Election day discussion

This blog entry is open for comments on the election, whatever is of interest. Send me an e-mail, and I will post it.

Gintas writes:

My district in Washington State has long been a Republican stronghold. It’s never had a Democrat represent it. This year the Democrats are making a huge push, the Republican is vulnerable. The attack vector is how he is Bush’s lapdog. We get bombarded with phone calls and junk mail. However, it’s not necessarily just Republican weakness, it’s also changing demographics, as this area is going to the dogs (yellow dog Democrats, all of ‘em!).

If the Democrat (a woman) wins, I’ll be represented in Congress by a woman in the House and two women in the Senate (one is up for re-election tomorrow, but it’s likely the woman Democrat wins). Our governor is a woman. I see a raft of women running for various state positions, judges, etc. One state position is a choice between two women. The Republican candidate is a lot cuter. ;-)

Bill Carpenter writes:

Here in Minneapolis, the party discipline of the Red Star may lead to the election of a far left CAIR-supported Moslem (a former Black Muslim). The Red Star has downplayed the issues in the three-way race between Ellison-Hakim, Alan Fine (a capable and talented moderate Republican), and Tammy Lee, the Independence party candidate who would have been the Democratic candidate in a sane district.

LA writes:

From the Luntz electoral guide posted at the Corner:

All eyes will be on George Allen in the Virginia Senate race. If the GOP holds his seat, odds of Democrats taking the Senate are reduced significantly. If Allen loses, assume the Democrats will capture BOTH houses of Congress. Although the polls close at 7:00 pm, assume the results of this race won’t be called until midnight or later. I believe Allen will win – but don’t bet the farm on it.

LA writes:

At the Corner, there was a nice photo of President Bush seated at a desk on a stage signing a bill, with a group of smiling congressmen and senators, apparently all Republicans, surrounding him. Below the photo were the words, “As much of a fan as I am of some of those dudes….they are all dudes…” I didn’t get it, and thought maybe this was a quote of Bush, praising his GOP Congressmen supporters as “dudes.” Then my eye went above the shot, and I saw it was an entry by Kathreyn Jean Lopez, the editor of NRO:

THE OTHER, PC, BUT REAL, CASE FOR MARSHA BLACKBURN [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
To avoid pictures like these in the future:

With all those commas, I had to read it two or three times to figure out what she was saying. Then I got it. She was pushing some female candidate for Congress, so that there would not be all-male photo shots of president and congressmen. Lopez considers any all-male grouping of politicians objectionable in and of itself and as something to be avoided. She acknowledges that her objection is “PC,” yet she affirms it anyway. Under a Lopez regime, every time congressmen gathered near a camera, they would have to beware of the possibility that there were no females among them, and make sure to round one up.

That’s NR, folks! That’s “conservatism.”

Jeanne writes:

I reacted quite the same way as you when I read The Corner posting by Kathryn Lopez regarding Blackburn and the male all-male photo-op. I shook my head and thought, “how pathetic these people have become”. Where all the intellectuals standard-bearers of conservatism? Where are those who value substance over form instead of form over substance? What kind of thinking cares more about what a picture looks like instead of the ideas the picture represents? Have we truly become so intellectually bankrupt?

Joseph writes:

I hope the GOP holds the house but loses the Senate. They deserve it.

LA replies:

I see no hopeful signs out there for the House. There are virtually no conservatives saying the GOP will win the House.

Joseph:

I agree. I think the only hope for the House was to turn the tables on Bush. Some on your site have speculated that Bush has a tacit agreement with the Democrats that if they give him his open borders and amnesty bill, they will not impeach. The GOP may have headed off disaster by telling Bush that if he did sign such a bill, they would not stand in the way of him being impeached and humiliated in the middle of the war. But as you have said several times before, the House GOP did not do anything (let alone my suggestion) to make their stand clear to the American people. As Dr. Thomas Sowell has said, facts do not speak for themselves—they need someone to articulate them.

LA replies:

That’s a good line from Sowell, Mr. Uncommon Common sense.

David B. writes:

Here in Tennessee, Representative Harold Ford Jr. (a big hope of liberals) is the Democratic nominee against former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. Ford Jr. is the youngest member of a corrupt Memphis political family based in the city’s black district. Harold Ford Sr. was in the Congress until Junior succeeded him ten years ago. Ford Jr.’s uncle was convicted in Federal Court. His father was also tried by the Federal court, but was acquitted. Harold Jr. is reputed to be honest. His brother Jack is running for his House seat in order to keep it in the Ford family.

Rep. Ford has positioned himself well on the issues, appearing conservative enough to be electable. There are two factors this year to help a Democrat. One, his opponent is unpopular in his home city, and is not a strong candidate. Two, George W. Bush and his war are unpopular here as elsewhere. Many people inclined to vote for Ford are actually voting against Bush. Overall, Ford would seem too liberal for Tennessee under normal circumstances, but Bush has made it close.

Tennessee is a culturally conservative state, but that requires qualification. People want things from the government. The “antigovernment” theme is not effective in Tennessee. Reagan just barely carried the state against Jimmy Carter in 1980. The TVA is an example of what Tennesseans favor. My congressman, Lincoln Davis, is such a conservative Democrat. He opposed amnesty this year.

It appears that Coker will end up winning the Senate race. He has emphasized increased border security, but Ford has as well. One can imagine where Ford would go if he won.

Paul Henri writes:

If the Lunatics win, El Presidente will not sign an immigration bill that is overwhelmingly opposed by his party in the House. If he did, all the gloves would come off, and he would get no respect from Republicans. You might even hear the word traitor thrown around by talk-show hosts.

I do not rely on any of the dominant media hype about the impending Republican losses, although they do need a wake-up call. The media was clueless before the Republican takeover and have been predicting a Democratic takeover ever since. I just go vote, as I did for my representative, who probably will win with 70% of the vote.

Yet it won’t be all bad if the House and even the Senate both are lost. It will energize and embolden conservatives. Hopefully, they will savage Bush and his unwise foursome: Rummy, Rice, Hastert, and Frist.

At 1:12 a.m., David B. wrote:

Webb is now 1800 votes ahead of Allen with 100% counted. I just turned on Fox and Bill Kristol was all smiles. He is happy for the same reason that GWB is. It looks like the GOP lost both houses, as North Dakota and Missouri Senate races are going to Democrats. Obviously the Iraq War and Bush is the reason.

but at 1:57 a.m., CBS reported that the Senate outcome is still not determined.

Randy writes:

History repeating itself. The fall of the Republicans is the surrender of the last vestige of whatever morality was left in our government. The Democratic tide is the triumph of evil over what was left of good. The Democrats will rule virtually unopposed and with cooperation from the equally evil, treacherous, and traitorous Bush. They will take us to the path of destruction just like Adoph Hitler took the Germans. Similar events occurred with the Russian Revolution. Every democracy ultimately descends into mobocracy. We were founded as a Republic but are now a true “democracy” that allows the votes of illegals and lifetime welfare recipients.

John Hagen writes:

This is staggering. The New Hampshire Republican party no longer exists. We have lost the State House for the first time in 100 years, and the State Senate, the governorship, and both Congressional seats for good measure. I expect we will have our first income tax instituted next year.

LA writes:

Fred Barnes thinks the Republicans’ loss proves that stopping the open-borders bill didn’t help them. Wrong. They stopped the open-borders bill, but then they barely told the electorate that they had done so.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 07, 2006 02:56 PM | Send