Meeting Congressman David Dreier
At a recent luncheon put on by the Malibu/Bel Air chapter of the Republican Women’s Federated, I got to meet and listen to California Congressman David Dreier.
As somebody who speaks frequently to chapters of the Republican Women’s Federated myself, it is nice from time to time just to be a guest and listen. They are an organization of very passionate women. The President of the Malibu/Bel Air chapter is Mrs. Alice Starr.
Many people have heard of her because she is married to former Solicitor General Ken Starr. While many “know” Judge Ken Starr for something else, it is a time in their lives they do not enjoy talking about, and I for one respect their right to inner peace. I have met Judge Starr, and find him to be a decent, thoughtful man, and that is all I will say on the matter.
One running joke between me and people I know in Republican Malibu circles is that at various Republican events, so many people flock toward Ken Starr. When I was asked if I wanted to meet him, I replied that I really wanted to meet Alice Starr. They seemed puzzled, especially since Ken Starr is a celebrity. I explained to them that as a public speaker on a speaking circuit, Ken Starr does not run a chapter of the Republican Women’s Federated. Therefore, he is not connected to the true powers in this country. Yes, I am kidding (partially), but it was great to meet Alice Starr. She has a wonderful club.
The event itself was fabulous, with “Dukes” restaurant in Malibu providing a gorgeous view and the sound of ocean wave sin the background. Politics can be stressful, but this was peaceful.
One celebrity in the audience was somebody I watched on television as a kid. Game show host Wink Martindale used to be the man that brought us “Tic Tac Dough.” I loved that show and “Joker’s Wild.” Mr. Martindale kept his politics out of his television appearances, but as a retired gentleman he has his passions and expresses them.
(In useless news only I care about, Tom McKee won 43 games in a row of Tic Tac Dough.)
As for Congressman Dreier, he showed a serious side when discussing policy, and a humorous side when getting excited at the presence of ice cream for dessert. His remarks ranged from funny to serious, but at all times were relevant. We would all be better off if we heard what he had to say. With that, I present remarks from Congressman David Dreier.
“I was elected in 1980 at age 28.”
“Peter Drucker once said that every brilliant idea eventually devolves into nothing but hard work.”
“Alice Starr has a ball and chain around her, yet somehow regarding Ken, she overcomes it.”
“I am the only Republican Congressman in Los Angeles. I am surrounded by Waxman, Sherman, and the like. It gets lonely.”
“John O’Hurley (J. Pederman on Seinfeld and then on Dancing with the Stars) laid the groundwork for Tom Delay.”
“Somebody wrote Dear Abby and said that they had one brother who was a Congressman and another brother who was a chainsaw killer. Her father was a serial abuser and her mother was an alcoholic. She asked Dear Abby for advice on how to work up the courage to tell her finacee that one of her brothers was a Congressman.”
“We have not been effectively able to get our message out, that we are not the party of no.”
“Barack Obama said that ‘If anyone mischaracterizes our health car plan, they will be called out. I won’t accept the status quo.’ Well we are not offering the status quo, and we need to call Obama out.”
“I favor a fair and simple tax plan. There should be a $15,000 exclusion for people purchasing insurance. That is an incentive.”
“We need to have steps taken for people with preexisting conditions so that they can get insurance. Steve Poizner is working on this.”
“Right now health insurance can’t be bought on the internet. The rules preventing people from crossing state lines to buy insurance must be thrown out.”
“We need tort reform badly. We need lawsuit reform.”
“We need to expand medical savings accounts. We have to continue incentivizing people to put money aside.”
“The public option is a government run option. It is impossible for businesses to compete with the government.”
“Dennis Prager has said that the bigger government grows, the smaller the individual becomes.”
“In Lima, Peru, we signed a free trade deal. Yet Nancy Pelosi refuses to work with Colombia and Panama on free trade.”
“Alan Garcia was the Socialist President of Peru from 1985 to 1990. He told me that the worst five years in the history of Peru came when he was President. Now he governs like Ronald Reagan.”
“Statism has failed everywhere, how can the United States move in the opposite direction?”
“Both of my nieces voted for Obama. They told me that they had no idea it would be like this.”
“We as a party represent the majority philosophy of Democrats and independents.”
“The two party system has served us well. On Thursday, I met six members of the Iraqi Parliament. They have 346 political parties.”
“Two weeks from tomorrow is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”
“We must be building up democratic institutions worldwide, establishing the rule of law, and fighting Islamofacism.”
“Having many parties is bad for countries. I hope the GOP is one of the two remaining parties in time.”
“The single most painful thing I do is not when I have to face Nancy Pelosi. It is when I am calling the mothers of fallen soldiers.”
“President Bush was strong, firm, and decisive. President Obama on the campaign trail said that Afghanistan was a war of necessity. On August 30th, General McChrystal said that he needed 40,000 additional troops. On October 24th, President Obama is still undecided.”
“Afghanistan has 25 million people. Pakistan has 180 million. It is the sixth largest country in the world.”
“Unlike ALexander the Great or the British, we Americans don’t seek to occupy.”
“Afghanis now have the right to choose their leadership? How is this imposing? This is liberation and self determination, not imposition.”
“The United States is the most noble experiment in the world. The world looks to us.”
“Is that ice cream?”
(The audience laughed as Congressman Dreier immediately noticed the dessert. Although most politicians dislike long, rambling questioners, Congressman Dreier asked the next questioner to ask a long question so that he could quickly finish some ice cream. The audience remained laughing as he used his hands to multitask. In all fairness to the Congressman, it was very good ice cream. The Congressman then continued.)
“Liberals in Congress to me are really not what Ken is to Alice, that being a drag.”
“People like to say that Republicans spent a lot, and that Obama is just following Bush. GOP spending increased with respect to Homeland Security, Defense, and Veterans. There were real dollar cuts in the rest. This is not like the increase in spending under the Democrats.”
“With regards to Fox News, an old expression is that you don’t start fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. Fox News has an opinion division, but their news division has Major Garrett, Carl Cameron, and many others. Even Helen Thomas has criticized the attacks on Fox News. Susan Estrich pointed out that Blue Dog Democrats need Fox News.”
I asked a question about the only issue that matters to me.
“Congressman Dreier, I am concerned that some third world genocidal lunatics want to kill us all. Can we relocate the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the Pelosiraptor’s San Francisco District? If not, has any thought been given to leaving them exactly where they are? I am not sure they should be on AMerican soil, they seem really bad.”
Congressman Dreier was deft, and at the same time sobering. He reminded everybody in the room that he understood full well that we are at war. Yes, some people have forgotten this, but in a room full of Republicans, there was an expected clear understanding.
No matter how many times a Republican politician explains the struggle between civilization and barbarism, it is important for me to keep hearing it.
I hope that others across America hear the wit and the wisdom of Congressman David Dreier. You will be glad you did.
Brilliance can be found everywhere, but for those who want it in abundance, in addition to ice cream fit for a Congressman, I recommend that everybody get to know the ladies of the Malibu/Bel Air Republican Women’s Federated.”
eric
October 29th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Let’s be honest folks, this website doesn’t exactly draw the number of posters that, (for example) the New York Times does., and that is putting it mildly. I don’t know how many people email Eric directly ( he does comment occasionally on them), and don’t really care.
Eric gets his point across in a very articulate way. He is a far better writer than I am, is well versed on his subject of liberalism vs conservatism,
and is funny besides. He is clever.
I post on 5 other websites..mostly newspaper articles.
My expectations are I won’t change many people’s minds..but even one
is satisfying.
I am an Independent voter..who voted Republican in the last 3 elections.
I finally woke up to what the Democrats are all about, certainly
at the national level.
I contribute to the Republican National Committee and get solicitations from them weekly, as well as a report from their President which reveals why more of us should vote Republican.
I happen to be a proud US Jew, of the Conservative branch of Judaism.
That means I don’t take all of our bible to be divinely inspired..it’s that simple really. There are commentaries attached to virtually every page in the bible inself, which were written centuries ago. Even today, there are
changes going on, reinterpretations.
It’s far too complicated to talk about..the bible consisting of over 1,000 pages. And that is just the bible, not the other books which are part of
my religion.
Judaism is segmented and it’s people varied. It is not a race..with so many conversations over the centuries in and out, (the rate is now over 50% in some areas of the USA). Jews don’t look alike or think alike..but there is a common conception of G-d and what G-d is not. G-d is not a monkey guys. Our G-d is one. We do not believe in reincarnation. We do not
believe Mohammad was a profit. Some of us believe Jesus was a prophet or a great teacher, some do not.
The Mormons believe they are the true Christians, Christians being
gentiles. So there are lots of differences there.
I am thinking now about the Catholic church and it’s differences worldwide.
I find it fascinating that the church in Rome is reaching out to
70m Anglicans. That is something interesting.
I hate liberalism. I read a book called Liberal Fascism. Read it folks.
It says everything you wanted to know about liberals., far better than I could.
Nancy Pelosi says it aint a tax hike, over 1.4 trillion and rising, that Obama is forcing on all of us. Need I say more, who is going to pay for this
printing of money? Do not be misled, we all will. Will Volker, and the rest of the big government pay for it? Will Pelosi and Reid pay?
Regarding the health plan..read on the Net what medicare and medicaid
are. Then make up your mind about more government control of our health system. The vast majority of Americans have some sort of insurance and are satisfied. Who is going to enforce that all Americans contribute..the IRSS? Guess what people, over 300b/year is never paid over to the Treasury, money that should have been collected from tax return filings. Yet 3000 people are sent to jail for non payment of tax
and fraud (Federal) thanks to the CID (Criminal Investigation Division)
yearly.
As per his latest commentary, thrue, there needs to be adjustments. I agree.
But to destroy our health systemt to satisfy the whims of a few liberals
in Congress and our do-nothing and know nothing liberal President. come on!
To repeat on the security front..John Bolten is saying that any enrichment of uranium in Iran, goes against 3 UNSC resolutions prohibiting their enrichment program. It’s that simple really. The fact that we are still engaging with them, while they are close to making a bomb..is outrageous in my opinion. They are laughing at US for being weak..and having
a liberal President who just cannot see what is going on.
Cap and trade..which the President wants..will cost us trillions and for what, nothing will change. The Earth will still warm up or cool down. It’s nature guys.
I like the comment about Columbia. Under Pelosi we still don’t have a treaty with them. I ask why? They are dealing with their insurgency problem, yet we trade with Arabia, one of the worst countries vis a vie human rights.
If I had my way, we would have landed troops in Arabia long ago
and secured their oil fields, which the West developed. Now that
would be worth a few US lives AND resolved the entire M.E problem.
Regarding Afghanistan..Pakistan is a Muslim nation with over 180m people. MOST are not fanatics..just want to live out their lives. They have nukes. They have an army of over 1m..( see 3 confrontations with India )
and can muster them quickly.
Can anyone tell me why they are unable to end terrorism within their borders, considering all the funding they have received.
Folks, we are being fleeced big time by the Ogama administration.
Or as Eric says, at least Bush had guts and a plan.
The liberals..people who take from the successful (G-d awful they are) and give to themsevles who sit around, and demand they be supported for their entire lives. I’m sick of it and them. They are to put it mildy
phony.
I could care less about personalities, I don’t get into that aspect
of liberalism vs conservatism. I care about policies. Personality doesn’t
affect me. So far, Obama and his advisers have failed US miserably, yet
they are personable.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
According to today’s LA Times, President Obama has yet to make up
his mind about what to do with Cuba?
The excuse given by administration is that other countries are taking
priority over Cuba.
Doesn’t that sound familar from this liberal President..excuse upon
excuse upon excuse. If not excuses, than rationalizations. He is master of putting it off.
Obama reminds me of an employee who I once supervised. In reviewing
his work, I noticed a pattern of lots of energy, thought, irrelevant actions
and thus simply no progress towards resolution.
Regarding Cuba…the entire world (UN) deplores our boycott of it.
Bush took a hard stance against the Commie island, which still
is determined to undercut and undermine the US. and it does (
read: Venezuela).
Let us not forget that Cuba had 160 plus nuclear missiles on it’s shore at one time, aimed at the East Coast AND any invasion force. It nationalized our industries located there. It and Russia, were prepared to nuke every major city from New York to Miami.
Only cool heard, ( Kennedy ) avoided a Holocaust..we removed our
dated Jupiter Missiles surrounding the former Soviet Union. They backed off.
At least one general wanted to nuke Russia to pre-empt.
Im sure he considered this a necessary war just as Herr Obama
is considering Afghanistan a war of necessity.
Speaking of necessary wars. hows about Obama’s approach towards
his military line and staff. His hand appointed general, who dared say something in public, has only seen him twice. Get it, the general who
recommended we send 40,000 more troops to Afghanstan..has only
seen Obama twice. Oh my gosh.
Yet this same Obama has the audacity, I call it chutspah, to spend
and evening with his wife in NYCity, seeing a Broadway Play and
eating at a fashionable restaurant. No time?
Now get this fellow lurkers at this webside, in the thousands Im sure.
Obama, Axelrod and Rahm, are still engaging, talking, with Iran’s leadership.
The latest news is that Iran has agreed to send 2,500 lbs of enriched uranium ( against UNSC resolutions to possess) to France and Russia., in turn for fuel rods to power a reactor.
The fly in the ointment is that they won’t send it all at once, but
in parts. THAT undermines the intent of the agreement. They can
make more enriched uranium..to a point wherein they can then
convert it into bomb making stuff.
The Iranians are saying that they are cooperating fully with the IAEA..
have opened their heretofore secret (but not to the West), nuke site
(nothing new there). The site is only a small part of their clandestine
enrichment program.
The Ruskies, always the spoilers..do not want stiffer sanctions against
Iran..saying it provokes them unnecessarily.
The US, can circumvent the UNSC..but, under Obama, will it?
I think we know the answer.
What also bothers me about our liberal President is the following:
we have 3 battleship groups in the Persian Gulf. We have the power
to take out all 30 Iranian sites associated with it’s program.
We won’t of course.
One of the sites has uranium ore..which is used to make gas, which
is spun (with heavy water) to make enriched uranium..which is converted
to plutonium..used to make atomic bombs.
Iran, has an agreement with Venezuela, to mine uranium ore.
Obama shook Mr. Chavez’s hand..the dictartor of Venezuela.
He is reaching out to both.
This is what we get for voting for Herr Obama, the community
organizer.
But as one friend who lives in Manhattan, New York told me recently,
Islamic-fascism is irrelvant.
Yeah, right.
Hey guy, hows about those 2 men just arrested for planning
to blow up malls, and kill 2 members of the Executive Branch?
My friends comment was typical of a New York liberal.
It’s really scarey isn’t it!
The Czar appointed by Obama to run economic recovery and act as
a watchdog, is angry at all the millions of bonuses paid out or
about to be paid out to executives.
Yet, GMAC is asking for billions more to aid them., on top of
the 80b given to GM (now owned partly by the government).
Guess what, no one is buying GM cars. Enough said.
But who cares, under Obama, only the rich will have to pay for it
anyway.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Dav, you write as well as any one we read, and we apparently read a lot. You get your point across and that’s what counts. Changing some one’s mind is not a practical goal but is nice if it happens.
I’m not Jewish but I do agree with most of your observations. I doubt that I’m Christian either, based on how most Christians define Christianity. I’m not Atheist because I hope mankind is not the ultimate being. I think there is something bigger than mankind. I don’t know that Jesus was the Son of G-d or a prophet. I think he was real man that walked the earth. I think he said some things and he didn’t say some things. What he really said no one knows. Although many people think they know what he said and like to try to tell me all about it. I don’t buy all of it.
You and I are living in a unraveling world and each unraveled thread thinks it is going the right direction. I don’t know for sure what thread is going the right direction, but I do know what’s fair and I think that is what the Bible and Jesus have tried to say. Be fair and don’t say you are going to something, then not do it.
I’m not Republican either. I’ve registered Republican since college but lately I have decided I’m half Libertarian, quarter Independent and quarter Republican. I guess I’m a mutt.
I admire the ancient Hebrews, their culture and concrete thought process promoted fairness and stability. It was a form of communism not understood today.
I don’t know where this is going, I just wanted to respond to your post.
You keep writing I’ll keep reading.
Toma
October 29th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
When’s Dreier gonna finally come out of the closet?
He’s being awfully dishonest about the spending during the Bush years. We did not double the national debt because of homeland security or the wars. Yes, these things were expensive, and mostly unnecessary, but they didn’t add up to well over 5 trillion dollars! Jeez. What a joke.
JMJ
October 29th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Toma, you most certainly don’t have to believe that man is the “ultimate thing” to be an atheist. That’s a non-sequitor. The only thing you have to believe to be an atheist is that there is no supernatural God, and given the evidence, really it’s not a hard thing to believe. That’s it. Period. Nothing more.
JMJ
October 29th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Imus guest this morning Chris Christie Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey video included.
Imus guest this morning Chris Christie Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey. Imus: I got tell you the truth Chris, I need you to win, it will make me look good.
Chris Christie Republican Candidate for Governor of New Jerseys, tells Imus “I’m Going To Be A Big Fat Winner”
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/10/imus-guest-chris-christie-pleasing.html
All Eyes on the New Jersey and Virginia, Governor Races November 3rd (5 days away) *litmus for how the 2010 elections will proceed?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Corzine’s pulling ahead. Dagget is taking voters from Christie. But even without Dagget, Corzine’s still pulling ahead. Corzine will win NJ. I think part of the reason for this, though, is that Christie just isn’t very charismatic and his campaign hasn’t been run well. Republicans can win state elections in NJ, and they have in the past, but they have to at least run a good campaign. Jersey voters are pretty sophisticated.
VA voters, on the hand… McDonnell is likely to win VA. So if this is a litmus, Obama’s batting .500, which in a off-year is pretty good. But I don’t think these particular elections are much a litmus. VA has pretty serious state problems that really have little or nothing to do with the federal government, like a nototriously poor tranportation infrastructure. McDonnell is better at speaking to that issue without talking about raising taxes. Of course, he’s simply taking asvantage of dumber voters. You can’t build roads without revenues. It’s like that old Simpson’s episode when the town was gathered at city hall and Mayor Quimby was talking about making the schools better, and the audience kept shifting from complaining about the schools and the need to fund them to then decrying the notion of raising the taxes to pay for it. People really are morons sometimes.
JMJ
October 30th, 2009 at 11:37 am
U.S. Condemned For Pre-Emptive Use Of Hillary Clinton Against Pakistan
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “You Must Not Have Heard About Me” Video from the Onion, The Pakistanis have kind of been asking for it, we tried to be nice.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/10/secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-to.html