Obama Rating Spike Par For Course

At times the only thing that surprises me is the incoherent gullibility of many in the conservative and moderate movement.  Either that or some liberals that were polled have found some renewed faith in the promised one.

Consider though a couple of stats from the latest poll outside of the 53% approval rating:

• Only 45% approve of his handling of the economy.  Some states hit 18% unemployment this week.
• 56% believe the country is on the wrong track.
• 71% believe that we will have to eventually give up on Afghanistan.

And here are two that are off the charts bizarre:

• 40% polled believe Obama is a moderate.
• 11% polled believe Obama is a conservative.

Seriously, who are these people being polled and what cave do they live in that still have telephone service in which to be selected for polling?  Bare in mind that 3 years ago 55% considered Obama a liberal and at current after selling out Europe’s missile defense to Russia, spending more money in 2 years than Bush did in 6, pushing through a health care bill, backing FCC regulatory control over the Internet, and attempting to push through a massive global warming based energy policy, only 45% consider him liberal.  Explain that one…

So why does Obama suddenly come of as a moderate and receive a bump in approval rating?  My personal guess is that he received a slight resurgence in faith from liberals by way of the missile treaty and allowing gays in the military to be more forthright in their *cough* preferences.  Additionally, he’s probably re-captured some moderates and confused conservatives via his opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal that came across as pro-business to some.  And you’re welcome to disagree with me, but personally I felt that the Tucson memorial speech was simply another ra-ra campaign speech, which would certainly be seen as favorable by some.

In the end, Obama is a brilliant man, and he puts intelligent people around him.  Everything he is doing to appear to be having a change of heart and open arms toward conservatives and the Republican Party is fake.  And furthermore, it is strategically designed to appear that way.  The reasoning is simple:

1. It makes him look generally more favorable and increases his poll percentages (which obviously is the reason this is being written).
2. If he makes nice then it increases the chance of conservative members of Congress letting down their guard and voting in favor of Obama goals oriented legislation in the future which is a win for his administration.
3. He wins (for the most part) in any case.  If Reps ignore his gestures of working together and finding middle ground, then he bashes the GOP in the next presidential election for working against him.  If Reps work with him, then he uses that to his advantage during the next election and says that the GOP was not really doing anything different.

This is simply par for the course with Obama.  Don’t let the rug get pulled out from under you.

Despondent…

Earlier today, I wrote a post on RightOSphere going after Democrats for not supporting the DC Opportunity Scholarship. It was sharp- though, perhaps backwards in style from the proper inverted pyramid- sincere and hard-hitting. However, it was a struggle to get it written and posted.

Partly, it’s the awful allergies wracking my body. Partly, it’s the fact that I’m tired of not having a job. Partly, it’s the fact that I don’t have a regular schedule, so I’m going stir-crazy. Partly, it’s that I haven’t slept well or much for the last four or five nights. Mostly, though, it’s the fact that the health care bill passed on Sunday and signed by the president today is going to sink this country into even more debt that it will never pay back.

Some are optimistic- we can turn this thing back, repeal it, etc. However, I think David Frum’s opening points here, and Mark Steyn’s entire column earlier this month, are more accurate. Namely, this is going nowhere, and it will badly hurt this country.

Please tell me I’m wrong. Please tell me that fighting against cap-and-trade, burdensome financial regulations, working on the Hill for the conservative movement and fighting to save the unborn is worth it. Because right now, it seems hopeless. As Steyn put it:

Because it’s worth it. Big time. I’ve been saying in this space for two years that the governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture. It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in fundamental ways that make limited government all but impossible. In most of the rest of the Western world, there are still nominally “conservative” parties, and they even win elections occasionally, but not to any great effect (Let’s not forget that Jacques Chirac was, in French terms, a “conservative”).

The result is a kind of two-party one-party state: Right-of-center parties will once in a while be in office, but never in power, merely presiding over vast left-wing bureaucracies that cruise on regardless.

And later:

Republicans are good at keeping the seat warm. A bigtime GOP consultant was on TV, crowing that Republicans wanted the Dems to pass Obamacare because it’s so unpopular it will guarantee a GOP sweep in November.

The left has ruined this country and, along with it, created an environment where a center-right country like America can’t even slow down our rampant red ink and dependency, never mind end it. 2012 is conservatism’s last shot. Should it fail, should we fail, we might as well kiss America goodbye.

Huffington Post Misleads Readers

Reporting on a recent poll by Daily Kos/Research 2000, Huffington Post had this headline: “Large Portion of GOP Thinks Obama is Racist, Socialist, Non-US Citizen: Poll.” Curiously, I read the article, and noted that in several of the results specifically noted not even a plurality of Republicans believed Obama to be something negative, whether it was racist, wanting terrorists to win or not being a natural born citizen. What consists of a large number, I wonder- personally, I would expect at least a plurality in the areas referenced in the headline. I would also expect the reporter, Sam Stein, to report and not editorialize, as he did in the article.

Take a look at the poll by Daily Kos- on the one hand, it was comprehensive in the numbers and kinds of questions asked. On the other, a number of the questions were phrased in a way obviously designed to create a negative view of the Republican Party. Either way, however, Huffington Post should be above the intellectual dishonesty practiced in the published article.

Jeb Bush to GOP: “Stop Being the Party of No”

The following was originally published and is the sole property of NewMajority.com

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush pushed for the Republican Party to transform itself into a party of ?21st century reformers? in a speech to students last night at George Washington University.

Bush criticized Republicans for giving the impression that the GOP is the ?party of no.? He told the group that Republicans are often ?too nostalgic? and that the party needs to be more ?forward looking? in order to regain national success. Bush reminded the audience that voter demographics are changing and called for the party to become more ?youthful? and to abandon their image as ?the old white guy party.? ?Tone matters,? Bush said, ?in twenty or so years our country will have a minority majority.?

But this doesn?t necessarily mean that the party must move towards the center. When asked by a student if the party platform needed to become more moderate on social issues, Bush replied, ?no.? Rather, he stressed that Republicans ?need to apply conservative principles to 21st century problems.? Emphasizing ?economic prosperity? is an issue which he believes can both unite conservatives from all wings of the party and attract new voters. Bush told the crowd that President Obama was turning the country into a European socialist state and killing innovation.

The former governor went on to say that the GOP must be the ?limited but effective government party,? and stressed, there is no such thing as ?big government conservatism.? Bush pointed to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as an accomplished fiscally responsible politician, and urged Republicans to follow his example.

When asked for actual policies Republicans should be pushing, Bush called for ?simpler and lower taxes,? and suggested a committee similar to Reagan?s Grace Commission to investigate and reduce government waste.

The students NewMajority spoke with were impressed with Governor Bush. One student wished that, ?he would run for President in 2012.? A College Republican asserted that ?Bush is a great leader for the Republican Party, he is a good ideas man, and he?s like Newt Gingrich, a powerful man behind the scenes.? Another student told New Majority that ?Jeb seems a lot smarter than W., much more poised and articulate, I wish he was the Bush that achieved the presidency.?

Sam K. Theodosopoulos is an undergraduate at The George Washington University and the Editor-at-Large of the GW Young America’s Foundation Blog.

Tom Tancredo at The George Washington University

The following was originally published by and is the sole property of NewMajority.com

Former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo spoke Thursday night to students on the George Washington University campus at an event sponsored by the Young America?s Foundation. Tancredo played some of his oldest hits for the crowd, repeating remarks he first made about nuclear retaliation in a July 2005 radio interview. Tancredo proposed that if an Islamic terrorist attack was launched on the United States, the best policy for the U.S. would be to use nuclear weapons on Mecca and Medina, because you have ?to go for the jugular.?

?Well, what if you said something like ? if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites,? Tancredo argued. The former congressman told students that mutually assured destruction was the best policy for preventing attacks from ?Islamo-Facists.? Tancredo insisted that Islamic terrorists would be greatly deterred from launching an attack on U.S. soil if they believe we are ?crazy enough? to ?take out? Mecca and Medina.

During the course of the event, New Majority also asked Tancredo his thoughts on the current state of the Republican Party. He replied, ?Bipartisanship is overrated, we don?t need moderates in the party, we need principled conservatives.?Tancredo is looking for another Reagan, ?a politician, who can inspire.? However, he does not see anyone who currently fits that mold.

During the speech, Tancredo also played a new tune for the audience, addressing fears about global warming. When asked if the G.O.P. needs to adopt a platform on climate change and current environmental issues his response was quite eloquent in its brevity: ?We have a position, its bull****.?

Tancredo?s old hits about bombing Mecca were not well received. Those statements were met with mixed reactions from the crowd. Many students? jaws dropped in amazement after he made the comments. Some looked around in awe and asked ?Is he serious?? Others defended the need for such crazed action by saying ?there is no other option.?

Distressingly though the students in attendance seemed quite happy with Tancredo?s new remarks on climate change and his statement that the GOP needs to move farther to the right, purging itself of moderates and RINOS.

Sam K. Theodosopoulos is an undergraduate at The George Washington University.

Personal Democracy Forum: The Future of the Conservative Movement

I?m sitting in a bar.

These things must be qualified though, right?

So I?m sitting in a sports bar.? Sports bars are particular entities of the bar world in that they have televisions with sports playing on them while they serve the spirits of the normal bar.? This isn?t to say that normal bars don?t show sports on their televisions.? It just means that they are normally called something that starts with ?Mc? and they have fewer televisions.

This particular sports bar has a sponsor.? It?s a Fox Sports Bar.? Not to be confused as Fox, sports bar.? But rather it is a Fox Sports, bar.

Like I said, these things must be qualified.? Also not to be confused with quantified, which would be to essentially count something.? And I?m pretty sure there is only one of me here and there is only one Fox Sports, bar present at this time.? But that could change depending on the terminal.

Ah, yes.? I?m in a terminal.? Not conditionally, but in the transitional sense.? In this case transferring myself to a plan, which has now been delayed two hours.? If you thought to yourself, ?Bummer,? it was an understatement because I was already two hours early to the original flight.

Bummer.

So I?m sitting in a Fox Sports, bar, that resides in a terminal that is a part of an airport for which I am awaiting a plane to board which will take me to Atlanta four hours from now.

I?m involved in all of this because I have recently, at the point of this writing, left the Personal Democracy Forum Conference of the year 2009.? Following day one of the event I was certainly frustrated.? There were a number of reasons for this.? For one, which I?ve already mentioned, I was beleaguered by the progressive presence.? Yes, we are all tech people at this conference and we all want to talk about the influence of tech on politics.? But there are certain things that, while all of that is true, tech people on the left and right just don?t see eye to eye.

For instance, I do not want network neutrality regulated. Period.? Tech proponents of such a step are short sighted.? Talk to someone who manages a large infrastructure.? They will tell you that network management of packet transfer must take place.? Good luck with the regulated network neutrality Internet when your whole neighborhood is trying to get time sensitive streaming 1080p video across your network at the same time and we have locked in regulation that will take ages to alter.? In the spirit of Monty Python, ?I laugh in your general direction.?? Is network neutrality important?? Absolutely.? I will not argue that point.? But regulated neutrality is an entirely different beast.

But I digress.

Panelists were over heard making the following comments:

?This is what we need to do to see ?progressive? health care reform.?

?We need to pray to god for a hot summer to make people believe that global warming is real.?

?The ?Bush? recession.?

Additionally all our problems were blamed on the Bush Administration.? Obviously our current problems are entirely his fault, along with Batman, Darth Vader, and probably God.

My point in bringing this up is that if the objective of PDF is to study the convergence of politics and technology, then let?s do that.? It doesn?t necessitate bringing ideology into the mix.

I honestly believe that is what Andrew Rasiej and co-Founder Micah Sifry are trying to do.

I in no way believe there is an underlying motivation of promoting the ideals of the left.? And with that being said, heaps of praise must be bestowed on these two gentlemen for their fine work in putting together this conference since 2004.? It is interesting to consider the timing of this conference and the swelling online that began in Summer last year for Obama.? One must consider if more conservative presence (as in the attendees) was existent at last years event, how that may have altered the online dominance of the left during the election.? I don’t want to be ignorant enough to give PDF complete credit for what occurred.? But if 1000 people left the conference, and each one told 10 people, and those 10 people told 10 people…? You could see how easily the ball gets rolling.

The conference, all things considered, was a wonderful treat.? One that I would not have experienced without the Google Fellowship and PDF?s recognition of the work my fellow authors and I have done on this site, which I am of eternal gratitude.

The conference provided tremendous insight into developing web presence, establishing a bond and communication with your audience, and tools that can over night transform a site from drab to dapper.? The information of connecting with constituency and remodeling government websites to better connect and be more transparent with the citizenry is vital to the success of government in general and additionally vital to the revitalization of the GOP and conservatism in general.

This is a conversation that I hope more conservatives take more seriously and can join in on in the future.? It is no secret that the left ignored talk radio early on and allowed the center-right to take a dominating lead.? One that is irrecoverable for the left, as multiple failed attempts with Air America make astoundingly clear.? It should be very becoming very apparent to the right that if they ignore the convergence of technology and politics in the same arrogant manner that the left did to talk radio that at some point the strangle hold in the areas of internet technology and constituency connectivity will equally be unrecoverable.

Show stoppers:

Best Moment: Finally hearing Tara Hunt explain live and in her own words what ?Whuffie? is.? Equally great was getting to finally meet Tara after spending months Twitting with her.

Worst Moment: As mentioned in a previous column, the final panel of day one with Josh Silver, Executive Director of FreePress, was unbearably one sided.? Conservatives question the positions of telecoms as well.? But with no one there to present the center-right view on the future of telecommunications with regard to Internet regulation and expansion, the debate was completely one sided and a slaughter fest for Silver.? My memory may not be entirely accurate, but at one point I believe he rolled them over and actually stuck a fork in the gentlemen from Comcast & AT&T.

My Jaw Dropped To The Floor And The Girl Next To Me With The Mac Had To Pick It Up For Me Award: Easily goes to Apture.? If you are running any sort of online content machine or blog and do not have this application installed you will without a doubt be left in the dust!? This app allows you to finally start linking to outside content without sending your readership away from your site, keeping them right where you want them to be; reading your material and clicking your ads.? If you haven’t noticed, it has already been seamlessly integrated into our site.

Most Fun Presentation: Michael Wesch, The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity.

Most Thought Provoking Presentation: Danah Boyd, The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online.

I want to encourage more conservatives to take this intersection more seriously, and see them next year at PDF 2010.

Thanks for a great conference.? I was very happy to be a part of the conversation!

-nick

FOX NEWS PRESENTS OBSTACLE FOR NH GOP OPPORTUNITY

Frank Guinta, the Republican mayor of Manchester, announced last month that he would seek Democrat Carol Shea-Porter’s 1st Congressional seat in New Hampshire. This is likely to be the best chance the GOP has for retaking the seat once held by two term Rep. Jeb Bradley. Guinta has received the full support of the Republican Congressional Committee and from the NH GOP lead by Former Bush (41) Chief of Staff and New Hampshire Governor, John H. Sununu.

Real Clear Politics noted the following:

?What makes Guinta’s candidacy so enticing is his home field advantage in the Queen City. Though Manchester is a majority Democratic city, he won a second term in 2007 by nearly eight points, and raised record funds in the process. Manchester also played a key role in Shea-Porter’s last win. She carried every ward last year and took the city by 5,000 votes — accounting for 40% of her reelection margin in the 1st Congressional district. No wonder Republicans hope Guinta’s special appeal for the city’s voters could be the X-factor in next year’s House race.?

A campaign advisor for the Guinta camp told reporters that the greater Manchester area accounts for 37% of the vote in the House district and Guinta’s popularity and standing in the city will “be a huge advantage.”

This appears to be good news for a New Hampshire that has recently shifted blue with 2008 Presidential election and the 2006 triumphs of Paul Hodes and Carol Shea Porter over incumbents Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley.? However, Mayor Guinta has a tough road ahead of him. A recent poll commissioned by the National Republican Congressional Committee, shows Shea-Porter leading Guinta 43 to 34 %, with 24 % undecided.? Republicans are encouraged that the two-term congresswoman is polling below 50 %, but Guinta’s 34 % total is somewhat underwhelming, given he’s a well-known official in the district. The Republican Congressional Committee has its eye on Shea-Porter?s seat as her district is the more Republican of New Hampshire?s two House seats. Unfortunately, for Guinta the district gave President Obama 53% of the vote last year and ?despite being a top GOP target, Shea-Porter won 52 % in her re-election bid.?

As if that did not already darken Guintas?s hopes, yesterday Shea-Porter was applauded on the conservative-leaning Fox and Friends news program.

Fox News Anchor Gretchen Carlson gave a laudatory nod to the New Hampshire Democrat for asking ?very important questions? to President Obama on the logic of closing profitable GM and Chrysler dealerships.? Carlson went on to say, ?She seems to have her finger on the pulse of this issue.? Rep. Shea-Porter has a known reputation for being staunchly partisan, and has received criticisms from New Hampshire citizens on her endorsement of the stimulus bill, an issue that Guinta will undoubtedly try and exploit as he will most likely run on a platform of fiscal conservatism.

His campaign website reads the following:

?Washington D.C. is out of control. Congress continues to waste your hard earned tax dollars on bailout after bailout and a spending agenda that is mortgaging our future. I want to bring the same leadership to Washington that we bring to town halls throughout our state.?

He will confidently tout his tax cutting record, as he undoubtedly viewed that as the magnum factum of his two terms in office.

However, now that Shea Porter is taking on President Obama for the closing of profitable Chrysler and GM dealerships, and has received the endorsement of a Fox News anchor, it appears Mayor Guinta?s bid for a Congressional seat is not getting any easier.

CPAC Is Off And Running

The Conservative Political Action Conference got rolling today. It will run through Saturday evening and feature many prominent conservative thinkers and also up and comers in the movement speaking on the main stage or at various break out groups or panels.
Regrettably I will not be able to attend, as I am making my way back to the great state of Georgia to perform my duties as a groomsman in one of my best friends weddings (awww).
Fortunately, many of my colleagues, including one of our own staff will be in attendance, and hopefully we will get some updates from them to post up here on the site.

-nick