Draft McDonnell, or Jindahl, or Ryan... But Please Not The Present Choices!

Brent Bozell has a fine editorial today. In it he writes about Mark Levin and his new book Ameritopia. Near the end of Bozell's editorial he writes:

"On the campaign trail in 2008, Barack Obama proclaimed, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming America." What did that mean? Now we know it meant a dramatic radicalization of the federal government. It meant a cronyism of the most corrupt sort, with hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money transferred to major donors while entire industries are overtaken by the federal government and their ownership then transferred to loyal unions. It meant hiring dozens of czars answerable only to the president to run the federal government. It meant circumventing the will of the legislative branch by unilaterally launching regulatory measures specifically rejected by Congress (Cap and Trade), while rejecting sacred, Constitutionally-mandated practices (recess appointments). Speaking of the Constitution, it is summarily ignored (Obamacare)."

Ben Shapiro also writes in his editorial that the time has come to "clean house" (as it were) in the Republican Party. He writes:

"The Republican Party is about to nominate Mitt Romney because it is a party in crisis. Instead of focusing on... Barack Obama, Republicans are idiotically focusing on their internal differences. Unlike the Democratic Party, which is largely united around certain key issues -- gay marriage, comprehensive sex education, abortion, higher taxes, more spending -- the Republican Party is all over the place. The Republican Party includes high-tax deficit hawks, and it includes low-tax supply-siders. It includes high-spending compassionate conservatives, and it includes low-spending small government types. It includes pro-gay marriage libertarians and pro-traditional marriage religious voters. It includes hard-line, anti-immigration believers and open-borders free marketers. It includes Ron Paul isolationists, George W. Bush Wilsonians and everything in between."

Why do we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot just as we are about to win? We have Obama and progressives on the ropes and we're letting them off without even hearing the bell! Why? Many of the promising candidates have left the road to the White House because the sniping and partisan politics have taken too large a toll on their families. Some left because they could find no traction and ended up spinning their wheels in the sands of time.

Jim Geraghty asks in his editorial this morning: "How dissatisfied are Republicans with the current field of presidential candidates?Sufficiently dissatisfied to flirt with a long-shot effort to draft Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, or Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan into the presidential race, despite the trio’s repeated statements that they’re not interested in running for the office.The discussions began a few weeks before the New Hampshire primary, when one Republican consultant, who has worked for conservative Republican presidential candidates in the past but who is unaffiliated this cycle, wondered if it would be possible to repeat the results of the 1964 primary."

If none of the current candidates are our cup of tea, why should we settle for luke-warm? We are not the 99%, we are conservatives, we are T.E.A. Partiers, we are Americans and we should demand our right to be represented by a true leader. Not a pretender.

Didn't Someone Say Ramsey Clark?

At a commencement speech delivered by president Obama to the University of Michigan graduating class, the president once more seized the opportunity Obama was direct in urging both sides in the political debate to tone it down.

"Throwing around phrases like 'socialists' and 'Soviet-style takeover,' 'fascists' and 'right-wing nut' — that may grab headlines," he said. But it also "closes the door to the possibility of compromise. It undermines democratic deliberation," he said.

"At its worst, it can send signals to the most extreme elements of our society that perhaps violence is a justifiable response," he said.

Passionate rhetoric isn't new, he acknowledged. Politics in America, he said, "has never been for the thin-skinned or the faint of heart. ... If you enter the arena, you should expect to get roughed up."

Obama hoped the graduates hearing his words can avoid cynicism and brush off the overheated noise of politics. In fact, he said, they should seek out opposing views."(1)

I recall Ramsey Clark using similar language in his defense for the activities of anti-nuke activists with a ghostly familiar ring to it: violent action is sometimes justifiable. The defense for the Plowshares Eight(2), which Clark put forth claimed their actions were justified because they promote a 'greater good.' "At issue is not whether the defendant acted legally, but whether [they] acted morally."(3)

This acknowlegement by the perpetrators that their actions violate the letter of the law is very shallow. As a graduate student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, I knew Molly Rush and the Thomas Merton Center (TMC), which was conveniently located 'under the Bluff' on Pittsburgh's South Side. I was introduce to the TMC because of my daliance at the Mill Hunk Herald.(4) Members of the Herald participated in the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Day march in Washington, D.C., in September 1981. It was here that I met Beth, a toothsome young blond, from the TMC who was bitten by the anti-nuclear bug in general, along with Molly Rush and the TMC, so it was only natural that I follow Beth. On June 12, 1982, a large gathering of protesters met to demonstrate in New York City's Central Park against nuclear weapons

and for an end to the cold war arms race. This was known as the largest political demonstration in American History.(5)

(1)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100501/ap_on_re_us/us_obama

(2) http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ29-AntiNuclearProtests.html On September 9, 1980 Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, Dean Hammer, Elmer Maas, Carl Kabat, Anne Montgomery, Molly Rush, and John Schuchardt of the "Plowshares Eight" entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and hammered on Mark 12A nuclear warheads (a first-strike weapon for the MX missile). During their trial they were not allowed to present evidence on international law or the defense of necessity but were convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and criminal mischief and were sentenced to five to ten years in prison. They were defended by Ramsey Clark and others, and their appeals took ten years. Their trial is depicted in the movie In the King of Prussia with Martin Sheen playing the judge and the defendants playing themselves. Their disarmament action was followed by many other plowshare actions at General Dynamics Electric Boatyard at Groton, Connecticut, protesting the Trident submarines, and at other facilities where nuclear weapons are developed.

(3)http://www.jstor.org/pss/3480788

(4)http://www.thenorthsidechronicle.com/25thanniversary-evans?calendarDate=2010-02-11

(5)http://www.icanw.org/1982