Card Shark - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Card Shark
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CARD UP HIS SLEEVE
Re: Brett Joshpe’s Playing the Race Weapon:

Are we supposed to be surprised, or shocked by this tactic by the Dems? Surely, everyone with even a modicum of political knowledge knew that it was coming. I fully expect that Obama will get 95 percent or more of the black vote come November. Somehow, in my white ignorance, I would call that racism. But then what do I know, I have only been following politics for over five decades now.
Ken Shreve

Nice analysis, Brett Joshpe.

Why has no-one pointed out the arrogance in Obama’s words, “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills”?

“Other” to whom, one might ask? Well, “other” to Other President Obama, of course.

It’s the audacity of arrogance. Do I have to explain everything?
A. C. Santore

It is absolutely essential that the Democratic Party maintain the narrative that conservatives and the Republican Party are inherently racist. If black Americans and other people of color examined the historical truth, the party of Jim Crow would be dead in the water.

If Obama loses the election, the cries of racism will be deafening — aided and abetted by a flame-throwing media.
Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

TOMMY
Re: W. James Antle’s A Majority Delayed:

Spare us the cliches from party hacks who made their fortunes in politics and lobbying and then give advice on how to reclaim the Republican party. A Republican president and Republican Congress rewarded this country with endemic political corruption, out-of-control spending, open borders, vast bureaucratic expansion and taxpayer torture. I will listen to Tom Delay when he gets a real job like an ordinary person and give up the fortune he earned at our expense.
Caroline Miranda
North Hollywood, California

Gingrich, Armey, and DeLay were undoubtedly the best team of leaders that the GOP has come up with in the United States Congress in many decades. The fact of the matter is, however, that Tom DeLay was the doer of the trio. Gingrich was the idea man. Armey was the tactician plotting how to put the ideas in practice. Tom DeLay was the one that went into the trenches and got it done.

The Dems did their usual hatchet jobs on the three. They had to go because they were too darn effective. They found it easy to take Gingrich down. He didn’t seem to have the stomach for, and still doesn’t appear to have the stomach for, the bare knuckles brawling that was necessary to keep control, as Dems before and since have done so successfully. I can only guess that Armey simply tired of the fight and gave up his seat. Tom DeLay was another matter. He was quite willing to go mano e mano with the Dems, and he surely had a winning record in those no hold barred fights.

I don’t see any Tom DeLays in the GOP segment of the United States House today. The best that can be said about the current leadership is that they are not the worst in memory, but not far from it. It delights me to learn that Mr. DeLay is as active as you suggest in the current scene. We all need to get behind Tom’s efforts and see if we can inject some spinal rigidity in a few more of the House members. There is a good, but small, core group, but it needs to be expanded exponentially.
Ken Shreve

In his article “A Majority Delayed”, Mr. Antle pictures Tom DeLay as someone trying to resurrect the Republican Party. More correctly, the Republican Parties current status as a “non” party.

The GOP doesn’t get it, and apparently neither does Tom DeLay. There are reasons the leftists currently controlling the Socialist Party are doing better than the Republicans in fund-raising and channeling those funds to candidates. One is the left has always been better organized than other entities. They achieve success by identifying those candidates who appeal to their philosophy, fund them, and push that agenda as a party platform. They have their set goals and keep to them.

The Republicans, on the other hand, don’t seem to have a definite agenda other than getting re-elected and hopefully — not losing ground. They repeatedly give us candidates who represent ideas that are anathema to the party base and present them as a “take it or leave it” proposition. For years, we’ve taken it. We’re not — most of us — taking it any more. We have closed our checkbooks, and we will keep them closed until we are heard — and the party responds.

The Republican Party will begin to get better funding when they divest themselves of the good ‘ole boy network and appoint principled men to positions of power within the party. The passing over of Jeff Flake is but one example of maintaining the old system instead of proving to the core of the party that they are serious about changing the guard. John Campbell and Dr. Tom Coburn are other examples of men with principles who should be elevated within the party structure. But no — we continue to foist off Arlen Specter and his ilk as party leaders.

Instead of supporting Tom Coburn in his (apparently one-man) campaign against irresponsible spending, they rail at him and vote against his bills. How many voices were raised in support of the corrupt Ted Stevens — yet Mr. Coburn is under attack by the left on ethics charges for delivering medical services for free, and he gets virtually no support from his Republican colleagues. Why? Because he has tried to reel in
their pork spending habits.

Show us the party is serious about returning to it’s principles, Mr. DeLay, and maybe those purse strings will open. Until then … I don’t think so.
Bruce J. Emmott
Merrick, New York

Tom DeLay not being a paleoconservative, Obamacon or “liberalterian” is doing what real conservatives do — hammer Democrats. Despite being the first to get the knife in the back from the right he’s not bitter. Instead, he’s still fighting the real enemy — Democrats. Wouldn’t it be nice if conservatives would quit mimicking cry baby liberals and start hammering the Democrats and kicking their effete posteriors? The last election is history — we can still win this one unless a majority of us prefer the easy path of losing and just sitting around and whining. As for me and my house, we’re picking up our hammers.
Michael Tomlinson

Ho hum. It must be the dog days of summer. Who gives a rat’s ass about Tom DeLay? What a waster of ink. Lay low, DeLay, just hang around with your K Street boys, make your big bucks and ride quietly into the sunset.
Charles R. Jackson

Jeremy Lott replies:
It was only possible for it to be a waste of ink if you printed it out. The American Spectator website has a very small carbon footprint.

TOUCH FREEDOM BASE
Re: The Prowler’s In and Out of Action:

Come on! We expect a conservative mag to give us the hard truth, no matter how unpalatable. You really expect McCain to reach out to the pro-Freedom base? And McCain will be singing La Cucaracha while he hoses us the peons down. Any attempts to raise an umbrella in the defense of Freedom will be ruled to run afoul of McCain’s of McCain’s foul McCain-Feingold.

We cannot win with McCain yet we will have lost if McCain wins. Are we going to go like sheep to the slaughter? Or will we find the courage of our Founding Fathers, rise up, and take the party that left Reagan back from McCain?

McCain can take his grand “immigration” reform and…. And I say that even though the aliens in this once Free land illegally are God’s children.

Down with McCain. Up with Freedom.

What good is victory in Iraq if Iran has nukes?

Waging war on a tactic will bring us nothing but tears.

We are so major leagued screwed.
Ralph Diamond
Annapolis, Maryland
PS: I pray that my cri du Coeur for Freedom does not run of foul of McCain’s foul McCain-Feingold.

POLICY OF NEGLECT
Re: Carl F. Horowitz’s Leveraging Fannie and Freddy:

Don’t forget a big chunk of non-profits that FNM donated also collected fees for “assisting buyers” in filling out loan applications, some “charities” even collected “fees” for laundering seller kickbacks into down “payment grants” for buyers, an illegal act specifically outlawed when practiced without the “non-profit” middleman.

I don’t see anybody pointing out the fact that loose loan standards were to promote home ownership among illegal aliens & without promoting home ownership for illegal aliens we would have never had this problem.

Yes the vast majority of foreclosures aren’t from illegal aliens, just the people that rode the illegal alien accommodation wave, without the policy of accommodating illegal alien home buyers most of the sub-prime borrowers would have never got their loans.

Ameriquest was the world’s biggest sub-prime lender and one of Bush’s biggest supporters, immigration enforcement would have crushed their revenues and Bush’s campaign donations. (Google “Ameriquest Settlement” which was posted in both English & Spanish)

The cornerstone of the Bush administration has to been to promote illegal immigration and everything that comes with it including trillions in sub-prime loans, or haven’t you noticed?
Smitty
West Hills, California

PUTTING THE MARE IN NIGHTMARE
Re: Mark Hyman’s Northern Indiana’s ANWR Blackout:

I had a bad dream last night, Allow me to share. The horse died.

I purchased him after we had gone totally wind and solar. President Obama had been in office for two terms. Michelle was running for President.

The Focus wagon was no longer viable as gas was at $15.02 per gallon. I had been riding my bike to work, but even though getting up at four AM, I was late too many times and was fired. My boss, a staunch Progessive/Socialist as the Democrat party had been renamed, was sympathetic. After all, he could not afford to replace his SUV as all imported oil being diverted to fuel, and none produced here, there were no more plastics being produced and the steel needed to make the interior components wasn’t available because of environmental concerns. Steel plants were a global warming problem.

He did urge me to go paper instead of plastic. I thanked him.

The horse? It gets cold out here in Utah in winter and even though I had him pull us through the streets buying oats and hay, the Focus wagon behind, with the roof cut off to carry more of the same, we could never afford enough.

Well with the ethanol mandates, grain and hay prices were pretty high. Add to that the Salt Lake County tax on manure droppings and the price I had to pay the apartment complex I live in to convert my covered parking spot to a horse stall things were getting tight.

Well darn. The next thing I know the solar panels on my roof assigned to me fail. It’s January out here, for crying out loud, 20 degrees or less at night. The panels assigned to me are not approved for replacement or repair until June. Not a Utah mandate, a Federal mandate. Cold showers become a norm. Hot food? Call it lukewarm. Live out of can of Tuna, forget mayo, the fridge doesn’t work.

The horse? The horse died when all the wool blankets, oats, hay, converted cars, and every one else was rounded up for Michelle’s election.
Jim Woodward
Midvale, Utah

STAIRWAY TO HIP-HOP
Re: Mark Gauvreau Judge’s The Rap on Hip-Hop:

I share Mark Judge’s skepticism of Mr. McWhorter’s book about rap music. However, I came to a stop at the 4th paragraph when I read, “McWhorter, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, is actually a fan of hip-hop music…” Haha, yeah right! A “senior fellow” (I assume that means he is over 25, at least), at any institute (possibly with the exception of the Ponds Institute of hand Cream) or basically any person over 25, for that matter, does not like rap music. I think Mr. McWhorter is a liar.

I can see that a young person may put up with the sound, due to a combination of peer pressure and the fact that they have not ever been exposed to Zeppelin, the Dead, Collective Soul or even Lynyrd Skynyrd, God help him. But, I have been around the block (as you can tell from my taste in good music), and nobody can tell me that listening to a bunch of [African American] guys yell at them is their idea of a good time. Give me a break! It is not even music in any sense.

If Mr. McWhorter feels he has to say he likes Hip Hop just to fit in with his homeys at the Manhattan Institute, OK, he is just weak, as in “I didn’t inhale — I just wanted people to think I was cool, but did not want the actual effects of the THC.” (Why not? I ask.) Otherwise, it is a flat out lie (as in “I didn’t inhale, and you can’t prove it now”). Nobody could like that crap; it’s just that annoying other people is more important to some kids than actually hearing a good sound.

Heck, we didn’t mind annoying the elders once in a while with our music, at a high volume, back when I was a kid too. There was one big difference, however. Our music did not suck to high heaven!
James Antley
Gadsden, Alabama

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Re: Deborah Durkee’s letter (under “Not Taken Lightly”) in Reader Mail’s Packer Problems:

Deborah Durkee writes: “I know Mr. Shreve needs no one to defend him because he is quite capable of that himself.”

For someone who needs no one to defend him, I was impressed by the amount of ink expended by Diane Smith, Deborah Durkee and Eric Edwards defending Mr. Shreve. I am sure the three of you would have extended the same courtesy to one who doesn’t share your political point of view. From the tone of Mr. Shreve’s “thank you” letter, I could tell he was genuinely pleased for the exoneration.
Mike Roush

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