What the Heck was I Thinking!?

Wizbang blog has a post up by Kim Priestap about the “pre-sponse” (Hey! I invented a new word!) to the President’s upcoming State of the Union speech.

Kim points to a Liz Mair post at GOPProgress. She discusses the pre-sponse in her post.

I went to the site where the pre-sponse was posted - the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities, where I read this: 

Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the need to reorder America’s priorities is more important than ever. Katrina and its destruction exposed the significant and daunting unmet needs faced by countless Americans for a good education, decent jobs, healthcare, transportation, child care, nutrition and housing. Addressing these needs represents an emergency of immense proportions and represents an opportunity for Congress to set appropriate American priorities.

Lemme see:

• Education - should the federal government run that effort? Or should local elected school boards answerable to the local electorate do so?
• Decent jobs - should these be created or run by the federal government? Where should the private sector or creative individuals fit in to that?
• Healthcare - I know this is the great topic of the day, since Governor Schwarteneger and Hilary Clinton have both come out in favor of large state or federal programs for this, but should this be done by the feds?
• Transportation - okay, federal highways, the FAA and Amtrak have been run by the federal government. Is that the best way to do each of these?
• Child care - You want this run by the same government that brought us FEMA’s response to Katrina!?
• Nutrition - other that what the FDA already does, what do people want the federal government to do - outlaw transfats!?
• Housing - I see how the interest rates and accessible mortgages might fit in here, but what are these guys asking for - public housing? That was a rousing government success!

Looking at the membership of the USAction organization that put up the Emergency Campaign, it reads like a who’s who of large labor and public employee unions. Many of the organizations that sound like grass roots state and local organizations are also made up of union chapters.

Who do these organizations think will pay for all of this federal largesse? It can’t come from “somewhere else.” There is no somewhere else.

If the labor unions don’t pay attention to what it costs to close those corporate “tax loopholes” (do they mean “loopholes” like that mortgage interest “loophole,” or that child care credit “loophole?”), they may have more of their rank and file sitting the bench at the union hall looking for work.

Full disclosure: I once was in AFSCME - my dues in the four years I worked in the position increased by 3 times the starting rate. My salary rose less than 5% per year during the same period.

Source: Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities - USAction

Cassandra of Villainous Company posts a long article on President Bush’s recent speech outlining his new plans. She brings in numerous quotes from both the defeatist left (including their propaganda machine), and from Iraqis from the top to the bottom of Iraq’s society.

She contrasts the hope with which many Iraqis greeted the announcement of additional US troops to the negative slant given by US liberal propaganda mouthpieces:

If only that sense of hope were felt here at home, instead of the paralyzing sense of fear and powerlessness which seems to grip the world’s richest and most powerful nation. The Iraqis are a desperate people living in the shadow of horrible violence and brutality, and yet they dare to dream of a better tomorrow.

We live with the blessings of liberty and incredible abundance. And yet we cower in fear and despair and can imagine only defeat and humiliation. The contrast is a stark one.

It is one which ought to make us ashamed.

Cassandra goes on to examine the differences between the Democrat and Republican approaches to this ideological conflict:

Fear is an interesting phenomenon. It has so many uses, you see.

In the days since 9/11 the Left has accused the Right of fear mongering, most often for simply pointing out that there really are people out there determined upon killing us. In some odd twist of logic however, the Left’s constant references to Weimar Germany, Nazis, and jackbooted oppression should under no circumstances be construed as fear mongering any more than descriptions of the Vice President as someone who “always wants to kill” or references to White House counsel as “Freddy Kreuger” be taken as evidence that MSNBC commentary is anything other than sober, thoughtful, and unpartisan.

Her post is long, but very interesting and well referenced. Read the whole thing. (h/t to Badgers Forward blog)

Source: Villainous Company: The Hopeful vs. The Hopeless