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Political Strategy Lessons for Conservatives
Written by Cal August
Wednesday, 04 February 2009 04:59
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Having listened to various conservative-minded commentators, various opinions are coming out on how Obama’s instincts in the choices he makes should be perceived.  Listening to Rush Limbaugh, it’s obvious that he doesn’t trust Obama’s instincts.  Limbaugh would argue that he’s studied the man, he knows leftists, and he believes that Obama is a leftist through and through.

The leftist instinct is to do just about everything you want to do, regardless of public opinion or opposition. That instinct is also to go after one’s opponents relentlessly.  I think that could be said of how the Clintons operated politically.  George W. Bush’s instincts seemed to be just the opposite, reaching out in every possible way, and of course, getting burned by his opponents and the media. Now, he is being lambasted in the short-term by conservatives too, as they look back on his presidency!

It is clear that the present economic situation is tied strongly to past Democrat policies and blunders, but they will hang this like an anvil around the neck of Bush’s presidency.  In fact, as Obama presses for a new “bailout” package, the Democrats will do what they can to push this as an add-on to the bailout of Bush’s tenure. This will happen, especially if it fails, which regarding the evidence of the first “bailout” package, it likely will.

Another conservative, Bill Bennett had a different opinion regarding Obama’s instincts.  He believes that Obama has conservative-minded tendencies. I think Bennett’s point would be, in order for Obama to continue to succeed he will have to do a number of “conservative” things, that is if he wants to be a “two-termer.” Bennett has suggested that Obama does actually have some conservative instincts, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it this far politically.

My thought is, until we see what he does, I have my doubts.  More likely, because the conservative vote is needed to win, liberals in the media and in politics will spin liberal policies as “conservative” and talk about a more bi-partisan effort in congress. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will talk about how their efforts are far more bi-partisan than past Republican congresses, when in fact, they will most certainly be more democratically partisan.

Conservatives who want to win will have to be genuinely conservative in their approach to all policies, while taking on a more liberal-mindset in just one area: they’ll have to do like liberals do, and go out and crush their opponents, defeating them and their ideas decisively. They must not worry so much about working with the Democrats, but providing a strong alternative to foolish Democrat policies. They must relentlessly go after liberalism, and forget bipartisanship.

Conservatives must also remember that the mainstream media is essentially in the left-hand pocket of Democrat politicians. They should not trust the media to get their message out, or to portray them in a positive light. They must therefore spotlight media foolishness and hypocrisy when possible, and when asked to do interviews, decline when they believe they won’t get a fair shake. Instead, conservatives should go to a variety of alternative media sources where they will get a fairer shot at sharing their message.

–Cal Samuel August, copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.

 
Thoughts on the general election and what to expect in the next four years
Written by Cal August
Monday, 10 November 2008 05:16
6 Comments

The media has succeeded in pulling the wool over people’s eyes yet again. How else could you explain what happened last Tuesday? Congress has had an incredibly low approval rating, far lower than George W. Bush’s. And yet, the reaction in Tuesday’s elections was not against the ruling democrats, but against republicans. You would have thought that it was the republicans in charge of congress the way voters kicked them out of office.

We were told in 2006 about the Republican “culture of corruption.” But two years of a democrat controlled congress showed that they too have a corruption problem (case in point, John Murtha). And when it comes to the economy, it was Democrats who “forced” many banks through legislation to make loans to credit candidates who could not possibly pay, essentially bringing on the economic crisis. Ironically, it was republicans who tried to bring about reform and change during this time, while the democratic majority pushed the status quo.

With the danger of not being taken seriously I thought I’d bring up a little parallel from pop-culture here . . . In the last Star Wars movie that came out (Episode III), Darth Vader and the emperor were without a doubt portrayed in a way meant to make them parallel our latest President, George W. Bush. Amazing how liberals can take their wildest and most ridiculous fears and project them on to republicans, when in certain instances it is really democrats who will perpetrate the greatest abuses of power when they’re in charge.

For example, one of the first abuses of power the democrats in congress surely want to institute is the “Fairness Doctrine.” The intention is to shut up any and all opposing ideas coming from the conservatives of talk radio.

If you want to institute the Fairness Doctrine liberals, the American people ought to demand it be applied to the entire media. If CNN, MSNBC and the major networks are going to do their thing, how about putting Rush Limbaugh’s Ditto Cam version of his radio show on for half the time liberals gush on and on with their unfortunate ideas?

If talk radio is gagged, the millions of conservative listeners ought to demand that this insidious blocking of everyone’s right to freedom of speech be executed against the entire media. This is one instance where we should do like the liberals and never stop making noise until we get our way. And with talk radio in the control of liberals will the blogosphere be next?

In reality, I think the economy is a false front used to mask abuses like these and many, many more which are surely coming our way. Why else would the liberal democrats and the main-stream media portray the economic crisis that has occurred in the last few weeks as the Great Depression II? Now that the country is unilaterally ruled by liberal democrats, you know who to blame if the economy slumps further. But not to worry; I'm sure that democrats, with the connivance of the liberal media, can still find a way to blame Bush and the republicans for any and every problem we have.

 
Serious inexperience, na·ïve·té, the hallmarks of the Obama candidacy
Written by Cal August
Monday, 23 June 2008 03:51
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When It Comes to Barack Obama, we can only “hope” that he is not the “change” we end up with. He has repeatedly said that he will disarm our nation. One may think that the many years of U.S. pressure through the Cold War is what finally wore down the Soviet Union. But it was actually Ronald Reagan’s policies of peace through strength, ramping up our firepower that won the Cold War. Not a shot was fired when the Soviet Union fell.

In contrast, when World War II began for us many years earlier, our enemy at that time, Japan, thought they could defeat us in a quick war with a knockout punch. On the other side of the Atlantic, would-be allies appeased and negotiated with our enemies. In that dire war, we won through strength, not through appeasement. We began without the necessary weapons, only a brave fighting force with pre-World War I fighting equipment. Would our enemies have been so bold to attack had we been more formidable?

Nature gives us an easily comprehensible lesson in “peace through strength.” Imagine a porcupine without quills; such an animal would be a feast for predators. In reality, not even grown lions dare to attack an African porcupine-only the young foolish ones. That’s because the porcupine is well armed. In this case, “peace through strength” is demonstrated by an excellent natural defense system.

That little example serves as an excellent analogy for our national defense. When it comes to our modern enemies, Barack Obama would seek to disarm and weaken our nation. To borrow from my analogy, we would be the porcupine, only without quills. But don’t take my word for it; this is by his own admission.

And what of our foreign policy? Our presence in Iraq, and a strong Iraqi nation will provide a counterbalance against Iran’s instability. But that is not the opinion of Barack Obama, whose rhetoric so far has been a version of John Kerry’s, the Iraq War is a “failure,” so let’s cut-n-run. Kerry was more forceful in his rhetoric, probably owing to the fact that it was a dire situation at the time. But the policies since that period have been incredibly successful in Iraq. Yet, Obama has failed to recognize this. It seems in his arrogance that he really doesn’t care, instead believing he can negotiate with Iran’s wacky president. (It kind of reminds me of the guy in the original Die Hard movie that believed he could negotiate with the criminals. He came into the room with great confidence and swagger, and the results were not pretty.)

As the public, you should be informed. Our national election is not high school government, where the most charismatic, popular guy wins. In a presidential election a person shouldn’t win because 4 out of 5 liberal dentists prefer him. Nor should they win because they can do no wrong in the eyes of the media.

The media is carrying Obama’s water (failing to realize what they’re carrying is a strainer), and in the meantime, they’re not reporting the many great successes that are occurring right now in Iraq. Since the media won’t give you the straight scoop on Iraq, you should know that there is a place you can go to find out what is really going on in Iraq, and how amazing our country’s fighting force is. Check out Multi-National Force Iraq where you can read recent great news stories like these:

Baghdad students back to school

Strike destroys major al-Qaida in Iraq cell

We’re clearly winning in Iraq. The consequences for losing will be a horribly weakened America. Don’t be a sucker for the tripe of Obama and the media. My recommendation is you vote “NOBama” this year.

Editor's Note: The image of Obama and Osama are courtesy of T.R. Oglodad.