How Rahm Is Reviving the GOP

thedailybeast.com ^ | August 25, 2009 | John Batchelor

[Free ThinkerNY]

Republicans are once again ascendant—and for this they can thank Rahm Emanuel. John Batchelor gets the scoop from gleeful conservatives on the trail of Democratic destruction left by Obama’s bullying enforcer.

Suddenly the disgraced and demoralized Republican Congress has an unearned future, thanks to the superhuman clumsiness of a man who has made himself indispensable to the Obama administration and insufferable to the Democratic Congress, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

The GOP always knew that Emanuel was a problem that could not be solved and could only be endured while he served three tempestuous terms in the House. But now the beleaguered Democratic majority is learning painfully that Emanuel’s talents for bullying, whimsical favoritism, cheerful power-grabbing, and self-congratulatory earthiness have transformed the first hundred days of the Obama administration’s seamless accomplishment into a second hundred days of blame and gloom.

First, Emanuel used frontman Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Finance Committee chair, to ditch the health-care public option, while sending President Obama to speak softly at dinner at the home of prickly Senator Charles Grassley (R-Grant Wood). The latest Emanuel co-authored ploy—forcing health-care legislation through in the fall with Democratic-only votes—underlines that the White House has become as deaf, daring, and driven as the fabled Democratic machines of Tammany Hall or Emanuel’s own Cook County, where he was a once and future fundraiser for the Daleys.“We suck,” a blunt Republican partisan reports, “but they suck more right now.”

[PGR88]

It will be an interesting question - WHO will be the first cabinet secretary to go?

I sense that there are a few in the Obama Administration (Rahm being the main one) who will never leave. Obama needs them more than they need him.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Verginius Rufus]

(R - Grant Wood)

I guess Charles Grassley would look natural holding a pitchfork in Grant Wood's painting.

[dalebert]

mc cain on helthcare is painful

[Seruzawa]

Funny how the Rats pushed the conspiracy theory that Bush was just Karl Rove’s puppet when apparently in reality Obamalama is in fact Rahm’s puppet. LOL!

[Disambiguator]

“We suck,” a blunt Republican partisan reports, “but they suck more right now.”

Shockingly honest.

[RAO1125]

Which is why we should vote None of the Above.

[SecondAmendment]

I for one am sick and tire on how Zero gets a pass on everything. If its not Emanuel's fault, then it is Pelosi's, If not Pelosi's then Reid's. If not Reid, then Bush's. An such is the great Obama circle-jerk-of-blame.

What ever happened to "The buck stops here" ?

[BJClinton]

Shockingly honest.

Vote GOP: we don't suck quite as bad as the Democrats.

[myself6]

The “ascendancy” of the republican party is a trick of smoke and mirrors. Crediting Rahm with that “ascendancy” is further compounding a very false premise.

This is about US not the politicians. The GOP were literally humping Zeros leg before WE, the ANGRY malcontents, started getting rowdy. Make no mistake, if given the chance, the gop will GLADLY go back to slobbering over zeros shoes and killing themselves to “reach across the isle”

The ONLY damn way the GOP is going to benefit from OUR work is if WE take the wheel of that miserable shipwreck of a party and kick the socialists overboard. We are going to need to do this in the near future anyway... But we need to do it at the STATE level first.

[Buckeye McFrog]

my bet is the first to go will still be Leon Panetta because to do otherwise in the midst of this witch hunt would damage his credibility beyond repair

[Disambiguator]

Vote GOP: we don't suck quite as bad as the Democrats.

Shorten it up, and you've got a bumper sticker: Vote GOP: Democrats Suck More.

[Grut]

Which is why we should vote None of the Above.

Or just vote the 'ins' out: 'pubbie or Dem, if they're up for reelection vote for the other guy. We need to get rid of the Democrats but we also need not to reward the Republicans for their years of shortsighted spending. Fortunately, since there're more Democrats than Republicans, we can do both.

[johnnycap]

This will end sadly (gladly for us). Rahm will be marched out and shot through the head at some point before it’s all over and it will probably be Michelle Obama who gets it done. (Remember Don Regan? Nancy Reagan had to finish him off after the damage was almost irreversible).

But the best part is when Obama does his Mia Copa speech. You know the one...it produced the Nixon, “The American People need to know their president is not a crook...” or Carter’s “The American people are suffering from a malaise...and this job is too big for one man.” Every failed presidency has that moment when the president addresses the nation, jumps the shark and moves forever from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Don’t worry...it’s coming.

[Liz]

Is Obama implementing Rahm's "The Plan"?
(from Rahm's book "The Plan, Big Ideas for America")
FR Posted August 17, 2009 by HollyB

Now we know who is running the show. Rahm Emanuel's main points----- which Obama is now trying to ram down our throats.

1. Page 160 New Domestic Defense Division
Rahm: “It should include top security talent from the CIA, the FBI, and the ranks of state and local law enforcement.
Obama: The new task force: The Team would be drawn from those with relevant experience probably from agencies such as the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon…” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124787391051060705.html

2. Page 58 Citizen service:
Rahm: “Every citizen needs to understand and accept the essence of the American bargain: Each of us has to do his or her part. While the rights of citizenship are explicit in our constitution, the implicit responsibilities are every bit as crucial. All Americans between ages of 18-25 will be asked to serve their country by going through 3 months of basic training, civil defense preparation, and community service”.
http://change.gov/americaserves/ “Obama and Biden will call on citizens of all ages to serve”.
HR 1388 Serve America Act
For more information on HR1388 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1388

=========================================

Rahm's Citizen Service “The nation will enlist them for 3 months of civilian service. They’ll be asked to report for basic civil defense training in their state or community.” Obama:” We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded”. http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/obamas_civilian_national_secur.html

“Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year”. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80829

==============================================

KEEP IN MIND Candidate Obama campaigned on installing a “Civilian Security Force” on US soil. Dual citizen Rahm Emanuel surely got the top White House job as Obama’s COS based on his Israeli training on how to organize a “Civilian Security Force.” Rham Emanuel has been trained to organize a civilian security force as a volunteer for “Sar’el”——the three-week Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) training program to train civilians. Looking at ACORN’s activities, and the BILLIONS Obama has given them, ACORN is primed for (and is already acting as) a “Civilian Security Force.”

ONE RAHM VERSION Circa 1991 Rahm Emmanuel volunteered in a program for civilian service in the IDF, and worked on brake components for APC’s and tanks in an IDF motor pool. He is lacking part of a finger and for many years went around claiming that he’d lost it in actions against the enemy in a tank.

Now if Rahm fought in the military of foreign government, that would negate his American citizenship (US citizens forfeit their citizenship when they serve in the military of a foreign government).

SECOND RAHM VERSION Rahm volunteered for “Sar’el”——a three-week Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) training program (like US boot camp) where civilians are trained to assist the Israeli military. Civilians like Rahm lived on an IDF military base to get the proper training. A civilian volunteer, Rahm assisted the IDF during the 1991 Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel’s northern bases.

Rahm's father was an Israeli who was part of the underground resistance movement under the British Mandate.

FRIGHTENING STATEMENT Obama has stated that Rahm tells him "everything he needs to know about Israel."

Rahm Emanuel today is a dual Israeli-American citizen. It is not clear whether a dual citizen is permitted to serve in a high level US govt job that makes policy decisions for Americans.

[RAO1125]

You’ll still end up with the same crap, just a different smell. We need real third and fourth parties but the game is rigged.

[Liz]

Honest ta God---I just hate it when Rahm is dissed.
We all know Wonder Boy Rahm is "totally perfect."

RAHM WAS CLINTON ADVISOR, WALL STREET MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, A CONGRESSMAN, WHITE HOUSE COS
AND RAHM WAS NOT EVEN VOTED "MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED."

TIMELINE

1992 Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million which nailed his victory.

1993 Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton from 1993 to 1998. Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.

1993 One of Rahm's proudest moments was an event that touched his political sensibilities and his personal ties to Israel: the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony after the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Emanuel directed the details of the ceremony, down to the choreography of the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat."

1998 While official Washington was in the throes of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm Emanuel, a senior political aide to Pres Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle for something of a job interview, The New York Times’s Michael Luo writes.

John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Mr. Emanuel at the behest of Mr. Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Mr. Emanuel. “I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,” Mr. Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank, told The Times. “It worked out better than I could have hoped.” And better than Mr. Emanuel could have imagined as well.

Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.

1998 Rahm "The Perfect" resigned his position as an advisor to Bill Clinton, to become a Wall Street investment banker with Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002.

1999 Just like that (snaps fingers)----in 1999, Rahm became managing director at their Chicago office. According to Congressional disclosures, Emanuel made $16.2 million in his 2 1/2 year stint as a Wasserstein Perella banker AND he probably paid all his taxes.

Amazingly, Rahm "The Perfect" became a multi-millioniare overnight----and he wasn't even voted "Most Likely To Succeed."

At Wasserstein Perella, Rahm worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC.

2002 Rahm "The Perfect" then ran for Congress (successfully, OF COURSE). Luckily (/snic) members of the securities and investment industry became Rahm's biggest backers, donating more than $1.5M up to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

2006 Rahm also leaned heavily upon the financial industry as 2006 Dem Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8M to the Dem committee (behind only retirees).

Remember, the point of Obama bringing Rahm in was so that "tolerant and compassionate bi-partisan Rahm" could work constructively w/>Congress to pass an ambitious agenda.......

Here's tolerant Rahm expressing his feelings for America on inauguration day.

=========================================

SURPRISE There are even more "perfect" Emanuels out there.

RAHM'S BRO, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, was tapped as White House health care policy advisor (thank God Rahm will help Ezekiel handle Medicare/Aid billions)
Chicago Sun Times | Feb. 14th | Lynn Sweet
FR Posted on 02/15/2009 by william1970

Rahm's brother, Dr. Emanuel, has received numerous awards....election to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Science and the Association of American Physicians. Hippocrates Magazine selected him as Doctor of the Year in Ethics.....the AMA-Burroughs Welcome Leadership Award, the Public Service Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the John Mendelsohn Award from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and a Fulbright Scholarship (which he declined). Dr. Emanuel served on President Clinton’s Health Care Task Force, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), and on the bioethics panel of the Pan-American Healthcare Organization. Dr. Emanuel has been a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UCLA, the Brin Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the Kovitz Professor at Stanford Medical School.

[myself6]

The only thing I worry about is that it will end too soon...

I don’t want to go back to the status quo where democrats push towards socialism and the republicans just ratchet in their socialist gains.

I want BIG change. REAL change.. PERMANENT change... and that is going to take an energized and radicalized “conservative” demographic to make happen. Neutering this marxist fedgov is going to take a 100% commitment to the cause and balls of steel from not only those we put in charge of the states but the population that backs them up.

I don’t want Zero and his band of merry tyrants to go away “yet”.... We still require their services in further radicalizing even more of our numbers. We will let him know when its time to go, but that time isn’t quite yet, but its getting close...

[johnnycap]

“The “ascendancy” of the republican party is a trick of smoke and mirrors...”

This is a great post. Until this nation realizes we are talking about the survival of the Republic and the restoration of the form of government that was given to us by the founders, we are not getting it. This isn’t about the corrupt Democratic or Republican parties that have been so coopted by lobbyists, personal power and influence peddlers. Who cares who wins a horse race when both horses are cheating? It’s about saving the track!!!

Forget about the horses. They are a distraction. Keep your eye on the prize. WWJD? (Not Jesus, Jefferson or Adams or Madison but not Hamilton...we’ve had enough of that foreigner’s potentate visions of central grandiosity).

I can’t believe the Democratic Party holds a dinner on Jefferson/Jackson Day. The party in power in Washington have no concept of the single person-single vote concept Jefferson espoused and not one of them share Jefferson’s or Jackson’s inate disdain for private bankers setting national monetary policy.

This nation is sick and it is incredible that we here at home get it and those career morons who have hijacked our government don’t. William Pitt was a more sympathetic leader than what we have now. Given the choice today, Washington and Sam Adams would have stayed with the crown. It was far less intrusive and indentured servitude was far less invasive then.

Things to think about...