Pajamas Media

105 Comments

1. Rachel Peepers:

Jennifer,
Great article. Beautiful writing.
Regards, Rachel

Feb 28, 2009 - 12:42 am 2. Ozzie:

I appreciate your fine writing Ms Ruben. I don’t always understand your point of view, but I appreciate it none the less. My problem with the whole “Republican phoenix from the ashes” concept is that the Republican party is conservatives largest problem. Northeast liberals constantly backstabbing the party. Beltway blue bloods loyal to the dinner party circuit more than any ideology. Hell even Newt Gingrich’s behavior has been horrible the last few years. It’s almost as if the Republican party is a collection of hangers on, carpet baggers and con men trying to enrich themselves on conservatives , like Cartman releasing a Christian rock album.
We have some real good prospects in Jindal and some others, but I fully expect them to be marginalized and betrayed by the “go along to get along” Republican establishment just like Sarah Palin. Republicans will never gather the strength to defeat ACORN freshly infused with a billion dollars, legalized aliens, gerrymandered districts, compromised census, a billion dollars of illegal foreign money sitting in Obamas coffers, the addition of DC voting representitives and a miseducated and propagandized electorate. The Republican party can’t even get it’s horse pointing the right way in the chute, and the jockey is on the take.

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:04 am 3. Marc Malone:

This is dreck. You’re trying to game the system, here. You’re thinking like Dems. The problem is not our message. The problem is the messengers. Our Party is discredited, because our leaders no longer live by Republican values. They are almost all politicians first, last, and always.

The “Contract with America” died when Gingrich stepped down. The pols all reverted to their baser nature of being politicians. Conservatism requires integrity and wisdom. Show me where to find it among our elected officials. There are a few examples, but not many.

The point is, you can’t sell these messages to the public with the same tired old representatives. The problem is not our message. It’s the representatives, stupid!

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:47 am 4. formwiz:

I think the second issue may bear more fruit than the fist, youth being notoriously short-sighted (I speak from experience). That said, a lot of people got the beginning of a hard awakening Tuesday night and, if events unfold as many expect, the Republicans will have the biggest “I told you so” to exploit in a long time.

Feb 28, 2009 - 3:28 am 5. fear Obama:

About a month ago the Baby Boomers would have transferred approx 46 trillion dollars to the next generation.

That is now down about 20 trillion dollars.

Oliver Stone made a movie ‘W’ slamming President Bush.

Spielberg needs to make one called-

‘YOMAMA- WE IN DA TOILET.’

Feb 28, 2009 - 3:42 am 6. David Thomson:

Do you know what Jennifer Rubin is trying to say? Well, let me tell you. A large number of people voted in the last election on behalf of their cultural war interests. They are adamantly pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage. Their economic concerns were pushed to the side because these deluded fools thought that Barack Obama was some sort of libertarian. Have we already forgotten Austan Goolsby, the halfway decent University of Chicago economist? He perhaps unwittingly provided cover for Obama. Naive folks like Megan McArdle, Will Wilkinson, and Arnold Kling did everything possible to lie to themselves about Obama. They will now be much more inclined to vote only for center-right Republicans in 2010.

Feb 28, 2009 - 3:59 am 7. Therese:

David Thomson: Good points. I agree with you that people voted based on cultural issues this last election and that when economic issues take the forefront their eyes will open wide and really get scared.

We can’t underestimate the reality of the economic issues impacting people’s opinions and future voting.

Jennifer Rubin is right. She has pointed out two important things that will definitely speak to younger voters (and us older ones too).

There are enough of us to overcome the cheating of Acorn and the lying of the Obama-loving media like CNN and MSNBC.

We can’t just rely on political figures to make our points anymore. Each one of us has got to be willing to be vocal and do our share. The more of us speaking, the more effective we’ll be.

How?

Write, email or call your congressperson and senator. Believe me, they do pay attention to this.

Participate in local grass roots groups. You’ll be able to get around other people with the same viewpoints and collectively make a political difference locally.

Share your viewpoints on blogs. The Democratic trolls try to shut us down, but don’t let them. Fight back.

Be willing to talk to and debate with your friends. I’m convinced that there are a lot of people who parrot what they hear from liberals because they don’t know any better and haven’t thought about what they are parroting. If you point out the holes in their arguments, you’ll open their eyes and make them rethink what they believe.

Vote with your money and eyeballs by turning off the mass media – CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, The New York Times, Newsweek and Time magazine. None of them can survive without an audience or readership to sell to advertisers. Why continue to help them get money to feed you one-sided opinions?

If each and every one of us does something, we will have an impact. We can’t sit around and expect someone else like a political messiah to do it for us anymore. We’ve each got to do something to help save the country.

Feb 28, 2009 - 4:56 am 8. Tom H:

You usually have a good perspective on issues, but your points are falling flat. First, you would need to re-educate one or maybe two generations of young people, who have no concept of debt. Second, most people I know do not give for the tax breaks – there’s a deeper reasoning behind it. Afraid we will need to see a collapse of some sort before any hearts are changed….

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:07 am 9. vivo:

“A couple opportunities to win back voters have been handed to the Republican Party on a silver platter.”

You can try and theorize, but the reality is that some Republicans are supporting the current administration and more will because they see the benefits for themselves and the country.

The immovable old Pub guard will just try to fog the issues.

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:11 am 10. Brett_McS:

The Democrats will always be the preferred party for ‘young people’; their policies are based around the magical and superficial thinking characteristic of the callow. The conservative party will never win the ‘youth’ vote. The problem is that childhood or ‘adolescence’ – where people think and act like children – has extended well past the voting age. In earlier times people had matured, married and experienced life before they voted. That is no longer the case, and never will be again.

It is no coincidence that the Democrats seek to lower the voting age while keeping people in school longer and longer. It’s their voting block and always will be.

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:23 am 11. COL.SEBASTIAN MORAN:

MARC MALONE
#3
Spot on, Marc. Excellent observation…

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:32 am 12. JohnR223:

Newt is not going to have a second coming, Jindal fell on his face out of the national starting gate, and Palin has probably had enough of her fellow citizens to the south. And Mitt, is, well, still Mitt.

So who is left to lead and articulate a vision?

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:36 am 13. Steeple:

#10, Reagan managed to do it, so I think that it’s possible. But going to MM #3, who is going to be that messenger?

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:48 am 14. Wenda:

I agree that Mitt Romney has all the charisma of a Ken doll. But don’t you think that by 2012, charisma will have long passed its sell-by date? Competence–economic competence–may be sounding very very sexy.

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:50 am 15. LeighB:

Who can articulate a vision? Since BHO appears to be hostile to business interests I would suggest the next group of people to lead the charge are those who understand what his policies will do to our economy (and weaken our country). In addition to Newt and Mitt, add Carly Fiorina, Lawrence Kudlow, Michael Steele, Thomas Sowell, etc. The governors who are turning down some of the money because of the strings attached should speak out more. It will take a chorus to get through the MSM gridlock, I hope the “singing” will begin soon.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:06 am 16. Hugo Williams:

Conservative principles are too rational to be easily sexed up. Hope and change and general nonsense will almost always trump self reliance, hardwork, etc. Irrationality almost always wins, expecially when the shock troops of the media are onside.

Conservatives need to find the courage to put themselves out of a job. Start to decry government. Obama’s actions and their consequences are the perfect ammo. Get out there and shout it – “Government is a predator, and we will cut it down”.

America needs St George.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:13 am 17. Cichawoda:

The irrational, Puritan based, and bigoted stances on social issues the republicans are handcuffed with are non-starters for the majority of young voters.

As for economics all we have to do is Google the history of employment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Us_unemployment_rates_1950_2005.png), real wages (http://www.workinglife.org/wiki/Wages+and+Benefits%3A+Real+Wages+(1964-2004)) and national debt (http://zfacts.com/p/318.html) to figure out which political direction is most beneficial to our financial well being.

Oh and on the national security, civil liberties and rights issues you folk are a joke.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:14 am 18. cedarhill:

Just remember – put all this into terms everyone can relate. For example, energy is a great area to hit Obama since everyone recalls the horror of $4/gallon gasoline. The GOP needs to tell America that Obama will force all energy prices to balloon to the benefit of his friends and lobbyists. Gasoline – $8 dollars a gallon if not outlawed outright. Home electricity bills equal to their mortgage payment. Food prices costing even more than their mortgage payments.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:19 am 19. Terry Gain:

Obama is destroying the American way of life. With his projected 1.75 trillion dollar deficit for this year he is turning a crisis into a catastrophe.

Republicans need only predict what is now inevitable – and when the economy tanks – as it will, try not to appear too smug when they say I hate to say i told you so, but… I did .

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:21 am 20. Cichawoda:

Therese:
You are very correct – that is exactly what we did – we turned off Fox and CNN, we organized at the grass roots using modern community building techniques and methods. We are just getting started – remember the social changes of the 60s – we are here to finish the job.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:22 am 21. cfbleachers:

I am terribly sorry to say, (because I respect and admire Jennifer, as well as many of my cyber-friends here), everything I read above misses the point. Every comment, every sentence of the article. At least from my perspective.

1)If we, as a self-governing people do not value truth, we value nothing.

Currently, we are being fed a steady stream of lies, distortion, “filtered truth”, stealth legislation, and outright propaganda.

If our information stream defies us, it then also defines us. We are a nation of deluded, underinformed, blindfolded…followers. Searching for answers in the dark, to questions we can’t even formulate.

Unless and until we grab back the reins of our information stream, we will NEVER…find real answers. We can’t even ask the right questions, as seen above.

2)The quadrupled deficit is not seeking to have our children pay, it doesn’t even contemplate our children. $1.75 trillion dollars borrowed from the Chinese isn’t mortgaging their money, so that it stalls the American Dream, it is the sticker price on the Craig’s list SALE of the American Dream.

The Bohemian Chic crowd from Berkeley and Grenwich Village don’t seek to “stimulate” the economy, they seek to build a different system entirely. All the boiled frogs above are operating from the lukewarm temperature in the pot today, with the soothing words of distraction that this “deficit” you see is going to be “attacked” in the future, and it will be “tough” but we have to “sacrifice”.

They don’t feel the heat yet, as the flame is increased one degree at a time. Keeping your eye on the deficit numbers is a sleight of hand masterpiece.

NOBODY…NOBODY…is going to be able to “pay back” an engorged deficit. That’s the point. Not the “two percenters”, not the next generation, not the Chinese.

More layers of “help” will be necessary, more state programs, more government. Which will cost more. The Cost Layering Cycle self-perpetuates, we build more government to “cure” a problem of cost of programs, that are designed to cure a problem of cost of programs. Chinese Boxes, with Chinese interest rates inside.

3)What has been handed to America on a silver platter, is a new form of government, a new system of economics, a new populist model…without ever calling the question on whether this is what we wanted in the first place.

This is NOT a “Republican” issue. And anyone who thinks it is, isn’t paying attention. This is a power grab by stealth means to overthrow the existing system without giving the people a chance to vote on it.

It’s a brilliant strategy, quite frankly. And, if we wind up like Sweden instead of Venezuela…we can be thankful for small favors.

We, the people…are no longer self-governing this land of ours. We can’t, because we are being cheated out of facts from our information stream upon which to vote our collective will. The state…and their comrades in arms in the entrenched media, Hollywood and academia have seized the reins of power and have basically told everyone else to sit down, shut up and “we’ll let you know what we’ve done for you, when you need to know it”.

The attitude of “we won” is a euphemism. It really means, “we are in control, you don’t need to know what’s in that piece of legislation, so we will cram it down your throats and you don’t need to read it”

That’s Gibbs’ attitude, that’s Pelosi’s attitude, that’s the “in your face” respect we can expect from here on out.

That also is NOT a “Republican” issue. The “state” doesn’t care what you think. It doesn’t care if you disagree. It doesn’t care if you didn’t vote for them and it doesn’t care how you feel about any issue. It is a road grader and if you are in the way, you are part of the asphalt.

4)The prospect that we might skip right past Euro-Socialism and head toward an ever further leftist nation state…doesn’t bother the Bohemian Chic in the least. It doesn’t bother the “game the system” crowd, it doesn’t bother anyone who is happy to live on the dole.

It only bothers those folks who have this silly notion that the American Dream is alive and well. The entrenched media put that on Craig’s list long ago. The Chinese bought it and it currently resides elsewhere. We simply are waiting for the power grab to tell us, what we need to know, when we need to know it…are we Sweden, France, …or something else?

Stay tuned, comrades. Weep not for your children, but for us. We poor, uninformed, boiled frogs. “We won”, means…you lost….the America you still think exists.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:30 am 22. Yes We Did:

How does it feel, hatemongers?

As I said earlier, it’s time to pay the bill. It’s time to pay reparations to those whom you oppressed, plundered, and exploited.

It’s a new world now, and you racist hatemongers are not part of it. Your time has passed. President Obama rules us now, and he has not even begun to transform the world.

Crawl back into your holes, racist hatemongers. It’s our world now.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:30 am 23. Cichawoda:

Ozzie:
The problem young people have with “conservatives” like you is the same they have with conspiracy liberals and UFO nuts – you folk lie and miss-represent even to yourselves.
“ACORN freshly infused with a billion dollars” – http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_the_stimulus_bill_include_a_52.html
“gerrymandered districts” – isn’t this a Texas Republican specialty?
“miseducated and propagandized electorate” – seems we are breaking out of that now that we don’t have to rely on corporate owned news services.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:50 am 24. David S:

Jennifer,

I don’t think you grasp the reality of what people voted for.

the policies which the Democrats are pursuing, including nationalized health care and abolition of secret ballots in union elections, aren’t very youth-oriented and potentially could turn off younger voters.

Both of these are policies that the youth of America support. Nationalized health care will solve one big headache that young workers have to face, and card check will help them secure their future. These issues are very much youth oriented, and Obama is headed exactly where youth want him to go.

The issue of tax deductions for charitable contributions is a red herring when it comes to the youth vote, as most youth don’t have incomes that would allow for such deductions. Furthermore, the ultimate impact on charitable contributions is not likely to be large.

I don’t think you’ve found any real leverage here – but keep searching for that opening…

Peace.

DS

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:53 am 25. Cichawoda:

Terry Gain:
Since Reagan the deficit has grown under Republicans and shrunken under Democrats. The same is true about the size of government. The way you people talk is Orwellian.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:58 am 26. Cichawoda:

cedarhill:
Oil is a resource that is running out. As a Capitalist I am sure you know that a commodity in short supply and in high demand will grow in price. The price of oil has fallen recently because of the global economic downturn and all this talk and work on alternative sources of energy. Today German companies and the German government are the largest developers of solar energy – that should be us.
You sound like the Xerox executives who said “Who would ever want to buy that?” when presented with a “mouse” and GUI interface by their young development team.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:07 am 27. Robin:

Cichawoda,
Your problem is that you sing into the echo chamber, a problem that conservatives have had through the last election. Your positions ARE NOT POPULAR with the majority, no matter what the newspapers tell you. The majority of Americans have been asleep at the wheel over the last few cycles, lulled into complacency by Pres. Bush and the absolute hatred of him by the left, which seemed so unreasonable and visceral that no one could quite believe that it could be used as a tool against the GOP. Well, we were wrong and we’re waking up to an unpleasant reality.

During the “stimulus” madness, when I called my Democrat representatives (NY – Arcuri, Schumer and Gillibrand), I learned some very interesting things. Almost all of the contacts from constituents were against the stimulus, and the lines were frequently jammed, so I got the DC offices some days and local offices other days. I asked the phone call fielders how old they were (19-23) and reminded them that this was their future that the good senator or representative was voting to obstruct with a huge deficit. That usually rendered them speechless. I also talked to a lot of people around town who felt the same way I did about the money the government was proposing to spend – this in blue NY.

The tea parties around the country are the opening shots of this new war that Obama has declared. Yes, we’ve been complacent and yes, we’ve allowed the other side to control the message, but that time is over. Conservatives have learned a valuable lesson over the last few years, CPAC’s attendance with a high percentage of young people speaks volumes about the message of freedom even if it doesn’t have an Obama as spokesperson.

Cichawoda, Obama spent a lot of time in the general election moving to the center, and he received votes he would not have received if he hadn’t done so with the assistance of the media refusing to question his past positions in reconciliation with his newly professed stances. He is charismatic, I’ll give him that, but he lied repeatedly and deftly about his positions to the point that even his most ardent supporters wondered if he was the lefty savior they had been wishing for. Perhaps his old mentor Rev. Wright said it best when he said that Obama is a politician and he’ll say whatever he must to get elected. We are now seeing that. He pretended to be a moderate knowing that he was anything but. Americans don’t like being made the fool. This will be a problem for him, which is why he is moving quickly to ram as much liberal policy through congress as he can.

The overreach will be a call to arms. The tea parties are just the beginning. But enjoy your wishful thinking.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:18 am 28. Alex:

#19 Terry;

When the economy tanks..?

The economy tanked 18 months ago, Credit markets kept it artificially propped up. The Feds have been floating derivatives based credit bundles for the last few years they knew were worthless, but it kept the party going.

The people destroying America are bankers and incredibly lame legislators known as congress, demo and gop alike. They have abrogated their responsibility to the Constitution and become lackeys to the highest bidder. They could have stopped the nonsense at any time but instead chose the easy way out.

The only way out is to fully nationalize the banking system and remove idiots that caused this mess. The half measures of taking 40% of citigroup is lame, get it over with and take it over completely. Same for BofA, if they cannot disclose fully their books and derivative exposure take over the bank. Right now the bank system is half nationalized, which is causing markets to wobble. Either take them over or let them fail, dont take half measures.

Todays deficits are the bill for yesterdays expenses, this is not rocket science.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:20 am 29. Terry Gain:

Cichawoda:
Terry Gain:
Since Reagan the deficit has grown under Republicans and shrunken under Democrats. The same is true about the size of government. The way you people talk is Orwellian.
–

Chicawoda,

Unlike you, as someone with a degree in Economics I understand that government policies take time to work their way through the economy. Today’s deficits are tomorrow’s inflation and higher taxes. Reagan inherited Jimmy Carter’s mess. And fixed it. Clinton inherited Reagan’s economic boom and peace dividend. George W. Bush inherited Clinton’s failure to address the rise of al Qaeda – which resulted in 9/11.

It will take decades to recover from Obama’s clueless spending orgy.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:27 am 30. Cichawoda:

cfbleachers:
“We, the people…are no longer self-governing this land of ours.” – considering that, on average, less than 50% of the voting age “people” turn out for the National elections and less than 30% turn out for the locals – we the “self governing” people don’t represent even half of “We the People”.
PS – 2008 was the largest turn out since 1968.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:28 am 31. Terry Gain:

Alex:

#19 Terry;

When the economy tanks..?

The economy tanked 18 months ago,

You ain’t seen nuttin yet.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:29 am 32. Cichawoda:

Robin:
Hate Bush? – it’s hard to hate an inarticulate moron and total life long failure. Come on the man was miserable at everything he touched ALL his life. He wasn’t even charming or clever – the annoying drunk at the party who will not pass out or leave. Do you really think he would be anything more than a used car sales mane without having daddy Bush to prop him up?
“CPAC’s attendance with a high percentage of young people” – I met some of them – what an uninspiring, lame, undereducated, unimaginative, backwards and backwoods bunch of dorks.
You want to inspire young people (the educated youth – they are the ones that vote) show them a future that is worth working for and taking a chance on. Show them a vision that transcends what we have today – something better in all respects. Show them a chance for progress.
All you folks talk about is regressive and reactionary – seems to me is all you want to do is dig in your heals at best or pull us back to the 1800 at worst – but than again that is the meaning of conservative.
Let’s face it many of your top leaders are still fighting desegregation, minimum wage and equal pay for equal work – now what kind of future will we have with them?

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:47 am 33. JHM:

Neopajama #2 whines in sad incomprehension, “This is dreck. You’re trying to game the system, here.”

Well, Princess Neoterica certainly IS tryin’. Guilty as charged!

From outside the monkey cage, there can be no question of impropriety in Her Highness’s attempt as such. Maybe the Princess of Pajamastan cannot game the system very well, but Her Highness has every right to try her blue-bloodèd hand at it.

Her Highness, and the militant extremist Republicans/Whigs of our holy Homeland ™ in general, have always laboured under a certain structural unfairness, system-gamin’wise: the game or system itself was not invented by America’s Otherparty, who have always had a slight “me too!” air about them vis-à-vis General Jackson of Tennessee and Mr. Van Buren of New York. This may not be strictly a matter of cause and effect, admittedly, and it has been quite a long time since the first great victory of for the Otherparty’s MeTooism in 1840. Seventeen decades ought to be long enough for the _Ersatz_ to become indistinguishable from the real thing, if sheer lapse of time were all that matters. Obviously some other factor or factors must be in play, for the Otherparty remains different enough from America’s party to be distinguished at a glance.

To judge from the general run of neocomradely behaviour since Black Tuesday, 4 November 2008, a great many of the militant extremists desire to look even less like Democrats and democrats than they look already. Neocomrade M. Barone, bein’ an expert on past elections, understands the costs and dangers that that plan would incur for the Party of Big Management, costs and dangers of which Neopajama #2 is oblivious. Princess Neoterica agrees with M. Barone; naturally this keyboard would never presume to guess Her Highness’s sublime and exalted reasonin’s.

Her Highness makes two different system-gamin’ proposals, in fact, only one of which comes from the flunky aforementioned. To critique ’em briefly:

(1) M. Barone has proposed that the Party of Grant and Hoover and Goldwater and Atwater set up as practitioners of _Zukunftspolitik_.

Now even from outside the monkey cage, it is undeniable that Neocomrade M. Barone does grasp what general direction the future lies in. What is more problematical is his implicit theory of the present state of mind of those who will be registered and votin’ Future Folk by 2016 or 2024 or 2032 or . . . or 2156, but have not yet evolved that far as of March 2009. Since this particular neocomrade is, _mirabile dictu_, not simply a jerk, presumably he understands that the dupes and marks that he speaks of targetin’ are not at the moment greatly concerned about the wearisome life of slavery that awaits them payin’ off Mommy’s and Daddy’s and Grandpa’s and Grandma’s financial obligations. It is only balanced and fair to assume that Neocomrade M. Barone holds that heedless juveniles could be brought into a Party-suitable “old head on young shoulders” frame of mind by a proper course of Agitprop Therapy, not that they are in it already, or that the kiddies incline to it naturally, for, almost proverbially, they do not so incline.

Accordingly, the present keyboard proposes to suspend judgment on Nifty Scheme Nr. One until it learns more details about Dr. Barone’s Youth Propaganda Pills, a panacea or course of treatment which may not, one fears, exist at present in any form concrete enough to be worthy of criticism. Or, indeed, in any form capable of criticism.

(( “It’s a swell idea, Mikey, maybe, but the devil is in the details, doncha know?” ))

Of course the good quack cannot be expected to produce his _Frankenjugend_ up at Castello Barone all by himself, he’ll be needin’ lots and lots of Eye-gores, humped or humpless, from the ranks of the Otherparty base and vile in order to pull it off. And here there may be an obstacle, in that your GOP geniuses and your rank-and-file Republican Party B&V tend to be bewitched by that very small subset of the _Zukunftsjugend_ that have reactionary heads on young soldiers without any tamperin’. Master L. Atwater has been mentioned already, and he sufficiently indicates the sort of _señorito_ or “young whippersnapper” meant, although of course that remarkable neocomradeling’s talents for intrigue and flair for nastiness soared far, far above the Big Party norm. Or try to imagine Buckley Minor when he was actually at Y*l* c. 1945-49. The type is as unforgettable, surely, as it is obnoxious.

The _Frankenjugend_ would probably not be Buckleyoid _señoritos_, however. Indeed, if political logic worked in straight Euclidean lines, M. le Baron’s patients could not possibly be, for the announced objective of the Youth Propaganda Pill is to fashion creatures seriously worried about their own futures, as no proper _señorito_ can ever be. If Daddy was not rich and poweful enough to make sure that Sonny is 1000% secure forever, come Hell or come Hobáma, then Sonny is no _señorito vero_, only at best some inferior breed of _Ersatz_ and wannabe. (The mixed breed can be almost equally obnoxious, though.)

(2) Princess Neoterica does not indicate which flunky generated her second brainstorm. It goes like this: “[A] Scrooge-like move to rob charities of badly needed funds. [The ‘Democrat Party’] are making it more expensive to give to charity and thereby reducing the money available for a host of philanthropic activities.”

Whoever came up with that tripe and baloney ranks more than a few degrees below Neocomrade M. Barone on the Great Scale of Wingnuts. It sounds very like an answer to the question “So what are our economic OnePercenters good for, anyway?” Outside the monkey cage, that may sees like a perfectly sensible and respectable question, but insiders of the Party of Big Management should try to make sure it never gets asked rather than offer even the most ingenious and sophistical of answers, apart from the long-approved boilerplate about job creation. At this precise moment, here in the midst of the Crawford Crash, even the hallowed boilerplate would better be dispensed with, I think, considering that many of the intended dupes and marks are likely to object that Big Management has not been all that successful at job creation of late. [*]

The footnote contains all the rest of my criticism of Nifty Scheme Nr. Two, so here I shall stop, wishing all the Pajama People

Happy days.

___
[*] Say that to one of the militant extremist faithful, and she will almost certainly respond with counterfactuals from Parallel Universe #1349-Q, the one in which the New Deal caused Great Depression I, and M. Soros got together with Barney Frank and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in order to inflict Great Depression II on guiltless and hapless neocomrades like S. Wurzelbacher and R. Santelli and Ll. Blankfein and . . . .

“History is Bunk!” is indelibly engraved on the banners of the Party of Big Management. Decent political grown-ups can at least agree that Ms. Clio does become dreadfully bunky when the neocomrades get desperate enough to kidnap her in the course of one of those occasional emergencies when the Destructive Creationism® product needs some anecdotal back-up.

Clio can take care of herself, no doubt. The serious objection to #1349-Q lore is not that it is inaccurate and self-servicin’, but merely that the dupes and marks targeted do not give a hoot about such remote and impersonal stuff. Baron Mikey up at Castello Barone is far cleverer, since the patients he wants to practice on really do care about their own futures. They care about themselves six orders of magnitude more about the fairy-tales of Neocomradess A. Shlaes or the anti-Soros barkin’ and bellowin’ of Neocomrade Dr. Limbaugh.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:58 am 34. Cichawoda:

“he lied repeatedly and deftly about his positions” – do you have any examples? If not it means that you are lying.
I followed Obama very carefully because I though he was leaning too far to the right. I think he is pushing the issues and policies he promised during his campaign:
Healthcare reform
Reduce Tax favoritism for the top 10%
Iraq withdrawal (not fast enough but I understand why)
Increased government transparency
Serious investment in alternative sources of energy (did you know that a 100 square miles of desert, we could spare that, covered with solar panels could supply the whole continental US with all of it’s power needs?)
etc (you can check it out at http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/) also remember that it’s only been a few days over a month and what a month it has been . His first 100 days might be as productive as FDR’s.
Republicans always say that lower taxes will inprove our well being – can you guys point to a country that is well off and have low taxes?

Feb 28, 2009 - 8:14 am 35. Rudy:

I’m 67 years old and have fought in one war so I can say with truth that this coming war excites me! Yes, there will be a war either in the streets or in the voting booth but this great country will not surrender to this poser! As the moron above stated, “Obama is ruling us now”. That should explain the mindset that we face. There are several excellent points above and one of the most important ones is the MSM. We have to everything in our power to destroy these imposters by not buying their products and cancelling any subscriptions with a protest comment. Stop watching any of the big three networks or cnn and msnbc. Their ad revenue will decline dramatically. If these seem like harsh things for you to do then imagine going from building to building with an M4 looking for fellow Americans to shoot at. It’s easy to do economic tactics now than to do physical tactics later. Pick up your phone and lodge a protest with your (Non)representative and senators. (No capital by design). Get off of your butts and go to work! God bless America

Feb 28, 2009 - 8:15 am 36. Cichawoda:

29. Terry Gain:
So what you are saying that it is always the Democrats fault – how convenient. Republicans have been in power for since Clinton’s 3rd year till 2 years ago. Bush has been in power for 8 year – did their policies not have any effect on the economy or the deficit?
BTW – The destruction of 2 buildings in Manhattan, although tragic, does not make an economic meltdown.

Feb 28, 2009 - 8:21 am 37. as if:

The GOP has two huge openings alright. Unfortunately, they’re currently stuffed with a short-barrel 12 gauge and a bottle of Bud.

Face it, Obama is too much of a match for the GOP. He told you what he was going to do during the campaign. America elected him to do it. And now he’s doing it. I know you’re not used to that, but hey, he refuses to play to the lowest common denominator, and right now that denominator is you.

He is the toughest, most courageous and most inspiring leader of his generation. Nobody has been willing to stand up and tell the American people what’s going on until now. All we’ve ever heard was, “The fundamentals of the economy are strong.” That’s not inspiration; that’s lying.

But you’d rather hear this from Rush: “The dirty little secret … is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so; I am willing to say it. I want the stimulus package to fail. I want everything he’s doing to fail.”

Now you think about that. I don’t mean blog about it or whine about it or blindly agree with it. I mean think about it. If for no other reason than to consider what it means for 2010 and 2012. You had one choice last time and that was to pander to the base with Palin. You did it and got your ass beat. PLEASE, PLEASE do us a favor and rally behind Rush. Make him and Hindu Jindal the face of the Republican party. You think 2008 was painful? You ain’t seen nothin yet.

You have only one choice in life – deal with the truth or deny the truth. I choose to deal with it. You should do the same. Either way, we’re not waiting.

Feb 28, 2009 - 8:36 am 38. Evil Otto:

Nationalized health care will solve one big headache that young workers have to face, and card check will help them secure their future

(blink)

David.

Buddy.

You can not seriously believe that.

Feb 28, 2009 - 9:16 am 39. PostalMed:

JHM:
You think you are being clever, but you end up being merely incomprehensible, like the jabbering of a schizophrenic. Speak (write) in plain terms, where someone who doesn’t live in your distorted fantasy world of conspiracies and hatred can understand you, or else go back off to HuffPo where the others of your ilk reside.

In other words, just what were you trying to say? I have a post-graduate degree, and I couldn’t make any sense of it. Or was that the point?

Feb 28, 2009 - 9:19 am 40. Kathryn (sign: Reagan Conservative Petition):

Excellent article. Forward thinking and clear.
Join me in sending ALL REPUBLICANS as message. RETURN TO REAGAN CONSERVATISM. Only THIS will return them to the majority.

***Sign the petition*** http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-demand-true-conservative-leadership.html

WE DECLARE that Republican politicians have compromised Conservative values in favor of “reaching across the aisle” in the name of “bipartisanship” to “get things done in Washington.” In doing so, these very politicians have damaged this nation, weakened the Constitution, and done harm to individual freedoms.

WE DEMAND that the elected officials stop compromising Conservatism. For by doing so they have failed to fulfill their oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” We assert that getting less done in Washington is better than compromising our freedom and economic prosperity.

*** http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-demand-true-conservative-leadership.html ***

We MUST elect principled AND aggressively articulate REAGAN CONSERVATIVES in 2010!

Feb 28, 2009 - 9:27 am 41. The Historian:

DEMOCRAT PARTY SCREWING THE POOR
Obama talks a big game on education and does nothing right in his own neighborhood.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/democrat-pols-still-screwing-poor.html

Feb 28, 2009 - 9:52 am 42. Bender:

>> Oil is a resource that is running out. As a Capitalist I am sure you know that a commodity in short supply and in high demand will grow in price. The price of oil has fallen recently because of the global economic downturn and all this talk and work on alternative sources of energy. Today German companies and the German government are the largest developers of solar energy – that should be us. <<

Chicawoda –
Oil, gas, and coal are VASTLY more plentiful and environmentally friendly than the very rare and toxic materials needed to create things like solar panels and electric car batteries, not to mention the huge areas needed to install wind turbines, the use of which is, itself, environmentally harmful.

Chicawoda, I’m betting that you are the kind of person that, if you were a physician, if someone came in with some illness, your idea of medical treatment would be to give them poison.

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:00 am 43. zanne:

The Tea Parties should be staged at the front doors of MSM. They are the source of the problem.

#22 Yes We Did: “How does it feel Your time has passed. President Obama rules us now,”
Obama RULE????????…all I can say is WOW!

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:18 am 44. Terry Gain:

29. Terry Gain:
So what you are saying that it is always the Democrats fault – how convenient.

I go where the facts take me.

Republicans have been in power for since Clinton’s 3rd year till 2 years ago.

And the Gingrich Welfare Reform Congress, coupled with Reagan’s peace dividend enabled Clinton to produce surpluses.

Bush has been in power for 8 year – did their policies not have any effect on the economy or the deficit?

The only spending initiated by Bush was drug benefits for seniors, Education and The Defense Against Islamofascism. The Bush economy performed very well after it recovered from 9/11 until 2008. Unfortunately Bush needed whatever support he could get from Democrats to fight the aforesaid war and as a result did not use his veto pen.

BTW – The destruction of 2 buildings in Manhattan, although tragic, does not make an economic meltdown.

Far be it from me to dicourage a liberal from describing the most serious attack on American soil in history as The destruction of 2 buildings in Manhattan…

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:48 am 45. Meryl:

43..good comments…

22..apparently “winning it all” and having your god rule us hasn’t given you any personal peace or content. Namecalling is still the thing you are best at.

We “are not part” of the “new world”?

Tell me, please, specifically what do you plan to do with us when the number of us resisting your god’s proposals and your god’s rules begins to scare you? What, exactly, do you plan to do with us since we “are not part” of the “new world”?

Specifically. What DO you plan to do with us?

Hmmmm????

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:53 am 46. WestWright:

I have noticed the OBorg posters @ PJ like Chicawoda, JHM & the extra moronic David S ‘Peace’, have accelerated their vicious responses, I wonder why? Are they starting to realize that their ffatally flawed Obama is starting to go off the rails & the payback is coming? We must remember that we are dealing with severe mental illness with these deranged Leftist.

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:54 am 47. jb:

Perhaps someone smarter than me can help. I don’t understand one thing; if the USA is hurting so badly during this economic recession, we have to assume there is great hunger and privations here at home. Why has Obama pledged to double foreign aid? You know what I mean, a couple of billion here and a couple of billion there,,, and pretty soon we are talking real money. I can’t imagine FDR making a similar contribution to charity during the Great Depression.

Of course, much is pledged to rebuilding war torn Gaza.

In my view if the Jews and Palestinians want to kill each other, I say let them have at it. We can even sell them the guns and bullets to do the job, but the free ride with the US taxpayer picking up the tab for other peoples mistakes has to stop. There has to be a line somewhere. Sooner or later we have to stop and have that moment, that epiphany, that says; “These folks hate each other so much they won’t stop until one side is dead.” It’s been going on for ages and Hilary isn’t going to make a whit of difference in the overall scheme of things.

With all the money the free world has pumped into Gaza in just the past 30 years that place should be a thriving paradise, instead it is a pest hole beyond redemption. I think we only perpetuate the violence in the middle East by propping up the killers , I’d not commit one dollar to rebuild Gaza, not one grain of wheat or rice until these madmen come to their senses, or starve in the process. Too bad, but that’s the way I see it.

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:56 am 48. Macgawd:

Chicawoda is quite clearly a troll, so I won’t comment on any of those posts. As far as the GOP is concerned, I am convinced that Obama won not because of huge voter turnout, but because of the failure of Conservatives to go to the polls–in a sense, Obama won by default, because the GOP failed to field a true Conservative candidate. My guess is that after Obama finishes ruining the economy, it won’t be difficult for the GOP to win back most of its lost seats, including the White House.

=M=

Feb 28, 2009 - 10:57 am 49. Jon:

Great article, Ms. Rubin. In my opinion, the real problem with the GOP is we have TOO D**N many wishy-washy moderates in positions of power within the confines of leadership. Finally we have some young and dynamic leaders like Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin that communicate clearly the timeless principles of conservatism. And we have a party chairman in Michael Steele that has the cojones to go after the Democrats through grassroots recruiting of candidates at the local level. He’s decentralized the chairmanship, putting local party offices (most of which are VERY conservative) in charge of recruiting local candidates. Hopefully in 2010, we’ll have a slate of dynamic candidates at the local, state, and congressional level that can communicate clearly the principles of conservatism.

Feb 28, 2009 - 11:38 am 50. C J Williams:

Terry #29 Right on!!!! You said it ALL!!!

Feb 28, 2009 - 11:50 am 51. WeAreJohnGalt?:

JHM. WTF are you talking about?

Feb 28, 2009 - 12:22 pm 52. JAY:

Republicans don’t have the courage or the sense to seize the opportunity. Their message is muddled and muted. They are confronted by a united and very socialist Democratic party and they still can’t find their voice. Don’t expect seriousness from them. The country is in for a long and painful fall.

Feb 28, 2009 - 12:32 pm 53. Phoenix48:

PostalMed:
JHM:
“You think you are being clever, but….”

Postal; you obviously never did much post-grad study in a liberal arts writing program. This is a common practice on such a commune(I did my time at Kent State in the 80’s). Since language is instrumental in facilitating repression butchering it is neither counterproductive(jibberish as you noted signifigantly limits the audience)nor ignorant, but rather creative destruction. The fact it is headache inducing is all the better – since the vitrol desires to inflict as much pain as possible – physical and mental. JHM obviously hopes to explod heads. ‘You dig?’ Walter Mosley or Michael Eric Dyson would – and give out an A+ on the diatribe.

You did send him in the right direction when suggesting Huffpo.

Besides the distraction of trolling spooges such as Cichawoda & JHM, Jennifer’s raised some interesting responses on her suggestion for conservative oppertunities.

Reagan never got credit for reaching young people in the 80’s until well after he wrote his farewell letter, slipping into the loving care of his family. Contrast that with how Jimmy Carter and now Clinton have embarked on post-presidential careers where likeminded (and well heeled) fellow travelers continue to provide bully pulpits.

M.Malone #3 is dead on – it isn’t the message – it’s that there hasn’t been a generational transition – no conservative leader has emerged.

Michael Barone made an observation on C-Span shortly before the election – that Reagan, just like FDR, shadowed both Bush presidencies as well as Clinton. You can make a strong case that the Reagan era died in Sept ‘07 – when the financial meltdown first hit full force.

At least with Clinton – once defeated on Hillary Health Care -divided government plus Fed Chair Greenspan along with Rubin at Treasury forced him to toss his liberal adgenda in favor of deficit reduciton and free trade – along with welfare reform – all of which made him much hated by the left who denounced him as a traitor. Besides plodding and pressure by a conservative congress Clinton morphed into Reaganesque territory – and what happened?

Exactly what conservatives said would happen. Explosive growth, jobs galore, wealth creation and prosperity. Which was why a lot of people like me grew to admire Reagan after he was gone – not so much mugged by reality into discarding leftist cant – but cuddled and converted through oppertunity.

Ms Rubin is in the right neighborhood but I seriously doubt that anything as esoteric as the tax deduction on charitable giving ranks in the top fifty national priorities for couples in their thirties struggling with the house payment with or without kids.

Check card is another matter all together. I’m 50. My father and one of his two brothers, like their father, were both Union workers – Reagan Democrates who left the party who left them in ‘84 not ‘80. Of course my grandfather wouldn’t admit it even on his deathbed – but our grandmother enlightened us after he was gone.

I got my Teamsters withdrawl on a temp job – I had to join as a condition of employment. It was a plant closing in Solon Ohio around ‘94-’95. A very unpleasant 2 month assignment – and Colgate didn’t move out of the country – it didn’t even move out of Ohio – relocating just a few hours south to Coshocton.

I never ever believed in my life I would re-think unionism. Well. Given what has happened since the last recession in ‘92 & then the Tech Bubble & now the Credit implosion – I have. And so have Republicans like Thad McCotter in Michigan and Peter King in NY just to name a few.

Where is the leadership that stops channeling Phil Graham insisting that debt laden conservative Americans are spendthrift shop-till-you-drop junkies instead of entertaining the prospect that all this personal debt says something about falling wages like libs keep bringing up?

It does offend me that CEO’s who ran our banking into the ground walked off with mucho dinero – and we end up with the most liberal president imaginable. I know what my younger colleagues at work think as well.

Conservatives need to provide answers better than a 10%-20% drop in the tax write off’s for charitable giving.

Feb 28, 2009 - 12:44 pm 54. Von Bear:

Don’t bank on our youth. Taking over education in the sixties and producing two generations of functionally illiterate worker bees has doomed our once great Republic. Ninety percent our youth can barely read, let alone produce a critical thought.
They will be more than happy on their knees begging for a government job. When does one complete childhood these days? Age thirty? For God’s sake Alexander had conquered the world and was dead at thirty three. For the most part, I am unable to have a normal conversation with anyone under 50, very sad!

Feb 28, 2009 - 1:38 pm 55. view from afar:

43…in France the protestors leave piles of manure in front of the doors, and since what we recieved from the MSM is a load of s— why not make that clear to them? Everywhere possible?
Jennifer Rubin makes a point missed, or assumed by everyone…yes the reason that that one capped donations is to make the government the one to turn to in times of need. In France ther really isn’t anything like American private charities. Oh, and there are a lot of people who don’t semm to have 100% health coverage…

Feb 28, 2009 - 1:48 pm 56. ricpic:

Why do you think the lefties everywhere, including those commenting here, are united in villifying Sarah Palin? Because they’re scared sh*tless of her. She connects with the overwhelming majority of Americans and they know it. Her smiling continence will wipe out Mister Prissy and his scowling minions next time up. I can’t wait. Batter up!

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:08 pm 57. ricpic:

The Left makes me so ferblungit that I misspelled countenance.

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:15 pm 58. Editor:

We’ve been watching Romney and correcting him when necessary. He’s as dangerous as George W. Bush. Anyone one that misconstrues mythology for truth should avoided in positions of leadership.

Editor
ExposeRomney.com

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:43 pm 59. David S:

@46. WestWright:

I only discovered PJM a few short weeks ago, and have been enjoying the banter. I had not previously realized the extent of the brain washing being perpetrated by rightist media on the web. Refuting the irrational beliefs of the PJM crew is entertaining, educational, and mostly healthy. I don’t expect Obama to be perfect, but so far I am quite satisfied with the change that he is working on. My hope still remains that the minority of folks who don’t get it will come around to see that we are all in this together.

Peace.

DS

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:51 pm 60. Jack:

Bush spends 7 trillion, including 700 billion in his last months, and the Republicans want to call the democrats big government over-spenders. They would rather the Dems do nothing, and take the heat the Republicans would give them for doing that instead. Then the Republicans wonder why the middle and lower class citizens don’t identify with them, when their main concern on the stimulus bill was that there weren’t enough tax cuts for businesses and the upper class. You can keep playing the “trickle down economics makes jobs after execs take their cuts” deal all you want, but it doesn’t ring true to most people.

We gave money to banks and large corporations and they saved it. If you want to really help the little people, give them the money directly…I guarantee they will spend it or use it to bail themselves out. When they spend it, guess what, it goes to companies. The difference is that the people (who will end up having to pay it all back) got the first crack at it, and corporations will get it (if they make good products and services…you know, capitalism) second. This is something Republicans could stand to learn in times like these.

Jack

Feb 28, 2009 - 2:54 pm 61. as is:

56. ricpic . . . Let this liberal be perfectly clear on this . . . and yes I speak for liberals everywhere . . . I would like NOTHING BETTER than to see Sarah Palin win the Republican nomination in 2012.
And if she can team up with Rush Limbaugh as the media mouthpiece and maybe Bobby Jindal on the other half off the ticket, so much the better. Truly, the more radical and extreme your approach the better.

This is gonna be great.

Feb 28, 2009 - 3:51 pm 62. Marie Claude:

JHM, LMAO seems women have no favor credit by your criteriums ! uh, since someone called me, Mr Marie Claude, may I ask you what is “1423, Greeter Droob” and from where the pic comes from (on your nic), just wantin to educate myself !!!

Feb 28, 2009 - 4:14 pm 63. Marie Claude:

in France the protestors leave piles of manure in front of the doors ???
It happens sometimes that some angry peasans do that in front of the prefectures or taxes hostels, or actresses that are upset to see their life exposed on sh*t papers would do that in front of the door of the papers too.

Oh, and there are a lot of people who don’t semm to have 100% health coverage, as I alredy explained you a second private insurance is needed if you want your single room at the hospital, if you want the nicest glasses, your porcelan teeth, the last fashionable medecine… this is a more for confort, other than that, everyone is cared, the poors, the richs, the elders, but in each category there are cheaters, so this is THE problem !

Feb 28, 2009 - 4:33 pm 64. Carbon:

If the GOP wants a winning message it should be that of FREEDOM. If anything is going to appeal to the younger set that ought to:
You thought it was bad when Daddy and Mommy were running your life? At least you had the option to get older and move out. The New Daddy and New Mommy you have to worry about now is the Government, and you will never be too old to move out of the house or avoid being Grounded when you piss them off.
You want Universal Healthcare? Well, since the New Parents are paying for it they just might have to lay some rules down. Are you drinking too much? Hell, with the new technology we can keep track of a lot of what you’re doing. Just imagine going to the grocery checkout and sliding your credit card and then having the clerk tell you that you can’t purchase that beer because you’ve run over your quota of alcohol purchases for that month. Its for your own good, and the Greater Good, because this helps keep Health Care costs down. We’re all one big family you know, and running away is not an option. And oh yeah, you can’t buy that steak either, you’ve gone over your monthly limit for fat already, and …you can’t buy those candy bars either… you’re over on the monthly sugar allowed too.
And how free are you to have a good time? Let’s get realistic–some things in life are free but as a practical matter most pleasures require cash. The new Daddy and Mommy can’t seem to get it through their heads that they money you earn is different from an allowance. No matter how much you make from that job of yours, its just part of the family income, but they will still give you your weekly allowance …if you’ve been good.
Some politicians want to treat you like the adult you are, and others, no matter what, will always treat you like a child. Which kind do you want to vote for?

Feb 28, 2009 - 4:38 pm 65. oopsie:

OK, the CPAC results are in!

Romney 20%
Jindal 15%
RonPaul 14%
Palin 14%

Wow! Watch out Obama!

Feb 28, 2009 - 4:50 pm 66. Jack:

RICPIC – Trust me, we hate Palin, but that is why we are happy for you to put her up in 2012. Because we are not the far left socialists you keep calling us…most of us are centrists and as long as you keep looking at us the wrong way, you’ll keep putting up far right-wingers that will get stomped. Hating her and fearing her a far different things. Heck, even you guys put up McCain and scared him into pretending to be far right. If you had just let him be centrist (which you knew he was) he had a strong chance…but you brow-beat him to the right (and forced his hand on someone like Palin) to be allowed the lofty privilege of your vote, and he lost the rest of the normal people. But keep it up…keep hating gays and freedom of the people, and advocating tax cuts for companies and maybe it’ll work for ya! So far so good, right!

Jack

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:09 pm 67. Cichawoda:

Von Bear:
“I am unable to have a normal conversation with anyone under 50″ – maybe you are just getting old.
I’m past 50 and I love what the past 2 generations all over the world have come up with in music, art, movies, science and technology. I love the way my own children and their friends look at the world and how freely they communicate with people everywhere in the world.
Maybe we are seeing the beginnings of the nationalist paradigm dissolving in the next few generations – wouldn’t that be great?

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:49 pm 68. Carbon:

Trust me, we hate Palin, but that is why we are happy for you to put her up in 2012.
Yeah–I remember them saying that about Ronald Reagan, too. He was so “unprogressive” there was no way he was going to get voted in. She has quite a record of public service, fighting against corruption. And then again, she doesn’t pretend to fit in with the social circles of rich Northeastern Europhiliacs and their west coast wannabes.

Excellent.

And then again, there is that essential difference between “progressives” and broken clocks–the clocks have a better track record of being correct.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:16 pm 69. Delia:

Throwing paper money on a bonfire of vanity is NOT the way to help are economy.

The ‘dollar’ aka ‘IOU’ is a means to an end.

Dollars will soon be too expensive to print vs their actual value. Has ANYONE even mentioned how expensive it is to PRINT our GREENBACKS?

Monopoly moula Pimp Daddy in office seems to think his Magic Negro powers can create money out of ‘thin air’.

Repubs effed up trying to stave the gaping wounds of STUPID with bailouts..

Democrats are using the same tactics ad infinitum and they are sending it home like a root canal gone bad.

There is no ‘good guy’ in all of this. This is a collective, greedy, bullshit for bullshit’s sake power grab from the left.

We are already gov’ servants by paying taxes for our ‘loyal service’ to our country ’tis of thee…sweet land of liber___ stop the presses[!]. No more liberty. None. Nada.

-And, screw your effing consti-wha ? The ‘new-agers’ want to turn our constitution into a ‘living’ document which ‘changes with times’ rather than beholding what is probably the most intellectually beautiful piece of work written by our fore founders EVER.

Who cares about a lil’ ol’ thang known as the Constitution? Who cares that our country is the most successful, big, bad boy for a REASON that has a rhyme?

Grow a brain, Americans. Your country and all of its honor, integrity, and innate decency is AT STAKE.

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:17 pm 70. Delia:

Typo fix: “OUR” economy.

Multi-task master that I am…I gotta say I’m the TYPO QUEEN. lol

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:19 pm 71. myth buster:

Bobby Jindal isn’t a Hindu anymore; he hasn’t been since high school.

Obama is about to make things so much worse, even a borderline nutcase like Ron Paul could beat him in 2012. Huckabee/Jindal 2012: the GOP strikes back!

Feb 28, 2009 - 6:43 pm 72. Meryl:

In previous years, I believe our national “tax freedom day”* has been somewhere in March? Or was it May? I really don’t remember. (*the point at which we stop working for the guvmint and start working for ourselves)

But it just occured to me that with what the BMOC is doing to the United States economy, tax freedom day may now be pushed as far as September for some folks.

Our son and his wife are already adjusting plans with regard to their successful and (to this point) growing business so that they are ready to pare back or bail out of some of the major income producing aspects of it in about 18-24 months. When the obomination’s new tax structures kick in in 2010-11, they’ll be far better off just cutting everything back to stay below 250K.

Libs and obamians are just power hungry and reparations-driven.

I think right now obama is riding a personal high that could be illustrated by that idiot in Dr. Strangelove riding the atom bomb down, yelling like an idiot and waving his cowboy hat, as he heads for his doom over Russia.

obama doesn’t care if he survives, personally or politically. He’s our own personal political suicide bomber. Such a deal.

His dream that includes him screaming at America, “You’re goin’ DOWN!” is being fulfilled.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:41 pm 73. oopsie:

#71. Sorry, not good enough. We’ll have to see a vault copy of his conversion papers.

Feb 28, 2009 - 7:41 pm 74. Hyphenated American:

It’s only a matter of time. Obama’s policies are so destructive that American people will feel the cost of “Hope-n-Change” on their own backs. And when that happens – they will throw the bums out. I can only hope that Obama won’t be able to silence independent media and put his people in charge of counting the ballots.

Feb 28, 2009 - 9:04 pm 75. Michael, Springfield, MO:

I look at all these notations and I can’t help but wonder, have you guys looked at the books lately? It wasn’t that long ago that our budget was more than balanced; there was a multi-trillion dollar surplus on the books, and with that we could’ve bulked up Medicare and Social Security, or maybe paid down our trade deficit, both of which would’ve helped not only our economy but also our long-term prosperity. Instead we get tax cuts in ‘01 & ‘03 which, along with unnecessary spending in Iraq and the Medicare Part D, put us in a multi-trillion dollar hole. By the way you guys have been speaking, it looks as if you WANT Pres. Bush back. Oh, and by the way, Pres. Reagan hurt many more people than he helped, since he was the one who started the anti-union craze in the GOP, which created the deluge in jobs leaving the country, which begat the ever-depleting middle class in this country.

Mar 1, 2009 - 12:09 am 76. John Burke:

Rubin has some interesting thoughts, but Im skeptical.

Younger people are simply a lot less likely to worry about future debts — their owm much less the national debt. On top of that, younger people are generally at the low end of incomes in their chosen field (or are still not earners at all), so that they really don’t give much thought to hugher taxes. Why should they when it may be 10 or 15 years before they can get above the lower tax brackets. (Older folksL remember how distant 15 years seemed to you when you were 21?).

As for the charity deductions, it’s a good issue to hammer Obama on — particularly since all the charities are going to be lobbying furiously against the change. The thing is — they’ll probably prevail! In which case, the added revenue “needed” will have to be raised through even higher marginal rates, fewer deductions in other categories, or more business taxes. I just don’t think Congress is going to screw every church, college, hospital, artistic institution and reseach foundation in the country. So campaigning on this proposal may turn out to be something of a Pyrrhic victory.

I blog at:

http://thepurplecenter.blogspot.com/

Mar 1, 2009 - 12:17 am 77. Delia:

75. Michael, Springfield, MO:

Where are the FACTS to back up your drivel? You want to see FAILURE of the DEM party? Here ya be:

http://www.conservatismtoday.com/my_weblog/2008/07/starbucks-a-stu.html

http://www.helios360.com/thefrankfactor/?tag=democratic-failure

http://www.oliverwillis.com/2006/01/27/the-failure-of-the-modern-democratic-party/

Mar 1, 2009 - 4:08 am 78. Jack:

Delia/Meryl – Wow, the implied racism here is sublime. “Magic Negro”. Talk of behavior being reparations-driven. You people should be ashamed of yourselves, and I hope you don’t have children. Having a political disagreement is one thing, but being so thoughtless and rude in this day and age is, well, sad.

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 5:56 am 79. weirdone:

. Cichawoda: Facts speak for themselves. Compare the charts below. You know where we are today.
8 November 2006, the day that the Dims took over in both houses of Congress.
4 Novemger 2008 Obama elected

Economy in Free Fall 2/12/09
Dow Jones Down Over 2,000 points since Election Day 2008, 3400 since Democrats took over both houses of Congress in November 2006.

8 November 2006 4 November 2008
Dow 12176.56 all time high Dow 9,625.28

NAS 2384.94 1,780.12

S @ P 1385.72 ALL UP S&P1,006.75

Gold spot $635.00 Gold $756.00

Wheat $3.78 $5.73
Oil $59.83 Brent spot $70.53

Nat. Gas 7.823 Henery Hub spot $6.45

Gas $1.5636 wholesale $1.53
Unemployment 4.4% 6.3%

Home interest rate as low as 5.375% 5.50%

CD best rate bank 5.45% 4.37%

Fed. T Bond rate 5 year 4.75% 4.256

CPI 201.8 up1.3% 218.783 up 4.9%

Job creations; up 132,000 in Oct Down 159.000
.
GDP est.3rd Q 1.59% + 3rd est Q 2008 2.5% -

Budget total deficit for 2006 $248.2 2008 $407 billion
Billion

2006 budget 2.2 trillion 2008 2.9 Trillion
Inflation rate, latest figure 2.06%, 4.94%

Yen 117 98.995

Euro 1.27 1.2854

British # 1.87 1.545

Canadian $.76 $1.182

Mar 1, 2009 - 7:36 am 80. nas:

Delia, here are some facts for you:

There’s a new nationwide study of anonymised credit card usage between 2006 and 2008.

Here’s what it shows:

8 of the top 10 porn-consuming states voted Republican in 2008. The biggest consumer was the reddest most religious state of all – Utah. Residents of the 27 states that passes bans on gay marriage boasted 11% more porn consumers. It’s not all bad news for you folks . . . it seems there was a 0.1% drop in porn consumption on Sundays. Everybody needs a rest, right?

Benjamin Edelman of the Harvard Business School said, “Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very thing they say they are outraged by.”

I guess that explains the whole “tea bag” thing. Bilgeman, care to weigh in? It’s Sunday.

Mar 1, 2009 - 7:45 am 81. Meryl:

78 Jack…so now “implied racism” (that is, your personal perception) becomes an acceptable accusation?? We have suspected for some time that criticism of obama would be flicked aside with the accusation of it being racist based.

How are you enjoying your newly elevated political victim status?

You must not get around much, or you would know that the term “Magic Negro” (which I have never used to my knowledge) was coined by a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. It did not originate with any conservative.

Mar 1, 2009 - 11:13 am 82. Delia:

“Magic Negro” is racist?

Puhlease. Negro does not mean ‘NIGGER’ by any stretch:

Main Entry:
Ne·gro
Pronunciation:
\ˈnē-(ˌ)grō\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural Negroes
Etymology:
Spanish or Portuguese, from negro black, from Latin nigr-, niger
Date:
1555
~

Black beans are called ‘frijoles negros’ because the word ‘negro’ literally means ‘black’.

Let’s take ‘magic’…now… Magic [in the B.O.] sense implies skilled ’slight of hand’ and adept usage of smoke and mirrors.

Hence, “MAGIC NEGRO”.

If someone calls me “whitey” I’m offended.
If someone calls me “white” I’m not.

End of discussion.

Mar 1, 2009 - 1:22 pm 83. Jack:

Meryl – No, you didn’t say “Magic Negro”, Delia was the one who brought that up. Instead, you tried to bring up the notion that the Obama supporters are “reparations-driven.” I don’t know why you made the choice to bring up slave reparations while trying to say you don’t care for Obama supporters…but that’s where you decided to take it despite numerous other things you could have said. I find that odd…I’m not sure what the connection is between Obama supporters (greater than 64% of the polled public last I checked) and reparations…apparently you do and think it’s the most cogent problem with Obama supporters. Do enlighten us.

I also think it interesting that you also compared him to a suicide bomber…I didn’t mention that in my last post because I assumed it was just a thoughtless and tasteless reference thrown at a fellow American citizen that you probably just didn’t think through. I’m sure that deep down inside, you believe that to not support your President is essentially treasonous, since that was what we learned from the Bush administration supporters for 8 years.

And since you brought it up, “Magic Negro” regardles of who invented it, is NOT socially acceptable. I would hope you would provide your own internal censor and not just blithely repeat anything you hear because all that matters was whether you coined it or not. I doubt you even believe that yourself if you were honest about it.

It is rhetoric like yours (on both sides of the aisle) that prevents us from having real discussions, compromise, and the best path forward.

And I am not a political victim. I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 1:51 pm 84. whyyeseyec:

#3 is correct. Politicians only want to get reelected. At any cost. The heck with us. How many times have you heard a politician say `this was the best we could do under the circumstances`

Mar 1, 2009 - 2:15 pm 85. Meryl:

the connection between obama’s supporters and reparations was made repeatedly by obama as, during the campaign, he made references to all the long neglected racially-based negative conditions that he had appointed himself to set straight. I don’t know how else to interpret his intention when, in rally after rally, he left black audience members (who were interviewed by the media after the rallies) who were convinced that obama was going to come to their rescue in a variety of ways. If you look at the percentage of blacks who voted for obama as well, I absolutely do not see how you can say they did not have racial perspective on the election. If their reason for voting for him was not primarily that he was black, I’d be interested in seeing the results of polls that present other reasons (than promises made to them or implied by him).

The reason I compared him to a suicide bomber is because I have been absolutely flabbergasted over the past weeks to observe that his spoken threats to other leaders in our country, his mockery of other elected leaders in our country (who also won their elections)…these things are just the beginning. He doesn’t care about any form of collateral damage. His willingness to basically present himself as the king of the hill who will brook no interference with his chosen goals has been astounding. I cannot recall another president who has had the gall to present himself so rudely and crudely and self-important with the clear presentation of, “I AM IN POWER AND YOU WILL YIELD” in his attitude. And I remember LBJ well. In all of his Texas bluster and foul mouth, he NEVER spoke publicly with such a crass “get out of my way or suffer the consequences” attitude.

You see, I believe obama is who he presents himself to be, and part of who he presents himself to be is the presidential candidate who publicly gave the finger to both John McCain and Hillary Clinton (and got a laugh from his audience for doing so).

….but I digress. The reason I realized the suicide bomber analogy was appropriate was simply because I am becoming persuaded (by his public statements, by his political actions, by his announced and proclaimed goals) that he has one goal and one goal only: to do exactly what he wants when he wants without regard for the results, even extending to the potential that he is setting himself up for a one-term presidency. He is destructively demanding and domineering to the point where he not only does not exhibit any concern for the present or future health of the United States of America; he actually doesn’t seem to have any serious sense of self-preservation politically.

I’ve known other jerks like that in my life, and guess what? None of them were black. I’ve never thought of being black as as relevant to being a jerk. But am I being instructed here that we may no longer call a jerk a jerk if they are black? I think that’s racist.

I still can’t figure out why you assumed my reference to him as a political suicide bomber had something to do with being black. I’ve never assumed that all suicide bombers were black. Have you? I do not think of Arabs as black. (and I think they form the major percentage of suicide bombers) Do you? Why do you feel it necessary to group people by color? I don’t.

Whatever.

Mar 1, 2009 - 2:33 pm 86. as is:

82 Delia . . . “Whitey” is not racist, just ask Whitey Ford, a true American hero! No, no, you’re being overly sensitive. Honky? Just the sound a horn makes. Cracker? A tasty snack treat. Peckerwood? A wholly innocent reference to our cartoon friend Woody. White trash? Merely describing the plastic grocery bags used so often in the suburbs. No, to really offend a white woman, I think we have to look to John McCain for guidance.

Mar 1, 2009 - 2:44 pm 87. Jack:

Delia – Your defense is of someone who is not black (if you were black, I’d actually cut you some slack). It’s not about you, it’s about the people you offend, and seemingly gleefully offend. You are unrepentant, uncaring, and even more sadly, proud of it. Black people find it offensive, you know that, and you chose to say it anyway (even when entirely unnecessary). Makes me wonder what is in you that thinks that’s not only ok, but a good thing. You just sound, well, mean spirited.

As a woman, I hope you enjoy making 10-20% less than men doing the same job as you. I’m a man, and if you call me “Rich guy” and I’m not offended, pay inequity is ok, right? It’s the same thing.

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 3:00 pm 88. Jack:

Meryl –

Blacks were made to suffer in the past (unfairly, in my opinion) and continue to today (compare their wages to whites doing the same job, for example) so I don’t think it is unfair for Obama to bring that up. I have never heard Obama go so far as to call for reparations (some have yes, but then some folks have said people with AIDS should be put on an island…I don’t deal with fringe lunatics).

And if you hadn’t noticed, blacks OVERWHELMINGLY voted for Democrats long before Obama came around. The percent was a bit higher here, but hardly fair to say that “all black people voted for Obama simply because he was black.” That’s ignoring their obvious bent towards Democrats to begin with. To say otherwise once again points towards narrow/callous thinking (which is what started all of this).

And no one does, “exactly what he wants when he wants without regard for the results.” That you don’t care for the results he is pursuing does not mean he is psychotic and lacking in any common sense or purpose. There is enough wrong with our system/country today that if someone finally had the guts to sacrifice themselves to fix it all (even if we could agree on what that fix was) then that would be someone I’d vote for…someone more worried about fixing things than advancing themselves. THAT would be progress.

If you had called Obama a jerk, or his supporters jerks, I would not have commented. You chose to call them reparation-driven, and in fact that was my point. You actually decided to call them that, as opposed to “jerk” or any number of other things, and that was my problem…it speaks to your state of mind, not theirs.

I never related you calling him a suicide bomber to being black. I simply said that calling the President of the United States the same thing we call the terrorists that killed thousands of our citizens was perhaps a thoughtless and innapropriate anaology. That you made two unrelated insulting comments in the same post was of your doing, not mine.

And by the way, Iranians for example aren’t arabs, they are persians (I know you didn’t refer to Iranians, but I thought I’d point out that not everyone in the middle east is “arab” and they hate that we don’t know that). I don’t group people by color, but I at least try to be sensitive to the things that people take offense to. It doesn’t take a lot out of me to chose my words a little more carefully, so it seems like the least I (we) can do.

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 3:34 pm 89. The Historian:

DON’T FORGET NATIONAL SECURITY!
DEMOCRAT DOCTRINE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SAFTEY
Obama and his fellow leftists put the nation at risk.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-defense-should-remain-top-priority.html

Mar 1, 2009 - 4:11 pm 90. Meryl:

…and I guess part of my state of mind is that I am watching our country being pushed over a precipice and I find it frightening. And it makes me angry. And the so-called Republicans have suddenly rediscovered their love for the conservatives.

In any event, I can’t reasonably defend having said things that would have been better left unsaid, so I won’t go there.

You’ve invested in thoughtful replies dissecting what I expressed with strong feelings.

There are too many overlapping issues at this point for me to sort out. Maybe I’m the only person in the country who is scared enough and mad enough that I can’t discuss this calmly.

So I’ll exercise self-censorship so we can end our day somewhat amicably.

Meryl Out

Mar 1, 2009 - 5:22 pm 91. vivo:

65. oopsie:

“OK, the CPAC results are in!

Romney 20%
Jindal 15%
RonPaul 14%
Palin 14%

Wow! Watch out Obama!”

20%? You’re kidding!

Mar 1, 2009 - 5:44 pm 92. vivo:

82. Delia:

“If someone calls me “whitey” I’m offended.”

I couldn’t care less.

Mar 1, 2009 - 5:47 pm 93. Jack:

Delia – Did a little research…

In post #77 of “Ammunition shortage” you had another issue with blacks.
In Post #109 of “Ammunition shortage” you posted a clip of a black man being trampled to death, 6 hours after someone posted a video of a cop potentially beating a 15 year old girl up too much…strange tie-in there…perhaps even stranger you seemingly had it bookmarked and at the ready.
In Post #24 of “Eric Holders comments” you were very concerned about handouts to blacks and how libs kept them “ill educated and poor” with no commentary on how you would fix it (or how the libs were doing that to begin with).
In Post #36 of that same blog you made yet another “dead chimp” reference, to highlight how much you care about people’s feelings.
In Post #46 of “Gone Ape” you talked about how “evolution was only about blacks” and then were so concerned about that topic you went on to post another 8 times in that same topic (weird, lots of other topics didn’t capture your attention so thoroughly).
In Post #76 of “Obama removes the mask” you made a completely odd reference to Alfred E. Newman being “half-black” that was clearly intended to be derogatory, but totally out of the blue.

At any time in our discourse you could have just simply said that you weren’t racist, and you didn’t (I would have let it go if you even tried). And with a few minutes of looking on these blogs, you seem to actually be fixated on race. Seriously, there is more out there from you about race than not about race. At least have the guts to either speak your beliefs definitively, or tell me why I’ve got you pegged incorrectly.

Or just change your screen name, if that’s more comfortable.

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 6:23 pm 94. Jack:

Meryl – I agree, we are in trying times, and times that bring up very real and valid emotions. It is my core belief that until the left and right can come together and stop the vile insults (and yes, both parties are to blame) and start with the same kind of discussions that we would have with our neighbors and friends and families, that we will never move forward. You and I can disagree about any number of issues, but we are both trying to make our world and country a better place. When that digresses into hate and name calling (which is easy to do) then we all lose. I will jovially (but with purpose) engage in any debate you want to have as we, as citizens of this great country, try to find the best path forward. But I will speak out with great anger at those who harm this country by diverting the common discourse by speaking ill of each other. I am not at all immune to thinking ill of people, but if we continue to devolve to the point where we attack each other, we are just bringing up the wall of resistance, and deteriorating the chance of working together and agreeing.

I know you have referred to him as the “Kenyan President” in the past, but what I’d like is that we can dispense with those things, and start talking about the issues. We have way too many problems to allow those things to pull our attention away from the very real issues at hand (and believe me, as a non-Bush fan, I have plenty to hold MY tongue about).

It will always end amicably with me as long as we don’t make it personal about people, and instead keep it about this great nation of ours. So you know, I didn’t mean anything I said as an attack, just as a challenge to what you said. I have, and always will, hope that everyone who cares enough to express their opinions will do so for the greater good of all of us. Being devisive is not in any of our interest.

I thank you for your thoughtfulness, and reflection. Have a good night!

Jack

Mar 1, 2009 - 7:18 pm 95. CapitalistForChange:

Is it ME or does Jen Rubin spend a lot of time looking for “understanding” and “openings” in the Obama agenda..It’s the columnist equivalent of running a triple reverse at the one yard line instead of plowing straight ahead..There’s no mystery here. The guy’s agenda is what he said that it would be. He’s going to run up the deficit to pay for healthcare, education and energy (Reagan ran up the deficit to pay for tax cuts –ask Jack Kemp)…I’m getting a headache from the “who is the REAL Obama” mantra in every Rubin column…As far as “young people” and the GOP, you’re looking at the Ron Paul crowd at CPAC. This Party’s not ready to forsake the Social Conservative agenda to let the Libertarians have more influence. If that DOES happen, let me know and I’LL jump back into the pool!..Finally, if “young people” are anyone who’s in college, they just received a boost in pell grant aid, from $500 to $5000.00 this year..Obama’s delivering for college students..You’re better off with the “fear of the tax hike” strategy. CPAC is not representative of the Republican youth opportunity. CPAC is representative of the Ron Paul youth opportunity…You remember Ron Paul?..He’s the guy that couldn’t get an INVITE to the Fox News GOP debate.

Mar 1, 2009 - 10:08 pm 96. Meryl:

95Capitalist: appreciate your post…I’m still learning how to get it said.

Jack,
Thank you again for the tone and the thoughtfulness of your last response.

Now the rest of you can leave the thread, I have something I want to say to Jack.

It is only in the last year that I have even attempted to enter into discussion with those I disagree with politically or attempted to express my own politics.

I am 64 years old and have always held strong conservative points of view. By “conservative points of view” I mean simply, I guess, “the way I was raised” (Montana farm girl): take care of yourself, give to others whenever you can, tell the truth, know how to work and be willing to work. Until 20 years ago, I never knew those were “conservative” perspectives. I thought they were simply the way life worked.

Because I had never felt compelled to defend those perspectives, I have not had practical, personal experience in pointed personal debate. I realize it shows. Because I have overstepped in getting feelings involved when expressing opinions before, I have struggled with whether to even keep on trying to stay involved in the conversation. I cringe when those from the left come with namecalling attacks based on feelings as well.

A skilled thinker and debater like yourself (no sarcasm intended, just acknowledging your self control and ability to keep digging at the main point) will not always have enough information, especially online, to know when you’re tipping in to an area where there is real anger or fear and, voila! confrontation!!

You apparently spend considerable time on line, tracking and evaluating what individual posters say and linking threads in terms of content. I can’t imagine choosing that level of exposure to debate and argument.

Nevertheless, thank you for your kindness and example.

(All of you others didn’t all leave the thread, did you?!! Here you are still reading!)

Mar 2, 2009 - 5:09 am 97. Jack:

Meryl – I think it is every persons responsibility to act on their own conscience…that may sound like an obvious statement not worth making, but sometimes the simple things are the most important. If you act on your own conscience with care and reflection, you are quite simply doing the best you can and that should be enough for me and everyone else as well.

For me personally, part of that is speaking out and engaging in dialog with people, but not just for the sake of it. It’s to try to take the emotion out of the discussion so we can get to the real point. We are going to have a hard enough time solving this mess without fostering more hate. I feel part of the responsibility to speak out about what I don’t agree with is the responsibility to do it calmly.

Now, I don’t typically spend time tracking and evaluating what other posters say, but in cases where I am questioning someone essentially on their beliefs, I like to do a little homework as I want to be fair. One slip of the keyboard is not the full picture of a person, and I try to keep that in mind (only human, though).

And while you shouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to speak your mind or defend your perspectives, I think it’s a good sign that you care enough to speak up. In essence, you are compelling yourself because it’s important to you, and that’s admirable and not something you should back down from. That is you “acting on your conscience” and as I said, that’s good enough for me. And even “lefties” can be worth talking to if you get the emotion out of it (well, some of us at least…).

Jack

Mar 2, 2009 - 8:01 am 98. Meryl:

The discussion about ideas as you describe it is what I’d like to learn to function in. May have to choose a smaller lab to do it.

Do you know what this moment feels like? Like I’m in Walmart and have just toppled a 15 display, gotten the sticky contents of the containers all over myself and then the PA announcement comes: “CLEANUP ON AISLE 10! CLEANUP ON AISLE 10!”.

Oh well. I think it was some Frenchman intrigued with the amazing success of the American model, “Community is messy.”

I’ve learned some things from our exchange. Thanks. Have a good week.

Mar 2, 2009 - 9:35 am 99. TPL:

I’m not a Ron Paul whacko or anything, but I did find his message very appealing in the last election. The Ron Paul campaign had a tremendous response from younger voters, who were energized by his message of foreign policy and fiscal restraint, liberty, and constitutional compliance. These are the very values the GOP used to hold.

Even more interesting that the mainstream GOP ignored (scorned or mocked is probably a better term) that very message, with the GOP candidates openly smirking and laughing at him during the debates. You had a number of articles (e.g. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22253) where you continually call him “naive”, “outrageous”, etc.

So Ms. Rubin, I have to think of your assertions of “openings” rather ludicrous. The GOP has the same people with the same ideas in the same positions. Anticipating a different result just goes to prove that the GOP has not learned its lessons yet. Watching Romney, Limbaugh, and Jindal echo the same Bush-era talking points is a pretty sorry sight…

Mar 2, 2009 - 12:15 pm 100. momof3:

“I hope you enjoy making 10-20% less than men doing the same job as you”

This has been debunked and I am so tired of it. When you control for education, experience, and weekly hours worked, there is NO wage gap. None. Women seem to expect to get paid the same as the man who works 70 hours a week, when they work 40 and take off months at a time. Unfair to those who do put in the extra work. Those 3 years you took off to stay home? The person making more than you now was working those years and gaining experience. And I say that as a mom on year 5 of staying home, and proud of it!

Past that, why on earth do we have to watch what we say about blacks when they sure don’t about us? You expect something, you better be willing to give it as well. Obama was referred to as a suicide bomber because he seems intent on destroying our country, even if he destroys himself in the process. If he were trying to find solutions, we’d be with him. He’s not. He’s making use of a crappy economy to force all sorts of unnecessary and unwanted spending down our throats. He’s never been shy about who he was. Why some people couldn’t see that is beyond my ability to understand.

Meryl, you are just fine. Stick around.

Mar 3, 2009 - 6:53 pm 101. Jack:

Momof3: You are either not a woman or are horribly challenged.

Your starting assumption was that the comparison is a man who works 70 hours a week and a woman who works 40 and “take months off at a time”. That, at the least, is pre-judging women as to the amount of time they are willing to work and (presumably) whether they want to or CAN have children (presuming that was your point about months off of work). I’ve known lots of women, they work hard, they put in the hours, some of them have taken time off for children but they have come right back. Regardless, I’m sensing a hostility…why do you (as a “woman”) have such a low opinion of them?

It is a clear fact (state your own facts or go away) that women are paid less than men for equivalent positions in white collar jobs. That you bring up women getting time off and men working harder than women shows you have no idea how hard some women work. “They take months off at a time?” Are you making a generality there? (YES YOU ARE). You pretend to be a Mom, but that doesn’t mean other women can’t work…if you are a woman in fact, do you think you are incapable of working hard? Do you think you can’t do as good of a job as a man? If your answer is that you can’t, then you are so old I’ve never met your ilk. It isn’t about being able to raise kids, its about you saying you couldn’t do as good as a man…and if that’s how you feel, I’m just glad HE (the guy you let control you) let you near the computer for a few minutes, because you’ve been sold a bad bill of goods (which I wouldn’t have even said except I know you are a guy with an axe to grind…Yeah, I know you’ll pretend you aren’t…go a’head, try to sell me…).

And then you go on to say you hate blacks…knock yourself out. You are beyond help and I won’t waste my breath. If you were even a woman, and were still a white supremacist, then you would either try to protect women or you’d be to far beyond help (your last failure to make your case was to tell Meryl she was fine…if you had any respect for women you’d have not said most of what you did…you are pathetic).

Jack

P.S. (You should at least apologize to Meryl and I’ll let the rest go…pretending to be a woman was bad enough, but specifically bringing her into it was WAY out of line…you should really do some soul searching). You won’t but you really should. I don’t expect to reply to you again, but Meryl didn’t deserve to be tied to you…I just hope that in your forthcoming insensitive and ill-thought reply that you at least leave her out of it…by asking that I’m afraid I’m antagonizing you, but I thought I’d ask…

Mar 3, 2009 - 8:16 pm 102. Jack:

Meryl – Feel free to respond to “momof3″ as you see fit (as if you needed my permission ) but I’m sorry if you feel that “her” comments or my response are tied to you. That wasn’t MY intent. You and I have come to common ground and I don’t want you to feel tarnished by “her” comments OR mine! It’s one of those situations where people will say what they say

Thanks,

Jack

Mar 3, 2009 - 8:22 pm 103. momof3:

Jack (ass)

I am not anti women. I am anti anyone who feels they should get the same thing as people who work harder. Some women bust ass and never get married/have kids. No doubt. And if they have the same experience/education as men they’ll earn as much or more. Some men stay home. They can expect to earn less when they reenter too.

Here ya go on the wage gap myth:
http://www.iwf.org/iwfmedia/show/18729.html

I don’t hate blacks. I didn’t say or imply that I did. Learn to read, and stop making assumptions. I hate people that grab onto any slight possible reason for feeling insulted, generally by reading into statements and putting words in people’s mouths. I also hate people that use words about themselves, but then get angry when others do. Respect yourself, others will follow. Anyone remember the “black hole” debacle?

Real women don’t need protecting. We are like Sarah Palin, too busy living our life successfully to realize we are supposed to be perma-victims. Go back to the wimpy-metrosexual-femi-man website.

Mar 4, 2009 - 3:11 pm 104. deguello:

There are two HUGE openings for the GOP in my state;Theyre called landfills;I suggest all GOPers of the moderate variety jump in,hold their noses, wait till the bulldozers have totally covered them up with dirt and the other garbage;then they can count to ten and take a deep breath! THIRD PARTY NOW!

Mar 5, 2009 - 10:43 am 105. Business Cards:

I love the way you put things together in your writing. I think, just as we all know, it should still begin in simple actions – anything and everything you can do to inspire, influence, and change to help in small groups and make them grow bigger. As of now, there’s really not much that can be done – leave it to the government – whether we agree or not. Let’s just stay focused and keep things positive. Thanks for sharing your post, I enjoyed reading this.

Apr 7, 2009 - 4:19 pm

Write a Comment

Name:	(required, displayed)
Email:	(required, not publicized)
URL:	(optional, displayed)
Comments: