Posted on 11/09/2006 5:02:07 AM PST by Liz
A couple of big things expired Tuesday night: the usefulness of the trite Red/Blue dichotomy in American politics, and the George W. Bush/Karl Rove dream of the Republican Party holding a "permanent majority."
But one big new thing was born: the interior West (the eight states off the West Coast: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) as America's new political swing region.
Conservatives may not realize it yet, but all this will benefit the Republican Party in years to come.
Since 2000, President Bush and political guru Rove have pushed a mutant ideology that's come to be known as "big-government conservatism" - a betrayal of the Reagan/Goldwater legacy, aimed at softening the image of the GOP in the eyes of voters who are culturally conservative but economically liberal. The result: out-of-control domestic spending, out-of-control pork projects and out-of-control corruption among the folks in charge of handing out the bacon.
And all that left the conservative Republican base disgusted with its leaders in Congress and the White House. While Iraq played a key role with voters in the middle, this conservative discontent is an equally big reason why Congress flipped. Evangelicals and weekly churchgoers moved away from the GOP this year, as did self-described conservatives, according to exit polls.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I would like to see a Red VS Blue (county) map for this election to compare with the 04 map.
Considering that a number of props protecting marriage passed, that AZ established English as the official language, Tancredo got re-elected, I'd be very careful before painting the red bits blue...
We just re-elected a pro-life conservative :)
Amazing---considering Arizona is Mexico Norte.
Arizona voters decided the most ballot measures - 19 - including four stemming from frustration over the influx of illegal immigrants---and approved.
English as the state's official language AND another that expands the list of government benefits denied to illegal immigrants.
That's my Critter, BTW. Hillie, Schmuckie, et al are just proof of why Upstate needs its own state.
And also Clinton, Spitzer, Hevesi, Cuomo, my former Congressman Hinchey...
The nation also likes to ticker-split. Go figure. But if the 'Rats think they have a lock on '08, fine by me.
I've met Hinchey. I wanted a shower afterwards.
LOL...he does give off that vibe, doesn't he. Only good thing I can say about him (and Hillary - blech) is that when I worked for Lockheed Martin, they both did a decent job of helping us get some good contracts...including the new Presidential Helicopter.
"Evangelicals and weekly churchgoers moved away from the GOP this year, as did self-described conservatives, according to exit polls."
"The red bits are as red as ever, it's just that the GOP is bluer than before and many of the dems that got elected were quite red for dems."
I now go back to my theory on the changes that have taken place in our country:
Conservatives = Conservatives
Democrats & Republican Moderates = Liberals
Liberals = Marxists
Conservatives voted issues not candidates.
Moderates voted based on Iraq and Corruption.
Liberals voted for power.
The left ran a perfect game plan. They appealed to moderate voters while at the same time threatening moderate Democrat pols that they are coming after them if they don't capitulate. Moderate Republican pols just ran away. Then the Democrat moderates hit on Iraq.
Conservatives won on the issues challenging our values, marriage, abortion. Things that quite honestly the left could care less about because the courts will overturn the peoples will anyway.
When this election cycle began, most of us knew what was in store for us for a simple reason. The name Guiliani gave everyone a bout of neausea.
Rush said we are liberated. Well, let's get cracking on 2008. Target every moderate Republican in the country and go after them. Start today. Let the purge begin.
I wonder how safe the DINOs feel?
They were elected on immigration issues and now their first act is AMNESTY?
Good map link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2006/countymap.htm
Click on tabs for 2006, 2004, and Switchers.
Great----thanks.
Exactly. We had a bad election and discouraged both base and independents and now it's a Nixonian type recovery.
It's always best not to jump to conclusions. What with the internet, any Kerryesque stuck on stupid comment is far more vulnerable than during the 90's.
There will be plenty of material. I am not happy, but I also think that this puts us in a much better spot in 08 than people may think.
How did we get bamboozled by the MSM into this red state/blue state system (the New Yok Time started it!), which colors red states (Democratic) blue, and blue states (Republican) red? The colors are obviously reversed. I suspect that they did not want to reinforce the red in the Party of Treason, so they switched the colors.
Anyway, the last elections (2002, 2004) were close. This time, many key races were also close, but just a little the wrong way. Didn't we all predict that Bush was not getting more popular? When I had a wealthy local woman tell me that she was through with the Republicans because they had passed "that torture bill" in Congress, I knew that things were getting a bit crazy.
And, of course, the MSM has been against the Republicans all the time. A Republican candidate makes one slip of the tongue, in a good-natured way, and it is made to haunt him, and he eventually loses, replaced by an opportunistic, lame-brain "former military" dope, one of whose "campaign workers" instigated the whole thing in the first place. Webb really should be ashamed of how he won in Virginia, and lots of voters will have time, I suspect, to regret their choice.
We all will have a hard two years ahead. But maybe its good that we get rid of this red/blue color confusion. Colors are labels, and we have to get the labels right. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Thank you for the link!
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