Report: "Middle Class" slipping away from the Democrats...

A group called Third Way - a self-proclaimed Progressive (i.e. "Liberal") Advocacy Group - has looked at exit poll data from the 2004 election and its findings should worry Democrats. Specifically it warns that, despite its populist rhetoric and class warfare tactics, the Democrat party is slowly but surely losing its appeal to those voters that consider themselves to be "middle class".

Gary Andres looks at the findings over at NRO.

With a couple of exceptions, instead of mining a Democratic electoral mother-lode, these voters delivered landslide margins to President Bush and congressional Republicans. For example, the report concludes that "George W. Bush defeated John Kerry by 22-points among middle class whites with incomes between $30,000 and $75,000." House Republicans won the same income group by 19 points.

Republican support among lower-middle-class white voters continued down the income scale more than suggested by conventional wisdom. The report says "The economic tipping point - the household income level at which whites were more likely to vote for Republicans than Democrats - was $23,700." Middle-class black voters, on the other hand, voted overwhelmingly for Democrats (by a nine to one margin) - a spread so large, according to the report, it "masked the enormous deficit Democrats faced with other middle income demographic groups."

In other words, more and more voters are deciding to ignore the "victim-oriented" propaganda that Democrats are trying to feed them and figuring out that they can aspire to greater success and achieving their dreams - all without the sugar teat of the Federal Government.

But wait, it gets even better. As Hispanic voters prosper and as women marry, they flee the Democrats in droves.

After all the debate about the extent of Republican gains among Hispanics, the Third Way report offers a somewhat different perspective, one focusing on income groups. For example, Hispanics become more apt to vote Republican as they move up the income scale. And the Hispanic population is not only growing, but it is becoming more affluent. And the more affluent Hispanics become . . . you guessed it - time for more political Prozac for the Democrats.

As the Democrats grapple with their party's identity and try to come up with new and clever ways to attack President Bush and the Republicans, the GOP is growing its base with an optimistic and positive message of "growth, hope and opportunity."

As Third Way's website acknowledges:

The conservatives' ability to win the war of ideas is the linchpin of their hold on power. And while progressives may not like their ideas, conservatives must be credited with having articulated and marketed a modern agenda that resonates with a majority of Americans.

Where the group misses the boat is that it's the ideas that sell themselves not the way they are marketed. Now matter how much lipstick you put on that pig, Liberalism just doesn't sell these days.

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Socialized Medicine: The Myth Exposed...

By Canada's courts, no less. A recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada found that nation's hallowed public health-care system to be inequitable and a failure to its citizens, as an article in today's OpinionJournal.com reports.

When George Zeliotis of Quebec was told in 1997 that he would have to wait a year for a replacement for his painful, arthritic hip, he did what every Canadian who's been put on a waiting list does: He got mad. He got even madder when he learned it was against the law to pay for a replacement privately. But instead of heading south to a hospital in Boston or Cleveland, as many Canadians already do, he teamed up to file a lawsuit with Jacques Chaoulli, a Montreal doctor. The duo lost in two provincial courts before their win last week.

The court's decision strikes down a Quebec law banning private medical insurance and is bound to upend similar laws in other provinces. Canada is the only nation other than Cuba and North Korea that bans private health insurance, according to Sally Pipes, head of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco and author of a recent book on Canada's health-care system.

"Access to a waiting list is not access to health care," wrote Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin for the 4-3 Court last week. Canadians wait an average of 17.9 weeks for surgery and other therapeutic treatments, according the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute. The waits would be even longer if Canadians didn't have access to the U.S. as a medical-care safety valve. Or, in the case of fortunate elites such as Prime Minister Paul Martin, if they didn't have access to a small private market in some non-core medical services. Mr. Martin's use of a private clinic for his annual checkup set off a political firestorm last year.

The issue of government-run health care in the U.S. first reared its ugly head when the Clinton administration attempted to ram it down the throats of the American people in 1993 and 1994. The initiative, spearheaded by a secret task force run by Madame Hillary (unelected power, at the time) was thwarted by the voters when they turned control of the Congress over to the Republicans. Democrats don't seem to grasp the folly of such a venture as they're too focused on growing the power of the Federal Government over the lives of its citizens.

The larger lesson here is that health care isn't immune from the laws of economics. Politicians can't wave a wand and provide equal coverage for all merely by declaring medical care to be a "right," in the word that is currently popular on the American left.

There are only two ways to allocate any good or service: through prices, as is done in a market economy, or lines dictated by government, as in Canada's system. The socialist claim is that a single-payer system is more equal than one based on prices, but last week's court decision reveals that as an illusion. Or, to put it another way, Canadian health care is equal only in its shared scarcity.

You can no more change the laws of economics than you can change the laws of physics. And when you try, disaster results.

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Move Along, Nothing To See Here...

By now, no doubt most of the blogosphere has seen this story.

Captain Ed, BullDogPundit & Lorie Byrd all have the same advice to Conservative bloggers: Run Away! Run Away!

I agree. Not only is it baseless and in bad taste, but the more this becomes the meme of the day the more Hillary becomes the victim. And I wouldn't be surprised if this is Klein's motivation for the whole book.

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Here they go again...

You didn't seriously think Democrats had just given up trying block Bush's judicial nominations? When they have so much to lose? Bah!

Senate Democrat obstructionists are now pulling the old "undisclosed opinion" tactic. Simply, put they delay and delay and delay be constantly demanding that nominees produce confidential legal "work product" that they have written to try find an "Ah HA!" item they can use to try and paint them as some kind of extremist. If the nominee refuses, they go off into limbo - effectively killing the nomination.

The strategy also mirrors Democrats' initial filibuster against a Bush nominee, that of Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada, who was nominated to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He withdrew his name after more than two years awaiting confirmation.

Democrats began that filibuster with a demand for legal work product from his years in the Clinton administration.

When a deal was reached last month on judicial filibusters, nominees such as Judge Boyle were not mentioned.

Of course not, they left that little loophole out there. Well, the battle is once again drawn. The minute they try to pull this crap that "deal" goes out the window and the "constitutional option" is BACK on the table. This is going to be a long summer.

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"Don't Question My Patriotism!"...

A defensive protest often heard these days from the MSM. But Dean Esmay has a convincing post as to why we should.

The truth is that it's screamingly obvious to tens of millions of Americans, not to mention most members of the military, that the press is not on our side in the current conflict. They simply aren't: they see their duty as being to something "higher" than that. Of course, they have no truly objective standards except "be skeptical of everyone and everything." In practice, this leaves them free to interpret their own prejudices and biases as "objectivity"--and it shows.

I've even noticed that some in the press even go further than Franken, and act as if criticizing the press is itself unpatriotic and dangerous. But that begs the question: if we're going to be equally skeptical of everything and everyone--if we're going to treat our democratically elected leaders, our military who is sworn to protect us, and psychopaths, dictators, and organized crime figures all with equal skepticism--should we not be every bit as skeptical of the press?

You want to know what a decent and patriotic press corps would look like to a lot of us? All you have to do is go back to old newspaper archives published in the 1940s or 1950s, during World War II or the Korean conflict. While these newspapers published bad news every day--casualty lists, lists of the midding and dead, ships sunk, battles that went poorly, etc.--they did not pretend to be "equally skeptical" of Hitler and Roosevelt, of MacArthur and Yamamoto. When we had a victory it was as clear that they were as elated as the man in the street. Good news was trumpeted in big headlines on the front page.

In other words, the news - good or bad - needs to be reported but when a journalist goes out of their way to present the news in a way that undermines our efforts and the lives of our servicemen - their motives are not above our skepticism or criticism.

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The Kid Done Good...

And you now proceed to the Webelos trail.

Spent last night on a bed of earth. My back is in excruciating pain. I'm not a "camping person" really, but I'll do it for the kid. Need beer.

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Diane Lane Photo of the Week

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I need a Logo...

You know I click on all these cool blogs and so many of them have little graphic symbols of themselves that I'm starting to think that just having that picture of me over there to the right under "my profile" is just plain lame.

On the other hand, I'm a lazy ass. But if anyone knows of a picture or graphic that would be appropriate (and public domain so as not to break a copyright law) for EX-DONKEY...I don't know maybe a picture of a donkey with a "no" line-through symbol superimposed over it...I'd be much obliged.

Just comment the post or sent an email - ex-donkey20105 * at * earthlink.net. I'll be happy to post gratuitous and generous links to your site in return.

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DAMN My Eyes!!!!

Ace has Battlestar Galactica spoilers. And I looked! Arrrrggghhhh!!!!

But I HAD to know.

If you want to spoil yourself silly - read the post. But be warned, you're eyes may explode!!!

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Friday Funnies: "The Man" Song...

This gets funnier every time I listen to it.

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Mean Old FoxNews Reporter Asks Dean a Tough Question! For Shame!

Fox News reporter Brian Wilson had the audacity to ask DNC Chair Howard Dean a "pointed question" about his recent comments about Republicans. The main stream media was HORRIFIED!

Michele Malkin has the scoop. Oh the humanity!

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"Our Own Gullibility"...

Cao's Blog has an in-depth look at the hate-filled Wahhabi poison that our supposed "allies" the Saudis are funding in the Islamic world and the Herculean efforts some people are making to try and cover it up - even here in the U.S.:

Okay, so what? For one thing, any American who believes that Islam is a peaceful, forgiving religion has lost touch with reality. Despite what the Koran says about Jews and Christians (people of the book), Muslim actions are speaking much louder than Koranic words, and in several important areas.

Check out Cao's extensive research here.

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"Thanks America!"

Allan at BMEWS directs us to this post which proves that one decent Australian who "gets it" is worth a thousand ungrateful Frenchies.

Here's an example:

And then there's the fact that after defeating an enemy, instead of rubbing his nose in the dirt, you instead show great magnimity and help him to his feet, immediately, ala Germany and Japan. You show that the best way to defeat an enemy is to turn him into a friend. You teach that we should judge people by their current behaviour, not past bad behaviour. If only the rest of the world could learn from America. But instead most of the rest of the world maintains grudges for centuries, transferring guilt to perfectly innocent people, and pretending to inherit suffering and permanent victimhood. If only people would adopt the American way, the world would be so much better. What can I say? Nothing. I am humbled in the face of American largesse. Thanks America!

Go read the whole thing and you'll have a "feel-good" Friday. And G'day, mate!

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"The Vanishing Democrat Voter"...

Remember back in 2002, Ruy Teixeira published a book called "The Emerging Democratic Majority"?

Well, over at WILLisms.com, Will Franklin takes a detailed look at the numbers since then and is finding Teixeira to be a prime candidate for the award for worst political prediction ever.

Teixeira is just bad at this stuff. There's almost no other way to put it. He stinks up the place with his spot-off political analysis.

The reason for his incessant (and increasingly hilarious) mistakes: he is a Democrat apologist living through a "rolling Republican realignment."

And it only looks to get worse for Democrats in the coming years, as Franklin's analysis of demographic patterns bears out.

Maybe Texeira is starting to understand that his thesis is indefensible; however, if he really "got it," he'd revise his book and change the title to something like The Vanishing Democrat Voter.

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"But wait, there's more..."

Jayson at Polipundit takes stock of the first 4+ months of Bush's second term. Not too shabby.

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I Guess I'm Pretty Conservative...

Your Political Profile

Overall: 95% Conservative, 5% Liberal

Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

But when did I get so "ethically challenged"?

Hat Tip: White Lightning Axiom:Redux

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Spielberg: "Hollywood didn't do enough for John Kerry"...

Director Steven Spielberg lamented on an Australian chat show that, compared to the support they showed Bill Clinton, Hollywood big names did not rally around John Kerry enough last fall.

"The democratic Hollywood base, power base and money base, really didn't come out this year, and I was surprised about that.

"It might have been that Hollywood is very interested in charisma and I do not think that Hollywood felt that John Kerry had the kind of charisma that Bill Clinton had and that they didn't come out in force."

Huh? Hollywood failed Kerry? I can't remember an election when Hollywood was more vociferous in support of a Democratic ticket than this last one. I'll give Spielberg that it had more to do with their hatred for George W. Bush than their love for "the poodle". But the fact is for all the screaming, hollering, ranting, footstamping and ad hominem attacks aimed at the President last year the stooges in Hollywood probably helped the incumbent.

Somebody needs to serve Mr. Spielberg a strong steaming cup of reality and wake him up to the fact that Hollywood doesn't elect the President, the voters do. And fortunately, most of them could give a rat's ass what Hollywood thinks anyway.

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"This deal keeps getting worse all the time"...

But it's not Republicans who are quoting Lando Calrissian, it's the Democrats.

James Taranto does a little analysis of the cloture votes on Justices Owen, Brown and Pryor and sees a pattern. The Democrats most wary of implementing any future filibusters just happen to be from Red States with re-election races in 2006 or 2008.

Coincidence? I think not. Looks like this recent deal has given cover to several Democrats to break away from their previous unity in blocking Bush's nominees.

The results of the Brown and Pryor cloture votes suggest that there are 12 Democrats who cannot be counted on to support future filibusters...Barring a Senate vacancy this year or next, sustaining a filibuster of a judicial nominee (again, excluding Myers and Saad) would require the cooperation of at least eight of the 12 above-listed senators [see chart], at least three of whom would be acting in violation of the agreement, and it would require the Republicans to refrain from using the nuclear option once the Democrats break the agreement.

Democrats really do look like they got the short end of this compromise. No wonder so many of 'em are pissed.

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Owen and Brown confirmed, more to come...

Pryor, McKeague & Griffin all schedule for confirmation votes today.

Follow the fate of the nominees at Confirm Them!!

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Do They Realize How They Sound?

Peggy Noonan has an excellent column today on OpinionJournal.com about the recent rhetoric coming out of the mouths of the DNC Chairman and the likely Democrat Presidential Nominee in 2008.

While the pack mentality in Washington D.C. discourages Democrats and Republicans from mingling with each other, that's not the way folks outside of the beltway interact.

In America there is a lot of political integration. Democrats and Republicans are friends. Life forces them to be if they need to be forced, which most don't. They know each other from the office, Little League, school meetings, the neighborhood. Actually America is mostly filled with people who say not "I'm a Democrat" and "I'm a Republican," but "I voted for Bush" and "I like McCain" and "I voted for Kerry." They identify by personal action more than political party, at least in my experience.

Taking quotes from Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton, Noonan creates this hypothetical speech and asks us to imagine the President delivering it. (relevant quotes in bold italics)

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I want to speak this evening about how I see the political landscape. Let me jump right in. The struggle between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is a struggle between good and evil--and we're the good. I hate Democrats. Let's face it, they have never made an honest living in their lives. Who are they, really, but people who are intent on abusing power, destroying the United States Senate and undermining our Constitution? They have no shame.

But why would they? They have never been acquainted with the truth. You ever been to a Democratic fundraiser? They all look the same. They all behave the same. They have a dictatorship, and suffer from zeal so extreme they think they have a direct line to heaven. But what would you expect when you have a far left extremist base? We cannot afford more of their leadership. I call on you to help me defeat them!"

The highlighted words are right out of the mouths of Dean and Clinton (with "left" being put in place of "right" and "Democrats" for "Republicans"). If Bush or John McCain or Ken Melman or any other prominent Republican gave a speech like that, not only would most everyone from the MSM to members of their own party denounce it as extreme but most people would think they had lost their minds.

She finds it disturbing that people who wish to one day run the country talk like this and I for one agree.

The comportment of Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean is actually not worthy of America. Their statements suggest they are in no way equal to the country they seek to lead. And something tells me that sooner or later America is going to tell them. But in a generous, mature and fair-minded way.

Read the piece in it's entirety here.

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