Is “make up your mind” really all that much to ask of President Obama?

Evidently so. At yesterday’s townhall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Obama’s oft-repeated “money line” was that tax raises are “painful” and unneccessary, and that tax cuts were awesome.

Take, for example, the following quotes from the transcript, accompanied with video.

Tax cuts are awesome:

That’s why we acted as fast as we could to pass a Recovery Act that would stop the freefall. And I want to make sure everybody understands what we did.

One-third of the money in the Recovery Act went to tax cuts that have already started showing up in the paychecks of about 500,000 working families in New Hampshire — (applause) — 500,000 families in New Hampshire. We also cut taxes for small businesses on the investments that they make, and over 300 New Hampshire small businesses have qualified for new loans backed by the Recovery Act.

Tax increases are bad:

Now, that was a third — that was a third of the Recovery Act. Another third of the money in the Recovery Act is for emergency relief for folks who’ve borne the brunt of this recession. So we’ve extended unemployment benefits for 20,000 New Hampshire residents. (Applause.)

We’ve made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families who rely on COBRA while they’re looking for work. (Applause.) And for states that were facing historic budget shortfalls, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of tens of thousands of workers who provided essential services — like teachers and police officers. (Applause.) So it’s prevented a lot of painful cuts in the state, but also a lot of painful state and local tax increases.

Taxpayers should “try to get the best deal possible” on drugs:

The important thing about the story that you just told me was — is that once it was determined that, in fact, you needed the brand name, you were able to get the brand name. Now, I want to be absolutely clear here: There are going to be instances where if there is really strong scientific evidence that the generic and the brand name work just as well, and the brand name costs twice as much, that the taxpayer should try to get the best deal possible, as long as if it turns out that the generic doesn’t work as well, you’re able to get the brand name.

So the basic principle that we want to set up here is that — if you’re in private insurance, first of all, your private insurance can do whatever you want. If you’re under a government program, then it makes sense for us to make sure that we’re getting the best deal possible and not just giving drug makers or insurers more money than they should be getting. But ultimately, you’ve got to be able to get the best care based on what the doctor says.

I think you’re getting Obama’s point (judging from what he’s saying here, at least): taxes are bad, bad bad.

Or maybe that’s not what he meant at all.

Halfway through the meeting, Obama decided he didn’t want to roll with this anymore.  Out of nowhere, he pulled a full 180-degree turn, and ran off in the other direction.  Now: tax cuts are satanic!  Now he wants to “roll back Bush tax cuts” to pay for the public option:

I said very specifically I thought we should roll back Bush tax cuts and use them to pay for health insurance. That’s what I’m intending to do. All right? (Applause.)

It’s kind of hard to take him at his word, as he has beseeched the American people to do, when he can’t decide what his word is, precisely.

But, just so we’re clear (or, if you prefer, “Let me be clear”): his tax cuts are acts of genius.  Bush’s tax cuts were insignificant little things that really have to go.

Only at an Obama town hall is rolling back tax cuts greeted with thunderous applause and expressions of blithe satisfaction from the audience.

Cross-posted at The Minority Report.

This is how much Democrats believe it is “healthy for such a historic effort to be subject to so much scrutiny and debate“:

Enough to portray Kenneth Gladney, an anti-Obamacare townhall attendee who was beaten by SEIU thugs, as a “silly black man in a wheelchair” and hurl sexual insults at him.

And that is just the post itself. The comments on the threads at FireDogLake and Democratic Underground are absolutely abhorrent.

Yes, Democrats, lets have that dialogue on race now. The only question is, will Gladney be invited for a beer at the White House?

Not likely.

Cross-posted at The Minority Report.

Over the last 24 hours, almost 40 comments have been posted on that entry, spelling out America’s opinion in the public option debate: that the government should keep it’s grubby hands off.

Then, at about 6:30 PM today, 36 of the 38 comments posted on that entry were scrubbed by the SEIU. As I write, only two comments remain on the thread.

The comments were not deleted before a full page screenshot could be obtained.  Posted below is a cropped version of the screenshot, showing the original 38 comments posted. Click on the image to see the full-size view of the page.

You see, there are just a few things I have to say, but I think they’re pretty important points.  Pull up a chair, won’t you, because I think we’re going to be here for a while.  You’ve all held press conferences, given speeches, and just last year you were talking to everyone, with it being an election year and all.  So, you’ve had your turn.  And now, I want mine.

Today was a pretty standard day, as days go.  However, today was the day that you and your colleagues voted on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination.  You were given a golden opportunity to strengthen the Republican message, and pave the way for a Republican majority in the 2010 midterm elections.

Alas, you passed up that opportunity.  You decided, for whatever reasons, that it wasn’t worth the effort to say “No” on Sotomayor’s nomination, instead of “Yes.”  You decided to lie down and roll over like dogs for the Democratic majority in the Senate.

You were correct in saying that there was absolutely no chance that Sotomayor would not have been confirmed.  With at least 60 votes in her favor, there was no way she wasn’t going to get what she had come for.

But that leaves quite a few things unexplained.  If she was always going to be confirmed, why couldn’t you vote “No”, if she ran so opposed to American ideals, as you yourself, Sen. Graham, put it when you questioned her?  If she is so unprepared for this position, as you demonstrated her to be during her hearing, why couldn’t you vote “No”?  Why couldn’t you hold the line with the rest of the Republican party?  The other 31 Republicans certainly didn’t meet doom for voting the opposite of you.

We all know the real reason you couldn’t vote with the rest of the Republicans.  You’re simply not Republicans, as you claim to be.  For what you pulled in the Senate today, for your similar deeds in the past, and for what you will undoubtedly do in the future, you are worth as much to us as any of your 60 Democrat colleagues.

Right now, Republicans are gearing up for a fight.  We’re poised to put up our biggest fight yet in 2010, and as it stands, you are apparently actively working against that goal.  You are, in effect, our enemies.

If that’s the way you would like to be seen, you have two options: you may follow Arlen Specter out the door now, or we, your voting constituency, can show you the way out in 2010.

As the old saying goes, “get on the train, or get the out of the way”.  It’s your call.  Because, as cliche as it may be, We the People are mad as hell.

And we’re not going to take it anymore.

Most of you have seen the latest smear from the Democratic National Committee.

You’ve also probably heard about the call for members of the newly-formed White House Snitch Brigade.

You have watched elected officials “flee their ‘townhalls’ like frightened bunnies” (as Moe Lane put it), in fear of having to face their voting constituency.

Some politicians have even called you “fake” and “manufactured”, for turning out in droves at their “townhalls” to speak your mind and voice your opinion.

You’ve been called “unruly”, “radical”, “disruptive”, a “fringe group”, and told you have the debating skill of Kindergarteners — by some of the very people elected to represent you, no less.

For daring to express your view, you’ve been slandered by Democrats, who currently hold the majority in both house of Congress.  For — even more pervasively to the Ruling Party — dissenting from the hopenchange groupthink on Healthcare, you’ve been told to shut up.  To hell with your first amendment rights.  Big Brother simply won’t put up with your “nagging.”

Aren’t these people “unruly radicals”?

Of course not.

Don’t these people represent “a fringe group” that needs “to go back to Kindergarten and learn some manners”?

Don’t be foolish.

What about the anti-War protesters who heckled McCain during his Latino Conference speech?  Or the protesters who interrupted Bush’s Independence Day speech?  On that note, how about these crazies that butted into Rumsfeld speech on the military?  Can we expect a full campaign against these “disrupters”?  Will the Democratic National Committee put a stop to this “mob”?

Not a chance.  We are, after all, just “community organizers.”  Why should Democrats care what we think?

In recent weeks, the healthcare debate has become increasingly heated, with both sides preparing to make an example of the final results.  Republicans want to make Obama’s push for socialized Healthcare his “Waterloo”, and Democrats want to use it to reaffirm their constituent support, which has been waning as of late.

Lately, politicians have taken to holding townhalls on the Healthcare issue.

While one might be led to believe that these meetings are held to solicit public opinion, they are instead being used in feeble attempts to sway public opinion.  So far, these endeavors have been met with comically disastrous results.

On April 3rd, Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) held a “Healthcare Listening Session.”  As you might imagine, the conservatives in attendance were extremely uncivil.  They took up their torches and pitchforks and with a rallying cry, ran through the town, flipped over cars and lit them afire, ending the night with a hostage situation.

Okay, I exaggerated just a little.  But make no mistake, these people were downright vicious, and the Brown County Democrats say they will not rest until these “unruly radicals” are brought to justice:

This radical group came over two hours before the event took place to pack the auditorium and make sure no one who actually wanted to have debate or ask a legitimate question of the Congressman could.

They showed up Two.  Hours.  Early. How…radical.  In this day and age, how do we tolerate people who show up early to get good seats?

Michelle Malkin’s idea of ha ha ha…

……is using an images of planes crashing into the WTC to peddle a false conspiracy theory.

For the record, according to Gen. David Petraeus, Malkin’s Miranda claim is false. The Washington Independent’s Aaron Wiener explains:

If you didn’t wade through the details of counterinsurgency strategy in Spencer’s liveblog of Gen. David Petraeus’ keynote speech this morning at the Center for a New American Security conference, you may have missed this interesting nugget: Petraeus tore down a Weekly Standard report that the FBI was reading Miranda rights to detainees captured in Afghanistan.

“The real rumor yesterday is whether our forces were reading Miranda rights to detainees and the answer to that is no,” Petraeus said today.

So Gen. Petraeus says Malkin’s conspiracy theory isn’t true. But why should that stop her from peddling it when she can have so much fun shamelessly exploiting one of the most tragic moments in American history?

[Emphasis mine.]

But this was the Daily Kos’s idea of “ha ha ha” on the eleventh of this past September (h/t Redstate’s own Caleb Howe):

Accompanied by the following comment:

All this 9/11 worship is ghoulish and downright silly

The September 11th terrorist attacks were a horrific attack on the entire nation, through which three thousand perfectly innocent American citizens were slaughtered.  But why should that stop the Kossacks from having so much fun “shamelessly exploiting one of the most tragic moments in American history”?