Eric Massa Flames Out

Everyone who is paying attention to politics knows about Eric Massa by now. And, everyone who pays attention to politics also likely knew Massa would be spending an hour on Glenn Beck’s TV show. Even in the UK, they know about Massa and about the interview. At the end of the program, Beck apologized for what he deemed was a first-time event for his TV program: wasting “an hour of your time.” And The Guardian appears to agree.

Glenn Beck’s Massa attack

Maybe it takes one to know one, but Glenn Beck wasn’t buying any of Eric Massa’s stream of gibberish last night

As a rule: an interview where Glenn Beck comes out as the sane and rational one means you’re doing it wrong.

While I will not agree with The Guardian’s position that Beck comes across as insane or irrational, it is worth noting that The Guardian considered Massa as the more insane or irrational of the two.

Earlier I asked a question and answered it myself. “So, did he leave the leftist reservation? You bet he did.” I have to retract that. Massa did not leave the leftist reservation. He was further left than what was being voted on and he voted “no” because it wasn’t far enough left. It is still possible he left the Obama reservation. And it is still possible he is being Alinskyed due to that.

At a time when Democrats rule the roost, things that Massa are alleged to have done get swept under the rug so long as the Democrat votes right. Witness Rangel, Dodd, Frank, “cold cash” Jefferson (who “got it” from a non-political justice system), etc, ad infinitum. And the speed at which Massa’s alleged impecadillos have been used against him, considering he is a Democrat, is very interesting to say the least.

I have decided Massa is, indeed, a scuzzball along the lines of Rangel, Dodd, Frank, “cold cash” Jefferson, et al. But, since he didn’t play along with the other scuzzballs, he got outed. And, like Dana, I have little use for him. Massa ducked, dodged, dived his way through an hour-long interview where he had every opportunity to set all sorts of records straight. He tried the tactic of “it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is” and failed. He groped someone but it wasn’t sexual? Are you kidding me?

Since this Massa kerfuffle broke out, I have learned more information about Massa. Back in 2007, Massa was one of the crowd of Democrats demonizing Rush Limbaugh for calling certain people “fake soldiers.”

That long video advertisement was chock full of lies and Democrat talking points and inflammatory rhetoric. Concerning Limbaugh’s “fake soldier” statement, someone went to jail. It wasn’t Limbaugh. It was the fake soldier.

Lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, Jesse MacBeth, who was the phony soldier that I called a phony soldier. Jesse MacBeth, back in September 2007: “Man who posed as military hero sentenced to five months in prison.” This is from the Seattle Times. He was a phony soldier. I was dead right about everything I said. And now the media, in trying to lump me with Eric Massa… I mean, what are they actually trying to do here? They’re actually trying to chide me for believing something a Democrat says? Are we not supposed to believe Democrats? So I’m now associated with this kook? What is their headline here? “Massa New Conservative Media Hero?” Here’s the bottom line: I’ve done more for Eric Massa — I’ve done more to illustrate that this guy is a lunatic fringe kook in the last ten minutes — than he’s been able to do himself his entire life.

Here is that Seattle Times article. It’s a short article. And one line, among all the other highly damaging lines, stands out to me. “MacBeth spent 44 days as a private at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003, but was released ‘for issues related to entry-level performance and conduct,’ according to court papers.” Now Massa and all the other Democrats swept that little issue under the rug, as is SOP. No need for truth when there is a dishonorable agenda to further.

I reported on another out-and-out lie the Democrats used to further their agenda and then swept under the rug when Patterico brought the truth out for the public to see. Sheila Jackson Lee planted a fake doctor, who was an Obama delegate, in her Town Hall meeting to spread a lie in furtherance of ObamaCare. But the Democrats are not distancing themselves, and have never distanced themselves as far as I know, from the Houston Democrat’s dishonorable staging of abject falsehoods in furtherance of the Democrat goals.

Massa further claimed the unions were telling him if he didn’t vote the way they wanted him to vote, they’d cease giving him campaign money and asked the rhetorical “isn’t that bribery”. I, at first, considered that to be highly likely. But I have since changed my mind. That’s what people do with their campaign contributions. They send the money to politicians who support their agenda and cut politicians off when they don’t support their agenda. That’s politics. And, that’s First Amendment free speech rights. People send money to politicians to help the politicians further speak out on issues the people want pushed. Campaign money is speech.

Massa’s problem isn’t that he’s a known entity; it’s that he forgot what the team rules were. Massa is a far-left scam artist who uses lies to further his agenda and tries to redefine “is” to escape the results of his actions. Even when he accepts responsibility for his actions, he redefines his actions to avoid that responsibility. But that is nothing new. We had a recent Democrat President convicted of suborning perjury who did the exact same thing. Massa’s problem, as I see it, is that he’s so far around the bend that he forgot to play ball with his own team. And his own team is well-known for cannibalizing their own to further their agenda.

That’s Massa’s problem. I believe it was Glenn Beck who stated my position on Massa’s value before I got more information. Massa could be described not as a quality individual whose words are unassailable but rather as a member of the “mob” who turns State’s evidence. He’s a low-life who can be used to sink other low-lifes. But, on further review, he’s really not even worth that.
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Cross Posted on Truth Before Dishonor

8 EXAGGERATIONS AND MYTHS PUSHED BY CONSERVATIVES ABOUT OBAMA

It is difficult to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the exercise of power. For 8 years, it caused hysterical derangement on a very large slice of the left who tried to promote the idea that George Bush was a fascist, or a theocrat intent on establishing an authoritarian “regime” – [...]

Adam Kokesh: An anti-war smear merchant in “Republican” clothing

Before there was a nationwide, grass-roots Tea Party movement, there was another nationwide, grass-roots movement that brought thousands of Americans to Washington, D.C. They called themselves the “Gathering of Eagles.” I covered two massive, GoE rallies against the Soros-funded, anti-war Left in March 2007 and September 2007. GOE activists continue to expose the transnational progressives, anti-military bullies, and phonies who operate under the “peace” banner.

One of the groups that GOE dogged was Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) — whose members have included bomb-threat bullies and death-threat nutballs who threatened to assassinate me, fake Army vet Jesse MacBeth, and another prominent member who smeared the Young America’s Foundation by faking an anti-Muslim hate flyer and smeared David Horowitz with similar race-card playing flyers, then weaseled out of the attacks by claiming they were “satire.”

The last two incidents involved an IVAW member named Adam Kokesh. He marched in uniform in mock patrols for the anti-war movement, paraded around holding an upside-down American flag (see Jonn Lilyea for more), was arrested for defacing signs, and traveled to Germany to urge soldiers to abandon their posts and seek aid and comfort with his anti-war minions.

Kokesh, believe it or not, is now running as a Republican candidate for Congress in New Mexico. And, believe it or not, he is getting positive exposure on at least one Fox News show. He has the backing of Ron Paul, the Republican Liberty Caucus, and the 9/12 Project.

The New Mexico Republican Party has its head in the sand. If you have friends and family in New Mexico, make sure they know who the real Adam Kokesh is.

He is an anti-war smear merchant in GOP clothing. Spread the word.

The “pre-Census” letter: Your tax dollars hard at work

Got home this afternoon, checked the mail, and what did I see? A letter from the Census Bureau informing me that … I’d be receiving the Census in about a week, along with a note that it was important that I fill it out.

Are you kidding me?

A friend of mine Tweeted last night that she got the letter. In fact, according to the CB itself, approximately 120,000,000 US residents will receive the same letter:

Early Notification Increases Awareness That Census Forms Will Arrive Soon

The U.S. Census Bureau today began mailing advance letters to about 120 million addresses nationwide, notifying households that 2010 Census forms will be arriving March 15-17. The one-page letter urges households to complete the 10-question census form when it arrives and to return it in the accompanying prepaid envelope as soon as possible.

“The advance letter helps people know that their 2010 Census form will be arriving soon,” said Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves. “It’s an important reminder about the impact the census has on our communities, that the census is important and that everyone needs to participate.”

Census Bureau research shows that reaching out to respondents with an advance letter and reminder postcard if necessary can boost census mail-back rates and save money. For every 1 percent increase in households that respond by mail, taxpayers save about $85 million in operational costs associated with census takers going door to door to follow up with households that did not mail back the form.

The more than 120 million households that receive both the advance letter and 2010 Census form by mail represent about 90 percent of all residential addresses in the country. Census workers last week started hand-delivering census forms to another 9 percent of addresses in areas where many households lack traditional city-style postal addresses. Hand-delivery of 2010 Census forms is also occurring along hurricane-affected areas of the Gulf Coast. Less than 1 percent of households are in areas where it’s more efficient for census takers to conduct census interviews rather than drop-off and require mail-back of the form.

The advance letter includes messaging in five languages other than English (Spanish, Chinese [simplified], Korean, Vietnamese and Russian) directing people to visit the 2010 Web site for in-language assistance. For the first time in U.S. census history, the Census Bureau is sending a bilingual advance letter and form to more than 13 million households in areas where Spanish is predominantly spoken at home.

The text of the advance letter is as follows:

Dear Resident:

About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail. When you receive your form, please fill it out and mail it in promptly. Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share. Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely, Robert M. Groves
Director, U.S. Census Bureau

Go to < 2010census.gov> for help completing your 2010 Census form when it arrives. [Note: this sentence is repeated in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian]

Turns out, a lot of people are questioning why the “pre-Census” letters were sent out. The WaPo’s “Behind the Numbers” blog tries to get to the bottom of it all:

As “Census Day” approaches, the U.S. Census Bureau has come under fire for some of its edgier attempts to encourage people to respond to its mailings, and now, some have begun to take umbrage with standard technique – the advance letter.

On National Review’s The Corner, John J. Miller questions the mailing itself while Bill S. on RedState writes, “I’m having a difficult time deciding if this letter is: 1. Supposed to be helpful or informative in some way. 2. A joke. 3. Some sort of Obama stimulus plan for the postal workers. 4. My imagination.”

But to those in the survey research world, including the Census Bureau’s new director, Robert M. Groves, the letters are standard operating procedure. The bulk of the research on the topic finds that advance letters explaining the purpose and benefits of survey research improve response rates.

For an effort like the Census, which attempts to contact more than a hundred million households, the educated bet is that the cost of postage and printing for the preliminary letters saves subsequent future outlays in sending Census workers to follow-up with those who don’t return the questionnaires.

The Bureau’s announcement of the letters puts a dollar amount on response rates, “Census Bureau research shows that reaching out to respondents with an advance letter and reminder postcard if necessary can boost census mail-back rates and save money. For every 1 percent increase in households that respond by mail, taxpayers save about $85 million in operational costs associated with census takers going door to door to follow up with households that did not mail back the form.”

ROTFLMAO. And the Census workers must “follow up” with those households that didn’t take time to fill out the form why, exactly? Why not save that $85 mil to begin with and not have the Census workers going door to door in the first place? I know – what a radical suggestion! Why radical? Because less people returning their Census forms to the USG means the they won’t know as much about how to “properly” and “fairly” “spread the wealth” – and we know that’s most definitely not how the BarryO administration operates. As John Fund wrote last February:

President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to “restore science to its rightful place” in government. That’s a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn’t think it would mean having the director of next year’s Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary, as is customary. “There’s only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement,” a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. “And it’s called politics, not science.”

The decision was made last week after California Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Hispanic groups complained to the White House that Judd Gregg, the Republican senator from New Hampshire slated to head Commerce, couldn’t be trusted to conduct a complete Census. The National Association of Latino Officials said it had “serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 Census produces the most accurate possible count.”

Anything that threatens the integrity of the Census has profound implications. Not only is it the basis for congressional redistricting, it provides the raw data by which government spending is allocated on everything from roads to schools. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also uses the Census to prepare the economic data that so much of business relies upon. “If the original numbers aren’t as hard as possible, the uses they’re put to get fuzzier and fuzzier,” says Bruce Chapman, who was director of the Census in the 1980s.

Mr. Chapman worries about a revival of the effort led by minority groups after the 2000 Census to adjust the totals for states and cities using statistical sampling and computer models. In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Department of Commerce v. U.S. House that sampling could not be used to reapportion congressional seats. But it left open the possibility that sampling could be used to redraw political boundaries within the states.

Such a move would prove controversial. “Sampling potentially has the kind of margin of error an opinion poll has and the same subjectivity a voter-intent standard in a recount has,” says Mr. Chapman.

[...]

The larger debate prompted seven former Census directors — serving every president from Nixon to George W. Bush — to sign a letter last year supporting a bill to turn the Census Bureau into an independent agency after the 2010 Census. “It is vitally important that the American public have confidence that the census results have been produced by an independent, non-partisan, apolitical, and scientific Census Bureau,” it read.

The directors also noted that “each of us experienced times when we could have made much more timely and thorough responses to Congressional requests and oversight if we had dealt directly with Congress.” The bill’s chief sponsor is New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

“The real issue is who directs the Census, the pros or the pols,” says Mr. Chapman. “You would think an administration that’s thumping its chest about respecting science would show a little respect for scientists in the statistical field.” He worries that a Census director reporting to a hyperpartisan such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel increases the chances of a presidential order that would override the consensus of statisticians.

The Obama administration is downplaying how closely the White House will oversee the Census Bureau. But Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insists there is “historical precedent” for the Census director to be “working closely with the White House.”

Uh huh.

As to the cost of the mailings, Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Collins did the math and came up with these numbers:

There were 105,480,101 households in 2000. At 500 sheets of paper per ream, that’s 210,960 reams of paper for the letter. It’s cheap paper, though. At $40 a case, Office Max has the cheapest price I could find online, so that’s $843,000 for the paper.

Five-hundred envelopes go for $30. That’s another $6.3 million (I’m rounding up and down here; it’s the government afterall).

Finally, there’s the cost of mailing. It’s presorted first-class mail. According to the U.S. Postal Service Web site, pre-sorted mail costs .335, although a standard rate letter could be sent for 17 cents. But this was first-class. Total: $35,335,833.83.

Total: $42.5 million (although I remain somewhat skeptical about the postage) to send you a letter to tell you you’re going to get another letter next week. Oh, and sending a postcard would’ve been $15.8 million cheaper.

The average person pays $13,000 in federal taxes per year. So it took the annual federal taxes of nearly 327 taxpayers to send you the letter.

To borrow a line from Collins, sending out advance letters notifying you that you will soon be receiving the Census is an idea that just doesn’t make census. That is, unless you’re a career bureaucrat/”healer” who enjoys seeing government grow and grow and grow and …

I Hate Politics

I’ll share a secret with you, I hate politics. People assume that because I blog about it, I love it, it must be a passion. Nope, hate it. Politics are slimy, disenfranchising, corrupt, smelly,…

***This is a content summary only. Visit Notoriously Conservative for full links, other content, and more.***

ARE DEMOCRATS FOOLING THEMSELVES ON HEALTH CARE REFORM?

Greg Sargent touting President Obama’s speech in Philly as he tries to “close the sale” on health care reform:
One striking thing about the speech Obama just gave at the big health care rally in Pennsylvania is how many times he stressed that if reform passes, voters will begin enjoying the benefits this year.
Though he didn’t [...]

Eric Massa Blasts Rahm Emanuel

Perhaps you’ve heard that Eric Massa (D-NY) has become embroiled in a sex scandal in his first term in Congress, and that he’s leaving office because of this sex scandal. If the claims in the scandal are true, Massa needs to go. But I have to question how and why the scandal got publicized. After all, he’s a Democrat and these sorts of scandals are very often covered up so long as the Democrat is doing what the left want him to do. So, did he leave the leftist reservation? You bet he did.

Here’s a small portion of Massa’s (D-NY) blast, as transcribed by NBC Chicago:

“Let me tell you a story about Rahm Emanuel,” Massa said on the program. “I was a congressman in my first eight weeks; I was in the congressional gym, I went down and I worked out and I went into the showers … I’m sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, and he starts poking a finger in my chest yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget.

“Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?”

You can hear Massa himself saying it here.

But that’s not all. That’s not nearly all. Not by a long shot. There is a lot more fury from this Democrat Congressman aimed at ObamaNation’s front man, Rahm Emanuel. Again, from the above-linked NBC Chicago transcription:

“I was set up for this from the very, very beginning,” he said onWKPQ 105.3 FM in New York. “You think that somehow they didn’t come after me to get rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote in the health care bill? Then, ladies and gentlemen, you live today in a world that is so innocent as to not understand what’s going on in Washington, D.C.”

During the radio-show monologue Massa said Emanuel cursed him out like nobody’s business for voting against the president’s health care bill last year.

Massa said Rahm called him and cursed him out for voting against ObamaCare and that Massa told Rahm to do things that are anatomically impossible. Then Massa said he told Rahm to start over. “Let’s pretend you’re the White House Chief of Staff and let’s pretend I’m a Congressman.” Or something along those lines. Rahm told Massa that Massa had crossed the line with his language, to which Massa retorted “you already crossed that line first” or matters to that effect.

Massa continued by saying the union bosses said he would not get any union money unless he voted for ObamaCare and then asked the rhetorical question whether that was a bribe or no. And there’s much more to what Massa said, and was very much recorded live (except my meager google skills can’t find the whole thing I heard).

Massa very much blasted the Chicago machine that is in corrupt control. Massa very much blasted other corrupt machines which are also in control with ObamaNation. And Massa, the NY Democrat, is being Alinskyed in order to further the Obama Agenda.

Granted, if Massa did what is reported he did, he needs to go. But it’s the reason those on the left are airing Massa’s deeds that is the more egregious. There is massive corruption, massive arm-breaking, massive politics of personal destruction involved in the political assassination of Massa.

UPDATE: Lady Libertas has more. And, again, she is not necessarily singing Massa’s praise. But she does have popcorn.
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Cross Posted on Truth Before Dishonor

CONSERVATISM MAY BE DEAD BUT ANDREW SULLIVAN’S FAUX PRAGMATISM IS STILL KICKING

I am one of the few who still see Andrew Sullivan as a conservative, albeit one whose philosophy is made wildly inconsistent by his misreading of President Obama. The reason is evident if you bother to read a lot of what he writes instead of cherry picking his paeans to the president, or react to [...]

Massa: Dem leadership forced me out over healthcare “reform” vote

Intriguing:

Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation.

“There’s a reason that this has all happened, frankly one that I had not realized,” Massa said on WKPQ radio on Sunday. “Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it’ll pass.”

Massa addressed rumors circulating on blogs about his personal behavior, including incidents during an informal Navy ceremony in ‘83 on the USS New Jersey and one that occurred in a state room later during his Navy career. He insisted he had done nothing uncommon, insisting his sin was foul language.

A complaint before the House ethics committee, he said, stemmed from a wedding Massa attended over New Years, when he made an inappropriate comment to an aide, according to Roll Call, which first reported the radio program.

Massa maintained his comments were inappropriate, but he blamed “political correctness” and accused Dems of a setup. Massa voted against health care legislation in Nov., and he has not been a reliable vote for Dem leadership. That, he said, has put a target on his back.

“When I voted against the cap and trade bill, the phone rang and it was the chief of staff to the president of the United States of America, Rahm Emanuel, and he started swearing at me in terms and words that I hadn’t heard since that crossing the line ceremony on the USS New Jersey in 1983,” Massa said. “And I gave it right back to him, in terms and words that I know are physically impossible.”

“If Rahm Emanuel wants to come after me, maybe he ought to hold himself to the same standards I’m holding myself to and he should resign,” Massa said.

Jim Geraghty adds:

Also, as noted on Drudge, Massa is saying that Rahm is “the son of the devil’s spawn” and that he would “sell his own mother for a vote.”

Keep in mind, in Rahm Emanuel’s world, that’s one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said about him.

Sounds about right. Listen to the audio of those remarks on Rahmbo, in which he goes into even more detail, here. TPM has the full audio of Massa’s Sunday remarks here.

BTW, just for the record, Massa’s revealed what he believes to be the incident that led to the ethics probe.

Of course, this could be just a case of sour grapes, but as we all know, this WH – and the Dem “leadership” in the House and Senate – will stop at nothing in order to get some form of healthcare “reform” passed before the November elections, and have even encouraged Congressional Democrats to sacrifice via putting their careers on the line in order to get it rammed through. So it is by no means outside of the realm of possibility that he was pushed out over his healthcare “reform” vote.

Massa, BTW, suggested on that same radio program yesterday that he may be open to rescinding his resignation – which otherwise would be effective as of 5 PM ET today – under certain circumstances:

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) suggested on a New York radio station Sunday that he could rescind his resignation — scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Monday — after asserting that an ethics investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed one of his aides may have been orchestrated by Democratic leaders to get him out of office before the health care vote.

Responding to a caller to his weekly radio show on WKPQ Power 105 FM, a recording of which was made available via the Web site of local station 13 WHAM-TV, Massa said: “I’m not going to be a Congressman as of 5 o’clock [Monday] afternoon. The only way to stop that is for me to rescind my resignation. That’s the only way to stop it. And the only way that’s going to happen is if this becomes a national story.”

Sounds like that’s exactly what’s happening.

ARE THE DEMS IN AS MUCH TROUBLE AS WE THINK?

If the election were held today, I think it likely that both the House and Senate would flip to the Republicans. I have never heard the American people so riled up. And I’m not even including the tea party people. I mean that if you try to talk politics with anyone, the tangible expressions of [...]

Pentagon Shooter Was Democrat 911 Truther With BDS And Issues

The dude who walked up to the Pentagon and calmly shot and injured two members of the security detail before being killed by same was a left-wing extremist with issues.

Patterico lays out J Patrick Bedell’s 911 Truther and BDS facts here and expounds on them here. You will note that Patterico links to at least two sites that are unfriendly toward the Right (MSNBC and Little Green Footballs).

Stashiu3, whose pedigree is solid, linked to a Michelle Malkin story finding out about Bedell’s voting registration.

Update: www.Electorates.us has 180 million registered voter records available online (thanks to Anne Horrigan). Thirty-six-year-old John Patrick Bedell’s voter registration records in Hollister, CA are available for any journalist before he/she goes off and labels him a “right-wing extremist.”

Guess which party he registered under in 2005 and was actively registered under as of 2008?

DEMOCRAT.

EMID 15324137
STATESOURCE California
DATAACQUIRED 20080121
PrefixTitle MR
LASTNAME,FIRSTNAME,MIDDLENAME Bedell,John,Patrick
SOURCEIDVOTER 30048
DATEOFBIRTH 5/20/1973
PLACEOFBIRTH CA
REGDATE 20051006
GENDER M
PARTY Democrat
ACTIVECODE ACTIVE
STATUS
ResAddr1,ResAddr2,ResCity,ResState,ResZip 110 Georges Dr Hollister,CA
STATEHOUSE 28
STATESENATE 12
USCONGRESS 17
LASTDATEVOTED 20051108

Stop playing games, MSM.

And an hour or so ago, I found out from FOX News Radio that his parents reported him “missing” to the county sheriff and warned he could be dangerous as he had a history of mental illness. (Sorry, no link to that, but would love to have it if you got it.)

So I agree. Lamestream media needs to stop calling him a right-wing extremist. Lamestream media needs to stop trying to tie him to the TEA Party. He was Left-wing. He was a registered Democrat. He had major BDS. He was a 911 Truther. And he had a history of mental illness. Nothing right-wing about that.

Three related preemptory statements:

1) For those who want to rail against my pointing out Bedell was Left-Wing, tell me why lamestream media tries to tie all these people to “Right-Wing extremism” and the TEA Party movement, including the leftist Bedell and the Marxist Stack?

2) For those who want to tie Bedell’s anti-tax statements to the TEA Party movement and “Right-Wing extremism,” note two things:

A) From Bedell’s manifesto: “Such an organization, having seized control of the United States government, would derive enormous power from the taxes extracted from the wealthiest society in the history of the world. Such an organization would be able to manage present objections to its corruption with lavish promises of future benefits in a form of generalized bribery. Such an organization, which would necessarily have great financial sophistication, would be able to use the credit of the United States government to issue trillions of dollars of debt to fund its corrupt activities and neutralize objections to its illegitimacy and in so doing, burden the responsible citizens among its victims with crushing financial obligations.”

(Understand, Bedell called the US Government “usurpers” from 1963 (before he was born) onward and claimed Bush was a piece of a criminal group that controlled the US Government.)

B) Dave Surls quoted wiki, a source Liberals love to use, thusly:

“Karl Marx, via his newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, published this decree, adding: “From today, therefore, taxes are abolished! It is high treason to pay taxes. Refusal to pay taxes is the primary duty of the citizen!”[81] Marx was later prosecuted for promoting tax resistance, but was acquitted after arguing that it was not illegal to promote tax resistance against an illegal government.”

3) For those calling for stricter gun laws in light of this event, do note that there are already laws on the books that prevent people with certain mental illnesses from owning or possessing guns. And, judging by what his parents told the sheriff, Bedell qualified as one with at least one of those mental illnesses. So there are already laws on the books precluding the likes of Bedell from owning a fire-arm.

Yes, he was a Leftist, like the majority of Congress and the lamestream media and the current President.
Yes, he had a major case of BDS, like the majority of Congress and the lamestream media and the current President.
Yes, he was a 911 Truther, like 36 percent of the Democrat party (if I remember my numbers correctly).
Yes, his views were very tied to Marxism.
But, no, I do not blame those who are in those above groups for this insane person (other than “You right-wing extremist radio talkers need to quit inciting the mentally ill to violence”).

This guy was a loose cannon, due to his mental illness. And he found a way to “go off” against the “usurpers.” His mental illness and his hatred for everything “Bush” was enough to send him over the edge.
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Cross Posted on Truth Before Dishonor

THE ‘AL-QAEDA 7?’ WHAT A CROCK

There are times that I want to take some of my fellow conservatives by the scruff of their neck and shake some sense into them. Or at least kick their behinds until some semblance of reason penetrates their thick skulls.
The blow up over the 7 Department of Justice lawyers who represented terrorists at Gitmo and [...]

About the Pentagon shooter; Update: Stop playing games, MSM. John Patrick Bedell was a registered Democrat

Scroll down for update debunking MSM “right-wing” spin…

A nutball shot two security guards at a Pentagon-area Metro station in D.C. yesterday.

As Patterico reports, he hated Bush and littered the Internet with 9/11 Truther rants.

But just as I passed on playing the blame game with the global warmicides earlier this week, I’m not playing MSNBC/NYTimes-style “gotcha” with this one, either.

I’m with Zombie:

Now, just for a moment, let’s set aside the false guilt-by-association game everyone’s always playing. We all know that John Patrick Bedell and Joseph Stack are basically insane, plain and simple — as are any number of similar whackjobs who periodically go loco and erupt into violence. Violent psychopaths often incorporate some seemingly random overarching theme into their mindset, and on occasion that theme involves politics. Whenever someone like Bedell or Stack goes ballistic, every pundit jumps into the fray and tries to spin the outburst as “exemplifying” the political viewpoint of those with whom the pundit disagrees.

But that only rises to the level of a valid argument when a distinct pattern emerges. If, say, 5,000 suicide bombers in a row are invariably Islamic fundamentalists — well, OK, we’ve got a problem with the belief system, not just with the individuals. Yet I don’t see a pattern in these “going postal” violent outbursts which seem to happen perhaps three or four times per year, every year, no matter who’s in power or who’s president: it seems that the “philosophy” (if you can even call it that) of each of the attackers is unique, idiosyncratic and just plain illogical. Even so, if he starts shooting or killing when a Republican is president, he is deemed a left-wing psycho (see: Charles Manson); if he starts shooting or killing when a Democrat is president, he is deemed a right-wing psycho (see: Joseph Stack). But the truth is, paranoid people simply feel threatened by the external power structure in general, so they lash out at any symbol of authority, regardless of its political affiliation.

So, instead of playing the blame game so unapologetically employed by the Left when they feel they can spin things to their political advantage, I’m not going to say that Bedell’s actions at the Pentagon epitomize the leftist worldview. Rather, he was just crazy, as clearly indicated by his belief in the craziest of modern crazy conspiracy theories, 9/11 Truthism.

Are most Truthers leftists? Yes. But that doesn’t mean that all left-leaning Americans are thereby just as crazy as the most extreme among them; it simply indicates that when a leftist goes crazy in the post-9/11 era, he often gloms onto Truthism as his paranoia of choice.

Put it this way: Leftism fails as a coherent philosophy on its own terms. We shouldn’t try to wring significance from the delusional outburst of someone who just happened to be leftist. There are plenty of ways to logically disembowel Marxism and its numerous noxious contemporary offspring without having to resort to an unnecessary round of political “gotcha!”

***

The Blame the Tea Party push by the MSM begins (h/t allahpundit):

CSM: John Patrick Bedell: Did right-wing extremism lead to shooting?

The Associated Press piles on.

***

Update: www.Electorates.us has 180 million registered voter records available online (thanks to Anne Horrigan). Thirty-six-year-old John Patrick Bedell’s voter registration records in Hollister, CA are available for any journalist before he/she goes off and labels him a “right-wing extremist.”

Guess which party he registered under in 2005 and was actively registered under as of 2008?

DEMOCRAT.

EMID 15324137
STATESOURCE California
DATAACQUIRED 20080121
PrefixTitle MR
LASTNAME,FIRSTNAME,MIDDLENAME Bedell,John,Patrick
SOURCEIDVOTER 30048
DATEOFBIRTH 5/20/1973
PLACEOFBIRTH CA
REGDATE 20051006
GENDER M
PARTY Democrat
ACTIVECODE ACTIVE
STATUS
ResAddr1,ResAddr2,ResCity,ResState,ResZip 110 Georges Dr Hollister,CA
STATEHOUSE 28
STATESENATE 12
USCONGRESS 17
LASTDATEVOTED 20051108

Stop playing games, MSM.

Video: Wreckonciliation, Romney, Rangel & Scott Brown

On Fox & Friends this morning, the gang and I covered everything from wreckonciliation to Romney and Rangel to Scott Brown’s payroll tax cut proposal and what the lack of GOP support for Sen. Jim Bunning’s stand against pay-go hypocrisy bodes — all in 9 minutes and 41 seconds! Enjoy:

Dems throw Pete Stark Raving Mad under the bus

I talked about Democrat Rep. Pete Stark Raving Mad on Hannity last night — giving a quick review of his infamous outburts and indiscretion, which have been long-chronicled on this blog. The water-carriers at Media Matters took the usual manufactured umbrage at any mention of basket case Stark’s unseemly brush with the House Ethics Committee.

But the Soros-bots conveniently omit the facts of the matter and the conflict between the pushovers on the House Ethics Committee and the more independent Office of Congressional Ethics, as reported by left-leaning Talking Points Memo:

Tension between two Congressional ethics bodies boiled over today in connection to an investigation of a California congressman.

The House Ethics committee announced that it had voted unanimously to dismiss a probe into whether Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) improperly took advantage of a tax break for Maryland homeowners.

But in its report on the case (posted below), the panel used unusually harsh language to slam the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which had itself voted unanimously to recommend that the Ethics committee — officially known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — continue the probe, and had found that Stark likely violated the law.

The Ethics committee, which is chaired by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), charged that OCE “conducted an inadequate review, the result of which was to subject Representative Stark to unfounded criminal allegations.” [Late Update: See below for OCE's response]

OCE’s own report — which was included as an appendix to the Ethics committee report — found that Stark misrepresented information to the state of Maryland in applying for a tax break, worth thousands, on a waterfront home. In order to qualify for the tax break, homeowners must use the home address for voting and obtaining a drivers license, according to state law. Stark told the state that he voted in Maryland, but in fact votes in California and has a California drivers license. OCE also found that Stark had misled OCE investigators during an interview on the matter.

But the Ethics committee’s report puts the thrust of those findings into question. It concludes that Stark received no benefit from his mistake, because he corrected the error before Maryland ever adjudicated his application for a tax credit.

“The evidence clearly establishes that Representative Stark did not receive a tax credit as a result of filing for the credit,” the committee writes. “The evidence also establishes that he did not file a false application for the Maryland property tax credit.”

OCE was created as a quasi-independent ethics body in the wake of the Abramoff scandal, to address concerns that the Ethics committee was not pursuing investigations of House members with sufficient aggressiveness.

In any case, Stark Raving Mad has now been thrown under the bus. After one day on the job replacing corruptocrat Charlie Rangel as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Stark is handing over the gavel to Democrat Rep. Sander Levin:

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) will take the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee and Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) will step aside, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the Democratic Caucus on Thursday morning, sources in attendance said.

Stark, the No. 2 Democrat on the panel, has been serving as acting chairman since Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) surrendered the gavel Wednesday. Pelosi explained the switch to Democrats on Thursday by saying Stark preferred to keep the reins of the panel’s Subcommittee on Health. But it became clear after hours of meetings by Democrats on the panel Wednesday that Stark — who has a history of off-color remarks and ethics issues of his own — lacked support for moving into the chairmanship.

Aides familiar with the panel’s huddles Wednesday said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.), both Ways and Means members, made the case to Stark that he would be an inviting target for Republicans and a distraction for politically endangered Democrats if he assumed control.

What took them so long?

TO A BLOGGER DYING YOUNG

I first became aware of blogger Al Weisel (AKA “Jon Swift”) when I started my “Carnival of the Clueless” linkfest back in 2005. Al submitted a post each week almost from the beginning.
I have to admit to being had by the Jon Swift character. I never read his submissions closely, scanning them for the essence [...]