From CNN:

TUNE-IN ALERT: head to CNN.com or CNN.com/LIVE at 12:00 p.m. ET today for a special sneak peek at what we’re calling John King, USA BETA. It will be a true behind-the-scenes experience where internet users can see how a show comes together in the final stages. Guests include Ron Paul, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, Erick Erickson, Jane Hamsher and Aisha Taylor

It’s been a long week. Actually, it’s been a long 14 months.

For the last year, those of us who love this grand experiment called America have seen assault after assault waged against our liberties, our freedoms and our Constitution. And sometime in the next 72 hours, we will know whether those who wish to impose their vision of an America where freedoms and liberties give way to the all-knowing, all-controlling state from which our Founders freed us, will be able to strike a massive blow against the America we love.

If there was ever any doubt that these forces of tyranny would engage in lies, deceit, subterfuge, theft, bribery and a host of other nefarious schemes, the actions in the past months of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid cabal have put those doubts to rest. And today? The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives shredded the Constitution and paved the way for the rule of men rather than the rule of law.

It’s been a long and exhausting fight, and as I perused comments and diaries this afternoon, it became evident that many who have manned the ramparts and filled the breaches with every ounce of vigor and strength within their being are exhausted, tired, and weary of the battle. I understand that weariness; I understand the aching knot in the pit of your stomach; I understand the sense of inevitability that invades your soul. I understand those things because I have experienced them all.

But to my RedState brothers and sisters who have fought so valiantly, I implore you to not despair…do not give up the fight…this is not and will not be over until it is over. And that time has not yet come.

Fellow lovers of freedom, we must not, we dare not, at this moment that our country needs us the most, allow our fears to overcome us.

This is not the view of a naive Pollyanna.  I do not believe that there is no way we lose this fight because we all know that the forces arrayed against have no morals and could give a rat’s hind end about the rule of law in their zeal to impose socialism and tyranny on us.

But the fact remains that they’re the ones running uphill not us. They are the masters of lies, subterfuge, misdirection, bribery and fraud. They. Have. No. Morals. But I believe in my heart  that they still have a mountain to climb, and a raging torrent of a river to cross. I believe in my heart that they know they need to get this to one of two votes so they can pull out the “do you really want to be the vote that kills this?� card.

But I do not believe that it is, at this moment, close enough for them to pull that card. I believe that to even get it that close, they need to create an aura of inevitability; to isolate the opposition; to get the first 7 or 8 to cave so they can then get the last 2 or 3. And I believe that that is what all of this “fauxmomentum” of the last few days is all about.

I firmly believe that a lot of the yes’s from November’s vote purposely moved to ‘undecided’ for the express purpose of declaring ‘for’ the bill in the last days in order to create an illusion of ‘undecideds breaking for the bill’ which the sycophants in the MSM will then trumpet. Because I believe that, it has been frustrating to watch people who rightly and daily rail on the MSM for their sycophantic lying and total lack of objectivity get sucked into the vortex of that which they know to be filled with filth and lies because their hearts are so filled with fear and dread.

Many have asked how it could be possible for us to lose the vote on the Slaughter Solution today and still win the battle. I never said or thought this would be easy, but folks, that was a procedural vote. No matter what one’s vote on a particular piece of legislation, legislators are expected to support the party line on procedural votes. To not do so is to invite the wrath of the party leadership upon your head, and doesn’t do much for your standing within the caucus either.

Folks, the wonder of the vote today isn’t that we “lost” it; it’s that 28 Democrats broke with their leadership on a procedural vote. That’s virtually unheard of. I went back and cross-checked lists and at least nine of the Democrats that voted for the SS (that would be the Slaughter Solution voted ‘no’ in November and announced in the last 48 hours that they were firmly against the bill.

On the other hand, Lipinski (who recently announced a switch from yes to no who I personally thought was an awfully squishy no) voted against the SS as did Harry Mitchell from Arizona (who also voted ‘yes’ in November) Could that be a covering vote to ‘mitigate’ a vote for the Rule itself? Maybe. But I don’t think so.

All I know is that the whip counts I follow show there are 36 firm no’s; only two no’s from the November vote (Kucinich & Gordon) have announced as a ‘yes’. But there are 10 yes’s from November that have flipped to ‘no’. There are nine no’s from the November vote listed as undecided. Within the ‘undecideds’ are “yes’sâ€� that are part of the Stupak dozen who Stupak says are standing firm. Stupak continues to claim that there are Congressmen on his list that aren’t on anyone else’s, and people who are thought to be part of his coalition who are not. And he continues to maintain that the 12 he has are all holding firm. Folks - the Dems have to run the table on virtually all them because they can only afford to lose two of these people to garner the votes to pass this. And you wonder why The One has postponed until June his trip to Indonesia, and the Democrat leadership is now starting to court Joseph Cao (R) from Louisiana?

Can they do it? Of course they can. Will they? I wish I knew. But if they do, let it not be because our side got dispirited and pulled back at the most critical moment in the battle when every ounce of courage and strength need to be thrown into the breach. From the bottom of my heart and from the depths of the knot in my stomach I believe that is what this whole last couple of days has been about - creating the appearance of momentum so that wavering Dems will cave and opponents will give up.

Am I underestimating the lengths and depths that these enemies of freedom will go to enact the Holy Grail of socialism for which they have schemed and plotted for 70 years? Absolutely not. Do I understand that the stakes have never been higher; that the carrot of pork and the stick of broken body parts will be tough to overcome. You bet Nancy Pelosi’s botox-injected bottom I do.

I’m just saying “Screw ‘em!� If we lose this, then let’s lose kicking and screaming and punching and gouging right up until they close the vote on Sunday. Let us not get so caught up in their lies, deceit and utter lack of scruples that we become discouraged and give up the fight before the final blow has been stuck.

In the paraphrased words of Winston Churchill:

Churchill

{Let us} not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight…on the seas and oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength… We shall defend our [country] whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender!

If, at this moment of peril for our great country, we do, we will never forgive ourselves.

As the battle over earmarks heats up again in Congress, Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) wants us to know his flag is firmly planted in the pro-earmarking camp. Like his colleague Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sen. Bennett claims to have a far better understanding of his state’s needs than an “unelected bureaucrat� in Washington, D.C.

Two examples of this principle, according to Sen. Bennett, are Projects Constellation and Ares, Utah-based NASA space programs on the chopping block in the administration’s proposed NASA budget. To the senior congressional appropriator, the elimination of these programs is a perfect demonstration of what happens when unelected bureaucrats are granted too much power. What Sen. Bennett has not told his constituents is that when it came time for him to question the president’s nominee to lead NASA, the Utah Republican was nowhere to be found. Instead, he allowed the top NASA nominee to sail through the Senate by unanimous consent with zero debate about how the new administrator’s spending priorities might affect Utah.

While many lifelong appropriators instinctively point to Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution as proof that they are required by the Founders to appropriate a chicken in every pot and a Bridge to Nowhere in every state, they rarely mention Article II, Section 2, which gives them the authority and duty to question and confirm or reject presidential nominees. To the Founding Fathers, this was a major legislative check on the kind of runaway executive power decried by congressional appropriators. Unfortunately, many lawmakers ignore this clear constitutional duty in favor of an activity that gives them the opportunity to present friends and campaign donors with oversized novelty checks paid for by American taxpayers.

By all accounts, Maj. Gen Charles Frank Bolden, Jr. is supremely qualified to head NASA. He is a former astronaut and a highly decorated Marine. But given Sen. Bennett’s expressed desire to demand spending accountability from the legion of so-called unelected bureaucrats, it is all the more striking that he was missing in action when he had a clear opportunity to question the nominee about his views on certain ongoing NASA programs. Administrator Bolden was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 15, 2009, as was Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver. Only two lawmakers that day made floor statements about the administrators’ confirmations; Sen. Bennett was not one of them.

However, eight months after Administrator Bolden was confirmed without a peep from the Utah Senate delegation, Sen. Bennett informed the Deseret News that he “plans to push for earmarks� to save the Constellation and Ares programs.

“The president’s decision to cut these programs is a perfect example of what would happen if Congress gave up its constitutional authority to appropriate federal funding,� Bennett told the newspaper. He did not mention that it is also a perfect example of what would happen if a lawmaker abdicated his authority to question presidential nominees charged with developing the budgets of federal agencies.

Despite his complete absence from the NASA nomination proceedings, Sen. Bennett is no stranger to the tactic of blocking a nominee over his views on hot-button issues. For example, in June 2009 – just a month before the NASA administrator’s confirmation – Sen. Bennett blocked a Department of Interior nominee over Utah oil and gas leases. A search on the senator’s website for press releases about the top NASA nominee comes up short, and the senator released no statements upon the nomination or confirmation of Administrator Bolden.

You may be wondering what Sen. Bennett was up to when he chose to stay silent on the appointment of a man who had the power to shut down Utah-based space programs. It’s hard to say. But what is known is that Sen. Bennett collected $15,600 in campaign cash in the week leading up to Administrator Bolden’s confirmation according to a tally from OpenSecrets.org.

Of the 14 individual donations made to his campaign that week, only one came from somebody in Utah.