CONSERVATIVES ARE DESTROYING GOP'S CHANCES OF REGAINING WHITE HOUSE IN 2016 (NATIONAL REVIEW)

@NationalReview

CONSERVATIVES ARE DESTROYING GOP'S CHANCES OF REGAINING WHITE HOUSE (NATIONAL REVIEW):

CONSERVATIVES WANT TO DETER BLACK VOTERS FROM SUPPORTING TRUMP.

ATTACKING TRUMP IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE & FOOLISH.

WHO IS PAYING OFF CONSERVATIVE LEADERS TO SABOTAGE GOP?


Conservatism or the Conservative movement originated in the 15th century.

Traditional values are the bedrock and foundation of the Conservative movement.

Some founding fathers of the Conservative movement are Edmund Burke, Qutin Hogg, Richard Hook and François-René de Chateaubriand.

Conservatism is a far right-wing faction of the Republican Party, just as Liberalism & Progressives are the far left-wing of Democrats.

During the elections of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush we didn't hear much about Conservative, Liberal or Progressive voters in the Mainstream Media.
Only Democrat and Republican Party voters.

However during the 2008 and 2012 elections when OBAMA was campaigning to become U.S. President suddenly Liberals, Progressives and Conservatives were introduced in American politics.

Following the 2008 election, Conservative leaders now require all GOP Presidential and Congressional candidates to pass a "Conservative litmus test".

It's clear such divisive factions of both major political parties do more harm than good during general elections because these factions create Political Civil Wars.

As we approach the 2016 general election, Conservative leaders and a popular Conservative publication (National Review) threatens to destroy the GOP's real chances of regaining victory.

Conservative leaders and the National Review are attacking presumptive GOP Presidential nominee DONALD J. TRUMP.

Without invoking any Conspiracy Theory rumors, there appear to be some possible Dirty Politics at play.

For example: Promises or deals discussed behind closed doors to help Hillary Clinton win by default.

So is it more important for GOP leaders and GOP Supporters to actually WIN in Nov 2016?

Or is it more important for a small group of GOP leaders and GOP voters to have their own way and risk losing EVERYTHING in Nov 2016??


*** Conservatives Against Trump

As the election of 2008 approached, America was in crisis.
And as we would soon learn, that crisis would not go to waste.

Years after Bill Clinton disingenuously claimed that the era of big government was over, Obama won his party’s nomination by promising its furious revenge.

For constitutional conservatives, the Republican contest functioned less like a primary and more like an abandonment.
Politically orphaned by their party, conservatives were forced to either stay home or hold their noses and vote for a progressive Republican.

There was a silver lining, however. Rising out of the ashes of that electoral defeat came the Tea Party.
The media struggled to explain it away as racist, xenophobic, and jingoistic. But the truth is, the Tea Party did not arise because Barack Obama defeated his opposition. It arose because there was no opposition.

Over the years, there have been endless fractures in the façade of individual freedom, but three policies provided the fuel that lit the tea-party fire: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, and the bank bailouts. Barack Obama supported all three.

So did Donald Trump. While conservatives fought against the stimulus, Donald Trump said it was “what we need,” praising Obama’s schemes of “building infrastructure, building great projects, putting people to work in that sense.”

While conservatives fought against the auto bailouts, Donald Trump claimed “the government should stand behind [the auto companies] 100 percent” because “they make wonderful products.”

While conservatives fought against the bank bailouts, Donald Trump called them “something that has to get done.” Let his reasoning sink in for a second:

“[The government] can take over companies, and, frankly, take big chunks of companies.” When conservatives desperately needed allies in the fight against big government, Donald Trump didn’t stand on the sidelines.

He consistently advocated that your money be spent, that your government grow, and that your Constitution be ignored. Sure, Trump’s potential primary victory would provide Hillary Clinton with the easiest imaginable path to the White House.

But it’s far worse than that. If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination, there will once again be no opposition to an ever-expanding government.

This is a crisis for conservatism. And, once again, this crisis will not go to waste.



Sources: National Review, Newsmax, Youtube

SARAH PALIN ENDORSES DONALD TRUMP; RALLIES 2016 EVANGELICALS (TRUMP IS IT)

SARAH PALIN ENDORSES TRUMP; RALLIES 2016 EVANGELICALS:

JUST REMEMBER I TOLD YOU THAT TRUMP IS IT.

TRUMP IS FIERCE & HE WON'T BE ANOTHER MITT ROMNEY.

~ Sarah Palin Endorses Donald Trump, Rallying Conservatives

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential nominee who became a Tea Party sensation and a favorite of grass-roots conservatives, will endorse Donald J. Trump in Iowa on Tuesday, officials with his campaign confirmed. 

The endorsement provides Mr. Trump with a potentially significant boost just 13 days before the state’s caucuses.

“I’m proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for president,” Ms. Palin said in a statement provided by his campaign.

Her support is the highest-profile backing for a Republican contender so far.

“I am greatly honored to receive Sarah’s endorsement,” Mr. Trump said in a statement trumpeting Mrs. Palin’s decision. “She is a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for. I am proud to have her support.”

In Iowa, where Ms. Palin spent years developing support, the endorsement could be especially helpful.

”Over the years Palin has actually cultivated a number of relationships in Iowa,” said Craig Robinson, the former executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and publisher of the website The Iowa Republican. ”There are the Tea Party activists who still think she’s great and a breath of fresh air, but she also did a good job of courting Republican donors in the state,” he added.

Other conservatives said that Ms. Palin serves as a particularly effective shield against Senator Ted Cruz, who is battling Mr. Trump for the lead in Iowa polls by courting the state’s evangelical voters.

“Palin’s brand among evangelicals is as gold as the faucets in Trump tower,” said Ralph Reed, the chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

“Endorsements alone don’t guarantee victory, but Palin’s embrace of Trump may turn the fight over the evangelical vote into a war for the soul of the party,” he said.

Mrs. Palin, who is to appear alongside Mr. Trump at a rally on the Iowa State University campus in Ames late Tuesday afternoon, could amplify the news media-circus aspects of Mr. Trump’s candidacy: 

Like him, she is a reality-TV star accustomed to playing to the cameras and often accused of emphasizing flash over substance.

What’s more, while Mr. Trump has already shown the ability to garner wall-to-wall cable-news coverage, Mrs. Palin’s active involvement in his campaign could help him deprive Mr. Cruz of vital attention in the homestretch to the Feb. 1 caucuses.

As rumors circulted that the endorsement was about to happen, Mr. Cruz offered praise for his former close politcal ally. “I love Sarah Palin,” he told reporters in New Hampshire. “Sarah Palin is fantastic. Without her friendship and support, I wouldn’t be in the Senate today. So regardless of what Sarah decides to do in 2016, I will always remain a big, big fan of Sarah Palin.”

Mrs. Palin and Mr. Trump are not strangers. The two shared pizza along with Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, in June 2011, when Mrs. Palin was considering a presidential run of her own and was making a bus tour around the country. (Mr. Trump was mocked at the time for using a knife and fork on his slice.)

They also share a trusted operative: Mr. Trump’s national political director, Michael Glassner, was chief of staff to Mrs. Palin’s political action committee.

And like Mr. Trump, Mrs. Palin has maverick tendencies. The mantra of her final weeks of the 2008 campaign was “going rogue,” as she defied instructions from aides to Senator John McCain of Arizona, the party’s presidential nominee.

Little-known before Mr. McCain picked her as his running mate, Mrs. Palin ultimately eclipsed Mr. McCain in popularity. She has endured as a coveted endorser with an impressive fund-raising list.

Mrs. Palin endorsed several of Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals in their statewide races, including Mr. Cruz during his Senate bid in Texas and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. 

Mr. Cruz, after his 2012 primary victory over the incumbent lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, said he would not have made it to the Senate without Mrs. Palin’s backing.

Sources: NY Times, NY Daily News, CNN, Fox News, Youtube

Sarah Palin & Glen Rice Hooked Up New Book Claims! Rice Confirms! Palin Is Silent

Sarah Palin had sex with basketball player, snorted cocaine and cheated on husband, book claims

Sarah Palin bedding a budding NBA star, snorting coke and cheating on the First Dude?

You betcha!


The scandalous details are revealed in the highly-anticipated tell-all "The Rogue: Searching for The Real Sarah Palin," written by best-selling author Joe McGinniss.

Palin bedded future pro hoops player Glen Rice while he was playing at the University of Michigan, the about the McGinniss book.

The sharp-shooting Rice - who spent one season with the Knicks - was playing in the annual "Great Alaska Shootout" while Palin was a sports reporter with Anchorage television station KTUU, the Enquirer said.

Their one-night stand over Thanksgiving weekend 1987 reportedly occurred in the dorm room of Palin's kid sister at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Palin was described by a friend as the aggressor, with the pal reporting "she hauled his ass down," the Enquirer said.

Less than a year later, Palin was pregnant by husband Todd and the couple eloped.

The book also repeated allegations - denied in the past by Palin - that she had a six-month affair with her husband's business partner in the mid-'90s.

The dalliance put a chill on the Palin marriage, with Todd complaining to friends about the loss of intimacy in their relationship, the Enquirer reported.

McGinniss, the author of "Fatal Vision" and "The Selling of the President," rented the house next door to the Palins in Wasilla while researching the bombshell book.

His agent, David Larabell, declined to comment on the Enquirer excerpts.

"As this is an embargoed book I can't comment on the specificity of its contents," Larabell wrote in an e-mail.

"Also, I haven't seen the National Enquirer article. I don't know about this instance, but they often get these reports right."

The book also reports that Palin was once seen snorting cocaine off the top of a 55-gallon drum while snowmobiling with friends. She also smoked pot with a professor while at Mat-Su College, the book says.

And it quotes a Palin family friend as saying that husband Todd Palin also snorted coke, describing him as "on the end of the straw plenty."

The Enquirer quoted a publishing source about the explosive stories contained in the 320-page book, due in stores next week.

There was no immediate response from the Palin camp.



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Sources: Miami Herald, National Enquirer, NY Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps

Perry Enters GOP's 2012 Presidential Circus; Its GOP Vs. Tea Party!

Perry announces presidential bid


Rick Perry aimed Saturday to shift the attention from Iowa's straw poll to South Carolina, where he told conservative activists he is seeking the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

The Texas governor made the announcement at the RedState Gathering in Charleston, one day after meeting with Alabama Republicans.

"I came to South Carolina because I cannot accept the path the country is on," Perry said. "A renewed nation needs a new president. It's time to get America working again."

Perry recited a litany of issues facing America, including debt, high unemployment and hefty energy costs. Leadership under President Barack Obama, he said, is "rudderless."

"It's time to believe the promise of our future is better than the best days behind us," Perry said to applause.

He launched his presidential campaign website, rickperry.org, shortly before the announcement.

The timing of the announcement buttressed Perry's bid to get attention on a busy day in American politics: His speech started the same hour as those given by candidates making a pitch for straw poll votes in Iowa, where he was not on the ballot.

Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said Perry's appeal to both social and fiscal conservatives could be crucial in the South Carolina Republican primary, which every GOP presidential nominee has won since 1980.

"He would appeal to tea party Republicans, he would appeal to the individuals who are interested in job creation in the state," Black told CNN. "He can also, I think, appeal to evangelical Christians, and the overlap between evangelical tea party Republicans, economic development Republicans -- those are a lot of voters in a South Carolina Republican primary."

Perry also was scheduled to attend a Saturday event in Greenland, New Hampshire, a state where he is expected to launch an aggressive campaign.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley helped kick off the RedState conference, saying Republicans will unite to defeat President Barack Obama.

Perry told the South Carolina crowd that he has helped cut taxes and government spending in Texas.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Perry "pledged to support the 'cut, cap and balance' plan that would preserve subsidies for oil and gas companies and tax cuts for the wealthiest while ending Medicare as we know it, eroding Social Security, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs and erasing investments in education and research and development."

In a statement, LaBolt claimed the governor "allowed special interests to write their own rules, hired corporate lobbyists to oversee corporations, and cut funding for programs that would create opportunity for middle-class families."

Perry, a Christian, succeeded George W. Bush in the Texas governor's office and has held that job longer than anyone in state history. Now he looks poised to attempt to follow his predecessor's lead a second time.

According to a new interview with Time magazine, Perry described himself as "very calm in my heart that this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

His entry into the race will shake up the Republican field, putting Perry into direct competition with Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota for core right-wing support. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, if she runs, also would vie for that backing.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday showed 15% of Republican and independent voters who lean toward the GOP picked Perry as their choice for the Republican nomination.

That put Perry, still a noncandidate at the time, just 2 percentage points behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, considered the front-runner in the nominating process. Romney's advantage over Perry is within the survey's sampling error.

Working the crowd in Iowa, Romney on Friday said he expects a "more interesting contest" with Perry in the field.

Bachmann, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are expected to take the top three positions in the nonbinding vote in Iowa.


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Sources: CNN, C-Span, DNC, Politico, Youtube, Google Maps

Rick Perry Only Hope For GOP In 2012? Another G.W. Bush!

Why Rick Perry is headed to the White House

As a resident of Texas for 36 years, I keep wondering why the rest of the nation pays any attention to our political and cultural absurdities and yet still chooses Texans as presidents. Our most revered historical moment, the Alamo, was arguably a mass suicide. The slaughter in San Antonio was followed by a massacre at Goliad, the fall of the Confederacy to Union forces, and later by the Houston Astros. Texas has a legacy of losing.

None of this apparently matters, though, because America is beginning the process of electing another Texan to be president. Gigantic tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, a trumped up war and a ruined economy from the last Texan seem incapable of dissuading supporters of Rick Perry.

His Saturday speech in South Carolina will make clear that he is entering the race for the White House and will spawn the ugliest and most expensive presidential race in U.S. history, and he will win. A C and D student, who hates to govern, loves to campaign, and barely has a sixth grader's understanding of economics, will lead our nation into oblivion.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The big brains gathered east of the Hudson and Potomac Rivers believe that Mitt Romney is the candidate to beat. But they are unable to hear what Rick Perry is saying. The Christian prayer rally in Houston was a very loud proclamation to fundamentalists and Teavangelicals, which said, "I am not a Mormon." The far right and Christian fundamentalists have an inordinate amount of influence in the GOP primary process and, regardless of messages of inclusion, very few of them will vote for a Mormon.

"We think a them Mormons as bein' in kind of a cult," one of the Houston rally attendees told me. "I couldn't vote for one a them when we got a real Christian like Governor Perry runnin'."

Perry, of course, can't come right out and print bumper stickers that say, "Rick Perry -- 2012 -- Not a Mormon." But he doesn't have to. He's wearing his faith like a power tie while Romney stays quiet as a tabernacle mouse on the topic of religion.

Romney has business experience and intellect that are not on Perry's resume' but he is from "Massatoositts," (Webster's Texas Edition, see also "Massachusetts"), and Texans love to kick their political boots into New Englanders' squishy parts. Perry is about to remind the tea partiers and fundamentalists that Romney created a state health care plan, (the horror, affordable health care for everyone), believes global warming is real, and has a troubling history for conservatives on the matters of abortion and gay marriage.

So much for Mitt.

Michele Bachmann, who is from Iowa, and is Perry in Prada, has the same appeal among Teavangelicals. Her husband's reparative gay therapy sessions, the Newsweek cover and a few speeches that were not reality based will, eventually, make even the GOP primary voters realize she is bound for the desert and not the Promised Land.

Bachman will run close to Perry in Iowa but will disappear into the snows of New Hampshire where religious fervor isn't exactly considered a positive attribute. In South Carolina, Perry's money, image and support will become overwhelming.

Romney and Bachmann are the only serious impediments to the Perry nomination. Ron Paul, who makes more sense than any crazy person to ever run for public office, has never been able to expand his cult to the mainstream.

Herman Cain is too brutally honest and lacking political experience, and Tim Pawlenty, what's-his-face-from-Minnesota, suffers from the heartbreak of ineffectuality.

Fueled only by speculation that he might announce, Perry became the putative front-runner (heard that word at a fancy Washington restaurant and thought it was cool). Because presidential politics tend to be more visceral than intellectual, Perry's coyote-killer good looks, $2,000 hand-tooled cowboy boots, supernova smile and Armani suits, combined with podium skills to embellish the mythology of Texas, all will create a product Americans will want to believe and buy.

After he wins the nomination, protocol will require Perry to have discussions with Bachmann about the vice presidential slot, but he will, eventually, turn to Sarah Palin. The general election will force the Texan back toward the middle and he will stop talking about faith and abortion and gay marriage; Perry will campaign on jobs and the economy.

Palin, who is loved by the tea party as much as Perry, will keep the Teavangelicals animated while he tries to talk to the adults to win the election on a single issue: the economy, stupiderest!!! (Forget about Rudy Giuliani; the GOP cannot win New York, don't need it to take the election and Giuliani is wrong on gay marriage for this ticket).

Bennett: Make-or-break time for GOP field

The general election will, quite literally, decide the fate of a nation. Every time Team Obama criticizes the Texas economy for its minimum wage job boom, the president will be accused of attacking the working men and women of America. (Texas has created a large share of the new jobs in the United States in the last decade but studies indicate many of them are at places like Wal-Mart and Carl's Jr.)

President Obama will also get beaten up for presiding over the first bond rating downgrade in U.S. history as well as high unemployment. When the cold rains fall in early November next year, unemployed voters in places like Ohio will step into the booth and dream of a minimum wage job in the Texas sun selling fishing rods at big box sporting goods stores or working in call centers; they will vote against Barack Obama.

And in the process, they will write the epitaph to set upon the tombstone of history's greatest democracy: Perry-Palin, 2012.





New CNN Poll: Perry near top of pack in GOP nomination battle

As Rick Perry moves closer and closer to a run for the White House, a new national survey indicates that the longtime Texas governor is close to the top of the pack in the hunt for the Republican presidential nomination.

According to a CNN/ORC International poll, 15 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP pick Perry as their first choice for their party's nomination, just two points behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who's making his second bid for the White House. Romney's two point margin over Perry is within the survey's sampling error.

Read full results (pdf).

The poll's Thursday release comes two days before Perry gives a speech at a major conservative gathering in South Carolina where his staff has indicated he will make his intentions for a presidential run clear. Later in the day Perry travels to New Hampshire to meet with GOP lawmakers, activists, and voters. Perry's travels Saturday come as the rest of the political spotlight will be shining on Iowa, for a crucial presidential straw poll in Ames. Perry heads to Iowa Sunday to speak at a Republican party gathering, which means he will visit three of the crucial early voting primary and caucus states this weekend.

The survey indicates that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is making his third bid for the White House, are at 12 percent apiece. While both Giuliani, who ran for the presidency four years ago, and Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, have flirted with bids, neither has taken concrete steps towards launching a campaign.

According to the poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has the support of seven percent, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at five percent, both former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain and former Utah Gov. and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman at four percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at two percent. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Rep. Thad McCotter of Michigan both register at less than one half of one percent.

If the choices are pared down to exclude Giuliani and Palin, Romney remains at the top of the list, with 23 percent, followed by Perry at 18 percent and Paul at 14 percent. The survey indicates Bachmann at nine percent, Gingrich one point back, Cain and Huntsman at five percent, Pawlenty and Santorum at three percent and Johnson and McCotter both registering at less than one half of one percent.

According to the poll, the GOP candidates and potential candidates match up differently against President Barack Obama in hypothetical 2012 general election showdowns. Giuliani has a 51-45 percent advantage over Obama among registered voters, while Romney matches up evenly against the President - 49 percent for Obama and 48 percent for Romney. But the survey indicates Obama appears to have a slight edge over Bachmann (51-45 percent) and Perry (51-46 percent) and Obama has a lead over Palin (55-41 percent).

The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International on August 5-7, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps

Michelle Bachmann's Newsweek Cover Vs. Sarah Palin's Newsweek Cover: Queens Of Tea Party Rage? Sexist Or Fair?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Does The Michele Bachmann Newsweek Cover Make Her ‘Look Crazy’?

Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters is helpfully defending GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) honor against those serial cover photo offenders at Newsweek, excoriating the magazine for using a cover photo of the Tea Party fave that makes her “look crazy.”

Their hearts are in the right place, but is Newsbusters really helping Bachmann out by starting a national debate about how crazy she looks?

Newsbusters‘ headline might make you think they’re just being oversensitive, but once you get a load of Newsweek’s cover, it’s immediately apparent that they have a point. Newsweek subscribers, upon receiving this issue, will probably scratch their heads trying to remember when they signed up for a trial subscription to It Puts The Lotion In The Basket Weekly.

There’s something about Newsbusters Editor Noel Sheppard’s commentary that isn’t quite right, though. Take a look at the full cover, and tell me if you can see what’s missing from Sheppard’s one line of criticism about Newsweek:

Exactly what were the editors thinking putting this kind of a picture of a sitting Congresswoman and presidential candidate on their cover?

Is Sheppard conceding the point that Michele Bachmann is “The Queen Of Rage,” as the Newsweek cover giant-fontedly dubs her? If not, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

Sheppard also neglects to mention any of the previous Newsweek cover “controversies,” a deviation from Newsbusters’ normally exhaustive M.O.

A cynic might wonder if the real point of this item was, in fact, to start a national debate about how crazy Michele Bachmann looks. In a Republican presidential field that’s weaker than Charles Atlas beginners class, Bachmann’s ability to connect with the energized Tea Party base has made her a danger to the likes of Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Tim Pawlenty (R-UhRoh). Republicans have come out of the woodwork to attack Bachmann over her migraines. A debate over her “crazy eyes” fits in well with a strategy to discredit a candidate who is a very real threat to the GOP establishment.

For what it’s worth, the Newsweek photo certainly doesn’t seem designed to flatter Bachmann, and is strongly evocative of her post-SOTU address to the faerie on the cameraman’s shoulder, but it’s probably intended to pair with that “Queen Of Rage” headline. It’s tough to see how anyone could have a problem with one, and not the other.


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Sources: Fox News, Huffington Post, Mediaite, Newsweek, The Slate, Youtube, Google Maps

Sarah Palin First Launched Racist Media Attacks Against Obama In 2008 (Bill Ayers)

AP: Palin's Ayers Attack "Racially Tinged"

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

First, Palin's attack shows that her energetic debate with rival Joe Biden may be just the beginning, not the end, of a sharpened role in the battle to win the presidency.

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."

Obama isn't above attacking McCain's character with loaded words, releasing an ad on Sunday that calls the Arizona Republican "erratic" _ a hard-to miss suggestion that McCain's age, 72, might be an issue.

"Our financial system in turmoil," an announcer says in Obama's new ad. "And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy."

A harsh and plainly partisan judgment, certainly, but not on the level of suggesting that a fellow senator is un-American and even a friend of terrorists.

In her character attack, Palin questions Obama's association with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground. Her reference was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions.

With her criticism, Palin is taking on the running mate's traditional role of attacker, said Rich Galen, a Republican strategist.

"There appears to be a newfound sense of confidence in Sarah Palin as a candidate, given her performance the other night," Galen said. "I think that they are comfortable enough with her now that she's got the standing with the electorate to take off after Obama."

Second, Palin's incendiary charge draws media and voter attention away from the worsening economy. It also comes after McCain supported a pork-laden Wall Street bailout plan in spite of conservative anger and his own misgivings.

"It's a giant changing of the subject," said Jenny Backus, a Democratic strategist. "The problem is the messenger. If you want to start throwing fire bombs, you don't send out the fluffy bunny to do it. I think people don't take Sarah Palin seriously."

The larger purpose behind Palin's broadside is to reintroduce the question of Obama's associations. Millions of voters, many of them open to being swayed to one side or the other, are starting to pay attention to an election a month away.

For the McCain campaign, that makes Obama's ties to Ayers as well as convicted felon Antoin "Tony" Rezko and the controversial minister Jeremiah Wright ripe for renewed criticism. And Palin brings a fresh voice to the argument.

Effective character attacks have come earlier in campaigns. In June 1988, Republican George H.W. Bush criticized Democrat Michael Dukakis over the furlough granted to Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who then raped a woman and stabbed her companion. Related TV ads followed in September and October.

The Vietnam-era Swift Boat veterans who attacked Democrat John Kerry's war record started in the spring of 2004 and gained traction in late summer.

"The four weeks that are left are an eternity. There's plenty of time in the campaign," said Republican strategist Joe Gaylord. "I think it is a legitimate strategy to talk about Obama and to talk about his background and who he pals around with."

Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?

In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers' day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

The fact is that when racism creeps into the discussion, it serves a purpose for McCain. As the fallout from Wright's sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America's promise to treat all people equally.

John McCain occasionally says he looks back on decisions with regret. He has apologized for opposing a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. He has apologized for refusing to call for the removal of a Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.

When the 2008 campaign is over will McCain say he regrets appeals such as Palin's?


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Sources: AOL, AP, CNN, Fox News, Huffington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Negotiated W/ Terrorists (Tea Party); Made Them More Radical!

Tea Party’s War on America

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.

Like ideologues everywhere, they scorned compromise. When John Boehner, the House speaker, tried to cut a deal with President Obama that included some modest revenue increases, they humiliated him. After this latest agreement was finally struck on Sunday night — amounting to a near-complete capitulation by Obama — Tea Party members went on Fox News to complain that it only called for $2.4 trillion in cuts, instead of $4 trillion. It was head-spinning.

All day Monday, the blogosphere and the talk shows mused about which party would come out ahead politically. Honestly, who cares? What ought to matter is not how these spending cuts will affect our politicians, but how they’ll affect the country. And I’m not even talking about the terrible toll $2.4 trillion in cuts will take on the poor and the middle class. I am talking about their effect on America’s still-ailing economy.

America’s real crisis is not a debt crisis. It’s an unemployment crisis. Yet this agreement not only doesn’t address unemployment, it’s guaranteed to make it worse. (Incredibly, the Democrats even abandoned their demand for extended unemployment benefits as part of the deal.) As Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive of the bond investment firm Pimco, told me, fiscal policy includes both a numerator and a denominator. “The numerator is debt,” he said. “But the denominator is growth.” He added, “What we have done is accelerate forward, in a self-inflicted manner, the numerator. And, in the process, we have undermined the denominator.” Economic growth could have gone a long way toward shrinking the deficit, while helping put people to work. The spending cuts will shrink growth and raise the likelihood of pushing the country back into recession.

Inflicting more pain on their countrymen doesn’t much bother the Tea Party Republicans, as they’ve repeatedly proved. What is astonishing is that both the president and House speaker are claiming that the deal will help the economy. Do they really expect us to buy that? We’ve all heard what happened in 1937 when Franklin Roosevelt, believing the Depression was over, tried to rein in federal spending. Cutting spending spiraled the country right back into the Great Depression, where it stayed until the arrival of the stimulus package known as World War II. That’s the path we’re now on. Our enemies could not have designed a better plan to weaken the American economy than this debt-ceiling deal.

One thing Roosevelt did right during the Depression was legislate into being a social safety net to soften the blows that a free-market economy can mete out in tough times. During this recession, it’s as if the government is going out of its way to make sure the blows are even more severe than they have to be. The debt-ceiling debate reflects a harsher, less empathetic America. It’s sad to see.

My own view is that Obama should have played the 14th Amendment card, using its language about “the validity of the public debt” to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. Yes, he would have infuriated the Republicans, but so what? They already view him as the Antichrist. Legal scholars believe that Congress would not have been able to sue to overturn his decision. Inexplicably, he chose instead a course of action that maximized the leverage of the Republican extremists.

Assuming the Senate passes the bill on Tuesday, the debt ceiling will be a nonissue until after the next election. But the debilitating deficit battles are by no means over. Thanks to this deal, a newly formed supercommittee of Congress is supposed to target another $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in cuts by late November. If those cuts don’t become law by Dec. 23, automatic across-the-board cuts will be imposed, including deep reductions in defense spending.

As has been explained ad nauseam, the threat of defense cuts is supposed to give the Republicans an incentive to play fair with the Democrats in the negotiations. But with our soldiers still fighting in Afghanistan, which side is going to blink if the proposed cuts threaten to damage national security? Just as they did with the much-loathed bank bailout, which most Republicans spurned even though financial calamity loomed, the Democrats will do the responsible thing. Apparently, that’s their problem.

For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They’ll have them on again soon enough. After all, they’ve gotten so much encouragement.


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Sources: Fox News, Move On.org, NY Times, Youtube, Google Maps

Tea Party Lawmakers Behaved Like Terrorists During Debt Debate? YES! Palin Responds

Tea Partiers: 'Terrorists' or patriots?

The vice president reportedly said that Tea Party lawmakers "acted like terrorists" in Washington's fierce debt negotiations. Is that criticism fair?

Vice President Joe Biden said in a closed-door meeting that Tea Party Republicans "acted like terrorists" during Congress' messy debt ceiling negotiations, after another Democrat said the fiscal conservatives had "threatened to blow up the economy," according to Politico.

Sarah Palin, among other GOP leaders, said it was "appalling" that Biden would use such an insult. Biden's office denied the vice president used the term.

Is the "T" word out of line, even in a political fight as vicious as this one?

Absolutely!

Biden should be ashamed: It would be easy to dismiss this as just another one of Biden's infamous gaffes, says Doug Brady at Conservatives4Palin, if it weren't for the fact that "quite a few lefties" have been slamming Tea Party lawmakers with this "ludicrous analogy" lately.

Sorry, guys, but "trying to prevent the nation's rapid descent into fiscal bankruptcy" isn't comparable to blowing up innocent people.

"Joe Biden: Those concerned about nation's unsustainable debt are 'like terrorists'"

Sadly, the label fits.

"Terrorism is a tough term," says William Yeomans at Politico, "but, unfortunately, it describes Tea Party tactics precisely."

They took "their radicalism beyond tough negotiating, beyond even hostage-taking," and threatened to inflict intentional harm on innocent Americans if their political demands weren't met.

They knew a default or downgrade would murder the markets — and the retirement savings of many Americans — and exploited that potential harm as a negotiating "weapon of mass destruction."

"The tea party's terrorist tactics"

Tea Partiers' behavior was reprehensible, but Not Criminal.

Like most people, we "bitterly opposed the tactic of holding up a vote on the debt ceiling," says James Joyner at Outside the Beltway.

Raising the debt ceiling has always been a mere housekeeping matter, but Tea Partiers used it to "get a second bite at the budget apple." That's "unprecedented and economically dangerous. But it's not criminal." And anyone who doesn't like it can say so at the ballot box.




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Sources: ABC News, CNN, Fox News, The Week, Youtube, Google Maps

Tea Party Movement Morphs Into Tea Party "Mafia"! Political Terrorists

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Tea Party message becomes toxic


Fragging: To intentionally kill or wound (one's superior officer, etc.), esp. with a hand grenade.

Take names. Remember them. The behavior of certain Republicans who call themselves Tea Party conservatives makes them the most destructive posse of misguided "patriots" we've seen in recent memory.

If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to the Tea Party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner. They had victory in their hands and couldn't seem to bring themselves to support his debt-ceiling plan, which, if not perfect, was more than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago. No new taxes, significant spending cuts, a temporary debt-ceiling solution with the possibility of more spending cuts down the line as well as their beloved constitutional balanced-budget amendment.

These people wouldn't recognize a hot-fudge sundae if the cherry started talking to them.

The tick-tock of the debt ceiling debate is too long for this space, but the bottom line is that the Tea Party got too full of itself with help from certain characters whose names you'll want to remember when things go south. They include, among others, media personalities who need no further recognition; a handful of media-created "leaders," including Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips and Tea Party Patriots co-founders Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler; a handful of outside groups who love to hurl ad hominems such as "elite" and "inside the Beltway" when talking about people like Boehner when they are, in fact, the elite (FreedomWorks, Heritage Action, Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity); and elected leaders such as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, head of the Republican Study Committee, and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who grandstand and make political assertions and promises that are sheer fantasy.



Meanwhile, freshman congressmen were targeted and pressured by some of the aforementioned groups to vote against Boehner's plan. South Carolina's contingent was so troubled, they repaired to the chapel Thursday to pray and emerged promising to vote no. Why? Not because Jesus told them to, but because they're scared to death that DeMint will "primary" them — find someone in their own party to challenge them.



Where did they get an idea like that? Look no further than Sarah Palin's Facebook page, where she warned freshman about contested primaries and urged them to "remember us 'little people' who believed in them, donated to their campaigns, spent hours tirelessly volunteering for them, and trusted them with our votes." Her close: "P.S. Everyone I talk to still believes in contested primaries." While they're at it, they also should remember that Palin came to the Tea Party long after the invitations went out. The woman knows where to hitch a wagon.



Unfortunately for the country, which is poised to lose its place as the world's most-trusted treasury and suffer economic repercussions we can ill afford, the stakes in this political game are too high to be in the hands of Tea Partyers who mistakenly think they have a mandate. Their sweep in the 2010 election was the exclusive result of anti-Obama sentiment and the sense that the president, in creating a health care plan instead of focusing on jobs, had overplayed his hand. Invariably, as political pendulums swing, the victors become the very thing they sought to defeat.

Who's overplaying their hand now?



It must be said that the Tea Party has not been monolithic — and the true grass-roots shouldn't be conflated with leaders who disastrously signed on to the so-called "Cut, Cap and Balance" pledge. What is it with Republicans and their silly pledges? Didn't get enough Scouting? This pledge now has them hog-tied to a promise they can't keep — the constitutional balanced-budget amendment. As many as a third desperately want a pardon from that commitment, according to sources close to the action.

Hubris is no one's friend, and irony is a nag. The Tea Partyers who wanted to oust Barack Obama have greatly enhanced his chances for re-election by undermining their own leader and damaging the country in the process. The debt ceiling may be raised and the crisis averted, but that event should not erase the memory of what transpired. The Tea Party was a movement that changed the conversation in Washington, but it has steeped too long and has become toxic.

It's time to toss it out.

Kathleen Parker


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, McClatchy Newspapers, MSNBC, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps