Blogs For Victory

Today I received my official NRA membership card. I made the decision to join about two weeks ago, and I am pretty psyched about it.

And let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I’m finally inspired by the guy – inspired by how badly we can beat him once the headwinds of 2008 are out of our GOP way.

This is the guy who’s gonna save the world?

Q Mr. President-elect, do you still intend to seek income tax increases for upper-income Americans? And if so, should these Americans expect to pay higher taxes in 2009?

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: The — my tax plan represented a net tax cut. It provided for substantial middle-class tax cuts. Ninety-five percent of working Americans would receive them. It also provided for cuts in capital gains for small businesses, additional tax credits. All of it is designed for job growth.

My priority is going to be, how do we grow the economy? How do we create more jobs?

I think that the plan that we’ve put forward is the right one. But obviously over the next several weeks and months, we are going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what’s taking place in the economy as a whole. But understand the goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling, but also to boost the capacity of the economy to grow from the bottom up.

All right? Thank you very much, guys.

He didn’t answer the question! He must have thought he was having a fourth debate with McCain. The possible answers were, “yes, because its integral to my plan”, “no, at this time that would be unwise” or “we are reviewing that as part of our overall economic plan given the rapidly changing circumstances”. Couldn’t get it out – couldn’t get past a mindless repetition of the talking points.

Of course, the printed text doesn’t give the full flavor of the incoherence and meaninglessness of what the President-elect said. For 8 years now we’ve been told that President Bush is a dunce – and this is the smarter guy who’s going to fix everything?

Right now Obama still has the gleam of victory and the MSM bubble to protect him – but we’re going to flatten him as his liberal policies start to fail and the American people wake up to the fact that we’ve elected what appears to be a indecisive, liberal automaton…

UPDATE: Obama apologizes for his tasteless joke about Nancy Reagan. Forgiven and forgotten, as far as I’m concerned.

As the global recession grows, the risk of a Chinese economic meltdown increases:

In conclusion, the risk of a hard landing in China is sharply rising. A deceleration in the Chinese growth rate to 7% in 2009–just a notch above a 6% hard landing–is highly likely, and an even worse outcome cannot be ruled out at this point.

The global economy is already headed toward a recession. A hard landing in China will have severe effects on growth in emerging market economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as Chinese demand for raw materials and intermediate inputs has been a major source of economic growth for emerging markets and commodity exporters. The sharp recent fall in commodity prices and the near collapse of the Baltic Freight index are clear signals that Chinese and global demand for commodities and industrial inputs is sharply falling. Thus, global growth–at market prices–will be close to zero in Q3 of 2008, likely negative in Q4 of 2009 and well into negative territory in 2009. So brace yourself for an ugly and protracted global economic contraction in 2009.

Read the whole thing. The short story is that China’s economy requires a massive and ever increasing amount of exports in order to sustain itself – exports are already falling and will collapse in 2009, while China’s government already seems to have used up the resources necessary for any substantial fiscal stimulus. Bad news for China and the world – and confirmation of my idea of “Freedom Trade” to replace free trade…had we not done this much business with China and instead put our money in free nations, we wouldn’t have this massive collapse in an explosive country about to happen…of such stuff are world wars made.

Obama sure has a full plate – and only a rejection of liberal dogma gives him a chance of weathering the storm. The engine of global economic growth – the United States – has to be revved up, and only tax cuts and regulatory restraint will do the trick. We’ll find out soon if Obama is as smart as his minions say he is.

From the Anchoress:

I’m hopeful that the left – if it takes the time to actually condescend to notice how well it is being treated by the vanquished – might consider that self-indulgent defamation is the lesser way; that such a consideration may inspire introspection, and perhaps the smallest bit of regret for some of their appalling excesses toward the right and toward the American President who did not return hate in-kind.

I’m hopeful. I’m an optimist. I KNOW that the folks on the right – for all of their faults, and both sides certainly have faults – want America to be successful and strong and exceptional and free. I’m hopeful that hugely empowered left will discover that – beyond the feel-goodism of “free social programs” which are never free -they actually, really do want all of those things, too. That they’ll look back on the last 8 years and realize, finally, that their enemy was never George W. Bush. Bush, the guy who never dehumanized them, was only trying serve those corny ideals.

And then, miraculously, we may actually have unity.

So far, I have seen some fine actions from people on the left, but I haven’t seen a full re-thinking on the victorious left about what is their best way forward. It is my fear that they have too greatly embittered themselves on the left and they won’t be able to let go of their hatred – which will, in the long run, benefit the conservative movement, but which will also hurt a lot of people meanwhile…including a lot of people on the left.

A bit of love, a bit of forgiveness – they go a long way. As for me, the acrimony of the past 8 years is already a fading dream. I’m ready for a new era and a renewed unity – a renewed sense of “we’re all Americans here”. I hope the left reciprocates, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

We might want to stake out a fighting position against this crackbrained, totalitarian Obama idea:

Obama’s service plan is just as troubling. He wants to mandate 50 hours of community service per year for middle and high school students. And he’s offering a $4,000 federal-funded tuition credit in exchange for 100 hours per year from college students. For most students, the latter will become a mandatory part of getting a degree, as colleges will merely raise their tuition to compensate for the vouchers.

So who gets to decide what constitutes “community service”? Who gets to decide which causes and organizations will be credit-worthy, and which ones won’t?

Something tells me that you’d be more likely to get one of Obama’s vouchers by going door to door for one of ACORN’s living wage campaigns than, say, volunteering for a libertarian nonprofit organization that advocates against things like government-mandated community service.

Volunteerism is good, but government sponsored and group-intimidated activities are the negation of volunteerism. We should encourage our young people to get out there and pitch in, but only encourage – it is their right to not participate and suffer no societal consequences.

The thing about enforced virtue is that it isn’t virtue at all – in Saudi Arabia, they have some sort of police force which goes around ensuring that everyone is being virtuous…which means, of course, that no one in Saudi Arabia has a clue about virtue because you can only do right when you are free to do wrong. God gave us free will for a reason, and we must do as much as we can to leave the will as free as possible. Obama’s plan is collectivist, Bolshevik nonsense, and we should stop it.

We were told it was just stupendous how many people were turning out to vote…

A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at most has risen by less than 1 percent.

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. (emphasis added)

An unpopular President, an unpopular war, a skidding economy and a moderate GOP standard-bearer…there was only so much Palin could do for the ticket, and we will find a way to get those GOPers back to the polls, my dear Democrats…

The One better get into office quick and start issuing some pardons:

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko’s wife and later sold to the couple’s next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

It doesn’t really beg the question – this is just par for the course in Chicago politics. The way things are done is via payoffs, bribes and kickbacks, and President-elect Obama has been hip deep in it. Perhaps a full airing of what went on will show that Obama was just an innocent bystander in all this, but I doubt it – and thus we’ll see this investigation fizzle out very shortly after January 20th.

I wonder, though, if Obama will pull a Clinton here and fire all of the US Attorneys in order to get rid of the one he really wants gone, Fitzgerald in Chicago? What will the liberals say, then? And don’t any of them want to rise to the defense of the “Merry Fitzmas”?

…and he’s already killing the economy:

Major indexes have lost about 10 percent since Barack Obama was elected president — a vote preceded by a steep rally — and the losses represent the Dow’s worst two-day percentage decline since the October 1987 crash.

And it is gonna get worse.

A congratulations, and an earnest prayer:

Cardinal Francis George sent a message of congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama on the occasion of his win in the presidential election Tuesday.

The archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. bishop’s conference referred to Obama’s win as “historic.” He is the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.

“Our country is confronting many uncertainties,” Cardinal George said, speaking on behalf of all the U.S. bishops. “We pray that you will use the powers of your office to meet them with a special concern to defend the most vulnerable among us and heal the divisions in our country and our world.

“We stand ready to work with you in defense and support of the life and dignity of every human person.”

For us on the pro-life side of the aisle, it is clear we need to re-tool our message. One would think that protecting unborn life would be a no-brainer, but we must admit at this point that a different tactical campaign is needed to advance the cause of life. I haven’t worked it all out at the moment, but I’m going to hang my pro-life hat on something I’ll call the “Choice for Life Act” and a push for a National Endowment for Life. Details to come.

Indeed:

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

According to recent Gallup polls, the president’s average approval rating is below 30% — down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, “Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.”

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

The author goes on to note that Harry Truman was even more unpopular at the end of his term than Bush is now – and how Truman has risen in public esteem since that time. As I’ve mentioned before, I will be writing a retrospective on the Bush years some time next month, but I’ll put in right now my opinion that history will be kind to President Bush and rather contemptuous of the left which hated him and those elements of the right which denigrated him. No one likes a hater or a back-stabber and a lot of people have a lot to answer for.

Obama has now said that he, too, wishes to be President of all Americans – and in that wish, he’s got my support. God help us all, Barack Obama is to be my President. Got that, lefties? He’s mine – not just yours; and this makes him ours. Just as President Bush is ours. You can’t opt out of parts of America – its all or nothing: America, love it or leave it.

UPDATE: Some good Bush and Palin gear here.

UPDATE: Confidence about Iraq rises high. Thank you, President Bush and the magnificent men and women of the United States Armed Forces. Obama – you’ve been handed a war which is won. Don’t blow it.