Blogs For Victory

Scott Ramussen has some trenchant comments about the DC GOP and the political scene in general:

To be relevant in politics, you need either formal power or a lot of people willing to follow your lead. The governing Republicans in the nation’s capital have lost both on their continuing path to irrelevance.

The disconnect between D.C. Republicans and Republicans throughout the country has been growing for nearly 20 years, but it became more intense and noticeable during the waning years of the Bush administration.

Perhaps the final straw was the $700 billion bank bailout plan pushed through Congress last fall despite strong voter opposition. For all the furor unleashed this spring by congressional Republicans about President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan, the Bush-era bailouts last fall were approved with virtually no advance notice and no guidelines as to how the money would be spent. Looking back, most voters and nearly eight-out-of-10 Republicans now believe the bailouts were a bad idea.

The April 15 “tea party” protests, viewed favorably by 51% of Americans, were fueled as much by anger at the bailouts as anything else. Many Inside-the-Beltway Republicans chose to distance themselves from the events, and many tea party participants were happy to express their anger at both Beltway Republicans and Democrats…

…The gap between Beltway Republicans and the Republican base is part of a wider gap between the Mainstream and the Political Class. On many issues, the gap between Mainstream Americans and the Political Class is bigger than the gap between Mainstream Republicans and Mainstream Democrats.

But Political Class Democrats control Congress and the White House while their GOP counterparts have little in the way of power and influence to overcome the disconnect with their base. One immediate result of this is that senior senators like Arlen Specter and John McCain now are facing primary challenges. Other challenges may follow. It used to be possible for Republicans in Washington to argue that they needed someone like Specter or McCain to hang on to the majority but no longer.

Look for the Republican Party to sink further into irrelevancy as long as its key players insist on hanging around Congress or K Street for their ideas. The future for the GOP is beyond the Beltway.

It is, as the great Ronald Reagan once pointed out, a time for choosing. In that year of 1964, Reagan pointed out the stark differences between the conservative, Republican worldview and the position of the liberal Democrats and their “less-of-the-same, go-along-to-get-along” Republican fellow travelers. The net result of that election was, of course, a complete wipe-out of conservative, Republican ideals at the polls. I mean, our defeat that year was positively embarrassing. But it was ok – we eventually carried those exact principles into the White House and by them saved America, preserved liberty and destroyed the USSR. We conservatives are now faced with a the same opponents Reagan faced – those liberal Democrats and their “can-I-be-your-friend-Barack” RINO fellow travelers. We can only beat them by reaffirming the core principles of conservative Republicanism and then fighting like mad – as the Gipper did – to enact them into law.

There are some good men and women in the Congressional GOP – but they seem too cowed by those members of the caucus who want to get along with our opponents. As I noted earlier, it seems that Orrin Hatch (R?-UT) wants to scratch Toomey from the GOP lists in Pennsylvania and find a “Beltway-Approved” candidate to take on Arlen Specter. Toomey is the man who would have rid us of Specter in 2004 except Specter prevailed upon the GOP – including President Bush – to back him to the hilt. Toomey is the instrument by which we exposed Specter for what he really is and got him out of the party. Toomey is the clear favorite of the Pennsylvania GOP…and Hatch is at least implying that if Toomey is the GOP nominee, the Beltway GOP won’t back him. What kind of nonsense is that?

The kind of nonsense the powerful are used to imposing on us. They are instructing us not to get too above ourselves and, also, that if we want to win we need to find people who will stab us in the back after the election is over. This is Beltway logic – but it is betrayal of the people of the conservative, Republican movement who pour out their sweat and treasure in the hopes that the leftist tide will be turned back for good. There is no point in winning if “winning” means enacting Democrat-lite policies. Democrats like Democrat policies, and that is fine – let them run on them and, if they win, enact them into law…more power to them and God bless them all…but we’re conservative Republicans and we want to not only run on conservative, Republican principles, we want to govern on them, when we win. Anyone who can’t be part of this had better hit the road, as far as I’m concerned. We don’t need people who don’t have the heart to fight.

Do keep in mind that conservative, Republican principles cover a lot of ground – there is, indeed, the Big Tent of Ronald Reagan…but this Big Tent does have some rules, among them are that taxes shall be low, budgets shall be balanced, gun ownership shall be an individual right, worship shall be free, national defense shall remain strong, the people shall rule themselves in their local communities, the judges shall be strict constructionists…you can be pro-choice and be part of the movement. Heck, you can be in favor of abortion, gay marriage and environmentalist whackoism and still be part of the movement…as long as you don’t want to force the States and the people to keep abortion legal, enact gay marriage and be green if they don’t have a mind to do so in their States and local communities. What you can’t be is someone allegedly pro-life, anti-gay marriage, anti-environmentalist who then goes and cuts us off at the knees by voting for some ridiculous tax and spend liberalism, or who votes to approve a judge who wants to impose liberalism via judicial fiat, or who allows himself to be stampeded by MSM shouting into some unwise, but fashionable, course of action. Better ten Giulianis in the Senate than one Specter.

The Beltway GOP had better sit up and take notice – Specter is just the first RINO we’re forcing out. The rest will go, too, unless they mend their ways right quick. We’re not asking anyone to abandon what they consider core principle – heck, we’d be insulted if anyone asked us to do that – but if you claim to subscribe to a principle then you’d better darn well do so, whatever the immediate, personal, political consequences. And if your core principles don’t extend to limited government, individual liberty, local control and the rest then there is a party for you – it is called the Democrat party. Get on board, or get out; that is the stark choice for all RINOs.

A British rightwing extremist:

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. – Winston Churchill

All of you liberals out there who actually think the Obama spending plan will do anything worthwhile – take note:

Some locals call the Johnstown airport “Fort Murtha” because of the stream of wartime projects at the facility. Although its runway is capable of servicing the largest airplanes in North America, the airport now is used only by small commuter planes that make six trips a day back and forth to Washington Dulles International Airport.

Many of the commercial flights, which are subsidized by federal transportation dollars, carry only a handful of passengers. On a recent visit, all of the departing flights were less than half full, and one had only four passengers — screened by seven federal airport personnel.

All told, Murtha has steered about $150 million in federal funds to the airport. This spring, it was among the first four in the country to receive stimulus money — $800,000 for a runway-widening project.

The alleged rationale for this is that we need a back up military airport just in case … shoot, I don’t know; the Canadians invade?

Its pure, unadulterated porkbarrel BS and it is run of the mill government spending. This is what we get for our tax dollars – swag so that a leech can keep himself on the public gravy train for another two years. I’ll bet that a full audit of government will show that only one in five dollars actually does something (a) useful and (b) necessary. The rest of it is just crap – from crap airports no one needs to crap over payments for services the private sector could provide at half the cost. Obama is going to spend trillions on this sort of nonsense, and we’ll end up completely bankrupt and with hardly anything worthwhile to show for it (and, please note, Obama’s pledge to reduce the deficit – not a hard task if your first year’s deficit is nearly two trillion dollars…the FY 2012 deficit could be a trillion and Obama could crow about a 50% reduction…and he will, because he knows his base is servile enough to buy it).

People vs the powerful – that is all that matters at the moment. We, the people, have to find a way to pry the powerful away from our money, our government and our way of life.

Ed Note: This seems to be the growing story, so we’ll bump it up.

Time to start praying that this passes us by.

UPDATE: 20 cases in the US.

UPDATE II: CDC Swine Flu page Anyone have confirmation that swine flu was the 1919 “Spanish flu” pandemic?

UPDATE III: Six cases in Canada. Three cases in Spain.

UPDATE IV: Obama Administration not exactly Johnny-on-the-spot

UPDATE V: BBC readers report from Mexico.

UPDATE VI: 103 deaths reported in Mexico. as of about 1am EDT, April 27th.

UPDATE VII: San Antonio Schools closed.

UPDATE VIII: All schools closed in Mexico.

UPDATE IX: 2,000 cases in Mexico.

UPDATE X: Its all the GOP’s fault (and don’t try to act like any of you were surprised that this allegation cropped up).

UPDATE XI: I’m no epidemiologist, but this website seems to have people who know what they are talking about, epidemic-wise.

UPDATE XII: Simple, common-sense ways you can avoid the flu.

UPDATE XIII: 7 hospitalized in the US.

UPDATE XIV: With 150 confirmed dead, Mexico closes all eateries.

UPDATE XV: Had a scare at my place of work – employee came down with flu-like symptoms, but ended up not being swine flu. End result: one department got the day off, rest of company breathed sigh of relief.

UPDATE XVI: Relative in Reno says a child she knows has come down with a confirmed case of swine flu.

UPDATE XVII: Cases confirmed in 11 States.

UPDATE XVIII: Biden opens mouth, inserts foot. For some reason, this is still considered news.

If this pans out:

NRSC Vice-Chairman Orrin Hatch said today that he doesn’t believe former Congressman Pat Toomey has a chance to beat newly turned Democrat Arlen Specter in next year’s Senate race in Pennsylvania. Hatch even suggested that the NRSC may seek to recruit a candidate to run against Toomey.

“I don’t think there is anybody in the world who believes he can get elected senator there,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Asked if the NRSC would back Toomey, Hatch said, “I don’t think so” and that the party should look for “someone who can win there.”

The Chairman of the NRSC, Texas Senator John Cornyn, has yet to endorse Toomey and said today that he wasn’t sure that Toomey would be the “only candidate” or the “strongest candidate” either. In fact, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham suggested a name today that has been thrown around in political circles since Specter’s defection – Tom Ridge. The reluctance of the NRSC to get on board Toomey’s campaign, especially in the wake of Specter’s defection, is troubling. What kind of Republican party does the GOP leadership in Washington want to have?

Senator Hatch, no one will believe Toomey is going to win if you cut him off at the knees before he’s even got a chance to get started. This is what I’m on about – the people vs the powerful. I’m sorry to say that Senator Hatch has got an attack of “poweritis”…in what could be some residual “my distinguished colleague” affection for Senator Specter, Hatch appears to be trying to ensure that the GOP pick someone who “can win” and that means “can’t be differentiated from Specter” and that means “Specter wins”. Senator Hatch – just who in heck are you to be deciding for the PA GOP who can win there? Let the PA GOP decide the candidate and then, dammit, get out there and fight like heck for him – that is the job of the NRSC.

To all our GOP Senators: We don’t want you to get along with your Democrat opponents. Did you catch that? They are your opponents. For those a little slow up on the uptake, this means they don’t want our side to win – your Democrat opponents in the Senate are really, really keen on having the Democrats win, and they are not too concerned about just how its done. When one of your dear friends on the other side of the aisle offers you some advice, do the dratted opposite, ok? Trust me – you know, a fellow Republican – on this; any advice offered by a Democrat to a Republican is not advice designed to advance the cause of the Republican party.

All we want for you is to fight for us – for justice, mercy, patriotism, love of our fellow men and women. We don’t want you to fight for increased funding for some bull*** federal program most of us have never heard of and will never avail ourselves of. If you can’t grasp this concept, then just follow Specter into the Democrat party. Its cool, ok? If you don’t want to fight for us, then fight for whomever it is you wish…but don’t ask for our support and then fight against us.

We report, you decide:

First, quoting myself:

I’d rather have 30 Senators I can rely on than 60 Senators who are in it for themselves…

Now, Senator DeMint (R-SC):

I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.

Or is it that great minds think alike? Or perhaps that there’s room for one more rock solid conservative Republican in the Senate? For now, I’ll just congratulate Senator DeMint on the sheer brilliance of his remark.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

“That wasn’t me,” President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was him – and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years – who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Sad.

With the departure of Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) from the ranks of the GOP there is now a chance for some clarity in America’s political debate. Democrats are officially waxing lyrical in their new-found love for Specter while initial GOP comment runs from “good riddance” to “we’re screwed”. The “good riddance” crowd have long been irked by the way Specter routinely undercuts GOP conservatism, always at the worst possible moment. The “we’re screwed” group feels that unless the GOP can appeal to the Arlen Specter’s of America, we haven’t a chance of winning. For myself, I’m generally in the “good riddance” camp, but not out of some latent frustration with Specter. I’m glad he’s gone because he is one of those who keeps the GOP from expanding its base.

Huh? Yes, expanding its base. You see, what Specter has done is leave the GOP because in his cowardly and unprincipled vote in favor of Obama’s spendulus, he revealed himself – once and for all – as a creature of the powerful, rather than a tribune of the people. The regular folks of the GOP base just weren’t going to have it anymore.

Liberals are crowing that Specter was forced out because of conservative Christians being bigots – and some conservatives are following this line. But Specter was going to be crushed in the GOP primary not because Christian conservatives were upset over his social liberalism, but because when the chips were down, Specter opted to help the powerful rather than stand for the people. It is political barnacles like Specter who allow the Democrats to paint the GOP as fundamentally no different from the Democrats and, also, keep politics down in the sewer, thus turning off millions of potential voters who just don’t see how their vote can make a difference. After all, what really is the difference between Arlen Specter and Ted Kennedy? Specter out means we can start having a GOP which stands firmly for principle – a party which no longer compromises core beliefs just to retain a seat or two.

The powerful, it must be kept in mind, can’t stand regular folks. They don’t mind poor people – such people can be used as political pawns and, also, allow powerful people to use tax dollars to assuage their guilt for being so rich while some are so poor. But us folks who are just work-a-day Americans – we’re just an annoyance. We take our religion seriously. We really believe that family is important. We really love America. We really honor the troops. We really insist upon secure borders. We really want our enemies defeated. We really don’t care what people in France and Germany say about us. We laugh at the foibles of the rich. We demand that the poor pull their weight. It was a rather cynical move by McCain to pick Sarah Palin – he wanted a VP who could wow the base. He got that, but as it turns out he also picked one of us…and that made the powerful go ballistic. What we need is more Palin, less Specter in the party. We need more tribunes of the people, less creatures of the powerful.

If the GOP wants to win, the way to do it is to be for the people against the powerful. Why were we even for a moment thinking that Specter was with us and worthy of our volunteers and our donations? What in heck were we thinking? We are the party of the people – the average American, outside the beltway and in direct and vigorous opposition to the mentality of government-knows-best. What is Arlen Specter but a cheerleader for what we consider all that is wrong with American government? Hey, more power to him – he’s got what he’s got and he’s free to do as he wishes. But we’re fools if we want to keep any particular person in office merely because they have an R after their name. We want people who will fight and fight and fight – never giving in for a moment to the various political expediencies which always mean that the well-connected get the gold mine, and we get the shaft.

Suppose we kept Specter and he wound up the 51st GOP Senator in 2011. What good would that do us? Do you think he wouldn’t betray us in a moment in order to curry favor with his fellow power elites in DC? I’d rather have 30 Senators I can rely on than 60 Senators who are in it for themselves (of course, I’d prefer 60 I can rely on…and we’ll get that, if we do this right). Our best bet is to shed anyone in the GOP who feels that people in DC know what is best – no rancor towards them; we just have a different worldview. This isn’t really a conservative/liberal thing – though, of course, conservatives do tend to be more understanding of the dangers of government power. This is an American thing – those Tea Party protesters were probably in their majority conservative, but none of those rallies were conservative. They were American, to the core – and that is what the GOP will have to be, if we want to win.

Who runs America? Right now it is collection of liberals in government and their clients in business, unions, education and other special interests. Whatever they might say about helping the people, they are really all about helping themselves. They are powerful – they control not just the government but, largely, the courts, the media, the institutions of higher education and all of those “commanding heights” of our society which allow them to drumbeat their worldview into the public mind. They are running this – and they are running us. It is time we started running them – running them out of town, running them to ground…running them ragged.

With eyes clear, hearts firm and no longer encumbered by political deadweight like Specter, it is now our chance to firmly capture the GOP and then go on to win the power we need to remake America in to what the Founder’s intended – a democratic republic of strong, independent people.

An ancient rightwing extremist:

Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it. – Pericles

From Frank J over at IMAO:

Since torture doesn’t work but waterboarding did work on KSM, doesn’t that prove that waterboarding isn’t torture?

Discuss.