Saturday, November 8, 2008

No Humility in Victory, No Graciousness in Defeat

Just like we saw a total and complete lack of graciousness from the left in 2004 when John Kerry lost, I'm now starting to see a complete lack of humility in victory amongst Democratic supporters.

There's the continued attacks on McCain and Palin, the hate-filled speech towards Republicans as if we were early in primary season, the "seance" comments by Barack Obama towards Nancy Reagan (which actually better apply to Hillary Clinton, but is still a misnomer of a term).

Tonight, we have another good example...my wife (who has a McCain/Palin bumper sticker) was harrassed for several miles on I-81 by a couple of college-aged kids holding up handwritten signs that said things like "Ha Ha You Lost!!" and "McCain Sucks".

Pathetic. No humility or decorum in victory at all.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Novak: "No Mandate"

Bob Novak lays it out that Obama's victory, while solid, did not provide the lopsided congress and paradigm shift in American politics that some would like to think has happened.

Author Michael Crichton Dead at 66...

Sad news for millions, author Michael Crichton is dead at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer.

Crichton was a PhD, an author whose books have entertained millions and have often been translated into movie form, and a leading critic of the global warming movement.

In fact, his criticism (which, given his PhD, lends him some credibility) has frustrated Al Gore on many occasions, especially when he issued a series of challenges to Gore to debate the topic, but the former VP refused.

Crichton was the author of such books as Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Congo, The Great Train Robbery, The Terminal Man, Westworld, State of Fear, and Disclosure. He was also the brainchild behind the TV show ER, co-wrote the screenplay for the movie Twister, and also co-wrote the screenplays for a number of the movies that were made from his own books.

Crichton's works are best known for challenging the idea of "fail-safe" measures and the idea that so-called "perfect" and "infalliable" systems will inevitably fail at some point, no matter how hard you try to achieve perfection.

I Will Not Take The Same Road as the Opposition

While I will remain very critical of Obama's policies and decision when I do not agree with them (which I hope will not be as often as I fear it may be) I WILL be something that Democrats/liberals have not been.

I will remain loyal opposition. I will put my country first. I will not suffer a conservative version of the "Bush Derangement Syndrome" that has plagued the left for 8 years. You won this election, I concede that easily, because there is no point in doing otherwise.

If you think that this will dampen my spirits and leave my objective to promote my beliefs daunted...think again. However, I will not desert my nation because I believe they make a mistake in selecting a leader. I will work my tail off to promote a better America.

Now let's get to work on this country, shall we?

Change? Not Right Off the Bat...

Apparently, Obama has now officially offered the position of White House Chief of Staff to Rahm "Republicans can go f*ck themselves" Emmanuel.

Why do I see this as a bad omen for any hopes of bipartisanship?

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

David Kahane GETS IT...Period

K-Lo from The Corner posts some truth from David Kahane regarding this election and what needs to be done going forward from the death of this prosperous period in American history...

1) We got this the old-fashioned way: we earned it. The other side took the fight to us, and we never took the fight to the other side, except coyly and obliquely. That's not a mistake we should make the next time. "Honorable campaigns" are for losers. Next time, call 'em as they really are, not as you wish to see 'em.

2) Where was Bush? Once again, and right to the bitter end, he let his passion for "loyalty" supersede what was stragetically right for the party, not to mention what was best for the country. I think his reputation has nowhere to go but down; yes, he got one big thing right,
but he got everything else wrong. Enough of this family in our
country's politics!

3) Good riddance to Liddy Dole, the woman who gave us the national drinking age of 21 and a host of sozzled underage college students. She won't be missed.

4) Hillary comes out smelling like a rose, plus unbloodied. She and Bill are already scoping out 2012.

5) Time to clean house. McCain should have been president in 2000, not in 2008. No more "it's my turn" for the last loser. We need to be looking for our candidates in the ranks of returning war vets — think Eisenhower in '52 as the model — and let the Dem's shifty lawyers run the country for a couple of years. Then hit them across the board with people who know how to lead. Gen. Petraeus might be a good place to start. Lots of junior officers, too.

6) You know what? McCain never did sell himself as a leader. He sold himself as a maverick.

7) One upside: McCain/Feingold is now dead, as is public financing. Talk about being hoist with your own petard!

8) That Gang of 14 thing really worked out well, didn't it? Say good-bye to the courts. And we were so close...

9) Joe Lieberman was worse than useless. When he could have made a difference, he didn't cross the aisle to caucus with the Republicans.
Now, it doesn't matter. Thanks, Joe.

10) Age matters. McCain ran an "honorable campaign" because he never really understood in his heart that the other guy had no intention of doing so; he didn't "get" Obama's generation, or Axelrod's.. Obama would lie about public financing, "oppose" gay marriage but also oppose Prop. 8 and never see it as morally contradictory. The world that McCain understood and operated in is vanishing, and tonight is visible evidence.

11) Unlike the Democrats, let's show some class in defeat. That doesn't mean lie down and roll over: it means fighting for what we believe in, doubly so now. But their sneering childishness is not for us; and now that they've won, they won't be able to control it even in victory. This is an unlovely party filled with unlovely people, as America's about to find out once the Obama pixie dust wears off.

12) Understand, once and for all, that the old media is part of the Democratic Party now. Ignore it. Never send Michele Bachmann onto Hardball again. Never send Sarah to play nice with Katie. We need to develop and create our own work-arounds — Fox, talk radio, NRO, etc. — and use them. Don't play by their rules: make our own.

Truth, my friends, is occasionally a hard pill to swallow...but there isn't much to argue with above.

Far From a Mandate, Remember That...

Democrats, don't get too overjoyed. A 2% win with everything going in your favor does not mean a "mandate for change", it means you slipped through the cracks and won in spite of yourselves.

America, brace yourselves. Welcome to the land of mediocracy, forced attempts at one-party rule, and the end of your ability to freely pursue happiness...because your ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness will be redistributed to those who lack the impetus to pursue it themselves.

Congratulations, you have now earned yourselves 4 years to screw things up beyond recognition.

Welcome to a land where the majority of black voters can vote for Obama because of his race, and it's OK...but if you're white and you supported McCain, you were a racist and a bigot. Welcome to a land where the economy will not grow at all. Welcome to the end of blue collar work. Welcome to 4 years of nothing productive. Welcome to the end of the ability to defend yourself. Welcome to the end of the optimistic, bipartisan spirit of the Reagan-Clinton era. Welcome to the statist supermajority.

However, while you Democrats get drunk on power, you will turn a blind eye. You will forget that the American public can only stay fooled for so long. Meanwhile, true conservatives, libertarians, and moderates will be working hard behind the scenes to bring America back to where it should be. Back to her principles. Back to our Constitutional basis. Back to the ideals of individual liberty.

Enjoy your victory tonight, because all you are doing is setting the groundwork for the return of true American, democratic (small d), capitalist, freedom-based ideals.

Mid-Election Night Thoughts...

- Gerry Connolly is VASTLY underperforming so far against Keith Fimian in VA-11. Honestly, with 56% of precincts in, he is only up 52%-45% in what should have been a 10-15 point victory for him.

- VA-02 is fluctuating, but staying in Glenn Nye's favor. Just like 2006, Thelma Drake is close to losing her seat.

- Bob Goodlatte, Eric Cantor, Randy Forbes, Rob Wittman, and Frank Wolf all going as thought...big GOP victories...those are districts 6, 7, 4, 1, and 10.

- 90% of precincts reporting, and Tom Perriello is up on incumbent Virgil Goode by less than 3,000 votes in VA-05. Most of this is because Goode is his own worst enemy at times.

- I think it's WAAAY too early to call Ohio for Obama.

Pre-Return Thoughts...

- If anyone thinks this will be some kind of a "historic blowout" for either candidate, you're HIGHLY delusional. Neither candidate will win by more than 2-3%. The electoral college will be close for McCain if he wins, like a "less than 20 electoral votes victory" kind of close. If Obama gets the nod in the toss-up states, he will have a victory in the electoral college that looks like Clinton's wins in 92 and 96...solid, but nothing spectacular.

- The throwing out of Republican election officials, and the intimidation of GOP voters by Black Panthers and other groups in Philadelphia is despicable...but the left won't say a word about it.

- The exit polls that showed a Kerry blowout in '04 will show an Obama blowout in '08. Ignore them, and watch the ACTUAL RETURNS.

- If the networks call the election for Obama before the polls close in the Mountain Time Zone, then the networks have reached a new low in how far in the tank for Obama they are.

- If Obama wins, consider the positive, prosperous eras of both Ronald Reagan AND Bill Clinton to be over and done with...and an economic and social malaise, brought on by socialist policies, will set in by 2012.

- I think the fact that the leftist bloggers call white people voting for McCain "racist", but 95% of black people voting for Obama (many of which cite his race as the deciding factor) is "OK" with them. I also abhor the fact that my being a hispanic who supports McCain makes me a "race traitor" of some kind, in the eyes of a few bloggers.

We'll see how things go as the returns roll in, most Eastern Time Zone polls close in 24 minutes...

Why NOW???

First, the Sunday before the election, we get Obama stating he will bankrupt the coal industry and raise electricity prices, and today we finally get Sarah Palin cleared of any ethics violations or wrongdoing in the "Troopergate" non-scandal.

Of course, this could not have been released (or made public by the MSM) say, oh, a week ago?

Ok, I get that the clearing of Palin's name was only made official today...but can anyone tell me (beyond their own bias) why the San Francisco Chronicle would keep those Obama tapes from being released?