Scott’s running a campaign that’s making the DCCC nervous - to the point where they’ve decided to throw money at his opponent as part of their DOOMList - and we spoke this morning about that and other matters.

Scott’s site is here, and it’s a measure of the cycle that we’re legitimately talking about taking seats in Oregon. Roll on November…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

The House Ethics Panel convened today to air the 13 ethics violations of which twenty term Congressman Charlie Rangel (D) NY is accused. The Congressman failed to show up.

[UPDATE] Via Hot Air: let the damage control begin!  McMahon shoots the messenger, and completely fails to explain why she delivered the message in the first place.  Remember, folks: fish rots from the head down.

Rep. McMahon is claiming that he wanted to make sure that people knew that the 200K that his opponent Mike Grimm raised last quarter - which is, by the way, quite good for a challenger - wasn’t locally raised.  Well, to start off with: there’s usually no particular stigma involved in getting money from out-of-district, although I suppose that NY-13 might be one of those districts where such things are important.  Secondly, and more importantly: you’d think that if McMahon wanted to prove that Grimm was getting mostly out-of-district money he’d pass out a list of Grimm’s out-of-district donors.  Not a list of Grimm’s Jewish donors.

You’d think.

The file, labeled “Grimm Jewish Money Q2,” for the second quarter fundraising period, shows a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home.

“Where is Grimm’s money coming from,” said Jennifer Nelson, McMahon’s campaign spokeman. “There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees.”

Yes, Jennifer Nelson, thank you for making sure that we all know that the Jews are bankrolling one of your candidate’s Republican opponents.  I don’t know which would distress me more: that you felt the need to take a shower afterward, or that you didn’t.

As a point of comparison, the campaign also provided in-district and out-of-district fundraising totals from McMahon and Grimm’s G.O.P primary opponent, Michael Allegretti. However, they did not provide an out-of-district campaign filing from Grimm, but only a file of Jewish donors to him.

I suppose that we should be grateful that Rep. McMahon didn’t refer to it as ‘dirty Jew money.’

In public, that is.

Moe Lane

PS: McCain/Palin won NY-13, by the way: for that matter, both McCain and Palin have endorsed Grimm (McCain’s always up for supporting another war veteran and Palin has a soft spot for anti-establishment candidates).  McMahon’s a squatter who snuck in during the 2008 shellacking (and the retirement of Fossella); he’s been playing up his opposition to health care, but as you just saw… progressives will out.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Another massive expansion of government.

From Unlikely Voter: I’ve seen a few Republicans express serious doubts about Carly Fiorina after the latest California Senate poll from Public Policy Polling, but I think close inspection of that poll should give one pause before putting too much weight on its results.

Besides, the other new poll, from the Public Policy Institute of California, deep down is as bad for Barbara Boxer as the Republicans could ever hope for.

Public Policy Institute of California and Public Policy Polling might sound related, but they’re not, and their polls show it. Let’s look at the PPP poll first. Tossing aside the question about hairstyles, we get a key top line result of Fiorina 40, Boxer 49 (MoE 3.95). This represents a 6 point swing toward Boxer from PPP’s last poll in May. But I think the picture of the electorate it depicts is terribly unrealistic.

First there’s the issue of support for the PPACA. Previous polling by Rasmussen Reports showed a narrow split in favor of the bill, but PPP shows a wide 52-40 margin in favor. That was a key figure I saw that caused me to dig further into the PPP data.

The PPP poll is of registered voters. The firm is apparently doing nothing to weed out people who probably won’t show up, especially the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner “drop off” 2008 voters who will stay home in 2010. This is a problem because a) midterms have lower turnout than Presidential elections, and b) in a partisan wave like 2006 or the likely one in 2010, the desire to stay home will not be evenly felt by Republicans and Democrats.

This is why the PPP poll shows a split like 58% voting for Obama, 36% voting for McCain, 6% other/not voting, which almost exactly resembles the 61/37/2 split of the final 2008 Presidential election count in California. The PPP poll might be accurate if the state sent people to the homes of every 2008 voter and conducted the Senate election by hand, but that’s just not the case.

California’s next Senator will be determined by those who show up at the polls or take the time to fill out, stamp, and mail their ballots in. And I believe no serious analysis will project the 2010 electorate only to show a 2 point swing from the Democrats to the Republicans, as PPP’s poll projects. No, that swing will be higher.

That’s why I put more trust in the PPIC poll. It also shows Boxer leading, but by a 39-34 margin (MoE 2.7). This is a poll of PPIC’s model of likely voters in November. Not only is Boxer’s support remarkably weak for an incumbent, dropping below 40, let alone 50, but the 5 point edge is also a drop from before the primaries.

In May PPIC had Boxer ahead of Fiorina 48-39, so Boxer’s support has fallen badly. So has Fiorina’s but by half as much.

Any challenger would take her chances against an incumbent as weak as Barbara Boxer, I believe. Boxer leads, but Fiorina is in great position to win, especially should she make another late surge as she did in the primary.

Corruption, arrogant and unpunished.

How Obama blew his lead and devastated his party

Clearly, the Democrats think they have something here tying together the Republican Party and the Tea Party. However, it seems to me that this political miscalculation is exactly why Congress’ approval rating is at 11%.

What the Democratic Leadership doesn’t seem to understand is that the Tea Party isn’t a political party; it’s a set of ideas shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans.

The Tea Party is made up of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Constitution Party members, and apolitical Americans.

They are mainstream folks who love our nation and who wish to see America return to policies of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and strictly adhere to our Constitution. After all, these are the fundamental principles of our founding and represent the character of America.

For the Democrats to portray these fundamental principles as radical and a hindrance to public policy shows just how far out of touch they are from the political pulse of this country.

I hope the Democrats’ latest messaging campaign reaches far and wide because it will do nothing but distance them further from Main Street America.

Cross-posted to Liberty Central

President Obama and the current Congressional leadership were swept into office on a wave of dissatisfaction with George Bush and a Republican Congress. Polls showed that Americans were open to the idea of greater government intervention as a way to address serious problems. President Obama promised that he would expand the role of government to ‘fix’ health care, Wall Street, the economy, energy, and other challenges. A new poll from the liberal Center for American Progress shows that less than 2 years later, confidence in the ability of government to solve such problems has plummeted. Faith in the federal government is now at its lowest level in the history of the poll:

Americans increasingly feel that government ‘is doing too much:’

Americans are ambivalent about whether government protects or curtails freedom, but strongly believe that it is opaque rather than transparent, and serves special interests rather than the common good:

Respondents now say that regulation of business does more harm than good - and support for regulation generally is at its lowest point since 1994:

CAP also decided to poll test a straw man: to find out what percentage favors the complete elimination of government from the marketplace. Even here, the collapse of public support for government involvement in the market is stunning. Not only is support for government at its lowest level on record, it has fallen 10 points from its previous all-time low, and 22 points from just 2 years ago:

In the last 18 months, the American people have witnessed an enormous expansion of the federal government, and they’re clearly very negative about the experience. Whereas support for bigger government was at its apex when Obama was elected, it has completely collapsed. Americans continue to believe Uncle Sam has a role in regulating some private activities - that’s no surprise. But clearly the debate over health care, the stimulus, the bailouts, Dodd-Frank, cap and trade, and others, have sown new doubts about the power of Washington to bring positive change.

Simply awesome.

“So when my husband and I came to America, we heard a story about conservatives. We heard that these conservatives are a really really weird lot. Nutjobs, basically. And these conservatives, they’re obsessed with sex. They’re obsessed with sex and they’re obsessed with what you’re doing in your bedroom. It’s all they think about. They’re just constantly worrying about what you’re up to in your bedroom.

But you know something? Since we’ve moved here, we haven’t found that. But what we have found is that liberals, are in every other room in your house. They’re in the fridge. They’re in your car. They’re in your air miles. They’re in your clothes. They’re in your hair. They’re in your cleaning products, and your washing machine and the refrigerator. They’re all over the place! And they’re in your light bulb! And I want to say them .. This is America! Get out of my light bulb!!”

So, let us recap: an unexpected leak has dumped highly alarming amounts of crude oil into the water, taxing the resources of local authorities.  Wildlife and wetland areas are already affected, and there’s no sign of swift relief.  The governor of the state primarily involved - a state that frankly cannot afford more bad things happening to it - is screaming for the relevant federal authorities to get out of neutral and actually help, and screaming largely in vain.  And, of course, nobody’s quite sure how much crude has leaked, and how culpable the oil company is in the leak, and whether the same federal authorities that aren’t helping now are responsible for missing the conditions that caused the original leak.

Michigan can’t just seem to catch a break.

Contamination from a massive oil spill in the Kalamazoo River has spread 35 miles from the initial the source of the leak, potentially endangering another cleanup site and prompting a sharp rebuke from the governor.

[snip]

In a conference call late Wednesday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the sheen has been seen from the air near the dam at Lake Morrow — an area officials with Enbridge Energy Co. Inc., the Canadian owners of the pipeline, had hoped to protect.

“The situation is very serious,” she said. “The company and the EPA promised us they would provide additional resources. They know the resources they have provided so far have been wholly inadequate.”

Much more commentary unnecessary, but I’d like to note for the record that the general assumption among the American people was that this administration would at least take its poor overall response to the spill down in the Gulf of Mexico as a not-so-subtle indication that THEY NEEDED TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME.  Well, it’s ‘next time.’  That part of Michigan is already virtually one big Superfund site: so where’s the EPA?  For that matter, why hasn’t the White House addressed this issue?  I know that over 800,000 gallons of crude oil may not sound like much compared to the Gulf spill, but it’s concentrated in a much smaller area…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

From Unlikely Voter: The big, scary to Republicans headline over at Hotline is Ayotte’s Unfavorable Ratings Rising in UNH Poll.

I’m sure it’s true, but that’s what happens in contested primaries such as the one right now for Republicans in the New Hampshire Senate race. Right now, Bill Binnie’s fans don’t like Kelly Ayotte much, her fans don’t like him much.

Anyone could have predicted polling shifts like this one in the Granite State Poll of the University of New Hampshire for WMUR. This is exactly what one would expect to see as Ayotte and Binnie trade blows from now to the primary. Hotline points out that Ayotte’s unfavorable ratings have doubled. Yes, that’s true, but when she was only disliked by 14% of the state, and her favorable ratings were approaching triple that at 39%, a doubling isn’t exactly a catastrophe for her.

So now Ayotte’s favorability split stands at 38/28, so she hasn’t actually lost many fans since Binnie surged. She’s just gotten some Binnie fans (or possibly even some Paul Hodes fans watching the other side’s primary) starting to dislike her.

So despite this highlighted doubling of Ayotte’s unfavorability ratings, she still leads Bill Binnie in the new PPP poll 47-14 (Margin of Error 4.81). She also leads Paul Hodes in the UNH/WMUR general election matchup 45-37 (MoE 4.6), which are not the numbers of a collapsing candidate, but rather the signs of a still-leading frontrunner in both the primary and the general.

I’m sure Democrats will still be heartened to see that Kelly Ayotte is not made of teflon and is starting to gain detractors, but the longer she hovers near 50, the more likely she is to be able to gain an outright majority of support in the state, ending the hopes the Democrats have of picking up this seat in a Republican year.

Posted By: Staff

When a president has a birthday you would think the First Lady would make herself available; serenade him or at least bring him a few presents. Not in this White House. Miche has decided that she, Sasha, and Mother Robinson need some "alone time" -- in SPAIN!! During my birthday! Can't she just go to Camp David for a couple of days?

When she unveiled her plan a few nights ago I gently suggested that she stay in the continental US and what a response I got: "The girls, mama, and me have SEEN the continental U.S.. There's a whole world to explore, and judging from your poll numbers we've got only two and a half years to do it! Its educational for the girls."

"But, honey," I said. "You can't keep flitting off on these international voyages. I mean we're talking at least thirty hotel rooms, a fleet of cars, security... it's a lot of trouble to go through for you, Sasha, your mama, and a few sorority sisters."

She started gritting her teeth and I knew what was coming. "Trouble? Trouble? If I don't get out of the United States and onto more friendly soil, there's going to be trouble in this house," she screamed. "Let's make it a semi-official visit. I'll drop by the King Juan Carlos' palace, give them a few White House key chains and get back to the beach. I need to unwind before that family visit to the Gulf and the ten days in Martha's Vineyard."

In the last few months this woman has cooled her heels in Maine, Los Angeles, Chicago -- she's got a pair of holidays coming up -- and SHE needs a break!! I need a break, from all her demands. Maybe I should just send her on a solo tour of the Middle East for a few weeks. She couldn't do any worse on the diplomatic front than Hillary, and I might get a little peace and quiet out of the deal... Who needs her? I'll celebrate my 49th Birthday with Reggie and Rahm. Maybe we'll take in a Nationals game or jet up to Chicago for some steaks and a deep dish pizza. If Michelle can relax courtesy of the taxpayers, surely the President is owed some federally funded fun on his birthday. Right?

Stuart Rothenberg is having absolutely none of this preemptive excuse-making that the Democrats are starting to indulge in.  You seem the conventional wisdom is now congealing into the notion that of course the Republicans were going to have a great year in 2010, and it was absolutely silly for anybody to think that it was ever in doubt that this would happen:

…Indeed, on Monday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP Congressman from Florida, echoed that point, asserting that a “realignment” in the House was inevitable this year, even if unemployment were at 4 percent.

The reality is quite different. When I first started talking to Republican and Democratic insiders in December 2008, none of them believed that anything was “inevitable” in November 2010.

Ain’t that the truth.

Now, I am not a ‘Republican insider.’  I’m sure that relieves quite a few people, in fact.  But let me remind folks of what I was saying in November of 2008.  When I wrote this:

…this is all about getting your head back in the game.  We have two years before the 2010 election. We can spend them contemplating our navels, or we can spend them doing useful work in giving the rest of the Party critical information about the building blocks of a future Congressional majority.

…I can assure you that I would not have done so if I thought that we were going to get that future Congressional majority with or without Republican grassroots activism. I didn’t; back then I expected that we would get a combination of incremental change and strategic triangulation from the incoming administration to keep conservatives and center-right types from organizing.  It was the obvious and correct move, after all.  People didn’t vote for Obama and the Democrats because they suddenly loved big government; they voted for them because they thought that the US would get competent government and an end to divisive domestic politics.

And even the people who were expecting nothing of the sort weren’t necessarily expecting that nothing to be quite so… dramatic.

Now, there are two reasons why the Democrats are pushing this narrative.  First off, they don’t particularly want to explain how their original “you’ve got me” rely-on-the-President strategy for 2010 is currently out in the back, in a ditch, and on fire.  Second, there are going to be a lot of hungover netrooters on the morning after Election Night, and once they get over being gobsmacked, heartbroken, and vomitous they are going to be very, very angry.  Best to lay the groundwork early.

Moe Lane

PS: We can still lose, by the way.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Despite Ezra Klein's assurance that politicos would be banned from the list.

Even a Taliban defector's name was exposed.

Rebound -- to 2nd worst in history

The Senate is debating a bill today that includes bailouts for small business, TARP, Jr.  The debate between right and left on this legislation is a great example of the big government versus small government approach to economic growth.  H.R.5297, officially titled the “Small Business Jobs” bill, will spend another day on the Senate floor as the left pushes to retain the TARP bailout model for small businesses.  Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) have offered an amendment that would, according to Congressional Quarterly (subscription required), “create a $30 billion small-business lending fund, offer about $12 billion in tax breaks and enhance federal programs designed to assist small companies.”  President Obama and his liberal allies are pushing government bailouts as a way to help small business.  

The House is scheduled to vote on 13 suspension bills,  H.R. 5850, the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill and H.R. 5903, Investing in American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010. The Senate Armed Services Committee will have another hearing on the New Start Treaty.

The TARP, Jr. approach to expanding small business legislation provides perverse incentives for banks to make risky loans to small business.  In the long run this idea will hurt, not help, small business.  According to Bloomberg:

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, ranking Republican on the small business panel, says the plan promotes risky loans by rewarding banks that lend more and punishing those that don’t.

The federal government will buy an interest in banks and set conditions that will force them to make risky loans.  This terrible policy and will promote bad business practices.  Providing an incentive to force banks to hit loan quotas will promote risk.  Furthermore, promoting risky loans may cause long term problems with the solvency of banks.  This is typical of President Obama’s ideology that promotes the end goal of a government managed economy. 

As Bloomberg describles the bill as follows:

The plan calls for the U.S. Treasury Department to buy preferred stock with a 10-year term in lenders that have assets of $10 billion or less. The shares will pay an initial dividend of 5 percent, dropping to 1 percent if the banks increase small- business loans or rising as high as 7 percent if the loans stay the same or decrease. For all recipients, the dividend resets after 4-1/2 years to 9 percent to encourage repayment.

Conservatives support less government intervention in the economy, not more.  Liberals want to force small business to loan more, even though these banks are making business decisions not to make loans that may lead to a bank’s insolvency.  President Obama said of the TARP, Jr., bill, as quoted in the New York Times, “surely, Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to agree on this bill.  Helping small businesses, cutting taxes, making credit available. This is as American as apple pie. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy.”  Don’t spoil that apple pie with inscentives for small business to cook the books so as to get special government handouts.

A target rich environment.

A witness claimed "Frank made such a drama over the senior rate" the stranger "contemplated offering him the dollar to cool down the situation."

The super-absorbent socialist philosophy that absorbs all the ills of capitalism with just a few quick swipes!

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

The Washington Examiner does a great job cataloging just a few of Obama's economic missteps. While American voters wonder "where are the jobs?" and Obama wonders "where are my poll numbers?" it's clear the fault lies with the economic amateurs ensconced in the White House:

With the federal deficit now conservatively projected to reach $1.4 trillion for 2011 and to exceed $700 billion annually for the next decade, President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress favor historic tax increases as the remedy. So, unless Obama and Congress reverse their declared course and approve new legislation to extend the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, they will expire on Jan. 1, 2011.

As Investor's Business Daily points out, that means everybody who pays taxes -- about half of all adult Americans -- will see steep tax increases come New Year's Day. Those in the lowest tax bracket of 10 percent on adjusted gross income will see their levy go to 15 percent. Folks in the 25 percent bracket will face a 28 percent levy. And those in the old 28 percent bracket and the 33 percent bracket will go to 31 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Finally, "rich" taxpayers in the highest current bracket of 35 percent will go to 39.6 percent.

But wait, there's more. The estate tax -- aka the "death tax" -- returns at 55 percent for an estate valued at $1 million or more, while the capital gains tax will move up to 20 percent from its current 15 percent. The tax on dividends more than doubles, from the current 15 percent to 39.6 percent. These tax increases will at the outset produce more revenue for government, but, as Washington's record since at least 1965 demonstrates over and over, more tax dollars coming in means more spending going out. So federal spending will keep getting bigger, the deficit will continue to grow, and so will the national debt, which in just three years has exploded from $9.2 trillion to more than $13 trillion.

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

It may seem like it came right out of a page from The Obama Diaries, but this is all too real:

Obama's message to voters: Things could be worse

President Barack Obama, who rocketed to the White House promising "change you can believe in," is now telling voters they shouldn't change a thing.

His message for the fall elections, which are looking ominous for his Democrats, is that Republicans caused the nation's economic troubles, but he and the Democrats are starting to fix them. So stick with the Democrats and don't go back to the GOP.

"This is a choice between the policies that led us into the mess or the policies that are leading out of the mess," Obama said recently in Las Vegas.

Trouble is, it's a tough sell to voters who've seen little progress.

Unemployment is stuck near double digits and polls show many voters have decided Obama's policies are to blame, not his predecessor's.

Obama often frames the argument by saying that Republicans had their chance to drive, then drove the car into a ditch and shouldn't get the keys back. But voters may be concluding that Democrats, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, have had their chance at the wheel, too, and haven't gotten very far.

"From the American public's point of view, the people in charge at this point are the people who own the problem," said Andrew Kohut, head of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

Obama's challenge for the next four months is to turn that perception around.

Or, should that subject line read "WaPo by Dummies"? Perhaps it should read "WaPo by Rabid Democrat Tools"? Maybe there is no real difference between these last two possibilities. Of course, it comes as no surprise to anyone who has read some of the articles published by the Washington Post, that it is little more than a campaign arm of the Democrat Party. Always there to churn out leftist drivel, the WaPo makes it convenient for its readers to either cheer the further degradation of our nation or become irate with the obvious biases of its "journalists" by offering twice...

The tall woman with long brown hair walks up the front steps to her best friend's house and rings the bell. Her friend opens the door and the tall woman gives her a little hug before entering the premises. Out by the hedge something moves. The door closes and from behind the hedge crawls a slight man with a a badge and a stainless steel comb. The little man crawls with cat-like stealth around the side of the house and perches himself where he can see through the kitchen window. "Aha!" he softly proclaims. He touches the button on his...

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

On the heels of the thrown away Black Panther case and news that Obama's forced closings of car dealerships was partly based on the race and gender of the owners comes this fun fact: "The Obama Administration is pushing legislation that includes regulations requiring U.S. businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to sex, race, and national origin of employees."

It's a disconcerting reminder that this Administration is hardly post-racial as promised. In truth, it's most racial in nearly everything it undertakes.

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

July 19, 2010 - (via The Huffington Post)

They should never have let Biden be our messenger this weekend. I knew I should have sent Barack with the girls to Maine and stayed behind to do the Sunday shows. I told them I was the only person with the credibility (and the affection of the people) to carry the message that we would win the House and Senate in November. (As if!). That fool Biden was stuttering and double-talking so much, he sounded like Mel Tillis! And I don't care what VP Hairplug or Smokey thinks--Valerie and I were studying the polls all weekend in Maine. Its over! We have five months to do whatever we're going to do before Rightwing-agedon befalls us.

I told Barack as he went down for his workout this morning: "I don't care if you pass cap and trade, or immigration reform, or any of your other pet projects... but Buddy, before you lose that majority, you better find someway to send Sebellius back to Kansas -- Auntie Em needs to get her boney butt back home. And you do remember who the new Cabinet secretary is going to be, right?" He looked real sour. He made that face he makes whenever he eats my cooking or when John Boehner walks in the room. "Let's move! On getting me confirmed HHS Secretary ASAP!" Barack didn't say one word, just kept walking with Reggie. That's when Mama came around the corner.

"You got hearing problems, Stringbean?" she asked him. Barack froze. "When your First Lady addresses you, you're supposed to respond and I didn't hear you answer her. Is my daughter going to be a Cabinet secretary, or not?!" Barack looked over at Reggie and started "Uhhh" and Ummming. Mama put a hand on her hip and said, "Think long and hard before you answer. Of course, Michelle and I could just decide to go back to Chicago to recharge our batteries until after the midterms. You could probably take care of the girls all by your self. And I'm sure you have plenty of time to harvest the garden with the school children and get your picture taken for all those fashion magazines. Hurry up. Is the First Lady going to be Secretary Robinson Obama or not?" Barack slowly nodded and said, "Yes ma'am'" as he headed downstairs.

Mama always come through in a pinch. If she keeps this up I may make her my special Ambassador to the Elderly and Hospice-bound once I'm running our Nationalized Health Care.

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

A Treasury Department report released Monday concludes that orders issued to bailed-out car manufacturers by the Obama Administration resulted in thousands of jobs being lost unnecessarily, due to the haste with which the Administration demanded they be shut down.

The irony is that one of the jobless Americans the White House used as a backdrop for Obama's economic remarks Monday worked at a car dealership. Was he a casualty of Obama's order?

And just ask oil rig workers in the Gulf area--they know all about Obama shutting down their workplaces. His drilling moratorium is working wonders for their wallets.

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

When I stopped in Hartford on Thursday for the first event on The Obama Diaries book tour, I knew it would be a blast. As a Connecticutian myself, I knew I would see plenty of good friends and some family. But as we left the book store and traveled on to Boston, one woman stuck out in my mind. We captured her story on video, and an email she wrote me later is presented below. It's a sobering reminder that the fight for freedom is still raging all over the world--even here on our own soil.

There is no mystery surrounding the liberal leanings of ridiculous Republican senators such as Maine's twisted sisters. Most now know that there are certain Republican Senators who will be more comfortable leaning left than right on too many occasions, perhaps for no other reason than to garner the praise of the liberal media and the powerful Dem politicians. John McCain, when not in campaign mode, his pet Goober, Dick Lugar, and perhaps Scotty "The Body" Brown (any professional wrestling fans from the 80s out there?) fall into this category. I say perhaps with regard to the pretty boy from Taxachussets...

Arthur Q. Bryan may have passed in 1959, but the voice of Elmer Fudd lives on in the House of Representatives. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D - N.E. [No Ethics]), of course, prefers hunting ways to avoid following the tax laws he writes as opposed to "wascally wabbits". While the nation may have been better served had the actual cartoon character held Rangel's seat since 1971, his constituents continue to burden the entire country with his reelection. If the noted corruptocrat wanted to actually serve the nation, he would retire to his Dominican Republic villa... of course his unreported rental income...

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

Bill O'Reilly laughed off my observation Tuesday that Michelle Obama's supposedly innocent anti-obesity initiative is a power-grabbing policy-push in disguise. Well, the evidence is on my side:

Sam Kaas, the White House chef, "is no longer known as Mrs. Obama's Food Initiative Coordinator. About a month ago, according to a White House source, Kass' title was changed from 'Food Initiative Coordinator' to Senior Policy Adviser For Healthy Food Initiatives."

And it should comfort all Americans to know that Michelle is now issuing statements celebrating her legislative accomplishments:

"I congratulate Chairman Miller and the House Education and Labor Committee on the successful bipartisan passage of a child nutrition reauthorization bill out of the Committee today. This important legislation will combat hunger and provide millions of schoolchildren with access to healthier meals, a critical step in the battle against childhood obesity. I urge both the House and Senate to take their child nutrition bills to the floor and pass them without delay. The President looks forward to signing a final bill this year..."

Which Chicago voters died and elected her to Congress?

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

Just what I need. Gibbopotamus stepped in a pile of steaming Pelosi. That fool went on Meet the Press and said we could lose our majority in the House this November. Rahm told me Nancy was so mad that she actually raised her left eyebrow. Hasn't Gibbs been listening to my analysis of these biased polls? CNN, CBS, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, Gallup, ABC--at this point I'd have more faith in one of those homely, Frank Luntz focus groups! My internal polling shows that we're going to pick up seats in the House and Senate! (Of course my polls are limited to members AFL-CIO, La Raza, Emily's List and those sweet polyester nuns who helped us get health care reform passed.)

Rahm, Biden, Axe and I came up with a hell of a PR strategy to gain seats in the midterms. Since the American people only want to hear about jobs, jobs, jobs, I'll comply. Christina Romer cooked up some new data proving that our stimulus plan really did save or create 3 million jobs. Look at the new jobs we're responsible for in the Gulf Coast alone: pelican cleaners, marine life morticians, oil spill tour guides, tar-ball retrievers, and dead turtle removal services. And I'm not even counting the hordes of hair and makeup people attending to the needs of Anderson Cooper and Brian Williams! As for the jobs we saved: union bosses, trial lawyers, New Black Panther Party security forces, and parking attendants at unemployment offices. Who says we can't grow an economy? Takes those facts and poll 'em, Rasmussen!

(via The Huffington Post)

The President of our fair nation, ever the politician, answered the higher calling (pressure from gay agenda activists) and unveiled a bold, "historic" (if only because it was unveiled by this "historic" administration) strategy to battle HIV and AIDS. Naturally, the "post-racial" President focuses on the racial disparity of those infected. I am certain noted New Black Panther orator and Philadelphia polling place enforcer, King Samir Shabazz would be proud of the non-saltine half of this President. I do hope no one lets it slip to Mr. Shabazz that the President's mother was one of the hated "crackers". The noble...

Posted By: Laura Ingraham

Gulf Coast!?! To think I had to waste an afternoon (cut my workout short and everything) to make those Tea Baggers along the Gulf Coast think we give a damn. It's one thing to go down to Diddy's or Kanye's house on Star Island in Miami, but Panama City is a disaster. This place is known for one thing: endless strip malls. Do I look like I shop at Payless Shoes? This is supposed to be our vacation time and I'm blowing half my day in a hell hole like Panama City!!

But what could I do? Axe, Rahm and the rest of the gang told me if we wanted to vacation in Maine this week, one of us had to go placate the oiled up yahoos down South. I'm still mad that Barack had to interrupt our Memorial Day weekend in Chicago to sympathetically stroke some greasy pelicans! But I suppose I must do my part. But I needed this trip like Hillary needs an extra fifteen pounds of thigh fat.

The good news is--I got fantastic coverage out of this drop-by. I told the public that "there are thousands of miles of these beaches not touched by the spill" and encouraged the American people to come on down and vacation there. Then I jumped on my plane and made final plans for my weekend in Maine. LOL!! (I sure hope Olympia and Susan are going to hike with us on Saturday!) But back to today--it was pitiful the way those tubby mayors kept trying to coax me into spending a vacation on the Tar-ball Shores of Florida. Have the petroleum fumes gotten to their brains? Barack and me wouldn't be caught dead vacationing down there with all those Palin supporters. Though if we swam around in those nasty waters, we might be caught dead.

Honestly, I think we've done all we can for the Gulf Coast. On my way out of town I even stopped by the Pink Pelican Ice Cream Bar to enjoy a luscious treat called the "Chocolate Hurricane." (I have to remember to e-mail Ray Nagin about that one.) After my visit, there will be lines around that ice cream joint for decades--and who knows, by then they might have even capped that oil spill. But in the meantime, they might want to consider renaming the place the "Brown Pelican Ice Cream Bar." And to think, earlier today, I told the NAACP that, "Dessert is not a right." I stand by that. It's not a right. When I'm working this hard, it's a necessity! LOL!

(Also posted on The Huffington Post)

Please go to her web site and donate:www.CedraCrenshaw.com www.Vote4Mom.com www.MomVMachine.com

I can see November. It is the eleventh month of the year and was the month during which my second child was born. If I were a Hannity following party boy, I would be looking forward to this particular November as I had no other. I suppose it is emotionally helpful to have dreams of Republican knights parading into Washington on the backs of glistening elephants. These heroic conquerors would then proceed to right the wrongs of the past and our progeny would enjoy a free and prosperous future. Perhaps the goal is a repeat of 1994. 2010 minus 1994...

It may be difficult to think of the Obamacare chiefs, HHS Secretary Kathleen "Abort 'em" Sebelius and freshly appointed Rationing Czar, Dr. Donald "Death Panel" Berwick and make a connection to porn... but bear with me. Any thinking person realizes that costs cannot be contained in a system that is to provide care to all unless care is rationed. Perhaps there is an... ahem... outside the box means of offsetting the costs associated with the implementation and maintenance of socialized medicine in our great (for now) nation. The Rationing Czar (ok so maybe it is just Medicare and Medicaid... and...

I come before you, oh honorable hack, with a troubled mind. I beg your indulgence and the benefit of your wisdom. I know enough to know that the things which may seem important are indeed not. I am learned to the degree that I am aware that common sense and principle are minor considerations in the political process. I prostrate myself before you. I bare my simple mind and beseech your intellectual nourishment. I know you can help me to see the light, despite the apparent contradictions. Please consider the following questions and bless me with your brilliance. Use simple...

Is there no expenditure that could be deemed unnecessary? Is there no task that could be viewed as not being the responsibility of the United States taxpayer? Is it not bad enough that our overlords in D.C. continue to impoverish our descendants for political purposes domestically? Is it not sufficient that our military is sent into far away lands, only to be handcuffed by dangerous rules of engagement and expected to ... well I am not sure what they are expected to do in Afghanistan? I realize that Radio Free Asia might be a noble venture and certainly is not...

You will recall a couple of weeks ago we referred to Cong. Joe Sestak’s claim that the Obama administration had offered him a job in exchange for ending his primary challenge to Arlen Specter. Cong. Sestak, a former three-star admiral, continues to assert that it happened, repeating it as recently as this week. When asked about it, the president’s buffoonish press secretary keeps doing the “I’ll get back to you” tap dance. Now, Politico reports that Congressman Darryl Issa (R-CA) of San Diego is demanding answers from the White House Counsel about potential violation of a federal statute against interfering in elections. I think we used to have a word for this sort of thing. Dare I say it?--bribery.

Note to Mr. Sestak: you are a whistle-blower, just the sort of prissy goody two-shoes that the Chicago thugs in B. Hussein’s White House despise. Suggestion: stay out of Fort Marcy Park.

Remind me again: why is Rod Blagojevich in trouble?

Speaking of whistleblowers, or blowing something, today we learn from the WaPo that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was informed about the, shall we say, issues surrounding democrat wackjob Eric Massa:

Joe Racalto, Massa's chief of staff, was uneasy that Massa, 50, was living with several young, unmarried male staffers and using sexually explicit language with them, one source said. But what finally prompted him to call Pelosi's director of member services, the source said, was a lunch date that Massa made with a congressional aide in his 20s who worked in the office of Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
According to a person briefed on the call, Racalto was concerned that the lunch followed a pattern by Massa -- who is married and has two children -- of trying to spend time alone with young gay men with no ostensible work purpose.

Wait a second. I’m not so sure about that. I’ve seen this Massa character--who hasn’t this week--and he is SCREAMING for a makeover. Perhaps he was just trying to get some grooming and fashion advice in anticipation of the next election. Remember “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?” Honestly, why do people always have to assume that something sinister is going on just because a 50 year-old guy wants to hang out with 20-somethings who happened to be homosexual, and when I say “people” I mean democrats like Massa’s former chief of staff. I thought that they were all about the beauty of diversity, and would find it despicable for anyone to question any sort of sexual behavior, especially gay sexual behavior. Shame on them! I suggest they watch “Milk” again and learn what civil rights are really all about!

Later in the article there was this:

The revelation about warnings to Pelosi's office comes as the House ethics committee closed its short-lived investigation of allegations that Massa groped and sexually harassed several young, male staffers in his office, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
The committee concluded that Massa's resignation put him outside the reach of any punishment it could impose and would render any findings irrelevant.

The article goes on to state that the Republicans are asking the question that may have occurred to you, one I can sum up with two words: Mark Foley. The investigation into his randy text messages to teenage pages began after he resigned.

The Massa case is different from the Foley case how? Somebody help me out here.

And lest we forget, the Mark Foley story was broken by ABC’s Brian Ross, conveniently right before the 2006 election. This is the same Brian Ross who has been hectoring Toyota acceleration issues in some of their cars. Today we learn that Mr. Ross and ABC may have taken a few journalistic liberties in their reporting on Toyota by editing in a 2-second video clip of a revving tachometer and making it appear that it was shot during Ross’ terrifying ride with an expert, when in fact it was shot separately in a parked car. No worries, Bri-guy. After all, what’s a little Hollywood razzle-dazzle when you’re going after an evil corporation? I’m sure that the story is fake, but accurate.

Enjoy!

Yesterday Speaker Pelosi gave a speech to the National Association of Counties, and the usual bitter-clinging, mouth-breathing, Bible-reading, gun toting types that don’t understand the totally awesome things that she and President Sham WOW (Walks on Water) want to do for us are viciously attacking her. By “attacking,” I mean that they are quoting her, as follows:





























Here they go again, in that charming elitist way they the Left have, saying “Look, you guys aren’t smart enough to know what’s good for you, but just trust us because we do.” It’s that same “What’s the matter with Kansas?” (I’d say people like the late George Tiller and Kathleen Sebelius, but that’s just me) meme they endlessly repeat. Why don’t those stupid rubes understand that they when they vote for conservatives, they are voting “against their own interests,” which of course, they are too stupid to appreciate.

Stupid we may be, which is perhaps why we don’t understand why we need 2700 pages to address the needs of small percentage of Americans who supposedly are unable to obtain health insurance. I say “supposedly” because we know quite well that many of the mascots that star in the democrat sob stories, the would-be recipients from Barack’s stash, choose to spend their own money on iPods, big screen tvs, vacations, and restaurant meals, preferring to use OPM (Other People’s Money) to buy for their medical care.

I’ve got a better idea. Let’s figure out what’s in this monstrosity, and consider all the consequences BEFORE it is enacted into law. What a concept, no?

If you’d like some inspiration, feel free to download a copy of my letter to my congressman by clicking here.

We can stop this hideous thing. This is not the time to let up.

Yesterday’s installment of the never-ending Obama campaign featured a closed-to-the-public TelePrompter-assisted lecture to an audience of screeching Obamabot shills, all eager would-be recipients of largesse from Barack’s stash. He continued to repeat the lies that he has been telling about his proposal to herd every American into government-controlled health care, and added a brand new one: the claim that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this scheme will save $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Whenever B. Hussein refers to the CBO, he says “these are not my numbers,” when of course, they are, or if not his, Pelosi’s and/or Reid’s. The CBO cannot challenge the assumptions they are provided by Congress to use in scoring legislation. Yesterday, he went one better by making a teensy, weensy mistake about what the CBO actually said. In this context, “teensy, weensy” means in excess of $800 billion. A “mistake” of that magnitude might have mattered had there been enough brains to fill a thimble among the brain-dead, frenzied props that passed for sentient citizens at this latest charade. Fortunately for the Dear Reader, there weren’t, and the wild applause wasn’t interrupted by anyone stopping to think about what a bring down it is when the numbers don’t add up. As if! As if we noticed some boring numbers! Barack is SOOO cool!!!

Some of you who have been watching this slow motion health care train wreck, and who are slightly less besotted by the Celebutard-in-Chief, may have had a thought, particularly if you watch any of these C-SPAN shows (which you know you don’t have to because I do that for you) on which an alleged “expert” compares our horrid health care system to those in the lollipop and unicorn filled utopia commonly known as “Europe.” If you listen to these pompous gasbags, such as T.R. Reid, talk about how wonderful the French medical care delivery system, or the German, or even the Cuban--trust me--be grateful that I watch so you don’t have to--and how Europeans would thank God, that is if they believed in God, of course, that they don’t have to suffer the indignities and miseries inflicted by the evil private insurance companies that have the power of life and death over Americans. They aren’t getting away with that, though. Yesterday B. Hussein does what he did best. He gave them the full Alinsky, picking them, freezing them, personalizing them, and polarizing them, by calling them out 22 times in his speech.

Now here’s the thought I alluded to: it’s clear that none of these supercilious, Ivory-tower dwelling, crypto-Marxists, other the phony, lying, jug-eared braying jackass currently squatting in the Oval Office, have never stopped to ask whether any of these European schemes are consistent with our Constitution. We know that B. Hussein has thought about it, and has decided that, yes, in fact, the Constitution is an impediment to his plans to “remake” Amerika as a European-style socialist utopia, but that’s just a speed bump on the road to serfdom. Isn’t that a little more than a minor consideration, if not to Barry, to members of Congress? If it’s not it should be. I’m not surprised that the question didn’t occur to the crazed ignoranti at yesterday’s event, most of whom were college students. Submitted for your approval:

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” is one of the most oft-quoted aphorisms of Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Irish-born member of the British Parliament and fearless friend of liberty. Judging from the results of a recent survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), most of the 14,000 college students who participated sadly will be repeating history.
Considering that most of the 14,000 students who completed the exam (7,000 seniors and 7,000 freshmen) scored an F on the portion of the test covering basic American history and institutions, not only will they be repeating history, but with test scores like that, they’ll be repeating history class, as well.

But if they’re lucky Obama will make you pay for their tuition when they do.

Here’s what we’ve got coming up on today’s exciting edition of the Teri O’Brien Show:

★ Disappointment: why didn’t more Republicans stand up for Jim Bunning?
★ How much did Obama have to pay Michael Moore to talk smack about him?
★ Vote for your favorite Useful Idiot of the Week

And as always, your calls, and lest we forget the live and lively chat room.

Don’t miss it! Of course, if you do, just click on the Blog Talk Radio player at the top of this page.

Thanks for your encouragement, support, and contributions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Politics, Pop Culture, the Hottest Issues of the Day, and Your calls. The Teri O'Brien Show, featuring America’s Original Conservative Warrior Princess, Live and in color, Sundays 2-3:30 pm Central time at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Teri-OBrien. Daring to Commit Common Sense, Fearlessly, and More Important, Cheerfully, in the Age of Obama.
Can’t listen live? Download it from iTunes and listen on demand.
As one listener wrote “one of the most insightful and entertaining pundits in America. Also, her voice is magical.”
Serious Ideas, Irresistible Entertainment. Warning: listeners may become hopelessly addicted.

Today’s Must Read: Andrew McCarthy exposes yet another Obama scam, this time on his supposed reluctant decision to “overrule” Eric Holder (yeah right) on trying KSM in Manhattan. In an alleged reversal, B. Hussein now says KSM will be tried in a military tribunal. Sounds good at first, but as the insightful Mr. McCarthy explains, it’s another back room deal. He writes:

The real agenda here is to close Gitmo. That’s the ball to keep your eye on. The Post is trying to soften the opposition to shuttering the detention camp by portraying beleaguered, reasonable Obama as making a great compromise that will exasperate the Left.  The idea is to strengthen Sen. Lindsey Graham’s hand in seeking reciprocal compromise from our side.
This, however, is a matter of national security, not horse-trading over a highway bill. You don’t agree to do a stupid thing that endangers the country just because your opposition has magnanimously come off its insistence that you do two stupid things that endanger the country.


Precisely. Read the whole thing here.

Just six days after the ridiculous PR stunt that the White House and its flaks in the LSM(Lame Stream Media) called a “health care summit,” B. Hussein staged another Kabuki event in the interest of his scheme to “remake” America. I wonder if they had to hand out the lab coats this time …I guess we should be grateful that David Plouffe didn’t assemble the group of the sort of victims described by the democrats last week. The last thing I need to see is a woman wearing her dead sister’s poorly-fitting teeth.

Yesterday’s event was staged to signal the Community-Organizer-in-Chief’s desire that his minions in Congress proceed with all deliberate speed to cram his hideous, unconstitutional and destructive government takeover of our medical care delivery system down our throats, using the budget reconciliation process. The previous day he demonstrated that, as promised, he had listened to opposing ideas by agreeing to do something about fraud in federal government programs and by sending states more money for Medicaid. Oh yea--twist his arm on that last one! He wants as many of us as possible on Medicaid! That’s a Republican idea? As for the ever-popular waste, fraud and abuse, if there’s fraud, what are we waiting for? Until everyone in America has one of those scooters? I can barely get out of Wal-Mart in under an hour as it is because of having to dodge those things. Seriously, this “I’ve considered your ideas, now sit down and shut up” routine would be laughable if what he’s trying to do weren’t so destructive. Do he, Emanuel, Axelrod and Plouffe really think that we’re buying that including these few and minor ideas in a 2700-page behemoth that completely transforms the relationship between citizens and the federal government constitutes “bipartisan input?” If we have to be raped, can we at least be kissed by not having our intelligence insulted?

“[A]n undemocratic disservice to our people and to the Senate's institutional role”

That’s how the former Klansman, ironically the last guy outside of the rap music community in recent memory to get a pass for using the “n” word, and the universally-recognized, hands down authority of the U.S. Constitution and the procedures of what up until now could be seriously called the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” the U.S. Senate, Robert Byrd, described using the budget reconciliation process to try to ram radical health care reform or cap and tax through the Congress. Sen. Byrd’s opinion is a mere speed bump on Obama’s road to serfdom for us. Like any successful dictator, he believes that the ends justify the means. After all, he only fixing the defects in that document that those Dead White Europeans wrote, one that limits what the government can do for all of us. Nor will he be deterred by the many instances that are being played everywhere online and on cable tv shows featuring Senator Obama in which he stated:

Those big-ticket items: fixing our health care system. You know, one of the arguments that sometimes I get with my fellow progressives, and some of these have flashed up in the blog communities on occasion, is this notion that we should function sort of like Karl Rove where we identify our core base, we throw ’em red meat, we get a fifty plus one victory. See, Karl Rove doesn’t need a broad consensus because he doesn’t believe in government. If we want to transform the country, though, that requires a sizeable majority.

This quote and more similar ones here (H/T Michelle Malkin).

Since when has B. Hussein Obama been the slightest bit concerned when it is demonstrated yet again that he is a liar and a hypocrite? There are more instances of that than Tiger Woods has whores. If he let that bother him, he would not be where he is today. As Howard Stern famously said of the Clintons, the secret of their success is that you can’t embarrass them.

Like most of you, I am disgusted by this turn of events, but not the least bit surprised. No one should be surprised. Barack Hussein Obama is what he has always been: a radical leftist whose every action is informed by a belief in the need to redress the sins of racist, “mean” (to quote his repellant wife, who no doubt is delighted that she is about to realize her dream of doing all she can to help out the black community “first and foremost” at the expense of everyone else), unfair country. The fact that these stealth reparations will have the additional benefit of cementing democrat control through the buying the votes of client groups a la FDR is a side benefit. What is shocking is the appalling and unconcealed arrogance of this man and his apparatchiks. Consider the various back room deals in the service of helping this reckless, inexperienced empty suit transform our country into France without a population with a distaste for regular showers and wine with breakfast:

• A deal with the pharmaceutical companies
• The Louisiana Purchase
• The Cornhusker Kickback
• The Job Offer to Cong. Sistak to clear the way for Arlen Specter’s election

Ah, finally change you can believe in and fixing the ways of Washington!

Now we have this stunning and unabashed bit of payola to an undecided member of Congress, as reported by the Weekly Standard, the sale of a federal judgeship:

Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
“Scott Matheson is a distinguished candidate for the Tenth Circuit court,” President Obama said.  “Both his legal and academic credentials are impressive and his commitment to judicial integrity is unwavering.  I am honored to nominate this lifelong Utahn to the federal bench.” 

Clearly these radicals have abandoned any pretense of honesty and integrity. Even the nearly transparent veil of civility and respect for process has been tossed aside in favor of bribery, raw brute force and coercion. They don’t even bother to try to conceal it. Nothing matters but imposing this scheme on an unwilling America. It’s the Chicago way, and it ain’t pretty.

As I watch Obama and friends goose-stepping across our country, I am reminded that elections have consequences, and as the Gorebot says, a leopard doesn’t change his stripes.

As Usual, Eventually People Catch Up with Me

My friends know that I haven’t sent out dead tree Christmas card since 2005. Instead, the Husband and I have a holiday web page complete with photos, movies and other information that we think our families and friends will enjoy. It’s great, and not only for the obvious reasons. It isn’t the thousands of dollars we’ve saved, although we have. It isn’t the many hours I’ve saved, although I have (and I say “I” because as the wife, the cards have always been my responsibility). The best reason is that we don’t inflict a bunch of dead tree clutter on our friends that they feel guilty throwing out. Sorry to have to be the one to tell you, if you haven’t realized it by now: other than Grandma, no one is going to put that photo of your adorable children in an album or a frame, unless you consider the circular file a sort of temporary frame.

Of course, then, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to read this news about the US Postal Service:

Your job is to deliver letters six days a week but you're $10 billion in debt: What do you do?
If you're the U.S. Postal Service, you eliminate one of those days. The Post Office today proposed an "adjusted" mail delivery schedule, and that means axing Saturday delivery.
This idea first bubbled up about a year ago, when the USPS said it might lose $6 billion in 2009. Its actual losses for 2009 were a mere $3.8 billion, but that's still catastrophic for a service that has strict limits on how much it can raise prices each year -- plus a legally-allowed limit to its total debt: $15 billion, which based on current trends it will hit in 2011.
The Post Office is also hoping to be allowed to shutter some branches and possibly add more self-service kiosks in various retail outlets as a way of navigating its way back to profitability.

Oh, say it ain’t so! Eliminate Saturday delivery? You mean I can have an extra day of not having the annoying chore of going out to get the collection of pointless catalogs (it’s all online), shopping circulars (my coupons are on my iPhone), and other paper clutter?

Naturally, there are opponents to this extremely common sense idea. They whine that some people in isolated rural areas won’t be able to get their mail. Somehow I think that they can wait until Monday for the afore-mentioned junk mail, or as I like to call it, mail. Of course, that lament is another ruse. The USPO’s defenders are asking us to believe that they are losing sleep over some lonely, mouth-breathing bitter clinger, waiting for a letter from Aunt Tillie. They are no more concerned about this guy than B. Hussein Obama and his merry band of crypto-socialists are concerned about making sure everyone has “access” to “affordable” health care. (Aside: it must kill these elitists to have to take the side of these rural rubes.) Just as those who would have taxpayers continue to throw money down the post office rathole ostensibly for the benefit of the tiny percentage of Americans, living in dirt-floored cabins without running water, they want to destroy the health care delivery system that 80-85% of Americans find perfectly satisfactory ostensibly for the benefit of the remaining 20%, who are apparently dying in the street after spending years using their dead relatives’ teeth.

The truth is that the real beneficiaries in both cases are B. Hussein, his fellow political elites, and their mascots and cronies. In the case of the Postal Service, it is one of the usual suspects, public employee unions, the very entities that are suffocating the Postal Service and making it even more difficult for them to compete. In the case of the nightmarish government health care takeover scheme, the beneficiaries are also unions, political cronies and would-be beneficiaries of Barack’s stash. Not exactly a news bulletin, but worth noting.

From the “Nuclear Option” to “Reconcilation,” to “A Simple Up or Down Vote,” whatever George Lackoff, some other brilliant communications maven or focus group tells him will play best with the mouth-breathing rubes, it is Barack Hussein Obama’s chosen tactic to realize his grand vision of a “remade” America by taking over, and eventually destroying, the best health care system on earth. After seeing those big, inflatable beavers last night at the closing ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics, I’d think that he would have more compassion for the Canadians. Where are they supposed to go for their heart procedures after he wrecks our health care system? 

Just last Thursday, at the end of his ridiculous seven hour PR stunt, B. Hussein made it clear that he is prepared to govern against the will of the American public by saying the following:

"We cannot have another year-long debate about this," he said, rejecting Republican calls to scrap the Democrats' legislation. "So the question that I'm going to ask myself and I ask of all of you is, is there enough serious effort that in a month's time or a few weeks' time or six weeks' time we could actually resolve something?"

Wait a second--what happened to the six weeks? I guess when he said that he figured that we would all realize, either based on past experience with him, or on the press reports that plans were already in the works to go full speed ahead with the nuclear option to ram this 2400-page monstrosity through, that it was him talking again, you know, sort of like that guy at work who you know is full of crap and who you have learned to never take seriously. 
What do you mean we can’t have another year-long debate? Really? We’re talking about the most important piece of legislation in forty years? What’s the rush, Barry? Are you still trying to outrun the truth about this hideous, unconstitutional scheme? Two words for you: too late.
Meanwhile, John McCain is in full Yosemite Sam mode, either because he understands how destructive this stinking pile of legislative droppings is, or because he’s in a primary battle with J.D. Hayworth. I seem to recall trying to explain to Sen. McCain back in 2005 that the whole “Gang of 14” thing, which was undertaken to end democrat obstruction of President Bush’s judicial nominees, as well intentioned as it was, was a bad idea, and that if he thought it was justified because it would protect the integrity of procedures in the Senate, he was deluding himself. That’s like saying that if we stop depriving terrorists of their supposed (and non-existent) civil rights under the U.S. Constitution, they’ll stop lopping of the heads of the infidel. I wonder if Daniel Pearl would agree with that theory. Let's ask him. Oh, wait …Now that the democrats are in charge, are they the slightest bit concerned about protecting the integrity of Senate procedures? Hell no. They aren't even concerned about the fact that the American people, who are supposed to be their employers, do not want this bill. 
Why, you may be asking, would Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama want their members to vote for a bill that is overwhelmingly opposed by most Americans? The answer is simple. The only thing Pelosi has to fear from her constituents is anger that instead of immediately imposing a single payer system, she and Sham WOW (Walks on Water) are pursuing an incremental route toward the same goal.  They’ll get over it when they see how fast the private system is demolished under the weight of federal mandates, regulations and the other profit-killing schemes imposed on it. Speaker Pelosi's constituents voted for B. Hussein 85% to 15% for McCain. It’s easy for her to say, as she did yesterday on one of the Sunday shows, that members must have the “courage” to vote in favor of something that the majority of people in the country don’t want. Don't worry, Blue Dog democrats. The Speaker will be there to wave goodbye to you as you go over the cliff. 
As for the man-god himself, this bill will accomplish two objectives. First, represents the opportunity to expand the size and power of the federal government over every aspect of our lives. For a dyed-in-the-wool radical leftist like Barack Obama, imagining this dream becoming real is like Tiger Woods imagining a weekend at the Bunny Ranch.  Second, it will go a long way to redress the “unfairness” of the wicked "mean" Amerika that his wife Michelle Antoinette has lamented all of her adult life, by transferring the wealth of the 80% work hard to provide for themselves and their families to the 20%, semi-literate unqualified entitlement obsessed minorities, lazy, irresponsible indifferent single mothers and their worthless sperm donors, the “undocumented,” and other would-be beneficiaries of Barack’s stash. There is no greater prize or greater accomplishment for the Community-Organizer-in Chief.

Here’s what we’ve got coming up on today’s exciting edition of the Teri O’Brien Show:

The Tea Party Movement Has Had a Tremendous Impact on Our Public Discourse. Liberals Respond with A Couple of Underachievers and a Facebook Page
A Visit from the Official Critquelator of the Teri O’Brien ShowFrank’s Fulminations
New Feature: Rules for Listeners
Health Care Summit Post-Mortem: to Paraphrase the Talking Heads, How Did We Get Here?

Don’t miss it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Politics, Pop Culture, the Hottest Issues of the Day, and Your calls. The Teri O'Brien Show, featuring America’s Original Conservative Warrior Princess, Live and in color, Sundays 2-3:30 pm Central time at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Teri-OBrien. Daring to Commit Common Sense, Fearlessly, and More Important, Cheerfully, in the Age of Obama.
Can’t listen live? Download it from iTunes and listen on demand.
As one listener wrote “one of the most insightful and entertaining pundits in America. Also, her voice is magical.”
Serious Ideas, Irresistible Entertainment. Warning: listeners may become hopelessly addicted.