Resplendent Vapidity

To see what exactly is wrong with the United States government, look no further than the Senate confirmation hearings for Elena Kagen.

The first problem is Kagen herself. She would be a stretch to nominate to a District Court, let alone the Supreme Court. She has never been a judge and has barely been a lawyer. For her entire professional career she has been charging hard for radical leftists, whether for the Clinton/Obama administrations or as the Dean of Harvard. This absolutely no different than if George Bush had nominated Karl Rove for a spot on the Supreme Court.

Listening to her testimony, it seems as if she is hell bent on proving all the stereotypes about New England, ivy league elites true. She is actively trying to talk down and be condescending to members of Congress. She must know how truly meaningless this dog and pony show is.

It would be nice if she wasn't flat out lying and refusing to answer questions though. She was incredibly hostile to military recruiters at Harvard and tried like hell to keep them off campus, in direct violation of federal law. Somehow she spins this into her simply trying to protect all the gays and lesbians at Harvard who wanted to join the military. I'm sure there's tons of pro-military GLAAD members at Harvard.

In addition to that lie, she pretty much green lit government control of daily food intake by declining to state an opinion on whether government mandated diets were a proper use of the Commerce Clause. The good people of New York must be happy that their government is still free to save them from the evils of salt.

She was nominated to simply be an Obama representative in every case that comes before the court. It is a shameful choice that shows just how narcissistic Obama is. Say what you want about Sotomayor but at least she's a real life judge. Kagen is just a lackey and the fact that Obama would subject the country to her uneducated legal activism for the rest of her life just to smooth out the next 2 years of his administration is just selfish. Why not nominate her to replace General McChrystal while were at it? She's just as qualified for that job. This whole thing makes me wish he were simply nominating another Bader Ginsburg, Stevens or Souter. It's officially amateur hour in the Judicial Branch.

As bad as Kagen and Obama look in this whole deal, the real problem is Congress.

Since the atrocity that was the Bork confirmation hearings, this whole process has been completely delegitimized. The Senators involved certainly don't take it seriously, using the time to grandstand and bloviate. Why would any nominee actually answer any question knowing that the Chuck Schumers in the Senate will try and destroy them the minute it leaves their mouth? Poor Sam Alito's wife looked devastated during that sham of a hearing.

All to advance partisan politics. Both parties would happily confirm a Nazi fugitive if that's what the party leader wanted. The only instance where that didn't happen was when Bush tried to nominate Kagen the First (Harriett Miers) and conservatives went ballistic. Thank God they did or the Supreme Court could soon have been controlled by a Miers/Kagen axis of incompetence.

The real tragedy is that this problem of nominees not answering any questions is so easily fixed.

If a nominee stonewalls, Senators should just vote no. Eventually nominees will get the message and if they want the job they will start talking. Why this hasn't happened yet mystifies me. Congressman act like sticking with the President always helps them out come reelection time. Sticking with W sure didn't seem to help Republicans in 2006 or 2008 and sticking with Obama is going to result in a liberal Apocalypse come November. Yet everyday we hear more and more from Leahy, Schumer, et al. about how they are all in for Kagen.

If the Senators of the Judiciary Committee want to regain a little bit of the dignity and respect they have lost letting these nominees make fools of them, they need to grow some balls and play hardball with these potential justices. If they can't or won't do so, then we shouldn't even have these things, they are just an expensive waste of time. Go straight to the full vote and get it over with.

Beantown Beatdown in the Bay State

I must admit, I never once thought I'd see a Republican Senator in Massachusetts for the duration of my life. I kept that whimsical fantasy right next to my dreams of the Raiders winning the Super Bowl and scientists proclaiming cigar smoke, scotch, prime rib and copious amounts of sex to be the magic elixir for never eroding health.

Thanks to Scott Brown and the corpse of Martha Coakley, I can now check one of those bad boys of the list!

Even as the polls showed Brown gaining all the momentum, it was hard to feel good about it because if the Dems had decided to bite the unpleasant Coakley bullet and head to the polls, Brown would have been toast.

I could never contemplate a scenario where a significant number of Democrats would go to the booth and pulled the lever for a Republican. It's insane to think about but it seems to have happened and Scott Brown bashed her to the tune of 52-47.

That's an incredibly large margin considering the State and the voter registration disparity. All of those early charges of possible voter fraud and lawyers heading to Boston seem foolish in hindsight. Like a State that's 90% liberal could somehow be rigged by a conservative anyway.

Besides Coakley, the real loser is the Democratic Congress. They couldn't get anything passed with a filibuster proof majority in both houses. Tonight's result has put them in a hell of a bind. If they ram through legislation right now, they are actively defying the will of the people by not waiting for Brown to be seated. If they wait for Brown, he'll vote against it and the fragile coalition will fall apart as Reid looks for that elusive 60th vote. You can sure as hell bet that the so called Blue Dogs (I call them Red Cowards but whatever) Lincoln, Lieberman, Bayh, Landrieu and Nelson are now officially terrified. They may be looking for anyway out of this mess. In the House, Pelosi has indicated she's going to be even more hard line and leftist. She is completely nuts so her kamikaze dive to the far left might be too much for the skittish Senate and suddenly very vulnerable House libs to take. You might see a whole bunch of Representatives start withdrawing their votes based on crap issues like the cost or Stupak amendment. None of them care about those things but the do make a convenient excuse to back out.

Regardless of the long term outcome, tonight was a momentous occasion. One of those rare political nights where even the casual observer stands up to take notice of the fact that the people have decided to make a statement and a loud one at that.

I myself am just happy that the scientists can now get back to my list.




(photo from WashingtonPost.com)

That Chowder Stinks

I cannot even begin to fathom how Martha Coakley got the donkey nod in the Massachusetts (spell check works!) special election to replace the Great Submariner Ted Kennedy.

I figure she either sacrificed a prostitute, Jennifer's Body style, somewhere out in the Chesapeake Bay or that the Bay State has finally run out of competent socialists to run for public office.

Given the fact that Harvard is still there indoctrinating young minds I can only suggest that the State police warm up the barges and start dredging that Bay.

Seriously, how can somebody so politically (and maybe literally) stupid win a primary? Did she actually run against Ted Kennedy? Consider these whoppers:

-She watched her own political stooge rough up a reporter. Her response? Didn't see it.
-She misspelled Massachusetts, MassachusettEs, in her own campaign ad.
-She showed her elitist attitude by deriding Scott Brown for going to Fenway to shake hands with the hockey fans who showed up for the winter classic. You would have thought she was asked to give sponge baths to lepers the way she reacted to the idea of going to Fenway.
-She explained her fund raising in DC by explaining that it was a special election so she didn't have time time to actually talk to the people, only to hang out with special interests in the hope that they can turn out the vote.
-She was obliterated in the one debate she agreed to participate in after stonewalling for weeks.
-And just for fun, she tossed aside Curt Shillings criticism's of her by dismissing him as "another Yankees fan" (like Rudy Guiliani). When corrected about his history she says "Well he's not here anymore. Lets watch some tape just for fun:

Martha Coakley


Awesome. Truly.

If the liberal movement is in such bad shape that this is the best they can do in Mass. then I am very hopeful for the future. On to California!

Rocky Mountain Hysteria

Boy, I haven't seen Colorado liberals this excited since Obama extended unemployment benefits a few more weeks. I understood the joy over that, if I was a goldbricker I'd be stoked too about four more weeks of doin nothin. Not sure I follow the ecstasy here though.

Having your very liberal incumbent Governor quit mid reelection? Bad. That he did so to "spend more time with his family" (stop fooling around on his wife)? Bad. Possible replacements? Lets see.

The crowd favorite seems to be Alamosa's own, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, former CO senator and brother of 3rd district Rep. John Salazar. The leftist blogosphere has applied mythical status to his popularity in Colorado. A casual sampling of these fine folks commenting on the subject seem to think that in a race against Scott McInnis, Salazar would get between 59 and 71 percent of the vote. It's true the man was popular when he got elected to the Senate. All Democrats were at the time. Now Salazar hasn't got the benefit of running on the wave of anti-Bush sentiment. Now he is tainted with the stink of Obama and all of the failures associated with that administration. That will be a huge anchor for him in a statewide election that has turned against Obama, outside of Boulder and some of Denver anyway. Besides, all the bad things Ritter did policy wise are no different than what Salazar would have done as well. McInnis has a realistic chance to take down Salazar should that be the matchup. Also an odd showdown between politicians from small, western slope Colorado, McInnis based in Grand Junction, Salazar in Alamosa/Pueblo.

The best thing about Salazar running would be the fact that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper wouldn't be. He is incredibly popular in Denver and should have replaced Salazar in the Senate instead of Bennett. I'm not convinced McInnis could have taken him down so hopefully he stays out.

Other candidates. Jared Polis - Please. His own party hates him, he's just rich enough to hold onto his socialist seat up in Boulder. Ed Perlmutter - No way, not enough name recognition, record or money. He gets obliterated. Andrew Romanoff - Who knows. He says he's staying in the Senate race but has he even really campaigned yet? People were very excited about him when he launched his bid but he has been invisible since then. Probably not viable.

The primary in both parties should be entertaining as well. McInnis got rid of Penry but still has to get by Maes, a tea party favorite. It seems likely that there will be at least two Democrats in the primary election as I doubt the liberal bench just wants to anoint Salazar the savior just yet.

Uh. . . . . Your Welcome?

Congratulations other 46 states in the Union, you've been very generous this Christmas season whether you knew it or not.

The Socialist Party of America managed to get a worst-of-all-options healthcare bill rammed through the Senate this morning before they ran like the cowards they are back to their homes for the holidays. Many thanks to the Architect of the Minority Mitch McConnell for making that vote happen in secret and expediently. Why fight when there's eggnog to be drunk.

The big winners in this sham are Louisiana, Nebraska, Vermont and Massachusetts. Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Landrieu (D-LA) let the nation off easy by only highjacking a few hundred million each of extra money for their states. What is extra money you say? Apparently, to the Senate, extra means money that you still have in your pocket. Nebraska and Vermont were the big winners though. All of those massive unfunded mandates in the Senate bill that will be crippling states for years to come? Not a worry for the cornhusker or maple syrup states. The Senate, in all it's charity, decided that these two states are special and should have all of their massive unfunded mandates paid for by the taxpayers of the other states. A high price for votes.

How very generous of us all! I kind of wish I lived in one of these select few states, but hey, the man in the black coat with the gun in my back says I should be happy to do my fair share and subsidized both the people of Colorado as well as Nebraska, Vermont, Louisiana and Massachusetts so who am I to argue? Hopefully I get some coal this Christmas, with all this "charity" and "goodwill" I may need it to heat my house.

Merry Christmas!

What A Special Time

The Carnival of the Damned was back in full force today as both Obama and the Senate took turns insulting out intelligence and making a mockery of the Constitution.

Where to begin. Obama is the Instigator in Chief so we might as well start there.

In a speech today, Obama took the time to blast the TARP package passed at the end of the Bush term, pat himself on the back for rescuing the economy and laid out his new plan to spend our way out of the recession.

Whew. First of all, I happen to agree that the TAP plan was a legislative abortion. I just wish Obama also felt this way back when he was voting for it as a Senator. I also wish Obama would not have appointed the architect of said abortion (Tim Geitner) as his Secretary of the Treasury. The most galling thing about Obama constantly hammering the spending explosion under Bush is that most of it happened since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006 and wore out the credit line. With Obama's support the whole time. Obama should be trying to ignore discussing the economy at all given his complicit part in it's destruction. He's decided to try and spin 15% unemployment, 7 million jobs lost and absolute zero growth as "saving the economy." Very odd.

Most insulting though is his new plan to spend our way out of the recession. What exactly have we been doing? The TARP was meant to get banks lending credit again. Instead, Obama decided to buy up banks, lending firms and GM. The stimulus was meant to get people working by taking shovel ready jobs and funding them so they could be gin right away. So far, there isn't any evidence the stimulus has created one job. Most of that money has gone to states to cover various deficits, social programs or legal teams, if you live in Colorado. Whatever money is left is just sitting in a slush fund waiting for the Fed to send out to its political allies. So after two multi trillion dollar failures, Obama ow wants stimulus III to finally start getting people working. Yeah right buddy. You're a liar and a bad one at that. I know you're just daring the media to call you out on all this but what you don't seem to get is that even the most dim witted American can see the truth of your flawed ideology.
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In other news, the Senate has defeated the Benson Amendment banning federal health care reform from paying for abortions. That's right, your tax dollars might end up collapsing a fetal skull in the near future. The only question now is how much spine do the pro-life Democrats have now? Ben Nelson has drawn a pretty firm line in the sand on the abortion issue, much like Joe Lieberman has drawn an anti public plan line. If I had to make a prediction, Nelson would crumble as would all the other pro-life Dems and Lieberman can probably be bought off with some clever rewording of the socialist option. Then the elections will come and heads will roll.
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From the world of sports, the Yankees are apparently close to sending Austin Jackson, Phil Coke and Ian Kennedy off into the wilderness to acquire Curtis Granderson. The WWL assumes that this might also mean the end of Johnny Damon in New York. I am mystified that seems to be a positive move in the eyes of the media heads. We must first throw out the Kennedy/Coke part. Nobody cares about those two. Essentially its Austin Jackson for Curtis Granderson. While certainly an upgrade defensively, Granderson hit a whopping .249 last year with 30 HR's and 71 RBI. Essentially he's Melky Cabrera with more pop and less average. And way more expensive. For years Yankee fans have been hearing about how great Austin Jackson could be. If the team believes his ceiling is batting .250 with 25 HRS and 50 RBI then the trade makes sense but it seems like the Yanks are trying to get the big name again hoping Granderson somehow recreates his 07 season (.302, 23 HR, 74 RBI) on a consistent basis. A risky proposition considering he has only done that once in his six year career.

2010 United States Senate - CO

In a recent poll by Rasmussen now shows Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier with a 1%(40-39) lead over incumbent Democrat Michael Bennett.

This poll was taken on September 9th. A previous poll by PPP on August 14-16 showed Bennett with a 5% advantage (38-33).

This is meaningful for a few reasons. First, it shows a steady climb by Frazier. Relatively unknown outside the Denver area, Frazier has made a number of stops along the font range to gain better name recognition. It appears to be working. I suspect if you had access to the deeper polling statistics, you would see quite a jump in popularity in the Colorado Springs area along with smaller but apparent increases in approval in Pueblo/Huerfano County but that's just personal speculation. Second important factor is that Bennett is stuck around 38% in all the polls. This could be indicative that the low 40's/high 30's is his ceiling for popularity. If so, that means game over. Lastly, Frazier rival Ken Buck has not been able to make any headway against Bennett, consistently polling 5 to 6 points behind. He may have found his popularity ceiling as well.

There are still two unknowns for Frazier. As of yet, I haven't found any polling for a Frazier/Tidwell primary or even a Bennett - Tidewell general election. He must not have actually filed yet.

Jane Norton has filed and a one day poll shows her with a nine point lead over Bennett. This is bad for Bennett but no really enlightening for the Republican primary. She hasn't gone out to give speeches yet as far as I know, so she is just polling on name alone at this point.

2010 United States Senate - NV

SHARK ATTACK!

A new poll that came out this weekend shows Democratic Senate Majority Stooge Harry Reid has got himself into quite a situation.

It seems that three possible Republican challengers are currently polling ahead of Reid, two of them by double digits. (read the story here.)

It breaks down like such: Tarkanian 49% Reid 38%, Heller +10% over Reid and Lawton 45% Reid %40.

While all that is very good news, the real story is that first name.

Tarkanian.

In Nevada.

Could it be?

Yes! Yes it could!

That Trakanian is none other than the son of infamous towel chewing, scandal surviving, college basketball coack Jerry Tarkanian. The Shark returns!

This may please me even more than the prospect of that little weasel Reid going down like a poor mans Tom Daschle. Why, just the other day I was doing some deep thinking about the cosmos and life in general and I came to the conclusion that the wrold needed more tough guys, strong willed, boundry pushing, life in the fast lane sorts that make things happen. Guys that can beat Duke by 30 to win the championship. Guys like the Shark.

It seems karma was listening.

Lets just hope Lloyd Daniels doesn't need a job on the campaign.

2010 United States Senate - NH

This is a good sign for Republicans. The GOP has had some success getting good candidates to run for House seats but this is a strong candidate to try and hold a Republican seat in the Senate. It's unlikely that Ayotte would give up a top spot as Attorney General if she wasn't confident she could raise enough money to win. ~ptm~

Story from the AP:
July 7, 2009
NH AG Kelly Ayotte resigns to explore Senate race

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is resigning to explore a campaign for U.S. Senate.

Ayotte submitted her letter of resignation to Gov. John Lynch, effective Friday, July 17.

In a statement Tuesday, Ayotte says many people have urged her to run. She said she made her decision after discussing the matter with her husband, Joe.

Ayotte, a Republican and the state's first female attorney general, has served for five years under two governors.

Ayotte joined the state Department of Justice in 1998. She was appointed head of the criminal bureau in 2000 and earned renown in that post for negotiating guilty pleas with a pair of teens accused of murdering two Dartmouth College professors.

Last year she oversaw the prosecution of Michael Addison on charges of killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Link to Story

2010 United States Senate - FL

Given that it is another slow sports day, we'll keep looking into the 2010 elections by examining the Republican primary in Florida.

This primary is a good example of whether or not the party can look ahead to the future or will continue to be stuck in the past.

The two candidates are Governor Charlie Crist and State Representative Marco Rubio.

Crist is the typical McCain-esque Republican. Always interested in compromise, not especially principled when it comes to conservatism. He belongs in the Lindsey Graham, McCain, Tom Ridge, Colin Powell, RINO wing of the party. The Cuban-American Rubio, on the other hand was a consistent conservative during his time as Florida House Speaker, championing free market principles and low taxes to encourage expansion.

The Republican party desperately needs some new faces and people who are actually committed to conservative ideals. Rubio could fill both roles, educating the public about conservatism as he has done his whole career while simultaneously showing that the party isn't just for old white guys like Crist.

Also, Crist supported the Obama stimulus abomination, in case you needed any other reason to look somewhere else.

Rubio unfortunately lacks the party support and name recognition that Crist has, so it's a long shot but not impossible. Give him a look.

marcorubio.com

100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future

2010 United States Senate - AK

Since Alaska governor Sarah Palin announced her resignation, the media has been actively engaged in its usual cycle of cynical judgmentalism and insane speculation.

Most of the cynical judgments being cast about are that Palin ins somehow weak and stupid for quitting her job now. The inference being that she couldn't handle the pressure and collapsed and destroyed her political career.

The speculation runs a wide range of topics from her starting her 2012 campaign now to her being completely out of politics. As usual these speculations are based on nearly nothing. The one thing that should be easy to ascertain is that she isn't retiring. Her statement clearly states a political future of some kind. Andrea Mitchell may just have to go back and do some fact checking before breaking another story.

While her future may lie in a presidential run or some sort of fundraising/PAC capacity, I hope that she splits the difference and turns her eye to the United States Senate.

A Presidential run may be too difficult at this point to be considered viable. The media has an unreasonable hatred for her as do all Democrats and many elitest Republicans. That can be difficult to overcome. In Alaska though, shes still popular and should be able to generate some favorable press, locally if not nationally.

The timing of her resignation fits as well. Lisa Murkowski is up for reelection in 2010 and if Palin wanted to challenge her, now is the time to start.

Murkowski is the type of Senator that Palin would love to take out from an ideological standpoint as well. Murkowski isn't quite as far to the left as Snowe, Collins and the late Spector but she is close. This would be a good opportunity to clean up a little dead wood from the party while it's in a downward trend. Palin is used to this fight, she eliminated Murkowski's father in the race for governor.

While not the Presidency, a spot in the Senate still carries quite a bit of power with it. You have immediate access to the media, lobbyists, etc. No more draining flights from Alaska. In addition, Palin would be far more famous and influential than a typical newcomer given her name recognition and the weakness of the current Republican crop. She would be short on seniority but tall on influence.

Congressional experience would also put her in a prime spot for future Presidential elections or on the short list for high level Presidential appointments (State, Defense, etc.). This whole saga could turn out to be a win-win for everyone.

Oops, I mean everyone but Lisa Murkowski.

2010 United States Senate - CO

Newest campaign video for Ryan Frazier, a Colorado Republican hoping to unseat Michael Bennett.



www.frazierforcolorado.com