Future historians will look back at this April 15, and the plethora of associated TEA Party rallies, as the turning point where the TEA Party snowball started rolling downhill toward electoral victory in November.
How can you tell? You can tell because MSM is updating the narrative. They’ve still got it wrong, but now they are at least trying to understand it rather than dismiss it out of hand.
The default narrative of a violent mob is dead – they can no longer ignore the record still stands at zero arrests. The new narrative apparently is we’re educated, privileged, grumpy, and stingy. (Think “Grumpy Old Men Activate Politically." We’ve come a long way from David Brooks’ awful and infamous “Educated Class” opinion column – [blog archive : ’Debating Mr. Brooks’ : January 5, 2010]).
On Tax Day, the NY Times published poll results that have since been at the root of the MSM’s so-called “analysis.” My favorite is this essay assignment the Times gave to a gaggle of its paid pseudo-intellectuals. It reads like a standard issue faculty lounge debate - you know, the kind that endlessly circles the drain without ever actually hitting the pipe.
Memo to MSM pseudo-intellectuals: to determine what we want, just read a brief document released the same day – it’s called the Contract from America. This document “transparently” states what we want. And we intend to sweep the House clean in November as the first step toward attaining it.
In my post "Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 2)" [blog archive : January 28, 2010], I wrote:
“The wheels are coming off for the Obama administration. The wheels are coming off for the Democrat party. The wheels are coming off for the regulatory/campus/newsroom complex. The wheels are coming off for the American Progressive project.”
I was right then, and I remain right now. The Progressives are just now becoming vaguely aware of this reality - that’s why they are wildly groping around for a new narrative to stall the TEA Party movement, as in this truly awful Washington Post analysis. I think I’ll take a pass on the “Debating Mr. Dionne” post as a total waste of time.
Also, the Agitator-In-Chief has been out on the perpetual campaign trail sticking his foot in his mouth. On Tax Day he was in Florida addressing a partisan fundraising crowd. The Agitator-In-Chief told us we should be thankful for the chump change tax credits we have received so far. Never mind the multi-trillion dollar bill we know is inevitable given his obscene deficit spending. The arrogance of this big lie drove me to create a new feature I call the “I’m Amused” Poll. Maybe it’s a coincidence an astro-turf web site devoted to the same lie popped up at the same time, but I kind of doubt it. You know, it’s almost as if the Leftie machine has a daily conference call …. Oh wait, there is that Podesta thing. Memo to Lefties: Tightly coordinated central planning transmits bad ideas as quickly as it transmits good ideas.
Tax Day also gave us the perfect ‘Leftie Lunacy’ poster child for the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010. A dedicated Leftie named Jason Levin decided to try his hand at covert political action by starting something he liked to call the “Crash the TEA Party.” He failed epically. As of this writing he is in hot water with his employer, a public school system. And who knows, he might crack under interrogation by the Vice Principal, and yield up his connections to George Soros or Andrew Stern. Mr. Levin shares the Leftie Lunacy poster child spot with ex-Congressman Eric Massa - because, well, it’s simply inconceivable Massa has not been extended this honor before (how did I miss that?).
November’s congressional elections will make or break the Conservative Ascendancy. The most important Thermotron factor is now, and will remain, ‘GOP / TEA Party Alignment.’ News on this front is mixed lately.
First, my own informal ongoing survey of patriots on the street and on the comment boards indicates a deep, deep, deep residual suspicion of the GOP by rank and file conservatives. The best advice I can give to the GOP is this: make damn sure your Commitment to America aligns very closely with the Contract From America. As a matter of fact: feel free to copy and paste – just say thank you for version 1 – post it to your site for further comment – and publish the 2nd revision FAST. Make damn sure it’s not materially different.
I hold to the position the best thing for November success is a GOP organization infused with TEA Party patriot energy. We still have almost seven months for the GOP to earn this marriage. We’ll just have to watch closely for additional signs of conservative principle in the loyal minority opposition.
So-called “Financial Regulatory Reform” has been placed next into the legislative pipeline by BHO and the Progressives. BHO himself is even now scheduling the next perpetual campaign road show in support of this new industry takeover. This is highly technical macro-economic stuff, so it comes down to deciding who you trust more. Especially true since the two sides are starting out with diametrically opposite takes – Dems saying it ends bailouts, GOP saying it’s a perpetual blank check for bailouts. My initial take is this: if the party of government (Dem) wants it, it probably means more misguided government intervention yielding more unintended consequences requiring more misguided government interventions yielding more unintended consequences …. Ad infinitum.
I’m especially suspicious because this bill does not address reforms at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It’s probably because these so-called “quasi-governmental” institutions are already completely under the thumb of the Executive branch, and the whole point is to bring Wall Street under the same thumb. I’m sure we’ll come back to this one as it unfolds. I’m just looking for the GOP leadership to articulate conservative principles and to not allow anything to be passed that can’t be reigned in during a future session. I will specifically be looking for plainly spoken rhetoric explaining the role of the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac in creating the original crisis.
There are some encouraging signs in the news when it comes to GOP / TEA Party Alignment. This Daily Caller report tells us the GOP leadership may be willing to throw down on starving the ObamaCare beast for the remainder of Obama’s term. What they would need is control of the Appropriations Committee (i.e. a congressional majority after the elections).
My new favorite GOP leader is John Boehner (because I learned he has never taken an earmark). Boehner is already out in front praising the Contract. Good Start. However, one of my favorite ex-GOP Leaders (Dick Armey) left him sitting on the porch on Tax Day, citing the TARP vote in fall 2008. Come on guys, play nice together. The future of the republic depends on it. Don’t blow it this time.
The probability of eventual impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama now stands at 44 percent. 44 is the uniform number worn by the last great caucasian NFL running back - John Riggins.
Open Thread
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