Harbingers of 2010?

Harbingers of 2010?

If you remember before the Republican disaster that was the 2008 election; there were harbingers of the coming event. They were special elections held the year before. If memory serves there were four of these and they were all in “safe” Republican districts. Well we know what happened. The Democrats won them all fore warning us to the trouble we were to face in 2008.

This year; this November we have 2 governorships currently held by Democrats that are being challenged by Republicans. The two contests are in New Jersey and Virginia. Below is a good source – Wikipedia.

-----link-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_gubernatorial_elections,_2009
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This claims that between New Jersey and Virginia, Virginia is a toss up across the board, while New Jersey leans Republican three out of four with the fourth calling it a toss up.

In New Jersey, Democrat governor Jon Corzine is behind in the polls by double digits to Republican challenger Christopher Christie. The reason is simple. The people are fed up with corruption and as the following link shows they have seen a member of Corzine’s cabinet arrested along with mayors he has befriended. Further they have seen Democrat Party leaders saying out loud that Corzine should step down. In this economy and job market, corruption is no longer being tolerated.

-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25jersey.html
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Also from the above link, this about Mayor Booker.
Ironically I had posted about Corey Booker the newly (at the time) elected mayor of Newark. I marveled at his tenacity and street smarts fighting the corrupt city Democrat machine in Newark and winning. I gave him a “2 Bottom Up” award. The irony is that Mayor Booker is openly seeking to replace Corzine on the Democrat ballot and I would think he would give Republican Christie a run for the money. Way more of a challenge than Corzine could give to Christie. It will be interesting to see how entrenched the Corzine state machine is.

The race for the Governor’s mansion in Virginia is a lot closer, but the really interesting thing to note here is that the proposed policies of the Obama administration; such as Cap and Trade, National health care and the rest are being seen by the Democrat candidate as too hot to handle. See link below.

-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25jersey.html
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The Democrat Creigh Deeds won election in the Democrat Primary as a more Conservative Democrat. The Republican Candidate Robert McDonnell has no such illusions about his beliefs and as the article shows McDonnell is trying to tie the Obama Pelosi Albatross around the neck of Deeds.

My post is entitled Harbinger 2010 on account of a perceived swing to conservative Republican candidates; could it also be a Harbinger of a backlash to the Big everything Obama, Pelosi, Liberal fanaticism?

I certainly hope so.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative



Ps. also keep an eye on the little Harbingers such as the 19th Michigan State Senate special election also coming up this November. The primary it Tues. Aug 3rd 2009.
While Mike Nofs is not as conservative as some would like, compared to Griffin he is Reagan reborn.

Jobs Here, Jobs Now, Jobs First

Newt Gingrich as always has been working tirelessly to put a face and voice on Conservative Republican ideals. When I listen to him, I can understand why cutting the payroll tax will put money in the pocket of everyone who is drawing a paycheck.

I understand why bailing out the huge corporations doesn’t create jobs whereas if we give small business tax breaks, business and worker immediately benefit. Business then can put more money into their business and more jobs are created. Newt understands that also.

Newt’s gift is his ability to talk of such things so all can understand the concept and not get lost in the details.

Newt’s American Solutions recently put forth a proposal. “Jobs Here, Jobs Now, Jobs First”. Below is the long version, below that the short.

-----link-----
http://www.americansolutions.com/jobsfirst/2009/07/announcing-our-jobs-first-campaign.php
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The short version.

-----link-----
http://www.americansolutions.com/jobsfirst/2009/07/announcing-our-jobs-first-campaign.php
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As with his previous successful “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition drive; Newt’s new “Jobs Here, Jobs Now, Jobs First” plan has its own petition drive. See side bar on the links above to sign it.

I love it that Newt is still pounding away at the issues. I love it that John Boehner is pounding away at the job killing nature of the stimulus bill and the cap and trade bill and the health care bills.

-----Boehner link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hSWEyFwfUs
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They are both asking where are the promised jobs from the stimulus? How come the unemployment is over the promised ceiling of 8% and nudging 10%? How come the latest forecast from the CBO for the next 5 years as far as jobs, is that there will be no gain in jobs.

FIVE YEARS --- No New Jobs --- Hello?

What about the promises?

Are people starting to realize that if the promises about jobs made in regard to the Cap and Trade and Health Care are as untrue as the promises made for the stimulus then we are headed down a death spiral of unemployment, towards bankruptcy and enslavement of the middle class to Big Government, and Big Business with a nod and wink from Big Labor?

What to do?

Start demanding more of ourselves. We need to do something.

Get in touch with your legislators, voice your concerns. Get out and find a politician you first and above all trust. Take the advice we give our kids and each other, if it’s (the promises) too good to believe then it probably is.

Get local and force change at a level where you can make an impact.

Go to the link above and sign the petition, so Newt can make an impact at that level.

When you go to work tell your friends, you want a “Take home pay-raise”, explain it to them.

In other words, and with Regards: Live Dangerously BE A Conservative

PS If you think the tide isn’t turning check out the video link below

-----video link-----
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/most_recent_videos2/politics/gap_widens_between_obama_and_voters_on_fairness_of_u_s_society
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Obama’s #s are going down in more ways than one.

A Litany of Defeat

From a Litany of Defeat, comes a cascade of opportunities.

The Dems won big in the last election. The litany was; now with this power we can create the change we have always wanted, change that will make America better.
Even before the elections this litany was ever present. Give us the power and we will change things for the better. Barney Frank and his ilk forced banks to liberalize their lending practices to include those who couldn’t pay back the loans. We all saw what happened. Is that an opportunity?

We were given an opportunity to show case a failed liberal program.
In my home state of Michigan we are the poster child of failed Democrat policies. We see what happens to education, employment and individual freedom under these policies. Again we have a cascade of opportunities being served up to us on a silver plate by the Dems.

I have seen the stirring of a few to try to take advantage of this but they are few.
Steny Hoyer took the opportunity during a tribute to Ronald Reagan to quote Reagan in his regard for the IMF. He did this to try to get passage of the War Funding Bill which the Dems doubled the cost of by adding an amendment of over 100 Billion to bail out the IMF. In other words they were using the Republican loyalty to our troops as leverage to slip the IMF funding thru. Not only that but quoting one of our icons to do it.

After Hoyer quoted Reagan the Republicans didn’t say much.

What would the Dems of said if we quoted Rev. King to make our point about Affirmative Action? Ask Jen Gratz, hell as Alvida King for that matter.

Why didn’t we say, “Hell yes Reagan believed in the IMF. He believed in it enough to fund it separately and vote on it separately and not try to pass it on the back of our military and at the expense of our military when they are in harms way. I see you have less faith than Reagan. If you really believe in this do what he did and bring it up for a vote on its own. See what the people think of bailing out foreign banks on its own merit. See how many of this legislature are willing to vote for that.”

Nope that was not said, Boehner did and some other conservatives, but not directly at the time. Later in less public venues and not cohesively. Basically we as conservatives like talking to the quoir.

If we want to take advantage of all these “golden opportunities”, we have to learn how to talk not just to ourselves but to the public that Reagan reached.

He talked to those disaffected and suffering from the weight of liberal policies. There are plenty of Union workers, teachers, and Democrats out there who are looking for a place to hang their frustrations on. We have to learn to out talk the Dems. Our ideas are sound but we have to keep hammering them home. Keep showing viable alternatives to those disaffected. We will go down to defeat in most of what we do, but we should not suffer this quietly.

Newt Gingrich quoted Ronald Reagan also. "My Fellow Republicans... and Independents and Democrats Looking for a Better Future". He did this during a speech to the Republicans. Full text is linked below.

-----link-----
http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4312/Dont-Tell-Me-It-Cant-Be-Done.aspx
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The other nugget from Ron Reagan I enjoyed and thought pertinent was the following. "Better than we have ever done before, we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been, but we carry the message they are waiting for."

Bottom line is that we have to minimize our differences and maximize the things we believe in. The article by Gingrich is good at talking about “First Principles”. Read the article for the list of things he says will give us a more unified message that will resonate with us, Independents and Democrats who are all looking for a better way.

Newt’s list is a cascade of opportunities for Republicans if they (we) can learn to stay away from the bickering and look for the common ground between us while keeping our “First Principles”. Try practicing; read through the list and concentrate on what you agree with; not what you don’t. Then allow others to do the same.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

PS all is not lost on the IMF War funding bill. The Senate I think will be open to filibuster and other tactics to get some concessions on the bill. Remember, 32 Dems voted against it even after whie house pressure and only 5 Republicans defected. That says alot right there about dissaffected Dems.

Newt says in quoting FDR, “Don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

Regards, LD

Solutions

“Shadow Speaker of the House” John Boehner, released the following alert today about the revolt going on in some state houses towards the administration’s seeming attempt to bankrupt them.

-----link to alert-----
http://gopleader.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=132266
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At the bottom you will see this link for his State Solutions Group.

-----link-----
http://states.gopleader.gov/
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I realize we are not in England with a real “Shadow Government” but I seriously think John Boehner perhaps with some advice from Newt (among others) is using the “Shadow Government” idea to form an infrastructure well before the 2010 election from which to mount an attack on the Liberal agenda flowing out of Washington.

The “Shadow Government” idea in England I really like. It gives the party out of power an infrastructure around which it can show the public what they would be doing, what policies they would enact, and what they would do if elected next time. They come up with actual alternative solutions to problems facing the country. At the same time giving the leaders and upcoming stars of the party a chance to show their stuff. Gives the voters a better sense of who to vote for.

Shadow Speaker of the House, Boehner has set up Solution Groups dealing with specific policy areas.

There is a lot of angst out there in the state governments about the Fed. seemingly trying to usurp their power. Some Democrats especially the Blue Dog Dems, are starting to grumble already about some of the Federal Intrusion.

Shadow Speaker Boehner set up a group of House Republicans to define the problem and come up with solutions. They have their own leaders and web presence and other "new media" in which to study and come up with solutions to the specific problem at hand.

Best of all the Shadow Speaker is fully behind them and highlights their findings through his “leader Alerts”, and places like http://www.gop.gov

I have blogged before about this “Shadow Government” idea and how great it appears to me.

Mr. Boehner has set up the following “biggies”, along with a lot others as the need arises.

Health Care http://blunt.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=1059 Chaired by Roy Blunt.
Energy. http://www.gop.gov/energy This is chaired by Mike Pence.

This site is just what we needed; talking points, all kinds of video and documents, plus the entire bill. If anyone says that the Republicans don’t have a solution. Send them to the above link.

“Shadow Speaker Boehner is doing what a leader of the Minority party should do. He is uniting the party by putting the Republican leaders in the House to work on solutions in the areas in which they are expert at. This is starting to look like a more united front than just a few months ago. The Democrats are starting to splinter while the Republicans are beginning to show signs of uniting.

John Boehner is gathering the talent available to him and uniting them to show that the Republicans have real solutions to the problems we face. We are showing that Republicans have alternatives to the bankruptcy that the administration is leading us towards.

This “Solutions” platform is ideal for the members to work off of. With the active support of the “Shadow Speaker”, members are able to highlight their skills and help the country at the same time.

The Republican Leader can then leverage these efforts in things like this June 13th Weekly Republican Address. Mike Pence remember is the Chair of the Energy Solutions Group he and his solutions group was responsible through hearings, energy summits and a lot of hard work for the creation of the American Energy Act.

This is real legislation done the right way through study and deliberation and it will work.

As a case in point I’ll highlight Mike Rogers of Livingston County Michigan, who along with Rep. Kevin Nunes (R-CA) Co Chair the "State Solution group" mentioned earlier. While Mike Rogers is a frequent and powerful critic of the administration; he is in a unique position as a Representative from the state of Michigan which has been decimated by the tax and spend policies of the Democrat Gov and State House for eight years, this gives him a unique perspective on the tax and spend efforts of the Obama administration. This next video is at the start up of the State Solutions Group after he was first chosen chair.

-----link to video------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwyR9k4MhD4
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Remember that the State Solutions group chaired by Rogers and Nunez was responsible for the Leader alert at the top of the page.

Well there you have it. I don’t really have a clue whether House Minority Leader John Boehner is really doing what he’s doing under the mantle of the British Parliamentary “shadow government” model or not. I do think that my analogy fits and the unity and actual fruits of his labor are proof enough that what he is doing is starting to work.

I haven’t heard lately from the libs that the Republicans have no solutions. This was their mantra just a short couple months ago.

Now they are starting to act as if they are trying to hide the fact that we do have solutions. That is progress; that is getting back on the offensive after such a long wait. This is something we can work with.

I’ll do my part in getting the news out.

In fact I’ll be proud to.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Change the Story to Toes

When fingers aren’t enough change the story to Toes.

The Obama administration must feel as if it were reliving the old story about the Dutchman plugging the dyke with his finger.

-----link-----
http://www.thehollandring.com/hans-brinker-story.shtml
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The story is of a Dutch boy who due to carelessness and slothfulness was in the right place at the right time to see and stop a potentially devastating break in the levy system that protected the entire country of Holland. Picture Katrina except the flooding would be at a National level.

If we picture the economy as the water and the basic concepts of free enterprise as the dykes protecting us from the drowning effects of inflation we can see the poor little well meaning kid as he saw a problem and rushed to fix it. Fix it he did but while he was stuck there the new story shows that the dykes are springing leaks at an ever increasing pace.

What the Dutchman does next is he starts using more of his fingers to plug the holes as they spring up threatening to overwhelm his administration. What can he do except take off his clogs and start using his toes. In this case his Vice President and his phalanges are brought in. Unemployment hits record levels and Joe Biden says heck things are getting better, trying to say the stimulus bill helped unemployment. Oops there goes another dyke.

-----link-----
http://www.lonelyconservative.com/2009/06/14/the-gaffemeister-biden-claims-porkulus-kept-unemployment-low/
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Now as the Washington Post and columnist Scott Wilson adroitly point out in the next link,there are several people who should be offering fingers and toes to hold back the flood of facts for their leader who are instead starting to point them in an accusing way saying that there needs to be some structural work to the dykes and that there aren’t enough fingers left to plug the damage already caused; and oh by the way we are coming up for re-election in a little over a year and we want you to fix things right.

-----link-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061302035_pf.html
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To me the most telling quote from the article came from his own man in the Senate in charge of the Budget. The guy who should know and not say. Well he’s talking.

-----quote-----
But Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said, "The second five years is where we're on a completely unsustainable course."
"People know we have an overall situation here that doesn't add up," he said.
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This is an excellent article that lays out all the evidence coming in from public opinion turning to the people the administration should be counting on who are starting to voice doubts, on up to world opinion as evidenced by what the Chinese and Euro leaders such as Germany’s Merkle are saying and doing; which is trying to talk or force some fiscal sense into the US fiscal policy.

As far as rewriting the legend, well while it may not be a very good analogy this legend was a fake to start with so why not rewrite some of it anyway?

-----quote from story above-----
The legend of the brave Dutch boy - by others thought to be named Hans Brinker - who supposedly put his finger in the dyke to prevent a flood, was actually a literary invention by the American writer Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge (1831-1905), who was born in New York.
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The scary part is once we pull out the fingers and toes will there be enough where withal left in the country to repair the dams or will we have to suffer the worst before we rebuild them right?

Those silly sign holders in Green Bay may be on to something. Probably just a bunch of Tea Party Right Wing Extremists, what do they know about rewriting history? They're too stupid, clingy bastards besides.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

A Real Republican Alternative

Another alert from the House Minority Leader (dare I say “Shadow Speaker”) John Boehner.

-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=131644
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As I blogged previously

-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2009/06/john-boehner-building-more-focused.html
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I like the way Leader Boehner has been working behind the scenes to actually come up with real alternative legislation to what is being put forth by the Liberals. How he was getting members together into groups to do that. This not only helps keep the Republican message focused it helps in keeping the members better informed and involved by actually doing something constructive. Well I had hoped that this would actually bear fruit. It has; sweet succulent fruit, something anyone can sink their teeth into and eat to their heart's content.

Also this kind of British “Shadow Government” helps the public understand that there are viable options to the legislation that the administration is peddling. Kudos to Mr Boehner and Mike Pence and the American Energy Solutions Group.

I called up the House Republican Conference and got this link to the actual act.

-----link-----
http://www.gop.gov/energy
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What a great job. Click on it. Click on all the links. This site is awesome. Mike Pence and the whole “American Energy Solutions Group” did a great job.

The text of the legislation is the real deal; the committee came up with videos, talking points, summaries and lots of other stuff. This is a great informational link. I’ll be going through this for some time. I’m a believer in this type of thing.

We in the new media have to help get the word out. I’m putting it on the blogs I do at the top of every side bar. This is a real and doable solution that costs less, and helps Americans; all Americans keep their money and afford energy costs.

From the “Leader Alert” in my previous blog came this quote about the Republicans coming up with an alternative to the Administrations Health Care. “Republicans believe there’s a better way. Led by Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the Health Care Reform Solutions Group is crafting a plan that will make health care more accessible and affordable without raising taxes or undermining the health care Americans currently receive.”

There is not a web site yet for this new Health Care Reform Solutions Group but I hope Rep. Roy Blunt can do as well as Mike Pence.

I may be out in left field but this seems to be a good way to add credibility to the Republican Party. It shows as I’ve said; we have real solutions that work.

Leader Boehner KEEP IT UP !!

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Ebb and Flow - Hell No

There is a slow but ever increasing groundswell of anti government, anti bureaucracy, anti being told what to do by idiots growing in the country.

Bobby Dylan in his Slow Train Coming album said "I'm gonna stop being influenced by fools". Me too!

Sure conservatives have thought this all along, like the tide it ebbs and flows. I just re-watched a movie from the 70’s called Network. The movie was famous for the quote “I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore”. The snippet below is about what he is mad about and it seems to ring true, if not more true today. The effect of TV on the public was and is awesome.

-----link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTN3s2iVKKI
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Thirty years later, we see a “Tea Party” movement that has as it’s common denominator an anger based upon how we have continually been losing our individual freedom to some ever growing faceless bureaucracy. We have seen that media as in Network, raise up out of nowhere a president who is accelerating this loss of freedom at an unconscionable rate.

People are doing what they do before they take action. They are “Getting Mad as Hell, and They Aren't Going to Take it Anymore”.

Ebb and flow – Thirty years ago? I look fondly back to that time, as compared to today.

The country is beginning to get Over Dosed on the constant wailing about all the evils in the world and what we must do to correct them; as the government workers drive their ever more expensive cars, and hire ever more minions under them retire earlier and get paid more as they recline in their ever opulent offices.

The government and all the bureaucracies that run it are becoming like that annoying computer generated robocall you get to help you lower your mortgage even though you don’t have one. Or the continuous pleas to save starving children. Don’t they understand you just lost your job. If I took to heart all the calls, I would have to re-mortgage my house and my children would be the starving ones.

Eb and flow hell. Sure this government intrusion into our lives ebbs and flows but think about it; after each cycle aren’t we losing more than we gain?

Picture yourself trapped in an upside down battleship. You have a foot of air left to breath and the water level is going up two inchces then back one, up 2 back 1, over and over. Do you think you would call that ebb and flow. Or say Oh My God the water is rising and I can’t stop it; I’m going to die?

That’s what I feel today in the people coming out to the Tea Party things. They see the ebb and flow, they are not stupid, they also see the continuing trend. They are mad, they can’t define it, can’t reduce it to a 10 second sound bite for TV, but they are afraid. That is the first step which is necessary before doing anything. When we are fearful, and frustrated by overwhelming odds, some of us simply and loudly reply
Nuts,
and brother I’m not talking ACORN here either. Simply stating the fact that it is time to dig in our heals and stand up.

I used to think the government was impossible to slow down, let alone change it’s direction. After all the media was solidly behind the creeping big government idea. Well may be not. Below is a link to an article about John Voight.

-----link-----
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/10/voight-obama-is-a-good-hollywood-actor/?page=2
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What surprised me was the following from the article.

-----snippet from article-----
Mr. Voight is also a general in the burgeoning army of Hollywood conservatives who intend to support America, and buff up the American image for its own people, and an audience abroad. The battalion includes actors Gary Sinise, Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Dennis Hopper and Pat Boone.

"The last time we all met, there were over a thousand people. Think about that. Hollywood conservatives, all of them different people, but all on the same path. It was very heartening," Mr. Voight recalled.
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I started digging into conservatives in Hollywood. Well after googling a couple of hours, I found a lot of stuff. There is an underground of conservatives in Hollywood (Friends of Abe) that has been forming because they too are getting Mad as Hell. The group is meeting regularly, but under the radar. The people in this group fear losing their jobs if it were known that they believed other than PC stuff.
Some are coming out of the closet.

As I always say, “Live Dangerously Be A Conservative”. Some like Voight and Sinese are coming out. An infrastructure is forming. Breitbart and others are making it easier for a more conservative message to be heard in Hollywood. Networks like Fox are providing cover, now is the time for the people to step up for their beliefs.

I for one find it refreshing to see something in the media that is at least a little Politically Incorrect.

For once I may not be in the minority in my opinion. That's a nice feeling.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative