The Right Noises From NY GOP, But We’ve Heard This Before

Somehow, I ended up on the mailing list of the New York GOP.  Found this in my mail last night:

“Since its founding, the Republican Party has stood for the time honored values and ideals of opportunity, personal responsibility, accountability and hope,” said Chairman Mondello. “Our nation has become the greatest society in history, because we have supported and rewarded individual energy and initiative, thereby allowing each individual to achieve the highest possible level of success and enriching their community and the entire nation. For our country and party to remain vibrant, we must abide by these core principles.”

Chairman Mondello also announced that he will be soliciting names of county chairs to serve on a Platform Committee at the next New York GOP Executive Committee meeting. The actived Platform Committee will serve to receive and initiate suggestions to ensure the statement of principles continues to remain growing and vibrant along with the party. The Platform Committee will make recommendations to the Executive Committee and full State Committee on an ongoing basis as necessary.

“As with all sets of goals, it is important to be constantly revisited and renewed,” said Chairman Mondello. “Establishing a permanent Platform Committee will keep the Republican Party in constant contact with its core principles and ensure that they remain an accurate reflection of the hopes and beliefs of our membership.”

Well, given what I’ve seen out of the NY GOP specifically, and the GOP in general, of late,it’s going to take some serious selling. Let’s see what you’ve got, Mr Chairman.

-=-=

As Republicans we believe that…..

There must be zero tolerance for waste, fraud and corruption in government;

Government exists to protect the freedom of the individual, not restrict it;

Effective government promotes individual initiative and responsibility. Hard work and ingenuity is the surest path to the successful attainment of the American dream;

Free enterprise, private entrepreneurship and individual incentive must be encouraged and fostered since they are the foundation upon which economic prosperity is always based;

All government must be accountable to the people it serves. When government becomes a self-serving entity that no longer meets the needs of its citizens it must be subjected to comprehensive reform;

Individuals who cannot provide for themselves deserve help and support along the path of becoming self-reliant citizens. However, government should never aim to foster a state of permanent dependency upon the poor and disadvantaged;

The proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations. In all that government seeks to undertake we must remain mindful that the best government is that which governs least;

As the party of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, the Republican Party must always be true to the cherished legacy of its commitment to civil rights. Promoting equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity is the very foundation of all government in a free society;

As a nation and party founded and supported by people of great faith and unwavering religious beliefs, the Republican Party firmly supports individuals who place their faith in a cause greater than themselves and will remain a tireless defender of individuals’ rights to worship and live their lives based on a high moral code and set of eternal convictions;

While individual members of our party may hold divergent opinions on key moral issues like abortion, the rights of same gender couples, or the definition of marriage the Republican Party remains a “big tent” that respects and welcomes diversity of thought on those issues that are, unfortunately, inherently divisive;

Government has a fundamental obligation to its citizens to practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn;

Excessive taxation and out-of-control wasteful government spending are crippling our state, decimating its middle class, and imperiling the future prosperity of the next generation of New Yorkers;

New Yorkers are suffering under an unprecedented burden of taxation resulting from the voracious consumption of public funds by one of the most complex, multi-layered and duplicative systems of government ever instituted;

New York’s excessive tax burden and strangulating regulatory environment has lead our state’s business leaders to downsize, outsource or simply relocate their operations to states with significantly more rational tax and regulatory policies, costing New Yorkers thousands of jobs each year;

New York continues to experience an unprecedented migration of its younger citizens who simply can no longer afford to live here or who must relocate to other states in order to fulfill their career potential;

The onerous tax burden that state and local governments place on its citizens strikes at the heart of one of the most important foundations of our society: the family. Far too many older New Yorkers must seek tax relief in other parts of the country even if it means lengthy and painful separation from children and grandchildren;

New York’s renewal must begin with an unprecedented commitment to shrinking the size and cost of government. Smaller and less intrusive government is the only way to secure our state’s future;

The savings that results from this unsnarling and unraveling of New York’s massive, multi-layered bureaucracy must be passed on directly to overburdened middleclass taxpayers;

Lowering New York’s outrageously high business and corporate taxes, as well as creating a fair and balanced regulatory environment, is the only way to reestablish New York as the premier location for any thriving business;

New York’s massive debt must be brought under control. We are no longer just mortgaging our children’s future, our grandchildren will also be called upon to pay for the excesses of a state government that has lacked the courage and will to live within its means;

In order to keep our citizens safe at home and in their neighborhoods our state must enact, and our judges must enforce, tough, no nonsense criminal justice policies centered on the belief that the best way to prevent crime is to deter it through the establishment of swift and certain punishment that is commensurate with the severity of the offense;

As the primary target of the September 11th terrorists attacks, New Yorkers especially understand the importance of maintaining our Nation’s resolve to achieve victory in the war on terror. We believe in a strong national defense to ensure that Americans remain safe, terrorists are defeated and democracy flourishes throughout the world;

The threat of Islamic extremism is a threat to our way of life and our very existence as a people. We live in a dangerous world that demands constant vigilance and the willingness to make great sacrifice;

The United States must never waver in its strong support of the state of Israel and other freedom-loving democracies across the globe;

America has been and remains the greatest force for good in the history of the world;

America and New York’s best days are yet to come. Our party must always seek to lead with a sense of optimism that there is no challenge that our people cannot overcome;

As Republicans we believe that our party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government that will create a bright future for ourselves, our children and for generations to come.

####

OK, I have to admit these are all the right noises, and well worded. But now, we come to it:

What do I have to indicate that this time is any different from the last several years, where  the GOP has been making these smae noises and yet abandoning these principles in favor of going along with the Democrats to get along?  See, there’s your problem, and the problem facing the GOP in general… what do you have to indicate that this new promise won’t end up in the trash bins like those of the last several years?

 That question is exactly why I’m hearing that National Chairman Steele is about to get himself booted from his leadership role in a no confiedence vote. Prove to us you’re not just another one.

Please.

James Joyner at OTB:

The big story at memeorandum is a report by MinnPost‘s Eric Black, passed on by Raw Story‘s Muriel Kane, that Dick Cheney ran a super secret assassination ring out of his office.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, most  bloggers on the Right, such as Jules Crittenden and Dan Collins, think Hersh is crazy as a loon while most on the Left, like Marcy Wheeler, Kathy Kattenberg, and “Jill Hussein C.” believe all this is not only plausible but likely.

Oh, please.
Hersh is a loon. Always has been. This point is so well known it amazes me anyone’s willing to sign his paychecks anymore.

Let’s get to it: Hersh pointing to someone who was actually assassinated would be helpful. Does anyone think that if the left actually had anything of the sort, we’d not have heard all of this already, in wall to wall mode on CNN and MSNBC?  We have not.  We’re supposed to think this moron Hersh has some special path to information that all these other leftie sources have not? Sorry, no sale.

There’s this, too… Hersh coming up with a named source would be not only helpful, but unusual to the point of being bloody well miraculous.  Absent either of those things, what we have, is Hersh trying with his usual ineffectiveness to remain relevant by telling the whackjob left the anti- Bush/Cheney fairy tales they want so desperately to hear.

And when even Willis (possibly the least honest blogger on the planet second only to Glenn Greenwald) is a skeptic, you know there’s a serious credibility issue.

Obama thinks al Qaead is merely misunderstood,  He thinks Rush Limbaugh is evil.David Goldstein, McClatchy Newspapers:

 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would never put communities like Leavenworth, Kan., at risk in deciding where to relocate prisoners once the Guantanamo detention camp is closed.

[…]

“I recognize why people are concerned,” the president said. “I have every confidence we can determine the ultimate fates of those in Guantanamo in a way that’s consistent with our values . . . our ideals, and keeps us safe and secure.”

As Geraghty’s Law attests, with BO never is a very short time,  Jake Tapper and Yunji de Nies:

 Candidate Obama said then “we can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress’ seniority, rather than the merit of the project. We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And we can no longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.”

 Today, of course, President Obama will sign into law more than 8,000 earmarks for FY 2009, part of the $410 billion omnibus spending bill

As a candidate, Barack Obama promised to mend a broken system of earmarks which wasted your tax dollars.   Obama lied.   Now Obama is making another promise, this time it is not merely your tax dollars at stake, but your very liefs.   Can you trust Obama to keep his word this time?

Statement from House Republican Whip, Eric Cantor:

“Just three weeks after President Obama signed his ‘stimulus’ bill into law, Congressional Democrats are already conceding that it will fail to achieve its objective. As the Speaker knows, the only reason to craft a second stimulus bill would be if the first one failed. Every Republican in the House voted against the first stimulus bill because we believed that Congress could do better, and we had a plan to achieve that goal. America does not need another massive spending bill, what we need is to create jobs.

“Republicans developed an innovative plan to preserve, protect, and create twice as many jobs as the bill that Speaker Pelosi rushed to the floor last month. If Democrats believe that their stimulus bill has fallen short, then we should work together on the Republican Economic Recovery Act, which would revitalize struggling small businesses, help middle-class families, and immediately rekindle America’s economy and create jobs.”

Mrs. Pelosi has conceded,  albeit maybe not admittted, that her massive Porkulus spending bill has failed.   The  problem for Mrs. Pelosi is that  now that  Travis is dead, she has no one to write her new spending bill.

Note on the picture, I had wondered this might be picture of Mrs. Pelosi, but not enough Botox.    Then on the other pay, it  could very well be David Obey.

Ed Mrrrissey, Hot Air, on Scarlet Obama, “Gone With The Change:”

I’ll think about it tomorrow.  After all, tomorrow is another day.

The final couplet from Gone with the Wind offers an instructive look at the approach of President Barack Obama on pork.  He spent two years railing about special interests, lobbyist influence, and pork-barrel spending in Washington, and insisted that it took an outsider to bring Hope and Change to the federal government.  Instead of taking a stand, however, Obama allowed Congress to roll him for thousands of earmarks worth billions of dollars to lobbyists and special interests.

An appropriate photo manipulation would be amusing.

There is a pattern with BO.  He gives a great speech, but his actions seldom match his words.   Pay little attention to what BO says.  Pay attention to what he does.    What ever it takes to stand up to Mrs. Pelosi and Dirty Harry Reid on earmarks,  BO simply does not have it.

Try Tweetgrid

Diana speaks the truth here… and it’s about time our GOP leadership listened.

And most polls show the president’s approval rating at about 60 percent, which is similar to other modern presidents’ ratings at this point in their presidencies. But now that Obama has used his political capital to further ideology rather than economic growth, one thing is clear: He owns this mess.

David Harsanyi, Reason Online.   Like the sign says in the antique shop:  You break it, you bought it.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere; The Bitsblog Nightly Ramble

This is the Flatlander Edition.

 Let’s see.-

Market tanking. Check.

Government growing. Check.

Industry failing. Check.

Our government bound and determined to alienate us from our long standing freinds and allies in the world. Check.

 Nothing new on the horizon. Check.

Remakrable territory, this flat land. You can drive for miles, and not see anything encouraging. And soon, Obama will restrict your ability to drive, too. Ah, well, let’s get to the list.

• Flubs? Well, no, this is how they roll… An amusing comment from Camile Paglia:
  

  Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama’s first seven weeks in office and given the scattered, demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and resurrection.

  And yes, I know David’s already mentioned this, but…. Frankly, I don’t view it as overshadowing his first seven weeks in office so much as defining his presdiency. She suggests it’s all the staff’s fault. But wait… are we not to think that a new president surrounds himself with people like minded to himself?  Seems to me she’s stilla  true believer not willing to admit the water walker really isn’t so much after all. Face it;  All of these ‘flubs’ as Paglia calls them, are driven by the qualities of liberal politics… and particularly, the Chicago style of liberal politics Obama was steeped in. Add a generous dash of Soros money and Clintonista muscle, and  I suspect what we see right now, is what we get, and that he’s not going to be any better than this for the next four years. Once we admit that to ourselves, we can start moving toward minimizing the damage he will cause us. And in reality, that’s our best course, right now.

•  Another Milestone:  Has it really been five years since the Madrid Bombings? (BBCT:Glenn)
• Facing the reality of it: Well, look, Billy, we all have that reaction. But, you know what?  That shock to the system is a function of what you yourself pointed out the other day. Frankly, I’m amazed you didn’t mention the connection… so I will:
  

  “3) When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are not clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.”

  (“The Anatomy Of Compromise” – Ayn Rand, from The Objectivist Newsletter, January, 1964, re-printed in “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, 1967, part II, “Current State”)

  The round concept of a trillion dollars is only partially understood, because most people never encounter it, first hand… and therefore by definition it is never clearly defined in their minds.  I suspect that were more exposed to such matters, there’d be a lot less division on the political aspects of this nonsense.

• The “They do it too” defense: Yes, I noted the story from Alabama, where twelve have so far been identified as having been shot by someone pushed over the edge. And yes, of course, it’s tragic. But as Joyner points out, don’t be misled into thinking this is a particularly American phenom, made possible only by our supposedly lax gun laws. He points to a fairly similar incident in Germany, this morning.
• Note to the Q&O guys: Sorry about that. No fault to you guys…. but I gotta tell ya…There’s only so much beligerant ignorance I’ll put up with before I respond.  Too bad I was responding from my Palm Pilot… the editing errors kinda dilute the venom in my response. Oh, well. It’s what it is.
• Nanny state  Yep. It’s here.
•  The answer the White House will never take: Hey, Barry; Wanna help the auto industry? Take China’s example,  and cut taxes. Doesn’t it seem strange to see Communist China understanding financial reality better than the American left?
• Anybody down there? Speaking of China, yes, I’ve been watching the story with the confrontation at sea with the Chinese. My take yesterday at OTB that they were hiding something, turns out to have been spot on.
• Shoes for industry! Shoes for the dead!  Someone chucked a shoe at Ahmadinejad? Apparently so.  Funny how the Dinosaurs haven’t touched the story. I guess it’s only worthwhile if you can use such stories as a shot at Bush.
• Where is it now?  Where is the promise Obama made about a veto for anything with earmarks attached to it?  The bill he will have signed, by the time you read this, will break that promise, some 8000 times. So, will we hear ‘Obama lied and the Economy died’ from the left? Yeah, I doubt it, too.
• No, thanks:  If you want a measurement of how badly our financial institutions need government ‘help’, perhap the best measurement is the number who upon looking at the required bad business practices attached to it, say they want to return the money.
• What it is and what it’s not: So Madoff gets a ride up the river. Fine by me. His wife, too, far as I’m concerned. But let’s understand; This is not, as some have claimed, a lack of regulation. Were it that, he’d still be a free man. Clearly, this is a lack of integrity, which is something which regulation cannot help. Matter of fact I’d argue that the more regulation there is, the more those with a lack of integrity like it. Think I’m kidding? Have a look at the number of Obama appointees who are all strongly in support of big government, who turned out to be tax cheats or something, and had to thereby withdraw their names. Geithner, for example. A tax cheat of the first order, swearing he’s going to go all out against tax cheats. Tell you anything?
• Parting shot: Jonah had a nice column yesterday.

Bill Sammon at Fox News, this morning, because apparently the Dinosaurs aren’t interested in digging for this stuff:
 

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: “I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed.”

Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.

“We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I’m wanting them to turn against him,” Greenberg admitted.

The pollster added with a chuckle of disbelief: “They don’t want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails.”

On the morning of 9/11, no less. Incredible timing, bozo.
Of course, the REASON they Dinosaurs aren’t interested in digging for this stuff; Their complicity:

Minutes later, as news of the terrorist attacks reached the hotel conference room where the Democrats were having breakfast with the reporters, Carville announced: “Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!”

The press followed Carville’s orders, never reporting his or Greenberg’s desire for Bush to fail. The omission was understandable at first, as reporters were consumed with chronicling the new war on terror. But months and even years later, the mainstream media chose to never resurrect those controversial sentiments, voiced by the Democratic Party’s top strategists, that Bush should fail.

That omission stands in stark contrast to the feeding frenzy that ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail. The press devoted wall-to-wall coverage to the remark, suggesting that Limbaugh and, by extension, conservative Republicans, were unpatriotic.

So, does this end the argument? Does this show us all the slimy quality of the people we’re dealing with, both in the press and among the Democrats? Damn straight it does.

Any questions, class?

This one didn’t take long at all, Geraghty’s Law:

All Barack Obama statements come with an expiration date. All of them.

Jay P. Greene:

President Obama gave a great speech yesterday in which he strongly endorsed charter schools and merit pay.  He also emphasized the need to remove ineffective teachers from classrooms and to expand access to pre-school.

The problem is that these words bear almost no resemblance to the education priorities contained in Obama’s legislative agenda.  This is really strange.

I don’t think that is strange at all.  In fact I call it normal for the Obama administration.

Heritage Foundation:

Outlining his educational policy yesterday, President Barack Obama said: “And I want every child in this country to have the same chance that my mother gave me, that my teachers gave me, that my college professors gave me, that America gave me.” These are wonderful words, but unless President Obama vetoes the $410 billion omnibus spending bill heading towards his desk, he will fall far short of living up to them.

Inserted into the omnibus’ 1,132 pages is language dictated to Congress by teachers’ unions killing 1,700 scholarships that enable kindergarten through 12th grade students from low-income families in the District of Columbia to attend private schools. Conservative in the Senate fought to strip the provision from the bill last night, but were defeated by the liberal majority.

Obama sure gives a nice sounding speech.  Shame for us that Obama’s speeches are no more than mere words.

Just a passing thought…. Those DVD’s that Obama gave Gordon Brown almost as an afterthought… Were the even PAL encoded? The Brits, you see, have a different and incompatible TV system. Usually, their disks won’t work in our cheaper players, nor theirs in ours. (Admittedly, the better players can shift modes)

So, did our gift to the Brits amount to DVDs the PM couldn’t even use?

(From the Palm Tre0)

From Mrs. Clinton’s State Department, Overseas Security Advisory Council:

In January, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya increased the minimum wage 60 percent, raising monthly wages from US$ 181 to $289. As a result, an estimated 15,000 people have been laid off in urban areas. This number is expected to steadily increase as businesses cannot afford the new mandatory wages. Remittances from Hondurans in the U.S. have also decreased throughout 2008.

Some analysts predict increased crime in Honduras due to citizens unable to find legitimate sources of income. Many unemployed Hondurans could look to kidnapping for ransom in order to obtain large sums of money for a small amount of planning and effort. As the disparity between economic classes continues, wealthy Hondurans or foreigners of affluent appearance conducting business in Honduras could continue to be targeted at a higher rate.

Hat tip and more:  McQuain, Q and O.

Of course everytime increases are argued against here, those in favor of them tend to wave off the point that raising the wage will cause unemployment among those who can least afford it. Obviously I’m not contending that if we do so here, those laid off will take up kidnapping, but to pretend such rises in minimum wage don’t have any detrimental effect is simply not true – and Honduras provides the case study.

Teddy Kennedy could not be reached for comment.

Is John Hawkins, Right Wing News, pullling  his punches:

Obama has been such a bumbling incompetent that he probably couldn’t handle a trip through a Wendy’s drive-in window without a teleprompter telling him what to order and whether he wants a Coke or a Mountain Dew

John lists what he feels are BO’s ten biggest mistakss, so far.   As for the fast food analogy, Obama is about two all beef patties short of Big Mac.

Addendum:

John gets some support from an interesting quarter, Camille Paglia, Salon:

Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama’s first seven weeks in office and given the scattered, demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and resurrection. (Michelle, please use those fabulous toned arms to butt some heads!)

Paglia seems to be blaming BO’s staff rather than BO himself.  I don’t buy it.

From Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s office:, via Spencer Akerman:

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman’s decision with regret.

Hat tip:  Michelle.

Addendum I:

Now that the heavy lifting has been done, Senator Chuckles, a/k/a Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants to horn in and claim the credit,  Greg Sergeant:

Schumer Takes Credit For Getting Chas Freeman Ousted

Chuck Schumer’s office sends over a statement from the Senator himself, saying he’s the one who got Chas Freeman dumped from the post of National Intelligence Council chief:

Sure Chuck!  If you believe Chuckles, I’ve got some nice Arizona beach front property for you.

Addendum II:

Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Magazine, throws Chuckles under her bus:

Chuck Schumer is taking “credit” for the withdrawal of the Freeman nomination. It is an interesting tactic to consult with the White House, have the White House deny knowledge of the controversy, and then send Admiral Blair to the Hill to defend Freeman, and then pull the nomination. Perhaps Schumer can share in greater detail.

Your move Chuck.