Boehner gives the money shot

Spoiler alert: He wants to cut trillions!!! For the money shot, go to about 3:30.

Lots of other good points in there too, but it's really, really, really good to hear him talking in the context of that magnitude.

The first 5 nominees for "2011 RINO of the year"

It's early I know but there's already so much competition for RINO of the Year (formerly Squish of the Year) that it's best to do a 1st Quarter checkpoint so that later in the year we won't forget who absolutely does not belong in the Republican party.  Here are 5 nominees for this year.

Government Stays Open - Who Gets What

So many ways to add a metaphor...

The government is not shutting down.  At least for now.  Who won?  Who lost?  What really happened? Time for a quick assessment of the outcome.  Here's a quick look at what the various parties concerned with the deal get and my two cents on what it means.

Scheming Harry Reid: It's Not About The Number

Lost in thought or just the attempt?

Really Harry?  Are you that dumb or that smart? Either Reid doesn't get that the country is going broke and the resulting voter anger over it, OR, he is using the opportunity to move the debate to territory he feels is more favorable to him because he really wants a shutdown but doesn't want the blame.  So which is it? Scheming politico or out of touch and obstinate?

[As an added wrinkle, Boehner says that they do indeed have an agreement on the social issue stuff and it is in fact really about the numbers.]

Latest Left Protest - Dump Trash on Boehner's Lawn

This is just the beginning.  A Facebook effort to dump trash on Rep. Boehner's lawn - at his home - in the event of of a government shutdown.  Not Harry Reid's lawn mind you.  The left doesn't blame him, just Boehner.  This is purely politics and more specifically the politics of deception.  

Tea Party Santelli redux

House Republican Leader John Boehner has an excellent post on gopleader.gov, about the latest Rick Santelli outburst. Rick Santelli, you might remember last year was the inspiration, or at least the spark for the Tea Party movement. On CNBC, Santelli unloaded Democrat Rep. Paul Kanjorski. It was a simple, irrefutable argument.

The Health Care Monster That Wouldn't Die

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Capitol - the Jaws of health care are back. Democrats seemingly have convinced themselves that this is either great for the country, great for their chances of re-election or both. Why they think that way is baffling. It's the health care monster that wouldn't die.

Greg Sargent of The Plum Line fame, and clearly liberal bent, had this to say;

In the course of unveiling Obama’s new health reform proposal on a conference call with reporters this morning, White House advisers made it clearer than ever before: If the GOP filibusters health reform, Dems will move forward on their own and pass it via reconciliation.

The assertion, which is likely to spark an angry response from GOP leaders, ups the stakes in advance of the summit by essentially daring Republicans to try to block reform.

“The President expects and believes the American people deserve an up or down vote on health reform,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on the call.

Just like Democrats did with President Bush's court nominees, something that legitimately required a straight up-or-down vote but for many, never occurred? I'm sure Republicans will be more than happy to roll over.

Daring Republicans to block reform. Republicans would be out of their mind NOT to block this reform. Progressives love that word 'reform'. They don't seem to understand that it is not inherently good. For example, reforming a water bed into an ice bed is not so good. So too, this doubling down on a bad idea, as John Boehner points out;

“The President has crippled the credibility of this week’s summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected. This new Democrats-only backroom deal doubles down on the same failed approach that will drive up premiums, destroy jobs, raise taxes, and slash Medicare benefits.

“This week’s summit clearly has all the makings of a Democratic infomercial for continuing on a partisan course that relies on more backroom deals and parliamentary tricks to circumvent the will of the American people and jam through a massive government takeover of health care."

Kinda sends a shudder down your spine, doesn't it? It's not over yet. This distraction from the economy the White House insists upon is going to be their undoing, the country's undoing or both. As an angry town hall citizen, a Tea Partier or just a fed up American, you have to ensure that the GOP do everything in their power to thwart this misguided use of the American government's time and effort and the peoples' money.

Conservatives, Were We Just Kidding Ourselves?

Well, conservatives, were we just kidding ourselves? Was health care a done deal as far back as November 2008?  After all Democrats control Congress, the Senate and the White House.  Convincingly.  And President Obama was quick to point out to Republicans that he won. I hope not, but...

For all the Tea Parties and town hall energy spent, it appears to have had no effect.  Well, that's not entirely true.  Some minds were changed or at least influenced.  But it was never going to be enough.  The Democratic leadership was going to push this in a thousand different forms if that's what it took to finally get one version through.

Republican John Boehner pointed out that the anti-abortion amendment to the legislation appeared to be a bit of a Democrat shell game.  Would you really be surprised if he was right?  Pelosi, Reid and Obama want what they want and they intend to get it, no matter how they have to approach things to get it.  Rush Limbaugh has pointed out in the past that Republicans were running Congress in the 1990's like a minority, and Democrats were running the minority like they were still in power.  Clearly conservatives and/or Republicans have a lot to learn.

This outcome was inevitable.  It sounds fatalistic but really, if the GOP had had the courage under Bush to fix Social Security in 2005, then what Rush Limbaugh had said would be proven wrong.  But he was right.  And he was right about the Democrats too.  They believe they have some sort of inherent right to lead, and public opinion either doesn't matter, or it is always on their side.  So of course they were going to push this because they had the means, motive and opportunity to do so.

But fatalism is not my point here.  This fight must continue, but renewed and increased effort is required, because the fight just got harder last night.  And defeat is not assured.  Just because we naively believed this could be stopped by protests and letters, doesn't mean there aren't other paths to victory, or that more of the same won't work. Those paths will become more clear in time.  But even if we were just kidding ourselves, we can't give up on fighting for REAL REFORM, instead of this sham of expanding government and calling it reform - that approach hasn't been reform for centuries, it's just more of the same, literally.

Republican SLOW CLAP for John Boehner

Let me start the SLOW CLAP for John Boehner, Republican House Leader for trying to personally derail the Cap and Trade bill in Congress that will go a long way to turning the United States into a Third World nation.

In the middle of a deep recession, in the middle of a choking de-industrialization of the nation that once produced over 50% of the world's GDP, in the middle of a global cooling phase, the Democrats managed to pass a bill to kill what's left of American manufacturing, to kill the auto industry, to hamstring Boeing, and Caterpillar, and countless others.

On top of which, they decided to slide it through on a Friday afternoon, the day after Michael Jackson died - as close to the dead of night they could muster.

John Boehner went on Twitter (go there and search #nocap to see some tweets on the topic) and plead with conservatives to contact their representatives to stop the bill. Then he went on the floor of Congress and tried to affect a one-man filibuster.

He deserves a round of applause for his efforts.




The bill passed 219-212. The congressional representatives were flooded with calls to reconsider. It was closer than expected. It was almost turned back.

This could be a moment in time that people look back and say this was the moment America truly lost it's way and wandered into the wilderness for decades or perhaps even irreversibly. This is the wrong bill at the wrong time.

Maybe not. Maybe the world of Twitter can be even more effectively leveraged in the future, with less generals trying to promote their own agendas (myself included at times) and more foot soldiers willing to mount a coordinated effort to stop bad government decisions. America needs it. There is no government body dedicated to 'sober second thought' now - it's up to the people to do that for their elected, unlistening politicians.

Meanwhile, SLOW CLAP for John Boehner again. Excellent effort Congressman.

House - Learn to read.

This is as important to see as it is brief. GOP House minority leader John Boehner points out the biggest problem with passing this bill.

Remember, while there was a show of bi-partisanship, Republicans were, in addition to Boehner's concern below, shut out of involvement in the crafting of this bill



Democrats: At least make a REAL show of being inclusive. At least pretend to be responsible. Actually doing those things we can see is beyond your potential.

Next stop the Anti-Free-Speech Doctrine. The 2nd and 3rd volleys have already come -the latest from former President Bill Clinton.