A short and quick thought: the National Debt is going to drag our nation down and down into second-rate national status. It is a huge drain on our economy. The massive interest payment each year is the second largest item in our annual budget.

Plus China, Japan and others–by buying our debt–acquire power over us. Not a smart move by us to have Beijing have an upper hand over us.

And of course we are cheapening the value of the dollar.

The rise of the Tea Party movement–mainly to combat this debt situation–is a miracle and a sign of the Hand of God. Indeed, the American grass roots are not going to let politicians keep ruining our country.

And now that the GOP/Tea Party/conservatives have won the 2010 elections, an amazing phenomenon is about to occur: we, as a nation, are entering a multi-year national debate about how to reduce the National Debt and finally get our federal fiscal house in order.

Last week’s preliminary chairmen’s report on the Deficit Reduction Commission–co-chaired by Erskine Bowles and former Senator Simpson–is the first move of many to come to address the systemic problems (entitlements and Pentagon spending) we have.

What this is going to take is national leadership. If President Obama takes ahold of this issue he can rescue his otherwise-failing presidency and maybe even get himself re-elected.

But if he fumbles it–as he seems to fumble just about everything–then the GOP will capture this issue for the 2012 presidential election, in which the fiscal issues will trump the social issues.

Make no mistake: this is the pre-eminent issue of our time. We are on the verge of bankruptcy – and we must reverse course now. To do so is going to incur the wrath of many of our fellow citizens.

Can we do it?

Yes.

But it is going to be very, very difficult and will require tremendous political courage and skill.

Here is a terrible conundrum: we all want our fellow Americans to do well, to be happy, to find the jobs they desire. We all want the economy to recover–and soon. But if that recovery happens, it is likely that Barack Obama will get the credit (presidents get the blame or credit regardless of what they do) and will be a strong favorite to be re-elected in 2012. Furthermore, his Big Government spending spree will be credited with the recovery–just as FDR’s New Deal “cured” the Great Depression. For generations to come, historians, political scientists and economists will once again praise massive federal spending as the sure-fire cure-all for economic problems.

On the other hand, we can’t be rooting for the economy to remain lifeless. Yes, that might very well spell doom for President Obama’s chances in 2012. But do we want years more of the misery we are experiencing now?

No!

So we root for economic recovery. And if the price is Obama gets re-elected, so be it. Maybe the Republican House and a 2012-elected GOP-controlled Senate can restrain the worst of Obama.

By the way, many economists do not believe we are poised for a real job-creating recovery. The stimulus was a flop. And there isn’t enough in the system to ignite a true recovery. Thus the Fed’s move to buy $600 billion more of Treasuries as yet another way to inject liquidity into a frozen lending and investing situation.

Meanwhile the 2010 election is over. The Republican/Tea Party/conservative movement has won a startlingly large victory. President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been severely rebuked by the American people–even though they don’t seem to understand why.

The next—and only order of business—re-invigorating the economy–will include major decisions over taxes, the raising of the National Debt Limit, and the hardest of them all: curtailing entitlement and Pentagon spending.

The American business community will be watching carefully. DC’s decisions will determine whether or not consumers, banks and business begin spending again and thus hiring workers again.

But here is the crux of the matter: if the economy does not improve and if the unemployment numbers don’t drop substantially by the 2012 election, both parties and President Obama will have a hard time being re-elected. This year’s Tea Party anti-establishment fervor will seem like a festive holiday compared to what will greet the Political Establishment in 2012 unless things improve.

There will be an opening for a credible Independent Candidate to come along and run against both political parties.

We do not–as of today–know who this person might be. But with the power of on-line fundraising, this Independent Candidate does not have to be rich, ala Ross Perot in 1992. No, nowadays you can raise the money from hundreds of thousands of people online in the snap of a finger.

Conversely, if things do improve by 2012, then Obama and incumbents in both parties will most likely be re-elected. We will have more status quo, with no one wanting to rock the boat by making any large, revolutionary structural changes. Thus, the deficits and debt will continue.

Conclusion: the United States is in deep, deep trouble–all caused by our own addiction to personal, state and federal debt. In the long run we might overcome this problem, but we have a long way to go before we get there. Politically, the results of this debt-ridden economy are going to roil us for several more election cycles. We are billiard-balling back and forth–from the Republicans to the Democrats and back–in rapid time. The voters are impatient. They are shopping for someone and some party to fix this mess. The GOP has been given a new life. Will they make the right moves? Or will they misstep–again–and hand it back to the Democrats?

Stay tuned. We’ll find out in the next year.

(Written on 3 hours of sleep at 7 AM Wednesday.)

Last night’s results–other than Harry Reid’s survival—were expected. A huge anti-Obama/Pelosi/Reid night. The Tea Party energy revived a moribund GOP. And Sarah Palin’s star has clearly dimmed.

The new Republican House is going to be fiscally conservative. John Boehner knows he and his fellow House GOP leaders went too big for deficit spending under G.W. Bush–and he/they now have a second chance to prove their conservative chops. They also have 60+ new Members coming in who are going to refuse to “go along to get along.” So look for the GOP to be more traditionally conservative–especially on fiscal/budget/tax matters in the House for the next year or so.

The Senate, too, will move to the middle as Democrats up for re-election in 2012 are scared to death today about yesterday’s results. They are going to un-hitch their wagon from Obama beginning today.

President Obama, who has had a deer-in-the-headlights look for the past two weeks, is reeling. He is lost at sea. But he now has a foil—the GOP House—and Obama loves to blame away his mistakes on others. So he’ll replace Bush with Boehner and keep on blaming! However, he has no clue about how to be President. He does know how to be a candidate for the presidency. But as a leader, he is a flop.

Obama only cares now about a path to his own re-election. He is not going to have any serious primary challenge, no matter what media Talking Heads may say. He will easily raise $600 million for his re-election. And he’ll watch the GOP rip itself apart trying to find a unifying, electable conservative who can win over the key independent voter in 2012.

Sarah Palin took it on the nose in Alaska with write-in, anti-Palin Lisa Murkowski apparently winning the Senate seat. Also, Palin’s fellow Mama Grizzlies—Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle—blew elections they should and could have won.

The GOP Power Women—Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Linda McMahon—who all spent millions of their own money and all of whom had never done squat in politics or even bothered to vote in most elections (McMahon had even donated $$ to Democrats and the GOP nominated her??!!)—all got blown out for the same reason: women voters went against them in a big, big way.

But, overall, yesterday proved one thing: The USA is a fiscally conservative country with a majority of people worried we are headed toward national bankruptcy. Washington DC is out of control—and the American voters have sent a new brigade to the Capitol with instructions: “Get our fiscal house in order—fast—or we’ll throw you out, too!”

The Final Prediction: Tuesday will be an historic Election Day as the Republican Party—fueled by the Tea Party movement—will win back over 50 seats in the House and up to 8 seats in the US Senate. The crucial Independent Voter—the key swing voter who always determines winners and losers—has swung away from Obama in 2008 and back to the Right in 2010. That, plus the Passion Differential (Republicans/conservatives will vote in droves while dispirited and demoralized Dems stay home), will change the political scene in Washington at least for the next two years. As for President Obama, in a perverse way, his own 2012 re-election chances improve with a GOP Congress to attack, blame (he is the master at blaming everyone but himself) and play off of. But, for now, he is the cause of the GOP resurgence. Bye bye, Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi; we will not miss you!

Of all the high-profile races on November 2, these are a few that bear special watching:

1) California’s Gubernatorial Race: Last January I predicted Meg Whitman would beat Jerry Brown—in a Mrs. Outside vs. Mr. Inside donnybrook—by 4 points.

I do not now see that happening. She has run a poor campaign, despite pouring $150 million of her own dough into the race.

In a year when the conservatives are jazzed up, she has turned some of them off by fudging her position and trying to play both sides on illegal immigration—and that was before her forced admission of hiring an illegal housekeeper.

She should have spent some money on opposition research on herself two years ago to get ahead of this issue. Instead, she was/still is on the defensive about it.

She has not been able to make the mere idea of the Return of Governor Moonbeam into an issue. Or she has not done it half as well as Louis Burnett in his fantastic new book, Gov. Jerry Brown's Destruction of the California Judiciary—a book every Californian should read before November 2.

If you can’t win when you spend $150 million in a Republican year, then you will never win.

So, in sum, am afraid Jerry Brown will pull this one out.

2) West Virginia Senate race, where the popular Democrat Governor is behind precisely because of Obama, who is very unpopular in coal country. If Republican John Raese can take Robert Byrd’s Senate seat, then that shows just how much of a shift this election is.

3) Connecticut Senate race where a repeated liar—“When I served in combat in Vietnam”–Richard Blumenthal still leads WWE co-founder Linda McMahon, who has poured more than $40 million into this tiny state.

He has no business being a US Senator. Lying about being in a war, when you weren’t, is inexcusable. But the Nutmeg State voters seem not to buy Mrs. McMahon either. Her WWE exploits—sex, violence and steroids—have really hurt her, even more than his lies.

What a mess that race is.

4) The New York State Senate race(s) have the potential to eliminate the NY GOP for the next ten years. Democrat State Senator Malcolm Smith said last spring, “If we (Democrats) win control of the State Senate we will re-district the GOP out of existence.” Well, with this idiotic clown, Carl Paladino, making a mockery of the serious issues threatening the once-great Empire State, other Republicans down the ballot are going to suffer.

5) Finally, Nevada. We simply MUST defeat Harry Reid! This is the single most seminal race of this year. He is the fellow who made all the dirty deals to pass the ObamaCare disaster. If we could throw him out this year it would show that Americans have indeed rejected the left-ward lurch of the Obama Democrats.

Ten days left. Polls will fluctuate. But the tsunami will blow hard on November 2. America is beginning to try to correct the mistakes of 2006 and 2008.

The Obama Administration is on the verge of allowing Vietnam to enrich uranium to make nuclear weapons while denying the same right to Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. And, of course, it is this enrichment scenario that is at the heart of our problem with Iran.

Former Congressman John LeBoutillier is the most outspoken opponent of this insane Obama Administration policy.

A nuclear-armed Vietnam? No Way!!!

We MUST stop this insanity!

"Two former U.S. Congressmen oppose part of U.S.-Vietnam nuclear deal"

reprinted from english.news.cn, October 16, 2010, 10:10:34

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Two former U.S. congressmen are opposing part of a nuclear deal being negotiated between the United States and Vietnam, which could be finalized by next month.

The arrangement would allow more cooperation between the two countries on nuclear technology. But former Congressmen William Hendon, R-N.C. and John LeBoutillier, R-N.Y., voiced their concerns over part of the deal, as it does not include restrictions on enriching uranium, the process by which nuclear weapons can be made.

The former congressmen argued that the move could heighten the risk of nuclear proliferation; could increase the possibility of nuclear materials falling into extremists' hands; and contended that the deal ran counter to the U.S. policy.

"We're going to give the Vietnamese nuclear enrichment authority, which could lead to nuclear weapons or, more frightening, loose nuclear material in terrorist hands," Hendon told a news conference in Washington.

The Vietnamese government has claimed that it plans to use the technology for peaceful means.

U.S. President Barack Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize in part because of his nuclear non-proliferation stance, but critics blasted the Vietnam deal as contradicting the president's stated nuclear goals.

Obama vowed in a speech from Prague in April 2009 that the United States would take the lead in pushing for a world devoid of nuclear weapons.

In spring he hosted a major nuclear summit in Washington in which participants agreed to secure vulnerable nuclear materials within their borders within four years—the goal he outlined in the Prague speech. They also agreed on what Obama called the responsibility of nations to maintain effective security of the nuclear materials and facilities under their control.

Aside from critics who charge that the Vietnam deal contradicts Obama's proposal of a nuclear-free world, others argue the arrangement represents a double standard. The United States goes to great lengths to prevent certain countries from acquiring nuclear technology but fails to apply the same rigid policies to others, critics said.

As such, a U.S. government debate over whether to press for the inclusion of a clause restricting Vietnam from enriching uranium is currently under way in Washington, according to the U.S. media reports.

The Obama administration set the so-called "gold standard" in a deal with the United Arab Emirates, when it prohibited that country from producing nuclear fuel on its soil, but did not insist on the same standard for Vietnam.

Observers here believe the arrangement with Vietnam is part of a broader U.S. strategic effort to focus more on Asia.

Editor: Deng Shasha

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/16/c_13560086.htm

Do not believe the propaganda put out by the Democrats and their shills in the MSM: the Democrats have not caught up, the races are generally not tightening, and, in fact, the GOP/Tea Party/conservative alliance is poised to re-take both the House and Senate on November 2.

Watching the broadcast TV news lately is like watching a Democratic National Committee training seminar in “How to Pump up a Dispirited Base.”

Jeff Greenfield, on Katie Couric’s newscast the other night, actually dispensed advice on how the Democrats should minimize their losses!

That is not the role of the media. But, of course, it has become the behavior of the media: to be an adjunct of the Obama White House and the Left.

We are going to win several Senate seats no one thought possible: Wisconsin and West Virginia. We are not going to win Boxer’s seat in California. We may take out Patty Murray in Washington. Am still doubtful about Connecticut, even though the Democrat, Richard Blumenthal, has no business being a US Senator after repeatedly lying about his (non-existent) service in Vietnam. But he has done so many favors as State Attorney General over so many years that even a lot of Republicans and Independents like him. And the Republican, Linda McMahon, is of a questionable background and has given a ton of dough over the years to Democrats (a total disqualifier to me; the GOP should never-ever—nominate people who played both sides of the aisle).

We are not going to win Delaware. Christine O’Donnell is just too damaged a candidate to win.

But we are poised to take out Harry Reid–and what a monumental signal that will send to DC! However, two worries remain in that race: on Election Day the voters will see a Tea Party line on the ballot that, as of today, has another candidate on it. Will that siphon votes away from Sharron Angle? And there is also a “None of the Above” line on the ballot. If just 2 or 3 per cent of anti-Reid voters park their votes on that line instead of on the Republican line, Reid could still eke out a squeaker victory.

We are not going to beat Jerry Brown. Meg Whitman has stumbled over the illegal house-keeper issue. She should have handled this much earlier on her terms, not on Gloria Allred’s.

We are going to win a ton of other governorships: Pennsylvania, Ohio and maybe even Massachusetts.

New York is a total mess. GOP candidate Carl Paladino is a total jerk and has no business being the nominee of a (once) major political party. He will get creamed by the awful Andrew Cuomo and we may not win the State Senate either because of Paladino, in which case we could be redistricted out of existence.

Florida is going GOP all the way.

Conclusion: do not listen to the last-minute garbage coming from the Left. The momentum is accelerating in the favor of the Republicans as we approach November 2. This will be an historic mid-term.

But do not celebrate too long. When we win Congress we must run it properly as Obama and the MSM will blame everything on the GOP from that day forward. And everything will be then focused on Obama’s re-election.