GOP leaders take fright at Obama deficit reduction plan

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Republicans have today come out with fighting talk against the notions for deficit reduction that the Obama administration is contemplating. They had a message today, Wednesday, for President Obama as he prepared to outline his plans, with at least a partial emphasis on taxes.  "Don't go there!" is their message to him. GOP leaders reiterated their argument that Washington has a "spending problem," not a revenue problem, and that new taxes on the wealthy, who Republicans describe as the job creators and small business owners who will drive the economic recovery, are a bad idea.

Generally speaking I'd agree with them. However, I'd separate the corporate types from the small business owners. The likes of Wal-Mart have exported jobs to Mexico, China and India. Brazil is now in the mix. Small business owners create jobs built on effort. The larger corporations tend to rely on tax avoidance, cost cutting and funny money. America is suffering from the fact that the Federal Government needs to spend money in order to keep people off the streets, with the mayhem and bedlam that would cause. It is going to require more than tax rises or tax breaks. The whole system needs a makeover, starting with giving the computerised money makers a lesson in fiscal integrity.

Sarah Palin's comeback experience on Oprah's show

Matthew Continetti is the associate editor of The Weekly Standard and the author of "The Persecution of Sarah Palin which is out this week. He thinks Sarah Palin is at the start of a rehabilitation. I never thought she was that poorly, but hey what do I know. There are some who seriously think that Palin will be serving up moose burgers in the White House in 2013. Mr.Continetti is one of them.

He says -

"Ms. Palin has two problems. The first is that she's become one of the most polarizing figures in the country. The second is that voters continue to worry about her qualifications for the presidency, a concern that her abrupt resignation from office last July intensified.

Lucky for her, both problems are solvable. Since Ms. Palin appeared on the national stage, the left has unfairly demonized her. Blockbuster interviews and book tours will humanize her.
More important than these public appearances is Ms. Palin's message. She needs to adopt a market-friendly populist agenda to strengthen her policy credentials and make her seem less partisan to independent voters. A bipartisan, center-right approach should come easily to her. That's how she won her race for governor in 2006."

He is backing her, if rather cautiously, by suggesting she adopts the kind of campaign that did for Reagan against Carter. It could work. Somehow, though, I feel the American public will be looking around for a classier act and she will have a tough time getting the GOP nomination, assuming she wants it.

Her rehabilitation make go forward with Oprah's help or it may go several paces back. Pity I won't be able to see it!

The Oprah Winfrey Show - A World Exclusive: Oprah and Sarah Palin Meet for the First Time

Ron Paul out of the wilderness!

Yesterday I was posting about horses bolting. Today it's about the fact that a lot of folks in America think they bet on the wrong horse. All those GOP primary votes wasted on the likes of Giuliani, Huckabee and Romney. Ron Paul is the horse now favoured by the punters. Everyone is coming up to pat him saying they always knew he had fine ideas. Blah, blah! Where were they when they were needed most. Even Fox News is all over Dr.Paul like a rash. And they did their level best to keep him in the margins as a quack doctor peddling some herbal remedy. Now they can't get enough of his tonic!

So, guess what? Ron Paul supporters, from the Campaign for Liberty, turn up at the CPAC 2009 shindig and find that everyone is talking his language. Ron Paul went down very well so we are told. David Weigel, writing in the Guardian, a paper not known for its sympathies with the right, says of Paul's surge in admirers - "What's changed in two years? It's not only that Republicans have lost an election – it's that Republicans do not yet understand why they lost. They are not willing to consider that they lost votes because Americans wanted more social democratic policies. The official explanation for their loss is that Republicans spent too much money and lost touch with their values. It only makes sense that Paul, who has been arguing for years that the GOP needs to get back to the values of pre-New Deal America, should be winning over young hearts and minds."

Winning over young hearts and minds. It will be these who will be paying off the trillion dollars going everywhere and who do not want anymore financial nonsense to carry on.

Bobby Jindal - Pre-existing for the Presidency?

Bobby Jindal is another "name" jettisoned into the public arena for the Andy Warhol fame game. Bobby is from a Punjabi Indian family. As the United States enters the second decade of the 21st Century, it is moving fast towards an ethnically diverse nation where anyone can get along and be American. When I was a child all Americans were white it seemed. Only the president had a German name, the rest were just American versions of the British. Then there was a real debate about having a Catholic president. Which seemed odd, since nobody questioned having a series of protestants. Then there was the question of having a Southerner as president, although it seemed it was more about peanuts than politics. A woman? Could Hillary Clinton be the first woman president? They all went ape on the TV news. But before they could finish that debate, along came Obama to be the first African-American president. A real African-American, or more properly, a Kenyan-American.

Not to be outdone, the Republican party has put forward Bobby Jindal. They could have put up anyone to respond to Obama's trillion zillion cashpot ideas. Bobby got the job. In his talk he mentioned his parents coming from a distant land, India. His mother was already pregnant, what Bobby calls a "pre-existing condition" from the insurance industry's inhouse dictionary. It just enables him to be in his own pre-existing condition for a potential presidential run. Sooner or later this native-born American rule will have to end. If his mother had gone into labour early he could be an Indian-born American and be in the Arnold Schwarzenegger position.

American politics is a bit like a Simon Cowell talent show. "GOP's Got Talent - premiering this Fall on NBC!". Bobby was up next and seems to be a star in the making. He could be the first Catholic Southern Indian Republican president! Watch this space as they say.

Is the USA doomed to poverty and pauperism?

The Republican party, all except three, in the Congress are trashing Obama's stimulus package. Not because they have looked in the mirror to say sorry for exciting George Bush into reckless miopia when the credit crunchers took hold, but because they are fearful of the vast debt piling up. I think it is all a bit late. Where was Bush, that adopted Texan cowboy when Stanford was building his ponzi scheme? And Madoff? And the Lehman Brothers fat cats?

No, the GOP hasn't got a leg to stand on. But Obama is raiding the funny money chest. He's on some yellow brick road at the moment. Mind boggling sums are going into propping up ailing businesses, banks without balances, and government agencies. The Republicans are right on one crucial point. "The way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The massive economic stimulus bill will increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt." That was the "official line" from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, speaking on behalf of the GOP.

It is all a crying shame that Ron Paul didn't get to be president. But at least he's being listened to now. Fox News! Who'd have thought it.

What we need is confidence back into the system. Those that are calling for small retail banks separate from the investment banks should hold sway. We cannot go on dumping money into bottomless pits. Until the toxic debt level is actually agreed and put into a special fund, it will remain exactly that - A TOXIC DEBT. We are being slowly poisoned and the cure is to fence off these offending loans and feed the economy with good money not imaginery stuff from the cookie jar!

Ron Paul bazookered from the bushes!

Here's a shot from Bazookaman aka Michael Bradbury, from somewhere up a mountain in Idaho. He rues the day that the Republican Party squeezed out Ron Paul. He says, "As many of you know, I was solidly in Ron Paul's corner. When he was intentionally barred from some of the eastern debates, I KNEW Ron was the right guy. When he was mathematically out of it, and officially withdrew, I wasn't going to vote at all."

That's how many perceived it. Bazookaman puts it well. "Nope...........I didn't support BUSH last time, and if the GOP can't put Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, or someone of that caliber, into that running slot, then we probably DESERVE to lose! Looking at it realistically, in the pack of jackals the Democrats have to choose from, Obama probably WAS the best they could do."

The "right" isn't always right, and over the last year in America the ruling elite appears to have lived under a vaporous cloud that has addled their brains. Read Bazookaman's piece. I think he speaks for a lot of people out there.

Obama to be beaten below the belt?

Politics is a tough game. It should be just on your policies alone. Possibly on your character or even your demeanour. After all, who wants a grump as President or Prime Minister?

In the USA, politicians have failed abysmally to dent Barack Obama's position. Dodgy pastors, a supposedly racist grandmother, or even his schooldays haven't turned up anything. Hillary Clinton tried. Husband Bill had a go. To no avail. Obama came through.

Now the Republican Party think they’ve found a weapon that could wound Obama. It is his own voice as recorded for the Grammy Award-winning audio version of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father.”

“I think the audio version makes a much more immediate impact” than the print version of his memoir, said conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who has played audio excerpts from the book on his syndicated radio show. “It turns out to be very jarring to many ears to hear Obama talking about his youthful adventures, his attitudes on race.” Hewitt seems pleased by all this. I think it just shows how devoid of Christian charity these so-called "conservative" talk show guys really are.

Boris Johnson was quite right. We don't want antisceptic politicians. But we don't want liars, cheats, and miscreants either. After all, who has not done something, or said something crass or cazy in past times. It's not as if Obama's committed a heinous crime.

I'd suggest the Republican Party treads carefully, otherwise they may get the odd floozy popping up to say she had a night of passion with McCain. On second thoughts, that might not stop him in his tracks. But you get the drift.

Let's have a nice clean fight, boys. If it gets nasty - well, who knows what can come out of the various closets with unlocked doors?

The Ron Paul ultimatum - drop out and you can speak!

Apparently word has got out that the GOP high command are going to do a deal with the Ron Paul supporters. If their candidate publicly declares that he will be dropping out of the race and that he supports the presumptive nominee, John McCain, then he can speak at the convention.

That all supposes that the speaking spot will be worth it. What is Ron Paul to say? "I stand here today to declare that humble pie is now my favourite dessert!" Shudder the thought. At one time, these conventions were debating assemblies, where policy was thrashed out. Not anymore. It's a coronation circus with the acts firmly following a designated script.

Ron Paul wants to address the convention delegates with his own words. Otherwise it will be nothing more than a ventriloquist's act. Why is it so hard for a proper debate to be held?

Ron Paul says It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

Ron Paul's approach to politics is fairly simple. Keep to the message, be friendly to your opponents, and believe in the Constitution. The fact that a hell of lot of people think the same way has run through the present political establishment like a hot knife through butter. They are still keen to extinquish all this fervour if they can. Rubbish Ron on the TV, kick up a stink in the papers, and try to run rings round him in Congress. Poor deluded fools that they are! They are like King Canute sitting on the beach trying to hold back the waves.

This is the year that change will happen. The warmongers, the city spivs, the corrupt and the craved, all will be quaking in their boots come November - or at least they should be.

Ron Paul remains an official GOP candidate and has about $5 million in the bank, and a mighty band of fanatical followers. That should cause the GOP high command to think. Well, it does, actually. How can we stop this troublesome man? Seems history is repeating itself over and over. A bit like that record in the opening scenes of Al Pacino's 1989 film, Sea of Love - "Do you remember the sea of love"?

Speaking to Newsweek, Paul was as frank as ever. Ask a simple question and you get the simple truth. "What are your feelings toward Bob Barr?" Newsweek asks. "We're pretty friendly. We're allies, he's a good friend. He has called me a couple times recently, so it's very cordial." Newsweek sniffs a sensation coming! "Even though he has been targeting your supporters?" Sounds like they can't believe the answer. "I can't blame him. I'm sure that's his goal". And Ron Paul gives a little laugh.

We've had so much corruption, so much spin and deception, that journalists are primed to detect the smallest suggestion of devious behaviour. When given straight answers, they get all confused. How sad!

My gut feeling, and it's as cerebrally challenged as that, is that the largest constituency currently in American politics is the third party/independents group. The big question is - will they act as a cohesive block, or just go into several directions at once? Only time will tell.

Ron Paul to get more GOP delegates?

In a possible surprise GOP rule switch in Utah, things could get interesting in the Republican race. State convention might release Romney delegates from voting for Mitt. This means Ron Paul could benefit. It is very evident now that the Ron Paul Revolution will not go quietly, as, of course, it has nowhere to go other than onwards. As they have done in Nevada, Minnesota and elsewhere, a number of Utah Ron Paul backers are trying to get elected today as delegates to the Republican National Convention where, under a proposed rule change, they could be free to vote for whomever they want.

I get the impression most city slickers, TV pundits and politico pollsters haven't bothered to follow the Republican race in detail, so these things are not publicised to any great extent. Lowell Nelson, a Paul supporter running for national delegate, said he doesn't anticipate chaos erupting today, or going to St. Paul to vote for Paul. He just wants to see the rules stay the same and bind the delegates to vote for Romney, at least on the first round of balloting. “For us, as a Republican Party, to consider unbinding the delegation from that obligation, from that expectation, is a bit inappropriate, very inappropriate, like changing the rules in the middle of the game,” said Nelson. “I believe we ought to honor the will of the state of Utah by casting those 36 votes for Mitt Romney.” But, if McCain is unable to lock up the nomination on the first ballot, the delegates would be free to support anyone. That could open the door for Romney, says Nelson, although he would likely vote for Paul.

Does anyone think John McCain couldn't lock up the nomination? Probably not. But all this rule changing and back-room dealing leads to uncertainty. Whatever else, this whole process has shed some light on the rather dubious methods used in the selection of candidates through caucuses and primaries.

Republican Race goes round in circles

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Republican race is really over. Click on to their "Republican Nomination Race" link and you go straight to the Democratic one. Ron Paul is still in with the desire to get as many delegates as possible, but there is no desire to show it from the Telegraph's point of view. Ron Paul got 8% in North Carolina, and Mike Huckabee did even better on 12%! In Indiana, Mitt Romney was on the ticket as well and managed 5%. These guys are out of the race apparently, but that doesn't stop some people wanting to vote for them!

The press is very "sided", so the maxim "don't always believe what you read in the papers" is very true.

Ron Paul's followers fall foul of the old ways!

Robert's Rules of Order are no good in the Republican Party. Mugabe's Rules of Order (watered down version) more likely. So the Republican Party cracks down on Ron Paul activists. The Missouri GOP is determined that nothing will stop John McCain getting all 58 of Missouri's delegates. Ron Paul activists marched into the cafeteria of Kirkwood High School on Saturday to attend a meeting. Don Griffin is a conservative Republican activist and Paul supporter. However, according to convention chairman Rich Magee, "These are not Republicans, in my opinion." A stand-off ensued, with Griffin shouting, "It was a ramrod job!'', as he was denied proper access to the cafeteria. Angry Paul allies were escorted out shortly after the meeting began.

Brent Stafford, the pro-Paul chairman of the ousted St. Charles delegate bloc, said some old-guard Republicans misunderstand his side's motivation. "We're trying to return the Republican Party to its conservative roots'', he said. What people like Rich Magee should consider is that politics in America is pretty well played with a hard ball approach. If you want your say, you're expected to toe the line of the majority or just shout at the four walls of your kitchen. He should ask himself if that is democracy.

Ron Paul's revolution is about a fairer democracy. With this cafeteria cook-up, it seems America has a long way to go.

Ron Paul speaks to 1500 enthusiastic students!

The message continues and on this video you'll see that the crowds are still there, the enthusiasm is still there, and the message resonates well.

In front of a cheering crowd in Gym 1 in the Intramural Building, Penn State University, Ron Paul spoke about reducing the role of government. Combating rising national indebtedness and a war that is going in the wrong direction are all part of Ron Paul's Revolution. John McCain appears to be in denial on both counts. Pity!

Winning Ron Paul speaking time at the GOP convention

That's what is now tactically the goal. Minnesota supporters of presidential hopeful Ron Paul hope the Texan will win some speaking time at the GOP National Convention in St. Paul. Whilst the Republican party chiefs are keen to state that John McCain will be the nominee, it still would be the best option to allow Ron Paul time to address the delegates.

He would have two messages to offer. First, to those delegates who have never heard him speak live. They may well wonder what they passed up on! Second, the wider TV audience will also hear him, unless there is some Chinese-style editing. I guess few Americans have heard him in such an arena.

So the Revolution continues to roll.

Ron Paul keeps the Revolution on track!

Ron Paul held a news conference at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in support of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. "What kept me going ... I think it was the enthusiasm from my supporters. They just wouldn't let me go away," he told a small group of reporters. That's the point. Ron Paul has supporters across the USA determined not to let the message of change die. Come the presidential election in November, John McCain's support base will fizzle out the next day and go its separate ways. Ron Paul's support base will carry on.

By staying in the race, Ron Paul is making a statement. That the convention matters, and that his viewpoints and those of his campaign need to be heard. The other contenders all folded their tents, now trying to flog off the remnants in camping stores!

Richard McCloud, an unemployed labourer, is a good example of a Ron Paul supporter. McCloud drove two hours from Uniontown to Indiana University of Pennsylvania to see the Texas congressman and former physician. "If given a chance, he could be as great a president as Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. He does what he says and says what he does. This is a true American patriot, my man!" Now why would anybody want to impede the progress of a man who "does what he says and says what he does"? The sort of politician who has got us into an illegal war, keeps up the pretence that all is well in the financial markets, and who rubs shoulders with the lobbying classes, that's who!

Truth will out, it is said. But we also have to be on a constant vigil against the lies, the deceits, and the general spinning of political people, who do want they want, and not as they say!

Bob Barr weighing up Libertarian presidential run

Bob Barr, the former Georgia Congressman and Libertarian Party luminary is deciding on whether to enter the presidential race. Apparently he should know in the next few days whether he is going to go for it.

Speaking about the disagreements over the Iraq War and the fiscal policies of the current administration, Barr said, "Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle."

I doubt if Ron Paul will publicly commit to such a candidacy as Barr's, but he may not be too upset if his legions of supporters transfer their allegiance come November. If Barack Obama somehow fails to win the Democratic nomination, it could give the Libertarian block a sizeable chunk of the vote. Three party politics is still far off for Americans, but this may be the year that something stirs in the backwoods!

Ron Paul's supporters make inroads at Texas GOP conventions

The Texas Republican Party bosses seem to have taken a few leaves out of the Robert Mugabe Book of Election Procedures! It's amazing that, although these caucuses and primaries are about choosing a candidate, the grandees of the party appear more concerned about manipulating the outcome.

Ron Paul is seen as a man who should never have entered the race. They made it a handicap. Like the Grand National at Aintree, they hoped Paul would fall at the first hurdle! But his supporters continue to fight for their legitimate places at conventions. Texas is not alone.

In Senate District 10, Paul supporter Jeremy Blosser challenged longtime Republican organizer Stuart Lane for chairmanship of the convention. Blosser bristled at Lane's characterization of Paul's supporters as "outsiders bent on taking over the party." Blosser said, "We are Republicans. I don't know how you take over something you're already part of." Precisely!

What people like Stuart Lane mean is "You can say or mean anything so long as you say and mean it my way!" Well, he's been rumbled!

GOP playing machine politics with Ron Paul delegates!

As I've said before, don't you just love democracy! In Missouri, those who were rash enough to vote for Ron Paul are being given the runaround by the party bosses. What's the point of having a caucus, if some armtwister tells you you voted the wrong way?

The Paul campaign believes that a handful of GOP officials are playing machine politics and breaking their own rules to disenfranchise Paul supporters. “The Republican party is in trouble and needs more participants in 2008, not less,” said campaign manager Lew Moore. “It makes no sense for Missouri party leaders to exclude and marginalize the new activists they badly need to work at every level this fall.” Quite so!

I thought I would publicise this bit of intrique as good American democracy!

Experts Deride McCain’s Mortgage Crisis Fix!

Just following on from my post below, I run into this piece from the New York Sun. John McCain, who is a self-confessed economics amateur, has been derided for his call for a meeting of the nation's top mortgage lenders as part of a solution to the rise in home foreclosures. He reckons 0% financing will help. Help whom, exactly? Certainly not the bankers, who would be more out of pocket than they are now. Certainly not the borrowers, who would have property at inflated prices.

No wonder the economists scoffed at this idea. Has the fat lady finished her song? I'd say it was about time there was a national debate between Ron Paul and John McCain on TV. Then McCain could tell the people of America how he plans to run the economy.

To hell in a handbasket might be one answer!

Time to Listen to Ron Paul?

Interestingly, just as the last puffs of the active Republican Party campaign to nominate are expiring, Fox News offers this intriguing question. Time to Listen to Ron Paul? This is posed by Elizabeth MacDonald on the FoxBusiness site. Pity she's a bit late in trumpeting his message.

She says "Time to listen to Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the lone voice of reason in Congress today who’s got to feel like he’s shouting into a field of cotton with his repeated warnings about the dangers of a collapsing dollar, while the administration goes AWOL on the problem." One wonders if the American people are so used to the admen's messages that they are walking over the cliffs on this one. Why did none of the other Republican candidates say ANYTHING on this. For heaven sakes, Mitt Romney is supposed to be a businessman. Some businessman! Just out for himself?

MacDonald quotes Ron Paul as saying “Empires fail because they run out of money, or more accurately, run out of the ability to spend or inflate. We need to control spending, immediately, before it is too late.” Too late, indeed. I bet John McCain's not committed to this. He's rumbling on about keeping the pot boiling.

It won't be just votes that will be required this November, but prayers as well. On bended knee!!