FOX News: Room for Improvement

I am often critical of people on FOX news. Many of their "stars," including Greta and sometimes Hannity, are mainly interested in getting viewers rather than providing solid information. Notice Greta's continual comments on how this-or-that "is really going to raise your blood pressure . . . or get you angry."

Frankly, raising the national blood pressure may cause more heart attacks, but it's not going to remove Obama from power. Organizing, calling our congressional representatives, donating money to conservative causes (e.g., www.sarahpac.com) are what will end the national nightmare.

For FOX or anyone else to suggest otherwise is just game-playing.

Rush gave Greta a thumping the other night when she expressed her silly "hope" that Obama's Stimulus package, which she apparently knows nothing about, will work. Rush basically told her that a vague "hope" is for losers, and he's right.

As for Geraldo, who's a pro-illegals leftist with a history of grandstanding, he should not be on FOX or anything else. Anyone who spend one minute of his or her time watching "Geraldo" needs to find more productive things to do. There is not a conservative bone in Geraldo's body.

There are some great young people on FOX -- one is Patty Ann Browne on the Beck show, another is Greg Gutfield on their weekend late show, and others are Andrea Tantaros and S. E. Cupp -- but there many other big shots interested more in making millions than in winning the battle for America.

Sarah Palin's Supporter: Rush Limbaugh

I absolutely loved what Rush Limbaugh said on Greta Friday night about Sarah Palin. She should meet with him soon and talk to him on his radio show -- perhaps for the entire three hours (is it three hours).

Yes, there are Republicans who have "problems" with Sarah Palin. Those were the people Limbaugh mentioned as the DC, NY, Boston "Republicans" (Olympia Snowe? Mitt Romney, Arlen Specter?) who have contempt for some 50 million Americans who always vote for the more conservative candidate. Half of those 50 million people listen to Rush . . . and share his views.

My Republican "friends" who dislike Palin -- or badmouth her -- rapidly become ex-friends. If you love America -- in all its complexity and sheer grittiness -- you are going to adore Sarah Heath Palin. Rush Limbaugh is a critical ally for Sarah. His support is the way you win primaries in America . . . and his message of freedom, tolerance, love of country, and opportunity is the same as Sarah's message.

Rush Limbaugh No Hate-Monger

I realize that some extremists on the political Left delight in calling Rush Limbaugh all sorts of names, including "hate-monger." Frankly, Limbaugh has emphasized many times that, in addition to being a (first-rate) political analyst, he's also an entertainer. He realizes that, in order to be heard, it's usually necessary to speak in colorful language -- and, in his case, to hit liberals with a big (verbal) stick. Rush is a big admirer of Gov. Sarah Palin, and I hope she and he establish common cause to the greatest extent possible.

I saw on TV Rush Limbaugh's February presentation at CPAC and later read the speech (a long one). I described it as "A Love Letter to America," one emphasizing limited government, opportunity, tolerance, self-reliance, and, especially, liberty. I basically stopped listening to Rush with any regularity in 1994 -- too much bluster, but the man does have a good heart.

I realize that some on the Left called the CPAC presentation "hate speech," which it was not. People on the Left who hate Limbaugh do so because he's so effective -- and because he absolutely refuses to apologize for being an American.

Some people, including Rush, are extremely angry at Sonia Sotomayor, who has made remarks proclaiming herself superior not only to white people, but apparently to Black people. Note that she didn't give any props to "wise Black women" or "wise Asian women" or "wise Native Americans." Why not?

What if a Rush Limbaugh had pronounced white men superior to Black men . . . or Black women? I don't think Obama would have nominated him to the Supreme Court. I doubt if Rush has ever in his career made remarks as offensive as some of Sotomayor's. She's a racial polarizer, and he is not.

The whole "Latina" identity thing is B-S. If she truly believed the Latin culture was superior to our American culture, she would have headed back to Puerto Rico long ago. It's just pretense, a pose by someone who wants to assert her own "specialness."

Rush Limbaugh Salutes Sarah Palin

Breaking news: In a move that stunned the Beltway, Piper Palin today released the official Obama birth certificate. Controversy heats up as Obama admits he was born in Outer Mongolia. Several U-Haul trucks arrive at White House. Palin sworn in as America's first moose-hunting President.
What Rush Limbaugh said today about Sarah Palin (I heard the excerpt on the Greta van Susteren show) was right on the mark. Rush is strongly supportive of Sarah, and I hope the two work together. The other "guys" in the Republican hierarchy -- like McCain, Romney, and Jeb Bush -- have mothing even approaching the mass appeal of Gov. Palin.

Jeb Bush recently indicated we need to get over Ronald Reagan. When we "get over Reagan," we will no longer have any real political purpose. Why not "get over" the Founding Fathers?

Her connection with real, live Americans at all levels is something they don't comprehend. Instead of launching some "New America" PR effort, they need to go to Alaska and sit at the foot of someone who actually loves and respects people.As I said of Rush's speech at CPAC, it was a beautiful love letter to America. I hope he mobilitzes his 15 million listeners behind Sarah -- most of them are already behind her.

Limbaugh, Palin Right, Obama Wrong

Tomorrow (Thursday), I'll discuss Obama's disastrous plunge into class warfare. Yes, many people love to hate "the rich" (whether they're really rich or not). But consider this: Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently spoke out against soaking the rich. He explained that high-tax, high-cost New York has eight million resident. But a mere 40,000 of the eight million provide 63% of the city's revenue. What if one-eighth of those people -- 5,000 -- moved out of the city? It would do real harm to city services. What if one-fourth of them -- 10,000 -- moved out, which they certainly have the resources to do ? It would cripple the city's ability to meet the needs of its people. Is Obama aware of such situations? He hasn't shown any sign yet that he is. Sarah Palin does understand such realities, and that's one reason she'd be a much better President than Obama.


Below: "Obama's success would be America's failure." That's why we don't want him to succeed. The MSM's absurd notion that Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh are simpletons while Obama is a sophisticated intellectual makes me apoplectic. The stock market has dropped 3,000 points since the election of Obama. Wall Street believes Hussein Obama is the simpleton, and it's correct.

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Clearly, Barack Obama has no understanding of how the American economy works. His tax plan is an invitation to investors to sell their stocks. It's an invitation to American business to hoard cash rather than invest it.

But how could Obama understand the economy? The man has spent his entire life going to left-wing academic institutions, "organizing" communities, and running for ever-higher offices. He's spent a lifetime accepting handouts -- scholarships, grants, and payments for being a lazy, lousy legislator. Obama has had everything given to him. People like Palin and Limbaugh have had to earn all that they've gotten.

Frankly, if you want to know what's wrong with the economy and what must be done to fix it, don't go to Obama's web site. Instead, come here, where I'll offer simple explanations of what is going on and how we can help improve the situation.

First, however, a last word (for now) on Rush Limbaugh's amazing speech to CPAC: What Rush reminds us is that we don't have to "make nice" with people who try to smear Sarah Palin -- or who sling mud at Limbaugh. Being nice to deceitful, dishonest people ensures they will never get any better. We may not change their minds, but we can at least make them uncomfortable.

Frankly, in his LONG CPAC address Rush did not say offensive things. His goal was to defend responsible democracy and the American way of life. The accusations he made about Obama's socialist -- or vote-buying -- agenda happen to be true. Some of our Republican leaders are good people -- John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, even Michael Steele -- but they aren't forceful enough.

As Limbaugh indicated, when it comes to simple matters of right-and-wrong, "bipartisanship" is not the answer. When a public policy is bad, compromising on it doesn't make it "half-bad."

When Obama is taking steps that harm charities and further depress the housing market, we don't need a bipartisan compromise. When people tell us comforting lies, we need to tell the truth to the best of our ability.

Also, when investors feel gloomy about the stock market's prospects, we need to reveal the negative effects of Obama's efforts to increase the tax rate on capital gains and reduce people's capacity to invest. Finally, when Rush says that's what Obama's doing, is he being "mean" -- or is he just reciting some obvious, if inconvenient, truths?

As a society, we don't want to punish the most productive people in the economy and reward the least productive. Doing so harms the country. That's why many of us, including Rush, don't want Obama to succeed.

In fact, Obama's success would be America's failure. We don't want to become like Britain and France, with slow growth, high unemployment, and a social welfare scheme that reduces opportunity.

Barack Obama likes to talk a lot about Abraham Lincoln and, lately, Franklin D. Roosevelt. One historical individual Obama has never mentioned -- but should -- is Benjamin Franklin.

What's the best way to gain great wealth? Is it to speculate wildly on Wall Street, assuming that the market will always go up -- as you've noticed, it doesn't? Or is it to buy more house than you can afford, believing that the market will always trend upward and you can sell it at a handsome profit. Not anymore.

Benjamin Franklin took a more modest approach, one we might describe not as "get rich quick," but rather as "Get rich . . . slowly." He said, "The road to wealth, if you desire it [who doesn't?], is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality. That is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both."

In the U.S., tens of millions of people have gotten wealthy by doing basically what Franklin advised. (In contrast, Obama got rich through two massive book deals for autobiographical volumes that were strong on hope and short on real accomplishments.) His wife got a rich person's salary primarily because she was married to an influential elected official.

Currently, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Obama's Illinois political associate, is trying to get rich in a hurry with a book deal of his own. If all else fails, as it did for Blagojevich if not for Obama, then write a book. For normal people, it pays to follow Ben Franklin's advice, sagacious as he always was.

[More tomorrow about what Obama doesn't know about U.S. business and economics -- and Gov. Palin does.]

Sarah and Rush: Basic Americans

On Rush Limbaugh: We all, including Rush, fall into the situation described by St. Paul: "For all have sinned, all have fallen short of the Glory of God." Sarah Palin reminded us long ago that she isn't perfect either. (But you're closer than most, Sarah!) [This is the second of two columns today about Limbaugh. Scroll down to see the other]

NOTE: PLEASE SEE URGENT INFORMATION AT BOTTOM OF THIS PIECE

That said, Rush Limbaugh evokes fear and loathing from the Left not because he's a "bad man." He does so because he is the embodiment of the American Dream.

The same, by the way, is true of Sarah Palin. Obama and his supporters despise Sarah because of her humble beginnings and her basic Americanism. Nobody ever gave her an "affirmative action scholarship." She's not from the privileged and pampered world of Barack and Michelle Obama. She's a gritty -- and gifted -- American. For that, people like David Axelrod, Rahm Emmanuel, and Barack Obama will never forgive her.

Rush came from nowhere (Cape Girardeau, MO) and from nothing. He never went to college (remember, Bill Gates dropped out in his sophomore year). He has benefited greatly from the kind of opportunity America provides to its citizens. He's grateful. He doesn't expect everybody to agree with him, because he understands, as he put it, that we're all individuals, all unique.

I disagree with Rush on a couple of issues, one of which is how to handle immigration. But I was happy he brought up the scapegoating of businesspeople, some of whom are no more responsible for their companies' problems than I am for the collapse of my 401-K. He made ME feel guilty, because I sometimes trash Wall Streeters indiscriminately. Of course, the Obama people are looking around for others -- scapegoats -- to blame for the disastrous results their policies are producing.

Rush shamed the media, which should be shamed every single day. He brought up questions about Obama's actions that the media should be raising -- but isn't. He asked where on earth a socialist agenda, and that is Obama's agenda, had ever worked. That is a legitimate question, and not one CNN or MSNBC wants anything to do with.

To me, Rush stood up for the Constitution, for liberty, for tolerance (*we want everybody to be successful"), and for opportunity. If people want to trash him for that, they're not only short-sighted but downright dangerous. For someone like Rahm Emmanuel, the essence of America boils down to buying votes and selling influence. For Barack Obama, it's redistributing wealth -- without having a clue how wealth is created.

Rush said what many people feel, but lack the skill -- or the guts -- to tell the truth as effectively as he did. As one of my blogs put it today, "Three cheers for Rush Limbaugh."

URGENT INFORMATION BELOW

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Three Cheers for Rush Limbaugh

Last Saturday afternoon Rush Limbaugh delivered a remarkable one-and-a-half-hour speech to CPAC. It was broadcast live by FOX, CNN, and a few other outlets. The speech ignited a storm of commentary on the Sunday talk shows and throughout the country. In it, Rush said he "hope(s) Obama fails." Rush said he felt that way because Obama's policies, particularly in economics, are bad for the country -- and at variance with the traditions that have made this an exceptional country.

I watched the well-received speech on CNN, a network Limbaugh intentionally failed to mention in his speech (he mentioned FOX several times). The CNN reporter and news reader seemed miffed that Rush had omitted any reference to their network.

CNN also read several e-mails from viewers hostile to Limbaugh. One called him a "fascist"; another likened him to Hitler. Later, Republican National Chairman Michael Steele called Limbaugh an "agitator" and "incendiary." (Subsequently, Steele apologized and praised Rush.)

Time out, folks. Limbaugh's could have been "A Tribute to America." He spoke in support of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, two documents he believes Obama is ignoring in his rush toward a nanny-state. Rush allied himself with the Declaration's commitment to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." He called for a government that respects the Constitution, which Obama clearly does not. He saluted Americans' self-reliance and their belief in liberty and opportunity.

In short, the speech Limbaugh gave was one Barack Obama should have delivered -- but won't -- ever. There was nothing fascistic or Hitlerian about Rush's call for equality of opportunity and fairness. There's nothing dictorial about a love of democracy. Yes, it's possible to disagree with Rush on some issues -- and I do myself.

However, he cherishes dissent from his views, because he realizes that conflict draws attention., and attention draws radio listeners. As Rush suggested, if people want boring, they can tune into C-Span or PBS. If he didn't have an audience, he's end up like so many of us, basically talking to ourselves. When Rush talks, people listen, and that's the main goal of his profession.

If Limbaugh is an "agitator," then the nation could use a lot more agitation. If he's an "entertainer," as he has often admitted he is, Rush demonstrates that there's nothing wrong with being entertaining. Making a thoughtful statement on politics and society does not require one to be as boring as John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and Michael Steele.

Limbaugh is passionate about all the right things: liberty, equality, opportunity, innovation, and wealth creation. He's deeply rooted in American traditions and values. Other Republicans could learn a great deal from him.

In fact, part of Sarah Palin's great appeal is that she touches hearts. She doesn't confuse a political speech with a tedious repetition of facts in a graduate course in public policy. She feeds off her audience -- and this true of Limbaugh -- as it feeds off her. Her audiences, like Rush's tend to end up chanting "USA! USA!" Obama's mesmerized audiences often turn into zombies, mindlessly and metronomically intoning something meaningless ("Yes we can." Well, "yes you can . . . WHAT?)

Does Rush rely heavily on emotion? Of course, and he's wise to do so. Most Americans (70%? 80%? More?) don't on their intellect -- the rationality -- in making political decisions. Instead, they respond vicerally, emtionally -- with their hearts first and their heads second. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with feeling strongly about issues. Other Republicans -- in general, we're an unexciting lot, alas -- could learn a lot from Limbaugh.

Rush's point -- and my point -- is this: We hope Obama fails in his effort to socialize the country. Insofar as Obama fails, the nation succeeds. Insofar as Obama fails, the Constitution will remain the foundation of our nation's greatness.

Sarah: "She's ONE of US"

My slogan for Sarah 2012 is "Sarah . . . She's ONE of US." In heavily unionized Beaver County, two-to-one Democratic voter registration edge, Sarah drew a crowd of 10,000-plus. That is the biggest crowd ever to gather for anything in Beaver County and twice what Obama drew. (He was two hours late and then the campaign tried to stiff the police on overtime.)

Sarah's crowd was about half union people and union families, including many children who were very excited to see the irrepressible Piper (and Willow) Palin. In this Democratic, union-intensive county, McCain-Palin won by 4,000 votes. They also won ALL the small counties in western PA!!!! How would Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee have done? Don't make me laugh.


I've been saying, "The Republican Party used to be the fat cats. Now, we're the alley cats." How do we get the Wal-Mart voters? As even Rush admitted, "We've already got them" Sarah, running against the candidate of "hope," gave something to the people they needed ... . hope for a better future, hope that their normal, middle class lives had meaning, hope that they really did have a woman who cared about them.

I was a "greeter" at the event. I got to the 7 p.m. event at 3:30 p.m., accompanied by two terrific young HBO people from San Francisco. who were doing a series on "America." I met them while I was wearing my Sarah tee-shirt ("Guns and God"). I told them people in SF and Beaver County did not "hate" each other.

I said we all needed some place to complain about. They said, "Yes!"

I noted we had a lot more in common than either group wanted to admit, as illustrated by the outpouring of support for the supposedly "hated" New York when 9/11 occurred. We had discovered that we, too, were "New Yorkers," and many EMTs, police, and fire fighters had gone to Manhattan to help out.

They had both decided, "Yeah, Sarah is the real deal." The young woman from HBO (Alexandra) was getting ready to take the red-eye back to SF, where she had waiting for her two little boys, ages two and one. She liked Sarah because she (like Alexandra) wanted to "have it all." I told her husband, Will, also young, how lucky he was to be married to Alex. He said, "Don't I know it. Don't I know it."

I was a greeter at the rally. I must have talked to and shaken hands with 500 people. It was an exhilarating trip into the Real America. These were good people. They loved their country, and they knew in their hearts that Sarah did also. When Sarah hit the stage (right on time), I learned the meaning of the word "pandemonium." She had a dark blue top and black slacks (see above).

One of the best days of my life. Come back again in 2010 and 2012, Sarah.

Sarah Palin Outshines Hillary Clinton

Scroll down to previous columns on NY congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton TOMORROW: WHY SARAH PALIN IS RIGHT ON ABORTION -- AND HER CRITICS ARE DEAD WRONG.

For his book, “A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media,” author Bernard Goldberg interviewed Rush Limbaugh.Goldberg asked Rush, among other things, what he thought about Palin Derangement Syndrome. “Why such hatred, especially from liberal feminists? Was it simply her politics or was something else at play?”

Here’s what Limbaugh has to say: “Something else. She was the only effective Republican candidate anywhere in this entire campaign – among all candidates, for all offices. Sarah Palin is what militant feminists have been suggesting all women can become. But she had the gall to have a Down Syndrome child and be opposed to abortion, which is the sacrament to feminist liberalism. She was the Clarence Thomas of the Anita Hill hearings. Her electoral future had to be destroyed.”

Steve Says: When I went to a (wonderful) Catholic elementary school, the nuns told us, "You never mistread girl. GOD will be very angry if you do." They got our attention. Bill never went to that school. His abuse of women, especially middle-class women (Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and many others) in vulnerable positions, has been the bad habit of a lifetime.

Bill Clinton lives in the world chillingly described by a character in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, where everything is relative. As one character puts it, "If God [any sense of ultimate value] is dead, everything is permitted." In Bill's world and, I'd submit, in Hillary's, everything is permitted . . . as long as you don't get caught. If you do get caught, you apologize -- and then, when the coast is clear, you go do it again.

Okay, when she was at Wellesley, Hillary wrote her senior thesis on labor organizer Saul Alinsky (a better man than many people think), and he offered her a job with his community development organization. His total budget for a year was $100,000 (including his salary). He labored almost exclusively with the working poor, including Blacks and first generation immigrants. He hated the "welfare state."

Hillary response to the job offer? She said, No thanks and went off to Yale Law School, one of those places that usually leads to whole truckloads of money and power. Yes, Hillary "loves" the poor, but only at a distance.

As for Bill, I am not against people making money, even though I don't. He parlayed the presidency into a fortune of $100 million. ONE HUNDRED MILLION. He sold out to everyone, especially rich foreigners, who had a large bag full of cash.

Okay, during the end of the primary season, there was a guy who told a group I was in that he had been unemployed for 17 months (yikes). But he had scraped together $25 that he was sending in "to help pay off Hillary's debt."

One problem, the money was being re-directed to her 2012 Senate re-election campaign. The whole thing disgusted me. I told the group, "Bill should write a check" (I think it was $9 million they owed). That $9 million would have been the same for him as us kicking in ten bucks. The Clintons are one of the wealthiest families in America -- and trust me, they will get a while lot wealthier.

Sarah will never be Hillary's intellectual equal, but unlike HRC, she knows the basic difference between right and wrong. And in life that matters more than anything else. When Hillary and Bill started slobbering over Obama, it made me physically ill. As one of Shakespeare's cynical lines has it, "Nothing lost save honor."

Susan Rice, named ambassador to the U.N. the same day as HRC got the State job, was the person in the Obama Campaign in charge of smearing Hillary. I kept waiting for the two to embrace.

What did Obama promise HRC for endorsing and campaigning for him? Guess. I know what Susan Rice got for her misdeeds.

A Sarah Palin is a person whose life is suffused with character and values. She would not feel comfortable with a Suan Rice or a Hillary Clinton. Sarah does not regard politics as a nasty game whose only purpose is self-advancement. It matters deeply to Sarah that someone like Barack Obama is not dedicated to national security, freedom, tolerance, and opportunity. Those factors matter not at all to someone like Hillary. They don't show up in a bank account or on a resume.

Yes, Hillary Clinton is a book-smart, but essentially trivial, human being, but that doesn't make her any less dangerous. She has spent a lifetime putting her own interests ahead of those of the nation. Right now, she's too old to learn new tricks.