Mario Piperni dot Com

What do you do when you’re part of a political party lacking vision and integrity and find your ideas being further marginalized with each passing day? How do you convince a population which has rejected your ideology and your popularity dwindles with each new poll…how do you convince them that your party is worthy of their support? Do you put forth new and exciting proposals and broaden your vision to be more inclusive?

Not if you’re the Republican Party, you don’t. What you do instead is rely on that old standby which worked so well for you over the last 8 years. You rely on the politics of fear. You put out this video ad.

Yes, that is President Obama shaking hands with ‘bad guys’ sandwiched in between images of the Pentagon in flames and terrorists waging war…along with eerie music playing in the background.

Don’t you forget, when your party is brain dead, there’s always the fear card.

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If you haven’t yet seen Time’s annual 100 list of influential people, let me recommend it.  It’s a fun piece and an easy way to get acquainted with the movers and shakers in the world of revolutionairies and titans and leaders and entertainers and heroes and thinkers.  The short articles are written by people who have had personal experience with the person they’re writing about.

Here are a few of the pairings…

#1     Ted Kennedy by Arnold Schwarzenegger

#20  Barack Obama by Prime Minister Gordon Brown

#23  Ted Turner by T. Boone Pickens

#40  Bernie Madoff by Michael Moore

#41  Rush Limbaugh by Glenn Beck

#61  Michelle Obama by Oprah Winfrey

#79  Sarah Palin by Ann Coulter

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These images come from a book titled Deconstructing Dumbo by designers Thomas Fuchs and Felix Sockwell .

Clever stuff.

The book is from a couple of years back but, amazingly enough, in this time where the Republican party is is so lost and unable to define themselves, many of the logos still apply.  Let’s have a poll.  Choose your favorite from those above.

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Barack Obama - First 100 Days

Love him or hate him, what you can’t do is ignore him.

From the moment he won the election, President Barack Obama has been front and center tackling the very issues he discussed throughout the campaign.  Anyone who feigns shock at the massive undertakings of this president just wasn’t paying attention for he is doing exactly what he said he’d do.  He is doing exactly the things for which people voted him in to do.

A partial list of his accomplishments to date would include…

• Setting a date for troop withdrawl from Iraq
• Increasing troop levels in Afghanistan
• Closing Guantanamo
• Tackling the economic crisis with a stimulus bill
• Implementing a mortgage rescue plan
• Lifting the ban on on stem cell research
• G-20
• Lifting restrictions on Cuba
• Putting an end to torture

In a new NBC/WSJ poll, “more than six in 10 approve of Obama’s job, nearly two-thirds view him favorably, and a majority believe he has gotten off to a solid start during his first three months on the job“.

And here’s an amazing number from that same poll: 81% of respondents say they find Obama personally likeable.   For a man who wishes to be a transformational president, that’s a number he could only love.

CNN has put together a video they’re calling 100 Days in 6 Minutes

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One of our commenters provided a link to an op-ed piece by Republican Senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe. I thought it was bang on in that it addresses the very real problems facing the Republican party. It should be required reading for all conservatives and for all who believe that a strong two party system makes for a healthier nation.

On Arlen Specter’s departure from the party, she writes:

“…the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania is a microcosm of a deeper, more pervasive problem that places our party in jeopardy nationwide.”

On the broader issue of party ideology…

“There is no plausible scenario under which Republicans can grow into a majority while shrinking our ideological confines and continuing to retract into a regional party. Ideological purity is not the ticket back to the promised land of governing majorities — indeed, it was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash.”

Conservatives and Republicans are at a crossroads.  They can keep on banging their heads against the wall of denial or face up to what is happening to their party.  If they choose the former, then there will no doubt be further defections and that 21% number of Americans who identify with the party will only shrink further.

Hinging one’s fortunes solely on the failure of your opponent is a recipe for disaster and for the moment, that’s all republicans have going for themselves.

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Bill Kristol

The thing I like about conservative Bill Kristol has less to do with what he says than how he says it.  No matter what words he’s speaking or what issue he’s dealing with, Kristol does it with a smile not unlike the one which is permanently painted across the face of the Joker.  Kinda cool, I think.

That said, I have to agree with much of what Kristol wrote in a short piece on the Specter defection.  In a nutshell, Specter as a Democrat should help Republican fortunes in the 2010 midterms.  They could now argue effectively that with Democrats holding 60 seats in the Senate and a majority in the House, it becomes imperative that the electorate return check and balance in Washington.

Good point.  Much will depend, I imagine, as to whether or not the Republican party will have totally imploded by that time.

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Republican Party - Bye.

Lost the White House. Minority status in the Senate. Minority status in the House. Only 21% of Americans identify with the Republican party. Arlen Specter has just bolted to the Democratic party. No leadership. No ideas. The RNC chairman is the hapless Michael Steele. The voice of the party is a comedian (Rush). One of their shining lights is Sarah (I-can-see-Russia-from-Alaska) Palin. They have a plumber talking policy for them.

I think I’m gonna miss them.

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Arlen Specter Switches Parties

Wow!  News is out that Arlen Specter will switch parties and caucus with the Democratic party.   Along with Al Franken, that would give democrats a 60 seat majority in the Senate.  Filibuster-Proof!

And with this move, the Republican party sinks one notch lower into oblivion.

From wiki…

“Specter has been Pennsylvania’s senior senator since April 4, 1991. He is known as a moderate Republican, with conservative views on crime, national security, and 2nd Amendment Rights, and liberal leaning views on abortion, immigration and the environment. In April 2006, he was selected by Time as one of “America’s 10 Best Senators“.

Specter…

“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” said Specter in a statement. “I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.”

He added: “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

I knew there was a reason I always liked this guy.

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You might recall a post I wrote in March on the Obamameter.  PolitiFact.com has compiled 500 of Obama’s campaign promises and is tracking them and rating them as ‘Promises Kept’, ‘Promises Broken’, ‘Compromise’, etc.  Well, we’re one away from Day 100 of the Obama presidency and it’s time to check in once more…

Details at PolitiFact.com

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