Posted on 06/06/2007 1:46:46 PM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
Republican Party strategists, even under expected circumstances, knew they faced a difficult imbalance in the 2008 lineup of Senate races. The GOP have 21 seats to defend to just 12 for the Democrats.
Moreover, the political landscape in those 33 states looks forbidding, at least at this early stage of the 2008 campaign cycle. CQPolitics.com’s current ratings of the races show five contests for Republican-held seats that appear highly competitive to just two for Democratic-held seats.
So it was with some political trepidation, along with sadness, that Republican officials received the news Monday night that Wyoming Republican Sen. Craig Thomas had died of leukemia at age 74.
State law requires the interim appointment of a member of the departed incumbent’s party — a Republican, in this case — to soon to fill the vacancy, even though Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal is a Democrat. But the law also sets up a special election in November 2008 to fill the remaining four years of the unexpired term Thomas won just last November.
It is unlikely that this unscheduled contest will rise initially into the competitive race category, given Wyoming’s normally strong Republican proclivities. But it will give the GOP a 22nd seat to defend, and could cause at least some diversion of vital campaign resources — especially if the Democrats, emboldened by the six-seat gain in 2006 that gave them their narrow control of the Senate, were to decide to throw some political venture capital into the race.
If you are successful in getting the Democrats elected with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, a majority in the House and the Presidency, don’t assume that I’ll be going to hell in the handbasket to which you will have consigned the United States.
My grandfather came here because the United States was the greatest country in the world. When that is no longer true, I will do as my grandfather did. There are plenty of decent countries in the world. I could consider, e.g., Chile, with lower taxes than the U.S., privatized social security and a voucher system for schools. They may require me to enter their country legally, and to actually learn Spanish before becoming a citizen, and I wouldn’t expect them to sign me up for welfare benefits on the day I arrive. But freedom is what is important to me, not welfare benefits.
Good lord !! What a choice. One that I would prefer to not have to make.
If a RINO wins the primary, which is possible, would I vote for the d’RAT instead. No, of course not. Would I vote third party...probably not.
Trouble with a third party or independent is that they would have no support inside the congress and the resulting power struggle would not lead to any meaningful reform. Not that I oppose gridlock in congress, but neither the d’RATS nor the Republicans would have any incentive to work with an independent POTUS but every incentive to work against him. The prospect of the results of such a situation frightens me.
Would you vote?
You have a good point, there. Thanks for posting.
Just curious -- how did you come up with Chile?
Cut spending!
Build the Hunter border fence!
No comprehensive amnesty!
Enforce existing laws!
Republicans will win in a landslide!
Of course I would vote. I will do as I always do here in New York. I vote for the republican candidate, on the conservative party line.
Or even better than that, Big Al lets all his messiah of global warming crap go to his head and jumps in as a Green.
I thought it would neat that I would be required to learn Spanish and embrace the culture of their country. I don’t think they’d like us coming there in large numbers, and swamping their language and culture. I thought it would be fair of me to show some sympathy to the social conservatives who think the number of migrants is too large and too many from one place.
But, as for my #1 country outside of the U.S., I kind of like three: New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. I like Germanic Switzerland and Bavarian Germany (except I’m holding out to see if Germany can assimilate all the eastern Germans raised under communism and practically useless).
I really like Austria, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
These countries have well-established civil liberties, economic freedom comparable to or not much less than the U.S., and I would fit in, being the ethnicity I am.
BTW I have family in Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Great Britain and Italy, so I guess my family continues to be just a bunch of wanderers.
The problem with all these countries is that they’re not the United States. We may have our problems, but we’re the greatest country in the world’s history. We’ve done enormous good in the world, and our job is not over.
I really like Austria, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
Interesting. I'm looking at New Zealand and Ireland. But first I'm exploring Zurich and Venice. I'm also open to Amsterdam and Vienna.
I think many of us are leaving (the back door open) these days.
That’s the same thing all those libs were saying when Bush got elected. I didn’t see too many of them shipping out. Empty words.
The great migration flows of the world are from not free countries to free countries, not the other way around.
Liberals (meaning, in this country, left-wing socialists) might say they want socialized medicine, etc., but we don’t see them migrating to their “utopia” (with the exception of only a handful of them, whom we can suspect are mentally-ill). They actually like our great, private sector, medical system a LOT more.
But, all around the world, people do move from not free countries to free countries, millions of them, legally or illegally.
Why do you think it would be any different for this country?
It finally occurs to me why you want the Democrats to win. THE ANSWER to our illegal alien problem is a left-socialist-green-mutli-cultural America. Let’s destory the economy and the way of life that is attracting so many foreignors here!!
I don’t want the Dems to win but I frankly don’t see much daylight between the Dems and the Republicans at this point. I’m hoping for the rise of a third party that truly represents conservatives.
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