Redstate

Republican Lt. Gov. candidate Jim Mattthews got even fewer votes than Santorum.

Rendell was also beaten (to the tune of 80,000 votes) by the combined efforts of the Democrat Lt. Gov. candidates.

Looking at county by county numbers, Santorum outperformed Swann in the Philly area.  Swann did much better in and around Pittsburgh (no surprise there I think).  In fact, most of that 22K is probably to be found in that southwestern corner.

I would go into more detail but I don't know PA well enough to know which are the important counties in the northern/central T that is big for the GOP.  If someone familiar looks there, that would probably be more relevant info about relative performance.

Perhaps most significant Swann got about 575,000 votes.  As of Nov. 2004, Pennsylvania recorded 3.4 Million registered Republicans.  Meaning turnout was about 17%.  Considering there was no contest on the GOP side, and low turnout, my guess is that the significance of the vote differentials is just this side of nothing.  Uncontested races are not really what you want to look at in order to get a bead on public opinion.

are not really what you want to look at in order to get a bead on public opinion.

That's why the Chester County State Senate race is interesting.

This seems more like hunting for a liberal media bias, rather than a true media bias.

Mr. McClure's interpretations of the numbers is a bit of a stretch. They are simply different sets of numbers.  Santorum and Swann both ran unopposed, whereas on the democratic side, there were three candidates for Senate on the democratic side. Voters in general are going to be more inclined to vote when they have more than one option. The Santorum/Swann aspect is significant in that people who voted for one unopposed candidate withheld from voting on another unopposed candidate.

Mr. McClure's analysis is simply inaccurate and shifting the situation to benefit the point that he wants to make.

Like it is said in the post above me, the most telling election news for Santorum is the Chester County PA Senate race, where the Santorum endorsed  candidate lost.

Are we reduced to acting like a victim whenever anybody says something we don't like?

Dude - Rush and Fox ARE the MSM now. We control the house, senate and white house. WE WON!!!

The tax cuts are saving me 10's of thousands of dollars. I've made a small fortune on energy stocks.

Why are we whining so much? Cheap immagrant labor is a HUGE opportunity. We can make tons of money with that - why fight it? Why turn us into victims?

I don't understand this attitude.

Rush and Fox ARE the MSM now.

While Rush and Fox have certainly influenced events and improved reporting, check the numbers.  Compared to the networks Rush and Fox have a small draw.  The NYT and WaPo are still the papers of record.  

We control the house, senate and white house.

Someone should tell Denny Hastert, Bill Frist, Arlen Specter and George Bush.  The so-called Republican Leadership in the Congress seems to get their marching orders - ESPECIALLY in the Senate - from Harry Reid.  

I won't even dignify your "cheap labor" comments.

What is wrong with deregulating the labor market? Guest workers are an enormous opportunity.  

I believe in free enterprise and believe that while EVERYONE will be better off under a totally free economy - but there will be winners and losers -some will do better than others.

I have no problem if some of those winner are brown and speak spanish and if some of the losers are white and speak english. Let the best amoung us rise to the top.

with screwing your fellow citizens on the alter of "being compassionate" to our poor unfortunate southern  neighbors?

Or maybe you don't see the rest of us as fellow citizens, just all common denizens of the planet all running around, arms linked in one gigantic peace- and love-fest, in a mind numbing race to the lowest common denominator.

immigration is not just about economics.  It's about our nationhood. It's about not abusing people for economic gain.  

America is a country, neither a labor union nor an employment agency.  We should accept as many people who want to come here, but no one who comes in outside the system.

What does free enterprise, being the best & competion have to do with compassion?

Deregulating the labor market will create opportunities for everyone - some will take advantage of them and some will claim victimhood.

Which group do you want to be part of?

that my fellow citizens have the opportunities, not someone sneaking across the border willing to work for half price.

We aren't talking about farm 'stoop' labor, very few illegals are employed in that field, illegals have displaced Americans in decent paying jobs in food processing, construction and a myriad of other fields. These are jobs that are now filled by illegals willing to work for a fraction of the people they replaced, with no or few benefits.

Competition is a wonderful thing, its a terrible thing when the playing field and the rules are totally skewed on direction. For the most part the illegals are are not new labor, they are in very large part replacement labor; replacements for your fellow citizens.

And I don't for a New York minute accept the argument that these people are doing jobs Americans won't do; they are doing the jobs Americans won't do at the wages offered.

on the relationship between free enterprise, competition and compassion from a very successful American businessman

A business organization should be a group of successful men possessing character, ability and high ideals, and whose purpose is a worthy one..., interested in something more than the acquisition of material things, [interested in] the welfare of society and in humanity in general.

J.C. Penney

Penney somehow managed to be a successful businessman and concerned about society and humanity at the same time.

How could adding another 50 million productive people do anything but make the country stronger?

Bigger markets, bigger labor pool, more tax revenue, more people of military age etc... They will ALL want assimilate into Americans - don't forget, we are the greatest country in the history of the world and the envy of everyone.

As the title, where do you live?

"Competition is a wonderful thing, its a terrible thing when the playing field and the rules are totally skewed on direction. For the most part the illegals are are not new labor, they are in very large part replacement labor; replacements for your fellow citizens."

If you can't compete with barely educated people who can't speak the language, I am sorry, no pity here.

I have had a ton of work done on my house over the last few years (pouring those tax cuts back into the economy) and most of the time i am dealing with a native who used to be a painter or tile guy or roofer etc who now is a contractor. Illegals do the work and the native guy makes the money. These newly created contractors are making way more money than the did when they painted houses or did tile themselves.

At Christmas, where I live, there are signs up for having Christmas lights put up for a couple hundred bucks. I called them last year and found out it was some college kids doing this on their break. They had a couple of trucks going with ALL the work being done by illegals and they were making a pile of money. I was impressed and told them they should look me up when the get out of school.

Victim or opportunity. What is more American?

50 million unskilled, un/undereducated people who do not speak the same language as the rest of us, who come from cultural backgrounds where corruption is enemic, displacing American workers because they are willing to work for a fraction of their people they are replacing.

This makes America stronger how?

a US Senator. Come on admit it.

Just because you think they're unjust (or whatever) doesn't allow anyone to break the law as decided by our democratic process.

The law has been broken, and honestly it's not Congress' job to enforce the laws.  More legislation at this point is pointless.

How can it make us stronger?

Ask our Attorney General about that or how about our favorite Supreme Court memember. I would be willing to bet the majority of Americans have a ancestor that didn't speak English. But what you would find is people who were willing to WORK and COMPETE!!!!

This is the greatest country in the history of the world.

My Grandparents came from Ireland (and you would NOT believe what they spoke was English) and from Italy.  I have no idea if they were legal (doubt it) but they knew they couldn't wait to be taken care of - they busted their butt. I think they made this country stronger.

They are the only other people I can think of that don't give a tinker's d*mn about the citizens.

labor market in the US.

With the exception, of course, that you must hire labor that has a legal right to be in the country.

If you think this labor market is "regulated", ask the UAW.  More people work in non-union auto assembly plants than in unionised plants.

With respect to your last paragraph, should we assume by your openly racist comments that you are a proponent of open borders?

Your example of the benefits of immigration is Alberto Gonzales.

Immigration didn't create AGAG.  The American system allowed an individual to work his way to the top.  You want rapidly dilute each individual's opportunity to rise to the top, and to ignore our laws.

My example of immagration working is the United States of America - the greatest country in the history of mankind. There is no country or civilation ever imagined that is even close. Period.

And guess what? - I would bet 75% of all Americans (or higher) have an immigrant in their family history that wasn't English speaking. The greatest strength is our ability to make Americans.

Why do you think Mexican culture will overwhelm the greatest culture man has ever created? Have you been to Mexico? You think people coming here want to turn the USA into that? LOL.

Yes we need borders for security on both the Canadian and Mexican side.

What would happen to Mexico if 50 million Americans move there over the next 20 years. 50 million Americans who refuse to learn Spanish; 50 million Americans who carry around the flag of the United States; 50 Americans who demand that the Mexican government allow them to vote and to vote in English; 50 million Americans who demand that the Mexican government provide all of its meager social services in multiple languages.

Do you think that after 20 years Mexico would look like Mexico or the United States?

We need borders for security - beyond that, its just another entitlement program for Americans who can't compete against uneducated people who can't speak the language. Oh, my heart bleeds for those American victims.....

Lets call it what it is....

You simply changed the subject and ignored the question.

You said

Why do you think Mexican culture will overwhelm the greatest culture man has ever created?

in the immediately preceeding post, the one to which I replied. You have asserted in other posts in several diaries that there is nothing to be concerned about; that this culture could never be overwhelmed by another.

I posed a hypothetical that merely asked the question in reverse. Clearly I believe that the answer to my hypothetical is that Mexico would be irreversibly changed, just as I believe that the United States would be irreversibly changed by an enormous, short term influx of people who do not share our culture.

You response simply ignores the question and attempts to change the subject; I never mentioned borders.

If 50 million random Americans ended up in Mexico, in 25 years, they would be running the place, Mexico would be leaving 3rd world nation status on the future would be brighter for Mexico than anyone could even imagine today.

Entitlements and the culture of victimization hasn't knocked us out yet!

So if the Americans would change Mexico, the Mexicans could not/would not change America?

You have some quasi-religious belief that America will out no matter what. And that is simply silly.

What has happened in a generation or two when people from Ireland, Italy, Russia, France, Germany, Africa, India, China, Japan etc etc etc etc etc....

when they get to America?

They become AMERICANS - in our history with getting 100's of different types of immigrants - who hasn't assimilated? NOBODY!!!

Fact is that we have a huge pool of cheap labor at our disposal - lets take advantage of it. Deregulation and freedom benefits EVERYONE.

are tiny compared to the estimates resulting from the Great Citizenship Giveaway being proposed by the Senate, over much longer periods of time and in an era when the general public attitude was akin to 'assimilate or die.'

I submit that if we had the same regime of multiculturalism in place during those immigrations we would be living in a far less prosperous, developed tower of Babel. Not because the immigrants were bad people but because they would all be 'pulling in different directions' --- the America that you seem to think can not be overwhelmed would never have developed.

50 million unskilled, un/undereducated immigrants in 20 years, one generation --- far too short a time for assimilation even without the cult of multculturalism standing in the way ---- and the America that you and I believe to be the greatest thing to ever happen in history will be on its way to second world status.

I believe there are few things in the history of the world as "The American Dream"

Sad to see fellow citizens who don't believe in the shining city on the hill.....

look here... his thought were inspired by our discussion

...and the America that you and I believe to be the greatest thing to ever happen in history...

Despite the old saw about God watching over fools, drunks and Americans, there is nothing guaranteed about the ongoing success of any nation, and this one is no exception.

If you read what I said, and any of my other posts on this site, you would see that I take second place to no man in my admiration and affection for this nation. But we have had to fight for our freedoms on numerous occasions. Some of those fights were close things, by no means a 'slam dunk.' And tomorrow is no different; under the wrong circumstance Reagan' 'shining city on the hill' could begin to fracture and crumble.

You claim that this is the shining city, the best and greatest culture in the history of man. Yet you do not see that the religion of multiculturalism, rampant in the America of the 21st Century, argues against that belief; it argues that this culture is not superior to any other and does not deserve to survive against any other. It argues that we have to respect and honor the culture and language of millions of people who, as their very first act among us is to violate our laws. It argues that we cannot, must not, require them to assimilate; that they must be allowed to exist among us independently. When we do interact we must accede to their demands, for our culture is not superior to theirs and there is no reason why they must adopt ours.

The ideas embodied in the open border mind set, and contained in the Senate immigration bill, set the stage for the reduction of the 'shining city' to a rather dull future. Immigration is not a bad thing; overwhelming immigration is. I happen to believe that America is the best thing that has ever happened to mankind and offers the best hope for the future of the human race and the world. But that place is not 'writ in stone.'

I want to bequeath my children and grandchildren this America, not the one that results from 50 million more people demanding that their language and culture is just as good as ours; that their heritage is equal or superior to ours; that our nation must change to accommodate to their demands.

Maybe you are right. Maybe we are victims of multi-culturalism and that is more attractice than the American Dream. Maybe we need a big nice government watching over us. Maybe we aren't good enough to compete for what we can take on our own.  

Maybe its OK to whine while living in the greatest country when its at it absolute peak of power and freedom.

Think about this - we have more freedom and opportunity than any other group of people in the history of the world - and its not enough for you - you need big government to protect you from uneducated Mexicans who can't even speak the language. Grow a pair and compete.

We are on different sides of the fence on this (I guess). I'm done.

I have been following the thread, I am just as exasperated as you are.

not being able to convince someone, I never claimed to be a genius. But with this guy even when you agree with him on some point (e.g. the greateness of America) he finds some way to turn it around into a disagreement.

I'm going to have to work harder on figuring out when the argument makes some semblance of sense. I've got a long way to go apparently :-)

an interdimensional illegal alien?

a Howard Dean in training?

I see your point - you think multiculturalism is a very seductive force. I believe the American Dream is more powerful. I don't think either one is ignoring the other, but have a difference of opinion on what is stronger.

You believe its the governments job to protect its citizens when they can't compete - I believe its the government job to stay our of the natural competition that allows the best amoung us to rise to the top. I believe this breeds prosperity that helps everyone - but it does create winners, losers and jealousy.  

I can see your point, but don't agree.

WRONG: ...you think multiculturalism is a very seductive force...

Multiculturalism is not seductive, it is destructive.

WRONG: ...You believe its the governments job to protect its citizens when they can't compete...

Government is the very force that is promoting destructive forces of multiculturalism --- this cr*p is enshrined in government (services in every conceivable language), education (ESOL, "bilingual" education --- which is anything but bilingual)

WRONG: ...I believe this breeds prosperity that helps everyone ...

Government is promoting the very thing, uncontrolled immigration by un/undereducated, unskilled third world immigrants, that will destroy prosperity in this country.

Disagreement is one thing, misrepresentation is another.

You probably want to stop before you get your self image wrecked.  Your opinions thus far are based on, well, your opinions.

You have marked ignorance on "The Constitution".  I would suggest that you Google "Constitution" or just ask on of your keepers about it.  It has all sorts of neat stuff in it, even if it was written almost 300 years ago by a bunch of white guys.

It's late, I'm tired so I'm just gonna give you the Cliff Note version.

• The Constitution was written to define the structure of and role of government.
• It was passed by the 13 original states and has been amended several times since then.
• One of the key roles of the federal government is to secure the borders of the country.
• Congress is allowed to make laws regulating who can legally enter the country and how they may enter.
• If those laws are broken by people we'll call "illegal immigrants", the Administration headed by the President should take them into custody and process them back to their country of origin in a manner proscribed by the law Congress has passed.
• Immigration is never considered to be a matter of "competition", rather a matter to be regulated for the good of the country as a whole by the federal government.

I hope that wasn't too hard.  I tried to make it pretty easy because you're obviously pretty stupid.

My mother's mother came here from Christianity (now Oslo) Norway at the age of 19. When she came here she could not speak a word of English. When she died (right before she died too) she could not speak a word of Norwegian. She had not a single Norwegian flag either. She did not even cook Norwegian food. She was an American.

Just wanted to drop you a line now that I have an account with Red State. What's happening over at that other site is a crying shame, but that's their problem.

Later