Defiant to End, Reid Says No Tax Cuts

True to his obnoxious form, Senate majority leader Harry Reid announced today that he will oppose any attempt by Republicans on the Hill to continue the Bush tax cuts. Citing what he calls Democrat’s goal to “cut taxes on the middleclass,” Reid is standing by his word to allow across-the-board tax cuts enacted by the Bush Administration on millions of Americans.

Parroting his “light-skinned-no-negro-accent” friend in the White House, Reid said that the Bush tax-cut extension “Won’t happen.”

Senator and Vietnam turncoat John Kerry is just gushing over Harry’s unexpected victory over Tea Party favorite Sharron Angel. “Harry Reid isn’t just Dracula, he isn’t just Lazarus, he’s our Leader and our whole caucus is thrilled that he’s unbreakable and unbeatable.” In Kerry’s mind, I suppose, Dracula is as good an analogy as any.

This is a wonderful opportunity for Mitch McConnell. He must keep this in play with the American people. Nevadans may think Reid is reliable enough to return to the Senate, but most Americans don’t. McConnell and Boehner have to flog this horse every day until it’s dead, and it ain’t nearly in the ground yet.

The Reid-Pelosi Congress was the most costly to taxpayers in U.S. history, and if John Boehner and Mitch McConnell blow it now, there will be little opportunity for recovery in the future.

For most voters, this is a trial run for the Republicans. To regain the public trust they must do more than just say no; they will have to put forth alternative solutions that the nation can identify with. Obama will talk a go-along-to-get-along game but he will not compromise. Mitch McConnell needs to point that out at every turn, starting now.

It remains to be seen which of the conservative Republicans in the House and Senate will emerge on the front bench, but the present leadership must single them out and tap into their passion. While newbies such as Rand Paul and vocal conservatives like Michele Bachmann may seem a little out of the box for the stoic Washington mainstream, now is exactly the time the current GOP leadership must embrace them and tap into their ideas.

Harry Reid is arrogant and defiant. He will not back down after pulling out a come-from-behind win against the Tea Party. This guy has never seen a tax he didn’t love.

But Republicans will not, at least when the doors are closed to public scrutiny, be willing to embrace anyone who they perceive threatens their lead positions in Congress. This will be a mistake. Boehner and McConnell should move quickly to bring in the outsiders and listen to them.

Ironically, with so many Blue Dogs losing out in last night’s contest, this Congress may be even more liberal than the last. Now is no time for Boehner and McConnell to get hinky.

Can Palin Win? Michael Steele: ‘Sure, Why Not?’

News e-zine Politico’s journalistic credibility was challenged yesterday when talk show host Laura Ingraham questioned journalist Mike Allen’s largely un-sourced piece claiming that the Republican establishment’s first order of business after the midterm election would be to stop Sarah Palin.

“If you’re going to have a piece about stopping Palin,” said Ingraham, “you better have a little more in terms of on-the-record commentary.”

In his article, Allen says, “Top Republicans in Washington and in the national GOP establishment say the 2010 campaign highlighted an urgent task that they will begin in earnest as soon as the elections are over: Stop Sarah Palin.” The article goes on to quote many anonymous sources within the GOP but names few, other than Karl Rove, who’s on-the-record comments seemed reserved and Michael Steele, who, when asked if Palin could win said, “Sure, why not?”

In another statement on CNN’s American Morning today Steele said, “These Republican leaders who don’t put their names in print but make comments in shadows need to shut up. We’re focused on winning elections tomorrow night,” Steele said. “Get out here, get out to this building at the RNC, help us make phone calls, help us dial into districts so we can turn out our vote. That’s what folks should be doing not focusing on Sarah Palin. She’s focused on winning elections and seats tomorrow night.”

Allen’s article went on to declare: “Interviews with advisers to the main 2012 presidential contenders and with other veteran Republican operatives make clear they see themselves on a common, if uncoordinated, mission of halting the momentum and credibility Palin gained with conservative activists by plunging so aggressively into this year’s midterm campaigns.” Again, few on the record quotes were cited. The piece cites unnamed advisors in the Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney camps.

“That’s a big statement—their trying to stop Sarah Palin and no one will be brave enough to have a quote attributed to them?” exclaimed Ingraham.

Ingraham also challenged the Politico writer when he said that Palin would run outside the mainstream without GOP establishment support. “So you think, if Sarah Palin were to run … she would want the Washington establishment,” said Allen.

“Do you think Sarah Palin can win if she doesn’t pull together the intellectual conservatives … foreign policy conservatives … Tea Party…?” asked Ingraham incredulously. “Whoever wins will have to appeal to all of those groups. …”

Palin slammed the e-zine for its “yellow journalism,” saying of Allen and his co-writer Jim Vandehei, “They’re jokes.” In an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Palin, who was a journalism major in college, said, “I learned back in the day that who, what, when, where, why of journalism. You report that facts; you let other people decide what their opinion is going to be. So having unnamed sources in an article like this is very, very disappointing, you know. And it doesn’t do anybody any good. It doesn’t educate anybody. … I’m getting used to it though.”

Ingraham went on to say that the article sank beneath the standards she had come to expect form Politico.

What Republicans Must Do if They Retake Senate

With the House firmly in their grasp and the Senate still a possibility, the Republicans face a rough two years thwarting a mainstream media bent on painting them as obstructionists. Nevertheless, obstructionists are what they must be if they are to reverse the worst of the damage this President has caused.

Personally, I think the GOP is in dire need of new leadership. I completely understood Laura Ingraham when she took on Eric Cantor last August on the O’Reilly Factor for parsing words on healthcare repeal. When Cantor told Politico that total repeal was “ambitious” it sent exactly the wrong signal to wary voters.

Trust is at issue here and conservatives inside and outside of the GOP have reason to be squeamish about sending many of these guys back to Washington.

Still, we do have a common enemy, whose address next month will be any one of 537 rooms of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Just say, “Give me Barack.” The hotel operator will know who you mean.

The real mission here should be simple. It should be a long-term strategy not to regain power in 2012, but to derail the left wing of the Democratic Party for decades to come. And this can only be accomplished by a complete reversal of old-school Washington politics on the GOP’s part. Standard old-school talking points will simply not do anymore.

This is why I’ve been heralding the praises of Tea Party firebrands like Christine O’Donnell for the past several months. If nothing else, O’Donnell, Palin and Bachmann continue to keep the fire to Republican feet.

O’Donnell is likely to go down in Delaware but the message wins the day. We will not see RINO Mike Castle in the U.S. Senate because of her courage. And screw Michael Steele if he doesn’t get it.

Let’s not forget, the Beltway Republicans wanted Castle and actively supported him, even though he is to the extreme left of their avowed platform. Which of course leads one to wonder if the GOP platform is a charade to begin with.

Perhaps the biggest impediment for the GOP, whether they retake both houses or not, is that they just do not play hip ball. To retreat to a slightly outdated stock phrase, they are squares. Democrats are not. But the only way to win this game is to get hip and get hip fast, something the GOP at large seems wont to do.

I have said for years that the GOP should read Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and develop a strategy to defeat it. I mean, Democrats who have never read the book use its methodology; it has been so ingrained into the left’s culture. They skip to it every time they have a loss like a broken record, and Republicans have never developed a strategy against it.

The media has been the Republican Party’s historic enemy almost since the days of Lincoln. They will begin immediately to lambast the party after the election under the color of journalism. The media no longer tries to hide its bias, so there is no excuse for Republicans not to have a plan to defeat them at their own game.

The central focus must be Barack Obama’s failures as President and it should be surrounded with every conservative pundit smashing away at his foredeck to draw attention of Obama’s excesses in office. It should be abundantly clear to most Americans by now that this President has not grown into the office, and it must be pointed out, again and again.

One way to do this is to use Obama’s own words against him.

Secondly, Democrats, after the Tuesday Night Massacre next month will try desperately to distance themselves from the President. The GOP must not allow them to do it; they are every bit as responsible as Obama in creating this mess. The Democrats are masters at rewriting history to dismantle the Republican’s agenda, and if the GOP leadership doesn’t keep a tight rein on its members they will do it again.

Lastly—and this is the clincher—they must live up to their word. The temptation will be enormous to compromise on heath care repeal and accept something less than total destruction of the law. Defunding it is not enough; it must be squashed.

You may say that is not possible while Obama is in the White House, and that is true, but (again using Alinsky) he must be painted as the obstructionist. In short, the Republicans must use Alinsky’s Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Here is a quick primer on Rules for Radicals:

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. Power has always derived from two main sources, people and money. Lacking money, the Have-Nots must always build power from their own flesh and blood. A mass movement expresses itself with mass tactics. Against the finesse and sophistication of the status quo, the Have-Nots have always had to club their way.

Rule 2: Never go outside the expertise of your people. It results in confusion, fear and retreat. It also leads to a collapse in communications.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Here you want to cause, fear, confusion, and retreat.

Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian Church can live up to Christianity.

Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. It also infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, then there is something very wrong with the tactic.

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time, after that it becomes a ritualistic commitment, like going to church on Sunday mornings.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Never let up, with different tactics and actions.

Rule 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

Rule 10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

Rule 11: If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.

Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. You cannot risk being trapped by the enemy by his sudden agreement with your demand and saying “You’re right, we don’t know what to do about this issue, now you tell us.”

Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. As soon as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all of the “others” come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target.