Yes, the 3 BIG GOP victories.
Overcoming the antics of ACORN, SEIU et al. and the visits by Obama, Biden, the races in New Jersey and Virgina went the Repubican's way. The powerful campaigning of the Obamanation and the luster from the Presidential election may finally be wearing off.
But the real story is the no name accountant in New York, Doug Hoffman, who survived smear campaigns by BOTH the Democrats and the Republican candidates. Both the Democrat and Republican candidates were pro-stimulus, pro-choice, pro-spending, supported by ACORN -- what was the difference?
That's when Hoffman through his hat in the ring two months ago and came within 3 points of defeating the politcal machine. As support began to pour in from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and others, Hoffman seemed to be shooting past the competition.
So why is this a victory?
The media will overanalyze the words of Rush Limbaugh:
"If Hoffman wins -- and polls suggest that he will -- the race there will be dismissed as an outlier... Folks, I want you to print these words out. I want you to get the transcript off my website. I want you to print these out, I want you to distribute them, I want you to carry them with you, and we'll just see how close I am to being right. (When Hoffman wins) the State-Run Media will say, "New York-23, the race is more about the demise of the Republican Party and anger on the right than Obama or his policies." -- Limbaugh, November 3.
See Rush and others are out of touch. Hoffman didn't lose. Beck, Palin, and other conservatives lost.
Within days of dropping out of the race, the "Republican" (Dede Scozzafava) began campaigning, NOT for Hoffman, but for the Democrat Owens. She still received 6% of the vote as millions from HER supporters focused their attention on defeating Hoffman.
What this should be is a wake up call NOT just for Democrats, but for all incumbants.
The difference between McCain Obama was Right leaning Democrat and Socialist. The same was true in New York and it took a no name accountant to rise up and shake up the machine.
From Politico: "Obama now faces a much tougher challenge persuading these mostly moderate Democrats to put themselves further at risk by backing such liberal priorities as expanding government’s role in heath care or limiting greenhouse gases."
Eric Cantor added: "This is a shot across the bow to the moderates and Blue Dog Democrats as they decide votes on health care and other issues."
Sure that's true, but don't buy that the "Cram and Ram" approach is going to change. In fact, if the White House and Nancy Pelosi feel their power waning, expect an acceleration NOT a slow down of radical policy making.
Great article, I am especially convinced that Pelosi and Obama will hit mach speed on their current programs and the future ones as well.
ReplyDeleteAs a moderate republican, I believe in smaller government, but somehow the new republican party has forgotten what smaller is, or what is the role of government. A war on terror costing 100's of billions of dollars, and takes away my privacy, in order to defeat terrorists who were armed with box cutters. A common sense lockable entry into the pilot's compartment would have avoided this whole mess. Two wars of choice. One we never knew the real reason why it was launched. The other we will never know when we have succeeded in our mission. Senator Taft (1950) was right. The last “good war” was WWII, because we knew what we were fighting for, and everybody shared in the sacrifice. As the tragedy at Fort Hood proved, what are we doing to those brave men and women who sacrifice their all for us? They go back to a war zone two, three, four times, and have a increasingly high rate of mental illness. When will their mission be accomplished? If there was a Draft would we be fighting these wars?
ReplyDeleteThe mixing of church and state, going into my bedroom, and telling my wife what she can and can't do with her body. Even I can't do that and Thomas Jefferson would never approve of this. America was founded because we have a right to privacy and the right to be secure in our own homes. While I do not have the responsibility to pay for private elective medical procedures that I consider immoral, I do not have the right to interfere with the private choices of others, which do not involve the government.
Huge multi-national corporations have the rights of an individual, and effect my life more than the government ever has. Yet they are too big to fail, and I pay to bail them out. Small retailers can not compete with Wal-mart, who is so big they get special deals from Chinese companies which are unavailable to others. Wall Street enriches itself with actions that destroys peoples lives and the economy. Yet, my party tells me they can not be regulated and controlled by the only institution which can match them in size, wealth, and power. The only proper role of Government is to do what we as individuals can not do for ourselves. We do not live in a capitalist society, we live in a corporate society, with the rich getting richer, the poor struggling to survive, and the middle class disappearing as they join the ranks of the poor. The former abuses of government are are greatly overshadowed, by these corporations which have no loyalty to any country, or people.
Charles,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fantastic post, feel free to comment anytime.
I feel that you and I can stand shoulder to shoulder with our beliefs. Your points are spot on and well articulated. We are in a unique time where the realization that both parties have delivered us, and aim to take us further -- a government controlled society intruding into any aspect of our life that it sees fit.
The differences of the two parties is the degree of intrusion or the focus on one area over another (i.e. spending on defense vs. spending on healthcare)
All the while, as you said, corporations pull the strings of the Washington puppets. For example, Goldman Sachs was the number one contributor to the Obama campaign and third largest to the McCain campaign.
I'll close with Benjamin Franklin:
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."