May 3, 2009
 

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The Right Needs To Play As Dirty As The Left When posting stuff to this site, I am careful to maintain my focus -- Barack Obama -- because it is so easy to get distracted by the Democrats, progressives, socialists, communists, anti-Americans, haters, moonbats and the rest of the lunatics that populate the American political left.

Every once in a while, though, I see something that is not Obama-related, but I just have to post it here. This opinion piece is one of those.

When John Hawkins was in college, he studied Southern Long Fist Kung Fu for more than a year and his teacher told him something that he never forgot.  He said that when you're being attacked, the aggressor sets the rules and if you want to survive, you have to play by those rules.  In other words, if your opponent is trying to cut your head off with a sword while you're trying not to hurt him, chances are that you're going to end up dead.  This is a lesson that conservatives can and should apply to politics.

Too often today, liberals are using despicable tactics against conservatives and paying no price whatsoever for it -- while those of us on the Right pat ourselves on the back for being above it all.  This is like a boxer priding himself on never taking off his gloves while his opponent nearly beats him to death with his bare firsts.  But, there's not much to be said for lovable losers and by now, conservatives should realize that simply appealing to the American public's sense of fair play isn't going to pay any dividends. -- Amen!

While the Right doesn't have to dip down into the sewer as far as the Left has, we do need to start giving them a taste of their own medicine, if only to make them think twice about the way they're treating our fellow conservatives.

For example, look at the despicable media jihad that was launched against Sarah Palin's family.  There was a not-so-subtle message being sent there: if you're a Republican woman, you better stay in the shadows or we're going to destroy your family to get you.  The Left gave the same kind of intrusive, public anal exam to Joe-the-Plumber, a private citizen who merely asked an inconvenient question to Barack Obama.  While conservatives defended both Sarah and Joe as we complained incessantly about the way they were treated, the reality is that the left paid no price whatsoever for its out-of-bounds attacks.

Instead of continuing to complain, here's a better idea: why shouldn't conservatives do opposition research on the reporters running stories about Bristol Palin and Joe-the-Plumber?  Have they ever been arrested?  Whom do they own property with?  Have they ever been paid to do a speech for someone and then run a favorable news story about him?  Certainly Keith Olbermann's personal life is just as newsworthy as Joe the Plumber's and the details of Maureen Dowd's life are just as noteworthy as those of Bristol Palin -- are they not?

Here's another example: on college campuses, it has gotten so bad that conservative speakers often need bodyguards to give a speech.  Conservatives are shouted down, they're attacked -- and nothing serious ever seems to happen to the little liberal fascists who engage in these thuggish tactics.  So, if it's done to a conservative speaker, why shouldn't conservative groups do the exact same thing to every liberal speaker who comes to the college?  Go on stage, lock arms, and shout him down -- then sue the university if they're given so much as an hour's detention more than the liberal students.

Along those same lines, how is it that we have public universities using taxpayer dollars to discriminate against conservatives, indoctrinate kids into liberalism, and hire terrorists like Bill Ayers as instructors?  Why are Republican state legislators allowing our tax dollars to be abused in that fashion?  How about standing up and saying, "If you want to continue to receive taxpayer money, you're going to act like a university should, not like a left-wing indoctrination center?"

Additionally, are you tired of being called a racist by race-hustling poverty pimps like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the NAACP?  Then use their own tactics against them: boycott organizations that work with them or donate money to them.

Are you sick of feeling like you need to familiarize yourself with porn terms just to understand what they're saying about the Tea Parties on MSNBC or CNN?  Then start filing obscenity complaints with the FCC.  The Left has never hesitated to use the government and the court system against its political opponents; so why should we?

Look, we don't have to become liars like the Left -- in fact, even setting aside the ethics of it, it's better for our credibility if we don't.  But, conservatives do need to stop playing by Marquess of Queensberry rules and futilely hoping that the public will finally start to notice that we're actually nice guys, even as the Left publicly smears us as Nazis, homophobes, and racists every day.

Ask yourself: how much credit did John McCain get for refusing to talk about Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama's lack of patriotism?  How many times was George Bush -- a moderate on domestic issues who bent over backwards to create a "new tone" -- accused of being Hitler?  How many times has Fox News, which is more balanced than any of the other networks and all the biggest newspapers in America, accused of being as biased as Rush Limbaugh?

Complaining bitterly about the Democrats "politics of personal destruction" or bellyaching that the media doesn't treat us fairly ultimately accomplishes nothing.  The Left doesn't care and the public doesn't care.  On the other hand, using the exact same tactics against the Left that it uses against us may be effective and even if it isn't, it may at least convince them that such tactics ought to be off limits on both sides.  We can say, "Gee, what if Bush had done this," or, "That's a cheap shot," all day long, but until the Left feels the brunt of the same savage incivility that it dishes out on a regular basis, nothing is going to change.

I couldn't agree with this guy more.  One of the first places to start is to get an old copy of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," -- less than $10 -- read it and use the Left's own tactics against them.  You should at least understand their game plan.
Obama's Banana Republic On Thursday, PowerLine's John Hinderaker wrote about the banana republic capitalism that we are experiencing under the Obama administration.  In connection with the Chrysler bankruptcy, Obama, ignoring laws that assign priority to secured creditors, has tried to bully lenders into abandoning their legal rights in favor of the United Auto Workers Union.  To my knowledge, there is no precedent for this sort of arrogant lawlessness in American history.  (Germany, Italy and Argentina are familiar with it.)  Now, bankruptcy lawyer Tom Lauria adds more:

Lauria: "Let me tell you it's no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States.  In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent.  That's a moving target.  I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday.  One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.  That's how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence."

Beckman: "Was that Perella Weinberg?"

Lauria: "That was Perella Weinberg."

There is a pattern here.  Financial institutions holding billions of Chrysler's secured debt are being held hostage by the TARP loans they are not permitted to pay back.  They are being forced to accept just pennies on the dollar for loans they made in good faith less than two years ago.  Just like mob loan sharks, the administration wants them under its thumb so they can extort more and more concessions.

I drew the same analogy to organized crime loan sharking in my "banana republic" post.  Sadly, I'm afraid it is apposite.  Once again, the Obama administration has steered us into uncharted waters: we have no experience with this lack of respect for the rule of law.

By the way: does anyone doubt that Barack Obama can mobilize, as he threatened, the "full force of the White House press corps" against any political opponent?  No doubt there would be an honorable exception or two, but the threat is obviously credible.

Here is the audio of Frank Beckman interviewing Tom Lauria, bankruptcy attorney at White & Case, who represents a group of lenders that object to the Chrysler sale.

Update:  Here is a New York Times article that describes, in detail, Obama's intimidation of "a small group of speculators," as Obama called them -- who helped bankrupt Chrysler -- that, anyway, is Obama's argument.

In fact, the individuals Obama smeared have sparkling Wall Street pedigrees, are the epitome of white-shoe investment bankers, and their boutique investment bank, a latecomer to Chrysler, played only a small role in the slow-motion wreck of the Detroit carmaker.

But now the two men, along with a handful of other financiers, are being blamed for precipitating the bankruptcy of an American icon.

As Chrysler’s fate hung in the balance Wednesday night, this group refused to bend to the Obama administration and accept steep losses on their investments while more junior investors, including the United Automobile Workers union, were offered favorable terms.

In a rare flash of anger, the president scolded the group as Chrysler, its options exhausted, filed for bankruptcy protection.  "I don’t stand with those who held out when everyone else is making sacrifices," Obama said.

So, why is there any question about the veracity of Thomas Lauria's charges?  0bama did exactly what he is accused of threatening to do.  Obama publically attempted to start a smear campaign, against these people, in the media.

He's a sonofabitch!  Has been since his first campaign.

 Afterthought -- Why would anyone lend money to heavily unionized companies knowing that if things went wrong, Obama and his merry men could trash their security interests by executive decree, hold them up to public vilification, and subject them to future retribution by regulators?

The fate of Chrysler and its workers pale in comparison to the wrecking ball that would be taken to economic order if bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez approves the administration’s plan to give Chrysler’s secured creditors the shaft.
On Second Thought The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is considering reviving military tribunals to try the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  An anonymous administration official sums up:

"The more they look at it," said one official, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."

As Jules Crittenden notes, you can infer the administration's embarrassment from the timing of the Friday afternoon leak.

I hope someone is keeping track of Obama's many sub silentio ratifications of once-criticized Bush administration policies.

I was considering placing this item under "Obama's Lies," but that page is rapidly filling up.  Obama's pronouncements run from simple dissembling to bold-faced lying.
Welcome To Obama Motors President Vice Chairman Jim Press sure knows how to put a positive spin on bad news, saying:

"Maybe some people have some worries about the longevity of the company," he said. "Well, heck, now the president of the United States, the U.S. government, is not only going to back our warranties, they're going to be an investor in forming our new company."

I can't imagine how funny that would sound in a car commercial. . .

Additionally, it appears that GM is not far away as the New York Times notes:

Fresh from pushing Chrysler into bankruptcy, President Obama and his economic team are hoping that the hard line they took last week gives them leverage to force huge changes in General Motors, a far larger and more complex company.

. . . in G.M.’s case, Mr. Obama will be forcing deeper cuts and becoming the controlling shareholder.  He will also be overseeing the radical downsizing of G.M.’s work force as he is trying to reverse rising unemployment.

Obama's control of the banks and automobile companies is no evidence that America is firmly in the hands of socialists -- sarcasm off.
We Are So Screwed Barack Obama is reveling in presidential power and influence unseen in Washington for decades.

Barely 100 days in office, the U.S. president and his Democratic Party have firm control over the White House and Congress and the ability to push through ambitious plans.

Now, with the coming retirement of a Supreme Court justice clearing the way for him to appoint a successor, Obama already is assured a legacy at the top of all three branches of government -- executive, legislative and judicial.

On the corporate front, the federal government's pumping of billions of dollars in bailout money into banks and auto companies has given Obama the power to force an overhaul in those industries, a remarkable intervention in capitalist industries by the state.

Americans are giving him leeway as well.  His job approval ratings are well over 60 percent, giving him political capital to undertake big challenges.

His political opponents, the Republicans, are in disarray, reduced in numbers and engaged in an internal struggle over how to recover from devastating election losses in 2006 and last year.

Experts speak of Obama in the same league as such transformational presidents as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War Two, and Republican Ronald Reagan, who led the country to victory in the Cold War.

"I cannot in my memory remember a time when a president of the United States has had more influence," said Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House.

I am suspicious of polls that show job approval ratings are well over 60 percent, when Rasmussen has Obama's approval rating at +1.  I believe a lot of Obama's approval are pumped up by a fawning press, but there is no mistaking his power -- at the moment.

©  Copyright  Beckwith  2009
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