Say Anything Blog

The Regan Era will be twenty years past in the next few months. A quarter of all Americans were not alive during his presidency. The brief exhilarating conservative sweep of congress in 1994 has faded, it’s Contract With America tarnished by later events. In the intervening years, a war has come, but not gone. Government spending and power has grown exponentially and social issues - unthinkable a few years ago - dominate the headlines: gay marriage, open borders and unlimited access to abortion. And for the first time in our history, a religion has become a potential enemy.

Nearing the summer of 2008, conservatives look to the future, not with optimism, but with genuine consternation. For many, the coming election spells doom in one form or another with the near certain expansion of a liberal majority in congress and the unhappy prospect of no presidential candidate they can support or put trust in.

It is the year of the conservative dilemma.

It’s symptoms are evident on every talk show, in the media and on the blogs. Conservatives speak openly of boycotting the election, voting for obscure candidates like Bob Barr, even forming a third party; hoping - in a replay of the twilight of the gods - for a democratic sweep which might later usher in a resurgent conservative movement and avoid blame for whatever ills occur in the meantime.

They loath Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and describe John McCain with the kind of language usually reserved for people who cut in line or splash muddy water as they drive by.

It is the Gotterdammerung theory - let the GOP and it’s untrustworthy candidate crash and burn in the hopes of a better tomorrow - which many, myself included, find most troubling. It borders on the “If I can’t have it, no one will” mode of nihilism which may satisfy one’s angst, but can guarantee nothing better in the future. It is, in effect, the elevation of political philosophy above national interest, and it assumes, naively, that the damage done over the next 48 to 96 months can be undone by a future conservative government. It is a reckless theory which ignores the fact that social security is nearing it’s 75th anniversary and no one has been able to undo it.

No aspect of the conservative dilemma is more troubling than the future of the Supreme Court, the one branch of government which serves as a political and social time capsule, projecting the values of one generation into the future to be imposed on the next.

Should Barack Obama and a liberal congress persevere for eight years, the makeup and character of the high court - not to mention hundreds of lesser federal bench appointments - could continue on an activist course for the next 25 years or more. The 9th Circuit comes to mind.

For conservatives, there exists a myriad of reasons not to vote for John McCain. But it may be worth noting that McCain has vowed never to nominate an activist judge to the bench and vigorously supported the appointment of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the high court.

As president, he would face a hostile senate, but so did George Bush when Roberts and Alito were confirmed. Barack Obama, on the other hand, would have a liberal senate at his disposal and has stated - in vague and ominous terms - his preference for “compassionate judges who understand the needs of regular people.” In short, the very future of the Supreme Court and the sanctity of the Constitution are at stake in 2008.

So, what to do? There’s the dilemma. Choose wisely.

pparets 17 May 2008

In a speech delivered yesterday at the NRA Convention, Senator John McCain took aim at his democratic opponent:

The Second Amendment isn’t some archaic custom that matters only to rural Americans who find solace in firearms out of frustration with their economic circumstances. The Second Amendment is unique in the world. It guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our Founding Fathers.

McCain, one of 55 senators who signed a brief urging the Supreme Court to reject the District of Columbia gun ban, went on to mock Obama’s characterization of Hillary Clinton duck-hunting with a six-shooter. Drawing laughter from the convention, he highlighted Obama’s ignorance on the subject.

Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns.

Wayne La Pierre, NRA President, said of McCain, who has butted heads with the NRA on issues like background checks at gun fairs and campaign contributions, that there were “vast numbers of areas” on which McCain and the NRA agreed.

In no uncertain terms, McCain declared,

For more than two decades, I’ve opposed efforts to ban guns, ban ammuntion, ban magazines and dismiss gun-owners as some kind of fringe group unwlecome in “modern” America.

Obama responded by saying he supports the Second Amendment but wants “common sense gun laws so that we don’t have kids being shot on the streets.” No elaboration on what he meant by ‘common sense’ gun laws was forthcoming.

You can use your own imagination in guessing what they would be.

Have any of you noticed, as I have, that Breitbart.com has not carried an SAB post since Monday, 5 May?  Is there a reason for this that anyone knows of?  Or is this no big deal?

I found SayAnythingBlog while doing my daily news searching on Breitbart last November. SAB was a breath of fresh air, and I hate to think that others will be denied the opportunity.

In a speech today at Wake Forrest University, Republican presidential nominee John McCain came out swinging against Senator Barack Obama.  McCain, who heaped praise on Chief Justice John Roberts for his conservative, strict-constructionist leadership of the high court, blasted Obama for being one of 22 senators who voted against appointing Roberts to the Supreme Court.

… A justice of the court, as Senator Obama explained it - and I quote - “should share one’s deepest values, one’s core concerns, one’s broader perspectives on how the world works and the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.” These vague words attempt to justify judicial activism - come to think of it, they sound like an activist judge wrote them! 

Continuing his attack on Obama and making an impassioned plea for judicial restraint, McCain went on to say,

Somehow, by Senator Obama’s standard, even Judge Roberts didn’t measure up. And neither did Justice Samuel Alito.

We may be witnessing the opening volley on McCain’s part in what could become a major issue in the fall campaign - the future of the court. At least it should be for any thoughtful conservative.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/4672

Breitbart is reporting that the City of New York spends 65 million dollars a year paying full salary to teachers who are not in the classroom, while awaiting resolution of charges against them ranging from chronic absenteeism to possible child abuse.

According to Michael Best, chief legal counsul for NYC’s Education Department, most suspended teachers spend their day in district-sponsored “rubber rooms”, playing cards, sleeping or reading newspapers, while collecting full pay. Best calls it “terribly demoralizing.”

This is a huge tragedy for taxpayers, students and the city’s working teachers, many of them struggling in overcrowded, under-supplied classrooms.

Maybe it’s the city’s school administrators and AFT union bosses who should be assigned to a rubber room.

http://www.brietbart.com Sunday, 4 May, 2008

The State of Texas has dropped it’s warrant against Dale Barlow, 50, accused of raping minor girls at the fundamentalist Latter Day Saints ranch. Texas officials declined to say why the warrant for his arrest was dropped.

Rob Parker, speaking for the FLDS, said,

I think thats just one more piece of evidence that the whole basis on which this raid was premised was unfounded and was inadequately checked out, to the formulation of what basically amounted to an army that went in there and took their children.

Another page from the Janet Reno playbook on how to deal with suspiciously different religious groups, perhaps?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354039,00.html

Rasmussen is reporting this morning that 48% of polled democrats and nearly 70% of all voters believe that Barack Obama shares some or all of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s radical views!

58% believe that Obama repudiated Wright out of political expediency, not out of personal convictions.

Not good news for the senator from Illinois with Indiana and North Carolina primaries looming next week.

Drudge and Politico are reporting that far-left bloggers are outraged by the recent appearances of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on FOXNEWS.

Adding insult to injury, Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, is scheduled to meet with Chris Wallace on the up-coming FOXNEWS SUNDAY.

Far-lefties like Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, whined that, “Democrats are being idiotic by appearing on that network.”

Roger Ailes, president of FOXNEWS fired back that, “More democrats watch FOXNEWS than watch CNN and MSNBC."

FOXNEWS has long been the target of left-wing hatred and was successfully boycotted last year in early democrat debates.

Mike Allen of Politico.com noted that, “The democratic leader’s new openness to FOX reflects the liberal left’s diminishing power. Once feared by democrats, these activists are now viewed as an impediment to winning...”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10032.html.

On a personal note, what I see here, on the part of all three presidential contenders, is a major effort to woo moderate voters in the middle. Bloggers on the left and the right have regularly complained that the candidates do not reflect their core values.

Today, on his Philadelphia morning talk show, moderate republican host Michael Smerconish highlighted a NYT piece which focused on a missed signal in the dust-up after the Obama/Hillary Pennsylvania primary battle.

In the virtually ignored republican primary results, 27% of voters did not vote for John McCain. 21% voted for Ron Paul and 6% voted for Mike Huckabee even though neither of them campaigned in the Keystone State.

Were these merely loyal die-hards sticking with their man?  Or was this a not-so-subtle vote against the senator from Arizona?

As always… fair and balanced. You decide.

Had Al Gore or John Kerry been elected president, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito would not be on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Were that the case, two activist justices named by either Al Gore or John Kerry would presently be sitting on the bench.

The Court would have ruled that Kentucky’s Lethal Injection system for capitol punishment is cruel and unusual punishment, and the DC Gun Control Law would be affirmed.

Barely mentioned so far at this stage of the campaign, the future make-up of the Supreme Court of the United States for decades to come will hang on who wins the presidency
. Food for thought as the general election approaches.

Conservatives in general have a deep-rooted suspicion of public schools, largely because of their antipathy toward the NEA, whose actual power over the public classroom is grossly exaggerated.

Truth-be-told, most public school teachers adhere to a strict and detailed curriculum mandated by the state in which the teacher works.

A blogger at SAB challenged me to list the private schools which are liberal, unaware that such a task would be staggering and impossibly time consuming.

Instead, and based on the premis that, “By their fruits, you shall know them”, I offer a list of well-known liberal and conservative personalities along with the secondary schools from which they graduated. You can draw your own conclusions.

Private School Liberals

Dianne Feinstein - Sacred Heart High school

Al Franken - The Blake SChool

John Kerry - St. Paul’s School

Ted Kennedy - Portsmouth Abbey School

Joe Biden - Archmere Academy

Barack Obama - The Panahou School

Nancy Pelosi - Notre Dame School

Al Gore - St. Alban’s School

Bill Richardson - The Middlesex School

Elliott Spitzer - The Horace Mann School

Public School Conservatives

Ronald Reagan - Northside High School

Fred Thompson - Lawrence County High School

Rush Limbaugh - Cape Central High School

Richard Nixon - Fullerton High School

Glenn Beck - Sehome High School

Gerald Ford - South High School

Gen. David Petraeus - Cornwall Central HS

Dwight Eisenhower - Abileen High School

Charleton Heston - New Trier High School

Newt Gingrich - Baker High School

Speaking today to a large student and faculty group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Republican presidential nominee John McCain called for an immediate moratorium on the federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day until Labor Day. The applause was immediate and prolonged.

"Somewhere along the way, too many republicans in congress became indistinguishable from the democrats they used to oppose" , he quipped.

McCain said the moratorium would provide much need relief to American consumers while reducing the federal tax burden faced by them.

http://www.brietbart.com/article.php?id=D902EAPO1&show_article=1

Dana Milbank reports in today’s Washington Post that Senators John McCain and Barack Obama addressed the National Association of Newspaper Editors and receieved quite different responses.

Milbank described Obama as peevish and flat when questioned by the assemblage.
“Bitter, are we?’, Milbank mused. When the Senator from Illinois was done, he received polite applause from the newspaper moguls.

According to Milbank, Senator McCain, who appeared two hours earlier, was relaxed, confident and open to questions. He was presented with a box of donuts by the group; his favorite offering to them on the famous “McCain Express” bus.

When queried about the age factor, McCain pretended to doze off, and then invited the journalists to come watch him campaign. At the conclusion of his remarks, McCain received a standing ovation.

Could it be that we are seeing the unravelling of Obama under the pressure of the primaries?

http://www.washingtonpost.com  15 April 2008

Picture the young senator from Illinois, safe and cozy in the warm environment of San Francisco, the arch-capitol of American liberalism, surrounded by wealthy, urbane elitists intent on bankrolling his crusade.

Flattered and basking in their adulation, Barack Obama lets slip his carefully contrived mask - that of a young African American, free from the ‘old’ ways of politics - and yearning for hope and change.

Encouraged, he begins to tell them what they want to hear; that smalltown Americans [those outside large cities and surrounding burbs] are racist, homophobic, gun-toting, resentful fundamentalists, unaware - amid the sage nods and knowing smirks of his audience - that his analysis will ever be revealed to the unwashed masses.

And here, at last, he defines the liberal mindset with ringing clarity; indeed, does so far better than we on the right have ever been able to do. And, in so doing, he speaks for more than the handful of San Franciscans gathered at his feet.

He speaks for elitist liberals everywhere: The Kerry’s and the Kennedy’s; the socialist faculties of our colleges and universities and their pampered, mindless students; the journalists of our mainstream media; the clergy of many elite denominations and all those whose liberal mindset leads them to believe that others, less enlightened, need to be governed, regulated and cared for.

His message is simple. Those who live in small towns, or own a gun, or are fundamental christians, or ever lost a job, or oppose illegal immigration, or distrust government, are resentful, and, by implication, ignorant. [The term “rednecks” comes to mind.]

While those around Senator Obama and the liberal community at large will swing quickly into ‘damage control’, clucking and cooing about the misconstrued, uninformed reactions of those who can’t understand this man of hope, the rest of us have genuine cause to pause.

For we have at last seen the light, and it is a dark one indeed, casting ugly shadows into the deeper recesses of liberalism and the heart and mind of Barack Obama.

DNC Chair Howard Dean says average Americans are concerned about John McCain’s age. Claming that the Dems never brought the matter up, he says the people in DNC focus-groups none-the-less raised the issue.

History is replete with examples of how age matters.  All of the following came on to the world leadership stage in their 60’s or older, and several stayed into their 80’s.

Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, Golda Meir, Charles DeGaulle, Nelson Mandela and Conrad Adenauer come to mind, to name a few.