AP: Obama "belt tightening" weak.

To say I agree would be a massive understatement:

Cut a latte or two out of your annual budget and you’ve just done as much belt-tightening as President Barack Obama asked of his Cabinet on Monday.

The thrifty measures Obama ordered for federal agencies are the equivalent of asking a family that spends $60,000 in a year to save $6.

Obama made his push for frugality the subject of his first Cabinet meeting, ensuring it would command the capital’s attention. It also set off outbursts of mental math and scribbled calculations as political friend and foe tried to figure out its impact.

The bottom line: Not much.

Yeah Mr. President, great job getting our spending under control sir. If this doesn't convince a lot of people this administration is nothing but one massive PR stunt, I don't know what will!

Dear President Obama

There is a change coming to this blog. I have used this as both a place to post my comments on politics and to post columns I write. I'm switching this up to make it a bit more organized. I will always link to columns, but hence forth On Politics shall be used as a live blogging feed for me, while my new column series will be posted at the "Dear President Obama" website.

"Dear President Obama" is going to be a lot of fun!

Rumors of an RNC Coup d'etat

There are rumors that South Carolina Chairman Katon Dawson, who placed second in the race for RNC Chairman is organizing a Coup d'etat to overthrow Michael Steele, who started a mere five weeks ago, because of comments saying he wanted to put a "hip hop" spin on the GOP and his less than thoughful words about Rush Limbaugh on DL Hughley show and reaction to Hughley calling the GOP the "nazi party." Dawson denies this and says he has full faith in Michael Steele.

The conservative base's reaction to Michael Steele is going to be one of the very first things we talk about on the podcast that should be up sometime next week, but the very fact that people are already gunning for him to be thrown out after just five weeks without fundraising data, an election, or anything else to judge him on is ridiculous! And if this was indeed started by Dawson, it will be seen as a power grab by a man who was the only candidate running for RNC Chairman not to endorse Rebuild the Party, an organization that is going to be vital in reaching the YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter generation, and who sent a letter to a whites only country club he was apart of, urging the owners to change their policies only after he was interested in running for RNC Chairman.

While I haven't been able to confirm this, Dawson's wikipedia page seems to indicate that he got into politics because he was fiercly anti-desegregation. Again, this is a pretty big charge and I want to make clear that I haven't confirmed that yet and I'm still looking into it. (I think I'm small enough to mention this in my post)

If this is true, it would be a serious problem for the Republican Party to overthrow it's first black chairman in favor of this man. As much as we don't want to make things about race (and I want to make clear, I don't think there is any racial tinge behind what Dawson is doing at all) the media would have a field day with this story.

Memo to Meghan McCain: Conservatives Aren't the Problem

Meghan McCain seems like a very sweet girl, but aside from the fact that her latest article on The Daily Beast chiding Ann Coulter and "the most extreme side" of the Republican Party is poorly written (it reads like a fresh out of the house co-ed rebelling against her parents and everything they stand for), it misses the point. Ms. McCain lived in New York for a number of years, she attended Columbia University (not extactly a hotbed of conservatism) she voted for John Kerry a year ago, and only became a Republican less than a year ago. She acknowleges all of this and says, 'I am not suggesting I be any kind of voice for the party.' (>chuckles<) Good Meghan, very good, because we're not suggesting you be any kind of voice for the party either.

I am also assuming Ms. McCain lumps Gov. Palin in with the "extreme side" as she has said that Sarah Palin is the only thing that she "will not comment on."

What Ms. McCain and other Manhattanite and Washington Republicans don't realize is that their environment does not reflect the rest of America and the way that most Americans live. New York City accounts for less than 3% of out total population, there is a "rest of America" out there, believe it or not and the rest of America does not think the way New Yorkers, Chicagoians, Angelinos, and Washingtonians think. That rest of America feels unrepresented.

Rush Limbaugh, whom I am also guessing is apart of the "extreme side," put it best at CPAC. The key for us to winning elections is to stand on principle, because every one lives their lives as a conservative in one way or another. We're never going to win moderate democratic leaning independents, but we might be able to pick up a large chunk of conservative Democrats. This is how we win. If Ms. McCain is really a "progressive Republican" and believes in the basic tennents of conservatism--limited government, free market economics, and national security (and she has indicated she does) people like her will tag along because the alternative is much worse.

I'm not going to label Meghan McCain a RINO (Republican In Name Only--a term I despise, actually.) and she is welcome to be a Republican. I think there's also an argument to be made about the Republican Party's position on gay marriage, and whether that position truely aligns with our beliefs, but the point is, we need to have a conversation not a scolding by moderates. I would suggest she familiarize herself with the way conservatives think by reading the following works:

The Constitution of the United States of America
The Decleration of Independence
The Federalist Papers by James Madison
The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
.....and.....
Treason by Ann Coulter

Yes, Treason should give Ms. McCain a good history on how the left has betrayed this country time and time again when it really mattered.

Decimate Those on The Enemies List

Even President Nixon kept his enemies list private, but Barack Obama and the Democrats can't even do that. They've gone out of their way to blast CNBC's Rick Santelli and liberal Democrat Obama-voting Jim Cramer for criticizing the President on his stimulus approach, but even these two men fail to compare to public enemy #1 in the eyes of the Democrats: conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Now, Democrats are saying that Rush cruely said that Sen. Ted Kennedy would be dead before health care reform passed.

This is exactly what Rush said on his program on Friday:

RUSH: I asked the question yesterday, the soonest we're going to get health care reform -- and, by the way, the Democrats are pushing for this fall, they'd like it as soon as they can -- if they get national health care, folks, the country as you and I have known it is over, but the failing health of Senator Kennedy is, as I told you way back when, the driving force here. The failing health of Senator Kennedy is already being used as an inspirational effort, or technique, to get national health care on the fast track. This is supposed to get you a job. You're losing your job and losing your house because of health care costs. And I asked you to think, you're expecting to be out of work until November or December, whenever they can get this done, if by then, and then all of a sudden once health care reform is done your job's going to come back?

You heard that right, folks and it IS exactly true. The Democrats are using Sen. Ted Kennedy's illness to pass health care reform, they're trying to make it his triumph. They're taking advantage of it for political purposes, this is what is really sick. I'm sure Kennedy's okay with that, he is afterall a committed liberal.

The President went out and declared that there was no time to delay, no time for debate on this issue. When is there time for the president? We're already living in a much different country with his budget and stimulus plan. Do we really need ANOTHER huge entitlement?

For goodness sake, Mr. President, can't you see people are suffering? People's retirements are being flushed down the toilet and all you and your administration can do is take advantage of these crises to pass your agenda? In the words of Keith Olbermann, "Where is your dignity, sir?" Then when people criticize you, you go out of your way to demonize them? What happened to dissent is the highest form of partiotism? I suppose this flies out the window when your president thinks he's God.

The Parable Of The Talents...Obamacized - OC BLOG (CA), Part of the Red County Network

The Parable Of The Talents...Obamacized - OC BLOG (CA), Part of the Red County Network

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Reagan voted for FDR

Cross Posted at RedState

Ronald Reagan is the greatest President of the 20th century. His presidency and policies brought about three decades of unprecedented success, peace (at home for the most part), and prosperity this country has ever known. There is something that people forget about Reagan though, he was at one time a Democrat who voted for FDR and as a Democrat, he believed he was a great President.

Reagan, of course, would later renounce the Democratic Party and not only embrace conservatism, but become the leader of the conservative movement.

Michael Steele isn’t likely to become the next leader of the conservative movement, but he can’t seem to escape that he once worked with former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, an infamously liberal Republican, on the Republican Leadership Council. In fact, following his criticism of Rush Limabugh during an interrogation by CNN’s resident comedian D.L. Hughley (who, by the way, has no business hosting a news show), Erick Erickson referred to Michael Steele was a “Christine Todd Whitman-Republican” when listing a group of “so-called conservatives” who criticize Rush right here on RedState.

With all due respect to Mr. Erickson, I am going to have to disagree with this assesment. Michael Steele has had a tough week, there’s no doubt about that, but I have no reason to doubt Mr. Steele is a conservative. He articulated what conservatism is all about week after week on “Hannity & Colmes.” While there is some confusion with whether or not he is a moderate on some issues, throughout the campaign for RNC Chairman, Mr. Steele gave a point-by-point, issue-by-issue summary of where he stands. There are defintely a few minor differences (For example, Mr. Steele is opposed to gay marriage, but also opposed to a federal amendment to ban it), but overall Steele fits comfortably into the 80% conservative bracket and a past link to Christine Todd Whitman is pretty silly, considering Reagan actually voted for FDR in the past, and the RedState editor’s choice for RNC Chairman, Ken Blackwell actually voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1976. (For the record, I also think Mr. Blackwell would have been a fine RNC Chairman.) Michael Steele is sufficiently conservative, and he believes conservative principles are what is going to bring the party back as he’s said many times. The “hip-hop” comments were nothing more than his effort to try and take the conservative message to people it hasn’t been taken to before. Which is smart and refreshing, I’ve heard party activists in the past say minority voters are unwinmnable because we don’t believe in giving out handouts. This is the most condescening and ignorant comments I’ve ever heard, as Rush Limbaugh has said, most people live their lives conservatively in one way or another, we need to at least present our argument to everyone, that is what Steele was saying.

What’s really bad is the Democrats are accomplishing what they want accomplished. They’re turning the party heads on Rush, and then pitting the party heads against the bloggers: divide and conquer. That is the Democrat’s goal, they want to make sure we destroy ourselves by fighting amongst ourselves. A rift between conservatives and moderates? Mission accomplished. Now their goal is to create rifts within the conservative movement. This is straight out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” Now there is talk that party activists want Steele dumped. The guy’s been on the job for a little more than a month, I think we can give him a little bit of time before we start the excommunication process. Besides could you imagine the field day the Democrats would have with the Republicans dumping their first black chairman? While I would absolutely support dumping Steele if he was not sufficiently conservative, damn the consequences, it would be a terrible PR move for the GOP. But I don’t think that’s a problem, because I think Steele is sufficiently conservative and I think it’s a mistake for bloggers and party activists to call for his head because he used to work with Christine Todd Whitman as a conservative voice on a moderate Republican council and made a gaffe about Rush Limbaugh. Let’s not forget, we’ve all made mistakes, even Ronald Reagan voted for FDR.