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

Judge Napolitano’s Major Fail

1 12 2010

Fox news commentator Judge Napolitano has recently committed political suicide by publicly associating himself with ridiculous 9/11 conspiracy theories.  He said in an interview that he questions what has come to be established as the obvious truth and Common Sense of the matter.

 

“I think 20 years from now, people will look at 9/11 the way they look at the assassination of JFK today,” he added, in an interview with radio host Alex Jones. “It couldn’t possibly have been done the way the government told us.”

 

I was surprised to hear that Fox, which typically holds a center-right tendency, will not be taking any action in response to these surprising comments.  I was personally shocked to hear these anti-Common Sense remarks coming from a man who has at times acted like a Common Sense warrior in the past.  I even own one of his books.  He has such a down-to-earth and vast knowledge of history, our Constitution and the way that the law should properly be carried out based on the principles the country was founded on.  He may not have directly stated that he believed 9/11 was an inside job but this is still too much of a step over the edge.  When he hints at lending undeserved credibility to crackpot conspiracy junk, he not only diminishes his own credibility but also the credibility of the other ideas he promotes as an individual.  The Common Sense warrior becomes a Common Sense liability and stands counterproductive to the spirit of what he champions.  I used to admire him a lot and now I need to be ashamed of that.

It is a shame that the Tea Party and the Campaign for Liberty find themselves infiltrated with conspiracy theorists and other fringe elements.  The traditionalist position stands against the tyranny of the status quo and that makes the position of liberty seem like that of an outsider sometimes.  This creates temptation to ally with others who feel like outsiders to build a stronger force.  9/11 Truthers are treated as fringe outsiders by the elite – and rightfully so, unlike the Tea Party movement.  However, they also have an anti-big government, anti-establishment streak to their rhetoric which deludes some into believing that the Truthers and the Tea Party should be allies.  All too many Tea Partiers carelessly accept them into their ranks and weaken the viability of their own positions.  It reinforces the fringe image of their platform propogated by elitists, propaganda artists and Big Media.  People like Judge Napolitano cripple themselves through such pandering.

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Categories : News, Politicians, Tea Party Movement

Ron Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll!

24 02 2010

This past weekend Texas Congressman Ron Paul came in first place in the CPAC straw poll with 31% of the vote, upsetting three-time winner Mitt Romney, who came in second with 22% of the vote.  CPAC is a very large annual event and the straw poll is one of the most pivotal events in determining the winner of the upcoming presidential nomination for the Republican Party.  Ron Paul spoke himself at the conference on and the line to get an autograph by him stretched two ways to Sunday.

This victory is huge news for Ron Paul and for the Tea Party Movement.  However, Fox News and the establishment are doing just like they did during the campaign and doing everything they can to discredit the results.  There are a lot of people out there who don’t like Ron Paul, don’t like his ideas and will do anything in their power to keep him down.  Just when things were starting to look better for him, there is an onslaught of backlash.  Any poll where Ron Paul wins must be discredited at all costs to these people.

Now, with such hostile forces present a lot of people seem to believe the Republican Party is irreparable and that the Tea Party should form its own political party.  This would be a terrible idea and lead them down the road to disaster.  Third parties rarely gain any steam in this country and it would simply split votes.  If this were a European or Israeli electoral system instead of the American one that might make more sense.  A possible exception would be if the Tea Party played a role like the Conservative Party of New York where they do not typically nominate their own candidates but nominate the Republicans with the option of withholding their support if the candidate is not good enough.  With the never-ending army of activists the Tea Party musters, this would be a great way to participate in the 2010 midterm elections.


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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

A Promising New Film

7 01 2010

This trailer shows a new film depicting the events of 2009, when the Tea Party Movement really got off the ground.  And it is an inspiring story indeed.  The full impact of this movement may not be felt universally for years to come, but that’s no reason that it is any less relevant a topic for today.  This is the story of how Americans all over the country have discovered their power as individuals.  They have what it takes to make a difference.  They should not rely on the government to provide for them.  They should not have to pay excessively high taxes for programs that don’t work.  After a century of “progressive” and socialist trends, the individualistic spirit of personal liberty from 1776 is making a comeback.

I do hope that this film sufficiently emphasizes how the establishment media went to war with the Tea Party and tried to silence them, but was ultimately unsuccsessful.  Or, at the very least, I think that this should be part 2 of a trilogy.  The first part would be how the seeds of the movement were planted by Ron Paul supporters in the presidential primaries of 2008.  The third part would be how the Tea Party wins over Congress in 2010.


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Categories : News, Patriotism, Politicians

Palin Praising Obama and Digging Grave

14 12 2009

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/11/sarah-palin-praises-obamas-nobel-acceptance-speech/

I think it’s pretty much Common Sense that Obama did NOT deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.  He himself seemed somewhat embarassed.  Even the proponents cited the fact that he was President Bush’s immediate successor as the key reason instead of anything Mr. Hope and Change has actually done.  Nevertheless, I have all but digested his award over time.  He’s got the award – it may seem obscene – but time to move on.  I was therefore pleased to see that his potential rival Sarah Palin complemented his speech.  The man is a good speaker, so that’s not too surprising.

What disturbed me was how Palin also praised former President Bush and his foreign policy.  The Tea Party movement, which protests the government’s reckless anti-Common Sense deficit spending, is a thriving grassroots phenomenon which needs leaders and champions in high positions.  Sarah Palin has presented herself as one of those.  However, she seems to forget that the very spending the Tea Party opposes began under President Bush, so alligning herself with him is not the way to get behind the Tea Party movement or get the Tea Party movement behind her.  Palin can’t be pro-Bush and pro-Tea Party.  The best way for Palin and the GOP to regain credibility is to move away from the mistakes of the Bush Administration and start over with REAL fiscal responsibility, not spend-and-spend double-talk.  I only hope that true Tea Party patriots recognize this anomaly and excommunicate her from the movement.

Sorry Sarah, you’ve let us down.  You’re fired.


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The Rise of “Ron Paul Republicans”

19 05 2009

This fledgling new group has been growing by-and-large through internet mobilization and moneybombs over the past couple of years since early 2007 when Texas Congressman Ron Paul – who has many libertarianesque viewpoints and had previous been touted as a lone, mocking dissenter – decided to run for President.  An unprecedented and exponential grassroots movement dedicated to limited government has taken the nation by storm and, despite being ignored by the liberal (and conservative) media, has refused to go away.  Once the movement grew so large, and in-your-face active, the establishment has started listening to their faction more, especially with the onset of the new financial crisis, which Ron Paul himself predicted back in 2003.  And the movement has grown in the aftermath of the 2008 election through the “Tea Parties” and with the help of many they once considered enemies.

So, what exactly is a Ron Paul Republican.  It’s a very broad concept – you don’t have to be exactly like Ron Paul every step of the way.  You don’t even have to be a Republican!  One among their number was Bob Conley, a Democrat who ran for Senate against Lindsey Graham in South Carolina last Fall.  In fact, Ron Paul Republicans are a very diverse coalition who are dissatisfied with both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration.  Many of them care about different specific issues.  This was epitomized by the Tea Party where many Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Libertarians gathered to protest high taxation and high spending.  As Grover Norquist said, the two are inevitably intertwined and now in the 21st century with the onset of the information era, more and more people are realizing this.  My friend Corie Whalen gave a pretty decent description of the crowd out there when she was invited to speak on Fox News, seen below: Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Common Sense, Economics, News, Obama Administration, Politicians, Taxes and Spending

The Rise of the Tea Party Movement

20 04 2009

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” That is a quote from the 2005 movie V for Vendetta. And it is also the basic message of a lot of the Tea Party protests across the country recently. Opponents of the protests have used the term “tea-bagging” to describe the actions of the protesters in a negative fashion and some of the protesters have embraced and mocked the terminology by wearing hats lined with teabags hanging off the edge. The socialists and the news media have done their best to suppress the message of these protests, but of course once they got so big, they had no choice but to give them some coverage. This movement has taken the reigns of small government and fiscal conservatism and energized it so that the establishment is enthusiastic about it. Indeed, Fox News has been generous at leveling some coverage and hundreds of thousands have gathered nationwide for the protest. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : News, Obama Administration, Patriotism, Politicians, Taxes and Spending


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