Decreed by Fate - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Decreed by Fate
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ISN’T IT IRONIC?
Re: George Neumayr’s Over Before It Began:

Does no one see the irony that America elected a Democrat president to cope with the financial problems caused by a Democrat Congress? That Democrats were elected to the lowest-rated Congress in American history, to fix the problems caused by the selfsame Democrat Congress?

Either most American voters are just plain glue-sniffingly stupid or…there seems to be no other choice.
David Govett
Davis, California


Of the many postmortems of last week’s wretched GOP election defeats (particularly the presidential race) that I’ve read from the conservative Internet and Blogosphere, George Neumayr’s “Over Before It Began” is one of the best. He zeros in on two important aspects.

One, John McCain’s “brilliant” campaign team of Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, Fred Davis, Greg Strimple, Bill McInturff and Sarah Simmons, did a beyond woeful job of directing this campaign, which stumbled and bumbled its way to its inevitable conclusion. McCain himself contributed mightily to his own defeat, but it was accelerated by his team of misfits.

Two this same bunch has now started trashing Sarah Palin and what she supposedly did and did not do. They certainly won’t accept any blame for this miserable campaign, so they need a whipping boy (or lady, as the case may be). There is more than enough evidence that they prevented Palin from doing her best during the campaign.

This leads me to agree with other postings on two very important points:

One, Schmidt, Davis et al. should NEVER be allowed to direct any sort of campaign for the Republican Party ever again. These incompetent, backbiting turncoats should be expelled with all haste.

Two, in light of the disastrous showing of the GOP in the Congressional races, all thanks to the fact that the party’s leading lights refused to learn from the thrashing Republicans received in 2006, I’m in agreement with others who have called for the total demolition of the Republican Party and the formation of a brand new one, with the expulsion of the leaders who have brought us to this point and the governmental RINOs like the Arlen Specters, Chuck Nagles, George Voinoviches and others who are equally guilty.

I’ll be contacting my area election board and changing my party affiliation to “Independent” this week. The GOP will no longer receive any further support, either monetarily or politically, from me. I’ll be waiting for that new party to appear. I have this painful suspicion that it may be a long, long wait.
Jim Bjaloncik
Stow, Ohio

The Neumayr observations are a major reason why many of us have left the Republican party — philosophically and financially. Additionally discouraging is that this pack of electioneering failures will be on some foundation’s payroll for some time and trotted out for the next go-round. The somewhat unfair notion that I keep coming back to is that: ‘government is largely safe harbor for life’s losers.’
David C. LeMeur
Huntersville, North Carolina


Do we need any more convincing that moderates cannot win? Do we need any more assurance that moderates do more harm to the Republican Party than they would ever inflict on another political enemy? They don’t even have the guts to leave the party they despise so we can get an honest roll call.

Moderates know they are tools, just useful idiots of the left and would, as Democrats, merely be bodies…party-drones that would have little importance after defecting. Thus they hide as Republicans, draining our energies and valuable resources.

Either we toss out these weak-sisters and acknowledge where the party is, or they will continue to undermine true Republicans.
P. Aaron Jones
Michigan


So what now, go along to get along? I can not be a Republican any longer. Get a spine and fight the bastards!

I will do all in my power to resist the socialist dogs. Too bad the Republicans cannot find the stomach to fight. Cowards like the majority of the Senate Republicans should just resign rather than look stupid. No such luck.

I am sick to my bones over the cowardice of the Republican Party Goodbye and good riddance!
Richard Howell


I find it very interesting that the pundits have not hit upon what I believe are the main reasons for the recent Democratic wins in the last two election cycles. They are growing Federal bureaucracy, out of sight budgets and term limits. Of these term limits is probably the most important issue as many of the Republican legislators who have finally been replaced were voted into office with Newt’s Washington revolution of twenty odd years ago. They promised to serve only eight years, some legislators did keep their promises, but those that did not remained in Washington to expand federal agencies and quadruple the budget. Many conservatives, like my self, did not vote for a Republican, but for an Idea.
Al Lenza

FREE TO NOT CHOOSE
Re: Lawrence Henry’s Tramp, Tramp, Tramp:

“Who ever knew we were going to have to figure out what we wanted to do when we grew up?”

You may think you have a choice but you really don’t. I am two years into my liver transplant after developing cancer. I thought I had made it through the 60’s unscathed but alas up jumped Hepatitis C. I fought the disease and lost (the shots of interferon were awful) and then fought the cancer. I made peace after 3 years of a steady demoralizing fight and just wanted it to end. I came to find out that no matter how hard the fight there really were no options left to me but to fight. Anything else would have caused too much suffering in others who had invested a good deal of their lives in me.

So two years ago (Oct. 28 Halloween) they wheel me in and wheeled me out alive but barely. I thought for the 1st year that I would end up worthless but one day I forced my self to try working again. What a difference. It’s a year later and I’m off today to 5 construction sites (I’m a welding inspector) and tomorrow I’ll be on the golf course.

Sometimes having no real choice in the matter can be very good.
Cecil Thorpe

CONTINUED NEGLIGENCE
Re: Matthew Vadum’s SOS in Minnesota:

Now, do you think for one second the Bush Justice Dept. will do anything to try and insure that the votes will be honestly counted? Have we seen anything out of any Bush-controlled government organization to think this?
Oldguy


FOSSIL FUEL

Re: The Prowler’s Wasting No Time:

Dinosaur Dem of Michigan John Dingell has been lying to himself about what his Democrat party has become. These mid-west Democrats try to ignore the party’s environmentalist base’s opposition to any scale-manufacturing and domestic energy production.

Losing Dingell ain’t no big deal. He’d be joining his constituents from Ford, Chrysler, GM and the tens of thousands of other former auto-related workers on Michigan’s already long unemployment line.

You gotta love the irony; his party’s policies put all of those people there!
P. Aaron Jones
Michigan


Never mind Obama’s Cabinet — who’s in the kitchen cabinet?
Frank Papandrea


WRITING THEIR OWN ENDINGS

Re: Rachel Alexander’s The Newspaper Belongs in the Trash:

I have been advocating the complete shunning of the mainstream media for years. McCain is the best example of why it is a waste of time. He pandered to the press and got nothing in return once he stopped taking shots at the GOP.

Most conservatives I know do not read the NY Times, LA Times, Wash Post, Boston Globe, etc., or watch any of the networks or CNN, MSNBC.

We have operated our own boycott and yet our frightened GOP politicos continue to let themselves be smeared by these people because they think they will appear mean if they do not pander.

We do not really have to worry because the newspapers are not long for this world. Demeaning, debasing and insulting half their readers has resulted in diminishing readership and with that they are losing ad dollars.
Gene Deveney
Hoboken, New Jersey

SIX BILLION NON-AMERICANS CAN’T BE WRONG
Re: Quin Hillyer’s Saul Alinsky Takes the White House:

I just don’t understand how Mr. Hillyer can be so pessimistic about the future of our great country. Haven’t the Europeans, the Russians, the Iranians, the North Koreans, and even the highlanders of New Guinea, all applauded us re: our election outcome, and congratulated us on the bright prospects now before us. Really, Mr. Hillyer: Can they all be wrong?
David Reich
Auburn, New York


KLEIN, ARAGULA FAN

Re: Philip Klein’s The Future of the Right:

Philip Klein has proven himself to be yet another arrogant snob, along with Peggy Noonan, Michael Smerconish, Christopher Buckley, David Frum, et al.

While President Bush DID spend too much money, there are many of us who do not believe the war in Iraq was “a costly and unnecessary war,” that Katrina was mishandled (he’s not the king, after all), nor do we believe the appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court a mistake. These are all opinions of yet another holier-than-thou “intellectual” whose level of education is exceeded only by his insolence.

He clearly believes that those of us who do not have PhDs (while the vast majority of conservatives, do, however have college degrees) are too stupid & ignorant to decide for ourselves how to vote. Thanks for the disdain, but we will continue to think for ourselves and vote our consciences.

Holly Bodine
Denver, Colorad

The first task, Mr. Klein, is to complete the selection of new leadership in the Congress. There is absolutely NO political basis for keeping John Boehner as minority leader in the House. We don’t need another Bob Michels. He should follow in the steps of Roy Blunt and give us a fresh start. Of course, they should have done it after the 2006 election, but now there’s no excuse. Not only the Republican party, but the country is at a crossroads, and whether we even have a future as the United States of America is at stake. Mr. Boehner is simply not up to the task for the fight ahead. Likewise in the Senate.

This is the time for new leadership, for those who understand, “there is still a remnant left in Israel”, a large one, but it will not follow after duplicitous, triangulating leaders blinded by ambition, who have forgotten their mission, if they ever knew it. It will take a shaking out, and those who understand why we even have a constitution and still love the country for why it was founded must come to the fore and pull us out of this pit. Now, that’s real audacity of hope, for a change that makes a difference. And, yes, you’re damn right we can!
Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas


This message (direction) has got to flow down to the state and county levels and everyone needs to be on the same page. Here in the county, we’re looking for directions. We all feel we’ve got to get back to our basic beliefs but we must get support at our State GOP leadership level. If these leaders can’t lead then they must be moved to the side.

Right now, we haven’t been seeing that.
Bill (Doc) Dockery
Hickman County GOP
Lyles, Tennessee

 
ENCORE!

Re: Quin Hillyer’s McCain’s Best Argument:

Bravissimo to AmSpec for Quin Hillyer’s brilliant “McCain’s Best Argument.” (I also note RushLimbaugh devoted his post-election autopsy to this article).

Since I vastly preferred the McCain 2000 Model, I take issue with several of the author’s points. Moreover, I believe Senator Obama to be a Clintonesque pragmatist likely to put paid to Mme Pelosi’s DummyCrats As We Know Them.

All the same: with this remarkable essay, Mr Hillyer has penned the most eloquent screed to come my way since opening day of the 2008 Silly Season: one eerily reminiscent of a certain late great publicaton proud to call Bloomington, Indiana (rather than Greater Washington, D.C.) home.
Noel E. Parmentel Jr.
Fairfield, Connecticut

FOR THE RECORD
Re: Mark Tooley’s The FBI at 100:

My compliments to Mark Tooley for his excellent Hoover article! Will history ever accept a true account? Will America ever acknowledge her great debt to this dedicated public servant? Mark knows what it is to be vilified. His article on Hoover showed an empathetic desire to set some of the record straight.

We wish him Godspeed.
— Joe Bartlett
McLean, Virginia


VOTE FOR PETER

Re: Peter Ferrara’s Catch a Falling Flag:

This is a very smart article. The author’s foresight impresses me.
R. Philips
Corrales, New Mexico

UNDER OATH, ABOVE ACCOUNTABILITY
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s The Democrats’ Sham Energy Bill:

This is something that should have been on the Ballot Nov 4. To have Nancy Pelosi with the power to dictate what is vital in this arena is ludicrous, and she is too arrogant to defer to knowledgeable scientists (has anyone noticed that Al Gore has disappeared?) Or, what would make more sense, allow the citizens who have to live it, and pay for it decide!
 
The hubris of the politicians, believing they know what is best for our nation, never mind the globe, is sickening.

They had better start paying attention to these polls, and act for the people…didn’t they take an oath to that effect?
Ann Biz

SICKENING THOUGHTS
Re: George H. Wittman’s Obama Couldn’t Be Cleared:

My dismay with the election of Mr. Obama to the highest office in the land, speaks directly to your article. As a previous holder of a Top Secret and Crypto Clearance and about a dozen compartmented and sub-compartmented accesses, I cringe when I think he may have access to many of our country’s most sensitive programs and activities.

The bitch of it is that political hacks in congress and their aides are exempt from polygraph examinations and are often granted clearances and accesses with a wave of the hand by politically appointed directors for the Security Agencies to include the CIA, NSA, NRO, DEA, DIA, and others that are not even listed on the roster.

Rest assured, Obama will be read in and that thought sickens me.
Paul Crandall


OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for standing in the gap between the conservative movement and the Republican Party. I, like millions of others, am a conservative first since the Republican Party moved away from the principles of conservatism and tried to moderate the message of hard work and self reliance, smaller government, personal responsibility, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and securing the country from all threats foreign and domestic.

You fought the good fight, defending even ideas that appeared to have been voiced through bitten lips and clenched teeth in order to honor the man who brought you to his side. You did it with integrity, a smile, enthusiasm and optimism that brought MILLIONS of people to the polls and pull the lever for the Republican ticket.

This contest was lost several years before you ran for Governor when the Republican Party turned from listening to the conservative wing of the Party and tried to move to the middle. When I was asked to contribute to the RNC by Tom Reynolds, I politely declined sending instead a short note declaring I would no longer support the RNC until it pursued actually building the border fence, cutting government spending, and defeating attempts to expand the role of government in people’s lives. I have not contributed to the RNC since. I am not alone.

I would have pulled the McCain/(fill in the blank) lever no matter the running mate because I knew Barack Obama and more importantly knew from my college days, the Students for a Democratic Society and their terrorist wing the Weather Underground. That was all I needed to know about the President-elect. As a parent, we all know you become like those you associate with and so the radical past is now ensconced in the present. This was the first election where I actually voted for the lesser of two evils and not for someone I believed in.

But then came you. Your selection ignited the quiet masses of conservatives in the country and for the first time since 2000, we were excited, motivated and hungry for victory. We knew you were not running for President, but to the optimistic of us, you would have been our voice in the White House. You were our voice in the campaign, on television and on the internet. I never had the opportunity to see you while campaigning, but would have gladly stood in line like thousands did all over the country. Without you, Governor Palin, John McCain would have lost in the worst landslide since George McGovern. Without you, disaster was in the bag for the Republican Party. Without you, the national Republicans would have had to hang their heads in shame for the loss it would have been. Because of you there still is hope among the majority of traditional conservatives that sometime in the future, Governor Sara Palin will run for higher office on her own, carrying her own message, our message, and defeating radicalism in every corner of this country and abroad.

You have withstood the onslaught of the mainstream media, the Party elites, and the back benchers of the Republican Party with humility and integrity. We all admire your grit, determination and character. Character matters, it always has. You were and are a class act, not one easily followed. Jimmy Carter gave us Ronald Reagan, and I believe, Barack Obama and the moderates in our Party, will give us you in 2012. Whether you run or not, your mark has been made on us and we will not forget, we will not be silent, and we will not sit in the back of our Party bus waiting to be dropped off in the next moderate/liberal wilderness called the Minority. Today, the war begins anew against the tyranny of the left, wherever it resides.

Lastly, should I ever get the opportunity to visit the small State of Alaska in the future, I trust and believe the door to your office will be open so my family and I can shake your hand. God bless you and your family and an admiring movement of millions thanks you.
Bill Elsasser
O’Fallon, Illinois

A BAILOUT TOO FAR

Don’t push that first domino.

I grew up in Detroit in the 1950s and ’60s when General Motors was the biggest corporation in the world. Back then, auto executives boasted that, “What’s good for GM is good for America.” It seems odd that all these years later, a weak GM may indeed spell disaster for America.
James Gavin
Orefield, Pennsylvania

WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

After reading TAS and much of the post election commentary I believe I am now getting a very good idea of what kind of sound you hear in the political wilderness, at least when a Democrat is at or about to be at the helm. It looks and sounds like it will be a very bitter winter.
Roger Ross

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