Article from the Wall Street Journal

Article from the Wall Street Journal Form by Eddie Sessions:


"I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he's led a kind of

make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because

at some point early on somebody or some group took a look at this tall, good

looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim

name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his

facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.


In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do

you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? "Dreams of My Father"

was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The "Audacity of Hope"

followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some who

think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a

"communist with a small 'c'" was the real author.


His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be

deemed controversial.. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature

to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having

Mayor Daley's formidable political machine at his disposal.


He was in the U.S.. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was

either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game

plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital.

How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the

Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever

even heard of him before?


He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A

charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black

population, he oozed "cool" in a place where agriculture was the antithesis

of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a

charisma that hid any real substance.


And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one

of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole. And then

John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female

governor from the very distant state of Alaska .. It was a ticket that was

reminiscent of 1984's Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went

down to defeat.


The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl

crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now

over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin,

was extraordinary.


Now, nearly a full year into his first term, all of those gilded years

leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left

to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the

wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the

briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters.


Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to "wish away" some terrible

realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy

America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam

initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe , having gained a

foothold in Spain ..


The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign "world tour"

were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the

reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions.


Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has

positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party's hold on power in Congress

because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about his

communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college

professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.


Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police

officer who arrested an "obstreperous" Harvard professor-friend, but would

warn Americans against "jumping to conclusions" about a mass murderer at

Fort Hood who shouted "Allahu Akbar." The absurdity of that was lost on no

one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber "an

isolated extremist" only to have to admit a day or two later that he was

part of an al Qaeda plot..


He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at

Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the

battlefield against America .. He could even instruct his Attorney General to

afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever

even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days

before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist

attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following

day because his first statement was so lame.


The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush

administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.


Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the

sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and

manufactured this pathetic individual's life.


When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this

man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other

documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered

from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain

hidden.


We laugh at the ventriloquist's dummy, but what do you do when the dummy is

President of the United States of America ?"

Obama...the IDIOT!

I am so unbelievably frustrated and well heck I will say it, PISSED OFF!!! It is absolutely incomprehensable to me that anyone with a single brain cell left could ever be happy with Mr Obama as our president. How about Mr Obama stop blameing everyone else for the VERY SAD state our country is in and start owning up to his own idiocy! How about he look at the fact that since he took office, taxes have increased, unemployment has jumped to an all time high, people in this country are suffering and all this man can say is, its all their fault! COME ON!!!! Are you like 5 years old??? You think the american people are so STUPID that they cant see for themselves that YOU are the problem!!! No, the previous administration wasn't perfect, but at least they took responsibility!! I spend my life trying my damndist to make sure my children are raised to be responsible citizens, who accept responsibility for their actions and accept consequences for their mistakes! Why on Gods green earth is the president of our country not held to the same standard?????? He continuously lies, has secret meetings (even tho he said his admin would be the most open and up front ever) treats the american people as if we are the biggest idiots hes ever met, and yet some people still think the sun rises and sets out of his ass!?!? People talk about Sarah Palin...how is she so popular? She doesn't really know anything, shes just charismatic and people fall for it....WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK MADE OBAMA POPULAR??????? His qualifications? Oh wait, he had none...his experience...Oh wait, none of that either...His wonderful plan for america...oh darnit, didn't have that either!!!! WTH????? Really people???
There are 5 women in my department at work, 3 out of 5 of us have husbands who have recently been laid off...Also my sisters husband has been laid off...not good odds! But people still somehow are blind enough to think that Obama is doing as he promised??? How? Where? Cuz Im definately not seein it!!! I have filed my own taxes for the past 4 years, this is the first year I have gotten BEANS for a tax return, and it has taken twice as long to get that return!! But of course that cant have anything to do with our jackass moron president!!! Its all Bush's fault...even tho Bush hasn't been in office for TWO YEARS!!!! There has to come a point when this man stops blaming every one else and actually is made to take responsibility!! I mean really, at the very end of his GOD AWFUL 4 year term is he still gonna be preachin his bullshit that its still Bush's fault??? OF COURSE HE WILL!!! CUZ PEOPLE ARE BUYING HIS BULLSHIT!!!! I am going to spend the next 2 years PRAYING with everything I have that our next president actually has a brain, and uses it!!! Imagine that!!!! I would LOVE if Glenn Beck, or Sarah Palin were to run for president!! The Dems think oh thats just dumb, they have no chance...you wait...you wait until this man has been DESTROYING our economy and our military's authority, and our healthcare system for FOUR YEARS and see if the people aren't so ready to get him out they would put BARNEY FEIF in office to do it!!

Why Im a Republican

http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/
Robert A. Hall
Massachusetts Senate, 1973-83
January, 2010



I am a Republican because I know a government’s first responsibility is to protect the lives, property and freedoms of its citizens. I support a strong national defense. I support victory in the war against the Islamic Jihadists who would use violence to impose their tyrannical political-religious life system on the world. Only through victory over this fascist-like abomination can we guarantee the freedom, lives and property of the millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and decent people of other faiths and beliefs who want only peace and prosperity.

I am a Republican because I believe that enemy prisoners of war should be treated according to the Geneva Convention, as POWs, and that those who do not wear a uniform and seek to sabotage and murder us should also be treated according to the Geneva Convention and the laws of war as illegal combatants, as FDR did with Nazis in WWII. Enemy POWs who are trying to destroy the constitution are not entitled to the protection of that constitution or to civilian trials as though they were American citizens, any more than the Nazi prisoners of WWII were entitled to lawyers and trials.

I am a Republican because I believe in American exceptionalism, and I know that America has far more to be proud of in what we’ve given the world, than to apologize for. America is the only superpower that has not tried to take other countries by force, asking only a bit of land to bury our dead, who fell freeing them from oppression. I know that when a disaster happens, the hopeful eyes of the victims turn not to the UN, or to Europe, but to America and our military.

I am a Republican because I know that at its best government creeps ever toward the statist tyranny of collectivism. I support limited government, and the checks and balances in our constitution, including the separation of powers between the branches of the federal government and between the federal government and the states. I am a Republican because I understand that government is necessary, but that limited government protects freedom—no person or party can be trusted with unlimited power. And I know that tyranny can win elections.

I am a Republican because I believe in the individual and in individual rights and responsibilities, and I oppose collectivism, statism and the desire of the nanny state bureaucrats to care for and control us from cradle to grave. I am a Republican because “equality of opportunity” is the great promise of our Republic, while chasing the chimera of “equality of outcomes” leads to repression and poverty for all.

I am a Republican because I know that free enterprise, free markets and free trade are the economic engines that have provided the best standards of living for the maximum number of people throughout history. Without property rights and economic freedom, there is no political freedom. All other systems have provided only poverty and repression.

I am a Republican because I support Freedom of Speech, even on University campuses, even if statists want to criminalize speech they dislike or disagree with as “hate speech.”

I am a Republican because I support Freedom of Religion and the constitutional prohibition against the establishment of a state religion, but I know this does not mean “freedom from religion,” nor that the government must suppress religious observances and convictions on behalf of those without faith.

I am a Republican because I support the Second Amendment, and the right of honest and decent people to own firearms not only for hunting and recreation, but to protect themselves and their families from the domestic terrorists and criminals in our midst.

I am a Republican because I know that it is the private sector that creates lasting prosperity and wealth. When the government puts money in the economy, it must first take money from the economy through taxes or borrowing, and thus puts less back than it takes, as the bureaucracy soaks up its share. The government doles out money on the basis of what is best for politically-connected groups, not what will best help the economy.

I am a Republican because I know that government is inherently inefficient and that it makes political rather than economic decisions. Therefore I oppose the government taking over anything that can be left to the private sector.

I am a Republican because I believe in openness and transparency in government. I know that members of my party have not always followed this principle, but they should, leaving the secret and corrupt backroom deals to those who are more experienced in making them.

I am a Republican because I care about the integrity of the electoral process, and believe that voter fraud and voter intimidation should be punished severely, because it strikes at the basis of all our freedoms.

I am a Republican because I believe in diversity in a political party’s leadership. Law is an honorable profession, but when a party is controlled entirely by lawyers—or any other profession—in its leadership, it is disastrous for the country. I believe a review of the lawsuit crisis in America, and what it does to the cost of healthcare, the economy and the faith of people in the system amply demonstrates this point.

I am a Republican because I believe in fiscal responsibility in government. I know Republicans have too often strayed from this principle, tempted to buy votes through earmarks and deficit spending for short-term political gain, but I believe our party must bear the responsibility for fiscal discipline even at the cost of electoral defeat at the hands of those seeking handouts. We have seen in 2009 exactly what happens when a political party with no fiscal discipline gains full control of government and begins to reward favored groups. The demand for largess always rapidly outstrips the supply of cash.

I am a Republican because I believe in integrity in public office. That Republicans have been guilty of misfeasance or malfeasance in office is undeniably true, and pains me. As Republicans, we should drive them out first and punish them more severely, just as a police officer should be held to a higher standard. But historically, Republicans have been the party of integrity and reform, and we must fight for honest government, even against party members.

I am a Republican because I know that low taxes stimulates the economy better than government spending, and because people who work hard and earn their money should be allowed to keep as much of it as possible. Doing so provides the incentive for improving people’s lives through innovation and for creating jobs.

I am a Republican because I believe that political decisions should be made by elected officials answerable to the people, at the lowest level of government possible to be responsible to the people, rather than by unelected federal bureaucrats answerable to no one but union bosses.

I am a Republican because I care about, support and try to practice tolerance and respect for people who are black, white, red, brown, yellow, old, young, male, female, gay, straight, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans and Global Warming Devotees, and I don't think they should be discriminated against, either by Jim Crow laws or Affirmative Action laws. I believe the law should judge us, and we should judge each other, as individuals. I don’t believe that elected officials should get a pass on integrity issues because they belong to a favored ethnic group. Just as we do not help the Republican Party by soft-pedaling or covering up corruption by Republicans, we do not help blacks and the cause of eradicating racism by soft-pedaling or covering up corruption because an elected official happens to be black. Doing so suggests that the powers that be expect such from black people, a terrible burden the Democrats have placed on that race.

I am a Republican because I believe in diversity of thought, and think that the rigid lack of intellectual diversity and group-think in our universities is a growing disaster for the country.

I am a Republican because I am proud of the history of the Republican Party in ending slavery, defending freedom, saving the Union and providing a majority of the legislative votes to pass women’s suffrage over the objections of “Progressive Democrat” Woodrow Wilson (look it up).

I am a Republican because the Republican Party better represents the philosophy of the nation’s founders, especially including Thomas Jefferson, and of Andrew Jackson, and of Abraham Lincoln, while the modern Democrat party increasingly has its intellectually roots in utopian European collectivism, not in American individualism.

I am a Republican because I know that being a Republican doesn’t require me to vote for every person who runs for office with an “R” next to the name, and especially not if that person does not demonstrate the necessary competence, integrity or commitment to basic principles to deserve to hold the office.

As a life-long Republican, I reject the concept that all Republicans must think alike on every issue to be good Republicans, like religious factions killing each other over smaller and smaller pieces of doctrine. Attempts to purge the party of the “impure” will eventually result in there being only one “pure” Republican, who won’t win any elections.

Despite the stereotypes pushed by Democrats and the media, I do not have inherited wealth, I’m certainly not in their class warfare, tax-target group of elite earners making over $250,000 a year (unfortunately). I’m not a banker, a Wall Street trader, a stock broker, a doctor, or a business executive. I’m not even a small business owner, a group Democrats speak well of but try to tax and regulate to extinction, even after the owner’s death. I’m been a Marine and a full time state senator. Since 1982, I’ve worked for non-profits. Through hard work, I make a comfortable living for my family. I think my retirement, if I’m forced to retire by age or health, will be financially tight. I’m just a middle class American who has tried, always, to be of service. And I’m a Republican.

*****

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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate immediately after graduating from the University of Massachusetts in 1972 with a degree in Government. He holds an MEd in History from Fitchburg State, and has published two books, The Good Bits and Chaos for Breakfast. He blogs at http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/.