Posted on 11/03/2004 7:12:05 PM PST by Libloather
Stunned Dems, jubilant GOP look for lessons
By Peter Savodnik
November 4, 2004
Americans want gutsy, unwavering leadership on the war on terrorism, judges who won’t make laws, energy independence and a government that cuts taxes and spends less of their money.
Above all, they want a president and a Congress that will lead the world and not be led by world opinion.
Those were some of the lessons an emboldened Republican Party took away from Tuesday night’s election results, as the GOP held on to the White House for another four years and padded its House and Senate majorities.
Calling the election “historic,” Sen. George Allen (Va.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said voters across the country had “sent a message” to Democrats who favor “obstructionism and petty partisanship.” Allen cited former Rep. John Thune’s victory over Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota as Exhibit A.
Other Republicans said the 2004 election marked the culmination of the conservative revolution launched nearly a quarter-century ago with the election of Ronald Reagan to the White House.
Noting that “the Democratic Party dominated politics from the 1920s to the late ’70s,” Sean Conway, chief of staff for Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), said this election “adds fuel to the argument that the Republican Party has become the majority party.
“What it says is the Democrats still, in large portions of this country, are not reaching people. I’m talking about the South. I’m talking about suburban areas. I’m talking about the Rocky Mountain region.”
In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) seemed to accept Conway’s contention that the Democrats had become cordoned off from the vast bulk of Americans living west of the Hudson River and east of Hollywood.
Feinstein said the Democrats must expand their Western base by moving beyond the West Coast — with its liberal enclaves of yuppies, actors, artists, beachgoers and New Economy entrepreneurs — and build a more solid foundation stretching from the interior of California to Colorado.
Referring to Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who hopes to succeed defeated Minority Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.), Feinstein said: “I’ve agreed to support Harry Reid for leader because I feel so strongly that the interests of Western states are so alike, and they are kind of built on the values of the West, historical values, practical values.”
For the most part, Democrats yesterday were stunned, wounded and, most of all, unsure of what to do next.
After a year of pounding the president on the economy, the war in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the flu-vaccine shortage and anything else they could throw at him, many Democrats were convinced that the Oval Office and control of the Senate were within reach.
Some, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Rep. Bob Matsui (Calif.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, had even predicted that their party would retake the House, a goal that even many Democratic consultants considered out of reach.
On Election Day, Democrats were borderline giddy at the prospect of sending President Bush back to Texas. Sen. John Kerry’s standing in battleground-state polls, a vast get-out-the-vote operation from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, a huge voter turnout and early exit polls that showed Kerry beating Bush heightened their excitement.
But shortly after the polls closed, West Virginia slipped into the president’s column, then Florida and then, sometime in the middle of the night, Ohio.
One Democratic aide noted the party also failed to pick up House seats in Connecticut and Pennsylvania — key targets — meaning Democrats were unable to counter GOP gains in Texas, where redistricting cost four Democratic incumbents their jobs.
“They need to figure out what’s in their party’s electoral interest given the very clear minority position of the party,” said Sarah Binder, a political scientist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She added: “I don’t see them rolling over and playing dead. They have the rules of the Senate on their side. They need to pick their issue really carefully, given the Republican gains.”
But Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) said the Democratic losses reflected a “deep disconnect” with millions of Americans.
Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), who earned a mention in the history books as Florida’s secretary of state during the protracted 2000 recount, said Democrats had offered Americans nothing but “hatred and bitterness.”
But Democrats portrayed their criticism of Bush as an impassioned, and thoughtful, refutation of the president’s foreign policy, especially the Iraq war, as well as a plea, they said, for a more humane domestic policy.
Vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) made that clear as he introduced Kerry for his concession speech in Boston yesterday, declaring that the “fight rages on.”
It went to the jury, there was a verdict and the judge brought down the gavel. The fight is over...
Either way, it's all spin.
It's like Peggy Noonan said. All those hundreds of millions of dollars from 527s and KE04 and the DNC and all they got from it was Barack Obama, who needed no campaign budget whatsoever.
"Feinstein said: “I’ve agreed to support Harry Reid for leader because I feel so strongly that the interests of Western states are so alike, and they are kind of built on the values of the West, historical values, practical values.”
How about the values of gun ownership, beeitch?
"...ding,dong the witch is dead, the witch is dead, the witch is dead, ding, dong the wicked old witch is dead, hi ho, the ..."
"...ding,dong the witch is dead, the witch is dead, the witch is dead, ding, dong the wicked old witch is dead, hi ho, the ..."
In order for them to Fight On they are going to have to get released from the loony bin by the next election. That is going to be a stretch by any measure.
John Edwards best get back to his Elmer Gantry spin of juries and pocketing millions. But he better do it fast -- tort reform is coming!
I heard Nancy Pelosi on the radio today, and she has learned NOTHING fromthe Democrat's defeat. I hope that the Democrats keep this clueless witch as House minority leader for as long as they can stand to have her around. She is one of the best weapons we have.
Oh why didn't you say so? We just didn't understand this was what you were saying. It sounded more like a mix of back stabbing shoot'm in the back, pee on their grave and bitching and moaning the rest of the time.
"Feinstein said: “I’ve agreed to support Harry Reid for leader because I feel so strongly that the interests of Western states are so alike, and they are kind of built on the values of the West, historical values, practical values.”
She hates all the values of the American West.
Hey dems, this was YOUR wake up call from HELL! The American people do not want to live in a land where Abortion is a Rite, where homosexuality is thought to be the equivalent of Mom & Apple Pie, where criminals are coddled and where Muslims terrorists are treated "sensatively" or seen as a "nuisance".
We've put Republicans in charge of the White House, the Senate and the House because they support the VALUES that made this nation great. Self-reliance, honesty, diligence. You all dems got none of that.
So smell the freaking coffee and get a freaking clue. Or you may look back on the election of 2004 as the last chance you ever had.
(rant/off)
Admiral Boooorrrda had the decency to commit suuuicide.
If the Dems were really smart, Pelosi would be the next casualty.
Feinstein said the Democrats must expand their Western base by moving beyond the West Coast — with its liberal enclaves of yuppies, actors, artists, beachgoers and New Economy entrepreneurs — and build a more solid foundation stretching from the interior of California to Colorado.
Not with the likes of Feinstein. Folks like Zel Miller, possibly.
Here are the lessons I learned from this election:
1) They never call Republicans "The Comeback Kid".
2) Democrats will never support a war started by a Republican, no matter how vital.
3) The mainstream media can lie their asses off and only 45% of the country will believe them.
4) That 45% will vote for a traitor who would sell out his own country if the media endorsed him.
5) Democrats are in deep political doo-doo and are clueless about how to climb out of it. They thought lying, smearing and pretending to be mainstream would work. It didn't.
6) The Godophobes are an extremely paranoid and hateful bunch.
7) Hate is not a campaign platform, just as it wasn't when we ran against Clinton in 1996. You have to have credible ideas and defined goals to present to the voters. Democrats learned today what Republicans learned eight years ago.
Pelosi = Mother Rat.
I think we've found the "New ALGORE" of the 2004 Election.
In a couple of years he will be a stark raving mad lunatic running around screaming and spitting on people.
John F'ing sKerry was REJECTED ,Not Elected!!
Well said, Ms. Harris. Let's not forget how brutally the MSM and Demopuke pundits savaged her during Florida 2000 (making fun of her looks, etc.)
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