Posted on 11/08/2006 7:25:35 AM PST by lasereye
Already you're seeing people criticizing outgoing Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist for the failures in the Senate. Frist certainly deserves to take hits over his inability to control the likes of Sen. John McCain during legislative battles, but without Frist the election might have looked even worse. Tennessee right now is the only strategic hold the Republicans got on Tuesday night, and it was largely because the Frist operation saw Corker's problems earlier this year, took charge of the campaign and got him back on track. And while some Republicans - Allen, perhaps being the greatest offender - chose not to run on the judges issue, Corker, in fact, did. And he won. That wasn't an accident.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Strange how Republican senate candidates don't talk about that. I think they don't know how to explain it or something.
IF they had listened to Rush Limbaugh...we would not have lost our shirts last night...
Dole failed us in Florida by failing to recruit a decent candidate. She needs some blame. Our whole campaign was poorly run. We never came up with a theme to stick to. We had no unified message.
I've been a little out of it lately with graduate school. What are you referring to? Honest question.
So, Frist is good in Tennessee. Wonderful.
Lindsey Graham and Chuck Hagel should be nominated for the Hall of Shame.
Frist helping Corker is worth very little in the grand scheme of things. Frist has been a very weak majority leader from the very beginning.
Love him or hate him, McCain represents his constituents in Arizona. The Senate should not be set up in such a way that one senator is expected to rein in another.
Maybe it is time to go for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on congress critters.
Term limits have worked well in California where politicians are forced to move on from safe positions to fight for other ones. The same should be true at the national level.
If senators and congressmen were term limited then there might not be so much graft, corruption, and isolation from reality.
If Republican candidates knew they actually had to go back into the real world to get a job they might not start acting like Democrats who expect a government handout for their entire life.
I can tell you though that Mitch McConnell will not make these mistakes in 2008.
Look at what McConnell achieved last night. After Kentucky's GOP governor got mired in a hiring scandal and his approval ratings fell to the floor, Democrats thought they could exploit it and pick up as many as three House seats. They only got one, barely, in a district that was already Democrat-majority. McConnell helped keep Anne Northup in the House for four terms, much longer than anyone expected. She apparently also ignored McConnell's advice and went positive at the end of her campaign, which may have killed her. Democrats brought the popular Ken Lucas out of retirement in the 4th District, but Geoff Davis trounced him. Ron Lewis also kicked ass in the 2d. Kentucky remains a GOP stronghold, while Democrats made gains in every surrounding state. This should give Republicans some comfort as McConnell takes the reins in the Senate.
Rush talked with Tony Snow...earlier this week and emphasized over and over and over to Tony that the President must talk to the public about the Supreme Court appointments; but the Republican Party did not start early enough to warn the American people the importance of these appointments....
Honestly, I would have been a lot happier this morning if the NRSC would have done two things:
1) not gone back and recruited Bouchard in MI to run against Butler in the primary.
2) used the money they dumped into MI and used it on another race where the numbers were better for the R's.
I know that I would have been disappointed that the national party bailed on MI, but we needed to win in other areas and we didn't. Now I'm extremely P.O.'d at the Party for trying to pick up when they couldn't defend what they had very well.
If all of the Right's
lunatic fringe groups hadn't
spent the last few years
attacking their own
Party, threatening 'protest votes,'
the Right may have held . . .
Allen was 10 point ahead after the primary.
He lost most of those points over Makaca.
It doesn't matter that he did not know what it could mean.
In politics - preception is thruth
Dole needs to be dumped. I cannot believe we could not come up with good candidates in some of the red states, including FL.
No he doesn't. Once McCain became a national figure he totally forgot about Arizona. He comes home every six years, deals out goodies to the Indian reservations and the democrats and that's it.
We must emphasize that Democrats won control with CONSERVATIVE candidates. This country didn't sweep Liberals into office last night; each and every race was LOCAL. Rahm and Chuckie (I have to admit) were brilliant. They know in their heart of hearts that Americans are primarily conservative; but they know that under Speaker Pelosi, the newbies will wilt and comply. Look for investigations of Bush and Cheney. Look for a lower stock market. Eventually, though, the people who voted in these nitwits will finally see that Democrats are downright DANGEROUS.
I agree. This is actually good news. Not the Republican defeat, but who was elected. The conservative revolution is continuing, just not the way we expected it too. We can and need to do a lot better, but this is a silver lining we need to understand. Who knows? The Democratic party could be reformed from within. God's ways are not our ways. Thankfully.
Do you know how many of the new House members could be considered conservative, or some nuance thereof? Democrat and Republican? I'd be interested to know.
Let me add another angle. How many votes do you all think we lost (or didn't vote) because of the Internet Gambling ban tacked on to the Ports Security bill by Frist late at night?
I know that I was seriously pissed at that action and expressed my displeasure to both my texas senators, Frist's office and the White House. I also considered not voting but reconsidered when I decided there were more important issues.
But how many folks do you think reacted in a negative way to the Republicans?
Could it have been 6000 voters in Virgina?
How about 2000 voters in Montana?
To me, it was a stupid, pandering bill to tack on. Something that the US will have to overturn at some point because of the WTO litigation we are going to receive.
I would be willing to bet that the Republicans lost more votes then we gained by this action.
Also, Frist will not get my support when (or if) he runs in 2008 for the Presidential nomination.
The Martinez primary showed that the cupboard was pretty bare. Blame Dole less that the RPoF. Are you saying the National Party should override the State? How, by parachuting in a candidate? Don't you remember all those posts about how the party was dissing Katherine? She might be a good conservative but she was a lousy candidate and a worse manager. Definitely not strong enough to defeat a multi-term incumbent with strong name-recognition and the ability to pose as a moderate despite the voting record. Jeb was the only hope and he chose not to play.
It is easy to see now that the Republicans should have been running on substantive issues. The economy, national security, border control, judges... all these issues work for us. But most Senate candidates chose to ignore all that, and concentrate on quick scores, with Allen being the worst offender.
To be an effective candidate, a Republican must first educate the electorate to understand what these issues are and why they are important. This is a long, drawn out process, and takes time. It cannot be done in a five-second sound bite in between attack ads on your opponent and rah-rah rallies.
I thought Steele ran an excellent campaign in Maryland. That is the race that disappoints me most.
More than most people realize. I personally know several people who are normally not involved at all in politics that went out to vote Dem. for that exact reason.
I don't know why Allen didn't mention judges. The Gay Marriage Ban won here 58-42%, so obviously a lot of people who care about social issues voted for Webb.
Allen also didn't mention how losing the Senate would cost us in Navy contracts, which means jobs will be lost (because John Warner won't be the chair of the committee anymore, unless Burns or Allen pulls out a miracle).
John McCain belongs in the Hall of Shame also. These two were just doing his bidding, and now there are some who will claim McCain was right. He was an obstructionist from the word GO! Last night he was in his "Elderly Statesmen Mode", but he, Graham, Hagel, and Bill Kristol will remain defeaters of Republicans to me. However, they didn't do it by themselves....we have too many weak-kneed representatives who are afraid to stand up and expose the corruptness within the Democrat Party. I hate to blame the President, but he should have stopped 'trying to get along' with the Dems after they insulted him every time he offered the olive branch. Ted Kennedy all but spit in his and former President Bush's face after they honored him! I wish former Pres. Bush had waited until GW was out of office before he became buddies with Bill Clinton. All the niceties in the world will not stop Bill or Hillary from stabbing you in the back if you pose even a tiny threat to them.
"So we officially lost the Senate too?
"
Not yet. On the other hand, there are still plenty of RINO Senators, so a miss would be just about as good as a mile, I'm thinking.
I think Montana's gone, but Virginia? We probably won't know for a few days.
Butler may have been able to win. I liked him and voted for him in the primary.
...."outgoing Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist"....
I thought the votes were still being counted in Montana and Virginia?
That was one of the biggest gaffes I've seen this year. I don't see how it got a single vote from people opposing "gambling", because it was never debated so nobody was expecting it.
And it wasn't highly touted, so people who cared to stop gambling didn't even know that Frist had thrown them a bone.
But gamblers knew, and investors in gambling stocks knew, and limited-government conservatives knew.
The republicans hoped that fear over having democrats run the house and senate would be enough, but it wasn't, because conservatives understand that we control our own lives, not the government.
Also the robust economic numbers, made the whole immigration issue a non-starter this election cycle. And it cost the GOP the Hispanic vote.
I keep saying that "God's ways aren't our ways" but that doesn't make me feel much better. Maybe in a couple of hours....thanks for the reminder.
It is not quite true that the Alito nomination was not an issue in New jersey. I got a pro-Kean computer telephone call on this point. However, I think that the pitch was wrong. It said "You as an Italian-American should be especially interested..."
I am intereseted, but I am not an Italian-American. I don't even have an Italian last name. I have a Pennsylvania-German surname, but am of nicely mixed ethnic background. I still strongly favored Alito's nomination, but why pitch it to me as an ethnic issue?
Even in Texas, the Rats completely took over the Dallas County Government, including the DA race which was considered to be a lock for the GOP here. Even in Texas, it was a bad day for the GOP.
Maybe not from the elected officials, but the graft, corruption and isolation that would develop from the unelected staffer in Washington would be overwhelming.
Me too. He had a lot more substance than Bouchard ever had.
In Arizona the English only ballot passed around 70%.
In Colorado the amendment punishing businesses that hire illegals passed.
Most of the Dems that won ran endorsing the House plan.
Your little theory doesn't hold up too well to scrutiny.
What you have said is true. If we had term limits we would not have the Byrds, Kennedys, Lugars, they are entrenched, they needed to be gone a long time. Too much time does breed corruption. Not much of a McCain fan though.
"We must emphasize that Democrats won control with CONSERVATIVE candidates. This country didn't sweep Liberals into office last night; each and every race was LOCAL. Rahm and Chuckie (I have to admit) were brilliant. They know in their heart of hearts that Americans are primarily conservative; but they know that under Speaker Pelosi, the newbies will wilt and comply. Look for investigations of Bush and Cheney. Look for a lower stock market. Eventually, though, the people who voted in these nitwits will finally see that Democrats are downright DANGEROUS."
You might say that the liberals were swept in with a moderate-conservative broom. It means that in this case a new broom sweeps dirty.
The only bright spots were that we voted for a BAN on affirmative action programs sponsored by the state and AGAINST a mandatory increase (based on inflation rate) for the Public Schools. And they won by solid majorities.
Bingo!
Did that after FDR's four terms ... very much needed in Congress; say with three term limit in House and two term limit in the Senate.
Should also consider extending to Congessional staffers.
I thought the votes were still being counted in Montana and Virginia?
Frist was leaving anyway. Corker was elected to his seat.
...."Love him or hate him, McCain represents his constituents in Arizona."....
No he doesn't! McCain represents McCain, period. He sure as H@LL does NOT represent the GOP! Even the freakin' DUmmies call him an "independant". That ought to tell you something. I am not sure that McCain is enough of a conservative to even be called a RINO! I know he has a far better chance of getting the Dem. nomination in'08 than he does of getting the GOP nomination in '08!
I think you're right that they don't know how to explain it. Conservatives MUST now begin an offensive on the judges issue, explaining that activist judges BREAK the law by unlawfully inventing law. They circumvent the legislative process. Activism is unconstitutional, illegal and unpatriotic. Until we do this, the Dems will continue to block our nominees while we will have no leverage in attempts to block nominees of their Presidents.
Even more of an argument for term limits!
...."Frist was leaving anyway. Corker was elected to his seat."....
Got ya.... I didn't know that. I thought they were saying that Virginia and Montana were gone. My bad....
New term for those of us who are disappointed with the election results ; Fristration. We've had our party co-opted by someone who has only his own selfish aspirations in mind. First is a non-starter for President in 2008.
"Maybe it is time to go for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on congress critters."
You apparently are not paying attention. We already have term limits and results yesterday demonstrated it.
Absolutely!
McCain will be presented to us as the proper little republican in a new balance of power.
Meaning, not a Republican at all but someone the left can 'work with' and who is 'willing to be independent' from the party and his constituents.
"I hate to blame the President, but he should have stopped 'trying to get along' with the Dems after they insulted him every time he offered the olive branch. Ted Kennedy all but spit in his and former President Bush's face... after they honored him! I wish former Pres. Bush had waited until GW was out of office before he became buddies with Bill Clinton..."
That seems to be a lesson that Republicans refuse to learn. Maybe it's because the left has practically defined 'conservative' as mean and nasty, but our side continues to try to 'get along' and to prove that we're not only 'nice' but forgiving as hell.
IIRC, that's what cost Gingrich his job despite the Contracts and 'Pubbie majorities.
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