From Drudge:

GREENSPAN: Fed’s Massive Stimulus Program Had Little Impact on Economy

We never would have guessed.

Public Policy Polling released a new poll today trumpeting Michele Bachmann’s surge to the lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination in Montana and Oregon.

We’ve never found her leading one of our state polls until now but Michele Bachmann’s been on fire for the last two weeks and we find her at the top of the GOP field in both Oregon and Montana when Sarah Palin’s not included [Emphasis added.]. That’s just more indication that if Palin ends up not running Bachmann will pretty instantaneously vault to co-front runner status with Mitt Romney, provided she can continue her current momentum.

You gotta love the these guys: No matter what the facts are they’ll twist ’em until they can write the story they want. And I bet the pollsters would rather take a beating than have to admit that, “In both Montana and Oregon Palin has easily the best net favorability of any of the GOP contenders…” After almost three years of the most vitriolic, obnoxious, mean-spirited, inaccurate, incessant, lying attacks, Sarah Palin remains a strong contender. With Obumble’s ratings doing a reasonable impression of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” nosedive, his campaign staff and media helpers have to be practically catatonic with worry. The last thing Jim Messina wants is to have to put the TOTUS up against a SARAHCUDA next year, because he knows deep-down that the headlines on November 7, 2012 can only proclaim BO the winner if Sarah Palin doesn’t run. Count on it.

For those of you who like visual aids – below are two photos that illustrate my point very well. Both Sarah and Obama were in Iowa today.

Here’s a picture of Sarah greeting some of the crowd outside the Pella, Iowa Opera House this afternoon before the screening of “The Undefeated”.

[H/T Politicons.net]

And here’s the President at the Alcoa factory where he was, as the LA Times put it, “[P]leading for yet more time to create new jobs – and keep his.”

[H/T DesMoines Register]

I recognize that I’m not going to be confused with any of the Royal Smart People anytime soon, but I do have a question that nobody seems to be addressing: What with the US budget being so far in the red and the deficit spiraling out of control faster than a three-year-old on a sugar high, why are the conversations limited to a debate about taxing and spending???

When real people get into a budget crunch, they have to look at not only cutting expenses and increasing income, but they also – generally speaking – look at selling assets. Got a bunch of extra stuff? Have a garage sale and pay off a credit card balance. The rentals aren’t bringing in enough to cover the expenses? Get rid of them! Can’t pay the mortgage on your primary residence and you’re hanging on to a second home? Sell the sucker!

So why isn’t Congress looking at trimming back on federal property? There are over 650 million acres of land owned by Uncle Sam, mostly in the West, but all across the country, not to mention hundreds (maybe even thousands) of buildings that could be sold off to pay down the debt.

Let’s see – the debt clock says it’s about $14.2 trillion and counting. How much do you suppose a few acres along the Pacific coast will bring in? A house overlooking the waves crashing against the massive rock formations is likely to rate pretty dang high on the Desire-o-Meter. That acreage will probably be snapped up in a heartbeat for tip-top dollar. Ca-ching! How about that land in Alaska and in the lower forty-eight that’s prime for oil development and mining? Can’t we get someone to buy some of those national forests that are just waiting to go up in flames instead of being properly managed for long-term investment potential?

It seems like a discussion that ought to be going on all over the country. Selling off some of the under-utilized real estate has both short and long term benefits. Obviously, some quick cash is a good thing. A few billion here, a few billion there, and pretty soon the whole economy is looking a touch healthier. Also – less federal land = fewer government employees = reduced ongoing expense. On the other side of the ledger, all that formerly federal land would turn into ongoing property tax revenues for city and county governments. And just possibly, industries like logging, mining, agriculture, and maybe even tourism would bring in jobs and, oh you know, revenue to the state coffers as well. Seems like a win-win-win-win strategy.

So why aren’t we talking about this????

Guest Post by Loki

I find the recent shakeup at the Helena Independent Record (HIR) very interesting. I wonder if the HIR and Lee Enterprises is about to collapse. And if it does, is it because of the Internet or their bias.

John Doran was only appointed editor a few years ago in 2007. Now they are combining the editor positions of the Montana Standard and HIR into one position and Doran is thrown to the curb. They call this a ‘cost saving’ change. Yet they are also promoting several others and hiring others in Butte. I can’t see how that can produce a cost saving. It sounds more like a shakeup and change of direction.

The HIR is what I would call a typical moderately liberal newspaper. Most if not all of its news stories are from liberal sources such as the NY Times, AP and Reuters. But I also know that John Doran believes he is publishing a balanced paper without bias. If anything he has gone out of his way to try to bring a balance to the paper. Paul Krugman used to be one of the HIR’s go to guys on the opinion page. Publishing of Krugman’s articles have declined quite a bit recently. Doran has also starting publishing a monthly synopsis of the articles on the opinion page listing the bias of the national writers. This makes me wonder if Doran went too far and management is trying to realign the paper to its liberal readers.

But nationally newspapers have been trying to compete with the Internet where readers can pick and choose their news sources. This has caused a nationwide drop in readers and stock value for newspapers.

This leaves the question what is the real reason behind the shakeup. Is it a step backwards to bias or is it a real attempt at cost savings?

In my opinion it may not matter. Moving the editor from the state capitol and trying to run the HIR remotely is destined for failure. The logistics are stretched and the cost savings imaginary. Also the false belief that an editor in Butte can understand the politics that permeate all of Helena. I see this shakeup as a major managerial failure.

I wonder where I will get be getting my advertising flyers in the future.

Guest Post by Loki

The Presidential race has begun. Republicans and conservatives are sorting through the candidates trying to find someone to save this country from disastrous ruin. But who can defeat the ‘One’? The answer is simple, he will defeat himself. It is through his own hubris that he will bring his own castle of cards down around himself. Hopefully before the destruction of this country.

Obama has shown himself to be nothing more than the community organizer and Chicago thug some had foreseen before the election. His knowledge was garnered from socialist professors who declared to their captive disciples that the capitalist government was evil and if it could be converted to a socialist government the USA would be a utopia. Obama believed them and put their teachings to work to be rewarded with utter failure. His economic failures are on par with the worst decisions ever made. With daily headlines of ‘unexpected’ and results worse than predicted he keeps trudging forward confident in his own idolatry that he is right and the world is wrong and will correct itself. He leads the country like the Judas lemming going over a cliff.

That is his greatest weakness. His belief that he is never wrong and everyone else is always wrong. His belief that as president all must obey without questioning him or his greatness. Propped up by the media he believes his own reviews while ignoring the audience stampeding to the exits. Now he spreads that hubris to the war in Libya. Ignoring the Constitution and the War Powers Act he also ignores Congress and his own lawyers believing his own greatness.

All that is needed to put this one-term-president behind us is a viable candidate. This has been shown by recent polls showing that any generic republican can defeat him. But we should not settle for just defeating Obama, but instead should be looking for the best Republican to reverse the direction of this country and prove to the country the fallacy of Obama’s beliefs.

We have a plethora of candidates but so far none has been outstanding. We need an outstanding candidate. Then we can watch Obama and his administration’s inevitable collapse under their ineptitude.

The new DNC Chair – foxy, charming, tough-as-nails Debbie Whatshername-Shitz, has finally admitted what the rest of us figured out months ago:

Democrats are ready to take responsibility for the state of the economy and they deserve credit for putting it on the right track, the party’s chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, said on Wednesday. “We own the economy…”

And Rasmussen’s latest survey tends to show that more and more Americans are giving the Dems credit for the country’s economic malaise. Two years ago as many as 62% of voters blamed the nation’s economic woes on President Bush. Last week 56% of mainstream voters laid the blame squarely at Obama’s feet.

So it’s nice to know that the administration is finally willing to man up and shoulder some responsibility. But the fact that they think that their current policies have them on the right track is more than scary. When 65% of the population is out here yelling “Stop!!! No!!! Wrong way!!!!”, it ill behooves Ms. Whatshername to be pointing the train the same direction and pouring on the steam.

H/T Sundance, The Last Refuge.

While Eating or Drinking – ‘Cause you’ll have to clean the keyboard afterwards…guaranteed!

H/T to Pistol Pete, The Grudge Report

Guest Post by Loki

If there ever was any doubt about the vitriolic hatred the media has for Sara Palin (R) the recent release of her emails while governor confirms their bias.

Anthony Weiner’s (D) escapades are softly reported and his actions defended by the media. Boys will be boys, it wasn’t actually cheating, he’s just a man, he didn’t do it on government time, all excuses put forth to defend Weiner. No big investigation, no calls for all of his emails to be released. Hardly a ripple of the news cycle beyond the sexual titillation.

Yet the desperation of the media to indict Palin has them calling for volunteers to search her emails for anything to indict her policies and her personally. They have gone through her garbage and harassed her continually since the announcement of her run with John McCain (R).

The only intelligent conclusion is that the media is biased and will do anything it can to bring down a Republican while defending Democrats. All while claiming to not being biased. Beware, the media is on the hunt to destroy Republicans at all costs.

You put your right foot in, You take your right foot out

The Georgia Democrat Party summed up the news of the mutiny in Newt’s campaign rather succiently…

Campaign staffers of Newt Gingrich’s flailing presidential bid walked off the job en masse today, demonstrating the power of organized labor and teamwork while serving in a hostile work environment… On the other hand, Republicans are taking ‘job-creation’ seriously by making dozens of new jobs available …

Is this why we call it “Silly Season”? It will be interesting to see who’s still standing by Christmas. Who do you think will make it to the primaries?

Imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning and found a letter addressed, not to me, but to the Chairman of the State GOP from obviously disgruntled “Republicans”. It was probably a bad idea to open this message before the coffee had finished brewing, but I wasn’t fully functional when I clicked on the envelope. Poor Roland and Annie – guess they didn’t know they’d be tap dancing on my last nerve.

They start out by announcing that they are DONE contributing to the Republican Party. Done, I tell you, done! DONE, DONE, DONE.

Well, whoop-de-doo. According to Follow the Money, they haven’t exactly been fiscal pillars of the organization, having contributed a whopping $120 so far this century to the Montana Republican Party. Now we all understand that no organization can afford to alienate donors, and any loss hurts, but golly, gee, when you’re making threats, you ought to take into account how significant a loss you may be inflicting if you want to be taken seriously. In this case, I think the party can recover nicely.

However, since our correspondents weren’t finished with their rant, I will continue with mine…

They next assert that their disaffection is due to the party’s failure to attain their standards of ideological purity and offers as proof the party’s support for Rick Hill over Ken Miller, and the legislature’s failure to pass some of their favorite bills, including SB167 – Greg Hinkle’s bill to prohibit assisted suicide, HB 516 – Kris Hanson’s discriminatory anti-gay rights bill, and various anti-abortion bills. They go on to disparage Denny Rehberg, Rick Hill (again) and for good measure take a swipe at Jim Shockley because they just aren’t conservative enough, and then finish up with a rousing slam at “RINO’s” in general as they wrap themselves in the flag, the Constitution, and “conservative values”.

Let’s set the record straight: The Republican Party hasn’t endorsed or supported any candidate for governor. The fact that Rick Hill seems to be the frontrunner is because more PEOPLE support him!!! Even though Miller has been running months longer than Rick, he’s only raised about a third of what Rick raised in half the time. Montanans know both Ken and Rick and the jury’s back – Rick’s a winner, Ken’s a loser – and a sore one at that. Ken’s juvenile temper tantrum after the 2004 primary is one of the main reasons that Brian Schweitzer is sitting in the governor’s office right now. So, Roland and Annie, when you get yourself all wee-weed up over what bills did or did not pass the legislature, just remember that “Republicans” didn’t have a veto-proof majority in the Senate and we didn’t even have a RINO at the east end of the capitol. Fighting to pass a bill without bipartisan support is generally an exercise in futility unless the guy with the veto brand is at least willing to listen to you. So when a “member of the Senate leadership” told you that a certain bill or group of bills “didn’t poll well”, it wasn’t an acknowledgement of either his or the Party’s support or lack thereof – it’s an acceptance of a political reality. By the time you’re dealing with a bill in the legislature, ideology is a concept that is no longer useful – it doesn’t matter how avidly you support an issue or a bill – if you can’t get it through the legislative and the executive branches, it won’t become law. Period. End of story. The 2011 Legislature spent thousands and thousands of dollars giving your issues fair hearings and due consideration. Don’t blame the legislators or the Republican Party because your issues didn’t haven’t enough support to carry the day. They didn’t fail – you did! You couldn’t, or didn’t, generate enough support from the citizens of this state to carry the day. That is not the fault of the Republican Party.

Let’s discuss this whole ideology thing a bit more. Just because our friends Roland and Annie think they have all the right answers, it doesn’t give them (or anybody else for that matter) the ability to impose their will on the rest of us unless they can get a majority of the voters to agree. Which brings us to those pro-life bills that they are so passionate about. God love ’em. I agree, the right to life is a fundamental cornerstone of our republic – and the platform of the Republican Party at all levels. But the fact of the matter is the leaders of the RTL movement have failed to persuade the majority of the voters in Montana that the anti-abortion and anti-assisted suicide laws they support are best for the state. I submit it’s not for lack of dedication, fervor, or commitment, but just that a majority of Montanans don’t agree with Roland and Annie’s positions on those issues. If you don’t have the support of a majority of the voters, expecting the legislature to pass your agenda is not only naive but literally, unAmerican. It’s that whole “majority rules” thingy that you were taught in grade school. Like it or not kids – your position on abortion is not shared by most of your fellow Montanans.

So what is Roland and Annie’s response when the issues and bills they deem ideologically right and proper fail? Do they re-evaluate their own strategies and double-down on their efforts to change public opinion? Nope. They throw their own temper tantrums and threaten to take their toys and go home. The email concluded with the following threat:

“Many of us who have voted the lesser of two evils in the past will do that no longer. The way we look at it, this country can die a quick death under Democrat leadership or a slow death under compromising Republicans. Either way, it will die.”

Politically speaking, that sounds like assisted suicide to me.

So much for ideological purity, huh?