The *confessed* un-Americanism of SEIU.

By the Speaker’s own words, no less.

Ah, the problems with message discipline. Specifically: the problems with having the current Speaker of the House write things like “Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American” without checking to see first whether her minions over at SEIU are advocating doing precisely that:

Action: Opponents of reform are organizing counter-demonstrators to speak at this and several congressional town halls on the issue to defend the status quo. It is critical that our members with real, personal stories about the need for access to quality, affordable care come out in strong numbers to drown out their voices.

All via @JTlol and Perfunction: the latter has a few more of SEIU’s confessions of un-American behavior.

The above link is to Mary Katharine Ham, as SEIU’s MiniTruth has already memory-holed the offending thoughtcrime. Although there was no reason to bother, given that there is of course a screenshot.  These people keep making the most boneheaded mistakes; you might be forgiven for getting the impression that the vaunted power and reach of the progressive activist movement is mostly due to having no real opposition up to this point…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Reconciling the paradox: how popular *is* Cash-for-Clunkers?

If you’re wondering how to reconcile the apparent paradox that the Cash-for-Clunkers program can be simultaneously popular…

The federal government’s new “Cash for Clunkers” program got off to a rousing start over the past two weeks, with some new-car dealers reporting dozens of deals completed in just the first few days.

Officially, the program began July 24 when the government released the final rules. The first flurry of activity kicked in over the first week — when the program came close to running out of money — and is continuing now only because of an infusion of $2 billion more, approved by Congress.

…and unpopular…

Fifty-four percent (54%) of Americans oppose any further funding for the federal “cash for clunkers” program which encourages the owners of older cars to trade them in for newer, more fuel-efficient ones.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 33% of adults think Congress should authorize additional funding to keep the program going now that the original $950 million allocated for it has run out. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure.

Continue reading Reconciling the paradox: how popular *is* Cash-for-Clunkers?

In case you were wondering what kind of dinner conversations I have…

…with my wife – well, this isn’t always a good example. Sometimes we go with gaming theory, I bore her with political minutiae, or there’s always something worth talking about involving the child’s Digestive System. If even that pales, we can spend quality time playing the game Is this a symptom of pregnancy? – only, the answer is always yes.

Nonetheless.  Gnomic Verses with Harp. She does this for fun.  When she’s not working on robots.

Ha!

Moe Lane

My talk with Charles Lollar (R-Cand, MD-05?).

[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. Excuse me while I shamelessly put up a link to this.

I had the opportunity to speak with Charles Lollar, Charles County (Maryland) Republican Central Committee Chairman, in a phone interview last week. Below are some of the things that we discussed.

First off, a bit of background: Charles Lollar is a business owner and member of the Marine Corps Reserve who has been spending the last few years promoting things like the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. Lollar credits his family upbringing to his fiscal attitudes, particularly when it comes to the importance and value of hard work. His name has been floated as a possible gubernatorial candidate for Maryland 2010 election; however, he has recently started an exploratory committee involving running as a challenger to Steny Hoyer’s Congressional seat. Continue reading My talk with Charles Lollar (R-Cand, MD-05?).

Roland Burris: Not so fast on my not running for IL-SEN.

Don’t tease us like this, Senator Burris.  It’s unseemly in a Senator:

“You never say never,” Burris told ABC News in a “Subway Series” interview for the ABC News program “Top Line.” The “Subway Series,” which debuts on Monday, features interviews with senators and other political leaders on board the Capitol Hill subway.

“What I’m still hearing,” Burris said, is “people from all over the country and they are saying, ‘Don’t give up that seat.'”

…yes. Yes, I suppose that this may be technically true. The question is, how many of them are Democrats registered to vote in Illinois? Continue reading Roland Burris: Not so fast on my not running for IL-SEN.

Remember: the Democrats never wanted a health care debate in the first place

I actually plan to think about other things besides health care today, so let’s finish with this from Jonah Goldberg, via the Sundries Shack:

…the Democrats, starting with Obama, wanted their partisan version of health care reform to be made law before the August recess. If they had won, there would be no debate, civil or otherwise, right now because they would have steamrolled the opposition already.

Jonah wants to know why the Democrats are complaining. Well, stick my tail in the crack of a door and shut it and I’d yell, too.

Crossposted to RedState.

‘Culture shock.’ (with an egregious HP Lovecraft reference!)

That’s what the always-interesting Jen Rubin over at Commentary is calling the increasingly-hysterical (in a non-funny way) reaction of Congressional Democrats to their own constituents:

…citizens got the idea that they could come out—in droves—and give their representatives a piece of their mind. It is all quite a culture shock for the lawmakers, who seem blissfully unaware that somewhere in just about every crowd there is someone with a video camera or a cell phone recording how they respond to criticism. And so far, it’s not a pretty sight.

…and it kind of fits. If you divide the fear into three distinct types – gross-out (purely physical flight reaction to the grotesque), horror (extreme apprehension and concern about a situation), and terror (sudden awareness that one of your fundamental assumptions about the universe is dangerously false)* – then the Democrats are largely exhibiting terror. People simply do not complain like this in their nice, orderly universe. The Democrats’ actions do not have consequences.  This cannot be.

Hence, the screaming of every slur that the Democrats can think of in response to a lot of people standing up in meeting halls and loudly proclaiming that they know the difference between rain and somebody urinating on their legs, thanks.  It’s almost certainly pure reflex from the cosmic terror: the Democratic congressional leadership must feel like they’re suddenly in the political equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Moe Lane

PS: IA! IA! IA!

*More or less stolen from Stephen King. Then again, he is an expert in the subject.

Crossposted to RedState.