That Is Utter Crap
By Erick Posted in 2006 — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Let's put the brakes on this before it starts. I'll give the media the "it's about the war" meme. I'll give them the "it's about the President" meme. But I won't give them the "its a repudiation of the right" meme. That is utter crap.
The United States did not reject the agenda of the right tonight. I know the media very badly wants to say that. I know the left wants to think that. But the fact is that this is not true. Had either the left or the media paid attention, they would have heard that the right was angry about Medicare Part D. They would have heard that the right was angry about government spending. They would have picked up on the disgust the right has shown to the congressional leadership.
But of course it is to their benefit to ignore all of that. It is to their benefit to ignore the amount of time the GOP had to spend rallying its own base. it is to their benefit to ignore that the way the GOP rallied its base was to say, "You think we spend terribly? Wait till you see the Dems in charge." It is to their benefit because they think they can dupe the American people into a liberal agenda.
The GOP failed to dupe the American public into a liberal agenda. The Democrats and media will not have better success. At the end of the day, the American public still understands that government is the problem, not the solution. And that is why the GOP was turned out of office.
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That Is Utter Crap 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
is not a rejection of the right - which plays to our favor. Now that the election is over, the Dems must carry the mantle and lead. And if they list to far to the left, they will get the same drubbing the Republicans got last night.
On the other hand if the Dems stay centrist or even list right, the MoveOn.org crowd will howl incessantly. I expect them to become more extreame and shrill as time passes because I don't expect this congress to change the direction of the country.
In the next house election (which is only 729 days away - but who's counting) I expect the leftists to try to knock out the moderate/right dems with leftists in the primaries (worked real well with Ned Lamont). That will open the door to more conservative republicans retaking the house.
President Bush was right when he said all of the House and Senate races were local. I don't believe there was one singular voice with which the voters spoke.
Bush will actually veto a few things now and the public will balk if the House tries anything too radical. I'm confident there are limits to the damage that will be done.
We need to get to work today for life in the post-Bush era. A good way to start is to remember what swept us into office, and the abominations that caused the GOP to be cast out like a leper last night.
^.^
Of course the media wasn't listening to the Right. That would have meant stopping in the middle of their Republican-bashing to actually listen to what the people voting had to say.
I mean, as of this morning, NPR was almost dancing in the streets with the music that sounded all so important - because their guys won.
And of course people on the Right took their anger out on the Republican Party. Hell, I can see that from the House race in my state (Wyoming), where Republican Barbara Cubin is still in a dead-tie with her Democrat challenger Gary Trauner. Ms. Cubin needs to take a good long look at this election and learn some rather fundamental lessons...and perhaps the first might be that it helps to actually VISIT THE STATE from time to time.
I voted for Ms. Cubin, and our one Senator who was up for re-election this time, but I too think we could be doing better on some issues.
I just didn't think it was time to hand the federal government over to the Dems.
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John B.
Blogger Guy
My problem with the "media" is they do not seem to distinguish between the anti-war types, and those of us who find that the last 18 months in Iraq have been a stalemate of some sort (thus wanting a change to move things along)
"Woe to the man that keeps feeding the crocodile in the hopes that it eats him last"- Winston Churchill admonishing the leaders of the Western Democracies to stop caving in to Hitler's demands. Churchill was right, 50 million people died as a result of their feeding.
The crocodile feeders won again last night. America and the world knew about the perils of crocodile feeding as late as 1953, but they have stopped teaching a real American history course in the schools today. How else could you have a recent high school graduate answer the question "What is the rationale, the reason, behind the Memorial Day Holiday?" with "it's the day we celebrate taking the covers off our swimming pool" with a completely straight face.(zip code 06611 by the way, that school system really deserves a prize for turning out that 'prize')
In the aftermath of NASA's Columbia Shuttle disaster one of the network's scientific talking heads was asked whether the U.S. should continue in the exploration of space. His answer was " Yes, there are some things in life worth dying for."
However, those feelings do not extend, with a few very brave exceptions, those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today, to the general American public. We have become preoccuppied with our own creature comfort and security. Have we become so preoccupied that, as the children of the "Greatest Generation", we are on the verge of becoming the worst generation, the craven generation, the generation that let freedom and Democracy slip from our grasp become we were under the impression that it was already free with no need to pay for it the way our forefathers paid? We already have one strike against us, last night we stepped up to the plate to commit our second strike.