5th Districtt: Chicago Sun-Times Rebuffs Conservative “Firebrand” Candidate Ratowitz

From the David Ratowitz for Congress campaign…

“I embrace the conservative banner,” Ratowitz retorts. “The people are calling for substantial reform; moderation will only bring us more of the same.”

CHICAGO – January 19, 2010 – U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz has released the following statement in response to the Chicago Sun-Times endorsement of his Illinois District 5 opponent Ashvin Lad.
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5th Districtt: Chicago Sun-Times Rebuffs Conservative “Firebrand” Candidate Ratowitz”


8th District: Dirk Beveridge EARNS Chicago Tribune Endorsement

From the Dirk Beveridge for congress Campaign…

Republican Candidate for Illinois’ 8th Congressional Seat Builds electability Profile for Battle Against Democrat Incumbent, Melissa Bean

Today, the Dirk Beveridge for Congress campaign earned the Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board endorsement.
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8th District: Dirk Beveridge EARNS Chicago Tribune Endorsement”


8th District: Joe Walsh Announces Three More Conservative Endorsements

From the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign…

Joe Walsh, candidate for congress in the 8th Congressional District, is announcing support from three separate conservative sources.

  • Family PAC Federal, headed by Paul Caprio
  • Illinois Conservative Action Network
  • Talk Radio host and Conservative Icon Tom Roeser

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8th District: Joe Walsh Announces Three More Conservative Endorsements”


Obama’s Tax On The Banks

-By Dan Scott

President Obama and his advisors announced they were asking Congress to pass a tax on banks to loosely as he put it, pay back every dime of TARP funds used to save them. His condescending announcement blaming the banks was laughable ignorance at best and deceitful at worst. He further went on to imply that the banks should desist from sending lawyers and lobbyists to Washington and just do the responsible thing as though the banks have been shirking this financial obligation. This is great populist sloganeering, however, like most liberal assertions; they are falsehoods just waiting to be exposed. So is this a simple case of ignorance on President Obama’s part or was he lying for some ulterior motive?

The facts are: all the banks except Citicorp and Wells Fargo have paid back every dime of TARP money they in some cases were forced to accept from the government lest CEOs be removed from their positions. Both of these two banks are working diligently to pay this money back. Why? Self-interest, they don’t want to be under the government’s control. Which begs the question, didn’t Obama appoint a czar to “regulate” the salary and bonus issue of TARP borrowers that he is railing about? It wasn’t until the banks publicly complained and the Taxpayers (Tea Party Protesters) demonstrating in the streets against spend thrift behavior that the government relented to allow these institutions to pay back the TARP funds. In the liberal world apparently this was all done for the benefit of these institutions when many of them didn’t want a dime of government money in the first place, then the banks had the audacity of still turning a profit and paying bonuses to employees who’s activities made that profit possible. You see, since the banks are turning a profit and paying bonuses during the very same period they received TARP funds, then clearly they never needed the money in the first place thus conflicting with the liberal narrative, “it was a crisis, they had to do something.” The reality was, what they did wasn’t necessary much less proper, most Americans already knew this intuitively, the banks just proved it in black and white on their financial statements. Liberals really hate those pesky facts.

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Obama’s Tax On The Banks”


10th District: Fmr VP Quayle Endorses Dold

From the Bob Dold for Congress campaign…

As many of you know, Robert Dold was honored to receive the endorsement of former Vice President Dan Quayle this week. Quayle, who traveled to Northbrook Thursday on Robert’s behalf, told friends and supporters that he is confident that Robert’s goal of bringing small business common sense change to Washington is exactly what the people of the 10th District need. Quayle said Bob’s background in small business and in Washington, combined with his fiscally conservative values and deep roots in the 10th District, make him the best candidate for Congress. A seasoned veteran of not only the White House, but also the House and Senate, Quayle invested his faith in Robert as the next great Republican Congressman from Illinois.

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10th District: Fmr VP Quayle Endorses Dold”


Publius Forum Republican Primary Endorsements

-By Warner Todd Huston

As a follower of politics who wants to associate with other followers of politics, the worst thing one can do to muck things up is to make a public endorsement of a candidate for office. As soon as you pick a candidate you risk a schism with friends. It won’t take long before some of them will begin to look aghast at you, raise a pointing finger and start making that screeching noise that the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers made when they found an evil human amongst them. It is the best way to get people to scream “you’re no REAL (insert party affiliation here)!!”

Yes, politics is a hard game; it ain’t bean ball, as the saying goes. Still, we are all compelled to make our choice to show that we’ve been paying attention at least. Then there’s that whole citizenship “thang” where it’s our duty as citizens to make an informed choice. So, at the risk of becoming an enemy to the masses, here are my choices for the upcoming primaries.

Senate
There are only two credible candidates for Senate, John Arrington and Patrick Hughes.

Mark Kirk’s campaign commercials portray him as a “center right candidate.” This is a lie. Kirk’s career rating from nearly every conservative group shows him to rank 50% or less on a conservative scale. This makes him a center left candidate, not a center right candidate. So, Kirk is not a contender for me.
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Publius Forum Republican Primary Endorsements”


Now WE Will Pay for Unions Fancy Healthcare Packages

-By Warner Todd Huston

As if there were ever any doubts, the unions bosses that descended upon the White House earlier in the week appear to have succeeded in getting their members excluded from the so-called Cadillac taxes on expensive healthcare packages.

The Obama administration, having been bought and paid for by unions, agreed to demands that unions be excluded from the onerous taxation that many of the rest of us will be forced to pay to float Obama’s budget busting Obamacare plans.

The unions pretended themselves to meet Obama in the middle by agreeing to put a time limit on this sweetheart deal. It was agreed that the unions would be exempt from these taxes for the next 18 years after which they’d then have to pay the tax like everyone else.

But, come on. Does anyone believe that 17 years from now that the unions would not be right back up at the White House demanding to have that 18 years extended or the tax exclusion made permanent? And does anyone believe that their demands would not be easily agreed to by pliant politicians looking for Big Labor’s giant political donations?

If anyone doubts that once Big Labor gets an exclusion it will never be rescinded, then they are not very bright!
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Now WE Will Pay for Unions Fancy Healthcare Packages”


Welfare Skanks, Obama Effigies & French Thought Police: Headline Potpourri #12

-By Frederick Meekins

Albert Mohler’s sidekick Russel Moore denounced the Obama Effigy as “Satanic”. Was this theologian as outspoken in condemning similar outrageous attacks against other political figures such President Bush and Sarah Palin? More importantly, would he now care to speak out against the Founding Fathers for similar protests against King George during the Revolutionary War, or is this form of protest only immoral when directed against a Black person?

New York City health officials in a pamphlet are teaching junkies the proper method for shooting up dope. Yet it must be pointed out that this is the jurisdiction where scholastic bakesales are on the verge of prohibition and where, if city officials had their way, table salt would be frowned upon apparently more now than hard narcotics.

French thought police plot to invade private homes. This is to be done in the name of preventing “psychological violence” by criminalizing robust domestic verbal disagreements. However, what advocates of this law might not be telling you is that, to the left-leaning man-haters out there, this offense consists of little more than simply disagreeing with a woman, verbally boring into a woman during a spat started by a woman, or merely speaking to one when they’ve basically told you to shutup.
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Welfare Skanks, Obama Effigies & French Thought Police: Headline Potpourri #12″


Eagle Forum Ill. Primary Endorsements

Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum has made some endorsements in the 2010 Illinois primary.

Here is what the EF folks have thus far…

US Senate

US Congress

Lt. Governor

State Comptroller

State Senate

State House


Chgo Trib Wants ‘Reform,’ Yet Endorses Machine Candidates

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Dec. 27th, the Chicago Tribune sternly scolded our Illinois political class saying that we need “reform” in Illinois. The Trib announced that with all the past corruption they’d had “enough.” And they promised to launch a “pre-primary push to elect better” politicians.

Well, who could disagree with that? Illinois has one of the most corrupt, most indebted, least transparent, most inbred political scene in the country. It is rife with corruption on both sides of the political divide and we are ripe for change. So, yes, we all can agree with the Chicago Tribune that we need to clean up this political cesspool. The “Chicago Way” that has now invaded Washington D.C. should be eliminated back here at home.

So, hear, hear, Chicago Tribune. We agree. You are a fast friend to the weak and downtrodden. A champion of the common man. A paragon of reform, etc., etc.

Yep, all that horn tootin’ was great, Trib. So, let’s see how you did with picking candidates to endorse
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Chgo Trib Wants ‘Reform,’ Yet Endorses Machine Candidates”


8th District: Joe Walsh calls on Melissa Bean to explain what is an ‘extreme candidate’

From the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign…

Lake Zurich: Joe Walsh, candidate for Congress in the 8th Congressional District, is calling on Melissa Bean to be more specific about what issues she views as “extreme”. In a recent e-mail blast to her supporters Bean refers to the Republican Primary field of candidates as possessing “extreme right wing views.”
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8th District: Joe Walsh calls on Melissa Bean to explain what is an ‘extreme candidate’”


62nd District: Eagle Forum of Illinois Endorses Paul Mitchell for State House Seat

From the Paul Mitchell for the State House campaign…

Gurnee-IL: Eagle Forum of Illinois yesterday announced its endorsement of businessman Paul Mitchell in his race for nomination to the Illinois House in the 62nd District. “I am thrilled to receive Eagle Forum’s endorsement,” said Mitchell this morning. “The Eagle Forum is not only a powerful force in Illinois, but across our nation in the effort to foster conservative values in government,” Mitchell said. “I’m honored to receive this endorsement and proud to stand with the Forum in its efforts to strengthen families, fight for life, and protect our freedoms.
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62nd District: Eagle Forum of Illinois Endorses Paul Mitchell for State House Seat”


Public Schools: My Answer to Their Problems!

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

This is my application to President Obama to be appointed his Education Czar thereby solving the massive problems in the nation’s public schools. I will work without pay since I would not plan to have the job very long. The public schools have been kicked around a great deal in recent years, and I plan to kick them even more. I contend that public education gets far more respect than it deserves. If taxpayers really knew what was going on in most classrooms they would storm the schools and tar and feather the teachers and staff.

Full disclosure: I am a lifetime critic of public education. Most of my education was in Christian colleges and universities. All of my children were educated in Christian schools through the university level. Same with my grandchildren. I would not be saddened if public schools fell to the ground like a rotten piece of fruit. I believe in separation of school and state since there is not a word in the U. S. Constitution about education!

If I were the Education Czar, I would make major changes that would restore sanity, safety, and scholarship to schools:
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Public Schools: My Answer to Their Problems!”


8th District: Joe Walsh announcing Support and Endorsements

From the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign…

Joe Walsh continues to receive endorsements and support in his race for Congress. The following is an initial list of endorsements, further endorsements will be forthcoming:
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8th District: Joe Walsh announcing Support and Endorsements”


Our Interview With Republican David Ratowitz, 5th District Candidate for Congress

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last Sunday on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism my cohost and I, Ann “Babe” Huggett, interviewed 5th District Congressional candidate David Ratowitz. The 5th District is the Chicago seat that Rham Emanuel once held. Ratowitz is a former Army Ranger and is now a Chicago lawyer. His website is www.ratowitzforcongress.com.

For more of our shows go to our BlogTalRadio page at Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism.


10th District: Peraica Endorses Dold

From the Bob Dold for Congress campaign…

Robert Dold’s message of bringing small business common sense change to Washington is resonating with voters across the district. Adding to the high-charged momentum that continues to build at the Dold campaign, Robert picked up a key endorsement Sunday from Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, who endorsed Robert for his small business background and his ability to restrain reckless spending and create jobs in Washington.
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10th District: Peraica Endorses Dold”


The Left: Bending Over Backwards to Excuse Racism

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new book about the 2008 presidential election has made quite a stir with its revelation that Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) chose some, shall we say, unfortunate wording when referring to then candidate Barack Obama in some “private” discussions with reporters during the late presidential campaign.

In the book Game Change penned by John Heilemann and Mark Halprin, Harry Reid is quoted as saying that people supported Obama because he was “light skinned,” and because he exhibited no “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” This implies that Reid thinks dark skinned Negroes cannot win election.

Before the quote was widely known, though, on Saturday Harry Reid rushed an apology to the press, one quickly accepted and downplayed by now President Obama. Both prepared to move forward as if nothing happened. Republicans have pointed to this as a fine example of a double standard. They recalled that Senator Trent Lott was hounded out of leadership in 2002 for making some complimentary remarks about Senator Strom Thurmond at his retirement party. Republicans have now gone on to call for Reid’s removal as Senate Majority Leader in a similar vein to Lott’s situation. Naturally Democrats have demurred from demanding that Reid step down and Republicans are calling this a classic example of the left’s double standard. It is clear that incidents such as this are used to destroy Republicans but similar incidents when involving Democrats are swept under the rug.
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The Left: Bending Over Backwards to Excuse Racism”


Getting Control of Congress, Permanently

-By John Armor

We are now experiencing a disconnect between national political leaders and the citizenry. Public support for congressional actions is low and falling, as are the president’s numbers. Public opposition to the health care bill, now passed in different forms in the House and Senate, is at 59% and rising.

In various ways, the people are strongly indicating that they think Congress is out of control and needs adult supervision. Particularly galling is the revelation that Senate leaders bought critical votes on the health care bill by dumping hundreds of millions in special benefits into states whose senators had withheld support — until they got their bribe.

In answer to the public outcry, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shrugs and says that any senator who “does not seek as much as he can” for his own state isn’t doing his job.
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Getting Control of Congress, Permanently”


Tea Party Debate Continued: My Reply to Steve McQueen of BigGovernment.com

-By Warner Todd Huston

In what I suppose is round three, I’d like to take a moment to reply to the criticism of my Tea Party article which was titled “Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We Could Make in 2010.” That criticism is penned by my fellow BG contributor, Steve McQueen whose piece titled “For Tea Parties, Bigger Is Not Better” I think missed my point. Worse I feel his piece helps the left to further splinter the right in a small way.

Certainly we on the right need an open and vigorous debate about what the Tea Parties are and how to make the best use of them, but we should have this discussion in the spirit of cooperative debate instead of the sort of isolated attacks employed by McQueen. What I mean is that if Mr. McQueen had some issues with my piece and questions about my meaning, the proper strategy would have been to email me and ask. We could then have had a debate, and perhaps joined together in a piece for BigGovernment.com that would clarify both our positions in the best effort toward harnessing the Tea Party energy to the best effect. Instead he rushed to print without a single attempt to contact me. This, I believe, only helps the left in that it gives the appearance of internal strife instead of a united front. After all, I would guess that Mr. McQueen and I are both after the same end goal of success of conservative principles in government and society alike.

In my piece I spoke of mistakes and this I think is another one of them. Too many of us Internet pundits are talking past each other and are too quick to look for that next “thing” that will get us noticed. Too often we are “Frumming” each other, in other words always attacking each other. Instead of seeking to find common ground so that we can build up our side we are sniping at each other.

Still, I think McQueen makes a few perfectly agreeable points despite that he so badly misconstrued my actual reason for writing my original piece. But like many out there that only read my provocative headline and didn’t bother to actually read the rest of the piece, McQueen assumed I was attacking the Tea Party movement itself. In fact, there is not one stitch of criticism of the actual Tea Parties in my piece. I have no complaints about them except in as much as questioning how we harness their energy going forward.
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Tea Party Debate Continued: My Reply to Steve McQueen of BigGovernment.com”


5th District: Twitterview with U.S. House Candidate David Ratowitz

From the Ratowitz for Congress campaign…

U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz (IL-5) is conducting a live Twitterview tomorrow (1/7). The event is open to both media and the public. Find out how David is leveraging the nationwide 2010 conservative comeback and advancing the freedom message in a high-profile, Chicago Machine stronghold like Illinois District 5.
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5th District: Twitterview with U.S. House Candidate David Ratowitz”


Two Americas: One Struggling, One Happy, Unionized, and in Government

-By Warner Todd Huston

I know I’ve said it before, but unionism is antithetical to good government. It is impossible to have both unions and effective government in a democratic republic such as ours. Unions destroy good government, waste money at all levels and they move strictly against the best interests of the voters in all cases. Once again my axiom is shown as a truism with a report by Michael Barone with his Dec. 30 Examiner piece.

Barone details the findings of a recent Rasmussen poll that reveals that Americans that aren’t in government unions and government jobs feel that the economy and the job outlook is getting worse while those in government jobs and unions think everything is going swimmingly.

That isn’t because the government jobs are materially better, but that the government jobs are raiding the public treasury and returning nothing of worth to the country through undue influence on politicians. You might ask why government workers feel things are so good if their jobs provide nothing of worth to the country? Good question. The problem is, even as government jobs are useless to the health, wealth, and welfare of the country, even while government jobs tear us all down and make us weaker in every category, they do provide something of relative worth to politicians: campaign cash.
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Two Americas: One Struggling, One Happy, Unionized, and in Government”


DeMint Decries Union Obstruction in TSA

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Democrats are trying to paint the GOP as “obstructionists” for blocking the appointment of Obama’s choice of Erroll Southers to head up the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Democrats are claiming that by blocking the closure of debate on Southers the GOP is trying to obstruct “tighter security at airports.”

But there is an ulterior motive in play for the Democrats, naturally. And, again naturally, it is an effort by Democrats to hand a victory to unions. One of the things that Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) is trying to stave off is the unionization of our airport security personnel as the Democrats are trying to slide this by the American people in the guise of “security.”

DeMint brought this up in an appearance on CNN on Dec. 29. When asked why he is putting up a protest about Souther DeMint noted that Obama waited 8 months to appoint someone to fill this spot then wanted the appointment to sail through with no debate.

But DeMint also warned about the stealth unionization that Obama is trying to slide past the American people.
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DeMint Decries Union Obstruction in TSA”


Stop Mark Kirk Rally, Jan 5th

The Folks at ChampionNews.com are supporting a Stop Kirk effort and a rally will be held Jan. 5th in Woodbine, Illinois. Kirk is wrong for this state for sure, so here is the info for the event…

Call the neighbors and wake the kids, it’s time to Stop Mark Kirk

Here’s a group that gets it. The Will County Tea Party Alliance (Joliet Tea Party & Homer/Lockport Tea Party) is hosting a Stop Mark Kirk Rally on Tuesday, January 5th at 7:30 PM at the Woodbine Country Club in Woodbine, Illinois. Admission is FREE.

You can find all of the details here. Mark Kirk’s leading Republican opponent Patrick Hughes will be there.
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Stop Mark Kirk Rally, Jan 5th”


Where Are You Frum, Anyway?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Canadian David Frum is like the cross-eyed marksman, he can see the target but just can’t ever hit it. The self-styled conservative has been the Old Media’s leading conservative in attacking, well, other conservatives. Naturally his Dec. 25 piece on theweek.com is no exception. Not only does he attack other conservatives, as is his wont, he so badly misreads the Constitution and certain other facts in the healthcare debate, it makes one wonder if he’s muffing it all on purpose? He does, however, get one salient fact right: the U.S. has already so ignored the U.S. Constitution that this socialist Obamacare plan will likely be declared wholly constitutional.

Frum’s latest frumble asks the question whether or not Obamacare is constitutional? He determines that it is constitutional mainly because Congress and multiple Supreme Courts have already ignored the Constitution so often as to make it likely they will all do so again to OK the illicit intrusion into our lives that is Obamacare.

OK, with his basic premise Frum is right. It is likely that our out-of-control federal establishment will again warp the Constitution to cover yet another socialist abomination. But how he gets to this conclusion is so filled with missteps that it is laughable and further this lapse of sense does not make it actually constitutional. It just makes it a done deal.
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Where Are You Frum, Anyway?”


The Choice Between Prosperity and Decline

– By Jeff Lukens

This land of a free people and a free-market economy has generated a great wave of innovation that has benefited all of humanity. The essence of freedom and prosperity that moved around the world in past 200 and some years has been driven primarily by the United States. With our economy now stagnating, it has become more important than ever to return to the basic Constitutional freedoms that have made prosperity possible.

My son came home from college to visit recently. After some time of catching up on things, the conversation turned to topics that interest him — and that means all things electronic. He explained to me why I needed the latest operating system update for the computer and how properly to configure the surround sound system for the HDTV. I could barely keep up with it. Somewhere in the conversation, it occurred to me that in the long view of human history, we have come a long way in a very short time.

Think about it. In the 1600s, the ships that brought the first settlers to our shores, and tools for tilling the soil they brought with them, were not much more advanced than those used by people thousands of years before. In the relatively short time since their arrival in the New World, there has been an explosion in technology and the standard of living for ordinary people.

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The Choice Between Prosperity and Decline”


Ill. Rep Says Terrorists in Ill. Prisons Increases Risk

-By Warner Todd Huston

CNSNews is reporting that Don Manzullo, the Republican Congressman that represents the area in which Thomson prison is located, is saying that moving Gitmo terrorists to the Illinois prison will “increase risk” to residents of Illinois.

Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) said last week he was “shocked” to hear a senior Department of Defense official agree with him that the administration’s plan to move detainees of Guantanamo Bay to Thomson, Ill., would pose an increased security risk.

Manzullo expressed shock that the Obama Administration claimed that it could manage a danger it couldn’t even quantify.

“That’s when I said, ‘Well, if there’s no way that you can estimate — measure — the extent of the increased risk, then why are you making the move in the first place?’”

Manzullo is right. With the utter failure of our system of protection that resulted in the “underwear bomber” attempting to destroy a plane over Detroit, how can the Administration guarantee that Thomson prison will be safe enough to house these sort of terrorists?
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Ill. Rep Says Terrorists in Ill. Prisons Increases Risk”


Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We’ll Make in 2010

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s the end of 2009, the “aughts” are over, and we are about to embark on a new year — and what else are they but the “aughts”? Well, besides mostly a horrible and thankfully passed decade. In any case, we are at the end of the year and that means two things: lists about this year and predictions for the next. I’ve chosen the prognosticator’s art for this piece with the subject of what will likely be our biggest failure or mistake in 2010: the Tea Party movement.

We all know that just saying the words “Tea Party” is enough to raise American’s blood pressure. Some will become suspicious or even enraged by imagining I am about to attack the Tea Partiers, some on the left will be filled with disgust even thinking about the Tea Partiers at all, and still others will get their blood up thinking about why the Tea Party movement started in the first place. For 2009 “Tea” and “Party” were two words that raised American’s passions in a myriad of ways, for sure. That won’t change in 2010.

But with the Tea Party movement we are likely headed for a huge mistake in 2010, one that I fear will stretch into 2011 and one that has the potential to hurt us all, right, left and center — but especially right.
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Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We’ll Make in 2010″