Jon Henke reports on it. I suppose that we won’t be seeing “Dissent Is The Highest Form Of Patriotism” stickers anymore.
Honestly, can the hypocrisy of Granholm, Dingell and others be any more appalling? As the so-called “Dean of the House,” Dingell has championed a failed auto industry for the whole of his nearly five decades on Capitol Hill. Every time the domestic automobile manufacturers have asked him to jump, his only questions were “how high?” and “how often.” In return for this fawning obsequiousness, when it came to improving their own industry, the automobile manufacturers did–wait for it!–nothing. And then there’s Jennifer Granholm, the most overrated governor in the whole of the Union, a governor whose “leadership” has only served to run the state of Michigan down without any respite whatsoever for the poor citizenry of the Wolverine State who deserve far better and who instead, get a governor who sinks to their expectations without fail.
Neither Dingell nor Granholm could be any more destructive in their positions of public responsibility if they actually tried. They have the reverse-Midas touch, their actions are replete with truly staggering quantities of incompetence. And they have the nerve to question the patriotism of those who rightfully wonder why an industry that has suffered at its own hands and has received no long-term advantages whatsoever at the hands of Dingell and Granholm should now be bailed out by the American taxpayer?
Give me a break. The only thing that Dingell, Granholm and their various enablers–many of whom are called out by name in Henke’s post–have done successfully is employ their GPS systems to locate the last refuge of a scoundrel. They are holed up in that refuge as I write this.
They're calling the people unpatriotic
Rich Tandler Sunday, December 14th at 6:44AM EST (link)The Senators are big boys, they can take being called whatever sort of nasty name the other side can come up with.
However, the reason that it’s important to strongly counter the charges of being unpatriotic is that they are not really aimed at the Senators and Congressmen opposing the bailout. They are directed at the majority of the American people who, in poll after poll, say they don’t want this.
They can’t call those people unpatriotic, of couse, so the strategy is to question the patriotism of those who represent their views.It’s an age old strategy used by both sides.
The Senators do not have an obligation to defend themselves against such junk charges. They do have an obligation to debunk the notion that opposition to using taxpayer dollars to bail out a horribly inefficient industry is unpatriotic in any way shape or form in defense of the tens of millions of Americans who are against the bailout.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the tears of defeated politicians of BOTH parties and at ALL levels over the next few election cycles.
The Three T’s of reform–Term Limits, Tax Reform, and the Tenth Amendment
Isn't it ironic
bk Sunday, December 14th at 10:25AM EST (link)how politicians on the left are always screaming that they are being unfairly accused of being unpatriotic when they trash the troops? Apparently their definition of “patriotic” per the Biden/Granholm doctrine is to pay lots of taxes to be used for corporate/union bailouts.
Jon Henke has the right idea.
Moe Lane Sunday, December 14th at 8:32AM EST (link)Confront these people. They’ve spent too long thinking that they can make statements like this without personal consequences. Embarrassing three or four of them would be useful; entertaining; and good for our morale.
Check out my new blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (blogging-related) wish list.
5. Perhaps if the GOP had spokesmen who would fight...
smagar Sunday, December 14th at 10:29AM EST (link)…instead of:
(a) a White House committed to New Tone (translation: keep turning a fresh cheek to your opponent, no matter how many times they smacked the last one you presented), or:
(b) GOP Senators (e.g., Warner, Lugar, Hagel, Collins) who focus on being nice-and-above-board on the Sunday talk shows, while Schumer, Levin, et.al beat them senseless.
Moe is right; my morale as a GOP foot soldier and conservative is shot.
The Dems say these things because they know the leading GOP spokesmen will suffer in silence, and the MSM won’t make a fuss. If I were Granholm or Dingell, I’d follow the example of Schumer and Emmanuel: Keep kicking the GOP until someone makes me stop.
Every little blow you land on the GOP’s image makes its brand that less palatable to voters. Over time, LOTS of time, that damage can add up. Like, for example, in the loss of fourteen Senate seats in just two national elections!
Case in point: alll those MSMers who wanted to know if Sarah Palin would take a DNA test to prove that she was indeed Trig’s mother.
Remember Steve Schmidt telling us how so many of those reporters privately confided to him that they were ashamed to be asking those questions—-but their editors were making them do it?
OK, then..remember when McCain promised to tell the American people the names of wanna-be earmarkers and pork-barrelers if he won the Presidency?
Well, why not name the names of those professional journalists who wanted to pry into the most private aspects of Sarah Palin’s life?
Why not embarass them? Why not put THEM on the defensive?
The MSM has lower public approval ratings than the Nancy Pelosi Congress! It is shedding market share, employees and equity value daily. It is wounded.
And, it has never, ever been so hostile to the GOP as it was in this last election.
We owe it nothing.
Now, here’s a case where we have a wounded, hostile beast in our crosshairs. With a powerful weapon, loaded with potent ammunition in our collective hands, and a GOP leaders’ fingers (Mc Cain campagn) on the trigger.
And…they…just…won’t…pull…the…trigger.
I know, yes I know that many political winds did not favor the GOP in this last election cycle.
But you must exploit to the fullest the potent weapons you DO have!
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
Demoralized is right
Vladimir Sunday, December 14th at 11:21AM EST (link)With a couple of notable exceptions (Dr Tom Coburn, for one and … uh, I’ll get back to you on the others), Congressional Republicans don’t have what it takes to suffer the slings & arrows, etc.
The word “mean” is like kryptonite to Republicans. Screw that. Sometimes it takes character, courage and convictions to act like an adult, especially if you’re outnumbered 20 to 1. Of course, lesser people are going to think that you’re “mean” or “unfair”.
We need to elect representatives who are more interested in advancing the cause than advancing their own careers. Or being thrown a bone, like a better parking space.
Who are our pit bulls? I can’t name one.
There is no opinion, however absurd, which men will not readily embrace as soon as they can be brought to the conviction that it is generally adopted. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Notable exceptions
RetNAV Sunday, December 14th at 11:44AM EST (link)I would include Senator Jim DeMint in that group. And Jim Inhofe, especially on the global warming alarmism.
Yes, being called mean seems to be enough to stymie many GOP Senators. Worse than that is being called raaaaacist!. That will stop most of them dead in their tracks and do an about face.
I never want to hear again of bipartisanship. The only time I want a Republican “reaching across the aisle” is to smack a liberal.
It's hard to feel sorry for Michigan voters...
smagar Sunday, December 14th at 10:09AM EST (link)…when, if memory serves, they re-elected Granholm.
One of the drawbacks about a republic—it makes its citizens pay for bad choices they make in the voting booth.
Take your medicine, Michigan.
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
But but but
bk Sunday, December 14th at 11:29AM EST (link)she’s doing the best she can despite a President who has ruined the country and an obstructionist GOP Congress who is helping him ruin everything in Michigan.
Or at least I suspect some whine-o-gram like that is how she explains her incompetence.
Wasn't Granholm one of the dems' "Golden Ones"?
RetNAV Sunday, December 14th at 11:35AM EST (link)Six years ago, wasn’t she the one the media used as an example of why we needed to amend the Constitution for to allow “this bright and shining (naturalized citizen) star” to run for President?
How’s that working out for them now?
Granholm’s presidential campaign slogan: I’ll do for America what I’ve done for Michigan!
I never want to hear again of bipartisanship. The only time I want a Republican “reaching across the aisle” is to smack a liberal.
Some people would say that "natural born citizen" clause no longer applies
bk Sunday, December 14th at 12:13PM EST (link)Thanks Pej, you really perked my morning up.
mbecker908 Sunday, December 14th at 12:48PM EST (link)And before my first cup of coffee was done!
I’ve been howling about this kind of behavior on the part of Republicans for so long I’ve callouses on my fingertips and a couple of dents in the wall from tossed coffee mugs.
The Democrats are nothing but a bunch of fourth grade playground bullies. They’re the biggest kiddies on the little playground and they’ve been blessed by a teacher who made Playground Rule #1, You may not hit back. For DC Dems, trumpets sounded, the clouds parted and heaven came to rest on earth when GWB was elected with a promise of a NewTone™ for politics in DC. They knew they had license to haul out the big guns with absolutely no fear of reprisal.
My question is, just who will show up to fight? There is one life lesson we should have learned by the time we got to middle school that Congressional Republicans either have forgotten or managed to never learn. Punch the bully, he’ll back down. The folks we’ve managed to send to the Congress seem to be folks who’ve never met a fight they couldn’t run from. We need to find a fighter or two among our currently elected folks and find a way to reward them from out here in the peanut gallery, because sure as heck can’t count on the rest of the elected class to reward them. As a corollary, I’d also like to find a way to punish those, especially those in leadership, who stand by with pasty smiles while we get pummeled.