What Can Brown Do For You?
It hurts, I know. For the countless Conservatives and Tea Partiers who helped Scott Brown’s campaign make history, those who donated money from all around these United States (like the $348,000 spent by the Tea Party Express in California for a Scott Brown TV ad), those Republican operatives who boarded the buses here in DC and trekked northward into enemy territory to knock on doors: I cannot offer you and yours much comfort in my words. Actions speak louder than words, and Conservatives, Libertarians and Tea Partiers seem to be uniting for the first time this year due to Senator Brown’s recent actions.
It sucks; and nobody wanted to think this was going to be the case because as Glenn Beck said during his closing speech at CPAC, “it’s not enough for Republicans to just suck less than the other side.”
What led us to this unfortunate quandary was the Senator’s recent vote against the filibuster for Senator Harry Reid’s Jobs Bill. This will allow the Bill to reach a final vote in the Senate Wednesday. His actions earned him praise from Maryland Democrat and Representative Steny Hoyer, which is the equivalent of Dallas Cowboys picking up L.T. and having Dan Snyder applaud the move as “great.” It has also earned him some malicious scorn on his Facebook page and office phone lines; and a bit of criticism here at thelobbyist as well.
Sen. Brown was probably pacing back and forth with his home state sticking to his shoes before returning to DC for votes this week. He was probably taking a lot of information in about the problems facing Massachusetts, particularly unemployment which increased from 8.7% to 9.4% (November – December 2009), a considerable increase especially when compared to the rest of the United States. All the while, Massachusetts’ Unemployment Insurance benefits have dipped $41.9 million into the red.
I am not endorsing Senator Brown’s actions, nor am I even excusing them. It is imperative that the Republican Party experience an eureka moment where they do not treat people who are for limited domestic influence by federal government as the fringe. Can’t there be someone who can moderately explain why limited government involvement on the federal level is a good idea for the entire country? Isn’t this where Reagan reigned supreme? At the same time, can’t Tea Partiers, Conservatives and some Libertarians also come to accept that a Republican in Massachusetts will not be an exact replica of a Texas Republican, or a Carolina Republican?
I am just asking for everyone to hold tight I guess. I know we made Scott Brown into this last best hope, and I do not think that his voting in favor of this particular jobs bill shows us anything we really should not have already expected: Scott Brown is a Republican. Not a Tea Partier, not particularly Conservative, and certainly not a libertarian. Does this make him a RINO? No… he is still a Republican and can still help us keep the $1 Trillion government slow-roll take-over of healthcare. That means a lot more to me right now than the $14-40 Billion jobs bill. Let’s not burn our bridge just yet, and keep our eyes on the prize.
-rj
Conservative Congress
Yesterday, the citizens of Illinois cast their votes in the first primary election for national office. Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias were nominated to battle it out for President Obama’s senate seat. A strong shift in public sentiment, most recently demonstrated by Republican Scott Brown’s win over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy’s, leads many to predict a win for Kirk.
While there are those who would celebrate any Republican victory as a win for conservative principles, it is important to remember that not all Republicans are also conservative. While both Kirk and Brown alike position farther right on the political spectrum than their rivals in the Democratic Party, they fall terribly short of what conservatives are searching for. Kirk’s call for federal subsidies to fund a state-run public transportation program, and Brown’s refusal to take a firm stance on abortion are just two examples. Such waffling is unacceptable.
If Freedom is to succeed, Americans must elect leaders who refuse to straddle the political fence. If Illinois has taught us anything, it is that we must begin as early as the primary elections to speak up, and make our voices heard.
J. Austin Russell
Destruction Among The Democrats
I was at my internship with Laura Ingraham earlier today, and as part of the job I had to look up information regarding the falling house of cards that is the Democratic Party and its domestic initiatives. Below is what I found:
1. President Obama’s Transportation Security Administration nominee has resigned after Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and other Republicans held up his nomination due to his lying to Congress.
2. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) is calling for health care voting to halt until newly-elected Senator Brown (R-MA) is seated.
3. White House officials and House Democrats see things differently on health care and the ramifications of the Brown election.
4. Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) may very well have Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) as a challenger this year, despite his calling out the left today.
5. White House advisor David Axelrod and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs don’t get it.
Below is what I have found since:
6. Suddenly, deadlines aren’t so important to President Obama.
7. Moderate Scott Brown (R-MA) and conservative Jim DeMint (R-SC) are on the same page, it appears. Kind of makes Democrats look like the ones who are purging their own ranks.
8. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) is kinda-sorta-not-really calling for health care reform to start over.
Update:
9. Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) has been rumored to be prepared to resign from Congress if the health care debate keeps going, and is being courted by a large insurance organization.
10. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is being hammered by the liberal members of her caucus.
None of this is to take away from the fact that Republicans still have work to do in creating a big tent- though Ed Morrissey continues to do great work regarding that goal- and that the Tea Partiers and many other Americans are as angry at the Republican Party as they are at the Democratic Party. While I think the Republicans will win several Senate seats, and 20-30 House seats, I also think the divisions between conservative Republicans and moderate Republicans, and between social conservatives and fiscal/economic conservatives, will hand several House races and at least one or two Senate seats to the Democrats in 2010. Of course, if President Obama keeps using his waning political capital to help Democrats in tough elections, perhaps Republicans will be fortunate enough to have another two years to get their own house in order before the 2012 elections.
A Big Yawn
So apparently Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said yet another racial comment- after comparing Republicans opposed to Democratic health care reform to supporters of slavery- and the political world is hung up on every word. Questions like the following dominate the arena:
1. Should he resign like former Senator Trent Lott did? (No, he shouldn’t.)
2. Are Reid’s remarks similar to Lott’s? (No, they aren’t. Lott’s were insensitive to the public’s eye, but meant to compliment a public servant. Reid’s were analytical but insensitive. Reid’s were definitely about race, Lott’s probably were not.)
3. What does President Obama think? (He doesn’t care.)
4. Will this hurt Reid’s already tough re-election campaign? (Duh.)
5. What does Reverend Al Sharpton (or some other race-baiter) think? (Sharpton defended Reid.)
So, this leads me to two questions, one important and one not so much. The less important one is this: why is Sharpton now coming out against former president Bill Clinton’s remark last year that “A few years ago, this guy [then-Senator Obama] would have been getting us coffee,” when he is defending Reid? After all, let’s say “a few years ago” was a reference to President Obama’s age, not race, and remember that sometimes “a few years ago” can mean as much as a decade, especially to older people such as Clinton and former senator Ted Kennedy (to whom Clinton made the remark). Perhaps the former president was merely remarking on the presidential candidate’s youth and inexperience? If he really wants to help black Americans, Sharpton should ignore these minor, attention-grabbing comments by public figures and concentrate on helping young blacks get a better education. Or, better yat, perhaps he could join Star Parker in helping diminish the number of black abortions.
My second question is more important, however, and more timely than the age-old complaint about Sharpton’s priorities. Namely, it is this: why are Republicans wasting their time on attacking Reid? This issue will have a minimal effect on the health care debate, it won’t help change the public’s view on the party one iota and few outside of politics remember Trent Lott’s comments. Republicans should release a statement or two, let Reid’s general election opponents use this comment and his slavery one to his or her advantage, and concentrate on the larger issues facing America and her citizens. If we are to win past November 2010, conservatives and Republicans must be viewed as the movement and party that can prioritize. The Bush years were incredibly harmful to the Republican and conservative brands, and Democrats have taken full advantage. We have to show the public that we deserve their trust yet again, and hammering Reid over a really stupid and insensitive comment won’t do it. In fact, it may very well hurt us in the long run.
Best of thelobbyist 2009
Thanks to all our readers for making 2009 a great year for thelobbyist.? Below you will find the top post from each month during the 2009 calendar year.
January – 8 days until EPA annihilation of America?Stop Them! – nick r. brown
February – Pseudo-Scientists Kill Possum (Not to be confused with Opossum) – nick r. brown
March – Conservatives Just Don?t ?Get It? – nick r. brown
April – Pay for Performance Act of 2009: An Encroachment of a Free Society – sam theodosopoulos
May – ?I?d Pretend I Was One Of Those Deaf-Mutes.? – nick r. brown
June – Fox News Presents Obstacle For NH GOP Opportunity – sam theodosopoulos
July – Tie: The Personal Democracy Forum Doesn?t Help Conservatives & Personal Democracy Forum: The Future of the Conservative Movement – nick r. brown
August – The Moore You Know About Obama? -? tom qualtere
September – Conservatives Are Right On Gay Marriage – dustin siggins
October - We?ve Never Begged For Money? – nick r. brown
November – An Actual Solution To Health Care Reform -? nicholas j. rohrhoff
December – Pro-Life IS Pro Health Care Reform – dustin siggins
-nick
Health Care Officially Passes Senate
It passed on a party-line vote, too. However, do not despair yet:
1. The White House is outright lying about President Obama’s campaigning on the public option. Desperation?
2. According to Politico, the White House is admitting negotiations over the bill may go past the State of the Union address in late January or very early February. Given that there have been multiple passed deadlines already, and primary season hits full stride in May, will vulnerable Democrats like Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) be willing to pass this monstrosity in the final vote? Their constituents will be (and are) paying attention, and 2010 is going to be a Republican year anyway, so conservative Democrats are going to continue to be very careful.
3. Democrats in the House have felt ignored and trampled for much of the health care debate, and The Heritage Foundation has compiled a number of issues the House and Senate will have to overcome to get a final bill passed. Question: will the House be willing to cave? That verdict is uncertain.
4. Politically influential conservatives, liberals and moderates are against the Senate bill. Polls show Americans are increasingly against the so-called “ObamaCare” version of health care reform. Again, will vulnerable Democrats risk voting for the bill?
5. The designed-to-be-a-pain federal legislation process is in America’s favor.
It’s Christmas- let’s enjoy the day, thank God for sending us His son and enjoy our time with family and friends. Let’s also pray for the guidance and ability to prevent this bill from gravely harming Americans by not letting it pass.
The Best Of Both Worlds
Hey, CPAC organizers, here’s an idea- let’s stick to our principles and get good public relations at the same time! Let’s start with not allowing the John Birch Society to co-sponsor the 2010 CPAC. Then, let’s fully support the inclusion of GOProud as a c0-sponsor.
Here’s what this will do:
1. It will show that the largest, most popular gathering of American conservatives does not support the kind of extremism our movement has been accused of over the past several years and particularly in the last year.
2. It will show that the largest, most popular gathering of American conservatives?is inclusive towards?organizations that share stances on tax policy; a belief in?limited government and free markets; and?standing up against those foreign enemies that commit atrocious human rights violations. Since GOProud is a conservative gay organization, it will also show that the conservative movement values what Ed Morrissey so aptly said we should: “…a governing coalition based on fundamental conservative principles or a mission of absolute purity on the Right.”
Morrissey concluded his analysis better than I can, so I’ll steal what he wrote: “If we want to win control of the House in 2010, we need to focus on key principles that address the nation?s crises and the main points of disillusion with Democrats.
That should set our focus on those points on which Democrats overreached ? namely, spending, government intrusion, spiraling deficits, and fiscal insanity.? We need to show that we can, if trusted with power again, govern properly and responsibly, and even more that we understand that the priorities are the fiscal issues and not the social issues that divide more than they unite.
GOProud?s priorities are fundamentally in line with that effort.? We should not allow a purity campaign to push away natural allies on the fiscal crisis that grips our country, and the opportunity we have to correct it in 2010.”
We’re All Racists Now…
Apparently we’re all racists now. Jimmy Carter told me so.
I’m from Dixie. The land of labels. The area of the country were if anyone has a problem with anything that anyone else of the opposite skin color does it’s always attributed solely to racism. The accusation usual comes from Liberals. It’s frustrating. It’s equally as frustrating to listen to Carter proclaim his excitement of the South’s progress in race relations like he is sitting on some cloud as a deity encouraging his Southern brothers toward some goal that he had already achieved ages ago.
Jimmy Carter, please go away. You aren’t President, you aren’t anything. You have failed so many times I cannot even think of a time you succeeded other than somehow tricking the country into voting for you. Oh, and congrats on that Nobel Prize for keeping North Korea free of nuclear weapons. As a Georgian, if I could kick you out of my state I would. You bring the Empire State of the South nothing but shame.
I was happy to see Robert Gibbs shoot down Carter’s assessment. It may be the first truthful and logical thing I’ve ever heard the man say.
When Maureen Dowd wrote her hate column to Joe Wilson last week she went after his affiliation with the Sons of the Confederacy. Anyone reading this without knowledge of what the SCV is would immediately associate this with some sort of secessionist or racist organization, which is what I’m guessing since it was in the New York Times. The more accurately named Sons of Confederate Veterans is a veterans organization. How dare he be apart of a veterans organization!
SCV was formed in union with the Grand Army of the Republic, which is the veterans organization of Northern soldiers during the Civil War. These groups M.O. is to research and preserve the history of the war, establish battle sight memorials, and help individuals locate information on relatives that fought in the war. The SCV has received commendation from both Republican President George Bush (Bush, George W. “Letter of Commendation.” Confederate Veteran, June, 1996: p.6.) and from Democratic President Bill Clinton (Clinton, Bill. “Letter of June 21, 1994, from Bill Clinton.” UDC Magazine, Sept. 1994: p. 9.). But how dare you be a member Joe Wilson! That makes you a racist!
It must be noted that Obamacare will cover illegal immigrants. Ed Morrissey covered this on HotAir.com when the neutral Congressional Research Office announced this a few weeks ago. I was told recently by a blue crusader that Joe Wilson was a racist because he yelled, “You lie” after Obama mentioned illegals. That somehow because Obama was lying about coverage of illegal immigrants, and Wilson called him on it means that Wilson is a racist because the lie he uncovered pertained to illegal immigrants. Seriously? Informal fallacy perhaps?
Does anyone realize what’s going on here?
That’s right Admiral, it’s a trap. Democrats want us to be having this conversation. They want us to be stirred up and talking about race relations, and our thoughts on the black president. Which is completely ironic in itself considering the fact that WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT! White people had to vote for him too.
But the whole point of all of this is that we are now not talking about what we should be talking about: the health care and cap and trade bills. There is recent precedence for this if you don’t believe me. Remember how concerned we all were for the well fair of the voter in Iran? Then Michael Jackson died. Iran what? Sad but true.
What’s also sad but true is that race relations in this country may have just been set back 20 years. And at the fault of the liberals stirring up the controversy. Ironically the Democrats always proclaim to be the ones promoting minorities. But Robert Byrd is running around unafflicted by his own party for his massive involvement in the KKK. And it’s the Democrats that block conservative efforts to move minorities out of inner city schools to provide them a better education. It’s almost as if the liberals don’t want to see minorities succeed, be well educated, and find successful jobs or become business owners. I wonder why? Ask Herman Cain.
But I digress. Focus people, focus! Let’s get back to the real issue before those in power in DC try to play some sleight of hand while they have us busy with our heads in the clouds over an issue that’s not really an issue.
-nick
Insane Conservative Posse (ICP)
Thomas Eddlemm reported in the NewAmerican on Monday that President Bush admitted to weighing his options on whether or not to use military personnel on American soil to apprehend what were believed to be terror suspects while they were in New York.? Mr. Eddlemm utilizes a number of talking points raised in the initial article written by New York Times’ reporters Mark Mazzetti and David Johnston.? Posse Comitatus is described thusly:
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Mr. Eddlemm seems to be insinuating that the Bush Administration violated law by merely entertaining the notion.? Which, obviously, is not so.? I can only imagine the amount of time I myself would be serving, or anyonefor that matter, if we were guilty merely because we thought about committing a crime.? Furthermore, who is to say that the President would have even been committing a crime had he done this, or who is to say that using operators inside the United States has not already been done period (read Eric Haney’s interviews).?
There are two troubling aspects with this article.? Number one, there are self-described Conservatives who seem to be tirelessly pursuing an agenda that parallels that of our liberal friends on the left.? Secondly, someone at New America is using The New York Timesas a foundation for their thought.? How far before some conservatives are quoting Sy Hersh as a respectable citizen-journalist??
-rj
I hope you’re happy…
I hope you?re happy. The populists who write letters and e-mails to these AIG workers threatening to kill them, to cause harm to their families, etc. This populism transcends mere ideological labels, and I will address that matter a little later. I wanted to elucidate for you all an article in the New York Times Opinion section entitled Dear A.I.G., I Quit! In the letter, we hear the cries from a gentleman who did nothing but work to get where he got, only to have his character and integrity viciously attacked by the media, by faux Conservative populists, and by the members of Congress that allowed for the bonuses in Federal legislation. This is a man, an American, a human being with a family. Such situations remind me of the scene in HBO?s John Adams series when they demonstrate the atrocity of tar-and-feathering. When John Adams asks of his cousin if this is justified, is it justified to ruin the lives of people and trounce the rule of law (grounded in either civil institution or provided by Providence, do unto others??) because they are being guided by their unbounded passions.
I ask that everyone read the words of this man, and actually attempt to understand both sides of this situation before continuing down the road with pitchforks and torches in hand. I am not condoning the bonuses for all of the individuals involved, but I would be much more satisfied knowing that I knew the true ramifications of the populist rhetoric were I to perpetuate it on any medium I could.
There is a dangerous faction taking hold of our dear philosophy. They do not extol a true strength in numbers, but they are the most bombastic wing. The people who forward Alex Jones e-mails, the people who update their Facebook statuses with constant hatred and vitriol: CONSTANT! How did we feel when people were disrespectful to President Bush? We dismissed the liberals who made their nefarious comments about President Bush?s administration as overzealous and classless. Now we are acting just as those we held contempt for years earlier. I do not agree with anything about President Obama, but I will address him as such and grant him the proper title of which my country men bestowed upon his being. He is our President, get over it. Don?t like his policies, don?t like his past, don?t like him; but act with candid class nonetheless. We are not going to advance our cause if we allow these intellectually incompetent buffoons speak for Conservatism as a whole. Theirs is a philosophy that borders anarchy.
I want to go back to the Facebook statuses. These have now become billboards for the extraordinary. People posts hundreds of statuses forwarding the most random and sometimes obtrusive indictments. If you want to believe in FEMA camps, if you want to believe in the New World Order and the Illuminati (who were very much libertarians of their day), then go ahead. But people are posting these YouTube clips as sole testimony of unadulterated fact! Animosity runs rampant and ?conservatives? are forwarding and continuing these messages of distrust and hate.
In the end, I just want people to calm down for a second. I agree with the Tea Parties, I work where I see first hand what is going on with the economy, and day after day I have to try and ameliorate situations where people face their worst fears: losing a home, a job, their health. Acting like rabid dogs sicking the mail-man because he symbolizes the government is not going to advance our cause. We have to take a deep breath and articulate our philosophy, because it is the best one. We have to win over moderates not by becoming more moderate as Mr. Frum advocates, but by relating to the moderates by showing we understand how government works, we understand the problems people face, and we know how to run a better and more efficient government. How is someone supposed to trust a ?Conservative? Huey Long, who babbles from his pulpit about hating the government, that they can run the government better? I want to be reactionary as well, but sometimes when we start to get out of hand, we need to sit, count to seven, grab a handful of Jelly Bellys and just think.
-rj
