Grand Old Partisan

Obama the Destroyer

After the polls closed on election night 2008, I was answering the phone at the McCain/Palin national campaign office.  A woman called to say she was “now glad to have a terminal disease because [she] won't live to see how Obama will destroy this great country.”  The pain and rage and sorrow in her voice came through loud and clear.

Ma'am, whoever and wherever you are, I salute you.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the nation, showing office-holders and candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

George H. Bush, torpedo bomber pilot

George H. Bush, at the age of eighteen, became the youngest pilot in the U.S. Navy.  He learned to fly a three-man torpedo bomber and named his plane for his fiance, Barbara.  He was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto.

Could this famous Texas name, "San Jacinto," have influenced George H. Bush's decision to move to the Lone Star state after graduating from college?

On this day in 1944, Lt. Bush's squadron attacked Japanese radar installations on the island of Chichi Jima.  His plane was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, setting it on fire.  Despite the damage, Bush completed the mission before bailing out over the Pacific.  Sadly, his two crewmen did not survive.

Lt. Bush was rescued by the USS Finback and spent a month aboard the submarine.  He then returned to duty, completing a total of 58 combat missions.  Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross and received an Honorable Discharge at war's end.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama will live... in infamy

Has anyone heard from Colin Powell lately?  Since Barack Obama became president, there has been silence from Colin Powell about a man he described as having "great insight into the challenges we're facing of a military and political and economic nature."  When can we expect Powell to show the courage to admit his mistake, his blunder, his betrayal?

Just weeks before the 2008 presidential election, Powell went on television to attack John McCain and the Republican Party.  He then, in his wisdom, endorsed Barack Obama:

"I watched Mr. Obama during this seven-week period.  And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor.  I think that he has a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well.

Mr. Obama has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines.  He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values.

I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.  I think he is a transformational figure.  He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

And I have watched him over the last two years as he has educated himself, as he has become very familiar with these issues.  He speaks authoritatively.  He speaks with great insight into the challenges we're facing of a military and political and economic nature.  And he is surrounding himself, I'm confident, with people who'll be able to give him the expertise that he, at the moment, does not have.  And so I have watched an individual who has intellectual vigor and who dives deeply into issues and approaches issues with a very, very steady hand.  And so I'm confident that he will be ready to take on these challenges on January 21st."

Are you still confident, General Powell?  If not, the nation deserves an apology from you.  General Powell, Douglas MacArthur's words from 1962 speak to you today: "the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country."

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Nathaniel Berry (R-NH), war governor

Grand Old Partisan salutes Nathaniel Berry, born this day in 1796.  Like many recovering Democrats of the era, Berry switched from the Party of Slavery to the Free Soil Party and then to the GOP when it was established in his state.

The Granite State's foremost anti-slavery activist, Berry won a two-year term as governor in 1860.  He chaired the 1862 Altoona, Pennsylvania conference of loyal governors, which endorsed the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln (R-IL).

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Re-educating America, "as the Secretary shall determine"

Take a good look at the Obamacare logo.  An eagle with wings outstretched atop a circular emblem of the regime.  Where have we seen such an image before?  What socialist regime, in Europe not so many decades ago, used such imagery?  Hmmmm....

Yesterday, the Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, let slip the truth about what the Obama administration has planned for this country.  Upset that most Americans oppose nationalized healthcare, she said: "We have a lot of re-education to do."

This is a threat.  Sebelius is threatening you.

Obamacare is the means by which Barack Obama plans to fundamentally transform America.  Kathleen Sebelius is not just another federal government functionary.  Obamacare makes her the second-most powerful person in the country.  Mentioned more than once per page in the 2700-page law, "the Secretary" [of HHS] deems and establishes and develops and promulgates and imposes and adjusts and has the authority to re-make the entire nation.

By using such a ghastly term -- "re-education" -- she is purposely calling to mind the horrors of "reeducation" efforts by despotic regimes in recent history.  Every moment that she does not apologize, Sebelius renews her threat against the American people.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Lionel Hampton, Republican

Grand Old Partisan salutes Lionel Hampton, who died on this day in 2002.  Here he is in June 2001 with President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony honoring Black Music Month.

Though skilled with the drums and piano, Lionel Hampton achieved his greatest musical success playing vibraphone, first in Louis Armstrong's band.  He later played with Benny Goodman's band before striking out on his own

Here is a video clip. 

A dedicated Republican, Hampton campaigned for Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Ronaald Reagan and George H. Bush.  He served as vice-chairman of the New York Republican County Committee.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Martin Luther King would have been Proud of the Restoring Honor rally

What a great day for America!  Hundreds of thousands of Americans, of all races, came together at the Lincoln Memorial to Restore Honor to our nation.  Yes, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin were the main speakers, but the real stars of the event were the people in the crowd.  They came from across the country in peace and friendship.  The vast multitude of patriots brought to mind a similar gathering on this day, on this spot, forty-seven years ago.

Best remembered about the famed March on Washington is Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech.  What was his dream?  Was it of a dispirited America, as brought about by the Obama administration?  Was it of a country being torn apart by racial and class conflict, as caused the Democratic Party?  Was it a downtrodden populace, prodded to submit to Big Government by the socialist media?  No!

This is Martin Luther King's Dream:

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

Media socialists now a'cringing at the religious themes of the Restoring Honor rally ought to reflect on the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and son of another Christian minister, the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr.

For me, the highlight of the rally was when hundreds of thousands of people sang Amazing Grace.  This classic hymn was written by a former slave-trader after he repented: "I was lost, but now am found.  Was blind, but now I see."  One could see on the video screen Sarah Palin wiping away some tears at this beautiful sentiment: "Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home."

Here on Youtube, at the 4:19 mark, is Sarah Palin: http://tinyurl.com/27ay6sw.

After the rally, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) addressed an event nearby.  Though smaller, it was still larger than Al Sharpton's counter-demonstration.  More partisan in tone than the Beck/Palin rally, the speakers reminded the crowd of the importance of voting Republican in November.

Amen!

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

the Republicans passed the Land-Grant College Acts

On this day in 1890, President Benjamin Harrison (R-IN) signed into law the Second Land-Grant College Act.  The law, written by Senator Justin Morrill (R-VT), made African-Americans eligible to attend land-grant colleges.  Specifically, the law required any state that banned African-Americans from attending land-grant colleges to establish land-grant colleges for those students.  Back then, there was no legal or judicial means for the federal government to compel state governments to cease racial discrimination, so this law was actually a big step forward.

Justin Morill [pictured] also sponsored the first Land-Grant College Act, in 1862.  He was first elected to Congress as a Whig in 1854 and then served five more terms as a Republican.  In 1866, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until his death in 1898.  Grambling, Bowie State, Fisk, Kentucky State and Florida A&M are just a few of the historically black colleges and universities that owe their existence to Justin Morrill.

The Republican National Committee published a version of this article on the RNC website.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

the Restoring Honor rally v. the Party of the Ku Klux Klan

The Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial has the Democrats in a panic.  They're afraid, very afraid, of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin exercising their right to free speech and their freedom of assembly.

An influential Democrat, Walter Fauntroy, falsely accused the Tea Party of having ties to the Ku Klux Klan.  In the many years that he was Delegate for the District of Columbia, Fauntroy was a member of Congressional Black Caucus, an organization that excludes people on the basis of race.  Blind to his hypocrisy, he has falsely accused a political movement open to all races, the Tea Party, of being racist.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Fauntroy said: "We are going to take on the barbarism of war, the decadence of racism, and the scourge of poverty, that the Ku Klux -- I meant to say the Tea Party... You all forgive me, but I -- you have to use them interchangeably."

Now is the time to speak Truth to Power.

Michael Zak demands an apology from everyone who voted for Barack Obama

including these people.

See Back to Basics for the Republican Party and www.grandoldpartisan.com for information about the GOP.

Where's the mug shot?

According to Gateway Pundit, the person who set fire to an office of a Democrat, Rep. Russ Carnahan, is a fellow Democrat.  Reportedly, the arsonist is a disgruntled employee of the congressman and a lefty blogger at Talking Points Memo.  A television station in St. Louis, KMOV, is saying that the terrorist -- yes, that's what he is -- has been arrested.  Why was he not jailed?  And, where's the mug shot?

It's safe to say that if the culprit were a Republican, the details of his arrest, along with his mug shot, would be the lede story in the socialist media nationwide.

Update: Rep. Carnahan has admitted that the arsonist is a Democrat operative, Chris Powers.  Until his mug shot is made available, this photo will have to do.

See Back to Basics for the Republican Party and Grand Old Partisan for information about the heritage of the Republican Party.