Worth reading, I'd like to find out what, if anything Rove would have to say about the giant Medicare expansion they spearheaded.  Maybe it's in his book.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Some good ones.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Studs:

The biggest stud of CPAC-2010 was Marco Rubio, the first major speaker of the conference. He delivered an impassioned call for preserving American freedom from the creeping statism that would make us look like the countries people leave rather than the ones to which they flock.  He also got his digs in against the Republican establishment, saying endorsements aren’t enough to avoid a primary challenge, and one-liners aren’t enough to avoid substantive policy discussions.  Rubio and his introducer, Jim DeMint, repeatedly raised the specter of another, well, Arlen Specter.  Most of all, Rubio was a stud because of the energy he brought to the room.  Anybody there who didn’t have an emotional response to Rubio either wasn’t paying attention or had press credentials (-but I repeat myself).

Andrew Breitbart was another major stud at CPAC.  The guy is intellectually savvy and media savvy.  He called out the dinosaur media for failing to recognize the viscerally undeniable evil captured in the ACORN undercover videos.  He captures an audience’s attention like few others.  Breitbart will be a force to watch in conservative activism and punditry for some time to come.

(More Studs & Duds under the fold...)


more...

Posted by: JoeCollins at 01:35 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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There’s been quite a kerfluffle about Ron Paul winning the CPAC Straw Poll.


[Really? You voted for this guy?]

Well, the ACU was practically asking for it. Paul-bots are normally over-represented at CPAC, and bringing Glenn Beck on as the keynote speaker is going to bring the most rabid of the 9/12'ers out of the woodwork. Not content to just complain about the Federal Reserve, the Campaign for Liberty events were particularly aggressive this year. I made sure to attend an event on state nullification (“When All Else Fails: Nullification and State Resistance to Federal Tyranny”) featuring Thomas Woods.

One can tell Woods is a fairly smart guy, but it’s painfully obvious that he hasn’t an ounce of tact in his entire body, nor any grasp of electoral, political, or legal reality. He did take what was in my mind a completely insane topic and gave an interesting historical and philosophical defense of it... leaving out the part where it fell by the wayside and is now the favorite topic of cranks. Members of the public used the word “secession” a time or two in the Q&A session and nobody batted an eye.

Woods’ rather whimsical defense of the modern nullification/interposition movement is basically that nothing else has worked to stop government growth and encroachment, so why not try it. Well, you don’t try it because it isn’t legal and doesn’t work. (Ask anybody in a medical marijuana state who has been busted for pot.)

I'm no Constitutional lawyer, but did the “strict Constitutionalists” read this part of Article VI?:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Posted by: JoeCollins at 12:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Keep Dick Cheney in your prayers, he's been hospitalized with chest pains.  Reported stable.

Posted by: Alice H at 07:43 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Here is the video of Ronald Reagan announcing his candidacy for President in November of 1979. This video, while a bit long, hits every point concerning why I am conservative, and will never be a liberal: optimism, faith in the future, belief in the goodness of mankind, contempt of government's spiked fisting of the people, and an unwillingness to accept our best days are behind us.



Here is the text.

My favorite portion:

In recent months leaders in our government have told us that, we, the people, have lost confidence in ourselves; that we must regain our spirit and our will to achieve our national goals. Well, it is true there is a lack of confidence, an unease with things the way they are. But the confidence we have lost is confidence in our government's policies. Our unease can almost be called bewilderment at how our defense strength has deteriorated. The great productivity of our industry is now surpassed by virtually all the major nations who compete with us for world markets. And, our currency is no longer the stable measure of value it once was.

But there remains the greatness of our people, our capacity for dreaming up fantastic deeds and bringing them off to the surprise of an unbelieving world. When Washington's men were freezing at Valley Forge, Tom Paine told his fellow Americans: "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," we still have that power.

We--today's living Americans--have in our lifetime fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom and done more to advance the dignity of man than any people who have ever lived on this Earth. The citizens of this great nation want leadership--yes--but not a "man on a white horse" demanding obedience to his commands. They want someone who believes they can "begin the world over again." A leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way. I want to do that more than anything I've ever wanted. And it's something that I believe with God's help I can do.

Posted by: eddiebear at 01:11 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I do not believe that I am capable of articulating how much I miss Pres. Reagan or how much he means to my life.  I firmly believe that without him and Mrs. Thatcher, there would have been nuclear war and the Soviet Union would never have collapsed in the manner it did. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.  I know the Moron Horde misses you terribly. 

Posted by: alexthechick at 05:41 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Good interview, and affirms my opinion on GOProud and the whole Liberty University CPAC situation.  It sounds like most in the right blogosphere is in support of GOProud in this situation, at least according to Hawkins, who I know reads and follows a lot of sites, including this one, for reasons inexplicable.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 04:55 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Story here.

Meanwhile, leftists around the world begin new contest to see who can offer the most ghoulish comments on this breaking news.  Not that I'm Outraged!^TM by that kind of conduct, you can't be outraged when you know well enough not to expect any better.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:22 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Sweet, they're turning on each other.  They're gonna collapse in 2010 and 2012, and we need to try and begin working to take advantage of the chaos, both in the GOP and Democrat parties.  The Democrat base is not gonna fund these guys if they can't bring them Marxist medicine, or at least a Trojan Horse that they'd find acceptable.  This was probably the best shot these guys had at Marxist medicine, and I think they've blown it.  Doesn't mean they can't cause a lot of destruction with some "compromise", but I think we'll avoid a Worst Case Scenario^TM.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:43 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Latest poll numbers showed that support for her had collapsed, it is unknown if she'll make an endorsement or not.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:33 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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If you don't like this transcript of Hugh Hewitt making the twat Frum taste the curb, you are not to be trusted as an analyst. 

Now the question is, how did this exchange of words help Mitt Romney?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:11 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Awesome.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 01:39 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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In a Christian Science Monitor article about how "Mainstream Republicans" (read: RINOs) don't like people like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, we see the following nugget:

Steve Schmidt, former campaign strategist for John McCain, said Friday that nominating former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for president in 2012 would be “catastrophic” for the party.

Posted by: Sean M. at 08:54 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Sarah Palin's book is number one on Amazon right now, it was in second place when I left for work.  I'll be curious to see if she stays up there.  I hope she sells five million, then starts filling stadiums with crowds again.

Comment of the day, at Hotair,

I’m not pre-ordering a copy. I just can’t deny myself the satisfaction of going to a B&N in downtown L.A. and plopping it down on the counter in front of some Lib. If I don’t get a dirt eye roll or a sigh out of someone I’ll be let down.

Ampersand on September 30, 2009 at 8:33 PM

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 08:49 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Seriously. Every word.

If you ever want to make your eyes bleed, try reading pretty much any section of the US Code.  Seriously, do it.  It's next to impossible to comprehend what the hell the statutes mean most of the time.  I've actually had to sit down and make a chart to attempt to understand just what the hell happened when SCHIP passed and the amendments to the Medicare Secondary Payer provisions went through.  (My life is so freaking interesting, let me tell you)  Hell, there's still a huge fight as to what precisely all of it means and what, exactly, was amended.  Then there's the implementing regulations and oh I have an enormous rant about how Congress is punting legislative authority off to the administrative process.

Actually reading the damn bills may, possibly, prevent some of the worst of this.  No law should leave a person scratching his/her head and saying "But what does it mean?"  It shouldn't.

Reason 12,384,287,003 that people hate lawyers is because lawyers make the simplest sentence complex.  "Don't bang a 12 year old" turns into "In the instance when a child (see 99 USCA 231.99(b)(4)(C)(iv) for definition of "child")[term to be used to mean both male, female, intersexed and/or transgendered] is touched in a sexual manner (see 188 USCA 213.862(a)(4)(D)(ii) for the definition of "touched" and 163 USCA 74.23(b)(ii)) for the definition of "sexual") by a person who exceeds the age of majority for the jurisdiction in which said touching occurred, then such person shall be subject to penalites as set out in 176 USCA 34.53(c)(3)(DD)(ii)(a)."* 

There's no need for all of this complexity.  There's not.  Maybe, possibly, reading the damn bills will prevent that. 

*If it's not obvious, that example and all citations there in are totally made up.

[This post is not to be used in the BFF's ongoing attempt to prove that I'm a wide eyed optimist].

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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You know we have a screwed up system when you can't even find out how much stuff costs even if you want to.



(via Heritage)

Posted by: JoeCollins at 08:44 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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WASHINGTON – Talk-show host Sean Hannity, a vocal opponent of Barack Obama's policies, said today he would not rule out a bid for the presidency in 2012.

...

Hannity would make a formidable candidate, with the likability of Reagan, good looks and strong convictions. He's also a polished communicator and knows the issues inside out.

And he can debate.

source

Really? I've listened to his show and hollering "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" doesn't really strike me as debating.

Maybe I'm wrong maybe that is what the GOP needs to counter the likes of Biden and Franks. I have never thought that Hannity has shown a particularly good grasp of issues but maybe that doesn't matter either. At least he isn't a consistently grumpy guy like McCain and he may have more energy than Fred Thompson exhibited.

Posted by: chad98036 at 09:08 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Doctor Zero has been on fire lately.

That right there says what I feel.
One taste but if you want the cone you're gonna have to click.
Republican candidates must recognize the Obama disaster as a unique opportunity to explain the fundamental flaws in the statist model our nation has pursued for generations....snip...

We’ve had enough of people like Obama trying to use the government to change us. We’re tired of being slammed with thousand-page bills that tell us what we have to sacrifice, and what we’re not allowed to do. We want to see some one-page bills that list things the government is not allowed to do.

Go. Read. Bring a sock.

Posted by: Veeshir at 06:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When the AA fucking RP has lost the Medicare people* when it comes to ObamaCare, well...

Posted by: Sean M. at 04:50 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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