The more I hear my party’s pols talk about education, the more I realize how little they actually know about it. Have they been so blinded by partisan ideology that they are unable to observe, listen and make sound judgements? Or do they just go off willy-nilly in lockstep driven in the same manner that does the Democrat Party?

Senator Mack’s statement indicated that he know’s nothing of the details of SB 6 and that he, too failed to listen to the state’s school superintendents of both parties whom called for the bill’s veto. I guess Mack is just like those Democrat pols whom didn’t read the health care bill and just did what Nancy Pelosi told them to do.

Mack’s action’s this evening will further harm the Republican Party and show how tone deaf they are to all voters. They assume that they just know best when it comes to education.

As Mikey Kaus says, “There won’t be any wise men coming in. No David Gergen either.

David Plouffe is back. He sent for one of the architects of his campaign. Obama does do campaigns, but his return is not good news for those who want a change in direction. Plouffe’s WaPo piece shows that there will be no moderation in the Obama agenda. In fact, Plouffe is clearly advocating more of the same….except maybe this time with more, um, feeling.

On the health care bill:

It’s a good plan that’s become a demonized caricature. But politically speaking, if we do not pass it, the GOP will continue attacking the plan as if we did anyway, and voters will have no ability to measure its upside.

I guess that going back to Olympia Snowe option is out. Be that as it may, Plouffe shows that Obama is still tone deaf as even nancy Pelosi is saying that the votes are not there.

On job creation:

There are some terrific ideas that we can implement, from tax credits for small businesses to more incentives for green jobs, but full recovery will happen only when the private sector begins hiring in earnest. That’s why Democrats must create a strong foundation for long-term growth by addressing health care, energy and education reform.

This is pretty much like the boilerplate talking points already coming out of the WH. Temporary

tax credits for small businesses can never work with the presence of the type of health care mandates Dems are proposing in either House or Senate bill. Energy? You mean that cap and trade hidden tax thing? Puhleeze. Green jobs? Those are a myth. No change here.

On the stimulus package:

If GOP challengers want to run ads criticizing the recovery act as wasteful, Democratic candidates should lift up the police officers, teachers and construction workers in their state or district, those who are protecting our communities, teaching our children and repairing our roads thanks to the Democrats’ leadership.

Really now? None are private sector jobs. At some point local communities will have to fund these on their own. The shovel ready jobs were another myth. If there was a real rise in construction jobs, unemployment levels would not be rising.

On overall spending:

The GOP took us from a $236 billion surplus when President Bush took office to a $1.3 trillion deficit, with unpaid-for tax cuts for the wealthy, two wars and the Medicare prescription drug program. Republicans’ fiscal irresponsibility has never been matched in our country’s history. We have potent talking points on health care, honest budgeting and cuts in previously sacrosanct programs. Republicans will try to win disingenuously by running as outsiders. We must make them own their record of disastrous economic policies, exploding deficits, and a failure to even attempt to solve our health care and energy challenges.

Plouffe prefaced that with saying to not take lectures from Republicans. They don’t have to. The voters already have. Obama and the Democrat congress have tripled the deficit in a year. Think tea parties, Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Obama’s call to Plouffe indicates a weakness in character that troubled observers on the right before he was ever elected. It appears that he only will surround himself with people who will only tell him what he wants to hear to justify his own reality. Only sycophants need apply in his White House.

Plouffe’s message is nothing more than a repackaging of the Obama’s disasterous first year. More blaming of Bush. More outdated populism that appeals only to the true believers.

Unless leaks from the WH change in the run up to Wednesday’s State of the Union address, the Obami are telling us that nothing is going to change. Voices for moderation and real pivots from his own party will go ignored.

Little of this is good news. Not for Democrats concerned about the future of their own party. Not for a nation needing economic stability and promise. Only the GOP stands to benefit from the continued blind persuit of a president’s agenda that he kept hidden from a nation that put him in office.

Why Boyd who represents a very conservative district would support Nancy Pelosi’s bill is a mystery. Boyd is the leader of the Democrat Bliue Dog conference. Perhaps he was strong armed by Pelosi as he needs funding. His son was arrested last year on immigration smuggling charges. Panhandle voters won’t tolerate a Democrat more loyal to Nancy Pelosi than they are to their interests.

On February 4, 2003, Senators Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were given a briefing in which “EITs [were] ‘described in considerable detail,’ including ‘how the water board was used.’ The process by which the techniques were approved by DoJ was also raised.” The document also adds that Mr. Rockefeller, the Committee’s ranking Democrat, was later given an “individual briefing.”

So much for the canard that the Bush Administration didn’t keep Congress informed. But Congressional Democrats are being equally disingenuous when they pretend they could do nothing about what they were hearing from the CIA. Members could, and sometimes did, object to proposed CIA actions and could stop them in their tracks.

Jennifer Rubin provided this link to the Rockefeller predicament, applied these Dem thruthfulness issues to Obama making national security into a partisan attack:

Obama and the Democrats in Congress violated a cardinal rule: don’t play politics with national security. They now should be prepared to pay the price.

Rockefeller does not face West Virginia voters in 2010, but Pelosi does in an extremely safe seat. But Pelosi will be an issue in toss-up House seats along with other Democrats with cerdibility problems like Charlie Rangel and John Murtha. Nevermind what happens with Chris Dodd and Roland Burris. A model they can use is one similar to Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America that swept the GOP into power durig the last first mid-term election after a Democrat president took over in 1994.

But the GOP will have to get off their ass and not be afraid to go on the offensive. They will also have to end the bickering that’s going on within the party. The RINO label has hurt the party, but not as bad as the Dems’s MSM would have you believe. They will also have to stop peeing on their own shoes as they have with Jim Bunning’s untimely comments about Mitch McConnel and Jeb Bush’s negative crack about Ronald Regan.

It will need to be about the issues and a narrative that lays out Democrat malfeasance, hypocisy and its self-serving legislative agenda.

UPDATE: Betsy Newmark posts on Pelosi and adds this:

Now that she’s been exposed, I guess it’s about time for the President to come out and nobly call for all the partisan fingerpointing to end and for us to turn to the future. It’s no fun if any but Republicans are going to be skewered.

Naturally I agree with Newmark, but hypocrisy involving Pelosi will be three-fold. First, she just won’t have to deal with it. Second, the media will give her a pass. Third, her base and party don’t care that she lied as it is all about attacking republicans.

Newmark points to the fact that Pelosi may not have support of her entire caucas. Steny Hoyer, the number two Dem in the House is a rival. Jane Harmon does not like Pelosi either. But its doubtful Dems will throw their hyper partisan leader out as she’s too powerful and they love her tanacity.

UPDATE: Another story about Pelosi’s dishonesty. Look for her to say something like she misremembered as this is an avalanche.

*In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, “Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi's team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?…[T]here’s no need to block every weekend ‘just in case’…” The email also notes that Pelosi’s office had, “a history of canceling many of their past requests.”

*One DOD official complained about the “hidden costs” associated with the speaker’s last minute changes and cancellations. “We have…folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc.”

*The documents include a discussion of House Ethics rules and Defense Department policies as they apply to the speaker’s requests for staff, spouses and extended family to accompany her on military aircraft. In May 2008, for example, Pelosi requested that her husband join her on a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) into Iraq. The DOD explained to Pelosi that the agency has a written policy prohibiting spouses from joining CODEL’s into combat zones.

*Documents obtained from the U.S. Army include correspondence from Speaker Pelosi’s office requesting an Army escort and three military planes to transport Pelosi and other members of Congress to Cleveland, Ohio, for the funeral services of the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Pelosi noted in her letter of August 22, 2008, that such a request, labeled “Operation Tribute” was an “exception to standard policy.”

*The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. “It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable…The speaker will want to know where the planes are…” wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs. In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, “This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker.”

*During another email exchange DOD staff advised Kay King that one Pelosi military aircraft request could not be met because of “crew rest requirements” and offered to help secure commercial travel. Kay King responded: “We appreciate the efforts to help the codel [sic] fly commercially but you know the problem that creates with spouses. If we can find another way to assist with military assets, we would like to do that.”

The Speaker leaves herself open to criticism as her demand that a plane be available every weekend at her beck and call. The comparison to the former speaker is not a fair parallel as Hastert was from a midwest state. Pelosi’s from the west coast. Still the size of the plane and the on-call status that Pelosi wants is above what is normal.

To be fair, Pelosi is second in the line of succession to the presidency behind the VP. A better comparison would be to the travel demands of VP. At any rate, Pelosi did nothing to lessen the appearance of wanting to be treated as royalty.

I don’t think that is a passing fancy for Gingrich and he senses a unique oppotunity to help his party in the way he did when he presided over the return of House control to the Republicans. The Speaker sees that this one issue is one that is impossible for Dems to fight with their enviro pay masters. He has the organiztion skills and vision to see it through. The 1994 Contract with America can be transfered to the American Energy Act.

Bring all republican house candidates in to sign a pledge to see it through. It icwill serve the same purpose as did the Contract With America and serve to nationalize the races.

I sense that Speaker Gingrich sees this an an opportunity thats fallen in their lap and can be exploited nationwide. It affectively makes the issue about Pelosi. I look for Gingrich to seize this momment and a chance for significant victories in the fall. He’ll combine the group signing of the Act with grassroot supporters going out and registering new voters.

The conservative movement badly needs Gingrich’s touch in this election. There may never be another opportunity like this and I still see the speaker taking one more election on. No better person would be better to stump all over the country for REP candidates.

They’re getting their message out. There are 851 articles archived today in Google. Gingrich brought in more press. Here’s the Atlanta Journal Constitution, CBS and Fox. CNN had something 2 hours ago. Nancy Pelosi, off on what she assumed would be a triumphant book tour, is having to answer questions everyday about it. Republicans have been able to make Pelosi the villan. And its clear that Gingrich has rock star status and knows the new media. His successful Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less sign up has been a huge success.

Second, it may be helping in congressional races. This from Matt Lewis about Illinois races:

Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-6) just released a poll conducted July 20-22 by Public Opinion Strategies (POS), showing him ahead of his Democratic opponent by 30 points. Roskam’s election two years ago was a squeaker.

Rep. Mark Kirk (IL-10) released a June poll shows him 21 points ahead. You can read about it here.

Roskam increased his lead by five points since April. At the same time Obama opened up an 8 point lead against John McCain.

Similarly, Kirk’s polling shows a similar willingness of voters to split tickets in his district:

“In a district that is 33 percent Republican and 35 percent Democrat, the answer to this question will be decided by ‘independents’ and ‘ticket splitters,’” the polling memo stated. “Currently, these likely Obama voters are breaking for Kirk by a 2-to-1 margin and have a significantly highly favorable opinion of Mark Kirk.”

People are finding out the Republican plan, The American Energy Act, has a focus on more than drilling. This helps rid another Dem mantra. It just contains drilling – something that Pelosi will not allow.

Gingrich’s appearance at Congress today to join revolting republicans at Congress was astonishing. He’s clearly passionate about the issue, and he’s never really left public life. But its been as a political commentator. The former speaker still wields considerable clout and sense of politics might be prompting him in such a public way. In a year that once was generally thought to post major Dem gains in the House and Senate, Gingrich might see the opportunity to help his old party by nationalizing elections in the fall as he did with Contract With America.

Look for a move in the near future to bring republican candidates to Washington to sign a pledge to support the American Energy Act.

With congressional approval ratings at an all-time low and the Democratic Congress under fire for taking a five-week vacation instead of working on energy policy, perhaps this wasn’t the best time to send Nancy Pelosi jetting from coast to coast to tell our daughters how to save the planet, manage our households and run our government.