In an article posted today on the Natonal Review’s website, Mona Charen quips that there “are two major parties in the United States: the party that wishes to govern, and the party that wants only to campaign.”

And to show that the latter party is that of the incumbent President of the United States, one need not turn to the commentary on various conservative blogs, but instead to the reporting of the left-of-center Washington Post:

After delivering his election victory speech in November, Obama walked off the Chicago stage and made two phone calls related to his political plans — one to Israel and one to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the last Democratic House speaker.

Israel said Obama told him “how focused he would be on winning a House majority for the Democrats,” many of whom complained that the president did not do enough during his first term to help members on the Hill.

In other words, in the immediate aftermath of his election victory this past November, the president already started looking ahead to the next election.  Since the people didn’t elect the Congress he wanted, he chose to start focusing on electing that Congress, even if the 2014 elections were two years hence.

No wonder he is blaming the sequester on the current Republican House even though he made little effort to work with the leaders of that chamber after it passed the “fiscal cliff” legislation at the end of the last Congress, delaying the sequester until last week.

RELATED: GOP accusation confirmed: Obama out to break it

I’m not sure if any of you are following the completely maddening fraud being discovered in the election of US Rep. Allen West (R-FL) vs. Democrat Patrick Murphy.

Here’s a brief insight courtesy of John Fund at NRO’s The Corner.

Congressman Allen West, an outspoken tea-party favorite whose district was pushed into largely new territory by redistricting, is claiming that massive voter irregularities are robbing him of his seat.

Democrat Patrick Murphy, who leads West by some 2,000 votes, is trying to stop a full recount of controversial early ballots cast in St. Lucie County. His current victory margin is just large enough to avoid triggering an automatic recall of all precincts and all votes.

Then there is Gertrude Walker, the 32-year-veteran election supervisor of St. Lucie County, who has spent much of the last two weeks explaining why her office completely botched the count. She admitted that her office had acted in “haste” in issuing election results, and that “mistakes were made.” Among her mistakes was failing to count 40 of the 94 precincts under her jurisdiction on Election Night — and then counting the other 54 twice. Indeed. On Friday, her office announced it had “discovered” 304 additional early votes left in a box. None had been counted.

But Walker wasn’t available for comment. She has been hospitalized for unknown reasons.

The news was one reason that Florida’s secretary of state has dispatched a team of experts to audit St. Lucie’s procedures. The St. Lucie Election Canvassing Board voted to approve a complete recount of all the early ballots. It began the recount on Saturday but stopped it at 8 p.m. because the county building’s security system was set to be switched on later that night. Some people complained that the alarms have been switched off in the past to allow county business to continue after hours, but their complaints were ignored. The recount resumed on Sunday morning, but it missed the noon deadline to submit the county’s final returns to Florida’s secretary of state.

So, on Sunday, the previous results—the ones showing Democrat Murphy ahead—were sent to Florida’s secretary of state for certification.

Additionally, reports from St. Lucie County yesterday had 900 votes cast in a precinct of only 7 registered voters.  I am not sure how it is possible that there IS a precinct of 7 registered voters, but West’s attorney was the source of this report.

Remember, Democrats invent a storyline (pushed by the media) that Republicans are somehow “suppressing the vote” all across the United States.  There is never ever any evidence to support this — just wailing by the likes of Al Sharpton.  But when we have ACTUAL vote fraud, such as the kind being exposed in the West-Murphy case…. well, it just gets swept under the rug; deadlines run out; people vanish to the hospital.  And if you suggest voter ID as one solution — well look out!  You are a racist!

If this type of behavior happened in one county in a swing state — I think this calls for a larger look at all of the votes cast.  Many Americans of various political persuasions have lost confidence that every vote is counted, and every vote is equal to another.

If this scale of fraud could happen so blatantly in St. Lucie County, FL…. what about Philadelphia County, PA?  What about Cuyahoga County, Ohio? What about Dane County, WI?

This is sickening to think about.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Today, in his statement on the fiscal cliff and tax rates, President Obama said that “on Tuesday night we found out that the the majority of Americans agree” with his plan for people “making over $250,000” to pay more in his taxes.  Now, to be sure, that was one of the few concrete proposals he did make in the campaign.

If the American people really did agree with him, how come the majority of Americans voted for legislators opposed to this approach?[*]  ”Republicans“, reports Michael Barone in the Wall Street Journal

. . . won or are leading in 236 of the 435 House seats, down just six from the 2010 midterm. And they achieved this despite losing five seats because of partisan redistricting in Illinois and another five in California thanks to a supposedly nonpartisan redistricting commission that the Democrats successfully gamed.

Yes, yesterday was a bitter blow, particularly given how many of us expected Mitt Romney to win.  And perhaps it was the difference between that expectation and the actual result that has caused so much despair in conservative ranks.

We should, however, not despair.   We have the better arguments and we have the deeper bench.  Our leaders have ideas for reform.  The president’s party may present themselves as the party of the future, but its leaders lack many new ideas, trotting out little more than retrofitted versions of the failed ideas of the past.

Eight years ago, Democrats too were glum.  Their nominee from the Bay State lost a narrow race to an incumbent from the opposing party.  Our party gained seats in the U.S. Senate, increasings its majority to 55, just as the Democrats did last night.

But, they didn’t then win the House, as we did last night.  And they didn’t any new ideas, as we do.  But, they still managed to come roaring back two years later, as we will.

We may be down today, but we’re far better off than the Democrats were when they lost in 2004.

Conservative friend on Facebook said she heard a lot of radio ads tying the GOP to Todd Akin’s crazy comments on rape. Even though Akin apologized, that seemed to resonate. It created an image of a party indifferent to rape. That was just part of the Democrats’ effort to make the GOP an unacceptable alternative.

Perhaps, that caused voters disenchanted with Obama to stay home yesterday.

And this reminds us yet again that the Democrats won, not so much by selling their ideas, but by demonizing our party.

We need do a better job of defense. And pick candidates more ready to fight back against their smears.

Under the leadership of Harry Reid, the United States Senate was the real graveyard for reform.  The Republican House passed numerous bills to facilitate job growth which the Senate failed to take up.  And the Democratic-controlled chamber hasn’t passed a budget in 3 1/2 years.

And Americans vote to reward them by sending two more Democrats to the United States Senate.  And it looks like ol’ Harry will keep his job.

Americans aren’t happy with the status quo in Washington and yet what we saw yesterday was America returning to the status quo.  President Obama has been reelected, albeit with fewer votes — and a lower percentage of the popular vote — than he won in 2008.  Democrats appeared to have strengthened their majority in the Senate.  Republicans hold the House.

He owes his more decisive electoral vote majority to his razor-thin victory in Colorado, Ohio, Virginia and (as appears likely at press time) Virginia.  The margin in Ohio is even narrower than it was in 2004 when George W. Bush won the state on his road to reelection.

The incumbent’s biggest legislative accomplishment, Obamacare, remains unpopular.  The debt has increased more in his first term than it had in his predecessor’s two terms.  He ran an aggressively negative campaign and didn’t really focus on any issues.  He does not have the same mandate he had four years ago.

I have to say I’m surprised.  Just watching the president and his opponent these past few days, one seemed energized and confident, the other angry and downbeat.  You would think the more confident man would win.  Mitt Romney drew larger crowds.  The base seemed more energized.

Perhaps, it was as Charles Krauthammer put it last night on FoxNews that Mitt Romney wasn’t the best candidate to articulate the conservative message.  Perhaps, it was that he did not do a good job of outreach to the Hispanic community.  Perhaps, those hundreds of millions of dollars in negative ads really did do the trick.  Or maybe Hurricane Sandy caused wavering Obama supporters to return to their man.  Up until the storm hit, Mitt had the momentum.  And it stopped.

Or perhaps, the legacy media, in failing to cover Obama’s various failures and scandals, won the election for him. (more…)

UPDATED AT 11:50PM EASTERN TIME

This is our running Election Night Map as projected by the GayPatriot Decision Desk. We will be using a variety of methods to “call a state”. Unlike the networks, we are calling most states before the polls close.

This is our current map (explained further here) at 11:50PM Eastern Time.

Join our Election Discussion here.

11:55PM (Bruce) - Let’s get real folks.  Ohio is close, maybe headed for a recount.  But both Florida and Virginia actual vote totals look like a win for Obama that is unsurmountable by Romney.

11:45PM (Bruce) - Despite the fury about Ohio right now, it seems pretty realistic to suggest that Florida and Virginia are going to Obama.  The map will be updated in a second….  Again, this map is my projection.  Some of these states (Nevada) haven’t been called.  But it appears to be a Democrat+6 turnout, so it becomes unreasonable to assume Nevada won’t go to Obama at this point.

11:41PM (Bruce) - So I’ve updated the map in the assumption that this is over.  I am damn ass furious about the fact that Ohio was called when it appears the margin is less than 1,000 votes with over 400,000 votes left.  Of course, this map can change. But it seems reasonably likely that the current map will stick.  I think??

11:28PM (Bruce) - Oh lordy. Here we go again…. the Ohio call is being second guessed now by Romney campaign and Karl Rove.  Our media completely sucks.  Why can’t we wait until EVERY VOTE IS COUNTED????

11:20PM (Bruce) – Well that appears to be it.  FOX has added Iowa and that brings President Obama to 275 Electoral Votes.

I’m updating the map as I type.  Just a note to defend myself…. had the election been held last Monday, I think Romney would have won.  But today is Election Day.

11:15PM (Bruce) - FOX News has just called Ohio for Obama.  Looks like game over.

11:10PM (Bruce) - Updated the map again.  News from Florida is starting to look grim for Romney.

11:00PM (Bruce) - FOX News has finally called North Carolina…. I’d note that I called it last week.  Ha.  About the only thing I’ve gotten right all night it seems!!!

10:55PM (Bruce) - It is pretty clear that the Michael Barone turnout model was wrong, and the Karl Rove model is right.  So with that, I’ve updated the Electoral Map above with a more realistic projection reflected.  I still have a hunch about Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, though I expect they will both go to Obama eventually based on the night’s trends.

10:40PM (Bruce) - Okay, I’ve updated our Electoral Projection map (above).  And I’m back on my main Twitter feed (@GayPatriot).

A couple more notes, I’m still not confident of Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.  So bear with me on the map!

9:57 PM (Bruce) - Hey folks!  Just did my hit on Franklin Center’s election coverage.  Check it out, they’ll be going all night live from Washington, DC.  So I’ve updated our Decision Desk map.  I’m still holding on giving Pennsylvania to Obama.  I am not confident in that call quite yet and need to see more actual votes from Philly suburbs.  Obama’s early lead in Western PA has now evaporated.

I am still very confident that Romney will take Florida and North Carolina.  I’m aware that FOX has called New Hampshire for Obama.  I’m going to check some sources on that.  Be back soon.

9:15PM (Bruce) - FOX News has called Pennsylvania for Obama.  I respect that call and will agree after I look at actual vote totals from some key Pennsylvania counties.  Additionally, I’ll update our map to reflect Illinois going to Obama in the next 30 minutes.

9:11PM (Bruce) - NBC News projects that the Republicans will retain control of the US House of Representatives.  Another early call from the GayPatriot Decision Desk from last week.

8:51PM (Bruce) -   Taking a dinner break!

8:30PM ET (Bruce) - FOX News just calls Pat McCrory (R) for Governor of North Carolina.  FINALLY! First Governor from Western North Carolina.

8:00PM ET (Bruce) – Many states have closed, no surprises.  And no “calls” from any major news organization. I watched NBC Nightly News at 6:30PM and got the impression that the networks are being VERY conservative.

(more…)

While most political prognosticators have been saying that Republicans stand in good stead to hold the House of Representatives this fall, a good number have suggested that Democrats are likely to shave a few seats off the GOP majority.

At the Weekly Standard Fred Barnes reports that “Democratic hopes of capturing the House next Tuesday are long gone. And Democrats now could wind up actually losing seats“:

David Wasserman, the Cook Political Report’s expert on House races, changed his rating of 15 contested House races, 11 of them to the benefit of Republicans. For example, Republican Bob Dold, supposedly doomed because his affluent district north of Chicago was badly gerrymandered, now is in a tossup race.

The Report now rates 28 races as Tossups.  If those races “were to divide evenly between the parties,” Wasserman says, “Democrats would score a net gain of a single seat in the House”.

But, with Republican enthusiasm as strong as it is, Republicans could win the lion’s share of those seats — and thus increase the size of their majority.

A reader in Nevada reports hearing an ad that “went something like ‘what will you tell your friends if you don’t vote and they lose their healthcare, etc., etc.’”  Reading about his ad, I was reminded of the creepy “Future Children Project” ad.  When you read the lyrics, you can see just how much it, like the Nevada ad, plays on people’s fears, not their hopes.

Both were about the parades of horribles that Democrats imagine happening should Mitt Romney win next week.

More evidence that Barack Obama is not the Democrats’ Ronald Reagan.

This is how they Gipper wanted to be remembered:

Whatever else history may say about me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence, rather than your doubts.

Go back and read the Gipper’s speeches from the 1984 campaign.  Watch his campaign commercials.  You’ll see that he wanted to be remembered the way that he governed, the way that he appealed to the American people.

He didn’t campaign on the parade of horribles that he imagined taking place if he lost.  He campaigned on how America would improve if he won.

UPDATE:  Contrast Reagan’s campaign commercials with this recent one from Obama.

This is a great video.

I have no earthly idea how Sherrod Brown got elected to the United States Senate to begin with. He has pretty much admitted his a neo-Communist. UGH!

Anyway, Ohio has the chance to redeem themselves with Josh Mandel… as well as voting for Romney/Ryan!

Please forward this video to anyone in Ohio who still may be “undecided”.

-Bruce (@GayPatriot)

Republican congressional candidate Martha McSally explains.

H/t: Reader Kurt in a comment. McSally, running in Arizona’s 2nd district “is the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, and first to command a fighter squadron in combat in United States history.” She “retired from the United States Air Force as a colonel in 2010.” Hey, I have a nephew in the Air Force.  I think he’d want me to support a woman like Martha.

By clicking here, you can too!

ADDENDUM:  Contrast the Republican woman in the video above with the Democrat shown here.

Kyle Wood, reports Dustin Siggins at the Daily Caller

a full-time volunteer working for GOP House candidate Chad Lee, was hospitalized for injuries suffered during what he said was an assault at his home.

Wood told The Daily Caller that vandalism preceding the assault, along with his attacker’s statements during the incident, suggested his sexual orientation and his politics each played a role.

Before the assault, Wood had experienced the same type of insults many gay Republicans hear on a regular basis:

Wood said his attacker’s reference to a warning likely pointed to graffiti he found painted on his car last week. The vandalism included the phrases “house trained republican faggot,” “traitor,” and “ur like a jew 4 hitler.”

. . . .

Lee and Pocan are squaring off to replace Rep. Tammy Baldwin, an openly gay Democrat who left the House of Representatives to run for retiring Democrat Herb Kohl’s U.S. Senate seat. . . .

Both the Pocan and Baldwin campaigns failed to respond to repeated requests for comment. The Human Rights Campaign, a leading liberal gay rights organization, also did not respond to TheDC’s request.

Ooops!  Got that wrong.  My bad.

The son of a prominent Virginia congressman agreed to help an undercover reporter forge documents in what he thought was an illegal voting effort aimed at re-electing the president, a just-published video reveals.

After raising legal and practical concerns, Patrick Moran, son of Virginia Democrat James Moran, encouraged the reporter to create phony utility bills that would allow others to cast multiple votes in the November 6 election.

Supporters of stronger voter ID laws seized on the video as evidence of widespread corruption among liberal get-out-the-vote organizations.

“What he’s doing is soliciting fraudulent voter registrations and fraudulent ballots, and that’s a federal crime,” said Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “Even attempting to do that is federal crime — you don’t have to go through with it. Attempting it is a crime.”

This tweet from Ben Domenech pretty much puts the cherry on top. And you may watch the glorious video as well.

It’s the douche scarf that completes the image. youtu.be/gT77qP2Nai8

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) October 24, 2012

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

UPDATE (from Dan whom Congressman Jim Moran once called “jerky”): O’Keefe Video Spurs Son to Resign from Moran’s Campaign

In just a few months, gay Americans will no longer have to experience the embarrassment of having a mean-spirited liberal as the most prominent gay Congressman.  With the retirement of Barney Frank, more pleasantly disposed gay Democrats, like Colorado’s Jared Polis, should come to the fore.

And while the unhappy Mr. Frank will no longer be representing Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives, it seems increasingly likely that another gay man — and one with a much better understanding of the way the world works and a keen appreciation of the burdens the government places upon individuals — will be representing the Bay State in Washington., D.C.

It seems increasingly likely that Richard Tisei, the only congressional challenger I have officially endorsed this year, appears poised to oust Democrat John Tierney in the state’s 6th Congressional District.

The National Journal ranked the race as “the 11th most likely to turn over among the 435 seats in the House” and” the Rothenberg Political Report, another nationally regarded nonpartisan observer, tipped the race to ‘Lean Republican’ from ‘Toss-up.’”  That’s good news for Massachusetts, for gay Americans in general and gay Republicans in particular.

His campaign could always use a few extra bucks to make sure they get his supporters to the polls next month.  Join me in supporting this good man.

Anyone who knows me in real life, or has paid very close attention to this blog since 2004, knows that I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs. I also “grew up in politics” in the Keystone State. So I am one of “those people” that since 1988 has always hoped that “Pennsylvania is in play” in the Presidential Election.

As we all know, it hasn’t happened. It is that time of the year again, as I gaze yearningly north of the Mason-Dixon Line to wonder if this is the year? Will the “bitter clingers” & Northeast PA Catholics finally reject Barack Obama and the New Democrat Party?

Well, there are some developments on that front.

This week, the RealClearPolitics average of polls made a dramatic shift in its Electoral College Map. For the first time in many years, Pennsylvania is now a true “Toss Up” state (as well as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin). Two polls that I’ve seen came out of Pennsylvania showing a tie, but the RCP average of the state’s polls shows a slight Romney edge.

As Crazy VP Biden would say, “that’s a big f–cking deal!”

Now I have some more news for everyone about Pennsylvania. Those of you who read Jim Geraghty at National Review Online know that he has campaign sources he has called “Obi Wan,” “Big Cheese,” and “Middle Cheese.”

Well, I have two very good insiders in Pennsylvania politics that I will call “Rolling Rock” and “Yuengling.” Rolling Rock, Yuengling and I have known each other for over 20 years. And all I’m comfortable in saying is that both are very influential political operatives and know what they are talking about. They also have different political networks in Pennsylvania.

So that being said, I sent feelers to Rolling Rock & Yuengling today, asking them about my infamous “white whale”. Here’s what I got:

RR: The Obama-Romney race is within the margin of error. At this point it looks like Obama is going to have to start spending some serious money in order to save Pennsylvania from falling.

Y: Obama-Romney and Casey-Smith (US Senate) are both essentially tied. Casey appears to be sinking fast. Smith has the momentum and resources to win.

So my two friends have me hoisting the sails and turning The Pequod’s bow toward the north yet again.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

“It’s clear“, writes Stacy McCain scoring Ryan the winner in last night’s debate, that Vice President Joe “Biden was advised to be aggressive, to bulldoze, interrupt and filibuster, to treat Ryan with contempt.”  ”No doubt”, Fred Barnes concurs, “Biden was told to be aggressive.  No doubt he was told not to let Ryan get away with anything.  No doubt he was told not to let the moderator, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz, restrain him.”

Seems the Obama team thought rude Joe would help the Democratic ticket, but it sure didn’t help them with one group which leans slightly toward the president’s party.  Women were particularly put off by the Vice President’s behavior.  Note that the three participants in this focus group who responded to Frank Luntz’s point about Biden’s interruption and occasional laughter were all women:

“Even“, notes Ed Driscoll at Instapundit, CNN’s Gloria Borger admits, “He was condescending at times to Paul Ryan. I think I could have done with a lot less eye-rolling and chuckling on the part of Joe Biden.”

That said, this does seem to have played quite well with the Democrats’ face.  My liberal Facebook friends are beside themselves with glee; one offered, “Ok so maybe Biden shouldn’t have laughed and snickered so much…but how could you not when your debating Eddie Munster?”  FWIW, haven’t caught any of them praising Biden for defending Obama,  instead they’re hailing him for attacking Ryan.

Maybe they decided to make a test of the angry, rude Joe to see how it plays as a possible strategy for Obama next week.  This strategy looks like a winner if the goal is to fire up the base, but, it ends up, as David French puts it, making the Democratic “ticket less likable, thus continuing to squander a key favorability advantage.” (more…)

In the wake of Obama’s disastrous debate performance last week, Michael Moore tweeted:  ”This is what happens when u pick John Kerry as your debate coach.”

In an e-mail, a reader “bet” that Kerry wouldn’t “be back.”  Who, he wondered, would be next.  Who indeed.

So, use the comments section below to weigh in on this matter.  Who should Obama pick to replace John Kerry and play Mitt Romney in his up coming debate practice sessions?  We could pass your suggestions onto the campaign.