individual and it would be devastat-
ing. Also, what a pleasure to turn one of
Alinsky’s own rules on him!
Here’s a good example:
GULLIBLE’S TRAVELS
By Harold Witkov
American Thinker
Dec. 21, 2009
I am Barry Gullible and I am King of the most powerful nation in the world: the United States of America. Although I appear to be the same size as my Lilliputian American countrymen, I am not, for I tower above them in greatness and stature. As King (my subjects incorrectly call me president), I have often traveled abroad and mixed with the Lilliputian heads of foreign lands. For the sake of posterity, I have begun writing the memoirs of my impressive “travels into … remote nations of the world.” Forgive me for this preliminary publishing, for I acknowledge that it is “a very loose and uncorrect account.”
Early in my rule, I journeyed to an Island named United Kingdom. It was there that I hobnobbed with twenty nation rulers at the G-20 Leaders’ Economic Summit. My aides, courtiers, and the leading journalists of the day said how fabulously successful I was. I believe it was during that trip that I forever fell in love with the word “summit.” During that same trip, my wife Michelle gave Queen Elizabeth II a warm bear hug greeting and demonstrated once and for all the foolishness of United Kingdom protocol for their royals. I recall how the Queen blushed with pleasure when I presented her with an iPod gift containing my speeches.
In June of 2009, I visited the land of Egypt and delivered the groundbreaking Cairo speech called “A New Beginning.” Through this speech, according to my entourage, I personally ended Muslim hatred towards my nation. (Muslim hatred, I must embellish, had nothing to do with me but everything to do with my predecessors.) Having quickly healed and solved the problems of the Middle East in a single speech, I had time to take in some of the sights, including the Giza Pyramids.
In July of the same year, I went to the Kingdom of Russia. It was my intention to have a real meeting of the minds with Russian Czars Putin and Medvedev. I must have been very impressive because I remember they had happy smiles on their faces when our meetings were over. I recall giving a great speech before I left Russia. I said, “I come before you with some humility. I think in the past there’s been a tendency for the United States to lecture rather than to listen. And we obviously still have much work to do with our own democracy in the United States.” My aides have told me when abroad that it always serves me well to denigrate my own great country. I do it all the time. I think it worked with the Russians. I believe our countries are much closer now that I have proven to the Russian Czars and their citizens that they have nothing whatsoever to fear from me. (I later dispelled their fear even more when I ordered no defensive missiles for our ally Poland)
In October of 2009, I journeyed to Copenhagen, capital city to a small land called Denmark. In Copenhagen, it was my mission to help the city of Chicago, the city where I learned how to politic, obtain the 2016 Olympic Games. To host such games would be a great honor for my former city of residence and yet another achievement added to my lifetime achievement resume. Embarrassingly, Chicago was early eliminated from the competition through no fault of my own. Still, it was a horrid experience and loss of face for me, but once I returned to my White House mansion, my attendants put me at ease explaining that the entire episode was nothing more than an unsettling dream, a nightmare, I believe they called it.
The next month I traveled to the Far East, to the most populous nation on the globe: China. I was truly looking forward to this trip because of all nations on the Earth, I identify most with the philosophical views of the Chinese regime. To my surprise, I had to listen politely to Chinese leaders while they lectured me on the merits of capitalism. Summoning my diplomacy skills, however, I cleverly managed to change direction of their conversation and got them to agree to a five-point joint statement pledging future cooperation which, my advisers assured me, was of great import. I later found time to see the Great Wall of China, built many years ago by the ancient Chinese to keep 21st-century flood waters caused by future melting polar icecaps at bay.
My favorite of all trips was to the city of Oslo in the magical land of Norway. It was there that I justly received the highest honor in the world, the Nobel Peace Prize. Fittingly, I received the honor not for what I had done, but for what I am destined to do. I remember how touched both Michelle and I were, standing on the Grand Hotel balcony before the cheering throng. Seeing the love in their eyes only made me surer that my path in life is the right one. As fate would have it, my schedule ran late that trip, and to their great disappointment, I was not able to lunch with the royal Norwegian family.
Finally, I have just now returned from my latest sojourn. For a second time, I was in that misbegotten land of Copenhagen, Denmark. However, at a time when things were falling apart after lengthy haggling, I, Barry Gullible, King of the United States of America, arrived at the nick of time and saved the United Nations Climate Change Conference — and perhaps the Earth itself. The framework developed because of my intervention was a “meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough.” As I spoke the following words, I felt a tingle of goose bumps all over my body: “For the first time in history, all major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change.”
As for my escapades abroad, my memoirs are at present up to date. I have returned to my American kingdom, and for the time being, there are bills to pass and private industries to slay. “I here take final leave of all my courteous readers, and return to enjoy my own speculations.”
-Barry Gullible
December 22, 2009 at 12:57 pm
griffith switches is great news, but what will it do/change?
getting back to the spineless Repubs, had they been on the attack as the libs were, and spoke out about utopias connections to the reverend etc, how he and his wife, (who is not proud of America) sat in that church for 20 yrs.
that could have been as powerful as some of the other winning ads of the past. they must fight fire with fire, lets hope theyve learned their lesson.
December 22, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Hillbuzz, was reading your comments on Representative Jan Schakowsky and would like to work with you guys and like minded people to help unseat her. My brother and sister-in-law live in her district and would probably help. Her arrogance is symptomatic of the liberal left. Please put me on your list to work to replace her ilk. You have my e-mail.
Moderates and conservatives, we can no longer sit on the sidelines and allow these people to control every aspect of our lives. We will all have to roll up our sleeves and work actively to change things. No more armchair passivity for me.
December 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Please support the gals in Florida fighting Grayson!
http://www.mycongressmanisnuts.com
there is also a nebraska site–bootben.com?
December 22, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Ben Nelson is being DELUGED with email because fox linked his email on their site (I love them) so it was just a click away to tell him what a slimeball he is.
Now he’s backtracking and even went as far as saying the Republican governor of his state is the one who came up with the idea! What a DOPE!
My congressman is retiring. He was a blue dog and has been eaten alive here in Tennessee since August…
December 22, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Did you know this jerk actually sent out a pocket Constitution to our house in his district! Said he love and believes in it!!
December 22, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Finally the rally cry I’ve been longing for!
Too bad things have to get so serious for us to get motivated. I was aching for this 6 months before the election, you know, in a preventative concern, but alas, sometimes people need to be given the chance to screw up on their own before we can take off the filter and realize it was all they’re really capable of doing – just what they promised they’d do!
Way to go boys! A tick list for action is precisely what was needed. A heartfelt thanks! Too bad owning it is much like starting a diet: many will try it, few will stick with it. It takes a commitment to effort. C’mon! Let’s loose some liberal fat people!
December 22, 2009 at 1:13 pm
” What can you do to drive the Liberals from Congress like snakes from Ireland?”
Take them hunting with Cheney.
December 22, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Guys-Make jbjd go viral, on her web-site she explains exactly how Pelosi, Bauer and DNC committed fraud during the election cycle usurping the election, the convention, the country, Hillary and installing Obama. Read Beware of Land Sharks, Out of the Mouth of Babes, and the Three Card Monte. All the proof and evidence your need.
http://jbjd.wordpress.com/
Think of the DNC Services Corporation as land sharks. For your own safety, ignore them. Always keep in mind, everything coming out of the
National is smoke and mirrors. Why on earth would anyone credit the word or good intentions of the same people who perpetrated election fraud to get state election officials to print the name of BO on state ballots notwithstanding the Corporation refuses to respond to requests from hundreds or thousands of voters to disclose on what documentary evidence they based their Certification, he is Constitutionally qualified for the job? (See, for example, “OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES” below on this blog.)
Better yet, appreciate the joke that is the DNC; and laugh.
December 22, 2009 at 1:30 pm
On top of everything else we’re facing right now, I’m afraid that we’re looking at a constitutional crisis of the first order if Reid and his majority’s deliberate disregard of the rules of the Senate (shielding a minority of Senators that is larger than a bare one-third from the worst that the majority can do) is allowed to stand and thus to become a precedent. (Heaven only knows what it might authorize a majority to do to the minority in the future if that happens.) How this battle is going to play out I have no real idea, but more than a few suspicions — so, as the Boyz have been saying, now is the time to do our part.
Let me recount briefly or not so briefly what I’ve done so far today. Apologies all around for the long-windedness.
I just finished talking with the offices of Senators DeMint, McConnell, Lieberman (the one in Hartford, couldn’t get through to the one in Washington), and McCain; the conversations — what am I saying, monologues, were fired off with good New York rapidity, as their time is limited by the volume of the calls pouring in, and I can only hope that they were able to register the gist of it.
Speaking to DeMint’s staffer, I commended the Senator for having identified this provision and alerted us all to it, urging him to pursue the issue of the improper-illegitimate manner by which cloture was invoked (presumably not only on Sunday but three weeks ago as well), and asked whether the consequence would be the nullification of those votes and the return of the state of play to what it was prior to the first of them. This the staffer was not in a position to answer (and I can certainly understand that at this point, given their very limited room for maneuver, they want to play it close to their chest), but I asked her to convey the query — or rather, really just the idea that he insist on those votes being nullified — to the Senator. Then I suggested that he reach out to a few colleagues across the aisle who, although being committed to the legislation, are still capable of free thought regarding it (as opposed to most of them, who seem to have been swept up in the fervor of passing it and are proceeding like robots or like lemmings; my own two Senators are among the latter) and thus capable of weighing the way in which it is being rammed through before deciding how they will vote later this week. I instanced Lieberman as one for whom the dangers inherent in setting such a precedent might furnish sufficient reason for joining in the call to nullify those votes, turning back the state of play to what it was before the first of them, his continued support for the substance of the bill notwithstanding; and I suggested how likely it is that there are a few others whom DeMint might likewise approach. Finally, I said that I would be contacting the office of the Minority Leader in order to convey the same points.
Which, after finishing that phone call, I proceeded to do.
Then it was Senator’s Lieberman’s turn. Here, of course, a different emphasis was in order. Most of the points I made were similar, but in particular I stressed the prospect that, if Reid’s illegitimate measures are not turned back and thus become a precedent, in a future Senate where (as now seems ever more likely) it is the Democrats who make up a comparatively small minority, this precedent could well be invoked and turned against them. Obviously, I said, it’s not that I would be in favor of such an eventuality, but it behooves Senators such as Lieberman to consider it with great care in deciding what to do. In closing, I suggested that he confer with some other Senators on his side as well as with those across the aisle and reach some agreement to walk themselves, and us all, back from the “precipice,” if only so as to avoid setting such a dangerous precedent as the one which it seems it is Reid’s aim to establish. And among those on the other side with whom Lieberman might confer, I did not fail to mention Senator McCain.
McCain’s office was next on the list, and I made much the same points as with DeMint and McConnell, and suggested how desirable for us all it would be for him to raise these points with Lieberman and to try to win his participation in concerted action.
Once my suasion was done, it was time to breathe out — but I’m still shaken up by everything that’s going down, still shaking inwardly. Fortunately, I just noticed the new dip in Obama’s approval ratings: what a time to live in where polling results can be soothing!
Enough for the moment: if any of the above ideas strike a chord with you and you’re so inclined, please, by all means, go ahead and employ them on the phone with these or any other Senators!
December 22, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Started in my own small way to draw ppls attention to the mess we’re in. Today I was at the local “unemployment office” and saw several vehicles in the lot with Oblabla stickers on them. I got out my little post it notes and pen and wrote..”How’s that Hope and Change working out for you?” and drew the LOL symbol…and posted it on each car’s windshield…
December 22, 2009 at 3:05 pm
LOL That is outstanding.
December 22, 2009 at 2:06 pm
One small piece of good news:
http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=b79b1356-9b27-749f-d210-39abc312e868
December 22, 2009 at 2:06 pm
WooHoo we got Parker Griffith on our side now…and he’s switching sides for the RIGHT reasons.
December 22, 2009 at 8:11 pm
parker griffith is anybodies dog that will pet him — he just sees the hand writing on the wall– he is no conservative — i live here !! don’t be fooled by him — he is just smarter than the rep. — as a matter of fact i used to be a democrat and i still don’t see how the repbs have ever won a contest –here in north Alabama it is rough— rep’s win in central and south ala for the state. just mabe jugears has broken that cycle– it is getting harder to find anyone that voted for him and lots of stickers have mysteriously disappeared from cars LOL mabe there is hope
December 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm
check out what the comments have to say
he is a rino!!! i live here –but we will take him until we can vote him out also–check is record — he is a demorat!!
December 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm
i live here in north Alabama..
December 22, 2009 at 2:11 pm
And a follow-up post at Red State on Reid’s rules change:
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/22/making-the-death-panels-permanent/
December 22, 2009 at 2:11 pm
It will nice to not have to fight with my relatives, being the token bleeding heart liberal in my family.
I have been cured.
December 22, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Hillbuzz, You provide a great deal of inspiration to me and others so that we continue to fight for our country. You encourage us to beware complacency and the defeatist attitude. Together we wage political battle against the liberal/fascist/socialist who want to destroy the US. I thought that this article posted today by Dick Morris was extremely appropriate to link here with consideration for your patriotic resolution.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/slideshow/geek-life/hands-on/kookoo-the-gpsenabled-kitty
We are not alone with our fight! Thank you Hillbuzz!
December 22, 2009 at 2:23 pm
please ignore link in above comment. correct link to Dick Morris has been provided in next comment.
December 22, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hillbuzz, You provide a great deal of inspiration to me and others so that we continue to fight for our country. You encourage us to beware complacency and the defeatist attitude. Together we wage political battle against the liberal/fascist/socialist who want to destroy the US. I thought that this article posted today by Dick Morris was extremely appropriate to link here with consideration for your patriotic resolution.
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2009/12/21/winston-churchill-never-never-never-never-give-up/#more-693
We are not alone with our fight! Thank you Hillbuzz!
December 22, 2009 at 2:48 pm
http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/todd-palin-and-his-son-trig/
December 22, 2009 at 3:08 pm
[...] writers on the blogosphere: Hillbuzz. Today’s post highlights their action-items for victory: Question of the Day: What can you do to drive the Liberals from Congress like snakes from Ireland?Their recipe for success: * READING * STUDYING * NETWORKING * TECHNICAL SKILLS * [...]
December 22, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Oh joy, word is that a new Facebook posting from Sarah Palin is on its way, dealing with the health-care monstrosity!
December 22, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Dem flipping to GOP speaks to press:
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/12/ouch-flipped-alabama-blue-dog-bites-former-handlers-video/#comment-35067
Thank you for speaking out!
December 22, 2009 at 4:04 pm
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS FOR LITTLE GAIN
Wesley Pruden
Washington Journal
Dec. 22, 2009
OPINION/ANALYSIS:
Rarely has a cowboy castrated himself in public like Ben Nelson, the senator from Nebraska, who becomes an object lesson in how a United States senator easily trades his “convictions” and “principles” for perfectly legal bribes from cynical party leaders.
When the inevitable howling erupted in Nebraska, all the senator could come up with was a variation on the oldest excuse in Washington: “I didn’t do it, and maybe I won’t do it again.”
The senator’s profile in phony determination to prevent federal financing of abortion earned him rebuke and scorn from abortion foes and advocates alike. What angered everyone was how easily he took the bribe, and how public the transaction was. After all the declarations of undying dedication to “conviction” and “principles,” when Barack Obama offered the deal he offered no one else, to pay for the expanded Medicare costs for the state of Nebraska and let’s forget about abortion, the senator capitulated with enthusiasm.
He tried to blame the governor. The governor, David Heineman, “contacted me, and he said this is another unfunded federal mandate, and it’s going to stress the state budget, and I agreed with him,” the senator said. “I said to [Majority Leader Harry Reid] that this is something that has to be fixed. I didn’t participate in the way it was fixed.” (He only dropped into the bordello for a shot of bonded courage, never dreaming that anything naughty was going on upstairs.)
The governor, abandoning the way governors and senators from their states protect each other’s reputation for truth-telling, stuck it to the senator this time with a vengeance. He had nothing to do with the senator’s “compromise,” he said, and the health care bill is “bad news for Nebraska and for the United States. Nebraskans did not seek a special deal, only a fair deal.”
The senator’s clumsiness was followed by the inevitable whine of a politician caught with his pants down. “This is all so orchestrated,” he said of the stinging backlash from the home folks. “It’s so thinly disguised, it’s almost laughable.” But he didn’t sound like a man almost laughing. Even his Nebraska colleague in the Senate, Mike Johanns, ignoring a venerable tradition that a senator doesn’t rebuke the other senator from his state, said he was “stunned and disappointed” because the “compromise” language was a “watered-down accounting gimmick that leads to Nebraska taxpayers subsidizing abortions in other states.”
Every president mirrors in ways large and small the politics he learned back home, and the administration’s use of the battering ram in behalf of a scheme that grows more unpopular day by day reflects the down-and-dirty politics of Chicago. Richard Daley the Original lives and breathes on Capitol Hill.
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, and the senator’s colleagues can be grateful for the diversion of attention from the actual outrage. Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told the Senate that ObamaCare is so convoluted that no one (not even the dozens of lawyers who wrote it) actually understands it. The president insists that the change nobody believes in will reduce costs for everybody.
“Anyone who suggests otherwise simply hasn’t read the bills,” he says. Maybe that’s why he so sure he’s right; he hasn’t had time to read 2,000-plus pages of the bill, either. Victor Fuchs, a highly regarded economist who supports ObamaCare, says a lot of the White House theory is simply simplistic. “The oft-heard promise that ‘we will find out what works and what does not’ scarcely does justice to the complexity of medical practice.”
Some of those who understand medical complexity best argue that the dead hand of government will inevitably stay the innovation and technology that makes American medicine the envy of the world. Almost nobody here goes to Europe when gravely ill, but Europeans flock to America when hope is exhausted at home. When the unelected bureaucrats gain control of everything from bedpans to MRI machines, the dean of the Harvard Medical School warns “our capacity to innovate and develop new therapies would suffer most of all.”
Nevermind. The president has the reform that does less and costs more. Earl Long, the late governor of Louisiana, once boasted that he could take a hundred-dollar bill and get anything through his legislature “and buy you a steak dinner with what I’ll have left over.”
President Obama goes that one better. He did it with a bribe of somebody else’s money.
c Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.
December 22, 2009 at 4:33 pm
This May a guy named Johnny Lee Riches made the Guiness Book of Records for the most lawsuits ever filed–something like 4,000–all frivolous of course. It had gotten so bad, that he has been forbidden to file in some states. I suggest people do to Congress what liberals of Alaska did to Sarah Palin. File lawsuits–they don’t have to be of any substance. Bog them down with lawsuits, make them pay out of their pockets to defend themselves. They want to take away our liberties and freedoms, sue ‘em. They want to turn America into a banana republic–sue ‘em. Sue ‘em cause it’s Tuesday. Anything. Just sue.
I think it’s good for conservatives to learn the tactics that liberals play by but what I don’t want to see happen is that the country becomes mired in this type of behavior. Know what the enemy is doing but we need to get back to some sense of civility and honor.
December 22, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Good news: it is not simply “a cyber David versus deep pockets conglomerate Goliath”, it is (in Glenn Reynolds’ formulation) “An Army of Davids”, and Goliath is going to get hit from all sides. Crowdsourcing, flash mobs, real-time information sharing, and all the rest of the Net-enabled tools and processes are going to be brought to bear in the coming months and years to take back the debate and take down these fools.
By the bye: I am a hopelessly-hetero GOP-voter-since-Nixon and I just want you wonderful guys to know that I love you and I love your blog. Keep up the good work!
December 22, 2009 at 6:13 pm
DAY ONE:
HOW OBAMACARE WILL ALIENATE AMERICANS
By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann
Dick Morris.com
12.22.2009
Obama’s health care bill, the poisoned Kool-Aid making its way through the Senate, will not confer any of its supposed benefits on Americans until 2013. But they will find themselves chafing at its restrictions and paying its taxes immediately after the law takes effect. Then, they will see no gain, but plenty of pain, for the next three years.
This odd juxtaposition of “suffer now, benefit later” is the byproduct of the Administration’s sleight of hand in specifying ten years worth of cuts and taxes in the legislation, but deferring its benefits for the first four years. By comparing six years of spending with ten years of taxing, it managed to appear deficit neutral under the rules of the Congressional Budget Office. In fact, the annual revenues fall far short of covering any single year’s worth of spending, adding to the deficit for each of the last six years over the next ten, but, viewing the decade as a whole, it appears deficit neutral.
Yet the political price is hardly neutral. Democrats who misguidedly vote for this monstrosity will face immediate political repercussions.
The harshest of these backlashes will come from the elderly who will suddenly visit their doctors and be told “no” when they ask for therapies or treatments. The rationing of medical care will start immediately on enactment and, one hopes, the outraged phone calls will start to descend on those whose votes enabled it.
The first “no” will hit the ten million elderly who now rely on Medicare Advantage to pay for the care Medicare itself does not cover. In a payoff to AARP, Obama gutted this program in his bill, ending over $100 billion in federal premium subsidies. These ten million voters will get the grim news that their premiums are going up and their benefits dropping early in 2010. The goal, of course, is to force them to drop Medicare Advantage and sign up, instead, for Medigap insurance — offered, not coincidentally, by the AARP — which provides less coverage at higher cost.
Young people without health insurance can expect to start writing $750 annual checks to Washington to pay the fines written into the bill. (And, after the Conference Committee finishes its work, the fines may be higher).
All Americans will soon find their insurance premiums rising as a result of the bill. The young, uninsured will not buy policies. Why should they? Why not just pay the $750 fines each year? Why pay between 2% and 10% of their household income before subsidies kick in? It makes no financial sense for anyone making more than $30,000 to pay for coverage. (And most of those under that threshold will be covered by Medicaid, not by private insurance).
There is no reason for the young to buy private insurance. The legislation requires that health insurers take all comers and not raise rates based on pre-existing conditions. So the young can get coverage when they need it, having only paid $750 per year beforehand.
The difference in cost will, of course, be borne by families throughout America who will see their health insurance premiums increase. President Obama and his Democratic rubber stamps may appreciate that they are not raising taxes on the middle class, just raising mandatory health insurance premiums, but the distinction is likely to be lost on swing voters.
From now on, any increase in health insurance premiums will become the political responsibility of the Obama Administration. As General Colin Powell once said of Iraq “You break it. You own it.” Since these premiums have been rising by an average of 10% per year for more than the past decade, this is a legacy most politicians would sensibly avoid if they could.
December 22, 2009 at 11:29 pm
“You break it, you own it”.
Thought that Iraq was politically bad for Bush? Let Obama f up 1/6 of our economy with this bill, have the rest of the economy founder and see what happens.
Will there be a Democrat left in Washington before that’s over? Maybe a token one from California, babbling in a corner and drooling down her chin.
December 23, 2009 at 1:55 am
Oh pleesze don’t make the lone Dem come from California. I’m praying that the folks from the golden state will get out of the sun long enough to step into the ballot box and fire Babs, Di and Nan…the covergirls of the CA Coven. OMG they would tax the sunshine in a Hollywood minute, if they could.
December 22, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I am trying to move away from my computer! I contacted Patrick Hughes’s campaign (IL senate) and volunteered to help with mailings and personally speak to all I know about his conservative agenda. http://www.patrickhughesforsenate.com/Home.aspx
December 22, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Debboosh,
Do you find it difficult to step away from your computer? I truly do. It has become an addiction, going back and forth from one website to another to find out what the heck Obama has done now. I even find myself waking up in the middle of the night and wanting to check the news. I feel like I am living in a nightmare. I just want to wake up from it. My son is training to go to Afghanistan which makes it extra nightmarish…
December 22, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I loved this post. I will print it off and keep it on the top of my desk to use as motivation. Thank you!!!
December 22, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I have to say that you guys inspired me. Today I called my Congressman and first asked how he was planning to vote when the Bill went back to the House. I was informed that he had voted “Yes” the first time. I told them that if he voted “Yes” again since I am not working presently, I will make it my JOB to make sure he is defeated in 2010. She asked my name, asked me to spell it, I asked her if she wanted my address, she checked and she had it. That was strange since I am not registered as a Democrat.
Anyway, you guys have inspired me not to sit back and take it but to fight back.
December 23, 2009 at 3:02 am
Why has no one suggested the precise application of high explosives?