Mario Piperni dot Com

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They don’t get too much more conservative than RedState’s Erickson. Under the title “GOP Does Not Want A Black Man In The Senate“, he writes…

“It is starting to get really disgusting.

First, the GOP said it needed diversity and chose the orange Charlie Crist over the Latino, Marco Rubio.

Then the GOP said it needed to do better outreach in the black community, so it ignored Michael Williams in Texas and tried to find a rich white guy to run for the Senate.

Now that Kay Bailey Hutchison has lost the Texas primary to Rick Perry without even making it into a runoff, the Washington, D.C. Republicans are scared to death a black man might actually get appointed to the Senate as a Republican.”

Anyone surprised?  Please.

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I agree with 94.7 percent of what Meghan McCain says here.

On Tom Tancredo’s ugly remarks at the Tea Party convention calling for literacy tests for voters and disparaging those who voted for “Barack Hussein Obama”…

“It’s innate racism, and I think it’s why young people are turned off by this movement,” McCain retorted on The View.

“I’m sorry, but revolutions start with young people, not 65 year old people talking about literacy tests and people who can’t say the word ‘vote’ in English,” McCain added.

McCain, a self-described “progressive Republican,” criticized Palin’s assertion that President Obama could get himself re-elected to a second term if he launched a war against Iran.

“You should never go to war unless its the absolute last circumstance,” McCain said.

As for Palin’s defense of Rush Limbaugh for using the word “retard” after calling for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s resignation over the same word last week, McCain said it was a symbol of “exactly what is wrong with politics today.

“We can’t placate and say Democrats can say one thing and Republicans can say another thing,” she said.

McCain added that the rhetoric coming from the Tea Party movement and from Republicans like Palin “will continue to turn off young voters, and anybody who says different is smoking something.”

My only dispute with Meghan here is the bit about revolutions and 65 year-olds.  There is no reason that anyone who wishes change cannot protest, yell and make their voices heard, regardless of age. But on Tancredo, Palin, Limbaugh and Republicans, McCain is bang on.

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I doubt the lions will invite Daniel back any time soon though I hope I’m wrong.

President Obama wants a rematch.

After a rousing question-and-answer session between the president and Republican lawmakers last week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is signaling this week that the president is open to Round Two — and maybe more.

“I believe we have been invited to speak to the Senate Republicans, and we will do so,” Gibbs told reporters on Monday.

“I think the President enjoyed the give and take on these issues of importance. You guys seemed to think it was a worthwhile endeavor,” Gibbs said. “And I think opportunities like this for both sides are important to talk through our ideas.”

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So what effect has one year of Republican lies and smear combined with conservative media madness done to intelligent debate and coherent thought?

Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of self-identified Republicans:

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?
Yes 42
No 36
Not Sure 22

Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
Yes 24
No 43
Not Sure 33

Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?
Yes 21
No 24
Not Sure 55

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?
Yes 53
No 14
Not Sure 33

Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?
Yes 31
No 36
Not Sure 33

Bipartisanship is dead for the time being. This is clear.  When 63% of Republicans believe that the President is a socialist, there is is little room for agreement on anything, let alone something as complex as health care reform. Level-headed conservatives are being squeezed out of the party daily for not being conservative enough. As Kos explains…

If any Republican strays and decides to do the right thing and try to work in a bipartisan fashion, they suffer primaries and attacks.

On the social issues, the numbers on Republican sentiment are equally discouraging.  Example…

Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
Yes 31
No 56
Not Sure 13

Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?
Christ 67
Other 15
Not Sure 18

The Republican party is stuck in another era and somehow has failed to evolve in a way one would wish a political party to grow and modernize.  I’ve said it before…the United States has more to fear from today’s Republican party than they do from any harm an Osama bin Laden could ever possibly conceive.

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A Republican who thought he was a Democrat but now realizes he was a Republican all the while makes it official. Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith switches from dems to reps.

“As most of you know, I was elected by the people of north Alabama as an independent conservative Congressman,” he said in a press conference.

“I have become increasingly concerned that the bills and policies pushed by the current Democratic leadership are not good for north Alabama or our nation and, more importantly, they do not represent my values and convictions,” he said.

Griffith described himself as “pro-business, pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.”

“I am announcing today that I am joining the Republican conference immediately,” he said, saying the GOP is more in line with his beliefs.

So what do conservatives think?

RedState:

Being a Republican should be about more than just the letter next to a person’s name. We can improve that seat.

Club For Growth:

Griffith’s voting record is far from conservative, too. Granted, he voted against the Big 4 – Obama’s first budget, the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare. However, his vote on the budget is slightly deceptive since he originally voted for 9 of the 12 spending bills that make up the budget. And he voted against all the Stimulus amendments that would reduce its size.

But just a quick perusal of 2009 shows that he voted YES on the 2009 pork-filled Omnibus; YES on Cash for Clunkers, NO on waiving the harmful Davis-Bacon provision, and had a pathetic 0% score on the 2009 RePORK Card.

This party switch signals Griffith’s nervousness, but it doesn’t signal that his incumbency is safe.

Good luck with Griffith passing the Conservative Purity Test.  As for Democrats, it’s one less blue dog to be concerned with.

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Conservatives had a ‘prayercast’ a few days ago where they prayed for defeat of the health care bill. The meeting was attended by Republican Senators Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback and Rep. Michele Bachmann.

This will make your skin crawl.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Just imagine the above clip taking place in a Muslim nation and the language spoken being Arabic. Imagine Islamic politicians praying to Allah to intercede in a political battle with their government. Conservatives would be the first ones to criticize the theocratic approach of a backwards nation and compare it to the modern, sleek and civilized system of government in the United States.

Those were three members of Congress praying to their god to intercede in the health care debate and to side against the duly elected government of their own country. That was an elected politician crying out to god and declaring that the nation was at the “end of ourselves and now we need you.”

Every American who is not a religious fanatic, regardless of political orientation, should be deeply concerned.

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Conservative David Frum on where Republican’s “no, no, no policy” has left the party.

The furious rejectionist frenzy of the past 12 months is exacting a terrible price upon Republicans. We’re getting worse and less conservative results out of Washington than we could have negotiated, if we had negotiated.

As is, we’re betting heavily that a bad economy will collapse Democratic support without us having to lift a finger. Maybe that will happen. But existing party strategy has to be reckoned a terrible failure. Most Republicans will shrug off that news. If polls are right, rank-and-file Republicans feel little regard for the Washington party, and don’t expect much from it. But it’s the rank-and-file who are the problem here! Republican leaders do not dare try deals for fear of being branded sell-outs by a party base that wants war to the knife. So we got war. And we’re losing. Even if we gain seats in 2010, the actions of this congressional session will not be reversed. Shrink Medicare after it has expanded? Hey- we said we’d never do that.

I hear a lot of talk about the importance of “principle.” But what’s the principle that obliges us to be stupid?

This is what happens when a party allows demagogues like Palin and Limbaugh to speak for it.

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Rasmussen polled the following question:

“Okay, suppose the Tea Party Movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?”

The numbers came in at:

Democratic 36%, Tea Party 23%, Republican 18%.

Rasmussen goes on to analyze what conclusions we can draw from the data.

“In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process — written by Republicans and Democrats — provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.“

To which, I ask…has the tea party movement not already taken over one of the existing parties?

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I’m not a Mike Huckabee fan. While I can respect him as a man of devout Christian values, it leaves him in a position where one could easily doubt his ability to separate church and state. This country does not need another president who makes decisions based on what God told him the previous night.

All of that said, Huckabee is a thougthful and insightful man on many levels as he demonstrates here.

“When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say “Aw, that’s just a cheap photo-op.” No, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I’m grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all — as Americans — should give him credit for doing that.”

“When he and Michele hosted the tricker-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say “Good, I’m glad that he and the First Lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.” And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man.”

“I hated it when people did that to George Bush. They couldn’t even laugh at the man’s jokes they found something wrong with everything and if we do that to Barack Obama, then shame on us, shame on us. No wonder our country is so divided when that happens.”

Unfortunately for Huckabee, there are few people at his end of the aisle who would see it as he does. Republicans have made it painfully clear that the game plan is to take down Obama by not only obstructing every piece of legislation put forward by Dems but by also questioning the very legitimacy of his presidency.  And sadly, leading the concert is a right-wing media which abandoned honesty and integrity a long time ago.

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A house divided as David Frum explains.

The Republican fratricide in the Nov. 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010.

In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship — but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well.

The battle in Florida pits Gov. Charlie Crist against former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Both men claim to be conservative, pro-life, tax cutters. On the issues, they would seem to agree far more than they disagree.

But on one issue they have disagreed passionately: President Obama’s fiscal stimulus. Squeezed by his state’s desperate fiscal condition, Crist endorsed and campaigned for the Obama stimulus. Inspired by his conservative ideology, Rubio opposed stimulus.

Now Rubio is the darling of conservatives nationwide.

We have another situation here where conservatives find the Republican candidate, Crist, too moderate for their liking and are backing the more conservative Rubio.  Rubio’s campaign is raking in money from around the country as conservatives rally behind their chosen one. Conservatives and Rubio have been relentless in their attacks on Crist’s acceptance of federal stimulus money.

But as Frum points out, Governor Crist is constitutionally bound to balance his state budget.

The final Obama plan granted Florida more than $15 billion over three years. That money averted radical cuts to schools and Medicaid. It saved the state from furloughing employees and raising taxes even higher. It has paid for emergency employment on roads and water projects. It has extended unemployment benefits for 700,000 Floridians — and put an extra $25 per week in their relief packets.

Every Republican governor has accepted stimulus money (except Palin and Sandford – both were on their way out). Frum asks…

Are all these Republican leaders, including such outstanding figures as Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Haley Barbour of Mississippi, now disqualified for future races?

The most telling of all comes via this anecdote.

A few days ago, I was talking to a roomful of young conservatives about the crisis. All agreed in denouncing both the bank bailouts done under TARP and the stimulus. I asked: OK fine — what was the alternative?

There was a short pause, and then somebody laughed: “I guess it’s lucky that we weren’t in power.”

That’s not much of a motto for a would-be national governing coalition. If all we conservatives have to offer is oppositionism, then opposition is the job we’ll be assigned to fill.

Indeed.

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