Thinking Right

By Cherokee

December 24, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this

What a silly post. It’s called ethics, Mr. Wooten; maybe the Republcans should give it a try sometime.

And as usual, your memory is selective. You’ve clearly forgotten the eight year long hysteria over the non issue of Whitewater.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. The Reuters version of the story was the funniest to me: Headline: Obama review clears staff in Blagojevich probe.” Then when you read the story, it turns out that it was the Obama attorney team that “cleared” the staff. Heck, I’ve “cleared” many a criminal client who wound up paying for his indiscretions.

In the Valerie Plame probe, it was at precisely this point – after he knew that Colin Powell’s aide was the one who exposed Ms. Plame’s identity - that Mr. Fitzgerald began his bad interviews of White House republicans, ultimately getting a conviction of Scooter Libby for holding a different memory of a conversation with the late Tim Russert than that of Mr. Russert. I note that Mr. Fitzgerald interviewed the Obama team yesterday. The most responsible action that the president-elect could take would be to fire the prosecutor.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

Dear Cherokee @ 8:33, I worked for the external counsel who investigated Madison Guaranty S&L for the government; he was the head of the first law firm I worked for. I will suggest that reasonable minds may differ over whether investment fraud is a “nonissue.”

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 24, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this

Merry Christmas to all. The big story this week is the suicide wrist slashing of that ponzi scheme conspirator who was obviously murdered to protect higher ups.

Think about this ponzi scheme: It could only have been allowed to exist by higher ups using the big cheese guy as a fallguy in case it blew up. But there’s always a second guy who knows too much who needs killin’. Always.

This is the smoking gun. The mushroom cloud. The forensics home run. House could solve his one, so could Columbo, so could that ugly female lead on Fringe. How did she get passed the auditions? Where’s the on-loan girl’s-gone-wild editor to cut this stank ho out? Please. If I cant imagine marital bliss with a TV character, then I aint watchin the show. That’s why I still watch the old Walton episodes. Grandma Walton was hot! And I’m talkin’ bout AFTER the stroke. (I’m so lonely)

By Redneck Convert

December 24, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

Well, everybody knows this Obama is guilty of something. They just ain’t looked hard enough. Most of Those People are guilty. That’s why about 95% of the people us rednecks send away in GA is Those People. If they don’t start checking Obama better than this us Republicans ain’t never going to get back in the White House.

Anyhow, Merry Christmas everybody. It ain’t the right time to be fussing about politics so I won’t fuss no more. It’s real sad at this time of year we got less than a month till the godly Republicans get put out of office at the White House. All I got to say is, if you folks had of sent me some money I could of run for President and beat this Obama like a rented mule. Now the big shots of the Republican party are saying that my kind of politics would of won. You got what you asked for, so there.

By Sarge

December 24, 2008 8:52 AM | Link to this

Whatever, Wooten. I believe that if anyone connected to Obama offered anything of value to Blag-o-whatzitz, then Fitzgerald will charge them.

No use being a crybaby sissy about this. I didn’t vote for Obama, either. But I’m not going to sit around and hope he does something illegal, either. Geez, we’re in a pickle and I hope he doesn’t do anything illegal and will indeed help improve things. I’m skeptical, but hoping.

Your attitude seems to be like someone whose riding on a train driven by someone you don’t like. Whether it kills you and everyone else, you want him to drive it off a cliff. What a patriot.

By findog

December 24, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

Jim,

I assume that your claim that if McCain were the president-elect that congress would be inclined to investigate; kind of like Representative Burton throughout the Clinton years. However I believe that when the issue is settled in court that either the MSM or Fox’s allies, hopefully both, will pour through the information to see if Obama’s staff is really clean. Since Watergate the fourth estates game has been to see who can knock down the highest officer of state and their egos will not allow this administration a pass…

By Post Cereals

December 24, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

Mary Ellen’s a grandma now. Her number is 555-GILF.

By Glenn

December 24, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this

When I was a young schoolboy our homeroom teacher had the poor taste to group our seat-assignments according to her perception of our ability. To my right sat an unusual young man both of whose parents worked — in the cupcake suburbs of Southern California, that was then an unusual phenomenon. His mother was political, and his father an executive for United Way, the shakedown operation; so, both parents = politics.

One day Chris handed me an obscure article he’d thought to cut out of the L.A. Times. It described briefly a burglary at a political office in Washington, D.C. Chris said that I should read the article, and mark it in my memory, as it would become important some day.

He was a smart boy. Later he became our high school Valedictorian.

Vale!

By PinkoNeoConLibertarian

December 24, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this

But Jim! Surely you know that Mr. Obama is muslim. Why in the world would he want a christmas present?

By Peter

December 24, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

Jim you have got it all WRONG as USUAL…….

The President Elects Christmas Present is the USA handed to him in the Worse condition Financially, Emotionally, and Philosophically since the Great Depression.

The REAL PROBLEM is George Bush and the GREEDY REPUBLICAN PARTY did this to ALL AMERICAN’S !

Merry Christmas Jim…….. But Mostly….. God Bless America……….. Hopefully he will after the 8 Year Abuse of Power by the Republican’s !

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 24, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Obama has been given the country in the same condition that the Confederacy handed Lincoln back the South after the Civil War, and they even threw in a bullet, the first shot fired in the civil rights movement.

Justice at last, Hope at last, Thank God Almighty, Change at last!!!

By STYLE NETWORK

December 24, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

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By Glenn

December 24, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this

Blogfathah,

On dis day I aks you, what the f@&% are you tinkin?

Lincoln, our President, handing “back the South after the Civil War”? I mean, even allowing for a certain artistic license, seriously…

…and I do mean this seriously: Where might we find or commission the details of the federal plans for the reconstruction of Atlanta, post-1865? Such plans do exist, and my thinking is that they hold many interesting, and even tender, ideas for this region. One of the factors that made General Sherman successful was his superiority as a Civil Engineer, and since he came to govern this military district following the hostilities, my bet is that he had some really caring plans we now could mine.

Sherman loved the South. Like Grant, he was a psychologically homeless Ohioan, and the South took him in when it mattered to him most.

By Jeigh

December 24, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this

In my own misanthropic opinion the fact that the Obama report — that clears Obama and his employees — was produced by Obama employees needs far more underscoring. Thank you

By Biggdawg 96

December 24, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

First off, Isn’t it the governor of Illinois and not Ohio?

Second off, Republicans are under a more intense scrutiny right now than Democrats. I agree with you on that. However, it is due to their own actions over recent years.

Furthermore, it seems as though Cheney recently admitted to misleading the American people about the WMDs . Why would you trust the conservatives right now?

By getalife

December 24, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

82% approval rating.

Nuff said.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

Dear Peter @ 9:26, the rotten business prospects in the US are entirely attributable to the threats arising from leftist policies. The democrats promise to:

(1) make it easier to compel union membership as a requirement of retaining a job;

(2) raise corporate taxes;

(3) raise taxes on higher income individuals;

(4) renegotiate international trade agreements, to make them less free and more “fair”;

(5) implement a “cap and trade” system for energy, primarily to enrich those who control the system;

(6) restrict production of traditional energy sources, such as coal, oil, and nuclear;

(7) raid the taxpayers for corporate welfare, to be paid to preferred “alternative” energy producers, mostly leftists;

(8) nationalize health care, and to finance all costs through business taxes.

All of those policies increase costs, and will thus reduce quality of life for all living under the yoke of nanny government. The flight of capital, seen in the decline of the Dow Jones Industrial average, is fully rational, and, as we regularly note here, voters deserve the governments they elect. Perhaps we can agree that Obama could magically and rapidly improve business conditions by renouncing those policies?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 10:39 AM | Link to this

Dear BigDawg 96 @ 9:55, I think you just admitted to misleading us about Cheney. Why would anyone trust a critic of conservatives?

By Ga Values

December 24, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

Ragnar Danneskjöld 10:34 AM

What are you drinking this morning??

By Churchill's MOM

December 24, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

Jim why can’t you write something like this..

We don’t know who set fire to Sarah Palin’s church in Wasilla, Alaska. But is the apparent arson all that of a surprise, after the mainstream media so demonized her in the presidential campaign?

Likewise, the left and their compliant media are whipping up anger toward the Rev. Rick Warren, the good and gentle pastor of Saddleback Church, merely because his friend Barack Obama asked him to give an invocation at his inauguration in January.

Meanwhile, in California and elsewhere, militants opposed to that state’s constitutional amendment defining marriage have been targeting churches and people who voted for it.

It’s open season on conservatives and people of faith.

Perhaps it has been ever thus. But recriminations have been sharpened into saws these days.

Attacks on Palin and Warren are particularly misguided.

Certainly one is free to disagree with Palin’s politics. But the media whipped some voters into a frenzy over her. Surveys of Obama voters, for example, showed quite clearly that voters had been brainwashed into believing the worst about her — that errant quotes, for instance, were made by her when, in fact, some came from Obama himself.

Attacks on Warren are especially pointless and off the mark. Anyone who has seen him work or read his book A Purpose-Driven Life , can tell he’s a man of great faith and love for all people. Obama knows this, and wants him to be a part of the inauguration.

But militants on the left, including U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, have done nothing but demonize Pastor Warren. In Frank’s world, someone who has offended him — even with their faith — shouldn’t be allowed a seat at the table.

How does the Rev. Warren react to the bile? Like a Christian. “You don’t have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand,” he says.

It’s time to stop demonizing those with whom we disagree. As the man says, we don’t have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand.

“During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented,” Obama says. “And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America’s about. That’s part of the magic of this country … we are diverse and noisy and opinionated.”

True. But if we listen to each other more, we just might learn something.

By Ga Values

December 24, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

I did not vote for Obama but hope that he does a good enough job to earn my vote in 4 years. I would hope all of you adopt the same attitude.

All the childeren , grand childeren, and my daughter’s boy friend are home for Christmas. It is great to have some childeren in the house and to have someone else to take care of the horses. I hope all of you have as great a holiday as I plan to. Redneck Convert if you get out this way stop by & I’ll give you a horse for little Sonny Zell or would you rather have 6?

By Frost

December 24, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this

Then when you read the story, it turns out that it was the Obama attorney team that “cleared” the staff We will charge that to poor,old age,otherwise how could u be so late and ignorant?That is a fact we knew all along. In any case,the prosecutor has signalled that there is no wrong doing on ony of Obama’s team or Obama himself.Sane and agile minds will now leave that consipracy in the able hands of old and tired,couch potatoes, in or nearing retirement.Go get them Ragnar and Wooten!!!!

By bearcasey

December 24, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

JIM: Obama won and thre is NOTHING that you and the Republican evangelicals can do about it!

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this

I see Georgia is going to tax the hospitals to pay for medicaid, a tax that will increase our health insurance premiums. We wouldn’t need to tax the hospitals more if the former guy, RoyTheCrook imho, hadn’t stolen 100 million dollars from Medicaid to enrich his out of state legal scum bag buddies. The Crook found a loophole in Georgia contracting law that he snuck thru by signing a contingency contract with this out of state law fire to advise Ga Medicaid on how to cheat the Feds out of the state cost share for Medicaid. Medicaid already knew how, but that did not stop our Crook. So for one third of the money collected, the out of state lawyers gave RoyTheCrook a report that basically said “impose a broad based bed tax on all health care providers.” For that they got 100 million State Medicaid dollars. Now the current CrookedGuv, imho, is increasing that tax. Hospitals face state fee to help Medicaid, PeachCare

Governor’s office says plan still being considered; insurance groups opposed

By ANDY MILLER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

First, Georgia targeted health insurers to pay fees to help fill a deficit in the state Medicaid and PeachCare programs.

Now it may be hospitals’ turn.

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office has told hospital industry executives that it’s considering levying a fee based on a percentage of their facilities’ revenues. The hospital money raised would go toward covering a $208 million deficit in Medicaid while also supplying needed funds for Georgia’s trauma care network.

Extra trauma funding could help many accident victims across the state. Researchers say 700 people die annually because of Georgia’s spotty trauma coverage.

Many Georgians with job-based or individual health coverage would see an increase on premiums under the insurer fee, according to the Georgia Association of Health Plans, an industry trade group that opposes the plan.

But the combined hospital and insurer fees, if enacted, could prevent major cutbacks in medical services to thousands of Georgians on Medicaid and PeachCare, officials say.

A Perdue spokesman, Bert Brantley, said no final decisions have been made on the newly proposed hospital fee, which he said also could increase reimbursements to facilities for providing services to Medicaid patients.

“Hospitals all understand what the problem is, what the need is,” Brantley said. But keeping the status quo, he said, would not allow the state any wiggle room. “We’d have to make some very serious cuts,” he said.

The hospital fee would also draw down extra federal dollars to shore up Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled that’s jointly financed by the state and federal governments.

Perdue and state officials are grappling with an overall budget shortfall of $1.6 billion to $2 billion or more. The governor’s budget recommendations are due Jan. 14 and require approval by the General Assembly.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks to go,” Brantley said. “That was our intent — not to spring it on any of the affected industries, and to have a discussion.”

Hospital groups characterize the proposed fee as a tax.

HomeTown Health, which represents rural hospitals in Georgia, said Tuesday that the winners under the Perdue plan would be large urban hospitals that have a high percentage of Medicaid patients and offer trauma services, such as Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital.

Small rural hospitals that lack those features could be losers — and the tax could force some facilities to close, said Jimmy Lewis, CEO of HomeTown Health.

Lewis proposed alternative funding plans for Medicaid, such as a new tobacco tax, a grocery tax, or a levy on “super-speeders.” Another possibility, he said, is that the stimulus package under new President Barack Obama may contain extra federal money for states’ Medicaid programs.

“We salute the governor for taking aggressive steps to address the shortfall, and request that all options be left on the table until the federal funding issue is resolved,” Lewis added.

The Georgia Hospital Association said Tuesday that it would not offer a public response at this time.

Recently, hospitals across Georgia have reported considerable damage from the recession and resulting layoffs. The downturn has led to an increase in uninsured patients at Georgia hospitals — people who often have limited ability to pay for services. In addition, elective surgeries have fallen off, the hospital association reports.

More trauma funding, though, would bolster some hospitals. Georgia has only 15 that specialize in trauma care, and many are losing millions of dollars providing the expensive service. Advocates have called for the state to provide $75 million annually from the state.

Earlier this fall, a shortfall in Medicaid and PeachCare fueled the state plan to charge health insurance companies millions in extra fees. The state said federal regulations have also forced the move. The state Department of Community Health said that without additional money, the agency may have to drop people from the rolls of Medicaid and PeachCare, which covers uninsured children of parents whose incomes are slightly above those on Medicaid.

But the Georgia Association of Health Plans, which is fighting the state’s plan, has countered that raising the fees on insurance companies could increase premiums for hundreds of thousands of Georgians covered under private plans. The insurance tax plan would not affect self-insured major companies such as Delta Air Lines.

Consumer health advocate Linda Lowe said new revenue sources are needed for Medicaid and PeachCare.

Without more funding, Lowe said, the state could be forced to make budget cutbacks “that would increase the number of uninsured and eliminate key services for children.”

— Staff writer Craig Schneider contributed to this article.

By GayGrayGeek

December 24, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this

Jim, the shoddiness of your “reporting” (yeah, right) is abhorrent. How is Obama connected to the OHIO governor?

You might want to question the Faux News Republican’t Talking Points you’re receiving, since their “fact checking” is obviously leaving much to be desired. Of course, the concepts of verifiable truths and demonstrable facts, demonstrated by “Ohio”, are foriegn concepts to you wingnuts, aren’t they?

By dave

December 24, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this

Cherokee - President resigned “non-issue of watergate” so what’s your point? Your logic (or should I say lack of) escapes me. But I’ll bet that happens to people around you all the time….

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Good morning GA Values @ 10:47, and Merry Christmas. Diet Dr. Pepper, and I have an extra if you wish.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

Dear Churchill’s Mom @ 10:50, a meritorious post, thanks for sharing. Who is the author?

By jm

December 24, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten, don’t sound so disappointed. I am sure there will be some real or fabricated scandal will come along that is associated with Obama. When that time comes, you can get on your soapbox and tell us how you knew it all along.

Until that time, you can regale us about how great W the incompetent was.

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

The highest and best use of FAT GIRLS:

Joanna Sugden A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who claims to have turned fat, extricated in liposuction, into biofuel for his car has skipped town after US officials raided his surgery in an investigation into his procedures.

Dr Craig Alan Bittner, who runs the Liposculpture clinic on Rodeo Drive, said that he had created “lipodiesel” with his patients’ excess subcutaneous fat.

The cosmetic surgeon told Forbes.com that he used the blubber to power two cars including his four-wheel-drive Ford.

Dr Bittner is under investigation by the California Department of Public Health because it is illegal in the state to use human medical waste to power vehicles.

He reportedly wrote about the practice on his website, lipodiesel.com, which has since been shut down. “The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel - and I have more fat than I can use,” he wrote.

“Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly but they get to take part in saving the earth.”

But a spate of recent lawsuits filed against the surgeon by patients who claim he let his unqualified girlfriend and assistant carry out surgical procedures that allegedly left them disfigured uncovered the doctor’s fat-fueled activities. According to his website Dr Bittner is currently volunteering “in a rural clinic outside Bogota, Colombia”.

The patients claim that they found Dr Bittner via the internet and arranged pre-operative consultations at his office, but instead of Dr Bittner conducting the consultation, it was his office manager Darcy, according the the Beverly Hills Courier.

In addition, WIRED magazine cast doubt on Dr Bittner’s claim that he used the lipodiesel to power his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator – which it said does not have a diesel model.

It said the whole scheme could be a hoax inspired by the film Fight Club, in which Brad Pitt’s character Tyler Durden uses waste from liposuction to make soap.

Dr Bittner left a message on his clinic’s website on November 20 to tell clients he was moving to South America to volunteer at a small clinic “where I can help those most in need.”

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

December 24, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this

Sarah Palin: Conservative of the Year by Ann Coulter (more by this author) Posted 12/22/2008 ET Updated 12/24/2008 ET

Sarah Palin wins HUMAN EVENTS’ prestigious “Conservative of the Year” Award for 2008 for her genius at annoying all the right people. The last woman to get liberals this hot under the collar would have been … let’s see now … oh, yeah: Me!

The entire presidential election year was kind of a downer for conservatives. Once the “maverick” John McCain won the nomination, the rest of the year was like watching a slow motion car crash. Except at least a slow-motion car crash is occasionally entertaining. So it was going to be a long year.

Until Palin.

When McCain chose our beauteous Sarah as his running mate, the maverick was finally acting like a real maverick — as opposed to the media’s definition of a “maverick” which is: “agreeing with the editorial positions of the New York Times.”

Pre-Palin it had been one race — boring old “You kids get off my lawn!” John McCain versus the exciting, new politician Barack Obama, who threw caution to the wind and bravely ran as the Pro-Hope candidate. And then our heroic Sarah bounded out of the Alaska tundra and it became a completely different race. This left the press completely discombobulated and upset. They didn’t know whether to attack Sarah for not having an abortion or go after her husband for not being a sissy.

I assume Palin was chosen because McCain had heard that she was a real conservative and he had always wanted to meet one — no, actually because he needed a conservative on the ticket, but that he had no idea that picking her would send the left into a tailspin of wanton despair.

But if anyone on the McCain campaign chose Palin because she would drive liberals crazy, my hat is off to him!

True, Palin made some embarrassing gaffes.

She complained that we didn’t have enough “Arabic translators” in Afghanistan — not realizing the natives don’t speak Arabic in Afghanistan, but rather a variety of regional dialects, the most common of which is Pashtun.

Speaking to military veterans one time, Palin said, “Our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today.”

She bragged about passing a law regulating the nuclear industry that it turned out never became a law at all.

Some days Palin said Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez should suffer “regional isolation” — but then on others she’d say she supported the president’s meeting with Chavez.

She told one audience about recent tornados in Kansas that had killed 10,000 people. In fact, a dozen people were killed in the tornados.

She referred to the “57 states” that make up the U.S.

Speaking of her eldest daughter’s pregnancy, she said Bristol was being “punished” with a baby.

As you probably know — or guessed by now — none of these gaffes were uttered by Palin. They are all Obama gaffes. Luckily, he made them to a star-struck press that managed not to ask him a difficult question for two years.

It seemed like the media would introduce an all-new double standard each day throughout the two glorious months of Palin’s candidacy.

I don’t remember, for example, zealous inquiries into the supposedly peculiar religious practices of any candidates in past elections. No one in the press touched on Sen. Joe Lieberman’s religious beliefs when he was Gore’s running mate. (Nor, while we’re on the subject, was the media particularly interested in the beliefs of the religion that inspired the 9/11 attacks on America.)

But the press snapped right back into their anti-religious hysteria for a candidate who was a Pentecostal! The same media that couldn’t be bothered to investigate Obama’s ties to former Weathermen or Syrian Nationalist Tony Rezko was soon hot on the trail of a rumor that Palin’s church had a speaker 30 years ago who spoke in tongues!

Let me think now: Were there ever any unusual or otherwise noteworthy speeches or sermons given in churches where Obama worshipped? Hmmm … it’s on the tip of my tongue.

Liberals also suddenly decided that a woman with children could not handle the stress of higher office. Until Palin reared her beautiful head, this is precisely the sort of thinking liberals would have denounced as the Neanderthal, backwards, good old boy network attitude that had created a “glass ceiling.”

Let’s consider the facts: Palin’s oldest son was about to be under the tender care of Gen. David Petraeus after being shipped off to Iraq. Her next oldest child was about to be married and probably would prefer that her parents butt out. That left three children under the age of 15, which was almost the same as Obama had.

So Palin had one more child — and a lot more executive experience — than the guy at the top of the Democrats’ ticket. (I suspect what liberals were really mad about was that if Palin became Vice President, she probably would have hired a nanny who was a U.S. citizen.)

Having indignantly rejected experience as a presidential qualification in the case of Obama, liberals had to raise questions about Palin’s experience gingerly. But, in short order, they threw caution to the wind and began energetically criticizing Palin for her lack of experience. I call that two … two … two standards in one!

Like most Democrats, both Obama and Biden boasted of their humble beginnings, while having fully adopted the attitudes, pomposity and style of the elites.

Meanwhile, Palin is the sort of genuine American that brings out the worst, most egregious pomposity of liberals. For weeks, Carl Bernstein was showing up on TV to announce: “We still don’t have the date of first issuance of her passport.” Members of the establishment would be astonished to learn that more Americans have guns than passports.

Liberals were angry at Palin because they thought she should look and act like Kay Bailey Hutchinson: Upper crust, prissy and stiff.

Palin had a husband in the Steelworkers Union, a sister and brother-in-law who owned a gas station, and five attractive children — one headed for Iraq, one a Down’s syndrome baby and one the cutest little girl anyone had ever seen.

In a nutshell, Palin was everything Democrats are always pretending to be, but never are.

She didn’t have to conjure up implausible images of herself duck hunting as Hillary Clinton did. Nor was Palin the typical Democratic elected female official who went straight from college into politics, like Nita Lowey.

Despite their phony championing of “women’s issues” (i.e. abortion) there was not one Democrat woman who could win a head-to-head contest with Palin. Especially not if we got to see their faces. Democrats may have a fleet of women politicians, but they don’t have a deep bench of attractive ones. You don’t even think of most Democratic woman as women: Rosa Delauro, Nita Lowey, Patty Murray, Janet Napolitano — and the list goes on. Oh, sure, there are the odd female Democrat sex kittens — your Janet Renos, your Donna Shalalas — but they’re the exception to the rule.

After Palin gave her barnburner of a speech at the Republican National Convention, a friend of mine in a liberal industry told me his friends were aggressively confronting him demanding to know if Palin was raised by a secret cult of Christians that taught children nothing but Creationism and public speaking.

Oh, how I wish he had said “yes.” Imagine the aneurisms! I think what liberals were trying to say was: Gosh, she’s an exceptionally attractive mother of five!

The Obama campaign was so alarmed by Palin’s speech, it loudly dismissed the speech saying she didn’t write it. At least that’s what a press release written by an Obama campaign staffer said.

Indeed, the first words out of every Palin critic’s mouth were: “Good speech, but she didn’t write it.” So I guess all liberals were reading the same talking points written for them by the Obama campaign. At least Palin pays her speechwriters. Neil Kinnock is still waiting for his check.

Speaking of Joe Biden, he said that Palin’s speech had a lot of style but little substance. Inasmuch as Biden was Obama’s running mate, I think that meant he liked it!

A newspaper in Boston responded to Palin’s speech by interviewing hairdressers who criticized Sarah’s hairstyle. (Where were these people after Joe Biden’s speech?)

Trendy dinner party opinion soon demanded that all liberals take up the cry that Palin must let the press have a whack at her. Almost immediately after she was introduced to the nation, the cry went up: “When are we going to be allowed to ask Palin questions?”

Palin’s refusal to meet with the press for one week after being chosen as McCain’s running mate was evidently more maddening than Obama’s refusal to appear on Fox News for almost the entirety of his campaign.

Everyone acted as if Obama’s feat of running for President for two years constituted a complete and thorough vetting.

It might have been, except that the entire media had apparently agreed: “OK, none of us will ask Obama about Tony Rezko, William Ayers, and Jeremiah Wright.”

Hillary was hissed by the audience for mentioning Rezko at a Democratic debate and George Stephanopoulos nearly lost his career for asking Obama one William Ayers question at another.

Osama bin Laden was more upset about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than liberals were — especially after “Jeremiah Wright videos” passed “al Qaeda videos” for most total viewings on Youtube. (He was kicking himself for not coming up with that “God Damn America” line first!)

Who cares if Palin was qualified to be President? She was running with John McCain! There was no chance that ticket was going to place her anywhere near the presidency. In fact, I can’t think of a better place to put someone you wanted to keep away from the White House than on a ticket with McCain.

Palin was a kick in the pants, she energized conservatives, and she made liberal heads explode. Other than his brave military service, introducing Sarah Palin to Americans is the greatest thing John McCain ever did for his country.

But unless Palin is going to be the perpetual running mate of “moderate” Republicans who need conservative bona fides, she will need to become wiser and better read. Even Reagan didn’t run for President in his 40s. (True Obama is in his 40s, but we are not Democrats.)

Perhaps Palin’s year is 2012, but I would recommend that she take a little more time to become older and wiser. She ought to spend the next decade being a good governor, tending to her children so none of them turn out like Ron Reagan Jr., and reading everything Phyllis Schlafly, Thomas Sowell, Ronald Reagan and “Publius” have ever written. (She also might keep in mind that HUMAN EVENTS was Ronald Reagan’s favorite newspaper!)

In time, HUMAN EVENTS’ 2008 Conservative of the Year will be ready to be our President and someday can sweep into office and dismantle all the heinous government programs Obama and the Democrats are about to foist on the nation. Who knows? She might even be able to run as the candidate of “hope” and “change.”

By Shorter Wooten

December 24, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

Shorter Wooten: I am bitterly disappointed that the new President is not an unethical crook.

By Glenn

December 24, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this

Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it, @ 11:10:

You remind me of a blue-front Amazon parrot my mother once raised. The bird impressed with its powers of imitation, but of course, at the same time, it hadn’t a thught in its head.

Be that as it may, I’m fully with you over against the terrible laziness and scam of healthcare in Georgia. Lucrative, yes; deadly, probably. You want to shut it down? Have some ideas as to how to do so? If so, then probably you can count me in.

By GayGrayGeek

December 24, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this

Esquire, OnAndOn Anon is ready whenever you are…

By conservativeDem

December 24, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

Remember conservatives… working together as the libs ask is a paraphrase of” You the conservatives must give up your values and accept the liberal values.” Libs can steal an election and not seat a senator declared the winner but conservatives do not. This has happened several times in the past before Bush and is now happening in Minnesota. Obama comes from Chicago and anything from there is a thug. Obama and the liberals will take us left and then lose the mainstream public. I too can wait for this sympathy vote to run its four year course.

By Cindy

December 24, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

Oh, pleeez. Let’s go waste millions again like we did with Whitewater.

Bush got away with murder, literally, while Cheney defiled the White House.

Hmm, now which party is the vindictive one?

By ron

December 24, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this

Good afternoon,I’m late today.

Jim,I told you where Republicans would be blowing smoke if they went after Obama on this Senate seat selling.Don’t even go there.Any reasonable person knows they talked to Blago about their preferences.That wouldn’t be news.It would be news if they offered to reward Blogo,and I don’t think that happened.

like Ragnar,I admire Mrs.Palin.I think she was a breath of fresh air at a time when conservatives had nothing going for them.She energized a lot of people,but,alas,they were all conservatives.She didn’t make any inroads where inroads needed to be made.Like Huckabee,she has a limited following.

My gas bill was $20.02,and that was for two weeks.Ten dollars a week isn’t bad.I can singlehandedly keep the recession going for the next 40 years at this rate.

I went to my small city in search of bargains today and was disappointed.I found the items on sale were extra items,not core items.The core items were the same price as always.TV’S were on sale,but only the cheap TV’S.The quality televisions were the same as always price.I noticed there was still a lot of merchandise on the shelves.

The TVA has a mess of gargantuan proportion to clean up.This is a green gotcha.

I listened with interest to the tale of the regulator and Indybank et al.Totally disgusting,but par for the times.Everyone is in agreement that good regulations are needed.Everyone agrees that good regulators are needed.No one can agree if this guy committed a crime or not.I can agree that he did.I can agree he did it with malice aforethought.I could agree he probaly did it for personal gainathought.I cannot agree on whether to shoot him or hang him.

Merry Christmas in case I don’t come back today and Merry Christmas again in case I do.

Redneck—-Make sure you tuck the Missus in real tight tonight.I don’t want visions of ron dancing through her head and making her do something foolish.Not tonight ,anyway.

By GayGrayGeek

December 24, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this

conservativeDem - You mean like how BushCo insisted that anyone that dared to express the least bit of dissatisfaction or, gawd forbid, actual disagreement with His High Holiness Dubya was a “traitor”?

By Tom

December 24, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

jbm, since you’ve taken your current pseudonym from a character in perhaps the single worst novel ever penned (which might also explain why, despite your self-professed superiority, your writing style, as demonstrated here daily, is so abysmally poor), it comes as no surprise at all that you would choose on this Christmas Eve to cut-n-paste a long commentary about a negligible non-entity from another. I hadn’t realized that Diet Dr. Pepper is >100 proof. [So you don’t have to google it, that “>” symbol reads “greater than.”]

By findog

December 24, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this

Merry Christmas, wonderful winter solstice, happy Chanukah, respectful Ramadan, crazy Kwanza, and a wild new year to all and to all a good blog…

By win brown

December 24, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this

Umm, but Blago having a rant about Obama was part of Obama’s defense. If no one talked to Blago, then why would Blago think that there would be no deal and subsequently have the rant.

Here is my theory. At some point someone let Blago know that an appointment was out of the question given his current liabilities (his low approval and investigation etc). However, a deal that would distance the President-Elect, such as a helping a charity that Blago would lead, a three way deal with a charity or private group, or political donations were never nixed. It never got that far before the criminal charges were filed and/or the Chicago Tribune printed their story which put Blago on notice as well as everyone else involved.

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this

Time to use the Federal Fiscal Stimulus to extend Marta up I-75 thru Cobb and into Cherokee county…

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this

Well, at least the crooked Guv was only selling Obama’s seat, and not Mr. Obama himself. 150 years ago right here in Georgia, old Woodenheads ancestors were buying and selling men, women, and children just like Mr Obama right there in Downtown Atlanta…..Talk about an original thought….

By George Wills

December 24, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this

A NEW Capitol Visitor Center re cently opened, just in time for the transformation of the Capitol building into a tomb for the antiquated idea that the legislative branch matters. The center is supposed to enhance the experience of visitors to Congress, although why there are visitors is a mystery.

Congress’ marginalization was brutally underscored when, after Congress didn’t authorize $14 billion for General Motors and Chrysler, the executive branch said, in effect: We’ll listen very nicely - then go out and do precisely what we want.

Friday the president gave the two automakers access to money Congress explicitly did not authorize. More money - up to $17.4 billion - than had been debated.

The president is dispensing money from the $700 billion Congress provided for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The unfounded assertion of a right to do this is notably brazen, given the indisputable fact that if Congress had known that TARP - supposedly a measure for scouring “toxic” assets from financial institutions - was to become an instrument for unconstrained industrial policy, it would not have been passed.

If TARP funds can be put to any use the executive branch fancies because TARP is a blank check for that branch, then the only reason no rules are being broken is that there are no rules.

This lawlessness tarted up as law explains the charade of Vice President Dick Cheney warning Republican senators that if they didn’t authorize the $14 billion, the GOP would again be regarded as the party of Herbert Hoover. Surely Cheney, a disparager of Congress and advocate of extravagant executive prerogatives, knew that the president considered the Senate’s consent irrelevant.

Evidence that casualness about legality is inherent in big government is found in H.W. Brands’ new biography “A Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

FDR became president on Saturday, March 4, 1933. Banks were closed that day and the next, temporarily preventing panicked depositors from withdrawing their money. At 1 a.m. Monday, FDR ordered all banks closed for four days, hoping that the fever would break. His act may have been prudent. But was it legal? Brands writes:

“He cited a section of the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act as justification. The act had never been formally repealed, but a body of legal theory held that the law, along with other wartime legislation, had expired upon the signing of the peace treaty with Germany in 1921.”

FDR had asked the opinion of his as-yet-unconfirmed attorney general, Montana Sen. Thomas Walsh, who gave the answer FDR wanted. Walsh never had to defend this: He died March 2 en route to the inauguration.

The expansion of government entails an increasingly swollen executive branch and the steady enlargement of executive discretion. This inevitably means the eclipse of Congress and attenuation of the rule of law.

For decades, imperatives of wars hot and cold, and the sprawl of the regulatory state, have enlarged the executive branch at the expense of the legislative. For eight years, the Bush administration’s “presidentialists” have aggressively wielded the concept of the “unitary executive” - the theory that where the Constitution vests power in the executive, especially power over foreign affairs and war, the president is immune to legislative abridgements of his autonomy.

The administration has not, however, confined its aggrandizement of executive power to national security matters. According to former Rep. Mickey Edwards in his book “Reclaiming Conservatism,” the president has issued “signing statements” designating 1,100 provisions of new laws - more designations than have been made by all prior presidents combined - that he did not consider binding on him or any other executive branch official.

Still, most of the administration’s executive truculence has pertained to national security, where the case for broad prerogatives, although not as powerful as the administration supposes, is at least arguable. With the automakers, however, executive branch overreaching now extends to the essence of domestic policy - spending - and traduces a core constitutional principle, the separation of powers.

Most members of the House and Senate want the automakers to get the money, so probably are pleased that the administration has disregarded Congress’ institutional dignity. History, however, teaches that it is difficult for Congress to be only intermittently invertebrate.

By Glenn

December 24, 2008 5:24 PM | Link to this

ron,

Merry Christmas to you too. The real deal, on the street, is ugly and susceptible of politicization, I agree. Let’s smoke ‘em out, then, and discover who is the more unabashed. Shall we?

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this

The scam of health care in Georgia: The Solution — Stop wasting 51% of medical school slots on women. Females, on average, after completing med school and residency take six months off for each brat they squeeze out, and only want to work 30 hours per week when they return. They also retire or quit in their late 40’s. Want proof? Just look at nursing — There is a great glut of trained, registered nurses, but a severe shortage of working registered nurses, because 95%+ are of the FEMALE persuasion. The only reasons a female nurse continues to work as a floor nurse past the age of 40 is cause she is an old spinister, divorced, widowed, or supporting a lazy no good non working man at home. Male docs on average work 50+ hours per week well into their 70’s.

By Roy-Is-A-Crook-so-hang-it

December 24, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Ah just heard on crapper crammer that the 158 billion dollar bail out of aig is going mostly to pay off the european banks that purchased credit default swaps from aig. Aig never had the money to pay off on those swaps, but they still collected the premiums like they could. There is something slimy about aig and all insurance companies…imagine you purchase a fire policy on your house and pay your premiums for 25 years, then one day it burns down. The insurance company says “we ain’t got the money to pay ya, we never had the money to pay ya, were were just pocketing your premiums.” I would want my house paid for in full, plus all my premium money back for the last 25 years, at 10% interest, compounded daily.

By Oop Poo Pa Do

December 24, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this

Cherokee …. Whitewater has not been lost … it lives in the minds of folks like you and will until you die.

By Oop Poo Pa Do

December 24, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this

Cherokee …. Whitewater has not been lost … it lives in the minds of folks like you and will until you get senile.

By GOP is gone

December 25, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

Ohio?

After saying that, maybe Obama’s not taking or returning calls from the Governor of ILLINOIS was enough to lead him to believe that there would be no cooperation in his attempt of bribery. I mean really, Obama has just run the most brilliant political campaign in history and beaten the pants off McCain, do you think he would be that plain old dumb? Obviously Blago is missing some cerebral matter, but Obama is not.

And speaking of missing cerebral matter, this female Democrat could clearly see that Sarah Palin was three plus stupid. Note to Republicans, when choosing a token female to hopefully pull off some of the female voters to your side, pick one who can complete coherent sentences. I did not need to listen to any media reports of her stupidity when she was so boldly in your face stupid all by her little lonesome.

By Brenda

December 25, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this

Obama ran a great campaign, why would he risk his presidency for bribing the Governor to fill a senate seat? Stop assuming you know Obama’s mind. You all seem to hope that he is found at fault; the man has not even been sworn into office yet. If you want to pick on someone, Bush has plenty of dirt.

By ron

December 25, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this

As far as I am concerned,today is a politic free day.It’s Christmas.The bride and I are staying home and there will be a small roast pork to gnaw on later this afternoon.We had visitors last evening from out of town.People we really like.My favorite sister-in-law cannot make her yearly Christmas visit because she’s under the weather.Not self induced,unfortunately.The cats had their breakfast of special holiday cat food.Caviar flavored whitefish.Sounds good.

I hope today finds you all well and happy.I hope Ragnar got a reduction in capital gains tax for Christmas and maybe a little reprieve on the Bush tax cuts.I hope that Redneck and his missus don’t have any big holes in their trailer for Jack Frost to get in.I hope Dusty’s Christmas dinner comes out a sparkling red,white ,and blue.I also hope everything comes out RIGHT for her.

For Jim ,I wish a speedy and accurate pen for the season and for the coming year.He’ll have a hard job keeping up the spirits of the Right wing.They’re in for a hard ride ,I’m afraid. Write on Jim,Right on.

Dear Glenn,—-Keep blogging.I’ve almost figured out some of the stuff you write.

Peter—-Hang in there kid.

Have a good day everyone.

By deegee

December 25, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

I suppose that a male doc can afford to have his wife stay home and raise the kids while he goes out and works 50+ hours a week. Taking my experience with female docs into consideration, a female doc will accomplish more in 30 hours than a male doc will in 50.

Considering the physical demands of being a floor nurse, it doesn’t surprise me that nurses over 40 years of age move on. There are plenty of opportunities for middle aged nurses in home health care, health care administration, medical consulting, insurance consulting, teaching, etc.

By Redneck Convert

December 25, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

Well, Merry Christmas everybody. And a special Merry Christmas to Wooten. If it wasn’t for him alot of people on this blog wouldn’t have no life at all. The libruls keep writing in and treating him like a redheaded step child but he keeps preaching the True Politics. He’s fell off a little this year but most the time he’s out with a column every day.

Me and little Sonny Zell George been racing the radio control cars Santa got for us. I beat him like a drum and he cries a lot when I nudge his car off of the track like I seen the NASCAR drivers do. The missus fusses and says I should let him win once in awhile but it ain’t my fault he’s only two and a little slow. You don’t see the NASCAR drivers letting up and letting somebody else win and you won’t see me doing it neither. Besides, I want him to learn this world’s a jungle and he’s got to take care of hisself and not rely on anybody else or help anybody else neither. Else he’ll grow up expecting somebody else to take care of his doctoring and job and stuff like that. In other words he’ll grow up to be a librul. Ain’t no libruls going to be raised under this roof.

I told the missus last night about this ron with his crush on her. She blowed up. Said it was just like men. Said they were just a bunch of sluts. Next thing I know she’s in the bedroom primping and putting on makeup and all that stuff. Women. I’ll never figure them out.

Anyway, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Except maybe some of the libruls. And don’t worry about running out of beer. I’ll be back on the road tomorrow making sure all you drunks take care of your thirst. Now it’s back to the racing for me.

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 25, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

And so this is xmas. It’s not so much fun. We’ve lost our religion…. We worship the gun.

And so this is xmas. Not much of a charge. The surge worked so well, Obama’s at large.

and so this is xmas. The weather is mild. We still dont have healthcare. But we’ve got girls-gone-wild.

and so this is xmas. What have we to cheer? If oil trades lower, then why all this fear?

I wonder if Cheney. Indicted this year. For acting like Palin, when she skins a deer.

and so this is xmas. Forclosed, on bare feet. We’ll wander the streets now, like morons in heat……

We’ve all bought the story… of terrorist’s reign. We really got even with Saddam Hussein.

And so merry merry xmas…and a happy new year….let’s hope it’s a good one….without any tears….

By GOP is gone

December 25, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

Merry Xmas, for the animal lovers (Christian the Lion- Reunion!)

By GitAPieceOnEarthToday

December 25, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

We luv our friend the cow, especially his prime rib roast…

By Glenn

December 25, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

O Blogfathah, suck it up anyway and have a merry one, you old fool.

From my old friend Clive in Birmingham comes this note: “Happy Chrissy, Mate!” That’s my thought for you too.

Scripture has it that upon the mere conception of the Nazarene babe a great “paradoxa”, an inexplicable thing, came across the face of the planet. That thing, more specifically, was “ataraktos”, a sudden stilling, a deep sense of well being. A peace, in other words, passing all human understanding. And that is why shamans from as far away as North Africa set out to find the source of this inexplicable change in human experience. Their track led them, of course, to Bethlehem.

That’s the Peace I bid you today.

By GOP is gone

December 25, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this

Whoops I’ll try again

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 25, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Merry Christmas.

By Glenn

December 25, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

To you as well, Bogfather.

By The BlogFather of Scroll

December 25, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Glenn, please dont think that everyone doesn’t know that you’re the Tar and Feathered p-hole on the view from the cop who blessed us all with your pathetic death wish. ANd all for a little bit of revenge. Well let me tell you something, mister, there’s more to life than a little bit of revenge.

And it’s such a nice day, too.

Live long a prosper, p-hole.

I meant a-hole.

By Glenn

December 25, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this

I have no idea what you’re talking about, you insufferable stinging ant, but Merry dang Christmas to you anyway.

As for revenge, like Dumas Pere I prefer it cold.

By catlady

December 25, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this

Anyone want to comment on extending the bailout to GMAC? We should be out of room on the $350B charge card. This on top (extra icing) for the money to bail out the two car manufacturers. Any other inprovident to be “rewarded”?

Why did the Congress abdicate its duty to control the purse? And why have they been willing to suspend disbelief on known incompetents/liars?

And has Bristol Palin’s baby been born yet? Since she was thrown in the public’s face, we have developed an interest in her.

By John Allen

December 25, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this

I thought it was Illinois bad boy Governor, not Ohio’s?

By Larry Brown

December 26, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

“…It wouldn’t for an incoming Repubican” Oh please. Slipping in that little “Poor persecuted Republicans” canard is really pathetic and ridiculous for a paid professional journalist.

By Jay Ballou

December 26, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

“It wouldn’t for an incoming Republican”

Oh you poor little hypocritical cry baby. The problems Republicans have, they entirely bring on themselves, by being deeply corrupt human beings. (Blago just shows that Republicans don’t have a complete monopoly on that.)

By Churchill's MOM

December 26, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

Large numbers of Americans are facing the new year with trepidation. Many of them, laid off from work as the holidays approached, are gearing up to go looking for new jobs in the teeth of an ongoing economic downturn. Many of the people who have jobs have legitimate worries about how long those jobs will remain secure. And even those with secure jobs have real worries about their wages remaining stagnant.

There is one group of Americans, though, for whom stagnant wages aren’t a concern at all. The 535 members of the Congress of the United States are scheduled to get a $4,700 raise in January, on the backs of those Americans who are struggling to keep their households functioning in the currently unpleasant economic climate. That increase will boost the average salary of senators and representatives to $174,000 per year, up from the current $169,300.

Congress made its annual cost-of-living increase automatic in 1989, thus shielding members from having to vote on whether to give themselves the yearly salary hike, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Of course, Congress isn’t bound to the shameless secrecy of the cost-of-living adjustment, and there have been any number of attempts, from within its own ranks, to put the legislative branch on record as to which of its members are willing to fleece taxpayers to boost their salaries.

For the past eight years, Rep. Jim Matheson, a Utah Democrat, has filed a bill that would do away with the annual cost-of-living adjustment. During the past two years, no fewer than three lawmakers - Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton, South Carolina Republican J. Gresham Barrett and freshman Arizona Democratic Rep. Harry Mitchell - have filed bills with the same goal.

All of them have gone exactly nowhere, though Mitchell’s bills have at least garnered double-digit co-sponsorships. The bill he filed last year got 29 co-sponsors, while this year’s bill attracted 34 co-sponsors. For the record, neither of Mitchell’s bills found much support in Georgia’s House delegation. Georgia Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall, both Democrats, signed on to Mitchell’s 2007 bill; only Marshall is listed as a co-sponsor to this year’s bill.

It is utterly unconscionable for members of Congress, who ought to be serving as examples as this country grapples with its economic turmoil, to take a salary increase - gutlessly, under the cover of a procedural darkness - as untold numbers of Americans are facing the specter of joblessness.

Yet that is exactly what they’ve done. They’ll be billing the American people $2.5 million for a pay hike of nearly 3 percent. It’s a hike they could, and should, forgo, coming as it does on the heels of a year in which 1.9 million Americans lost their jobs.

It’s doubly unconscionable that Congress has no qualms about taking the pay raise even as its approval ratings - essentially, how the American public rates its job performance - dipped again into single digits.

According to a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted last week, just 9 percent of Americans think Congress is doing an acceptable job - 2 percent of survey respondents rated congressional performance as “excellent,” and 7 percent rated it as “good.” Meanwhile, more than half of respondents, 54 percent, rated Congress’ performance as “poor,” and 35 percent gave Congress a “fair” rating.

When members of Congress return from the holiday recess next month, their voice mail, e-mail and regular mailboxes should be filled with messages from taxpayers demanding they take a public roll-call vote on whether they will accept a pay raise they clearly do not deserve.