The American Spectator : Take the Painkiller and Go Home

Text Size

The Obama Watch

Take the Painkiller and Go Home

By Peter Ferrara on 4.21.10 @ 6:09AM

President Obama lost the election of 2010 in June 2009.

The defining moment for the Presidency of Barack Obama came early, in June, 2009. It was one of many health reform extravaganzas to come, this one televised by ABC from the East Room of the White House, a town hall among health care experts and consumers.

Citizen Jane Sturm took the mike to ask how the brave, new world of Obamacare would treat people like her 105-year-old mother. At age 99 her mother’s heart specialist confided that without a pacemaker he couldn’t keep her alive, but at her advanced age he couldn’t justify the operation. Jane sought out another specialist, and when he saw her mother was still very much alive and enjoying life, he agreed to do the operation.

Over five years later, her mother was still living happily with her family as a result of the highly advanced medical technology she received. So Jane, still displaying her own spirited fight for her mother’s life, very articulately asked the President if under his vision for health care there would be any consideration given for a certain spirit, or joy of living, or quality of life, in providing medical care for those of advanced age. Or would there just be a cut-off at a certain age.

The President replied that we as a culture and a society have to learn to make better decisions about end of life care. And when the wise, central planning Washington bureaucrats discover the evidence shows the care is not going to improve health, they can let your doctor know, and let your mom know, maybe this is not going to help, maybe you’re better off not having the surgery and taking the painkiller and going home.

Jane just told him that without the surgery her mother would be dead, and he responds with a hypothetical that maybe she would be better off taking the painkiller and going home. And President Obama’s mind is so hypothetical and so theoretical that he is certain that far off Washington bureaucrats would know from the evidence when she should take the painkiller and go home, and could let her yahoo doctor know.

Moreover, from Jane’s perspective, this was not an issue of end of life care. She just told him that after the surgery more than 5 years ago her mother was still very much alive and spirited. But those of us who have been paying attention have learned that President Obama is so certain that he has all the answers that he never really hears what anyone else is saying.

The message from the President to America’s sickest and most vulnerable should be the theme for Election 2010, and the message the American people will now send to Washington’s ruling Democrats: Take the Painkiller and Go Home.

“I’m a Democrat, but I’m not a Communist”

To see the magnitude of the political tsunami that is coming, you have to think dynamically. The key is not where things stand now, but where they are going, and where they are going to be. Knowing where we have been, and where we are, can certainly help in knowing where we are going. But the key is to think dynamically.

Start with the brutal fact that this is not your father’s Democrat party. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and others have thoroughly documented Obama’s radical left roots, from his openly communist father, to his Marxist mother, to the Communist Party’s Franklin Marshall Davis who mentored Obama through adolescence, while his parents were off pursuing the cause around the world. Obama’s own books disclose that he was drawn to radical left Marxist professors in college and law school. And all of this was before Obama the adult hooked up with 1960s Weatherman bomb thrower Bill Ayres, the anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright, and the far left radical front group ACORN. This is all well-established public information, as hard as that should be to believe.

As Beck has so rightly asked, if Obama has grown up and changed from this radical foundation, when exactly did that happen? There is nothing in the public record to support such a change.

But Obama is not the only one. Ultraleft San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi, a nice lady whose feet are not firmly planted in the real world, serves as House Speaker. Far Left Henry Waxman, the Congressman from Hollywood, serves as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Uberliberal Barney Frank, the Congressman from Boston, serves as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Leftover '60s liberal David Obey, a self-described Robert La Follette Progressive from Wisconsin, serves as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Charley Rangel, the Congressman from Harlem, serves as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. John Conyers, the Congressman from Detroit, with his own past Communist Party ties, serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Until recently, ultraliberal Howard Dean from Vermont served as Democrat party national Chairman. Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont, as liberal/left as they come, serves as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even these folks are not left enough for Vermont, with the other Senator being openly socialist Bernie Sanders.

In the Democrat party of the past, Southern conservatives were the longest serving members of Congress, heading all the Committees as a result, where they sharply restrained the Left in the '60s and '70s. But today the former Southern conservative Democrats have mostly been replaced by Republicans, and it is the northern urban ultraliberals who are the longest serving, and now head all the committees.

This ugly and dangerous reality is what moved one recent talk radio caller to proclaim, “I’m a Democrat, but I’m not a Communist.” The left-wing extremism of the currently ruling Democrat party is one huge dark cloud on the horizon indicating the coming political tsunami. Treating grassroots voters who question that left-wing extremism with disdain and name-calling is only further gathering the storm.

Page: 1 2 3 >

About the Author

Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (332) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Brian Mc| 4.21.10 @ 6:34AM

To all those intending to run against this government monstrosity this fall: Do NOT state that you intend to 'fight' for us.

Instead, state that you will defend our right to fight for ourselves. It will be the greatest political 180 in History.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:07AM

Ferrara, you are thick or being cute: OF COURSE another '94 is coming-- everyone who isn't a naif knows that. But then Obama will use that as springboard to '12, especially since another Bush, Dole or McCain will run that year. Since '94 you proved you can do midterms ('06 was because of Iraq, or was based on something I'm not aware of) but the GOP is too compromised to do general elections, as the new hispanicized demographics favors the Democratic party. How can the GOP surmount that? no way. even if a GOP candidate won he or she would have to flip over to the Dem's immigration positions.
You are living in the '83 mindset; so am I-- but at least I know it.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:26AM

Since so many of you are interested far more in having GOP discussions (monologues) there is no point in really writing directly to you. So here is why your hope of moving from the Welfare State to the Responsibility state is a pipe dream, as the author, John O. McGinnis, rightly terms it:

"Evolutionary biology also undermines what might be termed utopian conservatism: the notion that there is some social structure in which all the possible human goods -- family values, patriotism, entrepreneurship -- will be fully and equally realized. Evolution shines a somewhat tragic light on the desire for perfection in human affairs: the different adaptations around which emotions are structured are inevitably in conflict, particularly as the environment changes. For instance, as the rule of law in society perfects the axis of reciprocal altruism and makes it easy to gain resources through trade with unrelated individuals, the family becomes less necessary as a source of protection and as an axis of commerce for its members. Western civilization, in fact, has been marked by the continuous shrinking of the extended family, so that ``family values'' today are generally a reference to the nuclear family -- a shadow of the ``clan values'' that dominated hunter-gatherer societies. One can go to a society with a less rule-oriented regime than ours (like Italy) and get some sense of the encompassing warmth of family life that is lost with the progress of law. A Darwinian conservatism recognizes the fundamental trade-offs in social life and works to conserve what is possible rather than seeking to resurrect what is dead. Darwinian conservatism is thus the conservatism of those, like Edmund Burke, who offer political reforms to meet changing conditions.
Evolutionary biology necessarily underscores the impermanence of all human arrangements. Like any scientific understanding, it echoes the Heraclitean maxim: Everything not supernatural is in flux. When a biologist looks at the behavior of animals, he recognizes that this behavior is an interaction of genes and the environment. As the environment changes, so will the behavior. An evolutionary science of politics thus has nothing in common with genetic determinism.
Because our discoveries and inventions change the human environment faster than that of any other animal, there is always a temptation -- to which today's techno-conservatives, like Newt Gingrich, often fall prey -- to think that such changes may usher in an age of harmony and plenty that will solve the dilemmas of politics. Evolutionary biology shows that this is simply a pipe dream. Our nature assures that we will simultaneously be obsessed with our relative status in society and possess unequal abilities for acquiring higher status. Thus individuals will always seek to use the government as a means to rearrange their relative positions. No matter how much wealth free trade produces, no matter how much information the Internet transmits, the central problem of politics will remain: how to empower the government for safeguarding life and property, and yet simultaneously constrain it from eviscerating civil society and expropriating property."

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:33AM

I know it is hard to concentrate, very hard; so here is the key passage so you will not miss it:
"Evolutionary biology shows that this is simply a pipe dream. Our nature assures that we will simultaneously be obsessed with our relative status in society and possess unequal abilities for acquiring higher status. Thus individuals will always seek to use the government as a means to rearrange their relative positions. "

Get it? the Responsibility state is a long, long, long way off. You will have to wait until midcentury at least, which is 40 long years. Only gullible Utopian conservatives and Gingriches don't know so. In Gingrich's case, he may be playing futurist-games in his head as he is too smart not to understand how slowly things change.

Lance Sackless| 4.21.10 @ 9:57AM

Talk a lot, don't you?

Wackypatty| 4.21.10 @ 10:22AM

But did you bother to read it, Lance?

Edo| 4.21.10 @ 10:33AM

Give Lance a break, who would read all that? Get to the point within 3 sentences and get out.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 10:40AM

"Give Lance a break, who would read all that? Get to the point within 3 sentences and get out."

Some things can't be explained in Readers Digest sound bites. Funny, usually I write in globalistic generalities (I was hooked on Gingrich in the '90s), but when I finally quote something substantive (did you actually read McGinnis' absolutely topnotch analyses?) it is too long for you!

Tim*| 4.21.10 @ 12:13PM

Some may view Know-It-All McGinnis , as one more Academic LawBoy Dweeb Bloviator.
Did He Predict The Economic Meltdown ,9-11 ?
Nah !

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:13PM

"Did He Predict The Economic Meltdown , 9-11 ?
Nah!"

who said McGinnis should have?

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 10:34AM

with a 'name' like Sackless? Patty, best we let him find out the hard way in '12. Then he'll be screeching a mile a minute. Dickless will make the same mistakes over & over, voting for the same demagogues, until he dies. He'll do foolish things and say people like me are talking to much. It's his ploy-- when you have nothing to say just say "talk alot, dontcha, boy?", like Sheriff Andy admonishing Opie.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 11:55AM

ALAN: This is just " HOGWASH"!!!!! go read some Alexis de Tocqueville

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:07PM

Toqueville wouldn't vote GOP-- he wasn't a bimbo.

If you can get a 3rd party started, then good. If not, then you are finished.

Curtis Rasmussen| 4.21.10 @ 12:35PM

Alan Brooks, closet DEM

Start a third party to weaken the conservative base within the Republican party by siphoning votes to candidates that may have little chance of winning.

It all works to the democrat socialist advantage. The dem talking points are getting boring.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 2:31PM

Alan Brooks seems to be nothing more than a concern troll. He says he's voting for Obama, yet tries to "advise" us to go for a third party, pretending he cares.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:30PM

"Alan Brooks seems to be nothing more than a concern troll. He says he's voting for Obama, yet tries to "advise" us to go for a third party, pretending he cares."

You are projecting your smarminess on me. I voted GOP in the '80s. Unfortunately, that era is gone, but you string swing voters along saying in effect "rust us-- next time it will be another Reagan."
THAT is condescending. It is up to you, you people own this country; start putting up more good candidates or shut up.

Put up or shut up makes more sense to me than Reagan's 11th commandment.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 5:42PM

Hit a nerve did I Alan? Sorry bud, You get the smarminess crown. I don't have to project anything. What I said is true, it's what you do, Alan. You constantly preach at us about how idiotic we are, mocking and insulting for even trying to hold the fort. And the only thing you have to offer is "better vote for a Third party". And nobody's talking about the 80's Alan. It's what you're doing right now. You said you're voting for Obama.

So why don't you put up or shut up, hypocrite.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:24PM

"Start a third party to weaken the conservative base within the Republican party"
This would make sense if AS was the GOP site; but since it is not no one has to toe the line-- or more specifically your line.
You Republicans have already weakened the base with weak candidates. Then you say be patient until '12, but that is wearing thin considering 3 losses in five general elections. If it was caused by nostalgia, I would understand, I'm tired of Gingrichian future-hype. Yet being rightwing merely for the sake of... venting your frustration?

BTW, I voted GOP in the '80s, didn't vote for Clinton, or Obama but did vote Dem in 2000 & '04. You think because you vote GOP that I have to? again, this AS, not the GOP.

Curtis Rasmussen| 4.21.10 @ 6:44PM

I'm not a Republican, tool

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:19PM

Only to myself.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:22PM

"Only to myself."

I did not write this. To hell with whomever did. Some wild-eyed rightwingers here.

AM| 4.21.10 @ 12:26PM

Alan - you're sounding a bit condescending here. But nonetheless - I don't buy you're argument. If people's nature is such that they will look to govt to even the playing field - then it is all the more reason that govt needs to be held to constitutional limitations and needs to be minimalized. Govt will not do this fairly or efficiently - it will inevitably lead to the corruption we see today - crony capitalism and favoring of unions. Scratching the constituents back so that they keep officials elected. It does not promote fair society. I believe people are waking up to this, as stated in the article. I believe conservativism will have the momentum going forward.

Robert| 4.21.10 @ 12:59PM

An interesting, intellectual vignette does not address the serious impasse we Americans now face. While it is true the the structure of the family has changed , even diminished, the law of cause and effect are imperishable. We ignore it at our peril. However, impressive is the author's reference to the Greeks and Darwin, the paragraph highlighted is a truism too obvious to mandate scholarly support. Indeed, I think the author strives too hard to impress with erudition.

The fact of socialism, or communism, is not as the author suggests proof of evolutionary Darwinism but of a human failing arises out of a narcissist fatal flaw causes avarice and greed, a will to power, and forgive my erudition a "wooden headedness" so writes Barbara Tuchman (The March of Folly),that causes human kind to engage knowingly in their self destruction. Socialism is one such pursuit. We need only look to the twentieth century to see the cause Socialism and its effect, the unspeakably brutal death of one hundred million people.

That America now embraces that socialism, its leaders knowing full well that socialism has devastated millions even as it destroyed the very idea of human freedom, is a species of Tuchman's "Wooden headedness." For example, she wrote of the Trojan's folly when, from Greeks bearing gifts, they took into Priam's city a wooden horse-- thinking it to be an acknowledgement of their victory over the Greeks. Cause and Effect at work.

Of course, we need not look to the Greeks to decipher this author's thesis, or read again Darwin's Origin of the Species, or wade through the excellent Burke's ten volumes of scribbled wisdom.

A high school student said it as well to me. "Man," he exclaimed, "How can this guy be so f....ing stupid! Don't he know he's going to scr.w us over good." And so he will.

So you see even children know well the laws of cause and effect; we don't require an author claims to have read Heraclitus.

Robert| 4.21.10 @ 1:08PM

Allan: By the way, I think we all concentrate quite well. I appreciate your comment and mean no disrespect.

I simply mean to point out that Darwinian evolution is not at work in the politics. Were that true we would have long since achieved a perfect state of one kind or other, just as we have learned finally to walk upright and speak in tongues.

I believe Eienstein made the point in words I can only paraphrase; goes like this

I do not comprehend all the terrible weapons may be sued in World Wor III, But I know precisely what weapons will be used in World War IV.

STONES

Radioman777| 4.21.10 @ 1:16PM

Alan Brooks sounds like an arrogant, know-it-all dweeb (or Democrat, same thing). I find absolutely no merit in any of his facile ramblings, especially since a careful analysis of his words indicate an intent to distract and dispirit conservatives. He is using the backhand technique to try and pour cold water on what is really good news.

2012 is quite some ways off, but some things are certainly predictable, among them: Obama will not change his message or methods; he's too ideologically driven. Neither will the congressional Dems, for exactly the same reason. The "Blue Dog" group may not be exactly as Ferrara asserts though, since some of them may actually hold the views they espouse. Many people are Dems or Repubs because of family tradition and so on, and insist on sticking with the party out of family tradition (happens a lot in the South, for example), but that does not mean that they go along with the East Coast/West Coast major metro liberalism (neo-Marxism) practiced and preached by Pelosi and company. In that, the Blue Dogs that truly believe what they publicly proclaim may turn out to be the core of a new, more conservative Democrat Party. (Spare me the hate mail; it can happen, especially since many Dems are realizing they didn't exactly sign up for unbridled socialism.) For the prototype Democrat in a new party sans socialists, think Zell Miller of Georgia, a gentleman with more conservative credentials than many Republicans (think Snowe, Collins, et al).

It's not very likely we'll see a McCain or Dole representing the Republican ticket in '12; everybody seems to have learned that lesson.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:36PM

"we don't require an author claims to have read Heraclitus."

Forgetting the author, my theory is: social progress is finished for now. It was pushed as far as it could go. So IMO you are gullible if you think dignity isn't a thing of the past.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 1:25PM

Why, you must be a Statist. Dignity and reverence for the Constitution are alive today, though the document is not "living and breathing," as many progressives espouse.

You may be correct. A truly responsible government is probably three, or four, or five decades away. The problem is that if we do not start after it now, the Statists in our government will have all but shut off the exits, and condemned many of us to a dependent existence under governmental fiat.

I don't agree with your argument over immigration positions. If what the Dems want is blanket amnesty and more chain-migration like what we've had from the 60's, even many Latin, Mexican, and others of that particular demographic who arrived here legally could figure out that such policies would be bad for our country. We cannot maintain a Welfare State and allow unbridled immigration into the U.S.

In the latest HCR legislation, the five year waiting period for immigrants to receive government benefits was taken away. If blanket amnesty does take place, those millions will be immediately available to pursue welfare programs! Tell me that isn't a disaster waiting in the wings! Tell me that, without lying to yourself. I doubt you can.

SEIU lobbies for amnesty all day long. It would likely improve their numbers by the millions. SEIU is a public sector union, which receives its money from the taxpayers! This type of corruption exists largely within government and the public sector. Don't you think it's time to kick them to the curb?

Jim Hlavac | 4.21.10 @ 5:32PM

What is it with Socialists and longwinded speechifying? Why, Mr. Brooks, you are positively Obama-esque in going on and on. Like the Energizer bunny you Socialists will never quit -- you've been pushing Internal Imperialism since the dawn of history. It's simple sir:
Leave us alone -- stop the taxes, the laws, the rules, the control, the mush. Go away to some collective in the mountains, I don't care.
All the philosophizing will not dispel the fact that everyone is Entitled to earn and keep their own money -- and the sole purpose of gov't under you Socialists is to take our money and spend it like you want. Geez, just get over it -- for it will all be repealed either before or after the national bankruptcy which Socialism must lead to.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:40PM

"Leave us alone -- stop the taxes, the laws, the rules"

Right, you push YOUR RULES on others instead... you get the govt to transfer wealth to YOUR FAMILY.

You don't fool me, you libertopian.

carnot| 4.21.10 @ 8:53PM

cmon now folks...look at the language in the quotes. and no one challenges the obviously hyperbolic language?

- evolutionary biology shows our "nature"...will be "obsessed" with our relative status in society?

yes...my life's experience demonstrably confirms this piece of apparent brooksian self reflection. all societies. all epochs. not only that but it's open ended anyway - status measured how? not exactly the sort of scientific certainty one wants to base predictive social behavior on.

- thus "individuals" will always use the government to "rearrange" their relative positions.

again: relative positions? what's the metric? income? power? fame? honor? philanthropy? it's meaningless until this is defined and therefore becomes a testable hypothesis.

there's no real theory behind this....just the usual abstractions that sound plausible until a second thought prompts one to wonder: what the heck...this can be manipulated to "explain" almost anything.

once again...just another furtive value assertion - we are all self focused and will use the terrorist powers of the State to advance our positions at the expense of others (with the hidden assumption that there are no other paths to realizing the same end).

SpiralArchitect| 4.22.10 @ 12:30AM

Why do you post here...really, why?

Jobe| 4.21.10 @ 1:50PM

Aren't you forgetting one thing? Wouldn't armed insurrection on a large scale work some kind of change on the communistic status quo being pressed upon us by the corrupt left? After all, it certainly changed the Soviet Union, didn't it?

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:45PM

"Wouldn't armed insurrection on a large scale work some kind of change on the communistic status quo"

The Confederacy tried it and lost. Bad causes lose.
You're all talk-- you are too cowardly for a civil war.

DandiDeni| 4.21.10 @ 3:35PM

I did read through this, and one of the key points you didn't make: As the environment changes, so will the behavior. What the teapartiers and like-minded folks are trying to do is reverse some of the environmental changes that have evolved and consequently change the behaviors back to self-reliancy.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:43PM

That will take generations, Dandi.
Besides, if you had paid attention you would have noticed that I did not write it-- it was a pro.

bill| 4.22.10 @ 1:03PM

wow... find this quote and read the whole book...'thinking themselves wise then became as fools!" it amazes me when people still think that making words eliquent makes what they are saying believable.... what you have said is ridiculous!

Brian| 4.22.10 @ 7:17PM

Current polling does not support your statements. Ron Paul came within one point in a rassmussen poll pitting him against the curent socialist in chief in 2012. Dem numbers will continue to fall this they are showing their true colors more and more.

Jerry A.| 4.22.10 @ 9:43AM

Brian: FINALLY, someone states what many of us have been thinking for years! We DON'T want someone to 'fight' FOR us. Fighting is ONE of the reasons why our government is in such a sad state of affairs. I want REPRESENTATIVES who will do my voting for me, nothing more. If the majority of constitutents in a district want a bill passed or voted down, THAT ALONE should be a congressman's ONLY concern. That's what a REPRESENTATIVE is supposed to do. I applaud you, Brian!

Pingback| 4.21.10 @ 6:45AM

Take the Painkiller and Go Home -you’re too old to spend money on : USACTION NEWS links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Unions What to DO! Take the Painkiller and Go Home -you’re too old to spend money on This is Obama and the Democrats idea of government run health care for the elderly. By Peter Ferrara at American Spectator The defining moment for the Presidency of Barack Obama came early, in June, 2009. It was one of many health reform extravaganzas to come, this one televised by ABC from the East Room of the White…

Stephanie| 4.21.10 @ 6:53AM

How about they promise to fight for the constitution.

Brian Mc| 4.21.10 @ 7:22AM

I thought that was apparent in the "Instead" comment...

Stephanie| 4.21.10 @ 7:49AM

It was apparent Brian. I just wanted to make it clear for those trolls who tend to float by on a daily basis.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:43AM

Trolls are preferable to many of the GOP blockheads at AS; though some are older, senescent, people who have an excuse.
You people can't get it into your concrete-thick skulls how long it will take to end the Welfare state?

Helen Donnelly| 4.21.10 @ 2:29PM

Dear Alan,
Your condescending name calling says all we need to know about you. Don't you have anything else to do?

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:47PM

"Don't you have anything else to do?"
Don't you, Helen?

Again:
this is AS, not the Repuglican party.

JimE| 4.21.10 @ 6:23PM

Poor Mr. Brooks, 38 years old and still struggling to obtain the coveted on-line associates degree in leberal arts.

David| 4.21.10 @ 7:59PM

Alan, let me see if I understand (bear with me I am just a dumb redneck republican) your argument is it will take a long time to end the welfare state (which it will) so we should stop trying and start a 3rd party? Typical Dumocrat. Anything worth achieving takes both time and commitment. My guess is you are really afraid we will do what it takes and get the country back to our limited government roots.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:27PM

No, you do what you want, David.
However I want to vote 3rd party; but since your opinion is that setting up 3rd party is quixotic, and mine is that the Republicans are too compromised, we are both pessimistic.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 1:37PM

The only way for this to work is for a 3rd party to completely replace the Republicans after this next election, or subsequent elections. The Republican party is not broken enough for this to happen. In essence, we need to take back the GOP like Reagan and Goldwater espoused to do.

Unfortunately, the quotient that determines control in Washington, D.C. is power. Conservatism, whilst it is sweeping the nation, hasn't developed enough candidates to entirely replace the power base of the Republican party.

The Neo-Conservatives won't help us, because they follow the Statist with slow-plodding steps. I don't agree with the argument of a compassionate or green or "whatever-else" conservatism. A sheep by another name is still a sheep, and a Statist is a Statist. Only true conservatism will drag us out of the mess we're in now, and it has been long coming and will take a long time.

saleboter| 4.21.10 @ 7:16AM

"wise, central planning Washington bureaucrats"

Great sarcasm, I hope.

TennesseeVolunteer| 4.21.10 @ 7:24AM

Well done, Peter. It is very hard to see from 30,000 feet when chaos surrounds us. I believe the American people are about to have a "Voting revolution". For every Tea Party person that goes to a rally, there are a thousand more who are just waiting to show up and vote, as our Constitution allows.
The long black train is coming for the Democrats, many of them see it coming. some do not. It matters not to us, the American patriot is going to take this country back....peacefully.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:16AM

yeah, '83 was great, Tennessee Tuxedo.
Too bad you can't get Peabody & Sherman to build us a Wayback machine.

I think the problem is you guys are 'nice' and that makes you chumps. A sucker, don't forget, is one who is gullible enough to have the wool pulled over the eyes. And there's a sucker born every second. No hope for you; my parents were terminal liberal suckers, and you people are terminal conservative suckers. Or rightwing suckers.

wth| 4.21.10 @ 9:58AM

Please don't feed the kool-aid drinking trolls.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 10:24AM

Some drink the GOP Kool Aid?
or the libertopian Kool Aid?

Who will turn out to be the bigger patsy? You or I?
Swear, I have never read stuff from people so smart but so frightfully thick. Do you really think you will know good govt in your lifetime? Let's hope you are being devious-- otherwise your gullibility might lead you into being more deluded than you deserve to be, Mr. what the frick.
And you wonder why Obama is POTUS? is there any doubt left in your mind why Obama is president?

Toobag| 4.21.10 @ 9:42PM

"I think the problem is you guys are 'nice' and that makes you chumps. A sucker, don't forget, is one who is gullible enough to have the wool pulled over the eyes. And there's a sucker born every second. No hope for you; my parents were terminal liberal suckers, and you people are terminal conservative suckers. Or rightwing suckers. "

There is a saying that goes "You can't con an honest man". Those who think they are getting something for nothing are the fools. Those who wish to achieve their accomplishments in their own righ through their own labor are not fools.

SpiralArchitect| 4.22.10 @ 12:33AM

Insults, name calling and lack of substance.

You bring nothing to the 'table'.

Jobe| 4.21.10 @ 3:00PM

It is incomprehensible to me how any person who has the good of the country at heart can possibly believe that the direction taken by these latter day Trotskys (obama, pelosi, frank, dodd, and the rest) is the right one. I realize that many were charmed by obama's seeming charisma, though I never could see it, rather, seeing a not so latent arrogance. But, if one's IQ is in triple digits, the blush MUST be off the rose by now.

Jocon307| 4.21.10 @ 9:02PM

"I believe the American people are about to have a "Voting revolution".

Vol - you are so right. New Jersey voters continued that trend (started by the Scott Brown voters in Mass) yesterday when they went to the School Board elections and, for the first time since the 1970s voted down the majority of school budgets.

People are finally paying attention. I myself have never voted in a school board election until yesterday.

They did this to show support for Gov. Christie, to show defiance to the teachers unions, and to signal the pols that they are PAYING ATTENTION.

Obama has basically spit in the eye of any American who doesn't agree with him.

And I for one do not see any kind of big economic recovery between now & november.

They ain't seen nothing yet.

Jeremy| 4.21.10 @ 10:48PM

Congratulations JoCon, you just voted to harm the educations of thousands of young people in your state, many of whom are probably in families facing substantial economic hardship right now.

Do you think about the repercussions of what you vote for? Do you want a dumber electorate? Under-appreciated, and now even more underpaid teachers who are in charge of nothing more than educating our leader of tomorrow?
I was once a GOP-lifer, too. I voted for George W. back in 2004. Then I stopped watching only Fox News for information, started thinking for myself, and realized the mistakes I made. I can only hope you, and many others like yourself, do the same.

Radegunda| 4.22.10 @ 3:29AM

Most teachers are overpaid for nine months per year of work, with longish breaks in between. Teachers today complain if they have more than 20 students per class. It was lots more when I went to school, and I started out with three grade levels in one classroom. One of the two teachers was the principle. There was no other staff at the school.

The problem with education today is not a lack of money. It's partly that too much of the money goes into the bureaucracy. It's also partly from uncontrolled immigration, and poor discipline, but mostly from the crackpot postmodern theories and leftist political agendas that have taken over the classroom in too many cases.

The public indoctrination machines are turning out the kind of gullible lemmings who thought Obama was a genius who would save the country. Throwing more money into the system won't solve that problem.

Radegunda| 4.22.10 @ 3:32AM

I meant to write "One of the two teachers was the principal." We were taught spelling when I went to school. Today's educrats tell students that rules of spelling and grammar and punctuation are oppressive impediments to their creativity.

xcon| 4.23.10 @ 7:43AM

Good for you Jocon!!
The teachers unions and AFSCME are ruining governments. It's about time they get reined in.
We need a PATCO putdown for all these union clowns!!

Tina Stallings| 4.22.10 @ 11:20PM

We are also turning over every rock to run the vermin incumbancy out; Democrat or Republican.

John Drake| 4.21.10 @ 7:48AM

".....The result will be an opportunity for a Republican New Deal, a remaking of the welfare state into the empowerment society, resulting in a much smaller government, and much greater long-term prosperity. "

I pray this last statement can be realized. Every time the Republicans regain some control of Congress, these ideals are generally given second class treatment while they pursue business as usual that ends up slowing the growth of government but never reversing the trend. Both Bushes are a case in point. Being Republican is not enough as recent history has shown (RINO's), the majority must be principled conservatives in almost every sense of the word. Are there enough of these individuals currently in public office or able to run for these offices out there? I certainly hope so but I haven't seen proof of it.

Jocon307| 4.21.10 @ 9:03PM

"Both Bushes are a case in point."

NEVER ANOTHER BUSH - sorry Jeb.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:30PM

NEVER ANOTHER BUSH

Did you think that in 1993?

Deborah D | 4.21.10 @ 8:10AM

Lets' hope, Mr. Drake, that when/if Republicans do take control of Congress etc., that the Tea Party doesn't just fold its tent (I don't think it will)...If they don't, they will hold Republicans' feet to the fire. They know the Tea Partiers will do everything they can to defeat any politician who doesn't fight for limited, consitutional government.

Griff| 4.21.10 @ 8:20AM

Ahh, November. I can't wait. Are we there yet?

coal carrier| 4.21.10 @ 8:24AM

I wonder if Matthews & Klein will view this article as “sedition”.

Howard| 4.21.10 @ 8:31AM

I like the tone of the authors comments. However, let us not forget that only 18 months ago, the conventional wisdom was that the GOP and by extension, conservatives were extinct. I never believed that. I also believe the Democrats will survive. My hope is that they move more to the Center. The party since 1972 and McGovern has mostly moved to the left. The old muscular JFK, Scoop Jackson component has morphed into Waxman, Obey, Frank, etc. Obama represents the culmination of this philosophy. Hopefully, it will come to an end.

JimP| 4.21.10 @ 8:43AM

If Obama and the Dems push Amnesty this year, I think a 100 seat win for the GOP in the House is greatly increased. Paraphrasing Peter, this will just add to the building tsunami and projecting the result = 100 seats(?). Possible.

Ange56| 4.21.10 @ 3:26PM

I think you're right Jim, many trade union members I've talked to won't stand for this. W got better than 40% of their vote, many are for fiscal sanity and hate this leftward lurch. Of course repealing the welfare state will help enormously, many illegals simply wont come if they know that a meal ticket is no longer available.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 9:09AM

Mr. Ferrara,
Thank you for the "logical" sequence of events in our "dynamic" situation.
One problem:

Communizers, (pardon the shorthand), have historically never been too concerned about public opinion.
(How do you like that for understatement?)

Don't you know the "Left" is reading the tea-leaves, and our mail, on a daily basis?
Don't you know they are hearing the daily drumbeat of "uh oh", from Rush, Levin, et al?

Don't you know, they have "activists" reading every word on sites like the American Spectator?

I can't believe they are going to simply sit on their hineys, and watch all of your projections flush them down the toilet of history.

So,
The questions in my mind are, what are they going to do about it? Or try to do about it? Just how far will they go to satisfy their new-found addiction to power?
Their lies and obfuscations are already worn thin enough to be transparent, so that won't work.

Skewing huge differentials in votes in November seems hardly possible, though maybe I have misjudged their ability to effect a massive "mail in ballot" campaign of Mickey Mouses.

I wonder just what they might plan for election day itself.
Finally, my mind quietly casts its eyes out into the international arena. That arena is certainly "dynamic".
Thoughts?

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 10:06AM

Tex, you are the most forthright guy on this blog, more is the pity for you. Too many conservatives have a Second Coming expectation of politics-- another Reagan will appear in the clouds to lead us to a New Jerusalem located in a shining city on a hill. Maybe.

But you and I wont live to see it. You're an old Texican, I'm a middle-aged Midwesterner.

GreyLion| 4.21.10 @ 12:55PM

AB,
you sound pretty mad son, you going through menopause?

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:52PM

"you sound pretty mad son, you going through menopause?"

You're the grey one. Mad? yes, but look at all the hate on this blog!

GreyLion| 4.21.10 @ 5:56PM

Al,
yup, I have that t shirt, I'm far more reasonable now. Hate? I don't think you are old enough to know what real hate is, yet. I hope you never know.

copy cd dvd | 4.21.10 @ 3:00PM

Ahh, November. I can't wait. Are we there yet?

xcon| 4.23.10 @ 7:52AM

There is not much the dems can do other than the subterfuge of disguising who they really are.
It worked in 2006 and 2008.
Can they perform political triage on themselves and limit their midterm losses?
Did the middle America learn anything from the dem deception?
We will not know until November.

EastTexasRancher| 4.21.10 @ 9:12AM

Let's reflect on painkillers that Obama says he'd like to give old people when he sends them home. I have my mother's case as an example. Last summer at 82 mother's gall bladder went south so quickly it affected her liver and had to come out. As we left the hospital I stopped by a pharmacy to fill all her medications. One of them was for hyrocodone, to be taken for surgical pain.

The pharmacist called me over to talk to me and instead of receiving instructions on medications what I was ask nearly caused me to flip out. He asked if I wanted to fill my mother's pain meds. Of course, I responded, she just had surgery. Well, he said, the medicare agency will not fill any pain meds for medicare folks, unless they were Hospice. Their response was she was too old to receive pain medication. I thought he was joking and made him call the insurance number and explain mother had surgery. It did no good. I bought her the medicine but had to pay for it on my on. This is not the only time, nor is she the only person facing this.
The idea that Obama's notion of sending folks home with pain meds is qualified by the fact his new plan will only allow over the counter pain meds for those folks he wants to send home. This is absolutely horrendous and shameful.

From my rancher's view....we treat our animals better than Obama would.

Deborah D | 4.21.10 @ 9:34AM

Ms. EastTexas -- What a horrible story. My sympathies to you and your mother. My God, what is wrong with people who make such rules?

God bless you both.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:52AM

"God bless you both.""

They had both better hope so! And get down on their knees and pray good-- and keep praying.

GW| 4.21.10 @ 12:28PM

And Darwin help you, Alan.

ET| 4.21.10 @ 5:33PM

Darwin evolved into a monkey's uncle and has not been seen since.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:54PM

Darwin? you're the social darwinists.

Dan Hirsch| 4.21.10 @ 9:28AM

They are doing what community organizers do, rigging the game. In Wisconsin, the state house and senate democrat majorities are trying to ram through laws that make voter fraud far, far easier.

Look at this! They are pushing through online voter registration which cannot be challenged, automatic registration for almost anyone who contacts state government, and restricting poll challenges to only residents of the county. So ACORN or whatever they call themselves now can gin up voter registrations on line from New Orleans and then bring busloads of "voters" to vote without having to show identification under state law. Who can challenge these "voters", not the attorney dropped in for election day poll monitoring, unless he or she resides in the same county. (They were trying to make that the same ward!)

Result voter fraud made easy. Guess who these bused in voters are going to vote for. I'm pretty sure it's not Paul Ryan!

Angry about Obamacare, cap and tax, the new "Too big to fail, but not too big to nationalize financial reform bill"? Want to do something about it now? Go look at your state rules about voter registration and start making noise about voter fraud.

Better do it now, fall will be way, way too late!!

"Don't tread on me!"

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 10:16AM

It's understandable some of you are radical conservatives who want to "change things" quickly.
But you can't comprehend that Reagan was specific to the end of the Cold War? that he was of a generation that had dignity if nothing else; but today's youth have everything but dignity?
I just hope you are all disingenuous; would rather read guile than gullible comments.

Richard| 4.21.10 @ 11:42AM

Yes, democrat voter fraud is very real but it is not new. Dem fraud in Chicago supposedly elected JFK instead of Nixon. LBJ was the exemplar of voter fraud in Texas with the Pharr County machine insuring his victory.
Remember recently in Democrat King County, Wash. they kept counting newly discovered votes until the democrat gubernatorial candidate won. It is a problem that can only be overcome if Republicans win big enough to negate the fraudulent votes--and then ensure that it won't happen again.

JJ| 4.21.10 @ 9:46AM

It won't be enough for me to defeat the democrats and Obama. I want this jerk to be humiliated. I hope he writes a book that no one reads. I hope he gets a TV show that no one watches. I hope he's barred from the Hall of Fame. I hope he winds up on a banana farm in Venezuala. And when we get a conservative republican elected he or she can say "My fellow Americans ... our long national nightmare is over."

But let me point out that before we defeat Obama/Democrats we must defeat the media that elected and protects these communists. Our national liberal media is the great poison of America. Americans must tell MSNBC and the NY Times and the rest of them to go to hell!

We must storm the media castle and re-take our country.

And if you want to dress in camo when you go to the polls it's cool with me!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:54AM

"It won't be enough for me to defeat the democrats and Obama."

YOU?? WHAT SORT OF RIGHTWING MEGALOMANIAC ARE YOU.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 10:27AM

Heh Alan: Hmmmm.... Sound like a PATRIOT to me.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:12PM

Patriotism? you mean in Mex-America? ask Old Texican about what is brewing along the border.

The patriot game is over, you are just picking up the pieces.

JJ| 4.21.10 @ 9:43PM

I am the polar-opposite of the LEFTWING MEGLOMANIAC who lives in the White House. I cling to my religion, my guns, my money and the US Constitution. And I listen to Rush Limbaugh at lunch. Today at lunch I had a very nice Chicken-Bacon-Ranch footlong sandwich from Subway. The sales tax was $1.12.

k@w.com| 4.21.10 @ 5:56PM

"I want this jerk to be humiliated. I hope he writes a book that no one reads. I hope he gets a TV show that no one watches. I hope he's barred from the Hall of Fame."

This is the key: you are so frustrated you can't remember you said the same of Clinton.

JJ| 4.21.10 @ 9:48PM

No, I liked Clinton way more than Obama. Clinton did what the Republicans thought was best. I think Clinton is the one whose frustrated. He regrets not being Obama. And no one read his book, takes him seriously or is voting him to the Hall of Fame.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 9:49AM

"Too big to fail, but not too big to nationalize financial reform bill"? Want to do something about it now?

C'mon. It's a demagogue's game, Dan. People hate govt but want the govt to help them & theirs.
They want their wealthy grandparents to get funds and services! You can't see that? you really can't grasp that it is a game of political chicken?

Or maybe you just like sports alot?

go away| 4.21.10 @ 1:13PM

Alan, just shut up and die already!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 5:59PM

"go away | 4.21.10 @ 1:13PM
Alan, just shut up and die already!"

'go away',
Give us better candidates to vote for and we will go away. You keep jerking us around-- saying you'll do better the next time, but you let us down election after election.

Red Yankee| 4.21.10 @ 10:10AM

Well said Mr. Ferrara. The only support the president is having with the general public is that he seems to be a "nice guy" or is "one of us". The only liberal defense of the president falls along one of these lines. People with common sense judge people by their actions, and if we look at what the President and Congress have been doing over the past 18 months you'll understand why MANY people are ticked off. Will the President change? No, and your comment below says it best...
"But because President Obama in truth is a hardened left-wing ideologue, as shown by his background I predict he will not be able to successfully triangulate the Republican Congressional majorities as Clinton did."

JOHN MONTE| 4.21.10 @ 10:13AM

ONCE AGAIN TEH BEST WAY TO DEFEAT PARTS OF HEALTHCARE IS
SEPRATION OF CHRUCH AND STATE

GOVERNMENTS CAN NOT MANDATE THE CARE AND ABUSE OF A BODY OWNED BY GOD WITH PAIN AND SUFFERING A MAJOR PART OF RELGION DOCTRINE AND TEACHING

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 2:05PM

You can claim a body owned by God that shan't be violated by the government, but don't bring that "separation of church and state" crap in here.

As it is defined today, SOCS is an affront to our first principles and the founding of this country. ACLU abuses the Supreme Court decision of Hugo Black to keep an "impenetrable wall, high and mighty, between church and state."

The idea that we cannot have a national day of prayer, the Ten Commandments above the steps to a courthouse, a manger scene on public property, these are all affronts to religious liberty.

The First Amendment to the Constitution states that the U.S. government shall make no establishment of a religion, or a theocracy. When this country was founded, there were colonies and then States that required officials in public office to adhere to an oath of faith, and such practices were not un-Constitutional. Such decisions were left to the States, and their people, by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. It is up to the States whether they establish such things as State religions and State languages, and though the last State churches were abolished long before Hugo Black came into existence; His vision of a complete separation of church and state, all the way down to the level of the community or the citizen, is blatantly wrong and should not be adhered to(Hugo Black had a personal vendetta against the Catholic church, and thought that they kept too much of the wealth they collected for themselves).

That a group of disgruntled atheists in Wisconsin lobbied for a judge and got the national day of prayer banned is just a complete boondoggle to me. I would argue that a "national day of prayer" does not constitute the U.S. telling its citizens to engage in religious activity, though prayer almost no secular tie to reality. It would be like saying Earth day is a day that the government mandates that we worship the Earth and plant trees.

bobbcat| 4.21.10 @ 10:20AM

Wow, Alan. You really are a piece of work; you have the troll bit down quite pat. You must be brimming with pride. LOL.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:03PM

"You must be brimming with pride."

You're the conceited one, calling yourself 'bobbcat'!
Hey tiger, go get 'em boy. RRRRoar!

Beef| 4.21.10 @ 10:20AM

Excellent article, although I wouldn't count out the left-wing cabal and their media empire just yet. I'm sure they have a few surprises set up for the August-October timeframe.

I think the parallels to Clinton are stronger than you admit. Clinton had a disastrous first two years, when he swung hard to the left of where he had campaigned. He was forced after '94 to accept the Gingrich agenda. Although he was lucky to have served during an economic boom time (low oil prices after the Gulf War, the end of the Cold War cost savings, the internet boom), it was only losing the congress that saved Bill Clinton's presidency. Obama could decide to go this way as well, limitng the effectivness of Republican reforms while taking credit for any economic turnaround.

ColoradoWest| 4.21.10 @ 10:21AM

I wish I could be as positive as you Peter regarding where things are going and what will happen.

I just don't know if there are enough of us left in the country to turn it around.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:14PM

Correct,
if you live in Colorado you know that a Tancredo hasn't a prayer to get elected governor of CO, let alone anything higher up-- not even a cabinet post.

AngryRacistCracka| 4.21.10 @ 12:56PM

This is a classic snotty-nosed Regressive's trick: Putting words in someone else's mouth. First of all, what makes you think CW lives in Terrible Tom's district? If you had ever dared to venture beyond that reactionary leftist cocoon of yours, you might actually know that Colorado has seven districts. Second, we have a RINO by the name of Scott McInnis and a Democrat named John Hickenlooper running for governor. Nobody is challenging either major-party candidate. Tancredo? He's not even running for brand inspector.

Mr. Tancredo hasn't mounted a serious run for elective office in four years, his last run for Congress. He admitted on local TV in spring 2008 that his presidential "candidacy" was all about calling attention to illegal immigration, and that he had no chance at all of getting nominated, let alone being elected.

I live in Terrible Tommy's district. You're probably a thousand miles away from it. I know Terrible Tommy personally. You don't. So, unless the Almighty has bestowed upon you remarkable gifts such as the ability to read the minds of strangers residing in different time zones, I suggest you think long and hard before making a fool out of yourself... again.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:10PM

"Tancredo? He's not even running for brand inspector."

That's what I mean, you dumb CRACKER! a serious border-management candidate wont get elected.
I live in the Front Range-- and no, not in Boulder.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:37PM

Since your handle is AngryRacistCracka, I want to put as much distance between us as possible, so wont tell you exactly where on the front range I live; but am near Berthoud, Longmont.

teo| 4.21.10 @ 10:26AM

Way to buck conventional wisdom and predict a Republican landslide! You're really going out on a limb. I bet you predicted that McCain would win Indiana, too! And that the Ohio voters would jump on his ship as soon as he wrapped up the nomination.

If the Democrats lose seats in '10, it will be nominal. The GOP is the party of Wall Street. That is why they'll never get back the Senate or the House with this group of wackos.

Look at Marco Rubio, the prize-fighting tax cheat! Suddenly Crist isn't looking so bad. And, that nutcase running in Nevada?! "Let's trade a chicken for a labor/delivery procedure." Come on.

Don't tread on me.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 10:49AM

Heh TEO, LIBERTY,TRUTH, CONSTITUTION, FREEDOM and awakened PATRIOTISM Will be hard for the dem's to beat . It's a tsunami man.......You're on the wrong side. I hate to wish for November when after a long winter, spring has finally come. With this turn around to happen with your sure defeat, company's will be come unfrozen, with the election alone and the good folks will get backto work!!!!!! And this chaos....will end.

Teo| 4.21.10 @ 11:01AM

Are you following the earnings season? Try taking a look. Companies are back to making real money, as the credit markets have begun, finally, to thaw. Apple, AT&T, Chase, Verizon, etc. Why are these companies making money? One reason is that the stimulus bill, opposed by nearly every GOPer, cut some consumer taxes (which triggered consumer spending) and compelled government spending (which led to firms hiring more employees).

The employment will now take shape, as consumer and wholesale spending increases.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:26PM

"The employment will now take shape, as consumer and wholesale spending increases."

Teo, she is talking past you-- at cross purposes-- she WANTS the economy to falter so Obama will be blamed. Mimi doesn't care, she's an ideologue, not a conservative.
Remember how Limbaugh said he hoped Obama would fail, and Gingrich replied, "that's irrational" ?

That's Mimi!

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 8:22PM

Here you have the absolute PERECT example of what Tyrrell was talking about in his latest article. How the Leftists labels conservatives the Idealogues!
When the exact opposite it true.

Alan cannot stand conservatives. No Liberal can.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 2:13PM

Too bad the main drivers of job production in the economy are small businesses. We're not out of the woods yet, you dolt, just because the larger businesses are turning a profit.

Also, when is a government subsidy considered a tax cut? Many people who weren't paying taxes simply got more money than they normally would via their "refund," and less people paid any taxes at all.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:19PM

"I bet you predicted that McCain would win Indiana, too! And that the Ohio voters would jump on his ship as soon as he wrapped up the nomination."

Mimi wont listen, she's as punch-drunk on GOP Kool Aid as Ted Kennedy was drunk on the Dem's.
Mimi thinks the GOP is still conserving anything.

Let her find out the hard way and waste the next two and a half years.

Greg| 4.21.10 @ 10:44AM

Bottom line....if we don't get rid of these liberals and put a stop to their policies in November, America as we know it will never resurface.

greg| 4.21.10 @ 10:47AM

you people are so funny. many of the problems we are facing are a result of a couple decades of steadily trying to lower taxes and decrease regulation, and simply let the markets and business regulate themselves. this clearly has not worked as many many stats show, the middle class has become more and more pinched, living wages are stagnant, while the wealthiest part of the country continue to reap all the benefits and have gradually become more and more wealthy. And yet, so many people still continue to chant the mantra of lower taxes and smaller government? what we need to do is to have smarter more effective government, and continue to evaluate which programs work and which ones dont.
The republicans are very adept at whipping up antigovernment sentiment so they can regain power, but they have never really been about small government, they just focus their governmental efforts on the upper teir of society and continue to have faith in the idea that wealth will trickle down. i think its pretty clear that those policies have failed miserably over the last 20 years. but the voters never seem to learn. reelect a republican majority? youve got to be kidding me. did you people not learn anything in the bush years? one year of obama in office is enough to raise a screaming angry mob? while 8 years of bush pushing through policy after policy, wars and tax cuts for the wealthy and you all sat silent? where were the antigovernment rallies when bush was violating your constitutional rights with illegal survelance programs, torture and detainment and hiring huge private firms to run many governmental and military contracts at vast profits? this didnt piss you people off? but attempting to get helathcare to millions of uninsured people is enough to make you get out the pitchforks and torches?

teo| 4.21.10 @ 11:25AM

I know. It's like, "Let's turn this place into Somalia!!! No taxes. No government spending. What a dream!"

And, I love the constant repetition of "The Democrat Party." If they say it enough, they seem to believe that it will make Democrats sound stupid or something. It's the Democratic Party. I don't know anyone, other than right-wing folks, who call it the Democrat Party.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:31PM

Mimi is becoming hysterical below , "mega mega mega, disgust, tyranny, founders, vigilant, paul revere, betsy ross, ethan allen, the blind man in the bleachers..."

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 4:11PM

Oh be quiet, Alan. Enough of you loser men with the "hysterical" women tactic. You're never going to shut us up, wimpy doodle!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:13PM

"You're never going to shut us up, wimpy doodle!"

And you'll never shut us up. Your problem, Marge?: penis envy.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 7:58PM

You talk just like the other perverts around here. Maybe Curtis Rasmussen is right. One creepy troll, many names. Don't like the women looking better than you, eh?
Loser.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:41PM

"Don't like the women looking better than you, eh?"

True. We agree for once! No one wants to be plainer-looking than thou.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 11:55PM

Hey scuzzbucket~ I wasn't referring to your physical appearance, but your despicable character. Snake.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 11:35AM

Greg..... Why no protest when Bush was President?? Because , then the adults were in charge. Now, these "KIDS" ... don't know what to do. The current crew of dem's is turning too far to the left. The country is totally uncomfortable. Also they have no HONOR!!!! Honest Greg, everyone is alarmed. It's universal, it's a sort of mass consciousness. Get out there, Talk to the folks on the street, there's mega , mega disgust,fear, and anger. We NEED grown-ups in Washington. Also , give a thought about this......... Have you read the book, LIBERTYandTYRANNY? It has brought this nation on a new course. We now appreciate the FOUNDERS,and what they wanted for this country, How wise and yes their eternal gift of how we should stay FREE, and how we all should be vigilant in every generation. Believe me this is a MASS MOVEMENT......Join us!!!

Teo| 4.21.10 @ 11:41AM

I've always appreciated the founders. They were brilliant. They created a government that has stood the test of time for over 225 years. It's a government that's stable but one that can change.

It didn't take having George W Bush in office for me to appreciate the founders. Why did it take having Barack Obama in office for yourto appreciate the founders?

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 12:12PM

WE Americans,patriots have always appreciated "THE FOUNDERS" but we were able to go about our ' FREE LIVES" . Now, we have a anti- american, socialist, marxist group running the show and to be frank, we are scared to death. We don't want to lose our country and our FREEDOM!!!!! darn'it

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:35PM

You aren't free, Mimi?? how are you suffering so much?
You pity your wittle-bitty self. You are doing better than most in the world.

AngryRacistCracka| 4.21.10 @ 12:59PM

The union must be paying by the word. You sure put out a lot of them, troll.

lomein987| 4.21.10 @ 2:00PM

lmao.

Alan Brooks has it all figured out - but at the same time he thinks anyone else who has it all figured out is drinking kool-aid.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 1:22PM

Alan: Never indulged in self-pity,not at all the type Also not the ideologue type. But why the personal fishing ........My ,...I maybe pushed your buttons????

Teo| 4.21.10 @ 3:06PM

Anti-American president? Anti-American Congress? Really? Can you get any more American than to serve as a state legislator, a Constitutional Law professor, a U.S. Senator and a U.S. President?

Mimi, what planet are you on?

Here on earth, we have a hardworking president and a hardworking Congress that is getting things done. Sure, the GOP slows everything down but Congress and the president are accomplishing some stuff.

And, now it's time for a solid Supreme Court pick. I know, the Palinistas will hate whomever Obama selects, but the Congress will likely confirm her (or him) because Obama's team usually does the vetting pretty well.

wtf| 4.21.10 @ 4:22PM

Obama's team usually does the vetting pretty well.

lmfao, oh that was rich! lets see, where to start. a "truther", a loon that want animal litigation rights, and too many tax cheats to mention, oh, and fisting kits for ALL! Maybe someone should tell his team vetting is spelt with V!!!

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 5:19PM

Teo,
I am sure The Rev. "GD America" Wright, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, Bertha Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and most of the other ANTI AMERICAN scum with whom the Obama's hang out with would agree with you.

Unfortunatly, actions speak louder than words and if you really believe that drivel you just wrote then I am sorry for you.

Facts are stubborn things as the old saying goes and by what I have seen Obama is a radical left-wing anti-American, anti-Israeli, idealogue!

What planet are you from?

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 5:39PM

Heh TEO........ Yes I'm an earthling,..... a about the SCOTUS thing , from an avid, passionate patriot to you my friend. IT WILL BE A LONG HOT SUMMER.... can't wait for the games to begin

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:19PM

Teo,
these people wont listen; they forget that Reagan Democrats (actually, small case 'd') exist. They come here sometimes with handles like AngryRacistCracka (he must live near Colorado Springs) trying to blow off steam, but it does them no good.

Radegunda| 4.22.10 @ 3:35AM

Do you expect anybody to be persuaded that an illiterate ignoramus like yourself has any insight into what's been happening in this country lately?

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 2:30PM

You obviously don't understand conservatism. A government cannot be run without some taxation, but there is a point where taxation starts to choke a productive market economy. Unfortunately, one cannot lower taxes and continue to raise government spending via the "wish" principle(Wish in one hand, @$#! in the other, see which one fills up?).

Your comment about the health care reform being enough to stir us up? Hell yes. For the reason that you argued? What are you smoking?

This is just a continuation of corporatist/Statist governmental practices. The Fed. gets to choose winners and losers in the insurance market, gets to regulate them, gets to tell everybody in the U.S. to get an insurance policy approved by the government, or get bent.

I don't understand your view of liberty, if you think something so reprehensible as the U.S. government telling me I have to purchase a product or service from a third party for my own "good" or health.

Also, this new law will still fail to insure hundreds of thousands, if not a few millions of people still(Among its many other failures). The CBO said so, itself. Get off your moral high horse and see reality.

If the Democrats were really interested in the "good" of society, they wouldn't be considering these corporatist practices, otherwise called crony capitalism. When the government chooses winners and losers, nobody really wins. Statism is a quick rush to the top of the mountain, right before the whole thing comes toppling down. Enjoy the trip, but that fall is a doosie. Look to the past for some wonderful examples of failed Statism. USSR, anyone?

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 2:56AM

You're correct on at least one point. The Republican party of the last couple decades has done practically nothing to decrease or limit the growth of government.

Your view on the taxes/regulations front is somewhat interesting, but misses the point. While Republicans have tinkered with deregulating different things inside the marketplace, the fact is that the government bureaucracy has never stopped growing; There have been new agencies created almost every year, and those agencies within the bureaucracy just keep drawing up new regulations. There are more than 1,000 regulatory agencies in Washington today, and the average citizen probably couldn't name 50 of them. Most, if not all, have the authority to put regulations into law without direct Congressional oversight or input. The Federal Register keeps track of all the changes, and it grows by thousands of pages every year.

Every regulation on the books affects some part of the market, whether it's an agency telling banks how they will lend money or underwrite loans, a steel mill how they can dispose of their waste, or the auto companies what their MPGs should be in their new line of cars. Companies spend billions of hours every year and what amounts to 4-6% of the national GDP coping with new regulations and an increasingly complicated tax code.

The point is that we don't have an unfettered free market. We haven't had one since FDR, and perhaps some time before that. The "middle class" keeps shrinking because small businesses, the main job creators in this country, must comply with many costly regulations -- just like the larger corporations. Even if they aren't affected by the regulations, many small business owners must hire accountants and lawyers in order to know whether or not they will be affected because of the dense, hard-to-understand language of the tax code.

I don't think you can ignore the fact that our government is becoming more predatory of the markets by the year, unless you've been living under a rock somewhere. Government spending and the debt continue to increase, and our politicians add more agencies with many very highly paid and sometimes inefficient bureaucrats, raise taxes, and legislate more entitlement for the masses.

More government is the problem. The more complex, the more complicated any machine is, the greater potential for points of failure.

You reap what you sow, and government intervention into the markets has proven that time and time again, costs go up, there are market dislocations, and the Fed. ends up choosing winners and losers. Nobody wins, because the market and liberty loses.

Gnirol| 4.21.10 @ 10:59AM

I'm really kind of baffled. Anyone who wants to pay for treatment of their 99-year old mother out of their own pocket will certainly still be able to. You don't honestly think that, say Rupert Murdoch, wouldn't continue to use any doctor he wants. Now, when you want my and your HMO to pay for the care, some bureaucrat is going to decide yes or no. And if the govt is running health services, some bureaucrat is going to decide yes or no. I don't see much difference except that costs may be reined in if more people are under one plan and companies will not be able to refuse service to one patient because they stand to lose money paying the bills of that patient. Jane happened to have a sympathetic bureaucrat. Good for her. Plenty of others have been told by their private health insurers that their 69-year old (much less 99-year old) mother wasn't eligible, she should use Medicare, a govt program most conservatives for some odd reason want to keep (could it be because it basically works OK and they are afraid the new health care system might too?), along with all the other programs that benefit them. Strangely enough, I do agree that Obama made an extremely serious political error in June 2009. That was not whipping Pelosi and Reid into action and insisting on passage of a health care bill before the GOP and its disinformation machine could trash it. Now he and the Dems have a bill that polls tell us they can't run on as one of their accomplishments. Serious political error. Enough bi-partisanship baloney. There is none, no more than there is in the British Parliament. Not the end of the world, Barack. It's past time to face that and take it into account as the you move forward.

dougfoot | 4.21.10 @ 12:02PM

Under the full implementation of the bill, it is illegal to pay for your treatment yourself. Read the bill...

Voyager| 4.21.10 @ 11:01AM

Quote:
"President Obama is so certain that he has all the answers that he never really hears what anyone else is saying."

Living in LA, I've found that that is true of nearly all Democrats these days. Say anything that doesn't fit into their narrative, and they will simply pretend that you just agreed with them, or said nothing at all.

It is like arguing with a robot.

skep41 | 4.21.10 @ 11:01AM

Can a society where people expect to receive more than they put in be reformed into one where individuals and corporations come to rely on their own resources? It can but before it does there has to be a crisis that reveals the utter bankruptcy of the statist system in a way that doesnt lead to dictatorship. Social Security and Medicare recipients and the receivers of a thousand subsidies and special deals...just about everybody these days are in for a rude shock very soon. If the Republicans win this landslide that Mr. Ferrara is predicting wont they be the ones left holding the bag when the final collapse happens? We're entering new territory here...well, maybe not so new. Its time to blow the dust off those old histories of the French Revolution.

russel| 4.21.10 @ 11:12AM

Most Americans still think conservative , tho they may vote otherwise . All are consumers of capitalistic produced goods and services . Most do not cotton to the welfare state or the desire to a recipient / part of it . We understand socialism lowers our standard of living and strips any opportunity of raising it . The voters this last election may have been duped but it won't happen again ; what is currently residing in Washington has been a rude and stunning awakening . As one poster mentions , this isn't true . Well , witness what has happened in countries where it took hundreds of years to institute an authoritarian regime - they are reversing course . We won't let our standard of living drop to that level . Even our ghetto dwellers wouldn't want to miss Oprah .

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:38PM

"The voters this last election may have been duped but it won't happen again"

This doesn't address why the GOP ran a loser.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 12:42PM

Mr. Books. You're right. The GOP RAN a looser. That doesn't mean that they WILL RUN another loser the next time around.

PS. For the record, I wouldn't wanna see any "also-rans" from the previous years get a nomination. This would be a non starter for me.

Barbor/Pence 2012!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 6:23PM

"That doesn't mean that they WILL RUN another loser the next time around."

Since the Cold War finished the GOP has been nonplussed. Three failed candidacies, plus Dubya-- that is it. The GOP track record as of 2008 is not good.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 11:21AM

Heh,
I wrote to you folks earlier about the communizers, (pardon the shorthand), reading our mail here.

They attack on two major fronts.

First, they try to insinuate themselves and scream, (or whisper), "all is lost...woe be unto us". They do that of course to try to dampen our enthusiasm.

Second, they attack with all of those thread-bare talking points I wrote about earlier. You can bet YOUR BOOTS they are not taxpayers. None of them.
So take their words as the "takers" they are.

Just scroll past Alan's posts.
He has already told us he voted for Obama...and is going to vote for him again. Nuff said.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:47PM

"He has already told us he voted for Obama...and is going to vote for him again. Nuff said."

I did not vote in the last election, as I did not vote in '92; funny, you ignore most of what I write but you latched on firmly to that I will vote for Obama next in '12 unless you start a 3rd party-- you rightwingers own conservatism-- YOU take the responsibility.
Materially things aren't hopeless-- but social progress, real social progress-- is over for now; and I'm not interested in decades from now.
Save that for Gingrich.

Curtis Rasmussen| 4.21.10 @ 3:32PM

3rd party socialist talking points troll alert from the ubiquitASS Alan Brooks.

Did you ever notice that only one troll infests threads at a time? Could it be that only one troll exists? It's too good to be false.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 6:34PM

The ONLY question concerning Alan:

Was he lying when he told us he voted for Obama? Or was he lying when he said he did not vote at all?

Or is he lying when he said he is going to vote for Obama again?
Or,
Does he simply lie because he lost the truth somewhere?

Darned if I know.

I do know a liar to be sucessful must remember all his lies.....oops.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:48PM

"Was he lying when he told us he voted for Obama?"

I said I WILL vote for Obama, not that I did in '08. I wanted to play it safe in '08 and not vote-- did the same in '92. Maybe someone pretending to be me wrote that I voted for Obama, or perhaps you are a tiny bit senile and forgot.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 12:55PM

"You can bet YOUR BOOTS they are not taxpayers. None of them."

I paid plenty in taxes, fuck you old man. I remember you months ago wrote I would go to Hell if I voted for Obama, you wrote it in a very very threatening way. But If you ever did anything to me I would find a way to have at you Real Good,
you wrinkled old dried up weiner.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 1:01PM

"I paid plenty in taxes, fuck you old man."

My, my. That superior intellect is working overtime to have come up with THAT witty riposte. Please, mental midget, continue to dazzle us with more of your supposed brilliance.

PS. You internet tough guys are so cute.

Typical| 4.21.10 @ 1:23PM

typical leftist liberal, it always comes down to name calling and insults from you.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 2:04PM

What are you going to do Alan?

Beat up his computer?

Douchebag!

Your suppositions are mindless and antiquated!
Your reasoning and ideology flawed!
You use confusion and intellectual hyperbole as a platform to rail against anything that does not conform to your "ideal" form of what the fuck ever it is that you believe.
(You hate Obama's policies so you are going to vote for him?) What????

You are a joke. A silly coffee house joke!

If you did not vote in the last election then you are just a loser without a voice in my opinion.

A Non-Factor. A Nothing.

I wish you a safe journey in your own private purgatory. May you keep good company with yourself!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:51PM

"You hate Obama's policies so you are going to vote for him?)"

No. I don't Obama's policies. But Clinton was attacked as fiercely as Obama and-- since this blog is looking on towards the midterms-- look how Clinton adapted.

Occam's Tool| 4.25.10 @ 12:53AM

Alan:

I think physical threats are unbecoming a gentleman. So is profanity.

Besides, don't mess with Texas! (TCU '84, UTMB '88)

Tim| 4.21.10 @ 11:26AM

Andy Stearn the outgoing President of the SEIU International Union and close adviser to Obama has crystalized for alll to see what goes on in most Labor Organization and what goes on to their long suffering union members.

1. No Transparency
2. Ram through contracts with no member input
3. Use Dues money for staff salaries and political junkets
4. No Democracy by doing end run on union election of officers
5. Getting Rank and File Union members fired if they speak up and try to expose the corruption.

This is what goes on in a Union culture and this is what is now running the USA.

That's why there is only 8 % of private sector folks in unions and this is why in the USA November 2010 Election the dems will take a beating at the polls!

Richard| 4.21.10 @ 11:47AM

Quite right, Tim. A Republican president and congress can outlaw public employees with a stroke of the pen, and they should do so. Non-public unions serve no purpose whatsoever except to foster fraud and corruption.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 2:42PM

Hold on, Richard. I think you might have a typo.

"Non-public unions serve no purpose whatsoever except to foster fraud and corruption."

I think you mean public unions. Public unions like SEIU who don't even give a damn about their own members, so long as they can argue them to their perspective. Here's a clip from the Vice Pres of SEIU himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn4yE6eolzo

Doctor Right| 4.21.10 @ 12:24PM

"The message from the President to America's sickest and most vulnerable should be the theme for Election 2010, and the message the American people will now send to Washington's ruling Democrats: Take the Painkiller and Go Home."

I agree 1000%!!

The Democrats and their Idiot-Boy-in-Chief have provided ample ammunition for the Republicans to use against them in 2010 and 2012; one only hopes that the Republicans have the stones to campaign on these issues, INCLUDING hard-hitting TV and Radio adds that speak directly to the elderly population so they know what's going on.

Case-in-Point: Sarah Palin scared the crap out of the Democrats when she made her now famous statement about "death panels".

Why? Two reasons:

1. Palin was correct, and the Dems knew it. They simply didn't want the public to know it.

2. Palin successfully used a standard Dem-Tactic to reach people, particularly the elderly, and that made the Dems VERY nervous. In other words, in the Dem's minds, only THEY are allowed to scare the elderly to get their votes! (Confounding the issue was the fact that, as I've already said, Palin was telling the truth).

Following from Palin's example, the Republicans MUST reach the elderly and the infirm with a comprehensive campaign emphasizing thast:

1. Somewhere, someday, they will ultimately be denied adequate health care by a Government-run panel of un-elected bureacrats.

2. Medicare is about to be slashed.

3. Death panels.

4. Death panels.

5. Death panels.

Use Obow-ma's infamous quote to Jane Sturm, as well as Paul Krugman's admission on national TV that there will be death panels and you have a HIGHLY effective anti-Obama advert.

Wish I had my own production company...

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 12:24PM

AWWWWW Folks!

A youtube song you might get a tickle out of.
If so...forward the link to friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W57aBMYKvU

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 12:38PM

Brother Ken, that is one of the FUNNIEST videos I've seen in quite some time. I've already saved it to my YouTube favorites. I can only hope that there are more kids out there like these two. Thanks for posting it!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 1:00PM

The music is tasteless. The kids are untalented. I dont git a tickle, shucks.

You vulgar old cornball.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 1:03PM

"You vulgar old cornball."

Uh-huh. And you are, as Churchill said, "a modest little man, with much to be modest about."

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 11:55PM

"a modest little man, with much to be modest about."

Makes two of us.
Yes, at least I know it. You think you could write pieces here? no--you can just write comments. So you are no better.

NavyBrat | 4.22.10 @ 7:06AM

"Yes, at least I know it. You think you could write pieces here?"

Never said I could. How did you glean that from my jab at you. I may not be able to write pieces for this publication, but I obvioiulsy have a job that requires more attention than anything that YOU do, given the amount of screeds you post here. Maybe Ken was right. You don't pay taxes. You just sit at home like every other lazy, check cashing socialist asshat in this country.

Occam's Tool| 4.25.10 @ 12:39AM

Don't attack Old Texican. He's my hero.

Seriously, Alan, all you needed to say was that there will always be thugs who will use force to oppress their fellow men. In this case, it is the Tranzis. But free men can fight 'em.

GreyLion| 4.21.10 @ 1:10PM

Ken,
That is one of the funniest videos I have ever seen and so true. Thanks for sharing.

Gardis| 4.21.10 @ 12:24PM

This was one of the most scintillating articles on this tragic presidency. It cuts right through the layers, and just says it. Congratulations.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 12:30PM

The foundation for a government reformation will be built in the upcoming election. I don't think that any of us are so naive to think that the very next day after election day will instantaneously fix all of the ills that plague our contry. This corruption of our government has been taking place LONG before I was born. The letists are WELL ENTRENCHED in the vast sprawl of bueracracy.

What IS possible is something akin to what happened when Ronnie became President. It took a little while for his solutions to undo the debacle of the Carter years, but they worked. And the country knew it. The election of a new type of public servant (one who remembers that they're just that...PUBLIC SERVANTS) will help this to happen again. Those who stray from the path will be shown the door. In my humble opinion, the anger that We The People have at our current leaders will not lessen if we are given another ration of big spending "conservatives" like we were last time. That cat is out of the bag & not going back in peacefully, or any time soon.

It WILL take time for the debacle of the Obama admin. to be cleaned up. I'm only 31. I can only pray & do my part to ensure that my children will grow up in the same country that my Dad brought me up to believe in & love. My Dad was born 2 weeks after D-Day. He instilled in me the ideals of this country & its Founders, just as I hope to do with MY kids. I just hope that I'm not going to be telling them stories of how great our country USED to be. I want to tell them stories of how great it STILL IS.

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."...Thomas Paine

As to our current & future legislators, I will always view them in the following light, no matter what their party. Only THEY can change this perception:

"A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures?"...Cicero

Purpleguy| 4.22.10 @ 12:05AM

Alas, you have no Ronnie to rescue you.... all you have is retread Divorcee Gingrich, Socialist Romney, Sarah Barracuda "I can see my house from Russia" Palin, and another Bush Baby.... maybe you can run Ron Reagan Jr.... now there's an idea!!!!

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 1:06AM

Gingrich's f uturism is smarmy prattle.
For someone that smart to play such games!
Gingrich was desperate to find an ideology, so he turns to Toffler, and boxed himself in??
A great mind can be far more foolish than a small one-- greater scale 'n' depth to the self-deception.

Only an intellectual...

Purple Guy's Momie| 4.22.10 @ 7:09AM

Come on now, son. How many times have I told you not to bother grownups when they're talking?

Tony in Central PA| 4.21.10 @ 12:59PM

As far as health care reform, the arguments in favor of it were mainly emotional and usually incoherent. We were told about the mean, nasty insurance companies denying people coverage as a means of persuading us that the government will make everything fair. At the same time, presumably, the efficiency of health care will be greatly improved under this new plan because of the armies of government bureaucrats who will begin making medical decisions as to what kind of treatment is really necessary. I suppose the exact same decisions only have the potential to result in tragedy when a private company is making them instead of the government.

edlarson| 4.21.10 @ 1:03PM

All that "evolutionary biology" blather sounds great, until you realize that human beings have a brain which they can use to override their basic instincts. It happens all the time. If this were not so, then humans would still be living in caves and hunting their food with clubs and sharp sticks.

While I agree that fundamental social change takes a long time to achieve, it has generally been worth the wait. The current socio-political changes that are manifesting themselves through the Tea Parties are not new, in fact they started with the victory of Reagan over Carter. So, we are 30 years along the path towards a more fundamentally conservative society.

If you would like some evidence that is outside of the current babble going on in our own country, then just take a look at Europe. The politics in Europe is far more conservative today than it was 30 years ago. Not only that, but you can take snapshots of the political climate in Europe 30 years ago, then 20, then 10, up to today, and you can see a steady trend away from Leftist ideology towards the Right.

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 1:12PM

"The politics in Europe is far more conservative today than it was 30 years ago."

WRONG!
No, govt is larger than ever, here and in Europe. You have a remarkable ability to get things backward. You entirely missed the points concerning evolutionary biology. You are a victim of your own wishful thinking, the thinking that has crippled the GOP since 1991.
I feel disgust at Texican, Mimi. but for you I feel sadness. Sadness you could miss almost every point, as a result be almost entirely off-target.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 6:11PM

ALAN.....You mentioning my name with Ken ? The Old Texican? WHAT AN HONOR... He's the best poster on American Spectator You got to just LOVE that Tex..........Thanks Alan .....You made my day!!!!!

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:57PM

Dizzy dame...

Purpleguy| 4.22.10 @ 12:02AM

You talk as if Europe was one big country... please. Europe is as varied as our varied States are. Who cares anyway, that's them, this is us, and we are a progressive, dynamic country - the best the world has ever seen. Conservative values have their place, but sorry not in government - they don't believe in government, so they always govern poorly. Sorry, but that's life. An efficient, well managed government is what we deserve and conservatives will never give us that. Have a nice day.

Radegunda| 4.22.10 @ 3:39AM

Look around at all the cities and states that have been ruled by left-Dems for decades. Can't find any examples of "efficient, well managed government" among them.

You're really not paying attention, are you?

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 3:03PM

Indeed. You think the Statists in our government are doing much better, yes? Their social programs are bankrupting our country, and yet they add more entitlements without tackling the other problems first. Medicare and SS are in dire need of reform, as much because politicians(Almost exclusively Dems) have taken their funds and spent them in the general budget as Republicans(Bush&Co;) have mismanaged them and allowed these programs to grow in both Dem and Rep administrations.

When a you have a government with systematic problems of corruption and failure, you do not add more systems. The U.S. government was never intended to be the complicated mish-mash of crap that it is today. It's main job was to make and enforce laws and defend the States, build roads and do other such things.

Societal experimentation was left to the States by the Constitution and the 10th Amendment, and Mass and Oregon are two good examples of State-run health care. This type of societal experimentation on the scale of 400+ millions of people is disastrously expensive and may render the U.S. bankrupt.

The aim of conservatism is to truly limit the U.S. government back to its Constitutionally defined duties. When government is as complicated as it is today, would you trust anyone to manage it properly? I dare say not.

If men were ruled by angels, there would be no need to fret and worry over the course of government. Unfortunately politicians, like diapers, must be changed often, and for the same reason.

Term limits in the near future! Kick out the Statist incumbents!

Alan Brooks| 4.21.10 @ 1:04PM

Swear, I would vote for a GOP presidential candidate if he or she was as good as Reagan.
Even Nixon; I realized last year Nixon got an extremely bad deal in inheriting LBJ's mess.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 1:21PM

Alan, alas,

won't be able to find a candidate "as good as Reagan"...so he will again bend over and pick up the soap in the shower...and vote for Obama.

Who will he vote for this November? uh huh...communists, (pardon the shorthand), in the shower.
alas!

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 1:29PM

Ken, you've planted a not so pretty picture in my mind. Is Alan in the shower w/Rahm, Eric Masa, & Bawney Fwank? I shudder to think.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 6:37PM

NavyBrat,
Heh!

GreyLion| 4.21.10 @ 6:03PM

Ken,
The boy is jus' plain stubborn. I have tried to tell him about looking for the brass rivit but he jus' don' listen.
I have also explained what trollin' is but there, again, he ain't listening.

Occam's Tool| 4.25.10 @ 12:41AM

Sen. John Thune looks interesting...2012 is several years off, lots of time.

Curtis Rasmussen| 4.21.10 @ 4:57PM

Another troll talking point.

There are no conservative candidates as good as (insert conservative hero here). Therefore, don't vote conservative and allow the socialist dems to cling to power this November.

Talking points are dull, especially when the singular troll uses them over and over...

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:05AM

But the GOP has to learn to not take the electorate for granted-- they are not there yet.

In the shower with Obama, Rahm, Frank? Gosh, I'm not as attractive as you guys. Don't you think they or anyone else would like higher class guys like you fellows. And no false modesty!

Sparky| 4.21.10 @ 1:05PM

I see people walking around with their mouths open - they are in shock at what is going on around them. I agree with the poster who said that, for every Tea Party attendee, there are about a thousand others who are of the same spirit. Don't forget the Chrysler bondholders, the forced closing of thousands of car dealerships, the TARP bailout which caused seniors who depended on bank stock dividends to be wiped out. I see lots of empty storefronts and people with second homes who are renting them out for the first time.

Tim*| 4.21.10 @ 1:11PM

" Bluto: What the f*#^ happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.
Bluto: *Let’s do it*! "

We Remember In November,Tea Party Delta's !

Stephen Breen| 4.21.10 @ 1:32PM

Is it an inconvenient truth that Alan Brooks has been yakking away for nearly 4 hours? First time hack is at 9:07AM while the latest is 1:04PM. Since you claim to be a taxpayer, what does your boss have to say while you're trolling on the web on a workday? Work nights perhaps at the local strip club poll dancing for the other trolls?

lomein987| 4.21.10 @ 2:07PM

He must have one of those govt jobs.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:07AM

"Work nights perhaps at the local strip club poll dancing for the other trolls?"

Why not? it's a redneck business, too. Lot's o' truckers-- and they're not exactly communists.

Robert2| 4.21.10 @ 1:40PM

Great article. I have read several other articles in months past where these poll analysts have written that there could be at least a 70-80 seat swing in the House.

Pingback| 4.21.10 @ 1:41PM

April 21 - Steve's Links links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

government Examiner Is Goldman Obama’s Enron? No, it’s worse Beltway Confidential ACORN’s Lewis Attacks Conservatives, Promotes Socialism Verum Serum (video) The defining moment for the Presidency of Barack Obama American Spectator New Developments in Jindal Staffer Beating Case Connie Hair Economy: No New Public School Bailout Human Events Clinton takes some responsibility for financial…

Will C| 4.21.10 @ 2:15PM

"Americans will be forced out of their big, beautiful, powerful cars into the rolling sardine cans of their European inferiors".

What was that? "Inferiors?" Are Europeans somehow inferior to Americans? That is dangerous, rascist, Nazi language.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 2:49PM

What????

Dis-liking someones' inferior car is racist, dangerous and Nazi-like language???

C'mon?
Is this a serious post or was this done as jest?

Will C| 4.21.10 @ 3:15PM

If he was just calling the car inferior, that would be fine (although European cars are just as good, if not better, than US ones).

But if you read the quote carefully, you'll notice that he's calling Europeans inferior.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 4:13PM

WHAT!!!??

No he wasn't!
Here is the WHOLE quote!

"Putting the government in charge of our health care with 100 new bureaucracies, boards, commissions and programs will trash a fundamental component of America's high standard of living, the best, most advanced, cutting edge health care in the world. Democrat energy and cap and tax policies will further decimate the economy and jobs with unreliable supplies of high cost energy, while further reducing America's standard of living with high electricity and gas prices. Americans will be forced out of their big, beautiful, powerful cars into the rolling sardine cans of their European inferiors"

Personal tastes aside about Euro-cars
there is absolutly NOTHING in this paragraph about Europeans being inferior to Americans except in the context of their vehicles!

Talk about grasping at straws!

Will C| 4.21.10 @ 7:17PM

Right. He's saying that government healthcare, cap & trade etc etc is bad. Thats superfluous to the question here.

"Americans will be forced out of their big, beautiful, powerful cars into the rolling sardine cans of their European inferiors"

The word "inferiors" does not apply to the cars- they are "rolling sardine cans". "Of" means belonging to- read it as "the rolling sardine cans belonging to their European inferiors". "Inferiors" applies to the noun "Europeans", not the noun "cars"- "their (i.e. Americans) European (speaks for itself) inferiors (Europeans are inferior)".

Without a doubt, that is what it says. Now, it is probable that he just phrased it badly, though you've got to wonder how good the subeditors are on this magazine. But read literally, it says Europeans are inferior.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 10:28PM

I think you are reading WAAAAYYY too much into that dude!

He is talking about quality of life and comparing American cars to the European claptrap that they drive!

How you extract anything else from that paragraph is beyond comprehension!

I think you might want to consider taking an English 101 class or something.

Not to mention the fact that the majority of Americans are descendant from Europe!

Quit trying to put words into the authors mouth and try to understand what he is trying to say.

You might actually learn something!

Honestly!

Will C| 4.22.10 @ 7:53AM

Look, mate, if you read the passage you will see that he calls Europeans "inferior". I'm not reading into it, and it is you who needs English lessons.

That said, I accept that he probably phrased it wrong, and meant to call the cars inferior.

Occam's Tool| 4.25.10 @ 12:44AM

Sorry, Will C.

How do you tell if someone's European? Ask:

"Are you a peon?"

Rick| 4.21.10 @ 2:16PM

The GOP will have to be extinguished if there is to be any hope of restoring freedom. The GOP is the biggest impediment to conservative rule. It is controlled by the very same liberal fascist elite that controls the Democrats. The GOP exists merely to provide an illusion of choice. Our illegitimate political system has built impenetrable walls of incumbent protection, thanks to McCain-Feingold and the liberal fascist propaganda machine. Elections are fraud. There will not be a political solution to this problem.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 5:59PM

Rick,
Thank you for that inspiring trolling.

It is either patriotic Republicans or the end of the republic. Take your pick, clod.

tatosian| 4.21.10 @ 7:24PM

This is certainly true at the national level.
Where, for example, does the enthusiastic support of illegal immigration by republican "patriots" like mccain, bush, graham and cannon differ from the nation destroying agenda of the democrats?
It doesn't.
Illusion of choice indeed.
However, the Republicans in Arizona seem to be taking a stand for their Americans. The state legislators have passed one anti-illegal alien law and another awaits the signature of their governor.
And there's also that conceal/carry law which I assume was recently passed in response to the criminality of those illegals.
Perhaps a political solution can be achieved at the local and state level.
Barring any federal intervention into state affairs.
Which is always a possibility.
Given the alternative, you can’t really blame these guys for hoping for a political solution at the national level.

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:53PM

So, because they can't patrol the border because of lack of resources to keep illegals out, they have enough police to stop every person suspected of being illegal and then deport them out of the country? How stupid can you be? That defies common sense - but it's making political points even though it won't work. Politics will always lose to good policy. This is neither.

tatosian| 4.22.10 @ 9:11AM

If by "they" you mean the feds, then no, they don't lack the resources. They lack the will.
Remember the national guard was stationed on the southern border already?
Remember napalitano called a few hundred of them off the southern border and sent them north?
Why?
Are the cities and towns along our northern border suffering the effects of millions of illegal alien Canadians?
Are less resources required in stationing the guard along our northern border?
As for police stopping illegals and deporting them, the 287g program (Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.....ection_287(g)) was discontinued at the behest of obama and napalitano.
Given that, what choice do these municipalities have BUT to pass laws that will help rid them of the unjust and immoral presence of hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, squatters, whose illegal presence is encouraged by the federal government?
Don't we Americans have the right to control our own environment and the circumstances in which we live, work and raise our families?
I think so. Hell, I know so.
But the literal live and death struggle that those American citizens in Arizona are engaged in is no more than "making a political point" for you?
How stupid are you?

Purpleguy| 4.22.10 @ 11:50AM

The point was dimwit, if they can't patrol the border with Arizona personnel, how the hell will they patrol the whole state? It's nonsensical ...

tatosian| 4.22.10 @ 6:37PM

It is not the duty of "Arizona personnel" to patrol the border.
Border patrol and the dhs are all federal entities right? Hence, we may conclude that border protection/security is a federal duty. (A quick read of the Constitution confirms this fact.)
It's also worth noting that the duty to protect our borders and enforce current immigration laws are duties that the feds have consistently refused to fulfill.
What I find most disturbing about your (and other republican/conservative) arguments against the enforcement of immigration laws is the complete and total disregard for the Americans who enact and support these laws.
That the will of American citizens in Arizona ( 70% of whom, according to a rasmussen poll, support these tough new immigration laws--- http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64572 ) is so peremptorily dismissed ( in favor doing nothing) by you conservatives is, in my view, just one more example of republican/conservative betrayal and cowardice.
Proving, yet again, that you're all pretty much go along to get along tools.
In fact, you folks, in you blind and complete obeisance to your republican courtesans, have played no small part in bringing about our current difficulties.
Again, why is your complacency and sloganeering more important than the efforts of American citizens attempting to unburden themselves of a hostile illegal immigrant population in their midst?
Why do you consistently side with an alien culture against your own American citizens.
And spare me the name calling okay?

Purpleguy| 4.22.10 @ 10:02PM

Okay, then you just want to sit down and have a temper tantrum because the Federal Government is doing what YOU think they should? You can't augment the Feds border patrol with Arizona patrolmen? Why should the rest of the country pay for YOUR border to be protected? If you can't control your own border, what kind of state is that? Does anyone even know how many people it would take to stop the border crossings?

tatosian| 4.23.10 @ 8:13AM

you boo koo dinky dow, yes?

Occam's Tool| 4.25.10 @ 12:47AM

With all due respect, sir, it is not ARIZONA's border. IT is the USA BORDER in the State of Arizona. Responsibility for border protection is a Federal, not State, responsibility. Review Constitution, please.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:11AM

"The GOP will have to be extinguished if there is to be any hope of restoring freedom."

Finally! a conservative thinking ahead of the game.

JVector| 4.21.10 @ 2:23PM

Look, I'm sorry, this is not a "great article." For credibility, I need to see quotes: what did this Jane Sturm actually say? What, verbatim, what Obama's response? Without quotation this piece is simply a narrative with little credibility.

All this socialism, Marxism stuff is silliness.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 2:32PM

"All this socialism, Marxism stuff is silliness"

Riiiiiight..
Its just silliness JVector.

Thats why Van Jones is on record as saying he is an avowed Communist.

Bertha Lewis is on tape saying she is an avowed
socialist.

BOTH are contemperaries of President Obama.

Silliness?

Are you insane? Or is this a joke?

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 6:13PM

JVector,
You lazy stupid, look up the references yourself!

You won't.

You are the idiots the communists, (pardon the shorthand), depend on.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 3:19PM

"All this socialism, Marxism stuff is silliness." ~Posted by JVector

You're the one who is truly silly, wandering in the midst of conservatives and telling us that Statism isn't really Statism. Statism by any other name is Statism, because it all has the same end. Communism, Marxism, Socialism, Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, Fascism, Corporatism, etc. these all lead to top-down authoritarian style government that is oppressive to its citizens and generally ruled by either a dictator or an oligarchy.

If you don't think we're on the road to Statism, you haven't been paying attention to recent American history. I suggest you start back about 100, 105 years ago and read up to the present. The expansion of the U.S. government since 1900 is something to behold.

EJM| 4.21.10 @ 2:42PM

Predictions are uncertain, especially when they concern the future.

Forget predictions of sweeping victories. Get to work rebuilding organizations on the state and local level that support free markets and limited government. This could be Republicans but doesn't have to be. Independents, Tea Party activists, sensible Democrats concerned about the direction of our country, it doesn't matter. We are all Americans. The government works for us, not the other way around.

We pay our bills and expect the government not to spend us into debt, or destroy the value of the currency through inflation. We expect our government to defend us from enemies intent on inflicting a nuclear 9/11 on us, to contain Iran, not bow to its mullahs.

We expect companies that fail to make products we want to go bankrupt, not be bailed out.

End Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Repeal the bogus "health care reform." No new taxes and no new entitlements until there is fiscal discipline, real budgets that pass independent accounting scrutiny, and a plan to fund the entitlements we already have. The gig is up. You can no longer bribe us with our own money.

If the Republicans can get with this program, fine. They can win the victory Mr. Ferrara predicts. If they won't, too bad for them. We will find those among us who will.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 3:22PM

"President Obama is combating the threat of Iranian nukes with American nuclear disarmament, under a shocking policy that our nukes are just as unacceptable. He lets our nukes age without the essential modernization that the Russians and Chinese are already pursuing. Meanwhile, he is slashing America's missile defense, canceling the F-22 fighter jet that guarantees American air superiority, reducing the B-2 bomber fleet, retiring the Tomahawk cruise missile, and cutting the U.S. Navy to half Reagan's level."

This is precisely the reason not to vote for a candidate that is soft on terrorism and foreign policy. No Isolationists, aka Non-Interventionists, aka Paulites.

No matter the hatred that spews forth from them for me saying this, it is too serious a matter. We need strong conservative Republicans in office, not wimpy peaceniks who live in a Utopian fantasy.

Helen Donnelly| 4.21.10 @ 3:36PM

Well said, Margie.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 3:37PM

Hi Helen,
Thank you so much.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 4:06PM

AMEN, Ms. Margie. Cheers to you!

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 4:15PM

That coming from a Navy Brat has made my day! Thanks.

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 4:26PM

Ms. Margie, think nothing of it. I always enjoy reading your posts.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 3:36PM

"What is overlooked is the broader effects this will have. If the 2010 defeat is punishing enough, the Democrat monolith will be broken. Some Congressional Democrats will change parties, others will start to vote with Republicans on key issues, particularly taxes, spending, energy, and defense. The resulting effective majorities could be veto proof."

THIS is really the good news. If Obama wants thanks for anything, it's this stirring up and realigning of values. Democrats with a conscience will say they can't take it anymore and will switch. Not only that but normal Democrat citizens are waking up to the reality of Socialism and Marxism, some having never heard about it or if they did not thinking it could ever happen here. Well it is and yes indeed the tsunami is coming.
Thanks, Obama.

Mimi| 4.21.10 @ 6:55PM

MARGIE, 2 great posts. While I'm on I want to thank Peter for a great article: I got side tracked today.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 8:15PM

Thanks, Mimi. This was a great article. It was real. It was right on and it was hopeful. When the guys write them like this, it encourages and helps to motivate those of us who are like minded. IMO.

Hey Mimi~ the happier and more Patriotic you are, the more the sleazy trolls will try to bring you down, but don't you let them. Your posts are very encouraging!

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:50PM

Do you even know the difference between Socialism and Marxixm? 20% of the population isn't exactly a winning coalition is it? Denial is more than a river in Africa....

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 3:33PM

Two different ways of running a Statist government that come to the same end. You're not winning technical points in this arena.

Purpleguy| 4.23.10 @ 5:05PM

Try this after a simple search - you can find it too... Maybe you ought to check your technical points now and then. "Socialism is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the economy works. Democracy is liberal.
More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the government works. "Democracy," said Marx, "is the road to socialism." "
"Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just the Party Secretary) have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works. The conservatives in the US are in the same position as the communists in the 30s, and for the same reason: Their revolutions failed spectacularly but they refuse to admit what went wrong." http://www.romm.org/soc_com.html

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.25.10 @ 3:38AM

Indeed.

I disagree with your attempt to twist the language, though I do not deny history; Reagan did screw up, regarding different policy decisions. He did not limit nor decrease the scope of government, and he rose taxes on the "middle class" while cutting taxes for businesses and such. He failed conservatism, as did those who claimed the mantle afterwords. Bush was never a conservative, as the linked article pointed out, but conservatives bit their tongues and voted for him over more potent Statists like Gore and Kerry.

I disagree with the statement that conservatism == communism. That statement seems absurd on its face. I may have it wrong, but I believe conservatives intend to limit the scope of government, not limit how many people have a say in what happens. I'd like you to give me an example to the contrary.

Our country is not a true democracy, you know. It is a representative republic. If you insist that conservatism == communism because conservatives support adhering to our founding document and its amendment system for making major changes, then I suppose you might be correct on this point. Mob rule, or majority rule, or the liberal/socialism ideal of democracy has never truly existed in this country as a rule of law, because we have things like the Electoral College, Senators, Representatives, and such. We are not a true democracy.

Unfortunately for the liberal, the Statists in the Democratic party as well as the Republican party seek to usurp the will of the individual and bind it to the government social program machine, as well as a regulatory machine for either controlling or nationalizing different parts of the market. Our market hasn't really been anything close to free since major regulatory additions imposed by the New Deal under FDR, and things have been getting worse since. Either the liberals in our society support placing themselves at the behest of an authoritarian government or they are truly blind to what is happening in government today.

Under the page you presented me, conservatism == authoritarianism and liberalism == democracy. Either I am misinformed about conservatism, or I am simply not a conservative, but some other animal that is largely anti-big-government; Perhaps more of a libertarian-bent constitutionalist, who supports a more limited government and freer trade on the markets.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.25.10 @ 3:53AM

Of course, I don't have to agree with that author or his/her statements and refuse to characterize or identify conservatism as some philosophy seeks to limit how many people have access to government.

The Republican party of the last several decades has failed to live up to conservative notions, and thus can be characterized more accurately as Neo-Statists. The Democrat party of the last several decades can be characterized more accurately as Statists, since they seek to enlarge the U.S. government because they cannot survive without it, and the government cannot grow without Statism.

To characterize liberals as democracy-loving people, and contrast conservatives as being the exact opposite is wrong, IMHO; At least by their most modern examples.

hippieprof | 4.21.10 @ 3:41PM

Congratulations.... you are essentially admitting what we on the left have known all along. The right "won" this game via a decisive and unprecedented disinformation campaign - a campaign of lies foisted on an uninformed public.

You should feel so very proud.

-- hp

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 4:22PM

Ok Hippie.
Keep deluding yourself some more and keep operating under the assumption that the "public"
is uninformed.
YOU KNOW NOTHING!

But hey! Keep doing what you are doing!

"Never underestimate the predictability of Stupidy"! Bullet-tooth Tony

NavyBrat | 4.21.10 @ 4:25PM

Byland76. Brother, you're tops in my book! The Bullet Tooth Tony quote is one I've thought of often these days. What a great movie too!

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:47PM

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits" - the right wing apparently has no limits...

NavyBrat | 4.22.10 @ 7:24AM

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."...Thomas Brackett Reed

Such is the case with all liberals & idiots like you. Or how 'bout this:

"Wise men speak when they have something to say; fools, because they must say something."...Plato

Since you comments lack anything in the way of subsatntive content & you just feel compelled to say SOMETHING, I think we can all see that you are a FOOL!

Bydand76| 4.22.10 @ 7:25AM

In your case I think it would be better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Pro Libertate

Bydand76| 4.22.10 @ 7:26AM

The above post is in response to Purpledouche

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 5:02PM

Hey hippieprof,

You got us won already, that's cool. I used to be just like you but waaay back when. I can assure you it's way more fun over here on the Right. You're invited.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:58AM

"I used to be just like you but waaay back when."

Yeah, we know you are a changeling.

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 3:50PM

"I predict that he will not even be on the ballot in 2012."
Me too!
Mr. Ferrara,
Wow. I loved this article.
"The result will be an opportunity for a Republican New Deal, a remaking of the welfare state into the empowerment society, resulting in a much smaller government, and much greater long-term prosperity."
Bravo! And thanks for writing it.

Pingback| 4.21.10 @ 4:08PM

Conservative Paranoia and Liberals Love Teabagging | Mildly Relevant Thoughts links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…what would the name be? Answer: Chicks With Huge C*cks Party! The best of both worlds! Well done, Sir! Courtesy of user AdamEtheredge. Mildly Relevant Sources! President Obama is a real bad man! [ Real Clear Politics ] Alarming Tea Party poll [ Mario Piperni ] Teabagging Definition [ Urban Dictionary ] Joe Baur is the writer/creator of ChicagoNow: Mildly Relevant Thoughts, Mildly Relevant News and co-creator…

Margie| 4.21.10 @ 4:27PM

I think Charlie Crist needs to "Take the PainKiller and Go Home!"

valwayneu| 4.21.10 @ 4:33PM

An excellent slogan for the Arrogant Left Wing Elites running our nation into a ditch who would let a 99 year old Great Grandmother die rather than let her live another 5 plus healthy years. Take a Pain Pill and GO HOME!!!! Every thinking feeling American who works for a living needs to take up that battle cry and send them all packing. A vote for any Democrat in Nov is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and the agenda of the Arrogant Radical Left Wing Elites!!! We have to restore balance to our Government before its too late!!!

cooperscopy | 4.21.10 @ 5:51PM

Obama vs. America
The Narrative of our political life has changed, and most agree it's not for the better. Many of the reports and statements coming out of the Obama administration are having a chilling effect on those Americans that have always seen America as a city set on a hill, a beacon for the entire world and the one great military superpower. American exceptionalism has always brought the oppressed here for freedom and those looking for unlimited opportunity to our shores. Now that Narrative is being struck down by none other than this president and his administration. He is cutting off NASA's Constellation program in his new budget that would eventually send another American back to the moon. Those of us who grew up in the sixties remember well the pride we all felt when Neil Armstrong uttered those inspiring words as he took the first human step on the surface of the moon, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Without a manned spacecraft for this country we'll have to rely on a Russian taxi ride to the international space station and relinquish our lead in the space program forever.

Most Americans were offended earlier this week when Obama said, "whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower." Well Mr. president, most Americans do like it and have pride in our military that has done more good for the world than any other force. We've freed the oppressed, stopped tyrants and dictators, and spread freedom worldwide. He has already scrapped our commitment to put missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. He has stopped production of the F-22, the most advanced fighter jet we've ever produced, and is ending the modernization of our nuclear arsenal that would continue to be the most powerful deterrent of aggression there is. He has also taken the use of nukes off the table in response to a biological or chemical attack. His administration has from the beginning played word games with the terms terrorists and Islamic extremism, in the hope of not offending Muslim countries. What a contrast to the Ronald Reagan philosophy, when he called the Soviet Union, "the evil empire," and defined conflicts by announcing, "we win."

The president was recently asked a question about American exceptionalism. His response was, "I believe in American exceptionalism just as I suspect the Brits would believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." To put it in clearer terms he doesn't believe in American exceptionalism. His confusion with national pride and exceptionalism is instructive. America is exceptional because it leads the world in Freedom, opportunity, military might, wealth creation, standard of living, food production, and of course charity to the rest of the world, etc, and etc. Almost every American seems to know this, but our president is a little fuzzy on the subject. His constant apology tour is an indication that national pride also isn't his forte. And if he wants to compare our country to Greece that is instructive considering the fact Greece is on the verge of complete insolvency.

The troubling rhetoric is not confined to the president. Recently the science czar John Holdren, when talking to a group of science students said the following, "We can't expect to be number one in everything indefinitely." It's obvious the science czar was chosen because he holds many of the same sentiments as our illustrious president. Timothy Geitner said recently the unemployment rate will remain unacceptably high for a long time, which is an unintended admission that their voluminous deficit spending and the now infamous stimulus bill are both unmitigated failures. The hint by Paul Volcker that a European style VAT, "values added tax," may be needed to solve our fiscal crisis is also very telling. It's seems our president's comparison to our exceptionalism to the European's was more than just an analogy. The very attributes that make America exceptional seem to be systematically undermined.

A recent NYT/CBS poll says that 52% of Americans say Obama is moving America toward socialism. In the same poll 92% of the Tea Party Movement believe the same. No wonder April 15th was a day of protests around the country that according to Obama, amused him as his condescension for the movement reveals he considers them the proletariat. He believes they should be thanking him for cutting taxes for 95% of taxpayers, a crumb throwing act from a sovereign to claim providence for the less fortunate underclass. But, was it true? The Republicans in the House Ways and Means committee issued a summary of the 25 tax increases Obama has signed into law. They total 670 billion over ten years and 14 of them break Obama's pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than 200 thousand a year. A recent Rasmussen poll shows 66% believe we are taxed too much. It is evident that this president is pushing us to a Western European style socialism that will fundamentally change our country. You won't hear any democrat announce their intention of a Values added tax until after the November elections and Obama's debt commission issues their report. A convenient way to give the administration and democrats cover.

The fundamental question is, Is this president presiding over the decline of American or is he actually bringing it about through deficit spending, government take overs, and high taxation? Most in America believe the latter. That is why the Tea Party movement is growing, and Americans in general believe we are headed in the wrong direction. The fate of Greece will become our fate if the trend is not reversed. The very attributes that have made America the exception, not the rule, are being eroded. Rugged individualism, self reliance, a higher standard of living and an opportunity society are slipping through our fingers faster than a Greeced Pig, if you catch my drift.......To read more...check out.......http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/

Franklin| 4.21.10 @ 11:37PM

Obama is America; you just haven't caught up with the idea....

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:55AM

An honest man for once!

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.23.10 @ 3:44PM

Obama indeed exemplifies America for one thing: The "historical" election of a non-white president. He embodies the American dream in the fact that he is successful, though he is of darker skin. "Minorities" can get somewhere in life, eh?

Unfortunately, he doesn't accept American exceptionalism and continues to undermine our founding principles and our Constitution, just like other Statists before him. This defies American values, and thus he does not embody the American ideal.

Northern Rebel| 4.21.10 @ 6:05PM

Watching Alan Brooks become the unwanted moderator of this forum, reminded me of a schoolboy who never gets called on in class, and when he finally does, refuses to sit his ass back down.

Top it off with his shameless attempt at ingratiating himself with Old Texican, and what you have here, is a poor soul crying out for attention.

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 4.21.10 @ 7:42PM

The scroll on my mouse is broken!! Gee Whiz, Alan just wouldn't shut up today, huh? Either he got his new MEDs today, or he ran out of his old MEDs?

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:53AM

"Top it off with his shameless attempt at ingratiating himself with Old Texican"

You are right here. He is only forthright in his opinions-- not just.
I DO indeed apologize.

Northern Rebel| 4.21.10 @ 6:11PM

cooperscopy:

Brilliant analysis, and easy to read, despite it's length. If only others were as clear headed.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 7:29PM

Cooperscopy,
thank you.

I gotta' tell you guys, I just got of the phone with one of the two or three brightest guys in the country.
(Some of you know who I am talking about.)

He told me that if we can't turn things around in November, that he sees NO other options but Secession of the red States...or even Texas alone.

...Let the socialist States shrivel, he wept. We can't help them any more.
He went on to say, a quiet "divorce" no fault, is the best hope.

Folks,
I was stunned.
I'm going to sleep on his thoughts.

Bydand76| 4.21.10 @ 10:35PM

Ken (Old Texican),

My old friend.
We have discussed this before.
I agree with your friend that you spoke with,
Why do you think I have have been planning on moving to TX?
I know a lot of people who are planning on doing the same thing.

Anyways.
Don't fret too much my friend. A good single malt and a spectacular sunset with an equally spectacular female is always a good remedy for anything that ails you.

Pro Libertate!

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:35PM

If that's a politician you were talking to, please, look behind the curtain. No State has the right to secede from the Union. The Constitution is a binding document where all he states pledge union "in perpetuity" - not my words, Thomas Jefferson's. Didn't we go through this once? There is no reason for it now, just because you lose a couple of elections. Good Grief, Republicans have been in charge for 30 of the last 42 years, and NOW you want to secede? Name me the States that don't have an income tax - all the rest are Socialist states then. I can think of 2 - Florida and New Hampshire - I think there are a few more. Any have no property tax? - all the rest of the States must be Socialist states then. Any State not have both income and property tax? How about a State with no income, property or sales tax. And don't all those taxes go to pay for Social programs like Medicaid, Education, Welfare, Public Health, Police, Fire, Sanitation, Library, and many, many more.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:49AM

"No State has the right to secede from the Union. The Constitution is a binding document where all he states pledge union "in perpetuity" - not my words, Thomas Jefferson's. Didn't we go through this once?"

Politics aside, the Confederacy was based on moral disingenuousness: it wanted the Western territories as slave states but hid its power-grasping.
Ill-will is its own reward. that is what hurts Confederates deep down-- the faint knowledge of how the Confederacy got what it deserved.

Justice hurts.

Titus Oates| 4.21.10 @ 7:40PM

So much wishful thinking.
The public failed to recoil in horror from the implications of Obama's statements (i.e. that bureaucrats should decide who lives and who dies).

More, we must recognize that the 2010 elections are months away and a president has enormous power to shape events. Plus this one is not constrained by the rule of law and the press, taking a page from Prime Minister Potemkin, no longer cares about facts. In my more cynical moments, I speculate that the winners have already been chosen, no matter what the actual votes are. If a Senate race can be stolen in Minnesota, is anywhere safe?

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:25PM

It's called "selective editing" .. where someone plucks phrases out of an entire speech or statement that fits the writer's or announcer's argument. Not to worry, Grandma is safe.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:38AM

Selective is correct.
They can't control their emotions, Purpleguy. They refuse to discuss Reagan Democrats, and erase the memory of how many-- very many--Dems voted for Reagan in '80 & '84, then voted for Clinton..

That is DODGY.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:41AM

that is, Dodgy of the commenters here. It's too painful to remember what happened in '92.
It was comical how Bush 41 bungled it-- but it hurts too much to laugh.

JayJay| 4.21.10 @ 8:13PM

Ken,
I know what you mean and what your friend speaks of. November is a long time from now. Even a week in politics can be an eternity. Summer is nearly here and people tend to get busy with children and outdoor activities and can lose sight of politics for awhile and we must not let that happen. This is what some on the left will be doing : http://my.barackobama.com/page.....mpofa2010/

wodiej| 4.21.10 @ 8:19PM

Why do people respond and try to argue with liberal plants like Alan Brooks? The entire thread was monopolized by him so he could report back to the Democrats that he once again succeeded in derailing intelligent conversation.

People can try to explain away and predict all they want. But the one thing I have read little about on this thread is the real control is with the Almighty God. Lest we forget that, we are in deeper than we thought.

Forget the trolls, the cynics and naysayers. Instead put your faith where it belongs-in God.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.21.10 @ 8:41PM

Wodieg,
Heh,
I don't argue with the jerks. I slap them across the chops...just for fun.

A country as splendid as America has ALWAYS had these idiots with freedom of speech.

Good for them. I can shoot holes in their stupidity better than most...and when I take the time...enjoy doing so.

I'm a Christian. I put my faith in God, while I lock and load. (smile)

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:16AM

"I'm a Christian. I put my faith in God, while I lock and load. (smile)"

Praise the Lord and pass the hollow tipped bullets?

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:22PM

If you LOVE America, then fast, hard-hitting debate is something you should crave. If you only want to hear or see what you want, then go to Fox or Rush, but if you want the lively, healthy debate by Americans with Americans that ultimately strengthens our Democracy, then stay here and particpate, don't denigrate. It's healthy for you too to hear more than one side of political debate. Even if I can't stand what you're saying, I will defend you're right to say it - and then argue my head off trying to convince you otherwise. Nobody, and I mean Nobody has all the answers. The Founders knew it and passed it down to us... so enjoy being an American - we are unique amongst the world ... !

carnot| 4.21.10 @ 8:59PM

all....you do realize that there are people whose job it is to visit blogs and provoke responses that are monitored. you can figure out the rest.

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:17PM

Oh, now there's a new fearmongering hysteria... if you can't stand lively debate and social intercourse, than be gone with you ... go with Dick Cheney in an undisclosed location and monitor his toenails.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:20AM

They wont pay attention, too blinded by anger-- sometimes almost hatred of Obama; writing he is 'commie', as Bush was called 'fascist'.

Don't like someone?: call 'em a commie or fascist.

davelnaf| 4.21.10 @ 9:50PM

Hopefully, the Republicans do not overreach and blow their chance this November and two years after that to undo all the damage Obama has so far done and will do. They should not look at the unprecedented power they will enjoy then as anything more than an opportunity to provide good governance that Americans have not had since Reagan. If this is what they do the people of this country will be very grateful and reward them for many years to come. If they fail they will endanger our democracy and may even bring about its eventual demise.

Purpleguy| 4.21.10 @ 11:15PM

If, by some miracle, Republicans actually manage to field a candidate that anyone would elect and win, they will get back to the trough and start sucking the money bin dry like the corporate pigs they are. They've got y'all fooled into believing their lies and spin, and y'all lap it up like honey.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:28AM

It's misguided loyalty, Purpleguy. They think voting for Republicans is being respectful to their parents who voted GOP. Or paying homage to the rightwing locale they live in.

Sadly, voting GOP today isn't conservative or even nostalgic. I don't enjoy it and know you don't either, Purpleguy. The GOP conserves ITSELF mostly

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 3:14AM

Then we have a long road to travel, Alan. If there are people that in all aspects seem like genuine conservatives in the field, then we should put them in office and hold their feet to the fire.

sir jorge | 4.21.10 @ 10:04PM

wow, a lot to digest

Liz| 4.21.10 @ 10:47PM

Eh. Guess what. The earth is overpopulated. Why waste a ton of money keeping people alive who aren't doing anything? I say there's nothing wrong with 'taking the painkiller and going home'.... Because I think the faster they're gone, the faster we can move on. Seriously! Why draw everything out longer than you need to? Life is just a waste of time anyway.

... Or perhaps I'm just having a cynical day.

John II| 4.21.10 @ 11:53PM

You,re having a cynical day, Liz. The proof is in the fact that you can suggest that you might be having a cynical day.

Trust me. The Obamanation is not inevitable. It appears just now to be very probable because the evil Left knows well the weaknesses of the Americano psyche, and they are eager to exploit those weaknesses as much as they can before they are repudiated.

But they will be repudiated. Of that, I am certain as I can be. What worries me is what's going to happen much later--say, the mid-21st century, when "world population" is anticipated by the demographers to begin a precipitous downward spiral. I'm worried, not because I'll be there; I'm worried because I already have several grandchildren who will be.

The Obamanation is a social order without serious prospect of grandchildren. Aldous Huxley, call your office.

Alan Brooks| 4.22.10 @ 12:31AM

"John II| 4.21.10 @ 11:53PM
Of that, I am certain as I can be."

Which might not be saying much.

Cali| 4.23.10 @ 3:32AM

The fact that anyone is still commenting on death panels really tickles me. Does anyone here really know what was changed with the healthcare reform? A lot changed, because a lot needed to be changed. But by no means was it an overhaul. It still runs on the private model. Most people will not see much of a change from the plans they have now. In fact, they might just save money with the advent of national insurance exchanges. Don't worry there not socialist conventions, but actually a place where all insurance companies can compete in a transparent setting, driving down costs. That's a conservative principle. There are some mandates for health insurance companies, and i guess this is what is called the evil obama socialism care death wave. These mandates requires all plans to have a minimum level of service. Also you can't be denied because you have a pre-existing condition. Pretty awful stuff. And so if you're still terrified that some government official is going to unplug your grandma, it will actually still be an insurance company, as the public option did not pass. But medicare is a whole other issue that is yet to be addressed by any legislation, and must be dealt with or this country is sunk. But then again since medicare is the greatest manifestation of socialism in this country, the GOP base should have little qualms coming to terms, and limiting its drain on our budget, or in fear terms, by devising standards for when the government should or should not pay for end of life treatment.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 3:41AM

A lot of this crap is white noise. Most of us have/had insurance policies that were not allowed to drop us for "preexisting" conditions or getting sick. As far as I've heard, this legislation does nothing to prohibit "gaming" the system, I.E. paying the fine for not having insurance(because the fine will be less than the cost, unless you're extremely poor because you'll either be getting it free of charge or with a very large subsidy) and then picking up insurance when they get sick, forcing the company and its other policyholders to soak up much of the cost.

The legislation adds much more bureaucracy, including many IRS auditors/investigators that will require you to validate whether or not you have insurance twelve times a year, and it allows the IRS to have access to your private accounts so you cannot skip out on paying a bill.

It mandates that the 350+ million citizens living in this country each obtain a government-approved health insurance policy, provided that they are at least 18. If you don't call this a major outreach of federal power, I can't say you're much too bright. While the system is still somewhat privatized, our government gets to be involved in yet more crony capitalism, or corporatism. It gets to choose winners and losers in yet another game of government-exercised control over the markets.

This is just another piece of legislation based on political expediency rather than prudence, that makes a major change in the way that government deals with the individual without the input or representation of a great majority of the individuals in this great American society.

P.S.: If you consider Congress to be representative of a great majority of society, I'm telling you that you are wrong. This is an end-run around the Constitutional Amendment process, which has always involved 3/4 of the State legislatures(There has never been a Constitutional Convention, or Con-Con, since the one that produced our Constitution); States and their legislatures are better suited to represent the interests of their people than Congress in many cases, especially those involving what should be Constitutional Amendments. The Constitution itself has never provided for the federal government to have such control over the individual and his/her behavior, and this is tyranny and lawlessness.

Yosemeti Sam| 4.22.10 @ 3:02AM

" Take the Painkiller and Go Home ...."

Did BHO ever, in a lapse of evil conscience, consider the pain of the unborn - or the botched born - in his deliberations as an narcissistically putative EMPHATHETIC human being?

Imbued with a certain 20 years of EMPHATHETIC edification!

BHO and his dreg political retinue including the LBSM PEN1 - are a blight to America.

May GOD Almighty manifest the error of their ways - in a way only GOD Almighty may exquisitely recompense.

November - for starters!

Radegunda| 4.22.10 @ 3:41AM

"Just take a painkiller" should be our definition for DemCare. And it comes straight from the donkey's mouth.

Suss| 4.22.10 @ 5:23AM

I think the predictions will not pan out.

First, voters still correctly blame Republicans for creating many of our current problems. Of course, Democrats have greatly exaggerated these issues, but voters still sting from the big government Republicanism of George Bush.

Second, Obama is too proud to admit defeat.

Third, while certain segments of America will snap back to their liberty-loving roots, the demographics and culture of this country have changed. Thus, there will be many who favor the permanent expansion of the liberal entitlement system.

Only economic calamity can force us to adopt anew the constitution's limiting forces. The calamity will occur within a generation, the question is whether the United States will be able to make the necessary changes before drowning under the weights of its many mistakes.

Uriel| 4.22.10 @ 7:06AM

NewsFlash: If you're a Democrat, then you ARE a Communist.

More than that, many independents and a few Republicans are Communists.

Not having a clue what communism is does not automatically mean that you're not one.

Purple Guy| 4.22.10 @ 7:18AM

Hey everyone! My name's Purple Guy. I have to sneak down the hall to the computer at night because my Mom said I wasn't allowed on the computer. I love posting nonsensical comments & giving the written reach-around to my BFF, Alan.

Purpleguy| 4.22.10 @ 11:43AM

What are you, a 12 year-old? Use your own name, you butt pirate

Purple Guy's Mom| 4.22.10 @ 12:03PM

Now Purpie, how many times have I told you not to be disrespectful to your elders or betters! Go out back & pick out the switch that you want me to whip you with, boy!

Pingback| 4.22.10 @ 8:00AM

The Strata-Sphere » Dunces In DC Don’t Comprehend The Word “Cut” links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…the uninsured through premium and price mark ups. Those in need did not need to pay to be taken care of to a minimum level (no cadillac plans). Now we are all going to get less medical care ( especially as we grow older ) and we are now going to pay for the uninsured by hiring tens of thousands of useless and mindless bureaucrats, sucking out more money for ‘overhead’ that would have gone to…

stevor| 4.22.10 @ 11:47AM

Obummer hasn't given up. Right now he's pretending to go after the banks because he thinks that will regain members to his fan club. Unfortunately, the reality is probably that his "plan" will not be completed by election time and he'll be saying, "I just need more time, so elect my goons back to their positions".

Oldster| 4.22.10 @ 11:52AM

This man in the White House has feeling for NO one except himself. He has proved that over and over. I hope, when he gets to the point in his life that he needs more than a PILL, he can remember what he did to the older citizens of the USA. He will continue with his so called "death panel" as long as he can. He does most of what he does, just because he can, and he is very angry with the USA citizens because he doesn't like for us to disagree with anything he says.

Wally| 4.22.10 @ 1:55PM

Socialism is mainly defined as direct government control of the means of production. Do you folks here think it means instead, that socialism is defined as a PERSON who INTENDS to have more government regulation of industry? Because if that is the basis for your belief about the what socialism in the U.S. is, this argument was finished in the 1880s when the State of California and the U.S. government decided to regulate large industries that essentially controlled the country.

The posters on this website go on and on about Obama' s supposed communism, socialism, "otherness," America hating tendencies. Then they go on and on about plots, plans, and beliefs by real Americans that he is a bad person. But after reading this site's articles and comments for about three months, I have not seen a reference to one single ACTION that Obama took that could be regarded as socialist. Subsidizing low and middle income Americans to get healthcare. That is what Medicare does and Bush's Medicare Advantage do. Is Medicare or Medicare Advantage unAmerican? What has Obama actually DONE that is socialist? Lowering taxes on the middle class? Increasing taxes on the wealthy? Proposing regulation of ponzi schemes called derivatives? Increasing the size of the invasion of Afghanistan? Getting China to agree to pressure Iran? Negotiating and agreeing, like REAGAN, to cut nuclear missiles?

This is what he has actually DONE.

But I know what the response will be: He loves ACORN. I KNOW IT. He really loves the Taliban, I know it. He loves Saul Alinsky. I KNOW IT. He hates white people. I KNOW IT BECAUSE GLEN BECK SAID SO.

I know actions are not important to people here but please try a little.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 4:01AM

He has used TARP funds to bail out the automakers who should have fallen into bankruptcy and through his car czar is now directing some of their policies, possibly including a firing or resignation of a CEO of one of said autos--

Telling the banks he bailed out using TARP funds how they should run their businesses through another czar and regulatory oversight--

Pushing for financial "reform" that will give him a $50 billion slush fund that he can use at his discretion to close down/nationalize/purchase failing financial institutions, with no judicial review--

Nationalizing control over the health insurance industry: Essentially the insurance companies after 2014 due to the new HCR bill will either play or pay, "play" being allowed into the new Exchanges if they follow the many new government regulations telling them how they will run their businesses, or they will "pay"; They won't be allowed to participate in the new Exchanges, and will be shut off from many potential customers.

BHO is a Statist, and he intends to exert government control over the markets that is unprecedented even in the last century. Coming up is energy policy from the EPA that will raise costs and ration energy production and use, including higher taxes on gasoline.

Government spending will NOT decrease under Obama, but taxes will surely increase for damn near everyone. His deficit commission, scheduled to release their report after this next election, is heavy with leftists/statists and will surely propose a VAT tax or some other regressive tax that will affect all Americans, whether you like it or not, whether or not this administration will provide subsidies to some of those affected by its policies(Which it surely will: When has Obama backed away from throwing one of his favored constituencies a bone?).

I've tried, but it's up to you to educate yourself further. I'm sure trying to educate myself every day. The more I learn, the more I despise the statists in our government and yearn for more limited, Constitutional government that isn't focused on becoming larger, but actually protecting the liberties that many Americans have taken for granted.

Rubicon| 4.22.10 @ 2:51PM

"Evolution shines a somewhat tragic light on the desire for perfection in human affairs: the different adaptations around which emotions are structured are inevitably in conflict, particularly as the environment changes."
Assuming there is only evolution, this alone makes it perfectly clear that there is always conflict & reality along w/ history shows people always gravitate toward freedom from those who oppress & try to dominate them. Many succeed!
If some are happy living under the thumb of their betters, so be. They can gravitate to governments that will happily accommodate their penchant for servitude. The rest of us want to make our own decisions thank you very much.

Aslan| 4.22.10 @ 5:43PM

http://www.politifact.com/trut.....require-c/

That isn't what he said. It was taken completely out of context, and you should be ashamed for spreading this false information.

MattZ| 4.22.10 @ 6:05PM

Nice smear job.

"And President Obama's mind is so hypothetical and so theoretical that he is certain that far off Washington bureaucrats would know from the evidence when she should take the painkiller and go home, and could let her yahoo doctor know."

If too much nuance and complexity is at the heart of Washington's current problems, then why don't you wing nuts abandon your search for the Kenyan birth certificate and concentrate your energies having on term limits abolished and getting W back in power. That will solve the overtthinking problem, right? He may not understand effective public policy, but at least he thinks from the gut!
MZ

jake1492| 4.23.10 @ 8:35AM

Right.... and a simple minded approach that does not try to take account of the complexities of the different groups involved would be better.... right. Someone above complained about Obama not thinking well.... but then the general tenor of the comments is to have some simple answer that may seem attractive to some narrow group...and that's OK if you're part of that narrow group. Obama may have his weaknesses... each of the commentators in the media and on this thread certainly do as well.... what is needed is real debate and collaboration.... and a willingness on all sides to accept that the other has legitimate conserns.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 5:25PM

Those who are only concerned with establishing a more powerful central government outside of Constitutional authority have no problem with those who are willing to compromise with them; It only moves the field closer to absolute Statism.

jake1492| 4.23.10 @ 8:32AM

It is confusing to see conservatives complaining about liberals talking seriously about how to contain the costs of something.

The justification for having a government system that helps everyone have a minimum standard of health care is the moralality of it. The government system provides that minimum level of care, but does not in any way prevent individuals from choosing to use their own resources to provide additional care.

We see Obama advocating reasonable limits to what that minimum standard of care is in order to set boundaries around how much the government system will cost. Nothing about that prevents or discourages people like Jane Sturm's mother from choosing to have the pacemaker operation.

Liberals setting financial limits, and conservatives not liking them..... then complaining that liberals don't think well enough.... confusing.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 4.26.10 @ 4:22AM

We complain because the system he has just set in place will, in fact, not contain costs. It puts many new regulations in place without addressing costs head-on, putting most of the work off until later.

It's a monster of a bill that increases the size of the federal government and then places a heavier burden on the States by expanding Medicaid, and then tells you and me that we are required to purchase insurance policies approved by the federal government or we will be taxed/fined for something that wasn't even previously considered an action of commerce -- Not purchasing a product!

This bill will punish any business with 50+ workers that doesn't offer health care insurance to its workers with a $2,000 fine, for every worker past 30. Then, if said company has at least one full time employee and it offers insurance coverage, but the employee chooses to go into the Exchanges and requires a subsidy, then the company will be fined an additional $3,000, including the cost of providing the policy.

This type of legislation is a massive power grab for the Fed. under the guise of moral relativism. Sure, it will provide for the millions of currently uninsured, but now we will be beholden to the Fed. in decisions regarding what kind of health insurance we can get.

There are other ways in which our legislature could have gone about improving competition between health insurance companies, but this is one way that's guaranteed to allow the Fed. to expand its authority, perhaps for all time.

Pingback| 4.25.10 @ 12:55AM

DZ Sokol » Blog Archive » Take the Painkiller and Go Home links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Web Hosting Refer Web Server Hosting Take the Painkiller and Go Home Sunday, April 25th, 2010 | Author: dzsokol A great article about the future of health care in American Spectator … Category: Business, Politics You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave a Reply Click…

Pingback| 4.25.10 @ 10:17AM

The Strata-Sphere » President Obama: The Quicker Screwer Upper links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…I say fool us once, shame on us. What we wanted is still valid. The fact a charlatan preyed on our hopes and made false promises does not diminish the vision that was created. There is a great essay in American Spectator which communicates the situation better than I could. Some pertinent sections: The defining moment for the Presidency of Barack Obama came early, in June, 2009. It was one of many health…

Pingback| 4.25.10 @ 7:55PM

The Defining Moment of The Obama Presidency, June 2009: Take the Pill « Just American links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…2008, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2012, Capitalism, Economy, Family values, Health care reform, Politics, socialism | Tags: American Spectator, Barack Obama, death panel, ObamaCare, Painkillers Take the Painkiller and Go Home By Peter Ferrara on 4.21.10 @ 6:09AM The defining moment for the Presidency of Barack Obama came early, in June, 2009. It was one of many health reform extravaganzas to come, this one…

Pingback| 4.27.10 @ 2:04AM

Body makes its own morphine | Body Building Online links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…| N3WS LIVE Body's οwח "heat messenger" offers חеw painkiller Mice Mаkе Tһеіr Owח Morphine Tһе American Spectator : Take tһе Painkiller аחԁ Gο Home MicroRNAs Mау bе Key tο Cancer Knowledge аחԁ Future Cures … …

Robert| 4.30.10 @ 8:36PM

"The one factor saving Democrats is that the economy will enjoy a cyclical recovery this year, a slingshot effect naturally resulting after the severity of the downturn."

Elliott Wave patterns say otherwise on what is presented as the lone saving grace for the Democrats. The rebound that has brought the signs of recovery either just ended, or may have one more high before the worst part of the depression begins. We may well see the Democrats lose MORE than the record-breaking number of seats that swung in 1930, as we are at an analogous part of an even bigger pattern. And with tens, if not hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of credit to be wiped out, this is going to be DEflationary, if not hyper-deflationary. Otherwise I fully agree with the entire analysis. And if we do get a free market New Deal, boy oh boy, what an even more awesome place America will be to live!

jfksd| 7.1.10 @ 1:21AM

beijing massage shanghai girl

Latest Headlines

The Inoperative Jay Carney

Jeffrey Lord|45 comments

Lerner’s Plea

Ray V. Hartwell, III|39 comments

Eugenic Abortion 2.0

Daniel Allott|21 comments

Holding AWOL Obama Accountable

Betsy McCaughey|14 comments

What Are the Risks of Syria Involvement?

Christopher Orlet|13 comments

Obama’s Imbroglios

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.|19 comments

Obama’s Drone War

Jed Babbin|8 comments

Catholic Culture In America

G. Tracy Mehan, III|11 comments

The Spectacle Blog

#FreeKate? Movement to Normalize Pedophilia Finds Its Poster Girl

Robert Stacy McCain | 10:09AM

Morning Round-Up 5-23

Patrick Ryan | 10:06AM

Morning Round-Up 5-23

Patrick Ryan | 10:06AM

I Agree With Andy McCarthy: No Special Counsel

Ross Kaminsky | 9:16AM

Sorry, You Can’t Delegate Responsibility

Ray V. Hartwell, III | 9:10AM

Issa Recovers

Ross Kaminsky | 5.22.13

The Religion of Peace Strikes London Again

Aaron Goldstein | 5.22.13

Not Just the Media: First Amendment Under Attack

Quin Hillyer | 5.22.13

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?