Ornstein and Mann Identify the Problem in Washington: Republicans

You might have missed this one, concerned as I know all of you were with the annual White House Correspondent's Circus Dinner and the prospect of a Lindsay Lohan/Kim Kardashian throw-down.  Is there any better symbol apropos of our government?  But, I digress.

No, on Friday, really, really famous and really, really respected Washington based political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann (with a book out next week) took the pages of the Washington Post to inform us all of what their forty years (each) of experience has led them to conclude. "We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party. The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition."  There you have it folks.  It's the Republicans fault.

I urge you to read the whole article.  What fascinates is the easy/breezy way that the two present their "studying Washington politics and Congress..." as if it is, in fact, fact.  And because one of the criticisms they levy against Republicans is a rejection of logic and science, well of course, then any objection to what they write must rightly then simply be a manifestation of the same Republican pathology that caused all this mess.  Get it?

This kind of (il)logic is familiar to anyone who spends time around liberals, who tend to present their views as if ideology were non-existent and whatever it is they think springs solely from the font of reasonable, logical policy-making.   Again-this sets up and feeds their accompanying view that any objections thereto are in fact SOLELY ideological, and without basis in logic, a practice I believe Jonah Goldberg treats in his upcoming book "The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas" (which goes on sale 1 May).

Ornstein and Mann lay it out in such a reasonable manner that there cannot possibly be any objection.  If one objects by pointing out that the Democratic Party has been captured by its baser fringe, that it has in fact moved as far left as the Republicans have moved right--we get this:  "The post-McGovern Democratic Party, by contrast, while losing the bulk of its conservative Dixiecrat contingent in the decades after the civil rights revolution, has retained a more diverse base. Since the Clinton presidency, it has hewed to the center-left on issues from welfare reform to fiscal policy. While the Democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25, the Republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal post."  And how do we know this is true?  Why, because they SAY it is true, and they are not ideological--therefore, they must be right. The complete disappearance of a pro-life wing of the Democratic Party?  Nah.  Not evidence.  The embrace of the the "Occupy" movement by the leadership of the Party?  Nah. Not evidence.  The savagery of the opposition to George W. Bush?  Dismissed thusly:  "No doubt, Democrats were not exactly warm and fuzzy toward George W. Bush during his presidency. But recall that they worked hand in glove with the Republican president on the No Child Left Behind Act, provided crucial votes in the Senate for his tax cuts, joined with Republicans for all the steps taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and supplied the key votes for the Bush administration’s financial bailout at the height of the economic crisis in 2008. The difference is striking."  Eight years of venom against GWB is elsewhere sloughed off as "Democrats are hardly blameless, and they have their own extreme wing and their own predilection for hardball politics. But these tendencies do not routinely veer outside the normal bounds of robust politics. If anything, under the presidencies of Clinton and Obama, the Democrats have become more of a status-quo party. They are centrist protectors of government, reluctantly willing to revamp programs and trim retirement and health benefits to maintain its central commitments in the face of fiscal pressures."  


So when Democrats do it, it is within the bounds of robust politics, especially when their "status quo" approach of being "...centrist protectors of government, reluctantly willing to revamp programs and trim retirement and health benefits to maintain its central commitments in the face of fiscal pressures."  is---and I stress it once again--so damn REASONABLE and RATIONAL.  Please read this once again, friends.  Is the Democratic Party you know willing to (reluctantly or otherwise) revamp programs and trim retirement and health benefits?  Where is that happening?  Please, someone--anyone, give me that information.  The very same newspaper that published this heap of steaming dung masquerading as scholarship published an insider's view of the great debt compromise breakdown last Summer between Speaker Boehner and the President--which ultimately broke down NOT because of Republican intransigence but because of the President's cowardice toward his own, unready to compromise, ideologically emboldened base by taking $800B in new revenue vs. $1.2T.  Presumably Mann and Ornstein "missed" this one in their forty years of study and research into the nature of the current logjam.

Nowhere in this treatment of the ideologically unhinged Republican Party is there even a shred of discussion about what it is the two sides are fighting about, what it is that is at stake.  What Mann and Ornstein dismiss as "...fiscal pressures..." is more to the point, the bankrupting of a great country.  What Mann and Ornstein dismiss as ideologically driven objections to reasonable and sensible programs to provide healthcare and other entitlements is--in the view of Republicans--continuing to dig when you are already in an abyss of debt.  The President ran on criticizing GWB for running up $5T in debt in eight years, only to equal that number in a third of the time--and not a peep from our wizened old think tankers, Ornstein and Mann.  It isn't WHAT they are objecting to that has them so riled up, it is the WAY they object.  So damn unreasonable.  So  inconvenient.

Update:  Yet another--and better done--disputation of Mann and Ornstein.

CW Romney Fund Goes Over $7000!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, we have collectively chipped in over $7000 to the Romney for President campaign.  Lots of work left to do, and a lot of time between now and the day we eject Mr. Obama from Mitt's House.  Please consider making a donation by clicking this link--and don't forget to check the box stating that you know your referrer!

Big Fat Friday Free for All

Whazzup?   Happy that American Crossroads is already in the game with a great ad?   Disappointed in your football team's draft performance?   Vaguely uncomfortable that the Vice President is telling us that the President has a big stick? Emote, people. We're here for you.










                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Woman in picture is NOT the author of this post!

Reflections on the John Edwards Trial

Does anyone care about this stupid story?  Really, is this guy's trial worth any press at all, much less than the coverage it's getting on every network and news site?  I say no, this is even less interesting than the Casey Anthony news overload, and I doubt anyone is that fascinated by it.   So why the coverage, when there was a total lack of interest four years ago?

Maybe it's just too salacious a story for reporters to ignore, but I think the media is trying to right the egregious wrong of ignoring the story the first time around, when the National Enquirer was left to cover it.

This is NOT a defense of John Edwards...just a criticism of the breathless coverage of it.     

Newt Gingrich is a Grown-up. Rick Santorum...Not so Much

Despite his petulance, childishness and arrogance during the campaign, it appears Newt Gingrich is finally accepting reality.  While he may have been a bit late in coming to this reality, he sounds ready to get behind Romney and to help unify the party.  Thanks to some of his behavior during the campaign, one could safely assume that that was a marriage that was not ever going to make it to the altar.  Yet he's accepted Romney as the nominee and is offering his support, despite the animosity displayed toward him these past few months.

Rick Santorum, on the other hand, appears to be a bit more reluctant to get behind the Mittster.   The support he's offered has been tepid at best, and he won't come out and use the word 'endorse.'  (Though I suppose that's frankly silly at this point.)   If he'd done better or contributed something substantive to the debate over the last year, he'd probably be in a position to bargain for something.  But one could make the case that Santorum really brought the conversation down; his anti-contraception rants have contributed mightily to the folly of the 'GOP War on Women' meme.  His intolerance has really helped color the GOP as intolerant in general.   While the media helped fan those flames, he surely knew the playing field.  Grow up, Rick, and help retire O.  Or shut up.

Campaign Finance--Still Broken

WaPost on the shadow fundraising efforts of both parties.  Bottom line for me?  No limits, total transparency. 

Obama Solves Illegal Immigration

Chalk up yet another accomplishment for our water lowering, land raising, hope and changing President. He solved our illegal immigration problem with Mexico.  How'd he do it?  Why, he harnessed the free market of course.  Seems that if you drive OUR economy into the toilet, the incentive to swim/climb is diminished, and you stay where you are.  No word yet on Mexico's protests of illegal American immigration....

"It's Still the Economy....and We're Not Stupid!"

Go ahead.  Watch it.  Tell me you don't want this man to be the next President.  Tell me he isn't going to take the fight right to the President.  Tell me he's not going to remind Americans every day between now and November 6 that we elected a President without a record of accomplishment, and now that he has one, it isn't much to crow about. 

Oooo Ahhhh, Oooo baaaa maaa!

Surfeited academics, discontented leftists and simpleminded college students were absolutely rapturous today at the sight of our acclaimed and esteemed leader Barack Hussein Obama as he spoke at North Carolina's flagship institute of higher education, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The President reassured the crowd of malcontents, eggheads and women's studies majors (in his much improved "black" accent) that jobs were waiting just around the corner, although the economic recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression which he inherited from the Republicans and George W. Bush was in no way the fault of the Democrats or more precisely himself. He warned the assemblage that they would almost assuredly be required to repay their government backed student loans, per the terms of their contracts, should the Republicans be allowed to "take over". He also reiterated that should the unthinkable happen, women would be debased, minorities would be subjugated and old people would be euthanized.

All in all a wonderful day at Carmichael Auditorium (capacity 10,000) and much more intimate than his last appearance at the Dean E. Smith Center (capacity 21,500) in 2008.

Have You Made Your Romney for President Contribution?

We had a $2500 donation yesterday that pumped us up to our current grand total nearing $7000.  Who will put us over that figure?  What great patriot will step up and help stop the failed Obama Presidency?  Are you with me?  To contribute, click this link and don't forget to check the box that states you know your referrer. 

Narcissism Alert

The Prez tweets the following today:

Meeting President Obama at a party hosted by George Clooney—check two things off your life list: http://OFA.BO/1oHWXm

Does O really think that meeting Obama is on everyone's bucket list?

Let's Do the Math

Obama's job approval
Colorado 53
Florida 47.5
Iowa 45
Nevada 49
NH 45
NM 52
NC 45
Ohio 46.0
Pa 45.6
Virginia 47.3
Wis 51.3

This is what the numbers look like now. These are not Romney vs. Obama polls, I'm basing this on job approval numbers which is a bank-shot at best. But it should be close enough for discussion purposes because as Dick (can I suck your toes baby?) Morris is fond of saying, most undecideds go to the challenger.
In the swing states Obama is looking good in Colorado, New Mexico and Wisconsin. So, if the election were held today, with the traditionally Democratic states listed above plus these three, Obama would be at 236, 34 shy of 270. Now, let's say he picks up all the states within striking distance (47 and above), then good night Irene, he wins at 284. But what if he doesn't? He could win CO, NM and WI along with all the smaller states (IA, NV, NH) while adding either VA or NC, and still be 3 or 4 short. What this all boils down to is Obama will have to pick up at least two big states (FL, NC, OH, PA or VA) to win, and at this point in time VA and FL are the most competitive and they would indeed lock it up for him. Obviously the key here is Florida. Take Florida away and Obama has to be nearly perfect everywhere else, and that's easier said than done. Plus the Dems must be worrying about New Jersey, Michigan and Minnesota which are potential pick-offs for the Republicans. A misstep in either of these would make Obama's already precarious situation hopeless.
A lot of things can change before election day and there are countless permutations and possibilities, but in my view the President is in trouble. And if Romney picks Rubio for VP, then turn out the lights the party is over.

"If I Wanted America to Fail..."

Got 4:39?  Take a look at this video.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

What's got you down, chum?  A bit of undigested dog got your bowels in an uproar?  Suddenly finding yourself in a tight race?  Tired of the "sticker shock" of South American escorts?  Fess up, then!  Today is your day, and this is the place!

Have You Made Your Romney For President Contribution Yet?

Folks, I think the last two weeks has really shown what the contest is going to be like with Romney as the candidate.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the combined forces of the GOP machine working in his favor, all the while he was focusing his message squarely on the President.  The campaign is expanding and bringing on more full-time folks to raise money in order to target the dozen or so states that will be in play this Fall (which include NC and VA, to my readers in those states/commonwealths).

Dig deep folks, and let's keep the momentum going.  Click this link to contribute, and don't forget to check the block indicating that you know your referrer.

What Do Democrats Have Against Individual Achievement?

The President recently reached into the Elizabeth Warren campaign manual to inform us that "...I believe in investing in basic research and science because I understand that all these extraordinary companies that are these enormous wealth-generators -- many of them would have never been there;  Google, Facebook would not exist, had it not been for investments that we made as a country in basic science and research."  Warren, as you recall, confidently informed us that "I hear all this, you know, ‘Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever. No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did."  

In each case, lip service is given to the genius of individual achievement while trumpeting the benefits of collective processes.  This is of course, not by accident.  These are the statements of minds shaped by socialism and bathed in the rhetoric of the new left, one in which capitalism is tolerated as a necessary evil to be guided and controlled by wisdom of the State; ever-mindful and all-knowing. 

The logic here is breathtaking, as if the true genius at work was in the accretion and exercise of government power, while groundbreaking advances achieved by individuals are treated as the mundane, predictable results of enlightened policy. 

Romney Has a Problem With SOME Women

Ok, let's get real. Romney doesn't have a problem with women, he has a problem with SOME women. Hardcore leftist women, lesbians, women who work in government or academia, women who have inherited money and "never gotten off their asses to work" (to quote Bill Maher) and women who live off government subsistence; those are the women Romney has a problem with. Working women, stay at home moms running a household and women entrepreneurs are firmly in the Romney camp. I'm talking about women like our wives and mothers, the ones who buy the groceries, fill up the mini-van and pay the taxes; those are Romney's women.

Producers are producers, leaches are leaches, and never the twain shall meet. And guess what?  Pocketbook issues don't have a whole helluva lot to do with gender regardless of the media spin. So don't worry about it, Romney will get his share of the women vote. And those other women? They can go to hell.

If Al Franken Can Get Elected, Why Not Kim?

Publicity whore Kim Kardashian, she of the generous booty and a degree of fame and fortune that defies all logic, is looking to expand her profile.

She's going to run for mayor in the city of Glendale, California. In, like, 5 years.

And were she to win, she'd be far from the worst California politician.

David Axelrod Signs on as Romney Advisor

Well, not really, but he sure made the case for Mitt on Chris Wallace's show this morning:

“The choice in this election is between an economy that produces a growing middle class and that gives people a chance to get ahead and their kids a chance to get ahead, and an economy that continues down the road we are on."

I'm fairly certain that's what Romney's been trying to say, but it's awfully helpful to hear it from Team O.

Debbie Gets a Makeover

New hair (good work, Deb!) and what appears to be a new nose. No word yet on the voice, snarl, personality or viewpoints. Still, a journey of a thousand miles...