The GOP ‘Stalinists’ and Dede Scozzafava
There has been a lot of talk about “purges” and whether “moderates” have a place in the Republican Party, but that certainly doesn’t capture the spirit of the drama that has just unfolded in New York’s 23rd congressional district.
Initially, the race featured Daily Kos-endorsed, liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava going toe-to-toe with Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in an odd duck of a race. Despite the fact that this was New York, Scozzafava — who was selected in a back room — was too liberal for the district. Hoffman was charisma-free, and Owens wasn’t setting the world on fire either.
This fairly obscure special election was transformed into a hot national race after the national GOP organizations, the NRCC and RNC, chose to use their resources and clout to sandbag a conservative candidate in an effort to help a liberal Republican.
At some point, you’d think the Republican establishment would learn their lesson about interfering in races like this. They jumped into the Arlen Specter vs. Pat Toomey race in 2004. Specter won, but he eventually changed parties. They interfered in the Lincoln Chafee vs. Stephen Laffey primary. Laffey lost the primary, but Chafee then lost the general election and changed parties. Then, there was this year’s NRSC endorsement of Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio. In all likelihood, the only drama left there is whether Crist will change parties and endorse the Democratic candidate after the grassroots powers Rubio to victory over the NRSC’s handpicked Arlen Specter clone.
Despite the fact that conservatives provide most of the money, votes, manpower, and intellectual firepower in the Republican Party, the party establishment chose to spend $900,000 to try to help a left-of-center Republican defeat a conservative in a Republican “gimmie district.” After it became apparent that wasn’t going to work, the left-of-center Republican dropped out and endorsed the Democrat. When you look at the whole picture, what you see is an attempt to purge a conservative candidate, not vice-versa.
Of course, that’s certainly not the impression you’d get from reading Frank Rich’s latest column (“The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York“). Now given that Frank Rich would probably agree with about 90% of Stalin’s policy positions, you might think that this would be a positive column. Unfortunately, that’s not the case:
The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. On Saturday, the battered Scozzafava suspended her campaign, further scrambling the race. It’s still conceivable that the Democratic candidate could capture a seat the Republicans should own. But it’s even better for Democrats if Hoffman wins. Punch-drunk with this triumph, the right will redouble its support of primary challengers to 2010 G.O.P. candidates they regard as impure. That’s bad news for even a Republican as conservative as Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose primary opponent in the Texas governor’s race, the incumbent Rick Perry, floated the possibility of secession at a teabagger rally in April and hastily endorsed Hoffman on Thursday.
The more rightists who win G.O.P. primaries, the greater the Democrats’ prospects next year. But the electoral math is less interesting than the pathology of this movement. Its antecedent can be found in the early 1960s, when radical-right hysteria carried some of the same traits we’re seeing now: seething rage, fear of minorities, maniacal contempt for government, and a Freudian tendency to mimic the excesses of political foes. Writing in 1964 of that era’s equivalent to today’s tea party cells, the historian Richard Hofstadter observed that the John Birch Society’s “ruthless prosecution” of its own ideological war often mimicked the tactics of its Communist enemies.
… That America was lost years ago, and no national political party can thrive if it lives in denial of that truth. The right still may want to believe, as Palin said during the campaign, that Alaska, with its small black and Hispanic populations, is a “microcosm of America.” (New York’s 23rd also has few blacks or Hispanics.) But most Americans like their country’s 21st-century profile.
That changing complexion is part of why the McCain-Palin ticket lost every demographic group by large margins in 2008 except white senior citizens and the dwindling fifth of America that’s still rural. It’s also why the G.O.P. has been in a nosedive since the inauguration, whatever Obama’s ups and downs. In the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, only 17 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans (as opposed to 30 percent for the Democrats, and 44 for independents).
… Only in the alternative universe of the far right is Obama a pariah and Palin the great white hope. It’s become a Beltway truism that the White House’s (mild) spat with Fox News is counterproductive because it drives up the network’s numbers. But if curious moderate and independent voters are now tempted to surf there and encounter Beck’s histrionics for the first time, the president’s numbers will benefit as well. To the uninitiated, the tea party crowd comes across like the barflies in “Star Wars.”
Speaking of “denial of … truth,“ in Frank Rich’s world, liberalism is ascendant and conservatism has been put down like a dog, never to rise again. That’s why he incorrectly believes conservatives were foolish to choose to back a conservative candidate over a Democrat and a Republican who might as well be a Democrat. That win-win situation for a liberal like Rich was a lose-lose situation for conservatives. Wisely, something was done about it.
Correction: “A worldview like Frank Rich’s is currently affected by the absolute lock the Democrats have on public discourse.”
Now is not the time for weak knees. We need to keep the pressure on Republican Party officials to renounce their Rinoism and return to Conservativism. Otherwise, we’ll continue to leave them penniless on the street corner. The next step should be to replace the utterly failed (and ignored) Michael Steele with Sarah Palin.
I am a conservative, not a Republican. I am not part of the far right. Rich and his ilk want to place all conservatives into that category, if we’re not centerists or RINOs. Not so, Mr. Rich. We are conservatives who love our country, our Consitution, as it was written and our freedoms.
I’m not American, but I wish I was. To me, the U.S. has always been the ‘shining city on the hill’. The kind of place where you can do anything and be anyone if you just work hard enough. It is incomprehensible to me how people like Frank Rich and many many other leftists just don’t get what it is that makes American great. How are they so blind? It’s heartbreaking because I want to be a citizen one day so badly and those who are lucky enough to be American citizens don’t appreciate what they have.
How is it that if you want a form of government that the Founders declared in our Constitution that you are a “far right extremist” and a “Stalinist”?
This is verbal terrorism, and I for one plan to catch his bombs in mid air and throw them right back.
Frank Rich is an unmitigated ass.
I agree that Mr. Steele has to go ( he will claim racism) and be replaced by someone who is not aligned with the northeast establishment. Pete Sessions of Texas was the main culprit in the Scozzafavo affair. People in Texas the ball is in your court.
Fellow conservatives,
The time has long since arrived for us to stand up and directly confront lefties like Mr.Rich, Ms Dowd, and countless others who sensationalize criticism by refering to conservatives as Nazis, Stalinists or worse.
When one believes as we do in the words of our Constitution, freedom of thought and action, personal liberty to pursue a meaningful and fulfilling future, a color blind society, free enterprise, capitalism and a right to worship as one pleases we stand for concepts that are the furthest possible from lefty murderers like Hitler and Stalin. Frank Rich and the NYT demonstrate their ignorance of US and European history when they mis attach such lables.
In fact, it is they who need to look in the mirror for it is their handiwork that has put a commited leftist regime into power. It is this administration that possesses the admireers and appologists for the likes of Stalin, Mao and Alinsky. Their names are Holdren, Dunn and Lloyd and each of them have made it clear that their prefered leaders are Chavez, Mao and Stalin, and that they indeed organize under the flag of Alinsky.
For we conservatives our leaders are Madison, Franklin, Locke, Smith, Jefferson and Lincoln. These men can be supplemented by more modern counterparts like Thatcher and Reagan. We demonstrate by our actions each day that the political doctrines of the murdering leftists are an anathema. For Rich and the other lefty fellow travelers who they run with to state that it is conservatives who are Stalinist shows their limited understanding of the actual policies and butchery that Mao, Hitler, Mihn, and Pol Pot made infamous and the ideology that drove them to kill.
Frank Rich is a decent enough film critic, but he is a man of limited historical understanding and until he takes the time to educate himself about western culture and political history he would do well to shut his yap and hide his immense ignorance. In the mean time, we conservatives need to start standing up for ourselves by attacking the profound stupidity that presents its self when some under educated lefty calls us Stalinist or Hitlerite. The people with the megaphone don’t even know what they are talking about. They need to be called out for the fools that they are.
Dede Scozzafava is the finest example of a RINO that I have ever seen. Good riddance!
#4 Emma
Emma you are the type of immigrant we need in America, and I hope one day you get the opportunity to become a US Citizen. The U.S. of A. is not perfect but its the greatest nation on earth.
The GOP so-called leadership has proven time after time, especially over the last 8 years,that they are NOT conservative. Sure they will talk up a good game but when the rubber meets the road they get sucked in by the money and power and the “can’t we all just get along” attitude. I wonder if they’re opposition now is real or just put-on.
I recently received 3 GOP surveys in the mail asking me where I stand on the issues. I wrote back telling them to get off their asses and out of DC and find out where the people stand on their own. These surveys just prove how out of touch they truly are.
We can take this country back from “them”. Start with Michael Steele (let him cry racist), then John Boehner, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Lindsay Graham, et al. In fact, there’s not many we SHOULD keep. That’s the truly sad part in all of this.
By the way, Samizdat, I think Frank Rich knows his history and therefore exactly what he is saying. Its pure “Alinsky”. That’s why they all use it so much. They have drunk from that same trough for so long, it has become purely reflexive.
You know what they say, “if you repeat a lie often enough…..”
Scoozafovva was not a Republican ,I don’t think she was a Rino or even a conservative. She was a Democrat masquerading as a Republican . She would have never voted with the conseratives . I say good that she was smoked out before we got another Obama surprise
One wonders how Frank Rich and others get away with their gross mischaracterizations of conservatives. His audience must consist of folks who are at least as ignorant of todays’ political landscape as he is. We are not Stalinists, Maoists or Socialists nor do we promote the execution of politicial opponents in any way. Perhaps he thinks he’s being cute, in that Alan Grayson way. No one with friends thinks in such a questionable manner. I have Democrat friends, and I certainly don’t think them evil. Misguided, yes, but evil, no. When presented with facts, most folks will acknowledge the error of their perceptions and usually concede to reality.
Frank Rich, the most venomous main stream columnist since Westbrook Pegler, has an agenda of his own: Demoralize the opposition. He’s never let reality impede that quest, and he never will.
Of course, Rich’s undertaking is severely hampered by the fact that few conservatives read his column, but that’s one of those bits of reality that the New York Times’s premier dispenser of bilious leftist nonsense is so ready to ignore.
Conservatives! Libertarians! People! We have a golden opportunity here to drive out the moneychangers.
Now is the time to discuss how to make this change permanent, and create a party worth a damn.
I don’t trust that elected officials can be sent to washington and stay uncorrupted. I’m not interested either in a discussion of why they become corrupt, but the fact remains that they do become corrupt.
If we want to prevent this, we need a binding PLEDGE that elected republican officials NEVER engage in deficit spending and fillibuster any and all attempts at deficit spending of ANY form. Any person who will not take the pledge or violates its terms is expelled from the party, no exceptions.
This will work, and yes is will be drastic. And yes, the howls, shreiks, and screams of despair and indignation on the part of the republican party brass will be as loud as the shrieks of the trolls.
baal@15:
“Conservatives! Libertarians! People! We have a golden opportunity here to drive out the moneychangers.”
PRO TIP:
Conservatives and Libertarians ARE the moneychangers.
I think the Scozzafava affair is a blunt reminder to the GOP that their base is being held hostage by evangelicals. Clearly her endorsement of the Democrat is an indictment of the Republican party’s inability to successfully promote their (admittedly moderate) candidate.
This type of scenario is going to weaken the GOP at the grassroots level – popular support for insurgent candidacies will dilute the power of the GOP to recruit money and volunteers, and also strengthen the position of Democrats in coming election cycles. Running as a Republican is not very attractive if you will be facing a challenger on your left and on your right.
Hoffman still might win this race, but the price in lost support for the GOP nationally will make for a very interesting scenario heading into 2010, and 2012 beyond. It remains to be seen how this will shake out, but it is bound to benefit the left in the short term.
Peace.
DS
Frank Rich is a lost in his own little world as he stumbles around in ObamaLand; he is speaking to a select few as the New York Times continues to shed readers like a cut artery loses blood. Rich is a legend in his own twisted mind.
The fact that Scozzafava now supports the candidate of the Demonrats tells us everything we need to know about the elite that has taken control of American parties: socialistoid internationalist nihilists who care only about their personal power and for whom Freedom is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. For them politics is just a game to be played in front of the People (that they see as “the great unwashed masses”).
The last twenty years have been easy for this subversive elite, they didn’t have anyone to fight against.
Let’s hope that the resistance to the current administration radical-commie policies allow us to get rid of the whole nihilist elite.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
MR.HAWKINS:Back when I used to read that marxist-PC agitprop rag,I came across a Marc Rich cover article on the Slimes sunday magazine trying to convince us that EMINEN was a genius. that was the last time I read the now moribund NY rag.His anti conservative screed,together with his trying to fix the label “stalinist” on the opponents of Stalinism, was a great instance of the Orwellian BIG LIE technique,combined with corrupt surrealism. Rich and his ilk, are mental midgets, moral degenerates ,and enthusiasts of totalitarianism.RINOS are their corrupt and willing stooges.The GOP leadership is committed to multiculturalism,open borders and selling out our sovreignty to create and enrich a globalist-corporatist plutocracy.The GOP has supported Mccain _Feingold(the slimebag Bush signed it),and would love to join with the dems,in killing the first and second amendments.We need a disciplined, militant Jeffersonian party conceived as a resistance movement,committed to saving the constitution, complete with an armed wing, and capable of massive civil disobedience.We need a third-party based on the IRA model;we need an American version of SINN FANE!
16. Dave K.:Protip:Your messiah got his start getting his knees dirty while turning tricks for a slumlord.
Troll 0
PLEDGE 1
baal@21:
“16. Dave K.:Protip:Your messiah got his start getting his knees dirty while turning tricks for a slumlord.
Troll 0
PLEDGE 1″
Who’s this Messiah you’re referring to?
Far Left and Left Lite is NOT A CHOICE.
Rush just mentioned this as well. There is no such thing as a republican LIBERAL to the government media.
“Those evil tea baggers just hate moderates”. They never give up do they?
I’m fine with moderates. Moderate all you want. BUT it is not ‘moderate’ to be pro big gubermint, pro abortion, pro gay marriage and pro Obama. Those are liberal positions and they have no place in the conservative movement. Or the pubbie party (provided they can save themselves).
Get it Newt? Doesn’t matter cause you are persona non grata. You are through buddy.
Here, here deguello! “What we need is a [Conservative] Security Force just as well-trained, just as well-funded and just as well-armed….” Oh yea, we already have such a force and they’ve been filling their armories since last year’s election.
“And to the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we hereby mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Tax revolt/protest anyone. How about at least increasing your monthly exemptions so that NO FUNDS are withheld from your pay and sent to the Feds. If 20 million or more Americans refuse to pay their income taxes, what can they do? NOTHING! They simply DO NOT have the resources – money, manpower nor facilities – to round up, prosecute or jail that many citizens. They will be FORCED to negotiate an “amnesty” agreement of some kind. Fug’em.
Nex ut Tyrannus!
III/Oath Keeper/Militiaman
#24 Scott
I agree:
the fact that we call “moderate” the supporters of MASS MURDER OF CHILDREN is a symptom of how deep the subversive brainwashing has gone.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
I hope that Newt(ered) Gingrich, and all the other RINO’s, feel @sses right now.
20. deguello:
19. Sherab Zangpo:
18. Sebastian Shaw:
7. Samizdat:
I’d love to hear back from you guys in regards to the PLEDGE. I think that the pledge is the vehicle for true reform of the corruption endemic in the republican party.
Jeez, Johnny, you missed the best part of Rich’s column:
‘Hoffman doesn’t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he “showed no grasp” of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance — blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit.’
Hoffman is not only “charisma-free,” as you point out; he’s also free of the district he hopes to represent.
#28 Baal
Re. the PLEDGE:
you show a great confidence in our politicians. They will accept to pledge… anything…
and then
they will lecture the country with three zillion words about the “reasons” to do…
exactly the contrary of what they promised.
But I agree that it would be a start…
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Let’s hope the good guys in Pennsylvania are paying attention. We do not want a Spincter-Lite to run against Arlen, we want a conservative to run on the Republican ticket and take enough right thinking Dems that the ACORN stolen votes in Philly won’t matter.
BAAL: I like your idea of a pledge,and support it;however, I don’t think it would be enough.We need to do sociological screening of candidates as well,ie:no bankers,corporate CEO scum,high ranking military officers lawyers or police chiefs,and other “successful” people. we need haters,people who have had their values and lives trashed by liberal policies such as affirmative action,their kids turned into thugs ,drug addicts,and sluts by our madonna?MTV/culture, whose jobs are being outsourced by globalist plutocrats,and whose prime motivation is retribution.These are the people who should take your pledge and abide by it. More anon,we nedd to have this conversation. Diamondback: I like the way you think!
I believe conservatives could use a few extra seats in congress. Unfortunately, in order to get more votes, they must find moderate candidates that represent the moderate wings of the party, specially in the far west and east of the country. Reagan and Nixon understood this fact. Will the GOP go for another majority? I guess it depends how well they can handle the cold outside….and for how long..
I am done with moderates. Let them go bankrupt along with the Democrats, for that is their future.
It doesn’t matter what Frank Rich wants, or what the Democrats want, or what Obama wants. We are broke. There is no more of other people’s money with which to do good deeds and enrich themselves.
It will end, badly or in a long, drawn out fashion, but it will end. Fiscal conservatives win, because there is no long term alternative.
Poor Citizen at 33,
I respectfully disagree. What conservatives need to do is educate people about growth, wealth creation, liberty, a color blind society, free enterprise and the benefits of freedom. We need to do what the public and many private schools are not doing, help people to understand exactly what made this country the free land it once was and remind them of how jobs are created.
The results of the socialist experiment are in. Democrat ideas spring from a failed ideology that creates under achievement and misery. Democrats are advocates for failure and for the subjugation of the individual to the will of the state. Obamacare stands for nothing else and is the perfect example of the total control over the individual and the curtailment of liberty the Democrats quest for. Democrats are afraid of liberty and freedom and the responsibilities those two concepts require of a citizen. Too bad for them, thats their problem.
Americans need to understand that what made this country unique amoungst all other nations was free enterprise harnessed to individual liberty and freedom coupled with the rule of law. Socialism retards wealth and the creation of capital. It also retards the individual.
Americans remember wealth and prosperity. They are tiring of the emptyness of the Democrats nanny state quickly. Conservatives need to articulate the alternative, not dilute the message to Democrat lite.
The fact Dede Scozzafava has backed the Democrat proves the Tea Party people & Conservatives were right about this lizard running as a Republican; her husband is part of a Union. Dede Scozzafava & the other Republicans who backed her has no credibility. Are you hearing it loud & clear neutered Newt Gingrich?
she just proved that she should be in the democrat party to start with.
not just a poor loser but mean spirited as well.
Baal, politicians can make all kinds of pledges during a campaign; this does not mean they will hold true to these pledges when in office. Pledges are meaningless when any politician does not have any core beliefs. Core beliefs in something is the answer. Most Democrats have no core beliefs, hence, the pandering nonsense. When a Republican wanders off Conservative ideas, they pander. Pandering is terrible. A pandering politician is a politically homeless politician.
Mr. Hawkins, I am in total agreement with our premise, but cannot understand why you refer to this Administration and its adherents as liberals, when they are screaming SOCIALISTS. They truly believe as Newsweek trumpeted that “we are all Socialists Today. It is insane to go along with the euphemisms – progressive, centralist, leftist, that the dedicated Neo-Communists conceal their policies with. The White House is now the RED House. Reds and Commies are, to my mind, the kind of pejorative terms we should be using. That they will scream “Snear!” is proof of teir identity.
30. Sherab Zangpo:
39. Sebastian Shaw:
32. deguello:
Thanks for commenting back! The point of it is to make it an absolutely binding situation–if a candidate wont take it or if an elected official violates it, they are IMMEDIATELY expelled excommunicated, etc.
I think it would have to be part of a larger ethical pledge but the difference is that it would be binding. This would have to become just like the kind of contractual agreement that an employee signs when taking a job for a corporation. Certain things get you fired immediately.
Deficit spending is at the top of the list.I think it is important that we focus hard, like a laser, on the idea of the PLEDGE.
Think about it this was put into effect and actually enforced!If our elected officials were simply prevented from deficit spending. Imagine if it working –and lets make it happen.
I had a good laugh yesterday when I read a previous post somewhere on here that Dede Scozzafava will more than like end on MSNBC for commentary Wednesday night then she will go back to a dark theater with Scott McClellan & Pee-Wee Herman. Whoever wrote this joke is great!
I loved the part where Rich intimated that once people started watching Glenn Beck, they would flee in terror. (Flee, brothers, flee!) Hilarious! People tune in to Beck, and they get hooked! His numbers are soaring. His 5PM slot is almost tie with O’Reilly’s 8PM slot. That’s huge! The common man loves Beck! Rich will never understand that. He’ll deny it ’til the cows come home.
As a Conservative, I am getting tired of the term RINO. It is offensive to the true moderates out there. We DO need them in our party. They need not be ideologically pure. We are NOT the Dems! If they differ on a few issues, fine. If they differ on a lot of issues, then they are Dems in Pub clothing, like McCain.
The term RINO isn’t meant to be used against people who differ in views, but rather against the opportunists who jump onto the GOP bandwagon in pursuit of wealth and power; those who have no ideology, or flexible ideology. It is also for depiction of the Dems in Pub clothing. But using it too freely alienates a large part of our party, and we DO need them.
What we need to do is make sure that they are not driving the damned bus. The problem is that the opportunists are more active than the party regulars. They start working the Party, instead of working for the Party. The only way to prevent this is for Conservatives, who are not activist by nature, to decide to become, and stay, active.
So, be on your guard, but be not totalitarian in your views of purity. The Left is not totally wrong about this. There ARE real, moderate Republicans out there. They share most of our values. We can work together for the common good; our common interests. We can’t do that if we act totally intolerant. So, be careful of using the term RINO. It is only for the opportunists who are merely mouthing the right phrases, but don’t mean it, or for the very liberal Pubs (aka, Dems in Pub clothing) like McCain and Scozzafava.
Tolerance, people. Big Tent, remember?
It is a bit strange to see a liberal hold up Nixon and Reagan as role models for the GOP. I agree that we should emulate Reagan; however, back in the day Reagan was believed by liberals and the media to be as extreme and kooky as they think Palin is today (present company included; I was a liberal in the ’80′s). As for Nixon, well, although preferable to McGovern, he was not a fiscal conservative (wage and price controls, anyone?)
The Cold War was a rallying point for conservatives. Unfortunately, I think many old Cold Warriors recognized the danger the USSR posed, but didn’t quite grasp that the USA could be attacked from within. Those were the years the Alinskyites began their march through the institutions.
Hoffman is useless as a Conservative if he is witless with regard to the needs of his constituents. Ignorance is no virtue!
On the other hand,
Frank Rich used “Stalinist” to describe Conservatives to make language meaningless, a favorite tactic of the Left. The Left has been educated to believe that language is a political tool rather than a means of understanding others. Having mastered English, Rich goes on to abuse his gift:
If the Conservatives can be placed to the left of the Socialist Obama camp, then Obama is more moderate than the conservatives. Thus, Conservatives = Communist Stalinists. Grow up, Frank.
Wasnt the Idiot Frank Rich included i n the White house meet with the Onescum two weeks ago? Rich, The Ugly one Maureen Dowd, the racist Bob Herbert, Kieth the Uberidiot of MSNBC, and Rachel the Madcow, also of MSNBC. You, Frank Rich must be a COMMIE based on who you choose to associate with. Didnt a famous man once say “show me your friends and Ill show you who you are”?
A stalinist calling anti-stalinists “stalinists”. Sounds much like Nazi Pelosi and her swastikas to me. Should be a part of a textbook “How to Recognize Democrats (No Matter What They Claim to Be)”. Would be a bestseller.
I wish I could understand what the term “conservative” means in the United States. Many conservatives say they’re diehard capitalists, yet there’s probably no more radical or destabilizing force in the world than free enterprise. The logic of the free market has no regard for family, community, or tradition. So how can it be called conservative?
Hey BIBIO-did it bother you in 2000 that HILLDEBEAST BUBBA was a carpetbagger? OF COURSE IT DIDNT YOU HYPOCRITE. Hilldebeast, from Park Ridge, Illinios, wearing a YANKEES cap? By the way Bibbrain-we dont need the likes of you or Frank Rich telling us whats good for us. Frank Rich doesnt know his rear end from a hole between his ears. Niether did Dede Scuzzyphobia, which is WHY she got tossed. And Guess what-Charlie Crist IS NEXT. WEVE HAD IT WITH NON CONSERVATIVES.
Sebastian Shaw@41:
“I had a good laugh yesterday when I read a previous post somewhere on here that Dede Scozzafava will more than like end on MSNBC for commentary Wednesday night then she will go back to a dark theater with Scott McClellan & Pee-Wee Herman. Whoever wrote this joke is great!”
I don’t get the joke.
Could you please explain it to me?
Rush is great as usually:
“Bestiality” of Scozzafava and a tragedy for PETA:
http://www.breitbart.tv/rush-scozzafava-guilty-of-bestiality-for-screwing-every-rino-in-the-country/
Dave K, In 1991 Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, was arrested for literally masturbating in a porno theatre as indecent exposure; this came as a shock to fans of his Pee Wee Herman persona who, at the time, had the Pee Wee Herman Show aired Saturdays for children & adults. In other words, Dede Scozzafava will be jerking off after she implodes & appears on MSNBC with Pee Wee Herman & Scott McClellan. It’s something of a inside joke I guess, but I got it immediately upon reading his comment.
Dave K,
If you need it explained you wouldn’t get it anyway. Surely you know about pee wee and a dark theatre however and surely you know about the ‘benedict arnold’ McClellan. You sure you don’t get it?
HDW, you obviously don’t understand Capitalism; it is freedom. Yes, it involves risk, but the rewards can be great. Without risk, you gain nothing. You cannot always have the Nanny State holding your hands. Why? Those hands will turn into chains with locks. Socialism is stagnation. Capitalism is freedom & liberty. Capitalism is America.
Sebastian Shaw@52:
“Dave K, In 1991 Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, was arrested for literally masturbating in a porno theatre as indecent exposure; this came as a shock to fans of his Pee Wee Herman persona who, at the time, had the Pee Wee Herman Show aired Saturdays for children & adults. In other words, Dede Scozzafava will be jerking off after she implodes & appears on MSNBC with Pee Wee Herman & Scott McClellan. It’s something of a inside joke I guess, but I got it immediately upon reading his comment.”
And Scott McClellan? Where does he fit into the picture?
His hands are obviously too small to perform any indecent acts.
Dave K, you just don’t get the joke. Move on…
dw – the free market, or capitalism, isn’t radical or destabilizing. Quite the contrary.
It rests in the direct interaction between producer/supplier and consumer. That’s a direct interaction not a govt mandated one. So, if the consumer doesn’t like the product, he doesn’t buy it. That’s not radical or destabilzing. It enforces quality, it enforces ‘getting the best for your money’. That’s accountability.
This direct and accountable interaction between the producer and the consumer provides the best moral and ethical base for the values of the family and tradition – because it respects both sides of the exchange and expects both sides to be responsible and accountable. The producer promises to produce quality and afforable goods; the consumer promises to pay for them and not try to ‘get something for nothing’.
Govt run economies, on the other hand, destroy the family and responsibility because they removed this direct interaction between producer and consumer. The consumer no longer has any choice of goods to buy, and must consume what the govt run business/service provides…whether it is an indifferent bureaucracy, poor quality roads, inadequate health care etc. Equally, since there is no competition, the producer gets indifferent and lazy and provides indifferent and inadequate services..and then, moves into corruption, serving his own needs rather than those of the community.
The strength of the free market and capitalism is that direct bond of accountability beween producer and consumer. It ensures that both sides are fair and honest and focused on the quality of the goods and services. Socialism destroys this interaction.
So, the CONSERVATIVES are the majority in the US now.
Not a problem for the libtardian White House.
Biden, aka. the Vice President of the Most Unifying President Evah, calls conservatives “ABSOLUTISTS” and wants Dems and RINOS to TEACH “THOSE ABSOLUTISTS” A LESSON:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/02/biden-urges-moderate-republicans-ny-23-join-us/
hmm hmm hmm Barack Hussein America
HDW #48
Here is a good article that addresses your question about terms like “conservative”:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-call-them-liberal-when-theyre-anything-but/
I completely disagree with your premises about capitalism. Capitalists are very pro-family, pro-community and pro-tradition.
Of course, I suppose it depends on the individual. A hard working, innovative person’s family will do well in a capitalist society. A social leech’s family will not do as well. Both will fair the same in a communist society… so why work hard and be innovative?
Beauxdog
Baal #41
There is no way to make your pledge legally binding without ammending the constitution which rules on matters of government representation.
The best you could do would be to get them to promise to be good. It they break their promise, you have to hope their constituents would vote them out.
Beauxdog
HDW at 48,
“no more radical or destabilizing force than free enterprise”
What the hell does that mean? Do you mean the engine that has produced goods that people want, medical advances unimaginable 30 years ago, revolutionary advances in the speed and saftey of travel, cleaner more enviromentally friendly technologies of all description, intellectual property that wasn’t even concieved as possible 20 years ago, the logarythmic wealth multiplyer!? Do you mean that radical and destabilizing force?
What is your intellectual problem with capitalism and free enterprise? The only radical concept emanates from those who want to kill off capitalism and free enterprise or Nazify it as lefty Hitler did in the 1930′s. Only a western Marxist could say something so preposterous. Even the Chinese and the Russians have belatedly figured out the immense value of capitalism and free enterprise.
If you wish, why don’t you attempt to explain your statement, and please spare me the empty platitudes one can hear about the value of the dialectic in any overpriced eastern or western university. The people who comment here are way past that bankrupt illogic, trolls excepted.
I want to see a purge. I want to see the Conservatives do a hostile take over of the Republican party and drive the ‘RINOs’ out. Send us your broken toys. We’ll gladly take them.
HDW, in the USA, “conservative” generally means looking to the principles on which the nation was founded for guidance. Since the country was founded on principles of more responsible citizens, less intrusive government, that’s what we represent.
It’s not really a cultural movement, or ethnic as in so many countries, however, it does oppose governmental attempts to impose cultural changes, which have become so common these days.
Dede was seduced/bought off by Dems, in NY state and nationally, but the point is clear–
she’s a Democrat at heart, with Democrat friends of her union thug husband, Democrat voters in her district like her, and she has NO AFFINITY for any conservative cause.
Word is, she would have changed parties once elected. Another thumb in the eye of conservatives.
She, like her friends/husband/associates/fellow legislators, is an anti-Christian, anti-tradition liberal at heart, favoring abortion and hating those who do not. She probably thinks we Christians are something on the order of ‘red state redneck superstitious obnoxious dumbasses’… and that we should NEVER be allowed to be in charge of anything..
this is, after all, the reason we HAVE a discomfited moderate wing of the GOP.. because of Christianity.
Face it. Sarah is a BIG TIME CHRISTIAN and everyone knows it. They don’t dislike her because of her intellect… it’s about her RELIGIOUS VIEWS, as carried out in her own life by her decision to have a Downs baby. She makes other people uncomfortable by being good and making honorable choices, thus making others seem less ‘good’ in comparison, and they HATE HER FOR IT.
No matter how sensible, fiscally conservative and defense minded she is, no matter how people admire her and flock to her, she’s worthless and dangerous to them, because she’s a CHRISTIAN…
Dede is just another person who sees Sarah, and the rest of us, that way. She’s offended that we got the best of her, and is paying us back with this endorsement.
Ugly. But not unexpected.
The logic of the free market is free will, you and every individual living in this world have choices to make,for good or for bad. It’s up to you,HDW, if you want to ruin,forget, throw away your family, your community,or tradition. All your choices have consequences.
Let me put it this way, I assume you are an adult. Do you want your parents to decide everything for you and treat you like a child as long as they live unable to be trusted with any decisions whatsoever Or you can act your age as an adult and make your own decisions and you are willing to take the consequences of your actions whether they are good or bad. That’s the free market logic which parallels real life .
48. HDW:Well if you look at the numbers, capitalism really is the great liberator. More people have transcended conditions of material poverty in the last 30 years than in all other points in time combined–On the other hand more people have been starved, shot, gassed etc by the various flavors of socialism than all other forms of state sponsored authoritarian oppression combined as well.
Capitalism has, in short, produced the greatest results for the greatest amount of people.
Dave@57:
“No matter how sensible, fiscally conservative and defense minded she is, no matter how people admire her and flock to her, she’s worthless and dangerous to them, because she’s a CHRISTIAN…”
Don’t worry, one day there’ll be a Christian in the White House and the long nightmare of oppression for Christians will be over.
No more Internet centurions throwing Christian posters to the cyber-lions
“And Scott McClellan? Where does he fit into the picture?”
As Judas, or, if you are not a christian, as Brutus.
Scottie was a major suck-up during the last few years of the Bush administration. Then before his chair seat in the White House had gotten cold, he wrote a “expose’ of the Bush administration, claiming everything the New York Slime had ever printed about ‘Bushitler’ was the gospel truth. Then he took the check and vanished. Theory is that it was ghosted and Scottie never even read the book, just took a check for letting his name be put on the cover. I hope he got ALL his money up front. The book didn’t sell.
When it comes to Congress, moderate means they will steal from anybody. One thing about the hard core, be it either left or right. They are not in it for the graft. Not that they will return your wallet if they find it, but that isn’t their main reason for holding office.
They are there to change the world. For a big enough campaign contribution, they will change it so their contributor makes LOTS of money.
#7 “For we conservatives our leaders are Madison, Franklin, Locke, Smith, Jefferson and Lincoln.”
Lincoln? LINCOLN????
You mean the father of the Imperial Federal Government Lincoln???
You mean President Pay All Your Taxes and Nobody Gets Hurt (“The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere.”) Lincoln?
Um … not that I really want to open this can of worms, but some of us consider Lincoln a kissing cousin to FDR, big government-wise.
Beth at 69,
Yeah Lincoln, father of the Emancipation Proclamation. The one who saved the union from destruction at the hands of slave holders. Yes he promoted a larger federal government; he had to he was involved in a war that killed 460,000 people.
Please spare me any comparison to Marx or Stalin. Lincoln didn’t radically change the tax powers of the government and he wasn’t a marxist. FDR was a socialist/marxist, at least by policy. Very big difference. If that isn’t pure enough for you, too bad. Aside from Washington, in my book our best President. Sorry Beth.
Samizdat @ 36. Excellent comment!
Marc Malone @ 47: I agree in the “Big Tent” philosophy and that conservative Republicans should tolerate moderates. That said, tolerance should not extend to allowing moderates to control the party platform or ascend to party leadership at the national level. Michael Steele needs to go and certain Rino senators (Graham, McCain, Snowe, Collins) and representatives need to be reminded they do not speak for the majority of Republicans.
43. Marc Malone: “I loved the part where Rich intimated that once people started watching Glenn Beck, they would flee in terror. (Flee, brothers, flee!) …. As a Conservative, I am getting tired of the term RINO. It is offensive to the true moderates out there. We DO need them in our party.”
Too late. They watched Glenn Beck and fled, brother, fled!
49. Knotacommie: “Hey BIBIO-did it bother you in 2000 that HILLDEBEAST BUBBA was a carpetbagger?”
Gee, Knobrains, last time I looked it was 2009. Have you been in a drunken stupor THAT long?
You sure you don’t get it?
You have to ask if Dave K. gets it? What does Dave K. get? He’s a complete numskull.
Samizdat at 69,
“Yeah Lincoln, father of the Emancipation Proclamation. The one who saved the union from destruction at the hands of slave holders. Yes he promoted a larger federal government; he had to he was involved in a war that killed 460,000 people.”
My Tidewater Virginia ancestors, and their neighbors, freed more slaves (a considerable number of them) than Lincoln ever did with the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves free where Lincoln had no power to enforce it, and kept them enslaved where he did have the power to enforce it. It was, by its own words, strictly a military measure and not a declaration of anyone’s rights.
Lincoln didn’t have to wage that war. The only threat to his Union was Southern port cities out-competing northern port cities through low tariffs. South Carolina provided Fort Sumter with groceries, but Lincoln wanted it provisioned with war materiels with which to kill Southerners. Lincoln didn’t have to order Sheridan to burn the Shenandoah Valley, nor to order Sherman to lay waste to Georgia and South Carolina.
Lincoln’s continuation of Henry Clay’s “American Program”–high tariffs to fund “internal improvements”–is Obama’s stimulus package writ small. I didn’t compare Lincoln to Marx or Stalin; I said he was the author of an imperial federal government, a tax-hungry, income-redistributing imperial federal government.
Maybe it’s difficult for you to get that because you didn’t have that imperial federal government declare war on you. Or you didn’t have his successors put you under martial law and loot you.
That doesn’t mean we can’t work together today for true Constitutional, non-Marxist government … unless you expect me to agree that Lincoln was a great president (and not a war criminal) to be part of any conservative/libertarian small-government movement.
I hope such a movement is your first priority, over the Lincoln cult.
Lincoln didn’t have to wage that war. The only threat to his Union was Southern port cities out-competing northern port cities through low tariffs.
What are you talking about, Beth? SC seceded because they were unable to accept the results of the 1860 election.
From historian William C. Davis’ “The Cause Lost Myths and Realities of the Confederacy” (Davis, BTW, is a descendant of Confederate soldiers):
“A reading of the congressional debates for the decades prior to the war, of the editorials in Southern newspapers, of the speeches of leading regional statesmen, produces no list of rights endangered: only one right, slavery. No one at the time complained that the federal government was interfering in state taxation, road builidng, internal commence, militia, elections,…,or anything else. In fact the states right defense of secession in 1860-61 did not really appear in force until after 1865 as builders of the Lost Cause myth sought to distance themselves from slavery.
In the past Southern politicians had shown themselves rather indifferent to the whole business of states rights in any context in which slavery was not involved.”
Davis gives a long list of issues, dating from 1812 onward, in which the South was perfectly happy to accept federal authority: issues which did not involve slavery.
I like Southerners and the South. The overwhelming majority of Confederates did not own slaves. They fought bravely to defend their homes from what they considered a foreign invasion.
I admire their bravery. I am also glad they lost. And I believe Lincoln to be perhaps the greatest president for the incredible fortitude he showed during those terrible years.
Beth at 74,
Let’s be very careful here. My ancestors opposed yours and I don’t appreciate any revisionism re the war.
That being said, we now are opposed by a common enemy that truly is “imperial” along with other undesirable traits. To quote Lee to Stuart on the 2nd day at Gettysburg upon the laters tardy arrival provoking a well deserved rebuke from the former. Lee let his anger pass and said “Help me fight those people”. Words for us both to live by now.
In closing you should know that I consider Lee and Jackson to be the two finest commanders ever produced in America. Each was an expert at manuever warfare repeatedly defeating larger forces. Jackson’s best work took place on the day of his fatal wounding at Wilderness west of Chancellorsville when he disengaged his force, moved it west about 20 miles and blasted Hooker after a complete surprise outflank. I have stood on the spot where Jackson was wounded. I consider him to be without peer as a field commander and admire his acumen greatly.
#70 Samizdat:
“Yeah Lincoln, father of the Emancipation Proclamation. The one who saved the union from destruction at the hands of slave holders. Yes he promoted a larger federal government; he had to he was involved in a war that killed 460,000 people.”
You’re probably not a Southerner when you maka a statement like that.
The aim of the war was ALWAYS to conquer the Confederacy, the Emancipation came later, and even when it was declared, freed absolutely NO slaves in the US or in territories occupied by the Union Army…he specifically excluded the parishes around New Orleans that had been captured and occupied by Gen. Benjamin Butler.
From a Yankee’s POV, Lincoln “saved the Union”, but from a Southerner’s POV, he crushed and defeated the War for Southern Independence. A war he provoked by attempting to reinforce the garrison at Fort Sumter. Imagine a hostile foreign power with a fortress on Liberty Island or Alcatraz, veritably a “cork in the bottle” of one of your major seaports.
Ergo, he needed to provoke a response to launch his war, and he did, and he got it.
All of the dead from the “Civil War” can be laid at his feet, and none other’s.
James Buchanan had had the right of it, and Lincoln knew it. Nowhere in the Constitution is the Federal Government given the power to thwart the right of a state to secede.
And just a little bit of icing on the cake, the so-called “US citizens” who happened to live in Confederate Territory, even the loyalist ones, did not regain Congressional representation until as late as 1870.
That’s tantamount to a de jure recognition of Confederate sovereignty.
The dirty little secret is that the US, via the Federal Government, has been occupying Confederate lands for over 100 years. But that’s what happens when you embark on an illegal war of conquest.
And that’s why Obama had better think long and hard about pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq.
If a bunch of ragtag insurgents can run the US out of there, imagine what a Texas or Alabama insurgency could do.
There’s more’n a few ready to give it another go.
Beth:
Lincoln didn’t do any of those things to “you” either, unless you’re around 200 years old. Just like no white person today ever enslaved anybody. Using your logic, I should still be angry about the British treatment of the Irish, or (because I am also part British), their treatment at the hands of the Romans. Armenians are mad at Turks, Muslims at crusaders. You see where this goes?
The reason the emancipation proclimation “was strictly a military measure” was because under the Constitution, Lincoln had no authority to release slaves otherwise, but he did have that right as commander in chief when slaves were being used to support the south’s war effort. (Which is why the proclomation did not apply to border states that had not left the union).
#75 Donna V.:
“In the past Southern politicians had shown themselves rather indifferent to the whole business of states rights in any context in which slavery was not involved.”
Davis gives a long list of issues, dating from 1812 onward, in which the South was perfectly happy to accept federal authority: issues which did not involve slavery.”
Unlike many, (and I likely had ancestors wearing both uniforms. The eldest brother inherited the Rockingham Co. Va farm and the younger two immigrated through the Cumberland Gap to Ohio), I accept that the maintenance chattel slavery was probably one of the direct causes of the Secession.
But the reason it was was that it was on it’s way out. With the extension of the Kansas/Nissouri border westward as the demarcation line, the territories of the desert southwest would have been slave…and that isn’t exactly fertile farm country even with 20th and 21st century irrigation techniques. In the mid-19th, it wasn’t even fit for pasture.
Then there is the economic disadvantage of chattel slavery, which is best summed up as:
“A Free man will work for less wealth than a Slave will”.
A Slave is a capital investment in himself. All the cost to feed, house, clothe and doctor to him is borne by his master, as is teaching him a skill so that his labor is valuable to his owner.
To recoup the initial investment, the economics dictate that the slave breed and produce at least two children into bondage for sale. The costs inherent in these children is also borne by their master.
Now I ask you…what is a wage that would support a man, a woman, and two children in today’s economy?
And now what is the annual take-home from a job that pays the Federal Minimum Wage?
Point made?
So the “Peculiar,(and Monstrous),Institution” was doomed and would have withered in the USA, AND the CSA, pretty much as it did everywhere else.
Not through violence, but from the steady and remorseless erosion of the market.
No war was necessary.
“No war was necessary.”
There is no other word for it, you are a fool. Of course it was necessary, the South would have it no other way.
They were well paid for it.
Bilgeman at 77,
Please see my reply at 76 above for some context. I am not looking to restart the War Between the States. I do value the preservation of the Union and I did have a dog in the fight.
Let’s keep in mind the greater opponent we are matched against now. I know from your many thoughtful posts on a variety of topics that you and I are allies aginst the forces of oppression and intellectual vacuousness that are striving to bend our nation’s identity to a new order that has no respect for our history, political system or national culture.
By the way Bilgeman, my oldman was a carrier pilot serving on three different “jeeps” in the Pacific theater during WWII. You must be a salt yourself of some type. Will you give me a hint?
So the “Peculiar,(and Monstrous),Institution” was doomed and would have withered in the USA, AND the CSA, pretty much as it did everywhere else.
Not through violence, but from the steady and remorseless erosion of the market.
No war was necessary.
That might very well be true – but how apparent was that in 1860 – to either side? From what I have read, slavery was declining in America – and then the cotton gin was invented and King Cotton became indispensible to the Southern economy. In hindsight, we can see that slavery would have become increasingly outmoded, but things that are clear to us were not so obvious to our ancestors. (Just as I am sure our descendants will wonder why we were so blind about certain issues that seem complex to us today.)
We have 21st century problems facing us now, so I really don’t care to feud with my Southern friends about a war that happened over 140 years ago. Us Yankees don’t accept the Southern take on the Civil War. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one and keep focused on today’s battles.
#81 Samizdat:
“By the way Bilgeman, my oldman was a carrier pilot serving on three different “jeeps” in the Pacific theater during WWII. You must be a salt yourself of some type. Will you give me a hint?”
Did he find it hard getting the airplane airborne toting around that big set of balls? They musta weighed a ton.
If I had to pick a moment when I completely turned off to what Liberalism had done to the Democratic Party, I think I’d have to pick their scandalous charge of “Wimp” against George Bush #41.
To call a “wimp” a man who flew an aluminum gas tank with a half-ton torpedo strapped underneath it low and slow abreast of a Japanese battleship, while all the Emperor’s keen and dedicated little sailors hammered away at him with machine-guns…
And he was shot down 5 times doing wack sh!t like that…this is a “wimp”? (And let’s be honest,”son of Prescott” George could have weaseled out of it like LBJ did).
For my part, I had the privelege of being one of Ronald Reagan’s most mediocre Marine infantrymen.
Specifically, I was tasked with carrying an anti-tank missile to and fro across the floor of the High Desert in California.
(I didn’t quite concur with the alleged man-portability of the Dragon missile, as promulgated by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, but I never seemed to win that argument.) To shut me up, however, they let me tote the sub-components of a Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun about instead…file that one under:
“Be careful what you wish for!”.
Didn’t see any combat, other than a wicked good barfight in San Diego against SEAL trainees one night…and it was beaut! 300 @ssholes dukin’ it out in a parking lot between the barracks at NAB Coronado,(some of ‘em in their skivvies and flip-flops. You have to admire such fighting spirit, while lamenting their lack of common sense).
No. I had to wait to the Merchant Marines and Desert Storm before getting anyone to shoot things at me. SCUDS, and after the first one, (which we all thought had NASTY VAPORS in it),that became pretty anti-climactic.
It wasn’t like the Iraqis were shooting at me, personally, and I didn’t take it personally.
Although in retaliation I would have happily, if impersonally, nuked them into incandescence.
(I guess I’m just not very much of a “People Person”).
“Let’s keep in mind the greater opponent we are matched against now. ”
Ahhh, but I am. Think of Secession as a nicely appointed “lifeboat” if the Alleged Hawaiian and his great and good Capitol Comrades insist on wrecking the Ship of State.
No-one’s saying YOU couldn;t ALSO secede from his odious Hopey-Changey Gulag too y’know.
Heck, bring down the REAL maple syrup,(not the liquid corn trash they try and foist off on us here. You make whiskey from corn, NOT fake maple syrup!)), and I’ll have a word with the boys and maybe let y’all in.
Besides, we have crap for hockey players down this way…them dummies keep drowning.
#82 Donna V:
“We have 21st century problems facing us now, so I really don’t care to feud with my Southern friends about a war that happened over 140 years ago. Us Yankees don’t accept the Southern take on the Civil War. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one and keep focused on today’s battles.”
That’s right neighborly of ye, Miz Donna, and I usually don’t get all Rebel Yell-y unless someone starts pokin’ the ole stereotype.
But in point of fact, today’s battle is yesterday’s battle, when you consider that it is STILL about PROPERTY.
As I see it, Obama and his allies are all about using the power of the State to take your property from you.
Yes, it’s a terrible tragedy when you go bankrupt in paying for your medical treatment, and there’s no denying it.
But under Socialist Utopiacare you get to go bankrupt paying for someone ELSE’S medical treatment.
And with Fed Friendly there with a gun in your ear if you don’t cough up your property for HIS use, it’s not like you have a choice in the matter.
Furthermore, the government is arrogating to itself the responsibilities of a Master to his chattel.
It won’t be long before the government will also assume the AUTHORITY of a Master to go along with those duties.
And that ain’t what America was, or should be, about.
None the Slave and none the Master, except by mutual and free informed consent.
Bilgeman at 83,
Thank you for your most informative post. My father flew the SNJ (modified Wildcat) and the F6F and was off the coast of Samar Island after Halsey F’ed up and left Taffey 3 to the Yamato. He also fought at Siapan and in the Gilberts.
You are correct about Bush 41 and the courage factor. I also wish to express my appreciation for your service. The Dragon sounds like a pain in the, well you know. Ma duece, now thats a weapon, nearing 100 years old now and, like the shark, near perfect adaptation.
Keep the posts coming, I always like reading your opinion and knowing you are out on the flank puting down enfilade on our lefty opponents. By the way, had an uncle who was a Marine at Okinawa and a cousin who served out of Pendelton in the 1960′s.
Semper Fi
I can’t believe it! An honestly written article in PJM.
The only fallacy is that a local election is projected as a national happening. Get a grip.
To Samizdat and Bilgeman,
Boys, you must be driving the liberal peaceniks insane with your swapping war stories.
Good!
I’d share some of mine, but most of them are still listed as “vital to the security of the United States,” other than the couple-dozen T-LAMS we launched against Iraq in ’03.
I did have an Uncle that served with the Marines at Okinawa as well ( I wonder if he had known your uncle, Samizdat?) and another uncle that served in the OSS. My own father was a Marine but was badly injured in a training exercise before fighting really began.
The Best Marine is a Submarine!
~Peter
“The one who saved the union from destruction at the hands of slave holders.”
Propaganda. Slave holders had neither the power nor desire to destroy the Union. The Issue of the war of Secession was “State’s rights”. Would America remain the REPUBLIC it was created to be or become a massive, repressive, Socialist State?
Read any newspapers lately? Seen any news on TV?
Google New York Draft riots. Lincoln was a tyrant. John Wilkes Booth is America greatest hero.
One defeats propaganda with education.
#86 VIVO:I can’t believe it! VIVO talking about honesty!This is as surreal as Obama talking about fiscal responsibility,or Castro talking about human rights.You ought to send your posts to the Salvador Dali Museum.The NY election not of national significance? Sure, of course not,that’s why the Ohole dispatched his cretinous Vice President,and the Slimes took time out from supporting Castro to libel conservatives, as Stalinists. Surrealism is becoming prevalent among libtards as the Obama regime begins to implode.
Sebastian Shaw@56:
“Dave K, you just don’t get the joke. Move on…”
No, I got the joke, I just wanted the Republicans to elaborate on why masturbation jokes are so funny.
Then again, the “conservative” ideology is all about mental masturbation, so that’s why many of them thought it was funny.
89. deguello wrote:
Sure, of course not,that’s why the Ohole dispatched his cretinous Vice President
Peter writes: Interesting stat I heard on the radio yesterday. When Governor Palin made a speaking engagement in the same area of NYS, in a town of 27,000, there were 20,000 in attendence to see her speak.
Yesterday, when Biden showed up to plug for Owens at his Rally, in a town of something like 32,000, he drew 250 people, and 50 of them were the Dinosaur Media reps.
Dave K:
Do you actually have a J-O-B outside whatever it is Soros pays you to slime all over this site?
You know what a J-O-B is, don’t you? Here, so you won’t have to go look it up. It’s one of those things where you go to do something productive, although it looks like some of you get paid to do something disruptive instead.
#62 Middleman: “I want to see a purge. I want to see the Conservatives do a hostile takeover of the Republican party and drive the “RINOs” out.”
#71 Saltherring: “….tolerance should not extend to allowing moderates to control the party platform….”
Really!? Sounds like you guys are in a wet-dream fog. Here in Colorado, the Republican party has been controlled for some years by the social values/anti-gay rights/anti-abortion faction. They write the party platform and have tried their best to purge out from power or authority anyone disagreeing with their narrow views.
Result?? Since 2004, thanks in large part to inept, heavy-handed, uninspiring, leadership from the social values group, Republicans have lost the governorship, a Senate seat, two House seats (including anti-gay crusader Marilyn Musgrave), and lost control of BOTH houses of the state legislature for the first time in over 40 years.
In 2008, Focus on the Family & some other radical right groups tried a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution by declaring a fertilized egg as a “person” with all rights thereon. A few prominent social values Republicans tried to avoid it, but were associated with it. So: the initiative went down by a 27% to 73% margin.
It’s been so bad that smart Dems, keeping some of their left wing loonies quiet, have managed to position themselves as THE party of fiscal responsibility.
I think there is a purge coming, but it won’t be of “RINOs.” The “shotgun marriage” of fiscal conservatives & social values advocates hasn’t worked here. If fiscal conservatives & moderates don’t rise up and re-take our party, Republicans will be in an electoral minority in Colorado for years.
#91 Peter:
“Yesterday, when Biden showed up to plug for Owens at his Rally, in a town of something like 32,000, he drew 250 people, and 50 of them were the Dinosaur Media reps.”
Hey…at least the jailbirds in the local hoosegow got themselves an outing.
Having to attend a Biden speech in person is a pretty inspired punishment, when you think about it.
#92 geokstr:
“Dave K:
Do you actually have a J-O-B outside whatever it is Soros pays you to slime all over this site?”
Not since his ACORN office closed and laid him off.
Forty two years ago I was fighting commies in Vietnam with the 16th Inf Reg., today I’m fighting commies in the government of th USA. We don’t need to fight each other about a war that happened 140 years ago,(I had relatives in both armies), we need to reserve our fire for the enemy directly to our front. Refuse our line at the flanks, and give ‘em hell. Petty sqaubeling among ourselves get’s us nowhere.
Scozzafava is left of Polisi, if that’s possible. Some on the left are saying that if elected, she would switch parties.
Scozzafava = crappy charlatan
If Scozzafava wanted to run, she should have either run as a Democrat or a minor party candidate. I’m sure the American National Socialist Workers Party would be happy to endorse someone like her, unless of course they can’t stand the idea of having a woman in power.
And . . . who won? . . .
lmaomt
#100 VIVO:Conservatives won,cretin, an intimidated,blue dog,is far better for us than an empowered RINO mole.What did YOU win?(Except a date with the scuzzfabtard),some prize!
One has to wonder about the so-called back room deal that brought Scozzafava to the Republican ticket. It was a win-win of the Obama administration, recognized by the left wing blog-sphere as a positive for the left. If Scozzafave had been elected it would have been a huge PR victory for Obama, getting a Republican vote on every piece liberal legislation that came out of the depths of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama offices. With the Owens win they get one more Democrat to vote their way.
Scozzafava is a Democrat and the grass roots Republican’s saw through the attempt to float her past flying the Republican banner.
So, the real question is, who are the Republican leaders in the 23rd district who chose her to run and are they really Republican’s? Find their names, expose their politics and drive them from the party! They are either fools or Democrats.
I really am amazed…the loss of the 23rd district celebrated as a victory of ideological purity over RINOs? A cause for victory? This is exactly the behavior that has made the north east safe blue territory from Maryland up the coast and will leave the party permanently in the minority on the national stage.
Frank Rich’s point is that if the social values wing keeps forcing bruising primary fights, the party will continue to loose in the general elections. The fact that so many posts are thrilled with that outcome is really sad.
… That America was lost years ago, and no national political party can thrive if it lives in denial of that truth. The right still may want to believe, as Palin said during the campaign, that Alaska, with its small black and Hispanic populations, is a “microcosm of America.” (New York’s 23rd also has few blacks or Hispanics.) But most Americans like their country’s 21st-century profile.
So, what’s he trying to say here? That regions of America, like Alaska and NY23, that are non-white minority lite aren’t legitimately American anymore and need not be paid any mind?? Man, it’s gonna be a long campaign.
And, may I say, Go Yankees!!! Woo Hoo!!!!! Republicans take Jersey and VA and the Yanks take the series–the universe has begun to right itself.
As Benjamin Franklin opines in his autobiography, don’t bother arguing with someone who is totally donvinced they are right. Rich and Dowd have proven over the years to be progressive liberal idealogues only. Both have drunk enormous quantities of “radical cool-aide”, so they will have to find the truth on their own without help. They are both totally closed-minded folk. The progressive Democrats are going over the cliff with Obamanation and the bribed and paid for Democrat Congress. Let them think they have a monolithic national Democrat vote in their back pocket and when they see how well Scott Brown does in the race for Senate in Massachusetts (not with the “Kennedy & Surrogates” seat, but the people of Massachusetts seat) they can blame Bubba, Kerry, Obama or whoever they want. It won’t matter. God bless the USA. Tarbender from Maine.