Crush the politicians that have given us this economy. Get rid of them. RINOs. Out. Dems next.
What is best in life? ..... To crush your enemies,...to see them driven before you...and to hear the lamentations of their women.
Posted on 09/24/2010 9:52:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
On the political gimmickry scale, the GOP's new "Pledge to America" is worse than some, better than others. Let's say it falls somewhere between the Federalist Papers and a Harry Reid press release -- which, admittedly, pins it down as much as saying you lost a cufflink somewhere between Burkina Faso and Cleveland.
First and foremost it promises to focus on job creation, vowing to stop all scheduled tax hikes (i.e., the expiration of the Bush tax cuts). It offers a steep tax deduction for small businesses and a renewed commitment to curbing business-stifling regulations.
The Pledge also stands athwart the Obama agenda, promising to "repeal and replace the government takeover of health care," cancel the unspent portion of the stimulus, and drive a stake through the heart of TARP. The Republicans also promise to "roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels" and disentangle the government from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
That's hardly all of the substance, but the politics are more interesting. Naturally, Democrats attacked the Pledge before they read it as a mean-spirited, irresponsible return to the boneheaded and miserly policies of the Bush years. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn insisted it would "visit a plague on Americans."
Compared to what many Democrats said about the Contract With America, this is a ringing endorsement. Rep. Charlie Rangel said of the 1994 Republican platform: "Hitler wasn't even talking about doing these things." And though that is technically true -- Hitler wasn't talking about term limits for committee chairs or demanding an independent audit of Congress's budget -- the insinuation was a good deal more sinister. Indeed, Rep. Major Owens said that the '94 Republicans were hell-bent on "genocide." Meanwhile, Clyburn's biblical-sounding Republican "plague" might invite worries about locusts or, at worst, the killing of the first-born male child in every household.
On the right, reactions were mostly positive, with a healthy mix of skepticism. "I love it," wrote blogger Michelle Malkin, "provided the words jump off the paper and into reality at some point soon." Erick Erickson of the conservative website Red State stood out for his rage against the whole thing, calling it a "series of compromises and milquetoast rhetorical flourishes in search of unanimity among House Republicans because (they do) not have the fortitude to lead boldly in opposition to Barack Obama."
Meanwhile, others, like Charles Krauthammer, argued that the substance was fine, but it was politically dumb to offer any substance at all. The Democrats are self-destructing like a tape-recording in "Mission: Impossible," why get in the way?
My take: They're all right.
Malkin is absolutely correct that the GOP must prove it is born again on fiscal responsibility. If the Republicans don't prove it, then the Tea Party will swoop in like the Shadow Host of Dunharrow in "The Lord of the Rings" and mow down the Republicans like so many dimwitted orcs.
Krauthammer, I think, is uncharacteristically shortsighted. Politicians not only need mandates, they need to understand what their mandates are. Otherwise they tend to think they were elected for their sheer personal awesomeness. President Obama, somewhat understandably, thought he had a messianic mandate to push a hard partisan agenda from the left. In reality, voters thought his mandate was to be "not Bush" and to then govern from the center. He fulfilled the first part and ignored the second entirely.
It's true that running on something rather than nothing might cost the GOP some campaign victories, but running on nothing would deny them even more policy victories. Sending Republicans back into power without a clear mission is like sending teenagers to Vegas for a school trip without a chaperone. Sure, they'll check out the museums.
As for the argument that the Pledge doesn't go far enough, that's obviously true. But it's also true that the Pledge is far, far more ambitious than the Contract With America was.
Moreover, the fact that it garners support from across the GOP caucus is a good sign, not a bad one, not least because it shows that the GOP can reach out to both the tea parties and to independents. Obama and Pelosi's alienation of independents is destroying the Democratic Party right now. Why should the GOP emulate that strategy?
Conservatives shouldn't look at the Pledge as the sum total of the Republican agenda. They should see it as the opening bid.
Crush the politicians that have given us this economy. Get rid of them. RINOs. Out. Dems next.
It all depends on just how much the GOP continues to dance to the tune played by the shadow government.
“Conservatives shouldn’t look at the Pledge as the sum total of the Republican agenda. They should see it as the opening bid.”
That’s all well and good, but if your opponent knows that you aren’t prepared to go all in when you clearly have the best hand, you will lose. The Grand Old Potty is still an establishment, big-government oriented society of elites that needs to be rebuilt. Now.
Medical-liability reform is necessary and beneficial, but it’s not Congress’s job to do it. It’s a job for states.
Anyone remember the concept of States Rights? Or are the Grand Old Potty insiders still going to club us with the commerce clause? Buying health insurance across state lines is a good idea and states can do that on their own, or pass legislation that makes it OK to do, as they have for auto insurance.
Healthcare can be a car insurance clone. High risk pools, if you need it but are a risk, you pay more, not subsidized by MY taxes. This plan does not address that, in fact goes backwards, with regulations that make it illegal to “deny coverage to someone on the basis of a pre-existing condition” - which means people can wait until they become sick to apply for health insurance.
What a deal for insurance companies.
What happened to Conservatives who would protect Free Markets anyway?
This plan is crap.
If we don’t change the GOP from top to bottom and eliminate the insiders, it will be the end of the Republic ... they all need to be dismissed. They have made a mockery of Conservatism and of our way of life. I will not contribute or vote for any candidate who toes the GOP party line ... make mine TEA, please. And yes, if that means losses, then so be it. The RINO needs to go extinct.
The best way to turn this economy around is to make a concerted push toward energy independence. That requires bulldozing any and all regulations that make energy development impossible. It will be tough because the Left will scream on behalf of their OPEC masters.
And so will Dems and Repubs who are getting Saudi money through the back door. But this will be another chance to identify and purge the sell-outs.
We send half a trillion a year out of the country buying transportation fuels and putting other countries’ people to work and funding other national budgets. Time to put our own to work and fund our own treasury.
The spending in 2008 was much lower then it is now. I wished it could go farther back, but that will never happen.
Remember the Contract With America?
Eight titles of reforms the Republicans promised to at least try to enact.
Total time to read and ponder, about one minute. A lot of people like it.
And how about that US constitution, huh? Fit it all on just one big piece of paper, in pretty large print.
The EU constitution had something like 250 pages. Or more. Did anyone ever actually read that silly thing?
I think you see the point.
Crush the politicians that have given us this economy. Get rid of them. RINOs. Out. Dems next.
What is best in life? ..... To crush your enemies,...to see them driven before you...and to hear the lamentations of their women.
Bad news for you 100%er purists. NOTHING in life but God is perfect. Running around here spamming the board with whining because the Pledge isn't perfect is the behavior of petulant children, not rational adult minds.
I’m not sure I understand what’s wrong with the US Constitution? Just stand up and pledge to legislate accordingly....AS YOUR OATH OF OFFICE REQUIRES!!!
“Running around here spamming the board with whining because the Pledge isn’t perfect is the behavior of petulant children, not rational adult minds.”
Bad news for you idiots who think trading GOP centralized government for DEM federalized government; you are heading down the same road. Whining? I think you are drinking too much wine if you think this GOP brand of horse shit is anything but more of the same. If you want to understand this with a rational mind, go find someone with a third grade education and ask them to read it to you;
Medical-liability reform is necessary and beneficial, but it’s not Congress’s job to do it. It’s a job for states.
Remember the concept of States Rights? Or are the Grand Old Potty insiders still going to club us with the commerce clause? Buying health insurance across state lines is a good idea and states can do that on their own, or pass legislation that makes it OK to do, as they have for auto insurance.”
I know, you don’t understand State’s rights or the over reach of the Feds with the Commerce clause. No wonder the sound of someone demanding our God-given personal and economic freedom sounds like “whining” in your ears. I think the mush in your head has leaked into them.
Read and understand this crap before you shoot off your ignorant mouth.
The real threat to our country does not come from abroad but from within. Andrew Jackson’s statement on this point in 1837 is probably without parallel:
“You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad.... It is from within, among yourselves, from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition, and inordinate thirst for power that....[liberty will be] in danger. It is against such design....that you have especially to guard yourselves. You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom to preserve it for the benefit of the human race.... I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty....”
Wake up.
What took over 80 years to corrupt will not be corrected overnight. The Pledge is a good start.
And now the republicrats rear their ugly heads once again. Whether you take a leisurely stroll towards a cliff, or sprint towards it the end result is the same...you fall off the cliff. The greater danger is this: that merely rolling back spending to 2008 levels will not solve our economic problems and will not save our nation...and then, conservatives (not socialists) will be blamed for its ultimate failure.
The future of America is in the balance.
The future of America is in the balance.
Agree with you.
Jon Stewart has an interesting take on this....http://scottfactor.com/
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