Michael Barone has been watching and influencing politics for decades, and seems to be the rare pundit who is not in love with his own opinion. Barone talks today about the ways in which the 2012 campaign is different than those of the last 40 years. He is more or less correct in the three key differences that he finds, but more notable to me are the things that are the same.
What Is Politico Hiding?
When did Jonathan Martin of Politico stop beating his wife? Frankly, it hasn’t been established that Jonathan Martin of Politico has ever completely stopped beating his wife.
If Jonathan Martin of Politico ever stops beating his wife, I think the public has a right to know about it.
Who Are The 1%?
Followers of Occupy Wall Street and the larger Occupy movement claim to represent 99% of the people, justifying their claim with a false dichotomy between the richest 1% and the poorest 99%.
One percent of 300 million give us 3 million people. So somewhere, scattered throughout the US, there are 3 million people whose money and property the Occupiers want for themselves.
But in America there is considerable mobility between those groups. We are not members of classes or groups, but individuals who happen temporarily to share income levels. Our “class interests” may coincide for a time, but it is patently foolish to push for laws that take from the rich and give to the poor while making mobility more difficult.
It is exceedingly easy to become part of a group of 3 million that is the 1% most of something. Let’s take a look.
American Dream, Marxist Nightmare
The Tea Parties and Occupy movements demonstrate two competing world views.
In one, America is a shining city on a hill, a market-powered engine built on great ideas, the first of which enshrines for us the freedom to do with our lives what we will and to do as we wish with the property we accumulate as a result of doing it.
In another view, America oppresses unwilling wage slaves into toiling in a dark wasteland, suffering the humiliation of knowing that someone else has it better than they do.
Below the fold you will discover that it was not always so.
The Tea Parties Have Spawned a Cargo Cult
Promoted from diaries.
The legacy media have paid undue attention to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) over the last month, as compared with the early tea parties. New media, on the other hand, have gone nuts over the relatively small, union-led anti-business protests. Unsurprisingly, many analyses of the two groups have tried to find commonality between them.
Except for superficial mimicry, despite politicians claiming otherwise the two groups are almost nothing alike, and the Occupy movement is doomed to failure.
The Rift Widens
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, having ended speculation that he would not seek the Presidency himself, endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination today. The Republican nominee is likely to win the general election, according to polls.
But in endorsing Romney, Christie attacked as “intellectually dishonest” those who compare Romney’s mandatory health insurance law in Massachusetts with ObamaCare, despite reports coming out just today that Massachusetts officials were consulted in crafting the federal law.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
Doubts Raised about Virginia ObamaCare Decision
The Fourth Circuit threw out the Commonwealth of Virginia’s suit challenging the constitutionality ObamaCare’s individual mandate, but it appears to have done so with a basic error in the facts of the case. Governor Bob McDonnell signed the Virginia law on which the suit is based days before ObamaCare went into effect, not afterward as the Fourth Circuit had it.
I am a Republican
I am a Republican. Our party was formed in 1854 to abolish slavery. 10 years later, it was gone.
I am a Republican. We believe in equal rights so strongly that we formed in 1854 to stop Democrats from treating blacks as pets.
I am a Republican. In 1860 we nominated a man who hated slavery, and Democrats went to war rather than give up their “pets”.
I am a Republican. For the last 200 years, Democrats have fought to keep blacks on the plantation, not wanting them to be free.
I am a Republican. My party has always pushed America to be color blind.
I am a Republican. I don’t care what color your skin is. My party has been the party of abolition, desegregation, and equality since 1854.
I am a Republican. Did you hear me? I said I don’t care what color your skin is. Now that’s cleared up, let’s talk.
The Power of the Dark Side
Mark Fitzgibbons over at The American Thinker puts the Great Radtkestate Dustup in proper perspective. Why are we fighting amongst ourselves, when our foe is in the field?
All of this would be on the level of a family feud, but of course the left-wing media wants to blow it out of proportion. Given how they need to deflect attention from what’s really going on in Washington, like corruption and overspending, an otherwise unremarkable skirmish among conservatives is just what they need.
Now that the dust has settled somewhat, I hope to provide a post mortem on a fight that never should have happened. In short, Radtke should have kept silent or noncommittal on Redstate’s involvement in the Virginia Senate race. Redstate on the other hand, should have stayed that way.
Go to the Redstate Gathering
This is a bit of advice from an old hand at Redstate. Go to the Gathering, if you can manage it, to have your own Nikki Haley moment.
It’s Time To Get Into The Game
| The United States is a center-right nation. That means there are more of us than there are of them.
Your neighbors, local businesses, and the parents at the Little League game are probably conservative by temperament. The media trains them to think that the liberal position is the traditional, reasonable one, while the conservative position is somehow radical and improper. When they hear the opposite from you, they will usually be relieved to know they aren’t crazy. |
Do you want your ideas to have influence? Knock on doors. It’s that simple. |
But while talking with people at baseball games and in the break room at work is necessary, it isn’t enough. You must also go to where people live. You must go to their doorstep.
Repealing the Individual Mandate
In the fight to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as ObamaCare, activists and legislators are faced with a basic strategic decision. Should we try to repeal or have nullified individual components of the law, or should we leave even the worst parts in place while we try to repeal the whole thing?
I have always believed in leaving the law intact, in all its unfettered malfeasance, as a way to remind American citizens, legislators, and courts just how far we have fallen. But the time has come for that strategy to change. We should start the repeal process with one of the worst features at the heart of the PPACA, the mandate that individuals buy health insurance.
Wisconsin Conservatives: Vote Democrat
If you are a conservative in Wisconsin, you have a great opportunity Tuesday to nudge the Wisconsin Democratic Party toward more rational, pro-Wisconsin ideas
Obama: We Will Raise Taxes After The Election
The Greatest Orator and Most Bestest Political Wizard of All Time just said he’d like to raise taxes if reelected:
Dick Durbin (D-IL), Constitutional Scholar
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) speculated Tuesday that one of the illegal immigrants covered by the proposed DREAM Act might one day become president.
A Word About Freedom
In days of yore here at Redstate, we often explored the philosophical underpinnings of conservatism, sometimes without any grounding in practical politics. We are more or less over that now, thankfully. But longtime Redstater Amy Miller asked me to explore what we mean when we demand free speech and free press. They are one and the same. Further, we should recognize the identical rights of amateur bloggers and professional journalists.
What Happened At RightOnline
... had better not stay at RightOnline!
Promoted from Diaries – ML
Redstate’s own ColdWarrior and Ron Robinson invited several precinct activists from around the country to sit on a panel at the recent RightOnline conference, put on by Americans for Prosperity. Our topic was the “Importance of Precinct Activism”. Below the fold you will find some more details that I didn’t include in my portion of the event, and get to see me talking.
A Day In The Life of a Conservative PC
I don’t mean to say that this day is typical of my day as a conservative Precinct Committeeman, but they come like this sometimes. When I think about the end of the day, the beginning and middle seem like warm-up laps.
Do Not Blame Newt Or Mitch
Nor even Mitt.
Politicians have been trained for decades to internalize a strategy. It is the essence of the conventional wisdom: we have our voters, they have their voters, and to win we need to convince those in between.
But that strategy is flawed, and its faults have been revealed by the rise of Barack Obama and laid bare by the Tea Parties. The political environment, at least in the 2012 election cycle, will not favor candidates who chase the ephemeral middle.
So There You Have It
The decades of hand-wringing, lawfare, partisan and bipartisan moralizing over “torture”, and the ever-present drumbeat of criticism for the Bush administration, have all boiled down to this. Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by an American special forces assault team.
As for all of that talk about terrorists having rights, even Constitutional rights, and attempts to apply our criminal law to the battlefield, it was all meaningless. And despite having a cadre of anti-military leftists in the White House, our system worked.
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
