CPAC TURNING A HARDER RIGHT? …

…Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan must be spinning in their graves! CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference, is becoming more and more influenced by the extremists from the far right end of the Republican Party. Last year, the keynote speaker was non-other than Republican party leader Rush Limbaugh. It’s even worse this year. The keynote speaker is nationally renowned racist and lunatic, Glenn Beck. How can Americans take this seriously? It has become an extension of the failed tea-bagger convention in Nashville a couple weeks ago. The only things that are absent from CPAC are an appearance by Sarah Palin, they couldn’t afford the $100k fee she charges, and the raging racist Tom Tancredo. That role will be comfortably filled by Beck, who has accused President Obama of being racist, and claimed the left-wing progressive movement has its roots in Nazi Germany. Here’s the scary difference between Beck’s role at CPAC and Tancredo’s at the Tea-Bag party time is Beck is the main speaker!

The list of speakers for CPAC includes these intellectual powerhouses, Dick Armey, Tucker Carlson, Liz Cheeney, Ann Coulter, Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich. These are anything but mainstream conservatives. These are total right-wing extremists. Dick Armey may be certifiably insane or just plain old senile. He not only doesn’t make sense when he babbles away, but he can’t respond coherently to queries from the press about his “movement”. Tucker Carlson is just very weak, I’m surprised CPAC signed him up, he’s not that loud of a rant artist. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about Senator Jim DeMint(R-SC); he might be the dumbest person ever voted into an elective office. I only ask you to listen to him or read a policy statement from him. You will be shocked this man is in the U.S. Senate. He’s a racist raving lunatic that appears at tea-bag rallies with signs and chants deriding our black President! Again, in case you missed it, he is in the Senate! Liz Cheeney and Ann Coulter are in the haters group. Liz Cheeney hates President Obama and his policies, but can’t quantify it or offer her ideas that are better and Ann Coulter is just a plain old racist hater. To hear her speaking in public and writing about her absolute disdain for religions and nationalities that are not the same as her’s is repulsive! This is a dangerous world, she should be more careful! Newt Gingrich! Newtie! The God-father of political hate and extreme partisanship in Washington. All the talk around DC now is about the dysfunctional Congress. It has been traced back to when Gingrich became Speaker of the House. The Congress, prior to him, functioned on a balanced program of negotiation, cooperation, and compromise. In order to do this responsibly, the members must have respect for one another and for the institution. Since Gingrich introduced a hunkered down enemy mentality, it has only gotten worse. It’s like telling a child they can start doing dangerous or daring things, but failing to give them limits. The right went wild, spawned the likes of Rush Limbaugh, et al, and it’s just become a domestic political world of negative sniping, “gotcha journalism”, and using fear tactics rather than facts to get the message out. Thank you very much, Newtie!

So as the CPAC conference grinds on this weekend, you’ll hear about how weak the President is on terrorism, how the stimulus package did nothing for the economy of the country, and health care reform is a sneaky socialistic plot being conjured up by head Nazi, Barack Obama. Of course, by every measuring instrument there is, this administration has been much more effective on Homeland Security and terrorism matters, the stimulus package has done so well at warding off a depression, that 111 Republican members of Congress so far, have claimed victories in ribbon cutting ceremonies celebrating the use of stimulus funds, while at the same time in Washington railing against the bill. They all voted against it. Can you say HYPOCRISY? There is now so much pressure on Congress to get a health care bill with public option, that 11 Senators and 114 members of the House have signed a petition to get a bill passed then fix the bill to add a public option via reconciliation. This plan is gaining momentum, and it should, because prior to his election and for a few months after the inauguration, the polls showed Americans favor a public option health care reform bill.

This is not what the classic, or should I say classy?, conservative Republicans had in mind for their party. Unlike the group today, Eisenhower, Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, Bob Dole, Howard Baker, Ronald Reagan were/are Republicans that were liked and respected by all colleagues and media, regardless of what side politically they were. It’s war now, and nobody knows when to back off, or to be civil. Partisanship has been worse in our history, in the earlier years of the democracy, sometimes things were settled by fist fights, beating with sticks, and even gun fire! But we’ve moved beyond that, at least until the leadership of Newt Gingrich in Congress. This is a sample of the character of the former Speaker, while his wife lay in bed dying from cancer, this rotten SOB served her with divorce papers! There’s a classy move! Anyway, watch CPAC this weekend, and if you think I’m wrong, spell it out to me. Remember to use facts and not rhetoric, and as I always say, read, research, study, and understand the topic before speaking. If the extremists on both sides would do this, there would be so much less name-calling and fear-mongering. We would actually be able to carry on civil discussions about today’s world. Thank you.
Cam Obert