New Civility Doesn't Last Long

Tonight, Rep. Paul Ryan will give the Republican response to the State of the Union address. No one has heard it. No one can say for certain what it will focus on. One hopes Mr. Ryan's comments will commit our elected leaders to shoring up America's finances, reducing government bureaucracy, and saving taxpayers money - "three pillars to prosperity" that would go far in getting our economy going again and putting Americans back to work. Even the president is expected to support (at least vocally) finding new ways to reduce the $1.2 trillion deficit he and the Democrats in Congress created last year.

No matter. Rather than listen to Paul Ryan's address tonight in that dashing new tone of civility the Left has been pining for, the Democrats have gone on an all out war path to paint Mr. Ryan as a radical monster.

“This is an initial volley in a three-day effort — 72-hour window — to try to muddle Paul Ryan’s foray onto the national scene,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide.

As the Hill reports, Budget ax-man Paul Ryan is Senate Democrats New Villain:

 “It’s clear from the Republican Party’s selection of Paul Ryan to be spokesman and the decision to vote on giving him unfettered control on what to cut that [Republicans] are getting behind his plan, and that makes clear they’re coming after Social Security and Medicare,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told reporters.

“In an unsettling development for America’s seniors, ending Social Security and Medicare is now the official position of the Republican Party,” said Jon Summers, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

“We will be putting a focus on the fact that on spending matters, the Republicans are making judge, jury and executioner out of someone who, according to his Roadmap, wants to privatize Social Security,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer 

Of course, these are all lies, as even the New York Times reluctantly points out:

Mr. Ryan’s plan includes an option for retirees to invest one-third of their Social Security taxes in personal investment accounts and a new program that would give older Americans a fixed payment (of up to $11,000) to buy certified private health insurance in place of traditional Medicare. It would not make any changes to Social Security and Medicare for people under 55, and Mr. Ryan has argued that the changes would preserve the programs for coming generations. [emphasis mine]

In the meantime, President Obama and the Democrats have failed to produce their own plan for fiscal restraint and responsibility, which is no surprise given the 28% increase in spending (84% if you count the stimulus) and $4.5 trillion of debt they gave us over the past two years.

I'm sure the president's address tonight will sound like the harmless purrs of a centrist kitten, but the actions of the Senate paint a clearer picture of how Democrats will be responding to calls from Republicans (and the public at large) for smarter, smaller government. They will have to be dragged kicking and screaming, or they won't go at all.

Of Muslims, Christians, and Tea Parties

Turns out Faisal Shahzad is not a tea partier. Who knew? Certainly not the kos kids. Neal Boortz commented on this Daily Kos poll from a few days ago, which has to be seen to be believed:

THE TIMES SQUARE BOMBER WILL END UP BEING:

An al Qaeda terrorist  ---4%
An American sympathetic to al Qaeda ---5%
A militia wackjob  ---30%
A teapartier ---32%
A religious wackjob (making an anti-abortion statement) ---9%

As usual, the kos kids were 180 degrees away from being right, but it illustrates perfectly the delusional, head-in-the-sand behavior of the Left. Sadly, the Obama administration, Hollywood elites, and the mainstream media all subscribe to this same line of bizarro world thinking. 

That translates into roughly 71% of Olbermann viewers predicting the terror suspect is more likely to be a conservative "wackjob" than an al Qaeda terrorist (who for some reason isn't listed as a wackjob). These are the same progressive Democrats who were some of Barack Obama's biggest supporters for president. Any questions?

There hasn't been one act of violence let alone an arrest at the hundreds of Tea Party protests attended by millions of Americans, while there is an unquestionable and overwhelming history of attacks against our country by Islamic extremists. But if you were an alien who just landed on earth yesterday, you would have never heard of a Muslim terrorist and would probably be trying to figure out why our government is at war with Tea Partiers. What does it say about a society, and in particular the Democratic Party, when perception is so far from reality?

Remember these headlines from a month ago?

Christian Militia Taken Down

Agent Infiltrated Christian Militia

Christian Militia Suspects Ordered Jailed

Group Target of FBI Raids is Christian Militia

Christian Militia Accused of Plotting to Kill Cops

Geez, I wonder which word stands out the most. Nevermind I had never even heard of a Christian militia before, and I live in a state that proudly clings to its guns and religion. These arrested individuals have little in common with Christianity, but the way the media reported it, you would have thought there were thousands of these radical groups springing up overnight and Christianity was turning some dark corner. Not hardly.

Now let's look at the headlines about Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber:

Accused New York Bomber Appears to Act Alone

Times Square Bomber Charged in Terror Plot

Pakistan Native Admits to Times Square Bomb

Times Square Bomber Motive is a Mystery

Pakistan Emigre in Connecticut Arrested as Times Square Bomber

Broker: NY Bomb Suspect Didn't Like Bush

Notice anything missing? Just like the case of Major Nadal Hasan, we have a Muslim fanatic with ties to the Taliban practicing jihad against America. Yet none of these media outlets dares to mention his religious affiliation. "Oh no!" one thinks upon reading this. What's going on in our beloved Connecticut that is feeding extremism? Or is it Bush again, up to his old man tricks? The media and the Left continue to go out of their way to make excuses for the predictable behavior of an Islamic terrorist, and one CNN anchor even wondered if the foreclosure of the suspect's house might have triggered the event. Are you kidding me?!

It's now official. You have a better chance of seeing a Sasquatch than the word Muslim in any report of terrorism by the mainstream media. But the word isn't just missing from the headline of these stories. It's missing from the entire texts. It's been voluntarily omitted by all the biggest news providers. This is as bad or worse than the South Park episode where Comedy Central censored out every mention of Mohammad for fear of violent retaliation by... who exactly? Surely not Muslim extremists. According to the mainstream media, they don't exist.

Are progressives so uncomfortable with evil that they prefer to ignore it altogether? Or are they so bigoted and brainwashed that they think it only exists in white Christians who own guns? We have a complete disconnect here with the Left fixated on their own imaginary boogieman while political correctness whitewashes the real culprit of extremism out of existence.

Who needs Pravda? We seem to be doing just fine hypnotizing ourselves.

In Joe Wilson, Left Finally Finds Their Villain

What exactly does it take to shock the Left? What type of indecent behavior causes the progressive side of the blogosphere and cable news to come alive with vitriol and outraged punditry? I mean besides town hall meetings filled with protesters not on Obama's payroll.

Could it be this man, a convicted terrorist responsible for the deaths of 240 Americans, who was granted early release from a Scottish prison and received a hero's welcome from Gaddafi's authoritarian regime?

Nope. No outrage from the Left there.

Could it be the radical ideology of this White House employee and presidential advisor, who resigned in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend after being exposed as a 9/11 "truther", a Marxist, a Communist, a former Black Panther, and supporter of cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal.

Nope. In fact, progressive blogs and MSNDNC spokesmen are defending Van Jones as the victim, even though he was brought down by his own words, which included blaming white polluters and environmentalists for intentionally poisoning black communities. Sounds like it should be the next Kanye West single.

Could it be this man, Obama's former spiritual advisor?

Nope. During the campaign, it was politically incorrect to even suggest talking about Obama's pastor for 20 years at Trinity Church. Liberals prefer to ignore his rants against America altogether. Or worse, agree with them.

Could it be this man's attack on our president, which must have been fueled by hate speech on talk radio? That is, talk radio in the Arab world.

Nope. Even though showing the bottom of your shoes in the Arab world is, in essence, the same as flipping someone the middle finger, and throwing objects at a president is clearly an act of violence, the shoe thrower was celebrated as a hero by the Left. It seems like just yesterday they were writing love letters to him over at the Huffington Post. I think my personal favorite is the giddy Save the economy: Throw shoes at Bush! Throw shoes at Bush? That doesn't sound like the proper level of decorum or respect for our president.

So where's the outrage? Hmmm. Since we know how much the Left hates guns, maybe it was this incident yesterday when a peaceful, pro-life advocate and demonstrator known as "sign guy" was gunned down for his outspoken beliefs?

theblogprof: Anti-Abortion Activist Shot, Will it Get the Air Time that Tiller Got?

Nope. The mainstream media and progressive blogs have barely mentioned it, although to be fair it was a heavy news day. So what could possibly have the Left so outraged and infuriated? Give up?

It was this comment in front of Congress, where a representative called the president a liar, something so petty, so below the standards of our nation, so partisan, that we must question whether he's even fit to hold office. Clearly we can agree that such boorish behavior is over the line. Can't we?

Oh wait. That was the wrong clip. That was Democrat Rep. Pete Stark two years ago calling President Bush a liar. And a baby killer who likes to send people to die for his own amusement. Well, that's understandable.

But this here (and listen closely), this is terrible.

Even though Joe Wilson was right. And the White House has since acknowledged that it will be necessary to add language to the bill regarding citizenship verification. Are you outraged yet? Because the Left's virgin ears have never been so shocked. Oh, the horror.