The Media’s Unnatural Selection

May 17, 2013 Leave a comment

Hear-No-Evil-See-No-Evil-Speak-No-Evil

“Media bias lies in selection — what you choose to cover and what you choose to ignore. Accuracy is a problem. But selection is the big manifestation of bias. It’s possible to be 100 percent accurate — white-glove clean — and yet loaded with bias.”  - Jay Nordlinger

So at the end of today, we’ve learned from sworn Congressional testimony from recently fired/resigned/leaving-anyway IRS commissioner Steve Miller that a spontaneous YouTube video demonstration, er, I mean a spontaneous press conference question, in which Lois Lerner disclosed that the IRS had targeted political enemies, was actually a terrorist attack, er, a staged question.

From today’s hearing:

Rep Nunes asked, “Was her question to Ms. Lerner about targeting certain groups planned in advance?”

Miller replied, “I believe we talked about that, yes.”

We also learned from testimony from Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George that he informed senior officials in the Treasury Department of his investigation into IRS corruption last June, which was smack dab in the middle of a tightly contested presidential campaign and a fierce battle for control of the Senate.

This all happened in the last twelve hours.  So doing a rewind to this morning, what are the five things ABC News thought you needed to guide you through the news of the day? Certainly they’d mention Benghazi, the IRS, AP wiretapping, the two suspected terrorists who suddenly vanished from the witness protection program, or even HHS Secretary Sebelius illegally pressuring health-industry companies for funds that Congress wouldn’t dish out? No? But they’d mention that the woman who was charged with examining tax-exempt organizations at the IRS during this episode of political intimidation now runs the Obamacare branch of the IRS, right? No? Well, what else is there?

Here’s where ABC thought the most relevant “5 Things to Know This Morning“: Read more of this post

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How Elephants Can Fight a Guerilla War

March 11, 2013 2 Comments

Rand Paul ignited an elephant stampedeWith his thirteen-hour filibuster of John Brennan, Rand Paul instigated the first elephant stampede in two years. He ignited a party so inured in screechy impotence and patchwork defense that it often fails to recognize winnable battles. Paul found such a battle, and accomplished a rare feat for Republicans. By putting U.S. assassination policy on national display, Paul not only inspired the GOP to attack, he also put Obama on defense.

Some of the old-guard Republicans griped. After dining with Obama the night before, John McCain took to the Senate floor the next morning, bashing Paul with snarky comments about appealing to “impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms.” This one utterance summed up the GOP’s problems of 2008 and 2012. What sort of politician seeking national viability for his party knocks an appeal to any group of people? Paul’s filibuster united a diverse cross-section of Republicans and even some Democrats. This success should be saluted, not derided.

The Democrat support was a nice touch, generated by what’s known in chess as a discovered attack. By attacking Obama’s left flank on drone strikes and putting him in check, he forced Attorney General Eric Holder to answer Paul’s charges and develop a rationale that would inevitably rile the Democrat anti-war base. It’s a rare moment when the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson agree. Rand Paul, bipartisan workhorse.

Paul also showed the GOP Read more of this post

Filed under In Our Own Biased Opinion Tagged with , , ,

Democrats Snicker at Republican Kool-aid

February 19, 2013 Leave a comment

Republican Kool-Aid: Oh yeah!

Comprehensive immigration reform: Oh Yeah!

The Republican establishment’s ham-fisted courtship of the American electorate feels like watching the science nerds on The Big Bang Theory hit on a hot girl. Over and over again. The same way. Getting more and more uncomfortable each time. Oh, you like immigration reform? Uh, I can do that. Border security? No? Ok. Just tell me what you want. I’ll do anything. Anything!

Meanwhile, the girl gets the nice little nerds to buy her pretty things, then runs off with the jerk boyfriend who treats her like garbage.

Obama advisor David Plouffe is enjoying the spectacle as he drives off in his Lexus. Responding to a question about Marco Rubio’s messianic possibilities in transforming the Hispanic vote, Mr. Plouffe said, “The Hispanic voters in Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico don’t give a damn about Marco Rubio, the Tea Party Cuban-American from Florida.”

The awkward flirting

Plouffe isn’t just posturing. It’s the reality on the ground. Mr. Plouffe explains, “You know what? We won the Cuban vote….It’s probably my favorite stat of the whole campaign. So this notion that Marco Rubio is going to heal their problems — it’s not even sophomoric; it’s juvenile! And by the way: the bigger problem they’ve got with Latinos isn’t immigration. It’s their economic policies and health care. The group that supported the president’s health care bill the most? Latinos.”

Polls differ on who outright won the Cuban vote in Florida, but at worst, Obama won 48% of their vote, up from 35% in 2008. Will Rubio’s ethnicity and charisma overcome the Republican deficit with Hispanics? The “Tea Party Cuban-American” couldn’t even deliver his home state’s Cuban-American population. An important lesson of last year’s election was that Dems have a much better grasp on what people want to hear and what motivates them. Plouffe should be shutting his mouth about how out of touch Republicans are, and go on winning elections, but he’s so astounded that they’re playing make believe about why they can’t win the Hispanic vote, he can’t help himself.  Read more of this post

Filed under Flawed Perspectives Tagged with , , ,

Generation Yners don’t get the American Dream

January 3, 2013 1 Comment

Charlie Brown's Christmas tree and the American DreamIt’s over a week since Santa’s big scene, and even though you’ve kept the Christmas tree watered and fed, decrepitude seeps outward. Away in the manger, Baby Jesus no longer lays down in sweet hay but upon a bed of pine needles. The branches above shrivel and sag as the dying tree soaks up less water. Despite this, your Christmas tree’s silver garland and ceramic ornaments reflect a warm glow of red, green, yellow, orange, and blue, and the star or angel above shines or smiles down as the centerpiece of the holiday season.

How much longer will this magnificence last? It’s the same question we ask about American greatness and the American dream.  Read more of this post

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Five controversial (and award-winning) ideas for proactive conservative evolution

December 14, 2012 Leave a comment

Like this whirlpool galaxy from a Hubble image seems to get power sipohed away, so the states must siphon back power from the federal government.At National Review, Jonah Goldberg notes an observation by Friedrich Hayek: “It has . . . invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its own choosing.”

Whether it’s the fiscal cliff negotiations, entitlement spending, or any other form of government expansion, the progressive agenda steams ahead, dragging and ripping from the ground the constitutional and conservative roots of this country. Conservatives never win on core principles. Our successes only slow the rate of acceleration toward leftist domination.

Goldberg highlights federalism, where each individual state would regain the powers our constitution assigned it, as the path to proactive conservative re-emergence. We agree with the merits of federalism. However, the deck is stacked against that prospect. The federal government has too much leverage over the states.

So what’s the roadmap for returning to federalism?

We’ve already written about the need for conservatives to infiltrate pop culture and proactively set our own memes as we engage in the campaign to reassert the positive moral values and economic advantages of conservative ideas. Fertilizing the cultural grounds is necessary for conservative seeds to flourish.

What about the political side?

Conservatives tend to fight political battles on a policy-by-policy basis, while Progressives push to radically alter the relationship between citizen and state through laws such as the PPACA (Obamacare). Conservatives need to start playing that same long game.

In an entry to the National Review Institute’s 2010 policy contest, I made a series of recommendations, which received honorable mention as a finalist in the competition. These five ideas are bold, long term solutions (including some that libertarians have championed) that would get our government more in line with the Founders’ vision.

Agree? Disagree? We’d love to hear from you. Here’s the list:  Read more of this post

Filed under In Our Own Biased Opinion Tagged with , , , ,

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