I don't have much for today, but just a little about my assessment of recent elections. I am not sure that the Liberals really grasp how badly they lost in 2014. Not only did they lose the Senate badly, but, according to National Conference of State Legislatures, "Republicans gained 300-350 seats in state government and control over 4,100 of the nation’s 7,383 legislative seats." The last time this happened was in the 1920's.
That's great, but here is why I think they are even more clueless. Earlier this year, Obama's crackerjack election team went to Israel to help and advise Isaac Herzog on how to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Herzog and his party lost badly.
David Axelrod, key election adviser to Obama along with our dear New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio traveled to England to advise Ed Millibrand and his Labour Party on how to defeat David Cameron and his Conservative Party. Millibrand and Labour lost badly.
They just don't get that the people are just not buying what they are selling.
Now, here is where it gets really fun. NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio is travelling the US to sell his version of the Liberal "Contract With America" that will be revealed soon. He is convinced that the Democrats can win in 2016 if they can just move sharply left. Now, Bill has never really understood that he won by only 18% of vote of NYC registered voters despite that the fact that he swears he has a "mandate from the people". This is his now-famous quote from his recent Rolling Stone Magazine interview:
Yeah, real special - murder is up 20% including three dead cops and we just don't "get" his brilliance. [Full disclosure: I have not read his RS interview because I just don't want to.] Though he has already announced that he will run again in 2017, I predict that he most certainly he will not win. He is that unpopular.
Anyway, let's hope the Dems keep up their present election track record.
Oh, did I forget to tell you that yet another New York State elected official has been indicted for wrong-doing? Remember earlier this year, I told you about long-time Democrat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest. This time it is the Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos who was arrested on federal corruption charges and after much wrangling, he finally stepped down today. I don't know the details and it almost doesn't even matter anymore. But at this rate, we may have to ask for volunteers to fill our state legislature simply because no one will be left who isn't already in jail.
That's great, but here is why I think they are even more clueless. Earlier this year, Obama's crackerjack election team went to Israel to help and advise Isaac Herzog on how to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Herzog and his party lost badly.
David Axelrod, key election adviser to Obama along with our dear New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio traveled to England to advise Ed Millibrand and his Labour Party on how to defeat David Cameron and his Conservative Party. Millibrand and Labour lost badly.
They just don't get that the people are just not buying what they are selling.
Now, here is where it gets really fun. NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio is travelling the US to sell his version of the Liberal "Contract With America" that will be revealed soon. He is convinced that the Democrats can win in 2016 if they can just move sharply left. Now, Bill has never really understood that he won by only 18% of vote of NYC registered voters despite that the fact that he swears he has a "mandate from the people". This is his now-famous quote from his recent Rolling Stone Magazine interview:
"A lot of people outside New York City understand what happened in the first year of New York City better than people in New York City. But I´m convinced something very special happened here."
Yeah, real special - murder is up 20% including three dead cops and we just don't "get" his brilliance. [Full disclosure: I have not read his RS interview because I just don't want to.] Though he has already announced that he will run again in 2017, I predict that he most certainly he will not win. He is that unpopular.
Anyway, let's hope the Dems keep up their present election track record.
Oh, did I forget to tell you that yet another New York State elected official has been indicted for wrong-doing? Remember earlier this year, I told you about long-time Democrat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest. This time it is the Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos who was arrested on federal corruption charges and after much wrangling, he finally stepped down today. I don't know the details and it almost doesn't even matter anymore. But at this rate, we may have to ask for volunteers to fill our state legislature simply because no one will be left who isn't already in jail.
9 comments:
A Republican is the governor of MD (becoming a more common thing), and while I haven't paid much attention to him, recently he acquitted himself a lot better than the 'Let it burn' mayor of Baltimore.
The Republicans will continue to do well for a bit, but going by recent history, it is unlikely to last. Absolute victory in 2016 (a real possibility) would probably translate into a Democratic revival in 2018 unless the Democrats broke left (also a real possibility since I could see liberals blaming loss on Obama and Hillary's 'moderation' rather than their liberalism or incompetence).
Generally speaking, power is a poisoned chalice for both parties which is why since 1994 it has seesawed between the two parties. Both like to centralize power, both like to reward their friends and punish their enemies and both have powerful constituencies whose obsessions differ from the priority lists of voters.
All that being said, it should be kept in mind that the seesawing works to the benefit of Republicans because prior to that the Democrats consistently controlled two of the three branches at a national level (the President is the most powerful politician in the country, but there is only so much he can do).
For example, Supreme Court justices don't go away when the winds of political fortune temporarily change and they have tremendous amounts of power.
Those of us in the trenches over the 2nd Amendment have been saying for a long time that the war is in the state houses. It goes as well for many other issues...education, welfare reform, and balancing budgets. The liberals just don't get it, I predict they will go even further tot he left in hopes of winning again,,,but let me say,,,I doubt seriously they rally the black people, college kids and nature nuts the way Obama did.....and let's face it, he didn't win any large percentages of the popular vote.
Anthony,
"power is a poisoned chalice for both parties which is why since 1994 it has seesawed between the two parties"
But the chalice with the palace has the brew that is true! Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist. ;-)
I do think occasional losses in power is good for the country and conservatism. Politicians too entrenched can cause a lot of damage by setting up patronages in their constituencies in a modern day version of feudalism. Just look at the Kennedys.
Of course, on the flip-side, the fear of losing can sometimes cause politicians to go mad with pushing left-wing populist programs. But a political move that reeks of desperation can blow back on you.
Critch,
"The liberals just don't get it, I predict they will go even further tot he left in hopes of winning again,,,but let me say,,,I doubt seriously they rally the black people, college kids and nature nuts the way Obama did.....and let's face it, he didn't win any large percentages of the popular vote."
First, Obama was a unique individual, able to craft a loyal coterie of voters; blacks, college women. Martin O'Malley will certainly not grab black voters the way Obama did and I highly doubt he will appeal to young women in the same way, either.
They also don't seem to understand their victory in 2012 came largely from the Republican Party and the Right utterly self-destructing. A few have pointed out that McCain grabbed more popular votes in 2008 than Obama did in 2012.
Sorry, guys. I am suddenly having a very busy day!
But let me say this. First, that as I see it, the move to the left is not working out to well so far. We will see later today when Bill DeB and his coterie of Hollywood stars like Susan Sarandon and others roll out his "Contract With America". Now what I remember of Newt's "Contract" in the 1990's is that it was mostly directed at Congress not wasting taxpayer money on themselves like with Congressional gyms and special loans and the like. And a general wise cut in spending like limiting welfare checks to 5 years and providing job training and placement. And a general cutting of spending which led to a much touted "budget surplus" at the end of Clinton's presidency.
Bill deB's,...is...well...not going be like that. He is supposed to be rolling it out today. I will keep y'all posted. [YES, I used the word "y'all"!]
Nice clowns! :D
Bev, You make an interesting point that I think about a lot. Conservatives love to whine that the public has been mesmerized by Obama and his evil socialist brigades, but that's just not true.
The truth is that a large majority of the public holds right-of-center (pro-individual freedom) views, but they just can't find anyone to vote for. Our side, which should be blowing away the Democrats everywhere, focuses on stupid fringe issues rather than creating a broad-based appeal to average Americans as conservatism did during its glory days. So national elections come down to which side seems less scary, rather than which side do you support.
In places where the focus is more on things that matter (i.e. jobs, business conditions, maintaining freedoms, protecting the people from ___,) such as the state level or Britain or Israel, the right does much better than it does at the national level in the US where the focus is on what to do about the people we hate.
I think the left misunderstands this because they want to see conservatism as a monolithic block that believes the insane things our fringe spews. Hence, they are shocked whenever the GOP wins a seat because they view every GOP candidate as Todd Akin and they can't understand how a Todd Akin could get elected. It never dawns on them that Akin is in the tiny minority.
What's more, the left has nothing to offer either. Their entire platform is about hating a different set of people than our fringe hates and raising the minimum wage until manna falls from non-denominational Heaven. None of that sells any better than our side's hate.
Its really would be easy for either party to become a permanent majority right now, they just need to focus on the public. But neither side will do that because they are locked in an obsessive struggle to the death.
"I think the left misunderstands this because they want to see conservatism as a monolithic block that believes the insane things our fringe spews. Hence, they are shocked whenever the GOP wins a seat because they view every GOP candidate as Todd Akin and they can't understand how a Todd Akin could get elected. It never dawns on them that Akin is in the tiny minority."
I see that, too.
OT: The Dema in the Seante blew up Obama's trade deal today.
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