Month: April 2006

Weeks after she gunned down her husband in the parsonage where they made a home for their family of five, Mary Winkler is starting to open up to her lawyers.

“She appears to be coming out of her initial shock,” said attorney Steve Farese. “She is starting to open more, she is starting to be able to give us more details of the time period surrounding the events,” says Farese.

Winkler didn’t spend Easter with her children, and now her lawyer is attempting to arrange contact with the kids. It’s still not clear if that will happen. Meanwhile, the trial will most likely be pushed back to October due to the judge’s full schedule.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

This is really hard for me to do, but I’m going to have to put this blog to sleep for awhile. The day job is demanding 125% of my brain power these days. I’m working in the office during the day and at home during the night in order to get things done. That kind of schedule leaves little time for this place. While it’s really very difficult for me to have to shut PunditGuy down for a time, I’m crystal clear about this – when it comes to making a decision between directing my focus toward what puts food on the table and what doesn’t, the choice is simple.

This will mean little to the hundreds of people who come here via a search engine, but for those of you who visit PunditGuy directly, I hope you’ll come back again when I turn the light back on.

So, for now, it’s goodbye.

Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve come to a conclusion.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Bush’s lagging poll numbers do not indicate a leftward shift of the electorate. His low approval ratings are not (entirely) the result of the daily beatings he receives from the media.

No. His poll ratings are a direct result of the push back he’s receiving from his base. There’s a general distaste in the mouths of Conservative Republicans over the way GOP members of Congress are conducting their jobs, and that spills over onto the president. How is this? Let me count the ways.

1. Uncontrolled Spending

2. Harriet Miers

3. Dubai Ports Deal

4. Weak Immigration Policy

5. Compromises on National Security Policies

Conservative voters are heartsick over the craziness that has occurred within the White House and in Congress over the past few months, and it’s starting to spill over into national polling. The principals we hold dear are being thrown under the proverbial bus. The needle is in the red zone.

It is wrong to believe that we can easily stay in power because Democrats are weak and directionless.

If Republicans continue to abandon the very principals that got them elected to power, they will greatly increase the chance that they’ll lose their majority status in 2006, and perhaps even the White House in ‘08.

We’ve got to get our eyes back on the ball before it’s too late.

When confronted on why she hasn’t delivered on her 2000 campaign promise to create 200,000 jobs in upstate New York, Hillary blames the federal government, among others.

“I didn’t have the benefit of a Democratic Congress. But I think given the fact that that wasn’t the environment that I’d hoped for, we’ve seen some progress.

So, are we to believe that Hillary was ineffective because Democrats in Washington don’t have majority power? Does this mean that a potential Hillary presidency is doomed to failure if her party doesn’t achieve leadership in both houses of Congress?

I’d love for her to answer a question like that. Of course, she won’t, because Hillary doesn’t answer questions.

Oh, and not only did she not create 200,000 jobs for upstate New York, she actually lost 112,000 jobs since being elected. Not that any of this matters. Hillary won’t look to be reelected to the Senate, or eventually elected to the presidency because of something as meaningless as her record. No, it’s her intentions that matter. It’s the nuance, stupid.

Don’t know the real reason why Bush went to war? Never fear, Barbra Streisand has the answer.

In invading Iraq, Bush saw the opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow and no longer be seen as the perpetual underachiever who consistently failed under the watchful eye of his accomplished father. He had the chance to finish what he feels his father was unable to finish. And he could finally have the opportunity to achieve something his father was unsuccessful in achieving…a two-term presidency.

So, let’s get to the heart of this analysis. To take Barbra seriously, one would have to believe that Bush was willing to allow the deaths of American troops, Coalition troops, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis for one reason only – his own self-esteem. That would make George W. Bush one of the most depraved self centered individuals the world has ever known.

To rational people, this defies logic.

Sorry Babs – no one but the other lefties you associate with and misguided individuals who relate to you believe this garbage. It’s sheer lunacy.

Rich Lowry laments the fact that many conservatives are in a weird kind of funk right now regarding the sad state of the Bush administration, and not many have an answer when asked what the president can do now to improve. But never fear. Lowry comes up with a seven suggestions for Bush to consider. Among my favorites:

— Talk about the economy as much as possible, and get a new treasury secretary to try to shift the conversation onto this topic (although I don’t think John Snow is in anyway to blame for the administration’s failed PR campaign on this front).

Ah yes, the economy. If Clinton was still in the White House (or any Democrat for that matter), we’d be hearing and reading about this killer economy every night from the MSM. We’d hear over and over again what a genius Clinton is and how everything else that’s going wrong pales in comparison to his masterful money works. But alas, this is the Bush era, so he gets no credit for improving economic numbers. In fact, the soaring economy is rarely mentioned at all. He needs better PR, and he himself should be out there banging the drums on this subject. If he doesn’t, no one else will.

— Veto a spending bill. It will make him look strong, and the GOP base will love it. It will embarrass the GOP congress, but, hey, they deserve it, and ultimately the congressional GOP gains when Bush gains.

Yes! JUST DO IT.

And…

— Sit-down with conservative bloggers. They are some of his most loyal supporters–include them in the media out-reach.

I’m ready for a meet up at your convenience Mr. President.

Jack Fowler over on NRO writes:

On The Situation last Friday night, Tucker Carlson passed on an immigration email making the rounds that simply knocks it out of the park. Mira!:

— Enter Mexico illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law, or any of that nonsense.

— Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family.

— Demand bilingual nurses and doctors.

— Demand free bilingual government forms, bulletins, etc.

— Keep your American identity strong. Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly display it in your front window, or on your car bumper.

— Speak only English at home and in public and insist that your children do likewise.

— Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school system.

— Demand a Mexican driver license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal presence in Mexico.

— Drive around with no liability insurance.

— Insist that Mexican law enforcement teach English to all its officers. Good luck!

Good luck is right. The Mexican authorities wouldn’t put up with that kind of behavior for a second. As they shouldn’t. As we shouldn’t. And yet we do. In this one way, it would be nice if we were a little more like Mexico.

Why can’t we be more like Mexico? Because we’re saddled with… 

1. Government hypersensitivity resulting in…

2. Unreasonable political correctness born out of…

3. Fear (of not being reelected).

We thought Charlie Sheen was a complete moron, but it appears that Ben Affleck can’t bare the thought that Sheen might beat him out for the “I’m the Biggest Hollywood Idiot” award. Here’s Ben’s latest entry (with Video). I can’t wait for Sheen’s comeback.

In today’s WaPo – the Christian Coalition is more than $2 million in debt and is having a hard time keeping its local chapters.

The credibility is just not there like it once was,” said Stephen L. Scheffler, president of the Iowa affiliate since 2000. “The budget has shrunk from $26 million to $1 million. There’s a trail of debt. . . . We believe, our board believes, any Christian organization has an obligation to pay its debts in a timely fashion.”

Who’ll get the blame? Pat Robertson? Ralph Reed? Bush? (Sorry, I’m so used to everything being his fault, this one just came out naturally.)

Actually, it seems as if the organization suffers from a lack of big personalities, and without a high profile leader, they can’t seem to keep the engine running.