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Are Republicans smiling too much? [Mark Steyn]
NRO ^ | April 24, 2008 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 04/25/2008 5:36:30 AM PDT by Salman

Ramesh, re excessive GOP pleasure in Democrat primary woes, I wouldn't put it any higher than the faintest whiff of a vague possibility that, however bad things are on the Republican side, for the Democrat scenario could be of an entirely different order.

What's the worst that could happen to the Republicans this fall?

McCain loses, there's some further attrition in the House and Senate. In other words, just more of the genteel decline of a listless GOP that seems all out of ideological gas.
What's the best that could happen?
McCain wins, the attrition in the House and Senate is modestly reversed. A maverick president gets to enact big bipartisan "reforms" with a Democrat Congress. GOP continues to decline.
What's the best that could happen to the Democrats?
Obama wins. History is made. In the dazzling sheen of his Kennedyesque glamour, no-one will dare obstruct his transformative reforms.
What's the worst?
Hillary manages to deny him the nomination, or he gets it but loses on a McGovernite scale. Traumatic meltdown, bitterness, civil war in the party, etc, leading perhaps to the sundering of key elements of the Dem coalition.
The stakes are greater on the Democrat side: a deliriously happy ending or a catastrophic one.


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: election; scenarios
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Excellent insight, as is usual with Steyn.
1 posted on 04/25/2008 5:36:30 AM PDT by Salman
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To: Salman

I love Mark Steyn but all that’s necessary to write that particular piece is a keen sense of the bleedin’ obvious.


2 posted on 04/25/2008 5:41:30 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Who Would Montgomery Brewster Choose?)
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To: Salman
What's the worst BEST?

Hillary manages to deny him the nomination, or he gets it but loses on a McGovernite scale. Traumatic meltdown, bitterness, civil war in the party, etc, leading perhaps to the sundering of key elements of the Dem coalition.

Fixed it!

3 posted on 04/25/2008 5:41:54 AM PDT by misterrob (Obama-Does America Need Another Jimmy Carter?)
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To: Salman

What’s the best thing to happen to Democrats?

Deportation

What’s the best thing to happen to Republicans?

Testicle implant.

Next...


4 posted on 04/25/2008 5:55:23 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: Salman

“What’s the worst?

Hillary manages to deny him the nomination, or he gets it but loses on a McGovernite scale. Traumatic meltdown, bitterness, civil war in the party, etc, leading perhaps to the sundering of key elements of the Dem coalition. “

Happy thought.


5 posted on 04/25/2008 6:05:57 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Salman

Smiling too much? I’m not smiling at all.

If McCain loses, the Democratic winner will be promoting a socialist agenda, much of which will likely pass if the Democrats continue to dominate Congress, as expected.

If McCain wins and pushes a “me, too” agenda, the GOP will eventually resemble the the national Republican Party under President Eisenhower, which steadily lost strength during the eight years of his administration—or today’s moribund California Republican Party under Governor Schwarzenegger.


6 posted on 04/25/2008 6:08:12 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Salman

Dead bang!


7 posted on 04/25/2008 6:13:40 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatives live in the truth. Liberals live in lies.)
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To: Fiji Hill
If McCain wins and pushes a “me, too” agenda, the GOP will eventually resemble the the national Republican Party under President Eisenhower, which steadily lost strength during the eight years of his administration...

That part has already happened under GWB, so we are all set up for the Obama/Kennedy scenario, with McCain channeling mean, gruff, old, out-of-touch-with-young-voters Nixon.

Only Obama himself can mess that up...and fortunately for the GOP, he's off to a pretty good start. ;)

8 posted on 04/25/2008 6:43:36 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Wise men don't need to debate; men who need to debate are not wise." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: Fiji Hill

>>If McCain loses, the Democratic winner will be promoting a socialist agenda, much of which will likely pass if the Democrats continue to dominate Congress, as expected.<<

And appoints Supreme Court Justices that will haunt us for years.


9 posted on 04/25/2008 6:49:07 AM PDT by netmilsmom (I am very mad at Disney. Give me my James Marsden song!!!!!)
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To: Salman

There is another possible outcome. BO wins, followed by a Carter-like foreign policy, Middle East erupts, oil shoots to over $ 200 a barrel - this in the midst of stagflation at home while gun-toting, God-loving working stiffs get more and more bitter. In short, the first African-American President leaves office after four years reviled and despised.


10 posted on 04/25/2008 7:13:09 AM PDT by Malesherbes
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To: Malesherbes

And any attempt to put the blame on prez O will elicit such a cry of “you’re using a brotha as the scapegoat...just like during Reconstruction”.


11 posted on 04/25/2008 7:26:15 AM PDT by TxAg1981
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To: Salman

Democratic disarray and dirt coming out on both of the Dems has resulted in McCain figuring he has the conservatives in the bag and therefore free to pander to the embittered democrats


12 posted on 04/25/2008 7:52:55 AM PDT by uncbob
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To: misterrob

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!


13 posted on 04/25/2008 8:13:34 AM PDT by cousair
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To: misterrob

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!


14 posted on 04/25/2008 8:13:34 AM PDT by cousair
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To: Malesherbes

That may be the best long-term outcome for conservatives.


15 posted on 04/25/2008 8:50:34 AM PDT by Chuckster (Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset)
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To: Chuckster
There is another possible outcome. BO wins, followed by a Carter-like foreign policy, Middle East erupts, oil shoots to over $ 200 a barrel - this in the midst of stagflation at home while gun-toting, God-loving working stiffs get more and more bitter. In short, the first African-American President leaves office after four years reviled and despised.

That may be the best long-term outcome for conservatives.

For a real conservative, the objective should be the best long term outlook for the country.

Carter was great for conservatives, since he led to Reagan, but here we are all these years later trying to figure out what to do about a nuclear Iran, which we wouldn't be doing if Carter was never President. That's what's so freakin stupid or even psycho about "conservatives" who want Obama to win so he can be a disaster. They want him to win and then us get nuked or something, so the conservatives can be strengthened.

16 posted on 04/25/2008 9:23:41 AM PDT by lasereye
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To: knews_hound

Steyn ping ping.


17 posted on 04/25/2008 9:25:16 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (<===Non-bitter, Gun-totin', Typical White American)
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To: lasereye
The worst that could happen is that Obama wins and with MSM assistance nationalizes health-care, airlines, automobile industry and agriculture. Inflation goes to 30%, interest to 25% the nation is gripped by stagflation of a massive scale.

Everyone has bad health care, no money, drives a government car and eats rationed government food and is limited in their ability to travel. Unemployment goes to 20% with a flood of illegal immigrants coming to the United States at a 1,000,000 per month pace.

In the third year of the Obama regime America is attacked in fifteen different cities by Al Qaeda and Iran back militants, killing tens of thousands. Obama attempts to negotiate with Iran our surrender through the UN.

Things could be much worse than a McCain presidency.

18 posted on 04/25/2008 10:54:12 AM PDT by Patrick1
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To: kellynla
What’s the best thing to happen to Republicans?

Testicle implant.

I laughed because it's so true...thanks.

19 posted on 04/25/2008 12:36:12 PM PDT by MaggieCarta (Disobedience is in our DNA. - Charlton Heston)
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To: NonValueAdded

A column I want to see Mark write is: why do people keep electing liberal Dems in Congress and in their state legislatures when they know taxes will be hiked, welfare will be pushed forward, oil and nuclear energy will not be advocated, education scores will fall even more, crime will rise in Dem states, military dislocation and failure to stop Islamos and to protect our borders will go hand in hand? Now that would and should be a book for Steyn or anybody else in the media. One thing I do know after pastoring and teaching for 47 years, is this: Americans are not stupid but many are sure ignorant of American economics , govt. , electoral politics and what the productive vs the unproductive will show as consequences to their personal lives.


20 posted on 04/25/2008 1:24:00 PM PDT by phillyfanatic
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