Republicans

00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Business - Congress - Conservatives - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - News - Privacy - Republicans - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

King Uncorks Clunker: The Cell Phone Clicky Noise Act

January 28, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a what-was-he-thinking move, Representative Peter King (R-NY) has recently introduced H.R. 414, the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act which is aimed at preventing “predators” from taking illicit photos of others in public with cell phones. The bill will force cell phone manufacturers to make the camera feature of a cell phone emit a noise so that it will be audibly obvious when a picture is taken.

As the bill summary at Thomas.loc.gov states:

Requires any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera’s phone. Prohibits such a phone from being equipped with a means of disabling or silencing the tone. Treats the requirement as a consumer product safety standard and requires enforcement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Really? So now we are mandating sounds here? Should we begin to make laws that devices of every kind emit some sort of sound to alert everyone in the vicinity that something has been used in their presence, and predicate it all on “public safety”? And, what if someone doesn’t like the particular sound chosen? Are we going to sue to get the sound we like? Will the government then make rules of what kind of sound is made, how loud, how long? Will there be great volumes of the sorts of sounds “allowed” for one thing or another? Clicks for cameras? Star Trek-like swooshing sounds when doors open?

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Liberals - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

CNN STILL Pushing Lie of Rev. Wright/Rev Hagee Comparison

January 28, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

ALSO, America apparently the land of permanent racism

I am wondering if CNN was out of the country last November 4? Maybe it missed that McCain lost the election because, once again, CNN trotted out an Old Media campaign lie aimed at making John McCain “as bad as” the Reverend Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright by using the talking point that in Reverend John Hagee McCain had a “controversial” pastor, too? Not only did CNN fall back on the lie that Hagee is somehow just as bad as Wright — and thereby smearing John McCain with Wright’s racist hatespeak — but CNN got a twofer with this piece by again portraying America as the land of permanent, unrelenting racism by hinting that Obama will never get a chance because he’s black.

News flash to CNN: Barack HAS gotten a chance. He was elected with a comfortable majority of votes.

If anyone wonders what any criticism of Barack Obama will be termed by the Old Media, CNN’s headlined “Will Obama have to be better because he’s black?” seems to answer to that question. You see, Obama won’t be given a chance, CNN tells us, because he’s black. Any failure will be made larger because he’s black. And any criticism of him is just racism forcing Obama to “work harder than whites” at his job.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes

Taxpayers of America Unite!

January 28, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Dan Scott

Now that a tax cheater, I mean former tax cheater, Timothy Geithner has been officially confirmed by the Senate to become Secretary of the Treasury, we, the taxpayers, have the poster child of government fiscal irresponsibility. President Obama’s particular choice of this flawed person gives us a valuable insight into how he intends to squeeze us, the taxpayer, of every last penny. Who better than the very person who specializes in financial rescues would best be suited to the job of propping up failed government policies by finding yet more creative ways to fund those failures?

Picking up on Thomas Brewton’s theme of Social Justice, liberals have a faulty worldview in regards to the cause of crime and poverty, that being unequal wealth distribution. In the liberal worldview money and the resources it buys is the answer to their Utopian dreams. This worldview is based on the trope that given enough money literally anything can be made to work. This is why liberals continue to insist the public school systems of the US are under funded, when in fact every year more money is spent for a continual diminishing return evidenced by higher drop out rates and low test scores. In the liberal worldview, not enough money has been spent to make it successful and that’s why it’s a failure, to them the teachers, students, parents and methods have little to do with the results. There is no such thing as personal responsibility, just social responsibility. Where does the money come from? The taxpayers.
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00Publius Contributor - Abortion - Conservatives - GOP - Health - News - Religion - Republicans - Rights - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Pro-Abortion ‘Republican’ Group Cheers Demise of Mexico City Policy

January 27, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

With the disingenuous premise that the majority of Republican voters are actually pro-abortion, Republican Majority for Choice is celebrating President Obama’s repeal of the policy that prohibits federal money from flowing to foreign abortion mills — variously called the Mexico City Policy, the family planning gag rule, or the global gag rule.

This group forms a sort of enemy within that, while small, has great appeal to the far left in America when they are looking to promote what they consider “reasonable” Republicans — and by “reasonable” they mean Republicans that don’t actually believe in anything other Republicans believe in. This being the case, there is no surprise that this group’s largest success is found in the quixotic state of Colorado they having garnered the support of long-time Colorado Republican Hank Brown — former Senator and late president of the University of Colorado.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Here Are The Senate Republicans That Voted to Confirm Tax Cheat Geithner

January 27, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Keep the following names in your wallet just in case the IRS comes knocking at your door to arrest you for any possible “mistakes” in your payment of federal taxes, won’t you? For these are the names of those Republican Senators that one can rely upon to absolve us for being a tax cheat. In fact, if you play your cards right, you might even get a cushy government job out of the deal. These are the Senators that don’t think being a law abiding tax payer is a necessary requirement for being Secretary of the Treasury:

Corker (R-TN) 
Cornyn (R-TX) 
Crapo (R-ID) 
Ensign (R-NV) 
Graham (R-SC) 
Gregg (R-NH) 
Hatch (R-UT) 
Shelby (R-AL) 
Snowe (R-ME) 
Voinovich (R-OH)

On the other hand, here are those unrelenting bores that seem to insist that tax laws are written in stone and that, darn it all, one should not be given high public office when it is discovered that one is a tax cheat!

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Inernet - Liberals - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

WaPo: Attempting to Make Bush Look Like Tech Moron

January 23, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Our old friend Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post Staff writer, is at it again with her latest outbreak of Bush Derangement Syndrome. This time she and the Washington Post have teamed up to try to paint the Bush White House as technological Neanderthals in theirs headlined “Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages.”

The headline alone tells readers that those poor, poor Obama staffers have come in expecting to get right to work only to find it a mess thanks to Bush’s failure to update the tech capacity of the White House. Only, that impression would be simply incorrect. Bush was restricted by certain laws and rules that prevented him from bringing White House operations into the I-Phone age.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - Military - News - Patriotism - President - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

New York Times: ‘It’s Even Cool to Wave the Stars and Stripes’ Because of Obama

January 20, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Byron York from NRO’s The Corner Blog noticed an interesting little tidbit in The New York Times on January 18. In the Times’ recounting of all the interesting events going on in the Capitol surrounding the inauguration of The One, the Times seemed very excited that it was suddenly “cool” to be patriotic.

WASHINGTON is suddenly hip again, infused with the heady double-barreled combination of a new crowd of idealistic young political worker bees, who actually believe they can change the world, and the arrival of America’s first black president. It’s even cool to wave the Stars and Stripes. And in the honeymoon months of the Barack Obama presidency, before the country’s marriage to its new president undergoes the usual souring, a trip to the nation’s capital is just the ticket. Why, it would almost be unpatriotic not to visit.

This is far more a revealing and disgusting display of the unpatriotic demeanor of the left than a demonstration of excitement over the Obammessiah’s big day.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Conservatives - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

‘Crunchy Cons’ Rod Dreher Thinks Republicans Will Lead Populist, Anti-Business Revolt?

January 15, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rod Dreher, author of the “crunchy cons” definition of that certain sort of “Birkenstock wearing, environmental, gun-loving” Republican has weighed in on the economic crisis the US faces and is attempting to further expand his factional theory of the conservative side of the political aisle. This time Dreher is claiming that the next anti-corportate, anti-Wall Street populist revolt will be led by his “crunchy con” faction of the center-right electorate, but I think he misses the mark with this one.

Linking the current economic crisis to past religious revivals that have periodically swept the country, what he calls a “creedal passion period,” Dreher thinks he sees where this will all soon be heading, at least as far as center-right voters are concerned.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Humor - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Accountants Seek Bailout

January 3, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Washington- In this current economic climate, bailouts for industries in the private sector are quickly becoming the chief form of reform and stability. From newspapers to the financial sector to the auto industry, Congress is infusing life saving money into the bloodstream of the country’s economy.

But one sector is finding itself over burdened at an alarming rate. Critics say that much more strain will find the CPA’s and accountants of America buckle and something needs to be done before it’s too late.

Milton Nebish, president of the B.A.N.A.L., the recently combined accountants unions the Bureau of Accountancy and the National Accountants League, is urging Congress to pass SB069, the so called Accountant’s Relief bill, when Congress gets back in session this year.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

AP Attacks Gov. Palin EVEN in Birth Announcement of Grandson

December 31, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press is classy, indeed. They can’t even keep sniping at Sarah Palin out of a story announcing the blessed birth of her grandson. Ah, but wait, it gets even more annoying because not only did the AP snipe at Palin in its first birth announcement story, once called on it the AP went back twice to rearrange the piece rewriting history to make it seem as if they never sniped at her in the first place.

Initially, the AP attacked Palin in its very first paragraph saying that daughter Bristol’s pregnancy was the thing that caused Palin’s candidacy to “go downhill.” At 7:20 PM the AP gave us this: (Bold my emphasis)

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Inernet - News - President - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Technology - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Skewz.com Predicts Top 5 Trends for 2009

December 31, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Skewz.com has put together its top 5 predictions for how political communications under the Obama presidency will be changed in 2009.

Now, in some ways, I can see where the Skewz team is coming from seeing as how they are in that Internet bubble, but I think that their assumptions of Internet domination of politics is a bit overblown. Still, I think in many ways the predictions are right if not quite as strong as presented nor as immediate.

Here are their predictions and my replies to them:

1. Blogging Gets Issue-Specific : The 2008 election re-enforced and validated the need for candidates to have a strong outreach program to the blogosphere to amplify their message. While it’s apparent that bloggers are becoming more important and tightly linked to campaigns, the increasing number of blogs is pushing many bloggers to become “issue specific” as a way to differentiate themselves. For example, rather than being just a “right” or “left” blog, specific topics such as crime, the housing crisis, government bailouts, poverty, etc. will dominate. In addition, day-to-day issues such as crime and poverty will become more relevant to larger portions of the electorate.

I think this is less a reaction to “differentiation” among bloggers, more an act of going with what one knows based on the growing legitimacy of the medium. Over the year 2008, Blogs have become a legitimate news source and this has spurred even more people with specific fields of knowledge to feel confident that they won’t merely be laughed off with their blogging efforts. Smart people with detailed knowledge and a passion to debate the issues have migrated to blogs in great numbers over the year. And with the growth of social networking sites like Twitter and FaceBook — all of which rely heavily on linking to stories on news media and blogs — the Internet has really come into its own as an “official” news source. Witness the recent survey that shows a far grater number of people than ever before saying the Internet is their news source.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

The Nutrooters Newest Hope for Hope-n-Change

December 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Eli Pariser, the delusional Nutroot kingpin of MoveOn.org, has been allowed a few column inches of space in the Washington Post to reveal his hope for some Obama hope-n-change, and his op ed is a doosie, for sure. Headlined “Will He Bring Change.gov We Can Believe In?,” Pariser gives voice to his most hopiest of hopeiness that Obama is the True One that they all hope he is. All joking aside, this is a pretty revealing op ed for its utter inability at introspection or, on the other hand, its complete lack of honesty — I’m not sure which.

In fact, Pariser’s very first paragraph reveals his own extremism, an extremism that he pretends doesn’t exist (that being the lack of introspection, or the cynical attempt at covering the truth to which I was alluding).

So, how’s the Obama administration doing so far?

It’s a trick question: We’re still about minus-23 days in. But already, folks on the left and the right are furiously reading tea leaves, worrying about whether he’s as progressive as promised or trying to turn lemons into lemonade (“Hillary Clinton at State: a victory for conservative foreign policy values”). Through all this, there’s been surprisingly little focus on what may be the most important question Obama faces.

As Pariser mentions, Obama hasn’t taken office and so far all he has are appointments and a lot of vacation time, so no administration exists. This isn’t Obama’s fault, nor something to hold against him, but Pariser’s fevered imagination is running amuck, here.

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00Publius Contributor - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - News - Patriotism - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

Controversy Over RNC Chairman Selection, Emineth Commeth

December 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

To some conservatives, what North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth told The Hill last week is proof of the arrogance of an out-of-touch Republican Party. Emineth says he is being misunderstood, but his words were badly chosen regardless.

The Hill quoted Mr. Emineth concerning the selection of the next Republican National Committee Chairman. Mr. Emineth has made a special request during this process, one that has not been contemplated in the past. He is circulating a petition to have all six candidates for the position of RNC Chairman appear before the entire 168 member RNC committee to take questions from the whole body during this deliberation.

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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - History - Judges - News - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

The GOP Cannot Win Until…

December 20, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Of course we are all roaming around trying to figure out what will work, what hasn’t worked and whose fault it all is. Powell blasts Limbaugh, Limbaugh replies, voters blast McCain, the moderate Republican illiterati try to blame it all on Palin and the social conservatives, the conservatives say the country club set has destroyed us, and EVERYONE knows that the GOP acted like drunken sailors on the spending side… there is enough finger pointing all around, for sure.

But, how are we going to get it all back? How are we going to win at the ballot box? That is the question, naturally. There is a model of how to achieve that victory, though, if we have the good sense to utilize it.

David Frum appeared on the Hugh Hewitt show on December 16 and said that, in his opinion, the “base” of the GOP is no longer enough to get a president elected. He defined the base as comprising white males that make over $30,000 a year and are not college graduates. He said that the more college a voter has the more likely that they will vote Democrat.

Now, Frum is 100% wrong on a lot of things — like Sarah Palin, for instance — but he is dead on with his assessment about what a college “education” does to an American. A college education turns an American into a Democrat for the simple reason that there isn’t anything truly American taught in the largest number of our colleges and universities. They are taught to be Euro-like, non-traditional Americans and the main outlet for that ideology is the Democratic Party.

Continue reading “The GOP Cannot Win Until…”

00Publius Contributor - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

In Case You Forgot, AP Still Reminding Palin’s a ‘Failed Republican Vice Presidential Candidate’

December 19, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

I don’t know. Maybe the Associated Press thinks that no one is aware that John McCain lost his race for the White House? Maybe the AP thinks no one is aware that his choice for VP, Governor Sarah Palin, lost right along with him? Maybe the AP thinks that hardly any American has gotten the word that Obama and slow Joe Biden won on November 4th? The AP sure acts as if they think people still need it pointed out that Governor Sarah Palin is “the failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” At least if its current report on the latest doings in Alaska is concerned, anyway. After all, right in the middle of a report on Alaska state workers having sent around some race tinged joke emails, the AP helpfully reminds us that Palin is that aforementioned “failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” I mean, who knew she lost?

The AP is reporting on some race-y emails that were reported to them by a state worker, using it to needlessly jab the governor. At one point the AP sternly tells us all that, “State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP,” as if something untoward was going on in the Administration itself. But, even the AP’s own report seems to show that a mountain is being made of a mole hill.

Naturally, the AP found Reverend Alonzo Patterson, Alaska’s own homegrown race baiter, to scold the Governor for not yet having said anything about an issue that is neither much investigated at this point, nor even in her initial purview in the first place.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Threatened Riots if No Bailout

December 16, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union, threatened to foster riots if the $900 billion bailout didn’t get through Congress. “If we have Republicans who oppose us, we are going to take to the streets, we are going to occupy places. We are not going to allow any more of our members’ lives to be destroyed,” he warned in a conference call to journalists over the weekend.

A new coalition of union welfare seekers has been formed that goes by the name Campaign for America’s Future (CAF).

CAF, made up of more than two dozen labor unions, 127 lesser-known economists and assorted activists, hosted a press conference call to announce the proposed $900 billion Main Street proposal, which the group hopes will be ready for President-elect Barack Obama’s signature when he takes office on Jan. 20.

Yes, it’s all supposed to be legitimate and grown up of these folks lining up in front of Congress with their hands out for our tax dollars to be stuffed into their pockets to come together in a democratic styled coalition. But, as soon as a reporter seems to question these union thugs at all, the yelling begins.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - President - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Thomas Jefferson Says Forget About Barack’s Birth Certificate

December 9, 2008 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well. I am sure that this is going to anger some of you. But, I have to say it anyway…

OK, I have basically stayed silent about this whole Obama birth certificate dust up until now because I have been trying to resolve the dichotomy in my mind between being a Constitutional constructionist and a pragmatist. But, at long last I have realized that the two really aren’t as much at odds as it might seem. In fact, I found my answer in the words of Thomas Jefferson — as well as Madison, Franklin and a few others, but we’ll stick with Jefferson quotes for the sake of a sharply focused discussion.

I have discovered that Thomas Jefferson has already told us upon which side we as conservatives should descend over the question concerning Barack Obama’s birth certificate and his eligibility for the office of president of the United States. Mister Jefferson would tell you all to shut up, accept cruel fate, and get ready to claim Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America.

That’s right, forget about it. Move on. Nothing to see here.

Before you get your Constitutional shorts in a bunch, I absolutely agree with you that we are a nation of laws and not men. Jefferson did too, once saying that we must consider what the original intent of the Constitution was before we rush into a decision and the original intent in this case was clearly to make sure every president was a natural born citizen of this country before being eligible to run for that highest of offices. (“The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered … according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption — a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated [for it]…”– Thomas Jefferson)

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

On Gov. Palin All the Lies Fit to Print

December 3, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

It seems that Froma Harrop of Creator’s Syndicate news service was on vacation from just about five days before the general election until today and she’s just catching up on all the Palin hatin’ she must have missed. Unfortunately for Harrop, she still hasn’t caught up with the truth yet because her latest is filled with every lie about Governor Palin she could jam into one column, quite despite that for weeks her digs have been proven lies.

In hers headlined, “Palin should move to TV talk show,” Harrop proves that she should move from Creator’s Syndiacte to the National Enquirer… unless Creator’s Syndicate is trying to unseat the supermarket tabloid in hack writing. If that is the case, then Harrop is on the right track.

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00Publius Contributor - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

On Palin’s Celebrity, AP Reminds She’s A Failed Candidate… Over and Over and Over Again!

November 24, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Governor Palin is in demand. Every newshound, every TV talking head, every newsertainer in the country is after her. She is being pursued for TV shows, book deals, movie roles, hounded by photographers and every hanger on in both Hollywood and the newsertainment industry. But the Associated Press wants to be sure you understand one thing: she is a FAILURE! That’s right, in discussing Palin’s current celebrity, the main concern AP has is to make sure you know she is a big ol’ loser. The AP is so intent to remind you she lost that it has to tell you she lost over and over again. You know, just in case you were unaware she and McCain didn’t win the election.

So, did you know Sarah Palin lost the election? Here, let the AP remind you (My bold throughout)…

Continue reading “On Palin’s Celebrity, AP Reminds She’s A Failed Candidate… Over and Over and Over Again!”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - News - Podcasting - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston vs Crooks and Liars

November 19, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was asked to be a part of a podcast for http://www.skewz.com. The quality of the recording is not so hot, but that is a minor annoyance. At least you can understand all involved for the most part. Go on over and give it a listen.

Skewz Podcast #36: Sound-Off- Mike Finnigan of Crooks and Liars and Warner Todd Huston of NewsBusters Talk About Media Bias in the 2008 Election

We had a blast speaking to Mike Finnigan of Crooksandliars.com and Warner Todd Huston of Newsbusters.org. We discussed how the media may have played a role, if any, in the 2008 election. Mike was in rare form and Warner and I had a good time keeping up with him. Of course, Warner felt the treatment of Palin was especially abusive. Mike, as you might have guessed, didn’t entirely agree. Listen in and decide what you think.

We hope you enjoy the conversation with Mike and Warner as much as we did.

00Publius Contributor - 1st Amendment - Barack Obama - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Boston Globe: Talk Radio Now ‘Irrelevant’?

November 17, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like a couple of fellows pushing a book were able to convince the Boston Globe to let them contribute some soothsaying about the future of talk radio. Scratch that, they are talking about today, here and now — and it’s all bad. In the Boston Globe, Steve Elman and Alan Tolz have proclaimed “the rising irrelevance of talk radio,” so Rush… fuggedaboutit. Hannity… go back to house painting. Michael Savage… go back to whatever the heck it was you were doing before you were “Michael Savage.” It’s over. Just like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor (excuse my John Belushi). Finis ( a little French lingo there).

Unfortunately for Elman and Tolz, though, it appears that they don’t even have their main facts straight, much less a crystal ball successfully tuned into the state of talk radio today. In fact, they get something wrong in their very first sentence.

Continue reading “Boston Globe: Talk Radio Now ‘Irrelevant’?”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

MSNBC Pronounces Auto Industry ‘Needs’ Bailout, Says Republicans Tell Industry to ‘Drop Dead’

November 17, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, I guess that settles it. We don’t need any political discussion or economist’s studies. The auto industry officially needs a bailout. It’s just a fact. After all, MSNBC and BusinessWeek have just said it. The auto industry “needs” one or it cannot survive. Oh, yeah, and MSNBC is also informing the world that Republicans have told auto workers to “drop dead.” I think this is what the Old Media calls “news.”

This story by David Kiley of BusinessWeek is amazing for its assumptions, pronouncements and slanted anti-capatilist rhetoric and it boggles the mind that it could be called journalism. It certainly isn’t “news” because of all the personal opinions that Kiley pads this thing with, anyway.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture

Will Republicans Have the Courage to Hit the Reset Button

November 11, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

So, the voters of the United States have spoken. They have chosen – or we have chosen because it is important to treat the presidency with respect, something the Progressive-Left wouldn’t have understood until now – a 47-year old multiracial man, who had a decidedly “Progressive” upbringing, who taught community activist organizations to pressure financial institutions into embracing bad business practices, whose records when in the Illinois Senate were destroyed and who started campaigning for the presidency almost from the beginning of his US Senate career. Congratulations, President-Elect Obama. You pulled off.

We, as a people, chose Obama, questionable theology and all, to be president over an increasingly inclusive, reach-across-the-aisle, established war hero who proved his love of country through bone-breaking torture at the Hanoi Hilton. We chose Obama, questionable political ideological belief system and all, over a seasoned Senator with a proven track record of getting things done and a man the mainstream media used to adore before he dared to run against the “First Black President,” even though Obama really isn’t all that “Black” (a genealogical examination of Obama’s family line indicates he is 50% Caucasian, 43.75% Arab, and 6.25% African corresponding to the demographic of his Great-Great-Grandparents: 8 Caucasians, 7 Arabs and one African).
Continue reading “Will Republicans Have the Courage to Hit the Reset Button”

00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Conservatives, Obama’s Win is Your Fault

November 10, 2008 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

With that headline you may think I am employing hyperbole. If so, you would be wrong. I am absolutely and positively blaming the conservative movement for the rise to the presidency of a man that adheres to a socialist ideology. In fact, in this day and age, I might even blame conservatives for the continued existence of this man’s ideas altogether, though that might be a stretch. No, more directly, conservatives are at fault for the singular fact that many millions of Americans saw no reason not to vote for a socialist. They mistakenly imagined his ideas were still just as American as anyone’s. These voters haven’t the first clue that their vote stood four-square against true American ideas. Unfortunately, conservatives are at fault for this rampant inability of our fellows to understand what is an American ideology and what isn’t. Sadly, we have allowed several generations to pass without being educated as to why Barack Obama’s basic political creed is blatantly socialist.

Leftism got its start in America before the turn of the 20th century but in 1960 a conservative grass roots movement began to form around what later became the 1964 candidacy of Barry Goldwater. His campaign biography, Conscience of a Conservative, captured the minds of hundreds of thousands of Americans yearning for a return to American principles. After only its first few short years the book that bore Goldwater’s name had sold over 3 million copies and has by now gone through dozens of printings.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Republicans - Society/Culture

The Opposition Response

November 10, 2008 by 6 Comments

-By Dan Scott

Barack Obama gave his press conference outlining his general plans, which include everything from a stimulus package to extending unemployment benefits to bailouts for virtually everyone and their brother, along with other Democrat priorities. He called for quick action by the lame-duck Congress to implement these plans before he even takes office. The GOP seems to be either still in shock or simply mesmerized by the imperative of we must do something so let’s go along otherwise we will get blamed for being bipartisan or not being relevant. The lack of response is to say the least is shocking and reflects either incompetence on their part or a lack of courage by simply laying low to see what shakes out. Since Obama is bound and determined to follow the Democrat path of redistribution of wealth instead of wealth creation to solve the current economic crisis, and the GOP it seems is willing to shirk it’s responsibility as the opposition party, we as conservatives will give the response instead.

First off, an analogy will be helpful in helping describe what the proper response is to get the economy out of the current tailspin. When a pilot loses control of a nose diving plane that goes into spiral, the intuitive response of a novice pilot is to grab hold of the controls and fight the spin to regain control of the plane. This is precisely the wrong thing to do, the proper response is either to steer in the direction of the spin or to let go of the controls and the plane will right itself by doing exactly the opposite motion that a pilot would direct it. This same principle of recovering from a spin also holds for a car by turning in the direction of it and not applying brakes.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Race - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Remember How Whites Were Too Racist to Vote Obama?

November 8, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On November 5, the Associated Press put out a story on how the so-called Bradley Effect theory is now finished. You’ll remember the Bradley Effect as the effect that was sure to defeat Barack Obama because all whites are secretly racists and, therefore, wouldn’t have voted for the man when it came time. You’ll also remember that just about every wire service and every paper was filled with discussion about all those hick, racist whites and every TV tongue was wagging about it. But, now that this mythic theory has been proven a bust, will the Old Media say much to correct the record?

So, what about it? Are all whites secret racists with the Bradley Effect having proven they won’t vote for a black man, or is it a great humbug now proven faulty? The AP, for its part, comes down on the side of the later. The Bradley Effect is kaput. Several other sources, including NPR and The New York Times, also celebrate the end of the soundness of the Bradley Effect. In fact, quite a few Old Media sources seem happy to kill the Bradley Effect as a sound theory. How could they not? After all, Barack Obama got more votes than the “first black president,” Bill Clinton. It all seems like sunny days are here again. But…

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - News - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Great win? Not so Great, Really

November 6, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The near orgasmic reaction in the media to Barack Obama’s win on Election-day is universal. His is being hailed as a mandate, a game changing win, a landslide. But, in reality, Obama’s “wind” was not as “righteous” as he thought, it was not a landslide at all. In fact, Obama’s isn’t as strong a win as Ronald Reagan’s or Nixon’s and it didn’t bring the mandate for Obama that the media is attempting to claim it did. Neither did Obama bring overwhelming numbers to the polls as everyone imagined, for that matter. In the end, the complete realignment for the Democrats did not occur. All Obama’s win revealed is that the American electorate is still closely divided and it also that the GOP has one more chance to make a come back.

Not a Landslide

Reagan won a landslide victory in 1980. Obama did not in 2008. Reagan beat incumbent Jimmy Carter with nearly 51% to Carter’s 41% of the vote in November of 1980. He won 489 to Carter’s 49 Electoral College votes. Now that is what a landslide looks like.

Obama’s victory is solid, yes, but not of Reagan’s caliber. Obama got 52% of the vote to McCain’s 46% and garnered 349 Electoral Votes to McCain’s 163. But, while strong, Obama did not do better than George H. W. Bush or either Reagan campaign. Obama also came nowhere near Nixon’s landslide win of 1972.

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