media lizzy & friends

Last night, President Obama took his message directly to the people, free of the bubbles and filters that exist in Washington, DC and the newspeople that report from that perspective. Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” has a massive viewership – most of which are not the types who watch the Sunday morning talk shows, and a number that topped 20 million viewers. On Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” today, the communication value that Obama had, and the means he used to bypass the usual delivery methods in Washington was “absolutely invaluable”.

I’m going to bypass the issue that half of the news pundits are discussing today…the “honor” and “respect” that Jay and many of his entourage had. While it is commendable, and very notable having the leader of the free world on one’s show, and while I praise all involved in the level of respect and decorum that was given the President of the United States, Obama was clear on his message, and it was a dangerous one at that.

Once Obama started talking about policy, one thing kept ringing through my mind – “the ends justify the means.” The Congressional lynch-mob mentality of a 90% tax on the AIG bonus money…massive spending deficit…the lying and audacity of ‘plausible deniability’…all of it.

He did a good job though…he has a very good ability to boil down complex issues in simple ways to explain them to people – but President Obama be ware. You might find it easy to liken the credit crisis to repairing a car, but when the American public finally start holding you and Congressional Democrats accountable for the massive tax increases and deficit spending, don’t think you’ll be able to “make it simple” when you try to convince the middle/lower class that they won’t have to pay for it.

Americans aren’t stupid – sooner or later, they know that this extra $3 trillion on top of the $9 trillion we’re already in the hole will come due – just like their mortgages and credit card bills are coming due now. Americans are already feeling the crunch from having to juggle those payments – Mr. Obama, do you really think they’re going to be so receptive to your pleas for re-election in 2010 and 2012 when they’ll be reminded how much their share of $12 trillion will be? Americans aren’t stupid enough to believe that just the top 10% of the nation is going to be paying for all of this. Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice? That’s just not going to happen.

Have a great weekend, everybody.
-OxyChaz

Happy Thursday all -

I’m sure many of you in DC are glad that the President is out of town at the moment…less motorcade congestion for you. Now that he’s out here in LALA-land, he’s our problem to deal with. Presidential visits are always exciting…although it feels a little weird for me having the President here in town without having the WH or the RNC call and ask me to assist with operations for a fundraiser, but I guess that’s just part of transition.

Tonight, President Obama will be utilizing one of the most powerful and potent forms of communication, bypassing the traditional news-feeds and talking-heads in the news-world – Obama is going on Leno.

The President’s visit to Burbank is not coincidental – he’s here to try to peddle the economic plan, make some light-hearted humor and continue to use one of his best personality traits – communication – to reassure American’s that he knows what he’s doing and to focus on the “long term”. Using the Leno/Letterman charm offense is risky, but can be extremely beneficial, and Obama has mastered these performances in the past. The viewer-ship of “The Tonight Show” rivals that of ANY news broadcast program – not to mention that it touches to a completely different audience. He’s cutting through the partisan chatter and communicates his position directly to middle-America. I also find it suspect that country music star Garth Brooks is the musical guest – further reinforcing Obama’s reach into traditional GOP constituencies.

Tonight after the airing of the show, I’ll pen some thoughts on his appearance. While some of these visits have the ability to go sour (anybody remember Bill Clinton and the saxophone performance?), Obama’s past use of these spots demonstrates a command of the medium. We’ll see how it goes.

–OxyChaz

Hello all,

For a little Wednesday humor,  I thought I’d drop in this little clip from the Bill Maher show. Bill and MediaLizzy are friends, although Bill’s show generally makes me nauseous. But this clip satirizes (to a very scary and accurate semblance) the situation we’re in here in America. Take a look…I promise you’ll love it.

- OxyChaz

Greetings all, Salutations for the fine city of Little Rock, Arkansas. I continue on my whirlwind travel escapade that is the month of March. I’m currently writing a review of CPAC, which wrapped up about a week ago, but while I’ve got some time this afternoon, I thought I’d pen a few thoughts on what seems to be the biggest GOP issue over the last month.

Would someone please explain to me why we’re STILL seeing Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele duke it out on the airwaves? I mean, this is really insane. At first, I really was curious why Michael Steele even would tangle with Rush, but then I thought about the things that Chairman Steele is not:

1.) Rich

2.) Powerful

3.) Influential

4.) Respected

5.) Well-spoken & motivational

Hummm…well, that summed it up real damn fast.

I’ll throw it out there that I’m not a huge Rush Limbaugh fan – but I was in the room and watched his speech at CPAC – the whole 1 1/2 hours of it. If you didn’t see it, I’d highly suggest watching the whole thing.

The crux of the matter, and any of you who work in the political communications sector will know this, is that Mr. Steele needs to hire a Communications Director/Spokesman for the RNC and let THAT person be the talking head. Mr. Steele spent a ton of money on his campaign to be the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and his ‘prize’ has been inheriting a listless RNC, a worthless NRSC (Senate campaign arm) and a depressed NRCC (Congressional campaign arm). Steele needs to spend 100% of his time rebuilding a functional, principled Republican Party, from grass roots to grass-tops.

Mr. Steele cannot save the Republican Party alone – and the minute he makes his focus on rebuilding the infrastructure from the ravages of a tanked presidential campaign, the Party will start to make strides forward again. Let Rush, Anne, Sean, Bill, etc motivate and excite the base – Mr. Steele’s only responsibility is ensuring that the infrastructure and finances are in place to elect Republicans.

Have a great weekend, all.

–OxyChaz

Greetings all,

Your favorite young MediaLizzy blogger here jumped on a plane and headed back to Washington, DC for the 2009 CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) hosted annually by the American Conservative Union.

This is the “right of the right.” 8,500 conservative activists (with nearly 50% being college students) have descended on the Omni Shoreham for this pow-wow. Anyone who is anybody in the conservative movement (and that’s a big “small-c” conservative) is here and there is a palpable energy here that I haven’t seen in a while. Ron Paul came by yesterday and was treated like a god. The NRA is one of the premier sponsors…and there are no less than three separate “draft Sarah Palin for 2012″ groups giving away these gi-normous posters of her.

Although I got hit with a sinus infection that has made me feel like my head has been flushed down the toilet, I’ve gone to a number of sessions and speakers. The biggies on Friday included John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich & Mitt Romney. Common theme here – Americans have not given up on conservative values – they just gave up on the Republican Party trying to implement them.

Now, any of you who reads my postings know that I’m conservative (especially want gov’t to get out of the marriage business, straights and gays) and the most encouraging part about this conference for me is that the anti-gay rhetoric is at an all-time low.

I’ve got some more notes for later, but this morning’s program is going to me more socially geared (probably b/c the young college students here will sleep through them, given the turnout at the bar last night). I’m going to need to have a few drinks this morning to deal with Rick Santorum giving the opening speech this morning, followed by Tim Pawlenty and then Phyllis Schlafly. Shoot me now.

Big items for later today: Rush Limbaugh (aka: The Official Spokesman of the RNC) and Ann Coulter.

–OxyChaz

Happy President’s Day all – Today is a time when we can reflect and celebrate the American Presidency – one of the greatest institutions in the world. There are so few other examples of government where there is such a functional division of the powers of authority on the national level. After reading the news of Venezuela President (and now likely dictator-for-life) Hugo Chavez’s “victory” of his reform package after his first attempt failed, I am even more confidant in the strength of our nation and our method of government. A few quick highlights from the weekend…

Well, I didn’t think it was possible, but Lindsey Graham actually held the line with the Republicans and stood up against the PORKULUS spending bill. I’m glad he called this chirade of “bipartisanship” what it is – a Democratic dominated spending free-for-all. It’s like they kept a list of all the things they wanted over the past EIGHT YEARS and threw it all in the PORKULUS spending bill. Just insane. Watch this clip of Sen. Graham and Rep. Maxine Waters. For the record – Waters is one of the most liberal, corrupt and just plain INSANE members of Congress. The Democratic Caucus never lets her try to sell anything to anybody because she’s so bad at it and makes everybody mad. I guess this time it slipped through since Speaker Pelosi left the country for Rome for a few days. Oops…

Pay to play is certainly something that is in the Democratic playbook. I mean, how many stories have cropped up about financial improprieties of leading national Democrats? I’ll get to Roland Burris in a moment, but first some news from another one of my Los Angeles disgraced Congressional Delegation members, Rep. Grace Napolitano. The story link is here. Summary – Napolitano has pocketed almost $158,000 in interest from a personal loan she made to her campaign that she just let sitting and collecting interest. Of course she continued fundraising for her “debt”, but this went on for 11 years! That’s 5 election cycles! 18 percent interest…hell…that’s more than the APR on my credit card! That’s just a damn scam folks. The lobbyists and big-money interests might as well just cut her a check directly and save the paperwork chase. She basically found a way to scam an extra $14,000 a year from “the system” for her own personal gain. Nice pad to her paycheck.

And Roland Burris. Everybody who reads this blog follows politics, so I’m not even going to re-hash this story (the AP article is here). He lied, long story short. He was a part of the Blagojevich pay-to-play scheme and tried to cover it up. He should be thrown out of the Senate. Egg all over Harry Reid’s face – he should have followed his instincts and prevented Burris from being seated.

Happy President’s Day, friends. Keep the pressure up on the Democrats – there is a difference between partisanship and principle. Deficit spending and government bailouts are not the only solutions to the economic recession. Don’t let anybody fool you otherwise.

-OxyChaz

Happy Valentine’s Day all,

I hope you are having a great weekend without too much crazy weather. We’ve been deluged with rain here in Los Angeles – something we’re not quite accustomed to having a lot of.

Before I sign off for the evening, I wanted to bring your attention to a quick article in the NY Times regarding GOP up-and-commer Rep. Eric Cantor (R- Richmond, VA). As you well know, Media Lizzy and I are big fans of the Minority Whip, but one of the best things about Rep. Cantor is that he actually is doing his job. Step by step, leaders like Cantor are bringing the Party together to stand up to the PORKULUS bill and other tax-and-spend legislation making it look like Christmas in February for liberal big-government types. I am confidant in the leadership of of Rep. Cantor and the election of Michael Steele is again a step in the right direction about getting the GOP House in order.

But the next step is always the big question, and the NYT article just brushes it gently – the GOP cannot be the Party of “no”. At some point, the Republican Party must present an alternate agenda with real (versus the make-believe plans of 2007/8) alternative plans. The GOP will need it as ammunition for 2010 and beyond. Gingrich had it in 1992/1993 – remember the 1994 Contract with America? Yeah, we need one right now. Something we can offer the American people as an alternative to Obama & Co. It’s not enough to ask Americans to choose between “Package A” and “Package No”.  Republicans really need a Package to give American’s a choice from.

It’s one thing to have the guns, but if you don’t have the ammunition, all you’ve got is a hollow vehicle. Damn…sounds a lot like the 2008 elections, right?

Have a great weekend all.
-OxyChaz

Happy MLK Day all,

While I was originally going to pen a piece on the apparent racism that exists within the RNC Chairman’s race, this news-flash popped up this morning and I just couldn’t think of anything more appropriate to write about on President Bush’s last day in office. This afternoon, President Bush commuted the sentences of the former US Border Patrol agents Ramos & Compean who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer when he was attempting to enter the United States illegally.

Now, Bush correctly didn’t pardon the men for their crimes – there was evidence tampering and cover-ups involved which made it worse for the individuals involved – but these men were doing what they were charged to do – protect the integrity of America’s borders against foreign agents and danger – which is EXACTLY what admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was. Sometimes situations get a little messy, and in my opinion, these two men traded in their freedoms and lives to keep the drugs Davila was smuggling off the streets and destroying the lives of many many more people.

In a world that is dominated by enemy forces that consistently try to tear down America, we have a thin level of protection between the good and evil, and those who choose to dedicate their lives to the protection of all that this nation stands for deserve better treatment and laws that support their efforts to protect us, rather than make their jobs harder.

–OxyChaz

Hello all,

So you know that you’re getting old when your high-school calls and asks if you’d be a speaker for their political section at Career Day. Well, that’s what I’m doing tomorrow. So in preparation, I started thinking about the role of partisanship in today’s political climate.

Today, so many people talk about life in a post-partisan world, like it’s some kind destination beyond the “final frontier” – like American political community will “ascend” to a “higher” or more “civilized” discourse. A time and place where political parties will not drive the priorities that dictate the actions of our lawmakers. A quasi-nirvana state where elected officials will be free to make the “right” decisions to save America.

And being a student of history, my response? I think not.

This nation, like the rest of western civilization really, is constantly engaged in a struggle over two different philosophical ideas – whether or not “power” should be vested in the individual or the collective. Some policy issues function better on one side, and others with the opposite.

So what is the difference between a partisan change versus a “post-partisan” change? Well…the only time you would use the term “post-partisan” is when a lot of people don’t participate in the Party system, ie: voters.

Today, Fox & Hounds commentator Pete Peterson pens an article discussing low civic engagement in California (which is symptomatic of the rest of America). One of his conclusions that I strongly agree with is that so many Americans have just abdicated their responsibility as participatory citizens in the process and see themselves more as “customers” and thus just “deal with” the system instead of working to “change” the system.

It would certainly explain a host of issues with the political structure and disenfranchisement from the two main parties which unfortunately results in nothing but political ideologues running the show. And the worst part is that when someone leaves the Party in disgust instead of trying to change it from within, it only makes the extremists stronger – making the problem even worse. A little bird told me that just last week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger here in California is planning on launching a special election to reintroduce open primaries in California. While I don’t believe in the constitutionality of open primaries, I am acutely aware of the partisan gridlock that has prompted such a move.

Individuals who act in partisan best interests before America’s best interests have already pushed political parties to the point of obstructionism – and if this measure passes in California – will eliminate their breed for the time to come.

Happy Wednesday, all.

–OxyChaz

Hello all,
I hope everybody’s 2009 is well on its way to a wonderful start. I know this is going to be the year that will mark some wonderful personal and professional advances for me, and hopefully you’ll share in that optimism too.

As a proud American, I too am looking forward to a fresh change and approach in Washington DC. That cloud of despondency is quickly moving over that enthusiasm for me, as I’m sure it is for everybody. The front pages of the paper for the last few days have been covering the continuing drama surrounding Mr. Obama’s picks and ties.

The Clinton’s are up to their no-good. Lots of money – unregulated and non-reportable – going to the Clinton Foundation circumventing the intent of disclosure laws while providing “grease” for legislation sponsored by Senator Clinton. That was today’s news…but it will be interesting to see if the hundreds of thousands of dollars contributed by several foreign nations to the WJC Foundation will result in any kind of foreign policy preferences by soon to be Secretary of State Clinton.

Governor Richardson removed himself from consideration for the nomination of Secretary of Commerce, over an investigation – again – over campaign finance. This particular investigation is back from 2004, but there were other complications to his nomination, most notably his inability to retire all of his presidential campaign debt from earlier in 2007 – an issue that plagues Sen. Clinton as well.

Of course, we’ve still got Governor Blagojevich’s scandal…and more information showing that soon to be White House COS Rahm Emmanuel had several conversations with the Governor over the choice.

Mr. Obama has just stepped off his plane into a firestorm of controversy – having nothing to do with the real issues facing America, like the economy, foreign policy, infrastructure, etc. His immediate attention must be placed in addressing the moral depravity of the individuals he is surrounding himself with. We trust that our governmental apparatus will be above temptation of money and greed. While we are all human and fail, Obama his a golden opportunity at this point in history – he has the true and genuine trust of confidence of the American people. This kind of political capital only is fresh and usable for the first few years of a presidential administration. Mr. Obama must decide if he’s going to use it to help institute change to help move America forward, or waste it trying to cover for a slew of appointments that will cast doubt on this management and leadership abilities.

Time will tell.
–OxyChaz