Despite the news media having already forgotten about the stolen election in Iran and the violent crackdown there, the Iranian people haven’t.  This video comes from Iran earlier today where thousands brave men and women confronted tear gas to protest peacefully.

To follow real-time updates from Iran, go to Twitter #iranelection

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Glenn linked a post on Politico, Independents begin to edge away from President Obama, that made hopeful for the future of my party.  As Obama sticks to his guns and continues to favor big-government solutions to a whole host of problems and pretend problems, independents who drifted away from the GOP during the Bush years because of his own big-government policies, may continue to return to the Republican fold.

Poll after poll indicates that Americans are wary of big government:

But a source of the shift [away from Obama] appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.

“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.

“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.

No longer hamstrung by an ostensibly conservative Republican Administration adopting objectively non-conservative fiscal policies, the Republican Party can once again become a vehicle for small government.  Or so we hope.

It is now up to the elected Republican leadership to take heed to the latest polling data and the sentimentat the grassroots.  If the Republicans stand for freedom and smaller government, they can win back the disaffected independents we lost in recent years.

It’s a question of principle, something, on domestic issues at least, my party lost sight of in recent years.

Even my dog Shadow knows when the President’s poll numbers have hit the crapper.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 30% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –8. The President’s Approval Index rating has fallen six points since release of a disappointing jobs report last week (see trends).

Thirty-nine percent (39%) now give the President good or excellent marks for handling the economy while 43% say he is doing a poor job. Those are by far his lowest ratings yet on the economy.

The Obamessiah has hit Planet Earth.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Not too long ago, at a gathering for gay and lesbian alumni of my alma mater, as we all criticized the leadership of the “No on 8″ campaign and offered suggestions to mount a better effort to overturn it, I was surprised and delighted to find that nearly everyone there (at least those who spoke up on the topic) agreed with my assessment that Geoff Kors, the head of “Equality California” should be kept as far from the operation as possible.  Others there, including those further to the left of the political center than I am to the right, thought Kors should step down from his leadership position immediately–if not sooner.

Their criticism of this head of a major gay organization reminded me (yet again) that many gay activists and just regular gay folks who follow gay politics have offered similar opinions of the man I recently dubbed hypocrite of the week, HRC’s Joe Solmonese.

As I pondered their criticism, I recalled a conversation I had about twelve years ago with a friend in Washington, DC.  He wondered then how quick all too many capital area gays were to smear anyone who criticized the DC-based gay leadership, as if such criticism were tantamount to treason.  One of us cited the hits Andrew Sullivan received in the gay media for taking on HRC and even Bill Clinton.

Gay people just weren’t supposed to attack our “leaders.”

For all the grief (much of it merited) Andrew gets today from those of us to the right of the political center, we need recall that he was a pioneer in challenging the gay orthodoxy, the first openly gay person with a significant presence in the media to challenge the gay orthodoxy.  Then, he was a lone voice, showing considerable courage, given the nasty responses, the name-calling he endured for speaking his mind.

His example made it easier for all of us to speak our minds.

So, today, when we see how commonplace it has become for gay people, of all political stripes, to criticize the heads of the various gay organizations, let’s not forget Andrew’s example.  In the 1990s, at great cost to him personally, Andrew spoke his mind.  And made us all realize that we don’t need follow in lockstep with the unelected “leadership” of the various gay organizations.  And that we are not betraying our community when we challenge their orthodoxy.

One of the reasons many Republicans and conservatives (and a good number of others) have warmed to the outgoing Governor of Alaska is that she has what many of our political leaders have lacked for the past twenty years, a natural charm and presence. She, like the Gipper, captures our attention merely by entering a room.

I was there at the Republican National Convention when she accepted our party’s nomination. As soon as rose to the podium, she commanded our attention; she captivated us. inspired us. We all left the convention, feeling we had witnessed something significant.

I wonder if it was her success in St. Paul which caused so many heads to explode on the left, making so many Democrats and their allies in the MSM so bound and determined to destroy this good woman. Was it that they, just as we did, also felt her power and were moved by her presence, yet, unlike us, found themselves threatened by her lifestyle and political views.  An attractive, happily married, strong and charismatic conservative woman seemd to upset their view of what a successful woman should be.

Palin’s critics obsession with this good woman indicates that they find her as compelling as do her strongest supporters. Perhaps, they choose to define her as a whack job to try to explain away her appeal.  They can’t accept that such a woman might move them.

Just a thought.

Imagine how the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media would have reacted if Republicans had succeeded in blocking the “stimulus” and the economy remained in the doldrums.  If the Republicans blamed the majority party for inaction, they would accuse us of hypocrisy while lecturing us on the evils of Republican obstructionism.

Although the “stimulus” passed, it has not worked as advertised, job losses continue to mount to levels far higher than those the Administration had forecast.  While the economic picture remains bleak, at least we can take some satisfaction in being proven right.

But, despite his best efforts (with the media covering for him), the unhappy Barney Frank cannot say the same thing about Republican efforts reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  You see, slthough then-President Bush repeatedly called for reform of the two government-sponsored mortgage giants, Democrats succeeded blocking Republican reforms.

And now with a report fingering Frank and others who thwarted such reforms, the mean-spirited man from Massachusetts continues to dodge responsibility and do what he always does when criticized, blame Republicans:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who comes under some criticism in the GOP report, has said more foreclosures were caused by unregulated entities rather than Fannie and Freddie. He has also noted that Republicans were in control of Congress from 1995 to 2007, when the housing bubble was created.

Yup, the unhappy man is right.  Republicans were in control, but he did everything in his power to prevent them from using that control to pass legislation he didn’t like.  His obstructionism served a double purpose (1) preventiing Republicans from implementing policies Barney didn’t like and (2) blaming Republicans for their failure if things went south.

Barney just didn’t want to risk having Republican policies succeed.

I’m sure Barney would be singing a different tune if Republicans had blocked the “stimulus.”