Who in the age of youtube insists that he never said, "The WAR! is lost!", when speaking of Iraq.  Which, on it's face is breathtaking, since he, Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Obama and to a lesser extent Hillary formed the core of "The WAR! is Lost!" brigade immediately after the 2004 election.  These same tools were the one proclaiming for any MFM cameras that pointed in their direction that "The SURGE! has FAILED!"; even when there was irrefutable evidence otherwise...

It's especially shocking considering many of these same people contend that the GOP is banking on continued suffering in America.  On the contrary, they've seen this failure of communism redistributionist socialism before, time and time again; as anyone who studied history would be aware.

It's little wonder that he's struggling in his race with Sharon Angle. Especially after the consensus view is that she won last night's debate.

AllahP has the smoking gun video.

Rocketman

A Trio of Trifling Twits

Virtuous or vogorish?  I'll let you make the call, but any fair assessment will have to wait until Lord Reid allows us plebeians, and his fellow Senators to, you know, actually see the bill being voted on. 

Still, some of the details of the compromises payoffs are out there already, and Cap'n Ed features a list of them:

Recall the moments in 2008 when Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama campaigned on the platform of — must … control … gag … reflex — “Honest Leadership, Open Government”?  This picture should jog your memories, and your own gag reflexes, especially that sanctimonious pose by Reid.  The trio have managed to make themselves either satirists of the highest order or influence peddlers of the lowest while struggling to pass the second item on their legislative agenda.

It seems to me that if ObamaCare really reformed the process, we wouldn’t need all of these exceptions to its rules.  After all, it’s supposed to “bend the cost curve downward” for everyone.  If it does that, then why does Hawaii need a DSH extension?  Why does Connecticut need exemptions for its hospitals and a $100 million grant, if we’re leveling the playing field?

 

Cap'n Ed makes a great point in that last paragraph.  Make sure you read the entire piece to get an idea of the magnitude of coin dropped on select members of the most ethical party-EVAR!,  enough that it caused them to see Obamacare in a whole new light.  I won't invoke the old joke about prostitutes and prices, but it seems that the Senators detailed have revealed how much their individual ethoses (ethoi, ethe?) are worth.

 

Some though, like Tom Harkin, are more up-front about it.  He didn't need a bribe, because the way he sees it he's part of a putsch that is creating a whole new category of rights in America:

Harkin dismissed deals dubbed vote-buying by GOP senators as "small stuff" that distracted Americans from the primary focus of the overhaul bill.  "We have to keep our eyes on what we're trying to do here. We're trying to cross a demarcation line," Harkin told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "On one side is health care as a privilege, on the other side is health care as a right. With these votes, with the vote that we'll take before Christmas, we will cross that line finally and say that health care is a right of all Americans."

Imagine if you can...Creating a whole new class of constitutional "rights",but without all of the messy business of actually amending the constitution.  What progress!  And all it took was a few bucks inserted in the correct vest pockets.  At ACE's site Slublog points out Harkin's particular flavor of hypocrisy by quoting him chastizing Boooooooosh! in 2004:

"The President must stop gambling with taxpayers' money and get the country back on the path of fiscal sanity."

 
I wonder what's changed since then. Oh, that's right, one of his guys is the President now. Now that's integrity my friends...

 

But, it's Christmas after all and I should be more charitable, and less suspicious.  So, I'll just characterize this instead as the cost to fall on their sword, so to speak, in the next election; because according to Quinnipiac and Rasmussen the majority of the public oppose this abomination of a bill-and oppose the public funding of abortion by a 3 to 1 ratio!  In fact, according to Scotty Ras', just 34% believe that passing this bill would be better than doing NOTHING!  The President and the congressional Democrats are counting on the public having a short memory at the polls next year, a phenomenon they generally count on.  It's up to all of us to keep the presure on our Representatives and Senators, call them today and every day until the Obamacare vote is actually taken.  Tell them to vote NO!; and if you want, remind them that your vote, ergo-their job, depends on how they vote on this bill.  Help to bring OPERATION WATERLOO to a successful conclusion.

In any case, during the coming election season prior to the 2010 vote, you need to remind everyone you talk with to hold these people accountable.  Remember all the grand promises they made, and how they violated them all to drag Obamacare across the finish line; that they traded all of their principles for a political victory.  Those who feel that they have the latitude to impose what they feel is "best for us", as opposed to executing our will, must be treated like the unprincipled hacks that they are and fired-by rejecting them at the ballot box next year if they impose this legislation, that is opposed by the majority of the public, on to all.  Remember their 2008 mantra, and make them pay for resorting to disingenuous sloganeering.

Ethics!, Leadership!,Judgement!,Transparency!

O!

(H/T Cap'n Ed)

Rocketman

Because in addition to ridiculing the preposterous comparison made by Dingy Harry of opponents of Obamacare to proponents of slavery, this cartoon speaks volumes about the imperious Democrats in control of all three branches of our government and the statist direction they seek to take us in.  Especially so, in light of the attempted slight of hand that would call expansion of the nearly bankrupt programs of medicare and medicaid, as a proxy for a bridge to a single payer government healthcare system, a "compromise" solution, while at the same time quietly assuring your own that it is indeed a "public option".  And even moreso when you consider the chilling talk about the "command and control economy" spoken of by the haughty EPA director after announcing the institution of regulations that are effectively a back-door to cap-n-trade, with all of the taxes and none of the trade; a sterling example of the executive branch gone wild, governing by fiat, arrogantly bypassing Congressional authority and oversight in flagrante delicto.

I can't say it any more succinctly than Cap'n Ed:

Our founders wrote the Constitution to limit the power of Congress to avoid precisely this kind of outcome.  When elected officials tell their serfs subjects constituents that Congress has the power to write any kind of laws they want, it exemplifies the founders’ most basic fear of centralized, federal governments.  They knew that serfdom could come through the ballot box, and they’re about to be proven prescient.

I'll remind all that the debate is raging on, but that the Democrats are hoping that waning public attention during the holiday season will allow them to sneak this abomination of personal liberty, as well as the certain destruction of the best on-demand health care system in the world, through "under the radar".  So call, write, and/or e-mail your Representative and Senator on a near daily basis reminding them of your desire that they vote "No!" on this legislation; perhaps reminding them that of they do so against your wishes that you will not only vote against them in the next election, but will work tirelessly for their opponents.  Don't give up now, continue with Operation Waterloo.

(H/T Cap'n Ed and Darleen at PW)

Related [from Dan]: Federal salaries explode

Rocketman

The vote is tentatively planned for Saturday at 8 pm, following just 10 hours of debate:

One swing Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said he still has a range of concerns but suggested he might at least be willing to begin debate. "If you don't like the bill, then why would you block your own opportunity to amend it?" he said. Two other Democrats on the fence, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, remained noncommittal Wednesday evening.

Still to be fought out is the issue of abortion. The Senate bill provides wider insurance coverage for abortion than the House legislation. Among other things, the Senate's proposal would allow women who receive government subsidies to buy insurance to enroll in a plan that covers abortion, while the House bill would bar that. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) said he wanted to force the Senate to vote on whether to adopt the House limits. "We'll have a major debate," he said.

While this bill is still far from Senate passage, it would be better if debate were never opened on this nearly 1 trillion dollar government takeover of the best health care system in the world; one that 85% of Americans are currently happy with.  Now I'll grudgingly admit that Senator Nelson has a point about needing to open the debate in order for it to be possible to even amend the current legislation.  But with the Stupak legislation neutered through watered-down language and the cost of this masked by tax increases and false promises of medicare cuts that will never come, my considered opinion is that this bill is an economic disaster wating to happen, an abomination of initiative sapping and freedom grabbing de-motivation, and the licensce for the government to intrude into, and regulate, some of the most intimate decisions regarding your most private property-your physical self.

Make no mistake.  Regardless of how little fiscal sense this makes, it does represent Obama's political Waterloo since he has committed most of his energy and political capital to it's passage; at the expense of many other responsibilities and concerns of his office.  It has become more about the President exerting his will upon the nation and so much less about what is good for our nation.  He needs to pass something, anything !, that can be pointed to as a Success! of the first historic year of the Obama agenda; he needs to show progress .  It's all about the optics; about style over substance...

I urge all to call their Senators and register your dissatisfaction with this legislation.  Tell them in no uncertain terms that if they vote for it, you will work as hard as it takes to ensure their electoral defeat.  Better yet, put it in writing...

It's all on the line now, which explains this cowardly parlaimentary move, coming in the dark of night, as far out of the public eye as possible-save for CSPAN.  Call your Senators, tell them to vote No! on this stealthy incremental step towards removing a fundamental part of your freedom and personal liberty.  Do it for yourself, in the short term, and to save your children and grandchildren from both their share of additional crushing public debt and so that they may enjoy the same level of medical care we do now; one that can only exist in a free market system which incentivizes research, innovation, efficiency, and professional participation.

UPDATE: Bookworm contributes to the conversation by comparing the efforts of the AP on fact-checking the Senate Obamacare bill to the effort expended fact checking Sarah Palin's new book:

Number of AP reporters assigned to story:
• ObamaCare bills: 2
• Palin book: 11

Number of pages in document being covered:
• ObamaCare bills: 4,064
• Palin book: 432

Number of pages per AP reporter:
• ObamaCare bill: 2,032
• Palin book: 39.3

Mindboggling bias and a painfully obvious agenda? Yes... Surprising? Not at all...

Rocketman

 

While subtlety is the order of the day for some on the left, others are allowing the mask to slip a bit.  Like Senate majority leader Reid, who told interviewers that he believed Kennedy’s death would help them pass the health care legislation.  Still others, like former Vice President Al Gore, are appealing to morality; citing Matthews Gospel and declaring, “The country has a moral duty to pass health care reform-This Year!”. For his part, former President Clinton, like many other Democrats, is trying to rally the party faithful and downplaying the furor of the people at town hall fora during August;

 “You need to back these congressmen and let them know you’re not going to let them be steamrollered by a bunch of people who have been frightened,” Clinton said, in reference to the town hall tumult of the last few weeks. “Don’t let anybody tell you that President Obama wants to ration health care. We are rationing health care in America.”

People who’ve been frightened?  Shouldn’t he instead speak of people who’ve actually learned what is in the bill,  what it will ultimately cost in dollars as well as in quality of American health care?  It’s fascinating to watch the masters of fear-mongering, who regularly accused Republicans of plotting to cut medicare, and who are planning to do so themselves, intead accuse rank and file people across America with being scared into action, once again, by the Republicans.

What’s even more fascinating is the to-the-wall effort being expended; the usual, “by any means necessary” approach.  The New York Times has put aside any pretense by calling for the “nuclear” option of simple majority vote in the Senate; an act of parlimentary prestidigitation that would reveal Obama’s post-partisan demagoguery as the palaver it really is.  Still others are reaching for an old standby, the race card; such as Congresswoman Watson who insists that Obamacare opponents, “are trying to destroy the first President who looks like me!”.  But the most often employed measure, one that has worked most effectively in the past, is to have the Democrat’s allies in the MSM basically non-report on the contents of the actual legislation, scream breathlessly that the Republicans are not willing to play nice with Obama, and desperately hope that any actual reporting being done on the bill gets as little exposure as possible; like the fact’s uncovered by Freddoso and confirmed by the CRS that Obamacare will cover illegal immigrants!

But, all of this is just another number in what has become familiar Kabuki Theater.  It’s not a question of, “if”, the Democrats will try to capitalize off of Ted Kennedy’s death, but only “how” they will try to do so.  The only real question that remains is what will they call it?  Obamacare, as has come into popular editorial usage, ChapiquiddiCare, as Ace likes to refer to it, or, maybe, KopechneCare…

UPDATE: Andrew Breitbart weighs in on what is hopefully the end of the MSM's cover for America's royalty.

Rocketman

Flag@WhiteHouse.gov should refer to this for to understand the science/art that is Donkey Punching.

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

Website - More Posts