The Backlash Begins

spectator.org ^ | The Washington Prowler

[Cold Heat]

IF they had listened to Rush Limbaugh...we would not have lost our shirts last night...

Santorum spoke on judges.......

Judges are a code word for the social war, and you risk isolating voters every time you bring social issues to a campaign. sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

The results were that it worked in isolated locations, all in the south, and it hurt us in the east and Midwest.

IMO, social issues are for a while, a dangerous topic as a result, or at least should be....

Unfortunately, this will not be the case, and futher damage will be done in 087, in my opinion, before the party gets the message.

[Cold Heat]

087='08

[who_would_fardels_bear]

They say that democracies perish when the mass of idiots realize they can vote themselves the wealth of the minority of hard working taxpayers.

Maybe democracies perish even sooner: we only need a few congressmen and senators to vote themselves into a virtual nobility and remain there so as long as they distribute a few crumbs to the mass of idiots.

[smith288]

Maybe democracies perish even sooner: we only need a few congressmen and senators to vote themselves into a virtual nobility and remain there so as long as they distribute a few crumbs to the mass of idiots.

"(stage 1) A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. (stage 2) From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (stage 3) which is always followed by a dictatorship."

Welcome to phase 2, loose fiscal policy. Hillary hopes to usher in stage 3 Lord help us all.

[Antoninus]

If all of the Right's lunatic fringe groups hadn't spent the last few years

Maybe if the administration, Senate, and House had actually acted like Conservatives and got some things done, Conservatives would have had a reason to come out in big numbers. Here in NJ, the Republicans gave me no reason to vote--Tom Kean Jr. is a liberal. My Democrat congresscritter ran unopposed. I voted anyway, but the only Republicans who got my vote were local guys.

Of course, guys who post in haiku (or think they do) shouldn't usually be looked to for cogent commentary.

[Busywhiskers]

Couple of things.

First, the scumbags like the ones you mention stay in office because the people of their districts or state like to be represented by scumbags. People like Kennedy or Schumer simply reflect the character of the electorate in their respective states. One need only reflect on the congressional delegation from Mass to know thats true. They are, almost to a person, as much or more of a scumbag as Kennedy.

Secondly, many would not consider the Senate to be a promotion from the House nor a Governorship a promotion from the Senate.

Third, term limits often result in the throwing the baby out with the bath water. Good legislators get ousted with the bad. I know a couple of excellent Oregon legislators who had to leave the Oregon House because of term limits. Had they stayed they could have provided important leadership and influence on a host of conservative issues.

Instead of a blanket term limits, a better approach is to find a way to selectively cull the herd by voting the scum bags out of office and that is why I suggest that we already have term limits.

[lasereye]

Judges are a code word for the social war, and you risk isolating voters every time you bring social issues to a campaign. sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

It should work in places like MT, ND etc. Probably MO as well.

[Kenny Bunk]

I thought Steele ran an excellent campaign in Maryland. That is the race that disappoints me most.

I thought so, too. Until I read this thread. Although his ads were slick, and he's a great guy, he never brought up the judge thing, never brought up the tax thing, never talked about defense. Fluff. Soft. Nice. Maybe should have been a tough guy.

Allen, Blackwell, Santorum, Great guys all down the drain with Steele. Damn shame.

Bottom line, Steele lost to a jerk. Ain't hindsight wonnerful?

[gridlock]

You may be right. As appealing as Steele was, perhaps a sharper focus on the issues might have helped him.

Oh well. 20/20 hindsight, and all that. I could be we were all just screwed this time 'round.

[theFIRMbss]

>Of course, guys who post in haiku (or think they do) shouldn't usually be looked to for cogent commentary

Oh, yeah, right! And guys with big swords and tame lizards don't get sexy girls . . .

[Kenny Bunk]

People like Kennedy or Schumer simply reflect the character of the electorate in their respective states.

ROTFLMAO Ask any tourist-oriented business person in Maine about this! In defense of the insufferable and obnoxious n'Yawkuz, they at least drop some money. Those Massholes tend to bring their own six-packs and then leave the bottles.

[lasereye]

You apparently don't understand what a fillibuster is. The Democrats were doing the fillibustering. That's how they blocked a number of Bush court appointments. Under Senate rules, a minority can prevent something from being voted on. They can refuse to end debate on something and therefore a vote is never taken.

YOU FILLIBUSTER WHEN THE VOTES ARE THERE TO PASS SOMETHING. Like drilling in Alaska. Or ending the death tax. If the votes aren't there, there's no need to fillibuster.

You need 60 votes to stop a fillibuster. There were not 60 Republicans in the Senate. How do you not know this stuff? Yeesh.

[Kenny Bunk]

Dems analyzed our weaknesses and picked good candidates to match up against us apparently.

Yes. They played us man for man. With the Webb/Allen match-up they definitely flanked our right wing. But, I never will understand Americans voting for Casey over Santorum. Apparently the last state in the union where the electorate can still spot an idiot is Tennessee.

I guess the Gores, father and son, trained them.

[RobFromGa]

I never will understand Americans voting for Casey over Santorum.

In PA, Santorum is more conservative than the average voter, and Casey took the pro-life card away from him allowing many on the religious right (esp Catholics) to either vote for Casey or not vote.

Santorum doesn't sugar-coat things and a lot of the electorate is looking for escape from the War. They would prefer to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Rick (and President Bush) keep lecturing them (correctly I might add) that hitting the snooze button is not an option. They voted for the guy who promised to let them hit snooze.

[Kenny Bunk]

Rob, everyone is looking for 'lessons learned' from this debacle. IMHO, there probably aren't many.

The Democrats evolved a brilliant and simple strategy to deal with Republican, Conservative, RINO, Values, etc. candidates on a head-to-head basis. They recognized that the average voter tends to the right on most issues, so that's where they ran. Our team wasn't smart enough, tough enough, or courageous enough to deal with the old "all court press." And our coach was out to lunch.

The Democrat party, under this Rahm creep, and the equally shifty (note polite placement of the "f") Schumer are only wedded to left-wing loser socialist ideology after they win elections.

A damned shame that no one on the RNC reads ... or more likely ... believes what's on this site. There are at least 50 posters here who knew the score better than the RNC, Rove, Mehlman, Liddy, et al. These clymers should be benched immediately. Not only did they waste hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds, but they put a group in power that could very well deliver ruin to our republic, which they apparently failed to notice is in a death struggle with 200 million Muslims who want to kill, enslave, or at the very least convert us and make us live under their laws. One would think that a cataclysm of such historical proportions would at least get their attention.

Sure, It's a tradition. Every 8-year president seems to get shellacked 6-years out in the "Lame Duck" Mid-term. But this time, it's a lot more serious because we are in a World-Wide War our leaders were afraid to spell out. Finally we can join the chorus: "It's Bush's Fault."