I’m being INTERVIEWED TODAY on the JOHN GIBSON SHOW, 5:10PM (pst) on KXDJ Fox Radio
by Gary GrahamGood Afternoon! I received a call this morning – from the Republican Party. A very lovely sounding woman came on the line and thanked me for my support during the past election, that enabled such a good showing battling the Democrats, and would I care to renew my support with a check for $600 today in order to… “oh wow, something’s burning on the stove, I’m sorry I can’t talk right now” CLICK.
I hung up. Shaking my head I resumed reading my email. Then I stopped, reached for the phone, hit star-69. The connection did not go through, but I wanted to tell that kind woman what I really thought about ‘the good showing’ the Republican party did that past election! Yeah, I voted for McCain…but I’m one of those who felt like Ann Coulter – “On November 4, let’s all get drunk and vote for John McCain!” This was the best candidate our party could field to take on the Liberal onslaught? Has George Bush so mangled the GOP in 7 yrs that we should be enthusiastic about pushing a pseudo-Conservative, a ‘moderate’, a let’s-all-get-along- with-Marxists, water-it-down, closet Lefty?
Say it ain’t so!
But I didn’t say any of that. I pretended to be burning something on the stove. Okay, I hadn’t had my coffee, I wasn’t up to thinking yet. But as my funk was simmering, I happened to receive an email from my lovely cousin, Lisa in Idaho. Seems she had written a piece last month and was wondering where she could post it. I read it, and boy did she come to the right place. She encapsulated everything I would love to have told that Republican Party solicitor, had I not had been fake-setting my kitchen on fire. (The vitriole accompanies the passion, but hey – she’s Italian; ya gotta love the WOP’s!)
So with her permission…and for your dining and dancing pleasure…here is a rant from my beautiful cousin in Idaho, Lisa Collini:
OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS AND THE RNC:
I am not famous. I do not have lots of money. I am not in politics. All I have to offer you is my vote, which should make me and all my friends, the 56 million of us who voted Republican, very powerful to you.
Here is my message to you: FIND YOUR VOICE!!
Do you realize who we HAVEN’T heard from January 2006 until August 2008? ANY REPUBLICAN IN CONGRESS!!!
You handed the microphone over to the Democrat leadership in the House and Senate and watched silently as they turned that microphone into a megaphone, and you allowed their message, unopposed, to be carried across this nation and around the world by the blatantly liberal Media. You have now given the liberal mainstreet Media a mandate.
You allowed Mrs. Pelosi to erroneously state, after the 2006 election, that the reason the Democrats won the majority is that the American people want out of Iraq. And instead of Republicans owning the reason for their loss, that being they had adopted liberal Democrat policies of big spending, big earmarks and big government, you were silent. Do not allow Mrs. Pelosi to state that the American people agree with liberal democrats! Conservatives voted moderate and liberal republicans out of office; they did not vote liberal democrats in!
I applaud the Republicans who chose to stay in Washington in August and do their jobs and work hard to find solutions to the oil crisis. And while they were there, why didn’t they point out that under Pelosi’s leadership, the cost of gas almost doubled??? And, for that matter, why, in two years, haven’t any Republicans in Congress publicized that lowering gas prices was on Pelosi’s agenda for the first 100 days of the 2006 Democrat Congress? Or the fact that she accomplished nothing that was on her agenda for the first 100 days. Or the fact that since she’s been Speaker of the House, the “culture of corruption” shifted over to the Democrat side of the aisle!
The financial crisis was, in large part, the result of skyrocketing fuel prices that caused severe hardship to our economy, from workers’ commuting costs increasing, to the hardship on our nation’s trucking business, which resulted in higher costs of goods and services to the consumer. That part of the financial crisis is the direct result of Pelosi’s unrelenting refusal to allow ANY legislation that would result in lowering fuel prices, including but not limited to DRILLING FOR OUR OWN OIL and, as Senator McCain suggested, a moratorium on Federal gas taxes.
The mortgage/housing crisis was caused in large part by Congressional Democrats and that’s going back to the Clinton administration. Why have no Republicans in Congress been speaking up about this? Why are Republicans in Congress afraid to speak out about Barney Frank’s participation in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacle, or Maxine Waters’ participation or any of the other Democrat members of Congress who encouraged lenders to lend to people who could not afford to purchase a home, or who, like Chris Dodd, got sweetheart loans? Where is your voice, Republicans in Congress?
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, normally, but the ultimate financial crisis, I believe, was triggered by Pelosi and Reid for the sole purpose of getting their presidential candidate elected and their Congressional candidates elected and/or re-elected, with no regard for the detriment to the financial market in the United States nor for the global financial market. They only cared about maintaining their power and growing their power, not in the best interests of our country. Similar to Pelosi getting Tom Lantos to do her dirty work and condemn Turkey for 95-year-old atrocities, with the sole purpose of angering Turkey so that Turkey would deny U.S. military access to and through Turkey, to make it more difficult for the US military to win the war in Iraq.
So busy running from President Bush with their tails between their legs, and hiding from all the mainstream Media bullets, Republicans in Congress have ignored the great things this President accomplished, and allowed the mainstream Media and the Democrats in Congress a free rein at the public microphone to constantly bash this President, to constantly bash Republicans. Is it no wonder that the public has such strong feelings of disapproval for President Bush? And since CNN and BBC are the biggest providers of “news” in Europe, is it no wonder the European public has such strong feelings against President Bush? Did you ever consider praising YOUR President? Under President Bush, we have had no attack on America in 7 years, and IT IS NO ACCIDENT! It is because of this President’s resolve, his backbone, his principles and the fact that he absolutely stands on those principles, and because he has actually performed brilliantly Job Number One for a president, to protect America! Under President Bush we have had the lowest unemployment in history and we have had the greatest prosperity. And I have yet to hear this from any Republican member of Congress!
And let me pause for a minute and explain who I am. I am an above-average informed voter. I tape Fox News Channel from Fox and Friends First to On the Record, and all day Saturdays and Sundays. I listen to talk radio daily, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck. When I can’t listen, I go back and listen to archived shows. I read Human Events, The Weekly Standard, NewsMax. Online I read articles from National Review Online, The Heritage Foundation, Townhall, NewsMax, American Solutions, American Spectator, American Thinker, Breitbart, Citizens United, Drudge Report, American Solutions for Winning the Future-Newt Gingrich, and David Limbaugh. My bookshelves are lined with books from the Conservative Book Club.
So when I tell you I haven’t heard from Republicans in Congress, it’s not because I’m not listening or reading or watching, IT’S BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS AREN’T SPEAKING!!!! Well, if you listen to Fox News Channel you can hear some Republicans in Congress speaking, but not very loudly!
For every investigation that either Pelosi or Reid or one of their minions instigates, Republicans need to begin investigations of their own. If the RNC expects contributions from conservatives, they should not expect us conservatives to do their job for them. INVESTIGATE DEMOCRAT LEADERS! TAKE THE INITIATIVE FOR ONCE! STOP PLAYING NICE! Exposing Democrats who engage in shady dealings, who bend laws for their own purposes is NOT partisan! It is a civic responsibility, at the very least. Voters need to know what their party leaders are engaged in. And if the RNC is hesitant because Republican leaders or Republican members of Congress might get caught in the cross-fire, then those Republicans must also be exposed!
Republicans in Congress should stop treating the voting public as the Democrats in Congress do, as if we are just too stupid to understand the “complexities” of government. Overspending is not complex, earmark spending is not complex, corruption is not complex, unethical behavior is not complex. We voters understand that. It’s time our representatives understand that also.
Criticizing the President-Elect is not being mean. I’m not talking about personal attacks. I’m talking about criticizing his spending programs, criticizing his foreign policy, criticizing his taxing policy.
Go on the attack!
Find your voice!
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE WORKING FOR!
REMEMBER WHO VOTED FOR YOU!!
– Lisa Maria Collini
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41 Comments
Good stuff, thanks. Although the part about unemployment under Bush being the lowest in history is not right…for much of his Presidency, it has been below the historical average. Not quite the same thing.
Keep it coming, though!
BRAVO! If I didn’t know better I would thought I wrote that. Someone needs to listen to your cousin’s words for she speaks for many of us average voting American conservatives who are waiting for at least whisper from those who claim to represent us. This is not a popularity contest folks. It your JOB to do what is best for this country. And if that means stepping on toes or making people get upset then do it. At least then a dialogue will be started and we can hear more than the liberal side of things. Conservative should not equal wimp!
Good luck Gary! Kick butt.
Some are listening. I believe Boehner in Ohio and Senator Kyl in Arizona after Arizonans killed him with correspondence against the amnesty bill that unfortunately, Senator McCain sponsored. Somehow I think the Senators hear however the problem is dealing with an American population that is at 80% attention deficit disorder. I’m not certain there is an answer due to the brain drain in America. I do believe, as has been mentioned, that reaching an audience requires attention through visual media. Brilliant what the Dems did with electing a man with virtually no experience running anything and no accomplishments documented. He is the only President I know that has not disclosured most of his past. Encouraging artists, directors and actors to speak out will help. If Americans would vote with dollars, maybe we can have media worth watching. Hopefully, this website is a new beginning and will provide encouragement to Hollywood.
I voted for Sarah Palin. McCain just happened to be on her ballot.
I just got an email from him that began, “My friends … ” No entiendo. No tengo dinero.
Viva la Sarah!
God Bless You! Thank you for being the voice of conservatives.
Vitriole with an “e”, nice touch, I thought it was a typo at first.
Gary, where the hell have you been all these years?…lol.
Hope to read more from you….and hope they dont burn you at the stake out there in LaLa land.
Juke
…oh yeah, and screw Juan McCain. I follow no man who wont stand with his own people and John McCain knows our cites are being over run with illegals (that was called “colonization” when white people did it) and he takes the side if the invaders?
To hell with him and all like him!
Juke
Your family sounds like good people, Gary.
Give ‘em hell Gary!!!
Yes, it’s like that. And God help you, nobody need feel like Ann Coulter.
As to ‘above-average informed voter.’ Well, okay. But for good or ill, your cousin has a fairly predictable and very limited range when it comes to what she watches and what she reads. At some point, I’d think, one might want to risk hearing an opinion you disagree with. Just for the hell of it.
Good stuff, Gary. Is there anyone else in your family we need to be hearing from? Lisa, perhaps you should run for Congress…
Sorry Harley, but ALL we have been hearing for the last two years is the opinion of those we disagree with…it’s called main stream media.
Yeah Harley. Lets get some fair and unbiased news from somebody like Keith “Fox News is worse then Al Qaeda” Olbermann or Chris “Its my job to make sure Obama succeeds/ What is this strange sensation in my pants” Matthews. I’m sure they, along with the rest of the MSM would be willing to give us a fair and unbiased assessment of things today. They can tell us how making schools more energy efficient will help get us out of this disaster we are in.
Anywho, I think there are a lot of good conservative young Republicans around and we NEED to promote them as alterantives to the coming monstrosity.Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, John Culberson, Kevin McCarthy and Mike Pence are a few that come to my mind in the house. In the senate Jim Demint, John Ensign and John Thune seem to be some of the few sane people left in the senate. We have a great, great group of young, conservative governors- Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, John Hunstman in Utah, Mitch Daniels- to support in the future.
We have to support these candidates. We can’t just keep running either closet Dems like McCain, or people who pay lip service to conservatism then turn around and spend like a drunken Ted Kennedy. We must support them via grass roots movements and get the word out about them.
REALLY, Colleen? You mean you were unable to listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Dennis Prager, Laura Ingraham or a host of others on the radio, watch Fox News (cable’s #1 rated news channel), Glen Beck on CNN or any conservative religious broadcast, read the Wall Street Journal (higher circulation than the New York Times), the New York Post or the Washington Times, subscribe to magazines like National Review, The Weekly Standard, The American Conservative or Human Events or read literally thousands of Conservative blogs and message boards and online and syndicated columnists?
You can’t find ANY opinion in mass media that mirrors your own? Maybe you’re not trying hard enough.
Harley,
I saw the Jaunita Broderick interview just after the impeachment trial of Clinton ended. I sat there and listened to her tell a chilling story of rape. I sat there while the news interviewers noted that all the facts of her story checked out. I saw the letter from Bill Clinton where he stated he was Sorry. I heard no one stating he did not write it. Then I heard the news guy admint that they had purchased the exclusive rights to the interview from Mrs. Broderick and sat on it until after the impeachment proceedings so as not to influence them.
This is the same media that bradcasted every unverified claim against Clarene Thomas, the same media that forged a document stating W dodged the draft, the same media that admitted that they ran stories they knew were false so that Sadaam Hussein would allow them to keep a news bureau in the country. This is the same media that waited until just before the congressional elections to release the Republican who made unwanted advances against male pages but delayed a story about John Edwards having an affair to minimise the damage to the democratic party.
No Harley I don’t watch the main stream news, I do watch only Fox. I go to news sites by the Wall Street Journal and the British Financial Times for world events and not overwhelmingly liberal papers. It is not because I don’t want to hear the other side.
It is because I don’t trust liberal to be “honest” and I will not subject myself to propaganda. Maybe if the LA Times or the NY Times or the Washington Post would stop showing the journalistic integrity of the Soviet Union’s Pravda I might consider it
Drew –
Those you list aren’t conservatives – they are Zionist stooges. When Mark Koernke has his own show nationally syndicated, we will talk.
Alex- I literally have no idea how to respond to your comment. Is there anyone else here who agrees and would like to clarify?
who cares!
Alex,
I have been called a lot of things before by those with other views simply for having the temerity to disagree with folks like you about their opinion, but I must admit “Zionist Stooge” is a new one. Really wish you guys who are always preaching tolerance would listen to yourselves for a few minutes. Of course since your normally shouting vile nonsense at the top of your lungs I guess I can understand why you’d prefer not too.
As to Mark Koernke getting a nationally syndicated show, in order to do that first you need to get some ratings. The one show he did have WWCR didn’t fair all that well, but considering that most folks in the looney bin aren’t allowed radios I’m sure that had something to do with his lackluster ratings.
Air America found that out soon enough though, if you don’t get the ratings, you don’t stay on the air. It’s simple business, not some vast conspiracy. “Zionist Stooge”.. hmm.. sounds like a great name for a band doesn’t it? But seriously, which one was the “Zionist” stooge? Larry, Mo or Curly? Lol..
Todd- After reading about Mark Koernke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Koernke) I doubt that either he nor poster Alex are tolerance-preaching Liberals.
Two for two out of the gate, Gary — great stuff and thanks for sharing your cousin’s thoughts (just married me an intelligent, lovely and patriotic Guinea and can’t get enough of ‘em)!!! You may want to clue her into Modern Conservative, too. While I’m admittedly biased as one of its contributing columnists, founder Chris Cook has been writing some amazing stuff over there and definitely worth a look-see.
I think for me the essence of what *I* wanted to say to McCain and the RNC during and after the election was “If you’re gonna reach across the aisle, STAY THERE.” I voted Republican because someone was clever enough to get Sarah Palin in there before McCain was able to think twice about having a REAL conservative on his ticket. I think he was despicable BEFORE he got on the ticket, I was sullen about him while he was there, and I think he was even more despicable and cowardly AFTER the election when he did NOTHING to defend his former running mate. McCain, dont bother waving those medals in front of my face anymore, m’kay? You pissed on them when you decided to push forward McCain-Feingold and did what you said you wouldnt do while in captivity: caved into foreign pressure in regards to amnesty just so you could escape the real pain of standing for American principles. Why did you even bother in Vietnam if you were just going to come back here and erode American sovereignty through our government?
Ugh. Sorry…but thats where a lot of my vitriol lies, and the RNC has been on my list since 2006. As far as I am concerned, the RNC is the little socialite club of little blue-haired women in the half-million dollar homes writ large: you cant stand being confronted with the fact that millions of average REAL Americans actually DO want to get engaged with the welfare of our country. The more you try to mold Real America into the image of the patrician negotiator, the more is going to slip away from you as far as real credibility and power…that is, unless you WANT it to be that way…in which case, Real America is gonna have to do some checking into this…Not scared? To quote Yoda: you will be…you will be…
Anyway, to get back to the post at hand – Gary, your neice was eloquent and intelligent. I pray that the ones who have the power to listen and effect change where we’d like to see it happen will do so…
[...] January 9, 2009 by groovyvic From my new favorite site, this excellent post: “Find Your Voice.” [...]
WE can start to find a voice by drawing the line in the stand and stop Al Franken from stealing a seat in the Senate.
This is bullsnot and as Americans we have to stop it in its tracks NOW.
All I see in this coming administration is a President elect running around with a home made seal, touting government is the answer, whilst the three stooges(sorry Larry,Moe and Curly) (Pelosi,Reid and Durbin) make moves to solidify power, not to do the business of making America great, but to solidify their personal power. Are we going to sit around and allow our country to be socialized and thrown down the sewer for these egoist lefties or are we going to do something about it?
again
I say we start with stopping Al Franken’s larceny.
Are you SERIOUS? This is the kind of “blind eye” to reality hypocrisy, that got Obama elected. “Nero” wasn’t THAT bad an emporer.
Your cousin is right. The Rs never speak up and never fight back. The only voice the public hears comes from the Liberal Attack Machine. In sum, the Rs are a bunch of spineless whimps. They don’t deserve our support. That crowd will never change. We need a new party, a real Conservative party.
Keith-
Bringing light to the voter fraud from the election may support your cause. Notice the main stream media is not covering the people currently being charged with voter fraud. I heard that in 25 counties in MN, more votes were cast than voters. How could any election board certify this election? Perhaps someone from this website could monitor the progress on these court cases.
Frank, and others…
Limiting your range when it comes to the opinion you expose yourself to is just that, self-limiting. Living in an echo chamber is satisfying in its way — and let’s face it, a lotta Lefties do that, too — but it stops one from truly engaging with the issues at hand. Why look into an approving mirror when there’s a world out there to view and assess?
It just seems lazy and easy.
Thank you for another timely article Mr. Graham.
I would like to point out one thing though. Our Republican legislators are doing their jobs, but there is a near complete media blackout on their activities.
If you want to know what they are doing, you must go to their websites. A good place to start is Minority Leader John Boehner’s website: http://gopleader.gov/
Prior to the bail out, Minority Leader Boehner proposed a Rapid Economic Recovery plan that included portions of the American Energy Act and significant tax cuts. The public was never informed. It is not because Minority Leader Boehner wasn’t talking, it was because he is being gagged by the media.
I wrote about this to several high profile columnists and commentators as well as to several high profile bloggers and was completely spurned by every one of them.
Many of them are criticizing our Republican legislators, but those very people refuse to publish or acknowledge any of their efforts.
It is not our leadership who is failing to do their jobs.
Please everyone write to your Representatives and tell them to leave the Hill and return to their districts and start stumping for sane legislation. They need to go to malls, churches, schools, service stations, Walmarts…anywhere they can find people and start talking.
That is the only way they are going to get their message out. The media, including conservative media are all censoring everything they say or do.
Best regards,
Gail S
Gary, don’t ever lose your voice through the power of your words! And thank you for introducing to us to your cousin, Lisa, and sharing with us her equally compelling article.
We shouldn’t even be focusing on the Democratic Party until we can get our own Republican house unified and in order (”United we stand, Divided we fall.”) Only then will we have the strength to win back America’s votes and take back both Congressional Houses and The White House! But as you stated, Lisa, it has to begin with we Conservatives and Republicans “Finding Our Voice!”
My personal philosophy is: Don’t hesitate to pick up the phone, or send a fax or email, to give good ‘ole fashion verbal/written b–ch slap (keeping it as respectful as possible, of course!) to your local, state & federal elected officials when you feel their actions and votes are off-message and corrosive to the best interests of we citizens and our city/state/nation! Take the time to write letters to the editor of your local newspapers. And if the media refuses to do their job by providing equal and un-biased coverage, then use the power of talk radio and the internet to get the relevant stories out to the masses! And don’t be afraid to put your name out there behind your message. Stand strong and proud in your convictions!
Gary Graham and Ann Coulter in ‘12. Gary Graham writes with the passion necessary to win.
Republicans need a good swift kick and this goes a long way toward giving it to them. I appreciated Boehner’s stance in the beginning about the bailout package, and thought that when McCain went to Washington it was to stand with Boehner AGAINST it. Both caved. So much for opposition.
I cannot think of a wimpier group. From Hank Paulson on his knees to Nancy Pelosi to Boehner and McCain actually voting for the package there is nothing strong or heroic about either mental picture.
The Democrats treat politics like the blood sport it is and the republicans brought a knife to a gunfight. They simply do not know how to fight and cave at the first threat of a real or manufactured scandal.
The word I hear is that the movement is in place by Soros backed groups to replace each and every Secretary of State with ‘their’ people. People who will make sure that the Al Franken type shenanigans ensure their people get elected even when they haven’t been elected. Conservatives better wake up and smell the Obama coffee because we are going to be drinking it for at least 4 years and maybe for 40 years if Conservatives or Republicans ( or a party that actually represents conservative values) don’t get that they need to fight for their principles and their country. Because the only enemy we have is not in the Middle East. They are in Washington and on Capitol Hill.
Just remember the website http://www.numbers.com to get your opinions to the “leaders” in DC.
If they get enough faxes they will likely listen, and a few irate phone calls can’t hurt either.
Sorry to say it but, I think McCain left his cojones in Viet Nam, he certainly showed no sign of them during the election.
Right on, Gary! I greatly admire both you and your cousin for telling it like it REALLY is. You’ll have my support for any project you choose to undertake from now on and I’d be honored to count you as one of those in Hollyweird deserving of our viewership and support in the future.
Harley–
Maybe you haven’t noticed but the real reason Limbaugh, et al, have prospered so is because they came along at the precise time when there was a virtual absence of ANY conservative voices in any of the media and Limbaugh, at least, made us realize that we were NOT alone in the wilderness…that there are MILLIONS of us who share his viewpoint, but we were NOT getting our point of view reflected in the so-called “mainstream media” at all. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, NPR, AP, UPI, Reuters, Time, Newsweek, the NY Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, LA Times, SF Chronicle, Atlanta Journal, and about ANY major “newspaper of record”…oddly, including the Wall Street Journal outside of the editorial pages…have, for years been demonstrably leftist in content and editorial philosophy–at least since the 50’s when Morley Safer and Edward R. Morrow pontificated about how “evil” Joe McCarthy was to point out that our State Department’s bureaucracy was full of communists and “fellow travelers.”
Drew -
My impression of his original post was that he was using Koernke as an example in an attempt to make the comparison between Koernke and the rest of us as conservatives. Pretty difficult to do, since the guy has almost nothing in common with us at all.
But you must admit that as far as the tolerence preaching left, they rarely if ever seem to practice what they preach. Just today I was watching video of a “peace” demonstration held in Florida by the oh so tolerant left where the tolerance and peace crowd was screaming at the Jewish protestors across the street to “Go back to the ovens”. As a conservative blogger myself I’ve had numerous comments directed at me by the oh so tolerant left that were just the nastiest personal attacks you can imagine. They wouldn’t or couldn’t debate the facts, instead they just resorted to name calling. Sad. Just watch what happens anytime a conservative speaker or group has the temerity to try to express their point of view on a college campus. So much for tolerance.
Oh, and just for the record, the reason Fox news is the #1 rated news channel is because a lot of people, not just conservatives, are getting fed up with being spoon fed innaccurate, poorly researched news stories in which the facts are being altered, made up or left out to support a certain political viewpoint. Odds are good this particular trend will continue, because the only thing crashing harder than the stock market in recent times is MSNBC’s ratings.
I’m sure “Powder” really asked you some tough questions, Garee. Like “what do you think of Bush’s spincter? I detect a hint of eldeberries and musk. Don’t you think there’s just a hint of peat as well?”
LOL. I love Republican Fluffers.
Nice site you have!
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