Okay, if we really have to go to this dog and pony show we better show up with some nice easy for Joe Sixpack to understand points that will make ObamaCare look like the massive overreach it represents. I’m no wonk but I thought of a few things that if we just hammer them every time it is our turn to speak then I think we win this thing.

1. There is no crisis- This whole “The sky is falling, The sky is falling!” has been the Allinskyites MO for as long as I can remember. I think the American people are on to them, though. Whether it be healthcare, global warming(I don’t even capitalize that anymore) or even this stupid H1N1 panic, they are sitting there like The Boy Who Cried Wolf talking to a bunch of non-believers. We still have, by far, the best quality healthcare in the world. Last time I checked there were not people dying in the streets, not even illegal immigrants. So, I would make the president define exactly what is the “crisis” we are trying to solve other then the Democrat party’s intense fantasy of taking over 1/6th of the economy.

2. Most people like their current health insurance- Over 85% of the American people already have health insurance and I think something like 80% of those rate their insurance as good, very good, or excellent. That means that 68% of Americans are happy about something. It seems to me that getting 68% of Americans to agree on ANYTHING is almost impossible so the President and his henchmen have really stuck their you know whats into a hornet nest by trying to take away something that generally people like. Make them explain why they need to screw everyone else in order to help 15% of the people who don’t have health insurance, many of whom choose not to have health insurance but will be forced to buy it under the President’s plan at the point of a gun. How American is that?

3. The real problem is skyrocketing costs- The Democrat proposals do nothing to lower the actual cost of healthcare delivery which would lead to lower insurance costs, as well. The average guy on the street(me) looks at this and says, “I already have health insurance that costs too much. Now we are going to provide insurance for a bunch of new people? What’s that going to do for me?” I think people know inherently that their costs are going up. Why don’t we instead do some incremental things that help bring costs down while at the same time providing some reasonable incentives for businesses and individuals to purchase their own insurance? Seems pretty logical, no?

4. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs- Why don’t we get the economy growing again before we go providing another big entitlement program? We have an employer based healthcare insurance system. Wouldn’t it make more sense to address the unemployment in this country(now, there’s a crisis) to see how many people we can get back to work before we go and screw up the world’s best healthcare system? The whole healthcare insurance “problem” looks a little different at 5 or 6 percent unemployment than it does at 10 percent unemployment. You said you were going to get focused. Get focused.

5. We’re broke- You know you just pissed away $787B on a “stimulus” that sent the unemployment rate from 7.5% to 10% and that was just you’re first year in office. We do have a fiscal crisis at every level of government and now you want to double down. Sir, with all due respect, it is not your money. Americans may have been dumb enough to elect you but the American Treasury is not your little private piggy bank to go and try some stupid Socialist experiment that has already been a failure everywhere else in the world. This is America, Jack! In just three short years you can go and take a teaching post up at Harvard with your angry buddy(can’t remember his name) and sit around and talk with him and Michelle about what a rotten country America is but, until then, get your hand off my wallet!

There’s more but that ought to be a start.

Since us Conservatives are all about challenging the Conventional Wisdom these days, I think it is about time we take on the last and final great myth about our Feckless Leader, that everyone in America thinks he is just a great guy. Maybe me and a bunch of people I know are the only ones but we think it is Barack Obama’s UNlikabiity that is one of his biggest problems and the thing he is least likely to be able to change about himself.

I am so sick and tired of being told that, while we disagree with Mr. Obama’s policies, the American people still like him personally. This is always held out by the hacks on the other side as BO’s big opportunity to turn things around. Color me skeptical. Let me count the ways.

1. He is humorless- Is it just me or has this guy never said anything the least bit funny? I mean I used to see pictures of him smiling but it always seemed like one of those fake, oily smiles you get from someone right before they explain how the new siding contract is going to work. I don’t see anyone laughing at his meetings. They don’t give him anything funny to say in his speeches that he reads. Guessing that he couldn’t pull it off. He had the Lakers over the other day and he tried to say something funny about Phil Jackson getting the Republicans and Democrats to play as a team and he mangled it so bad that everyone on the stage looked like they were sucking a lemon. I don’t know about you but I find people with no sense of humor a little scary.

2. He is self aggrandizing- This guy needed to get beat up on the playground more. Maybe the funniest thing he has said is that he deserves a “Solid B+” or even an A- if ObamaCare monstrosity passed. It is All about the O. Everything bad is someone else’s fault and anything good, and that is few and far between, is only because of him. Humility is something you can’t fake. BO has none.

3. He is dishonest- Everything Barry says has a shelf life. Sometimes it is days, sometimes no more than hours. That is why all his speechifying is falling flat now. Nobody believes anything he says anymore. Is that the kind of person you can’t wait to be friends with?

4. He is arrogant- We all knew this back to the campaign when he talked about us “bitter clingers”. I think the rest of America gets it now, too. The disdain seems to drip from his eyes when he has to speak to mere mortals. Do you think he really relates to those wonderful young men and women that he commands in our military? Or is it possible that he sees them as photo ops? Oh, wait, he said so himself. I guess they can’t understand why it is so tone deaf for Barack to be running around on my dime playing golf 60 times and flying his wife up to Broadway for date night when we are at war and in debt.

5. He is a divider- I believe most in our country do want to come together to solve our problems. Obama’s approach? “I won”. Whether on race, healthcare, politics, you name it, Obama has done nothing to bring people together. His instincts are all Saul Allinsky Community Organizer attack dog blame the other guy. Nice leadership.

6. He is a poseur- Look it up. It is my favorite word to describe Obama. It is another reason people don’t really like him. I think the American people have a great sense of fairness. It might be one of our best national qualities. But we also know when someone is given something they haven’t earned. I hear alot of people saying, “You know, in retrospect, Obama really has never accomplished anything…..”

Okay, so I am saying Obama is humorless, arrogant, dishonest, egotistical, divisive, and phony. But the MSM is still telling us how much America loves this guy. I am not buying what they are shoveling.

While I am writing this I am listening to Mark Steyn sitting in for Rush calling Obama the “lonely guy”. So true. Where are all Barack Obama’s personal friends? Pretty sure he doesn’t have any.

I must be on her mailing list because of all the protests I have been sending her. I swear these people are so arrogant and must think we are a bunch of hayseeds(especially here in Arkansas) but here is her spin:

December 24, 2009

 

 

 

Dear Friend:

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding health care reform legislation in the United States Senate.

 

In November, I voted to bring the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590) up for debate in the Senate. This legislation is the combined product of bills passed after many months of work by the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, of which I am a member. In a statement I delivered on the Senate floor the day of the first procedural vote, I made it clear that although I could not support passage of this legislation as it was introduced, I believed it was more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation’s health care system for all Americans rather than bypass an opportunity to improve our health care system entirely.

 

Health care in America is on an unsustainable path, with health care costs rising at rates far above the rate of inflation, and insurance premiums in Arkansas rising 5.8 times faster than paychecks over the past decade. Furthermore, there simply aren’t enough health insurance options available to most Americans today. In at least 17 states-including Arkansas-only one insurance company controls more than half of the insurance market, and in at least 22 states still only two carriers control half the market or more.

 

I believe that the health care provided in America is the best in the world. Our country trains the best physicians, builds the finest facilities and designs the best medical technologies, but the way we deliver and finance health care in America is not as efficient as it should be and fails to meet the current demands of the American population. Our country spends almost twice as much per person on health care than the average per-person spending of 29 other developed nations, and yet we still lag behind much of the rest of the industrialized world on many health outcomes and in access to health care coverage for our citizens. I’m confident we can do better.

 

I believe that Arkansans and other Americans deserve an honest and open debate on how to best achieve commonsense reform. There is no easy fix, and I have heard from thousands of Arkansans who have expressed to me their passionate views on the best way to achieve positive change as well as their concerns with existing proposals. I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues on these issues to shape legislation that benefits Arkansas.

 

For the past month, the full Senate has been debating the bill, and through my hard work and the hard work of other members, the bill has changed substantially into a final product that I believe offers significant improvement. I support the revised Senate health care plan because it will curb rising health care costs over the long term, expand access to quality, affordable, health insurance plans to more than 400,000 uninsured Arkansans, and reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion in the next 10 years-all without a new government plan that places taxpayers at risk. Furthermore I have made it clear that as the House and Senate reconcile their bills over the coming weeks, I will not support a bill that departs significantly from the current Senate bill.

 

The final Senate bill (HR 3590) changes the way insurance companies do business. For plans purchased through an exchange, they will no longer be able to deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition, nor will they be able to raise your rates or drop you because you get sick. Insurers will be penalized for unfair rate hikes. We must put an end to these unfair practices that are symptomatic of market conditions that allow for little true choice or competition, and we must ensure that patients and their physicians are allowed to make treatment decisions based on the best science available to them and the individual needs of the patient. Bureaucrats, either in the government or private insurance companies, should not be allowed to interfere in care decisions. These are thoughtful, practical provisions contained in HR 3590 that I support and believe can make real progress toward expanding access to coverage and improving our health care system.

 

I have worked hard in this bill to ensure seniors will not see a reduction in the Medicare coverage and benefits they have always relied upon. I believe in the promise our government made to working Americans - that if we work hard, Medicare will be there to help us in our golden years. Medicare has made a healthy and secure retirement possible for tens of millions of Americans, and I am committed to ensuring that it continues to serve America’s senior citizens.

 

How Arkansans will be able to access health insurance coverage under the Senate bill is based on legislation I first introduced in 2004. Small businesses, the self-employed, their families, and other individuals will be able to shop for coverage from a range of quality, affordable, private insurance plans through the health insurance exchange to be established in Arkansas. Furthermore, I successfully pushed for an additional $14 billion in tax relief for our small businesses, for a total of $38 billion. Small businesses across the country will now get the help they need to access coverage, placing them at the competitive advantage large corporations have enjoyed. Approximately 50,000 small businesses in Arkansas, with 260,000 workers, will be eligible for the small business tax credit that I authored. I also successfully pushed to ensure there would be no mandate on small business to purchase coverage. This means that Arkansas small businesses with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to cover their employees. In my conversations with Arkansas small business owners, I learned that while many small businesses wanted to provide coverage for their workers, they could not find affordable options.

 

Employees of firms that do not provide coverage will be able to shop for a plan on the insurance exchange. Further, within the exchanges, and again based on the bill I authored in 2004, some health insurance plans including at least one non-profit plan will be sold in all 50 states, bringing new competition into Arkansas, with the Federal Office of Personnel Management negotiating rates to keep premiums affordable as they currently do for federal employees.

 

Now that the Senate is nearing the end of this long road, it is clear my primary goals have been met. Namely, this bill will expand access to 31 million Americans and more than 400,000 Arkansans, change the way insurance companies do business, provide stability for those who have insurance, and protect our seniors by closing the Medicare Part D ‘doughnut hole’ and ensuring seniors can receive quality Medicare benefits for years to come. It will do all of this without adding to our nation’s deficit and placing taxpayers at risk due to an unnecessary expansion of government. I am proud to support the Senate’s final proposal.

           

I understand the health care reform process is complex and there is an incredible amount of misinformation circulating on what is or is not contained in the bills currently under consideration. I can state clearly that I have not and will not support legislation that makes illegal immigrants eligible for any federal benefits or subsidies for health insurance, and the current bill includes clear safeguards that prohibit illegal immigrants from accessing such benefits. I have also worked hard to ensure that provisions in this bill neither expand nor limit current law regarding abortion through health care reform legislation, and I support provisions in the bill that prohibit federal dollars from funding elective abortions.

 

I have heard from many Arkansans who support medical malpractice insurance reform, which I have supported in the past and in the current debate. The Senate bill authorizes demonstration projects that will tell us more about how best to reform medical malpractice insurance in order to lower costs to patients and providers, while continuing to ensure that both are protected.

 

Throughout this process, I have pushed to ensure the Senate is conducting this debate in a public and transparent manner. Americans across the country and certainly many Arkansans have been actively engaged in this debate, and I encourage you to remain engaged. That is why I have worked to ensure that the public has had access to the bill language, amendments, and supporting materials before votes have occurred. For instance, before I would vote to allow HR 3560 to be brought up for debate, I called on Majority Leader Harry Reid to make the full text of the legislation available online for at least 72 hours before the vote, and it was. I also built a “Health Care Resources Page” on my web site at www.lincoln.senate.gov where anybody can access the bill text, as well as the full text of any amendments brought up for debate. There are also links to reports and cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

 

I appreciate knowing of your thoughts and concerns regarding the health care debate. While the legislation before us is complex, we are not re-inventing the wheel or moving to a single-payer, government-run health care system. I believe that we can build on what works, keep the insurance companies honest and restore the faith of most Americans in government’s ability to do the right thing.

 

Finally, while I remain optimistic that through this debate process we can craft a responsible, forward-looking bill, my first priority remains the people of Arkansas and not any political party or partisan organization, and I will not support legislation that does not serve the best interests of our great state.

 

Thank you again for contacting me. To learn more about my work in Congress, I encourage you to visit my online office and sign up for my e-newsletter at http://www.lincoln.senate.gov. I am proud to serve the citizens of Arkansas in the United States Senate and hope you will not hesitate to let me know whenever I may be of assistance to you.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Blanche L. Lincoln

 

BLL/mc

 

 For the record, here is my response:

Dear Senator Lincoln,

How can you even send a letter like this when this bill cuts Medicare by $500B? Also, you know the CBO scoring is a joke because the taxes start right away and benefits are deferred into the future. This is just another big Federal entitlement that will bust our budget and push our kids further toward dreary Socialism.

What about abortion, Senator? Are you happy with the Barbara Boxer crafted language that will undercut the Hyde amendment which prevents Federal funding for abortions which has been the law of the land since 1976 and is supported by over 75% of the American people? Congratulations. You arrogant Senators don’t even realize how much disgust there is out here in the real world with what you are doing.

It does not “expand” coverage. It mandates that people buy something whether they want it or not. I think that is dubious constitutionally but you all don’t seem to mind. I am guessing that Jefferson, et al, are rolling over in their graves. You must be SO proud of your statesmanship and oath to uphold the constitution.

Are you proud of the corrupt vote buying that your leader, Harry Reid, engaged in to cobble together 60 DEMOCRAT votes to get this turkey passed? How about the fact that Arkansas now has to take on an unfunded Federal mandate that Nebraska was given a pass on. Is that fair? Is that what our glorious founders had in mind? Or did you think us average Americans are too stupid to notice?

Good luck with whatever you were going to do after the Senate.

Spartan4Life

The well kept secret 800 pound gorilla in the room for Democrats is that the evil Bush tax cuts that gave us five years of prosperity from 2003-2007 and are set to expire next year lowered taxes for pretty much every working person in the United States. While Nancy Pelosi and her minions like to talk about the fact that rates were indeed lowered for upper income earners(the evil rich), let’s be reminded that the Bush tax cuts cut taxes significantly for everybody. Just a reminder of what will happen when the tax cuts expire next year(citing the Heritage Foundation):

Do the Democrats really believe that people are going to stand idly by and allow their taxes to be raised while they sit in Washington and squander our hard earned money? Let’s see how they finesse this fly in their ointment.

As President Obama goes around spinning and backpedaling on his healthcare plan(ideas), we get little glimpses of where he is really trying to take us. From the Washington Post,

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won’t cover illegal immigrants, but argued that’s all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

“Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don’t simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. “That’s why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.

Mr. Obama added, “If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all.”

So, let me get this straight. First, we won’t be providing free healthcare to illegals because we will make them legal first. Oh, that should make it okay.

Also, for the first time since welfare reform we are going to extend federal benefits to anyone who is in the country legally. Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t some of the 9/11 bombers here legally, at least for part of their stays in this country? I believe they were here on student visas and such. Maybe we should assess a Taliban tax so we make sure that we stay “deficit neutral”.

OMG, we are spinning out of control. Who are these people?

Not the man. He is already dead.

We need to kill his big idea before it ruins not only the United States economy but the entire world economy. What is that big idea? That governments should spend money they don’t have in order to help their own people. Even Time magazine acknowledged this in naming Keynes one of the century’s most influential people:

“His radical idea that governments should spend money they don’t have may have saved capitalism”.

I mean, I never went to Harvard or anything, but that idea sounds kind of silly on it’s face, don’t you think? Unfortunately, it has become the prevailing economic philosophy in the world and is blindly accepted as truth in all the institutions of higher learning that pollute the minds of our would be congress critters. This, despite the fact that from Japan to Western Europe to California, the implementation of Keynes’ big idea has been an abject failure. Governments continue to spend more and more, going deeper into debt, and sooner or later, something has got to give. Wake up, America.

Make no mistake about it. Keynes was a liberal. While at Cambridge he was president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club(no, I’m not making that up) which later merged with Cambridge University Social Democrats. The group has a long history of “radical” politics dating back to the 1800s. He first gained prominence after WWI by arguing debt forgiveness for Germany:

Keynes’s analyses on the predicted damaging effects of the treaty appeared in the highly influential The Economic Consequences of the Peace, published in 1919. This work has been described as Keynes’s best book, where he was able to bring all his gifts to bear - his passion as well as his skill as an economist. In addition to economic analyses, the book contained pleas to the readers sense of compassion:

Also present was striking imagery such as “…that year by year Germany must be kept impoverished and her children starved and crippled…” 

Sounds like he might be running for Congress in Massachusetts, no? “It’s for the children….”.

Oh, and he was gay, not that there is anything wrong with that. He became an agnostic. He was part of the intellectual liberal elite of his day, palling around with Virginia Woolf and TS Eliot. While he rejected Marxist doctrine, not sure it was for the right reasons. In 1931 he wrote:

So, it wasn’t the idea of a state run economy that bothered him, it was ceding power to the boorish proletariat. Only the “intelligentsia” had the “seeds of all human achievement”. Obama would have loved this guy. Can you say elitist? Finally, even Keynes acknowledged that his own ideas were just that, ideas. He foretellingly wrote:

So true, John boy. We are now the slaves of a defunct economist.

Now, I may have only attended a meager state school, but even I know you shouldn’t spend money you don’t have. When will people realize that governments DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY. They do not produce a product or provide a service that anyone would buy unless they are forced to at the point of a gun or a threat of jail time. There are only three ways that governments get money. They either Tax, Borrow, or Print and all of them are bad.

So, instead of arguing about who will do a better job of running government, wouldn’t we be better off arguing against government in the first place? Discrediting Keynes would be a great first step.

That is my new term for the bumbling Obama administration’s apparent economic theory.

I guess the way this is supposed to work is that, by increasing the number of food stamps, unemployment benefits, and medicaid, prosperity and growth will be generated throughout the entire economy. I think Isaac Newton would have a problem with that. Making things trickle upward takes just the kind of metaphysical faith that Obama’s supporters seem to have in him. I guess we should have faith, too, other than the fact that it has failed every time it has been tried in the recorded history of mankind. Check Plymouth Rock, Cuba, and Venezuela for a few examples of collectivism economic theory results, not to mention Europe’s 40 year malaise.

I have always felt that one of the major, among many, mistakes that the Republican party has made over the last 25 years is to have not defended the whole concept of supply side economics more vigorously. Dating all the way back to George H. W. Bush labeling it as “Voodoo Economics”, Bob Dole attacking supply side in his primary bid, and even Mike Huckabee’s populist appeal in the most recent election, there seems to be a reluctance on the part of the GOP to make something that HAS worked every time it has been tried a centerpiece of their economic approach.

The feeling seems to be that “trickle down” is not appealing to working people who only sit at home and seethe at rich people. I don’t think that could be further from the truth. Ask any cabbie in NYC and I think they could provide a better explanation of economics then your average Democrat party Congress Critter. A prime example is President Obama’s recent boneheaded attack on “trips to Las Vegas” as some sort of cultural indiscretion on the part of US corporations. Anybody think that every dealer, waiter, cabbie, showgirl, and hotel worker, many of whom voted for Obama, did not cringe when they heard these unfortunate remarks? And yet our idiots seem to be afraid make the counter argument that a rising tide lifts all boats, something even GED recipients can understand. So frustrating.

So, buck up, me hearties. I think the American public is starting to get it. They know on it’s face that Obama’s proposals won’t work. We just spent $800B for nothing. There is no talk of cutting taxes and providing incentives for business and investment, things that would re-invigorate our economy. If conservatives play their cards right, collectivism will be relegated to the junk heap of history before Obama is through. Now whether our GOP politicians get it, that is another matter. I can only HOPE for CHANGE.

This is like bizarro world. We get creamed at the ballot box at the same time that the liberal statist model is crumbling from the weight of it’s unsustainability. Liberal cities and states failing. Fat unions driving their companies into bankruptcy. Nobody talking about global warming now, are they? Tax increases? Fuhgeddaboutit. Why aren’t conservatives out there saying, “It’s over. We win.”

As I type this, New York, California, and cities from Detroit to Atlanta all have their hands out saying, “Oh, please, bloated Federal government, give us billions and billions of dollars to save our failed models.”

I say, “Hell no!”. Let these poorly run states and cities who have been drunk on tax dollars for too long suffer for their sins. Why should I, who live in a conservative city and state, have to pay for the excesses of New York state? Apparently, Republican run states like South Carolina and Texas are doing just fine, thank you very much.

What I fear is that we are heading for a new Civil War. The battle will not be so much between the North and South but between those that have been paying the bills and those that haven’t. It is time for this to stop.

Meanwhile, Conservatives have already won the argument. Ask Europe.

Bailouts. Bankruptcy. Recession.

That is what we have gotten from our leaders in Congress. I am out here in the real world and I can tell you unequivocally that these Congress Critters are ridiculed and despised. If the GOP can’t take these lemons and turn them into lemonade then I have no hope for them at all. As the party leading this ship of fools the Democrats have to be called to account. There is no George Bush to blame anymore. These people need to be gotten rid of.

The first place to go is The Senate. We should lose zero. My guess is that Arlen Specter and George Voinovich might be the two most exposed because of the changing electorates in their states but there are many more opportunities for the GOP. I like our chances in my home state of Arkansas(especially if Huckabee runs), North Dakota, Nevada, Hawaii, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Every state should be in play. Even defeating Schumer in New York. People will say I am crazy but I believe there is an appetite out here for a political revolution similar to 1994. The GOP has to get energized in every state and go on offense. We need to go after the dinosaurs like Boxer, Reid, Inouye, Murray, Feingold, and Dorgan. These people can’t just wash their hands of the last 20 years.

Next, how about the so called “Blue Dog Democrats”. We all know these people are a bunch of phoney baloneys. They talk a good game during the election and then go sip chardonnay with Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. I would be surprised if they voted against their leadership more than 5% of the time. It totally befuddles me why the GOP can’t put up some good conservative candidates and take back some of these seats.

I am telling you, there is a lot of anger and resentment brewing in this country. Obama may have won the battle but conservatives can still win the war. Hopefully, strong leadership will emerge that can rescue this country from becoming a dependency society.

I have blogged on this subject previously but was reminded of it after listening to Governor Ritter of Colorado discuss the changing political climate in Colorado on CNBC. He was talking about how Colorado, a state that has gone for the Republican consistently for the last 40 years is shifting to the left. It is not the only one. Look at all the states that were once solidly conservative that are now either toss ups or trending Democrat. I would include New Hampshire, Virginia, Arizona, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Nevada on the list.

How does this happen? I call it the Massachusetts effect. The liberals take a state like Massachusetts and create a laboratory for their wrongheaded ideas. They take over the government by promising goodies to all their various parasitic interest groups. What follows are the predictable results. Rising taxes, increased crime, corruption, and a breakdown in family values. Those with the means to do so then leave for a better and more pleasant place to live(see New Hampshire). They then proceed to vote for the same party and the same ideas that drove them out in the first place. Listen, if they were smart, they wouldn’t have voted for these policies in the first place. Does anyone besides me not recognize the Granite State anymore? I remember in the early days of my Conservatism thinking that the libertarian ideal of New Hampshire was a shining city on a hill. Now they have sold themselves out to yuppie Red Sox fans.

To understand the spread of liberalism, look no further than the failing liberal laboratories that are already collapsing around the United States. I can think of Maryland, California, Michigan, and New York, among others. As people flee those high tax, high crime, low family values areas as real estate collapses and taxes head north, they will land inevitably in bordering states. I lived in Michigan and saw what was happening there. When we moved to Arizona, there were an inordinate number of California transplants. They were moving to the desert to escape the confiscatory taxes in Cali. But they continued to vote Democrat after getting out of town. Those that don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Oy vey. Gets old doesn’t it? Watching your 401K sink like a stone. Listening to the talking heads tell us that we haven’t seen anything yet. Predictions of unemployment at 7, 8, even 9, percent. George Bush’s fault, right? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Lest anyone forget, the stock market is a leading indicator. Markets are forward looking, anywhere from 6 months to 18 months, depending on who you listen to. That tells me that the markets are pricing in an Obama victory. Nobody is predicting a McCain victory, are they? I have a feeling that this has been going on since the Spring when it became apparent that McCain didn’t have much of a clue about where to take his campaign. Thanks, John.

It gets worse, though. Not only are US markets tanking but markets all over the world are headed south, as well. I think that they see what I see. What I see is that the election of Obama represents a continuing downward slide and the beginning of the end of American exceptionalism. Obama has already destroyed trillions of dollars of net worth and he hasn’t even taken office yet. Who will lead the world out of this recession? Europe? Sure. Japan? Doubt it. China? One thing people forget about China. They don’t really have alot of money. America? Frankly, I don’t see it. While we remain, by far, the richest company in the world, we have $10T in debt, soaring deficits, and we are talking about “stimulus” of extending unemployment benefits, makes me ill.

I heard an interesting fact recently. The stock market during the 30’s actually bottomed in 1934 after crashing in 1929. That means we had another 5 years of absolute malaise even after the markets bottomed. It doesn’t matter how grandly Obama fails. It will all be blamed on Bush. But make no mistake. Whatever is happening in the stock market is anticipating the outcome of the election and has been for some time.

OK, it’s on now.

I could not be more surprised. I actually think last night’s debate might become a pivot point in this election.

Not because of some stellar performance by Senator McCain. I find myself yelling at the screen when he makes his points, then telling my wife what he should have said. And not because Obama made some deadly screw up. I found him how I always find him. Boring. People have to have some pretty empty lives to be getting all excited by this guy.

No, I think the pivot point in this entire election is “Joe the Plumber”. Not because of his particular circumstance. But because he is articulating what Senator McCain hasn’t been able to. Americans kind of like America. We like freedom and free market capitalism. We don’t believe in wealth redistribution. We may want Change! but we don’t want to change into France, a once great power now mostly irrelevant. At it’s core, France is Socialist and Protectionist. That is what the Dems propose for us. It doesn’t work and could be disastrous.

OK, Mr. McCain. You have your narrative. No need to discuss Ayers, bailouts, tax plans, etc. Just say, “No Socialism!”. The American people will follow. You have 20 days.

Forget Bill Ayers.

As despicable a character as I think Ayers is, and as much as I despise the cynical Obama’s willingness to associate with the scumbag to further his own vain ambitions, this is not the issue that will win the election for the GOP. Heck, I felt Obama should be disqualified more by the anti-American comments of his ignoramus wife. But I think we, as conservatives, may overestimate the degree to which Obama’s anti-American tendencies might be playing with the electorate out there. Alot of average Americans aren’t too happy with their country, either, right now.

As John McCain well knows, a key part of any winning battle strategy is to be able to assess changing conditions on the ground and be able to react and respond appropriately. Think about it, folks. Conditions on the ground do not look anything like they did even a few short weeks ago. Parts of our economy are in free fall. The S&P 500 has dropped almost 30% since MAY! For the tens of millions of Americans that own stocks(probably 60-70% of likely voters) these are very scary times. I thought of this as I sat down with my wife to review our financial condition over the weekend. We, like many Americans have taken a significant body blow to our net worth. The numbers were a little eye popping when you really looked at them. We’re talking about adding 3-5 more years to retirement kinds of setbacks.

The last thing any investor would want to do when things are tanking is to add additional RISK. RISK is one of those words that people have an emotional reaction to. When something is new and unknown like Obama is, it can be portrayed one of two ways. It is either “fresh” or “risky”. Obama likes to portray himself as something fresh. McCain needs to let people know he is risky. And the last thing we need in troubled times is RISK.

Sarah Palin keeps teeing it up and McCain keeps whiffing. I figure he has one more chance Tuesday night. I think this is it. If he doesn’t knock Obama reeling, McCain will be toast.

I understand Mr. McCain doesn’t have the same personal appeal that Ms. Palin does. But she is showing him the way to a path to the White House and he doesn’t seem to be able to see it. Steve Schmidt is supposed to be sharp but I don’t think he gets it, either. There is so far no evidence that they have a plan for winning. If I seem a little pissed it is because I feel like we are handing the keys of our country over to the ship of fools that is Obama/Reid/Pelosi and that we are going to suffer greatly.

I have never been a McCain fan. Not conservative enough. Too willing to criticize his own team. Too anxious to have the press like him. Too willing to pass “bipartisan” legislation. But, I really solidified my views on McCain after Hurricane Katrina. It wasn’t just the fact that he gave cover to the Democrats that were trying to blame the whole thing on George Bush by criticizing the Administration. They probably deserved it. No, what bothered me was that I saw an interview with him and he was truly SHOCKED that FEMA had been so inept in responding. How can you be shocked that a bloated Federal bureaucracy that had just been folded into an even more bloated Department of Homeland Security would be ineffective in a crisis? I remember thinking at the time, “AHA, that’s it. McCain is a man of Washington”. I think he actually believes that with just better management, a little more regulation, a touch more oversight that the Federal Government can be a fine way to deliver solutions to the American people.

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OK, Senator McCain. You have 4 weeks to turn this around. Here are your talking points. Do not veer from them.

William Ayers
Tony Rezcko
Jeremiah Wright
Hamas
Most liberal voting record
No experience
No record of accomplishment
Berlin speech
Michelle Obama
Ahmadinejad
Franklin Raines
Jim Johnson
Barney Frank
Nancy Pelosi
Biden third most liberal Senator
Never led
Never Made Decision
Not Qualified

Start acting like you want to win and we will support you.

It’s simple really.

When Republicans were successful during the 90’s in getting real welfare reform passed the Dems had to find a new vehicle to keep their wealth redistribution engine churning. They found the perfect piggy bank in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Couching the scheme in lofty sounding rhetoric about the American Dream, blah, blah, blah. I do not think for one minute that the Democrat party did not know that, at some point, these loans were going to go belly up and that the “patriotic” taxpayers were going to have to bail them out. They put their friends in to run the scheme and all the politicians, even alot of Republicans, got their palms greased.

Easy credit has become the new welfare. 100%, interest only mortgages became the new way to funnel money to constituents. We have low income households with large screen TVs and $100K in “Student” loans. This bailout is going to wipe the books clean of alot of bad behavior while exacting no penalty for that same bad behavior.

The reason they are trying to rush this through is because they don’t want the people to see just how ugly this problem really is.

Isn’t it quite clear that the Dems are trying to get Bush and Congressional Republicans to give them cover for passing this half baked plan? Why should we be their lackys on this?

Wouldn’t it be better to propose a reasonable alternative and let the Bush Administration and the Democrats own this turkey? The Bush presidency is essentially over. Why let them write a $700B check on the way out the door?

I think this outline of a plan hatched by House GOP makes alot of sense. Cutting the Capital Gains and Corporate tax to zero, even temporarily, would cause a deluge of capital into our financial markets. There is plenty of cash on the sidelines to solve this problem without the government becoming a slumlord. Read an overview of what they are proposing[here]:

(http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/12288069?f=most_read)

What Mr. McCain can say is that what we really need to do is find out how this happened and he is going to put a justice department in place to identify those reponsible and bring them to justice.

No further evidence of the sinking like a (Ba)rack Obama campaign is this upcoming sit down with the don of the Dems, Bill Clinton. I started out scratching my head on this one but then the lightbulb went off and it made perfect sense.

On current course and speed Obama probably stands to lose by a Dukakisian margin. Bill has the one wild card that Obama might be able to play that could help Obama avoid a complete disaster, Hillarious. The only questions that remain and why Obama has been called in is, “What do we want and can we get it?”.

I believe the Clintons hold all the cards on this one. Barry has been exposed as a phony. Gaffe after gaffe has all the Dems in a panic. His campaign has run out of energy and Joe Biden isn’t about to provide any. He’s maxed out at 40% and is trying to fire up his base in September rather than reaching out to any “independents”. He is going to have to throw a long ball and he is going to have to do it soon. Pelosi, Reid, and other well known Dems are even more unpopular than President Bush. He really has nowhere else to turn than to his old nemesis’, the Clintons.

It could be as simple as money. Maybe Bill just wants Hillary’s campaign debts payed back. But with Barry’s money machine breaking down, maybe he isn’t as flush as he was a couple of months ago. Could it be a position in a potential Obama Administration? Listen, would it surprise anyone if Biden was asked to step down and Hillary reconsidered? Remember Bob Torricelli and Clinton’s role in making that happen? Maybe Hill wants to be Secretary of State, Attorney General, or even Defense Secretary.

Whatever it is, two things are certain. One is that the Clintons can probably get whatever they want for trying to prop BHO up. The other is desperation always makes things interesting.

Senator McCain, time to clean up Washington.

This Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae debacle goes right to the core of everything I hate about the Federal government. Sleazy money, sweetheart deals, and who you know payoffs are exactly what is wrong with the status quo. Michelle Obama gets a $315K job as a hospital bureaucrat(I sure as hell didn’t know hospitals paid that good!) and in return hubby Barack arranges for a sweet earmark for the same facility. Business as usual. Joe Biden’s lobbyist son needs a new gig while dad runs for office so they arrange a $1.2M a year stint as CEO for a hedge fund. Sure, no problem there. There are millions and millions of dirty money around the Fannie/Freddie failure and I, for one, think we should find out where all the money went. From the $20M buyout of former Clinton lackey Franklin Raines right up to all the Senators and Congress critters who got bought off and were in the bag for the GSEs.

The failure of Fannie and Freddie proves three things.

First, that the government has kept intact it’s near perfect record of screwing up everything they touch. Why anyone would even consider that throwing more government at any one of our problems just goes to show that maybe our education system isn’t working too well, either.

Second, that Washington, DC is the part of our country that is broken. It is not middle America that causes all these problems. It is the fatcats and elitists in Washington that usually drag us into the muck. I say, let’s find out who had a hand in this debacle and make sure everyone knows their names, regardless of party. Just like Ms. Palin, I am no more sympathetic to Republicans who engage in sleaze than I am with Democrats. Anyone that doesn’t think there is a clear path to politicians on this should read this article from today’s WSJ:

Here

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I have already commented that the selection of Sarah Palin by John McCain was nothing short of brilliant. It has left me wondering, “Is he really that smart?” or, “Did he just veer into something?”. I wonder, for example, when he made his decision. Did he have Sarah Palin in his pocket and wait for Obama to make the uninspired pick of Joe Biden, knowing that Obama being a hack politician would go the safe route? In any case, I believe it reveals that maybe his military training will be the difference maker in how this race plays out over the next 2 months. Even finishing 3rd from the bottom of his class, I am way sure he got more exposure to battle strategy than Mr. Obama ever did.

Now, I do not know whether they teach formally Sun Tsu’s, “The Art of War”, at the Naval Academy, but I would bet a dime to donuts that McCain has read it. Here’s a couple of great passages from Tsu:

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War