Best thing he's said in years.

Such thinking won't stop the fringies from pushing their agenda.

Looks like Steele just signed his political suicide note.

The GOP has a chairman?

/

Kicking out centrists is crazy of course. But how do you define centrists. Powell is no centrists to me. He is on left fringe and that is being generous.

re: #1 saberry0530

Best thing he's said in years.

May also be the last thing he says as RNC chairman.

Politics = noise.

Like the man says, "You gotta stand for something or you'll fall for nothing at all."

Ask Glen BEck, Alex Jones, all the Fox talking heads, Rush, Ron Pulp, Tancredo, Jindal, The Di, oh, hell. I could go on and on.

Looks like Steele needs a down ding, he's starting to sound like Charles.

///s

Republicans, right, left and center, thirst for death.

I think Colin Powell booted himself, but other than that he makes a good point.

He had me until he went on about feeding a kid. Why not address how it's gonna' help the party?

Perhaps Mr. Steele isn't the right person for this job...

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

re: #13 Anon 1:50

Perhaps Mr. Steele isn't the right person for this job...

Why?

re: #12 MandyManners

He had me until he went on about feeding a kid. Why not address how it's gonna' help the party?

You don't have to turn into a fucking progressive to consider feeding children who are truly in need. I don't understand your comment?

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

Feel the LOVE!

The irony being shown by these "compassionate" folks is so massive.

re: #13 Anon 1:50

Perhaps Mr. Steele isn't the right person for this job...

Because...?

re: #17 FurryOldGuyJeans

Feel the LOVE!

The irony being shown by these "compassionate" folks is so massive.

Here too!

Powell's already gone, so no great shakes there. Still, the base of the party is pretty conservative and they need to remind the public of core conservative positions, especially on taxes.

Kooks like Ron Paul aren't conservatives anyway.

It should be a big tent, but there's no point in becoming Democrat Lite or a party of RINO's.

re: #15 bloodnok

Why?

I would be exceptionally surprised if we receive a response fro Anon.

I don't think it's a question of kicking anybody out. Stake out a position, take a stand and articulate that view. Those that can't support that position will kick themselves out, so to speak.

How is kicking Colin Powell out, or kicking Dick Cheney out, or Rush Limbaugh in, gonna feed a child who’s hungry tonight — is gonna educate that child

and how is keeping them in the party gonna "feed that child"

That's the f-ing parents job!

What about kicking the right wing crazies out? Or at least disowning their nonsense? Be nice to see the Repubs take a stand against the loony right.

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

A radio show in San Diego arranged to have him on last friday, but when the interview time caem around, they brough on one of the show's producers instead. Apparently, Keyes had called up saying how he had been arrested and wanted to give the story of what happened, so they scheduled a block of time. Just before he was about to go on, one of Keyes people called and said they would be ready as soon as the station sent in their payment for talking to Keyes. The producer said they had never agreed to any payments and Keyes people started getting abusive so cut him loose.

re: #22 Walter L. Newton

I would be exceptionally surprised if we receive a response fro Anon.

I think you scared him away Walter?

re: #14 Charles

You are going to HELL! We'll pray for you. ///

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

what, they didn't "forgive you" ?
/

Isn't that what Jesus would have done?

re: #14 Charles

Are you really surprised, Charles? Wingnuts are wingnuts, no matter which side they're on.

We need a Centrist Party...

re: #6 FurryOldGuyJeans

May also be the last thing he says as RNC chairman.

Yep, time to boot the moderate Steele to the curb./s

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

Keyes is a whackjob, and one of the reasons an empty suit like Obama could make it to the Senate in the first place.

Well said, Mr. Steele.

Where we should all be standing together is on fiscal matters. Other issues, we should be able to discuss like adults and find ways to work together.

I don't favor kicking out centrists- just socialists. If you want to spend, spend spend- the GOP isn't the party for you.

Colin Powell hopped the trolley to Obamaville long ago.

Steele's on the brink of being pushed out too. Nobody's going to listen to him.

re: #23 LGoPs

I don't think it's a question of kicking anybody out. Stake out a position, take a stand and articulate that view. Those that can't support that position will kick themselves out, so to speak.

The far right is doing just that with their stand on Creationism and other religious based litmus tests.

Thumbs Up for Steele!
I just might not throw the next fund-raising letter in the trash.
/we shall see

Colin Powell not only voted for Obama, but waited to announce his support for Obama at the moment that would most damage McCain. He's not centrist.

Let him hang out with Kanye West. I'm on Cheney and Limbaugh's side.

re: #26 Russkilitlover

What about kicking the right wing crazies out? Or at least disowning their nonsense? Be nice to see the Repubs take a stand against the loony right.

By taking a stand and articulating their position, they can show that they disown loonies both left and right.

re: #13 Anon 1:50

Perhaps Mr. Steele isn't the right person for this job...

Please explain why you feel this way? Mr. Steele, IMHO, hasn't done enough like this to stem the Paulian tide. He needs to stand up more for those of us who don't like the wingnuts taking over the party and making it into a mirror image of the Democrat Party.

Smaller gov't ie. less spending, strong defense, domestic energy production, strict constructionist judges.

re: #31 middy

Welcome to the Lizard Voting Demographic!

Actually for the first time I am seeing Steele show some much needed leadership. You know, that quality that sets everyone's narrow agenda abuzz. And he is right about not shrinking the party down to some so called core. There is no parliament in the US last I looked. Still takes that magic 51% to win.

re: #37 Killgore Trout

Steele's on the brink of being pushed out too. Nobody's going to listen to him.

How is kicking Colin Powell out, or kicking Dick Cheney out, me out or Rush Limbaugh in, gonna feed a child who’s hungry tonight — is gonna educate that child — and if we can’t speak to that, then all this other stuff is just noise.

OT:

Anyone see this yet?

(I got the link from a slashdot story)

Biden has one of the biggest and longest-running cases of foot-in-mouth syndrome I've seen in awhile.

re: #48 rhino2

OT:

Anyone see this yet?

(I got the link from a slashdot story)

Biden has one of the biggest and longest-running cases of foot-in-mouth syndrome I've seen in awhile.

How quickly one forgets Dan Quayle.

re: #39 taxfreekiller

Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and the Republican Party driving off the cliff

Today Rush Limbaugh invited Senator Specter to take Senator John McCain with him into the Democratic Party and this evening conservative author and talk show host Mark Levin said senators McCain, Snowe and Graham should leave with Specter and join the Democratic Party.

Mark Levin wants the moderates out too. We're leaving as fast as we can. Be patient.

I just want a balanced budget.

That way, in the future, kids aren't already broke before they can get a job due to the burden of today's debt.

If we really want to do something "for the children" we owe them some fiscal sanity now.

re: #48 rhino2

Biden needs to spend a Time Out in the bunker.

re: #50 FurryOldGuyJeans

How quickly one forgets Dan Quayle.

Sad thing is, I think Mr. Biden is making Mr. Quayle look like an also-ran in the foot-in-mouth department.

re: #33 buzzsawmonkey

There's nothing wrong with feeding children who are truly in need; I don't think anyone here would suggest it.

The negative reaction--speaking for myself--comes from the fact that his talking about "education" and "feeding a child" sounds like the mushiest of Democrat rhetoric, and if he's going to rally the rather tattered party it would be nice if he did it from a standpoint like smaller government or fiscal conservatism that is a traditionally Republican issue.

It would be nice if he did all that and if conservative didn't always take a knee jerk reaction the minute we hear someone make mention of something that smells a little like compassion.

As a conservative, I think about feeding children and helping those in need all the time. But I do it with the understanding that in my mind, that kind of help comes with the concepts of teaching someone to help them selves, sort of the "teach them to fish" idea.

So, since I think that way, when I hear a remark such as Steele's, that's what runs through my head.

But, the left sees the right as not compassionate, and I can see why they do.

We have to build a foundation and an understanding of what true helpful and productive compassion amounts to, and stop automatically imagining that help equals handouts.

How is kicking ..., gonna feed a child who’s hungry tonight — is gonna educate that child

By crafting policies for individual freedom.
By across the board marginal tax rate cuts.
By promoting individual responsibility.
By creating, maintaining, and promoting equal opportunity.
By getting their own arms around ridiculous spending.
By returning the unused "stimulus" monies to tax payers as tax relief
Etc.
Etc.

If he has to ask this question, then he's clueless as to Republican/conservative ideals and is the problem with the party, not the solution.

re: #25 Shug

and how is keeping them in the party gonna "feed that child"

That's the f-ing parents job!

I don't think feeding a child in need is liberal position. Feeding a bank, I can get, but a helpless kid is different IMHO.

re: #50 FurryOldGuyJeans
Biden makes Quayle look like a frickin' genius.

Huntsman is saying more or less the same thing.

Pandering to the middle is an artform. The problem that GOPers face is that the Democrats have won the middle when they throw vast sums of money around and paint the GOP as heartless. Trying to beat the Democrats at their own game is a losing proposition, which means that the GOP has to do more than just anklebite.

They have to stand for something and stick with it. I'd say start with fiscal responsibility, but the GOP isn't any more fiscally responsible than the Democrats are.

re: #50 FurryOldGuyJeans

How quickly one forgets Dan Quayle.

I said in awhile, Dan Quayle was a little before I started paying attention to politics (89-93 would put me at 3-7 years old), though I know of his gaffes as well.

re: #54 Honorary Yooper

Sad thing is, I think Mr. Biden is making Mr. Quayle look like an also-ran in the foot-in-mouth department.

Yes, he certainly is a shoe-in.

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

You wanna double it? Then rey criticizing the Army of God antiabortion group. The one that has all the litle cyberenclaves for slavish reverence to be offered to an associated collection of firebombers, arsonists, and murderers whom they claim as their own.

re: #57 taxfreekiller

I wasn't offering advice, just letting you know that we're leaving as quickly as we can. We should be all gone soon enough.

Bring a blog commenter makes me an activist in a hurry compared to most of my neighbors. Even though I'm kinda laid back about politics. In my Carter years I was an irresponsible voter and voted along class and race lines regardless of the quality of the candidate. I realized the error of my voting ways and became a slightly better informed Republican voter for years and years. Now since I am in a hurry do I stick with the GoP? or make my own way ahead of them based on the issues important to me?

I am considering going to a political neutral stance and giving up on the GoP unless they get some small government, anti corruption, anti waste candidates. While I am a big GWB supporter, he was a big government, strong on defense, weak on the economy GoP POTUS. The GoP is now letting the MSM create them. The voice of the GoP is not audible in the national media.

While I think Kilgore is wrong in the way he paints the right. I now prefer the quadrant method of right/left analysis instead of the polar one. Artists get to do their own interpretations on their canvassing. When we work with creationists though, and see all the troll meltdowns over relatively insignificant issues other then the troll is emotionally locked down. They see only one topic and can't broaden themselves out. Then I can gather a dim view of the inability of the GoP to educate it's own voters to be broadminded and vote for the general purpose of the GoP. If it's a sinking ship, I need a lifeboat.

Pres Obama can fracture the GoP for a long time just by stealing a few of their most important issues.

re: #50 FurryOldGuyJeans

How quickly one forgets Dan Quayle.

You mean I can re-incarnate old DQ jokes for Biden?

"Secret Service has ordered to immediately shoot Biden if anything happens to the President."

re: #51 Killgore Trout

Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and the Republican Party driving off the cliff

Mark Levin wants the moderates out too. We're leaving as fast as we can. Be patient.

What the hell are you doing Killgore. There was not one mention of Ron Paul in your comment of the article you linked too.

Stop that.
///

re: #54 Honorary Yooper

Sad thing is, I think Mr. Biden is making Mr. Quayle look like an also-ran in the foot-in-mouth department.

Biden has only had a couple of months, and a complicit media establishment to hide all but his more egregious gaffes. Dan had 4 years and a propaganda machine pulling 24/7 duty to mountainize any molehill he created.

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

"Lambs of Christ" is definitely not a mainstream Catholic organization; they're kooks. I used to like Keyes when he was UN ambassador, but he's now gone off the rails.

re: #37 Killgore Trout

Steele's on the brink of being pushed out too. Nobody's going to listen to him.

Hot Air commenters spew non-stop hatred at Michael Steele. I won't even read the comments over there any more -- the crazies have completely taken over.

re: #60 lawhawk

They have to stand for something and stick with it. I'd say start with fiscal responsibility, but the GOP isn't any more fiscally responsible than the Democrats are.

In 1995 balancing the budget was called "a moral imperative" by the House Republicans. Where did that notion disappear off to?

re: #64 buzzsawmonkey

Where is Ed Sullivan when you need him? He'd line up some talent that could not only balance the budget, but twirl it on a stick to music.

's alright!

re: #48 rhino2

OT:

Anyone see this yet?

(I got the link from a slashdot story)

Biden has one of the biggest and longest-running cases of foot-in-mouth syndrome I've seen in awhile.

Dear Mr. Vice President,

I am a young entrepreneur trying to set up a security business. If you could please send me a detailed list of your office security system, passwords and personnel staff it would really help me develop a model to pattern my own business and help me out in these trying times. I guarantee it will generate a lot of press for the both of us.

Your Friend,

Ozzy B. Laden

re: #51 Killgore Trout

Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and the Republican Party driving off the cliff

Mark Levin wants the moderates out too. We're leaving as fast as we can. Be patient.

Then we need to tell Levin and company to fuck off. We need to make a stand, not just give up. Giving up is basically giving in and letting the wingnuts win. That's what the Dems did over the past eight fricking years until they finally figured out how to get their own act together. We don't have that long.

If you want to just give up, Killgore, then join Anon up there. Solutions help, whining does not.

OT: Cutest images in the world!

re: #16 Walter L. Newton

You don't have to turn into a fucking progressive to consider feeding children who are truly in need. I don't understand your comment?

That's a radioactive subject. Of course everybody wants to feed children who are in need. But most of the programs I know of feed everybody, in need or not. I'm not being hardhearted but I don't see starving children here in America...in the rest of the world, perhaps. But not here.
I feel very strongly about feeding children, but the bottom line is that I did feed my children. You have to be a pretty irresponsible parent to not feed your children. Those truly in need should be helped...I just think that that group is very small and the consept ends up being abused and misused as a cudgel to beat 'hardhearted' conservatives.

Just dust off the balanced budget amendment and let us rally to it.

We did before- we will again.

re: #41 SeafoodGumbo

Colin Powell not only voted for Obama, but waited to announce his support for Obama at the moment that would most damage McCain. He's not centrist.

Let him hang out with Kanye West. I'm on Cheney and Limbaugh's side.

I know this is from a leftest prospective, but maybe Powell is just a patriot, speaking out with his opinion, even if you disagree with it. Just because you normally align with one party, voting your conscience does not make you a bad guy.

re: #68 Walter L. Newton

Tea Party!

re: #71 Charles

Hot Air commenters spew non-stop hatred at Michael Steele. I won't even read the comments over there any more -- the crazies have completely taken over.

We're living in Bizarro world now.

re: #46 The Shadow Do

Actually for the first time I am seeing Steele show some much needed leadership. You know, that quality that sets everyone's narrow agenda abuzz. And he is right about not shrinking the party down to some so called core. There is no parliament in the US last I looked. Still takes that magic 51% to win.

Maybe they finally had enough of the "F You guys!" responses to the fundraising phone calls.

re: #78 LGoPs

That's a radioactive subject. Of course everybody wants to feed children who are in need. But most of the programs I know of feed everybody, in need or not. I'm not being hardhearted but I don't see starving children here in America...in the rest of the world, perhaps. But not here.
I feel very strongly about feeding children, but the bottom line is that I did feed my children. You have to be a pretty irresponsible parent to not feed your children. Those truly in need should be helped...I just think that that group is very small and the consept ends up being abused and misused as a cudgel to beat 'hardhearted' conservatives.

See my re: #55 Walter L. Newton

re: #56 Russkilitlover

By crafting policies for individual freedom.
By across the board marginal tax rate cuts.
By promoting individual responsibility.
By creating, maintaining, and promoting equal opportunity.
By getting their own arms around ridiculous spending.
By returning the unused "stimulus" monies to tax payers as tax relief
Etc.
Etc.

We need to find a way to sell these. Right now, they look stodgy next to the flash-in-the-pan stuff being sold right now by the left in power, and the far right that loves self-martyrdom.

re: #73 pre-Boomer Marine brat

's alright!

(i'm wondering if anyone will get that)

/outta th' box

re: #79 Sharmuta

Just dust off the balanced budget amendment and let us rally to it.

We did before- we will again.

Gear.

re: #76 Honorary Yooper

I'm not really giving up because I'm not a Republican. I'm not even a conservative. I'm just a swing voter.

The Whigs are looking more attractive all the time.

Say what you will about Hannity, his Top 10 Items for Victory would make a winning platform. (Apologies for long post)

---

1) To be the party of National security:
a) Victory in Iraq
b) Fully support NSA, Patriot act, tough interrogations, keeping Gitmo open
c) A Candidate that pledges to NOT demean our military while they are fighting for their Country. eg Harry Reid: "the surge has failed", "the war is lost"
d) Candidate that promises to ensure that our veterans can live out their lives in dignity.

2) The party who pledges to oppose Appeasement:
a) The party will oppose any and all efforts to negotiate with dictators of the world in places like Iran, Syria, N.Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela without "pre-conditions."

3) The party Pledges to support Tax CUTS, and fiscal responsibility:
a) The American people are NOT under taxed, Government Spends too much
b) The Candidate who Pledges to ELIMINATE and VOTE AGAINST ALL Earmarks
c) The Candidate pledges to BALANCE the budget

4) The party Pledges to be a supporter of "Energy Independence"
a) supports Immediate drilling in Anwar and the 48 states
b) Building new refineries
c) Begin building and using Nuclear Facilities
d) expand coal mining
e) realistic steward of the environment

While simultaneously working with private industry to develop the new energy technologies for the future, with the goal being that America becomes completely energy independent within the next 15 years.

5) The Candidate pledges to secure our borders completely within 12 months:
a) build all necessary fences
b) use all available technology to help and support agents at the border
c) train and hire agents as needed

6) Healthcare:
The party will look for Free-Market solutions to the problems facing the Healthcare industry, and will vigorously oppose any efforts to "nationalize healthcare".

a) The Candidate will fight for Individual health savings accounts, that includes "catastrophic insurance" for every American, so people can control their own healthcare choices.

7) Education:
a) The Candidate pledges to "save" American children from the failing educational system
b) The Candidate will fight to break the unholy alliance of the Democratic party and teachers unions, which at best has institutionalized mediocrity, and has failed children across the country
c) fight for "CHOICE" in education and let parents decide
d) fight for vouchers for parents

8) Social Security and Medicare:
a) The Candidate will "save" social security and medicare from bankruptcy.
b) Options will include "private retirement" funds so people can "control" their own destiny.

9) Judges
a) The Candidate vows to support ONLY judges who recognize that their job is to interpret the Constitution, and NOT legislate from the bench.

10) American Dream:
The Candidate accepts as their duty and responsibility to educate, inform, and remind people that with the blessings of Freedom comes a Great responsibility. That Government's primary goal is to preserve, protect and defend our God given gift of freedom.

That Governments do not have the ability to solve all of our problems, and to take away all of our fears and concerns. We need their pledge that we will be the candidate that promotes Individual liberty, Capitalism, a strong national defense and will support policies that encourage such...

It is our fundamental belief that limited Government, and Greater individual responsibility will insure the continued prosperity and success for future generations.

We the people who believe in the words of Ronald Reagan, that we are "the best last hope for man on this earth," "a shining city on a hill," and that our best days are before us if our Government will simply trust the American people.

So, becoming more "centrist," more "moderate," i.e., more socially liberal and economically conservative is the way to go? Bzzz! Wrong answer. The two are completely contradictory. Social liberal = program spending - trumps fiscally conservative everytime.

re: #89 Ward Cleaver

The Whigs are looking more attractive all the time.

Ojoe, that's your cue.../

re: #84 Walter L. Newton

See my re: #55 Walter L. Newton

Agreed.

re: #80 avanti

And you know for a fact beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had absolutely nothing even remotely to do with the decision?

re: #21 JammieWearingFool

It should be a big tent, but there's no point in becoming Democrat Lite or a party of RINO's.

Smartest thing said so far

There were some interesting exchanges at the SC Rep. Convention.

But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham followed with a fiery speech that drew jeers from the crowd.

Graham told the crowd there was nothing wrong with any conservative, and he wanted to build an open party that could win in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, as well as South Carolina.

“You’re a hypocrite!” one man yelled.

“I’m a winner, pal,” Graham shot back. “Winning matters to me. If it doesn’t matter to you, there’s the exit sign.”

“Ron Paul is not the leader of this party,” Graham said, prompting a few jeers. Some people yelled, “Yes, he is!”

“I’m not going to give this party over to people who can’t win,” Graham finished, drawing most of the crowd to its feet.

But U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who followed Graham, said he’d rather have 30 senators who stand on principle than 60 who have none.

[Link: www.thestate.com...]

I find what DeMint is saying particularly fascinating for all its fatalism.

re: #55 Walter L. Newton

It would be nice if he did all that and if conservative didn't always take a knee jerk reaction the minute we hear someone make mention of something that smells a little like compassion.

Frankly, I think the line was a complete "but it's for the children!" non-sequitur... I'm with buzz and Mandy here; I actually tend to like Steele, but this line sounded like recycled Nancy Pelosi hogwash.

re: #5 buzzsawmonkey

Hey, Mike? Leave the education and feeding the hungry to the Democrats, would you? It's their thing.

Concentrate on whittling down the government, and the expense of it. If you want to do something about education, figure out a way for there to be national standards--and how to get the current crop of teachers to abide by them.

I was thinking the same thing but less eloquently

re: #78 LGoPs

That's a radioactive subject. Of course everybody wants to feed children who are in need. But most of the programs I know of feed everybody, in need or not. I'm not being hardhearted but I don't see starving children here in America...in the rest of the world, perhaps. But not here.
I feel very strongly about feeding children, but the bottom line is that I did feed my children. You have to be a pretty irresponsible parent to not feed your children. Those truly in need should be helped...I just think that that group is very small and the consept ends up being abused and misused as a cudgel to beat 'hardhearted' conservatives.

Most of the children who go to bed hungry at night in this country do so because their parents are too cracked out to feed them. Of course you feed children, regardless of why they're hungry, but until someone comes up with a solution for crappy parents, the problem won't go away. In the meantime, I'd prefer to see private charities doing the job as much as possible.

re: #96 buzzsawmonkey
Look at what the 'compassion' Of LBJs Great Society programs did. 3 or 4 generations on welfare. Why? Because the gov't paid them enough to stay there.

I read this phrase last week:

Carrying the moderates is not the same thing as being a moderate...

... and now I can't remember where. Seems like an important distinction, more so for some people than others.

re: #77 gmsc

OT: Cutest images in the world!

My head just burst into candy that was so qute.

re: #72 Sharmuta

In 1995 balancing the budget was called "a moral imperative" by the House Republicans. Where did that notion disappear off to?

The 1999 election of Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to Speaker of the House. I look at that moment now as when the GOP changed from the idea of balancing the budget to one of spend, spend, spend. Hastert is a part of the political climate of Illinois, and as such, he was never really interested in balancing any budget. He seemed to be more interested in balancing the pork.

I have a hard time conceptualizing hunger in America with all the safety nets out there.

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Churches
4. School meal programs
5. Foodbanks
6. Foodstamps

I grew up on foodstamps. The people I see not feeding their kids in America have:

1. mental issues
2. Drug or Alcohol issues.
3. Lazy issues.

I've seen way too many people get a welfare check and immediately turn the whole of it into alcohol or drugs in the first week. Then they spend the next three weeks scrounging for essentials.

Now if ones goes into poverty in the third world and sees what real hunger is like. One would know that almost any hungry person in the third world would love to be one of the unwashed in America. It would be like being a king.

Solutions to American issues that aren't geared towards education and behavior changing are an insult to the hungry in the rest of the world. Just dropping money and food onto an American citizen is a waste of effort. The ONLY time I would ever do it would be if there was a mom with kids that was backed into a serious corner. Everyone else gets a job program designated to change their behaviors.

The Republican Party needs a clear definition (just like Newt Gingrich did years ago with the Contract With America) of what it stands for.

Mr. Steele hasn't defined anything. He's telling us what he's not. The Dems have proved it for the last eight years: You can't win elections by being the Un-Republican. Republicans need to remember that and avoid saying that they're not the Democrat party.

People want to vote FOR something, not against the alternative. That's not how you win majorities.

re: #98 Conservative Moonbat

“Ron Paul is not the leader of this party,” Graham said, prompting a few jeers. Some people yelled, “Yes, he is!”

“I’m not going to give this party over to people who can’t win,” Graham finished, drawing most of the crowd to its feet.

But U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who followed Graham, said he’d rather have 30 senators who stand on principle than 60 who have none.

Wow. The GOP is melting down.

Won't someone please think of the children!
/can't believe no one's posted that yet

re: #103 wrenchwench

I read this phrase last week:

... and now I can't remember where. Seems like an important distinction, more so for some people than others.

Great post.

re: #72 Sharmuta

In 1995 balancing the budget was called "a moral imperative" by the House Republicans. Where did that notion disappear off to?

They took the money and ran. They became complacent and decided that it was better to dole out the money than keep costs down. And Democrats realized that it was easier to win elections on the back of class warfare and claim that they would throw all kinds of money at people, regardless of our ability to repay.

President Bush tried the whole compassionate conservatism thing, but it was a massive spending spree, which itself became dwarfed by what Obama has done in just the past four months.

If the GOP wants a shot, they've got to go after entitlement reform - and by reform I mean severely cut back and modernize the systems so that they are once again solvent and meant to be a stopgap and not a lifestyle choice. As the Democrats bankrupt the financial system in the nation, that's got a shot, but the GOP has to offer up a real plan, and not some warmed over slogans (I hear that hope and change wont exactly work again (this isn't the hope and change you were looking for). Politicians always try to let the other guy lose with their own words, rather than trying to win people over with their own ideas. The GOP needs someone to do all that, and get the socons on board without resorting to ID/creationist claptrap or other nonsense that muddies the appeal to moderates and independents.

re: #96 buzzsawmonkey

The Left sees the Right as "not compassionate" because the Left has been permitted to define what "compassion" is. And to often we fall for it and let them.

It is extremely compassionate to make people aware of the merits of standing on their own instead of leaning on Uncle Sugar. Unfortunately, leaning on Uncle Sugar is what is sold as "compassion." And frankly, if that's what it takes to be rated as "compassionate," it's too high a price to pay--as some of the recent spending bills show.

I agree with your last paragraph above completely; it's a necessary and worthy goal. But in the meantime, while that foundation is being plotted and dug--it's a long way from being poured--I'd rather not lapse into aping the Democrats' "think of the children" talking points, because that is merely ceding them the playing field once again.

I'll accept the "think of the children" model as long as conservative can define the model. But we haven't, and that's a problem. Most all conservative understand the proper way to help someone, a way that makes that help become a vehicle for self worth and future progress.

But, in general, the party has no real platform that spells that out, and that's the problem. Coming up with terms like "compassionate conservatism" means nothing if there is not a foundation behind it.

And the party has never bothered to make it clear what that encompasses. Then again, the conservative party always seems to have a problem communicating it's ideal and ideas to the man in the street.

Uhh...if Specter, Powell and Snowe are anybody's idea of 'centrists', I don't see what's so boneheaded about purging them.

re: #91 taxfreekiller

I'll go check the Maurine Dowdey thread for avanti's words on how its ok for loon liberal hacks to plagiarize, be back in a bit...

Good luck with that one.

re: #109 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Won't someone please think of the children!

But it isn't dinnertime yet!

/Republican

re: #21 JammieWearingFool

Powell's already gone, so no great shakes there. Still, the base of the party is pretty conservative and they need to remind the public of core conservative positions, especially on taxes.

Kooks like Ron Paul aren't conservatives anyway.

It should be a big tent, but there's no point in becoming Democrat Lite or a party of RINO's.

One does not become either Democrat Lite or a party of RINOs by refusing to toe the socon domestic social policy line. Socons want to intrude the government into the most private and personal of individual decisions; it is a horrible travesty to mislabel them as conservatives in the first place, much less as the model for conservativism.

For those of you who haven't noticed, Steele actually stole a line from Bill Clinton. The Clinton cliche is " No [fill in blank] ever fed a hungry child", as in "No B-1 bomber ever fed a hungry child", or "No criticism of me ever fed a hungry child". This is a cheap rhetorical trick of which Steele should be ashamed. And I'll respectfully suggest that Powell's support for Obama, betraying an old friend and Vietnam veteran, crossed a line. It's unclear to me how anyone can define him as a GOP moderate under those circumstances. Powell supported Obama ONLY because Obama is black.

There are some "conservative" pundits who supported Obama who now are shocked at his extremism. At least they're expressing surprise and remorse. There are no such regrets from Powell.

re: #108 Charles

Wow. The GOP is melting down.

All that will be left is the slag

re: #105 Honorary Yooper

The 1999 election of Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to Speaker of the House. I look at that moment now as when the GOP changed from the idea of balancing the budget to one of spend, spend, spend. Hastert is a part of the political climate of Illinois, and as such, he was never really interested in balancing any budget. He seemed to be more interested in balancing the pork.

Yes- fiscal responsibility left the GOP when they kicked Newt to the curb.

There is plenty of money in Washington to fund all sorts of programs- if they would reform their spending practices, anyways. The way government collects and spends it's revenue is wasteful. We deserve better than that.

re: #80 avanti

I know this is from a leftest prospective, but maybe Powell is just a patriot, speaking out with his opinion, even if you disagree with it. Just because you normally align with one party, voting your conscience does not make you a bad guy.

So, the Obama side was the side of the "patriot" in the presidential election? I didn't realize that Ayers, Khalidi, Rezko, Pfleger, Wright, Marshall, et al. were the patriot side where one could vote his "conscience."

Karen Floyd, who was elected to lead the South Carolina GOP, is a creationist who wants to teach "intelligent design" AND young earth creationism in science classes.

the idea of purging centrists from the Republican Party ... is “boneheaded.”

Yup. Look at any Bell Curve. There's a whole pile of people in the center, and almost no one in the fringes.

Being loud and shrill doesn't make up for the lack of numbers.

Steele is also right that what matters is defining set of principles that the party stands for, not deciding who gets to belong to your snooty little club. Plant a flag in the sand and declare, "This is what we stand for, nothing more and nothing less," and let people who share those principles support you; those who don't can look elsewhere.

re: #90 SeafoodGumbo

Number 1 is going to be a problem with the anti-government paranoia that has become trendy. The right is suddenly afraid of being persecuted by DHS.
3 is doable but the GOP hasn't demonstrated fiscal responsibility for quite a while.
5 is probably a little to ambitious.
7 is a problem because to the ID creation thing. The GOP is going to have a very tough time portraying itself as strong on education and science.
9 is a little weird, I'm always suspicious of claims of judicial activism. In most cases it's just a ruling that they don't like. I interpret #9 as a call for nominating judges who oppose abortion and gay marriage. I don't think it's really about the Constitution.

re: #109 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Won't someone please think of the children!
/can't believe no one's posted that yet

Hey, I alluded to it.

The real question: Do you believe that children are the future?

HUH? DO YOU?!

re: #117 Salamantis

One does not become either Democrat Lite or a party of RINOs by refusing to toe the socon domestic social policy line. Socons want to intrude the government into the most private and personal of individual decisions; it is a horrible travesty to mislabel them as conservatives in the first place, much less as the model for conservativism.

You shut up with your "common sense". What are you, some kind of RINO or DemoCommie? WITH US OR AGAINST US! WITH US OR AGAINST US! PURGE! PURGE! AGAINST THE WALL WITH YOU!

/

re: #122 Charles
Sheesh. Frakkin' whackos everywhere.

re: #118 quickjustice

For those of you who haven't noticed, Steele actually stole a line from Bill Clinton. The Clinton cliche is " No [fill in blank] ever fed a hungry child", as in "No B-1 bomber ever fed a hungry child", or "No criticism of me ever fed a hungry child".

Thank you - I knew I had heard that line from somewhere before!

re: #88 Killgore Trout

I'm not really giving up because I'm not a Republican. I'm not even a conservative. I'm just a swing voter.

You sound like a Palin voter to me.

re: #108 Charles

DeMint is right in this regard - the party needs to have a core of principles from which it can regroup and win back seats. The question is which principles he's looking to go with.

If it's fiscal conservatism and rolling back the financial tsunami coupled with strong national defense, you've got yourself a winning combination.

If it's a crunchy conservatism that eschews the moderates and pushes an anti-science agenda that is so narrowly focused on socons, then the party will have the 30 Senators and no chance of regrouping and succeeded at building the party past that amount as demographics change.

re: #114 Fenway_Nation

Uhh...if Specter, Powell and Snowe are anybody's idea of 'centrists', I don't see what's so boneheaded about purging them.

60 Democrat senators. That's what is so boneheaded about purging them (I know Powell is not a Senator and Snowe hasn't left).

re: #88 Killgore Trout

I'm not really giving up because I'm not a Republican. I'm not even a conservative. I'm just a swing voter.

I could understand the concept of swing voters back in the days of JFK, Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson et al. - honorable men and honorable views.
I don't see it since the Democratic Party was hijacked by the radical left.
Not being able to decide between radical leftism and the opposition to it is a wishy washy, milquetoast position in my view.

re: #125 Occasional Reader

Hey, I alluded to it.

The real question: Do you believe that children are the future?

HUH? DO YOU?!

Let's have a big hand for Sexual Chocolate!

re: #118 quickjustice

For those of you who haven't noticed, Steele actually stole a line from Bill Clinton. The Clinton cliche is " No [fill in blank] ever fed a hungry child", as in "No B-1 bomber ever fed a hungry child", or "No criticism of me ever fed a hungry child".

There's a pretty awful comment I could make here about Bill Clinton "feeding a hungry child" while in the White House, but I'll refrain.

re: #122 Charles

Well, there are ways to piss 'em off too (and the evolutionists at that)...

re: #98 Conservative Moonbat

I thought that was just a stupid publicity stunt but when we talked about it yesterday someone mentioned that Paulians did something similar in another state and tied up the meeting with parliamentary proceedures until they got stuff added to the GOP platform about the Gold Standard and the Fair Tax.

re: #133 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Let's have a big hand for Sexual Chocolate!

Nope, missed the reference. Sorry.

re: #133 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Let's have a big hand for Sexual Chocolate!

/drops microphone and walks offstage

re: #75 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Dear Mr. Vice President,

I am a young entrepreneur trying to set up a security business. If you could please send me a detailed list of your office security system, passwords and personnel staff it would really help me develop a model to pattern my own business and help me out in these trying times. I guarantee it will generate a lot of press for the both of us.

Your Friend,

Ozzy B. Laden

Username: Biden
Password: 12345

Too bad he has only a few permissions; no administrator access.

The Republicans need somebody like Howard Dean to chair the party. /

10 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes by Howard Dean

10) "I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called." --urging President Bush to make public Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's White House records

9) "You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party.'' --speaking about the lack of outreach to minority communities by political parties

8) "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

7) "I'm a metrosexual." –employing the buzz phrase for straight men who are in touch with their feminine sides, then later admitting he didn't know what the term means

6) "We've gotten rid of (Saddam Hussein), and I suppose that's a good thing."

5) "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong."

4) "This president is not interested in being a good president. He's interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father."

3) "Now that we're on dog pee, we can have an interesting conversation about that. I do not recommend drinking urine…but if you drink water straight from the river, you have a greater chance of getting an infection than you do if you drink urine." —teaching an eight-grade science class in La Crosse, Wisconsin

2) "You think people can work all day and then pick up their kids at child care or wherever and get home and still manage to sandwich in an eight-hour vote? Well Republicans, I guess can do that. Because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives."

1) "Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeaaargh!" --Iowa concession speech

re: #137 Occasional Reader

Nope, missed the reference. Sorry.

Coming to America.

re: #121 SeafoodGumbo

So, the Obama side was the side of the "patriot" in the presidential election? I didn't realize that Ayers, Khalidi, Rezko, Pfleger, Wright, Marshall, et al. were the patriot side where one could vote his "conscience."

Like I said, you may not agree with Powell's choice in this election, but it neither makes him a bad guy, nor someone that might not well vote for a GOP guy in the future. Voting is by nature a patriotic act even when we disagree with a choice.

re: #134 Occasional Reader

There's a pretty awful comment I could make here about Bill Clinton "feeding a hungry child" while in the White House, but I'll refrain.

I wish you would, especially while I am sitting here trying to eat my...

re: #131 bloodnok

60 Democrat senators. That's what is so boneheaded about purging them (I know Powell is not a Senator and Snowe hasn't left).

So it's better to hang on to 'em and let 'em undermine the GOP from within?

re: #142 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Coming to America.

Ah, right. I remember the scene, just forgot the name of the act.

re: #135 lawhawk

Well, there are ways to piss 'em off too (and the evolutionists at that)...

Heh. I love Non Sequitur.

re: #111 lawhawk

I don't think the problem is confined to entitlement spending- it's all of the spending.

Baseline budgeting, agencies having to spend every cent of their funding to guarantee they won't get their budget cut the next year- this is all very wasteful.

The entire spending mechanisms in Washington need reform.

re: #125 Occasional Reader

Hey, I alluded to it.

The real question: Do you believe that children are the future?

HUH? DO YOU?!

I know you're being sarcastic but this is one prime example that illustrates the hypocrisy of the Left and democrats. If they really cared about children, rather than just using them as a cudgel to beat republicans with, maybe they should answer questions about the dropout rate and the serious deficiencies in the education system - which has been in their sole control for decades.

re: #144 Walter L. Newton

I wish you would, especially while I am sitting here trying to eat my...

... sausage? Hot dog?

I agree, but... feeding children? I don't know if that's what would have popped through my mind when answering that question.

Let's keep Powell so we can feed children. Ok. Uhm... Next question!

re: #119 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

All that will be left is the slag

Slag actually has useful applications.

re: #151 Occasional Reader

... sausage? Hot dog?

taco

re: #14 Charles

They're just jealous that you scored another bullseye. Congratulations!

Jim DeMint is also a young earth creationist, who wants to teach it to children in public school science classes.

re: #137 Occasional Reader

Nope, missed the reference. Sorry.

Randy Watson

re: #71 Charles

Hot Air commenters spew non-stop hatred at Michael Steele. I won't even read the comments over there any more -- the crazies have completely taken over.

Hatred seems to be all they have for anyone and everything these days. Even the tiniest bit of news is examined without regard for actual content, but only in terms of how it can be dissected or spun into yet another vehicle for that hate. It's sad, especially considering the talent they began with that seems to have all been turned toward this new, destructive pursuit.

re: #151 Occasional Reader

... sausage? Hot dog?

Game cock?

re: #132 LGoPs

Not being able to decide between radical leftism and the opposition to it is a wishy washy, milquetoast position in my view.

Not being able to decide between radical right social policies and the opposition to it is a wishy washy, milquetoast position in my view.

re: #149 Sharmuta

Agreed that it is all very wasteful, but the entitlements are the biggest portion of the budget, and they are the budget-busters in every sense.

re: #142 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Coming to America.

The best scene in that movie is when the prince (Eddie Murphy) gives a huge sum of money to a bum on the street.

One bum says to the other, "Mortimer! Mortimer!" The other bum says, "What is it, Randolph?" The first bum says, "We're back in business!"

re: #122 Charles

Karen Floyd, who was elected to lead the South Carolina GOP, is a creationist who wants to teach "intelligent design" AND young earth creationism in science classes.

That's the crap that needs to be purged. Fer cryin' out loud!

You ought to hear the gyros spinning as the WH spokespuke tries to spin the ones meeting with Netanyahu.

re: #157 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Randy Watson

[Video]

I remember him from the "What's Going Down?" episode of That's My Mama!

re: #55 Walter L. Newton

It would be nice if he did all that and if conservative didn't always take a knee jerk reaction the minute we hear someone make mention of something that smells a little like compassion.

As a conservative, I think about feeding children and helping those in need all the time. But I do it with the understanding that in my mind, that kind of help comes with the concepts of teaching someone to help them selves, sort of the "teach them to fish" idea.

So, since I think that way, when I hear a remark such as Steele's, that's what runs through my head.

But, the left sees the right as not compassionate, and I can see why they do.

We have to build a foundation and an understanding of what true helpful and productive compassion amounts to, and stop automatically imagining that help equals handouts.

Having 'been through' the current system; there is NO reason that any child in the US should be 'starving.' The idea that the social programs already in existence are not covering enough people is preposterous. Ketchup Soup commercials are bogus. Doing 'research' by giving a bunch of grade school/jr high/high school kids questionaires that as:
"are there plenty of nutritious snacks available at home when you get home from school?"
"do you ever go to bed hungry"
"does your parent(s) fix you a nutritious breakfast in the morning"
"what did you have for breakfast yesterday?"
"what was your morning snack?"
"what did you have for lunch yesterday?"
"what was your after-school snack"
"what did you have for dinner last night"
"did you have an after dinner snack?"

Yes, these are the scientific methods of determining that millions of children in the US are starving.

re: #157 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

I definitely think "The Greatest Love of All" is quite possibly the worst song in the English language ever to be professionally recorded.

This is WAY off topic --
On the upper right hand corner of the main LGF are the following words contained in a box. No other info just those words.

Ron Paul knocked some sense into me and now you guys seem really are out there.

Curious more than anything...anyone else have that ?

re: #166 buzzsawmonkey

Tube steak?

taco

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

Interesting. You quoted President Obama as saying:

Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.

Wouldn't "kooks" qualify as "reducing those with differing views to caricature"?

Do you think President Obama is wrong on this one?

re: #163 gmsc

The best scene in that movie is when the prince (Eddie Murphy) gives a huge sum of money to a bum on the street.

One bum says to the other, "Mortimer! Mortimer!" The other bum says, "What is it, Randolph?" The first bum says, "We're back in business!"

Which is a little nod to his earlier film, Trading Places, where he puts Mortimer & Randolph Duke out of business.

re: #158 taxfreekiller

ps

nothing from avanti
one way or the other
on the Maurine Dowdey thread

?

I could have saved you the trip, Dowdey screwed up big time, tfk.

re: #160 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Game cock?

"Spotted dick"?

(Okay, I guess the point's been made.)

re: #122 Charles

Oh, just peachy.

Here's an article by Karen Floyd at a far-right anti-public school organization's website:

[Link: scpie.org...]

re: #156 Charles
Where in hell is a leader with some guts to tell these loons where to go?!

re: #143 avanti

Like I said, you may not agree with Powell's choice in this election, but it neither makes him a bad guy, nor someone that might not well vote for a GOP guy in the future. Voting is by nature a patriotic act even when we disagree with a choice.

I think Powell's vote was along racial lines. I don't begrudge any conservative Black Republican for pulling the lever for Obama based purely on race. It's bad voting morals, but it was also a one time voting opportunity. It's never going to happen again. Powell let a few negative comments hang on him as an excuse to move to support Obama. I thought Powell presented himself poorly in his move.

re: #173 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Which is a little nod to his earlier film, Trading Places, where he puts Mortimer & Randolph Duke out of business.

Exactly why I like it – Trading Places is one of my favorite all-time movies.

re: #170 Nancy

you've discovered the secret message!

(refresh your screen and it should change...)

re: #172 stuiec

Wouldn't "kooks" qualify as "reducing those with differing views to caricature"?

Do you think President Obama is wrong on this one?

If you don't think the "Lambs of Christ" and Alan Keyes qualify for the label "kooks," I don't know what to tell you.

re: #156 Charles

Why did you change your avatar? I liked the Gorn. It said "Head Lizard In Charge."

re: #156 Charles

Jim DeMint is also a young earth creationist, who wants to teach it to children in public school science classes.

It might be easier to compile a list of Rs who aren't YECs.

re: #169 Occasional Reader

I definitely think "The Greatest Love of All" is quite possibly the worst song in the English language ever to be professionally recorded.

At least, it's in the running for the top ten.

Balance the budget. Pass meaningful tax and spending reform.

These would both go a long way to correcting issues in our country.

re: #169 Occasional Reader

I definitely think "The Greatest Love of All" is quite possibly the worst song in the English language ever to be professionally recorded.

Given time, I could come up with some more examples, though I believe my self defense mechanisms prevent me from readily accessing those files, so I will concede the point it at least belongs in the top 10

re: #179 pingjockey

Where in hell is a leader with some guts to tell these loons where to go?!

One is headed to China.

re: #185 FurryOldGuyJeans

It might be easier to compile a list of Rs who aren't YECs.

It would be a very short list.

re: #171 Walter L. Newton

taco

"I like tacos and tube steaks, Antoninus."

re: #186 Dianna

At least, it's in the running for the top ten.

GMTA

re: #169 Occasional Reader

I definitely think "The Greatest Love of All" is quite possibly the worst song in the English language ever to be professionally recorded.

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

re: #21 JammieWearingFool

We already have the problem with Democratic Light's in the party. We need a true leader, not a Washington "celebrity". What is next? Does Obama get his first network show with NBC in the fall? "Fresh Prince of D.C." with Oprah staring in the show too.
And when do we get his first sex scandal? The press will not cover it up to long. With the economy down the drain the newspapers will want something to help sales go up. I give it less than a year. How long do you think he covers it up?

re: #165 pingjockey

You ought to hear the gyros spinning as the WH spokespuke tries to spin the ones meeting with Netanyahu.

It's embarrasing...

re: #161 avanti

Not being able to decide between radical right social policies and the opposition to it is a wishy washy, milquetoast position in my view.

No. It's a principled distinction. And I dispute your characterization of radical right social policies. The Republicans are primarily a bunch of pussies that won't say boo to a goose. Just because you think there is a 'theocracy' coming does not make it so. I've lived in a theocracy and we are the furthest thing from it.

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

re: #183 Charles

I'm going to miss the Gorn, Charles, even if I do like your face.

re: #109 BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Won't someone please think of the children!
/can't believe no one's posted that yet

I am thinking that daughter is going to go into labor any day now. Is that what you mean?

re: #186 Dianna

At least, it's in the running for the top ten.

The theme from The Bodyguard & Celene Dion's rendition of "You Shook Me All Night Long" would be in there as well.

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

But the Capt and Tennille sang it!

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

Sorry, I disagree. "Muskrat Love" isn't really taking itself seriously; "TGLOA" takes itself VERY seriously.

re: #146 Fenway_Nation

So it's better to hang on to 'em and let 'em undermine the GOP from within?

They weren't undermining us when we had an even or 1 seat majority a few years ago. If the rest of the party had its act together we wouldn't have to rely on the votes of a few who might vote the other way on some issues.

Q about Granholm getting Supreme Court vacancy...

re: #198 gmsc

[Video]

re: #204 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

But the Capt and Tennille sang it!

[Video]

I see we both chose the "dedicated to Henry Kissinger" version!

re: #190 Charles

It would be a very short list.

The GOP sure doesn't want to be in the majority any time soon. Not that I really want the current ideas and policies to be dominant.

re: #71 Charles

I don't hate Michael Steele, but I think he should take a lower profile, and focus more on rebuilding the party and on fund-raising. I think his ventures intro high-profile publicity have backfired to date.

In addition to imitating Bill Clinton's most cliche-ridden moments, he's echoing Democratic themes. As a conservative, I'm certainly in favor of a big tent GOP, centrists and all. I'm a huge admirer of Giuliani's, not because he's ideologically identical to me (he did not oppose abortion and gay rights, for example), but because he proved that he could shrink and reform government, cut crime, and put people on welfare back to work.

Steele is echoing dependency themes that are Democratic. That is a non-starter.

Once again, I bid you all a hearty hasta luego.

re: #208 gmsc

I see we both chose the "dedicated to Henry Kissinger" version!

GMTA

re: #5 buzzsawmonkey

If you want to do something about education, figure out a way for there to be national standards--and how to get the current crop of teachers to abide by them.

In order to do this, I honestly think that the priority is to get the teachers' unions out of the picture nation-wide, and then abolish tenure. A merit system might be far more useful.

Just look at Randi Weingarten and the union in NYC.

A national set of standards? An idea that is probably the best of all worlds, but I think that we would need an act of Congress to put in place a national education system that is taught in all 50 States.

So many parents try to move into areas they cannot afford in order to get a good education for their kids...if it were to be nationalized? They could be assured that their kids were getting the same education in the Bronx as in Scarsdale.

I can dream, can't I?

re: #182 Querent

Thank you...I did go back and try that and yes, it changed!

re: #124 Killgore Trout

Number 1 is going to be a problem with the anti-government paranoia that has become trendy. The right is suddenly afraid of being persecuted by DHS.
3 is doable but the GOP hasn't demonstrated fiscal responsibility for quite a while.
5 is probably a little to ambitious.
7 is a problem because to the ID creation thing. The GOP is going to have a very tough time portraying itself as strong on education and science.
9 is a little weird, I'm always suspicious of claims of judicial activism. In most cases it's just a ruling that they don't like. I interpret #9 as a call for nominating judges who oppose abortion and gay marriage. I don't think it's really about the Constitution.

Number 1 (party of National Security) - The right is still for robust security. Number 3 - (Tax cuts, fiscal responsibility) - I agree that the GOP hasn't followed this for a while. I think that is by far their biggest failing with voters. Number 5 - (secure borders w/in 12 months) - I agree with you that it's too ambitious to expect that in one year., but if the Republicans actually showed true support for building a fence and enforcing out immigration laws, they would reap political gains. Number 9 (activist judges) - Maybe a little weird. I wouldn't make it a part of any party platform, he's probably just trying to fill out the top 10.

The bottom line, I think, is that if the Republicans made their platform one of robust national security, true fiscal responsibility, energy dependence, and respect for our borders, they would start winning elections.

re: #162 lawhawk

Agreed that it is all very wasteful, but the entitlements are the biggest portion of the budget, and they are the budget-busters in every sense.

Nothing- and I mean nothing will turn a person off of welfare programs like having to live off them.

Welfare is a major fuck job. Trying to get off of it is worse than getting signed up! And they don't want you leaving the programs, because it's job security for them. It's disgusting. Like selling your soul to the government. They own you while you're on their dole.

People don't look at it that way, usually. But I do. I know. I've been there. They don't want to help you- they want to keep their job. The only reason I was able to get away was because I pitched a major fit.

It's not a hand out. It's a hand to hold you down.

Helen Thomas needs to be put out to pasture. Trying to compare the 'rhetoric' from DC and Tel Aviv to the threats and rants coming from I'magonnajihad.

re: #138 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

/drops microphone and walks offstage

That was good. I actually heard the [THUD, SQUEEEAL]

/years of conditioning.

re: #197 LGoPs

I've lived in a theocracy and we are the furthest thing from it.

Yet, some on the right would like something close. i.e. a constitution based on Biblical principles. Even the current platform wants amendments based on faith, like the abortion and gay marriage amendments.

re: #194 Charles

Oh hell... Nothing compares to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On.

Actually, anything sung by Dion is cringeworthy.

re: #20 buzzsawmonkey

Are you the Keyesmaster?

very good

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

I could've gone the rest of my life forgetting that song. Ah well.

re: #107 blangwort

The Republican Party needs a clear definition (just like Newt Gingrich did years ago with the Contract With America) of what it stands for.

Mr. Steele hasn't defined anything. He's telling us what he's not. The Dems have proved it for the last eight years: You can't win elections by being the Un-Republican. Republicans need to remember that and avoid saying that they're not the Democrat party.

People want to vote FOR something, not against the alternative. That's not how you win majorities.

Fits in with my earlier point, above.

But you have to not only be for something; you need to be for something consistent. Core Conservative values - fiscal responsibility, small government, non-intrusive government - are principles that resonate strongly with the public at large. The agenda pushed by the religious right, on the other hand, not only disgusts a huge number of people, but is the direct polar opposite of Conservatism; it aims to emplace a fundamentalist theocracy with all the power of the state behind it and impose it's will on the nation as a whole. Hard to get less Constitutional or less Conservative than that. The rr was attracted to those espousing Conservative principles originally because of their promise to provide a non-intrusive government that would create a nation where the right to hold and practice religion was protected. That overlap of ideology has now been bizarrely distorted into a movement that seeks the precise opposite - religious tyranny.

It needs to be made clear that Conservatives stand for what they've always stood for, and that the usurpation of those principles for contrary ends is not going to be tolerated.

re: #217 pingjockey

Helen Thomas needs to be put out to pasture. Trying to compare the 'rhetoric' from DC and Tel Aviv to the threats and rants coming from I'magonnajihad.

I heard that... Insane...

re: #200 buzzsawmonkey

What about "We Are the World"?

A parody I used to hear on Dr. Demento until they were threatened with a lawsuit:
We are the worms
Out on the pavement
When we hear a squishy sound
We look where Cousin Dave went

re: #98 Conservative Moonbat

There were some interesting exchanges at the SC Rep. Convention.

[Link: www.thestate.com...]

I find what DeMint is saying particularly fascinating for all its fatalism.

I've watched that video there was a loud cheer and everyone stood up when Grahm gave the Paulbot the smackdown, it was not jeers.

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

Which version? America or Captain and Tennille? America's isn't too bad, but Capatin and Tennille have some really weird sounds in their version, IMHO.

re: #77 gmsc

OT: Cutest images in the world!

Oh great. Now I've got the theme from Courtship of Eddie's Father running through my head.

/You Bastard!

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

What about "We built this city" by Jefferson Starship?

re: #183 Charles

If you don't think the "Lambs of Christ" and Alan Keyes qualify for the label "kooks," I don't know what to tell you.

From where I'm standing, they do.

But...I keep remembering that if you really believe abortion is murder, what exactly are you supposed to do? What's reasonable, then?

It's a bad idea to completely discount people's convictions.

re: #124 Killgore Trout

"Anti-government paranoia"? You're not paranoid if the little green men are out to get you! At current levels of spending, which Obama himself calls unsustainable, the government will ruin all us us in a non-discriminatory fashion, children and all.

re: #222 MrSilverDragon

I could've gone the rest of my life forgetting that song. Ah well.

You Light Up My Life
Seasons in the Sun

GOP Now Tied With Dems In Party Identification

This took around 100 days...

re: #227 Honorary Yooper

Which version? America or Captain and Tennille? America's isn't too bad, but Capatin and Tennille have some really weird sounds in their version, IMHO.

The muskrat/fart noise effects?

How is kicking Colin Powell out, or kicking Dick Cheney out, or Rush Limbaugh in, gonna feed a child who’s hungry tonight — is gonna educate that child — and if we can’t speak to that, then all this other stuff is just noise.

Here's how:

The Democratis Party has not only lurched far to the Left -- what some of us accurately think of as "socialist territory" -- but at the same time they've seized control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and most cabinet appointments. Many level-headed people think, based on historical experience, that a Socialized economic system, which is where we are headed, will be bad for the economy overall. In short, Obama's economic policies may be accelerating or prolonging the recession/depression we're currently in, and making the economy paralyzed for decades to come with insane national indebtedness.

And the key is: The worse the economy is, the more children will go hungry at night.

Only "fiscal conservatives" can get us out of this mess, and can feed those hungry children. The Democratic/free-spending model is to "directly address the problem" by creating bureaucratic government "Feed the Hungry Children" programs. But that of course will be financed by our taxes, and the higher the taxes, the worse the economy stays in a slump. It would be more effective to not have "direct" programs but simply to improve the economy overall, and let each mother feed her child with the extra money she either earns or is allowed to keep. And with more jobs and less taxes, more mothers can succeed at that.

So let's get the fiscal consevatives back in control of the Republican Party. Whether or not they are also social conservatives is pretty much irrelevant to me at this point. I don't care what your views on condoms is, just so long as you don't spend my money implementing your opinions as policies.

Focusing on social issues to any extent is the mistake in the first place.

And that's how the Republicans can feed hungry children tonight: By offering a fiscally conservative alternative to the spendaholics currently in power.

re: #198 gmsc

muskrat sammy
muskrat suzy

(hell, I don't remember the muskrat's names)

Ben, the two of us need look no more...

re: #197 LGoPs

No. It's a principled distinction. And I dispute your characterization of radical right social policies. The Republicans are primarily a bunch of pussies that won't say boo to a goose. Just because you think there is a 'theocracy' coming does not make it so. I've lived in a theocracy and we are the furthest thing from it.

The main Radical Right social policies are to criminalize all abortion, reclosetize homosexuals, and force-feed our public school youth creationist dogma in science class.

No other constitutional democracy on earth embraces such social policies. But many Islamist theocracies do.

re: #217 pingjockey

Helen Thomas needs to be put out to pasture. Trying to compare the 'rhetoric' from DC and Tel Aviv to the threats and rants coming from I'magonnajihad.

She's living purely on seniority and her LONG history.

I don't think the hard right controls the party, I think they just happen to have the loudest most obnoxious bullhorn in an off election year. Most people are ignoring politics right now so they think they can get away with it. They are in for a hard lesson.

Time for to go to work.

re: #228 CyanSnowHawk

Oh great. Now I've got the theme from Courtship of Eddie's Father running through my head.

/You Bastard!

Heh, heh.

re: #229 Idle Drifter

What about "We built this city" by Jefferson Starship?

Crap, I kinda like that one.

re: #194 Charles

I think there's plenty of competition for worst song. In fact, you should run a "worst song" thread.

re: #200 buzzsawmonkey

What about "We Are the World"?

Ugh. Now that's a bad song. And thanks to the nit who brought up "The Greatest Love of All". Now I can't get that damn song out of my head.

re: #216 Sharmuta

Nothing- and I mean nothing will turn a person off of welfare programs like having to live off them.

Welfare is a major fuck job. Trying to get off of it is worse than getting signed up! And they don't want you leaving the programs, because it's job security for them. It's disgusting. Like selling your soul to the government. They own you while you're on their dole.

People don't look at it that way, usually. But I do. I know. I've been there. They don't want to help you- they want to keep their job. The only reason I was able to get away was because I pitched a major fit.

It's not a hand out. It's a hand to hold you down.

This is actually very true. In my former life, I did family counseling for a Family&Children state department. Once they get their claws in... they own you.

I think we should teach the controversy about all scientific theories. What's so wrong with teaching children that thunder could be the sound of Zeus bowling? Seriously, what the harm? (Now watch me get dumped on by following of Thor.)

We, as Republicans must find some unity of purpose before we can be the dominant national party. During the election, I heard "McCain isn't Conservative enough so I'm sitting this one out" far too much, even here at LGF. I even hear it today with statements like "I'm giving up on the Republicans", so where are you going to go? Have you noticed that the Democrats are moving farther to the left by the day?

So now we have Obama, is everyone friggin happy now?

We have become a loosely "organized" group of one-issue groups that cannot seem to come to a consensus - consensus requires give and take and sometimes a half a loaf is better than nothing. We need to accept that, for if we don't we'll remain forever splintered, focused on our narrow interests.

I'm all about principle, but we shouldn't let it get in the way of doing what's best for our country and "sitting this one out" is not, and will never be good for our country.

Steele is speaking some truth here, people from the grass roots to the offices of the RNC should listen.

Right now, National Security, Fiscal Responsibility , Lower Taxes , Economic Growth and a strong belief in Capitalism should be our rallying points because these are issues that have always defined us and they are issues we can all support. Incidentally, these are also the issues where Democrats display the greatest weakness. Let's save our nation now and set contentious issues that divide us aside - for the good of our country.

We need to start framing the debate and, in the process, inspire some unity in our ranks. That is the only way out of the wilderness.

re: #16 Walter L. Newton

You don't have to turn into a fucking progressive to consider feeding children who are truly in need. I don't understand your comment?

Right now, his job is to build the party, Walter.

And, now, I gotta' git.

Boy, I look forward to no more commute for the summer.

re: #229 Idle Drifter

What about "We built this city" by Jefferson Starship?

We bit this titty through aureole...

re: #245 quickjustice

I think there's plenty of competition for worst song. In fact, you should run a "worst song" thread.

"I'm sailing away..."

re: #140 HelloDare

The Republicans need somebody like Howard Dean to chair the party. /

10 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes by Howard Dean

10) "I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called." --urging President Bush to make public Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's White House records

9) "You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. ... It's pretty much a white Christian party.'' --speaking about the lack of outreach to minority communities by political parties

8) "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

7) "I'm a metrosexual." –employing the buzz phrase for straight men who are in touch with their feminine sides, then later admitting he didn't know what the term means

6) "We've gotten rid of (Saddam Hussein), and I suppose that's a good thing."

5) "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong."

4) "This president is not interested in being a good president. He's interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father."

3) "Now that we're on dog pee, we can have an interesting conversation about that. I do not recommend drinking urine…but if you drink water straight from the river, you have a greater chance of getting an infection than you do if you drink urine." —teaching an eight-grade science class in La Crosse, Wisconsin

2) "You think people can work all day and then pick up their kids at child care or wherever and get home and still manage to sandwich in an eight-hour vote? Well Republicans, I guess can do that. Because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives."

1) "Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York! And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House, Yeeeaaargh!" --Iowa concession speech

Dean has led his party to two consecutive electoral victories, and is currently engaged in expanding his party's base of support nationwide. Personally, I can't stand the man. But he has completely hit his stride as head of the DNC, where success is measured by results, and the results he's achieved can't be argued with.

re: #232 Kosh's Shadow

You Light Up My Life
Seasons in the Sun

Actually, I like the first one, and how Debby Boone attributed the song to her religion and inspiration to her faith. The second one... enh.

Go sit in the welfare office sometime. You will see the regulars with their children in designer clothing. I'm not really sure why these women need help if they can dress their kids in Tommy Hilfiger from head to foot. I suspect they have another means of providing for themselves on the side. Trust me- they don't give you enough money to dress in designer clothes.

And it's abuse like this that makes people cold hearted towards government assistance. I think it should be there for those who truly need it. But they're not interested in stopping fraud. This only hurt those who need this help. It's makes me sick.

The GOP is over: if it is arguing about whether to kick out centrists, why hang around where you are maybe not wanted?

Both major parties are trash by now, IMHO.

Maybe it is time to check out the Modern Whig Party.

DOW up 230 plus, spectacular one day gain, now over 8500.

re: #248 HelloDare

I think we should teach the controversy about all scientific theories. What's so wrong with teaching children that thunder could be the sound of Zeus bowling? Seriously, what the harm? (Now watch me get dumped on by following of Thor.)

Won't dump on ya since i don't exactly follow Thor, but somewhere i've got a great cartoon "Science vs. Norse Mythology". Problem is it's a big picture and Charles' bandwidth, is, alas, finite...

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

I thought Muskrat Love was The Greatest Love of All.

re: #14 Charles

And in a related topic, the amount of hatred being spewed at me from other blogs because I criticized Alan Keyes and the "Lambs of Christ" anti-abortion kooks is pretty amazing.

I'd like to see another "heads exploding" feature.

re: #247 Noam Chumpski

This is actually very true. In my former life, I did family counseling for a Family&Children state department. Once they get their claws in... they own you.

State sanctioned slavery is what it feels like.

re: #194 Charles

In terms of sheer horribleness, it's not even close to "Muskrat Love."

When I was a kid, I couldn't stand, "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face".