This was an interesting factoid from USA Today...
Democrats will make a mistake if they view this election as an opportunity just missed. In 15 elections since World War II, only two of their presidential candidates have won a majority of the popular vote. Seven Republicans have done so, and now the GOP has controlled Congress for much of the past decade. Clearly, big questions are ahead for the oldest political party in America.
Huh, I would have thought just the opposite. Kind of lays to rest the myth of the Democrats as being the party of the people...
Friday, November 05, 2004
So that's how democracy is supposed to work!
I was perusing CNN.com's story on the reaction to the election results on America's campuses and came across this gem....
Senior Ravi Shah was unhappy about Bush's win but had hope for the future. "If Bush actually learns from his mistakes, and uses the next four years to implement the things that 49 percent of America that didn't vote for him wanted to see happen, [then it's OK]," he said.
So, according to Ravi, if Kerry won we should follow his agenda because America wanted change. If Bush won, we should still follow Kerry's agenda. Makes perfect sense. Heck why even have an election at all?! What about the wishes of the 51% (which I believe is a majority) who DID vote for Bush? What we want is diametrically opposed in many cases to what the 49& (otherwise known as the "minority" or as Ahnuld sez "the losers") want, so given that we won doesn't it make sense to go with out agenda? Why is it when lefties win, they have an agenda and when we win we need to be bipartisan?
The scary thing is that this double standard makes sense and seems fair to those on the Left...
I was perusing CNN.com's story on the reaction to the election results on America's campuses and came across this gem....
Senior Ravi Shah was unhappy about Bush's win but had hope for the future. "If Bush actually learns from his mistakes, and uses the next four years to implement the things that 49 percent of America that didn't vote for him wanted to see happen, [then it's OK]," he said.
So, according to Ravi, if Kerry won we should follow his agenda because America wanted change. If Bush won, we should still follow Kerry's agenda. Makes perfect sense. Heck why even have an election at all?! What about the wishes of the 51% (which I believe is a majority) who DID vote for Bush? What we want is diametrically opposed in many cases to what the 49& (otherwise known as the "minority" or as Ahnuld sez "the losers") want, so given that we won doesn't it make sense to go with out agenda? Why is it when lefties win, they have an agenda and when we win we need to be bipartisan?
The scary thing is that this double standard makes sense and seems fair to those on the Left...
Aaawww, ain't this cute!
Some students in lefty Boulder, CO are staging a protest by holing up in the school library.
"We want them to reassure us that our fears are misguided and that the government is doing everything in its power to prevent our futures from being destroyed," said senior Brian Martens.
The students said they were not protesting this week's election, but said they were worried about the huge national debt run up during the first four years of the Bush administration, along with military recruitment in schools and other issues.
Where are the adults? Why, right on the side of these kids of course!
Boulder High teacher James Vacca expressed pride in the students for staging the protest.
"In an age where narcissistic college students riot in an inarticulate drunken stupor, you have students here at Boulder High School, principled, thoughtful and yet scared of four more years of pre-emptive war, the Patriot Act and an increase in militarism at school through the No Child Left Behind Act," he said.
Hmm, the kid's rationale sounds suspiciously just like that of teacher James Vacca....must be a coincidence. I assume that by "militarizing" the schools, they are referring to not being able to deny reasonable access to schools by military recruiters, recruiters for the same military that is the only thing standing between these hippie wannabee dope smokers and Islamic terrorists who would like nothing better than to behead them.
On second thought, it isn't cute. Someone needs to tell these kids, the parents and the teachers that the 60's are over. Go back to class, we are in a war to protect idiots like them from being killed by terrorists. The American people voted by a margin of around 4,000,000 to re-elect President Bush and stay the course. This is democracy kiddies, get used to it!
Some students in lefty Boulder, CO are staging a protest by holing up in the school library.
"We want them to reassure us that our fears are misguided and that the government is doing everything in its power to prevent our futures from being destroyed," said senior Brian Martens.
The students said they were not protesting this week's election, but said they were worried about the huge national debt run up during the first four years of the Bush administration, along with military recruitment in schools and other issues.
Where are the adults? Why, right on the side of these kids of course!
Boulder High teacher James Vacca expressed pride in the students for staging the protest.
"In an age where narcissistic college students riot in an inarticulate drunken stupor, you have students here at Boulder High School, principled, thoughtful and yet scared of four more years of pre-emptive war, the Patriot Act and an increase in militarism at school through the No Child Left Behind Act," he said.
Hmm, the kid's rationale sounds suspiciously just like that of teacher James Vacca....must be a coincidence. I assume that by "militarizing" the schools, they are referring to not being able to deny reasonable access to schools by military recruiters, recruiters for the same military that is the only thing standing between these hippie wannabee dope smokers and Islamic terrorists who would like nothing better than to behead them.
On second thought, it isn't cute. Someone needs to tell these kids, the parents and the teachers that the 60's are over. Go back to class, we are in a war to protect idiots like them from being killed by terrorists. The American people voted by a margin of around 4,000,000 to re-elect President Bush and stay the course. This is democracy kiddies, get used to it!
Thursday, November 04, 2004
A tale of two winners...
Yahoo! has an AP report on Bush's press conference today where he promised to spend the political capital he has earned....
"I earned capital in the campaign — political capital — and now I intend to spend it," he said at a news conference 24 hours after securing his second term.
Exactly right. Why in the world would he back down now, when he got such a huge vote of confidence from the American people?
In another story from Yahoo! Arlen Spector, the soon to be chairmen of the Senate judiciary committe, my least favorite non-Democratic Senator has other ideas. Even though he pushed back a strong challenger in his primary, a solidly conservative challeneger, largely with the help of President Bush, Spector now plans to waylay any prolife judicial nominees. As America clearly gets more conservative, Spector doesn't want any conservatives on the bench...
"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
"The president is well aware of what happened, when a number of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."
How dare he scold the President like a school boy? He likely wouldn't have won his primary without Bush, and now he tells Bush to be "mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning"? I thought on election night that it wouldn't be a bad thing for Spector to lose, now I am even more uncertain his reelection was a good thing. I have already written my Senators to urge them to block Spector's nomination to the Judiciary charimanship. He further whines...
A former district attorney, Specter also bemoaned what he called the lack of any current justices comparable to legal heavyweights like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo and Thurgood Marshall, "who were giants of the Supreme Court."
"With all due respect to the (current) U.S. Supreme Court, we don't have one," he said.
You know why we don;t have any? Because you rolled over for Ted Kennedy and helped keep Robert Bork, one the greatest legal minds in American history, of the High Court and you rolled over every time liberals attacked a Bush nominee. The great legal minds will not accept nominations because they don't want to go through the approval process that you helped make so personal and brutal. The ad hominem attacks mean that candidates have to have no postions at all or be really quiet about them to get on courts. It is your fault we lack "giants" on the court Senator!
FYI, I consider Scalia and Rehnquist to both be great legal minds, despite what Spector says. I am guessing he thinks HE is a great legal mind and worthy of a seat on the High Court. Think again.
Yahoo! has an AP report on Bush's press conference today where he promised to spend the political capital he has earned....
"I earned capital in the campaign — political capital — and now I intend to spend it," he said at a news conference 24 hours after securing his second term.
Exactly right. Why in the world would he back down now, when he got such a huge vote of confidence from the American people?
In another story from Yahoo! Arlen Spector, the soon to be chairmen of the Senate judiciary committe, my least favorite non-Democratic Senator has other ideas. Even though he pushed back a strong challenger in his primary, a solidly conservative challeneger, largely with the help of President Bush, Spector now plans to waylay any prolife judicial nominees. As America clearly gets more conservative, Spector doesn't want any conservatives on the bench...
"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
"The president is well aware of what happened, when a number of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."
How dare he scold the President like a school boy? He likely wouldn't have won his primary without Bush, and now he tells Bush to be "mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning"? I thought on election night that it wouldn't be a bad thing for Spector to lose, now I am even more uncertain his reelection was a good thing. I have already written my Senators to urge them to block Spector's nomination to the Judiciary charimanship. He further whines...
A former district attorney, Specter also bemoaned what he called the lack of any current justices comparable to legal heavyweights like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo and Thurgood Marshall, "who were giants of the Supreme Court."
"With all due respect to the (current) U.S. Supreme Court, we don't have one," he said.
You know why we don;t have any? Because you rolled over for Ted Kennedy and helped keep Robert Bork, one the greatest legal minds in American history, of the High Court and you rolled over every time liberals attacked a Bush nominee. The great legal minds will not accept nominations because they don't want to go through the approval process that you helped make so personal and brutal. The ad hominem attacks mean that candidates have to have no postions at all or be really quiet about them to get on courts. It is your fault we lack "giants" on the court Senator!
FYI, I consider Scalia and Rehnquist to both be great legal minds, despite what Spector says. I am guessing he thinks HE is a great legal mind and worthy of a seat on the High Court. Think again.
Please note that the National Review posted the same point at 2:53 PM I made on my blog at 9:55 AM, that the Dems threw everything they had at Bush and still lost big...
When the turnout improves, the Democrats would sweep into office, they kept telling themselves.
Well, turnout did improve to the best level since 1968, and the Republicans won. Not by a landslide, but decisively. The only big races that went right for the Democrats were Ken Salazar and Barack Obama.
All of the biggest guns in the left's arsenal - Hollywood, the trial lawyers, the unions, the New York Times, CBS, newly-minted strident liberal talk radio, bombastic and inaccurate "documentaries," all of the skewed members of the MSM... all of them brought their A-game, threw themselves into this fight... and lost to the blogs, talk radio, alternative media, conservative religious groups, and a well-organized GOP ground game.
It's over. None of the left's old tools works anymore. They have to scrap it and start over, and that's why you see the weeping and the wailing and the hair being pulled out.
Almost word for word to what I said. I should get a job at National Review!
When the turnout improves, the Democrats would sweep into office, they kept telling themselves.
Well, turnout did improve to the best level since 1968, and the Republicans won. Not by a landslide, but decisively. The only big races that went right for the Democrats were Ken Salazar and Barack Obama.
All of the biggest guns in the left's arsenal - Hollywood, the trial lawyers, the unions, the New York Times, CBS, newly-minted strident liberal talk radio, bombastic and inaccurate "documentaries," all of the skewed members of the MSM... all of them brought their A-game, threw themselves into this fight... and lost to the blogs, talk radio, alternative media, conservative religious groups, and a well-organized GOP ground game.
It's over. None of the left's old tools works anymore. They have to scrap it and start over, and that's why you see the weeping and the wailing and the hair being pulled out.
Almost word for word to what I said. I should get a job at National Review!
Wait, there is more! Also from The Nation, what we can expect from the Angry Left in the days ahead. Here's a hint, it is NOT a recognition of Bush's win and a renewed civility...
The fight is over.
Let the fight begin.
First, we grieve for what was lost--the opportunity, which flickered for a moment early on election day and then died, to steer the nation onto a more reasonable and less destructive path. At the same time, we salute the efforts of those many millions who mobilized themselves to achieve a better outcome.
Next, we are angry about what the election of George W. Bush portends for the country. Bush's victory will tighten the grip of the Republican Party's virtual monopoly on the institutions of the federal government. The checks and balances on presidential power contemplated by the country's Founders are in tatters. Bush's election gives him the chance to shape the Supreme Court to his purposes: two branches of the government possibly lost in a single election. Roe v. Wade and a host of other protections of basic human rights are at risk. Bush is bound to try to assist the Christian right in its fantastical efforts to "Christianize" public institutions. Further inroads into the liberties of Americans are likely, through a "Patriot Act II" and other legislation as well as by executive fiat. In the near term, a terrible acceleration of the violence in Iraq may be in the offing. In the longer term, new aggressive wars may be launched. The transfer through regressive tax cuts of hundreds of billions more from the poor and the middle class to the rich and the super-rich has been announced.
Anger should lead to action. TV anchors and the candidates themselves call for a new civility and ask the public to "come together" as one people. Pay no attention. The progressive movement in this country has suffered a huge reversal. But the struggle for the country's future--and its very soul--was anything but settled. It will be renewed at a higher level of intensity, and for higher stakes. There must be a fierce, protracted resistance in defense of democracy. The Nation dedicates itself to this cause. As a journalistic institution unbeholden to and uninfluenced by any economic interest or political power, we will continue to provide truthful information not available on a timely basis--or sometimes at all--from the mainstream news media, which too often during the campaign took slanders and pumped them up into running news stories while failing to hold the Administration accountable for its exaggerations and outright lies.
What might the Democratic Party learn from this election? First, that a posture of meekness, resignation and accommodation leads to failure. At no time during the campaign did the Democratic candidate discuss in an honest way the single most important issue facing the country: how to disengage from the war in Iraq. Second, that money, while it can indeed make a major difference, is not the party's problem; the familiar excuse that Republicans raise more campaign funds was extinguished this year. Nor was the country at large indifferent to Bush's alliance with industrial plunderers and his shameful schemes to dismantle social, economic and environmental protections; almost half the electorate voted against these things.
So even though the people have spoken, screw them because the Left doesn't like what they have to say. The people have spoken, now they must be broken! They just don't know what is good for them! They must be remolded into the liberal ideal! Reeductaion camps in the Soviet Union got a bad name, let's try them again!
The Angry Left refuses to bow when beaten, refuses to follow the gracious example of John Kerry and concede with dignity and civility. The angrier and more unreasonable they get, the more they make the case for conservatives. Keep it up guys!
The fight is over.
Let the fight begin.
First, we grieve for what was lost--the opportunity, which flickered for a moment early on election day and then died, to steer the nation onto a more reasonable and less destructive path. At the same time, we salute the efforts of those many millions who mobilized themselves to achieve a better outcome.
Next, we are angry about what the election of George W. Bush portends for the country. Bush's victory will tighten the grip of the Republican Party's virtual monopoly on the institutions of the federal government. The checks and balances on presidential power contemplated by the country's Founders are in tatters. Bush's election gives him the chance to shape the Supreme Court to his purposes: two branches of the government possibly lost in a single election. Roe v. Wade and a host of other protections of basic human rights are at risk. Bush is bound to try to assist the Christian right in its fantastical efforts to "Christianize" public institutions. Further inroads into the liberties of Americans are likely, through a "Patriot Act II" and other legislation as well as by executive fiat. In the near term, a terrible acceleration of the violence in Iraq may be in the offing. In the longer term, new aggressive wars may be launched. The transfer through regressive tax cuts of hundreds of billions more from the poor and the middle class to the rich and the super-rich has been announced.
Anger should lead to action. TV anchors and the candidates themselves call for a new civility and ask the public to "come together" as one people. Pay no attention. The progressive movement in this country has suffered a huge reversal. But the struggle for the country's future--and its very soul--was anything but settled. It will be renewed at a higher level of intensity, and for higher stakes. There must be a fierce, protracted resistance in defense of democracy. The Nation dedicates itself to this cause. As a journalistic institution unbeholden to and uninfluenced by any economic interest or political power, we will continue to provide truthful information not available on a timely basis--or sometimes at all--from the mainstream news media, which too often during the campaign took slanders and pumped them up into running news stories while failing to hold the Administration accountable for its exaggerations and outright lies.
What might the Democratic Party learn from this election? First, that a posture of meekness, resignation and accommodation leads to failure. At no time during the campaign did the Democratic candidate discuss in an honest way the single most important issue facing the country: how to disengage from the war in Iraq. Second, that money, while it can indeed make a major difference, is not the party's problem; the familiar excuse that Republicans raise more campaign funds was extinguished this year. Nor was the country at large indifferent to Bush's alliance with industrial plunderers and his shameful schemes to dismantle social, economic and environmental protections; almost half the electorate voted against these things.
So even though the people have spoken, screw them because the Left doesn't like what they have to say. The people have spoken, now they must be broken! They just don't know what is good for them! They must be remolded into the liberal ideal! Reeductaion camps in the Soviet Union got a bad name, let's try them again!
The Angry Left refuses to bow when beaten, refuses to follow the gracious example of John Kerry and concede with dignity and civility. The angrier and more unreasonable they get, the more they make the case for conservatives. Keep it up guys!
Hillarious!
I normally don't read left wing stuff because it makes me mad, but now it just makes me laugh! I am reading David Corn of The Nation, and his doom and gloom is sweet to behold!
It's another four years--this time with a legitimate win behind him--and the prospects for George W. Bush's second term are grim. He is stronger politically; the Democratic opposition is weaker, especially in the Senate, where the Republicans gained several seats and closed in on a filibuster-proof super-majority. Bush and the GOP demonstrated that they could locate and mobilize their voters. The Democrats--even with big-money efforts (America Coming Together and its ad-buying sister outfit raised and spent more than $200 million)--could not match them. Bush now has more power than he did before the election. He will use it. And he is likely to adopt the game plan that served him well at the start of his first term: Move fast and move hard.
This was so tyical of leftist denial of reality....
But it was not just the Kerry campaign that fell short. The party professionals have much to answer for. The organizers did not churn out the necessary Democratic voters. The Dems in charge of Ohio misread the reality on the ground.
Uh, Dave the turnout was huge and it helped BUSH! The Desm churned all they could, and even by outright fraud still fell way short. Newsflash, the American people are not liberal, they are at heart conservative. The turnout awoke the sleeping conservative giant and revealed the left for what it is: anti-American, anti-religion, anti-freedom. If another 10 million people had voted, Bush would have won by even more!
I normally don't read left wing stuff because it makes me mad, but now it just makes me laugh! I am reading David Corn of The Nation, and his doom and gloom is sweet to behold!
It's another four years--this time with a legitimate win behind him--and the prospects for George W. Bush's second term are grim. He is stronger politically; the Democratic opposition is weaker, especially in the Senate, where the Republicans gained several seats and closed in on a filibuster-proof super-majority. Bush and the GOP demonstrated that they could locate and mobilize their voters. The Democrats--even with big-money efforts (America Coming Together and its ad-buying sister outfit raised and spent more than $200 million)--could not match them. Bush now has more power than he did before the election. He will use it. And he is likely to adopt the game plan that served him well at the start of his first term: Move fast and move hard.
This was so tyical of leftist denial of reality....
But it was not just the Kerry campaign that fell short. The party professionals have much to answer for. The organizers did not churn out the necessary Democratic voters. The Dems in charge of Ohio misread the reality on the ground.
Uh, Dave the turnout was huge and it helped BUSH! The Desm churned all they could, and even by outright fraud still fell way short. Newsflash, the American people are not liberal, they are at heart conservative. The turnout awoke the sleeping conservative giant and revealed the left for what it is: anti-American, anti-religion, anti-freedom. If another 10 million people had voted, Bush would have won by even more!
Fox News reports on a "protest" in the People's Republic of Portland, OR. It was all of 100 people. I guess Fox was waiting for some major blow-ups that never happened, so even this hilarious gathering of pot heads and tree huggers warrants making the news. Hey kids, it wasn't even close. The rest of the country picked Bush. So much for Mrs. Edwards dire warning of blood in the streets if Kedwards lost. I loved this line:
One held a sign reading: "Let's do what Kerry wouldn't — revolt."
Like these wussy boys would take up arms for any cause. There is nothing better than the impotent rage of losers like these people, who STILL can't figure out how Bush, whom they allege is stupid, got elected AGAIN and by a much larger margin and got a bunch of help in Congress to boot. Even their own state of Oregon passed an anti-gay marriage bill! That was as shocking as Derek Jeter being elected mayor of Boston. The next guy says something true, although he doesn't understand the ramification of it...
One demonstrator, Eric Blickenstaff, 30, of Portland, lost his brother in the war in Iraq. Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff died last December when his combat vehicle tumbled off a dirt road in central Iraq.
"This is the international sign for distress," said Eric Blickenstaff, holding an upside-down American flag. "Our country is in distress. The religious right won the election."
Note that he is given legitimacy (the original article is from the AP) because his brother died in the war in Iraq, despite the fact that he died in a car accident which happens every day right in America. It seems a shame that he dishonors his bothers service in this way. He might be surprised to find that of the 57 million people who voted for Bush, many of them are in the religious right and GASP they have a right to vote as well!
The funniest thing about this whole deal is how shocked they are. Liberals threw EVERYTHING they had into beating Bush. Millions spent by George "legalize dope" Soros and the 527s. Slanderous statements by leftists for the last two years accusing Bush of being the next Hitler. The left pulled out all of the stops and swung for the fences in this election. What they got was an infield pop-up and a disastrous loss in state after state. Now they still have Bush, but now he has a MANDATE, having increased from a 500,000 deficit in the popular vote to a 4,000,000 margin.
The big question between now and the next big set of election in 2006 is whether or not the Democrats learn from this debacle and change, or whether they dig their heels in and become even more irrelevant. Does the base of the Democrats, the silent majority of Catholics and blue collar workers, demand the party come back to it's roots or does it become even more radicalized, on the loony fringe of the Left living in the fever swamps of Bush conspiracy theories? Zell Miller writes about the fall of the Democrats in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it is good stuff. Part of it is reproduced here by the National Review (FYI, I refreshed The Corner blog on National Review online about 500 times on Tuesday. I am not kidding). Zell's best line is near the end…
When you write off centrist and conservative policies that reflect the will of people in the South and Midwest, you write off the South and Midwest. Democrats have never learned from the second or third or fifth kick of a mule. They continue to change only the makeup on, rather than makeup of, the Democrat Party.
And so we have a realignment election. For the first time, in an "us vs. them" election and in the toughest of situations, Republicans have been re-elected to the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Confronting an opposition that can win a divided electorate in the worst of times and that has a growing electoral base, the national Democratic Party has a choice: continue down this path toward irrelevance or reverse course. As the last Truman Democrat, I hope my party makes the right choice but know I will not be allowed to be part of it. Such is the price you pay when you love your nation more than your party.
And so while I retire with little hope for the near-term viability of the party I've spent my life building, I retire with a quiet satisfaction that after witnessing the struggle of democracy over communism and fascism, the fear I once held that America might not rise to meet this new challenge of terrorism has vanished like a fog under the radiance of a new dawn. While the threat is still real, the shadow looming across a promising future is gone.
And the credit for that goes to one man. Like the last lion of England, Winston Churchill, George W. Bush has stood alone and risked all to give the world a new, clearer path to the advancement of freedom.
Amen to that Zell.
One held a sign reading: "Let's do what Kerry wouldn't — revolt."
Like these wussy boys would take up arms for any cause. There is nothing better than the impotent rage of losers like these people, who STILL can't figure out how Bush, whom they allege is stupid, got elected AGAIN and by a much larger margin and got a bunch of help in Congress to boot. Even their own state of Oregon passed an anti-gay marriage bill! That was as shocking as Derek Jeter being elected mayor of Boston. The next guy says something true, although he doesn't understand the ramification of it...
One demonstrator, Eric Blickenstaff, 30, of Portland, lost his brother in the war in Iraq. Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff died last December when his combat vehicle tumbled off a dirt road in central Iraq.
"This is the international sign for distress," said Eric Blickenstaff, holding an upside-down American flag. "Our country is in distress. The religious right won the election."
Note that he is given legitimacy (the original article is from the AP) because his brother died in the war in Iraq, despite the fact that he died in a car accident which happens every day right in America. It seems a shame that he dishonors his bothers service in this way. He might be surprised to find that of the 57 million people who voted for Bush, many of them are in the religious right and GASP they have a right to vote as well!
The funniest thing about this whole deal is how shocked they are. Liberals threw EVERYTHING they had into beating Bush. Millions spent by George "legalize dope" Soros and the 527s. Slanderous statements by leftists for the last two years accusing Bush of being the next Hitler. The left pulled out all of the stops and swung for the fences in this election. What they got was an infield pop-up and a disastrous loss in state after state. Now they still have Bush, but now he has a MANDATE, having increased from a 500,000 deficit in the popular vote to a 4,000,000 margin.
The big question between now and the next big set of election in 2006 is whether or not the Democrats learn from this debacle and change, or whether they dig their heels in and become even more irrelevant. Does the base of the Democrats, the silent majority of Catholics and blue collar workers, demand the party come back to it's roots or does it become even more radicalized, on the loony fringe of the Left living in the fever swamps of Bush conspiracy theories? Zell Miller writes about the fall of the Democrats in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it is good stuff. Part of it is reproduced here by the National Review (FYI, I refreshed The Corner blog on National Review online about 500 times on Tuesday. I am not kidding). Zell's best line is near the end…
When you write off centrist and conservative policies that reflect the will of people in the South and Midwest, you write off the South and Midwest. Democrats have never learned from the second or third or fifth kick of a mule. They continue to change only the makeup on, rather than makeup of, the Democrat Party.
And so we have a realignment election. For the first time, in an "us vs. them" election and in the toughest of situations, Republicans have been re-elected to the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Confronting an opposition that can win a divided electorate in the worst of times and that has a growing electoral base, the national Democratic Party has a choice: continue down this path toward irrelevance or reverse course. As the last Truman Democrat, I hope my party makes the right choice but know I will not be allowed to be part of it. Such is the price you pay when you love your nation more than your party.
And so while I retire with little hope for the near-term viability of the party I've spent my life building, I retire with a quiet satisfaction that after witnessing the struggle of democracy over communism and fascism, the fear I once held that America might not rise to meet this new challenge of terrorism has vanished like a fog under the radiance of a new dawn. While the threat is still real, the shadow looming across a promising future is gone.
And the credit for that goes to one man. Like the last lion of England, Winston Churchill, George W. Bush has stood alone and risked all to give the world a new, clearer path to the advancement of freedom.
Amen to that Zell.
A couple of predictions for the next four years...or at least wishes...
- We end up mostly out of Iraq by the end of 2005. I expect we will leave a permanent base or two, much like we did with Germany, Italy and Japan. Hopefully something in the southeast so we have a port and easy access to both the Persian Gulf and perennial trouble maker Iran (see below)
- We end up doing something to rein in Iran, maybe by blowing up their nuke facilities or letting the Israelis do it. Nothing happens with North Korea, but it doesn't get worse.
- Yasser Arafat dies and goes straight to hell to be bunkmates with Mohammad Atta and other fellow terrorists, and after the bloodshed of his succession the Palestinians either elect a new nutcase or they get a moderate that doesn't have blood on their hands that Bush can start working with immediately.
- Colin Powell leaves the admin, and with his departure we take a stronger stance on Taiwan. We can't in good conscience fight for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and abandon Taiwan to Communist China.
- The Federal Marriage amendment makes it out to the states. We cannot have a system where one state allows gay marriage and the rest don't. The rest of the nation has made it clear with an 11 for 11 sweep of laws preventing gay marriage that we are not willing to conform to Mass, and I think given the chance the people of Mass will also reject gay marriage. That assumes that they actually get a say.
- Tort reform makes progress. This is huge, and I think would have a great impact on our economy. Rather than spending tons of wasted money of legal fees that produce nothing but more legal fees, that money could be better spent on a variety of productive tasks, creating jobs instead of eliminating them.
- Bush gets three nominees to the Supreme Court, probably one moderately conservative and two more strict interpretationist judges. At least one minority and one woman. We could see Roe v. Wade fall by 2007, and when the sky doesn't fall afterward that is one less wedge issue for the Left to cry about.
- A flat tax gets serious consideration and at worst the tax code gets dramatically flattened.
A lot of this stuff, especially anything to do with social security, needs to happen quickly while the Dems are still stunned and it is not an election year. 2005 is going to have to be huge for Republicans, and for cryin' out loud they need to do something about spending like a drunken Democrat (yes, that was a slam on Teddy Kennedy)
- We end up mostly out of Iraq by the end of 2005. I expect we will leave a permanent base or two, much like we did with Germany, Italy and Japan. Hopefully something in the southeast so we have a port and easy access to both the Persian Gulf and perennial trouble maker Iran (see below)
- We end up doing something to rein in Iran, maybe by blowing up their nuke facilities or letting the Israelis do it. Nothing happens with North Korea, but it doesn't get worse.
- Yasser Arafat dies and goes straight to hell to be bunkmates with Mohammad Atta and other fellow terrorists, and after the bloodshed of his succession the Palestinians either elect a new nutcase or they get a moderate that doesn't have blood on their hands that Bush can start working with immediately.
- Colin Powell leaves the admin, and with his departure we take a stronger stance on Taiwan. We can't in good conscience fight for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and abandon Taiwan to Communist China.
- The Federal Marriage amendment makes it out to the states. We cannot have a system where one state allows gay marriage and the rest don't. The rest of the nation has made it clear with an 11 for 11 sweep of laws preventing gay marriage that we are not willing to conform to Mass, and I think given the chance the people of Mass will also reject gay marriage. That assumes that they actually get a say.
- Tort reform makes progress. This is huge, and I think would have a great impact on our economy. Rather than spending tons of wasted money of legal fees that produce nothing but more legal fees, that money could be better spent on a variety of productive tasks, creating jobs instead of eliminating them.
- Bush gets three nominees to the Supreme Court, probably one moderately conservative and two more strict interpretationist judges. At least one minority and one woman. We could see Roe v. Wade fall by 2007, and when the sky doesn't fall afterward that is one less wedge issue for the Left to cry about.
- A flat tax gets serious consideration and at worst the tax code gets dramatically flattened.
A lot of this stuff, especially anything to do with social security, needs to happen quickly while the Dems are still stunned and it is not an election year. 2005 is going to have to be huge for Republicans, and for cryin' out loud they need to do something about spending like a drunken Democrat (yes, that was a slam on Teddy Kennedy)
FOUR MORE YEARS!!!
Tuesday was a day of winners, and dare I say it, losers. The American people were the big winners as we showed up in huge numbers, and proved an important point: high voter turnout does NOT mean huge numbers of votes for Democrats.
President Bush got a decisive win, and the country got even more conservative. The House got more conservative. The Senate got more conservative, and sent a warning to obstructionists: fillbuster judicial nominees and you could be the next Tom Daschle. The state governments got more conservative as the GOP increased it's hold on Governor's mansions. The south got more Republican as many conservative Democrats are gone, replace by Republicans (like my congressman Ken Lucas, a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat replaced by a Republican). The Zell Millers of this world are a thing of the past.
I don't think you can overemphasize this. Conservatives, especially Christians, finally woke up. Other than pockets of liberalism in the northeast and the pacific coast, the country is a sea of red. Even states that Kerry won in middle America like Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin were VERY competitive and Bush certainly could have contested the results given the squirrely nature of the new voter registrations and other shennanigans. Michigan went to Kerry in spite of an overwhelming victory for the gay marriage amendment, but that is due to the residual and diminishing influence of big labor. Wisconsin and Minnesota are less liberal now than they were in the past.
Some of my winners and losers:
Winner: Country Music Television Loser: MTV
Winner: Conservative talk radio Loser: Pitiful "Air America" (hard to be an avowedly liberal radio station when even liberals are afraid to use the term)
Winners: Sean Hannity, Bill Bennett, Hugh Hewitt, Jerry Falwell, President Ronald Reagan Losers: Al Franken, Michael Moore, George Soros, Howard Stern, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore.
Winner: The Heartland Loser: Hollywood
Winners: The Vietnam veterans Losers: The Jane Fonda, every war is the "next Vietnam" types
Winner: New democracies Losers: Bitter, weak European former powers
Winner: Fox News, the bloggers, The Wall Street Journal, the National Review Losers: The "main stream media", the New York Times/Washington Post, NBC/ABC and especially CBS
Winners: The NRA, National Right to Life, the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Concerned Women for America Losers: MoveOn.org, the ACLU, the NAACP, the union bosses, NARAL and other baby muderers, American United for the Seperation of Church and State, Log Cabin Republicans
Winner: God's plan for marriage Losers: the radical homosexual rights movement
Winners: Conservative Catholics Losers: "in name alone", "social justice" catholics
Winners: Evangelical, born again, dare I say "fundamentalist!" Protestants Losers: world appeaser, gay friendly liberal "Christians"
Big Winner: American democracy Big Loser: The angry left thugocracy
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