Archive for September, 2010

Dan Calabrese

Montana voters in 2008 got suckered just like those in a lot of other states, and passed a referendum legalizing “medical marijuana.” They bought the storyline that this was for seriously ill people who had no other way to relieve their pain.

Oops! They’re now discovering, like most other states who made this mistake, that the whole thing was a scam.

Meet your 'patients'.

Consider: There are two cities in Montana where the percentage of the population carrying around “medical marijuana” cards is four times that of the rest of the state. Those two cities are Missoula and Bozeman. Anyone care to guess what’s different about Missoula and Bozeman? Yep, that’s an easy one. They’re home to the state’s two biggest universities.

My 10-year-old got it right away. College students. Not exactly your cancer-stricken grandma.

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Dacia Nichol Taylor

Oh Mitt, what have you done to me? Am I now forced to look beyond establishment-ism and give Christine O’Donnell a fair shot? OK, I admit it. Mitt Romney’s endorsement of O’Donnell has allowed me to remove my horns and tail and have a good look at what’s at stake in Delaware. For the record, yes, I still have my Romney 2008 pin on display in my living room – attached to my little GOP elephant named . . . actually, I’m going to leave that part out. (Avoids cocked eyebrows from the audience.)

Simmer down, everyone.

I heard that Joe Scarborough thinks Romney could benefit from a Christine O’Donnell loss, but I have a different take on what just happened, and what he just did. While Joe thinks that her loss would be a good stab at Jim DeMint for endorsing her, although DeMint’s had nine of his 12 endorsed candidates win their primaries, I think it’s her win that will ultimately show Mitt’s leadership potential. How about that? I’m a Republican and I’m seeing the glass half full!

O’Donnell’s candidacy wasn’t the best choice, according to general election analysts, right? If the GOP abandoned her, yes, I think it would spell the end for her bid.

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Dan Calabrese

Karl Rove is a smart guy, so I’m sure he understood what he was inviting when he posted a link on Facebook to his criticisms of Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell. For the apostasy of pointing out that O’Donnell has some serious flaws as a candidate, Rove was besieged by hundreds of indignant “fans.” Typical comments included:

Quit crying and listen to the man.

“Shame on you, Karl!”

“I thought you were one of us!”

“You’re just threatened because you’re going to lose your cozy spot as part of the establishment!”

“I don’t like you anymore!”

For God’s sakes, people. The tea party has had an enormous and positive effect on American politics this year. It has taken down a significant number of Washingtonian types who had no intention of seriously addressing the nation’s real problems, and will hopefully send people of serious purpose and real political courage in November to take their places.

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David Karki

In response to Dan’s hard backhand to the ad court, I offer this forehand smash up the line:

What others – usually self-congratulatory “moderate” independents – in condescending tones call “purity,” I call core principles. And you’re darn right I’m going to cast a very withering glance when someone uses the labels and images and ideas of those most dearly held core principles as disingenuous cover for the implementation of policies that actually would annihilate them.

Is purple glue all that holds us together?

I’m sorry if this passion bothers all you superior moderates out there on your higher plane of existence, far above a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal like me. Frankly, it bothers me just as much that you don’t appear to believe in anything enough to risk ruffling feathers over it and elevate “getting along” above all else. Especially when getting along with the radical left that’s been in charge since 2006 essentially amounts to consorting with the enemy.

And I guess that’s where the moderates and Dan part company with me and the tea partiers. It appears that where we most fundamentally differ is in our view of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid:   We view them as the greatest domestic threat to all America stands for and has been in its 234 year history.

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Dan Calabrese

My friend David Karki appears to have had it with me, although I’m sure all will be good by the time my son and I visit him in November for our mostly annual Vikings trip. Even disagreements over political principle don’t trump football!

But since Dave has posed some good questions to me, all stemming from my refusal to support Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell in the primary (although I hope she wins now), I think I’d like to offer some respectful replies. So here they are, in the order in which I feel like answering them:

She makes me cringe, Dave. She's a phony baloney poseur.

1. In his headline, Dave asks, “How does electing liberals help conservatism?”

My answer has two parts. First, it is not one of my goals to “help conservatism.” Conservatism is not a thing I serve. It is a general category into which a lot of different political ideas fit. Some of these ideas – like opposition to abortion and a preference for low tax rates – are completely unrelated to each other, but they’re all in the category. That’s fine. I happen to agree with most of them, but not because I feel compelled to, and not because I find it necessary to maintain some sort of conservative bona fides.

Conservatism is not a thing that owns some sort of allegiance from me. Only the United States of America owns that. (Well, and God.) I don’t care about conservatism. I am not part of the conservative movement. I am a guy who writes what I think for a living, and if what I think agrees with conservatism (according to whoever gets to define it), fine with me. If not, I don’t care.

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Bob Maistros

TV commercial scene . . . a hot-looking female bartender serving young male customer:

“When you’re ready to take off your skirt, I’ll serve you a real light beer.

“Of course, I understand why you’re feeling a little emasculated.  There’s about a one in four chance that you were raised by a single mother.  Three-quarters of your teachers were women, even though studies show boys learn better from men.  Your schools were set up for girls to succeed – you were more likely to be medicated than motivated.

Man up? What for?

“It’s no wonder that you were probably outnumbered 3 to 2 by women on your college campus – not to mention that for the first time ever, more women are earning doctoral degrees than men.

“The recession has hit men harder than women, and we’re gaining on you in nearly every profession.  As younger man, for the first time your girlfriend is probably earning more than you, making your prospects for marriage bleak.  If you do get married, you’ll find her making many if not most of the household’s economic decisions.  And once you do progress in the workforce, you will likely be passed over for promotions in favor of women thanks to affirmative action.

“Not to mention that politically, this is the Year of the Woman.  Women are winning high-profile nominations, and the biggest kingmaker – or should I say queenmaker? – is a ‘mama grizzly.’ America’s most powerful woman, the one who pushed healthcare reform through when no one gave her a chance, is the female Speaker of the House.

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David Karki

With all due respect to my colleague, Dan Calabrese, apparently for whom no RINO is too liberal to support, his columns bashing new Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell carry a clear inconsistency if not an outright cognitive dissonance. He seems to think the only way to get conservatives into power is to vote for liberals like Mike Castle.

RINO = Liberal, Dan.

From where I stand, there are a couple obvious flaws in his premise. One, Castle is a Democrat and votes like one. That he’s delusional enough to still think himself a Republican doesn’t make him one. And he has only himself to blame for his loss tonight. What else did he think would happen when he strayed so far from his base and did everything in his power to put them off or infuriate them? Whether O’Donnell is a good candidate or not thus became irrelevant. Just so long as she wasn’t Mike Castle, that was good enough for them.

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Dan Calabrese

Christine O’Donnell has inspired songs of joy in the hearts of “true conservatives” tonight by winning Delaware’s Republican Senate primary. O’Donnell defeated moderate Republican Congressman Mike Castle by a count of 53 percent to 47 percent.

Conservative activists hate Castle, with some good reasons, particularly his support of Cap and Trade legislation. And despite the fact that polls show Castle could have easily defeated Democrat Chris Coon – and O’Donnell will have a very difficult time winning – they went all out for O’Donnell. The leading celebrities in the conservative movement, including Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint, came out for O’Donnell.

Your nominee.

All this, of course, in spite of the fact that O’Donnell shows every indication of being a train wreck of a candidate. She has a history of financial problems. She has come off extremely badly in interviews. She has a very spotty employment history. She has given answers of questionable accuracy about her education record.

And I don’t know about you, but something doesn’t seem quite right to me about a person with such an unimpressive personal history who has nonetheless run for the United States Senate not once, not twice but three times.

But that’s neither here nor there. Christine O’Donnell is now the Republican nominee for Delaware’s open U.S. Senate seat. If Castle had been the nominee, all indications are that he would have won the seat easily. With O’Donnell, the GOP faces very long odds.

Now, two questions:

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Brett Noel

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Large version for newspaper publication.

Greyscale version for newspaper publication.