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Category: Legislative

Joel Kaplan is confused about Conservatism

Posted by Kevin Smith – 12/11/08

I just listened to Joel Kaplan, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, on the Hugh Hewitt Show try to say that this auto bailout should make conservatives happy. Why? Because the money will help forestall Detroit’s experiencing of market forces while at the same time appointing a car czar with the kind of leverage to force the car companies to properly restructure. Yes, propped up industries taking orders from the government is very Conservative. I can’t see anywhere this plan could possibly go awry.

Sigh… and this is the White House we’ve been dealing with for 8 years. Seriously libs, please don’t go thinking this President was Conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

A Conflict of Visions

Posted by Kevin Smith – 12/1/08

“When people ask me why I’m going to vote for McCain rather than Obama, it’s because I prefer disaster to catastrophy.” – Thomas Sowell

Historic Republican Control of Tennessee's General Assembly

Posted by Kevin Smith – 11/5/08

Despite the rest of the country’s lurch to the Left in this year’s election, the Tennessee General Assembly has moved decidedly to the Right, rewarding Republicans with the majority in both houses since the years immediately following the Civil War. More here.

More and more dubious

Posted by Kevin Smith – 10/19/08

Seriously liberals, is it not becoming harder and harder for you to accept Obama’s word that Ayers was only a guy in his neighborhood?

I hate that I will look like a Republican shill spouting off a talking point because the McCain campaign has finally come around to the point the blogosphere has been trying to make for months now, but how can you trust anything a minimal-record, first-term junior senator promises? Doesn’t his clear lack of judgement and overwhelming blind ambition bother you yet? Or are you waiting to actually see the effects of the most liberal President we’ve ever had with the added bonus of a super majority in Congress? Get ready for the wackiest, least effective, most invasive legislation you’ve ever seen in your life!

I’m disgusted that we know more about Joe the Plumber’s licensing status than we do about Obama’s nefarious connections. My momma always taught me that a man can be judged by those with whom he chooses to surround himself, but I guess that’s just some of that old-fashioned, sooo not progressive larnin’ us backwoods rubes had before the enlightened ones from the coasts took over.

UPDATE: I should mention that before you go saying that a simple one sentence review doesn’t mean anything, you should know that Obama was asked to do a short review of his favorite current book. His favorite. Got that? Haven’t you noticed how hard it is to love a book and not agree with the author’s ideology? And I’m not sure how much reading or writing you’ve done lately, but it’s quite difficult to write even a short piece that is both compelling and dispassionate.

Democrat reforms

Posted by Kevin Smith – 10/12/08

For my easily excitable Democrat and liberal friends who have such painfully short memories, The Professor reminds us that “it was going to be the most ethical Congress in history, the Democrats promised. Keep that in mind when evaluating the promises you’re hearing now.”

More on that sweeping ethics reform here.

Defiance

Posted by Kevin Smith – 10/2/08

Imagine the scene: disheveled congressional aides struggle to keep someone answering each of the lines in the office, each of them ringing constantly. That’s the only way to get through now– the email servers have long since crashed. It’s like a scene from a movie right? And as we would all sense in the theater, this is the turning point, the point when all the Senators and Representatives get the message, and stand up for the wishes of the people. That very thing happened this week in the House. Not so much in the Senate. In fact, today both my Senators, Republicans each, just sold my vote to their Democrat challenger in the next election.

All hope is not lost, the Senate may have stabbed the American people in the back, but the House still has an opportunity to refrain from twisting the knife. Let’s hope they side with us again. Please, call your representative and let him or her know! If they voted against it last time around, let them know how proud you are!

Dave Ramsey's Common Sense Fix

Posted by Kevin Smith – 9/30/08

I’m throwing my support behind Dave Ramsey’s suggested plan to fix this mess. I’d love to blog more on this, but I’ve got no time! I must spend it calling my congressmen. (I can’t just email, apparently Americans have already overwhelmed the congressional email servers to the point of a crash!) In the meantime, you should all read his plan and take the steps to let your congressmen know! Right now Dave’s site is being slammed and running slow, so here’s a download of the plan in PDF form.

This isn’t a bailout, and it doesn’t reward recklessness by letting Wall Street line their pockets with tax payer money. Read it for yourself, and feel free to discuss it here.

And a poll for fun!

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

UPDATE: Good luck even getting the House or Senate website to load. They’re being slammed as well. And once you even get the House website to load, you see this. Apparently there are a lot of people upset about this proposed (and currently the one-time failed) $700 billion bailout.

UPDATE II: I was able to get through to the Senate’s site, and I found the numbers for my Senators. For my fellow Tennesseans, I provide their numbers. Call them and leave a message. No need to be too verbose, they only count calls in aggregate, so just voice your rejection of the $700 billion bailout and your support for Dave Ramsey’s plan. Mention, as well, that if they vote again for the bailout and not in support of a more sensible plan, they will lose your vote in the fall. And I mean it. If Alexander or Corker vote again in support of the bailout, I’ll be voting for their Democrat challenger.

Lamar Alexander (R-TN): (202) 224-4944

Bob Corker (R-TN): (202) 224-3344

TOO MUCH GOING ON!

Posted by Kevin Smith – 9/29/08

I just want to say that with all that is happening in Congress and with the Presidential race, my head is about to explode, and I can’t even write about it because I’m so freakin’ busy. My apologies. Please don’t assume that my lack of posts means I’m not interested. In the meantime, here’s some stuff I have been looking at.

Here’s Speaker Pelosi lying about the past:

And here’s the video of the past she was lying about:

Note the Republicans begging for the very regulation that Pelosi is pretending only Democrats recommended. Four years ago, when the Democrats all praised the riskless and progressive nature of their affordable housing deal, Republicans signaled the warning. They were branded as being out to lynch Franklin Raines. Now, in typical slimy political fashion, Pelosi is trying desperately to rewrite the past.

She also blames the Republicans for killing the bailout bill. Frankly, I applaud all the congressmen and women who voted against it, including the 95 Democrats. But she can’t give Republicans all the credit. If she’d kept her own in line, the bill would’ve passed.

In Response to Larissa

Posted by Kevin Smith – 9/29/08

This comment response grew to the point of absurdity in length and earned itself the status of a post. It is in response to my friend Larissa’s comments here about Braceletgate. Wait, I promised not to do that.

Well! To which comment shall I respond? First, glad to have you here. I always enjoy a lively debate.

I haven’t gotten an opportunity to really opine on the happenings of Friday night’s debate yet as I’ve been working and getting sick all weekend. The one probably led to the other.

In short, my thoughts are this: reactions to the debate are absolutely all over the place. Pundits have a mishmash, smorgasbord of opinion. A poll can be found to agree with almost anyone’s perception of the debate. Diehard Republicans and Democrats, a group to which I believe you reside, seem to be sure their respective candidate wonderfully trounced the other and came off looking great. In the last two days, I’ve seen and read The Faithful of both camps feverishly repeating the rhetoric from spin alley, and the broad spectrum of polls taken after the debate, both scientifically and otherwise, seem to reflect the defined positions of those being polled more than anything else. What’s funny is that much of the criticism of the candidates could be, and actually is, applied to either. You mentioned that you thought McCain was rude and disrespectful. I’ve heard the same argument leveled at Obama for his continuous interruptions and references to McCain as “John.” (I had actually not read the arguments about McCain being disrespectful anywhere until I looked up network news coverage of the debates to get their poll numbers. Seems that was a common thread amongst former Democratic operatives like Stephanopoulos.) What a person saw in the debate depends largely on the political lenses through which they watched. More…

Prediction on First Debate

Posted by Kevin Smith – 9/26/08

My prediction for tonight’s first presidential debate: Obama comes off looking childish and ignorant. Why? Because he’s taken 3 days to study up on foreign policy — you know, so he doesn’t make any more powerful declarations like the one concerning the US not having enough Arabic translators in Afghanistan. Because of the recent economic turmoil, the topics of the debate will shift dramatically to issues of economics rather than foreign policy, and Obama doesn’t have his trusty teleprompter tonight.

On a somewhat related issue, apparently the meeting at the White House yesterday saw McCain showing quiet support for John Boehner and the House Republicans’ plan to have Wall Street bail itself out rather than force Main Street to foot the bill. But here’s what’s ridiculous: The Dems agree with Bush on this bailout, and they’ve got a majority to pass this bill. Hear me: there is no need to have Republican support for this bailout, they’ve got the votes to pass it. So why do the Dems act as if it’s necessary? Because they know it’s a bad idea that’s being rushed through to make Congress look effective, and in a year or so when history proves it, the Dems don’t want to have gone down in flames all by themselves. They’re setting it up so they can rewrite history on this bailout just like they rewrote history on the failed policies that caused this problem in the first place.