MB's "Damn Good Question" blog

[1776 Rebel]

Sadly the DHOMONEY post above perpetuates the revisionist nonsense about the RR period. First of all check your history, Ollie North et al sold weapons to IRAN. When caught the old man refused to back Col. North and let him hang out in the breeze. The proceeds were to fund the Contra’s, and oh by the way he gave them carte blanc to sell drugs in the US (a minor point) also.

As for the fall of the Soviet Union it crumbled over at least the 20 or so years prior. It did not happen over night. You might recall the whole central planning thingy that doesn't work. That RR won the cold war is as silly as saying GHB won it.

Finally on the economic side, RR took the debt from 900B in 1980 to just shy of 3T in 1989. Also remember what David Stockman said about RR economics.

As for the DOE, well I guess you weren’t around then. RR made a big deal of it. Then didn’t live up to his commitment and let the DOE continue to poison the minds of our children.

I will not go further on this hog wash, so in sum, RR wasn’t evil just another pol. He did have a pretty cool ranch in Kalifornia though. 

[2HOW]

I have to say your pretty much on the money 1776rebel. It seems we have to take the lessers of the two evils. I personally liked Kennedy, Nixon and RR. Carter was just too nice. And they all have tremendous baggage, but were still here. I dont care who is president, the congress and house runs the country, just matters what the majority is. The next few years will cull the flock, economy is in the dumper, depression coming.

[tombogan03884]

Carter was and is a gutless coward and a disgrace not only to the Office of the President, and Uniform of the US Navy, He also shamed Admiral Hyman Rickover,who's protoge he was.  He is such an ass that NONpolitical writers have refered to him as a " Dictator Groupy" for the way he sucks up to lowlifes like Kim Il Jong, Fidel Castro, Milosevic, ( I aint trying HIS first name) and that jerk in Iran (another spelling challenge)  I was on active duty as a US Marine when that POS was squating in the White House and will NEVER let anyone forget what a worm he was.
What shows that Dhomoney has his own agenda is that he neglects to mention that Ronbo's spending is what pushed the USSR over the edge and led to the end of the "Evil Empire". He also ignores the fact that since he bombed Libya Quadafi not only has quit backing terrorists but is now becoming down right freindly toward the Western world while turning away from fundamentalist Muslims.
   Anyone who thinks that the "NEW RUSSIA" is our friend is blind to the history of Russia who is only our freind when the Germans are kicking their butts (Like France) and the biography of Vladimir Putin, Who as a KGB officer made his carreer in suppresing Dissadents , That means sending them to slave labor camps or shooting them. The new cold war started when we quit buying them out of anarchy around 2000.
The British, in '02 told their intelligence agencies to recommence espionage activities against the Russian Govt. and counterintelligence activities against the FSB.

[ismram]

Several times the name of Ronald Reagan has been used in these discussions as if RR is somehow the bar by which all conservatives must be measured. Let me remind you of some the great conservative accomplishments of RR. Hundreds of dead Marines in Lebanon, arming the Mullahs of Iran and Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Spending money like a dunk sailor to the tune of TRILLIONS. We are still paying off his debt today. NOT reducing the Federal gov’t but INCREASING its size, never abolished the Dept of Education which he promised, fired all the air traffic controllers on one day (crippling the airline industry for a time), was on his watch that the biggest stock market crash since ’29 occurred (crippling  the economy for 5 years), etc etc. Then his Alzeimhers kicked in and he was even more detached from day to day activity. That is when Nancy Reagan ran the government and brought in Jean Dixon (psychic) to advise her and Ronny. 

He had great speech writers. He had some good advisors, Deaver, Meese, and Baker. But get real. He had at best an OK kind of run. Good lord save us from another RR.

You forget that RR had to rebuild our military after GUTTLESS!!! Carter practicaly dismantled it!

[tombogan03884]

ismram, You got that right, Marines who failed to qualify on the rifle range ( nessecary for promotion) could not re-qual as the Corps could not afford the ammunition. I was in a motor transport maintanance Co. We would spend 10 months pulling defective parts off vehicles , then wait till Nov and dec. when the new budget allowed us to buy SOME replacements, these weren't little things either but parts like engines and transmissions. we would have sent them to a higher echelon for rebuild , but they had no parts either.

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[jpr9954]

I apoligize for my state being full of idiots. To many massholes infiltrated among the refugees from the nanny state.
 Tom in NH

Somewhere I read that it wasn't Massachusetts refugees that were responsible for the leftward turn of the Granite State but rather people from the Mid-Atlantic states. I guess Vermont got a little too expensive for them and they thought NH was the next best thing. It wasn't too long ago that NH was quite reliably Republican.

John in NC - a late primary state 

[tombogan03884]

JPR9954, Please don't misunderstand me. There is a differance between "Refugees from the nanny state" former Ma. residents who flee the corruption and and taxes and increasingly meddlesome legislation of a state firmly in the hands of a powerful Democratic party machine ( How else could Whitey Bulger's brother become Senate president, how else could Teddy K. keep getting reelected) I have friends and relatives in this catagory. And then there are massholes, these are the people who leave Ma. because NH taxes are lowwer and then try to push the same assinine policies that made Ma. unlivable in the first place. NH has always had a strong democratic presence, but it was the CONSEVITIVE branch of the dem. party and they USED to be independent minded enough to vote CONSERVITIVE despite party labels.
    I had athought ( No, it didn't hurt) The Democratic party is so ridiculuslly leftist because when Hoovers FBI cracked down on Socialists and communists the rank and file members moved over to the liberal wing of the democratic party.
if we brought back the Socialist Party preaching a straight Marxist/ Leninist doctrine ( sabotage or trickery would be to easy to spot) It would draw off the Soros / moveon supporters, cutting into Democratic party numbers and money. This would marginalize both parties as third party candidates never win national elections and the democrats would no longer have such numbers.
   Another thought, The major problems with the political process are 1) activist media who report their own opinions as the facts, 2) The type of people who seek political office , they have turned the phrase "congressional ethics into an oxymoron, a bad joke on us, Example ,Abscam john Murtha, (don't get me going on THAT sleazeball)  3) The politicians who don't go to jail , put PARTY before all else, If one party could bring paradise to the whole planet the other party would oppose it purely on the basis that it's not our idea. Look how many votes are "split along party lines" I'm not sure how to solve these issues, Maybe instead of electing people who are willing to spend  $100+  million for a job that pays $250,000/year we should DRAFT the most qualified , LEAST willing person for the job.
 It might not work but it would make the campaign ads more interesting
 

[jpr9954]

Was thinking the blog was worthy of an honest and frank discussion. As some already know I live in a May primary state so I have no say in choosing the nominee. If I lived in an early state I would vote Fred.  I have never voted Dem for prez because of the gun issue. I am a small government conservative with libertarian leanings. Just wanted to get that out there for any newbies.

I may ramble a bit here so please excuse.

snip



SC is going to be a battle between Huckster and McCain.

Just where does Fred break out in the process? Truth is, he has nowhere to make a breakout. I live in a Bible Belt state. Surrounded by Southern Baptists. The buzz I am hearing from fundamentalist coworkers/friends/relatives is Huckster. Fundamentalists have one of their own to vote for and no one turns out like fundamentalists when they are fired up on an issue. This alone dooms Fred in SC and much (ALL?) of the south.

I live in western North Carolina. NC is one of those late primary states so I have been doing my best to support Fred with $$$ now instead of later.

Living in WNC, most of our TV comes from the upstate of South Carolina. Before Christmas, the ads were mostly Romney, Huck, and John Edwards with an occasional Hillary or Obama ad thrown in. Now,the TV ad scene has changed dramatically. It is Fred, John Edwards and McCain. I know Mitt pulled out to go to Michigan and gave up on SC. It will be interesting to see who his supporters switch to, if anybody.

The political blogosphere thinks Fred won the debate in Myrtle Beach yesterday and he did it by calling Huck out as a wannabe Democrat. I agree, however, with the role of identity politics giving Huck much more strength than he deserves. I think the Upstate will probably stick with Huck. It will be the rest of the state that becomes interesting. E.g., how will the retired Marine population living in the Beaufort area vote?

Unlike Iowa, politics in the Palmetto State are a blood sport. Fred can go brutal on Huck and people will lap it up -- and expect it. He's started to do so and I hope he keeps it up.

I did see Lindsay Graham out campaigning with John McCain yesterday in the MB area. However, I get the feeling that many in SC find him a RINO esp. lately and, to be frank, wonder about his sexual orientation (not that I care). I think the real clue to what conservatives will do is if Jim DeMint comes out and endorses someone. He seems to be much more reliably conservative and a strong fiscal conservative along the lines of Tom Coburn of OK.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

John

[jpr9954]

JPR9954, Please don't misunderstand me. There is a differance between "Refugees from the nanny state" former Ma. residents who flee the corruption and and taxes and increasingly meddlesome legislation of a state firmly in the hands of a powerful Democratic party machine ( How else could Whitey Bulger's brother become Senate president, how else could Teddy K. keep getting reelected) I have friends and relatives in this catagory. And then there are massholes, these are the people who leave Ma. because NH taxes are lowwer and then try to push the same assinine policies that made Ma. unlivable in the first place. NH has always had a strong democratic presence, but it was the CONSEVITIVE branch of the dem. party and they USED to be independent minded enough to vote CONSERVITIVE despite party labels.
    I had athought ( No, it didn't hurt) The Democratic party is so ridiculuslly leftist because when Hoovers FBI cracked down on Socialists and communists the rank and file members moved over to the liberal wing of the democratic party.
if we brought back the Socialist Party preaching a straight Marxist/ Leninist doctrine ( sabotage or trickery would be to easy to spot) It would draw off the Soros / moveon supporters, cutting into Democratic party numbers and money. This would marginalize both parties as third party candidates never win national elections and the democrats would no longer have such numbers.
   Another thought, The major problems with the political process are 1) activist media who report their own opinions as the facts, 2) The type of people who seek political office , they have turned the phrase "congressional ethics into an oxymoron, a bad joke on us, Example ,Abscam john Murtha, (don't get me going on THAT sleazeball)  3) The politicians who don't go to jail , put PARTY before all else, If one party could bring paradise to the whole planet the other party would oppose it purely on the basis that it's not our idea. Look how many votes are "split along party lines" I'm not sure how to solve these issues, Maybe instead of electing people who are willing to spend  $100+  million for a job that pays $250,000/year we should DRAFT the most qualified , LEAST willing person for the job.
 It might not work but it would make the campaign ads more interesting
 

I didn't misunderstand you. I realize that the "Massholes" are different from the ex-Nanny-staters. I think you are seeing this trend in places like Arizona with ex-Californicators.

That said, I wanted to mention that I had read many of the libtards were coming from states other than MA.

I agree with you it would clarify things quite a bit if the netroots or nutroots just came out of the closet and declared themselves Socialists.

John

[tombogan03884]

I got divorced in Ca. I got californicated. When I lived there , Just south of Oakland, Barbra Boxer was My state rep.
 ( See why I left)  When they recalled Gray Davis and elected Arnie I thought there might be hope boy was I WRONG. At least the court through out the SF gun ban.
  Hopefully Onslow county will also help take your state in the right direction, I intend to comment on that on some USMC related websites.