New Poll: 
Voters Believe Tea Party Has Better Understanding of Issues.
Posted by Diogenes Sarcastica
Sunday, March 28,2010

"Rasmussen has been among the most accurate polling service for the past several years. They had the Coakley/Brown Massachusetts Senate election numbers nailed, well within the margin of error. The Koshole poll had Coakley winning. Okay? Are we clear here?"

The lastest from Rasmussen

 In official Washington, some consider the Tea Party movement a fringe element in society, but voters across the nation feel closer to the Tea Party movement than they do to Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.

When it comes to those issues, 47% think that their own political views are closer to those of the average Tea Party member than to the views of the average member of Congress. On this point, 26% feel closer to Congress. 

But Wait.  Aren't we told by the media the Tea Partiers are just rabble rousing - extremist - racist - nazis - homophobes?

Finally, 46% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is more ethical than the average member of Congress. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say that the average member of Congress is more ethical.

On all questions, Republicans overwhelming prefer the Tea Party. Unaffiliated voters also prefer the Tea Party by wide margins, but Congress fares a bit better with unaffiliated than they do with Republicans. 

Democrats, perhaps not surprisingly since their party currently controls both the House and Senate, are more evenly divided. Forty-five percent (45%) of those in Nancy Pelosi’s party say that their views are closer to the average member of Congress. However, 28% of Democrats say their views are closer to the average member of the Tea Party.

“The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century,” Says Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports.

With the media's lips planted squarely on the president's derrière, what they feed daily to America has become so much Obama administration propaganda. Their reporting of overblown and exaggerated threats and false stories of violence like this as well as the daily smears of the Tea party movement as some right-wing extremist movement, clearly shows their bias and  what a sham old media journalism has become. The assigning of the worst possible meaning to words or actions  of a few fringe protesters to paint an entire group shows a severe lack of journalistic integrity. But I do hear the view is magnificent from those Ivory towers!

You don't have to be a tea party member to sympathize with their cause. They are just willing to stand up and say "I don't like the direction we're headed." Sounds pretty American to me, and that is what really scares the left.

H/T iOwnTheWorld

Exclusive: Shocking Photos of Pelosi's Victory Celebration!

Posted by Diogenes Sarcastica
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS!

After Tuesdays signing of the Health care stuff by our Fearless Leader, Speaker Pelosi invited a few friends and colleagues to have a private celebration.  And Diogenes' cameras were there........
 

As she arrived at a D.C. nightclub,  adoring members of the media
  met her there for a brief victory statement.

As festivities got underway, Capitol Hill Window Washer and valued
Political Advisor to Speaker Pelosi,  Vinnie "Sidestep" Moran  got
 the party off to a roaring start with a tap dance demo to the song " Taxman "

President Obama's main man, Rahm Emanuel, came by to
congratulate the Speaker and say hello to a few old friends.

Activist and  members of good standing in the democratic party
were there with their mistress wives to celebrate the victory.

Some of  Madam Speaker's  biggest supporters from her
California Congressional district that flew in to help lobby
undecided members were there to join in the celebration.

As the karaoke machine was cranked up, Congressman
 Henry Waxmanshowed off his pipes with a rendition of
"Smoke Gets in My Eyes"

 

And the evenings surprise guest, the First Lady, Michelle Obama
dropped in and took the  stage in a purple, orange and green evening
 gown and did a karaoke rendition of "Gettin My Freak On"

Later in the evening, Pelosi, along with celebrity impersonators
Ted Kennedy and Rolling Stones Keith Richards belted out a
drunken version of "Bad to the Bone"



And Then

Joe Biden Showed Up.....

Things Really Started Getting Weird! 

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U.S. Senate Approves Appointment of "Presidential Mini-Me"

Posted by Diogenes Sarcastica

Setting aside less important business of the country, in an almost unanimous vote the Senate approved President Obama’s choice for the position of Presidential Mini-Me.


While during debate Republicans did express concern for the nominee’s lack of experience, Democrats countered saying approval would be solid proof that the Obama administration actually has created a job.

______________________________ 

Questioning Democrat Motives
Posted by Diogenes Sarcastica

Watching closely our governing processes, particularly these last few months, it raises serious questions prompted by the almost incomprehensible behaviour of the country’s three most visible leaders as well as a fair number of members of Congress and administration officials. Are the leaders of our country so far out of touch with the mood of the electorate? Has one party rule so corrupted our law makers? Has the narcissism of the president infected the entire democrat leadership? Do the democrats sincerely have a political death wish?

President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Pelosi seem either unable to understand that Americans are not in favor of their idea of government controlled health care , or they simply do not care what the people think.

Recent nationwide polls reflect the mood of the country plainly:

A CBS News/New York Times Poll conducted in February concluded that the economy and jobs were the most important issues facing the country (52 percent) while health care reform garnered only 13 percent.

The left wing Daily Kos poll conducted by Research 2000 early this month found 39 percent believed the country was headed in the right direction, but 60 percent said the wrong direction.

But perhaps the most telling of all is the Gallup Poll from March 4-7, which asked, “In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?” Nearly four to one, Americans are dissatisfied (79 percent to 19 percent).

These polls reflect ever growing dissatisfaction with the country’s direction, fueled not only by a dangerously intrusive and unpopular health care reform effort, but by increasingly over reaching and intrusive government, and out of control spending. With the political left unusually silent, congressional leaders ignore this outrage, still obsessed with jamming through health care reform. Not only does the public not like the reform bills, many senators and representatives don’t like them, either.

The Senate bill needed 60 votes to pass and it took Majority Leader Reid buying votes with sweet deals for a few key members to get 60 votes, and the House bill passed with only two votes more than needed.

Some don’t like public funding of abortions, and thus don’t support the bill, and others don’t support it because it doesn’t have a public option. All in all, there’s enough stuff in the bill, and enough stuff that’s left out of the bill, that the 216 votes needed in the House for final passage may not materialise.

Undaunted by the lack of popular and legislative support for the bill, Ms. Pelosi may now resort to a scheme referred to as the “Slaughter Solution,” an act of desperation that is said to be unprecedented in U.S. history and probably unconstitutional.

Here are more serious questions to ponder: Is a bill that has the support of only one party a good piece of legislation? Isn’t good legislation that which has a broad and substantial majority of support? Did we elect these people to enact partisan legislation? And, is that the best way to run the country?

In spite of negative poll numbers, in spite of crumbling support in both houses of Congress, President Obama, Mr. Reid, and Ms. Pelosi charge ahead to force health care reform through, apparently at any cost. This behavior defies common sense. These three individuals seem determined to increase the size and authority of government, even if they take themselves and their party down in the process. Their ideology is sharply at odds with America’s founding principles and is contrary to what the American people want from their public servants, but it is controlling so much of what is happening in Washington today.

What drives them so intensely toward a possible date with the political gallows?

Shall We Also Go the Way of Europe?

by Diogenes Sarcastica

Now more than any time since it's beginning 14 centuries ago, a large part of the Islamic world believes whoever is perceived as strong will be feared and survive; and whoever is seen as weak, irresolute, or wavering, will be despised and will be vanquished.

This is a hard bullet for some American's to bite; Islam is at war with western culture. Those who deny this are not seeing the obvious. — and it is often the view of university professors and chancellors who,  without  their leadership and adherence to political correctness , there would be no notions of "academic freedom" extended those who come here to subvert and destroy.

 Where there is a vacuum, something will occupy it. Muslims judge that decadent America, so obsessed with excess and titillation, has run its course. And who can refute them? Corruption in our country is the order of the day! Teen drop-outs, gangs and crime, greed and political abandonment of our Constitutional principles all support the Muslim's view of our nation.
For a glimpse of where we're headed if we fail to show resolve, look at  France, Spain, England and other countries where the radical Muslim world view has been allowed to gain a toe-hold.  Consider the carnage caused by just one radicalized adherent at Fort Hood, then multiply that many times over, as more radical muslim thought  consolidates it's power base in our country as a virulent form of anti-semitism in a fertile  breeding grounds of college campuses. Have we forgotten how easily the “New Left” ideology took hold of academia and college campuses after the turbulent 1960's?  It's disciples today occupy the seat of government.

 Without strength of character in our leaders, and the courage to remain vigilante in the face of a culture of repression and insane religious law, we are poised to become just another chapter in history — right next to the debauched and pillaged societies of Greece and Rome. The Muslim onslaught can be seen from the gates; they are weary of our self-indulgence and they abhor our eroding social mores and valueless culture. With the help of a willing media who regularly criticizes Christianity and it practitioners, spotlighting only scandal, refusing  to speak the truth or say anything remotely negative of Islam, as that would be considered bigoted and insensitive. Or are they just intimidated?
But while they diddle, radical Islam is sharpening the knives, knowing that their time will come.

New Harvard Poll Should Worry Democrats.

by Diogenes Sarcastica

Barack Obama now has a negative approval rating in every state he flipped from the Bush column to his in 2008. In each of those places his level of support is now in the 44-46% range.  But even worse news is that young voters who played an important part in his victory are becoming disenchanted with Obama’s leadership and lack of accomplishment..

From Newsweek:

Harvard's Institute of Politics released the  from its ongoing survey of young adults this morning, and they don't look good for Democrats. Only 38 percent of young people (defined as 18- to 29-year-olds) approve of the president's handling of the deficit, and a majority disapprove of his economic management (51 percent) and his work on health care (53 percent). Young people are unimpressed with congressional Democrats, with only 42 percent approving of their performance. That's still higher than for congressional Republicans—who have a mere 35 percent approval rating—but Democratic approval is down 6 points since last November, which is a worrying trend going into the midterms.

I find it interesting that this poll is clearly beginning to illustrate that young voters, expecting a sweeping change and the idealistic utopia they believed was to come with a complete control of government by democrats are not happy and becoming apathetic.

The worst sign for Democrats is voter enthusiasm. Young voters are a critical demographic for both the president and Democrats in Congress. They were the key to Obama's success last cycle, both in the primaries and the general election…..

This year only 35 percent of young Democratic voters say they'll turn out in November. Young Republicans, on the other hand, are significantly more enthusiastic, with 41 percent saying they definitely plan to vote……

This poll should deeply concern Democrats.  The lessons of the past are pretty clear: Democrats generally suffer when young people don't vote. November is already looking gloomy for the Democrats, and if they can't get young people to turn out for them, odds are they'll pay for it.

It didn't take long for some young voters who were sweep up in the enthusiasm of Obamamania to start seeing the real Barack Obama; He is totally unprepared for the job, and possessed of the most outrageous  theories of how government should work.  The hypocritical, the finger-pointer, the indecisive, the frequent vacationer, the man who believed his own press too much.

The Truth of what his "Hope and Change" has brought us is this: we're deeper in debt than ever. The Federal Government is spending money faster than it can print it and the world's premier economy is collapsing for want of proven, common sense solutions under the weight of government spending and bailouts. Young idealistic voters are beginning to worry about what kind of future is in store for them.

The attempt to revive Camelot by the Press notwithstanding, Obama has always cast a very thin shadow, it's only when he's been given an opportunity by a very desperate electorate that we find out just how gossamer-thin it always was. November could be a disaster for democrats, and a blow to Obama’s governing direction.

The tragedy of Barack Obama will always be that the need in young voters to believe drove many to the point of suspending disbelief altogether.

An Obama Win on Health Care Could Also Be His Loss

by Diogenes Sarcastica

The fact is, even if it's the right idea at the right time, most overly ambitious efforts at change ultimately fail. The primary reason for this is that those leading the change don't account for and address the resistance they are inevitably going to get. It sounds so obvious and simple, and yet it's a consistently ignored factor. So even if Obama health care bill passed, I think there's a good chance it would eventually collapse in implementation for two reasons:

First, Obama has done a poor job of the most basic step: He has not identified the correct problem - he merely identifies symptoms ("47 million without insurance"). Also, he cannot tell you in a coherent and relatively simple fashion what the solution is going to look like. He had a preconceived idea of the solution he wanted to use (government) and shaped the problem to fit his solution, not the other way around. So he is trying to implement the wrong solution on a problem that can't be defined on a population that, according to polls, increasingly does not want.

Second, Obama is trying to force a solution that goes contrary to core American culture. By culture, I don't mean Britney Spears and American Idol. Culture is all the unspoken assumptions a group holds about the world and how it works, if the group has survived by conforming to those assumptions. Obama does not realize what he's up against when he tries impose a change that goes contrary to it. Culture is so powerful that people will deny, minimize, ridicule, or dismiss the reality of what they see or experience if it conflicts with their core cultural assumptions. (This is why so many people cannot believe that Obama would do anything to harm the country - their cultural assumption is that all presidents love America and have her best interests at heart.)

The polls reflect these types of cultural assumptions - the public does NOT think that government is the best place to solve problems, they do NOT want larger government, they do NOT like all this spending, and they do NOT want to lose the individual freedom they have to determine their own lives. And yet that is the very type of solution Obama seems intent on implementing.

So should the bill pass, Obama is entering implementation with a poorly defined problem, a poorly defined solution, and a resistant, increasingly hostile, and impatient public whose core cultural beliefs are attacked. I would not be surprised to eventually see things like a return of Congress to the GOP, doctor strikes, public marches, computer programming snafus, "sick-outs", and computer hackings, to name just a few ways in which people could resist.

I know people voted for "change" - but here's what I came to learn about that. When people say they want change, they really want one of three things: 1) some novelty, 2) some relief, or 3) for the OTHER guy to change so their lives will go back to 'normal' without them having to expend any effort. People do NOT willingly vote to change their entire concept of self and country, which is what Obama is imposing - and why he may ultimately fail.

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Democrats Shady and Partisan Health Care Process

By Diogenes Sarcastica

During the early days in the health care reform effort, the atmosphere was a heady one for Democrats, who for the first time in many years held not only the White House, but also both houses of Congress by solid margins.

Consumed by having gained this high degree of power, they saw no need to consult with Republicans to develop a bi-partisan approach to improve the system, because they had the power to do what they wanted to do. They were unable to resist the temptation to cram everything imaginable into the reform bill, and when they included measures that Republicans found unacceptable, Democrats began calling Republicans obstructionists, giving the clear impression that Republicans simply refused to participate, and only cared about stopping reform.

After locking themselves away and drafting legislation that they knew Republicans couldn’t support, then rejecting Republican proposals to modify the legislation, when Republicans predictably voted against the bill, they called them “the party of ‘No.’”

They denounced Republican opposition with comments like, “Republicans don’t want to help people who can’t afford health insurance,” “Republicans oppose health care reform,” and “Republicans want to maintain the status quo.” All of that may make for exciting political theater, but it accomplishes nothing positive.

Was the reform effort an honest attempt to create useful legislation? No. Was that characterization a fair evaluation of the Republican attitude toward reform? Again, no. Calling the Republicans “the party of ‘No’” is an effort to distract our attention from the Democrats’ foray into the back rooms of the Capital where they worked against the wishes of their constituents behind closed – and locked – doors.

The Democrats’ contrived frustration at Republican refusal to support their radical reform measures is silly, although it serves their political purposes. They weren’t interested in bi-partisan input on health care reform in the first place, which is why they locked Republicans out of the process. But just because the Democrats say Republicans were opposed to any kind of reform doesn’t mean that it is true, and in fact that claim is demonstrably false.

In May of 2009, Republicans unveiled a plan that featured these 10 points:
• Lowering health care premiums for American families and small businesses, addressing Americans’ number-one priority for health care reform.
• Establishing Universal Access Programs to guarantee access to affordable health care for those with pre-existing conditions.
• Ending junk lawsuits by enacting medical liability reforms modeled after the successful state laws of California and Texas.
• Preventing insurers from unjustly cancelling a policy.
• Encouraging Small Business Health Plans to give small businesses the power to pool together and offer health care at lower prices, like corporations and labor unions do.
• Encouraging innovative state programs that reduce premiums and the number of uninsured.
• Allowing Americans to buy insurance across state lines, so those living in one state can purchase insurance in another.
• Promoting healthier lifestyles by giving employers greater flexibility to financially reward employees who adopt healthier lifestyles.
• Enhancing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) by allowing qualified participants to use HSA funds to pay premiums for high deductible health insurance.
• Allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ policies through age 25.

And last November House Republican Leader John Boehner offered an amendment to the Democrat bill, H.R.4038 titled the Common Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act  which stated: “The purpose of this Act is to take meaningful steps to lower health care costs and increase access to health insurance coverage (especially for individuals with preexisting conditions) without: (1) raising taxes; (2) cutting Medicare benefits for seniors; (3) adding to the national deficit; (4) intervening in the doctor-patient relationship; or (5) instituting a government takeover of health care.”

There’s a fair chance you didn’t hear about either of those things, because the Democrats certainly weren’t going to tell you about a plan that you might like better than you like their plan, and the mainstream media certainly didn’t trumpet the Republican plan with the same enthusiasm as it did the Democrat bill.

These games are not all that unusual. Whenever a political party has a controlling majority in Congress, the potential for political tomfoolery exists, and both parties are guilty of having committed legislative malfeasance when they have held power. However, Democrats are the ones with power at this moment, and they alone are responsible for this badly flawed process.

The fact is that Democrats never cared what reforms Republicans favored; they were determined to ram through their partisan ideological plan to assert government control over private sector health care, and the public and Republicans be damned. Despite resounding defeats to the liberal agenda in recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, Democrat leaders still aren’t listening to – or perhaps cannot hear – the strong message against their version of health care reform from a majority of Americans, as reflected in multiple public opinion polls showing opposition by a 15- to-20-point margin.

While Republicans pray the Democrats’ deafness continues through November, the American people should pray they wake up before they ruin the world’s most technologically advanced health care system.

Sources:
WashingtonWatch.com
Library of Congress
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Obamacare and Reconciliation: Only the House Vote Matters

From Rich Lowry at National Review Online:

"This is an important point. I don't think people understand that reconciliation isn't really that important except as a promise to members of the House. Even Charles Krauthammer, if I understood him correctly, said last night that he thinks the bill will pass the House but fail during the reconciliation process. But if the bill passes the House, the same bill has passed the Senate and the House and Obama can just sign the thing. It won't matter if the reconciliation process bogs down, except to those Democrats who thought the bill would be "fixed." But once they've voted, they've voted. Obama can say, "See you in the Rose Garden and we'll try to fix it next year." 

From Jeffrey Anderson - Don’t Leave the House Unattended.

"All of the talk about "reconciliation" seems to have distracted people — like a red herring — from a simple but crucial fact: If the House goes first, as now appears to be the plan, and passes the Senate health-care overhaul, the president would then have a bill in hand that had passed both houses of Congress, and — whether reconciliation subsequently succeeded or failed in the Senate — we would have Obamacare". 

"If Americans don't want Obamacare — and every indication is that they emphatically don’t — now is the time for swing-district Democrats to hear that full chorus of opposition: loudly, clearly, and forcibly".

________________ 

The legislation would create government-controlled health care that the public clearly does not want. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Obama and House Democratic leaders are asking their members to hold hands, jump off a cliff and hope the Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid catches them. I think we may soon see who really are the men and women of principle on the Democrat side of the aisle. 

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