East Coast West Coast and everything in between!

Monday – September 4, 2010

East Coast West Coat and everything in between!

With less than a month away from the midterms - this week will shape up to be an important week for the Democrats, the President and the Republicans.

With political battles on the East Coast such as Carl Paladino and Andrew Cuomo we start to see the bitter rival situation’s there heat up with accusations of marital affairs. In the center of the country we see Rand Paul and Jack Conway duke it out over fiscal responsibility and the Obama agenda. On the West Coast we see the veteran Jerry Brown a former Governor of California and Meg Whitman former CEO of E-bay exchange barbs over the firing of an illegal alien.

In all these cases we are witnessing the worst of the American political system work at its best. These cases represent what is important to the local scene. This is good in one sense but it is also bad in another. The reason it is bad is because one side has launched the salvo, this is what October is all about and we haven’t even seen the October surprise yet.

What we have seen is one side run away from the issues that they can’t talk about. Remember healthcare, immigration, the economy and yes jobs. Meg Whitman has a plan and now she has to defend herself against Jerry Browns machine and the firing of an illegal. Rand Paul a novice and I must admit is refreshing is going up against Jack Conway who has the right things to say but can’t quite pass the muster test. And then there is the race for New York’s next governor. Carl Paladino who is defending himself against a media writer for the Post and says he has allegations about Cuomo and his former wife a Kennedy. In this particular case I believe one is trying to look tougher than the other after all it is New York.

The latest Rasmussen “Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday October 3, 2010 shows that 29% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15 (see trends).
When tracking the president’s approval on a daily basis, people sometimes get so caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations that they miss the bigger picture. To look at the longer-term trends, Rasmussen Reports compiles the numbers on a full-month basis. For the full-month of September, the president’s ratings slipped a point to the lowest levels of his time in office.”

With all that is going on from coast to coast it is important to recognize the big picture. Don’t loose sight of this picture because of the deflections from the issues. In each case it is the Democrats who will use this tactic.

This week look for the Supreme Court to begin a new session. Elena Kagen will be in the spotlight. Her appointment to the court is important because for the first time in its history there will be three women at the Supreme Court. Some of the cases the court will hear range from free speech issues, funeral services of a fallen soldier, at a Baptist Church to the Arizona immigration law. It is expected that she might have to recuse herself because of past rulings and participation in past cases that are now in front of the court.

However, in the case of a tie vote because she could not vote on the decision the lower Court ruling still applies. I have written in past weeks about consequences of the vote. The President gets to nominate justices when vacancies come up. Justice Kagen will be the Obama legacy along with Justice Sotomayor.

This is why it is important to nominate strong candidates that will rise above the partisan bickering and the October surprises that plague the process through accusation, innuendo and dirty politics that always rears its head every two years in October, surprise!

A friend of mine asked me if was going to write about what this congress hasn’t done before the recess. I said no, I am going to write about what they will do when they return for the lame duck session. Look for talk about card check, taxes and new spending initiatives to the tune of 415 billion dollars. The democrat members of the House and Senate that are not re-elected will still present a danger for passage of these progressive agenda items even if the citizens vote them out in November.

This is why elections have consequences. The consequences can play out for many years after a term is over. With taxation, spending, healthcare and now Justice Kagen aren’t these enough consequences for one citizen to live with?

This week we will hear more about terrorism and the travel alert for Americans overseas. The State Departments release said yesterday: “Current information suggests that Al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks.” Information coming from Great Britain suggests that France is also a target. The State Department went onto say: “European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publically about the heightened threat conditions.” There could be a multi city attack with public and private concerns being the target.

Osama Bin Ladin is still at large and is believed to be behind these threats. I find it interesting that we use the word intelligence is describing these alerts. We use the intelligence communities to define the warnings. It is the people at the top who that I fear don’t always employ the intelligence necessary to properly define the terms. I am not criticizing our intelligence analyst. I am questioning the Presidents intelligence in these vague releases while the European release is more specific.

Going back to the premise of elections have consequences, it was the president who said the “U.S. could absorb another terror attack.” This statement is of great concern because a statement like this does have consequences. This kind of statement reflects an intelligence that does not grasp the big picture. It is the big picture that we must consider not only in this November’s vote but also in the 2012 vote and beyond. When we view politics this way we are using our intelligence. I fear the country cannot absorb a combination of another two years of this Congress and this White House.

My intelligence says we can change the Congress next month and that is a start in changing the occupants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2012!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: With 29 days left until the midterms the consequences of your action is what will prevent the surprises that we have not seen or heard of yet! This is the big picture, surprise!