Saturday, February 04, 2006

A Week of Clarity

300px-State_of_the_Union
I have resisted the temptation of responding like a cheerleader after a pep fest since the state of the union address this past week. I decided to wait, study the speech, listen to both sides of the weeklong analysis, synthesize the information and come to my own conclusions as objectively as possible. Given this, I have concluded that the country is indeed in a perilous state. Not primarily because we are at war, or threatened by enemies, or any of the other numerous challenges that our country faces. Rather, I fear most for the health and safety of this great nation because we only have one party of government that understands the reality of the world and that can be trusted with the gravity of the circumstances that face us. To see the immature behavior of the Democrats demonstrated on Tuesday night at the State of the Union Address in reaction, or lack there of, to matters of importance mentioned by President Bush, was stunning and most revealing. They have lost it. Of course I want conservatives to continue winning majorities at all levels of government, and no doubt they will, but even I recognize that too much of a good thing ultimately isn't healthy. There needs to be a ying and yang, a "balance to the force", to be truly stable and the democrats have proven again that they are not able to provide that opposing balance. To see Hitlery smugly smirking and shaking her head no as President Bush explained why the NSA spy program was so vital and legal was stunning, especially in light of the shenanigans that she and her political partner, Bill foisted on the country. Then to hear the dems stand and cheer immaturely when the President mentioned his disappointment over not passing Social Security Reform was amazing. It was as if the Democrats had a script titled, "How to Prove to the Country that We Don't Care"! It seems clearly evident that the only plank in their party platform is hatred of George Bush and conservatives. They have no ideas, no agenda and nothing to offer except negativity, anger and obfuscation even at the risk of national security. They see their power and influence fading and like a cornered animal, they have lost perspective and reason. Their behavior has become pathetic and without serious change from within, will continue to jeopardize the security and progress of the country.

I've read that leftists don't like the label of "liberal" and have tried to change the term into something softer, so they are referring to themselves as "progressive". The irony is that there is nothing progressive about them. They are the party that continues to want to turn back the clock. They want to live in the 60's, fighting the Viet Nam war, marching for civil rights and promoting abortion. Their ideas are tired, out of date and are a boat anchor to real progress in America. As Christians, I believe we need to be praying for change within the Democratic Party. Their leftist ideology is dangerous. With the confirmation of Justice Alito, they may have lost the courts and their last hope of seeing their socialist vision of America realized. And with the likely possibility of one, or two more Justices leaving the bench during the remainder of Bushes term, the left will be raging and losing for decades. Thank God.

Yes, it was a week of clarity for the nation. With the conclusion of the Alito confirmation we saw the heart of the Democrats on display - negative, mean spirited, nasty and out of touch. At the State of the Union Address, we saw the behavior and values of the left on display - immature, uncooperative, unconcerned with national security, and again, out of touch. We need a change in the party of Truman and Kennedy because it's clear that today's Democrats can never be allowed to regain power. As Dennis Prager says, "Clarity is more important than agreement", and this week provided a lot of clarity.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen.

scooterlib said...

Come on scud, who you kidding. These are the same positions you held long before this speech was made. If a week's reflection, as you claim, failed to produce an outcome that was materially different from what you've espoused all along. It's a shame you had to waste that week. When it's apparent you are so set in your ways, that there is not enough time allotted to the human life-span to change your mind one iota.

During the SOTU speech, as Republicans mindlessly stood and applauded every point the Sphincter in Chief brought up. It became painfully clear that independent thought is now discouraged, if not forbidden in the "Borg" like apparatus that today's Republican Party has become. The highlight of Bush's speech was his goal of replacing more than 75 percent of our middle eastern oil imports by 2025. "By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." The Republicans stood and cheered wildly and even I joined in. Until, I looked up the facts. And the facts are, the United States gets less than 1/5 of its oil from the Middle East. If we make his suggested reductions, it amounts to 1.9% a year for 19 years. It's an admirable goal, but hardly the "dramatic improvement" as touted. But everyone's excitement was all for naught, the very next day his energy secretary and national economic adviser disavowed it, saying Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally. This from the president who has stated repeatedly "When I say something, I mean it". Well we all heard him say it, but it looks like he didn't mean it. Definition, the president lied.

He emphasized the need to make the 'tax cuts' for the wealthy permanent and to cut deficits. The republican lawmakers were ecstatic over this, jumping up and cheering insanely. On Feb. 1st, the House narrowly approved a contentious budget-cutting package that would cut from the budget, $40 billion over five years by imposing substantial changes on federal programs including Medicaid, child support and student loans. The Congressional Budget Office documents estimated that Medicaid changes would impose new costs on 13 million poor recipients and end insurance coverage for 65,000 Medicaid enrollees, that cuts to federal child-support enforcement funds would shift costs to the states and eliminate billions of dollars in child-support payments. It will allow interest rates on student loans to rise with the market, squeezing student lenders and, in some cases, college students. Most importantly it made changes to the Senate-passed budget package saving private Medicare insurers $22 billion over 10 years. Can you say Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and HCA Inc., the Nashville-based hospital company that's been the foundation of the Frist family's wealth. The insurance industries campaign donations are 2 to 1 in favor of republicans. In this case, his continued assault on the old, poor and middle class, he meant precisely what he said.

But after watching the last 2 SOTU speeches, George W Bush has shown one redeeming feature. He's a true Sci/Fi fan. In 2004 he made the Mission to Mars proposal and this year the human-animal hybrid thing. I do think he missed the boat this year, by not addressing the human-machine hybrid problem first. The Terminators, now there's an already existing threat. If I'm correct, one of them has already taken over the California governors office.

Sorry to burst your "I've read" bubble, but I'm proud to be a Liberal. And in contrast to your stance, I'm happy to be a supporter of "civil rights" and against the forced childbirth lobby you support. Again as always, this best sums up the rightwings plan for the country. "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Sinclair Lewis. Here's a site where many of the Right's "kindred spirits" reside .

Anonymous said...

"Come on scud, who you kidding."
-himself, and Bob apparently.

Anonymous said...

The president's approval rating is painfully low but there may be room for further erosion. If the faithful - and by "faithful" I mean scud, bob and some guy from Idaho - require a week to reconfirm their prejudices, then support may be slipping among the base. Stay tuned.

The most telling aspect of this speech was the President's sudden desire to wane the country off Middle Eastern oil. He sucks-up to crude producing emirs like a collared man in a fetish club. As he spoke you knew the words from his mouth were nothing but bullshit. The next day his Energy Secretary confirmed that suspicion. The President didn't mean it literally. "This was purely an example," Samuel Bodman said. So why did Bush devote so much of his Address to a program whose funding he just restored to a level before he cut it? That's easy. The Administration accomplished NOTHING in 2005. Alternative energy was simply speech filler. Bush sounded like a school boy presenting a book report on a literary novel he never bothered to read. Scud took a big sip of Kool-Aid and waited a week for its effects to kick in. It takes him a while sometimes.

Perhaps these so-called "leftists" prefer the term "progressive" for reasons that I've been trying to drill into scud's thick skull for the last six months: They're not liberals. But scud is nothing if not disingenuous. One of the things he attributes to people he insists on labeling "liberal" is a "socialist vision." Is he stupid or deliberately deceitful? I ask myself that all the time with regard to the President. The former seems likely...

Anonymous said...

Lib dem trash: always thinking they're spewing factual information when it's just more of the same blathering nonsense. These are tough days to be a Lefty. Loss after loss, the power base in this country firmly in the hands of the GOP. First the Presidency, then Congress, now the SCOTUS. Ouch, how does it feel to be consigned to oblivion? Relics from a fading generation of idiots. It matters not, lib dem garbage, what you think or say. You and your kind are dwindling, dying, disappearing with each passing day. Rage all you want. You're history. As Scud said, all the Left has is anger. No agenda, no answers, nothing "progressive", just blind rage at Republicans and W. It's hard to be a loser, so I'm told, but might as well get used to it, lib dem filth, because the future is ours and ours alone. So go ahead, serve up a nice big, fat chunk of Hillary in 2008, see how far you get with that. Stupid Democrats. They'll never learn.

scooterlib said...

Nothing cheers a lib up more than reading one of righturd's absurd posts.

scud said...

Absurd? Maybe impassioned, but sadly for you guys, accurate. Rage on.

Anonymous said...

Hurts doesn't it? How does it feel, Scooterloser? What's it like to lose all the time? What does it feel like to be lib dem trash?

Anonymous said...

Hey now. Go easy on the Scooterboy. It's tough being wrong all the time. Hey Jeff! How's the freestyle skiing going? Torino is days away, I expect to see you out there with those piston-like knees of yours.

By the way, I see you brought up that pesky presidential approval rating again. Lets see, I wonder which BS poll you're using. Hmmm, could it be the tried and true, always unbiased, totally credible folks over at CNN? Maybe the New York Times? Talk about slamming koolaid, sheesh.

scooterlib said...

righturd, boy bob and scud, the Three Stooges of the Blogosphere.

In a battle of wits, you guys are unarmed.

Anonymous said...

bob: I prefer speed and technical events; the fastest time wins and no need for judgement. Since Rahlves, Miller and Ligety can skis circle around me, it's unlikely you'll spot me in Torino. I'd have trouble getting down Whiteface a minute behind Miller, let alone seconds.

Given an abundance of polls, I prefer an aggregate: Pew (40), NBC/WSJ (39), Time (41) ABC/WaPo (42), FOX News (41), LAT/Bloom(43), CBS/NYT (42), CNN (43), Gallup (43). That puts the President at 41.6. Ironically, the "tried and true, always unbiased, totally credible folks" over at CNN poll a higher number than staunchly conservative folks at the Wall Street Journal. eeuuwww ... I think bob's head just exploded.

Anonymous said...

Right Jeff. FOX, Gallup, NYT, CBS, ad nauseum. They've got to be right somehow, someway. Oops, gotta run. Elvis is ringing my doorbell...he's selling koolaid and girl scout cookies.

Anonymous said...

Don't waste your time with these Islamopologists, Bob. They're all walking around in their pre 9/11 mindset. Probably hoping that Saddam Hussein crashes more planes into buildings. They're pathetic!!!

Anonymous said...

The element that I find so intriguing about the Left is their virtually insatiable need to feel morally and intellectually superior to everyone around them. Their chronic addiction to regaling the world with "factual" statistics, endless ideologies, history lessons, social commentary, political jargon, and economic theory is amazing. What is even more amazing is that they honestly believe in what they say and write. It's reminiscent of my university days and seeing the career students on campus. You know the type: 30-something, ponytail, beard, earrings, Liberal Arts major, and spewing an almost continuous stream of seemingly intellectual thought to anyone within listening distance. Politics, the world economy, civil rights, medicine, the Rule of Law, whatever. It all sounded so impressive but in the end, it was all nonsense.

The Lib Dem virus that has infected Scud's blog site represents the same characteristics. Arrogant and self-aggrandizing, many of the posters here are like debate team champions on steroids, desperately trying to "discredit" everything Scud writes, regardless of his topic. The problem is that it is all white noise. The basic platform of the Lib Dem is corrupted from the outset so everything after that is, by definition, fruit from the poisonous tree. And what are the essential elements of the Lib Dem platform you ask? Simple, it's the basic tripartite model: socialism, gay rights, and slaughtering the unborn. Boiled down, that's what a true card-carrying Lib Dem supports. Hence, all else is of little importance. Fueled by their blind rage against the current Administration, they attack everything without pause. And anyone who supports the President and his policies? Good luck, they believe you have no right to do any such thing and will consume you in their hate-filled attacks.

Is Bush perfect? Nope. Has he made mistakes? Of course, but the point of Scud's initial post is that, in typical Lib Dem fashion, the Democrats offer nothing but rage. What were and are the alternatives? Gore? Kerry? Clinton? Not now, not ever. As I said, fruit of the poisonous tree.

scud said...

Brilliantly said Jon. You have hit the nail on the head. I am not offended in the least by the blathering that ends up here. Much of it is well written and certainly comes from sincere conviction. It's just wrong. But I am challenged, and mostly amused by the arguments.

Anonymous said...

Bob: Notice that I used an aggregate mean to mitigate variance. Individual sampling errors are corrected against the weight of eight other polls. The case is strong: a large majority are not satisfied with the President's performance. Since this conflicts with preconceived notions, simply do what you always do: ignore the data and trust your feelings and prejudices.

Anonymous said...

scud: I wasn't sure if jon's post was poor parody or an angry rant. Since you consider it "brilliantly said" the answer is obvious.