Don’t believe everything you hear. The Senate Democrats are not on the verge of a collapse. They are on the verge of compromising every single thing they want just so they can get a “health care reform” bill passed.

Here’s what I’m being told:

The Democrats have given Joe Lieberman everything he wanted. Joe will now vote for the bill.

Ben Nelson (D-NE) is being threatened with having every major military installation in Nebraska shut down. Yes, I know, but the Democrats are playing for keeps on this and health care “reform” is more important to them than the military.

Liberals are being told they have to accept this to given them any credibility going into next year’s election. They don’t want to be accused of “killing reform.”

Lastly, the CBO scoring of the bill is going to look fine now that the Medicare affecting portions are going to be dropped.

Inevitably, this legislation is going to cause health care costs to skyrocket and force people into socialized medicine.

But Barack Obama and the Democrats don’t care. They want to be seen as doing something and beating the Republicans — with what, they don’t care.

RedState Morning Briefing
For December 15, 2009

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Still up on the noun vs. adjective bit of conservatism, I want to make sure you all knew that Jenny Sanford, wife of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, has endorsed Nikki Haley for Governor.

This is a big deal in the Palmetto State. Jenny Sanford has long been viewed apart from her husband as solidly conservative, both fiscally and socially. It’s not just that Jenny Sanford is instinctually conservative, but she is truly a conservative — unashamed to be in the trenches, getting her hands dirty, fighting for the conservative cause without apology.

In an open letter to South Carolina voters, Mrs. Sanford says, “Our state’s future is too important to leave to just another go-along-get-along career politician. Nikki Haley is the best person to be South Carolina’s next Governor.”

Amen to that.

Let’s get Nikki Haley elected.

It is called projection. The big spending, tax-hiking cover of the Florida accuses his opponent who has always been committed to cutting spending and taxes as being a big spending tax hiker.

Come on, Charlie. Even the media is calling you out for your lies.

“When you hear people out there on the campaign trail talking about what they’re going to do, look at what they’ve already done,” said Crist, going on to cast Rubio as a big-spending, tax-raiser. “Let’s make sure the words meet the facts. I don’t believe in raising taxes. I’m running against someone who wanted to,” said Crist, apparently referring to Rubio’s support of a plan to raise sales taxes while cutting property taxes.

But Crist never mentioned that he signed a budget this year that includes more than $2-billion in new taxes and fees. In fact, several times Crist made claims about his record that have been widely debunked or undercut by reality

Stop being a girl and own up to your record, Governor.

Earl Glynn has a fascinating look at congressional expenditures that taxpayers are paying for.

Guam’s Delegate, for example, had all of us pick up $6,090.00 in food expenditures in Guam. Madeleine Bordalio may have no vote in Congress, but she can stick it to the taxpayers nonetheless.

There’s also an $8.80 laundry bill taxpayers paid for and a whole lot more. Most interesting to me is that the Guam Delegate who has no vote and is only there because we took Guam from Spain in a war over a century ago and wanted to be kind has billed the taxpayers for more than any of the guys who can actually vote.

I realize we’re playing adolescent word games with the NRSC when it comes to Carly Fiorina. Just last week, John Cornyn said the NRSC would not be endorsing anyone, including Carly Fiorina.

Reconciling that with the fact that the NRSC is entering into a joint fundraising venture with Fiorina is impossible.

The NRSC and the Fiorina campaign joined forces to form the Fiorina Victory Committee, according to paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission on Dec. 4. The committee allows the party and Fiorina to split funds raised via joint events or appeals.

The CQ article says a few times that the NRSC has not endorsed Fiorina, but that is like Bill Clinton saying he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” In fact, the NRSC is fully in bed with Fiorina.

Inevitably though, what the NRSC does in response is what they did with CQ.

The NRSC told CQ-Roll Call it is “willing to conduct joint fundraising events with virtually any Republican candidate who asks, provided they have the potential to help the Committee raise money in addition to their own campaigns.”

Of course, what they did not tell CQ is that they really have no intention of doing that. Take Chuck DeVore for example. He has tried a half dozen times to meet with John Cornyn, but has been rebuffed each time. In fact, Cornyn said last week he would love to meet with DeVore, but failed to mention his staff has rebuffed every single offer to meet by the DeVore campaign.

The NRSC cannot keep having it both ways. The Washington punditocracy may buy into the “we have not endorsed anyone” horse hockey, but the rest of us know that line is no better than Clinton’s denial of sex with Lewinsky.

No one is genuinely buying it.

• The Buster Chair
  All I want for Christmas. Hell, it's all I've wanted for Christmas for the last ten Christmases in a row. Ain't gonna happen though. But still, if ever I make big money, this sucker is mine. And no, I will not let the kids sit in it.
• Joe Lieberman: Let's not make a deal!
  Ezra Klein accuses Joe Lieberman of supporting a health care holocaust in this country letting hundreds of thousands of people die. At least he did, but after several people mentioned it on twitter, he toned his post down. Still pretty flamboyant of a statement.
• Georgia political blogger holds nothing back
  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiled yours truly.
• Woman Comatose Month After Botched Abortion Gets $1.9 Million Settlement
  Ugh. But hey, it's a constitutional right!
• Texas Trouble for Sarah Palin?
  I think Palin should endorse Perry. He's the conservative in the race.
• GOP parties hearty
  It's just like high school. Geez. Nothing wrong with it. Not trying to throw stone. But I do think it is interesting that Barbara Boxer's Deputy Chief of Staff hangs out with the GOP.

Great piece by Jed Babbin over at Human Events.

Yesterday, President Obama’s two principal economic advisors — National Economic Council Director Larry Summers and Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Roemer — gave us a glimpse into the continued tumult in the White House’s over how to restart America’s economic engines.  

Summers said, “Today, everybody agrees that the recession is over, and the question is what the pace of the expansion is going to be.”

Roemer — asked if the recession is over — said, “”Of course not. For the people on Main Street and throughout this country, they are still suffering, the unemployment rate is still 10 percent.” She also said that the recession won’t be over until unemployment reaches “normal levels,” about 5%.  

RedState Morning Briefing
For December 14, 2009

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When I was fifteen years old, my mother got it in her head that my older sister and I needed to be baptized. She kept pushing and pushing and pushing until it came to a head one Sunday when she announced she would not be going with us to church if we were not going to be baptized.

We left her at home.

The sermon that day was on how forcing children to be baptized was as much a sin as being baptized and not meaning it. We told the preacher about all this and he swore he had no knowledge of this Erickson family argument.

I became pretty convinced the Big Guy Upstairs was real, not that I’d ever doubted. The first story I remember ever hearing was Daniel in the lions’ den. I sat on my grandmother’s lap as she read it. It left a powerful impression on me that God would take care of us. At fifteen, that lesson became reality.

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I’m never shy about dinging Michael Steele when I disagree with him or when he puts his foot in his mouth, but I’ve tried to make equally as clear that I really do like the guy. He’s extremely personable and funny.

You can’t help but like a guy who poses for pictures with the interns like this.

“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

— Winston Churchill

The Founding Fathers created a Republic, but 60 Senators are poised to take it away. With the pending disaster of the passage in the Senate of a bill nationalizing one sixth of the U.S. economy and our entire healthcare system at a cost of over $2.5 trillion, we are faced with a crucial question: are the Republican senators using every means at their disposal to stop this looming, tyrannical abuse of power? Unfortunately, the answer appears to be “no.”

The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has parliamentary rules and procedures that give the minority the ability to stall legislation. In fact, unlike the House, the minority have the ability to virtually paralyze the Senate. Doing so is not something we would want or expect for every bad bill that comes through Congress, but the proposed healthcare legislation is probably the worst piece of legislation ever considered by the United States Congress. It is the most intrusive, most damaging, most costly, most dangerous bill to the economic and personal freedom and liberty of individual Americans that Congress has ever considered. If there is any bill that deserves being stopped by shutting down the Senate, it is this one.

There are a whole series of parliamentary maneuvers that could be used by Republican senators to stop this bill. There is a hard backstop to the current process (Christmas). The Republicans’ goal should be to prevent Reid from passing the bill before that time. If he goes past Christmas and is forced to adjourn or recess, the momentum will shift in favor of those opposing the bill.

How could this be done?

To start with, they should stop constantly agreeing to “unanimous consent” requests from the Democrats. Senate Republicans, to date, have allowed Democrats, by unanimous consent, to process 10 amendments. The amendments that have been accepted – Democrat amendments – did not make the over 2000-page atrocity any better. The Republican strategy of trying to pass their own “message” amendments carries no message unless you consider “no strategy to kill the bill” a message. There are no amendments that could possibly make this bill a palatable piece of legislation – and any amendments the Republicans get passed that supposedly make the bill “better” may just make it easier for the Democrats to get final passage. If the Republicans want the news media to cover what they are doing to educate the American people even further about the atrociousness of this bill, they have to create drama on the floor of the Senate. And the only way to do that is through an all-out fight with no holds barred. They need to look like Braveheart, fighting to the end to save freedom. Because, in fact, it is our very freedom and liberty that is at stake.

The most powerful words in the Senate are “I object.” Senate Republicans should have been shouting those two words on the Senate floor early and often from the moment this bill was considered, instead of the complete silence we have heard – other than to constantly agree to conduct business through unanimous consent. Here are just a few ways those words can (and should) be used in a very effective way:

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Have at it.

First a disclaimer: I have tried to write this post all week and think it needs to be said, but am not sure I have made my best go of it. Nonetheless, and for what it is worth, I hope I make some sense in this matter.

Now . . .

Let’s review our grammar for one moment. A noun is a word that defines what an object is, i.e. a dog. An adjective is a word that describes one attribute of the noun, i.e. the dog is brown. The noun is the dog because that defines the object in question and the adjective is the color of the dog, describing one attribute of the dog.

Christians, for example, typically say “I am a Christian” as opposed to saying “I am Christian.” The former sets the Christian into a defined group that believes in Jesus Christ. The latter describes one attribute of the person. Because Christianity typically defines who the person is, it is typically used as a noun, not an adjective.

I, for example, am a Christian before I am anything else. If you want an adjective describing me the Christian, I’d say I am Presbyterian.

I hope you are following me, because there are rough waters ahead.

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RedState Morning Briefing
For December 11, 2009

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Great post from Wayne Simmons at Human Events.

At no time in recent American military history has a speech delivered by a President of the United States done so much to distance our nation from victory and put the men and woman of the military and intelligence agencies in harm’s way.

President Obama’s big Afghanistan speech caused nary a tremble in the polls.  Before he spoke, most Americans didn’t support him.  And after?  His popularity continues to sink.

It was positively painful to watch Gen. Stanley McChrystal try to explain how you can win by not losing in his Tuesday congressional testimony.  He’s doing the president’s bidding, not following a leader who has a clear idea of how to win a war.

Go here now. Sign the petition to free the SEALs who were arrested for capturing the mastermind of Fallujah.

• Tim Griffin For Congress - Arkansas 2nd District
  I'm a big fan.

Gresham voted for TARP, then went to a Tea Party:

Nikki Haley, had she been in Congress, would have voted no. She too went to a Tea Party:

They are both running for Governor of South Carolina. Which one do you support?

Yesterday, in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, I said in 2010 one of my big targets is the GOP establishment. Yep. It’s being characterized as a civil war. I prefer to think of it as a coup. It is time for the grassroots to take back the party. If a fight is necessary, I’m game for that.

While I was away from my computer most of the day, that statement kind of exploded yesterday.

But what do I mean? It’s pretty simple.

The media narrative every time Republicans lose is not that Republicans lose, but that conservatives lose. Without fail, every election cycle, made worse by John McCain being the 2008 nominee, is that conservatives cannot win. In 2008, the narrative was that conservatives cannot even make it out of the GOP primary.

As often happens, the media narrative when repeated enough starts being treated as fact, particularly among Republican establishment types who crave acceptance in the media. Their thinking is pretty grade school: “Reporter says conservatives can’t win. Therefore I will not be conservative. They will look at me and say ‘winner.’”

Sadly, this attitude has infected the great bulk of the Republican establishment. The only way to change this is for conservatives to win. But this year, unlike most other years, there is a very real problem. The Republican Establishment is out to beat conservatives to make sure once and for all that the media narrative is established fact.

Look at the pattern, led by Rob Jesmer, the Executive Director of the NRSC, who has rallied Senate Republicans to oppose conservatives nationwide:

In Pennsylvania, the GOP went with Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey.

In Florida, it is Crist over Rubio.

In Connecticut, the GOP has stayed neutral as to the moderates in the race, but made clear the conservative is a loser.

In California, it is Fiorina over DeVore.

Across the board, the GOP Establishment is staying neutral between moderates and endorsing moderates over conservatives. In some cases, it is endorsing liberals over conservatives.

The goal is an intentionally orchestrated campaign to defeat conservatives in the GOP primaries and thereby have the establishment take full credit for what we all know is going to be a good year for the GOP in 2010.

However, conservatives have a real opportunity to fight back. From Florida to California to Pennsylvania and more, if conservatives win the primaries the Republican Establishment will be marginalized and totally unable to take credit for the victories. In what will be a good year for Republicans next year, those conservatives will most likely win the general election too. The media and establishment narrative will be crushed.

So yes, there is a very necessary brewing Republican civil war. This should be a banner election year for conservatives. Sadly, it is the GOP Establishment trying to prevent that from happening.

We must fight back. We know conservatives are the base of the party. We know independents are moving our way. We know conservatives can win. We know from Maine to Florida to California to Alaska a pro-entrepreneurial “leave me the hell alone” message can sell. And yet?

The Republican Establishment in charge now is the same Establishment that was there in 2006. It never got replaced. For example, Mitch McConnell has led us from 55 Senate seats to 40 and his record as NRSC Chairman was equally craptacular. Now this man is both trying to beat conservatives in Republican primaries and oppose Obamacare with cute little messaging amendments. These people are only winners because we let them. Not any more.

Conservatives can win if we fight back. Who is with me?