Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
Albert Einstein
Thanks, Readers!
Yesterday's post (and/or other posts) attracted the most readers over the past 4 months. My posts have different segments; it could be some people like (or hate) my commentaries, while others like the quotes, my sense of humor, or the music videos. I don't expect people to agree with all my opinions, but I believe that I bring a distinct conservative perspective which is civil, principled, pragmatic, and solution-driven.
Nancy Pelosi Hits a New Low
No, I'm not referring to Nancy Pelosi's revisionist dispute with the CIA director whether she had been briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques to high-value Al Qaeda detainees or her muscling morally hazardous, misleadingly underpriced 2000-page bills. In this case, Gallup released a poll today showing Pelosi at an all-time low favorability rating of 29%; she has gone from a 2-1 positive rating in early 2007 as she became speaker to 2-1 negative, including an all-time low of 21% positive for independents (and 8% for Republicans).
Pelosi still retains the support of 3 out of every 5 Democrats and has racked up a sizable number of progressive bill wins, but a number of these polarizing partisan bills (in particular, the health care and cap-and-trade bills) will likely eviscerate the ranks of centrist/conservative Democrats, which were intentionally cultivated during the 2006 and 2008 coalition campaigns. Nancy Pelosi will likely fall on her sword after the coming election, and Barack Obama will pay the obligatory homage to Pelosi's tenure as Speaker.
The GOP is continuing to surge; the RCP count is now 214-180 in terms of lean/likely/safe with 41 undecided (39 D/2 R). Only 4 more seats needed to clinch Pelosi's termination as Speaker (of course, there are always some surprises in elections).
Maybe I Should Start the "The Taxes Are Too Damn High" Party....
Michelle Rhee Resigned
One of my favorite educators (in fact, I wanted Obama to choose her for Education Secretary), and one of the key reformers profiled in the current film Waiting for Superman, has resigned effective as of the end of the month. This was inevitable after Rhee's sponsor, Mayor Adrian Fenty, lost his reelection bid last month to a pro-teacher union candidate, Vincent Gray. [I personally believe that Obama's unwillingness to spend political capital to back Fenty reflects his paying lip service to education reform.]
As someone who has personally paid heavy prices for doing the right thing as a change agent, I can relate to Rhee's short-lived but effective tenure as DC public schools chancellor. As Moroney and Young note:
Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington education research organization, said he favored Rhee’s goals and approach. Her short-lived tenure is typical of those who push change in a disruptive way, Finn said [in a telephone interview]. “It’s a cautionary tale that you don’t always win these battles, that there will be setbacks and there will be costs in making changes that will better serve kids."To those who underestimate the difficulty faced by those whom stand up to self-serving teacher unions, there is this excerpt of a post by Cherie Saunders:
The film "Waiting for Superman" points out that union-backed teachers are tenured after just two years in the classroom and are nearly impossible to fire – even if they are proven to be horrible at their job. "Why can't you just fire bad teachers?" Oprah asks. "It's actually incredibly difficult to fire an ineffective teacher. You have to basically meet a criminal standard," Michelle says. In one case, Michelle says a teacher in her district would disappear from the classroom, skip work day after day and fall asleep in class, but when the district tried to terminate her, she only earned a 10-day suspension. "Finally, last year we were able to terminate this person, but it was after [she] had been in the classroom for 10 years," Rhee says.
Sarah Palin: You Can Go Your Own Way
The former Alaska governor, who quit two-thirds of the way through her only term in office, the former vice presidential nominee with the highest unfavorable rating of any over the past 30 years, the self-styled "common sense conservative" who got her fair share of federal earmarks as mayor of Wasilla and governor of Alaska and levied windfall profits taxes on oil companies, the only governor in the history of the state who failed to get a high-level nominee confirmed (in a state legislature controlled by Republicans) and who even lacks majority support from her own state in a potential Presidential bid, has these words of wisdom for fellow politicians:
Hey, politicians who are in office today you, some of you, need to man up and spend some political capital to support the Tea Party candidates instead of doing this, waiting to see how everything is going to go...You know that Tea Party candidates are constitutionalists that got the common sense. So, some of these politicians, the big-wigs within the machine, they're driving me crazy because they're too chicken to come and support the Tea Party candidates.Palin adds:
I have faith that they will shake things up because that's why we are sending them there. ...And some of the GOP? It's their last shot. It's their last chance. We will lose faith and we will be disappointed and disenchanted ...if they start straying from the bedrock principles that can grow our economy..., then why not a third party?Here's how I see it: the Tea Party Express derailed a widely-respected Congressman and former governor whom ran at least a 15% lead over a typical progressive Delaware politician in a rare pickup for the GOP in a blue state and substituted an unqualified, inexperienced candidate whom is losing by up to 20% in what should be a sweeping election for center-right politicians? An external group with money manipulates a Delaware party election by heavily backing an unvetted candidate, denying the most popular politician in the state his own party's nomination, and Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin are indignant that Mike Castle should fail to endorse the fruit of the poisonous tree? Mike Castle's endorsement can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Delaware is a reliable blue state; for a Republican to win, he or she has to appeal to moderates and independents. In particular, the candidate has to be perceived as qualified/competent.
I've made my position on the Delaware race in past posts, but this commentary is not intended to repeat myself. I'm making a larger point which has to do with a media conservative obsession of naming moderate Republicans as "RINO's" (Republican in Name Only). The fact is that moderate Republicans have repeatedly voted with conservatives on a number of critical votes over the past 2 years; the health care bill this year was passed without a single Republican vote, pragmatic or conservative. Even when the Maine senators and then Republican Arlen Specter went along with the stimulus bill, they significantly cut the price tag from what the Democrats wanted to spend. Moderate Republicans are usually fiscal and national defense conservatives and favor small business interests.
Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard wrote an interesting post about whether Mike Castle, as media conservatives assert, is a RINO. He answers:
I would disagree that Castle is ...a RINO... at all. He's a moderate, northeastern Republican. There's a difference...Republicans who represent districts in his neck of the woods -- Charlie Dent (PA-15), Gerlach, Peter King (NY-3), Leonard Lance (NJ-7), Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2), Todd Platts (PA-19) -- all tend to cluster around the same ideological position as Castle ...Democrat Chris Coons would have gladly, eagerly voted for [the health care bill]. And would likely have backed the so-called "public option," too. Unlike Coons, Castle wants to repeal Obamacare, make all of the Bush tax cuts permanent, vote against federal funding of abortion, and would likely vote for conservative judges.I have pointed out that the American Conservative Union has given Castle a lifetime rating of over 50; in contrast, most well-known Democratic senators, probably including Coons, rate below 15. Jay Cost uses a different metric on a -1 to +1 scale, where a negative score is liberal, 0 is moderate, and a positive score is conservative. In the current Congress, Castle rates a +.202. In my judgment, that puts Castle squarely in the center-right mainstream. Not only that, but the GOP's current rock star governor, New Jersey's Chris Christie, supported Mike Castle.
What does the current crop of Tea Party-favored candidates look like? Lisa Murkowski has a viable shot of being the second write-in candidate to be elected to the Senate over Joe Miller; Rand Paul keeps sticking his foot in his mouth and refuses to shake hands with his debate opponent; Buck of Colorado and Angle of Nevada are barely leading in a blowout year for Republicans. The only clear winners are Mike Lee in Utah, a red state, and Marco Rubio whom ironically is being helped by Governor Crist, whom badly misplayed his hand and is drawing support away from the Democratic challenger.
But let me direct my comments at the Demagogue from Wasilla: I am not a GOP official, but the GOP doesn't need Sarah Palin. The Republicans in January will be facing a President Obama holding the power of a veto and Senate Democrats with the power of the filibuster. If Republicans can't compromise, they will be turned out of office based on the need of the Congress to do the people's business. They cannot dictate terms to the Democrats and get anywhere. If you dare to run for President, I and other real conservatives will do everything in our power to bury you politically.
Political Humor
"Joe Biden said today President Obama has asked him to run again with him in [2012]. So I think I speak for all late-night hosts when I say, 'Thank you, Mr. President." –Jay Leno
[Well, what Barack meant to say is that he wants to start jogging again, and Joe decided to read something into it...]
"For the first time in history, there are 100,000 home foreclosures in the month of September. 100,000 people were told this fall they were going to lose their house. 100,001 if you count Nancy Pelosi." –Jay Leno
[The current lease on the Speaker's office in the House of Representatives expires on November 2. Nancy Pelosi wanted to pass 2000-page progressive bills before the American people could read what's in them. Is it any surprise that Nancy Pelosi wasn't aware of the escape clause in her own contract with the American people? The midterm elections.]
Musical Interlude: The "British Invasion" of 1960's Series
The Beatles, "Nowhere Man"
[Did Lennon and McCartney have a prescient vision of Barack Obama?
"He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see...
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody"]
