"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg titles his New York Times thumbsucker “Why Voters Tune Out Democrats,” and writes:
Oddly, many voters prefer the policies of Democrats to the policies of Republicans. They just don’t trust the Democrats to carry out those promises.
You can read the whole thing, which I must caution you is written by a Democrat and — like a majority of Americans — I don’t trust Democrats.
(Via Memeorandum.)
A reliable formula for driving Web traffic? Yeah. It helps when one of the chicks is Dana Loesch, interviewed at the Smart Girl Summit by Alex “Muy Caliente” Garcia:
(Via Instapundit.) For you guys who can’t get enough Dana Loesch — which is to say, all of you — Nice Deb has video of Dana talking Tea Party “tough love” for the GOP:
The SGP gals invited Herman Cain, Thad McCotter and Andrew Breitbart to their summit — lucky dogs! — and I guess you could say I was “invited,” too. But they didn’t invite me to speak, so my wife would have been extremely suspicious if I’d gone to “cover” an event like that. IYKWIMAITYD.
UPDATE 1:25 p.m. ET: The Senate just held a cloture vote on Harry Reid’s bill which, as expected, failed to get the 60 votes necessary to end debate and proceed. The vote was 50 “aye” and 49 “no.” So much for Reid’s bill being the “only game in town,” huh?
UPDATE 2:15 p.m. ET: Here’s the roll-call vote. Scott Brown of Massachusetts was the only Republican to vote “aye,” while Democrats Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Ben Nelson (Nebraska) both voted “no,” as did socialist independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Reid voted against his own bill on the cloture motion; this is a parliamentary maneuver, since voting “no” permits Reid to bring his bill up for a vote later.
Linked at Legal Insurrection — thanks!
PREVIOUSLY (11:45 a.m. ET): The outlines of the Neither Fish Nor Fowl Bipartisan Sellout Compromise Act of 2011 are coming into focus, and the Senate Republican leader is cautious:
McConnell said he is “very very close to being able . . . to recommend to my members that this is something that they ought to support.”
“You’ll see that this is a process that could get him (President Obama) past the election. We’re working on the combinations that will get us there,” McConnell said. “I’m particularly appreciative that we’re now back talking to the only person in America who can sign something into law and that’s the president of the United States.”
Getting Senate approval for a compromise plan will likely be much easier than getting such a deal through the House, as I explain at The American Spectator:
How many Republican votes can House Speaker John Boehner deliver for a compromise that abandons principles that were seen as essential to conservatives, when he could just barely get 218 votes for his own bill Friday? And if Boehner can’t deliver a majority for the compromise deal, can Nancy Pelosi produce any Democrat votes at all, considering that zero Democrats voted for Boehner’s bill?
If this deal does go through, the biggest loser will be Harry Reid, as Professor William Jacobson says: “We don’t know all the details of the negotiations between Mitch McConnell and the White House which apparently are closing in on an agreement, but one thing is clear, Harry Reid has become a sideshow.”
There’s always more room under Obama’s bus, isn’t there?
UPDATE: Linked by Da Tech Guy — thanks! — and the latest word is that there will be a procedural “test vote” in the Senate at 1 p.m. ET.
UPDATE: OK, here are details on the “test vote,” which is a cloture motion on Harry Reid’s bill:
Talks intensified ahead of a test vote in the Senate on the Democrats’ debt-ceiling plan. That vote is expected to fail, putting the onus on negotiators to come up with yet another alternative. . . .
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has postponed a vote on his deficit-reduction package until 1 p.m. ET. That vote is still scheduled to take place, but 43 Senate Republicans have already vowed to oppose it, putting more pressure on negotiators to come up with an alternative.
Right now, I’m watching C-SPAN2, where Barbara Boxer is blathering on with her usual partisan crap.
UPDATE III: Boxer’s crap has now ended, and John McCain is now debating Dick Durbin. It’s like Freddie Krueger vs. Jason, Alien vs. Predator.
UPDATE IV: Amid the accusations of “betrayal!” and “sellout!” from conservatives angry at GOP concessions, let’s pause to look at what liberals are saying. Nate Silver of the New York Times:
The debt deals as reported really seem like more a capitulation by the White House than a compromise.
What the Left wanted — nay, demanded — were tax-increases on “The Rich” and “Corporate America.” Obama gave speech after speech demonizing “millionaires and billionaires.” But when push came to shove, he folded like a cheap suit.
If conservatives were in a mood to declare victory, we could easily do so on such grounds. Yet it seems to be Night of the Long Knives time, and there is a lot of grassroots anger toward the Republican Establishment.
Linked by Don Surber — thanks!
by Smitty
Joining the Formidable Ann Althouse in the self-identifying rube chorus is Peggy Noonan. Sort of.
The [Republican] establishment was being conservative in the Burkean sense: acknowledge reality, respect it, and make the most progress possible within it. This has not always been true of them. They spent the first decade of this century backing things a truly conservative party would not have dreamed of—careless wars, huge spending and, most scandalously, a dreamy and unconservative assumption that it would all work out because life is sweet and the best thing always happens.
Had you been paying attention, Peggy, you’d have realized that this establishment you revere was really just a pack of Ruling Class Overlords, building since the Wilson administration. For all Reagan’s tactical success, he really didn’t leave much in the way of an intellectual heir, to continue the resurgence of America as Intended.
Thus, matters have decayed to the point where we have a POTUS of whom Peggy can say, in closing:
He is not a devil, an alien, a socialist. He is a loser. And this is America, where nobody loves a loser.
Political Clown Parade brings this statement home in a rather heavy ‘shop. Also, thanks for the pointer to Peggy’s article, PCP.
Yet even here, Peggy stands too close to the problem. She doesn’t grasp that BHO is a losing product of a system geared to produce losers, all the while talking about creating fair-adise. The Progressive Paradise is always Paradise Lost.
Update: linked at The Mind Numbed Robot, who aggregates the Peggy-flogging nicely.
The radical punk-rock anthem of our age:
Via Powerline — anybody want to transcribe the lyrics in the comments?
UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter who transcribed the first verse:
Old people grumblin’ ’bout funded medications
Subsidized housing in the capital of the nation
3 trillion dollar deficit on top of 15 trillion dollar debt
Bullet trains, windmills, and monkeys on cocaine
Monkeys on cocaine
You’re gonna pay
You’re gonna pay
You’re gonna pay
Someone’s got to pay
Welcome, Instapundit readers! The professor rounds up a slew of positive reviews from Mark Tapscott, Jim Hoft and Jonah Goldberg.
UPDATE II: The composer himself is now among our commenters and provides the complete lyrics:
Old people, government funded medication
Subsidized housing in the capital of the nation
3 trillion dollar deficit on top of 15 trillion dollar debt
bullet trains, windmills and monkeys on cocaine
you’re gonna pay, cuz someone’s got to pay
for federally funded cowboy poetry
federally funded condoms for preteens
federally funded books and magazines
I need federally funded air to breathe
chorus
for the 21st century entitlement state
where there are crickets in the coffers and pensions to pay
we need less military presence throughout continental Europe
and more fiscally responsible punk rock music now
chorus
for 70 million baby boomers’ social security
chorus
You can follow Wilson Getchell on Twitter.
I could scarcely believe it when Michelle Malkin blogged this earlier: Democrats spent more than 24 hours refusing to call a cloture vote on Harry Reid’s own debt-ceiling bill. Cloture — the motion to end debate and bring a measure to a vote — requires 60 votes and, if such a vote falls short of the 60-vote threshold, debate continues and the measure is thus said to be “filibustered.”
What has actually happened since Friday, however, is not a filibuster. Democrats led by Reid, who know they don’t have 60 votes for his bill, have refused GOP calls for the cloture vote. Democrats are thus in effect filibustering their own bill!
In one of the most amazing moments in Senate history, on Saturday afternoon Harry Reid called a “live quorum” — requiring all senators to be present in the chamber — and threw what can only be described as a tantrum, demanding that the cloture rule be waived. Malkin describes what happened:
He repeated “filibuster” 100 times and even spelled it out — f-i-l-i-b-u-s-t-er.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell asked why Reid wouldn’t allow a cloture vote on the Reid proposal at 6:30pm Eastern.
Reid let out a thin laugh and meekly said: “I object.”
This is one of those things you can’t actually believe unless you see it, so here’s the video:
You see Reid claims that Republicans are “threatening” a filibuster, but GOP leader Mitch McConnell isn’t making any threats at all — he’s just saying that the Senate should follow established procedure and have a cloture vote. Then Reid accuses Republicans of “putting lipstick” on a filibuster. As I wrote at The American Spectator:
Of course, there was not actually a filibuster. Reid simply refused to bring his own bill up for a cloture vote because he knew it would have failed to get 60 votes, thus exposing the truth that it isn’t House Republicans who are the real obstacle to passing a debt-ceiling bill. But the Democrats have invested so much propaganda in the myth of House GOP obstructionism — it’s those crazy Tea Party extremists! — that Harry had to whine, whine, whine about a “filibuster” in order to attempt to maintain the charade.
For connoisseurs of inside-the-Beltway gamesmanship, this is one of those Kodak moments you want to frame and put on the mantle.
BTW, the plan had been to bring the bill to a vote at 1 a.m. ET Sunday– an hour past midnight – but about 10 p.m. Democrats announced an adjournment until noon, with a planned vote at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
UPDATE: You may have noticed during that video that McConnell said he’d interrupted a conversation with Vice President Joe Biden in order to meet Reid’s call for a live quorum. Now there are unconfirmed reports that a deal has been reached between the White House and GOP leaders. So this leaves Harry Reid — who had previously said his bill was “the only game in town” — playing with himself.
What a complete chump!
UPDATE II: Jimmie Bise was one of the first to blog the (alleged) deal, and Ed Morrissey says:
It’s a deal we could have reached two weeks ago, but were never going to reach until time ran out.
Of course, but that’s like complaining about having to take a girl on three dates even when you knew from the start she was never going to put out until the third date.
UPDATE III: Linked by POH Diaries — thanks!
UPDATE IV: Jennifer Rubin has details of the deal:
Two senior Republican offices have confirmed that while the outlines of a debt-ceiling deal are in place, no “paper” has been exchanged. The agreement would take the country through the 2012 election, but the Boehner bill two-step cutting process would remain. A trillion in cuts up front would be followed by $1.8 more to be determined by a bipartisan commission.
(Hat-tip: Instapundit.) The important thing: No tax increases on those “millionaires and billionaires” in “corporate jets” that Obama has been demonizing for weeks. So any conservatives in a mood to claim victory can score that a “win.”
Of course, what we’re actually going to hear from conservatives is a lot of bitter complaints about GOP sellouts, while liberals whine about weak-kneed Obama “caving” to right-wing extremists.
— compiled by Wombat-socho
A One-Way Ticket to Des Moines …
Democrat Sex Scandal: Teen Accuses Oregon Congressman David Wu
MSM Goes LGF: Media Trying to Blame Norway Massacre on Pamela Geller?
CAIR Loves ‘Em Some LGF: ‘Glad to See That Chaz Is Now Marketing the Caliphate’
Obama’s Foreign Policy Is About as Successful as Obama’s Domestic Policy
Holy Freaking Crap: White House Spokesman Admits It’s Just Kabuki? UPDATED: Now With Video
BLACK MONDAY? Obama’s Debt-Ceiling Crisis Strategy Could Sink Wall Street
I Have, In Fact, Fathered One Ridiculously Handsome Fellow
Bad News, America: NASCAR Is Now Allowing French-Canadian Drivers …
A: Have You Considered Tendering Your Resignation, Sir?
FAA Shutdown Goes Mostly Unnoticed; Really Futile And Stupid Gesture Required
Obligatory Hollywood Teen Bride and ‘OMG! Bristol Palin! Scandal!’ Blogging
‘Notification of Donation Received’
Rule 5 Sunday: Too Fast For Love
HuffPo Blogger Talks About Liberty Like It’s A Bad Thing
The Economic Kabuki Is A Bigger Problem Than The Political
Bogus ‘Facts’? Twisted Logic? Raw Hate? Of Course: It’s Democratic Underground!
Spooky Kabuki: More Free Primetime TV for the Summer Bummer Obama Drama
More Honest and Interesting Than Whatever Obama’s Gonna Say on TV
Going-In Position: The Opposite Of Jim Moran’s Ideas Are Good Ones
Obama Kabuki Wrecking Your 401(k)
Nancy Pelosi’s Class-Warfare Rant: ‘We Get the Sacrifice, They Share the Wealth’
VIDEO: Dick Morris Interview With Herman Cain: ‘What an Impressive Guy!’
Hey, If You Listened to Glenn Beck …
Pamela Geller Vindicated, Again, While the LGF Auto-Beclownment Continues
House Will Vote Today on Revamped Debt-Ceiling Bill; Senate Dems Say ‘No’
BLACK FRIDAY? Betting Market Reaction to Failure of Boehner’s Debt-Ceiling Bill
Pete Wins the $10. I Blame Soros.
Top linkers this week:
Want to be included in next week’s FMJRA festival of linkagery, but WordPress rejects your unworthy Blogspot links? Send your links (along with The Other McCain post you linked) to Wombat-socho with “FMJRA” or “Shameless Blogwhoring” in the subject line by midnight August 5, and you too will be numbered among the worthy!
TheOtherMcCain.com — at least according to The Top 150 Conservative Websites list compiled by Doug Ross, based on Alexa rankings.
We’re at No. 68, ahead of the Web sites of those three think tanks, and closing in on such traffic monsters as Hannity.com (#64), MarkLevinShow.com (#60) and AnnCoulter.com (#58). I’m also pleased to see that the list includes such of our blog buddies as Wintery Knight (#150), Sundries Shack (#137), Moe Lane (#135), Legal Insurrection (#99) and The Lonely Conservative (#96).
However, notice that Ace of Spades HQ is included at #28 on the list only as part of the whole mu.nu universe, an oddity that casts in doubt the accuracy of the rankings, as does the ranking of PajamasMedia.com — including Instapundit — at #16, below Mediaite among others.
Well: Go read the whole thing. If Doug’s gonna go to the trouble of compiling a list like that, the least you can do is read it! (And you might want hit his tip jar while you’re over there.)