Michael Steele on the Way forward for the GOP…

Over the course of the last year, I’ve promised myself never to blindly support the Democratic party again (although I did vote for its’ congressional candidates ). Anyway, I am not open to giving the GOP a serious look, and in doing so , I came across this article by Michael Steele in the WSJ, Steele is the former Lieutenant-Governor of Maryland, and current contender for the post of GOP Chairman. Here are a few excerpts: 

Republicans once said that the opportunities this nation has to offer rest not in government but rather in the hands of individuals. Over the past decade or so, however, we Republicans lost our way. The disparity between our rhetoric and our action grew until our credibility snapped. It wasn’t the fault of our ideals. It was the failure of our leadership.

Over time, our principles morphed into baser motives. Continued political dominance grew more important to those who led us than the noble vision most of us originally signed on for. And to maintain power we turned to the controls of government — we became the party of big government. We behaved like Democrats.

Most Americans today see a Republican Party that defines itself by what it is against rather than what it is for. We can tell you why public schools aren’t working, but not articulate a compelling vision for how we’ll better educate children. We’re well equipped to rail against tax increases; but can’t begin to explain how we’ll help the poor. We exclude far better than we welcome.

We must articulate a positive vision for America’s future that speaks to Americans’ hopes, concerns and needs. It’s time to stop defining ourselves by what we are not, and tell voters what we believe, how we’ll lead, and where we’ll go; how we Republicans will make America better; how we’ll make their families more prosperous, their children better educated, their parents more secure, and all of us healthier, safer and stronger.

I say this with all seriousness, if the GOP can do what is outlined in the last paragraph, I might just become a fully engaged Republican…

Posted by PUMA Pundit

Letter to the Republican Party from a concerned PUMA…

Dear Members of the Republican Party,

Like millions of other PUMAs, the only thing I’ve decided about this election is that under no circumstances would I be voting for Barack Obama. However, like millions of other PUMAs I have also realized that the only way to ensure that Barack Obama is not elected President is if John McCain wins on November 4th.

In the last few months, I have watched with amazement as you have worked hard to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the Presidential election. In your public and private utterances you have been pessimistic, downcast, fatalistic and have shown signs of being mentally out of the game.

How easily you forget that compared to Barack Obama, in John McCain you not only have a candidate who was legitimately elected by your party, but you have a better candidate, a better message, and a better connection to Main Street, USA. Despite all this you carry on like the election is over and Barack Obama has already won.

It is sad that compared to the rank and file of the GOP, PUMAs are more steadfast in their belief that an Obama presidency is not inevitable. All over the MSM, in the blogosphere and in conversations with people everywhere, members of the GOP who should still be fighting the good fight are talking like a party that has already lost. Why should this be so?

As PUMAs, during the primaries we took the Obama machine on and won, we kept our faith and acted from the realization that no matter what our contributions were, doing something was infinitely better than doing nothing. Either way we knew that sink or swim, till it was over, it iwas not over. The GOP needs to come to this same realization in regards to this election immediately.

The reason Hillary prevailed till she chose to give it all up for the sake of party unity (my a..) is because those of us in her corner supported her candidacy against all odds. Despite all of Hillary’s flaws, and believe you me, there are many, when it came to supporting her candidacy we never showed hurt, never showed fear, never backed down, and never gave up. You can do the same.

As PUMAs we worked our butt off to ensure Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party’s Primary, against all odds, including being outspent 4 : 1, the MSM being in Obama’s corner, charges of racism and blatant displays of sexism by Obama and his surrogates, and last but not least, electoral fraud perpetuated by ACORN. Folks, indeed the more things change the more they stay the same, nothing has changed, except John McCain has taken the place of Hillary Clinton.

How dare you back down, how dare you give up on John McCain and Sarah Palin? Right now they are the only two people in the world standing between the America we love and cherish and a society remade in the image of Barack Obama. Obama is a man whose political ideology is more in line with that of Daniel Arap Moi, a founding father of Kenya who thrived on the cult of personality, than it is in line with that of our founding father, George Washington, a man who put it all on the line so that our country would truly be greater than any one man.

Is it going to be hard to do this, but you must fight. You must stop griping, complaining and talking about how the deck is stacked against your candidate and your party, yes, life isn’t fair, but it has never been. Instead get in the trenches to fight for McCain/Palin. There must be no retreat, there must be no surrender, till it is midnight in Hawaii and the election is over in all parts of the United States, the election is not over.

Go out and talk to people, educate people on McCain and Palin’s strengths, also educate people on Obama and Biden’s extremely obvious character deficiencies. Nobody who truly loves America and the American way of life can compare the candidates and give any sort of edge to Obama/Biden.

Not everybody is going to listen to you, but who cares? If people don’t want to listen to you, go talk to someone else, if they don’t want to listen to you, go talk to yet another person, eventually, you’ll find someone who has been waiting just to hear your message, and that person will at the minimum NOT vote for Obama, even if s/he does not vote for McCain/Palin. Every single not cast for Obama is a vote that keeps Obama out of the White House, it is that simple.

None of this is going to be easy, pleasant or maybe even enjoyable, because hard work is required, but guess what? The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Lastly, Republicans, you can count on PUMAs to work till the bell is rung to prevent Obama from being elected, you must do the same!

Posted by PUMA Pundit

Say What? MSNBC Calls Biden Out…

Stranger things have been known to happen, but yet and still, this really ranks up there in the “tales of the bizzare”…

Basically, Joe Biden is an Earmark King, and has been one for much of his 30 year career in the Senate. McCain/Palin asked him to release his earmarks since he got into Congress, and he has refused, choosing only to release earmarks for 2008.

Courtesy of Hotair, ead and enjoy:

David Schuster and James Popkin take a closer look at Joe Biden and his earmarks, which Biden has refused to itemize prior to this year — when he’s requested over $340 million in pork. Instead of an Olbermann rationalization about Biden’s earmarks somehow having the power to transform America when combined with Obamessiah-y goodness, Popkin and Schuster note the staggering hypocrisy between Barack Obama’s primary rhetoric and his defense of his running mate now:

Here’s the vid:

and here’s the transcript:

DAVID SCHUSTER: As far as Democrat Joe Biden, the GOP has a clock running on their website counting the minutes since Republicans first called on Biden to release his earmarks, over 9 days and 23 hours. He has released his earmarks for this year but not previous. Where does Joe Biden stand on earmarks?

JIM POPKIN: Well, Joe Biden also has been an active participant in the earmark game. Just this year alone, he disclosed that he’s requested $342 million in earmarks. And what the McCain campaign, the GOP, is asking for is a more fulsome list. He’s been in Congress since 1972 and they’re asking for a list dating back over those 3 decades; his entire list of earmark requests which presumably would be much higher than the $342 million that he’s acknowledged just this year alone.

SCHUSTER: And it’s so interesting because just this past week the Washington Times wrote, in March when Mr. Obama released his 2005 and 2006 earmark requests, his communications director called on then-rival Senator Hillary Clinton to do the same. “If Senator Clinton will not agree in joining Senator Obama will not releasing her earmark requests, voters should ask why she doesn’t believe they have the right to know.” So, Jim, why doesn’t the Obama campaign believe voters have right to know about Joe Biden?

POPKIN: You know, I think it may be a legitimate question to ask. I don’t know if — any of these folks should be throwing stones. I will say, however, that Senator McCain has always said that he has never asked for any earmarks, and one of the major nonprofit groups that looks at earmarks took a look at a list that the Obama campaign prepared on some– I’ll call them alleged requests back from the early ’90s and could find kind of no compelling evidence that McCain had ever requested or received any earmarks for his state.

SCHUSTER: NBC’s Jim Popkin, thanks for coming on. Great stuff as always, we appreciate it.

The Candidate of Hope, Change and… Race Baiting…

We know this is a bit dated, but we couldn’t help ourselves. Obama used race-baiting to mobilize the black electorate in his favor against Bill and Hillary, he’s doing it again, this time against John McCain.
Check this statement out…

“We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid,” Obama said at the fundraiser. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

being an expert at this sort of politics (or how do you think he got 80% to 90% of the black vote?) Obama went on to add the following:

“We know the strategy because they’ve already shown their cards. Ultimately I think the American people recognize that old stuff hasn’t moved us forward. That old stuff just divides us.”

Wow! This is like a Jedi mind trick.

In slow motion for those who missed it:

Obama- The GOP is going to point out the following things about me:

#1- Youth - 100% on an issue scale. Age usually (not always) equates to experience. The older you are, the wiser you ought to be.

#2- Inexperience - 100% on an issue scale. Obama IS inexperienced, he’s never held a real job for any length of time, and has virtually no major legislative experience to fall back on.

#3- Funny Name - 10% of an issue scale. Good fodder for late night comedians, but Barack Obama, who really cares what your name is when it comes to voting? Your name could be Krusty the Clown if people believe in you, they’ll vote for you, 17 million + did in the primaries . Obama threw the name issue in as a segue from the serious issues (see youth and inexperience) into the ridiculous issue of race.

#4- Race - 0% issue when you consider issue #1 and #2. Of course Obama knows this. He also knows that on those two logical issues which are easy to prove, he stands no chance come November, so he did what he does best, he went negative by playing the reverse race card. In his playbook, it matters not if he is young, it matters not if he is inexperienced, what matters is that he is BLACK, and the only reason people won’t vote for him is the last factor, not the first 2.

Incidentally: The GOP has not said he is black, the GOP has not said he has a funny name. That is stuff he used himself in second guessing what the GOP might or might not do.

Incidentally 2: Obama is NOT black according to his first official presidential campaign ad. He is a corn-fed midwestern boy raised by his WHITE mother and WHITE grandparents, he does have a pretty dark tan though.

Exit Question: Is race an issue in determining how you would vote in November for President?