Rep. Tierney: Myopia or Hypocrisy?

Never let a tragedy go to waste seems to be the Democrats' new mantra. With lightning and sickening speed Democratic politicians and their message machine have tried to pin Saturday's assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) on the tea party and Sarah Palin. If politicians like Rep. Tierney and their media allies are to be believed, our country is in the midst of an age of vituperation and hatred like no other in our history. Our good congressman took to the pages of this paper (1/10) to state :

"Part of that blame goes to talk radio, shock radio and television talk shows that spew "venom" into the political debate,".

Now, it's possible that Mr. Tierney is just forgetful instead of following the playbook of the “veteran Democratic operative” who told Politico that that he/she believes that President Obama should “deftly pin [the Arizona shooting] on the tea partiers.”.If that's the case, I would like to remind him of a time when passions were every bit as heated as todays.

During the Bush(43) administration Democratic activists and politicians used rhetoric and imagery that would put to shame anything the tea party has been accused of employing. Here's a small sampling of signs that were proudly displayed at anti-war rallies in New York, Chicago and San Francisco: "Save Mother Earth, Kill Bush", "Hang Bush For War Crimes", "Bush is the Disease, Death is the Cure", "I'm here to Kill Bush (Shoot Me)". Or how about the guillotine that some Obamabot created for some Halloween fun and dubbed the "Bush Whacker" and brought to a campaign rally in Denver(10/26/08) so others could enjoy in the merriment of seeing our president's severed head? Sadly, this bloodlust for a president wasn't confined to the nutroots. Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004 fantasized of assassinating President Bush on the Bill Maher show (10/06). The transcript:

Maher: You could have went to NH and killed two birds with one stone.

Kerry: Or, I could have gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone.

I can't recall Rep. Tierney accusing his fellow delegation member of using hateful or dangerous language that could wind up with Kerry having the president's blood on his hands.

Perhaps Mr. Tierney also forgot that his own Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) put bullseyes on the districts of "targeted" Republicans when he blamed Sarah Palin for inciting violence by using similar imagery?

By Rep. Tierney's logic President Obama was responsible for nightstick wielding thugs from the New Black Panther party intimidating voters in Philadelphia because he said "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl" at a campaign event. And I suppose Obama's Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was equally responsible for the savage beating of Kenneth Gladney at a town hall event by SEIU goons because he promised "If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard"? In fact if the left were held to the same absurd standard they are trying to impose on the right then our president would be complicit in every violent act committed by a hispanic because he implored them to go out and "punish their enemies".

The left telegraphed their strategy when veteran democratic pollster Mark Penn opined "

what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing"

and journalist Mark Halperin of Time postulated

“No one wants the country to suffer another catastrophe. But when a struggling Bill Clinton was faced with the Oklahoma City bombing and a floundering George W. Bush was confronted by 9/11, they found their voices and a route to political revival.”.

By trying to gain political advantage from tragedy Rep. Tierney is reaching into the depths of depravity. The would-be assassin has been described by former friends as a "left-wing pothead" who enjoyed reading the Communist Manifesto. That sounds more like the profile of someone who submerged himself into the bile of the Democratic Underground or the Dailykos where none other than Markos Moulitsas "targeted" Giffords, on his descent into madness . Democrats like Rep. Tierney should remember the old adage about how those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Tierney's Record is the Scandal

The last time the voters of the sixth district tossed an incumbent Democrat it was scandal-plagued "Nicky Pockets". This week, our very own Johnny "Double-Down" Tierney has found himself engaged in damage control due to his wife's guilty plea in federal court. Congressman Tierney owes the voters an honest answer of what he knew and when before the election. His lame, focus-grouped, answer of being in a "twenty first century marriage" simply doesn't cut mustard. Look, the most likely explanation is that Tierney knew nothing about the eight million his wife was managing for her fugitive brother because he chose not to know. The you know what was destined to hit the fan and the congressman needed to maintain "plausible deniability". The $9,600 his mother-in-law,(who received money from the accounts) donated to his campaign and his vote against an internet gambling bill in 2006 that led to his wife's prosecution should be explained to the voters as well.

What I find far more troubling is the congressman's dismal record on job creation.The government announced on Friday that the economy shed another 95,000 jobs in September, keeping the unemployment rate at 9.6%. Unemployment has now topped 9.5% for fourteen straight months, representing the worst jobs record since the Great Depression. Yet, when the American people were begging Washington to focus on fixing the economy, Democrats instead fixated on "moving progressive agendas forward".

That agenda: The $862 billion stimulus, cap and trade, and nationalizing health care. The stimulus has proven to be nothing more than a bailout for government workers and wasted billions on Democrat special interests. Oh, they also gutted welfare reform, which they had been chomping at the bit to do since 1996. Cap and trade will increase the average family's energy bills by $1,761 a year. Since India and China have both refused to strangle their economies with similar caps on CO2, it will only increase the outsourcing of American jobs to those countries. The federal takeover of health care has proven to be the most controversial. It was recently announced that 22,000 seniors in MA will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage due to Obamacare. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Enacting this agenda hasn't been cheap. Johnny stood shoulder to shoulder with Barry, Harry and Nancy as they have pushed spending to record levels. The current spending binge has resulted in trillion plus budget deficits that extend indefinately and will result in the doubling of the national debt by 2020. The Congressional Budget Office(CBO) has found that if spending continues at this pace that taxes for everyone, not just the rich, will need to increase drastically. Their findings: The 10% bracket will increase to 25%, 25% to 63% and the 35% bracket to 88%.

Voters need to ask themselves if they can afford to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table if we double the debt and more than double taxes. Johnny hasn't asked that question, he's too busy enacting his agenda. If elected, Bill Hudak's only agenda will be getting our economy back on track and people back to work. He understands that Americans want to earn a paycheck, not scrape by on unemployment and foodstamps. I hope voters heed the Gambler's advice as they cast their ballots on Nov.2 "Know when to fold 'em,know when to walk away and know when to run".

The Spirit of '76

In addition to being one of our most colorful and quotable Founding Fathers, Ben Franklin was also a pioneer in a sad Massachusetts traditon, being born here, but moving to more favorable locals to seek opportunity. Well, in his case escaping messy domestic entanglements ran a close second to expanded job prospects. Lately, it seems hardly a day can pass without coming across a story that brings to mind Franklin's warning that "If you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you". In our modern drama, the roles of the original "wolves"(King George and Parliament), are being played by progressive politicians and their special interest allies.

Close to home we have Mayor Holaday, who is demanding that we pay more in taxes and the princely sum of $50 for the privilege of parking downtown while she receives a hefty raise. In the case of Governor Patrick we have someone who has raised taxes eight times and promises to raise them again if he's re-elected. We are represented in Congress by Rep. Tierney, who has repeatedly voted to bailout his union allies(both public and private), while voting for cap and trade and Obamacare which will cost the average household thousands of dollars more a year. Cap and trade alone is expected to decrease economic activity by $9.4 trillion between 2012-2035, that's a lot of jobs that won't be created in a country already suffering 9.6% unemployment. Last but not least we have Sen. Kerry(Captain My Captain to the crew of the Isabel) who attempted to skate on $500,000 in taxes by docking his $7 million yacht in R.I..

While they occupy different offices, their solution is always the same, raise taxes. My question, borrowed from the movie "Wall St." for our progressive leaders is how much is enough? If they're in an honest mood they'll tell you that taxes will have to increase until the ever changing goal of "social justice" is achieved. Meaning, that government will of necessity get ever bigger, requiring ever more bureaucrats and ever more of our money. We know the path they are leading us on is unsustainable, the Congressional Budget office (CBO) has said so and now progressive hero Fidel and his equally tyrannical brother Raul have admitted as much. The statement from the Cuban government read in part "Our state can't keep maintaining...bloated payrolls," . Neither can we.

This Fall our choice is clear. We can meekly follow our progressive leaders as they attempt to transform our city, state and nation into another Greece or Cuba or we can vote for candidates who embrace the concepts of economic freedom, individual liberty and individual responsibility. Our forefather's risked everything to give us a Republic, it's up to us to ensure that it doesn't become an oligarchy. Once we go down that road it's almost impossible to come back. Just ask the Castro's, they wanted to lay off a million bureaucrats, but settled for half that after they saw their Greek counterparts firebombing banks.

Oathbreakers

Constitution, Article 6 - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The first Congress developed this requirement into a simple, 14-word oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States."

The current version of the oath that members of Congress must take was implemented in 1884. This post civil war version adds a duty to preserve the union:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

By stating that "he doesn't worry about the Constitution", Rep. Hare is violating his oath of office. How many Democrats in their heart of hearts agree with the statement made my their fellow representative?

The health vote makes it pretty clear that from the president on down the Democratic party's only concern is enacting their idea of "social justice", the Constitution be damned. Then again, since Rep. Hare can't seem to tell the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence maybe it's just a matter of ignorance and a civics class will set them on the proper path. After all, John Conyers (D-MI) thinks that Congress has the power to takeover the health care system because of the "good and welfare clause" in the Constitution, which doesn't exist. Since he's the Chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee, it should give the average American citizen a fair idea of the average Congressional Democrats familiarity with our nation's founding document. Rep. Tierney's vote for the nationalization of health care shows his contempt or ignorance of the US Constitution, either way he needs to be shown the door in November by the voters of the sixth district of Massachusetts.

The Stakes

If you don't already read Mark Steyn's Saturday column on National Review Online every week you're missing this:

While Barack Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand-new, even-more-unsustainable entitlement at the health-care “summit,” thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split-screen — because they’re part of the same story. It’s just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They’re at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is farther upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided instead that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe. Chapter One (the introduction of unsustainable entitlements) leads eventually to Chapter Twenty (total societal collapse): The Greeks are at Chapter Seventeen or Eighteen.

and this

What’s happening in the developed world today isn’t so very hard to understand: The 20th-century Bismarckian welfare state has run out of people to stick it to. In America, the feckless, insatiable boobs in Washington, Sacramento, Albany, and elsewhere are screwing over our kids and grandkids. In Europe, they’ve reached the next stage in social-democratic evolution: There are no kids or grandkids to screw over.

finally

Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class. And think of Germany as one of the less profligate, still-just-about-functioning corners of America such as my own state of New Hampshire: Responsibility doesn’t pay. You’ll wind up bailing out anyway. The problem is there are never enough of “the rich” to fund the entitlement state, because in the end it disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the basic survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. In Greece, they’ve run out Greeks, so they’ll stick it to the Germans, like French farmers do. In Germany, the Germans have only been able to afford to subsidize French farming because they stick their defense tab to the Americans. And in America, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are saying we need to paddle faster to catch up with the Greeks and Germans. What could go wrong?

Andy McCarthy, also of National Review demonstrates the why and how of the Democrats' plans for achieving this goal:

That is, I think our side is analyzing this all wrong: Today's Democrats are controlled by the radical Left, and it is more important to them to execute the permanent transformation of American society than it is to win the upcoming election cycles. They have already factored in losing in November — even losing big. For them, winning big now outweighs that. I think they're right.

I hear Republicans getting giddy over the fact that "reconciliation," if it comes to that, is a huge political loser. That's the wrong way to look at it. The Democratic leadership has already internalized the inevitablility of taking its political lumps. That makes reconciliation truly scary. Since the Dems know they will have to ram this monstrosity through, they figure it might as well be as monstrous as they can get wavering Democrats to go along with. Clipping the leadership's statist ambitions in order to peel off a few Republicans is not going to work. I'm glad Republicans have held firm, but let's not be under any illusions about what that means. In the Democrat leadership, we are not dealing with conventional politicians for whom the goal of being reelected is paramount and will rein in their radicalism. They want socialized medicine and all it entails about government control even more than they want to win elections. After all, if the party of government transforms the relationship between the citizen and the state, its power over our lives will be vast even in those cycles when it is not in the majority. This is about power, and there is more to power than winning elections, especially if you've calculated that your opposition does not have the gumption to dismantle your ballooning welfare state.

The question for those of us that oppose this radical agenda is simple. How do we stop them?

Harry Reid has 50 votes for reconciliation and a compliant parliamentarian that will allow him to get whatever he wants to out of the Senate. This battle will be won or lost in the House.

Reps. Tierney, Tsongas, McGovern and Delahunt need to hear from their constituents from now until the moment the vote is taken. By electing Scott Brown, the voters of Massachusetts and their districts were very clear that they have no desire for the health care bill that is about to be shoved down our throats. In case any of these Representatives suffer from short term memory loss they need to be reminded of this fact. Tea Party anyone?