GOP's Three Easy Pieces

Obama Care, Obama Stimulus, Obama Cap and Trade

These three interlocking issues represent too much government intrusion and too much spending. Taken together, they could spell defeat for a deluded Democratic party in thrall to nutroot fairy tales about liberal mandates.

I'm no political expert, but I think if they pass Obama Care, outraged voters will punish them in 2010. Poll after poll shows America is just not that liberal, and the moderate middle that voted for the president has quickly become disillusioned with him. Anger at out of control government is not going away.

Democrat's "Go it Alone" Strategy:

Bill Clinton and other Democrats who are political experts say the party is doomed if they don't pass health care reform. I don't know what goes into their calculus, but I assume they are sincere, and here's why.

Big Gov+Big Media=Propaganda Victory
If they pass this, they can count on the coercive power of government to manipulate the immediate economic environment to short-circuit any uprisings. They could do things like decrease payroll deductions so people have more money in their pocket, extend jobless benefits, raise social security and medicaid and medicare benefits in the short term to create a false correlation between passing the bill and "things getting better." This would engender voter goodwill towards Democrats and reduce GOP protestations to mere sour grapes carping.

The Dems can also count on their powerful propaganda arm, the national media, to trumpet this to high heavens, creating a new wave of hope and change euphoria that results in victory in 2010.

This is just my guess, and I don't think it will have the success dems think it will. Again, I think too many people have awakened from their slumber. The hopium cloud has dissipated, the buzz is gone, and cold, harsh reality has set in.

GOP Nightmare Scenario: A Mushy Middle Compromise
The nightmare scenario for the GOP is that they sign on to some kind of mushy middle compromise that is neither fish nor fowl, socialism light with a smiley face.

If something like that passes with Republican votes, the GOP is dead and buried. Their own disgusted voters will finally disown them for good. This cracking the door open will reenergize Democrats. They gain a toehold and the Long March continues.

Compromise is not the GOP's friend on this one. Why do you think Carville and the rest of the liberal talking heads keep criticizing GOP stubbornness? It's the old Clinton tactic. I can't build myself up, so I'll drag you down in the mud with me. And the democrats, with the national media as their cheering section, always win the mudfight.

Public Opinion Snapshot (It's not looking good for the O Man)

Obama's Health Care Plan, Approve: 46%, Disapprove 50%

WaPo has a nice visual summary of of this Democratic shipwreck here

Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1, Pt 2

Alternate theory: Many liberals don't like to label themselves as such, so they call themselves "moderate" when the pollsters call. I hate to accept it, but that is probably closer to the truth. If 3/4 of so-called moderates are really liberals in denial, then that breakout matches the 2008 presidential election almost to a T.

I still like Glenn Beck...

Obama is All They Got

What explains the continued Democratic dominance?

Their headliners are grotesque freaks: (Pelosi, Frank, Kucinich), angry jackasses (James Webb, Al Franzen), criminals (Rangel, Balgojevich, Jefferson) or grumpy anonymi (Harry Reid, Carl Levin)

The states and cities they control are putrid sinkholes of corruption and economic collapse: California, Detroit, New York , DC

So what explains the Democrats' success?

President Barack Obama. He's all they got. If the bloom falls off that handsome, teleprompter-articulate rose, they're done, which explains why the press is straining so hard for him against the forces of reality.

Jay Cost at RCP, commenting about the Democratic-Republican self-identification polls (GOP fortunes are improving), explains that the disinterested non-voter skews the numbers towards the Dems:

So, the little information non-voters acquire about politics has thus been quite partial to the Democratic party in recent months. Combine this with their their lack of strong feelings about many political subjects - then toss in the GOP's inability to control the agenda in Washington - and this could take us a long way to explaining the drop-off for the GOP among non-voters in some previous surveys.

Meanwhile, as the new car smell of Obama's presidency has faded, perhaps those otherwise inclined to the GOP have returned to calling themselves Republican (although I'd note that the recent Fox poll, of registered voters, shows no change from the previous one).

The Dems control the agenda, which bad for America, but will eventually be good politically for the GOP. There is still a wellspring of goodwill for the new president, but it won't last forever.

Bush's spending spree is pocket change compared to the money Obama and the Pelosicrats have blown. At least President Bush spent our money on worthy pursuits like rounding up bad guys. The Dems are chasing windmills. And when voters realize they are in joint ownership of the auto industry with the UAW, while bailing out gilt-edged union pension funds to the tune of hundreds of billions, they may begin to view our president and his political syndicate in a whole new light.

The Democrats will go too far; they always do. When the President's poll numbers fall to mere mortal levels, they're done. Because Barack Obama is all they got.

RCP -Jay Cost

Great Political Quotes

The only poll that counts is the one where you close the curtains and pull the lever. Don't let the Obama Worshiping press run you off. That is their goal: Discourage you, depress you and keep you from voting for an American hero.

Read these quotes, then go vote.

If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed;
If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw


A politician is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey

Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O’Rourke , Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!
- P.J. O’Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class -- except Congress
- Mark Twain

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

Citizens of the World, Unite! Vote Obama

Two more reasons to Vote McCain, courtesy of gallup.com:

1) It would dash the hopes of the Euroweenies.

2) Misogynist, headcutting, America hating religious bigots in the civilizationally challenged Middle East prefer Obama 2-1 over McCain.

Nothing would tell the world "Uncle Sam is Sorry" like an Obama victory.

Liberal Fantasies -- Conservative Reality

Bruce Walker has written an encouraging piece in the American Thinker.

He's been tracking results of the bipartisan Battleground Poll since 2002, and points out that Conservative/Liberal self-identification has consistently been roughly 60% conservative, 40% liberal.

He goes on to analyze why these data are so at odds with popular perception. Short answer: Those to the left of center run from the liberal label while conservatives proudly self-identify. He also provides examples showing how skewed polling questions make America look more liberal than it actually is.

I believe this to be true. America is not a liberal nation, and recent off-cycle elections bear this out. Yes, I know, Democrats won them all. But the winners ran not as proud progressives, but as gun totin', bible thumpin' conservatives.

Republicanism may be on the ropes (and rightly so due to the gross malfeasance of its political practitioners) but Conservatism's heart still beats in the American breast.

Now, is there anybody in the GOP smart enough to capitalize on this information?