Category: Awards

"Free-market capitalism and the constitution are among our noblest concepts and vitally important to the life-blood and character of this nation; they are what made us great, but they are not suicide pacts.  And I ask those of my libertarian friends who love no government at all, those who claim they would have let the banks die, to consider the history of fascist states and remember that the rise of dictators and despots is often through the exploitation of major social/economic upheaval.  America is not immune to this phenomenon.  I was not willing to run the risk should the free marketers have truly underestimated the severity of the crisis and chaos which ensued," – Brad Schaeffer, defending TARP at Frum Forum. 

"After the 2008 campaign revealed her weaknesses on substance, Palin was advised by those who admire her natural gifts to bone up on policy and devote herself to governing Alaska successfully. Instead, she quit her job as governor after two and a half years, published a book (another is due next week), and seemed to chase money and empty celebrity. Now, rather than being able to highlight the accomplishments of Sarah Palin's Alaska, we get "Sarah Palin's Alaska," another cheesy entrant in the reality show genre. She'd so much rather be out dog sledding than in some "dull political office," she tells the audience. File that… She compares herself to Reagan. But Reagan didn't mud wrestle with the press. Palin seems consumed and obsessed by it, as her rapid Twitter finger attests, and thus encourages the sniping. She should be presiding over meetings on oil and gas leases in the North Slope, or devising alternatives to Obamacare. Every public spat with Dave Letterman or Politico, or the "lamestream media," or God help us, Levi Johnston, diminishes her," – Mona Charen, Townhall.

I love the second comment:

Sarah Palin is the only one who can bring our country back to a constitutional conservative republic. She is not part of the one world government camp and that is why the media have tried to paint her as un-electable. You have been brainwashed by the liberal media and are joining them. I will stop reading Townhall. Good bye.

“[NPR executives] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don’t want any other point of view. They don’t even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda," – Roger Ailes.

My favorite part of that entire passage is the first "of course."

“Willow Palin is a 16 year old girl who, like all 16 year olds is going to make mistakes and say things she shouldn’t have. This, however, has nothing to do with Willow Palin or the substance of what she said on Facebook. The ‘slur’ used here is one you could hear on the streets of West Hollywood or Chelsea every day of the week. Apparently, it’s only a ‘homophobic slur’ when it comes from the daughter of a conservative female leader," – Tammy Bruce, GOProud.

“At the moment, the Republican caucus is tied up in a situation where people don’t want to make choices. No one wants to be counted. No one wants to talk about it,” – sane Republican senator Richard Lugar on the GOP’s nihilist use of the Congress purely to cripple the president on the START deal.

"You would have thought that some of the brighter minds in the Republican Party would have realized that the voters didn't vote FOR them … they voted AGAINST Democrats. This "Hey! How cool are we!" stuff is going to get tiring. This John Boehner guy? Still not sure about him. As Andrew C. McCarthy pointed out in this column, Boehner wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street journal about the election and opportunities for Republicans and didn't once use the word "debt" in that article … Boehner focused in that article on earmarks. Earmarks account for less than one percent of our budget. Hey, Boehner … how about a little focus on the REAL problems out there?

We need to ride the Republicans even harder than we did the Democrats. With the Democrats there were alternatives. If the Republicans start enjoying their power a bit too much, and forget why they were put back in charge of the House … then where do we turn? And the GOP social conservatives? Concentrate, for a while, on how you live your own lives. Nobody is going to force you to have an abortion. Nobody is going to force you to marry someone of your sex. Nobody is going to coerce you into a homosexual act. And you can still pray whenever and wherever you want. Getting back on those tired rants isn't going to save our country .. it will serve, instead, to deliver us right back into the hands of those who want to destroy – or "fundamentally transform" – America," – Neal Boortz, libertarian talk radio host.

At some point, the rhetoric of the campaign is going to haunt Boehner and even DeMint. If they have nothing to offer on debt and deficits than what they are currently saying – discretionary spending freezes and an end to health insurance reofrm that actually cuts Medicare -  their base should make a noise. And I sure hope they do.

It's funny how I'm now egging some in the Tea Party on in their bid to force the GOP to tackle entitlements, defense spending and the debt. My problem is not with dealing with the debt; it is the transparent fraudulence of the GOP's alleged concern about it, and lack of any serious plans to do anything. All they want to do is destroy Obama. And at some point, the Tea Partiers will find that as nauseatingly cynical as I do.

"Republicans also should resist pressure to take all defense spending cuts off the table. Newly elected Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky had the courage to say he’d go after defense waste during his campaign, and I look forward to working with him. We should start by taking common sense steps like freezing defense spending until the Pentagon can pass an audit and remove all nondefense spending from the Pentagon’s budget.

Our nation’s military leaders understand the need to cut spending. As Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “Our national debt is our biggest national security threat.” History shows that every nation eventually adopts the foreign policy it can afford. Taking defense spending off the table is indefensible. We need to protect our nation, not the Pentagon’s sacred cows," – Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).