Why the GOP is a one issue party
Sep 9, 2008 Ron Paul, politics
Major points of the video:
After Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Palin became the life of the party, and an admittedly formidable foe to the Democrats because of her out-of-the-beltway conservatism, and has made everyone forget that party leaders are uninterested in the conservative values that she represents.
Conservatives have been uncomfortable with John McCain because of his support for capaign finance reform, opposition to drilling in ANWR, his vote against the Bush tax cuts, his suscribing to global warming histeria and his support for a bill that would have granted amnesty to illegal aliens.
However, despite McCain’s liberal positions on other issues, Republicans seem to think that he is the best man to fight the war on terror.
Rudy Giuliani and Joe Lieberman were selected to represent the party at the RNC. Giuliani is extremely similar to Hillary Clinton in almost every area except for the war, but his ability to invoke 9/11 suddenly makes him a Republican star. Lieberman, despite being further to the left than Obama, is also selected to speak. Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. He supports universal health care, supports partial birth abortions, he is anti-gun, and opposed Samuel Alito’s appointment to the Supreme Court.
When WTMA host Richard Todd asked Cindy Mosteller why the Republicans were embracing Joe Lieberman, she said “Because he understands the importance of 9/11. This is a big tent party.” However, the tent was apparently not big enough for Republican congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul, who was not allowed normal credentials at the RNC, despite his own convention (rally for the republic which drew more than 12,000 people) discussing reducing the size of government, returning to the constitution, and bringing the Republican party back to its conservative roots, and Ron Paul being introducted by Barry Goldwater Jr. whose father, Barry Goldwater, was the conscious of the conservative movement for half a century. Paul was not even let into the doors at his own party’s convention due to his opposition to the Iraq war, despite him getting more votes in the primaries than Rudy Guiliani and Fred Thompson, who both had speaking roles at the RNC.
When Cindy Mosteller was asked why anti war Republicans like Ron Paul, North Carolina congressman Walter Jones, or Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel are not given a voice at the convention, she replied, “If you get a tent too big it’s bound to have holes in it.” She added, “Hagel could not even get up on a national stage and even make a case… and you know why? Because the surge has, by God, worked.” So much for the big tent.
You are not to be tolerated in the Republican Party if you agree with the majority of Americans who are against the war in Iraq, yet being pro gun control, pro socialized health care, pro-choice, and pro-amnesty is perfectly acceptable as long as your are pro war. If you are a staunch conservative, yet against the war, you are no longer welcome in the Republican Party.
The definition of a neoconservative is one who believes that America’s greatness is measured exclusively by our willingness to dominate the globe politically and militarily. For neocons, foreign policy is primary and every other issue is secondary.
The 2008 McCain campaign (and nomination) represents the takeover of the Republican Party by neoconservatives. Sarah Palin, who once supported anti-war conservative Pat Buchanan for president, now mouths the same neoconservative foreign policy rhetoric that defines the new GOP.
Sarah Palin, like Spiro Agnew to Richard Nixon and Dan Quayle to George H.W. Bush, will be a conservative vice president who has virtually no impact on the moderate President they serve. McCain will more likely appoint Joe Lieberman as Secretary of State than give Sarah Palin any responsibilities more important than office secretary.
The only reason McCain picked Sarah Palin as Vice President is to pacify traditional conservatives on the many issues they still care about so that in Republican victory, McCain and the neoconservatives can get to work on their only issue - War.
Tags: 9/11, Al Gore, amnesty, ANWR, Barry Goldwater Jr., Bush tax cuts, campaign finance reform, Chuck Hagel, Cindy Mosteller, conservatism, conservative values, constitution, Dan Quayle, democrats, Fred Thompson, George H.W. Bush, global warming, GOP, gun control, Hillary Clinton, illegal aliens, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, neoconservative, Obama, partial birth abortion, Pat Buchanan, rally for the republic, Richard Nixon, Richard Todd, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Samuel Alito, Sarah Palin, Secretary of State, Spiro Agnew, supreme court, surge, universal health care, Walter Jones
Supreme court shreds 4th amendment
Apr 23, 2008 politics
In yet another example of the federal government trampling on state law, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, April 23d that police may use evidence obtained during a search following an illegal arrest (by state law).
City detectives seized crack cocaine from David Lee Moore in Portsmouth, Virginia, in a search of his vehicle following an arrest for driving with a suspended license - which turns out to be an offense for which only a court summons can be issued according to state law. Although the arrest was unlawful, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the evidence to be used in a conviction.
The fourth amendment reads, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
A review of the definition of “probable cause” in the Oxford Companion to American Law reveals that probable cause requires that there be “information sufficient to warrant a prudent person’s belief that the wanted individual had committed a crime (for an arrest warrant) or that evidence of a crime or contraband would be found in a search (for a search warrant).” Concerning arrest and search, in the case of the Virginia man, it is impossible to make a connection between any other crime and driving with a suspended license, and therefore is also impossible to suspect that contraband might be found during a search.
Much like the ambiguity in the “thought crimes bill” (H.R. 1955), police officers can now arrest you at will - as long as they suspect that you have committed some crime, however substantiated that belief is - in order to conduct a search following arrest.
The slippery slope of eroding personal liberty and constitutional protection no longer seems like a fallacy. Fourth amendment, you’ll sure be missed.
Tags: constitution, David Lee Moore, fourth amendment, supreme court, virginia