A call against Complacency

To hear the liberals on T.V. last night you'd think that House Republicans are a bunch of sore losers childishly standing in the way of The One's great economic plan you might even have gotten the impression that the plan had actually failed at first. Once in a great while I watch a few minutes of the cesspool known as MSNBC and at this particular time Rachel Maddow was lamenting how Obama extended the hand of compromise over and over to those ingrate Republicans only to be thanked by not getting a single Republican to vote for the much hollowed stimulus package. According to Maddow Republicans should be falling over themselves to help the economy that was destroyed under Bush's watch (no mention of the Democrat corruption over at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of course). She then complained about how no House Republican would come onto her show for an interview (perhaps because they've either never heard of it or they were doing interviews on shows with an actual viewership) except for Representative Don Manzullo from Illinois who spent the time explaining to Maddow what actual stimulus is as opposed to funding more government programs thus growing the beast that got us into to this mess. After the interview Maddow continued to harp on the fact that ZERO Republicans voted for the stimulus absent however, was her noting that 11 Democrats also voting against the package making the nays the only bi-partisan effort last night as noted by the Great One Mark Levin (never to be confused with The One).

This is to me the most important thing from last night's vote because the Democrats in both sides have the majority and can pretty much run roughshod over any Republican opposition which is why the strength of that opposition is so important as well as the number of Democrats we can pull to our side. So how do you maintain a strong opposition? Stand by your principles even in the face of an old-fashioned drubbing stand tall GOP because your strength will attract those from the other side who believe as you do never underestimate the Blue Dog Democrats. I am convinced more and more that the party names don't mean so much as do the terms Conservative and Liberal. When you look at the R and the D by a congressman's name don't stop there look at their record are they a Conservative? Liberal? Or that dreaded wishy washy moderate? Conservatism will win the day it might not win every battle in Congress but if you stand by those values we the people will stand behind you come 2010 and beyond.

As an example I live in Ohio's 16th Congressional District which for 50+ years had been a Republican stronghold but is now being represented by a Democrat John Boccieri who replaced the retiring Ralph Regula a moderate Republican. The question is though how did a Democrat take a historically Republican district? Some will say it was just a Democrat year and there wasn't much a Republican could do. I blame complacency not just on the voters and local party leaders but on the man who was replaced Ralph Regula. Why blame the retired Regula because he along with local Republicans was lulled into a sense of complacency. He had been in Congress for 30+ years so how could a Republican not win? He was primaried by Matt Miller(whom I supported) who lost but the fact that Regula was even primaried should have sent a signal that the people weren't just satisfied with an R representing them they wanted some conservative principles to go with that R something that overtime Regula felt like overtime didn't need much tending to. People are waking up and they aren't just going to vote for the D or the R because that's the way it's always been. Now I know that not every House Republican is a rock solid conservative but if we continue to call and "Melt the phone lines" as Representative Michelle Bachmann called for yesterday perhaps they will find and maintain their spine. Many of our politicians have grown complacent we can not afford to do the same. Last night was a statement that we will not stand by as liberals try to turn America into a mediocre socialist state and we can not let this statement fall to the wayside but we must continue to repeat it and support those in Congress who share our cause.

Auto Bailout Aftermath and what Ohio politicians did

In these early morning hours America and breath a brief sigh of relief as the Senate was able to kill the UAW Bailout (much to the chagrin of Chris Dodd and his fellow socialists). I'd like to focus this post primarily on what my home state Ohio did and did not do but Michelle Malkin has a complete list of those Senate and House Republicans that stood up and voted against the bailout and those who caved.
As for Ohio the out of the 13 Republicans three caved and voted for the bailout in the House it was Ralph Regula (regrettably he represents my district) who is outgoing and to be replaced by Democrat John Bocceri . Voting along with Regula was Rep. Steve LaTourette who represents the 14th District of Ohio (this encompasses the northern tip of Ohio). LaTourette is a memeber of the moderate and socially liberal Republican group Republican Main Street Partnership (oddly enough they claim to be fiscally conservative so I can't imagine why some of their members voted for the bailout). LaTourette won re-election this past cycle and I implore all in the 14th District to give Steve a ring and remind him what socialism is and why we don't want it.
In the Senate George "Kleenex" Voinovich voted for the bailout as well. He should expect a call from all of us reminding him that votes like this along with his past antics put his 2010 re-election on shaky ground. That's not to say I want to see a Democrat win, Sherrod Brown is enough, but a formidable candidate who stands on conservative values needs to be found to set up a primary.