If voters engineer the Congressional makeover that strategists in both parties now expect, the implications for governance over the next two years, and for America’s political future, remain a mystery. Ascendant Republicans will have to juggle the Tea Party’s determination to block President Obama’s agenda with centrist voters’ desire for the two parties to work together on jump-starting the economy.See more at the link.
“The looming victories for Republican candidates next Tuesday is not a validation of the Republican Party at all,” former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said in an interview. Instead, he argued, they would reflect “a repudiation of the massive overreach” by Mr. Obama and Democrats and “disgust with the political class” for its failure to cooperate and deliver results.
“It could create a middle ground,” Mr. Bush concluded. “Or it could create a dismemberment of our political parties.”
In this fractious environment, the Senate race in Florida may represent the best-case situation for Republicans. After insurgent conservative Marco Rubio overtook Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination and built a general election lead, top Democrats were reduced to trying vainly to persuade their own nominee, Representative Kendrick B. Meek, to abandon the race to help Mr. Crist’s independent candidacy stop Mr. Rubio.
The equally chaotic Alaska Senate race could become the worst case. After Joe Miller, a Tea Party favorite backed by former Gov. Sarah Palin, defeated the incumbent, Lisa Murkowski, for the Republican Senate nomination, party leaders swung behind Mr. Miller and threatened to strip Ms. Murkowski of her position as the ranking member of the Senate energy committee after she announced that she was still running.
Now that missteps by Mr. Miller have left him plummeting in the polls, some Republican strategists are openly rooting for Ms. Murkowski’s unorthodox write-in campaign as their best hope for preventing an upset by the Democrat Scott McAdams.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, reflecting the fervor of his party’s base, recently declared that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
But former Governor Bush said Republicans must make clear that their top priority is increasing employment and economic growth. In particular, he advised Republicans to seek common ground with Mr. Obama and Democrats on trade and energy policy.
Jeb Bush is mostly right, although governing instability next year is not going to destroy the parties. Folks should read Scott Rasmussen's essay, "A Vote Against Dems, Not for the GOP," especially the bottom line: "Elected politicians ... should leave their ideological baggage behind because voters don't want to be governed from the left, the right, or even the center. They want someone in Washington who understands that the American people want to govern themselves.
This is the most important election of my time. As I say below, our country's very survival depends on the electorate to come to their senses and stop this mad march to soviet style socialism.
ReplyDelete"Finally, I want to once again address the past primaries and the future of our country in general. It is apparent beyond all doubt that the establishment on both sides are deathly afraid of the so called Tea Party (and thus the electorate in general) and they well should be! For those of you who prefer to live in a cave, the Tea Party from my view is not just about returning to conservative principles. The people who are aligning themselves behind this movement are looking for so much more. We are looking for men and women of principle! We want representatives that obey the will of the people, not their leaders or their own power lust! We want a return to the bedrock principles this country was founded on! We sure as hell do not want to be told we are racists, hate mongers or all the other names we are called just because we disagree with the direction this country is being taken. We believe in free speech, not "Obama says you will think and say as I want".
The Tea Party movement is many things to many people. To those in power, it is a threat. To those who believe in the hard core Marxist principles being espoused by this administration, it is a threat! For those who believe our country needs to subvert itself to the whims of Islamic Fanatics, or Euro Socialism or whatever else, it is a threat!
As such, there are way too many people who do not remotely understand what is happening here. Our fighting men and women, our forefathers who gave their blood and lives for this country, they understand! Unfortunately, the folks that have either had everything handed to them or instead have chosen to ride on the back of others instead of being responsible for themselves combined with the elected morons who realize keeping people reliant on government insures their power, they do not understand!
The Tea Party movement is not a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican party! A co-opted media led by a hard core left wing wanna be dictatorship government would want you to believe that it is in fact all about the Republicans. And they would be dead wrong! The Tea Party movement is a fight for the heart and soul of our country! It is a fight to return us to what made us the greatest country in the world! How sad that entrenched politicians on the right along with the garbage on the left cannot or refuse to understand such a basic tenet!