I find myself generally to be an optimist. Maybe that’s one reason I love the Gipper so much; that great and good man defined optimism. It was practically his faith.
To be sure, I’m not always optimistic. I do have my dark days.
For the better part of Friday, despite the hectic nature of the week — and the considerations of the impact of Sunday’s vote in the House of Representatives on our freedom, our economy and of course our health care system — I was feeling pretty upbeat. Maybe it’s that after a week of agonizing over how to begin the current chapter of my dissertation, it just fell into place and the words flowed.
Maybe it’s that Bruce is in town and amid all the activities, I will get to hobnob with some blogger readers and conservative friends. Or maybe it’s just my nature.
But, something struck me (yet again) while pounding away on the Stairmaster before heading out to the Reagan Library. I looked up at the television monitors in front of me. And when I wasn’t enjoying Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, I was watching Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) whine about something or other. This career politician who represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district (he succeeded Chuckles Schumer for whom he once worked) presumed to warm Republicans about how the “Teabaggers” (at least that was the word on the closed captioning) threatened to divide our party. (How would a guy who’s spent his life in the Democratic Party have a clue about the GOP?)
(Hey, Anthony, how come our party was united in opposition to Obamacare when your party lost one-eighth of its caucus. Doesn’t look like GOP division to me.)
It wasn’t just Weiner’s juvenile rhetoric which struck me, it was also his dour demeanor. Like his far less attractive counterpart from the Bay State, he just doesn’t seem very happy whenever I catch him on the tube. (Guess the glow wore off right after he kissed Bart Stupak.) Nancy Pelosi seems to have put her smile on with her special make-up on Sunday, but has since lost the kit. She doesn’t seem very happy any more. And it’s not just the Speaker from San Francisco. Whenever you turn to the tube and see Democrats on screen, they just don’t seem unhappy.
Even after the passage of Obamacare. And that’s what struck me about Weiner yesterday. I had noticed the glum faces before, but thought it was because they didn’t have the votes for the health care overhaul. But, by Friday it had passed, Weiner’s party achieved a big victory legislatively and yet he’s still mad at Republicans, his party still on the warpath, eager to portray us in a negative light and elevate the most baseless allegations as if they’re gospel truth. It’s as if the battle (that they won) is still ongoing.
If they were so confident the political tide would turn in their favor if they passed this — as they promised repeatedly in the days, week and months before the vote (as the plan’s poll numbers plummeted), why do they need show how mean-spirited and bigoted Republicans are? If their plan’s so good, why don’t they just promote it on its merits? (And leave the Republicans out of this?)
And then you look at Republicans. Even after Obamacare passed. At first, some seemed glum, others morose, yet, as the shock wore off, their countenances began to change, they seemed confident, resolved to roll up their sleeves and begin the hard work of repeal and real reform.
Just going by the way the various Congressmen carry themselves on TV, you’d think the Republicans were the ones who were winning and the Democrats suffering a string of defeats. Turn off the volume and watch for yourself. The Republicans seem confident, upbeat, smiling. The Democrats seem gloomy, angry, scowling. Not all of course. (Rachel Maddow is the exception which proves the rule.)
But, go watch video of Barney Frank (D-Romper Room) sometime (okay, I know that’s not a pleasant task) and you’ll see why I regularly describe him as “unhappy.” He also seems angry as if someone just snatched a cookie from his hands. And then look at the much (in the MSM) maligned Michelle Bachman. Or Paul Ryan. Or Sarah Palin.
Maybe the anger of the Democrats suggests that they have more fight in them. But, the resolve of the Republicans givesme hope that they mean to move repeal and won’t rest until they succeed.
Some of my conservative friends are more gloomy than I. They don’t think repeal is possible. But, I see a spirit in my fellow conservatives–and our representatives in Washington — that I have not seen in a long time, a long time. Maybe I’m reading too much in their faces.
But, then again, I’m an optimist. It’s in my nature.
We will all feel happier when we know that the Obama kool aid gang has had enough of Obama to realize that he is not helping them, and we can get him our of our lives.
Unfortunately, we may not ever have enough people realize how bad his is for this country until we all suffer down to a level that hits his formerly unemployed bloggers who just got a $3 per hour pay increase.
I really cannot wait for some serious accountants to start digging into the Obama finances, along with his base at moveon, Huffpo, Acorn, and those who are no longer Acorn but have new names with the old Acorn agenda and people.
SEIU should also be investigated by accountants.
Then the big fish, Soros and Goldman Sachs. They will escape for now but this reckoning needs to be done.
In the meantime, I will be postive because we know that the majority of this country is on the same track and we will find a way to keep this Republic.
We seem to be going over and over the same ground now. The Republicans won’t be able to repeal in 2011 or 2012 thanks to the Presidential veto, so 2013 will be their first shot. That’s three years away. Anything can change in three years, so I don’t really see what the point of this is.
Well, yeah!
How come the leftists get to crow about how they stuck with nationalizing health care (they will stick to it until it accomplished) for 100 years and “we the people” who they have had to fight must now shut up and take it?
They “won” a battle. We believe they are holding a “Pyrrhic Victory” in their hands and that we have the ability to hand them their heads on a platter. (I love to mix metaphors when leftists are involved. It makes them so confuddlecated.)
How do they handle their win? They call us names, they shift the topic, they ignore the facts, they resort to things like: “We seem to be going over and over the same ground now.”
Well said. I’m with you. I’m a glass is half full person. I don’t like to be around negative people but I have to admit last Sunday certainly was a kick to the gut. In fact, I really didn’t sleep well for the next couple days. But, as I tell my kids, life is like this. You just have to pick yourself up, figure out what needs to be done and get going and that is what we non-Democrats have to do.
And by the way, you are correct on the Democrats, what a bunch of unhappy people. How do you look yourself in the mirror each day when you know you are going to see an unhappy, grumpy person staring back!
Point of order: A supermajority of congress can override a presidential veto. Newt did it, allowing Clinton credit for Welfare Reform.
I wonder if the dems look so unhappy because THEY, unlike their fearless (or is that clueless) leader, can read the poll numbers? Perhaps the incoming class of congressional freshmen will be so conservative that the drinking fountains in the capital run with wine, much like a certain wedding 2000 years ago?
Dan, I think you’ve nailed it. Look at this from the left’s perspective.
1.) They had to break the bank against fierce bi-partisan opposition to set up this tin-pot NHS. When they try to raise taxes, folks will know exactly who to blame.
2.) Pace Megan McArdle, they had to make measurable claims about the plan’s effects. Claims they are already scrambling away from.
3.) Unlike the UK’s experience, we will not have decades of Victorian philanthropy to seize and declare free. Plus, we are not the war ravaged survivors of the blitz. Americans will notice when care devolves.
4.) Importantly, to have this come under a trillion bucks, they front-loaded all of the pain and back-loaded all of the gimmes. This gives them a political eternity to twist in the wind with a bright painted target.
Frankly, they have the largest and most ideological majorities in our lifetimes and I can’t imagine how they could have teed this up any better for us. This is not lost on them.
Neighbors with no politcal inclinations at all are awakening and wondering how this happened. Sometimes life is just grand.
Best wishes,
-MFS
Is it just me or do I see a thaw in the monolithic ice floe of gay-liberal partisanship? Maybe those of our ilk are finally, mercifully recognizing that the showmanship of Obama is just that – a fourth wall with absolutely no substance or principle to support it.
More importantly, that the independence of thought and priciples of liberty (that are carried almost wholly by the right), are what has created the very environment that allows gays and lesbians to thrive socially and economically.
The liberals are leading the charge off the cliff, and the majority of the gay community will willingly follow like the lemmings they have become.
After passage, only 35% approve of Obamacare, 55% oppose, and 10% are cluelessly unsure. Regardless of their Congressional majorities, Democrats did not have the consent of the governed, and they know it. They had to lie about projected costs, obfuscate the truth and shift huge financial burdens to already distressed states to expand Medicaid to pass it. 76% of all states are trying to enact statutes or constitutional ammendments to negate the individual mandate. It’s been a huge tyrannical power grab, and free people don’t respond well to tyranny.
Just days after signed into law, some of the unintended consequences are starting to emerge. When AT&T announced its $1 BILLION writedown associated with Obamacare, they also announced they may reduce future benefits to retirees. 3500 compaines, with tens of millions of employees and retirees, are faced with similar decisions. Doctors are considering early retirement rather than work for Medicaid wages. I personally know one who had threatened to retire early if it passed. He announced this week he will retire at the end of the year and his patients need to start looking for another physician.
So that’s what the Democrats are going to run on? They passed a law that affects 100% of the population that only 35% favors? And it’s causing companies to reduce their retiree and employee benefit plans, putting huge new burdens on states, and is causing doctors to retire early?
Good luck with that. They should be unhappy.
LOL. You’re all delusional. We’re fat and happy now, us democrats, as we know your repugnant GOP offers NO positive solutions for any issue. The real patriotic Americans see through the facade of the repugnants and will vote, ONCE AGAIN, overwhelmingly for the party that does the hard work and actually accomplishes something. 2006, 2008, now 2010. A landslide Obama second term will ensure the permanent minority of the right for a number of years.
Oh, it’s going to be a LONG, LONG, LONG decade for the repugnants. And they’ve earned it.
It will be repealed either before the economic collapse, or it will be repealed after the economic collapse. Many other entitlements will go the same way. The reality is that the math does not add up, the liabilities are near insurmountable. The dwindling few who like ObamaCare are in for a big shock when it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. When the taxes come, and the prices rise, and the unemployment continues to creep up and too as the US bonds lose ratings, and no more money is to be borrowed, and no more taxes are possible, as well as well doctors become scarce and hospitals close, oooh, it’s going to be quite a show. The more people see it now the better, but repeal will come one way or the other. You bet I’m confident. This is the Great Awakening, to be followed by the Great Dismantling.
buckeyenut, I always think it’s best to have my coffee before I start blogging, makes me a little more level-headed.
Just a piece of friendly advice.
Oh, and another thing. Do take a look at where independents are going. Like their counterparts in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, they favor the Republicans.
In order to repeal the current law, Republicans would have to regain the House, get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and win the White House. It is unlikely this will happen, and by then all the old and fat people in the Tea Party movement will realize that they suddenly have access to the health care they need, thanks to the generous contributions of the young, attractive, and healthy.
I’m reposting this since it fits better conceptually here:
Health care reform is now the law of the land.
What part of “illegal” don’t you understand?
I think it’s important to work to replace unjust laws with just laws. That’s why I support Obama working to give amnesty to “illegal” aliens.
If you can work to repeal health care laws which you see as unjust, why is it wrong to work on immigration laws I think are unjust? Why are the groups protesting health care any better than the groups protesting the current immigration laws?
Why did gays work to overturn sodomy laws? What part of “illegal” didn’t they understand?
Ashpenaz – I used to think you had a modicum of common sense.
I see I’m wrong. You’re as muddle-headed as the other lefties (maybe not as obnoxious).
Pray tell, what about our (unenforced) immigration laws are unjust? Are you saying that a sovereign nation and its citizens are to have no say as to who comes in? Are we to leave these decisions to immigrants who, via chain migration, bring in dozens in a recursive process than can result in hundreds if not thousands?
Who is to make immigration policy? Corrupt nations like Mexico that seek to export their poor to other nations? Should we just throw open the borders to all comers? Is there a numerical limit? How many is enough? 100 million? 500 million? A billion? Do we allow people who will become an immediate burden to those of us already here?
What do you say to the families and friends of Americans who’ve been murdered by imported criminals and their gangs? To the blacks who’ve been “ethnically cleansed” from some LA neighborhoods? To people maimed and killed by illegals driving drunk? Do we not produce enough criminals among our own citizenry?
What say you to the millions of unemployed and poor citizens of this country who already see wages sinking under the weight of offshoring (in part to escape the increasing burden of government) and a never-ending flow of immigrant labor?
What say you to the black youth if this country (50% unemployment) – many of whom can trace their roots back to the founding? Is any chance of a decent life to be sacrificed to foreigners who’ve contributed nothing to this nation’s building?
Are we to provide lifelong medical care to illegals while (in your eyes) denying care to our own citizens? (I’m thinking of the girl, here illegally, awaiting her fourth liver transplant. Shouldn’t her home government provide this?)
Do you thumb your nose at the people of modest incomes who’ve see their neighborhoods destroyed by a foreign (and sometimes criminal) culture?
You present yourself as compassionate – as if throwing other peoples’ money (and the money of people yet to be born) down a government rathole is compassion.
I read the other day (USA Today) that the government was paying between $2500 and $3700 to house homeless families in shelters (glorified gymnasiums and dorms). Where is that money coming from? Huh?
Why do you think health care reform is unjust?
I think that undocumented workers would integrate better into society if they were simply declared legal. They would also add tax revenue to help with the “unjust” health care system.
I don’t think undocumented workers are as negative as you paint them anymore than I think the uninsured are lazy and shiftless.
If you think you are oppressed by unjust healthcare laws and seek to change them, why can’t I work to change unjust immigration laws? You don’t think the immigration laws are unjust; I don’t think the healthcare laws are unjust. That’s what America is all about.
Have any of you poor people ever actually spoken with someone who actually is leftist? Someone like me for instance? I do not like the current HCR reform bill, since in my opinion it is a gift to the insurance companies and other monied interests. How do I know? take a look at the stock market. Money is rushing to all the current big players in the healthcare system. The PRIVATE healthcare system. Can you construct an alternate wingnut scenario on why this could be happening? I’m sure you can, but the only people you will convince are all your friends whose clothing is fastened from the back.
And to Mr. Blatt, You do realize that “the Gipper” does not exist in the real world, right? That he was a creation of hollywood, comepletely fabricated to appeal to easily led people who are unable to discern fantasy from reality. The acual Ronald Reagan was clinically diagnosed with dementia while president, a fact all of us who live in the real world were aware of.
What an interesting interpretation, Jimmy. I’m sure you have lots of evidence to back up your assertions about the greatest domestic policy president of the last century.
#16: you may be right as far as HCR being a gift to monied interests… as is the case most of the time when the government meddles in the markets (like the mortgage meltdown). Of course the biggest monied interest of all is the government and its extremely well-paid workforce and the constellation of interest groups that feed off tax money.
#17: Reagan was diagnosed with dementia while in office? Really? The only definitive diagnosis for Alzheimer’s is made post-mortem. Believe what you will, but we were a lot better off in this country while Reagan was president (and, I hate to admit it, but things weren’t too bad while Clinton was president).
Ash – HCR, in theory, is not unjust. It’s obvious that there are a lot of things that can be done to improve healthcare while improving efficiency. This HCR is unjust.
As far as immigration, I’ve asked several (good IMHO) questions. Can they be answered?
buckeyenutlover, did you alarm not beep? You’ve missed your medication.
I can’t speak for Republicans because i have been a life long Democrat. That is until 2008. Your fear is showing and you should be afraid. Your head would pop off your shoulders if you allowed yourself the realization that millions and millionss of Dems have crossed over and/or don’t want this trainwreck. Not just the millions that were Dems for McCain/Palin but millions more than were then and adding each day.While I can’t speak for republicans, I can speak for my fellow dems and ex dems…your up s**t creek without a paddle. It makes the beating dems will take in Novemeber that much sweeter.
Was it just for us to steal land from Mexico? Why can’t we say these undocumented workers are just coming back to land that was theirs in the first place? If conservatives support Israel returning to their homeland, why not the Mexicans to theirs?
Most of the undocumented workers live on land that was originally colonized by Spain–why shouldn’t we speak Spanish, since that was the first European language spoken in the US?
With only my experience to go by, I am less afraid of Hispanics, documented and otherwise, than other minority groups, including leftist gays. So I don’t know where this violence is you talk about–there is some, but not as much as other groups. In the first place, they have to keep the violence down so they don’t get sent back to Mexico.
Maybe we can stop the Mexican drug violence if the gay community stopped using pot and meth. Just having the gays stop would eliminate a large percentage of drug traffic–why don’t we all take a stand against drugs?
Here in Nebraska, anyone who wants a meatpacking job can have one. If whites and blacks want to take back the meatpacking plants from the Hispanics and improve their employment numbers, they can have at it. Of course, they’d have to show up for work every day.
I believe in lifelong healthcare for everyone, regardless of status.
I hope this answers most of your questions. My old and fat fingers are tired.
Ashpenaz,
“I don’t think the healthcare laws are unjust. That’s what America is all about.”
Hmmm, 75 years ago I’m sure you wouldn’t have had a problem with the Nuremberg Laws either because, hey, that’s what Germany was all about.
“I don’t think the immigation laws are unjust. That’s what America is all about.”
Hmmm, 75 years ago I’m sure you wouldn’t have had a problem with the Nuremberg Laws either because, hey, that’s what Germany was all about.
Was it just for us to steal land from Mexico?
Sorry, Ash – no sale. Look up the Mexican-American War (and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo). NB: that the US paid Mexico for the territory which Mexico ceded by treaty.
Maybe we can stop the Mexican drug violence if the gay community stopped using pot and meth.
You have a point there… drug users in the US are largely responsible for the horrific violence in Mexico.
Incidentally, my position on immigration is roughly the same as George Bush and Mike Huckabee, those two noted socialists. And my position on health care is very close to what Romney, that communist, did in MA. Plus, it was the Republicans who brought up the idea of a mandate in the first place, as an alternative to Hillarycare.
Yeah, so take that, you running-dog imperialist PIGS!!!!
buckeynutlover, you are a walking cliche. Also, your love for the Constitution is touching.
Well, let’s see. They rammed through a fascist, unconstitutional, exploitative and morally evil bill on the basis of lies and a party-line vote, both of which they had assured the American people that they wouldn’t do. Yeah, they got some ‘splainin to do. Can’t fault them for (guiltily, secretly) knowing it.
That, too.
Exactly, SCR. If anything, it *may* be a sign of a compassion disorder (i.e., inability to feel it).