Posted on 11/04/2010 8:20:08 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
Well, the long-awaited (or disdained) Teanami has hit. Not limited to to one geographical location, it left traces on the body politic throughout the country -- from the State of Maine turning red, and the pickup of state legislative seats in New York; from the Mid-Atlantic, where North Carolina turned red for the first time in living memory; down in Florida, where (against all predictions of the chattering classes early on) Marco Rubio went from 4% in the polls to a U.S. Senate Seat; to the south, where Alabama went to the GOP, Rand Paul became a Senator from Kentucky, and Texas is dominated by the Republicans; to the Midwest, where Feingold is no more, Ike Skelton has been washed away, three pro-homosexual State Supreme Court justices were politically drowned by the tide in Iowa, and even Minnesota, the only state to vote against Reagan in 1984, had both houses of its legislature captured by the Republicans for the first time in decades.
The wave seemed to lose some of its strength as it sailed West, as Harry Reid survived in Nevada, Patty Murray is neck-and-neck with Rossi in Washington, and both Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman lost in California; or maybe this was just the result of a strong ground game by the left, and the survivors climbing above the tempest-tossed populace, held aloft by Unions and the Dependent class.
Be that as it may, the GOP is firmly in charge in the House of Representatives, and has made gains in the Senate : enough so, that they need not worry about a lone defector costing them the filibuster. And with the victory, comes the responsibility to plan.
There are three main elements which need to be planned out. To make it simple, I will recall the famous lines from the comedy team of Abbot and Costello:
Who's on First?
What's on Second?
I Don't Know's on Third
Let's look at these one at a time.
Who's on First?
This is a question of which people will fill out the power structure within the House of Representatives.
There have already been suggestions within the MSM and elsewhere of frictions and power struggles between the "Old Guard" [e.g. Politico -- always known for its stalwart devotion to the bests interests of conservatism -- has quoted Trent Lott and Lindsay Grahamnesty (who are *VERY* important and senior and wise and stuff) -- as blaming the loss of the Senate on the Tea Party.] And so it seems, the press likes the GOP infighting so much, it has attempted to fan the flames of Civil War even in the House, which the GOP actually won. The AP on Yahoo has a story that heir-apparent to the Speaker of the House position, Jon Boehner, will pass up Michelle Bachmann for a high post, giving it instead to Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling. And CNN is reporting that Mickey Cantor will try running for House majority leader. The theme of the day, according to the press, is that the existing GOP members are stabbing the Tea Party in the back. And, given the miserable failure of Bush's "reaching across the aisle,", his poisoning of the GOP brand by "compassionate conservatism," and the trashing of several Tea Party candidates by Karl Rove, the Tea Party base and their representatives are bound to feel cautious.
But is this the wisest idea? Let us draw back a little and look at more than just the hurt feelings or the Wormtongue-like suggestions planted by the MSM.
Consider for example the elevation of Michelle Bachmann to a highly visible position within the Party Hierarchy. I have already read within the last couple of days, on a left-wing site, puzzlement over how Bachmann ever managed to get elected at all, coming from a usually deep-blue state like Minnesota. And it is true, her seat was heavily targeted by the Democrats: I believe that she and her opponent raised some $15 million between them. Remember what happened to Newt Gingrich, as he became the face of the 1994 Republican Contract with America. Every word of his was dissected, and his cell-phone calls were illegally intercepted by Dem operatives, who just happened to pick it up on a recording device while driving around in their car.
Do we really want (in the interests of keeping our seats, and keeping the left from inciting hatred against us, for the 2012 race) to have as the face of the House, someone who has *already* been targeted heavily by the left?
This then, may be one reason why Boehner has chosen Hensarling. His district is not in Blue Minneapolis, but Deep in the Red Heart of Texas, extending from just Southeast of Dallas, southeast past Athens and Palestine. This is hardly the Travis County of Ronnie Earle, is it? And so any attempt to vote out Hensarling, or to find Moonbat operatives to skulk around on him, will begin with an uphill fight.
By the way, I have taken the liberty, in the middle of this controversy, to look up information on Hensarling's past voting record. Is he a RINO, or a squish?
Look at this page.
NO on embryonic stem cells, no on partial-birth abortion, no on cloning or allowing minors to cross state lines for abortions -- in fact, a 0% rating from NARAL and 100% from National Right-to-Life.
Not bad; and you can look up his other positions at the link -- they're quite prominently displayed.
Another thing, in choosing House officers, is that there is a fair amount of protocol in shepherding bills around: for some positions one wants more of a sheepdog than a firebrand.
Not that any of this is definitive: I haven't *heard* of Hensarling before this, and I still don't know what to make of Cantor's decision.
But, since we are returning to the conservative roots of the Party (at least for now), and we *don't* know how reliable the new leaders of the GOP will be, it might be as well to take a page out of Renaldus Magnus, who gave us some wise advice when dealing with the Russians (who can be even more slippery than a DC politician):
"Trust...but VERIFY."
The next piece will cover What's On Second?
Birdcage liner *PING*
Thanks for the ping!
Eric Cantor has just announced that he will be running for Majority Leader of the House. I like him, and I wish him luck.
Mickey Cantor? Do you mean Eric Cantor?
Yeah, gotta stop posting past my bedtime.
Good line.
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