COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Can the Republican Party Survive George Bush?

From an interview with The Evening Bulletin, presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, (R), Colorado:

The Bulletin: Speaking of the "do anything" mentality, why did the Republicans lose in 2006, and what needs to change if 2008 is to be a better year? Has that catalyst for change occurred?

Tom Tancredo:
I think we could have sustained ourselves, even with the corruption, even with the war, if we had a solid base. If people thought that we were dealing with corruption - that people were going to jail for doing bad things - I think the president could have rallied much more support in the country if he had a strong base in his own party, which he does not have. He has destroyed it. He has helped destroy the party. We are in a world of hurt because he has pushed issues like No Child Left Behind, like the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan - he has pushed huge spending plans to the detriment of the party. Pretty soon, you look out there and ask, "Where is your base?" Where are the people who are going to knock on doors? Then things start to go south. The war becomes a problem, corruption issues boil up, you've got nobody out there to rely on. That's why we lost. And today, if we don't build that base back, if people don't feel that they have a reason to be a Republican. I think it has to be about principled leadership. I hope I offer that, but I always say, "If I'm not your guy, I really hope you find someone whom you are excited voting for. I really do because that's what America needs."
The Bulletin
_____________________________

Leading indicators point down for GOP
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
Yahoo news

WASHINGTON - It is gallows humor time for Republicans in Congress, where one lawmaker jokes that "there's talk about us going the way of the Whigs," the 19th century political party long extinct.

"That's not going to happen," Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., hastens to add, although a little more than a year before the 2008 election, the major leading political indicators still point downward for a party abruptly turned out of power in 2006.

Fundraising for Republican campaign organizations lags. That is strikingly so in the House, where the party committee spent more than it raised in each of the past two months, reported only $1.6 million in the bank at the end of August and a debt of nearly $4 million.

Democrats reported $22.1 million in the bank and a debt of slightly more than $3 million.

Candidate recruitment has been uneven, particularly in the Senate, where Republicans must defend 22 of the 34 seats on the ballot next year. Democrats boast top-tier challengers for GOP-held seats in Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota and Oregon.

Republicans have yet to put forward a prominent challenger for any Democratic-held seat, although an announcement is expected soon in Louisiana.

Additionally, nine Republicans in the House and three in the Senate have announced plans to retire. Some of those leaving are in midcareer, when a departure often signals pessimism about the prospects for regaining the majority. Democratic retirements total two to date — both are House members who are running for the Senate.

"The Democrats will continue to be the majority party in the House and Senate and Hillary Clinton will make history by being the first woman president" in 2008, predicts Rep. Ray LaHood, one of three Illinois Republicans to announce his retirement so far.
... more here


16 comments:

  1. The Republican Party IS George Bush

    Both Sr and Jr.

    Soon to be with George P., too.

    That, hermanos, is what so many are in denial about. Just who the Republican Party represents, what it stands for.

    So many believe that the Bush family is an anomoly, within the Party. They project their own beliefs onto the Party of Bush.

    Connecticut Yankees
    Skull & Bones
    Harvard & Yale
    That's reality

    So many thought the Republicans to be "conservative". When they are Global Socialists, first and foremost.

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  2. Whatever the case may be at the national level there is a 'conservative' or 'republican' or 'business interest' group at a lot of the local levels. Evidence of this is the 'Greater Moscow Alliance' which is a group of us locals here who have a stake in our town and its economy, and have joined up to run a slate of candidates under the above mentioned banner, to try and take back the city government from folks that have been acting like they are from San Francisco.

    I think we have a shot at winning too. We are pretty well organized. What will change? Not a great deal, but the planning and zoning committee won't have a death grip on peoples property any longer, and it will be easier for people to 'get things done'--the builders for instance won't have to step through so many hoops, hoops that have been put there just to frustrate the developement process, and 'stop growth'. If there is a proposal on the energy front, for instance, I would think our group would be much more friendly to any idea on that front, than the current group.

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  3. Carscallan, Krauss, Steed endorsed for city council....I know all these folks, good fellows one and all.

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  4. There are quite a few good old fashion conservatives in small towns across the US, bob.

    Yor local alliance just one example of how, when local government becomes intrusive, when it over steps it's authorities, the people can rein it in.

    No such possibility exists on a Federal level. Parially due to the original design, but mostly due to the modifications made to the Governing System in the last 100 years, since 1912.

    It took a while, but those "reforms" have borne fruit.

    Fruitloops.

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  5. DURAIJ, Sudan (Associated Press) -- A large force of rebels stormed an African Union peacekeeping base in Darfur, killing at least a dozen soldiers and wounding several others in the biggest attack on the mission so far, the AU said Sunday.

    More than 50 AU peacekeepers and support personnel are missing in action since the attack on the base in northern Darfur just after sunset on Saturday.

    "This is the heaviest loss of life and the biggest attack on the African Union mission," said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni, who could not confirm the casualty figures because the fighting was ongoing.

    Officers in the AU force said 1,000 rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army stormed the AU base in the town of Haskanita just after the sunset fastbreaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    "There is a war going on between the rebels and the government, and the AU is crunched in the middle," said a senior AU officer who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

    Darfur rebels have grown increasingly hostile to the AU peacekeepers saying the force is not neutral and favors the government side. There have been several ambushes of AU forces in the past year blamed on the rebels.

    The rebels did not comment on the latest attack on the AU base, nor did the Sudanese military.

    Rebel commanders, did, however, tell The Associated Press a few days earlier that they were involved in heavy battles against government-allied forces in the Haskanita area for the past two weeks.

    "The government has massed five or six janjaweed units who are converging on us," said Abdelaziz Ushar, a commander in the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, which fights alongside the SLA, referring to the camel-riding, pro-government militias that have led the attacks on rebels.

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  6. ..."No such possibility exists on a Federal level. Parially due to the original design, but mostly due to the modifications made to the Governing System in the last 100 years, since 1912."

    How to undo it?

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  7. BOBAL: Evidence of this is the 'Greater Moscow Alliance' which is a group of us locals here who have a stake in our town and its economy, and have joined up to run a slate of candidates under the above mentioned banner, to try and take back the city government from folks that have been acting like they are from San Francisco.

    Those pinko carpetbaggers just could not resist the name of your town.

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  8. It'd take a motivated group of reformers, and 100 years of
    Incremental change.

    The Boners have that, the common folk do not. A unifed vision of control for the "public good".

    In the US, the System is considered sancrosect, even as it spins in directions the majority oppose. Or seem to.

    Education, that'd be the primary tool of a reconstruction, one reason it is considered so important, to the Boners, for it to remain socialized.

    Even though it fails so many of it's "clients".

    The Thousand Points of Federal largesse, just solidifies the System, in an ever expansive mode.

    Expansion of the Federal, at every turn, that is the percieved dilemma.
    To turn it around, young and dedicated radicals will have to dedicate their lives, freedoms and sacred honor to the dismemberment of the Federal Empire, the Military Industrial Complex, Farm Subsidies, etc.

    Look though at the GNP per capita figures.
    Then look at the population giants of the World, none even come close to the levels of prosperity and freedoms that the United States affords it's residents.

    I'm headin' to the beach.

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  9. BAGHDAD (Associated Press) -- The Bush administration said Sunday a U.S. Senate resolution that could lead to a division of the country into sectarian or ethnic territories "would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed."

    The unusual U.S. Embassy statement came just hours after representatives of Iraq's major political parties denounced the U.S. Senate proposal calling for a limited centralized government with the bulk of the power given to the country's Shiite, Sunni or Kurdish regions, saying it would seriously hamper Iraq's future stability.

    "Our goal in Iraq remains the same: a united, democratic, federal Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself," the statement said. "Iraq's leaders must and will take the lead in determining how to achieve these national aspirations. ... attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means into three separate states would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed."

    The nonbinding Senate resolution adopted last week calls for Iraq to be divided into federal regions under control of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis in a power-sharing agreement similar to the one that ended the 1990s war in Bosnia. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., was a prime sponsor of the measure.

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  10. The real concerns of the Republic, they're addressed locally, in DC

    Brand-Name Condoms to Replace Unpopular Prophylactics Given Away in D.C.
    09-29-2007 10:20 PM

    WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Who cares if they're free? Residents in the nation's capital say the condoms being handed out have a serious problem.

    As many as 70,000 condoms given away in a citywide campaign to reduce HIV and AIDS were returned this week by community groups. Another 100,000 condoms were returned in early September because of complaints their paper packaging can be easily damaged and could make the condoms ineffective.

    City health officials agreed that complaints about the packaging were damaging to their citywide distribution campaign, but they have insisted the condoms were safe. They said this week they will distribute brand-name substitutes.

    Since the problems were publicized, the city's condom manufacturer offered to replace all remaining supplies with Trojan, Lifestyles and other products found on drugstore shelves.

    A spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian Fenty said the city has received 125,000 of the new condoms and 400,000 more are expected in the next two weeks.

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  11. China Bans Television Ads for Push-Up Bras, Figure-Enhancing Underwear and Sex Toys

    BEIJING (Associated Press) -- China has banned television and radio ads for push-up bras, figure-enhancing underwear and sex toys in the communist government's latest move to purge the nation's airwaves of what it calls social pollution.

    Regulators have already targeted ads using crude or suggestive language, behavior, and images, tightening their grip on television and radio a few weeks ahead of a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress at which some new senior leaders will be appointed.

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  12. One would think it is a time for the Republican party to take baby steps. I disagree, I think Republicans need to break out of the stagnation mode and shake off the cobwebs and get busy. We need to resuscitate our party and face the challenges head on. The Democrats have nothing to offer but the same old song and dance, "take from the rich and give to the poor", "tax and spend", "God is Bad", they are not addressing the problems this country faces, I have heard nothing about our free trade with China and what it has brought us, the wonderful trade agreements with the full support of Clinton. The Democrats who are supposed to defend the working men and women have betrayed the country, and still are working as hard as they can to keep our borders open. The Republicans have been faced with a so called leader that betrayed the citizens, they can overcome this, they can make a clean break and stand up for what they believe in. He is daring them to do so and they need to step up to the plate and hit a grand slam.
    If the Republican party would just realize the rolls have reversed, due to the betrayal of big business. The Democrats are still supporting big Business. Republicans have a perfect opportunity to get this message out. Democrats are supporting slave labor, if you want to disagree look at how they have voted, they are not even trying to hide it.
    There are alot of Republicans willing to stand up for their party, they need a signal from their candidates to let them know they will represent them. MSM chose the candidates not the people, the people need to choose their own candidate and push these prechosen ones out of the way. I have been sending my dollars to Tom Tancredo, and plan on starting to write letters to the editor to try to gain support for him. We have left it up to MSM to chose our candidates for to long. Mel Martinez showed us his true colors during the Amnesty bill and he is part of the RNC. We have to bypass the RNC and support our chosen candidate. Unfortunately Delilah the head of National Counsel of La Raza has hi-jacked the leaders of our party and we have got to overcome this. We are at a critical point and we can not allow Hitlery Clinton to carry us on over the edge. I don't think I can stand listening to her squawk for the next four years. We must fight back. If you are not happy with the so called top tier MSM chosen candidates get behind one of the so called lower tier. We have Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter waiting in the wings, we need to get behind them and push them to the forefront. They are leaders but they need an army to lead, sign up and show your support, don't let the Democrats and the U.N. take your guns and rights away. We still have our Constitution and Bill of Rights, but we must fight to keep them.

    www.tomtancredo.com

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  13. The Cackle makes up for the Squawk.
    It's like those acoustic noise cancelers in high-end refrigerators, and such.
    Hillary cackling and sqawking sounds just fine through a pair of Bose Acoustic Wave Noise Canceling Earphones.

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