Beltway Christmas: Cash for corruptocrats
My column looks at the year in Washington political bribery. And what a year it was for the Beltway’s reverse Santa Clauses, who are suspended simultaneously in mental states of denial and indignation. Democrat Sen. Mary “Louisiana Purchase” Landrieu defended her payoff while declaring that she “can’t be bought.”Democrat Sen. Tom “Iowa Bounty” Harkin dismissed the hundreds of millions of taxpayer-subsidized gifts to pols in the Demcare package as “small stuff.” And don’t even get me started on the 1,720 earmarks worth more than $4 billion in the defense appropriations bill. It’s nothing new, the Dems say in their defense. And that is precisely the point, isn’t it?
Related developments: More lawmakers — hello, Rep. James Clyburn — are lining up for Ben Nelson bonanzas — while attorneys general in seven states are investigating the legality of the deal.
Of course, sometimes it’s not what’s illegal in Washington, but what’s entirely legal, that perturbs…
***
Beltway Christmas: Cash for corruptocrats
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
The Democrats are right. Sleazy bribes and pork payoffs didn’t start with their government health care takeover bill. They’ve been doling out taxpayer-funded goodies for votes all year. Harry Reid’s latest Cash for Cloture deals are the culmination of Washington’s 2009 shopping spree at our expense.
Go back to January and February. The multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bill was the Mother of All Legislative Christmas Trees. The ruling party used the economic downturn to redistribute wealth from struggling Americans to favored congressional districts, phantom districts, special interests from golf cart makers to fly-by-night beauty salons. According to a new study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Democrat districts have raked in nearly twice as much porkulus money as GOP districts – without regard to the actual economic suffering and job loss in those districts.
In fact, the researchers found far more stimulus money went to higher-income areas than lower-income areas.
That includes Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s backyard – where a $54 million no-bid contract was awarded to a firm with little experience to relocate a luxury Bay Area wine train due to flood concerns.
And it includes Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois, which reaped the single biggest earmark in the porkulus bill – $1 billion for the dubious FutureGen near-zero emissions “clean coal” plant earmark championed by disgraced Democrat and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin.
And it includes Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s backyard – where he secured billions in high-speed rail stimulus earmarks from which he plans to fund a pie-in-the-sky public transportation line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
When taxpayers objected to business as usual masquerading as economic recovery, New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer sneered: “You lost.” And, he jibed on the Senate floor while wagging a grabby finger, “let me say this to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little tiny, yes, porky amendments, the American people really don’t care.” The “American people” Schumer referred to, of course, were the privileged minority of stimulus beneficiaries – not the rest of us “chattering” dissenters stuck with the bill for those billions in “little tiny, yes, porky amendments.”
No legislation has been immune to congressional shakedown. After the Congressional Black Caucus balked loudly enough, Democrat Rep. Barney Frank – chairman of the House Financial Services Committee – larded up the majority’s Wall Street regulatory “reform” bill with $4 billion in payoffs to minority special interests – including former failed Air America radio partner Inner City Broadcasting Corp. The cash-strapped firm is run by Percy Sutton – a New York City crony of Charlie Rangel and Al Sharpton. The money will come out of the ever-morphing TARP bank bailout fund – which went from a toxic assets purchase plan to a capital injection plan, back to a toxic assets purchase plan, to a life insurance company bailout, to an auto supplier bailout.
Leading the charge for the Cash for Cronies of Color drive: California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, who had already extracted $12 million in TARP funds for OneUnited, a minority-owned bank that is one of her key campaign donors and a company in which both Waters and her husband own massive amounts of stock.
Which brings us up to Demcare, the latest wealth redistribution scheme disguised as health care reform. In addition to the infamous $300 million “Louisiana Purchase” for Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu and the (at least) $45 million “Cornhusker Kickback” for sellout Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Harry Reid threw around other, less-publicized gobs of cash for cloture votes to cut off debate and ram the bill through. He tossed in a Hospital Helper of $100 million to Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Dodd, whose re-election bid is in hot water.
There are bennies for insurance companies and hospitals in Michigan and “Frontier freebies” for hospitals in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming. There’s a New England’s Special Syrup for Vermont and Massachusetts – who will get similar (though less generous) special treatment by the feds as Nebraska in covering Medicaid expansion costs. Combined with Nebraska’s tab, the exclusive clique’s payoffs will cost at least taxpayers $1.2 billion over 10 years. There’s an ACORN/community organizer-friendly provision for minority health bureaucracies that was sought by Illinois Democrat Sen. Roland Burris, according to John McCormack of the Weekly Standard.
And there’s a $10 billion socialized medicine sop to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for “community health clinics” serving in essence as universal health care satellite offices. “We are talking about a revolution” here, Sanders enthused during the Senate’s sneaky Sunday session. No, revolution will come when taxpayers have a chance to kick these reverse Santa Clauses posing as saviors out of office. It can’t happen a minute too soon.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Greece Erupts After Vote for Austerity Measures to Secure Another Bailout
February 12, 2012 10:19 PM by Doug Powers
55 Comments
Obama Chief of Staff: No More Compromise on Contraceptive Mandate
February 12, 2012 04:26 PM by Doug Powers
114 Comments
Choosing Life and Beating the Odds
February 11, 2012 11:50 AM by Doug Powers
32 CommentsObama’s fraudulent abortion mandate “accommodation” Updated: Prez condemns “cynical” opposition
February 10, 2012 10:05 AM by Michelle Malkin
245 Comments‘To Stop the Multiplication of the Unfit’
February 10, 2012 09:06 AM by Michelle Malkin
199 CommentsReport: Solyndra Sold Assets Cheap to Entity with Close Ties to Investors
February 9, 2012 10:08 AM by Doug Powers
49 Comments
Former Democrat Rep. Regrets Vote for Obamacare Due to Contraceptive Coverage
February 7, 2012 03:40 PM by Doug Powers
75 Comments
How to Make a Liberal Politician Stand Up Against Intrusive Government
February 6, 2012 04:28 PM by Doug Powers
95 Comments
Categories: Corruption,Health care,Pork
Redstate
» Morning Briefing for February 14, 2012Pundit & Pundette
» Bishop Jenky, Nicki Minaj, and the "98%"Sister Toldjah
» Obama’s new budget is a bad jokeJustOneMinute
» We Hear From The Department Of Good Ideas And False Choices
The Constitution is a joke and nothing but a piece of paper to these litter box chunks. When I think I have a handle on how bad our country is being destroyed I read this:
“You just can’t make up how brazen this crowd is. One week ago, President Obama quietly signed an executive order that makes an international police force immune from the restraints of American law.” In other words, The Empty Suit has allowed an International Police Force unrestrained movement and behavior in our own country.
One World Government Marxist
Harkin’s comment about “small stuff” is chilling. How many times in history have we seen people be exploited, suffer, have their lives destroyed , be jailed when innocent, or even killed and these evils rationalized away as being a sacrifice for the “greater good.”
Consider the treatment of Paula Jones, the savaging of Sarah Palin’s family, and the new Medicare Advisory Board. These are three examples of the Progressive mindset; a mindset not based on morality, but on the principle of “acceptable casualties” for the “greater good.”
It is evil.
And since no one has actually read the bill, doesn’t it make them worse than whores?
At least whores know what their being sold for.
I can’t remember who said that, perhaps someone can clue me in.
I’m just crossing my fingers that society as we know it can survive long enough until we get true AI and they can work out all our problems for us
.
And someone actually wants what their selling.
Winston Churchill.
I saw an interview with Sen Mcaskill (sp?) on F & F this morning. Her primary argument for this is was that the Republicans did it during the bush years, so this is business as usual.
Doocey wasn’t buying it, since that’s why we gave the Dems a shot in 2006 and 2008.
b-cat:
That’s what I was leaning toward, wasn’t certain though. Thank you.
Yeah, all these problems will go away once SkyNet becomes self-aware.
As most here know, the Federal Government long ago ceased to pay any attention to the U.S. Constitution. With all these bribes and payoffs, they are more like organized crime gangs carving up their areas of operation.
Since they are apparently no longer bound by the Constitution, I guess I am no longer bound by their rules. I still consider myself bound by the U.S. Constitution as it was written and meant over 200 years ago, though. As such I will obey any law consistent with the Constitution, and ignore the rest as much as possible. Feels kind of liberating.
How many times do parents or teachers hear that excuse from children? The Alan Combes Rationale for all Progressive Behavior.
300 million people and these are the best 100 we can scrape up….. SIGH.
Make a list, check it twice. Later when these whores try some honest feat to cover their slimy dealings remember. More than just a few Republicans are as guilty as these Obama whores-they are finally holding firm when it does not matter-remember who, what and where.
International Police Force?
Such treason is why the Founders insisted on the Second Amendment. Tyranny is never more than one relaxed moment away. What the usurper calls “A Bill of Negative Rights” honest people hold dear. The ghost of
Benedict Arnold looms large-British Major John Andre paid the price and he was a better man than any of the traitors in Congress.
Reminds me of a little child, caught in the act. “Well, Johnny did it!” I wonder if that could be a defense if I robbed a bank. “Well, others do it!”. It just shows that they have no defense, much like a child, and come up with any excuse they can think of.
The most transparent govenment in action. Michelle, you could point out some Republican spinelessness just to be “bi-partisan”!
John:
One can dream right? The truth of AI coming to be is not going to be like it is shown in the movies. It wil be a gradual process. Self-aware machines will probably start out as goldfish and then dogs and cats before they reach true human levels and beyond.
Thanks for getting my blood boiling first thing in the morning Michelle. We have to hang on to this rage to subvert and defeat our ruling class and their destruction of our Constitution and country at every turn. Sunlight truly is the best disinfectant when exposing the corruption in the District of Criminals.
My son and I were talking this morning about how the Death Care bill will increase cost of his Medicare/Humana Part D customers. He said he could probably get a revolution started with his customer base just by making sure the uninformed masses he deals with found out what is about to happen to them. From his own research he feels Medicare Part D is already a large rip off of the elderly this is going to make it worse.
I will probably lurk from time to time like I normally do during the work day posting only on the weekends. I need to push back and embrace the reason for the season or Mrs. Boomer has promised me I can expect my own visit to the ER.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
John:
Let’s nip this one in the bud though before I get accused of going off-topic again.
He that lives upon hope will die fasting.
Benjamin Franklin
Rogue:
Good thing I got a salary and a local supermarket.
Remember,that’s the government money, granted to you, through their good graces. Don’t expect it to be the same Christmas 2010.
Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.
Benjamin Franklin
graysonret:
You mean by virtue of the fact that I don’t pay 100% taxes?
Remember, I am a janitor, I figure that they will leave me and my humble salary alone
.
In all seriousness though, yah good point.
Rogue:
Casting a lure there, bro?
Demcare is going down!
The meme that Senate passage tomorrow is the end of this thing is crumbling.
Even Katie Couric last night said it was still “a long way” from the president’s desk.
Politico reports this morning that the WH is conceding that it probably will not be done before the State of the Union, which will be at the end of January or the beginning of Feb (date uncertain, as of now).
As we all know, time is on our side. The public is aroused. Leftwing support is lackluster, to say the least. (Strong Dem newspapers in Denver and Seattle are strongly editorializing against passage.)
There is no way that this bill will survive another month of scrutiny.
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Benjamin Franklin
Did I just cross the eyes on a 12 lb. Lunker? I should turn pro!
I wish I could be as confident, but until the President’s pen has not been pressed to the paper we need to keep informing and fighting.
We are with you Ignatius!
Zero,
Rogue’s lure generally has a fused attached to it.
JUST KIDDING Rogue…..
And speaking of the ugliness of the Nebraska deal…just wait until seniors who do not live in Florida and are enrolled in Medicare Advantage understand that they are going to lose it while Florida citizens get to keep theirs because of corrupt dealings in the Senate…Oh la la. Oh la la, la la, la la.
If it doesn’t explode over abortion, the Dems are going to have to try to repair some of the inequities, like by extending the special benefits to everyone. That, of course, will blow up the bogus, house-of-cards accounting estimates.
Deep thinking Dem strategists may be willing to sacrifice a lot of political careers. But I just don’t believe that there are that many elected Dem congressmen and senators who will be willing be in the assault wave in this suicide attack on American democracy.
Where liberty is, there is my country.
Benjamin Franklin
Too late, you Godless heathen.
I was wondering though, what kind of deal did NJ get? I had heard that Chucky basically screwed NY by not holding out for goodies.
Fishing with dynamite is still fishing init?
John:
…I wonder, do machines dream? Do they have a concept of god?
As I was watching the coverage of Ben Nelson defending the Cornhusker Kickback, he did state that the whole thing was the (GOP) Governor of Nebraska’s idea. He said that the Governor had written him a letter, saying that Nebraska could not afford any more unfunded government mandates. So therefore, in his form of DC Pretzel Logic, it was perfectly OK to have the other 49 states pay for this unfunded mandate, instead of not buying it in the first place. I wonder how these maroons balance their own checkbooks. Oh, that’s right, they don’t have to do that either.
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Is this the first DNC issue he opposes?
Fishing with dynamite is still fishing init?
oh well.
I would not be surprised if my own, new, NC Dem senator, Kay Hagan, might seize the corruption issue to bail out when she sees an enraged public and the end to the Obama wave that swept her into office.
As far as I know, she got absolutely nothing for her state. That is hugely embarrassing for her and gives her every opportunity to say, “I support HC reform, but I am not for a corrupt deals that screws my constituents…I trusted the leadership…I had no idea what was buried in this bill.” Other slow-footed Dem senators are in the same position.
Seriously, how many of these sweetheart deals will remain in the compromised bill?
There are so many differences between the two bills that I can’t realistically see an acceptable piece of legislation coming from it. Especially not with all the added pork.
These unread health care bills could contain a requirement for everyone to give up their first born & who would know? They are going to pass it no mater how much crap it might contain. Then they are going to tell us – Merry Xmas,look at the wonderful gift we are giving you. Scary beyond words & so what if it is all unconstitutional. Who can do anything about it with them in charge?
John:
…several thousands of years from now, historians (AI ones) are going to research the ancient writings on MM’s site and get a rather warped view of early man.
You bet……………
This fraud all rests on the governed (us) having early onset Alzheimers’. Throw in some assistance from government schools to brainwash the kids and voila! It’s all good.
We can tie it up in courts with lawsuits. Eventually, it is hoped, the bill will end up at the SCOTUS.
The only warpage will come from them trying to figure out drifters like you.
Michelle, I read everything you write. I don’t know how else to say this- you are simply the best! What I wouldn’t give to have every congressman infused with your heart and integrity!
Don’t ever stop shining the light on these cockroaches!
Reddog:
Since they will probably be Spock (or Data) like machines, I think they will get me just fine. *smile*
If you believe any of those grant-seeking “scientists”, we’re going to be long gone by then. According to many of them, we’re supposed to be wiped out “any time now”, from asteroids to supervolcanoes, tsunamis, or massive global warming.
Should it manage to pass, I’d bet this is a foregone conclusion. I’d also bet that a few states will start stretching their tenth amendment muscles.
graysonret:
If I respond to that, we will go way off-topic, so I’ll hold off until another GW thread comes up.
Let’s hope so, John.
On December 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 am, graysonret said:
Who can do anything about it with them in charge?
We can tie it up in courts with lawsuits. Eventually, it is hoped, the bill will end up at the SCOTUS.
Well with the liberal leaning SCOTUS, once again I have to ask – who or what is going to stop them? fear it is all quite hopeless. Should us “seniors” jump off the roof now or wait until we get really sick & have to die from lack of health care?
Or we could go Jihadist, buy some of those blue Walmart vests and start sewing pockets into them…..
I hope the DHS guys monitoring our site know I am joking…….
Spent the last hour watching “Unsolved History” (Boston Massacre), while reading the posts here. People began to stand up for their rights and liberties. Without bloodshed, I hope we can stir up the same feelings in more tea parties against the “parliament” in D.C..
From the AG article:
This lining up with their hands out now and when the bill ends up in committee in the House, not to mention the earful that many pols will get over the Christmas holiday (at least those that will listen) will hopefully be the death of this travisty.
Fundamentally, the belief of most in government is that they are smarter than capitalism. I think most would say that capitalism is good but they will make it better. Of course, that statement shows they have zero understanding of capitalism.
Sometimes more is better:
Dave:
Well, that pretty much hits the nail on the head concerning the topic at hand. Good post.
Who says they will try to “compromise”, or do anything “right”. They don’t care. The goal is just to pass something that takes away our freedoms and makes us slaves. To that end, any bill will do.
The anthem of American politics performed by Liza and Joel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q
I haven’t yet seen any news account but the GOP senators this morning are making a huge deal out of a letter that CBO has just sent strongly and explicitly calling attention to the “double counting” of the alleged Medicare savings. This seems to me pretty much of a reputation of the phony analysis based on their previous scoring. Could be huge, the kind of thing that may push additional newspapers to editorialize against the bill. And it is “new news,” again giving senators a reason to flip.
conservativesRus,
They have to negotiate a compromise bill between the House and Senate versions that’s acceptable to both a majority of Representatives and a majority of Senators. They’ve seen how toxic the polls are and they know their re-election chances. I’m just hoping that their self-preservation instinct kicks in.
What our current state of rampant corruption tells us is that we can no longer tell the difference between what is illegal and what is wrong. Nor do we seem to care. We accept “it’s legal” or “their guys do it too” as valid defenses.
We accept all of the little corruptions among ourselves that lay the foundation to later having to accept the “lesser of two evils” where “our candidate really sucks but THEIR candidate is (sputter) HITLER!!!”. You can’t be partly pregnant nor sometimes honest.
If we want an honest and virtuous government, we have to start with ourselves. Our crooks are NOT better than theirs.
We should start by clarifying what we mean when we say “us”. Right now, too many of “us” are lost in our own little disconnected worlds crippled by five-minute attention spans. Too many have forgotten how Republicans were treating us the same way when they were in power. We were hate-filled bigots then too. And those party leaders still control the party.
As American citizens who value freedom, we find ourselves being warred upon by a one-party system that is united in chambers but talks two different languages in public where the party out of power is always the good guys fighting the corruption of the party in power. We end up engaging in utter emotional futility by piling Pelion upon Ossa and then piling Ossa upon Pelion and back again rather than thinking and acting logically.
Let’s make 2010 a citizens’ revolt against our entrenched class of elected weasels by voting out incumbents. Don’t complicate things. One step at a time. If both parties end 2010 weaker than at the start, we win. We can deal with 2012 later.
Aside from the fact that Obama’s “Demcare” will lessen the quality of and our access to adequate medical care, there’s one consolation for us so-called “Tea-B*gg*rs” (their term): the majority of whatever health care is available to us will be subsidized by Obama’s six-figure-plus cheerleaders at MSNBC and CNN!
Thanks for insisting we all share in your largesse – Olby, Maddow, Cooper, et al!
***
MICHELL MALKIN–thank you for your hard patriotic work this year. If your blog didn’t exist we would know much less about what these corruptocRATs and corrupticans / RINO’s are doing to our country. Good job–keep up the good work! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.
***
As far as Comrade Obama (PBUH) signing an Executive Order granting immunity from American law to some kind of “international police force”–they will not get past my front door! They are not welcome in Texas. Keep diplomatic immunity at the NYC UN building and in DC–keep it out of flyover space.
***
The behavior of our so called “representatives” reminds me of Ben Franklin’s letter about how he was in Parliament trying to explain the American Colonial feelings to his supposed “representatives”. And how he finally realized that they were his enemies, did not represent him, and that the American Revolution was now the only option left. He returned here and got started bringing it on. Our AMERICAN PRAVDA media can’t hide the Messiah’s and congress’s true agenda much longer.
***
Deja Vu all over again. Organize, tea party, and vote them out in 2010 and 2012.
***
John Bibb
***
Barbara Boxer got California NOTHING.
And we’re going to be paying most for the cost of the Obamacare votes from Nebraska and Louisiana etc etc etc.
She’s not just a blame America first nitwit, she’s a useless blame America first nitwit.
Careful, if you don’t get your mind right, you’ll be Walpin-ed.
And today, Ahnuld (“the days of partisan politics are over”) is asking for at least $8 billion of federal money to keep our bloated and incompetent (over-unionized) public sector afloat for a few more months. Otherwise, he will start cutting spending. That’s a threat. Clueless.
***
HI JOHNDEAUX #10 and ZEROANGEL #16. I’ve been hearing about Artificial “Intelligence” for 30 years now. Some of my fellow engineers and software experts kept promising me how much better AI and “fuzzy” logic were going to make our Patriot System operate. And how much better our lives would be also.
***
It never happened–real “pie in the sky” stuff. When someone offers you AI, Fuzzy Logic, Phone Sex, or Virtual Reality–always tell them no–INSIST ON THE REAL McCoy!
***
John Bibb
***
Phil, your plans for draining the swamp are just grand. But I don’t think that there will be anything left to save if we don’t have all hands on deck right now to battle these Dem alligators who are are about to destroy our republic.
And you think now is the time to redouble our efforts to purge ourselves of the RINO criminals. Would a Senate with an ideologically pure 20/80 minority suit you better?
Sure, I’d like to be part of an uncompromising and virtuous movement. And, frankly, I’d like to hang a few RINOs from lamp posts. But if you don’t mind, I’d first like to save the Republic from becoming a thorough-going, one-party, anti-democratic socialist state. While you are building your new, pure conservative majority, Team Obama will be packing the Supreme Court, gobbling up the economy, giving public subsidies to the NYT while shutting down talk radio, etc., etc. If you haven’t noticed, even the worst senate RINOs are at this moment helping to hold back the deluge.
You are a fool, Phil. And you are psychologically disturbed, because you can not deal realistically with the world. Your big plan is to retreat in the middle of the crucial battle to re-organize according to your fantasies. You are a fool.
Iggy, you are a pedantic idiot. Try parsing your logic. It is utter bafflegab. YOU and your ilk are a bigger part of the problem than the Dems themselves because you only think one inch and one minute at a time.
I must be over the target if I am getting flak from pinheads like you. Are you being paid by the GOP to be commenting here?
I’ll have to remember this post for the next time you object to someone calling you a man of faith.
Blade Runner (Director’s cut) = Wicked Pissah!
rocketman:
In the early days of computing, people thought true AI was right around the corner. Turns out it’s a great deal more complex than initially thought and that the human mind does not work quite the way that digital CPUs work. One glaring difference is that in a digital CPU data and operations are separate, that is, data stored in RAM is run through a CPU and produces output. Modern neuroscientists will say that biological minds don’t work that way and that data and operations are one in the same.
Furthermore, there is the question on just how you define intelligence and consciousness. Just because a computer might be able to pass the Turing test doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a thinking entity (consider the Chinese Room though experiment). However, some philosophers have dismissed that idea on various grounds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
As I said above, I really think it will mainly be a very slow process. Today we have machines that could be said to be (on some level) as intelligent as ants or maybe even some really simple animals. I imagine that overtime things will slowly progress and get better and better. It’s not as though we are going to wake up one day to a major breakthrough where someone builds Data from Star Trek. It will probably be so gradual that we will hardly notice it happening.
The current research on AI draws upon so many fields and is not just limited to computing (the aforementioned neuroscience for example, and many more). It’s a developing area of study and will be for some time. Many more advances in many different fields are required before we are really going to be faced with the big ethical questions, and since it’s likely to be gradual, by that time, they probably won’t be big questions anymore.
OK, that was long and OT, but I hope some people find that interesting. I have been reading some articles on the topic lately, it’s fascinating.
Blackstone:
It was mainly a joke dude. Though, as my previous post says, the field is fascinating.
H/T to Rich Lowry at The Corner for pointing to this Fox story: New CBO letter critical of double-counting of Medicare “savings”
If someone does, I hope Data’s not as annoying as the one on TV. No one will want that.
The problem with your logic IR is that you assume the RINO group will not get you to the exact same place. The difference that I see between the D’s and most R’s is the D’s will serve you straight arsenic, while the R’s will mix it with water.
It’s not really so much a question of logic, Rus, as it is of timing and finesse. All true conservatives are frustrated at the party’s drift to the center. But there is no quick, easy fix, as the history of third parties makes painfully clear. We can do some things. We can toss out a few RINOs here and there…it is important to show our teeth and not just always go along.
But the Maine ladies are a good example. Would we really prefer to have two more New England leftist Democrats in their places? That’s what we’d have if a conservative third party had taken a big bite out of their support.
Now PA, for example, is a different kettle of fish. PA is an important battleground state where a conservative — especially a strongly pro-life one — has a chance to win. We should have dumped the RINO Specter in 2004 in favor of Pat Toomey.
What I oppose so strongly from Phil is a ham-handed, emotionally-driven need to just start having a political tantrum and breaking things rather than focusing on how realistically to move the GOP back to the Right.
Reading your columns sometimes raises my blood pressure Michelle. The stunning dismissive arrogance, and the unconscionable greed and self-interest of these people defies adequate description. Pat Buchanan ended a recent column on his website by asking:
“Is this the government the Founding Fathers dreamed of — or is this the kind of arrogant government they took up arms against?”
Indeed I believe his question is rhetorical. I think we are getting close to a tipping point.
spw…I’ve done a lot of rating against third parties. But if it were a genuine “pitchfork party”…hee hee hee! Whatever one says against Pat, that image of angry citizens with pitchforks…that is the stuff of my dreams! Political poetry.
Where in the Constitution is the Federal government authorized to control health care???? If it’s not authorized in the Constitution, it’s unconstitutional. It’s that simple. It’s the cornerstone of limited government. Why isn’t it challenged on those grounds? Then we could do away with Social Security, the Federal Reserve and every other “federal” program. We are up to our eyeballs in Socialism already, “health care” is just the last step.
Indeed it is!
Dick Morris said something very interesting on Fox News this morning discussing Griffith’s defection to the Republicans.
He essentially has adopted Rush Limbaugh’s opinion that there is no such thing anymore as a “conservative or moderate Democrat.” He sdaid the Senate vote shows that now there are only Republicans and Democrats.
I am not sure how true that is yet for Republicans, but Democrats have certainly confirmed Dick Morris’ observation.
Those of you counseling caution on trusting any Democrat seem to have been vindicated.
sbw, re: tipping point
I certainly feel that. I was just “defending” the Maine ladies and as I finished typing I heard Steyn saying that Snowe was on TV saying something moderate and accommodating on health care, which he found ominous.
If those two “ladies” stepped up now to take the heat off the embarrassed Dems, my whole perspective would change drastically. We are holding onto the ledge in the Senate by our fingertips. If some RINOs took this moment to grind their heels into our fingers and drop us into political oblivion, then I’d say that things definitely had “tipped.” I am not sure, then, that even third-party would be radical enough for me, unless it was the pitchfork party. And I wouldn’t really care about the ideology…I’d just be looking to use the pitchforks. Not metaphorically, either.
Agreed, Fly. There is no question of the general situation being balanced Left/Right, Dems/GOP. A lot of “our guys” are, at best, political centrist. I sure understand the urge to throw them out. But I want to try to use them more than they use us, if we possibly can.
In the “living breathing Constitution” preferred by liberals, everything is a Constitutional right; that is everything that they want government to do to us. Want to kill the unborn? Well there it is under the right of privacy, plain as day you dumb conservatives! Want to take over the country’s health care system?? Just look at the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Want to remove all mention of God from the public arena?? Bingo!! Let’s torture the Establishment Clause, to find that interpretation. Want to further your chances at a one-party permanent majority by securing the future votes of 40-50 million hispanics? Done!! Just completely misinterpret the Fourteenth Amendment and construe it to mean that anybody born in this Country is automatically a citizen.
Each liberal generation gets to pick their flavor-of-the-month cause and find specious support for it in the US Constitution. In the meantime we stupid “originalists” are just left shaking our heads in disbelief, at the utter genius of liberal scholars, and their co-conspirators in the judiciary. (sarc/off)
Exactly my point IR – would you like your arsenic straight or watered down?
I guess, I’d take it watered down, Rus. Most everyone makes that choice in the critical hour. Remember what old Madame du Barry said, facing the guillotine: One moment more, Mr. executioner, I beg you! ~grin~
Steyn just made some comments about the Dems thinking strategically and being willing to take some hits because this is their “sixty vote moment.”
That is true and their “sixty vote moment” is our Dunkirk, the moment that we need to hang by any means necessary. Later we can punish RINOs.
I certainly believe that something is going to happen. Next year Dems have their eyes on amnesty and “cap and tax”, God help us all. I believe that if the next election doesn’t yield a landslide of conservative candidates, that could be the tipping point. You could see civil disobedience in not paying taxes, or something else to starve this socialist administration of money to fund their socialist causes.
It is hard to think of a violent revolution in the streets of America, and what form that would take, but I am concerned about catastrophic upheaval. This country is not socialist, rather it is a center to right nation. And the vast majority of our citizens will simply not allow socialism to be imposed on us.
sbw, I’ve said that repression of talk radio or free speech on the internet would be a definite tipping point in my mind, the point at which they make meaningful opposition impossible. Of course, there are more subtle ways for them to get there. When we get close to a tipping point, there are probably lots of triggers to push us over.
As to violence, I don’t see anything that gives us immunity from the sort of terrorism seen in Northern Ireland or by the Basques along the French/Spanish border. There is a point at which terrorist “freedom fighters” would have my sympathy.
Watching FOX News last night I turned to Mrs Nail 49 and said, “If this health care bill passes, there will be an immediate stampede on every doctor’s office with not a single patient worried about paying the bill, because it will be coverd by ‘Obama’s stash.’ When they find out they will have to leave and can only come back in four years, the stunned looks on their faces will be priceless.”
Maybe THEN Congress will pay attention — HAH!
Good news. Hot Air is reporting that Obama plans to shelve Obama care until February to focus on “jobs and stimulus”. Pretty clear that the votes aren’t there in the House.
But what good will it do, MM & Co.??? The donkey’s already left the barn and left their entitlements dung indelibly behind! Unless you can actually repeal these programs, throwing the skunks out is just a feel-good measure!
James Greenidge
Queens NY
True. I forgot that one, the ridiculously names “Fairness Doctrine”. Definitely another potential flash point.
You got a link for that, Phil? I don’t see that on Hot Air and it would should be a stop-the-presses story if true…not some hidden comment somewhere.