Why Ask Bob Dole How to Fix GOP?

Why are we asking a failed presidential candidate how to “fix” the GOP? And, of course, I’m speaking of Bob Dole who went on FOX News to say that the GOP should put a sign out, “Closed for Repairs.” His point was the party had moved too far to the right.

Say what?

What have the last 20 years taught the GOP? Apparently it hasn’t taught them that every time they put up a squishy moderate, including Bob Dole, they get soundly trounced by the democrats. The last two primaries were engineered by the GOP to allow the selection of their preferred, moderate candidates, Sen. John McCain and former Mass Gov. Mitt Romney! The party machine kept the more conservative states, especially large ones like Texas, from voting in the primaries until most, if not all, the other candidates have been forced out when their fundraising dries up.

As far back as the 1980s, George Bush Sr. was elected off the coattails of successful and popular (except to the media) terms of President Ronald Reagan. However, with the exception of the first war in Iraq, he governed moderately and was easily trounced by a more charismatic Bill Clinton (with the help of Bush enemy, Ross Perot running as a spoiler, independent party candidate.) Even though his son, another fiscal moderate, Bush “43” was able to sustain winning two elections, both were by the barest of margins. It’s doubtful that he would have had a second term had the people not felt more comfortable keeping Bush in after the September 11th attacks and resulting war against terror.

Ironically, the press portrays any GOP candidate as radically conservative. In the primaries, the candidate himself often runs to the right, though his record shows otherwise. To paraphrase Sarah Palin, you can put lipstick on a moderate, and call him conservative, but that doesn’t make it so. The people know the difference and every time a squishy GOP moderate is put up against a liberal democrat, the democrat is going to win. Conservatives were not enthusiastic about either Cain or Romney and certainly liberals would never vote for even a liberal Republican. It's become a track record where many have begun to wonder what side is the GOP on? The future of the GOP, if there is one, is NOT with political has beens like Bob Dole, but with an actual conservatives who can articulate what it means to be conservative over the media's minutia.

I am seeing a few glimmers of hope from a few tea-party supported candidates that aren’t afraid to butt heads with the senior bulls. Newly elected Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have both come out swinging and damn the proprieties of being freshman senators. They are quickly becoming wildly popular with the public outside their home states and are tipping the GOP RINOs, as well as battling democrats, enough for McCain to label the pair, along with Rep. Justin Amash, “wacko birds.” For the left wing of the GOP, who was as hopeful as the democrats that the tea party was a temporary aberration, they’d be wise to heed the saying on their adopted flag, “Don’t Tread On Me!”

Is Obama’s Skeet Shooting Photo All Smoke?

Update: Did you say we the people can't "manipulate the photo in any way"? We the people say FU! Twitchy captures the very funny results! Best tweeted caption: "A lame duck shooting a clay pigeon." Also POTUS is now known as "President Mom Jeans".

The White House has released a photo which claims to be POTUS skeet shooting. However, I’m calling BS on this as nothing more than a staged, and perhaps partially photoshopped, print.

The photo shows the president holding a shotgun (at first mislabeled by the liberal press as a rifle). Blue smoke is seen shooting out the barrel and vent. But did the president actually fire the gun, or was the smoke added later to a staged shot?

Skeet are clay disks called “pigeons” that are usually flung by a trap, meant to represent a bird in flight. The point is, when the pigeon is flung, the shooter must move the gun to try and “lead” the pigeon so the shot will reach the moving target as the paths intersect. Furthermore, the skeet is usually flung up in the air, so someone firing at one would have their gun pointed up, not straight like target shooting.

Yet Obama has almost no movement at all when allegedly firing the weapon, even in high resolution. Whatever the level the skeet was at, he should have been moving left to right while firing. So unless he shoots skeet in a “caged hunt,” this is simply another staged WH photo.

Furthermore, the gun looks to be held (mounted) incorrectly, which could result in a substantial “kick” a shotgun produces.

In the AP article, Michael Hampton, executive director of the San Antonio-based association, tactfully suggest the president obviously didn’t go “skeet shooting all the time.”

“This isn't something he's done very often because of how he's standing, how he has the gun mounted,” he said.

If you want to see a slow motion of what skeet shooting looks like, here’s a good example:

One former senior advisor, David Plouffe, tweeted the challenge, “Make our day — let the photoshop conspiracies begin!” He does have a point. Hopefully, this doesn’t become the latest “bait” set out to distract conservatives from a president trying to take away gun rights.

The user is also warned that, “The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.”

Really? I’d bet the courts might have something to say about that as it’s taken by the White House photographer. It’s not a private photo. And I’m so looking forward to the motivational posters.

Ann Coulter's Short-Sighted Vision

The only small mind in Ann Coulter's world is her own.

In her column last Wednesday, she blamed everyone in the conservative wing of the Republican Party for Romney's loss. One person she didn't blame was Romney.

Now let me be clear: This election was rife with fraud. The corrupt Chicago machine was at it again. There were enough statistics in key states pointing to voter fraud, either by human surrogates, machine tampering, or both. So much that there should have been a demand for a recount in some of the swing states. But of course there wasn't – the GOP is a squishy bunch – like Romney, they don't want controversy. And race was involved: They weren’t about to go against a black man and Obama knew it. Not a problem for the other side: It was all over the Twitter-verse before the election that there would be riots and violence should Romney win. And, anecdotally, since Romney and Ryan were playing to packed houses, while Obama was speaking to half-empty venues, it's highly suspicious regarding the numbers Obama pulled out of key states.

But Ann doesn't mention this either. No, she puts blame on exactly where it doesn't belong: the tea party and other conservatives who weren’t all-in with her political paramour.

Conservatives used to think Ann was conservative, but obviously she’s been drinking the water too long up in New York. (Remember when Arianna Huffington was a conservative?) Of course being a conservative can be lonely in places like New York and California. It will probably be just be a matter of time before she’s also a bitter, old former conservative writing a liberal blog. Unfortunately, we saw the beginning earlier this year. Not only was she head-over-heels for the moderate Gov. Romney, she campaigned to get the verbose, pro-gun control Gov. Christie for his running mate. She made vicious attacks on real conservative, Newt Gingrich, like a jealous ex-wife. Newt may not have been in a position to win and certainly had baggage, but no one could deny that he would have kicked the pants off Obama in the debates!

Romney is a nice man—I think most can at least concede that. He’d make a great neighbor. We know he was apparently a shrewd businessman. He is a hard-core moderate: Even after knowing the majority of people were against Obamacare and states were in rebellion, he promised to repeal and replace Obamacare. (No one said they wanted a replacement—just to get rid of the damn thing.) He wouldn't challenge the president enough, even on the campaign trail. There were a laundry list of topics he could have used to attack this administration that were left untouched. After a slam-dunk first debate, he turned into Mr. Nice Guy again, instead of pressing his advantage. He tried to moderate to fit his audience and that is a mistake—no one can trust you when they don’t know where you really stand. Not sure if that’s because he had bad advice or if he was just not up to laying waste to the unprepared president. We need a candidate that can overcome the fraud as well as the democrat candidate. In at least one way, Romney is exactly like McCain and Dole: He is a loser.

'Misinformed' Public Just Needs 'Reeducation' Regarding Obamacare, says Sebelius

Most polls have shown a steady decline in support for Obamacare since it was passed. According to Pollster.com's running average, those opposing Obama's health care plan are at 47.6% to 42.3%. In the typical, unashamed arrogance of this administration, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blamed "misinformation" and said the administration had a lot of "reeducation" to do.



Sebelius claimed the ongoing opposition to the administration's healthcare plan was due to "misinformation given on a 24/7 basis.”

“So, we have a lot of reeducation to do,” Sebelius said. Nice...I'll bet they'd like to have some happy camps to reeducate those poor, misguided souls.

On Megan Kelly's show on FOX, the she asked two guests the obvious, "Was the statement by Sebelius insulting?"

Leslie Marshall, FOX guest pundit, said it wasn't insulting to the America! Not at ALL....

Then she turned around and compared the opposition to flat-earthers. "It's like people saying the earth is flat, and Columbus is saying, 'No it's round, let me show you.'"

Well of course it's not insulting to you Leslie. Because you've managed to be even MORE condescending. People like you and your little pinhead friends think the rest of America are just a bunch of dumb schmucks that need to have things explained as if they're children.

People just need to be reeducated more.

Or maybe, unlike congress, they just read the bill.

Breaking: Taliban Claim Responsibility for Failed New York Attack

Gov. Paterson, NY Commissioner Kelly Call New York Car Bomb An 'Act Of Terrorism'

Update II: "Vehicle would have been cut in half if the bomb had detonated," says NY Commissioner, Raymond Kelly. He said such and explosion would have caused a significant fireball and caused multiple casualties. Calls attempted bombing a "terrorist act" but stops short of claiming that a particular group is responsible and said it could have been an individual. He also said it was too early to say, but said he doesn't believe there's a Taliban link.

Police are on their way to speak to a Pennsylvania man, a tourist in the area yesterday, who says he may have caught a person of interest on tape. Allegedly, it shows a white man in his 40s removing a dark shirt with a red one underneath in an alley and putting the removed shirt in a bag.

The license plate came from Connecticut. Neither the car nor plate was reported stolen, although plate allegedly came from a truck in a junkyard update: now saying vehicle was in a repair shop. They have identified the owner of the Pathfinder.

Device was set between two 5-gallon cans of gas and three propane tanks, 15 lbs each, and fireworks (ignition point). Wires ran from gun case weighing 70-75 lbs. (in a cardboard box) to two timers, which were meant to detonate the fireworks and subsequently the other explosives. Police have not released any knowledge about what is in the gun box. Later, Kelly did mention a substance in the gun box that had the look and feel of fertilizer, although it's not labeled as such.

Also in Pennsylvania, but not believed to be related, a pipe bomb was detonated with the use of a robot in Pittsburgh. The device was inside of a microwave near the end of the Pittsburgh Marathon. About 5,000 people took part in the marathon. No one was hurt and police are viewing tapes in that case also.

*****

Previous Update: After Feds first denied the "amateur" failed bomb was the act of a terrorist, Govenor Paterson is now calling the New York car bomb an "act of terrorism." The NYPD are reviewing surveillance film and continuing to look for any security cameras that might have caught the SUV and suspects on camera. The FBI is also now working the case.

The SUV had license plates allegedly stolen from a Ford truck that had been abandoned by the owner in a junk yard. Also hampering the identification of the terrorists, is that the SUV had tinted windows. But it has been reported that fingerprints and other evidence had been found.

A t-shirt vendor is being called a hero after alerting a mounted police officer of something that "wasn't right." The vehicle was left running with hazard lights on in a very busy part of the city near theaters and shops.

Just breaking on the newswires is that the Pakistani Taliban are claiming responsibility for the failed attack. A statement said the attack was, "in revenge for the two leaders al-Baghdadi and al-Mahajer and Muslim martyrs."

Teaparty vs. Attempted New York City Car Bomber

Let's play: Spot the terrorist!

IS IT: A) A man who leaves a Nissan Pathfinder in New York's Times Square with stolen plates and filled with "explosives, gasoline, propane and burned wires," according to a NYFD officer. When firefighters arrived on the scene, there was smoke and a flash from inside.

Not actual terrorist vehicle!

OR B) Little old ladies at a Tea Party Rally.

Not actual terrorists--unless you're a liberal democrat!

Well if you guessed "A" you were wrong. Even though the vehicle was carrying explosive devices that, only by the grace of God, failed to explode, the Feds are saying they DO NOT consider this to be a terrorist threat!

"The officer said that the police were treating the vehicle as a “failed device.” The police were searching for a suspect.

A federal official said that it was not considered a terrorist threat and that the New York Police Department had told the Department of Homeland Security to stand down."

No...if you're a liberal democrat, you send out the jack-booted thugs--in this case the local SWAT team in full riot gear--to make sure some seniors holding a Tea Party protest in Quincy, IL don't get rowdy. Especially when they're doing acts that rouse suspicion like singing "God Bless America"! Maybe they're suspected of being secret Ninjas that use throwing (knitting) needles. Did they think a quilting bee might break out?



God help us!

Minnesotan School Board 'iPads' the Tax Bill

Like a Southern Belle, the iPad 
is pretty, but doesn't do a lot

Most parents want their children's school to better prepare them for the technological world after graduation. But with much of the state still in double digit unemployment numbers, I imagine there are a lot of Minnesotans scratching their heads over this purchase.

The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School Board approved $265,000 to purchase iPads for the entire school (some 230 iPads). It's not mentioned if this price includes upgrading the school to wi-fi or the training planned. Plus, did the school board even try to get a discount--after all Apple is known for helping to supply schools with their computers. By the way, do they HAVE other Apple computers there? Because I'm pretty sure Windows is not going to be compatible with the iPad and visa versa.

Unfortunately, like with congress having to pass the health-care bill before reading it, it seems the school board wants to get the technology and then figure out how to use it! Educational apps are limited and, while the iPad can hold books, it's not been mentioned if the school's curriculum is going to be available or how much they'll save on the electronic version, if anything. Also not mentioned is if the students ultimately keep the iPad or have to turn it in. One can only wonder how many of these will have to be replaced due to loss, breakage, spilled beverages, theft, etc. Or what they'll do when Apple comes out with their next model. If the iPod is any example, every six months to a year, Apple has found it highly profitable to come out with a new, improved version--often to the consternation of it's users.

In case you don't know exactly what an iPad is or does, here's a quick rundown:

• Although it costs about the same as a modern laptop (starting at $499), an iPad is NOT a laptop/desktop replacement. Think of it as an iPhone on steroids, except you can't make phone calls (or take photos). It has a touch screen which will look wonderful after sticky kid fingers have been all over it.
• You can only run one app at a time, so a student would not be able to read a passage in a book and swap over to a word processor to write a paper without first closing the book. We used to call that type of technology "DOS." The iPad has an (up to) 64GB flash drive and a 1GB CPU so it's no workhorse. Apple is planning to add multitasking in a future version.
• The iPad doesn't run Adobe Flash and seems to have no plans to do so. Adobe is planning to sue Apple over this, which is ridiculous. Apple certainly has the right to run or not run what it wants, but the user is going to find web surfing less than exciting. We use to call that technology "Internet 1996."

In short, it's a cute, geeky toy that doesn't do a whole lot. You can use it to surf the web or read a book (additional costs involved.) Or listen to music, which makes it a big iPod. If they just wanted to get electronic books, they could have bought Kindles, which are priced slightly less and already has a large number of available works. Even Apple fans are making fun of it.

It sounds like the main reason for the purchase was to allow students to avoid carrying backpacks full of books. If lugging several pounds of books to class is a problem, there's a thing called a "locker." I don't know what happened to lockers, but schools don't seem to want to use them any more. Personally, considering we're dealing with high percentages of overweight students, lugging a few pounds of books around is probably a good idea. But students will be able to update their Facebook page in class instead of studying.

Supreme Court to Hear Argument Against Funeral Protesters

How to Help
the Snyder Family!

UPDATE: Good news. Fox News talk host Bill O'Reilly has stepped in and said he will pay the entire $16,510 in court costs awarded to Phelps. Of course Snyder has his own legal expenses. Although lawyers are working the case pro bono, he still foots the bill for expenses and estimates he's sunk some $60K into this. The link to the box in the left is to Snyder's web page which tells how to help (monetarily and otherwise). Snyder has said that anything raised beyond covering court costs will go to benefit war veterans in the form of a scholarship.

I just about blew a gasket tonight when I read this story. I wish I could tell you how I really feel about this group. Unfortunately, what I would say might be construed illegal. See, this is all about free speech. But even free speech has its limits--you can't yell, "Fire" in a crowded theater, for example.

You also can't post on-line threats. The 2nd District court of appeals recently ruled a case could go forward where a 15-year-old student is accuse of posting that he would, "rip out your **** heart and feed it to you" and "pound your head in with an ice pick" on another student's web site.

So why is vile excuse for a human, Fred Phelps, and his band of idiots from the Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church allowed to disrupt families during a time of unbelievable grief of losing a soldier son or daughter? With the blasphemous garbage they spew, I'm somewhat surprised the Almighty hasn't hit the smite button or that a brigade of fellow Marines haven't gotten some street justice.

Albert Snyder, who had to endure one of Phelps "protests" during his funeral for his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in 2006, took the legal path. He sued and he won.

Then a federal appeals court threw out the $5 million award against the protesters on first amendment grounds. But that wasn't the worst part. The same court then ordered Snyder to pay Fred Phelps $16,510 in court costs.

WTF? How can this be? This wasn't some frivolous case. Worse yet, now Phelps can go back to the first court and try to get THOSE court costs assessed against Snyder! Snyder, a man of modest means has a pro-bono lawyer, but his own costs have gone over $60K.

Snyder has said he is not paying the court-ordered fees. Not yet anyway--the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. He spoke to Fox News about the case.



The suit was originally filed to, "...bring to an end to the reign of terror and abuse that they inflict." This is why I don't understand why the appeals court threw out the case on the first amendment. The first amendment does not give you the ability to HARASS people. The courts have certainly stood firm on that.

If this isn't harassment...I don't know what is. If you see Phelps, I'd stay clear in case of a thunderbolt...I have faith God's going to hit that smite button yet.

Is it Time for Keith Olbermann's Countdown to Oblivion?

Rumors have long speculated that Olbermann's show is on the way out. Maybe that's because no one can believe his show is still on with such dismal ratings. In the critical 25-54 demographic, not only is his audience 1/4 of the O'Reilly Factor, but now he trails Headline News' Nancy Grace in third place, barely ahead of CNN's Campbell Brown.

Olbermann's latest foot-in-mouth issue was claiming that Tea Parties are ethnically challenged--made up of only white people. He said, "Why are you surrounded by the largest crowd you'll ever see in your life that consists of nothing but people who look exactly like you."

After throwing out that claim, the Dallas Tea Party responded with a great video dispelling his claim and inviting him to their one-year anniversary party. Furthermore, they did a segue from Olbermann claiming a lack in Tea Party diversity to showing the web banner of MSNBC political anchors, all of whom are white. It doesn't help that NBC head, Jeff Zucker was just grilled this week about the subject of diversity in their programming during merger hearings in front of the House Judiciary Committee. NBC wants an okay to merge with cable provider Comcast.



Of course, Olbermann declined the invitation--it might upset his belief system if he was confronted with the truth. He'd rather sit in his comfortable, liberal bubble at MSNBC and spew every thought that comes into his head.

Keith Olbermann has spun out of control...a liberal thrashing like a dying fish, throwing out more and more wild-eye statements, in a failed attempt to get someone to watch. Trying to be a political shock jock, he's become a caricature of himself. If the network keeps him on much longer, they might as well rename themselves S&M NBC because they seem to enjoy the punishment of failing shows.

Austin Echelon Building Hit by Plane - Employee: "It felt like a bomb..."

Update (9:00 p.m. CST): Two bodies have been recovered. No identities released, but it's assumed that one is Stack's. The other is likely the missing, unidentified employee. Two other employees were taken to the hospital in unspecified conditions, but said to be suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Eleven others were treated for minor injuries.

Update (6:00 p.m. CST): Stack's six-page letter has been removed from his site at the request of the FBI. An archive of the letter is at The Smoking Gun here.

Austin, Texas: The Echelon building in Austin was stuck by a single engine plane. Joe Stack, the named pilot, left a rambling, anti-government manifesto which said, "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man...take my pound of flesh and sleep well." He left his name and the dates (1956-2010) and today's date at the end.

One IRS employee described the crash. "It felt like a bomb blew off. The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran." Others related that the plane was flying just above the treeline and accelerated, hitting the building deliberately.



Stack was a contract software engineer who had a vendetta against the IRS. Reading through his sprawling statement, it is difficult to understand exactly what happened, but it becomes obvious that he felt personally persecuted for decades. His statement goes back to the 1980s and his complaints run the gambit from the IRS to Arthur Andersen, Enron, GM Executives, Senator Patrick Moynihan and President Bush.

Between the lines, however, it sounds like Mr. Stack blamed a lot of his own problems on the government and others.

"Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement."

Some time after 911, he moves from California to Austin, but complained he had a hard time finding work and that the pay was low.

"To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice."

For all his complaints regarding money, Stack was a licensed pilot and the owner of the single-engine aircraft that he ran into the building. Early reports that the plane might have been stolen, were incorrect. There is no official word if his body has been found.

Earlier, this morning, Stack also set fire to his house with his wife and daughter inside. A neighbor saw the flames and helped get the mother and daughter out unharmed.

At the end of his diatribe, Stack wrote:

"The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed."

An Inconvenient Truth

Fox News had a little fun with Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth" on 'Your World with Neil Cavuto' by sticking it into a large snowbank during Son of "Snowmageddon," the second big winter storm blanketing Washington DC and the Northeast. Washington has had to delay debate on the climate bill known as cap and trade because of the snow. Even FEMA is closed in the capitol.



Despite this and the previous discovery of apparent data manipulation to support the True Believers' pet theory, some are still pointing to this as a sign of global warming. We at Sheer Politics, however, are #Snoverit.

Some Days You Have to Unleash the Furry!

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