Trying to Beat Someone With No One
The painful truth is that my native optimism is currently not a very good guide to our political realities. The Republican Party has, at this hour, absolutely no (0) good candidate with whom to oppose Obama. This realization comes on the heels of a presidential State of the Union message so empty, so dishonest, so partisan, so low in tone, aspiration, understanding and philosophy that allowing this guy to get re-elected due to pure oppositional incompetence strikes me as an act of political malfeasance.
Really, are people like Obama, Romney, and Gingrich the best leaders this country can produce? And if so, are we — and our founders and the basic tenets of our free form of government — getting exactly the screwing we deserve? How hard is it to pitch individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom — stuff that not only works but is morally right? Where are the better spokesmen for our age-old ideals?
As I say, depressing. Obama’s failures are well documented. He really is a disaster for this country — the poor and the middle class especially. But like the old political saying goes, you can’t beat someone with no one. It seems right now that the GOP is going to fail us in putting up a candidate who can unseat him. But possibly, we’ve already failed ourselves.
Coulter was pretty much dead-on in her prediction of what would happen if we ran McCain against Obama, too, so you may want to factor that in…
I’m not sure what you mean by this.
Coulter said we’d be stuck with Romney and he would lose (when she was supporting that Rhino RINO Christie). If the nominee Romney will lose- between his lousy record, and pissing off Conservatives, and obama running circles around him.
Coulter on why Hillary was better than McCain: http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2008-02-06.html
Coulter defending Romney since 2008: http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2008-01-16.html
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2008-02-13.html
If Gingrich wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him.
If Santorum wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him.
If Romney wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him.
If RON PAUL wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him.
If Hillary wins the nomination, I’ll vote for her.
If my shoe wins the nomination, I’ll vote for it.
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Where can I send a donation to your shoe’s campaign?
Only if its your right shoe.
Gingrich, Obama and Romney are all CFR members. So the question is, “Which communo-fascist New World Order guy do you prefer to terminate 85% of the population and enslave the rest?” All three are on the same mission, with only minor variances in methodology.Would you rather die from: Radiation, poisoned Water, or poisoned Air? In a dungeon, FEMA camp or federal prison? With or without a coup de gras?Would you prefer that your grandchildren be slaves of the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers or the Warburgs?
Or are you about ready to rid ourselves of these satanic parasites?
Lighten up, White Tiger. We are laughing about left and right shoes here. I bet the world won’t end and you won’t be enslaved this year either.
Don’t you think there are enough voters who are willing to vote for anyone but Obama?
Let’s hope (and pray) there are.
The 52% proven idiots are still there plus the ones they’ve recruited from among the 99 week crowd and those who’ve turned 18 since ’08, plus all the dead people and non-existent people they’ve registered since ’08. The only variable is whether they can get out their vote or get away with enough voter fraud to compensate for some of the loss of glamour The One has suffered since The Immaculation.
So, we have to get all the people out that sat it out because McCain was impure in ’08 and are threatening to sit it out because Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, or Jesus Christ Himself isn’t a “true conservative.” Right now, I’m pretty much resigned to four more years of Comrade Obama, and then we’ll see if we can restore a legitimate government.
I feel more optimistic about our chances this time around. Everyone I know wants to be shed of Obama. Of course, there was the lady who famously said that she didn’t know anyone who voted for Nixon, but I still think Obama has lost a lot of living voters.
Just what do you expect when every Republican has the Marxist Media Megaphone against them. Its all Obama, all the time from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, Media Matters, HuffPost, etal. They will trash the Republican and even make stuff up if it suits their purposes. And they will go through every one of Sarah Palin’s emails, but don’t care one whit about Obama’s background. Where are the stories about his college friends, his girlfriends, Aunt Zituni (she’s in Boston public housing), Bill Ayres, Rev. Wright, or Frank Marshall Davis. And just where is that sensational story on Obama travelling to Pakistan while he was a broke college student? Where were the stories about his association with Saul Alinksy tactics and Rules for Radicals.
Just what normal business person would want to put themselves through this?
They can call Bush Hitler and not a peep. Just let anyone criticize Obama and its Racism!! Because we all “know” Republicans are racist.
It is the most venal among us that would put themselves and their family through the wringer. So unless you are prepared to run and if you are a Republican get over it. Sort through the clutter and pick one. Better yet donate to someone’s campaign or work for him.
There are no angels running for President.
Yep, I forgot the media!!
That was also my impression of Murphy in that podcast, and I’ll add, cocky. Sounded like a great guy to have a beer with and learn how the game is played, but somehow he seemed to be missing the point.
Liberty? Limited government? Economic freedom? All these things are impossible to return to with a bureaucracy, Both state and federal, this country has. These people have enough power to bring this nation to it’s knees anytime they so desire and that’s what the people we elect fear even more than losing any election.
As Peter Sellers would say as Inspector Clouseau “but, of course”
“You’ll catch your death of cold. Clouseau: Yes, yes I probably will but… its all part of life’s rich pagentry you kneau.”
Is this the best we can offer? No, it is the best that are left behind after the sane sift through the pros and cons of running the marathon of the underworld, stripped naked and set on fire for fourteen months.
If you aren’t a bloviating, malignant, delusions of grandeur, pathological, self-absorbed, gasbag…you won’t make it out of the third tier in the primaries.
In a game of high stakes Liar’s Poker, you have to bluff the people inclined to like you before you rip off the head of the guy who wants to expose your shortcomings and take on the guy who will unseal your divorce records.
What’s not to like about that interview process?
If you are a Republican, you face an information stream so toxic to the truth, that it doesn’t matter if your leftist opponent just killed the Constitution and peed on it after it was dead, as long as he hates capitalism and the military, he’s going to be canonized and you are going to have your eyes reddened on the magazine covers.
What’s not to like about that selection process?
We have only “B” teamers going up against the overthrow. We deserve better, but can’t really, truly win a rigged game. The best and the brightest just won’t play.
“Is this the best we can offer? No, it is the best that are left behind after the sane sift through the pros and cons of running the marathon of the underworld, stripped naked and set on fire for fourteen months.”
Perfectly put. Real leaders lead. Puftah-hair wearing high-school leftovers with a need to be loved and admired go into politics. Why? It’s Hollywood for ugly people as has been said for generations.
We all have noticed that the people put up for this election, as has been the case for many an election, are those who really haven’t done much in their lives but talked. Blabbidy blah blah blah. Yakkity yak yak yak. Romney didn’t do any “work” in his life just like Obama never did any. His “work” consisted of talking to people and making high-level decisions which in no way makes people warm up to anyone.
He’s the kind of people who, when some work needs to be done on his house, his car, his boat, he “calls the guy” who can do it while simultaneously looking down his nose at that same guy.
A politician’s skill set is very narrow. In some cases, very practiced and formidable, to be sure but, I have yet to meet one who could start their day out by first working on their car, then driving said car to the jobsite, get involved with the necessary bits to construct something, then spend his evening at home with his son, building a model airplane.
Much of our society likes to praise the architect without doing similar for the high-steel worker; The guys and gals who actually make the parts all fit together and fix problems that were never even considered on the CAD program.
I say it takes both kinds of experience for a politician to be a good one. Hands-on and theoretical experience both. But our society tends to favor the theoretical over the hands-on because in our experience, the hands-on types are less well-spoken, less refined, dirty.
I don’t vote for a haircut. Or a bank account or even if the guy was CEO of a bazillion companies. But all we’ve had for presidents in the past 20 years have been people who couldn’t identify the spark plugs in their car nor know how easy it is to change one. Sheltered lives. They actually FEAR the technicians because they are out of their element in conversation with them.
This, of course is an over-generalization but it’s very correct in a general sense. Sure, you don’t need to know how to turn a wrench in order to know what one is for. But I tend to listen to the guy who turns the wrench and also who later designed the equipment the wrench is used on.
Our politicians don’t get dirty. I think if they did, they’d understand a lot more about people.
Reagan chopped his own wood, by hand. Bush spent his vacations clearing brush on his ranch, by hand.
Then there was Gerald Ford. http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/grf/fordbiop.asp He kinda knew how to get dirty.
Some Republicans DO get their hands dirty. But your characterization does apply to Democrats.
When I was about 10 years old, my uncle, whom had fought in the Pacific theater during WWII, said to me – “It used to be that the cream rose to the top”, now it’s just $hit floats”
40 years after, that statement pretty much sums up the current crop of presidential candidates.
I don’t know why anyone really expected some shiny knight to come riding out of the mists to save us. Hey, until a few years ago, I believed that the 1929 stock market crash precipitated the Great Depression and that, for some reason, we stayed stuck there for a decade. This illustrates how ignorant I was about alternates to that train of thought.
We’ve been on a long progressive movement, expanding what government does, expanding the constituencies that benefit from government handouts and regulations, and now that people are beginning to fear where it might lead to, we expect the political process, which adapted to this progressive mindset (to a greater or lesser degree) to change on a dime?
Really, would this ideal [fiscal] Conservative [to oppose Obama] have been in any position (money or organization or notability) to make this effort in 2012? I think not. We’re still in transition. I think there is still doubt that the 2010 election wasn’t a fluke, a knee-jerk reaction that will peter out. It still might.
Like going to war, if you don’t have time to build up or to change what you have, you go to war with the military you have, for better or worse. We have to choose from what is available or potentially irrevocably concede the war.
Well said.
I thought the expression was, you can’t beat someone with no one. Anyhow, I can see how a lot of bright people might want to avoid the grinder of running for president. Mitch Daniels and Sarah Palin come to mind among others.
One of my favorite Presidents wasn’t even elected to that office. He was Gerald Ford. Thinking about him almost brings tears to my eyes. We had the specter of a Republican Vice President being impeached, the President forced from office because of Watergate and the appointed Vice President suddenly forced to take over the reins. Needless to say the Republican ship was sinking, and standing at the helm was President Gerald Ford. Valiantly he fought on even though it was a lost cause. I never saw a more noble struggling man. Enough said!
Now let’s get this man, Obama, out of office. I don’t care if it is Romeny or Gingrich or Sartorum, let’s get a Republican elected!
I don’t really care if G-d loves Obama, he’s brought change to this country that we may never recuperate from. G-d loved Hitler, too, right? What G-d does with these people after the fact is not our business. Our business is here and now. Identifying evil is part of that. But as long as we keep repeating Julian of Norwich “All will be well” who cares about an outmoded concept like failing.
In other words: OUR Zero is better than YOUR Zero (but not by much).
Hmmn, I wasn’t too clear, was I? Should have said:
In other words, the 2012 GOPher rallying cry is: OUR Zero is better than THEIR Zero (but not by much).
“Twice nothing is still nothing”
Good one. We probably could do these all day.
Is there anyone here who would put up with the absurdities of running for President?
Anyone whose life has been so pure, indisputably dedicated to doing what is deemed good by a sufficient majority and eschewing what is deemed bad by a sufficient majority to win that he and his family are immune to vicious partisan attacks from his own party as well as from the other party?
Anyone sufficiently lacking “family values” to ignore what harm his candidacy and the lies directed at him — and at them — will do to his family?
Anyone who has consistently been consistent and never changed his views on anything of political significance — and is therefore probably either dead or incapable of thought?
Anyone sufficiently “rich” to bear the cost but sufficiently “of the people” to avoid unfounded attacks as “rich?”
The list could go on and on, but even without attempting that I doubt it.
Actually, Rick Santorum fits that description exactly. Nothing shady in his background, and he cannot be demonized as some silver-spoon type. If he had executive experience, he would be a slam-dunk choice.
One could argue that perhaps his actions have not always been Conservative enough, but it is a matter of degree. He IS a Conservative, if a bit on the moderate side. Good enough for me, and I am a hardline Conservative.
He knows the issues inside and out, too, having worked for a think-tank. If you want a decent guy, he’s your guy.
Tea Party Express Bus Is Rolling Through Florida
http://www.teapartyexpress.org/3273/tea-party-express-bus-is-rolling-through-florida
“Rallying for Victory” Tour to Bring Tea Party Issues to the Fore
Jacksonville, FL – Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest tea party political action committee, is excited to announce the launch of its “Rallying for Victory” bus tour through Florida. The tour will start this Saturday, January 28th and will make six stops up and down the Sunshine State.
Amy Kremer, Chairman of the Tea Party Express, said, “The Tea Party Express is here rallying for victory against the policies of Barack Obama and the Harry Reid-led Senate. The current Administration has showed zero leadership and interest in listening to the voice of the American people. Our ‘Rallying for Victory’ tour through Florida will be an exhibition of the Tea Party’s strength and determination in pursuing and promoting Tea Party values.
“Florida is a key state in the presidential election campaign and one in which the future direction of the country could be determined. This will be the place to reject the Obama policies of promoting his big government, liberal policies that have killed job growth and added trillions of dollars of debt. It is critical to have an energized and engaged Tea Party electorate, just like we saw in 2010 as the Tea Party movement elected more Republican state legislators since 1928 and more Republican congressional representatives since 1948.
“Our ‘Rallying for Victory’ bus tour will bring together local and national Tea Party activist to raise awareness of the Tea Party movement and the conservative principles that will put this nation back on the path to prosperity. It is an opportunity to inform the American people that there is a free-market solution to get the economy on the right track and that the president’s actions have not accomplished what he has promised,” Kremer concluded.
The Tea Party Express plans to make stops in Jacksonville, Winter Park, West Palm Beach, The Villages, Gainesville, Panama City and Pensacola. The Tea Party Express will be joined by conservative leaders from across the country and will provide a platform for Presidential candidates to present their Tea Party qualifications. The organization is directing the public to its website (www.TeaPartyExpress.org) for the details of the stops.
http://www.teapartyexpress.org/press-releases
“You get inflated with a sense of your own rightness and righteousness, start accusing your opponents of being evil… I know: it’s fun. And it feels good. But it really is unhealthy. You’re not that great. They’re not quite as bad as all that.”
True dat. And pretty funny, too.
Listen, I don’t want to offend, but Murphy kinda wiped the floor with you in that podcast, Mr. K. Dude’s brilliant. Smartest Irish guy I’ve listened to in a long time. No wonder they do politics so well. (My dad was Irish, mayor of my home town, and politically sharp as hell.) I kept thinking, ‘Klavan’s thing is lit, TV, and cinema, Murphy’s is politics.’
Don’t get me wrong. I like a lot of your political insights. That riff on Obama’s SOTU? Right on the money. And that’s why Obama’s getting his butt kicked this fall. It doesn’t matter what stiff we nominate. I’ve been reading a lot on Romney, esp. his bio, and he’s fine, for my money. And I’m an Evangelical pastor. I don’t give a fig about his Mormonism- he’s a fixer, and he’ll fix things.
Trust me, the anti-Obama vote is a snoozing giant. I don’t know what you’re so depressed about. We need to get out, knock on a few doors, and get em registered to vote. Then rent Uhaul trucks, call in sick on Nov. 3, and get em to the polls. Voter turnout in the US sucks. The libs mobilize and stick it to us every time.
You want to know how motivated I am? I make $25,000/year and support a wife and kid on that. But I’m flying from Greece to Florida in September, where I’m registered to vote, and spending two months working for whatever warm body is at the top of the Repub ticket.
In Greece the turnout is 100%. That’s because Greeks HAVE to vote, by law. And they have the crappiest politicians on the planet. My point being, if they weren’t forced to vote, turnout here would be about what today’s temperature in Juneau is. If we had the same law in the US, we wouldn’t have another Democrat in the White House until the Second Coming, seeing as twice as many Americans self-identify as conservatives as opposed to liberals.
BTW, on the arts, if you want to share something with us, could you maybe revisit Person of Interest? I’d like to know what you think, if you’ve been following it. Cheers
Well, the temp in Juneau today is a balmy 27, which probably means it is snowing; Anchorage is a balmy zero at my house right now, probably colder in some parts because I’m one of those filthy “rich” people who lives where he can see saltwater.
We don’t know what “voter turnout” in the US is; we know what percentage of the dead people, homeless people, made up people, hippies and college students that showed up to get a drivers license, register for school, get welfare, get unemployment, get admitted to a mental institution or nursing home, you know, Democrats, voted. Turnout percentage is a meaningless percentage because the voter rolls are hopelessly polluted.
Since I can’t insist on property owners over 21, not PC, I know, I sure as Hell don’t want to do anything to encourage the unenthusiastic to vote.
When you allow politics to become as dirty as it has, many honorable people will no longer run for office.
Face the brutal facts: it is once again totally uncool to be anything but a de facto liberal growing up in this country right now, even if one is not involved in politics. Political correctness is a smothering influence among music artists and those artists are a huge influence among kids. If one doesn’t toe this PC line one is instantly lined up next to the KKK as simply having a different and respected opinion is out the door. This is also institutionalized in our schools with absurd acts like sending kids home from school in America for wearing American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Look cross-eyed at a squirrel and you’re a racist or bigot in America.
The peer pressure up until the end of college is enormous and accompanied also with very real threats of very real punishments if lines are crossed. Then you get into a job and you’d better keep your opinions to yourself there too. Kids are bombarded with Ru Paul on MTV, Glee, Rent and with Christians fair game to be attacked while a much more medieval Muslim mentality is “interesting.”
All this enables the wholesale demographic changing of America by way of legal and illegal immigration by people who are instantly tuned in to how to play the PC game with all the right buzzwords. The true fact is that GOP candidates not only can’t speak their minds but can’t even say “blah” or mention food stamps without being fitted with a KKK hood and are constantly on the defensive. The GOP crowd reacts to the rules and arguments of the Dems rather than putting up their own agenda. It’s pretty hard to argue when so much of the very culture of the U.S. is against you as a default position when you wake up in the morning.
The new racists and racial advocates in America come almost entirely from the Left but they are the ones most effective in taking advantage of a magic shield any member of the Rainbow Coalition has against racism and turning that shield against the GOP which has KKK painted on it from the get go. Virtually every attack against the GOP is race rather than issue oriented.
It’s like being out to dinner and being forced to comment on some controversy that has nothing to do with you, with the idea being that if you don’t take a side you’re already in the wrong. The GOP candidates should tell their critics that they want to talk issues and that the DEMS and media should keep their obsession with race to themselves while at the same time exposing the double standards they employ. You have to be smart, confident and quick on your feet to do this. Personally I don’t see any problem with taking out morons like Katie Couric and Soledad O’Brien and a host of others who are so ignorant and stupid it’s pitiful. If you can’t out talk those morons you don’t deserve the Presidency – unless you’re a DEM that is, cuz they don’t get challenged like that.
Stop and consider: would you rather be rude to a dinner guest who is too liberal, or shoot him in a real war?
Faint heart ne’er won fair maid.
Time to choose.
Choose well.
(If you need some input on your decision, watch WWI or II on Military channel while you’re doing your Saturday cleaning. It’s awesome, but not pretty. Put yourself next to the people dying and panicked. They were Europeans, very similar to us. And it wasn’t that long ago.)
It’s not as bad as all that.
Look at all the years that we’ve had Republican Presidents and Republican Congresses (as well as how many state legislatures are dominated by Republicans) in recent decades. That’s despite all that cultural opposition you speak of.
Most of that left-wing culture is on the coasts, not the heartland.
Opposition to dismantling the welfare state doesn’t only come from the left-wing culture. It also comes from all the elderly retirees who are living on Social Security and Medicare–and who vote in large numbers.
Having said that, it’s true that the GOP’s attempt to defeat The First Black President ™ involves some unique political challenges. Just electing an African-American to the Presidency for the first time in U.S. history, had enormous symbolic significance to many. Trying to kick him out of office in 2012 can’t avoid having enormous symbolic significance as well.
I read Andrew and all the comments, shaking my head.
Ron Paul quietly stands there, channeling the Founding Fathers, and none of you will see.
Exactly what I was thinking. People say they are tired of politicians, then they complain when a candidate is “not presidential”. People accept the media’s version of Ron Paul Without investigating his foreign policy, our thinking it through, or listening to old Reagan quotes about foreign policy tactics. My recurring conclusion? America is an alcoholic and we’re not going to wake up until we hit rock bottom. Civil unrest, riots? I’m not sure, but it’s sad.
If Obama wins the next election, the most relevant action for the American people will be this: put your head between your legs and kiss your butt good-bye. Accordingly, I will vote for any warm body who runs against President 0.0, even if I have to hold my nose.
Also, I am a, perhaps foolish, optimist: I believe there is a chance that the Republican nominee will be decided at the convention. I also believe there is a chance that Conservatives can take the House and the Senate.
Lastly, I’d like to add my voice to those who are warning the self-serving Republican establishment that things have changed.
You don’t have to go far to understand why any republican with an ounce of self-respect does not subject them and their family to the gauntlet that presidential politics has become today. Not only do they endure pot-shots from the left they routinely get hammered by the press at unexpected times over the most petty of incidents from 20-30 years ago – and broadsides from fellow republicans. If that isn’t bad enough they have to endure the occasional pot-shot from Obama and his minions.
Obama had a cakewalk in 2008 by comparison. He only got hammered by Hillary and her campaign – the press left him alone for the most part.
The question isn’t is this the best we can offer – the question is: Why the hell would any sane person wish to enter this minefield – and drag their personal and public life through this crap?
One misstep and BOOM.
Obama is something? As compared with Mitt? I feel sorry for a country not smart enough to embrace a man like Mitt Romney.
I pretty much think I’m on board with Mr. Klavan on this. We have the best environment to get a conservative in office and we all we can find for canidates are a Used Car Salesman (Romney), The Good Idea Fairy (Gingrich), A Big Government Social Conservative (Santorum), and a Nut Case with a fanatical following (Paul). I still remember Ann Coulter’s “Get Drunk and vote for McCain” campaign. Looks to be another one of those election years.
Have you actually taken any time to investigate the “nut case” Ron Paul? Go to YouTube and search for Ruin Paul foreign policy or just Ron Paul. Check out his website, you might surprise yourself. Ron definitely believes in strong defense, just more of a “speak softly and carry a big stick” version. Thanks, Jim
yes, I have, his anti semitism is real, his legislative record for 14 years in the house is heavy on gradiose libertarian utopian theories and short on success.
The evidence is very strong that yes, this is the best we can do. And why do we keep imagining it is a long run of bad luck?
This is what an egalitarian democracy looks like under universal suffrage. Great men avoid it, and avoid us.
Libertarian revolution? God I hope not.
The GOP is dead and the GOP leaders have only themselves to blame.
I think there are two parts to this problem:
First, as has already been said, no relatively sane person, who doesn’t have—one assumes—great patriotism, a very strong sense of duty, and profound love for this country, its people, our Constitution, the Republic, and democracy—plus vaulting ambition, not a little bit of narcissism, a strong stomach and an extremely thick skin, and a very understanding wife and family, would ever put himself and them through this combination of wrestling in the pig’s pen, demolition derby, and auto-de-fe.
Thus, we get who we get, as perhaps more sane, less self-confident, and less determined people, with less of an appetite for power or tolerance for conflict turn away, and run screaming from this whole mess. Particularly when they know that, as Republicans, they will automatically have most of the Leftist infiltrated and controlled institutions of this country against them from the get go—the MSM, the Academy, Hollywood, and the literati, the commentariat, various pundits, and bi-coastal elites, to name only the most prominent assassins, now joined—in the case of Newt– by the Republican establishment.
Second, there is the “audience,” our citizenry, vastly different than, say, the supposedly unsophisticated, less educated, and less enlightened (but actually much better grounded and sure of who they were and their convictions) “Greatest Generation” now passing from the scene—today’s audience which is the result of our citizenry having been worked over rather thoroughly by two or three generations, now, of Leftist education/indoctrination, deliberate dumbing down of education, road signs twisted, and whole chunks of the fundamental texts and ideas of the Founders, and our Revolution, and our actual, traditional history stuffed down the memory hole, when they haven’t been totally “re-imagined”, “reframed,” and distorted out of all recognition, with a big dollop of Postmodern “thought,” “victim studies,” political correctness, and multiculturalism spooned on top.
In addition, there is the fact that several decades after the “Great Society” kicked in, we still have a permanent “underclass,” roughly only 50% our citizenry today pay taxes, and the other 50% are on the dole in one way or the other, and many on the dole —I would submit– are less and less likely to want to vote for any change that would take away their checks, the structure of the traditional family has been nuked and marriage on the decline, Religion has been watered down and greatly neutralized as a force, and a deliberate program of Balkinization–as Marxist and “community organizer” Saul Alinsky put it, “rubbing raw the wounds of discontent”–has fractured America into various ethnic enclaves.
Via pre-WWII Italian Communist Party member and theoretician Antonio Gramsci’s battle plan, focused on the use of Propaganda spread by elites and “thought leaders,” his “Long march through the culture/institutions,” the foundations and the building blocks of our society have been undermined, weakened, and subverted, the citizenry deliberately deprived of the absolutely essential fundamental information and the analytical tools they need to be aware and effective citizens, we have been pitted against one another and our cohesiveness deliberately destroyed, so as to reduce our ability to comprehend the attack, and to resist the Left.
So, we are, generally, not the people we once were, and it is a vastly different citizenry and situation that today’s candidates face.
I would run but my ex says I have too many negatives. She would know, eh. That leaves Sarah Palin, whose positives greatly outnumber the hundreds of negatives our precious trolls and malcontents are quick to offer. One problem. The Mamma Grizzly inspires all these women to get into politics. That might make my ex happy. Could I live with that?
Is this the best we can do? Yes it is. It’s been fun.
Andrew, you seriously think Obama got in becaseu he was a good candidate?
Sure he had charisma, but he ALSO had excellent campaign management and execution, a bunch of people funding his campaign, long time allies pushing the same ideological junk he backs, and crucially, very efficient campaign/outreach/publicity methods. (Plus all that Soros/Wall St money of course).
If the Republicans, even with lacklustre candidates actually set to and targeted the relevant demographics with the right campaign measures, there might be some surprising results, especially as many previous Obama voters said they would not vote for him again.
there’s a lot of disillusion and pain out there. Are the Republicans and their campaigners going to where these people are? Or are they relying on the people to come to the candidates, rather than the candidates going to the people?
Obama enabled five and ten-dollar contributions to his previous campaign. Are the Republicans dealing with people/donations on this scale? Do they have networks like those long-established on the Left?
And what are they doing in light of the recent revelation that Obama’s side/team is now microanalysing data from potential voters in various web postings?
Mind you, I don’t want Ron Paul to win.
I’m not trying to sound like a smart ass – I’m just wondering what the Republicans actually doing apart from conventional speeches, though I loved Gingrich’s media speech !
In the context of my post above, and since the White House and Obama & Co. have continually been and are trying to pretend and make us believe that Obama –shades of his since discarded former “political and spiritual advisor,” “mentor,” and, and “close personal friend,” of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright, and unrepentant urban terrorist Bill Ayres, who Obama had as a close friend for many years, and shared office space with, worked for and with for several years on the Annenberg Challenge for Chicago—doesn’t really know these characters, and has really nothing to do with them, or with Saul Alinsky–I hereby give a very brief summary of my understanding of Alinsky’s tactics for ”community organizers,” such “community organizing” being one of his qualifications that Obama always used to mention, and whose amoral, bare-knuckled tactics he taught and used.
It is all about Power. First, pick a group with grievances—don’t we all have grievances? Tell them that their problem is that they are being victimized, held down, discriminated against, denied what is rightfully theirs by someone or something—“the Man,” landlords, the system, banks, Wall Street, etc., take your pick–and inflame their grievances and ramp up their anger against them—Alinsky’s “rub raw the wounds of discontent.” Then, hold out the hope and tell them that if they let you “organize” them and they deliver their combined power to you, if they let you “advocate” for them, you will see to it that their grievances are dealt with and rectified.
However, if you read Alinsky, the key objective for the “organizer” is not so much to rectify these people’s grievances, as it is to use them as a vehicle to seize and accumulate personal power.
Isn’t this exactly what Obama and Co. have been trying to do with the “Occupy” movement, his rhetoric about “ the wealthy,” “millionaires and billionaires” and ”greedy fat cats” who “don’t pay their fair share,” and his designation of and pitting of the 99% against the 1%?
The question asks “Really, are people like Obama, Romney, and Gingrich the best leaders this country can produce?”
No, they are not the best this country can produce. They are the best our political system can produce. Given that our national media are in the bag for the progressive, socialist agenda, many of our best conservative players choose to not have their lives, and the lives of their families, destroyed by the media. This will be the case until the national media either decide to be objective watchdogs of the political landscape, or we the citizens render them irrelevant.
The perfect candidate was murdered by the Romans nearly 2000 yrs ago. Most men elected president have been seriously flawed, fortunately most have risen to their challenge, even George Bush.
Freedom of speech, especially by the MSM, must end where deception begins.No one ever has the right to lie. A Supreme Court decision to this effect would resolve our First Amendment dilemmas.
That’s nonsense! Who gets to decide what is a lie? The issue with the MSM is their monopolistic power, and Republicans share the blame on that. There was a reason for all the restrictions on station licensure and there are good reasons to restrict the number of newspapers and magazines one company can own. The monopoly the big networks had gave them the cover of a mask of objectivity, yet they’ve been left-leaning with more than a few outright communists in prominent managerial and on-air positions since the ’30s.
Newspapers and magazines have always been partisan. I grew up in Georgian in the ’50s and ’60s where everybody knew the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution were the State’s liberal, by Southern standards, Democrat papers, the Augusta Chronicle was the Conservative Democrat paper, and the Savannah Morning News was the more or less Republican, by Southern standards, paper; you could pick the one you liked or you could read all three and synthesize the truth. Before the mid-20th Century, papers were openly and viciously partisan with the morning paper having one view, the evening another, one paper being Democrat, another Republican, yet another somewhere in the middle and most understood that. With all the conglomeration from the mid-20th Century onward, one company can own papers all over the Country and spread its editorial view from sea to shining sea. The largest paper in Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News is a McClatchey paper, and yeah, we have a lot in common with the communists in California. Morris Communications, the parent of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia, owns several media outlets here including the Juneau Empire, the only media voice of the Capital City. They’ve had some good editors and publishers but they’ve also had more than a fair share of jackasses from Outside who didn’t have a clue about Alaska or its issues. It is that way all over. I know it will offend the “free enterprise” and “free speech” true-believers but I’d prohibit owning more than one paper, one magazine, or one radio or TV station.
Your comment on the local newspapers of your youth are an important point. As kid in the 60′ I loved the local paper for the comics. Later as a teen I gleaned the paper daily for news about the world and science and skipped over the local stories. As a young adult I began to read the business section and learned to love the classifieds. Around the time of Clinton/Gringrich revolution I was actually delivering the paper! getting up every morning at 3:00 am and throwing them out my car window. I will never forget the dispair I felt on my route that early Wednesday morning after 94′midterm since the then monopolistic Maintstream media had me convinced that Dems would prevail, and in the quickening light of dawn I finally read the headline I had not noticed all night, “GOP LANDSLIDE”. I literally had a Morning in America Moment! In recent years I was a fan of our local conservative leaning paper and disdained the more liberal publication in our once two paper city. As in the days of your youth the local papers represented a choice for information that the powerful networks edited out. Sadly, the conservative paper went belly up after 150 plus years in publication. I still won’t read our local liberal rag, truely more of a rag than ever, almost Huff Po in it’s leftward lean. Thank you Lord for the internet in it’s current laize faire form with a healthy dose of caveat emptor. There is no mystery behind the government’s desire to “crack down on piracy” in order to protect the intellectual proberty rights of a certain subset of the costal elites.
“God loves you — and all the people you can’t stand.”
No, He doesn’t.
Exodus. Golden calf. God turned his back on the Jews for 40 years.
Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Flood.
The Fall.
Condemns people to Hell. For Eternity. For the least of sins.
He is loving, if you repent; Merciless, if you don’t.
Make no mistake, God loves those who love Him. He despises those who turn their backs on Him.
“I am a jealous God. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” He ain’t kidding around. His Jesus avatar/aspect is Love. You never need fear Jesus. The Father is Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Fear Him.
Don’t think for a second, that the Father loves everyone. Jesus does. The Father does not. The only reason He does not destroy us all, is “for the sake of the 36 righteous ones.”
I do not think he loves such as Soros, at all.
I can only hope that He loves me. I am not certain of that at all, so I look to Jesus for a little Salvation.
While I generally agree with what you posted, I do sense a Father’s heart in G-d. In His abundant mercy, He gives people every possible chance before judgment falls:
(Exodus. Golden calf. G-d turned his back on the Jews for 40 years.)
Not exactly. Exodus 13:18-22, “But G-d led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went…out of the land of Egypt. (…) And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” Deuteronomy 8:4-8″Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Exodus 16:35, “And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years…”
(Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Abraham bargained with G-d to spare the entire city if He could find five righteous souls living there. Obviously, five were not found, and in the morning Lot, his wife, and two daughters were carried outside the city by the Angels (who had come with the warning) before the destruction occurred.
(The Flood.)
The ark was open for any who wanted to enter, but nobody besides Noah’s family believed him. The door was closed, and seven full days later the rain started.
(He is loving, if you repent; Merciless, if you don’t.)
“Merciless” = As in faithful and true to His word: Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; G-d is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Romans 6:23,”For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of G-d is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(The only reason He does not destroy us all, is for the sake of the 36 righteous ones.)
There is no mention in the Bible or Torah any such “36 righteous ones.” The Talmud and the Midrash have no authority from G-d, ignore them. Upon accepting the offer of salvation purchased thru Jesus’ blood, righteousness is granted to that person. Apostle Paul writes, Romans 4:24-25, “But (righteousness) for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; (Jesus who) was delivered for our offenses, and was (raised from the dead) for our justification.”
(I do not think he loves such as Soros, at all.)
Ezekiel 33:11, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord G-D, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but (desire) that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die…?” 1Samuel 16:7, “…the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Maybe G-d has turned His back on Soros, maybe not; there’s always hope for him through prayer.
(I can only hope that He loves me. I am not certain of that at all…)
You can be certain that He loves you. “For G-d so loved the world,” but not Marc Malone? I don’t think so.
John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and he that comes to Me I will in NO WISE cast out.” John 10:27-30, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. 2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…but is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The country does not need someone with “charisma” (the Dems have one now, where is that getting them). We do not need an ideologue (ditto). We need someone who can successfully negiotiate with the Senate Dems (60 votes, remember) to get stuff through the new Rep majorities. This sounds like Romney to me. Remember Saint Ronald never had Republican majorities in the house, the new Rep prez does not need to be a once in a century type.
I don’t think the current crop of candidates is even the secnd string. And I can’t think of anyone in the appropriate age range who would be better. There is really a dearth of Republicans with any sort of name recognition who could do the job. Maybe Daniels could do the job but he has a total lack of charisma. He doesn’t look like a presidenrt. The Republicans should have been building someone up from day 1 of the obama regime. I think the end of the GOP is coming.
To Jim Baker: This is not a laughing matter! We cannot survive another four years of the traitor in the White House. He is about as funny as is cancer. And the two reprobates vying to replace him as the CFR’s puppet are no better than he. No sane person finds those facts “funny”.
I do not know what the responsible citizens of the USA can do to rid ourselves of these New World Order parasites, but it surely goes beyond deliberate blindness and silly giggling; that Chamberlainitis afflicting cowards and demoniacs.
The sad thing is the bench strength is strong, we won handily in 2010 but the newbies need time in their current roles – Scott Walker, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul Rubio / West – although I would argue both Rubio and West could run now, they are much better than the choices we have. The more I learn about Walker, the more I like…he is cool under pressure and can articulate the conservative message.
Timing sucks, everything is riding on 2012 but the strongest conservatives are 2010 Freshman.
William Hale White: “Blessed are they who heal you of self-despisings. Of all services which can be done to man, I know of none more precious.”