Stop Stupid Conservatives!

I know I haven't been posting that much recently and my absence has been greatly missed but after the health care "reform" vote I was pretty burnt out with politics. It's hard to keep going after that sort of crushing defeat for conservatism and the Republican Party. The Republican opposition fumbled at the end in picking the wrong issues to focus on and enabled the Democrats to rally together and pass a historic expansion of government control of the economy and our lives that may never, ever be repealed. I was almost going to drop out of politics entirely.

But here I am. Because I love this country too much to give up just because the Republicans in Washington are more hapless than the French in stopping the expansion of the Obama Reich.

Part of the problem is that there are a lot of well meaning but stupid conservatives out there who undermine our efforts. Terrorists who make threats against Tom Perriello and his family. Idiots who make racist signs at rallies. And morons who write letters to the editor with outright lies in them.

If the health care bill is so extraordinarily wonderful, why has Congress exempted its members and their staff from it? It seems to me that if it is so well thought-out and advantageous, everyone would beg to participate.

No Susan, the truth is that members of Congress and their staff will have to go onto the new exchange.

If this bill is so wonderful, why was the Senate forced to use reconciliation to pass it and the House to use the deem-and-pass option?

No Susan, the truth is that the House did not use the deem and pass option. And be careful about focusing on reconciliation, which is an option to change existing programs to cut costs and lower the deficit. So a Democrat like Tom Perriello can defend the reconciliation as a way to cut down the size of the health care bill even more and remove the kickbacks you mention later.

If it can stand on its own merits, why did the Senate have to bribe members with special exceptions for states where the senators didn’t really want to vote for it?

Good question. Those Senators should be voted out of office. But these special exceptions were removed by reconciliation.

Where in the Constitution does it specifically state the government can force all citizens (except, of course the congressional members, their staffers and the president and his staff) to buy a specific product?

Thank you Susan. It took you a while but you finally got to the biggest problem, although you undermine it by falsely claiming that Congress has granted itself an exemption. That is the key of the multiple lawsuits against the bill. That's what Republicans have to run on. That's why this is socialism. Next time save some space in your letter and focus only on this.

Perriello's Perfect End Game

We are just days, if not hours, away from a final vote on the Democrat health care "reform" package and the Republican Party, particularly the NRCC, is allowing Tom Perriello to position himself perfectly for victory.

You heard me right.

Let's recap what the Republican Party is doing. In the final hours before the Democrat majority passes a massive government take over of health care, a take over that includes a slate of new taxes and Big Brother forcing you to buy their health insurance, the Republican Party is focused on the secondary issues of abortion and parliamentary procedure.

Don't get me wrong. I'm pro-life. I'm pro-democracy and pro-Constitution. What the Democrats are doing is total sleaze. But I'm not now nor will ever be a swing voter. I'm smart enough to see through the Democrat lies.

First, the NRCC's Andy Sere foolishly pounced on an offhand comment by Perriello on MSNBC to claim that he was backing away from his pledge to oppose federal funding of abortion. This gave Perriello the chance to reinforce his pledge, which was spread across the district.

This might have worked if the NRCC felt confident that they could trap Perriello as a hypocrite if he later voted for the Senate version of the bill AND if they convincingly argued that it did allow for federal funding of abortion. But in a masterful attack on the Republican Party, Perriello came out firing from both barrels to argue that the Senate language was good enough. The district coverage is comprehensive. The supporters, from Catholic Hospitals to local Virginia professors, are strong. And now Perriello has Catholic groups running ads in the district backing him up, citing a group Perriello founded!!!!!



Andy Sere has been caught with his pants down. Perriello has totally out played the Republicans on this one and has left Sere crying on the side lines like Vanderbilt against St. Murray. This has become a story of "He says, she says" in which the Republicans can cite their pro-life organizations and Catholic bishops while Perriello has his Catholic nuns and other religious organizations. A swing voter isn't going to know who to believe, but they are going to know that Perriello manages to get called "pro-life" in almost every article out there without having done or said ANYTHING to define himself as "pro-life."

So now that Perriello has neutralized the issue of abortion, he's turned to the parliamentary procedure. Or the insider baseball crap, as he calls it. Once again, Perriello is able to vote against his party on something meaningless and look like the good Catholic choir boy who believes in fairness and transparency.

If the Republican Party doesn't move fast, Perriello will be able to vote for a "reconciled" health care bill that fixes the most "offensive" parts of the Senate bill, like the kickbacks to Nebraska, Louisiana, and Florida, but not the socialist core of the bill. Will the new bill suddenly reverse course and embrace the free market? Hell no. Will it allow choice and competition? Hell no. But will it sound a lot better than the scary pro-abortion and pro-corruption bill that the GOP has been talking about for weeks? Yes.

The Republican Party has to start listening to the Tea Party movement, the folks who really see what matters. There is a big government takeover of our society. All aspects of our society. Focus on these issues and we'll win. Ignore them and you'll keep Democrats like Pelosi and Perriello in power.