The above was the subject of an email received from a reader, Kevin. He was rather surprised – to some degree, I’m not. Why? Ever since its inception, the ‘Grok has taken not a Republican stance but a Conservative one. Where the two intersect, things are fine. When a Republican strays from that, they have moved from the sidelines and into the gunsights.
Sidebar: As you can see from here, Charlie Bass has done so – pulling a wheeler-dealer with a ringer – and said so. And to boost his own ego and political fortunes, made it appear that he was a TEA Partier (and no, no one has EVAH given me a tip as to where good ole Charlie boy has ever given any support, be it time, talent, or dollars, to any of the TEA Party or 912 groups here in NH.
So what is the post title about? See that blue square in the middle? Yeah, this:
Well, it’s not the first time that Democrats use ‘Grok material – and usually without attribution like the latest over at over at BlueHampshire. The Blogosphere is one thing – someone running like Katrina Swett is another – so I called Swett’s office at lunch time and yakked with Sarah for it bit; after explaining why I was calling, she said she would have someone quickly call me back.
Well, I experienced that old Howie Carr line: "when the phone don’t ring, you know it’s me", so I called back (much) later on and talked with a much higher official within the campaign. This person was polite, understood why I was calling, and agreed that it was not right (even though I am on the Right) to have not given proper attribution. She asked what remedy would be acceptable; my response was "please, just a link to GraniteGrok in the future, as I allow almost anyone to use the materials developed here – that’s the Citizen Journalist part of the ‘Grok. Just use the coin of the realm in the ‘Sphere – link it up. Apology was accepted (now, will Dean follow suit?).
Oh, I did ask for something else but only time will see if my serious request will be taken seriously.
In the mean time, I did say that while there was a bit of a chortle upon seeing her bashing Charlie – is her campaign that comfortable for her primary against Ann McLane Kuster (the darling of the Blue Hamster Progressives) to really go after Charlie? It certainly will be a case of both Kuster and Swett (unlike the Republican side) having lots of dollar bullets to hurl at each other; Kuster being the Progressive Left and Swett being seen by this observer as being the more Center Left – it may well be entertaining to watch this one IF I have bandwidth left over from just watching the Repub dances.
Oh, and to be sure, I do NOT agree with Swett on the WHY of Barton’s line – it was NOT about NOT holding BP accountable – they should and to the full level legal under the current law. Add to that – hold BP to what they said they would on their own. The problem is that the Left has no good answer for this and for the ensuing Determined Weakness policy he is following – and for the chain of activities that Obama has followed since being inaugurated. What Barton was protesting was the extra-legal appearance of a shakedown a la the Chicago Way. One has to admit – what legal authority did he have to demand that $20 Billion from BP? The answer is none and THAT is what Barton was complaining about.
And most Conservatives are making the same lament – and it is not the first time that the Bite has been applied – even the Supremes said, too late, that the Obama Administration had no legal right to simply give what the GM and Chrysler bondholders owned to a foreign company and the Unions. He bypasses the Congress almost with impunity with regulatory changes (witness the FCC brazenly ignoring the Supreme Court decision that it did NOT have the right to reclassify ISPs as telecommunications companies and thus now able to regulate them more highly).
The Rule of Law, and equality before it (in many ways) is being supplanted by the Rule of Man and the Protected Classes – and that has NEVER turned out well in history. Nixon was called an Imperial Presidency – and he was trying. However, compared to Obama (given the obeisance the Congressional Democrats who are ceding their power to the Presidency as fast as they can) he is a mere Baron
Note to same: America is NOT addicted to oil – it IS addicted to prosperity. And Cap N Trade would reduce "carbon usage" to per-capita usage to that of 1867 – that would be the end of the Civil War for those of you never taught proper history – that would order most Americans back into stupifying poverty all for the sake of < a degree of less warming and simply be Trillions of dollars to Greedy Politicians to spend on their own pet projects and ideologies. And trust me – I don’t trust the VAST number of Republican Politicians with that kind of power and the Dems are showing us right now that they are not mature enough to have it either.
Tell you what, Katrina – stop the uber-environmentalists from keeping us from drilling for more of our OWN energy resources where it is safer – shallower waters and on land. But no – the BANANA loving treehuggers (remember, oil got the horse poop out of the cities and allowed our forests to regrow!) just want us sitting around tallow candlesticks…
