Sarah Palin Is Proving Relevant Yet Again
Monday, August 31st, 2009Sarah Palin will be jetting to Hong Kong to talk finance:
The former Alaska governor will visit Hong Kong to address the CLSA Investors Forum, a well-known annual conference of global investment managers, the host announced Monday.
Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Alan Greenspan have spoken at the event, hosted by brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.
“Our keynote speakers are notable luminaries who often address topics that go beyond traditional finance such as geopolitics,” company spokeswoman Simone Wheeler said in a statement.
“We just felt it would be a fabulous opportunity for CLSA clients to hear from Mrs. Palin,” Wheeler said, adding that CLSA approached Palin with the offer.
She said the conference aimed to present investors “a diversity of views that potentially influence decision-makers who help shape the markets.”
Her first speaking engagement post Alaska-governorship will be important and international. Her thoughts will be eagerly anticipated, I bet.
Let the gnashing of teeth begin.
Dynasty American Style
Monday, August 31st, 2009Glenn Greenwald kvetches about one of the Bush twins getting a TV gig on NBC’s Today show. There are dynasties in America wah! This wouldn’t sound so ironic if his bellyaching didn’t come on the heels of Kennedy’s love fest. Will a Kennedy replace Teddy? The world waits with bated breath. Wait, no they don’t.
They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it’s really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment. They can interview Lisa Murkowski, Evan Bayh, Jeb Bush, Bob Casey, Mark Pryor, Jay Rockefeller, Dan Lipinksi, and Harold Ford, Jr. about personal responsibility and the virtues of self-sufficiency. Bill Kristol, Tucker Carlson and John Podhoretz can provide moving commentary on how America is so special because all that matters is merit, not who you know or where you come from. There’s a virtually endless list of politically well-placed guests equally qualified to talk on such matters.
Dynasties and nepotism are counter to the American system. That’s why Hillary Clinton is a fraud. The whole Kennedy family is irritating. Oh, and let’s not forget those who had sex with someone powerful, Sally Quinn, to get where they are now.
Please. Glenn Greenwald is discontented because Bush’s daughter, who has actually accomplished something–being a school teacher–might be called on to report on teaching? At least she’s got a profession. Greenwald’s outrage would matter more if his perspective were more balanced and he named all the Democrats who get special favor.
Look at Hollywood. Look at any profession, really. Kids often end up in a parent’s field–it’s what they know and their parents give them help.
Still, the nepotism thing is bothersome in politics. The Kennedys should lead the way and pronounce that none of the progeny should be allowed in the biz. End the dynasties, Democrats. Lead America by example and produce leaders exclusively by merit.
America’s Lame Ass Political Class
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009Liberals and progressives are upset with President Obama, but swing voters and independents feel betrayed. From my latest Pajamas column:
The reason President Obama is tanking so quickly, though, is that he has a problem that President Bush didn’t have: Candidate Obama promised the world, sun, stars, and moon to everyone. People pinned their hopes and dreams on him. He stayed vague and hope-n-changy enough that all people felt reassured when he spoke to them. The problem is, he said whatever worked to whatever crowd he stood before. Or rather, his words were suitably bland that people projected their desires on his words. They heard what they wanted to hear, but what was he saying?
I figured it would take longer for Obama voters to be disappointed, but I underestimated the people’s wrath regarding out-of-control spending. Independents and moderates thought the President would govern as he said “responsibly”. Well, that’s not happening.
There are a few bright spots in the government, but the political class in general simply does not understand where the people are coming from. I’m sure they’ve focus grouped every phrase and every policy into oblivion but they just don’t get the overall point: Except for the socialists at the extreme, America does not want to be Europe Lite. They don’t. Perhaps when everyone was rolling in the dough, a little more redistribution sounded okay, but now, it’s patently obvious that people need to keep what they have to survive.
The only solution is an overhaul….change Washington by changing the players in Washington. That means heretofore uninvolved people getting involved, and running for office. Just voting isn’t enough. Making sure your Congressperson knows how you feel and then talking in person…
The wrong people are afraid in this new political equation. That should change.
Health Care Summary
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009While politicians and policy wonks get lost in minutiae, it’s important to remember the essential truths about the health care debate:
1. The Democrats control the House, the Senate & the Executive Branch. They can do whatever they want. Republicans are window dressing designed to give political cover for bad policy.
2. America cannot afford a new entitlement program and that’s what any Democratic plan will be.
3. To pay for this new program, taxes will rise.
4. To cut costs, rationing will be the solution.
5. The fight is between Progressives who want Government Run Health Care and Moderate Democrats who know they will never be re-elected if they vote for this mess. Thus the talk of “intraparty reconciliation“.
6. This is a Democrat problem. The Republicans should not give wrong-headed Democrats political cover by coming up with some half-assed, moronic legislation that solves nothing.
I am sick of the health care debate. I wonder if under Obama’s plan, there will be a drug that helps people deal with stupid politicians. I bet they give out free Xanax.
Protests Reveal The New Civil Rights Issue: Ignoring The Will Of The Majority
Friday, August 7th, 2009The Left, exasperated by being thwarted both without and within, have taken to distortion, demonizing, and violence. Discussion not allowed.
This is expected.
Conservatives and small government types, have had it. The press has been in the business of painting those on the Right as psychotic, baby-killing, meanies. If you doubt the bias, tell me how many soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since President Obama took office. Yeah, suddenly body counts don’t count. They don’t fit the narrative. So of course, the press will lie about the protests. Nothing much new here.
But it hasn’t only been the press. For six years, Republicans controlled the House and had an evenly divided Senate and Republican president. And still, the government expanded. It wasn’t just war spending that did this. Big fat government freebie programs like the Prescription Drug Benefit passed under President Bush did this. Wars come and go. Entitlement programs live forever.
Conservatives and libertarians wondered why they should vote Republican. Some didn’t. Some just did not vote. Others voted for Ralph Nader or Bob Barr. And some disgruntled conservatives and libertarians voted for Barack Obama because they hoped for change.
The most bitter pill is being swallowed by those in the latter category. For now, they see the government expanding exponentially bigger. The growth of the government is so staggering, the average person can’t comprehend the scope and the size. They can only feel the oppressive magnitude.
So, when the cameras turn onto the faces of average Americans, and the people watching see themselves in those faces and those faces are portrayed as “mobs”, the people get angrier. This is not a group who has been content for a long time. This is a group who have seen their hopes for a smaller, leaner, sensible, more efficient government thwarted over and over and over.
The Republicans still don’t seem to get it either. It’s not just the President and his pet progressives who have insulted the tax payers and citizens. They just seem to be more ribald and open about their contempt.
Protests over health care are the current topic. Expansion of the government’s scope and intrusion is the underlying concern. That the political class don’t seem to care one iota about how the American people feel reveals a general contempt for democracy.
That the President and Representatives and Senators don’t even read bills before passing them symbolizes everything wrong in America right now. And these same people are surprised that something like the Tea Party movement emerged? That they’re surprised reveals their disconnect with the American people.
It would be more comforting if it seemed like the Republican party was more in touch, humble, and responsive. But, like their Democratic buddies, so far they haven’t been.
Maybe the Town Hall protests are making a point. Maybe. The discontented need to keep the ultimate goal in mind and understand that freedom’s enemies will distort even the smallest disrespectful action. The Anchoress has wisdom here.
This is a civil rights issue, ultimately. When a small percentage of the population impose their will against the majority and the majority must pay for the minority, the notion of representative democracy is turned inside out. A vote means nothing.
I suggest that our representatives Meet the Mob. They have lots to say that’s worth listening to. Our Republic depends on it.
Barack Obama: Failed Experiment
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009What do you think of this?
I’m curious about the messaging of the conservative movement in general and the Republican party in particular. Even after six months, it seems like the Right is having a challenging time coalescing around a message.
I know attack ads work and this is an attack ad. It still seems we need a combination with positive messaging. What do you guys think?
Sarah Palin Steps Down, Earth Continues To Turn On Its Axis
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Bush Derangement Syndrome seems like a head cold compared to the Palin Hatred. Palin Hatred is like a full-blown mental swine flu. I fear it may be a slate clearer for the Democratic Party.
Perhaps the Left could take this Sarah-free moment and consider the power their loathing, and the underlying fear, gives Sarah Palin. Their complete lack of objectivity, their inability to actually hear what she’s saying, their tone-deafness to her resonance with a huge segment of the American people, limits them. David Frum and all you D.C. insider Republicans walking around with a hoity toity corncob securely wedged might want to consider too, your mind blindness.
Sarah Palin stepped down, but she is, I’m guessing, about to walk into the lower 48 states. Maybe by the time she gets down here, everyone can calm down. Somehow, with her fighting words igniting more passion, I doubt it.
Suddenly, “Bipartisan” Is The Health Care Word Of The Day
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009What, did the “reform” word stop working on the mindless rubes? The socialization of medicine in America is not a “reform”, it’s a structural change from the bottom up that doesn’t address the problems in the current system, pays off key constituencies, costs too much, and will harm patients. But other than that, all the plans being put forward by Democrats are just benign reforms meant to help average Americans. /Sarcasm off. You must be a bad person to not like reform and to not want to help average Americans. What is wrong with you?
At the top of Memeorandum today the word is “BIPARTISAN”. Even though the bills being discussed have not had one iota of Republican involvement, the key word is “bipartisan”. Even though the Executive branch, and House and Senate are owned by Democrats, the key word is “bipartisan”. Any bill that gets passed this summer would be partisan. These stinky, fetid pieces of legislation are bought, paid for, crated by and made for Democrat special interests and have nothing to do with helping patients or helping those who need health care but can’t get it.
Any Republican in Congress that jumps into the fray and tries to save the Democrats from themselves should be drawn and quartered. Just sit by and watch, Republicans, and continue to give your notions of true reform. Continue explaining the truth to the American people. Do more of this and this:
[Note: Remember how I told you that the press would be giving a full court press on behalf of Obama. Well, you have to give Lauer serious Obama brownie points. This kind of oral servicing usually means money has exchanged hands. Oh wait....]
Oh, and this [Even Allah likes it!]:
Yes, the health care bill is horrible. Yes, President Obama is on the ropes. Yes, this is all about Him. Yes, the press is still making it all about him (and them). Yes, the bill is about paying off key constituencies like lawyers, unions and big business and, interestingly, illegal aliens.
It is not a reform bill and the bill is most certainly not bipartisan. The bill needs to be killed.
Would the Democrats be willing to scrap it and start over? I doubt it. President Obama’s ego rests on this thing. The only way health care is going to happen with Democrats in charge is for it to get, in the inimitable words of Chris Matthews, “rammed through”. Been a lot of ramming lately. Seems the American people are sick of taking it.
Besides The God Language & The ESC Federal Funding Ban, How Was President Bush Conservative?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009David Brooks flaps his jaws again and this time, he’s going after his beloved, well-spoken Barack Obama for falling into the same trap as Republican president George W. Bush, except, I don’t see the parallel. At all. Here’s Brooks:
It’s not that interesting to watch the Democrats lose touch with America. That’s because the plotline is exactly the same. The party is led by insular liberals from big cities and the coasts, who neither understand nor sympathize with moderates. They have their own cherry-picking pollsters, their own media and activist cocoon, their own plans to lavishly spend borrowed money to buy votes.
Well, that perfectly describes the Senate on both sides, but I don’t see how it’s the Conservatives controlling anything. In fact, had Republicans stood up for fiscal responsibility, one could argue that an Obama presidency wouldn’t have even occurred.
So, President Bush talked God with a cowboy dialect but his actions were all moderation. Hello? AIDs spending in Africa? School reform with Teddy Kennedy? Amnesty? And all these things made the federal government bigger (or would have), more powerful and invasive. The Bush presidency wasn’t about restraint and limiting government power–traits I associate with conservatism.
David Brooks and the Beltway elites are delusional. If President Bush governed conservatively, then David Brooks would put nearly every conservative person I know into the Right Wing Extreme camp. No wonder Barack Obama sounded good to him. Obama moderate? Is he insane?
Dan Riehl says of Brooks new found Gah!-Barack-Obama-Is-A-Liberal! Religion:
This is all great. But if Brooks is so smart, where the hell was he during the campaign when the rubes knew what to expect?
Right. David Brooks knows politics. He’s smarter than you. And he knows a Moderate when he sees one.
Who Runs The Republican Party & Why Doctors Leave Medicaid/Medicare
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009In this show, John Hawkins and I discuss how moderates run the Republican Party. In the second half, we’re joined by Dr. X, a physician who discusses how patients act differently depending on how they pay, or if they pay.
Melissa’s show can also be found on RFC Radio every Monday and Wednesday night at 10:00 pm Eastern.
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
