Combined is practised here too ! !

“The Chicago Boyz’ Lexington Green posted last month Murkowski = The Face of the Combine –


“In Illinois, there has long been an expression which describes the relationship between the two political parties: The Combine. Chicago Tribune writer John Kass seems to have originated this expression. See, for example, this article: In Combine, cash is king, corruption is bipartisan. Kass quoted former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald: ‘In the final analysis, The Combine’s allegiance is not to a party, but to their pocketbooks. They’re about making money off the taxpayers,’ Fitzgerald said. Kass went on: ‘He should know. He fought The Combine and lost, and the empty suits running the Republican Party encourage their friendly scribes to blame the social conservatives for the disaster of the state GOP.’” (Underscoring Forum’s .)

Lexington Green cites the case of Alaska senator (and defeated Republican primary candidate) Lisa Murkowski - -


“The way it works is this. The Democrat party is the senior member of the Combine. The GOP is the junior member of the Combine. The game is exactly the same, and whoever is up, or whoever is down, based on the random behavior of those rubes, the voters, does not matter. The game is always exactly the same, and the people who are in on the game, from either party, have a shared stake in defending the game. The Combine is a term that should be more widely used in Illinois. It is also a word that should be more widely used in the USA in general. Lisa Murkowski’s family, and her career, exist because of the Combine.” (Underscoring Forum’s .)

We are grateful to Riehl World View for drawing our attention to the “Combine” through their post last Friday entitled “The Tea Party Is Exposing America’s Combine” –


“This so called combine represents the worst of our politics today, the collusion of both parties to control the politics of a city, state, or, perhaps even a nation. In national terms, think of it as the us versus them mentality that both Democrat and Republican voters often feel when eyeing Washington, DC. This arrangement has long been known to exist in New Jersey politics.”


Reveals blogger Dan Riehl - -


“Enter the Republican minority leader in Nevada’s state senate, Bill Raggio, and his decision to back Reid over Angle based upon professional respect. What profession, Raggio? You’re supposed to be a representative of the people in Nevada and, as a Republican, should feel obligated to support the candidates they, not you, put up for election. And there you have our mostly pathetic political class in America today.”


Well, Tea Partiers and grass-roots conservatives, we have been warned and now the ball is in our court.

* * * * * * * *

PICKING THE RIGHT CANDIDATES FOR THE JOB: COLORFUL PERSONALITIES OR
SOLID CONSERVATIVE ADVOCATES?

“Organizers said that 1,560 people voted in the poll and that Christie won with 14 percent of the vote. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin followed closely behind with 13.5 percent. Neither Cuccinelli nor McDonnell was included among 15 options presented to straw-poll voters.” — From the Washington Post’s article “Attorney General Cuccinelli’s star keeps rising at Va. tea party gathering(Underscoring Forum’s.)

We have been admirers of governor Chris Christie from the beginning - - True Grit: A Governor Chris Christie for Maryland? as well as governor Sarah Palin - -A Home Run for America . . .

But we just came across Mark Levin’s comments on governor Christie last month which we find a quite sensible guide for the coming months - -


“My position on Governor Christie is quite clear and not very controversial. I believe he is good for New Jersey. I even had him on my show before the election to promote him. But I do not believe he is presidential material given his positions on such important issues as illegal immigration, government-run health care, the Ground Zero mosque (in which he won’t take a position), cap-and-trade, and other matters. He also campaigned for Mike Castle, which is fine, but further underscores the point. Why this is considered controversial I do not know. People will have different opinions. That’s how it works.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Our continuing concern is that Tea Partiers and grass-roots conservatives — battered by the last two years of the Obama Administration and rejoicing in a possible major November election victory — will after November 2 focus most of their energies on the various personalities competing for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

It seems to us, however, that the first job of Tea Partiers and their grass-roots allies will be holding any Republican-led House of Representatives to the conservative promises they have made.

This will be hard work, require much attention to House developments and records of votes, while grass-roots efforts may not be entirely welcomed by every Republican member.

Of course, it is vital to find a strong national Republican presidential nominee. But he or she must also act like a modern conservative and have a record that supports the candidate’s campaign image.

Tea Partiers will have to probe deeper than the sound bites of Fox-News conservatives and do their own digging. Richard Brookhiser a while ago explained “[p]olitical journalism is a combination of policy wonkery and new journalism; its practitioners write about ideology and personality. . . .” We will need a great deal more than “ideology and personality” if we are to begin right-sizing the “permanent government” or the Administrative Branch.

We have seen over the last ten years too many voices speaking for national conservative or center-right organizations who simply could not bring themselves forcefully and publicly to challenge Bush operatives on a wide variety of that Administration’s serious missteps, ranging from the curtailment of political speech, to the expansion of the Medicare entitlement, to the administration’s acquiescence in the Democratic Congress’ 2008 spending, to its capitulation to the Democrats on reforming Fannie and Freddie. (One notable exception is Eagle Forum, continuously vigilant and smart.)

Some of this failure to speak out may have been due to fear of retaliation by the Bush White House. But much more of this timidity, we believe, reflected a very bad civic habit of uncritical deference to any political celebrity who happens to sail under the Republican flag.