Wasserman-Schultz Says Republicans ‘Worship at the Altar of the Tea Party’

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TAMPA, Fla.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz just gave a press conference here that I wrote up for the American Spectator blog:

Republicans are “desperate to appease the Tea Party,” Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said, hours before GOP candidates were due to appear in a debate co-sponsored by the Tea Party Express.
“Tonight, I think we are likely to hear the Republican candidates for president continue to worship at the altar of the Tea Party,” Wasserman-Schultz told reporters here. Viewers “won’t find a candidate on stage tonight with a plan to do anything but return to the policies that we’re all so familiar with and that got us into this mess in the first place.”
Republicans “would shred the safety net” of Social Security and Medicare, Wasserman-Schultz said in her press conference at the Florida State Fairgrounds. “At least [Texas Gov.] Rick Perry was honest about his hostility toward Social Security, calling it a ‘Ponzi scheme.’ . . . But Mitt Romney was not straightforward about his support for privatizing Social Security, a scheme that would be as dangerous to the future of the program as Rick Perry’s attitude and rhetoric.”

Read the rest. Here’s the video:

UPDATE: Here’s a photo of the press conference:

That’s Norm Bungard, 74, of St. Petersburg, a volunteer for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security.

PREVIOUSLY:

So, Does This Mean Bono Should Be The Front Man For Rammstein?

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by Smitty (via Insty)

Surber ojects vigorously to rock stars ascribing American citizenship to themselves:

No, Bono, is not an American — one day a year or 365. Who in the heck does this pompous Irish think he is standing in Canada and presuming that he is an American? When did he stand in line to get the paperwork done so he could establish a residency? When did he take and pass the Citizenship Test? When did he raise that right hand and swear to God and everyone else his allegiance to the Greatest Land Of All?

He is not even a Bono. His name is Paul David Hewson. He does not even pronounce the name right. That is a long O as in Sonny Bono, who was a true American son of legal immigrants who worked his way up from nothing, learned the music business, built an entertainment empire and then became mayor of Palm Springs and a congressman.

In defense of Hewson, at least he was never romantically linked to Cher.

But Bono is not the first to make this claim. One predecessor was the German thrash outfit Rammstein:
Something about dudes in space suits rocking on the moon just strikes me as funny. Sharp-eyed Twitter users may recognize my avatar, mooched from this video. (Follow me, please: it’s embarrassing that RMS has four times the followers that I do.)

But, hey: if Rammstein is living in America, and Bono is an American, should Bono go ahead and front the band? Maybe they could go on a tour performing Grateful Dead material through a squishy-Christian/thrash filter. Is there a career for me managing musical acts?

CNN: Sarah Palin Turned Down Invitation to Appear in Tonight’s Tea Party Debate

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TAMPA, Fla.
Didn’t expect to get actual news during the media walk-through of the debate hall here at the Florida State Fair, but CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Geist disclosed to reporters that Sarah Palin had been invited to participate in tonight’s event sponsored by the Tea Party Express.

Palin ranks third in the latest CNN poll:

Rick Perry …….. 30%
Mitt Romney ……. 18%
Sarah Palin ……. 15%
Ron Paul ………. 12%
Herman Cain …….. 5%
Newt Gingrich …… 5%
Michele Bachmann … 4%
Jon Huntsman ……. 2%
Rick Santorum 2%

UPDATE: A couple of photos from the walk-through:


I gotta run: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is about to hold a press conference.

“Te Atrocity” Of Schools

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by Smitty

Insty rounds up some more blowback over Paul Krugman, who dropped an upper decker at the NYT yesterday. Insty includes email from an anonymous academic:

But there’s also the invention of a “we were all united and then Bush ruined it” idea. This is nonsense. The professional and academic left immediately started with “the chickens have come home to roost,” “it’s our fault for supporting Israel, etc.”

Part of the cultural renewal, like PJTV and the new GBTV, is going to include draining the carbuncle that Academia has become. I’m thinking here about how to save for college for the World’s Youngest Blogger.

How do we ensure that we are providing real schools that aren’t Commie pinko incubators?

My guess is that starting from scratch may be easier than reforming the current collegiate contaminated crapper crop. As the higher education bubble bursts, one hopes to see new, lower-cost, higher-quality institutions arise. Sure, the accrediation weenies are going to balk at a resurgence of actual History being taught, of a lack of *Studies curricula for useless Bolsheviks to hide in, and salaries in line with what the market can bear.

But, if that’s what it takes to lower the likelihood of another Krugman, then that’s what we have to do.

As If One Needed Another Reason For Uncertainty About Romney

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by Smitty

American Exceptionalism is founded in liberty. Progressive anti-Exceptionalism is about making people clients of the State and then using appeals to fear to keep those clients parked on the plantation. Via Hot Air, Fresh Squeezed Politics produces the Romney flyer for Florida, which I will cleave in twain for posting here legibly.

I support Rick Perry all the way on the Ponzi Scheme issue, as far as correctly identifying it as a Ponzi scheme. We won’t get out of the 70-year pit in the snap of a finger, but correctly identifying the Ponzi scheme is the first step to stopping the digging.

If you haven’t described the exit strategy for the economically un-supportable, un-Constitutional federal over-reach embodied in the entitlement programs, you haven’t told be why I should vote for you.

Continue reading As If One Needed Another Reason For Uncertainty About Romney →

Fear and Loathing in Tampa

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TAMPA, Fla.
Good morning and welcome to the site of tonight’s CNN/Tea Party Express debate. OK, maybe not actually the site yet. I’m still in the hotel room. The debate is at the State Fairgrounds out on Highway 301. I’m supposed to pick up my media credentials at noon, then there’s a walk-through of the debate site, etc.

I’m crashing here with GOP New Media legend Ali Akbar, and last night we went out for late refreshments with Shaun McCutcheon of the Conservative Action Fund and Kerry Picket of The Washington Times.

We were at a place called Bar Louie, which was unfortunately next door to some kind of disco nightclub. So while we’re sitting on the patio trying to talk politics, our conversation was being drowned out by the thumping music from next door, and there’s a strange parade of hoochies in tight miniskirts walking past on their way to the disco. So then we came back to the hotel to continue the discussion poolside, but then a furious argument developed over last year’s NY-23 election. This was a bummer, and I was tired, so I came back to the room and crashed, but Ali says he was up until 3 a.m.

Morning  weirdness: Pawlenty endorses Romney. What was Pawlenty’s price? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Anyway, the good thing is (a) we’re going to be having lunch with Dana Loesch in a little while, and (b) all of last night’s escapades occurred after I’d already filed my column for today:

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer should begin the Republican presidential debate tonight by asking Jon Huntsman a simple question: “Why are you here?”
The former Utah governor’s campaign has no obvious political rationale and is barely a statistical blip in national polls. Since he officially announced his 2012 presidential bid in June, Huntsman has only once (in early August) polled as high as 4 percent. Five of the six most recent national surveys show Huntsman’s support among Republican voters at a mere 1 percent –less than the margin of error. Despite the effective non-existence of his support, however, Huntsman will be among the eight candidates on stage tonight (8 p.m. ET) for the debate at the Florida State Fairgrounds sponsored by the Tea Party Express.
Of course, Blitzer would never question the legitimacy of Huntsman’s candidacy for the simple reason that CNN anchor is a leading member of Huntsman’s most important constituency, the media. . . .

Read the rest at the American Spectator.