Finally Specter Gets Honest... Maybe.

Arlen Specter is finally on the side of the aisle many of us figured he really should have been on all along. Unfortunately, taking on the technical title of Democrat isn't going to help the Republican cause any as now we won't be able to count on him to even try to act like a conservative.

My biggest concern at the moment is card-check. He was for it, then said he'd vote against it... but now that he's a certified (certifiable?) Democrat will he switch again and give them the vote that puts another nail in the coffin Barack Obama and friends are building for America?

Lots of questions.

You have to wonder what's going on in Specter's mind. He's had all the health problems which could result in someone either getting real honest with themselves or have them wigging out completely. I've had friends go both ways under similar circumstances.

Is Specter just getting back at all the Republicans who've been trashing him since he gave Obama the ability to mire our kids and future grandkids in debt they'll never rise above? Is he just being pragmatic, realizing he has zero chance of winning as a Republican so he's making himself the darling of the Democrats so he can hang in there another election cycle?

Lots of questions.

Only Specter knows the answer.

No matter what the reason, he's now hurting Republicans even worse than he was when he was a liberal Republican.
---
Community News You Can Use
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage
Political News You Can Use
www.ReadMyLipstickNetwork.com
Twitter: @readmylipstick
www.PoliticalPotluck.com
Plus a bit of the Arts...
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
---

Great Thoughts on Tea Parties

I hope just about everyone receiving this has gone or will go to a Tea Party this week. (Some tea parties were held on Saturday, including very successful ones in Studio City, CA and Pittsburgh, PA)

The big issue, of course, is this: Will the Tea Parties be just a "one-and-done" event, or will they become the beginning of a mass movement that eventually will sweep people like Obama and Reid out of office? On TeamSarah.org, which I hope you'll join if you haven't already, Puma4Palin wrote an excellent blog piece on what the Tea Parties can mean. We need to use them as opportunities to meet like-minded people and to organize for future victories. Let's make sure the Tea Parties are a beginning -- and not an end.

http://www.teamsarah.org/profiles/blogs/tea-parties-a-fad-thats-a?xgs=1

Over at Fox News they’re running a blog by a guy named John Tantillo who says he is a marketing expert and the founder and president of Marketing Department of America. Hey, the guy is very good at marketing his business because he got my attention with his disparaging article about the upcoming tea parties.

According to Tantillo, the April 15 Tea Parties are nothing more than a fad and, not just any kind of fad, but a fad that flops. Actually, the more I think about it, how can a fad flop? Fads come and go, but if something gets enough attention to be called a fad, then normally that’s called a success. Right?

He offers several criticisms of the parties, but what is striking to me is that he is labeling it “Republican” and “Conservative.” Personally, I think this is a tactic that the left is using to attempt to belittle the tea parties as “just a bunch of Republican losers” and to portray the Republicans as angry outsiders. The truth of the matter is that I know many people supporting the tea parties who are Democrats and Independents and who consider themselves moderates.

Further, if it’s just a bunch of Republicans why is the Huffington Post asking for citizen reporters to go to the tea parties and, well, do what? Write a slanted article? Disrupt? Bring a pro-Obama sign? I mean, why would the left care if it was just a “fad” and a Republican one at that? (Although anything that is not pro-Obama appears to be a threat to the insecure obats).

Actually, the other point Tantillo makes that has me laughing is that his take on the reports that tea party merchandise is flying off the shelves is bad news and a sure sign that this is all fad.

For example, he takes this quote from Jason King, VP of marketing for Zazzle, an online retailer selling tea party items: “This is probably one of the bigger things –- not counting the election– that we’ve seen since the Client 9 sex scandal broke in 2008.” And interprets it thus: “Hey, if a marketer’s comparing your “serious” political movement with “Client 9 sex scandal” sales you know you’re in trouble…”

Well, excuse me, but if the election was a big merchandising success, doesn’t that make it a fad, too? And didn’t the Client 9 sex scandal end a governor’s career? Pretty powerful fad!

I do think there are legitimate concerns about what next? Just getting together in a local park with a permit is not really going to accomplish anything. Most media will not cover it. And the location of the tea party in my town is low visibility; there is no drive-by traffic so no one will even notice it is happening unless they make a point to stop by.

Frankly, I think the tea party organizers should take some tips from Moveon.org. When they held their anti-war rallies here they lined a very busy street in front of our Congressman’s local office with not just signs, but drums, and they did it during rush hour. They also took a petition into the Congressman’s office where it was officially received.

It remains to be seen if the tea parties bring about change, but in the meantime it is encouraging to see average Americans getting heated up enough about something to make a sign and stand on a street corner. Maybe this is just practice but I don’t think I would classify it as a fad. In fact, I think that’s a challenge and I’m always up for one of those.

Steve Maloney
Ambridge, PA
DraftPalin2012
SteveMaloneyGOP

Note: Steve Maloney has become a good friend of mine through the Read My Lipstick Network, Team Sarah, and other conservative cross-over efforts. He is a great guy and a dynamic thinker and doer. I hope you'll read his blogs and maybe if you're lucky you'll get to know him as a friend. - Janet

Twitterwhaty?

Twitter what? Whatza twitter? Tweeting? Whatcha talkin' about???

Everyone seems to be talking about Twitter all of a sudden.

There are people who specialize in helping you market your business on Twitter. Most news shows have set up Twitter accounts. Politicians are tweeting to constituents throughout the day keeping them posted on bills, hot button items and where they went for breakfast. There are untold numbers of side applications to make Twitter easier and more manageable.

When I first set my account up on Twitter (Read My Lipstick), it was somewhat daunting. I had a blank page and 140 characters of space I could use to talk to... no one. I found Top Conservatives on Twitter, figured out how to follow some of them and pretty soon my blank screen was a hotbed of activity. Things blipped down the page at unreadable speed.

Luckily one of the first people I followed saw my plea of ignorance and sent me to some Twitter for Dummies type documents.

Now I'm set up on TweetDeck, have my blogs titles and links posting to Twitter and have it set up so everything I tweet pops over to my Facebook account.

I have met some fantastic people and I get news that many never see. It's great to share thoughts with like-minded people across the country and even the world.

When Facebook shut down my conservative account a few days back, the first place I went was to Twitter. A few minutes after I set up my new account and tweeted the name, I started getting friend requests. Twitter friends sent messages to their followers on Twitter and Facebook. What a great group of people and a great conservative community! Pretty soon I was bombarded with friend requests and well on my way back to previous friendship levels.

Today I was scanning through the Georgia Front Page and Fayette Front Page inboxes looking for news to post and came across the following. It just goes to show you how prevalent Twitter is becoming, and how fast they've infiltrated every aspect of our culture! (emphasis in article is mine)

Westin Bonaventure Offers Instant Tax Relief with “U.O.Me” Weekends

Landmark L.A. Hotel to Give Away 200 Weekend Room Nights through April 18,
20 Rooms Reserved for Twitter Users Only

Officials of the Westin Bonaventure today announced the property will be giving away 50 room nights every weekend through April 18, a total of 200 room nights, as part of its “U.O.Me Tax Relief” promotion. Five room nights each weekend will be awarded exclusively through Twitter. The promotion also includes the “Westin Tax Credit,” a coupon given at check-out for 10 percent off dinner at L.A. Prime, the property’s New York-style steakhouse. Winners who book a second consecutive night with the property will receive a 20 percent off coupon to the restaurant.

“In this recessionary climate, several states, including California, had to temporarily delay sending out tax refunds,” said Michael Czarcinski, managing director at the Westin Bonaventure. “While California has now resumed payments, we wanted to help relieve the stress even a temporary suspension may have caused and invite anxious taxpayers nationwide to spend an evening at the Westin. We’ll foot the bill. It’s our form of an in-kind tax refund.”

U.S. residents over 21 years of age can enter to win a “U.O.Me” through Twitter or the Westin Bonaventure website, www.westin.com/bonaventure. Rooms will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis—the first 45 website entries and the first five tweets will receive a room night. Eligible dates: March 27 and 28 and April 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18. Entries for March 27 and 28 will be accepted between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. PT, March 17, via the website and Twitter, hashtag #U.O.Me. For all other dates, entries will be accepted between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. the Tuesday before the desired weekend. Winners can choose to spend Friday or Saturday night based on room availability. All winners must present a form of credit upon check-in for the purposes of incidentals.

#TCOT to Republican Senators: NO to Porkulus, NO to Compromise, No to Turncoats

Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter, the conservative grassroots organization that dominates the conversation on Twitter, today announced that the organization is focusing it's OPERATION MOVE OVER MoveON.org on all Republicans in the Senate.

"Led by #TCOT Project Servant-Leader Wendy Hermann, a work-at-home mom from Corpus Christi, Texas, #TCOT's MOVE OVER MoveOn.org project is focused on defeating the "Porkulus" Bill in the Senate (S.1), in any form." Leahy said today.

"We intend to communicate that message to all 41 Republican Senators in the most direct way today and through the rest of the week. We know that Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid is trying to ram this bad bill through the Senate without a sufficient discussion of all the truly wasteful mini bail-outs to the Democrat Party's political allies it contains."

"Our message to every Republican Senator is clear and simple: Stand firm, and don't fall for false promises of 'bi-partisanship' that are being used to merely provide political cover to the Democrats. This is a clear example of the Democrats' wasteful economic policies, and we need to let the Democrats own their foolhardiness."

"The history of compromise in the US Congress is easy to understand. When Democrats coerce Republicans to abandon their principles, they call it 'bi-partisan' compromise. We conservatives call that fundamentally wrong."

"Anyone who wants to help us in this higher calling in the defense of American free markets can take an advantage of an innovative interactive tool that allows the average person to view the most recent spending elements of the "Porkulus" Bill, and register your approval or disapproval of each item. We will be periodically be sending out press releases highlighting your opinion of the most wasteful and extravagant elements of the bill."

"This great tool has been developed by Aaron Day, of Daylight Networks. To use the tool right now, simply go to: www.daylightnetwork.com/senate-stimulus.

"Once there, you can register and vote on whether or not a specific line item included in the bill will help improve the economy or will hurt it.”

MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group funded by George Soros, is focusing an ad campaign to turn around 5 Republican Senators. They are using radio and television ads to encourage people to contact these Senators and tell them to vote for S.1. The targeted Senators are:

(1) Collins - Maine
(2) Snow - Maine
(3) Newmann (yesterday appointed to replace Judd Gregg) - NH *
(4) Murkowski - ALASKA
(5) Grassley - Iowa

Leahy continued by adding that now all Republican Senators will be contacted.

"We've seen reports that various Republican Senators are offering a few ideas to make the bill seem more palatable. This simply won't work. Adding a few elements to placate moderate Republicans while keeping 90% of the $825 billion of pork included in the House version of the bill does nothing to help the economy. If Republican legislators want a historical model to guide them, they need look back only a few months to the disastrous vote in the fall in which many of them supported the ill advised and ineffective $700 billion Wall Street Bailout."

Top Conservatives on Twitter was started on November 29, 2008. It consists of a list of over 2,400 conservatives who use Twitter. The list can be found at http://www.topconservativesontwitter.org. The list serves as a rallying point for conservatives on the Internet, and has led to the formation of many action projects, of which Operation MOVE OVER MoveOn.org is one.

The organization is referred to as #TCOT because those five characters are used so that anyone on Twitter can follow the “tweet stream” of conversation on Twitter that is aimed at the #TCOT community. To follow this “tweet stream”, go to http://search.twitter.com and enter #TCOT.

In January, www.hashtags.org data showed that #TCOT dominated the Twitter conversation. #TCOT was the number one most used hashtag, with over 18,000 tweets. The second most used hashtag had less than 6,000 tweets.

#TCOT dominated the conversation on Twitter so dramatically that it had more than three times the conversation tweets as the number two hashtag.

#TCOT has released the following details of their plan of attack:

1. Phones. As we did in Operation Melt the Phones in DC, we are going to keep up a steady stream of phone calls to these Senators offices and report back on the TCOT Action Project site what the senators are saying. This time, however, we want to also call their local state offices. Each Senator has several in their state and they should be pressured as well. The numbers are listed by state at the bottom of the page as well as a sample script. We recommend calling each of the Senators offices every day. We will be issuing daily talking points for you to question the senate aid about. Be polite, but assertive.

2. Faxes. This time we will add faxes to our blitz. Many out of state people wishing to send a letter to a senator were stymied by the Senate e-mail system not allowing them. We have posted fax numbers next to phone numbers for those wishing to use that method. A sample text is listed at the bottom of the page for use in drafting e-mails and faxes. Again, we would like each person to fax each office daily emphasizing that days talking points.

3. E-mail. If you live in the senators state, we encourage you to send daily e-mails to the senators giving them reasons to vote against this piece of legislation. Links to each Senator’s webpage are on the Phone/Fax list at the bottom of the page. Use the Fax/E-mail text suggestions to know what to say.

4. Blogging and local media. We do not have George Soros’ money. We will have to be more grassroots than that. We are wanting all conservative bloggers to post this Action Project on your blog and give your opinion or perspective on the talking point of the day.

5. We are also asking "TCOT members to call their local talk radio programs, send letters to the editor and notify local media of what you are doing. Our hope is that some will be picked up as human interest stories and we can rebroadcast them over the Internet. We have made an outline/talking points list available to you for your reference. Please use that list as a starting point. We are working to build this media list, so please report back whomever you talk to and how they reacted.

6. We are looking for people with video experience that will write and produce short videos that can be posted on youtube that counter the ads being run by MoveON.org. Please contact us if you are interested in this project.

7. We are looking to target moderate or blue dog Democrats in the Senate that could be swayed to our side. Please let us know if you find any Democrats on the fence about S. 1.

Above all else, be polite. Passion is encouraged, foul language is not. Be aggressive, but not abusive.

Resources:
Senate Phone/Fax numbers (with links to e-mail) can be found at: http://moveovermoveon.posterous.com
To volunteer directly, and receive more detailed instructions, go to http://tcotprojects.ning.com

The New Republicans

Ning sites seem to be the latest Internet wave... We have one set up for the Fayette Front Page (http://fayettefrontpage.ning.com/), there's one for the Read My Lipstick Network which I run (http://readmylipstick.ning.com/ - unfortunately I'm not doing much to promote it so it's slow going), and then there's the one that is catching tons of media attention, Team Sarah (www.teamsarah.org). I'm a member of a number of other conservative ning sites, I won't bore you with a list!

Joining the growing ning movement is another great group I wanted to let you know about, The New Republicans (http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/). I posted a letter to the editor on here a month or two ago from its founder, Steven, a college student here in Georgia. He is now everywhere. He's chatting on Facebook, Twittering and probably has a MySpace page. He's pumped and he's starting a movement!

I'm really excited about the wave of conservative enthusiasm that is erupting across the country. I'm even more excited about the ages of those catching the conservative bug. The faces we typically see on the talk shows and news are considerably older, wearing suits and looking, well, like the stereotypical image of a Republican.

The New Republicans is geared toward young Republicans. All of the sites I'm involved with or run are made up of all ages. I couldn't begin to pinpoint the ages of the majority with any certainty, but there are a lot of young parents, college students, 20-somethings, and a smattering of older conservatives. Maybe the relative youth of the various participants has to to with the medium we're using, the Internet.

I will have to say that a few of my new friends are older, too. Some are going on-line for the first time.

I hope you'll go out wandering on the Internet and get involved in some of the groups that are sprouting. If you're looking for a good starting place I'd suggest going to www.readmylipsticknetwork.com. Visit the link page and start wandering.

Also, check out Twitter. It looks intimidating when you first set up your account, but it's really a breeze. Once you sign up, go visit www.topconservativesontwitter.com and start "following" some of the Twitter accounts listed on there. Pretty soon you'll be a-twittering with the best of 'em.

Here's a link to Steven's page on the site: http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/profile/Steven

http://thenewrepublicans.ning.com/

Saxby headed to a run-off?

When I went to bed late last night both Fox News and CNN had declared Saxby Chambliss a winner. I woke up this morning to discover he may be headed to the run-off of all run-offs. As I type he has 49.8% of the vote with the Secretary of State's office still opening early or absentee (?) ballots from "heavily populated counties". Those heavily populated counties are probably not going to favor Saxby as clearly as some other rural counties.

We'll see what happens. If he goes into a run-off you're going to see so many ads from both sides it will have you turning off your television and your phone recorder. Both sides will view this as a death-match and throw everything they have at it.

Why Georgia is one of the only (or maybe one of the very, very few) to require a 50 plus 1 victory is beyond me. It always seems to favor the candidate who took the least votes and had the least support of the two.

Look at our local election here with Peter Pfeifer. He had two tough opponents yet he came within a hair of winning the election outright. If he had taken just a tiny fraction of his Peachtree City opponents numbers he'd have won outright. Instead he ended up in a run-off and as always, the number of people who came out was laughable. The "underdog" won as usual, thus the guy who got a fraction of Pfeifer's votes now takes the seat in January.

Whether it's a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or "other" in that situation, it doesn't seem logical to force a run-off.

On a good note, I just got the work that Al Franken lost by a slim margin. Due to state rules there will be an automatic run-off the race was so close.

I was kinda hoping Louisiana would ditch Landrau just because of Katrina, but that didn't happen although if I remember the numbers it was also fairly close.

Elizabeth Dole lost in North Carolina.

I'm still half asleep. I stayed up until McCain gave his concession speech last night, very diplomatic and gracious by the way. Then I woke up at the crack of dawn and couldn't get back to sleep. That after rising yesterday before 5 a.m. to be a poll watcher, running back and forth to cover the suspicious package threat at Republican headquarters in Fayetteville and trying to keep up with the Fayette Front Page, the Christian City Chair-ity event (mark your calendars for Dec. 1st for a really cool event), the Read My Lipstick Network, and on and on it goes... Yours truly was one busy and tired puppy and it'll take me a day or two to recover!

Keep the faith, we have a tough road ahead of us but we're strong!