Blue Collar Muse

For millions of Americans, the results on November 4th were sad but not surprising. They signaled the failure of an ideology which held power for years, promised much and delivered little.

To some, the failure was due to problems inherent in Free Markets, Capitalism, Limited Government, Social Conservatism and the rest of the foundations of Conservative thought. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Barack Obama’s message was electing John McCain meant “4 more years” of George Bush. He was right. Unsaid was that electing him would be worse! Apart from the War on Terror and SCOTUS picks, what Bush accomplishments would Obama have problems with?

Bush has grown Government with a GOP controlled Congress for 6 of his 8 years. Obama is unhappy about that? Congress passed the Medicaid spending increase. Obama is unhappy about that? Congress passed Kennedy’s Education Bill. Obama is unhappy about that? Social Security Privatization failed. Obama is unhappy about that? Immigration? The Bailout? Obama is even talking about Welfare disguised as Tax Cuts for heaven’s sake! One could go on and on.

On too many issues and at too many levels, Conservative principles did not fail, Conservative principles failed to be upheld!

There were bright spots. The defeats of Harriet Meiers’ nomination, the Immigration Reform bill and the Dubai Port Deal come to mind. Common to these successes was the grassroots involvement of everyday Americans refusing to allow Government to take the nation in the wrong direction. We did it then, we can do it again.

This morning, the #dontgo Movement gives us that opportunity! #dontgo was founded by Eric Odom and Allen Fuller on a Friday in August when Nancy Pelosi and Democrats turned off the lights in the People’s House and went home. Big Government and Democrats didn’t have time for you. But many GOP House members believed different! They stayed and told Democrats, “Don’t Go! Come back and finish the People’s business!” With no cameras or microphones, those voices went basically unheard.

Until Odom and Fuller put up a Twitter hashtag - #dontgo. The word started trickling out. Until Odom and Fuller put up a website #dontgomovement.com so cellphone video, pictures and blog posts could get out. Until the MSM picked up what grassroots, New Media activists were doing and for the next month, the message “Don’t Go!” followed Nancy Pelosi from book signing to book signing! Better, tens of thousands of people rallied to one of the most successful grassroots efforts on the Right in years.

That was 2 months ago. While the issue birthing #dontgo is no longer a rally point, people are still looking for a voice to speak to Big Government to foster change! Good news. Odom and #dontgo didn’t stop working and growing when the microphones moved on to the next issue. This morning brings us this:

“Center Right Movement Heats up the Internet”
Conservative Bloggers See Netroots As Key To Advancing Policy

On Monday, November 10th www.dontgomovement.com will host an e-launch party to celebrate its fully-functional website and new online radio show devoted to advancing conservative netroots activism.

#dontgo originally began as a simple internet tag that the founders would put on their blog posts while tracking the energy debate by the US Congress on August 1st, quickly it became used by hundreds of activists including members of Congress not just to track the energy bill, but to energize and push conservative values. Soon thereafter the site was created and to date has 30,000 opt-in email subscribers.

The #dontgo Revolution takes web-based strategies and tactics that Democrats used in the last election cycle to advance conservative views and values. The mission is to develop a fifty state strategy of blogs and internet social networks that would get more conservatives active in their communities leading into the 2010 elections.

Communications Director Juliana Johnson states, “As we witnessed in the 2008 elections web-based strategies are imperative. Conservatives have time and time again failed to use the internet to attract voters and get more people active. We hope that with the launch of this website we will be able to effectively wage the battle of ideas with the left in cyberspace.”

Monday’s radio show (online) will air at 5pm CST. In order to listen please go to www.dontgomovement.com and on the right there is a button “listen to #dontgo radio”.

CONTACT: Juliana Johnson, Director of Communications
(312) 575-9500 (office)
(847) 691-9278 (cell)
julianatjohnson@gmail.com

If you’re a an eActivist - a blogger, vlogger, podcaster, internet radio host or wiki editor - head to dontgomovement.com and sign up. If you’re a traditional activist - a door knocker, phone caller, envelope stuffer, poll watcher or election day driver - head to dontgomovement.com and get involved. You’ll be building the state-by-state, city-by-city, block-by-block structure needed to rein in Liberals regardless of Party. And you’ll enable the election of politicians who won’t just campaign to the Right, they’ll govern that way, too!

This is not just a hope! We’ve seen when people work together, they can bring real change. Your passion has moved you in the past. #dontgo gives that passion an effective outlet. Come join us!

Blue Collar Muse

Popularity: 42% [?]

Welcome to all of you coming from Instapundit.  While visiting here, you may also enjoy yesterday’s post, ‘MY President or Just THE President’. Feel free to look around and comment. I’d like to know what you think.

They are also uneducated, out of step with the rest of the country, to be pitied, isolated, suffering in the area of “jobs, education and development”, ideologically aligned with the old Confederacy, at odds with the values of the rest of the country, and are getting what they deserve because they won’t “… get with the right program.”  Hat tip to Dan Cleary for making sure I was aware of this.

Or you could ask Dwight Lewis at The Tennessean.  Lewis learned all this in a phone interview with “… David A. Bositis, senior political analyst for the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies …” He felt it true and significant enough to share it with all of us.  The Tennessean evidently agreed with him.  Why publish his lunacy otherwise?

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is a misleading name for the group.  Per Lewis, the politics and economy the JCPES finds worthy of  studying are those “… of concern to African-Americans and other people of color …”  The picture at their site includes pictures of Asians and Hispanics.  However, reading through the headlines on their site, the only people of color mentioned are either Blacks or African Americans.  There is one vague reference to “America’s minorities.”

This is the environment in which Bositis’ claims must be evaluated.  And what is Bositis’ basis for making such outrageous claims?  It’s his analysis of who voted for John McCain and who voted for Barack Obama.  He has lots of high sounding analysis.  I’ll save you some time.  Anyone who voted forJohn McCain is all of those things in the opening paragraph.  Anyone who voted for Barack Obama is not.

No word on the character of Barr, Baldwin and Nader voters.  Words fail to describe how offensive Bositis’ words are, or should be, to every man or woman who supported a candidate OBO, “Other than Barack Obama.”  Obviously, however, Lewis, Bositis and presumably some of their readers and supporters believe this tripe.  I would point out the position of Lewis and Bositis are, on their face, far more racist and divisive than that of any of John McCain’s supporters of any color.  Except, I must be wrong.  It’s not possible for Blacks to be racist.  Jesse Jackson himself told us so.

When people criticize me for declaring Barack Obama is not my President, I’ll take comfort in knowing that he is not mine, although he is Mr. Lewis’ President and he is Mr. Bositis’ President.  To all you who want to claim Barack as your own, enjoy their company.  Barack forged a coalition he greatly desired to get him elected.  It contains a great many fine people who mistakenly believe in the untested, unproven promise of Barack.  It also contains a great many craven, twisted racists such as Mr. Lewis and Mr. Bositis.  Their bile and ignorance, passed off as lofty and intellectual analysis, is rubbish if for no other reason than it fails to address the rationale for McCain voters elsewhere.  That such thinking might be indicative of the actual change and hope we’ll see as opposed the empty rhetoric Obama offered ought to terrify Americans.

Men like Lewis and Bositis are destroying Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of integration.  They are callously dividing our nation along racial lines for purposes I cannot fathom.  How any sane and educated individual in 2008 can believe, let alone put into print in what should be respectable publications, the notion that millions of Americans may legitimately be labled racist and backward based solely on the vote they cast is beyond outrageous.

I’ve read it in a score of places in the last 48 hours.  I cannot help but repeat it here.  It’s going to be a long 4 years …

Blue Collar Muse

ADDITIONAL READING:

Home Sweet Home by Susanna @ Cut on the Bias.

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Obviously, the reference is to Chicken Little. Just as obviously, there is no way to predict with absolute certainty exactly what will or will not happen with something as potentially volatile as a Market driven economy. Even a casual comment or a designed leak can destroy a financial institution overnight as Chuck Schumer (D-NY) so aptly demonstrated for us not long ago when he personally caused the largest bank failure in decades at IndyMac.

That having been said, it is possible to feel confident with a high degree of certainty how the Market will behave given proven historical and Economic models. For instance, raising taxes lowers tax revenue while lowering them raises revenue. This is consistently true across time and governments. It’s the reality behind Republican efforts to lower taxes. This cannot be disputed from an Economic standpoint so Democrats and others use the “Republicans just want to give more money back to their rich donor friends!” argument instead. This Democratic sleight of hand has the interesting dual nature of being totally true - the rich will get their taxes lowered - and totally false - those same rich will spend and invest more and so will end up paying more taxes on their increased consumption! Thus Democratic posturing and blustering in opposition to tax cuts and how to pay for them are, both on their face and at their base, without merit.

The same can be said of the current Market instability. Certainly the Market is currently volatile. But to claim the Economy is tanking or that the “biggest one day drop in points ever” means we’re all doomed is premature, to say the least. You would be a bit shaky, too, if you had planned on a $700 billion cash infusion with which to operate on Monday morning and found out Monday afternoon the loan man wasn’t going to cometh. The same thing happens on a personal level when someone’s home financing falls through at the last minute (although there obviously hasn’t been enough of that going on of late). As those with leveler heads have assured, the Market is cautiously coming back a bit this morning. No doubt it will continue to do so although there may be more dips and fits and starts along the way.

Kat C at Just Another Pretty Farce has a more casual, lackadaisical approach to the matter. Hennessy brings some experience, scorn and a touch of adult language to the discussion. Both of these folks should be listened to, particularly Hennessy as he puts the discussion in verifiable terms. The bottom line is, not because this or that Congressman would like it to be so to provide cover for political allies but based on objective Market principles, the sky is not falling. There will be rough times ahead for individuals and individual companies caught up in the Housing Market. But unless we do something really stupid, like put taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion dollars in bailouts, we will weather this storm.

Blue

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Per Barr, 2 Party system is indeed a duopoly. But Barr and those like him are doing great work to push back against that reality.

Regardless of your choice in election, there are threats to the process.

With so many close results in states, for 37 days we agonized over the results of the Presidential race.

We have the same tinderbox results and lots more folks with matches. OBama has 9K lawyers, McCain has 5K lawyers. Can’t be good.

We continually  overlook election irregularities and problems because they generally don’t really affect results.  This year that’s different.

Provisional ballot issue, allowing ANYONE to cast a ballot as provisional will permit thousands of chances for legal challenge.

ACORN, who Obama supports, is effectively a lawless organization. I used that term carefully.  They just don’t care.

Many ACORNers leave due to shoddy and creepy practices.

They have been involved in voter fraud cases for years and up to today’s elections as well.  They are perennial voter fraud defendants.

Barack Obama is of ACORN, by ACORN, for ACORN. He has been in bed with them for years, including working as their counsel in IL

ACORN will shill for Obama and care not what laws they break.  The want to intentionally destabilize the election process.

They will dump registrations and provisional ballots on overworked overstressed election system and then call for investigations.

Then usual suspects such as Jesse Jackson will show up in support of chaos and demand every vote be counted but who is really a voter?

Then usual suspects such as Jesse Jackson will show up in support of chaos and demand every vote be counted but who is really a voter?

There will be challenges this election. Remember Obama petitioning for polls to be kept open due to weather? More of same on the way.

Some are valid. But it is also valid not to have legal votes invalidated by bogus and frivolous lawsuits.

Motor Voter was first law enacted by Clinton. That’s how important it is to Democrats!

It was challenged by IL, ACORN was challenger. Attorney for ACORN was Barack Obama - OMG!!

Illegal aliens DO vote and that is a problem, but not the worst problem.  Legal residents illegaly voting via absentee ballot is far worse.

What about GOP voter fraud?  It’s just as bad.  Voter fraud is a felony yet it’s usually just a fine and community service.  Jail time is needed.

GOP fraud is less now. Likely due to fewer GOP political machines than Dem political machines.

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I’ve been engaging in a debate in the comments section of a piece I cross-posted at Media Lizzy’s blog. Over there, I’ve had a great, respectful give and take with a reader named Eric. It’s the sort of exchange we all enjoy - no profanity, not snarkiness - just the excellent literary stick-and-jab that makes political blogging interesting and fun. Would that all commenters were like Eric.

I wanted to respond here to something Eric said as this likely will be longer than your usual comment. Eric, as have so many others in the last few days, has made the mistake of viewing Sarah Palin’s comments on the Bush Doctrine question from Charlie Gibson through the “Best response for the Left” lens and not the more proper “Response most grounded in Reality” lens. When I read Eric’s statement in comment #14,

However, this issue is dead now that Sarah “In what respect, Charlie?” Palin has shown how vapid her knowledge on wordly issues really is. I think independents will view this performance, and ask themselves, “Do I REALLY want this woman to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?”

my response was

I haven’t seen the entire interview yet as I’m in Phoenix for a conference. I’ll be interested to see the quote you reference. As I mentioned, the Left will be going over her remarks with a fine tooth comb hoping to find some payback.

Vapid is not likely a word I would use for Palin. It’s unlikely that anyone accomplished enough to be considered for a VP slot would be vapid.

Sure enough, it turns out the “Sarahnator” was right and Eric was wrong. Not that he’s alone in that. Charlie Gibson was wrong, too. Turns out, even Barack Obama got it wrong! From their place on the floor, laid out from where the “Sarahnator” coldcocked them, one can almost imagine Palin extending a hand to them and saying, “Come with me if you want to live!” They see her as the enemy but she may yet save them all.

On what am I basing my opinion that Palin isn’t a vapid housewife, unfit to lead should she be called on to assume the Presidency? Here are just 3 authoritative comments on Sarah’s response to Charlie Gibson’s “gotcha” on the Bush Doctrine:

First up, a humorous and snarky response to the media from Catron at Health Care BS. In ‘Dear Mediatards, Thank You!’ Catron writes

Dear MSM,

Thank you for your mean-spirited and mendacious coverage of Sarah Palin. You have accomplished what no Republican strategist, talk radio host, or blogger could have managed—-you have energized conservatives and convinced many independents that they should vote for McCain-Palin. …

Also, I will be eternally grateful to ABC for using its exclusive Palin interview to take her quotes out of context, distort facts, and do a general hatchet job on her.

And I can’t forget to thank AP for insinuating that Palin is unqualified to be VP because she was allegedly “unable to describe President Bush’s doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations.”

On a more serious note, one of my favorite intellectual types, Joshua Trevino writes in ‘Defining the “Bush Doctrine”‘

The consequence of this exchange has been the predictable and familiar litany of hand-wringing over Palin’s purported ignorance of basic foreign policy principles, and her concurrent fitness (or lack thereof) to lead the country. See Andrew Sullivan for a succinct demonstration of the shrieking; the rest may be found via the usual suspects.

Sullivan writes: “[A]ny serious person who has followed the debates about US foreign policy knows what the Bush doctrine is.” Charlie Gibson apparently agrees. They’re both wrong. The fact is that the “Bush Doctrine” is a term which has had an evolving definition over this decade. Though it’s obvious Palin was momentarily baffled by the query, she was far closer to the truth when she interpreted the phrase as signifying the President’s “world view.” What we know as the “Bush Doctrine” has many meanings.

Josh follows this up with a lengthy list of the various ways the term has been used, complete with links so you can see for yourself.

Finally, in the WaPo online edition, Charles Krauthammer’s article Charlie Gibson’s Gaffe also shreds Eric’s contention that Palin was confused and ignorant and thus, unqualified. Krauthammer notes that he knows something about the term “Bush Doctrine” as he was the first to use it. His analysis?

The New York Times got it wrong. And Charlie Gibson got it wrong.

There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration — and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different.

He asked Palin, “Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?”

She responded, quite sensibly to a question that is ambiguous, “In what respect, Charlie?”

Sensing his “gotcha” moment, Gibson refused to tell her. After making her fish for the answer, Gibson grudgingly explained to the moose-hunting rube that the Bush doctrine “is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense.”

Wrong.

Sarah Palin will weather this weak and baseless criticism. The Sarahnator is stronger than ever. I can hear it now in that confident Alaska cadence that’s more T888 than pitbull, “I’ll be back!”

Blue Collar Muse

SEE ALSO:

The Klein Doctrine by Pete Wehner at Contentions Blog.

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