Clipping blog

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• Clearing the Browser Tabs – The Divine Right of Bureaucrats Thursday Edition
• Hey Republicans! Let’s Make A Video!
• The New MSM Meme: John Huntsman, The Man Who Scares Democrats

Clearing the Browser Tabs – The Divine Right of Bureaucrats Thursday Edition Posted: 19 May 2011 03:10 AM PDT Joy McCann has an interesting post on the privileges of power and how that has brought us back to a situation where certain men can do as they like without serious consequence. Indeed, in the case of Monsieur Strauss-Khan, his country seems more than willing to focus on the trivial rather than wonder how such an apparently monstrous man could rise to such a position of prevalence. That is, I suppose, the inevitable state of those who have subjected their own free will to the will of deeply flawed human beings. Then again, since we’re all deeply flawed human beings, we should consider the options that leave us most in possession of our freedom and individual power, wouldn’t you think? And now, links! It’s a good thing Stacy McCain is a friend of mine, otherwise I’d think he truly enjoyed writing posts about the undeserving, overhyped clowns who have no problem raising millions even though their record of success is as long as what you’d find inside a fortune cookie. Ladd Ehlinger is not above profiting from those who take Harold Camping seriously. I’m not entirely sure why I have not followed suit. Thank goodness one of our “partners for peace” in the Middle East was around to tell us what good all those Jews in Israel are! Without him, we might have thought they had some sort of right to live or something. I bet California could go a long way toward solving its budget problem if, instead of barring its citizens from 70 parks, the state sold them to people who would open them up to the public. Ed Driscoll is right. Our MSM is packed full of jelly-spined pantywaists. This is a serious question. Now that the administration has used the NRLB and the IRS to punish political opponents, what level of coercion does it consider off-limits, if any? And speaking of corrupt government, how about a video in which a leader of the AFL-CIO openly admits to a crime at the California Democratic Convention and no one calls him on it? Yesterday was the 31st anniversary of the explosion of Mount. St. Helens.

Hey Republicans! Let’s Make A Video! Posted: 18 May 2011 05:41 PM PDT Okay Republicans, time to show you have some game. Here’s the deal. A well-heeled left-wing activist group made a commercial to attack Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform plan. It is, as you’d expect from a group founded by the woman behind Media Matters, Think Progress, and the F**k Tea line of clothing, a bilious load of crap. However, it’s out there and deserves a response, lest it be taken as gospel by those who only watch the MSM for their news every day. I’d like a see a video response, released by the end of the week. It’ll take a bit of hustle, some real creativity, and a couple folks who know how to do good video work, but those things are in plentiful supply in the conservative new media. Go get Ladd Ehlinger to handle the directing. Bring Ben Howe, Lee Doren, and Steven Crowder to write and act in it (you’ll need to cast a couple other parts, but that shouldn’t be difficult). Among the four of them, production and editing should be a snap. I’ll even give you the outline of the new video. I admit it’s rough, since I pretty much just cooked it up off the top of my head while on Twitter, but I’m sure that those four guys could whip it into something funny and cutting. Here’s what I suggest. Shoot the new video just like the old one — exactly like it, including “America the Beautiful” and the nice old lady — right up to the point where the Paul Ryan stand-in starts to push her down the hill. That’s when the video will change. My video would have the old woman dig in her heels and stop the wheelchair. She’d get up quickly, turn to the stand-in and say, “Wait a minute. You’re trying to tell America that Paul Ryan and his friends want to kill senior citizens? Is that what you’re doing?” The stand-in would stammer nervously for a second and she’d continue, “That’s not true at all. That’s a lie! Paul Ryan doesn’t want to kill people like me! he wants to make sure that when you’re my age, young man, you have a safety net just like I have now!” At this point, she will have turned to address the camera crew, who would be shot by a second camera. “You ought to be ashamed spreading a lie like that! Why we can read Paul Ryan’s plan for ourselves right on the internet! Just who do you think you are?” The camera crew would look more and more ashamed as she confronts them, like they’d rather be anywhere else but there at that moment. Then, the woman would turn to the camera. “The people who made this, these friends of Democrats, think we senior citizens are stupid. They think we’ll fall for this silly lie. Well, we’re not and we won’t. Shame on them!”. Then, she’ll walk off, muttering to herself about contributing to Republicans and working to throw liars out of office and getting all her friends to do the same. If conservatives hope to get a real toehold in the popular entertainment culture, we’re going to have to move quickly, be witty, and use the vast legion of smart and funny people who are already out there in the social media world doing the work we want done. It’s time Republicans brought a few of those people into the game for real. This video would be an important beginning. So get cracking, GOP!

The New MSM Meme: John Huntsman, The Man Who Scares Democrats Posted: 18 May 2011 12:31 PM PDT There’s an old saying that goes “Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence; the third time is enemy action.” It’s a useful phrase to remember during a Presidential election season as you can use it to identify interesting new memes coming out of the MSM. Take, for instance, the story reported last week by Jake Tapper at ABC News headlined, “Top Democrats: Huntsman Would Be Toughest to Beat in 2012; Won’t Win GOP Nomination”. Here’s how it begins. Top Democrats in and outside the White House, speaking on background so they could be more candid, suggest that former US Ambassador to China and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman would be the GOP candidate President Obama would least like to face in 2012 — but they think he can’t win the nomination. The very qualities that make Huntsman formidable in November 2012 — his centrism and bipartisanship — will work against him in Iowa and South Carolina, Democrats say. White House senior adviser David Plouffe was years ago quoted saying the notion of a Huntsman candidacy made him “queasy.” Now, if you had read that, you might think to yourself, “Well, that’s interesting. Maybe this Huntsman guy, of whom I had not heard until just now, might be a formidable opponent to the President.” What you won’t think is, “Gee. I wonder why ‘top Democrats’ are praising a Republican and pointing out their own President’s electoral weak spots?” There’s a reason for that. This is not a real news story. It’s propaganda. Notice what makes Huntsman fearsome to the likes of David Plouffe. First, he’s a centrist, which to most progressives means that he’s easy meat in any Presidential election (since no “centrist” has won the White House in my lifetime). Second, he’s bipartisan, which is Democrat-speak for anyone who’ll give in to their demands without demanding anything of consequence in return. But that was only one story. It could simply be happenstance — a few idle words by a couple Democrats here and there. Now, consider this story that appeared in Time Magazine a day later, entitled “Jon Huntsman: The Potential Republican Presidential Candidate Democrats Most Fear”. Curious that such a glowing profile of a candidate who has to little popular support or name recognition among Republicans nationwide would get such attention, don’t you think? Yet, there it is, a day after Jake Tapper’s report on the murmurings from “top Democrats”. Coincidence? Well, let’s see. Jump forward six more days to yesterday, and a piece in The Hill headlined, “Dems find awkward foe in Huntsman”. If Jon Huntsman is not the most feared potential Republican opponent for President Obama in 2012, he certainly would be the most awkward. As the former ambassador to China plots a possible presidential bid, Democratic operatives have yet to figure out how to handle a man who, until two weeks ago, was a loyal and highly praised member of the Obama administration. [...] Ask Democrats about Huntsman, however, and the most frequent response has been: "No comment." They offer nothing but praise for his service to Obama, and nary a word of criticism about his five years as the Republican governor of Utah. Huh. More whispered concerns from anonymous “top Democrats”. More glowing praise from administration sources. The same David Plouffe quote snippet. More talk of centrism and bipartisanship. Three stories in a week, all with the same thrust? That’s not coincidence and it’s not journalistic synchronicity. That’s intentional propaganda from inside the Democratic Party. Jon Huntsman scares “top Democrats” not because he can beat Barack Obama in the general election but because he can beat him in the primaries. The like him because he’s the appealing centrist they wish they had — the guy who is already with them on certain of their progressive schemes like cap-and-trade and who could be pulled closer to them on others, like spending. Unlike the President, he has a resume full of electoral success and few, if any, skeletons in his closet they’d have to devote time and resources to hide. If Jon Huntsman were to flip parties right now, he’d crush Barack Obama. No one would hold the flip against him — heck, he’s halfway there now as a former Obama appointee. That is what really scares Democrats right now and so the puff pieces that paint him as a formidable Republican so that he’ll stay right there and start drawing attacks from fellow GOP candidates (attacks the Democrats do not want to have to make right now). I find it hard to believe that three different major media outlets all spontaneously decided to write the same things about the same candidate, with many of the same sources and quotes. I prefer to apply the old aphorism and note the obvious enemy action. I hope that other conservatives will do the same.

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