Saturday reading: Olive Garden

Stanek Sunday funnies 12-19-10
“Criticize ideas, not people.” Create one original moniker and stick with it. Please use a unique name. Be civil and considerate. Read fully and consider carefully before responding. Blasphemy will not be tolerated. No swearing or slandering of others. No deliberate inflammatory comments. Do not violate another’s Privacy. Do not threaten fellow commenters or anyone else. No personal, racial, ethnic or gender-based insults/slurs. Violations will be deleted and you may be banne...

One Victory And One Loss Today
As I noted earlier, it was a mixed day. The Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” passed with eight Republican Senators joining the Democrats. Unfortunately there weren’t enough votes to get Cloture on a GOP Filibuster on the DREAM Act, with some Democrats joining the Republicans. It is hard to come up with a rational argument against passing the DREAM Act as it only gives a path towards Citizenship to those brought into the country as minors without intending to brea...

2012 Senators Targeted for Weekend Votes
Manchin had “planned a holiday gathering over a year ago with all their Children and Grandchildren as they will not all be together on Christmas Day,” a spokeswoman said Saturday. “While he regrets missing the votes, it was a family obligation that he just could not break.” However, skipping the votes brought even more attention to the Senator who, after winning a Special Election last month, is running again for a full term in 2012. Roll Call Politics rates his race a To...

Two new polls show Palin trailing badly in 2012 match up against Obama
Two new polls show Sarah Palin losing ground before she even begins a potential Presidential Campaign against President Obama in 2012.  A new poll from ABC News and The Washington Post has Sarah Palin trailing President Obama by 15 points (54%-39%) in a potential 2012 contest.  That poll could be dismissed as an outlier if not for a similar poll from NBC News and The Wall Street Journal which shows Palin trailing Obama by 22 points (55%-33%).  Both polls show other Republican cand...

Mitt Romney As Arch-Ironist
A couple years ago I wrote a column explaining why I actually like Mitt Romney despite (indeed, because of) his transparent fakery. But David Frum has now made basically the same case in brilliant Fashion: I sometimes imagine that Romney approaches politics in the same spirit that the CEO of Darden Restaurants approaches cuisine. Darden owns Olive Garden, Longhorn steakhouses, and Red Lobster among other chains. Now suppose that Darden’s data show a decline in demand for mid-priced steak ...

National Review eyes John Bolton for 2012
link from the #TCOT Report | story from Politico No, it’s not just an attention-getting stunt. John Bolton is seriously considering running for president. Bolton, the fiery, archconservative former United Nations ambassador, sees an opening in the 2012 Republican field. And his case, while far-fetched, is not altogether implausible. “As I survey the situation, I think the Republican field is wide open,” Bolton told POLITICO. “I don’t think the party’s anywhe...

Vote in Redstate poll for Governor Palins 2012 presidential bid (AKA, Governor Palin and the Twelve Dwarves)
Tags: Redstate poll for 2012, Romneycare dooms Romney 2012 bid, What are Romney supporters doing behind the scenes to throw race to Romney in 2012?, What are the Romney Guys up to now? I think Redstate closes their polls at around 12 noon EST, so if you read this in the morning before then, and you have not voted in the poll yet, please do so. It’s important for a lot of reasons — but chiefly I think that Erik Erikson over at Redstate has had a real change of heart in regards to 20...

outstripp re: 'Is Politics a Liberal Game?' on Ricochet.com
Over on Dave Carter's thread, "What Say You?" Ricochet member Freeven offered a brilliant observation — so good that it deserves its own thread. So I am posting it here on Freeven's behalf (without his knowledge or permission, let it be noted): Alas, government is a Liberal's game. The best conservative Candidates, almost by definition, never get off the bench. They have better things to do. Liberals will ultimately prevail because they've got their All-Stars matched up against o...

Lady Kurobara: 'Is Politics a Liberal Game?' on Ricochet.com
Over on Dave Carter's thread, "What Say You?" Ricochet member Freeven offered a brilliant observation — so good that it deserves its own thread. So I am posting it here on Freeven's behalf (without his knowledge or permission, let it be noted): Alas, government is a Liberal's game. The best conservative Candidates, almost by definition, never get off the bench. They have better things to do. Liberals will ultimately prevail because they've got their All-Stars matched up against o...

GOP Nominee Poll at Red State
I figure I’ll have a little fun and drive some traffic over to Red State to a poll that Erick Erickson just posted on the GOP nominee choices. Sorry all you wild-eyed Ron Paulians but his name doesn’t appear on the list. But that’s OK, you can leave comments there like you did when we posted our poll here on Sonoran Alliance. As for my latest predictions (not picks), I’m sticking to Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee, Palin will NOT run and one of the young upstart govs will ...

Sunday Open Thread: December 19th, 2010
Congratulations!! You do know how to hit us where it hurts. A bbq, outdoors I bet!! Even in California the weather has been miserable and it is getting worse. Maybe, just maybe, Romney is enough of a patriot to see what a fantastic job he could do to bolster and grow our economy as Sec. of the Treasury in this “decline” of the USA. If you think about it seriously for at least 30 seconds . . . the guy is certain to be in every history book as a genius, beloved by the nation. If Romney...

The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas
The calendar is collapsing. Only a week until Christmas! Only a month until the beginning of the Presidential Election! David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns. Yes, the race for the White House is practically under way. Already, there are at least seven Republican presidential primary debates on the schedule. The way this is going, the Republican presidential hopefuls will eventually be on television every single minute. Possibly they can be convinced to do something more entertaini...

Hey, hands off my district!
Check out Jessica Fargen's Reporter's Notebook blog. The dust has just settled on their re-election wins, but Democratic U.S. Reps. John Olver and Richard Neal are already looking to 2012 amid concern that new Census data could rob the state of a Congressional District. Both high-ranking Democrats said this month they are running for re-election. The announcements come as the state awaits new Census data to be released Tuesday that could be the first indicator of the future of the state’s ...

ACTION ITEM: Vote in Redstates 2012 poll to put Governor Palin over the top
Redstate is running another 2012 poll tonight...so please head over there and vote for Governor Palin. It’s obviously not a binding poll and is just a bit of fun, but the more of these things she wins then the less able the commenters and Romney Guys are over at places like Redstate will be to keep slamming the Governor. Remember:  no matter how badly Romney is doing in all of these polls, the Romney Guys, like those that plague all things GOP here in Chicago, have invested too much o...

Hey, hands off my district!
The dust has just settled on their re-election wins, but Democratic U.S. Reps. John Olver and Richard Neal are already looking to 2012 amid concern that new Census data could rob the state of a Congressional District. Both high-ranking Democrats said this month they are running for re-election. The announcements come as the state awaits new Census data to be released Tuesday that could be the first indicator of the future of the state’s 10 congressional districts. The western Massachusett...

The sad journey of John McCain: part II
It was both sad and predictable watching the aging and angry old Senator from Arizona over the weekend. John McCain, a once well respected pragmatic conservative who I wanted to vote for as president in 2000. That was a long time ago, politically speaking. He has transformed himself from a free thinking senator, willing to go against his own party for issues he believed in. What he believes in anymore is anyones guess.He is now just an angry old man whose sole purpose seems to be against wh...

Australia squares the circle
I have just put up on Dissecting Leftism a large excerpt from an article which sets out data tending to show that Australia scores very highly both as one of the freest countries in the world and also as one of the most “equal” countries in the world. This has a huge bearing on Left/Right political controversies. The Left generally argue for more economic equality while Conservatives generally argue for more economic liberty. So what the Australian example shows is that such competin...

Sunday Question for Conservatives
I'm going to be asking liberals, later today, to look back at the 111th Congress, but I think I'll ask Conservatives to look ahead: what do you expect out of the 112th Congress? Not what you want, but out of those things you want, what you expect to get done. Is there any particular item, or items, that you would be really disappointed if it didn't happen? ...

Gay MP 'didn't want to live lie'
Mr Evans, 53, said he wanted to be open about his Sexuality. Mr Evans is backing an initiative by charity Stonewall to support gay politicians and Westminster staff. He becomes the 22nd Openly Gay MP in the current House of Commons. Mr Evans claimed in the Mail on Sunday that a Labour MP - who he did not name - had been threatening to "out" him. He said a fellow Tory MP had also asked if he should include his name on a list of the Most Powerful gay politicians. Mr Evans said: "I t...

The 12 word platform
NOTE * Somebody needs to edit that Wikipedia entry. Note that the phrase is identified with tax policy. But if tax policy is properly used to regulate aggregate demand, as MMT suggests, that might not be the best tool for the job. Notice that I'm not advocating eating the rich; I'm really quite the Centrist! ... as they power the wheels that turn the servers at The Mighty Corrente Building. Please, won't you help keep them toasty warm? No PayPal Account required! Give the hamsters immediate reli...

Conservatives: The plurality party
From Gallup: “The political composition of U.S. adults held fairly steady in 2010 compared with 2009. Conservatives remained the largest group, followed by moderates and then liberals. At 35%, the percentage of moderates has declined to a new low, highlighting the increased political polarization that has occurred over the past decade.” 40% conservative. 35% moderate. 21% liberal. Republicans lose by running John McCain and other moderates. Democrats win by running liberals and hop...

Sunday video [Darleen Click]
What’s the biggest threat to free Speech? Some interesting answers in there. I rolled my eyes at John Tierney, NYTimes and Robert George NYPost (1:06 and 1:14 respectively) who trotted out the “but both sides do it” meme. Yessireebob, a whole lot of Republicans, Conservatives and TEA Partiers are demanding a return of the Fairness Doctrine, passage of Net Neutrality, and FCC hearings on “Racist” speech on radio. ...

John McCain on DADT Repeal: ‘Today is a Very Sad Day’
I'll be updating with reactions throughout the day: "BUMPED AND UPDATED! — Senate Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'." The full video is here. Share this article! Conservatives with Attitude!...

Huckabee flashback: "Climate change is here, it's real"
You might have seen Brad Johnson's hilarious story about how earlier this week Mike Huckabee angrily denied ever having supported Cap and Trade Legislation despite clear video evidence to the contrary. As funny as his false denial of the flip-flop is, when you watch the video, there's something at least as notable: Huckabee broke with conservative orthodoxy and admitted the Climate Change is real. One thing that all of us have a responsibility to do is recognize that Climate Change is here, it'...

How Would President Romney Govern?
“Sincerity is everything - once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” There’s Mitt Romney’s problem in 1 sentence. He cannot fake sincerity. His insincerity is blatant, inescapable, clumsy and off-putting. Ross Douthat phrased the indictment very well in a blogpost yesterday, replying to an earlier blogpost by me. I believe that Mitt Romney is a more serious person, and would probably be a better president, than his campaign style suggests. But issue by is...