Dubya Tries to Hop on Tea Party Bandwagon

2 12 2010

As the Tea Party has been gathering steam, people from all over are cramming in to see if they can catch a piece of the pie.  And the pie gets bigger by the minute – with four Senate seats – those of Rand Paul (KY), Pat Toomey (PE), Marc Rubio (FL) and Mike Lee (UT) – being claimed by the Tea Party movement.  There is even talk of a Tea Party Caucus in the Senate and House during the next congressional cycle.  Former President George W. Bush has been trying to capitalize on the political success of the movement like any other.  It may seem odd that he would do that, given that his two constitutionally legal terms of office are over and he cannot rise any farther than he has been in the past.  But his brother Jeb is now being speculated about as a potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election.  Now George seems to be trying to mobilize Tea Party support for his Jeb’s run to follow in his footsteps.

The Tea Party movement and its members would have to have really short memories if they were to follow the former president’s lead and throw their support behind another Bush.  It is important to remember that the Tea Party originally rose in response to cronyism overspending by the BUSH Administration which has been expanded and continued by the Obama Administration.  It is easy to forget – with all the attention centered around Obama – that Bush was the original target of the movement.  The Tea Party will only get behind candidates true to their values and RINOs like Bush will not qualify.  Sure, the Tea Party was largely behind Scott Brown here in Massachusetts and he’s a centrist on fiscal issues, but he was the best the Tea Party could settle for in the bluest state in the nation.  Let’s not forget that George Bush snubbed now Senator-Elect Marc Rubio when he was running in the primary against establishment candidate Charlie Crist.  Now Bush is playing like he knew the Tea Party was the real deal all along.

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Categories : News, Politicians, Tea Party Movement

The Ideological Evolution of the Republican Party

15 02 2010

Politics can be an immensely complicated subject and in the American political system there is only room for two parties to exist in the long-run.  Therefore, each of the two parties is highly factionalized, with each individual member agreeing with anywhere from fifty-one to ninety-nine percent of the party platform.  The Republican Party has had the dominant school of thought within itself shift so many times that the old school adherents may barely recognize it anymore.  Republican politicians can be identified by their place on the political spectrum as “Rockefeller Republicans,” neoconservatives, theoconservatives, paleoconservatives, libertarians, neolibertarians, paleolibertarians, Independent Republicans, etc.  From the 1930s to the 1970s the country as a whole was largely Democratic and the moderate wing of the party had the most sway.  These are known as liberal/moderate Republicans or the more old-fashioned name:  Rockefeller Republicans after Nelson Rockefeller.

The Rockefeller Republicans had been the preferred faction of the party for many years – in every presidential election from 1928 to 1976 with the sole exception of 1964, the party nominated a moderate-to-liberal candidate.  With Ronald Reagan’s ascent in 1980, that began to change.  Slowly new political forces came forward and the ideology of the party became less rigid.  In 1994 Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich unveiled the famous Contract with America, which reflected the sentiment of the election season which gave the party both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years.  The 1994 “Republican Revolution” was largely led by younger members of the party.  Many old timers who served during the Rockefeller Era were critical, believing the Contract to be too ambitious.  That may seem ironic since a lot of conservatives today view the Contract as a failure.  I can understand such arguments – a lot of the promises were broken and starting in the early 2000s the Republicans started growing the size of government, with the original sentiment of the Contract in the past.  However, the Contract was not a failure from the very beginning. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : History, Israel-Palestine Conflict, Neocon-Theocon Hegemony, Obama Administration, Sovereignty, States, Taxes and Spending, Theory, War on Drugs

Tea Party Must Disown Sarah Palin

10 02 2010

I have usually been a fan of Sarah Palin and given her a lot more deserved credit than my peers who bow down to the Conventional Wisdom of the media do.  But even I am up-in-arms over her recent comments on Daniel Pipes’s article and as the keynote speaker at the Tea Party Convention.  Daniel Pipes made the suggestion that the only way for Obama to drastically recover support in time for the next election would be to attack Iran – Iran not being a popular nation in America these days, especially with their current president.  This would rally the patriotic support that the neoconservatives thrive off of.  Pat Buchanan wrote his own article on the matter – rightfully denouncing the prospect of going to war, especially for merely political reasons.  “Will Obama cynically yield to temptation, play the war card and make “conservatives swoon,”  in Pipes’ phrase, to save himself and his party? We shall see.”  Now, I agree with Sarah Palin on a multitude of issues, but she’s still an amateur when it comes to foreign policy.  I think the McCain camp may have had a little too much influence on her in this regard.  I sense some of McCain’s explosive impulse in her.  She claims to have read Pat Buchanan’s article, but she’s in favor of attacking Iran.  She doesn’t seem to acknowledge any alternative to a full-scale attack on Iran.  And also, why is she giving political advice to Obama?!

I find it remarkable that Palin is a long-time fan of Buchanan’s – she attended a rally of his in Alaska with her husband during one of his presidential campaigns in the 1990s – but is seemingly oblivious to his theory on war and foreign policy.  Buchanan is a paleoconservative, not a neoconservative.  Maybe she misunderstood the message of the article he wrote.  Anyhow, it is not only Buchanan that Palin is pulling doublespeak on.  It is the Tea Party itself.  The Tea Party originated in response to reckless deficit spending by the Bush and Obama administration.  Bombing Iran would only add to that problem.  The Tea Party represents a need for a smaller and more subserviant government for the people.  An unprovoked war with Iran would not help that in any fashion – government expands and becomes more intrusive in war time.  Palin may have jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon and has been tirelessly rallying support for some of its causes, but she can’t be allowed to set the agenda.  If she wants to be a part of the Tea Party, than she must work for the Tea Party – the Tea Party does not and never will work for her.  She needs to accept this or just butt out!


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Categories : International Conflicts, Obama Administration, Politicians, Taxes and Spending

What’s Up With Sarah Palin?

17 11 2009

After drifting away from the spotlight for the past few months, the former small town-bred Alaska Governor who ran for VP is making her way back into the headlines.  Love her or hate her – where she goes from here is a matter of relevance.  From taking time off following her resignation to writing her memoir and attacking Newsweek’s supposedly sexist portrayal of her on the front cover, its increasingly hard to predict where she will go from here.  If she plays her cards right she will maintain her sphere of influence in the political arena for years to come and still possess the option of returning to elected office.  While she discussed many of her past issues with McCain staffers and Katie Couric in her interview with Oprah, the future of her career was left open-ended and she sounded like she could see herself as anywhere between a pundit and a future presidential candidate.

 

For a while people were asking themselves “does she want to continue?”  As soon as she got a piece of the national spotlight, both her and her family were viciously torn apart by the elitists and the attack dogs in the mainstream media.  The Katie Couric interview was particularly devastating for her image.  The sudden change in her life would have made a lot of folks decide that they had had enough.  Her resignation as Governor of Alaska after the campaign might have been perceived as a retreat from the national arena, but she supposedly talks about that in her upcoming book.  But if she did end up giving up, a lot of her fans out there would be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : News, Politicians

Update: Election 2009

4 11 2009

Well, things don’t look so good for either of the two principled Dougs out there – Doug Bennett fell behind early and ended up coming in last in the race for city councilor.  It was a tough campaign and we came a long way but I guess it just was not enough.  And Menino won mayor again.  Given these developments, I solemnly believe it is doubtful that there will be any real change to the way things are here in Boston.

 

As for Doug Hoffman, the most recent polls had showed him out in front by a substantial margin.  However, he’s way behind his rival Bill Owens now so Hoffman’s prospects look just about as grim as Bennett’s.  The local Republican Party nominated Dede Scozzafava  but she was a disappointing candidate for so many people that Hoffman, the Conservative Party nominee, won more support than either of his opponents.  Eventually his rising poll numbers forced Scozzafava from the race and she actually had the nerve endorse the Democratic nominee over Hoffman, who was supported by National Chairman Michael Steele, Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin and a host of talk radio hosts.  Although Hoffman would have been really good as a Congressman, there was far more at stake here than just one more seat out of 435.  This was supposed to be a valuable lesson for the Republican Party not to give in to Conventional Wisdom and play the safe card with nominees like Scozzafava.  Now we can only hope her betrayal is noted and she is never considered for a political office again. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : News, Politicians, Sovereignty, States

Too Bad You Learn to Draw Before You Learn to Read

15 10 2009

That would be a more fitting slogan for certain cartoonists who think that they have some kind of cleverness.  In the magazine The Week this week (no pun intended) there was an ad for Sarah Palin’s new book Going Rogue.  The caption said “shouldn’t you read a book before you write one.”  Now, whatever your opinion on Sarah Palin, she has obviously been the victim of a massive character assasination campaign and the cartoon infuriated me with its grose inaccuracy.  Biographical sources on the former governor indicate she was a real bookworm growing up and has read quite a bit, unlike the artist of the cartoon.  Or maybe he/she only reads slanted journalists like Katie Couric.

I was unable to find the cartoon I was referring to – its in The Week, page 22, bottom right.  Here’s a link to another cartoon I found online:

http://www.moonbattery.com/palin_media.jpg


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Categories : Common Sense, Politicians

Poor Sarah

16 07 2009

The media really did a good job tearing her apart.  Even Republicans have shunned her.  She is not perfect – no one is, but I would still pick her over Obama any day of the week!  If she had her own cult of personality like he does she’d be all set, too.  If only more people would fulfill their rolls as functioning members of a democracy and vote their intellect and conscience with Common Sense there to guide them.  Instead of, you know, doing what the TV says and being sucked into “hope” and “change!”


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Sarah Palin Talks Straight

13 11 2008

Today at work while I was browsing online I saw an interesting article on Sarah Palin. While Palin has been somewhat of an inspiring mystery to me, or perhaps even a mysterious inspiration, this article opened my eyes deeper into her soul. I felt like she was too contained during the campaign and now we can gain a grasp of her true self. In some ways it was what I hoped for out of her but was not sure would be the truth. Sarah Palin, please forgive me for losing faith in you.

governorsarah1

Now on to what she said in the article. She said that the Republican ticket lost this election because it was too “status quo.” I knew that for months but it was relieving to hear her say it – she obviously was not able to dish out that kind of straight talk while she was running for vice president. Palin accused Bush of “souring the GOP brand.” Yeah, no kidding. After the 1994 takeover when the GOP drafted the Contract with America and we finally saw some politicians working for Americans instead of special interest groups, the GOP took a downturn for the worse. The presidency of George W. Bush has been one of big spending, big deficits and big foreign intervention which are the very things that true conservatives should oppose.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15474.html

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