Welcome to the most intense nightly read on the sphere… the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble
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- LIBERMAN PLAYS THE GAME: He now says he’ll vote against the so-called “Public Option” [2] … (What is Queen Nancy calling it now, the “Consumer Option”?) _ . Well, of course the libtards are screaming bloody murder. There seems a great deal of sentiment coming from the far left along the lines of Harry Reid taking a pound of flesh from Joe Lieberman for actually thinking for himself. What the libtards fail to understand is that Joe Lieberman is far more popular in his district that is Harry Reid, in his. Certainly, Mr. Lieberman is more popular in his district than Democrats in general are, given the reaction the voters there gave the Democrat party endorsed candidate last cycle. Not that I’d expect reality data their thoughts, at any given point, but it would be nice if every once in awhile it would happen. And the amount of bloodletting going on over all of this has most Democrats looking for another plan. [3]Does anyone really think that any government takeover is going to fly? Well, anyone with brains… I guess I should have said that at the off, huh?
- ALAN GRAYSON: PUBLICITY WHORE:Perhaps it’s the optimist in me but I refuse to believe that anybody could be this stupid [4] without being intentionally so. I am left with the conclusion that he simply trying to draw attention to himself [5]. You know the guy is over the edge, when most of the Democrats are backing off of him, too. Most of them, anyway. [6] Meanwhile, I hadn’t expected PresBO to be quite this tone deaf. [7] My fault for under-estimating the guy, I suppose.
- PERCEPTION ON THE ECONOMY SOURS: And the GOP isn’t gaining from it, [8]says the WSJ: [8]
But a dark national view of how everybody in Washington is conducting the public’s business appears to be preventing Republicans from benefiting from concerns about the direction of the country or the Democrat-led government’s handling of the economy, as the minority party often does.
In fact, disapproval of the Republican Party actually has ticked upward, along with the public’s general pessimism. Asked which political party should control Congress after next year’s midterm elections, Democrats now hold a clear edge over the GOP, 46% to 38%, a month after the Republicans were nearly as popular. In September, the Democratic edge was 43% to 40%.
“There was a bounce-back surge for Republicans, and that’s stalled,” said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.
“The mood in America may be blue, but attitudes toward Washington are just jet black,” Mr. Hart said.
That’s mostly because the Republicans have failed to become the party of “NO!” against the left’s strident calls for more government. Bruce McQuain recently used a statement of Jeb Bush [9] (The Republicans in JB’s view, should STOP being the party of “No”) …to leap into the frey:
Worst. Advice. Ever.
[10]Bruce McQuain
Seriously. I hear this all the time, and it is nonsense. [11] It gives credence to opposition propaganda spin.
It is bad advice because it conflates the job of legislators with the party’s job of building the party and attracting new voters. And that’s true for both parties. The GOP is supposedly the ideological opposite of the Democrats. That would tell most voters that the GOP most likely to oppose what the Democrats propose in the legislative process.
Guess what – that makes them the party of “no”. That’s their job, if they believe in the ideological principles which supposedly undergird their party. As I recall it, the Democrats had absolutely no problem being the party of “no” when they were in the minority. In fact, they reveled in it. And look where they are now.
Well, that’s it, exactly. Jeb Bush continues the trend in his family toward centrism, at the cost of principle. This has always been my objection to every single one of them. Bruce goes on with:
On the other hand, where is the GOP’s plan to become more ‘youthful’? Where is it’s media campaign to change the “tone”?
Where is the plan to “apply conservative principles to 21st century problems?” Or, more succinctly, why hasn’t the party produced these plans in anticipation of the fight for Congressional seats in 2010?
AWOL.
I tell him:
The reason for that is simple enough, Bruce. They’ve still not caught on to Reagan’s example. He didn’t swing voters, young and old by modifying his position to accommodate them, he won them over by convincing them of the value of his position. It’s a teaching process that the GOP has never caught on to after Reagan. Including, I’m afraid, both Bush’s.
Instead of standing up for and teaching the principles of limited government, what the Republicans have been doing for the last several cycles is leaning to the left and trying to modify those principles in order to gain power. In other words all they really are is Democrat Lite. No bleeping wonder why they aren’t gaining any popularity even with the way the Democrats are screwing up.
Along those same lines, Armstrong Williams wonders if the Republican party is ready to lead, in his Washngton Times op-ed today. [12] (Aside to the Times; Whoever wrote the headline “WILLIAMS: Is Republicans ready to lead?” needs to be out of a job instantly.)
[13]Armstrong Williams
Says Williams, and rightly:
The balance-of-power question in Washington now may be one of “when,” not “if,” for the Republicans. In the wake of the 2008 cycle, analysts from all stripes thought the Republicans would be doomed to wander in the wilderness of the minority for at least a decade, if not longer. Today, that timeline appears to have narrowed considerably. But are they ready for such responsibility? If the recent past is prologue, I’m not optimistic.The Republican Party has failed to exert bold leadership. Too often the party seems more focused on criticizing its enemies than on conceptualizing new policy objectives. Most disconcerting is the Republicans’ lack of fiscal leadership.
House Republican Leader John A. Boehner recently summed up this sanguine attitude when he wrote, “Republicans lost our way on fiscal responsibility when we held the majority in Congress. Since then, we have held firm to our commitment to show the American people we learned our lesson by offering better solutions to hold the line on spending, rein in red ink and get the nation’s fiscal house in order.”
Tough talk indeed, but unlike most things in this town, that talk is cheap unless it can be backed up. It’s easy to stake principled ground when you lack the authority and power to act on those principles. But what happens when Republicans are suddenly thrust again on the leadership stage?
More than likely, it’ll be exactly what happened the last time, at least by the lights of the American people at the moment. I must say, I’m not optimistic, either. Frankly, I begin to think that by the time they finally figure this out it will have already been too late, there won’t be any country left to salvage.
- HE”S HOW OLD? John Cleese has a birthday today… he’s 70. Dodd Harris has a litte vid on him. [14]
- AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT SPENCER: The author of ” The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran.” is up over at Right Wing News [15]
- TERRORISM ISN’T DEAD: Bloomberg says:
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — [16]Two Chicago men were charged with plotting to attack “facilities and employees” of a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 2005, a federal prosecutor said.
David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were accused of conspiring to assist in or perpetrate terrorist acts against the newspaper’s facilities, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago said today in a statement.
Headley was arrested on Oct. 3 by the FBI’s joint terrorism task force. Rana, a Canadian citizen, was apprehended Oct. 18 at his home. They have been in federal custody since their arrests, prosecutors said.
[17]Mark Styen looks at that and complains: [18]
Two U.S. residents, one an American citizen, one a Canadian citizen, educated and assimilated, and enjoying a nice enough living to be able to afford to fly to Denmark to kill a couple of guys over a cartoon. In the long run, Afghan cave-dwellers and Waziristani goatherds are less of a threat than fellows like Messrs Headley and Rana. The company name — “First World Immigration Services” — is a rather droll jest.
Actually, I figure they’re about an equal danger. Let’s not forget, either that our current administration empowers these throwbacks, too. The increasing amounts of activity since Obama took over should be missed by nobody. Does anyone suppose that’s just coincidental?
- MORE ON BARNEY FRANK: Feedback yesterday on that topic suggested mildly that I’d taken him out of context. Well, fine. Let’s look at the whole line, shall we?
“We are trying on every front to increase the role of government in the regulatory area.”
Can someone please explain to me how exactly that changes the context? Far as I can see, it doesn’t change anything at all.
- BITSBLOG BUMPERSTICKER OF THE DAY: Comes to us from Pastor Mark Roberts. [19]
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