Spartanburg Tea Party

Our good friend Paul Huber has a letter to the editor today in the Spartanburg Herald Journal with some strong thoughts about the AARP.

from his letter …

Mr. Rand and his cohorts are at best ignorant and at worst left-wing, genocidal socialists who appear to be operating on some hidden, destructive agenda rather than running a competent program to maintain a satisfactory quality of life for American senior citizens. They seem to be providing the same smoke screen methodologies as our president and the majority of Congress.

Check out the entire letter at http://www.goupstate.com/article/20100902/ARTICLES/9021002/1129/opinion02?Title=Thursday-s-letters-An-AARP-smoke-screen

well done Paul! Letters to the editor are a great tool for awareness and activism. If anyone else gets letters published, please let me know so I can repost them here

Hal Scherz, writing at WSJ has this article about Docs4PatientCare posting letters to their patients in their waiting rooms.

from the letter…

… in addition to “badly exacerbating the current doctor shortage,” ObamaCare will bring “major cost increases, rising insurance premiums, higher taxes, a decline in new medical techniques, a fall-off in the development of miracle drugs as well as rationing by government panels and by bureaucrats like passionate rationing advocate Donald Berwick that will force delays of months or sometimes years for hospitalization or surgery.”

“Please remember when you vote this November that unless the Democratic Party receives a strong negative message about this power grab our health care system will never be fixed and the doctor patient relationship will be ruined forever.”

and toward the end of the article …

The latest round of pro-ObamaCare television spots targeting the elderly and starring veteran actor Andy Griffith have not only failed to move the polling numbers. They have caused five U.S. Senators to ask for an investigation of the ads as a violation of federal laws barring the use of tax dollars ($750,000) for campaign purposes.

Going on record as saying that, despite our warm thoughts of Matlock and Opie’s dad, Andy Griffith officially now sucks.

But GO DOCS!~!~ thanks for standing up in your businesses, and putting yourselves on the line to bring the truth to voters!

Ben Smith at Politico reports on the NEW Dem talking points re: health care as November approaches.

The article begins:

Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.”

Ben’s article details how the message has failed, that targeted groups of voters have not bought into the lie, that the financial disaster is becoming too big too ignore or hide. Read the article which includes a link to the actual presentation that was given to Dems providing these talking points.

LaborUnionReport … one of the “must read” bloggers over at Redstate has a write up today on how Harry Reid is realizing that Obamacare is hurting his state … his state’s hospitals … oh yes, and his reelection campaign!

Seems that Obamacare is leading to budget cuts in Nevada hospitals, which is leading to layoffs … of SEIU hospital workers!

Read the article and check out the reprint of Reid’s letter to HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius. and then do the happy dance a little!

This report by 24thstate over at Redstate this morning is the best analysis I’ve seen on yesterday’s vote on the Missouri Healthcare Freedom Act.

In the first time that voters have had a chance to weigh in on Obamacare, 71% of Missouri voters voted to pass protection AGAINST Obamacare in their state. As the article notes, that includes 1 in 6 of Democrat primary voters! Across the state, almost 100,000 voters voted for this Healthcare Freedom Act who did not also vote in the Republican primary.

Of note is the work of the St. Louis Tea Party and and their lessons learned on turning “tea party rallies” into effective activism.

In April, we organized a last-minute effort around phonebanking, an internet campaign, and some email blasts to encourage people to vote against Prop A, the Metro Tax. The results were very disappointing. Our initial efforts to turn from protest to GOTV were not effective, and we were forced to come to grips with the reality that there was no magic pot of voters who would rise from their slumber and ride to the rescue.

So we organized. We started building groups of volunteers. We passed out constitutions, paid real attention to building our email lists. We started the Block Captains program. And we focused on campaign work and training.

This is the challenge of the tea parties, of the newly awakened conservative activist. Holding “tea parties” and having rallies was an essential step in the nascent stage. We needed to express our frustration and build confidence that we were a large group of patriots. We needed to hear from conservative leaders who had been working for years on issues like state sovereignty and protection of the Constitution. Having helped plan two tea parties, each with thousands in attendance, I can attest that those months of planning were invaluable in deepening my convictions and gaining resolve. But now, as the St. Louis tea party learned, it is time to work. To go all in working our precincts, to get absorbed by the mundane, to spend the hours of tedious recruiting and building a volunteer base. And, just as important, to learn to ignore the frivolous distractions.

Thank you Missouri for speaking loud and clear! and to the St. Louis Tea Party for sharing your lessons learned.

Two news stories today about Virginia pushing state sovereignty …

Fox News headline Virginia Attorney General Rules Police Can Check Immigration Status

“It is my opinion that Virginia law enforcement officers, including conservation officers may, like Arizona police officers, inquire into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested,” said State AG Ken Cuccinelli.

And from Gateway Pundit, Virginia Challenge of Obamacare Wins One in Court

The chief claim of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is that the mandate to buy insurance violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The federal government was attempting to have Virginia’s lawsuit thrown out with the claim that it doesn’t and should be thrown out because it is obvious that Obamacare does not violate the Constitution.

The judge, however, disagreed that it was so obvious and has allowed the suit to go forward.

Andrew Clark writing at Politics Daily alerts us to the August 3 vote happening in Missouri where voters will cast a vote that:

…would amend state statutes to effectively shield Missourians from complying with the federal health reform law, protecting them from fines and penalties, and would “prohibit any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system.”

Clark’s article outlines the impact of passage or failure of this Missouri bill on overall repeal of Obamacare, Obama’s re-election, the re-energization of the Tea Party, and the current state lawsuits. His most compelling paragraph is this:

After months of rallies and protests for and against the bill, the American people have not yet had a single chance to actually cast a vote on Obamacare. August 3 will be the first time anywhere in the country that voters will be able to make their voices heard in a clear-cut fashion. As one blogger from Red State opposed to Obamacare phrased it: “We’ve been forced to speak through rallies and a diminished Republican party, until now. Now there is an opportunity for the average voter to act upon that disgust.”

I’ll keep my calendar fixed on this August 8 vote and bring you the scoop.

John Hawkins, reporting at Right Wing News has an encouraging report/interview with a few folks from the GOP Leadership.

…one question has been asked over and over again: If Republicans get back in power, will they try to repeal health care reform? In order to answer that question, I contacted the Republican leadership in the House to see what they had to say about the issue.

Minority Leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Chairman of the House Republican Conference Mike Pence, and Vice-Chair of the House Republican Conference Cathy McMorris Rodgers all went on the record for this article.

Here is a quote from Boehner:

We are going to fight to repeal this government takeover of health care and start over with solutions that focus first on lowering costs. Cutting off funding for ObamaCare is absolutely something I support. For example, I would support moving as soon as possible to deny any funding for the estimated 16,500 IRS employees that will be needed to implement ObamaCare. House Republicans will continue to stand with the American people against this unconstitutional government takeover of health care. — John Boehner

The rest of the article contains similar pledges. After November it will be up to us to recall these pledges to the Republican Congress and be diligent about contacting and reminding them, and demanding they follow through.