Pursuing Holiness

This year the GOP really seems to have latched on to alternatives to what Blogmocracy calls Ye Olde Media.  From blogger conference calls to finally figuring out how to respond to attacks quickly and in a way that encourages viral distribution, they’re finally catching on.  Two examples that amused me today -

My senator, Louisiana’s Senator David Vitter, took a swipe at his opponent, Charlie Melancon, and it’s going to leave a mark:

Vitter took a well-deserved hit for his prostitution scandal, but he still has my vote for a couple of reasons. 1) He dropped out of politics and resolved the issue with his wife BEFORE the story came out. There were rumors when he dropped out, but nothing solid. The details, and his confirmation, didn’t come out until a couple of years later. So I tend to think his repentance was sincere, and that restored his personal credibility to a great extent, to my way of thinking. 2) As far as his political performance – which is the main issue for me anyway – he’s responsive to his constituents, and I approve of nearly everything he does.  So he’s got my vote and volunteer time until/unless someone better comes along.

Chuck DeVore, in California, is running for the seat currently held by Barbara Boxer. His GOP opponent, Carly Fiorina, released a genuinely bizarre attack video that featured a guy in a sheep suit with glowing red eyes. DeVore, you see, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing… I have no idea whose idea this ad was, but they should be sacked immediately. The Fiorina ad was unintentionally hilarious, but DeVore’s campaign immediately released an intentionally hilarious response – a website for the Society for the Eradication of Demon Sheep from our Political Discourse.  All your sheep are belong to us, indeed. Very well played.

ADDED: Houston, we have liftoff. First, #demonsheep.  Then, Hitler was informed:

I’m not sure if this can be called epic yet, but it’s definitely full of win.

Although I’m no longer a Republican, it’s certainly no secret that I lean toward that party politically because I’m a conservative. Although the GOP is not perfectly in line with my political views, it’s certainly closer than the Democratic party. So I’m glad to see they’re coming out swinging against the new budget, which is going to bleed us dry.   Since Democrats took over Congress, the debt limit – including today’s increase, which they just passed as I write this – has been increased by about 60%.  Make no mistake, as the President is fond of instructing us – the real problem for Democrats in getting this passed is getting Democrats in line to vote for it. Democrats still control both houses of Congress. But they’ll blame the GOP for obstructing it in order to give cover to Democrats from conservative districts who aren’t enthused about it.

A lot of independents say there’s not really much difference between the two parties.  I’ve said it, in fact, and in context, that is often true.  But where fiscal conservativism is concerned, there is a huge difference.  For example, the GOP suggested budget borrows 3.6 trillion less than President Obama’s budget.  It slows mandatory entitlement spending from 5.3% to 3.9%.  That’s huge in terms of real numbers.  And lest anyone play the “Republicans are big meanies who want to starve poor people” card, as they did when the GOP passed welfare reform that Clinton signed into law (and which Obama has effectively rescinded), just a reminder: that legislation lifted more poor people above the poverty level than decades of Democratic aid did.  [Read more...]