Because all of his pronouncements are subject to sudden change, President Obama, who decried the use of reconciliation on much smaller matters than this, has decided reconciliation is the perfect vehicle by which to tell the American public to shut up and take what he’s giving them (language warning), and also take command over 17% of the economy.
And he’s doing it, all while pretending not to know that America is saying “no.”
Is that just Obama taking a stab at some plausible deniability? Or is he one of those guys who thinks a “no” is a coy “yes?”
As Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (who increasingly reminds me of someone who once got a laugh at another’s expense and thus considers himself a wit) declared today, “whatever it takes to get health care done,”, President Obama put the exclamation point to the sentiment by handing some judge robes to the brother of an undecided Democrat. If the timing of the appointment is merely co-incidental, you’d think the president would be attuned to the bad optics of it, but Obama doesn’t really care what anything thinks about what he does.
All of that has left Dan Riehl very, very angry. I mean, way beyond Marvin-the-Martian angry:
This neophyte, this joke we have in the White House has absolutely no idea of the force and the rage he is about to unleash on him and his entire political party. If there are not enough responsible adults left within his party to rein in this accidental, affirmative action jerk, this self-styled, extremely flawed little man, then his party is worthless to America. It deserves to be marginalized electorally and, ultimately, utterly destroyed, before being relegated to the dung heap of history with the rest of the marxist, socialist clowns Americans have dispatched before.
Reconciliation for this disaster of a destructive health care bill I doubt anyone on the Hill can fully define means all out war. The only question remaining is, whose side are you on?
Ehhhhmmm…yeeah. That’s…pretty…damned…mad. Obama campaigned promising that he would both “unify” and “remake” America. Seems he meant it, for better or worse. But many moderate Democrats, Independents and even some Conservatives thought Obama meant we’d all have a cookout and work on fine-tuning the American engine and polishing the fenders between bites of potato salad.
They apparently did not realize he meant a complete overhaul and redesign.
Those of us who did should not be acting too surprised, at this point.
Glenn Reynolds is concerned:
I’ve never seen Dan Riehl this angry. Is he an outlier, or a leading indicator? The Dems had better hope it’s the former. . .
I don’t the Democrats give a damn about it, they haven’t for a while, which tells me that they have their eyes on something so vast that the rest of us -riding on the back of the beast and thus unable to gauge its proportions- can’t even see the totality of it.
Whether Riehl is an outlier is a good question, though. My readers and penpals are mostly temperate sorts who are not quick to go all Yosemite Sam and a-haulin’ out their rifles. But I actually have had a few emails indicating that the Looney Tunes White House and the Democrats are crossing a line they ought not cross, if they’d prefer not to test the action/reaction theory.
Undoubtedly, there are some Americans who are feeling as angry as Reihl. There are people out there -you can read them in political forums and the comments sections of most internet-posted news columns- who are literally thisclose to saying, “the government has abandoned America and its precepts; they are the outliers, they are the ones bending the nation to the breaking point, and they must be stopped.”
By what means? Who knows.
People are feeling not just “fooled” but betrayed and disrespected by their elected leaders, who are supposed to be their servants. No one likes feeling that way. Many Conservatives and Independents sense that their hirees are out of control and dictating to them from on high; to them, America feels like a college campus occupied by a bunch of spoiled adolescents who are alternately calling their tuition-paying parents “stupid and bourgeois” or “stupid and oppressed,” depending on the day. They are bristling at the disdain and condescension they sense from their government. In his speech today, Obama seemed one rhetorical flourish away from saying, “don’t you know who I am?” And the sense I am getting is that Americans are ready to say, in return, “don’t you know who we are, who hired you?”
Centers are definitely not holding. The more cynical side of me, which I am trying to keep tamped down, even wonders if some in DC are counting on the threat of violence occurring, as a means to yet another end.
I took a “retreat” day, today; spent the whole day in prayer, reading, contemplation. Retreating from the daily hash of news and spin, I came back to “the world” more and more convinced that illusions are spinning like mad all around us, and that the only way to defeat them is to hold on to what we know is true, and not get sucked into a whirling vortex of emotion. Emotion is always the exploitable bugbear that lets things slip further out of control than they should; emotion is what Democrats seem to count on, and what conservatives are increasingly falling prey to, as they feel their principles are being dismissed, and the nation’s precepts are being steamrollered.
In an address to congress, Abraham Lincoln said that in order to save our nation, we had to “disenthrall ourselves” of our passions. That, of course, only works if all sides agree to do it. Nobody is agreeing to nuthin’ in 21st Century America.
My hope is that Riehl is an outlier. I suspect, though, that if he is, and if the Democrats force their way forward, against an objecting populace, he won’t be for very long.
UPDATE 1: An email from WM:
What you and I fear we’ve detected: the attempted establishment of Soft Tyranny, is what will make violence conceivable to most once they become convinced that’s what’s going on. Once that becomes widely believed, confidence in the Rule of Law will be undermined by continued political maneuverings, and the powder keg will only lack a precipitating outrage.
God help us all if it comes to that. . . . We are in a water-shed time. This country I love will either rise, or fall. . . . I hold this country and the principles it was founded on dear.
This is not an atypical response. What I’m seeing in my email is: violence is the last thing people want to consider, and no one can be flippant about it…but some are worrying that it may well be part of our future.
Perhaps that’s why I want to pray all the time. I’m putting a bit of a round up, below.
UPDATE II:
Dan Riehl clarifies; he’s thinking more Tiananmen Square than armed insurrection, at the moment! 
Related:
Andrew McCarthy: If Obamacare passes, it is forever
Hot Air: What’s the biggest problem?
Private Sector Innovation in Health Care
NRO: “Lisbon Treaty and Obama’s Up-or-down vote are of a piece…”
The “Outsider” from Inside DC
Dan Gerstein: Dems have lost the Public Trust
Now that was well written and well said. I too suspect that violence would be the inevitable result of the passage of ‘obamacare’.
On one hand, such violence would be deplorable; on the other, it would provide a much needed slap in the face with a wet fish to the self-styled “political overlords”. They do need reminding that violence is ALWAYS a consideration when considering tyranny in the USA. We LIKE to settle our scores with violence. Just ask Japan, Germany, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Jacksonian impulse is never very far under our surface.
I THINK that passage of Obamacare via reconciliation crosses a line that ought not to be crossed. Many will, I think, consider the bill illegitimate.
I HOPE that what results is a renewed commitment to participation in the political process.
If America is so outraged at Democrats, who is this hero who will liberate you from his tyranny in 2012 by, erm, beating him in an election?
Muslim Maoist though he may be, I’ve yet to see any signs that he is going to do away with elections so yu’ll get your chance. But apparently some people can’t wait long enough, even though the anti-Bush forces managed to endure their defeats in 2002 & 2004 to emerge on the other side once they’d put together a package that enough people supported.
Rude Pundit on about the issue. (Yes, yes, not safe for work but I see why he does it & I’m glad, just like I’m glad of Richard Dawkins speaking so forcefully & think he does a better job than me of advancing his views).
[I have no idea who will be the person to get behind in 2012. I almost suspect that -as with the gov of ny's race- it may have to be someone wholly disconnected from politics...and as to the "anti-Bush forces" being able to endure their defeats...remember that while their defeats were going on, the defeated were not watching Bush and the GOP majority develop an appetite for takeover of everything, banks, the auto industry, lands, etc. Bush spent too much and made mistakes (every president makes mistakes) but one never had the sense that he was actively and gleefully giving the country the middle finger with both hands. And the truth is, the Bush-hating left KNEW he loved the country and KNEW that their charge that Bush was "shredding the constitution" and creating a "fierce moral urgency" for change was bs...as evidenced by their relative contentment to see Obama continue just about all of those "horrific" policies. It's one thing to "act" outraged for political theater, when everyone is working, the markets are doing well, and you know the president you hate actually has your back while you grouse safely about his faraway war. You can do that for quite a while and "endure" waiting thru a few elections. When people are out of work, and sensing that they were sold a bill of goods, and that the virtually untested, unknown, "unifying centrist agent of hope" is actually a hyper-partisan socialist, when they feel duped and they're watching the people who were supposed to run the "most ethical" congress in history close their eyes to corruption, ignore their constituents and bend rules on issues concerning such a sizeable chunk of the economy, all while dissing our allies and doing the opposite of what they say -and with a complicit media along for the ride...endurance begins to wain, I suspect. -admin
“I’ve never seen Dan Riehl this angry. Is he an outlier, or a leading indicator? The Dems had better hope it’s the former. . .”
Dan is merely giving voice to concerns some of us- in less-known venues– have had for a long, long time.
We tried to inform you, folks, and got called “RAAACIST!” ( Hattip: HillBuzz ) for our efforts.
“People get the kind of government
they want
and deserve…”
( A.E. VanVogt, “The Weapons Shops of Isher” )
Bill Whittle, in a recent “Afterburner” segment on the Declaration of Independence, pointed out that Americans gave our consent to be governed–we didn’t give our consent to be ruled…a critical point that those in DC (and state capitals, as well) who claim that we who dissent from their policies and philosophies are anti-government either don’t get or are quite consciously ignoring.
Dan Riehl doesn’t look like an outlier to me.
“I THINK that passage of Obamacare via reconciliation crosses a line that ought not to be crossed.” -Copper Quark
I completely agree. I have never been so angry at my government in my entire life. Every day there is a greater outrage. I’m as angry as Riehl. I’m ready to take out my pitch fork and march on Washington.
Passing Obamacare through reconciliation borders on the unconstitutional (though i assume it is constitutional) and might even be a threat to the Republic. No matter what the merits of the legislation might be (and i fully acknowledge I’m opposed to it), nothing should be passed in this manner, let alone something that effects 1/6 of the economy and is deeply personal to the American people.
Deep in my heart I cannot believe the Senate Democrats will do this. It will open the door for Republican retaliation and replication. It will poison the well beyond “reconciliation,” pun intended.
Obama the central planner is oblivious to what unreconstructed americans think. He could not care less, and said so yesterday. He is part of the nomenklatura now. How this crypto-statist ever got in the White House is beyond me. Every time the TOTUS speaks I am reminded of that line in Othello:
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain—
At least I am sure it may be so in America.
[Hamlet said that about his mother and Claudius: "that one may smile and smile and be a villain!" -admin]
Let the healthcare bill come to an up-or-down vote, then move on to other matters.
[Precisely your sentiment, I imagine, when the Democrats demanded 60 votes to pass Bush's social security and immigration reforms? -admin]
Oh but remember that Obama said he couldn’t govern that way, over and over? That this “50 plus 1″ style was bad for the country?
It becomes more difficult by the day to discern what the motives, and intent are. I do believe that the real Obama is finally coming out; his rage, and anger towards Americans is plain for all to see.
What happens if his totalitarian dream explodes, and healthcare is denied to ‘him’?? What will he do next?
Something in my gut tells me that he may welcomes rage, and may take it a step further, or outright loses it. Narcissists do not like to be denied. Would he be capable of bringing ‘marshal law’?
However, I do blame the press for lying during the campaign who he was, his ideology, and what his intentions were, not to mention his radical indoctrination not only by Wright, Farrakhan, Ayres, but the dangerous mentor, and communist Frank Marshal Davis.
The press could have stopped this, and now we sense danger in this country.
One more thing: I am struck, that there has no democrat come out, and at least demonstrate a bit of integrity, or honesty. Are they this weak, or scared? It is really heartbraking, what I see.
I would remind Zachriel that we have fillibusters and have set up the Senate as an anti-majoritarian institution for a reason: to balance of the power of the majority against the minority.
I would further remind him that this bill would have a much larger impact on people’s lives than many constitutional amendments – and we don’t do those with an up or down vote.
Big issues like this one need to have a firm and strong majority behind them (and a bipartisan majority at that.) The only bipartisanship I’ve seen lies with the opposition.
Finally, if the “up or down vote” is the gold standard for changing 1/6 of the US economy, would Zachriel be comfortable with our entire health care edifice being remade every 4 years as a different party takes power? That seems like chaos to me.
The main thing that is drivng the Dems now is a desire to have passed something – anything – prior to November. Well I don’t give a damn about their political problems and it sure isn’t a good reason to pass this monstrocity.
The ease with which he lies is astounding. He has already forgotten about Scott Brown’s election – - which most presidents would have taken as a red alert to change course. Clinton would have. Not this Alinksyite.
Anchoress,
Isn’t the anger appropriate?
I can’t say I disagree with Riehl’s description of Obama. We have a wolf in the White House, plain and simple. I think he has his sights set on something much bigger, as you said, than we can see at this point. I don’t believe for a second any longer that his intentions toward our country are benevolent. If that makes me an “outlier”, fine. But we’d better get both eyes wide open real quick because this guy isn’t just inexperienced and arrogant — he’s dangerous.
[Sure, anger is appropriate. How we use it is a cause for some concern, though. It almost seems like Obama is egging the people on, doesn't it? Like he wants to anger them more and more? -admin]
If this bill passes, and the people don’t like it, all they need to do is throw the Democrats out and get the law repealed.
I never thought I’d see the day when we have a President who doesn’t like America. I rejected that notion for a long time, but I can’t ignore any longer. The president actually despises his own country and looks down on its citizens.
God help us all.
I was talking to my priest last year about the way things were going and how I was fearful of Obama. My priest confessed to me that he felt the man was dangerous. My priest is one of the most level headed persons I have ever known. When he said that, literally, my blood ran cold.
Inge,
I share your feelings about the press. I’m not advocating pitchforks, but if they do come out there would be a certain justice in seeing those a**es feel the prongs. The smugness and condescension they have displayed since 2000 is appalling.
Anger has been stewing for years. One can argue that expressing it is good; how it is expressed is what can be a concern. Personally, I feel better when I hear the anger from others. It makes me angrier when I see some commentators entertaining us and laughing about the troubles we are facing. It’s important to step away and keep a healthty perspective, but we can’t suppress the anger in a denial mode that everything will work itself out naturally or that someone else will save us. Let’s be smart about our attacks, demonstrate some patience, and help each other.
I’m a sweet grandma (and will stay that way) but I just can’t believe that the President so disregards so many of us. I always thought the President’s role was to respect and hear us. We agree on needed health care reform and we can work together to get some of the problems fixed but obviously we don’t want government running it for obvious reasons. I still can’t understand how Obama can just stand up there and dictate what he wants for us as if he is a god – yes, I said it I think that is the problem with this man.
People are feeling not just “fooled” but betrayed and disrespected by their elected leaders, who are supposed to be their servants
I think this is key.
I stand corrected re Othello…
“…The more cynical side of me, which I am trying to keep tamped down, even wonders if some in DC are counting on the threat of violence occurring, as a means to yet another end…”
You’re not the only one, Anchoress. They’ve been painting average Americans who have the temerity to disagree with their agenda as nutcases for months now.
I think it’s entirely possible (even inevitable) that a few powderkegs might go off in the wake of this latest and most explosive power grab. Then we’ll hear, “See! We warned you that the right is filled with lunatics and this proves it! The MSM will do the usual to help this meme along.
Yes, Eleanie, this president DOES indeed disregard so many of us.
He hears no, knows it means no (not a coy yes), and forges ahead anyway because he is an arrogant idealogue and always has been. He doesn’t care whether the Dems are devastated in the upcoming elections, or whether or not he is a one-term president. He is hell-bent on advancing his vast domestic agenda and will lie, bribe, steal and do whatever he has to do to get it done in the time that he has.
Then he’ll go hang out in his new presidential library in Hawaii, give a few speeches, whatever, because he’s never much liked working hard anyway.
“This is not an atypical response. ” -Anchoress
I agree; it’s not atypical. It’s exactly what I was getting at when i said this was borderline unconstitutional. It’s subversive to the intentions of the founding princples of having a deliberative body called the Senate.
The President does what he wants-not what he says. He is the poet laureate at dissembling. I believe he and his cabal know what they are doing. Remaking the USA into a socialist utopia. He is enabling a continuing economic crisis. I sometimes think that he and Soros would like to see a rebellious people. God help us
“Give me liberty, or give me death!”
“Passing Obamacare through reconciliation borders on the unconstitutional (though i assume it is constitutional) and might even be a threat to the Republic.”
The concept of reconciliation is not covered by the Constitution, up or down (though I think the plan itself may be unconstitutional in other respects). It’s an exception to the 60-vote cloture rule in the Senate, intended for budget matters where some decision has to be made quickly to avoid a fiscal year starting with no budget. Using reconciliation on this would clearly be procedurally illegitimate, and would make plain that the Left cares nothing for any part of the form of our government that gets in the way of its policies.
The cloture rule itself is also not mentioned in the Constitution, but it serves one of the purposes that the Founders had in mind by setting the Senate as an indirectly elected body (pre-17th Amendment): that while the House would reflect the passions of the political moment, the Senate would temper them.
I just listened to my Congressman Charlie Wilson of Ohio say that he intended to vote for this bill whether his constituents wanted it or not. They are going to ram this down our throats and hope that by the time the November elections come around people will be focused on other things and not remember. I also told friends before the election that he scared me, one agreed, the other two were Obama girls and laughed.
I can say that I’m as angry as Riehl as well. We are stuck with this crackpot, know-nothing for another 3 years and that just scares me.
I believe the populace could turn to violence – possibly isolated – as the country sinks deeper into the recession. Desperate times will call for desperate measures – especially among the truly desperate among us.
Be prepared is all that we can do for ourselves. Protect our homes and families as best we can.
And vote their butts out come November.
If Scott Mathesen loves his brother and the law, he will refuse this nomination at this time. I’m sure he’s a perfectly qualified candidate whom everybody in Utah is good with; but it looks pretty darned bad. If he takes this now, it will be a stain on his reputation and his brother’s. If he puts it aside, it will be an act of patriotism and prudence.
“Centers are definitely not holding. The more cynical side of me, which I am trying to keep tamped down, even wonders if some in DC are counting on the threat of violence occurring, as a means to yet another end.”
You are not alone in your cynicism, I wrote something suggesting such a thing last August…
link
..And this was a topic of ongoing convo over on the threads at Hot Air just yesterday. Here are some selected tid-bits:
Damn! They’ve dropped off the leader board and I’ve not the time right to dig through their archives. The above linked article is centered around clarifying the precise ideology, or “ism” if you like is practicing. It tends towards the wonkish side but is highly informative for those who still wonder “what in the hell is this guy up to?” when contemplating Obama.
But if you scroll down 4/5ths you can read where the concerns you express have been percolating just under the surface for some time.
The anger of citizens towards those who presume to rule is not confined to America. A century old social welfare state model of governance is beginning to collapse all across the world.
Against this backdrop of a looming political realignment of massive proportions I tend to worry a lot less about another American Revolution than I do a second 1914. The current political class here and abroad have more than their share of the arrogance, sense of entitlement and short sightedness of the European crowned heads who thought they could loose the dogs of early 20th century mechanical warfare to achieve late 18th century political goals.
The only way the Dems can ram this travesty through the Senate is with a rubber-stamp parliamentarian and a rubber-stamp vice president over-ruling every proposed Republican amendment and point of order. This will eliminate Senate comity and decades of tradition that survived even the bitter years of the Civil War.
Senate Parliamentarians must demonstrate at least some measure of impartiality, but passing the Senate health-care bill by means of the reconciliation process will annihilate any pretense of fairness, relegating the position of parliamentarian as a partisan fief, or a general secretaryship. This is the type of poison that kills republican governments.
Good quote. Lincoln’s always good for those. But I disagree with you here, Anchoress, perhaps for the first time ever. Both sides don’t have to disenthrall ourselves, and truth will still triumph in the end. Reason is the conformity of thought to truth, and so in the end, reason wins out too. We have that as a certainty of our faith. I think even in the shorter term, unless these days are the very last, we can expect that – as in all conflicts – whoever keeps their heads on straight and wants it more will have the victory.
We must keep our heads clear – from rhetoric, passion, and certainly from lies – and figure out the most reasonable way to proceed.
For the life of me, naivete though it be, I cannot see why the whole damned thing can’t just be repealed in a year when the Spendocrats are swept out of office. They can build committees and boards and agencies, and with a show of hands and a stroke of the pen, those jerks can all be sent packing – along with their bureaucreeps.
I love the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. It’s motto is timeless, “Don’t Panic.”
(p.s.: Maybe I am cynical too, but I’ve thought for about eight months’ time that Obama was picked by people who want to see our democracy overthrown. I still do. Even his campaign and the election were far more a media exercise in propaganda than anything like a vetting of candidates or honest debate.)
And I think in these matters, as in all others public or private, the key to clarity of vision, prudence, wisdom, and right judgment is always steady attention to the spiritual life.
If we are not closely bound to the “Light from Light,” how can we hope to see in the darkness?
Beware those that characterize self-defense with terrorism. There is a reason why the administration is painting right-wing groups as terror threats and concurrently baiting them. The thugs are setting up the need to “protect” citizens by taking away our constitutional rights. Just wait until some bureaucratic health board of federal appointees tells someone on the edge that her healthcare needs aren’t in the best collective interest of society. The isolated crackpots will morph into a generalized threat that will require harsher gov’t control, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Although conservative people who follow the news are justifiably outraged at this latest prospect of being transformed from citizen to subject in this country, we have to remember this has been a process of “death of a thousand cuts” over many years, and I suspect most people out there in the public will meekly accept (and later complain about) even the health care bill’s passage and its consequences because they will continue to feel busy and distracted with their personal lives and cares and just want to be left alone at the end of the day to watch a little American Idol in peace. A lot of people will just figure they will continue to manage somehow. And the Obama administration’s minders knows this. We still have a long way to go before the average American turns off the tv and gets out of his Lazyboy. It’s not hopeless though; we just have to keep slogging through the mess – just consider how the internet has broken the stranglehold of the old media. People just have to have the will to search for information beyond what is fed them by mass media. But it all is just going to take much more time and pain before significant numbers of Americans wake up. Even if health care passes and we have a high turnout (still a low percentage of those who could vote but don’t) in November to throw out some vulnerable incumbents, we still will have a very long road to travel, and most people want instant solutions (like the discovery of disqualifying birth certificate details for Obama), so they will be quick to be disillusioned with a Republican pushback. At any rate, Americans began to drink the waters of Lethe long ago. As a conservative and Catholic, I don’t want all this to be so, but I do want always to see what is real.
Mark Steyn frequently points out the difference between European and American anger. Europeans riot when their governments threaten to reduce spending. Americans protest to prevent the government from turning us into Europe.
Americans need to channel their frustration at punishing Democrats in November. Obama is nothing but the culmination of the progressive agenda of Lefty Democrats, who have always held the common citizen in contempt. One party owns this. There is only one way to get them to change. The Republicans claim to have learned their lesson. Let’s find out if they have by returning Congress to them.
I, too, am concerned about violence. Obama’s complete disregard for the consent of the governed is dangerous and I have posted on that.
Brilliant minds think alike.
Well, there certainly is some rage out there in Texas, being as Perry hs just hammered Hutchinson. But then, Medina came last, so perhaps the rage is limited. I’m sure we’ll all be finding out soon enough.
[Yes, it's interesting that the tea party candidates are not taking the day at the ballot box, isn't it? I think Americans are more circumspect than people think; they don't WANT to go the extremes, and are holding out hope that they don't have to. -admin]
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1431380154&play=1
Senator Jud Gregg appeared on CNBC this morning — this is the video.
Toward the end he explains the dirty little secret behind the threat of the vote on reconciliation.
These people are more twisted than we could ever imagine.
We know he is busy buying off House members at this very moment.
Call your Congressmen and Congresswomen–because after hearing what the Senator said–Obama won’t need reconciliation–he will have the Senate bill passed in the House–and he will sign it. He won’t need reconcillation.
Abortion will be paid for by our taxes — just to begin with.
Obama attended Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years—and we know what Wright thinks of America.
As Wright said–”Barack will say what he has to say.”
Riehl is NOT an outlier. Obama is a Marxist-Leninist, as are his handlers, and their goal is and always has been the destruction of the US and replacing it with a Marxist dictatorship. We HAVE to get our heads out of the sand and stop deluding ourselves into believing that this is just all a big misunderstanding. It isn’t. These people are at war with us. From an historical perspective, please cite an example of a Marxist regime that did NOT murder citizens? Please cite an example of a Marxist regime that peacefully surrendered power without bloodshed? And don’t bother citing the USSR, because that is still a totaliarian regime.
Please watch this video of an FBI agent who infiltrated Bill Ayers’ Weather Underground recorded in the early 1980s. He personally sat in on discussions about exterminating “unreformable, die hard capitalists” after the Marxist takeover of the US. The number of Americans they estimated would have to be killed was 25 million.
link
I’m on the side of the hysterical now. I think if this hideous, tyrannical bill gets passed by that strategy, it represents what is called in Spanish an “autogolpe,” that is, a self-coup, where an elected leader uses a political strategy to take over and grant himself absolute power.
My only question is whether Bambi’s inner Marxist or his inner Muslim will win. I suspect we will see a conflict here, and that even many of the radical left do not want to be Muslims and are Islamic Third-World identified only to the degree that the aforementioned countries hated Bush. That is, it’s a political game for them.
But the insecure and stupid Bambi gets his sense of identity and self-worth from the Islamic Third World, which loves him.
Normally, Islam and the left can coexist happily because they are both collectivist, authoritarian, anti-individualist systems and they can divide the spoils. But in the case of the US left, I’m not sure it could coexist happily with Islam, not for very long, at least, and I think the alliance will fall apart. I doubt that the leftist elite here will be happy following some mad mullah from the East; on the other hand, under Islam, the rich and powerful usually get a break, so maybe they’ll be able to continue with their sex, drugs and rock and roll even in an Islamic dictatorship. The Saudis do, after all. So we shall see.
Maybe this is why there is supposedly a growing rift between the Muslim-identified Obama and the guy who got him into power, the radical Jewish leftist, Rahm Emmanuel.
No one put Keats on a well-being course and a dose of prozac
I think this is relevant to the issue at hand. Of course some people just engage in pointless rage but sadess & anger & other so-called negatives can often be the basis of growth & a spur to worthwhile work.
I am tracing a tendency to be patronising towards the unhappy & try to wash away their cares with mediction, perhps best incarnated in the so-called self-help industry which Barbara Ehrenreich recently skewered.
You wouldn’t tell a bunch of ex-miners whose livelihoods were destroyed by Thatcher to look on the bright side & be upbeat, if you wanted to live any longer!
That Tom Hdgkinson has got quite a bit to say for himself.
[I'm sorry but your opening line brought me right to "Dirty Dancing": "no one puts Baby in the corner!" -admin]
In re your link to the article about the land grab: my dad has been getting junk mail from some outfit that claims the federal government is planning to build a north/south “superhighway” across the US from Mexico to Canada to facilitate who-knows-what nefarious goals. I’ve been telling him it was all a crock- until I saw this article. “From Montana to New Mexico” pretty well describes the route of this supposed superhighway.
I wil say it again: I have not been this frightened since the 1960s.
SKAY is right: reconciliation is a red herring. If the Senate bill passes the House, that is it, the bill is passed. The only thing stopping the bill from becoming law is Pelosi holding the bill (not formally giving it to the WH for signature or veto) until the Senate passes reconciliation. But reconciliation is literally a separate bill amending the prior legislation. If reconciliation passes, Pelosi sends over the Senate bill first, then sends over the reconciliation. But if reconciliation fails in the Senate, Pelosi will simply hand over the Senate bill to the White House. The whole reconciliation fan dance is to distract people from the fact that once the House passes the Senate bill, it’s over. I do not understand why even intelligent political people like Eric over at Redstate don’t get this.
As for violence — if you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention. And if Riehl is an outlier, so am I. At least I can offer up my anger, fear and outrage for the consolation of the Sacred Heart, and trust that His hand is present in this. I love Him more than my country, and believe Him when he says violence is not the answer. But I can’t believe you can watch and understand what is going on and not be tempted to Wrath. We started out as the religion of women and slaves, no doubt we are going back to our beginnings.
Our town is lucky to have a Shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa and the priests there have lived in Poland. Our school took the third grade class there for a tour and during the tour the priest told them about life in Poland under the communists.
When one boy asked “What is communism?” The priest said “It is what Barak Obama is doing to this country. I have lived under communism, this is how it begins.”
I can’t help but think this is the begining of Marxism in our country.
Re your wondering whether “some in DC are counting on the threat of violence occurring, as a means to yet another end.”
It’s Rahm Emanuel’s — and the President’s by extension — mo:
“Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”
And if there is no crisis, keep saying there is until the Big Lie becomes CW.
PackerBronco: I would remind Zachriel that we have fillibusters and have set up the Senate as an anti-majoritarian institution for a reason: to balance of the power of the majority against the minority.
The filibuster is a Senate rule, not a law, and can be changed by the Senate. Reconciliation is also a Senate rule, and the healthcare bill can be divided between its regulatory and budget provisions, with the budget provisions voted on through reconciliation. In any case, an up-or-down vote is appropriate.
Most Americans want a stronger healthcare bill than being proposed. Every developed democracy has some sort of universal healthcare, either through private insurers or through government programs. But the Republicans think that obstruction is politically valuable.
Jennifer: We have a wolf in the White House, plain and simple.
Ellen: I never thought I’d see the day when we have a President who doesn’t like America.
soozie: I was talking to my priest last year about the way things were going and how I was fearful of Obama.
CV: {Obama} is an arrogant idealogue and always has been…
kelleybee: I believe he and his cabal know what they are doing. Remaking the USA into a socialist utopia.
And so on.