Posted on 11/16/2004 6:32:51 PM PST by You Dirty Rats
All of the "Red State, Blue State" talk is nonsense, as are the discussions on Blue State secession, the needless worrying by Conservatives, and the whistling past the graveyard by Leftists praying for a miracle. The Election is over and the result is a clear, decisive victory for the Republicans. When the Congress is sworn in next January, Red Nation will be officially in power.
There is a reason so many of the Lefties have lost their heads. It's funny, really. Their era is over and they know it. The decades of dominance from FDR on down started to turn our way with the 1994 election; now, the completion of the job is at hand.
Remember the Imperial Congress of the 1980's? Remember Tip O'Neill, Jim Wright, Tom Foley, and George Mitchell? Remember how they dogged our great President, Ronald Reagan, on everything from Iran-Contra to Bork? I sure do. They ran roughshod over all of us. Whenever we though we had won -- they changed the rules and we lost, or at least tied.
We could win the Presidency, but not Congress, and certainly not the Supreme Court. Part of the latter problem was sending up bad choices, to be sure, but Nixon couldn't get two if his choices through -- so he ended up with Blackmun. Reagan also had trouble, ending up with Kennedy as Justice because of the Bork fiasco. So our Presidential triumphs after the long days of FDR, Truman, JFK, Johnson and Carter just weren't enough. We were NOT the real power in Washington. We were gradually making headway, but we couldn't sustain it. The South was in the balance. It was tentatively moving to the Republicans .. but the momentum just wasn't enough. Reagan was gone, Bush wasn't dynamic or a Party-Builder ...
Enter Bill Clinton. Like Nixon, he was a man of questionable character and uncertain political principles. Like Nixon, he possessed a tremendous understanding of American politics. It was clear to Clinton that the trend in this country was to the Right and the Democratic Leadership Conference, with him at the forefront, attempted to capitalize on this trend. Unfortunately for Clinton and the Democratic Party, the latter loved him as a candidate but totally disagreed with his relative moderation. The fringe groups that controlled the Democratic Party since at least 1972 tightened their grip. January 1993 was their signal. They had the Presidency and both houses of Congress. Nothjing could stop them. The Hillary Health Plan was inevitable, as was the total triumph of the Left ...
But they didn't have the votes. They never did. Too many Democrats simply didn't buy into the agenda of the Left, particularly Southern Democrats. It was time for a REAL change, and in the 1994 election, the Republicans were ready to start the return to power ...
The 1994 capture of the House by the Repblicans shocked the Democrats. It ended the Clinton Presidency that the Left had wanted. Clinton, domestically, was forced to go along with Republican reforms to keep his job. Everything was on the line in 2000, but the close election and uncertain victory for a Washington newcomer did not mean the Left was done yet. They got Jeffords to jump; The Senate was still a source of power and a check on real reform. Surely, the 2002 election would see this weak, foolish, reckless cowboy lead his party to defeat and allow the Democrats to add seats in the Senate, and perhaps retake the House. Everything was still OK ...
Election evening, 2002. For the first time, a sitting President added Senators. The weak, stupid, bumbling, dangerous cowboy actually lead a Senate takeover! For the first time in decades, the Democrats were locked out of power. This could not be! Government power was and is the source of the Democratic Party -- they could not be locked out! Better people, more compassionate people, smarter, more cultured ... how could they not be in power? Is our era over? Are we through? Is James Carville's head in the trash can where we really are? WHO DID THIS TO US, they all said.
January, 2003. The new Congress convenes. All the Democrats have is a minority in the Senate to block via filibuster. The Supreme Court was still narrowly tilted Left, as were the Courts in general; this could not be reversed! In desperation, having no alternative other than surrender, the filibuster of Court nominees was adopted. This was justified because the President was a minority President and the nomiees were extreme (i.e. not in the tank for the Left).
While this rear-guard action went on, preparations for the decisive 2004 Election were underway. There was no more room for losses; any further loss of Senate seats, and the filibuster would give way. Loss of the White House, along with loss of the filibuster, meant loss of the Supreme Court and all remaining Federal Power. Losing was not an option. The entire Left establishment, built in the 1960's with roots in the 1930's, was in peril. It had to be saved -- for the children, the elderly, the sick, minorities, women, elite university graduates, government workers, gays and lesbians, environmentalists, artists, feminists, inhabitants of the cities and the Coasts, and other important groups. In their blindness, they look at these groups and convinced themselves that they represented an overwhelming majority. How could they not? Their only opposition was white middle-aged healthy uneducated straight uncultured males living in the rural South.
So the entire establishment signed on -- including an unprecedented contribution by the formerly mainstream media. The Left was in trouble, but the real causes of this decline were set aside and a visceral hatred of the President was substituted. The Campaign began right after the 2002 Election and continued for two years. The War on Terror, the Economy, permitting votes to fill vacant seats in the Courts; all were sacrificed in pursuit of the desperate attack on the President and the win-at-all-costs mentality of the politicians and media of the Left. The very credibility and pretense of objectivity of the press was tossed into the raging fire of hatred and distortion. Bush had to be defeated! Losing is not an option.
Results of November 2,2004: The President is re-elected by over 61 million votes and 51% of the total. MANDATE.
The Seante goes to 55 Republicans, enough to break filibusters. MANDATE MANDATE.
The House increases its Republicans to over 230. MANDATE MANDATE MANDATE.
The President will be able to get his judicial nominees through. The Supreme Court will become Consevative. MANDATE MANDATE MANDATE MANDATE.
The Democratic rule since 1932 is over. The South is now solidly Republican. The Future of the Democratic Party is bleak. Reform on Taxes, Social Security and othe rdomestic concerns is inevitable in 2005. The President is going to secure peace and freedom in much of the Middle East, and win the War on Terror.
The President will now have the ability to get all of his agenda through the Congress -- affecting all states, Red and Blue.
Red Nation Has Risen.
I think it would be more accurate if red counties and blue counties were counted. check the map printed by USA today
I hope you're right, but certain demographic trends are in favor of the Democrats. Unending mass immigration no doubt helps the Democrats, as the faster growing segment of the population -- Hispanics -- typcially favor the Dems by large margins. Now of course IF Bush really did win 44% of the latino vote two weeks ago, then perhaps it signifies a shift, but I think you need more than one election to declare a trend.
I do not care about red/blue counties any more than I care about red/blue states. The Bush Presidency and our clear majority in Congress applies to all of them. That's my point.
We do have a very strong grip on the House and Senate. In the Senate, Bush won 31 states. If anything, I think over time we'll pick up more seats. If we get our agenda through in the next two years, and SCOTUS appointments over the next four, our House & Senate strength will see us through even if we lose the Presidency. That's how the 'Rats maintained power for decades. Now it's our turn!
bump
It's even more stark of a picture for the Democrats when you realize that taking the urban areas out of the picture California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsyvania all turn red. If they were to make good on their threat to secede they would have to do so not by states but by individual cities except in the case of New England.
The Rats, therefore, occupy islands of urban liberalism in an ocean of red which makes the funny idea of forming reservations for liberals even more appropriate.
Well I definitely agree that we should implement as much of the conservative agenda as possible now and in the near future just in case things go against us in the future.
Certain issues, like gay marriage/civil unions, must be one over the next few years. A Sup Court decision affirming the rights of states to settle the matter and upholding the federal Defense of Marriage Act would be great, but the problem there would be that it could be reversed by a later court. We need some sort of Amendment that precludes the Courts from getting involved, or that reverses a potential imposition of gay marriage/civil unions should it happen.
Its also important to try and make the tax cuts permanent and reform Social Security.
And we need more Scalias and Thomas on the Sup Court, not only for the marriage debate, but for the more general purpose of reigning in judicial power.
So I agree; do as much as possible as soon as possible.
Thanks to Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbagh!
JMO
yep, you are right. People underestimate Rush Limbaugh,,,he is vastly important.
Latinos voted for the Republicans in unprecedented numbers because most are family-oriented Catholics, and the Catholic Church actually intervened in this election, really for the first time, by suggesting that a vote for a pro-choice candidate over a pro-life candidate was complicity with abortion and therefore a mortal sin.
Church-going Catholics, for the first time, voted massively for Bush. This is what accounts for the Hispanic shift.
The problem, of course, is that this is a one-issue shift, and that issue is abortion. Therefore, to maintain the shift, the Republicans MUST deliver pro-choice judges.
And the problem with that is that they are in serious danger of elevating Arlen Specter to the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
IF the Republicans keep their head (and Borking Specter would be a good indication that they are keeping their head), then they will be able to keep this coalition by advancing on values, and Hispanic immigration will end up favoring the Republicans over the long term.
It started turning long before '94. What happened in 94 was simply the rising tide broke over the seawall for the first time.
Ya-HOO!
Red Bump This.
Unfortunatly, 55 votes is NOT enough to break a filibuster. We need 60.
I agree, in a broad sense. It started as early as the 1964 campaign, and we made a lot of progress during the 1980's.
We'll get some Democratic Senators from Red States. There is also the nucular option, which really needs only 50 votes. Either way, I don't believe the 'Rats will be able to stop the tide. Nobody wants to end up like Daschle.
Ping
Not only is 60 the number (not 55) but you forget the RINO factor..
The RINOs are not "moderate Republicans". They are socialists.
Lincoln Chafee? You honestly count him as a "Republican"?
The liberals control the Senate. The Republicans control the battle of the "letter"--"R" is bigger than "D".
But face this fact. The LIBERALS control the Senate. The Democrats + Jeffords + the Chafee type Marxists in the Republican Party gives the Senate majority to the liberals.
"Red Nation" is rising, but damn, that almost sounds like something Gus Hall might have applauded.
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