Author: Moe_Lane

Good Mourning, Democrats.

Citizens For The Republic would like to take this opportunity to remind the American people that elections have consequences:

Andrew Malcolm calls the “Mourning in America” ad “powerful,” and it is: it’s a deliberate updating of the classic “Morning in America” ad, and as Kathleen Parker notes its power lies in how… sad… it is, compared to the original.  It is, indeed, sad: it is also devastating.  The central problem for the Democrats right now is that they own an economy that has grown measurably worse since they took Congress in 2006 and devastatingly worse since they took all three branches of government in 2008; and unlike 2008, the American populace knows which party is running Congress.  Which is why people are quietly preparing for a shift of power in at least the House, and quite possibly the Senate as well.

Before a lurker privately scoffs at that last part of that sentence, contemplate: a year ago the first part of it would have been the object of mockery.  Now it’s a perfectly reasonable assumption, based on the current data.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

Book of the Week: Red State Uprising.

I picked Red State Uprising: How to Take Back America this week because it was written by a buddy of mine (one Erick Erickson, who also happens to be the guy who runs RedState) – and no, I’m not getting paid to shill this sucker.  I wouldn’t mind being paid to shill it, so if you want to keep thinking that I am… then who am I to stop you*?

So, adieu to Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate): we’ll go back to non-political books next week.

Moe Lane Continue reading Book of the Week: Red State Uprising.

#rsrh NYT lays down a marker on Barry Jackson.

Via Instapundit and GayPatriot comes this thoughtful, considered look at a devoted Republican staffer with a towering reputation among his fellow Republicans and a well-deserved fearsome one among the Democrats.  Tough.  Resolute.  A man who can get things done.  A man of power, yet with a strong sense of duty and a passion for democracy…

What’s that?  Oh, I’m just doing what the New York Times is doing: preemptively buttering up on Barry Jackson,  who is shaping up to be the next Speaker of the House’s chief of staff.  It might get him to return my calls.

Now, where was I?  Oh yes… and he COOKS, too!  Cooks like unto a god…

Moe Lane

SF Chronicle goes as far as it can to support Fiorina.

Which is not their endorsement of her – then again, an endorsement of the Republican candidate for Senate by the San Francisco Chronicle would be about as likely as my being able to get to the Moon by jumping up and down on the ground hard enough. What they did instead was to give as strong a statement about Carly’s technical campaign skills as possible…

In past elections, Boxer has had the good fortune of having Republican opponents who were inept, underfunded, on the fringe right – or combinations thereof. Her opponent this time, Fiorina, is proving to be articulate, well-funded and formidable.

…then helpfully noting Carly’s (actually mostly mainstream) conservative positions… Continue reading SF Chronicle goes as far as it can to support Fiorina.

Good Tea Party documentary.

Glenn Reynolds is a commenter in this documentary by the Knoxville News-Sentinel about the Tea Party  (The Tea Party: Brewing up a movement), and both he and it comes off well:

Short version: it concentrates on why people think that the Tea Partiers are participating and where it will end up going, and – very refreshingly – manages to do so without once regurgitating Democratic / liberal hate speech.  If you’re the sort who enjoys being told that a bunch of older folks worried about their grandkids’ future are actually secretly racist bigots, by all means, watch this video: the utter lack of such prog-porn will no doubt pop a vein.  In other words, it’s a legitimate documentary.  in fact, tt’s interesting that even the Official Voice of Dissent for this one is generally careful not to be as rude as, say, Ted Strickland* was.  Tells you a bit about how the movement is being seen in the battleground states…

Moe Lane [crosspost]

*Example picked because the fool actually thought that he could scream about them last week and still seek their support – something that even the newspapers aren’t buying, and for good reason. Of course, Ted Strickland is used to dealing with the Activist Left; I understand that this sort of thing works all the time on them.

#rsrh HUD: ACORN successor group just as rotten.

[UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers.]

I paraphrase: the HUD actually indicated that ACORN had taken a lot of money from the government, hadn’t properly accounted for how it was spent, and that its ‘replacement’ AHCOA needs to make things right before it gets any more funding.  ACORN’s/AHCOA’s response? “Well, we took a bath from to the fallout from that underage El Salvadoran brothel sting operation thing last year, so we shouldn’t have to pay back any of that money that we spent on election fraud.  Err, low-income housing assistance.”

Uh-huh.

See The Frugal Cafe and Gateway Pundit for more.

Moe Lane

PS: If HUD is inclined to take this argument seriously, may I remind HUD that, starting next January, Rep. Darrell Issa is unlikely to be merely the Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee?

QotD, These people have an inflated reputation edition.

(H/T: Instapundit)  Gail Sheehy, in the middle of resolutely not thinking about the wider implications of the President’s inability to sell out tickets to bathe in his glory, even at half off (and with an open bar, no less):

When the Hillary and Obama presidential campaigns merged in July 2008, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee were anxious to know how the Clintons held most of their loyal contributors from ’92 to 2008. The Clinton people divulged the secret of long-term loyalty—feed their brains as well as their egos, continually. It now appears the Clintons’ formula has been steadily ignored by the Obama team.

Either that, or they just don’t know how to actually use the formula properly.  Even when the Obama administration was the Obama campaign, they weren’t particularly good at making people go where they actively didn’t want to go.  Take advantage of the populace’s eagerness to make a lofty political statement?  Sure, they could do that; but sweetening the reluctant and the hesitant was never anything that these people needed to do to win, so it’s not surprising to hear that they’re so bad at it.

Well, not surprising to me.

Moe Lane

PS: It’s Van Hollen, actually.  The head of the DCCC is Chris Van Hollen.  It’s a little mean-spirited of me to point out that typo, but politics ain’t beanbag.  It’s also pretty funny that the man’s so forgettable that not even his own side’s partisans can remember his name.

PPS: I will happily endorse the idea of more open bars at political functions.  Also: nothing says ‘respect for the local institutions that make this country great’ like ‘regional microbrews on tap.’

#rsrh He left out ‘derivative.’

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

[Oops: H/T Hot Air Headlines] In the process of whining about why a bunch of apparatchik bureaucrats and tawdry identity-politicians can’t come up with a better logo for their party than their current one – which is, by the way, one good Photoshop from looking like the overhead view of an urinal* – this guy ever-so-wistfully sighed:

Remember that glorious day on the Mall in January?

In point of fact, we do.

Really… sets the tone to what came after, doesn’t it?

Moe Lane

*Believe me, I tried. But I’m not a graphic artist.