Is Paul Ryan wading into the Big Muddy?

When it came to Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, it was considered a good strategy because Ryan had developed a reputation as one of the few who could bridge the gap between the establishment and conservative wings of the Republican Party. This latest bit of news, if it bears out, could show that Ryan wasn't so much bridging a gap as he was attempting to play both sides of the fence, which brings us to an old adage that says:

You can't play both sides of the fence.

As differences between entities become more pronounced, riding the fence becomes less and less possible. There comes a point when everyone chooses a side and Ryan appears to be stonewalling questions about whether he had any role in helping Speaker John Boehner boot conservative members off of House financial committees. If he did play that role, he has chosen a side.

Via Breitbart:

On Monday, Boehner and House GOP leadership removed four conservative Republicans from influential fiscally focused committees. Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas were pulled from the House Budget Committee and Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter Jones of North Carolina were removed from the House Financial Services Committee. Huelskamp was also purged from the House Agriculture Committee.

For several days, spokespeople for Ryan – the Republican Party’s most recent vice presidential candidate who’s widely rumored to be positioning himself to run for president in 2016 – have refused to answer any questions about whether Ryan was involved and, if he was, what role he played.

Then, on Friday, Ryan spokesman William Allison would not deny Ryan’s involvement in the purge. “We are going to defer you to the Speaker’s office and the Steering Committee,” Allison told Breitbart News when asked if Ryan was involved and supported Boehner's move. 

A spokesman for Boehner didn’t return a request for comment when asked if Ryan was involved.

Couple that with an ABC News report from today, which said, in part:

The day after the election, House Speaker John Boehner, the man now at the center of the negotiations with President Obama, called Ryan, according to a Boehner aide, because the speaker wanted "to make sure he was in the fold from Day One," adding he's been a "close part of the thought process."

And an aide to Ryan, who asked that his name not be used, says the role of the Wisconsin congressman is as a "resource to the speaker, a resource to House Republicans."

"He has responsibilities as the House budget chairman, he has responsibilities to the first district of Wisconsin. He needed to be where the fight is," added the aide. Nevertheless he wants to be "deferential" to those leading the conversation -- namely Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.

So, according to a Ryan aide, Romney's running made wants to show deference to Boehner. Of course, deference is defined as:

respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc., of another.

This is not what conservatives want in the Budget Committee chairman. Now, of course, if one was inclined to cut Ryan some slack, maybe the Congressman from Wisconsin thought he could be more effective by being deferential to Boehner than by being on the sidelines with Huelskamp, et. al. The problem for Ryan, however, is that if he had a hand in jettisoning principled conservatives in deference to Boehner, he risks becoming more like Boehner himself.

In fact, if this is all true, it means Ryan threw principled conservatives under the bus for political self-preservation.

Again, if true, Ryan is already compromised goods and cannot be trusted.

With that said, I'm going against my better judgment and posting this song from hardcore liberal whacko Bruce Springsteen is actually appropriate. It's called 'The Big Muddy'. One particular line of note is:

"I had a friend who said watch what you do. Poison snake bites you and you're poison too."

How Springsteen could write a song like this and be such an Obamautamaton is beyond me. Then again, maybe it's autobiographical, which might help explain it.

Does Petraeus come to mind when you watch this?



Conversely, this song by the Wood Brothers is about those who don't compromise their principles.

Chris Christie hugs Springsteen; goes home and cries

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was allegedly a finalist for being selected as Mitt Romney's running mate. It's becoming more apparent by the day that Christie was not the right choice. First, a hug and a stroll on the beach with Barack Obama. Next, he hugged Bruce Springsteen and proceeded to cry when he got home.

Via CBS News:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hasn't been shy about his passion for Bruce Springsteen.

He's been to countless shows (more than 100, he says), has quoted lyrics in speeches and speaks openly about his love for The Boss. But Springsteen hasn't really acknowledged Christie - until now.

The Republican governor had a couple of interactions with Springsteen this past week in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Christie says he was so moved by their conversation that he cried when he got home; it was a high point in a long and tough week.

Chris Christie has some serious issues.

Do you think he has this Springsteen song in his iPad?

SPRINGSTEEN HEARTS RAHM, WARRANTS EVEN LESS RESPECT

I really didn't need a reason to have less respect for Bruce Springsteen than I already do but courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, I got one anyway. It appears that Springsteen and Rahm Emanuel are personal friends. The New Jersey rocker apparently gifted Rahm 25 tickets to his concerts in Washington, D.C. Having been a Springsteen fan - I'm ashamed to say - as recently as 2004, he lost me big time when he decided to stump for John Kerry. For me, that proved he was less intelligent than I had given him credit for.

Now we learn that he's personal friends with a foul, dirty, leftwing, Chicago-style politician, in addition to being quite far down on the leftwing side of the spectrum himself. Springsteen could almost factually be labeled a socialist at this point. He started showing his true colors a little more brightly in 2000 when he released a song called, "41 shots", which was an anthem against police - though he provided enough vagueness in the song to allow him some wiggle room. Since then, Bruce has reached full socialist bloom.

Via the Tribune:

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's new financial disclosure report shows investments worth a minimum of $6.7 million, plus what many would consider priceless: 25 seats to Bruce Springsteen concerts directly from "The Boss."

At $95 a seat, the gift totaled $2,375. Emanuel received 10 seats for a show May 18, 2009, and 15 for one on Nov. 2, 2009. Both were in Washington.

Emanuel and his wife, Amy Rule, are personal friends of Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa, a White House official said, and ethics rules let friends gift friends.

For years, Springsteen stayed intentionally out of politics. He was respected by most everyone for his ability to remain apolitical. He seemed to "get it" when it came to politics having no place in entertainment. We learned in 2004 that he just couldn't stay in the leftwing closet anymore.

Springsteen is now friends with a political Chicago thug who is being exposed as such on a near daily basis.

h/t to Free Republic

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND GAY MARRIAGE

I shamefully admit that I used to be a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. That is, until 2004, when he broke his long-standing rule not to engage in political partisanship and threw his support behind John Kerry. In hindsight, I should have known that Springsteen is the typical liberal. One who feigns indifference while espousing values all can relate to. However, when controversy erupted over his Born in the U.S.A. album over whether or not it was anti-American, such musings were dismissed and Springsteen played the middle of the road, refusing to tip his hand to what the true meaning of the song was.

Those not blinded by admiration for a man who could put on a great show knew exactly what he was saying with his words while those who ignored the message and instead chose to revel in his ability to perform and entertain scoffed at the notion that he meant anything other than what they wanted him to mean.

Springsteen's true colors began to show brighter in 2000 when the song, "41 Shots" was released. Law enforcement officers nationwide had a problem with his glorifying of a victim on the wrong end of a shootout with police. Again, fans of Springsteen interpreted the song in a way that didn't do that because that would be wrong. Those fans rationalized the obvious and just sang along as if the officers who objected didn't "get it".

In reality, those officers "got it" just fine and Springsteen continued to come out from under the rock he wanted to use to protect himself from being viewed as the ideological whack job he truly was. Somewhere along the way, he stopped caring about public perception and decided to cast that rock aside.

On December 9th, the NY DAILY NEWS wrote about Springsteen's support of gay marriage. I was struck personally by the photo of Springsteen shaking Barack Obama's hand while looking completely ridiculous wearing rainbow-colored suspenders. He was either embarrassingly showing his support of gay marriage or imitating Mork.

Obviously, Springsteen was doing the former. However, the question I have is to what extent does he support gay marriage and to what extent does he support homosexuality.

In 1998, when I was still a big fan, Springsteen released an album called, "Tracks". It featured a bunch of songs Bruce had recorded but never released - B sides if you will. I remember at the time questioning my own assumptions about Springsteen whenever I heard one of the songs. It was called, "My Lover Man". I tried on many occasions to rationalize it, thinking that maybe it was one of the outtakes from the movie, "Philadelphia" starring Tom Hanks, who portrayed a homosexual with Aids. Maybe it was him trying to understand a view he didn't understand. Believe me, rationalizing this song to mean something other than a writer that espoused homosexuality is a stretch by any measure.

Listen for yourself.



It's a shame such a talented man is such a mess.

GOSH DOG!!!