Perhaps I say that because I had mixed feelings tonight driving back from Carly’s party tonight in Orange County. It was a good night for the Republicans nationwide, with Republican candidates knocking off three committee chairman, John Spratt of the Budget Committee (who got walloped in South Carolina), Ike Skelton of the House Armed Services Committee and James Oberstar of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
In addition, Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey will not be returning.
In California, Gloria Allred and the public employee unions helped the Democrats sprint across the finish line. Their unions professional phone banks helped turn out the vote and turn the tide. Watching Jerry Brown declare victory without breaking a smile, it seemed I was watching a clip of a university professor leading a rally in the early 1970s. His election, Paul Mirengoff writes, sends us back to the future that doesn’t work.
Together with a cooperative media, he helped make this race about Meg Whitman’s flaws. And her campaign failed to define him as an eccentric has-been, a man to whom recently-recalled Governor Gray Davis once served as understudy. At a later date, I will write about Meg’s loss — for it was much more her loss than Brown’s win.
Thirty-six years ago, when he was first elected governor, Jerry Brown took over a state that was fiscally sound. Today, he faces a state with perennial budget woes. Personally, I don’t think he’s equipped to face this mess. A majority of my fellow Californians disagreed. But then, the campaign was never really about the state’s shaky fiscal standing. And now, we have to hope, we have to pray that Jerry Brown is up to fixing it.
As to Carly’s loss, well, I’m a little sad, but not despondent. I had a sense it was coming. While we Republican phone bankers may have reassured ourselves that the Democrats lacked a Get Out the Vote effort, while watching the news, I saw Mrs. Boxer angrily rallying the troops at a union phone bank in El Monte. Their voters may not be enthusiastic about their statewide candidates, but the unions know how to get them out.
While California’s economy will likely remain in the tank, the good news for the nation, to borrow an expression from Joe Biden, is that the huge Republican victory in the House mean “the ‘end of the road’ for the White House’s agenda.”
Let’s just hope that Jerry Brown doesn’t bring that agenda to the (once-)Golden State. For should he do that, it will never regain its luster.
*says this blogger writing from California.
California proves the axiom that a conservative is someone who embraces that which has been proven to work and rejects that which has been proven to fail, and a liberal is the exact opposite.
If anyone’s source of joy in life is politics, that’s a pretty screwed up person. Politics is a civic duty, but the real joy in life is faith and family.
Gays blew it for Democrats. They tried to force DADT repeal and then saturated the media for weeks with gay media. All the polls show those events equal to the Dems collapse.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-901.html
*sigh* Now can we let California fall into the sea?
As a Californian, I’m disappointed that it appears the GOP wave was not quite big enough to wash over my state as thoroughly as it did the rest of the country. However, the silver lining is that the Democrats will OWN California’s continuing decline (and the decline WILL continue as long as our state government is controlled by Democrats beholden to the public employee unions and the open borders lobby).
On a brighter note, Red State has a great article posted highlighting the “underreported story of the night”, the GOP tsunami at the state level.
“There will be 18 states subject to reapportionment. The Republicans will control a majority of those — at least ten and maybe a dozen or more. More significantly, a minimum of seventeen state legislative houses have flipped to the Republican Party.”
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/11/03/the-tsunami/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
*buys up property along the eastern side of the san andreas fault*
by the way, we were chatting about California last night and one sentiment was clear: NO BAILOUTS FOR CALIFORNIA!’
California is not too big to fail.
Last night’s sweepingly profound change in the direction of our Nation should make anyone who watches, participates or truly helps carry the ball in our electoral process and partisan politics, stand humbly in awe of the genius of our Founding Fathers –that they could craft a system that would serve generations and centuries of America’s best and brightest citizens so well.
Last night and the lead up to the election proves, once again, that politics and governance are critically important to each and every citizen. Those who ignore that truth fail to learn the lessons of history and the senselessness of sitting on their hands on E Day.
Thank God for these United States and we should all celebrate the genius of our Founding Fathers; loyal, committed public servants first -serving selflessly in the governance of our neighbors.
On to 2012!
While I am not a resident of California (I live in NH where the GOP won the state house back and three of the four congressional races) I think the bright side to Brown winning in CA is there will be absolutely nobody to blame in the GOP for what happens to California fiscally. Somebody is going to have to get their ox gored in California, because the magic money tree the government thinks exists is just a fantasy.
Frankly California deserves Brown and Boxer and Democrat rule. The rest of the country is about to turn around but the recession is going to keep sinking the not so golden state. That’s a little sad but … ah well.
I’m in North Carolina, but I can’t help but feel sad for the good people of California. However, they’ll be able to blame Jerry Brown for what’s about to happen, not a Republican, and that’s a good thing!
Lessons Learned (or at least, “Lessons Experienced”)
1. The Tea Parties provided the best candidates (Johnson, Lee, Paul, Rubio) and the worst (O’Donnell, Angle). Moving forward, the Tea Parties must learn to vet their candidates better.
2. The unholy Trinity of Democrat Money – Union Power – Media Attack Dogs carried Harry Reid’s dessicated carcass over the finish line, saved Boxer, almost sank Toomey, and probably sank Buck (who is ahead, but within the margin of vote fraud and about to get Frankened). Republicans have to come up with a strategy to break this iron triangle, Tea Parties and Talk Radio Ain’t Enough.
3. Old People Are Greedy and Stupid and Believe It When Democrats Tell Them Republicans Will Take Away Their Social Security Checks. Which is really a corollary to Lesson 2.
I was puzzled by some of the exit poll question. When asked why people support candidates like Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer, voters replied; “They know all the in’s and out’s of Washington. They know how to bring home those federal dollars.”
How do they expect to bring home any federal dollars with the GOP in control of the House of Representatives?
.
4. Give up on California: If two accomplished women from the private sector can’t beat a senile hippie and a dingbat hack, there’s no sense wasting money there.
Advice to Republicans for 2012: Pick your battles. There are 23 Democrat Senate seats up in 2012. Choose six that you can win, and six to eight more that you can force Democrats to spend money in. The massive spending in Colorado and Nevada made the difference for Democrats there.
The six best chances for a GOP pick-up in 2012:
WI – Herb Kohl is old. Sean Duffy could take him.
OH – Sherrod Brown rode in on the 2006 wave. A high profile Republican could take him out. Lt. Governor Mary Taylor, maybe.
NE – Ben Nelson is damaged goods, and ought to be vulnerable to the right Republican.
MO – Claire McTaxdodge ought to be vulnerable, but it’s hard to think of a viable challenger.
ND – Kent Conrad is another guy who’s been in the Senate way too long. A high profile, well-funded challenger could flip this seat.
MT – John Tester won in a squeaker against a very bad Republican in the Democrat wave of 2006. The rub is that Montana seems to like sending Democrats to Washington.
Republicans could also field competitive candidates in FL, MN, MI, PA, VA, NM, and maybe NJ and WA to force the Democrats to spend there. It’s tough to imagine them picking up many seats when the Obama-Media-Union machine ramps up the turnout, though.
Kudos to Sean A for paying attention — per usual, you have to dig through media fluff for the real story of last night.
A quick scan of politico’s House Map shows red from sea to sea, with rare exceptions. Not seen anything like it.
Amazing turn-arounds in New Hampshire — love it. Am hoping NH is a couple of years ahead of Massachusetts — it is certainly looking that way.
Angle & ODonnell the “worst” TP choices? I think someone’s overlooked Joe Miller… Sarah Palin’s handpicked, anointed, anti-estabishment, baptized in the waters of uber TP central.
While the Democrats were rebuked last night, it’s also clear that Palin’s glass is a little less than half full if Senator Murkowski succeeds in making political history with her write-in campaign –maybe not rebuked, but like Lucy, “she’s got some ‘xplaining to do”. My guess, Sarah will be saying “Joe who?” within 24 hrs.
Thank God & the GOP (no, they are two different entities) Illinois didn’t do the farRight thing and instead chose an electable candidate who could win the Gen E.
I am thankful that republicans at least are in charge of the House and that when California goes under I will do my best to urge the House not to bail it out. Californians chose the fiscally irresponsible and incompetent democraps to lead them to hell, let them stay there and implode. Let the sane Californians flee to Arizona and Utah and Oklahoma and Texas while it becomes another Detroit writ large under democrap policies. But let not a dollar of my tax money go to try to float the socialist democraps in California.
Matt, you undermine your own theory…
If Senator MooCowskee had gotten behind the Republican Candidate, like you’re always demanding the Socons do with the moderate (see Sen. McCain, and now Sen Kirk) then Miller would have won free and clear.
Just like your saing that Crist took out voters for Rubio, when the numbers tell a different tale.
Could Angle/McDonnell/McMahon been better ‘vetted’? Maybe. Would ‘better vetted’ candidates have had the inspiration that they did? Maybe not.
I have much the same opinion as I did the night Obama was elected. I crashed the Democrat Election Party in Hawaii where I lived at the time and everyone was just so ecstatic. I smirked because I had a hunch Obama would turn out to be the failure he is.
I’m thinking the same thing now.. California has to hit rock bottom before people will wake up.
I also enjoyed the myriad of my gay liberal friends posts on Facebook calling Carly and Meg bitch or cunt. Your candidate wins and you still have to be vicious and nasty. Some tolerance.
Joe Miller is a good man. If you look at his military record, it’s outstanding. He was just torn down by the corrupt Murkowski machine, of which the Alaska media is part and parcel.
Dan:
California is my home state, and I still have lots of family living there (mom, siblings, kids, extended family), so I have no particular desire to see things fall apart.
That said, the California state government, as well many of the municipal governments there, remind me of my sister-in-law: a prescription drug addict who has been in and out of jail and prison for years and who has easily run through $100k or so of my mother-in-law’s money, sometimes by asking for it and other times by stealing it (via forged checks, identity theft, etc.). And even now, as she sits in prison, she blames everyone else and claims to have done nothing wrong.
California voting for Brown and Boxer reminds me of my sister-in-law scoring one more bottle of Loritab, convinced that she needs it and lying about how she’ll use it (and how quickly she’ll go through it). I believe that California will continue on its path to financial default — and that the GOP House, probably to the cheers of most of the other state governments, will refuse to bail it out.
Not going to be pretty. ..bruce..
Agree with V and TL.
– Alaska Republican moderates are clearly corrupt; Murky is exhibit 1.
– Miller, though not perfect, won his party’s primary fair and square.
– Had Moderate-Murky honored the rule that the local MM keeps preaching – that you Republicans are supposed to fall in line and back your party’s candidates – Miller clearly would have won.
If one were to generalize from this situation, it would appear that self-proclaimed “independent”, “moderate”, “progressive” Republicans lack integrity and are not to be trusted.
I did say “if”. For my part, I will continue to hold a consistent position for the smallest government that can still protect life, liberty and property. That means I hold some views which could be called radical libertarian – I voted for CA’s Prop 19 last night, as I see no point in pot being criminalized even if I never touch the stuff – while I look to support the moderate Defense conservative and the radical Fiscal conservative.
As for CA: Americans needed Obama to help them get over their fantasies about socialism. Californians evidently are slow learners.
Not only did J Brown win, but it looks like prop 25, which will allow the Kali govt to pass taxes with only a bare majority of the legislative vote instead of a 2/3rd majority….. Welcome To Taxiformia!
I’m liking Boehner’s speech here: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/03/boehner-this-is-not-a-time-for-celebration/
I hope the GOP is serious about shrinking government, i.e. shrinking regulation and domestic spending… this time. Rather than growing Washington first, as the GOP did under Ford, Bush 41 and Bush 43.
I’m not here to grind axes. I’m just trying to criticize constructively. Most of the GOP races in 2012 look a lot more like Pennsylvania and Colorado than Arkansas. The GOP damn well better figure out why Toomey and Buck underperformed and the figure out what to do about it.
Oops, I meant to end that saying it looks like prop 25 passed… Hey it’s early in the morning and i haven’t had my breakfast yet.
You know he’s pretending to cry, don’t you? That he’s putting on a show? Is it appropriate for a grown man to move himself to tears as he’s relating part of his own life story? Especially one that is as mundane as I-used-to-work-in-my-dad’s-restaurant?
That’s the Tea Party for you; a bunch of insincere theatrics disguising the same old Republicans that you guys like to pretend you got so upset with. It’s been really easy for you guys to talk trash from the sidelines and put the responsibility for everything on the Democrats, but that ended last night. We’ll have to see how much Boehner can get done with fake crying.
Hoping and praying is not going to help. This says a lot about Californians unwillingness to face reality. And how its steeped in leftist ideology. But it also shows the continual weaknesses of the Republican Party. Meg Whitman could not or would not pound the point about Jerry Brown when he was governor back in the 70’s!?!?! There was plenty there to nail him on. From what I read and heard, she barely mentioned it.
The Democrats used the same bully tactics everywhere: smear your opponent, look for a wronged minority from the opponent’s past and accuse the opponent of racism, denigrate the wealth of the opponent(even though many democrats are wealthy, although not through real work). We all know Democrats have nothing to offer. They are nililists at root.
This goes on and on. I think one of the reasons Whitman and Fiorina lost was they never explained what their values were, and how they were the complete opposite of the status quo. Both of these women were CEO’s of major corprorations. These businesses offered tremendous values and wealth to the world. And not once did they discuss the ideas and cultural influences that made it possible for HP and Ebay to exist. Better yet, what made it possible for THEM to reach the highest level of business?!? Capitalism and individual rights!!
This is why I have serious problems with the Republican Party. My strategy was vote for Republican candidates so griddlock can ensue. My goal was to stop the maddness of Obama, period. That does not mean blanket support of the Repubs. They are in a state of flux because they implicitly believe in large government. Why do they continually denigrate gays and lesbians right to get into marital contracts? The only reason this was barely mentioned was because of the Tea Party Movement. They refused to let that be an issue and instead focused on limited government and the creeping authoritarianism in the White House. Thank god. An intellecutal battle is being waged in the Republican Party. Their victories should not imply consent, but a warning to call them out when they start compromising the principles of this country’s founding.
Scherie, great points all around!
Ah, I was waiting for our resident socialist to show up. So now, in addition to claiming that brown people can’t comprehend democracy, he claims to be able to see the hearts and minds of people he’s never met.
I’m sure that Levi would prefer the incoming speaker to take the high road Of Bawney Fwank.
Feeling rather down here in Nevada, as well. But then again, when Angle became the nominee, I knew (and said here) that she’d have a huge uphill fight, as she had only won races for a conservative district in the state assembly, and she lost in her attempts (in the primaries) to run for congress in 2006 and the Nevada state senate in 2008. Unfortunately, the fact that the final tally wasn’t closer will only serve to encourage Reid in his reckless partisanship.
Kurt,
I feel the same way when it comes to Mike DeWhine here in Ohio. I mean, seriously? Him as AG? I voted for the Constitution Candidate since between D & R, it was a matter of who sucks less.
No Levi; but I do know the following.
– Nancy Pelosi pretended to run “the most ethical Congress in history” or whatever her dumb line was.
– You pretend not to be a fascist on economic matters.
IS no one going to call Roger on his BS?
All three primary candidates in NV had problems. I donated to Danny Tarkanian’s campaign, but when I heard him interviewed on the radio he was downright awful. Sue Lowden… the establishment candidate… made a huge gaffe in the primary (by stating the historical accuracy that people in earlier days bartered for Health Care. The Lying MFM said that was her health care policy.) The unholy Democrat-Union-Media Trinity would have run roughshod over either of the other candidates, too.
We learned that even with major winds to their back, candidates and campaigns still matter. Sestak was a good campaigner and was able to surge against Toomey like he did in upsetting Specter.
O’Donnell is the best example of it, a better candidate who ran a better campaign would have been able to do more in this environment. The race was all about her, and not in a good way, she was a bad candidate which was proven by her prior loses.
Whitman lost control of the campaign when the story came out about her house keeper, and she never seemed to recover. As much as people make a big deal about money buying elections, all of her money didn’t save her.
Manchin was able to win by using his immense popularity and running an effective campaign to prove he was “independent” voice. People do not love Republicans, so if they were able to trust a Democrat that is running against Obama agenda, they went with it.
Angle was a bad candidate and was unable to mount the kind of electoral infrastructure needed to beat him. Though I think many people underestimated Reid in this race. The power I was reading about Reid the more it was apparent he was quite a few steps ahead of Angle. Reid might be hated but the powerful interests of Nevada support what he does for the state. Angle needed not only Republican energy but she needed to cut into Reid’s Democratic support, and she came off was too polarizing for them.
V da K, I’m glad to hear you’re not here to “grind axes”… I wish others in the echo chamber would learn that lesson.
Joe Miller is probably a good man… and Murkowski should NOT have run a write-in campaign… she should have followed the correct path and stepped aside, hopefully supported Miller and moved toward success. She is a politician who is self-interested in the worst way… it seems to be a condition that afflicts Alaskan pols… but not exclusive to them (see CC).
But Miller was a flawed candidate who ran a failed campaign, like ODonnell. You mentioned Angle and ODonnell as examples of poor TPer candidates… I think Miller gets that nod, too.
There are lots of good men and women out there in candidate prospecting land… I’d like to see more emphasis by primary voters in weeding out candidates with simple slogans and a cute smile in place of picking people who can win. The primary purpose of a Party is to advance candidates who can win office in the Gen E. It isn’t to pick someone who will lose but make a statement; statements don’t caucus on the opening day of session.
ILC @#24…. it wasn’t just Ford, Bush 41 or Bush 43.
You forgot (imagine that?) the expanding fed govt by Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower… blah blah blah.
MM,
You’re again glossing over the fact that Miller out polled the Democrat, and if Lisa Moocowskee had done what you keep saying the SoCons should have done with McCain (sit down, shut up, and support the candidate), it wouldnt’ have been close. Anchorage Daily News is saying that ‘written in’ is up by about seven points. Are you trying to say that of that 41%, well over half would have voted for Scott McAdams instead of Joe Miller? Would O’Donnells number have been better if Castle had endorced her?
Again, you’re allowed your own opinion, but the data seems to disagree.
No MM, I didn’t forget about Nixon.
Just to introduce some facts into the discussion – because your discussions MM are usually pretty fact-free – here is a table from Cato on Presidential spending: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/presidential-spending/
The table covers Johnson to Bush 43 (thus pre-Obama). Ford turns in the single worst performance of any President on it, having signed increases of non-defense, discretionary spending at a 10% annual rate.
Bush 43 is also pretty bad, having turned in a 3.4% performance *before* the Democrats took Congress, and separately signed a major new entitlement. Bush 41’s badness included a 3.3% performance and separately, the breaking of his given word to the American people when he signed one of the largest tax increases in our history.
The best performance on domestic spending (or “growing Washington”) is Reagan’s: negative 1.2% per year on the discretionary part. Not enough by a longshot… but the best of a bad lot. That, silly little MM, would be why I did not mention Reagan in the same breath as Ford, Bush 41 or Bush 43.
LiveW, it isn’t a question of whether Castle’s endorsement of ODonnell would have made a difference… I would imagine there was a sizable portion of moderates who couldn’t and wouldn’t vote for ODonnell or Coons but would have maybe followed Castle’s lead if he had endorsed and worked to support ODonnell… when the final ballot numbers are in for Delaware, we’ll see if there was any voter fall-off. Additionally, my claim that if CC has withdrawn from the FL race, I bet that Meeks would have won… if CC had done it at the right time. Was Rubio the best choice? Yeah, he won and that’s the purpose. End of story. You play the cards you got, no?
Miller’s candidacy was always more about Sarah Palin once again putting her ego on the front burner, on high, without a pot or kettle and trying to whack at the GOP establishment in AK –and it looks like Sarah Palin lost that fight… that’s the story up in AK. Not that a “moderate” won in a historically tough standard of a write in campaign. My God, that’s the weakest path to electoral victory.
You try to turn it to a question of if Castle had endorsed, would ODonnell have won? I’d ask it this way: was ODonnell the best candidate for the job? Same with Miller. Same with Angle.
The thread got off on this tangent because I thought that a list of worst TP candidates would also include Miller –he failed in his campaign bid and lost it in a write-in effort… one of the most fragile methods of winning an election. How is that? Epic, epic fail on Miller’s part… and Sarah’s. Murkowski’s just an opportunist, like CC.
My point remains: Sarah Palin should have to atone and explain those poor choices… instead, she’ll go underground, avoid the glare, try to spin and hope no one notices that the AK race was all about Palin’s ego, not what was best for the Party or AK. It should be a caution to the Palin-2012ers around here… it should be, but won’t I fear.
Nice try at fact spinning, ILC. I would imagine intellectually dishonest fact spinning from you is the exercise du jour much like ax grinding was yesterday?
Rather than use Reagan-centric Cato… try reading something from the tad more neutral von Mies folks –in this case, Sheldon Richman.
http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=488
Catch the money quote:
“Even Ford and Carter did a better job at cutting government. Their combined presidential terms account for an increase of 1.4%—compared with Reagan’s 3%—in the government’s take of “national income.” And in nominal terms, there has been a 60% increase in government spending, thanks mainly to Reagan’s requested budgets, which were only marginally smaller than the spending Congress voted.”
Like trying to re-task the line about Washington as civilian-soldier into civilian-politician in another thread, you really have to spend more time learning those lessons than arguing out of your hat or elsewhere.
My opinions, dear boi, are informed by facts. Yours, appear informed by misreadings of history, economics and politics.
Fancy that, eh?
MM: As usual, you crack me up with your silly projections 🙂
As for Richman: He was using different metrics. Apparently, thinking about the *meaning* of what you are reading, is still a big big BIG issue with you. Reagan did have big defense spending increases. Cato’s chart does not hide it; all you had to do was look at it. Reagan had them because he was trying to defeat Communism, rather than do Ford-Carter appeasement of it. Remember?
And just today, just at comments #21 and 40, I talked about my hope that the GOP this time will shrink regulation and ***domestic spending***. Remember that? It was today, MM. Only minutes ago.
Seriously dude – try WAY harder. Raise your game.
FWIW: Candidates endorsed by La Palin won 30 House Seats last night and seven senate seats.
The Republican Establishment should be thanking her, but they’ll just piss on her instead.
In fact, let’s have a countdown: 4, 3, 2…
ILC, I wouldn’t expect someone with a scandalously threshold for spinning and intellectually dishonesty, to retreat from the facts.
Hot air? Nope, simple facts and better insights than you provided. I’ve watched you often try to spin and redirect the thrust of your failed arguments. Call it “hot air” from us –we just rely on the truth. Something you ought to try some day, some thread, some time.
No, that’s not it. You still need to try much harder.
V da K, you’ve been a protector of the Grizzlie Momma and that’s ok. But the point was that part of Palin’s influence on this election was to endorse people who weren’t prepared to win and she exits the contest unscathed?
I don’t think so. Like I said, she’s got some ‘xplaining to do. You see accountability as some evil GOP establishment torture of your Joan of Alaska… it isn’t; it’s just that we shouldn’t move forward without learning the lessons of 2010.
Just like you wanted GOPers to admit over and over and over that McCain was the wrong choice… that the GOP lost its way under Bush 43… and on and on.
Fair play, it’s time for Palin to find a way to atone. Explain what happened. We don’t want to repeat this year’s mistakes with another round in 2012, do we?
ILC, I’ve found with you a closed mind is tough to penetrate. You’ve got the last word on another thread line you can’t defend.
It’s ok… truth is a hard concept for you to grasp.
Still not it, MM. Just your usual stupid hot gas of personal attacks that project your bad tendencies onto others.
Please try harder.
FWIW, I don’t think Sarah Palin is the best person to run for President in 2012. But I think that point can be made without trashing her. Unlike certain moderates, Sarah worked very hard to get Republicans elected this year.
Sarah Palin has nothing to atone for. “Republicans for Reid” on the other hand…
Perhaps the State cannot be “fixed” as long as liberals politicians are in charge. Could be California will only be fixed by “tough love”. IF and when, the State cannot pay their bills or borrow more money then California will be fored to change. And only then!!!!
Ok. But how many won because of her endorsement? Those who were most closely associated with Palin and relying most on her appeal, Palinites O’Donnell, Angle, and especially Miller, did not pass muster. And Miller is her own home state guy. That is somewhat like the 2000 election, where Al Gore couldn’t even win his own home state, which is the real reason he lost, not FLA.
I’d concur with V the K and Sonicfrog about the failure of some of Palin’s endorsements signaling that she should not be considered seriously as a Republican presidential candidate in 2012. That Miller looks doomed in Alaska ought to be a serious warning about the limits of her appeal. And as I commented at another blog, what happened here in Nevada could be repeated on a national basis in 2012 if Palin were the nominee: Angle was seen as too polarizing a figure to defeat a widely-hated incumbent (who could count on the support of unions, minorities, and other core Democrat constituencies). No matter how unpopular Obama becomes, he is pretty much assured the same base of support that Reid drew upon to win–particularly in a race against an opponent who is viewed as polarizing by many in the way that Palin is.
Let’s put it this way. Say Palin is on the table, for 2012. Now who can you come up with that’s better? I pick movies this way sometimes – Have a straw man on the table, then see what would be better. Some people say Pawlenty, but I personally have not quite gotten the appeal yet. Pence and Gingrich look like they will run. I hope we don’t get Romney or Huckabee, both Big Government types.
Spoke too soon, looks like Pence is running for Governor: http://www.wane.com/dpp/elections/pence-defeats-welsh
O grand protector of the Grizzlie Momma, Palin entered the endorsement fray and used her TP credentials to speak on behalf of a lot of candidates. She raised money for herself and for others; raised awareness of herself and others. It was a parasitic relationship in some cases.
Contrast her to the entire band of surrogates and former 2008 prez candidates were out on the stump working for the election of GOP candidates –and mostly didn’t do the self-serving “look at me, I’m the princess” act. Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee, Barbour, Pawlenty, even McCain on the ex-side of things.
If you listened to her on the cable outlets on Sunday and Monday, you’d have thought it was Queen Sarah on her gilded white steed protecting liberty, freedom and honor of all conservatives. I get it, she’s a great promoter and God love for it… but the others were promoting the candidates, not basking in some self love fest.
That’s what I saw of Sarah Palin. Haley Barbour said it best, if you’re working on behalf of GOP candidates, let them do the talking… you raise the $$$ and stay out of any media attention that comes to the campaign because of your presence. “It’s the candidate’s time, stupid”.
I’d like to see Palin explain how things got screwed up in the races she thought her people were going to win. Angle should have won –politically and morally. I don’t agree with some that ODonnell may have been Palin without the brains but she was running against a socialist to the left of Obama… she should have won. Miller is/was losing to a write-in candidate… the single most fragile path of election since hanging chads.
Palin, in order to be credible to those rank and file GOPers she’ll need in 2012, needs to stop the hair-makeovers and explain what happened. If she had worked to get seasoned natl campaign staff into important campaigns, like Mitt Romney’s PAC has repeatedly done, maybe she’d have been more successful a lever for the candidate. I get the sense from watching Palin in person and on the stump, she has no idea there’s a vacuum that exists when she exits stage right of the campaign. Other surrogates leave a groundswell of energy –she takes it away like a black hole.
Palin isn’t being trashed by GOP elites or the GOP establishment, V da K. She’s being held to account. Drop the grand protector of Grizzlie Momma for a second and appreciate that she didn’t emerge from the 2010 elections with her mojo intact. She needs to spend some time explaining why the gambit failed in some races, especially primaries.
And most of all, she needs the seasoning now to appreciate that when she goes into a race, let the candidate have the media. It isn’t ALL about Palin, 24×7; that’s why she’s got her reality show. It’s the candidate, stupid.
MM,
You’re still dodging the core issue. You want SoCons to ‘shut up and sing’ when moderates get the nod, but applaud the moderates when they backstab the party they claim to belong to and sabotage their candidates.
you admit that Castle actually endorcing the party candidate may have added to O’Donnell’s vote count. You say that CC dropping out would have given Meeks the election, if he were to still betray his party, at ‘the right time’. Reaching there, but again, it’s the betrayal of the moderates that the party suffers from.
Same thing with Mxiplysky. You’re trying to say that the majority of Republicans who voted in the primary were ‘out to get’ ykswocruM at Sarah’s command, yet they couldn’t get to vote against her. Maybe if the Republicans in congress had rewarded her backstabbing with removing her from her pork positions they’d have voted for Miller.
In all three cases, it was the Moderates who hurt the party they claim loyalty to, to sooth their own egos. Hells, look at my own state’s George Sonofavitch. If he’d run this year, damn straight he’d have been primaried. And then he’d do the same thing.
#27: “You know he’s pretending to cry, don’t you? That he’s putting on a show?”
How perfect that when Levi decides to chime in, his first instinct is to lecture conservatives about recognizing cheap, manufactured phoniness in politicians. If there is ONE THING that every liberal in America has in common with every other liberal in America, it’s: (1) a mystifying inability to detect true authenticity; (2) an incurable susceptibility to being seduced by tired, left-wing cliches recited by phony, philandering, sociopathic scumbags; and (3) a consistent and reliable practice of condemning true authenticity as the cheap, phony charade, while praising eye-rolling phoniness as historic, transcendent, and life-changing.
Perfect example: conservatives saw John Edwards and heard one syllable out of his mouth and concluded, phony, cheesy, ambulance-chasing narcissist.
Liberals saw the second coming of JFK–a brilliant, idealistic, uncompromising man of the people, a husband, heart-breakingly devoted to his sainted, cancer-stricken wife, and a passionate advocate for America’s poor. (Unquestionably a suitable Vice President in 2004 and even President in 2008.)
Verdict: Ummm, yeah. Phony, cheesy, dishonest, philandering, cowardly, sociopathic scumbag–just like us conservatives called it, right off the bat.
Levi, please don’t go changin’. The way liberals like you aggressively and categorically reject sincerity and goodness in order to embrace the embarrassingly transparent platitudes and contrivances of left-wing charlatans–well, it’s the defect in your humanity that I find the most fascinating. Seriously, it blows my mind–Sarah Palin = evil, calculating, greedy, narcissistic fame-whore and unfit mother; Nancy Pelosi = brilliant, professional, compassionate, admirable champion of America’s children and less fortunate. Good = bad; bad = good. Moral = immmoral; immmoral = moral. Authentic = phony; phony = authentic.
Someone really should do a scientific study to isolate the source of this propensity in liberals’ dna. Where’s the funding?
I’m not in the settling scores business, I’m in the Market Analysis business. If the GOP wants to pick up senate seats in 2012, there are better uses of their time than attacking Sarah Palin.
Were I in the GOP Establishment, I would be putting Pennsylvania and Colorado under a microscope to figure out exactly what went wrong. (Yes, Toomey won, but he underperformed badly.) Because the battleground states in 2012 — Ohio, Virginia, Missouri, Wisconsin — look a lot like Pennsylvania electorally (And Pennsylvania is also a potential battleground if a high profile Republican like Tom Ridge gets involved). And once I had handle on why Toomey and Buck underperformed, I’d go to work on a strategy to fix it.
But if the GOP would rather just say, “Oh, let’s just blame our losses on Sarah Palin and just run the same game plan next time…” well, that’s their business, I suppose.
McCain was/is a great American, a leader with mostly-poor ideas, and a lousy Presidential candidate. Palin, bless her and forgive her tendency to talk in platitudes, was his one good move in the fall 2008 campaign. But some people don’t want to hear that. So they scapegoat her.
V K, Sestak began to use free trade and a China scare against Toomey towards the end of the race. I believe that was probably what allowed him to surge, though Fisher tried another free trade attack on Portman but it was never effective. It might be that they had more money to use in Penn. and Sestak was a better campaigner than Fisher was.
Boehner’s crocodile tears act is about as convincing as Glenn Beck’s. He gets choked up when he thinks about how he opened his own small business? That is complete horseshit, thank you very much. I seriously doubt your ability to gauge other people’s gullibility if you bought that act for a second.
Nancy Pelosi could have cried when the Dems won in 2006, that would have been understandable seeing as how she was the first woman to hold the job and like her or not, it is a huge accomplishment to be the first woman to do anything in American politics. There’s a lot going on there – the plight of women through American history, maybe her own personal experiences of adversity due to her gender – but Nancy Pelosi wasn’t crying. Same thing for Barack Obama, I guess. Those two were in situations where some tears may have been justified, but Boehner crying while he recounts his work history? That’s a trick and you’re just stupid if you don’t see it.
Well, an individual act like this is somewhat different than judging the balance of a person as a whole, but whatever. I agreed with Edwards’ politics and he turned out to be a scumbag – that’s a story as old as time and it’s just as true of Republican politicians as it is for Democrats. People were talking about Mark Sanford running for President until they found out he was cheating on his wife, does that mean the conservative movement was tricked? What about John Ensign or Larry Craig? Didn’t David Vitter just coast to re-election despite being a “Phony, cheesy, dishonest, philandering, cowardly, sociopathic scumbag” ?
I would also add that Sarah Palin is conclusively a narcissistic fame-whore – the woman abandoned her public office to cash in on book deals and speaking engagements. What is the definition of fame-whore if not that?
V da K @60… you’re right; we should be looking at why Toomey and Buck underperformed –as you put it. We should also look at why Angle’s campaign botched an 11 pt lead over the poster boi of ObamaCare, stimuli, bailouts and $4clunkers… and other races.
But in order to look effectively at those races, the GOP needs the Grizzlie Momma protectors to put down their man purses and get real –it isn’t about attacking Palin… it’s about getting her man purse carrying pit bull protectors to stop the barking and snapping… maybe they can tune into something like Barefoot Contessa and commune with the ultimate fag hag?
Angle’s race blew a sizable lead over gReid. Was it her choice to run those now-infamous anti-hispanic ads playing to white stereotypical images of illegals jackin’ cars, slipping thru fences and terrorizing good white people? I heard from 2 campaign insiders I trust that she did endorse the ad and spending. If so, it was one of many HUGE mistakes. Palin proved in 08 that not being campaign ready can be a major embarrassment that plays into the opponents’ waiting hands… we need to get far, far better at choosing our nominees and maybe Angle & ODonnell prove that point somewhat.
gReid made a point of saying that Hispanics were one reason why he won. Hispanics in NV make up nearly 30% of the voter base; nearly 55% of them are native born Americans, the balance (45%) foreign born.
The GOP continues to lose the Hispanic vote because elements within the Party have been painted as intolerant, deport-happy meanies who are pulling up the immigration ladder after their own ancestors stole the country a few generations ago. That’s the reality. Legal, native born hispanics do not want illegals deported or punished… they want them allowed to become citizens.
Reagan, Bush 41 and 43, McCain all tried to work hard to keep the Hispanic vote strong & growing for the GOP and, so important is it, that Rove saw it as the 3rd leg of the stool that allowed GOPers to win. We’ve got to find a way to harness that voting base, appeal to their entrepreneurial American Dream spirit and make them welcome inside the GOP.
Independents don’t have that burden. Unaligned anti-Party conservatives don’t either. It’s for the GOP to weave a message that resonates with hispanic voters –because it’s clear that gReid could do it to his advantage and Angle was tone-deaf.
By the way, the GOP leadership didn’t send any staff into Angle’s race until the polling indicated she was losing her lead faster than Barney Frank in a speedo can drive away the twinks at a Cape Cod dune… I understand the GOP operatives left a meeting in protest when Angle’s COS unveiled the “illegals ad” and tried to get additional positive POV ad $$$ to offset what they thought was a vote killing ad.
Angle’s very unfavorable rating nearly matched Reid’s 13 wks out… and it grew about 7 pts more than gReid after the ad aired.
I can tell you, from personal experience, there are teams of GOP analysts reviewing the polling data and election results, as well as the individual candidate campaign plans and ads and GOTV efforts, to see where the mistakes MAY have been made and how best to correct them in time for any special elections and/or 2012.
You may never hear about the results. I’ll get to hear about some of them at the next RNC meeting in winter 2011 when we come together to oust Michael Steele from the chairmanship for gross negligence and dereliction of duty.
There’s a fairly well researched, candid, honest str8up analysis of the hispanic vote and their preferences over at Pew, btw. It’s not important reading for anyone except those who want the GOP to keep on winning and succeeding –and building on electoral majorities.
America’s voter base is changing… we may not be able to tap into the black vote or the gay vote, but a larger portion of the hispanic vote will be up for grabs in 2012 and my team needs to get busy, understand it and nail it down.
ILC> “But some people don’t want to hear that. So they scapegoat her.”
LOL… now there’s the perfect man purse swinging Grizzlie Momma protector in hyperdrive. Nonsense. Baloney. Holding politicians to account is not scapegoating –even for the faux-independents lurking in the elderberry bush on an Alaskan plain.
#63
Wonderful, apparently Levi’s socialist attitudes that entitle him to drag us kicking and screaming, also apply to when you’re allowed to cry.
Levi graciously allows women to cry, but doesn’t understand how strong memories can get a person choked up. Of course since Levi hasn’t done anything significant in his life, he’d not understand strong emotions.
So in addition to brown people not understanding democracy, apparently crying is a woman only thing. Must have been hard in Levi’s ideal Iraq, all those dumb brown people not wanting freedom and the men holding their sobbing women while they stood all stoic like as their children were fed into shredders.
#66,
You mean like Mylsplysky?
Or, Livewire: “Speak of the Devil” 🙂
And also TL:
Don’t expect that – the dodging, or the violation of his own rule proclamations – to change anytime soon. It’s what he does.
Someone still hasn’t gotten their meds adjusted! Looks like all the GOP would ever need to do to get the votes of Hispanic conservatives, is give them the respectable place they deserve.