Demotivational Akin

Todd Akin has stepped on his crank and made himself a liability. He needs to leave the stage. Period. End of Sentence. If he wants to run for something in 2014 or 2016, fine. Not 2012. Not anymore. Too much is at stake.

In a less crucial time, Bill Kristol would be right on target.

In today's zeitgeist, Mark Levin is the one who understands the urgency of the situation.

If Akin doesn't get the message, Sarah Palin has the right idea - run an insurgency candidate. And I don't care if Missouri law prevents it from being Sarah Steelman. Find any grass roots conservative ready to step into the breech. I don't care if it has to be Fozzie Bear.

A statement needs to be made - the stage is no longer a right to be held in perpetuity by the professional politician class.

Incidentally, when I did my quick Google image search in preparation for this post, the one that made me belly laugh utilized the great 'Red' Foreman to good effect.

The linked post appears to have been written by a Leftie, but funny is funny. And the point is Akin clownishly confirms all of their most cartoonish presumptions about conservatives. For this, he must disappear from the national scene, and the sooner the better.

Footnote

Incidentally, back in 2010, this blog project utilized a measuring device dubbed the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron, which consisted of a series of gauges designed to predict the force of the 2010 election. One of those gauges was 'GOP / TEA Party Alignment.' If GOP money (RNC, NRSCC, whatever) were to find its way into the hands of a insurgent alternative to the disavowed Akin, we might have to put our best engineers onto the task of designing a new and improved Thermotron for 2012.

Footnote #2

My point, precisely. It's over for you in 2012, Todd. Wrap your brain around it, and do the honorable thing.

Demotivational "Good Morning America"

As anyone who might be reading this post obviously already knows, a lunatic in Colorado committed a heinous act of mass murder at a movie screening. The murderous act of lunacy occurred in the wee hours as Thursday was transitioning into the subsequent Friday.

As the two hacks pictured were preparing for the Friday morning "Good Morning America" show - what maybe four hours later or so? - the cracker-jack investigative journalists at ABC News had performed a heroic text search on the Google machine. This heroic action yielded the existence of the shooter's name on a local TEA Party web site. Ah-hah!

Of course, as the reader may also already know, the linkage was factually blown up that same morning. The hacks were forced to apologize for their pathetic incompetence, and these hacks have endured a fire storm of deserved criticism. Most of that criticism seems to have diagnosed incompetence, unconscious bias, or a combination of both.

==

Newsflash: the correct diagnosis is intentional bias.

These propagandists are active agents for the political Left. Period. End of sentence. They salivate at the chance to create story lines and narratives assisting the cause of their politics. Even when doing so not only gives the perception of foolish incompetence, but also gives off the putrid stench of incredibly bad taste. Trying to make political hay out of murder victims ... really? While the bodies are still warm? Before the criminal's apartment has been searched - because it's booby trapped, just waiting there to create more senseless mayhem? Yes - because there is an ideological agenda to further, and furthering the ideological agenda is first, second, and third for each and every dedicated Leftist.

The contemporaneous post, and related comment thread, on Paco Enterprises captures what I mean from another angle.

Oh, he could just taste it, yes, indeedy! The kudos of his fellow talking airheads, the biggest scoop of the year - who knows, maybe even an Emmy Award for investigative journalism. James Holmes was the name of the mass murderer at the cinema complex in Aurora, Colorado, and, by golly, there was a James Holmes listed on a local Tea Party web site! ABC News' Brian Ross, ace reporter, had scored!

It is human nature to seek the approval of one's peers, and this is a peer group trapped inside a case of 'Group Think' dementia of the highest order. In other words, they are *useless* in relation to their supposed function of informing the public.

==

Brian Ross has therefore been added to the board of the Schieffer Blog Roll, on my right sidebar, as the ABC representative ...

The original honoree - representing CBS - was Bob Schieffer, for failing to ask Eric "My People" Holder, of the Department of Just Us, about dropping the New Black Panther voter intimidation case. When this issue was page one news. At the time, Schieffer settled on the "incompetence" defense, saying he wasn't prepared because he had just come back from vacation.

It's your yob, man! Either prepare to perform it or delegate the performance of it! The problem is ... I kinda think he already knows that. Schieffer plead down to "incompetence" to cover for lickspittle bootlicking, IMHO.

Andrea Mitchell joined the board when she presented a selectively edited video of NBC's political enemy Mitt Romney, to put him in a negative light ... carrying on the tradition NBC established by selectively editing audio of their political straw man (pinnata?) George Zimmerman.

As far as I know, Ms. Mitchell has not plead down to "incompetence" by way of explanation. Nor has she clarified she presents works of parody, which leaves only one remaining possible explanation for someone feigning objectivity. She's a complete fraud, out to destroy the leading contender to her messiah's throne.

==

Now go put 'Journolist' into the Google machine. I'm tired of explaining the obvious here.

==

Update 7/24/12 These useless hacks apparently can't even accurately transcribe a telephone interview anymore.

Newton's Three Laws (Part 25)

Yes, I know I implied Part 24 might be the last of the Newtonian F=M*A series - but you could say I've had a change of heart (or, stated differently, a "recall" of the cardiac organ). I won't be as expansive or thorough as I was in 2010 and 2011 with this series - when I chronicled virtually every important detail of the buildup to the death of American Progressivism. Instead, going "forward" (stupidest campaign slogan ever), I'll reserve the use of this title for the plainly obvious seismic events leading to the final nail in the American Progressive coffin that will be "Shellacking II" on November 6th of 2012.

This is such a time. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has slayed the public sector union dragon in epic teutonic battle. Part 25 ... tailor made.

Of course, I can't guarantee I'll really be in the mood for pro bono blogging when these times roll around. This is such a time. I will therefore be brief, and rely heavily on links.

Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard explains just why Walker won. Simple ... he got the job done. I've heard much pseudo-intellectual analysis around how and why Walker's 2012 margin of victory was greater than his 2010 margin of victory. It's not hard to understand. In 2010, the voters saw a crisis and took a chance on a guy who presented plausible plans for solutions. By 2012 his plans were manifestly working. That's it.

Hack Wilson of Hack Wilson catalogs the Left entering its terminal state of denial.

Hyscience links to Charlie Spiering at the Washington Examiner to hone in on the reaction at one particular hot bed of Leftist lunacy - MSNBC.

Next up for Newtonian collisions are the Supreme Court decisions on ObamaCare and Arizona SB 1070. Team Obama has a losing record in that particular body.

Memo to Lefties ... Bam!

Update 6/7/12

Also in the Newtonian 2012 queue ... holding Eric "My People" Holder accountable for the Fast and Furious cover up.

Update 6/8/12

The great Charles Krauthammer puts it all in full historical perspective. I forgive him for apparently shamelessly lifting the Icarus imagery from the 'Stick a Fork in Him, He's Done' post, immediately below. ;)

What's In a Primary?

Astute readers of this blog have surely noticed I take a deeper interest in national and international politics than local and state politics. However, once a year or so I find it necessary to participate in my republic’s “evolution” - at a state and local level - by exercising the voting franchise citizenship affords me.

When these times roll around, I operate not unlike the disinterested apolitical couch potatoes I so often denigrate on this blog as “clueless independents” – that is, I wake up from the nap, lick off my cheeto-stained fingertips, and divert my attention from whatever meaningless diversion has caught my attention lately, to research just what the hell the local politicians have in store for me this time.

The difference between me and “clueless independents” is I operate from a long developed ideological framework, which is described around these parts as “contrarian.” You see, I live in Fairfax County, in northern Virginia, an official suburb of the District of Columbia. You could hardly get more “blue” – unless you moved to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Maryland, the People’s Republic of DC itself, Hollyweird, or the Upper West Side.

Actually, my essentially “libertarian” ideology comes down to the following: all politicians are by definition venal, but at least the (R) variety usually (though not always – see ‘Bush’) has enough sense to keep gub’ment on a leash and pick up after it. But I live in an area filled with people who actually believe ‘Bush’ goes with ‘conservative.’ I know, it must be something in the water. So, my annual rite usually goes something like this:

* Find out who the most conservatives candidates are in the GOP primaries. Vote for them – usually in vain.
* Vote (R) over (D) in the general – generally in vain.
* Vote ‘No!’ on the latest spending and borrowing initiatives – can’t remember the last time one of those didn’t pass.

The reason I engage in this annual rite of futility could be because I’m old enough to have attended an elementary school that had Benjamin Franklin quotes, instead of Che Guevara quotes, hanging on the wall.

==

There are no state and local elections this year for me to look into. This is an even numbered year – and Virginia has an unusual odd numbered year bi-annual cycle in such matters. This reminds me to plug one of my favorite federal reform ideas – put the entire House of Representatives on an odd numbered year bi-annual cycle – that way, if the country ever loses its mind over an Empty Suit Presidential candidate again, the subsequent wreckage inflicted upon the republic might be mitigated.

==

But there are US Congressional primaries to consider. I know because of what happened on Presidential primary day – March 6, 2012 – ‘Super Tuesday’

Virginia was blessed with a candidate registration debacle in that one, resulting in only two names on the ballot – Romney and Paul. I walked into the polling place, had a brief conversation with the poll watchers – the place was otherwise empty at that time – and declined to vote at all. I told the poll watchers that if either of those guys won, I wanted it to be with the smallest possible turn out. I did learn from the poll watchers congressional primaries were scheduled for mid-June, so I put mid-May into my mental calendar to look into who is running against whom.

==

According to the county gub’ment site, this is what will be on the menu June 12th. Click the screen snap to embiggen.

Last time around my congressional district was VA-11, represented by “Jihad” Gerry Connolly – two term Leftist Democrat. Connolly looks like Borat’s great uncle, and thinks like Leon Trotsky. I didn’t give him his nickname; he earned it from a long record of playing political footsie with the local fire-breathing Imam terror cell community.

“Jihad” Gerry, Leftist Democrat from VA-11, is unopposed in his 2012 House of Representatives primary. No reason for me to cross over and exercise the right of mischievous subterfuge Virginia’s “open primary” format affords me.

So, what do we have on the (R) side of things this time around? The Republican primary has two contestants – one Chris S. Perkins, and some guy named Ken L. Vaughn. Neither one is ringing a bell. Better check out the official sites.

It’s immediately obvious Perkins is campaigning as a retired Army Colonel. Smart politics – you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a dozen of those. The issues page looks like it was written by some GOP Establishment nancy-pants, however.

Now over to the Vaughn site. Looking at the picture, I get the sense I’ve met that guy before. Let’s do a little more research. Yeah, that’s right, he was the one I was so simpatico with at the 2009 Code Red Senate Rally. He was running a pretty decent TEA Party oriented blog at the time, as I recall. No wonder his campaign site presents a far more professional looking user experience. Plus his issues page is a much, much, stronger statement for the Conservative Ascendancy. That’s my guy.

==

Wait! I’ve been redistricted! Research leading me to Vaughn’s Facebook page (it’s how I confirmed the TEA Party linkage) alerted me to the possibility. Why the hell wasn’t the impact of redistricting top of page 1 on the county gub’ment site? Because it’s the county gub’ment site … that’s why. So, let’s start over.

I am now lorded over (again) by one James T. Moran – eleven term Democrat from VA-8. “Gentleman Jim Maroon” – my nickname for him – looks like a Boston alderman, drinks like a Kennedy, and has a long history of testy exchanges with his ‘constituents.’ He was my congressman in the nineties (first house) and seems to have stalked me back to house number two after all these years.

No GOP primary in the new district … but look at this - “Gentleman Jim” has a primary challenge. It’s coming from one Bruce Shuttleworth – who bills himself as the ‘Progressive Warrior.’ Hmmmmmm.

And look at this from Shuttleworth’s site …

I might have to act against principle – I am 100% opposed to so-called “open” primaries in principle – and have a little fun with this contest between Lefty and Leftier. But I better be careful – any guy running around calling himself the ‘Progressive Warrior’ might actually be a more electable candidate than “Gentleman Jim” in these parts.

==

It’s a little easier to determine if the GOP Senate primary applies to me as a voter …. Virginia is Virginia is Virginia and Senators of course represent the entire state. But the choice is more difficult for me … I have a natural sympathy for the GOP Establishment candidate, even though he is being challenged by a TEA Party activist (which also brings auto-sympathy).

My sympathy for the Establishment candidate – George Allen – is connected to one of the major themes of this blog … namely the role the corrupt and biased MSM plays in the republic’s electoral politics. Senator Allen (I think that title is held in perpetuity) lost his 2006 race largely due the local media (specifically the Washington Post) having a hissy fit over a nonsense word. The Post coordinated a character assassination over the mere utterance of the word ‘macaca’. The Post, in true Leftist fashion, reinvented the use of language for ideological purposes, changed the meaning of the word to be absolutely synonymous with a certain *N* word, and single-handedly sunk Allen’s candidacy. Allen returning to the seat one election cycle later would be a welcome sign of a retreat by the plague of Political Correctness.

His lifetime American Conservative Union rating is not too bad either … 92.6. That’s an A- only 4/10 of a point away from a true A where I was schooled. That makes me comfortable getting behind ‘ol George (again). Not that it seems he needs my help according to the pollsters.

It may be that the most exciting thing that could happen to me on June 12 is running into Project Veritas operatives. Maybe, maybe not … Virginia is among the states requiring voter ID, but allowing non-photo ID. I usually just show my driver’s license, just like at the ABC store, to be an over-achiever.

Reading the Tea Leaves

You don't need a PhD in Gypsy Studies to interpret the results of the elections of May 8, 2012. (But, if you do have an advanced degree in Gypsy Studies, good luck paying off the student loans.)

May 8, 2012 was a bad day for the American Progressive project - and a very good day for the Conservative Ascendancy. Election results and developments all across this great republic point in this direction.

==

We start our review in the birthplace of American Progressivism - Wisconsin. You may recall the back story: Scott Walker was duly elected on a transparently communicated program to reign in the benefit entitlements for public sector workers, the public sector unions threw a public hissy fit, their bought-and-paid-for Donkey Party politicians earned eternal infamy as the "fleebagger" caucus, and Team Leftie collected nearly a million signatures on a recall election petition. The general recall election will occur on June 5. May 8 was the day of the related Democrat and Republican primaries. The really interesting observation is the turnout for these primaries. The Democrats drew significantly fewer to the voting booth than there were petition signatories. Hmmmmmmm. (And the union backed candidate was trounced, btw). Most telling - Scott Walker, in his entirely pro forma primary against "none of the above," drew more votes than all the Democrat candidates combined. You don't say? Tea leaves say Scott Walker and the forces of fiscal sanity will prevail over the insatiable appetite of the public sector unions for other people's money.

==

Moving on to the coal mining state of West Virginia, whose economy depends on an industry upon which Barack Hussein Obama's Environmental Protection Agency has declared war, a shot was sent across the bow of the SS Progressive when federal prison inmate No. 11593-051 took 41% of the Democrat primary vote from the ship's captain. All that remains is deciding how many delegates to the national convention the incarcerated "Not-Obama" candidate will be awarded. Tea leaves say there's trouble on the poop deck of the SS Progressive. The crew is restless and there is loose talk of mutiny.

==

Speaking of the Democrat national convention, there's been loose talk of moving it out of North Carolina, because the state's citizenry made it the 30th state of the union to enshrine a traditional definition of marriage into its constitution on May 8. This emergency measure may not be necessary, however, as the captain of the SS Progressive made an appearance on the poop deck to announce his personal views on gay marriage had "evolved" ... into Dick Cheney's position - i.e. gay marriage OK, but not a federal matter. Tea leaves say more restiveness to come on the poop deck of the SS Progressive as the gay sailors figure out there is in fact no federal policy change, and the religious black sailors figure out Barack has been playing them for fools while "evolving."

==

There was no election (that I know of) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on May 8. But it is worth noting the TEA leaves say Scott Brown will maintain his hold on the Ted Kennedy Memorial Senate seat. You see, the hand picked Progressive candidate for reclaiming this seat has a rather comical identity problem to confront. We are witnessing the death throes of the silly politics of identity (aka Political Correctness) with this little drama, and the Conservative Ascendancy is the ideological beneficiary.

==

Which brings us finally to the Hoosier state, Indiana. On May 8 a man who has been representing the state in the US Senate for 36 years (and yet somehow has no residency in the state) lost his Republican primary contest to a homophobic, misogynist, racist, fire-breathing, social darwinist, fascist. Or so the panicked crew of the SS Progressive, and the dinghy GOP Establishment tethered to it, would have you believe. No, actually it was the fiscally conservative sitting state treasurer. Tea leaves say more fiscal conservatism coming to Washington. Better make those early retirement plans bureau-weenies.

How Stupid *is* My Republic?

The April 4th update to my April 3rd post captured a theme that will no doubt make a strong contribution to the theme of this blog going forward.

LAS likes how Limbaugh is explaining Barry's erratic, hyperbolic, and cynical statements of late. It is an open electoral appeal to the truly ignorant and dumb. So, that's it then ... 2012 will demonstrate just how dumb my republic has finally become. Dumb enough to re-elect a failed demagogue? We shall see.

The answer to the question is not at all clear. The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama has a truly sorry record … but is also protected by the praetorian guard of sycophantic propagandists known as the mainstream media. As we established at the outset of this blog project, the American electorate naturally identifies with conservative governing policies (hint: generally the opposite of BHO’s), but doesn’t actually realize this mostly because they are largely apolitical (or, more to the point, not informed about political ideologies). The majority of Americans walking into that voting booth on 11/06/12 will be making a choice between two alternatives they have barely spent any time examining, and about which they are mostly misinformed. And the fate of the republic hangs in the balance this time around. Oh joy.

On the plus side, conservative new media has arisen to do the corrupt and biased old media’s job for it, and is arguably at least an even match now in the information wars. The sure evidence is Rush Limbaugh’s increased ratings in the face of Team Leftie’s coordinated ‘Krieg auf Frauen Blitzkrieg” against his advertisers.

==

So, we have a non-ideological voting base, not inclined to do the homework to become informed ideologically, making a choice between an incumbent determined to hide his true hard Left ideology, and a GOP challenger who is inarticulate when talking about the alternative ideology. Furthermore, the incumbent is slavishly propped up by fellow travelers in the old media, and the challenger is promoted by a conservative new media not out of any love for the candidate but out of concern for the future of the republic.

A few top level observations regarding the odds making on this one …

1 - Conservative new media will have to work harder than the sclerotic dinosaurs in the corrupt and biased old media newsrooms. I have no doubt this will happen in an absolute sense … conservative new media is generally younger, smarter, and driven by a patriotic fervor. The opposition is represented by hacks like Chris ‘Tingles’ Matthews. But it remains an open question whether or not conservative new media will outwork the old media hacks by enough to reach enough of those so-called ‘independent’ voters who will remain on the couch with cheeto-stained fingertips until a week or so before the election. We shall see.

2 – Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney cannot make the mistake the GOP Establishment’s 2008 nominee made … the mistake of treating Team Leftie’s quota candidate with kid gloves. Early signs are actually OK on this one, but Romney will need constant prodding from grass roots conservatives to stay on track. At his core, the GOP Establishment nominee is a country club Republican, tailor made to be demonized by the class warfare campaign tactics of BHO’s Billion Dollar Slime Machine. Can Mittens run a campaign slightly outside his comfort zone in order to win it? We shall see.

3 – Can the American electorate direct righteous anger where it belongs? The Alinksy playbook being executed by Team Obama calls for riling up mob passions with the politics of envy, and putting your mob into action on behalf of your agenda - laws and public safety be damned. Occupy Wall Street is a perfect example, though that one doesn’t seem to working out so well for BHO and His Corrupt Gang of Progressives. The TEA Party movement is an example of the opposite – the *Taxed Enough Already* patriots mean what they say, say what they mean, work within the legal bounds of the existing system, and are the very model of law and order at every assembly. But, due to shamelessly biased portrayals by old media, I’ll bet you will get the wrong answer more often than not asking the average citizen which one is responsible for thousands of arrests, dozens of rapes, injury to countless police officers, and an unknown (but huge) cost in property damage. I have no doubt future historians will identify the corruptly biased coverage of these two movements as the real beginning of the end for old media. However, I’m afraid the misrepresentations will live on until the election, which is what matters now. Up against this calculated old media misrepresentation is the reality the electorate is living as a result of BHO’s sorry record. Will the average American voter place more credence in the policy wreckage unfolding before his very eyes, or the Alinskyite narrative spun by BHO with the help of old media? We shall see.

==

However I look at this question, I always come back to realizing the fate of the republic depends on conservative new media communicating Obama’s true record and true policy intentions.

Obama’s foreign policy is a disaster, but I don’t think it will come home to roost before the next election. Of course, I could be wrong … and if it does, it will be ‘game over’ a la Jimmy Carter.

I won’t shy away from covering Barry’s foreign policy wreckage in future posts. Nor will any other opinionator in conservative new media, no doubt. But the point here is the focus for winning this election has to be on opening the citizenry’s eyes to the misery BHO’s policies have directly visited upon them in their lives and neighborhoods.

When Barry runs around falsely claiming the economy is turning around because the officially measured unemployment rate has ‘ticked down’ from 8.2% to 8.1%, we need to relentlessly barrage the republic with the counter-points:

* These are the same geniuses who told us in 2009 their program was necessary to keep unemployment from ever getting above 8%.

* These hacks already hold the record for the longest stretch of official unemployment above 8% since the Great Depression

* The officially measured number goes *down* when a sufficient number of people become so discouraged they leave the work force altogether and are no longer counted as “looking for work,” and that explains the present measurement.

* 115,000 or so jobs created in a given month isn’t a gain against zero, it’s lost ground on needed growth. You need 200,000 per month just to keep up with new labor market entrants (aka graduates), and 400,000 per month (Reagan strength) to get back down to 4-5%.

* At 63.6%, we are at the lowest percentage of working age Americans actually working since 1981. (That would be Carter’s ‘malaise’ economy).

* Household income is down, way down, under Obama.

Oh, just watch this Bloomberg video for a taste of the numbers behind Barry’s economic fail …



==

And a little mockery doesn’t hurt the cause either. The mention of BHO’s latest call for more gub’ment ‘stimulus’ spending in the Bloomberg video brought back to mind this cartoon on the Townhall site, and my comment to it.

==

The bottom line is this: the only answer Team Obama has to the question ‘Are you better off than four years ago?’ is ‘No, but …’ The ‘but’ boils down to whining about their ‘inheritance’ from George Bush. That is something I’m sure will play poorly with the typical American. Americans do not like or respect whiners. Conservative new media must facilitate opportunities for Team Obama to answer this question as often as possible. Lord knows the fawning sycophants at CBS, NBC, and ABC certainly won’t.

And in the process we will discover how stupid my republic actually is.

Footnote

I just realized the finished product looks very little like the notes I was keeping (see footnote to yesterday’s post). That happens sometimes.

Update

Clumsy lead sentence cleanup with strike-through notation. I asked me for a budget to hire copy editors, but me remembered project revenue is stuck at zero.

We’re All Mittens Men Now

So, Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney will now most certainly be the GOP nominee for President in 2012.

It is conventional wisdom in DC that Democrats “fall in love” with their nominees and Republicans “fall in line” behind their nominees. That’s because the Republican Party is the political home for conservatives and the Democrat Party is the political arm of the Looney Left. Another political bromide goes something like “conservatives see the world as it is and ask why, liberals imagine a world that could be and ask why not.”

Ipso facto, when the Left wins big (such as in 2008), the country gets big changes. And it doesn’t always work out so well. Witness the country’s deranged swoon for the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama four years ago … and the wreckage that has been visited upon the republic in the years since.

Hell, the wreckage is so obvious to the most casual observer by now, even the Empty Suit’s well-heeled water carriers at the New York Times are making the LOL promise to vet the Saul Alinsky radical this time around – four years and more than five trillion dollars of new national debt too late, that is! Thanks, but no thanks, hacks. You are officially obsolete with this admission of total corruption and incompetence. Then again, these are the same geniuses who are just now figuring out their gilded dinosaur “defined benefit” retirement plans are not sustainable for a commercial enterprise. But I digress (again).

==

The point is, those of us in the conservative coalition need to get completely behind Romney, now that he is the sure GOP nominee, and do everything possible to help him defeat the Saul Alinsky radical in the White House. Any other position is fundamentally un-conservative. To be conservative is first and foremost to see the world as it is. Four more years of this inept and radical left wing governance from BHO and His Corrupt Gang of Progressives would be a complete disaster for the republic. Not casting a vote , or throwing away your vote on a quixotic 3rd party candidate, because Mittens isn’t the perfect conservative, is as good as voting for the Saul Alinsky radical. That’s how the system works. To be conservative is to understand when it is time to suck it up, hitch up the big boy pants, and cooperate to graduate. (Flag thrown for cliché abuse) This is such a time.

Those who decry the selection of Mittens as a victory for the Establishment GOP over the grass roots conservative uprising (commonly labeled the TEA Party movement, but more broadly identified as the Conservative Ascendancy on this blog) … miss the point. The GOP is being enriched and enlivened by the TEA Party movement from the ground up. 2012 will add to the movement’s gains in the US House, US Senate, and state and local offices across the nation. If you thought ‘Shellacking I’ was something to behold, you are going to love the ashen looks on the faces of the liberal political and media elite when they wake up after ‘Shellacking II’ to a world with the Donkey Party out of power on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. We will get our President in due time.

Romney is a decent and smart guy. He is smart enough to know he will be accountable to the movement’s priorities, and (even more fundamentally important at this turn) decent enough to respect the limits of the constitution in office. Do you have a better (achievable) option on the table? I don’t see one. The Establishment GOP can have one more Presidential nominee, if that’s the means to the all important end of defeating the Saul Alinsky radical in the White House. The Conservative Ascendancy is not going anywhere after BHO’s defeat. And don’t you think Mittens will be infinitely easier to keep in line than BHO?

So, that's it, we’re all Mittens men now.

==

In that spirit, I will offer some advice to the new GOP standard bearer. It basically boils down to this … run hard against Obama’s *record* … simply because it *sucks*. If it were a straight up contest on records, a #2 pencil would be favored over Barry.

But, of course, we all know Team Leftie will turn the campaign into a cartoon to distract us from Barry's sorry record. It will resemble something along the lines of Hannah Barbara’s Wacky Racers.



No worries, though, Mittens - conservative new media has your back as far as neutralizing BHO’s Billion Dollar Slime Machine. The doggie wars are a mere taste of what to expect (pun intended). We The People are better at the snark, better at turning Alinsky’s rule book against the Empty Suit, than you can ever be, anyway. Let us handle that part. You should ignore the food fight, just be yourself, and make it your campaign’s mission to use every precious moment to hammer Obama on his record. Just keep running down the checklist relentlessly. The reckless spending and unsustainable debt curve … the lousy economy … the cynical refusal to pass a budget for three years … the total lack of leadership on entitlement reform, our nation’s number one fiscal menace.

Oh, and don’t forget Alinsky’s Rule 11: “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.“ Which leads me to my next specific recommendation … tap Paul Ryan as your VP. He’s way better than any of us at talking about all that fiscal stuff. And Team Leftie will have a much harder time making a straw man mockery of their cartoon version of the “Ryan Plan” if we have the straw man himself out there talking sense back at them. You can be the suit, let Ryan be the smart guy, leave the food fight to conservative new media, and everything will work out just fine for you.

Postscript

Don’t be a petty ass hat with your vanquished opponents Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Make sure they both get prime time speeches at the convention. They are both better than you at speaking to the Conservative Ascendancy. You will need their help “energizing the base.”

What Ted Nugent and Jim Treacher Teach Us

Both Ted Nugent and Jim Treacher are obviously persons of great import … they both have WikiPedia pages! I, alas, do not. Thus, I do not know either of them, nor can I know if they know one another. Thus is the great 21st century class division between the WikiPediad class and WikiPedialess class.

Your humble WikiPedialess correspondent can, however, provide the following thumbnail sketch biographies.

Nugent is the ‘Motor City Madman’ of Rock ‘N Roll, with a side interest in hunting large animals and a history of copious volumes of casual hetereosexual sex. I’m going out on a limb here, and putting Nugent squarely in the Libertarian half of the big Conservative tent.

Jim Treacher is the blogger with a regular gig at the Daily Caller behind this avatar …

Combining the Ward Cleaver vibe of the avatar with what I gather from his writing, I imagine a young Treacher as a kind of Libertarian-curious social conservative. In any event, he now regularly checks all the ideological boxes of the classically conservative fusion, and does so with a great sense of humor in his writing.

==

In the past 48 hours or so, both of these stalwart conservatives have made mighty contributions to the all-important goal of ridding the republic of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama. Taken together, they are a kind of Yin and Yang of the attitude conservatives will need to adopt to be effective in the current election season. The composite can be labeled the Happy Warrior – Mark Steyn’s long time National Review ‘chair,’ btw.

Ted Nugent gave us the Yin of “Take No Prisoners, Give No Quarter” directness, in remarks to the National Rifle Association (NRA). The overheated media reaction is the proof of its effectiveness. Team Leftie has enjoyed a monopoly on abrasive political speech for decades. They never imagined this Alinskyite technique would be turned back on them (Rule 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up"). Conservatives at all levels should learn from, and apply the lessons of Nugent's example.

Then Jim Treacher mounted a Yang assault (good humor and good cheer) with his reporting on BHO’s prior experience with the canine culinary arts. When Barry the Chosen One was riding high in 2008, flush with ObamaGirl videos going viral and Axelrod plants fainting at campaign rallies, they could not imagine Rule 5 of the Alinsky playbook would ever be turned on them ("Ridicule is man's most potent weapon”).

This is the Yin and Yang composite – at least attitudinally - that will save the republic from the scourge of the contemptible Left. And it is truly a matter of attitude, not a actual behavior. The bright line that will distinguish “us” from “them” in the current ideological battle is actual violence and property damage. Just ‘google’ (God I hate that word as a verb) “arrests TEA Party” and “arrests Occupy Wall Street” to understand my point.

Those who observed today that these dramas are distractions from the real issues – including notable Happy Warrior Newt Gingrich on Sean Hannity’s radio program today – miss the point. The Alinskyite mockery and the issues are both indispensable ingredients for success. The former is a tool for insinuating the latter into the minds of the voting masses – those this blog labels “clueless independents.”

Nugent hit the issues at a macro level, if not a detailed level (but then, again, can we expect policy details to be the job of the “Motor City Madman”?) “Good solid B+”. We need more of it.

Treacher hit the mockery button brilliantly, spawning a day of electronic frivolity that surely has Barry curled up in the fetal position in the Lincoln Bedroom this evening.

Somebody find the Establishment GOP and wake them up from their nap. It’s time to earn all that dough grass roots conservatives have sent them over the years.

Alinsky’s Rule 11 … "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."

Paul Ryan’s plan is a tepid start for clueless independents to start to swallow.

It's the Spending, Stupid

Another historic rant from Rick Santelli. The numbers is the the numbers, and some of us are getting a little pissed off at so-called "leaders" who are lying about the numbers.

(From the most important web site of 2012)

Question for BHO and His Corrupt Gang of Progressives ... what the hell is so "fair" about saddling unborn citizens with crippling debt?

When Santelli says he's not ready to talk about solutions (LAS likes a man who knows when he's too pissed off to go there), it's because he knows the solution space is entitlement reform. Whether we are able to go there as a nation before we are completely broke is the all time test of Alexander Hamilton's proposition that the masses are fools ... or maybe Benjamin Franklin's famous answer to the man who asked him what form of government the constitutional convention had created - "a republic, if you can keep it." When the occupy mob chants "this is what democracy looks like" ... they mean it ... pure, unfiltered, 'democracy' will inevitably degenerate into lowest common denominator mob rule. It's just how the numbers work.

Update

I think this one is going viral. A blogger with what is quite obviously a much larger readership than mine - the Left Coast Rebel - likes Rick's Rant, too.

War

Today I introduce a new widget at the top of this blog. It is a portal to what will be remembered as the most important web site launched in 2012 - www.breitbart.com.

This website was designed by an extraordinary staff of citizen journalists assembled by this patriot.




This patriotic effort begins the inexorable process of hammering the final nail in the coffin of the corrupt and biased Leftist mainstream media. God speed to each of Breitbat-Dot-Com's generals, lieutenants, and foot soldiers.

On the Death of Andrew Breitbart

I never had the pleasure of meeting the man. I am, however, completely certain I would have enjoyed his company. His was a transcendent personality … the kind that calls out to all kindred spirits willing to take the initiative to notice.

I must say I have struggled with “how” to “take notice.” It was, naturally, de rigueur, for a blog with this blog’s theme and mission. But, as should be abundantly clear to the most casual observer of this blog, serious commentary is incidental, though not central, to its construction. That is, incidental in a seriously calculated way.

Which makes it difficult to construct serious eulogies.

Then, of course, there is the regular cadence of my own life that I must live, which naturally takes priority over all.  For example, the thirteen year old boy’s house league basketball team just lost their first round playoff game against a lower seed - because they did everything right … except force enough shots via the power of their will to fall inside the rim rather than outside it. Those seven kids learned a great lesson tonight, which was confirmed by the broad smiles on their faces as they left the court losers. No, not the kind of faux satisfaction that comes from the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ Soccer Mom ethos – more the kind of satisfaction that comes from being satisfied by the good fight well fought. Plus, they know they can still plow their way through the loser’s bracket. I expect the disciplined execution of happy warriors to yield a good result beginning with tomorrow’s game.

==

Sure, I could easily envision myself raising a glass to the man.

And, sure, while struggling with the “how” to “take notice” question – via my well worn method of strolling down the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll - I could have simply reprinted one of many takes encapsulating some aspect of my own feeling – like this treatise on how he taught conservatives to commit principled provocation (kind of like stealing a rebound).

==

Then it came to me, in my own quirky way, whilst listening to my Pandora Radio feed on my more or less nightly stroll down the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll.

Astute readers of this blog may have noticed I am a Kinkophile, musically – meaning, of course, I enjoy the music of The Kinks to an unexplainable and unaccountable visceral degree. It’s an undiagnosed mental disease. Just ask Ray or Dave Davies.





Nevermind the transitional Kinks period these videos document, from the early 70’s art house incarnation to the late 70’s arena rock incarnation. (The girl singers are good, aren’t they? Too bad they don’t fit the format next year. And who the hell is that bass player, anyway?)

No, it’s the ethos of the perfectly crafted songs ‘Misfits’ and 'Celluloid Heroes' that I wish to offer as a eulogy for the great Andrew Breitbart.

Breitbart was the misfit warrior for all misfits. Raised in ultra-liberal Hollywood, he had the courage to fight, really fight, that is, for the opposite of what he had been spoon-fed. Because it’s what he felt and believed – no other reason.

If anyone deserves a place on Hollywood Boulevard – it is Andrew Breitbart. Period. End of Sentence.

Update 3/3/12

Upon review of the original post, I have decided a few words on how I mean the reader to take the term 'misfit' are in order. It does not mean unable to function in the civil society, or functioning at a low level. It means quite the opposite - functioning at a high level due to being the square peg that does not fit the round hole erroneously assigned by the civil society. The highly functioning misfit is the invaluable personality the collectivist / statist mentality disregards as inconvenient. The highly functioning misfit animates the Libertarian Conservative / classically liberal ethos. Andrew Breitbart was the most awesome square peg in the giant round hole that is ultra-liberal Hollywood. He refused to sit down and shut up, like today's Leftist media / entertainment / gub'ment orthodoxy instructs conservatives to do constantly. That's what I meant by eulogizing Andrew Breitbart as a 'misfit warrior for all misfits.'

Sign Me Up!

You, too, can sign up here, to exercise your First Amendment right to tell the gub'ment to take a long walk off the nearest short pier.

==

The timing of this rally is exquisite. The chicken eggs hidden inside the ObamaCare bill are comin' home to roost!

(1) The Supreme Court will be simultaneously reviewing the obvious unconstitutionality of the Individual mandate.

(2) Team Obama has stepped into it big time, politically, by trying to shove contraception down the Catholic church's throat. (see yesterday's LAS post).

(3) And, of course, one of Team Obama's jackbooted progressive brownshirts - the ersatz Catholic known as Rosa DeLauro - was sent out to instruct us in the Washington Post's opinion propaganda pages that it's really about more free stuff for women. (Hat Tip to radio man Chris Plante) I especially love her "fairness" pitch based on the stipulation men can acquire Viagra without a co-pay. Hey, here's an idea - make it "fairer" by making the l*mp d*cks pay for their own damn Viagra.

(4) And last, but not least, the petting zoo known as OccupyDC will still be in town to provide a brilliant contrast. After we assemble, make our point, and pick up after ourselves, we should drop by to review and photograph the camp squalor. iow - do the corrupt and biased liberal MSM's job for them.


d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”


Update 6:30 pm

Screen snapped from my Feedjit Live log.  If this doesn't prove it's really about the size and scope of gub'ment, nothing does.  Click to embiggen.

Update 2/13/12 10:00 pm

I've designed my business cards for the rally.


Front:

Back:

Whaddya think?

The Conservative Idea Campaign and the Inevitable RINO

Two videos LAS initially encountered today during his morning read view.

|||||

For a simple summary presentation of the contrast, using another medium (the word cloud), you can digest what the American Enterprise Institute has cooked up this morning.

==

OK, you tell me - who sounds like he's reading a speech and who sounds like he's talking from the heart?

OK, you tell me - who sounds like he can't wait to *be* coronated President and who sounds like he seeks the Presidency to *do* something for the country.

OK, you tell me - who made generic promises and who made perfectly specific commitments.

==

As the estimable Jeffrey Lord has recently been pointing out eloquently in the pages of LAS's all time favorite conservative punditry mag - The American Spectator - Mitt Romney is the candidate of the GOP Establishment, losers to the Saul Alinksy radical, and Newt Gingrich is the candidate who gives voice to the new conservative grass roots that has sprung up in reaction to that very same Saul Alinsky radical.

That Newt Gingrich gives voice to the TEA Party patriots who entered politics for the first time in the spring of 2009 is an irony of historic proportions. He has, after all, more or less made his living as a Washington "insider" for about 30 years. However, he has done so in the manner of an iconic (and polarizing) figure this blog has dubbed "the outsider's insider." Newt has pi$$ed off a lot of insiders, to be sure. And that's because, to Newt, ideas are more important than feathering the bed of the status quo. If you are one of those TEA Party patriots who experienced a political awakening in the spring of 2009, I think you get what I mean. And I probably don't need to repeat Newt is the last Speaker - the only Speaker in your lifetime probably - who balanced a federal budget. Working with William Jefferson Clinton, for chrissake.

==

The "outsider's insider" has vowed to carry his campaign of ideas all the way to the GOP convention in August. This is good for the republic. The voice of the grass roots TEA Party movement deserves an articulate spokesman for at least that long. And September and October is plenty long enough to wipe the floor with the abysmal record of the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama. That's the only time clueless independents pay attention anyway. The only difference is how much heavy lifting will be required by the grass roots. (hint: way more for Mittens, much less for Newt.)

Footnote

Memo to Mittens: We all know what happens when you make assumptions.





==

Memo to patriots: Let's have a knock-down drag-out until the last gavel of the convention.

d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"

==

Update 2/2/12

The American Spectator's iconic editor R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. disagrees with LAS and AS contributor Jeffrey Lord. The good news is, as a long time AS subscriber, I'm certain Mr. Tyrrell is a defender of 1st Amendment rights, and therefore Mr. Lord's right to submit articles to Mr. Tyrrell's publication will not be adversely impacted. Let the conservative sorting continue through the convention. As I've said, the Saul Alinsky radical in the White House is plenty noxious enough to unite us behind the surviving candidate in the two months coming afterward.

Newton's Three Laws (Part 24)

I was determined to retire this series title - really - on the grounds it was looking as old as Joe Namath in his Los Angeles Rams uniform. However, sometimes events conspire to overtake the best intentions of the humble blog author.

The GOP Establishment is positively losing its' collective mind over Newt Gingrich's South Carolina primary win.  Losing its' mind!

This is good for the republic and an absolutely perfect fit for the Newtonian F=M*A theme that has been a big part of this blog.

==

Who exactly is this "GOP Establishment?" I, LibertyAtStake, shall now provide the most succinctly transparent definition available on the Intertubes of this suddenly common term. The "GOP Establishment" is (most, not all) of the collection of people who make their compensated livings working for team (R) in our two party system. It's the career politicians, career staffers, paid pundits, paid pollsters, and all the other paid media hacks who live inside the two party bubble 24 x 7. They have a losing record. Most recently they got wiped out by a Saul Alinsky Communist with no record of achievement beyond the capacity to read a teleprompter and repeat the empty chant "Yes We Can" in at least two languages. Basically, they lost to Ron Burgundy in Al Jolson "black face."

The Establishment GOP also possesses a very personal interest in maintaining the status quo, or something close to it, as the junior partners in your ruling cabal. Their immediate ability to pay their mortgages and pay their kids' tuition bills, and all the other bills, depends upon it. They lined up in lockstep up to six years ago behind the Massachusetts moderate named Mitt Romney - or Mittens, or Sir Mitt of RINO, on this blog.

LAS is here to inform you that's what explains many observations from today's news and opinion feeds. Herewith is a small sampling.

Wall Street Journal Opinionator becomes so unhinged as to draw a false equivalence between Newt and a well-known Cuban mass murderer.

Well known pseudo-conservative David Frum makes the case you should reject Newt because his (Frum's) "Establishment," losers to the Empty Suit in 2008, are frightened by the Newtser. (You can bet they are!)

The Old Grey Lady - and I do mean OLD AND GREY - editorial board takes a stab at dismissing the obviously uncomfortable reality (for them).

==

You, dear reader, are not buying it, though.  (And good for you!)  The latest measurement taken by the republic's most reliable pollster at this moment - Scott Rasmussen - informs us of a huge tidal wave of support surging in the hurricane prone state of Florida.  (btw - I love Reaganite Republican's "Revenge of the Nerds" gestalt on this link.  It reminds me of the time me and my high school friends donned broken glasses, short sleeve shirts, and pocket protectors to view the original's theatre opening in our particular backwater.  But I digress.)

==

This is the bottom line, patriots.  Newt Gingrich, as Speaker of the House, balanced the federal budget *and* showed sufficient conviction to shutdown the federal gub'ment in the political fight to get there . Ask Denny Hastert, Blinky Pelosi, or John Boehner if they can lay claim to these accolades. Newt Gingrich has arisen as the "outsider's insider" at this crucial time in history.  Embrace it.  It is what it is.

This confluence has given LAS the opportunity to use the following album cover graphic; which I obtained as a registered user of the best Internet Idea Ever - Pandora Radio.  I had never heard of the band "Elf Power," or their album "Creatures" (under this cover), or the song on this album titled "Let the Serpent Sleep" - but I was instantly entranced by the song when Pandora's algorithms brought the song forward based on my recorded preferences.  The very same Intertubes that made this possible makes the Establishment's resistance to Newt's rise futile.  This graphic captures the gestalt of the grass roots TEA Party fueled Conservative Ascendancy that will record one hell of a Newtonian impact come November 2012.

Don't cede one single inch of the ring to the Establishment, patriots.  They don't deserve it.  They lost to a Saul Alinsky trained Socialist.

LAS 2011 Review & 2012 Preview (Part 4 of 4)

Part 1 covered domestic conditions.
Part 2 covered foreign affairs.
Part 3 covered the current electoral situation.
Part 4 covers this blog project.

When I inaugurated this blog nearly 25 months ago, the Democrat Party (usually referred to on this blog as DemoHacks or the Donkey Party) held commanding majorities on both sides of Capitol Hill and was also in command of the White House. This version of the Democrat Party held – and still holds - policy positions closer to Nikita Kruschev than to John F. Kennedy. The hapless GOP establishment had lost the entire store to the Donkey Party, mostly because they (the GOP) had foolishly governed as ersatz progressives. The Donkey Party, long ago taken over by real progressives, was riding high and hell bent on “fundamentally transforming” America into a European social democracy like Greece or, more likely, if given sufficient time to slide down the slippery slope, a communist misery pit like Cuba. It was a dark time for liberty.

The only countervailing political force was a grass-roots citizen driven movement whose name matched precisely its message – Taxed Enough Already (TEA). While simultaneously weathering a withering caricature assassination mercilessly coordinated by the corrupt and biased liberal media, the patriots in this movement, political novices for the most part, accomplished the initial stages of a hostile takeover of the empty husk that was the GOP. The initial fruits of this takeover were the historic “shellacking” of the Donkey Party in the election of 2010, giving the GOP control of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama was not on the ballot, and therefore still sits in the White House scheming and dreaming for “fundamental transformation.” His method for furthering his socialist, statist dreams is to constantly pick fights with the House GOP with the objective of dividing the American people into competing factions. Just as he was instructed so long ago by the teachings of Saul Alinsky in “Rules For Radicals” and Bill Ayers in “Prairie Fire.”

The election of 2012 will be a monumentally decisive and historic election for this 235 year old republic. Just as the Newtonian F=M*A theme running through this blog archive predicts and documents. If control of the government is given to a newly TEA Party infused GOP, the future for liberty will be restored. If the government remains split, especially if BHO holds onto the White House, the prescription is four more years of chaotic gridlock and whatever that may lead to at street level. If, in the least likely event, full control is restored to BHO and his corrupt gang of Progressives: Hello Cuba! This blog will remain in operation until this historic decision is made by the American people. Whether or not it turns out to be “Shellacking II” as I fully expect, this blog will shutter operations once the decision is made. Assuming, for the sake of argument, a period of postscript extending from election day 2012 to inauguration day 2013 – what, then, to expect from LibertyAtStake over the next twelve months or so?

==

Keeping up a decent blog is hard work. That’s why so many of the hacks paid to do it suck at it. The ubiquitous bell curve that applies to all of life’s undertakings does not spare the blogging community.

In recognition of this, and the old saw “work smarter, not harder,” the evolution of the blog format has been a constant search for higher returns on lower investments (of effort).

I have also tried to keep in mind the first keystone to success in any endeavor is a clear and unambiguous mission statement.

“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”

==

With these things in mind, I have settled on a few tweaks for the 2012 run.

I’m stripping down the header section. It will contain only one widget devoted to political cartoons. A picture being worth a thousand words, as they say. This will also allow the meat of the matter – my own genius spilling forth from my own archive – to rise closer to the top of the blog.

I’m pretty happy with the sidebar as it is. The Assigned Reading List will continue to grow as a library in its own right to fuel the Conservative Ascendancy. The Daily Barry will automatically update itself each day as a tool for monitoring the Conservative Ascendancy’s progress. The JAUL Gallery has grown in direct correlation to the scourge of the White House directed Occupy movement, and the 2012 projection is for explosive growth. The video roll will continue to be rich source of mirth for conservatives, and the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll will continue to be the best damn conservative RSS feed on the planet.

==

Getting back to the dual objectives – return on level of effort and mission – I think the 2012 run will have more frequent, but shorter, posts. I will be less concerned about delivering the essay format personified by this four part series. I will concentrate more on hitting one issue at a time, with a short commentary designed to connect it to larger themes.

Like, for example, when Barry and his corrupt gang were patting themselves on the back for hitting 8.5% unemployment, I would have put together something like:

• Link to some corrupt and biased MSM cheerleading piece.
• Link to that chart everyone has seen, reminding us these are the same hacks who told us the trillion dollar crap sandwich known as Stimulus was needed to keep the number below the 8% they expected if we did nothing.
• Link to a piece reminding us they got down to 8.5% in large part by not counting people who have stopped looking for work.
• Link to a piece reminding us the only number that really matters – real jobs added per month – was half of what is necessary to get back to pre-crash employment levels. (200,000 vs. 400,000)
• Something about the anemic growth being a product of the American spirit and free market despite being saddled by the most anti-growth administration in American history.
• A snarky conclusion – something like, “It’s called math. They should try doing it honestly some time.”

There will be ten more opportunities to do this one. You get the idea for now.

==

I’m sure there will be the occasional essay as my muse (a truly lazy fellow, truth be told) dictates.

For example, I’d like to find the time to write an essay contrasting progressivism and conservatism in a way that makes clear why progressivism is perpetually at a competitive advantage. Not because it has superior ideas; but, rather, because it is an easier “sell.” Progressivism allows its’ adherents to simply feel good about intentions. Consequences, intended and unintended, never seem to come into the calculus of the progressive mind – at least not an honest accounting of consequences, anyway. Any idiot with a beating heart can embrace progressivism – functioning brain totally optional. By contrast, conservatism requires its adherents to start out by thinking clearly and honestly about human nature, and then to apply this understanding to an honest calculation of policy consequences, before spending other people’s money or issuing mandates for everyone else.

As an aside, this contrast brings to my mind the one word answer I whip out whenever a progressive pulls out that favorite canard of theirs – “how can you be pro-life and for the death penalty?” The one word answer is accountability. The fetus in the womb has had zero opportunity to make any choices, and is therefore accountable for nothing. The defendant in the court room, as well as the mother carrying the fetus, is accountable for all the choices leading up to the circumstance they find themselves in. But I digress.

I’d also like to do an essay piece on the commonalities between agile software development and conservatism. Both begin with a hardheaded acceptance of reality as it is given to us, both value transparency and individual accountability, and both emphasize disciplined adaptation to constant change, while always maintaining contact with a few governing principles to guide the change management process. And, yes, I am quite aware there may be as many of three of you out there who will understand what I’m talking about.

==

I’m certain Jack Wiley Dithers and his cracker-jack investigative journalism team will make a few contributions. JWD informs me they are now busily intercepting Instant Message (IM) communications sent and received by the hirsute raggedy-ass recycled hippie that has been using the Starbucks store wi-fi ever since OccupyDC has been in town.

The ‘Commentapalooza’ format will make the occasional appearance – because the raw content is so easy to collect systematically. Which means the url signed comments will continue to seed the input. Sorry comment board prudes, the beatings will continue until morale improves.

I’m also considering mounting a comment board invasion on the Leftie and biased MSM sites. This has to be carefully timed, however. While the repartee of a comment board fight is fun for me (yes, I know I am on the extreme edge of this bell curve for conservatives), Lefties are a time-consuming bunch to engage directly. They possess a tireless capacity for circular argument, the non-sequitur, ad-hominem attack, and setting straw men on fire. The overall experience is like chasing a bevy of moonbats with a tennis racket. It’s a good work out largely achieving nothing but the workout itself. But, timed properly, it could change the minds of a few observers, perhaps.

==

What to do after this blogs closes its’ shutters? Well, first and foremost, I fully expect to be celebrating the inauguration of Not-Obama in January 2013. And I still enjoy what I do outside of politics / blogging for compensation. I also enjoy the political blogging, though it remains uncompensated. However, this blog archive will forever stand as a resume bullet on the political blogging side. The question of what to do beginning from 2013 and beyond looks like a nice problem to have to LAS.

LAS 2011 Review & 2012 Preview (Part 3 of 4)

Part 1 covered domestic conditions.
Part 2 covered foreign affairs.
Part 3 covers the current electoral situation.
Part 4 will cover this blog project.

In Part 1, we examined the domestic chaos being inflicted upon the republic by the Community-Agitator-In-Chief. In Part 2, we took a whirlwind tour around the globe to review the foreign affairs wreckage being left behind by the Appeaser-In-Chief. Now, in part 3, we take up the race to replace the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama.

==

Understandably; the attention of the media, its’ pundits, and the small percentage of us willing to pay attention is on the GOP nomination process for President. I have made my position clear. Newt Gingrich is the best nominee left in the field.

My principal objection to front runner Mitt Romney is now and always has been that he is the wrong candidate to draw the sorely needed sharp distinction with the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama. I don’t just want to defeat BHO – I want to defeat his morally and intellectually bankrupt Leftist ideology. Leftist ideology has spread quite enough financial wreckage and human misery across the planet, TYVM. If the GOP nominates Mittens in 2012, this opportunity is effectively lost. I don’t care what Karl Rove says, the clueless independents that swing general elections will simply not be able to distinguish RomneyCare from ObamaCare – and David Axelrod’s corrupt attack machine will exploit their ignorance.

Until Iowa played out, that was the sum total of my Not-Romney nomination position. But then Mittens really pissed off LAS when he broke Ronald Reagan’s eleventh commandment and attacked fellow Republican Newt Gingrich so mercilessly. Especially galling were the thinly veiled “character” attacks contrasting Romney’s single marriage with Gingrich’s three. This angle played well in an atypical state where literally 56% of the caucus attendees self-identified as fundamentalist Christian, and establishment “super PACs” funded a relentless rotation of vicious attack ads. (News flash for Social Conservatives: Ronald Reagan was on his second marriage when he saved the country after Jimmy Carter’s term of ‘malaise.’ The fidelity thing is irrelevant to this critical election cycle. Get over it.)

Mittens then further pissed off LAS by hiding behind legal technicalities in a bogus attempt to avoid accountability for the attacks his friends funded. Sir Mitt of RINO is looking more and more like the same old establishment politician that got us into this mess in the first place.

The GOP establishment loathes Newt Gringrich, because they know he’s the last Speaker to balance a budget and the only Speaker who ever showed sufficient conviction to actually shut down the gub’ment. As such, the establishment feels compelled to destroy Newt because they are not ready to have their apple cart overturned with the level of big idea direct action he is uniquely capable of delivering. We The People are not only ready for it, but hunger for it.

Gingrich is still the best debater on the stage – and this is still the prime qualification for defeating BHO as well as his intellectually and morally bankrupt ideology. As far as I’m concerned, the interesting story out of Iowa is that Newt still polls even 3rd or 4th anywhere after the barrage of negativity funded by Mittens and his establishment pals. The Santorum surge proves but one thing – the search for Not-Romney continues unabated. It could yet yield Newt when all is said and done.

All that stated – I will repeat the warning I have frequently set down in comments posted all across the Intertubes. We need to keep our eye on the ultimate prize – BHO’s defeat in the general election. Whoever the nominee becomes – however weak he is - (with Conservative Warrior Princess Michele Bachmann unfortunately out, I can abandon any PC attempt to cover both genders with my use of pronoun) – we will need to close ranks behind him to ensure the defeat of BHO and his corrupt gang of Progressives. Their ascendancy to a second reign of comic-tragic F-A-I-L would simply be a disaster for the republic. IMHO, Gingrich is slightly better than Santorum, who is a thousand times better than Romney. However, everybody left on the GOP stage would be a trillion times better than the Alinsky trained socialist now occupying the Oval Office – even that crazy old isolationist kook Ron Paul. So, nobody better be thinking about splitting the vote with any foolish 3rd party runs. I’m talking to you, crazy old isolationist kook Ron Paul.

==

Some in the conservative blogosphere are still kvetching about what they perceive as a weak field of candidates. The “Run Sarah (Palin) Run” grassroots drumbeaters are still out there, for example. I also recently heard pundit Krauthammer wistfully lament how the race would be different if only it included some of his preferred eggheads; such as Bobby Jindal, Mitch Daniels, and Paul Ryan. I have a news flash for these fantasy nomination players – the field is the field. Its makeup – especially its omissions - has an awful lot to do with the rectal examination any GOP candidate for POTUS will immediately receive from the corrupt and biased liberal media from the moment an announcement is made. A decision to run for President as an (R) is synonymous with accepting that you, your record, and your character will be mercilessly molded into a negative caricature by the liberal media, and fed to clueless independents as red meat in a mercilessly coordinated political assassination. Just ask Sarah Palin how that works on the receiving end. I suspect her decision, and the decision of Krauthammer’s list of fellow smart guys, took this reality into consideration. Correcting this problem is a longer term project. For now, let’s just play the game with the team on field, shall we?

Which brings me to the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue ... Yes, getting a warm body not actually hostile to the interests of the American people into the Oval Office is important. But that’s only half the equation, at most. We need conservative legislation to come off Capitol Hill for that warm body to sign with his autopen. National polls are starting to show, for the first time in my lifetime I think, more voters self-identifying (R) than (D). These numbers bode well for keeping the House of Representatives out of the kleptocratic clutches of Nanny Pelosi and her corrupt gang. The 2012 set up is also ripe for a GOP takeover of the Senate. Of the 33 seats on the line, 23 are the Donkey party’s to hold or lose. Only 10 are for the GOP to defend. A swing of 4 gives the GOP a plain majority, and a swing of 13 gets the GOP to the magical filibuster proof 60 number. Reaching 60 is very possible IMHO, provided the GOP runs a decent campaign. However, based on history, I expect the GOP to run the usual dismal campaign and come out with a 52-55 seat majority.

I intend to do all I can at a local level to defeat the progressive technocrat with the (D) label representing my congressional district – affectionately known around these parts as “Jihad” Gerry Connolly for his close ties to the Islamist front group CAIR. I also intend to somehow help with George Allen re-taking the Senate seat he lost in 2006, all because the hacks at the Washington Post mounted a merciless character assassination over a nonsense word. George Allen’s re-ascendancy to that seat will be a sign of the decline of Political Correctness and its cult of mumbo-jumbo. If you don’t have a clue about the congressional races in your district / state, LAS strongly suggests you start paying attention and prepare to cast votes you won’t regret down the road.

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Nationally, the visceral battle for the hearts and minds of the American electorate will occur at street level.

As far as “governance” from DC is concerned - there won’t be any in 2012. The hapless establishment GOP will once again fail to capitalize on the strong hand We The People gave them in the election of 2010 – the hand that controls the purse strings. They proved that by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory time and again in 2011. Dingy Harry Reid’s Democrat Senate will ring up a fourth straight year of failing to even bother to pass a budget. The Empty Suit That Occasionally Occupies the Oval Office will be in perpetual campaign mode, on the taxpayer dime, demagogically spreading lies across the land. His unaccountable Leftist bureaucrats will dream up still more economy killing regulations and taxes.

The real action will be in a contrast between the TEA Party and Occupy movements. Translating this contrast to an actionable vote is within the grasp of clueless independents. We need to relentlessly remind clueless independents of the following:

• TEA Party patriots assemble and make a specific point – i.e. we’re tapped out on taxes and regulations. Then they clean up after themselves and go back to their individual productive activities in the civil society. In other words, the TEA Party movement represents the productive class.

• Occupiers never leave, unless and until evicted, and the only coherent point seems to be a strong desire to be handed more of other people’s stuff. When finally evicted, they leave behind a bestowment of trash, pestilence, and crime for the civil society. In other words, the Occupy movement represents the entitlement class.

• TEA Party patriots organize behind candidates and issues when they go home. They get people elected and legislation passed. Occupiers go back to their basements and rant on the Huffington Post and other Leftist sites.

The corrupt and biased liberal media will apply all of its resources to obfuscating and lying about the contrast. Communicating the contrast will be the patriotic duty of the blogosphere, AM talk radio and all the other forms of alternative media rapidly making the MSM obsolete.

LAS has one specific 2012 recommendation for the TEA Party movement. We need one more massive rally in DC along the lines of the 9-12-09 rally. Even the corrupt and biased MSM will not be able to hide it from America when we assemble by the hundreds of thousands, make our point legally, peacefully, and articulately, pick up after ourselves, and leave behind the pathetic band of whiny hippies, hobos, and criminals sleeping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza under the Occupy banner.

Update 1/8/12

Following is a 9-12-09 vid from my YouTube Playlist.



Check out the whole playlist. It's a great reminder of the patriotic spirit that was unleashed in 2009. Some of the links are broken, but after nearly three years, that's to be expected. My personal favorite is #12, depicting the Russ Carnahan townhall revolt (one of many that summer). A close second for me is #26 - lampooning how ObamaCare was shoved down our throats. The singer-guitarist in the prologue and epilogue is my then eleven year old son; equipped with nothing but an $80 acoustic and off-the-shelf PC microphone.