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I respect the historic tradition of inauguration day, not the cult of personality driving the schlock festivities now taking place.

Pomp and circumstance have been replaced with pimp and self-aggrandizement — all topped with a heapful of double standards.

I’m not the only one who thinks so. Politico’s Daniel Libit has a piece this morning quoting several conservatives willing to dissent from the Beltway O-Kumbaya. The intro:

With Barack Obama’s approval ratings in the 70s and his visage plastered on every shop window and Metro card in Washington, it’s hard to remember that 58 million Americans voted for the other guy.

Even President Bush — who presumably counts himself among that group — said last week that Obama’s inauguration is “a moment of hope and pride.”

That’s not exactly how Michelle Malkin describes it.

“Jan. 20 has turned into a schlock inauguration, (where) every last moocher has come to cash in on Obama,” says the conservative blogger and pundit. “There are some of us who want to bang our heads against the wall.”

While most Republicans now in office are saying all the right things about Tuesday’s proceedings — roll tape on “peaceful transfer of power” and “historic moment for the country” sound bites — some conservatives can’t quite get themselves in the “We Are One” mood.

Not even for a day.

On his radio show last week, Rush Limbaugh railed against “people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he succeeds. We have to give him a chance.’”

“Why?” Limbaugh demanded. “They didn’t give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I’m not talking about search-and-destroy, but I’ve been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.”

I do not pledge allegiance to The Obama States of America.

Getting ready for the countdown.

3, 2, 1…RAAAAAAAACIST!

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Sister Toldjah notes that the AP has finally acknowledged the Obama-fest’s pricey pricetag in a dicey economy. ST points out Baghdad Jim McDermott’s disingenuous green defense of Obama-fest and skewers the hypocrisy:

The only thing more pathetic than McDermott’s hypocrisy is the fact that so many Obama worshippers who continue to descend on the Capitol in advance of PEBO’s inauguration are the same types who slammed John McCain as an out-of-touch rich guy living off his wife’s mega-wealth, so out of touch that he couldn’t remember how many houses they owned, and also criticizing Gov. Palin for spending decisions on her’s and her family’s wardrobes that she did not make, while at the same they painted Barack Obama as a humble guy who “gets the common man.” How many of these same people (including those in the mainstream press) would be looking the other way if it had been McCain/Palin holding this big, expensive Lincolnesque inaugural ceremony in the middle of this bleak economy?

The numbers would be in the single digits, I suspect.

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The schlock inauguration continues: Obama tattoos. Ew.

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The all-star video lives up (or down) to expectations. Allah’s got it.