The Fallacy of Burger King ObamaCare

Watching today's "health summit," I keep thinking of Burger King.

Why Burger King? Because Obama keeps claiming that he's trying to find common ground - in essence, saying that he's willing to let everyone have it their way so long as everyone agrees to eat the sandwich he's serving.

Here's the problem: The meat is spoiled, and there's nothing that can be done to change that very basic fact.

The American public has taken a look at the way ObamaCare has gotten to this point and many of the specifics within it, and they've decided that they're not going to swallow it. So now Obama and his Democratic allies are desperately searching for something, anything, which they can do to change their minds.

So their solution is to go through this Kabuki dance of asking Republicans whether they'd like tomato, ketchup and/or pickles on their sandwich, or if it might be more appealing if they photographed it from a different angle. They fail to show even an iota of recognition that, no matter how many condiments you toss on top of it, the meat went bad months ago.

Once that happened, everything else became completely irrelevant. You can change the bread it's served on. You can pile condiments sky-high. None of it matters. The meat is still rotten.

Until Democrats experience that reality check, this debate is going nowhere.

The Extinction Burst

Before the 2008 election, I told my wife that I think the real reason that the media was completely tossing aside even the pretense of objectivity was that it was - to me - obviously an "extinction burst."

Consider the following:

1) The continuing daisy chain of newspaper/newsmagazine failures
2) The utter failure of liberal talk radio
3) The declining ratings of the alphabet networks, CNN and MSNBC
4) The ascendancy of Fox News
5) The enduring popularity of conservative talk radio
6) The rise of the dextrosphere and the already peaked popularity of the sinestrophere.
7) The repeated best-selling success of conservative books - not just on current topics, but re-examining political history as well (e.g., Liberal Fascism).
8) The calamitous decline in union membership outside of government.

Put them all together and what do you have? The end of the ability of the Left to completely control the narrative, to hide inconvenient truths and to pretend that opposing views are without merit or that they even exist.

I believe that the media understood very well that 2008 would be the last presidential election in which they had as much influence as they did. So they had no incentive to pretend they were objective any longer. After all, most of them wouldn't even have jobs by the time the next election rolled around anyway.

By 2012, it is very likely that neither Time nor Newsweek will even exist as print magazines. The NY Times may or may not be putting ink to paper, but even if it is there will be far fewer copies to circulate. Air America has already gone silent. Etc., Etc.

The Leftists in this country have controlled political conversation in this country for generations now. That monopoly has effectively ended, and now their agenda is being shredded daily by Glenn Reynolds' "Army of Davids" who are pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, and in fact, never really did.

So the Democratic Party had no choice but to go "all in" after the last election. From ObamaCare to Cap-N-Tax to Card Check, every liberal wet dream is on the table.

They thought "we've only got one more shot to get this through, so we've got to jam as much through as possible RIGHT NOW." They know they're not likely to get another bite at this apple for a very long time to come.

Because not only have they lost control of the message, they've run out of money. Federal and state budgets are exploding across the country as the inevitable result of decades of liberal mismanagement (see California) and the extraordinarily high cost of government union workers (see GM and Chrysler for examples of where this is heading).

The appetite for, and the ability to fund, the expansion of government is over for the foreseeable future.

We just can't afford it. Democrats knew the debt bomb was ticking, but this recession and their own irresponsibility in passing the stimulus plan, sped up the countdown timer far faster than they had planned. The Tea Party movement was a completely unanticipated development which is why they were left floundering when it took off so suddenly. They never saw it coming, and it left them angry and sputtering ineffective, inaccurate and inane responses like "Nazis," "racists," and "unAmerican."

Time has run out. The steady flow of money and muscle from their union allies is quickly drying up, and that will affect the Democratic Party's ability to remain competitive. (And why they reacted so vehemently to the recent Supreme Court decision allowing corporate participation in elections.)

The Leftist agenda will always find a way to come back eventually. That totalitarian impulse isn't going to go away. It never really does as there are always people who seek to use the heavy hand of government to control other people's lives. But if it gets defeated now, it's going to have to go underground for a long time. And the actions of the Leftists for the last few years proves that they know it too.

Obama at the House Republican Retreat

One of my favorite bloggers, Ann Althouse, put up a post on yesterday's interaction between Obama and the House Republicans at their retreat. I'm reposting here my intial comments which I originally left at her site:

I agree with the general assertion that Obama didn't really say much yesterday that he didn't say in his SOTU speech. Nor was his tone any better. He repeatedly blamed the Republicans for his and his own party's inability to move his agenda forward. Shocker! Then he ludicrously repeated over and over again that it was the responsibility of Republicans to come to his side of the aisle.

The biggest takeaway in terms of actual news - rather than just spin - is that Obama was forced to admit repeatedly that the Democratic talking point of Republicans having "no ideas" or being the "Party of No" is, and always has been, a big fat lie. Republicans got him on the record about him having received copies of their legislation over the past year. "I've read that...", "I've seen that...", etc.

Since at least half of the Democratic electoral strategy going into the fall was attempting to paint Republicans as nothing more than obstructionists with no ideas of their own, Obama absolutely shattered his own party's plans for what he thinks was a short-term political gain. Yet another example of getting outmaneuvered in the long run.

There is a huge difference between "you haven't proposed any ideas," and "you've proposed lots of things with which I don't agree." To that end, Republicans wound up getting the better end of that argument as well. Obama was forced to swallow all his own talking points about Republicans. Go back and review Obama's many speeches about how we should pass his agenda because, hey, it's the only option available to fix a broken system. Turns out, he's been lying all along and yesterday he was forced to admit that too.

He backed Pelosi and Hoyer into a corner in the way they manage debates in the House. Every time Pelosi/Hoyer shuts Republicans out of the debate, Republicans will be able to march up to the cameras and point out how they're not living up to the bipartisanship House Republicans have with Obama. That sets up a very nasty inter-necine fight between the House leadership and Obama going forward.

Obama seems to forget he's not the entirety of the Democratic Party. He needs Pelosi/Hoyer to move his agenda. While he didn't explicitly throw them under the bus yesterday, he might as well have. He set himself up as the good guy, and the Republican caucus got to look like good guys for inviting him to their retreat and broadcasting their interactions. Guess who was missing? Guess who the Republicans immediately issued invitations to have the same kind of conversatino with? That's right. Pelosi and Hoyer. Now guess who will never show up to do that.

Now who looks like the ones who are getting in the way of accomplishing things on a bipartisan basis? That's right. Obama just set up the dynamic to make the Democratic House the bad guys...How many additional seats do you think this costs them in the fall?

State of the Union Drinking Game

Since this seems to be the day for it, let me set up the rules for tonight's State of the Union address.

1. Make sure you're not drinking anything with higher than 80 proof. Alcohol poisoning can be fatal.

2. On second thought, 80 proof might be too high. Or you'll only be able to take small sips rather than do full shots. Either way, use your discretion to avoid any unintended 911 calls.

3. Don't think that just using shots of non-alcoholic beverages is a good idea either. You're going to need the mind-numbing effects of a good inebriant to get through the entire speech. Like I said, we want to avoid any unintended 911 calls, so for your own good, make sure you're drinking something with at least minimal alcoholic content.

4. Make sure it's not rubbing alcohol.

Now on to the game itself:

5. Each of the following words or phrases will require a shot:

"fight(ing) [for you*]"
"anger/angry"
"anxious/anxiety"
"frustrated"
"fat cat(s)"
"let me be [**] clear"
"make no mistake"
"middle class [folks ***]"
"inherited [from the previous administration****]"
"bipartisan(ship)"
"transparency"
"[green ******] jobs"
"back to work"
"health care"
"freeze/freezing"
"tax credit"

* - one shot for any variation of "fight:" double shot if he's doing it "for you"
** - one shot for a straight-up "let me be clear:" double shot if he also tells you just how clear he's going to be, i.e., perfectly, absolutely, totally, etc.
*** - one shot for just "middle-class:" double shot if he shows just how folksy and not out of touch at all he is with ordinary folks by adding "folks." Triple-shot if he adds "hard-workin'."
**** one shot for just "inherited:" double shot if he specifically has to point out to you people who are just too dense to get it that everything bad that has happened for the last year, for the next three years, and also going back to the crucifixion of Christ is George W. Bush's fault. Obama's the good guy here who just got stuck with the mess. He's doing his best. No one told him there was math involved, and it's really, really hard. Don't forget that, champ. He won. He will trump you on that. Got it?
***** one shot for just "jobs:" double shot for all those "green jobs" that Obama has/will save(d)/create(d). And just because no administration in history has ever measured progress by the jobs they saved doesn't mean that they're just making it all up and expecting you to be stupid enough to buy into it. Really...What? Hey look over there! Squirrel!

Those are the "gimmes," and it's almost unfair to make you drink each time he uses one of these. Almost. But see #3 above. You're gonna need the "gimmes" just to make it through.

6. Now come the double-shot words and phrases:

"I understand"
"Speaker Pelosi"
"Majority Leader Reid"
"Congressional leadership"

7. If you find yourself feeling faint, dizzy or nauseous during the speech, just assume the lotus position, close your eyes and chant "November 2010 is coming...2012 isn't that far away..." over and over again until you feel better.

Ordering a Pizza In Obama's World

If Obama and the Democrats get their way, here's what ordering a pizza in the future might be like:

What are you complaining about? The government has an obligation to take whatever steps are necessary to "bend the cost curve." Just shut up and take the blue pill. It's half the price of the red one you know...

Barack Obama, Democrats, ObamaCare, Privacy

Cap-and-Trade Follow-Up: Democratic Senators Want to Wait

Last night I blogged about the failure of the Australian Senate to pass a cap-and-trade system and predicted that it would spell trouble for senators looking to pass a similar system here. So what headline are we seeing from Bloomberg this morning?

"Climate Change Measure Should Be Set Aside, U.S. Senators Say"
Go figure. Also note the bias in the headline which refers to "U.S. Senators" when the article specifically talks about Democratic senators who are the ones pushing for the delay. Republican senators want it killed completely. See the huge difference there?

The Democratic senators want to push it off because they're concerned that passing cap-and-trade so close to the 2010 elections will hurt their re-election chances, but rest assured that once they have safely won another six years in office they will return once again to their ruinous plans to institute some sort of carbon trading scheme. The only way to actually defeat it, rather than just delay it, is to vote the Democrats out of office completely. They only understand the language of the ballot box, and we should never stop reminding them that we speak it fluently.

2010 Elections, Cap and Trade, Democrats, Congress

What TEA Partiers and Sarah Palin Have In Common

Republicans were sensing momentum earlier in the summer, but events of
the August recess -- specifically, the town hall meetings in which
opponents of the Democratic health care reform plan have turned out in
force -- have changed their view. "This month has opened our eyes,"
says one plugged-in House aide. "We're seeing real people who are fired
up who weren't engaged before -- the first time we've had a popular
movement that could really benefit us electorally."

That's the take this morning from Republican House members talking about their prospects in the upcoming 2010 elections. Both Democratic and Republican insiders are talking about the effect of the TEA Party movement, and there's widespread agreement that it's generally bad news for congressional Democrats.

"I think what's going to happen is Obama's going to be fine, and the
Democrats in Congress are going to get their asses kicked in 2010,"
says one Democratic strategist who prefers not to be named.

It's only the middle of August and the TEA Party movement is already making itself felt deep inside the halls of Congress. That's why you're seeing people like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi ratcheting up their rhetoric against the grassroots who are spontaneously rising up across the country. They're genuinely scared. (They're whistling past the graveyard with regard to the potential impact on Obama, but that's a discussion for another day.)

In mid-term elections, the president's party generally loses seats in Congress as there is generally some pushback against the agenda of an incoming president - no matter what his party is. But this year has been exceptional in that conservatives have taken to the streets, a virtually unheard of phenomenon, early and loudly within months of him taking office. Reid and Pelosi may publicly be dismissing TEA Partiers as "rent-a-mobs" carrying swastikas who only show up at the behest of insurance companies, but privately they understand its true grassroots nature.

This is the second time in less than a year that genuine grassroots enthusiasm from the other side of the aisle has thrown Democrats for a loop, and they are returning to the only thing they really understand: demonizing the opposition. The first instance was the vice presidential nomination of Sarah Palin, and I don't think I need to remind anyone how the Left continues to hound her even today. The fire she lit under the conservative base briefly pushed McCain over Obama in the polls and struck fear into the hearts of Democrats. So they responded with the most vicious smearing of a politician in recent memory, with the active assistance of the mainstream media which has since admitted that they took sides against her.

Even in the last few days, Palin has had an impact on the ObamaCare discussion by forcing the Senate to drop the end-of-life counseling from its version. A recent headline proclaimed that "Sarah Palin Defines the Health Care Debate." When was the last time that the vice presidential candidate on a losing ticket was able to make her voice heard a year later with nothing more than writing a few paragraphs on her Facebook account?

TEA Partiers should look forward to more hate-filled diatribes to be directed their way from both Democratic officeholders and the mainstream media. Like Palin, they will be dismissed as stupid and ill-informed. They will be accused of being tools of nefarious corporate interests and hating poor people. Can you remember an effective opponent of Leftist ideology who they didn't say these exact same things about? There hasn't been an original thought in the Leftist playbook for decades: they go after all their opponents the same way.

But TEA Partiers should take every sling and arrow which is thrown at them with pride. They should recognize that the greater the insults being hurled at them, the closer they are to the mark. There's another saying from the bomber corps that TEA Partiers should keep in mind:

You only take flak when you're over the target.

Sarah Palin, TEA Parties, Democrats, Leftists, 2010 Elections, Congress, Nancy Pelosi

Ill Omen For Cap and Trade in the USA

In a sure sign that cap-and-trade is in serious trouble here, the Australian Senate has voted down a cap-and-trade system in their country.

Why does it matter what the Aussies are doing? Because one of the primary arguments for a cap-and-trade system in this country is that everybody else is doing it, and we're not living up to our global responsibilities if we don't. It becomes awfully difficult to make that argument if other countries have already rejected similar schemes themselves.

Australians tilt farther left than Americans do as a whole, and if they can't muster enough to support there then it's highly unlikely that it can be done here either. Much as they did with the Kyoto Treaty which was rejected 95-0 in the Senate while Bill Clinton was still president largely because China and India were exempted, senators are highly unlikely to put businesses in their home states at such a disadvantage to their foreign competitors - especially in a recessionary economy.

Hillary Clinton recently tried to get India to do something about their carbon emissions too, only to be told in no uncertain terms that India wasn't buying:

"There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the
lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," Ramesh
told Clinton. He asserted that "detailed modeling" showed "unambiguous"
results -- that developing country emissions would remain well below
the averages of developed countries even with high growth rates.

Australians understand that cap-and-trade would be an economy killer for them. Indians get it too. Too bad American Democrats still don't. It's going to be up to the American people to explain it to them in a language they DO understand: beat them at the ballot box. The 2010 election season is coming fast. It's never too early to let your representatives know that we're watching and, unlike their MoveOn.org paper tigers: we vote.

Global Politics, Democrats, Diplomacy, Cap and Trade, 2010 Elections, Enivronmentalism, Global Warming, Foreign Policy, Economy

Blue Dogs On the Edge

Once again doing the job that the mainstream American media refuses to do, the Financial Times has an article about two wavering "Blue Dog" Democrats who are both saying that they could not vote for the House version of ObamaCare in its current form.

If there was any doubt that the TEA Partiers are having a profound effect on the current debate over socialized medicine, this should put an end to it. Just a couple of days ago the junior senator from Maryland, Ben Cardin, got an earful at a townhall meeting he held in Towson - a northern suburb of Baltimore:

Towson is a very liberal area - especially in relation to the far more conservative congressional district that Frank Kratovil, one of the Blue Dogs mentioned in the article, represents. Kratovil won in 2008 by a margin of only 3,000 votes in a traditionally Republican-held district. That puts him on the razor's edge of electability in 2010: he can't afford to be on the wrong side of his constituents. There's no doubt that the massive turnout at Cardin's townhall, someone who Marylanders know is likely going to vote for ObamaCare no matter what, has to have an impact on a vulnerable House freshman without Cardin's political muscle.

The question someone like Kratovil is likely asking himself today is: If a statewide Democratic Party potentate like Cardin can't even maintain control over one of his own townhall meetings, what are the 2010 prospects for a guy representing a conservative district in the face of this level of public anger?

It's not just a matter of being heard: there is a real opportunity for TEA Partiers and others who oppose socialized medicine to actually affect not just the ultimate structure of the House bill, but whether one is passed at all. The pressure is being turned up to 11: it's just a matter of how invested politicians like Kratovil are in having a future in elected office beyond November 2010.

2010 Elections, Democrats, ObamaCare, TEA Parties

On Greenhouses and Plants in New Hampshire

After reading the latest updates on the fake doctor at Sheila Jackson Lee's "townhall," I was directed to an article at the Lone Star Times website that covers much of the same ground. What caught my eye was this comment on that article:

I live in new Hampshire and was particularily interested in seeing how well Obama’s staged “town hall” meeting held in Portsmouth, NH, resonated with “Granite Staters”. The wife and I were watching the local news last night and of course, the lead story was the “town hall” meeting. The video clip included a woman who was identified by name and her home town. She had been invited to stand at the podium and provide a short statement as to why she supports Obamacare.

The lady stated, “I have hepatitis-C and I am UNABLE to get healthcare”. Well…that was a lie. And how do I know this? My wife, who is a nurse practitioner, happens to be her primary health care provider!! The woman is enrolled in a health care plan with Blue Cross/Blue Shield!

Of course, it would be a HIPPA violation to release this information to the press, so she…and the Obama administration…will get away with this bold faced LIE!!!!!

I also hadn't heard this particular nickname for these phony townhall meetings, but I like it: They aren't "townhalls any more: they're "Greenhouses"...because there are so many plants.

I think I'm going to appropriate it for myself. Feel free to pass it around amongst yourselves.

ObamaCare, Disinformation, Democrats, Barack Obama, AstroTurfing

Is There Anybody NOT Connected to Obama In Favor of ObamaCare?

Yet another townhall meeting. Yet another phony "random audience member."

I'm not even keeping up with all the planted questioners at all the townhalls that Democrats are holding across the country, yet my blogging seems to be becoming one long string of revealing plant after plant at these meetings.

This time it's Sheila Jackson Lee with a student at the university where her husband works who also just happened to have been a Texas delegate for Obama. What are the odds that so many people with ties to Obama's 2008 campaign just happened to be called upon at the townhall meetings and manage to get coverage from the mainstream media?

I'm really beginning to believe that there isn't a single soul who isn't connected to Obama that actually supports his plan for socialized medicine. If there's such a demand for his plan, then why do the Democrats have to keep stacking the audiences with members of his campaign and union thugs?

The Democratic flop sweat is really beginning to show. They're losing ground so quickly that they're getting desperate and sloppy. Keep it up America, they're on the run.

Barack Obama, AstroTurfing, ObamCare, Democrats, Congress

Answering Back On ObamaCare

I've talked to several people recently about the various lies being told by Barack Obama and the Democrats about ObamaCare, and the constant refrain I hear is that it's difficult to find out what actually is and isn't true about the proposed government takeover of our health care system.

Karl over at HotAir has done some yeoman's work in putting together some highlights of Obama's most outrageous disinformation. It's by no means a comprehensive list of all the ugliness hidden within the depths of 1,000 pages of legislation, but it does provide a good overview of the topic. If you want to find out how Obama's rhetoric really matches up with reality, then do yourself a favor and read his post. Then when you're done, e-mail it to everyone you know: especially those who are currently supporting Obama's latest socialist endeavor. You never know: you might just open a few eyes.

P.S. If you (or those to whom you e-mail his post) have any questions about where he's getting his information, just follow his links within that post.

Barack Obama, Disinformation, ObamaCare, Democrats

Single-Payer Health Advocates Create 'Obama As Hitler' Signs

It's been all over the news: anti-ObamaCare protesters are using Nazi imagery! They're putting Hitleresque mustaches on pictures of Obama and demanding a stop to Obama's "Nazi" Health Care. Those TEA Partiers are just crazy!

One major problem with the narrative: the Obama-Hitler signs aren't from TEA Partiers at all:

The takeaway from the video? LaRouchePAC created the 'Obama as Hitler' signs, and it is a staunch supporter of a single-payer system. They support a government takeover of the healthcare system too: they just want it done on their terms instead of Obama's.

So much for those Democratic talking points that falsely smear TEA Partiers. With the army of citizen-journalists across the nation doing the work that the media won't do, none of their talking points are holding up and their AstroTurfing is being exposed left and right. What desperate tricks does Obama, Pelosi, Reid and their allies have up their sleeves next?

TEA Parties, Nancy Pelosi, ObamaCare, Barack Obama, Disinformation, Democrats

Obama Can't Find Any Grassroots, Decides to Bus Them In

In response to the grassroots TEA parties that have sprung up around the country, Barack Obama has decided to do a series of townhall meetings where he takes supposedly random questions from the audience about ObamaCare. One problem: he can't find enough supporters of ObamaCare to fill a townhall, so he has to bus them in.

This has become such a debacle for Democrats that Obama's people actually had to plant a 11-year old girl to ask him a question about the "mean signs" that TEA Partiers are holding outside in protest - a little girl who just happens to be the child of one of the organizers from Obama's campaign after Obama. Purely coincidence. Your president wouldn't lie to you, would he?

TEA Partiers should take comfort that they have both Obama and the Democratic Party scrambling. First it was the accusations of AstroTurfing. Then it was the ridiculous swastika business. And now they're reducing to planting young children at Obama's propaganda events.

And still the poll numbers for ObamaCare keep dropping.

If it weren't such a serious subject, it would definitely be worth a big belly-laugh.

AstroTurfing, Barack Obama, Democrats, ObamaCare, TEA Parties

So THIS Is What They Meant By Stimulus

They're just handing out free money for people on welfare in New York.

Silly me. I thought the "stimulus bill" was meant to actually put people back to work or keep them from losing their jobs. Giving people money to keep NOT working is so much more obviously sound economics that it's a wonder no one thought of it sooner.

That's $140 million of your hard-earned money neither you nor your children will ever see again. Are you feeling stimulated yet?

P.S. On a side note, you know the Democrats are having serious PR issues when they have to resort to just straight handing out money to keep their supporters on board. Usually just a few empty platitudes and lip service will do, but Democrats recognize the hole they're digging and they're bound and determined to use your tax dollars to fill it in behind them.

Barack Obama, Welfare, Government Waste, Government Spending, Democrats

On the Wrong Side of the Racial Divide

Michael Lind published a piece asking "Are Liberals Seceding From Sanity?" in which he argues for the "big tent" approach to the Democratic Party. His argument, naturally, is pure condescension to Southerners who are simply the products of having been economically repressed and so woefully uneducated for so many years. They couldn't possibly hold conservative beliefs because they are worthy of being held: no, they are simply misinformed because those dumb folks don't know any better.

In the course of chastising his fellow liberals for mocking and abusing Southerners, Lind commits his own sins. But I will, at least grant that - unlike his liberal brethren - he doesn't descend into the usual "they're just a bunch of Nazis" trashtalk. But even that's not what's significant about Lind's piece. What's most striking is how he points out over and over again how the socially conservative attitudes and beliefs of Southerners are so very similar to those held by blacks and Latinos.

Yet the Leftist punditry never criticizes blacks and Latinos for being pro-Life or anti-illegal immigrant. And if they ever did, they certainly wouldn't ascribe those beliefs to the evil and racism they ascribe to Southerners. Why? Because blacks and Latinos are on the politically correct side of the racial divide in this country.

For all the claims of tolerance and equality that the Left puts forth, they are neither tolerant and they do not truly believe in equality. Look at the arguments that Lind puts forth for why Southerners believe the things they do: they're just dumb folks who don't know any better. So, by corollary, he is also saying the same about blacks and latinos. The difference is that it's OK to call a white man evil and racist, but political correctness doesn't allow the same outrageous demonization of minorities.

Besides, it's not their fault that they share the same beliefs. Unlike the white man who is evidently fully responsible for his own beliefs, minorities cannot be held to the same standards. Evidently, they're just not capable of being enlightened the way that white men can be with the right effort. Just try to square that assertion with the belief that "all men are created equal" and that a man should be judged on the "content of his character, and not the color of his skin." Go ahead. I dare you.

The truth is that Leftists will tolerate pretty much any belief from the minority community so long as they continue to vote "properly." We've seen what they really think of minorities every time one of them "gets off the plantation." Just ask Clarence Thomas, Condeleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell, or any number of other minority conservatives how tolerant and open-minded Leftists really are.

As soon as a minority expresses a non-Leftist thought, all those racial epithets which were supposedly off-limits suddenly become socially acceptable once again: so long as you direct them at the right people, of course. The excuses vary, but the reality is that the racial animus (and anti-Semitism) is never far from boiling to the surface. It only takes the slightest provocation to bring it out, as they have proven time and time again.

Leftists view themselves as benevolent caretakers of minorities: not as their equals. Just let the liberal elitists tell you brown people what to think and when to think it. They'll tell you what causes to take to the streets for and which ones are simply "taken out of context." You brownies just aren't smart enough to think for yourselves, so turn over your free will to the current group of Leftists in charge. Free will is intolerable in a minority. It must be crushed through swift and immediate ridicule and scorn lest other minorities get the idea that it is acceptable to hold an unsanctioned, independent belief.

For the Left the world is quite clear. If you don't agree with them and you are white, then you are an evil racist. If you don't agree with them and you are a minority, then you are a race traitor or even worse. But if you're a minority and are willing to vote for their latest socialist endeavor, then you get a nice pat on the head and a condescending smile...just like the family dog who sits up and begs when offered a treat.

Personally, I'd rather you hated me to my face than treated me like a pet. At least when you hate me, you are forced to acknowledge the free will I have exercised as a fellow human being. If I allow you to treat me as your pet, then I am denying my own humanity. So, to all minorities across the country, I ask: are you a free-thinking human being or are you happy being a Leftist lapdog?

Democrats, Leftists, Racism

AstroTurfing Accusations Just Make People Angrier

As soon as Nancy Pelosi and her minions started rolling out the latest Democratic talking points about how the TEA Partiers were AstroTurfed crowds who only showed up at the behest of the Republican Party and insurance companies, I knew that it was bound to backfire. Instead of intimidating people into staying away from townhall meetings, such accusations are only redoubling their determination.

Because Leftists are only capable of producing crowds at protests by paying them to attend, they are incapable of understanding that it is possible for a true grassroots effort to exist without corporate and political sponsorship. Having attended a TEA Party myself, I can tell you that not one of those in attendance was paid to be there, they are better informed on the issues than the congressmen they are confronting, and that they are genuinely angry about where Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are taking this country. Just listen to Leah from New Hampshire who called into C-SPAN:

The Democratic arrogance and dismissive attitude toward to their constituents has opened Pandora's Box. And like Pandora, they are going to be extremely sorry they did.

(H/T Smitty @ The Other McCain)

Nancy Pelosi, AstroTurfing, TEA Parties, Democrats, Congress

Illegal Immigration Still Illegal...For Now

Good news on the amnesty front: illegal immigration is still going to be illegal at least through the end of the year.

Barack Obama admitted today that his attempt to grant amnesty is going to have to wait. With Cap-and-Tax still up in the air (and likely dead) and ObamaCare in doubt, he's decided that it would be too much to try to move his amnesty bill this year.

Given the reality of election years, this may kill any attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens outright. It's highly unlikely that Obama's Democratic allies are going to be eager to cast yet another risky vote that may wind up costing them their seat in Congress. House Democrats are already on the hook for their vote on Cap-and-Tax, and it remains to be seen if they're going to be willing to walk the plank yet again to vote for ObamaCare. I have no doubt that Obama's been told behind closed doors that no-way, no-how are House Democrats going to be willing to go 0-for-3 after the Senate has already hung them out to dry twice.

Illegal Immigration, Barack Obama, Democrats, Congress

But Don't Dare Call it AstroTurfing

Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress can't seem to find enough people to get out and hit the streets in support of their government takeover of health care, so now they're advertising on Craigslist to hire them instead.

But remember that it's the TEA Partiers who are supposedly the ones who are "AstroTurfing," right? Not the Leftists who are actually paying people to do the work that no Americans are willing to do voluntarily. I guess it's a good thing that Obama's disastrous economic policies have put so many people out of work. Otherwise they wouldn't have anybody willing to do their dirty work at all.

AstroTurfing, Democrats, Barack Obama, Leftists, ObamaCare

Dissent Is Now Officially Un-American

The Botox Queen, Nancy Pelosi, and her court jester, Steny Hoyer, have spoken.

If you're angry that Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress are trying to ram through a government takeover of your healthcare in less time than it took for him to pick out a family dog, then you're un-American.

If you're unwilling to be told what to think by people who are blatantly lying to your face, then you're un-American.

If you're not willing to be beaten into submission, then you're un-American.

I guess that makes me about as un-American as it gets. And you probably are too.

TEA Parties, Democrats, ObamaCare, Nancy Pelosi