Every now and then I meander on the stylings of MSNBC’s prime-time lineup.  Indeed, it is that typical leftwing mish-mash that can sometimes serve to get the blood boiling.  However, recently it has been entertaining because of the Healthcare nightmare the Democrats are foisting upon us.

A few nights ago and again more recently Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake.com made a comment saying the Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas would get a primary if she voted against the HC bill.  I didn’t know there was such a liberal swell in the Democratic Party in the Land of Opportunity.  It seems to me that polling in Arkansas shows clear two-thirds and larger majorities against the bill.  I wonder why Lincoln would worry one second what some spooky lefty blogger thinks?  Who is this liberal who will be voting this way?  I think an elected official who needs to get re-elected in a conservative state would listen to her constituents and to hell with the lefty bloggers. 

Instead of threatening a senator with a primary, maybe the Democrats should have thought of this prior to getting themselves into such an intractable position.  Maybe they could have brought Republicans into the room, started working on bringing Healthcare costs down, and they’d be seen as really capable of governing.  Instead they carp and whine about people they sold to certain constiuencies as conservatives.  But when they want to log-roll the Republicans, and conservatives, they want these people to go back on every campaign pledge.  I think as conservatives we need to send letters of support to senator Lincoln, telling her to stand her ground.

How will the Democrats smooth-talk this one away?  I don’t think they will be able to do it.  I think this crisis and the president’s lackluster response to it is the rebirth of the old-fashioned suburban Republican.  Chris Christie won the governorship in New Jersey because he spent time speaking to the actual problems in the state.  Property taxes were pricing people out of the state.  He pledged to contain government, and was embraced by voters.  I think this is the beginning of something important.  Republicans should revive themselves in the Suburbs like they did in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  As far as I know, Christie is a pro-life governor in New Jersey as well, which puts him a few steps ahead of even Whitman and Kean the last two GOP governors in that state.  Voters are beginning to see what happens when you let the liberals have unfettered control of your state.

At the national level, the Republicans can make an issue of the Bush tax cuts expiring.  The Democrats called them tax cuts for the rich.  However, a lot of small businesses got a lot of help from the Bush tax policy.  When those incentives are gone, coupled with a massive and punitive health care policy, they will be even less likely to suppport a recovery.  When people are losing jobs and living hand to mouth (via handouts from the government), I think the real Americans will stand up.  Republicans will be able to go into those suburbs in the north and ask the real question:  Are you tired of propping up the failed policies that raise your taxes, and redistribute wealth to people who do not work for it?  That will cause them to return to the GOP.  They want sanity and we can now give it to them. 

Remember America:  You may not have liked everything about George W. Bush’s administration, but you at least you had a job!

I just want some actual clarification.  I know that he was out in favor of the stimulus, which was a mistake, but he is solidly pro-life and has a good rating from the NRA.  I was thinking about sending money to the race, and I think that Crist is very popular amongst the people needed to win the general election.  I know that Rubio is a good man too, but I would like to back a winner. 

I understand the stimulus support and embrace of the president to be a faux pas, but I think he has been solid in other areas.  I know the editors of this site really support Rubio, and I don’t know much about him.  So as of now I will likely give to Crist, because he has an actual statewide electoral record. 

I don’t think Crist is as bad as Scozzafava.  Can someone shed a little more light on this subject for me?

With the Democrats flailing about wildly, the GOP needs to offer a coherent plan in the healthcare debate.  I know that many on this site will say that we have one, but I think we need to make it apparent with advertisements detailing what we want. 

With talk of splitting the healthcare bill in two pieces, the GOP needs to take the lead on the portions of the healthcare reform we support, to include things like interstate portability and tort reform.  We also need to make it clear to the middle class, that the Republicans want to make healthcare more affordable for the people who currently have it.  If we make it cheaper for those already insured, then those without will have a cheaper option for insurance.

I think this will work in that the Democrats have already fallen apart on this issue.  Rep. Wiener has stated that 100 Democrats will vote no on reform without a government option.  Republicans can take credit for saving reform if we split the bill and pass the things we can agree with Blue Dogs on.  Then the president will have to tick off his base, which will hurt congressional Democrats.  After all the enemy in 2010 isn’t BHO, it’s the congressional liberals from moderate to conservative districts. 

MSNBC is already huffing and puffing.  If Obama signs a reform bill without a government option, they will completely lose it.  The left will explode.  They will become as despondent as they were in 1994.  Then we’ll win even bigger in 2010.  I have advocated supporting a number of Blue Dog positions in the past, just to force the Democrats to choose.  Now, I think we need to be a wedge between the president and his leftist base.  It’s not only good policy for the country, but deliciously good policy for the country.

Last night on Rachel Maddow’s program, columnist Frank Rich made commentary about the parallels between the early sixties and the present day.  He said that he can remember the vitriol and hatred the right had for President Kennedy.  He likens that to what is happening now to our current president. 

Then he made a comment that the conservative attacks led to the assasination of President Kennedy.  That is a lie.  Lee Harvey Oswald was a leftist, former defector to the Soviet Union.  He was a communist, not a right winger.  That Rich is bringing the old saw about the right being responsible for the killing of President Kennedy is patently false.  And the way in which Rich skirted around that proves he knows its false as well. 

I confess, I tend to agree with Rich’s point-of-view in regard to the arts and entertainment.  He is a damn good theatre columnist and reviewer.  But last night he confirmed himself as having the same leftist mendacious streak as is practiced on MSNBC every night.  That is too bad.

It seems odd to me that the Obama administration, or any administration, would balk at using a non-lethal method of getting information from suspected terrorists.  Yet, for some odd reason, that is what is happening.

We know, based on reporting, that waterboarding worked to get information on a large scale terrorist attack on Los Angeles and the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet the left is willing to say that what we did was immoral. I guess that must be the Victim ethic of the left.

For years the left has been trying to get people to be victims. So, it should be no surprise that they think the moral high ground is in being the victim of a terrorist attack instead of working all-out to prevent it from happening. No one here supports torture in the abstract; but in the case of Waterboarding, we have evidence of its working to prevent attacks by Al-Qaeda.

For liberals, they would rather see Americans die in order to be “morally superior” than Al-Qaeda. No longer is western civilization of its own accord superior to Islamist savages. We wonder why there is a feeling of The Death of the West.

I feel a whole lot safer knowing my Secretary of State are reverting to the Clinton appeasement era plan of negotiating with Muslim terrorists/pirates.  Wow!  I am sure the mullahs in Afghanistan are taking heed of this strong-arm approach.

I love that we are treating piracy as a mere law enforcement matter, not an act of war on the United States.  I imagine Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic Party, is turning in his grave, 200 years after we last dealt with these savages.

I know this post will probably get me a bunch of hate mail on this site.  And I myself think it is used mostly as a stunt.  But I do think that insistance on hard pay-go rules this session of congress has the ability to fork apart the so-called “Blue Dogs” from the rest of the left of the Democratic party in the congress.

I favor supply-side tax cuts in any year that the Republican party is in control in Washington. I think that tax cuts followed by responsible spending priorities are what will save us economically. But as I have said before, we have a monster building in Washington. Part of the deal is we aren’t articulating a plan that the “Blue Dogs” could support. So, I suggest that we attack that problem by offering them something that they claim to want. If we could get a Pay-go point of order against all new spending measures, we at least would force the Democrats to support open ended tax increases, which is what they avoid by running up spending and then passing on un-godly amounts of debt.

Moderates, by definition, think that the Republicans are to blame for this current mess. I dont think this is true, but that is the way it is. And Democrats are capitalizing on this by stating that we aren’t offering anything new. So, we should call their bluff, and make them vote against something they have supported, Pay-go. I think hoisting the opposite side by their own petard should be part of what we want to do.

We will fork the “Blue-Dogs” and the Republicans will then be seen as the reformers. Even if it was a joke, at least then we’d have another point to raise against the Democrats’ corruption. Conservatives need to think outside the box. Our leaders in congress need to do the same thing. We need to be imaginitive with our positions to make the Democrats reel a bit. Right now, they just say same-old same-old, and we lose the country. Let’s think outside the box. They are not popular, but Republicans rate even lower because we are perceived as offering nothing. So let’s go out and offer the traditional policies with new ideas and attack the Democrats as the clones of the 60’s and 70’s which is what they are.

Have at me! I know paygo is not popular on this site, but it is a way to ridicule the Dems. I’d like to see more of that from our side!

As we read that the Russians are going to place bombers in Venezuela and Cuba.  As we read that the far left party in El Salvador is winning the elections this week, we must think back to American responses in the past.

Were we not better off in the past when the CIA would pay for the assassination of South American leftists?  I mean, we took out Allende, and I don’t care what people say, we were right to do it.  I think Bush should have jumped right in and taken Chavez out as well.  Now, we have let that cat out of the bag. 

The question is:  Were we better off when we used to take a more direct interest in our Latin American neighbors? 

By the Way:  I have read next to nothing on Columbia…  What is happening on that front?  Is Obama goint to lose that for us?

Why Not have another Rush to Excellence Tour across America?  I remember being really young when Rush first went on his tour after his first book, and the crowds were electric.  I think most people right now are flummoxed with the current state of the country.  They see the attack on the producers and people with productive jobs as an insult.  I think a lot of those independents, if they were so gullible, could just as easily be won over to our side by pointing out the facts of our current situation.  No one does that better than Rush himself.

Maybe we could get a cooperative deal going here.  Rush, Hannity, Levin, etc.  could appear all over the country at rallies.  I think part of our problem in winning in so-called liberal areas of the country is that conservatives are so beaten down by the left that we don’t want to speak.  It’s not fun being ostracized and ridiculed.  But, if Rush et. al. help buck up our remaining conservatives, we might just convince a few of the squishy moderates.  The positive and negative of the moderate is that they don’t know what they believe.  We need to remember that in 1994 they decidedly went GOP.  We can get that again, if we use Rush and the rest of the radio bunch to our real advantage.

I don’t know if Rush reads what we write on our blog.  And I know that he has a life to live outside of his radio program and traveling to far flung regions of the country to buck up the forlorn conservative, but maybe this is the time to come out.  I know Hannity travels quite a bit.  Levin stays put a lot.  We need the conservatives in the new media, which includes us on RedState, to take the lead.  Our weak-kneed representatives will only get a spine when we get one!  That means saying what we think and mean in public, even at NEA leadership meetings (which I happily do!).  I think Rush can inspire whole new legions of conservatives to speak up and speak out.  He’s not a messiah, he’s not a miracle worker, he just knows, better than most, what makes this nation great.

If Rush would re-create the Rush to Excellence tour, he’d get tons of coverage in the local media where he was speaking.  Most of the moderates, who pay their mortgages on time, think the government is wasting way too much money, and think that there are better ways to reform health care than having a new massive bureaucratic  “solution”,  will  come back around.  It’s not just Rush, but all of us.  I mean he was right, most people live their lives as conservatives.  We need to forge that connection again, and then the administration will be flailing, just like Clinton in 1993-1994.

Anyway, that is my thought.  I’d go to a Rush to Excellence in Colorado Springs or Denver at any time.

As we sit here, we see that the Senate Democrats are preparing to pass a “stimulus” bill.  They are giving bare minimum concessions to the so-called fiscal conservatives in their own party, and passing a socialist revision of the American way of life.  The Republicans have been smart attacking the more egregious parts of the bill, but have been less forthright in offering a true alternative that the president will sign. 

The president has been AWOL only in public.  In private, his people working hard on this.  They have stated publicly that they would accept a smaller, leaner bill.  Why not offer that, and publicly?  Have Steele go on Sunday Shows, or better yet, our Senate Leaders and offer a real alternative.  That alternative would be an elimination of all social spending in the bill and a doubling of infrastructure spending.  The bill would then create jobs, and would help rebuild roads and bridges.  Part of the bill would also fast-track infrastructure projects where they are most needed, allowing the money to be put to good use.  We could put the tax measures on the bill and it would still be at around $500 billion, which is way less than the current boondoggle.  I think the GOP in the country would win major points.  I think that Obama would have to sign it, and I think the liberals would kill it, so we would have something to run on in 2010. 

Let’s keep in mind that our Goal in the minority is to make the Democrats and the Administration pay for each and every one of their gaffes.  We also need to split the Democrats as often as we can.  A common sense alternative like this would achieve both goals.  Republicans need to think strategically again.  This can be the first plank in a new Contract with America.

The House of Representatives is going to debate and vote on the “stimulus package”.  We need to make sure that our representatives on the Republican side oppose the measure.  Our conference needs to make sure that the Democrats retain all the responsibility for this debacle.  If the media isn’t going to spread the pork-barrel nature of this bill, we need to have ads up on television.

I think Rush was right when he said that the media has made Barrack Obama too big to fail.  If he fails, they fail.  That’s why there is no scrutiny of anything he says or does.  The only critics are Rush and Hannity and Levin.  If we don’t stand up now, we never will.  Republican members of congress need to know that we mean business.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has stated that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution does not apply the Second Amendment to the states.  We need to fight this ruling.  The NRA needs to file a cert petition with the SCOTUS to get this under control.  We need to get this before Obama and the socialist justice department get their way and appoint new justices to the Court.

We did not win in Heller.  We only won the first battle.  All law abiding gun owning citizens need to stand up for the right to keep and bear arms.  We need to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.  The right to keep and bear arms is the first attempt to make America a fascist/socialist country.  We need to defend our liberty and hopefully the NRA and other groups will hear the clarion call and make effort to do this.

The Senate of the United States has just confirmed an admitted Tax Cheat to be the head of all the money in this country.  Amazing. 

Where is the media outrage?  Imagine the previous Republican nominating a tax felon?  We’d get crucified.

Why did our Senators stand by and let this happen?  The moral blight on the administration by employing a known lawbreaker is beyond understanding.  We should be on the attack.

I hope Obama’s targeting of Rush will make Republicans stiffen their collective spine.  At this point from reading the RedState blogs and posts, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people that pay attention to the political system are so beleaguered by the current state of affairs that they would enjoy just a little fight from the party right now.

I hear a little grumbling about McConnell and Boehner right now.  The thing they can do most to help themselves as leaders is to fight the Democrats tooth and nail.  No, not every Republican will vote with the party, likewise not every Democrat will be with the “The One” either.  But we can make it harder if we come forward with an actual plan, and offer substitute amendments.  I think our two leaders in the congress will help themselves immeasurably by standing firm on principle and rallying the base to the party.  We need to get back to that model. 

Whatever you all say about Tom DeLay and Newt, they both knew how to take it to the Democrats.  I think the American people would like to see bi-partisanship, but I also think the American people want choices as well.  Without a Republican in the White House to protect, Republican congressmen and Senators need to fight as hard as they can to fire up the base.  That means attacks on the pro-life side as well as the “stimulus”.  Conservatives just want someone to stand on their principles.  For all the naysayers who claim we need to get along with the President, I say fooey!  When was the last time the Washington Post or New York Times looked out for the good of the Republican conference in congress?

Come on guys, fight them a bit.  Standing there and caving in will not get you a majority.  It’s that position that cost us 40 years in the wilderness.  We need to press the Democrats on social and economic issues.  We already know what we believe, now let’s act on it!

I am sorry if I sound awful preachy, but I don’t like the press clippings coming forth from our side.  We need to stay active and get them to see the light.  They need to make a stand, and earlier rather than later.  Some say that you need to be smart when you pick a hill to die on.  Rather, I think we need to pick lots of hills and then the true conservatives will once again work for the GOP.  They should be embracing us, not sending us away!

Let’s be honest, the whole stimulus debate is growing old from my standpoint.  All we hear is that Obama is a post-partisan leader and Republicans are duty bound to help him pass his “stimulus package.”

But what exactly are the Republicans getting from the Democrats?  Are we getting a leaner more efficient government?  Are we really auditing all the social programs of the country to see that they don’t work?  I think the answer is apparent.  All we are getting is the satisfaction of compromising everyone of our principles, so the president can share blame with Republicans.

Bi-partisanship would mean that real conservatives would have to support the initiative.  Bi-partisanship would be major reform in Social Security and Medicare to make them more sustainable into the future.  Bi-partisanship would mean a real tax reform proposal, to de-link social engineering from the business of funding the government.

I don’t see this, so we should go on the offensive against the stimulus plan.  Have the president get all the Blue-Dogs on board.  That will cause major pain and heartache for them.  Republicans are being told to cave in by some of the following:  David Gergen, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Wolf Blitzer, David Gregory, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et. al..  Republicans are being told to stand on principle by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and those of us here at RedState.  Who has the real best interest of conservatism at heart? 

Republican legislators need to stand up and fight now.  They need to make real good government demands, and fight like we did in 1993.  The Democrats are still feckless, we should shine the light on them and make them more so.

I was taken aback that the new president had the gall to bring Rush into the argument over the “Stimulus Plan” with Republican leaders.  I think they would be better off listening to Rush than Obama.  I mean, how many more of the so-called moderate Republicans are left to help Obama?  Not that many.  We should really fight him tooth and nail. 

He wants a bunch of jelly-legged Republicans to give imprimatur to his foolish plan.  So then the 40-50 Blue-Dogs can vote no, and save their behinds in 2010.  We need to offer him no such succor.  If he wants to be dictator, he can do it as a Democratic only policy.  When the Blue Dogs start jumping ship, he can try pass it with the liberals only.  The plan will indeed fail.  At that point, we have a rallying cry for 2010.  Yes, we should work together, but that does not mean that we give up our principles to do so.

Republicans, the conservatives we have left, should vigorously tell Obama that he can pass his socialistic anti-American plan on his own within the Democratic Party.  We either get some real concessions, or he has to do it by himself. 

Besides, all Rush does is make satire over the new president.  I really feel the Democrats want a president that cannot be the focus of satirical commenary.  Republicans should not be afraid but agressive.  I have said that we need a new Newt to come forth, we need a new DeLay in congress to help stiffen our backbones.

We will be back on the road to recovery if we listen to Rush and put principles first.  I mean all the business people that gave bucket loads of money to the Democrats will re-think when the employee free choice act comes forth.  We will have the money, and if we have the resolve the next two years to weather the storm, we will once again be able to find credible candidates for office.

Stick to your guns, and Rush, thanks for being the last man standing.

This whole fast moving freight train of an economic stimulus plan should be resisted for many reasons.  Certainly many of which have been elucidated by the members of this very informative blog. 

However, we should not merely cave to the Democrats for another important reason.  As the opposition, with a reduced minority, we should see to it that the committees of jurisdiction get a chance to score the package, and we should draw attention to its earmarks et. al..  While I can see a political advantage for the Arlen Specter’s and Olympia Snowe’s of the world to play ball with Obama on many issues, no Republican gains by fast-tracking this legislation. 

The Democrats, with the help of the partisan media, are trying to have their cake and eat it too.  The president in his address on Tuesday stated that this would be a long process.  Republicans should repeat his words to the Democrats in the Senate.  They say this will take a long time, what we need is to make it take a little longer.  Without seeming obstructionist, we can demand an open ended process that will allow minority amendments and oversight.  We will again regain the monniker of the party of responsible government.  While supporting the aim of recovery, our senators can argue that when the President and congress wish to triple the deficit, we should take our time to see the money is actually needed.

Republicans who are worried about looking obstrucitonist only need to stiffen their spine, look in the camera, and repeat that they are lookig out for the intrest of the taxpayer.  If we stand with John Q. Taxpayer as a watchdog, we will then be in good shape.  I think a stimulus package will pass.  I do not think we need to have it pass just the way the Democrats want it to.  I think there will be Democrats falling off the reservation to uphold filibusters and supporting minority offered amendments.  Reid and company need to know that we will not let them logroll us. 

Further, this majority is of such a size that if it takes too long, as per wont of the Senate, Reid will only look more and more feckless as the days move on.  He will then be in more trouble in Nevada in 2010.  I hope a GOP Senator reads this, but I guess that would mean they would care what the base thinks!

I hope we have a solid opposition in congress.  The conservative movement is not dead.  We are here in spades in the blogosphere, but we are not out in the public.  The education system in this country has lost its ability to create informed citizens.  We are going to lose our ability to have individual freedom in this country if we don’t fight them. 

The Democrats have no plan.  We need to stand in the way as much as possible.  I think we need to pull a 1993 and refuse to cooperate as much as possible.  Make this the Democrats’ recession.  Make this the Democrats’ failure.

Conservatives need to point out once again that government is not the maker of a great nation.  That the culture of the people makes the nation great.  The administration will not affirm this, and I fear that without a Jesse Helms or a Phil Gramm in the senate, or a Newt or DeLay in the House, we will blithely let the Democrats have the so-called bi-partisanship.

We need to stiffen the Republican spine.  Let’s get to work. Then we can have the joy of an election day in the future.

I have recently read an article by former Senator Rick Santorum about John McCain being a secret weapon for the Democrats.  I think this story really has me flummoxed.  I know that Senator McCain is a decent man, but the prospect of his collaboration with Obama on healthcare and other issues is hopefully false.  I hope that Rick wrote this piece to warn of a possible problem before it happens.

As a positive note:  I did notice that John McCain stood with Tom Coburn on the ill-begotten lands bill.  Hopefully this is the harbinger of his efforts.  Honestly, the old cranky John McCain who stood to defeat major spending in the past may be back with us.  Regardless of his defeat, I hope McCain takes on the role of Barry Goldwater toward the end of his life.  If that happens, we could be successful in this term in congress.