Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta was the headliner at Thursday night's Lincoln Day/Meet the Candidates Event at the GOP HQ in Wilkes-Barre and they loved him. Most Republican outfits around the country do a Lincoln Day event on his birthday in February but we have always been behind the times. America's Mayor got a standing O when he was introduced and after he got done telling our local elephants that the term conservative has become a pejorative much like the term liberal has been trashed by the likes of Rush and his ilk. I don't buy it but Republicans need to maintain their perceived victimhood at the hands of the MSM.
You can read his whole speech on the google doc I created.
Barletta said the party doesn't have to adapt to the times but just has to get back to it's conservative roots.
"Some Republicans believe the key to our future lies by moderating. With all due respect, those who believe that could not be more wrong. Throughout history, the Republican Party achieved greatness when we embraced conservatism and presented a clear, unified vision to the American people.”
And of course he invoked Saint Ronny.
Ronald Reagan won two presidential elections in convincing fashion. He offered something new, something fresh. The man who spoke about America as a “city upon a hill” also challenged his party. He suggested compromise on issues, but not on basic principles. He spoke from his heart. And he led from the front.
He threw out some red meat for the faithful by mentioning Moveon.org and bogeymen Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi's plan to turn the USA into a one party state.
Make no mistake about it, There are factions of the Democratic Party that want to destroy the Republican Party. Others, including groups like MoveOn.org spend hundreds of millions of dollars to create slick ad campaigns to bash conservative thought and promote liberal thinking. For now, though, Democrats are content to make our party politically ineffective.
They're happy to create a one-party system where Democrats set the direction - draft the legislation – stifle opposing points of view- and pass the laws they want.
And they're well on their way to doing just that.
On the recent stimulus bill he trashed the way it was passed and I agree with him on that. I get nervous whenever the government does something in a hurry. See the Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act and we had to invade Iraq before they lobbed nerve gas into New Jersey not that anyone would notice and it might improve the smell.
It's frightening to think that our elected leaders voted to spend almost 1 trillion dollars without knowing exactly what they voted for.
He also lobbed out some more inaccurate red meat GOP talking points that has been debunked.
The stimulus allows for so-called discretionary spending, which will fund pet projects like Nancy Pelosi's 30 million dollar mouse habitat, Harry Reid's multi-billion-dollar high speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and 2 billion dollars for a new power plant for Dick Durbin.
Democrats will say those projects are not funded in the stimulus package, but the language is so narrowly drafted that there are no other projects that meet the funding criteria.
There's 4 billion dollars for community groups like ACORN, and 400 million dollars for global warming research.
And he worked in the immigration issue.
And… there's no provision in the stimulus bill that will withhold federal funding for municipalities that have declared themselves sanctuary cities for Illegal Aliens. These places are not only ignoring federal law, they're opposing it, and they should not receive one penny of federal funding until those laws are removed from the books.
It's great that he raised objections to the way the stimulus package was passed but that is not going to prevent him from getting a piece of the pie for Hazleton.
Barletta has stimulus wish list
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta started making calls and setting up meetings to make sure some of the estimated $6 billion in economic stimulus funding earmarked for Pennsylvania ends up in the Mountain City...“I wasn’t going to wait to be asked,” Barletta said. “I contacted (U.S.) Senator (Arlen) Specter and (state) Representative (Todd) Eachus about the city’s wish list.”
House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities."
ReplyDeleteHe said the money was previously limited to state and local governments, but that Democrats now want part of it to be available to non-profit entities. That means groups like ACORN would be eligible for a portion of the funds.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., told FOX News Tuesday that the money could be seen as "payoff" for groups' political activities in the last election. ACORN generally supports Democratic candidates and actively backed President Obama last year.
Victorville–Las Vegas high-speed train plan gains steam
ReplyDeleteTransit officials in California and Nevada like the idea of the project proposed by investors, who say the trip would take less than two hours at 125 mph.
The Official Site of California's Proposed High-Speed Train System
I would say very accurate....
Acorn and trains.
ReplyDeleteI guess that more trains are a bad thing.
The tie to Acorn has to be proven.
Sen. Vitter might be disapointed that the bill doesn't cover the cost of pampers when he visits the whorehouse.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post's False Report on Vitter's Planned Parenthood Amendment..Isn't it a stretch to reach back to something from 1999m as the hallmark of a person. Now you see a person fighting against abortion..I could start going down the Democratic wing and pointing out indiscretions but I think enough has been made of Bill Clinton.
ReplyDeleteA train specifically to Vegas..How about a train to Northeastern PA..There is only so much money to go around. The again, of course out of $18 billion for PA over THREE years in a $787 billion dollar package is going to use $4 billion for Welfare, some job creation.
Keep in mind. This President stressed job creation. On that point the bill falls way short.
Here's what FactCheck.org had to say about what Obama states the bill WILL DO.
I'm sorry, but millions of people don't visit and drop TONS of cash in NEPA the way they do in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the hypocrisy and sheer chutzpah of the "small government" republicans sticking their open hands out for the money from what Rush refers to as the "Porkulus Bill" is staggering. And speaking of Rush, he should just run for RNC chair since his wing of the party is clearly the strongest.