Yesterday, the gang at CNBC interviewed Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) regarding the financial reform bill the D’s are pushing. At one point in the interview, Rick Santelli – he of the famous “Tea Party Rant” – let loose with another brilliant, right on target barrage at the patronizing bullpuckey the Congresscritter was serving up as justification for the legislative shell game they’re playing on Capitol Hill.

Say what?????!!!!! They could reform Fannie and Freddie, but they won’t because it’s too complicated???? If that isn’t a WTF answer, I’ve never heard one in my life.

From Speaker John Boehner:

Democrats are not only unwilling to reform Fannie and Freddie, they are doubling down on the failed government mortgage companies – burning through hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the process. As the Washington Post noted in a report today: “Under the terms of the government’s 2008 emergency takeover of Fannie and Freddie, the Treasury must pump money into either firm whenever its worth, as measured by assets minus liabilities, goes into the red. Late last year, the Obama administration pledged unlimited backing.”

For years, Republicans raised red flags about Fannie and Freddie’s financial condition and proposed responsible reforms only to be thwarted by Democrats who have deep political ties to the worst offenders. These same powerful Democrats are now pushing for a financial reform bill that doesn’t even address the need to fix these government mortgage companies. As the Wall Street Journal wrote last week, “reforming the financial system without fixing Fannie and Freddie is like declaring a war on terror and ignoring al Qaeda.”

So just to make sure us remedial kids get this right: They know there’s a problem. They know what the problem is. They know there’s a solution to the problem. They aren’t going to fix the problem because it’s too hard.

I have an idea.

Let’s use an old-fashioned concept that my father used to fall back on when I was a kid and didn’t want to complete a task because it was too hard to do. He made the consequences for not doing the assigned task more unpleasant than the effort to do it:

If your’e not up to the job you’re fired! (“I Can See November From My House”)

There seems to be a serious disease infecting Democrat political candidates in the Helena area: Affiliation Disclosure Disorder. This new and relatively perplexing affliction is most recently evidenced by the lack of the legally required disclaimer on the radio ads for two high profile, very Democrat candidates – Joe Cohenour and Mary Caferro.

In Joe’s case, I can understand his desire to distance himself from his party. House District 78 was one of the few local districts that went into the McCain/Palin column last election – it’s no longer a guaranteed D win. In addition, there was a concerted effort by the Democrats to find a viable candidate to oppose him in the primary. Having lost the school board election four years ago, Joe probably knows that he can’t count on the usual suspects and loyal district Dems to get him that coveted extra chance to feed at the public trough, so he must have figured that his best bet is to distance himself from a party that doesn’t really want him and hope that enough “undeclared” voters will see his name on the ballot and put name recognition over party designation in the primary.

As for Mary, I can’t quite figure it out. Certainly, it can’t be an oversight – she’s played in the sandbox for too long to claim that she doesn’t know the rules. And Senate District 40 is pretty much a safe liberal bastion in the heart of the People’s Republic of Helena – so she can’t be trying to avoid the cooties, as it were. Distancing herself from any possible similarity to Dave Gallik has merit, but is hardly definitive as conclusive proof of her susceptibility to the contagion.

It’s a puzzelment, for sure. Why are these two fairly well-known Democrats now suddenly adverse to proclaiming their long-time liberal ties? Why is Joe not proudly touting himself as a Democrat candidate for HD 78? How come Mary’s radio spots don’t end with the mandated party affiliation?

Sudden onslaught ADD. Hmmm…. Could it be fatal?

A Letter to the Editor in today’s IR extolled the virtues and benefits of taxes. The author, Sarah Wilhelm, is the research director at the Montana Budget and Policy Center, which provides in-depth research and analysis on budget, tax and economic issues. And pretty much has never found a tax or government spending plan it couldn’t embrace, or a corporation it couldn’t excoriate. After extolling the virtues of tax revenues and bemoaning the lack of sufficient resources for more and bigger state programs, Ms. Wilhelm justifies her call for increasing state revenues with the following:

Across the country, state leaders from both parties have responded to the recession by creating new revenue instead of just cutting services. They have closed corporate tax loopholes, collected lost revenues, and in some cases raised taxes. These states’ economies have not been harmed in the short run and will reap the benefits of sound public investments in the long run.

I have just one question: Which states would you be referring to? California? New York? New Jersey, Florida, Nevada, Colorado? C’mon, Sarah – give us a hint. Which states are rolling in all that new cash? The media seems to have missed the good news. And I know our legislators would just love to know where to find a new stash.

Sheesch!

A bunch of us political junkies were discussing campaigns the other day and the the conversation eventually became a laundry list of “things a candidate MUST do in order to win an election”. Naturally everyone was firmly convinced that they knew exactly the most critically important, never to be ignored, always to be done, campaign tactics, particularly for the low-budget, local races.

Just like the King of Siam, sometimes I’m confused about conclusions I concluded long ago.

So… here’s the deal: You tell me – as a voter – what works for you. Which of the following things do you find helpful? (You can pick more than one!) What did we leave off the list? As long as you’re at it – leave a comment about the things that annoy you too. This could be really interesting. I wonder if what we absolutely know is so????

…Celebrating your birthday was this much fun? Me neither. But I bet this makes you smile:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICAH!!!!

There’s a serious outbreak of a deadly disease that has taken the political life of another victim. Bart Stupak – erstwhile “Leader of the Pro-Life Coalition” during the health care debate – announced today that his congressional career is kaput. Fini. Over. Stick a fork in it – it’s done. Put some jam in his pockets – he’s toast. Done.

Using the ever popular meme of wanting to spend more time with his family and garnishing it with a touch of “I’ve accomplished everything I’ve set out to do”, Stupak attempted to gloss over the obvious: His odds of winning reelection in November were about equal to the odds of Tiger Woods getting the “Husband of the Year” Award. A quick look at the campaign checkbook and his latest poll numbers were confirmation that his decision to abandon his touted pro-life principles was a fatal one.

There’s a moral to this story: If you’re going to sell out, better hope the price you’ll pay is worth whatever it is that you sold out for.

I was just taking a break in my party preps to rest my feet and check the intertubes for the latest news and views and sure enough I stumbled upon a treat that I have to share.

Frequent visitors here have been directed to visit HillBuzz – one of my favorite blogs – more than once. The Boyz have posted a delightful piece about a possible Palin/Bachman ticket in 2012. Mid-way down they posited this:

But, could two women win, running together, when the MSM worked so hard to prevent a female president from taking office in 2008…and when so-called “feminists” themselves, bitter harridans mostly, did everything they could to stop Hillary Clinton from being our 44th president?

Well, in 2008, the winning ticket was a black man and an idiot.

And to this day, not many people realize Joe Biden is black.

Ok – go get the tissue to wipe the coffee/pop off the computer screen. And then read the whole piece here. Enjoy!

Internet Video Is the Mother of All Media for Getting the Message Out.

So for those who have not yet seen what really happened in Washington DC on March 20, take a few minutes to watch this:

Who ya’ gonna believe the LSM or your lying eyes?