Borepatch explains why the O'Donnell win is a good thing. He is perhaps a little too optimistic about the outcome in November:
The Democrats are going to get pounded in November, and the pounding is going to be worse that anyone is saying right now. The electorate is in a foul mood, the economy continues to tank, and the Democrats - after a spending binge and power grab unprecedented in this Republic's history - won't even talk about their so-called "accomplishments." Democratic voters are demoralized, Republican voters are energized like we've never seen, and disgusted independents are breaking 2 to 1 for Republicans. This defeat will be historic in its proportions.I'd like to believe that's true, I really would. The problem is that in order for the Democrats to lose, the Republicans have to win. That's like being happy that the barbarians are only burning your house to the ground, not your entire village. We are going to reward the GOP for, basically, not being the Democrats. That kind of fuzzy thinking gave us Barack Øbama, who is quite possibly shaping up to be one of the worst presidents ever. The GOP will not learn from a win in November, not like they did 16 years ago. They will take home the entirely wrong message, and we'll see a return to 2008 within one, maybe two election cycles.
That is, of course, assuming the Stupid Party even does manage to win in November - I'm not certain of that yet.
That is all.
9 comments:
One mitigating factor are all the tea party candidates who will be gumming up the works.
Hopefully they'll understand that they can't be all "electable", they have to dance with who brung em.
This election there are more viable candidates that are not affiliated with the two main parties. The more of them elected, the more incumbents defeated by anyone else, the stronger the message. Hopefully, this election will encourage more of that in the future. As Borepatch says, "Vote them out, vote them all out."
If need be the action can be repeated in two years, and again after that until they truly get the message that they are there to do our bidding. They aren't the boss of anything, they are simply employed "at will". The will of the voting public.
I have to be optimistic, Jay. The alternative is ugly.
But either we break them to our will, or the Ruling Class becomes an actual ruling class.
O'Donnell is not an ideal candidate, not by a long shot.
That said, she does have one redeeming quality. She's not Mike Castle.
Just to put things in perspective, Castle has been a Congressman here in Delaware since I was 7 years old. He needed to go.
As optimistic as I'd like to be, I can't help but remember that, in 2006, the Democrats were in the same position the Republicans are in now. After those midterm elections, there were some among the D's who publicly spoke out about how the election had been won, saying "we didn't win this election, the Republicans lost it", and talking about some specifics, like the Patriot act, the continued insistence on using American soldiers as an international police force, a constant rubber stamping of dubious judicial appointments, an executive branch hellbent on growing in size and power, and a law enforcement apparatus that continually sought to suppress or eliminate civil liberties in the name of their own convenience.
So it's not like the Democrats didn't know what we were annoyed about. They knew what the Republicans had done to piss people off, and they spent the next four years doing the same exact things.
I was moderately optimistic four years ago, that at the very least some of the worst excesses of the Bush administration would be rolled back. Instead, Obama has used them as a foundation to build upon.
+5 Smart to Lupis42
I don't see the Tea Party people taking out enough of the Repub Lifers to put them all out to pasture, but I do think that the Good Old Boys Leaders will have to find a way to work with their Tea Party Congressional Winners. Think along the lines of "If you want your Bill to pass, Mitch, you better add this to it, or we will vote with the Dems". Kinda like a Parliamentary System WITHIN the Republican Party. The Dems, however, have no spine whatsoever, so they'll just keep on following Barry, Nancy and Harry right off the cliff like the good little Comrade Lemmings they are.
As I always say, the Repubs and the Dems are the choice between getting shot in the butt with a .22 or shot in the head with a .44.
You're GONNA get shot, you just get to choose one of the above.
That said, as I just posted on a message forum:
"Awesome! The establishment Republicans hate and fear her, she's a Tolkien fan and is friends with a Horta. 99 more folks like her (of either party) in the Senate and I bet Federal governance would begin to approach reality quite soon.
GO'Donnell!"
O'Donnell can win, which is not the same thing as saying that she will win. After getting over the shock of their Arlen Spector imitator losing the primary, the GOP establishment is getting on board. They party is going to give her the $42K maximum, Mitt Romney is endorsing her, and everyone except Castle has accepted her as the GOP candidate.
Keep an eye on Linda McMahon in CT. She has a lot of experience in business and has something like $50 Million available of her own money. Blumenthal is only up by 6 points as of today. That race is going to become a toss up by the end of next week.
I know it's a long shot to say "If the GOP is smart...", but the truth is that they can in fact take the House AND Senate in a few weeks. Note I said can, not will. I think they will take the House, but the Senate is still an uphill battle.
Yeah, it's a great time to be a political junkie.
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