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Streetcar Line
The Discussions We Should Be Having
With three weeks to go, a plethora of issues, to save the nation.
So many topics demand attention right now, in the final three weeks before what really is the most momentous election so far in my adult lifetime. Americans have good reason to believe the very existence of our country as we know it is at risk. Never in any of our lifetimes has a gang in power threatened to so fundamentally transform the very essence of the social compact, natural law, our constitutional system of limited government, and civil society itself. With so much at stake, and with so many outrages vying for attention, it’s hard to know which subject to focus on.
Among them:
Libya is part of a bigger, scarier picture. The simple reality is that the Obama administration has spent years trying to deny the nature and reality of the Islamic-jihadist terrorist threat, and has entertained the idea of cracking down harder on those who “insult” Islam than on the radical Islamists themselves. Administration figures huddle with Islamists. They refuse to rule out the idea of criminalizing speech the Islamists don’t like. The FBI under Obama has purged training manuals of information linking Islam to terrorism. An Obamite former advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff writes columns saying that the First Amendment does not protect film such as the Innocence of Muslims idiocy the Obama administration wrongly blamed for the attack in Libya. The depressing drumbeat goes on, and on, and on.
Hillary Clinton always has been incompetent: While it is clearly a dodge for the White House to foist all blame for the Libyan tragedy on the State Department, it also is clear that State, under HRC, screwed up badly. The question is, why does that surprise anyone? Ms. Clinton has been one of the most undistinguished Secretaries of State in history. She can claim no recognizable major accomplishments. No diplomatic triumphs. Nothing memorable at all — except for a lot of New Age blather. This is entirely in keeping with Ms. Clinton’s lifelong record. She actually did very little as a U.S. Senator. And in the White House, she was a walking scandal: FBI files of political adversaries rifled during her watch; a botched handling of the response to Vince Foster’s tragic death; corruption so obvious with regard to her husband’s exiting pardons that the New York Daily News called her unfit for office; lost Rose Law Firm billing records until two days after a key statute of limitations had expired; and, of course, the utter fiasco that was HillaryCare, mangling the issue so badly that it never even came up for a formal vote. Obama should have known all this when he appointed her. Her failures are therefore his failures, too.
Bill Clinton is a terrible authority on economics: Speaking of Clintons, it is well beyond annoying to see Obama benefit from the former president’s imprimatur on Obama’s economic policies. The reality is that Clinton did virtually nothing while president to lead the way to a vibrant economy; instead, he was dragged kicking and screaming into signing off on policies with which he disagreed, but which ended up working like charms. The deficit? In January of 1995, he submitted a budget calling for $200 billion deficits (then an outrageous sum) as far as the eye could see. Balanced budgets? He vetoed several, until finally being shamed into signing one. Welfare reform? He vetoed it twice, until Dick Morris told him the only way he could lose re-election would be if he issued another veto. (In fact, Clinton cared so little for welfare reform that he ignored repeated entreaties from Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan to handle welfare reform before unleashing the dogs of HillaryCare; Moynihan complained bitterly about the decision.) Capital gains tax cuts? He never wanted them. Meanwhile, his administration pushed through one bit of deregulation that some blame for part of the financial crisis a decade later, and fought against a wise regulatory proposal whose absence was, according to many other wise people, another major contributor to the crisis. (The deregulation was the destruction of the Glass-Steagall Act keeping banks out of insurance, etcetera. The regulation not taken was the refusal to rein in derivatives and credit default swaps.) Meanwhile, he and his cronies raped Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and used pressure tactics to lure or even force financial institutions into risky mortgage loans the beneficiaries could not afford. Again, Clinton therefore was responsible for yet a third major contributor to the financial crisis of 2008.
Religious liberty. President Obama has led the most sustained assault against religious liberty in this nation’s history. Matthew Franck outlined a large part of the case in a Sept. 11 speech at Hillsdale College. This is an issue that could use some explaining. It is not enough for opponents of Obama policies to mouth the words “religious freedom.” Instead, opponents should work up a two-minute “connect-the-dots” description of what is/was at stake not only with the HHS mandate but also in the Hosanna-Tabor case, and in a host of other areas of dispute. It is important to explain, as I put it in an earlier column, that “if a Jewish synagogue spent a great deal of its time running a soup kitchen in a predominantly black and Baptist inner-city neighborhood, its charitable impulses would actually be punished by the government.” And, though it is almost a cliché, the old warning about how “first they came for the Jews/(Catholics/Socialists, etcetera)… until nobody was left to speak up for me,” should be the explanation used as a clincher in the final 20 seconds or so of the two-minute summary. People understand that warning in a deep and personal way.
The medical device tax in Obamacare. How can Barack Obama be truly compassionate if he insisted on passing a bill with a devastating tax on devices that save or vastly improve so many lives, such as pacemakers, insulin pumps, asthma inhalers, prosthetic limbs, and blood-pressure monitors? As one of at least a dozen new taxes in Obamacare, including five major ones that will hit in 2013, this tax explodes Obama’s promise never to raise taxes on the middle class. So outrageous is it that even former second-generation Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal blasting it not only for its ill health effects but also because it is a major job killer.
The Romney team must do a far better job explaining its tax-reform plans. Look, we already know Romney wants to negotiate the exact details with Congress. We get it, already. But it shouldn’t be too hard to do a more persuasive job explaining the idea of eliminating loopholes while cutting tax rates. As in: “Here’s what my approach would be: First we put the commission together to figure out how many upper-income special tax loopholes we could close. One idea, not as one I definitely would accept, but as an example, is just to put a total limit on all high-income tax deductions with the exception of the one for charitable giving, which still should be encouraged. Anyway, the plan is this: Once we identify the total amount we can save by cutting loopholes, then and only then would we figure out what the across-the-board tax-rate cut would be, up to a maximum of 20 percent. We want to cut the national deficit and debt, so we will ensure that tax reform is revenue-neutral, period, end of story. Figure out the loophole cuts first, and then cut the rates for middle-income earners to match it. That’s as simple as can be.”
Energy costs. Repeat after me: A gallon of gasoline costs twice what it did on the day Obama took office. A gallon of gasoline costs twice what it did on the day Obama took office. A gallon of gasoline costs twice what it did…. Then: Just this week, Obama’s team ruled out more drilling in Alaska. Obama reneged on a promise to develop natural gas off the coast of Virginia. Obama slowed down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico so much that he was officially found in contempt of court, a serious legal violation. Obama blocked the Keystone Pipeline and cost us tens of thousands of jobs. And Obama has been brutal against the mining of coal even as we find ever-cleaner ways to use it. When you slow energy production down, energy prices rise. Production down, prices up. Production down, prices up. Gasoline was about a buck-eighty, now it’s above three-sixty. It’s Obama’s fault.
There. That’s enough for now. If Romney wants to be really tough, he’d throw in a blast at Obama’s opposition to saving children who survive botched abortions. But this isn’t just about Romney and Obama, so this isn’t really a column just about campaign issues. This is about the very survival of our country. These are debates every one of us should be carrying, to all who have ears to hear.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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aware| 10.16.12 @ 6:33AM
Don't you conservatives ever tire of the Tax "Reform" tar baby? What "reform" to a system of legalized plunder would be enough to make having your labor stolen from you "better"?
How stupid can you be? "Eliminating loopholes" means you reading this will pay much more of your labor to the State. One "loophole" is your mortgage interest deduction. Care to estimate how much that will cost you?
Well, it looks like you can be very stupid indeed. You actually believe the father of Romneycare, which is the father of Obamacare, will "save" you from State control of health care? Please point to just one example of the State giving up control of something once it has it. Just one.
While you're at it, give me one example of Romney, or Ryan, reducing the power of the State. I'll even accept an occasion when they just kept it constant and didn't increase it.
"Conservatives" and Progressives occupying a narrow band to the left of center of the political spectrum. One is "left" only by comparison to the other. The same with "right". Both love and worship the State.
Aristocat| 10.16.12 @ 7:24AM
Why do Republicans repeatedly allow liberal Democrat women to "moderate" the debates?
Jack in Wi| 10.16.12 @ 7:40AM
There is not a dimes worth of difference between Roney and Obama on foreign policy. That is the most neglected debate in this country. I am voting for Romney because he maybe is the lesser evil. Obama is the devil incarnate. What do the Democrats stand for but abortion, homosexuality, bloated big programs, corrupt government unions, war, and sky high taxes?
DTOM| 10.16.12 @ 8:04AM
Jack,
Not a dime between Barry and Mitt? Barry will meet Behar, Mitt will meet Bibi. That's worth a lot more than a dime.
As the wise man said, "...so much of what they know just isn't so..." He was talking about you, Jack, you.
Stop the lying, Jack, it is really tiresome.
Don't Tread On Me...
Von Mises Jr| 10.16.12 @ 8:44AM
Here is the dimes worth of difference for aware and Jack: Romney promises to extend the current Bush tax rates and repeal ObamaCare.
If Obama is re-elceted, he has successfully pushed the Bush tax rates past the election where he "he can be more flexible." If we do not take the White House and the Senate, then the liberal socialist will let the rate expire. Here is what happens to YOU:
- Bush tax rates and brackets sun set resulting in $4,269 additional Federal Income Taxes starting 2013 for a family with Adjusted Gross Income of $70,000 (A rate increase from 10% to 15% is NOT a 5% increase of your taxes. It is a 50% increase).
- ObamaCare Tax for Employers over 50 employees is $2,000 per employee if they fail to provide the approved coverage. If they drop your coverage and you fail to buy the mandated coverage, you are fined 2.5% of your income. At $100,000 family income, your employer is fined $4,000 for a husband and wife each earning $50K and the family pays $1,750 for failure to insure.
Von Mises Jr| 10.16.12 @ 8:46AM
Furthermore:
- One-trillion plus dollar deficits will demand that America raise the Debt Ceiling early 2013. The United States will face another Credit Rating Downgrade.
- Federal Reserve Policy of Quantitative Easing (QE3) buying $40 billion in Sub-prime mortgages per month will accelerate inflation.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts are funded through mid-2013. Estimates to bail out these GSE’s range from $221B to $363B through the end of 2013.
- Sequestration will increase unemployment of military and defense contractors while ignoring the entitlement reform necessary to reduce the growth of the Federal Budget.
- ObamaCare has stolen $716 billion in Medicare Premiums paid by retired and current workers to fund Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Reductions to Medicare reimbursements to doctors threaten the “going concern” of hospitals and availability of medical care.
Quartermaster| 10.16.12 @ 10:11AM
We'll see VM. I think you are going to find Mittens to be a huge disappointment. Mittens is also a Proggie, just not quite as extreme as the Democrat version, but Proggie nonetheless.
It is unlikely in the extreme that Mittens will do what absolutely must be done to save the country from the overspending and unconstitutional programs that started with FDR. If he won't do it, then the country will go under as surely as if Zer0 were still POTUS.
Von Mises Jr| 10.16.12 @ 10:22AM
If OZero is re-elected, it will happen in 2013. How will the average Middle Class family afford several hundreds in additional taxes next year?
If ObamaCare is not repealed, New Jersey will incur $5B annually to pay for the State Mandates for Medicaid. So Property Taxes also need to go up 15-20% per year. With current taxes in the $10-12K average range, it will cost a few hundred more for property tax as well.
Businesses are already boarded up and people cannot afford to go out to dinner. What happens when you must pay $500-600 more next year each month in taxes?
aware| 10.16.12 @ 11:34AM
Yeah, Jr., try taking a politician's promise to the bank. The promise gets your vote and that's the total usefulness of the promises of the professional criminal class. And it works like it always has.
Romney WILL NOT repeal anything. To believe he would is more irrational than believing in the Tooth Fairy.
Von Mises Jr| 10.16.12 @ 11:54AM
Piss off troll
aware| 10.16.12 @ 4:24PM
Been here years longer than you, Jr. Like I've said before, if you're going to be such a rank Statist change your handle. The real Mises wouldn't be as easily fooled as you.
aware| 10.16.12 @ 4:27PM
Oh yeah, I'm still waiting for one of you geniuses to give me the example of Romney "cutting" "government". Just one. Ought to be easy.
RCV| 10.16.12 @ 12:17PM
Von Mises, the genius: that $4,269 and then some supposedly saved by Romney will be wiped out by the elimination of the mortgage interest, charitable and medical insurance deductions, all of which will have to be eliminated if you believe Romney's "no tax cut which increases the deficit" promise. That's why he and Ryan won't talk about the specifics of their secret "tax plan". How dumb can you be?
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 1:23PM
Any elimination in deductions will be offset by tax-rate reductions, making them revenue neutral, as Mr. Romney has repeatedly explained.
If you haven't already, you owe CJW an apology for the cheap shot you gave him by implying that he was anti-Semitic and a racist, a couple of weeks ago, RCV.
Your defense of the Appeaser-in-Chief is turning you into an unhinged, left-wing kook. Like Burp, or Pelleas.
Remember when I told you that those who live by the polls, will die by the polls? Your guy is critical condition and on life-support. See, I was right, when I said all of those summer polls didn't mean a thing.
And, remember when I told you that if O'Bama wasn't above 50% in the national polls by the beginning of October, he was in big trouble? Uh-oh! The Apologist-in-Chief can't close the deal, I'm afraid.
And, remember, in the beginning of September, when you told me that Rasmussen had the least accurate polls? But, last week you were touting a Rasmussen poll that said it was tied? What gives? You only use the polls that make the regime look good, now?
And, now, the Benghazi cover-up is exploding in the O'Bama regime's face. Crazy Joe really stepped in it, last week, when he said, "We didn't know about [requests for additional security]."
Or, are these just more "half baked rumors," RCV?
Von Mises Jr| 10.16.12 @ 2:04PM
Nick, it is good to hear a normal person. I think the trolls have their panties in a knot.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 7:52PM
Thanks, Von Mises Jr.
Yes, it looks like the bleeding heart libs have less to crow about every day, huh?
Could Burp have vapor-locked or stroked-out? It's possible.
Or, maybe he just had a psychotic break, and is finally getting the treatment he needs!
aware| 10.16.12 @ 4:30PM
" revenue neutral". It's just fine with you that the State steals what it does, you just want a little adjustment in how it does it. Why not just give them all your money and be done with it.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 7:57PM
It has taken 80 years for the Raw Dealers to get a huge portion of the country hooked on government money, has it not, aware?
Like a heroin addict, it will take time to get the takers off their drug of choice: Taxpayer money. We can't cut them off cold-turkey.
If you think we can, you are dreaming. It will take years, if not decades, to clean up the mess the lefties have made.
RCV| 10.16.12 @ 8:43PM
If you have some information that the VP or President was aware of those requests, Nick, please publish those facts so the world will be educated.
We shall see in a few weeks how the polls go, Nick. I remain confident that the ground game and early voting push will give the President about 325 electoral votes, but the truth will be in the final numbers.
Your desperation for anything-but-Obama is turning you into a right-wing kook, Nick. Maybe it's your keeping company with foul-mouthed racist misogynists like TLP - you know, the guy who believe that Hitler was God's chosen "huntsman" sent to divinely punish and cleanse the Jews with the Holocaust? It's turning you bad, Nick.
Nick| 10.17.12 @ 2:14PM
When the Vice-President of the United States of America says "we," all normal people assume he means the administration, RCV.
When caught, the O'Bama regime just piled on more lies.
For someone who could do nothing but talk about the polls, you sure don't seem to want to talk about them now, do you?
And, I haven't changed the tone, or type, of the comments I have always made, here, at AmSpec. Neither has Mr. Pennell.
I'm saying the same things I was saying in early September.
You, on the other hand, appear to be losing your ability to argue rationally, the closer we get to election day. Your bogus smear of CJW, from a couple of weeks ago, being a prime example.
You still owe him an apology.
p.s. Did you like the Appeaser-in-Chief's continued lies over the Benghazi attack that resulted in the murder of four Americans? Even Crowley couldn't help him. In fact, she's made it worse!
CJW| 10.16.12 @ 4:57PM
RCV,
You are using the typical lefty economics playbook of static analysis. You do not, or refuse, to take in account the increase in taxes generated by lowering marginal tax rates and a simplified tax system that spur the economy. A rising economy will produce the increased tax revenues and with spendings cuts, then the deficit will shrink. Lefty Dems assume you remove one dollar from column A then you must account for that in column B, as if there is no change in behavior and the economy.
The last Dem that understood this was Jack Kennedy, and even Bill Bradley agreed with this with the Kemp-Roth-Bradley tax reform of the 1980's
If you are not capable of understanding or refuse to understand and stick to Obamanomics, then do not call those who understand econmics dumb.
Al Adab| 10.16.12 @ 5:41PM
W:
It was JFK who, in proposing his tax cuts noted, "A rising tide lifts all boats." That was trickle down long before the Left turned on it because Reagan proposed the same.
Every time rates are reduced revenue increases, economic activity expands and more people get lifted upward. It is The Left who wishes to keep people poor in order to foster their central control over the citizenry. It is an immoral position to hold for no ones wealth or property may be taken for the benfit of another. As John W. Davis, the Democrat presidential candidate in 1924 said, "To tax one person, group or class for the benfit of another person, group or class is theft."
We need to recover our moral high ground and return government to its function of protecting and preserving the rights of Citizens.
CJW| 10.16.12 @ 6:21PM
Al Adab
You are correct, as usual. Main problem we have is that the politicians, Reps and Dems, both proceed to spend the tax revenues produced by a rising economy.
Reagan and Bush41 both trusted the Dems to cut expenses, and Bush 43 had two wars, Afghan and Iraq. Of course most Dems voted for the wars.
JFK would not be a Dem today. He appointed the pro life conservative Jutice White (who played for the Steelers) to the Supreme Court and cut tax rates. And he did not apologize for the USA.
RCV| 10.16.12 @ 8:46PM
I don't think they're dumb, CJW, I think they're deliberating deceiving the American people by refusing to be honest with them about the tax deductions they plan to eliminate.
CJW| 10.17.12 @ 5:35PM
RCV. You misunderstood my last sentence. You called Von Mises Jr. dumb. I told you he undetstands economics and is not dumb. Read it again.
Jack in Wi| 10.16.12 @ 9:58AM
I am trying to overlook Romney's foreign policy. It is the same as Obama's probably worse. He has preached intervention and militarism. He is just not credible on foreign policy. I expect him to follow his generals and intelligence services. They are dead set against any attack on Iran. I don't think Romney is a stupid man. He won't attack Iran and throw the world into another world war and terrible depression. The only good thing I can say about Obama is that he hates that filthy criminal Bibbi Nutanyahoo. I expect Romney or Obama to negotiate with Iran and end this.nonsense once and for all. There is abosolutly no sane reason to continue our present foreign policy put forth by both Bush and Obama. Romney has a chance to get some good done if he at least pulls in some of these foreign entanglements. I expect Romney to meet with Nutanyahoo but not give him what he wants. Bush and Obama didn't attack Iran and neither will Romney.
aware| 10.16.12 @ 11:38AM
Vote for the Leftist Republican cause you just cannot face knowing you have no voice, no control, and no power, that elections are farce, and an international banking cartel owns all politicians.
As long as you deny the truth you are playing the part assigned to you. None of these promises will be fulfilled. None.
oldeham| 10.16.12 @ 10:51AM
Come on Jack - not a dime's worth of difference. Obama has the long term goal of debunking that America is different - in spite of the fact that people are doing anything the can to live here. Obama also is doing everything possible to undercut American presence around the world as a force of good.
Romney wants to promote American excellence and face down those that want to destroy our society.
I know Winter is coming early to WI but I can't believe your brain is frozen already.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 1:03PM
No, Oldeham, Jackboot the Nazi's brain is not frozen.
It is diseased.
TLP| 10.16.12 @ 4:27PM
I would like everyone to please take out 3 things.
Your Bible. A Video of The Omen. A Video of The Boys from Brazil.
Open your New Testament to Revelation, and Read. Then watch the two films.
Now, cross reference everything that you can find, in all 3 of these, and finish it all up with a Large Dose of Occam's Razor.
Hamas BELIEVES that he is The Deliveror. That he has been SENT by their Blood Soaked god, to Destroy the Jewish Nation, and Deliver Jerusalem back in to the hands of the Muslims. They have even gone so far as to give him the Name: ABU HUSSAIN - Son of the Father.
They believe that he is their Christ.
Obama has done, what no one else has been able to do for 60 Years. He has put The Muslim Brotherhood back in Power. He has handed Egypt to them, with a Nod of his head, and he delivered them Libya by Declaring an Illegal War on Khaddafi, on a Trumped up charge of Killing His own people. All the while, yanking his d*ck as Syria's Assad murders 30,000 of his own people, yearning to be free.
He is NOT a Christian. Anyone with Eyes and Ears knows that he is a Son of the Pagan Moon God of Blood. This story is just one more example of it.
He Bows to the Keeper of Mecca and Medina. He does not Bow to the Queen of Christian England.
He thunders his Demand, that "The Future should not belong to those who would Defile The Prophet."
"The Muslim call to prayer is the most beautiful sound in the world."
TLP| 10.16.12 @ 4:28PM
He Blows Off Christendom's Holiest Day - Easter - to play Golf. Yet, he never fails to Cream in his Jeans, everytime there's a Major Holiday for the Religion of Blow Everyone up in a Million Pieces.
How can it be that he Spits in Israel's Face, at every turn, and nobody cares? He's still looking at 65% of the Jewish Vote.
When he had The Muslim Brotherhood over for Tea, and $1.5 Trillion of Taxpayer Money, did he leave them downstairs, while he went upstairs to eat? Did he make them Leave out the same door that The Garbage is taken out from?
Whoever heard of an American President, keeping all of his Pertinent Life Paperwork, locked in a Vault, on a Volcanic Island, in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean, and spending MILLION$ to make sure that they stay SECRET?
Why has he locked away his Passport? Why doesn't he release his Medical Records? His College Scholarship Paperwork? His School Transcripits, and his College Thesis.
Why does he have a CONNECTICUT Social Security Number?
This is the 2nd Greatest Story Ever Told, if only Someone would tell it.
As Clint Eastwood once said, in a Movie, as he was holding a Broken Bottle to the Bad guy's Face - "You ain't gonna believe what's happening to ya, even while it's happening."
I couldn'ta said it better, myself.
RCV| 10.16.12 @ 8:47PM
The crackpot Biblical misinterpreter is at it again.
Oldefarte| 10.16.12 @ 3:09PM
I will agree with all of your commentary EXCEPT FOR YOUR FIRST SENTENCE [which is entirely incorrect]. I am not referring to political philosophy, and if you don't understand why then that is your problem!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 10.16.12 @ 3:13PM
I'll amend my statement above in consideration to your reference to "foreign policy".......in general these two politicians are a world apart in every way possible!!
Occam's Tool| 10.16.12 @ 6:19PM
Oldefarte---always willing to be educated---what is a holier Christian day than Easter?
Dai Alanye | 10.16.12 @ 7:49AM
It has become Romney's task to free us from the disaster that is Obama. All policies are mere details to be settled later.
Al Adab| 10.16.12 @ 11:30AM
Succinct and to the point.
Any moral claim the administrative, social-welfare State may have once possessed based on all its good intentions has been lost. There is no claim the government may have against any of our incomes or property. NGOs, in any manifestation, have no claim to the earnings of private individuals redistributed by the government. The entire foundational premise of the Welfare State is immoral and baseless.
Joellen| 10.16.12 @ 7:57AM
Thank you Quinn, this is succinct in a time that is needed. I suggust all print this out and give to anyone who is still (?) undecided. Also, take the time to see "Occupied Unmask" by the late great Andrew Breitbart. It's about an hour and truly distrubing but explains perfectly how Obama, Clinton, the Unions and various other groups have followed the communist Saul Alinksy "Rules for Radicals" and promulgating the Communist Over Wall Street riots that took place throughout the year. And folks, they aint done yet.
C. Vernon Crisler | 10.16.12 @ 8:39AM
I'm especially glad Quinn took Bill Clinton apart. I can't stand it when Republicans praise Clinton as a political genius; it's about time they started telling the truth about Clinton.
RCV| 10.16.12 @ 8:50PM
The GOP under Romney will say anything, any time, if they think it will get them a vote. Even Paul Ryan is willing to throw over the strict Catholic teachings on no exceptions for abortion to advance the Romney ticket.
Oldefarte| 10.16.12 @ 3:03PM
MORON, if the total destruction of this country would not be the only option available fro the alternative to your dispised description of Romney/Ryan, I'd laugh at your imbicilic words. You must be totally [mentally] insane!!!!!!!!!
Appleby| 10.16.12 @ 6:36AM
I spent a weekend with my family in the States and after our only liberal, non-religious sister finally departed, we talked about what's going on. Most of us think the end is near. None of us like Romney but we all agree he's eons better than what we have now...and that religion is threatened by the crew that's in charge now. We went to university wth these folks and their cronies. We knew it was garbage then and we recognize it's still garbage now. The sad thing is that most people are still too busy obsessing about who will win American Idol and the Emmys and whether some celebrity is pregnant than they are concerned about what's going on in the government.
Aristocat| 10.16.12 @ 7:25AM
I don't understand why you don't like Romney. He is by far our best candidate since Reagan.
Dai Alanye | 10.16.12 @ 8:03AM
Why should conservatives like a man who was a big-government governor, and who is able to brag of his flexibility in getting along with the "takers" in Massachusetts? Our hopes must lie with Paul Ryan, himself only mildly conservative, and with a Tea Party Congress.
Dubya put the Federal vehicle in the ditch, according to the Kenyan. Obama himself has driven it into a gully. A Romney administration will at least winch it back to where a couple of wheels are running on pavement. Perhaps a future true conservative will steer it fully onto the highway of safety and prosperity.
DTOM| 10.16.12 @ 8:30AM
You seem to give no credence to the thought that maybe one can learn from one's experience.
You seem to see no difference between a State's actions and the federal government's actions. Many actions legal for a State are decidedly unconstitutional for the federal government.
You seem to forget that as far out of the center conservative mainstream of American thought Obama and his ilk are, ours is a two-party system and we do need to winch the Democrats back from the socialist cliff they, lemminglike, have been hurtling over. This is done by moving things back to where they belong, a little right of center.
You seem to forget that you don't persuade by calling people stupid and dismissing them. (I do make exceptions for trolls in the blogosphere- after reason, logic,
DTOM| 10.16.12 @ 8:30AM
and civility have repeatedly failed.) You have to get their attention and then explain and convince them of their confusion. In our system this is done by crushing them in elections. As was done in 1994, in 2010, and hopefully in 2012.
That Romney managed to get consensus with an 87% Democrat legislature in Massachusetts is actually a strong point for a Romney Presidency. Imagine what Romney's Massachusetts health program would have looked like if that legislature had a Republican majority peppered with Tea Party types. It is this type of flexibility that is needed now.
One thing is certain, undoing the Obama damage will take a lot of people cooperating - and this cannot be accomplished through demagoguery and insult. We are going to have to get along with those who will.
Those who will not, we will have to simply defeat, however we can.
And our two party system will hopefully soon be Republicans vs. Tea Party with Ralph Nader running the moribund remnant of the old Democrat party.
Don't Tread On Me
Jacob McCandles| 10.16.12 @ 9:17AM
A writer on these pages made a comparison between Governor Reagan's record and Governor Romneys. This was the "turning point" for me when I began to think Romney might be our best option given the circumstances. I agree, Romney's record as governor isn't so bad. Even Romneycare as a final product was MUCH different than the vision Mitt had thanks to multiple overrides in the state legislature.
I am hopeful and excited about Romney's leadership potential. Also, I agree with Morris that he will win easily on NOV 6.
Quartermaster| 10.16.12 @ 10:16AM
Mittens' record as MassGov was not so hot either. The mealthcare morass in Taxaachussets should have been vetoed after all teh changes the creeps in the Mass Legislature made to it. That alone shows the poor judgment that Mittens exercised as MassGov.
I don't think Mittens will win. There are too many people dependent on FedGov, and I have little faith the electorate will turn Zer0 out as he richly deserves. I very much hope I am wrong on that, but the political climate in this country does not inspire faith.
Jacob McCandles| 10.16.12 @ 11:41AM
He did veto plenty of Romneycare. It was overridden (at least the changes made in the legislature that he did not agree with)
CrackerHound| 10.16.12 @ 12:47PM
It's fear Aristocat.
We cannot survive with anything less than a Reagan, and many including myself doubt that Romney is strong enough to break through the system in order to save it. Frankly, it's possible no one could. Romney's business experience is superb! His managerial skills are unequaled. But...His political track record does lean more left than we would wish.
I feel strongly about Romney now that he has, without reservation, put forth a purely conservative agenda but we have been fooled before. Time and again actually. So how do we reconcile Romney's political record against his rhetoric?
Conservative Bob| 10.16.12 @ 4:57PM
We don't, we send as many conservatives to the house and senate as possible to keep him in line. If he is prone to making deals with the majority make sure it is a conservative majority.
We have no real assurance how anyone will govern other than the last 4 years as guide to Obama.
Occam's Tool| 10.16.12 @ 6:20PM
Dear lady, are you voting for Romney then?
MelvinNC| 10.16.12 @ 8:06AM
That stupid ignorant bitch is going to Peru for a Woman's Empowerment conference. Excuse the hell out of me but since when did Woman's Empowerment fall under the job description of the Secretary of State all the while it is open season on US diplomats by Al Qaeda, Iran, and every Islamic rag head who has a bone to pick with the infidels.
Hillary Clinton is in lala land, not to mention Bill is strutting about thinking he is still President or at least another co-President, behind Michelle.
Hillary needs to own up to her failing in Libya, she needs to stay here. If woman's empowerment is so important to the State Department Hillary can send her best friend Uma. Besides sending Uma will give her the chance to pass intel to her Muslim Brotherhood intelligence handlers.
Thats frigging right I trust Uma Weiner like I trust Pit Viper not to bite me.
Nancy in NC| 10.16.12 @ 8:28AM
Hillary wants to get as far away from the action as possible. I hope (no, I pray) we will send her packing in November. What a disgrace.
The real disgrace though is we have so many idiots that have drunk the kool-aid of the left. They apparently either haven't read history or they fail to understand it.
Obamacare is a modern day version of something Adolph HItler would have loved. They have made it more palatable for the stupid to buy into all kinds of left wing ideas...abortion and euthanasia for starters.
I'm already too old to be of any value to the lefties. My prime has passed so I am expendable. These godless pieces of crap think they are God and think they are smart enough to make all the decisions for the rest of us. I WILL NOT COMPLY!
Idiots like aware (who isn't aware of crap) fail to realize they aren't worth a tinker's dam in Obama's world. When their usefulness is over they will be under the bus with the rest of us.
Pecos Pete| 10.16.12 @ 8:47AM
Nancy:
I WILL NOT COMPLY!
Exactly. As DTOM correctly and rightfully reminds us all the time: Don't Tread On Me.
Conservative Bob| 10.16.12 @ 5:31PM
If Hillary is going to be taken seriously in "taking full responsability" she should do so in her resignation letter. Mouthing the words without any action is meaningless.
Occam's Tool| 10.16.12 @ 6:21PM
Dear Melvin: it is very calm here in Northwest Minnesota, particularly in winter. After Romney kicks Obama's ass, come up for ice fishing.
MelvinNC| 10.16.12 @ 8:59AM
Every day my dear sister in NC, I go to the pool so that I can maintain the strength to fight these foreign ideological invaders.
As I swim in the pool every stroke that I make only strengthens the piston of hatred that will power my fight to this enemy that has invaded our Country.
We have been invaded. I am told that I cannot pray and worship my God as I choose, and that I must convert to another and accept and live under it's law.
I am told that my Country is responsible for all the problems in this world and that I must accept this yoke of guilt and pay accordingly.
I am told my forefathers were evil men and that I must denounce them and their philosophy and the rule of law.
Nay, I will denounce no one, nor will I denounce this great Country who is responsible for so much good in the world.
I will not apologize and I will not yield or bend to threats of oppression or fines.
I will fight this cursed Progressive Socialist Fascist philosophy that is trying to break my spirit, and it will be a very, very cold day in hell when it does.
Stkman| 10.16.12 @ 9:56AM
Bully!! Very well put Melvin.
Quartermaster| 10.16.12 @ 10:17AM
You just did denounce someone. The proggies richly deserve it too.
Truth to Power| 10.16.12 @ 9:53AM
The big O picks another winner:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....cmpid=yhoo
We need a change.
Who Knows?| 10.16.12 @ 10:03AM
Bill and Hillary Clinton are like open wounds, self-inflicted, by moron voters on America. They ooze pus---that’s their speech. Their actions---knives in America’s back.
Look, today’s Democratic Party is simply a legalized Mafia. The ONLY question is---have enough marks realized this?
Try to imagine YOU are the Clintons. Your entire life’s challenges have been met, and won, by hook and crook, and you know it. You are masters of the con!
Fast talkers, especially those who’ve been able to take their game to the heights of the Slickster, with many millions of followers and enablers---Carville on down---have found a way to take advantage of America’s open society.
In earlier days, someone with equal intensity would have at least tried to assassinate them. In our “civilized” times, however, it seems that even exposing such creeps isn’t enough.
God bless American Spectator!
I’ve been a rabid reader and fan since before Clinton rose to prominence. And then, TAS made history by daring to tell the detailed stories of Whitewater, Vince Foster, and all the other shady shenanigans of this criminal, and NOTHING HAPPENED!
There’s a lot of ruin in the awareness of most people, else they’d have banished the Clintons, with retching disgust, long ago.
And, people ACTUALLY think they are awake!
Anthony| 10.16.12 @ 10:21AM
Hillary Clinton, like Obozo, has done nothing to deserve the political positions she has gotten. As a failed lawyer and First Lady, she claimed to have no knowledge of her whoring husband's serial trists and rapes.
So were supposed to be suprised that as Sec. of State, she's as clueless as the Muslim Marxist? Hell, this woman can't find her own ass with two hands, and that is really, really hard to do!!!
She got elected to the Senate from NY because she took one for her POS husband, and New Yorkers(NYC mostly) are brain-dead. She lied to these same brain-dead New Yorkers and ran for president, a la Bill Clinton sociopath in chief.
She got appointed Sec. of State as a political payoff by Obozo to keep her big mouth shut.
And the Ds and the media whores think Obozo and Hillary are the greatest things since sliced bread?
No wonder leftism is a mental disease.
So now she's taking one for Obozo. I wonder if Candy Crowley will manage to find a question about this from the audience and pose it to Obozo? Naw!!
Candy girl is gonna make Raddatz look like a piker.
MelvinNC| 10.16.12 @ 10:32AM
Remember, "I don't stay at home at bake cookies." That miserable crone would have failed at that to.
oldeham| 10.16.12 @ 10:54AM
Kissing Obama backside must really rankle the Clinton's. I don't think Hillary is incompent - just bought. She and Bill were bankrupt when he left the White House - there are loaded. What the heck it says a lot when George Soros gave the reception for their daughter. You think there might be a conneciton?
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 11:29AM
For those AmSpec commentators & readers, who are people of faith (of which there are many here), and who might be feeling a little helpless in these final weeks before the election, there is a way you can make a huge difference, especially in tonight's debate, and the rest of the election.
It is an old remedy, and, something that I heard Glenn Beck promoting recently: Prayer and Fasting.
Pray for God to confuse O'Bama's speech & thoughts during the debate tonight. Pray for Mr. Romney to receive wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord.
If you are able (not suffering from a medical ailment, e.g., diabetes), can you skip a meal today?
Fasting is all about denying yourself some worldly good or pleasure. Food is but one form of pleasure we enjoy.
Are you a baseball fan? How about giving up watching a game, or two? Too much? How about resolving to only listen to it on the radio?
If football is your deal, try skipping the games this weekend. God will surely appreciate your sacrifice.
Of course, the more you enjoy something, the more it means to give it up. It doesn't really count if you give up beets, if you hate beets to begin with! Ha-ha!
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 11:30AM
Continued...
For my fellow Catholics out there, remember that St. Thomas More is the patron saint of statesmen and politicians. Ask him to pray for Mr. Romney to be statesmen-like tonight. Ask Our Lady to pray for our nation. Try to fit in a Rosary today, or maybe say a litany.
Remember, this is spiritual warfare we are engaged in. We need to use every weapon at our disposal.
May God Bless America.
Oldefarte| 10.16.12 @ 3:06PM
You're a good person, Nick; and G-d is smiling now from your words of inspiration no doubt!!!!
Occam's Tool| 10.16.12 @ 6:22PM
What a lovely human being you are, Nick.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 7:38PM
Thank you, very much, OF & Occam.
You truly humble me, sirs.
May G-d Bless you two fine gentleman, and your families.
Oldefarte| 10.17.12 @ 11:47AM
And yours as well!!!!!
MRD| 10.16.12 @ 12:01PM
Lets all stipulate that Mitt is not a "conservative" and certainly not a libertarian. I would guess that the majority of those who read this Blog would ideally like someone more conservative. That said you have to slow the train down before going in reverse and its obvious that Obama's agenda is not merely liberal. One can characterize it as far left, anti colonial, radical, Alinskiite etc, but it is very alien to the American tradition. Go Grief Obama is extremely bad from catastrophic debt, to disregard of the First Amendment, to feckless foreign affairs, and on and on. By any sane rational analysis Romney is a great improvement, In fact I would randomly take any person who has commented on this blog as an improvement! I suspect at least the combox folks would at least not actively seek to destroy the country.
After the last debate, I was pleasantly surprised that the MSM did not declare Obama the victor regardless of what was actually said . Although Obama's performance ( not to mention his record) was so unbelievably bad it would have been difficult for them to do so. It appears Romney has some momentum and maybe can pull this thing out. This at least will buy us some time to fix the rest of the country. Conservatives and even Libertarians should be working for a Romney win, its not time to grouse over the fact he is not conservative enough, The time for that is when he is in office and the country is not immediately heading for the abyss.
Drunken Sailor| 10.16.12 @ 4:31PM
MRD,
You have nailed it. However we have some here that prefer to scream and kick because their canidate did not make the ticket instead of dealing with reality. You are absolutely right, just telling you some folks just prefer to bitch.
Simon Templar| 10.16.12 @ 12:03PM
Excellent and informative article!
MRD| 10.16.12 @ 12:04PM
Nick as a fellow Catholic I am with you 100%. Good post.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 12:56PM
Thanks, MRD.
I appreciate it.
CJW| 10.16.12 @ 5:37PM
I agree, Nick. Thanks.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 7:34PM
You betcha!, CJW.
Jaybird| 10.16.12 @ 12:31PM
God bless you, Quin Hillyer. Great column. The free speech issues you raise in the first paragraph have not received nearly enough attention. I shared on FB.
Nick| 10.16.12 @ 1:48PM
More bad news for Team O'Bama on the day of the debate.
A Michigan electric car battery company, hyped by former governor Jenni-pooh Granholm, has filed for bankruptcy. After receiving $250 million in federal grants and $140 million from the Great Lake State taxpayers.
I didn't even get a cigarette!
Also, the great, indefatigable Michelle Malkin reminds us about the last CNN townhall debate here.
Be on guard for the plants!
Oldefarte| 10.16.12 @ 2:46PM
Very good one, Quin [especially your first sentence-statement]. Yes, this election is critical for this nation's survival. There will be no middle road after 11/6/12, as we'll either survive or die [if you don't know why, then you're either brain-dead or mentally incompetent]. Your choice [according to your VOTE]!!!!
Butch| 10.16.12 @ 4:03PM
All those are winning issues, Quin, but I doubt if any of them will come up tonight. Have you checked Drudge lately? Candy Crowley as late as this afternoon is vowing to break the debate rules.
Assuming planted questioners, which I am assuming, I'm guessing this one is going to be all about Planned Parenthood, free birth-control pills, and what-are-you-going-to-do-about-my-sob-story Queen For a Day-type questions.
Stkman| 10.16.12 @ 4:44PM
The discussion we should really be having is why we put up with two totally corrupt political parties.
The discussion we should be having is why we haven't brought a third party to power or had a revolution.
These are the questions we should be asking ourselves.
sotto voce| 10.16.12 @ 7:00PM
To comment on just one of your great points, Hillary has indeed been a terrible Secretary of State but I don't think Obama cares. Most of his advisers and cabinet appointees are incompetents who personify the Peter Principle so his standards are demonstrably low, but I think he chose Hillary in order to neutralize her as a political foe (or to neutralize both Bill & Hillary). There's a video of her sitting in a meeting with Hamid Karzai. You'd think the Secretary would be discussing urgent and weighty matters, but nooo....she's busy cackling over Herman Cain, dismissing him as a pizza magnate who can't name the presidents of all the many "stans". This is who represents our government abroad; it's impossible to imagine the brilliant and gracious Condoleeza Rice behaving in such a cheap, undignified way.
JohnTee| 10.16.12 @ 9:55PM
The discussion here began to look like an undisciplined final collapse into defeat and despair. Until Nick pointed out the only way out. We've gone so far down the road to destruction, no one man, party, or civilization could climb out of the pit which we have dug. But God can, if we can change our sinful ways and submit to Him. Historian David Barton made a strong case that By fasting and praying, and submitting to God's will, He can and will. show us the way.
It's our only hope, but not a forlorn one.
Rhoetus| 10.18.12 @ 8:29PM
It's disgusting that man without any real world accomplishments, who was tutored by communists can get elected POTUS while the press does everything possible to hide it from the public.