Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pelosi: Betrayed By "Secret Money" (updated)

You know the game is lost when the coach starts making excuses before the end of the third quarter. The same holds true in politics. The election isn’t until next week, and yet, the Democrats are already whining about how "secret" special interest money “defeated” them. This is interesting not only because it shows just how demoralized they are, but also because the claim is false.

For a couple weeks now, the Democrats have claimed that special interests have bought this election for the Republicans. Obama said it, and implied that this money was secret foreign money (and odd claim for a boy from Kenya to make). Even the MSM called him on that one. Pelosi said it and proved just how delusional she is:

“Everything was going great and all of a sudden secret money from God knows where — because they won't disclose it — is pouring in.”
Of course, that’s true if you define “great” as “planning to lose 60 seats.” And think about how insulting this claim is: people are too stupid to think for themselves and only vote for whoever spends the most money. Biden said it, but got his numbers wrong, claiming these groups spent “$200 billion.” (Being off by a factor of 1000 is actually pretty good for Joe.)

And behind the scenes, the Democrats are positively shrill about this money:
• “They’re widening the field, it’s just a stunning thing,” said a senior White House official.

• “Special interests bought the Congress they wanted. Corporations bought the new Republicans,” said a House aide.

• “The reality is that were it not for outside money there would be a lot less uncertainty in House, gubernatorial and Senate races around the country,” said a senior House official.
But is there any truth to these allegations? Nope.
• First, there is the hypocrisy problem: the Democrats benefitted from a similar phenomenon in 2006, when George Soros and friends spent lavishly to help them.

• Secondly, in election after election, the evidence has shown that no matter how much money a candidates spends, a bad candidate simply cannot win. Indeed, in 2006 and 2008, when the tide turned against the Republicans, the Democrats won numerous races where they were massively outspent.

• Third, the claim of massive secret money is just not true. Campaign experts estimate that only 10% of the money being spent in this election cycle is from these sources, the rest comes from traditional sources like the parties themselves.

• Further, the Democrats have their own identical sources of funding in groups like Soros’s group and union slush funds. In fact, AFSCME, a public employee union, is spending the most of any outside group this election cycle -- $87.5 million. . . all to help Democrats. When you look at the parties themselves, the DNC and its related committees have outspent the GOP by significant amounts.

• And finally, don’t forget the millions of dollars in should-be-illegal campaign ads being run by government agencies touting ObamaCare. . . that’s right, you’re paying to have Andy Griffith lie to you. And don’t forget all that free press the Democrats get from their fellow travelers in the MSM and Hollywood.
Despite these facts, the Democrats are running with this claim to justify their loss. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us as the Democrats now specialize in unreality. And let’s not forget that this is the same party that’s been waging such a dirty campaign that even the New York Times had to take note of the Democrats’ dirty tricks, e.g. planting and funding fake Tea Party candidates to siphon off votes from Republicans. Thus, blaming their pending loss on a lie is hardly beyond the pale for Democrats.

Ultimately, I doubt this issue has legs. It may excite the Democratic base, who are too stupid to grasp that they’re being lied to, but it doesn’t resonate with anyone else because the Democrats are equally guilty. And even among Democrats, there is no constituency to clean up campaign funding, their constituencies are solely worried about getting their own vendettas put into law. . . and they rely on dirty money.

Thus, in the end, I think this issue will merely give people like Pelosi a way to sleep at night without having to ask herself the hard questions.


Update: Here is an update from Politico tonight. Apparently, the Democrats have outspent the Republicans by $270 million during this election. Making this claim about being outspent not just a lie, but a ridiculous lie.



**** Don't forget to pass around the Election Guide to remind people why they need to vote the Democrats out!****


37 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

That is their story and they are sticking to it. As you point out, it will not change the election, but politicians always want their sound-bite. While you are right in stating they are insulting the intelligence of the public, as Hawk pointed out yesterday, there is a percentage of the public who are not as politically educated as commenterama readers, tend to fall for it to the extent they end up just assuming "both sides do it."

The reality here though is, they are the party in power. They said they had the plan to fix the economy and reduce employment and they did'nt. Coupled with the lying about healthcare and spending, I doubt twice the campaign funds would save them this time.

Unknown said...

Andrew: Speaking of "special interests," how about dem unions? And I'm a lot more concerned about illegal immigrants manning the "get out the vote for Democrats" than I am about a few bucks from overseas.

Pelosi and Obama have dragged the Democrats over the cliff, and with a little luck and the Good Lord willing, Reid will accomplish the same for the Senate. Now all I can think of is how much Soros money they will use after the election to buy election officials and judges to reverse the will of the electorate in close races.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, I agree. I don't think any campaign finance issue can be significant enough to save them from their failures. This is like leaving your car at a car wash, they destroy it, and then they try to deflect the blame by claiming that their competitors use inferior wax.

I agree that a chunk of the public will buy into this, but I don't think they matter. I suspect that most of those people either aren't voters or they have already made up their mind and just use whatever the Democrats say to justify the decision they've already made.

All in all, I think this is just an attempt to avoid dealing with the reality that they blew it -- they are simply trying to deflect blame to a secret enemy. . . as the left always does.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, Somehow (as if we don't know how), "special interests" never seems to include unions, George Soros, or other left-leaning groups. Funny how that works.

One of the things that infuriated me about McCain Feingold was that they actually excluded the unions the law... thus handing the Democrats a major advantage.

And like you, the attempts to bring illegals into this election on the side of the Democrats is highly disturbing -- especially from a party trying to make the charge that somehow the Republicans are backed by secret foreign money.

StanH said...

Always a good rule of thumb to remember with a liberal is, they lie. Projection is another one of their tried and true deflection techniques. So when you know these amongst many other facts about liberals you can find the truth on your own.

But as you stated most people are not politically savvy, I think that’s changing, look at us. Speaking for myself until I witnessed the ascension of Barry, I suffered from conservative apathy, I took care of my business, my family, paid my taxes, and voted, basically I withdrew into my own world and left politics to the politicians, bad move. Now like a laser beam I’m focused and involved, I donated money to Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Dick Morris’s Super PAC. I’ve never been to Nevada, I driven through Delaware a few times, and I passively watched Dick Morris for years, I guess that may constitute foreign money? I’ve attended a half dozen Tea Party’s, I write and call my representatives, regularly, much to their chagrin. My point, this is what will be the demise of statist Washington, not foreign money, an informed attentive electorate.

AndrewPrice said...

Stan, Very true, if you want to know anything about liberals, look at what they accuse others of being, there's a good chance they're talking about themselves.

I think you're right about the change in the electorate. Not all of it, obviously, but a large chunk of conservatives (and some leftists on the other side) has started paying attention, and that could very well mean an end to the system as it's been built. That means no more business as usual, no more placating the public with pay offs and bribes, no more acting one way in Washington and another back home. I think people (left and right) now are going to start demanding results. And that's very bad for an establishment that thrived on making promises they never intended to keep while they sold their real votes to insiders and donors.

Ponderosa said...

Andrew the correct phrasing is either"guest" or "open" money. lol

Stan is absolutely correct about projection. I've resisted the concept for a long while, but I give.

Example:

Jimmeh Carter said, "the Tea Party has been completely financed by hard right oligarchs".

Translation: "unions are completely financed by hard left interests"

Fun, easy and educational!


BTW - I voted today.

AndrewPrice said...

Ponderosa, I voted last week -- felt really good!! Go Buck!! If you don't mind, who did you pick for Governor? I finally settled on Tancredo because he has the bast chance of beating Hickenlooper.


I first noticed the projection issue a couple decades ago when I realized that all the complaints the Democrats were making described their own behavior and not the Republicans. At first, I thought this was just a public relations effort to hide what they had done and drag the Republicans down with them. But then I began to realize that they really believed what they were saying, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary.

That's why I realized this was the actual mental condition of projection (I think it's technically called "transference"), where they try to excuse their own faults by projecting those onto their opponents.

Thus, as you point out, Jimmy Peanut sees right-wing funding conspiracies because he's ashamed of the left-wing funding problems. And Pelosi sees Nazis at every Tea Party because she's trying to purge herself of her own Nazi-like behavior (hateful language and attempted use of government power to shut down her opponents).

Liberalism really is a mental condition.

AndrewPrice said...

Oh, further, on that point -- I saw an article today by uber-liberal Micheal Kinsley where he actually complained that conservatives "don't want people to enjoy the fruits of their labors". . . this from a man who wants to brutally tax people on their earnings and basically take over their businesses with forced unionization and regulation.

This is unbelievable until you understand the transference issue.

DUQ said...

It's always something with the democrats, it's never their crappy policies.

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, That's part of the defense mechanism. Rather than admit that their policies don't work or that they did a poor job, they would rather blame hidden enemies for their failures.

Individualist said...

Andrew

You have got it all wrong. The Dems are going to be defeated by a singular special interest. Just one interest group claiming the power for themselves.....

The American People and God Bless them, it's finally their time.

P.S. Blogger is not seding any emais out

AndrewPrice said...

Individualist, How very true... the greatest special interest in the country! :-)


Sorry about the e-mails. They are constantly making changes to blogger and that causes us problems -- comments disappearing and reappearing, things not loading, etc. I'll see what I can find out about the e-mail issue.

Ed said...

I had problems logging in so I just use an anonymous signin now.

Nice article, I just read the Politico story you mention. This is just more lies from these jackasses. They lie about whatever suits them so they slander anyone who opposes them and cover their own butts.

BevfromNYC said...

My favorite quote of the day

"...we haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done..."

Actually, we all know that they are in fact, getting ALL the credit they deserve and that is why they are getting kick out of the majority...

AndrewPrice said...

Ed, You're not the first to say that. We've even had a couple who needed to change their sign in name because Google wouldn't accept their old one anymore. It's strange.

In terms of slandering, that's really become the way they work. And that's a problem of not having any ideas at this point. If they had a workable philosophy, they would have something they could be touting, instead of having to spend their time blasting their enemies.

Unfortunately, it's bringing down the whole tone of debate in this country.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, LOL! So so true. I saw that quote and I literally burst out laughing.

The problem is that Pelosi and her group are used to getting credit for their intentions, not their deeds -- they don't see themselves as the least bit responsible for what they failed to do or how the things they did turned out, because only their intentions matter. So from her perspective, of course they aren't getting credit for what they've done because people aren't lavishing praise on them for what they wanted to achieve. Instead, people are holding what they did do against them and are calling them on the results.

It's moments like this that always renew my faith in the American people. You can just hear the millions of people out there who will not be fooled and will no longer play this game of being lied to and played with. The people are wise to Washington and they're demanding change. And that makes me so proud of this country!

This is an exciting time!

Writer X said...

The recent stories about voter fraud are also disheartening. Obama not only looks desperate today, he looks like he's just about ready to flop on the ground and stomp his loafers. What a baby. Next week can't come soon enough. Ditto for 2012.

AndrewPrice said...

Writer X, I've been following the voter fraud stories, it's stunning isn't it? It's too bad that our electoral and justice systems apparently don't work because it sounds like half the Democrats in the country would be in jail for voter fraud!

You're right about Obama and crew, they look desperate and venomous. So much for all their promises and all their gloating. I just hope that voters remember how nasty the Democrats are when they decide whether or not to vote. These are people who should not be allowed anywhere near government.

And like you, I am so looking forward to this election. This is gonna be sweet!

Ponderosa said...

The Tanc. A few issues with him - some he owns, but most I lay at the feet of MSM.

Maes is a complete [bleeping] disaster. Didn't much like him back in May at county and even less so now. Oy.

As for the projection/transference deal - it is mostly a failure of imagination.

"Gee that's we do it. Doesn't everybody?
Heck isn't that only way?"

Well that and massive amounts of arrogance.

AndrewPrice said...

Ponderosa, At this point, I just want the guy most likely to beat the Democrat. We need to see the back end of those fools and what they've been doing to this state.

I thought Maes was ok at first, but he just kept getting worse and worse. By now, he seems like quite a disaster. I really couldn't believe how bad the field was for the Republicans this cycle. And then they spent all that time infighting. It's been depressing.

I am happy with Buck though -- much better than Norton. The few attacks they've made against him have been pure garbage, and he seems to be doing really well whenever I've seen him. His commercials have been great.

I actually don't think the polls are as close as they claim. I think Buck will win by 5-7%. As for governor, who knows? I thought the Democrat was a shoe-in, but it looks like Tanc is is pulling even with him.

AndrewPrice said...

Ponderosa, I've been trying to find the particular Ken Buck ad on youtube, but I can't find it. I'm not sure why, everything else is out there.

It's the one where they tag Bennet as providing "the deciding vote" on a whole host of things from the stimulus to ObamaCare. It's actually one of the better political ads I've ever seen.

Bennet's ads on the other hand have been horrible. Even if I believed what the ad is saying, it comes across as simple mudslinging. I don't see any of those ads as very convincing to anyone -- they are the kinds of ads you blow off.

Joel Farnham said...

WriterX,

I think voter fraud is endemic in our system. It is too tempting a target. Just shove a few votes through. Problem is people wont cheat if they are being watched. I suspect that if we are diligent we will find that there are far fewer Democrat voters than has been reported and they vote far less often than Republicans.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, From everything that is coming out from ACORN to the Black Panthers to the union guys in New Jersey talking about fixing elections, to hearing about illegals voting to hearing about Democrats voting for old people in old folks homes, to ballots driving around in the truck of cars belonging to Democratic officials, our elections have clearly been subject to large scale fraud. In fact, I would say the Democrats have worked hard to make our voting system into a nearly perfect copy of a banana republic.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Are you saying we didn't pay enough attention and we got a witch doctor from a banana republic? ;-)

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, Do they have witch doctors in Kenya? Or do you mean Pelosi? :-)

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

You have a point. Pelosi is frightening.

AndrewPrice said...

Well said Joel, well said! LOL! Of course, as a witch doctor, she'd fit right in in San Francisco. . . as long as the bone in her nose isn't an animal bone.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Could it be that some of the traditionally blue states that we take for granted that are hopelessly liberal that our best hope is a RINO had been taken over by a machine that only gives a liberal choice?

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, In all honesty, I have to wonder.

Some districts have obviously been Gerrymandered to the point that they will produce only one result. But a lot aren't that pre-determined, yet they seem to be reliably Democratic.

And when you see stories (like Drudge has tonight) of voting machines that automatically vote for the Democrat, or where the Democrat is already checked off as the choice, or the union workers in Nevada being SEIU people, and then you factor in that these states have the biggest cities which are dominated by old-school Democratic operatives and corrupt unions, and where Democratic poll watchers seem to be free to disappear with ballots. . . well, it raises questions.

They wouldn't even need to guarantee an outright win. Look at Minnesota. They just kept finding more and more ballots until they had enough to swing the election. And with a willing media, no sense of shame, a sense of self-righteousness, and a politically controlled justice system that won't investigate their crimes, it calls into question the validity of the whole election in those states.

I think this is a very fair question that needs to be looked into.

Hopefully, more people will follow the lead of this O'Keefe guy and start collecting evidence of what is going on. If enough people can expose enough crimes that this can no longer stay hidden, then things will change. And maybe the Democrats will start losing in all but the most liberal districts.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

What I am talking about is Small town politics writ larger.

A small town generally has one party running it. The opposition puts up a token candidate. He loses. All is normal.

When "The People" demand something different, by gum they do. The problem is the opposition candidate is really with them. The new guy actually is just the same as the original, and people are satisfied and go back to sleep. Eventually, the orignial party gets back into power and all is back to the same old, same old.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

I guess what I am saying is that the old saw, "there isn't a dime worth of difference between the parties" is literally true in some places.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I've got some experience with small towns and I know exactly what you mean. What's interesting in the one small town in particular where I spent a lot of time was that it was predetermined which party would win every time. So the only thing that mattered was the primary, everything after that was decided by history and (where needed) dirty tricks/fraud.

But I think election fraud in big cities is a different issue. I don't dispute that certain groups will always vote Democratic, the Democrats have done a great job of instilling a plantation mentality in these groups. But even beyond that, if you can swing 2-5% of the vote through fraud, then it becomes nearly impossible between those two factors for Republicans to compete. And I think there is a lot of evidence in this country of the kind of wide-spread fraud that our State Department would never accept in foreign elections.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

I agree. I also think that this election is really different in that the electorate isn't going to be lying down.

I wondered why Obama NEEDS a vacation two days after the election. He is getting out while the various crimes are attempted across the nation.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I think the nature of the electorate has changed and the left isn't going to get a free pass anymore.

I think the vacation is because he knows they're going to get blasted and he wants to be away from the press and the cameras then the pundits do their postmortem.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Great site. Thanks for the election reminder and thanks for this. Democrats = liars = socialists.

AndrewPrice said...

Anon, You're welcome. I'm glad you like it! Please feel free to come back any time. Couldn't agree more about what the Democrats have become -- liars and socialists.

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