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"Government employees are the new elite"

"Thnx. Keep on him," Michelle Malkin twittered yesterday re our own District 8 MA Rep. Michael Capuano's unfortunate slip of the tongue at a union rally in Boston Tuesday, when this me-too signer of the President's fatuous "New Civility" temperance pledge a few weeks back was caught in the national spotlight urging public-employee union members to "get a little bloody." As we twittered back to Michelle: "I'm newly awakened. Focussed energy on Sean Bielat last cycle. Heard Mike Capuano's eying Scott Brown's seat. Let's roll!" Bret Baier, above, delivers the awful news.

"Government employees are the new elite," said Fox News Digital Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt on Special Report last night, putting his finger on exactly how this post-November-election moment of clarity stood Angelo Codevilla's Ruling Class vs Country class revelation on its head. As we wrote a couple of months back:

Then came Angelo Codevilla's palate-cleansing revelation that neither statist democrats nor nominally limited-government republicans gave a darn about the electorate. It was the Ruling Class vs the Country Class. Enter stage right the Tea Party and Barbara Bush's unmasking when she revealed her contempt for you and me. And now the cascade of outrageous intrusions on our Bill of Rights.

Even as our friends on the left side of the aisle have been muddying the waters of the national debate with iterations of the tired Greedy-Republicans-vs-poor-but-honest-workers narrative, those same workers have been eating high off the hog at the expense of the "forgotten man." Now lucid luminaries on the right side of the aisle are shining a bright light on the decades-long collusion between Democrat powers that be and big labor that has festered in the murkiness of Beltway politics while We the people slept. Byron York, Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute and Charles Krauthammer clear the air. First York, on "Why the GOP shouldn't fear a government shutdown": 

Even if the '95 shutdown hurt the GOP — and there's no doubt the party suffered wounds inflicted not only by Clinton but also by themselves — today's voters are in a different mood. "We have fiscal crises at the federal, state, and local level, and voters understand that," says Bill Paxon, a former Republican lawmaker and veteran of the shutdown. "Back in '95, we were whistling into the wind — we were trying to preach fiscal discipline when voters were saying, 'Hey, there's not a problem'"…

Today's media environment is substantially different. "In '95 there was no Internet, no bloggers, no Facebook, no Fox News," says Dick Armey, who was House majority leader during the shutdown. "The discourse of politics today is carried out in a media world that didn't exist in 1995." That doesn't mean there wouldn't be negative coverage of Republicans if a shutdown occurs, just that the overall media picture would be more balanced.

"Why has public-sector unionism thrived while private-sector unionism has shriveled? asks Chris Edwards in a revelatory analysis of "Public-Sector Unions" from last March:

One reason is that public agencies tend to be static — once a union has organized a group of workers they tend to stay organized. By contrast, the private sector is dynamic, with businesses going bankrupt and new businesses arising all the time. Since all new businesses start out nonunion, greater organizing efforts are needed to sustain private-sector unions.

Another factor is that many government services are legal monopolies, such as police and fire. The result is that consumers don’t have the option of abandoning unionized public services if they become too inefficient, as they can with unionized services in the private sector.

The bottom line is that competition fosters excellence, and when you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. Incentives are all, and perverse incentives lead to bankruptcy. Charles Krauthammer has the last word:

The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity.

A choice, not an echo: Democrats desperately defending the status quo; Republicans charging the barricades.

Wisconsin is the epicenter. It began with economic issues. When Gov. Scott Walker proposed that state workers contribute more to their pension and health-care benefits, he started a revolution. Teachers called in sick. Schools closed. Demonstrators massed at the capitol. Democratic senators fled the state to paralyze the Legislature.

Update: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update II: Off to Worcester to join DaTechGuyblog's talk radio show with special guest Jazz Shaw on the phone and Sissy in the studio, 10 a.m. to noon, WCRN 830 AM. Listen here. Update III: Archived recording now available.

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

John Nolte: Twitter is the most powerful political force in the world right now

"My views on women’s rights have always been quite radical (in defense of women)," asserts doghouse-confined "left-wing journalist" Nir Rosen (above) on assignment in Dubai, protesting perhaps a bit too much in an apologia for having made light on Twitter of fellow journalist Lara Logan's barbarous sexual assault by a gang of Egyptian revelers last week. "Working in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia (like Afghanistan) and in Mexico only further outraged me, because I have seen first hand how brutally women are treated there. And we are only a little bit better in the West. The status of women in the United States is also deplorable." Uh huh.

Twitter isn't just for earth-shaking revolutions overseas any more. It can turn a case of individual online boorishness into a spontaneous teachable moment that trumps the faux outrage and calls for "a new civility" foisted upon us by the Journolist crowd a few weeks back in the aftermath of the Tucson massacre. In case you missed the individual boorishness story, a few words from The Daily Caller to get up to speed:

Left-wing journalist Nir Rosen joked today about the sexual assault of CBS News’ chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan. Logan was assaulted on Friday during celebrations in Cairo that followed Hosni Mubarak’s resignation.

The initial tweet by Rosen stated, “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson. Where was her buddy McCrystal.” From this tweet he went further, writing that he would have been amused if Anderson Cooper had also been sexually assaulted.

 

Retweeting breaking news of Nir Rosen's resignation from NYU this morning, "Now to MSNBC?" quipped bon mot meister John Nolte, with reference to the Network of Nasty as a suitable place of employment for the disgraced opinionator.

"It's the modrin-day version of the village folk whispering behind their shutters" we twittered Big Hollywood Editor-in-Chief John Nolte this morning as news was breaking of Nir Rosen's fall from grace, virtually pilloried for offending common standards of civilized behavior. Who knew we still had those? Thank you, Twitter.

"Mission accomplished, Twitter!" Rick Wilson had twittered earlier, retweeting CuffyP's earlier tweet: "Done: Nir Rosen quits Twitter (above image) after #LaraLogan backlash."

"Twitter is [the] most powerful political force in [the] world right now," Nolte twittered back:

We the People personified. No MSM filter. Truth & Ideas=power.

Update: Important insights from Dan Collins:

The Clash of Values: Lara Logans Sexual Assault

Update II: And from the titillatingly trenchant Jim Treacher:

Teabaggers spew vitriol at women and black people. Wait, did I say teabaggers? I meant liberals.

Update III: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update IV: Lie down with superblogs, get up with delusions of grandeur:

"Now Playing" at Big Hollywood and Big Journalism!

Update V: Featured blog on Pundit & Pundette!

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

Rick Santorum wants Sarah Palin back in the kitchen, barefoot & pregnant?

"If people want to write more than 140 characters, they need to start a blog," and "Let us cut off the ramblers," wrote fellow twitterers yesterday in a TweetDeck Support thread responding to a gratuitous "upgrading" of the app with something called Deck.ly that made longer tweets the default. We commend the Twitter staff for responding in record time with an option to disable the bug feature for us purists who share Thomas Jefferson's view that "the most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." Above, house next door boarded up. There goes the neighborhood.

"Knuckle-Dragging Neanderthal Community outraged at Sarah Palin's truth telling. Rick Santorum busy changing diapers," we twittered this morning in a 140-character-or-fewer analysis of internecine battles flaring up amongst cabin-fevered members of our tribe. It's SO sandbox, as TIME explains:

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who is exploring a bid for the Republican nomination, told S.E. Cupp, who hosts an online radio show on Glenn Beck's website, that Sarah Palin is skipping CPAC because of her "business opportunities" and "other responsibilities" such as raising her five children.

"I don't live in Alaska and I'm not the mother to all these kids and I don't have other responsibilities that she has,” said Santorum.

Sarah reloaded and came roaring back with vintage Palin on Hannity last night:

Sarah Palin made clear Wednesday night that she took offense at Rick Santorum’s suggestion she’s not attending CPAC because she’s out making money and taking care of her kids, calling his claims “uninformed” and saying she will leave it to his wife to label him a “knuckle-dragging Neanderthal.”

We loved twitter buddy Ruth Anne Adams's 140-or-fewer-character retort: 

WTF is Santorum talking about? Last I knew, he had 4 [correction: 7] kids to raise, too. That sexism ain't so subtle, Rick.

And in response to our own diaper-changing tweet above:

I thought so, too, when I heard it. Santorum? Prig.

Back to CPAC, where Snippy Santorum and others representing various points on the spectrum, aka "legs of the conservative stool" — social, fiscal and national security —  are throwing their hats into the ring. Chris Cillizza sets the scene:

The Conservative Political Action Conference — a sort of unofficial kickoff to the 2012 presidential race — opens today in Washington, D.C.

The three-day gathering will feature speeches by seven men and one woman — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann — in various stages of deciding about presidential runs.  

"Of the eight speeches, none will draw more attention than the one Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels will deliver tomorrow," says Cillizza:

Not only will Daniels be speaking at 7:30 pm — a spot likely to draw a large audience — but he will also have to deal with the fallout from his past calls for a "truce" on social issues. CPAC attendees are vocal — both for those they like and those they don't — so Daniels will need to be at his best to win over what almost certainly will be a skeptical crowd.

The social issues. It could get nasty. Some of our best friends on Twitter and in the blogosphere are taking sides. The Right Scoop covers the bases, suggesting some may be overreacting. Meanwhile, we're watching CPAC live on the desktop:

This year’s conference will also feature many nods to the growing prominence of the Tea Party. In fact, CPAC will be book-ended by two favorites of the movement — Bachmann, who is one of this morning’s first speakers, and freshman Florida Republican Rep. Allen West, who accepted the coveted closing-night keynote speaking slot at the conference.

Update: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update II: From Doug Ross, who links:

Santorum responded, "I've discussed this with Sarah through an intermediary. She's fine I'm fine. This is another instance of liberal media [Politico] spinning a comment by implying something that just wasn't there."

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.

Sarah Palin and "the fable of the leftists"

She's back in the saddle again at the Reagan Ranch in Andrew Coffin's exclusive "Palin visits Reagan Country" at Andrew Breitbart's Big Government. A must read and must view. Wish we had a digital image of that picture in the hall of the family manse Down East of our own pater familias, the Goompster, a superb horseman back in the day, when he'd ride Buddy, his handsome pinto mustang with a brand on his hip, 35 miles along the main road from Wakefield through Lynnfield, Ipswich and Essex to the family camp in Gloucester, MA for the summer. "A 10- to 12-hour ride as I remember," he reports, adding "my father bought him for $110 at a horse auction in Allston. He was estimated to be about 15 years old. Horses are serviceable until about 18." Photo credit: © Jensen Sutta.

"The idea that suppression of freedom will make human nature angelic is the fable of the leftists," wrote Goomp in the comments of our previous post:

Freedom as practiced for two hundred years in the USA produced the kindest most generous and most prosperous society the world has ever known.

We'd never thought of it quite that way, but wow! Next thing we knew, Glenn Reynolds himself had chosen Goomp's words as the "Blog comment of the day. We emailed our appreciation:

Thank you very much for the "BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY" citation ... The author, my father — aka Goomp — just i-mailed me "Fame comes to Goomp. :)"

We're still reeling in cyberecstasy at the Master of the Blogosphere's reply:

Oh, that's great. I had no idea. Obviously, wit runs in the family.

"FUN! Check out wrought iron sign (inset, top left) of Morning-in-America photo of Sarah, Bristol, Willow & Trig @ Reagan Ranch," we twittered this afta with a link to the above image (scroll down). In case the type's too small, here's what it says: "The Reagans, 1600 Penn. Ave."  Photo credit: © Jensen Sutta.

Taking the ball and running with it, Goomp scored a touchdown in imail this afternoon:

It is great to take after your children.

Update: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link! 

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

Sarah Palin: "There's a whole army of patriotic Davids out there"

"There's a feeling that Ronald Reagan just had a bag of tricks, and if you studied his bag of tricks, you could sell the American people anything," Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson told Laura Ingraham on The O'Reilly Factor this evening, referring to the commentariat's lockstep narrative spin that President Obama's SOTU speech last week was remarkably "Reaganesque," based solely upon "optics" — a perceived tone of "Morning in America" optimism which eluded many of us here on the right side of the aisle — without any regard for content.

"There isn't one replacement for Reagan, but there are millions who believe in the great ideas that he espoused," Sarah Palin told her Young America's Foundation audience — and the world — in her keynote speech kicking off YAF's "Reagan 100 celebration" at President Reagan's Western White House Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara Friday evening:

There's a whole army of patriotic Davids out there across this great country ready to stand up and to speak out in defense of liberty, and these Davids aren't afraid to tell Goliath "don't tread on me."

She took an iconic Reagan text as her subject, as Byron York explains:

"A Time for Choosing" was Reagan's case for the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater, delivered a few days before the 1964 election. Speaking to a studio audience in Los Angeles, Reagan painted a stark choice between a government headed toward socialism and one dedicated to freedom. "This is the issue of this election," Reagan said. "Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."

"Does that sound familiar today?" asks York rhetorically:

Watch Reagan's speech … and you'll be struck both by the freshness of its message and the sternness of Reagan's delivery. This was not the soft-voiced grandfatherly man people remember from the White House years. This was Ronald Reagan in his prime — he was 53 at the time — delivering a hard-edged message.

It's also a message custom-fit for Sarah Palin.

And Palin delivered, finding a Reagan for our times not in a con man's bag of rhetorical tricks but in each one of us who believes in the Shining City:

So today there are a lot of people looking around, looking for the next Ronald Reagan, but he was one of a kind, and you're not going to find his kind again. And the Gipper wouldn't want us to spend our time on that anyway. He once put it "I'm not a great man, I just believe in great ideas. And our hero understood that the transmission of these great ideas to the next generation would ensure the survival and the success of liberty."

The New York Times had speculated that "Ms. Palin could use the opportunity to deliver a broadly conceived foreign policy speech that uses the turmoil in Egypt to advance an understanding of her national security beliefs that goes beyond her use of Twitter messages and Facebook posts." Again, she delivered: 

And know that we can have peace through strength, even as our allies, like our beloved Israel and others … look to our union for sense and for strength and know that we are a force for good in this world, and that is nothing to apologize for.

"Our beloved Israel" sends a message, loud and clear.

Update: Featured in "From Around the Web" at The New York Times (scroll down).

Update II: Ed Driscoll links:

Sarah Palin made an obvious Insta-reference in her speech on Friday, as Sissy Willis notes.

Update III: Editors' Pick at Conservatives 4 Palin. Thanks, Doug!

Update IV: Blog buddy Peter Ingemi at DaTech Guy's Blog connects the dots:

Can we assume that Sarah Palin reads Glenn Reynolds? (Some enterprising radio host should have him on his show.)

Update V: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link to our crosspost at Dan's. Update to the update: Now Michelle links here!

Update VI: Instapundit "Blog comment of the day" for Goomp's brilliant insight:

The idea that suppression of freedom will make human nature angelic is the fable of the leftists. Freedom as practiced for two hundred years in the USA produced the kindest most generous and most prosperous society the world has ever known.

Crossposted at Riehl World View, Cloven Not Crested and Liberty Pundits.