Tell me any of the greatest presidents in history and I can tell you something wrong with them. Lincoln was hated in his time and eventually assassinated. Kennedy won with barely over 50% of the electoral vote. Clinton never got 50% of the popular vote. FDR was a bully who was struck down by the Supreme Court more than once. Truman nuked two cities.

So I could care less what some people who are Jackass’ opponents think of Ronald Reagan. I suspect history will prove me right. Since we do all oppose the Shout-Outer in Chief, most elected representatives, and the two major parties in general regardless of political ideology, I am reminded of something Reagan said in 1975.

“I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” – when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

It is time to reassert our principles and raise them to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.”

Again, those Republicans are rushing into print. 35 years later, the print is online and the criticism is equally substantial to the magnetic bits that make up those web sites. 40% of Americans consider themselves Conservative. That isn’t a base, it’s a mandate.

The same is true for Democrats. I see their frustration with a president who is not so much a liberal as a fascist. He isn’t obsessed with letting people do whatever they want, he’s obsessed with making people do what he thinks is the correct thing. Rahn Emmanuel’s Southern Strategy has created a shadow party inside the Democratic one, giving the White House a win by selling out liberal principles.

Conservatives offer reminisce about the 1984 presidential election where liberalism and conservatism went head to head and liberalism got run over like road kill. That was the end of liberalism in the classic sense. The Democrats took on a series of moderate politicians and power mad megalomaniacs funding them.

The dirty little secret is that they too could resurge. There are libertarians who don’t understand what a classic liberal is and how they hold the rights of everyone above even the government. Liberals could very well capture the libertarians sick of the social values of modern conservatives.

I’m sick of politicians like Dede Scozzafava, who even wears pale pastels as well as legislating in them. I’m sick of guys like Chris Dagget who try to cut down the middle to look “reasonable” when they are, in reality, chameleons.

I want bold colors and bold differences. I want to win or lose based on beliefs and not a soaring tower of bullshit rhetoric. I want politicians to take a stand and I want to know where I stand with them.

Fox News’ Red Eye has an amusing habit of mocking political correctness by adding -ist to the end of anything. You can be cat-ist, fat-ist, plant-ist, look-ist or opinion-ist. Right now, we are terrorism-ist.

Now, you would think that we are trying to be as unbiased as possible with regard to terrorism. Some would even say that we show too much deference toward potential terrorists. That only applies to Islamists, however. Like the Clinton administration before it, the current White House is biased toward “domestic” terrorism.

I use quotes because the instances combining terrorism with purely domestic forces is extremely small. One incident that is brought out often is Waco. That is not domestic terrorism. That was criminality. The group committed all its acts within the compound and not in the general community. Ruby Ridge was similar in that the standoff was with a separatist, not a terrorist.

Oklahoma City was a terrorist attack by domestic forces. The pretense was revenge for perceived wrongs by the government, much like Islamic terror. Incidents of attacks on abortion providers and clinics also represents narrowly focused terror, in an attempt to eliminate the places where abortions can be performed.

Then there are the missteps. If the 1993 WTC bombing was not directly al-Quaeda, it was certainly directed by the same minds involved in 9/11. There is also the Olympic Park bombing of 1996. An American was seen as the perpetrator for years, while current suspicion is that it was an uncredited al-Quaeda attack. You don’t hear Richard Clarke crow about his genius regarding that when he criticizes the Bush administration.

Domestic terror is poorly funded, uncoordinated and easily identified. It’s a slam-dunk for Janet Napolitano to focus on domestic terror since it only involves going after people who don’t have the Arab world defending them. Blaming soldiers recently back from Iraq and going to tea parties is even easier, because she has those lists. It’s too bad she didn’t consider Muslim extremists who are in the military right now and under investigation by the FBI.

Was Fort Hood a terrorist attack? The death toll is higher than the first WTC bombing. One man committed the act, but one man killed George Tiller. Was Hassan justified? The media is making a disturbing attempt to say that he was, at least in his own mind. I don’t give a damn about hate crimes or thought crimes or terrorism committed in one’s head. I care about terrorism committed in reality. I don’t need the FBI to watch someone long enough to give them the rope to hang himself. We can spring for the rope. And I’m sure writing that makes me rope-ist.

A lot of feminist ire has been created due to a last-minute amendment in the House’s version of Health Insurance legislation. Even those who supported Jackass are looking at his administration in a new light on gender equality issues. Never let it be said that I’ll avoid pouring gasoline on that kind of fire. Of course, my commentary is on a different aspect.

Carrie Prejean has written a book about her experiences as Miss California, the question heard ’round the world, and the subsequent dismantling of her life by everyone with an ax to grind against any group even tangentially supportive of her. With the impending release of a “sex tape” involving Prejean, Sean Hannity asked why the left is so obsessed with bringing down conservative women.

Is it because women are a core constituency of the Democratic Party? That’s part of it. Is it because of the left’s fined tuned sense of hypocrisy coupled with a total lack of perception of irony? Maybe. However, I think it is an especially dark streak of male attitudes in the liberal mind.

Conservative men don’t tend to feel that way about liberal women. Now, a lot of conservative guys think liberal women are dumb and easy to get into bed if they talk the right talk. It’s not quite the same with liberal men and conservative women.

This view is also perception based. Conservative values are frequently associated with religious values. Religious values are associated with sexual modesty, be it true or not. Since liberalism is non-judgemental to the point of amorality, it’s easier to call out social conservatives and their higher bar of personal behavior.

For most of the nastier elements of the liberal community, that’s where it ends. But there’s an even lower life form in that group which wallows in the moral failures of attractive conservative women. Within hours of Sarah Palin’s biographical information being known, sleazy opponents were looking for Miss Wasilla swimsuit pictures. MSNBC and CNN were sure to count the number of months between the Palins’ marriage and the birth of their first son. There is a cottage community of Jackass’ supporters making sure Bristol’s Palin’s former boyfriend is constantly on TV to the point of making Sarah Palin sympathetic.

Conservative women are perceived as not easy. Because of that, it makes them even more tempting to the intellectual impotence of the angrier male opponents of these women. Revealing the sexual side all human beings have in them is a cheap thrill. And when that isn’t possible, they simply make up crude rumors and fantasies. Yes, they never got out of high school mentally.

What it boils down to is hate sex (or another term other than sex I won’t use here). Playboy put up an online article by Guy Cimbalo detailing which conservative women he would want to take sexually despite of (and because of) his hatred of them politically. This is far from an isolated incident. There’s the posting by Alec Baldwin (a model of humanity, himself) about his fantasy night with Ann Coulter. In an era where liberal men are forced to treat women as equal, political conservatives are the only group left on which to take out their misogyny.

Are there conservative men with similar hate? Maybe, but it is completely unacceptable to show disrespect to a liberal woman. But for the modern-day equivalent of the soldier taking his prize among enslaved villagers, liberal woman look away as the most vile hate is spewed by these virtual rapists. Ultimately, this intellectual assault is about power. It is also about opportunity. Mostly, it’s about hate.

There’s a saying that one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. One way to attack a virtuous opponent is to conflate their beliefs with something sinister. This week it was about tying Conservatives to Republicans. The lamestream media has chosen to treat the less than 50% win of Doug Owens in NY-23 as a failure by Rush Limbaugh (20 million listeners per week) Glenn Beck (3 million viewers a day) and Sarah Palin (60 million votes).

NONE of these people went to NY-23 campaign events. Joe Biden did. Joe Biden went to New Jersey. Jackass went to Virginia AND New Jersey. I’d say the White House had the bigger stake. They would be the losers by that definition. Of course, the Democrats and the media (about 1 million viewers each) are idiots and liars.

What makes me sick are the recriminations emanating from the Republicans. Somehow the tea party movement is responsible for losing NY-23 because they would not fall in line with a Republican who is known for her stalwart pro-abortion stance and her ties to ACORN subsidiary Working Families Party of New York. Even better, the tea party movement was blamed after Scozzafava sold out her own party as revenge.

The tea party movement is not partisan. If it were, they’d have flooded money into the Scozzafava campaign. They are mostly conservative. By the way, Mr. Steele, Republican hierarchy, the media and any other pundit out there, Conservatives are not Republicans.

Here’s a math lesson. 40% of people self-identify as Conservatives. 20% self-identify as Republicans. Well, we know all Republicans are not Conservatives. There are at least 5 in Congress. One changed parties. It’s numerically impossible for even half of Conservatives to also consider themselves Republicans. Now, more than 20% of people identify themselves as Democrats. Less than that consider themselves liberals. It’s much easier to argue that most liberals are Democrats.

The Tea Party movement didn’t have enough time to field candidates for 2009. They don’t have the political infrastructure to run multiple campaigns in 2010. The Republicans need votes but have the talent to run campaigns. This is a no-brainer. If the Republican Party were to adopt the Conservative principles they did in 1994, they could have a tent as big as 40% of the population. The Democrats have 30%. Yes, you will lose a few RINOs in liberal districts. So did Reagan. So did Bush. Remember Jim Jeffords? No one else does.

Fox’s MadTV once did a sketch where a man’s drunk talk got him all the way to the White House. His inebriated bravado made him a big success and made the country better.

One way this happened was by him developing the cure for cancer. How did he do it? He rounded up all the drug company executives and gave them cancer.

That is basically the green economy. Clean energy technology is costly, inefficient, and ultimately dirtier than the current technology. Instead of cutting their losses, the green community is chasing them. No place that has tried a green technology revolution has seen positive economic results. Still, these people assume that forcing the changes will cure pollution.

Scientists define the possibilities. Engineers make those ideas possible. Working stiffs bring the products into existence. I’ve worked in two of those areas, and have contributed in the third. If you look at “green” technology, the US has only some of the scientists, few of the engineers, and very little of the workforce.

For example, the incandescent light bulb is made in Kentucky out of glass and metal by Americans. Compact fluorescents are made by Chinese workers out of mercury and plastic. That equals a net loss of green jobs. Solar panels are made in China. Next generation power systems are made in China. Get the picture?

Tonight, the Congress will try to force a new insurance system onto people. No one knows just how it will make life better for anyone. Right now, people who don’t pay $4,000 for insurance will be fined $1,000. Right now, you would be $1,000 in the black. By 2011, you may be fined an amount that could pay a hospital bill.

Liberals seem to be the worst kind of managers. They think business is out to screw them. So like your crappy boss, they put the screws to you because it’s the only way to get your lazy ass to work. Well, there are other things that happen when people are constantly screwed over.

They didn’t find the cure for that, either.

This is going to be controversial, to say the least.

There was a reason to keep homosexuals out of the government at one time. By necessity, being gay meant being in hiding. Having a secret makes one vulnerable to blackmail. Eventually, however, it became a vicious circle. It was socially acceptable to be “out,” but it was still illegal in a military position. Don’t ask, don’t tell took out the presumption of a witch hunt, but it still occurred, since finding out was as bad as telling.

I think that this country has reached a point where being gay is not something to be happy about, but still someone’s own business. No one really wants to know about someone’s sexuality in general. Keeping people out of government because of sexual orientation is quickly becoming unbelievable.

At the same time, the government is bringing in more and more Muslims into extremely sensitive jobs. The impetus is that the need for Arab translators is so great, that vetting is less than thorough. Add to that the presumption that Muslims are in some sort of danger of being discriminated and you have a non-critical view of people who at any other time might not get a job like that.

People who know Arabic are likely first or second generation immigrants. They are highly prone to sympathize with Muslim extremism and can easily slip in, having divided loyalties at the outset. It’s not politically correct, but these applicants must be screened more heavily.

The culmination of both groups is that the government has fired loyal gay American translators in favor of Muslims with dubious backgrounds. There have been cases of Arabic translators who have been converted by radical Islamic propaganda. I know who I’d prefer.

And we are in year 2. Only 1173 days until the next Inauguration. Now it looks like Jackass lost any credibility on stopping terrorism. Even if it is disgruntled deployment cowardice in Fort Hood, it shines the light on this president having no idea what to do in Afghanistan after running for a year and being president for 9 months. He’s been getting by with a plan Bush wrote, all the time blaming him for having no plan.

The health insurance reform fight will be pushed to next year. That will put it at the beginning of the primary process. The Republicans, the liberals and the tea party movement need to field candidates now. NY-23 should be especially muddled. At least now some of the people will decide who runs.

My opinion of NY-23 is a win is a win. The Democrat won the race. There were reasons for that outcome, but I’ve written before that Democrats could win three-way races with just 40% of the vote.

Given that, I have some perspective about how NY-23 went down. Call it the ingredients of spin. Here are 8 reasons why it happened.

1. Doug Hoffman was not running as a Republican. The Republican party lost this race on Saturday when Scozzafava dropped out. Hoffman ran under the Conservative Party line. The Republican Party did not endorse him, the NRCC only endorsed him after Scozzafava quit in a desperate attempt to keep a Democrat out of the race.

2. Bill Owens is an empty suit. No one really cared about him as a candidate. The only thing I know about him is that silly dairy industry ad he did. Hoffman talked about his credentials a lot and went on more national media than the other candidates. Scozzafava hid out, called the police when reporters asked her questions and was vetted by the conservative bloggers who knew more about her record than the Republicans who endorsed her.

3. Dede Scozzafava was unpopular all along. While she was ahead of Owens briefly, she never passed 35%. The fact that 46% of total voters would choose Conservative Hoffman on Election Day tends to prove that Scozzafava would never have gotten enough undecideds to win.

4. The story goes that 11 Republican representatives of the counties in the 23rd district met at a pizza parlor and chose Scozzafava to run. Hoffman stated on the Sean Hannity radio show that as few as 4 were needed to choose her if they spoke for the largest counties. I’m not a fan of the primary process in NY, but it might have put the brakes on what turned out to be a bad decision.

5. The NRCC (Republican Congressional Committee) gave about $1 million to the Scozzafava campaign. Some of that money was used to drive up Hoffman’s negatives as he became bigger competition than Owens. Hoffman was forced to respond in kind, but attacked Scozzafava and Owens as being the same. Owens attacked Scozzafava and Hoffman as being the same. Scozzafava was unable to equate Owens with Hoffman.

6. The Conservative Party of New York exists to kick Republicans’ asses into doing what they want. It was never really set up to campaign for a seat. The effort was somewhat disorganized with little professional staff and big names getting perhaps too involved. Still, Hoffman gained approximately 1% of the vote every day for a month. In another week, he might have won.

7. Scozzafava’s ACORN ties (via NY’s Working Families Party) began to show by last weekend. She suspended her campaign on Saturday without endorsing a candidate. After some undisclosed meetings with high-level Democrats, she endorsed Owens on Sunday. She was also able to scorch the earth where she suffered a defeat.

8. For weeks, the Democrats had nothing to do but campaign. Owens was able to go to local communities and talk about milk prices and stimulus pork til the cows came home, literally. Hoffman vs. Scozzafava was about national issues, none of which had to do with the Obama administration.

In one year, the stock market went up 1.8%.

In one year, presidential approval went from 75% to below 50%. In one year in 2001, Bush approval was over 30 percentage points higher.

In one year, nearly 6  million more people are now jobless.

In one year, the deficit has increased to $2 trillion.

In one year, the only major legislation enacted was a $1 trillion spending bill that hasn’t been spent.

In one year, we held the line.

In one year, a political party went from living in glory to living in fear.

In one year, we learned to fight back.

Ever wonder how the election of 2008 would have been different if John McCain’s and Sarah Palin’s positions on the ticket had been reversed? With her personality, her instincts and her outsider credentials, she would have won.

Sarah Palin would have won.

Tonight may or may not make Palin a kingmaker. NY-23 is too close to call. It also had about all the disadvantages the conservatives could get. The Republicans ignored conservative values. A third-party candidate stepped in with a short election cycle, and the GOP darling threw a tantrum and endorsed the Democrat in the final weekend. Still, Hoffman got 10% more support tonight than Scozzafava did in any poll this year.

Palin may be a dethroner. Besides Scozzafava, she knocked Chris Dagget’s 18% down to 6% with an ellipses. She is proving to be one of the few political conservatives who held elected office speaking out for those values.

The GOP has learned tonight that conservative principles are not losing issues. They still may not have learned they are winning ones. The Republican party can never hold enough RINOs in their big tent. They can get conservatives. They’ve done it before. They can start opening up that tent by throwing fat Newt out and embracing svelte Sarah.