Jindal to GOP: Don’t be Stupid

Mark Noonan53 Comments

Well, that is a bit harsher than he actually was – but its the gist of it.  From Politico:

…“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a 45-minute telephone interview. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

He was just as blunt on how the GOP should speak to voters, criticizing his party for offending and speaking down to much of the electorate.

“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”…

While our liberal friends were quite dishonest in their characterizations of what, say, Akin said, the fact remains that Akin got in to trouble because he clearly never thought the matter through.  If you are to be a pro-life fanatic (as I am) then you’d better figure out precisely why you are and what your answers are to all conceivable questions.  Heck, for a Christian this is actually a Biblical command (see 1 Peter 3:15).  Because Akin had not thought the matter through he was unprepared for a question which was obviously going to be asked because the DNC wanted their by-lined Democrats in the MSM to ask such questions (the correct answer to that question can be found here, because I’ve thought about it).  Because of boneheaded answers we are at least two Senate seats short of where we would be had we been smarter…and a bit more smarts and we might have retired Reid as Majority Leader.

Don’t get me wrong – Democrats are even dumber than we are.  But they do have this going for them – low information voters can be easily suckered by Democrats especially when GOPers are acting like idiots.  If we are smart then Democrat attempts to bamboozle will fall flat…because sincerity and conviction on well-presented beliefs do actually trump gutter-political appeals to the lowest common denominator.  Think of Reagan:  bags of sincerity and conviction and beliefs which could not be mistaken…they tried a gutter political campaign against him in 1980 and it didn’t work (hard as it is to remember, but Democrats were portraying Reagan as a filthy rich, drooling idiot who wanted to start nuclear war as soon as he got in to office).

Equally important, don’t let the Democrats portray us as something we’re not.  Like it or not, the GOP was successfully painted as the party of the rich and the big corporations in 2012.  Doesn’t matter that there are more rich Democrats than Republicans; doesn’t matter that corporate America is a happy-hunting ground for sinecure-seeking Democrats.  What mattered is that by not clearly showing that we are opposed to Big Corporation and on the side of small and mid-sized business, we gave that part of the game away to the Democrats, too.

Time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start bringing to the table those shining ideals which lead us to victory in the past…and without giving the game away by fumbling the ball inside the red zone.

A Key to Future Victory

Mark Noonan67 Comments

Via Senator Dean Heller’s (R-NV) election victory – from the Las Vegas Sun:

…They meticulously gathered the names of all newly registered independents—who were registering at a faster clip than either Democrats or Republicans for much of the season.

Then, they relentlessly called and visited those voters at their doorsteps—particularly in Washoe County.

Heller’s campaign also put a significant amount of the candidate’s time toward the effort. Twice a week, Heller sat on a conference call with hundreds of independent voters.

“Dean does not screen questions,” Abrams said. “Twice a week, for an hour and a half, independents got to hear from him directly about how he did not vote to end Medicare and they could ask him anything they wanted.”…

If you are in a State where Democrats outnumber Republicans – and they outnumber Republicans here in Nevada by more than 100,000 voters, as we are increasingly “Californicated” (idiots who flee the People’s Democratic Republic of California and then start voting in Nevada for the same insanity which killed California) – then you either have to massively increase GOP registration or go out and get Independents in a big way.  Heller went and did that – winning Independents by 20 points which allowed him to scrape to a 12,000 vote victory (out of a million votes cast).

Around the country there has been a general fall-off of Democrat voter registration, a slight rise in GOP voter registration and a skyrocketing Independent registration.  Independents are clearly key to winning – State by State and nationally in most areas.  Heller took the time to carefully court the Independent vote and wound up winning in a State that Obama carried by nearly 6 points (which, for a bit of good news, is only half his 2008 margin).

Heller’s campaign concentrated heavily on themes designed to appeal to Independents – I remember the barrage of ads which asserted Heller’s willingness to work across the aisle to solve problems, a key desire for Independents who appear to be Independent precisely because they’re sick of the partisan games of government.  The lesson for us to take away is that Democrats won in 2012 by deliberately emphasizing partisanship – they relentlessly worked on racial, gender and class animosities in order to turnout their base in as large a number as possible.  It worked – but it won’t work if the GOP can simply bring more voters to the polls because we have a message which appeals to a broader sector of the American population.

Democrats figure they’ve got is sewn – that they’ve got a model which ensures them victory again and again and again.  They do – if we keep playing the game as we have.  If we change the rules, we’ll catch them flat-footed.  Heller points the way.  Let’s Roll.

 

Veteran’s Day Open Thread

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Take a few moments out of your day and remember them.  Bunker Hill.  Yorktown.  Lake Erie.  New Orleans.  Shilo.  Gettysburg.  St. Mihel.  Bataan.  Normandy.  Leyte Gulf.  Bastonge.  Naktong River.  Pleiku.  Khe Sanh.  Al Busayyah.  Fallujah.

We send men – and now, women – out to battle for us.  It is not for them to question policy – that is made by civilians.  They just have to do the bleeding and the dying for it.  Doesn’t matter what you think about the policies which sent them out – take a moment to remember them and honor them.

Liberal Morals

Mark Noonan111 Comments

From the Ethicist over at the New York Times:

My wife is having an affair with a government executive. His role is to manage a project whose progress is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership. (This might seem hyperbolic, but it is not an exaggeration.) I have met with him on several occasions, and he has been gracious. (I doubt if he is aware of my knowledge.) I have watched the affair intensify over the last year, and I have also benefited from his generosity. He is engaged in work that I am passionate about and is absolutely the right person for the job. I strongly feel that exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort. My issue: Should I acknowledge this affair and finally force closure? Should I suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project I feel must succeed? Should I be “true to my heart” and walk away from the entire miserable situation and put the episode behind me? NAME WITHHELD

Don’t expose the affair in any high-profile way. It would be different if this man’s project was promoting some (contextually hypocritical) family-values platform, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The only motive for exposing the relationship would be to humiliate him and your wife, and that’s never a good reason for doing anything. This is between you and your spouse. You should tell her you want to separate, just as you would if she were sleeping with the mailman. The idea of “suffering in silence” for the good of the project is illogical. How would the quiet divorce of this man’s mistress hurt an international leadership initiative? He’d probably be relieved.

The fact that you’re willing to accept your wife’s infidelity for some greater political good is beyond honorable…(emphasis added)

A bit of Droit du seigneur, I guess – while there is little evidence that such a thing really happened in medieval times (t would be something directly in contravention of Christian teaching and thus it would have been condemned by Church authority if it ever reared its head) it does neatly encapsulate both the utter moral collapse of liberals as well as their servility to their lords.   The man feels that some government project trumps the vow his wife made to him.  Politics is everything to liberals and if Dear Leader needs to schtupp your wife a bit to make the working day bearable, then it is worth it…and you’ll get a pat on the head from the “ethicist” at the New York Times (who, however, figures that if the adulterer is some one of socially conservative morals then, please, expose away).  This does, also, greatly call in to question just why adultery was considered sufficient reason for the CIA director to resign – I mean he, too, was engaged in a pretty important government project, right?

It also leaves open the question:  what if it wasn’t adultery?  What if the leader engaged in a vital political project was also taking bribes?  Would exposing that at the risk of ruining the important government project be a no-no in liberal land?  Makes you wonder just how much corruption is out there among liberal leaders and not being reported about because it is “beyond honorable” to cover up for the sake of “political good”.

Is Obama Serious About Avoiding the “Fiscal Cliff”?

Mark Noonan41 Comments

There is an argument to be made that he doesn’t care if it does happen – from Zero Hedge:

…Here is why our leader has no desire to settle this affair before it gets put into effect.

  • It will impose tax hikes on everyone who pays federal income taxes (not just the 2%)
  • It will cut entitlements without his having to support the actions
  • It will reduce defense spending without him ‘looking soft’ as Commander-in-Chief
  • It will end the ‘Bush Tax Cuts’ automatically
  • It will probably slow economic growth (GDP)

Why would our President want these things to take place?

  • He would get the extra tax revenues to use without being blamed
  • He could not be held accountable for breaking his ubiquitous pledge to never raise taxes on the bottom 98%
  • He would not be the one cutting entitlements, it would be ‘out of his hands’
  • He prefers to cut defense spending rather than social programs
  • He can later ‘give back’ tax cuts to the Middle Class
  • He can then call them the ‘Obama Tax Cuts’
  • He can blame those damn ‘Obstructionist Republicans’ for the next recession

For B-Rock the Sequestration is a ‘Dream Act’ to accomplish many of his goals and dreams without any accountability. Every negative can be blamed on the Republicans even as he allows his stated preferences to be overridden by the forced actions imposed on him…

There is some sense to that.  Especially if, as I believe, we’re heading in to recession, anyway.  Perhaps Obama’s number-crunchers have told him that a period of recession in 2013 is unavoidable, cliff or no, and so might as well make certain a crisis never goes to waste.  Deadlock now means the Bush tax are gone for good, defense is heavily cut and we actually do reduce our deficit all without Obama taking the blame.  You know the MSM would spend the next year blaming every last thing on the GOP.

We’ll have to see, of course – if Obama actually does give in some meaningful way on tax and entitlement reform then we’ll know he’s interested in the fate of the nation.  If he stands firm and won’t do anything unless the GOP agrees to specifically increase tax rates without any serious entitlement or tax reform, then we’ll know he’s ok with us going over the cliff.

A Republican Class War

Mark Noonan57 Comments

As most of you know, I ceased being a supporter of Capitalism a few years back and switched over to being a Distributist.  The genesis of the shift was my growing realization that Big Corporation and Big Government were two sides of the same coin while the very rich – for all their being demonized in liberal rhetoric – are for the most part liberal Democrats.  I cannot perceive a way for us to finally win – win where we can amend the constitution and thus undo the liberalism which is destroying us – unless we take out the whole of the enemy arrayed against us.  Since I figured that the Capitalist system was actually in alliance with the socialist system, I easily found myself slipping in to Distributist beliefs – which, to boil it down, are that nothing “too big to fail” should be allowed to live.  That a man, working hard and living frugally, should be able to by himself support his wife and children.  That almost all political decisions which affect the day-to-day lives of citizens must be made at the lowest level possible.

In the 2012 election we got a bit of confirmation of my views – 8 of the 10 richest counties in America were carried by Obama.  The rich like Obama.  They voted for him.  They donated to his campaign.  Do you think they actually believe that Obama’s “tax the rich” rhetoric is directed at them?  It isn’t.  And they know it.  You see, as I’ve been saying for years, “tax the rich” is a mere propaganda phrase for the Democrats.  They portray themselves as being on the side of the poor and the middle class and their most effective argument in this portrayal is their repeatedly announced determination to “tax the rich”.  But here’s the thing – they never, ever tax the rich.  They tax the middle class and dress it up as a tax on the rich.  They say they want “millionaires and billionaires” to pay their fair share….but a “billionaire” in the tax code starts at $200,000.00 a year.

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Some Post-Election Thoughts

Leo Pusateri50 Comments

Let me first say that what I’m about to write probably in no way reflects the feelings of Matt, or Mark, or any other contributor to this blog.  Hell, I don’t know if it even accurately reflects how I’ll feel a week from now.  Call it a stream of consciousness as to what I’m feeling at the moment.

I understand the Democrats played a good ground game. I understand we were rope-a-doped. I understand that the Republicans could have done a better job of conveying why Conservatism affords the most people the most opportunity for prosperity.

My question is thus– how can you overcome an opponent who not only can raise as much as you do, but has the added advantage of literally hundreds of millions of dollars more in free advertising and cover, from a group of people ostensibly charged to serve as watchdogs for the people against the government? The media was clearly, demonstrably, more in the tank for the democrat side than I have seen in my entire lifetime. Fox News tried covering the other side. But they’re one network. Difficult when you’re competing against NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN New York Times, ad nauseum.

How do you overcome those kinds of odds? How do you get a fair shot at selling your message?

Something tells me if we ran Jesus Christ Himself as a candidate, he still would have gotten smeared in wall-to-wall negative ads.  His Sermon on the Mount would have been misquoted and taken out of context, The networks would still have dutifully covered for Obama, stating that Jesus is just a poseur Messiah. Obama would promise more largesse, will have claimed to have lowered the rising seas, and would still have won the election yesterday. Seems the kind of world we live in right now. It may take a relatively long time, perhaps a decade, perhaps a decade in a half, until we are so far in the economic gutter that the economic Pridelands will have been picked of every life-giving force by the proverbial hyenas.

Only when the world has gone full Galt and the last of other people’s fruits wrought of productive enterprise have been sucked up and dried, will people understand the damage. By that time, I fear it will be too late. The United States, along with Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia, Greece, Spain, Great Britain, and other great civilizations, will have been relegated to the books as just another flash in History’s pan.

Call me a negative Nelly, but at least at this point in time, I find it difficult to read the tea leaves any other way. Not that I won’t keep up the good fight, but right now I feel as if I’m taking the last stand at the Alamo.

Game over?

A Campaign for 70 Million Votes

Mark Noonan71 Comments

As I’m sure most people have figured out by now, turnout in 2012 was massively off from 2008.  As it turns out, Obama got fewer votes in 2012 than Bush got in 2004.  My prediction of a Romney victory was predicated upon taking the 2008 turnout and re-figuring it for both a loss in Obama voters and a return of Bush voters.  The Obama voters were, indeed, lost – I got that right (though, for full disclosure, Obama lost fewer votes than I projected he would).  The problem for us Republicans is that the Bush voters McCain lost were also lost by Romney – and then some; it seems that Romney got about a million fewer voters than McCain.  Had the 5 million or so missing Bush voters showed up on November 6th, Romney would have won…and we probably would have won a Senate majority, in to the bargain.

The big question is just why did these five million voters not vote?  They voted for Bush.  They are clearly ok with a socially conservative man of financially rich background – they should have had no particular problem with voting for Romney.  But, they didn’t.  Why?  Several reasons:

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Post Election Open Thread

Mark Noonan163 Comments

A bit of a re-write, because initially this thread was ungraciously titled.  Listening to Romney speak tonight reminded me that we’re bigger than that.

Obama has won a narrow victory – with the exceptional rarity of a President winning a 2nd term with a lower vote total than he won his first term with.  We on our side clearly did not put together a good enough program to convince a solid majority that we were best for the nation – but neither did Obama.  He got it together and managed to get the win, but it is a hollow victory.

Our liberals are convinced that now all the Hope and Change of 2008 will finally come to pass – that some how or another the policies which have failed so miserably over the past four years will now bear fruit.  I don’t see how anyone can rationally believe that – I can understand having faith, but not having faith in policies which have never worked, not even once.  But, now they’ve got their chance.  Obama is inheriting Obama – if his brand of economic policies work then we’ll know for certain by election day, 2016.

A lot of conservatives will now start to pan Romney.  I won’t.  He ran an excellent campaign and I don’t see a real mis-step.  Sure, we can all look back with 20/20 hindsight and say he should have done this, that or the other thing…but as it was unfolding, I don’t see what was missed.  I thought we had this thing won.  I’m still flabbergasted that we didn’t.  But I won’t spend any time or effort re-hashing what happened.

The things we need to work on are many – to just name a few:

1.  Yes, we need to have an amnesty for illegals.  Don’t look all shocked: I’ve been advocating for it since 2007.  I know all the arguments against – but none of them work against the stark reality that there are 10 million of them here, many of which have been long domiciled in the United States.  Secure the border, amnesty the otherwise law-abiding illegals we have and then ensure that no more illegals can get in.  This is not a play for Latino votes – this is a rational way to get the entire issue off the table while at the same time adhering to our finest national ideals.  We must amend the Constitution to change the definition of citizen to read, “all persons born of an American citizen are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside”.

2.  We need to break our ties entirely with Big Business – to make it clear that Big Government and Big Business are two exceptionally nasty sides of the same disgusting coin; that they, together, are ruining our nation and they both must go if we are ever to really recover our prosperity and our freedom.  Big Government includes Big Government Union, by the way – we must continue the fight that Walker has started and carry it to total, nationwide victory.  Democrats live and die by Big Government and Big Business – destroy them and we destroy the Democrat party as it is currently constituted.

3.  We must start to work, on a State-by-State level, for a Freedom of Conscience Restoration Amendment to the Constitution – to ensure that no matter what cockamamie ideas our liberals come up with that our religious bodies – in the widest possible definition – are entirely immune from government dictates.

4.  We must attack and attack and then attack some more the growing immorality in our popular culture.  As part of the war against Big Business we must point out that the nauseating filth in our popular culture is brought to us by Big Business in order to make profits off the ruination of people’s lives.

There is plenty more – all of it needs to be worked on.  All of it can be done.

So, stout hearts an in to the future with confidence.

Election Day Open Thread

Matt Margolis77 Comments

We’ll add important updates in this post today. You can also follow me on Twitter, where a majority of my Election Day coverage will occur.

UPDATE:  Instapundit is getting e-mail updates from voting precincts around the nation; just “man on the street”, as it were.  The trend seems to be strongly that in heavily Democrat areas turnout is so-far light while in heavily Republican areas turnout is strong.  One thing to always keep in mind – as one old general once said when report of a military disaster was brought to him, “the situation is never as bad, or as good, as first reports indicate”.  Don’t put too much stock in anything you hear throughout the day – not anecdotal reports, not leaked exit polls, not MSMers saying that “trends” indicate an Obama victory.  Until the votes actually start to be counted, no one really knows.  The only job you have today is to vote.  Do that and let things fall where they may.

UPDATE II:  An interesting story about how the early voting went in Ohio.

UPDATE III:  From Russ over at Ace of Spades – this is Operation Visine:  Get the Red Out!

UPDATE IV:  GOP turnout way up in Ohio.

UPDATE V:  Huge turnout in Louisiana and Missouri.  Why is this important in these certain-to-go-Romney States?  Because it is a gauge of GOP engagement…very, very high.  Also, it might drag Akin across the finish line and help us gain a Senate majority.  Also helps Romney run up the popular vote score in case it does come down to 10 or less electoral votes separating the candidates and no one knows who wins tonight.

UPDATE VI:  Early exits show the economy is the number one issue and that people think the economy sucks.  Remember:  the exits are not the last word on anything.  Whatever they say, don’t let them get you elated or down…go vote if you haven’t already.  But it is bad news for Team O that Big Bird, lady parts and revenge are not high up on the list of voter concerns…

UPDATE VII:  Vigo County, Indiana, a bellweather county (has picked the Pres winner since 1956) has a big swing to Romney.

UPDATE VIII:  Right now Romney is winning the popular vote 50% to 48%…