The Honeymoon Is Over

Laura's E-Blast
http://www.LauraIngraham.com
February 6, 2009

What a difference 17 days make! It seems like just yesterday when the biggest challenge facing President Obama was whether or not he could keep his Blackberry, or which puppy to get his daughters. Now, long after Will.I.Am and Beyonce have cleared out of Washington, and the glow of the inauguration has faded, reality is setting in. Turns out that leading is a lot more difficult than campaigning.

Last night, a petulant President Obama, frustrated that the so-called stimulus bill had stalled, railed against "cable talkers" and whined about how he "inherited this debt"! Excuse me, I thought he was elected on the promise that he was uniquely positioned to clean up America's economic mess! Even the perpetually mushy David Gergen said President Obama's speech was overly partisan and risky.

Lately, President Obama sounds a lot more like candidate Obama -- yet now the slogans and high-minded rhetoric are odd and ineffective. The more time people have to absorb the contents of this spendiferous bill, the faster its popularity sinks. According to the latest CBS News poll, only 21 percent believe the bill will significantly shorten the recession. Forty-five percent say it won't make a darn bit of difference!

So today, President Obama announced ... an economic advisory board! The last refuge of a clueless politician is the formation of a commission, task force, or, in this case, an advisory board. So this is what he meant by "change"? Hiring more Washington "experts" is the last thing we need now. What we need is real leadership.

There is no doubt about it -- this economic recovery plan is the centerpiece of President Obama's first year in office. Yet as it's now surrounded by controversy and questions, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" is on the verge of being passed without any meaningful Republican support.

President Obama, in the role of Charmer-in-Chief, wrongly thought he could win Republican support merely by wining and dining a few GOP leaders at the White House. Thank God they aren't such cheap dates. If he'd stuck around Congress a little longer, President Obama might have learned just how messy the legislative process can get without strong executive leadership. Now he's stuck trying to convince Americans that his radioactive crap sandwich is just what the doctor ordered.

Good luck with that.

What Happened to Conservatism?

Here's a good commentary from Laura Ingraham on the state of the conservative party and what needs to happen if we ever want to win an election again.


Laura's E-Blast
http://www.LauraIngraham.com
November 5, 2008

First, let no one tell you that this election was a failure of conservatism--it was the product of failed Republican leadership. Conservatism gave way to "compassionate" big-government Republicanism, which failed big time. Too many on Capitol Hill abandoned first principles like fiscal discipline, and failed to connect with middle class economic anxiety that has been brewing for two years, not two months. When one loses one's sense of purpose, so too goes moral clarity and credibility.

Despite all this, and despite Obama's huge money and media advantage, 56 million Americans still pulled the lever for the Republican ticket. That is not nothing. It certainly is a base we can build on.

Second, we are moving into a new era that demands new leadership. You who were not lulled into complacency and stood for conservatism are going to have more influence over the GOP going forward than you've had during the Bush years. So take heart.

Third, after Inauguration Day, President Obama will have to finally start making some hard choices that no liberal has had to make. Is he really willing to trash the economy in an effort to stop global warming? Is he really willing to let terrorists reign in the Middle East? Is he really willing to go along with the casual anti-Americanism of most Europeans? If he does, his popularity will erode quickly. Conservatives, in the meantime, will be rebuilding, and refreshing their message and messengers.

Fourth, communications skills matter. Laugh all you want about Obama's soaring rhetoric (and we do), there is no doubt that we got beaten in the PR department. We must cultivate a new generation of leaders who are both proud of their conservative beliefs and comfortable articulating them with vision, clarify and optimism.

Fifth, too many Americans -- younger people especially -- don't understand conservatism. Obama advertised everything under the sun (health care, tax cuts, expanded government services, compassionate judges, peace in our time). Those who've never learned the basics of American history or conservative philosophy have a hard time grasping how anyone could oppose this bill of goods. Part of the answer is taking back our schools and universities. We also need to stop relying on ineffective slogans ("legislating from the bench," "class warfare," "socialism!") and start conveying broader principles and truths through direct, pithy language.

Let the rebuilding begin!

The Fraudulent President

More good stuff from Laura Ingraham on The Messiah:

"Today's Election Day and Sen. Obama still leads in national polling. The question: What more does Obama have to do to prove he's unfit for the presidency? Have extensive ties with terrorists? Check. Proclaim America's founding document to be "fundamentally flawed"? Check. Threaten to bankrupt an industry that provides half this country's juice? Check. Promise to weaken America's military, empower the United Nations, boost the standing of the world's tyrants. Check, check, check. Push an economic plan ripped from the pages of Karl Marx? Check. Denounce self-interest -- i.e., the lifeblood of a market economy -- as "selfishness"? Check. Have a late-game revelation about an aunt who's an illegal alien enjoying public assistance, ignoring deportation orders, and making illegal campaign contributions to Obama? Check, check, and check.

Sure, America could use a change in focus, but that doesn't mean the most radical departure possible will somehow pay the biggest dividends. On the contrary. Everything Obama threatens to do will actually weaken America and her standing in the world."

The Quiet Joe Biden?

Commentary from Laura Ingraham on the absence of Joe Biden from national interviews.

"HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE:

Was it only a month ago the media (conservatives included) regularly criticized the McCain camp for keeping Gov. Palin bottled up? What were they afraid of? Let the woman speak! Since then, she's done frequent interviews and even held a few press conferences. Meantime, Sen. Biden -- who initially gave press conferences until his traveling press corps begged for mercy -- hasn't given a single one in weeks. Yesterday, after Biden's Sunday gaffe -- whereby he "gauranteed" that electing Sen. Obama would herald an international crisis -- he wasn't speaking to the media at all. Remember: This is the "experienced" half of the ticket, the guy supposedly ready to take over as commander-in-chief at the drop of a hat -- yet he's suddenly in hiding from the press. Trust me, I can understand why the press isn't exactly flying into fits of rage of his sudden silence, but does this still mean Palin's qualifications are what Americans need to be questioning?"

Hands Off The Messiah

Let's see, we have a presidential candidate accepting illegal foreign donations and using a shady group called ACORN to illegally register voters. And then we have a plumber who dared question The Messiah's tax plan and now has been put out of business due to The Messiah's smear campaign against him.
What does the media find more important to cover? The plumber of course.

Here's a piece by Laura Ingraham on the obnoxious media bias for a candidate with zippo experience.

Laura's E-Blast
http://www.LauraIngraham.com
October 20, 2008

Congratulations, Team Obama, we've still got two-plus weeks until Election Day and you're already destroying jobs. After last week's now-notorious encounter with Joe the Plumber, Obama's media foot soldiers were dispatched with a simple mission: destroy Joe. On Sunday's Fox and Friends, Joe announced their success; his business has been shut down.

Thanks to the intrepid reporting of journalists who've obviously lost all sense of perspective, it turns out Joe has been fixing Ohioans' plumbing without a government-issued license. Talk about irony. Joe came under fire for humiliating Obama by noting his tax plans interfere with Joe's American Dream. He wanted to buy his plumbing company and expand it, but higher taxes on small businesses threaten to turn that dream into a nightmare. The left, in other words, used Big Government to silence Joe Citizen for speaking ill of Big Government.

In turn, Americans have offered financial support to Joe - offers he's politely declined.

Americans have taken to Joe for his willingness to go where the media refuses - that is, for actually speaking truth to power. Nothing's more infuriating than reporters allowing themselves to be used by politicians, yet that's exactly what's being done on a daily basis at CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. Joe got the opportunity to tell Obama directly that his tax plans - which penalize hard work while claiming to further America's best interests - were an insult to his intelligence.

Meanwhile, conservative websites are left to do the real reporting on Obama. NewsMax's Ken Timmerman reports that as much as $63 million of Obama's $150 million September haul may originate from illegal foreign donations. (Conveniently, the campaign refuses to release the names of more than 80% of its 2.5 million contributors.) Obama's tax returns also indicate that in 2000 and 2002, he violated Illinois state law by accepting speaking fees while serving as a state senator.

The press is supposed to hold politicians accountable on behalf of the people. Yet while Obama collects millions in dubious donations and ACORN registers phantom voters in battleground states by the thousands, today's media is doing the Democrats' heavy lifting with its slash-and-smear campaign against people like Joe.

Never before in our history has the media establishment been so derelict in its responsibilities, so one-sided in its coverage, that today it is nothing more than a cheerleader for the Obama campaign. Never with so much at stake for America's security and our way of life, has the media worked with such single-minded zealousness to elect a dilettante with so little experience and such faulty judgment.

Is the type of bullying and intimidation that Joe's endured what Americans can expect from an Obama administration in response to serious criticism? Will the media closest to the people - talk radio and the blogosphere - be the next targets?

May God help us.