Specter, the Poster Child for Term Limits

Yesterday I wrote a quick bit about Arlen Specter's defection after hearing a short bit on the radio stating he'd switched. I hadn't heard his words regarding the move when I wrote it.

Guess he answered all my questions: it's nothing but political survival.

After a lifetime as claiming to be a Republican he's willing to say to heck with principles, I want to stay in power so I'm turning my back on whatever I told you I believed in? He says flat out that he's switching parties simply because he couldn't win as a Republican.

He is the poster child for term limits. The egos get so darned big, they get so entrenched in power and games, that they forget why they're there. They forget about principles.

Someone pointed out to me yesterday that Lieberman switched when the going got tough. Yep, he did. But he moved to a tougher position as an Independent. Being an Independent gives you the flexibility of voting left or right. He made the switch for the same reasons basically that Specter did, but he didn't trash his party, he continued to claim it. He just picked a neutral ticket and openly said he was still a Democrat.

Specter left for the left. He made a deal with his political devil, sold his soul, just to stay in office. Why? Because he thinks he is that important?

Years back when I first went into management, one of my bosses told me something that has stuck with me through the years. He said that at the point someone thought they were indispensable, they WERE indispensable.

Specter made a choice that shows he thinks he's indispensable.

He's not and I hope he learns that lesson the hard way, by losing.

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

Couple of stories of interest

Checks on 'Joe' more extensive than first acknowledged
Tax, welfare info also sought on McCain ally
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 8:05 PM
By Randy Ludlow
Document
Read the letter from Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, about background checks made on Joe the Plumber [pdf]
A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged.
Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system.... http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/29/joe30.html?sid=101

(My comment to Barack Obama on this story: Share the wealth)
Found in a rundown Boston estate: Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango
'Auntie Zeituni', who, with Uncle Omar, dropped out of sight after moving to the US, is backing the presidential candidate from her modest flat
Barack Obama has lived one version of the American Dream that has taken him to the steps of the White House. But a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5042571.ece

Hackers & Sarah Palin

Some hackers have gotten into Sarah Palin's personal email and plastered them around the Internet. I understand there's nothing inflammatory but it's raising a stink. Part of the stink has to do with the allegation (or truth) that she has two Blackberry's and sometimes uses her personal Yahoo account to send government related emails. Since that has already been bandied about in the Press I don't see that causing a problem, unless you're a die-hard Democrat and want another reason to attack her .

People are going nuts trying to get something on her. They must be terrified of the power she has at the moment to energize voters or they wouldn't be trying so hard to find something. All those people running around in Alaska trying to ferret out some tidbit they can twist or exaggerate into a scandal to hurt her standing and they haven't found anything but disgruntled former opponents to throw mud. Must be frustrating.

The harder they try the more people stand up for her and move to her side. None of the typical political stunts and tactics are working and I think it's driving some people absolutely nuts.

I will say one thing on the hacking --- you'd think that as soon as she became a VP candidate the Secret Service or handlers or whoever takes care of these things would have gotten her a more secure email account. Of course, nothing is bullet-proof when it comes to determined hackers these days so not sure that would be possible. It would be interesting to find out which service the other candidates and some of our other elected officials are using.

I can hear someone out there in the wings right now saying "there's another thing that just shows her inexperience". Don't even bother to go down the experience road, it doesn't stack up or hold water or whatever metaphor you want to insert here.

I don't care whether she was John McCain's second choice. I don't care if she pressured the jerk who was openly working against her into firing the guy who threatened to kill her father and tasered his stepson (she didn't pressure anyone, but those who want to believe something bad about her are going to keep that one going as long as possible). I don't care about any of the little nit-picky things people on the other side of the ticket keep trying to use to discredit her. I don't care if she hasn't been in the Senate (which has never been considered Presidential experience before) or been on Meet the Press. I like it that she has five children and chose to have a Down Syndrome child. I like the fact that her husband likes to chip in and help and is very supportive of her (and she reciprocates). I like it that she can handle two Blackberry devices ;-) I don't care that she would be a heartbeat away from being President, I think she'd be a much better President than Barack Obama right now.

So far everything, and I mean everything, that is being thrown at her is sliding right off her Teflon armor. I've had more friends telling me they're now going to be voting than ever! Some have switched from a Democratic vote to Republican this election, some from a no-vote, some from the Libertarian, etc., etc.

This is a statement from the McCain-Palin campaign on the email issue:

"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

I understand the Secret Service is trying to track down the hackers and that the AP is refusing to help.