"Why I'm voting democrat"

A couple of years ago, my brother told me the story of a political discussion he had with a fellow employee. My brother was trying to explain his views of limited government to the employee and was getting nowhere. So he decided to switch things up. He asked the employee to explain his view of politics. Here's a paraphrase of what the employee said:

I just think that when Republicans are in power, they make us responsible for everything. But when Democrats are in power, the government takes over and they're responsible.

All my brother could do was sit back and say, "you know what? You should vote Democrat."

And that's the sentiment reflected in this brilliant video.

Sarah Palin ROCKED Charlie Gibson's world, and he may realize it in a week or two

From their summary of the Gibson-Palin interview at The Power Line:

One of the problems with this type of interview is that the reporter—here, Charlie Gibson—thinks he is "vetting" the candidate on behalf of the people. But if you read the interview, you can see that the candidate's IQ is 30 or 40 points higher than the reporter's, and Gibson doesn't do a particularly good job of keeping up. It's safe to conclude, though, that just about anyone who watched the interview will think that Governor Palin acquitted herself admirably.

Keep it up, Sarah. The lefties are scared to death of you. And that warms my heart.

Hot damn! Sarah Palin ROCKS!

Before I continue, let me be perfectly clear: I love Mrs. Light Bulb. Second only to my salvation, Mrs. Light Bulb is the most valuable gift Almighty God has ever given to me. She is the best friend I have in this world, she is my exotic-eyed lover, and a wonderful wife.

But did you see Sarah Palin last week? Hot damn! I'm truly beginning to believe some of the little known facts about this woman.

There is so much to like:

• She can wear a skirt and looks great in it
  
• Her life story has no holes and is quintessentially American
  
• She is the most popular governor of all 50
  
• She has more executive experience than the other three guys combined
  
• She has actually accomplished things for her constituents
  
• She shoots guns and kills wild animals with them
  
• She's a real feminist - her achievements come with hard work and without whining
  

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, sums up the situation exquisitely with three "thank yous". First, for He-whose-middle-name-must-not-be-spoken:

He lacked the confidence or the strength to ask Hillary Clinton, recipient of some 18 million votes, to join him on the ticket. Such a ticket, uniting and exciting the Democratic party, would have been hard to beat in this Democratic year. Having ruled out Clinton, Obama then lacked the nerve to double down on the theme of change, by selecting, say, Virginia governor Tim Kaine or Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius. A change versus experience election wouldn't have been a bad bet for Obama. Instead, he settled on an unimpressive vice presidential pick, a long-time, long-winded overrated senator from a safe state, who gave him no lift at all in the polls, and offers no prospect of doing so.

Sweet. Then, for Senator McCain.

He showed guts with his pick of Sarah Palin. He also demonstrated a shrewd strategic sense. He knew that running on experience would carry him only so far—most likely to a respectable defeat. He understood the implications of Obama's passing over Hillary—not that Clinton voters would vote for McCain-Palin (though if even a few do so, it could make a difference), but that his pick of Palin when compared with Obama's shying away from Hillary would show McCain as a bolder and more confident leader.

And then, of course, for the media.

A special thank you to our friends in the liberal media establishment. Who knew they would come through so spectacularly? The ludicrous media feeding frenzy about the Palin family hyped interest in her speech, enabling her to win a huge audience for her smashing success Wednesday night at the convention. Indeed, it even renewed interest in McCain, who seems to have gotten still more viewers for his less smashing—but well-received—presentation the following evening.

The astounding (even to me, after all these years!) smugness and mean-spiritedness of so many in the media engendered not just interest in but sympathy for Palin. It allowed Palin to speak not just to conservatives but to the many Americans who are repulsed by the media's prurient interest in and adolescent snickering about her family. It allowed the McCain-Palin ticket to become the populist standard-bearer against an Obama-Media ticket that has disdain for Middle America.

There's now a conservative in the race. And a light at the end of the tunnel.

John Edwards enhances his resume

While he was out campaigning to be the country's next president, John Edwards and his family knew he had cheated on his wife.

John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to ABC News today.

...

Edwards said he told his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family about the affair in 2006.

Edwards made a point of telling Woodruff that his wife's cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter. Elizabeth Edwards has since been diagnosed with an incurable form of the disease.

When the National Enquirer first reported the alleged Edwards-Hunter affair last October 11, Edwards, his campaign staff and Hunter vociferously denounced the report.

"The story is false, it's completely untrue, it's ridiculous," Edwards told reporters then.

He repeated his denials just two weeks ago.

Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.

[emphasis mine]

Did you catch that remark about when the affair began? He wanted to make sure that everyone knew that his wife's cancer was in remission when he started cheating on her.

Looks like the other two need to step aside. John Edwards is now the only Defeat-ocrat that is fully qualified to be the nominee of his party.

If Harriet Christian says it...

then it's gotta be true.

God Bless You, Linda Daves

Linda Daves, North Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman, has told the Troll to go jump in the lake, figuratively speaking.

State GOP Chairwoman Linda Daves reiterated in a statement Thursday that the ad will run.

“There has never been any intention to pull the ad and it will air,” she said. “The ‘Extreme’ ad has garnered attention around the country. I want to thank the people across North Carolina and across the country who have shown overwhelming support for us. Our aim is to tell the truth and ask difficult questions. We will continue to do so.”

Be strong, Ms. Daves.

Here's the ad:

We are doomed

Mitt Romney's "suspension" of his campaign all but guarantees Juan McAmnesty as the Republican candidate.

John McCain effectively sealed the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday as chief rival Mitt Romney suspended his faltering campaign. "I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

That's it. The mainstream media now has the Republican candidate they've longed for: a liar, a liberal, and hot under the collar. I wish I could sit back and watch the impending train wreck with morbid fascination. Unfortunately, it will be the ruination of our party.

How repugnant.

Ann Coulter nails it

I won't go as far as voting for Monica Lewinsky's Ex-Boyfriend's Wife, but I certainly can't vote for McCain. And Ann gives some compelling reasons:

• She (Monica Lewinsky's Ex-Boyfriend's Wife) is more conservative than is McAmnesty
  
• She is smarter than he is
  
• She lies less than he does (when he's caught in a lie, he doesn't know to stop telling it)
  
• She hasn't taken a stand on closing Guantanamo, he has (he wants it closed)
  
• She is a Defeat-ocrat, he is (supposedly) a Republican, and yet their positions are millimeters apart

If he wins the nomination, he'll be the ruination of the Republican party.

I know this is a bad thing - Rick "39%" Perry has endorsed McCain

He endorsed Rudy. But now that Rudy has withdrawn, he's backing the McCainiac.

"He and I may not agree on every issue," Mr. Perry said of the Arizona senator. "But we do agree that this country cannot flinch when it comes to the war against the Islamic terrorists."

Mr. Perry's move followed by hours California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement of Mr. McCain at a joint appearance on the West Coast. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed the senator Saturday night, just three days before Mr. McCain's big win in that state's GOP primary.

Mr. Perry, who earlier had backed former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, dismissed suggestions that he again has defied his conservative supporters' wishes.

Though Mr. McCain has angered party loyalists by authoring bills to overhaul campaign finance and immigration and by voting twice against President Bush's tax cuts, Mr. Perry praised Mr. McCain for promising to get rid of pork barrel "earmarks" in the federal budget.

As he had earlier in endorsing Mr. Giuliani, the governor framed his choice as driven by national security considerations.

"I happen to think John McCain can and will win the war on terror," Mr. Perry said at a news conference in his Capitol office. "Everything else is secondary."

The RINOs are lining up like good little lemmings.

Rudy has gone . . . to the Dark Side

This is a painful post to write, but one I must if I want to be intellectually honest with my readers. My first choice for the Republican Presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, has dropped out of the race. How I wish I could stop right there. But I can't. Rudy has taken the unfortunate further step of endorsing . . . wait for it . . . John McCain.

It's like a nightmare that you can't wake up from. Things just keep getting worse. My only hope now is that Mitt Romney will beat the McCainiac on Super Tuesday. What an awful state of affairs for the Republican Party.

Florida votes for . . . McCain? Really???

Here are some of McCain's Greatest Hits:

• Member of the Keating Five
• Co-leader of the Gang of 14
• McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform
• McCain-Kennedy Amnesty for Illegals Act
• McCain-Lieberman Greenhouse Gas Act
• McCain-Anything, which most assuredly represents a compromise of Conservative principles
• Voted against the Bush tax cuts - twice

This man represents the epitome of RINO behavior. Make no mistake, if McCain wins the Republican nomination, we will have a Democrat in the White House in 2009. No other way around it. Too many Republicans and Conservatives will simply not vote for McCain. How do we stop him?

Obama's Clinton Education

Please read this excellent commentary from the Wall Street Journal.

One of our favorite Bill Clinton anecdotes involves a confrontation he had with Bob Dole in the Oval Office after the 1996 election. Mr. Dole protested Mr. Clinton's attack ads claiming the Republican wanted to harm Medicare, but the President merely smiled that Bubba grin and said, "You gotta do what you gotta do."

We're reminded of that story listening to Barack Obama protest his treatment by the now ex-President Clinton on behalf of his wanna-be-President wife. "You know the former President, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling," Mr. Obama told a TV interviewer. "He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts — whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas."

Now he knows how the rest of us feel.

The Illinois Senator is still a young man, but not so young as to have missed the 1990s. He nonetheless seems to be awakening slowly to what everyone else already knows about the Clintons, which is that they will say and do whatever they "gotta" say or do to win. Listen closely to Mr. Obama, and you can almost hear the echoes of Bob Dole at the end of the 1996 campaign asking, "Where's the outrage?"

You have to admit, the Clintons are exceptionally skilled at triangulation. We even saw it at the Defeat-ocrats last debate. Senator Obama spoke about lies that Bill was telling. Mrs. Clinton's response? "He's not here."

She could have also said "he's everywhere but here." It's very cunning to have your chief attack dog not be an official member of your campaign and able to go and speak anywhere on your behalf with the full expectation of media coverage. After all, who wouldn't cover a former President's speeches? From there, it's an all-too-easy bait-and-switch.

"Did you hear what Bill said?"

"Yes, I did. But he's not running. Her Vileness is."

Let's see how long they get away with it. With the media behind them, my guess is a long, long time.

If you can fake sincerity...

...you can get a lot of New Hampshire voters on your side.

And here's her spouse at Ron Brown's funeral:

These people will say anything and do anything in order to get elected.

Ron Paul is "the Pee-Wee Herman of the Republican Party"

Yet another hat tip to the PowerLine brainiacs. And, I promise, my last Ron Paul post.

Some years ago, after popular children's television performer Pee-Wee Herman was arrested in a pornographic movie house, a friend commented that he wasn't surprised, as he'd always felt there was something "off" with respect to Herman. In hindsight, that wasn't too tough a call. I had a similar reaction to James Kirchick's revelations about Ron Paul.

...

It seemed obvious to me during the debates that Ron Paul is not just a principled, if quixotic, libertarian. Like Pee-Wee Herman, he is visibly "off." Paul's newsletters reveal him as prone to hatred and fond of conspiracy theories. So, in practice, he is much more like an internet liberal than a libertarian of the Steve Forbes or Cato Institute ilk. This is, of course, exactly how he came across in the presidential debates.

Read the Kirchick report. 'Nuff said.

Further proof that New Hampshire leans left

John McCain has won the New Hampshire Republican primary.

I don't get it. A man who voted FOR amnesty. A man who co-authored the bill to abridge our free speech rights in election seasons. A Gang of 14 member. This is so obvious a case of a wolf in sheep's clothing that I can't comprehend anyone being fooled by such behavior. Apparently, such incomprehensibleness exists in great supply in the Granite State.

Thanks for nothing, New Hampshire.

And Her Vileness has won the Democratic primary.

Oh, I get this one. Stick with what works. Eight years of Clintonian rule did such wonders for our country, for our standing in the eyes of Muslin terrorists, for the Oval Office carpet. Support the candidate who wants as many babies as possible killed in their mothers' wombs. Vote for Healthcare supplied by your local Department of Motor Vehicles office.

Makes perfect sense.

Both beatables won in Iowa

BAD - Huckabee won. He is not a conservative, bad on immigration, bad on fiscal responsibility, bad on the war. He will be easily beatable in November if he gets the nomination. It will be a replay of the 2006 elections. People voted in 2004 for representatives they thought were conservative, but when those representatives got into office they behaved like liberals instead. So when 2006 came around the people went ahead and voted for liberals thinking, "why should I vote for a conservative to be liberal when I can vote for a liberal to be liberal."

GOOD - Obama won. He is very beatable in November. He has yet to be asked a question about his record. When those questions are asked (by someone other than Her Vileness), the public will see him for the socialist he is.

GREAT - Her Vileness lost. The candidate of inevitability is no longer inevitable. And she's down by 10 in New Hampshire.

"What's a conservative to do?"

A sentiment voiced by many conservatives this election cycle, I'm certain. And one voiced by Playwriter Girl in a comment to my Huckabee post below. For, despite what the drive-bys would have us believe, there is no real conservative in this year's presidential race. Here are the Republican candidates as I see them.

Huckabee	A Liberal's Republican. Vote for Mike if you want your taxes raised.
Hunter	Solid conservative, but where is he? Where's his passion?
McCain	Nope. Already rejected by Republicans. Besides, Star Wars is passe—we don't need another Luke Skywalker.
Paul	Kook, kook, kook.
Romney	Accomplished businessman and Governor. But waffles too much for my taste.
Thompson	Possibly the most conservative of the bunch. Seems to have little energy. Great statesman, unproven leader.

And that leaves my choice, Rudy Giuliani.

Here is my criteria for selecting Rudy. Line up all the candidates side by side and ask yourself this question: which one of these candidates will the terrorists be most afraid of? For me, it's Rudy. Yes, he's not the most conservative of the bunch, there's no question about that. However, he has stated that he will appoint constructionists to the Supreme Court. While he is personally pro-abortion, he recognizes that it is the people's decision through the governments of their respective states. He is an accomplished administrator, having cleaned up New York City of crime before September 11 and of tragedy afterward. He is an accomplish prosecutor. He led the charge to rid New York of organized crime with tremendous success.

For what it's worth, Mr. Light Bulb recommends voting for Rudy Giuliani as the Republican candidate for President of the United States.

Wait a minute, I thought we were having a conversation...

If I remember her candidacy announcement correctly, and I think I do, Mrs. Clinton's final thought went something like this:

"I'm not just starting a campaign, though, I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said. "Let's talk. Let's chat. The conversation in Washington has been just a little one-sided lately, don't you think?"

How interesting (not really) and typical (definitely) to read this:

Before the brief Christmas break, the New York senator had been setting aside time after campaign speeches to hear from the audience. Now when she’s done speaking, her theme songs blare from loudspeakers, preventing any kind of public Q&A.

She was no more inviting when a television reporter approached her after a rally on Thursday and asked if she was "moved" by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Clinton turned away without answering.

Her daughter, Chelsea, had the same reaction when a reporter approached her with a question.

Hillary Clinton’s no-question policy didn’t sit well with some of the Iowans who came to see her speak.

"I was a little bit underwhelmed," said Doug Rohde, 46, as he left her a rally in a fire station in Denison. "The message was very generic — and no questions."

Yep, it's a one-sided conversation alright.

What has Ron Paul accomplished? redux

I knew it. It was so incredibly predictable.

But before I continue, I do need to congratulate the Paulaholics. They are very well organized, and they are phenomenally passionate. Those are two outstanding qualities in politics. (Too bad their guy is a kook.) O.K., back to the post.

After posting my "what has Ron Paul accomplished" question two days ago, I received an anonymous comment a little over six hours later from a Paulaholic. And it followed the typical Paulaholic response. Let's break it down, shall we?

You are asking the wrong question of Paul supporters. If we wanted an activist government to go out and achieve things, we'd support Socialists like Hilary and Rudy.

Oh so clever. Anonymous equates government achievement with Socialism. And then (correctly) lists Mrs. Clinton and (incorrectly) Rudy as examples of Socialism.

Yes, we do want government and our government's employees and representatives to actually achieve things, like . . . oh, I don't know . . . ending the Cold War or keeping our taxes low in order to fuel economic growth. To a certain degree, I agree with the Paulaholics that government is too big and that it does to much and way more than is constitutionally mandated. But it has to DO something. It has to get something done. There is a minimum threshold of achievement that must be met. Remember this phrase?

...to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...

Those are some basics that our government needs to achieve. If it doesn't get some of those correct, we have no nation, and all of our discourse will be for naught.

Continuing with the Paulaholic comment.

I'd say in general, Ron Paul supporters hope that he will bring the size of government down in line with its present level of effectiveness, and the cost of that government down in line with that size.

O.K. That's nice. I'd like for every elected representative to pursue that goal. But what has he done that shows us he's capable of (here's that nasty word again) accomplishing that goal? Let's read on.

What Ron Paul did in his career was to stand firm for the philosophy of limited government as his own party stampeded away from it the moment they took power. By definition, the voice in the wilderness is not the leader of the pack. But if we ever find ourselves in a country where a politician can say, "Government is not the solution to the problem, government *is* the problem," without being derided as a racist kook, Ron Paul will be remembered as a great keeper of that flame.

"STAND FIRM." That's all they can come up with! No accomplishment. No record of getting something done. Nothing in history that will give us a clue as to what might actually occur, besides a whole bunch of speaking and standing firm.

And then...

And then...my dear anonymous commenter displays his/her ignorance of true accomplishment. For Anonymous misquotes the Great Accomplisher himself. Here's the correct quote:

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.

Ronald Reagan, in his first inaugural address, spoke of true conservatism when he said this. And, dear Anonymous, Ron Paul is most certainly not a keeper of the Reagan flame.

Predictably, the question remains unanswered; what has Ron Paul accomplished?

Mike Huckabee, a Liberal's Republican

Yes indeed, a liberal's Republican. In fact, we could call him another Tax Hike Mike, Jr. (Sr. being the former governor of Massachusets). Here's an excerpt from a National Review interview with congressman Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth:

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Is Mike Huckabee really as bad as you say he is?

Pat Toomey: He’s every bit as bad, and you don’t have to just take our word for it. Jonah Goldberg, you and your fellow editors at National Review, Bob Novak, and John Fund — to name just a few conservative writers — agree that Mike Huckabee is no conservative. You can read the Club’s white paper on our website, but here is a quick summary of Huckabee’s worst hits. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the average Arkansas tax burden increased 47% over Huckabee’s tenure. Huckabee supported (in chronological order) a sales tax hike; gas and diesel fuel tax hikes; another sales tax hike; a cigarette tax hike; a nursing home bed tax; another sales tax hike; an income surcharge tax; a tobacco tax hike; taxes on Internet access; and higher beer taxes. Huckabee also oversaw a 50-percent increase in spending; happily signed a minimum wage increase and encouraged national Republicans to do the same; favors a national smoking ban, farm subsidies, and a federally mandated arts and music curriculum; opposes private school choice; and employs class-warfare and protectionist language on the campaign trail. Huckabee calls himself an economic conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan, but the above list doesn’t sound like either.

Run away. Run away.