Posted on 11/03/2004 4:37:32 AM PST by Cincinatus
We're witnessing the political equivalent of Gettysburg. The Democrats needed to win this election to turn their prospects around. They needed the White House to win back the Supreme Court. They needed a pliable Senate to water down or halt the House Republicans. They failed, utterly.
The Democrats and all of their institutions (the media, academia, unions, Hollywood, etc.) threw everything they had into this election. Their 527s outspent the Right. They knocked Nader off a vast number of ballots. They juiced turnout to unprecedented levels. They created documentaries. The lied about the draft. They lied about their candidate. They lied about stolen munitions. They fabricated memos. They even got an assist from the now completely discredited exit polls.
And they lost.
Now, it appears they're launching a political Pickett's charge. On one side is a President and a party that is likely to have won the popular vote outright, have an Electoral College edge and wide Senate and House majorities. On the other are the Democrat's shock troops — their lawyers — preparing to mount an unpopular and unsavory assault on the electoral result and the Right.
And, just like Pickett's charge, the Democrats will fail, because the terrain they're attacking is simply too difficult. Ohio is controlled, completely, by Republicans — in the statehouse, in the secretary of state's office, in the governor's mansion. And that's just the political terrain. The Democrats will also run counter to public opinion and the obvious perception that Bush is the clear winner nationally.
Once the Democrats have lost this ill-fated adventure, they will face the cold, hard truth that Bush and the Republicans won't be interested in conciliatory measures or bipartisan cooperation. They'll face difficult fights over Supreme Court justices, Social Security reform, spending, taxes, and hopefully paycheck protection, election reform, and possibly even a supermajority requirement for tax increases.
They'll have to come to grips with the fact that rural and evangelical voters and residents of the booming exurbs are forming their own powerful coalition, that talk radio and Fox News and bloggers are replacing their networks, and that the Solid South is now a fortress. They'll review the data and find that Wisconsin and Minnesota will soon become the Ohio-backup for the GOP.
After fighting so hard for this victory, they'll face a president bent on driving his advantage and making history. They'll face a party that fought too hard not to seize the initiative.
Worth repeating.
Lets hope the Lawyer Legion meets the same fate as Picketts Virginians.....
Fox News was AWOL last night.
As a Southerner, I'm offended that the gallantry of Pickett's Charge is being compared to the whining, sniveling stupidity of Kedwards' poor sportsmanship.
OK, I'm only a little offended, but I'm running on only an hour and a half sleep, and I just felt compelled to comment.
}:-)4
This article underestimates the enemy. It is an astonishing testimony to the power of the MSM and democrat party corruption/thuggery that a complete dick like Kerry got 49% of the vote.
I wonder if the irony is lost on him that the South when wholely for Bush and New England went from Kerry in this election.
when = went
They haven't gotten the message yet.
To the trial lawyers, the scale of tort reform is being set right now by your reckless disregard for the real needs of the country. To academia, your subsidies have more worthy recipients than partisan shills. To public employee unions, you are eminently replaceable. You have no bastions left to stop us, only our own sense of fair play. So you are well advised to watch your freaking step.
What I found bizarre was Susan Estrich -- her demeanor, her newly minted southern accent, her silly and irrelevant screeching. Sure looked to me like she was sippin' a hip flask between appearances.
You're right -- a closer historical analogy would be the Battle of the Crater during the Seige of Petersburg.
That's why it's worth repeating!
I'm sure Pickett is rolling over in his grave at being compared to liberals. :P
They're shut out of power. And there's nothing more terrifying for a liberal than to be rendered to be completely irrelevant. The Democrats have lost three elections in a row. Until they're honest with themselves and figure out why the American people keep on rejecting them, they'll never win another election. Now a shattered party that saw its Senate Minority Leader humiliatingly knocked off, has to prepare for the 2006 mid-term elections. They're behind in every area of our political life that matters. Their hegemony over the media is gone forever. Today the Democrats are the party of coastal liberal elites. Truly, America has become "flyover country."
I want the "Political General Sherman" to now materialize and start his campaign.
I'm alot offended... LOL!
I agree that it's unconscionable to compare liberal lawyers to those brave Southern martyrs, but I do like the idea of them meeting the same fate.
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