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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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Rush Limbaugh Rocks CPAC
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
6:27 PM
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 Calling it his first ever address to the nation, Rush Limbaugh rocked the house at the Conservative Action Conference (CPAC) today.
From the time he entered the room to The Pretenders "My City Was Gone" (his theme), to the time he exited the stage, Limbaugh inspired the over-flow, packed audience, and enjoyed countless standing ovations.
Limbaugh cautioned conservatives to quit thinking of themselves as the minority and mocked Obama and the media by saying, "For those of you in the 'drive-by' media watching, I have not needed a teleprompter for anything I've said."
He also waxed philosophical: "Freedom is the natural yearning of the human spirit as we were endowed by our creator," Limbaugh said.
Limbaugh praised Obama's political talents, and said "It just breaks my heart that he does not use these gifts to motivate and inspire the American people." He also added that Obama, "could wipe out the Republican Party if he would inspire this country to be the best it could be."
Some of Limbaugh's comments will predictably draw controversy and criticism. For example, he mocked Joe Biden's past racist comments about Indians, joking that, "Joe Biden was mystified how Bobby Jindal got his shift off at 7-11 that night to make the speech" He also noted that the Democratic Primary was more racially tinged than the general election.
Limbaugh also took on so-called conservatives who believe the way to win in the future is to abandon conservatism: "The era of Reagan is over?? When the hell do you ever hear a liberal say the era of FDR is over?," Limbaugh asked.
Clearly, Limbaugh's speech was the highlight of the 2009 CPAC. This conservative writer predicts the MSM will immediately begin dissecting it and attempting to "Palinize" it. I'm told Keith Olbermann is already salivating.
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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Best CPAC Ever
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Posted by:
Jonathan Garthwaite at
6:23 PM
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Townhall.com was proud to present gavel to gavel streaming coverage of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Thank you to David Keene, Lisa and everyone else at CPAC for putting on the best CPAC conference that I've been privileged to be involved with.
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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Getting Back in the Game
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
1:04 PM
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It's obvious to anyone with eyes to see that, with President Obama's sweeping plans, he's intending to move America to the left and expand government as dramatically -- if not more so -- than FDR did back in the '30's.
Given the administration's success at spreading fear, Republicans are going to need to come up with a compelling way to make the case that in many ways, Obama's prescriptions are exactly the wrong medicine for an ailing economy. They need to point out that:
First, the President's promises are simply too good to be true -- not unlike the lendors who convinced homebuyers that they could have something for nothing. Much of what Obama has promised is simply pie-in-the-sky. As Jack Kelly has noted, the President wants us to believe that:
The Bush deficits were bad, but he proposes to triple them, then cut them in half within four years, and do this without raising taxes on 95 percent of Americans or leaving a mountain of debt for our grandchildren. He's going to expand health care coverage, while reducing its cost. He'll impose a "cap and trade" carbon emissions plan that will generate revenue and create jobs while easing global warming.
If you believe all that, I've got a bridge you can buy. But if the promises Obama makes are incredible, what reason do we have to believe that his projections for the economy are credible? That's especially true when investors and financial experts aren't buying what he's selling -- reflected in the fact that, in the month since his inauguration, the market is down more than in any month since 1933.
Second, the GOP needs real stories -- not just of government waste, but of the small businesses and owners (and regular Americans) who are going to be hurt by the tax-and-spend policies Obama is advocating. Joe the Plumber became an overnight sensation because he put a human face on the dry policies that McCain had talked about. The GOP needs to find an army of Joes and Josephines -- good, hardworking Americans who aren't looking for a handout, and who are going to suffer if Obama's plans are put into place -- and introduce them to the American people.
Third, the divisiveness of Obama's policies needs to be emphasized. Americans have survived many (and worse) crises in the past -- not by being divided, one citizen against another, but by standing unified against a common threat. Obama's approach relies on a certain scapegoating of "the rich" -- even those whose wealth has come through years of hard work and sacrifice.
Certainly, those who have behaved illegally or unethically should be held to account. But trashing all bankers, just because some have behaved inexcusably isn't just unpresidential. It's wrong -- and Obama ought to stop it. He was supposedly elected to "unite" us, not to stoke resentment and hatred between different groups of Americans.
Fourth, the GOP needs to explain that we all fall or rise together, as Americans. If Obama taxes the job-creators out of existence, what happens to the job-seekers?
It would be instructive to remember the "yacht tax" that the Democrats put in place about twenty years ago. It was supposed to raise tax money by really sticking to the yacht-owners -- that's right, "the rich." Who suffered? The yacht-builders and those who worked for them. By 1992, even the NY Times ran a favorable story about (the first) President Bush's efforts to have the tax repealed in order to help yacht industry workers. The moral of the story? It's impossible to bring real prosperity through a class warfare strategy of soaking the rich. For better or worse, economically, we all rise and fall together.
Finally, shouldn't someone be pointing out that we have the least experienced President in modern times touting the biggest plans to remake this country that we've seen in almost a century? Given that he's never really run anything in his life -- or been responsible for hard results -- is it wrong to ask that President Obama show that he knows how to fix the economy before, say, we go allowing him to remake the health care system?
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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Week in Blogs
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
9:12 AM
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I did a BloggingheadsTV segment with Bill Scher the other day. We talk about everything from CPAC to Bobby Jindal ...
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
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Dobson Resigns From Focus On The Family
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Posted by:
Jonathan Garthwaite at
7:59 AM
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From the Focus on the Family press release:
The board of directors issued this statement: "One of Dr. Dobson's objectives during the last decade has been to help identify the next generation of leadership for the ministry, and to see it established securely before he stepped away from administrative oversight. That purpose has now been fulfilled, and we applaud Dr. Dobson for this concern for the future of the ministry."
Dr. Dobson's other responsibilities at the ministry will not change significantly. He will continue the "Focus on the Family" radio broadcast, and handle other duties as in the past. He will also continue to write the newsletter, sent to 1.6 million people per month. He and Mrs. Dobson are anxious to devote themselves to the joys of grandparenting.
"One of the common errors of founder-presidents," Dr. Dobson said, "is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority. I have wanted not to make that mistake with Focus on the Family, which is why I stepped back, first from the presidential duties six years ago, and now, from board chairmanship. Though letting go is difficult after three decades of intensive labor, it is the wise thing to do."
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Friday, February 27, 2009
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33 Minutes at CPAC
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Posted by:
Chris Field at
6:31 PM
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 I'm at the CPAC screening of The Heritage Foundation's new documentary, "33 Minutes." Heritage fellow and Townhall contributor Peter Brookes is giving a great intro to the video to a nice crowd in the Ambassador Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham in Washington.
If you haven't read my posts urging you to see "33 Minutes," let me state it here: You need to see "33 Minutes." It provides a very sobering look at the United States' need for a missile defense system.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
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America's Tea Parties
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Posted by:
Dwayne Horner at
4:11 PM
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DALLAS, TEXAS:
Hundreds of Texans came out to Downtown Dallas to show Congress they want to "Repeal the Pork" as part of today's nationwide Tea party. The point is Americans do not want this wave of socialism hitting our country. No one expected the size of the crowd that came out, with no formal organization or budget, to protest. The word got out through Facebook and Twitter - something the GOP has to embrace. Looking at these pictures, we now have hope we can mobilize on the right too! It was part of the national Chicago Tea Party.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
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CNN's Kyra Phillips Celebrates All Black Flight Crew
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Posted by:
Greg Hengler at
3:27 PM
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Cable television's number one embracer of White Guilt spotlights these four women for CNN's Black History Month special. There is so much to say here but I will leave with this: Why a whole month? Has whitey left so much significant black history out of our textbooks, movies and media that CNN must spend a whole month trying to fill the gaps? I think it would be more beneficial to everyone--including blacks--if we celebrated an American History Month.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
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Gitmo: If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
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Posted by:
Ericka Andersen at
3:27 PM
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President Obama's decision to close Guantanamo Bay prison within a year is infuriating. It's more infuriating than the fact that he spent more in one month than President Bush did in seven years. It's more infuriating than his predicting catastrophe if we don't do exactly what he says. It's more infuriating than the fact that he got unlimited free passes from the media on his way to the presidency.
Shutting down the only appropriate place we've got to house suspected terrorists without a plan is foolish. Obama made promises during the campaign that he's already broken -- including making transparency a priority and pulling troops out of Iraq immediately. But closing down Gitmo is, unforunately, one promise he has decided to keep.
Americans are angry. After one prisoner released in 2007 became a top Al Qaeda leader, they are worried. What about the others? Will the several hundred prisoners go back to their countries better prepared, more angry and ready to take American lives? At this point, Obama has no concrete plans on the fate of Gitmo prisoners. They certainly can't release them all but what American prison is willing to take them in? Apparently, Rep. John Murtha is cool with it but I'm not sure about the rest of Pennsylvannia.
As Doug Feith said recently, "The real issue is whether we can make sure that the extremely dangerous people that we're holding at Guantanamo can continue to be held so they don't engage in terrorism in the future."
Obama is happy to rail against interrogation tactics that have delivered valuable intelligence information but doesn't seem as concerned with protecting Americans from those already in our custody. Is this so-called international image more important than our national security? I think not.
Sen. Mitch McConnell weighed in this morning with this: "The Obama Administration needs to answer a question: Where exactly do they expect to send these guys next January? They have no answer. Well I do: these terrorists are right where they belong."
I concur.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
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Obama's Inner Circle at the Trough
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:12 PM
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From Congressional Quarterly:
Overall, the president, vice president, the White House chief of staff and the four Cabinet secretaries who were in Congress last year showed up in the records of the House and Senate Appropriations committees as the sponsors or cosponsors of hundreds of millions of dollars in pet projects in the $410 billion spending bill.
As for the earmark that bears the name of the President -- it will be disappeared, and "The [Senate Appropriations] {c}ommittee will attribute that earmark to other senators on the list of that provision's supporters, but not Obama."
Well, I guess that's one way to give effect to what Robert Gibbs called "the president's seriousness on this."
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