The news of UC Davis police pepper spraying innocent #OccupyUCDavis revolutionaries shocked and outraged the nation. One can only imagine how outraged the nation will be once it learns of a shockingly underreported story that the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System published last week. “Marines face OC spray” details the following:

One at a time, instructors lined up the augmentees, stood three paces away and sprayed real OC in their faces. The spray ran down their foreheads and into their eyes, causing them to immediately close. The Marines exhibited uncontrollable tearing, coughing, choking plus an extreme burning sensation on any exposed skin from the OC spray.

Outraged yet? If not, you will be soon! And if you are, well you may just want to stop reading now lest the next sentences drive you into uncontrollable hysteria.

After being sprayed, the augmentees had to navigate through an obstacle course of Marines holding pads, representing potential attackers. The SAF Marines fought through the course blindly throwing punches, knee strikes and baton strikes.

So, it wasn’t enough torture just to spray American citizens in the face with pepper spray, the federal government then forced them to run through an obstacle course even as they were incapacitated! Clearly, the legacy of George W. Bush lives on.

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In Wisconsin, where Big Labor is circulating petitions to trigger the recall of Republican Governor Scott Walker, the state agency that monitors and administers elections is known as the G.A.B.

The ‘A’ is supposed to stand for accountability. But, in reality, not so much.

Yesterday we reported that the GAB would not comb through the petitions to disqualify duplicate signatures.

Today, we find out it is much worse than that.

[Madison, Wisc…] Duplicate signatures are not the only point of contention in the ongoing recall drives in Wisconsin. The board that oversees the state’s elections admits they will not check the validity of any of the signatures or addresses contained on the recall petitions expected to be submitted in January.

For $625,699 the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board will make sure all the blanks are properly filled out on petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker, but that’s all.

Meanwhile, news reports around the state have raised the questions about ineligible individuals signing the forms. At least one liberal group is encouraging voters to sign multiple times.

The GAB will not be checking for fraud, but will rule on challenges brought forth by the subjects of the recalls, should they find evidence of fraud.

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Last month, Big Government reported that Occupy Wall Street activists were using “human shields”–veterans, women, the young, the old, and the disabled–in the hope of provoking police to use force against them and winning the “battle over images.”

That initial report focused on the use of veterans and disabled protestors. This week’s Occupy protests provided more evidence–specifically involving the use of the young and the elderly.

In Portland yesterday, this Occupy activist put an infant between himself and police on the front lines as he shouted at officers:

In Seattle on Nov. 15, an elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in clashes between Occupy activists and police. Whether provoked or accidental, the incident created the hoped-for sensational image:

And in New York yesterday, activists from Occupy Wall Street taunted children walking to school, prompting one observer to call the Occupy activists “terrorists“:

Photo: CBS New York

The “terrorist” label was driven home on Nov. 14 when three men claiming to be Occupy Portland protestors were arrested carrying glass-shrapnel bombs. (more…)

As the Occupy Wall Street protesters started to gather in various cities across the country, it was soon learned that the American Nazi Party endorsed the movement and called for its members to “…JOIN IN the attack on Judeo-Capitalism.” Even the left wing media is conceding that the OWS crowd is a manifestation of left wing anger intended to counter the Tea Party. Timothy McVeigh was a neo-Nazi. His favorite book was a novel entitled The Turner Diaries, which was written by William L. Pierce, an official with the American Nazi Party; even the far left group Southern Poverty Law Center acknowledges this. We are left to conclude that since the American Nazi Party endorses the OWS protests, so would Mr. McVeigh.

So why would the Nazi Party get behind a left wing movement if the Tea Party is the group that is supposed to be filled with racists and Nazis? Nancy Pelosi said the swastika was the symbol of the Tea Party. Yet, the group whose logo is the swastika has endorsed OWS. Instances of Nazi references at Tea Parties have often involved left wing hijinks. Posters of Obama with a Hitler mustache that appeared at some Tea Party rallies were actually the brainchild of the far left’s LaRouche PAC.

Let’s also not forget the short-lived ‘Crash the Tea Party’ movement that called for left wing activists to infiltrate Tea Parties and behave in ways that would help portray the group as racist. True Tea Party conservatives actively policed themselves when aptly named infiltrators attempted to tar the movement. One of the more blatant examples came courtesy of the Sharp Elbows website. When a man sporting Nazi garb milled around within the group, he was confronted and weeded out. Recently, while defending the OWS protesters, Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert posted a photo of two youths, one holding a sign with a swastika on it that said “No Repeats” and the other with a photo portraying Barack Obama in a Mao suit, at what appeared to be a Tea Party rally. Such behavior is not advisable to be sure but in addition to the protesters in the example Boehlert provided being rather young, those signs were intended to convey a rejection of, not support for, Nazism.

There are other examples of white supremacists infiltrating Tea Parties but such instances are typically strategic attempts at piggy-backing and not the result of a common cause. Consider the case of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a neo-Nazi group that uses deceptive means and tactics to infiltrate Tea Parties. In fact, one of Arizona’s Neo-Nazi leaders – JT Ready – deceptively donned partriotic American garb and posed for a photo with Arizona State Senator Russel Pearce, who was responsible for crafting his state’s tough immigration law, SB 1070. Had Pearce known Ready was a Neo-Nazi, he most assuredly would not have granted him a photo-op.

The American Nazi Party is not using deceptive means to graft itself into the Occupy Wall Street protests. Increasingly, it doesn’t seem necessary as a large number of OWS protesters are seen referring to their targets as Jewish Bankers.

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In the late 1940s — when the Democrat party began shifting from denying equal rights to southern blacks to championing them — race became a central tenet of American politics. Although the Democrat party fought for slavery during the Civil War, formed the KKK during reconstruction, and used Jim Crow laws to keep blacks from enjoying their rights well into the 20th century, blacks seemed more than willing to look the other way in exchange for a few social programs that promised to bring them the equality they so sorely desired.

Eventually, these social promises (cemented in wealth redistribution programs like the “war on poverty” and racial quotas like affirmative action) came to define the Democrat’s relationship with black voters. Over time the focus on race became so integral to everything the Democrats did that blacks began to define themselves not as black Americans but as “African-Americans” (and soon “Mexican-Americans,” “Italian-Americans,” and every other conceivable people group followed suit). In effect, the language of race became paramount over all other language, and allegiance to race over all other allegiances.

We were reminded of these things in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected in part due to the color of his skin (and the promise of America’s first “African-American President” and a fulfillment of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream). Now just look what this focus on race got us: an inexperienced president whose solution for the ailing economy was to raise taxes, take over healthcare, nationalize certain automobile manufacturers, and regulate the financial sector to death (literally). And this is what makes Herman Cain’s announcement that he’s a black American rather than an African-American so refreshing: he’s turning back the dial on this race-above-all-else bunk.

Cain Said: “I do not try to use race to my advantage. I don’t even bring it up unless somebody asks me about it, and I have said repeatedly [that] this is not about color. This is about the content of your ideas, and your character.” Talk about the fulfillment of MLK’s dream! MLK said he dreamt of a day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character — which is exactly what Cain’s saying. And it’s 180 degrees from what Obama and the Democrat party are saying.

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According to newly released internal White House emails, however bad things are now, they’re about to get worse.  The messages, which originated within the White House Office of Management and Budget in 2010, admits the train wreck of the Solyndra loan and indicates that “bad days are coming.”

“What’s terrifying,” the note reads, “is that looking at some of the ones that came next, this one [Solyndra] started to look better.”

It’s important to note that these emails were released by Democrats themselves so, in all likelihood, this is the version of the story that presents the best possible picture of the Obama administration’s future.  Depending on which poll you read, the President’s approval rating is either a point or two above or below 40% and his administration is mired in multiple, deepening, scandals.  This leads many conservatives to speculate that Obama will have no other choice but to bow out of a 2012 contest that he knows he can’t win. They’d better hope he doesn’t.  For the sake of the nation, Obama needs to run, and he needs to be defeated in an election.

Some on the right will argue that the chance of him winning a second term is too great and the United States would be better off if he just resigned.  The problem is, he won’t just disappear.  Ex-presidents may no longer enjoy the perks of the office, but they still command considerable attention both at home and abroad.  Barack Obama would present the left with the ultimate rock star of retired politicians, and he’d love to wield that kind of power.

If he simply quits, Obama will return to his community organizing roots. He’ll begin shouting about the nation that was too stupid, too trapped in its own past, to acknowledge the greatness of the future he tried to build.  He’ll blame Washington and evil corporations for standing in the way of his vision.  He’ll imply that we’re a racist land which couldn’t deal with a black president and, most importantly, he’ll declare that he was never beaten.

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Big Government has already established that Lisa Fithian is playing an integral part in the planning, organization,and execution of the nation-wide “Occupy” protests and other union demonstrations and “direct actions.”

The Chicago Teachers’ Union has reported that Fithian trained its members, together with the Teamsters, for the Occupy Chiacgo protests. Evidence on the UAW website also shows that Fithian recenlty led members in a march to “close” a branch of designated villain, Bank of America. Fithian is also referred to as an “SEIU Commander” leading activists in a recent march on bankers in Boston.

Now, Big Government’s continued investigation of Lisa Fithian’s activities reveals another badge of dishonor to add to her shameful resume:  Israel-hater.

The “Occupy” protests have already shown startlingly brazen and unapologetic displays of antisemitism, and this newly-discovered footage of Fithian, a key driving force behind the protests, may help explain why hatred toward “Zionist bankers” keeps bubbling up to the surface at Occupy demonstrations across the country.

The footage above was shot on May 31, 2010 and features Lisa Fithian shouting through a megaphone, accusing the state of Israel of “slaughter[ing] Palestinians every single day.”  As Fithian, organizer of the Democratic Party’s new favorite mass protest, looks on, a menacing man decked out in a Palestinian keffiyeh leads her activists in the chant:

“Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!” (more…)

The past week was very interesting in Presidential politics.  The darlings of the rank and file Republican Party, New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, have concluded it is not time to run for President. Herman Cain (who was recently labeled a racist by a Democrat strategist on CNN) has become the sweetheart of the white-supremacist, right-wing Tea Party.

The popular press is lauding liberal Democrats for having finally found their own voice in the Occupy Wall Street protests. And Missouri’s Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill, did not even show up for President Obama’s (who polls below 30% in MO) fundraiser in St. Louis. And a rumor is circulating that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has told Obama he cannot win passage of the jobs bill as proposed and will only take it in pieces to the Senate floor, thus distancing himself from the President.

Does anyone need to know anything else about the 2012 elections?

The problem for decades in Washington has been that lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, have spent their way to political success. Now that there is no more money, nobody knows what to do.  In fact, there is only one Congressman, Darrell Issa (R-CA) who has started (not inherited) a successful company that sold a product and wasn’t just in the service industry, law, accounting, insurance, medicine, banking, you get the idea.  The genesis of American capitalism is an agrarian society taking the risks necessary to make something from nothing and selling it.  He is likely the only one that has made the sacrifices necessary to build something from nothing, and make a profit.  The concept is that without actual profit you can’t spend money.  Everyone else, Democrat and Republican more resembles the Occupy Wall Street group who want to tell everyone where money should be spent, decisions based on personal interests and taxes, not capitalism.  The situation is exacerbated by the contempt and lack of cooperation between the congressional parties, as well as between members of Congress of both parties and the executive.

For some time, the question of when that animosity began has gone unanswered. Certainly there have always been hard-fought ideological battles in the halls of government. But there have also been famous relationships between party leaders, relationships that helped bring these leaders and the country together. When did our modern politics deteriorate so much? Recently a longtime friend and Washington insider suggested that it began with the defeat of the nomination of Judge Robert Bork, the highly respected and superbly qualified candidate, for the Supreme Court. (more…)

Republican Bob Turner’s win in New York’s 9^th Congressional District is a story the Frank Sinatra hit song, New York, New York, was written for. The GOP can now sing this tune about itself, specifically these lines:

If (we) can make it there, (we’ll) make it anywhere

It’s up to you, New York, New York

It was up to New York, and New York delivered big time. Just like Senator Scott Brown’s “unlikely” win in liberal Massachusetts, Turner’s election in a historically Democratic stronghold signals a sea change in politics. If Republicans can win this seat – considered untouchable for 90+ years – then how tough will it be for them to win in places considered toss-ups or GOP-leaning?

Of course, the Democratic Party is in denial, at least publicly. Debbie “Downer” Wasserman-Shultz dismissed any concern about Turner’s win, saying that the 9^th District is a difficult district for her party. Really?

Turner’s win, like the rise of the Tea Party and the 2010 Republican election victories, are also rebukes of the mainstream media and nearly every political pundit. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the obituaries written about the GOP a mere three years ago.

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These charges are very serious and very false.  Rather than try to address these CBC charges myself, I have decided to ask someone much more talented in the language arts to answer the Congressional Black Caucus.  I’ve channeled the Bard himself, William Shakespeare to answer the CBC’s  reprehensible, divisive rhetoric. This morning I went to a medium-rare and spoke to the spirit of the Bard of Avon, below is what he told me to write:

To call me names if it will feed nothing else,
it will feed my resolve. The CBC hath disgraced me, and
hindered me with their mistruths; laughed at my losses,
mocked at my policy, scorned my constitution, thwarted my
honest dialogue, cooled my supporters, heated mine
enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a tea party patriot.

Hath not a patriot eyes? hath not a patriot hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a CBC Democrat is?

If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
expose you for what you are? If we are like you in the rest,
we will resemble you in that.

If a tea party patriot wrong a Democrat,
what is his humility? Lies.
If a Democrat
wrong a tea party patriot,
what should his sufferance be by
the Democratic example?
Why, TRUTH. The villainy you teach us,
we will execute the opposite, and will expose you
for what you are,  frauds
who bully American voters like us lest we remind the public
you have no entitlement to your position
Nay we hold the power and you sit at our whim and will

Remember November, the Second of November remember:

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A Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman accused Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus of “tampering” with the vote in last night’s recall election.

“We believe the election in this contest has been tampered with by Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.

“She’s sitting on votes. We believe that right now, there are severe irregularities in Waukesha County once again. We believe the very fate of the Wisconsin Senate hangs in the balance and is in the hands of a woman who has already shown extreme incompetence.”

“We believe there’s dirty tricks afoot.”

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There has been a good deal of discussion of late about whether or not the IRS should launch an investigation into Media Matters’ tax-exempt status.  In today’s part two of a three part series from FOX Business’ Elizabeth MacDonald, details of the civilian complaint filed by C. Boyden Gray demonstrate why the former White House counsel to President George W. Bush believes that Media Matters should have its tax-exempt status yanked.

Citing a pattern of “unlawful conduct,” Gray writes in his petition, which FOX Business has obtained, that the nonprofit has “executed a partisan strategy” in violation of U.S. tax law as it exists “no longer to educate the public but, rather, to declare ‘war on FOX,’” Gray says, quoting from an interview its founder, David Brock, gave to the website Politico.

Also unlawful, Gray says, is the nonprofit’s reported goal to “disrupt” the commercial interests of News Corp. (News Corp. is the parent of FOX News and FOX Business.)

Read the whole article, Former White House Counsel to IRS: Pull Media Matters’ Tax-Exempt Status.

Among the activity noted in the complaint:

• Conducting a campaign to get chain book retailers to stop selling the book, “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry”
• Advocating for legislation such as the Fairness Doctrine, which would be in violation of tax law if such activity exceeds an insubstantial amount
• Stating that it is “looking for ways to turn regulators in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere against the network,” and intending to “focus on [News Corp. CEO Rupert] Murdoch and trying to [sic] disrupt his commercial interests.”
• Using tax-free dollars to fund the “Progressive Talent Initiative,” an endeavor “geared toward members of the Netroots community” and aimed at producing “camera-ready liberals” who can speak to the media on progressive issues

So many other examples not even mentioned in the article are readily available.

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Liberals are already licking their wounds from the debt ceiling debate, wondering how it is that Republicans managed to get Democrats to abandon tax increases and shift the terms to spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

Though there are many conservatives who are critical of the bill that House Speaker John Boehner passed, and worried about splits within the Tea Party, the fact is that the left feels it lost the deal as well as the debate.

EPA/Stefan Zaklin

The left did lose–or, more precisely, it lost more than conservatives did–partly because it has failed to confront economic and financial reality.

In April, when Standard & Poor’s first warned of a possible downgrade in the U.S. credit rating, the White House reacted with denial. President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, said that S&P’s warning was a “political judgment” that didn’t deserve “too much weight.” (more…)

It’s all over. The Democrats finally have owned up to what everyone else in America has known for the past two and a half years. Dual-hatted Congresswoman and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz claimed that her party “owns the economy.” She recently told POLITICO’s Mike Allen, “We own the economy. We own the beginning of the turnaround and we want to make sure that we continue that pace of recovery, not go back to the policies of the past under the Bush administration that put us in the ditch in the first place.”

Alright, that’s not exactly a total coming out of the denial closet, but it’s a start. Rep. Shultz is right about the first part of her statement. The Democrats, and in particular President Obama, own this economy. The “beginning of the turnaround” part is a bit disingenuous; however, unless the turnaround consists of dropping from 9.8% unemployment in November 2010 to 8.8% in March 2011. But not so fast. It’s back up to 9.1% today. Not much of a turnaround, unless Rep Shultz meant a turnaround of the turnaround.

How about that “continue the pace of recovery” comment? If you are one of the perpetually-unemployed (especially if you are one of the newly-unemployed during that turnaround from 8.8% to 9.1%) then you probably don’t exactly like the “pace of the recovery.” I suspect the 14 million unemployed Americans would tell Rep. Shultz to stop – don’t continue – the Democratic version of a recovery.

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Inside the Obama administration, a debate is raging. In the face of the uprisings in the Middle East, Barack Obama has opted to sit on his hands. He has a talent for that. Robert Gates, who is extremely wary – one might even say, excessively wary – of commitments abroad, is happy about the President’s passivity; Hillary Clinton, who had hoped that we would act to tip the balance in Libya, is not. It would not be hard to imagine her resigning from the cabinet over this issue. The tensions are starting to mount.

In his comedy routine last week at the Gridiron Club, the President reportedly delivered remarks that had a certain edge. “I’ve dispatched Hillary to the Middle East to talk about how these countries can transition to new leaders – though, I’ve got to be honest, she’s gotten a little passionate about the subject,” he is said to have remarked. “These past few weeks it’s been tough falling asleep with Hillary out there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing rocks at the window.” And in an interview yesterday with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, when Mrs. Clinton was asked four times whether she would agree to serve in any post under Barack Obama if he were re-elected in 2012, she responded on each occasion in the negative and refused further comment.

Here is what The Daily Caller reports: “Obviously, she’s not happy with dealing with a president who can’t decide if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, who can’t make his mind up,” a Clinton insider told The Daily. “She’s exhausted, tired.”

He went on, “If you take a look at what’s on her plate as compared with what’s on the plates of previous Secretary of States — there’s more going on now at this particular moment, and it’s like playing sports with a bunch of amateurs. And she doesn’t have any power. She’s trying to do what she can to keep things from imploding.”

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From Lee Stranahan writing at the Huffington Post:

While I was conducting a video interview with a Georgia farmer named Eddie Slaughter a couple of weeks ago, he made a surprising and stunning allegation: that he had told his congressman about fraud in the multibillion dollar Pigford v. Glickman settlement and that the congressman responded by telling him that an investigation into Pigford would “shut it down.” Mr. Slaughter’s congressman — a man you may not have heard much about despite his nearly two decades as a Blue Dog Democrat and Congressional Black Caucus member — is Sanford Bishop.

I followed up with Mr. Slaughter and I asked him if others were in the meeting with Congressman Bishop. I’ve since interviewed two of those farmers — one on the phone and one, farmer Willie Head, on video. Both confirmed Mr. Slaughter’s story.

Here’s a a segment of my interview with Mr. Slaughter where he says:

We went to him [Sanford Bishop] several times about this fraud. [We asked] ‘why don’t you have them tell you how many of these people that are getting this money have an actual farm ID number and are actual farmers?’ [Bishop responded] ‘no, no, no — man, they’ll shut this thing down.’

And here is Willie Head:

I posted these videos to my YouTube account and then wrote pieces for Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com site. The controversial Mr. Breitbart is funding the documentary I’m working on but has given me complete journalistic freedom and has had no direct involvement in shooting any of the more than 12 hours of video interviews I’ve done so far. As a liberal, I disagree with Breitbart on most issues, but I also found him to be a very different person than he’s been portrayed as in the media, and working with him has been a great experience, just like my previous work for MoveOn.org and Brave New Films. I also don’t believe he’s a racist. If he were, I wouldn’t be working with him. (more…)

In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman – in a civil trial. In fact, King’s family was as convinced of Ray’s innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpson’s guilt. In King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown, there were 70 witnesses called; twelve jurors found in favor of the King family, which held a press conference after the verdict.

One of King’s sons – Dexter – had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his father’s assassin. In 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthal’s story that he was innocent? Anyone who remembers the looks on their faces, their resolve and their anger would have to concede that it would have required nothing short of cold hard facts.

The verdict in King vs. Jowers found a government conspiracy involving city, state, and federal agents complicit in the murder. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his father’s assassin.

One week prior to King’s assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Riots erupted in Memphis; one person was killed and sixty were injured. The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). A consequence of King’s alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. A Democratic Senator from West Virginia delivered an extremely incendiary speech on the Senate Floor that was directed specifically at President Lyndon Johnson, also a Democrat. (more…)

On September 23, 1779 in the midst of one of the bloodiest engagements in naval history, John Paul Jones was struggling against the forty-four gun Royal Navy frigate Serapis and although his own vessel was burning and sinking, Jones would not accept the British demand for surrender.  Instead Jones declared, “I have not yet begun to fight.” Little more than three hours later, the Serapis surrendered and Jones took command.

The voice of the American people was heard this November 2^nd for the first time in the past two years.  The Republican Party regained control of the House of Representatives, picking up a historic sixty seats and possibly sixty-five or more seats as final votes are tallied.  Six Senate seats were gained by Republicans with another two seats possible as close contests are resolved, further diminishing Democratic political power.  The Grand Old Party (GOP) also gained a net eight governorships and nineteen State legislatures changed over from Democratic to Republican control.

In the final days leading up to the election and in the hours immediately following, the President began to call for compromise.  Really?  After taking the oath of office in January of 2009, Mr. Obama declared, “Elections have consequences and we won!” He then led his fellow Democrats on an eighteen month assault against Republicans in Congress and against the will of the American people, pushing his left-of-center agenda.  Just before this week’s election he said the Republicans can come along but, “They need to sit in the back.” He also publically referred to his opponents as “Enemies.”

Now he wants compromise, but the only compromise that the American people clearly want is for the President and the Democrats to move off their agenda and come to them.

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Over the last twenty-two months, Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid have sown the wind. Today – if the polls are any indication – they will reap the whirlwind.

The portents have been there for a very long time. It all began on 19 February 2009 with a rant on CNBC on the part of Rick Santelli, which struck a nerve and occasioned the birth of the Tea-Party Movement. That the tide might be beginning to turn was made evident in mid-April of that year when the adherents of that movement successfully mounted demonstrations across the entire country, and the Democrats and their minions in the media began denouncing them as Astroturf, Nazis, racists, and tea-baggers. And to anyone who cared to notice, the seriousness of the opposition and the depth of their concern was made manifest that August when constituents confronted their Senators and Congressmen in town halls throughout the land and shouted them down. It was on 2 August 2009 that I first suggested that, if the Republicans embraced the Tea-Party Movement and articulated the grievances that had occasioned its emergence, a genuine political realignment might be in the offing.

As it happened – and it was by and large an accident – the Republicans were well-positioned to take advantage of this political opening. In January, 2009, many of the House Republicans and not a few of their colleagues in the Senate would have been willing to cooperate with the Democrats in promoting the agenda of the Obama administration. In 2008, they had received a drubbing at the polls, and they were appropriately cowed. But, campaign rhetoric aside, no one on the Democratic side was seriously interested in bipartisan accord. They had won the election; they persuaded themselves that they had a mandate; and though President Obama had presented himself to the voting public as a moderate, he and his fellow Democrats had not the slightest intention of seeking the middle ground. In the House, it would not have taken much to swing a sizable group of Republicans behind the Democrats’ program, but Nancy Pelosi was intent on revenge. So, when the so-called “stimulus” bill came up for a vote, she made sure that there were within it no earmarks for the Republicans, and out of pique nearly all of them voted against the measure.

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On the eve of this historic election, we wanted to provide a service to our readers.  Call it a “voter education” program.  The following videos, which were all featured first here at Big Government, helped provide an insight into what makes the Democratic Leadership tick.  It allowed the American public to see how these upstanding representatives behave when the CSPAN cameras are off, and citizen journalists’ cameras are on.

As much as we appreciate the content they have provided us over the past year, we will be happy to see some of them go back to their civilian life.  And remember, even if you don’t live in their districts, you can still cast a vote against the party that gives these congressmen such influence over our lives, liberties and pursuits of happiness.

Rep. Hare Doesn’t Care:

Rep. Etheridge ‘Who Are You?’

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